PLBR Book Reviews 2018 - ELLES BOOK BLOG

ELLES BOOK BLOG

THE NIGHT SWIM BY MEGAN GOLDIN

12/7/2020

The Night Swim is by far one of my favorite books of 2020! It's a relevant thriller with all the pieces of a well woven mystery too. I highly recommend it!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: August 4, 2020
Genre: Crime. Thriller. Suspense.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 352 pages
Format: Hardcover. Book of the Month Box.

In The Night Swim, a new thriller from Megan Goldin, author of the “gripping and unforgettable” (Harlan Coben) The Escape Room, a true crime podcast host covering a controversial trial finds herself drawn deep into a small town’s dark past and a brutal crime that took place there years before.

Ever since her true-crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall has become a household name—and the last hope for people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The new season of Rachel's podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under

WHEN NO ONE IS WATCHING BY ALYSSA COLE

11/2/2020

While When No One is Watching is one of the most original thrillers I've ever read, the story was extremely slow. I loved the plot but I feel like I needed it to be faster paced.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Genre: Psychological Thriller. Suspense.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 360 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

Rear Window meets Get Out in this gripping thriller from a critically acclaimed and New York Times Notable author, in which the gentrification of a Brooklyn neighborhood takes on a sinister new meaning…

Sydney Green is Brooklyn born and raised, but her beloved neighborhood seems to change every time she blinks. Condos are sprouting like weeds, FOR SALE signs are popping up overnight, and the neighbors she’s known all her life are disappearing. To hold onto her community’s past and present, Sydney channels her frustration into a walking tour and finds an unlikely and unwanted assistant in one of the new arrivals to the block—her neighbor Theo.

But Sydney and Theo’s deep dive into history quickly becomes a dizzying descent into paranoia and fear. Their neighbors may not

THE GUEST LIST BY LUCY FOLEY

10/14/2020

Lucy Foley has written a near perfect thriller with The Guest List and I devoured each page. The atmospheric setting and the killer plot twist are insanely good!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: June 2, 2020
Genre: Murder Mystery. Psychological Thriller.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 319 pages
Format: Hardcover. BOTM box.

A wedding celebration turns dark and deadly in this deliciously wicked and atmospheric thriller reminiscent of Agatha Christie from the New York Times bestselling author of The Hunting Party.

The bride – The plus one – The best man – The wedding planner – The bridesmaid – The body

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the

CONFESSIONS ON THE 7:45 BY LISA UNGER

10/6/2020

Lisa Unger has set up a good, twisty thriller in Confessions on the 7:45. However, I found the book to be very slow. This type of book would be a better fast paced thriller.

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: October 6, 2020
Genre: Domestic Thriller. Suspense.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 418 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

From master of suspense Lisa Unger comes a riveting thriller about a chance encounter that unravels a stunning web of lies and deceit.

Be careful to whom you tell your darkest secrets…

Selena Murphy is commuting home from her job in the city when the train stalls out on the tracks. She strikes up a conversation with a beautiful stranger in the next seat, and their connection is fast and easy. The woman introduces herself as Martha and confesses that she’s been stuck in an affair with her boss. Selena, in turn, confesses that she suspects her husband is sleeping with the nanny. When the train arrives at Selena’s station, the two women part ways, presumably never to meet again.

But days later, Selena’s nanny disappears.

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.

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,

THE SUN DOWN MOTEL BY SIMONE ST. JAMES

2/19/2020

The Sun Down Motel is an incredibly written and eerie read that mixes both horror and thriller. This is my first read from the author but you can bet I'll be reading more from her in the future!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: February 18, 2020
Genre: Psychological Horror. Ghost Story.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 3336 pages
Format: Hardcover. BOTM Pick.

Something hasn’t been right at the roadside Sun Down Motel for a very long time, and Carly Kirk is about to find out why in this chilling new novel from the USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of The Broken Girls.

Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary.

Upstate New York, 2017. Carly Kirk has never been able to let go of the story of her aunt Viv, who mysteriously disappeared from the Sun Down before she was born. She decides to move to Fell and visit the motel, where she quickly learns that nothing has changed since 1982. And she soon finds herself ensnared in the same mysteries that claimed her aunt.

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

KILL, SLEEP, REPEAT BY BRITNEY KING

1/15/2020

This just may be Britney King's darkest novel yet! And I am thrilled about it. Kill, Sleep, Repeat is a dark psychological thriller filled with murder and mayhem. If this sounds like your cup of tea then I highly recommend it!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: January 16, 2020
Genre: Dark Psychological Thriller
Series: None.
Pages: 236 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

From the bestselling author of The Social Affair and HER comes an intense and deadly provocative thriller which follows a woman who, in a fight for survival, realizes her job may cost more than it pays.

"This tale of seduction, obsession, and murder will resonate with fans of Patricia Highsmith. The pace is fast, the prose is smooth, and the plot genuinely twisty."

Several times a week, Charlotte Jones leaves suburbia behind and boards a chartered flight to parts unknown, where she wraps her hands around the necks of marks for just as long as she has to.

Then she goes back to domestic life with a paycheck, defense wounds, and the sense that she can handle anything.

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 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.

NO EXIT BY TAYLOR ADAMS

3/18/2019

No Exit is truly an edge of your seat thriller. This book was so unexpected for me and I am so glad I gave a new author a chance. I very much recommend this to those who are looking for thrills and chills in their novels.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: January 15, 2018
Genre: Thriller and Suspense.
Series: Standalone.
Pages: 336 pages
Format: Hardcover. Purchased.

A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger’s van. No help for miles. What would you do?

On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside, are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.

Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate.

Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out.

THE NIGHT OLIVIA FELL BY CHRISTINA MCDONALD

2/12/2019

Woah! This book blew me away! I devoured it in a day because I simply couldn't take my eyes off the pages. I think this is one of the best domestic thrillers I have read in a long time.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Genre: Domestic Thriller.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 368 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

In the vein of Big Little Lies and Reconstructing Amelia comes an emotionally charged domestic suspense novel about a mother unraveling the truth behind how her daughter became brain dead. And pregnant.

A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.

In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter Olivia has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.

When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?

MY SISTER IS MISSING BY CARISSA ANN LYNCH

2/8/2019

My Sister is Missing is a fast paced, gripping read. It's also one that readers can easily get through in one sitting as the page count is just under 200 pages.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: February 8, 2019
Genre: Mystery. Thriller.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 197 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

“Reminiscent of Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects" Christina Kaye, award-winning author of Presumed DeadA twenty-year-old local mystery that has never been solved.

A bone-chilling VHS tape depicting a horrific crime.

Neighbors with something to hide.

And a sister who is missing.

Emily has to find out the truth. But is her sister Madeline the victim…or the one to blame?

A creepy and chilling thriller that you won’t be able to put down. MY SISTER IS MISSING is the most gripping read of 2019.Readers can’t get enough of this book.

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