Category Archives: Harper

October 11, 2020 · 11:57 pm

Review: Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy

Title: Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 293 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

From “master of clever misdirection” (Kirkus Reviews) Aimee Molloy, author of the New York Times bestseller The Perfect Mother, comes an irresistible psychological thriller featuring a newly married woman whose life is turned upside down when her husband goes missing.

A handsome psychotherapist. His lonely wife. And in his home office ceiling, a vent …

You’d listen too, wouldn’t you? (You know you would.)

Newlyweds Sam Statler and Annie Potter are head over heels, and excited to say good-bye to New York City and start a life together in Sam’s sleepy hometown upstate. Or, it turns out, a life where Annie spends most of her time alone while Sam, her therapist husband, works long hours in his downstairs office, tending to the egos of his (mostly female) clientele. Little does Sam know that through a vent in his ceiling, every word of his sessions can be heard from the room upstairs. The pharmacist’s wife, contemplating a divorce. The well-known painter whose boyfriend doesn’t satisfy her in bed. Who could resist listening? Everything is fine until the French girl in the green mini Cooper shows up, and Sam decides to go to work and not come home, throwing a wrench into Sam and Annie’s happily ever after.

Showcasing Molloy’s deft ability to subvert norms and culminating in the kind of stunning twist that is becoming her trademark, Goodnight Beautiful is a thrilling tale of domestic suspense that not only questions assumptions but defies expectations.

Review:

Goodnight Beautiful by Aimee Molloy is an absolutely brilliant mystery that is incredibly riveting.

Psychologist Sam Statler is a reformed player who is now happily married to his wife Annie Potter. The couple have recently relocated in Sam’s hometown  due to his mother’s dementia diagnosis. Sam quickly establishes a woman heavy practice that is located in a historic Victorian home that belonged to the last surviving member of the town’s founder. Unbeknownst to Sam, his sessions can be heard through the vent in his recently renovated office space.  When Sam disappears one evening on his way home, Annie knows something terrible has happened to her husband. But with the police treating his disappearance as voluntary, she decides to see if she can find him on her own. Will Annie find Sam before it is too late?

Sam is keeping some very major secrets from Annie that she discovers soon after his disappearance. Although she harbors a few doubts, she remains convinced something nefarious happened to her husband. Police Chief Franklin Sheehy is disinterested in the information she provides to him. Annie remains confident Sam would never leave her but will she give up searching for him in the aftermath of surprising discoveries?

Goodnight Beautiful is a thoroughly engrossing Mystery with a clever storyline. The characters are intriguing and the small town is the perfect setting for this gripping story.  With absolutely stunning twists and diabolical turns, Aimee Molloy brings this smart mystery to an outstanding conclusion.  Highly recommend this suspenseful mystery to fans of the genre.

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Filed under Aimee Molloy, Contemporary, Goodnight Beautiful, Harper, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense

August 23, 2020 · 11:57 pm

Review: Final Cut by S.J. Watson

Title: Final Cut by S.J. Watson
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 360 pages
Book Rating: C

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

A gripping new psychological thriller from S.J. Watson, the New York Times bestselling author of Before I Go to Sleep, in which a documentary filmmaker travels to a sleepy fishing village to shoot her new film and encounters a dark mystery surrounding the disappearance of a local girl.

They tried to hide the truth. But the camera never lies…

Blackwood Bay. An ordinary place, home to ordinary people.

It used to be a buzzing seaside destination. But now, ravaged by the effects of dwindling tourism and economic downturn, it’s a ghost town—and the perfect place for film-maker Alex to shoot her new documentary. But the community is deeply suspicious of her intentions. After all, nothing exciting ever happens in Blackwood Bay—or does it?

Review:

Final Cut by S.J. Watson is an atmospheric mystery.

Documentary film maker Alex Young returns to the place she thought she had left behind. With few memories of the time leading up to her moving to London,  she hopes this latest project gets her career back on track. Although the Blackwood Bay residents are providing clips of everyday life, Alex instead focuses on the girls who have gone missing from the village. Ten years ago, Daisy supposedly jumped to her death, but Alex doubts she is dead. Her friend Sadie also disappeared around the same time. Three years ago,  fourteen year old Zoe Pearson also vanished without a trace.

As she observes the teenage girls in town, Alex has the uneasy feeling something is not quite right.  She zeroes in on Ellie and Zoe’s friend Sophie in hopes of them will confide in her. When another girl goes missing, Alex joins the search but fears the worst.  Will investigating this newest disappearance help Alex regain her missing memories? And is she prepared for what she might recall?

Alex tries to keep her attention on her current project but it is her past she is most interested in.  She asks probing questions but she is often frustrated by the lack of straight answers. The townspeople are more interested in protecting themselves and no one is really interested in raking up the past. Alex is intent on hiding her identity but are the changes in her appearance enough to  prevent anyone from recognizing her?

Final Cut is an intriguing mystery with an interesting premise. Unfortunately the story moves at a snail’s pace and becomes bogged down as Alex fails to unearth any new information. The cast of characters is a extensive and it is difficult keeping up with who is who.  Alex is a sympathetic lead protagonist but is her narration reliable? With a couple of unexpected plot twists, S.J. Watson brings this suspenseful mystery to very dramatic conclusion.

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Filed under Contemporary, Final Cut, Harper, Mystery, Rated C, Review, SJ Watson, Suspense

June 3, 2020 · 11:58 pm

Review: Don’t Turn Around by Jessica Barry

Title: Don’t Turn Around by Jessica Barry
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 317 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

The riveting follow up to Jessica Barry’s debut Freefall—a controversial, of-the-moment thriller about two women fighting for their right to live. 

322 miles of road. 6 hours. 2 strangers. 1 killer. Too many secrets.

Midnight. Cait Monaghan and Rebecca McRae are on a desolate road that slices through the New Mexican desert. They’ve never met before tonight.  Both have secrets to protect. Both of their lives are in danger.

When a truck pulls up fast behind them, they assume it’s punk teenagers or run-of-the-mill road rage, but it soon becomes clear that whoever is driving the truck is hunting them for sport—and they are out to draw blood.

As the miles unspool and the dangers mount, the pasts they’ve worked so hard to keep buried have come back to haunt them.  Someone wants one of them dead. But which one?  And given the lives the two women have been leading, that someone could be almost anyone.

If Cait and Rebecca are going to survive, they’ll have to learn to trust one another—and themselves. But trust is a costly business, and they’ve both paid the price before. . . .

Review:

Don’t Turn Around by Jessica Barry is a spellbinding mystery.

In her mid-twenties, Cait Monaghan is an aspiring journalist working as a bartender.  After a drunken one night stand with a rising country singer, she anonymously writes an article about her scary experience with him. Although her post goes viral, Cait’s hopes of getting more articles published are dashed. She finds satisfaction doing volunteer work but she is eventually outed as the author of article and she fears for her safety.

Cait nonetheless continues her volunteer work and she picks up her latest passenger, Rebbeca McRae in Lubbock, TX. The two women are driving to Albuquerque in the dead of night and their journey quickly turns menacing. Cait thinks whomever is behind the wheel is after her whereas Rebecca believes she is the target.  No matter who this person is after, the two woman must work together to save themselves when the situation turns dire.

After controversy hits, Cait entertains a few self-doubts but she knows what happened to her was not only wrong but dangerous. She is relieved that no one at the bar recognizes she is at the heart of the current  media storm.  At first, Cait is unconcerned about her safety, but once her address becomes public knowledge, she remains vigilant and very worried.

While working as a volunteer Cait is very careful to make sure no one is around when she makes her pick up. So during her current assignment, she keeps a close watch to make sure no one is following them. But she becomes worried during one of their stops and they immediately get back on the road. But once they leave the small town behind, someone begins toying with them. When disaster strikes, both Cait and Rebecca are terrified and hope they are not putting their trust in the wrong person. The two women soon breathe a sigh of relief, but is the danger truly behind them?

Don’t Turn Around is an absolutely mesmerizing mystery that is fast-paced and engrossing. The storyline is topical and well-executed. The characters are well-developed with relatable flaws and unexpected strengths. The isolated setting ratchets up the tension and danger as Cait and Rebecaa attempt to outwit their pursuer. With plenty of edge of the seat suspense, Jessica Barry brings this clever mystery to a satisfying conclusion. Highly recommend to readers of the genre.

Just a note: I live in one of the New Mexico towns mentioned in the novel and I can attest to the accuracy of the desolate drive in its entirety. Sections of the highway can be deserted even in the daytime and driving at night is very eerie!

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Filed under Contemporary, Don't Turn Around, Harper, Jessica Barry, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense

May 18, 2020 · 11:57 pm

Review: The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine

Title: The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 316 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

The bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish returns with a psychological thriller, filled with chilling serpentine twists, about a woman fighting to hold onto the only family she’s ever loved—and how far she’ll go to preserve it.

Named one of the most anticipated thrillers of the year by Goodreads, Bustle, SheReads, and Library Journal; A LibraryReads pick of the month 

Breezing into the upscale seaside paradise of Westport, Connecticut, gorgeous thirtysomething Piper Reynard sets down roots, opening a rehab and wellness space and joining a local yacht club. When she meets Leo Drakos, a handsome, successful lawyer, the wedding ring on his finger is the only thing she doesn’t like about him. Yet as Piper well knows, no marriage is permanent.

Meanwhile, Joanna has been waiting patiently for Leo, the charismatic man she fell in love with all those years ago, to re-emerge from the severe depression that has engulfed him. Though she’s thankful when Leo returns to his charming, energetic self, paying attention again to Evie and Stelli, the children they both love beyond measure, Joanna is shocked to discover that it’s not her loving support that’s sparked his renewed happiness—it’s something else.

Piper. Leo has fallen head over heels for the flaky, New Age-y newcomer, and unrepentant and resolute, he’s more than willing to leave Joanna behind, along with everything they’ve built. Of course, he assures her, she can still see the children.

Joanna is devastated—and determined to find something, anything, to use against this woman who has stolen her life and her true love. As she digs deeper into Piper’s past, Joanna begins to unearth disturbing secrets . . . but when she confides to her therapist that she fears for the lives of her ex-husband and children, her concerns are dismissed as paranoia. Can she find the proof she needs in time to save them?

Review:

The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine is an absolutely riveting domestic mystery.

Joanna quietly waits for Leo Drakos to emerge from the deep depression he has been battling for several months.  She is thrilled when he begins working again but she is soon frustrated to discover that someone else is responsible for his increasing happiness.  After Joanna is pushed aside, she is determined to uncover everything she can about the new woman in his life.

Piper Reynard’s new beginning in Westport, CT is off to a fantastic beginning. She is the owner of a successful wellness center and she focuses on the positive. After meeting lawyer Leo Drakos, she quickly falls for him and their relationship progresses quickly. Piper is soon stepmom to eight year old Evie and six year old Stelli and she is settling into her new life. As Leo puts in long hours working on his cases, she works on her relationships with her stepchildren. Evie is a delightful little girl who genuinely likes Piper but young Stelli is resistant to accepting her into the fold.  Although frustrated, Piper is determined to make her marriage work.

Meanwhile, Joanna is doing everything she can to try to win Leo back.  She is also fighting hard to regain visitation rights with Evie and Stelli.  She deeply resents Piper’s intrusion into their life so she is furiously attempting to uncover her foe’s secrets. Digging deep into Piper’s past, Joanna grows increasingly certain Stelli, Evie and quite possibly, Leo, are in danger. Certain time is running out, Joanna  takes extreme measure to try to save the people the loves.

Alternating between Joanna and Piper’s point of view, The Wife Stalker is a captivating mystery.  The storyline is well-developed and the short chapters keep the story moving at a brisk pace. Piper is a bit standoffish and she desperately wants to put her past behind her. Joanna will go to any lengths to protect her loved ones.  With starling twists and eye-popping turns, Liv Constantine brings this mesmerizing mystery to a jaw-dropping conclusion. An outstanding mystery that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend to fans of the genre.

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Filed under Contemporary, Harper, Liv Constantine, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, The Wife Stalker

May 3, 2020 · 11:58 pm

Review: A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight

Title: A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense, Legal Thriller
Length: 398 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Big Little Lies meets Presumed Innocent in this riveting novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia, in which a woman’s brutal murder reveals the perilous compromises some couples make—and the secrets they keep—in order to stay together.

Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call. Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then, suddenly, it all fell apart.

No. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes.

The last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his wife, Amanda, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone. And Zach’s the primary suspect.

As Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Brooklyn Country Day school, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own. In the end, she’s left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place.

Review:

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight is a clever mystery that is also a riveting legal thriller.

Lawyer Lizzie Kitsakis is working late when Zack Grayson, an old law school friend, unexpectedly calls her for help. He is current being held without bail at Riker’s Island and oh, by the way, his wife, Amanda, has been murdered. Lizzie reluctantly agrees to help get him out on bail, but Zach is soon formally charged with murder.  Although she tries to convince him to hire another attorney, Zach coerces her into remaining on the case. Wanting him out of her life for good, Lizzie knows the only way to get the charges dropped is to find the real killer. When she discovers stunning evidence, has Lizzie found the murderer?

Lizzie is not at all happy with the unexpected trajectory of her career. She is exceptionally good at her job but she cannot help but be resentful of husband Sam Chadwick for forcing this change. Their marriage has been rocky for quite some time but she continues to ignore Sam’s problems.  Will her marriage survive when she learns shocking information about her husband?

Lizzie’s lack of enthusiasm working for Zach is tempered by her conviction that he is innocent of the charges against him.  She immediately hires family friend, private investigator Millie Faber, to take care of the forensic portion of her investigation. Lizzie begins questioning Amanda’s closest friends, Sarah Novak and Maude Lagueux. Amanda and Sarah worked at the charitable foundation set up by Zach.  While the women do not have much in common, their children attend the same school, Brooklyn County Day. Despite the friends spending quite a bit of time together, Lizzie quickly discovers  Amanda did not reveal much about herself.  But the one thing both Sarah and Maude agree on is that their friend’s marriage was hardly close and neither of them like Zach.  Interesting details, but does any of this have anything to do with Amanda’s murder?

Answers to that question might just lie within the pages of Amanda’s journal. Lizzie learns very troubling information about Amanda’s life in the weeks leading up to her murder. Against Millie’s advice, Lizzie strikes out on her own hoping to find evidence that will exonerate Zach.  She learns very surprising facts about Amanda’s past that completely change Lizzie’s perspective about events in the present.  But will any of this new information lead to Amanda’s killer?

A Good Marriage is a taut, multi-layered mystery that is quite engrossing. The storyline is complex and engaging. The characters are well-drawn with appealing strengths and relatable flaws.  Interspersed with Lizzie’s investigation are intriguing chapters that detail the grand jury and the days leading up to Amanda’s murder. With brilliant red herrings and cunning misdirects, Kimberly McCreight brings this captivating mystery to an absolutely jaw-dropping conclusion.  Fans of the genre do not want to miss this suspenseful mystery.

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Filed under A Good Marriage, Contemporary, Harper, Kimberly McCreight, Legal Thriller, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense

April 1, 2020 · 11:58 pm

Review: Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore

Title: Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Historical (70s), Fiction
Length: 320 pages
Book Rating: C

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Written with the haunting emotional power of Elizabeth Strout and Barbara Kingsolver, an astonishing debut novel that explores the lingering effects of a brutal crime on the women of one small Texas oil town in the 1970s.

Mercy is hard in a place like this . . .

It’s February 1976, and Odessa, Texas, stands on the cusp of the next great oil boom. While the town’s men embrace the coming prosperity, its women intimately know and fear the violence that always seems to follow.

In the early hours of the morning after Valentine’s Day, fourteen-year-old Gloria Ramírez appears on the front porch of Mary Rose Whitehead’s ranch house, broken and barely alive. The teenager had been viciously attacked in a nearby oil field—an act of brutality that is tried in the churches and barrooms of Odessa before it can reach a court of law. When justice is evasive, the stage is set for a showdown with potentially devastating consequences.

Valentine is a haunting exploration of the intersections of violence and race, class and region in a story that plumbs the depths of darkness and fear, yet offers a window into beauty and hope. Told through the alternating points of view of indelible characters who burrow deep in the reader’s heart, this fierce, unflinching, and surprisingly tender novel illuminates women’s strength and vulnerability, and reminds us that it is the stories we tell ourselves that keep us alive.

Review:

Set in Odessa, TX, Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore is an interesting novel which takes place in the mid 1970s.

Beginning with the vicious sexual and physical assault  on fourteen year old Gloria Ramirez by oil worker Dale Strickland, the story unfolds through a series of vignettes by five different women.  Gloria’s life quickly intersects with ranch wife Mary Rose Whitehead who provides refuge to the young woman. Mary Rose is pregnant with her second child at the time and she is willing to do whatever it takes for justice for Gloria. But she is unable to cope with the isolated setting and she moves to town where she becomes neighbors with widow Corrine Shepard. Corrine is struggling following the death of her husband. The narrative paints a somewhat grim portrait of life in the oil boomtown as it wanders to other women and a young girl in the neighborhood. The story also highlights the dearth of women’s rights during the time period and the rampant xenophobia against Mexicans.

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore is well-written but the story is slow-paced,  a little disjointed and meandering. The characters are relatively well-developed but some are more likable than others. Mary Rose and Gloria are multi-dimensional and easy to empathize with as they deal with the aftermath of the attack. The issues the various characters are dealing with are well-articulated and true to the time period. The resolution of Gloria’s case against Dale is realistic and sets the stage for the novel’s somewhat dramatic conclusion.

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Filed under Elizabeth Wetmore, Harper, Historical, Historical (70s), Rated C, Review, Valentine