Tag: mystery book

TBR, Top Ten Tuesdays

❄️Winter TBR❄️

by amyleighreads11 Comments on ❄️Winter TBR❄️

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday prompt is the books I plan to read this Winter! I’m in the mood for a lot of mystery/thriller books this Winter so that is what I am going to try and pick up over the next couple of months and these are the 10 at the top of my TBR!

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The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

His and Hers by Alice Feeney

The Other People by C.J. Tudor

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough

Don’t You Cry by Mary Kubica

So Happy for You by Celia Laskey

The It Girl by Ruth Ware

The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda

Reviews

Behind Her Eyes Review

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*BEWARE OF SPOILERS*

Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone. When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.

Louise I enjoyed as a character. Her perspective being the other woman in a marriage was interesting to read from especially since she’s quite relatable. Some of the decisions she makes like continuing her friendship with Adele were not the greatest but I can see why she would want to.

Adele I honestly thought was inconsequential at first. I figured this was just mainly focus on David’s infidelity’s and finding out that he was actually behind the fire that killed her parents. I definitely didn’t think she would progress into the sociopathic character she was portrayed to be in the end. I was very much intrigued and entertained by the way she played Louise and orchestrated everything, to say I was shocked would be an understatement.

David is a tricky one. I can understand the predicament he has found himself in being stuck in this marriage with Adele but if he would of just come clean from the start like he wanted to none of this would of happened. I think he is just as culpable as Adele and I feel like there should of been some ramifications for being an accessory. He is still a cheater at the end of the day and there was nothing really about the man that appealed to me. I don’t understand why Adele and Louise are both so enamored by him, we only ever see him drunk and crazed most of the time.

The overall pacing was very well done. Though not a lot happens for about 3/4 of this book I still felt compelled to continue reading and figure out what Adele was going to do next and what was this secret she was holding over David’s head. I liked the supernatural element, it gave the book a little excitement, especially after Louise figured it out.

⭐️4/5 stars That last twist at the end was mind blowing!!

Reviews

All Her Little Secrets Review

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*BEWARE OF SPOILERS BELOW*

Ellice Littlejohn seemingly has it all: an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job as a corporate attorney in midtown Atlanta, great friends, and a “for fun” relationship with a rich, charming executive—her white boss, Michael. But everything changes one cold January morning when Ellice goes to meet Michael… and finds him dead with a gunshot to his head.

Ellice was definitely an interesting character. I honestly didn’t think she had much to hide per se but as the story progresses and we find out more of her secrets I felt sad for her. She had a traumatic upbringing and even though she managed to escape her circumstances she was left feeling immense guilt for leaving her little brother there. Which is obviously why she kept bailing him out and loaning him money. I liked to see her kind of devolve as she delves further into the mystery behind Michael’s death and who she thought was behind it.

I think it would of been more interesting if this was a dual perspective from Sam’s point of view as well. He is so wrapped up in this whole conspiracy and he eventually pays for it with his life. I still feel like he could of gave us more insight into what they had to deal with in childhood and it could of been a fascinating to see how contrasting their lives are now.

I did however really enjoyed the flashbacks to Ellice’s past. I like that there was more to her than what we originally perceived. Vera I adore and I liked the fact that she is still a major factor in both Ellice and Sam’s life and they continue to visit and show their love for her. It added a lot of depth to the storyline and showed us why Ellice acts the way she does and her reasonings behind her decisions she’s made in her life, like keeping her little secrets.

In terms of the actual mystery surrounding Michael’s death and who was behind it, I was underwhelmed. I just feel like there wasn’t enough high stakes moments that could of upped my entertainment factor. I want to be shocked and even though there were some twists throughout the plot I didn’t foresee it was all that interesting to find out. Talks about shipments and deliveries and gun orders to find out about a secret deal that leads to a conspiracy was boring.

⭐️2/5 stars I was just a little bored at times..

Reviews

Local Woman Missing Review

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*A FEW SPOILERS*

Shelby Tebow is the first to go missing. Not long after, Meredith Dickey and her six-year-old daughter, Delilah, vanish just blocks away from where Shelby was last seen, striking fear into their once-peaceful community. Are these incidents connected? After an elusive search that yields more questions than answers, the case eventually goes cold. Now, 11 years later, Delilah shockingly returns. Everyone wants to know what happened to her, but no one is prepared for what they’ll find….

First of all reading from Delilah’s point of view those first few chapters where we find out what happened to her was horrible. I can’t imagine being in that situation, being abused and starved on a regular basis for years and still having the courage to fight and break free from her captors. It really showed her resilience and perseverance and I was glad she was able to escape from those horrors and find her way back to her family!

Meredith on the other hand I didn’t really care all to much about. She clearly has taken on too much with her two jobs and taking care of Leo and Delilah, letting things go where she would of otherwise taken a lot more serious. I don’t understand why she didn’t just tell her husband about what was going on with Shelby and that malpractice case as well as the threatening texts she was receiving. She claims to love and trust him more than anything yet she’s keeping all of these secrets from him, struggling to maintain her lifestyle and feeling guilty about sending her son to day care when she doesn’t even really need to work.

I was confused as to why we were getting the perspective from Kate but she definitely added much needed context and diversity to the storyline. I can’t say I was particularly attached to either of them but their dynamic was interesting to read from and to get an outside but still close look at the aftermath of Meredith and Delilah going missing. Leo’s perspective was my favourite though! I loved his candour and unapologetic nature of his thoughts and feelings. He has had to deal with a lot growing up under the shadow of this tragedy and more often than not he is overlooked and unappreciated.

The pacing started off a little slow for me and I found myself getting disinterested the first half of the book. But then when we start finding out about what happened to Shelby and then when all of the timelines converge and we get the full truth it all felt a bit rushed. I can’t honestly say this would be a believable scenario that would ever play out, it was a little over the top and ridiculous but still entertaining and unpredictable!

⭐️3/5 stars Good not great!

Reviews

Into the Water Review

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*SPOILERS AHEAD*

In the last days before her death, Nel Abbott called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help. Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind.

As a character I didn’t particularly like Jules or feel any kind of connection to her so I wasn’t that invested in the story as whole because of that. Throughout the book she never surprised me or did something that would encourage me to be on her side. Sure she had something horrific happen to her when she was a child and the other children and her sister were horrible to her but none of that had anything to do with Nel’s death and the deaths of all the other women at the pool. It did give us some context as to Nel’s character and I can see why Jules would believe that her sister was so callous all these years.

Lena just got on my nerves for the majority of the story as well. I can appreciate that she just lost her mum and is in mourning at the moment but her attitude and brattiness was annoying. She was very selfish in keeping that secret about Katie and I was 100% on Louise’s side for telling her that! She would of eased their minds months and months ago about why Katie killed herself had she just told the family about the relationship.

I feel like Louise bless her was the most realistic out of all the characters in this book. Her grief over her daughter’s death and her unwillingness to give up and figure out the cause of it all felt so real and raw. I can’t imagine what she would be going through but she knew that Nel and Lena had something to do with it and ultimately they did.

I liked the structure of the book, having the multiple perspectives really gave us a lot of context and upped the mystery factor as to who was behind Nel’s death. The pacing was just a little off though, there wasn’t enough reveals or twists for me, it was just one big build up to the standoff with the Townsend’s. It was original, unlike anything I’ve read so far and ultimately was just an ok for me!

⭐️3/5 stars Very eerie, dark and wet!