The Patient

The Patient by Jane Shemilt
5/3/22; 320 pages
William Morrow

The Patient by Jane Shemilt is a recommended novel of domestic suspense.

Set in Salisbury, England, Rachel Goodchild is a doctor, her husband Nathan teaches at an elite private school and their 24 year-old daughter Lizzie is a librarian. When French architect Luc Lefevre comes to her practice for a consult concerning his depression, Rachel is immediately attracted. She meets him again when his wife throws a party at their restored a historic home in Rachel’s neighborhood.The attraction between her and Luc continues at the party and turns into an affair. At the same time her daughter Lizzie is increasingly distant and hostile toward Rachel and Nathan has grown progressively more remote. Adding to her uneasiness are the footsteps and the feeling that someone is following Rachel all the time.

This is a slow-moving novel that really never picks up speed until the end. We know that Rachel is being held for committing some crime at the beginning but reaching more information about what happened and why is slow to be revealed. The story of the beginning of her affair with Luc seems related to the crime. It also becomes obvious that a whole lot of people are lying about something. The key to everything is knowing who is lying and the clues crawl to the resulting ending. This isn't a psychological thriller as much as it is a novel of domestic suspense.

Although it is an interesting story, it is not quite as suspenseful as one would hope. Readers are required to follow every thought that Rachel has in order to follow the plot. It is really about an affair and requires you to buy into all the excuses for a 49 year-old doctor to start up an affair with a younger patient. I know you are expected to approve of their relationship but there really is no reason given to do so. Neither are appealing characters. The events leading up to the ending are not especially intriguing and the ending is a little over the top and beyond belief. It is technically well written and the plot is thought provoking.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of William Morrow.

Traitor

Traitor by David Hagberg
4/26/22; 240 pages
Forge Books
Kirk McGarvey #27

Traitor by David Hagberg is a highly recommended thriller and the 27th and final novel in the Kirk McGarvey series.

Otto Renke, the CIA chief of electronic surveillance, has been arrested, charged with treason and quickly whisked away to be held in a secret location. His best friend, Kirk McGarvey (Mac) and his wife Petey fly in from Japan to clear Otto's name and support his wife, Mary. In the meantime, Otto is  being interrogated by a homeland security agent. Someone or some foreign agency is clearly targeting Otto and must be stopped. Sadly Otto's computed, named Lou, is unable to be accessed for help. The real traitor must be found in order to clear Otto.

As the 27th novel in the series, I admittedly felt like I was several steps behind in knowing the players and their background in this series. It is still an enjoyable thriller and provided plenty of tension and suspense. There is enough information provided to follow along with the characters current situations as well as their back story. No concrete information is giving about the evidence that is being used to charge Otto, but aside from that, Mac and Petey are fighting other intel agents while trying to prove Otto's innocence. This was at times a rather slow moving thriller but it still held my attention throughout.  I somehow haven't read any of the previous novels in the series, but Traitor has convinced me that it's time to start at the beginning of the series and work my way to this final novel.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Macmillian

The Wrong Victim

The Wrong Victim by Allison Brennan
4/26/22; 464 pages
MIRA
Quinn & Costa #3

The Wrong Victim by Allison Brennan is a very highly recommended procedural and the third book in the excellent Quinn & Costa series.

In Friday Harbor on Washington’s San Juan Island a bomb explodes on a charter cruise killing 9 people. The boat was piloted by retired FBI agent Neil Devereaux. FBI special agent Matt Costa and LAPD officer Kara Quinn, who’s on loan to the FBI, along with other members of his Mobile Response Team are on the scene to investigate the bombing and try determine if one of the passengers was the target or if it was an action planned by a local environmental group who has been protesting the charter boat company.

The Wrong Victim is another winning procedural in the Quinn & Costa series which started with The Third to Die and Tell No Lies. All have been five star reads. Everything I love about a great procedural is here. The writing is exceptionally good and will hold your attention throughout the whole novel. The action-packed plot presents a detailed, intricate and engrossing investigation that follows the clues and discoveries as they are found. Readers get to follow along with the investigation as the agents and detective uncover more information. Yet again Brennan has written a sophisticated novel that demands you closely follow the clues and action in the plot.

The characters are all written as real people with their own issues and flaws. There are plenty of suspects and tension among team members. The Wrong Victim does require that you pay attention while reading to keep track of all the characters and their actions. This would also work as a stand alone novel as enough backstory is expertly included to provide the information you need. Another winning procedural that is sure to make my list of top procedurals of the year.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of MIRA.

The Children on the Hill

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon
4/26/22; 352 pages
Gallery/Scout Press

The Children on the Hill by Jennifer McMahon is a very highly recommended chilling, creepy, and intense psychological thriller. This is a must read!

In 1978, psychiatrist, Dr. Helen Hildreth treats patients at the Hillside Inn, her psychiatric hospital in Vermont. Living with their grandmother are Violet “Vi” and her brother, Eric. One day Gran brings another child home, Iris, a sister for them. The two are instructed to help her and so they take the new girl under their care. They invite her to join their Monster Club, where they keep a notebook of all kinds of monsters and how to defeat them. As Vi explains to Iris, monsters are everywhere.

In 2019 Lizzy Shelley (formerly Vi), a researcher and host of the podcast Monsters Among Us, travels to Vermont where it is reported that a young girl has been abducted by Rattling Jane, a legendary local monster. Lizzy has spent her life looking for monsters because she knows they exist. And she knows her sister is one of them.

Alternating between the two time periods, 1978 and 2019, this exceptional novel follows childhood memories and recent events as it ramps up the tension and the stories in the two timelines eventually connect. Among the chapters are excerpts from The True Story of the Hillside Inn, a book written about what happened at the Hillside Inn, passages from the children's notebook, The Book of Monsters, and the thoughts of the monster being hunted. All of these various sources of information are presented in a unique individual style.

Although the overwhelming issue is who is the monster and what happened forty years ago, the characters are all developed according to their ages. You are going to have questions though, and will want answers which will be eventually answered. The atmosphere is tense throughout as you compulsively keep reading to discover more information, clues, and hopefully, answers to the many questions you will have.

Inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this is a suspenseful, compelling, and intense psychological thriller that will keep you glued to the pages until the end. The writing and presentation is absolutely perfect. It is not a re-writing of the original Frankenstein but is a unique story on its own. McMahon will keep your attention throughout while you try to figure out what is real, what is imagined, and what is really going on in both time periods. There are a couple of completely surprising twists that stunned me. The Children on the Hill is a winner.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Simon & Schuster.

Marrying the Ketchups

Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close
4/26/22; 320 pages
Knopf Doubleday

Marrying the Ketchups by Jennifer Close is a recommended family drama.

The Sullivans are a Chicago restaurant family who are all under crisis. Bud, the patriarch and founder of JP Sullivan’s is thrilled when the Cubs win the world series and then he dies 23 minutes later. Adding to their distress is Trump being elected president, and concern about the family matriarch Rose, who is in an assisted living facility. The novel focuses on Bud's three grandchildren.  Gretchen, a lead singer for a 90's cover band is reassessing the direction her life is taking after a breakup and heads home. Her older sister, Jane is sure her husband is having an affair and is questioning her entitled lifestyle and her marriage. Their cousin Teddy is the manager who would like to take over JP Sullivans and is wondering why his ex keeps showing up at the restaurant.

Marrying the Ketchups is a very character-driven novel which requires that the characters all be portrayed as realistic and unique individuals, which Close does very well. Readers will be interested in following their lives and will feel invested in what happens to them. The characters all experience growth as they adapt to the changes they encounter along the way. The situations and problems all the characters are experiencing are basically commonplace occurrences. Family dynamics, transitions, and grief all play a large role in the novel. The writing shines in the depiction of the characters.

The plot is rather slow paced without a whole lot of drama aside from the normal family interactions. Don't expect a huge twist or surprise. Much of your enjoyment may hinge on how much you enjoy family dramas and, more predominately, how much very polarizing political talk you can accept in a novel. Unless you are writing historical fiction this dates the novel immediately as occurring during a specific time period. There are pros and cons to this and generally I caution an author to keep their ardent personal political/social views to themselves as it diminishes and dates the novel. Other than the immediate division the political aspects take, Marrying the Ketchups is an engaging examination of a family.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Knopf Doubleday.

Watch Out for Her

Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey
4/19/22; 336 pages
Simon & Schuster

Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey is a recommended domestic psychological thriller.

Sarah and Daniel Goldman have just moved across the country from Vancouver to her husband Daniel’s hometown of Toronto. The move was made to get as far away from their nanny, Holly Monroe, as possible. Holly's stepmother and father set up the job as babysitter for Holly, a 22 year-old medical student. The family adored her as did 6-year-old Jacob, until Sarah saw something that made her change her mind, something bad enough to send her family moving across the country. When Sarah finds hidden cameras in their new rental house, she is sure Holly placed them there to spy on them. Sarah, who has a difficult time trusting people, had nanny cameras set up at their home in Vancouver and she actually took pictures of Holly while watching her at home through a window.

Tension does build incrementally as the details in the plot unfold, creating suspense. Chapters alternate between the point of view of present day Sarah and Holly in the past. Sarah's chapters cover what is happening to torment her and her family now while Holly's cover what happened that led then to move. Readers won't know exactly what Sarah saw that was so awful they had to move until later in the novel. The alternating chapters work in this novel to propel the narrative forward and I did keep reading to the major twist at the end.

Both women are keeping secrets from each other as well as others. Neither Sarah nor Holly are particularly likable appealing characters which does make it a challenge to keep reading at times. They are both suspicious and prone to doubts, fears, and obsessions. For me this is an enjoyable but average domestic thriller.

Several things didn't ring true at the start of this novel. The obvious question is what 22 year-old med student would agree to babysit a normal, healthy 6 year-old for the summer? Even if daddy wanted to encourage it because he liked Daniel, it seemed simply inane. And then saying it would be a good addition to a resume is even more absurd. Snap out of it, Holly. Just say no, tell your evil stepmom that she can babysit, and I'm sure you could get a real job. And if daddy Monroe really owned pharmaceutical firm, why would he want his daughter who is supposed to join the family business to be a nanny even if evil stepmom wanted it? This is a totally unbelievable plot point but it is essential for the premise of the novel. There are a couple other details in the plot that will have careful readers rolling their eyes.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Simon & Schuster via NetGalley.

Kingdom of Bones

Kingdom of Bones by James Rollins
4/19/22; 464 pages
HarperCollins
Sigma Force Series #16

Kingdom of Bones by James Rollins is an action-packed, heart-stopping, un-put-downable thriller and the sixteenth addition to the Sigma Force Series. This one's a winner!

A UN relief team in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been overrun by nature running amok when floods send refugees to the camp who swiftly reach a catatonic state. Quickly following this, the camp is then overrun by violent attacking ants. After being bitten people can rapidly notice the effects. Because something is changing in the evolution of insects and animals the fear is that it could be the start of a pandemic so members of the Sigma Force team (Gray, Monk, Kowalski) are sent in along with former Army Ranger Tucker Wayne and Kane, his dog. Before they even reach the camp to rescue them from the ant armies, it is attacked on several different fronts, human and animal, and doctors are taken as prisoners. Quickly a mission for information and support becomes a rescue mission fraught with danger.  It is discovered that part of the answer may lie in the legendary Kingdom of Bones.

Kingdom of Bones starts at a gallop and this fast pace is nonstop until the end. Once you start reading it is impossible to put down. The new characters introduced for this adventure are all wonderfully interesting and capable or decidedly evil. The writing, as expected, is extraordinary, both in structure and execution. The plot is entertaining and frightening while the threats against the team are non-stop. This is one of my new favorite Sigma Force novels. I've read almost everything Rollins has written, however this is the first time he had me sobbing so hard I couldn't see and had to concentrate to pull myself together because I could not stop reading. When you read Kingdom of Bones you'll know when this scene happens. (I silently cursed him for this part.)

Rollins has had viruses and threatened pandemics in his plots before so this should be nothing new for long time readers, although it is understandable why he had second thoughts about it this time. I am thrilled that he continued to write the novel because it is incredible and everything anyone could want in a Sigma Force novel. As expected he has an informative Author's Note to Readers: Truth or Fiction section at the end of the novel, which I always appreciate and find informative.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins via Edelweiss.