Book Reviews

by Karen Slaughter.

“The past is never where you think you left it.”

This novel is set in 2021, during the pandemic, when people were wearing masks and dealing with social “bubbles.” But that’s just background.

Leigh, an accomplished defense lawyer, is assigned to defend a young man accused of rape. Then she realizes he’s the boy she and her sister babysat twenty years ago — and events she thought were long-buried slam into her present, putting her and her family in danger.

by Lisa Jewell.

Seventeen-year-old Saffyre is obsessed with her former therapist, who never discovered her dark secret.

Middle-aged Cate is wondering what’s happening with her marriage and her children.

And thirtyish Owen, living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, has been suspended from his teaching position for inappropriate behavior with teenage girls.

Then Saffyre disappears.

by Ilona Bannister.

Five people are waiting at a suburban London train station. The next train is due in five minutes. When the train arrives, one of these people will die.

A mother, a child, a businessman, an old woman, a gambler.

Some are strangers to each other, some are not. These five lives are on collision.

But we don’t learn till the end of the book who will die, or how. In the meantime, there’s a lot to learn about these five people, and the author takes us on quite a roller coaster of tension while we wait to find out what unfolds.

by Steve Cavanaugh.

Elly Parker’s life as a TikTok influencer is shattered when she discovers — live on video — her new husband and best friend in bed together.

Her marriage is over, but she still believes in performing random act of kindness. When she sees a man in the subway, on crutches and trying to get a suitcase up the stairs, she is happy to help.

That’s a big mistake. A chain of terrifying events follows, made even worse when Elly is arrested for the murder of her former husband and best friend.

She hires high-profile lawyer Eddie Flynn to defend her in court, but Eddie also has troubles of his own to deal with.

by Jane Harper.

Rowena and Griff are grieving the loss of their son Sam, who disappeared five years ago on the eve of his twenty-first birthday. No trace of him has been found since.

Their small Australian town is dying, gradually taken over by a mining company that’s been buying up property. Sam was researching a thesis about how the community has dealt with this disruption. Did his investigations have anything to do with his disappearance?

The trauma of losing Sam has blown apart Ro and Griff’s marriage. Five years later, Sam’s loss is still raw. They need answers, and way forward through it all.

by Tana French.

Retired Chicago policeman Cal Hooper is still an outsider in the tiny west-Ireland village of Ardnakelty, but after four years is more or less accepted in the community.

When Rachel, a local young woman about to be engaged, goes missing and then turns up drowned in the stream, some residents want Cal to investigate.

When Cal’s fiancé Lena and their teenage quasi-ward Trey are under threat, Cal steps forward to uncover more than any of them expected.

In this third and final novel in the Cal Hooper trilogy, the characters leap off the page and will stay with you after you finish reading.

by Karin Slaughter.

When two teenage girls go missing, Officer Emmy Clifton is on the team looking for them. She’s afraid she’s responsible: one of the girls, her best friend’s daughter, tried to talk to her the night before but she refused to listen.

Both girls turn up dead. The investigation reveals some truly disturbing details, and a man is convicted of their murder.

Twelve years later, his conviction has been undermined and he is out on parole. And another girl is missing. Emmy and her team go back to square one on their investigation.

by Lynn Slaughter.

A dual-timeline novel. In the present, Noelle’s mother has disappeared. Police think she drowned herself, but there’s no body and Noelle is sure she wouldn’t have committed suicide. Meanwhile, why does her six-year-old sister Whitney not want to spend time alone with their father?

Nineteen years earlier, against her parents’ wishes, Savannah married her boyfriend right after high school. But married life did not turn out as she hoped, as he turns controlling and abusive.

These two story lines converge in a fast-paced novel addressing difficult themes, challenging for adults as well as YA readers.

by Laura Lippman.

On the plane to London, Mrs. Blossom’s stopping point on the way to Paris to board a river cruise, a handsome stranger takes her under his wing. And when they land in London, he sticks close to her, even helping her book into a hotel for the night.

A day later, she’s arrived in Paris but her new-found friend has been murdered. And another strange man seems to be everywhere she goes — including showing up as a passenger on her cruise boat.

Mrs. Blossom has a lot of questions, but she’s also got investigative instincts that help keep her safe and figure out what’s going on.

by Denise Mina.

Forensic scientist Claudia O’Sheill is an acclaimed blood spatter expert. Her evidence helped convict a killer in one of the most high-profile recent murder cases in London.

But a speech she’s about to give will undermine that conviction and destroy her career.

As this story unfolds in two timelines, past and present, the author delves into her characters’ motives and delivers twist after twist to bring us a suspenseful and unputdownable novel

By Corinne LaBalme.

Melody Layne, an American ghost writer in Paris, has agreed to work on a glossy cookbook featuring recipes by Freddy Perrin, winner of the high profile televised “Cuisine Idol” competition.

He’s about to open a flashy new restaurant. But when early diners get sick, it seems someone is out to sabotage the venture.

And meanwhile, two men want into Melody’s heart: her friend’s cousin Michel seems nice, but has she really finished with Carlos, the man she first fell for in France?

by Rose Warner.

It’s 1939, and war is imminent. London schoolchildren are being evacuated to the countryside for safety, and their teachers are to accompany them.

Victoria McKaye, a young teacher from Canada, accompanies a group of pupils to a small Norfolk village. She is attracted to Louis, a dashing naval officer with relatives in the village — and he seems to like her too.

But when he draws her into secretly gathering information to help the war effort, she begins to wonder what side he’s working for.

by Liz Moore.

At a remote summer camp in the Adirondack mountains, one of the campers has disappeared overnight. And she’s not just any camper: she’s the daughter of the wealthy family that owns the camp.

Worse, her brother disappeared from the same location fourteen years ago. He was eight at the time and has never been found.

Told in multiple time streams and from several characters’ points of view, this is a character-driven story of power imbalances, class diffferences, lies and betrayals.

by Barbara Fradkin.

An elderly, well-dressed woman is found dead in an Ottawa alley. She has no ID, and nobody matching her description has been reported missing.

Rookie police detective Josh Kanner is involved in the investigation. He shares details about the case with his new girlfriend, patrol officer Hannah Green.

Hannah’s father is Inspector Michael Green, who’s supposedly assigned to courthouse admin rather than active street investigations. But he can’t stay away from the case, and the more involved he gets, the more surprises he confronts.

by Mary Beth Keane.

Two families live next door to each other in a small town. Their children, Peter and Kate, born six months apart, are inseparable playmates and best friends.

As teenagers, they start to fall in love. But their relationship is sundered as tragedy strikes, striking a sharp division between the families and preventing any further contact between the young lovers.

Life unfolds. As young adults, Kate and Peter find each other again, despite the cleavage between their families. But past events continue to affect the present in a heartrending, and eventually heartwarming, story.

by A.J. Finn

“The past isn’t gone; it’s just waiting.”

Twenty years ago, the wife and fourteen-year-old son of famous mystery writer Sebastian Trapp vanished. Did they choose to disappear, or are they dead? Did he kill them?

Sebastian is now dying, and has invited Nicky Hunter to write a “memory book” of his life.  She is staying in his house, along with his second wife Diana and his failed-to-launch daughter Madeleine.

Is Nicky safe? Will she uncover clues to the mystery? And then there’s another death.

by Adele Parks.

The UK is in pandemic lockdown, and Kylie Gillingham is missing. Is she dead? No body has been found, but there’s no sign of her alive, either.

A complication: Kylie had two husbands, two identities, as Leigh Fletcher and Kai Jannsen. Police discovered she was kept prisoner in an empty apartment after she disappeared. But when they showed up there, the apartment was empty.

Did one of her husbands, on discovering her deceit, abduct, punish and then kill her?

by Cara Hunter

A woman is found imprisoned in a basement, along with a two-year-old boy. She appears unable to speak, and police can’t figure out who she is: nobody with her description has been reported missing. And who is her captor — could it really be the elderly homeowner suffering from dementia?

Then police find a woman’s body hidden under the floor of a shed in the backyard. DI Adam Hawley is determined to solve both cases. Are they connected, or is their physical proximity a coincidence?

by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Anna is the widow and literary executor of a bestselling author who was accused of plagiarism. On a whim, she decides to write a novel herself, based on her real-life experience dealing with her husband’s suicide. Her book quickly becomes a bestseller and gains many fans.

But then someone starts sending her ominous notes, revealing knowledge about damaging secrets that Anna thought were long buried. Desperate to prevent those secrets from coming to light, Anna begins trying to find and silence her nemesis.

by Steve Cavanagh.

In an old Hitchcock movie, Strangers on a Train, two men discuss swapping murders — each will kill the other’s desired victim, but will get away with it since they have no apparent motive.

That’s the inspiration for a similar arrangement in this novel. Two women, each with a daughter who has been murdered. Each knows the man who killed her daughter but is getting away with it. They agree to avenge each other’s daughters; each will kill the other’s target, while the one with the motive has an alibi.

by Katie Tallo.

Third in a series featuring Gus Monet, this book jumps ahead a dozen years and is told through the eyes of Gus’ twelve-year-old daughter Bly.

Three years ago, Gus’s longtime partner, Howard, vanished during a camping trip. Though police, and Howard’s parents, have given up finding him alive, Gus insists on continuing to investigate. Her impetuous nature brings her and Bly into peril and twisty situations on the way to a terrifying climax.

by Shari Lapena.

Popular teenager Diana Brewer is found, naked and strangled, in a farmer’s field in rural Vermont. Her mother, who works nights at the local hospital, is bereft, and the small town of Fairhill is stunned.

Could her boyfriend Cameron have killed her? What about the creepy customer at Home Depot who was harassing her? Or maybe the gym teacher who was being way too friendly?

by Cara Hunter

Twenty years ago Luke Ryder was found bludgeoned to death in his London back yard. His teenage stepdaughters discovered his body late at night after they returned from a movie.

The killer was never identified. Now a true crime TV series is re-examining the case. Six experts are taking a fresh look and revealing their discoveries live, week by week.

The novel reads like a screenplay, with multimedia commentary interspersed between each week’s script.

by Brenda Chapman.

Stu and Devina Petrie live in a farmhouse near Ashton, a small village nestled in farming country west of Ottawa. Eleven-year-old Matt has been staying with them this summer.

But when a neighbour stops by to give Stu a ride to the local pub, he discovers that the Petries have both been shot dead, and Matt is missing.

Ottawa Police Detective Liam Tate is called to head up the investigation, and once again he collaborates with journalist and podcaster Ella Tate.

by Iona Whishaw.

It's 1948. A little girl has been injured in an explosion on a deserted mountain near a tiny B.C. hamlet. A jewellery store has been robbed and its owner killed.

Star-crossed lovers, Japanese Canadians forcibly interned, Doukhobor settlers protesting unfair treatment, and family secrets from an earlier war, all play a role.

All the plot threads come together in another exciting and satisfying novel with Lane Winslow and her husband, police Inspector Frederick Darling.

by Lisa Unger.

Two couples, living decades apart, in the same New York apartment. In a building with more than its share of deaths and tragedies.

Can the past influence the present? Are the relationships that shaped the past still active in the present?

There may be ghosts in this story, or it might be imagination. Regardless, it’s real people and the secrets they try to hide that prove deadly in this fast-paced novel.

by Karin Slaughter

When Dr. Sara Linton was an ER doctor, she witnessed a dying declaration from Dani, a young woman who was beaten and raped.

Three years later, as Medical Examiner for the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Sara is asked to testify against the wealthy young man accused of the rape. Together with her partner, GBI Detective Will Trent, Sarah dives into a behind-the-scenes investigation to find out how Dani’s case connects to her own past.

by Frieda McFadden.

Millie’s been hired to cook and clean for a wealthy New York couple in a luxurious penthouse opposite Central Park. Though she’s only met the husband; the wife, Wendy, stays in her bedroom, and Millie is told not to bother her since she’s often ill.

Millie becomes increasingly concerned about Wendy — expecially when she sees Wendy’s bruised face and concludes that she’s being abused. Millie can’t stand aside: when Wendy asks for help, Millie steps forward.

by Tana French.

Four years after abandoning his family to rural poverty in a remote community in western Ireland, Johnny Reddy has returned. And he has a get-rich-quick scheme to propose to his neighbours.

His 15-year-old daughter Trey doesn’t trust him one bit, but for her own reasons decides to help him with his multi-layered scheme. But things quickly get much more complicated than either of them expects. Conflicting loyalties collide with ideas of justice and revenge, forcing some wrenching choices.

by Laura Lippman.

Amber Glass gives birth to a 28-week baby in a hotel bathroom on prom night, while Joe Simpson, her prom date, goes to the after party. When discovered, the baby is dead.

22 years later, they meet again, back in Baltimore. Joe is a wealthy real estate developer married to Meredith, a plastic surgeon. Amber has just opened a folk art gallery. It’s 2020 and they’re just realizing there’s a pandemic…