Nightcap Books

BOOK INFO

Title: The Long Way Back

Author: Nicole Baart

Publisher: Atria Books

Publish Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

Mother and daughter Charlie and Eva never sought social media fame, but when a stunning photo of Eva went viral, fame found them. Now, after more than two years documenting life on the road in their vintage Airstream trailer, the duo has temporarily settled on the North Shore of Lake Superior. Eva is happily finishing her senior year of high school and applying to college, but Charlie longs for the adventures they left behind.

When Eva goes missing less than a week before her graduation, it’s Charlie who is immediately suspected of foul play—not just by their fans, but also by the police and the FBI. As a fight about one more road trip comes to light, and the truth about their relationship is questioned, Charlie realizes the rosy facade they portrayed online hid a complicated and potentially dangerous reality. Now, to clear her name and find out what has happened to her daughter, she’ll have to confront her own role in Eva’s disappearance—and whether she knows her daughter at all.

MY REVIEW

A mother and daughter found social media fame while traveling in their Airstream. When the daughter goes missing, the mother is the first suspect.

The Long Way Back is told using the dual points of view of the mother and daughter. The characters are realistic and relatable. The story is complex and well written.

An atmospheric, suspenseful, and twisty mystery thriller. This is the first books I’ve read by this author, and I look forward to reading more from her.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

BOOK INFO

Title: Not So Perfect Strangers

Author: L.S. Stratton

Publisher: Union Square & Co.

Publish Date: March 28, 2023

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

One fateful encounter upends the lives of two women in this tense domestic thriller, a modern spin on Alfred Hitchcock’s Strangers On A Train that flips the script on race and gender politics.

“I’m a big believer that women should help each other, Tasha,” she says. “Don’t you think?”

Tasha Jenkins has finally found the courage to leave her abusive husband. Taking her teenage son with her, Tasha checks into a hotel the night before their flight out of D.C. and out of Kordell Jenkins’s life forever. But escaping isn’t so easy, and Tasha soon finds herself driving back to her own personal hell. As she is leaving, a white woman pounds on her car window, begging to be let in. Behind the woman, an angry man is in pursuit. Tasha makes a split-second decision that will alter the course of her life: she lets her in and takes off. 

Tasha and Madison Gingell may have very different everyday realities, but what they have in common is marriages they need out of. The two women want to help each other, but they have very different ideas of what that means . . .

They are on a collision course that will end in the case files of the D.C. MPD homicide unit. Unraveling the truth of what really happened may be impossible‒and futile. Because what has the truth ever done for women like Tasha and Madison?

MY REVIEW

Not So Perfect Strangers is a retelling of Strangers on a Train. Two women have a chance meeting one night. Both women are looking to escape their spouses, and one of them suggests they kill each other’s husbands.

Told using dual points of view, the reader gets both women’s perspectives on their lives and what they think of each other. Not So Perfect Strangers is a fun, dark, and twisty thriller.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

BOOK INFO

Title: How I’ll Kill You

Author: Ren DeStefano

Publisher: Berkley

Publish Date: March 21, 2023

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

Your next stay-up-all-night thriller, about identical triplets who have a nasty habit of killing their boyfriends, and what happens when the youngest commits their worst crime yet: falling in love with her mark.

Make him want you.
Make him love you.
Make him dead.

Sissy has an…interesting family. Always the careful one, always the cautious one, she has handled the cleanup while her serial killer sisters have carved a path of carnage across the U.S. Now, as they arrive in the Arizona heat, Sissy must step up and embrace the family pastime of making a man fall in love and then murdering him. Her first target? A young widower named Edison—and their mutual attraction is instant. While their relationship progresses, and most couples would be thinking about picking out china patterns and moving in together, Sissy’s family is reminding her to think about picking out burial sites and moving on. 

Then something happens that Sissy never anticipated: She begins to feel protective of Edison, and before she can help it, she’s fallen in love. But the clock is ticking, and her sisters are growing restless. It becomes clear that the gravesite she chooses will hide a body no matter what happens; but if she betrays her family, will it be hers?

MY REVIEW

Sissy, Moody, and Iris are identical triplets, and serial killers. Moody and Iris have each killed a few men, and now it’s Sissy’s turn.

How I’ll Kill You is told from Sissy’s point of view. Sissy hasn’t killed anyone before, but she does the clean up for the murders her sisters commit. Her sisters say it is now her turn to kill, but she ends up falling in love with her target. This is obviously unacceptable to the sisters.

A wickedly fun thriller. Dark, clever, and intense.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.