Category Archives: Jane Corry

January 28, 2019 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Dead Ex by Jane Corry

Title: The Dead Ex by Jane Corry
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 368 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

One man’s disappearance throws four women’s lives into chaos–who will survive?

Vicki works as an aromatherapist, healing her clients out of her home studio with her special blends of essential oils. She’s just finishing a session when the police arrive on her doorstep–her ex-husband David has gone missing. Vicki insists she last saw him years ago when they divorced, but the police clearly don’t believe her. And her memory’s hardly reliable–what if she did have something to do with it?

Meanwhile, Scarlet and her mother Zelda are down on their luck, and at eight years old, Scarlet’s not old enough to know that the “game” her mother forces her to play is really just a twisted name for dealing drugs. Soon, Zelda is caught, and Scarlet is forced into years of foster care–an experience that will shape the rest of her life . . .

David’s new wife, Tanya, is the one who reported him missing, but what really happened on the night of David’s disappearance? And how can Vicki prove her innocence, when she’s not even sure of it herself? The answer lies in the connection among these four women–and the one person they can’t escape.

Review:

The Dead Ex by Jane Corry is an absolutely spellbinding, suspenseful mystery.

Vicki Goudman is currently living along the coast in Penzance where she is getting her aromatherapy business off the ground. However, her quiet life is completely upended when Detective Inspector Gareth Vine and Sergeant Sarah Brown stop by and begin questioning her about her ex-husband, David.  They have reason to believe Vicki might be involved in his perplexing disappearance two weeks earlier. Vicki, whose epilepsy sometimes leaves holes in her memory, is emphatic as she denies having seen him since their divorce several years earlier.  Will Vicki’s story hold up under police scrutiny?

Now in her mid forties, Vicki’s life took a drastic turn following her marriage and divorce. She was blindsided and devastated by David’s announcement he was in love with his assistant Tanya and wanted a divorce. Despite his callous treatment of her, Vicki still pines for him and she is edging up to stalking him with phone calls and revisiting places where they spent time together. She is very concerned about David’s disappearance and she does herself no favors DI Pine with her evasive answers to his questions. Vicki is also less than forthcoming with her lawyer until her situation turns dire and she has no choice but to reveal the truth about her life before and after she married David.

A secondary story arc follows the poignant plight of eight year old Scarlet Darling and her mother Zelda.  Scarlet’s story begins in 2007 with Zelda manipulating her daughter into participating in very nefarious schemes. After Zelda is arrested, Scarlet is taken into care where her first placement proves to be quite damaging to the vulnerable young girl. Her next set of foster parents are absolutely wonderful but Scarlet’s life-long loyalty to Zelda blinds her to truth about her mother’s true nature.

A third story line introduces Helen Evans into the mix as she worms her way into David Goudman’s orbit in the months preceding his disappearance. She obviously has an agenda as she hooks David then gradually begins reeling him in. But what possible reason could Helen have for inserting herself into his life?  Is she somehow involved in what happened to David?

The Dead Ex is an engrossing mystery with a well-executed storyline. Curiosity about how  these three very divergent story arcs intersect keep the pages turning at a furious clip. Jane Corry does an absolutely brilliant job keeping readers wondering how these seemingly unconnected women are linked with the events playing out in the present. With stunning twists and jaw-dropping turns, this clever mystery comes to an very thrilling conclusion. I highly recommend this suspenseful tale to fans of the genre.

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Filed under Contemporary, Jane Corry, Mystery, Pamela Dorman Books, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, The Dead Ex

January 15, 2018 · 11:57 pm

Review: Blood Sisters by Jane Corry

Title: Blood Sisters by Jane Corry
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B

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

Summary:

From the bestselling author of My Husband’s Wife, a new thriller featuring three girls, one accident, and a lifetime of lies.

Three little girls set off to school one sunny morning. Within an hour, one of them is dead.

Fifteen years later, Kitty can’t speak and has no memory of the accident that’s to blame. She lives in an institution, unlikely ever to leave. But that doesn’t keep her from being frightened when she encounters an eerily familiar face.

Art teacher Alison looks fine on the surface. But the surface is a lie. She’s struggling to make ends meet and to forget the past. When a teaching job at a prison opens up, she takes it, despite her fears. Maybe this is her chance to set things right. Then she starts to receive alarming notes; next, her classroom erupts in violence.

Meanwhile, someone is watching both Kitty and Alison. Someone who never forgot what happened that day. Someone who wants revenge. And only another life will do.

Review:

Blood Sisters by Jane Corry is a suspenseful mystery that is filled with secrets and lies from a childhood car accident that occurred fifteen years ago.

Allison Baker is in her thirties but she is still haunted by the car accident that left her younger half-sister Kitty James with severe brain damage. An artist who teaches at several colleges, she is barely making rent since she is helping her mom pay for Kitty’s care. When she learns about an artist in residence job at a local minimum security prison, Allison applies for the position. With much trepidation, she begins working there three times a week but she is rather nervous due to some threatening letters and phone calls she has been receiving. Beginning an unexpected romance with Clive Black, Allison is cautiously optimistic about her future when she forced to deal with her unresolved past.

Allison is wracked with guilt over the circumstances surrounding the car accident. Her relationship with her Kitty was never easy and she is unable to allow herself to do the things her sister will never get to do. Her entire life changed irrevocably after the accident and Allison cannot seem to put the incident behind her.  Instinctively knowing the threatening notes and phone calls are somehow linked to the accident, Allison avoids dealing with them as she begins her job at the prison.

Kitty was extremely spoiled and her childhood friendship with Vanessa turned her into  cruel, spiteful young girl. She deliberately sabotaged some of Allison’s school projects and never let her social outcast sister forget she was unpopular. In the days leading up to the tragic car accident, Kitty and Vanessa were on the outs but her friend picked that day to try to salvage their friendship.

The chapters primarily alternate between Allison and Kitty’s points of view. Allison is a sympathetic character who cannot seem to give herself permission to be happy. Kitty is trapped in her mind, unable to verbalize her thoughts and prone to violent outbursts when she is unhappy. She does enter into a relationship with a young man from the group home and their relationship has many unintended consequences.

With a slow building storyline and a sympathetic but sometimes frustrating lead character, Blood Sisters is an engrossing mystery. Who is responsible for the threatening notes and phone calls to Kitty? Is it possible someone knows the truth about the car accident? With breathtaking plot twists, Jane Corry provides a stunning array of answers to these very intriguing questions. The novel ends with a jaw-dropping revelation that is guaranteed to shock readers. An outstanding read that I highly recommend to fans of the genre.

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Filed under Blood Sisters, Contemporary, Jane Corry, Mystery, Pamela Dorman Books, Rated B, Review, Suspense