BOOK INFO

Title: Bring Me Back

Author: B.A. Paris

Publisher: St. Martin

Publish Date: June 19, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

She went missing. He moved on. A whole world of secrets remained—until now.

Finn and Layla are young, in love, and on vacation. They’re driving along the highway when Finn decides to stop at a service station to use the restroom. He hops out of the car, locks the doors behind him, and goes inside. When he returns Layla is gone—never to be seen again. That is the story Finn told to the police. But it is not the whole story.

Ten years later Finn is engaged to Layla’s sister, Ellen. Their shared grief over what happened to Layla drew them close and now they intend to remain together. Still, there’s something about Ellen that Finn has never fully understood. His heart wants to believe that she is the one for him…even though a sixth sense tells him not to trust her.

Then, not long before he and Ellen are to be married, Finn gets a phone call. Someone from his past has seen Layla—hiding in plain sight. There are other odd occurrences: Long-lost items from Layla’s past that keep turning up around Finn and Ellen’s house. Emails from strangers who seem to know too much. Secret messages, clues, warnings. If Layla is alive—and on Finn’s trail—what does she want? And how much does she know?

A tour de force of psychological suspense, Bring Me Back will have you questioning everything and everyone until its stunning climax.

MY REVIEW

While driving through France, Finn and Layla stop so he can go to the restroom. When he returns to the car, Layla is gone. She is never seen again. Twelve years later, Finn is happy and engaged to Ellen, Layla’s sister. Mysterious messages start to arrive, and they seem to be from Layla.

Bring Me Back is told through alternating time periods – before Layla went missing and after. About halfway through, the narration also alternates between characters. The story has plenty of suspense to keep the reader interested, but I was not a fan of the characters. I never connected to them, and, ultimately, they felt a bit flat.

Psychological thriller. Unreliable narrators. Twisty ending.

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

Books by B.A. Paris:

1. Behind Closed Doors
2. The Breakdown
3. Bring Me Back
4. The Dilemma
5. The Therapist
6. The Prisoner
7. The Mosquito
8. The Guest

BOOK INFO

Title: Jar of Hearts

Author: Jennifer Hillier

Publisher: Minotaur

Publish Date: June 12, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who’s been searching for the truth all these years . . .

When she was sixteen years old, Angela Wong—one of the most popular girls in school—disappeared without a trace. Nobody ever suspected that her best friend, Georgina Shaw, now an executive and rising star at her Seattle pharmaceutical company, was involved in any way. Certainly not Kaiser Brody, who was close with both girls back in high school.

But fourteen years later, Angela Wong’s remains are discovered in the woods near Geo’s childhood home. And Kaiser—now a detective with Seattle PD—finally learns the truth: Angela was a victim of Calvin James. The same Calvin James who murdered at least three other women.

To the authorities, Calvin is a serial killer. But to Geo, he’s something else entirely. Back in high school, Calvin was Geo’s first love. Turbulent and often volatile, their relationship bordered on obsession from the moment they met right up until the night Angela was killed.

For fourteen years, Geo knew what happened to Angela and told no one. For fourteen years, she carried the secret of Angela’s death until Geo was arrested and sent to prison.

While everyone thinks they finally know the truth, there are dark secrets buried deep. And what happened that fateful night is more complex and more chilling than anyone really knows. Now the obsessive past catches up with the deadly present when new bodies begin to turn up, killed in the exact same manner as Angela Wong.

How far will someone go to bury her secrets and hide her grief? How long can you get away with a lie? How long can you live with it? Find out in Jennifer Hillier’s Jar of Hearts.

MY REVIEW

Georgina, known as Geo to her friends, is 30 years old and living a successful life with a bright future, when she is arrested for helping cover up a murder that occurred 14 years earlier. Her best friend went missing in high school and was never found. Now, her remains have been found and Geo’s high school boyfriend is arrested. To complicate matters, the detective working the case was Geo’s other best friend in high school. Geo is arrested for helping cover up the murder and sent to prison. She does her time and is soon to be released. When murders resembling those of her best friend’s start occurring, Geo is pulled into the case.

The story is told from Geo’s point of view. Geo is smart and strong. She has secrets from her past that no one knows and they slowly unfold through the story. She recalls her high school years through flashbacks, remembering her friendships and her involvement in her friend’s death. Geo’s life after her friend’s remains are found is also told, covering Geo’s time in prison and her adjustment to life after prison.

While the characters aren’t exactly likable, they are well written and make for a compelling story. An intense and twisted thriller. This was a fast paced read that I couldn’t put down.

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

Books by Jennifer Hillier:

1. Creep
2. Freak
3. The Butcher
4. Wonderland
5. Jar of Hearts
6. Little Secrets
7. Things We Do in the Dark

BOOK INFO

Title: The Flight Attendant

Author: Chris Bohjalian

Publisher: Doubleday

Publish Date: March 13, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

Cassandra Bowden is no stranger to hungover mornings. She’s a binge drinker, her job with the airline making it easy to find adventure, and the occasional blackouts seem to be inevitable. She lives with them, and the accompanying self-loathing. When she awakes in a Dubai hotel room, she tries to piece the previous night back together, counting the minutes until she has to catch her crew shuttle to the airport. She quietly slides out of bed, careful not to aggravate her already pounding head, and looks at the man she spent the night with. She sees his dark hair. His utter stillness. And blood, a slick, still wet pool on the crisp white sheets. Afraid to call the police—she’s a single woman alone in a hotel room far from home—Cassie begins to lie. She lies as she joins the other flight attendants and pilots in the van. She lies on the way to Paris as she works the first class cabin. She lies to the FBI agents in New York who meet her at the gate. Soon it’s too late to come clean-or face the truth about what really happened back in Dubai. Could she have killed him? If not, who did?

Set amid the captivating world of those whose lives unfold at forty thousand feet, The Flight Attendant unveils a spellbinding story of memory, of the giddy pleasures of alcohol and the devastating consequences of addiction, and of murder far from home.

MY REVIEW

Cassie, a flight attendant, is working on a flight to Dubai when she meets Alex. They flirt on the flight, and spend the night together in Dubai. When Cassie wakes the next morning, Alex is dead. She has no recollection of him being killed. She has two options, call the police or leave.

The Flight Attendant story is told from Cassie’s point of view, with occasional chapters from the mysterious Elena. Cassie is a self-loathing, black-out drunk. She wasn’t really likable, and her decision making was sometimes frustratingly bizarre.

The Flight Attendant is a well-written suspense with a slow build. We know what happened to Alex very early in the book. Like, chapter two. What we don’t know is how things will play out with Cassie.

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

Books by Chris Bohjalian:

1. The Guest Room
2. The Sleepwalker
3. The Flight Attendant
4. The Red Lotus
5. Hour of the Witch
6. The Lioness
7. The Princess of Las Vegas

BOOK INFO

Title: The Last Mrs. Parrish

Author: Liv Constantine

Publisher: Harper

Publish Date: October 17, 2017

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.

To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn’t have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces. 

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.

MY REVIEW

Amber is a manipulative woman who wants to change her life. She focuses on Daphne Parrish and her husband, Jackson. Daphne has the perfect life, and everything that Amber desires. Amber insinuates herself in the Parrish’s lives, but nothing is as perfect as it seems.

The Last Mrs. Parrish is divided into three parts: part one is Amber’s viewpoint, part two is Daphne’s viewpoint, and part three is the conclusion. Part one was long and had a slow build up. Part two was more exciting. Part three was excessive.

I enjoyed this story, but the book was too long. A slow buildup is fine, but some things were repetitive, and part three could have been edited down to be more succinct and powerful.

The Last Mrs. Parrish is a complex, twisty psychological thriller. Good for fans of The Wife Between Us and The Secrets She Keeps.

Books in the Mrs. Parrish series:

1. The First Shot
2. The Last Mrs. Parrish
3. The Next Mrs. Parrish

BOOK INFO

Title: I Know My Name

Author: C. J. Cooke

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publish Date: June 15, 2017

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

A woman with no name. A wild, abandoned island. A family desperate for answers. A debut thriller like no other.

On a small Greek island, a woman comes ashore with no memory of who she is, where she’s from, or how she came to be shipwrecked there. Worse, she has no way of leaving. As she’s nursed back to health by the island’s only inhabitants, four friends on an annual retreat, she detects tensions between the group that suggest not all is quite as it seems. Her new acquaintances each appear to be hiding something–something that may relate to the mystery of her identity.

Meanwhile, in a pretty suburb on the outskirts of London, Eloise, the mother of a newborn and a toddler, vanishes into thin air. Her husband, Lochlan, is desperate to find her–but as the police look into the disappearance, it becomes clear that Lochlan and Eloise’s marriage was not the perfect union it appeared.

As Lochlan races to discover his wife’s whereabouts, Eloise enacts an investigation of her own. What both discover will place lives at risk and upend everything they thought they knew about their marriage, their past, and what lies in store for the future.

MY REVIEW

A woman awakens on a Greek island with no idea of who she is, where she’s from, what she was doing to end up on the island, or anything about her life and who may be looking for her. Meanwhile, in London, a husband frantically searches for his wife. She is the mother of their two young children, and she suddenly vanished one day.

I Know My Name is told from two points of view, the husband in London and the woman on the Greek island. There were a few flashback chapters that helped fill in the backstory.

I Know My Name is an easy read with well-developed characters. Good for fans of psychological thrillers, especially ones that involve amnesia and/or a missing wife.

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

Books by C.J. Cooke:

1. I Know My Name
2. The Blame Game
3. The Nesting
4. The Lighthouse Witches
5. The Ghost Woods
6. A Haunting in the Arctic

BOOK INFO

Title: The Girlfriend

Author: Sarah J. Naughton

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Publish Date: March 6, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

The perfect brother. The perfect boyfriend. The perfect lie.

Mags doesn’t believe her brother’s fall was an accident. In that forty-foot stairwell, he didn’t just slip over the edge.

But there is only one witness, Jody, the girlfriend grieving at his bedside.

Which is another story Mags doesn’t believe.

Because Jody likes telling stories, and this may be her most twisted one yet.

As Mags begins to unearth the secrets hidden in her brother’s wake, she finds she isn’t just looking for the truth. For Mags, this is more than a simple tragedy. This is an opportunity for revenge.

MY REVIEW

Mags is notified that her estranged brother is in a coma. The police suspect a suicide attempt, but Mags isn’t convinced. Her brother’s girlfriend seems to be holding something back, and Mags is determined to discover what really happened.

The Girlfriend is a complicated thriller with dark themes. Loved the setting of the converted church. It set the perfect atmosphere for the story. The characters were complex, but not exactly likable. While I enjoyed the setting and complex characters, I felt the story to be a bit disjointed and confusing with the layered timelines and alternating viewpoints.

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

Books by Sarah J. Naughton:

1. The Girlfriend
2. The Other Couple
3. The Mothers
4. The Festival