Tag Archive for: tracy buchanan

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Inmate & Secrets Between Friends

December 15, 2022/11 Comments/by Sharon

Happy Thriller Thursday! Sharon here, and this week I am happy to share my thoughts on Freida McFadden’s new book, The Inmate and Tracy Buchanan’s new book, Secrets Between Friends. I really enjoy both of these authors and I am happy to report their new books did not disappoint.

Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Inmate & Secrets Between Friends

The Inmate Goodreads

Author: Freida McFadden

Publication Date: June 13, 2022

Publisher: Hollywood Upstairs Press

I love how Freida McFadden always keeps me guessing with her books and The Inmate was no different.

Brooke Sullivan is a nurse practitioner who is starting a new job at a men’s maximum-security prison. No one knows that Brooke knows one of the inmates, Shane Nelson. Shane was convicted of three grisly murders eleven years ago and it was Brooke’s testimony that helped convict him. Brooke and Shane were high school sweethearts. Right after the trial Brooke left town and is only back now because her parents died in a car crash. Brooke has a ten-year-old son, Josh, and unbeknownst to anyone, Shane is the daddy. Shane is still maintaining his innocence and has warned Brooke to watch out for Tim Reese, Brooke’s childhood friend. Brooke is now starting to doubt her memory of the events of the night of the murders. Could she have gotten it wrong? Is Shane really innocent?

Wow! This book had me all over the place on who I believed and who I didn’t. There is not a lot I can say without giving anything away. This story was told in a dual timeline, alternating between the night of the murders eleven years ago and the present. I loved having the story presented this way because it just kept me guessing. Things would happen in the present day chapters and then we would get a chapter in the past and that would make me think I was sure I knew what really happened, but then something else would happen that would make me rethink everything. I love how McFadden had me all over the place.

I really liked all the characters in this book as well. Brooke did annoy me at times with her naïve thinking, but I loved how she wanted to make sure she righted any wrongs she may have done. She was also a great mother to Josh and would do anything to protect him. I even liked Shane even though I couldn’t truly trust that he was innocent. Brooke’s childhood best friend, Tim was another character that I couldn’t truly trust. I was more suspicious of him than I was of Shane. Lol!

I know I didn’t really say much about what happens in this book, but I don’t want to spoil anything. The Inmate was full of twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end. And oh what an end it was! If you are looking for a read that will keep you on your toes, then definitely check this one out. 4 stars

Secrets Between Friends Goodreads

Author: Tracy Buchanan

Publication Date: October 25, 2022

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Tracy Buchanan’s newest book Secrets Between Friends follows Liz Barrowman, a divorced postal worker, who has recently moved back to her small hometown of Easthaven with her two teenage daughters. Twenty years ago, Liz left Easthaven to escape the memory of a tragic event that happened at Lakewell Manor, the home of her best friend, Tamsin Lakewell. Tamsin has also just returned to Lakewell Manor after the death of her mother, but when she sees Liz she acts like she does not remember her or what happened that fateful night. Liz realizes something is not right with Tamsin and as she starts to dig around, she not only brings the memories of twenty years ago that she has been trying to forget to the surface, but she also puts her life, one of her daughter’s life and Tamsin’s life in jeopardy.

This book is told in an alternating dual timeline. We get to see the events from twenty years ago unfold up to the night of the tragedy that took place. And in the present-day timeline, we follow Liz as she tries to figure out what is going on with Tamsin and all the while trying to keep the secrets of that night from being uncovered. I loved having two mysteries to figure out, one being what really did happen twenty years ago and the other being what is up with Tamsin. I did pretty much figure out what was going on with Tamsin, but it took me until about halfway through the book and, once I did, I became very concerned for Liz’s safety.

This book had a lot of unlikeable characters. It seemed everyone Liz had contact with in the present day went out of their way to be mean to her. Especially her mother. OMG! I hated that woman. When Liz moved back to Easthaven with her daughters, she had to move in with her mother and I do not know how she could stand it. Her mother was just so cruel. It made me love and sympathize with Liz so much more. I liked Liz’s determination to find out what was going on with Tamsin, even when it got to the point that she was going to have to tell what happened at Lakewell Manor twenty years ago.

While I did figure out the Tamsin mystery, the events from twenty years ago kept me guessing. And then just when all was revealed, a plot twist took it in a new direction. I love when that happens.

Secrets Between Friends was an engrossing, fast paced read that had me on the edge of my seat until the end. 3 ½ stars

Thriller Thursday Reviews: Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow & Trail of Destruction

October 21, 2021/18 Comments/by Sharon

Hi there everyone! It’s me Sharon, back with another addition of Thriller Thursday. I hope everyone is doing well and getting some great reading done in this spooky season. 🙂 This week I am very excited to share my thoughts on Christina Henry’s amazing new book, Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow and Tracy Buchanan’s great new mystery, Trail of Destruction.

Thriller Thursday Reviews: Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow & Trail of Destruction

Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow Goodreads

Author: Christina Henry

Publication Date: September 28, 2021

Publisher: Berkley Books

I have always loved the tale of the Headless Horseman, so I was very excited to read Christina Henry’s Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow. And I am very happy to report that this book did not disappoint. This has everything I have grown to love with Christina Henry’s books.

Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow is not a retelling of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, but more of a continuance of what happened after. The story takes place 20 years after the Headless Horseman drove Ichabod Crane from town and is centered around Brom Bones’ 14-year-old granddaughter Bendix, or Ben as she is called. Ben’s parents died 10 years ago, and she has been raised by her paternal grandparents, Brom and Katrina. Ben may have been born a girl, but she sees herself as a boy, much to her grandmother’s dismay. Her only friend is a boy named Sander. The story opens as Ben and Sander are playing Sleepy Hollow Boys in the woods and come across a group of men from town who have discovered the mutilated body of a boy with his head and hands missing. Not long after, one of Brom’s sheep is killed and its head and hoofs are missing and then another boy is found murdered with his head and hands missing as well. Is this the work of the Headless Horseman? Or is there something more evil lurking in the woods?

I loved Ben. She had such strong determination to be the person she wanted to be and not who society thought she should be. When Ben discovers that she was not told the real circumstances surrounding her father’s death, she takes it upon herself to uncover the dark secrets that lurk in the woods. Ben is a Van Brunt and Van Brunts are not afraid of anything. I loved how even though Ben tried to be tough and brave, there was a vulnerable side to her as well. Ben also feels a connection to the Horseman, she can hear the Horseman whisper to her and can hear the thump, thump, thump of his horse and to me that just added to the mystery of the story. Why does Ben have a connection with the Horseman?

I also loved the relationship Ben had with Brom and Katrina. Ben adores Brom and wants to be just like him. But it is Ben’s relationship with Katrina that really pulled at my heart strings. They have always had a rocky relationship. Katrina wanted Ben to wear dresses and learn to sew and be the girl she was born to be, but Ben wanted to wear pants and ride and play in the woods and be the boy she feels she should have been born as. Ben was sure Katrina did not love her but when push came to shove and Ben was threatened by some local townsmen, Katrina stepped right in front of Ben to protect her. It was then their relationship took a different turn and Ben saw Katrina through different eyes.

I loved the way Henry presented the story with keeping to the original story and adding her twists to it. I loved the eerie and creepy feeling with the woods and the added threat of what else was lurking around besides the Headless Horseman.

If you are looking for a great book to finish out the spooky season, I definitely recommend Christina Henry’s Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow. 4 ½ stars

Trail of Destruction Goodreads

Author: Tracy Buchanan

Publication Date: September 21, 2021

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

The gossips of Forest Grove are back with a vengeance in Tracy Buchanan’s great new mystery novel Trail of Destruction.

Ellie Mileham has always been a problem solver. She loves the challenge, so when she took over being the moderator of Forest Grove’s local Facebook group, she figured she would have no problems at all. But no sooner does she take over then a prankster starts trolling the group. Whenever one of the members would complain about something on the group post, the prankster would retaliate. At first the pranks are harmless, but they suddenly turn violent and it becomes clear that this person needs to be stopped before someone is killed.

I love how Buchanan slowly increases the tension of the pranks. At first, someone complained about people not picking up their dog’s poop, so the prankster put a bag of dog poop through their mailbox. Another complaint about people not bringing in their trash cans right away prompted the prankster to pull everyone’s trash cans onto his property. But then when a complaint was made about fireworks, someone dropped firecrackers through their mailbox which caused a fire. And then the woods were set on fire while a couple of teenagers were making a video in the woods. With each incident and then the reaction from the residents of the village, I could feel myself cringing for what would come next.

This book is full of unlikeable characters and it worked so well. Oh, the pettiness of these people! If they were not complaining about something, then they just were not happy. And oh, don’t get me started on how fast they would turn on their neighbors. One minute they would be saying nice things about them, and the next the gossip would start flying. It was just so fun to watch. I am so glad my neighbors are not like that. LOL!

I did like Ellie though. She was going through a lot in her life. She has two teenage children, her husband of 20 years left her 3 months ago for another woman, and her mother had a nervous breakdown a few years ago and is living in an elderly facility at the edge of town. When she finds some threatening letters her mother received years ago, she starts digging into the history of Forest Grove to find out who would do such a thing and Ellie soon learns that there is a link between those letters and what is happening now. I really loved her determination, even when people started turning on her or when the clues pointed to someone she didn’t want to believe could be behind this all, she still pushed harder.

This was not an edge of your seat, tension filled read. It was more of a slow burn mystery that kept me turning the pages because I just had to find out who was behind everything. While Trail of Destruction is Buchanan’s third book that takes place in the village of Forest Grove, it can be read as a standalone. 3 ½ stars

Reviews: Circle of Doubt & The Wrong Family

February 25, 2021/17 Comments/by Sharon

Hi everyone! It’s Sharon, so you know what that means… Thriller Thursday! This week I have the psychological thriller, Circle of Doubt, and the domestic thriller, The Wrong Family. Both of these books kept me fully engrossed and had twists I did not see coming.

Reviews: Circle of Doubt & The Wrong Family

Circle of Doubt Goodreads

Author: Tracy Buchanan

Publication Date: January 5, 2021

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Emma and Dele adopted Isla 9 years ago when she was almost 2 years old. Emma, Dele and Isla live in a small town called Forest Grove, just outside of London. Emma has always been shy, so she really has no friends in their community. The one person she can turn to when she needs support or advice is her sister, Harriet. And Harriet is the only person (aside from their father) who knows the terrible secret that Emma has been hiding for years.

One day while dropping Isla off at school Emma runs into her new neighbors, Tatjana and Lawrence. Emma cannot believe how much Tatjana looks just like Jade, Isla’s birth mother. Emma tries to tell herself there is no way she can be Jade. Jade was a 17-year-old drug addict, and this woman is beautiful and sophisticated and nothing like the troubled teen Emma remembers. But when Tatjana takes too much of an interest in Isla, Emma’s suspicions start to grow. Then strange things start happening to Emma that make her look and feel like a bad parent. She receives an email saying the deadline to pay for a school trip was pushed out when it wasn’t. Then she starts missing school notices (including one saying it was dress down day, so Isla went to school in her uniform). Someone also starts rumors about Emma and the husband of her only friend, and a dead crow is placed in the front grill of Emma’s car. Who is behind all of this? Could Jade really be back to try and take Isla away? And will the awful secret that Emma has been hiding come back to haunt her? Emma is not going to give up her daughter without a fight, so with the help of her sister Harriet, Emma tries to find out if Jade and Tatjana are one in the same and if she is behind everything that has been happening.

The book is told through the POV of Emma and also through chapters that are letters “written” to Isla from an unknown source. The letters explain the plan to unravel Emma and why this person is doing what they are doing. I liked how the story was presented this way. Even though we find out about halfway through the book who is behind everything, the tension and suspense still ramped up as we are reading everything that is happening to Emma and what she was going though. And knowing who was writing the letters just added to the tension.

I really liked how Emma faced everything that was happening head on. And even though at times she thought she was not being a good mother, she really was. When things got tough, she would not let it show to her daughter. She put on a brave face for Isla no matter what she was feeling. And when push finally came to shove, her momma bear claws came out.

I will say the book started off a bit slow for me, but the tension and suspense took off the more I got into it. And there was one twist near the end that totally got me and made my mouth drop open. 3 ½ stars

The Wrong Family Goodreads

Author: Tarryn Fisher

Publication Date: December 29, 2020

Publisher: Graydon House

Tarryn Fisher’s mystery thriller The Wrong Family is full of flawed characters that kept me turning the pages and made me realize not everything is as it seems. What you see on the outside is not necessarily what is on the inside.

Juno is a sixty-seven former therapist who is originally from New Mexico. After a 2-year stint in prison due to unethical misconduct, which cost Winnie her family and practice, she moved to Seattle and is living with the Crouch family (Winnie, Nigel, and their son Sam). Juno has been diagnosed with lupus and is dying. One night she overhears a fight between Winnie and Nigel and she discovers that they are hiding a dark secret. Winnie doesn’t want to get involved; she just wants to live out her final days in peace. But the therapist in her just won’t let her sit back and let this secret destroy Sam, whom she has become close to. So she sets out to expose Winnie and Nigel’s secret and right the wrongs she believes they have done.

Winnie seems to have the perfect life on the outside, but on the inside it is falling apart. She used to be a counselor to the homeless but quit her job thirteen years ago. It was also thirteen years ago that

the dark secret that Juno overheard happened. Without giving anything away, Winnie committed a horrible act that Nigel helped her cover up. Now, thanks to Juno, the details are starting to come to light and the cracks in Winnie and Nigel’s marriage are getting larger. Winnie is trying to hold things together for the sake of their son. But when her twin brother Dakota, who is an unhinged alcoholic and drug addict, comes to stay with them after his wife threw him out and then a stranger shows up on their doorstep claiming to know Winnie’s secret, all hell breaks loose.

I really cannot say too much more about this book, because anything I say would be a spoiler and I think it is best to go into this book blind. What I can say is that this book is told in alternative POV’s from Winnie and Juno. They were both very complex and flawed characters. I flipped back and forth between liking and not liking them as different things were revealed as the story progressed.

I liked Juno as I was reading her chapters. While I may not have agreed with everything she did, I liked how she came across as the grandmotherly type with Sam. But then when I was reading Winnie’s views and what she was going though, I found myself having sympathy for her and I would get aggravated at Juno for what she was doing. I like how Tarryn Fisher could make my views on these women change so much.

While this was not an edge of my seat thriller, the tension did ramp up at the end of the book and then I couldn’t read fast enough to find out how it was all going to play out. I also loved how the author wrapped up the story, nothing felt rushed. 3 ½ stars

Book Review: No Turning Back

June 12, 2017/8 Comments/by Suzanne

No Turning Back by Tracy Buchanan

Published by Crooked Lane Books on June 13th 2017
Genres: Mystery, Contemporary Fiction
Pages: 352
Source: Netgalley
Amazon
Goodreads

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

Goodreads Synopsis: Anna Graves’s whole life has recently been turned upside down. A new mother, she’s just gone back to her job as a radio presenter and is busy navigating a new schedule of late night feeding and early morning wake ups while also dealing with her newly separated husband. Then the worst happens. While Anna is walking on the beach with her daughter, she’s attacked by a crazed teenager. Terrified, Anna reacts instinctively to protect her baby.

But her life falls apart when the schoolboy dies from his injuries. The police believe Anna’s story, until the autopsy results reveal something more sinister. A frenzied media attack sends Anna into a spiral of self-doubt. Her precarious mental state is further threatened when she receives a chilling message from someone claiming to be the “Ophelia Killer,” a serial killer who preyed on the town twenty years ago—and who abruptly stopped when Anna’s father committed suicide.

Is Anna as innocent as she claims? And is murder forgivable, if committed to save your child’s life? Internationally bestselling author Tracy Buchanan takes readers on an emotional roller coaster ride filled with heart-stopping secrets and hairpin turns in No Turning Back, her U.S. debut.

MY REVIEW

Tracy Buchanan’s No Turning Back is aptly named because once you get started reading this heart-pounding roller coaster ride of a novel, there’s no turning back and no putting this book down until you’ve made it through all the twists and turns that this story throws at you. If you like a mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end, this book is for you.

Anna Graves is a popular local radio host who is just returning to work after maternity leave. She is also going through a divorce and so has a lot on her plate living the single mom life. As if she didn’t have enough drama in her life, one day while strolling along the beach with her infant daughter, Joni, she is accosted by a teenage boy with a knife. With no one around to help her, Anna desperately searches for something to protect herself and her child with. She finds a comb with a long, pointed handle and points it at the boy to fend off his attacks. He slices her face with his knife but then loses his footing and falls on the handle of the comb Anna is holding. It punctures his neck and he ultimately dies from the wound. Anna is of course horrified by what has happened since she was only trying to protect herself and Joni and didn’t mean to harm the boy.

At first, the police believe Anna’s story and deem the boy’s death an act of self-defense. But when the autopsy results reveal that he was poisoned shortly before his death, questions start to arise and the police start to question whether this was a straight case of self-defense or not. Public reaction is also mixed with some hailing Anna as a heroic mother, while others proclaim her to be a murderer. The media doesn’t help matters either, as they try to sensationalize the story from every angle, first seeming like they are on Anna’s side but then turning on her and trying to dig up anything they can to tarnish her reputation. Then Anna starts receiving taunting email messages from someone claiming to be The Ophelia Killer, a serial killer from 20 years ago who was never caught. The Ophelia Killer targeted teenage boys who looked like the boy Anna killed and used the same poison that was in Anna’s victim’s system. When another teenage boy goes missing, the story takes on a whole new level of creepy suspense. Is the original killer back? Or is it a copycat? Or is it just some sicko playing mind games with Anna?

LIKES

Anna Graves. I really liked Anna. I think being a mom myself, I found it very easy to put myself in her shoes while she was standing on that beach trying to do whatever it took to protect her infant daughter. I could also empathize with the challenges of being a new mom and trying to juggle that with a career. In all of these ways, she was a very relatable character. I also tend to root for the underdog in stories so when the media, the community, the police, her soon-to-be ex-husband, and even her so-called friends started turning on her and questioning her actions and her mental state, I found myself in her corner that much more.

The Suspense and the Plot Twists. Buchanan does a phenomenal job of weaving together an intricate mystery that will keep you guessing who the real killer is all the way to the end. Lots of dirty little secrets come to light throughout the course of the story, each of which seemed to lead either directly to Anna, much to her dismay, or else toward a suspect who could plausibly be The Ophelia Killer. I lost track of how many times I was sure I knew who was behind the murders only to end up being completely wrong.

The Portrayal of the Media. Even though I was not at all a fan of the media in this story, I thought Buchanan portrayed them in a very realistic manner, especially in terms of the power the media wields. With one positive or negative story, they can make or break a person’s reputation. And when tabloid style journalism gets in the mix, all bets are off as to how they’ll choose to cover a story. Any shocking headline that is guaranteed to get the public’s attention seems to be fair game. As we were given glimpses of some of the stories that were being written about Anna, all I could think of was a certain President running around yelling “Fake news! Fake news!”

The Big Question. What I really enjoyed about No Turning Back was that in addition to being a wildly entertaining mystery, it’s also a book that made me think. That big question that was out there from the early moments of the book – How far would you go to keep your children safe? Could you take a life? I bet it’s a question that stays on every reader’s mind, whether they have kids or not, long after they finish reading this story.

The Jaw Dropping Ending. I can’t say anything else about it without giving away the story, but just WOW! I didn’t see it coming at all and it blew my mind!

DISLIKES

Overall, I loved the novel but I did still have a couple of issues with it. The main one was that I didn’t like how the police were portrayed. While it made Anna’s journey that much more of a roller coaster ride to have it seem like even the police were out to get her, I just couldn’t imagine a police force conducting itself like the one in this book did. They didn’t really seem to care much about evidence or about Anna’s safety when she was receiving threats from the dead boy’s family. They had little to no interest in finding evidence that would exonerate Anna. Instead, they seemed to look at everything only insofar as to see how they could use it to prove Anna was guilty.

The other aspect of the novel that bothered me was that some events just didn’t seem plausible, the biggest one being right at the beginning of the novel when the boy falls on Anna’s comb and gets fatally stabbed in the neck. What are the odds of that actually happening? I think it would have made for an even more compelling story than it already was to have Anna make a conscious choice to stab him in self-defense rather than having it be more like a freak accident.

FINAL THOUGHTS?

If you like a good mystery that will keep you guessing up until the final pages, I’d highly recommend No Turning Back. With all of the twists and turns this plot has to offer, there’s never a dull moment!

RATING: 3.5 STARS

About Tracy Buchanan

Tracy Buchanan is a full-time author who lives in Buckinghamshire in the UK with her husband, their little girl and their puppy, Bronte. Tracy travelled extensively while working as a travel magazine editor, sating the wanderlust she developed while listening to her Sri Lankan grandparents’ childhood stories – the same wanderlust that now inspires her writing.

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