| These Deadly Games
When Crystal Donavan receives a cryptic message asking if she wants to play a game, her instinctual response is to delete the text, until she spots the video attached. It's a video of her sister, bound and gagged, with the message below stating to ensure her safety, she must play the game.
Initially the requests are simple: bake a batch of brownies, shove a stolen test into a locker, make a prank call but soon, Crystal realises the tasks aren't simple but perfectly formulated to kill her friends - one by one. But, if she refuses, then her sister will be killed. Who is the masked perpetrator and why are they making her play these deadly games?
Find the review | HERE | for These Deadly Games
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| Chloe Cates is Missing
| This Might Hurt
Natalie Collins has not spoken to her sister for more than six months, the same sister who last time they did speak was working a mundane job, throwing back drinks at happy hour, and mourning the loss of their mother. The last time she heard from Kit, she was told that there was something more out there and then Kit found Wisewood.
Located on a private island, Wisewood is a six-month commitment where contact to those outside is prohibited. Wisewood's goal is to make each individual fearless and to achieve that goal and maximise true potential, distractions are not allowed.
It is six-months after their Wisewood argument when Natalie receives a threatening letter regarding the secret she's been keeping from Kit. Stricken with panic, Natalie rushes to bring her sister home but she's about to learn that Wisewood isn't going to let either of them leave without a fight.
| The Night Shift
From the author of Every Last Fear, comes another thriller about survival. In 1999, four teenagers working the local Blockbuster night shift were attacked, only one survived. In 2014, four teenagers working closing at an ice cream parlour were attacked, only one survived. Both survivors recall the killer's final words - "Goodnight, pretty girl."
In the aftermath of the second attack, three lives become intertwined. The survivor of the Blockbuster massacre, the brother of the initial suspect in 1999, and the FBI agent whose determined to solve the cases. All three lives will be forever changed by that night and not all will survive.
| The Golden Couple
Avery Chambers is a world renowned therapist whose success rate is stellar. If you can't be helped in 10 session, she won't take you on as a client. From abuse to assault, Chambers will help you overcome your trauma; it's the perfect way to avoid the emptiness inside caused by her husband's death.
Her newest clients are Marissa and Matthew Bishop, a previously coined golden couple that is, until Marissa cheats. Marissa is desperate to repair her relationship with Matthew, to repair it for their son but also because she still deeply loves him. When Avery's newest clients enter office, an inevitable collision course is set and the biggest secrets in the room are the ones not being told.
Find the review | HERE | for The Golden Couple
| Very Bad People
Six years ago, her mother drove into a lake with her and her two siblings inside. They survived, her mother did not and the truth behind the 'accident,' like their survival, is a mystery to her. Now sixteen, Callie has transferred to her mother's old boarding school in hopes of peeking into her past and potentially finding answers behind that night.
What Calliope did not expect when attending Tipton Academy is an offer to join Haunt and Rail, a secret society on campus whose mere existence holds power over the campus. A secret society she soon discovers may have a link to her mother's death. How far would Haunt and Rail go to obtain victory and do they hold the answers she is searching for?
| Blood Sugar
Ruby has killed, three times to be exact, but she is not a sociopath. She is a respected veterinarian with a thriving practice, has long-lasting and meaningful friendships, and is married to a husband she adores but, the Miami Beach PD are not confident about their marriage and believe her to be Jason's killer. Except, Ruby would never kill her husband and as she's interrogated, her life flashes before her creating the story of how she ended up in this exact moment.
Through altering between Ruby's present in the interrogation room to her past, Blood Sugar transforms into a thrilling read that makes you question how a killer can be such a rootable protagonist.
Find the review | HERE | for Blood Sugar
| Dead End Girls
In one week, Maude will be dead. Well, for everyone but herself. After years of meticulous planning, Maude has finalised her plan and she knows exactly when, where, how, and who will help her die. The why though, she has yet to figure that out.
Her parents deserve it and the call to be free beckons her, all she has to do to gain that freedom is die except, her plan goes array when her step-cousin Frankie, a person she barely knows, discovers the plan. Maude is terrified of the repercussions she'll face after Frankie spills but Frankie doesn't want to tell, she wants in.
With two girls vaulted into a new unknown, they will risk all they have for freedom but, what if the poison that caused them to escape came with them?
| My Wife is Missing
Michael Hart will do anything to find his missing wife and children who disappeared suddenly whilst on vacation. His initial fear is they were kidnapped but he soon realises, his wife left willingly and took their children with her. The police want answers and so does Michael but there is only so much he can tell the police without exposing his past, a past that could lead to his missing family.
Natalie knows the true Michael and it's finally time to enact her escape plan. The escape would have been fine escape for one thing, Natalie hasn't been able to sleep since her husband's secrets were exposed. Her lack of sleep is beginning to trigger delusions, delusions which impact her reality and confidence surrounding the escape.
Was Michael truly to be feared or did insomnia cause it? Now alone and with her two children to care for, Natalie must avoid Michael and find help, she needs to know if her delusions are actually reality and if she can't even trust herself, who can she trust?
| The House Across the Lake
Casey Fletcher is holed up in the family lake house enjoying the tranquility and peace the surroundings provide. Situated with booze, binoculars and all the time in the world to hide away from the bad press that taints her - this getaway is perfect, and there's unexpected entertainment from the couple across the lake, Tom and Katherine, who are the perfect couple to watch.
On one random day, Casey saves Katherine from drowning in the lake and the heroic act creates a friendship between the two but the more Casey begins to know Katherine and the longer she watches the couple, she begins to realise that what she perceived as a perfect marriage is not the truth. When Katherine vanishes without a trace, Casey is desperate to find her. Her search uncovers darker truths, guilt, obsession, and how not everything you see can or should be believed.
Now, The House Across the Lake will go either two ways - be an intense and fantastic thriller like Home Before Dark or fall flat like Survive the Night. Will I be reading it despite my mixed opinions on this author's work? Oh heck yes because if I can replicate the emotions I felt when reading Home Before Dark, I won't be the one to miss it.
| Never Coming Home
Never Coming Home by Kate Williams is presented to be the perfect summer read revolving around the Unknown Island and ten elite influencers who have received a coveted invitation to market the resort. Each influencer has been intentionally chosen as the first to experience the island; from the luxury accomodations, delicious food, and beautiful landscapes the resort has much to offer but what these influencers don't know is that their invitation wasn't based off their influence, it was based off what they're hiding.
Deadly secrets that each one holds dear and it seems whoever invited them has determined it's time for payback. This isn't a vacation, it's a trap and it seems no influencer will return from the Unknown Island.
| The Perfect Neighborhood
Let's step into the dark side of suburbia together and uncover hidden secrets in The Perfect Neighborhood. All the Oak Hill neighbours can gossip about is how Allison Langley, model and actress, left her rockstar husband during the dead of night. Gossip that quickly ceases when five-year-old Billy Barnes disappears from his walk home from school.
Billy's mother, Rachel, blames herself. What mother allows their son to walk home alone from kindergarten? Cassidy, the teenage babysitter blames his disappearance on her late arrival. As the clock ticks down and Billy remains unfound, Rachel has to wonder if the enemies she made in their well-off neighbour hood have something to do with his disappearance.
When another child goes missing, the town is put under surveillance, a third child cannot go missing and the police are determined to find the other two children. But, what secrets are behind this tragedy and how far will one go to keep them hidden?
| The Things We Do in the Dark
When Paris Peralta is arrested in her bathroom holding a straight razor and covered in blood, she's not thinking about her her celebrity husband's dead body in the bathtub beside her is the cause behind her arrest and subsequent murder charge, Paris is thinking about the publicity the event will bring. That's what worries her most, not the charge but the media who will bring with them her past and inevitably somebody who will recognise her, ready to tear down the new life she's built and any chance for a future.
Twenty-five years earlier, Ruby Reyes was convicted for a similar crime and Ruby knows who Paris really is. When she's unexpectedly released early from prison, she does exactly what Paris fears - threatens to expose her secrets. Left with no choice but to confront her past, Paris must because there is nothing worse than a murder charge, except two murder charges.
| Stay Awake
Liv Reese wakes up disoriented, no clue how or why she's in the back of a taxi. When she directs it to drop her off at her home, a stranger answers the door. A stranger who forces her out of the apartment and in an attempt for help, Liv reaches for her phone- only to discover a bloodstained knife in its place. It is then she notices the scrawled message on her hand, STAY AWAKE.
Two years ago, Liv's life was thriving but now, she's lost and confused. Nothing is what she remembers New York to be and the local news about a gruesome homicide with a crime scene photo showing the same message on her hand, it's all too much. The last thing Liv remembers is... The last thing she remembers is an event from two years ago.
Now on the run for a crime she may or may not have committed, Liv is desperate to piece together her past but somebody's out to get her and this time they want to make her forget, permanently.
| Daisy Darker
Nana's crumbling home is located on a tiny island and it is where estranged family members have come together to celebrate her 80th. Each member arrives harbouring secrets and at the stroke of midnight, a storm begins to rage. An hour later, Nana is found dead. An hour after that, another family member is found dead.
Trapped on the island with only family, the Darker's must confront the present mystery of the deaths and their past secrets, otherwise all may be revealed.
Find the review | HERE | for Daisy Darker
| All Dressed Up
For fans of The Guest List and Knives Out comes a new thriller following a staged murder mystery retreat hosted at a luxurious mansion. A retreat that should have been perfect for Becca and her husband but after his betrayal, all she can see is the apology attached to their expensive getaway. But, with strong booze and beautiful views, there is nothing to do but enjoy the holiday and throw herself into the spirit of the game transforming each time she plays into Miss Debbie Taunte, an ingenue with a dark history.
The game is soon afoot and it is up to the guests to discover who "murdered" the famous speakeasy singer. Except, the morning after their arrival, a staff character misses her cue and the organiser blames it on her flakiness. The moment is brushed off but during her clue hunting, Becca finds real evidence that the staff member may not have left of her own free will, the question is - whodunit?
| The Book of Knives
When her husband suggests driving up north to help his parents move into their new home and sell their family's summer camp, Nora hesitantly agrees. The relocation north would be temporary and how hard could it be to sell a plot of land with already built cabins and a gorgeous lake to swim in?
After seeing the unkempt grounds of the camp, Nora realises it's going to be much harder than she initially thought and after her first meal with her in-laws where one of their thirteen prized knives goes missing, she isn't sure what she signed herself up for.
And then another one disappears. And then another, one by one. And when two disappear under watchful eyes and from within locked cabinetry, Nora can barely sleep. With the talk of ghosts, secret rooms, and a death at the summer camp - she must keep her senses or lose herself to insanity.
| Robert Ludlum's The Blackbriar Genesis
| The Family Game
For fans of eccentric families and time-honoured traditions, The Family Game is a thriller right up your wheelhouse. The question is, are the traditions truly part of their history or a poor mask for a lethal game of survival? Harriet is about to find out.
Harriet is a novelist on the edge of stardom. Her fiancé is perfect. And her life, it's blissful - that is until the Holbecks arrive, the affluent family of her fiancé and the pinnacle of old money in the United States. For years his family has graced the news and yet, Edward left it all behind to forge a legacy for himself, not one associated with his family and now, he's set to inherit their millions despite the estrangement.
Harriet is drawn to the allure of the Holbecks who welcome her with grace to the family, except for Robert, the head of the family who upon their meeting slips a casette into her pocket containing a shocking confession on the tape and what causes the game to begin.
Why was Harriet given the tape? Why does she now hold the power to destroy them? She must find the truth but to do so, she has to survive the Holbeck's and their unorthodox holiday traditions and if she loses, things will turn deadly.
| A Mother Would Know
Her daughter is worried that her new trait of forgetfulness is caused by the isolation she experiences living alone. Truthfully, Valerie is a little lonely and asks her son to move home again and keep her company but when he arrives, the reunion is not what she anticipated. Her son, Hudson, is moody, disappears frequently, and is loathed by the neighbours who have openly state their disgust surrounding his return.
When a body is found only a block away, Hudson's name is the first to be whispered. Whilst Valerie fights to defend and protect her son, she begins to fear that who she let into her home was not the person she remembered. Hudson is her son and he couldn't be a monster, could he?
