Tropical Girl Reads

Quick Review:- fast-paced thriller that will keep you up all night.

Rating:- 4.5/5

Three women are connected by one man in this kaleidoscopic thriller.

He’s the perfect man. It’s a perfect lie.

Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband’s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling…

Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband, Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn’t right.

Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in. But the past won’t stay buried forever.

This Lisa Jewell thriller was released last year and Lisa Jewell is my go to thriller author–I always buy her books. I must say, this book was so much better than the previous books she had released and I managed to finish this book in a short span of time.

Ash Swain is dealing with her father’s death–her father was pushed to death on the railway tracks by a man. While dealing with the loss, a man, calling himself as Nick Radcliffe sends Ash and her mother Nina a nicely wrapped box and inside the box is what happened to belong to her father’s lighter. Nina and Nick start exchanging notes and eventually, Nick enters into their lives. But Ash feels suspicious of this Nick Radcliffe and begin investigating on him. Meanwhile, in another town, Martha’s husband Alistair disappears frequently and Martha suspects that he is either having an affair or something else…

The story is told in POV of Ash, Martha and of course Nick/con-man. The story is so realistic and it is scary to believe that although this is a work of fiction, this could actually happen in real-life. The story is well written, fast paced and Lisa Jewell has managed to drag the reader into the story. The real name of the con-man is revealed in the end and it scares how it has affected so many lives of the people and breaking the families apart. Initially, the story started out a little slow but then I was hooked into the story towards the middle and couldn’t really put the book down.

Overall, I have to say, this is Lisa Jewell’s one of the best books she has written. Rated 4.5 stars

Quick Review:- This was fast paced and was actually quiet scary to read.

Rating:- 5/5

he latest gripping serial killer thriller from the New York Times bestselling author Alex North.

Dan Garvie’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?

With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.

When Dan Garvie was a kid himself, he managed to escape from an infamous serial killer nicknamed as Pied Piper. However, for years, he was haunted by the image of the boy who was in the bathroom, who seemingly was murdered by the Pied Piper. Now Dan himself is a psychiatrist working with the criminals. He received a call that his father died under unknown circumstances, Dan returns back to the island. As Dan finds out that his father discovered a body of a burned woman in the woods, he realizes that the past has come back to haunt him once again.

This was fast paced and was actually kind of scary to read, particularly the first Prologue part. It felt as if you are watching a horror/thriller slasher movie. I was almost put on the edge of the seat, while reading this book, and the book was so well written that I was instantly absorbed into the story, refusing to put down the book. The story is told mainly in Dan’s POV but we also have Dan’s father’s POV and a boy named James who becomes a victim of Pied Piper in 1998. The way Dan was dealing with emotions and guilt that he experiences that he couldn’t rescue one of the victims he saw that day was too real. Throughout the entire story, I was intrigued and the ending was completely unexpected.

This book in my opinion was better than his Whisper Man which was also a serial killer theme book.

Overall this is worth a five star read.

Quick Review:- an unputdownable, fast paced thriller that will keep you up all night.

Rating:- 4.5/5

The Fairchild family have it all. At least that’s what anyone watching the family of billionaires board the opulent Titan Pacifica would think.

But as Sydney Harbour Bridge starts to disappear in the rear-view window of the luxury liner, so too does any pretence that this is a happy family.

Unbeknownst to his children, CEO and patriarch Irving had planned to use the cruise to reveal his long-awaited succession plans. As glasses clink and elaborate dinners are served to the most notorious of Sydney’s elite, it will soon become all too clear that family loyalty can only take you so far.

And although six embark on the journey of a lifetime, not all of the group will make it back to dry land again . . .

Dripping with scandal, secrets, grandeur and greed, THE SECOND WIFE is an unputdownable thriller, perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Sally Hepworth.

The Fairchild family, one of the richest families from Britain boards on ship Titan Pacifa and many people see them as a family that have all. But behind the closed doors is a whole different story. As the ship starts sailing through the Pacific Ocean, there is drama between the family members of the Fairchild family especially the patriarch of the Fairchild family, Irving was going to announce who was going to take over his business empire. Then on the night he announced his successor on the day of his 70th birthday celebration, Irving Fairchild was found dead in his cabin–someone has slashed his neck.

Ali Lowe is known to write fast-paced thrillers and this was no exception. We have the podcast that details about the cruise and of course about the Fairchild family. The story is told in multiple POVs–Mollie who works in the cruise and who has a secret agenda against the Fairchilds, Gen who is the second wife of Irving with her own plans to get rid of Irving and Celia Fairchild who would not let anyone to stop her husband Ridley from inheriting Fairchild wealth. Each women had their own agenda against Irving and one of them could have killed Irving. The story is packed with twists and turns from beginning to the end–with a possible love child that might prevent a certain Fairchild from inheriting, the fight for the inheritance and of course the gossip that seem to lurk around the cruise and among staff members. The story is well written and Ali managed to keep the reader at the edge of the seat with that type of writing!

Overall, I actually devoured this book and loved this book. I cannot wait to read next Ali Lowe’s thriller. Worth 4.5 stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley for the ARC and Hodder and Stoughton for invitation to review the book. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Quick Review:- a story of a brother who will fight and do anything to protect his family. In my opinion, not a great book by S.A. Cosby but nonetheless, it was fast paced and intriguing.

Rating:-4/5

-death of a parent

-mutilation

-disturbing and gory deaths

A son returning home.
A dangerous debt.
Secrets about to ignite . . . and a family consumed by flames.

Roman Carruthers left the smoke and fire of his family’s crematory business behind in his hometown of Jefferson Run, Virginia. He is enjoying a life of shallow excess as a financial adviser in Atlanta until he gets a call from his sister, Neveah, telling him their father is in a coma after a hit-and-run accident. When Roman goes home, he learns the accident may not be what it seems. His brother, Dante, is deeply in debt to dangerous, ruthless criminals.

And Roman is willing to do anything to protect his family. Anything.

A financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, Roman must use all his skills to try to save his family while dealing with a shadow that has haunted them all for twenty years: the disappearance of their mother when Roman and his siblings were teenagers. It’s a mystery that Neveah, who has sacrificed so much of her life to hold her family together, is determined to solve once and for all.

As fate and chance and heartache ignite their lives, the Carruthers family must pull together to survive or see their lives turn to ash. Because, as their father counseled them from birth, nothing lasts forever.

Everything burns.

I have been a fan of S.A. Cosby since I read All Sinners Bleed, which is one of my favorite books of his. King of Ashes is his latest book. Even though I liked this book, I didn’t like this book as much as I did with the other two books I have read.

Roman Carruther is a successful financier working in Atlanta refusing to take of his family’s crematorium business. But one day, his sister Neveah calls him, telling him that their father has met with an accident and is in coma. Roman immediately flies back home to Virginia. However, he finds out that his younger brother Dante was involved in this huge drug selling bust and owe a huge debt to one of the notorious gangs in the town, BBB. Roman using his skills as a financier will do anything to save his family by slowly inserting himself to offer his services to the gang…

Like most SA Cosby books, this was fast-paced and packed with action. The story was great, interesting and disturbing to read at the same time. Roman’s dealing with his mother’s disappearance which happened more than twenty years ago is also a part of the background of the story. Roman is loyal and would do anything to protect his family even if it involves killing someone.

However, as much as I liked the story, this was actually not my type of thriller. Reason–I don’t really like reading much about gangster-based thrillers as it is not my forte.

However, that doesn’t make me to stop reading S.A Cosby. I am looking forward to read his next thriller.

Overall worth 4 stars.