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Reviews

Reviews

by Chris Bohjalian - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Crissy Dowling passes her days by the pool in a private cabana, and each evening she transforms into a Princess, performing her musical cabaret inspired by the life of the late Diana Spencer. Some might find her strange or even delusional, an American speaking with a British accent, living and working in a casino that has become a dated trash heap. On top of that, Crissy’s daily diet of Adderall and Valium leaves her more than a little tipsy, her Senator boyfriend has gone back to his wife, and her entire career rests on resembling a dead woman. Yet her fans see her for the gifted chameleon she is. But when Crissy’s sister, Betsy, arrives in town with a new boyfriend and a teenage daughter, and when Richie Morley, the owner of the Buckingham Palace Casino, is savagely murdered, Crissy’s carefully constructed kingdom comes crashing down all around her.

by Cara Black - Fiction, Mystery

Parisian private investigator Aimée Leduc doesn’t know that her life is about to be upended. Her ex, Melac, has been hounding her to move their daughter, Chloé, to Brittany. Aimée has stopped answering his calls, which is why she doesn’t know he’s waiting for her by the Bassin de la Villette as she leaves a client’s office late one night. When she finds him, he has just been stabbed by an assailant, who knocks Aimée unconscious and plants the bloody knife in her hands. Now Aimée is in police custody, debilitated by a concussion, with overwhelming evidence pointing to her as Melac’s killer. In an attempt to figure out who the real culprit is, she goes deep into the underbelly of Paris’s 19th arrondissement, where she rubs shoulders with biker gangs, paranoid journalists, grieving parents and frustratingly tight-lipped ex-cops on her hunt for justice.

by Ben H. Winters - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Grace Berney is a mid-level bureaucrat in the Food and Drug Administration, a woman who once brimmed with purpose but somehow turned into a middle-aged single mom with a dull government job and a melancholy sense that life has passed her by. Until the night a strange photo comes across her desk, of a young woman in a hospital bed who has been subjected to a mysterious procedure. Against orders and against common sense, Grace sets out to bring the girl to safety, and finds herself risking her job, her future and her life on whether or not she can find the missing girl before an obsessive and violent mercenary who’s also looking.

by Tamron Hall - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

After dropping her child off at preschool, Marla Hancock disappears. She recently had left her verbally abusive husband and moved in with her sister, Shelly, who simply can’t believe that her sister would ever willingly vanish without her children. But with limited support from the town’s police department or media resources, Shelly fears that Marla’s disappearance won’t get the attention it deserves. So, several weeks after filing a missing person’s report, she reaches out to TV journalist Jordan Manning for help. Jordan has gained a reputation as a “fixer” with a vigilante edge, but she still feels pressure to prove herself as a young Black professional. Her search for Marla twists and turns in ways she never could have imagined, illuminating scandals and secrets that place her own life in grave danger.

by Lisa Gardner - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Missing persons expert and nomadic loner Frankie Elkin travels the country searching for the lost ones the rest of the world has forgotten. Her specialty: cold cases that generally end sadly. But this one could be different. Kaylee Pierson, “The Beautiful Butcher,” confessed from the start to enticing 18 men home before slitting their throats. As the clock winds down to her death, Pierson finally has received a lead on her baby sister, abducted years ago. Kaylee’s dying wish: to know Leilani is safe and sound. Frankie is eager to possibly rescue a teenage girl, even if it involves flying to a remote atoll in the Pacific, where a charming tycoon is constructing an eco-resort --- and possibly holding Leilani against her will. But now Frankie is trapped on an island with a dozen strangers and numerous deadly deceptions. As the danger mounts, she faces her toughest challenge.

by Eleanor Barker-White - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

No one knows why Lucy's 14-year-old daughter, Eden, almost drowned in the lake after school one day. But now she’s safe and well. Lucy can start being a good mother. The mother she should have been all these years --- years that were fraught with grief over the loss of Eden’s twin during pregnancy. Yes, all that matters is that Eden is fine. But then Eden starts saying that Eden isn’t her name. Her name is Eli. The name Lucy had reserved for Eden’s unborn twin. Don’t worry, says the doctor. Eden is completely fine, says her husband. Of course I’m fine, Eden says, with that strange new smile of hers. I didn’t die. I’m here. But Lucy knows something is very wrong with Eden. She’s not her maddening, complicated teenage girl anymore --- this straight-backed, even-tempered and steady-eyed child in her house is someone else entirely. Eden, it seems, is the twin who disappeared.

by Imran Mahmood - Domestic Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

For the last 17 years, Harry and Zara King’s lives have revolved around their only daughter, Sophie. One day, Sophie leaves the house and doesn’t come home. Six weeks later, the police are no closer to finding her than when they started. Harry and Zara have questioned everyone who has ever had any connection to Sophie, to no avail. Except there’s one house on their block --- number 210, across the street --- whose occupant refuses to break his silence. As the question mark over number 210 devolves into obsession, Harry and Zara are forced to examine their own lives. They realize they have grown apart, suffering in separate spheres of grief. And as they try to find their way back to each other, they must face the truth about their daughter: who she was, how she changed and why she disappeared.

by Lisa Unger - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Rosie and Chad Lowan are barely making ends meet in New York City when they receive life-changing news: Chad’s late uncle has left them his luxury apartment at the historic Windermere in glamorous Murray Hill. With its prewar elegance and impeccably uniformed doorman, the Windermere is the epitome of old New York charm. At first, the building and its eclectic tenants couldn’t feel more welcoming. But as the Lowans settle into their new home, Rosie starts to suspect that there’s more to the Windermere than meets the eye. Why is the doorman ever-present? Why are there cameras everywhere? And why have so many gruesome crimes occurred there throughout the years? When one of the neighbors turns up dead, Rosie must get to the truth about the Windermere before she, too, falls under its dangerous spell.

by Tana French - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die. Cal Hooper took early retirement from the Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

by C. J. Box - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage --- killing, among others, the potential fiancé of Joe Pickett’s daughter. At the same time, Dallas Cates, who Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison with a special list tattooed on his skin. He wants revenge on the people who sent him away: the six people he blames for the deaths of his entire family and the loss of his reputation and property. Using the grizzly attacks as cover, Cates sets out to methodically check off his list. The problem is, both Nate Romanowski and Joe Pickett are on it.