Review: Never Tell

Never Tell by Alafair Burke
Series: Ellie Hatcher #4
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Mystery Suspense
Pages: 368 (Hardback)
Source: TLC Book Tours
Author's Website | Twitter | Facebook
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Book Depo

Description:

Sixteen-year-old Julia Whitmire appeared to have everything: a famous father, a luxurious Manhattan town house, a coveted spot at the elite Casden prep school. When she is found dead in her bathtub, a handwritten suicide note left on her bed, her parents insist that their daughter would never take her own life.

But Julia's enviable world was more complicated than it seemed. The pressure to excel at Casden was enormous. Abuse of prescription antidepressants and ADHD medication ran rampant among students; an unlabeled bottle of pills in Julia's purse suggests she had succumbed to the trend. And a search of Julia's computer reveals that in the days leading up to her death she was engaged in a dangerous game of cyberbullying against an unlikely victim.

NYPD detective Ellie Hatcher is convinced the case is a suicide, but she knows from personal experience that a loving family can be the last to accept the truth. When the Whitmires use their power to force a criminal investigation, Ellie's resistance causes trouble for her both at work and in her personal life. As she is pressured to pursue a case she doesn't believe in, she is pulled into Julia's inner circle--an eclectic mix of overly precocious teenagers from Manhattan's most privileged families as well as street kids from Greenwich Village. But when the target of Julia's harassment continues to receive death threats, Ellie is forced to acknowledge that Julia may have learned the hard way that some secrets should never be told.

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Review: Tuesday's Child

Tuesday's Child by Dale Mayer
Series: Psychic Visions #1
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Paranormal
Pages: 326 (ebook)
Source: Author
Author's Website | Twitter | Facebook
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N |

Description:

What she doesn’t want...is exactly what he needs.

Shunned and ridiculed all her life for something she can’t control, Samantha Blair hides her psychic abilities and lives on the fringes of society. Against her will, however, she’s tapped into a killer—or rather, his victims. Each woman’s murder, blow-by-blow, ravages her mind until their death releases her back to her body. Sam knows she must go to the authorities, but will the rugged, no-nonsense detective in charge of tracking down the killer believe her?

Detective Brandt Sutherland only trusts hard evidence, yet Sam’s visions offer clues he needs to catch a killer. The more he learns about her incredible abilities, however, the clearer it becomes that Sam’s visions have put her in the killer’s line of fire. Now Brandt must save her from something he cannot see or understand…and risk losing his heart in the process.

As danger and desire collide, passion raises the stakes in a game Sam and Brandt don’t dare lose

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Review: Come the Shadows

Come the Shadows by Wendy Young
Series: The Campbell Creek Mysteries #1
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Pages: 232 pages (paperback)
Source: Author
Author's Blog | Twitter | Facebook
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N

Description:

Campbell Creek, North Carolina has not seen a murder in seventeen years. When bones are discovered in the old bread factory Officer Will Harmon is determined to investigate, no matter who stands in his way. His wife Laura knows there is more troubling their town than one dead body, though, and the more she digs the more she finds. It's all up to them - and they will do whatever it takes to win against the darkness invading their town.

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Review: Come and Find Me

Come and Find Me by Hallie Ephron
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Thrillers
Pages: 276 (Paperback)
Source: TLC Book Tours
Author's Website | Facebook
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Book Depo

Description:

COME AND FIND ME is a novel of suspense that tells the story of Diana Highsmith, a young woman who never leaves her home. Ever since her lover fell to his death while they were mountain climbing, she's been afraid to brave the outside world. She makes a living as a computer security expert with a virtual office on the Internet, barricaded behind layers of physical and electronic security. But when her sister goes missing, she's forced to face her inner demons and go out and find her. The journey brings her face to face with traumas from her own past.

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Review: The Hypnotist

The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose
Genre: Mystery | Suspense | Thriller
Pages: 405 (Hardback)
Source: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
M.J. Rose's Website

Description:

Haunted by his inability to stop the murder of a beautiful young painter twenty years ago, Lucian Glass keeps his demons at bay through his fascinating work with the FBI's Art Crime Team. Investigating a crazed collector who's begun destroying prized masterworks, Glass is thrust into a bizarre hostage negotiation that takes him undercover at the Phoenix Foundation—dedicated to the science of past-life study. There, to maintain his cover, he submits to the treatment of a hypnotist.

Under hypnosis, Glass travels from ancient Greece to nineteenth-century Persia, while the case takes him from New York to Paris and the movie capital of the world. These journeys will change his very understanding of reality, lead him to question his own sanity and land him at the center of perhaps the most audacious art heist in history: a fifteen-hundred-year-old sculpture the nation of Iran will do anything to recover.

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Review: Split Second

Split Second by Catherine Coulter
FBI Thriller #15
Genre: Mystery, Thrillery
Pages: 419 (paperback ARC)
Source: Putnam
Author's Facebook

Description:

A serial killer is on the loose, and it's up to Savich and Sherlock to bring him down.  They soon discover that the killer has blood ties to the infamous, long-dead monster Ted Bundy.  When they are joined by agents Lucy Carlyle and Cooper McKnight, the case is on.

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Mini-Review: Secrets

Secrets by S.L. Pierce
Genre: Thriller, Suspense
Pages: 163 (Ereader)

From Goodreads:

Gwen Michaels moved to California two years ago to start fresh, hoping her past could stay secret forever. But when a hired killer shows up, she assumes her cover is blown. When it turns out the man knows nothing of her past, the search is on for who wants her dead, and why.

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 Quick Thoughts: Fast paced. Thriller. Computer chips.  Assassin.

This fast paced thriller has twists, turns, and surprises aplenty.  The puzzle pieces do not come together easily, which kept me interested the entire time.  The protagonist is an ex-government secret agent with a past that becomes slightly exposed. While, I didn't buy into the characters, I enjoyed the strong female lead.  Jack seemed too easy going and Gwen seemed to be more into teaching/explaining then solving the mystery.  There are two story lines going on.  The primary mystery and a sideline involving a police officer who has keen intuition and investigates a few discrepancies on his own.  I enjoyed the side storyline more than the first but for some reason it really felt unfinished.  It was also unnecessary as it didn't actually add anything to the overall story.  I recommend this for those who enjoy quick fast-paced thrillers.

Review: Smokin' Seventeen

 

Smokin' Seventeen by Janet Evanovich
Genre: Humor, Mystery
Pages: 210 (Ereader)

From Goodreads:

Where there's smoke there's fire, and no one knows this better than New Jersey bounty hunter, Stephanie Plum. The bail bonds office has burned to the ground, and bodies are turning up in the empty construction lot. To make matters worse, Stephanie is working out of a motor home she shares with a dancing bear, and Joe Morelli's old world grandmother has declared a vendetta against her. And just when Stephanie decides it might be time to choose between the two men in her life, Morelli and Ranger, a third man from Stephanie's past moves back to Trenton...

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Double Revews: Unhallowed Grounds & Dark Horse (Audiobooks)

Unhallowed Grounds by Heather Graham
Genre: Mystery/Suspense, Thriller
Length: 9 hours, 5 mins.
Read by: Emily Durante

From Amazon:

When Sarah McKinley is finally able to buy and restore the historic Florida mansion that she has always loved, she dismisses the horror stories of past residents vanishing and a long-dead housekeeper who practiced black magic. Then, in the midst of renovations, she makes a grim discovery. Hidden within the walls of Sarah's dream house are the remains of dozens of bodies—some dating back over a century.The door to the past is blown wide open when Caleb Anderson, a private investigator, shows up at the mansion. He believes several current missing-persons cases are linked to the house and its dark past. Working together to find the connection and stop a contemporary killer, Sarah and Caleb are compelled to research the history of the haunted house, growing closer to each other even as the solution to the murders eludes them.

Dark Horse by Tami Hoag

Genre: Mystery/Suspense, Thriller

Length: 13 hours, 56 minutes

Read by: Beth McDonald

In a trailer in a Florida swamp, time is running out for Erin Seabright. A pawn in a kidnapper's terrifying game for a ransom no one can pay, her last hope is a washed-up ex-cop who has already lost it all - not once, but twice.A lifetime ago, undercover sheriff's detective Elena Estes worked the mean streets and back alleys, living by her wits and playing the long odds until she took one risk too many. Now Estes lives on the ragged edge of lost hope and self-hatred, hiding from the past and believing she doesn't deserve to have a future. One trip to the showgrounds where Erin worked as a groom, and Estes is quickly pulled to the dark side of a glamorous sport. Behind the ultra-rich facade is an ultra-ruthless world of drugs, payoffs, and dirty deals. And in that world stalks a killer who will lead Estes down a twisted trail of mayhem and murder to a final showdown that could cost her everything.  A race in which Estes is the dark horse...and no one is betting on her to win.

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