Skip to main content

Reviews

Reviews

by Leila Siddiqui - Fiction, Gothic, Horror

Summer 1816: London is a hostile place for the newly disembarked Mehrunissa Begum, who’s come to deliver her brother’s letter of inheritance before returning to her comfortable life in Lucknow, India. But she can’t find her brother anywhere and has no money for the return trip. With nowhere else to go, Mehr finds refuge in a boardinghouse for Indian maids. She is soon hired at the English estate of Mary and Percy Shelley. Mary asks Mehr to accompany the Shelleys and her stepsister, Claire --- as well as the eccentric Lord Byron and his physician, John Polidori --- to Lake Geneva for the summer. Almost immediately, she notices strange, ghostly events at the villa. As Mary begins work on what will become her earth-shattering literary phenomenon, Mehr finds herself trapped in the villa as the rest of its inhabitants descend into madness.

by T. Kingfisher - Fiction, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Horror, Supernatural Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Sonia Wilson is a talented scientific illustrator, but she is only able to follow her dream because of her father’s reputation as a renowned scientist. Such is the lot in life for a woman in science in 1899. And after his death, she is left without work, prospects or hope. So when the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house. Once there, though, she encounters dark happenings in the Carolina woods, and even darker questions come to light. What happened to her predecessor? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thieves”? With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a twisted road.

by Steve Cavanagh - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Social media influencer Elly Parker had the perfect life --- that is until she discovered her husband had been having an affair with her best friend. But as hurt, betrayed and unmoored as Elly is, she has made it her mission to help others in need. When Elly meets a man on the steps to the subway platform, crutches in one hand and a yellow suitcase by his feet, she can’t help but feel sorry for him. This small act of kindness sets off a chain of events more terrifying than anything she ever could imagine. To survive, Elly will need to convince the world that what happened to her was real. She needs a lawyer who can bend the rules to find the truth. Eddie Flynn and his team must find the stranger with the yellow suitcase. But little do they know this cunning killer is a master manipulator and is always one step ahead.

by Luke Dumas - Fiction, Horror, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

At over 300 pounds, retail worker Emmett Truesdale carries the weight of his childhood trauma and millennial ennui around his waist and in his soul. Desperate for help, he enrolls in a clinical trial for a new weight loss product called Obexity. The treatment is as horrifying as the results are miraculous. As Emmett sheds pounds at superhuman speed, every part of his life improves overnight. Unfortunately, Obexity comes with some killer side effects, including lost stretches of time and overwhelming cravings. Worse, people who were cruel to him have started disappearing. When the police warn of a cannibalistic killer on the loose, he fears that Obexity is turning him into a monster. But how can he give it up now that people are finally starting to treat him like he’s human?

by Lauren Opper - Fiction, Mystery

Lieutenant Carl Sarabia, a newly retired homicide detective, moves with his wife, Greta, from Houston, Texas, to Glamis, Connecticut, to be closer to their daughter, Sarah, and her family. The idyllic river town is upended when Merlin Glenmore is found murdered on April Fools' Day, midway through his seance-themed birthday party at the place he despised the most, The Glenmore-Pace Castle, a gothic mansion built by his great-great grandfather, and now a museum run by his sister, Jade. Merlin is notorious in Glamis for his abrupt second marriage to a much younger woman only a month after his first wife's tragic death. There is no shortage of suspects present at the party who wanted Merlin dead. Only two of the guests do not have alibis --- and one of them is Carl's son-in-law.

by Alex Segura - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

When reports come in that the Kingpin and a police officer have been killed and that Frank Castle (aka the Punisher) has turned himself in for it, Matt Murdock senses holes in the narratives that the media and the streets are quick to run with. Both criminals have been Matt’s nemeses when he dons the cowl of the Daredevil, and there’s no denying that New York is better off without its Kingpin and with the Punisher behind bars. And yet, while the Punisher is a murderous vigilante, he doesn’t kill cops. And he doesn’t turn himself in. Castle certainly deserves prison for all of the other crimes he has committed in the past. However, Matt’s indomitable sense of justice insists that nobody should be locked away for crimes they didn’t actually commit. Representing the vigilante in court, Matt enters a contest of wills and guile with Castle to try and uncover the game beneath the game.

by Andrew Mayne - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

A train derails in Idaho, nearly causing a nuclear disaster. An inferno at a battery facility in Florida disrupts the electrical grid for days. A potentially devastating failure is discovered at Virginia’s Mud River Dam. To computational biologist Theo Cray, these aren’t mere infrastructure accidents. They are virtually undetectable acts of sabotage. Theo sees a mathematical pattern to the madness that few others can comprehend --- except for his associates: rogue FBI agent Jessica Blackwood, private security specialist Brad Trasker, and Florida underwater investigator Sloan McPherson. If Theo’s intuition and calculations are correct, the disasters are just a warm-up. The worst is yet to come --- a catastrophe that could trigger the deaths of millions across the country.

by Andrew Welsh-Huggins - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

A former postal inspector, Mercury Carter specializes in moving sensitive or dangerous packages from point A to B. And sometimes he needs his gun to do so. Carter’s current mission leads him to Providence, Rhode Island, but his delivery is interrupted when he comes across a woman badly injured in a car wreck in the pouring rain. Then a man with a gun appears, warning Carter away from the scene. Carter leaps into action, disarming the attacker and rescuing the crash victim. Just as Carter thinks the danger has passed, he discovers a deeper mystery stemming from the crash, a deadly puzzle involving a memorable pair of grifters, a crooked ex-cop, stolen identities, human trafficking and murder. And it appears that Carter’s next assignment will put him right in this conspiracy’s perilous center.

by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore - Fiction, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Horror, Mystery

Zina and her grandmother, Baba Valya, own a tearoom on rue Daru in Paris, where they have lived quietly since Zina’s mother’s untimely death. By day, the women serve tea. But when dusk falls, they divine fortunes and perform séances for their loyal clientele. Then the charming Princess Olga and her brother arrive, searching for knowledge about the disappearance of their father, the exiled Grand Duke, cousin of the last Tsar of Russia. Zina performs the séance and is able to summon the Grand Duke. But to her horror, he starts to haunt the shop and seems to know something sinister about her mother’s death. As Zina delves into her family’s hidden past, dark secrets are unearthed, threatening the home and tearoom Zina and her grandmother have worked so hard to build, not to mention their very lives.

by Charles Todd - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

July, 1921: England is suffering a heatwave, and the coast of Northumberland, just across the border from Scotland, is filled with holiday-makers bird watching and enjoying the beaches. Pilgrims also come to visit the home of Saints Cuthbert and Aiden --- the founders of Christianity in England --- located on the “Holy Island” of Lindisfarne, accessible by a causeway at low tide. When the murdered body of a local man washes ashore just south of Lindisfarne, the government and the Church of England are concerned about protecting both the reputation of the Church and the sacred sites that are a destination for hundreds of pilgrims at this time of year. With his ability to move in the highest social and political circles, Inspector Ian Rutledge is sent by Scotland Yard to solve this crime and dispel any association with the Church.