After my relationship breaks down, I agree to house-sit my brother Dexter’s posh apartment whilst he’s out of the country. It will give me some much needed head space.
Sitting on the balcony one sweltering summer’s night in the midst of a power cut, I’m given a secret window into the lives of the residents in the opposite building, and I see more than I should.
I’m drawn to a man in the Penthouse and watch him closely; when a striking woman joins him on the balcony, I can’t tear my eyes away.
The following weekend a woman matching her exact description is reported missing. She’s not been seen since that fateful night. When I go to the police, the man in the penthouse has a cast-iron alibi and denies she was ever there.
I know what I saw and I can’t let it go. The deeper I dig, the more dangerous things become. Someone is watching me too. Just how much can I trust the neighbours?
I haven’t read a psychological thriller in a few months, and this was a great reintroduction to the genre. So many jaw dropping moments as I read, this was really hard to put down. The action started right away and no slow parts at all. There are a lot of characters here but they’re not hard to keep up with. A woman is housesitting her brother’s apartment while he’s gone expecting to get away from it all with a little r and r. It ends up being a bit more than that though. As she gets to know the other occupants of the apartment, she realizes obsessions are running rampant and not just with one person. Many holy cow, did that just happen moments? A real creep factor you’ll feel, and you may just be looking behind you as you read. A very much of a surprise ending that really took me by surprise. An author you absolutely need to read!
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Keri Beevis is the internationally bestselling author of several psychological thrillers and romantic suspense mysteries, including the very successful Dying to Tell. She sets many of her books in the county of Norfolk, where she was born and still lives and which provides much of her inspiration.
Publisher Amazon Original Stories February 1, 2025, publication date 4823 KB file size
ABOUT THE BOOK
An American mathematician’s assignment in Russia spirals into a high-stakes maze of shifting loyalties and intrigue in a propulsive short thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child.
Nathan Tyler is an unassuming professor at a middling American university with a rather obscure specialty in mathematics—in short, a nobody from nowhere. So why is the White House calling? Summoned to Washington, DC, for a top-secret briefing, Nathan discovers that he’s the key to a massive foreign intelligence breakthrough. Reading between the lines of a cryptic series of equations, he could open a door straight into the heart of the Kremlin and change the global balance of power forever. All he has to do is get to a meeting with the renowned Russian mathematician who created it. But when Nathan crashes headlong into a dangerous new game, the odds against him suddenly look a lot steeper.
MY THOUGHTS
This is a Lee Child short story and is not part of the Reacher series instead focusing on a mathematician sent on a high stakes’ assignment in Russia. Dealing with foreign intelligence and a cryptic series of equations.
A quick read that was fun and had a surprise twist I just didn’t see coming. Those mathematically inclined may be interested in this though it does get into the security aspect of things as well. Fast paced and now my husband needs to read this as this is one of his favorite authors.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
MEET THE AUTHOR
Lee Child is one of the world’s leading thriller writers. He was born in Coventry, raised in Birmingham, and now lives in New York. It is said one of his novels featuring his hero Jack Reacher is sold somewhere in the world every nine seconds. His books consistently achieve the number-one slot on bestseller lists around the world and have sold over one hundred million copies. Two blockbusting Jack Reacher movies have been made so far. He is the recipient of many awards, most recently Author of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards. He was appointed CBE in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours.
368 pages G.P. Putnam’s Sons publisher July 19, 2022 publication date
ABOUT THE BOOK
In the spirit of Lisa Jewell and Kate Morton, an emotional mystery set in the rugged remote landscape of north Cornwall full of dark secrets and twists, about three unusual sisters forced to confront the past.
Some secrets need to be set free…
When half-sisters Kat, Flora, and Lauren are unexpectedly summoned to Rock Point, their wild and remote Cornish summer home, it’s not a welcome invitation. They haven’t been back since that fateful summer twenty years ago—a summer they’re desperate to forget.
But when they arrive, it’s clear they’re not alone. Someone is lurking in the shadows, watching their every move. Someone who remembers exactly what they did…
Will the sisters be able to protect the dark past of Rock Point? Or are some secrets too powerful to remain under lock and key?
MY THOUGHTS
Told from alternating points of view and in different time periods. Three half-sisters their connection being their father. Jealousy is rampant amongst the sisters who haven’t seen each other in twenty years.
This Gothic thriller is full of secrets, secrets the women are desperate to forget but they must face once again. Why were the women summoned to the rugged Cornish home where the walls have eyes and someone unseen hears all.
Will desperation force them to do something they would never have thought of doing to keep things quiet? Hard to put down, I had to keep reading this intriguing read.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All options expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eve Chase is an internationally bestselling British novelist who writes rich, layered and suspenseful novels, thick with secrets, unforgettable characters and settings. Her latest novel, The Midnight Hour – ‘Her best yet…I loved every word’ – Claire Douglas – publishes June ’24, in the UK. Other novels include, The Birdcage, The Glass House (The Daughters of Foxcote Manor, US) a Sunday Times top ten bestseller and Richard and Judy Book Club pick, The Vanishing of Audrey Wilde (The Wildling Sisters, US) which was longlisted for the HWA Gold Crown Award, and Black Rabbit Hall, winner of Paris’ Saint-Maur en Poche prize for Best Foreign Fiction. She works in the Writer’s Shed at the bottom of her garden, usually with Harry, her golden retriever.
Say hello @evepollychase on Instagram, X, and Facebook
“You must be our new neighbors!” Mrs. Lowell gushes and waves across the picket fence. I clutch my daughter’s hand and smile back: but the second Mrs. Lowell sees my husband a strange expression crosses her face. In that moment I make a promise. We finally have a family home. My past is far, far behind us. And I’ll do anything to keep it that way…
I used to clean other people’s houses—now, I can’t believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve.
Even though I’m wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell, when she invites us over for dinner it’s our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it’s like to be in her shoes. But her cold stare gives me chills…
The Lowells’ maid isn’t the only strange thing on our street. I’m sure I see a shadowy figure watching us. My husband leaves the house late at night. And when I meet a woman who lives across the way, her words chill me to the bone: Be careful of your neighbors.
Did I make a terrible mistake moving my family here?
I thought I’d left my darkest secrets behind. But could this quiet suburban street be the most dangerous place of all?
From New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Freida McFadden comes the next installment of the unbelievably twisty, tension-packed and globally bestselling Housemaid series. This book can be enjoyed as a standalone read: and once you start, it will have you up all night racing through the pages until the final explosive twist.
MY THOUGHTS
Having read the other Housemaid books in this series I knew I had to read this book. I was familiar with the author’s writing style and knew what to expect. NOT!!! With this author though you may have read her other books you never know what to expect.
Reading it in one day was what happened, and this book sure didn’t disappoint. I know it’s been said before but, in this case, it’s so true, once you start you won’t be able to put it down. I had a late night reading it, but I didn’t mind.
All of the characters have an important role and the more you read the more you’ll discover their role. This book really took me by surprise.
As you read you believe things to be a certain way but don’t settle in too comfortably because this book will take you on a joy ride you may not recover from.
A must read for fans of psychological thrillers!
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
#1 New York Times, Amazon Charts, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Sunday Times, and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. Freida’s work has been selected as one of Amazon Editors’ best books of the year, she is the winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for best paperback, and she is a Goodreads Choice Award winner. Her novels have been translated into 40 languages.
Freida lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.
To hear Freida talk about herself more in the third person, check out her website freidamcfadden.com
‘Hello, stranger,’ says the beautiful woman on the doorstep. Pushing past me, she throws herself into my husband’s arms while I stand frozen in shock. I’ve never seen this woman before in my life… but how does she know the man I married?
The colour drains from my husband’s face as she releases him. When Ted says her name – Alice – my blood runs cold. Because I’ve heard her name before. Alice is the woman who broke my kind husband’s heart. Ted told me she vanished from his life after their breakup, but has he been lying this whole time?
I stare at him in disbelief, but he swears he never invited her. Can I believe him? Whatever actually happened, I want her out of my house… but as thunder cracks and the sky turns dark, a huge storm sets in. We’re stuck here: is this my chance to discover the truth?
***
I stare out of the rain-streaked car window, trying to see the Scottish landscape as the car whips past rust-coloured heather and mud.
MY THOUGHTS
Sadie and Ted’s marriage needs a sprucing up, together for over a decade, things just haven’t been the same recently. Sadie is convinced renting a huge mansion in the middle of nowhere in the Highlands for the Christmas holiday is just what they need.
Along with their two daughters the holiday house appears perfect for their little family, and they get inside just as the car runs out of gas and the raging storm starts.
Now as I’m reading this psychological thriller I’m thinking, okay this is pretty tame when is the action starting? As you read you absorb the words you’re reading and have a belief in them, this is how the story will go, you’re walking along minding your own business and then an anchor drops on top of you. You reel back, staggering under the weight of your assumptions and realize, they’re just that and you should never make assumptions as you read because you really never know.
Shocking twists and turns, I felt like I am teetering on the edge of a cliff, one exhale too much and I’d be over the edge! A must read not to miss. It took my breath away!
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
VISIT OTHER BLOGS ON THE TOUR
THE AUTHOR
Rosie Walker is a novelist of four psychological thrillers: ‘My Husband’s Ex’ (2024), ‘The Baby Monitor’ (2024), ‘The House Fire’ (2022), and ‘Secrets of a Serial Killer’ (2020).
Her books mostly explore dark domestic themes: secrets, lies, affairs and revenge. But in real life Rosie is a cheery person who loves rom coms, beach holidays, reality TV, and dog walks by the sea. She lives in Edinburgh with her husband, daughter, and their dog.
Rosie has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Edinburgh and an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Lancaster University.
Thank you for stopping in today. Enjoy the weekend.
Rutland 1998. When George Bowman, the publican of Leighton Parva’s Old Volunteer Inn is found dead at the bottom of his cellar steps the police dismiss it as a tragic accident. But Frank McBride and Bernard Taylor aren’t so sure.
Teaming up with their neighbour, Ron Godsmark, their suspicions centre on Joachim and Hannah Keller, the Swiss couple who manage Leighton Hall, the wedding venue just outside the village.
Bernard sends his granddaughter, Emma, on an undercover mission, working at the hall as a waitress. Together they stumble upon a web of intrigue involving fraud, smuggling and murder.
Frank believes that he can persuade his old colleagues in Customs and Excise to investigate, but Bernard has something else entirely in mind.
304 pages St. Martin’s Press publisher January 9,2024 publish date
ABOUT THE BOOK
THERE’S NOTHING AS GOOD AS THE RICH GONE BAD.
When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.
Ten years later, his uncle’s death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable.
And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.
MY THOUGHTS
I said to myself that this year I would branch out and try some new to me author's and books I wouldn't normally think I would enjoy. I "Knew" I had to try this one because it's a very popular author and has many reviews. What the heck, I'll try it I thought.
I know my opinions are in the minority here, but I wasn't interested in it. I'll clarify by saying I didn't think it was a bad book and I didn't dislike it but it didn't hold my interest though I did read it the whole way through. Are her other books a different writing style or basically the same as this?
I wasn't impressed with the writing style. To me it felt disjointed and chaotic, the story was not continuous, it was jumbled and all over the place. Going back and forth of topics, modern then back in time then slipping back to modern and having family letters too. I know a lot of people enjoy reading this author, but I was not the right audience for it.
Pub Date 09 Jan 2024 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel Hawkins (www.rachel-hawkins.com) was a high school English teacher before becoming a full-time writer. She lives with her family in Alabama, and is currently at work on the third book in the Hex Hall series. To the best of her knowledge, Rachel is not a witch, though some of her former students may disagree….
270 pages One More Chapter publisher February 1,2024 publish date
ABOUT THE BOOK
You are cordially invited to the Beechwood Castle for a night you’ll never forget…
Six people find a thick cream envelope on their doorstep. Inside is an invitation to spend 24 hours in a crumbling manor house and be in with the chance to win a portion of one million dollars. The catch: Beechwood Castle was the site of one of the most horrific murders in modern history.
The smell of blood, decay and death still hangs heavy in the air.
Six people walk into the house. One of them is an imposter, all of them are traitors, which of them will survive the night?
The Traitor is a fast-paced mystery I read in a few hours. It sounds like a plot you’ve heard before, 6 people get an invite to stay overnight in a crumbling mansion deep within the Indiana woods with a chance to win their share of a million dollars. The catch? Gruesome murders took place there years ago and they are still whispered about to this day.
These murders have never been solved and teens dare each other to go there at times. We meet the characters getting the invite and get a bit of a background on each of them. Atmospheric and creepy. “Six people walk into the house. One of them is an imposter, all of them are traitors, which of them will survive the night?”
You can vividly picture the mansion as you’re reading, from the bloodstained floors to the musty smell in the closed off rooms. As the characters try to figure out who the imposter is the tension builds.
The setting is creepy and gothic. When things start to happen, the characters start to blame each other, and it causes friction and chaos setting the frenzied pace as we continue further into the book.
Absolutely action packed and that ending, I would have never seen that coming. An author now that I’ll be looking out for more of her books.
Pub Date: 01 Feb 2024 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Carissa Ann Lynch is the USA TODAY and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author of Whisper Island, She Lied She Died, My Sister is Missing, Without a Trace, Like Follow Kill, The One Night Stand, the Flocksdale Files series, Horror High series, Searching for Sullivan, Midnight Moss, Shades and Shadows, and This Is Not About Love. She resides in Floyds Knobs, Indiana.
I hold my breath as we push the door open. I’m not ready. But I know it’s time. And I know there will be a before and after this moment, the moment we finally discover the secret our mother had kept hidden for all our lives…
I haven’t spoken to my mother or sisters in years, but everything changes when I lose my husband. And I know it’s finally time to tell them why I’ve pushed them away. But as I approach my childhood home, my heart drops at the sight of police tape across the porch, and it shatters when I’m told my mother’s body has been recovered from the lake behind the house. I’m too late.
Pushing all our differences aside, my sisters and I desperately search her house for answers. But something isn’t right. Her clothes are missing, and everything is covered in a thick layer of dust. Our mother hasn’t lived here for months. What has she been keeping from us? Just as we’re about to give up hope, we learn we’ve inherited a cottage we never knew existed. As we slowly push open the faded green front door, we are hit with the familiar scent of her perfume. This is where our mother had been all this time. But nothing can prepare us for when we finally unearth the reason why…
Now, I’m forced to decide if my mother’s secret will give me the strength to reveal my own to my sisters and heal our rift, or if it has the power to drive us apart forever. Fans of Liane Moriarty, Laura Dave and Diane Chamberlain will adore this completely gripping page-turner about how the people closest to us can have the most shocking of secrets.
MY THOUGHTS
Three sisters, a dysfunctional family. The sisters haven’t all been together in years. The estrangement has ended with their mother’s death. The women don’t even know each other anymore or what to anticipate from each other, they used to be so close once upon a time and have flashbacks of those memories.
As they start to unravel the secrets of her mother’s life will it bring them closer or drive them further apart? As they start spending more quality time together, they realize the bond of sisterhood is strong and just what they need.
Each sister has her strength and weakness, and it becomes apparent as their secrets are revealed. Family secrets, forgiveness and strength in sisterly bonds awaits you. Fast paced plot and well-developed characters.
I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
Anna E. Collins is a Seattle area author who writes stories about the lives and loves of women—their hopes, dreams, journeys, and relationships—with the goal of making readers both laugh and cry. She grew up in Sweden as a voracious reader with a vivid imagination but didn’t start writing fiction until after she had kids. By that point, she had worked as a high school teacher for several years, married an American, undertaken two international moves, and needed a new outlet.
Her first (gargantuan and unpublishable) venture into fiction sparked a passion for creating people and worlds that illustrate and illuminate aspects of the human experience that connect us. A couple more books and a master’s degree in educational psychology later, Anna decided to make writing more than a hobby, and she has never looked back. Whether writing women’s fiction or romantic comedies, Anna aspires to create characters that jump off the page and relationships that are as imperfect as the ones we find in everyday life.
334 pages Joffe books October 19,2023 publish date
ABOUT THE BOOK
A NAIL-BITING PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER WITH ONE OF THE BIGGEST TWISTS YOU’LL READ THIS YEAR.
After choir practice for midnight mass, college sophomore Rose Grandon takes a short-cut through Harbor Park. Grabbed from behind, she is violently assaulted, beaten and left for dead.
The last thing she hears is someone singing Silent Night.
Several hours later, the police find Rose lying in a ditch. Badly beaten — but alive.
As she recovers in hospital, Rose is told she’s pregnant. She has a terrible choice to make. She decides to keep the baby.
Nine months later, she gives birth to a beautiful baby girl. She names her Mary.
Rose lives quietly in her small Connecticut hometown raising her daughter — the one good thing to come out of her horrible ordeal. She begins to get her old self back.
But her evil attacker has never been caught. He strikes twice a year. Once on Christmas Eve, once on Christmas Day.
And until he’s behind bars, Rose and her baby can never be safe.
But now he’s found out he has a daughter. And that changes everything . . .
AN EXHILARATING BLEND OF PSYCHOLOGICAL SUSPENSE, NAIL-BITING TENSION AND A SHATTERING FINAL TWIST.
MY THOUGHTS
I don’t read psychological thrillers all that often, some can be really hokey and not much of a plot. Not so with this one, it took my breath away.
A young boy, innocent, still barely holding onto his belief in Santa, is hoping Santa will bring him a few gifts this year because he knows his mother won’t. There’s never a tree or any trimmings to make the holidays special. Neglected and unwanted, he knows his mother would rather be sleeping off her drunken fits than even putting food on the table. He is filled with rage and knows what he must do, and he will when he gets older.
Rose is a shy, church going girl, excelling at college, she doesn’t have many friends. A Christmas eve service has her excited to be with a few friends from church as the youth groups plans that evening’s events. Living close to church in a small Connecticut town, she slips out early to wrap a few presents and plans to return for the Midnight Mass as she walks home in the dark that evening. Her route takes her past a dark and deserted park. Frantic, her parents call the police when she is hours late getting home.
An evening search finds her badly beaten and sexually assaulted; the hospital staff not sure if she’ll survive. After months of physical therapy, she’s physically able to recover in body but she will never be the same. Finding herself pregnant from the attack she decides at the last minute to keep the baby and lives with her parents who give their full support to her choices and help with her child.
Deciding to move to her own place when her child is a school age, she enrolls her child in a local school and meets the new teacher, her child’s new teacher, a male. Her daughter and this teacher form a special bond, she is a challenging student but likes her teacher and they just click. When the teacher needs to talk to Rose about her daughter Mary’s behavior, he also makes an impression on the mother.
This is the start of a special friendship that turns into a romance between Rose and David, the teacher. He was the nicest man, always so understanding of Mary, the daughter and they both fall for his charm and kindness. After the wedding they settle into his house.
Rose is kept updated on the Christmas Eve killer every year by the police. He only strikes on Christmas and twice on Christmas Eve. Very few of his victims survive as he strikes along the East Coast of the United States. Rose doesn’t feel safe because whoever did this to her is still out there. Tucked away in her house with her daughter and new husband she feels as safe as she can possibly be with the decorations up and the spirit of Christmas, she should have no worries, right?
A shocking, twist of a story that lulls you into feeling safe and then strikes when you least expect it. Excellent!
Pub Date 12 Oct 2023 I was given a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are my own.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An Amazon Charts/Best Selling Author, many of McGarvey Black’s novels are also available in audiobooks and have been translated into other languages. A new psych suspense novel is in the works for next year. Stay tuned.
TWICE ON CHRISTMAS
MY SISTER’S KILLER UK
WITHOUT HER CONSENT #6 on Amazon Kindle in the UK and landed on the Amazon Charts..
THE FIRST HUSBAND, also an international bestseller was re-released in 2023
TRUST ONLY ME
THE WOMAN UPSTAIRS
“I love writing twisty thrillers that keep readers guessing and hanging at the end of each chapter. Nothing makes me happier than when one of my readers tells me I kept them up all night.” —McGarvey Black
Other novels include:
A FAMILIAR STRANGER — a tale of redemption about what happens when you fly too close to the sun.
LOVE ON THE LINE (formerly titled The Fussy Virgin) is a romantic comedy about soulmates finding each other.
Born in New York City and raised on Long Island, McGarvey Black is married with two children and lives and writes in Florida. She loves dogs of any kind and eating ice cream with demitasse spoons to make it last longer.
If you enjoy her books, please leave a review, every single one helps so much. You can connect with her on Twitter: @mcgarveyblack, Instagram: mcgarveyblack1, Facebook: McGarvey Black
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