#suspense – Page 4 – Rosepoint Publishing

The 6:20 Man: A Thriller by David Baldacci – #AudiobookReview – #ThrowbackThursday

#1 Best Seller in Crime Action Fiction

Book Blurb:

A cryptic murder pulls a former soldier turned financial analyst deep into the corruption and menace that prowl beneath the opulent world of finance, in #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci’s new thriller.

Every day without fail, Travis Devine puts on a cheap suit, grabs his faux-leather briefcase, and boards the 6:20 commuter train to Manhattan, where he works as an entry-level analyst at the city’s most prestigious investment firm. In the mornings, he gazes out the train window at the lavish homes of the uberwealthy, dreaming about joining their ranks. In the evenings, he listens to the fiscal news on his phone, already preparing for the next grueling day in the cutthroat realm of finance. Then one morning Devine’s tedious routine is shattered by an anonymous email: She is dead.

Sara Ewes, Devine’s coworker and former girlfriend, has been found hanging in a storage room of his office building—presumably a suicide, at least for now—prompting the NYPD to come calling on him. If that wasn’t enough, before the day is out, Devine receives another ominous visit, a confrontation that threatens to dredge up grim secrets from his past in the army unless he participates in a clandestine investigation into his firm. This treacherous role will take him from the impossibly glittering lives he once saw only through a train window, to the darkest corners of the country’s economic halls of power . . . where something rotten lurks. And apart from this high-stakes conspiracy, there’s a killer out there with their own agenda, and Devine is the bull’s-eye.

My Review:

Thoroughly bored and exhausted with his monotonous commute to the entry-level job as a financial analyst in an investment firm, the decorated ex-Army Ranger finds the life difficult after his military career came to an abrupt, somewhat ignominious end.

There is something he routinely checks out, however, the vision of a sweet young thing scantily clad or less lounging or swimming by the pool of an exclusive residential apartment. He’s not the only man on the train who awaits the scene with drooling interest every morning.

Then he is told a former girlfriend was found hanging in his office building and, yes, the authorities come looking for him. In a squeeze play with the feds, he is compelled to investigate her death but as his investigation progresses discovers there are matters that run much deeper than previously thought.

I rather enjoyed Travis Devine; down to earth, smart, and trying to squirm out of the fix he’s in while using those sources he’s cultivated from his past. Another interesting character is a Russian hacker who is Travis’ go-to source for all things black hat as well as one of his housemates.

These action thriller plots are never simple and the more complex, the convoluted—with twists and turns. Once again, we’ll expect to suspend some disbelief, but, hey, the characters are fun even if the storyline tends to meander. Not always fast-paced but entertaining and for the most part engaging, but for me—just a little long in the tooth.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Crime Action Fiction, Action Thriller & Suspense Fiction, Mystery Action & Adventure
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ASIN: B09VR4LQNY
Listening Length: 11 hrs 48 mins.
Narrators: Zachary Webber, Christine Lakin, Mela Lee
Publication Date: July 12, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The 6:20 Man [Amazon]

The Author: David Baldacci has been writing since childhood, when his mother gave him a lined notebook in which to write down his stories. (Much later, when David thanked her for being the spark that ignited his writing career, she revealed that she’d given him the notebook to keep him quiet, “because every mom needs a break now and then.”)

David published his first novel, ABSOLUTE POWER, in 1996. The feature film adaptation followed, with Clint Eastwood as its director and star. In total, David has published 48 novels for adults; all have been national and international bestsellers and several have been adapted for film and television. His novels have been translated into over 45 languages and sold in more than 80 countries, with 150 million copies sold worldwide. David has also published seven novels for younger readers.

David is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy programs across the United States.

#throwbackthursday

If Something Happens to Me: A Novel by Alex Finlay – #AudiobookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. The car door ripping open. The crushing blow to the head. The hands yanking him from the vehicle. His girlfriend Ali’s piercing scream as she is taken.

With no trace of Ali or the car, a cloud of suspicion hangs over Ryan. But with no proof and a good lawyer, he’s never charged, though that doesn’t matter to the podcasters and internet trolls. Now, Ryan has changed his last name, and entered law school. He’s put his past behind him.

Until, on a summer trip abroad to Italy with his law-school classmates, Ryan gets a call from his father: Ali’s car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. Inside are two dead men and a cryptic note with five words written on the envelope in Ali’s handwriting: If something happens to me…

Then, halfway around the world, the unthinkable happens: Ryan sees the man who has haunted his dreams since that night.

As Ryan races from the rolling hills of Tuscany, to a rural village in the UK, to the glittering streets of Paris in search of the truth, he has no idea that his salvation may lie with a young sheriff’s deputy in Kansas working her first case, and a mobster in Philadelphia who’s experienced tragedy of his own.

In classic Alex Finlay form, If Something Happens to Me is told by several distinct, compelling characters whose paths intersect, detonating into a story of twist after pulse-pounding twist. The novel cements Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

My Review:

It appears there are many more people who enjoyed this one than I did. I listened to the audiobook and will add kudos to the female narrator. But for some reason, I had a problem getting into it and staying with it.

Three POVs, Ryan being the main character, who kicks off the backbone of the storyline by reliving the night he was pulled from his girlfriend’s car and sustained a blow to the head. He can only remember small glitches of that night, but remembers her screams as she is taken. He escapes an arrest for her disappearance, but public opinion as well as his schoolmates tries and convicts him. He changes his name and goes to law school, but it catches up with him in Italy five years later.

We are good so far, huh?

Okay, I’m digging the female deputy. Poppy McGee is earnest, giving it her all. This is it for her as her military experience didn’t go all that well. She is new on the job, suspects she’ll be handing out traffic tickets, when small town law enforcement needs her to follow up on leads for the car pulled out of the local lake with two male bodies inside. It could happen—it’s a small town remember (Leavenworth, KS). Coincidentally, it’s the missing girls’ car.

Okay, so behind the scenes, there is a little mischief going on with the local mob. Now we start getting twists, tropes, and the suspense ramps up. I love how the mob grandpa nurtures his grandson—it’s sweet—never mind what he’s doing with his business—the revenge third of the plot.

Then there’s the cryptic note found in the submerged car and there is much to do regarding decoding what the note says. But, generally, there is a lot going on and the narrative flips between one of the three POVs until there is gradually a connection and an audible, “Ohhh…”.

So, yeah, it is entertaining, engaging in sections while others appeared to lag a bit (for me anyway). Suspend a little disbelief and just go with the flow as the conclusion might just do it for you.

The CE read two of his previous books, What Have We Done in 2022, and enjoyed both.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Suspense
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B0CKM1LNKW
Listening Length: 7 hrs 16 mins
Narrators: Helen Laser, John Pirhalla, Paul Dateh
Publication Date: May 28, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: If Something Happens to Me [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Alex Finlay is the author of the 2021 breakout novel, EVERY LAST FEAR, the 2022’s GoodReads Choice nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller, THE NIGHT SHIFT, and his latest 2023 release, WHAT HAVE WE DONE. His work has been an Indie Next pick, a LibraryReads selection, an Amazon Editor’s Best Thriller, as well as a CNN, Newsweek, E!, BuzzFeed, Business Week, Goodreads, Parade, PopSugar, and Reader’s Digest best or most anticipated thrillers of the year. Alex’s novels have been translated into nineteen languages and are sold around the world. All of his books have been option for film and television, and EVERY LAST FEAR is in development for a series on a major streaming service. Learn more at https://alexfinlaybooks.com/

#TuesdayBookBlog

Book Tour and Giveaway: The Heaven Spot (a Novel) by Mary Frances Hill

Book Blurb

The Heaven Spot is a modern-day mystery set in Palm Beach, Florida, that depicts opioid addict Maggie Robert’s desperate attempt to come to terms with her estranged daughter, Lilly’s, murder.

When divorcée Maggie Roberts stumbles into her Virginia bookstore for the last time to close up shop, she expects the morning to be rough. The business failure is hers alone. She took all those opioids. She relapsed. She vows to stay clean and regroup. But as she packs up her books, two cops appear and inform her that her estranged daughter, Lilly, has died in West Palm Beach.

Heartbroken, Maggie heads to Florida to find out why Lilly passed and how she lived. But when she arrives in the Sunshine State, she barely recognizes the young woman in the morgue.

Maggie doubts she’ll ever forgive herself for her past mistakes with Lilly but believes that if she remains local, she can push the detective to focus on Lilly’s case and learn about her daughter. But as she connects the dots, Maggie wonders the unthinkable—could she have played a part in Lilly’s death while relapsing and blackout-high? Can she live with herself if she did?

Book Details

Book Title:  The Heaven Spot (A Novel) by Mary Frances Hill
Category:  Adult Fiction (18+), 296 pages
Genre: Thriller/Mystery
Publisher: Mary Frances Hill
Release Date:  February 2024
Content Rating: PG-13+M:

The story is about a recovering opioid addict (previously a soccer mom from Virginia) who travels to Florida to solve her estranged daughter’s (a runaway’s) murder and to learn about the life her daughter was leading.

There are curse words. The F-word is used once.
There are no sex scenes, but the mom discovers that her daughter was sexually fluid and in relationships with a woman and an older man. (separately/not a throuple)
There is no graphic violence.
The novel does deal with mature themes like addiction, suicide, and adultery as well as grief, guilt, the power of friendship, and forgiveness. However, given the protagonist’s addiction issues, it can be a bit raw at times.

My Thoughts

A thriller mystery that is heavily family drama, the storyline is unique with flawed characters and tragic loss.

Maggie Roberts is an opioid addict who saw the disappearance of her daughter Lilly three years ago. Now having been informed of her death in Palm Beach, Florida, she is obsessed with discovering why and who would have killed her.

Lilly was apparently an exceptionally talented artist. Her art was expressed in large graffiti murals placed in very unusual locations.

“The heaven spot? The most dangerous place to do her art. Risk…it’s how you gain cred from fellow writers.”

It’s a whole artistic world out there I’ve only marveled at from afar on occasion.

Lilly had created a reputation, traveled with both unique and dangerous characters, and was herself deeply flawed.

Seeking to find the truth and finding difficult answers both broke Maggie’s heart and gave her a new fierce admiration for her daughter. The realization that she’d never be able to right the wrongs now or say she was sorry redoubled her grief.

I had difficulty investing in Maggie or her daughter, a society alien to me, though the author does a terrific job of developing both her main and support characters. Tension gradually builds as Maggie gains each new nugget of information and there are twists and turns with Maggie questioning her own culpability at every turn.

It’s a rather sad story that includes triggers of murder and addiction. There were several edit misses though they did not change my investment in figuring out Lilly’s story. I was given a copy of this book for the book tour and these opinions are my own.

BUY THE BOOK:
Amazon
add to goodreads

About the Author

Mary Frances Hill - author Mary Frances Hill was born in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. The daughter of a music professor and an elementary school teacher, Mary obtained a master’s degree in counseling psychology and worked as a therapist before raising two children. Though Mary currently lives in Southern California with her Russian Blue and Scottish Straight cats, her Pyredoodle puppy, her golfer husband, and her adult son and daughter, she spent many happy vacations at her house on Palm Beach Island—the setting of her most recent novel, The Heaven Spot. Mary is an avid dog walker and home renovator and loves binge-watching true crime documentaries and mysteries. Mary’s debut novel, The Worm Man, was published in 2022.

Connect with the author: Website ~ Goodreads

Giveaway

Win a signed copy of THE HEAVEN SPOT (a novel) by Mary Frances Hill (one winner / USA and Canada only) (ends May 17)

V Williams

The Hunter by Tana French – #AudiobookReview – #ReadingIrelandMonth24

Cal Hooper #2

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction

Book Blurb:

An Instant New York Times Bestseller

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by the Washington Post, TIME Magazine, BBC, TODAY, Elle, CrimeReads, and more

“Hailed as the queen of Irish crime fiction, French spins a taut tale of retribution, sacrifice, and family.”—TIME

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Searcher and “one of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox), a spellbinding new novel set in the Irish countryside.

It’s a blazing summer when two men arrive in a small village in the West of Ireland. One of them is coming home. Both of them are coming to get rich. One of them is coming to die.

Cal Hooper took early retirement from Chicago PD and moved to rural Ireland looking for peace. He’s found it, more or less: he’s built a relationship with a local woman, Lena, and he’s gradually turning Trey Reddy from a half-feral teenager into a good kid going good places. But then Trey’s long-absent father reappears, bringing along an English millionaire and a scheme to find gold in the townland, and suddenly everything the three of them have been building is under threat. Cal and Lena are both ready to do whatever it takes to protect Trey, but Trey doesn’t want protecting. What she wants is revenge.

From the writer who is “in a class by herself,” (The New York Times), a nuanced, atmospheric tale that explores what we’ll do for our loved ones, what we’ll do for revenge, and what we sacrifice when the two collide.

My Review:

The good ole boys are back and more than happy to render opinions, considered or not—in their own way and in their own time. Book 2 picks up with Cal and Trey as main characters, Cal still struggling with his transition from retired Chicago cop to rural village in the west of Ireland.

Trey, the teen, is still exhibiting all the anti-social, rebelliousness as before, worsening when her absentee dad reappears with an English millionaire. Trey sets her venomous eyes on revenge and proceeds to set in motion an action that, combined with a tale of gold in them thar hills, sets the village into a frenzy of conflict.

I hope the narrator gets paid by the word cause this is a long one. Probably much too long, though in all honesty, I must confess to listening to hours of spirited brogue-studded pub discussions partly just to hear the unique Irish vocabulary amid lilting sounds.

“They are not dishonest men, or anyway not what they or Trey would consider dishonest, not one of them would ever so much rob a package of mints from Noreen’s and between any of them a spit and a handshake would be as solid as a legal contract…(but) an Englishman wanting to reap from their land falls under different rules.”

In fact, most of the book is filled with dialogue and if the author is a master of thrillers, she might also be considered the mistress of dialogue. Like a senior who wanders from one subject to another, it just keeps going while gaining very little in advancement of the plot.

As the plot begins to reveal the sub-plot…wait: Is the main plot Johnny coming home and Trey taking umbrage or the supposed possibility of gold? And then, the discovery of the body. Hooboy! Now Cal gets to shine, if somewhat in the background as this would appear all Trey’s episode.

I enjoyed Cal’s part in mentoring Trey in The Searcher and appreciate he’s out of his jurisdiction, but this is where the well-plotted (if overly long) storyline begins to add a few subtle twists.

Still, those long-winded, beer-driven lively and animated discussions in the pub between all those ole boys deciding whether or not to throw in money to look for gold offered a number of humorous breaks from the more serious Trey foreground leg of the plot.

Wholly atmospheric, character-driven tale of Irish proportions. If you like to ferret out the culprit, it may not be real difficult for you, or maybe I wasn’t paying attention, but I was caught by this one. There were only so many it could have been but had my money on someone else.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedurals, Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ISBN: ‎ 0593493435
ASIN: B0C7729CF8
Listening Length: 16 hrs 24 mins
Narrator: Roger Clark
Publication Date: March 5, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Hunter [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Add to Goodreads

The Author: Tana French is the author of In the Woods, The Likeness, Faithful Place, Broken Harbor, The Secret Place, and The Trespasser. Her books have won awards including the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, and Barry awards, the Los Angeles Times Award for Best Mystery/Thriller, and the Irish Book Award for Crime Fiction. She lives in Dublin with her family.

The Lost Pope by Glenn Cooper – #BookReview – #Suspense

Rosepoint Publishing: Five Stars

Book Blurb:

In this action-packed thriller, a Harvard theology professor uncovers religious and papal history—and plenty of conspiracy.

Cal Donovan, a theology professor at Harvard, receives an urgent message from a former graduate student, Samia Tedros. Now a museum conservator in Cairo, Samia has discovered a miraculous fragment of papyrus with three unknown lines from the Gospel of Mary Magdalene so explosive that a wealthy man is willing to kill to ensure no one ever sees it.

At the Vatican, another drama is developing. The new Pope has defied centuries of tradition and appointed a nun, Sister Elisabetta Celestino, as his secretary of state. Powerful insiders are outraged that a woman now sits as the second most influential person at the Vatican, and they plot to destroy her.

When Samia shows up at Cal’s doorstep in the dead of night, he is drawn into a deadly competition to possess a papyrus with the power to rescue Sister Elisabetta and change the course of Christianity.

His Review:

There have been a number of gospels not accepted by the church as part of the canon of the church. The Gospel of Mary is one such example. Depending on which book you read, Mary Magdalene was either a harlot or a casual follower of Christ. Some books maintain she was a consort of his.

This book maintains that she was the wife and ardent follower of Simon Peter and ardent follower of Jesus the Christ. She was very instrumental in preaching the gospel and message of Christ. She was possibly a disciple similar to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Another early proponent of the faith was the Apostle Paul. He was struck with his faith on his way to persecute and bring to trial early Christians preaching the teachings of a Rabii who was tried and crucified on a cross.

The Nicene Council in 324 was more interested in keeping the teachings of Paul and the four primary gospels. Mary was shuffled to the side and her teachings considered heretical. However, an old funerary mask discovered contains a snippet of the Gospel according to Mary, which would point her out as being the second pope after Simon Peter. Neither the church nor any of the current hierarchy within the church will recognize her teaching as being legitimate.

The piece of her teachings found in the mask historically alters the Nicene Council’s edicts and infuriates some current day Catholics. Those interested in maintaining the status quo want to disavow the piece of papyrus by radiocarbon dating and historical analysis. Remarkably some of those historians and scholars working on the project wind up dead! This entire book is mesmerizing! I suggest reading this book and making up your own mind. 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.

Book Details:

Genre: Suspense, Suspense Thrillers, Literature & Fiction
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
ISBN:1538721260
ASIN: B0BHHGPNZQ
Print Length: 385 pages
Publication Date: June 6, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

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

The Author: Glenn Cooper is an internationally bestselling thriller writer. His books have been translated into 31 languages and have sold over 6 million copies. To date Cooper has written seven novels all of which have become top-ten international bestsellers.

His Library of the Dead trilogy, is currently being adapted as a TV series by Pioneer Pictures.

Cooper’s novels are suspenseful intellectual, conspiratorial thrillers characterized by multiple interlacing time shifts which are often rooted in real historical events. In addition each of his books spotlights a large philosophical theme: fate and predestination, the nature of evil, conceptions of the afterlife, resurrection, and the interface between science and faith.

Cooper graduated from Harvard University, Magna Cum Laude, with a B.A. in Archeology. He attended Tufts University School of Medicine then practiced internal medicine and infectious diseases in hospitals, clinics, and refugee camps in conflict zones before joining the biotechnology industry where he was the CEO of several publicly traded companies. He is currently the chairman of Lascaux Media, a diversified media company which produces thrillers and horror films.

Rosepoint Recommended-5 Stars

Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes – #AudiobookReview – #TuesdayBookBlog

Best Literature & Fiction

Nominee for Best Fiction (2023)

Book Blurb:

Who are you when you are forced to walk in someone else’s shoes?

Nisha Cantor lives the globetrotting life of the seriously wealthy, until her husband announces a divorce and cuts her off. Nisha is determined to hang onto her glamorous life. But in the meantime, she must scramble to cope–she doesn’t even have the shoes she was, until a moment ago, standing in.

That’s because Sam Kemp—in the bleakest point of her life—has accidentally taken Nisha’s gym bag. But Sam hardly has time to worry about a lost gym bag—she’s struggling to keep herself and her family afloat. When she tries on Nisha’s six-inch high Christian Louboutin red crocodile shoes, the resulting jolt of confidence that makes her realize something must change—and that thing is herself.

Full of Jojo Moyes’ signature humor, brilliant storytelling, and warmth, Someone Else’s Shoes is a story about how just one little thing can suddenly change everything.

My Review:

Well, gee, I do hate eating crow.

Guess I’d formed an opinion of the author back when I read The Giver of Stars after having read The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson. I read the latter for a book club at the time and given that Book Woman was published first, the former was wallowing in controversy. Still, no denying the wildly different writing style.

Well, different here is the theme. The women couldn’t be at more opposite ends of the spectrum of living. Sam is married with a daughter and the sole breadwinner as her husband lost his job and his father about the same time.

The depression that hit him has been a one-two punch he’s not moved beyond since. He spends his time as a couch potato. Sam is exhausted, both at home and at work where her supervisor picks at everything she does even though she appears to be quite effective at her position.

Nisha, an American, on the other hand, is living with an extremely wealthy and powerful husband, frequent fliers, while their son is living in an American boarding school. So it’s with a shock that she discovers her gym bag with her clothes and her husband’s favorite red Louboutin shoes were switched with someone else’s.

Sam, however, was in a hurry rushing to meetings and without time to return them immediately, simply wears what she finds in the bag to each successive meeting where she totally kills it. In the shoes and the clothes, she is transformed. She looks good. Feels good. Projects confidence and power.

So, yeah, Nisha comes off as wholly unsympathetic, a narcissist and spoiled. She is shocked when she is not allowed back into their posh apartment and then in succession discovers that along with her clothes, has no money, no bank cards that will be accepted, nothing. Her husband has completely cut her off—no explanation.

It’s a multi-layered, complex novel. The main characters are remarkable opposites, well-developed and believable. As the plot line progresses, Nisha’s character softens and Sam’s character begins to push her boundaries. There are interesting support characters who particularly near the conclusion create a bonded sisterhood. That part was fun, if not pushing disbelief.

Which brings me to the star rating. First, I had difficulty believing a wealthy woman would be working out, rubbing elbows, with the ordinary middle class. I loved the surprise Nisha saved for Carl but also had difficulty thinking he wouldn’t have known immediately who was the snitch. Also, while I savored that part, there were epilogues and the first was appreciated. The third…possibly TMI?

Otherwise, on the whole, I enjoyed the book and will now have to admit I’ll be looking for other books by this author. The narrator in this audiobook did an incredible job.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Literary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Romance
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B0B7XWYTCH
Listening Length: 12 hrs 21 mins
Narrator: Daisy Ridley
Publication Date: February 7, 2023
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Someone Else’s Shoes [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

The Author: Jojo Moyes is a novelist and journalist. Her books include the bestsellers Me Before You, After You and Still Me, The Girl You Left Behind, The One Plus One and her short story collection Paris for One and Other Stories. The Giver of Stars is her most recent bestseller and Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick. Her novels have been translated into forty-six languages, have hit the number one spot in twelve countries and have sold over thirty-eight million copies worldwide.

Me Before You has now sold over fourteen million copies worldwide and was adapted into a major film starring Sam Claflin and Emilia Clarke. Jojo lives in Essex with her family.

The Great Gimmelmans by Lee Matthew Goldberg – #BookReview – #HeistCrime

Book Blurb:

Middle child Aaron Gimmelman watches as his family goes from a mild-mannered reform Jewish clan to having over a million dollars of stolen money stuffed in their RV’s cabinets while being pursued by the FBI and loan sharks. But it wasn’t always like that. His father Barry made a killing as a stockbroker, his mother Judith loved her collection of expensive hats, his older sister Steph was obsessed with pop stars, and little sister Jenny loved her stuffed possum, Seymour.

After losing all their money in the Crash of 1987, the family starts stealing from convenience stores, but when they hit a bank, they realize the talent they possess. The money starts rolling in and brings the family closer together, whereas back at home, no one had any time for bonding due to their busy schedules. But Barry’s desire for more, more, more will take its toll on the Gimmelmans, and Aaron is forced into an impossible choice: turn against his father, or let his family fall apart.

From Jersey, down to an Orthodox Jewish community in Florida where they hide out, and up to California, The Great Gimmelmans goes on a madcap ride through the 1980s. Filled with greed and love and the meaning of religion and tradition until the walls of the RV and the feds start closing in on the family, this thrilling literary tale mixes Michael Chabon and the Coen Brothers with equal parts humor and pathos.

BUCKLE UP!

My Review:

Well, knock me over with a feather.

I’m speechless.

Well, almost.

Nothing here I expected. Caught off-guard, more than once, the way this very well crafted, fast-paced narrative followed the thoughts of middle child Aaron Gimmelman. Aaron has an older and younger sister. His younger sister Jenny is a bit (no—a lot) different than other folks. But then, so are his mother and father.

Having been a successful and upper middle-class family, Aaron’s father Barry lost his job as a stockbroker in the crash of 1987. Not prepared, no clue what to do, where to go, or how to proceed, Aaron takes it upon himself to steal a few things for the family.

But his father, seeing a success replace the failures, takes on more and Aaron discovers he cannot close that Pandora’s box. The 80s grips his mom and dad and creates a monster he could not have foreseen. Caught between his father and the family, he goes along for the ride—literally—as the only remaining asset they have left is used to escape, first to Florida (and relatives) and then to California.

There is humor, but the humor is permeated with pathos. My mind kept reeling as the plot continued to spiral down into ever-deepening crevices into which none would scale unscathed. Disbelief rises and the reader is rooting for some way out, hoping for sanity to win out—the children to prevail—but this dysfunctional family has already gone too far.

I read with horror wondering how the parents could have degenerated this completely. The youngest child is scary—in fact, the characters are very well developed. Perhaps that was the problem, so real, could this actually happen? The writing style is poignant, the tragedy searing, the humor genuine.

“The sun peeking over the horizon, an orange flame mixed with purple dust.”

It’s a strongly mixed emotional message, using coming-of-age, humor, noir and thriller elements in themes of religion and family. No ending would satisfy everyone and my heart was crushed, the injustice of it all. Or was it? I kept going through the “what ifs.” What would you have done with Jenny? This book will hook and grip through the last heavy sigh. Brilliant, captivating storytelling. I’ll look for this author again.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Recommended!

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Heist Crime, Heist Thrillers, Suspense
Publisher: Level Best Books
ASIN: B0CCSPZD8Z
Print Length: 442 pages
Publication Date: November 14, 2023
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Lee Matthew Goldberg is the author of twelve novels including THE ANCESTOR and THE MENTOR along with his five-book DESIRE CARD series. His YA series RUNAWAY TRAIN is currently with actress Raegan Revord from Young Sheldon attached to develop his original written pilot. THE GREAT GIMMELMANS comes out in 2023. He is a finalist for an Anthony Award and nominated for the Prix du Polar. After graduating with an MFA from the New School, he’s been published in multiple languages and his writing has also appeared as a contributor in CrimeReads, Pipeline Artists, LitHub, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Millions, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, LitReactor, Mystery Tribune, Monkeybicycle, Fiction Writers Review, Cagibi, Necessary Fiction, the anthology Dirty Boulevard, The Montreal Review, The Adirondack Review, The New Plains Review, Maudlin House and others. His pilots and screenplays have been finalists in Script Pipeline, Book Pipeline, Stage 32, We Screenplay, the New York Screenplay, Screencraft, and the Hollywood Screenplay contests. He is the co-curator of The Guerrilla Lit Reading Series and lives in New York City. Follow him at LeeMatthewGoldberg.com

His favorite authors are classic writers like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Hermann Hesse, Emily Bronte, W. Somerset Maugham and Raymond Chandler. For modern authors, he’s been influenced by Jay McInerney, Bret Easton Ellis, Denis Johnson, John Irving, and Paul Auster.

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Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena – #AudiobookReview – #psychologicalthriller

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

Welcome to Stanhope. A safe neighborhood. A place for families.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery’s family declares her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery’s neighbors become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Avery Wooler?

Nothing will prepare you for the truth.

My Review:

Not my first rodeo with this author and at this point I can say you never know what kind of twists her mind will contrive for a plot that can get you spinning.

Here, there are two families living in the same neighborhood that confront a traumatic event. The hubby of one family is having an affair and it’s the woman he is seeing that sets him off when she decides to end it. He does, indeed, have a short fuse.

As always, you never know what goes on behind closed doors and while they look ideal, happy families are not always true. The author has a way of building the characters so it’s easy to see them as suspicious before flipping to the next scenario.

Both families have children. The young daughter of the guy who has just been rejected goes missing. Of course it’s easy to suspect him. The main characters have their problems, issues, and the child it turns out is not one who endears herself to many. She is unlikable and has had run-ins both at home and at school, is under watch for behavioral problems. I felt the most sympathy for the older brother of the nine-year-old.

As the tension builds and the couples each bear the brunt of the investigation, relationships begin to falter. The child’s father steadfastly denies any wrongdoing and appears as baffled as the next as to what could have happened to his daughter. The mother is ready to believe the worst.

As the storyline hurtles to the conclusion, there is yet another twist only considered briefly. Yes, while I’m right in a small way, the writer manages to take it several creepy levels further into psychotic and the ending turns shocking.

Having admitted to reading one of her other books, The Couple Next Door, you’d have thought I might have been prepared.

I wasn’t. Like her mother kept wailing, “She’s just a nine-year-old child.”

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Women’s Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B0BL9TM983
Listening Length: 9 hrs 28 mins
Narrator: January LaVoy
Publication Date: July 25, 2023
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Everyone Here is Lying [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Rosepoint Publishing: Four stars

Shari Lapena - author — Courtesy Goodreads Author Profile

The Author: Shari Lapena worked as a lawyer and as an English teacher before writing fiction. Her debut thriller, The Couple Next Door was a global bestseller.

Happy Thursday