Summer Sons is a haunting, modern southern gothic, dark academia ghost story that follows two blood-bound best friends, Andrew and Eddie. The story takes place six months after Eddie’s apparent suicide. But Andrew is convinced that there’s more to Eddie’s death — that he would never kill himself. So Andrew enrolls at the same university in Nashville that Eddie was attending and begins associating with Eddie’s sketchy former friends, hoping to find out whether they had anything to do with his friend’s death. As Andrew begins investigating Eddie’s death, he unearths a plethora of dark secrets, lies, and betrayals in the process. What Andrew didn’t know is that all of these secrets were waiting for him.

This dark academia book ended up being a wild ride of a story and turned out to be much more than I expected. There is a lot going on here: horror, action, mystery, coming of age, blood-soaked family secrets, murder, curses, hungry ghosts, blood rituals, hot boys, fast cars, sex, and drugs. This was an intense, raw, and wild read with some pretty heavy themes such as toxic masculinity, self-loathing, grief, and shame, all of which added an extra compelling element to it.

The character development here is phenomenal, especially the relationship tension between Andrew and one of Eddie’s friends, Sam Halse. Every character in the story is extremely well fleshed out and multidimensional, making me feel as if I knew each of them by the time I finished the book. The horror element in the novel was genuinely creepy and terrifying, and I liked the way it dipped in and out as the plot unraveled. Interestingly, it was subtle at times and in-your-face at others.

What I especially liked about the book was how messy and chaotic the relationships were — much like they are in real life. Each of the characters is damaged, and toxic relationships abound. I tend to love stories surrounding messy relationships, and we received that in abundance here. The characters are wild, reckless, confused and in some cases, even traumatized. Yet, what I found notable was how I could relate to each of them on different levels. Their yearning became my yearning — their heat, confusion, and angst — mine. The story was brutal in some places and totally heartbreaking in others. Yet, I also found it fascinating how I grew to love certain characters whom I’d initially hated earlier in the book.

Additionally, The prose in the book was a joy to read with its rich, lush descriptions, rendering the novel visceral and atmospheric — almost dreamy in places. I could feel the sweltering heat of the scorching Tennessee summer as well as the deep, bone-chilling cold of the ghost. The book was poetic and beautifully written and successfully invoked a vivid sense of place. It’s the kind of book that drags you under and doesn’t want to let go.

I enjoyed the utterly satisfying ending, which, I admit, wrecked me for a couple of days. My only niggle with the book was that it took a while to get going. It’s definitely a “slow burn,” and I found myself kind of bored throughout the first part of it. But once it picked up, this adrenaline-fueled story absorbed my attention until the explosive ending, and I completely lost myself in it. I ended up loving this clever, spooky, and original story with its found family vibe and sinister plot. Recommended!

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

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I always enjoy thrillers where the action takes place in situations where people are trapped, such as at a resort during a blizzard or a cruise ship, and this one was no exception. Our main character, a university professor named Marian Fontana, was a juror who cast the deciding vote on whether alleged child serial killer Wyatt Butler should go free. Unfortunately, she ended up being harassed and vilified by the public because of her decision.

Now Maria, her husband, and two daughters are enjoying a two-week family cruise. But when murders similar to the Butler case begin occurring on the ship, the crew looks to Maria’s intimate knowledge of the case for help. So the reader then has to decide whether she and the jurors on the ship released a serial killer back into society or whether there is a copycat killer on board.

The novel ended up being much more chilling and darker than I’d initially thought it’d be. It was also shockingly graphic in places (so sensitive readers be warned). I could feel the terror as the tension in the story escalated and the ticking clock began. The suspense was intense as the body count began piling up on the ship, and Maria drew closer to guessing the killer’s identity. The intrigue starts immediately after the gruesome murder of the first victim once it was discovered that he was not listed on the ship’s manifest. A stowaway? Or did the killer bring him on board?

I ended up enjoying this immersive, fast-paced ocean thriller. The nail-biting plotline and the unrelenting pace made this a real page-turner for me. I enjoyed the numerous twists, turns & red herrings and the big surprise at the end was a jaw-dropper. That being said, I found the conclusion utter satisfying. Additionally, Maria is a strong, willful, authentic character, and I found myself rooting for her all the way to the end. The Stowaway unwinds in such unbelievable, unbearable suspense that I could not put it down until the final page. 

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

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Blurb:

Freya loves her new home on a quiet suburban street. And her beautiful neighbour Emily is everything she’s ever wanted in a best friend. Finally, she has somebody to share her secrets with over a glass of wine. But as Freya watches her new friend setting the table for dinner one evening, she sees something shocking that makes her think that Emily’s life might not be as perfect as it seems. Days later, Emily and her daughter vanish…

When you meet Emily’s husband, you will think you know what he’s hiding.

You will ask yourself whether Emily and Freya really did meet by chance.

You will think you know what happened to Emily and her little girl the night they went missing.

But when you discover the truth, it will shake you to your core, and you will lie awake at night wondering if you can ever really trust the people in the house next door…

Review:

The New Home is an intense, pulse-quickening psychological thriller that I read in two sittings, so that should give you an idea of how excited I was about the plot and seeing what the ending brought. The author wastes no time plunging the reader into a middle of a scintillating mystery: “What happened to Freya’s next-door neighbors Emily and daughter Thea? Were they murdered? Or did they run away?”

First off, I loved Freya’s character, even though at some point we begin to question whether she’s a reliable narrator – especially once her paranoia escalates as the story unravels. She has plenty of depth and intrigue but with just enough mystery about her and her past to keep the reader guessing and working alongside Freya to separate fiction (illusions? vivid imagination?) from fact. I could relate to how Freya’s thoughts completely took over (I know I’ve been there), so in this way, it was fun being in her head. I quickly found myself wanting to uncover the secrets almost as much as she did. And yes, there are deep, dark, dangerous secrets to be discovered and harsh truths for both Freya and her fiancé to confront.

I loved how this fast-paced story caused me to question everything and everyone, especially once the author ratcheted up the suspense. The author does a fantastic job of painting a vivid picture, fueled with red herrings at every corner. The storyline was well crafted, and I thought the pacing was close to perfect. The suspense is unrelenting almost to the very end.

All in all, this was a wildly entertaining whodunnit with an ending that’s rich with gritty drama and unnerving darkness and did not disappoint.

A huge thank you to Netgalley for providing a review copy of this book.  This title will be released on September 7, 2021.

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Blurb:

Meet the trophy wives of Presidio Terrace, San Francisco’s most exclusive–and most deadly–neighborhood in this shrewd, darkly compelling novel from the New York Times bestselling author of In Her Shadow.

Mystery writer Brooke Davies is the new wife on the block. Her tech-billionaire husband, Jack, twenty-two years her senior, whisked her to the Bay Area via private jet and purchased a modest mansion on the same day. He demands perfection, and before now, Brooke has had no problem playing the role of a doting housewife. But as she befriends other wives on the street and spends considerable time away from Jack, he worries if he doesn’t control Brooke’s every move, she will reveal the truth behind their “perfect” marriage.

Erin King, famed news anchor and chair of the community board, is no stranger to maintaining an image–though being married to a plastic surgeon helps. But the skyrocketing success of her career has worn her love life thin, and her professional ambitions have pushed Mason away. Quitting her job is a Hail Mary attempt at keeping him interested, to steer him away from finding a young trophy wife. But is it enough, and is Mason truly the man she thought he was?

Georgia St. Claire allegedly cashed in on the deaths of her first two husbands, earning her the nickname “Black Widow”–and the stares and whispers of her curious neighbors. Rumored to have murdered both men for their fortunes, she claims to have found true love in her third marriage, yet her mysterious, captivating allure keeps everyone guessing. Then a tragic accident forces the residents of Presidio Terrace to ask: Has Georgia struck again? And what is she really capable of doing to protect her secrets?

Review

The story takes a look at what goes on behind the gates of Presidio Terrace, an upscale San Francisco neighborhood for the uber-rich. This reads kind of like a fun 80s melodrama (it made me think of Alexis from Dynasty). We follow three main characters who are married to millionaires:

Georgia St. Claire is known as “The Black Widow” because two of her husbands died under somewhat mysterious circumstances. But she’s engaged once again, this time to a man named Robert whom she claims she loves with all her heart — and the wedding is to take place in a few days. So, will Robert be victim number three?

Erin King is a well-known and somewhat neurotic television news anchor who is quite a prima donna. She’s married to a plastic surgeon who is a major jerk. Regardless, she walks out on her job, deciding that she would simply be a trophy wife to her husband, Mason. She’s also overly obsessed with her appearance, even more so when the attractive Brooke moves into the neighborhood.

Brook Davis is the newcomer to the neighborhood. She’s married to a wealthy man twenty years her senior who appears to be more than a bit controlling. She is a murder mystery writer who is looking for new subject matter for her next novel — and just may have found it in Presidio Terrace.

The three women become fast friends, and we soon learn that there’s a lot more to them than merely being “trophy wives.” Each of them has dark secrets that come to light as the novel progresses, and the author wastes no time plunging the reader into the middle of a scintillating mystery.

The story is told alternating first-person POV through the eyes of each of our three heroines, we witness the shocking events leading up to and following Georgia’s wedding day. The short chapters added to the fast pacing of the story, resulting in an addictive, compelling, and suspenseful tale. There are deep, dark, dangerous secrets to be uncovered and harsh truths for all three ladies to confront.

Though this was a campy story rife with high drama, there’s also an ominous undercurrent of foreboding that runs beneath this creepy, atmospheric tale. That’s what makes this a fun and compulsive read, as the situations worsen and the twists continue. Yes, the characters and the situations are way over-the-top, and that was the fun of this book. I was also blindsided by the ending — a twist that I didn’t see coming.

A wicked, dark, and juicy frenetically paced thriller that hooked me from the very first page. Definitely recommended for those that love their thrillers suffused with a bit of high drama.

This book will be released on July 20, 20201.

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing/Ballantine Books for providing a review copy of this book.

A Dark and Secret place is a bone-chilling and quite disturbing multi-layered thriller that follows our main character Heather Evans, a grieving daughter and former journalist who returns home after her mother Colleen’s death by suicide. It’s worth mentioning that Heather and her mother weren’t all that close, and for the most part, they’ve been estranged for several years.

Still, Heather is perplexed as to the reason why her mother would ever kill herself — it just makes no sense. What makes even less sense is the tin of letters that Heather finds in her mother’s home from the monstrous notorious serial killer Michael Reave aka “The Red Wolf.” Reeve has been in prison for over 20 years for the gruesome murders of several women, though he has always proclaimed his innocence. Apparently, her mother had corresponded with the man for decades.

Now there is a new murderer who is murdering women exactly in the same ritualistic fashion as the Red Wolf, such as the meticulous arrangement of the bodies, missing hearts, and the corpses adorned by flowers. Of interest is that some of these aspects were never released to the general public by the police.

So this novel then asks several questions: Did Heather’s mother know anything about the murders? Why did she kill herself? Is Reave really innocent, and if so, why has the murderer waited until now to strike again? Or was Reave working with another killer all along? How did her mother know Reave?

Apparently, Heather didn’t know her mother as well as she thought she did. Heather, now obsessed with her mother’s hidden side, decides to share her information with the police, and they offer her the opportunity to talk to the enigmatic Reaves in person, perhaps hoping to glean some information about the new murders that are occurring as well as for Heather to hopefully learn more about her mother’s secrets.

Surprisingly, Reave agrees to talk the Heather though he hasn’t spoken to anyone in years. I thought the interactions between Heather and Reave were exceptionally captivating and of great interest to the story. But after she speaks to the killer at the prison, strange things begin happening to her, such as feathers and flowers appearing in her house, cryptic, threatening messages, and the constant feeling she’s being watched. As Heather delves more deeply into her mother’s past, the situation escalates, leaving Heather to realize that whoever has been committing these new murders appears to now have their sights set on her.

What follows is a bleak, dark, and unsetting story as someone begins playing mind games with Heather. There’s a continuous and subtle creepy vibe to the story that continues through each page. And yes, the creepy feeling at the back of my neck as I read was 100 percent real.

Given that I’ve always been intrigued by the thoughts and motivations of serial killers, the story sucked me in right away. What’s interesting about the story is that it goes back and forth between following Heather in the present time and going back to following Michael in the past when he was a young boy and has just murdered his mother.

Now even though Michael has consistently argued that he’s innocent of murdering those women, the past flashbacks of his actions suggest the possible beginnings of pathological traits associated with psychopaths. I found Michael’s “before” chapters to be especially compelling. Additionally, we get a POV chapter by each of the murdered women shortly before their death which added an extra disturbing element to the story. Heather also learns that the more she uncovers about her mother’s past, the more she realizes how little she actually knew her mother.

Now I word of warning here. This is quite a dark book, and it delves into some pretty disturbing places. But there is one especially wrenching scene involving the cruelty and subsequent death of animals. So if this is something that especially bothers you, consider yourself warned. This is the only animal cruelty scene in the book, and its purpose is to expose us to the thought processes of a serial killer.

I also didn’t care all that much for Heather as a character. She was mostly unlikeable and made several irrational decisions. At one point, I thought that I wouldn’t feel all that bad if she got herself killed. My dislike for her only increased as remnants of her past were revealed. But she kinds of redeems herself at the end of the book, though she never came across as being entirely likable. So if you need to absolutely love the main character in order to like a book, then this one might not work the best for you.

All in all, this is a spine-tingling and insanely twisty psychological thriller, and the fun of it is separating fact from fiction. It’s a swarming, paranoid, and at times an excruciating nightmare of a novel with a mind-blowing ending and super creepy settings. I thought it was an exquisitely crafted portrait of creeping madness and murder that drew me in and didn’t let go until the jaw-dropping and bonkers conclusion.

Note that this book will be released in the UK as “Dog Rose Dirt” and in the US as “A Dark and Secret Place.”

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

This book will be released on June 8th but it is available for preorder now.

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