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Mystery/Suspense

Review of Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan

October 3, 2022 by Roger Hyttinen 1 Comment

59912428Blurb

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising a beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in, and taking over her father’s beekeeping business.

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet at times, she wonders if she can she trust him completely . . .

Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in him, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.

Review

Mad Honey is a collaboration between Jodi Picoult, an author whose books I’ve read and loved, and Jennifer Finney Boylan, a new author for me. They each took turns writing chapters, and it was impossible for me to tell whose writing was whom’s.

The story follows Olivia McAfee, a beekeeper who fell in love with and married a cardiac surgeon. But her dream becomes a nightmare when he husband reveals his dark side, so she flees with her son Asher to begin a new life. Years later, Asher, now in high school, begins dating Lily Campanella, a young woman who has recently moved into town with her mother. Lily has had quite a tough life up to this point, but now that she’s met Asher, she feels truly happy. Then, Olivia received a phone call from Asher: Lily has been murdered, and Asher is being questioned by police. As the story progresses, Olivia begins to fear that perhaps Asher is more like his father than she had thought. What follows is a compelling and compulsive murder mystery as two lives are closely examined, and painful secrets are revealed.

Mad Honey is told in alternating POVs and a non-linear timeline by Olivia and Lily. The format works perfectly, and I enjoyed how the story unravels slowly, a little at a time, from each of their perspectives. As we near the center of the novel, what starts out as a basic murder mystery (or so we think) switches into something else entirely — something much deeper and more complex. It transforms into a mysterious, deep, haunting story because, at its core, this novel is about identity, abuse, self-acceptance, intolerance, toxic relationships, and trust. That being said, it’s gut-wrenching at times as the book does delve into some pretty tough topics, but they are handled sensitively and compassionately by the authors. There is a deeper story within these pages, and part of the book speaks to the divisiveness of the world we live in and how, even in these “modern times,” small-minded views continue to exist and thrive.

Additionally, Mad Honey is a novel full of fascinating multidimensional characters. All of them, even the secondary ones, feel real and whole. None of them comes off as mere caricatures or types but are complex and well thought out. What was also impressive was the amount of meticulous research the authors must have done to write this story. I learned a lot about several things from this novel but to say any more about that would lead into spoiler territory.

All in all, I can’t begin to express how much I loved this book. Mad Honey is a cleverly layered, thought-provoking, heartbreaking page-turner by two talented authors that kept me guessing from the very first page and, ultimately, left me shocked, surprised, and thoroughly satisfied when it was over. A brilliant collaboration that gets all the stars from me.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Ballentine books for providing me with a review copy of this novel.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense

Review of Murder at Union Station by David S. Pederson

September 19, 2022 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Murder at Union Station Cover ImageBlurb:

Phoenix, May 6, 1946

At close to midnight in the Union Station baggage room, the air is hot, still, and thick. The eleven forty-five Golden State Limited to Los Angeles is approaching rapidly when the baggage handler, Alfred Brody, notices a stray hound dog sniffing around one of the steamer trunks. The horrific discovery of a body inside the trunk can mean only one thing: there’s a murderer among them.

The young woman was certainly murdered, but who did it, and why? Suspects and motives abound as Private Detective Mason Adler investigates. He soon realizes that nothing, and no one, are what they seem to be as he races to uncover the truth and bring the real murderer to justice without becoming the next victim.

Review

This was the third novel by David S. Pederson. Unlike the other two I read, which featured Heath Barrington as the main character, the protagonist in this novel is Private Detective Mason Adler, a 50-year-old gay detective. The story takes place in 1946 in Phoenix, AZ, where the dead body of a woman is discovered in a trunk at Union Station. What’s interesting about this tale is that it’s inspired by a real-life murder in 1931.

In Murder at Union Station, Mason is hired to investigate the woman’s murder, and we travel with him as he interviews the various witnesses and suspects, trying to piece together the last hours of the woman’s life. The story is full of engaging, lively characters such as his sassy next-door neighbor Lydia and the flamboyant Walter as well Emil, the by-the-book police chief with whom Mason has an interesting — and somewhat contentious — working relationship. There was plenty of comical, witty banter between the characters, which lent a fun touch to the story. I also enjoyed the diversity in the novel, which one doesn’t always find in historical fiction: Mason and his friend Walter were both gay, two of the women in the story were a lesbian couple, the porter who transported the body to the station was a Black man, and one of the suspects was neurodiverse.

It was a lot of fun to unravel the mystery of what happened to the poor woman in the trunk as Mason gathered a plethora of clues from the colorful witnesses. Murder at Union Station is well-written, suspenseful, and smoothly plotted, and it kept me guessing until the big denouement at the end. It’s a fast, enjoyable cozy mystery that I enjoyed. I look forward to reading the first book in the Mason Adler series — Murder on Monte Vista. Recommended!

A huge thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy of this book.

Purchase Murder at Union Station from Amazon

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense

Review of Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

August 26, 2022 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Spells for Forgetting Book CoverBlurb

A rural island community steeped in the mystical superstitions of its founders and haunted by an unsolved murder is upended by the return of the suspected killer in this deeply atmospheric novel.

Emery Blackwood’s life was forever changed on the eve of her high school graduation, when the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her best friend, Lily. Now, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence among the community that fractured her world in two. She’d once longed to run away with August, eager to escape the misty, remote shores of Saiorse Island and chase new dreams; now, she maintains her late mother’s tea shop and cares for her ailing father. But just as the island, rooted in folklore and tradition, begins to show signs of strange happenings, August returns for the first time in fourteen years and unearths the past that no one wants to remember.

August Salt knows he is not welcome on Saiorse, not after the night that changed everything. As a fire raged on at the Salt family orchard, Lily Morgan was found dead in the dark woods, shaking the bedrock of their tight-knit community and branding August a murderer. When he returns to bury his mother’s ashes, he must confront the people who turned their backs on him and face the one wound from the past that has never healed—Emery. But the town has more than one reason to want August gone, and the emergence of deep betrayals and hidden promises that span generations threatens to reveal the truth behind Lily’s death once and for all.

Evocative and compelling, Spells for Forgetting is a vivid exploration of lost love and the unraveling of a small town and its many secrets.

Review

Spells for Forgetting is an adult mystery/thriller that centers around August Salt, who has returned to his hometown on the mystical Saiorse Island fourteen years after he and his mother hurriedly left following the murder of Lily, one of August’s close friends. Everyone on the island is certain that August was the murderer — everyone except for his childhood sweetheart and the love of his life, Emery.

Though unwelcome on the island, August has returned to bury his mother’s ashes, and his presence on the island has stirred up some long-buried emotions on the part of the residents. Additionally, August and Emery begin to ask some difficult questions and as they do, learn that small towns have secrets — dark secrets as well as long memories, and there are still some around who would prefer that the past remains in the past.

A series of backstories slowly reveals the dramatic circumstances surrounding the events of the night in question and, in so doing, deeply draws the reader into the small-town environment of privilege and deep-rooted family ties, resulting in a spooky and unsettling story. I love stories that take place on isolated, creepy islands, especially ones with a deep, lurking evil in a tight-knit community and this book fit the bill perfectly. It was so haunting and atmospheric that I could vividly picture the creepy island in my mind as I read. The writing is sharp, edgy, and compelling, and I love how the story is told via alternating POVs and timelines, unfolding into a rather suspenseful and intricate tale of scandal, deception, class division, lies, betrayal, violence, and murder.

The spooky vibe makes this the perfect autumn read. So if you’re looking for a creepy mystery chock full of dark family secrets with a touch of magical realism, then it’s worth checking out Spells for Forgetting. Populated with wonderfully complex and empathetic characters, Young’s novel is a twisty tale of legacy and unbreakable bonds with the land. Utterly bewitching!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy of this book.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense

Review of The Cottage by Lisa Stone

September 25, 2021 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

The Cottage Book CoverBlurb:

An isolated cottage…

After losing her job and boyfriend, Jan Hamlin is in desperate need of a fresh start. So she jumps at the chance to rent a secluded cottage on the edge of Coleshaw Woods.

A tap at the window…

Very quickly though, things take a dark turn. At night, Jan hears strange noises, and faint taps at the window. Something, or someone, is out there.

A forest that hides many secrets…

Jan refuses to be scared off. But whoever is outside isn’t going away, and it soon becomes clear that the nightmare is only just beginning…

Review

The Cottage was quite an unusual book and not at all what I expected. It follows a woman named Jan Hamilin, who has just lost her job and broken up with her boyfriend. She decides to rent an isolated cottage in the woods for six months, giving herself a chance to regroup. However, when strange things start to happen (such as odd noises, glimpses of creatures who only come out at night, and random items appearing on her doorstep), she begins to wonder whether it was such a good idea, after all, to be out in the woods all by herself. The tension in the story really amps up when the events escalate.

What’s interesting about this novel is that the narrative alternates back and forth between Jan’s adventures in the woods and that of a devastated couple desperate to start a family whose recent child was a stillbirth. This was the second child that they’d lost that way, which leads to an investigation by the husband, Ian, with some startling results. There are indeed some deep, dark, dangerous secrets to be uncovered. Via the alternating points of view, the author gets us not only into the heads of her characters but also into their hearts.

These two seemingly unrelated stories then begin to connect in an interesting and disturbing way, resulting in quite a jaw-dropping revelation. At this point, the book gets super creepy, especially as the two stories start to come together, and I was hooked. What I especially enjoyed about this unsettling story was that it turned out to be a completely different type of book than I thought it’d be. Though the premise was compelling and gripping, there was a definite “eeeewwww” factor to it, especially once we learn in the afterward that the story is based on actual events.

That being said, the story deals with some heavy themes and topics, which I won’t mention so as not to give anything away. Let’s just say that though creepy, I found the story surprising, somewhat shocking, but ultimately enjoyable. There’s an ominous undercurrent of foreboding running beneath this unsettling tale, and it’s one of those books that once you start, you just have to keep on reading no matter how late it is… I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough.

Creepy vibes? ✓
Mysterious? ✓
Thrilling ✓
Haunting? ✓
Suspenseful? ✓
Page-turning? ✓
A strong “ick” factor? ✓

Purchase The Cottage from Amazon

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Suspense/Thriller

Review of We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker

June 6, 2021 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

We Begin at the End book coverBlurb

There are two kinds of families: the ones we are born into and the ones we create.

Walk has never left the coastal California town where he grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released.

Duchess is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Her mother, Star, grew up with Walk and Vincent. Walk is in overdrive trying to protect them, but Vincent and Star seem bent on sliding deeper into self-destruction. Star always burned bright, but recently that light has dimmed, leaving Duchess to parent not only her mother but her five-year-old brother. At school the other kids make fun of Duchess―her clothes are torn, her hair a mess. But let them throw their sticks, because she’ll throw stones. Rules are for other people. She’s just trying to survive and keep her family together.

A fortysomething-year-old sheriff and a thirteen-year-old girl may not seem to have a lot in common. But they both have come to expect that people will disappoint you, loved ones will leave you, and if you open your heart it will be broken. So when trouble arrives with Vincent King, Walk and Duchess find they will be unable to do anything but usher it in, arms wide closed.

Chris Whitaker has written an extraordinary novel about people who deserve so much more than life serves them. At times devastating, with flashes of humor and hope throughout, it is ultimately an inspiring tale of how the human spirit prevails and how, in the end, love―in all its different guises―wins.

Review

Wow – what a stellar novel! This is a gripping, character-driven story that unwinds in such unbearable suspense that I couldn’t put it down until the last page. Thirteen-year-old Duchess Day Radley, a self-proclaimed “outlaw,” quickly cemented herself as one of my favorite characters in the book. She’s super feisty, determined, and sharp as a tack, and doesn’t take anyone’s crap. She’s also admirable in that she’ll do anything for her little traumatized brother Robin – especially whatever needs to be done to protect him. In this way (and in others), the story is a powerful look at how far we’d go and what we’d sacrifice for those we love.

Once we’ve been introduced to the story’s main characters, the author wastes no time in plunging us into the middle of a scintillating mystery. What follows is a roller coaster of a story with twists galore, some expected and some not. A wise and painful book in places, the story speaks of authenticity and loss — about how we convince ourselves to make irrevocable choices and mistakes and how these decisions harden us in the process.

I love a good story that pushes the boundaries, and Whitaker does that here in a mesmerizing way with his genuinely remarkable protagonists. The plot intertwines and unravels slowly into an intricate and unnerving tale of lies, secrets, grief, familial drama, heart-breaking motivations, deception, regret, and murder. This is a poignant tale that aches with past and present bruises, and several scenes brought tears to my eyes. The pages flew by for me, culminating in an almost cinematic speedup as the climax builds to its shocking conclusion.

Whitaker’s prose here is flowing, beautiful, dark, and eerily atmospheric, and his complex and multilayered cast of characters convincingly and impressively illustrate the best and worst of humanity. This is definitely the best book I’ve read this year, and I have little doubt that it will stay with me for a long, long time.

Purchase We Begin at the End from Amazon

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense Tagged With: chris whitaker, mystery, suspense story

Review of Bad Moon Rising by John Galligan

June 3, 2021 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Bad Moon Rising book coverBlurb

A record heat wave suffocates remote rural Wisconsin as the local sheriff tracks down a killer hidden in the depths of the community in this atmospheric, race-to-the-finish mystery by the acclaimed author of the Bad Axe County series.

Sheriff Heidi Kick has a dead body on her hands, a homeless young man last seen alive miles from the Bad Axe. Chillingly, the medical examiner confirms what Sheriff Kick has been experiencing in her own reoccurring nightmares of late: the victim was buried alive. As the relentless summer heat bears down and more bodies are discovered, Sheriff Kick also finds herself embroiled in a nasty reelection campaign. These days her detractors call her “Sheriff Mommy”—KICK HER OUT holler the opposition’s campaign signs—and as her family troubles become public, vicious rumors threaten to sway the electorate and derail her investigation.

Enter Vietnam veteran Leroy Fanta, editor-in-chief of the local paper who believes Heidi’s strange case might be tied to a reclusive man writing deranged letters to the opinions section for years. With his heart and liver on their last legs, Fanta drums up his old journalistic instincts in one last effort to help Heidi find a lead in her case, or at least a good story…

With simmering tension that sweats off the page, Bad Moon Rising infuses newsworthy relevance with a page-turning story of crime in America’s heartland, capturing global issues with startling immediacy while entertaining from start to finish.

Review

This is the third book in a series featuring Wisconsin local sheriff Heidi Kick. Each book can be read as a standalone (this is actually the first book in the series that I’ve read).

In Bad Moon Rising, our sheriff is tasked with solving the murder of a young homeless man who was apparently buried alive. This isn’t the first murder of this type to occur in the community. A local newspaperman, Leroy Fanta, suspects that the crimes may be connected to a somewhat “unhinged” reader of the newspaper who has been sending angry and disturbing letters to the editor for years. He decides to investigate to help the sheriff with the case and ends up unearthing some pretty dark secrets in the process. The evil at play in the town was quite surprising.

It’s also worth mentioning that Heidi is in the midst of a reelection campaign that has gotten quite nasty, with her nemesis resorting to all sorts of unseemly tactics to oust the sheriff.

I found this book to be utterly captivating, with a gripping mystery to solve. The author does a masterful job of layering on the mysteries until we’re almost frantically turning the pages, impatient to find out what the hell is going on. The suspense is unrelenting to the very end. I also found the characterization in this book to be really powerful. There is no shortage of quirky characters, all of whom add to the overall atmosphere of the narrative and play an essential part in the development of the plot.

I was glued to my seat as I immersed myself in this mind-blowing police procedural that takes the reader down a dark and twisty path and then totally blows your mind with a jaw-dropping conclusion. All in all, I found Bad Moon Rising to be tense, unsettling, a tad creepy, and it kept me guessing till the very end. I plan on picking up the other books in this series as I grew pretty attached to Sheriff Kick by the end of the story.

This book will be released on June 29, 2021.

Order Bad Moon Rising from Amazon

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense

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