Tropical Girl Reads

Title:- The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

Author:- Silvia Moreno

Date published:- July 19th 2022

No. of pages:- 306 pages

Genre:- Scientific Fiction/Horror

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5

Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 3.5/5

A lavish historical drama reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico.

Carlota Moreau: a young woman, growing up in a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of either a genius, or a madman.

Montgomery Laughton: a melancholic overseer with a tragic past and a propensity for alcohol. An outcast who assists Dr. Moreau with his scientific experiments, which are financed by the Lizaldes, owners of magnificent haciendas and plentiful coffers.

The hybrids: the fruits of the Doctor’s labor, destined to blindly obey their creator and remain in the shadows. A motley group of part human, part animal monstrosities.

All of them living in a perfectly balanced and static world, which is jolted by the abrupt arrival of Eduardo Lizalde, the charming and careless son of Doctor Moreau’s patron, who will unwittingly begin a dangerous chain reaction.

For Moreau keeps secrets, Carlota has questions, and in the sweltering heat of the jungle, passions may ignite.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is both a dazzling historical novel and a daring science fiction journey.

So after reading the Mexican Gothic I always wanted to read Sylvia Moreno’s books–and when her latest book The Daughter of Doctor Moreau was released, I was so excited to read this book.

I am having mixed feelings about this book.

Normally I am not a fan of Sci-Fi but I made an exception with this one. The story is set in nineteenth century. Carlota’s father Doctor Moreau is a scientist who is performing experiments by mixing animals with humans to form a species called hybrid to work on plantations. Mr. Loughton comes to work in Moreau’s household.

This was a slow-burn although it became interesting towards the end. The story is told mainly from Carlota’s and Montgomery’s point of view. Although it was a science fiction, I actually enjoyed this one. The book was well written with vivid descriptions so that the reader will feel like they are living in the nineeenth century. Overall this book worth four stars.

The New York Times best-selling author of Final Girls and Survive the Night is back with his most unexpected thriller yet.

Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of liquor, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple who live in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is rich; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.

One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect and placid as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey becomes consumed with finding out what happened to her. In the process, she uncovers eerie, darker truths that turn a tale of voyeurism and suspicion into a story of guilt, obsession and how looks can be very deceiving.

With his trademark blend of sharp characters, psychological suspense, and gasp-worthy surprises, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake unveils more than one twist that will shock readers until the very last page.

This may be my 5th or 6th book I have read of Riley Sager and I always enjoyed reading his books. This book is also one of my highly anticipated books and looked so forward to read the book. I started last year and then finished this year.

So you can figure out how the book is.

This book partially reminds me of the Woman in the Window–Casey Fletcher is a widow, who is in the lake house in Vermont, venting off her sorrow by drinking. Just across the lake, another couple lives in the house–Katherine and Tom Pryce. Casey saves Katherine from drowning and the two become friends. And while spying through the binoculars one night, Katherine goes into a fight with Tom and the next day, Katherine had gone missing.

This book started out slow and boring that I nearly DNFed the book. But I don’t usually do DNF so I thought I would finish this book off ASAP. Yeah the first part was boring, slow, not too much going on…but the tension and the actual story starts somewhere in the middle and the tension starts building towards the end. An unexpected twist at the end actually made my rating to increase from 2.5 to 3.5 because the ending was so completely unexpected with a serial killer in the twist. I heard the book is in talks of turning into a movie but having read all of Riley Sager’s book, I must say, this wasn’t as good as his previous ones.

Overall, this book worth 3.5 stars.

If you do want to check out his books, try Home Before Dark–that was really, really good. And als my favorite book of his was Lock Every Door too. I will soon put up my ranking of Riley Sager’s books soon.

The biting wind whips around the crystal-clear waters of the lake. The girl sits with her eyes open, as if transfixed by the waves on the shoreline, but she has taken her last breath…

When Detective Morgan Brookes is called to Lake Thirlmere one frosty night, she’s devastated to find the body of a young woman positioned in front of the glistening reservoir. She has ligature marks on her limbs, glue residue on her eyes, and her beautiful face is as cold as ice. Knowing only a dangerous serial killer would arrange a scene so carefully, Morgan is in a race against time to stop them before more innocent lives are lost.

The victim is twenty-year-old Jasmine Armer and her mother is distraught to hear that her beautiful daughter is gone. And Morgan is shocked when she learns that Jasmine’s father recently committed suicide at the same picturesque spot. The killer must have known the family. Then Morgan receives a terrifying package at the station of an intricate death mask. She immediately recognises Jasmine’s long lashes and perfectly-plump lips.

With the killer taunting her, Morgan knows time is running out. And then Morgan gets the heart-shattering call that her friend, Emily, has been killed. Ligature marks on Emily’s arms are identical to Jasmine’s. Heartbroken Morgan knows this isn’t the end of the killer’s twisted game, but can she track them down before they take another life?

This is the ninth book of the series and as usual Helen Phifer did it again!

The story starts off with the discovery of a body of a young woman named Jasmine, the same spot where Morgan’s father committed suicide. Morgan then receives a package with a horrible mask inside the package and thought that someone was playing a prank on her not knowing that there is going to be a connection between the package and the case. Then another girl was murdered in the similar fashion and soon, Morgan suspected that there is a serial killer on loose.

This was fast paced and a page turner. There were twists and turns and the reader felt like they were also on the part of mission to catch the killer with Detective Morgan. I have been reading Morgan Brooke series for a long time and I have to say, each time I read the new book, I wasn’t disappointed. Overall, it was an unputdownable thriller and for ones who haven’t read this book yet, try out the series! Worth four stars.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

They’re your best friends.

Lucy and her husband do everything with their closest friends Cora and Scott. They’ve even bought a beach house together to enjoy summers with their kids. They’re more than they’re family.

They’re hiding something.

When a colleague passes around photographs from her honeymoon in the Maldives, Lucy is shocked to see Scott in one of the pictures, his arm around another woman.

The truth will change everything.

Then news breaks that the woman from the photograph has mysteriously vanished. Why was Scott there and what is he hiding?

As Lucy looks for answers, her whole life begins to unravel. If the lies start here, where do they end?

This was actually an interesting thriller.

The story starts with Lucy looking over at photos of her colleague’s honeymoon pictures. In one picture, she recognizes one of her friends Scott with another woman beside him. But Scott was in Japan for a business trip and there is no way he would be in Maldives. But few days later, news reached that a woman was found dead possibly murdered in Maldives and Lucy realized that was the same woman who was standing next to Scott on the photo.

This was fast paced, page turner and I was literally hooked into the book. The only thing was this book was predictable and by the end of the book I kind of predicted what was going to happen and my prediction was correct. Some parts in the book is unrealistic in my opinion. So overall this book worth four stars.

Many thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the ARC. The review is based on my honest review only