Book Review: Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs

 

published August 6, 2024

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It’s never easy working fire scenes, Tempe thinks. Called to Washington, DC, to analyze the victims of a building set ablaze amid mysterious circumstances, she sees all her misgivings justified. The building site is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and the property’s ownership becomes even more suspicious when Tempe delves into its past. The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and, sensing a good story, Tempe teams with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the thirties and forties the home was the hangout of a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. Though interesting, this fact seems irrelevant—until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang member is shot dead at his farm in Fairfax County, Virginia. Coincidence? Targeted attacks? So many questions. As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim. Slowly, Tempe’s instincts begin pointing to the somehow, her moves since coming to Washington have been anticipated in advance, and every path forward seems to bring with it a lethal threat.

MY REVIEW:

Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the 23rd book of the series and even though I haven't read quite a few of them I still knew what was going on. The mystery itself can be read as a standalone but if you want to get to know the main characters then it is best to read them in order. The TV show Bones was also based on this series.
Tempe is called to Washington DC for bodies found that were burned and she is needed to find out what happened. But her and her boyfriend were on their way for a vacation. He isn't happy and feels like her work takes priority so he ignores her. So she has a lot going on.
I thank NetGalley and Scribner for the book to review.


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Kathy Reichs

Bornin Chicago, The United States

Website

http://www.kathyreichs.com/

Twitter

KathyReichs

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Nonfiction

Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, State of North Carolina, and for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. She is one of only fifty forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology and is on the Board of Directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences. A professor of anthropology at The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Dr. Reichs is a native of Chicago, where she received her Ph.D. at Northwestern. She now divides her time between Charlotte and Montreal and is a frequent expert witness in criminal trials.

Book Review: On The Surface by Rachel McGuire

 

published July 9, 2024

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A YouTubing cruiser couple sails the world living their best life—until one of them goes missing and their whole world capsizes, in this captivating psychological thriller perfect for fans of Something in the Water and Saint X.

Sawyer Stone III and Dani Fox, a young couple who spends their time circumnavigating the globe aboard their 42' sailboat and documenting it for their fledgling YouTube channel Sailing with the Foxes, have anchored in Exuma, in the Bahamas.

As they wait for the price of crypto to rebound so they can provision and continue their journey, they’re partying and exploring with their fellow cruisers off shore. On the surface, everything looks perfect. But one night, Dani vanishes after a boat party, and Sawyer has no memory of her disappearance.

The search for Dani is initially fueled by concerns that she drowned during one of her daily ocean swims, but Dani's pre-scheduled video posts, recorded before she went missing, soon reveal a darker side to her relationship with Sawyer.

Meanwhile, Royal Bahamas Police Force Inspector Veronique Knowles has her hands full trying to keep the investigation on course as the story of the American woman missing in the Bahamas goes viral and the internet sleuths unearth secrets from Sawyer’s past. Sawyer Stone is far from perfect, but is he a murderer?

This twisty, edge-of-your-seat thriller will keep readers gripped all the way through the final satisfying turn.

MY REVIEW:

On the Surface by Rachel McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A You Tube couple cruise on their sailboat and make videos of their time sailing. Sawyer and Dani are a couple.
The book starts out with a woman scuba diving and her equipment failing. Next thing we are on this sailboat cruising and learning about Sawyer and Dani. I didn't like Dani from the start. She is a slob and is very selfish and everything is about her. They meet up with other boaters and they party. One night after a party Dani disappears and looks like Sawyer had something to do with it. Detectives find out some things about Sawyer's past that makes it look like he is not a nice person. I didn't mind Sawyer but Dani got on my nerves. Sailing sounds like a lot of fun if you have the money to support that lifestyle.
Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC to read.

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Rachel McGuire

Website

https://www.rachelmcguirebooks.com/

Genre

Thriller, Crime, Mystery

Rachel McGuire is the pen name for the collaboration between Rachel Graham and Lee-Ann McGuire Whitlock.

Rachel Graham has worked as a firefighter, paramedic, clinical researcher, and health consultant. She lives in San Diego, California with her family.

Lee-Ann McGuire Whitlock is a former lawyer, serial entrepreneur, and national pub trivia champion several times over. She and her husband, two children, two Cavalier King Charles spaniels split their time between Arkansas and Vancouver, Canada.

ON THE SURFACE has been selected by the Amazon Editors as a Best of the Month pick for July in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense!

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/rachelmcgui...

Book Review: Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

 

Published

April 23, 2024 by St. Martin's Press

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SISTERS, SECRETS, LOVE, AND MURDER... Sally Hepworth’s new novel has it all.

For as long as they can remember, Jessica, Norah, and Alicia have been told how lucky they are. As young girls they were rescued from family tragedies and raised by a loving foster mother, Miss Fairchild, on an idyllic farming estate and given an elusive second chance at a happy family life.

But their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thinks it was. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed. In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild and thought they were free. Even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When a body is discovered under the home they grew up in, the foster sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses. Or are they prime suspects?

A thrilling page-turner of sisterhood, secrets, love, and murder

MY REVIEW:

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Jessica, Norah and Alicia were foster sisters for a short time. Always told how lucky they were. But there were secrets in that house of abuse, both physical and mental. Now it is years later and they are adults, each with their own baggage.
The house they had lived in was taken down and they found a body buried under the house. Now they have to o n for questioning. Miss Fairchild, the foster mom shows up as well.
I liked getting to know all 3 girls and how they ended up the way they did. We also know someone is taking to a psychiatrist and the things that are said is also very disturbing.
Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's for the book to review.

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Sally Hepworth

Born in Australia

Website

http://www.sallyhepworthauthor.com

Twitter

sallyhepworth

Genre

Fiction, Chick Lit, Crime

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/sallyhepworth

Sally Hepworth is the New York Times bestselling author of nine novels.

Sally's books have been heralded “enchanting” by The Herald Sun, “smart and engaging” by Publisher’s Weekly, and New York Times bestselling authors Liane Moriarty and Emily Giffin have praised Sally’s novels as “women’s fiction at its finest” and “totally absorbing”.

Sally's novels are available worldwide in English and have been translated into 20 languages.

​

Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her three children.

Book Review: One By One by Freida McFadden

 

Published April 2, 2024 by Poisoned Pen Press

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From New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a dark, twisting thriller about a group of friends lost in the one by one, they each will fall, and only the killer will return home alive... A night spent sleeping on dirt and leaves is not how Claire Matchett expected to spend her vacation. She thought this would be a break from the stresses of work and raising her young children. A chance to repair her damaged marriage. A week of hiking and hot tubs with friends. It sounded like heaven. Then Claire's minivan breaks down on a lonely dirt road. With no cell reception, the group has no choice but to hike the rest of the way to their hotel. But it turns out the woods aren't as easy to navigate as they thought. Hours later, they are lost. Hopelessly lost. And as they navigate deeper into the woods, the members of their party are struck down mysteriously one by one. Has a wild animal been hunting them? Or is the hunter one of them? But as more time passes, one thing becomes Only one of them will return home alive.

MY REVIEW:

One by One by Freida McFadden
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Claire and her friend's decide to vacation together along with their spouses/boyfriends. Then Claire's van breaks down and that's when everything starts happening. One by one a person either dies or disappears. Then only 2 are left. It was very intense and I was on the edge of my seat to fin out exactly what was going on.
Thank you to NetGalley for the arc to review.


View all my reviews

Freida McFadden

Website

https://www.freidamcfadden.com/

Genre

Thriller

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/freidamcfadden

New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publisher's Weekly, and Amazon Charts bestselling author Freida McFadden is a practicing physician specializing in brain injury who has penned multiple Kindle bestselling psychological thrillers and medical humor novels. She lives with her family and black cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.

Book Review: Collateral Damage by J.A. Jance

 

Published March 14, 2023

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Ali Reynolds and High Noon Enterprises face the dangerous consequences of one man’s desperate search for revenge in this unputdownable thriller from J.A. Jance, the New York Times bestselling author who “has been delivering must-read books for a long time” (The Real Book Spy).

After spending twenty years behind bars, Frank Muñoz, a disgraced former cop, is out on parole and focused on just one thing: revenge. The wife who abandoned him after his arrest, the mistress who ratted him out for abetting a money-laundering scheme, the detectives who presided over his case all those years ago—they all have targets on their backs.

For Ali Reynolds, the first Christmas without her father is riddled with grief and uncertainty. And with her husband and founding partner of High Noon Enterprises, B. Simpson, preoccupied by an upcoming New Year’s trip to London, she is ready for a break. But when Stu Ramey barges into her home with grave news about a serious—and suspicious—accident on the highway to Phoenix involving B.’s car, things reach a breaking point.

At the hospital, a groggy, post-op B. insists that Ali take his place at a ransomware conference in London, as troubles brimming around High Noon come to light. But questions remain: Who would go to such lengths to cut the tech company from the picture? And what if Ali and the rest of the team are also in danger?

MY REVIEW:

Collateral Damage by J.A. Jance

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Frank Munoz is out on parole and has his sights on revenge for anyone who had anything in putting him behind bars.

One revenge ends up putting Ali's husband in the hospital, which he was not a part of Frank's arrest, so he was collateral damage.

The one investigator for the B's accident is trying to pin it on Ali and such an ass.. So Ali gets help from her company in finding Frank.

I like Ali and B's business and how they are there for each other. Their company can reach out and find info better than the police.

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the book to review.

View all my reviews

J.A. Jance

Born in South Dakota, The United States

Website

http://www.jajance.com

Genre

Mystery & Thrillers

Judith Ann Jance is the top 10 New York Times bestselling author of the Joanna Brady series; the J. P. Beaumont series; three interrelated thrillers featuring the Walker family; and Edge of Evil, the first in a series featuring Ali Reynolds. Born in South Dakota and brought up in Bisbee, Arizona, Jance lives with her husband in Seattle, Washington, and Tucson, Arizona.

Series:

* J.P. Beaumont

* Joanna Brady

* Ali Reynolds

* Walker Family

Book Review: I will Find You by Harlan Coben

 

                                                              

Published March 14, 2023

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An innocent father serving life for the murder of his own son receives evidence that his child may still be alive, and must break out of prison to find out the truth in #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben’s latest breathtaking thriller.

David and Cheryl Burroughs were living the dream life when tragedy struck. Now, five years after that terrible night, Cheryl is remarried. And David is serving a life sentence in a maximum-security prison for the brutal murder of their son.

Then Cheryl’s sister, Rachel, arrives unexpectedly during visiting hours and drops a bombshell. She’s come with a photograph that a friend took on vacation at a theme park with a boy in the background who has a familiar, distinctive birthmark … and even though David and Rachel realize it can’t be, they both just know. It's David’s son, Matthew, and he's still alive.

David plans a harrowing escape from prison, determined to do what seems impossible–save his son, clear his own name, and discover the real story of what happened that devastating night.

MY REVIEW:

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

David was charged for murdering his son. He didn't fight it because he felt his life was over since his son was dead.

Now Rachel, his sister in law shows him a photo with his son in it.

David escapes to find his son and what that leads to will have you hoping he gets to his son and we find out why he was taken which has a twist at the end. I

I would have given this book 5 stars but the things that David does to dodge police sometimes seemed a little far fetched.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this book.

View all my reviews

Harlan Coben is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and one of the world's leading storytellers. His suspense novels are published in forty-five languages and have been number one bestsellers in more than a dozen countries with seventy-five million books in print worldwide.

His books have earned the Edgar, Shamus, and Anthony Awards, and many have been developed into Netflix Original Drama series, including his adaptations of The Stranger, The Innocent, Gone for Good and The Woods. His most recent adaptation for Netflix, Stay Close, premiered on December 31, 2021 and stars Cush Jumbo, James Nesbitt, and Richard Armitage.

Book Review : The Plot - Jean Hanff Korelitz

 

                                                    Paperback

                                                   Celadon May 11, 2021

                                                   Buy from Amazon

Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Plot is a psychologically suspenseful novel about a story too good not to steal, and the writer who steals it.

Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot.

Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that—a story that absolutely needs to be told.

In a few short years, all of Evan Parker’s predictions have come true, but Jake is the author enjoying the wave. He is wealthy, famous, praised and read all over the world. But at the height of his glorious new life, an e-mail arrives, the first salvo in a terrifying, anonymous campaign: You are a thief, it says.

As Jake struggles to understand his antagonist and hide the truth from his readers and his publishers, he begins to learn more about his late student, and what he discovers both amazes and terrifies him. Who was Evan Parker, and how did he get the idea for his “sure thing” of a novel? What is the real story behind the plot, and who stole it from whom?

                                                           MY REVIEW:

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked the idea behind the book and the storyline but I found it slow paced and some of it boring. I did not dislike the book but I wasn't enthralled with it.
Thank you to Celadon for sending me the book.

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                                                         Jean Hanff Korelitz


Born in New York City, NY, The United States

Website
http://www.jeanhanffkorelitz.com

Twitter
jeanhanffkoreli

Genre
Literature & Fiction, Suspense, Thriller




Native New Yorker! Graduated from Dartmouth College and Clare College, Cambridge. I'm the author of eight novels: THE LATECOMER (2022), THE PLOT (The Tonight Show's "Summer Reads" pick for 2021), THE UNDOING, originally published as YOU SHOULD HAVE KNOWN (adapted by David E. Kelley for HBO and starring Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant and Donald Sutherland), ADMISSION (adapted as the 2013 film of the same name, starring Tina Fey, Lily Tomlin and Paul Rudd), THE DEVIL AND WEBSTER, THE WHITE ROSE, THE SABBATHDAY RIVER and A JURY OF HER PEERS, as well as a middle-grade reader, INTERFERENCE POWDER, and a collection of poetry, THE PROPERTIES OF BREATH.