Category Archives: Bryan Reardon

February 9, 2021 · 12:01 am

Review: Let Her Lie by Bryan Reardon

Title: Let Her Lie by Bryan Reardon
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 288 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

In New York Times bestselling author Bryan Reardon’s captivating thriller, a dejected filmmaker lets his curiosity get the best of him and plunges into a web of depravity and danger from which there might be no escape.

Theo Snyder is at the end of his rope. One minute he was on top of the world, his documentary film The Basement a massive critical and commercial hit, the next crestfallen when his latest film was canceled after an embarrassingly public misstep. As his desperation grows, he makes a bold decision: to pursue the story of the notorious “Halo Killer,” Jasper Ross-Johnson. But delving into the life and mind of a serial killer could prove more deadly than Theo ever could have imagined.

At first, things are looking up. Jasper is willing to talk, the footage of the jailhouse meetings is spectacular, and famed investigator Zora Neale Monroe joins him on the project. Theo is sure he’s getting close to something no one else has discovered: the truth about why Jasper was captured before he could kill his final victim. Someone else was on the beach that day, someone who knows a lot more than they’re telling and just might know how it all happened. The truth could lead to more killing–unless Theo can uncover the real ending to the story of the Halo Killer first.

Review:

Let Her Lie by Bryan Reardon is a riveting mystery about a documentary film maker’s latest project.

Theo Snyder quickly fell from grace following the huge success of his first true crime documentary. While working on his second project, he made a terrible mistake that makes him persona non grata for most people in the industry. Hoping a change of scenery will help repair his reputation, Theo relocates to New York where he cannot resist beginning a new documentary about serial killer Jasper Ross-Johnson. He is pleasantly surprised when investigator Zora Monroe agrees to work with him. Jasper is fully co-operative so Theo begins his latest film by interviewing the convicted killer in prison. Theo soon has many  questions but will he find the answers he is searching for?

Theo is obsessive and single-minded as he goes back to Jasper’s first victim in hopes of learning new information. He is soon not sleeping as he desperately goes back over notes and comes up with various theories. Theo then uncovers stunning new information about Jasper’s childhood. Did these events set the stage for him to turn into a serial killer?

As the situation becomes unexpectedly dangerous, Theo dreams up  wild theories that Zora does not agree with. No matter who tries to get him to back off and stop inserting himself in the story, he frantically veers from place to place in hopes of uncovering the truth about Jasper, his victims and an abandoned baby who is now an adult. His actions culminate in an absolutely stunning confrontation with an ending even Theo could not predict. He initially believes he has all the details he needs to finish his documentary, but Theo cannot quiet his nagging doubts there is more to the story. Will he uncover the proof to support his newest supposition?

Let Her Lie is a mesmerizing mystery with a clever storyline. Theo is an interesting character who becomes increasingly unreliable.  The plot is gripping and takes many unanticipated twists and turns. With stunning plot twists, Bryan Reardon brings this mystery to an ambiguous conclusion. An overall enjoyable read, but the ending is somewhat frustrating.

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Filed under Bryan Reardon, Contemporary, Crooked Lane Books, Let Her Lie, Mystery, Rated B, Review, Suspense

June 6, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Real Michael Swann by Bryan Reardon

Title: The Real Michael Swann by Bryan Reardon
Publisher: Dutton
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Penguin’s First to Read Program

Summary:

In a new novel from New York Times bestselling author Bryan Reardon, a suburban family is rocked in the wake of a terrorist attack on American soil.

On a typical late summer day, Julia Swann is on the phone with her husband, Michael, when the call abruptly goes dead. Then the news rolls in: A bomb has gone off at Penn Station, where Michael was waiting for a train home. New York City is in a state of chaos.

A frantic Julia races to the city to look for Michael, her panic interwoven with memories of meeting and falling in love with the husband she’s now desperate to find. When someone finds a flier she’s posted and tells her they may have seen her husband, her dreams seem to be answered. Yet as she tries to find him, her calls go unanswered.

Weaving between the aftermath of the explosion and Julia’s memories of her life with Michael, new developments raise troubling questions. Did Michael survive the explosion? Why hasn’t he contacted her? What was he doing when their last call was cut off? Was he–or is he still–the man she fell in love with?

Part family drama, part tragic love story, and part disaster narrative that hits terrifyingly close to home, The Real Michael Swann is a deftly plotted suspense novel with an unflinching portrait of a marriage at its heart, challenging us to confront the unthinkable–both in our country and in our own home

Review:

The Real Michael Swann by Bryan Reardon is a tautly plotted, fast-paced and suspenseful novel.

Julia Swann is not overly concerned about the fact that her husband Michael’s train from New York’s Penn Station has been delayed.  She is, however, mildly worried when their phone call abruptly ends and she cannot get through to him. Panic sets in with the tragic announcement that a bomb has gone off in Penn Station. Unable to wait at home for news about Michael’s fate, Julia sets off in search of her husband.

The investigation into the bombing moves at a rapid pace and the stunning announcemnt that Michael is Homeland Security’s chief suspect in the bombing sends shock waves through Julia’s family and their neighbors. Her certainty in his innocence slightly wavers as her recollections of her husband’s behavior throughout their courtship and marriage are tested by recent memories of his drastically altered behavior and opinions.  Could Michael’s desperation have driven him to such an uncharacteristic act of domestic terrorism?

As Julia frantically tries to locate Michael, a survivor of the blast whose memories are lost due to a head wound feels disconnected from the seemingly irrefutable evidence of his identity.  Driven by an inexplicable instinct to immediately leave Penn Station, he wanders around the city in a daze. He is desperate to return to the address found on the driver’s license he finds inside his briefcase and he soon sets off on his journey home. Despite his lack of memories, intuition leads him to avoid public scrutiny once he becomes aware Michael Swann is wanted in connection with the bombing.

Despite Homeland Security’s best efforts to convince Julia of Michael’s guilt, she remains steadfast in her belief in his innocence. With the help of her mother, Julia anxiously escapes from the agents trying to use her to lure Michael to them.  Thanks to the extensive media coverage, she has a general idea of his whereabouts and she recklessly tries to reach him before Homeland Security captures him. Will Julia find Michael before the authorities take him into custody?

The Real Michael Swann is an electrifying novel that could easily have been ripped from today’s headlines. Julia is a complex, well-developed lead protagonist whose faith in her husband’s innocence is nearly unshakable. Although savvy readers will most likely have a good idea what awaits Julia as she hurdles toward finding Michael before Homeland Security, Bryan Reardon brings the novel to a pulse-pounding, tension-filled conclusion that is full of clever plot twists.

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Filed under Bryan Reardon, Contemporary, Dutton, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, The Real Michael Swann

February 23, 2015 · 11:56 pm

Review: Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon

finding jakeTitle: Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction, Suspense
Length: 272 pages
Book Rating: A

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

A heart-wrenching yet ultimately uplifting story of psychological suspense in which a parent is forced to confront what he does—and does not—know about his teenage son

For sixteen years, Simon Connelly’s successful wife has gone to her law office each day, while he has stayed home to raise their children. Though Simon has loved taking care of Jake and Laney, it has cost him a part of himself, and has made him an anomaly in his pretty, suburban neighborhood—the only stay-at-home dad among a tight circle of mothers.

Shepherding them through childhood, the angst-ridden father has tried to do the best for the kids, even if he often second-guesses his choices. For sunny, outgoing Laney, it’s been easy. But quiet Jake has always preferred the company of his books or his sister to playdates and organized sports. Now that they are in high school, Simon should feel more relaxed, but he doesn’t. He’s seen the statistics, read the headlines.

Then, on a warm November day, he receives a text: There has been a shooting at the high school.

Racing to the rendezvous point, Simon is forced to wait with scores of other anxious fathers and tearful mothers, overwhelmed by the disturbing questions running through his head. How many victims were there? Why did this happen? One by one, parents are reunited with their children. Their numbers dwindle, until Simon is alone. Laney has gone home with her mom. Jake is the only child missing.

As his worst nightmare unfolds, Simon begins to obsess over the past, searching for answers, for hope, for the memory of the boy he raised, for the mistakes he must have made, for the reason everything came to this. Where is Jake? What happened in those final moments? Is it possible he doesn’t really know his son? Or he knows him better than he thought? Jake could not have done this—or could he?

As rumors begin to ricochet, amplified by an invasive media, Simon must find answers. But there is only one way to understand what has happened . . . he must find Jake.

A story of faith and conviction, strength and courage, love and doubt that is harrowing and heartbreaking, surprisingly healing and redemptive, Finding Jake asks us to consider how well we know ourselves . . . and those we love.

The Review:

Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon is a suspense-laden and emotion-filled novel that is every parents’ worst nightmare: a shooting at your child’s school. What makes the story so compelling are several unanswered questions: the fate of a missing student, his involvement (if any) in the shooting and how well do parents really know their children. There are several other fascinating elements to the storyline that are also quite thought-provoking but discovering the answers to these three questions is what I found most riveting.

Simon Connolly is a stay at home dad who has always worried about his two kids, Jake and Laney. He agonizes over the smallest details of his parenting but in the aftermath of the school shooting, he cannot help but obsess over whether he made the right decisions for both kids, but Jake in particular. When the parents of the students begin to learn the fate of their children, Simon is the last parent to receive information about Jake, but he is left reeling at the news that Jake is a suspect in the shooting and that he is, in fact, missing. His son’s connection to the troubled suspect is tenuous but police immediately focus on Jake as a co-conspirator and Simon is left wondering if he overlooked signs that Jake is capable of committing such a heinous act of violence.

Simon is panicked from the first notification that there is trouble at the school and he remains that way for much of the novel. He flashes back to different moments in Jake’s childhood and the picture of a quiet, shy, introverted child quickly emerges. Simon wonders if he imparted the right lessons to his son and if he made the right choices during pivotal moments of Jake’s childhood. While Simon’s wife and daughter never doubt Jake’s innocence, Simon is plagued with misgivings and uncertainties that cloud his judgment in several instances. In a moment of startling clarity, Simon finally puts the pieces of the puzzle together and he is nearly shattered by his subsequent discovery.

School shootings are particularly horrifying crimes and it is easy to make snap judgments and leap to conclusions in an effort to understand the incomprehensible. Friends and neighbors are the first to point fingers and distance themselves from the alleged perpetrators. There is intense pressure on law enforcement to provide answers and reassure the public that they have solved the crime. Parents are easy to blame when their child misbehaves and in a school shooting, it becomes imperative to assign responsibility and parents are often burdened with guilt and their decisions are closely scrutinized. Each of these topics are realistically explored in Finding Jake and the reactions of the various characters ring true.

Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon is an incredibly well-written novel that is poignant, tragic and ultimately, quite moving. An absolutely absorbing read that is incredibly relevant in today’s world and one that I highly recommend.

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Filed under Bryan Reardon, Contemporary, Fiction, Finding Jake, Rated A, Review, Suspense, William Morrow