thoughts on books

Category: Mystery

  • the strange case of jane o by karen thompson walker

    A haunting, intriguing sci fi/mystery written in a LitFic style, this book came onto my radar as an Aardvark Book Club Selection. The Strange Case of Jane O is one of my top Sci Fi books of 2025, a book that I loved. It is Sci Fi for people who don’t usually like Sci Fi, very accessible and such a page-turner!

    Jane O had a blackout after dropping her infant son, Caleb, off at daycare. She woke up being roused by a Brooklyn park worker, and did not remember the prior 24 hours. This may be because the day before, she ran into her friend Nico on the street. Which is odd, because Nico died 20 years earlier at 17. Nico is around 37 now and a doctor, which was always his career goal. Nico warns Jane to get out of the city. But why? And is this related to her blackout? How can she prevent it from happening again….and should she?

    This is a multi-POV book and alternates with Jane and her doctor, Dr. Henry Byrd, a widower. Henry is writing case notes about Jane, so it has a medical feel, not your typical mystery twists with murders or kidnappings and red herrings. We are, along with Dr. Byrd, determining a diagnosis for Jane. In Jane’s viewpoint chapters, she is writing a letter to her son Caleb. Soon it becomes apparent that we may have 2 unreliable narrators.

    I think I loved this book because it is just so unique. I would compare it to [book:The Night Guest|127306444] except with a much more satisfying ending. There is great character development and keeps your interest with lots of dialogue and descriptive setting. The ending is not at all what I expected, but I found it to be truly fascinating. Although Jane is a troubled individual, the reader will find themselves rooting for her.

    A great book to get you OUT of a reading slump.

  • close your eyes and count to ten by lisa unger

    A fun and fast paced mystery that is classic Lisa Unger. I love the setting and plot and pacing. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Audio for the ALC. A group of internet influencers at an extreme game of hide and seek on a secluded island experiencing a hurricane. Pretty intense!! 

    Maverick is a Logan Paul/Mr Beast type, not a great person but seemingly in love with his partner at work and in life, Angeline. He is 51% owner of the company, between the CFO Alex, Angeline, and Hector they own the rest. They have an offer to sell to HBO and to keep involved. He has his haters, a group of moms against Maverick who have kids who have gotten hurt and killed imitating his tricks. Also there are questions surrounding a missing former guest/influencer Chloe. 

    We are also following Adele, who is a small time fitness influencer and mother of 2. Her husband split a few years ago and is on the run from the FBI having defrauded millions. 

    There are other interesting characters in the game and good voice acting on each to tell them apart. 

    I appreciated the setting and pacing of the book, good reveals all the way through. It is a fun mystery with unreliable narrator, some open ended questions at the end, and love and life to root for. I liked the setting of the mysterious island and combining the culture of influencers, their lifestyle and what is real and how they need to curate their image.

    This is a fast, fun audiobook for mystery and thriller lovers.

  • I did warn her by sian gilbert

    A locked-door mystery which takes place on a yacht; the characters all look- and even act- alike. Sasha is starting her career as a stewardess on a billionaire’s yacht, where a year ago one of the stewardesses was murdered. It doesn’t take long for another murder to occur. The stewardesses/coworkers all look alike, the same beauty, the same long blond hair, same high cheekbones. We need to learn who killed the recent person and the past one. It is a typical locked room mystery with several suspects, all pointing the fingers at each other. 

    They are kind of awful to each other, none of them are people you are really rooting for. The characterization in this novel was really lacking, once the killer was revealed I wasn’t surprised, it was a bit of a letdown. It is definitely very readable, but not very interesting. I didn’t like any of the characters. 

    Thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Book to be published June 17, 2025.

  • the bachelorette party by camilla sten

    This book has some real “horror movie” energy. Remember the geico commercial awhile back where there were kids running away from a murderer and they hid behind a wall of chainsaws instead of driving away? This book is like that. It reminds me of the Scream/I know what you did last summer time frame of cinema. The characters are beautiful, mostly female, some of them are basically interchangeable. The only reason why there are 4 women in the first set of murders and 5 in the second set is to heighten the body count and make it bloodier. It is a big riot and obviously, as they say, a “page-turner.” I read it in one sitting.

    Dual time frames- 2012 when a group of 4 friends goes on their annual girls trip to a remote island with no coverage. 2022 when a bachelorette party goes to the same island, which now has a mindfulness resort on it as the first guests. The most interesting character is our main character in 2022, Tessa. She recently was a true crime podcaster but had some sort of problem a “mistake” that ended her career, which we find out later in the story. She is single and bisexual, there is an interesting conversation with one of the bridesmaids who is demonstrating what biphobia sounds like, in her ignorance. Most of the tertiary characters are generally pretty one dimensional, as there isn’t time to develop them. 

    Although this takes place in Sweden, and all of the first names and surnames are quite Swedish, it comes across as pretty American. I enjoyed the story and didn’t guess the ending. If you read a lot and enjoy a good slasher film, you should pick this one up!

    Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC. Book to be published June 10, 2025. Just in time for wedding season.

  • the big fix by holly james

    Romantic/Adventure or Suspenseful romance! There are many action adventure movies with a romantic undertone, but not a lot of books. The Big Fix is reminiscent of movies like The Lost City or Indiana Jones– a “regular person” due to “chemistry reasons” finds herself in the middle of a crazy spy/fixer/crime novel. This book is great fun, I enjoyed the adventures of Penny and Anthony, as well as their banter.

    Penny is a computer science professor on the tenure track, and while visiting her sister she goes to an estate sale of her sister’s neighbor. Only to find his nephew wholly uninterested in the whole affair. The whole room notices a spark between Penny and Anthony, everyone except the two of them. When they find a dead body, the adventure begins. Portia is the wife of a tech billionaire, and she has gone missing. It turns out the dead body is her bodyguard. But where is Portia and how does she relate to Anthony? Before she knows it, Penny is in a different world. Anthony is intimately involved in Portia’s disappearance, but is he one of the good guys?

    She is a fish out of water, but there is a lot of humor when she tries to get her bearings. It is always fun, in a romantic book, when the reader is aware that the main characters are falling for each other before they do. It helps that this is NOT multiple POV, it is all Penny’s perspective, so we find out who Anthony really is at the same time Penny does. This had great dialogue and great pacing. I am a fan of Holly James/Holly Michelle’s other works, and I am happy to say I really enjoy this cross genre story.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Press for the ARC. Book to be published March 25,2025.

  • you are fatally invited by ande pliego

    My favorite mystery/thriller of February! If you are nostalgic for Agatha Christie, love Knives Out and watched and re-watched the Clue movie as a kid, pick up this fun locked-room mystery. This is absolutely my type of mystery.

    The legendary author JR Alastor invites 6 different thriller authors to his secluded estate for a week-long “writer’s retreat” hosted by event planner Mila. Mila communicates with JR on her apple watch while the authors are treated to tasks through puzzles and “tropes” such as the dinner party, cursed artifacts and survive the night. They are joined by Rodrigo and Olivia (seriously?) who are partners in life and in writing. Cassandra, who is rumored to have killed her 2nd husband. Fletcher, an egomaniacal old white guy. Ashton, a broody and guilt ridden young man attracted to Mila. Violet, a 21 year old with only one title to her name.

    Soon there are deaths! Missing bodies! A storm keeping them trapped on the island! And everyone has secrets and guilt in their past that MUST be revealed! And where and WHO is JR Alastor??

    This is great on audio, with eight different audiobook narrators to keep straight all of these characters. It is still dizzying and a bit hard to follow if you typically listen at 2.0 speed or higher. I did skip back and re-listen to certain chapters to hear what I missed.

    If you ARE going to listen on audio, I will warn you that the CHAPTER TITLES are a spoiler so beware of the Table of Contents if you like to keep your mysteries spoiler-free. To be completely honest, for me it sort of helped to know where the book was going so I could focus on the characterization.

    This is all plot and pacing and I loved it.

  • the locked ward by Sarah pekkanen

    I jumped at the chance to read this upcoming mystery/thriller, as I loved the author’s last book, House of Glass. While this was a fun book to read, the ending and big reveal to both mysteries seemed a bit contrived.

    Georgia is in the locked ward, being found insane and guilty of murdering her sister Annabelle. We don’t know Mandy, but out of the blue she is contacted and told she has a fraternal twin. Conveniently her parents are both dead. So she does a DNA test to confirm that she and Georgia are sisters. Alternating short chapters are Georgia in the locked ward- trying to prove her innocence and trying to recruit her long lost twin. The other chapters are Mandy as she tries to solve two mysteries; why were she and Georgia separated at birth, why did her parents never tell her she had a sibling? And the second mystery, who killed Annabelle and how did they frame Georgia?

    Overall the plot was pretty silly at times, it felt a little too melodramatic and it was hard to determine why the characters were acting the way they were. There wasn’t a whole lot of character development. Also it seemed kind of convenient that Georgia just found out about Mandy just before being accused of murder.

    I did have fun reading this, as it has good pacing and the short chapters keep you turning the pages. But it was missing a lot of elements that we love in a good mystery. Hopefully Sarah Pekkanen’s next book will be back up to her standards.

    Thanks to NetGalley and St Martins Press for the ARC. Book to be published August 5, 2025.

  • one murder at a time by abbi waxman

    Absolutely hilarious, fun raucous mystery set in Hollywood, complete with burlesque dancers, AA meetings, studio politics and unexplained deaths. Abbi Waxman is my new favorite writer!

    Mason is at her typical recovery meeting, complete with recovering alcoholics from all walks of life who complain that each other is guilty of “cross talk.” Just then, an older woman – Julian Mann- comes in with a court card, 3 days sober and with a crazy story. A dead body in a pool followed by a high speed Lamborghini car chase and assault to the police officers. Oh and she blew a 0.35. So naturally Mason volunteers to be Julia’s temporary sponsor.

    Soon Julia is arrested for the murder of the aforementioned, dead body, her sworn enemy and past lover, Tony. Back in the day, Julia was an Oscar winning actress, then she went to prison for murdering her husband, a crime of which she has always maintained her innocence. While imprisoned, Julia became a lawyer. Julia hires Mason to be her assistant, they set out to find the real killer.

    Murder mysteries either can be a police procedural, which handicaps the author into following the actual process, or some sort of vigilante type investigation. This one is the latter. Figuring out the how and why of someone is investigating a murder without being a cop is always a challenge. Often you have a former cop, a true crime podcaster, a mystery writer. It’s really hard to come up with a plot device to create this storyline in a creative way. An AA sponsor has to be my all time favorite. The banter between Mason and Julia is truly outstanding, some of the most clever dialogue I have read. They have incredible chemistry together, despite being different generations and backgrounds, both being alcoholics.

    This book is a MUST READ for those who love a feel good mystery

    Abbi Waxman, you had me from the dedication. Thanks to @netgalley and @berkleypub for the ARC. I can’t wait until the pub day, this will be the first thing in my shopping cart on April 15, 2025.

    top read of 2025

  • jane and dan at the end of the world by colleen oakley

    I liked this book, I didn’t love it. I can’t stop thinking about how good it COULD have been.

    Jane and Dan are going to Fin de lu Monte for their 19th anniversary. She isn’t sure about their marriage and if she wants to stay married. Jane is always at odds with her 18 year old daughter and thinks often of the road not traveled. But when they are dining, the restaurant becomes an active shooter/bomb threat/terrorist hostage situation. A lot of convenient plot devices allow the narrative to move along. The thing is, the situation is playing out exactly as happened in a novel that Jane wrote 6 years earlier.

    The themes in this book are so good, but in execution, they just fizzle out and don’t deliver. I have been married for 20 years and I appreciate the way marriage changes after your kids don’t need you as much anymore. I liked the banter between Dan and Jane and I wanted more of the love and second chance love story. I wanted so much more from the theme of capitalism and oligarchy and

    That said, they are good characters and the book was genuinely funny. Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Book to be released March 11, 2025.

    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7176513377

  • sea of unspoken things by adrienne young

    James has lost her brother Johnny, and as twins they have always had a personal connection. She knew he was gone before she picked up the ringing phone, despite his young age of 37. She returns to their hometown and is flooded with memories of the previous accidental “golden boy” death when James, Johnny, and their friend Micah were young. We are following both accidental (?) deaths and learning about Johnny’s late life and those he was close and closer to. Micah is James’ second chance romance.

    This is the definition of a slow burn. Pacing and reveals are extremely important in mystery/thrillers, you need to care enough about the main and side characters for the reveals to be impactful, so with missing persons and deaths, it is ALL about the pacing. In this book you get to know the characters at different intervals, the payoff is strong although it takes awhile to get to the drama and twists and turns.