saltygalreads's reviews
306 reviews

Liz Catalano shares an apartment with her cousin and best friend, Andrea, known as Andie. Andie gives Liz a 23 and Me kit for her birthday, but when she logs into the website to obtain her results she finds out that her DNA is not related to Andie at all. And thus a long held family secret is revealed - Liz was actually adopted as a baby and her parents never shared this with her. In her search for her biological family, she uncovers a potential link to a serial killer who has been murdering young women for 40 years. Is Liz related to a serial killer, and is she in any danger herself?

This is a tense and concise thriller which alternates between the stories of the victims and that of Liz in her search for answers about her biological family. Liz is a very likeable protagonist, and her need to find her family drives the plot, and is both reasonable and understandable. The shock of discovering she is adopted, and her need to understand where she came from is portrayed in a very realistic way.

For me personally, however, the chapters describing the ordeal of the victims and the murderer's enjoyment in tracking, capturing and tormenting his victims are very disturbing. It is just not the type of novel that I enjoy reading. So while it is very well-conceived and written, it just wasn't for me.

Recommended for those who enjoy a fast-paced, tense thriller, and who are not bothered by the subject matter.

Alice and Leo have just moved in together after dating for 6 months. They have moved into a gated community called The Circle in an upper class area of London. The new neighbors seem nice enough and certainly are very chummy with each other. However Alice becomes aware of an upsetting secret about her new house, and soon she is consumed with uncovering the secrets of The Circle and the previous residents of her home.

I loved the overall concept of The Therapist - a couple move into an exclusive gated community where everyone is hiding secrets, yet they all seem to know too much about each other. There is no privacy, yet hidden dark secrets remain. I also appreciated the outsider theme running through the novel. Alice is an outsider - she doesn't know the neighbors yet, doesn't know her way around London, and ultimately, doesn't know very much about the man she is living with. She is a flawed character, who hasn't forgiven herself for past mistakes and jumps quickly to conclusions. She is a mess of contradictions; making snap decisions, trusting strangers too quickly while harbouring suspicions of people she knows.

I have mixed feelings about The Therapist. I enjoyed the characters and the pace, although the twists in the plot were a little confusing at times. The conclusion to the mystery was a bit lacking for me and I found the motivation/explanation behind the mystery somewhat unbelievable. However it was an enjoyable read and most mystery/thriller readers would be perfectly happy with it I believe.

The setting is a classic English country manor house during Christmas 1938. The guests include family, old family friends, a member of parliament with a war hero reputation, and a notorious English adventurer and businessman named David Campbell-Scott. Throughout the celebrations and niceties, there are undercurrents of rancour and tension; and in the bright, snowy morning, Campbell-Scott is found in a pool of blood in the snow, shot dead. Although the local, plodding constable feels it is a case of suicide, Hugh Gaveston has experienced all the tension in the house and sets out to investigate.

This is a charming and fun romp in the English countryside, in the style of Agatha Christie, and I loved it. All the classic characters are present: the upper crust hosts, the quarreling siblings, the unapproachable Englishman with the stiff upper lip, the oily politician, and the cousin with a hankering to be an amateur detective. Events unfold at a quick pace and of course the murderer is revealed in the classic Poirot/Miss Marple fashion at the end. It is as satisfying as a good Christmas pudding, and I think the Queen of Mystery would approve.

It is the eve of a huge party for Livia to celebrate her 40th birthday. Twenty years of thought and planning have gone into this party, and so everything must be perfect. Livia's husband Adam has secretly arranged for their daughter Marnie to travel home from Hong Kong to surprise Livia. However Adam has no idea that Livia has been keeping her own secrets and she is privately glad that Marnie won't be at the party. And so, an eventful evening is about to commence.

This sounds fascinating, doesn't it? It should be a great novel, and yet it isn't. The plot and characters are interesting. The themes - deception, secrecy, family expectations - are all relatable and draw the reader in. The difficulty with The Dilemma lies in the execution.

The story is told from two alternating perspectives, Adam and Livia, giving two very different views on their family life. However instead of increasing the tension, this becomes a play-by-play of the events and their endless thoughts, which becomes tedious. The narrator did quite a good job, but I was soon increasing the playback speed and monitoring how much was left. It is problematic that this two characters spend an inordinate amount of time in their own heads, making assumptions and jumping to wild conclusions.

If Adam and Livia had communicated better, this could have been a short story. I did not enjoy this one and cannot recommend it.

The setting: a deserted ski resort in the French Alps.

The characters: a group of former competitive snowboarders and friends.

The story: the group is invited back to the resort to reunite 10 years after they had last been together at the resort as competitive snowboarders. During that fateful season, passions and tensions ran high, and at the end of the season, one person was missing and lives were forever changed. Now they apprehensively gather to see each other once more, but arrive to find the resort deserted except for themselves. A heavy atmosphere pervades the resort and they are all still haunted by the events of that time. Why have they been invited here? Is it a reunion or a reckoning?

Sound good? This book has been much-hyped on Instagram and of course I have seen that before, so I began with very moderate expectations. What a pleasant surprise - I was completely hooked and could not put it down. The novel alternates between telling the story of the characters' relationships 10 years ago and present events at their reunion, which creates a wonderful rhythm to the unfolding of the story and the connection of past events to the present day lives of the characters. I don't want to reveal much since it is a spoiler free review, but this was an engrossing read which I would recommend to any thriller or suspense fan. For a debut novel, this author stomped it! A rad five-star read all the way, dude!

During the 1920s, Letitia Hawking rents a small apartment in Los Angeles having emigrated from England. Letitia is gifted with visions and the ability to reach out to the dead, seeing their final moments of life and providing closure for their families. However, when her services are sought by Alisdair Driscoll, a lawyer with a strong and stern presentation who desperately wants to help his niece with her terrifying visions and nightmares, Letitia is pulled into a frightening and dangerous search for a diabolical killer who preys on young women.

Behind the Veil is a very atmospheric and haunting read, drawing the reader into Letitia's world of dark visions and mysterious shadows. The work of helping families depletes and exhausts Letitia, and we learn that she does this to atone for past actions and errors of judgement. She is a fascinating character, as is her client and love interest, Alisdair Driscoll. At 252 pages, it is a quick read, told from Letitia's perspective with periodic monologues from the killer. These are incredibly dark, alluding to some very grim themes including abduction, rape and murder of young girls. It is definitely a page-turner which held my interest to the very end. However, the novel concludes a little abruptly, with everything too neatly resolved for such a dark tale. I would also have appreciated seeing some of the iconic and evocative noir setting incorporated into the novel. Los Angeles in the 1920s is a perfect setting for noir, and it was a missed opportunity not to utilize it in the story.

I would like to thank Blackthorn Book Tours for introducing me to this book and hosting the book tour. Behind the Veil is recommended for fans of gothic supernatural fiction and noir.