I'll Tell You Everything

I'll Tell You Everything by Rebecca Kelley
1/14/25; 267 pages
Lake Union Publishing

I'll Tell You Everything by Rebecca Kelley is a so-so domestic drama.

Amy Linden is married to Jonathan and the two have a son, Gabe. Amy and Jonathan own and manage a grand mountain lodge. Twenty-five years ago Amy gave up her daughter for adoption, a secret she has kept for years. When her daughter Ramona Crawford pays Amy a visit at the Lodge, wanting to know her birth story and the identity of her biological father, it threatens Amy's current life.

The slow-paced plot unfolds from the point-of-view of Amy and Rebecca. Most of the chapters are set in the present, but some of Amy's chapters are set in the past, telling the story of what happened years ago. Quickly you will realize Amy is an unreliable narrator and she doesn't want to tell Ramona the truth. Ramona's adoptive mother has been diagnosed with cancer, which is what compels her to keep pushing Amy for the true story.

This plot moved too slowly for me and I struggled with caring about these characters. Honestly, I didn't care for either of them so I never became invested in the secrets, lies, or emotional state of the characters. It is a short novel. Thanks to Lake Union Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Cross My Heart

Cross My Heart by Megan Collins
1/14/25; 320 pages
Atria Books 

Cross My Heart by Megan Collins is a very highly recommended twisty tale of psychological suspense. This one's a winner!

Rosie Lachlan is a recent heart transplant patient who discovers that her donor’s husband is Morgan Thorne, a renowned crime fiction author. She begins messaging Morgan anonymously through a service called DonorConnect. Soon she becomes obsessed with him and believes that they could have a future together, if they ever meet. After a bad break-up a year earlier, she is ready for a new relationship. Her best friend Nina cautions her about becoming too optimistic about a relationship with him.

The more Rosie looks into Morgan and the death of his wife, Daphne, the more questions arise. It seems that there are rumors that Morgan had something to do with Daphne's death. Rosie is still looking at things through, as Nina tells her, her "Rosie-colored glasses." Half way through a plot twist occurs that changes and challenges everything.

At the beginning the narrative unfolds through the point-of-view of Rosie, with some of Morgan's voice included. Then the huge shake up happens. After you pick your jaw up off the floor and are able to breath again, the plot takes off at a terrifying gallop and is un-put-downable. You won't know who to trust, who to believe, and the twist just keep coming.

Rosie is a fully realized, emotionally complex, sympathetic narrator. You will not know, however, if she is a reliable one and as the tension rises, so will your questions about Rosie. Your belief in her will ping-pong back and forth between yes and no. At one point you will have doubts about almost every character in the novel.

The quality of the writing is spectacular. The tension is palpable throughout. The anxiety and uncertainty continue to rise while the misdirection and twists keep coming as the complex plot unfolds. Cross My Heart is an excellent novel of psychological suspense. Thanks to Atria Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Big Empty

The Big Empty by Robert Crais
1/14/25; 384 pages
Penguin Group/Putnam
Elvis Cole and Joe Pike #20

The Big Empty by Robert Crais is a very highly recommended, excellent investigative thriller and the twentieth novel in the series featuring PI Elvis Cole and his partner ex-Marine Joe Pike. For those new to the series this would work well as a standalone too.

Thomas Jacob Beller, disappeared ten years ago when his daughter Traci was thirteen. No evidence of foul play was discovered by the police and it was assumed he abandoned his family. Traci, a 23-year-old influencer with 8.2 million followers on her site The Baker Next Door, never believed her father would abandon her and she hires Elvis to find him. 

Thomas, who owned a heating and air-conditioning company with Traci’s uncle, disappeared after a service call. Elvis begins looking into the case. The evidence says Thomas was last seen at the SurfMutt hamburger stand and Elvis's visit there leads him to potential witnesses with new evidence. The inquiry also attracts some malignant attention.

Elvis is putting himself into a dangerous situation in this well-written, un-put-downable thriller. Elvis really puts himself into harms way in this outing. Expect Elvis's trademark humor and relaxed manner along with his intelligence and insight as he investigates. Joe Pike is a capable, intelligent enigma and continues to be a welcomed addition to the team.

The investigation is tension-packed, interesting, and complicated, with plenty of twists and new information uncovered along the way. The suspense increases with each flip of the page. Just when you think the case is solved, there is a big shake-up making the case even more devastating and troubling.

The Big Empty is a dynamic, exceptional investigative thriller. Thanks to Penguin Group/Putnam for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Panic

Panic by Catherine Jinks
1/7/25; 343 pages
Text Publishing

Panic by Catherine Jinks is a very highly recommended psychological thriller set in Australia.

Bronte posted a rant on social media that went viral for all the wrong reasons. Now she's a social pariah whom strangers recognize and taunt. To escape the attention and lie low for awhile she volunteers as a carer on an isolated rural property near Bathurst. For room and board Bronte will be watching Nell, a dementia sufferer, at Gwendelynne, the families isolated homestead where her Nell's daughter, Veda, runs spiritual rebirthing retreats. 

Unknown until she already arrived, Veda is also involved with the sovereign citizen movement and rejects the authority of the state. This makes Bronte's arrival a rocky introduction and events go downhill from here as Bronte begins to question her safety and the sanity of Veda and the others at Gwendelynne.

The writing is very good and credibly captures the unwanted notoriety Bronte receives over the bad choice of posting her regrettably scandalous video. Even though readers may shake their heads at her poor choices, especially in the beginning of the narrative, these details help depict her as a complex, fully realized, and sympathetic character. Since Bronte is also the narrator, this helps hold your attention as the plot unfolds. Other characters in the novel are also all portrayed as unique individuals

The start of the narrative is a little slow, but will hold your attention as you learn why Bronte wants to escape to an isolated area and are introduced to the cast of characters. Quickly you will realize that these people are odd and the tension begins to rise. Bronte's situation is tenuous and it becomes clear that she is in a problematic position. Once the action takes off it is a riveting, tension-filled, action-packed, twisty thriller.

Panic starts out as an okay novel but becomes notably better, faster, and more compelling with every page. 4.5 rounded up. Thanks to Text Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Her Prodigal Husband

Her Prodigal Husband by Becky Masterman
1/7/25; 288 pages
Severn House

Her Prodigal Husband by Becky Masterman is a recommended domestic suspense novel.

Alice Einstein, a novelist who currently writes greeting cards messages, is living with her younger sister Liesl, in Saddlebrooke, Arizonia. When Liesl's wealthy ex-husband Sam suddenly appears after being gone for ten years, Alice's first thought is he will be kicked out of the house, but she sees kindhearted Liesl welcoming him back. Sam claims he has a fatal illness, but Alice has her doubts. Sam is a known liar. Alice ends up asking hardboiled private investigator Brigid Quinn, a friend of Liesl, to look into where he has been to help get rid of him.

The characters are all fully realized and portrayed as individuals, but other than Brigid, I didn't really care about any of them which made the all ready slow moving plot crawl along. Part of the problem is that Alice is the narrator and her character grated on my nerves. She never became an interesting or compelling character to follow. Interspersed between the action are excerpts of or thoughts about Alice's writing a thriller based on the current situation. They didn't add anything to the narrative for me, other than slowing it down.

The quality of the writing is good and has an interesting plot. There are twists and some humorous moments, which the dogs often help create. The actual narrative just moved too slowly and never held my complete attention. Additionally, inserted in the narrative are opinions concerning current political views, which diminishes and dates the novel. The final denouement had some surprises.

This is a spin-off from a series featuring Brigid Quinn, when she was with the FBI, and based on her character, I'd be interested in reading those novels. Her Prodigal Husband is a decent domestic suspense novel and will perhaps work better for other readers. Thanks to Severn House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

See How They Hide

See How They Hide by Allison Brennan
1/7/25; 400 pages
MIRA Books
Quinn & Costa #6

See How They Hide by Allison Brennan is an exceptional, very highly recommended investigative thriller. Fans of the series and new readers will love this sixth novel featuring Detective Kara Quinn and Special Agent Matt Costa.

Two people are murdered in the same way and found with red poppies covering their bodies. Detective Kara Quinn and her partner FBI Agent Michael Harris are investigating the murder of Jane Merrifield in Oregon while FBI Special Agent in Charge Matt Costa and Agent Sloane Wagner are in Virginia looking into the murder of Robert Benson. As they investigate, they pinpoint Jane’s roommate, Riley Pierce, as the link between the two and other victims. Eventually they are able to interview Riley who has information about an isolated cult-like community called Havenwood in the Colorado mountains that might be the key to solving the murders.

Quinn, Costa and their mobile response team are on the case following the intricate case and as expected they all work together extremely well. Members of the team are fully realized, well-developed characters at this point for those reading the series but new readers can still appreciate the plot and investigation. Even the interaction between Detective Kara Quinn and forensic psychiatrist Dr. Catherine Jones softens.

The writing is excellent in this latest fast-paced investigative thriller. There is some backstory that tells the history of Havenwood through Riley's point-of-view and that of her mother, Calliope. The suspense rises throughout the investigation until the nerve-wracking, nail-biting end. The previous novels in the series are: The Third to Die, Tell No Lies, The Wrong Victim, Seven Girls Gone, The Missing Witness, and now book 6 See How They Hide.

See How They Hide is another superb addition to an exceptional series! Thanks to MIRA Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via Edelweiss. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

 

Sweet Fury

Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff
1/7/25; 288 pages
Simon & Schuster

Sweet Fury by Sash Bischoff is a recommended debut novel of psychological suspense.

Lila Crayne is an actress dubbed America’s sweetheart. She and her fiancé, filmmaker Kurt Royall are starting the filming of their feminist adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel, Tender Is the Night. Lila will be portraying Nicole Rider. In the novel psychiatrist Dick Rider falls in love and marries his patient, Nicole, which leads to his decline. Lila wants to flip the plot and make Nicole a strong woman and Dick the predator. To prepare for the role, Lila starts therapy with Jonah Gabriel. She claims Kurt is abusing her. Jonah, on the other hand, has been obsessed with Lila ever since they were students at Princeton. But everyone has a secret, and no one is quite who they seem.

There is no denying that the quality of the writing is very good, which kept me reading, but afterwards I had two questions to consider. The first question that begs to be asked is do we need to rewrite a classic with a feminist perspective? And the next is do long chapters following actors while filming the adaptation with shorter therapy notes and Lila's therapy musings work? For me the answer to both was not really, but I stayed with the novel basically because of the tie-in to Tender Is the Night.  

With clearly unreliable narrators and no incentive to like or trust any of the characters, there was no connection to care about any of them. Making Lila an actor filming the story made me care even less. This resulted in a well-written, but very slow moving plot until the last 10% of the novel, when everything simply explodes. The ending actually dropped my rating. I'm an outlier on this debut novel, but it ended up just average for me.

Thanks to Simon & Schuster for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.