THREE STRIKES by Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara and Charles Salzberg
Genre:Crime
Published by: Down & Out Books
Publication Date: September 10th 2018
Number of Pages: 350
ISBN: 978-1-948235-25-9
Pages: 350
Review Copy from: Authors
Edition: eBook
My Rating: 4

I Take Care of Myself in Dreamland

by Ross Klavan

Bartok is horribly scarred. Wounded in the Army, he roams through 1970’s New York, a city of perpetual night, punctuated by crime and populated by streetwalkers, hooker bars, strip clubs, easy drugs and a feeling of doom. There’s one thing on his mind: an experience he had when his Army truck exploded, an experience he calls Red River. More than bliss, more than spiritual. But nothing goes right. Bartok loses his girl, his money, any possibility of support and decides that he’s finished, he’s going to end it but before he does, he’s going out on the town for one last attempt to recapture the incredible experience of Red River. And when he does, he runs into others who see him as an easy mark for dirtier plans…plans that involve murder before suicide.

Bartok’s story is told by a driver for the mob, a guy who’s heard it all and usually keeps his mouth shut because when he begins a trip, it’s almost always one-way.

Jammed

by Tim O’Mara

Aggie’s back. After barely escaping with his life in “Smoked,” Aggie disproves the old adage of “Once burned…” This time around he’s heading from the Midwest to New York City with a sweet shipment of stolen maple syrup. He also has picked up an unwanted-and potentially dangerous-passenger; the fifteen-year-old daughter of his latest boss has hopped on for a free ride to the Big Apple and her on-line boyfriend. When they arrive in NYC, Aggie’s worst fears are realized when the “boyfriend” turns out to be a group of human traffickers. Aggie knew that running one of the world’s most valuable liquids across state lines was skirting the line between safety and danger, but he never knew it could get this sticky.

The Maybrick Affair

by Charles Salzberg

It’s a couple weeks before the attack on Pearl Harbor and a young reporter, Jake Harper, who works for a small Connecticut newspaper, is assigned a routine human interest story. A reclusive, elderly woman, has quietly passed away in her small cottage upstate. Anxious for bigger stories, Jake begins his assignment by trying to find out who this woman was and what kind of life she led. As Jake investigates the old woman’s death he finds that years earlier she was tried and convicted of murdering her husband in a well-publicized, lurid trial in London, England. And, after digging further, he, unearths evidence that she might have had a connection to an even more famous British serial killer and that the ramifications of this story might affect America’s entry into the War.

Three novellas, two ‘new to me” authors and a few hours of escape!

Being novellas, and not wanting to give anything away, other than the synopsis above, each story was unique and captivating.

I enjoyed the writing style and descriptive narrative with each story. So much so, that I felt I was able to create vivid imagery as if it was a movie in my mind.

Each story had enough suspense that it kept me turning the pages.

I had read a book by Charles Salzberg, DEVIL IN THE HOLE, so I knew his story would be enjoyable and now I have 2 new authors that I want to read more of their work.

Definitely, recommend! Three stories that are highly entertaining and gripping!

Purchase Links: Down & Out Books | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Giveaway:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara, and Charles Salzberg. There will be 4 winners of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card and three (3) eBooks. The giveaway begins on September 1, 2018 and runs through November 1, 2018. Void where prohibited.

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BEFORE WE WERE YOURS by Lisa Wingate
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Published by Ballantine Books
Publication Date: June 6, 2017
ISBN-10: 0425284689
ISBN-13: 978-0425284681
Pages: 352
Review Copy From: Library
Edition: HC
My Rating: 5

THE BLOCKBUSTER HIT—A New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly Bestseller

For readers of Orphan Train and The Nightingale comes a “thought-provoking [and] complex tale about two families, two generations apart . . . based on a notorious true-life scandal.”*

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty.

Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption.

Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.

As the synopsis states, Avery Stafford stumbles upon a mystery that involves her grandmother.

Based on a true life historical incident, this book was heartbreaking. Full of emotion, determination, loyalty, poverty, love, loss and family ties to last a lifetime.

The author writes an amazing fictional tale based on a horrific and dark side of adoption that took place in the 1930s.

A dynamic and gripping read! One that will stay with me for a long time!

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

AFTER NIGHTFALL by A.J. Banner
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Published by Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: Aug. 10, 2018
ISBN-10: 1503949249
ISBN-13: 978-1503949249
Pages: 256
Review Copy From: Library
Edition: HC
My Rating: 5

Beware of friends with secrets…

Imagine your closest friend utterly betraying you. Years later, when she seeks forgiveness, you invite her to your engagement party as a gesture of reconciliation. But seething hostilities rise to the surface, ruining everyone’s evening. After an awful night, your friend’s battered, lifeless body is found at the bottom of a rocky cliff.

Newly engaged Marissa Parlette is living this nightmare. She should be celebrating her upcoming wedding, but she can’t shake the image of her friend lying dead on the beach. Did she fall? Was she pushed? Or did she take a purposeful step into darkness? Desperate for answers, Marissa digs deep into the events of the party. But what she remembers happening after nightfall now carries sinister implications: the ugly sniping, the clandestine meetings, the drunken flirtations. The more she investigates, the more she questions everything she thought she knew about her friends, the man she once trusted, and even herself.

Bestselling author A. J. Banner keeps readers on a razor-sharp edge in this intricately plotted novel of psychological suspense…in which nothing is as it seems.

This was a “new to me” author but after seeing many great reviews and recommendations in the FB book groups I follow, I thought I would pick it up at my local library.

This is an edge of your seat read from the first word to the last. An elaborate puzzling plot that had me thinking I knew who the murderer was and then thinking it was another character. Not even close! And for the motive, WOW!, didn’t see that coming.

This author is now on my “authors to read” list and I am looking forward to reading more of her work.

Gripping! I definitely recommend it if you enjoy psychological thrillers.

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

THE LIAR’S ROOM by Simon Lelic
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Published by Berkley
Publication Date: January 15, 2019
ASIN: B07CKPBT1W
Pages: 352
Review Copy From: Publisher
Edition: ARC
My Rating: 4

ONE ROOM. TWO LIARS. NO WAY OUT…
Susanna Fenton has a secret. Fourteen years ago she left her identity behind, reinventing herself as a counsellor and starting a new life. It was the only way to keep her daughter safe.

But everything changes when Adam Geraghty walks into her office. She’s never met this young man before – so why does she feel like she knows him?

Then Adam starts to tell her about a girl. A girl he wants to hurt.

And Susanna realises she was wrong.
She doesn’t know him.
BUT HE KNOWS HER.
AND THE GIRL HE PLANS TO HURT IS HER DAUGHTER…

The addictive new thriller with an ending you’ll never guess, The Liar’s Room is perfect for readers of Shari Lapena’s The Couple Next Door and A J Finn’s The Woman in the Window.

SIMON LELIC – THRILLERS TO KEEP YOU UP ALL NIGHT:

After reading THE NEW NEIGHBORS, I knew I wanted to read more by this author and was lucky, very lucky to receive an ARC.

…”the past has a way of catching up” pg.268

Susanna has escaped her past but her secrets are still hidden, or she thought until a new client has come in for counseling.

Secrets are revealed but with a price! A taut and intense read filled with tension as each page is turned!

I enjoyed this chilling tale!

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

Synopsis:

When her child’s life is at stake, a mother will do anything to save him.

Clara McNair is running out of time to save her son, James. When the two-year-old is diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer, only an experimental treatment can save his life. She desperately needs money to pay for the surgery, but she’ll have to travel back to the site of her darkest memories to get it.

Clara has escaped the demons of her youth—or so she thinks. It’s been ten years since the mysterious disappearance of her parents. Widely suspected of murdering her mother and father, Clara fled west to start a new life. Now, a documentary film crew is offering cold, hard cash—enough to pay for James’s treatment—in exchange for the sordid secrets of her past.

With no other choice but to delve into a long-ago tragedy, Clara must unravel the lies surrounding that terrible night. Facing hostile gossip, Clara is fighting to clear her name and learn the truth about what really happened. But how far will she go into the dark to save her son—and herself?

Click Here to get your Audiobook copy of A Mother’s Lie, today!

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thriller
Published by: Relay Publishing
AudioBook Release Date: April 23, 2018
AudioBook Length: 9 hrs and 59 mins
ISBN: 978-1979295420
Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | Goodreads

Read an excerpt:

Author Bio:

Jo Crow gave ten years of her life to the corporate world of finance, rising to be one of the youngest VPs around. She carved writing time into her commute to the city, but never shared her stories, assuming they were too dark for any publishing house. But when a nosy publishing exec read the initial pages of her latest story over her shoulder, his albeit unsolicited advice made her think twice.

A month later, she took the leap, quit her job, and sat down for weeks with pen to paper. The words for her first manuscript just flew from her. Now she spends her days reading and writing, dreaming up new ideas for domestic noir fans, and drawing from her own experiences in the cut-throat commercial sector.

Not one to look back, Jo is all in, and can’t wait for her next book to begin.

Catch Up With Our Author On: Facebook & Goodreads!

Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews, interviews, guest posts, and giveaways!

Giveaway:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Jo Crow. There will be 5 winners of one (1) A MOTHER’S LIE by Jo Crow audiobook. The giveaway begins on October 2, 2018 and runs through October 8, 2018. Void where prohibited.

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SCAR TISSUE by Patricia Hale
Genre: Thriller
Published by: Intrigue Publishing
Publication Date: September 1, 2018
Number of Pages: 194
ISBN: 978-1-940758-85-5
Series: Cole and Callahan #3
Review Copy from: Publisher
Edition: ARC TPB
My Rating: 5

Track star, Ashley Lambert, has just been accepted into the prestigious Johns Hopkins University, so when she jumps eighteen stories to her death her parents hire the PI team of Griff Cole and Britt Callahan to find out why. The investigation exposes a deeply disturbed family hiding behind a façade of perfection and follows Ashley’s descent into performance enhancing drugs and blackmail. Ashley’s coaches, peers and even her parents come into question. The disturbing truth behind Ashley’s death is testimony to lines crossed and allegiances sworn…. in the name of love.

Meanwhile, things don’t add up next door. Britt’s working overtime researching their new neighbors whose one-year-old son disappeared four years ago. Rhea McKenzie, has a secret and bruises aren’t the only thing she’s trying to hide. When an off-hand comment discloses a connection to Ashley Lambert the two cases become entwined, setting off an unstoppable chain of events. Britt is sucked into an alliance with Rhea and driven to make decisions that challenge her ethics, threaten her relationship and in the end, push her over a line she never thought she’d cross.

The P.I. team, of Griff Cole and Britt Callahan are back and taking the reader on another exciting case!!!

This is the third book in the series but easily read as a stand alone. You can see my review of THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY CHILD HERE.

Griff and Britt have been hired by the parents, whose daughter has supposedly committed suicide, which they don’t believe since she was an exceptional student with a very promising future.

During this time, the couple has also made a big step in their relationship, when they buy a house together. But something isn’t right with their new neighbors and Britt starts to investigate. What really happened when the neighbor’s 1 year old son went missing and never found. And now that this mother is pregnant again, but the bruises she is hiding, infuriates Britt and she will stop at nothing to help.

The story grips the reader from the very first page and doesn’t let go! The author’s writing style is fluid and descriptive. The characters believable. An engrossing read with an ending that had this reader holding her breath!

Highly recommend!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Enter To Win:

This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Patricia Hale. There will be 1 winner of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card. The giveaway begins on October 1, 2018 and runs through November 1, 2018. Void where prohibited.

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A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE by Shari Lapena
Genre: Thriller/Suspense
Published by Penguin Books
Publication Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN-10: 0735221138
ISBN-13: 978-0735221130
Pages: 336
Review Copy From: Library
Edition: HC
My Rating: 4

In this neighborhood, danger lies close to home. A domestic thriller packed full of secrets, and a twisty story that never stops—from the bestselling author of The Couple Next Door

He looks at her, concerned. “How do you feel?” She wants to say, Terrified. Instead, she says, with a faint smile, “Glad to be home.”

Karen and Tom Krupp are happy—they’ve got a lovely home in upstate New York, they’re practically newlyweds, and they have no kids to interrupt their comfortable life together. But one day, Tom returns home to find Karen has vanished—her car’s gone and it seems she left in a rush. She even left her purse—complete with phone and ID—behind.

There’s a knock on the door—the police are there to take Tom to the hospital where his wife has been admitted. She had a car accident, and lost control as she sped through the worst part of town.

The accident has left Karen with a concussion and a few scrapes. Still, she’s mostly okay—except that she can’t remember what she was doing or where she was when she crashed. The cops think her memory loss is highly convenient, and they suspect she was up to no good.

Karen returns home with Tom, determined to heal and move on with her life. Then she realizes something’s been moved. Something’s not quite right. Someone’s been in her house. And the police won’t stop asking questions.

Because in this house, everyone’s a stranger. Everyone has something they’d rather keep hidden. Something they might even kill to keep quiet.

I remember seeing a lot of buzz about this book prior to its publication and recently I read another book, AN UNWANTED GUEST by Ms. Lapena, so I put a reserve request for this one at my local library.

Tom and Karen Krupp have been married 2 years and are extremely happy, that is, until that fateful night of the accident. From that point on, their lives are changed drastically.

An intricate and convoluted plot. The suspense flowed throughout the story making it unputdownable. However, I was a bit ambivalent about the ending. The whodunit was surprising but I was somewhat disappointed as it ended with a cliffhanger.

If you enjoy domestic thrillers, this is one book you should pick up!

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

AN ANONYMOUS GIRL by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen
Genre: Thriller/Suspense, Women’s Fiction
Published by St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: January 8, 2019
ISBN-10: 1250133734
ISBN-13: 978-1250133731
Pages: 384
Review Copy From: Publisher via NetGalley
Edition: eBook
My Rating: 5

The next novel of psychological suspense and obsession from the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us

Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed.

When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly.

From the authors of the blockbuster bestseller The Wife Between Us comes an electrifying new novel about doubt, passion, and just how much you can trust someone.

After reading THE WIFE BETWEEN US, I knew I had to read this book and asap. If you haven’t read either book, put them on your list.

Jessica Farris, a makeup artist, is just about making ends meet financially. While at a client’s home, she overhears her say that she has an appointment the following day for a survey being conducted by a psychiatrist at NYU, which is paying $500, but the client states she is not showing up. Jessica, in an impulse decision, checks the client’s phone for the information to take her place. But what ends up being a generic survey turns into so much.

Jessica ends up being Subject 52 but soon learns that she is the sole focus that the psychiatrist wants for her Morality and Ethics study. What ensues is more than Jess has bargained for. Did she just sell her life and soul for financial gain?

An intricate, complex and profound psychological thriller that will leave you breathless. A chilling white-knuckle read!

Highly recommend!

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗