Tag: Mystery

Kate’s Review: “The Lightning Bottles”

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Book: “The Lightning Bottles” by Marissa Stapley

Publishing Info: Simon & Schuster, September 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC at ALAAC24.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: The author of New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club pick Lucky returns with a love letter to rock ‘n’ roll and star-crossed love, following Jane Pyre’s road trip around Europe as she attempts to find out what really happened to her partner in love and music, who disappeared without a trace years earlier, leaving Jane to pick up the pieces.

Jane Pyre was once one half of one of the most famous rock ‘n’ roll duos in the world, The Lightning Bottles. Years later, she’s perhaps the most hated (and least understood) woman in music. She was never as popular with fans as her bandmate (and soulmate) Elijah—even if Jane was the one who wrote the songs that catapulted The Lightning Bottles to instant, dizzying fame, first in the Seattle grunge scene, and then around the world.

But then Elijah disappeared and everything came crashing down. Even now, years after Elijah vanished, Jane is universally blamed and reviled by the public. In an attempt to get some peace and quiet, Jane rents a house in a remote part of Germany where she knows she won’t be disturbed. But on the day she arrives, she’s confronted by her new next-door neighbor, a sullen teenaged girl named Hen who just so happens to be a Lightning Bottles superfan—and who claims to have a piece of information that might solve the mystery of what happened to Elijah, and whether he is, in fact, still alive and leaving messages for Jane after all these years.

A cross-continent road trip about two misunderstood outsiders brought together by their shared love of music, interwoven with flashbacks to the beginnings of Jane and Elijah’s love story and meteoric rise, The Lightning Bottles is a love story, a celebration of rock ‘n’ roll, and a searing portrait of the cost of fame.

Review: Thank you to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an ARC of this novel!

I was a bit young to really get into the grunge era of music, but I do remember some of my elementary school classmates listening to Nirvana, and some of my tween friends worshiping Kurt Cobain in middle school a few years after his death. But by high school I was very much aware of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love and their short lived, dramatic, but ultimately true romance, in part due to the fact I was hyperfocusing on The Sex Pistols and there were lots of comparisons between Sid and Nancy and Kurt and Courtney. So I was very familiar with the pop culture zeitgeist around that when I heard a description of “The Lightning Bottles” by Marissa Stapley at the Simon & Schuster Fall Preview panel at ALAAC24. I loved the idea of a road trip mystery as a former rock star goes on a journey to perhaps find her husband and musical partner who disappeared, and to come to terms with the way that fame shaped and in some ways destroyed them both. Especially since it sounded like it was going to perhaps do some unpacking of Kurt and Courtney through the characters of Elijah and Jane.

I had been expecting more of a mystery, but what I got was basically “Eddie and the Cruisers” meets Kurt and Courtney. And that’s not too much of a complaint! I do enjoy the idea of a mystery of a beloved rockstar disappearing, and his controversial wife/bandmate going on a journey to try and see if he is still alive (with scrappy teenager in tow), and “The Lightning Bottles” does deliver an interesting plot with lots of twists and turns. But this book is more about artistry, the price of fame, and how sometimes love isn’t enough to keep two damaged people from causing more damage towards each other. Stapley definitely takes inspiration from Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain and his marriage to Hole frontwoman (and perhaps one of the most hated women in music) Courtney Love, but Elijah and Jane, Jane especially, stand on their own two feet. I liked learning their love story through the flashbacks and the transcripts of their chat room conversations, and while I don’t think I got to know Elijah as much as I did Jane (which is to be expected given it’s really her story at its heart), I REALLY got to know Jane, and I really loved Jane by the end. I do wish that there was a little bit more mystery at the forefront though. Even “Eddie and the Cruisers” had some tense moments in regards to what happend to Eddie, even if it was ultimately about Tom Berenger rediscovering himself.

And that may be my one complaint in this book; Stapley may be a little TOO forgiving of Jane, and in turn perhaps her inspiration (an author’s note makes it fairly clear that Stapley really wanted to champion Courtney Love). Please don’t misunderstand me, I absolutely believe that a lot of the animosity towards Love, especially when it comes to Kurt Cobain, is unfair, unfounded, and steeped in misogyny, especially since we’ve seen this kind of thing before in rock and roll narratives of a horrible woman ruining a band when that’s just not founded at the end of the day (Yoko Ono comes to mind). I love that Stapley wanted to be sure to show that Jane was so wholly misunderstood, and that it was very unfair that Elijah’s problems were never laid upon Elijah and only on Jane. Especially when those problems were causing JANE problems in her own right. But that also makes Jane a little less interesting by making her flaws easily explained away, when her real life counterpart is VERY flawed for reasons that go waaaay beyond the bullshit she had to endure in regards Cobain. And I felt that by denying Jane some flaws that had some bite, it denied her some more complexity that she probably could have used.

As a whole I enjoyed “The Lightning Bottles”. It’s a love letter to a musical era, it’s an enjoyable love story, and it has some emotional beats that caught me off guard.

Rating 7: I was expecting more of a mystery but instead found a compelling love story about fame, music, and the highs and lows of being in love as an artist on the verge of greatness, or tragedy.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Lightning Bottles” isn’t on many Goodreads lists yet, but it would fit in on “Best Rock and Roll Novels”.

Serena’s Review: “A Scandal in Mayfair”

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Book: “A Scandal in Mayfair” by Katherine Schellman

Publishing Info: Crooked Lane Books, August 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Netgalley!

Where Can You Get this Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | IndieBound

Book Description: London, 1817. The London Season is beginning once more, and Lily Adler’s return to her home on Half Moon Street feels different this year. No longer a recent widow, she has a life and friends waiting for her. Lily also has new responsibilities in the form of her protégée Amelia, the sister of her longtime friend Jack Hartley, who is escaping her own brush with scandal and murder.

It doesn’t take long for Lily’s growing reputation as a lady of quality who can discreetly find what is missing or solve what is puzzling to bring a desperate young woman to her doorstep. But helping her means unraveling a tangled web of family secrets. Soon, a missing will, a dead body and the threat of blackmail leave Lily facing danger every way she turns. 

The glittering society of Mayfair conceals many secrets, and the back alleys of London hide even more. Lily Adler will need to find the connection between them quickly if she wants to stop a killer before it’s too late.

Previously Reviewed: “The Body in the Garden” and “Silence in the Library” and “Death at the Manor” and “Murder at Midnight”

Review: We’re back with the latest Lily Adler mystery! While this series has been a bit hit and miss, the hits have been strong enough to pull me through some of the weaker books in the series. And, notably, Lily Adler herself, as well as the various characters that surround her, has always been an intriguing leading lady, carrying the brunt of my interest when the mysteries themselves have been on the weaker side. Well, I’ll spoil my own review and say that I am pleased to report that this is another solid entry! Which makes two in a row, since the low point that was “Death at the Manor.”

We’ll start with the mystery itself. While I did enjoy this one more than others, it remains to be true that the mysteries themselves are not the main draws for this series. If you’re a fan of the mystery genre and have read a decent number of them, many of the twists and reveals found in this series are easy to spot well in advance, as they are often staples found in many other books that use similar plot devices. Now, that’s not unique to this series and many of these tried and true mystery devices have been used repeatedly for years, so the inclusion of a familiar device isn’t a problem. It’s the execution. One of my biggest frustrations with “Death at the Manor” was the blundering way in which one of these familiar mystery devices was used; in that it was presented in such an obvious way as to undercut Lily’s intelligence.

This book tackles another familiar mystery trope, but I’m pleased to say that it does so in a much more smooth and well-executed manner. While I was able to piece together what was going on fairly early, the mystery itself was complex enough and had enough red herrings and other dead-end pathways as to keep my interest piqued. And to present a challenge that is believably difficult for a character like Lily. There were a number of different storylines playing out at once and, as the story continued, they were neatly woven together in a way that felt organic and interesting. The new characters who peopled these storylines were similarly of interest, with some familiar faces popping up in unexpected places. I appreciated the shades of grey that was used in constructing many of these characters, as well, with the villains given some sympathetic motivations and heroes acting in sometimes very unlikable ways.

On top of the solid mystery, I was thrilled to realize early in the book that we’d finally reached a point in the narrative when the slow-burning romance between Lily and Captain Jack would finally come to a head. And it was everything I’d been waiting for! Jack was given a few POV chapters himself, and these were used well to explore his mindset during this shift in their relationship. And I appreciated the delicate balance the author used in dealing with Lily’s conflicting feelings about entering into a romantic entanglement with the good friend of her late beloved husband. For a situation that was rife with drama and angst, I very much appreciated the straight-forward manner in which much of this was dealt with. The book takes the time to explore these topics thoroughly, but there is very little “silliness” or dramatic dithering only for dramas’ sake. I, of course, appreciate this approach to romance subplots, but it also would be out of character for practical, steady Lily Adler to slide into an angst spiral over this.

Overall, this was a very satisfying entry into the series. Probably my favorite since the first book even! The mystery, while a bit predictable, was interesting, and I loved the character progression on the romance front. Fans of this series (particularly those interest in the slow-burn love story) are sure to enjoy this one!

Rating 8: With a compelling mystery at its heart and the lovely bloom of new romance, this is a fantastic new entry into the Lily Adler mystery series!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Scandal in Mayfair” can be found on this Goodreads list: Historical Mystery 2024

Serena’s Review: “A Ruse of Shadows”

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Book: “A Ruse of Shadows” by Sherry Thomas

Publishing Info: Berkley, June 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss+

Where Can You Get this Book: Amazon | IndieBound | WorldCat

Book Description: Charlotte’s success on the RMS Provence has afforded her a certain measure of time and assurance. Taking advantage of that, she has been busy, plotting to prise the man her sister loves from Moriarty’s iron grip.

Disruption, however, comes from an unexpected quarter. Lord Bancroft Ashburton, disgraced and imprisoned as a result of Charlotte’s prior investigations, nevertheless manages to press Charlotte into service: Underwood, his most loyal henchman, is missing and Lord Bancroft wants Charlotte to find Underwood, dead or alive.

But then Lord Bancroft himself turns up dead and Charlotte, more than anyone else, meets the trifecta criteria of motive, means, and opportunity. Never mind rescuing anyone else, with the law breathing down her neck, can Charlotte save herself from prosecution for murder?

Previously Reviewed: “A Study in Scarlet Women” and “A Conspiracy in Belgravia” and “The Hollow of Fear” and “The Art of Theft” and “Murder on Cold Street” and “Miss Moriarty, I Presume?” and “A Tempest at Sea”

Review: Better late than never! (Though it can be assured that I would eventually get to the latest “Charlotte Holmes” mystery novel!) As much as I love reading new releases, it does become a challenge trying to make sure to leave review room for my beloved on-going series. And at this point, this is probably one of the longer running series that I’m reviewing that is currently still be added to! And, while there have been ups and and downs throughout this series, there have never been any true duds. Indeed, the series has been on a bit of an uptick recently, so I was excited to check out this latest entry!

While those familiar with the series will find many familiar aspects to this story (all of our favorite characters, a return to England, and the use of tried-and-true villains from the past), one of the primary things that stood out about this book was how fresh it felt! And for the *checks notes* 8th book in a mystery series, that’s quite something! There are two primary factors, I believe. First, and to a lesser extent, the first real mystery the reader is introduced to is one in which Charlotte herself is the primary suspect. This is, of course, a rich setup for the story. And while this subplot isn’t really the primary plot of the book, it does provide a unique framing for the entire story, one in which Charlotte is on the other side of the interview, the subject rather than the investigator. No one is surprised to find that she shines just as well in this setting as in her regular role

But the second change was the broken up manner in which the story is told. The book shifts back and forth from various time periods. One being the aforementioned interview in which Charlotte is being questioned about her role in this murder. But the second follows all of the events that lead up to this situation, with a few smaller jumps around in time found within. And, of course, by the time we get to the end of the story and the pieces start falling in place, the reader (and many other characters!) realize that Charlotte, as always, was playing a much deeper game the entire time, with a wholly separate timeline of events playing into the how and why of everything that happened throughout the story. This all lead to a very compelling mystery. There were simply so many layers to the story that every time I began to feel as if I had some theories about one mystery, we would shift focus to the next layer and I would be as befuddled as ever! It was a very “onion-like” read in all of the best ways!

Perhaps less new was the cast of characters, though here too the book shone! While I enjoy Livia Holmes and the important role she plays in Charlotte’s life, there have been times throughout the series when I felt that her chapters felt unnecessary to the larger story. Here, we still follows her story for a few chapters here and there, but I felt like the balance between her smaller subplot and the larger story as a whole was better handled. I also really enjoyed seeing some familiar faces pop up in very unexpected ways! There were a few call-backs to characters from several books ago who ended up playing much larger roles in this book. And, of course, Bancroft is always a good time in all of his snobby glory!

And, of course, I still very much enjoy the slowly developing relationship between Charlotte and Lord Ingram. Some of the more floundering books seemed to struggle to know where to take this relationship, but in these last few stronger entries, this relationship feels more steady and as if its progressing in a natural manner. It’s the slowest of slow burns, but in this way, it still feels very true to a character like Charlotte who understands her important relationships with other people in both a much deeper, but also more difficult to communicate, manner.

Overall, I really loved this one! In fact, it’s probably one of my favorites out of the entire series! The central mystery was compelling, the balance of characters felt right, and we once again were able to revel in all that makes Charlotte Holmes such an intriguing character to follow. If you’re a fan of these books, this one is a solid entry in what I hope continues to be a long-running series.

Rating 9: Successful in every way I could wish, this was a perfect balance of mystery, character work, and a fantastic central character!

Reader’s Advisory:

“A Ruse of Shadows” is on this Goodreads list: Can’t Wait Books of 2024

Serena’s Review: “The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh”

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Book: “The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh” b y Claudia Gray

Publishing Info: Vintage, June 2024

Where Did I Get this Book: Edelweiss!

Where Can You Get this Book: Amazon | IndieBound | WorldCat

Book Description: The third book in the Mr. Darcy & Miss Tilney Mystery series, which finds the amateur sleuths facing their most daunting challenge preventing the murder of the imperious Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Someone is trying to kill Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Esteemed aunt of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy, generous patroness of Mr. William Collins, a woman of rank who rules over the estate of Rosings Park with an unimpeachable sense of propriety—who would dare ? Lady Catherine summons her grand-nephew, Mr. Jonathan Darcy, and his investigative companion, Miss Juliet Tilney, to find out.

After a year apart, Jonathan and Juliet are thrilled to be reunited, even if the circumstances—finding whoever has thus far sabotaged Lady Catherine’s carriage, shot at her, and nearly pushed her down the stairs—are less than ideal. Also less than their respective fathers, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Mr. Henry Tilney, have accompanied the young detectives to Rosings, and the two men do not interact with the same felicity enjoyed by their children.

With attempts against Lady Catherine escalating, and no one among the list of prime suspects seemingly capable of committing all of the attacks, the pressure on Jonathan and Juliet mounts—even as more gentle feelings between the two of them begin to bloom. The race is now on to provoke two one from the attempted murderer before it is too late—and one, perhaps, of love.

Previously Reviewed: “The Murder of Mr. Wickham” and “The Late Mrs. Willoughby”

Review: I’ve been eagerly awaiting the next installment in this mystery series pretty much from the second I put down the previous book! It’s always a bit of a question mark when an author produces a fantastic first book in a series. But nothing compares to the relief of finishing the second one with the reassurance that it wasn’t a one off thing! No, Claudia Gray is just that talented! It also takes a lot of the low-key dread out of waiting for the next book. Yes, I’ve been impatient, but I knew when it finally arrived, it would be well worth the wait! And how right I was!

As I’ve said, I very much enjoyed the first two books in the series. But while I still rated the book previous to this one highly, it was a bit held back by the Austen characters involved in the mystery. I love “Sense and Sensibility,” but Elinor is the obvious draw, with Marianne coming in a distinct second. On top of that, Mr. Willoughby is so despicable a character the he’s the sort of villain that you don’t so much “love to hate” but just straight up hate. And then in the original, we never even meet Mrs. Willoughby. All of this to say, while that book was good, it was a bit hampered by the fact that the mystery revolved around a cast of characters who fall a bit further down on my list of preferred Austen characters.

Not so with this one! People often think only of Elizabeth and Darcy when they think of the brilliance that is “Pride and Prejudice.” But Gray is here to remind us of the phenomenal comedic characters that fill out that story, creating a mystery that revolves around the people who make up the Rosings Park household. As the title would suggest, we get a heavy dose of Catherine de Bourgh and her…particular approach to being the target of attempted murder (scorn, sometimes even at the fact that the would-be-murderer has been so incompetent as to not even be successful!).

We also get a better look into the Collins’s family. Mr. Collins, of course, is hilarious, as is witnessing Miss Tilney’s skepticism that his adoration of Catherine de Bourgh has to be exaggerated, as no one could truly be that profuse in their exhortations of some like Catherine. Even more interesting, however, was the extended look we get into Mrs. Collins, Elizabeth’s old friend. This is obviously not the focus of the story, but there was a lot of interesting character work done with even the few chapters that really dive into Mrs. Collins and her psychology. I also enjoyed seeing more of Lady Catherine’s daughter, Miss de Bourgh, as well as her husband, Colonel Fiztwilliam. Again, with very little page time, I was impressed with how well Gray explored this sort of relationship, the kind where marriage comes first, love second, and even then, it is only slowly understood.

I also continue to be impressed by how masterfully Gray manages to depict what have to be intimidating characters to write, like Darcy and Elizabeth. But not only do they read as perfectly inline with the originals, but I loved see them put in the same scene with other Austen characters and, essentially, watching what happens. For example, we see Mr. Darcy and Mr. Tilney (two beloved heroes in their own right) immediately butt heads. With the former thinking the latter isn’t a serious person, and the latter thinking the former is a bit of a prig. It’s just so perfect! Of course this is how these two would react to one another!

And now I’ve written an incredibly long review without even touching on our main characters, Miss Tilney and Jonathan Darcy. But, of course, this is because they remain excellent. I will say that I was pleased to see them progress a bit more in this book. They’ve spent a fairly significant amount of time now misunderstanding the other’s interest, and I was becoming a bit worried that this would be drawn out too long. But instead, it’s handled well while still not resolving the entire situation. Specifically, I liked the exploration of Darcy’s struggles to put up a “more dignified” front in his hopes to “convince” Miss Tilney that he was a viable romantic interest. It was an interesting look into the mindset up a character with what seems to be low key autism.

Overall, I loved this book! It built on what had been previously established with regards to our main characters’ relationship, while also making neat use of a large cast of beloved (belovedly ridiculous!) characters. I can’t recommend this series enough to other Austen fans!

Rating 9: Simply fantastic, a masterful example of how to take classic characters and retain all that makes them great while also plopping them down in wholly novel places and situations to see what happens!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Perils of Lady Catherine de Bourgh” is on this Goodreads list: Austen Retellings.

Book Club Review: “A Study in Emerald” & “Snow, Glass, Apples”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

We are part of a group of librarian friends who have had an ongoing book club running for the last several years. Each “season” (we’re nerds) we pick a theme and each of us chooses a book within that theme for us all to read. This June we celebrated our 10 year anniversary of book club. So in celebration of that milestone, we are re-visiting authors we read way back in those first few years of our book club. For this blog, we will post a joint review of each book we read for book club. We’ll also post the next book coming up in book club. So feel free to read along with us or use our book selections and questions in your own book club!

NOTE: At the beginning of July, accusations of abuse and sexual assault were made against Neil Gaiman by two women. When our book club selected, met and read “A Study in Emerald” and “Snow, Glass, Apples” and we wrote our reviews, this information had not yet come to light. These accusations are deeply concerning and upsetting. Since we had committed to review these books on the blog before these accusations came to light, we’ve decided to post our reviews of these books to fulfill that commitment. That said, if you or someone you know needs help or wants to find someone to speak with confidentially, HERE is a link to RAINN’s resource page, which also links to more information about the organization in general and how to support victims of sexual violence.

Book: “A Study in Emerald” by Neil Gaiman and Rafael Albuquerque (Illustrator), Rafael Scavone, Dave Stewart (Illustrator)

Publishing Info: Dark Horse Books, June 2018

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Repeat Author: Neil Gaiman

Book Description: The complex investigation takes the Baker Street investigators from the slums of Whitechapel all the way to the Queen’s Palace as they attempt to find the answers to this bizarre murder of cosmic horror!

From the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, Nebula award-winning, and New York Times bestselling writer Neil Gaiman comes this graphic novel adaptation with art by Eisner award winning artist Rafael Albuquerque!

Kate’s Thoughts

It’s interesting. As someone who loves a good mystery and thriller, I haven’t read TOO much Sherlock Holmes (outside of the stories I read in middle school for English class, and “The Hound of the Baskervilles” for book club way back when). And as someone who loves horror, I haven’t read ANY H.P. Lovecraft. But I know enough about Holmes, Watson, Baker Street, and Cthulhu thanks to the pop culture and literary zeitgeist. So I could absolutely appreciate a LOT about “A Study In Emerald”, which brings the mythos of Lovecraft’s cosmic horrors to Baker Street and Victorian London. It’s a creative mashup, and I found the story up to the task.

I really enjoyed the creeping horror of this tale, and how it does harken back to the classic Holmes cases, and not just through the characters that we see on the page. There are fun references to other mysteries, there is definitely a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle air to the way that the story unfolds, and the way that Gaiman weaves in the Old Ones and Cthulhu into the story and makes it just seamlessly fit in is really fun. It also works as an interesting comment upon the Colonialist impact that England was having across the world, as the Old Ones are coming in and ruling over everyone with a malicious intent towards power and conquest. And I always enjoy the artwork of Raphael Albuquerque, and his style works really well in this story. It’s compelling and fun, and while it’s a stand alone short story it feels very established. It’s a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it very much.

Serena’s Thoughts

I loved this book! There were so many clever ideas all mixed together in a way that felt totally fresh and unique. And given how many adaptations and variations there have been on Sherlock Holmes and Watson, producing something that feels truly original is quite the accomplishment! Of course, the primary factor there comes down to the inclusion and use of Lovecraft’s classic horror creatures. But there is definitely a way that this could have gone very wrong. Instead, Gaiman never over-played his hand. And while the alternate timeline/history of this world and the role the Old Ones play in it was very interesting, at its heart, the story is still very much a classic Sherlock Holmes mystery. From the framing of the story from the companion’s perspective to the use of verbose language with only limited dialogue, it all felt perfectly in line with the tone of the original. Despite the fact that there are tentacled royalty ruling the world!

I also enjoyed the big twist at the end. As a big Sherlock fan, I was suspicious that this was where we were headed fairly early, but that still didn’t diminish how effective it was. I also think that it was subtle enough that it could still play as a pretty big twist for the majority of readers. It was a clever case of “look at this hand and not the other,” using the Lovecraft elements to great effect. The art also worked perfectly with the overall tone. The sepia color palette worked well to create a sense of the time period, and the inclusion of the little advertisements between chapters was excellent.

Really, my only criticism is that in some ways it felt like the prequel to a series. I immediately went on Goodreads hoping to line up the sequel. But alas. I’d definitely read more in this world if given the chance, and I think this is a great read for all Holmes fans out there!

Kate’s Rating 8: A creative mash up of two literary icons makes for an interesting adaptation that works incredibly well.

Serena’s Rating 9: Clever and unique, which is truly an accomplishment considering the plethora of adaptations out there for both Holmes and Lovecraft’s creatures!

Book Club Questions

  1. What were your thoughts on the surprise reveal at the end of the book? Did you see it coming? Did you think it fit well?
  2. Did you like the theme as the monarchs of Europe actually being Old Ones from Lovecraft’s stories?
  3. Did you enjoy the throw back advertisements that separated the sections of the story?
  4. This is a graphic novel that was told purely in captions and with little to no actual speech bubbles. Did you like this creative choice?
  5. What did you think of the art style of this story? Did you feel like it fit the tone of the narrative?

Reader’s Advisory

“A Study in Emerald” is included on the Goodreads lists A Study in Sherlock Holmes and Lovecraft in Victorian Era.

Book: “Snow, Glass, Apples” by Neil Gaiman and Colleen Dorman (Illustrator)

Publishing Info: Headline, August 2019

Where Did We Get This Book: The library!

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Repeat Author: Neil Gaiman

Book Description: A chilling fantasy retelling of the Snow White fairy tale by bestselling creators Neil Gaiman and Colleen Doran.

A not-so-evil queen is terrified of her monstrous stepdaughter and determined to repel this creature and save her kingdom from a world where happy endings aren’t so happily ever after.

From the Hugo, Bram Stoker, Locus, World Fantasy, Nebula Award-winning and Sunday Times-bestselling writer Neil Gaiman (American Gods) comes this graphic novel adaptation by Colleen Doran (Troll Bridge).

Kate’s Thoughts

I already love a fairytale retelling, especially if it is a bit dark and twisted. And I have come to enjoy “Snow White” more as of late because my daughter got a Snow White dress during our Spring Break trip to Disney, which has made me all the fonder of the story. But then you add in not only a version that is told from the perspective of the Evil Queen AND it has a vampire Snow White?? OH HELL YES. Gaiman knows how to do dark in his stories, and this one is SO creepy and twisted, telling a story about a young queen who finds herself a stepmother to a monstrous vampiric child, and wants to keep her kingdom safe from the predatory nature of the girl whose skin is white as snow and lips are red as blood. Snow White’s Evil Queen is so two dimensional in the original tale and many tales that came after it, so for Gaiman to not only make her the protagonist but to also make her flawed but generally a good hearted woman who is trying to use magic to help her subjects is so excellent and such a breath of fresh air. I loved the subversions in the magical elements, and how it harkens to the source material but tweaks it into something new. And something REALLY disturbing.

And I absolutely loved the art style in this book. It feels like a combination of medieval tapestries and art deco aesthetic, and there are so many gorgeous details that leap off the page. It’s truly breathtaking, with few actual panels but free form mural-esque spilling into each other. But it still remains linear and easy to follow along with the very detailed and complex designs. Our book club host asked us what our favorite image was, and I had such a hard time picking because there are so many amazing images.

I loved “Snow, Glass, Apples”. What a compelling reimagining of “Snow White”.

Serena’s Thoughts

I also really enjoyed this one! Probably no great shocker as I love fairytale re-tellings, especially twisted versions of the story. This one, told from the perspective of the “evil” step-mother succeeded on a lot of fronts. First of all, I absolutely adored this art style! I found myself reading this one much more slowly than the first, simply because I wanted to look at all the intricate details on every singled panel. There are several pages that I would buy and frame and put up in my home library, they were that beautiful. I also really enjoyed the “stream of consciousness” style the art used, with several spreads effectively moving the reader through the page without the use of panels or blocks.

I also enjoyed the twist on the “Snow White” tale. I wasn’t prepared for just how dark it was going to get! Fairly early in the story, the reader is introduced to the major “twist” to the tale and you think “Ok, I get where the darkness is going to go.” And then you get about two-thirds of the way and and it’s like “Oh! Nope, this went way darker and in a way more disturbing direction than I had expected!” For the most part, I think this darkness all worked. That said, there were a few brief moments and details that did feel like they were there purely for shock value and not any real narrative purpose.

Overall, I thought this was a very interesting re-imaging of the classic tale. I think the art really stole the show for me. And while I think many fans of dark fantasy will enjoy this one, it’s definitely NSFW, so keep that in mind if you’re reading it in public!

Kate’s Rating 9: A disturbing but horrifically gorgeous reimagining of Snow White.

Serena’s Rating 8: Horrifying in the best way, but the gorgeous art was really the win as far as I’m concerned!

Book Club Questions

  1. What did you think of following the Queen’s POV in this story? Are you used to seeing her side of the “Snow White” story?
  2. Did you buy into the idea of a vampire Snow White? Why or why not?
  3. What are your thoughts on how Gaiman subverted the witchcraft in this versus the original?
  4. What did you think of the aspect of the Spring Faire in this tale and how it related to the Queen’s motivation in the story?
  5. Did you like the art style in this? Did it fit the tone of the tale?

Reader’s Advisory

“Snow, Glass, Apples” is included on the Goodreads lists Snow White Retellings and Graphic Novels with Fairytale or Mythical elements

Next Book Club Pick: “Superman Smashes the Klan” by by Gene Luen Yang

Kate’s Review: “Ladykiller”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Ladykiller” by Katherine Wood

Publishing Info: Bantam, July 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: When an heiress goes missing, her best friend races to unravel the secrets behind her disappearance using clues left behind in an explosive manuscript…

Gia and Abby have been best friends since they were girls, forever bonded by the tragedy that unfolded in Greece when they were eighteen. In the aftermath, bookish Abby threw herself into her studies while heiress Gia chronicled the events of that fateful summer in a salacious memoir.

Twelve years later, Gia is back in Greece for the summer with her shiny new husband and a motley crew of glamorous guests, preparing to sell the family estate in the wake of her father’s death. When Abby receives an invitation from Gia to celebrate her birthday in September beneath the Northern Lights, she’s thrilled to be granted the time off from her high-pressure job. But the day of her flight, she receives a mysterious, threatening email in her inbox, and when she and Gia’s brother Benny arrive at the Swedish resort, Gia isn’t there. After days of cryptic messages and unanswered calls, Abby and Benny are worried enough to fly to Greece to check on her.

Only, when they arrive, they find Gia’s beachfront estate eerily deserted, the sole clue to her whereabouts a manuscript she wrote detailing the events leading up to her disappearance. The pages reveal the dark truth about Gia’s provocative new marriage and the dirty secrets of the guests they entertained with fizzy champagne under the hot Mediterranean sun. As tensions rise, Gia feels less and less safe in her own home. But the pages end abruptly, leaving Abby and Benny with more questions than answers.

Where is Gia now? And, more importantly, will they find her before it’s too late?

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

We are now smack dab in the middle of summer now, and I don’t know about you, dear readers, but I have a LOT of pool time coming up as the temps go up and the family wants to cool off. While I spend a fair amount of time at the pool keeping an eye on my kid, if the husband is there too we split the time, which means I get to read when I’m not on swim duty. Which in turn means that I’m looking for good poolside reads that keep me entertained and keep my interest, the more scandalous the better. “Ladykiller” by Katherine Wood was one such book. You have a missing woman, a Grecian backdrop, a potentially shady new husband, and some long hidden secrets. All of this is the perfect mix for the kind of thriller I want poolside! And while it definitely scratched some itches, overall, unfortunately, I found this one to be a bit hit or miss.

The story structure of this novel is told from two different perspectives, one from the perspective of Abby and the other from Gia. Abby is Gia’s long time friend, who has worked incredibly hard to become an attorney and who had a falling out with the heiress newlywed Gia due to her not approving of the whirlwind romance and fast marriage. Abby and Gia’s brother Benny are supposed to meet Gia for her birthday, but find her missing and not answering her phone. The other perspective is the manuscript from Gia’s newest memoir, which is a record of what was happening on her estate in Greece with her husband Garrett, two strangers they befriended, and the slow realization that Garrett is perhaps not what he seems. Both perspectives round out the mystery, with the reader being able to follow along and to learn things that perhaps one woman may not know of the other, which I always enjoy. It’s also interesting getting their varying perspectives on some of their shared secrets, as Abby has some guilt for past actions, and Gia’s memoir starts to veer into ‘is this unreliable’ territory. I greatly enjoyed these aspects of this book.

All that said, I think that while it’s entertaining in structure, I wasn’t super invested in any of the characters, and wasn’t terribly surprised by many of the twists and reveals as the mystery went on. It follows a pretty well explored formula, and it doesn’t really go outside the expected norms. I found it entertaining as it was going, and I was interested to see how things were going to shake out, but I wasn’t terribly invested in many of the characters and what their outcomes were going to be. I also found some of the choices made by the characters, Abby in particular, to be a bit galling. It just had a lot of potential to really bowl me over as the recipe for that is there. But it never quite came together. But hey, I did find it to be entertaining for the most part, and one I could easily pick up and put down as needed.

“Ladykiller” is a poolside read through and through and one I would recommend to those who are looking for such a thing. There’s still lots of summer left! Add it to your pile you keep in the swim bag.

Rating 6: It’s entertaining for the most part, but the twists and turns were pretty obvious and I wasn’t interested in many of the characters.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Ladykiller” is included on the Goodreads list “Mystery and Thriller 2024”.

Kate’s Review: “Such a Bad Influence”

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Book: “Such a Bad Influence” by Olivia Muenter

Publishing Info: Quirk Books, June 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: For fans of Ashley Winstead, a razor-sharp debut about what happens when one of the first child stars of the social media age grows up . . . and goes missing.

Hazel Davis is drifting: she’s stalled in her career, living in a city she hates, and less successful than her younger sister @evelyn, a lifestyle influencer. Evie came of age on the family YouTube channel after a viral video when she was five. Ten years older and spotlight-averse, Hazel managed to dodge the family business—so although she can barely afford her apartment, at least she made her own way.

Evie is eighteen now, with a multimillion-dollar career, but Hazel is still protective of her little sister and skeptical of the way everyone seems to want a piece of her: Evie’s followers, her YouTuber boyfriend and influencer frenemies, and their opportunistic mother. So when Evie disappears one day during an unsettling live stream that cuts out midsentence, Hazel is horrified to have her worst instincts proven right.

As theories about Evie’s disappearance tear through the internet, inspiring hashtags, Reddit threads, and podcast episodes, Hazel throws herself into the darkest parts of her sister’s world to untangle the truth. After all, Hazel knows Evie better than anyone else . . . doesn’t she?

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with and eARC of this novel!

Back at the end of last summer a particularly disturbing crime story dropped, in which Youtube Mommy Blogger Ruby Franke and her business associate Jodi Hildebrandt were arrested for six counts of aggravated child abuse against Franke’s two youngest children. Franke and her family rose to fame through her now defunct 8 Passengers YouTube channel, where she would document and monetize family life and wholesome conservative/Mormon values. So it was a shock to many when she was arrested for starving, beating, maiming, and abusing two of the kids that had once been on the channel and in so many people’s lives through a computer screen. It wasn’t a shock for me, though, having been tuned in to the whole swamp that is child influencers on social media for awhile. So it’s no surprise that “Such a Bad Influence” by Oliva Muenter caught my attention, as it’s a thriller that has that very idea as a hook. I had such high expectations for this book, and was very excited to read it. So it’s not too dramatic to say that after riding a high on it for a good three fourths of the novel, the last fourth knocked me back to Earth in a frustrating way.

Firstly though I’m going to talk about the things that I did like about this book, because for the great majority of it I was very, very pleased with what I was reading. For one, I am a huge sucker for missing person books, and “Such a Bad Influence” has a great hook of a very popular influencer named Evie Davis going radio silent mid livestream, and as her silence continues people start speculating she’s actually missing. This is already a winning aspect for me, and you add in a protagonist in the form of her older sister Hazel, who has shunned the spotlight and has worried over Evie even before this moment in time. Hazel’s motivation is totally believable, and while she’s prickly and difficult in some ways I liked her tenacity and her drive to find the younger sister she feels she has failed in many ways. I also really, really liked the themes of the ethics of children being shown online for profit, usually by their parents, and using them as money makers by exploiting their time, image, and very existence when they can’t REALLY consent. And along with that come the strangers who seek out these accounts of underage children who have disgusting ulterior motives, and how the full access to these accounts can enable predation. This is all through the role of Evie and Hazel’s mother Erin, who once posted a tragic video that went viral and rocketed Evie to fame, and with that came her ambitions to become a momager to her now incredibly popular daughter. And all the shady choices that come with a fortune from business ventures, sponsorships, and clicks constant content churning. I’ve been tapped into this ethical debate for almost two years now, when the podcast “Someplace Under Neith” did a whole series on exploitation of children on social media vis a vis influencer accounts, but it has come more to the forefront in society’s eyes due to the aforementioned Ruby Franke/Jodi Hildebrandt case and a long investigative article by the New York Times (which my husband was texting me about the day it dropped, in full horror, and I was like ‘yep, I know all this, why do you think all my social media accounts where I have images of our kid are private/highly vetted?’). There were also some good points about how true crime exploits people as well, but I won’t go into that as much because eh, that’s pretty well worn territory these days as it seems EVERYONE needs to be pointing that out in any story that involves a true crime community angle. We get it, we’re creeps. But I did like the way this story addressed it as it wasn’t as hamfisted as it could have been. All of this was fantastic, and I was really loving this book and the issues that Muenter was touching upon.

BUT. ONCE AGAIN, a really fun and engaging thriller/mystery was, for me, completely derailed by a wholly unnecessary twist ending.

THIS JUST KEEPS HAPPENING LATELY. (source)

Okay, look. I’m not so naive to believe that these kinds of rug yanked out from under you twists aren’t popular with the thriller fanbase. I would probably even be willing to concede that for a lot of people the big surprising twist is a good part of the fun of a thriller, to see how creative an author can be and how their misdirection can surprise a reader. But I am getting sick of it. Nay, I’ve BEEN sick of it. It always feels like it negates everything that came before, especially when there was an already in place solid first ending that was upended with a few paragraphs after a time jump of all things, which just felt like a yadda yadda yadda of a significant plot point. And honestly I didn’t really like that one so much either because it wasn’t super fleshed out to begin with, but at least it felt earned and like everything was building up to it. This damn twist had a couple of hints towards it too I suppose, but it still felt like a cheap final ‘gotcha’ that I really didn’t have the patience for this time around. That’s probably not the fault of the book, but man, I’m just so over this kind of device.

I was bummed that “Such a Bad Influence” had a thud of an ending after a solid and enjoyable rise before the fall. If you like shocking final act game changers by all means check it out for yourself. Far be it from me to ruin that kind of fun for those who enjoy it.

Rating 6: What started as a twisted and entertaining thriller eventually ended with a clunk and an unnecessary twist.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Such a Bad Influence” is included in the Goodreads article/list “Readers’ 54 Most Anticipated Summer Mysteries & Thrillers”.

Kate’s Review: “What Fire Brings”

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Book: “What Fire Brings” by Rachel Howzell Hall

Publishing Info: Thomas & Mercer, June 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publicist.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: A writer’s search for her missing friend becomes a real-life thriller in a twisting novel of suspense by the New York Times bestselling author of These Toxic Things.

Bailey Meadows has just moved into the remote Topanga Canyon home of thriller author Jack Beckham. As his writer-in-residence, she’s supposed to help him once again reach the bestseller list. But she’s not there to write a thriller—she’s there to find Sam Morris, a community leader dedicated to finding missing people, who has disappeared in the canyon surrounding Beckham’s property.

The missing woman was last seen in the drought-stricken forest known for wildfires and mountain lions. Each new day, Bailey learns just how dangerous these canyons are—for the other women who have also gone missing here…and for her. Could these missing women be linked to strange events that occurred decades ago at the Beckham estate?

As fire season in the canyons approaches, Bailey must race to unravel the truth from fiction before she becomes the next woman lost in the forest.

Review: Thank you to Sparkpoint Studio for sending me an ARC of this novel!

We’ve actually had a pretty wet Spring going into Summer here in Minnesota, which means that in my part of the state we have no drought conditions and no threats of fires spreading dangerously (for now. We’ll see what Summer brings). Wildfire season hasn’t been a big thing for my state outside of the fact smoke has been making its way here for the past few years, but I know that it’s a huge problem out west. “What Fire Brings” by Rachel Howzell Hall takes that very real threat and throws a mystery of a missing woman, an intrepid detective, and a charming author in for good measure, and that kind of combination is super intriguing to someone like me. I was pretty hopeful going in, and my hopes were pretty well met, I’d say.

The mystery here is pretty unique and has a lot of interesting layers. We have Bailey, an aspiring private detective from L.A. who has taken on a case involving a missing woman Sam, who disappeared in the Topanga Canyon wilderness near the sprawling estate of famed author Jack Beckham. Bailey has snagged an undercover position as Jack’s writer in residence, and is using that to investigate, and while investigating starts to realize that Sam isn’t the only woman who has gone missing in the area over the years. It’s a great hook, and it has a built in suspense factor of whether or not Bailey will be discovered by Jack and his staff on top of the weird things she’s finding during her investigation. It makes for all of her moves to have added weight and potential consequence, as she is playing a part, being deceptive, and starts to realize that there may be bigger problems at hand for her outside of the investigation at hand. Bailey herself is a bit unreliable, as it slowly comes out that she has been having some problems and instabilities of her own, whether it’s a mysterious wound we aren’t privy to the origin of from the get go, an implied problem with fugue states here and there, and weird phone calls that are rattling her. It really added some dread to the ongoing investigation, which has its own twists and turns that I found surprising and enjoyable.

One thing that dinged it a bit was the pacing feeling pretty lackadaisical for a lot of the story, in spite of the fact the dread was built pretty well otherwise. It didn’t exactly meander or feel like it was stalling, but I remember there was a moment in my reading that I thought to myself ‘hm, there’s a lot of book left here’. I wasn’t bored or anything like that, but when I’m reading a thriller, even thrillers that ultimately don’t work for me (this one doesn’t fall into that category, I want to emphasize), I can at least give credit for a fast paced read that feels like it flies by. This one didn’t really have that, and by the time we did eventually get to the start of the climax it felt like it had been a long wait to get there. Once it got going it was breakneck, however. I think it’s sometimes a hard balance to get a solid slow burn for suspense while also doing a good job of keeping things moving smoothly. It’s certainly not a dealbreaker.

“What Fire Brings” is a sizzling thriller perfect for the summer months. Rachel Howzell Hall is making a name in the genre to be sure.

Rating 7: I enjoyed the mystery and the way there is already built in suspense with the private eye angle, though the pacing was sometimes a little slower than I would have liked.

Reader’s Advisory:

“What Fire Brings” is included on the Goodreads list “2024 Books by Black Authors”.

Kate’s Review: “Missing White Woman”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “Missing White Woman” by Kellye Garrett

Publishing Info: Mulholland Books, April 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: The truth is never skin deep.

It was supposed to be a romantic getaway weekend in New York City. Breanna’s new boyfriend, Ty, took care of everything—the train tickets, the dinner reservations, the rented four-story luxury rowhouse in Jersey City with a beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline. But when Bree comes downstairs their final morning, she’s shocked. There’s a stranger laying dead in the foyer, and Ty is nowhere to be found.

A Black woman alone in a new city, Bree is stranded and out of her depth—especially when it becomes clear the dead woman is none other than Janelle Beckett, the missing woman the entire Internet has become obsessed with. There’s only one person Bree can turn to: her ex-best friend, a lawyer with whom she shares a very complicated past. As the police and a social media mob close in, all looking for #JusticeForJanelle, Bree realizes that the only way she can help Ty—or herself—is to figure out what really happened that last night.

But when people only see what they want to see, can she uncover the truth hiding in plain sight?

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

Two years ago I really enjoyed Kellye Garrett’s book “Like A Sister”, as I found it tense, complex, and endlessly readable. Because it was such a win for me I was absolutely interested in reading anything new that she came out with, so of course “Missing White Woman” was going to make my must read 2024 list. Already enjoying the author is a huge plus, but the name alone carries promise of deconstructing certain problematic issues in media and the public when it comes to in real time true crime. Just icing on an already promising cake, really.

Approaching this as a thriller first and foremost, Garrett has once again crafted a really interesting mystery that not only has some solid twists and turns, but a perspective that has some greater weight due to the sad realities of systemic racism (and societal but more on that later) in the United States. Our protagonist is Breanna, a Black woman who is on a much needed short vacation at an Airbnb in Jersey City with her new boyfriend Ty. While it starts out well, the on the last day Breanna wakes up in the house to find not only Ty has disappeared, but there is a dead body in the house, who appears to be that of Jenelle Beckett, a missing white woman whose disappearance has gone viral online. Breanna is met with some suspicion by the cops, though their focus is mostly on Ty, who is missing. It’s a simple story about a woman trying to clear her name and also the name of her new boyfriend, with the help of her former best friend turned lawyer Adore, and it has a lot of good surprises, red herrings, and suspenseful moments based not only in Breanna perhaps being in danger, not only because of not knowing Ty’s involvement, or the public starting to gnash for blood, but also because of the fact she’s a Black woman who is a person of interest in a dead white woman’s murder. It doesn’t help that Breanna has a VERY traumatic history with law enforcement, as she was the victim of police mistreatment when she was a young woman and a police officer pulled her over and profiled her as a Black woman, which led to an unjust arrest and conviction that ruined her life. This means that it not only makes Breanna more likely to be cagey around law enforcement and make her seem more suspicious to them, but that we also have to worry about it happening to her again even though we know she didn’t do it. It’s a dynamic layer that really worked for me.

Garrett also does a fantastic job of tackling some pretty relevant issues in regards to the pitfalls of true crime as it exists on the Internet and on social media platforms. And she does it in a way that doesn’t feel ham fisted or preachy! The most obvious is the subplot of a beauty influencer named Billie Regan who has platformed the story about Jenelle and is blasting it on her TikTok to seemingly build up views and to bring attention to herself/get some clout on the back of someone else’s tragedy. I really enjoyed the transcripts of Billie’s lives as she puts on a huge performance about how worried she is about Jenelle, and how she is feeding the frenzy of her followers and true crime addicts who fancy themselves armchair detectives and whips them into a hysteria about this missing white woman. Add into the way that she does her own unethical and reckless investigating and blasts Ty and Breanna to millions of followers, and makes them targets of random people who are out for blood and it’s all the more upsetting. It combines the already insidious racist implications of the ‘missing white woman syndrome’ (see the title) and how that kind of case gets ALL the focus while victims of color are all too often ignored, with a misguided mob of people who take a real tragedy and try to make themselves a part of it for clout, attention, or to feel like they are doing SOMETHING by targeting two Black people. It would be SO EASY to make this kind of commentary about true crime and social media feel well meaning and correct but SO clunky and preachy that it’s just obnoxious, as we have seen this kind of thing before (looking at you, “Black Christmas” 2019). But Garrett nails the tone, captures the gravity of it, and finds the nuance and trusts her readers to be able to parse it out without having to spoon feed it. Apparently this is a fine line to walk for some, but Garrett succeeds.

One quibble that I will note because it probably explains the lower rating number after all the well earned praise: the ending. It’s not a bad ending by any means, but it did feel a bit rushed and anticlimactic because of it. I also would have perhaps liked a little bit more time to see some of the fallout of how it all shook out. I never like feeling super rushed in a thriller.

But that’s just a quibble! Overall I enjoyed “Missing White Woman” quite a bit. It’s engaging and addicting, and with summer coming up and a need for vacation reads about to skyrocket, this is a good one to keep in mind!

Rating 8: A twisty thriller with a really well presented message about racism, social media, and missing white woman syndrome is hampered a bit by an ending that feels a little underwhelming.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Missing White Woman” is included on the Goodreads lists “2024 Mystery Thrillers Crime To Be Excited For”, and “2024 Books By Black Authors”.

Kate’s Review: “You Know What You Did”

This post may contain affiliate links for books we recommend.  Read the full disclosure here.

Book: “You Know What You Did” by K.T. Nguyen

Publishing Info: Dutton, April 2024

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an eARC from NetGalley.

Where You Can Get This Book: WorldCat.org | Amazon | Indiebound

Book Description: In this heart-pounding debut thriller for fans of Lisa Jewell and Celeste Ng, a first-generation Vietnamese American artist must confront nightmares past and present…

Annie “Anh Le” Shaw grew up poor but seems to have it all now: a dream career, a stunning home, and a devoted husband and daughter. When Annie’s mother, a Vietnam War refugee, dies suddenly one night, Annie’s carefully curated life begins to unravel. Her obsessive-compulsive disorder, which she thought she’d vanquished years ago, comes roaring back—but this time, the disturbing fixations swirling around in Annie’s brain might actually be coming true.

A prominent art patron disappears, and the investigation zeroes in on Annie. Spiraling with self-doubt, she distances herself from her family and friends, only to wake up in a hotel room—naked, next to a lifeless body. The police have more questions, but with her mind increasingly fractured, Annie doesn’t have answers. All she knows is this: She will do anything to protect her daughter—even if it means losing herself.

With dizzying twists, You Know What You Did is both a harrowing thriller and a heartfelt exploration of the refugee experience, the legacies we leave for our children, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers and daughters.

Review: Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this novel!

It’s been a little bit since I’ve tackled a straight unreliable narrator thriller on the blog, though that isn’t super surprising because of all the tantalizing horror novels that have been coming out this Spring. But we are finally firmly back in this genre, and this time with a debut that caught my eye awhile back! “You Know What You Did” by K.T. Nguyen has been patiently sitting on my NetGalley for awhile now, and like I almost always do with my NetGalley books this was because I wanted to read it closer to the release date. By the time I came to it it had been kind of simmering on my book back burner, and I was eager to dive in.

As far as a thriller and as a mystery, I generally enjoyed this one. It has a unique hook and a unique voice, as we follow Annie, the daughter of a Vietnamese refugee who has tried to maintain a complete control over her life and identity in the face of a difficult upbringing and OCD diagnosis. After her mother dies, Annie starts having a potential relapse of her disgust driven OCD, and starts to question her reality and the things that she is, or maybe isn’t, doing. It’s a pretty solid device that is meant to deepen the mystery of what is going on with Annie (more on that below), as well as what involvement she may or may not have when one of her clients goes missing, and her erratic behaviors ramp up. In terms of the straight up mystery of Annie’s role in the combustion of her sanity and her potential propensity towards violence that she can’t recall, I had a pretty good guess from the jump as to what was going on. That isn’t to say that Nguyen didn’t have a well thought out mystery, as she did. The puzzle pieces were placed very well and it all came together seamlessly. The suspense about Annie’s mental state was also well done, as I was definitely worried about her. But if you look past the various red herrings, the truth of it all was fairly easy to predict.

And while I am generally apt to kind of side eye thrillers that have mental illness as a plot device to propel the conflict, I thought that “You Know What You Did” did a VERY good job with these themes. It almost certainly helps that Nguyen has an author’s note about her own experiences with OCD, and how that helps contextualize the symptoms and the thought processes that Annie has which intrude upon her every day thinking, and adds to her unreliability. Her OCD makes her fixate on things and makes it so she has a hard time potentially knowing what is real and what isn’t, and as strange and at times violent things happen in her vicinity, it makes for questions about how much is due to her own actions, even if she doesn’t realize it. But it also never paints it as a grotesque caricature of the condition, which can be a trap when various mental illnesses are used to drive the conflict of a thriller. I also appreciated that this doesn’t just apply to Annie, but also as we peel back the layers of her emotionally distant and abusive mother. When we start learning about Annie’s mother, we see a woman who is a hoarder, who does little more but insult her daughter, and who has decimated her self worth to make her dependent on her and within her control. But we also explore what made her this way, by learning about the trauma and loss as a refugee in the years after the Vietnam War. It doesn’t make excuses, but shows how generational trauma and untreated mental illness can have far reaching consequences, and how we don’t always know the full picture of things, be it a person or a thriller novel.

I am definitely eager to see what K.T. Nguyen brings next, because “You Know What You Did” was entertaining as hell.

Rating 7: A unique and well plotted thriller that succeeds in using mental illness as a plot device without being exploitative, this mystery is entertaining, though perhaps easier to untangle than I was expecting.

Reader’s Advisory:

“You Know What You Did” is included on the Goodreads lists “Mystery & Thriller 2024”, and “Female Psychological Thrillers/Suspense Written by Women”.