#kidnappingthrillers – Rosepoint Publishing

Every Last One by Carolyn Arnold #BookReview #womensadventurefiction

A totally gripping and heart-stopping FBI mystery thriller (Sandra Vos Book 2)

Book Blurb:

Tucking her daughter into her hospital bed, Gail sent up a silent prayer. Her daughter’s heart is failing and without this life-saving operation she will die. But soon her peace is shattered when a nurse races into the room: “Lock the doors, close the blinds. The hospital’s in lockdown. We have a shooter.”

As a top negotiator for the FBI, Special Agent Sandra Vos is skilled at talking hostage takers down. But when four gunmen storm into Founders Hospital, plunging it into lockdown, she knows just how many lives depend on her.

With a total communications blackout and every aspect of the attack carefully planned out, it appears to have been an inside job. But when a surprise call comes from a victim trapped inside, Sandra realizes the situation is even worse than she imagined. A four-year-old girl is scheduled for life-saving heart surgery. If doctors can’t get to her by tonight, she will die.

With more pressure to bring this incident to a swift end, gunfire rings out, and it’s clear the hostage takers are prepared to kill to get what they want. But just when Sandra thinks all is lost, she learns the hostage takers’ motive is very personal.

Can Sandra use this information to urge them to surrender? Can she even meet their demands? With the clock ticking and countless lives at stake, this will be Sandra’s most heartbreaking negotiation yet.

My Review:

Not a detective or investigator, the story centers around Sandra Vos, a negotiator with the FBI. This is a high-stakes negotiation in that it appears there may be more than one perp and the hostages are the patients and staff of a hospital.

This is not her first rodeo, having been proven a successful negotiator before. The hospital goes into lockdown and they quickly realize there is no communication in or out of the facility. She must determine, somehow, how to get communications back up, who to speak to, and if possible determine the number and location of the hostage takers.

Of course, in many of these situations, there is one responsible for taking it down without violence and those in police authority who would rather just storm the building. In these circumstances, however, there is a too large possibility of catastrophic collateral damage. Say, for instance, the four-year-old girl who was to receive a heart transplant that day.

So what is the motivation of the hostage takers? A wrongful death? Crushing medical debt without recourse? And aren’t all the hostages already in extremely precarious positions?

The team must first identify who is holding the power—anyone holding power. Get them to talk. If more than one perp, what is their common ground?

While I wasn’t overly engaged with the protagonist, I enjoyed the contributions made by the team, each with a niche, supplying valuable intel. The patients as well as staff made for interesting characters and there is almost no lag in the storyline pace.

It’s a well-plotted narrative with a few surprises, although somewhat predictable. The tension ramps up as the hours tick by without solution. In this case, there is emotional engagement with the antagonist(s) as well as the protagonist and the underlying motivation is one most of us can understand.

It’s been a while since either the CE or I have read one of Ms Arnold’s books, the last being The Silent Witness in another series and we both enjoyed those. If you’re a fan, you’ll no doubt enjoy this one as well, and although the second in the series, could be read as a standalone. This novel releases next month!

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Women’s Adventure Fiction, Serial Killers, Kidnapping Thrillers
Publisher: Bookouture
ISBN: 978-1836180593
ASIN: B0F8VGV7ZV
Print Length: 318 pages
Publication Date: November 18, 2025
Source: Publisher and Netgalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK

The Author: To keep current on author news, sign up for Carolyn Arnold’s newsletter through her website.

Book Series by Carolyn Arnold:

Detective Madison Knight
Brandon Fisher FBI
Detective Amanda Steele
Sandra Vos
Matthew Connor Adventure
Sara and Sean Cozy Mystery Series

CAROLYN ARNOLD is an international bestselling and award-winning author, as well as a speaker, teacher, and inspirational mentor. She has several continuing fiction series and has many published books. Her genre diversity offers her readers everything from cozy mysteries, police procedurals, and thrillers to action adventures. Her crime fiction series have been praised by those in law enforcement as being accurate and entertaining. This led to her adopting the trademark: POLICE PROCEDURALS RESPECTED BY LAW ENFORCEMENT™.

Carolyn was born in a small town and enjoys spending time outdoors, but she also loves the lights of a big city. Grounded by her roots and lifted by her dreams, her overactive imagination insists that she tell her stories. Her intention is to touch the hearts of millions with her books, to entertain, inspire, and empower.

She currently lives near London, Ontario, Canada with her husband and two beagles.

Follow Carolyn Arnold on social media:

Facebook: Author Carolyn Arnold
Twitter: Carolyn_Arnold
Instagram: authorcarolynarnold

Relax, it's Sunday

You Have Gone Too Far by Carlene O’Connor #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

A County Kerry Novel Book 3

Book Blurb:

With the haunting, moody prose of Tana French and the compulsive storytelling of Dervla McTiernan or Ann Cleeves, bestselling author Carlene O’Connor lures readers to a remote village on Ireland’s southwest coast, where winding windswept roads open to spectacular views of rugged cliffs against immense, lonely beaches . . . and some fear a mysterious cult could be connected to the disappearance of a young pregnant woman.

After two pregnant women in Dingle who have never met each receive a chilling email warning them that they’re in grave danger, the two decide to meet each other to figure out what is going on. But when one of the mothers, Shauna, a deaf woman, arrives at their meeting place at the village Spring Festival, she fears a trap and hurries off to meet the couple who plan to adopt her baby.

Meanwhile, Dimpna Wilde has her hands full with lambing season and keeping track of her father, so she’s grateful for the help of a well-meaning ten-year-old boy, Dylan, at the veterinary clinic. But when the lad goes missing after going into a bog on a dare with two other boys to search for a “monster,” she is desperate to help find him.

After the adoptive couple are discovered tied up in their home, telling a terrifying story of a deaf pregnant woman being abducted by a man wearing a butterfly mask, Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien and Detective Sergeant Barbara Neely fear a repeat of a disturbing case from twenty years earlier, when a charismatic leader calling himself the Shepherd, lured poor pregnant girls into his enigmatic cult. Though allegations of baby smuggling were never proven, he’d been put away on other charges. But then they learn that the Shepherd has recently been released from prison.

Trapped in a cold, dark room with a frightened boy, Shauna fears for their lives as well as that of her unborn baby. If she has any chance of getting out and away from the Moth Man, as she calls her abductor, she’ll have to figure out the truth behind who she really is and how that connects to the ordeal she finds herself in now. But time is running out and her baby will be born soon . . .

My Review:

I’ve enjoyed the author’s cozy mystery series for some time, read most of them and then started this series. Book 3 is also my third and I’ve found each a bit darker.

Although Book 2 Some of Us Are Looking, began bordering on noir this one turned even darker from thriller to horror and I found some descriptions just too graphic for me.

Dimpna Wilde is a vet in a remote rural village on Ireland’s coast. Her practice has led her to confront the death of more than animals. In this installment, the gruesome body of a pregnant woman and her baby has been found. At the same time, a young boy and a pregnant teenage girl go missing.

Dimpna is again partnered with Detective Inspector Cormac O’Brien and Detective Sergeant Barbara Neely to help find the missing children as well as determine who and why the young woman was killed and her body dumped. Is an old cult resurfacing?

We’ve come up on the partnership of Dimpna and DI O’Brien before and rooted in the background for them to possibly light the spark that undeniably appears between them.

I’m not sure what really happened to this storyline though. It felt like it made a left turn somewhere in the plot and created a rather disjointed feel to the novel. I liked the POV from the teenage girl (who is also deaf!). Support characters are not developed—left more as dark shadows in the scene. I thought I detected a couple of small contradictions which left me a bit confused and as the narrative raced to the denouement, became ever more complex and confounding. I’m not sure—did that whole confusing explanation in conclusion make sense to you?

There is not enough of E.T., her sheepdog, Pickles, her border collie, and Guinness, her English bulldog in this one. I was enjoying the series even as it turned darker, but this one had me wondering what happened to the author with the sweet cozies and who is this one?

The setting is atmospheric, Dimpna is an interesting main character, and it appears she and Cormac may get cozy. If you enjoy stories written about Ireland or mysteries set in a unique village with a smart and unusual MC with a dark storyline chalked full of twists you can’t predict, you’ll enjoy. But be aware, this one gets graphic.

I received a copy of this book from my library that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Kidnapping Crime Fiction, International Mystery & Crime, Kidnapping Thrillers
Publisher: Kensington Books
ISBN: 149673758X
ASIN: B0CTDJTBTL
Print Length: 369 pages
Source: Local Library

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: USA Today bestselling author Carlene O’Connor comes from a long line of Irish storytellers. Her great-grandmother emigrated from Ireland to America and the stories have been flowing ever since. Of all the places across the pond she’s wandered, she fell most in love with a walled town in County Limerick and was inspired to create the town of Kilbane, County Cork. She writes the bestselling IRISH VILLAGE MYSTERIES, the HOME TO IRELAND series, and the new COUNTY KERRY MYSTERIES. Her books have been translated into numerous languages, and optioned for television. Readers can find her at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086525205106 or through her website: http://www.carleneoconnor.net

#TuesdayBookBlog

Best House on the Block: A Thriller by T R Ragan #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Book Blurb:

Revealing a neighbor’s deep secrets and dark obsessions turns to murder in a shocking novel of psychological suspense by a New York Times bestselling author.

Aspiring investigative journalist Shannon Gibbons and her family have moved into a beautiful house in the Fabulous Forties of East Sacramento, where Shannon finds a fast connection with a new neighbor. Renowned journalist Rosella Marlow appears to have a genuine interest in giving Shannon’s own career a boost―as personal assistant on Rosella’s new project. Appearances are deceiving.

Bitter, resentful, and consumed by excruciating grief, Rosella is obsessed with wiping the smiles off her contented neighbors’ faces. Now she’s watching closely, ready to expose their secrets. Secrets dark enough to destroy lives. In Shannon, Rosella has a trusting and unwitting accomplice. But Rosella is being watched, too. And when someone is found murdered, everyone on this quiet block is a suspect. Because everyone has a motive.

With the help of a friend, Shannon begins an investigation into the death of a person she just met. As neighbor is pitted against neighbor, the truth is much scarier than anything they imagined.

My Review:

“If it’s too good to be true, it probably is.” Yup, and investigative journalist Shannon Gibbons should have remembered that old quote when she responded to the inquiry from Rosella Marlow. Rosella was a renowned journalist in the day and one of Shannon’s heroes. Excited about the prospect of being mentored by Rosella, she moves her family to the very neighborhood where Rosella lives.

Unfortunately, Rosella doesn’t live up to the hype and instead turns out to be a bitter, nasty woman who is the scourge of the neighborhood. It’s also unfortunate that the neighborhood is square in the Fabulous Forties of East Sacramento which is definitely not a fictional upscale historical area but certainly breathtakingly rich, impressive, and gorgeous.

Shannon is almost immediately introduced to the clique of the neighborhood but then before she can even start emptying boxes, the neighbor is murdered. One of the lady’s has a keen interest in figuring out which of her friends is responsible and Shannon sees an opportunity for collaboration and a story.

Okay, but what do all these busy-bodies have to do with the prologue? There is a plethora of suspects. Everyone disliked the woman intensely and all had a motive and opportunity.

After the hook, the pace slows somewhat to introduce all the support characters—and there are a lot.

For an aspiring journalist, Shannon seems a bit clueless where or how to begin the investigation and is directed by the neighbor-turned-friend. Of course, her friend knows everyone and pretty much their business and it doesn’t take long before they begin to uncover some interesting secrets. Throw in a twist or two.

The denouement is neatly drawn together with one final douzy that was one too many and just didn’t work for me.

I noticed a couple places where even the author or editor used a name incorrectly, but no problem. I also stumbled on non-gender names used for either boy or girl and confused which gender we were talking about more than once (i.e., Mac, Ridley, Blake, Rowan), already having trouble with the sheer number of support characters. Interesting plot. I waited to see where the prologue ties in, but after getting a few more clues, I knew.

I did, however, get a small chuckle out of the reference to an old Volkswagen van. “It was orange and Stephanie called it Pumpkin, as if it were a beloved pet.” Funny, because we recently adopted an orange, white, black, and brown Pomeranian we named Punkin. (Yeah—adopted her in October.)

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through @NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Rating: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Kidnapping Thrillers, Murder Thrillers
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN-10: ‎ 1662517300
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1662517303
ASIN: B0CWF9Z1MB
Print Length: 287 pages
Publication Date: November 5, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble

The Author: T.R. Ragan (Theresa Ragan) has sold over four million books and is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling mystery and thriller author.

Readers interested in signing up for a monthly newsletter or getting their name in a TR RAGAN book should check out her website at http://www.trragan.com

Facebook • Twitter • Instagram: @trraganauthor

LIZZY GARDNER SERIES
Abducted
Dead Weight
A Dark Mind
Obsessed
Almost Dead
Evil Never Dies

FAITH MCMANN TRILOGY
Furious
Outrage
Wrath

JESSIE COLE SERIES
Her Last Day
Deadly Recall
Deranged
Buried Deep

SAWYER BROOKS SERIES
Don’t Make a Sound
Out of Her Mind
No Going Back
Count to Three
Such A Beautiful Family

Theresa Ragan Novels: Return of the Rose, A Knight in Central Park, Finding Kate Huntley, Dead Man Running, Having My Baby, An Offer He Can’t Refuse, Taming Mad Max, and Here Comes the Bride!

Lost Man’s Lane by Scott Carson – #BookReview – #HorrorSuspense

Book Blurb:

A teenager explores the darkness hidden within his hometown in this spellbinding supernatural thriller from bestselling author Scott Carson.

For a sixteen-year-old, a summer internship working for a private investigator seems like a dream come true—particularly since the PI is investigating the most shocking crime to hit Bloomington, Indiana, in decades. A local woman has vanished, and the last time anyone saw her, she was in the backseat of a police car driven by a man impersonating an officer.

Marshall Miller’s internship puts him at the center of the action, a position he relishes until a terrifying moment that turns public praise for his sharp observations and uncanny memory into accusations of lying and imperiling the case. His detective mentor withdraws, friends and family worry and whisper, and Marshall alone understands that the darkness visiting his town this summer goes far beyond a single crime. Now his task is to explain it—and himself.

His Review:

I remember the concern about the change from the 1900’s to 2000. Pundits predicted the economy would stop and business grind to a halt. It seemed that the inventors of computers and the programs did not take into account the underlying date sequencing in computers. It was a very big non-event on January 1, 2000, because everything just continued. However, in 1999 the threat was real and computer geeks shook in their boots.

Marshall is a 17-year-old making his way through school with all of the pressures and angst that only that age can conjure. His mother is a single mom doing the best she can and holding down three jobs to make ends meet. Marshall has no idea who his father is and is harassed continually by the bullies in his school in Bloomington, Indiana. His mom is his staunchest ally but she cannot keep him being a target.

His primary problem is that he has seen a ghost who threatens his life after a routine traffic stop. Add to that the troubles with his boyhood sweetheart.

A series of mishaps and life-threatening events are thwarted by the one person who might dislike him the most. He then befriends Noah who hires him for the summer and works to train him as a private investigator. The job is supposed to be boring but Marshall finds it extremely stressful and frightening. He keeps seeing the ghost who continues to make his life miserable. Add a repeating history of young girls mysteriously dying in the town since the early 1900s and the entire story takes on a terrible and foreboding patina.

I remember reading Edgar Allen Poe during my high school years and marveling at the twists employed in his books. Scott Carson has employed some of that style and the result is a myriad of unexplained deaths. Can Scott save his girlfriend and solve some of these questions? I could not put this book down and the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat until the end. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. These are my own opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Horror Suspense, Paranormal Suspense, Kidnapping Thrillers
Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books
ASIN: B0C7RNJ7H4
Print Length: 524 pages pages
Publication Date: March 26, 2024
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Scott Carson is the pen name of Michael Koryta, a New York Times bestselling author whose work has been translated into more than twenty languages, adapted into major motion pictures, and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A former private investigator and reporter, his writing has been praised by Stephen King, Michael Connelly, and Dean Koontz, among many others. Raised in Bloomington, Indiana, he now lives in Indiana and Maine.

Reading Ireland Month 2024

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney – #BookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.

Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door…and their intentions aren’t good.

With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.

My Review:

OMG, not like I haven’t read this author before, my first being His and Hers back in July 2021 followed shortly after that by two more of her successful audiobooks. I loved the first—but experienced a bit less enthusiasm with the successive choices.

This narrative begins with a baby kidnapped on Mother’s Day (twenty years previous) and the POVs of those most closely related to the scenario of the missing child after that. Now, Edith, 80 years old, is plotting her escape from a local nursing home placed there by daughter Clio—her greatest disappointment. Patience works at the nursing home and has bonded with Edith.

There is a jump between the original event and twenty years later when the POV goes to Frankie who lives and raises her estranged daughter, Patience, on a narrow boat on the Thames. Frankie found employment as a librarian at the local prison and is frantic to find her missing daughter.

The characters are obstinate, paranoid, distrustful, and alienated. The author carefully develops these characters bit by slow bit, adding a layer each time. They are wonderfully diverse and sympathies begin to divide and invite reader engagement or alienation. Can this dysfunctional cast of personalities possibly find a way to reconcile?

The storyline weaves in and out of the varied characters and timelines, adding a bit more backstory, information that fills in the blanks. There are secrets quietly divulged, lies, deception, and finally murder.

Yikes!! There are twists and turns but I couldn’t believe what I’d just read. Are you kidding? Somebody has a dark sense of humor…

This is a study of mother-daughter relationships like you’ve never read before leading to a raft of notable quotables:

(Motherhood) “A job I thought I wanted and now can’t quit.”

“Sadly it is human nature to squander love and stockpile hate.”

(A reference that brought a chuckle and mood-lightening moment)

“Am I supposed to Columbo what you just said…”

“Life seems better at punishing bad deeds than it is at rewarding good ones.”

(Of course, the mantra, theme of the narrative)

“The world is full of people who are good at being bad, and people who are bad at being good.”

(But my favorite)

“Mother knows best but sometimes it’s best Mother doesn’t know.”

It might be that you’d read the book for the pearls of wisdom doled out in bite-sized pieces—the easier to swallow—almost slipped by, but then you’d miss the lesson in a book with themes of dysfunction, abuse, manipulation, and reconciliation.

Is blood thicker than water? It’s gentle, but you can’t have missed that capsule.

You might need a chart to keep up or just pay attention so you don’t get lost. I did appreciate the conclusion. The novel is satisfying, in that defying kinda way, but on the whole, I found it rather depressing heartrending.

I received a copy of this book from my local library’s recommended list that in no way influenced this review. These opinions are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Kidnapping Thrillers
Publisher: Flatiron Books
ASIN: B0BST5X6GS
Print Length: 310 pages
Publication Date: August 29, 2023
Source: Library recommendation

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

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.

You can follow Alice on Instagram and Twitter: @alicewriterland

To find out the latest book and TV news, or to sign up for Alice’s free newsletter, please visit: http://www.alicefeeney.com

Night Owl by Andrew Mayne – #BookReview – #technothrillers

A Trasker Thriller

Book Blurb:

A shocking act of sabotage draws a retired spy into a deadly conspiracy in an explosive thriller by an Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

After three decades in counterintelligence, Brad Trasker is retired, disillusioned, and dealing with a tragic loss. Spy games are behind him until he attends the launch of a next-generation aircraft. When the project of innovative aerospace CEO Kylie Connor explodes on the tarmac—nearly killing her in the process—Trasker is pulled back into the line of fire.

The mystery of the sabotage quickly deepens. All Kylie’s data has been wiped from the server. One of her engineers has disappeared. A seed investor has died in a suspicious car accident. And a cold-blooded murder raises the stakes even higher.

To discover who’s pulling the strings behind a dangerous conspiracy, Trasker needs to find a motive. Corporate espionage, revenge, or something he can’t yet see? Targeted by assassins, he finds himself overmatched when he realizes he can’t trust anyone—including Kylie. Too long out of a game he no longer understands, Trasker must adapt or die.

His Review:

The rich and powerful do not want “We the People” to invent any new or revolutionary technology. They will hire infiltrators and spies to get your technology and then file patent papers to preclude you from completing your project, the concept of this novel and the beginning of a new series.

Kylie is a very rich lady who has developed a breakthrough propulsion system which uses hydrogen and oxygen and is environmentally sound. As her invention is exiting its’ hanger, however, it suddenly explodes. Kylie barely escapes with her life. Trasker is hired to assure her safety and handle security. The explosion would lead one to believe that someone was lacking in job performance.

Kylie’s technology is very valuable to the Russians and mirrors the efforts of Kylie’s group. Kylie’s life is constantly at threat and Trasker must find the culprit and stop the threat. Easier said than done!

This book illuminates the underworld of espionage and the dangers therein. It is an interesting book well paced with action including bombs, snipers, and technology. The narrative keeps the reader in suspense. Enjoy! 4.5 stars – CE Williams

I read Sea Castle in January and greatly enjoyed that established series. Night Owl is a strong start in his new series. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Technothrillers, Assassination Thrillers, Kidnapping Thrillers,
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
ISBN: ‎ 1662506430
ASIN: B0BVCXCYH4
Print Length: 312 pages
Publication Date: December 1, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

The Author: Andrew Mayne is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author whose books include The Naturalist, a Thriller Award finalist and Black Fall an Edgar Award finalist Black Fall. He’s the star of the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week special Andrew Mayne: Ghost Diver, where he swam alongside great white sharks using an underwater invisibility suit he designed and also was the star of A&E’s Don’t Trust Andrew Mayne. He currently serves as the Science Communicator for OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT and GPT-4.

@AndrewMayne

AndrewMayne.com

Enjoy your day

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan – #BookReview – #psychologicalthrillers

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan

A Reading Ireland Month book

Book Blurb:

For fans of the compulsive psychological suspense of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a mother-daughter story—one running from a horrible truth, and the other fighting to reveal it—that twists and turns in shocking ways, from the internationally bestselling author of The Scholar and The Ruin.

First Rule: Make them like you.
Second Rule: Make them need you.
Third Rule: Make them pay.
They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system.
They think I’m working hard to impress them.
They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row.
They’re wrong. I’m going to bury him.

His Review:

Law schools across the nation have different academic statuses. Maine has very good schools but they pale to those in Virginia. Hannah Rokeby needs to fill her experience basket and applies for a position with “The Innocence Project” and Professor Robert Parekh. Although the positions have been filled, she is able to coerce the good professor with knowledge of events he would like to keep quiet.

Eight hundred clients were clamoring for assistance from The Innocence Project. One of the cases was “The Dandridge Case.” Dandridge had been found guilty of rape and murder and received a thirteen years to life sentence. His case was coming up for appeal the following week. Hannah wanted to be involved but another of the volunteers had been selected. Hannah devised a way to get her to quit the project.

Dervla writes a compelling tome into the life of a third-year law student. There are many hours spent reviewing the case as originally tried looking for loopholes.

After tricking the other member of a three-person review team into leaving for a job interview, she is put on the review team. She immediately starts investigating the entire case. Circumstances proceed and show that the investigation and discovery techniques leave a lot to be desired. Can the team prove that Dandridge had been unfairly tried and convicted?

Enjoy this book as you find that becoming a lawyer is not an easy task and one’s personal life can get in the way of hours of investigation. 4.5 stars – CE Williams

We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Kidnapping Thrillers, Psychological Thrillers
Publisher: William Morrow
ASIN: B0983LWC3J
Print Length: 304 pages
Publication Date: May 10, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link(s): The Murder Rule [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
Kobo

The Author: Award-winning, number one bestseller Dervla McTiernan has established herself as one of the biggest names in crime fiction. Her books have garnered critical acclaim around the world and sold over 400,000 copies in Australia and New Zealand alone.

In 2022, McTiernan returns with her first-ever standalone thriller, The Murder Rule. Inspired by the true story of a young law student who worked at the Innocence Project and eventually uncovered evidence which exonerated a man who had been in prison for 26 years, McTiernan has created an unforgettable, twisty thriller – the must-read novel of the year.

About Dervla:

Dervla McTiernan’s debut novel, The Rúin, is a critically acclaimed international bestseller published around the world. The Rúin won the Ned Kelly, Davitt and Barry Awards and was shortlisted for numerous others. It was on the Amazon US Best Book of the Year list 2018 and screen rights were snapped up by Colin Farrell’s production company and Hopscotch Features. Dervla’s second book, The Scholar, won the International Thriller Award and debuted straight into the Nielsen Bookscan Top 5 on release in 2019, and her third, The Good Turn, went straight to no.1, confirming her place as one of Australia’s best crime writers.

https://dervlamctiernan.com/

Instagram: @dervlamctiernan

Facebook and Twitter: @DervlaMcTiernan

Have a great weekend!

The Darkest Place: A Robin Lockwood Novel by Phillip Margolin – #BookReview – #legalthrillers

Book Blurb:

Defense attorney Robin Lockwood faces an unimaginable personal disaster and her greatest professional challenge in the next New York Times bestselling Phillip Margolin’s new legal thriller, The Darkest Place.

Robin Lockwood is an increasingly prominent defense attorney in the Portland community. A Yale graduate and former MMA fighter, she’s becoming known for her string of innovative and successful defense strategies. As a favor to a judge, Robin takes on the pro bono defense of a reprehensible defendant charged with even more reprehensible crimes. But what she doesn’t know—what she can’t know—is how this one decision, this one case, will wreak complete devastation on her life and plans.

As she recovers from those consequences, Robin heads home to her small town of Elk Grove and the bosom of her family. As she tries to recuperate, a unique legal challenge presents itself—Marjorie Loman, a surrogate, is accused of kidnapping the baby she carried for another couple, and assaulting that couple in the process. There’s no question that she committed these actions but that’s not the same as being guilty of the crime. As Robin works to defend her client, she learns that Marjorie Loman has been hiding under a fake identity and is facing a warrant for her arrest for another, even more serious crime. And buried within the truth may once again be unexpected, deadly consequences.

His Review:

Sequestered in a remote location in Oregon, Marjorie Loman was surprised by a knock on her door late at night. Two police officers were standing at her door. They give her the news that her husband’s body was found in an alley behind a trash can near Portland. Laughing might not have been the best response to the news!

Having your assets tied up in probate calls for desperate measures. Surrogates were being paid around $50,000 to carry another families’ child. The nine months would cover the period waiting for the courts to release their joint properties. She will then be well set for the rest of her life. Her husband had taken most of the couple’s assets and converted them to gold bars but no one knew where the bars were hidden.

Author Margolin always writes intricate plots with some clever twists. This book is no exception. I formed a quick empathy for Marjorie and did not understand why the people in Oregon were so caustic towards her. She wants to keep the baby after a nurse lets him sleep with her the night of his birth. The subsequent psychosis that followed that error made a very gripping tale. I was not aware of the post-partum problems associated with surrogate births.

The author held my interest throughout the book and kept me intrigued as well as educated me. I suggest the book to anyone who is considering surrogacy for overcoming the inability to have their own child. The author weaves parallel plots in a gripping manner and releases a very satisfying read. 5 stars – C.E. Williams

We’ve read two previous Robin Lockwood series novels, most recently A Matter of Life and Death, and in 2020 A Reasonable Doubt, and enjoyed both, although more so the former. We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Legal Thrillers, Kidnapping Thrillers, Women Sleuths
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ASIN: B092T8M4K8
Print Length: 320 pages
Publication Date: March 8, 2022
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: The Darkest Place [Amazon]
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Phillip Margolin - author — Phillip Margolin – author

The Author: I grew up in New York City and Levittown, New York. In 1965, I graduated from the American University in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor’s degree in government. I spent 1965 to 1967 in Liberia, West Africa, as a Peace Corps volunteer, graduated from New York University School of Law in 1970 as a night student. I went nights and worked as a junior high teacher in the South Bronx to support myself. My first job following law school was a clerkship with Herbert M. Schwab, the chief judge of the Oregon Court of Appeals, and from 1972 until 1996, I was in private practice, specializing in criminal defense at the trial and appellate levels. As an appellate attorney I have appeared before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the Oregon Supreme Court, and the Oregon Court of Appeals. As a trial attorney, I handled all sorts of criminal cases in state and federal court, and have represented approximately thirty people charged with homicide, several of whom faced the death penalty. I was the first Oregon attorney to use battered women’s syndrome to defend a woman accused of murdering her spouse.

Since 1996, I have been writing full-time. All of my novels have been bestsellers. Heartstone, my first novel, was nominated by the Mystery Writers of America for an Edgar for best original paperback mystery of 1978. My second novel, The Last Innocent Man, was made into an HBO movie. Gone, But Not Forgotten has been sold to more than twenty-five foreign publishers and was made into a miniseries starring Brooke Shields. It was also the Main Selection of the Literary Guild. After Dark was a Book of the Month Club selection. The Burning Man, my fifth novel, published in August 1996, was the Main Selection of the Literary Guild and a Reader’s Digest condensed book. My sixth novel, The Undertaker’s Widow, was published in 1998 and was a Book of the Month Club selection. Wild Justice (HarperCollins, September 2000) was a Main Selection of the Literary Guild, a selection of the Book of the Month Club, and was nominated for an Oregon Book Award. The Associate was published by HarperCollins in August 2001, and Ties that Bind was published by HarperCollins in March 2003. My tenth novel, Sleeping Beauty, was published by HarperCollins on March 23, 2004. Lost Lake was published by HarperCollins in March 2005 and was nominated for an Oregon Book Award. Proof Positive was published by HarperCollins in July 2006. Executive Privilege was published by HarperCollins in May 2008 and in 2009 was given the Spotted Owl Award for the Best Northwest Mystery. Fugitive was published by HarperCollins on June 2, 2009. Willamette Writers gave me the 2009 Distinguished Northwest Writers Award. My latest novel, Supreme Justice, was published by HarperCollins in May 2010. My next novel, Capitol Murder, will come out in April 2012.

On October 11, 2011, HarperCollins will publish Vanishing Acts, my first Young Adult novel, which I wrote with my daughter, Ami Margolin Rome. Also in October, the short story “The Case of the Purloined Paget,” which I wrote with my brother, Jerry, will be published by Random House in the anthology A Study in Sherlock.

In addition to my novels, I have published short stories and nonfiction articles in magazines and law journals. My short story “The Jailhouse Lawyer” was selected for the anthology The Best American Mystery Stories 1999. The House on Pine Terrace was selected for the anthology The Best American Mystery Stories 2010.

From 1996 to 2009 I was the president and chairman of the Board of Chess for Success. I am still heavily involved in the program, and returned to the board after a one-year absence in 2010. Chess for Success is a nonprofit charity that uses chess to teach study skills to elementary- and middle-school children in Title I schools . From 2007 to the present, I have been on the Board of Literary Arts, which sponsors the Oregon Book Awards, the Writers in the Schools program, and Portland Arts and Lectures.

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