Weekly Recap #36: Week of 1/14 – 1/20
/28 Comments/by Suzanne
It’s time for another weekly recap post of all things happening on and off the blog. This week I’ll be linking to the Sunday Post, which is hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and to Stacking the Shelves, which is hosted by Tynga’s Reviews.
Unfortunately I’m not off to the greatest start on my resolution to get more organized and schedule my posts far in advance. Hopefully today will be productive, but as of right now, I have only two posts scheduled for the rest of the month. Usually I’m a little better off than that, but someone unexpectedly quit at work last week and there was endless drama about it that followed me home each night and I just couldn’t focus on writing anything. Thankfully we’ve come up with a game plan to move forward until her replacement is found, so hopefully now I can buckle down and really work on my goal.
That said, I have managed to finish reading all of my January ARCs and am writing the last of the reviews today so I guess I am doing better at staying on top of my ARCs so far, lol.
I’m thinking of following in the footsteps of several of my fellow bloggers and just doing mini reviews for most of the backlisted books I’m reading. Unless I have a lot to say about a pre-2018 book, I like the idea of just making the review short and sweet and moving on, saving my lengthier reviews for ARCs and 2018 releases. I’m thinking/hoping it will allow me a little more time to focus on things like discussion posts, which I really want to do more of this year.
On the non-blog front, I had this random nostalgic moment and started rewatching the old Party of Five series on Netflix. I had forgotten how much of a crush I had on Matthew Fox, lol. And the new season of Grace and Frankie dropped this weekend too, so I can’t wait to dive into that. Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda are just comedy gold in that series. Love it!
Oh well, time to start working on reviews and posts to schedule! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
WHAT I POSTED LAST WEEK
- [14 Jan] Weekly Recap #35: Week of 1/6 – 1/13
- [15 Jan] A Quiet Kind of Thunder by Sara Barnard ★★★★½
- [16 Jan] Top Ten Tuesday – My Top 10 Bookish Goals & Resolutions for 2018
- [17 Jan] Can’t Wait Wednesday: Spotlight on GOODBYE, PERFECT from Sara Barnard
- [19 Jan] UNSUB by Meg Gardiner ★★★★★
WHAT I’M READING THIS WEEK
UPCOMING REVIEWS
STACKING THE SHELVES
TOTALLY RANDOM
Book Review: UNSUB by Meg Gardiner
/24 Comments/by SuzanneAlso by this author: Into the Black Nowhere
Series: UNSUB #1
Published by Dutton on June 27th 2017
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 366
Also in this series: Into the Black Nowhere
Source: Purchased
Amazon
Goodreads
MY REVIEW:
Meg Gardiner’s UNSUB is my first read for the 2018 Beat the Backlist Challenge and I have to say I don’t think I could have possibly picked a better book to start with. UNSUB is a riveting serial killer thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last, and not only that, but it will also have you screaming for the next book in the series because it ends with a cliffhanger that will blow your mind.
UNSUB follows a cold case that features a serial killer called The Prophet that appears to have been inspired by the Zodiac Killer. The Prophet terrorized residents of the San Francisco Bay area for several years, leaving behind a trail of bodies, each with the ancient symbol for Mercury etched into its flesh, and accompanied by cryptic messages that were seemingly impossible to decode. Not only did The Prophet excel in committing increasingly gruesome murders, but he also took immense pleasure in playing mind games with both the families of the victims and with local law enforcement, particularly the lead investigator on the case, Mack Hendrix. The Prophet was never caught, but he left a trail of wreckage in his wake, including Mack Hendrix, who lets the killer get too far into his head and ends up in a psych ward for six months. By the time he is released, his career and his marriage are over, and his relationship with his daughter Caitlyn appears to be on the same path.
Fast forward more than twenty years and bodies suddenly start turning up in the Bay area again, complete with the Mercury symbol and more cryptic messages. All signs point to either a return of The Prophet or else they have a copycat killer on their hands. It’s all hands on deck to stop the killer as soon as possible, only this time it’s not Mack Hendrix on the case. Instead, it’s his daughter, Caitlyn Hendrix, who like her father, has joined the police force. Caitlyn is a rookie cop who typically works in narcotics, but because she possesses extensive knowledge of The Prophet’s original case, as well as access to the biggest resource of all, her father, she ends up being assigned to the new case.
Caitlyn immediately seeks out her father, but he is understandably reluctant to help. This case has already destroyed his life once and he doesn’t want to let it in his head again. And he most certainly doesn’t want The Prophet to target his daughter and ruin her life as well. Caitlyn chooses to ignore her father’s pleas that she stay far away from the case. She is determined to capture this killer and bring him to justice, not just because of all of the murders he committed, but also because he haunted her childhood and destroyed her family as well.
Is this killer actually The Prophet returned or are the police just dealing with a clever copycat? Whoever it is, can Caitlyn find and stop him? And most importantly, can she work the case without letting this killer get inside her head, thus avoiding the mistakes her father made?
There’s so much to love about this book. Serial killer cases have always fascinated me, as do shows like Criminal Minds, where so much emphasis is placed on behavioral analysis and building profiles of the killers law enforcement is trying to catch. In many ways, UNSUB reads like an episode of Criminal Minds, which made it a great fit for me.
I loved the pacing, the constant building of suspense as more and more bodies piled up, along with more and more of those cryptic messages. The author’s use of those messages was actually one of my favorite parts of the book. At times, I felt just as desperate to decipher them as Caitlyn and her team did. There was something so familiar about them, yet their overall meaning felt just out of reach, and it was maddening at times but, man, did it keep me turning the pages!
Caitlyn Hendrix was also a big draw for me. I really liked this character and thought Gardiner did a wonderful job fleshing her out and giving her more depth than I was initially expecting from this kind of book. She’s smart and tough, with great instincts for her job, but then there’s also a touch of vulnerability to her because of the way The Prophet case has impacted most of her life and strained her relationship with her father. I loved the exploration of the father-daughter relationship that we get throughout UNSUB too. I think it adds a layer of emotional depth to the story without distracting from the serial killer case itself. That personal touch really took the book to the next level for me and made it a much stronger read than if it had been a straight procedural.
That cliffhanger ending! I’m kind of kidding here because the cliffhanger in UNSUB is actually brilliant, but I just hate cliffhangers so much. Thankfully I was approved for an ARC of the second book in the series so I was able to jump right in and continue this gripping story.
UNSUB is truly an outstanding read. If you’re into serial killer thrillers, you won’t want to miss this one!
GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:
A riveting psychological thriller inspired by the never-caught Zodiac Killer, about a young detective determined to apprehend the serial murderer who destroyed her family and terrorized a city twenty years earlier.
Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject—the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case.
The Prophet’s cryptic messages and mind games drove Detective Mack Hendrix to the brink of madness, and Mack’s failure to solve the series of ritualized murders—eleven seemingly unconnected victims left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh—was the final nail in the coffin for a once promising career.
Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession.
Determined to decipher his twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father’s warnings as she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder. Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood? Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father’s mistakes and redeem her family name, or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss?
About Meg Gardiner
Meg Gardiner is a bestselling, Edgar Award winning author. A former lawyer and lecturer at the University of California, she’s also a three-time Jeopardy! champion. Born in Oklahoma, she grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and lives in Austin.
China Lake won the 2009 Edgar award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Paperback Original. The Nightmare Thief won the 2012 Audie Award for Thriller/Suspense audiobook of the year. Phantom Instinct was named an O, the Oprah magazine, “Best Books of Summer.”
Meg’s latest novel, UNSUB, has been bought for development as a major television series by CBS.
Find Meg on Facebook: Facebook.com/MegGardinerBooks Twitter: @MegGardiner1 and Instagram: @Meggardiner1.
Can’t Wait Wednesday: Spotlight on GOODBYE, PERFECT from Sara Barnard
/30 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in for over a year now, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll just be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is Goodbye, Perfect by Sara Barnard. I’m excited for this book because I just finished my first book from Sara Barnard last week, A Quiet Kind of Thunder, and fell in love with the way she develops such amazingly realistic characters and with the way she writes about friendships. I was ecstatic to learn that she has another book coming out and that I only have to wait a few weeks to get my hands on it!
GOODBYE, PERFECT by Sara Barnard
Publication Date: February 8, 2018
From Goodreads:
When I was wild, you were steady . . .
Now you are wild – what am I?
Eden McKinley knows she can’t count on much in this world, but she can depend on Bonnie, her solid, steady, straight-A best friend. So it’s a bit of a surprise when Bonnie runs away with the boyfriend Eden knows nothing about five days before the start of their GCSEs. Especially when the police arrive on her doorstep and Eden finds out that the boyfriend is actually their music teacher, Mr Cohn.
Sworn to secrecy and bound by loyalty, only Eden knows Bonnie’s location, and that’s the way it has to stay. There’s no way she’s betraying her best friend. Not even when she’s faced with police questioning, suspicious parents and her own growing doubts.
As the days pass and things begin to unravel, Eden is forced to question everything she thought she knew about the world, her best friend and herself.
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂