The House Swap: Three Domestic Thrillers

 These two domestic thrillers with the same theme and title are as similar as they are different.

The House Swap

by Rebecca Fleet

May 22, 2018; Penguin Books

 "A domestic noir novel, in which a house swap becomes the  backdrop to a crumbling marriage, a torrid affair, and the fatal consequences."

Caroline and Francis accept an online offer to swap their London apartment for a house in the suburbs for a week. Leaving their young son with a relative, they hope to forget their troubles on this vacation.

I like how the plot builds suspense as time goes on. Caroline finds familiar items in the starkly decorated house that bring back the past - a vase of pink flowers, familiar music that they find in the house that brings back haunting memories to disburb her peace of mind.

And an overly friendly neighbor Abby adds to the mystery of what's really going on. The ending brings a startling conclusion about the identity of the other swapper, the one in the London flat. It  that made me wonder if Caroline and Francis will truly have any peace.  I gave this four stars. 

The House Swap by Miranda Rijks

December 4, 2024; Inkubator Books, NetGalley 

 "Two families organize a house swap, the perfect holiday arrangement." 

I shared the disappointment of one of the couples, the Browns, in their house swap, when the French chateau they exchanged their trendy London flat for turned out to be partially in disrepair and with ongoing renovations, with a stealthy intruder to add. 

The Lester's delight in their London flat, however, turned sour when their teen son, Rafael, disappears.

It was intriguing to see how the plot advanced and unfolded, though I was hoping for a different plot device - not relying on one person from each couple knowing each other in the past.

It's interesting that the author, Miranda Rijks, says she would never do a house swap herself.  And only because of the tidying, cleaning, and other work that would be involved. I guess she wouldn't expect  dangerous drama as in her domestic thriller!

Note: I wonder what an alternate plot could look like if the characters in the novels didn't share a secret past. 

A Book with a Similar Theme

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas

Harper Paperbacks, August 5. 2025, NetGalley

I found this an interesting story when a "life swap" goes wrong for two look alike sisters, Alice and Tasha. Tasha and her husband Aaron have a blissful four days on their first trip to Venice for the house swap, while Alice and Kurt have a disastrous experience in Tasha's house in Bristol, England.

I enjoyed seeing how this played out and discovering the culprits behind the murders at the swap in Bristol. Nothing was predictable. The ending, also, was a surprise - the relationship between the sisters.

Have you had an experience with a house swap? Would you do one? 

What books are you reading this week? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday 

Magic Words: What to Say to Get Your Way by Jonah Berger

 

Nonfiction reading

Magic Words by Jonah Berger

January 1, 2023; Harper Business

Genre: language, communication, psychology

I came across this library book by chance and was eager to read it.  Who doesn't want to know how to get your own way? The theme is communicating to convince - tips on how to and how not to. 

 

Believe it or not, the author even references the future president elect a few times re making speeches (conveying the utmost confidence and conviction) that sway many people. And this book was published in 2023! I guess it's not so much What you say as much as How you say it! 

Another point of the book - speaking in concrete not abstract terms makes more of an impact. Specifics win over generalities. Depending on the situations, of course. 

I'm halfway through the book and eager to see what else the author offers. Update: depending on the situation, suggestion is using could or would instead of should; using a noun replacement for a verb; using the present tense instead of the past, and more.

Description: how six types of words can increase your impact in every area, from persuading others and building stronger relationships, to boosting creativity and motivating teams.

I was hooked, and just sent a copy of the book to a friend in a new job. 

Getting ready for Christmas

I gave two of J.E. Rowney's earlier thrillers three stars on NetGalley, and my most recent read of hers, (The Other Passenger), I gave four stars  . I'm eager to see if this most recent book, Xmas Break (Nov. 2, 2024; Little Fox Publishers) will be as good. 

Description

When Isla reluctantly accepts her estranged sister Clara's invitation to spend Christmas at a luxury mountain retreat, she expects awkward family tension – not a fight for survival. After years of silence following their mother's death, this holiday reunion seems too good to be true. And it is.

Currently reading: ARCs

Rowan Gallagher stalks her ex by following his avatar on her phone and seeing his whereabouts at all times. But when she is a suspect in his death, she has to get out of it. Portland, Maine. (May 2025; Harper)

I started this a while ago but got side tracked by other books, a common occurrence, unfortunately.

I may have to start close to the beginning again to follow this thriller. The description sounds interesting and vaguely familiar: 

It's been years since Zoe last saw them – since they graduated and lost touch.

Years since the night an unexpected death shattered their close-knit group of friends.

Now, Zoe is invited to a wedding on a remote island in Scotland. Apprehensive, she hopes the long drive with Lily will ease her nerves.

Lily has agreed to give Dan a lift, and Rod is joining them, along with his fiancée.

And when they come into trouble on a cold, dark, desolated Highland road, a chain of events will leave them all shaken to their core. (Nov. 20, 2024; Boldwood Books

What books are you reading? 

Memes: The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also,  It's Monday: What Are You Reading, and Sunday Salon, Stacking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday 

Wearing the Dog: Sunday Salon

 An older book found in my TBR list, whose title stood out to me

Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman

Published March 3, 2020; Ecco, NetGalley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Judy deals with years of loss and resulting anxiety by carrying around her dog, Charlotte, not in a handbag or on a leash, but in a baby sling around her neck. She seems not to mind the stares of incomprehension from friends and strangers.

I found everything strange about the character and her situation, her living in different rooms in the same house with her husband Gary, from whom she is unofficially separated, and dealing with her young son as well as his school, teachers, other mothers, etc. while always "wearing the dog."

I guess the novel shows how people cope in different ways with their lives and its complications. An intriguing novel with some good insights by the book's unusual narrator Judy. The ending, however, seemed to add to the oddness of the book, when wearing the dog seems to become an acceptable, spreading concept in Judy's world.

In the mail 

Exposure by Ramona Emerson

October 1, 2024; Soho Crime

Genre: thriller

Description

In the follow-up to the National Book Award–longlisted Shutter, Navajo forensic photographer Rita Todacheene grapples with a fanatical serial killer—and the ghosts he leaves behind.

A dual-voice cat-and-mouse thriller, told from the points of view of a killer who has created his own deadly religion and the only person who can stop him, an embattled young detective who sees the ghosts of his Native victims.

ARCs

The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan

Published January 2, 2024; S&S/ Marysue Rucci Books, NetGalley

Genre: historical fiction, Malaya

Description

Malaya, 1945

A novel about a Malayan mother who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during WWII—and the shocking consequences that rain upon her community and family.

Told from the perspectives of four unforgettable characters, The Storm We Made is a dazzling saga about the horrors of war; the fraught relationships between the colonized and their oppressors, and the ambiguity of right and wrong when survival is at stake.

Elephant Herd by Zhanh Guixing, in translation

January 14, 2025; Columbia University Press, NetGalley

Genre: historical novel, Sarawak, Malaysia

The cover and title grabbed my attention and the book covers a period of time in Malaysia that was always interesting to me.

Description

Elephant Herd is a vivid and captivating novel by the Taiwan-based Malaysian Chinese (Mahua) writer Zhang Guixing, whose distinctive style evokes the jungles of Southeast Asia. It is an atmospheric account of a Malaysian Chinese young man’s journey upriver deep into the Sarawak rainforest of northwest Borneo in search of his uncle, the leader of a Communist guerilla group. Venturing through the jungle, the protagonist—largely referred to only as “the boy”—enters a verdant and vertiginous world of wild creatures and political peril.

Its main narrative begins in the 1970s and proceeds to explore the repercussions of Sarawak’s midcentury Communist insurgency. Focusing on the boy, his extended family, and his Indigenous classmate and travel companion, Zhang examines the complex relations among ethnic Chinese, local Malays, and Indigenous peoples. 

Hotel Lucky Seven by Kotaro Isaka, in translation

Publication: November 19, 2024; Overlook Press. NetGalley

Genre: thriller

Description: 

Bullet Train’s hapless underworld operative and his handler are back in this thrilling, "outrageously entertaining" new novel from internationally bestselling author Kotaro Isaka.

Will the unluckiest assassin in the world find things easier this time around? All he has to do is deliver a painting to a hotel guest, a portrait made by his daughter. Easy enough, except when Ladybug makes the delivery, he realizes that the guest is clearly not the guy in the painting. Then he attacks Ladybug, they fight, and the guest ends up dead. How can such simple jobs always go wrong?

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves  

Book Tour: Daughter of Ruins by Yvette Manessis Corporon

   Book Review for TLC Book Tours

Daughter of Ruins by Yvette Manessis Corporon

• Publisher: Harper Muse (October 8, 2024)

• Paperback: 400 pages

A motherless daughter. An Italian prostitute. A mail-order bride.

 Are these (three) women brave enough to change their fates?

Description: Demitra’s mother died in America in the 1930s when Demitra was three years old. Her father took her home to the Greek island of Cephalonia, where she endures a lonely childhood and dreams her dead mother watches over her, like the goddesses she reads about in her mythology books. When Demitra comes of age, she refuses to marry the man chosen for her. Instead, she defiantly begins an affair with a forbidden man who ignites her passion for painting the goddesses she once imagined protected her.

Elena is a beautiful Italian woman who dreamed of a life away from the brothels where she was raised. But opportunities are not meant for daughters of prostitutes and Elena has no choice but to become one herself. When Italy occupies Cephalonia, Elena finds work entertaining the soldiers. Her life on the island is happy and carefree–until the Germans arrive in 1943.

Maria lives in a poor mountain village in 1921 with a loving mother and sister. When her father grows desperate to feed his family, he sends her to America as a picture bride to marry a stranger. Only eighteen years old, Maria is terrified of the journey ahead.

Daughter of Ruins is an all-encompassing tale steeped in the rich history, culture, and myths of Greece. It is a deeply moving story that follows three women as they struggle to control their destinies, fighting to become the women they were meant to be.

About the author

Yvette Manessis Corporon is a bestselling author and Emmy Award–winning producer. Her books have been translated into sixteen languages. A first generation Greek-American with  family roots on Corfu, she studied classical civilization and journalism at New York University. She lives in Brooklyn with her family 

My review:

Demitra, Elena, and Maria are the three women in this novel whose stories include a history of Greece from the 1920s to 1980. The novel includes events such as the migration of so many young Greek men to America in search of a better life, the young Greek women who were sent after them as brides, the Italian occupation of Greece during the war, followed by the Nazi invasion that was much more cruel, subsequent moves by Greeks to America, and much more.

The 20th century history of Greece, its small towns, and some of its people who left the country are laid out in this book, through the lives of the three women, in particular Demitra, whose mother had died in the USA when Demitra was only three. Her father had subsequently returned with Demitra to Greece.

This was a fascinating novel that was also the telling of the history of the island. Particularly moving was Demitra story as a child in Greece writing letters to her dead mother and then burning them before her disapproving papa could see. 

Somehow the author's skipping around in the telling of her story works. For instance, the novel starts in 1940 and 1943, moves to 1948, back to 1921, forward to 1952, then back to 1921. The latter part of the book takes place in 1970 and 1975 and then ends in 1980 in the U.S. Demitra's entire life is covered, as well as the major events in Greece during most of  this time.

I would recommend this book especially to Greek Americans and Southern Europe Americans such as the Italians, whose stories of small isolated home towns during a similar period of time, and immigration to the U.S., especially to the Bronx, might be similar.  

A very worthwhile historical novel. 

Other Reviews:

Monday, October 7th: @wendysbookclub

Tuesday, October 8th: @parismaereads

Tuesday, October 8th: @bethreneereadsbooks (feature)

Wednesday, October 9th: @libraryatcarleighs

Thursday, October 10th: The Bookish Dilettante

Monday, October 14th: Eliot’s Eats

Tuesday, October 15th: @addictedtobooks86

Wednesday, October 16th: @nobookmark_noproblem

Thursday, October 17th: @audreyoaksreadseverything

Friday, October 18th: Novels Alive

Monday, October 21st: @amys_book_addiction

Wednesday, October 23rd: @marbooks88

Thursday, October 24th: Vegan Book Blogger

Friday, October 25th: @books_old_and_new

Monday, October 28th: Sarah Can’t Stop Reading

Wednesday, October 30th: Book Bird Dog

Friday, November 1st: @page_appropriate 

Friday, November 1st: Girl Who Reads

Monday, November 4th:  @bethreneereadsbooks 

Tuesday, November 5th: The Calico Books

Wednesday, November 6th: @dana.loves.books

Disclosure:

I was sent a copy of Daughter of Ruins by the publisher for this TLC Book Tour, to provide a fair and honest review.

New Mystery Novels: Set in Karachi, Dublin, Midwest USA

                  New review books in the Mail

The Museum Detective by Maha Khan Phillips, April 1, 2025; Soho Crime

Setting: Karachi, Pakistan

Description: A portrait of a city fueled by corruption and a woman relentlessly in pursuit of justice, this engrossing crime novel builds to an unforgettable, emotional conclusion readers won’t soon forget.The Museum Detective is an exciting, gritty new crime thriller that announces a whip-smart and brilliant sleuth 

Archaeologist Dr. Gul Delani's investigation into a sensational discovery in a desert cave ( an ancient mummy in a sarcophagus) gets complicated—and personal—when it collides with her years-long search for a missing family member.

Inspired by a real-life antiquities scandal in Pakistan.

Mandatory Reporting by Jenny Wilson o'Raghallaigh, October 15, 2024; Simon & Schuster

Description: Jonah's study abroad year in Dublin isn’t going as planned—he finds himself in classes about the human mind, in therapy with an enigmatic doctor, and in a family mental health clinic working alongside a beautiful, troubled supervisor.

When someone dies, Jonah is caught in the unfamiliar web of relationships at the core of the Irish experience. Has he miscalculated, and have his mistakes caused another tragic death? Did he reveal too much to his therapist? Did the mandatory reporting enrage a violent father? As the police investigate, is Jonah the prime suspect?

Guilt and Ginataan, a kitchen mystery  by Mia P. Manansala, Nov. 12, 2024; Berkley cozy mystery

 Description: The Shady Palms Corn Festival is one of the town’s biggest moneymakers, drawing crowds  looking for delicious treats, local crafts, and of course, the second largest corn maze in Illinois. 

Lila Macapagal and her Brew-ha Cafe crew, Adeena  and Elena, make a little wager on who can make it through the corn maze the fastest—but their fun is  cut short when a body is found in the middle of the maze…and an unconscious Adeena lies next to it, clutching a bloody knife. 

Lila has to prove her friend Adeena innocent of this crime.

Ready for mysteries anyone? 

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves  

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen; Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan

Reviewed

Homeseeking by Karissa Chen

Publication; January 7, 2025; Putnam, NetGalley

Genre: literary fiction, romance, multicultural, historical

I enjoyed learning about the international city of Shanghai during the 1930s and after, with its European concessions in the city, the subsequent Japanese occupation, the flight of the city inhabitants, and the events in Shanghai and China after Japan's surrender at the end of WWII. 

So much of history is covered during the telling of this story. I found the book to be a perfect vehicle to reveal the events in China around that time.

 The main characters, Suchi and Haiwen, grow up together in the International Settlement in Shanghai. After the Japanese leave, China is still wartorn, with  the Nationalists fighting against the Communists for control of the country. The Nationalists eventually flee with their leader, Chiang Kai Shek, to the island of Taiwan. Haiwen has to leave Suchi and his family after joining the Nationalist army and departing for Taiwan.

Suchi spends uncertain years in Hong Kong before landing up in the U.S.,  where she meets Haiwen again by chance, after sixty or more years apart. Suchi is a grandmother by then, and Haiwen a widower. They find each other in Los Angeles and make an effort to revisit Shanghai and their ailing mothers, bringing the circle of their lives to a close.

A very moving story, and an important one for another perspective and view of Shanghai and China during the war, and about two people finding home after a long and harrowing life of war and displacement. 

I only wish that the book had omitted some minor details that could be done without any harm to the story.

Currently reading

And now for something thoroughly modern and fantastical, turning a Hawaiian island with an active volcano into the setting for the outlandishly decadent wedding of extremely rich, high society members, with guests from Hong Kong, England, Europe, and other  countries. 

Not to be outdone, there is another, smaller but also lavish, wedding that takes place in Morocco in a hidden palace and in hot air balloons! The settings make the book, plus the forbidden love story.

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan, May 21, 2024; Doubleday

Genre: romance, satire, contemporary fiction

Description

A forbidden affair erupts dramatically amid a decadent Hawaiian wedding in this hilarious, sophisticated, and thrillingly plotted story of love, money, murder, sex—and the lies we tell about them all.

 Spanning the black sand beaches of Hawaii, the red city of Marrakech, the Los Angeles bachelor pad of a billionaire playboy, and the inner sanctum of England’s oldest family estate, Lies and Weddings reveals an enthralling family saga that is as scandalous and satirical as it is full of heart.

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves  

Han Kang: Nobel Prize in Literature 2024: The Vegetarian and Other Works

 

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2024 is awarded to South Korean author Han Kang "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life." 

Review first posted October 6, 2017 

The Vegetarian by Han Kang (October 30, 2007) Hogarth

I think of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. Yeong-Hye stops eating meat and soon imagines herself one with the plant world, needing only sunlight. But her body remains the same, a human body needing food, even if meat-free. (publisher)

I am not sure if this book is a psychological study of extreme delusion or a study of a woman reacting to the strictures of a patriarchal world and a society with strict laws, especially when it comes to women's status. It could be both.

The story is told from three points of view - that of Yeong-Hye; of her brother-in-law who becomes obsessed with her; and of her older sister, the supposedly responsible, sane sister in the family. It's a bit disturbing, this story, but with a lot to ponder.

Book beginning:

Before my wife turned vegetarian, I'd had always thought of her as completely unremarkable in every way. To be frank, the first time I met her I wasn't even attracted to her. Middling height, bobbed hair neither long nor short; jaundiced, sickly-looking skin, somewhat prominent cheekbones; her timid, sallow cheekbones told me all I needed to know. As she came up to the table where I was waiting, I couldn't help but notice her shoes - the plainest black shoes imaginable. And that walk of hers - neither fast nor slow, striding nor mincing.  

 

Her other book, Human Acts, deals with an historic event - a violent student uprising against political oppression in South Korea and the bloody putdown and massacre that ensued.   

from English Literaturen

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 · 

“After you died I could not hold a funeral,

And so my life became a funeral.”

― Han Kang, Human Acts

======================================

Another memorable author from South Korea is known for her novel, Please Look After Mom, which I reviewed May 16, 2011 

Please Look After Mom: a Novel by Kyung-Sook Shin tells us about the children of a Korean woman whose mother is missing after being separated from her husband on a visit to the big city in the crowded and unfamiliar subway. 

The mother is elderly and becoming disoriented and forgetful; her daughter has only recently realized that her mother cannot read or write. They don't know how to go about finding the mother, apart from posting newspaper notices, searching through the streets, and passing out leaflets with her picture.

During their search, the children find out more about their mother and each member of the family gradually comes to have a deeper understanding of her and the life of sacrifice she has lived.

Set in Korea, I find the novel both culturally revealing and haunting in its view of a family's dynamics and a mother's relationship with her children and husband. 

“Either a mother and daughter know each other very well or they are strangers.”
― Kyung-Sook Shin, Please Look After Mom 

Kyung-Sook Shin is the first South Korean and first woman to win the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2012, for 'Please Look After Mom'. 

What are you reading/watching this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves