The Mountain in the Sea" is a mesmerizing read, like watching an octopus shift seamlessly from one camouflage to another. It is at once a hard scifi novel exploring the mapping of the human brain, a first-contact tale in which the sentient alien species we encounter comes not from the sky, but the sea. It is also an environmental thriller, complete with corporate espionage and weapons tech. But at its heart it is an elegy to the aquatic world we are on the verge of destroying, with perhaps a ray of hope at the end.
#1 on my "I wish I'd read the book first!" list.
If you haven't watched the movie adaptation of this book on Netflix yet, wait! Devour the book then definitely watch the movie because they did a fantastic job capturing its bizarre essence. But, if you can, let this eerie road trip adventure unfold page by page the first time you experience it. This book is a subversive journey through genres that ends with a big red bow that may or may not be dripping with blood. If you like complicated relationships, inner dialogue, puzzles that don't feel like puzzles, and don't mind things getting a little weird, this wonderfully strange novel is for you.
Hollow's Edge is "such a quiet place." A neighborhood of employees of the local college, the inhabitants are boringly middle-class, white, well-educated and outwardly friendly. It's a seemingly safe place until the murder of the Truetts a year and a half ago. Luckily, the security camera footage, nosy neighbors and police all agree who is the one bad apple in the bunch, Ruby Fletcher. With Ruby in jail and banished from their collective memory, life returns to normal in Hollow's Edge. Until the day Ruby reappears on their doorstep bringing vengeance only the wrongly convicted can wreak.
Lucy Clarke has taken what could be a tired thriller cliché-six friends celebrating a hen weekend on an isolated Greek island complete with simmering rivalries and secrets-and created a compelling look at women's complicated relationships and shared history.
Certainly someone will meet their end on those steep Greek cliffs, but others will find love, peace and redemption. All packaged in a perfect summer read.
I love everything Chris Pavone has written, but because he doesn’t release a new title frequently, I sometimes forget how terrific he is. Then I pick up his latest, open it, read a couple pages and I remember, this is possibly the best thriller author writing today.
I'm not usually a mystery/suspense reader but this surprised me! I was engrossed in the back and forth spy/terrorist plight sisters Tessa and Marian get into as Belfast lives on edge of the Irish Republican Army's next strike. A riveting story from an Edgar Award-winning author about where your loyalties lie, sisterhood and new motherhood, and doing what you believe to be the right thing.
This is a deeply humanistic character study of a serial killer AND the people affected by his crimes. Readers know who the murderer is on page one and the other typical driving questions of who/what/when/where/why are all secondary in this book. Instead, Kukafka creates a fascinating portrait of several women who have to survive the aftermath of one man's actions. This is a wonderfully profound and empathetic thriller.
Dorothy is a fortysomething food critic that gives a whole new meaning to the word maneater. The descriptions of food are indulgent and decadent. Her tastes are highbrow but the fictional memoir style confessional brings you back down, in on the not-so-secret secret. Read it for the power and the quiet insanity, the tricks she pulls off and the ones she doesn't.
Dark academia and murder and witches, oh my! Felicity Morrow feels ready to return to school after a tragic accident, but when she finds herself tangled up with the elusive teen prodigy Ellis Haley, Felicity will have to face the darkest parts of herself before moving on. Between the atmospheric setting and gorgeous writing, I couldn't put this book down. Part fantasy, part thriller, A Lesson in Vengeance is guaranteed to lure you in and keep you entranced.
Wow, Melanie Gideon DID NOT say you could go! Not until you’ve read every single page, until the very conclusion, of this twisted tale of female friendship. A decade ago, Gemma and Ruth bonded as the only single mothers in their daughters’ kindergarten class. It was the four of them against the world with Ruth providing the economic stability and Gemma the emotional support. But Bee and Marley are freshmen now, and things change, people grow apart, don’t they? Not if Ruth has anything to say about it.
