I was looking forward to reading Helpless because I really like Jessica Knoll’s Bright Young Women and grew to like Luckiest Girl Alive, but I don’t know what the heck this is. I am so disappointed with this novel because it is not at all what I expected from someone who wrote such an emotionally devastating and thoughtful story like Bright Young Women.
…
I feel like mystery thrillers these days are all about the shock factor rather than crafting a good mystery story that makes sense. Tiffany Crum’s This Story Might Save Your Life is no exception. Did I devour this book to find out what happens at the end? Of course I did. I am like a cat; curiosity got the better of me. Did I mostly dislike this book while I was reading it? Also, of course I did. I have really got to stop reading overly hyped mystery novels.
…
Just because a book is compulsively readable does not mean it is good. I read The Teacher in about two days, and it is the trashiest trash that I have ever read. It is even worse than that one Colleen Hoover book I read. I have never read anything by Freida McFadden until now and I do not understand why any of her books would be made into movies. And just so you know, I did not buy this book myself, my sister gave it to me. I am now beginning to question her taste in books.
Spoilers ahead because I really do not think you should bother reading this crap.
…
A long time ago I learned that authors get paid to write reviews of other authors’ works, which I thought was disappointing because I liked to believe that authors are giving an honest opinion when they write their reviews and are not influenced by monetary gain. But after seeing the praise for The Hitchcock Hotel from the likes of Riley Sager, Alex Michaelides and A. J. Finn, I am convinced that authors are pocketing money as they trick us into reading crappy books, because The Hitchcock Hotel is not a good novel.
…
This is my first Riley Sager novel, and it may not be my last. I chose to read Home Before Dark first because it is a story about a supposedly haunted house, and I love haunted house stories. I found this novel to be deliciously spooky (so spooky, that I kept telling myself that I really should stop reading spooky stories before I go to bed), but I was disappointed with the ending.
…
I have to say that I am impressed with Catriona Ward. Here is another novel (the first being The Last House on Needless Street) that she is written where she has managed to surprise me with one of the story’s twists. I was not expecting the ending at all, which is always a pleasant surprise for me. Overall, Looking Glass Sound is a bang-up psychological thriller that I highly recommend if you like having your mind messed with.
…
One of Us Knows is the second novel that I have read by Alyssa Cole. The first was When No One is Watching, which I read before I started this blog. Both novels explore the horrors of racism. When No One is Watching is about the sinister gentrification of a Brooklyn neighbourhood. I liked it enough that I wanted to read Cole’s next thriller, One of Us Knows, but I somehow missed in the synopsis that the protagonist has dissociative identity disorder (DID – formerly known as multiple personality disorder), which almost stopped me from reading it as I feel that DID is a sensitive subject matter that not many people take seriously. However, my curiosity won out and I ended up being completely engrossed by this novel.
…
Bad Cree is the debut novel of nehiyaw (Cree) writer Jessica Johns. The novel has been shortlisted for 2024 CBC Canada Reads. The reviews I read described Bad Cree as creepy, haunting and terrifying. I have been in the mood for creepy books lately, so this novel sounded good to me. Although it has some interesting aspects to it, Bad Cree turned out to be an underwhelming story.
…
Silver Nitrate is the newest book from Silvia Moreno-Garcia. This is my favourite of her more recent works (Mexican Gothic, Velvet Was the Night and The Daughter of Doctor Moreau). Silver Nitrate pays homage to the golden age of cinema, back when movies were filmed on highly volatile silver nitrate, but it also tackles a part of Nazism that does not get as much attention: the occult.
…
I have read Eleanor Catton’s two other novels, The Rehearsal, which I did not like, and The Luminaries, which I found interesting enough to keep in case I want to read it again. Birnam Wood, published ten years after The Luminaries, is already being named one of the best releases of this year. This was enough to pique my interest, but the plot, a psychological eco-thriller set in New Zealand involving a gardening collective and a billionaire, was what compelled me to read it in the end. I cannot say that I liked reading Birnam Wood (named after the Birnam Wood referenced in Shakespeare’s MacBeth, which I will not even try to parse because I do not enjoy reading Shakespeare), but I do find it to be a fascinating novel. When I finished reading the novel’s shocking ending, my first reaction was WTF and then my second reaction was I wish I had someone to discuss this novel with.
…