Tag: unreliable narrator

Posted in Book Review

Review of Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney

Posted on by writingkat95

The Hook:

This domestic thriller features a man with face blindness and his wife on a vacation for their wedding anniversary. Their relationship is far from perfect, and this trip is a last ditch effort to save the marriage. Someone doesn’t want them to live happily forever, though, and might not let them live at all.

My Impressions:

I love a lot of things about this book that are absolutely too spoilery too share, so I’ll just say that it is truly a worthwhile read. If you enjoy domestic thrillers with plenty of meticulously plotted out twists, this is definitely the book for you. Beautifully atmospheric and fraught with tension, this one will keep you reading until you reach the end.

Fans of Sally Hepworth and Megan Collins will especially enjoy this book, which has a similar style and cadence. If you’re in the mood for a chilly winter book to sweep you away and make you forget the hot weather swiftly approaching with summer just over the horizon, this one will certainly do the trick. Crank up the air conditioner and let Alice Feeney chill you to the bone.

If you’ve read this book, feel free to comment with your own thoughts in the comments.

Happy reading!

Posted in Book Review

Review: Survive the Night by Riley Sager

Posted on by writingkat95

The Hook:

While on the road with someone she met on her college’s ride share board, Charlie Jordan becomes increasingly convinced that the stranger in the car with her is in fact the serial killer who has been stalking the campus.

My Impressions:

It’s hard to make something scary and delightful, but this book manages it. I had a blast reading it, and that fun was only enhanced by the edge-of-my-seat state of suspense I was in. Just when I believed I had the plot figured out, more twists appeared and made me gasp out loud and whisper “oh of course” as the pieces fell into place.

Told in a cinematic style that practically begs to be adapted for film, Sager’s tense thriller had me hooked from the start. The themes of reality and self-doubt brought the atmosphere into an almost gothic space, and every scene advanced the story with such precise pacing it felt as if I were watching a movie in my head.

If you’re looking for a book to read on a long cold night that will compel you to finish it in one sitting, this is the book for you. Fans of Stephanie Perkins who are looking for slightly less gory fare than her horror YA will likely enjoy this book. Sager has a delicious authorial voice ideal for the fast pacing of the thriller genre, and this book really shines because of it.

Happy reading!

Posted in Book Review

Review: The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine

Posted on by writingkat95

The hook:

New to town, Piper Reynard sets her sights on Leo Drakos, undeterred by the wedding ring on his finger. Meanwhile, supportive Joanna, who has been patiently waiting for Leo to seem like the man she fell in love with again after depression put a wedge between them. As Piper grows more determined to win Leo, Joanna becomes increasingly suspicious of the other woman’s past and her intentions towards Leo and his children.

My impressions:

Absolutely one of the most heart pounding suspense novels I’ve read this year! I couldn’t put it down, desperate to see what would happen between the complicated cast of characters as tensions rose and rose.

Both of the point of view characters had much more to them than met the eye, and I can’t say much more on that without hinting at spoilers, but suffice to say I loved peeling away the layers of artifice and learning what these enigmatic ladies were hiding. There’s not much as satisfying as a book where both sides of a conflict get point of view characters, letting the audience watch the conflict unfold from both perspectives.

The descriptive details and writing voice were lush and added to the enjoyment of the book overall. I highly recommend it as a beach read or just to add a little suspense to a busy week.

Happy reading!

Posted in Book Review

Review: The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

Posted on by writingkat95

The hook:

New parents Anne and Marco leave their infant daughter alone asleep in their home, popping next door for a “grown ups only” dinner party. Despite their misgivings, they make it through the party, frequently walking back to their house to check on the sleeping baby and keeping the baby monitor on them the whole time. Yet somehow, when they return home, the baby is missing.

My impressions:

This was a twisty book that kept me guessing all the way through. Despite not finding the characters all that relatable, I still found myself thoroughly engrossed. The twists were well executed, with just the right amount of foreshadowing to keep things from feeling too out of left field while still being surprising.

If you’re looking for a good domestic thriller, this is definitely one I would recommend. Shari Lapena’s writing style is perfect for the genre, creating suspense and planting questions in the reader’s mind, only to answer them in surprising and twisty ways.

I won’t spoil the ending, but I will say it left me wild-eyed and adding more of Lapena’s books to my to-be-read pile.

Happy reading!

Posted in Book Review

Review: The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

Posted on by writingkat95

The hook:

A struggling dog walker named Jane is swept up into a whirlwind romance with the enigmatic and wealthy widower Eddie Rochester. Both of them have secrets, both of them have hidden agendas, but are either of them dangerous? You’ll have to read to find out.

My impressions:

I may be biased because I have a major sweet tooth for retellings of Jane Eyre, but oh my goodness, this book is going straight in my list of favorites. The characters were complex and interesting, shying away from straightforward likeability and falling solidly in the zone of characters you root for out of fascination. No one is completely morally upright, and that’s the book’s main strength: because no one is overly trustworthy or sympathetic, it’s easier to find yourself unsure what you hope happens next, much less predict how this thriller will end.

Whether you’ve read Jane Eyre or not, this book is worth the read. It will keep you on the edge of your seat even after you believe you’ve figured out the ending- and your first or even second guess may not be correct!

Before I say too much and accidentally spoil something, I’ll leave it at this: if you want a thoroughly fun read with plenty of suspense, I highly recommend this book.

Happy reading!

Posted in Book Review

Review: The Sleeping Beauty Killer (Under Suspicion #4)

Posted on by writingkat95

The hook:

A woman is convicted of killing her golden boy fiancée, though she claims to have slept through his murder. After serving her time, she contacts true crime aficionado Laurie Moran, requesting to be the next case on Laurie’s show “Under Suspicion.”

My impressions:

Ok so normally if I’m not a huge fan of something, I don’t write a review, because I prefer to spend my energy lifting up things I’ve genuinely loved. I’m making an exception here because I loved the rest of the book series, and I’m hoping if anyone started with this book and is unsure whether to read the series, perhaps they’ll come across this review to assure them, the rest of the series is so much better than this particular book.

So why didn’t I like this one? First off, it was unmemorable. It’s been a couple of weeks now since I binge read the whole series, and this book is the only one where I genuinely do not remember the ending. It bored me so profoundly I had to Google who the killer was to refresh my memory. On top of that, Laurie felt off kilter and out of character, and her father and Alex both felt dramatically less sympathetic than they had in other entries in the series. Had I not accidentally read later books out of order before this one, I would’ve been expecting Alex to turn out to be a killer or at least an abuser based on the weird characterization he gets in this book alone.

Fear not though! These strange character development issues clear up after this book, and the rest of the series is definitely worth a read. Honestly you can probably skip this one and read the rest of the series without missing much. Don’t let this one dud keep you from enjoying what is otherwise a thoroughly satisfying series that will scratch all your grown-up former Nancy Drew fan itches.

Happy reading!

Posted in Book Review

March Mystery Madness Part 2

Posted on by writingkat95

In keeping with my promise to review all the mystery novels I read over the month of March, today’s review is of The May Queen Murders by Sarah Jude and Broken Things by Lauren Oliver.

Fans of Nova Ren Suma’s Imaginary Girls are bound to enjoy these well crafted mysteries and their questionably reliable narrators. Fraught with high emotional stakes, these were two of the most intense books on my March reading list. Without resorting to excessive gore or gross-out scares, these stories simply captivate you with strong characters and refuse to let go until you’ve confronted the darkness within.

The reason I chose to pair these up for my second review is that they share a common element which drives the narrative in both novels. That element is the inexplicable -sometimes consuming- power of stories. In The May Queen Murders, local legends and town lore feature heavily. The lines between legend and reality start to blur as girls go missing and frightening things begin happening in the community.

In Broken Things it’s not myths that become to real, but a beloved children’s book that may have led two girls to murder their best friend. As they try to parse through what really happened the night she died, questions arise about how much of what they remember is real.

If you like artful storytelling that leans more towards suspense than terror for it’s source of tension, these are definitely the murder mysteries for you. The added factor of surreal events and questioning what is real is the icing on the cupcakes of these delicious books.

Both novels also heavily feature the power of female friendship, a theme I’ll be delving into even more in my next set of reviews for March Mystery Madness. Until then, happy reading!

-Kat