This Little Family by Ines Bayard

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher 4th Estate in exchange for an honest review.

Occasionally you read a book that will haunt you forever. This is one of those books.

This Little Family is not really the book I expected going in and I think the blurb is actually fairly misleading. This is not really a psychological thriller or horror, except in the sense of it being a real-life horror. This is the story of Marie, a poor woman who is raped by her boss and then through a series of circumstances, forced to give birth to the child. She then goes through some of the worst postpartum depression I've ever read about, all depicted and described in heart-breaking detail.

This is not the kind of book someone 'enjoys' but I absolutely could not put it down. The writing is superb and there is a kind of car-crash fascination with the constant barrage of bad luck and psychological trauma Marie goes through. I kept reading hoping something would work out better for her, knowing from the prologue that it wouldn't. At the same time, this book is incredibly honest and sensitive in the way it portrays Marie (in my opinion at least). Nothing is gratuitous or unnecessary, and it all feels like a very real portrayal of someone's pain.

If you're looking for a reading experience that might profoundly change you as a person or a deep exploration of a truly awful situation, then this is the book for you. If you want a typical thriller with twists and turns and psychological tension, then ignore the marketing. Thankfully this book ended up appealing to me anyway, far more than most thrillers can, but I do wonder how many people will be mislead and unfairly rate the book due to the poor choice of marketing. It really does deserve better

Overall Rating:

This is the Way the World Ends by Jen Wilde

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK, Atom in exchange for an honest review.

This book is not what I expected.

This is the Way the World Ends bills itself as a YA thriller of sorts, at least from the vague description, but it is more of a dystopian than I was expecting. When Waverly gets the chance to attend an exclusive party she could never afford, she jumps at going. Unfortunately while she is there, the world literally starts to end and she discovers there has been an evil plot by the elite and wealthy to make sure only the 'appropriate' kind of people survive.

I must confess, my favourite part of this book was before any of the party stuff happened. I was enjoying reading about Waverly and her friends, and I found the reveal that the world was literally ending to be jarring and not what I wanted. Yes, it's there in the title but so many titles like this are metaphorical, especially in YA. It seems to be trying to come across as much more of a Gossip Girl/Pretty Little Liars vibe from the blurb, and this is not accurate at all.

Putting that aside however, this book was fine. I think it skews close to the unbearable in terms of the 'wokeness' for me, and I say that as someone who adores representation in books. The rep was just a bit too deliberate and obvious in a clumsy way, with it being brought up almost constantly in ways which were unrealistic and didn't make sense. This is compounded by the villains, a bunch of old, white rich men. I hate people like that as much as the next feminist, but it was lacking the depth and realism to stop it being cartoonish. I support the intention, I just think the execution wasn't the best. This is especially clear when it comes to Freddie, the nice guy best friend who is just genuinely a nice guy for the most part, but gets punished by the narrative for...being male?

It also ends on a cliffhanger/sequel hook and that was a real pet peeve for me. The pacing felt a bit odd while I was reading it, and it was painfully clear by the end that it was purely to leave material for the next book. It didn't feel like a complete story by itself and that is always disappointing.

Overall, this book is a ton of fun in parts and it was nice to see such a wide range of representation. I just wish it had all been executed a bit better, and also that the blurb of the book told me more what kind of genre/experience to expect

Overall Rating:

The Dinner Guest by B P Walter

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter in exchange for an honest review.

Sometimes thrillers are just okay and sadly I must add The Dinner Guest to that pile. Though it has two narrators, this book primarily tells the story of Charlie, a rich influencer who is struggling to raise his son, Titus, with his husband, Matthew. Titus is going through his teenage years and his parents aren't sure how to handle it when he reveals he is having sex. Furthermore, Charlie feels Matthew is hiding something from him. The plot kicks off properly when they run into our other narrator Rachel, a woman who has engineered herself into their lives for her own unknown purposes. You learn from the prologue that Rachel will turn herself in for Matthew's murder by the time the book is through, but what led to that situation?

For a book called The Dinner Guest, I expected a little more focus on the dinner party itself. This is a very basic thriller with no real theme, which means the title could have been anything from the plot really. If you're expecting the actual dinner party to be significant beyond somewhere for a character to be murdered, then you will be sadly disappointed.

The characters were well-written for a book of this kind, although I wasn't particularly fond of any of them. Rachel probably ended up being my favourite but Charlie was very insufferable. It felt like him and Matthew viewed Titus as a pet rather than a son, and this was something that was kind of addressed but not really in a way which made me satisfied it was a deliberate decision from the author and not just a result of convenience. Titus neatly comes in and out of the plot as needed and might as well not exist when he's not directly being discussed. He seems the least real out of the characters and the book suffered from it.

As this all seems very negative, now is the time to stress I didn't hate this book. It has a decent plot and I couldn't predict what was going to happen, and it also makes a fair attempt to discuss some wider social issues. There was just nothing that really wowed me or made it stand out among the thriller market. If you need a thriller to pass the time, you could do a lot worse than this. It's just a shame it had nothing new to offer readers.

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Watch Her Fall by Erin Kelly

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Hodder & Stoughton in exchange for an honest review.

I love books about ballet, especially if those books have a dark twist. Watch Her Fall caught my attention almost immediately but I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from the blurb. I actually think the blurb is fairly misleading so I will give you a spoiler-free summary of the plot.

Watch Her Fall is the story of Ava, the top ballet dancer at the intensely strict school run by her father. She has a complicated relationship with her dad as he rules the ballet with an iron fist and hates her displaying any kind of creativity. As they begin a production of Swan Lake, Ava becomes increasingly paranoid about her father replacing her with another dancer. When that dancer becomes injured however, she realises she is ill-equipped for the real world and begins to plot how to take over Ava's life.

This is not a thriller about someone being messed with by a mysterious figure, at least not past the 20% mark. What this is is a thriller driven by characters and a plot which goes in a very different direction than you would expect it to. I wouldn't say I was ever surprised by this book which some people might see as a negative, but I was genuinely enthralled and the lack of twists didn't stop me enjoying the story one bit.

The main negative of this book is that it does a lot of 'flashback' narrative. That is, an event will happen and then it will switch POV to another character and take us back in time for a bit to see the events leading up to the thing we just read about. Sometimes this is welcome, sometimes I was uninterested. It definitely slowed the pace down which isn't a positive in a thriller. Still, I did appreciate the depth we got to know the characters to and it does build a really complete and complex story. I can see how it might build suspense for some readers if you don't think the surprises are obvious.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Kelly is clearly very talented at crafting thrillers with a unique setting and interesting characters. Having read/experienced a fair amount of 'dark ballet' media, I was pleased to see this book had new things to offer still. I think this book is definitely worth a read if you're looking for a compelling thriller, and I am eager to try Kelly's other work now I've seen her writing skills.

Overall Rating:

Revenge of the Sluts by Natalie Walton

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Wattpad Books in exchange for an honest review.

I was immediately captivated by the premise of Revenge of the Sluts. How could I not be with such a provocative title? This is the story of Eden, a high school reporter who gets caught up in a news story when naked pictures of her fellow students are leaked. She is banned from reporting on the issue but is determined to find who is responsible and bring the girls justice.

I was hoping for a little bit more of a team-up from the girls and Eden based on the blurb, and sadly I was disappointed with this aspect. Instead Eden is mostly working alone or observing what the Slut Squad are doing rather than actively teaming up with them herself. I almost wish her best friend Ronnie had been the main character instead because she felt like she had more fire and more of a drive to her character. Eden was likeable but she was also very meek, and a story of this kind needs a passionate protagonist.

Having said that, I loved what we saw of the Slut Squad. Sloane was a fantastic character with the perfect amount of depth. She owned her desire to have sex and also orchestrated most of the interesting protests in this book. Again, she could have made a great protagonist but she was a brilliant side character nonetheless. I wish we'd gotten to know more of the girls in the Slut Squad but she was a good face for the group for sure.

Overall, Revenge of the Sluts raises some good talking points surrounding teenage sexuality and how that sexuality can be used against you through no fault of your own. I felt it covered these topics well and made for an interesting story, I just wish that the feminist angle had been focused on a little bit more. This could have been a story about a really empowering group of girls and instead, it just falls a bit flat. I still recommend it but perhaps set your expectations a little lower than I did,

Overall Rating:

Little Bones by N V Peacock

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HarperCollins UK Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Little Bones is a thriller with a lot of elements. At its core, it's the story of Cherry, a woman who is the daughter of a famous serial killer, Mr. Bones. When a child in her local area goes missing, a new podcast accuses her of being involved. Next her own son vanishes and she must deal with trying to find out what's happened to him whilst also being accused of murdering him herself.

I was pleasantly surprised by this thriller. Ordinarily I don't like missing children books, and I wouldn't actually have requested this ARC if I'd known the main character's child also went missing (this happens very early on but is absent from the blurb). Having said that, this completely won me over by the end. Cherry was a fantastically complex protagonist and I loved it when the book focused on her childhood with her serial killer father and how it had affected her as an adult. These moments were infrequent but fantastic when they happened.

The main strength of this thriller is it manages to be interesting, which sounds like a low bar but honestly it does it so well. There are plenty of characters and what's more, they have a role in the narrative beyond 'potential suspect'. This isn't an edge-of-your-seat thriller but it has a solid story and you feel like Cherry is a real person acting mostly reasonable (she still makes the odd thriller protagonist mistake but I can forgive her for that). I wasn't sure how it was going to end and I found the eventual ending satisfying. It does go on a bit after the ending but that might have been due to me being more used to written thrillers which I can read faster than listening.

Speaking of the audiobook, I was pretty pleased with the narrator. I liked the different voices and it made it really easy to follow what was going on, even whilst doing other tasks. I have two minor gripes: firstly, the voice for Mr. Bones was a little annoying just because it was so gruff and the use of 'mon cherie' was so repetitive. I also found it very annoying to listen to the phrase 'Little Bones' so many times, though this is a fault of the author and not the narrator. I couldn't help thinking it would make a fantastic drinking game.

Overall, this is a solid and entertaining thriller and definitely worth the listen/read if you're a fan of the genre. Just be aware that it is a missing child story primarily as I feel this aspect is hidden somewhat (at least, the fact the main character also loses her child is hidden) and the blurb does suggest more of a focus on the unreliable narrator angle which isn't a big part of it. But I thoroughly enjoyed Little Bones and would strongly suggest checking it out.

Overall Rating:

Secret Santa by Andrew Shaffer

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Quirk Books in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good themed horror book. The sound of a Christmas horror set in an 80s office was too good to resist. Alas, Secret Santa feels very mismarketed to me. This isn't really a horror book, at least not in the way it's implied to be. Secret Santa tells the story of Lussi, a woman who gets a job at a publishing office after the boss dies. Soon after, she receives a cursed object in the company's secret santa exchange. The blurb says that 'Suddenly, her coworkers begin falling victim to a series of horrific accidents akin to a George Romero movie,' but that simply doesn't happen. One coworker dies quite gruesomely but it's not really a slew of slasher kills. Instead we get a weird cult plot and a lot of scenes of Lussi going around, trying to get clues.

I will say, I did really like Lussi as a protagonist. She was smart, interesting and I cared about her life. She was probably my favourite part of the book and I wish she'd been put in a more interesting plot. I also liked the elements of the publishing world and I thought these created potential for a good story. Sadly the book also moves away from the office atmosphere a fair bit, and I never really felt like her coworkers mattered much in the grand scheme of things.

If this book had been marketed as a crime noir or something similar, I think it would have better luck reaching an audience who might appreciate it. As it is, I lost interest as soon as I realised this wasn't going to be the kind of book I thought I was going to get based off the cover and blurb. I don't tend to judge books based off my expectations but in this case, it does feel like I was deliberately misled. I will say the author has huge potential though and if you like how this book does sound from my description, then definitely check it out. Just make sure you know what kind of book you will be reading.

Overall Rating:

Rewind by Catherine Ryan Howard

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Atlantic Books in exchange for an honest review.

Having previously read a thriller by this author and been really impressed, I was hoping for so much more from this book. Rewind is the story of Audrey, a protagonist so inconsequential she didn't even appear on the blurb or in anyone else's reviews. But while the blurb claims this is the story of Natalie, in reality she doesn't play much of a part in it aside from being murdered. Audrey is the wannabe reporter investigating her disappearance and what I would consider the true protagonist. Natalie is an influencer and our murder victim, a woman who gets attacked while investigating somewhere she thinks her husband might have cheated on her at.

Rewind is ultimately a fairly boring story with a needlessly confusing setup. The blurb got me pretty excited and I normally don't mind stories told out of time, but the way this is set up makes it a little pointless. The PAUSES, REWINDS, FAST FORWARDS do little apart from indicate that the story is taking place in the present or the past. The video aspect of the murder is extremely straightforward and not really part of the actual plot at all. There aren't any twists, nothing surprised me and I didn't really care about any of the characters. It was all so generic.

Ultimately, I can't recommend this thriller. It's a shame because it has a lot of elements I love (I really like thrillers based around social media influencers, and that's a pretty hot topic atm) but everything was so dull and straightforward. If you prefer very linear thrillers, you might like this one but otherwise there isn't much to recommend.

Overall Rating:

All About Us by Tom Ellen

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher HQ in exchange for an honest review.

What a joy this book was! All About Us is the story of Ben, a man concerned that his relationship with his wife is falling apart. One Christmas Eve, he gains a watch from a mysterious man in a pub and finds himself thrust back in time to various important dates in his life (and his relationship). The blurb is a little misleading because it implies he will go back in time and reverse the initial decision of which girl he picks, but actually the book is not focused on that almost at all. It isn't a question of which girl is better, rather whether he wants to pursue Daphne at all knowing that they might inevitably drift apart. There is also a focus on how he has generally messed up his life outside of the romance, particularly his relationship with his mum and estranged dad.

Firstly, I have read this author's previous book which was co-authored and I'm pleased to find that I definitely loved this author's writing. The characters are brilliant and I was particularly impressed with the protagonist. It would have been easy to make him a stereotype who was bored of his wife and wanted a shiny new partner, but Ben has depth and a lot of heart. He clearly adores Daphne throughout and he was incredibly likeable. I wanted him to work things out and do well, and I was never rolling my eyes at his behaviour. Daphne was similarly great and I loved all the characters and felt connected to them.

The plot is unoriginal on paper but the execution is perfect. I couldn't really tell where it was going even though I should have been able to, and the Christmas elements are also really well done. The book starts on Christmas Eve and a few of the important dates take place on Christmas, but apart from some lovely imagery it isn't super Christmassy. I didn't feel out of place reading this in October and I was concerned I would, so that was a great balance hit.

Overall, I would strongly recommend this book. It's perfect if you want a well-written, interesting romance that you can actually root for. It avoids all of the pitfalls romance books can fall into, and it has convinced me to check out this author's entire backlog now. I am so so glad to find a good romance book written by a male author with a male protagonist that didn't alienate me as a female reader, and to find a book with a lot of heart and charm is always a treat.

Overall Rating:

.5

Thirteen Storeys by Jonathan Sims

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Orion Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.

I was incredibly hyped to read this book and I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. I think the blurb is rather misleading and it gave me the wrong impression of what this book was. Rather than it being a set of alibis/ghost stories presented after the billionaire has died mysteriously, it is instead a short story collection of various people in the building encountering various ghosts before being invited to a dinner with the billionaire. The short stories themselves are only connected by a few characters and the building, so this book resembles more of an anthology than one cohesive narrative. It is only the final story where the billionaire dies and you find out what happens at the dinner party, tying the stories together.

Having said that, once I got over my disappointment with the premise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The stories can get a little repetitive with the structure, but some of the ghost ideas are exceptionally cool. I particularly liked the haunted smart house, the concierge one and the imaginary friend. Apart from the smart house story, the final one is easily the best. It was a brilliant payoff to the premise promised by the blurb and had much needed (if a bit heavy handed) social commentary.

I do really wish this had been a full length novel. You could have taken 3 or 4 of the characters and focused on them, plus the billionaire. It would have allowed for more interaction between the characters and a deeper exploration of the ghost stories and social themes. But for what it is, Thirteen Storeys is decent. It's a shame the anthology format did it no favours.

Overall, I would still recommend this book to anyone who enjoys ghost stories and is looking for one with a more modern/unusual twist. There are plenty of interesting ghost concepts and goings on to enjoy, and the bonus of the last story tying everything together really does make this collection worth a look.

Overall Rating:

.5

Pink Villa by Olivia O'Neill

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Nowness Books in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, so firstly I missed that this was erotica. I do not read erotica so that was my bad. However, this review will be taking that fact into consideration. I also do think this book's blurb is misleading, as it implies there is some sort of dark/thrillery secret and it compares this book to several thrillers. This is not a fair comparison.

So Pink Villa is the story of a sex-addicted woman called Eliza who is hired as a nanny for a rich family. She then bangs a lot of people. That is the entire plot, by which I mean this book is just sex scene after sex scene. Okay, erotica is like this. But there are story elements hinted at early on which never come to fruition and, more importantly, these cast some really unfortunate implications over everything.

Eliza is the horniest character there has ever been. She doesn't care who she sleeps with and she is never satisfied. It is also strongly hinted at that Eliza was, if not outright assaulted, then creeped on by her stepdad. These squicky implications are compounded by the obvious daddy issues explored with one of her lover. I know some people are into that but this part of the book is not played up enough for it to be appealing on its own, nor is it downplayed enough for you to comfortably ignore it. I HATE the idea that she is horny because she was creeped on and, while I feel that's unintentional, it lurked in the background throughout the story.

Some of the writing is decidely not sexy as well. Twice the main character is told to 'come over here and bring your breasts' as if she could possibly leave them behind. The sex scenes are so relentless that they just blur into one. Also this is told in second person, which I'm not sure if that's common for erotica but might put some people off.

Ultimately, this book fell flat on so many levels. I think the sex scenes have potential to be great and they are great at points, but the characters are so flat and it all gets very repetitive after a while. This is definitely not a book for me and if you're hoping for a darker erotica, it's not the book for you either. There is one attempt at a 'twist' of sorts but it falls so flat that if this book wasn't compared to thrillers, I wouldn't have even realised that's what it was.

Overall Rating:

The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Aria in exchange for an honest review.

The best word for this book is...messy? Honestly I was confused from page one when I opened it and found out that Viola wasn't the main character. The blurb heavily implies that you are going to be reading a story about Viola trying to work out if she's met Katherine before, and if she has then what to do about it. Instead almost the entire book is told from Katherine's point of view with her being the protagonist. This is confusing at first and makes for a very different plot/atmosphere than the blurb implies.

The Pupil is actually about Katherine Baxter, a woman who takes a writing class with an author she admires and then gets selected to be mentored by him with the goal of getting her published. The author's wife is also his agent and she seems welcoming but suspicious (again, the blurb kind of gives away why she is acting this way). Katherine's husband is a controlling and miserable man who doesn't really want her to write. Neither does anyone else Katherine knows.

As far as thrillers go, there really isn't a lot going on here. It's well-written but the plot is very linear and there aren't really any twists. The ending is easy to work out by the time you've reached it and so it feels more like a forgone conclusion than an explosive finale. The characterisation is fairly good on the whole (excluding the children who are just named props), as is the pacing and general atmosphere. Honestly there isn't much to critique about this thriller, there just isn't a lot that particularly makes it stand out either. The literary aspect is interesting and there could have been more done with it, but again it isn't the story promised by the premise.

Goodwin is a decent writer and I would be interested in reading more from her in this genre. It's just a shame that this book is a little low on the thrills and has such a misleading blurb attached to it. Ultimately I think this book should have either focused on Viola or made it clearer from the blurb that this wasn't a thriller about whether or not someone was being tormented by someone from their past but rather, a woman not sure if she can trust the people offering her new career choices.

Overall Rating: