Thriller Reviews: NONE OF THIS IS TRUE & DARK CORNERS

August 7, 2023/10 Comments/by Suzanne

Happy Monday! I hope everyone is doing well. I’m struggling to believe we’re already eight months into the year. My son actually goes back to school this week even though it seems like he just got out. He’ll be starting his junior year and hopefully driving soon, so it’s a busy and exciting time around here. I’m still reading lots though and have started pivoting a bit to some thrillers as we march toward spooky season. Don’t worry, I’ll still have plenty of romance reviews to share. I’m just getting back into the headspace where I can read these darker reads too and I’m excited to finally be at that point. Today I’m sharing my thoughts on thrillers from two of my favorite authors. I love that they both featured podcasters in their latest novels.

None of This Is True Goodreads

Author: Lisa Jewell

Publication Date: August 8, 2023

Publisher: Atria Books

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I’m a huge fan of Lisa Jewell’s addictive psychological thrillers so I was beyond excited to get my hands on an advanced copy of her latest novel, None of This is True. And wow, what a ride this book was. I think it may be her most twisty thriller yet!

The story follows Alix Summers, a popular podcaster who has shot to fame with her compelling interviews with women who have overcome tremendous odds to create new lives for themselves. One night while she is out celebrating her 45^th birthday, she runs into a woman named Josie Fair, who happens to be there celebrating her 45^th birthday as well. Birthday twins! The two women spend a couple of minutes chatting and go back to their respective celebrations. Alix thinks nothing else of it, but Josie becomes fixated on Alix and orchestrates a “chance” meeting with her at her kids’ school. Josie has decided that she would be a great candidate to be interviewed on Alix’s podcast and seeks to persuade Alix to her way of thinking. Once she convinces Alix that her story would really be great to take her podcast to the next level, Josie then begins to systematically insert herself into every aspect of Alix’s life. Who is Josie and what in the world is she up to?

Josie starts off as just this kind of sad, quirky character but the more we follow her and listen to the stories she tells Alix, the more disturbing and creepy I found her to be. I think I became as fixated on Josie as she was on Alix. She made me super uncomfortable but at the same time, I was completely fascinated by her and wanted to know what she was really up to.

I love Jewell’s brand of storytelling anyway, but I felt like she really kicked this one up a notch and tried some new things with this book that really worked well for me. I was an especially big fan of her use of excerpts from Alix’s podcast as well as the Netflix documentary that covered the whole experience. I thought those elements provided the perfect teasers to entice the reader to keep turning those pages. Jewell also brilliantly uses the unreliable narrator in this story. It was nearly impossible to distinguish fact from fiction, and the story kept me guessing until the very end. The novel is aptly named, that’s for sure!

If you’re in the mood for an addictive psychological thriller that is like nothing you’ve read before, definitely check out None of This is True. It was my favorite read in July and I’m sure it will be on my end of year favorites list as well. 5 STARS

Dark Corners (Rachel Krall, #2) Goodreads

Author: Megan Goldin

Publication Date: August 8, 2023

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Megan Goldin is an author I always know I can count on for an excellent read so I requested a review copy of her latest thriller, Dark Corners, without even reading the synopsis. I was thrilled to start reading it and realized that it features Rachel Krall, the protagonist from The Night Swim, my favorite book from Goldin so far. Don’t worry if you haven’t read The Night Swim yet because Dark Corners works well as a standalone. That said, definitely go back and read it though because it’s fabulous!

Rachel Krall is a badass. She is a true crime podcaster who has become a household name because even though she has no experience in law enforcement and is not a detective, she has been able to solve cases that law enforcement agencies have not. Her instinctive investigative skills and her no nonsense attitude have grudgingly earned her the respect of the various agencies, including the FBI who has called her in to assist on the case that is the focus of this book.

Following Rachel as she puts together the pieces of a case was the most riveting part of The Night Swim for me and this was also the case here. It’s fascinating to see her mind at work and to follow her train of thought as she investigates. This case, which focuses on a social media influencer who goes missing after paying a visit to a serial killer in prison, was especially interesting to follow as it takes Rachel into the world of influencers and even to an influencer convention, giving a sneak peek into that world and its narcissistic nature. Golden always weaves plenty of twists and turns in her novels to build suspense and when an unexpected twist actually puts a target on Rachel’s back, I couldn’t put the book down until I knew how that was going to play out.

I read the e-book and listened to the audio version of this book and highly recommend the audio since many excerpts from Rachel’s podcast are woven into the story. While it was fine to read those excerpts on the page, the audiobook really enhanced my reading experience.

I don’t want to say anything else for fear of spoilers, but with Dark Corners, Megan Goldin has delivered another addictive and suspenseful read and I can’t wait to read more from her. I also hope this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Rachel Krall! 4 STARS

Review: THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED by Lisa Jewell

September 12, 2021/20 Comments/by Suzanne

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell
Also by this author: Watching You, The Family Upstairs

Published by Atria Books on September 7, 2021
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 416
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

I’m a big fan of Lisa Jewell’s storytelling so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her latest mystery, The Night She Disappeared. I knew I would be in for a wild ride and I was not disappointed.

It’s 2017, and 19 year old Tallulah and her boyfriend have left their baby with Tallulah’s mom, Kim, while they go out for a much-needed night on the town. When they don’t return home, Kim becomes frantic because it’s just not like Tallulah to be irresponsible. After calling all her daughter’s friends and learning only that Tallulah had decided to go to a party at Dark Place, a mysterious house in the nearby woods, Kim decides it’s time to call the police. The police investigate but there’s just no sign of either of them, dead or alive.

Two years later, Sophie moves to the same town. Sophie’s husband has just taken a job as headmaster at a local boarding school and they’ll be living in a house on campus. One day while wandering in the woods around the school, Sophie comes across a note affixed to a tree that reads “DIG HERE.” The note looks pretty new so, intrigued, Sophie does as instructed, unaware that she is about to uncover new evidence in Tallulah’s missing persons case.

My favorite part of this story is how Jewell lets the pieces of this mystery come together through dual timelines. The 2017 timeline shows us both the lead up to what ultimately happens with Tallulah and her boyfriend, as well as the initial police investigation as witnessed through the eyes of Kim, who is determined to find out what happened to her daughter. I was so heartbroken for Kim because I just can’t even imagine how she could go on from day to day, raising her grandson alone and wondering everyday what had become of his mother. I was also very sympathetic to Tallulah herself because it becomes clear she had some pretty major issues that she was dealing with up until the time of her disappearance.

The second timeline, which Sophie really kicks into motion with her digging, focuses on what the new evidence brings to light as Sophie decides to do a little sleuthing on her own. Sophie is an author of cozy mysteries who is currently suffering from writer’s block so she goes into this thinking it might help inspire her to write. She has no idea what she is getting herself into as she slowly starts to put together the pieces and gets closer to the truth than anyone has gotten thus far.

It’s definitely a slow burn when it comes to learning the fate of Tallulah and her boyfriend, but the journey is filled with plenty of twists and turns, riveting drama, ever increasing suspense and tension, and a wonderfully intricate plot that will keep you guessing until the very end. I’ve read four of Jewell’s thrillers so far and The Night She Disappeared is my favorite. I read it in a single day and just could not put it down until I had answers, which is what I look for in a great mystery. If you’re looking for a read that will keep you turning pages until the wee hours of the morning, The Night She Disappeared is the book for you.

About Lisa Jewell

Lisa was born in London in 1968. Her mother was a secretary and her father was a textile agent and she was brought up in the northernmost reaches of London with her two younger sisters. She was educated at a Catholic girls’ Grammar school in Finchley. After leaving school at sixteen she spent two years at Barnet College doing an arts foundation course and then two years at Epsom School of Art & Design studying Fashion Illustration and Communication.

She worked for the fashion chain Warehouse for three years as a PR assistant and then for Thomas Pink, the Jermyn Street shirt company for four years as a receptionist and PA. She started her first novel, Ralph’s Party, for a bet in 1996. She finished it in 1997 and it was published by Penguin books in May 1998. It went on to become the best-selling debut novel of that year.

She has since written a further nine novels, as is currently at work on her eleventh.

She now lives in an innermost part of north London with her husband Jascha, an IT consultant, her daughters, Amelie and Evie and her silver tabbies, Jack and Milly.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Review: THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS by Lisa Jewell

October 28, 2019/18 Comments/by Suzanne

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell
Also by this author: Watching You, The Night She Disappeared

Published by Atria Books on November 5, 2019
Genres: Mystery, Thriller
Pages: 352
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

THE FAMILY UPSTAIRS Review

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell is one of the most riveting thrillers I’ve read so far this year. What I love about Jewell’s novels is that she does such a tremendous job of creating tension, building suspense, and weaving in enough twists and turns to keep me guessing all the way to the big reveal. What especially drew me to The Family Upstairs was the promise of a domestic drama filled with dark family secrets and Jewell does not disappoint.

I was immediately immersed in the seemingly unrelated lives of her three main characters and couldn’t wait to see how Jewell ultimately brought them all together and had their lives intertwine. Twenty-five year old Libby Jones is one of the three main characters. When the novel opens, Libby has just unexpectedly inherited a mansion worth millions from her birth parents, who died when she was an infant. When Libby learns some of the mysterious circumstances surrounding her parents’ deaths and what had been going on in the house prior to their deaths, including whisperings about a cult and about some missing children, she becomes determined to learn the truth about her parents and thus begins to investigate. Libby is a sweet, likable character and I completely understood why she wanted to know the truth about what happened to her parents. It has been a huge hole in her family history for 25 years now that needs to be filled.

In addition to Libby, the story also unfolds from the perspective of two other characters, Lucy and Henry, who on the surface, appear to have no connection whatsoever to Libby. When we meet Lucy, she is living on the streets with her two children. As we follow her, we start to learn more about her past and about how she has ended up in the desperate spot she finds herself in. When we meet Henry, he seems a little off, like he might be struggling with some sort of mental health issue. He spends much of his time dwelling on his own past and the fact that his parents fell victim to scammers and lost their (and by extension, his) fortune. As with Libby, I found myself completely invested in these character’s lives and desperately wanting to know how Libby, Lucy, and Henry would fit together by the end of the book.

I loved how Jewell kept me guessing throughout the story. Every time I thought I had established a connection or figured out an identity, she would throw a monkey wrench into my hypothesis and I’d have to rethink things. I also loved having the creepy house where people died and all of its surrounding mystery in the background as well. There was plenty of suspense and atmosphere and, at times, the story read as part psychological thriller, part domestic drama, with a side of horror thrown in.

If creepy houses, mysterious deaths and disappearances, and dark family secrets pique your curiosity, Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs is a must-read for you.

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone and Watching You comes another page-turning look inside one family’s past as buried secrets threaten to come to light.

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

About Lisa Jewell

Lisa was born in London in 1968. Her mother was a secretary and her father was a textile agent and she was brought up in the northernmost reaches of London with her two younger sisters. She was educated at a Catholic girls’ Grammar school in Finchley. After leaving school at sixteen she spent two years at Barnet College doing an arts foundation course and then two years at Epsom School of Art & Design studying Fashion Illustration and Communication.

She worked for the fashion chain Warehouse for three years as a PR assistant and then for Thomas Pink, the Jermyn Street shirt company for four years as a receptionist and PA. She started her first novel, Ralph’s Party, for a bet in 1996. She finished it in 1997 and it was published by Penguin books in May 1998. It went on to become the best-selling debut novel of that year.

She has since written a further nine novels, as is currently at work on her eleventh.

She now lives in an innermost part of north London with her husband Jascha, an IT consultant, her daughters, Amelie and Evie and her silver tabbies, Jack and Milly.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads