In Her Shadow

In Her Shadow by Theo Baxter 
9/21/25; 289 pages
Inkubator Books

In Her Shadow by Theo Baxter is a highly recommended psychological thriller.

Rachel and Lucas Price marry and she moves into Crestwood, his sprawling seaside estate. Immediately strange and unsettling events begin to happen. Lucas seems to be keeping secrets from her, including the death of his first wife, Eliza. Then Rachel begins to hear strange noises and laughter at night, she sees ghostly apparitions, and messages from Eliza. Lucas seems to question Rachel's sanity but soon he can no longer ignore the strange events are happening. At the same time Rachel is working with her therapist and uncovers secrets from her own past.

The plot will require you to set an enormous dose of disbelief aside. Rachel seems to know so little about the man she married, like his first wife, and it is unbelievable that she never visited Crestwood until after they married. The beginning of the novel consisted of this reader wondering why Rachel didn't know the many things she should have known before marrying Lucas. Later there is a twist Lucas should have known

The opening is even paced, the strange atmosphere surrounding Crestwood evolves, and the suspense and tension begin to pick up as strange events begin to increase. The pace takes off toward the end and it is at this point In Her Shadow actually becomes the spine-tingling psychological thriller it purports to be. It's a short novel and the credibility of almost all the characters can be questioned at one time or another. 

The secondary story uncovering Rachel's repressed memories was a serious, heavy topic and felt a little out of place in the novel. This story line with her therapist does reach a satisfying conclusion. 3.5 rounded up.

In Her Shadow is a good choice for anyone who wants a quick, entertaining psychological thriller. Thanks to Inkubator Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Black Notice

Black Notice by Joy Ellis
9/9/25; 467 pages
Joffe Books
DI Jackman & DS Evans #11 

Black Notice by Joy Ellis is a highly recommended complex and detailed procedural and crime thriller. This is the eleventh book in the DI Rowan Jackman and DS Marie Evans series.

On the Lincolnshire fens Detectives Rowan Jackman and Marie Evans have three cases that come to them. First a retired officer Bob Ruston has a terrified bloodstained man with a handcuff dangling from his wrist ring his doorbell and ask for help. The man leaves before police arrive. Second a wife walks into the Saltern-le-Fen police station and asks Marie to help her find her husband who was just released from prison. Third a homeowner discovers the decomposing remains of five bodies tangled together in an old WW2 pillbox. Woven between these cases is a planned art theft and a hacker called Chaos causing trouble for criminals. All these disparate threads eventually connect and reach a conclusion.

This is a well-written procedural which follows the investigation of several intricate, complicated cases. The clues are logically followed as more information is uncovered in the various investigations and includes several twists along the way. A Black Notice means unidentified human remains, so readers will know what is going to be happening, although the number is surprising. The various cases are interesting, but it did take me a while to actually get engaged with the novel. This was my first foray into the DI Jackman & DS Evans series and at times I did feel a little lost.

The characters are all portrayed as realistic, complicated individuals. Those who have been following the series will likely embrace all of them as known characters and be excited to follow their new investigation. They all certainly work well together as a team. As this was my first introduction to all of them I didn't quite have the background needed to fully appreciate them.

Black Notice will be best appreciated by those who enjoy procedurals and are following the series. Thanks to Joffe Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

 

The Secret at Number 7

The Secret at Number 7 by Becca Day
9/18/25; 304 pages
Bookouture

The Secret at Number 7 by Becca Day is a highly recommended domestic suspense novel that twists into a psychological thriller.

Miranda, Lee, and their young son live at the end of a cul-de-sac. Miranda watches the neighborhood action through their doorbell camera. After experiencing  trauma and the resulting anxiety from a break-in before they moved to the quiet neighborhood, Miranda may be a snoopy neighbor, but it is comforting for her to know what is going on outside their door. When she firsts sees Anna and her husband Fraser moving into number 7, Miranda is immediately drawn to Anna. She gets a gift basket together with some other neighbors and they deliver it.

Anna is very gracious and invites them over to dinner the next night, but Fraser looks angry and disgusted at her. Anna sees an altercation between the two through her doorbell camera and later sees bruises on Anna's arms. At the dinner Fraser and Lee get along very well, but Miranda is barely acknowledged. Then, the doorbell camera shows movement at 3 am and Miranda watches Fraser carrying a heavy bag into his car, drive off, and return 15 minutes later. After that Anna is gone and Miranda is sure Fraser murdered her.

At first it seems Miranda is a delusional prying neighbor and she appears to be an unreliable narrator, but there are little clues that she may be on the something. You won't know who to trust and will be surprised more than once by this fact. The characters are all well-developed and portrayed as realistic individuals with flaws.

The novel later switches to Anna's point-of-view and the whole novel flips into something completely different, darker, and even more dangerous. Now, you do have to set a major dose of disbelief aside, but the short chapters move quickly and the tension and suspense rise throughout the novel.  The major flip in the story was unsettling and off-putting, but it also increased the tension ten-fold. 

The Secret at Number 7 is a good choice for those who enjoy twisty, fast-paced thrillers. Thanks to Bookouture for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Killer Question

The Killer Question by Janice Hallett
9/23/25; 448 pages
Atria Books 

The Killer Question by Janice Hallett is a highly recommended mystery that largely centers on a pub's weekly trivia night while the narrative is told in an epistolary style through a series of email, texts, recorded conversations, etc., and quiz night statistics.

Dominic Eastwood pitches a documentary idea through email for a Netflix documentary about his aunt and uncle Sue and Mal Eastwood. Sue and Mal ran a rural pub called The Case is Altered and had a weekly trivia game on Monday nights. Mal carefully writes the quiz questions and they have teams of regular customers who enjoy the weekly competition. The team called the Plucky Losers are always the expected winners, but everyone enjoys themselves.

 It is going swimmingly. Then the body of a known quiz cheater who has been thrown out or banned from several pubs, including The Case is Altered a few weeks earlier, is found in the nearby river. Soon a new team called the Shadow Knights shows up and begin to win with almost perfect scores, upsetting the regulars. It also comes out that Sue and Mal previously served in the police department. 

Readers will know that something big is going to happen because Dominic is pitching a documentary and the pub closed five years earlier. He is promising a story full of surprises and twists, which are delivered repeatedly. The well-planned plot delivers on the twists, surprises, and mysteries, especially later in the narrative. There are a large number of characters to sort out, which takes some time at first and slows down the pace. The last third of the novel really increased my rating.

The biggest drawback for me in this novel was the epistolary format with all the text messages, etc. I have enjoyed several novels with this format in the past, but for some reason it didn't work as well for me this time. Admittedly, it may be the presentation in my ARC and the final book may flow smoother. 

The Killer Question is a great choice for those who enjoy mysteries, the epistolary style, and pub quiz nights. Thanks to Atria Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Deadly Mistake

Deadly Mistake by Rob Sinclair
9/17/25; 354 pages
Boldwood Books 
Simon Peake Thriller #2

Deadly Mistake by Rob Sinclair is a highly recommended action-packed thriller. This is the second book in the series featuring former special forces agent Simon Peake. 

Peake is living in the country near a small town in Georgia when three men show up at his house offering him a bag full of cash to dispose of a body in the trunk of their car. The problem is two fold. He only knows one of the men and isn't thrilled that he brought strangers to his door to do this job. The second is that the woman in the trunk is not dead. Peake chooses to help the woman and eliminate the two strangers while the man he knows runs off. This decision sets into motion a series of violent, deadly encounters in the world of drug cartels, mob bosses, and rogue CIA operatives.

This is a well-written, fast-paced, action-packed thriller. The danger is palpable and ever present. The tension is high throughout the novel. There is also a whole lot of gruesome violence. I don't think I've read a novel before where so many bones are snapped/broken and joints are dislocated, among many other actions. I will perhaps skip any other books in this series because of the overwhelming violence. It does have an intricate plot and the violence is a natural outcome of the encounters rather than being gratuitous.

Deadly Mistake is a good choice for those who enjoy action-packed thrillers. Thanks to Boldwood Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Don't Say a Word

Don't Say a Word by Allison Brennan
9/16/25; 416 pages
MIRA Books 
Angelhart Investigations #2 

Don't Say a Word by Allison Brennan is a very highly recommended investigative procedural. In this second book in the Angelhart Investigations series they are looking into the death of a teen to determine if it was an accident or murder. Even though this is the second book in the series following You'll Never Find Me (2024), it can be read as a stand-alone novel.

Elijah Martinez’s death was officially ruled an accidental drug overdose, but his mother doesn't believe it. Elijah was an honor student and had no history of drug use. She thinks the investigation was perfunctory, and asks Angelhart Investigations to look into it. Private Investigator Margo Angelhart agrees to do so. After talking to his friends, a school counselor, and his employer, Margo also thinks something more was behind the death. When another murder happens during her initial investigation, Margo begins to suspect a connection to the drug ring that previously ran through the school.

Don't Say a Word presents a well-written, compelling, complicated, and intricate investigation in a fast paced plot. It's always enjoyable to read an investigative procedural that logically follows clues along the way while uncovering more areas of inquiry to explore. There are plenty of clues to follow and Margo realizes quickly that the danger to herself and those she is questioning is also increasing. Elijah's death is clearly connected to something sinister.  

All the characters are realistically portrayed as complicated individuals with strengths and some flaws. As a family business, Angelhart Investigations consists of Margo, an experienced P.I., her brother Jack, a former police detective, her sister Tess, who excels at research, and her mother, Ava, a former county attorney and prosecutor. Margo is tenacious, intelligent, and very intuitive. She has plenty of discernment and can really read people when talking to them. Elijah's best friend, Angie, is a well portrayed teen. 

Don't Say a Word would be an excellent choice for everyone who enjoys intricate investigations featuring a tenacious P.I. Thanks to MIRA Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Wives of Hawthorne Lane

The Wives of Hawthorne Lane by Stephanie DeCarolis
9/16/25; 368 pages
Ballantine/Bantam

The Wives of Hawthorne Lane by Stephanie DeCarolis is a highly recommended domestic drama with plenty of "Desperate Housewives" overtones that shows the deceptive side of residents in an upscale neighborhood as the plot leads up to a murder investigation. 

The novel starts with the body being found on Halloween night and  Detective Frank Olsen investigating. After this opening, there are chapters jump back in time following actions leading up to the murder with some chapters following the murder investigation and some following a couple who don't live on Hawthorne Lane.

Residents of Hawthorne Lane include:
Mark and Hannah Wilson have just moved to Hawthorne Lane. We know Hannah has a secret she's afraid to tell Mark. 
Colin and Georgina Pembrook have two teenagers, Sebastian and Christina. Georgina is the reigning Queen Bee of the neighborhood and plans all the neighborhood events.
Audrey Warrington works for a large publisher and is married to Seth, an author. She's having an affair.
Libby Corbin and her husband Bill are separated and he is seeing another woman. She owns a florist shop and has a teenage son, Lucas.
The chapters following Maggie and her abusive boyfriend Dean will eventually tie into the residents of Hawthorne Lane.

The writing is very good and the plot moves quickly. There is plenty of suspense, secrets, and twists. All the characters are well developed, have secrets, and are dealing with big issues. The narrative unfolds through the point-of-view of each character 

The biggest drawback to reading it is all the domestic abuse. It was too much for me. The final denouement makes up for some of it, along with the information DeCarolis includes after the novel. If you can handle the domestic violence, it is a well written novel. Thanks to Ballantine/Bantam for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.