nomadreader

The backstory: I enjoyed the first thriller co-authored by Hendricks and Pekkanen, The Wife Between Us ( my review ). The basics:  "Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. Question #1: Could you tell a lie without feeling guilt? But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding."--publisher My thoughts: I had low expectations going into this book. While I didn't end up loving The Wife Between Us,  it was really fun to read, and that's what I was hoping for with An Anonymous Girl : a fun read. And it was. As I read, I ...

Livia Lone, the first in a series featuring the titular character, was my favorite mystery of 2017 . I've been looking forward to The Night Trade  since I finished Livia Lone . I loved Livia Lone  so much that I also wanted to read Eisler's other books, and I read the first in his John Rain series, A Clean Kill in Tokyo , earlier this month. I knew from the blurb that Livia returns to Thaiand in this book, and I managed to wait until I was in Thailand to read it. The Night Trade  picks up shortly after Livia Lone , and, as should be expected, there are tons of spoilers from the first book. It's clear this series is not one that can be read out of order. Livia Lone is a critical foundation for both the characters and story of Livia. Eisler recaps the highlights well in The Night Trade  in case you've forgotten, but there's no substitute for reading the book itself. What I wansn't expecting in The Night Trade  was Dox, a character from the Rain books. I didn...

The backstory: Greer Hendricks worked as an editor for more than 20 years. For her first novel, she teams up with one of the authors whose work she edited. My thoughts: The Wife Between Us  is one of this season's buzziest books, which is always a dangerous proposition for a thriller. And this particular thriller is one that benefits from the reader knowing as little as possible going into it. I'm glad I read this one before its publication so each surprise was still a surprise. I read a thought of mysteries and thrillers, and I can't recall the last time I actually said out loud while reading, "wait, what?!" and flipped back a few pages to make sure I hadn't misread. This novel's first big twist is so much fun. It flips this novel on the reader, and it made me realize I was reading a very different novel than I thought I was. Unfortunately, after the thrill of that twist, I realized I actually preferred the novel this begins as rather than the one it ...

In a year when I often wanted to tune out reality and current events, I found myself reading a lot of mysteries and thrillers. Although arguably depressing in their own right, mysteries have a way of transporting me when I read. Even when I end up rating a book 4 stars or less, I often quite enjoy the time I spend reading the book, even moreso than some books that end awesomely but are somewhat slow to get through. I find when I read mysteries, I find more minutes in the day to read. As I made this list and ranked it, I realized rankings these books by my ratings (4, 4.5, or 5 stars) wasn't the right way to go. Ratings are highly subjective and imperfect, but I recommend all of these, for a variety of reasons. Here are my seven favorites,with a three-way tie for first place!) (As always, clicking the book covers will take you to Amazon.) 7. Final Girls  by Riley Sager The premise of this one is bleak but fascinating. It centers on Quincy Carpenter, a young woman who ten years ...

The backstory: Last summer, I read and enjoyed Wendy Walker's first psychological thriller All Is Not Forgotten  ( my review ). ( Walker has also published several novels that aren't thrillers.) The basics: One night, two sisters, ages 15 and 17, go missing. Three years later, one of them comes back, and she's desperate to find her sister, whom she left behind in order to escape. My thoughts: When I read All Is Not Forgotten , I was enraptured. In my review, I wrote "ll Is Not Forgotten is an utterly gripping thriller. I read it compulsively. As I reached its conclusion, however, I realized the thrills were likely gone. In this sense, the novel is authentic and realistic--it's characters feel like real people. While I appreciate the novel's conclusion in this sense, for such a twisty ride, I was mildly disappointed there wasn't one more twist." In many ways, Emma in the Night  has the opposite problem. The premise is such an intriguing one, but I...

When Ruth Ware's third novel, The Lying Game , came out this summer, I decided to finally read her first novel, In a Dark, Dark Wood , which I've been meaning to read since before it came out. I like to read books, particularly mystery and thriller authors, in the order they were written and published.  I liked In a Dark, Dark Wood  immediately. I realized for a book I'd been meaning to read for so long, I didn't really know much about it. I found the narrator's voice fresh, fun and deliciously dark. It didn't necessarily feel like a thriller, but there was a clear sense that something  was going to happen and make it darker. The novel is at its best when the narrative has two timelines. When the timelines merged, the pace slowed, and I grew impatient. The conclusion, however, reduced what was an enjoyable 3.5 or 4-star read to me to a 2-star read. I found it maddening and not grounded in the reality the rest of the book was. While I rated it only 2 stars...

The backstory: I saw Wendy Walker speak at ALA in June. I started All Is Not Forgotten  the morning I heard her speak, as I figured it would be a good book to read during a conference--something that would keep my attention, but that I could put down while I was busy attending programs and events. I was right on one of those. The basics:  "It begins in the small, affluent town of Fairview, Connecticut, where everything seems picture perfect. Until one night when young Jenny Kramer is attacked at a local party. In the hours immediately after, she is given a controversial drug to medically erase her memory of the violent assault. But, in the weeks and months that follow, as she heals from her physical wounds, and with no factual recall of the attack, Jenny struggles with her raging emotional memory. Her father, Tom, becomes obsessed with his inability to find her attacker and seek justice while her mother, Charlotte, struggles to pretend this horrific event did not touch her...

The backstory: Every Fifteen Minutes , a stand-alone thriller from the prolific Lisa Scottoline, was one of my book club picks this fall. The basics:  "Dr. Eric Parrish is the Chief of the Psychiatric Unit at Havemeyer General Hospital outside of Philadelphia. Recently separated from his wife Alice, he is doing his best as a single Dad to his seven-year-old daughter Hannah. His work seems to be going better than his home life, however. His unit at the hospital has just been named number two in the country and Eric has a devoted staff of doctors and nurses who are as caring as Eric is. But when he takes on a new patient, Eric's entire world begins to crumble." My thoughts: From the description, Eric sounds like a smart, admirable person, right? Unfortunately, both at work and at home, his actions fail to show intelligence. This disconnect was incredibly distracting and made me lose faith in the narrative very early on. I can tolerate a frustratingly stupid narrato...

The backstory: Fear the Darkness  is the second mystery featuring former FBI agent Brigid Quinn. I loved the first one, Rage Against the Dying . The basics: When Brigid's sister-in-law dies, she agrees to let her seventeen-year-old daughter Gemma-Kate move from Florida and live with her (and her husband Carlo.) Around the same time, she agrees to investigate the somewhat suspicious drowning death of a fourteen-year-old boy. Also, things start seeming off with Brigid's own mind and body. My thoughts: There are essentially three mysteries at the center of Fear the Darkness. First: what is wrong with Brigid? Second: was Joe's death in the pool an accident, a suicide or a homicide? Third: is Gemma-Kate a psychopath. All of these storylines are interesting at times, but none of them seem to move along particularly quickly. The only running theme is that things are perhaps not quite what they seem, but is anything actually happening? It's clear to the reader that Br...

The basics: Law of Attraction  introduces Anna Curtis, a driven, bright young lawyer whose dark family history in Michigan causes her to prosecute domestic violence crimes in D.C. My thoughts: I gravitate to mystery series about female lawyers written by female lawyers (see: Alafair Burke , Linda Fairstein , and Marcia Clark . I've read all of their books.) Like Anna, Leotta worked as a federal prosecutor handling domestic violence in D.C. Anna is new to her job, and the reader gets to learn about it along with her. She's also new to D.C., and I appreciated her realistically humble apartment and utter lack of work-life balance. I found Anna to be a particularly interesting character because she isn't perfect. She makes mistakes. She makes tough choices. She doubts herself in realistic ways rather than in annoying ones. She's flawed but still inspiring, and I found myself both rooting for her and wanting to be her friend. Law of Attraction  balances introducing and...

narrated by Clare Corbett, Louise Brealey, and India Fisher The basics: Rachel, the titular girl on the train, commutes about an hour into London each day. On her commute, the train stops near the home of Megan, and Rachel imagines, and longs for, her life. One day, she sees Megan at her house with another man. The next day, Megan goes missing and is all over the news. My thoughts: The Girl on the Train  is the breakout novel of the season. And it's a good one. It's a literary thriller with well-drawn, interesting characters. I enjoyed the journey as much as the destination (a cringe-worthy pun for a novel about a train, I know.) In short, The Girl on the Train  is so successful because it is both appealing to the masses with its fast-paced plot and appealing to more serious readers with its depth and themes. Rachel is an unreliable narrator, yet she was my favorite character, and I identified with her the most. She's not unreliable for nefarious reasons but because...

The basics: Mr. Heming is real estate broker in a small village outside London. His past is somewhat mysterious, and he intentionally blends into every day life to help hide his secrets. The biggest: he keeps a key to every house he's ever sold, and he frequently uses them to visit the homes months and years later. My thoughts: I picked up A Pleasure and a Calling  from my virtual TBR without knowing much about it. And I spent the next twenty-four hours devouring it in its entirety. Mr. Heming is a delightful, albeit creepy narrator. I suppose I'd categorize this novel as a thriller, but Hogan develops the character of Mr. Heming so well that his creepiness is balanced by other attributes: "The truth was that rampant sexual relationships are all very fine and necessary, but, for me, real intimacy is elsewhere." As a narrator, Mr. Heming is both reliable and unreliable. He shares intimate, and often unflattering, details about himself with the reader: "I am ...

narrated by Mozhan Marno The backstory: A few months ago, I listened to Chris Pavone's debut thriller, The Expats , and loved it. When I saw his follow-up was also narrated by Mozhan Marno, it moved to the top of my audiobook queue. The basics: Featuring some of the same characters as The Expats, The Accident  is the story of an anonymous manuscript of the same name. The manuscript implicates many famous people and its release could have devastating consequences. The narrative begins with a publisher receiving a copy of the manuscript. Pavone intersperses key sections of the manuscript itself as the novel's events unfold. My thoughts: As a reader, book blogger and librarian, I'm pretty tuned into the business side of publishing, but The Accident  takes the reader deep into the publishing business, and it was a fascinating subplot. It's actually hard to decide which plots are subplots in this novel. There are many characters and locations, but the narrative never...

narrated by Mozhan Marno The basics: The Expats is the story of Kate Moore, a D.C. policy analyst whose husband Dexter receives a compelling job opportunity in Luxembourg. Kate and Dexter, along with their two young boys, soon make the move to Luxembourg, where Kate joins the thriving expat community for morning coffee, but all is not what it seems in this spy novel. My thoughts: Please ignore the basics of this book. It was quite challenging to remember what I thought was the setup early on in this novel, and I think it's most exciting to read without the knowledge of some of its secrets. Pavone has his characters start spilling secrets very early on, and the twists keep coming throughout the novel. It's clear from the beginning that The Expats  is a spy novel. What isn't clear initially is who the spy is (or who the spies are.) The characters weave a complicated collection of secrets and lies, and I enjoyed every single reveal. Some I correctly guessed before the ...

The backstory: One Kick  is the first contemporary thriller in a new series from Chelsea Cain, author of the Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell serial killer series (my reviews: Heartsick , Sweetheart , Evil at Heart , The Night Season , Kill You Twice , and Let Me Go .)      The basics: When she was five, Kick Lannigan was kidnapped by Mel. He changed her name and birthday, and she came to know him as her father. As Beth, she became a famous child pornography star. She was rescued after six years and returned to her family. Now 21, Kick obsesses over children who go missing and tries to track them down to save them from child predators. My thoughts: I love Chelsea Cain for her bold, dark characters, particularly the female ones, and Kick Lannigan is certainly both. The novel's prologue details the day of Kick's rescue, then the action jumps forward ten years. Kick is, unsurprisingly, a deeply scarred woman, both emotionally and physically. But she's also a remarka...

I've been tearing through Michael Connelly's lengthy backlist, and I often find myself with repetitive things to say about them, so I'll mostly be doing mini-reviews of his titles, unless one compels me to write more deeply. Note: these contain spoilers and references to prior Connelly books. Nine Dragons  is the fifteenth Harry Bosch mystery. When Harry and his partner catch the case of a murdered Chinese-American liquor store owner in South Los Angeles, Harry brings in the Asian Gang Unit to help. He also enlists the help of his daughter, Maddie, who lives in Hong Kong. Soon Maddie is kidnapped, and Harry's focus shifts to Hong Kong and saving her, while trying to figure out the connections between Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Nine Dragons  is perhaps the most personal Harry Bosch novel yet. It's an intriguing mystery, but Maddie's kidnapping is a suspenseful thrill-ride through the chaotic streets of Hong Kong.  Rating: 4.5 out of 5 Source: l...

I've been tearing through Michael Connelly's lengthy backlist, and I often find myself with repetitive things to say about them, so I'll mostly be doing mini-reviews of his titles, unless one compels me to write more deeply. Note: these reviews all contain some spoilers and references to previous Connelly books. The Overlook  is the thirteenth book in Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch series. It was originally published as a serial, and this pacing is evident. It's also a short novel, particularly by Connelly standards. Harry Bosch is now working with the Homicide Special unit, and he's called to investigate the murder of Dr. Stanley Kent. The case soon becomes a race against time due to the presence of missing radioactive agents. While the story is still a murder mystery at its core, it's more of a terrorism thriller. The pace is frenetic, and I cannot imagine having the patience to read it in its original serial form. Connelly masterfully, or perhap...

I've been tearing through Michael Connelly's lengthy backlist, and I often find myself with repetitive things to say about them, so I'll mostly be doing mini-reviews of his titles, unless one compels me to write more deeply.  Note: the reviews of Lost Light and The Narrows contain spoilers from prior Connelly books. Chasing the Dime  is a stand-alone thriller about Henry Pierce, a tech guru whose company is on the verge of making millions. His girlfriend, and now former colleague, breaks up with him, and when his new apartment landline turns out to be the former number of a prostitute named Lilly. The frequent calls are a nuisance, but he soon sets off to track Lilly down and finds himself getting deeper into the sexual underworld--and putting himself, and his company, at risk. Chasing the Dime  is the first Connelly book to have a narrator who is not a criminal nor in law enforcement. As a reader, I often found myself frustrated with Henry and his lack of acce...

I've been tearing through Michael Connelly's lengthy backlist, and I often find myself with repetitive things to say about them, so I'll mostly be doing mini-reviews of his titles, unless one compels me to write more deeply. Find links to all my Michael Connelly reviews in my Book Review Database . Void Moon  is a stand-alone thriller featuring Cassie Black, a con artist. In that sense, it's quite a departure for Connelly to write from the point-of-view of the criminal. it's also a departure to have a female narrator. Connelly does both well. Cassie shares narration with a private investigator hired to recover what she steals. This approach was mostly successful, but it slowed down the fast-pace of this novel a bit. Overall, Void Moon  was a page-turning thriller more than a mystery, and while it lacked the jaw-dropping twists I've come to expect from Connelly, it did keep me on my toes until the last page. Rating: 4 out of 5 Source: library A Darkn...

The backstory: The Execution  is the second novel in Dick Wolf's Jeremy Fisk series, after The Intercept ( my review .) This review, like the book itself, contains spoilers if you have not read The Intercept . The basics:   Shortly after the Mexican presidential election, twenty-three beheaded bodies are found beheaded on the U.S. border. Mexican intelligence officer Cecilia Garza recognizes it as the work of Chuparosa, a man she's been chasing for years. Meanwhile in New York City, it's United Nations Week, and NYPD terrorism detective Jeremy Fisk must keep numerous world leaders, including the newly elected Mexican president, safe. My thoughts: After being surprised by how much I liked The Intercept , I was eager to see what The Execution  had in store for Jeremy Fisk and the United States. Fisk is still reeling from the events of The Intercept , and Wolf doesn't shy away from revealing plot details. The Execution  is clearly not intended to double a...