Goodreads’ Synopsis: A magnetic novel about two families, strangers to each other, who are forced together on a long weekend gone terribly wrong
Amanda and Clay head to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But with a late-night knock on the door, the spell is broken. Ruth and G. H., an older couple who claim to own the home, have arrived there in a panic. These strangers say that a sudden power outage has swept the city, and – with nowhere else to turn – they have come to the country in search of shelter.
But with the TV and internet down, and no phone service, the facts are unknowable. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple – and vice versa? What has happened back in New York? Is the holiday home, isolated from civilisation, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one another?
Read Start Date: February 18, 2024
Read Finish Date: March 31, 2024
My Review: I first learned about this novel when I watched the film adaptation on Netflix. The movie was eerie and strange, and I knew I just had to read the book.
The novel begins with Amanda and Clay, a middle-class white couple from Brooklyn, who take their teenage children on a trip to a luxurious rental home in a remote area in the Hamptons (Long Island, New York). However, their vacation takes a dramatic turn when the house’s owners, an older Black couple named Ruth and G. H., unexpectedly return, claiming that there is a blackout in New York City and that it’s not safe to stay there.
In their isolation–no one else around–the families can almost pretend everything is fine. Then a loud, strange noise cracks the windows. The television and cell phone services don’t work, and they are cut off from everything and everyone. If that wasn’t enough, hundreds of deer are migrating. A loud noise rends the air, shattering glass. There is no news. No one knows what is happening. Sprinkled in with this tense situation, the author provides snippets of information about what is occurring in the larger world, known only to the reader, which adds to the suspense.
The book is well written. Some characters are more developed than others, and the adults (especially Amanda and Clay) are each flawed in their own way. Amanda is a bit of a racist, while Clay is a bit of a weakling. They all seem to stick their head in the sand (which can get annoying in a crisis situation). The story moves slowly. Nothing really happens. The tension is drawn out and never comes to a head. This novel has no ending, leaving the reader to guess the fate of the characters.
While I enjoyed it overall, I admit that I was waiting for the more dramatic moments of the movie to take place in the book. They never occurred. Not that it changed my thoughts on the book overall, but a forewarning if you’re like me and have seen the movie already and are thinking of reading the book.
All the above being said, I think that this book would be a perfect choice for readers who enjoy psychological thrillers that explore human behavior under pressure and leave room for interpretation. If you’re looking for a fast-paced, action-packed read, this is not it. But for those who appreciate a slow-burning mystery with a focus on character dynamics, I would definitely recommend it.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: A young Native girl’s hunt for answers about the women mysteriously disappearing from her tribe’s reservation lead her to delve into the myths and stories of her people, all while being haunted herself, in this atmospheric and stunningly poignant debut.
Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation’s casino…and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step–an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that’s intent on devouring her whole.
With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she’s sure lies in the legends of her tribe’s past.
When Anna’s own little sister also disappears, she’ll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation–both ancient and new–are strong, and sometimes, it’s the stories that never get told that are the most important.
Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be.
My Review: Anna Horn works hard at a local casino to help support her family, and she is also passionate about learning about her tribe’s history and culture.
However, Anna’s life is overshadowed by a series of disappearances. Several girls from her tribe have gone missing without a trace, and the authorities are no closer to finding them. In fact, they aren’t trying very hard to locate them, as they are believed to be runaways. Anna believes otherwise. She is haunted by a recurring nightmare, in which she sees a mythological decapitated head, that she believes has eaten these young missing women. This head is part of an old tale told to her by her uncle when she was small.
When Anna’s sister, Grace, goes missing, Anna starts to investigate her disappearance. As Anna gets closer to the truth, she puts herself in grave danger. She must confront not only the supernatural but also the very real threat of violence from those who want to keep the secrets of the reservation buried.
The power of Medina’s writing had me hooked from the beginning. I absolutely love the way that Medina masterfully weaves Native American mythology into the story. It adds an entirely new level of chill and suspense that I could not find in other books. Until the very end, I was unsure as to whether the decapitated head was real (and following Anna around — shudder), or whether there was only a human element involved. I won’t spoil it for you!
Medina’s book is even more terrifying because, while fiction, highlights a very real problem. Stories of missing Native American women are becoming increasingly common in the U.S. Medina’s writing brings one factoid to life: not all disappearances can be explained away by supernatural conspiracy theories and lore– some very human villains exist in our world today, too.
Stats: As of the time of writing this review (November 25, 2023), this book only has a 3.87 rating on Goodreads. I am honestly surprised, as I expected it to have a higher overall rating, especially since it is a Nominee for the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards in Horror. Some of the lower ratings discussed that while invested in the characters, the alternating timeline (before Grace went missing vs. after) was distracting and took away from the emotional resonance of the book. A second common complaint was that the designation of horror did the book a disservice because readers were not able to properly manage expectations. This book is less of a horror book and more of a thriller/mystery.
I can understand the above points, but I myself was not bothered by the alternating timelines, nor did I realize that the book was a horror book when I checked it out from the library. Even given the mixed reviews, I would still recommend this book.
Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead.
Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?
With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn’t have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone?
As if that wasn’t enough, one of the paper’s ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.
Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times.
My Review:Love Will Tear Us Apart by C.K. McDonnell is a riotous, hilarious, and heartfelt romp through the magical underbelly of Manchester. It’s the third book in the Stranger Times series, and it’s just as good as the first two, if not better.
McDonnell has a knack for creating quirky and unforgettable characters, and this book is no exception. We’re reunited with the intrepid team of journalists from the Stranger Times.
All of our old favorite characters are back and better than ever. Banecroft has never believed that his wife is dead, even though there is overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Now, as her voice emanates through the mouth of the ghostly resident of the Stranger Times office, Banecroft has reason to believe that she is still alive.
Hannah has resigned suddenly from the paper to get back with her husband, who has changed completely. She is attending the same retreat that made him a better person. The new assistant editor is, at first impression, bothersome, and it doesn’t seem that she will get along with the rest of the staff, especially Grace, whom she sets the task of collecting old invoices for an audit. Stella continues to discover the extent (or lack thereof) of her powers, and Ox, Stanley, and Reggie get into their own side investigations.
I don’t want to spoil the book, so I will just say that the plot is as wild and unpredictable as you’d expect from a C.K. McDonnell novel. It’s full of twists and turns, and there’s never a dull moment.
Of course, no Stranger Times book would be complete without its fair share of humor. And Love Will Tear Us Apart is no exception. McDonnell’s writing is witty and sharp, and he has a knack for finding the funny side of even the most dire situations. A couple of my favorite quotes are below.
“Banecroft picked up the bottle of Irish whiskey that sat on his desk and poured himself a healthy measure, then kept pouring past the point of unhealthy all the way to death wish.”
page 4
“‘The words ‘I didn’t like it’ do not do justice to my sentiments. I only read the first two chapters, but it is the worst thing I have ever been in the presence of. It’s basically a hate crime. If an Irish person were to read it, there is every chance they would come and find you and beat you to death with it.'”
page 191
Overall, Love Will Tear Us Apart is a must-read for fans of urban fantasy, comedy, and all things weird and wonderful. It’s a book that will make you laugh, cry, and think, all at the same time.
Stats: As of writing this review on October 10, 2023, this book has an average rating of 4.46 stars. As you can see, many people think this book is great, so you don’t have to take only my word for it.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: There are Dark Forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular) and so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them. A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but more often the weird) of modern life, it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable . . .
At least that’s their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and -mouthed husk of a man who thinks little (and believes less) of the publication he edits, while his staff are a ragtag group of wastrels and misfits, each with their own secrets to hide and axes to grind. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job is a revolving door – and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who’s got her own set of problems.
It’s when tragedy strikes in Hannah’s first week on the job that The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious, proper, actual investigative journalism. What they discover leads them to a shocking realisation: that some of the stories they’d previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly, gruesomely real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker foes than they could ever have imagined. It’s one thing reporting on the unexplained and paranormal but it’s quite another being dragged into the battle between the forces of Good and Evil . . .
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Humor, Vampires, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Read Start Date: July 7, 2023
Read Finish Date: August 7, 2023
Number of Book in Series: 2
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Vampires do not exist. Everyone knows this. So it’s particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester .
Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organisation for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all Hell really breaks loose – step forward the staff of The Stranger Times.
It’s not like they don’t have enough to be dealing with. Assistant Editor Hannah has come back from getting messily divorced to discover that someone is trying to kidnap a member of their staff and while editor Vincent Banecroft would be delighted to see the back of any of his team, he doesn’t like people touching his stuff – it’s the principle of the thing.
Throw in a precarious plumbing situation, gambling debts, an entirely new way of swearing, and a certain detective inspector with what could be kindly referred to as ‘a lot of baggage’ and it all adds up to another hectic week in the life of the newspaper committed to reporting the truth that nobody else will touch.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend’s sudden, mysterious death, and has since spent her life trying to forget, sets out to track down answers. What she uncovers, deep in the woods, is hardly to be believed….
Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer.
Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer–the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.
At her mother’s house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father’s book that didn’t stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank’s cabin….
Utterly unique and captivating, The House in the Pines keeps you guessing about whether we can ever fully confront the past and return home.
My Review: Maya witnessed the sudden and mysterious death of her best friend, Aubrey, when they were both high school seniors. Seven years later, Maya is still haunted by Aubrey’s death and the gaps in her memories of that summer. When she sees a video of a young woman dying in a diner after sitting across from Frank, the same man who was with Aubrey when she died, Maya is forced to confront her past. She returns to her hometown in the Berkshires to try to piece together what happened, but she soon realizes that Frank is not the only one who has secrets.
The book has a feeling of the supernatural — and the twist at the end was not expected!
I really enjoyed this book. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, just waiting to figure out what it is about Frank that make women drop dead around him. The characters development was also great. They are complex and realistic, and in the case of Maya, is flawed yet deeply likeable. We learn the backstory of Maya (the timeline alternates from the present, as Maya investigates the death of Christine, to what happened in the past leading up to Aubrey’s death). We get an in depth look at the relationships Maya has in her life: with her boyfriend, her mother, and her best friend when she was a child. We learn of Maya’s trauma, her struggles and her will to overcome them.
I felt invested in Maya and her growth through out the novel.
Stats: As of writing this review (September 12, 2023) this book has a 3.14 star rating on Goodreads, which I feel to be unfair. I thought this book was just fantastic!
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Humor, Vampires, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy
Read Start Date: July 7, 2023
Read Finish Date: August 7, 2023
Number of Book in Series: 2
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Vampires do not exist. Everyone knows this. So it’s particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester .
Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organisation for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all Hell really breaks loose – step forward the staff of The Stranger Times.
It’s not like they don’t have enough to be dealing with. Assistant Editor Hannah has come back from getting messily divorced to discover that someone is trying to kidnap a member of their staff and while editor Vincent Banecroft would be delighted to see the back of any of his team, he doesn’t like people touching his stuff – it’s the principle of the thing.
Throw in a precarious plumbing situation, gambling debts, an entirely new way of swearing, and a certain detective inspector with what could be kindly referred to as ‘a lot of baggage’ and it all adds up to another hectic week in the life of the newspaper committed to reporting the truth that nobody else will touch.
My Review: The characters from The Stranger Times are back and as hilarious as ever. Instead of telling you how great the book is, I’m just going to share some of my favorite quotes from the book below.
“‘But we haven’t got running water’, said Grace.
‘Yes,’ said Banecroft. ‘The good Lord has blessed me with many gifts, including male genitalia. Ergo, I can pee anywhere. Out of windows, in woods, in that plant pot beside your desk…’
‘Don’t you dare,’ warned Grace.
Banecroft waved a hand theatrically in the air as he left the room. ‘Too late!’
Grace looked around the room. ‘He wouldn’t, would he?’
Her colleagues avoided her gaze.
‘If you’ll excuse me,’ she sighed, ‘I need to go and burn an asparagus fern.'”
page 62-63
“Vincent Banecroft slipped through he doors of the Kanky’s Rest pub and looked around him. He’d never been here before and yet he knew the place well. It was a proper old fellas pub. Everything was made out of hardened wood or worn leather, including the clienetele.”
Page 135
“Hannah shook her head. ‘How has he got this far in life without anyone stabbing him?’
‘I heard that,’ roared Banecroft from the other room. ‘Shows what you know. I’ve been stabbed twice!'”
page 201
“On the day Banecroft went to pass his driving test on the first time, Patrick, the instructor who’d had to endure the stresses of teaching him, resigned in protest at a system that was broke beyond belief. He retrained in a less stressful profession and ended up being awarded a medal for his work as a bomb-disposal technician.”
page 415
Stats: As of writing this review on September 3, 2023, this book has an average rating of 4.39 stars. As you can see, many people think this book is great, so you don’t have to take only my word for it.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: There are Dark Forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular) and so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them. A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but more often the weird) of modern life, it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable . . .
At least that’s their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and -mouthed husk of a man who thinks little (and believes less) of the publication he edits, while his staff are a ragtag group of wastrels and misfits, each with their own secrets to hide and axes to grind. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job is a revolving door – and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who’s got her own set of problems.
It’s when tragedy strikes in Hannah’s first week on the job that The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious, proper, actual investigative journalism. What they discover leads them to a shocking realisation: that some of the stories they’d previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly, gruesomely real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker foes than they could ever have imagined. It’s one thing reporting on the unexplained and paranormal but it’s quite another being dragged into the battle between the forces of Good and Evil . . .
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: There are Dark Forces at work in our world (and in Manchester in particular) and so thank God The Stranger Times is on hand to report them. A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but more often the weird) of modern life, it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable . . .
At least that’s their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and -mouthed husk of a man who thinks little (and believes less) of the publication he edits, while his staff are a ragtag group of wastrels and misfits, each with their own secrets to hide and axes to grind. And as for the assistant editor . . . well, that job is a revolving door – and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who’s got her own set of problems.
It’s when tragedy strikes in Hannah’s first week on the job that The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious, proper, actual investigative journalism. What they discover leads them to a shocking realisation: that some of the stories they’d previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly, gruesomely real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker foes than they could ever have imagined. It’s one thing reporting on the unexplained and paranormal but it’s quite another being dragged into the battle between the forces of Good and Evil . . .
My Review: I had never heard of this book and found it sitting on a shelf at the public library. The synopsis was intriguing, so I decided to give it a shot. I am so glad I did. This book is freaking hilarious! It is not often that I find myself laughing out loud while reading, but I definitely did just that several times while reading this book.
Hannah, a newly divorced woman with no job experience, had quite a peculiar job interview for The Stranger Times, a newspaper that reports on the weird, extraordinary, and supernatural event. The editor of the paper, Vincent Banecroft literally shot himself in the foot with an old blunderbus while trying to get one of his employees not to jump from the building (something that he threatens to do every week). The bizarre occurrences didn’t end there, as she soon joined the eccentric team at the newspaper as the “new Tina” a.k.a the new assistant editor.
Hannah’s colleagues were a colorful bunch. Banecroft, known for his foul-smelling and foul-mouthed ways, lived in the office, along with Manny, who had an interesting dress code (if he wore clothes at all, that it). Grace, the office manager, had her hands full managing Banecroft’s temper. Stella, the young runaway teen taken in by Grace was a constant presence even if it wasn’t clear what she actually did at the paper. Reggie served as the paranormal consultant, and Ox was the ufologist and resident “general paranoid.”
Meanwhile, the man standing outside the building, Simon, desperately wanted to work for The Stranger Times but faced a peculiar hurdle with their “No Simon” policy. When he is killed under mysterious circumstance, and the police are left scratching their heads, the newspaper staff takes it upon themselves to solve the case.
In the greater Manchester area, Simon’s death is not the only strange occurrence that the police are investigating. Little does anyone know at the beginning, but magic is afoot and rules of the magical underworld are being broken, leading to chaos in the mortal realm.
This book has it all. Fantasy, crime, mystery and most of all humor. If you haven’t read this book yet, you must!
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers: Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.
As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered; as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss; as a US Marshal and FBI agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.
Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future. One neither Hannah nor Bailey could have anticipated.
My Review: The book follows the story of Hannah Hall, a woman who is forced to face the truth about her husband’s past when he suddenly disappears.
The story begins with Hannah’s husband, Owen, disappearing without a trace. Hannah is left alone with her stepdaughter, Bailey, and a note from Owen that says, “Protect her.” This sets off a chain of events that forces Hannah to confront the truth about her husband’s past and the secrets he kept from her.
As Hannah delves deeper into Owen’s past, she discovers that he was not who she thought he was and she begins to question everything she thought she knew about her husband.
The narrative of The Last Thing He Told Me is presented from Hannah’s point of view, unfolding in two distinct timelines. One timeline progresses forward from the day Owen vanished, while the other traces backward from the day Owen left. In the current timeline, we witness Hannah’s struggle to come to grips with the shocking truths about her husband’s past. Meanwhile, in the past timeline, we gain a deeper understanding of their relationship and the version of Owen that he chose to reveal to her, now causing her to question everything and piece together his true identity. Hannah is caught between her love for Owen and her responsibility to shield Bailey from the risks of Owen’s past. As she tries to navigate this complicated situation, Hannah must decide whom to trust and must make the impossible choice between Bailey’s safety and being a family again.
I first listened to this audiobook in the first year of my daughter’s life, when I was so sleep deprived I couldn’t really appreciate it. Upon the second reading, I absolutely loved this book. From the well crafted thrilling plot, to the well-developed and realistic characters, this book had me gripped from the first page.
I really liked how the story unfolded in two timelines, as it gave a comprehensive view of the story, while at the same time kept the tension high.
I also really liked Hannah, a nice, caring woman put in an impossible situation by her husband’s dark past. She handles the complex situation she is thrown into with a grace and determination that had me rooting for her through out the book.
This book won the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Mystery&Thriller in 2021. I can see why!
Summer is just around the corner. If you haven’t read this book already, I highly recommend adding it to your summer reading list.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: On the verge of losing her laboratory, her savings, and all respect for herself, Pandora (Penny) Yee lands her first contract as scientific consult to the police department. And with seventeen murder cases on the go, the surly inspector is happy to leave her to it. Only she’s going to need to get around, and that means her slightly unhinged adopted brother, Matiu, will be doing the driving. But something about the case spooks Matiu, something other than the lack of a body in the congealing pool of blood in the locked room or that odd little bowl.
Matiu doesn’t like anything about this case, from the voices that screamed at him when he touched that bowl, to the way his hateful imaginary friend Makere has come back to torment him, to the fact that the victim seems to be tied up with a man from Matiu’s past, a man who takes pleasure in watching dogs tear each other to pieces for profit and entertainment.
Hounds of the Underworld blends mystery, near-future noir and horror. Set in New Zealand it’s the product of a collaboration by two Kiwi authors, one with Chinese heritage and the other Māori. This debut book in The Path of Ra series offers compelling new voices and an exotic perspective on the detective drama.
My Review: I received this audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Hounds of the Underworld is about siblings Matiu and Penny, who team up to solve a man’s disappearance. Penny, on the brink of losing her laboratory, is hired by the police for her services, and Matiu, her adopted Maori brother, tags along to the crime scene. Accidentally touching a bloodied bowl on the floor, Matiu hears a cacophony of screams in his head and wakes up his childhood imaginary friend, Makere. The siblings are thrust into a dark world of dog fighting, murder, and supernatural forces.
With respect to the audiobook recording, I really loved listening to the New Zealand accents of the narrators. The book includes a list of Maori terms that were used throughout the book, but I didn’t find it helpful in the audiobook version. With a paperback, you could flip to the back to see the definition, but by the end of the audiobook, it was already too late.
The dog fighting ring depicted in the story may be a trigger for dog lovers — it was for me. I was ready to cry at some points in the book and I was not happy that the authors didn’t do more to at least have a happy ending for a certain dog I have in mind.
The book starts off slow, focusing on the siblings’ relationship, but picks up pace in the last half and ends on a cliffhanger. Since this book was first published in 2017 (I think the audiobook format was just released), the 2nd and 3rd books in the trilogy are already published and available. I already have a long list of books on my “TBR” list this year, but I will definitely be adding the next books for reading in the future.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
Brief Summary of the Plot from Goodreads: Three couples rent a luxury cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway to die for in this chilling locked-room thriller by New York Times bestselling author Lisa Unger.
What could be more restful, more restorative, than a weekend getaway with family and friends? An isolated luxury cabin in the woods, complete with spectacular views, a hot tub and a personal chef. Hannah’s loving and generous tech-mogul brother found the listing online. The reviews are stellar. It’s his birthday gift to Hannah and includes their spouses and another couple. The six friends need this trip with good food, good company and lots of R & R, far from the chatter and pressures of modern life.
But the dreamy weekend is about to turn into a nightmare. A deadly storm is brewing. The rental host seems just a little too present. The personal chef reveals that their beautiful house has a spine-tingling history. And the friends have their own complicated past, with secrets that run blood deep. How well does Hannah know her brother, her own husband? Can she trust her best friend? And who is the new boyfriend, crashing their party? Meanwhile, someone is determined to ruin the weekend, looking to exact a payback for deeds long buried. Who is the stranger among them?
My Review: Lisa Unger’s Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six is a gripping and suspenseful thriller that will captivate readers from beginning to end. The story follows three couples who rent a luxurious cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway, but find themselves caught in a terrifying situation where they cannot trust anyone, not even each other.
The novel begins by introducing the six main characters, each with their own personal secrets and complicated relationships with each other. There are married couples Hannah and Bruce, Hannah’s brother Mako and his wife Liza, and Mako’s ex-girlfriend Cricket and her boyfriend.
Although the rental cabin initially seems like a dream with its hot tub, stunning views, and personal chef, things quickly take a turn for the worse. A deadly storm brews, the rental host seems a little creepy, and the personal chef reveals the cabin’s spine-tingling history. Meanwhile, a stranger seeks revenge for long-buried deeds and is determined to ruin the group’s weekend. Strange things start to happen at the cabin, and what was supposed to be a great weekend, ends in a nightmare no one could have anticipated.
The author masterfully builds tension and unease throughout the novel, utilizing the isolated cabin in the woods to add a sense of danger and isolation. Each character is well-developed and complex, with their own motives and secrets that are slowly revealed, building suspense and intrigue.
This was a great book to listen to while exercising, as it kept me engaged the entire time.
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.
My Review: I borrowed the audiobook of Mad Honey from the library solely because it was listed as “popular”, without any prior knowledge of the story. I later discovered that it was a nominee for the Goodreads Best Fiction award in 2022.
The novel is structured around two different points of view, that of Olivia and Lily, and revolves around the pivotal event of Lily’s untimely death, and suspected murder. While Olivia’s perspective progresses forward in time, Lily’s viewpoint takes readers back in time, providing insight into her life leading up to her death. Through Lily’s perspective we see the evolution (in reverse) of the romantic relationship between Asher (Olivia’s son) and Lily. Meanwhile, Olivia’s viewpoint centers around the aftermath of Lily’s death and Asher’s subsequent trial.
This unique structure adds a layer of depth to the storytelling and allows readers to see the full picture of the events leading up to and following Lily’s passing. In the afterward of the book, the author’s describe their writing process, where initially each author took up one POV. Through editing and redrafting (done by both authors) the writing styles were combined into one cohesive book.
The suspenseful plot kept me on the edge of my seat, as the investigation into Lily’s death unfolds and secrets are revealed. I don’t want to give away too much about the plot as the story takes a surprising turn around the halfway mark, revealing an unexpected twist that is not hinted at in the synopsis. The twist and well executed pacing adds an additional layer of complexity to the story and kept me guessing until the very end.
The characters are well-developed and relatable, each with their own flaws and challenges that make them feel real and engaging.
The Legal Alien 