Tag: suspense

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Blog Tours book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

BLOG TOUR REVIEW: Everyone in the Group Chat Dies by L. M. Chilton

Published March 13th, 2025 by Head of Zeus
Thriller, Mystery, Suspense

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for this darkly funny and compelling murder mystery. Thank you to Andrew at Head of Zeus for the invitation to take part and for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

‘With biting, mordant humor, Chilton sends readers on a serial killer hunt for our disassociated, true-crime-obsessed social media age.’ ASHLEY WINSTEAD, bestselling author of In My Dreams I Hold a Knife

Kirby Cornell needs a break from everything:
– Her crumbling flat in the sleepy town of Crowhurst (famous for its award-winning sausage rolls and a second-rate serial killer from the 90s).
– Her dead-end job.
– Her sleazy landlord.
– Her slobbish housemates.
– And, most of all, the terrible thing they all did.

Luckily, that hasn’t caught up with her just yet. Until a new message on their old group chat pops up:

Everyone in the group chat will die.

It’s the first text her ex-flatmate and social-media sleuth Esme has sent for ages, but that’s not the really weird thing.

The really weird thing is, Esme died twelve months ago.

Don’t miss the new laugh-out-loud thriller from L.M. Chilton, Everyone in the Group Chat Dies – a murder mystery that fuses the flatmate comedy of Friends with the serial-killer thrills of I Know What You Did Last Summer.

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MY REVIEW:

“They say there are three sides to every story: mine, yours and the truth. 
So, which one do you want?”

I love a thriller that is injected with dark humour, so I had high hopes for this book. And I was not disappointed. L. M. Chilton has crafted a suspenseful, funny and inventive murder mystery that had me glued to its pages. The plot is delightfully absurd: Kirby gets an alert from her old housemate group chat. It’s a text from her former housemate Esme that reads, ‘Everyone in the group chat will die.’ But it isn’t the chilling message that unnerves Kirby. What really sends a chill down her spine is that Esme died twelve months ago. So who is the message from? Could they know the secrets that Kirby and her other housemates vowed to keep the night Esme died? Moving  between the present and events that happened a year earlier, Chilton builds the tension as Kirby relentlessly tries to solve mysteries in both timelines but keeps things lighthearted thanks to the humour that is woven in. I was on the edge of my seat, the many twists and turns giving me book whiplash as I tried to follow the clues and solve the puzzles myself. 

The compelling characters are equal parts likeable and unlikeable. There were great dynamics between them, lots of witty banter and petty squabbles that added a layer of realism and relatability. We know from the start that they are all keeping secrets about the night Esme died, meaning we never know who is friend or foe and I was searching every word and action for clues. Esme herself is an enigma, turning up out of the blue one night saying she’s been sublet the spare bedroom and revealing little about herself other than she’s there investigating the murders that happened in the small town thirty years ago. But she also feels very relatable and, like Kirby, I was desperate to find out the truth about her in both timelines. 

A darkly funny, clever and surprising murder mystery that will keep you on your toes, I highly recommend this book.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

L.M. Chilton has been a journalist for 15 years, working for TV shows like This Morning, The One Show and Loose Women, as well as magazines and newspapers such as The Times, The Mirror, Metro, New!, Cosmopolitan and Glamour.

He started his journalism career writing for ‘real life’ magazines, interviewing people from all over the world about the terrifying, hilarious and heart-breaking things that had happened to them. And also funny things their pets had done.

He works from home in London, thinking of twists for murder mysteries and practicing the banjo instead of writing (much to the annoyance of his neighbours).

L.M. Chilton is represented by James Wills at Watson, Little

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BUY THE BOOK:

Bookshop.org* | Waterstones* | Amazon*
*these links are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

Please check out the reviews from the other bloggers taking part in the blog tour.

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Blog Tours book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2025

BLOG TOUR: Small Fires by Ronnie Turner

Published February 27th, 2025 by Orenda Books
Gothic Fiction, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Horror Fiction, Crime Fiction, Noir Fiction, Supernatural Fiction

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for the haunting and hypnotic Small Fires. Thank you to Anne at Random Things Tours for the invitation to take part, and to Orenda for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

Suspected of murdering their parents, sisters Lily and Della flee to a strange, unnamed island in Scotland, and their arrival puts in motion a horrifying series of events… Literary suspense meets folk horror in 2025’s most original, mesmerising modern gothic masterpiece…

‘A deeply unsettling and thought-provoking tale of survival and storytelling, mixing elements of gothic and folk horror with literary suspense. Beautifully woven and eerily atmospheric’ Anna Mazzola
 
‘Rarely will you meet a story as unsettling, nor one as bewitchingly told. With its roots snaking into folk horror, Small Fires plays with the contemporary gothic vibe reminiscent of Midsommar and The Wicker Man … I challenge you to pick it up and when you do, to put it down’ Janice Hallett
 
‘Ronnie Turner has a way of weaving words into a spell – the darkest of spells. Mesmerising, sinister … this modern folklore gothic will chill you to the bone’ Essie Fox
 
‘Crackles with menace and authenticity. Kept me up late and crept into my dreams’ Sarah Hilary
 
____________________________________
 
Evil runs through this cursed island
And these wicked sisters are about to make it burn…

When sisters Lily and Della Pedley are persecuted for the shocking murder of their parents, they flee from their home in Cornwall to a remote and unnamed island in Scotland – an island known for its strange happenings, but far away from the whispers and prying eyes of strangers.
 
Lily is terrified of what her sister will might do next, and she soon realises that they have arrived at a place where nothing is as it seems. A bitterness runs through the land like poison, and the stories told by the islanders seem to be far more than folklore.
 
Della settles in too easily, the island folk drawn to her strangeness, but Lily is plagued by odd and unsettling dreams, and as an annual festival draws nigh, she discovers that she has far more to fear than she could ever have imagined. Or does she…?
 
Chilling, atmospheric and utterly hypnotic, Small Fires is a contemporary gothic novel that examines possession, generational trauma, female rage, and the perilous bonds of family – an unsettling reminder that the stories we tell can be deadly…

Midsommar meets Midnight Mass in a folk horror, modern gothic masterpiece.

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MY REVIEW:

“They say the Devil came here. He fell to the earth long ago and he never left.”

Murderesses. Witches. Pariahs. These are the names that were used to describe Lily and Della Pedley. Suspected of murdering their parents, their gruesome history precedes them everywhere they go. Even on an isolated and unnamed Scottish Island where the Devil is said to have fallen and made his home beneath the soil. As the sisters try to start anew on the island, whispers and judgement surround them as they unknowingly set in motion a nightmarish chain of events. 

Atmospheric, haunting and hypnotic, Small Fires reads like a dark and twisted fairytale. Mired in darkness from its opening pages, malevolence drips from every word of this magnificent gothic mystery. A masterful sinister storyteller, Ronnie Turner merges gorgeous literary fiction with nail-biting horror and suspense to create her own unique fiction recipe. Her choreography is exquisite; a sense of dread permeating the pages as she hides the poison in plain sight, coiled like a viper waiting to strike. She is adept at putting her reader off-kilter with red herrings until she’s ready to floor you with one of her shocking revelations. Elements of Scottish and Cornish folklore are woven throughout as Turner explores the role stories play in our lives, asking how they inspire and shape us, and how they shape our perception of others. She also explores themes of identity, examining how each of us can have many different identities, some that are thrust upon us and others we might hide behind. 

Told by multiple characters in dual timelines, the story is filled with richly drawn characters who are also deeply unnerving. At the heart of the story is sisters Lily and Della, one bitter and one sweet, with a harrowing and notorious past. Though part of their story is known, there is a lot of mystery that surrounds them. Our other narrator is Silas, a strange and curious individual with an equally mysterious history. Flashbacks allow us glimpses inside the pasts of all three characters, slowly revealing disturbing truths that they’ve tried to keep hidden. And then there was the island itself, which felt alive and like a character in its own right thanks to the myths and folklore about the devil dwelling below ground that surround it. 

A dark and unsettling gothic thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat from start to finish, Small Fires is a must read. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ronnie Turner grew up in Cornwall, the youngest in a large family. At an early age, she discovered a love of literature. She now works as a Senior Waterstones Bookseller and barista. Ronnie lives in the South West with her family and three dogs. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling and taking long walks on the coast.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Orenda Books | Bookshop.org* | Waterstones* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

Please check out the reviews from the other bloggers taking part in the blog tour.

Categories
book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2025 Readalong

READALONG REVIEW: You Are Fatally Invited by Ande Pliego

Published February 13th, 2025 by Bantam Press
Mystery, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Crime Fiction, Women Sleuths

Welcome to my review for this nerve-shredding debut. Thank you to Bantam Press for the invitation to take part in the readalong and for sending me a proof copy of the book.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

‘When you trap a group of mystery authors on a secluded island, the result is wickedly delightful mayhem! It’s Agatha Christie on steroids‘ ― Tess Gerritsen
‘You’ll trip over the twists in this sneaky, snaky mystery‘ – A.J. Finn
‘Glass Onion meets Cluedo in this intricate and clever thriller‘ ― Catherine Cooper

Six thriller authors. One writing retreat.
You’d die to be on the guest list . . .

The Host
Legendary mystery author J. R. Alastor’s books are sold all over the world, but no one knows his real name. After years hiding in the shadows, he has sent out six invitations to an exclusive murder mystery retreat on his private island.

The Assistant
Mila del Angél has been hired to ensure the week runs smoothly. She has yearned for revenge on a ghost from her past for years – and this could be her chance to get it.

The Players
The six bestselling thriller writers accept their invitations without question – it’s an opportunity any author would kill for.

The Game
What should have been a week of trope-filled games takes a sinister turn when one guest is found dead, and the others find themselves in the midst of a nightmare drawn from Alastor’s dark imagination. They may have written thrillers – but now they and Mila must survive one…

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MY REVIEW:

Six thriller authors are invited to a secluded island for a writing retreat hosted by enigmatic mystery author J. R. Alastor. His assistant, Mila, has been hired to ensure that the week goes off without a hitch. But Mila has plans of her own to avenge a wrong done to her many years ago. The week starts off as planned, but things take a sinister turn when one of the guests goes missing and the writers find themselves trapped inside a nightmare darker than any thriller they could have written…  

As a bibliophile whose favourite thriller trope is locked-room or claustrophobic mysteries, this book felt like it was written for me. I loved the idea of thriller writers being caught up in a real life whodunnit and fighting for survival as they try to unmask the killer. Masterfully written, cleverly choreographed, intricately woven and filled with nerve-shredding tension, the foreboding dripped like blood from every page. When I started I was taking part in a readalong but soon found myself so completely hooked that I threw the reading schedule out of the window and devoured it in just a few hours, on the edge of my seat as my heart raced. Richly drawn, complex and flawed, the characters leaped from the pages and my mind whirred with some wild theories and suspicions, but they were nothing compared to what actually took place in this jaw-dropping whodunnit. 

Suspenseful, chilling and utterly mesmerising, this is a book all thriller lovers need on their TBR. Ande Pliego has showcased herself as a writer to watch with this magnificent debut, and I will be pre-ordering whatever she writes next. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Ande Pliego began writing stories when she discovered she could actually wield her overactive imagination for good. A lover of stories with teeth, she writes books involving mind games, dark humor, general murder and mayhem, and most importantly, finding the hope in the dark.

When not reading or writing, she can usually be found dabbling in art, scheming up her next trip, or making constant expeditions to the library. Born in Florida, raised in France, and having left footprints all over the globe, Ande is settled in the Pacific Northwest, USA, with her craftsman husband and little son.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Bookshop.org* | Waterstones* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

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Audio Books book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures

BOOK REVIEW: I Bet You’d Look Good in a Coffin (Kitty Collins Book 2) by Katy Brent

Published January 30th, 2025 by HQ
Thriller, Dark Comedy, Mystery, Suspense, Crime Fiction, Satire, Contemporary Romance, Humorous Fiction

Welcome to my bookish thoughts on this darkly funny and deadly thriller. Thanks to HQ for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

Your favourite anti-heroine, Kitty Collins, is back! Expect more wit, sass, and, of course, murder…

‘I was rooting for Kitty even as she killed more men (oops!). Funny and twisty in the best of ways’ Tasha Coryell

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My name is Kitty Collins and I’m a serial killer.

I don’t want to kill. It’s just so hard to resist. Some men really, really deserve it.

Men like Blaze Bundy, an anonymous influencer spreading misogyny online. He’s making it very hard for me to control my murderous urges.

Meanwhile I’m in the South of France to watch my mother marry a man I’ve never met. I should be drinking cocktails and focusing on my tan, not plotting a murder.

But a woman’s work is never done. Surely one more teensy little kill wouldn’t hurt, would it?

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MY REVIEW:

“But it’s never enough, is it. As long as men exist, I’m going to have to be out there protecting women.”

Kitty Collins is back! I loved Katy Brent’s wickedly funny debut How To Kill Men and Get Away With It, and I was thrilled to see that Kitty was back. Deliciously dark, devious and deadly, I Bet You’d Look Good in a Coffin is every bit as good as its predecessor. I listened to this on audiobook and couldn’t turn it off once I’d started, devouring it in just a few hours. 

Picking up after the events of the first book, we meet a very different Kitty at the start of the book. Life is good. She’s happily loved up with her boyfriend, Charlie, and has sworn off killing. But she misses it. And – let’s face it – there are some men who just make it so hard not to murder them. One such man is Blaze Bundy, the anonymous and misogynistic influencer spreading his hate online and seeming to taunt Kitty in his posts. Can she keep her murderous urges under control? Or will she go back to doing what she knows best?

I have loved Kitty since the moment I met her in book one. Snarky, sassy, feisty and warped, she’s easy to root for and it is fun to live vicariously through her as she carries out her murderous missions. And while some of that is initially tamed this time around, it’s soon apparent Kitty isn’t enjoying murder sobriety and she’s still the same woman with a thirst for revenge underneath. Katy Brent skillfully portrays Kitty’s inner torment as she fights the urge to kill predatory men. I think all of us can relate to that battle inside as we try to resist the urge that is bad for us. Even if in my case it’s chocolate rather than murder. I also enjoyed seeing more of Kitty’s strained relationship with her mother. It humanised her and gave us greater insight into what makes her tick, especially as their estrangement is all wrapped up in Kitty’s deadly hobby. 

Darkly funny, outrageous, moving and addictive, Brent has once again crafted an unflinching commentary on misogyny, male violence against women and female rage that will have you hooked from start to finish. Perfect for fans of Sweetpea that are looking for a new female serial killer to stan, pick this up now! 

I just hope that this isn’t Kitty’s last outing. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

*I listened to this on Bookbeat. Click here to listen for 2 months for free*

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Katy is an author and award-winning journalist from the UK. She has worked on newspapers, magazines and websites since 2005, writing about popular culture. How To Kill Men and Get Away With It (HQ, 2022) is her first novel.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Bookshop.org* | Watertones* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

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book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2025 Squadpod Squadpod Featured Books

SQUADPOD FEATURED BOOKS: Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

Published January 30th, 2025 by Pan Macmillan
Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Domestic Fiction

Welcome to my review of this unsettling thriller, which was one of our SquadPod Featured Books in January. I also read this as part of a Bookbreak readalong. Thank you Pan Macmillan and Bookbreak for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

‘I was consumed by this book, it’s her best ever, a work of genius’ – Lisa Jewell

‘Brilliant and chilling, with an inspired setting, characters that jump off the page and twists to give you whiplash. I loved every word’ – Claire Douglas

The million-copy bestselling author of His and Hers, Alice Feeney, returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage . . . and revenge.

* * *

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife as she’s driving home to share some exciting news. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by a cliff edge, the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there . . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible: a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change, but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change, but they do.

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MY REVIEW:

“The world is beautiful ugly, relationships are beautiful ugly, love is beautiful ugly. Understanding that makes life easier to live with.”

What should have been the best day of author Grady Green’s life turns into his worst day when his wife Abby disappears the same day he discovers he’s a New York Times bestseller. A year later, Grady travels to a remote Scottish Island with just 25 inhabitants, where he hopes he can write his next book and start to move on. But before he’s even got on the island he sees a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife. On the island things get even stranger: he keeps seeing the woman and even hears his missing wife’s voice on the telephone. And then there’s the odd behaviour of the island’s residents. What secrets are they keeping? And do they hold the key to uncovering the truth about Abby’s disappearance?

Dark, atmospheric, eerie and addictive, Beautiful Ugly is another first-class thriller from the pen of Alice Feeney. Opening with Abby’s disappearance, Feeney sets the sinister tone from the start. Skillfully written, cleverly plotted and heart-poundingly tense, Feeney knows how to hold the reader in her thrall; jaw-dropping twists keeping me on the edge of my seat and keeping me guessing until the very last page.

The Isle of Amberley is a beautiful, peaceful and idyllic place that has an undercurrent of danger. The residents are secretive and strange, and from the start there is an unwelcoming and unsettling atmosphere. Evocative imagery brings it to life in vivid detail and it felt like the island was a character in its own right, even mirroring the humans in this story who may have been ordinary on the surface, but sinister underneath and all of them seem to be unreliable narrators, including Grady and Abby. Every chapter had me questioning what I was being told and not knowing who I could trust. I had no idea how much of Grady’s story was real, how much might be lies, or how much was in his mind. All is revealed slowly, past and present merging together to unveil the shocking truth. And I didn’t see it coming.

I highly recommend this unsettling and compelling thriller.

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alice Feeney is a New York Times million-copy bestselling author. Her books have been translated into over thirty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including Rock Paper Scissors, which is being made into a TV series by the producer of The Crown. Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years, and now lives in Devon with her family. Good Bad Girl is her sixth novel.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Bookshop.org* | Waterstones* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

Categories
book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2025

BOOK REVIEW: The Psychopath Next Door by Mark Edwards

Published January 28th, 2025 by Thomas & Mercer
Suspense, Psychological Fiction, Crime Fiction, Thriller, Mystery

Happy Publication Day to this heart-pounding thriller. Thank you Mark Edwards for sending an eBook ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

In this mesmerising thriller from the bestselling author of Keep Her Secret, a family’s fresh start is just the beginning of their nightmare…

Ethan Dove’s family has moved to a new home in a safe community, and it’s exactly the fresh start they need. Not only is his marriage to Emma hanging by a thread, but his son, Dylan, and twelve-year-old daughter, Rose, deserve to have a happy childhood.

After Rose is bullied by the boys across the road, Ethan is relieved when the woman who lives next door steps in. Fiona Smith has come into their lives at just the right moment, and when she offers to look after Rose during the school holidays, Ethan and Emma can’t believe their luck.

Which is exactly what Fiona wants. Because, far from being the perfect neighbour, Fiona is the last person you should trust with your child. With a vicious plot for revenge, Fiona is happy to train Rose to be her accomplice, especially when she begins to suspect that Rose might not be as innocent as she appears…

The Psychopath Next Door is a gripping and twisted psychological suspense thriller set in the terrifying world of Mark Edwards’s bestselling The Magpies universe.

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MY REVIEW:

He’s done it again. Mark Edwards never fails to deliver, and The Psychopath Next Door is another first-class thriller that sees Edwards turn the ordinary into our worst nightmare. 

Ethan Dove and his family have got the fresh start they were looking for after moving to a new home in a safe neighbourhood. And when Ethan’s daughter, Rose, is bullied by two local boys, he’s relieved that his new next-door neighbour, Fiona, steps in to help. This is exactly the kind of community he was looking for. And when Fiona offers to look after Rose during the school holidays, Ethan and his wife, Emma, are thankful for the help. But Fiona isn’t what she seems. Because lurking beneath the smiley, helpful exterior is a cold, calculating psychopath hell-bent on revenge. And she’s decided that Rose is the perfect trainee accomplice. 

As soon as I heard that his latest book was set in the same world as his unsettling Magpies series, I knew it would be a winner. Edwards has been an auto-buy author for me for a number of years and he gets better with every book. This nerve-shredding thriller had me hooked from start to finish but it was the finale where Edwards shined, delivering one of the best twists that I have ever read. And those final lines were truly terrifying.

Lucy Newton from the Magpies Trilogy makes a welcome appearance in this book. I always find her so much fun to read and loathe, but I found someone I might loathe even more: Fiona Smith. Fiona is a strange, unnerving and fascinating character who knows she’s a psychopath and embraces it. Fiona has just been released from prison and now she’s finally free to exact revenge on the people she blames for putting her behind bars. But the real star of the show in this book is Rose. That child made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and was truly terrifying.  As a parent all I could think was how her parents were going to feel and what they might do. But I never could have predicted what ANY of the characters would do in this book. 

A magnificent thriller that will have you hooked from start to finish, I highly recommend this book. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mark Edwards writes books in which scary things happen to ordinary people, the best known of which are Follow You Home, The Magpies, Here To Stay and The Retreat. His novels have sold over 4 million copies and topped the bestseller lists numerous times. Mark prides himself on writing fast-paced page-turners with lots of twists and turns, relatable characters and dark humour

Mark live in the West Midlands, England, with his wife, their three children, two cats and a golden retriever.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Bookshop.org* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading Bibliophiles xxxxx

Categories
book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2025 Squadpod Squadpod Book Club Squadpod Reviews

SQUADPOD BOOK CLUB: The Night We Lost Him by Laura Dave

Published January 2nd, 2025 by Century
Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Domestic Fiction

Welcome to my review of the first SquadPod Book Club pick of 2025. Thank you to Century for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

From the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller and Reese’s Book Club Pick The Last Thing He Told Me comes a riveting mystery wrapped in an epic love story . . .

‘An engrossing mystery and a story with emotional heft’ Shari Lapena

‘A master storyteller. You won’t want to miss this one’ Harlan Coben

‘The best mystery of the year‘ Jennifer Garner

_________

One beautiful Californian evening, a wealthy businessman falls to his death from his secluded cliff-top house onto the rocks below.

A tragic accident? Or murder?

Nora and her half-brother Sam suspect it may be the latter, and team up to uncover the truth of what really happened that night.

But their relationship has never been easy, and it is about to be tested to the limit as they start to question how well either of them really knew their elusive father.

Unravelling his mysterious past takes them back to a world they knew nothing about, to a tangled love affair and a web of relationships that other people would far rather stay buried…

Filled with passion, intrigue, lies, and dark, dark family secrets, The Night We Lost Him is a page turning mystery you won’t ever want to put down.

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MY REVIEW:

On a beautiful California evening a wealthy businessman falls to his death from the secluded cliff-top garden of his home. But was it an accident or murder?

Tense, twisty and immersive, our first SquadPod Book Club pick of 2025 was a page-turner. I was intrigued from the riveting prologue and lost myself in this story of love, lust, secrets and lies. Well-written and compelling, I enjoyed Laura Dave’s unique blend of thriller, family drama and love story. From its riveting prologue she had me intrigued, and lost myself in this story of love, lust, secrets and lies, inhaling it and in just a few hours. 

The story is told in dual timelines, narrated by Nora in the present, as she and her half-brother, Sam, investigate what really happened the night their father died. The reluctance of those closest to him to talk to them only reinforces their suspicion that it wasn’t a tragic accident. But their rocky relationship is another obstacle they must overcome. Liam kept his different families separate so they have never been close and we see how this, as well as their different approaches to working, tests their relationship. But over time we see it bring them together as they get to know one another for the first time. 

While in the present we know Liam only through the eyes of others, he recites the past narrative, revealing to the reader the most important relationship in his life: a five-decades long clandestine relationship with a mystery love known only by an old nickname. It seemed obvious that his lover’s identity would lead us to the truth about his death. But who was she? I had a few different suspicions over the course of the book and did guess right, but not until only a couple of chapters before the big reveal. 

Dave expertly weaves the storylines together, filling them with red herrings and shocking twists that keep the reader on their toes. But something I particularly enjoyed was Dave’s honest but sensitive exploration of grief and the different ways it can affect us, which is explored mostly through Nora. There were a few times I found myself close to tears from the sheer depth of emotion on the pages. Highly recommended. 

Rated: ✮✮✮✮✰

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Dave is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Thing He Told Me, Eight Hundred Grapes and other novels.

Her books have been published in thirty-eight languages and have been chosen by Reese Witherspoon’s Book Club, Indie Next, Book of the Month Club, The Richard and Judy Book Club, Best of Amazon, and Best of Apple Books. The Last Thing He Told Me was chosen as the Goodreads Mystery & Thriller of the Year for 2021. The Last Thing He Told Me is now a series on Apple TV+, co-created by Laura.

She resides in Santa Monica, California.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Bookshop.org* | Waterstones* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

********

Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxxx

Categories
book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2025 Readalong

BOOK REVIEW: Witchcraft For Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Published January 16th, 2025 by Tor
Horror Fiction, Gothic Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Dark Fantasy, Supernatural Ficiton, Paranormal Fiction

Welcome to my review for this unsettling and unforgettable read. Thank you to Tor and Bookbreak for my place on the readalong and for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

A twisted Southern Gothic horror the New York Times bestselling author of How to Sell a Haunted House and The Final Girl Support Group.

‘I did an evil thing to be put in here, and I’m going to have to do an evil thing to get out.’

They call them wayward girls. Loose girls. Girls who grew up too fast. And they’re sent to the Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida, where unwed mothers are hidden by their families to have their babies in secret, give them up for adoption, and most important of all, to forget any of it ever happened.

Fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at the home in the sweltering summer of 1970, pregnant, terrified and alone. There, she meets a dozen other girls in the same predicament. Rose, a hippie who insists she’s going to keep her baby and escape to a commune. Zinnia, a budding musician who plans to marry her baby’s father. And Holly, barely fourteen, mute and pregnant by no-one-knows-who.

Every moment of their waking day is strictly controlled by adults who claim they know what’s best for them. Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her an occult book about witchcraft, and power is in the hands of the girls for the first time in their lives. But power can destroy as easily as it creates, and it’s never given freely. There’s always a price to be paid . . . and it’s usually paid in blood.

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MY REVIEW:

“Sit. Listen. I need you to understand what they did to us when we were girls.”

Unsettling, uncomfortable and deeply relevant, Witchcraft For Wayward Girls is a beguiling novel that will stay with you long after reading. For this may be a tale filled with hexes and conjuring, but the real horror lies in the brutal reality of these girls’ lives and the injustices they are subjected to, rather than the paranormal. 

The story takes place in the sweltering summer of 1970 when fifteen-year-old Fern arrives at Wellwood House in St. Augustine, Florida. Wellwood is a house for those they call wayward girls. For fast girls. For unwed mothers. At Wellwood, Fern meets girls from all walks of life, all in the same shameful position, who are there to live out the days of their pregnancy before surrendering their babies for adoption and then returning home to forget it ever happened. Every minute detail of the girls’ lives is strictly controlled: from the food they eat to how they spend their time. The adults tell them it is what’s best for them. Then she meets a librarian, Miss Parcae, who gives her a book about witchcraft. For the first time, the girls have power in their own hands. But there is a price that must be paid for that power. A price that is far steeper than any of them ever imagined. 

A master of his craft, Grady Hendrix expertly merges powerful storytelling, heart-stopping tension and chilling horror to create a masterpiece that was so good I read it twice this month. This is a dark read like no other. A book that will haunt you, consume you and then spit you out when it’s done. I admit, I went into this expecting a typical horror read and was totally unprepared for the beautifully tragic story I got instead. It is a story full of dread, heartache, trauma, rage and power that had me on the edge of my seat listening with bated breath. The richly drawn characters were compelling and I was quickly invested in the lives of these young girls. Holly’s story in particular stood out and filled me with so much rage that I wanted to get revenge on her behalf. 

I’d heard about the terrible homes for unwed mothers but this book conveys the atrocities that took place inside them with devastatingly evocative detail like I’ve never read before. These girls had no agency whatsoever and every facet of their life and day was tightly controlled. Even knowledge about their own bodies. These girls were kept in the dark about what would happen during labour, leading to some of the most distressing scenes I’ve ever read. I wanted to scream as the staff who should help and heal became sadistic and cold towards these terrified young girls. How could they be so cruel?

Dark, menacing, unapologetic and unforgettable, I can’t recommend this book highly enough. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix makes up lies and sells them to people. His novels include HORRORSTÖR about a haunted IKEA, MY BEST FRIEND’S EXORCISM, which is basically “Beaches” meets “The Exorcist”, WE SOLD OUR SOULS, a heavy metal horror epic, THE SOUTHERN BOOK CLUB’S GUIDE TO SLAYING VAMPIRES, and THE FINAL GIRL SUPPORT GROUP, coming on July 13, 2021. He’s also the author of PAPERBACKS FROM HELL, an award-winning history of the horror paperback boom of the Seventies and Eighties. He wrote the screenplay for, MOHAWK, a horror flick about the War of 1812, and SATANIC PANIC about a pizza delivery woman fighting rich Satanists.

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

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book reviews Emma's Anticipated Treasures Most Anticipated 2025

BOOK REVIEW: Death in the Arctic by Tom Hindle

Published January 16th, 2025 by Century
Mystery, Thriller, Suspense

Welcome to my review for this claustrophobic and nail-biting thriller. Thanks to Century for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

A frozen wilderness.


A killer in the skies.

When aspiring travel writer Chloé Campbell is invited aboard a luxury airship flying to the North Pole, she thinks she’s bagged the opportunity of a lifetime.

But she hasn’t had long to admire the dazzling icy views before a fellow passenger is found dead in their cabin.

Trapped at the top of the world, the group agrees a tragic accident has occurred. But as the hours tick by, fear turns to doubt.

It seems everyone’s a suspect.

And it isn’t long before the passengers begin to turn on each other . . .

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MY REVIEW:

The Osprey is a luxury airship on its maiden voyage over the arctic. On board are eight passengers all personally invited by one of its owners, and eight of crew. When one of the passengers is found dead in their room, faulty equipment is blamed. But soon some of those on board the craft begin to wonder if it really was an accident. Could they be trapped on the airship with a killer?

Chaotic, claustrophobic, nail-bitingly tense, devilishly clever, and filled with twists and turns, Death in the Arctic is a unique locked-room mystery that will keep you guessing. Tom Hindle is an author who has been on my TBR for years, and I have each of his books, but this was my first time reading one of them. And he is worth the hype. Expertly written, skillfully plotted, intricately woven and fast-paced, Hindle has managed to merge cosy crime with heart-pounding suspense. I will definitely be prioritising his backlist after reading this.

The book is filled with a cast of compelling characters, each with rich and sometimes intertwining backstories that add to the intrigue and tension. There are unreliable narrators, people we can’t trust, secrets, lies and desperation, all merged together on one aircraft. And as suspicion swirls following the death of a passenger, things begin to boil over and the finger is pointed in various directions. The story is told from multiple points of view, seamlessly moving between the narrators and offering a glimpse inside their psyche. The main narrator was Chloe, a travel blogger whose place on board the ship offers her the chance to finally write for a travel magazine. It’s her big break. But instead of writing her article, she finds herself investigating a possible murder and trying to stay one step ahead of the killer. 

An original and riveting thriller that kept me on my toes, this is one not to be missed. 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮✰

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Tom Hindle hails from Leeds and lives in Oxfordshire with his wife, a cat and two surprisingly cunning tortoises. He is the author of A Fatal Crossing, The Murder Game and Murder on Lake Garda – which were inspired by masters of the crime genre such as Agatha Christie and Anthony Horowitz.

Tom is hard at work on his next murder mystery.

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BUY THE BOOK:

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx

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SQUADPOD FEATURED BOOKS: The Serial Killer’s Guide To Marriage by Asia Mackay

Published January 14th, 2025 by Wildfire
Thriller, Suspense, Romantic Suspense, Romance Novel, Contemporary Romance

Happy Publication Day to this crazy, twisted and addictive thriller. Thank you to Wildfire for sending me a copy in exchange for my honest review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

A couple that kills together stays together.
DISCOVER THE ADDICTIVE THRILLER READERS CAN’T STOP TALKING ABOUT

‘Sexy, stylish, thrilling. A razor-sharp tale of marriage and murder.’ CHRIS WHITAKER
‘Your sassy, twisted must-read of 2025’ JANICE HALLETT
‘If you liked Mr & Mrs Smith, you’ll love this’ CLARE MACKINTOSH
‘Darkly funny and clever’ KATY BRENT
‘Huge fun. You won’t put it down.’ HARRIET TYCE

Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small thing: they’re ex-serial killers.

They had it all. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to kill. Not many power couples know how to get away with murder.

Then Hazel fell pregnant and they gave it all up for life in the suburbs; dinner parties instead of body disposal.

But recently Hazel has started to feel that itch again. When she kills someone behind Fox’s back and brings the police to their door, she must do anything she can to protect her family.

This could save their marriage – unless it kills them first.

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MY REVIEW:

“I always knew our life together would involve bloodshed. I just never thought it would be ours.”

Hazel and Fox may seem like an ordinary married couple. But they have a secret: they are serial killers. Or at least they used to be. It’s been 1170 days since Haze’s last kill and she’s struggling to feel content in her life as a suburban wife and mum. She misses killing and is feeling that itch again. But she’s trying to be good, and even starts making mum friends to try and find a way to feel happy again. But when she kills someone behind Fox’s back, Haze must find a way to keep her secret while keeping her family safe. It’s the only way she can save her marriage. Or will it kill them first?

A heart-pounding thriller for anyone with a dark and twisted sense of humour, A Serial KIller’s Guide To Marriage is a sexy, sinister and addictive read. I adored this book. Perfect for fans of Sweetpea, Dexter or Why Women Kill, this was my first read of the year and the perfect way to start. This is a clear-your-schedule and lock-out-the-world kind of book that I devoured in almost one sitting. 

Haze and Fox are fantastic characters that I loved reading and I was completely immersed in the lives of this toxic but compelling couple. Told from both points of view, we see how each of them are dealing with normal life following their vow to stop killing for the sake of their daughter. Fox seems to be managing best, happy to do what it takes to keep little Bibi safe. And while Haze fiercely loves her daughter, she’s bored by suburban life and longs for the heady days of killing. She is also resentful it has been for Fox to give it up, not realising he has his own struggles but has just found a healthier way to deal with it. In flashbacks, we see how they became killers and then a team, as well as getting a glimpse of their serial killer days. The characters and story are so well written with the reader really feeling Haze’s internal struggle in particular. I’d find myself feeling sorry for her before then remembering she wants to kill people for fun. 

Darkly funny, bold and totally brilliant, this one is out today. Add it to your TBR now! 

Rating: ✮✮✮✮.5

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Asia Mackay is a Chinese Scottish author and mother of four based in London. Asia studied Anthropology at Durham University and began her career in television. She moved to China, presented and produced lifestyle programmes in Shanghai before returning to London where she worked for the likes of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, and subsequently completed a Faber Academy course. Her debut novel Killing It was the Runner Up in Richard and Judy’s Search for a Bestseller competition and Runner Up/ Exceptionally Recognised for the Comedy Women In Print prize.Both Killing It and its sequel The Nursery have been optioned for TV. Asia’s third book A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage will be out in January 2025 and has also been optioned for TV in a significant pre-empt.

Asia completed the Curtis Brown Creative Original TV Drama Serial course where she developed Another Life, a sci-fi thriller about a woman trialling a new virtual reality where she leads the exhilarating life as a fearless detective. A pilot she wrote for  Sky Studios has recently been optioned and Asia will also be in the Writers Room and be an Executive Producer in the screen adaptations of her books.

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BUY THE BOOK:

Bookshop.org* | Waterstones* | Amazon*
*These are affiliate links

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Thanks for reading, Bibliophiles xxxx