Impostor

 

Impostor by LJ Ross
2/3/26: 304 pages
Poisoned Pen Press
Alexander Gregory #1 

Impostor by LJ Ross is a very highly recommended investigative thriller. This is the first book in the series featuring psychologist and profiler Dr. Alexander Gregory. 

Psychologist Dr. Alexander Gregory is working at Southmoor Hospital for the criminally insane and has one particularly volatile patient called called Cathy Jones who troubles him. Alex previously worked for a criminal profiling unit so it isn't a surprise when he is called in as a profiler for a murder committed in the small town of Ballyfinny, County Mayo, Ireland. There he will be assisting the local Garda, brothers Niall and Connor Byrne, to find the killer. While Alex looks at the evidence for and delves into the mind of a cunning killer, his dreams are also haunted by Cathy Jones.

The opening prologue set in 1987 will immediately grab your attention and provides background information for the infamous Cathy Jones. This also sets the atmosphere for this extremely well-written, compelling, fast-paced, and tension-packed thriller. The mystery at the heart of the investigation begs the question for the local Garda, "How could this action be from one of own people?" Alex must use his skills to show them a glimpse into what is likely happening in the mind of the killer to help them figure out suspects.

Alex is a complex, intelligent and interesting fully realized character. The other characters are also developed and given depth beyond just the perfunctory information. They work together in the investigation, uncovering several surprises with some plot twists along the way to the surprising final denouement. There is also shocking reveal at the end of the novel that will insure readers will be anxiously awaiting the next installment. First published October 31, 2019, this is a review of the Poisoned Pen Press edition being released on February 2, 2025. 

Impostor is a great choice for readers who enjoy investigative thrillers that feature a profiler. Thanks to Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Jigsaw

 

Jigsaw by Jonathan Kellerman
2/3/26; 256 pages
Ballantine Books
Alex Delaware #41

Jigsaw by Jonathan Kellerman is a very highly recommended investigative mystery. This is a satisfying 41st addition to the Alex Delaware series and those following the long-running series will welcome returning to check in with Alex, Milo, Robin and Blanche.

Psychologist Alex Delaware is contacted by Detective Milo Sturgis to assist with two cases. In the first case, Sophie Barlow, a young woman, is found dead at her kitchen table. DNA on cigarette butts indicate her ex-boyfriend, but he has an airtight alibi, so the investigation is stymied. The second case is of an old woman, Martha Joline Matthias, who was murdered and her mutilated body was found in a deep freeze.  She was a former police detective and Milo knew her. Martha was also a hoarder and her home is packed with things and envelopes of cash. During the investigation they find a tenuous connection between the victims, but the perpetrator is a mystery.

Reading an Alex Delaware novel is always a welcomed, comfortable experience. You appreciate the fact that the writing will be excellent, the characters are well-known, and the mystery/investigation will be compelling and hold your complete attention.  As fans of the series know, Milo always calls psychologist Alex Delaware, his best friend and a long-term consultant on “those cases.” The ones that are different, and these cases fit that expectation.

If you are new to the series, the character development may seem spare, but as installment 41 in the series, those who have been following the series for years deeply know these characters and their background. Reading a new installment of the series is returning to characters that are very well known while they must solve complex, unpredictable cases. 

The pace is fast, the page count low, the case intelligent, and the characters known so Jigsaw was a pleasant diversion. Thanks to Ballantine Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via . My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Good Intentions

 

Good Intentions by Marisa Walz
2/3/26; 336 pages
St. Martin's Press 

Good Intentions by Marisa Walz is a highly recommended psychological suspense novel. This slow-burning debut explores grief and obsession.

Cady has a luxury event-planning business and has been married to the man she's loved since she was seventeen. When her identical twin sister Dana suddenly dies after a car accident, Cady's life falls into a downward spiral. While deep in her grief she focuses on and becomes obsessed with Morgan, a grieving mother she briefly met in the emergency room who lost her twelve year-old son in a bicycle accident on the same day. Cady begins to stalk Morgan and deceptively inserts herself into Morgan's life. Cady's grief and obsession quickly threatens her marriage and business.

While this is a well-written novel the plot does proceed very slowly and the initial complete submersion into Cady's grief and constant internal dialogue to Dana can be overwhelming. This does allow the tension to slowly build along with trepidation over what will happen next. For anyone who has grieved the loss of a close sibling, at first Cady's grief is understandable, but quickly turns to something darker and disturbing as she obsesses over Morgan and helping her deal with her grief too. 

It is abundantly apparent that Cady is an unreliable, flawed narrator and that something unspoken is going on. The plot depends upon Cady's obsessive thoughts, which are unsettling, distorted, and untrustworthy, to create tension. Spending so much time in her mind is uncomfortable. The atmosphere becomes oppressive as the dread over what may happen next increases. The final chapter was shocking.

Good Intentions is a good choice for readers who appreciate psychological suspense novels with an unreliable narrator dealing with grief and obsession. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

We Were Never Friends

 

We Were Never Friends by Kaira Rouda
2/3/26; 288 pages
Poison Pen Press 

We Were Never Friends by Kaira Rouda is a recommended locked room thriller full of soap opera/popcorn thriller energy focused on the reunion of Theta Gamma Mu sorority sisters. 

Beth Harrison and her daughter are traveling to the luxurious renovated Palm Springs vacation home of Beth's sorority sister Roxy Callahan Gentry and her husband Ryan to celebrate the engagement of their son Zach to Beth's daughter Celeste. Also invited for the weekend are Jamie Vale, a double legacy pledge, now cardiologist and her husband Greer, and showing up uninvited is wealthy sister Amelia Dell with new boyfriend Brett. Amelia and Roxy are frenemies so a clash between queen bees is expected. Attending in spirit  is Sunny Spencer, best friend of Beth and beloved sorority sister who died their senior year.

Beth is very trepidatious about attending the orchestrated event planned solely by Roxy, and most certainly meant to affirm her reign as the queen. The first thing she notices, along with the other sisters, is how much the renovated estate resembles the resort where Sunny died twenty-five years ago. Once everyone arrives it quickly becomes clear that more is going on behind the scenes than just the engagement party and tensions along with secrets are clamoring to be released. 

I'll be the first to admit that this medley of pretentious people behaving badly is entertaining and totally held my attention. It is certainly written to be a fast-paced diverting soap opera/popcorn thriller full of people who really don't like or trust each other at all. It is full of secrets, bad behavior, tension, and a ghost or two from the past. Initially, I was surprised that only two Theta Gamma Mu sorority sisters were invited as Amelia invited herself. If it was a celebration of sorority sisters gathering for the engagement party of the children of two members, wouldn't there be a few more invited, even if they were just fodder for disasters?  

The characters are all caricatures of different types of people rather than individually developed characters. Obviously, we are supposed to support and like Beth and her daughter Celeste. Everyone else is suspect for some manner of bad behavior. We Were Never Friends was certainly written specifically for the over-the-top soap opera drama it amply provides. Thanks to Poison Pen Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

It's Not Her

 

It's Not Her by Mary Kubica
2/3/26; 352 pages
Park Row Books  

It's Not Her by Mary Kubica is a very highly recommended murder mystery/thriller. Don't miss this un-put-downable twisty thriller.

Courtney and Elliot Gray with their daughter Cass, 10, are staying in a lakeside cabin at a Wisconsin resort. Staying in a cabin up the hill are her brother Nolan and his wife and her best friend Emily, along with their children Reese, 17, Wyatt, 14, and Mae, 10. After Cass and Mae have a fun sleepover in the Gray's cabin, Mae heads up the hill the next morning. Courtney and Cass hear her scream and she runs back to Courtney. Courtney investigates and finds both Emily and Nolan murdered. The police are contacted and find the bodies along with Wyatt sleeping upstairs in the cabin. Reese is missing. This begins the investigation into who murdered Emily and Nolan and the search for Reese.

This fast-paced, well-written murder mystery will grab your attention immediately with Mae's scream and hold it throughout right to the twisty ending. The narrative is told in chapters from the point-of view of Courtney and Reese. Reese's viewpoint starts in the past, from the beginning of the vacation leading up to the murder and her disappearance, while Courtney's is present day, from the murder and through the investigation. 

Reese is a teenage girl who does not want to go on a vacation with her family. She is a fully realized character and we quickly learn her strengths and weaknesses. Reese also provides plenty of insight into her family. We know, through her, that Emily and Nolan are constantly fighting. We know Wyatt has gambling/betting problems. Reese's narrative provides plenty of character background and clues. Courtney is also a well-developed character and we can see her struggling and searching for clues concerning both the murders and Reese's disappearance.

Kubica does an exceptional job giving readers several suspects and casting doubt over almost everyone. The exceptional writing, isolated setting, unpredictability, twists, locked-room setting, overwhelming sense of foreboding, along with the mystery made this an engrossing thriller you will want to read. Thanks to Park Row Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Flack

 

The Flack by Brad Parks
2/3/26; 384 pages
Oceanview Publishing 

The Flack by Brad Parks is a very highly recommended thriller/suspense novel following a reporter turned corporate PR representative.

Curt Hinton and Angel Reddish have been best friends since college, so when Angel encourages Curt to leave his job as reporter at a dying newspaper and apply for the job as head of corporate communications at Balco, the Bay Area Logistics Company, where Angel is chief operations officer, Curt applies. With Angel's backing, he gets the very lucrative job and he and his pregnant wife Page move to a company-supplied dream house. When he arrives at Balco headquarters for his first day he discovers Angel was killed in a carjacking.

Curt with his new team is now responsible for writing the various press releases about Angel's death. When he talks to the Oakland PD he discovers Angel's death was a murder disguised to look like a carjacking, which leaves him reeling as Angel was not only his best friend, but a gregarious man that everyone liked. As he begins to integrate into the Balco corporate leadership handling the various crises, he begins to recognize that there is more going on behind the scenes than he realizes and he may be in danger.

This is an intriguing, well-written thriller that will pull you into the plot immediately. The opening scene is Angel's last minutes where, as dying, he tries to text Curt "Don’t take the job. Just run." but the text does not get sent. While you may have to set some disbelief aside, many of the plot points seem based on headlines you could encounter today, including corporate corruption and coverups. On the job Curt has to handle a variety of problems, including the threat of unionization and a scandalous video. There are other things as well.

Curt is a realistic, well-developed, intelligent character with both strengths and weaknesses. As head of communications, his background as a reporter becomes very useful, sometimes in unexpected ways. Curt seemingly makes some enemies along the way. There are antagonists embedded in the corporation or it's allies that are incredibly evil and predatory.

The Flack is a great choice for those who enjoy thrillers that read like a movie. Thanks to Oceanview Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Wolf Hour

 

Wolf Hour by Jo Nesbø, Robert Ferguson (Translator)
2/3/26; 400 pages
Knopf Doubleday

Wolf Hour by Jo Nesbø is a very highly recommended crime novel set in Minneapolis Minnesota during two time periods. Robert Ferguson is the translator of the English edition I read 

In 2016 Minneapolis police detective Bob Oz gets the call and meets his partner Kay Myers at the scenes of the attempted murder of a gun dealer. He determines the gunman is a sniper and his main suspect is Tomás Gomez, a former hit man who also has a tragic personal story.  Soon the investigation turns into the hunt for a serial killer but Oz is suspended as he deals with anger issues and trauma. His potential witnesses included Mike Lunde, a taxidermist, who Oz befriends.

In 2022 Norwegian crime novelist Holger Ruch travels to Minneapolis to research for his new true crime book. He is researching the Gomez case, and wants to get into the mind of a policeman of Norwegian descent, Oz. He is looking into all the places Oz went while investigating.

Nordic noir writer Nesbø has given us another extremely well-written, atmospheric, intelligent crime novel which encompasses both a psychological thriller and character study. Telling the story through the two timelines works well. The main timeline in 2016 is where most of the novel is set as the 2022 present day true crime writer looks back and relates the events that occurred then from the viewpoint of the narrator. The plot is engaging and compelling as a flawed man looks into the mind of a serial killer and actually finds similarities to his own life. 

Bob Oz is an antihero and deeply flawed. He has anger management issues, drinks too much, is lonely, has been sleeping with many women, and is suffering from a great trauma. He also has a strong sense of justice, even to the point of bending the rules. He gets suspended, but, nevertheless, he continues to work the case. The killer is intelligent and also suffering from loneliness and trauma. Bob's ex-wife Alice, a psychologist, tells him, “Trauma arises when you lose someone you thought you would be spending the rest of your life with.”and "The trauma is the wound. But the loneliness that comes with it locks you to your trauma.”

The plot is full of twists and there are some real surprises along the way. A minor note that Nesbø does judge American culture and politics in the plot, which Americans can easily ignore as he is Norwegian. He excels at portraying moody, lonely, and flawed, but intelligent characters in psychological thrillers so the cultural/political opinions are minor annoyances.

Wolf Hour is an excellent choice for those who enjoy Nordic Noir. Thanks to Knopf Doubleday for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.