The Playground by Jane Shemilt
HarperCollins: 12/30/19
advanced reading copy; 384 pages
ISBN-13:
9780062939425
The Playground by Jane Shemilt is a highly recommended domestic drama.
Set in London, the lives of three very different couples and their children intertwine and become toxic in The Playground. Eve
has a healthy trust fund and is married to Eric, a landscaper. They
have three children, Poppy, 11, Sorrel, 6, and Ash, 3. Melissa is a
successful interior designer married to Paul, an abusive, cruel banker.
They have one child, Isabelle (Izzy), 13. Grace is an immigrant from
Zimbabwe who is married to Martin, a one-time successful English
writer. They have two children, Blake, 11, and Charley, 9. The family
lives on the 13th floor in a high-rise housing project and Grace is the
sole provider for them.
The families meet when Eve becomes certified to teach children with
dyslexia. She did this to help Poppy, but decides to offer classes to
help other children while helping her daughter. Two other families pay
for the tutoring: Grace and Martin for Blake, and Melissa and Paul for
Izzy. On the first day of classes, the die is cast and all the children
are together. Blake's sister Charley is allowed to stay and Eve's two
youngest are also home. The families become involved with each other,
resulting in an illicit relationship. And no one is really watching the children and their secret games.
The novel opens with foreshadowing that something terrible is going
to happen and clearly the combination of these three very different
families is toxic. Truly, this is a novel populated by very unlikable,
self-involved and delusional characters, with the exception of Grace who
is the only one who is working hard and therefore not around early
enough to see warning signs. Her husband Martin is a slouch, allowing
her to shoulder the load. Eve annoyed me to no end, with her mantra that
children need freedom to run free, unstructured and unwatched. I
understand allowing unstructured play time, but that doesn't mean
unobserved. Melissa allows her husband to abuse her and doesn't seem to
realize her daughter is watching this behavior. But, make no mistake,
someone is watching and the children know more of what is going on and
have secrets of their own.
Obviously, the writing is very good, especially when it elicits such
strong emotions. Shemilt does a satisfying job developing her characters
and their points-of-view in the multiple narratives. We hear from Eve,
Melissa, Grace, and Izzy. There are a few twists that might distract
your attention, but Shemilt provides enough ominous indications that
most readers are going to know what is going on long before the
denouement.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins
Good Girls Lie by J. T. Ellison
MIRA Books: 12/30/19
eBook review copy; 464 pages
ISBN-13: 9780778330776
Good Girls Lie by J. T. Ellison is a highly recommended psychological thriller.
The
Goode School is a prestigious girls prep school located in the
small town of Marchburg, Virginia. It accepts only the best and the
brightest students and is considered the premiere prep school for
daughters of the wealthy and influential. Graduating from Goode means
admission to an Ivy League college. When new sophomore student Ash
Carlisle arrives from the U.K. she, with full knowledge of the Dean, is
trying to keep her identity and the recent tragedy in her past quiet, a
seemingly impossible task in a school full of over achieving girls. Ash
wasn't prepared for mean girls, cliques, secret clubs, and hazing. When
there is a death in the school, numerous secrets, lies, and rumors begin
to surface.
Good Girls Lie has all the standard components of a great
Gothic novel. We have secrets swirling about the school. There are
plenty of stories of murders and hauntings in the school and on the
grounds. We have groups of students with insufferable attitudes,
secrets, cruel rules, and bad behavior. And the whole shebang is set on
old grounds and in a building with secret passageways and deadly
stairways. If a Gothic novel set at a girls school full of secrets
sounds intriguing, you will likely enjoy Good Girls Lie.
With the exception of Ash, the characters are in many ways, standard
caricatures. In this case, that isn't bad because it works in this
novel. Ash is a sympathetic character, at first, and then she does begin
to grate on the nerves, and then things change again. And there are so
many secrets from so many people. The narrative is told through multiple
points-of-view, some of which are flashbacks to the past. The
alternating points-of-view increases the suspense and allow insights
into the character's motivations and secrets.
The writing is very good. The plot is complex and full of twists;
some of the twists will surprise you, some will keep you guessing, and
some can be predicted. The novel does begin to go on just a bit too long, but in the end, Good Girls Lie is a satisfying, entertaining read that ends in a surprising, but fitting, denouement.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of MIRA Books.
The Wives by Tarryn Fisher
Graydon
House Books: 12/30/19
eBook review copy; 336 pages
ISBN-13: 9781525809781
The Wives by Tarryn Fisher is a very highly recommended psychological thriller.
"Thursday’s husband, Seth, has two other wives. She’s never met
them, and she doesn’t know anything about them. She agreed to this
unusual arrangement because she’s so crazy about him.
But one day, she finds something. Something that tells a very
different—and horrifying—story about the man she married. What
follows is one of the most twisted, shocking thrillers you’ll
ever read."
This is one twisty twisted thriller. Just when you think you know
what's going on, you'll discover that you are wrong - repeatedly. And
you're going to be riveted to the pages the entire time, thinking you
know all the secrets, before you find out you actually don't have a
clue. And after you are done reading it, you're going to ask yourself,
"What just happened?" It is true that you'll want to go into this
thriller not knowing too much. Allow Thursday to tell you her story, and
follow her through the fast-paced plot.
The Wives was my first novel by Tarryn Fisher and I was impressed. The
writing is quite good and Fisher does an excellent job allowing just
enough details to be revealed along the way, until things change and
change again. You will feel empathy for Thursday although doubts about
her reliability as a narrator will start to creep in as she tells her
story. Things become a bit surreal during the second half of the novel,
but keep reading. 4.5 stars rounded up and I'll be looking for more
Tarryn Fisher novels.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Graydon
House Books.
If You Tell by Gregg Olsen
Thomas & Mercer: 12/1/19
eBook review copy; 428 pages
ISBN-13:
9781542005234
If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood by
Gregg Olsen is a very highly recommended true crime story of an
abusive, murderous dysfunctional family. This is a difficult novel to
read as it depicts a tyrannical woman and the horrible control, abuse, and torture she inflicted on others.
In Raymond,
Washington, Shelly Knotek ruled and controlled
her third husband, Dave, and her three daughters through her words and abuse. Nikki, Sami, and Tori Knotek experienced, witnessed, and, ultimately, survived their mother's horrific control, degradation, torture, and physical and mental abuse of her whole family and two other adults. They endured belittling, verbal abuse, numerous beatings, control of bathroom usage, forced naked time, being hosed off outside, and bleach baths, to just name some of the torture. "Shelly was Cujo. Freddy Krueger. The freaky clown, Pennywise, from It."
In telling of their horrific abuse, Olsen talked to the three sisters, Dave Knotek, and their grandmother, Lara.
The experiences of the girls are told in short chapters, covering
Shelly's problems and indications of her mental illness from a child to
adulthood. This is not an examination of Shelly's mental illness. It is a
compelling account of the survivors. This is the story of the girls,
what they endured, observed, and how they finally managed the fortitude
to go to the authorities and tell them the horrors of their life with
their mother.
Once I started reading this account, even though I knew the girls
survived, I had to finish it. I had to see how the girls escaped. It is
much to my chagrin that no one from the public schools noticed a problem
until much later and then let it go when they talked to one of the
girls and she denied it. What would they expect from an abused child?
And when Nikki and Lara actually told the police, the first time, the
investigation was not pursued. It wasn't until the older sisters
discovered Tori was being abused that they tried to get the authorities involved again, with the backing
of their grandmother, Lara.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Thomas & Mercer.
Shatter the Night by Emily Littlejohn
Macmillian: 12/10/19
eBook review copy; 320 pages
ISBN-13:
9781250178329
Detective Gemma Monroe Series #4
Shatter the Night by Emily Littlejohn is a highly recommended mystery/police procedural and the fourth book in the series featuring Gemma Monroe.
On Halloween night in Cedar Valley, CO, Detective Gemma Monroe,
fiancé, Brody Sutherland, and their daughter, Grace, stop by the law
office of an old family friend, retired Judge Caleb
Montgomery. After admiring costumes, Caleb talks to Gemma privately and
gives her a stack of threatening letters he's been receiving. Shortly
after Gemma and her family leave, the judge's car explodes - with him
inside. Gemma and her team immediately begin investigating suspects and
motives, including the judge's past rulings from when he was on the
bench. As the investigation continues, another man is murdered and the
case becomes more complicated with perhaps decades old roots.
The plot flows smoothly as you follow the various threads of the
investigation and the inquiries made as the team strives to find the
killer in this adeptly written mystery. Part of the pleasure is in
following working mom Gemma juggle the complex investigation and the
needs of her family. All the characters, including the minor ones, are
developed and come across as real people. Every little tidbit of
information uncovered could be an important lead or a false trail as the
tension slowly built through the novel. The culmination of the
investigation was satisfying after plenty of suspects were considered
and rejected.
Shatter the Night can certainly be read as a stand-alone
novel. This is my first Gemma Monroe novel and I could very easily
follow the plot and the backstory. I also liked the character of Gemma
quite-a-bit and look forward to entering her world again someday.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Macmillian.
The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters
Crooked Lane Books: 12/10/19
eBook review copy; 280 pages
ISBN-13:
9781643851631
The Dead Girls Club by Damien Angelica Walters is a so-so debut psychological thriller about secrets from the past.
In 1991 twelve-year-old Heather Cole and her best friend Becca Thomas
formed a Dead Girls Club with two other girls. In the club Becca told
the other's stories about serial killers and ghosts, but she especially
focused on telling an elaborate ongoing ghost story about the Red Lady.
Becca began to believe the Red Lady was real. The club ended when Becca
died - by Heather's hands. A body was never found, but Becca's drunk, abusive mother went to prison for the murder.
Heather is now a child psychologist and has kept her secret for
years, so she is shocked when someone sends her Becca's half of their
"best friends" necklaces. No one knows what happened back in 1991, but
now it seems that someone knows something, and they know Heather killed
Becca. The anonymous "I know what you did" threats continue, and Heather
panics and becomes obsessed with identifying who is trying to frighten
her.
The narrative follows two different time lines: Heather's torment in
the present day and the girls and ghost story in 1991. The 1991
flashbacks and the Red Lady story drags on and on far too long. We get
it. We understand kids with secrets. I ended up skimming through much of
the Red Lady stories because - whatever. The present day chapters,
although more interesting to follow, basically just serve to highlight
Heather's instability and obsession. While it is understandable for her
to be shocked over receiving the necklace, that in and of itself proves
nothing. Her immediate jump to assuming someone knows something rather
than just throwing it away or, when another event occurs, contacting the
police, makes absolutely no sense. Document and report the torment.
Those friendship necklaces are nothing unique.
The character development is lacking. Heather's whole terror-filled
inner torment over the fact that someone might know something almost
thirty years later feels fabricated and falls short. We get no sense of
her as an adult before we are subjected to her manic falling apart and
making poor choices. I'm afraid I didn't feel any tension or terror
building, rather I kept mumbling "call the police" while watching her
mental breakdown. The ending... well, that clinched it for me and took
the rating down. There are numerous better stories out there of
childhood secrets coming out years after the fact.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Crooked Lane Books.
Lost Tomorrows by Matt Coyle
Oceanview Publishing: 12/3/19
eBook review copy; 368 pages
ISBN-13: 9781608093632
Rick Cahill #6
Lost Tomorrows by Matt Coyle is a highly recommended noir whodunit featuring a troubled private investigator and the sixth book in the series.
San Diego P. I. Rick Cahill receives a phone call learning that his
former partner on the Santa Barbara Police Department, Krista
Landingham, is dead. When Rick goes to the funeral, his past is ever
present and thrust into his face by the officers attending the funeral.
His wife, Colleen, was murdered in the city and Rick was considered
guilty by the police, but certain key people, like his former partner,
knew he could not have been the guilty party. Now Leah, Krista's sister,
wants Rick to assist another P.I. and look into her sister's death. She
thinks Krista's death was murder, not an accident. Rick soon begins to
wonder if Krista's death is somehow linked to Colleen's death because she had just reopened and started investigating the cold case.
This is my first Rick Cahill mystery and I could easily follow the
backstory of the first person narrative without reading the other books
in the series. What happened in his past is either explained if it is
important to the plot and/or hinted at if it involves his character and
background. The premise is set up immediately and the action escalates.
The case is carefully presented and you can follow the twists and leads
clearly as the investigation unfolds. The chapters are short and
concise, helping move the plot along quickly.
Rick is a well-developed character and Coyle presents all his
strengths and flaws. He is likely clinically depressed, but he is also
an intelligent, attentive investigator who will follow any leads. Rick
shows vulnerability and a hesitation to open himself up to any
relationship as he doesn't think he deserves any happiness. This book
could easily entice readers to read the previous books in the series to
try an unlock more of what caused Rick's damaged psyche.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Oceanview Publishing.
