Good Girls Die Bored

 

Good Girls Die Bored by Elizabeth Little
8/4/26; 448 pages
Ballantine 

Good Girls Die Bored by Elizabeth Little is a highly recommended thriller which opens with: "My name’s Juno Hardwick—and I’m here to save your life."

Juno is an ex–military intelligence officer who is now working as a private security specialist in LA.  As she would tell you, "one woman's generalized anxiety disorder is this woman's superior situational awareness." Currently that means she is using her skills as a bouncer at Mr. Tansuman's bikini bar. She also cares for and stays with her sister Cassie, a tech specialist, at her home in Altadina. Cassie is in the midst of a breakdown/deep depression brought on by their father's death. Juno is watching a suspicious customer along with bartender Danny when Min-jung Ecklund, ex-CIA officer and her friend, shows up at the bar.

Min owns and runs a security firm with Gabe Haddad, formerly with the FBI. She wants to hire Juno to assist with a 3-day job at a charity gala. Circumstances open up her availability and Juno accepts the offer because she needs the paycheck. She joins her new teammates, Harry, Ethan, and Bianca to assist Min and Gabe on the job. They will be protecting first Amendment rights advocate and  Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Maelle Ruiz, who brings her own team that are filming all of them for a documentary. It becomes clear immediately that they are not prepared for this job, which quickly becomes more dangerous and escalates from there.

This well-written thriller is a highly character based and all the characters are portrayed as fully-realized unique individuals bring their own set of special skills and secrets to the job. Juno is the character who holds the whole novel together. She may not always be likeable, but you will understand that she is irascible, excels at situational awareness, is highly intuitive, has superior observational skills, and is trained in physical combat. You will also understand that Juno is the only character you can trust. She is highly flawed, but trustworthy.

This action-packed thriller starts out moving. When the security detail is in place and on the job it becomes clear that they aren't as prepared as they should be and the tension begins. As the action hits a high-octane pace, it keeps moving right up to the multiple surprising twists at the end. In some incidences toward the end the pace is so fast moving you may lose track of motives. The tension remains throughout due to immediate threats. Sometimes the threats are combined with suspicion over the motives of team members. The final denouement surprised me.  It would be wonderful to see Juno explode on the scene into another security detail someday, perhaps with the narrative tightened up a bit.

Good Girls Die Bored is a great choice for readers who appreciate fast-paced thrillers with a very flawed, but capable main character. Thanks to Ballentine for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

One of the Family

 

One of the Family by Mark Edwards
8/4/26; 336 pages
Atria Books

One of the Family by Mark Edwards is a very highly recommended psychological thriller set in the Scottish Highlands where a man meets his girlfriend's dysfunctional family along with a lifetime of their secrets. It is clear right from the start that this isn't going to be a warm, inviting family reunion. Mayhem and murder quickly follows.

Patrick Tolhurst, 36, is going to meet the wealthy, powerful family of his girlfriend Holly Grant, 36, at their palatial estate in Applecross in the Scottish Highlands during Hogmanay/New Years Eve. Holly and Patrick are the first to arrive, meeting Morag Hamilton, 36, the housekeeper who used to be friends with Holly's when they were all teens. She has a daughter, Avril, 18, and her mother is Brenda, the landlady of the Bay Inn Pub. Arriving soon after Holly are her siblings, Lewis, 37, and Miranda, 39, along with her husband Zack who works for their father and is treated like his son. Their mother passed away nineteen years ago. Their father, Charles Grant, 61, is the millionaire owner/founder of Gravitas, a computer hardware company.  

Charles arrives last with his fiancee, Jasmine, 34, who looks just like their deceased mother, and the hostility is palpable. The tense atmosphere is thick enough to cut with a knife at the start and then explodes.  Jasmine seems nice to Patrick, but Miranda has a sharp tongue, a bad attitude, and voices her aggravation to everyone. Patrick is thrust right in the middle of this viper’s nest so he escapes to the pub where he learns about the death of Samir Anand, who was found frozen by the caves. He is told by Brenda that there was another death at the caves when Holly was young. 

As an independent film maker, he is intrigued and considers making a film about the death of Samir, which was unsolved. When he talks to the one policewoman living there, Susan Williams, about the death, she warns him off noting that people around there have long memories and they bear grudges. At this point, the narrative begins to have some chapters which jump back in time to 2006, a consequential year on several levels. At the estate Patrick also overhears several conversations that indicate some nefarious plans afoot. And then someone is found dead.

This is a well-written, fast-paced psychological thriller focusing on a plot to murder the patriarch’s younger fiancée, but quickly expands to a nightmare encompassing all manner of sinister, toxic behavior. I figured out one twist early, and then quickly realized Edwards dangled that easy connection before uncovering the much more complicated, tangled web of deceit, lies, and history between these people. The setting, including the harsh weather and mysterious caves, add to the heightened sense of impending danger.

It seems all of the characters are portrayed as realistic, flawed individuals. They all have secrets and appear to be untrustworthy. The only one who seems guiltless is Patrick, simply because, other than Holly, he's never met any of these people before. The rest of them all have multiple reasons to resent and distrust each other. Dysfunctional families seem the norm among these complex characters. Patrick was easy to trust and support because of his position as an outsider. The novel starts out very good, and then the plot picks up, takes several twists, u-turns, surprises, and sudden discoveries, propelling it to excellence.

One of the Family is an excellent choice for those who enjoy psychological thrillers featuring very dysfunctional families. 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 Amateur

 

The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian
8/4/26; 336 pages
Knopf Doubleday

The Amateur by Chris Bohjalian is a highly recommended literary domestic drama and coming-of-age story following an accidental death.

In August of 1978 at the Tallmadge Country Club in Westchester County, N.Y., a small tear in the practice netting allowed a golf ball going 140-150 mph to rip through the netting and slam into the right side of the head of 17-year-old caddy Kenneth Foster causing an epidural hematoma and death. Mira Winston, an 18-year-old LPGA hopeful, was the one responsible for driving the ball that accidentally hit Kenny into the practice netting. While everyone initially agrees it was an accident, Mira is shaken to the core by the death and decides she will not be going on to attend Yale in a few weeks. In fact, Mira also never plays golf again. She is also having an affair that started when she was 15-years-old with a 47-year-old married man Theo Catton during this time

The novel is written in the form of a candid memoir by Mira as an adult looking back at that time of her life. She talks about her affairs with older men, and her mother's affair. She discusses what happens when Kenny's father discovered her affair with Theo and then told her parents. She claimed it started when she was already 18, but looking back now it is clear she was a victim. Mira honestly shares about her drug use, trying to escape reality. The news of the affair gets out and everyone seems to turn against Mira. Mira is eventually part of the civil case over Kenny's death.

Mira is an aggressively complicated and disagreeable character. It is extremely difficult to like her. She was being taken advantage of and abused by a predatory man whether she realizes it or not. In the novel she is currently an adult and author of over 25 books who is now looking back at events that happened many years ago. The narrative covers self-destructive behavior, a trial, abuse, post-traumatic stress, familial dysfunction, self-medication, and self-doubt. 

While the quality of the writing is exceptional, I'll admit while I was reading the novel was rated lower. The plot is a more even-paced character study, and Mira is an unlikable character throughout the novel. The focus on her affair didn't exactly ring true to what a teen girl would be thinking and feeling, so, in my opinion, you can easily tell a man wrote this story during certain scenes/descriptions.  What raised my rating was the final denouement and the epilogue in this morally complex narrative. 

The Amateur is a good choice for readers interested in a literary coming-of-age tale following a complicated, unlikable main character. Thanks to Knopf Doubleday for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.   

The Women in White

 

The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen
8/4/26; 304 pages
St. Martin's Press 

The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen is a highly recommended historical fiction thriller with chapters set in the early 1960s and today. It focuses on four young women participating in fictional novel parapsychology experiments in 1964.

In 1964 the psychology department at Marquis University is run by professor Silas Trimble. The Trimble institute is conducting para-psychological experiments testing for four psychic abilities: precognition, telepathy, psychokinesis, and clairvoyance. Undergraduate Betty Sadler takes part in a study along with three other young women, Kathleen, Ivy, and Helen. As the experiments on their abilities continue they become increasingly intrusive, controlling, and abusive.

In the present day Riley Bell is a nurses aide, but her divorce left her broke and homeless. Riley accepts a caretaker job for an elderly wheelchair bound widow named Betty for the better pay and it's a live-in position. Betty's home decor is stuck in the 60's, and she clearly hasn't left it for years. Riley quickly learns that Betty is quite capable and simply needs help with shopping. When Betty asks Riley to help her find her old friends from years ago, it seems all the files from the Trimble Institute in 1964 are missing. Riley's inquiries open up secrets from years ago and, it seems, a present day danger.

There is no doubt that this is a well-written and compelling novel. The subject matter will grab your attention. Chapters alternate between the experiments conducted on the women in the 1964 and Riley and Betty in the present day. The experiments detailed in the book are loosely based on the secret psychological testing and parapsychology experiments really conducted years ago (think MK Ultra). Pekkanen opens each chapter with excerpts from real documents and journals, and also details them in notes at the end of the novel. I appreciated the research that went into the novel's subject matter.

Part of the challenge with the narrative is switching between two time periods. It might have made more sense to present the novel in two parts, with the first following the plot in the 1960s and part two set in the present day with Riley helping Betty uncover what happened to her friends. I felt like Riley was under developed as a character.

Following the women being controlled and abused by the misogynistic doctor in 1964 became increasingly annoying while reading. They all just listened to him, obeying orders, allowing him to do what ever he wanted without pushing back or just walking away. I understand that this is based on behavior of very young college aged women, late teens or early 20's, in the 1960's but not having at least one of the characters say no and leave is very hard to believe. Not everyone would have been a doormat during that time period. It's also a bit unbelievable that one of the husbands didn't step in and say enough. The endings in both time periods were a little too abrupt and/or predictable. 

The Women in White is a good choice for those interested in stories exploring early para-psychological experiments. 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.

A Perfectly Normal Childhood

 

A Perfectly Normal Childhood: (and other lies I tell myself) by Jason Ramshaw
3/30/26; 202 pages
Jason Ramshaw publisher 

A Perfectly Normal Childhood: (and other lies I tell myself) by Jason Ramshaw is a very highly recommended, entertaining collection of 33 essays organized chronologically. 

The first two parts into the third will find you laughing and smiling while reading them. The later essays are still entertaining but take a different, more thoughtful direction and pull everything together showing the patterns and systems in everyday life which emerged with more clarity as you get older. Actually observing, learning to read the room, and recognizing patterns can go a long way.

In these well-written essays Ramshaw demonstrates that he does indeed, much like David Sedaris, know how to tell a story and make it entertaining but also impactful. The collection is organized into four parts with a preface and an afterword. Part One: The Cul-de-Sac years, stories 1-9; Part Two: The High School Years, stories 10-16; Part Three: The college Years and Beyond, stories 17-25; and Part Four The Examined Life, essays 26-32.

The Cul-de-Sac years are delightful and hilarious. Ramshaw clearly demonstrates that he had the entrepreneurial spirit at an early age when, for example, at 9 years-old he started a newspaper with 11 subscribers or when he organized the Neighborhood Olympics. He showed his confidence to succeed winning the spelling bee (as someone who was out early with "vegatable" I'll admit jealousy) and writing a winning pro-life essay.  Even though he may have been called "kind of annoying" along the way, he persisted, even surviving the 8th grade experiment in absurdity.

Events turn more serious and real in the worst and best day of his life. He expounds in these stories on things like his open kiosk law, which requires seeing the door no one else is walking through and considering what his soul is asking, knowing the answer may be in pieces. This leads up to The Examined Life where life lessons are shared, for example on being fully present in conversations and listening, contemplating contributors and receivers, and the importance of language. There are a couple essays on personal annoyances (handkerchiefs and singing happy birthday.) The final piece brings it all home to a satisfying conclusion.

A Perfectly Normal Childhood: (and other lies I tell myself) is an excellent choice for those who enjoy reading essays/personal stories. Thanks to Jason Ramshaw for providing me with an advance reader's copy via LibraryThing. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Girl Who Lived

 

The Girl Who Lived by Morgan Greene
7/31/26; 396 pages
Bookouture
Detective Alexandra Marshall #1

The Girl Who Lived by Morgan Greene is a highly recommended murder mystery/investigative thriller and is the first book in a new series featuring Detective Alexandra (Alex) Marshall from Washington states special investigations department.

The small town of Newport, WA, has two dead women with tarot symbols cut into their skin and their chief of police, Madeline (Maddy) Bell is missing. Alex Marshall requests the files and takes off for Newport, asking technicians Kevin Hsu and Dana Garcia to meet her there. Even though Alex's Captain Thomas (Tom) Doyle is concerned about her being on this specific case, she assures him that she will be able to handle it. His concern is because this could be the same killer who brutally tortured Alex twelve years ago, leaving her for dead with a tarot symbol carved into her skin too.

Once she arrives, Alex finds a small police department with young inexperienced officers Pendlebury, trench coat man, and Boon. The only experienced officer left is Tyler Hale who works with his dog Millie to track the killer. The two have found Maddy's jacket with a slash and blood on it but no sign of her.  John Bell, former police chief and Maddy's father, is ever present, clashing with Alex at every turn, and inserting himself into the investigation. The clock is ticking, the killer is intelligent, and Alex has a personal stake in finding him before he kills again.

The writing is excellent as it creates a sinister, oppressive atmosphere in the rain drench forests while keeping the tension high. The opening scene in the novel is chilling as it depicts a lone survivor, mortally wounded, barely alive, and dumped with other bodies. In between the action are documents relating to Alex's personal experience and recovery. As the investigation is underway it becomes clear that Pendlebury is contacting John Bell with information uncovered and what Alex is looking into. Hsu and Garcia are keeping Tom Doyle up to date on how Alex is doing.

Alex is an intelligent, insightful investigator but she is also a very troubled, damaged woman, both physically and mentally. This investigation is personal and she is determined to find the killer and bring him to justice at all costs. Since this is the start of a new series, I expect further character development of both Alex and the supporting characters in the next book.

The Girl Who Lived is a great choice for anyone who enjoys atmospheric murder investigations and would like to get in at the start of a new series. Thanks to Bookouture for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Nebraska Avenue

 

Nebraska Avenue by Vincent Rubino
6/22/26; 246 pages
Atmosphere Press

Nebraska Avenue by Vincent Rubino is a delightful, nostalgic, very highly recommended coming-of-age novel set during the Bicentennial summer of 1976 and follows a group of paperboys.  I enjoyed every part of this excellent novel. 

Thirteen-year-old Artie Mooney and Wally Tazowski are best friends and Newsday paperboys who live on Nebraska Avenue in the neighborhood called "The States" because all the streets are named after U.S. states. It's located in North Bay Shore, Suffolk County, on Long Island. When a new family moves into a house on Nebraska Avenue (where the despicable Billy Sullivan used to live), the two meet their new neighbor, fourteen-year-old Vinny Perino. 

The three boys quickly make friends, add a third to practice baseball with and have Vinny sign up for an open route with Mr Raviola to deliver the Newsday newspaper. Artie and Wally help Vinny find a milk crate to strapped to his bicycle handlebars and hold the newspapers. Vinny, in turn, finds a group of friends with the paperboys, including Artie, Wally, Franco, Gabby, Lenny, and Curtis. When it seems a burglar is targeting homes on Vinny's route, Corporal Tim Benton and officer Jon Owens question Vinny. Benton believe Vinny, but Owens seems to have a grudge against paperboys.

This is a well-written, well-paced, wonderful, and enjoyable journey back to 1976 that can be humorous and nostalgic, but also includes some shenanigans and a crime to solve by the paperboys. I loved the way the characters interacted with each other and made plans. This is the perfect novel I needed to read this summer right before the 4th of July. Rubino includes all sorts of details based on the time period, when kids were out on their bikes or walking everywhere without a whole lot of supervision. (During this time I would have one of the older sisters annoyed by the kids.) 

The character are all portrayed as realistic, unique individuals with strengths and weaknesses. It is easy to tell them apart because they all have their own distinctive style and personality. The dialogue and discussions between them is realistic because Rubino is recalling his memories of the time period and his friends. He also captured the homesickness you can feel when moving into a new area, even as a child, which I totally understand. 

Nebraska Avenue is an excellent choice for everyone who enjoys coming-of-age stories in a historical setting that also include humor. I really love this novel. Thanks to Atmosphere Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.