Category Archives: suspense

The Late Show by Michael Connelly

01 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in action, crimes against, detective, Fiction, murder, murder and investigation, mystery, suspense, United States

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This was my first time reading the prolific Michael Connelly, and I loved this mystery that introduces us to Renee Ballard, a detective in LA working the overnight shift. Ballard is a great character and the cases she tries to solve in this first story are compelling.

The Late Show introduces a terrific female character: Detective Renee Ballard…The pacing of Ballard’s debut story is breathless…Ballard is complicated and driven enough to sustain the series Connelly doubtless has in mind for her.– “New York Times”

A hard-hitting police procedural that captures the imagination from page one.– “RT Book Reviews (4 stars)”

The most intriguing mystery in The Late Show, though, is Ballard herself. Connelly is too skillful to hand us her resume in one document dump; instead, he fills out her portrait with a subtle hand over the course of the novel, a little background here, a glimpse of her temperament there, the revelation of her unusual living conditions sketched in between.– “Tampa Bay Times”

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Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka 

22 Wednesday Feb 2023

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A man is set to be executed for murder, and as he waits out his final hours, we hear from him and the women in his life on how he ended up here. This dark, thought-provoking novel is hard to put down. 

“Kukafka crafts a disturbingly remorseless killer in Packer but infuses the events that draw readers to his final moments with raw empathy and lingering questions about human evil and the destruction left in its wake.”— Booklist (starred review)

“Unshakable, deeply compassionate . . . Kukafka wrings tremendous suspense out of a story that isn’t a whodunit or even strictly a why-dunit, suspense born out of a desire to see these women transcend the identities consigned to them. . . . A contemporary masterpiece that sits alongside The Executioner’s Song and Victim: The Other Side of Murder in the library of crime literature.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“At once blistering with righteous anger and radical empathy, Notes on an Execution is destined to become a contemporary classic.” — Esquire, The Most Anticipated Books of Winter 2022

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Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone

25 Wednesday Jan 2023

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“An elegantly twisting, lyrical, rocket-paced international thriller of the first order. With sterling prose, layered characters, searing insights, and gripping suspense, Chris Pavone writes with a deep knowledge of the world we live in―its many injustices, flaws, and the bending, dangerous road we sometimes must take to justice.”―Lisa Unger, author of Last Girl Ghosted

“There’s no such thing as a book you can’t put down, but this one was close.”―Stephen King

“I absolutely loved Chris Pavone’s Two Nights in Lisbon, an unputdownable thriller that’s his best novel yet. It stars a strong and savvy heroine who wakes up one morning to find her husband missing, and the action never lets up. This is a masterly, sleek, and sophisticated novel about love, marriage, and truth. Read it!”―Lisa Scottoline, author of Eternal

“I defy anyone to read the first twenty pages of this breakneck novel, then try to put it down for five minutes. It can’t be done. The plot is too devious, the pace is too gripping, and the characters are seldom who they are supposed to be. This is smart suspense at its very best.”―John Grisham, author of A Time for Mercy

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Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson

04 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by in detective, England, Fiction, murder, murder and investigation, mystery, suspense, thriller, Uncategorized

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Returning to practice after a suspension for stealing opioids, a young doctor takes the only job he can find: a post as a physician at the struggling St. Luke’s Hospital in east London…. Drawing on his experiences as a physician, Simon Stephenson takes readers into the dark heart of life as a hospitalist to ask the question: Who are the people we gift the power of life and death, and what does it do to them? (Amazon)

“This timely novel has it all: it’s a chilling literary thriller, an emotional dive into the joys and stresses of our health care workers, and a genre-bending story with a perfect dose of gallows humor. I loved this book.. and never want to visit a hospital again!”—Matthew Sullivan, author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

 “Enjoyable…the novel’s tone shifts from dread to suspense as the narrator turns amateur sleuth when the facts don’t seem to add up.”—Publishers Weekly 

“The witty writing, quirky protagonist, and anecdotal descriptions of real-life medical villains combine to make Sometimes People Die a delightful read. I loved it.”—Kathy Reichs 

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Cackle by Rachel Harrison 

26 Wednesday Oct 2022

Posted by in Fiction, Horror, suspense

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Perfect for getting in the Halloween spirit – quirky and fun! I hate bugs and Harrison made me believe that a pet spider could be cute. 

“Cackle delivers a lesson that every woman needs to hear: embrace your inner witch! Sweet, sinister, and 100 percent delightful.” —Alma Katsu, author of The Hunger and The Deep

“Cackle is that rare book that has it all: a searingly honest portrayal of all-consuming heartbreak, an exploration of the pitfalls of making new friends past thirty, a few revenge fantasies come to life, and a whole lotta witchcraft. Harrison’s clever prose will have you laughing and crying at once, and I promise you will never look at spiders the same way again.”—Molly Pohlig, author of The Unsuitable

“It’s no surprise that Harrison’s latest traffics in witchcraft, but there’s nothing predictable about her take. She writes about women’s autonomy and how it can be seen as a threat; about heteronormative romance and how it can suppress who women truly are. It’s served in a friendship story that showcases Harrison’s strength at writing powerful and empowered women with razor-sharp wit and a touch of darkness. This book wonders why this kind of woman is feared; in Harrison’s hands, we’re totally under their spell.” — Library Journal (Starred Review)

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Mercy Street by Jennifer Haigh

12 Wednesday Oct 2022

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New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigh-“a gifted chronicler of the human condition” (Washington Post Book World)-writes a tense, riveting story about the disparate lives that intersect at a woman’s clinic in Boston.

“Mercy Street is propulsive, urgent, and essential. Haigh writes with uncommon insight and compassion (and, yes, mercy) about people whose ideals are so strikingly at odds that we can only wait for their lives to collide. I was riveted and transported, and want to hand this book to everyone I know.” — Rebecca Makkai, Pulitzer Prize finalist for The Great Believers

“Mercy Street is a savvy, keen-eyed, witty, wise, and altogether luminous novel. A triumph. Jennifer Haigh is a young master of this form. Though, at day’s end, I’d read her just to read her.”– Richard Ford

“I’m just going to say it: Jennifer Haigh is the greatest novelist of our generation. And Mercy Street is her best novel yet.” — Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year

“Mercy Street is a strong and heartfelt story about contemporary America in all its complexities, an important and necessary book.”– Dorthe Nors, author of Mirror, Shoulder, Signal 

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Don’t Look Back (Inspector Sejer Mysteries Book 2) by Karin Fossum: translated from the Norwegian by Felicity David

05 Tuesday Jul 2022

Posted by in detective, Fiction, homicide investigation, murder, murder and investigation, mystery, suspense, thriller

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Selection for the Weston Mystery Book Discussion Group 2022

Readers in search of absorbing literary mysteries will want to track down titles in the Inspector Sejer series by noted Norwegian writer Karin Fossum. Don’t Look Back can be read as a standalone though it is the second title in the series. 

“Psychologically astute, subtly horrifying.”—New York Times Book Review

“Sejer belongs alongside the likes of Adam Dalgliesh and Inspector Morse—a gifted detective and troubled man.”—Boston Globe

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Velvet was the Night by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

21 Tuesday Jun 2022

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Velvet was the Night follows two main characters in 1970s Mexico: Maite, a secretary who is drawn into a mystery when her neighbor disappears, and Elvis, a young man working for a secret group trying to find that same neighbor. This noir novel is full of suspense, great characters, and an interesting setting.

“[Velvet Was the Night] is a noir with a heart of gold, and it’s a narrative in which the empathy we feel for its characters ultimately reveals an important truth: That Moreno-Garcia is not only a talented storyteller but also an incredibly versatile one.”—NPR

“It’s hard to describe how much fun this novel is. . . . A noir masterpiece.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Immensely satisfying, refreshingly new and gloriously written . . . Moreno-Garcia mashes up Anglocentric genres with midcentury Mexican history, resulting in a brew flavored with love, heartbreak, violence, music and unsettling dread. . . . The gift of this book, and Moreno-Garcia’s storytelling, is how it imbues this well-worn genre with added strength, grace and even musicality.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A winner that brings together a romance-fiction obsessed secretary and a lovelorn enforcer during the brutally suppressed student riots in 1970s Mexico City.”—Booklist (starred review)

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The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

13 Wednesday Oct 2021

Posted by in 20th century, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Fiction, mystery, suspense, thriller, United States

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With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a riveting mystery, certain to shock you with its final, heartbreaking turn – Amazon.   (Reese’s book club selection)

“Dave pulls off something that feels both new and familiar: a novel of domestic suspense that unnerves, then reassures. This is the antithesis of the way novels like Gone Girl or My Lovely Wife are constructed; in The Last Thing He Told Me, the surface is ugly, the situation disturbing, but almost everyone involved is basically good underneath it all. Dave has given readers what many people crave right now—a thoroughly engrossing yet comforting distraction.” — BookPage

“Dave’s neat trick is to unveil revelations at a brisk clip that does not overwhelm character development. The novel’s richness comes from the way Hannah and Bailey realize they need each other in the face of staggering loss; the mutual trust that grows between them is genuinely moving. As both daughter and stepmother come to realize, “That’s how you fill in the blanks — with stories and memories from the people who love you.”  — The New York Times Book Review

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The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz

03 Friday Sep 2021

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When a failed writer hears an amazing idea for a novel, he never imagines he’ll one day get the chance to take it for the plot of his own book. His book is a huge success, but someone else knows that it wasn’t really his idea. This suspenseful novel was a real page turner!

“As a longtime fan of Korelitz’s novels (including “You Should Have Known,” which was made into HBO’s “The Undoing”), I will say that I think The Plot is her gutsiest, most consequential book yet. It keeps you guessing and wondering, and also keeps you thinking: about ambition, fame and the nature of intellectual property (the analog kind).”―The New York Times Book Review

“Deep character development, an impressively thick tapestry of intertwining story lines, and a candid glimpse into the publishing business make this a page-turner of the highest order. Korelitz deserves acclaim for her own perfect plot.”
―Publishers Weekly (STARRED Review)

“’The Plot’ is wickedly funny and chillingly grim…it deserves to garner all the brass rings.”―The Wall Street Journal

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