Book Review: The Last Resort by Susi Holliday

“Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One perfect crime.”

Set to be released next month, The Last Resort by Susi Holliday follows seven strangers who are invited to an all-expenses-paid retreat on a private island, a mysterious offer that sounds too good to refuse. Once there, the strangers are told that they’re here to test a brand-new product for Timeo Technologies. But the guests’ excitement soon turns to terror when the real reason for their summons becomes clear. Each guest has a guilty secret. And when they’re all forced to wear a memory-tracking device that reveals their dark and shameful deeds to their fellow guests, there’s no hiding from the past. This is no luxury retreat–it’s a trap they can’t get out of.

Book Review: Every Missing Thing by Martyn Ford

“The truth is a kind of prey – a creature that has to be pursued and dragged into the light. But I think of it more as a predator. I think, given time, the truth will take up the hunt itself. All we have to do is wait – because, Daniel, sooner or later, it will come and find you.”

Set to be released next month, Every Missing Thing by Martyn Ford follows one family, two missing children, and a lifetime of secrets. Eight years ago, ten-year-old Ethan Clarke’s disappearance gripped the nation. Just as his parents are starting to come to terms with it, their world is ripped apart once more when their daughter, Robin, disappears in almost identical circumstances. Now, doubts about their innocence are setting in.

Detective Sam Maguire has unfinished business with the Clarkes. He is convinced that discovering what happened to Ethan holds the key to finding Robin. But what if the Clarkes know more than they’re letting on? With the world watching eagerly, the clock is ticking for Sam as he embarks on an investigation that forces him to confront his own demons. To uncover the truth, he must follow a trail of devastating deception.

Book Review: The Other Girl by C.D. Major

“Was she insane? Declan had wondered. Are desperation and madness the same? That thought should have tormented him more as he’d sent her down to have electric shock treatment, administered to patients capable of violent outbursts. Instead, he signed her notes with a heavy hand, ushered in the next patient.”

Due to be released this month and written by C.D. Major, The Other Girl is set in Seacliff Lunatic Asylum, New Zealand, in in 1942, where Edith has been locked away for a long time. She was just five years old when she arrived. Fifteen years later, she survives a devastating fire that destroys her ward and is questioned by the police and a young doctor, Declan Harris. Intrigued, Declan begins to doubt the official reasons for her incarceration. Is she truly mad—or could the impossible stories she told as a child actually be true? They thought she was insane. But what if she was telling the truth?

Book Review: Her Final Words by Brianna Labuskes

“Most people could be persuaded to listen to reason if they didn’t actually feel that strongly about a topic. But once their opinion became entangled with their sense of self, logic went straight out the window.”

Set to be released next month, Her Final Words is the fifth release from Brianna Labuskes, the first to follow FBI special agent Lucy Thorne. For what seems like an open-and-shut case when Eliza Cook walks into the field office and confesses to murdering a young boy, Lucy isn’t quite so ready to accept that that’s all there is to it. Eliza reveals chilling details that only the killer could know. Beyond that, she doesn’t say another word, leaving a vital question met with dead silence: Why did she do it? To find the answer, Lucy goes to the scene of the crime in the small Idaho town of Knox Hollow. But Lucy’s questions are only mounting. Especially when she’s drawn deeper into the life of the victim. Then a combing of the woods yields unsettling evidence that Eliza isn’t the only one in this close-knit rural community with secrets.

Book Review: The Bone Jar (Detective Lew Kirby, #1) by S.W. Kane

“It was the snow, its muffled silence creeping into his dreams, that had caused Raymond to wake with a start. He lay in bed, his heart pounding, trying to figure out what was different.”

The debut novel of S.W. Kane and set to be released next month, The Bone Jar is the first in the Detective Lew Kirby series of crime stories that sees the titular character investigate two murders in a derelict abandoned asylum on the banks of the Thames. But how are the two murder connected? And will a mysterious former patient help untangle the dark truth? As Detective Lew Kirby and his partner begin to unravel the secrets of Blackwater Asylum with its rumours of underground bunkers, unspeakable psychological experimentation, and a dark force that haunts the ruins, only an eccentric former patient really knows the truth. But will he reveal it to Lew before it’s too late?

Book Review: Little White Secrets by Carol Mason

“They say normal people tell a white lie three times a day. Lately, I feel like I’m exceeding my limit.”

Set to be released next month, Carol Mason‘s Little White Secrets follows Emily Rossi, whose life appears perfect on first appearances. She has a great career, a house in the country, a solid marriage to Eric and two wonderful children, tennis superstar Daniel and the quiet Zara. But if you were to look more closely, you’d see a daughter pushing the limits, a marriage ready to crack, and a secret that can break them. When Zara brings home a toxic new best friend, Emily’s seemingly perfect family starts to spiral out of control. And just when she needs her husband to be an involved father, he seems too wrapped up with his job in London to care. What’s more, he’s started drinking again. Soon enough, a dark secret from the past emerges, as Emily’s life is turned upside down as she struggles to protect the people she loves.

Book Review: Rain Will Come by Thomas Holgate

“Now what separates you and me from him, from that, is that our sense of right and wrong — moral and immoral — is stronger than our basest urges. We may think, but we don’t act. It’s the difference between madmen and, well, men.”

Set to be released next month, Thomas Holgate‘s debut novel Rain Will Come follows Paul Czarcik, a broken detective in the Illinois Bureau of Judicial Enforcement who, ruthless and riddled with vices, always gets his man. Until now. When the detective connects the murder of a couple to the murder of a high-profile Texas judge, Czarcik realizes something bigger is going on. It’s the work of a serial killer. Now, he’s inviting Czarcik to play catch-me-if-you-can on a cross-country murder spree. Going rogue, Czarcik accepts the challenge.

Book Review: The Silence by Daisy Pearce

“I wonder how it would feel to plummet that far; would there be a lightness, a liberation? Would the air rushing past your ears sound like voices in the dark?”

Set to be released next month, The Silence is Daisy Pearce‘s second book. It follows former children’s TV star Stella Wiseman who, alone in her thirties, stuck in a dead-end job and having lost both parents, has nothing glamorous about her life now. Just as she hits rock bottom, she meets Marco, a charismatic older man who offers to get her back on her feet. But is he too good to be true? She appreciates the money he lavishes on her. And the pills. But are the pills just helping her sleep, or helping her avoid her problems? No longer sure what’s real and what’s not, Stella begins to question the one person she thought was fighting for her survival is actually her biggest threat.