Mystery/Suspense

Review of Secret at Skull House by Josh Lanyon

May 24, 2020 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

This is the second novel in Josh Lanyon’s new Cozy Mystery series (Secrets and Scrabble), and we follow our snarky and often clueless main character Ellery Page who once again finds himself him a whole heap of trouble.

As it turns out, Ellery’s ex-boyfriend and famous horror author Brandon Abbott has just come to town and purchased the supposedly haunted/cursed Skull House. Abbott has purchased the house because of the two murders that have occurred there. Ellery is not happy about Abbott’s surprise appearance in Pirate’s Cove, given that their relationship ended badly.

Things become even more complicated when Brandon stirs the hornet’s nest of a twenty-year-old murder case of a local high school football player and the subsequent disappearance of his supposed killer — a case that certain townspeople want to be forgotten. As Brandon begins to investigate the cold case — much to the chagrin of certain locals — Ellery finds himself once again thrust into the middle of a murder case. As in the first book, Ellery begins ‘sleuthing’ to clear his name and reputation, which are once again being smeared in the local paper. As in the first book in this series, Ellery’s amateur investigating leads him into even more trouble.

In this story, we also see the continuation of Ellery’s hot and cold, romance/non-romance with Police Chief Jack Carson, which again, stalls before it can take off, which, truth to told, resulted in somewhat of a frustrating reading experience. So like the first book, romance in this one is mostly non-existent. The author does a magnificent job of placing the story’s primary emphasis on the murder mystery with a small (and possibly developing?) side story on the two principal characters.

As this is a cozy mystery, there is no sex, cursing, or on-page violence, but what we do have is a fast-paced, whimsy, light and comforting read with a few exciting twists along the way as decades-old secrets become revealed. But that being said, I found that Secret at Skull House contains all the things that cozy mystery readers live: quirky and colorful locals, a small town, plenty of gossip, and a compelling mystery to solve and I’ll be interested to see where Lanyon takes the series in future books.

A huge thank you to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this story.

Purchase Secret at Skull House on Amazon

Review of The Kill Club by Wendy Heard

December 19, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

“The first rule of Murder Club, you don’t talk about Murder Club.” Jasmine Benavides

The Kill Club follows a young woman named Jazz, who lived with her brother Joaquin until their fanatical and zealous foster mother Carol threw Jazz out of the house. With Jazz out of the house, Carol’s zealotry goes to extremes, endangering Joaquin’s life in the process. Jazz has tried to get child services to intervene with no luck. And now, time seems to be running out.

Then, Jazz receives a phone call from a stranger, offering to take care of the problem for her. If Jazz agrees, she’ll become part of a network of people who are taking back their power by doing what the system has failed to do.

All Jazz has to do is kill a stranger in return. And that’s where things go terribly, terribly wrong.

For me, The Kill Club was an unputdownable thriller with plenty of heart-in-your-throat moments. I thought the premise of the story was brilliant: having an anonymous stranger take down a scumbag such as a serial abuser, rapist, etc. and in exchange, you’re expected to kill someone else’s scumbag. It’s vigilante justice at its finest.

But when things go horribly wrong for Jazz, there’s then an insidious stomach-churning undercurrent of dread that truly made for an addictive reading experience. I could feel her terror and tension escalate with the numerous plot twists until the final surprising pages of the story.

I thought the intensity and poignancy of the relationship between Joquin and Jazz was believable as well as heartfelt, and the depth of it, caused me to really care about what happened to them and to root for their success throughout the story. Jazz was a delightful heroine: determined, brave, independent, relatable, and entirely devoted to Joquin. For me, the most poignant element of this story is the profoundly selfless love demonstrated by Jasmine for Joquin, which asks the questions: “How far are we willing to go for someone we love?”

All in all, I loved this diabolically clever story. Wendy Heard has written a captivating, haunting, and mesmerizing novel here. It’s a high-stakes novel that’s creepy, unsettling, and I couldn’t put it down.

Purchase The Kill Club at Amazon

Purchase The Kill Club at The Book Depository

Review of Keep This To Yourself by Tom Ryan

May 27, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

Keep This To Yourself follows 18-year-old Mac Bell who is still reeling from his best friend Conor’s murder the year prior. Conor was the fourth victim of a serial killer named The Catalog Killer that terrorized Camera Cove for a few months and then vanished, with everyone being confident that the killer was a random drifter who had moved on after the killings.

Now a year later, everyone is trying to move on with their lives, including Mac. But when he finds a cryptic note from Conor that was written on the day of his murder, Mac is once again thrust into the case, determined to find out what happened to his friend. Mac also now believes that because of the note, Mac might have been able to prevent his friend’s murder, this belief making Mac all the more determined to solve his friend’s death when the police could not. I think there was some survivor’s guilt going on here.

So this book hooked me right from the get-go, and once Mac decides to reopen the serial killer case himself, the tension and the pace never slow down as Mac becomes more and more obsessed with uncovering the truth. The tension really ramped up once Mac began to suspect that the killer never left Camera Cove at all and has been here the entire time.

I loved how chock full of twists and turns this story was and how everyone ends up being a suspect at some point during the story. I loved journeying along with Mac and he slowly uncovered clues and reopened old wounds by interviewing the survivors’ families, and along the way, we’re introduced to a multitude of rich characters which added to the realism of the setting. So through these characters, it becomes quickly evident that many in the town are keeping secrets which might have hampered the original murder investigation. I always love the trope where nobody can be believed, and that was certainly the case here.

My only niggle with the book was the romance. I just didn’t feel it, and I don’t think it was developed enough to be realistic. It felt kind of unnecessary in this story actually, and it seems like it was thrust in as an afterthought with not all that much chemistry between the two of them.

As for Mac, he’s a delightfully flawed and realistic character with many layers. Here we have a young gay man who is not only struggling with guilt from his best friend’s murder but is also trying to come to terms with his feelings for Conor — that is, feelings for his friend which may have been much more than mere friendship. Mac is quite a relatable character I thought, and I enjoyed seeing his character growth throughout the story.

All in all, I thought that this story was an absolute gem. It was a terrific thriller that kept me guessing right until the utterly shocking — and chilling — ending. It was a clever and solid whodunit, with plenty of red herrings and misinterpreted clues to throw the reader off track from guessing who the real killer is. This story had kind of a “Murder She Wrote” vibe to it except we have a busybody teen boy taking the place of Jessica Fletcher and I thought this aspect of it was a lot of fun. Mac turned out to be a delightful young gay detective. But most of all, I love the fact that I didn’t figure it out and was totally taken by surprise by the huge reveal.

Purchase Keep This To Yourself on Amazon

Review of The Lovely and the Lost by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

May 15, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen Leave a Comment

This novel follows a young woman named Kira Bennett, who was found by Cady Bennett and her search and rescue dogs out in the woods. Apparently, Kira had been living alone and wild in the woods but for how long and why, nobody knows. Kira remembers bits and pieces of her life in the forest but has no memories of before that time.

Kira is adopted by the Bennett family and learns the family business: Search-and-Rescue. Working alongside Cady, Cady’s son Jude and their neighbor Free, Kira trains search-and-rescue dogs and she hopes to perform rescues herself eventually. It’s worth mentioning that Kira has a difficult time connecting with people, does not like making eye contact or being touched and her “wild” side often overtakes her. She’s definitely more comfortable with dogs than with people.

Soon, Kira and the others kids find themselves involved in a real live search and rescue when Cady’s estranged father finds her and asks for her help in locating a little girl who disappeared in Sierra Glades National Park. Kira soon becomes obsessed with the case, having been in the same situation herself — being lost in the wild, alone.

As they search for the girl, several strange events occur leading everyone to discover that there is a lot more to this case than a straightforward child lost in the woods and danger soon mounts for those involved. Moreover, the case has triggered old memories for Kira — chilling memories — which begin to overwhelm her. Then, secrets about Kira’s true nature, the Bennett family and about what happened to her come to light causing her to confront some painful truths.

What I found especially fun about this story were the layers upon layers of mysteries that the story presented: there’s the mystery of Kira’s past and her real family; the mystery of who Jude’s real father is; the mystery of the animosity between Cady and her father; the mystery of Gabriel, the strange boy living with Cady’s father; and of course, the mystery of the lost girl. Just about everyone is hiding something. Though there’s a lot going on here, the plot is well-thought out, easy to follow and downright compelling as it’s a suspenseful story with plenty of twisty surprises.

I also loved the inclusion of the dogs in this story and how integral they were to the plot line. The strong bond between the teens and their canines was heartwarming. I enjoyed learning about rescue dogs and their training and thought that this added a rich element to the story.

But mostly, this book was a heartfelt exploration of family in all of its forms, whether it be human or canine and teaches that a family created out of love can often be just as strong as a family formed by blood.

All in all, I thought the Lovely and the Lost was wildly entertaining with relentless pacing, richly developed and empathetic characters, and a satisfying conclusion rendered this an undeniable page-turner.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher Freeform for the advanced reader copy in return for an honest review!

Purchase The Lovely and the Lost at Amazon

Review of The Perfect Girlfriend by Karen Hamilton

March 28, 2019 by Roger Hyttinen 4 Comments

Welcome to crazy town! This is quite a twisted little psychological thriller about over-the-top obsession that follows our main character Juliette, a psychotic girlfriend who is determined to get her boyfriend Nate back…no matter what. In fact, her motto is:

If you love someone, let them go.

If they come back, they’re yours.

If they don’t, make them!

Juliette thinks of herself as the perfect girlfriend, and she just doesn’t understand how Nate could have broken up with her six months earlier. So she embarks on a wild plan to get him back — and there’s no such thing as going too far to get what she wants.

She’s completely reinvented herself and trained to become a flight attendant unbeknownst to Nate who is an airline pilot. A good part of the story revolved around Juliette being an air hostess and I loved how it worked in the story. She basically becomes a flight attendant to keep an eye on Nate and so that she could be privy to his flight schedule. In fact, she infiltrated herself into every part of Nate’s life without him knowing it.

I thought the airline backdrop made for quite an original and refreshing setting and I do recall that the author was a flight attendant so we get to experience that life first hand. It often felt as though we were on those flights right along with Juliette.

So what’s fun about this novel, is that it’s told entirely from Juliette’s point of view, so we’re in the head of someone who’s obsessed and pretty much psychotic. In this way, we’re privy to her every thought, plan, and action. I have to say that it was a bit uncomfortable, if not downright dark and disturbing, being in her head as we saw firsthand how she justified her actions.

It was riveting, and at the same time shocking, to see just how far she was willing to go. Also riveting was the extent of her impressive investigative skills which were all part of her ingenious..and chilling…plans.

I read this book in two sittings because I couldn’t put it down, especially once I reached about the halfway mark when things go super, super crazy and become incredibly fast-paced. It’s also about this time that we get the delightful, clever twist that I didn’t see coming at all. Speaking of twists, this wasn’t one of those twisty-turny novels with one surprise twist after another but rather, it was more of an in-depth, mesmerizing personality study of someone who is utterly bonkers.

I have to say that the bunny-boiling Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction has nothing on Juliette AKA Elizabeth AKA Lily, who takes creepiness to a who new level. In fact, just when you think she certainly couldn’t go any more extreme with her wild schemes, she shockingly ups the ante.

Her antics and her ferocity made me cringe more than a time or two, and it indeed reminded me of the fine line between love and hate. It also warned me how quickly one’s life can spiral out of control when one is driven by vengeance and obsession. So let this be a lesson to you boys and girls.

In fact, this book was kind of like Fatal Attraction on steroids. What’s interesting, is that there really aren’t any likable characters, but strangely enough, you found yourself almost rooting for Juliette which was a tad shocking when you realize that you’re cheering on a crazy-pants psycho stalker. Her personality just kind of sucks you in and the author wrote the story in such a way that you couldn’t help but empathize with her, even though you know what she’s doing is so, so wrong. This fact definitely highlights the author’s skills as a writer. Yes, she’s unstable, but I couldn’t get enough of her. This is another one of those stories that’s like a car crash….you can’t bear to look yet you can’t tear your eyes away.

So all in all, The Perfect Girlfriend is a compelling and twisted psychological thriller about obsession that’s out of control and taken to the extreme. Featuring mind games, devious manipulation, revenge, and fixation, it’s a story in which an unhinged and relentless young woman sets out to reminder her ex that she is, indeed, the perfect girlfriend. I thought it was extremely well-written and engaging with intensely strong characterization.

Now, this would have easily been a 5 star read for me if it wasn’t for the ending. I typically like neat endings where everything is nicely wrapped up. So it’s often been my experience with some thrillers and suspense novels that the author likes to leave the reader with an ambiguous ending. Such was the case with this book, and the anti-climatic conclusion left me feeling a tad frustrated and wanting for more. Thus, I ended up knocking off a star for the ending.

But other than that, this was an excellent standout novel that I heartily recommend this fantastic debut novel, and I will assuredly be reading more by Ms. Hamilton.

In the spirit of disclosure, I received an Advance Reader Copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Purchase The Perfect Girlfriend at Amazon

Purchase The Perfect Girlfriend at The Book Depository