If there’s one author I can always count on to deliver a binge-worthy “popcorn read,” it’s J.T. Ellison. The author of some of my personal favorite suspense novels including Good Girls Lie and Lie to Me returns today with her latest outing: HER DARK LIES, a darkly delicious concoction made of equal parts family drama, Gothic elements, and a wanderlust-worthy sense of place. In HER DARK LIES, readers meet Claire and Jack: a golden couple who are preparing for their wedding in the luxurious villa owned by Jack’s fabulously wealthy family. This villa, which sits perched atop a breathtaking island off the coast of Italy, is the perfect venue for what is sure to be the wedding of the year. But as Claire and Jack settle in for their big day, a series of inexplicable and increasingly sinister events begin to take place. And when a storm cuts off power to the island, Claire and Jack quickly realize these events aren’t just inconveniences—they’re a warning sign of greater dangers to come. Laced with elements of Gothic suspense and brimming with all the “popcorn thriller” entertainment value that I’ve come to expect in J.T. Ellison’s novels, HER DARK LIES is a deliciously readable and delightfully sinister suspense read. Pour yourself a glass of something sparkling and travel to Isle Isola for the wedding of the year—but watch your back, because not everyone is getting out of this wedding alive.
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Book Review: THE ESCAPE ROOM by Megan Goldin
One of my personal goals for 2021 is to finally make more time to read slightly older books that I missed when they were first published. This past week, I made a dent in my list of books that fall under this category by devouring Megan Goldin’s thrilling debut novel THE ESCAPE ROOM, which was first published in hardcover in 2019. In this engaging, page-turning suspense novel, Goldin puts a clever spin on the concept of a “locked room mystery”—here, locking a group of ruthless Wall Street hot shots in an escape room where the game isn’t just complicated, it’s deadly. When four rising stars in an elite investment banking firm are invited by their company’s HR department to participate in an escape room challenge, they find it odd, sure, but they are quick to comply. Anything to climb the corporate ladder. But the group quickly discovers that this is no ordinary escape room, and that the stakes in this game are higher than any of them could have imagined. Page-turning pacing and loads of entertainment value make THE ESCAPE ROOM a dark and sinister delight to read; a cast of wholly unlikeable yet vividly crafted characters brings this story to life, and keeps readers on their toes, unsure of who (if anyone) they can trust. Megan Goldin’s debut thriller delivers clever entertainment and devious plotting, the kind of book that you can read in in one or two sittings.
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Book Review: SMOKE SCREEN by Thomas Enger and Jørn Lier Horst
The writing partnership between Thomas Enger and Jørn Lier Horst is the stuff that Nordic Noir readers’ dreams are made of. Enger and Horst, both acclaimed crime writers in their own right, are now dominating Norwegian bestseller charts with their gripping thriller series featuring police officer Alexander Blix and journalist Emma Ramm. This pacey, page-turning Nordic crime series blew me away with its first installment, DEATH DESERVED, which found a serial killer at work in Oslo, Norway, committing a series of very public murders. This month, Blix and Ramm are back with the second installment in this inspired crime series. SMOKE SCREEN finds our two protagonists on the heels of a very different kind of villain: a bomber who disrupts the annual New Year’s Eve fireworks display with his own deadly spectacle. Blix and Ramm find themselves independently drawn into the investigation, and it isn’t long before they each discover the shadowy connection between this bombing and a decade-old missing persons case. How do these events fit together? And what is the motivation behind this bomber’s horrific acts? SMOKE SCREEN delivers another intricate, page-turning thriller from two of Norway’s most acclaimed crime writing talents. Long may the partnership between Thomas Enger and Jørn Lier Horst continue—the Blix and Ramm series is a fresh, engaging addition to any Scandinavian crime fiction reader’s library, and a series I hope to be reading for years to come.
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Book Review: THE SANATORIUM by Sarah Pearse
As I write this review, I’m in a bit of a reading slump, and I blame it entirely on how much I loved Sarah Pearse’s atmospheric, sinister mystery THE SANATORIUM. This debut novel blends elements of Gothic suspense with a locked room mystery set in the Swiss Alps, and the result is an irresistible, just-one-more-page thriller perfect for your next wintry read. Selected as Reese Witherspoon’s February book club pick, Pearse’s debut novel delivers all the atmosphere, chilling intrigue, and hair-raising suspense that I hoped for and more. Following a woman who has recently taken a leave of absence from her work as a detective, THE SANATORIUM pits an unwitting group of individuals against a shadowy killer who appears to be at work in a high-end, minimalist hotel nestled in the Swiss Alps. When a snowstorm cuts off access to and from the hotel, it’s up to protagonist Elin to investigate a series of disturbing occurrences within the hotel, and get to the bottom of the case before anyone else gets hurt. What begins as a slow-burning suspense story gradually builds to a thriller that will have you up all night turning its pages. Sarah Pearse’s atmospheric, detail-oriented writing brings this sinister story to life, immersing readers in the beautiful-yet-unsettling world of sanatorium-turned-hotel Le Sommet—and all the deadly secrets hidden within its walls. Enter the world of THE SANATORIUM: you won’t want to leave, which is lucky, because you just might not be able to. THE SANATORIUM is a superb debut mystery novel, and I’m already looking forward to seeing what this author writes next.
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Book Review: THE BURNING GIRLS by C.J. Tudor
C.J. Tudor never writes the same book twice, but you can always count on her books to be consistently great. Tudor, author of fan-favorite thrillers including The Chalk Man and The Other People, returns this week with her latest offering: THE BURNING GIRLS, a sinister story that blends folk horror with small-town mystery to chilling end. Tudor’s genre-bending novels are some of my favorites, and THE BURNING GIRLS more than met my high expectations. In this spine-tingling story, Tudor invites readers to Chapel Croft, a small village with a dark history that seems to be informing the sinister events of its present. Things haven’t been right in Chapel Croft in quite some time, and for newcomer Jack and daughter Flo, a fresh start in the quiet village is going to be much more complicated—and potentially dangerous—than either could have imagined. Jack is the town’s new vicar, come to step in after the untimely death of their predecessor. As Jack and Flo navigate this new community, they find themselves confronted not only by the town’s brutal and violent history, but also by the ghosts of the past that seem to linger in Chapel Croft to this day. THE BURNING GIRLS is a story of folk horror perfect for fans of The Wicker Man; it’s also a compelling mystery, inviting readers to unravel the truth about a missing persons case that has long gone cold, but has never stopped haunting this small community. Written with C.J. Tudor’s trademark razor-sharp plotting and sinister, atmospheric suspense, THE BURNING GIRLS is perhaps the author’s most ambitious—and most haunting—story yet.
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