PLBR Book Reviews 2018 - ELLES BOOK BLOG

ELLES BOOK BLOG

THE WHISPER MAN BY ALEX NORTH

7/4/2020

The Whisper Man is a creepy mystery/thriller novel with a touch of the supernatural. I enjoyed this one a lot and am looking forward to reading the authors next book!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: August 20, 2019
Genre: Mystery. Thriller. Suspense.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 350 pages
Format: Print Copy. Purchased.

In this dark, suspenseful thriller, Alex North weaves a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town.

After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank.

But the town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed "The Whisper Man," for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night.

Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter's crimes, reigniting old rumors that he preyed with an accomplice. Now, detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis must

THE SWAP BY ROBYN HARDING

6/29/2020

The Swap is another amazing domestic thriller by Robyn Harding. She's one of my favorite crime authors and this book is everything I wanted and more. I highly recommend it.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: June 23, 2020
Genre: Domestic Thriller.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 352 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

“No list of thrillers is complete without Robyn Harding,” proclaims Real Simple. Now the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Party delivers a riveting tale about the toxic relationship between two couples after a night of sexual shenanigans, and the manipulative teenager with an explosive secret at the center of it all.

Low Morrison is not your average teen. You could blame her hippie parents or her looming height or her dreary, isolated hometown on an island in the Pacific Northwest. But whatever the reason, Low just doesn’t fit in—and neither does Freya, an ethereal beauty and once-famous social media influencer who now owns the local pottery studio.

After signing up for a class, Low quickly falls under Freya’s spell. And Freya, buoyed by Low’s adoration, is compelled to share her darkest secrets and deepest desires. Finally, both feel a sense of belonging...that is, until Jamie walks through the studio door.

STRANGER IN THE LAKE BY KIMBERLY BELLE

6/9/2020

Stranger in the Lake is an exceptional murder mystery and it keeps me interested from beginning to end. The plot is taut, suspenseful, and builds at a slow pace. I really enjoyed it!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: June 9, 2020
Genre: Murder Mystery. Suspense.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 352 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

Charlotte didn’t know her greatest risk was saying, “I do.”

When Charlotte married the wealthy widower Paul, it caused a ripple of gossip in their small lakeside town. They have a charmed life together, despite the cruel whispers about her humble past and his first marriage. But everything starts to unravel when she discovers a young woman’s body floating in the exact same spot where Paul’s first wife tragically drowned.

At first, it seems like a horrific coincidence, but the stranger in the lake is no stranger. Charlotte saw Paul talking to her the day before, even though Paul tells the police he’s never met the woman. His lie exposes cracks in their fragile new marriage, cracks Charlotte is determined to keep from breaking them in two.

As Charlotte uncovers dark mysteries about the man she married, she doesn’t know what to trust—her heart, which knows Paul to be a good man, or her growing suspicion that there’s something he’s hiding in the water.

THIS IS HOW I LIED BY HEATHER GUDENKAUF

6/5/2020

This is How I Lied is another is another fantastic murder mystery from Heather Gudenkauf! Her thrillers are top notch and I recommend each and every one of her books!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: May 12, 2020
Genre: Murder Mystery. Suspense.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 336 pages
Format: eBook. ARC

Everyone has a secret they’ll do anything to hide…

Twenty-five years ago, the body of sixteen-year-old Eve Knox was found in the caves near her home in small-town Grotto, Iowa—discovered by her best friend, Maggie, and her sister, Nola. There were a handful of suspects, including her boyfriend, Nick, but without sufficient evidence the case ultimately went cold.

For decades Maggie was haunted by Eve’s death and that horrible night. Now a detective in Grotto, and seven months pregnant, she is thrust back into the past when a new piece of evidence surfaces and the case is reopened. As Maggie investigates and reexamines the clues, secrets about what really happened begin to emerge. But someone in town knows more than they’re letting on, and they’ll stop at nothing to keep the truth buried deep.

THE WIFE STALKER BY LIV CONSTANTINE

5/26/2020

WOW! This book, while extremely frustrating in some aspects, was such a fantastic read! The big twist towards the end if one of the best twists I've seen in a long time! I now need more by the author asap!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: May 19, 2020
Genre: Domestic Thriller & Suspense
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 316 pages
Format: eBook. ARC

The bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish returns with a psychological thriller, filled with chilling serpentine twists, about a woman fighting to hold onto the only family she’s ever loved—and how far she’ll go to preserve it.

Breezing into the upscale seaside paradise of Westport, Connecticut, gorgeous thirtysomething Piper Reynard sets down roots, opening a rehab and wellness space and joining a local yacht club. When she meets Leo Drakos, a handsome, successful lawyer, the wedding ring on his finger is the only thing she doesn’t like about him. Yet as Piper well knows, no marriage is permanent.

Meanwhile, Joanna has been waiting patiently for Leo, the charismatic man she fell in love with all those years ago, to re-emerge from the severe depression that has engulfed him. Though she’s thankful when Leo returns to his charming, energetic self,

LITTLE SECRETS BY JENNIFER HILLIER

5/22/2020

Little Secrets by Jennifer Hillier is a twisted read and I loved every minute of it. If you enjoyed domestic thrillers you won't want to miss this one!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: April 21, 2020
Genre: Domestic Thriller
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 352 pages
Format: eBook. Arc.

Four hundred and eighty seconds. That’s how long it took for someone to steal Marin Machado's four-year-old son.

Marin had the perfect life. Married to her college sweetheart, she owns a chain of upscale hair salons, and Derek runs his own company. They're admired in their community and are a loving family. Up until the day Sebastian is taken.

A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak. The only thing keeping her going is the unlikely chance that one day Sebastian reappears. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding him, she discovers that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman.

Kenzie Li is an artist and grad student—Instagram famous—and up to her eyeballs in debt. She knows Derek is married. She also

ONE OF US IS LYING BY KAREN MCMANUS

2/6/2020

One of Us is Lying is a great young adult mystery and thriller! I remember trying to read it when it was first released and not really enjoying it but I'm so glad I picked it up again!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: May 30, 2017
Genre: Young Adult. Mystery and Thriller.
Series: One of Us is Lying series #1
Pages: 359 pages
Format: Hardcover. Purchased.

The Breakfast Club meets Pretty Little Liars, One of Us Is Lying is the story of what happens when five strangers walk into detention and only four walk out alive. Everyone is a suspect, and everyone has something to hide.

Pay close attention and you might solve this.

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.
Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.
Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.
Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.
Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.
And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High's notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of

THE OTHER PEOPLE BY C.J. TUDOR

1/25/2020

WHAT A BOOK! Wow. Just processing this one is giving me major tingles across my body! C.J. Tudor KNOWS how to write a psychological thriller that will CONSUME you.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: January 28, 2020
Genre: Psychological Thriller. Psychological Horror.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 324 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

Q: Why are you called the Other People?
A: We are people just like you. People to whom terrible things have happened. We’ve found solace not in forgiveness or forgetting. But in helping each other find justice.

Driving home one night, Gabe is stuck behind a rusty old car. He sees a little girl’s face appear in its rear window. She mouths one word: Daddy. It’s his five-year-old daughter, Izzy. He never sees her again.

Three years later, Gabe spends his days and nights traveling up and down the highway, searching for the car that took his daughter, refusing to give up hope, even though most people believe she’s dead.

When the car that he saw escape with his little girl is found abandoned with a body inside, Gabe must confront not just the day

THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS BY LISA JEWELL

1/19/2020

Lisa Jewell has written a riveting family thriller in The Family Upstairs and I was glued to this book from beginning to end. I'm so glad I took a chance on a new to me author and grabbed this one in my Book of the Month box!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: November 5, 2019
Genre: Domestic Thriller. Gothic Thriller.
Series: None. Complete Standalone.
Pages: 349 pages
Format: Hardcover. Book of the Month Club.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone comes another page-turning look inside one family’s past as buried secrets threaten to come to light.

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have

THE LAST WITNESS BY CLAIRE MCFALL

1/6/2020

This is a haunting young adult thriller with a killer twist NO reader will see coming! While I wish it was a paced a little faster I can't rate it any lower because of that UNIQUE ending!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: January 7, 2020
Genre: Young adult mystery and thriller
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 272 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

One year ago she survived...but being the last one standing has consequences.

Heather agrees to go camping with Dougie and his friends because she's desperate to get closer to him, and a secluded beach sounds like the perfect place. But the trip takes a sinister turn that brings Heather's plans to a violent end.

One by one, the group begins to vanish.

A year later, Heather knows she's just lucky to be alive. And now, people are asking for answers, or else she will be the one to take the blame.

A chilling psychological thriller from unflinching and award-winning writer Claire McFall.

UNSPEAKABLE THINGS BY JESS LOURNEY

1/2/2020

Unspeakable things that all the makings of an excellent read. However, it fell short for me in so many areas. I think the blurb is deceiving as well and doesn't live up to what it says it will be.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: January 1, 2020
Genre: Mystery. Thriller. Suspense. Crime.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 296 pages
Format: eBook. Amazon First Reads.

Inspired by a terrifying true story from the author’s hometown, a heart-pounding novel of suspense about a small Minnesota community where nothing is as quiet—or as safe—as it seems.

Cassie McDowell’s life in 1980s Minnesota seems perfectly wholesome. She lives on a farm, loves school, and has a crush on the nicest boy in class. Yes, there are her parents’ strange parties and their parade of deviant guests, but she’s grown accustomed to them.

All that changes when someone comes hunting in Lilydale.

One by one, local boys go missing. One by one, they return changed—violent, moody, and withdrawn. What happened to them becomes the stuff of shocking rumors. The accusations of who’s responsible grow just as wild, and dangerous town secrets

THE WIVES BY TARRYN FISHER

12/29/2019

Tarryn Fisher has written a mind twist with, The Wives! I gobbled this one up and never wanted to put it down! If you're a psychological thriller fan, grab this book!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: December 30, 2019
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Series: None. Complete Standalone.
Pages: 336 pages
Format: Paperback. ARC.

New York Times bestselling author Tarryn Fisher delivers a pulse-pounding, fast-paced suspense novel that will leave you breathless. A thriller you won’t be able to put down!

“You’ll have whiplash until the very end.”--New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover

Thursday’s husband, Seth, has two other wives. She’s never met them, and she doesn’t know anything about them. She agreed to this unusual arrangement because she’s so crazy about him.

But one day, she finds something. Something that tells a very different—and horrifying—story about the man she married.

What follows is one of the most twisted, shocking thrillers you’ll ever read.

FOE BY IAIN REID

12/26/2019

Foe is another mind bending thriller with an epic twist many readers won't see coming. I love his books and cannot wait to see what sort of book he writes next.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: August 7, 2018
Genre: Psychological Thriller (ish)
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 273 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

We don’t get visitors. Not out here. We never have.

In Iain Reid’s second haunting, philosophical puzzle of a novel, set in the near-future, Junior and Henrietta live a comfortable, solitary life on their farm, far from the city lights, but in close quarters with each other. One day, a stranger from the city arrives with alarming news: Junior has been randomly selected to travel far away from the farm...very far away. The most unusual part? Arrangements have already been made so that when he leaves, Henrietta won't have a chance to miss him, because she won't be left alone—not even for a moment. Henrietta will have company. Familiar company.

Told in Reid’s sharp and evocative style, Foe examines the nature of domestic relationships, self-determination, and what it means to be (or not to be) a person. An eerily entrancing page-turner, it churns with unease and suspense from the first words to its shocking finale.

THE AU PAIR BY EMMA ROUS

8/16/2019

The Au Pair is a compelling read- one I had a hard time putting down! It has a Gothic feel to it and left me excited as each twist and turn hit! I highly recommend this one!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: January 8, 2019
Genre: Domestic Thriller. Gothic Literature.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 360 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

If V. C. Andrews and Kate Morton had a literary love child, Emma Rous' USA Today bestseller The Au Pair would be it.

One of the most anticipated books of 2019 from Pop Sugar, Bustle, Cosmo, Parade, and Goodreads!

Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother, Danny, were born in the middle of summer at their family's estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle.

Now an adult, Seraphine mourns the recent death of her father. While going through his belongings, she uncovers a family photograph that raises dangerous questions. It was taken on the day the twins were born, and in the photo, their mother, surrounded

THE SILENT PATIENT BY ALEX MICHAELIDES

7/26/2019

The Silent Patient is Alex Michaelides debut novel and it's one I won't forget! What a thrilling ride! Shock after shock, twists and turns you won't see coming, and so much intrigue is what pushes this novel into a league of it's own.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Genre: Thriller. Suspense.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 297 pages
Format: Hardcover. Purchased.

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

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