Psychological Thriller Archives

Book reviews: Irish intrigue with Andrea Mara

August 14, 20263 min read

I recently received a little gift box, including two books… promising some Irish intrigue from Andrea Mara. Mara is new to me as an author and I’m always happy to find a new author with a good backlist. I’m interested to know more about them though as both books here are similarly themed around children going missing… as is All Her Fault, a miniseries I recently watched, based on Mara’s book of the same name. I think the whole not having kids myself and not relating to parenting stuff means I’m less into books about that as it’s not a fear I’ve had to deal with IRL…

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Book review: Happy Woman by Abby Corson

May 9, 20264 min read

Happy Woman by Abby Corson is an interesting and clever read. For much of the book it’s a study in family relationships, personalities and whether a leopard can really change their proverbial spots. It also veers, towards the end of the novel, into one of suspense or mystery with Corson throwing in several twists… just when we think we know where this is heading.

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Book review: When I Kill You by BA Paris

March 10, 20262 min read

When I Kill You by BA Paris is a twisty thriller featuring a woman who believes her past has come back to haunt her. For Nell has not always been Nell, and over a dozen years earlier 19-year old Elle witnessed a young woman being snatched off the street. She became obsessed with the person she believed to be guilty of the girl’s murder… and things ended badly. For everyone involved.

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Book review: The Last Party by AR Torre

January 7, 20263 min read

Wow, what a head-spin The Last Party by AR Torre turned out to be. Much of the book seems frustratingly obvious. We’re given an incredibly unlikeable character who we learn, loves to lie, is jealous of her husband’s affection for their daughter and …. (wait for it), intends on killing her daughter and two friends to replicate a famous murder from over two decades earlier, casting doubt on that killer’s innocence, freeing him so he can be beholden to her. Or something. Yes… WTAF?! As a result much of the early part of the book annoyed me. I mean… our lead, Perla, is fucking mad and horrible. And did I mention fucking mad? As a character and narrator she’s incredibly unpalatable. But… Torre throws in some surprises that I certainly did not see coming and that are so incredibly clever, they blew me away.

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ARC review: Finders Keepers by Natalie Barelli

November 25, 20253 min read

Finders Keepers by Natalie Barelli kicks off as an interesting but occasionally frustrating read. Rose is finishing work for the day and walks past a bookshop and sees a book with a title that’s familiar. We learn that Rose kept an online journal when at school. It reflected a 13yr old’s thinking most specifically a crush (though she thought it was real love) on one of her teachers. We learn she lost the laptop on which it was written but the journal concludes with her confessing to planning something horrific. And now her story is out there and receiving accolades. Obviously she’s wondering… who has her laptop, why have they written ‘her’ story and why did they change the ending? Rose stealthily stalks the writer, ingratiating herself to her and is soon invited to join her inner circle – her focus being to get the old laptop and destroy it, along with evidence of the murders (yes, more than one) she once committed.

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Book review: The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens

November 20, 20252 min read

The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens is the latest novel by the Canadian author, who was one of the first authors I started to follow on social media as I loved her debut release Still Missing. And I think I’ve read all but one of her books. As for this book – OMFG what a ride!!! Literally…

It opens in 1976 and I read so many dual timeline books I was waiting to switch to the present (and the aftermath of whatever happens in 1976) but we stay there in fact… with Alice and Tom, a couple recovering after a tough year, taking a roadtrip in their brand new RV. They come across hitchhikers Jenny and Simon not long after setting off and end up offering them a lift when it’s obvious the young pair are far from prepared for camping.

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ARC review: We Were Never Friends by Kaira Rouda

October 25, 20252 min read

We Were Never Friends by Kaira Rouda unfolds from several points of view but it feels like Beth is the natural lead character. Perhaps because we meet her first. In the most bizarre of coincidences her daughter is engaged to the son of one of Beth’s sorority ‘sisters’ from her college days and for reasons not entirely sane, Roxy decides to invite Beth and another of their ‘sisters’ to her Palm Springs holiday home (a passion project of Roxy’s husband Ryan) in honour of their kids’ recent engagement. Adding some spice to the weekend, another of their sorority sisters gatecrashes the weekend reigniting the rivalry with Roxy festering from two decades earlier.

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Book review: This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

March 14, 20253 min read

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead is getting some flack given it’s partially based on real-life murders and some readers feel Winstead is profiting from real-life tragedy. Winstead includes a preface noting [its inspiration] but assures readers it’s not non-fiction. Which is good as I don’t read non-fiction. It does however, she explains, reference actual murders and I was reminded of Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll which included reference to Ted Bundy’s final murders. Here our narrator is Janeway (Jane) whose father dies of a heart attack while she’s at college. They were close so Jane tries to find a reason for his death, becoming part of The Real Crime Network, before splintering off to join a small eclectic group who garner media attention when they help break a case.

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