Top Five Wednesday: Books to Be Read Before the Year Ends

It's almost laughable to try to come up with only five books I want to read before the end of the year - I have more than that sitting in a pile next to me as I type, after all. That being said, there are a handful of books that I'm determined to move off my TBR sooner rather than later, primarily because they are (or will soon be) sitting on my actual book shelf.



This is one that's taunting me from my shelves as we speak (and has been for a couple of months now). Hannah is the queen of British suspense and this book sounds like a doozy. A mother finds that her daughter has written a disturbing story for a school assignment that tells of murders in their home. Once she starts poking around she discovers that her daughter's best school friend seems to be unknown by all of her teachers. Then the anonymous phone calls start. This sounds so deliciously creepy!





This is another book sitting on my shelf...waiting to be read. The story revolves around the two survivors of a private plane crash - a young boy who is heir to an extensive family fortune and a down on his luck painter. Moving between the aftermath of the crash and the backstories of the passengers, certain coincidences begin to appear that point to the crash not being an accident. I love a good mystery and this sounds like it will be exactly that. Plus...look at this gorgeous cover!




I know - another Sophie Hannah book - but it's also a Hercule Poirot mystery and there's no way I'm not reading this the minute I hold this book in my hot little hands. A wealthy woman hosts a party with the sole intention of letting everyone in attendance know she is cutting off her heirs and instead giving all of her money to an invalid who is expected to die within the month. When a murder is commited, Poirot finds that the victim chosen makes no sense at all. This sounds like vintage Poirot - a "locked room," a house full of suspects, and what will no doubt be a twisty plot that I'll devour, looking for clues, hoping to solve the mystery before the world's best detective.



This book is a chunker at 740+ pages so fitting this one in might require some dedication and a few quiet nights on the deck before the weather turns. A plague that causes spontaneous human combustion is sweeping the land and only an enigmatic man known as The Fireman can stop it. Normally this kind of "post-apocalyptic" sci-fi/fantasy tale isn't something I'm chomping at the bit to get to but I read the first chapter standing in Target and was tempted to go grab some Starbucks, sit down right there on the floor, and keep reading. I'm hoping this will be a nice meaty book I can savor a few chapters at a time through the fall.



My final choice shouldn't come as a surprise. I'm in love with Flavia de Luce and her clever mysteries. In this new installment, Flavia is returning home for Christmas and, upon finding her father ill, decides to make a visit to the village. There she finds a door ajar, a body hanging upside down from the rafters, and a cat who seems undisturbed by the whole scene. Flavia - of course - investigates. The fact that Flavia is a child and a science-obsessed genius makes this whole series both intellectually satisfying and a whole lot of fun. I'm counting down the days for this one.


What books are you determined to finish before the year ends? Tell us below!

*The Top Five Wednesday book tag was created by Lainey from GingerReadsLainey on YouTube and is now managed by Sam from ThoughtsOnTomes, also on YouTube. You can find the topics in their Goodreads group, Top 5 Wednesdays, here.*

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

The Couple Next Door
by Shari Lapena
Hardcover, 320 pages
23 August 2016, Pamela Dorman Books
4.5 stars

"Everyone is faking it, all of them pretending to be something they're not. The whole world is built on lies and deceit."

When their babysitter cancels, Anne and Marco decide to go ahead next door to a dinner party with the neighbors anyway. After all, they share a wall, they'll have the baby monitor with them, and they'll take turns checking every half hour. When they return their baby Cora is gone without a trace.

From that point the book takes off like a freight train and never applies the breaks. This was a book I read over the course of one two-hour sitting and I couldn't have put it down if I wanted to (and I did...I finished around 1:30am!). Around the half-way point you start to get a handle on what's going on but the pace doesn't slow down at all. This is a novel that maintains the suspense all the way to the last line.

The book is a touch melodramatic but I didn't find that to detract from the story in the least.(I watch a lot of Law & Order: SVU so maybe that's why?) The narration happens in an emotionally distant present tense making for some unsettling storytelling. Everyone around Cora seemed to have both a motive for the crime while simultaneously seeming innocent. Even though you know what everyone is thinking you can't tell who is telling the truth at any point. It all combines to create a pulse-pounding read.

Though it had some flaws this was a great debut and I can't wait to see what Ms. Lapena will come up with next.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Pamela Dorman Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon

Try Not to Breathe
by Holly Seddon
Hardcover, 368 pages
23 February 2016, Ballantine Books
3.5 stars

"Some secrets never die. They're just locked away."

In this debut novel Alex Dale is a young journalist trying to hold her life together. Consumed by her alcoholism she has destroyed her family and career and is drifting from day to day in a haze, freelancing here and there, trying to remain functional and barely holding on. While writing an article about a doctor who is using brain scans to detect consciousness in coma patients she comes across a young woman who was brutally attacked as a teen decades ago and has shown signs of being somewhat aware of her surroundings. Alex remembers this girl, Amy Stevenson, and the case, being the same age as Amy when the attack occurred, and feels a connection to her. She decides to look deeper into Amy's case to tell her story and, at the same time, face down the addiction that threatens to end her life. 

Despite being told from multiple points of view and moving around in time from 1995 (the date of Amy's attack) through to the present day, this book wasn't in the least bit hard to follow. I generally enjoy books that are able to successfully show the motivations of multiple characters and Seddon pulled it off here quite nicely. The glimpses into the neurological ward and patients seemed well-researched despite Seddon's admission that she took some creative liberties with Amy's condition and treatment. 

I thought I had guessed Amy's attacker and, while close, didn't quite hit the mark. I always find that a nice surprise, though in this case I was a bit put-off when the attacker was revealed. The actual perpetrator and the motivation behind the attack wasn't really touched on until almost the end, creating a frustrating inability for the reader to follow along with the mystery. As a result, the book would have to be classified more as a "suspense/thriller" than a mystery. The character development was so good, however, that I would have been okay with whatever ending Seddon settled upon.  The plot was paced well, descriptive, and while the motivations were a bit unclear for the behavior of some characters, it was overall so believable that I was fully immersed in this story. I can't wait to see what Seddon does next.
What to Drink: Red wine - Alex's favorite.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Sirius by Jonathan Crown

Sirius
by Jonathan Crown
Hardcover, 247 pages
16 August 2015, Head of Zeus
4 stars

This book is a must for dog-lovers.  I have a few people who will receive this book as a gift, as I know they will be unable to resist Levi/Sirius/Hercules/Hansi....in all his roles, he is certainly the star that his second name implied.  It is as light-hearted a romp as possible when the subject is a Jewish family in the toxic Germany of the Hitler era.  But, as any true dog lover will tell you, the joy that a dog can bring his or her people is impossible to measure.

The novel is set from the early days of Hitler through the end of WWII and the setting goes primarily between Berlin and Hollywood.  Those interested in the Hollywood of the 30's and 40's will appreciate the stars that people Sirius's life in Hollywood, and those interested in WWII Germany will likewise find the German villains who Sirius encounters fascinating and more human than the history books can portray.  This perspective of those years through the eyes of an amazing dog who was privy to glamour, riches, poverty and war is one that the reader will remember.  

Cheers,
Karli

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

 Sharp Objects
by Gillian Flynn
Hardcover, 254 pages
26 September 2006, Shaye Areheart Books
5 stars

Gillian FLynn is the undisputed master of dark and twisty - and I think I liked this one even better than I did Gone Girl.

Camille is a cutter.  She’s spent some time in some psych wards to deal with her self mutilation, and is now working at a paper in Chicago as an entry-level journalist.  Her boss assigns her a case that sends her home to Wind Gap, Missouri to investigate and report on the murder of one young girl, and now the disappearance of another.

Camille doesn’t want to go - because clearly if you have a history of self-abuse and an ugly childhood, who wants to re-visit that?  But of course, news is news, and having a reporter with such an unquestionable in is too much for a paper to resist, so Camille has little choice in the matter.  She returns to her home town and gets re-acquainted with her younger half-sister Amma, who is 13 (town mean girl, mama’s baby) and her mother Adora, who holds the cash and the keys to much of the town’s inner workings.

Camille helps unwind the mysteries of the current case, and is also forced to learn the truth of her own past in order to move forward and write her story.

This is a fascinating, dark and twisty book, and is perfect for fans of Law & Order SVU - after all, isn’t that where most of us get all our vocabulary for the worst criminals?

Cheers,
- Karli

Jennifer McMahon-a-Thon

The Winter People
by Jennifer McMahon
Hardcover, 317 pages
11 February 2014, Doubleday
4 stars

I love supernatural mysteries - and this book by Jennifer McMahon was the fantastic kind that makes you wonder the whole time if there is a supernatural answer, or just an evil human behind the horror.

Ruthie is 19, feels trapped in her tiny rural home outside a small town in Vermont.  Her dad has died fairly recently, and her mother Alice doesn’t want her leaving for college yet, claiming she needs help with Ruthie’s little sister Fawn, and that they just can’t afford it - both totally plausible answers, but Ruthie is resentful and wants to leave - but then she comes home too late one night and finds her mother is missing, and while looking for clues to her mothers disappearance she finds out that their old farmhouse has a dark history.  She then becomes immersed in learning what happened to her mother - and could it have anything to do with the horrible things that have happened in this house in the past.

The pacing on this book was perfect, keeping me turning pages as fast as I could to learn the answers as Ruthie did.  The book bounces between the past where the dark history begins, and into present day, where that history still resonates.  This is one of those books that you’ll want to devour in one sitting - it’s too good to stop.

AND - as it was too good to stop, I continued on to...

Dismantled

by Jennifer McMahon

Hardcover, 432 pages

16 June 2009

4 stars

In this supernatural or not story we are set in the summer rather than the winter.

The backstory is set only 10 years ago, while four friends at an art college create an art movement they name Dismantlement, where true art is found in the destruction of the thing.  Henry, Tess, Winnie and Suz do a little damage and then drop off the grid to art and destroy from a remote lake cabin.  At the end of the summer Tess is pregnant, Suz is dead and Winnie leaves while Henry and Tess marry.

Ten years later Tess and Henry have a marriage on the rocks, and an imaginative daughter named Emma who wants her parents to get back together, so she and her friend create a plan to get their old friends together so that Tess and Henry will remember what brought them together in the first place.

McMahon again weaves together a story where there are plausible explanations for the weird happenings, but said happenings are awfully creepy and also really point to ghosts and demons.  The twists and turns in this one keep you turning pages, guessing and ultimately surprised me in the end.  

Then, on to...

The Night Sister

by Jennifer McMahon

Hardcover, 322 pages

4 August 2015, Doubleday

3 stars

This tale bounces between three periods in time, two families and two sets of sisters.  In the 1950’s Sylvie and Rose live in a hotel in London, Vermont with their parents.  Their father has built his own Tower of London for his British bride Charlotte, and the two sisters have a rather idyllic life, performing a circus for guests, playing together and meeting the people who stay at their family’s hotel.  Sylvie wants to be a Hollywood star and writes letters to Alfred Hitchcock, telling him as the years go by of an amazing story that he would be very interested in.  She disappears after her 18th birthday, and everyone believes she’s gone to Hollywood to follow her dreams, but no one hears from her again…

In 1989 Rose’s daughter Amy being raised by her Grandma Charlotte and is friends with another set of sisters, Margot and Piper.  While playing in the now decrepit tower, they discover a suitcase that they believe to be Sylvie’s and open their own investigation into her disappearance, discovering way more than they anticipated.

In present day, Margot is 8 months into a high risk pregnancy, and her policeman husband Jason has to investigate the grisly murder of Amy and her family…and the only clue is a picture that Amy wrote “29th Room” upon.

This story bounces between  the times and characters very well, holding its mystery close and revealing the truth in a measured fashion.  Another great story by McMahon, who created quite a reading monster in me.  

Cheers,
- Karli

Fast Friday Review: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

When Breath Becomes Air
by Paul Kalanithi
Hardcover, 230 pages
January 12, 2016, Random House
4 stars

"...even if I'm dying, until I die, I'm still living." 

Paul Kalanithi was 36, nearing his graduation as a neurosurgeon from Stanford University, when he was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. In this memoir, Kalanithi chronicles his journey from a student "obsessed" with understanding what gives life meaning, to a talented neurosurgeon and neuroscientist at Stanford, researching and performing surgery, and finally to a patient himself, coming to terms with the end of his career and his life. There's a bit of a feeling that Kalanithi was writing this as it came to him, as it jumps around a bit, but it's never confusing. Rather, you feel as though you're being told the story of his life as he sits and tells it to you. The book is, obviously, tremendously sad. This book broke me, turning me into a sobbing mess over and over again. It's not self-pitying, however. The sadness comes from the feeling that Kalanthi was an empathetic and talented doctor, destined to do great things that he will never now get a chance to do. This is a hard book to read but is an important examination of mortality and what makes a life worth living, especially as that life draws to a close.

Borderline Insanity

Today Borderline Insanity by Jeff Miller is released - I really enjoyed this book, and give it a solid 4 stars.   I received a galley of this fantastic thriller through Net Galley, in exchange for an unbiased review.  

This is my first time reading Jeff Miller's work, and I instantly became a fan.  

This thriller pulls the reader in from the first chapter, and sets up the characters that will come together to discover and ultimately solve a mass murder of young Mexican immigrants.  The story has a unique pacing, giving a lot of detail in the discovery, detective work and forensics used to find a killer. 

Dagny Gray is the driven FBI agent who is struggling with anorexia and the forced therapy she attends as a condition of her employment.  The therapy sessions work well to give the reader insight, making Dagny a more multidimentional character than we would get with a typical thriller, where the personality of the detectives can seem rather flat unless you've read several books in the series.

The murders in this novel are set in a semi-rural town in Ohio, and Miller also gets the small town feel correct.  There are so many details in this book, and they are what push Borderline Insanity into the best kind of thriller - one where the reader is flipping pages to get to the end - but also ultimately cares for the characters and wants to read more to learn what happens in the next chapter.  

Drink pairing with this one...Vodka water - because then Dagny doesn't have to worry about the calories as she sips and ponders.

Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

Security
by Gina Wohlsdorf
Hardcover, 288 pages
June 14, 2016, Alegonquin
5 stars

"The best security is invisible security. The best safety is safety that one's object of protection doesn't know about."

Security is really best described as a slasher film in book form and it hits all the right notes in that regard. It follows Tessa, the hotel manager at Manderly Resort, the newest, flashiest, high-profile resort hotel on the Santa Barbara coast. As she oversees the staff in their preparations for Manderly's grand opening the next day a killer is stalking the halls, murdering everyone that crosses his path. All of this is narrated by a mysterious stranger who is watching the bloodbath over the hotel's closed-circuit security system.

Told in a third-person omniscient voice, Security has a different feel that other novels. Because the narrator is telling the reader what happens as they view it on the hotel's incredibly comprehensive security cameras, we not only get a play-by-play of the horror as it happens but also this unknown viewers opinions which are often laced with a bit of dark humor. For example, we get this scene in the kitchen.

"Brian attacked the grease on his hands with a kitchen towel. The towel has red stains on it, most likely cherry coulis. One could not rule out the possibility that it was not cherry coulis."

One of the things that makes this book unique is how the author chooses to show simultaneous action. The pages are split in half, thirds, or quarters with each "scene" playing out in those sections, giving the impression that they're being viewed on side-by-side television screens as they are being relayed to the reader by our mysterious narrator. In any other book this might feel gimmicky but here it's used perfectly (and sparingly) to remind you how the narrator is privy to the events as they unfold. I also have to add that when you slowly start to realize who the narrator is your jaw will drop. It was a stroke of genius I never saw coming.

The characters were both stereotypical in their make-up - the tightly wound girl-boss, the faithful maid, the temperamental French chef, etc. - but incredibly well developed at the same time. The book follows traditional slasher-film rules so much that each death is predictable in a way that doesn't decrease enjoyment of the book. (I actually had fun guessing who would die next!) Despite all of the blood and gore there's a certain playfulness in it's tone that makes it a fun read. It doesn't take itself too seriously and, because of the format, as a reader you're able to join in on that fun. You'll find yourself thinking "NO! Don't open that door!" as you read, just like you would watching it on a screen. It was a total success in that regard.

With nods to Stephen King, Alfred Hitchcock, and of course Daphne du Maurier, this debut - DEBUT! - novel is a gift to horror fans. Security is funny, clever, bloody and tremendously incentive. It certainly isn't going to be for everyone, but if you like slasher films and don't mind a little gore in your life, give this a try.

What to Drink: Pop a bowl of popcorn, grab a giant soda, and settle in to read this book from start to stop. You're not going to want to stop reading and this book almost requires movie theater butter.

Backlist Bump: This book is so unique there's no book I would recommend as similar, but if you want to be familiar with a handful of the many references found in the story, read Stephen King's The Shining, Rebecca du Maurier's Rebecca, and Cornell Woolrich's It Had to Be Murder.

Fast Friday Review: Snowblind by Christopher Golden

Snowblind
by Christopher Golden
Hardcover, 320 pages
St. Martin's Press, January 21, 2014
3.5 stars

Any book that gets blurbed by Stephen King gets immediate attention from me and this book deserved it. Reminiscent of The Mist the concept behind this book is a rather simple one: A giant snowstorm sweeps into the small town of Coventry, people claim to see strange figures in the snow, and people walk into the storm never to be seen again. Fast forward twelve years and another giant storm is headed their way. As they make their preparations the residents of Coventry are haunted by the events of the previous storm and fear the return of whatever evil may accompany it. Sounds good, right?

The book initially takes off at a great pace, introducing characters in the form of short vignettes, describing the storm and the chaos it causes, and is just generally scary. Golden successfully captured the suffocating feel of a snow storm which added to the overall discomfort you experience as a reader. Because the story concept was a familiar one, the focus could be on the characters and their emotional responses to the terrifying circumstances in which they find themselves. The jump forward in time did cause some initial confusion since many of the characters from the opening pages were now in new relationships and...for other reasons that I cannot disclose without spoilers.

All in all this was a very good horror novel. There weren't any flashy gimmicks or twists, just a solid concept and successful execution. It was a fast read for a book over 300 pages, which was good since it wasn't the kind of book you'd want to set aside mid-read. If you like horror that has the feel of early Stephen King and Dean Koontz (Phantoms comes to mind here), give this one a try.

The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley

The Loney
by Andrew Michael Hurley
Hardcover, 368 pages
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, May 10, 2016
5 stars

The Loney is a desolate stretch of English coastline that is home to the village of Coldbarrow and a house called The Moorings. This is the place that serves to house the pilgrims that come to worship at the local Gothic church and it's shrine. Led by the new parish priest, Father Bernard, our narrator, his mute brother, his parents and a handful of other church faithful arrive, expecting to witness miracles. Instead, they'll wrestle with faith and doubt and what some will witness will haunt them for a lifetime.

********************

"I often thought there was too much time there. That the place was sick with it. Haunted by it. Time didn't leak away as it should. There was nowhere for it to go and no modernity to hurry it along. It collected as the black water did on the marshes and remained and stagnated in the same way."

Not quite horror but more than just a mystery or historical fiction, The Loney is certainly a Gothic something. Filled with descriptions of grey skies and bleak seascapes, the Loney is more than a setting as it becomes almost a character itself. There are suspicions of a priest gone mad, rumors of a suicide, and hints and whispers of witchcraft. The story feels set in a much older time, with only a few cultural references placing it in the 1970s.

The narrative framing is brilliantly done - after the skeleton of an infant washes ashore, the protagonist, "Tonto" Smith, is sharing the memory of this childhood pilgrimage with his therapist thirty years later. Viewing the events through both the lens of childhood memories and the distance of time paints Smith as potentially unreliable. Smith is unsettled and unsure of himself and he passes that emotional unrest onto the reader. Interestingly, the most disturbing elements of the story aren't supernatural, but rather just brief peeks into disquieting aspects of Coldbarrow. Age-old village traditions, a young girl in an unsettling circumstance, and the brutality of nature are just a few things that help to construct an uncomfortable atmosphere.

Religion has weight in this story. The friendships between the pilgrims exist only because of their connection to one another through their faith, which is an old faith, heavy on ritual and resistant to change. The conflict between the Catholicism of the pilgrims and the paganism of the villagers mimics the conflict between the parishioners themselves. Faith is plays an integral role in the way this book is wrapped up - faith is awakened in a character and miracles are performed, but perhaps not in the way the characters would have expected.

I have difficulty believing that this book was a debut. The writing and plot are as near to perfect as I could expect from a novel like this, the pacing is spot on, and the creepiness factor sneaks up on you before you realize what's happening. I look forward to seeing what Hurley writes next.

Backlist Bump: For another Gothic period piece in which the fright comes from sources that are not necessarily supernatural, read The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.


What to Drink: Despite the pilgrims not drinking themselves, Father Bernard made sure he had some scotch on hand to fortify himself against the cold and the week at The Moorings. I'd follow his example and pour yourself a stiff one.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Sleeping Giants by Sylvian Neuvel

Sleeping Giants
by Sylvian Neuvel
Hardcover, 320 pages
Del Ray, April 26, 2016
5 stars

Rose is out riding her new bike when she falls through the earth and makes an astounding archaeological discovery – a massive hand, buried in what appears to be some kind of man-made chamber whose walls are covered with carvings. Seventeen years later, Rose is a physicist, working to crack the code of the carvings on the cave walls, hoping to find an answer to the hand. Theories and conspiracies abound, especially in light of carbon dating that places the hand well before technology should have existed to create such a thing. As Rose and her colleagues are interviewed regarding their work by a man who seems to know more than he lets on, the question remains – what is this ancient sculpture and is it safe in the hands of those who hide it from the American public?

********************

"Am I ready to accept all that may come out of this if it works? It might give us the cure for everything. It might also have the power to kill millions. Do I want that on my conscience?" 

This book was just a ton of fun. Mysterious artifacts, government conspiracies, fringe science, international political intrigue, an icy "mastermind"...this book was like a science-fiction version of Indiana Jones, if Indy had ever stuck around *after* getting back from his treasure hunting. It was solidly science fiction while still being grounded in enough real life to make it feel relatable. That's not to say the science was sound (interspecies breeding when it comes to humans is an old trope but still firmly in the realm of fiction) but it was at least recognizable, to some extent.  

 The story is told through journal entries and interviews, with a handful of radio transcripts and news reports thrown in as well. It's been done (and perhaps overdone) but it worked really well here. The interviewer becomes a character in and of himself and you come to realize that he knows a bit more than he originally lets on. I got a total Smoking Man vibe from him and loved every bit of it. Interestingly, you eventually realize that the "files" you're reading are numbered and that they are incomplete - numbers are skipped with no explanation - and I immediately wondered if this was a part of the mystery. Are they implying that there's information we're *not* being given? Will we see it later? As mysteries are solved more arise, teasing the reader all the way to the end.   All in all this book was a complete win for me. It was exciting, action-packed, and had just enough of a cliff-hanger to make me wish I didn't have to wait a year for the sequel.

(Thank you to Del Ray and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Hidden Bodies by Caroline Kepnes

Hidden Bodies
by Caroline Kepnes
Hardcover, 448 pages
Atria, February 23, 2016
4.5 stars

After surviving his last, rather disastrous, relationship, Joe Goldberg thought he had at last found his soulmate in Amy.  However, when Amy turns out not to be the attentive and loving girlfriend Joe had hoped she would be, Joe decides to pick up stakes and relocate across the country NYC to L.A., partly because he desires a fresh start and partly because he's determined to track Amy down and make her pay. Once there he finds a place to stay, gets a job at another bookstore, creates a Facebook page, and begins hunting down the woman who broke his heart. In doing so, he realizes how hard it can be to move forward with your life when your past seems determined to come back to haunt you. 

********************

"The real horror of my life is not that I've killed some horrible people. The real horror is that the people I've loved didn't love me back." 

New location, same crazy. It's still hard to dislike Joe (despite his being a murderous psychopath) because he really does have some great insights on life and relationships. Sure, he murders people, but the people he murders are insufferable assholes. He even shows tremendous self restraint in not murdering some people despite there being compelling evidence that they might deserve it. His observations about LA life were spot-on, too.  Joe unfortunately doesn't adjust well to LA – people are just too loud, to open, and too casual for Joe's liking. They start to get on his nerves and, like Joe says, "It's the little things that make you want to kill someone." Kepnes did a brilliant job (again) in making me nervous for Joe – not because I wanted to stop him from committing these heinous crimes, but rather because I was worried he'd get caught.

I also appreciated how unpredictable the plot was, despite being a sequel. Every new death (or non-death) was a surprise and the strange circumstances Joe continually found himself in added an element of unpredictability for the reader. The plot dragged a bit in the middle but the development of Joe as a character, with a good side that complimented his bad side, made up for the uneven pacing. Another surprise was the cliff-hanger ending Kepnes chose to close this installment with. You could have ended where it did and been a brilliant stand-alone novel. Hidden Bodies ends in such a way that I'm now eagerly anticipating the next installment. Joe had just begun what could be the start of a redemption arc so it will be interesting to see how that gets carried through to the next novel.

Overall this book wasn't quite as good as the first book but I think part of that is because Joe's personality and behavior aren't new to the reader anymore, which was part of the charm of You.  On the bright side, the new environment, new characters, new revenge angle, and new love interest all worked to create a reading experience that managed to be familiar and fresh all at the same time. I can't wait for the next book! 

Backlist Bump: Again, any book from the Ripley series by Patricia Highsmith is good here. If you want to try something new, though, and are looking for a book with a character you're not sure you're supposed to like, The Good Girl by Mary Kubica is a good option. 

What to Drink: My drink recommendation for this is the Moscow Mule. Joe may be in the land of the Mai Tai but he's an NYC man at heart, and what's more NYC than this? 

Moscow Mule 

2 oz vodka 

1 oz fresh lime juice 

Ginger beer 

Lime wedge for garnish 

Pour the vodka and lime juice into your glass, over ice cubes. To be traditional, this should be a copper mug. Top off with the ginger beer and add your garnish if desired.