"The Girl Who Lived" by Christopher Greyson

The Girl Who Lived by Christopher Greyson

Warning: spoiler alert!

Small towns. It’s great when you are in a bind and because everyone knows you they help out. However, when everyone knows your history, it’s not so great. That’s how “The Girl Who Lived” plays out. Even before Faith returns to her hometown, everyone knows. Everyone she runs into knows her past and exactly who she is. She is the girl who lived. The girl who survived a horrific crime when four others didn’t.

I wish I could say I was a fan of this book, but I just wasn’t. The premise was great and I was very interested after reading the synopsis. However, it mostly just annoyed me.

First, the resolution of the story had so many twists and turns, I felt like I was on a tilt-a-whirl that was out of control. I enjoy a novel with lots of twists and turns that all click into place at the end, but not just for the sake of confusing the reader. That is how this book felt to me.

Second, I find it hard to believe that Beverly lived believing that Faith and her father were a “mistake” her entire life and never felt it.  I would think that would have been hard for Beverly to hide and that Faith would have felt that and the book would have been full of examples of Beverly loving Kim, Faith’s sister, more and treating her better.

Third, I find it hard to believe that Beverly did not enact revenge against Hunter and Woods for killing her “precious” Kim too, which was never part of the plan. Kim was her baby with the man she truly loved.

Additionally, the spouse/parent is always the first suspect. Did nothing turn up during the initial investigation to point the finger at Beverly? It seems like Faith’s father was found guilty far too easily and that no one, including Kim, thought that two people might be involved in the initial murder. The police did not investigate enough to find out that Kim’s father did not have Fabry disease and could not be Kim’s father.

I did love Mrs. Henderson’s character. Was she crazy, physic, or communicating with her dead son? What the heck was going on with her? I liked how that part of the story played out.

Publication Date: November 4, 2017

Genre:  Thriller, suspense, mystery, crime, conspiracy

Cover:  OK

The House on Foster Hill by Jaime Jo Wright

What do two murders committed over 100 years apart have in common? Kaine Prescott races to find out before she is the next victim.

After her husband Danny’s “accidental” death, Kaine believes she is being stalked and gaslighted. Determined to make a change and escape San Diego, she buys the local “fixer-upper” haunted house in Oakwood, Wisconsin after only seeing an online advertisement as Oakwood was the home of her great-great-grandmother, Ivy.

It seems, however, that the stalker has followed her to Oakwood and the house on Foster Hill. Strange things begin happening and Kaine feels like she is losing her sanity. Unlike the San Diego police force, the Oakwood police don’t believe that she is merely suffering from PTSD and imagining the odd things going on in her life.

Kaine makes quick friends and soon discovers that the house on Foster Hill was the site of a murder that involved Ivy and a missing infant many years ago. She feels a kinship with Ivy as they both understand that grief is “a high currency to pay for loving someone.”

Kaine learns everything she can about Ivy and learns that Ivy was an oddity in Oakwood. Ivy assisted her father during postmortem examinations and even kept a death journal so that everyone she knew who died would never be forgotten.

“The House on Foster Hill” is an excellent mystery.  Throughout the book, the characters learn that no matter the circumstances, there is always hope. Heaven is the future and “there is no despair in eternity, in God’s presence, in His perfection. There is only hope. He is my hope.”  

 

Publication Date: November 21, 2017

Genre:  Thriller, suspense, mystery, Christian fiction

Cover:  Perfect!

Source:  I received this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

Rating: 4 stars

"The Good Daughter" by Karin Slaughter

Two bowls of ice cream… I can’t get that out of my mind after reading this book. However, there are lots of other significant “twos”.  Two daughters (Charlotte and Samantha Quinn), two heart attacks, two houses, two pictures, and two very horrific, devastating, life-altering events; connected even though they are years apart.

The reader learns about the first event through each of the girls’ eyes and how it changed their lives and shaped them. I don’t want to offer any more details so that I don’t give anything away.

Start this book on a Friday evening when you can read until you finish. It’s that amazing… with an ending you will never see coming! And when you realize the significance of the two bowls of ice cream… wow! Karin Slaughter wove this story through 28 years in the girls’ lives, never omitting a significant detail or tidbit that enhanced the story and she tied it all up with a satisfying, bloody, ripped ribbon at the end.

Karin Slaughter has moved into the top 10 on my favorite author’s list. Before “The Good Daughter” I had only read three of her books which were decent, but “The Good Daughter” blows all three away. Thought this book was so great that I changed my vote in GoodReads Choice, Best Mystery & Thriller category (from another of my top 10 authors).

Release Publication Date: August 8, 2017

Genre:  Thriller, suspense, mystery,

Cover:  Perfect!

Source: I won this book through Goodreads First-Reads. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

#slaughtersquad #thegooddaughter

"Where We Belong" by Lynn Austin

“God knows when the hour of our end will be” and “rich or poor, we each have a God-given calling to fulfill” are the primary themes of this novel. Rebecca and Flora Hawes are sisters who truly take this to heart and spend their lives finding and fulfilling God’s calling. They don’t let Victorian standards get in their way. Thanks to their Father, they don’t spend their days attending parties and looking for husbands but travel the Earth in search of and accomplishing their calling.

This book is five large sections with one from each of the four main character’s point of view. Rebecca’s stories sandwich Flora, Soren and Kate’s and tell how their lives intertwine.

The book begins in the Sinai Desert in 1890 and spans 30 years. The chapters jump to a different time in the sister’s lives before returning to 1890. With some books, this can be confusing but not in this case. As with all Lynn Austin novels, the timelines were well thought out and executed.

This book was very well researched. I enjoyed learning about Chicago, the Sinai Dessert and the Monastery of St. Catherine. The author’s descriptions made me feel as if I was there and a part of the story.

Be sure to read the Author’s Note at the end as this book was based on two sisters who really existed!

Release Publication Date: October 3, 2017

Genre:  Fiction, Historical, Christian

Cover:  Beautiful and absolutely perfect!

Source: I received this book from the publisher, BethanyHouse, in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

Rating: 5 stars

"A Christmas Return" by Anne Perry

A cannonball in a Christmas pudding? That is just how “A Christmas Return” by Anne Perry begins. Mariah Ellison receives this odd, anonymous gift a few days before Christmas. However, a card arrives with the last post of the day. It is from Peter Wesley; the grandson of a friend with whom she has not seen for some time… Rowena Wesley. A friend whose husband, Cullen, died under mysterious circumstances twenty years ago after he suddenly refused to represent a man accused of the rape and murder of a fourteen year old girl.

Mariah agrees to assist Peter as “it was something, at her age, to be needed-not to be taken in as a matter of kindness. An overdose of charity could kill something inside you.” The ensuing story is the tale of Mariah and Peter attempting to track down the murderer.

This was a quick, easy read and was not gruesome. It had some great moments, although none better than cutting into a Christmas pudding and finding a cannonball. For example, “… over a lunch of Welsh rarebit. There was always something extraordinarily comforting about melted cheese on toast.”

Very enjoyable, especially with the Christmas tie in and Anne Perry reminds us that “because of Christmas, love never dies’” This was my first Anne Perry book, but it won’t be the last.

Release Publication Date: November 7, 2017

Genre:  Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Crime, Women Sleuths, British

Cover: Perfect

Source: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

Rating: 4 stars

"Close to Home" by Robert Dugoni

“No parent should have to bury their child” detective Tracy Crosswhite thinks as she murmers “I’m sorry” to D’Andre Miller’s Mother Shaniqua. Twelve year old D’Andere was just murdered by a hit and run driver on his way home from a rec center basketball game; a hit and run driver who did not even slow down or hit the brakes.

“Close to Home” is Book 5 in Robert Dugoni’s Tracy Crosswhite series. Tracy is a Seattle homicide detective and if you have read any of the other books in the series, you are familiar with Tracy’s history; the kidnapping and murder of her sister Sarah.

After tracking down the driver of the car, who is in the Navy, they realize that the case is not as cut and dried as it first appeared, especially when evidence disappears.

Dugoni does a great job of describing the process the detectives go through to solve the case. He also details the steps that the Navy goes through when prosecuting one of their own, as in this case, and how that process is similar to or differs from cases that are outside of military jurisdiction.

Exciting, thrilling book that had me guessing to the end. Several great twists and turns toward the end. Great standalone book, but recommend starting with the first one so you know the recurring characters and events that have happened to the characters in the past to shape them.

Release Publication Date: September 5, 2017

Genre:  Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Crime,  Police Procedural, Women Sleuths

Cover: Perfect

Source: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

"Enigma" by Catherine Coulter

“Enigma" is the 21^st installment of Catherine Coulter’s FBI thriller series featuring agents Savich and Sherlock. There are actually two separate enigmas or puzzling situations in this book.

The first enigma, is also a person; specifically, Enigma 2 or Arthur Childers. He breaks into a pregnant Kara Moody’s home, ties her up and tries to convince her to run away with him and that they have to get away from “them” before it’s too late. Savich happens to save Kara from this crazy stranger, but not before Arthur is left in a coma and Kara is in labor.

At the hospital, test run on Arthur yield strange, startling results. Kara’s labor goes smoothly, but soon after Alex is born, he is kidnapped. As answers are found, even more questions surface. Just who is Arthur Childers?

Second, Savich and Sherlock race to find Liam Hennessey AKA “Manta Ray”. Liam, a very charismatic thug, recently took a plea bargain for a bank robbery during which his partner died after killing a bank teller. The missing loot from the heist has not been found and Liam has communicated with no one other than his attorney during his time in jail. While Liam is being transferred to federal prison, his convoy is attacked and Liam escapes. They race to track Liam down before he recovers the stolen loot from the bank robbery.

“Enigma” is well written, an excellent story and has a super ending… up to par with Catherine Coulter’s other books in the series. Great stand alone book, but recommend starting with the first one so you know the recurring characters and events in the past.

Release Publication Date: September  12, 2017

Genre:  Fiction, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense , Crime,  Kidnapping

Cover: Perfect

Source: I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

Rating: 5 stars