Jithran

In the unhinged dystopian world of Gloam, where the police have long since laid down their last law, we meet Harlow. After a series of dramatic events, Harlow decides to trade in her relatively safe existence for the gritty, gun-slinging streets of the most badass city around. Her goal? To become a hired gun and seek justice for the upheaval in her life.

I love a good dystopian setting, the world is intriguing, but with a bit more context of the world it would help the story really come to life. Nonetheless I liked this adventure and the progression that Harlow experiences throughout the story. I give this ook 3.5 stars rounded up.

Thanks to BookSirens and Jennifer Withers for the ARC.

Three months ago, Quinn's life was turned upside down by a traumatic brain injury that left her unable to retain new memories. Her days are now filled with sticky notes and alarms to navigate her world. One evening, she witnesses a murder behind the shop where she works. The police need her to piece together the crime, but how reliable is her shattered memory?

My thoughts:
This book felt like an unexpected deep dive into the workings of memory. And I might also have gained some knowledge about how the bits and bytes of my memory lane work.

The core of this story revolves around Alicia Berenson, a once-renowned painter who decides to make her husband, Gabriel, the unfortunate centerpiece of her most shocking artwork by shooting him in the face five times. Cue the silence: Alicia hasn't spoken a word since. She becomes a puzzle that every psychiatrist has given up hope for—except for Theo Faber, a psychotherapist fascinated by Alicia's case. Determined to unravel the mystery, he takes a position at The Grove, a secure forensic unit in London. What follows is a gripping journey through the lives of Alicia and Theo.

This book was an absolute page-turner for me. It's easy to get swept up in the mystery if you don't dig too deep. However, for those who do, the novel raises numerous questions, leaving several threads tantalizingly loose. Despite these narrative loose ends, the major plot twist took me by surprise, making me appreciate the novel's structure all the more in hindsight.

Michaelides' story occasionally feels more like a detective story than a psychological thriller, especially in the way he has Theo quiz everyone who comes into contact with Alicia and follows every lead like Sherlock Holmes. (which is, of course, strange for a psychotherapist, but is one of the things you shouldn't worry too much about in this book. If you do, this book might not be your cup of tea.)

Overall, “The Silent Patient” offers a thrilling ride that might leave you with questions, but also delivers an enthralling experience with its unexpected twists and deep dives into its characters' darkest secrets. If you can overlook some of the logistical stretches, you're in for a compelling psychological puzzle that's hard to put down.

(3.75)

In “And Then There Were None,” Agatha Christie crafts a suspenseful tale where ten individuals are summoned to a remote island, only to disappear one by one. We've seen this type of story hundreds of times, but when originally published in 1939, it was certainly much more innovative.

The plot remains shrouded in mystery throughout the book, cleverly concealing the identity and motive of the perpetrator until the very end. While the resolution was not the most satisfying for me, the storyline is undeniably well-crafted. The language of the book carries a delightful old-fashioned flair, enhancing the reading experience and reflecting its era.

Given that “And Then There Were None” is among the most famous thrillers ever written, extensive reviews have already been written, so I will keep this short. If you haven't read this book yet, you have something new to add to your TBR list.

It's an ordinary week in a picturesque cul-de-sac in New Jersey. Ten-year-old boys Ethan and Billy are camping in a tent on a Friday night in July, as they do every week. But this week, Ethan wakes up in the morning not with Billy beside him, but with a large cut in the side of the tent.

Thirty years later, Ethan returns to his childhood home still haunted by the same question: where is Billy?

This wasn't the first nor the last book I've read from Riley. I thoroughly enjoyed this one, especially the first major part of the book. Without giving away too much of the story, I hoped the tension and mystery from the beginning would carry through to the very end.

The writing style, characters, and depiction of the neighborhood really pull you into the story. There are plenty of twists and turns that constantly make you second-guess what's really happening, leading you down different paths of suspense.

Overall, it's a great book with just two minor complaints: I wished for a bit more mystery towards the end, and I wasn't ready for it to end when it did.

Alone in the Dark tells the story of Abi, a young woman who's still trying to move on from a bad relationship. One night, she witnesses a hit-and-run. She gets help for the victim, but when she goes back to the scene, the body is gone. She was sure he was dead, was she? So what happened? With no body, the police has trouble believing her. Has Abi accidentally gotten herself involved in something way more complicated?

This book is a real page-turner. It's fast-paced and keeps you guessing. I really liked Abi, even though some of her decisions made me shake my head. But hey, if everyone did the logical thing all the time, where's the fun in that, right?

The less you know before starting this book, the better. So if you haven't read it yet, begin before you learn too much about it.

Child abduction is a harrowing subject, made even more personal and intense when viewed through the lens of parenthood. Jennifer Hillier's Little Secrets dives into this theme with the story of Marin and Derek, whose four-year-old son, Sebastian, is kidnapped in a moment of distraction. Marin briefly lets go of her son's hand to check a message at a market, and in those few moments, a kidnapper disguised as Santa Claus vanishes with him. Surveillance footage captures this moment but provides no clues about Sebastian's fate.

Marin is devastated. Consumed by guilt and despair, she hires a private detective after the police reach a dead end. This PI, whom Derek knows nothing about, doesn't yield many results about their son but does reveal Derek's affair with a younger woman. Fearing the loss of her husband as well as her son, Marin decides to take matters into her own hands.

Although I didn't find the plot as satisfying as I had hoped, and I was frustrated by Marin's continual forgiveness of Derek despite his previous infidelities, including one during her pregnancy, I did enjoy the book's strong character development and fast-paced story.

Where to begin, this was a roller-coaster ride, but not always in the best way. Having listened to the audiobook, I found the first part especially challenging due to the whiny tone of Leah, which made her quite unlikable. Additionally, the initial chapters were very slow-paced, which made me almost put down the book as I thought it was mainly about her life with a cheating husband.

However, as the story progressed, these issues became less significant. The pace picked up, and the introduction of another point of view added a lot and made it a whole lot more enjoyable. Although I'm generally not a fan of multiple POVs, it worked well for this story.

But then, unfortunately, we came down to the end, which left much to be desired. While I understand that in some cases concessions have to be made to come to a closing point, this was just far from believable. I really hoped this story would end with a big bang, but that didn't come.

In conclusion, the writing style was very good, the story was not half bad, the plot was a bit disappointing, and it needed some time to get going.

“Profile K” by Helen Fields opens with a murder so vividly described it sets a chilling tone that pervades the entire novel. After this introduction, we meet Midnight Jones, a young profiler at Necto, a biotech corporation that specializes in analyzing the human brain. During a routine data analysis, Midnight encounters “Profile K,” a profiling that supposedly doesn't exist. She quickly realizes she's dealing with someone extremely dangerous, and as gruesome deaths begin to occur, she must determine whether she herself might be in danger.

Midnight cares for her disabled twin sister. The high costs of her sister's care force Midnight to tread carefully at work to avoid losing her job because every profile is confident and starting your own investigation isn't quite in line with company policy. Yet, despite the risks, Midnight's commitment to uncovering the truth about Profile K and preventing further victims turns into a dangerous obsession.

This book is intense and may not be for everyone, but it is a compelling read for those who can handle its darker themes. I give “Profile K” 3.75 out of 5 stars. It may not be perfect, but it is definitely a solid thriller that keeps the pages turning.

I love her strange and twisted humor and her train of thought that's all over the place.

Ever fancied the idea of bringing a submarine into orbit? Randall will not only fuel such ideas but will do so with such scientific rigor and wit that you'd wish people tried it MythBusters style (not me, because i'm ordered not to try any of this at home)

Munroe, creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, has a knack for transforming the bizarre into the brilliant, making “What If?” much more than just a collection of humorous speculations. It's a deep dive into the hypothetical, backed by real science and boundless imagination.

This book has the same problem as the video shorts nowadays, constantly tempting you with the prospect of just a few more pages filled with bizarre hypotheses. What if.. there was a second book in this series on my bookshelf

Endless is the Night is a debut horror novel set in the eerie and mysterious Kii mountains of Japan. It follows three friends, Cody, Rick, and Mia, who, looking for an adventure, find more then they bargained for when they enter a world filled with ancient gods, cults, hidden horrors that won't be kept hidden for long.

I loved the unique Japanese setting in this genre. (well, unique for me at least). And while we are mostly familiar with the western setting in most stories, it added to the mystery. The story kept me hooked and Brooks does a fantastic job of building a story where you want to keep going to see where it ends.

However, the narrative sometimes felt restricted, cycling through the same few locations, which made the world feel really small. And while I was definitely engaged, it lacked some dimension and flow. It felt like I was gliding over the story instead of living it. But honestly, that's just me nitpicking because I devoured this book in just a few sittings.

Despite these minor issues, “Endless is the Night” is a strong debut. I'm looking forward to seeing how Brooks develops his storytelling in the next few books he has promised us. I'll be there for the ride.

Thanks to BookSirens and Shawn Brooks for the ARC.

Meet Rooney Budd, a girl with a mission who soon discovers that planning a mission is vastly different from executing one, especially when it involves the enigmatic Tilden family. As she accepts a deviously simple way to work for the family, she soon discovers that the Tilden couple's affluent lifestyle hides deep secrets.

I enjoyed the book and liked Rooney as a character. However, the dialogues felt a bit unnatural, and the story started to lose some of its mystery midway through as the plot became predictable. It would have been more engaging if the narrative had provided a credible alternative to keep you guessing.

Overall, “The Girl Thief” was a solid read. It had its engaging moments and was compelling enough to keep the pages turning, though some aspects fell short. I'd give this one a 3.25 out of 5 stars.

Thanks to BookSirens and Joyce Schneider for the ARC.

While “The Building That Wasn't” took some time to fully draw me in, it eventually captured my interest with eerie vibes reminiscent of Neil Gaiman's works, which I greatly enjoy. The atmosphere and the strange world the author creates are the real draws. The odd character dynamics and the mystery behind them kept me engaged, wondering what the relations between people would be.

However, the book didn't quite reach a five-star rating for me due to the initial difficulty I had in engaging with the story and the story's climax, which left me feeling as though it could have been more thoroughly explored or developed.

Overall, “The Building That Wasn't” is a uniquely intriguing read. When I was a good way in I was completely hooked. It's perfect for fans of horror, suspense, and wonderfully weird tales, offering a distinctive charm and an immersive story.

Thanks to BookSirens and Abigail Miles for the ARC.