They Say a Girl Died Here

 

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It just helps keep this space going.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted early listen! 

Anna’s family just relocated to a small farming town to help care for her grandmother, who’s slipping into dementia. Her little sister is already spooked by local legend. Her friends told her a killer called the Farmhand who’s claimed a girl every three years. The anniversary is coming up fast, the town’s in a drought (same as the last two times), and everyone’s on edge, even though the alleged killer is dead.

Except Anna can’t let it go. The more she digs into the old murders, the more she notices her grandmother getting agitated. And the more she starts to wonder if grandma’s “confusion” is actually the key to the whole thing.

This one’s part psychological thriller, part paranormal, with just enough horror creeping around the edges. Anna is a great lead. She's smart, stubborn, exactly the kind of character you want driving a mystery like this. The atmosphere is thick and unsettling, and the twists kept coming.

My one hiccup: the grandmother’s role in it all needed more explanation. I rewound a section to make sure I wasn’t missing something, and I still felt like there could’ve been a little more information there. Fair warning that I read dementia-as-plot-device stories with a slightly skeptical eye after witnessing my dad's Parkinson's delusions and my mom's dementia, so take that with a grain of salt.

Saskia Maarleveld’s narration makes this shine. She’s fantastic as always, and she nails every ounce of Anna’s fear and determination.

If you love creepy, atmospheric thrillers without a ton of gore, or you’re already a Pinborough fan, this is going straight to the top of your list. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

They Say a Girl Died Here is out August 25. Preorder a copy at Bookshop.org and help out an indie bookstore while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you miay be interested in my review of Heather. It's a small town atmospheric story mystery about two sister who go missing.

About the Author

Sarah Pinborough is the award-winning, New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes and 13 Minutes. She lives in London. For more news and information about Sarah’s books, follow her on Instagram or visit her website.

Heart of Glass

 

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It just helps keep this space going.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the early listen.

Twenty-five years ago, a man confessed to killing a teenage girl at an amusement park. Now he says she was never one of his victims.

Heart of Glass by Jennifer Hillier had me glued to earbuds for the entire audiobook. 

This is technically book two in the Wonderland series, but I never read book one, and I promise you it does NOT matter. Hillier gives you everything you need for context. This one stands on its own merits. 

Barb and Nicolette were best friends with a girl murdered by a serial killer at their local amusement park decades ago. Nicolette left town, married rich, and landed herself on a reality show. Barb stayed, became a reporter, and never really left that summer behind. 

Now the amusement park is reopening, a true crime documentary is about to drop, the killer just recanted his confession, and a new body washes up on shore. Barb is sure the body is somehow connected to reality tv personality who went missing years before. 

The timeline bounces between then and now and multiple points of view, and somehow it never once got confusing. That is a real writing feat. Both timelines are filled with twists and turns. Hillier deftly weaves the POVs and timeline threads together into an edge of your seat mystery that keeps you guessing. She keeps ramping up the tension until you are basically vibrating by the last hundred pages. The final twist at the end? Dang! 🤯

The full cast narration is excellent. This is an all star cast with Brittany Pressley, Eunice Wong, January LaVoy, Ferdelle Capistrano, and Chris Brinkley. They all give great performances and really make the listening experience pop. 

This is atmospheric, twisty, and so bingeable.  Heart of Glass is out August 25. Don't miss it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You can preorder Heart of Glass at Bookshop.org and help out an indie bookstore while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might enjoy my review of Jennifer's book The Butcher.

About the Author

Jennifer Hillier is the author of the bestselling Little Secrets (finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize and Anthony Award), and Jar of Hearts (winner, ITW Thriller Award, and finalist for the Anthony and Macavity Awards). A Filipino-Canadian born and raised in Toronto, she spent several years in Seattle before returning home to Canada. Follow Jennifer on Instagram or visit her website for more news and information about her books.

The Death Row Club

 

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It just helps keep this space going.

The daughter of a serial killer gets invited to an annual weekend retreat for the adult children of serial killers. I read a lot of these and I’d never seen that angle before.

Most serial killer thrillers focus on the victims, the killer, or the detective. The Death Row Club by V.A. Vazquez does something different. The focus is on the families left behind. The kids who share a last name with a monster and have to live in the wreckage of what he did. 

There were so many elements I love here: a locked room mystery, dual POV, and shifting timelines. Maybe it was my high expectations, but unfortunately, the premise was better than the execution. 

The story runs on two POVs. The first half belongs to Nicola. She loses her teaching job when her dad is convicted of multiple murders. She then gets invited to a secret weekend getaway for the adult children of serial killers. Bad choices are made and someone turns up dead. 

The other belongs to Steffanie, a young woman running from an abusive father who keeps finding her no matter where she hides. I’ll be straight with you: I liked Steffanie’s chapters more. They carried more tension and pulled me forward.

For a good chunk of the book, I felt like I was listening to two separate stories and couldn’t see how they fit. I really didn't know one of storylines was taking place in the past. Vazquez jams them together with the help of the reader’s suspension of disbelief. It left me with the feeling of "what the heck?" instead of a more satisfied feeling at the end. 

On audio, Meg Price and Stephanie Németh-Parker split the narration and both did strong work giving their characters distinct footing.

Sometimes less is more. Either timeline could have been fleshed out and would have stood up on their own. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted listen. The Death Row Club is out now. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

I you enjoy enjoyed this review, you might be interested in my review of The Last Time We Drowned, another locked room mystery.

About the Author

V. A. Vazquez was born and raised in Buffalo, New York, where she currently teaches English. She received her BA in English from Barnard College and used to live in Scotland. Follow V.A. on Instagram and visit her website for more news about her work.

Objects in Lakes

 

This post contains an affiliate link. If you buy through it, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It just helps keep this blog going.

A body in the lake on the Fourth of July. Again. 

Seven years ago, Olive and Richie’s four-year-old daughter drowned during their neighborhood’s big Fourth of July party on Duck Lake, Michigan. Olive has spent every day since numb with grief and pills while her oncologist husband thrives in the spotlight. Now it’s the Fourth of July again, and another body comes out of the lake. This time it’s a neighbor, a former NFL star with demons of his own. And suddenly Olive can’t stop asking questions about the night her daughter died.

My honest take as a retired librarian who has read a LOT of these: this is a solid debut. Entertaining, well paced, twisty, with a satisfying ending. Olive is a complex lead, and the backstories in this picture perfect neighborhood kept me interested. Did it break new ground? No. There were a couple of slow spots, and Richie is your standard issue pompous doctor.  But for a debut? Impressive. I’ll be watching what Ramas does next.

The dual narration by Rob Brinkman and Megan Tusing really made this one pop on audio. If you’re deciding between formats, go audio.

This one perfect for readers who love psychological thrillers, domestic suspense, and family drama. Fans of Shari Lapena and Stacy Willingham, this is one you should check out. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted early listen. Objects in Lakes by Rachael Ramas is out July 21. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might be interested in my review of Before I Go to Sleep.

About the Author

Rachael Ramas is an American author, producer, and Michigan native who writes gripping thrillers rooted in emotional truth and moral complexity. A member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers, she co-owns a law firm with her husband in Boca Raton, Florida, where the legal world offers endless story inspiration. Living with a rare autoimmune disease and partial hearing loss, Ramas advocates for authentic disability representation in literature. Objects in Lakes is her debut novel. Follow Rachael on Instagram and visit her website for more news and information about her work.

Molka

 

This post contains an affiliate link. If you buy through it, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It just helps keep this blog going.

This is all feminine rage and I’m here for it.

Molka is the Korean word for a spy camera, the kind secretly and illegally installed to record women without their knowledge. That alone tells you what kind of book you’re walking into.

Dahye is still grieving her older sister and buckling under a mother who makes her feel like she’ll never measure up. Then she falls into a fast, dizzying romance with a wealthy, charming man, and for a minute it feels like things are finally turning her way. Until a hidden camera captures one of their private moments and it ends up all over the internet.

What she doesn’t know is that an IT guy in her building has been quietly spying on women for a long time, and he’s fixed his attention on her.

When Dahye finally grasps the full scope of what’s been done to her, she stops absorbing it and starts fighting back. Hard.

I felt for her on every single page. This is a dark, disturbing, modern horror story about terrible men and the women they violate, and it does not flinch. Monika Kim writes with a blade. She refuses to look away from the daily reality so many women live with.

On audio, Rosa Escoda is fantastic. She carries Dahye from the giddiness of new love to the gut-punch of public humiliation to full-blown rage, and never drops a beat.

Not an easy listen. But a necessary one. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Molka is out now. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org and help an indie store while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might be interested in Murder Bimbo by Rebecca Novack, another novel about an unhinged woamn looking for revenge.

About the Author

Monika Kim is an acclaimed, Sunday Times bestselling author of “violent, smart, gruesome and wildly original” (The New York Times Book Review) horror novels. Her debut, The Eyes Are the Best Part, was a TIME Magazine, New York Times, B&N, and Kobo Best of the Year, as well as a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist and a Bram Stoker Award nominee. A second-generation Korean American, she learned about eating fish eyes and other Korean superstitions from her mother, who immigrated to California from Seoul in 1985. She lives in Los Angeles’s Koreatown.

Follow Monika on Instagram and visit her website for more news and information.

The Dead Girls Book Club

 

This book club has a blood oath for membership. And that’s not even the wildest part.

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted early listen! 

The Dead Girls Book Club by Zia Rayyan is an entertaining, completely unhinged domestic thriller that had me listening straight through.

Amelia is lonely and lost. Her husband Ken is a detective consumed by a local serial killer case, which means she’s basically invisible in her own marriage. When she gets an invitation to join a small, exclusive book club, she’s desperate enough to say yes — weird vibes and all. And yes, there is a blood oath. I’m just going to leave that there.

Things get dark fast when a domestic violence incident turns deadly and Amelia starts wondering if one of her new book club friends might be a killer. After that, the book club really does go off the rails — in the best possible way.

I liked the female friendship dynamic at the center of this story, even when everything around it was spiraling. 

Narrator Hannah Church brought so much to the performance, and at just under 7 hours, this was the definition of bingeable. I finished it in basically two sittings.

I guessed the twist early. The ending tied everything up a little too neatly and quickly for me. This is book one in a planned series. It'll be interesting to see where it goes from here, but I had a good time getting through this one.

This is a solid pick if you love domestic suspense and psychological thrillers. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Out now. 

If you enjoyed this review, you might also be interested in The Wife Deserved It.

About the Author

Zia Rayyan is a psychological thriller author with no background, no alibi—only a need to write about the lies we tell, and the ones we bury.

The Counting Game

 

The woods have taken girls before. When it happens again, the only witness is a boy. And he won’t talk. 

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook. 

The Counting Game, Sinéad Nolan’s debut novel, is more psychological thriller than police procedural. If you go in knowing that, you’re going to love it.

Southwest Ireland, 1995. Saoirse Kellough goes missing from a forest that has swallowed girls before. The only witness is her little brother Jack and he’s not talking. The village whispers about hauntings. 

The Gardaí are desperate. So they bring in Freya Hemmings, a psychotherapist carrying her own grief, to gently coax the truth out of the traumatized nine-year-old who has sworn to protect the forest’s secrets.

What really worked for me were the characters. Jack is heartbreaking. Freya is complex and compelling. She’s the one who ultimately drives the investigation forward, not just the detectives. And the family dynamics are complicated. The oldest sibling Kate had to leave college to raise Jack and Saoirse after their mother’s death, and that trauma comes through on every page. This family was already carrying so much before the woods took Saoirse.

The atmosphere is thick and genuinely eerie. Nolan grew up in the forests of County Dublin, and it shows. These woods feel alive in all the wrong ways.

My one honest critique: the pacing. I’m more of an action-oriented reader, so slow-burn psychological thrillers require a little patience from me. This one asks for it. If you read Tana French and love lingering in a mystery, you’ll be completely in your element.

I did figure out the whodunit before the end, but I stayed invested anyway, which says something.

The audiobook narration from Alana Kerr Collins and Jessica Regan is excellent. Their dual narration gives Freya and Jack distinct voices and makes it easy to track the shifting perspectives. The emotional weight of this story lands differently when you can hear it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Out now. 

If you find this book intriguing, you might like Imposter.

About the Author

Sinéad Nolan grew up playing in the forests and on the beaches of leafy County Dublin, Ireland. She was a regular freelance feature writer for the Sunday World and the Irish Independent and has had short stories shortlisted for the Momaya Press Awards and the Francis McManus Awards for RTE Radio. Apart from writing, she works in private practice as a BACP Registered Counsellor seeing clients in central London.

In Her Defense

 

What happens when everyone in the courtroom is lying — including the witness?

In Her Defense by Philippa Malicka centers on a sensational libel trial where beloved TV star Anna Finbow accuses her daughter’s therapist of brainwashing her for financial gain. Told through three unreliable narrators, the story toggles between a London courtroom and flashbacks to Rome. And nobody is telling the whole truth.

This one didn’t fully land for me personally. I’m an action-oriented reader, and this leans much more literary fiction than thriller. The characters were hard to root for, and the central question — did a predatory therapist manipulate a vulnerable young woman to get her close to a “poor little rich girl”? — didn’t grip me the way I hoped. That said, the Rome setting was gorgeous. Narrator Anna Popplewell was outstanding. I had zero trouble telling characters apart. I found the ending was genuinely satisfying.

If you love psychological drama and morally complex women, this one’s for you. It’s a February Reese’s Book Club pick for a reason. Just know going in that it’s a slow burn. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook. All opinions are my own.

About the Author

Philippa Malicka was born in Essex and now lives in London. She is an alumnus of the Prose Fiction MA at the University of East Anglia. Her nonfiction has appeared in The Sunday Times (London), The Sunday Telegraph (London), and Grazia among others. In Her Defense is her first novel and has been longlisted for the Bridport First Novel Award.