Tag Archives: thriller

Recent Reads

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Sharing the love of reading!

Looking for your next read? You might like to consider exploring some of my most recent reads.

Happy Reading.

Jody

Share your love of books!

The mysterious bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods

I found ‘The mysterious bakery on Rue de Paris’ to be the perfect mix of modern day, mystery and charming! Guaranteed magical read that will keep you fully absorb you and warm your heart.

I simultaneously read & listened to ‘The mysterious bakery on Rue de Paris. The elements of the French language throughout the book were essentially enhanced by listening to the audio edition.  

About the book

Nestled among the cobblestone streets of Compiègne, there existed a bakery unlike any other.

Rumours were whispered through the town that its pastries offered a taste of magic, chasing away the darkest of sorrows. Just one bite of a croissant might bring luck, unlock a precious memory or reveal hidden longings.

But dark clouds were looming on the horizon…

For Edie Lane, a recipe for disaster doesn’t require that many ingredients. Take an unhealthy amount of wishful thinking and a sprinkle of desperation and that’s how Edie left everything behind in Ireland for her dream job at a bakery in Paris. Except the bakery isn’t in Paris – and neither is Edie.

This might not be where Edie intended to be, but she soon realizes it’s exactly where she needs to be…

The fallen women by Fiona McIntosh

A totally absorbing historical fiction with a strong female focus. Full of family dynamics and social ideals of the time. Fiona McIntosh is certainly becoming another author I can always count for an enjoyable read when I find myself in a reading funk.

About the book

Botanical artist Jane Saville is devastated when her manipulative mother banishes her to the countryside to protect someone else’s honour. Isolated far from home, she is forced to live an impoverished, secretive life to save the family from public shame.

Guy Attwood is heir to a fortune but prefers his quiet passion for rare-apple hunting on behalf of Royal Kew Gardens to building the family’s business empire. He sets out to find a critically endangered apple species that he dreams of gifting and re-naming for his friend, the soon-to-be coronated George V.

When the paths of these people from two very different worlds collide, Jane begins to hope for a different future, but their new friendship is shattered by jealousy, misunderstanding, duty and treachery. A young boy will inspire Jane to defy the powers working against her and prove she is no woman to be outcast.

Set in the picturesque English countryside, in a forgotten orchard and beneath the ancient spire of Salisbury Cathedral, this is a heart-wrenching story about a woman who finds that in her darkest hour she can harness her greatest strength.

When she was gone by Sara Foster

Sara Foster can do no wrong in my eyes; I have read every one of her books and have absolutely loved all of them. I loved ‘When she was gone’, and it wasn’t the suspense of finding out ‘who did it’ that kept me glued to the pages, it was the way Sara Foster builds a connection with characters, so you become invested in their story and the outcome. This is what I love about Sara Fosters books. If you enjoy a good thriller or domestic thriller/mystery, then please explore Sara Fosters books if you have not already.

About the book

Was she taken … or did she run? The pulse-pounding new psychological thriller from the bestselling author of You Don’t Know Me

Rose was torn away from her daughter. Now, is she the only one who can save her?

Former London police officer Rose Campbell has been estranged from her daughter, Lou, for almost a decade. But when Lou disappears from a remote Western Australian beach, and the police suspect her of kidnapping the two young children in her care, Rose is asked to help bring Lou home. The police think Rose’s insights will lead them to Lou, but they don’t realise that Rose hardly knows her daughter anymore.

This is the final case in DSS Mal Blackwood’s illustrious career, and there’s a lot riding on it. The missing children are heirs to the Fisher property empire, and as their multimillionaire grandfather breathes down Blackwood’s neck for results, the media storm is intensifying. Faced with a deluge of evidence and accusations, Blackwood doesn’t know who he can trust.

Rose arrives in Australia intent on proving her daughter’s innocence, but how can she be sure of that when she’s no longer part of Lou’s life? Meanwhile, as Blackwood begins to expose the Fishers’ secrets, the investigation takes a much darker turn. Shadows of the past gather around the Fishers and Rose, and soon it’s clear that every hour is critical. What has happened to Lou and the children? And can Rose and Blackwood find them in time?

Happy Reading!

Jody

Book Review Storm Child

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Storm Child by Michael Robotham

About the book

The most painful of Evie Cormac’s memories have been locked away ever since she was held prisoner as a child – a child whose rescue captured hearts and headlines.

Forensic psychologist Cyrus Haven‘s mission is to guide her to something near normality. But today, on a British beach, seventeen bodies wash up in front of them. There is only one survivor, with two women still missing.

Suddenly, Evie’s nightmares come roaring back. Whatever happened all those years ago lies at the core of this new tragedy. Because these deaths are no accident. The same dark forces are reaching out, dragging her back into the storm.

Comments

This fourth book in the Cyrus Haven series did not disappoint our group.

The characterisations are believable and engaging and the plot has twists and turns which keep the reader guessing. Set in Scotland and involving ‘people in high places’, it is a story of abuse, people smuggling and greed. Evie’s repressed memories from her past abuse begin to resurface in this story and as Cyrus continues to help Evie resolve her past, he gains resolution of his own.

A thoroughly gripping and enjoyable read.

Read by Dundas Readers 8/10

Click here to discover more books by Michael Robotham

Book Review Lying Beside You Michael Robotham

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Lying Beside You

Michael Robotham

Summary

Two missing women. One witness. So many lies…

Twenty years ago, Cyrus Haven’s family was murdered. Only he and his brother survived. Cyrus because he hid. Elias because he was the killer.

Now Elias is being released from a secure psychiatric hospital and Cyrus, a forensic psychologist, must decide if he can forgive the man who destroyed his childhood.

As he prepares for the homecoming, Cyrus is called to a crime scene in Nottingham. A man is dead and his daughter is missing. Then a second woman is abducted. The only witness is Evie Cormac, a troubled teenager with an incredible gift: she can tell when you are lying.

Both missing women have dark secrets that Cyrus must unravel to find them – and he and Evie know better than anybody how the past can come back to haunt you . . .

Comments

This book is the third in a series of psychological thrillers featuring Cyrus Haven, who is a criminal Forensic Psychologist, and it reads well as a stand-alone story. It is a ‘whodunit’ with interesting, interweaving plot lines. We all found this to be a page turner with engaging and quirky characters, most of them with traumatic pasts. The writing style was clear and comprehensible and the use of character names for chapter headings did not interfere with the flow of the storytelling.

Evie and her minder Cyrus are the main proponents but all the other characters have a purpose and add interest to the satisfying plot. After many false leads and an eventual terrifying stand-off, there is a ‘twist in the tale’ ending.

Every member of our Bookclub enjoyed this story and some obtained books 1 & 2 to read the backstories. We are all looking forward to reading book 4.

8/10

Read by Dundas Readers

Book Club Book Reviews June 2023

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The Liars by Petronella McGovern

Summary

A wife burning with resentment. A husband hiding the past. Their teenage daughter crusading for the truth. Who can we trust?

The close-knit community of Kinton Bay is shocked when fifteen-year-old Siena Britton makes a grisly discovery near a cave in the national park. Siena believes it’s a skull from the town’s violent colonial past and posts a video which hits the news headlines.

But her parents, Meri and Rollo, think the skull is related to their teenage parties in the Killing Cave back in the 1990s. And a school mate who went missing then.

None of them foresees the dangers that the discovery will create for their family. The dangers of past deceits, silences and lies that have never been resolved.

Comments

Set in a small country town on the coast of New South Wales after Covid 19, this is a story which revolves around the cases of three missing people from the 1990s.

When a skull is discovered, lives and lies begin to unravel; and events spiral out of control, especially in the Britton family around whom the story is focussed. This small community has been keeping secrets for many years and some in the community are haunted by their memories.

Only a few of our group read the whole story, having found the beginning very uninspiring. It was easy to read but ‘ordinary’ and ‘underwhelming’ was the group verdict; we felt that it would be better suited as a young adult read.

4/10 Read by Dundas Readers

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

Summary

Welcome to Bascom, North Carolina, where it seems that everyone has a story to tell about the Waverley women. The house that’s been in the family for generations, the walled garden that mysteriously blooms year round, the rumours of dangerous loves and tragic passions.

Every Waverley woman is somehow touched by magic. Claire has always clung to the Waverleys’ roots,  tending the enchanted soil in the family garden from which she makes her sought-after delicacies – famed and feared for their curious effects. She has everything she thinks she needs – until one day she waked to find a stranger has moved in next door and a vine of ivy has crept into her garden…

Claire’s carefully tended life is about to run gloriously out of control.

Comments

Our group quite enjoyed this easy to read, fanciful story of a family of women with ‘magical’ gifts and an enchanted, backyard apple tree. It did remind us of a Hallmark movie and could imagine it also as a miniseries, even perhaps more suited to the young adult genre. There were some aspects of realism and conflict. We enjoyed the references to the language of flowers, the positivity of the environment as a healer and the hope and support that the women provided each other. The character of Evanelle was our favourite. She was eccentric, loving, somewhat ageless but a wise elder. The ending was predictable but satisfying.

Read by MJ Readers

Book Review The Hand That Feeds You

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The hand that feeds you by A.J. Rich

Summary

I trusted you. This is how you repay me.

Morgan’s life is settled – she is completing her thesis on victim psychology and newly engaged to Bennett, a man more possessive than those she has dated in the past, but also more chivalrous and passionate.

But she returns from class one day to find Bennett savagely killed, and her dogs – a Great Pyrenees, and two pit bulls she was fostering – circling the body, covered in blood. Everything she holds dear in life is taken away from her in an instant.

Devastated and traumatised, Morgan tries to locate Bennett’s parents to tell them about their son’s death. Only then does she begin to discover layer after layer of deceit. Bennett is not the man she thought he was. And she is not the only woman now in immense danger …

Comments

This story is a collaboration between two women studying the links between victims and perpetrators with an emphasis on ‘pathological altruism’. The events are based on incidents in the life of a friend who died of cancer. The narrator, Morgan, returns home to find that her boyfriend has been killed and ripped to pieces by all or one of her three dogs. If this sounds horrific, it sets the tone of the book. An endless and complex tale peppered with violence and peopled by mostly unlikeable characters and their dogs. We all thought this to be a salacious and implausible story.

4/10 Read by Dundas Readers