Sunday Salon: Quick Trip and a Book Review of The Other Passenger by J.E. Rowney

 I’m visiting relatives in Toronto and am also reading The Other Passenger The Other Passenger by J. E. Downey. A new book from NetGalley, publication May 31, 2024. 

The Other Passenger 

May 31, 2024

Description: On the run from their pasts, a man and a woman are forced together by the weather and by necessity. When a radio news broadcast reports that a body has been found further back along the road on which they are travelling, tensions rise and it’s only so long before the truth must come out. But the truth is never quite what you imagine.''

My review: 

Emma and David are both running away from something and land up in the same car during a terrific storm on a dark night in a remote area of England. David we know from the outset is upset at being passed over for an award at work that he was sure he was going to get; Emma is trying to find her sister Angeline.

The descriptions of the car ride into the stormy night and of the two strangers in the same car going somewhere, but not knowing exactly where, carries the story. The plot is not complicated but the background stories and the interaction between the two strangers, forty-year- old David and the 21-year-old Emma, also carry the story.

The ending of this psychological thriller came as a surprise. It was well worth reading for the writing as well as for the plot.

Hope you are all enjoying spring or whichever weather zone you are in. I’m loving the good food here that I can’t get back home, namely dim sum with all the varieties, Jamaican patties, and sticky rice with roast pork and mushrooms. 

And of course seeing relatives again. 

What are you reading/watching 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

Sunday Salon: A Thriller and a YA Rom Com

 I read and reviewed fewer books last week, with so many other things going on. But I sneak in a few minutes here and there and managed to finish this first book and start the second one. 

ARC Review

All the Dangerous Things

by 

Stacy Willingham, author of A Flicker in the Dark

Publication: January 10th 2023 by Minotaur Books

Source: thanks to NetGalley

Isabelle Drake woke up one morning to find her baby Mason gone from his crib and room. After fruitless searches by police and neighbors and a seeming dead end, her husband wants Isabelle to accept Mason's disappearance and move on with life. But she persists in trying to find out what really happened to him.

I found themes of sleep walking and memory loss intriguing, as well as Isabelle's searching into her past for answers that keep eluding her. Her childhood and memories of her younger sister Margaret tie this plot together in the dual timeline of the story.

The book kept me curious to the finish although I had some idea of what the ending might be. An enjoyable and suspenseful psychological thriller.

Currently reading something light:

Well, That Was Unexpected

by 

Jesse Q. Sutanto, author of Dial A for Aunties

September 27th 2022 by Delacorte Press

About:

A humorous YA rom-com about a girl who's whisked from LA to her mother's native Indonesia to get back to her roots and finds herself fake-dating the son of one of the wealthiest families there, (publisher)

What 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

Sunday Salon: Death By Bubble Tea by Jennifer J. Chow

 Books reviewed

Death by Bubble Tea (LA Night Market #1)

by 

Jennifer J. Chow

July 5, 2022, Berkley

Genre: cozy mystery, culinary mystery, amateur sleuth

My review: Two cousins, Yale Lee and Celine, who is visiting from Hong Kong, become amateur sleuths when a young woman is found murdered at the Eastwood Village Night Market, where they were manning a food stall. Celine becomes a suspect because the bubble tea she served the victim may have led to the death. The two cousins are determined to find the real killer to clear their name and the reputation of Yale's father's restaurant.

I enjoyed the developing friendship between the two formerly long-distance cousins who together feature in this new amateur sleuth series. We eagerly follow Yale and Celine as they debate and investigate the crime at the same time as the police do. The culprit in the mystery is unexpected and so puts a twist at the end. 

Although it is sometimes hard to follow Yale's convoluted thinking about possible suspects and their guilt or innocence, the cozy was a satisfying read, and I look forward to reading more about the two in their next mystery. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.

Death in the Aegean: An Intrepid Traveler Mystery by  M.A. Monnin Own copy, Kindle edition, May 19, 2022 Genre: international mystery and crime  I learned about antiquities in Crete and Knossos, the museums there and the monuments still existing. The setting was an integral part of this mystery of a missing gold artifact and several murders. The main character seemed somewhat frantic in her thinking and behavior, and the plot convoluted until the final events that revealed all . I still liked the topics and of course, Greece. And the romance thrown in helped the book along. In the Dark We Forget by  Sandra S.G. Wong Published June 21, 2022, HarperCollins Publishers Genre:  psychological thriller, family suspense, multicultural interest My review:  I loved reading this book written from a Chinese-Canadian woman's point of view, although cultural considerations may have made the author deliberately ambiguous about the ending and the resolution of the crime. I think I know who the author intended as the culprit(s) of the crime(s), but I understand many people have been put off by what they see as a vague and ambiguous ending. Nevertheless, this ambiguity could add to the intrigue of the novel. Cleo is an unreliable narrator who gets our sympathies  as well as our wariness about her supposed reputation, real or unfairly imposed by a non-sympathetic society.  It's a book I'd like to read over again, such is its pull and draw.  Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley

What 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

To Tell You the Truth by Gilly Macmillan: Book Beginning and Review

 

To Tell You the Truth by Gilly Macmillan, September 22, 2020, William Morrow

Genre: mystery, psychological thriller

Setting: Bristol, England

I liked the unusual plot, the persuasive characterization, and the realistic conclusion to the mystery. Lucy Harper is a successful mystery writer whose husband Dan, a failed writer, takes the time to manage her accounts, her home, and her success. But Lucy is haunted by the disappearance years ago of her three-year-old brother, when she was only nine. She blames herself even now, and confides the story only to Dan. 

She is also haunted by the "real" and continued presence of Eliza, the police detective heroine of her mystery books, a character that was her childhood imaginary friend who she makes into the very popular heroine of her novels. 

Dan becomes a mystery himself when he makes decisions for them without consulting Lucy. A new house near the area where she grew up, an area which Dan knows carries upsetting memories for Lucy. In unraveling Dan's actions, his motives, and his own disappearance, Lucy finds out more about what is going that impacts her life. 

I thought this deserved a five star rating, as I literally "couldn't put it down." 

Book beginning:

I typed "The End," clicked the save button, and clicked it again just to make sure. I felt a huge relief that I had finished my novel, and on top of that a heady mixture of  elation and exhaustion. But there were also terrible nerves, much worse than usual, because typing those words meant the consequences of a secret decision that I'd made months ago would have to be faced now. 

 Page 56:  

They've rejected the book, I told Dan, and the concerned expression fell from his face and shattered on the floor like a piece of dropped porcelain. 

Would you read on?

The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Sunday Salon: Psychological Thrillers

 Psychological thrillers:

It takes an extraordinary plot to make a psychological thriller stand out so much that you remember it even after reading umpteen similar thrillers. 

After a while, to me, the plots and the books run into one another, and while I enjoy them while reading them, I easily forger them once I've put down the books. Anyone else have this happen?

One memorable thriller because of the unusual characters is The Girl in the Mirror, featuring identical twins who, you guessed it, take each other's place, in a convoluted plot involving murder, deception, an inheritance, and more. 

The Girl in the Mirror, by Rose Carlyle, October 20, 2020, William Morrow. NetGalley

 Other psych thrillers that I enjoyed while reading them include the following. 

The Poison Garden by A.J. Banner, October 22, 2019, Lake Union Publishing. 

Sleepwalking, a secret potion made out of a deadly flower, infidelity of a husband, observant neighbors, and plots to use the poison against one and more people. An enjoyable suspense novel. 

The Good Neighbor by A.J. Banner, September 1, 2015

A fire, two people killed, nosy neighbors, and a questionable marriage. The main character has her hands full looking after the dead couple's child while trying to figure out her own marriage. Enjoyable read.

Both these thrillers by A.J. Banner include the themes of infidelity, and neighbors, good and evil. I'm looking forward to reading the others by the same author and interested to see if the same themes run through them. 

By the way, I've changed my blog name from Book Dilettante to the original: BookBirdDog 

Hope you will keep visiting.. 

What 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

Book Review: Those People by Louise Candlish

Book review: Those People by Louise Candlish

Those People by Louise Candlish, publication June 11, 2019, Berkley

This is a psychological thriller, a novel of suspense, with the story beginning when a strange couple move into the quiet upscale neighborhood, into the home of a woman who had died. The couple begin running a business next door even though this is a residential neighborhood. Not only that, but they litter their yard with old, used cars they are fixing or selling, and park the vehicles up and down the street, creating an eyesore for the neighbors.

Things get worse when there is loud music well into the nights, swearing, and lots of drinking, banging and house repairing going on at all hours. The neighborhood are at a loss as to what to do and get no response from these new interlopers.

Of course there is murder or attempted murder, but by whom and against who? The story focuses more on the neighborhood and its people than on the newcomers who are causing the trouble. How they react or attempt to cope is the focus of the story line.

I read to the end, a bit surprised by the people involved in the deaths, and think this was a fair to good suspense novel.

Rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for an ARC sent for my possible review.

Book Review: What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan, published December 1, 2015 by William Morrow Paperback.

Gilly Macmillan explores a mother’s search for her missing son, weaving a taut psychological thriller.

A brief summary: A divorced single mother of an eight-year-old boy becomes distraught when her son goes missing in the park during a regular Sunday walk with their dog.

 The cops follow multiple leads, just hints and threads of clues, as no one saw the boy in the woods during the walk or after he ran ahead of his mother to a rope swing in a secluded clearing just ahead of them. 
Rachel becomes a suspect in the case, while she does her best to follow leads to find her son. Who in contact with young Ben in his everyday life and would have reason to abduct him? Seems several people fit the bill. As days go by, no one is sure of the outcome. But a determined detective on the police force is sure he is on the right track. 

My thoughts:
I was immersed in the book, into the very realistic and well-drawn character of Rachel, who seemed helpless and put-upon, desperate to find Ben. Her ex-husband is not a big help, nor is his new and younger wife. 
The character of the detective is also intriguing, a man sure of his instincts in the case yet conflicted at the same time. 
The plot lagged a bit toward the middle, when it seemed as if nobody was getting anywhere in the case and no new clues cropped up. But read on.....exciting things start to happen fast. 

Themes in the book: Child abduction, family dynamics, divorce, single mothers, police procedure, the psychology behind some of those who abduct children. 

I gave this engrossing read five stars! Excellent for a debut novel.

I received an ARC of this book for my impartial review.

Book Beginnings: ONE OF US by Tawni O'Dell

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, any book. *Turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader  *Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. *Post it. *Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice. Also visit Book Beginnings at Rose City Reader.

One of Us by Tawni O'Dell, published August 14, 2014; Gallery Books. Genre: psychological mystery

Book beginning:

A Memory - Danny

"Come quick before he starts looking for you," my grandpa hissed.in a frantic whisper below my bedroom window, where he stood on an overturned wheelbarrow with outstretched arms while my father roared drunkenly downstairs.

Page 56:

Since her release from prison almost twenty years ago, my mom has lived off and on with Tommy, but he can't make her stay wit him and I can't make her stay with me either and I wouldn't want to attempt it.

Book description:
Dr. Sheridan Doyle, a  forensic psychologist, is the go-to shrink for the Philadelphia District Attorney's office but beneath his Armani pinstripes, he's still Danny Doyle, the awkward, terrified, bullied boy from a blue-collar mining family, plagued by panic attacks and haunted by the tragic death of his little sister and mental unraveling of his mother years ago.

Returning to his hometown in Pennsylvania coal mining country, Danny finds a dead body at the infamous Lost Creek gallows where a band of rebellious Irish miners was once executed. Strangely, the body is connected to the wealthy family responsible for the miners' deaths. Teaming up with veteran detective Rafe, Danny, in pursuit of a killer, comes dangerously close to startling truths about his family, his past, and himself. 

Would you read on, based on the excerpts? 

The Hidden Girl by Louise Millar: Waiting on Wednesday

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

The Hidden Girl

The Hidden Girl by Louise Millar will be published in paperback August 26, 2014 by Emily Bestler/Atria.

In a remote village in the Suffolk countryside,
"...this gripping psychological thriller follows a young woman who uncovers a terrible secret in her idyllic suburban neighborhood—but who will believe her?"

I have read and reviewed Millar's The Playdate, a light psychological suspense novel about three neighbors, one of whom needs after-school care for a child. I am eager to see what the author has written in this new novel.

What new book release are you waiting for?

Books: A Cold and Lonely Place; and The Stonecutter

A Cold and Lonely Place by Sara J. Henry and The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg were two of my three dark mystery reads this past week, fitting reads for a cold though not lonely winter.

A Cold and Lonely Place

A Cold and Lonely Place is set in a small town in the Adirondack Mountains, upper New York State. It is cold in the winter and a lonely place for Tobin, an outsider who has made his home in this out of the way place, know for winter sports and its annual Winter Festival.

A freelance newspaper reporter, Troy Chance, is on scene at Saranac Lake to cover the ice cutting for an ice palace to be built for the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival. Works stops when a body is found in the frozen lake, encased in ice. Everyone recognizes it as Tobin, the popular outsider. Troy works with Tobin's sister Win, who comes into town to find out the whys and hows of Tobin's death. Through her research and interviews for a series of stories for the local paper, Troy takes risks several times to find out more about Tobin's background, the death by drowning of his older brother Trey, and his life before and after he arrives in the Adirondacks. This extensive research helps solve the sad mystery of the young man's death.

I thought this mystery was about the tragic results in a family with "toxic" parents who ignored and actively worked against the best interests of their children. It was easy to like Troy, the young reporter turned sleuth, and I hope to read more about her in the next books in the Troy Chance series.

I won a copy of this book from the author.

The Stonecutter: A Novel

The Stonecutter by Camilla Lackberg is set in the remote fishing village of Fjallbacka, Sweden, a psychological mystery involving a young girl found in the sea, presumably drowned, and whose death is the result of family dynamics that go way back in the past. Re the flashbacks to the past, I couldn't see right away how they tied to the story of the present. Too much of the book had two different story lines that took too long to connect. Otherwise, great plots!

I like to think of an alternate title for the book - The Stonecutter's Daughter, though it's a mystery and not an historical novel!

Publisher's description: The remote resort town of Fjallbacka has seen its share of tragedy, though perhaps none worse than that of the little girl found in a fisherman’s net. But this was no accidental drowning . . .Local detective Patrik Hedstrom has just become a father. It’s his grim task to discover who could be behind the murder of a child both he and his partner Erica knew well. What he does not know is how this case will reach into the dark heart of Fjallbacka, spanning generations, ripping aside its idyllic façade, perhaps forever.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher.

Last week, I posted a review of another psychological suspense novel, The Burning Air by Erin Kelly, a book about how a mother's obsession adversely influenced her child.

What have you been reading this winter? I am keeping my cozies for spring!

Book Review: THE BURNING AIR by Erin Kelly

A dark novel of obsession, retribution, and abuse of power, not in the order in which they occur, but the order in which they appear in the book.

Young Darcy Kellaway is denied a scholarship to a prestigious high school which he thinks is the key to a bright future, and blames the well-to-do McBride family for his failure and for the subsequent death of his mother.

Darcy slowly develops into a dark and devious personality, driven by the memory of his mother's despair and death from anorexia. This drives him to do anything to prove the McBrides deliberately denied him the scholarship and ruined his life in favor of their own son. He begins to stalk each member of the household, sneak into their house in their absence to learn their secrets, map their movements and schedules.

Obsessively plotting revenge for over twelve years even after he becomes a successful businessman, Darcy coerces a young woman grieving for a lost child to be part of his master plan. Together, they infiltrate the McBride family and try to unravel the family's close knit group by uncovering secrets of the mother Lydia McBride, whose diaries reveal too much of her pain and the secrets of her past dealings with the young Darcy.

The story becomes a psychological thriller that is fascinating to the last, when all the characters converge in an isolated house in Devon, England for the Guy Fawkes holiday and Bonfire Night, and the drama is played out to a suspenseful end.

This kept me reading and on the edge of my seat, as did the author's previous book, The Dark Rose. Excellent writing, plotting, and characterization. Erin Kelly has my kudos for another engaging dark thriller.

Title: The Burning Air by Erin Kelly
Published: Pamela Dorman Books; February 21, 2013
Genre: psychological thriller, suspense
Source: review copy from the publisher

Book Review: The Playdate by Louise Millar

Title: The Playdate: A Novel by Louise Millar
Published July 3, 2012; Atria/Emily Bestler Books
Genre: light psychological suspense, women's fiction

About the book: The lives of three neighbors connect and intertwine when one of them needs after-school care for a daughter with fragile health.

Callie, a single mom with a daughter Rae who was born with a bad heart, and her neighbor, Suzy, do things together and look out for each other as neighbors and mothers. A newly married woman, Deb,  moves in to the semi-detached next door to Suzy and is so sensitive to sounds, she is bothered by noises  she can hear through the thin walls.

The plot takes off when Callie decides to go back to work and puts her daughter Rae in an after-school care program at school where Deb is a teacher. Rae is also eager for playdates with her classmates. Rae has an accident while walking home with Deb and could be in danger, but from whom? The evidence could point to Deb, but nothing is clear. Callie doesn't know who to trust when she is at work or when Rae is on one of her playdates.

My comments: The plot switches direction suddenly and dramatically two-thirds of the way through the book. It becomes suspenseful and I couldn't put the book down till I had gotten to the end. I could sympathize with the single mom Callie up to that point, and then later had to question her choices in dealing with her two neighbors.

I recommend the book for anyone with young children who might wonder, " Who can I trust to watch my children?"

Thanks to the publisher for a review copy of this book.