thoughts on books

Category: Psychological thriller

  • read between the lies by jesse q sutanto

    Woof- I have complicated feelings about this book.

    First- Jesse Q Sutanto is one of my absolute favorite authors- see my 5 star review of the Vera Wong books, 5 star review of [book:Next Time Will Be Our Turn|227912363] and the Mulan re-telling [book:Worth Fighting For|217064246].

    Second- this book literally says “Goodreads is full of trolls,” yikes, as a “top goodreads reviewer” I am hurt. But I won’t take it personally. It is hard to be an ARC reviewer- part of you wants to give every book 5 stars because you know as an early reviewer your review (even if it is softly critical) has the potential to really swing a title. On the other hand if you are too positive your reviews become meaningless so you need to maintain an objective viewpoint. I’ve been challenged for being both “too mean” and “too nice” so this kind of goes along with the territory.

    Third- This is a classic “cat fight” girl vs girl “mean girl” story and I find those to be unfortunate and somewhat misogynistic. I personally don’t love this trope because I think it perpetuates stereotypes. Stories like this make me want to not be close to another woman, ever.

    Lastly- I think this will be very successful, just because I am a sensitive baby does not mean others won’t love it. I could not put it down although I was reading while covering my eyes. It’s a great – BUT DARK – story.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Mindy’s Books Studio for the ARC. Book to be published 2/3/26

  • it should have been you by andrea mara

    The suburbs can be murder!

    You know what this book needs? One of those opening pages with a family tree with all the characters names. There are a lot of characters. Lovers. Kids. Sisters. Best friends. Easy to mix them up or say “wait who was this again”?

    That said, this was a fun popcorn thriller. I enjoyed it. Short chapters and not a lot of character development. It was surprising and multiple “mysteries” being solved at a time. It starts with Susan sending a bitchy text to her entire subdivisions group chat instead of just her sisters. Yikes. This happens right at the beginning. It’s the kind of thing that you can easily see yourself doing.

    Ooh, cringe.

    But! It sets of a series of events that led to multiple dead bodies!

    Fans of Caitlin Weaver and Shari LaPena, this one is for you!

    Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin/ Pamela Dorman books for the ARC. Book to be published January 16, 2026.

  • the merge by grace walker

    It’s a great Sci-Fi speculative fiction book for those who appreciate the storylines but don’t like a lot of scientific explanation. It’s very emotional and intriguing. The dual POV is between Laurie, suffering from early onset dementia, and her 23 year old daughter Amelia. They have elected to do “the merge,” when two people go through a process to merge two consciousness in the same body. They are in a support group of sorts with other pairs that will be electing to do the merge for a variety of reasons.

    It reads like a mystery, as not is as it seems. There is a long period of set up, which allows the reader to really consider the ramifications of this if it were possible. It is a slower set up but at the 50% mark things change rapidly. I would have liked to have had more POV with other people in their group. But the second half of the book is not like the first half.

    I loved the story and the characters. They are flawed yet likable. It made me think about the symbolism of how we turn over our identity in social media and in AI. Also the idea that unborn fetuses depend on the mother to want them inside their body. In this case they are dependent on the “host body” to continue their “life.”

    If you like a far fetched thought provoking book, I definitely recommend this page turner.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Mariner Books for the ARC. Book to be published 11/10/25.

  • the first time i saw him by laura dave

    I went into this with very high expectations, as I absolutely loved and tore through The Last Thing He Told Me. This one fell off just a bit, as Hannah was not the strong female lead I found her to be in the original. This story had much more back story about Owen, Nicholas and Frank, and what led to the doomed partnership and friendship that led to the downward spiral. Hannah somewhat takes a back seat to their stories.

    First- do I need to read the first or does this work as a standalone? You need to read the first. You probably need to re-read it, unless you have recently watched the Apple TV series. It starts off exactly where the epilogue ends.

    Some of the ambigious open questions are answered, and this is in NO way a slow burn, it is action packed from page one through the end. It was less surprising- less mystery more thriller. It was interesting to see the growth in Owen and Hannah the past 5 years. This is one of those books that I always wanted a sequel and here we are.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Scribner for the ARC. Book to be published January 6, 2026.

  • this is a safe space by lucinda berry

    This is was a fantastic, exquisitely paced thriller. I wish there were more short format thrillers! Jenna has a hard time trusting because her father left their family for a new family when she was younger. Her mom never had another partner despite it being 16 years. Jenna is a therapist who practices from their home and married 5 years to Colton, who she works on trusting despite the fact that he’s never given her a reason to doubt.

    Her sister Phoenix, pregnant with twin girls, is married to Colton’s cousin Brodie. She isn’t as close to her sister as she’d like to be. This story starts when she sees a text exchange between her husband and brother in law that gives her pause. And then somehow there seems to be a strong connection to one of her most vulnerable yet strong clients, Caitlin.

    I listened to this while on a cross country flight. It was the perfect length and made the time fly by (lol). The relationship was really interesting and the performance…. WOW. Truly a five star performance from the narrators.

    This had me riveted from start to finish! I was floored by the ending. Had no idea that was coming!!

    Thanks to NetGalley and Simon and Schuster Audio for the ALC. Publication date 10/20/25.

  • fair weather friend by jessie garcia

    Faith is a television weather presenter meteorologist. She is extremely popular, and she even has her own fan club. Channel 9 has cutesy sayings and gimmicks based on her popularity. But fame has its downside. She has a creepy stalker and can’t go anywhere without fans. Then one day she doesn’t return from her dinner break and she is found dead. Strangled.

    What follows is a collection of various points of view. There is Matthew, the weekend weather reporter who thinks of Faith as his bitter enemy, the stalker Steve who is all kinds of creepy, Faith’s college roommate, Kelly, who has unsettled business with her, Olivia the intern, and Olivia’s aunt Carol.

    Like Jessie Garcia’s first book, there is a ton of POV. I hope there are a million narrators when this is released in audio. It is not – AT ALL – hard to keep them straight because their place in the story is repeated often. The ending is a surprise and packs a punch.

    My favorite character was Aunt Carol because she was so weird. Her internal dialogue was all about how much she was starstruck over Faith. Like- are there people that are THIS into a local weather reporter? Yes. Plenty of people. Carol doesn’t have a lot going on in her life and she really feels like she knows Faith since she sees her every day. It’s not like the stalker chapters, which are obviously unhinged, but you know? They’re in the same ball park.

    Jessie Garcia has a lot of experience in TV reporting; and you can tell. The setting rings true.

    Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for the ARC. Opinions are my own, I was not paid for this review.

  • her many faces by nicci cloke

    Killer Kate is on trial for murdering 4 upper class elite men. She is a waitress at an exclusive club and was the last one in there before they all died. This book is written in second person and from multiple points of view. So, one POV from her dad, to whom she is Kit Kat, one POV from her lawyer, to whom she is Katherine. Other POV including two love interests and a journalist after the truth.

    I really enjoyed the unique take on a narrative, how the people in our lives all know a different version of who we are. It was unique to read in the second person and to see how different she was portrayed.

    It got both confusing and dragged a bit in the middle. I’m not even sure I completely understand the ending. Maybe 1 or 2 fewer POV would have worked.

    Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC. Book to be published July 14, 2025.

  • who we used to be by caitlin weaver

    WOW what a page turner. Another great family suspense novel from Caitlin Weaver, this time with medical crisis and addiction issues. Outstanding characters, good dialogue and suspense. What I love about Caitlin Weaver’s novels is that she creates these scenarios that you can see happening to your life. They are about normal women living normal lives with normal houses and jobs. And then circumstances arise that turn everything upside down. And you can’t help but think how you and your family would react with those kinds of scenarios. There is always a character to relate to.

    Padma and Dana are best friends, the kind of friendship I really envy. They tell each other everything and are fierce supporters of each other. Padma encourages Dana to go to couples therapy with her husband and Dana encourages Padma to not work so much at her job as an ER doctor. Dana has twins, Izzy and Ian. When a crisis comes up with Izzy in the ER, Padma serves as her attending physician. But things do not go well and then the blame game starts. Dana’s boutique store is in financial ruin, her husband has turned into a walking Tony Robbins inspirational quote. Ian has problems of his own.

    I loved this story, it was so engaging! The situation just sucks you right in…. so dramatic! The pacing is absolutely perfect, the multiple POV chapters serve excellent characterization, even the minor characters stand out. I really felt for Dana and Padma both. This book is very easy to read and suspenseful. If you like a good thriller but one without blood and murders, you will love Caitlin Weaver. Her stories are always female centered and characters are typically moms also. So for those of us in that category there is so much to relate to. Perfect for book clubs!

    For fans of;
    -family dramas
    -Jodi Picoult, Lisa Genova, Gillian Flynn
    -Multi POV stories

    Trigger warnings
    -addiction
    -medical crisis

    Thank you to NetGalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC. Book to be published July 29, 2025.

  • the compound by Aisling rawle

    A young and beautiful woman wakes up in The Compound with 9 other beautiful women. They are being filmed, as in Big Brother. Soon the boys will be there and join the women. We read through the eyes of Lily and get to know all of her housemates. This is a dystopian not so far future, there are some references to “the wars” that the men have fought in. I am not certain why the author chose this to be dystopian – this could easily have been just an alternate timeline of our current universe, so giving this book the dystopian label may be disingenuous, there are no sci fi or even speculative fiction elements to this book.

    It almost reads like a suspense thriller, although it isn’t very suspenseful, just a pretty normal reality show like Love Island meets Big Brother with an element of The Hunger Games in that there are some sponsors and gifts that are branded based on contestant behavior.

    They have to share beds with someone of the opposite gender and if someone wakes up without a bedmate they are banished from the compound, so they have to partner up, and if someone is banished or chooses to leave then the others need to banish someone to keep it even. They don’t have a lot of food or a front door but they can do personal or communal tasks to be able to earn things.

    This is a really fun set up, I just kept expecting something more futuristic or sci fi elements and really this read more like a reality show that just gets a bit violent at the end, nothing like The Hunger Games but they are allowed

    The point of the game is just to be the last one there and then everything is provided for them, anything they would ever want, and they can stay as long as they want. It is a very strange goal and at the end you think more is going to happen than actually does. It doesn’t end with a bang, but with a sigh.

    That said, this was extremely readable and I kept picking it up and tore through it to see what would happen.

    Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC. Book to be published June 24, 2025.

  • dead of summer by jessa maxwell

    200 Book ReviewsCamp NetGalley 202480%Professional Reader

    A fast paced “rich people are corrupt” delicious setting with clear heroes. Multi POV there are secrets to uncover about the past and

    The meaning of the title is unclear, I think it is just a cool sounding name. It does take place in summer time in a vacation home.

    Orla- returning back to the island to sell her family home. She hasn’t lived on the island since her best friend Alice went missing years ago. It is just coincidence that she happens to be back.

    Faith- seriously dating David, who comes from old money, and she hates his father. She finds an engagement ring in his suitcase and realizes he is about to propose, but something seems fishy with his family. She begins to look into Alice and how she went missing. Then another girl goes missing.

    Henry- a local boy without much means, the town thinks Alice went missing because of him although there wasn’t any proof. We like him and he seems sweet and also like a scapegoat. He likes using a telescope so he knows more about the islanders- so think Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.”

    This is a fun summer mystery! I enjoyed the characters and the plot, I did not guess the reveals although the pacing was quick enough to lead you to the reveal (last sentence in the chapter, etc). The writing style was a little choppy for me, shorter declarative sentences, even in inner dialogue. I did enjoy the character of sweet Henry and the injustices against him hit me hard! He is a Boo Radley type character.

    Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC. Book to be published July 22, 2025.