BOOK INFO

Title: Rapid Falls

Author: Amber Cowie

Publisher: Lake Union

Publish Date: December 1, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

Forgive and forget? The past and present collide for two sisters who survived a tragedy—and must now survive the truth behind it.

It’s been twenty years since Cara’s boyfriend died in a horrible accident and her sister, Anna, went to prison. The tragedy has become a local legend, but Cara has moved past her grief to have a successful career and a happy family. Pity about Anna. Recently released from incarceration, she’s struggling with addiction, guilt, and shame—a shattered life. Cara’s forgiveness seems to be the only thing that helps her pick up the pieces.

But as Anna pulls herself together, her memories of that night on the bridge start to come into focus. And few of them match her sister’s.

As past secrets unfold and nothing is what it seems anymore, Anna desperately searches for the truth. But what if Cara doesn’t want her to find it?

MY REVIEW

Twenty years ago, a tragic accident killed Cara’s boyfriend. Cara’s sister Anna was driving. They were teenagers at the time, and Cara and Anna’s lives went in very different directions following the accident. Anna has suffered with guilt and shame for years, and uses alcohol and drugs to ease her pain. Cara moved on, and now has a husband, child, and a successful career. When Anna starts to ask questions about the night of the accident, Cara takes measures to make sure her sister doesn’t remember what happened.

Rapid Falls is told from Anna’s point of view, and includes the present day story plus flashbacks to when they were teenagers. I absolutely loathed Anna. She is manipulative and self-serving. Cara is harder to explain. She’s self-destructive, which I don’t like, but she also has struggled with guilt for years, so I felt for her. The sisters have a complicated relationship, where they don’t necessarily like one another, but they rely on each other.

Rapid Falls is a twisted psychological thriller. Dark, dramatic, and complex.

Books by Amber Cowie:

1. Rapid Falls
2. Raven Lane
3. Loss Lake
4. Last One Alive
5. The Off Season

BOOK INFO

Title: A Ladder to the Sky

Author: John Boyne

Publisher: Hogarth Press

Publish Date: November 13, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

Maurice Swift is handsome, charming, and hungry for fame. The one thing he doesn’t have is talent—but he’s not about to let a detail like that stand in his way. After all, a would-be writer can find stories anywhere. They don’t need to be his own.

Working as a waiter in a West Berlin hotel in 1988, Maurice engineers the perfect opportunity: a chance encounter with celebrated novelist Erich Ackermann. He quickly ingratiates himself with the powerful – but desperately lonely – older man, teasing out of Erich a terrible, long-held secret about his activities during the war. Perfect material for Maurice’s first novel.

Once Maurice has had a taste of literary fame, he knows he can stop at nothing in pursuit of that high. Moving from the Amalfi Coast, where he matches wits with Gore Vidal, to Manhattan and London, Maurice hones his talent for deceit and manipulation, preying on the talented and vulnerable in his cold-blooded climb to the top. But the higher he climbs, the further he has to fall. . . .

Sweeping across the late twentieth century, A Ladder to the Sky is a fascinating portrait of a relentlessly immoral man, a tour de force of storytelling, and the next great novel from an acclaimed literary virtuoso.

MY REVIEW

A manipulative man, Maurice Swift, makes a career as an author. Maurice has some basic skills as a writer, but he has a difficult time coming up with ideas. So, he takes ideas from others and claims them as his own.

A Ladder to the Sky is about a selfish rising author. He can write, but his stories are boring. He gets a taste of fame as a young man, and goes to great lengths to continue his career. The novel is divided into sections, which reflect Maurice’s life – a young man starting out, after receiving a taste of fame, married life, and life as a father. The different sections aren’t all told from Maurice’s point of view, in fact, a good deal of the novel is told from the viewpoint of Maurice’s targets (i.e., the victims).

The first part of this book is great. This is where we are introduced to Maurice, and his manipulative character is developed and his career is started. The second part of the novel is much darker. I was pulled into the manipulative world of Maurice, but the overall story felt somehow off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, because I enjoyed the book. I think the darker, more sinister turn later in the book took the story in a direction it didn’t necessarily need to go. Still, A Ladder to the Sky is a great read.

Maurice is a psychopath. His actions are somewhat unbelievable, but make for an entertaining read. Tragic, compelling, and frustrating.

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

BOOK INFO

Title: Cross Her Heart

Author: Sarah Pinborough

Publisher: William Morrow

Publish Date: September 4, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

Lisa is living a lie and everyone is about to find out.

Lisa lives for her daughter Ava, her job and her best friend Marilyn.

But when a handsome client shows an interest in her, Lisa starts daydreaming about sharing her life with him, too. Maybe she’s ready now. Maybe she can trust again. Maybe it’s time to let her terrifying secret past go.

But when her daughter rescues a boy from drowning and their pictures are all over the news for everyone to see, Lisa’s world explodes.

As she finds everything she has built threatened, and not knowing who she can trust, it’s up to Lisa to face her past in order to save what she holds dear.

But someone has been pulling all their strings. And that someone is determined that both Lisa and Ava must suffer.

Because long ago Lisa broke a promise. And some promises aren’t meant to be broken.

MY REVIEW

Lisa has a quiet life that she enjoys with her daughter Ava. However, Lisa is a woman hiding from her past. When Ava saves a boy from drowning, Lisa’s past is brought into the spotlight. Ava’s life ends up in jeopardy because of the secrets Lisa has been keeping.

Told using multiple points of view – Lisa, Ava, and Marilyn (Lisa’s best friend). This story focuses on Lisa and Ava, but also includes some chapters from Marilyn’s POV. Since Lisa and Ava both have things going on in their lives that the other isn’t aware of, the different viewpoints really work. The addition of Marilyn’s viewpoint was interesting, but could go either way. On one hand, it could have been eliminated and the story would still work, but, at the same time, I wanted to know more about Marilyn and her story.

This book is twisty and does have a lot going on in it. For the most part, the reader is kept in the dark about what happened in Lisa’s past and who is behind the current troubles. A slow build up of the story, but a rushed ending. I was a little disappointed in the ending, mainly because it felt too abrupt, but this was still a good psychological thriller. Intense, suspicious, and twisted.

Books by Sarah Pinborough:

1. Behind Her Eyes
2. Cross Her Heart
3. Dead to Her
4. Insomnia

BOOK INFO

Title: The Wife

Author: Alafair Burke

Publisher: Harper

Publish Date: January 23, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 5/5

BOOK BLURB

His Scandal
Her Secret

From New York Times bestselling author Alafair Burke, a stunning domestic thriller in the vein of Behind Closed Doors and The Woman in Cabin 10—in which a woman must make the impossible choice between defending her husband and saving herself.

When Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother’s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past.

Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their perfect life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look—at both the man she married and the women she chose not to believe.

This much-anticipated follow-up to Burke’s Edgar-nominated The Ex asks how far a wife will go to protect the man she loves: Will she stand by his side, even if he drags her down with him?

MY REVIEW

When Angela met Jason in East Hampton, she thought it would be a summer romance, but Jason continued to woo her, and they soon married. She and her son moved to New York City, where Jason worked at NYU. It was a great new beginning for Angela, and gave her an opportunity to get away from her tragic past. Now, it’s six years later and Jason is a hotshot in his field. When a woman accuses Jason of sexual harassment, Jason maintains his innocence. When a second woman comes forward, Jason and Angela’s world is turned upside down.

This story is told with alternating points of view – Angela and Corrine. Angela is married to Jason, who has been accused of committing crimes that have dire consequences for their family. Corrine is the detective working to build the case against Jason.

The Wife was a fantastic story. The plot was well paced and intriguing. The characters were complicated and compelling. The writing drew me into the story, making this book hard to put down. There was a lot going on, and everyone had secrets.

The Wife is a great read for fans of domestic thrillers. Complex, chilling, and suspenseful.

Books by Alafair Burke:

1. Long Gone
2. If You Were Here
3. The Ex
4. The Wife
5. The Better Sister

BOOK INFO

Title: The Lies We Told

Author: Camilla Way

Publisher: Berkley

Publish Date: October 9, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

A daughter
Beth has always known there was something strange about her daughter, Hannah. The lack of emotion, the disturbing behavior, the apparent delight in hurting others…Sometimes Beth is scared of her and what she could be capable of.

A son
Luke comes from the perfect family, with the perfect parents. But one day, he disappears without a trace, and his girlfriend, Clara, is desperate to discover what has happened to him.

A life built on lies
As Clara digs into the past, she realizes that no family is truly perfect, and uncovers a link between Luke’s long-lost sister and a strange girl named Hannah. Now Luke’s life is in danger because of the lies once told and the secrets once kept. Can Clara find him before it’s too late?

MY REVIEW

The Lies We Told is told using two timelines. The present day story is about Clara looking for her boyfriend, Luke. At first, people think he’s left her and will show up again soon, but Clara knows Luke has been receiving some threatening messages. The past timeline is about Beth and her daughter Hannah. Hannah is a disturbing child who gets pleasure from inflicting harm on the people in her life. Both timelines involve secrets, and some are much more daunting than others.

The characters are well developed and very intriguing. Clara is a normal woman who has her life turned upside down when her boyfriend goes missing. As we learn more about Luke, he seems like a cad, but still, he is missing, and what the heck happened to him? In the second timeline, Beth is upset with her daughter’s behavior, and at a complete loss as to how to handle raising Hannah. Hannah though. Wow. She’s one creepy kid. Total sociopath.

The Lies We Told is a twisty psychological thriller that kept me guessing. The story does get a little too twisty toward the end, but, overall, this is a great read. Mysterious, dark, and suspenseful.

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

Books by Camilla Way:

1. The Dead of Summer
2. Little Bird
3. Watching Edie
4. The Lies We Told
5. Who Killed Ruby?

BOOK INFO

Title: The Last Time I Lied

Author: Riley Sager

Publisher: Dutton

Publish Date: July 3, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 5/5

BOOK BLURB

Two Truths and a Lie. Vivian, Natalie, Allison, and Emma played it all the time in their cabin at Camp Nightingale. But the games ended the night Emma sleepily watched the others sneak out into the darkness. The last she—or anyone—saw of the teenagers was Vivian closing the cabin door behind her, hushing Emma with a finger pressed to her lips….

Fifteen years later, Emma is a rising star in the New York art scene, turning her past into paintings—massive canvases filled with dark leaves and gnarled branches over ghostly shapes in white dresses. When the paintings catch the attention of the wealthy owner of Camp Nightingale, she implores Emma to come back to the newly reopened camp as a painting instructor.

Despite her guilt and anxiety—or maybe because of them—Emma agrees to revisit her past. Nightingale looks the same as it did all those years ago, haunted by a midnight-dark lake and familiar faces. Emma is even assigned to the same cabin she slept in as a teenager, although the security camera pointed at her door is a disturbing new addition.

As cryptic clues about the camp’s origins begin to surface, Emma attempts to find out what really happened to her friends. But her closure could come at a deadly price.

MY REVIEW

Fifteen years ago, Emma was a camper at Camp Nightingale. Emma was the youngest in the cabin she shared with three other girls. One night, she awakened to see the other girls sneaking out of the cabin, and they never returned. That night has haunted Emma. When the owner of the camp contacts Emma and invites her to their reopening, she accepts the offer, thinking she might be able to finally discover what happened to her friends. Emma is an artist, and she is hired to be the camp’s painting instructor. She is back at camp, and everything is the same – familiar faces, the same cabins, and the same eerie lake.

Emma is an intriguing character. She carries guilt from that summer when her friends went missing, and she questions everyone and everything at Camp Nightingale when she returns. I was never sure if Emma was a reliable narrator, and that made for an interesting read.

The Last Time I Lied is a slow-burning read that has the right amount of twists and turns. A great read for fans of dark psychological thrillers. Creepy, clever, and mysterious.

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

Books by Riley Sager:

1. Final Girls
2. The Last Time I Lied
3. Lock Every Door
4. Home Before Dark
5. Survive the Night
6. The House Across the Lake
7. The Only One Left
8. Middle of the Night