Category: Mystery Thriller

Book Review

Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy [Book Review]

Posted on by Darinda
Book Review

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more info, read my Disclosure Policy.

BOOK INFO

Title: Do Not Become Alarmed

Author: Maile Meloy

Publisher: Riverhead Books

Publish Date: June 6, 2017

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

BOOK BLURB

The sun is shining, the sea is blue, the children have disappeared.

When Liv and Nora decide to take their husbands and children on a holiday cruise,everyone is thrilled. The adults are lulled by the ship’s comfort and ease. The fourchildren—ages six to eleven—love the nonstop buffet and their newfound independence.But when they all go ashore for an adventure in Central America, a series of minormisfortunes and miscalculations leads the families farther from the safety of the ship. Oneminute the children are there, and the next they’re gone.

The disintegration of the world the families knew—told from the perspectives of both theadults and the children—is both riveting and revealing. The parents, accustomed tosecurity and control, turn on each other and blame themselves, while the seeminglyhelpless children discover resources they never knew they possessed.

Do Not Become Alarmed is a story about the protective force of innocence and the limitsof parental power, and an insightful look at privileged illusions of safety. Celebrated forher spare and moving fiction, Maile Meloy has written a gripping novel about howquickly what we count on can fall away, and the way a crisis shifts our perceptions ofwhat matters most.

Do Not Become Alarmed by Maile Meloy

MY REVIEW

A cruise excursion goes terribly wrong. Three mothers, each with a daughter and a son, take their kids on an excursion from their cruise ship. While the mothers are distracted, the kids go missing.

Do Not Become Alarmed is told from different points of view, some of the kids and some of the adults. I enjoyed seeing what was going on with both sides of the search for the missing kids.

I was constantly annoyed by several of the characters. Both the adults and kids made some poor decisions, and then kept making them. There was some weak character development and the story was a bit messy at times. That said, I stayed up late to finish the book because I wanted to see how it would all end. In the end, I thought Do Not Become Alarmed was an exciting thriller. Also, I never want to take my eyes off my child for a second, ever.

Book Review

Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber [Book Review]

Posted on by Darinda
Book Review

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more info, read my Disclosure Policy.

BOOK INFO

Title: Are You Sleeping

Author: Kathleen Barber

Publisher: Gallery Books

Publish Date: August 1, 2017

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 5/5

Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber

BOOK BLURB

Serial meets Ruth Ware’s In A Dark, Dark Wood in this inventive and twisty psychological thriller about a mega-hit podcast that reopens a murder case and threatens to unravel the carefully constructed life of the victim’s daughter—now a major Apple TV+ series starring Octavia Spencer and Aaron Paul, produced by Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine!

The only thing more dangerous than a lie…is the truth.

Josie Buhrman has spent the last ten years trying to escape her family and with good reason. After her father’s murder thirteen years prior, her mother ran away to join a cult and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie’s closest friend and confidant, betrayed her in an unimaginable way. Now, Josie has finally put down roots in New York, settling into domestic life with her partner Caleb, and that’s where she intends to stay.

The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past—starting with her last name.

When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a megahit podcast that reopens the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, questioning whether the wrong person may be behind bars, Josie’s world begins to unravel. Meanwhile, the unexpected death of Josie’s long-absent mother forces her to return to her Midwestern hometown where she must confront the demons from her past—and the lies on which she has staked her future.

Are You Sleeping by Kathleen Barber

MY REVIEW

Josie’s father, Chuck Buhrman, was murdered when she was a teenager. Her twin sister, Lanie, saw the murder take place and identified the killer, a neighborhood teenager named Warren Cave. Warren was found guilty and spent the next 13 years in prison. The book picks up from there, 13 years after the trial, when a new podcast renews interest in the mystery… and questions if Warren really did it.

After her father’s death, Josie’s family did not handle things well. The mother abandoned her daughters and joined a cult. The cult did not allow contact with outsiders, so nobody has had contact with her since the trial.

The twins spent their remaining teenage years being raised by their aunt. Josie was always the good daughter, while Lanie was the rebellious one. This resulted in several altercations while they were teenagers, and ultimately ended with Josie leaving and never returning to their small town.

After the twin’s mother dies, Josie decides to return home for the funeral. Once she arrives, she learns a few things have changed since she left, her sister being the biggest change.

The story is primarily told from Josie’s point of view. She is now in her late twenties and has distanced herself from her past, including moving and changing her name. She has a good job, a nice place to live, and a serious relationship with her boyfriend, who she’s never told the truth about her family history. She has never had any reason to question who killed her father, and only wants to put her past behind her.

Other parts of the book are transcripts of the podcast. Poppy Parnell, the investigative journalist who started the podcast, interviews everyone she can that was connected to the Chuck Buhrman murder case. The podcast has thrust the Buhrman family in the spotlight, and they are angry and upset with their family history becoming a casual topic to be debated online.

I had fun reading this thriller. It’s well written, and I loved the combination of traditional storytelling with podcast transcripts and social media updates (Twitter and Reddit). I see where this is touted as Serial meets Ruth Ware. The podcast in Are You Sleeping had the feel of Serial, and I couldn’t help but compare the two while I read. As for the writing, it’s a very readable thriller, similar in style to novels by Ruth Ware.

Are You Sleeping is Kathleen Barber’s debut novel, and I look forward to reading more by her. Are You Sleeping is also published under the title Truth Be Told.

Books by Kathleen Barber:
  1. Are You Sleeping
  2. Follow Me
Book Review

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips [Book Review]

Posted on by Darinda
Book Review

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more info, read my Disclosure Policy.

BOOK INFO

Title: Fierce Kingdom

Author: Gin Phillips

Publisher: Viking

Publish Date: July 25, 2017

Genre: Mystery Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips

BOOK BLURB

An electrifying novel about the primal and unyielding bond between a mother and her son, and the lengths she’ll go to protect him.

The zoo is nearly empty as Joan and her four-year-old son soak up the last few moments of playtime. They are happy, and the day has been close to perfect. But what Joan sees as she hustles her son toward the exit gate minutes before closing time sends her sprinting back into the zoo, her child in her arms. And for the next three hours—the entire scope of the novel—she keeps on running.

Joan’s intimate knowledge of her son and of the zoo itself—the hidden pathways and under-renovation exhibits, the best spots on the carousel and overstocked snack machines—is all that keeps them a step ahead of danger.

A masterful thrill ride and an exploration of motherhood itself—from its tender moments of grace to its savage power—Fierce Kingdom asks where the boundary is between our animal instinct to survive and our human duty to protect one another. For whom should a mother risk her life?

Fierce Kingdom by Gin Phillips

MY REVIEW

A mother and her young son get trapped in the zoo after gunmen show up near closing time. The mother tries to evade the gunmen and keep herself and her son safe.

Most of Fierce Kingdom is told from the mother’s point of view. A few chapters are told from the point of view of other characters (others trapped in the zoo and a gunman). I enjoyed the occasional glimpse of other characters, but the real story is about Joan and Lincoln, the mother and her 4-year-old son.

The mother and son relationship is key to the plot. They have a strong bond, and Joan will go to great lengths to protect her child. As a mother of a young son, I can relate to how the mother’s sole focus was keeping her son safe. I probably enjoyed this story more because I could picture my son as Lincoln – wanting to play with superheroes, making up fun stories, wanting her to carry him, etc. One line was definitely true, “She sometimes wonders if his determination not to do a thing is in direct proportion to the amount of enthusiasm she shows for it” – every parent can relate, amiright?

Fierce Kingdom starts off strong and I was interested in what was going to happen. I did have a few issues with the plot, but they were minor issues that, for the most part, were there to keep the story going. The plot had enough action that I wanted to see how it would end, which made it a fast read (I read it in one night). This book is 275 pages, so a good choice if you like thrillers but don’t have a lot of time to read.

Books by Gin Phillips:

  1. Fierce Kingdom
  2. Family Law