BOOK INFO

Title: Strangers

Author: Ursula Archer and Arno Strobel

Publisher: Minotaur

Publish Date: January 9, 2018

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

Trust or die.

Imagine you’re home alone. Suddenly a man stands before you. He claims to be your fiancé. But you have no idea who he is. And nothing in your home suggests that someone lives with you. He’s talking to you, but nothing makes sense. You’re afraid. And you feel the irresistible urge to attack. Take a knife. Are you crazy?

Imagine you come home and your fiancée doesn’t recognize you. She thinks you’re a burglar. Worse, a rapist. You just want to protect her, but she defends herself against your perceived threat and barricades herself behind a door. She claims she’s never seen you before. She obviously thinks you’re crazy. Are you?

A woman. A man. The more they try to understand the situation, the more confusing it becomes. Soon they must realize that they are in deadly danger. And there’s only one chance for survival: they must trust each other.

MY REVIEW

Joanna is home alone when a man shows up in her house. She panics since she doesn’t know him. He tells her he is her fiancé, Erik, and lives there with her, except there are no signs that he lives there. No clothes. No toiletries. Nothing. As they try to figure out what is going on, they discover they are both in great danger.

Strangers is told from both Joanna and Erik’s points of view. I liked the alternating chapters of different viewpoints. It helped fill in blanks as to what was happening.

Strangers is a fast-paced psychological thriller. I was intrigued as to what the reality was, what was their history, and what happened to cause the situation.

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

BOOK INFO

Title: Her Best Friend

Author: Sarah Wray

Publisher: Bookouture

Publish Date: November 28, 2017

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

You couldn’t have done anything to save her… Or could you?

Overwhelmed by grief after losing her mother, Sylvie Armstrong tries to block out the memories in her childhood home – but then someone leaves a gift on her doorstep: a gold necklace with a heart-shaped locket.

The locket belonged to Sylvie’s best friend, Victoria Preston – and she was wearing it the night she died. Now it’s back in Sylvie’s life… and it soon becomes clear that somebody knows what really happened to Victoria.

Sylvie has to know the truth. But is she in terrible danger?

MY REVIEW

Sylvia and Victoria were best friends. When they were teenagers, Victoria was killed, and Sylvia’s life was changed. Now it’s 20 years later, and Sylvia returns to her home town after her mother’s death. Sylvia had hoped to never return, and is now confronted with secrets from the past. Things are only complicated when a man, Sam, shows up in town to film a documentary about Victoria’s death in hopes of finally solving the case.

Her Best Friend was told in the third person point of view, with alternating chapters of the past and the present. Sylvia was the main character, but Sam had a few chapters devoted to his story.

Her Best Friend was well written, and the town and characters all seemed cold and dreary. It was a slow paced book, and not a lot happened. While it wasn’t one that I wanted to read in one sitting, I was curious as to what had really happened to Victoria.

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

Books by Sarah Wray:

1. Her Best Friend
2. Reported Missing

BOOK INFO

Title: Lie With Me

Author: Sabine Durrant

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Publish Date: December 29, 2016

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 3/5

BOOK BLURB

A few little lies never hurt anyone. Right?

Wrong.

Paul has a plan. He has a vision of a better future, and he’s going to make it happen.

If it means hiding or exaggerating a few things here and there, no harm done.

But when he charms his way on to a family holiday…
And finds himself trapped among tensions and emotions he doesn’t understand…
By the time he starts to realise that however painful the truth is, it’s the lies that cause the real damage…

Well, by then, it might just be too late.

MY REVIEW

Paul meets Alice through Andrew, one of his old acquaintances. Paul decides Alice is his next meal ticket and starts to woo her. Alice invites Paul to go on holiday with her, her kids, and Andrew and his family. While in Greece 10 years earlier, a girl went missing, and that tragic event has adversely affected Alice. The memories of the girl’s disappearance, along with new events, disrupt Paul’s plan for romancing Alice.

Lie With Me is told from Paul’s point of view. Paul is a scoundrel. He is a self-absorbed, worthless, unemployed womanizer who takes advantage of people to get his own way. So, basically, he’s not a likable character. In fact, there aren’t really any likable characters in this book.

The plot builds slowly, very slowly. Nothing exciting happens. Then, things start to pick up and it gets more interesting. It was pretty obvious where the story was headed, but still an entertaining read.

Lie With Me is a clever, well-written psychological thriller. Good for fans of slow paced thrillers with unlikable narrators, like Girl on the Train.

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

Books by Sabine Durrant:

1. Under Your Skin
2. Remember Me This Way
3. Lie With Me
4. Take Me In
5. Finders, Keepers
6. Sun Damage

BOOK INFO

Title: The Secrets She Keeps

Author: Michael Robotham

Publisher: Scribner

Publish Date: July 11, 2017

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

Meghan doesn’t know Agatha, but Agatha knows Meghan. And the one thing Agatha looks forward to each day is catching a glimpse of her, the effortlessly chic customer at the grocery store where she works stocking shelves. Meghan has it all: two adorable children, a handsome and successful husband, a happy marriage, a beautiful house, and a popular parenting blog that Agatha reads with devotion each night as she waits for her absent boyfriend, the father of the baby growing inside her, to return her calls.

Yet if Agatha could look beyond the gloss and trappings of Meghan’s “perfect life,” she’d see the flaws and doubts. Meghan has her secrets too, especially one that she dare not ever tell. Soon the lives of these two women will collide in the most spellbinding and intimate of ways, until their secrets are exposed by one shocking act that cannot be undone. From internationally bestselling author Michael Robotham, The Secrets She Keeps is a dark, exquisite, and twisted page-turner so full of surprises, you’ll find it impossible to put down.

MY REVIEW

Two pregnant women, Agatha and Meghan, are expecting about the same time… and both women are keeping secrets. One woman works in a grocery store and is fascinated by the other woman’s seemingly perfect life. After a brief encounter, both of their lives are changed.

Using alternating chapters, The Secrets She Keeps is told from both women’s point of view. The characters are well developed, with a bit of a slow beginning to develop them.

Though it started slow, it was building up to an gripping story. Once the story gets going, it moves along quickly. The book is divided into two parts, the before and the after.

The Secrets She Keeps is an exciting thriller. Some good twists, but fairly predictable.

Books by Michael Robotham:

1. The Night Ferry
2. Bombproof
3. Life or Death
4. The Secrets She Keeps
5. When You Are Mine

BOOK INFO

Title: Disturbed

Author: Jennifer Jaynes

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Publish Date: November 7, 2017

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

A captivating psychological thriller from #1 USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Jaynes.

On Halloween night five years ago, Chelsea Dutton’s college roommates were viciously stabbed to death, and Chelsea was critically injured. She was found hiding in her apartment’s bathtub, barely clinging to life.

With only fragments of shattered memory, she’s been trying her best to move past the nightmares ever since. Now in Boston, she lives a somewhat reclusive life, working from home as a medical transcriptionist and bingeing on mindless television shows.

She can’t shake the fear that her attacker is out there, waiting to finish what he started, and Elizabeth, a nurse she met after the murders, is the only person she can trust.

When someone from her past reemerges, Chelsea starts receiving disturbing messages and worries that her every move is being watched. As the messages mount and her memories begin to return, she’s led to a very terrifying and lonely place. But she needn’t be afraid. She won’t be alone there for long.

MY REVIEW

Chelsea Dutton survived a brutal attack that left her two roommates dead. Five years after the attack, Chelsea still cannot remember her past very well… and not just the night of the attack, but her earlier life too. She lives in constant fear because the accused attacker has never been caught. After running into someone from her past, she starts to be happier and relax a little. Unfortunately, it’s a short lived happiness, because she soon starts to receive messages only her attacker could know about.

The characters were great. Chelsea is the best developed since she’s the main character, but the other characters felt real too. There’s just enough info to feel like you know the character, but there’s a little bit missing too, so you draw some conclusions that may or may not prove to be true.

Disturbed contains some twists and turns, and will have you guessing until the end. There are hints throughout the book as to how it will end, but it’s still a bit of a guess. I mean, I wasn’t 100% sure I had it figured out.

Also, I enjoyed the writing style. Disturbed had a great flow and was a quick read. I love a good thriller, and this one was an exciting read.

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

Books by Jennifer Jaynes:

1. Never Smile at Strangers
2. Ugly Young Thing
3. Don’t Say a Word
4. The Stranger Inside
5. Disturbed
6. Malice

BOOK INFO

Title: The Lying Game

Author: Ruth Ware

Publisher: Scout Press

Publish Date: July 25, 2017

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Series: na

My Rating: 4/5

BOOK BLURB

On a cool June morning, a woman is walking her dog in the idyllic coastal village of Salten, along a tidal estuary known as the Reach. Before she can stop him, the dog charges into the water to retrieve what first appears to be a wayward stick, but to her horror, turns out to be something much more sinister.

The next morning, three women in and around London—Fatima, Thea, and Isa—receive the text they had always hoped would never come, from the fourth in their formerly inseparable clique, Kate, that says only, “I need you.”

The four girls were best friends at Salten, a second-rate boarding school set near the cliffs of the English Channel. Each different in their own way, the four became inseparable and were notorious for playing the Lying Game, telling lies at every turn to both fellow boarders and faculty. But their little game had consequences, and as the four converge in present-day Salten, they realize their shared past was not as safely buried as they had once hoped.

Atmospheric, twisty, and with just the right amount of chill to keep you wrong-footed, The Lying Game is told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, lending itself to becoming another unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.

MY REVIEW

Four women (Kate, Isa, Fatima, and Thea), who were friends as teenagers, reconnect after one of them sends out a text asking for help. When they were younger, the girls liked to play a lying game. It seems more lies were told than they realized, and it’s catching up to them years later.

The Lying Game is mostly about the present day, but does have chapters about the past school days when the girls were friends. Everything is told from Isa’s point of view. While most of the book deals with the women (past and present) some of the story is about Isa and her present day situation, more so than the other characters present lives are explained.

A good portion of The Lying Game takes place in Salten, a small coastal town. Not only that, the women are staying in an isolated, ramshackle home. This definitely adds to the mysterious of the story. It was like the town was a character itself.

There were some parts that seemed a bit slow, but that was because the book didn’t have a lot of action. The plot slowly develops as Isa experiences the present day and recalls the past. She is putting things together, and the story takes some twists that weren’t necessarily expected.

I love a good thriller, and Ruth Ware’s books have all been good reads. I enjoyed In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 more than this one, but The Lying Game is still a good, well-written story.

Books by Ruth Ware:

1. In a Dark, Dark Wood
2. The Woman in Cabin 10
3. The Lying Game
4. The Death of Mrs. Westaway
5. The Turn of the Key
6. One by One
7. The It Girl
8. Zero Days
9. One Perfect Couple