Sue's bookshelf: all en-US Tue, 13 May 2025 03:58:05 -0700 60 Sue's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Nine Lives 58385688
FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next....]]> 320 Peter Swanson 0062980076 Sue 0 currently-reading 3.52 2022 Nine Lives
author: Peter Swanson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/13
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> The Commuter 228400919 When a woman overhears a murder plot on her morning commute, she races to stop it—only to be pulled in deeper than she ever could have imagined.

Amy Nichols (Lizzy Caplan) was an FBI agent with a dogged need to protect everyone—until that instinct caused her to mishandle a crisis, lose innocent lives, and lose her job. Now a civilian working in private security, that mistake still haunts her.

One morning on the commuter train, she overhears a young couple plotting a murder. Ignoring warnings from her family and friends, Amy’s instinct to protect and serve compels her to investigate. But the further she goes, the more she finds her own life in danger.

Filled with mystery, suspense, and more twists and turns than a rail line, The Commuter is a gripping thriller by James Patterson, the world’s best-selling author.

Please This audio drama is for mature audiences only. It contains strong language, violence, and sexual content. Discretion is advised.]]> 86 James Patterson Sue 4
I picture a group]]> 3.47 The Commuter
author: James Patterson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.47
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/12
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves:
review:
This was a short book with big production of the audio. These are very fun to read as was this one. I picture a group of people sitting near a tall radio heads cocked towards the radio as I enjoy the latest installment of a good story that’s not what these are but it seems like these could be that. They are fun to listen to for sure.

I picture a group
]]> Killer Potential 215217589 Darkly funny and provocative, this edge-of-your-seat thrill ride follows two unlikely fugitives—an SAT tutor who finds her rich employers brutally murdered and the bound woman she frees from their mansion—an irresistible debut novel perfect for fans ofÌýThe GuestÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýMy Sister, the Serial Killer

A scholarship kid with straight As and big dreams, Evie Gordon always thought she was special, that she’d be someone. But after graduating from an elite university, she finds herself drowning in debt and working as an SAT tutor for the super-rich of Los Angeles.

Everything changes one Sunday, when she arrives for her weekly lesson at the Victors� Beverly Hills estate and, in lieu of a bored teenager, finds the bloody remains of the parents strewn through their beautiful back garden, and a woman crying for help within a closet. As Evie works to free her, the two are spotted—and within moments, they go from bystanders to suspects to fugitives.

Suddenly at the heart of a manhunt and accompanied by a mysterious woman who refuses to speak, Evie knows the only way to clear her name is to find the real killer. But first she’ll have to break down the barriers of her companion, who is quickly becoming the most important person in Evie’s upside-down life. Their breathless spree takes them across the U.S. as developments in the case shock the nation and the press runs wild with Evie’s a gifted kid turned killer. She's now on the cover of every magazine and newspaper—anointed the new Charles Manson, a bloodthirsty ninety-nine percenter looking to start a class war. Evie is finallyÌýsomeone.

By turns cuttingly hilarious and deeply insightful,ÌýKiller PotentialÌýis a strikingly original debut. A literary novel with the page-turning intensity of a thriller that asks timely questions about our belief in the romance of social mobility, and how the stories we’re sold about our potential can shape the course of our lives.]]> 320 Hannah Deitch 0063356481 Sue 3 3.44 2025 Killer Potential
author: Hannah Deitch
name: Sue
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2025
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/12
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves:
review:
I was all in when I began this but as I read I got bored. The more bored I got, the worse the book and the storyline seemed. I finished hoping for a ibig ending. I missed it if there was one.
]]> People Like Them 55782301 The New York Times Book Review) psychological suspense novel inspired by a true story about a couple in an insular French village whose lives are upended when a family of outsiders moves in.

Anna and Constant Guillot live with their two daughters in the peaceful, remote mountain village of Carmac, largely deaf to the upheavals of the outside world. Everyone in Carmac knows each other, and most of its residents look alike--until Bakary and Sylvia Langlois arrive with their three children.

Wealthy and flashy, the family of five are outsiders in the small town, their impressive chalet and three expensive cars a stark contrast to the modesty of those of their neighbors. Despite their differences, the Langlois and the Guillots form an uneasy, ambiguous friendship. But when both families begin experiencing financial troubles, the underlying class and racial tensions of their relationship come to a breaking point, and the unthinkable happens.

With piercing psychological insight and gripping storytelling, People Like Them asks: How could a seemingly normal person commit an atrocious crime? How could that person's loved ones ever come to terms with it afterward? And how well can you really know your own spouse?]]> 192 Samira Sedira 0143136275 Sue 2 3.44 2021 People Like Them
author: Samira Sedira
name: Sue
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2021
rating: 2
read at: 2025/05/12
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves:
review:
I read this over a long period is fits and starts. Each time I began the next part I’d think this isn’t so awful. But for me it was! I never got deep into it and never enjoyed it.
]]> Th1rt3en (Eddie Flynn, #4) 36217425 The serial killer isn't on trial.

He's on the jury...

They were Hollywood's hottest power couple. They had the world at their feet. Now one of them is dead and Hollywood star Robert Solomon is charged with the brutal murder of his beautiful wife.

This is the celebrity murder trial of the century and the defence want one man on their team: con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn.

All the evidence points to Robert's guilt, but as the trial begins a series of sinister incidents in the court room start to raise doubts in Eddie's mind.

What if there's more than one actor in the courtroom?

What if the killer isn't on trial? What if the killer is on the jury?]]> 356 Steve Cavanagh 1409170667 Sue 5 4.19 2018 Th1rt3en (Eddie Flynn, #4)
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Sue
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/12
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves:
review:
Eddie Flynn and his team get better with each new offering.
]]> The Devil All the Time 10108463 The Devil All the Time follows a cast of characters from the end of World War II to the 1960s. There’s Willard Russell, tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can’t save his beautiful wife, Charlotte, from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrifi­cial blood he pours on his “prayer log.� There’s Carl and Sandy Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial kill­ers, who troll America’s highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There’s the spider-handling preacher Roy and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore, running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell, Willard and Charlotte’s orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right.]]> 261 Donald Ray Pollock 038553504X Sue 3
And yet, I read it all. I’m a bit disgusted that I did so. ]]> 4.13 2011 The Devil All the Time
author: Donald Ray Pollock
name: Sue
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2011
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/12
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves:
review:
I read the entire book wondering just how I managed to do so. This book is filled with disgusting characters. The dad and his prayer log were were simply awful and never improved. The husband and wife serial killers in search of a perfect photograph of each murder were even worse. Nothing in the book appealed to me and nothing in the book redeemed the awful characters and story line.

And yet, I read it all. I’m a bit disgusted that I did so.
]]> The Butcher 18775334
Settling back into his childhood home and doing some renovations in the backyard to make the house feel like his own, Matt, a young up-and-coming chef and restaurateur, stumbles upon a locked crate he’s never seen before. Curious, he picks the padlock and makes a discovery so gruesome it will forever haunt him� Faced with this deep dark family secret, Matt must decide whether to keep what he knows buried in the past, go to the police, or take matters into his own hands.

Meanwhile Matt’s girlfriend, Sam, has always suspected that her mother was murdered by the Beacon Hill Butcher—two years after the supposed Butcher was gunned down. As she pursues leads that will prove her right, Sam heads right into the path of Matt’s terrible secret.]]> 352 Jennifer Hillier 1476734216 Sue 0 currently-reading 4.03 2014 The Butcher
author: Jennifer Hillier
name: Sue
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Ruth Run 216522672
Twenty-six-year-old Ruth excels at microchip design but decides to get rich the old-fashioned way: robbing banks. She becomes a cybercriminal and devotes five years to siphoning more than $250 million out of the banking system using a hacked firewall chip that she created and only she knows how to access. Then one night an alarm goes off and she realizes she’s been discovered.

Five hours later she’s on the run, chased across California and the West by a slew of government agents who see her as both a high-level national security threat and a potential intelligence asset. They’ll catch her dead or alive—whatever it takes to make sure no one else discovers what she knows. Each of these men is obsessed with the woman he’s hunting, certain he knows what makes her tick. But Ruth, always a step ahead, armed with her ironic wit and a reluctant dog, eludes their understanding; can she elude their capture, too?

A nonstop oddball thriller for the age of digital theft, Ruth Run introduces an irresistible new heroine and a fantastic new voice in contemporary fiction.]]> 304 Elizabeth Kaufman 0593832647 Sue 0 to-read 3.49 2025 Ruth Run
author: Elizabeth Kaufman
name: Sue
average rating: 3.49
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/11
shelves: to-read
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]]> Burner 55948924 It’s terrifying how quickly everything can be taken away from you. Iris learns this agonizing lesson in the blink of an eye. Her future dreams. Her past life. Everything gone in a storm of pain.But this pain is only the beginning.

AUDREY
Audrey had the perfect life. Great husband, beautiful daughter, lots of money. Except her husband isn’t the man she thought he was. Her dead husband’s burner phone was bad. The Polaroids were worse. But the secrets she uncovers next set her entire world on fire.

BURNER
Two women’s lives intersect because of one man’s actions. The transformation is pristine,and beautiful, and filled with pain. Sometimes the scars are on the inside.]]> 230 Robert Ford Sue 0 to-read 4.07 2020 Burner
author: Robert Ford
name: Sue
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Twisted 40735214 BEFORE YOU READ THIS BOOK
I WANT YOU TO KNOW THREE THINGS:

1. The police are looking to charge me with murder.
2. No one knows who I am. Or how I did it.
3. If you think you've found me. I'm coming for you next.

After you've read this book, you'll know: the truth is far more twisted...]]> 320 Steve Cavanagh 1409170691 Sue 0 to-read 3.90 2019 Twisted
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Sue
average rating: 3.90
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Defending Jacob 11367726
Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.]]> 421 William Landay 0385344228 Sue 0 to-read 3.99 2012 Defending Jacob
author: William Landay
name: Sue
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2012
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Only Survivors 61273351
To keep one another safe.
To hold one another accountable.
Or both.

Their annual meeting place, a house on the Outer Banks, has long been a refuge. But by the tenth anniversary, Cassidy Bent has worked to distance herself from the tragedy and from the other survivors. She’s changed her mobile number. She’s blocked the others� email addresses. This year, she is determined to finally break ties once and for all. But on the day of the reunion, she receives a text with an obituary attached: another survivor is gone. Now they are seven—and Cassidy finds herself hurling back toward the group, wild with grief—and suspicion.

Almost immediately, something feels off this year. Cassidy is the first to notice when Amaya, the annual organizer, slips away, overwhelmed. This wouldn’t raise alarm except for the impending storm. Suddenly, they’re facing the threat of closed roads and surging waters…again. Then Amaya stops responding to her phone. After all they’ve been through, she wouldn’t willfully make them worry. Would she?

And—as they promised long ago—each survivor will do whatever he or she can do to save one another. Won’t they?

A propulsive and chilling locked-box mystery filled with the dazzling hairpin twists that are the author’s signature, The Only Survivors is New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda’s best novel yet.]]> 339 Megan Miranda 1668010410 Sue 0 to-read 3.52 2023 The Only Survivors
author: Megan Miranda
name: Sue
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/10
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[No Lie Lasts Forever: A Thriller]]> 219290163 Zodiac with a terrifying twist, in a taut thriller from author Mark Stevens about a reformed serial killer and the disgraced journalist he coaxes into finding the imposter trading on his name.

When a reporter dies in a shockingly familiar way, the media rushes to announce the return of the PDQ Killer. The city of Denver reels, but no one more than Harry Kugel. After all, he is the PDQ Killer—or was fifteen years ago. And he didn’t do this.

Still working to reform his ways, Harry won’t let some amateur murderer ride his twisted coattails and risk drawing the police back his way. To protect his legacy and quiet new life, he’ll have to expose the copycat. Without exposing himself.

Disgraced TV journalist Flynn Martin holds the key. After a botched hostage situation, she’ll do anything to revive her dying career—even hunt down a monster who executed one of her own.

Harry must convince Flynn to follow him into the heady world of a killer. But with the law closing in and a rival at large, he starts to feel the familiar pull of old urges…]]> 457 Mark Stevens 1662529600 Sue 0 to-read 3.91 No Lie Lasts Forever: A Thriller
author: Mark Stevens
name: Sue
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Drive (The Bittersweet Symphony Duet, #1)]]> 34950852
The average song is three and a half minutes long; those three and a half minutes could lead to a slow blink, a glimpse of the past, or catapult the soul into heart-shattering nostalgia.

At the height of my career, I had the life I wanted, the life I’d always envisioned. I’d found my tempo, my rhythm. Then I received a phone call that left me off key.

You see, my favorite songs had a way of playing simultaneously. I was in love with one man’s beats and another’s lyrics. But when it came to the soundtrack of a life, how could anyone choose a favorite song? So, to erase any doubt, I ditched my first-class ticket and decided to take a drive, fixed on the rearview.

Two days.

One playlist.

And the long road home to the man who was waiting for me.]]> 412 Kate Stewart 1978098758 Sue 0 to-read 4.34 2017 Drive (The Bittersweet Symphony Duet, #1)
author: Kate Stewart
name: Sue
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/09
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Sugarland 228668256 From three-time Emmy-winning legend Tom Fontana, Sugarland is a hypnotic story about obsession, murder, and the serpentine bonds between siblings.

Sometimes the darkest mysteries are homegrown.

When Zephyr Nelson returns home to look after her ailing mother, she discovers that her younger brother, Cotter, has become obsessed with a malevolent influencer on a mysterious voice app.

Just as a series of puzzling deaths begin plaguing their small town of Sugarland.

With the help of her college best friend and occasional lover, Teddy, Zephyr unravels truths about Sugarland that are impossible for her to accept ...

Forcing her to make an unconscionable choice that will change the lives of her friends and family, forever.]]> Tom Fontana Sue 0 currently-reading 3.04 Sugarland
author: Tom Fontana
name: Sue
average rating: 3.04
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Not So Perfect Strangers 62996958 Ìý
“I’m a big believer that women should help each other, Tasha,� she says. “Don’t you think?�

Tasha Jenkins has finally found the courage to leave her abusive husband. Taking her teenage son with her, Tasha checks into a hotel the night before their flight out of D.C. and out of Kordell Jenkins’s life forever. But escaping isn’t so easy, and Tasha soon finds herself driving back to her own personal hell. As she is leaving, a white woman pounds on her car window, begging to be let in. Behind the woman, an angry man is in pursuit. Tasha makes a split-second decision that will alter the course of her she lets her in and takes off.Ìý
Ìý
Tasha and Madison Gingell may have very different everyday realities, but what they have in common is marriages they need out of. The two women want to help each other, but they have very different ideas of what that means . . .
Ìý
They are on a collision course that will end in the case files of the D.C. MPD homicide unit. Unraveling the truth of what really happened may be impossible‒and futile. Because what has the truth ever done for women like Tasha and Madison?]]> 320 L.S. Stratton 1454947438 Sue 0 to-read 3.58 2023 Not So Perfect Strangers
author: L.S. Stratton
name: Sue
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[James Patterson VIRGIN 1980 McGraw-Hill, NY Early Book Club Edition HC/DJ [Hardcover] unknown]]> 128695140 233 James Patterson Sue 4
Is based on a story that has always intrigued me. The girls of FATIMA and the miracles promised. I like this book, I liked it a lot, but then I’m inclined to like things that support my belief system. I’m just glad that I found it.

It’s was published in 1970 and quite often, It’s hard to find books from that time that are available on online and ready to listen to not just read.

The person who was the reader did a pretty good job on this. I read it as a book provided for handicapped and blind people on the bard system & if you qualify, you should get involved and become a member. You may as I do get to enjoy audiobooks that don’t cost a penny. An annual contribution is a nice way to help though. ]]> 3.71 1980 James Patterson VIRGIN 1980 McGraw-Hill, NY Early Book Club Edition HC/DJ [Hardcover] unknown
author: James Patterson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.71
book published: 1980
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/07
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves:
review:
Patterson has written some pretty good books over the years. This was an early one from him completely different from what he writes today.

Is based on a story that has always intrigued me. The girls of FATIMA and the miracles promised. I like this book, I liked it a lot, but then I’m inclined to like things that support my belief system. I’m just glad that I found it.

It’s was published in 1970 and quite often, It’s hard to find books from that time that are available on online and ready to listen to not just read.

The person who was the reader did a pretty good job on this. I read it as a book provided for handicapped and blind people on the bard system & if you qualify, you should get involved and become a member. You may as I do get to enjoy audiobooks that don’t cost a penny. An annual contribution is a nice way to help though.
]]> The Wife You Know 81267114
Widower Luke Driskell didn’t expect to fall in love and marry again so quickly. But Ashley and her daughter, Joy, are special—a quality borne out when Ashley rushes into a burning day-care center to save the children. Immediately she’s a social media sensation and hero. Then, just as suddenly, Ashley and Joy disappear into the bitterly cold night.

With no trace of their whereabouts, Luke begins a panicked investigation. Alarmingly, he can find no proof that the woman he loves even exists. Left behind: just a hidden stash of fake IDs. Different names. Different cities. Same haunted face. Now the devastated husband has only questions: Who did he marry? What is she hiding?

Luke’s cross-country pursuit of the truth soon spins into something more dangerous than he imagined. Because Ashley’s secrets run so deep and dark that finding her could threaten all their lives.]]> 205 Chad Zunker 1662515502 Sue 3
Seems like I should have a better review than that sentence that I just wrote, but I don’t. I enjoyed the book. It was easy to read plus I like the ending and I even like the beginning.

if you’re sort of bored and you’d like something to read give this one a chance. I think you’ll like it too.]]> 3.92 2024 The Wife You Know
author: Chad Zunker
name: Sue
average rating: 3.92
book published: 2024
rating: 3
read at: 2025/05/07
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves:
review:
Spent most of my day listening to this book and I enjoyed it although I quite often found it pretty predictable

Seems like I should have a better review than that sentence that I just wrote, but I don’t. I enjoyed the book. It was easy to read plus I like the ending and I even like the beginning.

if you’re sort of bored and you’d like something to read give this one a chance. I think you’ll like it too.
]]> The First Day of Spring 55801220 "So that was all it took," I thought. "That was all it took for me to feel like I had all the power in the world. One morning, one moment, one yellow-haired boy. It wasn't so much after all."

Meet Chrissie...

Chrissie is eight and she has a secret: she has just killed a boy. The feeling made her belly fizz like soda pop. Her playmates are tearful and their mothers are terrified, keeping them locked indoors. But Chrissie rules the roost -- she's the best at wall-walking, she knows how to get free candy, and now she has a feeling of power that she never gets at home, where food is scarce and attention scarcer.

Twenty years later, adult Chrissie is living in hiding under a changed name. A single mother, all she wants is for her daughter to have the childhood she herself was denied. That's why the threatening phone calls are so terrifying. People are looking for them, the past is catching up, and Chrissie fears losing the only thing in this world she cares about, her child.]]> 352 Nancy Tucker 0593191560 Sue 0 to-read 3.88 2021 The First Day of Spring
author: Nancy Tucker
name: Sue
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Death Row (Alibis collection) 230824619
Talia Kemper is on death row for murdering her husband. She had an alibi and no known motive, yet Talia’s unwavering protestations of innocence have always been ignored. Then one day in the visiting area, she sees a recognizable stranger she’s certain is her husband. It turns out the man she’s been convicted of killing may not be dead after all. But as the days tick away toward Talia’s execution, what will it take for her to be believed?

Freida McFadden’s Death Row is part of Alibis, a collection of stories about lies, truth, and deception. It’s just a matter of what you can get away with. They can be read or listened to in one sitting.]]> 74 Freida McFadden 1662532261 Sue 4
I hate to end a book on this note after liking the entire book the whole way through. I love the uncertainty, but then this ending threw me for a loop.

I’m gonna head off and read some other reviews and see if I feel better about it but for those of you who like McFadden, this is a pretty good book. Good luck to you all!]]> 3.79 2025 Death Row (Alibis collection)
author: Freida McFadden
name: Sue
average rating: 3.79
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/05
date added: 2025/05/07
shelves:
review:
Wait, what? I am thoroughly baffled. I honestly thought she died at the end, but I also honestly thought that her husband let her die because he had a way to revive her. I am so confused.

I hate to end a book on this note after liking the entire book the whole way through. I love the uncertainty, but then this ending threw me for a loop.

I’m gonna head off and read some other reviews and see if I feel better about it but for those of you who like McFadden, this is a pretty good book. Good luck to you all!
]]> The Tradwife’s Secret 220349809
She spends her days baking sourdough and picking vegetables from the garden while watching her children play in the fields surrounding her Montana homestead.

Dinner is always on the table for her husband and they end their days sitting on the porch, watching the sun go down.

It’s a life anyone would dream of.

And it’s all a lie.]]> 350 Liane Child 0008744092 Sue 0 to-read 3.77 The Tradwife’s Secret
author: Liane Child
name: Sue
average rating: 3.77
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Choice 61121529 Listening Length: 38 minutes

In this thought-provoking short, #1 New York Times best-selling and award-winning author Jodi Picoult explores a dystopian crisis through the pinhole lens of an ex-couple experiencing an unwanted pregnancy.

Margot and James are broken up—for good this time. James made sure of it when he dropped the bomb on Margot: that he doesn’t want kids, ever.

Then, on the biggest morning of his life, James—an ambitious lawyer at a high-powered firm—wakes up pregnant. He realizes with dread that he is part of a recent epidemic of men suddenly and inexplicably becoming pregnant. His condition obvious to the higher-ups, James is denied the promotion he was expecting, sending him reeling.

Meanwhile, Margot, a social worker, must handle the influx of desperate, pregnant teenage boys suddenly seeking her help. When she receives a call from James with the same problem, the challenge of navigating post-Roe America hits even closer to home.

Please note: This content is intended for adults only. It features themes of pregnancy loss that may be upsetting to some listeners. Discretion is advised.]]> 1 Jodi Picoult Sue 0 to-read 4.11 2022 Choice
author: Jodi Picoult
name: Sue
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/06
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Jackknife 229214151 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.

Dennis awakens something evil when he removes a decades-old jackknife from the trunk of a gnarled old sycamore. Once pinned in place—now thoughtlessly freed—the tree returns to its roots. An act of vigilante justice took place under its boughs long ago. But its taste for blood has only grown stronger�

Joe Hill’s Jackknife is part of The Shivers, a collection of haunting stories that reveal the otherworldly terrors all around us. Once you know, there’s no going back. Read or listen to each story in one unsettling sitting.]]> 46 Joe Hill 166253213X Sue 5
Along came Stephen King, and holy cow. This man can write a book! He can scare the living daylights out of you for a simple stupid thing like a clock on the wall or he can show you the deepest darkest part of humanity that we should be afraid of even if we’re not.

We have a whole new generation of writers with many of them so very talented & many of them right quite a bit like Stephen from back in the day. One of the best in that genre is Joe Hill his son.

This book Jack knife was not big. It was not long, but it had some fright in it and that fear is going to linger with me for some time over trees or things that I want to enjoy looking at & admiring & wishing I had more of them around me. There’s so much majesty in a tree and so much beauty and then along comes Joe Hill . He will leave you with admiration for how much beauty or Majesty a tree has but He leaves you with the fear that that tree is going to come and take you out

Many years ago his dad wrote a short story about a surgeon who was lost at sea on a life Raft. He was dying of thirst. He was dying of hunger, when suddenly his fingers began to look pretty good, and he still has a scalpel. Those fingers gave me nightmares for years they still do. Joe has left me with a fear of trees and fear of a jackknife, just a simple little jack knife!

Give this short story a chance. See if you agree with me about joe Hill? is he another chip off his dad’s block or is he working hard to get there?]]> 3.64 2025 Jackknife
author: Joe Hill
name: Sue
average rating: 3.64
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/05
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves:
review:
Since my late teens, early 20s onward my favorite books have always been those that sort of scared the heck out of me. It started with Shirley Jackson, the haunting of Hill house which is of the scariest books I’ve ever read. I reread it just to see if it was and it scared me again.

Along came Stephen King, and holy cow. This man can write a book! He can scare the living daylights out of you for a simple stupid thing like a clock on the wall or he can show you the deepest darkest part of humanity that we should be afraid of even if we’re not.

We have a whole new generation of writers with many of them so very talented & many of them right quite a bit like Stephen from back in the day. One of the best in that genre is Joe Hill his son.

This book Jack knife was not big. It was not long, but it had some fright in it and that fear is going to linger with me for some time over trees or things that I want to enjoy looking at & admiring & wishing I had more of them around me. There’s so much majesty in a tree and so much beauty and then along comes Joe Hill . He will leave you with admiration for how much beauty or Majesty a tree has but He leaves you with the fear that that tree is going to come and take you out

Many years ago his dad wrote a short story about a surgeon who was lost at sea on a life Raft. He was dying of thirst. He was dying of hunger, when suddenly his fingers began to look pretty good, and he still has a scalpel. Those fingers gave me nightmares for years they still do. Joe has left me with a fear of trees and fear of a jackknife, just a simple little jack knife!

Give this short story a chance. See if you agree with me about joe Hill? is he another chip off his dad’s block or is he working hard to get there?
]]> <![CDATA[Night and Day in Misery (The Shivers Collection, #4)]]> 229214163 USA Today bestselling author Catriona Ward.

Room 17 was the last stop on her husband and son’s journey. Eight years after their deaths, Stella books the same room, hoping to commune with their memories. But as she tries to sleep, disturbing and urgent visions blur the lines between reality and the supernatural, and the other side sends a terrifying message.

Catriona Ward’s Night and Day in Misery is part of The Shivers, a collection of haunting stories that reveal the otherworldly terrors all around us. Once you know, there’s no going back. Read or listen to each story in one unsettling sitting.]]> 35 Catriona Ward 1662532806 Sue 4
Catriona writes some interesting things met. This is not one of my favorites. I guess I just don’t want to be sad. Otherwise it was a pretty good short story and . It was well written.]]> 3.78 Night and Day in Misery (The Shivers Collection, #4)
author: Catriona Ward
name: Sue
average rating: 3.78
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/05/05
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves:
review:
This was very short, but it was so sad. I’m not sure what I expected. I did read one review.

Catriona writes some interesting things met. This is not one of my favorites. I guess I just don’t want to be sad. Otherwise it was a pretty good short story and . It was well written.
]]> The Writer 215749267 “Consider blocking out a few hours of uninterrupted reading timeâ€�ÌýforÌýThe Writer, #1 New York TimesÌýbestselling author James Patterson’sÌýâ€�Excellent…perfectly executed…genuinely suspensefulâ€�Ìý(Booklist) thriller about a true-crime author swept up in a murder plot.

“E²Ô³Ù±ð°ù³Ù²¹¾±²Ô¾±²Ô²µâ€¦one gonzo plot twist follows the next…loads of fun.â€�Ìý(Publishers Weekly)
Ìý
NYPD Detective Declan Shaw gets a call:ÌýHow fast can you get to the Beresford building on Central Park West?
In the tower apartment, Shaw finds a woman waiting for him. She’s covered in blood. A body is lying dead on the floor of the luxurious living room.
Every book in the apartment’s floor-to-ceiling shelves is by the same author: bestselling true-crime writer Denise Morrow.Ìý
"This is you?" Shaw asks the woman. "You're a writer?"
Only one person knows the ending to this story. Is it the victim or the killer?

]]> 400 James Patterson 0316570001 Sue 0 to-read 4.25 2025 The Writer
author: James Patterson
name: Sue
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Jack's Boys 204909249 From #1 internationally bestselling author John Katzenbach

Five serial killers �

Known only to each other

Alpha. Bravo. Charlie. Delta. Easy.

Connected through a secure internet location, encrypted and concealed, a unique chat room they have named Jack’s Special Place in homage to their ultimate model—the one killer they hold in the highest

Whitechapel, London. 1888. The infamous murderer remembered in dark history as Jack the Ripper.

And so, they are Jack’s Boys.

They delight in each other’s crimes. They relish in taunting police around the world with odd clues and deep confusion—the modern version of the Victorian-era killer they emulate. While the original Jack sent letters to Fleet Street papers, they send pictures and online boasts and insults. In this fashion, they feed on each other’s killings, a private community of death. Arrogant. Conceited. Untouchable.

Or so they thought.

Until one day they are hacked.

Two teenagers, lying on their bed at home. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Slightly disaffected, each with their own issues—but deeply in young love and equally fascinated by the world of the dark web, where they accidentally stumble upon Jack’s Boys in their private space �

Whom they immediately mock.

This triggers a landslide of anger and revenge as the killers decide to teach the two teenagers a lesson in humility and respect for their betters. And caught up in this web of death are the teenage boy’s grandmother and grandfather—an ICU nurse and former college admissions counselor with her own, hidden, murderous history, and an ex-Marine, Viet vet, still haunted by his time in that conflict.

Now as the web tightens and five killers all emerge from the shadows, this makeshift band of young and old will have to find a way to expose them, defeat them, and somehow save their own lives.]]> 540 John Katzenbach Sue 5
This is about mainly about a group of psychopaths who band together online and name themselves after Jack the Ripper. They each have sociopathic tendencies and they all love killing

They have special methods of killing and they remained undercover for years. Every so often they slip out of hiding, remove some people from life and then go right back to hiding.

Couple of teenagers discovered them though and these teenagers actually take them out of the game. The book was very exciting during the period where they were hunting each other. It was even more exciting when they came in contact with each other

This is a very long book. It is worth every minute I invested in it. I hope those of you enjoy reading stuff like this. Also, find it. Interesting & intriguing and are glad that you chose it.]]> 3.92 Jack's Boys
author: John Katzenbach
name: Sue
average rating: 3.92
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/05/04
date added: 2025/05/04
shelves:
review:
This book was shockingly good for me. The narrator really brought it to life. Not that I needed. It brought to life, but he did a great job.

This is about mainly about a group of psychopaths who band together online and name themselves after Jack the Ripper. They each have sociopathic tendencies and they all love killing

They have special methods of killing and they remained undercover for years. Every so often they slip out of hiding, remove some people from life and then go right back to hiding.

Couple of teenagers discovered them though and these teenagers actually take them out of the game. The book was very exciting during the period where they were hunting each other. It was even more exciting when they came in contact with each other

This is a very long book. It is worth every minute I invested in it. I hope those of you enjoy reading stuff like this. Also, find it. Interesting & intriguing and are glad that you chose it.
]]> The Final Orchard 208591230 From debut-author CJ Rivera, comes a harrowing tale of a parent risking it all for her child. The Final Orchard is perfect for those looking for a novel that captures them like television shows Silo and Black Mirror.HOW FAR WOULD YOU GO TO SAFEGUARD THE FUTURE?In a society where bionic enhancements are the epitome of wealth and power, scientific researcher Dr. Rosio Arata threatens to topple the status quo with her pioneering organic enhancements. Yet when a horrific accident kills her daughter, Ro’s quest for answers leads her to becoming trapped in a twisted version of her life’s work.In a bleak underground colony, 18-year old Ever is primed to rise through the ranks, gain selection and become a Saviour. It’s her dream to journey to the Surface and fight the army of Others overwhelming the globe, catching up with the boy she loves in the process. Yet nothing in this world is what it seems and soon the secrets buried in her bunker begin to unravel, threatening the future of everything.]]> 304 C.J. Rivera 1915998263 Sue 0 to-read 4.02 2024 The Final Orchard
author: C.J. Rivera
name: Sue
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/05/03
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Thicket 219539959
Norah can’t stop thinking about the night her brother died.

She was supposed to stay with him at the Halloween carnival. He’d begged her to stay. But they’d fought, and Norah left him alone in the woods. That was before she realized there was a real killer lurking among the costumes and macabre props.

When the carnival reopens just weeks later amid a media controversy, Norah decides to retrace her brother’s last steps in a desperate attempt to unravel what really happened that night. But the woods hold more than just traumatic memories.

Before long, Norah begins to suspect that the killer's choice of hunting ground was no coincidence. And that this nightmare is far from over.]]> 332 Noelle W. Ihli Sue 3 3.46 The Thicket
author: Noelle W. Ihli
name: Sue
average rating: 3.46
book published:
rating: 3
read at: 2025/04/30
date added: 2025/04/30
shelves:
review:
I wanted this to be so much better but since I’ve never read the author it’s a feeling based on other reviews. I pushed through and plan to take a rest before finding and reading more!
]]> All the Beautiful Lies 35230481 Her Every Fear and The Kind Worth Killing comes a diabolically clever tale of obsession, revenge, and cold-blooded murder—a sly and brilliant guessing game of a novel in the vein of Ruth Ware, Paula Hawkins, and Patricia Highsmith.

Harry Ackerson has always considered his stepmother Alice to be sexy and beautiful, in an "otherworldly" way. She has always been kind and attentive, if a little aloof in the last few years.

Days before his college graduation, Alice calls with shocking news. His father is dead and the police think it’s suicide. Devastated, Harry returns to his father’s home in Maine. There, he and Alice will help each other pick up of the pieces of their lives and uncover what happened to his father.

Shortly after he arrives, Harry meets a mysterious young woman named Grace McGowan. Though she claims to be new to the area, Harry begins to suspect that Grace may not be a complete stranger to his family. But she isn’t the only attractive woman taking an interest in Harry. The sensual Alice is also growing closer, coming on to him in an enticing, clearly sexual way.

Mesmerized by these two women, Harry finds himself falling deeper under their spell. Yet the closer he gets to them, the more isolated he feels, disoriented by a growing fear that both women are hiding dangerous—even deadly—secrets . . . and that neither one is telling the truth.

Listening length: 9 hours, 12 minutes]]> 10 Peter Swanson 006280295X Sue 5 3.60 2018 All the Beautiful Lies
author: Peter Swanson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.60
book published: 2018
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/29
date added: 2025/04/29
shelves:
review:
This great author has kept me wanting a new book as soon as I end the one I’m reading'. This time I may move onto a new author but only because I ran out of audiobook offerings that are free to read.
]]> Witness 8 (Eddie Flynn, #8) 214152415 This riveting psychological thriller from master of twists Steve Cavanagh, author of the �unguessable and unputdownable� (Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author) Kill For Me, Kill for You, What if the witness was more twisted than the killer?

Something is wrong with Ruby Johnson.

A former resident of the ultra-elite Manhattan upper class, Ruby now works as a maid in the type of houses she used to live in. Unassuming, she sees everyone’s dirty secrets from the inside of their beautiful, renovated brownstones. But when Ruby witnesses a murder, she has wicked plans in mind that don’t involve telling the authorities the truth.

Eddie Flynn, streetwise ex con-artist-turned-defense attorney, is the only lawyer in New York City willing to take on hopeless cases. And none is more hopeless than John Jackson’s—the gun that killed his neighbor found, with Jackson’s DNA, in his own home. Flynn and his unconventional team will need to use every trick they know to keep an innocent man from being locked up. But to save his client’s life, Eddie must first protect his own, as the scariest organized criminals in the city are out for his head.

Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Megan Miranda, Witness 8 is a fresh knockout page-turner from an author who is “the real deal� (Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author).]]> 406 Steve Cavanagh 1668049376 Sue 5
As always Eddie does the job and we end on a high note and this time even with some laughter. Not much but some. Great crime series with some courtroom procedural as well as police procedural thrown in. Worth your time for sure! ]]> 4.10 2024 Witness 8 (Eddie Flynn, #8)
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Sue
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/27
date added: 2025/04/27
shelves:
review:
Eddie Flynn has once again kept me stuck in a book until half the day is gone and people are wondering what I might be up to. I listened on audio and good narration kept me totally glued to each word.

As always Eddie does the job and we end on a high note and this time even with some laughter. Not much but some. Great crime series with some courtroom procedural as well as police procedural thrown in. Worth your time for sure!
]]> <![CDATA[What Time is Noon: Hilarious Texts, Ridiculous Feedback, and Not-So-Subtle Advice from Teenagers]]> 205478776
Chip Leighton started performing online as a lark, and not because he “craved validation through TikTok� as his daughter claimed (with snark). When sharing the funny, weird, crazy things his kids said and texted, he quickly learned he was not alone. Since launching, his channel has become the go-to support group for adults who have teenagers in their lives―wholly confirming that teens everywhere say the darndest things. Parents worldwide use Leighton’s posts to laugh, commiserate, and share their own kids� classics, like “what time is noon� or “do I have medicare?� What a relief to learn that it’s perfectly normal for teens to roast their parents mercilessly (“Don’t wear mom jeans to my school again�) or ask wild questions (“where do I buy pasta water�). In this debut collection, Leighton showcases these gems, along with tongue-in-cheek advice, charts and graphs, and silly quizzes. For readers who appreciate the real-life humor of books like Sh*t My Dad Says or the standup of family-friendly comedians like Jim Gaffigan or Nate Bargatze, this book is the ultimate gift for parents, kids, or anyone who likes to laugh.]]> 176 Chip Leighton 1682689247 Sue 5 3.98 What Time is Noon: Hilarious Texts, Ridiculous Feedback, and Not-So-Subtle Advice from Teenagers
author: Chip Leighton
name: Sue
average rating: 3.98
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/25
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves:
review:
Always a funny guy and well worth spending some time with him.
]]> The Finer Things 227805186 His art will take your breath away.

In the shadows of 1950s New York, a brilliant mind teeters on the edge of madness. Edgar Maguire's sculptures are taking the art world by storm, but behind each masterpiece lies a horrifying secret.

When Fiona, the object of Edgar's lifelong obsession, reenters his life, it ignites a passion that blurs the lines between creation and destruction. As his art evolves into something terrifyingly beautiful, a trail of bodies begins to surface across the city.

Detective George Snyder is closing in, but can he unravel the connection between the murders and Edgar's rising star before it's too late?]]> 349 J.D. Barker Sue 0 to-read 3.43 The Finer Things
author: J.D. Barker
name: Sue
average rating: 3.43
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Don't Tell Me How to Die 215177041 I have one thing to do before I die.
And time is running out.

I had it all: a fantastic husband, two great kids, an exciting career. And then, at the age of forty-three, I found out I would be dead before my next birthday.

My mother also died at forty-three. I was seventeen, and she warned me that women would flock to my suddenly single father like stray cats to an overturned milk truck. They did. And one absolutely evil woman practically destroyed his life, mine, and my sister’s.

I am not letting that happen to my family.

I have three months, and I plan to spend every waking minute searching for the perfect woman to take my place as Alex’s wife, and mother to Kevin and Katie.

You’re probably thinking, she’ll never do it. Did I mention that in high school I was voted “Most Likely to Kill Someone to Get What She Wants�?

From thriller writer Marshall Karp (cocreator with James Patterson of the #1 New York Times bestselling NYPD Red series), and rich with Karp’s deft array of three-dimensional characters and his signature biting humor, Don’t Tell Me How to Die has so many twists and turns, you’d swear he wrote it with a corkscrew.]]> 336 Marshall Karp Sue 0 to-read 4.22 2025 Don't Tell Me How to Die
author: Marshall Karp
name: Sue
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/25
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Room 1408 38712562
إن غر٠الÙنادق أماكن مخيÙØ© بطبيعتها حقًا، ألا ترى ذلك؟ أعني، كم شخصًا سبقك إلى النوم ÙÙŠ هذا الÙراش؟ كم منهم كان مريضًا؟ كم منهم كان يشعر بأنه ÙŠÙقد عقله؟ كم منهم كان ÙŠÙكر ربما ÙÙŠ قراءة بضع آيات أخيرة من الكتاب المقدس الموضوع ÙÙŠ درج الكومود المجاوز للÙراش، قبل أن يشنق Ù†Ùسه ÙÙŠ الخزانة القريبة من التليÙزيون؟ على كل حال دعونا ندخل. ها هو Ù…Ùتاحك... ولربما كنت ترغب ÙÙŠ استغراق بعض الوقت لتلاحظ مجموع تلك الأرقام الأربعة البريئة. إن الغرÙØ© 1408 تنتظرنا ÙÙŠ نهاية الرواق.]]> Stephen King Sue 5
The writer, Mike, rents what is supposed to be a haunted hotel room. He is skeptical even though the manager, Owen, warns him.

Once he gets checked in and sets up his writing and recording equipment he plans to investigate why the room is reported to be haunted.

Things begin happening at a rapid pace and for the reader we wonder if it is the room doing this or Mike’s brain. Eventually to escape the horrors he is experiencing, he sets a book of matches on fire and subsequently sets his clothing afire.

When the tale ends, we are left with the uncertainty. I love this kind of writing that makes my brain put in a bit of effort to decide what I actually believe once it is all said and done. ]]> 3.52 2014 Room 1408
author: Stephen King
name: Sue
average rating: 3.52
book published: 2014
rating: 5
read at: 2021/04/18
date added: 2025/04/22
shelves:
review:
This is Stephen King at his finest.

The writer, Mike, rents what is supposed to be a haunted hotel room. He is skeptical even though the manager, Owen, warns him.

Once he gets checked in and sets up his writing and recording equipment he plans to investigate why the room is reported to be haunted.

Things begin happening at a rapid pace and for the reader we wonder if it is the room doing this or Mike’s brain. Eventually to escape the horrors he is experiencing, he sets a book of matches on fire and subsequently sets his clothing afire.

When the tale ends, we are left with the uncertainty. I love this kind of writing that makes my brain put in a bit of effort to decide what I actually believe once it is all said and done.
]]> <![CDATA[A Talent for Murder (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #3)]]> 199116301
Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.

A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women.

Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . . but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.]]> 255 Peter Swanson 0063205033 Sue 5
Lily finds herself married to a man who may be killing others wherever he may be and doing it easily and with occasional joy!

He is decent to her but she feels that her time in the spotlight when he feels like removing her from his life and from her own life is fast approaching. So she turns to Henry for advice and for help! I enjoyed this so much and now I need a new one. Come on! I’m ready to read! LOL]]> 3.58 2024 A Talent for Murder (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #3)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:
Henry and Lily are a splendid team. What is it that they do? Well, they truly think their actions make this world a better place. I often agree with them.

Lily finds herself married to a man who may be killing others wherever he may be and doing it easily and with occasional joy!

He is decent to her but she feels that her time in the spotlight when he feels like removing her from his life and from her own life is fast approaching. So she turns to Henry for advice and for help! I enjoyed this so much and now I need a new one. Come on! I’m ready to read! LOL
]]> <![CDATA[Eight Perfect Murders (Malcolm Kershaw, #1)]]> 49580909 "Fiendish good fun."Ìý—Anthony Horowitz

From the hugely talented author of Before She Knew Him comes a chilling tale of psychological suspense and an homage to the thriller genre tailor-made for fans: the story of a bookseller who finds himself at the center of an FBI investigation because a very clever killer has started using his list of fiction’s most ingenious murders.

Years ago, bookseller and mystery aficionado Malcolm Kershaw compiled a list of the genre’s most unsolvable murders, those that are almost impossible to crack—which he titled “Eight Perfect Murdersâ€â€”chosen from among the best of the best including Agatha Christie’s A. B. C. Murders, Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, Ira Levin’s Death Trap, A. A. Milne's Red House Mystery, Anthony Berkeley Cox's Malice Aforethought, James M. Cain's Double Indemnity, John D. Macdonald's The Drowner, and Donna Tartt's A Secret History.

But no one is more surprised than Mal, now the owner of the Old Devils Bookstore in Boston, when an FBI agent comes knocking on his door one snowy day in February. She’s looking for information about a series of unsolved murders that look eerily similar to the killings on Mal’s old list. And the FBI agent isn’t the only one interested in this bookseller who spends almost every night at home reading. There is killer is out there, watching his every move—a diabolical threat who knows way too much about Mal’s personal history, especially the secrets he’s never told anyone, even his recently deceased wife.

To protect himself, Mal begins looking into possible suspects . . . and sees a killer in everyone around him. But Mal doesn’t count on the investigation leaving a trail of death in its wake. Suddenly, a series of shocking twists leaves more victims dead—and the noose around Mal’s neck grows so tight he might never escape.

]]> 288 Peter Swanson 0062838210 Sue 5
This offering certainly did! Malcolm owns a bookstore and years ago to promote his business he made a list of 8 books in which near to perfect murders have beeen committed. Now, years later, that list is being used to kill some people. Turns out Mal might even have some involvement! Why wouldn’t my heart get all jazzy on me and act up like crazy? This was so good but it was even better fun for me!]]> 3.75 2020 Eight Perfect Murders (Malcolm Kershaw, #1)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/20
date added: 2025/04/21
shelves:
review:
When I write reviews I often mention that I find myself with a pounding heart. Because I have congestive heart failure along with AFIB that cannot be treated due to my odd set of peculiar circumstances, the heart pounding is not desirable but some of these books I like so much throw me into that state!

This offering certainly did! Malcolm owns a bookstore and years ago to promote his business he made a list of 8 books in which near to perfect murders have beeen committed. Now, years later, that list is being used to kill some people. Turns out Mal might even have some involvement! Why wouldn’t my heart get all jazzy on me and act up like crazy? This was so good but it was even better fun for me!
]]> Kill Your Darlings 218671812 From theÌýNew York TimesÌýbestselling author ofÌýThe Kind Worth KillingÌý²¹²Ô»åÌýEight Perfect MurdersÌýcomes an inventive, utterly propulsive murder-mystery in reverse, tracing a marriage back in time to uncover the dark secret at its heart.

Thom and Wendy Graves have been married for over twenty-five years. They live in a beautiful Victorian on the north shore of Massachusetts. Wendy is a published poet and Thom teaches English literature at a nearby university. Their son, Jason, is all grown up. All is well…except that Wendy wants to murder her husband.

What happens next has everything to do with what happened before. The story of Wendy and Thom’s marriage is told in reverse, moving backward through time to witness key moments from the couple’s lives—their fiftieth birthday party, buying their home, Jason’s birth, the mysterious death of a work colleague—all painting a portrait of a marriage defined by a single terrible act they plotted together many years ago.

Eventually we learn the details of what Thom and Wendy did in their early twenties, a secret that has kept them bound together through the length of their marriage. But its power over them is fraying, and each of them begins to wonder if they would be better off making sure their spouse carries their secrets to the grave.]]> 288 Peter Swanson 0063433621 Sue 0 to-read 3.58 2025 Kill Your Darlings
author: Peter Swanson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Honeymoon Trap 63032598 A pulp novel has a book critic wondering if his new wife is out to kill him in this thrilling story by the New York Times bestselling author of Nine Lives.

When Henry arrives with his wife, Alice, for their honeymoon at a New England lake house, he encounters a strange sense of déjà vu. Plenty of vacation homes have shelves full of books, but this one has midcentury-American crime novels by the likes of John D. MacDonald, Ed McBain, Rex Stout, Patricia Highsmith, and more. It’s just like Henry’s collection back home.

There is one book, however, that’s unfamiliar: The Honeymoon Trap. As Henry reads it, he finds the story has uncanny similarities with his own situation—newlyweds on a honeymoon after a whirlwind romance. When Alice begins to act suspiciously, Henry’s grip on reality slowly comes loose. He can’t stop reading the book and wondering what his wife is up to. He also believes he may be caught in a trap, and getting out of it is going to be murder . . .]]> 55 Peter Swanson 150407985X Sue 0 to-read 3.28 2022 The Honeymoon Trap
author: Peter Swanson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.28
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)]]> 60916172 In this spectacularly devious novel by New York Times bestselling author Peter Swanson—featuring the smart and complex Lily Kintner from his acclaimed novel, The Kind Worth Killing—a private eye starts to follow a possibly adulterous husband, but little does he know that the twisted trail will lead back to the woman who hired him.

There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So, when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: he knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.

Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a “for sale� sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.

Is it possible that Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in this hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive.]]> 303 Peter Swanson 0063204983 Sue 5
Oh yes, a bit of a review. Lily continues to do what she is so good at doing which is killing. Henry continues his assistance and his life goes on.

Let’s go see what’s in book 3? I’m game.]]> 3.65 2023 The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner, #2)
author: Peter Swanson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/19
date added: 2025/04/19
shelves:
review:
My good heavens! Here it is at the most solemn time of the year and I’m reading books about serial killers. I guess Easter will come along tomorrow and I’ll enjoy a lovely meal, some time with my specially lovely family and even more time with the book I’m going to read. And as no surprise, I will treat myself to the next in this Peter Swanson group of books featuring Henry and Lily. I am so fascinated and intrigued. It’s almost like the feeling of love. Haha. I’ve never murdered, I’ve never wanted to be murdered and I think anyone who kills for any reason is on a short ticket to hell but I am still so very curious about the authors ability to manage all this so well. He’s really a good writer!

Oh yes, a bit of a review. Lily continues to do what she is so good at doing which is killing. Henry continues his assistance and his life goes on.

Let’s go see what’s in book 3? I’m game.
]]> <![CDATA[Thirteen / The Defence / The Plea / The Liar (Eddie Flynn, #1-4)]]> 42430638 0 Steve Cavanagh 9123697067 Sue 0 to-read 4.49 Thirteen / The Defence / The Plea / The Liar (Eddie Flynn, #1-4)
author: Steve Cavanagh
name: Sue
average rating: 4.49
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/17
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Not Our Daughter 211180780 Propelled on a cross-country chase, devoted parents become desperate fugitives in a heart-racing novel of suspense by the author of Family Money and All He Has Left.

Thirteen years ago, Cole and Lisa Shipley were fostering an infant with hopes of adopting her. Overnight everything was turned upside down, when the child’s mother bled to death on their front doorstep. Her last He’s coming here…for her! Save her. Afraid, bewildered, and with a baby in their arms, they fled. The longer they hid, the guiltier they looked.

Now in a small Colorado town under assumed identities, they’ve been seemingly safe. But when a tip exposes them and Cole is framed for another murder, they take it on the run again, barreling across the western US—this time with a confused and resistant teenage girl awakening to a terrifying new reality. In the rearview is the relentless FBI agent who has never given up the hunt. And he’s not the only one.

Every frightening mile brings a family closer to the truth about that fateful night thirteen years ago. And to a killer who’s determined to finish what he started.]]> 236 Chad Zunker 1662516096 Sue 4
I listened to this on audio and heard every word. It was an easy read with no big surprises and had a good narrator. I’m bumping it up to 3 and a half stars. Most people who read less than I do will be liking this more than I did but my reason for the bump is different. It was easy and very readable and at times in my earlier years this would have been close to 5 stars. I’m a bit jaded but the author put a lot of time and effort into the book and deserves to be rated for the true enjoyment I did get and that others wil, also get from reading or listening to it. ]]> 4.13 2025 Not Our Daughter
author: Chad Zunker
name: Sue
average rating: 4.13
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:
Okay book but sort of “hokey� in so far that it fills a pattern of this happens, so that happens and this is why it happens and oh yes, we are living happily ever after.

I listened to this on audio and heard every word. It was an easy read with no big surprises and had a good narrator. I’m bumping it up to 3 and a half stars. Most people who read less than I do will be liking this more than I did but my reason for the bump is different. It was easy and very readable and at times in my earlier years this would have been close to 5 stars. I’m a bit jaded but the author put a lot of time and effort into the book and deserves to be rated for the true enjoyment I did get and that others wil, also get from reading or listening to it.
]]> Conclave 29397486
Behind the locked doors of the Sistine Chapel, one hundred and eighteen cardinals from all over the globe will cast their votes in the world’s most secretive election.

They are holy men. But they have ambition. And they have rivals.

Over the next seventy-two hours one of them will become the most powerful spiritual figure on earth.]]> 288 Robert Harris Sue 0 to-read 4.03 2016 Conclave
author: Robert Harris
name: Sue
average rating: 4.03
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Follow Me 216997496 Heathers meets The Stepford Wives in this creepy and frighteningly funny dark thriller about a woman who will do anything to find her missing sister. Even pretend to be one of them.

After her twin sister, Chiara, goes missing at a mom-fluencer weekend, Adrienne Shaw will find her no matter what it takes. They may have been on the outs, but no one comes for her sister and gets away with it.

It’s been a year, the authorities have no answers, and her brother-in-law is useless in the matter. It’s time for Adrienne to take the case into her own hands. Following in Chiara’s last footsteps, Adrienne goes undercover, infiltrating the same influencer retreat as the last thing she wants to an Instamommy.

The remote ranch in Northern California is certainly welcoming—in a cult-adjacent kind of way. A charismatic leader, communal crafts, fixed smiles—and a lot of dead eyes.

Going on gut instinct and chasing a wild theory—that Chiara came here and never left—Adrienne is determined to uncover the truth before the too-perfect-to-believe women figure out who Adrienne really a threat to be eliminated.]]> 271 Elizabeth Rose Quinn 1662524803 Sue 5
On top of the well crafted story that had me gasping in fear one moment and laughing out loud the next, this is the first book by this author! With a first book this great, I bet the next will really get me excited. And oh great! It will be released in the next couple of weeks]]> 3.50 2025 Follow Me
author: Elizabeth Rose Quinn
name: Sue
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/16
date added: 2025/04/16
shelves:
review:
This was just what I needed! Humor, killings, mommy influencers at their worst and twins who never found a way to fully enjoy each other until one went missing!

On top of the well crafted story that had me gasping in fear one moment and laughing out loud the next, this is the first book by this author! With a first book this great, I bet the next will really get me excited. And oh great! It will be released in the next couple of weeks
]]> The Orchard 48541208
Hayley and her seven-year-old daughter, Frith, live in a rustic cabin with no electricity in the foothills of Vermont’s Green Mountains. One of the world’s most renowned translators of poetry from China’s Tang dynasty, Hayley walked away from her career and her drug-addicted husband to raise Frith alone in a land populated not by ambition-fueled academics but by hawks, beavers, and other wild things—including their exuberant Bernese mountain mutt, Bear. They get by on what little they earn from their overgrown apple orchard and the syrup they make from their maple trees. Frith—precocious, homeschooled, and a voracious reader—considers herself queen of this backwoods paradise. She is too young to understand the pain and regret that have followed her mother here.

Season after season, it is the three of them—mother, daughter, and dog—until the sunny March day when Rose Lattimore appears at their door. Rose is an artist and kindred spirit whose unexpected friendship upends Hayley and Frith’s solitary existence. Rosie takes the edge off the worries of day-to-day survival and encourages the playful aspects of living in nature: fishing, picnics, swimming in a quarry. Frith thrives under the loving care of Hayley and Rosie and, with a child’s innocence, assumes their happiness will last forever. Instead, their lives are shattered by unexpected tragedy and Frith must come to terms with heartbreak and fear.

Peter Heller is unique in his ability to capture the beauty and nuance of the natural world and its pull on women and men. In The Orchard, he pairs evocative storytelling with jewel-like poems—Hayley’s translations of her most beloved Tang poet, Li Xue—that echo Hayley and Frith’s life in the wilderness and tell their own tale of mother and daughter. By turns joyful and searing, The Orchard examines the fragility of childhood, motherhood, romantic love, and friendship, and celebrates the enduring solace of nature.]]> 229 Peter Heller 1094400041 Sue 5
A leaky roof is not a big deal when you can cuddle with your mom in a loft bed all snug and cozy. Keeping a stove warm enough to have a bath in the living room seems not only possible but desirable. Your dog may be a messy dog but he loves you and loves his life and that makes you an even better human

I yearn to be like the people in his books. They are in touch with nature, with each other and they are all fearless and filled with joy.

As always this book will be at the very top of my best books of the year. I’d love a new Peter heller book to come along and give this a run for number one but if it doesn’t turn out that way I had the joy of this one to move up the list. ]]> 3.75 2019 The Orchard
author: Peter Heller
name: Sue
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves:
review:
Peter Heller might be one of the best writers I’ve ever stumbled across. Today I listened to THE ORCHARD and I was swept away from the first page. The writing is so beautiful that I feel at one with the landscape. The characters all feel like real breathing humans and their way of life seems gorgeous and perfect.

A leaky roof is not a big deal when you can cuddle with your mom in a loft bed all snug and cozy. Keeping a stove warm enough to have a bath in the living room seems not only possible but desirable. Your dog may be a messy dog but he loves you and loves his life and that makes you an even better human

I yearn to be like the people in his books. They are in touch with nature, with each other and they are all fearless and filled with joy.

As always this book will be at the very top of my best books of the year. I’d love a new Peter heller book to come along and give this a run for number one but if it doesn’t turn out that way I had the joy of this one to move up the list.
]]> You Killed Me First 212376504 Three women. Three smouldering secrets. Who will make it out alive?

It’s 5 November, and a woman awakens to a nightmare. Bound and gagged, she lies trapped in the heart of a towering bonfire. As the smoke thickens, panic sets in � she’s moments away from being engulfed in flames. How did it come to this?

Rewind eleven months: Margot, a faded TV star, and her long-suffering friend Anna watch as glamorous Liv and her flawless family move into their street. The three women soon fabricate the perfect pretence of friendship, but each harbours her own deadly secret � and newcomer Liv senses something is terribly wrong beneath the polished exteriors.

As cracks widen in the veneer of perfection and lies escalate out of control, tension ignites. Bonfire Night is approaching and someone is set to burn…But who will it be?]]> 368 John Marrs 1662506503 Sue 4
The action, so many thrills. I was not ready for it to end but It was very exciting, almost too exciting at times! So I was ready for the end because it was so exciting that I almost needed a break.

This book is about some very messed up people who have who have hurt or killed each other, tried to kill each other, and even had children to add conflict to the issue. There is a couple who are brother and sister another couple who married after the woman killed the wife of the other guy and just craziness the whole way through but so very good.

All three women in this book might be a bit crazy. I know some of the men are too and right from the beginning we cope with a woman in a bonfire! There is death. There is fire , who did this, who did that , and just so much to know & so many things to figure out That I quit trying and just went along on the ride and enjoyed every second of it. I hope you do too.]]> 4.12 2025 You Killed Me First
author: John Marrs
name: Sue
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/14
date added: 2025/04/14
shelves:
review:
The publisher says they hope I enjoyed this program. Well let me tell you I enjoyed it so very much.

The action, so many thrills. I was not ready for it to end but It was very exciting, almost too exciting at times! So I was ready for the end because it was so exciting that I almost needed a break.

This book is about some very messed up people who have who have hurt or killed each other, tried to kill each other, and even had children to add conflict to the issue. There is a couple who are brother and sister another couple who married after the woman killed the wife of the other guy and just craziness the whole way through but so very good.

All three women in this book might be a bit crazy. I know some of the men are too and right from the beginning we cope with a woman in a bonfire! There is death. There is fire , who did this, who did that , and just so much to know & so many things to figure out That I quit trying and just went along on the ride and enjoyed every second of it. I hope you do too.
]]> Lucky Night 215361984 Two people, one hotel room, and all the choices and complications that make up a life.

After six years of a stolen hour here, another there, tonight is going to be different—very different—for Nick Holloway and Jenny Parrish. They’ve booked a room in a new luxury hotel in Manhattan, where they’ll spend the entire night together for the first time. Expectations are running high for this brief reprieve from ordinary life: they both need a good bout of ravishing sex and witty conversation.

But that’s not what they get.

Because they’ve barely gotten started when a smoke alarm goes off. Nick is annoyed, but not worried about what must be only a minor glitch. Jenny is anxious, guilty—is karma coming for them at last?

This existential page-turner seamlessly shifts between Nick and Jenny’s perspectives as the reality of their situation becomes apparent, and all their secrets, evasions and regrets come spilling out. Stripped of their defenses, disagreeing about everything, these two flawed, funny, very different people are forced to be honest—with each other and themselves—about what they want, where they’ve screwed up, and whether their affair is really as casual as it seems.]]> 288 Eliza Kennedy 0593800834 Sue 0 to-read 3.54 2025 Lucky Night
author: Eliza Kennedy
name: Sue
average rating: 3.54
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Stranger in Her House 141236527 A stranger has infiltrated your family…and now he’s taking over.

Paul’s just here to help, or so he claims—sent by a charity for vulnerable people to do odd jobs for elderly widow Gwen. But for Gwen’s daughter Connie, there’s just something about Paul that rings alarm bells from day one. He’s a little too kind, a little too involved…Worse still, Gwen seems to have fallen under his spell.

The last thing Connie wants is a stranger meddling in the safe routine she’s built around Gwen. She loves being the one Gwen turns to for cooking, cleaning and company. But the more Paul visits, the more Gwen is relying on him. By the time he conveniently finds himself between homes and has no choice but to move in, Connie is certain he’s trying to push her out completely.

It’s her word against his, though, and as her attempts to unmask him become ever more desperate she’s not the only one left wondering if she’s lost her grip on reality. But when events start spiralling rapidly out of her control, should Connie wage all-out war on Paul and risk losing Gwen forever—or has that been his plan all along?]]> 347 John Marrs 1662506473 Sue 0 currently-reading 3.94 2024 The Stranger in Her House
author: John Marrs
name: Sue
average rating: 3.94
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/12
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Mrs. Kimble 88385 Baker Towers, The Condition, and Faith, tells the story of Birdie, Joan, and Dinah, three women who marry the same charismatic, predatory, and enigmatic opportunist: Ken Kimble. Resonating with emotional intensity and narrative innovation reminiscent of Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto, Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God, Haigh’s Mrs. Kimble is a timeless story of grief, passion, heartache, deception, and the complex riddle of love.]]> 394 Jennifer Haigh 0060858788 Sue 5 3.65 2003 Mrs. Kimble
author: Jennifer Haigh
name: Sue
average rating: 3.65
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2015/11/21
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves:
review:
Whenever I am asked for a book recommendation, this is the title I suggest. When I finished the book, I really wanted to start again at the beginning. That seldom happens for me.
]]> Rabbit Moon 217182494 A family drama set in Shanghai, where a fractured American family faces its complicated past

Four years after their bitter divorce, Claire and Aaron Litvak get a phone call no parent is prepared for: Their twenty-two-year-old daughter Lindsey, teaching English in China during a college gap year, has been critically injured in a hit-and-run accident. At a Shanghai hospital they wait at her bedside, hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.

The accident unearths a deeper fissure in the family: the shocking event that ended the Litvaks� marriage and turned Lindsey against them. Estranged from her parents, she has confided only in her younger sister, Grace, adopted as an infant from China. As Claire and Aaron struggle to get their bearings in bustling, cosmopolitan Shanghai, the newly prosperous “miracle city,� they face troubling questions about Lindsey’s life there, in which nothing is as it seems.]]> 288 Jennifer Haigh 0316577138 Sue 5
This one is about a family who adopts a Chinese baby, Grace, who is beloved not only by the parents but also by their daughter, Lindsey. I was quite taken with Lindsey’s description. She is 6 feet tall with stunning blue eyes and a cascade of red curly hair. She is beautiful but not aware or caught up in her own beauty. She is very attached to Grace and they seem drawn together very closely as sisters. When Lindsey decided to go to China and teach for a year while Grace is finishing her own schooling, their closeness continues.

When Lindsey is injured badly by a hit and run driver, the family rushed to her side. They begin to try to determine how this awful accident happened and then they learn that not everything was all it seemed with Lindsey. The more they learn, the more they realize that she was hiding things for a long time from them. ]]> 3.75 2025 Rabbit Moon
author: Jennifer Haigh
name: Sue
average rating: 3.75
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/09
date added: 2025/04/09
shelves:
review:
Jennifer Haigh is an author whose books always pull me deeply into the family or families in the book. My first by her was Mrs. Kimble and I still encourage people to read it. For me it was the best book I’d read for the year I first found it. I am constantly considering getting that book on audio just to see if I feel the same at the end. Why not? Well, that’s easy! I have never read a single book by this author that didn’t leave me yearning for more. And she is not dedicated to a subject. If anything, she is devoted to family life and her books all revolve around families.

This one is about a family who adopts a Chinese baby, Grace, who is beloved not only by the parents but also by their daughter, Lindsey. I was quite taken with Lindsey’s description. She is 6 feet tall with stunning blue eyes and a cascade of red curly hair. She is beautiful but not aware or caught up in her own beauty. She is very attached to Grace and they seem drawn together very closely as sisters. When Lindsey decided to go to China and teach for a year while Grace is finishing her own schooling, their closeness continues.

When Lindsey is injured badly by a hit and run driver, the family rushed to her side. They begin to try to determine how this awful accident happened and then they learn that not everything was all it seemed with Lindsey. The more they learn, the more they realize that she was hiding things for a long time from them.
]]> <![CDATA[Nobody’s Fool (Detective Sami Kierce #2)]]> 217394492 In this stunningly twisty thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben, a secret from former Detective Sami Kierce’s college days comes back to haunt him. His memory is clear, but all these years later, the facts don’t add up…which is something he cannot ignore.

Sami Kierce, a young college grad backpacking in Spain with friends, wakes up one morning, covered in blood. There’s a knife in his hand. Beside him, the body of his girlfriend. Anna. Dead. He doesn’t know what happened. His screams drown out his thoughts—and then he runs.

Twenty-two years later, Kierce, now a private investigator, is a new father who’s working off his debts by doing low level surveillance jobs and teaching wannabe sleuths at a night school in New York City. One evening, he recognizes a familiar face at the back of the classroom. Anna. It’s unmistakably her. As soon as Kierce makes eye contact with her, she bolts. For Kierce there is no choice. He knows he must find this woman and solve the impossible mystery that has haunted his every waking moment since that terrible day.

His investigation will bring him face-to-face with his past—and prove, after all this time, he’s nobody’s fool.]]> 352 Harlan Coben 1538756358 Sue 0 to-read 4.10 2025 Nobody’s Fool (Detective Sami Kierce #2)
author: Harlan Coben
name: Sue
average rating: 4.10
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/07
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> A Killing Cold 211004079 A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.]]> 291 Kate Alice Marshall 1250343054 Sue 0 currently-reading 3.78 2025 A Killing Cold
author: Kate Alice Marshall
name: Sue
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Junket 172907034
But relaxing is harder than it seems for Groff’s narrator, who, like so many of her unforgettable characters, is thrillingly complex and conflicted. A novelist, she’s been invited to the retreat to bring an air of intellectual sophistication—but only because a “far more famous writer� canceled at the last minute. She hasn’t had a full night’s sleep or written with any enthusiasm in months and is fresh from a breakup. Arriving with her guard up, she quickly becomes ill at ease with the wastefulness-in-the-name-of-luxury she sees around her, the complacency of the other guests—so wealthy she can barely relate to them or them to her—and the New Age spirituality on the overpriced spa menu. And yet something starts working on her. Maybe it’s the jarring beauty of the desert, the response to the reading she gives from her latest book, or even those New Age treatments she’s so suspicious of. Despite herself, her cynicism begins to soften.

And as it does so, she becomes overwhelmed by what she feels—and we are drawn into the existential and psychological terrain that Groff maps with such uncanny skill, providing piercing insight after insight into what it means to live among the twenty-first century’s environmental and socioeconomic crises. In Junket, as with her recent internationally celebrated novel Matrix, she conjures a woman at a crossroads who, rather than surrender to desolation, finds renewed courage and strength via her art, a path to a creative vision all her own, confirming once again that this three-time National Book Award finalist is a master of both the sublime and the subversive.]]> 27 Lauren Groff Sue 2
Didn’t hate it. Didn’t love it. Barely enjoyed it. Still though I admit that this was nicely written but just outside my mood for today perhaps. Skip my review nd turn toa different one and you will be better served on this title.]]> 2.41 2022 Junket
author: Lauren Groff
name: Sue
average rating: 2.41
book published: 2022
rating: 2
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:
I simply read this and moved along to find another book to read. This has been placeholder short book that keeps popping up as a borrowed from the library selection. I just wanted to finally read it and return it to scribD

Didn’t hate it. Didn’t love it. Barely enjoyed it. Still though I admit that this was nicely written but just outside my mood for today perhaps. Skip my review nd turn toa different one and you will be better served on this title.
]]> <![CDATA[Paranoia (Michael Bennett, #17)]]> 214175243 NYPD Detective Michael Bennett will stop at nothing to protect family: his wife, his kids—and his fellow officers—in the latest psychological thriller from bestselling author James Patterson.

At every death scene, Bennett says a prayer over the victim.
But recently, too many of the departed have been fellow cops.
“I want you to look at these deaths on special assignment,� NYPD Inspector Celeste Cantor says. “Report only to me.�
Bennett excels as a solo investigator. But he’s chasing a killer who feeds on isolation� and paranoia.]]> 384 James Patterson 0316403687 Sue 5 4.12 2025 Paranoia (Michael Bennett, #17)
author: James Patterson
name: Sue
average rating: 4.12
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:

]]> The Night We Lost Him 207299448
Though the authorities rule Liam's death accidental, Nora and her estranged brother, Sam, believe otherwise. As they form an uneasy alliance to unpack the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.

With Laura Dave’s “signature blend of pulse-pounding suspense� (PEOPLE) and “trademark emotional heft� (The New York Post), The Night We Lost Him is a “propulsive� (Oprah Daily) must-read, with a heartbreaking final twist you’ll never see coming.]]> 298 Laura Dave 1668002930 Sue 4 3.56 2024 The Night We Lost Him
author: Laura Dave
name: Sue
average rating: 3.56
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:
I enjoyed this but to me it is not really a thriller. It is more a love story. Liam is the star of this story with his life full of plans for prefect spots where life can be enjoyed. He is all about enjoying life. He still has an emotional connection to his ex wives and all of his children
]]> The Last One at the Wedding 203579177 From the bestselling author of Hidden Pictures comes a breathtaking work of suspense about a father trying to save his daughter from a life-altering decision that will put everything he loves on the line.

Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter, Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced that their estrangement would become permanent. He’s even more surprised when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is ecstatic, and determined to finally make things right.

He arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate—very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed to mention that she’s marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it’s difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have time for him; and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is marrying into, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family, The Last One at the Wedding is a work of brilliant suspense from a true modern master.]]> 338 Jason Rekulak 1250895782 Sue 5
I enjoyed this audiobook’s narrator and he is perfect! Frank and his sister are excited to be invited and on the way to his daughter’s wedding. And what a big deal this wedding will be. He and his daughter had no contact for a long period before she called him out of the blue and invited him. This wedding will be his chance to become a real father to Maggie once again. But his sister is bringing along a brand new foster child who had just arrived into her home along with a case of head lice and a buzz cut for her hair to help solve the head lice issue.
As Frank relates the wedding part of the tale I realize that nothing is as it should be but Frank loves his daughter so much he will overlook issues to keep his daughter close to him.


I was listening to this and enjoying the story and Frank’s companionship and realized I was on my third hour of this book. I honestly felt as though we were two friends just sitting on my porch as I listened to Frank tell me why he never sees his daughter. The feeling that I knew them intimately never wavered through Frank’s steady and sure telling of the events that cost him a daughter.

I did not want this to end. I want more story and if there is ever a sequel I will be close to the front of the line to buy it. ]]> 3.61 2024 The Last One at the Wedding
author: Jason Rekulak
name: Sue
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/06
date added: 2025/04/06
shelves:
review:
My word this was great. Tops my audiobook list as my favorite so far in 2025

I enjoyed this audiobook’s narrator and he is perfect! Frank and his sister are excited to be invited and on the way to his daughter’s wedding. And what a big deal this wedding will be. He and his daughter had no contact for a long period before she called him out of the blue and invited him. This wedding will be his chance to become a real father to Maggie once again. But his sister is bringing along a brand new foster child who had just arrived into her home along with a case of head lice and a buzz cut for her hair to help solve the head lice issue.
As Frank relates the wedding part of the tale I realize that nothing is as it should be but Frank loves his daughter so much he will overlook issues to keep his daughter close to him.


I was listening to this and enjoying the story and Frank’s companionship and realized I was on my third hour of this book. I honestly felt as though we were two friends just sitting on my porch as I listened to Frank tell me why he never sees his daughter. The feeling that I knew them intimately never wavered through Frank’s steady and sure telling of the events that cost him a daughter.

I did not want this to end. I want more story and if there is ever a sequel I will be close to the front of the line to buy it.
]]> Tell No One 39786095 Kindle edition.

For Dr. David Beck, the loss was shattering. And every day for the past eight years, he has relived the horror of what happened. The gleaming lake. The pale moonlight. The piercing screams. The night his wife was taken. The last night he saw her alive.

Everyone tells him it's time to move on, to forget the past once and for all. But for David Beck, there can be no closure. A message has appeared on his computer, a phrase only he and his dead wife know. Suddenly Beck is taunted with the impossible -- that somewhere, somehow, Elizabeth is alive.

Beck has been warned to tell no one. And he doesn't. Instead, he runs from the people he trusts the most, plunging headlong into a search for the shadowy figure whose messages hold out a desperate hope.

But already Beck is being hunted down. He's headed straight into the heart of a dark and deadly secret -- and someone intends to stop him before he gets there.]]> 396 Harlan Coben Sue 5 I had this in hardcover on my bookshelf for a long while when a visitor borrowed it. I had not read it yet but I’ve l ways had a stockpile of books waiting to be enjoyed. When it came up on my list of books that I’d like to read, I found it at my local library and checked it out.

This is a wonderfully twisted thrill ride from start to finish. Elizabeth and Beck have loved each other since grade school. They are hokey and sweet about their love. They marked their first kiss by noting the time and Elizabeth called it Kiss Time forever after.

When she is tragically killed, Beck comes close to losing it. After several years of grief he gets a computer message that leads him to wonder if she really died. He starts searching for answers and boy oh boy does the excitement escalate.

If you haven’t read this, go get it now. It’s worth it!

If you are one of those people who say they can’t handle reading a whole book, well, heck, get the movie! This is some story and very well told.]]> 4.25 2001 Tell No One
author: Harlan Coben
name: Sue
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2001
rating: 5
read at: 2023/11/22
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves:
review:
Tell no one
I had this in hardcover on my bookshelf for a long while when a visitor borrowed it. I had not read it yet but I’ve l ways had a stockpile of books waiting to be enjoyed. When it came up on my list of books that I’d like to read, I found it at my local library and checked it out.

This is a wonderfully twisted thrill ride from start to finish. Elizabeth and Beck have loved each other since grade school. They are hokey and sweet about their love. They marked their first kiss by noting the time and Elizabeth called it Kiss Time forever after.

When she is tragically killed, Beck comes close to losing it. After several years of grief he gets a computer message that leads him to wonder if she really died. He starts searching for answers and boy oh boy does the excitement escalate.

If you haven’t read this, go get it now. It’s worth it!

If you are one of those people who say they can’t handle reading a whole book, well, heck, get the movie! This is some story and very well told.
]]> Middletide 199798457
One peaceful morning, in the small, Puget Sound town of Point Orchards, the lifeless body of Dr. Erin Landry is found hanging from a tree on the property of prodigal son and failed writer, Elijah Leith. Sheriff Jim Godbout’s initial investigation points to an obvious suicide, but upon closer inspection, there seem to be clues of foul play when he discovers that the circumstances of the beautiful doctor’s death were ripped straight from the pages of Elijah Leith’s own novel.

Out of money and motivation, thirty-three-year-old Elijah returns to his empty childhood home to lick the wounds of his futile writing career. Hungry for purpose, he throws himself into restoring the ramshackle cabin his father left behind and rekindling his relationship with Nakita, the extraordinary girl from the nearby reservation whom he betrayed but was never able to forget.

As the town of Point Orchards turns against him, Elijah must fight for his innocence against an unexpected foe who is close and cunning enough to flawlessly frame him for murder in this scintillating literary thriller that seeks to uncover a case of love, loss, and revenge.]]> 288 Sarah Crouch 166803509X Sue 0 to-read 3.47 2024 Middletide
author: Sarah Crouch
name: Sue
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/05
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Man Made of Smoke 217387838 The latest gripping serial killer thriller from the New York Times bestselling author Alex North.

Dan Garvie’s life has been haunted by the crime he witnessed as a child—narrowly escaping an encounter with a notorious serial killer. He has dedicated his life since to becoming a criminal profiler, eager to seek justice for innocent victims. So when his father passes away under suspicious circumstances, Dan revisits his small island community, determined to uncover the truth about his death. Is it possible that the monster he remembers from his childhood nightmares has returned after all these years?

With his signature shock and suspense, Alex North brings us The Man Made of Smoke. In turn emotional, introspective, and utterly terrifying, this is a story of fathers and sons, shadows and secrets, and the fight we all face to escape the trauma of the past.]]> 320 Alex North Sue 0 to-read 4.09 2025 The Man Made of Smoke
author: Alex North
name: Sue
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Heartbreak Hotel (Alex Delaware, #32)]]> 30327555 Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis investigate the death of Alex’s most mysterious patient to date in the sensational new thriller from the master of suspense, #1 New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Kellerman.

At nearly one hundred years old, Thalia Mars is a far cry from the patients that child psychologist Alex Delaware normally treats. But the charming, witty woman convinces Alex to meet with her in a suite at the Aventura, a luxury hotel with a checkered history.

What Thalia wants from Alex are answers to unsettling questions—about guilt, patterns of criminal behavior, victim selection. When Alex asks the reason for her morbid fascination, Thalia promises to tell all during their next session. But when he shows up the following morning, he is met with silence: Thalia is dead in her room.

When questions arise about how Thalia perished, Alex and homicide detective Milo Sturgis must peel back the layers of a fascinating but elusive woman’s life and embark on one of the most baffling investigations either of them has ever experienced. For Thalia Mars is a victim like no other, an enigma who harbored nearly a century of secrets and whose life and death draw those around her into a vortex of violence.

Heartbreak Hotel is classic Delaware and classic Kellerman.]]> 325 Jonathan Kellerman 0345541448 Sue 5
This entry was about a woman who is nearly a century in age and she seems to have untold wealth that she has been doling out to others for years. Despite that wealth, she lives in a sort of seedy motel type set up.

She reaches out to Alex asking him to meet her at her home and he goes to the meeting. She intrigues him so he agrees to further meetups with her. The next day he arrives to find she has been killed! Once he and Milo begin an investigation the reader learns a lot about this lively and sweet woman. A good read and as usual the camaraderie between Alex and Milo puts a smile on me!]]> 4.05 2017 Heartbreak Hotel (Alex Delaware, #32)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Sue
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2017
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
review:
Alex Delaware and Milo Sturgis on an investigation with each other is a pure joy for me. I am trying to sort of pace myself reading through this big catalogue of books that Jonathon Kellermen has written for my enjoyment. Well, for your enjoyment also. But at the moment I’m unable to get enough of this pair once they are in cahoots with each other and I just want to keep reading along sort of selfishly thinking only of my own enjoyment .

This entry was about a woman who is nearly a century in age and she seems to have untold wealth that she has been doling out to others for years. Despite that wealth, she lives in a sort of seedy motel type set up.

She reaches out to Alex asking him to meet her at her home and he goes to the meeting. She intrigues him so he agrees to further meetups with her. The next day he arrives to find she has been killed! Once he and Milo begin an investigation the reader learns a lot about this lively and sweet woman. A good read and as usual the camaraderie between Alex and Milo puts a smile on me!
]]> The Sublet 224277538 From #1 New York Times bestselling author Greer Hendricks comes a chilling story about the hidden cost of perfection.

Anne is barely keeping it together. A frazzled ghostwriter and aspiring novelist, she juggles nine-year-old twins and a listless marriage from an overcrowded Manhattan apartment, spreading herself thinner each day. Just as Anne is about to give up on her dreams, she lands her biggest client Melody Wells.

Melody paints a picture of serenity and empowerment in the lavender haze of her visualization workshops—however, the one thing she can’t manifest are the pages her publisher is demanding for her new motivational book. Enter Anne.

As Melody invites Anne deeper into her magical world, Anne finds herself working impossibly long days and traveling far beyond her comfort zone.

When Melody passes along a lead on a spacious sublet complete with East River views, built-in closets, and three bedrooms, Anne can’t believe her luck. Melody seems to know just what her family needs. But as small, unsettling incidents begin to accumulate, Anne starts to wonder what price she’s willing to pay for the good life.]]> 61 Greer Hendricks 1662528515 Sue 5 Publisher says “we hope you have enjoyed our presentation of ……�

This time I replied out loud saying, why yes I did! Thank you!

And this short story was a fun little read with no big thrilling plot twists but some gentle nudges to thinking before jumping into any big life changes. Plus it had a lovely and sweet husband and wife who seemed perfect for each other.

What it had, most of all, was a change in pace on the subject matter. I needed a calm and sweet book right now and I got that but along with it came some well written dialogue and a smile or two from me.]]> 3.23 2025 The Sublet
author: Greer Hendricks
name: Sue
average rating: 3.23
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/02
date added: 2025/04/02
shelves:
review:
I listened to this as an audiobook and it ended with a phrase I have heard many times since my first audiobook. The
Publisher says “we hope you have enjoyed our presentation of ……�

This time I replied out loud saying, why yes I did! Thank you!

And this short story was a fun little read with no big thrilling plot twists but some gentle nudges to thinking before jumping into any big life changes. Plus it had a lovely and sweet husband and wife who seemed perfect for each other.

What it had, most of all, was a change in pace on the subject matter. I needed a calm and sweet book right now and I got that but along with it came some well written dialogue and a smile or two from me.
]]> Bitter Is the Heart 203613973 Haunted by childhood abuse, a woman is forced to care for her cruel elderly mother in this electrifying horror novel exploring generational trauma, perfect for fans of Cassandra Khaw and T. Kingfisher.

Tamar Glass fled an abusive mother when she was eighteen, running away from home to find a better life elsewhere. She has lived in freedom from her mother, Ruth, for decades, until one night she wakes to find her now-elderly mother standing over her bed.

As Tamar takes in her mother, strange events start happening inside her the house is oppressively hot, lights flicker, and cupboards open and shut on their own. Whispers filter beneath her bedroom door. Tamar learns that Ruth has been kicked out of her assisted living home and other facilities refuse to house her and endanger their own residents. Tamar has spent years suppressing her childhood trauma, but it comes rushing back with each strange event in her home. As Tamar copes with their disturbing past which her mother stubbornly refuses to admit to, Tamar can’t shake the feeling that there’s something worse than her mother lurking in the shadows.

Perfect for fans of The Haunting of Hill House, this terrifying novel unravels one dark strand at a time.]]> 304 Mina Hardy 1639108637 Sue 0 to-read 3.66 2024 Bitter Is the Heart
author: Mina Hardy
name: Sue
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Only the Guilty Survive 203383556 A podcaster digs into strange connections between a cult’s mass suicide and the murder of a local beauty queen in this twisty psychological thriller about true crime culture, perfect for fans of Riley Sager and Lisa Jewell. The mass suicide of a cult known as The Flock sent shockwaves through the small rural town of Iola, Michigan. Led by the charismatic Dominic Bragg, The Flock camped at an abandoned bird sanctuary before their sudden and shocking demise. The deaths came just weeks after one of their members, Laurel Tai, a local pageant queen, was abducted.ÌýThe town turned its blame and fear onto the sole survivor, Claire Kettler–Laurel’s best friend. Burdened by grief and unanswered questions about her friend’s murder and her fellow cult membersâ€� deaths, Claire can’t help but wonder what really happened, especially when the cult leader is nowhere to be found.ÌýWhen podcaster Arlo Stone begins poking around ten years later, determined to uncover the truth about the cult and Laurel’s murder, Claire is propelled back into action. In a desperate attempt to puzzle out the past and keep her secrets from being spilled for the entertainment of thousands of listeners, Claire must dig into a tangle of unanswered questions before time runs out and history repeats itself.Ìý ]]> 288 Kate Robards 163910951X Sue 0 to-read 3.15 2024 Only the Guilty Survive
author: Kate Robards
name: Sue
average rating: 3.15
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Open Season (Alex Delaware, #40)]]> 212806926 Psychologist Alex Delaware and Detective Milo Sturgis become embroiled in an all-out race against time to find a twisted assassin in this riveting thriller from the #1 New York Times bestselling “master of suspense� (Los Angeles Times).

Los Angeles is a city of stars, a city of strivers and wannabes. Not everyone can shine bright, but they’ll burn themselves up for a glimpse of the high life. LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis knows it all too The best dreamers often make the worst monsters.

The body of an aspiring actress has been found—and she’d been drugged. The main suspect is a stunt double with the ego of an action star. He’s more brawn than brains, it seems, with few boundaries when it comes to women. But he’s offed before Milo and Alex can get to him. Worse yet, the rifle that killed him was used in a prior case . . . and another case before that. And then it's fired again and again, taking victims right under their noses.

They begin to think that someone is avenging the victims of men without boundaries—but is this a slick, efficient assassin with their own corrupt code of justice, or a knight errant, one who doesn’t want to be seen, but still wants to be known?

Alex and Milo soon find themselves in the thick of a truly complicated and twisted case—one with no shortage of suspects or victims that takes them on a wild ride through the surreal underbelly of Los Angeles.]]> 288 Jonathan Kellerman 0593497694 Sue 5
So how have I missed Alex Delaware along the way. Kellerman, the author, has written many books and I bet all are quite good. I think this one today might be number 40 and it seems fresh and new without a need to rehash all that came before.

My plan is to read them all. It will take time but what a pleasant journey through these books lies ahead for me!]]> 3.85 2025 Open Season (Alex Delaware, #40)
author: Jonathan Kellerman
name: Sue
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/04/01
date added: 2025/04/01
shelves:
review:
I read to manage my curiosity about things. I read for joy. I read for the fun and humor that often offset the pathos or hatred in life. I wake up every day with a plan to decide my day ahead. Almost always that includes a reading plan. Either to finish a book, read a new nook or even just to note on Good Reads that finished a book and to give it a star or more along with a reason for the rating.

So how have I missed Alex Delaware along the way. Kellerman, the author, has written many books and I bet all are quite good. I think this one today might be number 40 and it seems fresh and new without a need to rehash all that came before.

My plan is to read them all. It will take time but what a pleasant journey through these books lies ahead for me!
]]> <![CDATA[The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne]]> 215362022 When a drug kingpin discovers his numbers are down in the upper northeast, he sends a malevolent force, known only as "The Man," to investigate. At the same time, Babs's youngest daughter, Sis, has gone missing, which doesn't seem like a coincidence. In twenty-four hours Sis will be found dead, and the whole town will seek shelter from Babs’s wrath.]]> 368 Ron Currie Jr. 0593851668 Sue 0 currently-reading 3.99 The Savage, Noble Death of Babs Dionne
author: Ron Currie Jr.
name: Sue
average rating: 3.99
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/31
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> <![CDATA[One Last Child (Tallman's Valley Detectives, #1)]]> 55152044 Winner, Audiofile Earphones Award 2020 - narration by Caroline Lee.

Five long-missing children are about to be RETURNED.

It was summer in the mountains when five small children vanished from their nursery school picnic. The heat was stifling that day, the tinkle of an ice-cream van in the air....

Three-and-a-half years later, in the dead of winter, the children are returned to their families...one by one.

All except for Ivy - the granddaughter of Homicide Detective Kate Wakeland. The other four children say Ivy is dead.

Speculation grows that the mysterious abductor is enacting a cruel revenge plot due to a murderer that Kate put in jail years before.

Kate isn't sure what to believe. But one thing is certain - she's about to begin the battle of her life. When the children were first stolen, she was prevented from investigating the case.

But now, Kate will be relentless in uncovering the identity of the abductor and discovering what happened to Ivy.]]> 438 Anni Taylor Sue 5 4.39 2020 One Last Child (Tallman's Valley Detectives, #1)
author: Anni Taylor
name: Sue
average rating: 4.39
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/30
date added: 2025/03/30
shelves:
review:

]]> This Isn’t Happening 154487464
Scholarship law student Margot’s fling with her classmate Sam almost cost her everything. Now, she’s going out to dinner with him to a luxurious French restaurant with a plan to even the score. But Sam arrives late and is acting increasingly strangely. His hands are shaking, he’s nervous and jumpy; he’s behaving nothing like the privileged charmer she knows. As the night unfolds, Margot realizes Sam has a terrifying plan of his own.]]> 2 Anna Snoekstra Sue 5
I was not shocked by the ending but I felt sad for both Margo and Sam. Not tearful, just sad that life seemed to be difficult and or impossible for each of them. ]]> 3.08 2023 This Isn’t Happening
author: Anna Snoekstra
name: Sue
average rating: 3.08
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves:
review:
I was sure Margot was losing her mind until Sam entered the story. He arrived for a dinner date quite late and rather edgy. Margot is just as edgy so the entire novella was deciding who was mentally okay and I had no need to be paranoid or who may have had a side previously unknown by the other.

I was not shocked by the ending but I felt sad for both Margo and Sam. Not tearful, just sad that life seemed to be difficult and or impossible for each of them.
]]> Unsolved (Invisible, #2) 42290497 The perfect murder always looks like an accident.

FBI agent Emmy Dockery is absolutely relentless. She's young and driven, and her unique skill at seeing connections others miss has brought her an impressive string of arrests.

But a shocking new case-unfolding across the country-has left her utterly baffled.

The victims all appear to have died by accident, and have seemingly nothing in common. But this many deaths can't be coincidence. And the killer is somehow one step ahead of every move Dockery makes. How?>

To FBI Internal Affairs special agent, Harrison "Books" Bookman, everyone in the FBI is a suspect-particularly Emmy Dockery (the fact that she's his ex-wife doesn't make it easier).

But someone else is watching Dockery. Studying, learning, waiting. Until it's the perfect time to strike.]]> 481 James Patterson 0316419842 Sue 5 4.22 2019 Unsolved (Invisible, #2)
author: James Patterson
name: Sue
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/28
date added: 2025/03/28
shelves:
review:
Accident or murder? Homeless vet or killer? FBI agent or killer? So many questions. So many clues. I love this book. I read a part of it, got sick, laid it aside until I could manage it and then I couldn’t lay it down. I wanted to read it straight through and came close to doing just that deed. But then the need to sleep took over so I slept and dreamed my own finish which was no where close to the pulse pounder that the author provided! So good!.
]]> The Teacher's Lie 222059584
It’s been two years since Anna Cartwright’s life fell apart. During her first school trip as a young teacher, a student went missing and was never found. Not only was her career ruined, she was also accused of having an affair with fellow teacher and prime suspect Graham. Facing questions from journalists, police and family, Anna said she didn’t know what happened. She was lying.

Now, Anna has returned to Australia. Her only hope is Land’s End Area School, an isolated concrete wasteland perched on the cliffs. The failing institution is so understaffed that it is the one place her history might remain hidden. But while the eccentric Headmistress seems welcoming, deputy-head Miss Baxter seems determined to expose her secrets.

With new lies spinning out of control, how long can Anna keep her secret hidden? And is she being haunted by her guilt or by something far more sinister?]]> Brid Cummings Sue 0 to-read 2.72 The Teacher's Lie
author: Brid Cummings
name: Sue
average rating: 2.72
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/27
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[The Murder of an Angel (Confessions, #4)]]> 24705195
Tandy Angel is losing her mind—or so she thinks. Even as she's forced to fight for the family company, she's imagining new dangers in every shadow. And as her detective prowess is called into question and her paranoia builds, she has to face the very real possibility that the stalker she's convinced will take her life could be all in her head—or the very real danger that finally brings her down.]]> 304 James Patterson Sue 0 currently-reading 3.76 2015 The Murder of an Angel (Confessions, #4)
author: James Patterson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2015
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/25
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> I Came to Say Goodbye 9482772
A young woman pushed through the hospital doors.

Staff would later say they thought the woman was a new mother, returning to her child - and in a way, she was.

She walked into the nursery, where a baby girl lay sleeping. The infant didn't wake when the woman placed her gently in the shopping bag she had brought with her. There is CCTV footage of what happened next, and most Australians would have seen it, either on the internet or the news.

The woman walked out to the car park, towards an old Corolla. For a moment, she held the child gently against her breast and, with her eyes closed, she smelled her.

She then clipped the infant into the car, got in and drove off.

That is where the footage ends.

It isn't where the story ends, however.

It's not even where the story starts.]]> 295 Caroline Overington 1863256814 Sue 0 currently-reading 3.86 2010 I Came to Say Goodbye
author: Caroline Overington
name: Sue
average rating: 3.86
book published: 2010
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Looking for Eden 83731731
Aaron is dealing with a new marriage that’s currently trapped in immigration limbo, and his teenage daughter Cady is clearly going through a personal crisis of her own. After decades away, Clare has flown home from New York for Joe’s funeral, leaving her high-powered job and her not-quite-fiancé behind for what she thinks will be a short trip.

Neither Aaron or Clare are prepared for a fight for their inheritance against the mother who abandoned them as children. As they dig through years of secrets and lies in their tiny community to uncover the truth about Eden and Joe, will they notice the more immediate danger that threatens their family?]]> Caroline Overington Sue 0 to-read 3.24 Looking for Eden
author: Caroline Overington
name: Sue
average rating: 3.24
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Cuckoo's Cry 54375208
He allows her entry, and so begins a mystery set in unprecedented with the virus raging outside their home, the girl cannot be asked to leave, but what does he risk by having her stay?

4 hours 43 minutes]]> 5 Caroline Overington Sue 0 currently-reading 3.50 2020 The Cuckoo's Cry
author: Caroline Overington
name: Sue
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2020
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Everybody is a Liar 220450038
The New York Times bestselling author of The Next Mrs. Parrish delivers another spellbinding story of betrayal and deceit in this audiobook original, Everybody Is a Liar.

When Julie Buckley, a successful mystery writer, suspects her husband of cheating, she turns to her best friend, Darby, for advice. When Darby suggests couples therapy, Julie and Oliver find themselves discussing Oliver’s betrayal with their new therapist, Liza. Liza is competent and reassuring, and her advice and Oliver’s openness to change seem to be helping the couple rebuild their relationship.

But when murder strikes in this small Connecticut town, Liza begins to worry there is a connection between Oliver and another one of her patients and the confidences they have shared with her become the key to solving the murder. As Liza digs deeper, she comes to believe that everybody is a liar.]]> Liv Constantine Sue 0 to-read 3.61 Everybody is a Liar
author: Liv Constantine
name: Sue
average rating: 3.61
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Say No More 222434242 Listening time: 5 hours and 47 minutes

Who is Audrey Hoedemaker? It's a question her sister Maureen has heard more times than she can count, and she doesn't know what the short answer would be. Little sister, troubled teen, backpacker, musical theatre coach, con artist, childcare worker. Murderer.

A tragic, traumatic childhood casts a long shadow on the Hoedemaker sisters. Maureen has worked hard to move beyond the violence of the past and build a good, honest life for herself. Audrey, however, just can't seem to do the same, careening from one state of chaos to another.

Maureen loves her sister, but when Audrey's criminal past catches up to them both, she will have to make some difficult decisions about the limits of family loyalty - and just how far sisters are willing to go to protect each other...]]> 6 Caroline Overington Sue 5
I was feeling very sickly as I began this and had to keep taking breaks which meant that I was also taking my time with the book. As read along it got more intriguing and by the time I finished it I was reading quickly holding my breath and then it all dawned on me! I went back and read (well, actually listened) to about 50 pages because I didn’t want miss a single word. This was great!]]> 3.59 2024 Say No More
author: Caroline Overington
name: Sue
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2024
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves:
review:
This was a spectacular find for me. Another reviewer said, “go in blind� and everytime I see that little phrase, I’m glad I did just what I was told to do.

I was feeling very sickly as I began this and had to keep taking breaks which meant that I was also taking my time with the book. As read along it got more intriguing and by the time I finished it I was reading quickly holding my breath and then it all dawned on me! I went back and read (well, actually listened) to about 50 pages because I didn’t want miss a single word. This was great!
]]> <![CDATA[Creepy Crawly (DI Jake Sawyer, #1)]]> 40960934 "Just because you don't feel fear, it doesn't mean you shouldn't be afraid."


DI JAKE SAWYERÌýis the brightest star of the Met Police murder squad. Sharp, tough and pathologically fearless.

Now he’s quit the capital and returned to his home town in England’s Peak District, to investigate the savage murder of his mother, thirty years earlier.

When the body of a teenage boy is found in a shallow grave, close to woodland where Sawyer used to play as a child, he’s called in to help decode the killer’s nightmarish methods.

But as the victims stack up and the case takes an unexpected turn, Sawyer must risk his own life to hunt the hunter and save an innocent.

Creepy CrawlyÌýis Book One in the DI Jake Sawyer series. Dive in now and discover a new breed of detective, with stories that reveal the dark side of one of England's brightest beauty spots.


Praise for Andrew Lowe:
"Prose that gets under your flesh and into your bones."
"Taut and compelling. Not a wasted word."
"Plot and character perfectly intertwined."
"Keeps you reading through the night."
"Poetic and utterly gripping."
(Amazon reviews).

]]> 438 Andrew Lowe Sue 0 to-read 4.26 Creepy Crawly (DI Jake Sawyer, #1)
author: Andrew Lowe
name: Sue
average rating: 4.26
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[James Moriarty, Consulting Criminal]]> 35521471
Meet Professor James Moriarty - consulting criminal.

In these three original tales - collected for the first time - Andy Weir brings to life a Moriarty worthy of the Great Detective himself.

1. The Adventure of the Dishonor Among Thieves
2. The Adventure of the Unscrupulous Assassin
3. The Adventure of the Sealed Room]]> 1 Andy Weir Sue 4 3.76 2017 James Moriarty, Consulting Criminal
author: Andy Weir
name: Sue
average rating: 3.76
book published: 2017
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves:
review:
For fans of Sherlock Holmes this was a lot of fun. For those who know of him this would still be a great read. I certainly enjoyed it
]]> Hunting Game 203411095
Prepare to be captivated by acclaimed crime writer Candice Fox’s gripping audio thriller, Hunting Game. Featuring an all-star cast including Krysten Ritter, Anthony Mackie, and Tony Goldwyn, you’re about to enter a high-stakes game of cat and mouse.

NYPD Detective Esme 'Es' Compran (Krysten Ritter) finds herself torn between her duty and her own desperate circumstances when a child is kidnapped. The victim's father, Jack Dengate (Tony Goldwyn), is a controversial big pharma CEO whose company's price hikes on life-saving drugs have dire consequences for Es' ailing daughter.

As the investigation unfolds, FBI Special Agent Morris Jones seeks Es' help, but suspicions mount when evidence points towards Es� ex-husband Danny (Anthony Mackie), a suspended officer. With a kidnapper in police uniform, a ruthless bounty hunter, and Danny's knowledge of her darkest secret, Es must navigate a treacherous world to protect her family.

Hunting Game is a heart-pounding, immersive experience that plunges listeners into the depths of suspense and moral ambiguity. Trapped by the demands of duty and the unyielding bonds of blood, can Es outwit the dangers closing in on her family while uncovering the spine-tingling secrets of this relentless hunt?]]> Candice Fox Sue 5
Right from start of book we know that Esme has a child who needs a lifesav8ng drug that is not affordable. It’s recently been jacked up to many thousands a month. There are no methods of getting it more cheaply.

Then Esme is assigned a case of a missing child whose father owns the drug and has undpfeekingly raised the cost. As the plot comes together I worried for the missing child, for Esme and her ex husband and for their little girl. Never once did I fear for the father of the missing boy. And for me, that was fine. This might be a well dressed executive rich beyond most people’s dreams but he was cold and unfeeling except about money. ]]> 3.61 2023 Hunting Game
author: Candice Fox
name: Sue
average rating: 3.61
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/24
date added: 2025/03/24
shelves:
review:
The shorter book is very good and with the narration being acted out superbly, this book is a wonderful way to spend a bit of time. Just great from beginning to end.

Right from start of book we know that Esme has a child who needs a lifesav8ng drug that is not affordable. It’s recently been jacked up to many thousands a month. There are no methods of getting it more cheaply.

Then Esme is assigned a case of a missing child whose father owns the drug and has undpfeekingly raised the cost. As the plot comes together I worried for the missing child, for Esme and her ex husband and for their little girl. Never once did I fear for the father of the missing boy. And for me, that was fine. This might be a well dressed executive rich beyond most people’s dreams but he was cold and unfeeling except about money.
]]> Tell Me Lies 55399725 Shortlisted for Ned Kelly Best Crime Novel.
Shortlisted for Ngaio Marsh Best Crime Novel.

Margot’s clients all lie to her, but one lie could cost her family and freedom.

Psychologist Margot Scott has a picture-perfect life: a nice house in the suburbs, a husband, two children, and a successful career. On a warm spring morning, Margot spots one of her clients on a busy train platform. He is looking down at his phone, with his duffel bag in hand as the train approaches. That’s when she slams into his back and he falls in front of the train. Suddenly, one tragedy leads to another leaving her, her family, and her patients in danger. As misfortune unfolds, listeners will soon question Margot’s true role in all of these unfortunate events.

Tell Me Lies is a fast-paced, psychological, whodunit mystery that will leave listeners wondering if anyone can actually be trusted.]]> 257 J.P. Pomare 186971816X Sue 5 3.74 2020 Tell Me Lies
author: J.P. Pomare
name: Sue
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2020
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/23
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
The push from behind is what hooked me from the book blurb. What kept me reading was the storyline.
]]> <![CDATA[The Sisters (Cormac Reilly, #.5)]]> 52757833
Two sisters climbing the ranks of Dublin’s criminal justice system. A murder case that could change their lives forever. The Sisters is a gripping new thriller from one of the most exciting voices in crime fiction.

In this prequel to the international bestseller The Ruin, set 10 years prior, bright-eyed Carrie Ryan is at the very start of her career. When she has a hunch about an ongoing murder investigation, she knows it could be her only chance to prove herself and truly break into the “boy’s club� of Dublin’s police force.

Carrie uncovers this make-or-break moment in a case file her sister Aifric, a newly qualified barrister, leaves on their kitchen counter: Robert Collins has been charged with the murder of his girlfriend after a fight in a local pub, and all signs point towards a guilty verdict. But both sisters quickly begin to find evidence that complicates the story. All the while, Carrie is very aware that she’s crossed the line � if the detective sergeant running the investigation finds out she’s been messing around with his case, her career will be over before it has begun.

Please note: This audio contains strong language, distressing situations, and descriptions of violence that some listeners may find upsetting. Discretion is advised. ]]> 4 Dervla McTiernan Sue 0 currently-reading 3.59 2019 The Sisters (Cormac Reilly, #.5)
author: Dervla McTiernan
name: Sue
average rating: 3.59
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Stranded 221432443
A brand-new comedy starring Taraji P. Henson and Tracee Ellis Ross.

Separated by 10 years, 3,000 miles, and the unrelenting stresses of adulthood, best friends Janet and Serena plan a 40th birthday girls� trip to reconnect. But after a massive crash, they’re the only survivors to wash ashore on an uncharted Caribbean Island.

Armed with only the clothes on their backs and zero survival skills, they fight to overcome hunger, thirst, deadly wildlife—and most terrifyingly—decades of accrued resentment. Can they find their way home, or will they kill each other first?

Stranded is a comedy about survival, friendship, and surviving your friendship, with an all-star cast including Taraji P. Henson, Tracee Ellis Ross, Blake Griffin, Whoopi Goldberg, Taye Diggs, Zazie Beetz, Nicole Byer, Tim Robinson, Keith David, Mikey Day, Ashley Nicole Black, Larry Wilmore, and Phylicia Rashad.

Please note: This show is for mature audiences only. It contains explicit language, sexual references, and adult themes. Discretion is advised.]]> 3 Chris Bruno Sue 4
Once my husband told me he “had to quit watching� a movie because too much was going on and it was all too fast for his enjoyment. I finally understand what he meant all those years ago. But I enjoyed this adventure despite the initial confusion. I just had to figure out what to expect and then I was good.

This is a tale of two long time friends heading off on a vacation. Lots happens including a boat sinking, a drunk captain, a lack of safety supplies or food for emergencies! They argue, make up and when we leave them at the end of the story they are planning another trip!]]> 3.64 Stranded
author: Chris Bruno
name: Sue
average rating: 3.64
book published:
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/23
shelves:
review:
Loved this book but it wore me out. The narrators had me laughing one minute and rewinding the next just to figure out what I might have missed.

Once my husband told me he “had to quit watching� a movie because too much was going on and it was all too fast for his enjoyment. I finally understand what he meant all those years ago. But I enjoyed this adventure despite the initial confusion. I just had to figure out what to expect and then I was good.

This is a tale of two long time friends heading off on a vacation. Lots happens including a boat sinking, a drunk captain, a lack of safety supplies or food for emergencies! They argue, make up and when we leave them at the end of the story they are planning another trip!
]]> The Death of Us 216522696 The Death of Us is the story of a marriage turned inside out by a violent encounter that sets fire to the hairline faults that were there from the start.

Late on a summer’s evening when they are thirty years old, husband and wife Edward and Isabel’s home is invaded by a serial killer.ÌýTheirs was a classic story of young love that moves into true partnership—but their solid foundation implodes in the wake of this violence.

At fifty-eight, they are reunited for their tormentor’s trial and forced to confront their lifelong love the secrets, passions, and encounter that bind them still.ÌýIsabel has waited years for the man who nearly ended her life to be caught. As she’s tracked news of his increasingly violent criminal life, she’s connected with other survivors and prepared for the moment that she’d get to read her victim impact statement aloud in court. She is sure she’ll speak her truth and finally let the past go. Edward has spent the years since the break-in—and the breakdown of his marriage—trying to figure out how a near-miss with death killed so much else in their shared life. Unlike Isabel, he’s not eager to relive these terrible memories. Even though he’s moved on—he’s remarried, his old life almost unrecognizable ​to him now—he can’t resist accompanying Isabel to their intruder’s sentencing. What would revenge or justice feel like? Can closure set Isabel free? And what might that freedom mean for Edward?]]> 336 Abigail Dean 0593831136 Sue 0 to-read 4.06 2025 The Death of Us
author: Abigail Dean
name: Sue
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2025
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Beat the Devil 54898453
Covid-19 seems to be a sort of dirty bomb, thrown into the body to cause havoc.

On the same day that the UK government finally made the first of two decisive interventions that led to a conspicuously late lockdown, David Hare contracted Covid-19. Nobody seemed to know much about it then, and many doctors are not altogether sure they know much more today. Suffering a pageant of apparently random symptoms, Hare recalls the delirium of his illness, which mixed with fear, dream, honest medicine and dishonest politics to create a monologue of furious urgency and power.]]> 22 David Hare 0571366082 Sue 5
He had it at the worst of times when it was all new and our countries were not coping or even trying as well as needed. He didn’t lose his taste but his taste changed to that of sewage and it was dreadful. Covid came and lingered for the longest time. He ran high fevers, he had breathing issues. He even had some delusions at times.

How did the USA forgive Trump? How did the U.K. forgive Boris Johnson? I wish I knew because I have yet to have pity or forgiveness for either blowhard. Johnson seems less worse because he sort of faded away for me. Instead I still hear the orange madman bragging that he’s a genius. HE is not.

Short free audible book read by the author. Worth your time! So worth your time!]]> 3.67 Beat the Devil
author: David Hare
name: Sue
average rating: 3.67
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/22
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves:
review:
I have no idea who this guy David Hare might be but after reading this, I sort of wish he lived next door and we could drop by and visit each other all the time. He’s clever, witty and made me laugh more than once in this short story about something truly dreadful and that is COVID.

He had it at the worst of times when it was all new and our countries were not coping or even trying as well as needed. He didn’t lose his taste but his taste changed to that of sewage and it was dreadful. Covid came and lingered for the longest time. He ran high fevers, he had breathing issues. He even had some delusions at times.

How did the USA forgive Trump? How did the U.K. forgive Boris Johnson? I wish I knew because I have yet to have pity or forgiveness for either blowhard. Johnson seems less worse because he sort of faded away for me. Instead I still hear the orange madman bragging that he’s a genius. HE is not.

Short free audible book read by the author. Worth your time! So worth your time!
]]> Like It Never Was 213310872 The deeper the secret, the darker the shadow.

Ten years ago, Jolene nearly killed her friend Elizabeth in a gruesome accident. And no one has any idea. Not even Elizabeth.

Jolene has been trying to outrun the guilt ever since, wandering from place to place and career to career. So she’s shocked when, after her latest move, she runs into the very person she’s been trying to avoid for ten years.

Elizabeth still lives with scars from the accident. And she’s still clueless about what happened that fateful night.

Or is she?

As the two women rekindle a friendship, Elizabeth’s increasingly disturbing behavior makes Jolene wonder if it’s her own guilt stalking her—or Elizabeth finally exacting her revenge.]]> 288 Faith Gardner Sue 0 to-read 3.44 2024 Like It Never Was
author: Faith Gardner
name: Sue
average rating: 3.44
book published: 2024
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Deadly American Beauty (St. Martin's True Crime Library)]]> 134868
Until they discovered that the rare poison found in Greg's body was the same poison missing from Kristen's office. Until they discovered the truth about Kristen's lurid affair, about her own long-time drug addiction, and about the personal and professional secrets she would kill to keep hidden-secrets that would ultimately expose the beautiful blonde as the deadly beauty she really was...a Deadly American Beauty]]> 304 John Glatt 0312984197 Sue 0 to-read 3.67 2004 Deadly American Beauty (St. Martin's True Crime Library)
author: John Glatt
name: Sue
average rating: 3.67
book published: 2004
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> We Tell No One 61217284
When three women head to Portugal for a long weekend in the sun, the goal is to celebrate an upcoming wedding. Jane is getting married, and Angela and Maya want to give her a good time before she does. But the carefree getaway soon goes awry, and by the time the friends board their flight home, they are all carrying a terrible secret. It’s one that could ruin each of their lives, which is why they make their pact - They agree to tell no one else what happened while they were away.

As long as they can do that, they should be fine. That is until somebody else threatens to share their secret, a dangerous third party who the friends cannot risk underestimating. That’s why they need to make another plan. And they need to do it fast before they lose everything that they have worked so hard to have at home�

Friends. Secrets. And one shocking conclusion�

A fast paced psychological thriller from the bestselling author of The Couple At Table Six, Til Death Do Us Part and the UK #1 The Passenger]]> 228 Daniel Hurst Sue 0 to-read 3.95 2022 We Tell No One
author: Daniel Hurst
name: Sue
average rating: 3.95
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/22
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Demon Next Door 44164596 Burrough is widely admired as a master storyteller, and this chilling tale raises important questions of whether serial killers can be recognized before they kill or rehabilitated after they do. It is also a story of Texas politics and power that led the good citizens of the town of Temple to enable a demon who was their worst nightmare.
This title contains mature themes, including physical and sexual violence, that some listeners may find unsettling.]]> 3 Bryan Burrough Sue 5 3.32 2019 The Demon Next Door
author: Bryan Burrough
name: Sue
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2019
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/21
date added: 2025/03/21
shelves:
review:
How on earth did an entire town turn a blind eye to this guy. Seems that in the great MAGA past even a serial killer got away with stuff. Rape? Heck no! Temptation of a big rough guy was the answer. A small guy, even more so. Why would he rape? Heck a woman should be able to fight him off and because she didn’t, then perhaps she provoked it. Even the raped women believed this awful stuff.
]]> The Parole Room 220916593
The Parole Room is an intimate journey with Johnnie, a deep dive into the criminal legal system, and a parole-room drama—taking listeners behind the curtain to hear tense deliberations as they unfold. The series is vivid, emotional, and complex, bringing new questions and insights about the US justice system and the country as a whole.

From the writer of the critically acclaimed book Correction and the producer behind the Pulitzer Prize- and Peabody Award-winning podcast You Didn’t See Nothin, The Parole Room is necessary storytelling for our time.]]> Ben Austen Sue 0 to-read 3.91 The Parole Room
author: Ben Austen
name: Sue
average rating: 3.91
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Madman's Hotel 221207755
Presented by Irish mental health advocate Niall Breslin - this is the untold story of the quest to find patient Julia Leonard, alongside many others, who came to die in St Loman’s Hospital near Dublin. Why was Julia in St Loman’s? And what happened to her and other patients who found themselves within its walls? Niall joins the campaign to find out the truth, as he knows the hospital well� he grew up in the town next door.

As the family reach out for Niall’s help, along the way he reveals Ireland’s dark history with ‘lunatic asylums� and why so many of its citizens were locked away in these forbidding institutions.

Will they find the woman they’re looking for? Will there be justice for her and the other souls once detained behind those walls? And what other secrets will be uncovered?]]> Niall Breslin Sue 0 to-read 3.69 The Madman's Hotel
author: Niall Breslin
name: Sue
average rating: 3.69
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Brokedown Prophets 203975974
Meet Preach, Digit, and Maria, three lost and damaged souls trying to make it on the streets of New York City, running petty scams to stay alive. A twist of events changes their lives forever when they accidently kill a man connected to the mob and find a small fortune.

Now on the run, the trio tries to escape a notorious hit man called B-Boy. Along the way, they run into more shady characters and more trouble. Seduced by the siren call of the money and struggling with their own demons, Preach, Digit, and Maria will soon discover even the closest bonds can't overcome their past traumas as they race toward a dark, self-fulfilling prophecy of their own making. This fast-paced, down and dirty—and supremely witty—dark adventure will take you on the ride of your life the moment you hit play and the second these outlaws hit the road.]]> 5 S.A. Cosby Sue 5
Three friends inadvertently kill a man and when they see how much cash he has, they take off with the money. Along follows the very bad guy who wants not just his money but also retribution. Along with the chase for his money he manages to maim or kill more than one poor soul.

This book shocked me with the intensity of many parts but also with the sweetness of others.

SA Cosby writes best sellers but these are not just good books,
They are great books. The kind of reading experience that makes everything else seem boring or bland. I pity the next selection I make because I might be expecting too much if I compare it to this short and perfect book.

]]> 3.82 Brokedown Prophets
author: S.A. Cosby
name: Sue
average rating: 3.82
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/20
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves:
review:
I had this audible short story lined up for dialysis today and for the first time ever time flew by. It was exactly as long as I needed to begin the book as soon as my needles were in place and I finished about 3 minutes before my alarm said I was done with dialysis. Perfect timing! SA Cosby is such a great writer that I was immersed in the book very quickly and I did not miss a word. Some bad language, a super bad guy, some women who made a living working on the dark sides of the streets. There were deaths, there were scary moments and prayers with a selection from the Book of Revelations playing a role, and many interesting conversations.

Three friends inadvertently kill a man and when they see how much cash he has, they take off with the money. Along follows the very bad guy who wants not just his money but also retribution. Along with the chase for his money he manages to maim or kill more than one poor soul.

This book shocked me with the intensity of many parts but also with the sweetness of others.

SA Cosby writes best sellers but these are not just good books,
They are great books. The kind of reading experience that makes everything else seem boring or bland. I pity the next selection I make because I might be expecting too much if I compare it to this short and perfect book.


]]> <![CDATA[Imaginary Strangers (Dangerous Strangers, #1)]]> 200033465 A woman must keep her family―and her terrifying secrets―safe in a twisting thriller by Washington Post and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Minka Kent.

Camille Prescott has it all. A doting husband, two children, a charming home in a seaside enclave, and a beautiful, fixed smile that exudes normalcy. But behind her polished mask lurks a much different Camille―one with a padlocked vault of secrets. Raised by a vindictive and psychotic woman, Camille has gone to great lengths to bury her past and for good reason: if her mother ever finds her, she will kill her.

But nothing can prepare Camille for the day her six-year-old daughter, Georgie, starts showing signs of unsettlingly familiar behavior, including an imaginary new friend who casts a disturbing influence on everything the little girl says and does. Worse than that, Georgie’s imaginary friend knows things about Camille’s childhood, things Camille has never told a soul. Is it a coincidence or is Georgie’s imaginary friend not so fictional after all?

As the family’s stability cracks, so does Camille’s facade, because the past isn’t just coming for her and everyone she loves―it’s already here.]]> 269 Minka Kent 1662511655 Sue 4 4.07 2024 Imaginary Strangers (Dangerous Strangers, #1)
author: Minka Kent
name: Sue
average rating: 4.07
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves:
review:

]]> <![CDATA[This Is Not a Game with Marc Fennell]]> 213270881
Marc Fennell will dive deep into a previously unexplored world of tech hippies, eccentric web subcultures and simmering paranoia, uncovering how this tongue-in-cheek artistic experiment backfired on its creator and went on to influence much of what’s wrong with the internet today.

Hosted and co-produced by Marc Fennell

A BBC Studios production for Audible]]> Marc Fennell Sue 0 to-read 3.36 This Is Not a Game with Marc Fennell
author: Marc Fennell
name: Sue
average rating: 3.36
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/20
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> The Choice 53386152 A captivating, ingenious novel by the author of The Good Sister about a woman faced with an impossible choice after attacking an unknown assailant, urging readers to ask What would you do?

It's the end of a night out and Joanna is walking home alone. Then she hears the sound every woman footsteps behind her, getting faster. She's sure it's him--the man from the bar who wouldn't leave her alone. So Joanna makes a snap decision. She turns, she pushes. Her pursuer tumbles down the steps and lies motionless, facedown on the ground. Now what?

Addictive and compelling, The Choice follows the two paths Joanna's future might take, depending on the choice she makes. If she calls the police right away, she can save the man's life. Yet doing so puts her own innocence at risk, as she waits for judgment on a charge of assault and the hope that her husband and everyone she loves will stand by her. But if she runs and goes home as if nothing has happened, no one will ever know. No one saw her do it, and it's only up to Joanna to keep quiet...forever.]]> 368 Gillian McAllister 0593188012 Sue 0 currently-reading 3.50 2017 The Choice
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Sue
average rating: 3.50
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Bluebeard 214153853 In 1919, Kathryn Wombacher finds a lonely-hearts ad placed by one Walter Andrew:

"Would be pleased to correspond with a refined young lady or widow. Object, matrimony."

Kathryn and Walter fall in love and marry within weeks.

What Kathryn doesn’t know� is that her new husband is really James "Bluebeard" Watson, a notorious West Coast serial killer who catfished and married 22 women, murdering 10..

Based on newly unearthed evidence, Bluebeard is the definitive story of a sociopath who wielded love as a deadly weapon.

And it’s the story of a woman who discovered the unthinkable about her husband�

And dared to fight back.]]> 4 Jim Clemente Sue 5
And these lonely heart women! My goodness how sad! Today we mourn for better times with better morals but I bet every one of these sadly killed women hoped that they had found true love and not a single one of them lamented a lack of morals. They were all prudish in many ways and their simple need for love and respect were owed far more by society let alone by their evil killer. ]]> 3.74 Bluebeard
author: Jim Clemente
name: Sue
average rating: 3.74
book published:
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
I had a few moments during this selection when I thought the killer would get let go just by constantly saying I do not remember or I didn’t mean it that way.

And these lonely heart women! My goodness how sad! Today we mourn for better times with better morals but I bet every one of these sadly killed women hoped that they had found true love and not a single one of them lamented a lack of morals. They were all prudish in many ways and their simple need for love and respect were owed far more by society let alone by their evil killer.
]]> Artemis 34928122
Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent.

Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down. But pulling off the impossible is just the start of her problems, as she learns that she's stepped square into a conspiracy for control of Artemis itself—and that now, her only chance at survival lies in a gambit even riskier than the first.]]> 305 Andy Weir 0553448129 Sue 0 currently-reading 3.66 2017 Artemis
author: Andy Weir
name: Sue
average rating: 3.66
book published: 2017
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Amorph 226384858 A mind-bending dramatic production based on the short stories of N. K. Jemisin, the 21st century’s most-honored writer of speculative fiction.

A barely employed tech worker has never felt they belonged. Not in society, not even in their own family. Their days are filled with loneliness, a struggle to survive and a desperate search for connection—even if that connection is merely virtual.

Now, a black-market hacker promises to open a new world for them, and it works—in ways no human has ever experienced.

They find a world of wonder, of possibilities and of danger—where their new virtual reality could mean the end of their physical reality. And what they discover could change the fate of humankind—forever.

Amorph is based on N. K. Jemisin’s short stories “The Trojan Girl� and “Valedictorian,� which were adapted for this Audible Original by Chené Lawson.

Available in Dolby Atmos on Audible.]]> Chené Lawson Sue 0 to-read 3.01 Amorph
author: Chené Lawson
name: Sue
average rating: 3.01
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> <![CDATA[Burn, Baby, Burn: The Life and Legacy of H Rap Brown]]> 226384248
He was also the man formerly known as H. Rap Brown. He was a charismatic Black radical in the late '60s. He was a household name—poised to be the next Malcolm X, a vanguard in the Black freedom movement. The work he did made him a target—followed and harassed by the FBI—even being directly named by J. Edgar Hoover as a specific enemy in the illegal government surveillance program—COINTELPRO.

Now Imam Jamil is currently serving a life sentence in prison for the murder and shooting that night in Atlanta. To the federal government and the state of Georgia, he’s a man paying the price for his violent crime. To his family and supporters, his current conviction and life sentence is just the culmination of a decades-long federal campaign to crush him and they continue to fight for his freedom.

Join hosts Obaid Siddiqui and Noor Wazwaz as they explore the complicated story of the iconic and forgotten American leader H. Rap Brown.

The program is part of Audible's Podcast Development Program.]]> Noor Wazwaz Sue 0 to-read 3.89 Burn, Baby, Burn: The Life and Legacy of H Rap Brown
author: Noor Wazwaz
name: Sue
average rating: 3.89
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: to-read
review:

]]> Denali 223959699
When their best friend Josh proposes a daring climb of Alaska’s perilous summit, aspiring writer Finn (Jack Falahee, How to Get Away with Murder) sees it as his ticket to literary success, and local lifer Doug (Jake Lacy, The White Lotus) signs up for the challenge. But as the trio ascends into the deadly "Death Zone," long-buried secrets and rivalries emerge, threatening to tear them apart before the mountain does.

Told through a masterful blend of present-day scenes, excerpts from Finn’s now best-selling memoir, and their pulse-pounding ascent, Denali keeps listeners on edge, slowly revealing the mystery of what really happened on that fateful expedition. As Abby (Amrit Kaur, Sex Lives of College Girls), Josh’s sister, pieces together conflicting accounts years later, she’s forced to confront unsettling questions about the brother she thought she knew—and the man she's chosen to love.

Denali explores the complex bonds of friendship, the seductive power of fame, and the psychological toll of surviving when others do not.]]> Austin Bunn Sue 5
This was such a great short story but frankly, it had ne so immersed that it could have gone on for a much longer times. Great acting also!

Friends head to Denali to hike to the top which is their life long dream. What else is on the mountain with them?

York PA is no where close to my home town of Oil City PA but when I saw that the main characters came from York, my first thought was I know people and have relatives living there! I bet that’s a great book.

I guess deep down I’m proud to be a small town girl even at my great age but I also want every small town person to succeed beyond all expectations. Just having a book set in the locality would make the area seem better to outsiders and all small towns could benefit from the curious who might just drop by, spend a few bucks while eating and drinking and realizing what a beautiful place to visit!

I would love a longer story set around these climbers who began in the quaint town of York, PA and were able to set off to fulfill their dream!

]±Õ> 2.85 2025 Denali
author: Austin Bunn
name: Sue
average rating: 2.85
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
I was completely immersed in this selection and when it was at the end I was absolutely sure there would be more. I kept reloading the book in case a chapter hadn’t loaded. As it turns out, the book was over!

This was such a great short story but frankly, it had ne so immersed that it could have gone on for a much longer times. Great acting also!

Friends head to Denali to hike to the top which is their life long dream. What else is on the mountain with them?

York PA is no where close to my home town of Oil City PA but when I saw that the main characters came from York, my first thought was I know people and have relatives living there! I bet that’s a great book.

I guess deep down I’m proud to be a small town girl even at my great age but I also want every small town person to succeed beyond all expectations. Just having a book set in the locality would make the area seem better to outsiders and all small towns could benefit from the curious who might just drop by, spend a few bucks while eating and drinking and realizing what a beautiful place to visit!

I would love a longer story set around these climbers who began in the quaint town of York, PA and were able to set off to fulfill their dream!

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]]> The Day She Disappeared 222701419 Discover the most unputdownable and gripping crime thriller of the year. Winner of the Joffe Books Prize.

In apartheid South Africa, a young woman flees with a deadly secret. There is nowhere she can go. No one she can trust.

Augustine is a young mother on the run with a dangerous secret.

She seeks work as a maid in Greenside, an affluent neighbourhood in Johannesburg, where a wealthy housewife takes pity on her, offering both employment and refuge from Augustine's vengeful ex-boyfriend.

Augustine is driven by a need to protect her child and is forced to rely on the kindness of these strangers. But even hidden behind the walls of the prosperous Diamond family home, Augustine is not safe. Her every move is being watched.

In a city where trust is a rare commodity, she’s made a deadly mistake.

This absolutely gripping crime thriller is perfect for fans of Deon Meyer, J.M. Coetzee, Chris Hammer, Jane Harper, Chris Whitaker or Paul Mendelson.

THE SETTING
In the heart of 1980s Johannesburg, where sprawling suburbs meet crime-ridden neighbourhoods, the line between privilege and poverty is razor-thin. The quiet, suburban streets hide dark secrets behind their pristine facades while the streets hum with tension.]]> 334 Sam Genever 1804059935 Sue 0 currently-reading 2.75 The Day She Disappeared
author: Sam Genever
name: Sue
average rating: 2.75
book published:
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves: currently-reading
review:

]]> Famous Last Words 212421066
From the author of Reese’s Book Club Pick and New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes an addictive thriller about a new mother’s world upended when her husband commits a terrifying crime. How well does she truly know the man she loves? And what danger does she face if her entire life has been built on a lie?

It is June 21st, the longest day of the year, and new mother Camilla’s life is about to change forever. After months of maternity leave, she will drop her infant daughter off at daycare for the first time and return to her job as a literary agent. Finally. But, when she wakes, her husband Luke isn’t there, and in his place is a cryptic note.

Then it starts. Breaking news: there's a hostage situation developing in London. The police arrive, and tell her Luke is involved. But he isn't a hostage. Her husband—doting father, eternal optimist—is the gunman.

What she does next is crucial. Because only she knows what the note he left behind that morning says...

Famous Last Words is the story of a crime, a marriage, and more secrets than Camilla ever could have imagined. This novel cements Gillian McAllister’s reputation as “the best at putting her characters in impossible situations and making her readers not only contemplate but feel what it would be like to find themselves in those situations.� (Emily Henry)]]> 336 Gillian McAllister 0063338424 Sue 5
I loved the tense beginning and then forlorn chapters that followed her grief at missing and needing her guy back.

The book slowed way the heck down at one point and I thought the author had perhaps lost focus. But dear readers, the author never once lost her way. This was a good way for the reader to take in and manage feelings on what had happened so far.

Then with a bang, it takes off and ends on a high note. I enjoyed the entire thing!]]> 3.70 2025 Famous Last Words
author: Gillian McAllister
name: Sue
average rating: 3.70
book published: 2025
rating: 5
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
I had to wait for this book a long time while it moved towards me on the list to borrow from the library. It was absolutely worth the wait for me.

I loved the tense beginning and then forlorn chapters that followed her grief at missing and needing her guy back.

The book slowed way the heck down at one point and I thought the author had perhaps lost focus. But dear readers, the author never once lost her way. This was a good way for the reader to take in and manage feelings on what had happened so far.

Then with a bang, it takes off and ends on a high note. I enjoyed the entire thing!
]]> The Watcher Girl 54819760 A woman’s suspicions about her ex-boyfriend become a dangerous obsession in a twisting novel of psychological suspense by Washington Post and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Minka Kent.

Eight years ago, Grace McMullen broke Sutton Whitlock’s heart when she walked away. But it was only to save him from the baggage of her own troubled past. Now all she wants is to make sure he’s okay.

Only everything she learns about him online says otherwise. According to his social media accounts, he placed roots in her hometown, married a look-alike, and even named his daughter Grace. He clearly hasn’t moved on. In fact, it’s creepy. So Grace does what any concerned ex-girlfriend would she moves home…and watches him.

But when Grace crosses paths with Sutton’s wife, Campbell, an unexpected friendship develops. Campbell has no idea whom she’s inviting into her life. As the women grow closer, it becomes clear to Grace that Sutton is not the sentimental man she once knew. He seems controlling, unstable, and threatening. And what a broken man like Sutton is capable of, Grace can only imagine. It’s up to her to save Campbell and her baby now—but while she’s been watching them, who’s been watching her?]]> 236 Minka Kent 1542026792 Sue 3
Ex girlfriend moves home with philandering father but why? She is sure she broke her old boyfriend’s heart but has learned he married and his new baby has her name! She wants to watch and be sure all is okay. Then she develops a deep friendship with his new wife.

From the beginning I was never shocked, never surprised and certainly not thrilled. But I was entertained for a bit and I sure liked the characters.]]> 3.88 2021 The Watcher Girl
author: Minka Kent
name: Sue
average rating: 3.88
book published: 2021
rating: 3
read at: 2025/03/19
date added: 2025/03/19
shelves:
review:
Very good but I may have begun to reach my limit on thrillers!

Ex girlfriend moves home with philandering father but why? She is sure she broke her old boyfriend’s heart but has learned he married and his new baby has her name! She wants to watch and be sure all is okay. Then she develops a deep friendship with his new wife.

From the beginning I was never shocked, never surprised and certainly not thrilled. But I was entertained for a bit and I sure liked the characters.
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