Tag: mystery

Posted on

#BookReview: Beach Thriller by Jamie Day

Solid Suspense Tale On Both Levels. This is one of those book-within-a-book tales where we actually get to read the book that exists within the tale, and that part of this tale actually does work quite well to further the larger story. Set in a beach town, this is quite literally a beach thriller – even though my own standard of a “beach read” is quite literally “any book you read on a beach”, which could be truly *any* book.

Don’t believe the Negative Ninnies about this book – as a suspense thriller, where you know going in it is *fiction* and will require a level of suspension of disbelief, it really does work well. Is everything perfectly realistic? Fuck no. Does it work well within itself to tell the story Day wants to tell? Absolutely. If you want perfect realism though, maybe try a nonfiction read. (Even that isn’t guaranteed, but that is a topic for some other article than this review of this book. 😉 )

There is exactly one thing about this book that is actually a truly valid criticism from at least certain perspectives, but to reveal that one thing is too spoilery to even really approach more specifically than a warning such as this, but even here that thing is done quite well for my own preferences and indeed to me is one of the better elements of the book. Notice that even this doesn’t tell even those who have read every review I’ve ever written what this thing that may well piss at least some readers off is. 😉

Overall, this really was a really well done summer beach read, maybe a touch long for some readers at the mid 300 ish page mark, but using every page really well. A great read for those looking for a summer thriller… maybe at a beach? 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of Beach Thriller by Jamie Day was originally written on June 9, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Off The Record by Sara Goodman Confino

Confino Expands In Unexpected Direction. One thing that I absolutely love about Confino’s books is that both she and her characters are unabashedly Jewish – yet they also don’t preach it. They *live* it and do not apologize for it at all… yet also do not make a spectacle of it. (A lot of Christians – and Christian authors – could learn from this model, truly.)

Here, Confino takes her story into very nearly thriller territory, which was quite awesome to see her push her normal boundaries just a touch and see what she could really do. The final twists – almost literally up to the final words of the tale – are solidly executed and genuinely surprising… and exciting.

And yet through it all we also get the exact type of tale Confino has made her “bread and butter”… just expanded a bit to test some waters… and absolutely nailed in both the bread and butter and the expansion. There is at least one scene – possibly more? – where an eagle eyed fan will get a particular kick out of what is going on around our central characters here, but even here, the way this is executed is subtle enough to not be jarring – or indeed, perhaps even noticed for what it is at all – to those new to Confino with this book.

Overall a strong historical fiction of the non-WWII sort, and a strong feminist tale that actively celebrates men as well and thus doesn’t even begin to hint at any misandry. It calls out the problems that existed in the era in a manner that more progressive members of that very era would while still celebrating both women *and* men, and that alone makes this book somewhat atypical and thus all the more special.

Truly an excellent work all the way around.

Very much recommended.

This review of Off The Record by Sara Goodman Confino was originally written on June 8, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Lie In The Bay by Holly Danvers

Strong Yet Short Neighborhood Mystery. Fans of the whole “entire neighborhood has secrets that impact each other” subgenre, I have a book for you. Even if you don’t think you’re into that thing… this is still a strong mystery that you’re going to want to try out.

Danvers manages to pack quite a tale into less than 250 pages, making this a great short read for those looking to not turn as pink as the cover of this book while reading it poolside or beach side during the summer. Told from multiple perspectives, Danvers does a solid job of making each feel distinct enough from the others that it is fairly easy to track who’s head we’re in at any given point, at least for those readers who don’t find doing this at all taxing to near impossible. Danvers even manages to illuminate some far too common “real world” issues these days in ways that never feel preachy yet also show the “real world” complications of these actions.

Truly a great, short, mystery read that will thrill fans of the genre and raise the heartrate of nearly anyone, particularly given its different sequences here.

Very much recommended.

This review of Lie In The Bay by Holly Danvers was originally written on May 22, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

Less Thriller, More Up Meets Anne Of Greene Gables Meets Lizzie Borden. Wow. So much to say about the book, but its impact really is about that ending, and thus all I can really say *there* is that it really is quite impactful and extremely well done.

One of the most important things I can tell you though is exactly what I said in the title. This is not your typical dark mystery/ thriller, even with the body count it has. This is much more a lighthearted ish psychological drama with a lot of depth. The Up elements are even in the description of the book, but are very well done. The Anne of Green Gables and Lizzie Borden elements – and to be clear, I’m mostly familiar with those stories themselves due to my wife being a fan of them, so please don’t crucify me on exact details here – also work quite well and between the three you really get an interesting blend of a story that I don’t think I’ve ever seen done quite this way.

There are a lot of things within this tale that various people will find disturbing, perhaps disturbing enough to want to defenestrate the book over, perhaps from the highest location available. Don’t. Keep going. Because even those elements are here to serve a purpose in this story, and it is a story that needs to be seen and understood.

No, perhaps the greatest strength of this story – even as I adamantly disagree with the US cover tagline that “sanity is subjective” and indeed that idea is quite harmful itself, because both reality and thus sanity (as defined by the degree to which your mind complies with reality) *are*, in fact, quite objective – is just how well Hepworth weaves in such an intricate display and discussion of mental health. Some of it is very obvious and surface level, but there is also a great deal left understated or even completely off the page yet crystal clear.

Overall truly an excellent story from a master storyteller, and the 10K+ Goodreads reviews as of the moment I add this one show that quite a few people already know of it.

Very much recommended.

This review of Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth was originally written on May 20, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: I Know You Killed Your Husband by Steena Holmes

Scene In Service To Story. As It Should Be. With the exception of those tales where the scene is *intended* to *be* the story, scene should generally support the story of a tale and enhance it – and this book does that quite well. Yes, there are a lot of Parisian details. Holmes has been there a few times, loves it, and wanted to celebrate it in a tale – similar to so many other writers over the years, including her colleague in the Facebook group Readers Coffeehouse Kimberly Belle’s 2024 release, The Paris Widow.

Here, what we actually get is a very dark, very twisty tale of college friends who both share some very dark secrets… and are keeping other equally dark secrets from each other. This is one of those tales where there are no angels… and yet there may be a few antiheroes, depending on one’s perspective. There are aspects here that will be challenging for some readers, yet they primarily happen off screen and only the aftermath is really seen on screen at all – which can perhaps be all the more concerning for some. Yet Holmes works them with care, treading the line between hyper realism and preachiness quite well, never really veering into preachy – at least for me. Read the book for yourself and let us know what you thought of that wherever you see this review. 🙂

If you enjoy dark, twisty thrillers involving long time friends, you’re going to enjoy this book. If you enjoy being transported to Paris via books, you’re going to enjoy this book. It really does work well on both levels, even as the Parisian setting truly is in service to the story and never feels excessive or weighty at all. And if you enjoy books that are twisting until almost the very last word… yep, this is absolutely going to be your kind of book.

Very much recommended.

This review of I Know You Killed Your Husband by Steena Holmes was originally written on May 18, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: The Missing Ones by A.R. Torre

HBO Desperate Housewives. This is one of those books that requires a certain composure to be able to withstand – but for those with the fortitude, it will be quite fun and delicious indeed. One where everyone has secrets, a lot of them are dark, and some of them are the kind that tend to grab a lot of headlines when exposed, even when among fully consenting adults.

Spice level is maybe jalapeno or so, *maybe* a touch hotter, but it is more the exact scenarios of the spice that will test more people than the actual heat of it. So more like a very concentrated lemon suppository kind of heat than a “I’m breathing fire” heat. The kind of heat that (mostly) doesn’t *hurt* so much as make at least a lot, perhaps most, of people extremely uncomfortable.

The other things that will be difficult for some are the multiple perspectives combined with seemingly no real distinction between them – these are all similar people with similar enough backgrounds living similar enough lives, and the way they “speak” on the page doesn’t really differentiate themselves strongly, so it can be difficult at times to keep track of whose head we’re in at what point. Combined with a short documentary style interview paragraph or so at the beginning of each chapter, most often from still other perspectives, it can be a lot at times, even for such a short-ish (300 ish page) book.

But for those with the fortitude, this really is a strong, delicious book that has a lot to offer. It hits in some expected ways… and a few unexpected ones to boot. Torre knows what her readers will expect in such a situation and tale, and both gives and withholds these expectations to craft a story that is compelling for what it actually is. One where you could absolutely see even a lady reading this book with a strong maduro cigar as she lounges out on her back pool deck overlooking the 18th hole at a golf course, daring the fat asses playing through to ogle her knowing that she could ruin any of them in an instant. So, not exactly the “chilling poolside in Vegas with the girlfriends” vibe, yet also far from a girlboss thing as well.

Overall a strong book that will prove itself too strong for some readers – and that is perfectly ok for both the book and those readers who know themselves well enough to know they likely can’t withstand it. For those who do choose to take on the challenge though, please do leave a review yourself wherever you found this one.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Missing Ones by A.R. Torre was originally written on May 17, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Witness Protection by Robert Whitlow

Strong Christian Fiction Law-Based Thriller From A Long Time Master. For those who are unaware that this is a Christian Fiction book even though Robert Whitlow has spent this Millennium building a career as a Christian Fiction author and even though the description explicitly mentions “faith” or “redemption” in three of five paragraphs… yes, this is an explicitly Christian Fiction book that is going to have people praying and talking about Jesus as much and as explicitly as a jalapeno (or maybe even habanero) level “spicy romance” has sex scenes. (Ok, so with the level that praying in particular happens, it is definitely more akin to a habanero or maybe even Carolina Reaper level spicy romance with their sex scenes.) If you have a problem with that… this won’t be the book for you. Just skip it and leave Whitlow and his fans in peace.

For those that can at least tolerate this level of Christian living in your legal suspense thrillers… this is a remarkably well done book. One where while it can seem a touch slow at times, these slow periods are all about deepening the characters in some way, either enhancing their internal conflict or allowing them to grow in some manner. And yes, between this deep growth and the suspense plot these characters find themselves in, it is almost remarkable that Whitlow was able to constrain himself to *just* 450 ish pages. While some could probably argue to cut at least 10-20 pages here, others could argue that at least that many pages could have been *added* and felt quite well placed in certain areas of the book.

This is also a very *Southern* book, and it actually respects and shows Southern culture quite well, yes, including how race relations down here actually work for the vast majority of us. As a native Georgian (though from the Appalachian Foothills region of the State hundreds of miles away from the Coastal areas shown here) now living in Jacksonville, FL (actually not that far at all from Brunswick, GA, where this book takes place), I can even note that the language used here isn’t that far off – if off at all – from language I would personally use or at *worst* hear from those I either know personally or pass by in the communities I’ve lived in all over the region, from some of its largest cities (Atlanta, Jacksonville) to some of its smallest communities (that barely have a single stop sign, much less stop light). Also, while in this section discussing the Southern nature of this book, allow me to add that I *love* that the cover of this book is an edited version of an actual photograph of the port area at Brunswick with its Sidney Lanier Bridge in the background.

For what it is though, this book really and truly is quite possibly Whitlow at his absolute best, which is saying quite a bit. Fans of Christian and/ or Southern Fiction will deeply enjoy this tale, and those at least open to such a tale will most likely enjoy it a fair amount as well. Though again I ask that if you have some personal bias against either Christian or Southern themes, please do both Whitlow and yourself a favor and just pass this one by. Find my reviews wherever you see this one, and I guarantee you I’ve written a review for a book more in line with your preferences, whatever they may be.

For those who do read this book though, please write your own review and post it wherever you found this one. I’d love to see your thoughts – even if they are diametrically opposed to my own.

Very much recommended.

This review of Witness Protection by Robert Whitlow was originally published on May 8, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Paradox by Douglas Preston and Aletheia Preston

Solid Near Stand-Alone Sequel Will Be Divisive. This is one of those books where a co-author was added… and makes an immediate and obvious impact. How you like that impact will likely depend on your own politics and worldview. Making one character from the previous book explicitly LGBT in this book – when this character’s sexuality was never discussed in the previous book at all – is a choice. As is adding in a nonbinary character, introducing them with pronouns, and then explicitly saying of an older character that this older character “needed to get it together”. Allegations that this book curses more than the prior book, as some 1 and 2 star reviews make, are unfounded, however, as Extinction (Book 1 of this series) actually has *more* uses of “fuck” or its derivatives than this book does, per searching the text of both books.

Then there is the religious side. The description of the book mentioning “relics” in connection to “Christendom” makes it clear that this book will have something to do with the Catholic Church. What it doesn’t prepare you for is how much of the darker aspects of the Church this book portrays. Again, some will enjoy this, others will want to defenestrate the book over it.

Divisiveness aside though, and read more as a standalone in-universe sequel with the barest of connections to the first book, for what it is this book is actually a solid mystery that eventually veers into the scifi, with action more a secondary concern and only in small doses. Nowhere near the intense action sequences of the previous book in this series, but also not really that far from Douglas’ earlier work in the Pendergast tales in particular. If anything, Pendergast fans will find a fair amount of that series’ obsession with the grotesque also makes a heavy appearance here.

And then the epilogue. Without saying *too* much, let’s just say that Douglas’ Author Note at the end reveals the title for Book 3, and that title for Book 3 combined with this tale and its epilogue? Don’t let the divisive nature of the co-author’s additions to the story here make you miss out on either story. This one was solid and interesting. The next one promises to be explosive.

Overall a solid tale that continues its series in unexpected yet interesting directions, one that will be divisive for many reasons both earned and unearned, yet ultimately one that does its primary job well in setting up the *next* book.

Very much recommended.

This review of Paradox by Douglas Preston and Aletheia Preston was originally written on May 6, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: Ephraim’s Awakening by David McAfee

Stunning Return Has Me Absolutely Enraptured. I’ve been talking about McAfee’s 33AD and its resultant Bachiyr series for (nearly?) 15 yrs now. I found it back then because Amazon was insistent on recommending it to me in my early Kindle era, and eventually I picked it up… and was immediately hooked. Opening in the titular year with a vampire assassin killing another vampire who had become a believer in this charismatic rabbi from Nazareth and having a Roman centurion stumble into the aftermath, I was immediately hooked. To this day, I’ve never seen any other vampire tale done quite like this, and I’ve never seen any other historical fiction tale done quite like this either. It was a perfect combination of both, and I’ve been a fan of McAfee ever since.

But something happened over the next few years, and by the time I met him circa 2016, he had already stopped writing, even though I’d been recommending his books to basically anyone who had ears. Seriously, over the years I think I’ve recommended 33AD more than I’ve recommended any book from any author not named Jeremy Robinson – who, incidentally, designed the cover for 33AD that has remained all these years.

So for roughly a decade now I’ve been begging and teasing McAfee to write again. At all.

And y’all… this is the result of that begging and teasing.

WE FINALLY GET NEW BACHIYR CONTENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, this is just a 14 page short story that could well have been expanded into its own trilogy. The opening scene alone would have been an extremely worthy of its own full novel – and thus I need y’all to read this book, and then the Bachiyr series as a whole if you haven’t yet – and help me convince McAfee of this.

But as a “reintroduction” that also fills in at least some of the gap and sets the stage for the opening of 33AD, this is truly a tremendous effort that does exactly that.

And then there is even more recently written lore that McAfee has shown me, but I’m not sure when or in what form he will release *that*. I for one was even more impressed with that bit than this short story – and this short story is *AWESOME* in and of itself.

So read this short story. Contact McAfee via his Substack or whatever other mechanisms he establishes in his re-emergence. Beg him both to expand the opening scene here into a full novel and to *keep writing* this time. Because he is truly talented and this is a spin on vampire lore that blurs the edges of so many different genres that it is truly interesting in so many ways, and it has always been fun to try to guess what the next year/ event would be in this series. I truly did not expect him to ever go where he did in the opening scene of this story, and I’m so very glad we got even a scene there. But I absolutely want to see that entire story, and I need your help to get it.

Very much recommended. Obviously. 😉

PS: Speaking to McAfee further, I’ve learned that the additional lore is actually included in his newsletter on Substack. You’re going to want to sign up, because it is really good.

This review of Ephraim’s Awakening by David McAfee was originally written on April 27, 2026.

Posted on

#BookReview: A Cruise To Die For by Heather Graham

Solid Cruise Mystery In Vein Of Doctor Odyssey. When Doctor Odyssey was cancelled around this time last year after barely one singular season, I was bummed. Yes, as an experienced cruiser with 25 cruises and approaching 200 days at sea, I can tell you without hesitation at all that that tale was *not* “realistic”. IT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE! It is FICTION, and it tells an excellent tale in an exotic and exciting setting!

So very many of the 1* and 2* complaints about this book decry its “lack of realism”, and I’m here to tell you: OF COURSE IT ISN’T FUCKING REAL, IT IS FUCKING FICTION! But enjoyed in the vein of Doctor Odyssey (which, I supposed, not enough people enjoyed to begin with), this is really a fun mystery tale set on a cruise ship. Come for the mystery and action and you won’t be disappointed at all. There is a lot here, and it actually works quite well in some remarkably plausible ways that those “it wasn’t real enough” morons completely missed out on, including some explorations of extreme high tech in a few different areas. Indeed, while certain elements weren’t real *AT ALL*, others were very nearly *spot fucking on*, almost getting into “Tom Clancy spends a dozen pages on the first nanoseconds of a nuclear explosion” level actual technical precision.

Is this the *best* cruise tale I’ve ever read? No. Does it work for what it is without pretense or claims of being the best? Absolutely. With its release timed well in mid-spring, this is one of those tales that will really work the “vacation” / “beach” read scene quite well, particularly for those who enjoy mysteries with a touch of romance. Even though I personally define a “vacation” or “beach” read as anything you happen to be reading while on a vacation and/ or at a beach. 😉

Spice level wise, *maybe* jalapeno level? There is “more than kissing” happening, and more than once, but it isn’t anywhere near erotica level. More clothes flying and then fade to black level. Cussing, I’m pretty sure I’ve dropped more fucks in this review than exist in the book, and I honestly don’t even remember any shits or damns. Not that I’m an expert in remembering this, as I use these words like chefs use salt – because I’m a programmer by day and we cuss *more* than sailors – but truly, nothing stood out as particularly gratuitous at bare minimum.

Overall a fun book that did exactly what it set out to do and nothing more, and one that will work perfectly for those looking for an engaging read, particularly in the summer/ on vacation/ at a beach… or on a cruise. 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of A Cruise To Die For by Heather Graham was originally written on April 27, 2026.