Tag: psychological thriller

Reviews

The Paris Apartment Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on The Paris Apartment Review

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there.

Jess’s character felt new and fresh to me. I liked the fact that she’s led a completely different life to Ben and even though they’ve had their differences and grown apart she doesn’t give up her search. She’s definitely wary of those around her and I appreciated how she didn’t just take everyone’s word at face value and dug around a little more to unearth all the dirty little secrets.

The multiple POVs were a great touch I think. It made it easier to differentiate between all the different characters and added depth to the plot. Learning what everyone was doing prior to Ben’s disappearance and seeing how they all weave together was very satisfying.

The setting of this apartment building in Paris was fantastic. We really get a sense of just how gritty and dark Paris can be and how one’s perception of a place can just be so wrong. Having all the secret passages between the apartments and the mysterious nature of the concierge added to the overall tone of the book.

In terms of all the different twists and reveals it was very dramatic for sure. I can’t say it was the most shocking thriller book I’ve read but I feel like the entertainment factor was so high that I was just happy to go along for the ride. In retrospect the main twist was quite obvious but during my read I really didn’t predict any of the main plot points which made for a easy and fun experience.

⭐️4/5 stars I was here for the drama of it all!

Reviews

Reckless Girls Review

by amyleighreadsLeave a Comment on Reckless Girls Review

*SPOILERS BELOW*

When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Lux was definitely an interesting perspective. She just comes across as quite lost and without a tether really holding her anywhere since her mother died. Then she met Nico and attached herself to him and his dream and is now disappointed with how things have worked out for her. She has the potential to be a very strong, independent woman but just acquiesces to Nico’s every whim and allows him to be very dismissive of her and her feelings, which then builds up until she completely unloads on him when she is at her breaking point. I don’t really like how she is so blase towards Amma and Nico and I feel like she let them off way too easily, I wanted more of a rage fuelled drawn out fight or argument.

I think what would of made me love this book more is if we had another perspective in the now. Lux got to be a bit tedious at times and even though she goes through this emotional awakening during the plot and stands up for herself and calls out the insanity that Chloe and Brittany created. She knew that something was off with how everyone was reacting to Harvey being missing and then the radio situation but just let things slide a little too much.

The dual timelines I really enjoyed. It gave a lot of these characters depth and added much needed context to the story and how all of they all ended up at this ‘off the beaten track’ island. In hindsight it’s kind of glaringly obvious who everyone was and how they are connected but as I was reading I had no idea. I ended up really despising Nico in the end and I was glad that he died but I wanted to see him actually get killed. To not get to witness it and just have Lux coming across his body like she did with Harvey and Amma was underwhelming.

I liked that we got to read about the journey to the island from Hawaii and there was some action scenes sailing through the storm. The actual setting of the island though was great. The forced proximity and isolation made the tension continuously build throughout the course of the storyline. The addition of Harvey was kind of an obvious red herring to me, I would of been more inclined to believe he was going to have more of an impact had they had just a few more interactions with him as a group. But otherwise the atmosphere was suspenseful, the twists I could not see coming at all and I was overall entertained!

⭐️4/5 stars This was a wild one!

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

Survive the Night Review

by amyleighreads2 Comments on Survive the Night Review

*SPOILERS BELOW*

Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it’s guilt and grief over the murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it’s to help care for his sick father. Or so he says. Like the Hitchcock heroine she’s named after, Charlie has her doubts. There’s something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn’t seem to want Charlie to see inside the car’s trunk.

I sympathised with Charlie throughout the course of the book. I honestly can’t imagine what she has gone through, losing her parents and then having your best friend murdered. It is just so tragic and I can see why she would choose to flee and want to go back home to recuperate, especially after we find out she tried to kill herself. She just makes a few choices in this book that just didn’t sit right with me, and I get that she couldn’t really trust her own mind but there were I feel various times when she was with Josh that she could of escaped before her epiphany in the diner.

Of course we are immediately told to be untrusting of Josh and I for sure thought he was the killer. He really played on Charlie’s fragile state of mind in the car and really did a good job convincing her and the reader that he was the one who did it. The flashback as well I feel really reinforced the idea in my mind that he was the Campus Killer.

I know that grief takes many forms but I think that its quite despicable that Maddy’s family would blame Charlie and abuse her on the phone the way they did. Obviously given the twist where we find out who’s behind the whole hostage situation that Maddy’s family isn’t capable of making sound decisions. It was definitely surprising when we find out that Marge is in on the whole thing but then once she tells Charlie who she is I was more disgusted that she would stoop to that level. The fact that she would maim and torture a twenty year old girl in order to force her to conjure an image in her mind really displays just how far some people are willing to go to find the truth, especially when they have nothing left to lose.

The format of the book with the time being displayed as almost a countdown was a great way to keep me invested and eager to read on. There are several twists in the story that I didn’t see coming at all and happened at just the right intervals of the plot to keep the pace consistently fast. This was entertaining, gripping and had me on the edge of my seat throughout!

⭐️4/5 stars Riley Sager has done it again for me!