ginasbookreport

The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Mystery / Science Fiction Read This If You Love: Upgrade  by Blake Crouch / The Ferryman  by Justin Cronin / any Ben H. Winters book “I’ve spend ninety years trying to rid humanity of its selfishness, greed, and impulse toward violence.” The Last Murder at the End of the World  by Stuart Turton is a mystery wrapped in a science fiction novel. The world as we know it is no more. It was engulfed in a mysterious black fog that ended life. Well, except for the inhabitants of the village on a questionable isolated island. How did these souls survive and, when an unheard of murder takes place on this place free from violence, what will change? Written by the author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle , Turton certainly knows how to spin a story. There are tons of little mysteries for readers to solve and each one is layered and builds...

Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Domestic Suspense / Thriller / Psychological Mystery Read This If You Love:  Megan Miranda / Alex Michaelides "I can't talk about Wild Meadows. Not yet." The Darling Girls  by Sally Hepworth is another psychological thriller from one of the masters of the genre. When a body is found on the site of the former foster home Wild Meadows, all the past trauma of the women who spent time there is unraveled. Who do the bones belong to and who put them there?  The majority of the plot is peeled back through the memories of three sisters who shared horrific years in foster care. While at the heart of the novel is the mystery about the deceased, what happened to Jessica, Norah, and Alicia and how that mapped out their current life and personalities is really the main focus of the novel. Hepworth does a great job exploring how our psyches adjust and evolve. It's fas...

Even Though I Knew the End by C. L. Polk Publisher: Tordotcom Book Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery / Noir / LGBTQ Read This If You Love: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue “I called out to the devil, and the devil came to me.” Even Though I Knew the End  by C. L. Polk is a supernatural noir mystery novella that tells the story of the mystic detective. Tasked with uncovering the White City Vampire in 1941 Chicago, this atmospheric sapphic novel is brilliantly crafted. The writing is so well developed and is matched by the superior character development. A new take on the gumshoe detective novel, I hope Polk delivers more stories with these characters!

One of Us Knows by Alyssa Cole Publisher: William Morrow  Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Domestic Suspense / Mystery / Psychological Thriller Read This If You Love: The Other Black Girl “Come to find out the voice was already compromised by a whole damn castle full of other people and after everything I’d dumped on them, they disliked me as much as I disliked myself.” One of Us Knows  is an amazing book that I already have in the running for my 2024 book of the year. It is a mystery/thriller novel, but the way it is told and the dissociative identity disorder framing of it also sets it apart. It takes on some aspects of a horror novel or even a science fiction slant. It cleverly uses the storm trapped island trope and turns that on its head because our pool of potential killers isn’t limited. It’s a unique and fresh take on the mystery and thriller genre and I couldn’t get enough of it! ***Note: I’m not going to give any sort of synopsis on purpose. I wa...

The Guest by B. A. Paris Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Domestic Suspense / Thriller / Psychological Mystery Read This If You Love: Ruth Ware / Liane Moriarty “I saw Laure standing at the top of the stairs.” In The Guest by B. A. Paris, Iris and Gabriel come home from a vacation to find their friend Laure helping herself to their house. Laure and Pierre are their best friends and Laure is despondent over a revelation and is unsure if her marriage will survive. As the secrets begin to unravel, everyone is feeling the pressure and the past is set to blow up the present. Paris is an auto-buy author for me. Her books are always fast-paced thrillers with short chapters that I consume in a day or two. She is a master at drawing in the reader with her psychological mystery vibe. 

She’s Not Sorry by Mary Kubica Publisher: Park Row Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Psychological Thriller / Domestic Suspense Read This If You Love: B. A. Paris novels “I did something bad.” Meghan is an ICU nurse and single mother to Sienna. When she gets overly invested in caring for her patient, she puts her life in peril. Meanwhile, a man is attacking women throughout the Chicago neighborhoods. This pulse-pounding novel will keep you on the edge of your seat. Oh. My. Goodness! If you love a good thriller, She’s Not Sorry  is the book for you. It’s a psychological whirlwind of twisty revelations. Need a “turn the page as fast as you can to see what happens” novel? This book fills that spot. On top of the palpable knife’s-edge intensity, the book is set against the atmospheric backdrop of Chicago. The city takes on a character of it’s own that adds to the story.  

Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead by Jenny Hollander Publisher: Minotaur Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Domestic Suspense / Thriller / Psychological Mystery / Crime Read This If You Love: Ashley Winstead books “The articles said: Charlotte Colbert escaped unscathed. Which is true. While the others were in surgery or stretched out in a morgue, I was in the shower, scrubbing their blood from my neck and shoulders.” Everyone Who Can Forgive Me Is Dead  is a gripping and unpredictable thriller. An elite graduate school suffers a horrific tragedy, Charlie Colbert has been running from that day ever since. Nine years later, the past can no longer be bottled away. A film is being made about the Scarlet Christmas tragedy, and Charlie must face the black holes in her memories. What did she do or not do during the missing time?  Told via narratives in past and present, interviews, therapy sessions, and news articles, the book kept me captivated from sta...

The Mystery Writer by Sulari Gentill Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Genre:  Suspense / Thriller / Mystery Read This If You Love: The Other Black Girl “And so, she was caught by surprise when it all changed.” Theo decides to pursue her dream of being a writer and uproots her life to move to Lawrence, Kansas where her brother has relocated. When she decides to use the local bar, Benders, as her home base to write her novel, she befriends Dan Murdoch. Dan is a mysterious man who has his own successfully published mystery books who reveals he is reading conspiracy sites for inspiration. Soon, the stuff of fiction starts to happen to Theo and those around her. Why are dead bodies piling up? Why are there so many conspiracy theories running rampant? What is happening and who is responsible? It’s a twisty layered story that is fast paced and action packed from the first page to the last. I was thoroughly immersed into the world of The Mystery Writer...

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera Publisher: Caledon Book, a division of MacMillan Publishers Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery / Thriller / Psychological Mystery Read This If You Love:  Megan Miranda / Fans of true crime podcasts “A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I’m buying a chicken.” Lucy’s best friend was murdered and everyone thinks she did it. But it could never be proven. Hell, even Lucy isn’t sure she DIDN’T do it. Enter podcaster Ben who sets out to solve the case many years later. It uproots the life Lucy had managed to carve out for herself (dark humor intended), and she is thrust back into the black hole of her life that she simply cannot remember. What Lucy does know is that she has a little voice in her head constantly saying, “Let’s kill…”  I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Having been in a mini reading slump, this was the right book at the right time for me. It’s a very fast read and I was hooked from the first page. Unlike oth...

Yellowface by R. F. Kuang Publisher: William Morrow Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Literature / Thriller / Psychological Mystery Read This If You Love: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow “What more can we want as writers than such immortality? Don’t ghosts just want to be remembered?” Athena Liu is a literary success. June Hayward can only wish to achieve the same accomplishments. Well…maybe she could literally have Athena’s writing to help her earn the praise she so seeks? When Athena tragically dies, June takes Athena’s newest manuscript and claims it as her own. Publishing it as Juniper Song, which is all sorts of inappropriate and misleading. What unfolds from there is an exploration of the publishing industry, respecting cultural stories, and what we will do to be successful. I loved this book! Writing an entirely first-person narrative and making it so immersive and engaging for the reader is a high bar, but Kuang does it so effortlessly. The messages in Yell...

The Other Half by Charlotte Vassell Publisher: Anchor Books, Penguin Random House Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Genre:  Domestic Suspense / Thriller / Mystery / Satire Read This If You Love: The Block Party  by Jamie Day “She deserved better than to die there. To die because of him.” The Other Half  by Jenny Jackson is a quick-paced mystery wrapped in a satire about an ultra-wealthy British friend group. Full of toxic characters and attributes, everyone is a suspect when a dead body is found in the polished garden. DS Caius Beauchamp and his co-workers Matt and Amy are a delight to have as the guides through this story. Thank goodness, because I really didn’t like any of the other characters. Yikes! I almost  stopped reading after the first two chapters, but I’m glad I didn’t. It was an entertaining read and the car scene toward the end was one of my favorite scenes in any book I’ve read in the last year. This book was part of the Crime by the Box subscripti...

My Murder by Katie Williams Publisher: Riverhead Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Genre:  Domestic Suspense / Mystery / Fantasy Read This If You Love: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch “What did it feel like to meet my murderer? It’s a perfectly reasonable question to ask. Somehow, it felt like nothing at all.” My Murder  by Katie Williams is an unusual mix of murder mystery and science fiction. Louise was murdered by a serial killer, but she is alive now. Isn’t she? Is she really herself? How did she become a victim of Edward Early and a line in the poem about his killings? She sets off to find out the truth behind her murder and who she is. This book brought to mind Dark Matter , for me. That is a book that I loooove.  My Murder didn’t hit as successfully for me. While I was very intrigued at the beginning of the book, by the end I was conflicted and found the ending to be unsettling and somewhat predictable. I do appreciate the efforts to tell a unique story and ...

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett Publisher: Del Ray, Penguin Random House Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5 Genre: Mystery / Fantasy / Urban Fantasy / Science Fiction Read This If You Love: The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow “You’re saying someone weaponized a contagion?” The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett is an excellent urban fantasy mystery novel. Set in the Empire of Khanum, Din (an apprentice investigator and engraver) is assigned to the quirky and mysterious Ana Dolabra. An Imperial officer is dead and the investigation into his possible murder threatens to unravel a plot that could bring down the Empire. While everyone else is focused on the dangers of approaching leviathans, Ana and Din must solve the mystery before the entire security of realm is in jeopardy. Ana and Din are a fantastical version of Holmes and Watson with hints of Nero Wolfe. From Ana’s brilliance and eccentric investigation techniques to Din’s clever ways to manage situa...

The Collective by Alison Gaylin Publisher:  William Morrow Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Thriller / Suspense Read This If You Love:  Samantha Downing / Tarryn Fisher "I want him dead...for real." The Collective  by Alison Gaylin is a dark tale of revenge and deep grief. What happens when justice isn't upheld or it just isn't enough to dent the pain of loss? What if that grief is left to fester until it eats up the humanity of a collective group? Things can turn gruesome, deadly, and dark very fast.  When Camille's daughter died, the circumstances surrounding the death were gut-wrenching. Try as she might to move on, the grief she feels consumes her, and when she is approached by a mysterious woman with means of support, she jumps on the bandwagon. But, it's not for real, right? This is just venting and being able to say all the dark thoughts you can't in society. Right? What unravels is a twisted plot that will leave you questioning what is rig...

The Fury by Alex Michaelides Publisher:  Celadon Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Mystery / Thriller  Read This If You Love: Piranesi / Greek mythology/tragedies/mysteries / Classic mysteries with a modern twist “This is a tale of murder.” A reclusive movie star is on an isolated Greek island with her husband, best friends, son, and servants. What could possibly go wrong? Told across acts,  The Fury  explodes onto the page and you won’t consume it fast enough. You know when you pick up a Michaelides book that you are in for a frightful ride. He does creepy as hell soooo well. Not to mention that his mysteries also have an unmatched and elevated intellectual approach. He is one of my favorite modern writers of mystery and horror. While most readers (and BookTok) are obsessed with The Silent Patient , I found The Maidens to be even better and didn’t think he would top that book for me. I was wrong. The Fury  was SO GOOD. It hit all ...

Only If You’re Lucky by Stacy Willingham Publisher:  Minotaur Books Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Mystery / Psychological Thriller  Read This If You Love: A Flicker in the Dark / All the Dangerous Things “If you knew you could get away with murder, would you do it?” When Margot heads into her second year of college, she is still struggling to start a new chapter of her life. She desperately needs a new beginning that helps her cope with the death of her best friend. When mesmerizing and mysterious Lucy befriends her, it sets off a series of events that no one anticipated. Well, maybe almost no one? We all have multiple sides to us…some just happen to be deadlier than others.  This, imho, is the best of Willingham’s books. It kept me completely enthralled and fit into the murder, mayhem, and mystery box. It’s a great binge read for a stormy or dark night. Willingham (via Margot) describes in the following quote what a good book can do, and it def...

One of the Good Guys by Araminta Hall Publisher: Gillian Flynn Books, an imprint of Zando Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Mystery / Thriller / Suspense Read This If You Love: Dark Objects “Because people have always wanted horror stories. The power of fear is so potent.” One of the Good Guys  is a compelling novel. Cole has recently uprooted his life to live in a vacant sea-side landscape when he meets Lenora, who has also recently rented a nearby cottage. As they are getting to know one another, two women who are participating in a charity walk to raise awareness of violence against women go missing. What follows next is an exploration of the depths of the way women feel, live with, and process fear on a daily basis and the fragility of men who don’t (or can’t) comprehend it. Or worse, they cause it in the first place.  This is not your typical mystery novel and, for me, that was a good thing. It made me think about the genre and the real-life implications...

The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre: Mystery / Thriller / Suspense / Horror / Gothic Read This If You Love: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil “There should be some kind of warning when your life is about to change forever.” The McTavish family is a wealthy bunch who own and run the town of Tavistock from their palatial Ashby House. When Ruby is kidnapped and returned as a child, it’s just the beginning of the tragedies that befall the family. The bodies and secrets start to pile as high as their beloved North Carolina mountains.  Rachel Hawkins strikes again and IMHO,  The Heiress  is her best book yet. The McTavish family is packed full of characters who are deplorable and you just love to hate them. You simply won’t be able to put this book down until you have devoured the entire thing. It’s so perfect for fans of gothic novels.  I was a bit on the fence about The Wife Upstairs  and a...

The Christmas Murder Game by Alexandra Benedict and narrated by Laura Costello Publisher:  Poisoned Pen Press Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Mystery / Thriller / Domestic Suspense Read This If You Love:  Agatha Christie “Endgame has kept our secrets for half a century, now it’s time for it, and its secrets, to have a new owner.” The Christmas Murder Game  by Alexandra Benedict is a classic locked-room mystery novel set at Christmas. Before Lily’s aunt dies, she sets up one last Christmas game to be played at Endgame House. This year the prize won’t simply be an extra gift, but instead the holder of the key wins Endgame House and all that goes with it. Lily and her cousins all head to the English manor house to play the game, celebrate the holiday, and navigate their complicated family past. However, Lily is there to also uncover the truth behind her mother’s mysterious death. Told via the Twelve Days of Christmas where each day releases a new clue f...

The Christmas Guest by Peter Swanson Publisher:  William Morrow Ginasbookreport Rating:  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Genre:  Mystery Read This If You Love:  Eight Perfect Murders / Riley Sager books “But instead he lifted a finger and swept it across his neck, then pointed at me.” The Christmas Guest  by Peter Swanson is a creepy and dark holiday murder novella. What else could you want for Christmas!?! Ashley is a long way from the US and gets invited to go home for the holidays by her friend Emma. The idealistic setting of an English village at Christmas sounds perfect. Adding to the scene is Emma’s handsome brother Adam. However, this village has a dark history of unsolved murder and killers don’t take a break for the holidays.  This is a dark murder mystery that is a great and suuuuuuper fast holiday read for mystery fans. (It is NOT for those looking for an uplifting cozy holiday read.) I gobbled this one up in a few hours one evening and couldn’t put it down. Swanson ...