scknitter's reviews
1427 reviews

Freefall is a terrific character driven thriller which is told from two perspectives: that of the mother who is still grieving the loss of her husband to cancer two years earlier and of the daughter who ran away when she saw her mother do as her father wished and help him die. This thriller comes out of the gate at top speed. The mother is told her daughter and her daughter’s fiancée were killed in a plane crash and the mother decides she has to learn what her daughter’s life was like for the past two years. The daughter made some really bad choices including not contacting her mother when she needed help, but she had finally found what she thought was true love and was in a good place when the plane went down. She is now determined to survive. Both women display remarkable strength as they each attempt to save the other from the madman who is attempting to kill them both.

If you liked Crimson Lake, you will love Redemption Point even more. If you haven’t read Crimson Lake then you are really missing a terrific new crime writer. You have never met two more eccentric, damaged and likeable characters than Amanda Pharrell and Ted Conkaffey. Amanda spent 10 years in prison for killing a classmate when she was a teen. She readily accepted her sentence because while killing the person she did was an accident, she did mean to kill someone else. Ted is a disgraced ex-policeman who is still trying to get over being accused of the brutal rape and beating of a 13 year old girl. Until the real culprit is caught he will always be the most hated man in Australia but he has no energy or desire to try and find who really attacked her as he is content to just hide out in a distant remote area of Australia and try to forget about all he lost and at the same time help Amanda with her detective work.
In Redemption Point Amanda is hired by the father of one of two people killed execution style in a bar because he doesn’t trust the police. Ted is helping her when the father of his supposed rape victim (who still thinks Ted could be guilty) shows up and forces him to start reliving some of the past, in the hopes of finding the real perpetrator.
Candace Fox brings her characters to life in such a way that you even like the ones who should be unlikeable. And the setting in Cairns, complete with alligators, wetlands, and tropic heat just helps add to the intensity of the fabulous story.
Thanks to Libro.fm for an advanced listening copy.

The Sandells seem like a perfectly normal family. They even would say they were if asked. But, what really is normal? Stella is 17. She has always been her own person and rarely conformed to what others thought she should do. But, even those that thought she was strong willed and stubborn didn’t believe she could kill someone and yet she is in remand for killing a 33 year old man that she allegedly had an affair with. Her father, Adam, is a pastor and he knows that his strong beliefs and his desire for Stella to be the person he thinks she should be has driven a wedge between them. Ulrika is a very successful lawyer who has let her job take precedent over trying to forge a meaningful relationship with her daughter. Amina is Stella’s best friend and has been since they were youngsters. She seems to be the only one who truly understands Stella and the only one Stella really cares about. But, has that all changed?
The story begins with Stella on trial for murder and her father about to testify. It is told from 3 points of view, Adam’s, Ulrika’s and Stella’s. As each tells their story they reveal things about themselves that help us understand who they are and why each is doing what he or she is doing. They each separately decide to do what needs to be done to save their family and friendship but will it work or will it backfire terribly? This is a compulsive, totally addictive psychological thriller, legal thriller and intense family drama all rolled into one.

A new Jeffrey Deaver, a new series, a totally new main character - can't get much better than that. Colter Shaw with his interesting survivalist background and his desire to find innocent people and help victims will, I hope, lead to many more books just as exciting as The Never Game was. I saved it for a time when I knew I could read non-stop and I didn't stop until the end.

I can usually identify with the premise of a book or at least with the characters. That is how I become pulled into a story. Needless to say I did not identify in any way with the story of polygamy or with Thursday who willingly married and stayed married to Seth even though she knew he had two other wives. And yet, I was immediately pulled into Thursday’s story and her sudden desire to know something, anything, about Seth’s other two wives. By the middle of the book I was hooked and then unhinged and then totally taken by surprise. The writing is exquisite, the plot is ingenious and the ending….. Well that you will just have to experience yourself.

I somehow missed this when it first came out so I listened to the audio. Wanted to be all caught up for book 3. It didn't disappoint. I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline and the 2 cases Ellery was trying to solve but most of all I loved the interactions between Reed and Ellery and seeing just how damaged Ellery was. I can't wait for the next book to see what comes from the startling discovery Reed made about his father

A haunted manor, star crossed lovers, a good guy to save the day – what more could you ask for in a wonderfully creepy gothic thriller set in the 1940s and in modern day? How about a really great surprise ending?

Told from the point of view of three characters whose past will haunt you as well as it does them. There is Gabe, whose wife and daughter were killed – only Gabe is sure he saw his daughter alive and has been searching for 3 years. There is Kate who also has a tragic loss in her past, and then there is Fran and her daughter Alice who are running for their lives. The Other People is a creepy, eerie thriller that you will devour in one sitting.

I can't wait to hear Isla Morley in her virtual event with Fiction Addiction ( https://www.eventbrite.com/e/virtual-event-with-isla-morley-tickets-101988935652?aff=website) to talk about The Last Blue. And with that in mind I went back to look at my review for her last book, Above, which I knew I also loved. I found that for some reason my review never made it to Goodreads.

Blythe can’t imagine anything worse than the seventeen years she has been held captive in an underground abandoned missile silo, until she escapes with her teenage son. The book begins as a compelling story of a teenager abducted by a nut case who was convinced the world was coming to an end, and what she has to endure. But it ends as a riveting, heart stopping tale of determination, love and hope for the future.

Another locked room mystery. How could this one be any different than all of the others that seem to be popping up these days? Leave it to Ruth Ware to find a new way to put mystery and terror in something that has been done over and over. A beautiful setting in a chalet in the alps, a cast of characters there for a meeting/vacation who all but one still work for an internet company called snoop, and the chalet hostess and cook. Turns out the company is in the midst of a buyout offer and during a straw vote it is shown that all are not on the same side or on the side that they originally seemed to take. And then a severe avalanche strikes. They are totally isolated from the village and other chalets. No electricity, no internet, no phone signals and one person who was skiing alone is missing. Then, someone dies – murder or suicide is the question. There are secrets abound and as they are revealed you will jump back and forth thinking you know what will happen but you will most likely be wrong. Another great job by Ruth Ware.