Category: books and reading

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

When a friend’s wife goes missing, Andrew has to return home to help with the situation. He fled the town decades ago after a terrible tragedy that befell the friend group. Once he returns, Andrew realizes that his friends have been struggling lately.

The group has a variety of issues. Not only is one’s wife missing, another’s daughter is sleepwalking, one is an addict, and one has buried everything so deeply that he’s in denial. When Andrew returns, everything gets worse.

This book was excellent. I loved Malfi’s Come With Me and was pleased to see another fantastic book from him. The book was so well-written and had some great twists that I didn’t see coming, but made total sense. Highly recommend this one!

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I thought the first 2/3 of this book was excellent, but the ending just didn’t really work, and I ended up skimming most of it. Calla is the guardian for her teenage brother, Jamie. And middle child, Dre, is supposed to help. But Jamie is constantly in trouble. Calla keeps having nightmares about her brothers’ deaths, and when Jamie gets into a mess at a protest, the siblings have to flee the city.

At a remote cabin, the siblings have to confront not only their fears but also the reality of Calla’s nightmare, which seems to be coming true. At this point, the book lost me. The last third is the siblings fighting the nightmare, but it was too repetitive. But that’s just me, I think. The writing was beautiful, and I loved the characters, so I definitely still recommend this one.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

I’m loving these older protagonist books I’ve read recently. The Autumn Springs Retirement Home Massacre and Killers of a Certain Age are standouts. And this one will stick with me for a while because it was so much fun.

A dark comedy told from a first-person perspective, the story follows Lottie, a former serial killer who has since “retired” at 75 and is not as spry as she used to be. However, when a podcaster comes knocking to interview her about her past, Lottie realizes it has come back to haunt her.

Lottie was “falsely accused” by a persistent detective, but she moved, changed her name, and distanced herself. However, this podcaster can’t know the truth, so Lottie is forced to kill her. This act unleashes a stream of events that Lottie desperately tries to stay ahead of.

This book was a lot of fun. Lottie was endearing, even though she was a terrible person. I was torn between wanting her to get away with her crimes and wanting to see what would happen if she were to get caught. Really enjoyed this one.

Thank you, NetGalley, for this book.

Really great vampire novel set in the 1970s. Duane Minor and his niece, Julia, are on the hunt after a vampire kills the rest of their family. Duane’s wife (Julia’s aunt), Heidi, and her parents were murdered because Duane had the gall to kick a vampire out of his bar for dealing drugs. However, Duane didn’t know who the man was.

Once the vampire disappears, Duane and Julia track him across various states, but he always manages to stay a step ahead. However, their revenge is profound, and they won’t give up until they find him. The vampire’s vengeance is brutal and without regard for anyone he takes down.

This book was great. You really feel for Duane, who is trying to do the best he can by Julia, who has lost the only family she really trusted. But his loss is all-encompassing, and he will do anything he can to find the man who took his wife from him. Definitely recommend this one.