Hi friends! I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately (as I write this post I’ve finished my 41st book of the year!) and I thought it would be fun to do some mini reviews!
After reading a lot of romance in the beginning and middle of February, I’ve shifted gears and been focusing on mystery/thrillers, so I thought I’d share some short reviews of some of the ones I’ve read in the last 2 or so weeks.
The Guest List by Lucy Foley (2 stars)
This was my first Lucy Foley…and truthfully, I’m not sure I want to read more. I liked the premise just fine; I love books set during weddings no matter what genre, so it had that going for it, but unfortunately, that’s where the positives stopped for me. Every single character in this book is absolutely insufferable.
Now, I don’t have any issues reading unlikable characters. I love reading about unlikable characters. However, if your characters are going to be unlikeable, at least make them interesting. I thought all of the characters were completely one-dimensional, and lacked any sort of personality or depth. The mystery itself was…fine? I found the plot very predictable — which isn’t always a bad thing, but if your plot is going to be predictable, then I need interesting characters, you know what I mean? This one just did not work for me at all, really the only positive thing is that I finished the audiobook in 5 hours.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson (4 stars)
I’ve had this book on my TBR for so long, and I’m really glad that I finally got around to reading it! This book was so much fun! I love it when authors, especially in the mystery/thriller genre, try different things, and I love the voice that Benjamin Stevenson used to write this story. I loved the breaking of the fourth wall and speaking directly to the reader; I loved that we were told what pages murders were going to happen on, I loved picking up on a plot hole and then a few pages later our narrator, Ernest, was like “Ah, yes, did you catch that plot hole a few pages ago? Let me explain”, it was just fun.
I read most of this book on a cross-country flight and I’m so glad that I was sitting alone in my row while reading this because I was just..giddy while reading it because I was having a great time. I loved the plot twists and the way the story unfolded. I’m super excited for the next book in the series, Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect — I put it on my birthday wishlist so let’s see if I get it next week…regardless, I will read anything in this series and can’t wait to see what happens next for Ernest Cunningham.
The Simmonds House Kills by Meaghan Dwyer (1 star)
I — oh man. I wanted to like this one so badly — the premise sounds pretty fun and entertaining and had all the things I love in a mystery. A university setting, an elite group that isolates themselves from the rest of the campus, a revenge plot line, secrets, lies and murder. That’s seriously a recipe for success for me, but oh man, this book was just not it.
I think what was most disappointing for me was that there really was so much potential and it just fell flat on all accounts. I had thought the Simmonds House was going to be a society on campus, no, it literally was just a house that one of the students owned and “invited” others to “join” and live in the house. There was no atmosphere at all, this book could’ve been set anywhere, and there was nothing descriptive to establish location — the same with the university, there were a few chapters that took place in a class or mentioned studying and such, but it lacked that university feel that one wants when reading a book set at university. The writing felt very basic and repetitive, and there was no depth to it.
Everything about this was completely surface-level, especially the characters. These characters had no personality and no drive to them. The main character, Emma, had this whole revenge plot that was supposedly driving her, and while it was mentioned practically every 5 sentences, I didn’t feel anything from her. Overall it just felt like there was a general lack of feeling, and very anticlimactic.
While this book had a lot of potential, it unfortunately didn’t do anything for me.
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett (5 stars)
Janice Hallett is currently writing some of the most inventive and interesting mystery books in publishing. I think mixed media is such a brilliant way to tell a mystery and Hallett does it better than anyone else.
Something that I love about Hallett’s books is that although her stories are told through emails, text messages, articles, etc. the characters don’t feel flat — they’re alive and their personalities leap off the page. I loved Amanda’s character — she was hard-working, driven, snarky, sarcastic, and humorous. Her humor shone through in her WhatsApp exchanges with Oliver and Ellie and added some much-needed humor when dealing with a difficult subject.
I’m gonna be 100% honest here, I find cult stories fascinating. I’m always very curious about how someone gets involved in a cult, and what drives a person to start a cult, so the fact that the case Amanda is trying to solve revolved around a cult really piqued my interest. So many aspects of this story were just heartbreaking, and while I have no first hand experience, so I can’t speak to its accuracy, it did feel like this difficult and serious subject was written with much care. There were a few twists that I suspected (including one of the big ones) but there were others that I was totally shocked by and I loved that. I just couldn’t put this one down and I can’t wait to see what Janice Hallett writes next!
The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James (4.5 stars)
I am a Simone St. James girlie! This is the third book of hers that I’ve read — I’ve also read The Broken Girls and The Sun Down Motel — and all of them I’ve given 4 – 4.5 stars. There’s something about her writing that grips me from start to finish and I absolutely love her characterization.
I love dual timeline mysteries. I know it’s not for everyone, but it is for me, and I think St. James does dual timeline so well, because it is a tricky thing! Some authors struggle to have a balance between the two, and sometimes one timeline will be more interesting than the other, for me personally, St. James doesn’t have this problem. I found both the 1977 and 2017 timelines totally interesting, and loved how the two intersected, especially as we found out the truth of what happened in the 70s.
The supernatural/paranormal vibes in this one were chef’s kiss, I ate it up! I love a book that includes some kind of sketchy home, even more so if the house feels alive and is as much of a character in the book as anyone else. In The Book of Cold Cases, the Greer Mansion feels alive. The mansion felt so unsettled, and I loved every scene that took place there — some scenes were pretty chilling and I found myself regretting the fact that I was reading it in the middle of the night.
I found all the characters super interesting, especially Beth. Beth gave off some mad woman by Taylor Swift vibes, and I’m always down for a female character with that vibe. Shea was so interesting and I loved the exploration of her character and her growth throughout the book. The dynamic between Beth and Shea was so interesting and I would read multiple books about the two of them because I feel like there was so much there. Really, just everything about this book worked for me and I’m excited to continue reading Simone St. James’ work.
And there you have it, some mini reviews of the mysteries I’ve been reading recently. Some of them worked for me and some didn’t, but hey, such is life! If you’ve got any mystery/thrillers that you think I should check out, leave them in the comments below.
Until next time! 💜
I am excited to read some of these! Pippa was telling about Alperton Angels too.