My eyes light up at psychological thrillers, True Crime & great literary fiction
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 *REVIEW* and Happy Pub Day to this amazing book!
Q: What is your favorite board game?* *I stole this question from the wonderful @suzysbookshelf. If you don’t follow her yet, you should! A: Mine is – and will always be – Clue. And the reason I LOVED this book so much is that I sort of felt like I was playing Clue while I was reading it. Also, I can’t believe this is a debut novel! One-sentence summary: Documents, emails and communications are compiled, shared and discussed amongst lawyers who are seeking to find the person or persons who murdered someone within the network of a community theater in a small town that was in the midst of an appeal to raise funds for a child with cancer. —- The thing that most stands out about this book is the unique format. From what I can see, some people love it and others are not fans. Personally, I thought it was such an enjoyable read. Now, did I find reading through one email after another in the first half of the book at times tedious and not exactly easy? Yes, yes I did. But I thought the pay-off in the second part of the book was SO, SO, SO worth it. The emails are engaging and humorous and interesting, but there are a lot of them. All in a row. So be prepared. Once I made it through those emails and got into the ‘crime-solving’ portion of the book, I was having a blast. This truly manages to do what just about no other book does: it actually makes you feel like you’re piecing together enough evidence to solve a murder. And at some point, having reached the end and knowing what I know now, I want to go back and reread it. The character of Isabel (Issy) is especially complex, creepy and genius. But the rest of the characters are very specific, relatable and interesting. And Hallett does a beautiful job of telling a compelling story in this format, which can NOT be easy. So, my hat is off to her – This is out today, and I highly recommend it for anyone who loves mysteries! Thank you Atria Books for the ARC!
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 I absolutely ADORE this book. It has cleverness, wit, heart and charm, plus a fun murder myster to boot! Also, I typically don’t get teary over books, but this one actually made me cry, I’m not gonna lie.
What was the last book, movie or show that made you teary? One-sentence summary: Molly is a delightfully neurodivergent twenty-five year old struggling to navigate the complexities of life and her job as a maid in a posh hotel, but when she discovers the body of a murdered hotel guest and becomes the prime suspect, she realizes that she’ll need to find the real killer before it’s too late. —- Molly will go down as one of my favorite characters in recent memory. She is lovable, unique and charmingly complex. This read brought to mind one of my favorite books from last year, The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth. I feel like I honestly can’t read enough of these types of books that are told from the POV of a neurodivergent person. It is such a fun way to recognize how odd we neurotypicals can be. It also allows for such fun and engaging humor, provided the author is up to the task, and Nita Prose most definitely is! I honestly thought everything was done so well here. The characters were specific and interesting; the dialogue was believable and witty; plotting and pacing was excellent. The only thing I might (gently) point out is that the book does take its time, in the beginning, introducing you to the various characters in the hotel. It starts out quite a bit slower than other reads in the Mysteries & Thrillers genre. For those of us with busy lives and limited attention spans, we may start feeling a bit restless with such a long intro, but do not give up! If you practice a little patience, you’ll most likely find yourself entirely absorbed. This is a stand-out in the genre! Or even a damn good read for those who don’t like mysteries. My advice: get it, read it, love it. (And maybe have tissues at the ready) It came out this month! Thank you Random House and Ballantine Books for the ARC!  One-sentence summary:
Lila is trying to navigate adolescence when she begins to experience strange things that make her fear that she may be too similar to her mother, an artist who has been diagnosed with a mental disorder because she hears dogs everywhere, and also there’s a serial killer who is mutilating young girls again, in the same way he did back in the past, when Lila’s mother was a child. -- My inability to capture this in one sentence is part of the problem, in my opinion, with the book: there’s too much going on, which leads to a lack of focus. Now, in all fairness, I did DNF this one at the midpoint, so I’m only really reviewing the first half of the book. Some of the moments with Lila, as an adolescent girl struggling to be accepted, felt incredibly real and poignant and took me back to some moments of my childhood that I hadn’t thought about in years. There’s a real truthfulness, at times, to the writing, which I found very compelling. The writing is strong; my disappointment is with the storytelling. The main selling point of this book, based on the way it’s being marketed, is the social commentary around the sacrifices women must make within the patriarchy and the punishment they receive for fighting back. While I find feminist theory fascinating, I found the exploration of these notions in this book is too heavy-handed and on-the-nose to be effective. So much focus was given to this commentary, along with the elements of horror that were used to drive home the oppression of the female gender, yet the narrative thread never quite hung together. There was a lack of clarity about what exactly was happening. By the midpoint, my intuition was telling me that the end wasn’t going to hold any answers either. I’m perfectly fine with ambiguity if the journey, or the characters or SOMETHING is interesting enough for me to stay engaged. Sadly, this one did not work for me, but some fans of horror or feminist fiction may enjoy it. This comes out Jan. 18. Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!  *REVIEW* and Happy Pub Day!
I’m still feeling under the weather, but the good news is that the PCR results were negative, so it isn’t COVID. I hope you’re all staying healthy! About this book… One-sentence summary: After Una lost her mother and broke up with her boyfriend, she moves into a mansion in order to work as a full-time companion for the elderly woman who owns the estate, but when she learns that other young ladies who accepted the same job before her suddenly died or disappeared, she decides she must uncover the secrets the house holds - before she suffers the same fate. -- This has a gothic feel that I loved! The setting is both grand and unnerving, from the interior of the house itself to the bridge nearby, partially hidden by an ominous fog. I also found Elspeth, the old lady that may or may not actually need a companion, and her daughter Kathryn to be perfect gothic characters. And Una’s naivete played right into the setting and feel of the old house. The story, which takes place in England, is told from multiple POVs. There is an enormous twist and shift at the midpoint of the book, which I had mixed feelings about. On the one hand, I thought it was a shocking and bold choice. On the other, I found the second part of the book – the part after that twist – lost some of the tension, and I found myself a bit less engaged in the story. But I’ve seen other readers say that the midpoint is when the book picked up speed for them and they became more interested, so to each his own! I think I just love slow-burning gothic fiction so much, and the first-half of the book scratched that itch for me, before the tone shifted some in the second half. But there are plenty of twists and a faster pace in the second part of the book, which should keep thriller fans happy. And I found the ending to be entirely unexpected. All-in-all, I was pulled right into this story, flipping pages quickly in an attempt to find out what was happening at the house. I’d recommend this for anyone who likes psychological thrillers and gothic fiction. This hits the shelves today! Thank you Harper Perennial/Harper Paperbacks for the ARC!  There's nothing I like more than an unreliable narrator, and I thought this was a great one!
One-sentence summary: At the age of twelve, Chloe watched her father get put away for life for murdering six teenage girls in their small Louisiana town, and when a local teenage girl goes missing twenty years later, she begins to see parallels from her past that she can’t ignore. —-- This psychological thriller is an excellent debut! It’s very well-written, and the protagonist - who is an unreliable narrator – is a compelling character. The narrative alternates between Chloe’s present, as she is retraumatized by the recent disappearance of a teenage girl, and flashbacks from her childhood a couple of decades ago, when she slowly began to realize that her father was a serial killer. Now, in the present, Chloe is an empathetic psychologist, but she has unresolved PTSD from the past. While attempting to soothe that trauma, she’s developed an addiction to anti-anxiety medication that she attempts to keep hidden. This state that she’s in, which may or may not include inappropriate paranoia about her surroundings, causes you – the reader – to doubt her observations and impressions of others. I was able to accurately guess the outcome early on, as I’ve read so many thrillers, but the writing was strong enough that I did have moments of self-doubt. In fact, what I enjoyed most about this book is that I found myself suspecting every character, including the protagonist; that is something that only an adept writer is able to pull off. And even though I may have guessed some things correctly, I was still surprised when the twists unfolded. This was an incredibly well-written psychological thriller, and I look forward to reading more from Willingham! It comes out Jan. 11! Thank you St. Martin’s Press and Minotaur Books for the ARC!  Happy Pub Day!!
I hope you’re staying healthy, friends! I’m currently isolating and waiting for the results of a PCR test. I had potential exposure and a low-grade fever for a couple of days, but I’m feeling pretty good outside of that, so we shall see. Either way, I think this is going to be a bumpy January for all of us. In the meantime, stay calm. Take good care of yourself. Focus on the simple things that bring you joy. Which leads me to ask… Q: What brings you joy? For me, it’s time with my hubby, cuddling with my puppy and - of course - reading. Now, onto this book. The description of it had me at ‘Clue-like,’ and I’m enjoying it so far! Summary: Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Since her Grandma died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection. But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late? A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart. |