thriller book – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Mystery/Thriller
Length: 352 pages
Author: Hannah Richell
Publisher: Atria
Release Date: January 16th, 2024
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

A spellbinding locked-room mystery about a glamping trip gone horribly wrong when a powerful storm leaves the participants stranded and forced to confront long-held secrets and a shocking disappearance.

Max and Annie Kingsley have left the London rat race with their twelve-year-old son to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. Eager for a dry run ahead of their opening, they invite three old university friends and their families for a long-needed reunion. But the festivities soon go awry as tensions arise between the children (and subsequently their parents), explosive secrets come to light, and a sudden storm moves in, cutting them off from help as one in the group disappears.

Moving between the police investigation, a hospital room, and the catastrophic weekend, The Search Party is a propulsive and twisty destination thriller about the tenuous bonds of friendship and the lengths parents will go to protect their children—perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley.

Thank you Book Club Favorites for the physical copy and Simon and Schuster and LibroFM for the gifted audiobook.

THE SAME.

Either I’m picking the wrong thrillers or this is a continual theme I have found myself stuck in. I feel like every thriller I read is a big cast, 90% have done a bad thing, and there’s a murder to solve. Rinse and repeat. And this didn’t change that scenario much.

I did LOVE the audiobook. Audio was well done and that did make moving through this better. Highly recommend that route.

There were interesting tidbits throughout the story. It wasn’t a total lost cause. Having the multiple POV’s kept things going enough and I liked seeing each little side to the story. I was pulled in wrong directions a few times on the whodunnit and I appreciate that those mystery plot lines worked well.

While not quite a winner for me, it still might be a gem for you.

Overall audience notes:

Thriller/Mystery
Language: some strong
Romance: closed door/fade to black
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: murder, knife violence, infidelity, missing child, depression, non-consensual drugging, forced captivity, brief mentions of child abuse and suicide

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Fiction/Thriller
Length: 272 pages
Author: Helen Phillips
Publisher: Simon Schuster
Release Date: July 9th, 2019
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Molly, home alone with her two young children, hears footsteps in the living room, she tries to convince herself it’s the sleep deprivation. She’s been hearing things these days. Startling at loud noises. Imagining the worst-case scenario. It’s what mothers do, she knows.

But then the footsteps come again, and she catches a glimpse of movement.

Suddenly Molly finds herself face-to-face with an intruder who knows far too much about her and her family. As she attempts to protect those she loves most, Molly must also acknowledge her own frailty. Molly slips down an existential rabbit hole where she must confront the dualities of motherhood: the ecstasy and the dread; the languor and the ferocity; the banality and the transcendence as the book hurtles toward a mind-bending conclusion.

In The Need, Helen Phillips has created a subversive, speculative thriller that comes to life through blazing, arresting prose and gorgeous, haunting imagery. Anointed as one of the most exciting fiction writers working today, The Need is a glorious celebration of the bizarre and beautiful nature of our everyday lives.

THIS BOOK STILL WEIRDS ME OUT.

I’m honestly not sure where to start on reviewing this book. This was really hyped on Bookstagram by a few people I follow as a good book but it’s best NOT knowing anything about it before going in.

And I feel that’s the way this review is going to go too. I don’t want to give much of anything away because [to me] the intention of this book is to truly form your own opinion on how it ends.

This starts out really trippy, creepy, and I had to read with the lights on right next to my husband (if you’re new to this page: I am scared of all things even remotely creepy). After we got to what appeared to be the biggest twist everything else got psychological, philosophical and odd.

I really felt and understood her portrayal of motherhood. As a parent myself a lot of those pieces I was able to connect with. This work of fiction though was more of a miss for me besides that.

As you can see, my review is a bit scattered, because this book is a bit scattered. I still would recommend this for those interested because it’s a very short, very quick (small, choppy chapters) read and I think it’ll bring out a different reaction in everyone!

Overall audience notes: