The Last To Know- Book Review

August 15, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / 2 Comments

Thank You Netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for this book! This review is completely based on my honest opinion.

American journalist Rose Kynaston has just relocated to the childhood home of her husband, Dylan, in the English village of his youth. There’s a lot for Rose to get used to in Hurtwood. Like the family’s crumbling mansion, inhabited by Dylan’s reclusive mother, and the treacherous hill it sits upon, a place of both sinister folklore and present dangers.

Then there are unwelcoming villagers, who only whisper the name Kynaston—like some dreadful secret, a curse. Everyone knows what happened at Hurtwood House twenty years ago. Everyone except Rose. And now that Dylan is back, so are rumors about his past.

When an archaeological dig unearths human remains on the hill, local police sergeant Ellie Trevelyan vows to solve a cold case that has cast a chill over Hurtwood for decades.

As Ellie works to separate rumor from facts, Rose must fight to clear the name of the man she loves. But how can Rose keep her family safe if she is the last to know the truth?

No. of pages: – 289 pages

Date Published:- August 11th 2020

Genre:- Psychological Suspense

After spending a decade as a broadcast journalist for the BBC, Jo Furniss gave up the glamour of night shifts to become a freelance writer and serial expatriate. Originally from the United Kingdom, she spent seven years in Singapore and also lived in Switzerland and Cameroon.

As a freelance journalist, Jo worked for numerous online outlets and magazines, including Monocle and the Economist. She has edited books for a Nobel laureate and the palace of the Sultan of Brunei. She has a Distinction in MA Professional Writing from Falmouth University.

Jo’s debut novel, All the Little Children, was an Amazon Charts bestseller.

Rose Kynaston, an American journalist moves to England with her husband Dylan and their son Adel from Kenya to start a new life in Dylan’s childhood home and town, in Hurtwood. The crumbling mansion is occupied by Gwendoline, Dylan’s mother who seemed to be suffering from dementia. While Rose is trying to get used to living in a small village, she discovers how much the villagers seemed to despise the name Kynaston, a rumor about a soccer player who seemed to have committed suicide some twenty years ago and how Dylan’s father is responsible for the apparent suicide. And now that Dylan has returned back, those rumors seemed to have resurfaced once again. Then one day, while doing an archaeological excavation, human skeletal remains are found on the hill and the local police sergeant, Ellie vows to solve the case. Rose meanwhile is determined to clear her husband’s name.

Initially at first, the book was a bit slow paced but soon, it got it’s momentum, towards the middle, with the discovery of skeletal remains. There were so many suspects with Dylan being the main suspect and as a reader, you would hope that Rose was right to defend and clear her husband’s name. The secrets, the twist towards the end was something that was unexpected. I actually started liking the book by the middle and I was hooked into the story.

The story was told from Rose’s perspective mostly, with her sheer determination to investigate more about the alleged soccer player who committed crime. She is a journalist and she would do anything to save her husband and clear his name. I really like Rose’s determination and she became a favorable character to me. The story itself is somewhat realistic. Gwendoline’s dementia problem was outlined well in the book. I must say the book was well written although as I said, the first few chapters were a bit boring to me.

Overall, this is a good psychological thriller and also a quick read although at the beginning, to me it was a bit slow paced. Worth four stars in my opinion! If this book intrigues you, you can buy the book from Amazon!

The Family Upstairs- Book Review

July 4, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / Leave a comment

Back with a book review! Just finished reading The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell and here’s my review for the book!

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

Hardcover: 352 pages

Date Published : November 2019

Genre: Psychological Thriller/Domestic Thriller/Women’s Fiction

Lisa Jewell is the internationally bestselling author of seventeen novels, including the New York Times bestseller Then She Was Gone and the UK instant Sunday Times Number 1 bestseller The Family Upstairs, as well as other much loved novels such as Watching You, I Found You, The Girls in the Garden, and The House We Grew Up In. In total, her novels have sold more than two million copies across the English-speaking world and her work has also been translated into over twenty five languages. Lisa lives in London with her husband and their two daughters. Connect with her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK and on Facebook @LisaJewellOfficial.

This is the first time I was reading Lisa Jewell’s book. Found this copy of The Family Upstairs during my recent visit to a bookstore and so decided to get this book. And I was not to be disappointed.

In a nutshell, Libby Jones inherits a house in Chelsea through a trust fund that was created for her when she turned twenty-five years old. Despite the expensive and exquisite look from outside, the house however was known to have some dark secrets–twenty five years ago, the bodies of three decomposing people were found on the floor of the kitchen and Libby, who was just a baby was well fed and was left in a cot in another room. There used to be four children in the house but they were missing. Libby finds that her real name was Serenity Lamb and together with the Guardian journalist Miller, she discovers some dark secrets about the house.

Now as usual, let’s start with the ones I like about the book.

The book was actually well written and the author did a good job of keeping the reader hooked into the story.
There were some twists in the story that made the reader was made at the edge of the seat and wanting to know what is going to happen next in the story.
The story was divided into four parts and was told from the perspectives of three people–Libby, Lucy and the past which is told from the perspective of Henry, who happened to be Lucy’s brother set in somewhere in 1990’s. The house used to be full of parties and social life until Henry’s mother invited a woman named Birdie into the house along with a man named David Thomsen who eventually changes the house to the rags. So as a reader you can see how some unknown strangers changes everything around the house. This shows how naive people can be to let some unknown strangers into the house who eventually take control of the house.
By reading through different perspectives the reader will get to know what is happening in each part of the story.
It was really good and I really couldn’t stop reading the book as I want to read more and want to know what is going to happen next!

The things I didn’t like about the book.

I am actually confused about the title–The Family Upstairs didn’t really suit to the story.
Some parts of the story doesn’t really sound realistic to me–what type of person would let some unknown stranger to run the house let alone take all their stuff including money? Sometimes, I found it hard to believe it. Particularly the parts where the children were punished by locking up in their room, not feeding them, not giving them proper food. But then maybe, it may happen in real life.
Following a cult like that is actually disturbing to read sometimes.
The ending to me was bit confusing

Overall, this was a good psychological thriller book to read which will actually keep you up all night. Worth four stars!

I am Watching You – Book Review

June 20, 2020June 20, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / Leave a comment

Hello ALL!!! Just finished with the audio book, I am Watching You by Teresa Driscoll. Can’t wait to share my thoughts with you all!

What would it take to make you intervene?

When Ella Longfield overhears two attractive young men flirting with teenage girls on a train, she thinks nothing of it—until she realises they are fresh out of prison and her maternal instinct is put on high alert. But just as she’s decided to call for help, something stops her. The next day, she wakes up to the news that one of the girls—beautiful, green-eyed Anna Ballard—has disappeared.

A year later, Anna is still missing. Ella is wracked with guilt over what she failed to do, and she’s not the only one who can’t forget. Someone is sending her threatening letters—letters that make her fear for her life.

Then an anniversary appeal reveals that Anna’s friends and family might have something to hide. Anna’s best friend, Sarah, hasn’t been telling the whole truth about what really happened that night—and her parents have been keeping secrets of their own.

Someone knows where Anna is—and they’re not telling. But they are watching Ella.

Print Length: 301 pages
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer (October 1, 2017)
Publication Date: October 1, 2017
Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Teresa Driscoll – a former BBC TV news presenter – is now a million-copy #1 bestselling author. Her debut psychological suspense I AM WATCHING YOU hit Kindle #1 in the UK, USA and Australia and has also been a bestseller in Italy in translation. Her second thriller THE FRIEND again made Kindle #1 in the UK and Australia while THE PROMISE hit #2.
Teresa’s work has been sold for translation to 20 countries and optioned for film. She also writes women’s fiction; RECIPES FOR MELISSA was auctioned at the Frankfurt book fair between seven German publishers and her second women’s fiction title is LAST KISS GOODNIGHT.
During her long career as a journalist, Teresa worked for newspapers, magazines and television, including 15 years presenting the BBC TV news programme Spotlight. Covering crime for so long, she was deeply moved by the haunting impact on the relatives, the friends and the witnesses and it is those ripples she explores now in her darker fiction.
Teresa lives in glorious Devon with her family and blogs regularly about her “writing life” at her website – http://www.teresadriscoll.com.

In a nutshell, Ella Longfield was travelling to London for a conference. She gets bored and overhears a conversation between two attractive looking men named Karl and Anthony and two teenage girls, Sarah and Anna, who have just finished their GCSE and are on their way to London to celebrate. But then Ella finds that both Karl and Anthony have just been released from prison. Maternal instincts take over as Ella wants to stop the girls from interacting with the men and call their parents but something prevents her from doing that. The next day, when Ella turns on the TV, she finds that the beautiful green-eyed teenager, Anna Bollard had gone missing. A year later, Ella is still coping with the guilt that she couldn’t do anything about preventing the girls from talking with the ex-cons. Ella then starts receiving postcards from someone with the caption “I AM WATCHING YOU” meaning someone is watching at Ella.

So let’s start with the ones I like about the book.

The book was a fast paced thriller which I like it. As a result, I wanted to know what really happened to Anna–did Karl or Sarah’s father kidnap her or did she runaway. As a reader, the author does a good job of making the reader keep at the edge of the seat to know what really happened to Anna.
The book was told from the perspectives of four different characters – The Witness who is Ella, The Father who is Henry Ballard, Anna’s father, The Friend, who is Sarah and The Private Investigator who is Matthew hired by Ella after she started getting those postcards. So as a reader you will know what each of these characters think, how they are all (except for Matthew) coping up with Anna disappearance. Also you will also know how the police are investigating the disappearance case through Anna. We also wonder what secrets does Henry and Sarah holding and as a reader you want to know their deadly secrets!
There were twists in the book and the ending was a bit unexpected twist. It was good.
The author’s writing was good and the narrator did a good job reading it. Not much descriptions but simply told the emotional trauma that each one is going through because of Anna’s disappearance.

Now the things I didn’t like.

I wish I know what happened to Sarah in the end even though the author had given a clue about what happened to her.

Overall, this is a good fast paced thriller, enjoyable to read and keeps you at the edge of the seat! Worth five stars!

The Fault in Our Five Stars - RTA902 (Social Media) - Medium

#MeToo–Book Review

June 19, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / Leave a comment

Hello all! Back with a new psychological thriller book, that is ranked one of the top bestsellers, #MeToo by Patricia Dixon which is based on true events. So here’s my review!

#MeToo: this year's MUST READ psychological thriller by [Patricia Dixon]

It can happen to anyone… #MeToo

When Billie receives a letter from the man she loves, she returns home, determined to help him.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Stan is in prison, convicted of a crime he swears he didn’t commit.

Kelly, his victim, is struggling to cope after an ordeal that left her traumatised and lonely.

Whilst hiding a secret of her own and battling demons from her past, Billie is enlisted by the private detective who is looking for vital evidence that might set Stan free.

Billie has complete faith in Stan but when she hears Kelly’s version of events, cracks begin to appear and her faith wavers.

There are two sides to every story and Billie needs to get to the truth, but the deeper she digs, the more lies are unearthed.

Who will she believe?

And who is really telling the truth?

Pages:- 318 pages

Date published :- May 27th 2020

Genre:- Women’s Fiction/Psychological Thriller

Rating:-

Patricia Dixon lives in Manchester UK and is the best selling author of nine books.
She has written multi genre stories set in her home city and the Loire, a place to close to her heart and from where she gathers inspiration for her characters and tales.

In May 2018 she signed with Bloodhound Books, leading crime and thriller publishers.

Recently Patricia was long-listed for The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize and has been nominated in the Crime Fiction Addict Readers Choice Awards. Her books regularly appear in the top slots for readers and bloggers book of the year.

If you would like to get in touch please follow the links below. Everyone is welcome.

Email : dixon.patricia@icloud.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pbadixon
Twitter: https://twitter.com/pbadixon

The story plot line appealed to me and both the Goodreads and Amazon had given an almost five star rating to this book so I decided to try this book out. This book is based on true events. Stan is accused of a rape which he denies committing and is in prison. He sends a letter to his ex-girlfriend, Billie, asking her to help him. Billie believes that Stan is innocent and she decides to help Stan. She then meets Kelly, the woman who accused Stan of the rape. And then Billie wasn’t sure to who she should believe–Stan’s version or Kelly’s version.

I am not going to push too much spoilers in here but here are my thoughts about the book.

As a reader, I was really hooked into the story, and wanted to badly know what happened in the end, the writing was good, the author did a good job of keeping the reader hooked into the story until the end.
The story is itself realistic as it goes on. Even in real life, when a woman accuses a man of raping her (even if that man was innocent and never actually raped her), the police are quick to arrest the man and put him behind the bars. Here’s the thing. In real life, it is hard to identify who are the real victims and who are the ones who are just seeking attention rather than playing as a victim. As such the real victims may not get the justice that they really need. The author did a good job of portraying that in the book, making the reader understand the situation. It also helps us that sometimes, the legal system can be missing and is not able to assist the ones who needed the most.
You can also completely understand the turmoil Billie is in–she wants to believe in Stan but as a woman, she wanted to believe in Kelly and so she had no idea who to believe in. So as a reader, you feel sympathetic towards Billie.
The author has done tremendous research about domestic abuse and rape cases that she had done a good job making the book realistic as possible.
Overall the writing was good, easy to understand and you can actually picture those scenes in your head while you are reading the book.
Many of the characters in here are favorable but I think I favor Billie the most. You can also see how much Billie had struggled in her life and you admire her courage as a woman.
I like the parts of the letter that Stan had written to Billie, you can actually note the desperation of how much he wanted Billie to believe him.
The fact that this book was based on true events really piqued my interest to read this book.
It was very interesting, particularly the middle part when Billie, disguising herself meets Kelly for the first time and you are wondering if Billie was going to take Kelly’s side or not.
I like Billie’s relationship with Stan’s mother and brother as they all try to support each other during the difficult time. The author did a good job at how the family of possibly an innocent man is going through such humiliation and shame in public.
The ending was good.

This book was actually emotional to read–there is a bit of violence in the book (though no gory sex parts) and also how the family of accused had to go through in public feeling humiliated and the victims who are seeking help from community centers. Overall, this is a good book to read, I rate this book as five stars!

The Wives – Book Review

May 29, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / 1 Comment

Hello all! Just finished with the audio book The Wives by Tarryn Fisher and couldn’t wait to share my insight about this book!

Amazon.com: The Wives: A Novel eBook: Fisher, Tarryn: Kindle Store

Thursday’s husband, Seth, has two other wives. She’s never met them, and she doesn’t know anything about them. She agreed to this unusual arrangement because she’s so crazy about him.

But one day, she finds something. Something that tells a very different—and horrifying—story about the man she married.

What follows is one of the most twisted, shocking thrillers you’ll ever read.

You’ll have to grab a copy to find out why.

Print Length: 336 pages
Publisher: Graydon House; Original edition (December 30, 2019)
Publication Date: December 30, 2019
Genre:- Psychological Thriller/Domestic Thriller

New York Times & USA Today bestselling author Tarryn Fisher is cooler than you, but not one to rub it in your face. She graduated first in her class at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. She is a lover of human nature, and a real life villain (House of Slytherin). Her heart is dark, but she loves you with it anyway. Currently she lives in Washington with her family and just finished her tenth novel, Folsom, which is now available.

First of all, this book has been in my want to read book list for a long time. Scribd had the audiobook and since I was satisfied with the previous one, decided to try out the audio book. And I am having really mixed feelings about this book.

So in a nutshell, a woman named Thursday is married to a man named Seth. But this Seth is married to other women, named Regina and Hannah, who he called as Mondays (Hannah) and Tuesday (Regina). Then Thursday finds a note in Hannah’s name and then she meets Hannah, one of Seth’s wife. While Thursday was doted by Seth, with Hannah, she finds bruises and marks. Is Seth really the man she knows? What about the other wife?

I will just babble on and on about this book

P.S. SPOILER ALERT!!!!

This book contains lots of twists and turns, many are unexpected twists. It also becomes a little complicated as well dramatic and dark. For example, the narrator believes that Seth is having a polygamy marriage as he is married to two other women but towards the middle, Seth grotesquely manipulates the narrator that she was making things up. And towards the end we find that Seth is only married to Hannah, was ex-husband to Regina and the narrator served as a mistress to Seth. So yeah, it’s complicated.
The author has written this book very well by keeping the reader hooked into the story. What makes this book really interesting is that our narrator is actually unreliable (most psychological thriller narrators are supposed to be unreliable) so we don’t know exactly whether to believe her or not.
I didn’t know the narrator’s name was Thursday until towards the end!!! (what type of parent would name their kid as Thursday?!?!?). You do kind of feel sorry for the main character, as she is trying in vain to prove herself not crazy (though she really is crazy) and that she was actually being used by Seth and Regina, the ex-wife. Seth was a cheater, probably a womanizer as well and probably physically abusing his wives (both ex and present). And Regina, she was simply trying to seek revenge for Thursday stealing her husband. It also annoyed the fact that men use women only for children purpose and if they can’t have any children, they will just leave for another woman.
This was actually an entertaining book to read–I mean you really want to know if the narrator is really crazy or not. To me, this book is more suitable for a dramatic movie or TV show. Though the first few chapters were a bit boring to me, the ending got intense. The ending was so intense that I am still thinking about it.
There are so many unanswered and confused questions in the book (I am not going to put too much spoiler here)
Though the physical abuse is real, I feel the book is a bit unrealistic. Like what type of woman would agree to a polygamy relationship (I won’t) and the narrator becoming to obsessed with finding answers. That was a bit unrealistic to me.

Overall, this is a good psychological thriller to read, it will keep you intense until the end! Worth four stars!

Behind Closed Doors- Book Review

May 15, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / 2 Comments

Just finished reading this book and I can’t wait to tell you what I think about the book!

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth; she has charm and elegance. He’s a dedicated attorney who has never lost a case; she is a flawless homemaker, a masterful gardener and cook, and dotes on her disabled younger sister. Though they are still newlyweds, they seem to have it all. You might not want to like them, but you do. You’re hopelessly charmed by the ease and comfort of their home, by the graciousness of the dinner parties they throw. You’d like to get to know Grace better.

But it’s difficult, because you realize Jack and Grace are inseparable.

Some might call this true love. Others might wonder why Grace never answers the phone. Or why she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. Or why she never seems to take anything with her when she leaves the house, not even a pen. Or why there are such high-security metal shutters on all the downstairs windows.

Some might wonder what’s really going on once the dinner party is over, and the front door has closed.

From bestselling author B. A. Paris comes the gripping thriller and international phenomenon Behind Closed Doors.

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Griffin; Reprint edition (July 3, 2017)
Language: English
Genre:- Psychological Thriller/Domestic Thriller

B A Paris is the internationally bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown and Bring Me Back. Having sold over one million copies in the UK alone, she is a Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller as well as a number one bestseller on Amazon and iBooks. Her books have sold in 38 territories around the world. Having lived in France for many years, she recently moved back to the UK.

I have wanted to read this book since it was released way back in 2016 and couldn’t get hold of the book. Thanks to Scribd, I manage to get hold of this book, which is the debut book of B.A. Paris. A few weeks ago, I did a review on one of her books, Breakdown. Behind Closed Doors is her debut book.

Grace and Jack Angel are seemingly living a perfect life as a married couple. Jack Angel is a successful lawyer who has never lost a case and Grace is a housewife. To outsiders, they seem to be in love with each, particularly of how they are supportive of each other. But after the party is over, their married life is not as perfect and supportive as it seemed.

So let’s start with the ones I liked about the book – (Note–there are some spoilers here)

Like Breakdown, I like the author’s style of writing. It was simple and easy to understand and the author did a good job keeping the reader on the edge of the seat.
As a reader (and as a woman) I feel sorry for the main character Grace Angel–her futile attempts to escape from the marriage, how she is trying to prevent Jack from hurting her Down’s Syndrome sister Millie and how she hooks up a plan to escape from Jack. I also like how she is acting as a dutiful wife in front of people so that Jack would leave her sister alone.
Also as a reader, I wanted to slap that psychotic and narcissistic husband, Jack Angel.
I also like the sisterly bond between Millie and Grace. I like how Millie is trying to help her sister to escape from the marriage.
The book is realistic. This is how many women who are suffering from domestic abuse must be going through in real life. Jack Angel in the book is seemingly a perfect gentleman with polite manners, a successful lawyer who fights for the battered women for outsiders when in fact he is actually a cruel monster with intentions of punishing and torturing his own wife. A lesson to never get fooled by the appearance.
Though there were no surprising twists or turns, this book was actually good.

Now about the things I didn’t like in the book.

The ending was a bit vague.

Overall, this book is actually a good domestic thriller book that will keep you up all night. Worth four stars in my opinon!

The Breakdown–Book Review

May 6, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / Leave a comment

Hey all! Just finished reading The Breakdown by B.A. Paris and today will be the book review about this book!

The Breakdown: The gripping thriller from the bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors by [B A Paris]

f you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?

It all started that night in the woods.

Cass Anderson didn’t stop to help the woman in the car, and now she’s dead.

Ever since, silent calls have been plaguing Cass and she’s sure someone is watching her.

Consumed by guilt, she’s also starting to forget things. Whether she took her pills, what her house alarm code is – and if the knife in the kitchen really had blood on it.

Print Length: 337 pages
Publisher: HQ (February 9, 2017)
Publication Date: February 9, 2017
Genre:- Psychological Thriller/ Women’s Fiction

I have not yet read her first novel, Behind Closed Doors yet (which I am planning to read soon). I decided to try this book, The Breakdown first.

The story begins with Cass Anderson, who was at a party with her colleagues from work. On her way home, she takes the shortcut, instead of taking the main road, that is through the woods. While driving through the shortcut, she sees a car, parked by the side of the road, and sees a woman inside the car. Cass stops and then drives away, as it was raining heavily and she thought that the woman had already asked for help. The next day, the news came that the woman who Cass saw in the car was murdered brutally. Later on, we find that the woman’s name was Jane Walters who Cass befriended two weeks ago at a party. Cass is now overwhelmed with guilt of not helping her friend at the time. And then, she starts receiving silent phone calls and then she keeps forgetting things…

Let’s start with the ones I like about the book.

I thought the plot line for the story was actually good. It was in fact intriguing.
Towards the end, there were twists to the story so it actually hooked me into the story as to what is going to happen next.
As a reader, you would think if Cass is actually going crazy or if she was imagining things in her head.
The book is well written in my opinion–it was easy to read.

Now about the ones I didn’t like about the book.

The story to me was a bit predictable, including the one of the characters I knew would be Jane’s murderer
None of the characters in this book are likable–Cass, the main character to me was naive and whiny, her husband, Matthew is inconsiderate and her friend Rachel to me, I didn’t really like her.
This is a slow paced thriller which is not to my liking

Overall, this was a good book but only worth four stars because of the good plot and the story was well written.

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Pretty Girls – Book Review

May 1, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / 2 Comments

Hello all! I am back with one of Karin Slaughter’s thriller books, Pretty Girls and so I am going to be sharing a review with you all!

Sisters. Strangers. Survivors.

More than twenty years ago, Claire and Lydia’s teenaged sister Julia vanished without a trace. The two women have not spoken since, and now their lives could not be more different. Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of an Atlanta millionaire. Lydia, a single mother, dates an ex-con and struggles to make ends meet. But neither has recovered from the horror and heartbreak of their shared loss—a devastating wound that’s cruelly ripped open when Claire’s husband is killed.

The disappearance of a teenage girl and the murder of a middle-aged man, almost a quarter-century apart: what could connect them? Forming a wary truce, the surviving sisters look to the past to find the truth, unearthing the secrets that destroyed their family all those years ago . . . and uncovering the possibility of redemption, and revenge, where they least expect it.

No of Pages :- 592 Pages

Language :- English

Genre:-Thriller/Mystery/Suspense

Karin Slaughter is the #1 internationally bestselling author of more than a dozen novels, including the Will Trent and Grant County series and the instant NEW YORK TIMES bestselling standalones, COP TOWN and PRETTY GIRLS. There are more than 35 million copies of her books in print around the world. Find her on the web at http://www.karinslaughter.com

So I will first start with the the things I liked in the book

The book is well written, with vivid descriptions and scenes with a good use of language–Karin Slaughter is a very good writer and she manages to keep the reader at pace and at the edge of the seat when she ends each chapter with a nail biting moment.
The story is emotional tale of sisters’ relationship–One sister disappeared about twenty three years ago, two sisters have an estranged relationship and were reunited when one of the sisters find a dark secret her husband had kept away from her for eighteen years.
Story also talks about the emotional stress that leaves a mark to the family when one of their members go missing. Karin has written the father’s perspective by writing letters to his missing/dead daughter.
There were many twists and turns particularly when Claire finds that her husband who she assumed is dead is still alive and is a violent psychopath.

The things I did not like

OK, most of Slaughters books are violent and this is violent. It talks about sexual abuses, and is not just sexual abuses–there were some parts in the book where it is disturbing, particularly the parts where Slaughter writes a scene where the girl is brutally branded with an iron rod.
The brutal torture description that Lydia one of the sisters have to go through particularly waterboarding with urine (ewww) is too much
The part where the girls were raped with a machete (!?!?!?!?!) and tortured with cattle prod and machete is so disturbing and gory.

Overall, my rating for this book will be

Book Review–The French Girl by Lexie Elliot

April 24, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / Leave a comment

I know I was supposed to post a blog yesterday but it was raining and thundering. AND we are still under lockdown.

So today, I will be doing a thriller review on The French Girl, the debut book of Lexie Elliot.

Image result for the french girl lexie elliott

Everyone has a secret…

They were six university students from Oxford—friends and sometimes more than friends—spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway…until they met Severine, the girl next door.

But after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate Channing knew nothing would ever be the same. There are some things you can’t forgive. And there are some people you can’t forget…like Severine, who was never seen again.

A decade later, the case is reopened when Severine’s body is found behind the farmhouse. Questioned along with her friends, Kate stands to lose everything she’s worked so hard to achieve as suspicion mounts all around her. Desperate to resolve her unreliable memories and fearful she will be forever bound to the memory of the woman who still haunts her, Kate finds herself entangled within layers of deception with no one to set her free….

Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Berkley (February 20, 2018)
Language: English
Genre:- Psychological Thriller

Lexie Elliott grew up in Scotland, at the foot of the Highlands. She graduated from Oxford University, where she obtained a doctorate in theoretical physics. A keen sportswoman, she works in fund management in London, where she lives with her husband and two sons. The rest of her time is spent writing, or thinking about writing, and juggling family life and sport.

So I was curious about this book probably of this Girl word and when I saw this book at the bookstore last week, I immediately bought this book. I manage to finish this book within one week!

P.S. There is some bits and parts from the book so SPOILER ALERT

So in a nutshell, the story is about six British graduates who goes to France for a vacation and meets a French girl named Severine. But a day before they were leaving, Severine disappears mysteriously. The six British graduates return back to their country and then move on with their lives. Then a decade later, Severine’s remains are found in a well and then the investigation is open, making each of these six a suspect.

The story is told from the perspective of Kate Channings, one of those six graduates. She immediately gets haunted by the ghost of Severine when she heard the news about finding Severine’s remains. The story mostly focused around Kate and the other five, Seb, Tom, Lara, Caro (Theo was the other one who died in Afghanistan), the relationships between each of them and the secrets that each of them had on that fateful night. This story is mainly for the mature audience as it talks about drugs and sex as well.

So let’s begin with the ones I like about the book.

The story is interesting overall and by the middle of the book, I was so interested in actually which of these people actually killed Severine on that night.
The story is somewhat realistic as well.
The author uses simple English and phrases making the reader understand.
It was intriguing and will make the reader feel at the edge of the seat.
It was also interesting to see that the main protagonist Kate was also the prime suspect of the story due to the fact that her then boyfriend slept with Severine the day they broke up.

Now I will tell the things that I didn’t really like about the book.

To me the ending was a bit vague–I feel that the ending was a bit rush.
It was at first slow paced though in the middle, it started to grow it’s momentum

Overall, I rate this book as four stars!

Favorite Genre- Part 1

March 22, 2020 / tropicalgirlreads1988 / Leave a comment

Hello all!!! So let’s get away from book reviews and talk about genre for a while…

So what is actually a genre?

Genre is a noun, depicting a style or category in arts, music and literature. So in books, there are many different types of genre as we all know–thriller, romance, historical fiction, YA, literary fiction…

So today, I am going to be talking about my favorite genre, why I like that particular genre and my favorite books of that genre

So my favorite genre is….thriller/mystery!

Why do I like that type of genre???

So here are the reasons

Solving a puzzle–when reading a thriller books is like you are solving a puzzle on your own. Like who did that? Why? All these questions are coming into your head with various characters in the books looking like suspects of that crime. So that’s why I like it.
The mystery behind the character–a good thriller usually make the protagonist naive or weak with a questionable and regrettable past that seems to haunt them. So as a reader, we want to know more about the protagonist’s past.
The thrill–when reader a thriller book, you feel a sudden thriller, keeping yourself on the edge with each unexpected twists and turns in each chapter. I like that feel of the thrill
Real world–most thrillers are realistic–the stories are based on real-life situations. I like books that are realisitc.
Female protagonists–truth to be told, a protagonist female is more interesting to read than a male one.

So here are some of my favorite psychological thriller books which I also recommend to you all, if you haven’t read it yet. (some of these books I will do a review)

The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins

Image result for the girl on the train book

A very interesting book, with twists and turns. I haven’t watched the movie but would recommend this book to anyone who hasn’t read it.

2. The Woman in Cabin 10 – Ruth Ware

Though the first few chapters were a bit boring, it got more interesting towards the end. I really enjoyed reading this book.

3. I Let You Go- Clare Mackintosh

This is a good book, mingled with a tragic accident and domestic abuse, I enjoyed reading it (will be doing a review on this book)

4. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo–Stieg Larsson

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)

One of the best thrillers I have read, and I simply couldn’t put this book down. If you haven’t read the book yet, you should read it.

5. Gone Girl– Gillian Flynn

Another one of the best thriller books I have read, with unexpected twists and turns.

So what are your favorite books in this genre?

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psychological thrillers