My eyes light up at psychological thrillers, True Crime & great literary fiction
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 Elon Green is a thorough investigator and fantastic nonfiction writer, and in his first book, he has found a way to hook you in with the hunt for a serial murderer -- who came to be known as “The Last Call Killer” -- while he pulls you through a fascinating exploration of the lives of the killer’s victims and the gay social scene of Manhattan in the late 80s and early 90s. Green uses the stories and memories of the men and women from that era in the service of giving the reader a deeper understanding of the staggering obstacles gay men faced during that period of time. The AIDs epidemic was out of control and leading to heavy losses, and the stigma of being LGBTQ+ was so strong and potentially life-destroying that many gay men resorted to hiding their true sexuality and visiting gay bars in order to seek sexual companionship -- a tragic combination. Worse yet, as this novel elucidates, those bars had a history of being infiltrated by good-looking undercover cops prepared to arrest gay men for solicitation. And gay men were being physically attacked on the streets, while the police and the courts turned their backs to the violence. The unfolding of the evidence, and the chase to find the killer, keeps the tension high, and the lives of the victims are presented in such an interesting way, that it’s easy to fly right through the 230-page book and get upset that you’ve reached the end. My assumption is that a conscious decision was made to focus only on the victims, rather than the killer, which I fully respect. But I do wonder if more exploration could have been done around the killer’s psychological profile or motivations, given that the individual is a product of both his own sexual inclinations and the zeitgeist of that period of time. Regardless, this was a fun, interesting and eye-opening read that I highly recommend to anyone interested in LGBTQ+ rights and issues, True Crime or a historical period of time in the U.S. that, sadly, was not that long ago. I also want to mention that Celadon is fast becoming my favorite publisher. They continue to choose smart books that elevate genres. Thank you, Celadon, for the ARC!
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 Jacqueline (Jack) is both a single parent with a fourteen-year-old daughter and a vicar. When she is asked to take charge of Chapel Croft, she finds herself moving to a remote village and devoting herself to a chapel with a dark history.
Centuries ago, protestant martyrs were burned at the stake there. Thirty years ago, two teenage girls disappeared. And a few weeks ago, the vicar of the parish hanged himself. When Jack’s daughter begins to see specters of girls ablaze, it becomes apparent there are ghosts here that refuse to be laid to rest. --- CJ Tudor is an auto-buy author for me because her books are fast-paced and full of surprises. She writes horror-tinged psychological suspense that includes a twisty-turny mystery and dabbles in dark supernatural underpinnings. It’s a fun blend that I’ve come to love! This book seems to layer in a snappy, pop feel, in part because of cheekiness in the dialogue between mother and daughter, in part because of the fair number of 80s and 90s pop culture references, which lends a postmodern flair. This helps to balance out and soften some of the darkness in the story. The burning of effigies (aka, the burning girls) -- is based upon the actual history of Mary I (Bloody Mary) burning protestants alive at the stake in the 1500’s, which has led to real-life traditions in present-day villages of having monuments and burnings to commemorate those victims. The relationship between Jack and her feisty daughter feels real, alternately tense and loving, as they struggle to shoe-horn their big-city lives into a remote countryside and deal with some of the strange and possibly dangerous townsfolk. I also appreciated Jack grappling a bit, even as a vicar, with her own faith, as she attempts to bring a more modern outlook as a “wo-man of the cloth.” The thing that blew me away about this book is that there are a ton of characters and a large number of mysterious subplots, some of them taking place in the present day, some of them stretching back to the past, yet somehow Tudor does a brilliant job helping you -- the reader -- keep it all straight. She is just so adept at sneaking in reminders, dropping down breadcrumbs, crafting twists and doling out reveals. And everything else is there, too. Strong, bold characters. Great, snappy dialogue. All of the descriptive elements that keep you feeling chills while you read. As a trigger warning, this does include issues around bullying and child abuse. Thank you Ballantine Books for the ARC!  Ambrosia (Amb) receives an invite for her ten-year college reunion along with a note that reads, “We need to talk about what we did that night.” She soon finds herself leaving her carefully-constructed present to attend the reunion and revisit a past she’s tried to not only move beyond but shove deep down into the dark places no one will ever see.
Amb’s attempts to navigate the present-day reunion are nearly as harrowing as her attempts to survive freshman year. Back then, her desperate need to be liked drew her in like a dysfunctional tractor beam to the worst influence possible -- a beautiful and wild classmate named Sully. While Amb explored her dark side with Sully, she did something that had deadly consequences. And it becomes clear - at the reunion - that someone is seeking to out her and seek revenge. She realizes that the games she played back in college, under Sully’s watchful eye, may soon become matters of life and death. --- This book shocked me a lot, shook me a bit and had me thinking about it long after the last page. It’s a psychological thriller with a dash of psychological horror and a pinch of social commentary. The story is told through the alternating timelines of Amb’s freshman year of college (then) and her current life and attendance at the reunion (now). It’s impossible not to relate, at least to some extent, to the youthful angst, insecurities and difficult social dynamics these female characters endure. The desperation and power jockeying is heightened for dramatic effect in the book, but those exaggerations are grounded in some painful truths. For a gender that has suffered the pressure of always being polite, sweet and not too ambitious (*eye roll*), sometimes it’s cathartic to experience girls being the very opposite of that. And personally, I love stories that explore the darker side of human nature, so that we can recognize it within ourselves. As Jung wrote, the more you become familiar with your own shadow side, the less you project it onto others. Okay, Jung said it way better than this, but you get the gist. If you liked Mean Girls or Girl, Interrupted or anything else that is dark and wicked fun, you’ll love this! If you don’t like any of those titles, then ‘f*** me gently with a chainsaw,’ I give up. (Bonus points to those who know what bad-girl movie that quote is from!!) This hits the shelves March 9! Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the ARC!  Florence Darrow knows she's destined to be a famous writer, so when she stumbles into a job assisting a brilliant novelist known as Maud Dixon — whose true identity is a secret — it appears the universe is finally providing Florence her chance. But when she wakes up in the hospital after the two of them are in a terrible accident, with no memory of the previous night — and no sign of Maud Dixon — she’s tempted to upgrade into a bestselling life.
- THIS is exactly what I want in a psychological thriller. The work of Patricia Highsmith came to mind as I was reading it, because Florence Darrow is the type of dysfunctional and unsettling main character she might create. Specifically, it has some The Talented Mr. Ripley vibes! Florence is a black hole inside, unsure of who she is, painfully neurotic when it comes to how she is perceived. She becomes obsessed with the identities of others and inserts herself into their lives, adopting their way of thinking and behaving. She isn’t just unreliable. She is CREEPY. I was frustrated with her for engaging in self-destructive behavior, yet she was likable enough that I wanted her to make the right choices - or at least the smart choices - and succeed. The portion set in Morocco allows the country to come alive on the page, which is fun. But most importantly, my thriller-lovers, the twists and turns throughout are many -- each one is unexpected and oh so satisfying. The plotting, pacing and reveals are exceptional and downright Hitchcockian. And I LOVED the ending. I couldn’t put this down and basically read it in 24 hrs. Okay Ms. Alexandra Andrews, I may be envious, but my hat is off. I will read whatever you write, and if this doesn’t become a bestseller, there’s no flippin’ fairness in publishing. Get this book! Start it on the weekend or a day you have off and need an escape from reality. It’s a fun, fast-paced, tight and twisty roller coaster! Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the ARC!  Clarissa is leaving her husband after a stinging betrayal, and she’s found the perfect apartment in a newly completed building very close to the Eiffel Tower, which was destroyed in a terrorist attack some years ago. She’s accepted as a tenant under a program that allows a certain number of artists to live and work in the building for a discounted rate, under the agreement that they will be monitored at all times.
Cameras are on and watching. An AI, which she ends up naming Mrs. Dalloway, will communicate with her and follow her commands, much like a futuristic version of our contemporary ‘Alexa.’ And ‘they’ -- whoever ‘they’ are -- will always be listening. While Clarissa tries to discover the truth about the new place she is living, she grapples with coming to understand her husband’s betrayal, as well as her own memories and grief. --- I enjoyed the thoughtful, near-future imaginings brought to life in this novel. Clarissa has sadly become accustomed to advanced global warming, which wreaks havoc on all facets of life, causing issues with everything from food production to air travel. And technology has become invasive: I thought the exploration of advanced technology and its ramifications on Clarissa and her husband was fascinating. This reads more like literary fiction with a sprinkle of suspense and sci-fi. It’s billed as a mystery and thriller, and I fear that may end up frustrating certain readers. This is not a heart-pounding thriller with twists, but rather a thoughtful, dreamy and haunting meditation. It reminds me a bit of the movie ‘Her,’ directed by Spike Jones, or Jonathan Lethem’s latest novel, ‘The Arrest.’ Do NOT go into this expecting an explanation for everything that happens, as you may be disappointed. This is one of those stories in which things are left open, and it’s more about the journey than a reveal. I’d recommend this for someone who enjoys literary fiction with a bit of suspense and sci-fi woven in. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC! |