Tag: Thriller

Kate’s Review: “The Intern”


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Book: “The Intern” by Michele Campbell

Publishing Info: St. Martin’s Press, October 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at ALAAC23.

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

Book Description: A young Harvard law student falls under the spell of a charismatic judge in this timely and thrilling novel about class, ambition, family and murder.

Madison Rivera lands the internship of a lifetime working for Judge Kathryn Conroy. But Madison has a secret that could destroy her career. Her troubled younger brother Danny has been arrested, and Conroy is the judge on his case.

When Danny goes missing after accusing the judge of corruption, Madison’s quest for answers brings her deep into the judge’s glamorous world. Is Kathryn Conroy a mentor, a victim, or a criminal? Is she trying to help Madison or use her as a pawn? And why is somebody trying to kill her?

As the two women circle each other in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game, will they save each other, or will betrayal leave one of them dead?

Review: Thank you to St.Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this novel at ALAAC23!

Back in October I had the pleasure of interviewing Michele Campbell. I had been approached to do a Q and A and to write a review for her newest book “The Intern”, but the timing, review wise, was tricky, as it was right at the start of Horrorpalooza. But I committed to reviewing the book as soon as Horrorpalooza was over, and when I did sit down with it I tore through this book in probably two days because it ensnared me so thoroughly. There are so many things about “The Intern” that work. This is absolutely my favorite book I’ve read by Michele Campbell, and it’s one of the best thrillers I’ve read in 2023.

I’m not beating around the bush, this was great. (source)

“The Intern” is told through the perspectives of two women. The first is Madison Rivera, an ambitious law student at Harvard Law who is desperate to rise above her difficult childhood and to make something of herself. The other is high powered judge Kathryn Conroy, who is respected in law circles and is Madison’s most liked professor turned boss once Madison becomes her intern. They have alternating sections in the book, with Madison being in the present and Kathryn being mostly in the past, and I liked getting one bit of information from Madison’s experience, and then getting more context and more information from seeing Kathryn’s past experiences. I felt that both women were pretty well rounded and complex, and once it was revealed that we were going to see what was going on in Kathryn’s mind, I knew that this was going to be a bit more than a run of the mill cat and mouse game thriller. Campbell really brought out her layers in particular, as while I anticipated her being a conniving antagonist, she ended up being quite a bit more than a potentially corrupt judge. Madison also had some well explored complications, and I really enjoyed watching her piece things together while also still feeling a certain loyalty to her boss, even when it could put her at odds with doing the right thing. Her ambition and her reasons for that ambition were wholly believable. It made for an interesting dual character study at the heart of the thrills (though Kathryn’s was the one that really drew me in).

And as a thriller this really clicked with me. The mystery has multiple mysteries within in, and as some questions were answered others would arise, all at breakneck speeds that kept me reading this book long into the night or any time I had ANY kind of down time. Campbell places clues in the past and present for the reader and Madison to parse through, while being skillful at misdirection and plot twists that completely caught me off guard. I don’t read that many legal thrillers, but this one has all the makings of a legal conspiracy story along with the elements of sudsier whodunnits, and Campbell balanced the tones of those sub genres with ease and combined them into a story that really grabbed hold. This is top notch stuff, it’s well thought out and well executed and was incredibly satisfying. Even though we get one big issue cleared up right away, there are plenty of other questions at hand to make for a fun and twisty read.

“The Intern” is an enjoyable thrill ride with some fascinating characters. If you are looking for a rollercoaster of a thriller, this is one to put on your list!

Rating 9: A suspenseful story with great twists and great characters, “The Intern” is Michele Campbell’s best novel yet!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Intern” is included on the Goodreads lists “Legal Thrillers”, and “Chick Noir Novels”.

Author Q & A: Michele Campbell

Today we have a very special post, dear readers. We are very grateful and very honored to have Michele Campbell, the author of such books as “It’s Always the Husband”, “She Was the Quiet One”, the brand new “The Intern”, and more thrillers, here on the blog for an interview. Kate is a big fan of thriller books and of the aforementioned novels from Campbell, and in honor of the release of “The Intern”, we have some questions about writing thrillers, insights to her writing process and more. You can look for a review of “The Intern” on this blog as soon as Horrorpalooza is over. And we want to extend a special thanks to Michele Campbell for agreeing to answer some questions, and to Taylor Brightwell for arranging it!

Q.   What kinds of thrillers did you like to read when you first became a fan of the genre? Do you have any specific influences, whether it’s authors you like, or media, or specific sub genres?

A: The legal thriller was my first love, with Presumed Innocent an early favorite. I devoured the courtroom scenes and plot twists. As a young lawyer, I read a lot of Grisham. This was partly out of professional interest, but mostly just because I loved his books. The high stakes and fast-paced plots. The villains, who weren’t just evil, but smooth and sophisticated and smart. The heroes who were just as flawed as the bad guys — full of doubts, tempted by the dark side, always on the verge of moral collapse. Then, when Gone Girl came along, I fell hard for domestic suspense, like everybody did. I adored the nuanced characterization and strong female leads. In THE INTERN, I’ve tried to blend these two subgenres into one – a character-driven thriller with a propulsive plot, set against the glamorous backdrop of the Boston legal community.

Q.   You are not only an author, but you also have a law degree, worked as a federal prosecutor, and taught constitutional and criminal law. Does having that background in law affect your creative process in any way?

A: Yes, in terms of both subject matter and craft. After eight years as a federal prosecutor in New York, investigating narcotics and gang cases, going to court every day, standing up before juries, my books always include a criminal investigation. That’s true not only of my legal thrillers, but my domestic thrillers as well. For example, my international bestseller, IT’S ALWAYS THE
HUSBAND, is about the toxic friendships among three former college roommates. But when one of them turns up murdered, the local police chief and the young female detective investigating the murder get their own chapters. And that multiple-viewpoint style, I think, is a hallmark of my legal training. As a lawyer, I learned that there were at least two sides to every story, sometimes many more. Just as I never tried a case with only one witness, I wouldn’t write a book from the perspective of a single character. The use of multiple viewpoints builds suspense and lets the reader be the ultimate judge of the truth.

Q.  What inspired you to write “The Intern”?

A: THE INTERN was born from a desire to return to my roots. I actually began my writing career with a legal thriller series written as Michele Martinez (my full name is Michele Martinez Campbell), featuring federal prosecutor Melanie Vargas. Melanie (so I have been told) was the first Puerto Rican female protagonist of any crime series, and she’s based quite closely on me. After that series ended, I turned to writing psychological thrillers and domestic suspense. But I’ve always wanted to return to the excitement of the legal thriller, and write another character whose experiences mirror my own. Madison Rivera is that character. We’re both of Puerto Rican heritage, from modest backgrounds, and went to big-name law schools where we felt like outsiders. Madison matches wits with the mysterious (and possibly dangerous) Judge Kathryn Conroy. The funny thing is, once I started writing, I related just as much to Kathryn as to Madison. They both turn out to be complicated, fascinating heroines, hiding huge secrets and facing impossible choices. I love them equally.

Q.  What do you find most challenging about writing, whether in general or when it comes to thrillers as a genre?

A: To me, both the magic and the bane of writing is that there are so many ways to tell the same story. As the author, you have to choose, which by definition means there will be paths not taken. It’s a truism that every writer is either a plotter or a pantser (i.e., someone who writes by the seat of her pants). But I’m both. I start with a detailed outline. Then, as I write, the characters take charge, pushing the story in new directions. That’s when I most love writing — when I’m taking dictation from the muse, watching an alternate reality unfold that I don’t really control. And yet, to produce a coherent book, I have to maintain focus. I have to stick to one idea, to a plot, to a viewpoint. Otherwise, I’ll end up going down the wrong path. Yet too much focus can stifle inspiration. Navigating my way through that tension and finding the right balance is what I find most challenging.

Q: As a blog run by librarians, we love hearing what authors are reading and enjoying! What books, thriller or otherwise, have you been loving at the moment? Any you are looking forward to?

A: I read across all genres of fiction. Books I have read and loved recently outside of the thriller/suspense genre include: Elizabeth Chadwick’s Alienor of Aquitaine and William Marshal series; A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles; The Guest by Emma Cline; and Babel by S.F. Kuang. I of course also read a lot of great thrillers and crime fiction. Recent favorites include The Partner Track by Helen Wan and The House Guest by Hank Phillippi Ryan. I am most
looking forward to Kristin Hannah’s The Women, Jeneva Rose’s It’s A Date Again (because I love a great romance and a good laugh), and of course, the Winds of Winter, which I’ve been looking forward to for the past decade like everybody else.

Kate’s Review: “The Stranger Upstairs”

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Book: “The Stranger Upstairs” by Lisa M. Matlin

Publishing Info: Bantam, September 2023

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

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

Book Description: A social media influencer with a secret past buys a murder house to renovate, but finds more than she bargained for behind the peeling wallpaper in this gothic psychological debut.

Sarah Slade is starting over. As the new owner of the infamous Black Wood House—the scene of a grisly murder-suicide—she’s determined that the fixer-upper will help reach a new audience on her successful lifestyle blog, and distract her from her failing marriage.

But as Sarah paints over the house’s horrifying past, she knows better than anyone that a new façade can’t conceal every secret. Then the builders start acting erratically and experiencing bizarre accidents—and Sarah knows there’s only so long she can continue to sleep in the bedroom with the bloodstained floor and suffer the mysterious footsteps she hears from the attic.

When menacing notes start appearing everywhere, Sarah becomes convinced that someone or something is out to kill her—her husband, her neighbors, maybe even the house itself. The more she remodels Black Wood House, the angrier it seems to become.

With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it, her sense of reality. Though she desperately clings to the lies she’s crafted to conceal her own secrets, Sarah Slade must wonder . . . was it all worth it? Or will this house be her final unraveling?

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

The first thing that caught by eye about Lisa M. Matlin’s “The Stranger Upstairs” was the cover. I love seeing all these neon brightly colored and somewhat surreal thriller covers as of late! I also love the foreboding silhouette in the window of the house, which makes for a fun and weird dichotomy between the colors and the unease that lays below it. Cover aside, I was interested in this book because of the ‘murder house’ angle, as well as the influencer angle, which I had hoped would combine to make for a tense and fun thriller mystery. And I’m sad to say that we didn’t really get to the levels I was hoping for.

But first, the good! I thought that Matlin really set the scene well, building suspense in a well paced way with lots of good red herrings and misdirections while ratcheting up the tension. I liked the slow burn of the escalating stalking that is aimed squarely at Sarah, our influencer therapist who has bought an infamous murder house for content and the hope of profit. Sure, she’s harboring many secrets and her marriage is falling apart, but if this house flips well she could make money AND go viral. As strange things start happening and she starts to lose a grip on her collectedness, the plot is engaging and filled with lots of intensity. I also really liked the parallels between Black Woods House and the notorious Los Feliz Murder house, from similar crime scenes and murder details to infamy that leaks into local lore. It was a neat easter egg for people who are familiar with the crime.

But there were also things that didn’t really gel with me, which ultimately brought the book down overall. The first thing (and I’m not going to go into spoilers here) was how the entire thing shakes out. There was so much good suspenseful build up that could lead to some interesting solutions, and I was really hoping that it would all pay off. But I felt that by the end, the big reveal just kind of clunked out. It led to a twist that was okay but a bit unsatisfying, and then there was one more moment that happened right at the end that made it feel like the author couldn’t quite make up her mind as to what she wanted the ultimate reveal to be, and what kind of origin she wanted that reveal to be a part of. On top of that, Sarah was a little TOO unlikable. Let me explain that, as I generally think that female protagonists (especially in thrillers) should have the ability to be unlikable. The issue I had with Sarah was that there was a LOT of effort to make her sour, manipulative, snide, and proud of her cruelty, and it felt less like an interesting if flawed protagonist and more like a character that has a lot of checked boxes to make her unpleasant, without adding in layers and complexity to even it out. Generally, I can do with a let down ending if the main character is interesting, or vice versa, but when they are both underwhelming it makes for a disappointing read.

I do think that I would read more books by Matlin, because there was a lot of potential in “The Stranger Upstairs”. I’m bummed that it was a bit unmet.

Rating 5: There were some pretty good references and a build up I liked, but then the reveal fell a bit flat. Add in a main character who is almost too unlikable and it just didn’t hit the way I hoped it would.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Stranger Upstairs” is included on the Goodreads list “Fiction Featuring Social Media Types: Bloggers, Podcasters, Etc.”.

Kate’s Review: “Beneath the Surface”

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Book: “Beneath the Surface” by Kaira Rouda

Publishing Info: Thomas & Mercer, September 2023

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

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

Book Description: On a weekend voyage, the power-hungry children of an aging billionaire are unprepared for a storm of deceptions in a novel about ruthless family ambition by USA Today bestselling author Kaira Rouda.

You are cordially invited to an overnight voyage on the Splendid Seas.

An invitation to Catalina Island from billionaire CEO Richard Kingsley. For his sons, Ted and John, and their wives, it’s an opportunity to curry favor, gain control of a real estate empire, and secure their family’s futures. For the controlling patriarch, succession is a contest. He and his newest wife won’t make it an easy win.

Then Richard’s estranged live-wire daughter, Sibley, crashes the party. She’s the least of the night’s surprises. As the stakes for the inheritance of the Kingsley legacy are raised, the beautiful waters of the Pacific look more like a menacing illusion.

Let the games begin for a family who has everything money can buy, and has used lies, deception, and more to keep it. This weekend one of them will be crowned heir. One is in line to lose everything. That’s the plan. But in the coming storm, so much can go dangerously wrong.

Review: Thank you to Thomas & Mercer for sending me an ARC of this novel!

Though I was late to the game when it came to the show “Succession”, my husband and I have been making our way through and enjoying it as a show that we can watch together and be captivated and mortified by the horribleness of the billionaire class. We haven’t finished it but I know basically everything thanks to the Internet, and it boggles the mind how there is pretty much no one to like, and yet I am so invested in their nonsense. So when “Beneath the Surface” by Kaira Rouda came my way and had comparisons to “Succession” to boot, I knew that I wanted to read this book. Bring on more wealthy people behaving just abhorrently, evidently I can’t get enough.

You mean jumping into a thriller with toxic family dynamics and gratuitous displays of wealth to compensate? Yes Roman, we ARE doing this. (source)

If you are still kind of suffering from “Succession” withdrawals, I do think that “Beneath the Surface” will scratch that itch at least a little bit. It’s a similar set up of an uber-wealthy family dealing with the impending stepping aside of the head of the family company, and the children who all want the coveted CEO spot. In this case it’s real estate tycoon Richard Kingsley, and his children are uptight John, charismatic but duplicitous Ted, and the estranged and wild Sibley. While it only takes place over one weekend and doesn’t rise to the same complex and unnerving heights as the Roys in many ways, I did like seeing the awful kids try and gain favor with their awful father while his awful fourth wife looks on with superiority as well as her own duplicity. I mean, I love this kind of soapy and catty drama as bad people are bad to each other, and “Beneath the Surface” is fun enough that it reads fast and kept me going and awaiting every twist and turn with bated breath. I just really enjoy all the drama that comes with rich people behaving badly (unless we get a “Boar on the Floor” kinda deal like on “Succession” and then I just get uncomfortable), and “Beneath the Surface” has a lot of that.

I will say that the characters, however, could have been more fleshed out. We had a few first person perspective from a few of the characters. There’s Paige, the wife of second son Ted who has been supportive and patient for years, putting her own career on hold to raise their children and to bolster her husband. There’s John, the oldest son who feels like the company should be his birthright but has stumbled enough that his father is disappointed and reluctant. There’s Serena, Richard’s fourth wife who is comfortable being a trophy wife but has her own reasons to want security and power within the company hierarchy. And Richard himself, who enjoys pitting his children against each other. And none of them really move beyond two dimensional archetypes of what we would expect from characters such as these. I think that Paige was the most well rounded and complicated, as I greatly enjoyed her chapters and found her to be the most engaging, but most everyone else hit each point of their roles without growth, or if not growth, glimpses into the layers that we are being made privy to on this tense and high stakes yacht weekend. And as for the supporting characters who don’t have perspective chapters, they are pretty standard and static.

All in all, “Beneath the Surface” is entertaining and fast paced. I enjoyed the plot, and while I needed more from the characters, if this does indeed turn into a series I would PROBABLY keep reading just to see where some of these characters end up, and how their story trajectory changes.

Rating 7: A catty and sudsy plot make for an engaging read, although none of the characters really moved outside the boxes they started in.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Beneath the Surface” is included on the Goodreads list “Can’t Wait Books of 2023”.

Kate’s Review: “The Reunion”

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

Book: “The Reunion” by Kit Frick

Publishing Info: Margaret K. McElderry Books, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: Eleven Mayweathers went on vacation. Ten came home.

It’s been years since the fragmented Mayweather clan was all in one place, but the engagement of Addison and Mason’s mom to the dad of their future stepbrother, Theo, brings the whole family to sunny Cancún, Mexico, for winter break. Add cousin Natalia to the mix, and it doesn’t take long for tempers to fray and tensions to rise. A week of forced family “fun” reveals that everyone has something to hide, and as secrets bubble to the surface, no one is safe from the fallout. By the end of the week, one member of the reunion party will be dead—and everyone’s a suspect.

The Peacekeeper: Addison needs a better hiding place. The Outsider: Theo just wants to mend fences. The Romantic: Natalia doesn’t want to talk about the past. The Hothead: Mason needs to keep his temper under control.

It started as a week in paradise meant to bring them together. But the Mayweathers are about to learn the hard way that family bonding can be deadly.

Review: Thank you to Margaret K. McElderry Books for sending me an ARC of this novel!

Though I had never really prioritized my travel plans to include a visit to an all inclusive resort in Mexico, I found myself at one this past March when one of our high school friends got married near Puerta Vallarta. I ended up having a good time, outside of awkward chit chat with high school classmates I hadn’t seen for decades and a complete emotional meltdown during the reception due to being fully overwhelmed by EVERYTHING (which sent me to our room to sob it out before hitting the dance floor again, woooo!). But overall it was a very surreal experience, being a very controlled environment with so many amenities, all behind a wall with armed guards at the front. I was thinking a lot about this as I read “The Reunion” by Kit Frick; there’s a veneer that just doesn’t quite gel with the dramas of reality. And in the case of the book, things kind of go full “White Lotus”. Which I, of course, love.

Your enjoyment of this book is probably more guaranteed than your enjoyment of any White Lotus Resort given their, uh, histories… (source)

The story structure is told through first person POVs of the teenage members (and soon to be members) of the wealthy and privileged Mayweather family. We have Addison, a high strung people pleaser who is jumpier than usual. There’s Mason, Addison’s twin who is hotheaded and angry about his mother’s upcoming marriage. Then there’s Theo, the soon to be step sibling of Addison and Mason who is already on thin ice with Mason due to previous interactions. And Natalia, Mason and Addison’s cousin who is trying to have a good time and trying to avoid the twins due do some past unpleasantness. It means that everyone is a possible suspect, as well as a possible victim, as right off the bat we find out that someone at this engagement party between the parents of Theo and The Twins goes missing. I liked getting into the minds of all the teens, as they are all unreliable but also insightful in their own ways. Frick builds up the tension between all of them, with past grievances intermingling with in the moment stress, as well as misunderstandings that sometimes feel a bit farfetched and yet never tread towards wholly unbelievable due to momentary circumstances, or personal biases at play. She knows how to toy with the characters personalities based on their backgrounds, and to find depth and complexity in at least a few of them (mostly Addison and Theo; Addison is a perpetual people pleaser who is frantic to keep everyone happy and it is starting to wear at her, while Theo is NOT wealthy, does NOT relate to his future step siblings, and is very, very anxious surrounded by opulence he is not used to). I did find myself very invested in who was going to be revealed as the missing person, and if any of them were up to no good leading up to it. And actively dreading the answers to that for at least a few of the characters, which goes to show that Frick did a good job.

The mystery itself is also pretty well done. Frick goes at her own pace in laying out clues, whether it’s slowly revealing the details of the missing person or tossing breadcrumbs of info from each character perspective. We also get supplemental material in more epistolary forms, whether it’s guest information updates from the resort itself, or police transcripts as the investigation starts to ramp up and suspects start to be focused in on. Frick has a lot of well done hints as well as a lot of well placed red herrings, with so much well laid doubt and misdirection throughout that it really does make for some good twists and reveals when the moment is right. I was so caught up in the fast pace I mostly read this book in one sitting. Yeah, it was that hard to put down, which is exactly what I would want from a book that has been compared to “The White Lotus” (not just by me, mind you!).

“The Reunion” is a fast paced mystery that is the perfect read as summer comes to an end! If you have one more beach vacation in store Labor Day, this is the one to bring.

Rating 8: With well written first person perspectives and a suspenseful mystery, “The Reunion” is an engaging thriller from Kit Frick!

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Reunion” is included on the Goodreads list “YA Summer Thrillers”.

Kate’s Review: “The Shadow Sister”

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

Book: “The Shadow Sister” by Lily Mead

Publishing Info: Sourcebooks Fire, June 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher at ALAAC23.

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

Book Description: Sutton going missing is the worst thing to happen to Casey, to their family. She’s trying to help find her sister, but Casey is furious. And she can’t tell anyone about their argument before Sutton disappeared. Everyone paints a picture of Sutton’s perfection: the popular cheerleader with an entourage of friends, a doting boyfriend, and a limitless future. But Sutton manipulated everyone around her, even stole an heirloom bracelet from Casey. People don’t look for missing Black girls–or half-Black girls–without believing there is an angel to be saved.

When Sutton reappears, Casey knows she should be relieved. Except Sutton isn’t the same. She remembers nothing about while she was gone—or anything from her old life, including how she made Casey miserable. There’s something unsettling about the way she wants to spend time with Casey, the way she hums and watches her goldfish swim for hours.

What happened to Sutton? The more Casey starts uncovering her sister’s secrets, the more questions she has. Did she really know her sister? Why is no one talking about the other girls who have gone missing in their area? And what will it take to uncover the truth?

Review: Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for giving me an ARC of this novel and to Lily Meade for signing it!

Back in June, nearing the end of the second to last day at ALAAC23, I was dragging my bag of books et al around, waiting in line for a signing with Darcy Coates. Someone asked me if it was the Lily Meade line, and I, unaware, said ‘no’. But then I was informed that it was, as it was a dual signing, and I just thought to myself ‘ah, okay, bonus book, cool’. But when I was handed “The Shadow Sister”, Lily Meade’s debut thriller novel, the cover caught my eye. And then the description did as well. This bonus book seemed like it was going to not only be a fun additional book, but one that was squarely in my genre interests. When I did sit down to read it, I was hooked almost immediately.

I really enjoyed the narrative construction in this novel, told from present day Casey’s perspective and past Sutton’s perspective (which jumps around in time leading up to the moment she went missing). It allows us to get some insights into how the mystery is being built and pursued on Casey’s end as Sutton returns and isn’t acting like herself, while also giving us a different perspective that sheds light and changes the perceptions of the mystery as it unfolds. There is an eerie unease that builds as we know that SOMETHING isn’t right with Sutton, be it the trauma she endured and the fallout, or whether there is something else at work on top of that. The pacing works well as strange, but maybe(?) plausible things are happening, while Casey is convinced that this Sutton has something very, very wrong with her. And therein the reader also wonders what exactly it is. There are some genuinely well done surprises and twists in this story as well, some I didn’t see coming at all and landed perfectly. Meade carefully and deliberately lays out clues and misdirections and information throughout, things that you think could be significant towards one aspect of the story but then end up being significant towards another one, and it made for a lot of really fun, sometimes devastating, shocks.

But it’s the characters and the greater themes of intergenerational trauma and strife, as well as small town hypocrisy, and racism, that really makes for the really strong pillars of this book. We find out quickly that Sutton and Casey are from a biracial family, with their father’s side descended from enslaved people that has been meticulously mapped due to his personal interest and place in academia, as well as a robust passing down of family stories through the years. This family history is a crucial part of the story, partially because some of the sisterly strife between Sutton and Casey has to do with disagreements over a bracelet that was left by their now deceased grandmother, who was an inspiration and a woman whose stories connected them to their family’s past of tragedy and triumphs of living through slavery and finding reconciliation against the odds. There is also the greater themes of racism in America, as this small town community that feels and seems close knit, harbors a lot of jarring realities, namely the lack of awareness or urgency when Black girls go missing. Just to name a few.

“The Shadow Sister” is a stunning debut, and I am very much looking forward to whatever Lily Meade has in store next. Check this one out!

Rating 8: Tense, mysterious, and emotionally charged, “The Shadow Sister” is a thriller with a genre twist that explores intergenerational trauma, sisters, and small town secrets.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Shadow Sister” is included on the Goodreads lists “2023 YA Mysteries And Thrillers”, and “YA Horror 2023”.

Kate’s Review: “Loteria”

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

Book: “Loteria” by Cynthia Pelayo

Publishing Info: Agora Books, February 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received a print copy at ALAAC23.

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

Book Description: The Mexican board game of Lotería is a game of chance. It is similar to our American bingo. However, in Loteria instead of matching up numbers on a game board, players match up images.

There are 54 cards in the Lotería game, and for this short story collection you will find one unique story per card based on a Latin American myth, folklore, superstition, or belief – with a slant towards the paranormal and horrific. In this deck of cards you will find murderers, ghosts, goblins and ghouls. This collection features creatures and monsters, vampires and werewolves and many of these legends existed in the Americas long before their European counterparts.

Many of these stories have been passed over time throughout the Americas, and many have been passed via word of mouth, just like the tales the Brothers Grimm collected. These are indeed fairy tales, but with a much more terrible little slant. Published by Burial Day Books.

Review: Thank you to Agora Books and Cynthia Pelayo for handing out copies of this book at ALAAC23!

There were many highlights of being at the ALA Annual Conference, but one of my most anticipated moments was going to see Cynthia Pelayo speak on a panel about thriller novels. I greatly enjoyed Pelayo’s novel “Children of Chicago”, and after the panel she was kind enough to be signing copies of the sequel “The Shoemaker’s Magician” (look for that one in the future!), as well as her short stories collection “Loteria”. I was happy to get both of them, and was very interested in the concept of “Loteria”. Lotería is a Mexican game involving 54 cards with different images and themes, and Pelayo put together a short story collection that takes inspiration from each of the cards. I mean really, HOW COOL. So I hopped on in, not sure of what to expect, but that ended up being a good thing.

Normally I would do my usual ‘pick the best three stories to talk about then talk about the collection as a whole’, but I feel like that’s a little trickier to do for “Loteria”, as there are more than fifty tales in this book. The stories range from flash fiction to poetry to more short story length tales, and the way that Pelayo connects them to each card while putting unique and original twists on them is really, really neat to see. I did have a few that really stood out, such as “The Woman/La Dama”, which is a La Llorona story involving two tourists who see a strange woman while on vacation, or “Death/La Muerte”, about a man who witnesses a strange funeral procession and is approached by a figure in black. I also really liked “The Hand/El Mano”, which goes into vampires and the legend of the Tlahuelpuchi. I really liked seeing what supernatural elements and twists she would bring to her various stories, and while some were familiar to me there were plenty that I wasn’t as familiar with.

And then there are the stories that are of more human horrors, whether it’s “The Mermaid/La Sirena” with stories of human trafficking, or “The Water Pitcher/El Cantarito”, a story about border patrol agents who have no remorse for the way they help facilitate the pain and suffering of migrants hoping to make a better life in the U.S. The very real human suffering that is found on these pages make for chilling tales, made all the more disturbing and upsetting because you know that there aren’t merely stories of myth, legend, and scary story sharing, but actual things that happen to real people. Pelayo isn’t afraid to be brutal and to make the reader see the brutality up close.

The themes and stories span various sub genres of horror and thriller, and while some are stronger than others, overall it’s a pretty well rounded collection. I also love how Pelayo has centered the Latine experience, as all of these tales take inspiration from Latin American folklore, urban legends, mythologies, and cultures. She also has poetry and verse in this collection, and while I am not as into poetry as other people may be, I do like seeing the versatility at hand here and how she connects it to her themes at hand.

If you want a primer for what Cynthia Pelayo can bring to the horror and thriller table, “Loteria” would be a good collection to pick up and explore!

Rating 7: A mixed collection of dark fantasy and horror tales with a creative hook, “Loteria” is a way for rising star Cynthia Pelayo to show her range across many stories, formats, and sub genres.

Reader’s Advisory:

“Loteria” isn’t on any Goodreads lists as of now, but it would fit in on “Great Reads for Halloween”.

Kate’s Review: “Whalefall”

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Book: “Whalefall” by Daniel Kraus

Publishing Info: MTV Books, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: “Whalefall” is a scientifically accurate thriller about a scuba diver who’s been swallowed by an eighty-foot, sixty-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out.

Jay Gardiner has given himself a fool’s errand—to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. He knows it’s a long shot, but Jay feels it’s the only way for him to lift the weight of guilt he has carried since his dad’s death by suicide the previous year.

The dive begins well enough, but the sudden appearance of a giant squid puts Jay in very real jeopardy, made infinitely worse by the arrival of a sperm whale looking to feed. Suddenly, Jay is caught in the squid’s tentacles and drawn into the whale’s mouth where he is pulled into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out—one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.

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

Sometimes a book will come across one’s path that just makes a reader say, ‘I’m sorry… WHAT?’ It could be a plot description, it could be the abruptness of the book making waves in a community, it could be an upended expectation from an author or a genre. As of late, this kind of book in my literary adventures was “Whalefall” by Daniel Kraus. I stumbled upon the book on Goodreads, and was familiar with Kraus due to previous works like “Scowler” and his collaboration on “The Shape of Water” with Guillermo del Toro. So when I saw that he had a new book in which a diver is SWALLOWED BY A SPERM WHALE AND HAS TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET OUT (I’m type shouting this because it is still astonishing to me), I knew that I had to, HAD to, get my hands on it (slight side track: At ALAAC in June I stopped by the publisher’s table hoping they had copies, but alas they did not, though I DID love their marketing in word of mouth given that the Oceangate disaster had just happened and they were like ‘have you been following that? Well you should keep an eye out for THIS book!’). NetGalley came through, and I sat down to read this book and it kept me so rapt with attention that I finished it in two sittings. This book is BANANAS, guys! Buckle up!

The whale did nothing wrong (source)

It probably comes as no surprise that “Whalefall” is a very engaging thriller, because a book about a man being swallowed by a whale almost has to be, but it’s the little things that make it so. The first is that Kraus really knows how to build the tension of the dive itself, with protagonist Jay going into a kind of rough area off the coast of California in hopes of finding the remains of his father Mitt, who committed suicide in the ocean after a grueling fight with mesothelioma. The ocean is already a bit tense, and it just builds until the initial encounter with the whale and aforementioned swallowing. Then the tension enters a whole new level as Jay has to figure out if he can make his way out before he either suffocates or is sent further into the digestive tract, where he would be slowly disintegrated. So obviously this is a race against time and it is so fraught and creative and the stakes are obviously very high. The claustrophobia and horror of being eaten is just so engaging and gripping, I found myself whipping through to see how he was (if he was?) going to get out of this mess! It’s “127 Hours” to an even more horrifying degree I think, and the best part is that Kraus does his due diligence to try and make it as accurate as possible, consulting experts and many books about whale anatomy and facts and so on and so forth. Which makes it all the more amazing and really kept me interested, given that I do love anything to do with the ocean and all the things that come with it.

But along with a relentless ‘time is running out’ thriller theme, we also get to explore a relationship and character study of a teenage boy who is still grappling with the death of his father, with whom he had a very complicated and fraught relationship. When we aren’t spending time inside a whale’s digestive tract, we are seeing snippets of the father and son dynamic between Jay and the now deceased Mitt, and how Mitt’s expectations and frustration with his son (which are probably more frustrations with his own life projected on a weaker target) damaged Jay to the point of estrangement. It’s a layer to the story that adds a whole other kind of tension, as Jay is trying to survive by tapping into the lessons his diver and sea obsessed father forced upon him, sometimes in ways that were hurtful and abusive. The complexities of this relationship, and the fact that Jay is on this dive in the first place because of his own guilt by going no contact not long before Mitt’s health decline and death, really make the story that much more intense. I found myself kind of frustrated with how Jay’s family was more interested in blaming Jay for the estrangement even though, at least to me, Mitt was the one responsible for the rift (so much emotional and sometimes physical abuse, content warnings abound in that regard), but I do think that Kraus was sure to show that there are a lot of gray areas within this kind of situation and the emotional states of the players at hand. It was an angle I wasn’t really expecting from a story about a guy TRAPPED INSIDE A WHALE, but it worked well.

There is also a bit of a personal angle to this book that connected with me, and that is the setting of Monterey, California. I have family in San Jose, and we would go out to visit them nearly every Spring Break when I was a kid. So the references to various things, like Monterey itself, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Point Lobos National Reserve, and Monastery Beach, really amped up the nostalgia for me. This area is one of my favorite places in the United States, and seeing Kraus bring it to life on the page was just lovely. It really brought me to the place, even though I haven’t been back in about ten years.

“Whalefall” would be the perfect thriller for any end of summer vacations or down time. It reads fast, it’s gripping as hell, and it goes places that upended all expectations I had. Definitely recommended!

Rating 8: Gripping, emotional, and absolutely bananas, “Whalefall” is a ride!

Reader’s Advisory:

“Whalefall” isn’t on any Goodreads lists yet, but it would probably fit in on “Best Wilderness Survival Books”.

Kate’s Review: “The Hurricane Blonde”


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Book: “The Hurricane Blonde” by Halley Sutton

Publishing Info: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, August 2023

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

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

Book Description: A former child starlet is plunged back into the dangerous glitter of Hollywood after discovering a young actress’s body in this scorching thriller about the deadly sides of both fame and family.

Hollywood is a sickness. Few people understand this better than Salma Lowe, progeny of Hollywood royalty and a former child-star turned guide of the Stars Six Feet Under tour bus. Salma spends her days leading tourists around the star-studded avenues of Hollywood, pointing out where actresses have met spectacular or untimely ends. Salma knows better than anyone that a tragic death is the surest path to stardom. Her own sister, Tawney, dubbed the “Hurricane Blonde” for her off-camera antics, was murdered in the mid-’90s, and the case remains unsolved. Salma herself has sworn off acting and just hopes to stay out of trouble…until a real dead body is discovered on her tour, on the property where her sister once lived.

Salma soon realizes something uncanny: it’s not just that this woman is dead at her sister’s address–she also looks just like her, and is wearing Tawney’s distinctive hair clip. When the police investigation goes nowhere, Salma has no choice but to plunge herself back into the world she left behind to search for her sister’s killer…who may have just struck again. But the search for the truth will take her deep into the rot of Hollywood past and present, into her family’s own long-buried and terrible secrets.

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

I can honestly say that the first thing about “The Hurricane Blonde” by Halley Sutton that really caught my attention was the cover. I mean, look at that cover! The unsettling neon pastiche framing an anonymous woman alone is very eye catching, but then reading about the plot of this book it just really clinched it. What says the flashy and attention seeking Hollywood culture more than bright colors and a gauche veneer and an unsettling undercurrent? I didn’t really know what to expect from “The Hurricane Blonde”, and while there were some things that didn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel, there were other things that really impressed me. And unsettled me.

In terms of the mystery side to this story, it’s fairly straight forward with some pretty familiar beats. Our protagonist Salma is trying to distance herself from the past traumas of her murdered up and coming starlet sister Tawney, as well as her addictions, her mental health spiral, and the way that all of that was so very public because of her status of being the daughter of Hollywood icons. When a woman is found dead on Tawney’s old property, and she looks just like Tawney did, Salma is suddenly determined to try and figure out how to prove that Tawney was murdered by her ex-fiancé, who is now a powerful director. The story is told in both the present as well as in flashbacks to the time right before and right after Tawney died, presenting clues and puzzle pieces as Salma pushes herself further and further into the dark truths of show business and the way it makes victims of ambitious young women and girls. I kind of figured out a few of the reveals pretty quickly, and Salma’s investigation was pretty much everything I expected it to be.

BUT, for the kind of easy to figure out solutions this mystery thriller has, its greatest strength is the way that it absolutely calls out the toxicity of Hollywood culture in regards to the way it treats the young women who aspire to rise to stardom. And how even in death they can continue to be exploited and dehumanized. We not only have the disturbing and tragedy filled lives of Tawney and Salma, the daughters of Hollywood royalty who ended up dead or in a severely damaging addiction spiral (respectively), but we also see the ways that other women in the story within the industry have had to contend with misogyny, abuse, racism, and how the public makes a spectacle out of very real pain. This books pulls no punches whatsoever, going to dark places with some very disturbing moments and reveals. It really pulls apart Hollywood not only within the story, but also in real life, making mention of other young women whose pain and tragedies are either still spoken of as lore (like Dorothy Stratten, or Dominique Dunne, or the Black Dahlia) or have been revealed many years after the fact (like Loretta Young being raped by Clark Gable and ‘adopting’ her own daughter to avoid the scandal of an out of wedlock child). Certain beats of this book take inspiration from all of this, and that is what makes it stand out.

“The Hurricane Blonde” is a relentless critique of Hollywood abuse and violence towards women who want to find success there. Be prepared for the darkness and the triggers that come with it, but it sets itself apart from other thrillers because of it.

Rating 7: A dark and bleak critique of Hollywood culture and the way it chews up women and spits them out, “The Hurricane Blonde” is a twisted thriller with lots of simmering anger.

Reader’s Advisory:

“The Hurricane Blonde” isn’t included on any Goodreads lists as of yet, but similar titles include “Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine, and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood”, and “The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick”.

Kate’s Review: “What Never Happened”


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Book: “What Never Happened” by Rachel Howzell Hall

Publishing Info: Thomas & Mercer, August 2023

Where Did I Get This Book: I received an ARC from the publisher via Spark Point Studio.

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

Book Description: Colette “Coco” Weber has relocated to her Catalina Island home, where, twenty years before, she was the sole survivor of a deadly home invasion. All Coco wants is to see her aunt Gwen, get as far away from her ex as possible, and get back to her craft—writing obituaries. Thankfully, her college best friend, Maddy, owns the local paper and has a job sure to keep Coco busy, considering the number of elderly folks who are dying on the island.

But as Coco learns more about these deaths, she quickly realizes that the circumstances surrounding them are remarkably similar…and not natural. Then Coco receives a sinister threat in the mail: her own obituary.

As Coco begins to draw connections between a serial killer’s crimes and her own family tragedy, she fears that the secrets on Catalina Island might be too deep to survive. Because whoever is watching her is hell-bent on finally putting her past to rest.

Review: Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and Spark Point Studio for sending me an ARC of this novel!

We are once again in a situation where a new to me author’s new book showed up in my inbox, this time in the form of “What Never Happened” by Rachel Howzell Hall. I am pretty sure that I hadn’t heard of Hall until I read about this book, and the description was enough to catch my eye and reel me in. I mean, the very idea of an obituary writer having to deal with a sinister mystery in her day to day life is just eye grabbing, right? I didn’t really know what to expect, but dove on in, and for the most part was pretty happy with what I found!

As a thriller it has a lot of good to great elements. I liked the character of Coco for the most part, with her return to Catalina Island in the midst of a divorce a good plot device that lends room to explore the many things that have made her a complex and damaged person. I found her to be pretty believable in her caginess, and I found the small town hiding darkness under a veneer of community to be well done. There are a few different mysteries at hand, whether it’s who is sending Coco threatening messages in the mail, to what is happening to a number of elderly women on the island whose deaths are ruled accidents or natural (when they are very potentially NOT), to who killed Coco’s family when she was younger and living on Catalina in the house she has returned to. It’s a lot of balls to juggle, but I did feel like Hall juggles them pretty well and manages to make decent connections as the story goes on. There is also the very real aspect of Coco being one of the few Black people in the community, and the way that her race others her, and in other ways puts a target on her back. Whether it’s microaggressions, general ignorance, or outright hostility, it adds another dimension to the thriller elements at hand.

But here is what worked best for me in this book: Hall uses the COVID 19 pandemic, specifically the early days of complete disarray, confusion, fear, and lockdowns, to create a very unique locked room mystery as Coco is not only on an isolated island that is hiding sinister secrets, but is now potentially going to be cut off because of spreading illness. Now that we are in a less acute phase of this pandemic I’m more able to tackle books and media that uses it as a theme, and what I liked about this is that while it certainly isn’t centered (like in the fun thriller “56 Days”), it makes for a plausible and familiar tension that makes Coco all the more isolated and closed off in a potentially dangerous place, whether it’s because of her history, her investigation, or her race. It also really captured those first weeks of the pandemic, and how disbelief feels like it completely shifted seemingly overnight into ‘oh shit this is really happening’. It’s never heavy handed and doesn’t feel overdone, but it’s present enough that it really gave me the willies because man. THAT was a trip.

I do think, however, that the pacing was a little off. Mostly because I found it sometimes felt a bit draggy in the middle. I’m not sure if it was that there were a lot of working parts that had to be addressed or that some of the investigations and inner thoughts of Coco were a little circular, but I do think that the middle could have been tightened up just a bit. Once we got towards the climax it really picked up, though, and a fair number of the reveals made it feel like it was worth the wait.

“What Never Happened” is a solid thriller with some creative locked room elements and always (sadly) relevant notes about racism, small town facades, and who gets to be seen as a victim by greater society.

Rating 7: An enticing thriller that tackles trauma, small town secrets, and the ever present spectre of racism in America, “What Never Happened” is a claustrophobic read.

Reader’s Advisory:

“What Never Happened” is included on the Goodreads list “Mystery/Thriller/Detective Books Featuring and Written by Black Women: Part 6”.