The Perfect Life

 

Psychological thrillers are one of my favorite genres so I decided to purchase the Kindle version of The Perfect Life. It was a fun read but probably should be classified as a murder mystery, not a thriller. While there was enough suspense to keep me reading it did not have the intensity that a thriller should have.  That said, below is the publisher's summary of the plot:  

"Molly Chatwell has a beautiful house, a handsome husband, two children and a job she likes. It all seems so perfect but when her two children leave for university, she realizes her life has become dull and empty.  When her husband refuses to go away with her, Molly decides to go alone.  But what should have been a relaxing break turns into a nightmare.  Back at home in London, Molly tries to put it all behind her but when the police arrive at her door and tell her that a body has been found with connections to her, Molly realizes that her perfect life is under threat."

I had a hard time putting the book down. I read it in one day.  There were some unexpected twists in the plot and the ending was a surprise.  The characters, though, were not appealing, including the main character Molly Chatwell. She was dull.  However, most of what the reader knows about her comes from action in the plot line.  It is hard to like someone you don't know well before the action begins.  

All in all, I did enjoy this plot driven book. I rate it 3 out of 5 stars.

4 Riverside Close

Wow!  This is one freaky story.  4 Riverside Close has a creative plot. Bored wife Caroline Swinton creates a social media dating website called "Join Me" that her neighbors in the cul-de-sac where she lives become involved in.  No one knows that Caroline is behind the website including her husband.  As creator, she is able to see what each member has posted about themselves and who they are meeting. All of these neighbors are married so there is a lot of adultery going on. 

The blurb:

"When residents of a North London cul-de-sac enrol in a seemingly innocent social network, they soon find themselves embroiled in a murky web of sinister manipulation and murder.  From the outside, Caroline and Jason Swinton have an idyllic life.  But when the cracks start to appear the residents of Riverside Close are drawn into a dangerous game. When Jason's body is discovered in a house on the close, everyone becomes a suspect.  Could his lovely wife be responsible for murder?  Or do the neighbors have a motive for wanting him dead?

The only problem that I had with the book is that the murder did not occur until page 220 of this 300 page book.  Usually this would make me bored with the book but the dating among the four couples kept me fully engaged. In fact, I did not expect a murder to happen at all. I thought that the dating/adultery was what the plot was all about and it could have carried the book. Frankly, I am disappointed that one of the characters died. It takes away from the main theme of the book - adultery.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Sadist

The Sadist is one scary book.  It is described as a dark, psychological thriller.  This is an understatement. Carol McMahon is now one of my favorite authors and I cannot wait to read her earlier three novels.  The blurb:

"Things are going well for Sara.  She's starting to get lots of followers on her new You Tube series, True Crime Tea, where she does makeup tutorials while discussing true crime cases.  At first she isn't sure it will work.  It's just an idea to stand out from the crowd.  But her channel blows up, and she's thrilled. 

But stories are never anywhere near as frightening as reality.  Sara finds that out when her own life starts to fall apart, and the darkness she's always talked about seeps in.  Her life is starting to feel just like the stories she tells in her videos.  Along with the followers she gets unwanted attention.  She knows that's expected for a woman on the internet these days, but things are getting weird. Strange messages, a picture of her boyfriend's car at home when he's usually at work.  Then suddenly, she is willed a house by a father she never knew. 

In a desperate attempt to keep her career and life from falling apart, Sara moves into the musty, cluttered house.  As she goes through her father's possessions to clear space to do her work, she uncovers dark secrets she never wanted to know. Secrets about her father, mother, and about herself."

The twists and turns in the plot were unbelievable.  I was shocked by most of them as the truth was slowly revealed in the latter half of the book. The ending was as much a surprise as I have ever read in any book.  As I began reading the book I thought to myself that the author dreamed up one heck of a plot.  To come up with a main character who does makeup tutorials on You Tube along with true crime stories was creative.  How did she visualize a character who combined two different types of You Tube channels into one?  I couldn't imagine how that character could be involved in a dark, psychological mystery either.  Reading chapters that alternated between the points of view of three characters whose lives did not seem to be related only enhanced my curiosity.  I could not figure this one out.

I highly recommend this thriller but take my advice and don't read it in the evening.  5 out of 5 stars.

I Know Your Secret

Ruth Heald has written a gripping psychological thriller with her 4th novel I Know Your Secret.  It is a tale of two women, Danielle and Beth. Danielle is separated from her husband Peter and Beth is her marriage counselor.  Beth is also separated from her husband Richard and has custody of their young son Charlie.  The chapters alternate between Danielle's story and Beth's story. Both women have secrets, hence the title of the book.

The publisher's summary:

"She thinks she knows me.  She believes my marriage is falling apart at the seams, that my husband can barely look me in the eyes.  She thinks I'm desperate for a baby, that my longing for a family keeps me up at night.  As much as I hate to admit it, all of this is true.  She thinks I listen to her advice, that I care about her opinion.  That couldn't be further from the truth. Because she has no idea who I am, she has no clue that I know everything.  I know her secret. I know that she did the unforgivable. I know how many lives she ruined.  I know exactly what she did.  And I'm here for her."

Revenge is sweet. This slowly evolving story becomes unputdownable as each chapter unveils how twisted these two ladies are.  The tension is addictive. This story has just as many twists as the ladies have.  Upon finishing the book I felt that I had missed many clues and need to reread it to fully appreciate them as well as appreciate how twisted the characters are. The author created amazing characters in Danielle and Beth. Their husband's had such small roles that it is hard to consider them secondary characters. I Know Your Secret is all about the women and they are both strong enough to carry the plot.

This story is one for the movie producers. 5 out of 5 stars.

The Man She Married

The Man She Married is a psychological thriller that takes place in England in the present year. Our heroine Alice meets Dominic Gill at his law firm where she is there to discuss a catering function that she has been hired to present. After a three month courtship they marry and Dominic moves in to her home which she previously purchased with cash. However, Dom has been avoiding her requests to finally meet his family at the wedding. Alice is confused by his attempts to put off their meeting but her starry eyes quickly forget about it. Three years later Alice is shocked when a police officer knocks on her door to let her know that her husband has died in a car accident. When she goes to the morgue to identify Dom, his estranged brother Simon promptly tells the police that the man in the coffin is not his brother Dominic. Alice is reluctant to admit that her Dominic is not in the coffin but hires a private detective to look into his background.

I loved this book. The twists were spectacular and were revealed as both Alice and Dominic told the story from their different points of view. It lent an eerie feeling to the book. I don't know why Alice couldn't see through Dom's deceptions. She clearly did not want to know if there was a problem in her marriage because any other woman would have been suspicious of him from the start. For a woman who owns her own business you would expect that she would not be the type of girl to fall for all the lies. Some of these instances required too much suspension of belief to be believable but it was the author's method of setting up the ending. The pace was fast, helping Alice determine the truth about Dom fairly quickly after his death.

4 out of 5 stars.

The Housekeeper

The Housekeeper is an exciting psychological thriller about a woman who seeks revenge against a former childhood friend who was responsible for her father's fall from grace ten years earlier.  Claire Peterson hates Hannah Wilson.  The new Mrs. Hannah Carter has married well and needs a new housekeeper to clean her mansion and take care of her four year old baby Mia. Claire assumes the name of Louise Martin and gets herself hired as the maid in the Carter household. From there Claire/Louise plots her revenge against Hannah in order to force Hannah into confessing that she lied about Claire's father and caused Claire's family to lose everything including the lives of both her parents.

With a title like "The Housekeeper" the reader knows that she will be a crazy stalker. Claire certainly seems to fit the bill with her kooky inner dialogue and actions. Hannah is a little off the wall herself and the back and forth between these two ladies keeps the reader wondering which one will come out on top. The ending was unexpected and made the plot a magnificent one. I think Claire had some mental issues unrelated to her family's downfall. It made her a fun character and I couldn't help but admire her even though she was the villain.

4 out of 5 stars.

Seven Days

Seven Days is a spellbinding psychological thriller with a great plot premise.  Maggie has seven days to save her third son.  In seven days her son Max will turn 3 years old. However, she is not planning a birthday party for him. Instead she is dreading it because it means that she will lose her son.  For the last twelve years Maggie has been imprisoned in a basement after being abducted at the age of fifteen. After being raped repeatedly by her captor she gave birth to two sons before Max. Both of them were taken away by her captor on their third birthday. Not wanting this to happen again, Maggie needs to come up with a plan to save her son.

Seven Days is a superb read. It has an eerie atmosphere and along with its sense of urgency I could not put the book down. I devoured the book in one sitting. The suspense factor was huge. Each chapter ended with a chilling dilemma for Maggie and also for her family. The story alternates between Maggie in the basement and her family's search for her. If there is anything that might feel unbelievable it is that Maggie is still alive and is able to handle living for twelve years in a basement with no light. However, we know from the news media that this has happened in real life so it is believable.

I highly recommend this book for mystery fans.  5 out of 5 stars.

In Her Eyes

In Her Eyes by Sarah Alderson is a gripping psychological thriller that takes place in California. Ava's life is the kind other people envy: loving husband, great kids, beautiful house, until a violent home invasion turns the dream into a nightmare and leaves her daughter fighting to survive. This wasn't a random attack and Ava is reeling from the knowledge that someone is targeting her family. To save those she loves from even greater danger Ava must find out what really happened that night.

This book will keep you on the edge of your seat as the drama unfolds. It grabbed me from the first page until the ending, which surprised me. At one point, I suspected every character.  The twists and turns were spectacular, sometimes eery. All of the characters were great, but I felt that Ava sometimes made stupid decisions. If there is any criticism of the book, it is that Ava's conclusions when new evidence was unveiled were over the top.

5 out of 5 stars.

The Three Women

The Three Women is Valerie Keough's third novel.  It is advertised on the front cover as being a jaw-dropping psychological thriller and it most definitely is.  The ending was such a surprise. I was not expecting it. I think the author did an awesome job in creating this plot.

The publisher's summary:

"When Beth, Megan and Joanne meet at university, they become inseparable friends who'd do anything for one another - even agreeing to keeping what happens on one shocking night a secret. Now in their forties and outwardly successful, each of the three has dealt with what happened in their own way. But secrets and lies leave their mark. When Megan decides to tell her fiancé the truth about that night, it threatens to ruin the lives of everyone around her. And someone is prepared to do anything to stop that happening."

The Three Women scared me straight! The consequences of telling lies is huge here. Of course, I am not really a liar but if you are then you might want to read this novel. It starts out as just the stories of the 3 women but toward the midway point the reader begins to see how lies transform people.  Lies transform the hearers as well as the people speaking the words.  Within the plot, you will be shown how the choices that people make in their lives are impacted by lies.  ooh...scary!

I loved this book!  The characters were compelling but after reading the ending one of them became my favorite. The makeup of her psychology makes sense at the end. While this particular character seemed a little dull during the unfolding of the plot, at the conclusion of the book you see her shining in all her nasty glory.

5 out of 5 stars!

The First Husband

The First Husband is McGarvey Black's second novel. It was a fast paced psychological thriller that I was unable to put down. It opens with Trina Holmgren and her best friend Jenn Fairfield arriving in India for a vacation. When they step off a bus in Kashmir they are met with the loud shouts of men trying to rent their boats. When they meet Sam Ayad, who is quiet among this crowd, he offers them his parents' houseboat as a place to rent while they are there. They agree. Sam stays with them all day guarding the boat and provides tours in the Kashmir area. Trina and Sam begin to fall in love with each other and Trina decides not to return to America at the end of her stay. She agrees to remain in Kashmir for another two weeks in order to spend time with Sam. Just before her departure she agrees to marry Sam and gives him her grandmother's silver locket as a promise that she will return to India for him. When Trina returns several months later Sam refuses to return the locket unless she marries him. In order to get it back, she and Sam are married and Trina returns to the U.S., promising him that she will begin the process of getting him entry to America. However, she has no intention of seeing him ever again. Trina returns to her life in New York City and ignores all of Sam's letters. After 18 months of writing to Trina with no response from her, Sam resolves to get revenge. He comes up with a plan that will devastate her and many others.

Wow! This book was fantastic. The suspense began in the first chapter and continued until the last page. The ending was unexpected but brilliant. The characters were compelling and believable, although I felt that Trina was superficial in all of her relationships. She was presented as a sweet woman but deep down I thought she had a cruel side. I don't think that I can find any fault with this book. It was written tight as a psychological thriller should be written and was a satisfying read. I am just blown away with how Sam gets his revenge. Not wanting to be a spoiler, I will leave it at that. The First Husband is a must read!!

5 out of 5 stars.

Trap Door

Trap Door is pure suspense.  This psychological thriller was published last month on February 11, 2020.  It is scary and I had shivers down my spine as I read it.  I think you will like it.  Here is the publisher's summary:

"100 years ago young women were killed in this workplace.  Is history about to repeat itself?   

Rachel, a young woman in serious debt, needs to find a job fast before she's made homeless.  She gets a lucky break when she is offered a great position in a successful company.  Then she discovers that the building was once a Victorian sweatshop with a tragic history. Is this why Rachel feels something increasingly sinister?  Soon her new job becomes a living nightmare.  Rachel desperately wants out, but she has no other way of escaping her debts.  She's trapped.  Then she makes a shocking discovery.  Haunted by the death of others and as the present and past begin to close in, Rachel needs to find ans 

What is really going on in her workplace?  And can she ever escape her inner demons?"

I loved this book!  It had many subplots and shocking twists that kept me reading until I finished the book in one sitting.  Secondary character Keats was an interesting character, more so than the protagonist Rachel.  Keats is quirky and has secrets of her own. In fact, I did not even know that she was female until the midway point!  Rachel seemed like the typical whiny, privileged girl who cannot stop spending money.  She was not as compelling as Keats but the plot was intriguing and that kept my interest in the book.

I will definately read author Dreda Say Mitchell's other books.  She is a fantastic writer.  After reading her online biography I learned that she received a MBE from Queen Elizabeth II this year for her service to literature and educational work in prisons.  She received several other awards and has written for the Guardian, Independent and Observer newspapers in Britain.  I feel like a dummy for never having heard about her until I found this book on Kindle.

Mystery and suspense lovers need to read this book.  5 out of 5 stars!

Apartment 6

Apartment 6 was just published two months ago and it is one heck of a spellbinder. This gripping psychological thriller opens with a five-year-old Meagan trying to help her mother who has been physically abused by her husband. The story then switches to the present day with an adult  Meagan trying to cope with her abusive husband Rob. The novel alternates between twenty years past and the present.

The publisher's summary:

"Do you have the courage to escape?  Be careful what you wish for.  When Meagan was five years old her mother was viciously attacked and murdered.  Now as an adult, she herself is the victim of an abusive relationship.  Meagan is so desperate to escape but doesn't have the courage to leave.  So, when Meagan meets Oliver, a decent guy who is on the rebound after a failed relationship, the two strike up a connection.  But when Meagan confesses that her husband is abusive, it leads Oliver down a dark and dangerous path.  Just how far would you go to protect someone?  Oliver is about to find out and be pushed to his very limits."

This book was written in Hitchcock style. Every chapter ended with an eerie, suspenseful cliffhanger. The tension begins with the first chapter and continues through the unexpected ending.   If you decide to read it, prepare yourself with some snacks and a beverage because you won't be able to put it down.  I am still spellbound 3 days after reading this book.  It is that good.

5 out of 5 stars!

Story of a Sociopath

Julia Navarro wrote one gripping story in her 2016 psychological thriller Story of a Sociopath.  The book is a character study of sociopath Thomas Spencer, a fictional character. The author writes about events in Thomas' life that took him down a wrong path, beginning when he was a boy, and then in italics she writes a section about what he would have done if he had not been a sociopath.  All of this is written from Thomas' viewpoint, first person.  This is a chunky book with 864 pages.

In the prologue Thomas Spencer muses over his life as he mulls his impending death.  He admits "I am scum...I was born without a conscience, or at least I never knew where to find one, but perhaps one will knock on my door tonight."

Thomas was the black sheep of his family, a wealthy family in the upper echelons of New York society.  He disliked every member of his family and each of them responded by showering love on him because they could not understand why he was different.  He had all the advantages that wealth can give a person including education and the need to not even work if he chose not to.

However, as the oldest son in the family he was expected to follow in his father and grandfather's footsteps and become a lawyer in their law firm. He could not do that for 2 reasons.  One, he despised them and wanted to hurt them and two, he floundered in school.

Thomas ended up at an unheard of advertising school run by a former ad executive who fell from grace.  This educational credential was not expected to help any graduate in the job market but Thomas made it work by moving to London.  There he gave up life of privilege and over a lifetime forced his way to the top working in media for politicians.

It has been a long time since I have been truly interested in reading a novel.  This book gripped me from the first page and kept me reading.  The author, Julia Navarro, is a favorite of mine but I have struggled getting through the books of my old favorite authors.  Perhaps I am simply not interested in the political, spy and treasure hunt mystery subgenres that I have traditionally read and Ms. Navarro wrote a few great mysteries that I enjoyed.  Story of a Sociopath is a different type of novel for both her and me and I loved it.

Nasty characters are fun to read about and Thomas Spencer delivers here.  There are many dark plot twists as you would expect with a character study on a sociopath as well as with someone involved in political campaign management. Thomas accidentally stumbled into this career but he got lucky because it perfectly fit his personality.

This was a great read.

The Killing Ship

This is my first time reading Simon Beaufort and I was not disappointed. The Killing Ship is a short novel with only 217 pages but alot of action is packed into its pages.  It takes place in Antarctica where a group of scientists are spending the summer doing research.

With 10 days left to finish their research, marine biologist Andrew Barrister turns down a request from his co-workers to take a long hike to view the scenery on Antarctica's remote Livingstone Island. No one is supposed to leave the station on their own due to hazardous conditions.  However, a few leave but do not return.  No one knows if they were together or went out on their own.  A crew is dispatched to look for them but one hears gunshots and another sees a ship.  It is too late in the season for ships to be in the region so it is a suspicious arrival.  Then one of the scientists discovers that their food and supplies have been sabotaged and there is not enough food to go around until their rescue ship comes to pick them up.  As they leave the station to search for their crew members the scientists run into killers on the island who are pursuing them for reasons unknown.

I loved this story.  It was very fast paced and suspenseful.  The ending was surprising and a little shocking too. Psychological thrillers are my favorite mystery subgenre for a reason.  They are engrossing with each chapter ending with suspense and characters who are so shocked by their circumstances that they begin to lose reality.  The Killing Ship aptly fits the bill.  Highly recommended!