Missing Sister by Joshilyn Jackson

This book won't be published until March 3, 2026, but you can put the book on reserve now!

Reviewed by Kristin

Penny is a rookie cop, motivated into the career by the loss of her twin sister Nix five years earlier. At her very first murder scene in an Atlanta suburb, she not only recognizes the male victim as someone who hurt Nix and helped to create the downward spiral which led to her death, Penny then practically stumbles across a blonde woman holding a bloody box cutter.

When the woman cryptically says that the events of the night were all about sisters, Penny is taken aback and allows the woman to flee. Not exactly proper cop behavior, but Penny needs to find out how this murder is connected to Nix.

Penny discovers a slow burn trail of clues which takes the reader through many twists and turns. I didn't see the end coming, although of course I second guessed whether I should have. In this kind of domestic suspense, everyone is a suspect.

Jackson is brilliant at taking the plot in unexpected directions, while maintaining believability in the end. Every time I read one of her books, I feel that she really understands human nature in all its various possibilities. People are complex, and Jackson's characters are multi-dimensional in all the right ways.

I read this as an advanced reader copy (ARC) ebook, and I will look for the audiobook when it is available. Jackson usually narrates her own audiobooks in her distinctive but not overwhelming Southern accent, which I find wonderfully entertaining.

Thanks to Joshilyn Jackson and William Morrow for the ARC allowing me the intense excitement of reading my favorite author’s latest work months early, in exchange for an honest review!

The Butterfly Trap by Clea Simon

Reviewed by Jeanne

 

Greg is an ambitious young doctor who should have it all.  He’s not like his friend Pete, who’s out for a good time and who changes girlfriends like he changes his shirts.  Greg wants a wife, the house, the kids, the whole domestic scene.  While acting as reluctant wingman for Peter, Greg meets Anya at a party and is instantly smitten.  When Anya cuts her foot on a broken bottle, Greg is able to come to her rescue and bandage her wound like the gallant knight he wants to be.  Soon they’re dating and Greg is determined to give Anya everything she could ever want, even if he has to change his life to make his butterfly happy.

Anya is an artist, working part time at a gallery while she paints.  She’s struggling, not only financially, but in seeking her own style and a breakthrough in the arts scene.  When she meets Greg, she likes that he seems sweet and more of a gentleman than some men she’s dated.  It’s obvious that he doesn’t understand her art (or really, any art) but he’s supportive in his own way.

Is this a romance for the ages—or a disaster waiting to happen?

The Butterfly Trap is one story, told from two different points of view.  The first half of the book is Greg’s story; the second half is Anya’s, and while they are describing the same events, their perceptions are quite different.  The reader may spot red flags that the characters are oblivious to, ratcheting up the tension as the story plays out.

This is a bit of a departure for Simon, who has written a number of cozy mystery series as well as some grittier standalone novels such as Bad Boy Beat.  I found it most readable, and was reluctant to put it down.  When the story comes to a climax just a few pages from the end, it’s both expected and shocking at the same time. 

While this isn’t my usual cozy or classic mystery, I certainly enjoyed it and found it memorable.  The characters are well-developed, and the setting is vivid, especially the peek inside the serious art scene of galleries and exhibitions.  It’s not a finger-pointing type of book:  one character isn’t totally right and the other totally wrong, but two people who misread each other.  Greg especially tends to project his ideals onto Anya, but Anya fails to see how deeply invested Greg is in the relationship.  The pacing is very good; the story never dragged for me.

Recommended for anyone who likes relationship suspense with strong characters and a good sense of place.

Looker by Laura Sims

Reviewed by Kristin

The narrator is never is named, but that does not seem to matter. She describes herself as a youthful middle-aged woman, a non-tenure track college lecturer recently separated from her husband, Nathan. She is the center of this tale.

The other unnamed woman is “the actress”. She lives down the street from the narrator in her perfect house, with her perfect husband, her perfect children, and her perfect face plastered across busses and movie screens alike. The actress has everything that the narrator does not have.

As the narrator’s life continues to spiral downward, she becomes more and more obsessed with the actress. Chance and planned encounters on the street and at the block party escalate the tension as the narrator tries to gain the attention of the actress.

Looker is the debut novel from Laura Sims, who later wrote How Can I Help You, the book that I recently reviewed here. 

The two novels have some things in common—ratcheting tension, women characters caught in some form of obsession, and a big bang at the end. However, the second book’s characters are not just repeats of the narrator and the actress. Sims certainly knows how to write explosive short fiction, and I think we have not seen the last of her.

Looker warning: there are a couple of violent scenes, one of which bothered me far more than the other. It was brief and although it was not just gratuitous violence, I still found it unpleasant and shocking.

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

There’s a long tradition of mystery stories set at Christmas; in addition to Christmas mysteries, the British also have a tradition of ghost stories set at that festive time, and Peter Swanson quotes from arguably the most famous of these stories just before the start of this novella.  The story opens with a woman preparing to spend her usual solitary Christmas with a bit of housecleaning. She finds an old familiar diary and soon finds herself immersed in a Christmas time some thirty years earlier when she was a student.

Californian Ashley Smith is studying art in London and planning on spending Christmas alone when she is asked to be a guest at a country house in the Cotswolds. Fellow student Emma Chapman issued the invitation, knowing that Ashley wouldn’t be returning to America for the holidays.  It’s something out of a fairy tale, a wonderful English village with the manor house, Emma’s handsome brother Adam, and evenings by the fireplace.  But Ashley confides to her diary that she’s a little uneasy. Maybe instead of a fairy tale, she’s in a dark gothic tale.  After all, a girl was found murdered nearby just a few months earlier and the killer is still at large—and Emma’s brother Adam is considered a suspect.

This is a shivery tale, told from the points of view of a somewhat naïve student and then from a mature woman.  Some of the surprises come early, but there’s a twist at the end that made it memorable for me.  If you like Christmas mysteries, this is a good choice: the English setting, the dark undercurrents, and the secrets. At just over 90 pages, it makes for a relatively quick read, which is what I’m looking for at this very busy time of year.  Swanson is the winner of numerous mystery awards, and from this book I would say there are well deserved.

How Can I Help You by Laura Sims

Reviewed by Kristin

The flames erupting from a library book due date pocket on the cover of How Can I Help You leapt out at me and cried “Read me, read me!”

So I did.

Margo presents herself as a congenial librarian at the Carlyle Public Library. She is ever so helpful to her library patrons, helping with a returned book here, a computer login there. Margo’s coworkers have no reason to suspect that she is hiding anything behind her pleasant demeanor. No one knows that she used to be a nurse, one who walked off her last nursing job when administrators began to question the unusual number of deaths on her shifts….

Patricia is new to the small town library. She is assigned to the reference desk which has been empty for years due to lack of funding. Patricia is fresh out of library school and Chicago. She is also trying to come to terms with her rejections as an author, and plans to dedicate herself fully to this new career path as a reference librarian.

Margo tries to mask her feelings of impatience with her patients; no, she must call them patrons. She has kept up her façade for quite some time, but it starts to slip right as Patricia begins her new position. Patricia watches Margo, and becomes intrigued. Could Margo really have a darkness within herself, or is it only Patricia’s imagination? Patricia begins to scribble in a notebook, writing what she sees and what she imagines. No, she is not writing a book, that part of her life is over…isn’t it?

The story is told in alternating chapters from Margo and Patricia’s points of view. As they get to know each other, each becomes obsessed with what the other suspects or knows. The tension builds deliciously with a couple of twists that I did not see coming. I won’t give too much away, but this short novel is a delight and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys books, libraries, or murder.

New in September!

 

New books in September!

 

It’s September, so it must be time for the Christmas books to start coming out.  Two of the most notable are: 

Andrews, Mary Kay  Bright Lights, Big Christmas

Michaels, Fern  Santa and Company

 

Halloween is also coming up soon:

King, Stephen  Holly

Armstrong, Kelley  Hemlock Island

O’Reilly, Bill Killing the Witches  (nonfiction, about the Salem Witch Trials)

Of course, James Patterson will have a couple of books out: 

Patterson, James  23 ½ Lies (Women’s Murder Club)

Patterson, James Twelve Months to Live

 

Mysteries and thrillers are still plentiful!

 

Archer, Jeffery  Traitor’s Gate

Bentley, Don Tom Clancy Weapons Grade (Jack Ryan, Jr.)

Brown, Graham  Clive Cussler Condor’s Fury

Cleeves, Ann The Raging Storm (Matthew Venn)

Connolly, John The Land of Lost Things

Francis, Felix  No Reserve

Galbraith, Robert The Running Grave

Goldberg, Lee  Malibu Burning

Herron, Mick The Secret Hours

Jance, J.A. Blessing of the Lost Girls (Walker/Brady)

Johnson, Craig  The Longmire Defense

Jonasson, Ragnar Reykjavik: A Crime Story

Krueger, William Kent  The River We Remember

Mills, Kyle  Code Red (Mitch Rapp)

Perry, Anne The Traitor Among Us (Elena Standish)

Robb, J.D. Payback in Death

 

General fiction stars:

Atkinson, Kate Normal Rules Don’t Apply:  Stories

Follett, Ken  The Armor of Light (Kingsbridge #4)

Rash, Ron  The Caretaker

Jiles, Paulette  Chenneville

Smith, Zadie  The Fraud

 

Romance and Amish titles:

 

Score, Lucy Things We Left Behind

Hunter, Denise  Wildflower Falls

Lewis, Beverly  Heirloom

Woodsmall, Cindy  Until Then

 

And then there’s the one I’m most looking forward to:

 

Scalzi, John  Starter Villain

Cold Storage by David Koepp

 

 

Reviewed by Andrew

 

Cold Storage by David Koepp is an exciting, fast-paced science-fiction thriller, with some elements of horror as well. The book starts with two government agents tasked with investigating some type of biological threat in Australia.  When they arrive at the site, they find a pod from a space shuttle that has crash-landed to Earth. In the pod is a type of fungus that scientists were attempting to experiment with while in outer space, and as a result, has mutated into something far more lethal than anyone could have imagined. The fungus has been released from the pod and has decimated an entire Australian village at an alarming rate. The government agents are able to contain the spread of the fungus, and manage to bring a sample back to the U.S., where it is sealed in an old nuclear bunker. Fast-forward several decades, and the nuclear bunker has been converted into a civilian storage facility, and everyone has all but forgotten about what is contained several stories below ground.  Now it has managed to break loose from its containment…

I quite enjoyed the fast-paced action in the book.  The author managed to keep the story accelerating at a break-neck pace. The characters are fun and memorable, but the book doesn’t get bogged down with too many details about them. The book is written well, and is surprisingly funny considering the subject matter. This was a relatively quick read, and it felt like the book equivalent of watching an action-packed summer blockbuster.

The main criticism I have about this book is that it felt very similar to certain other stories. Cold Storage seemed to borrow heavily from Michael Crichton, and certain plot points felt eerily similar to the well-known video game, The Last of Us. I also think the book could have been scarier, not holding a flame to Stephen King or Michael Crichton, the latter of whom I consider to be a master of science-fiction horror.

All in all, I still really enjoyed this book. While not on par with other similar stories that manage to do it better, this book still has a story of its own to tell, and is written in a way that is fun and engaging, making you want to keep reading to find out what could possibly happen in the next chapter. If you enjoy science-fiction or thrillers, I would definitely recommend this book.

Nevermore: Summer of 1876, Lock Every Door, Little Shoes

 

Reported by Rita

Summer of 1876: Outlaws, Lawmen, and Legends in the Season That Defined the American West by Chris Wimmer has it all, from infamous lawmen, presidents, bank robbers, and gun slingers to baseball players. Our reader described it as a very fascinating book that is very descriptive, painting a sometimes exhausting picture of life in the American West during that era.  NH

Lock Every Door by Riley Sager is a mystery thriller about young Jules Larson who is starting a new job as an apartment sitter in a mysterious, high-profile Manhattan building. When another sitter in the building goes missing, Jules starts looking into the building’s history and discovers others have gone missing before. This book was described as a real page turner, full of twists and turns. MP

Little Shoes: The Sensational Depression-Era Murders That Became My Family’s Secret by Pamela Everett is a true crime story about the murder of three young girls in 1937 in California, a wrongful conviction and execution, and the author uncovering family secrets that held the truth of an 80 year old criminal case. A very sad but incredibly interesting story. CD

Also Mentioned:

The Paris Deception by Bryn Turnbull

The Night She Disappeared by Lisa Jewell

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim

Come Sing, Jimmy Jo by Katherine Paterson

The Old Lion by Jeff Shaara

Micro by Michael Crichton, Richard Preston

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

New Books:

Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos

With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson

 

Reviewed by Kristin

How far would you go to escape a threat to your family? If a nefarious someone knew where you lived, where you went to the gym, even what you wore to a casual lunch with friends? If that same person—who might be called a stalker at this point—began sending you letters drawn with sickly sweet fruit scented markers? If things were oh-so-slightly rearranged in your house and your sheets suddenly smelled like unfamiliar cologne?

Actor Meribel Mills uprooted herself and her twelve-year-old daughter Honor from Los Angeles to move to Atlanta. She accepted a role filming in Georgia and left a budding romance and all her friends behind. Long gone are her younger years when she convincingly played 16-year-old Didi, a smaller breakout role on one of those iconic teenage shows. Now Meribel is pushing forty, or at least that is what IMDB and her fans believe.

Honor does not do well with surprises or change, but she is adapting to Atlanta. She might even be making a friend or two in their Midtown condo building. Honor is autistic, but usually well enough regulated due to Meribel’s strict enforcement of diet, exercise, and routines. Making new friends in a new place is hard enough for anyone on the cusp of adolescence, and sometimes harder for someone on the spectrum.

Even though Meribel and Honor have moved across the country to escape the stalker they call Marker Man, the letters and packages keep coming. Most significantly, not all of them are postmarked L.A. anymore. Marker Man is traveling eastward. Closer and closer to Atlanta and their newfound pocket of safety.

The story is told from several points of view—Meribel’s is primary, but other characters also have voices which reveal facts still unknown to Meribel. Honor’s voice is very important, so earnest and truthful, even as she conceals things from her mother since she is almost a teenager. New neighbor Cooper plays a part, as does Cam, Meribel’s recent romantic interest who she left behind in L.A. Even Marker Man tells the story from his point of view, and you can imagine how warped and obsessed it is.

As with every Joshilyn Jackson novel, not everything is as it first appears, and she does a lovely job of peeling back layers and revealing things in a way that builds tension as danger ensues. Jackson’s characters are well developed and usually give me strong feelings, whether that makes me identify with them or makes me want to shout “Bad person alert!” and protect the good people in the story.

Jackson has written several other books and I have loved (and probably reviewed) them all. Can I wait another year for her next one? I recommend books all day. Who else do you think I should be reading?

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

 

Reviewed by Jeanne

The book opens with a friendly fan letter to Hannah, an Australian author, from Leo, a would-be writer who lives in Boston.  The two have apparently been corresponding for some time, and he hopes to visit her in a few months.

The next section introduces Freddie—short for Winifred—a young Australian author who has a fellowship that allows her to come to Boston to write her novel.  She’s in the Reading Room of the Boston Public Library, sitting at a table with three strangers, when they all hear a woman scream.  Security swoops in, and after a check, assures everyone that it was a false alarm.  The three strangers, bonded by the shared experience, exchange names and begin talking. It turns out they are all writers of one sort or another. Things take a darker turn when, some hours later, Freddie hears on the news that the body of a woman has been found at the library.

This is followed by a letter from Leo, excitedly discussing the chapter of Hannah’s new book set in Boston and offering her his insights and insider information about the city that she can use in her novel.

It sounds very confusing but it isn’t, really.  I have been telling people that it’s like having a picture of a woman looking at a picture of a woman looking at a picture. It’s well written, keeping the reader involved in both storylines, and there are some wonderful twists and turns as the stories go along. While at first I found it a bit distracting to be pulled out of Hannah’s novel into a different reality, I admire the way the author shows you some of the tricks of her trade, all the while having another card up her sleeve.

There’s a good sense of place and well defined characters along with the fine writing. It’s almost as if the reader is getting a peek behind the scenes at how an author works along with a very intriguing storyline. One reviewer compared it to the unpeeling the layers of an onion, and I would agree. The book is very well paced, enticing the reader to keep those pages turning to see how the plots will be resolved.  

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

  Please welcome Andrew to our bookblog! We're looking forward to having more reviews from him.

Reviewed by Andrew 

Recently, I read the book Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn. This book is about a husband and wife who begin to see different, darker sides of each other through the first several years of their marriage. You are slowly introduced to these characters, learning how they were each raised in different ways and eventually how they meet each other and fall for one another. As you learn about the couple’s past through the wife’s diary, you are thrown into the present where, from the husband’s point of view, the wife has gone missing on their fifth anniversary.  It looks very suspicious and all signs point to the husband as the culprit.

The book’s chapters flip back and forth between the wife’s diary entries, and the husband’s personal narration, with each narrator not giving an entirely full or accurate portrayal of the story.  Instead, each twists the narrative to make the reader support their side of the story.

I greatly enjoyed the back-and-forth of this book, with the author’s writing depicting each of the main characters’ two drastically different points of view. It was difficult to “like” either of the main characters, as they each exhibit horrible qualities in their own different ways. This book has a way of keeping you in suspense, with the wife’s diary dropping subtle hints about how she is afraid of her husband, followed by chapters of the husband’s side of the story as the police begin to question him in his wife’s disappearance.

The one thing I could say about this book that I did not like was the paranoia of wondering how well you really know the people closest to you in your life (which could be said is the entire point of this novel!). The book has a way of its grittiness and doubt seeping its way into your life, the author is so good about conveying the characters’ emotions, it almost makes you feel them yourself. As a recently married man myself, this book was especially terrifying to me. Be sure to have a whimsical happy book to read lined up after this one!

Overall, this suspenseful crime thriller will keep you re-evaluating these main characters well into the story. It is interesting to follow through the couples’ past, learning about how they get to the present of the story, and then following through the investigation of the wife that has gone missing, and wondering whose story to believe. For those of you who enjoy movie adaptations of good books, there is an incredible 2014 movie version of this novel directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, The Social Network, and Se7en), starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike in the lead roles, and an amazing soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails front man, Trent Reznor.

Must Read Well by Ellen Pall

Reviewed by Kristin

Liz Miller is a rather typical PhD student—smart, striving, and poor. She is focusing on the feminist works of mid-century women novelists, those women who sparked a revolution in the minds of American women. The big hole in her research is making contact with Anne Taussig Weil, who wrote a very important women’s liberation novel in the mid-1960s. Liz has attempted to contact Ms. Weil, who even lives in Greenwich Village in New York City, so close to Liz at Columbia University, only to be refused.

After an unexpected breakup from her longtime boyfriend, Liz finds herself on her best friend Petra’s couch searching Craigslist for any rental property that she could possibly afford. In NYC as a near penniless student, that doesn’t leave a lot of options. Until she sees…

            “Private room and bath with river view in pre-war doorman Greenwich
            Village building. Kitchen privileges. Available now. Advantageous terms
            for quiet female willing to read aloud to purblind landlady one hour a
            day. Reply with brief work/educational details to ATW1301922@juno.com.
            Must read well.”

ATW. Anne. Taussig. Weil. Who just happened to be born January 30, 1922.

Liz inquires about the apartment as “Beth Miller” hoping that Ms. Weil will not remember “Liz” the graduate student who sent her multiple letters asking for research assistance. “Beth” goes to meet Ms. Weil, who finds her an excellent prospect as both a tenant and a reader. A few days later, Liz moves in and begins reading aloud Ms. Weil’s journals surrounding a specific episode the elderly woman wishes to recall.

Liz cannot believe her luck that she is going to have access to the journals of the woman she has so long pursued. The enormity of what she might discover is exciting, and gives her hope that she may be able to finish her dissertation and make a place in hallowed academic circles.

This book kept me up late into the night as the tension increased. The episode Ms. Weil wishes to revisit gives Liz a huge insight into the iconic feminist author. Additionally, Ms. Weil is in failing health at age 89, and that adds to the suspense as Liz wonders how long she will be able to stay in the apartment.

I cannot say too much because I would not want to spoil this book for anyone who might choose to read it. I found it an excellent read with an exciting climax which I did not see coming. Looking back after finishing it (late at night!) I can see that there were definite clues that turned this into a cat-and-mouse game in which the reader can’t be sure who is manipulating whom.

I looked to see what else Ellen Pall has written, and found she has had a long but sporadic career in writing. Her early work is under the pseudonym Fiona Hill, writing historical romances. This is definitely not in the same vein, and I hope to see more nail-biting contemporary suspense from Pall in the future.

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

 

Reviewed by Christy

            Bodie, a successful film professor and podcaster, has made a living on examining the treatment of women, particularly famous women. Her podcast delves deep into how Hollywood and society in general treated the likes of Rita Hayworth and Judy Garland. (Spoiler alert: it wasn’t great.) In between seasons of her show and deep into research of her next topic, Bodie is invited back to teach at her high school Granby - a fancy boarding school in New Hampshire where rich parents send their kids. Bodie’s family was not rich. She wound up at Granby after a series of unfortunate events and in large part due to wealthy benefactors. A 90s teen, Bodie saw herself as a grungy outcast though she did have a small group of friends. In the spring of her senior year, Bodie’s popular roommate Thalia was found dead in the school swimming pool. The death became a media sensation and continued to be fodder for speculation 25 years later.

            Bodie has mixed feelings about returning to her old stomping grounds. She’s excited to see some old friends who live and work on campus but she isn’t exactly looking forward to revisiting her turbulent adolescent years. And of course, there’s the Thalia of it all. They weren’t exactly friends (different social groups and all) but they were friendly. And anyway, someone you’ve shared a room with meeting their early demise is bound to shake up anyone. Bodie has tried not to dwell on the murder too much throughout the years since graduation but she’s recently fallen down the rabbit hole of YouTube and Reddit and internet sleuthing. It certainly doesn’t help when one of her students decides to do her class project on the Thalia murder.

            I thought this novel presented a really good mystery with some thought-provoking social commentary. Bodie has a critical eye for the true crime genre and those who ravenously consume it as if it’s a personal puzzle just for them. Then the author deftly switches back to the central Thalia mystery that pulled me in so quickly and easily that I thought, “Oh, maybe I’m part of the problem.” There is also some discussion of the Me Too movement and the sexual harassment and assault women face, which is an easy connection to make when discussing crimes against women. I don’t think these are groundbreaking observations or anything but still worthy of reflection.

I also appreciated that as we got to know some of the popular girls, we learn that they didn’t have an easy go of high school either. It was just a little reminder that we can never assume someone’s experience.

            This was a quick read that didn’t have any easy answers wrapped up in a bow. If I had to give any criticism, it would be that sometimes the novel feels a little crowded. There is a subplot with Bodie’s estranged husband that does tie into the overall conversation of the Me Too movement but it’s mostly about Bodie’s reaction. Granted, it adds some depth to her character as she struggles to even know how to feel but I’m not entirely sure this storyline is needed. At the very least, there is probably a more streamlined way to develop Bodie as a person.

            Overall, I would definitely recommend this novel - an engaging mystery with some substance.

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman

 

Reviewed by Laura

Something in the Water was one of Reese's Book Club picks and was written by Catherine Steadman, an actress known for her work on Downton Abbey. It started VERY slowly, but I persisted because it was one of my Book Bingo picks (ocean on cover). About halfway through, it became exciting and I did enjoy the remainder of the book.

The story is told through the eyes of Erin, a documentary filmmaker who is in the process of completing an interesting collection of interviews with inmates soon to be released from prison. She is madly in love with the man she has lived with four years and plans to marry. Mark, her fiancée, is the handsome type of man who is so kind that everyone loves him immediately. Unfortunately, just before their wedding, Mark loses his job in investment banking. Despite this, they still decide to go on an abbreviated (two weeks, rather than four!) honeymoon to Bora, Bora.

And this is the point where the story begins to get interesting.

Erin had a bad experience scuba diving in the past and is anxious about repeating it, but promises Mark she will dive with him on their trip. Of course, the unimaginable happens and they discover a wrecked plane under the water and a satchel that floats to their boat. The satchel is full of money and diamonds and that is when the question that changes the course of their story and their life arrives. Do we report it or keep it? What would you do?

I would recommend this book if you can get through the beginning to the meat of the story. Would I have persevered if it wasn't for my Bingo card? Hard to say. I did end up enjoying it, though, and was glad I kept at it.

What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline

Reviewed by Kristin

Imagine being ripped from everything you know. Imagine being told to cram a few things into a bag and go. Imagine your world turning upside down and not knowing who to trust and who might stab you in the back. Imagine the horror and fear.

That is what happened to the Bennetts.

Jason Bennett is a family man with a loving wife, two happy children, and a dog. His court reporting business is doing well. His wife Lucinda has a successful photography business where she seems to be flourishing. Their daughter Allison is fifteen, happy and confident. Their thirteen-year-old son Ethan rounds out their family, playing video games and dreaming of the day he can drive.

One night the Bennetts drive home from Allison’s field hockey game. On a dark section of the road, a pickup begins tailgating their new Mercedes, forcing them to stop. Two men brandish guns and demand the car. Jason is ready to give the men whatever they want when the family’s little dog Moonie lunges at the assailants. Shots are fired, and their lives change forever.

FBI Special Agents Dom Kingston and Michael Hallman come to the Bennetts and reveal that the carjackers were part of a mob-like drug-trafficking network known as the George Veria Organization. In order to protect themselves, the Bennetts must immediately enter the witness protection program. Whisked away to another location, unable to see or communicate with their family or friends in any way, the family must try to adjust to their new life.

In their new transitional home, Jason and Lucinda find their layers peeled away as they struggle to create a new shape for their family. Secrets, fears, and betrayals come to light in the face of their losses. As the FBI investigates the GVO criminals, Jason begins to doubt their motivations in hiding his family away. Are the agents really protecting the Bennetts, or are they willing to sacrifice them in order to put away the drug kingpin? Can Jason trust the FBI, or should he take protecting his family into his own hands?

The twists and turns kept me engaged and the short chapters gave the narrative a sense of urgency. This tightly plotted new novel from Lisa Scottoline is definitely worth the reading.

Psycho by Robert Bloch

Reviewed by Jeanne

Legend has it that before the movie’s premiere, Alfred Hitchcock went around buying up copies of Robert Bloch’s book so that movie goers would be properly shocked.  He felt that if they knew what was going to happen, they wouldn’t enjoy the movie.  Turning it around, I wondered if I would enjoy the book after having seen the movie.

The quick answer is that I did.  And even though I knew how it ended, I was still turning pages in a hurry to see how it played out in the book.

I’m sure there are still a few people who haven’t read the book or seen the movie, so to recap briefly the story begins with a young woman who impulsively steals money from her employer and in the course of her escape ends up at the Bates Motel, a run-down establishment off the beaten path.  She’s checked in by Norman Bates, son of the owner.

She doesn’t check out again.

The story is told from several viewpoints, starting with that of Mary (Marion in the movie), a woman who has spent her life waiting, waiting, waiting.  Time is ticking by, and she watches her chance for happiness, for a home and family of her own, rapidly disappearing.  When a large sum of money all but falls into her lap, she sees it as the solution to her problems.

We also see the story unfold from Norman Bates’ point of view, and by extension his mother’s because Norman is acutely attuned to what Mother thinks. 

That’s where the power of the story lay for me. Understanding the thought processes behind the actions was fascinating and gave the tale more depth than the movie. This is heightened because the whole book really poses the question, how well do we really know other people?  Not just our neighbors, but even our families? It brings to mind all those reports in the wake of a crime, any crime from embezzlement to murder, when the people interviewed say, “Oh, but she was such a nice girl!” or “He wouldn’t hurt a fly!”

I will admit that I had some trepidation about reading the book because I am not a blood and gore person, and I had heard that the book was more violent than the movie.  In a way it was, but like the movie the actual violence is hinted at, not graphically depicted. I was relieved at how discreet it was, even though there is no doubt as to what has taken place.  Bloch leaves that to the reader’s imagination.

The book was written in 1959, so there are a few places where it can seem a bit dated but overall it remains fresh and powerful.

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

 

Reviewed by Kristin

Charlotte and Samantha Quinn are teenage sisters whose happy though eccentric family has been ripped apart. First, a Molotov cocktail burned down their house; a week later, their brilliant mother Gamma was senselessly murdered as her assailants searched for Rusty, their defense attorney father, in an attempt to void a debt the family never expected to be repaid. The girls flee, literally running for their lives. Sam stumbles, urging Charlie to run.

Twenty-eight years later, Charlie has become a lawyer like her father, working in the small north Georgia town where her family is still looked at a bit askance since everyone knows a criminal Rusty has defended at some point or another. Charlie is still running, keeping secrets deeply buried from that long-ago night. One morning, while trying to ease herself out of an awkward situation, Charlie finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time as a crime at the middle school tears the community apart.

Karin Slaughter writes strong characters, moving from 1989 back to the present as we get to know Charlie, Sam, Rusty, Gamma, and other integral people tied up this story. Most of the characters are beautifully imperfect with both good aspects and bad revealed as the plot progresses. The people all feel so real, even as the suspense builds in a series of events. This one kept me on the edge of my seat. A few graphic descriptions of the crimes also made me uncomfortable, but by that point I was already invested in the characters and I had to know what happened, even if I had to skim over some blood spatters and gore. (I’m being gentle here, so if blood and guts bother you, just skip this one and ask your local librarian to recommend a less gritty author.)

Slaughter writes stories threaded with a strong sense of justice, even though not all the villains receive every bit of punishment that they perhaps deserve. Sometimes her characters seem to just sigh and say “enough is enough,” and mend relationships in order to move on with their lives for the sake of their own sanity. In the end, does the bad guy (a totally gender neutral term used here, for the sake of not giving away the whodunit) get what’s coming to them? Do they receive the punishment fitting for their crimes? Crime is never as simple as one might think; too many motives and actions and consequences are all knotted up together creating a big messy problem which the criminal justice system tries to untangle for the sake of what is true and what is deserved by all parties.

In the end, Charlie must come to peace with the traumas she has faced, the secrets she has kept since she was thirteen, and the friends and family who care about her most.