saltygalreads's reviews
306 reviews

Summary: Anna Rogers feels a bit lost. After a couple of weeks of skipping classes, she is on the way to failing out of college. She nurses a number of resentments against her family – her father for being an overbearing retired police captain who micromanages her life, her older sister Avery for ignoring and abandoning her, and her mother Jane for allowing her father to always have the upper hand. The only sister she gets along with is Alisha, who frequently steps in to act as a parent to make up for the deficiencies of her actual parents. In an act of rebellion, Anna takes off for the weekend to visit her friend and attend a protest rally against police brutality. Her family, unable to reach her, believes she is missing and sends Avery after her with orders to bring her back home. But there are dark secrets in the Rogers family and old sins cast long shadows. Avery and Anna are unwittingly walking into deeper and deeper danger.

Thoughts: Like any David Bell novel, I was pulled into this one quickly by the interesting characters and lively pace. There were many concurrent themes in the novel – the complexities of second marriages and families; over-policing and police brutality; illegal immigrant labour and mistreatment; and sibling rivalry. Throughout the novel there was an undercurrent of toxic alpha-male energy in many of the characters, as seen in the retired Captain Rogers, the male police officers at the protest, and many of the men at the Coombs farm, a contrast to the kindness and generosity of characters like Charlie and Hank.

Needless to say, there was a lot happening in this novel and therefore a lot to process. However, the ending felt rather incomplete to me, as there were many loose ends for the reader to question and ponder. It occurred to me that this might have been Bell’s intention. I also found it interesting that when the novel began, all the focus was on Anna Rogers, whereas the remainder of the novel was focused on Avery Rogers. It felt as though I had started one novel and finished a different one, if that makes any sense at all. All that being said, I did enjoy the book, so thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House. A 3.5 rounded up to 4.

Summary: Poppy Greer had a rough childhood and teens coping with intense bullying and harassment from four of the meanest "frenemies" you would never want to meet. Ten years later Poppy is getting married and decides to host a hen party on a remote tropical island, inviting her four childhood "friends" to celebrate. She has quite the celebration in mind and her friends are "dying" to attend.

Thoughts: When I started this novel, it seemed like a straightforward revenge thriller and that was fine. I enjoyed that aspect, after all who hasn't getting revenge on someone for treating them badly? But there was more to the story than that - there are some serious issues referenced in here including drug abuse, family violence, self-harm and suicide. Poppy's perspective on her experiences is told through her journal entries. I think this was rather well done because it contrasts the sadness of Poppy's story against maliciousness of her four tormentors and their inability to face the weight and reality of the harm they had inflicted. Yes, you can enjoy this novel on a superficial level with the women behaving badly theme but if you choose to see it, there is much more to this novel. Congrats to Sian Gilbert, you wrote an excellent novel.

Summary: Jess has just accepted a job at a British tabloid called The Globe, notorious for breaking the usual celebrity and political scandals of the day. Jess, bless her heart, has wholesome dreams of helping to clean up the scandal sheet and wants to advocate for a more fair-handed way of reporting the stories. However, this dream is quashed when she observes the ruthless tactics that Max, the editor, and Stella, the assistant editor, will employ to get the headlines they need to satisfy their owner, Peter Kingsley. Moreover, they rule the newsroom with an iron fist, and it is risky to oppose their approach. Needless to say, The Globe has made a few enemies in its day, and now one of them is about to be released from prison, claiming that he was set up by The Globe and vowing to get his revenge. Not only Jess’s morals and ethics are in peril; now her life is in danger as well.

Thoughts: I really enjoyed tabloid publishing as the setting and the base for this novel. I haven’t read another thriller based around this subject matter and it made an interesting change. The focus in this novel is on the action rather than on character development, and therefore I found the characters fairly one-dimensional. Jess is a little too wide-eyed and innocent, whereas Stella is basically the Cruella de Vil of news publishing.

As other reviewers have noted, there were quite a few characters introduced in the book. I understand why the author did this, as it helped to demonstrate the tabloid’s typical strategy of using and victimizing the interviewees for its monetary gain. A trade off is Max’s term for the offer he makes to seal the deal with a potential interviewee. It is nothing more than blackmail, consisting of an offer to withhold potentially embarrassing or ruinous information so the individual will cooperate with the paper and provide the interview they want.

The pacing is a little inconsistent, with the first ¾ of the book being somewhat slow and then the remaining quarter hurtling toward the conclusion. I was not dissatisfied with the ending, just a little under-whelmed as it seemed a little tame. It is a good summer thriller, just not an amazing one. Thanks to Minotaur Books for the copy to read.

Summary: Star actor Nora Kemp is caught between two men – Trent Iverson and Hugh Iverson, twin brothers who have been Hollywood stars since they were children on a religious children’s program. Trent has a reputation as a bad boy, in and out of rehab for years, while Hugh’s reputation is sparkling and he has a string of high profile movie hits to his credit. They also run a charitable organization called Protect the Children that funds wishes for sick children.

Kerry, Kyle and Miles Pepper are a working class family who just received a wish for Miles, who is suffering from brain cancer. Kerry and Miles are to embark on a trip to Disneyland courtesy of Protect the Children, but Kerry is reluctant to go on the trip. In actual fact Kerry is afraid to go on the trip, but she cannot tell Kyle the reason why. Kyle doesn’t understand Kerry these days – she has changed her habits so much and why wouldn’t she want to go to Disney with Miles?

One morning, a staff person in the Iverson household finds Trent dead due to suicide in the guesthouse on the property. Not only that, but Kerry is in the house as well, stabbed to death, and Miles is missing. Why would Trent kill himself, and what is the connection to Kerry?

Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this novel. I really love a book set in Los Angeles and the love triangle aspect of this plot was quite appealing. The underlying connection between all the victims was fascinating and not that common as a plot device for a thriller. So kudos to Torre for all that. The constant switching in POV was a bit confusing and I know this is quite popular in thrillers at present, but it is starting to be a little overdone in my view. The backstory of the Iverson brothers was, quite frankly, bizarre and not that believable to me. I also found the detectives to be a little boring and the trope of the stumbling detective who is always a step behind is a little tired. Overall I felt like this novel had great potential which fell a bit flat.

Summary: Darcy Demargelasse and her friends, Jade, Victoria and Arabelle have returned to Provence to reunite with Seraphine, Darcy’s Grand-Mere, in her elegant chateau. Twenty years ago as young women the friends all bonded at the chateau while they were students, and now Seraphine has invited them to return. Despite their nostalgia and close bond with Seraphine, the trip does not unfold as expected. There are tensions and divisions under the surface, and every one of the friends is hiding secrets which can impact the others. After one particularly drunken evening, the women awake to discover that Seraphine has been savagely murdered during the night. Now they are scrutinizing each other suspiciously while a detective determinedly uncovers all their secrets. Who killed Seraphine and why? When will the murderer strike again?

Thoughts: It is safe to say that this book has been a blockbuster hit this spring and summer with a constant presence on social media. The description and the setting were very appealing and it appeared to be the perfect summer read. Nonetheless, I struggled greatly with this novel. I found the characters to be bland and uninteresting, other than Seraphine, and it dragged for me at the ¾ point, with the remaining ¼ a chore to finish. There was a veritable smorgasbord of plot ideas running wild through the novel – WWII betrayals of Jews to the Nazis, infidelity and marital discord, gay love and relationships, breast cancer, class difference and social status. It bogs down and complicates the storytelling, requiring the author to rely on letters and long conversations to communicate all the complex details of the various storylines. Sadly I cannot recommend this one.

Cultish is a fascinating examination of the way language can be used, and is used, to cement the bonds between followers and believers in cults or cult-like movements or organizations. The author's premise is as follows: "from the crafty redefinition of existing words (and the invention of new ones) to powerful euphemisms, secret codes, renamings, buzzwords, chants and mantras, 'speaking in tongues', forced silence, even hashtags, language is the key means by which all degrees of cultlike influence occur". Montell calls "the language of fanaticism" cultish.

She goes into great detail defining what a cult is, explaining the key behaviours and criteria, and differentiating potentially damaging cults from organizations that resemble cults in many ways, but may not meet all the criteria or have the damaging impacts. All forms of cult behaviour are illustrated, from the Branch Davidians and Jonestown extremism to organized religion to the relatively benign Peloton craze. One factor that unites all of these, from the extremely harmful to the mild and innocuous, is the use of specialized forms of language that only the insiders know.

I love the way Montell concludes her eye-opening book. She reminds us that not all culty behaviour is bad and, in its milder forms, can provide connection and fun. It is a part of human nature to want to belong to a group, and find community and connection with other people, as long as we don't take it too seriously. An excellent read and highly recommended.

Until I read this collection of horror stories, I had forgotten how much I enjoyed short stories. I also thought I didn't like horror, but I was wrong about that.

This smart, concisely-written collection was originally written in Swedish - an homage to traditional Swedish horror stories as I understand it. The collection is written in Florence's distinctive writing style which paints such a vivid picture without using excessive or flowery descriptions - a style which I deeply appreciate and admire.

If you enjoy a well-crafted short story and a touch of the macabre, you should add this one to your bookshelf. I certainly hope that Florence plans to write more of these! I thank you my lovely friend for providing me with a copy.

Summary: Meg is a professional gambler who works for a casino, catching high roller criminals. Her poker skills are also applied to her life – being stoic, not feeling or showing emotion and keeping her nerve under pressure. But Meg’s life is shaken when her sister Haley, a Hollywood star with substance abuse issues who shows up frequently in the scandal headlines, dies at an exclusive rehab facility on the Pacific Northwest coast. The official line is that Haley committed suicide at The Clinic, but Meg doesn’t believe it and is determined to find out what happened to her sibling. She decides to enter The Clinic as a patient to uncover what happened to Haley. Meg has some serious addiction issues of her own, and as she struggles to stay grounded while coming off alcohol and opioids, she realizes that her own life might be in danger.

Thoughts: The Clinic is an engrossing and tense read, set on the Pacific Northwest coast in a high-end private rehab clinic. The remote and foggy setting adds greatly to the ominous mood and sense of impending danger. The author notes that the book was inspired by her own stay in a rehab facility, and certainly her first-hand knowledge gives the program and treatment inside the clinic a sense of authenticity. However, the reader never really receives an adequate sense of the traumatic upbringing that Haley and Meg experienced, which makes their present-day issues difficult to grasp. The short chapters constantly change perspective which can get a little confusing at times. The twist at the end was a stretch for me to believe in, being somewhat unrealistic. And in yet another novel, the affable but slow and bumbling cops arrive at the scene to discover that our heroine has managed everything herself. There are many creative and original elements here, but a predictable ending.

I read this one through a Fable bookclub with Kemi and Busayo, so a sincere thanks to them for a digital copy of the book to read.

Quick Summary: Rachel's life as a teenaged mother was difficult until she met Matt and married him. He treated her daughter Faith like she was his own child and up until now their marriage has been a happy one. Matt is a successful politician soon up for a bid for re-election, while Rachel had put off her dreams of higher education and pursuit of a career in the art world to help support Matt in his electoral success. They are a power couple, and Rachel has been crucial to his success. But suddenly that world comes crashing down when Rachel accidentally receives a pornographic photo from Matt that he intended for his mistress. Now Rachel must decide whether to stay or go, and what to do with her life next.

Thoughts: I have never been a romance reader and while I don't criticize others for it, spicy books are definitely not my area of interest. However, this one has received a great deal of attention and I thought I would give it a try. It is a well-written book and an interesting look at the unspoken deal made between a couple when one of them has a high-profile political career. I also appreciated the underlying theme of the sacrifices a wife often makes in her life and potential in order to support people she loves. However there were a great many minor characters coming and going, and I struggled to keep them straight. The ending also felt a little flat to me. For a novel dealing with many complex and powerful human emotions, the ending was just a little too easy. I got to the end and wondered...is that it? Perhaps this genre really is not for me.

Summary: Dylan Truman is a street-smart young woman who is tough, compassionate and committed to seeking justice for those harmed by toxic men. Living in San Francisco, she uses the alias Lady Justice and takes on clients who have been mistreated by men, seeking justice on their behalf. Her close friend and partner in the venture is Daniel Haas, a handsome, charming hacker extraordinaire who takes care of the technological aspect of investigations and works tirelessly to keep the reckless Dylan safe. When an expert scientist brings a case to Dylan against Brent Wilder, CEO of Prometheus Pharma, it hits uncomfortably close to home. Years previously, Wilder had assaulted Dylan’s beloved older sister and changed her life forever. Now Dylan is fueled by her hatred for Wilder to pursue vengeance at any price, including her relationships and her own safety.

Thoughts: This is a great thriller, smartly written and with a thoroughly likeable protagonist. It isn’t just that Dylan is driven, intelligent and tough. She is also flawed, vulnerable and determined – a very believable character you can root for. She has made mistakes and continues to make them but keeps on going anyway. She tries stubbornly to exist independently in the world and not need others too deeply but finds that it is unavoidable. Daniel finds the cracks in her armour and offers her unconditional acceptance. It is a passionate romance – whew! Romance is not really my thing but I will say that, for those who enjoy it, it is done well in this novel.

The sharp wit and humour in this thriller grabbed my attention right from the beginning pages. There are so many hilarious quotes here. When her target Brent dresses as Alexander the Great for the costume party, Dylan can barely contain her amused contempt. “If he’s searching antiquity for inspiration, Caligula would be the better fit, but I won’t be the one to pierce his fantasy”. A thriller with this theme could easily devolve into venomous man-hating, but the author makes the distinction early in the novel between men like Daniel and men like Brent, clearly illustrating the reasons why Dylan makes his kind her target. When his final comeuppance arrives, it is fraught, dangerous and very satisfying. Thanks so much to Thriller Book Lover Promotions for bringing this one my way.