Tag: mystery/thriller

Reviews

In My Dreams I Hold a Knife Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on In My Dreams I Hold a Knife Review

*BEWARE OF SPOILERS*

A college reunion turns dark and deadly in this chilling and propulsive suspense novel about six friends, one unsolved murder, and the dark secrets they’ve been hiding from each other—and themselves—for a decade.

Jessica as I character I thought was very multi-faceted and interesting! She does come across as a bit unlikeable and her thought process was definitely different but seeing how everything unfolded from her perspective especially was very entertaining and kept me engaged in the narrative.

As for the rest of the characters it took me a little while to differentiate between them all at the start. They all seemed so similar and through Jessica’s perspective they were all kind of muddled together for a while. Eventually as the book progressed and we find out more and more about each of them and what secrets they have been hiding from their time in college it became a lot more easier to form a connection with them. I wasn’t overly fond of any of the characters to be perfectly honest but I knew each of them served a purpose.

Heather though we don’t really get that much interaction from in the past I feel. She is kind of just mentioned in passing a lot and the focus is so much more on Jessica and how she is feeling throughout her experience at Duquette and it really isn’t until the second half of the book that we see the levels of jealously Jessica holds towards her. I like the fact that we don’t really know what Heather’s intentions truly are, I mean she chose Jessica over her best friends and roommate after just meeting her and we see throughout the plot that she downplays a lot of her achievements and makes everything seem so effortless and easy when others are silently struggling.

The pacing of the book was perfect for me and the switch between the timelines was seamless and made the story flow smoothly. There was a gradual build up of tension between all of the characters and it was fun to kind of pick apart all of their actions and see who is truly behind the murder. It did seem quite obvious who the killer was butt here were so many twists and revelations throughout that it would be easy to overlook. And that ending scene was crazy!

⭐️5/5 stars This was a suspenseful, twisty, haunting and graphic thriller!

Reviews

One by One Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on One by One Review

*Definite spoilers below*

Getting snowed in at a beautiful, rustic mountain chalet doesn’t sound like the worst problem in the world, especially when there’s a breath-taking vista, a cosy fire, and company to keep you warm. But what happens when that company is eight of your co-workers…and you can’t trust any of them?

I definitely preferred Erin over every other character in this book. I felt like she was the most fleshed out and we got more of a background with her and how she ended up at the chalet. I thought she was a very realistic character and all of the choices that she made would be the same if I was in that situation. I felt very sympathetic towards her and I liked the way she thinks and how she managed to figure out in the end who was behind it all!

Liz was written in a way that kind of forced sympathy from the reader on to her. Always being forgotten by the other Snoop employees and just disappearing into the background. In hindsight, there are definitely clues spread throughout the course of the plot that point to her but they weren’t so obvious to me. I don’t see how she thinks she’s the victim in all of this, sure she had something horrific happen to her and Eva really leaned on that and used it to manipulate her but to resort to killing people is just a bit of a stretch to me.

There was just a lot of characters and not enough time for me to get to know them all and differentiate between them. We got a little bit of history and background on each of them but not enough for me to remember each of them specifically. Usually I don’t really care for learning too much about each of the characters but when we are in a forced proximity setting I would like to be able to recognise each of them.

Other than that I really enjoyed the story and how the plot unfolded. The pace was on the slower side for the majority of the book but once the avalanche happens things really speed up and I was on the edge of my seat from there. I’m still quite new to the mystery/thriller genre so a lot of the plot twists and tropes I haven’t come across yet and everything is still fresh and exciting for me and I thought the same for this book!

⭐️4/5 stars Atmospheric and suspenseful!

Reviews

Into the Water Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Into the Water Review

*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!

Reviews

The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

*Spoilers Ahead*

At a party thrown by her parents, Evelyn Hardcastle will be killed – again. She’s been murdered hundreds of times, and each day, Aiden Bishop is too late to save her. The only way to break this cycle is to identify Evelyn’s killer. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes in the body of a different guest. And someone is desperate to stop him ever escaping Blackheath…

This book was really hard for me to get into for some reason. I picked it up and put it down I think half a dozen times and I had never even gone past 20 pages. I finally decided to push through and it wasn’t until around the 100 page mark exactly that I started to become invested in Aiden and what was actually happening at Blackheath.

I was a bit indifferent to Aiden’s character a the start of the book. We definitely learn more about his as the book progresses and we figure out his motivations for why he is at Blackheath. We get no real sense of who he is though because he is continuously influenced by his hosts. Had we maybe got to see some flashbacks to before he entered and what he was feeling at that time and then come back to the present maybe I would of gained more of an insight into how much he’s changed.

I never really trusted Anna. Just the way she was always around right when Aiden needed her and how the plague doctor kept telling him that she is going to betray him. And then when we find out who she really is I can’t see why Aiden would be adamant that she has changed. I just feel like we aren’t shown enough of her character to make that distinction, but then again we didn’t know her before either. The same can be said for Daniel, I knew he was too good to be true right from when he exposes himself to himself. He was just that little too sure of himself and the decisions that Aiden was going to make even though he hasn’t made them yet.

Multiple timelines and POVs can get a tad confusing for me and it’s hard to keep track of all the characters and who is a host and who isn’t. I have to say as he switches from each host and the days start ticking down the level of urgency felt throughout the plot kept rising. I had no idea at any point in time what was actually going to happen, I had my suspicions but at every twist I was definitely surprised!

⭐️3/5 stars Unique, confusing and intricate!!