The nitty-gritty: A newlywed couple out of their element try to solve a murder involving an angry ghost in this fast-paced, emotional thriller. Simone St. James is back with another twisty supernatural mystery, and while I didn’t like this quite as much as her last book, The Book of Cold Cases, there is plenty here […]
The nitty-gritty: A gruesome war story with surreal, ghostly elements, The Warm Hands of Ghosts is an emotional tale of a brother and sister during WWI. “Sometimes, as he walked the hotel corridors, Freddie told himself he was trying to find the door that led out, but he wasn’t. He didn’t have enough hope left […]
The nitty-gritty: Readers looking for the perfect fantasy/mystery will love Robert Jackson Bennett’s immersive world building and lively characters. “Perhaps it is a wise thing, to prepare for death every day, just as the Empire prepares for death every wet season.” I always love it when the first book in a new series works, and […]
The nitty-gritty: A supernatural revenge story revolving around a dangerous game is the focus of Melissa Albert’s latest, a beautifully written, dark tale with a compelling mystery. “That’s why they were here, eating crap coffee and bad sweets at a rest stop perched like a concrete spider over the highway. So Becca could see what […]
The nitty-gritty: Monsters both supernatural and human populate the pages of this short but thrilling dark adventure tale. I always hear good things about Premee Mohamed’s books, but this is my first experience with her writing. Now I can see what all the fuss is about, because I loved everything about The Butcher of the […]
The nitty-gritty: Angsty, immature characters, overly-dramatic dialog and secrets revealed too soon add up to a disappointing story. It seems February is the month of disappointments, as yet another one of my highly anticipated 2024 releases failed to impress me. I had high hopes for An Education in Malice, especially after loving the author’s last […]
The nitty-gritty: I wanted the gothic creepiness of What Moves the Dead, but instead this sequel lacked the elements that made the first book so good. “This isn’t just a dream, though. It’s the war.” I absolutely loved What Moves the Dead last year, and I was honestly surprised to see Kingfisher had written a […]
The nitty-gritty: Magic, art forgery and heists make up the plot of Gwenda Bond’s latest, a fun mash-up with mixed results. I ended up having a lot of fun with The Frame-Up, despite a few issues with pacing and some of the world building elements. Gwenda Bond has written a magical heist story with a […]
The nitty-gritty: A man gets more than he bargained for when he decides to go after his fiancé in this strange, compelling but uneven sci-fi tale. This was an odd one, folks. The tagline on the cover promises a sci-fi thriller, but “thriller” is not a word I would use to describe The Sanctuary. That’s […]
The nitty-gritty: A short, psychological horror story that is heavy on mood and light on plot. Your Shadow Half Remains is a psychological horror story that takes place after a pandemic-like event, and it’s definitely more “psychological” than “horror,” in my opinion, which is probably why I didn’t rate it higher. I do love Sunny […]