Tropical Girl Reads

The death of a look-alike stranger leads a grieving woman down a troubling path in this riveting novel by A. J. Banner, bestselling author of The Poison Garden.

Three years ago mortuary cosmetologist Phoebe Glassman lost her husband in a tragic accident. No longer the hopeful wife and mother she once was, Phoebe is disappearing into her grief and into the quietude of her job—restoring to the dead the illusion of life. Then the body of a woman named Pauline Steele arrives in the mortuary, and for Phoebe, everything changes.

Pauline is unmistakably Phoebe’s mirror image and bears an alarmingly familiar tattoo. Even more startling is that among Pauline’s effects is a faded photograph of Phoebe. Aided by an eccentric colleague, her curiosity sparked, Phoebe investigates her doppelgänger’s life and death—and uncovers surprising clues to a shared past.

Phoebe’s emotional journey soon leads to shocking revelations about those closest to her…and even herself. When she’s driven to the brink, how much of what she discovers can she trust?

No. of pages:- 251 pages

Date published:- will be published on October 5th 2021

Publisher:- Lake Union

Genre:- Thriller/ Women’s Fiction

Rating:- 4/5 stars

This book was actually surprisingly good!

Phoebe was a former mortuary cosmetologist and lost both her husband and child in a car accident. Now years later, she comes back to the mortuary and finds the dead corpse a mirror image of her own. The dead woman’s name was Pauline and soon Phoebe becomes embroiled in finding deeper secrets as she finds a picture of herself in the dead woman’s purse.

This was actually interesting from start to finish. You could totally understand the series of emotions and frustrations the main protagonist, Phoebe is going through and how when each of the secrets are revealed she was determined to find more truth. There was some sort of an air of suspense in the book as well, particularly, the story gets interesting when Phoebe finds a child who looks exactly like a carbon copy of her deceased daughter Ava. She learns some dark secrets about her husband and so as a reader, you are literally hooked into the story, wanting to know what has really happened? Are her husband and daughter still alive? Or is it just Phoebe is imagining this whole scenario? What is Pauline doing with her picture in her purse? So in other words, the author did a good job keeping the reader at the edge of the seat.

The characters are somewhat likable–as I mentioned earlier, I could feel Phoebe wanting to know the answers. The writing was really great and this is my first time reading a book from this author and I am looking forward to read more books form this author.

Thank you Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

In the summer of ’84, fourteen-year-old Frankie Jubilee is shuttled off to Litani, Minnesota, to live with her estranged mother, a county prosecutor she barely knows. From the start, Frankie senses something uneasy going on in the small town. The locals whisper about The Game, and her mother warns her to stay out of the woods and away from adults.

When a bullying gang of girls invites Frankie to The Game, she accepts, determined to find out what’s really going on in Litani. She’s not the only one becoming paranoid. Hysteria burns through the community. Dark secrets emerge. And Frankie fears that, even in the bright light of day, she might be living among monsters.

Date published:- will be published on October 19th 2021

Publisher:- Thomas and Mercer

Rating:- 4/5 4 cupcake stars

Based on true events that happened in the 1980’s in a small town called Litani in Minnesota…and having read Bloodline by Jess Lourey, I was excited that I got this ARC.

Francesca Jubilee known as Frankie moves to Litani when she was fourteen years old, after living in California with her father for six years with her father dying recently. She is sort of having a strained relationship with her workaholic mother. Frankie was visiting Litani after a very long time–the last time she visited Litani, she was seven years old and things didn’t go well with her mother. As she adjusts to the life in the small town, she meets some girls, who bullied her and asks her to play the Game with them. She meets a standoffish boy named Crane. And as she gets slowly adjusts to the life in Litani, she finds some secrets that have been buried, from the time when her parents were teenagers.

The story is told mainly in Frankie’s point of view. This kind of had a creepy sense in it, like I felt like I was watching a horror movie. People living in the town of Litani believe in a cult which is Satanic and Frankie’s mother is determined to save the little girls who went missing. As a result, I actually enjoyed the plot–the plot was interesting and intriguing that I was hooked into the book from the beginning to the end. Since it is based on a true story, it piqued my interest more. Frankie is somewhat a likable character and I like how her relationship with her mother seemed to improve towards the end of the book. Though the ending was OK, the story was a bit emotional.

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book! Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for granting me the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.

The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner  – The bridesmaid – The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.

And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

No. of pages:- 322 pages

Date published:- June 2nd 2020

Publisher:- William Morrow

Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Rating:- 4/5 stars

I have yet to read Lucy Foley’s The Hunting Party but instead started with this Guest List. Thanks Scribd for making it available as a ebook reader!

Julie and Will are having their dream wedding in a remote island and the story is told from the perspectives of five people–the bride, Julie, the wedding planner Aoife, the bridesmaid, Olivia, the bridegroom, Johnny and the plus one, Hannah. The story divides between the time when a body was discovered during the wedding night to the events before the wedding night, in the perspectives of Julie, Aoife, Olivia, Johnny and Hannah. Each of these characters seem to have some sort of connection with each other–Hannah’s husband Charlie used to date Julie, Johnny is Will’s best mate and Olivia is Julie’s half sister. And one of them could be the murderer and one of them could be the victim…

Heck, the thought of having a dream wedding in a remote island sounds tempting and so I like this idea where the wedding guests gets stranded in an island and one of them gets murdered…and that one of them could be the killer. This book sort of reminded me of One by One by Ruth Ware except a bit different–one gets killed and someone in the group is the murderer. It’s interesting to read each and every one of these five perspectives and as a reader, you would wonder, are they connected with each other in some way? Later on, towards the middle part, we find the connection, all leading to the groom of the wedding Will.

The writing was good and though it started a bit slow, the story began to gain its climax and momentum by the middle part of the book. The characters are somewhat OK to me–I didn’t much like Julie but I kind of warmed towards Hannah and Olivia who seemed to be the odd ones out of the group. Will seemed to be the douchebag in the story. The ending was unexpected, with twists and turns on the way and the pace began to get fast by the middle of the book. Overall, it was a twisty thriller that will keep you reader hooked into the story.

Since I am satisfied with this book, I am waiting for her latest book, the Paris Apartment and will be reading the Hunting Party soon!

The first fall of snow can be fatal…

A year has passed since DI James Walker cracked his biggest case yet, and he’s hoping for peace and quiet this festive season.

But across the fells, a local farmer returns home on Christmas Eve to find footsteps in the fresh snow that lead down to his unused basement – and no footsteps leading away. Days later, his body is found, alongside those of his wife and daughter.

Without a neighbour for miles, there are no witnesses and little evidence. And the crime scene has strange echoes of another terrible murder committed at the farmhouse, twenty years earlier…
 
James knows that to catch this killer, he needs to solve a case that has long since gone cold…

Perfect for fans of smash-hit TV series Whitehouse Farm, Simon McCleave’s The Snowdonia Killings and Catherine Cooper’s The Chalet.

No. of pages:- 391 pages

Publisher:- Avon

Date published:- will be published on October 28th 2021

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:- 4/5 stars

This is the second book of the DI James Walker series, although this is the first time I am reading the series.

In a farm, a father, mother and a daughter were found dead inside the barn. It happened to look like a suicide–daughter was stabbed, the mother was shot and the father shot himself. But when the detectives finds that the father, Robert Bateman is in huge debts and the Bateman seemed to be having enemies, they soon ruled this case as a murder.

The story started out a bit slow but soon towards the middle, it got a bit more interesting as the secrets started revealing about the family and that there was another murder that happened on the very same farm almost twenty four years ago with a baby missing. Soon, this begins a cat and mouse chase game and then there were some twists and turns that it got fast paced until the end.

Overall this thriller is a slow burn book–it wasn’t bad but it was good too that will keep you engrossed in the book.

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

My father’s path was one I never wanted to walk, but here I am, following drops of blood like a crumb trail left in the woods. I was born of murder, my life built on the bones of a prolific killer. And now, I must atone for sins that should not be mine to bear.

Detective Harlow Durant has spent a lifetime trying to escape the shadows of her tormented past. As the daughter of a convicted serial killer, Harlow was determined to turn her life around and is now the only female detective at the New York Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, bringing killers like her father to justice.

Upstate, in the small college town of Plattsburgh, the body of a young woman has been found inside a melting snowbank. Harlow and her partner Detective Lucas Park are immediately called in to investigate. Searching around the victim’s frozen body, they find a bracelet which identifies her as college student Alyssa Trent.

As Harlow and Lucas begin to gather evidence from the town’s shocked community, the snow continues to thaw and soon another two victims are discovered. With the body count rising fast it is clear that Harlow is hunting a serial killer. But what links these seemingly ordinary young women?

With a town living in fear and a killer at large, Harlow receives a chilling message from someone who knows her father’s case and knows the secret she has hidden from the bureau. Is she being warned off the case? And with a freak April snowstorm heading across the state, will Harlow risk everything to stop a killer dead in their tracks before they strike again?

From the bestselling author of Next Girl To Die comes a chilling and unputdownable crime thriller perfect for fans of Melinda Leigh, Kendra Elliot and Robert Dugoni’s Tracy Crosswhite series.

No. of pages:- 300 pages

Date published:- will be published on October 21st 2021

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

I am so happy and thrilled that over the months, I got a chance to start off the detective series and this book is one such book!

Serial Killers? If a book is about serial killers, then I’ll definitely read it. Detective Harlow Durant has a tumultuous past–her name was Harper Jane and she was the daughter of a well known serial killer back in Washington. When her father was caught Harper changed her name to Harlow. Many years later, she is working for New York Bureau of Crimes and moves to a small town in upstate New York to solve crimes. When a body of a computer science girl was found buried in the snow, Harlow along with her partner Lucas starts to investigate the case.

I actually enjoyed reading this book!!! Harlow is going to be one of my favorite detectives and from start to finish, I was so engrossed in the book that I didn’t even realize until I reach the end of the page that I have finished the book. What I really like in a good thriller is how fast paced the book is and this thriller lived up to my expectations. When Harlow and Lucas finds out that they are dealing with a serial killer, I was immediately hooked into the book, that I couldn’t even wait to find out who the serial killer is! It was all intense and action packed book! Another thing why this book stood out to me was, how Harlow faced so much discrimination particularly from male workers led by Officer Green and I like how the author made it realistic as possible. Kudos to that! And of course, when the serial killer is caught, you are all happy and that ending…wow I so cannot wait to read the second book of the series!!! I stayed up all night trying to read the book, literally glued to the page.

Anyway, a five star rating from me! A thrilling roller coaster ride, page turner, unputdownable, fast paced, twisted…all sums up to one good thriller book!

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

The lights of her parents’ cabin just visible through the woods, the girl carefully curls up amongst the reeds, her knees pulled tight to her chest. Terrified, the only sound she makes is the pounding of her heart, but she hears the stranger searching… if she keeps silent, will she be safe?

When Agent Tori Hunter is urgently calledto the murder scene of Dan and Heidi Newman, she finds their throats slit, and Dan tied up: forced to watch his wife lose her life. Tori’s first thought is for their seventeen-year-old daughter Cara who is nowhere to be found. Will this popular young girl be the next victim?

A broken bracelet is the one clue left at the scene, but the team are running in circles until Tori finally tracks down Cara hiding in the woods. Sobbing, the devastated girl says all she remembers is a flash of a man’s face as she was chased through the forest…

Desperate to find the monster behind this crime, Tori pieces together the broken chain: and it leads her to an elderly lady living alone nearby. When the woman won’t speak to police, Tori senses that although it means breaking all the rules, introducing Cara will show this lonely soul what’s at stake. And once inside her house, Cara gasps when she sees a framed photo on display. It’s the man who chased her…

But then another local couple is murdered in their isolated home, another husband forced to watch his worst nightmare unfold. As more couples lose their lives, can Tori keep Cara, her one witness, safe from this vicious killer? And can she track him down before more innocent families are torn apart?

An absolutely addictive and mind-blowing crime thriller that will have you glued to the pages through each and every twist, until the final shocking conclusion. Fans of Kendra Elliot, Robert Dugoni and Lisa Jackson won’t be able to put this down.

No. of pages:- 396 pages

Date published:- will be published on 7th October 2021

Publisher:- Bookouture

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Agent Tori Hunter is back with another case!

In a cabin situated through the woods, a couple, Dan and Heidi Newman were found brutally murdered–Dan’s throat was slit and he was forced to watch his wife getting murdered. The only survivor was Dan’s teenage daughter, Cara who fled the scene and was chased by the two men–one big, one small. When Agent Tori was asked to investigate the crime scene, she found this very similar to another murder case that took place twenty four years ago, with her own father as the lead investigator. The problem was the one who was responsible for those murders is safely locked in jail, Then another family gets murdered and Tori must find the killers before it is too late.

From the first chapter to the end, I was literally hooked into this book! The Tori Hunter series gets better and better and I was not disappointed with this book. I stayed up all night, waiting to find out who the killer is and there were so much unexpected twists and turns, with the thriller being fast paced, which makes a plus sign in the book!. I couldn’t simply put this book down ! I felt like I am watching some action packed movie that had kept me at the edge of my seat. Not only that–I felt like I was in a roller coaster ride with this book! Couldn’t wait to read more books from this series and very much looking forward to it!

I also like the personal touch in the book–the relationship between Tori and Braddock, which I will always root for them besides the excitement of catching the killer. There were many suspects that I couldn’t even predict who is the actual killer–normally, I would suspect who would be the killer. But in this case, it was totally unexpected. And the other thing–there’s so much suspense in this book that will leave you hooked.

Overall, this was a twisted, thrilling ride, that will keep you hooked from the beginning to the end!

Thank you Netgalley and Bookouture for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.