Review: Friends Like These by Sarah Alderson

Friends Like These by Sarah Alderson
Publisher: Mulholland Books 
Publication date: December 13th 2018.
My rating: 4 stars

We all know someone like Becca. She has the job everyone wants, a designer wardrobe, a hot-shot lawyer boyfriend, holidays to exotic locations. And she flaunts her perfect life all over social media. It drove her colleague Lizzie mad, but she couldn't stop looking. They were never really friends - and yet Lizzie knew everything about her. Or did she? When chance, and a terrible mistake, pulls Lizzie back into Becca's orbit years after they lost touch, she'll realise that you can't always believe what you see online... and that finding out the truth might be the worst thing you can do. There's no such thing as a perfect life. Only a perfect lie.

I’m not normally one to pick up psychological thrillers, but when it comes to Alderson’s books, I have no hesitation in picking them up, and I’m glad that I ended up giving this book a go, because it seriously messes with your head (in the best way!). Alderson works the unreliable narrator role work so well here, the book starts off with a chapter from an unknown perspective, we don’t really know what’s going on, but as the book progresses you’re led to believe the narrator’s voice. She’s been through a rough time and you really have no reason not to trust her, so when we’re given a chapter from an alternative perspective, I was like no that can’t be true and to be honest I didn’t want to believe this side of the story at all. To the point that I got to right the end of the story and still couldn’t believe what had taken place.  

I don’t want to say too much without giving a lot away, but I’ve always assumed that I’m a pretty good judge of character, but with Friends Like These I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was so swept away by this character’s story and later ordeal that she had to go through because of this other person, that I was totally left dumbfounded by the end of the book. Once again, I have to praise Alderson here with messing with my head, as I could never have imagined that things would have gone down, the way that they had. On top of this my feelings were left all over the place with me wanting to take back all the anger and hate that I had directed at one character throughout the story towards the person that had deserved it all along.  

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a book by Alderson, but thank you once again for luring me in with this masterpiece. The only reason I wasn’t able to give this book the five stars it deserves it because of the sick, yet gut wrenching ending, which I’m not sure I’ll ever get over. 

Review: Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter

Pieces of Her by Karen Slaughter
Publication date: August 21st 2018
Publisher: William Morrow
My rating:  4 Stars
Pages: 480
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | TBD | Kobo

 

What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all . . . ?

Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we?

But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again.

The police want answers and Laura’s innocence is on the line, but she won’t speak to anyone, including her own daughter. Andrea is on a desperate journey following the breadcrumb trail of her mother’s past. And if she can’t uncover the secrets hidden there, there may be no future for either one of them. . . .

My Thoughts:

Andrea, just turning thirty-one has been living a kind of pathetic, stagnant life, but things get very interesting on her birthday lunch! Out with her mother, Laura, they’re caught up in a dangerous situation and the predictable, reliable mother she thought she knew turns into a cool-as-a-cucumber woman handling the deadly situation like she’s a trained professional.  

The details of the situation are splashed all over the media, and with the public attention details of Andrea’s mother begin to surface.  Soon it becomes clear that they’re both in extreme danger.  Andrea’s forced on the run trying to reconcile the past of her mother she thought she knew with the reality that she’s now piecing together. 

Mystery, deception, and danger make Pieces of Her a riveting read!  The story flips back and forth from Laura’s past to Andrea’s present, slowly revealing why Andrea and Laura are in such danger now. I have to say my first impression of Andrea was not great, in fact I really wanted to shake her a time or two!  But she stepped up her game when the pressure cranked up!  Andrea still had a couple of bouts of stupidity here and there, but I can’t say I’d do any better in the situation with the lack of sleep.  I really liked Andrea by the end.

Some of Laura’s life choices in the past were shocking, and I had mixed feelings about her, but Karin Slaughter has a way of making you empathize with her characters even when they’re life decisions are morally questionable or downright wrong.

I love Karin Slaughter’s addictive brand of story-telling!  She writes imperfect characters that you can relate to even when their lives are so far out of your normal perspective. I LOVE her Will Trent series to death, but her stand-alones, like The Good Daughter and now Pieces of Her are impressive!  I read all 480 pages within a 24-hour period because it was hard to put down!

 

Review: Abandoned by Allison Brennan

Abandoned (Max Revere #5)  by Allison Brennan
Publication date: August 14th 2018
Publisher: Minotaur Books
My rating:  4.5 Stars
Pages: 352
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | TBD | Kobo

 

Investigative reporter Max Revere has cracked many cases, but the one investigation she's never attempted is the mystery from her own past. Her mother abandoned her when she was nine, sending her periodic postcards, but never returning to reclaim her daughter. Seven years after the postcards stop coming, Martha Revere is declared legally dead, with no sign of what may have happened to her. Until now.

With a single clue―that her mother’s car disappeared sixteen years ago in a small town on the Chesapeake Bay―Max drops everything to finally seek the truth. As Max investigates, and her mother's story unfolds, she realizes that Martha teamed up with a con man. They traveled the world living off Martha’s trust and money they conned from others.

Though no one claims to know anything about Martha or her disappearance, Max suspects more than one person is lying. When she learns the FBI has an active investigation into the con man, Max knows she’s on the right path. But as Max digs into the dark secrets of this idyllic community, the only thing she might find is the same violent end as her mother.

New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan weaves the intimate, unputdownable story of an investigator confronting the most important--and most dangerous--mystery of her career.

My Thoughts:

As an investigative reporter for Maximum Exposure it’s Maxine’s job and passion to investigate cold cases and get answers.  Not only for justice, but for the family left behind without closure. But this case is personal.  Maxine’s mother, Martha, disappeared sixteen years ago and was finally declared dead, but they never found out what happened to her. 

After getting to know Max through the previous books it’s apparent her mother’s abandonment and then disappearance has cast a shadow over her life. We get glimpses of Martha Revere in the past and let me tell you she was a piece of work!  Self-absorbed without a care for anyone else, least of all her daughter.  She dumped Max off with her mother (Max’s grandmother) when Max was just nine and never looked back.  My heart hurt for Max.

After so many years of not knowing what exactly happened she gets a break in the case when Sean Rogan finds a clue leading back to the seaside town of Cape Haven.  Could Martha Revere have spent her last days there? And if so what was she doing there that led to her death?  Max is determined to find out exactly what happened.  Not surprisingly, Max’s digging around and asking questions ruffles a few feathers, but even more than that, it puts her in danger.  Abandoned had me on a knife edge with all the tension swirling, and things got very desperate by the end!

I’ve become very fond of Maxine through this series.  Yes, she can be hyper-focused on her mission to the point of stepping on toes or just bulldozing right over whoever gets in her way, but she does it out of the sincere belief that she’s doing what’s right. She’s honest and doesn’t play games, and I was glad that after Nick’s behavior in the last few books it seems Max might’ve finally found someone worthy of her.  I really love how far she’s has come as a person, and I’m interested to see how some of the new developments in Abandoned will affect Max’s life in the future.

Each book of the Max Revere series tackles and solves a mystery, but I can’t really recommend this as a standalone.  Max’s personal life and history are built upon with each new installment and that’s a huge part of what makes the series so addictive.  It is a series that I love and whole-heartedly recommend! 

Connect with Allison Brennan:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Review: Desperate Girls by Laura Griffin

Desperate Girls (Wolfe Security #1) by Laura Griffin
Publication date: August 7th 2018
Publisher: Gallery Books
My rating:  4.5 Stars
Pages: 368
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | TBD | Kobo

Desperate Girls is a tightly wound, fast-paced romantic thriller that follows a desperate woman on the run as she hides from a killer’s symbolic revenge spree.

Defense attorney Brynn Holloran is right at home among cops, criminals, and tough-as-nails prosecutors. With her sharp wit and pointed words, she has a tendency to intimidate, and she likes it that way. She’s a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom, but in her personal life, she’s a mess.

When a vicious murderer she once helped prosecute resurfaces and starts a killing spree to wipeout those who put him behind bars, one thing becomes clear: Brynn needs to run for her life.

When the police come up empty-handed, Brynn turns to a private security firm for protection. But when she defies advice and gets involved in the investigation, even the former Secret Service agent assigned to protect her may not be able to keep her safe. With every new clue she discovers, Brynn is pulled back into the vortex of a disturbing case from her past.

As the clock ticks down on a manhunt, Brynn’s desperate search for the truth unearths long-buried secrets and reignites a killer’s fury.

My Thoughts:

Brynn Holloran is a force to be reckoned with in the courtroom, but her life is turned upside down when she finds out a defendant she helped put away has escaped and is wanted for the brutal killing of her co-counselor.  This guy tortured, raped and strangled women, and chilled her with his cold, deadly staring during the trial.  Brynn’s current boss is taking no chances with this dangerous threat and hires the Wolfe Security to protect Brynn. She balks at this level of action at first, but it soon becomes apparent the threat is very real!

Erik Morgan is serious when it comes to protecting his asset; lust and attraction have no place in his job, but Brynn ticks all his boxes.   She’s gorgeous, feisty and confident, and Erik can’t help but admire her conviction and determination, even if she is a pain in the ass to guard.  

Laura Griffin kicks off her new series with a bang! I didn’t want to put the story down when the danger kept coming!  Brynn and Erik’s chemistry popped, the tension building between them as they got to know each other in close quarters.  All the while trying to figure out the killer’s next move.

Desperate Girls was an exciting blend of danger, action, and romance! A definite recommend!