Tropical Girl Reads

The little girl peered down the dark alleyway. She knew she wasn’t supposed to take this shortcut and her mother would kill her if she found out, but it was raining and all she wanted was to get home quickly. She stepped forward, not seeing the silent figure following her into the dark passageway…

When nine-year-old Charlotte Standish goes missing from her street in the small town of Rydale Falls, it sparks a media frenzy. Detective Morgan Brookes leads a frantic hunt for the girl, but little Charlie seems to have vanished into thin air.

Chasing up a lead at Charlie’s school, Morgan is chilled to learn that this isn’t the first time a child has gone missing on this street. Another girl disappeared fifteen years ago, and Morgan is the only one who thinks the cases could be related. But in the moment that she takes her eye off Charlie’s case to investigate the link between the two girls, another child, Macy, goes missing.

Then Morgan gets the call she was dreading, Charlie’s lifeless body has been found in a local park, lying in the shadow of a large tree. Morgan has let one girl down, but she refuses to give up on Macy. Determined to find an overlooked clue, she retraces Macy’s last steps. She’s getting close to the truth when her partner, Detective Ben Matthews, is attacked outside Morgan’s home. Is a twisted killer isolating Morgan from her team? And how long does Macy have left to live? Morgan must solve the case before more innocent lives are taken…

A nail-biting, unputdownable crime thriller that will keep you up all night, for fans of Angela Marsons, Rachel Abbott and Patricia Gibney.

No. of pages:- 289 pages

Date published:- will be published on 1st June 2021

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Thriller

Detective Morgan Brookes is back in the scene!

Nine-year-old girl named Charlie goes missing in a neighborhood in Ryder Falls. As it involves a child, the police gets involved in the case and then focus on the sex offender who happened to be living in the same neighborhood. Meanwhile, while investigating, Morgan finds out that a girl who attended the same school as Charlie went missing fifteen years ago and couldn’t help notice that there’s some similarity between the two cases. But when Charlie’s body was found a few days later and another girl named Macy goes missing in the same neighborhood, they must find the culprit before Macy is dead…

This is the third book of the Detective Morgan Brooke’s installment. But to me, unlike the first two books, this book wasn’t as good as the first two books. The book was fast paced but not much twists and turns though somehow, the reader is able to be hooked into the book. Not much of suspects in the book so it’s a bit predictable as to who the killer could be. But nonetheless I did enjoy this book though I didn’t find much exciting as her two previous books.

This book worth three stars the fact that still it’s a good thriller! Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Helen Phifer is the #1 Bestselling crime and horror novelist of the Annie Graham, Lucy Harwin and Beth Adams series. Helen lives in a small town in Cumbria. Surrounded by miles of coastline and only a short drive from the beautiful Lake District. She has always loved writing and reading since the days she learnt how to in infant school. She loves reading books that make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and make her afraid to go to the toilet, alone in the middle of the night. She is eternally grateful to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, James Herbert and Graham Masterton for scaring her senseless in her teenage years. Unable to find enough of the scary stories she loves to read, she decided to write her own.

Her debut novel The Ghost House was released October 2013 and introduced readers to police officer Annie Graham. It went on to be an Amazon #1 bestseller in Canada. It reached #1 on the Amazon Contemporary Horror Charts in both the UK and the US, pushing her idol Stephen King off his #1 spot many times. She was thrilled when the second book in the series The Secrets of the Shadows managed to push The Ghost House off its #1 spot even if it was a little surreal. This was followed by The Forgotten Cottage, The Lake House, The Girls in the Woods and The Face Behind the Mask.

The Good Sisters is a standalone old, fashioned horror story which Helen admits scared her so much when she was writing it that she couldn’t write once it got dark. Set in an abandoned convent it will definitely give you the chills.

March 2017 saw the publication of Dark House, a gripping psychological thriller which introduced readers to the dangerous world of Detective Inspector Lucy Harwin. This was followed by Dying Breath and Last Light.

The Haunting on West Tenth Street is a supernatural thriller set on the streets of New York and features Homicide Detective Maria Miller.

Her brand new series featuring Forensic Pathologist Beth Adams is published July 16th 2019

Arranging the playdate was easy. Child’s play. Preparing the house was more difficult. It was only now she realised how many photographs there were: the picture-perfect unit. Wife, husband, child. All of it a lie.

I made a new friend at playgroup today. She’s different from the other mothers. She feels like someone I can trust. Someone I can confide in.

But there are some things I can’t tell her. Things I can’t tell anyone.

Because I have a secret that no one else knows. One that still haunts my dreams, wakes me up in a cold sweat at night.

Even another mother would never understand. Unless, of course, she’s hiding something too…

From the bestselling author of The Argument, this utterly addictive psychological thriller will have you hooked from the first page to the final, mind-blowing twist. Fans of Friend Request, The Silent Patient and The Girl on the Train won’t be able to put this down.

No. of pages:- 289 pages

Date published:- will be May 21st 2021

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

What will happen when a playdate turns into a nightmare? Well this is such story. Dani joins in a playdate and meets Adele who also has a daughter named Ivy. Ever since she joined the playdate, Dani has been getting threatening messages from an anonymous and escalated to a point where she was physically harmed. Adele meanwhile is facing abuse from her husband.

The story started a bit slow and was a bit boring. However, towards the end, unexpected twists and turns came into the picture that left me hooked at the end. Though not fast paced in the beginning, the story picked up the momentum in the end. The story is told from the perspectives of Adele and Dani and and the writing was good.

Overall, I give this book as four stars! Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

Victoria Jenkins lives with her husband and daughters in South Wales, where her bestselling series of crime novels featuring Detectives King and Lane is based. The first in the series, The Girls in the Water was a top 5 US Kindle Bestseller and a top 30 UK Kindle Bestseller. She has an MA in Creative and Media Writing from the University of Wales, Swansea.

She has since written four psychological thrillers, one of which – The Argument – reached number 17 in the UK Kindle chart. Each thriller has a family at the centre of its story, with ordinary people thrown into extraordinary events. The Playdate – a ‘twisty turny psychological thriller’ about two mothers who meet at their daughters’ play group – is out on pre-order now.

One night, Molly Clarke walked away from her life. Or at least, that’s the story.

The car abandoned miles from home. The note found at a nearby hotel. The shattered family that couldn’t be put back together.

It happens all the time. Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over.

But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke?

No. of pages:- 352 pages

Published:- September 17th 2020

Publisher:- Orion Publishers

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Molly Clarke seems to be having an estranged relationship with her family after the death of her youngest daughter, Annie. While on the way home after visiting her son’s football game, her cars stops in the middle of the road and while trying to get gas for her car, she stops an oncoming truck and gets in. That was the last seen of Molly Clarke as she has left a note saying “Don’t Look For Me,”. A few days later, her oldest daughter Nic gets a tip from a woman who is saying that she saw the truck in which Molly got into.

This story was really good! Fast paced, some twists and turns that will keep you hooked from the first page onwards. The story is told from the perspective of Molly who is being held captive by a man named Mick and develops a sort of bond with a ten year old girl named Alice and Nic, who comes to the small town of Hastings, in the hopes of finding her mother and discovers some deep dark secrets in the town. I was hooked into the story, wondering what is going to happen next that I simply couldn’t put the book down. I like Molly’s determination to live and escape and Nic’s determination to find her mother even though her father is asking her to return back home. The ending was a bit dramatic, like I felt as if I was watching a movie or something and a bit unrealistic but nonetheless, the book was good and enjoyable, that will hook you up from the beginning. I also like how both Molly and Nick are struggling with the death of Annie, each blaming themselves for the death and the emotions that each of them are going through seems realistic.

Overall, I give this book as four stars!

Wendy Walker is the author of the psychological suspense novels All is Not Forgotten, Emma In The Night, The Night Before and Don’t Look For Me. Her novels have been translated into 23 foreign languages and have topped bestseller lists both nationally and abroad. They have been featured on The Today Show, The Reese Witherspoon Book Club, and The Book of the Month Club and have been optioned for television and film. Prior to her writing career, Wendy practiced both corporate and family law, having earned her J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and her undergraduate degree from Brown University. Wendy also worked as a financial analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Wendy is currently finishing her next thriller and managing a busy household in Connecticut.

The DNA results are back. And there’s a serial killer in her family tree…

Liz Catalano is shocked when an ancestry kit reveals she’s adopted. But she could never have imagined connecting with her unknown family would plunge her into an FBI investigation of a notorious serial killer…

The Tri-State Killer has been abducting pairs of women for forty years, leaving no clues behind – only bodies.

Can Liz figure out who the killer in her new family is? And can she save his newest victims before it’s too late?

No. of pages:- 412 pages

Published:- will be published on 10th June 2021

Publisher :- Avon

Genre:- Thriller

First of all, thank you Netgalley, Avon Publishers and the authors for inviting me to review this ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

And….WOW!! What did I just read? What would happen when you suddenly discover through your DNA test that one of your family members is a serial killer?? And not just an ordinary serial killer but someone who has been wanted by FBI for almost a decade? That’s what happened to Liz Catalano.

When Liz does DNA family tree test with the urge of her cousin Andie, she finds out that that she was adopted as she did not have any Italian family background like she should be having. Desperate to find more information about her biological family, she uploads her DNA family test into a government site, as apparently her mother did some time for possessing drugs. Then comes the surprise when two FBI agents knocks on her apartment and tells her that from her mother’s side of the family, there’s a serial killer in the family who has been terrorizing the Tri State area for decade. Now Liz desperately wants answers and finds two of the male relatives from her mother’s side who is still alive–her grand uncles Cris who is a vet and Adam. Could one of them be the killer?

This story left me breathless! From the first page onwards, I was hooked into the story and stayed up all night to finish the book! The story is mainly told from Liz’s point of view though there were chapters of the victims of the Tri State Killer, starting from 1974 recounting their final hours in the hands of a demented killer. I couldn’t simply put this book down and shared the same frustration with Liz at her desperate quest to find the answers. The story was unpredictable, with twists and turns and a fast paced–all those qualities of a good thriller book! The authors did a good job drawing the reader into the story. The ending was unpredictable and I truly enjoyed reading the book.

Overall, this book gave me a roller coaster ride with twists and turns you didn’t even expect, staying up all night finishing this fast paced thriller that left me breathless–looking forward to read more from this duo and worth five stars!

Steph Mullin works by day as Creative Director for Townsquare Media, using early mornings, nights, and weekends to write fiction. Steph’s dream of becoming a writer started at age 6, followed by winning scholastic writing awards and crafting articles for her university’s literary magazine. In her 20’s, she became engrossed in true crime podcasts and literature, which later became the perfect source of inspiration to launch her second career as an author writing dark and twisty thrillers. In 2018, Steph relocated from NYC to Charlotte, North Carolina where she currently resides with her husband and her rescue puppy. Outside of reading, writing, and playing with her dog, you may find her sipping on a soy latte, watching a new movie, or trying out new recipes in the kitchen.

Nicole Mabry spends her days at NBCUniversal as the Senior Manager of Photography Post Production. Her nights are reserved for writing novels. At the age of seven, she read The Boxcar Children, sparking a passion for reading and writing early on. Nicole grew up in the Bay Area in Northern California and went to college at UCLA for Art History. During a vacation, she fell in love with New York City and has lived in Queens for the past sixteen years. On weekends you can find her with a camera in hand and her dog, Jackson, by her side. Nicole is an animal lover and horror movie junkie.