My rating: 2 of 5 stars
The Beast of Nightfall Lodge: The Institute for Singular Antiquities Book II
When Egyptologist Rom Hardy receives a strange letter from his old friend, the bounty-hunting sniper Rex McTroy, he finds himself drawn into a chilling mystery. In the mountains of New Mexico, a bloodthirsty creature is on the loose, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake. Now, a wealthy big game hunter has offered a staggering reward for its capture, and Rom's patron - the headstrong and brilliant Evangeline Waterston - has signed the team up for the challenge. Awaiting them are blizzards, cold-blooded trappers, remorseless hunters, a mad doctor, wild animals and a monster so fearsome and terrifying, it must be a legend come to life.
REVIEW
I have to admit that the cover and the fabulous blurb made me eager to read this book. Alas, I did not love the book as much as I had hoped I would do. I loved the idea of the book, about a monster terrorizing and killing people in the mountains of New Mexico and the prologue that takes place 30 years late really piqued my interested. However, I kind of struggled with the book. Partly it was interesting and partly very slow to get through. It did end on a high note. Fabulous albeit sad ending I must say.
Thanks for the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley!
Witness by Caroline Mitchell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
To Rebecca it was a brave decision that led to her freedom from domestic abuse. To Solomon it was the ultimate betrayal.
It’s been ten years since Rebecca’s testimony saw Solomon locked away. Enough time for the nightmares to recede, the nerves to relax; enough time to rebuild her life and put the past behind her.
Then one day a phone rings in her bedroom—but it’s not her phone. Solomon has been in her home, and has a very simple message for her: for each of the ten years he has spent in jail, Rebecca must witness a crime. And, to make matters worse, she has to choose the victims.
Fail to respond and you get hurt. Talk to police and you die. Ready to play? You have sixty seconds to decide…
As the crimes grow more severe, the victims closer to home, Rebecca is forced to confront a past she had hoped was gone forever.
REVIEW
I've read a couple of books by Caroline Mitchell and this one worth reading. I do prefer stories where the culprit is unknown, which is not the case with this book. However, I do think that Mitchell has hit the nail when it comes to the terror of living with a dangerous man. I especially think that the part about Rebecca meeting Solomon for the first time felt like a predator out for a weak kill. Finding the prey's weakness and go for it. It was very chilling to read. The big twist at the end was not that surprising. I was expecting it to be honest. But, I enjoyed this story and I'm looking forward to reading more from Caroline Mitchell.
I have to admit that the cover and the fabulous blurb made me eager to read this book. Alas, I did not love the book as much as I had hoped I would do. I loved the idea of the book, about a monster terrorizing and killing people in the mountains of New Mexico and the prologue that takes place 30 years late really piqued my interested. However, I kind of struggled with the book. Partly it was interesting and partly very slow to get through. It did end on a high note. Fabulous albeit sad ending I must say.
Thanks for the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley!
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Witness
To Rebecca it was a brave decision that led to her freedom from domestic abuse. To Solomon it was the ultimate betrayal.
It’s been ten years since Rebecca’s testimony saw Solomon locked away. Enough time for the nightmares to recede, the nerves to relax; enough time to rebuild her life and put the past behind her.
Then one day a phone rings in her bedroom—but it’s not her phone. Solomon has been in her home, and has a very simple message for her: for each of the ten years he has spent in jail, Rebecca must witness a crime. And, to make matters worse, she has to choose the victims.
Fail to respond and you get hurt. Talk to police and you die. Ready to play? You have sixty seconds to decide…
As the crimes grow more severe, the victims closer to home, Rebecca is forced to confront a past she had hoped was gone forever.
REVIEW
I've read a couple of books by Caroline Mitchell and this one worth reading. I do prefer stories where the culprit is unknown, which is not the case with this book. However, I do think that Mitchell has hit the nail when it comes to the terror of living with a dangerous man. I especially think that the part about Rebecca meeting Solomon for the first time felt like a predator out for a weak kill. Finding the prey's weakness and go for it. It was very chilling to read. The big twist at the end was not that surprising. I was expecting it to be honest. But, I enjoyed this story and I'm looking forward to reading more from Caroline Mitchell.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Just Before I Died
Why did you do that to me Mummy, don’t you love me?
Kath lives with her husband Adam and daughter Lyla in a desolate stone longhouse deep in Dartmoor National Park. She likes her life the moors are beautiful, if bleak and she counts herself as happy, even if they struggle with money, and work, and her daughter's shyness.
But one day Kath wakes up from a coma, with a vague memory of a near-fatal car accident. She hugs her daughter close, likewise her husband Adam. But there’s something wrong. Adam seems furious with her and Lyla is acting evermore strangely. They should be delighted to see her alive, snatched from certain death. But they won't meet her gaze
Then Kath learns that the car crash wasn't an accident, and her whole life collapses into a world of panic, and danger.
REVIEW
THE ICE TWINS is one of the best books I have ever read and the second book Tremayne wrote, THE FIRE CHILD was also good. So. of course, I had to buy this book when it was released. I love S.K. Tremayne stories and this was not an exception. The setting, Dartmoor is perfect for a story likes this about a woman that learns that the car accident she was in may have been a suicide attempt. She's just can't remember it since she has amnesia. And why is her husband acting strange? What really happened that day? Great book, can't wait to read more the next book by Tremayne.
THE ICE TWINS is one of the best books I have ever read and the second book Tremayne wrote, THE FIRE CHILD was also good. So. of course, I had to buy this book when it was released. I love S.K. Tremayne stories and this was not an exception. The setting, Dartmoor is perfect for a story likes this about a woman that learns that the car accident she was in may have been a suicide attempt. She's just can't remember it since she has amnesia. And why is her husband acting strange? What really happened that day? Great book, can't wait to read more the next book by Tremayne.
The Patriot Threat by Steve Berry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Patriot Threat
The 16th Amendment to the Constitution is why Americans pay income taxes. But what if there were problems associated with that amendment? Secrets that call into question decades of tax collecting? In fact, there is a surprising truth to this hidden possibility.
Cotton Malone, once a member of an elite intelligence division within the Justice Department known as the Magellan Billet, is now retired and owns an old bookshop in Denmark. But when his former-boss, Stephanie Nelle, asks him to track a rogue North Korean who may have acquired some top secret Treasury Department files—the kind that could bring the United States to its knees—Malone is vaulted into a harrowing twenty-four hour chase that begins on the canals in Venice and ends in the remote highlands of Croatia.
With appearances by Franklin Roosevelt, Andrew Mellon, a curious painting that still hangs in the National Gallery of Art, and some eye-opening revelations from the $1 bill, this riveting, non-stop adventure is trademark Steve Berry—90% historical fact, 10% exciting speculation—a provocative thriller posing a dangerous question: What if the Federal income tax is illegal?
REVIEW
The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook
My rating: 4 of 5 starsThe Aftermath
Set in post-war Germany, the international bestseller The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook is a stunning emotional thriller about our fiercest loyalties and our deepest desires. In the bitter winter of 1946, Rachael Morgan arrives with her only remaining son Edmund in the ruins of Hamburg. Here she is reunited with her husband Lewis, a British colonel charged with rebuilding the shattered city. But as they set off for their new home, Rachael is stunned to discover that Lewis has made an extraordinary decision: they will be sharing the grand house with its previous owners, a German widower and his troubled daughter. In this charged atmosphere, enmity and grief give way to passion and betrayal.
REVIEW
I want to watch The Aftermath the movie, so of course, I started by reading the book. And, I must say that I quite enjoyed this story about a British family moving into a house with a German widower and his daughter after WW2. Both families have lost much during the war and now they have to live under the same roof. The ending felt a bit abrupt, but I quite enjoyed the writing and the story. Now I'm ready for the movie!
