Book Review: Black Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin

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My Review 

Imagine This: A flower. A killer. On the loose. A killer you'd thought you'd jailed years ago. But suddenly Black Eyed Susans have began sprouting underneath your window, a message from the killer or just a coincidence? 😩

Not just a coincidence! 😭

But you'd have to confront the fact that the real killer may not be in prison. That all those years ago, your testimony is going to put an innocent Man on Death Row and he has few days left! 😟

Never mind this innocent Man about to be executed is the least of your problems. Never mind more messages are being 'planted' by this serial killer. Never mind your daughter may be also be in the trouble of also being a Black Eyed Susan. But maybe, unlike you she may not be lucky to survive being buried alive for days under a patch of innocent flowers. Because you were the only one out of four girls who did! 😨

My rating: 5 ⭐

You would love this book, if you're looking to be gripped by suspense!—★ I forced myself to read it all in one-go, but God, I began having a raging migraine (because I was so grogged out that day) and fell asleep dreaming I was continuing it, the words playing in my head! (Does this happen to anyone?)—★★★ If you're looking to read something with amazing writing!—★★★★ If you're looking for something well-researched!!!—★★★★★

Please, Please go read this book! Before it's made into a movie!  Because it's been optioned for film! That's just really one of the tiny reasons to read this very, original thriller! (And trust me, when I say this because I am one of those that have DNFed thrillers for not being original!) And the writing is amazing!!!! Characters well-developed!!!! 😍

Killer Review: Daisy in Chains by Sharon Bolton

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My Synopsis 

Imagine This: You're the author of true-crime novels, and a lawyer. Every case you take on, a convicted murder is released from jail. This makes the public, as the police force, very antsy about you stepping up to lawyer a convicted serial killer who specializes in women-of-size.

The thing about this serial killer is he's suave, as most of them are. He's also handsome. Very handsome. So handsome he can get away with anything. 

You have firm belief if there's anyone he could use his handsomeness on, it wouldn't be you. You are so immune to his charms. But of course, you have no idea what Hamish Wolfe is capable of.

Maggie Rose's brush with a serial killer 
with his own fan club summarized for your delight. 

My Review.

OK! I love, love this novel! Great storyline! On the cover of the book there's a note: 'In her ninth mesmerizing Thriller, Sharon Bolton shines a light on the world of convicted killers—and the women who adore them.' How fascinating! A star to the storyline.—★

You'd love Maggie Rose, the female lawyer talked about in my synopsis. She's amazing! I almost wanted not to like her from the beginning, because Sharon Bolton wrote the book in third-person and it is really rare for me to enjoy a book in third-person, but from her blue hair, her unusual fashion sense, her perpetual coldness, what was not to like?—★★

Other characters who also acted as main characters and got their point-of-views are Hamish (which auto-correct adventurously spells 'HAMPSHIRE')  Wolfe, the serial killer who's very unnervingly good-looking and charming. And Pete Weston, the detective who hates Hamish with passion and may have a thing for Maggie. I really took a liking to Pete because he was not a recurrence of the cliche running around in thrillers as detectives with their equally cliche 'past demons' to contend with.—★★★ 

This book is suspenseful! So! Leaps from the start! Find yourself vested in the world of fast-talking lawyers, tricky serial killers, their crazy fan clubs and suspicious detectives!—★★★★

Giving this book five stars because of the twist in the end. But it's nowhere as good as Sharon Bolton's previous Little Black Lies.

Daisy in Chains is available on Amazon. 

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a Psychological Thriller based on fascinating subjects (cold serial killers and their fan clubs). If you also need something to keep you awake, you should get this too.

Killer Review: Crow Girl by Erik Axl Sund

*Claudia's reviews are tailored for you US fans (with distinct tastes in fiction) for books sold in your territories* 

 

Purchase|Goodreads 

Claudia (@rocksclaudia)'s Review 

Crazy.....crazy....crazy....that's what this book made me.I had such an unusual emotional connection to this book. So that when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about it,when I wasn't thinking about it, I was dreaming about it.

This book gave me nightmares to the point that I was convinced  I had psychological problems. To all the books out there so believable it puts your sanity on the line—★

Crow girl tells a story of  a detective  (Jeanette Kihlberg)who joins forces with a psychologist (Sofia Zetterlund) to solve the unexplained rampant murders of illegal immigrant children. Brilliant Storyline—★★

This book spirals mainly between the perspectives of Jeanette, Sofia, an unknown psychopath and a character who identifies herself as crowgirl. I guess it was for books like this that the term plot twist was coined because there is going to be a huge one that will make you question everything you've read.—★★★        

Crow girl also touches on the subject of child abuse and its gory details probably making it the most disturbing book you'll read this year. Don't you just love a Thriller with a cause!—★★★★ 

This is probably the easiest 5 star I have given and I would have given it more if 
I could because this book was everything-it had a little bit of murder, mystery, romance and tons and tons of thrilling darkness.—★★★★★

Crow Girl available for purchase at Amazon. Just go get it you fans of unsettling books!

Killer Review: In The Cafe of Lost Youth by Patrick Modiano

PURCHASE / GOODREADS

MY SYNOPSIS

Imagine This:  You are missing. Your husband is in search of you. A detective is in search of you. A narrator with whom you have an unknown relationship is in search of you.

When everyone is asking around for you, getting on clues to piece your disappearance together and find you, only you know where 

you are. And you might not even know you are missing.

MY REVIEW

I’m in love with Patrick Modiano. I had this perception that to win a Nobel Prize in Literature you have to be a Wole Soyinka (whose writing I dislike so much despite being African. I know, hang me!). Anyway, Modiano writes with skill, every word, every sentence needs to be decoded so the reader can piece the mystery pervading in the novel. A star.—★

About the mystery. You’d find yourself wondering where Jacqueline DeLanque (“Louki”) is. Throughout the novel, you’d be wondering why the fuss with her. (Because the narrators sure do make a fuss about her). There’s one thing though you’d love about Jacqueline, you wouldn’t be able to figure her out, she’s complex, complicated, and perhaps demented from past, childhood demons. A star to the mystery, and another to the main character.—★★★

One of the nicest things about this novel is I couldn’t put a genre to it. At one point I thought it was solely a mystery novel, then I thought it was intrigue—when missing woman is given her point of view—then I pegged it down as just literary fiction because I couldn’t pinpoint the direction of the story but the missing woman didn’t seem missing at all, and when I gave up trying to put a genre to it enjoying its beautiful writing (novels are like sexuality! It’s not all black-and-white!), I found out it was a Literary (Psychological) Thriller in the end.—★★★★

Get this along with all the Patrick Modiano collection from Quercus. This year, they are really bringing him in this season with about four titles you could enjoy from this literary sensation.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves their novels mysterious so much you can’t even tell what the words on the page are saying till you come to realization that—OMG—you should have paid more attention to the clues the writer was trying to drop.

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads as well as Amazon.

 Amazon

Killer Review: While My Eyes Were Closed by Linda Green

Purchase|Goodreads 

My Synopsis

Imagine This: In a game of hide-and-seek, you close your eyes and count to a hundred... THEN YOUR DAUGHTER GOES MISSING. 

You are frazzled, you've been searching all over the park for her. Either she's suddenly become a great hider or... you don't want to think of the possibilities! 

The police come into the scene. Pretty useless as always, looking within your family for suspects.

You realize she's been taken away. You pray whoever took her is not a paedophile-psycopath.

Well, you are in luck. Whoever took her is not a stranger. But they may not be willing to give her back (if you are not looking in the right places).

The game of hide-and-seek is waged and Linda Dale's life begins falling apart.

My Review 

First of all, good book! I love the storyline. Although not unique in that OMG, I HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK-sense, it's the kind of goodness you expect of a novel within the child-goes-missing-mother-is-searching-for-her genre. A star to the storyline.—★

The two main characters are well-developed. Linda Dale, the mother of the missing girl. And the other person who has snatched up the girl. They are both given first-person point-of-views in this novel, and their voices are very distinct because... yeah, one is the distraught mother and the other is a psycho with a messed-up head.—★★

Other characters you'd love are, Vince, Linda's dad who would stop at nothing to get back her daughter. There's also Ella, the missing daughter who won't stop with the funny questions. There's the kidnapper, who's cynicism comes off funny at times (should have pointed this above). You would also love Matthew, the son to the crazy kidnapper who has his own narrative as well as the main characters.—★★★

A feature I love about this book is that it makes the kidnapper really known from the start. Yet, this has no bearing on the suspense of this book, as it gets suspenseful with each ticking day.—★★★★

My rating: A four-point-five star. (4.5/5stars).

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a title that's a split between a thriller and women's fic. If you love books featuring missing characters, go get this. Perhaps, you also want a well-written book? This book is that more. 

My work not done here. Off to post my review on Goodreads and Amazon.