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.)

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Behind Closed Doors
by B. A. Paris
Hardcover, 304 pages
9 August, 2016, St. Martin's Press
4 stars

This is the first book being compared to Gone Girl that has lived up to the hype – not because they were anything alike in terms of writing style, plot, or book construction, but because it was the first book since Gone Girl that I couldn't put down. I sat down one evening and read the first half, only stopping because it was time for bed, and then I waited grumpily all day until I could sit down again and finish it. It was incredibly fast paced and, as fast a reader as I am, I was still irritated that I couldn't read it faster. That earns it the comparison, in my opinion. 

This debut novel presents the perfect couple, Jack and Grace. They met one day in the park when Grace's younger sister Millie was dancing by herself and Jack stepped in to be her partner. After a whirlwind romance they were married and rushed off to an exotic honeymoon in Thailand. Upon their return Grace loses touch with her friends and quits her job, seemingly content to stay at home in the beautiful mansion that Jack bought for them and decorate, garden, and enjoy her new wonderful life. Soon, their friends notice that Grace and Jack are inseparable and Grace is now unavailable for lunch dates alone. 

Do you see where this is going? Don't worry if you don't because Paris shows you before long. By the time that happens you won't care, though, because you'll want to know how the situation is going to resolve itself. The story flips back and forth between two timelines, the first following Grace as she meets Jack, falls in love, and accepts his proposal, and the second as she details what her life is like in the present. This moved the story ahead in a way that highlighted the frantic rush Grace was in. I also genuinely enjoyed the scenes with Millie, too. Her portrayal as a person with Down's Syndrome but still as smart as a whip, fun, and present in her sister's life felt very authentic.

The book was not without flaws. Without giving too much away, it did require a slightly higher-than-normal suspension of disbelief because one of the characters was SO extreme. The circumstances were so perfectly plotted that it seems impossible for anyone to be as well-coordinated as would be necessary to pull off their plans. There are a lot of trigger warnings in this book – nothing graphic but a lot of allusions to things – and they're scattered liberally throughout the book (not problematic but something to keep in mind before deciding to read it).

I recommend it but don't pick it up when you have places to be or things to do. You won't be able to put it down.

(Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press 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.)

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

Listen to Me by Hannah Pittard

Listen To Me
by Hannah Pittard
Hardcover, 191 pages
5 July 2016, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4 stars

Mark and Maggie are driving across the country with their dog Gerome.  This is a trip they've made many times, but in the past year so much has changed, and both Mark and Maggie are wondering if they are going to survive the transition.

The suspenseful pacing of the novel, the creepy foreshadowing, and the always looming storm (actual and metaphorical) kept me turning pages, wondering what would come next.  The twisty ending was a shocker for me, and I finished the book, but know the story will continue in my head for a while to come.  

Cheers,
Karli

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

Missing, Presumed
by Susie Steiner
Hardcover, 400 pages
June 28, 2016, Random House
4 stars

I'm always excited at the prospect of a character-driven police procedural (especially if it's British) and Missing, Presumed did not disappoint. The plot centers around a young woman who has gone missing after a night of carousing at her local university pub. Not an out-of-the-ordinary case, except that the missing woman is Edith Hind, only daughter of Sir Ian Hind, physician to the royal family. There were signs of a struggle at her home – broken glasses, blood, and tipped over furniture – but no ransom demands and no contact from Edith herself.  The story itself plays fairly close to the traditional missing person mystery with lots of suspects, false leads, and juicy family secrets, but what really made it stand out were the wonderful characters.

The book is told from multiple perspectives, allowing the reader to get to know each character intimately. You hear all of their thoughts about the case, their boss, their significant others (including some particularly painful blind dates), and each other.  Manon, the main character, is portrayed as both a tough and capable detective. At the same time, however, we get to see peeks at her private life, like her disastrous attempts at online dating. Davy, her partner, is an eternally optimistic man who worries about the plight of at-risk youth in the system and hides the miserable relationship he's in with his long-time girlfriend.  Even more minor characters are fully fleshed out and you get a good sense of what the squad room is like.

Despite being a rather traditional mystery, this book touched on some social issues like at-risk youth and how they're shuttled through the system, the self-absorption and "cause hopping" of the idle rich, and the reasons some people turn to crime as a way of life. One thing I found particularly interesting was the reflection on how high profile cases are handled differently and whether that has an effect on the outcome of the case.  

I enjoyed this book tremendously and I'm hopeful that this is the first book in a coming series.  

What to Drink: Gin, neat, preferably Hendricks. You can add tonic but if the Queen can drink it straight, you probably should as well. 

Backlist Bump: Anything by Tana French. Start with Into The Woods. You don't be disappointed.  

Fast Friday Review: Confessions by Kanae Minato

Confessions
by Kanae Minato
Hardcover, 240 pages
August 19, 2014, Mulholland Books
4 stars

"I do not want to be a saint."

Confessions is the dark, disturbing, and sometimes humorous tale of Yuko Moriguchi, a middle school teacher whose daughter has been killed at the school. The police have ruled it a tragic accident but Yuko believes that her daughter was murdered by two of her students. Because these students are too young to be prosecuted even if they were caught, Yuko decides that she needs to take matters into her own hands.

There are the usual bumps in this book that happen with translated fiction - certain phrases that sound a bit off and cultural differences that take a bit to get used to. Once you get past those difficulties, however, Confessions is full of plot twists that will make you cringe...but you'll want to keep reading to see what happens next. The story is told from multiple perspectives, allowing each character to explain his or her behavior, but it starts and ends with Yuko framing the narrative with her thoughts on punishment and revenge. Hearing each character explain why they behaved the way they did brings to light exactly how disastrous misunderstandings can be in the wrong circumstances and highlights just how twisted the climax is, once all the puzzle pieces come together.

Confessions is a creepy read that will leave you contemplating where the line between justice and revenge exists and how far is too far to seek revenge for a murdered child.

Fast Friday Review: Missing Pieces by Heather Gudenkauf

Missing Pieces
by Heather Gudenkauf
Hardcover, 288 pages
MIRA, February 2, 2016
2.5 stars

This is my first book by Heather Gudenkauf, so I went in blind, knowing only that she writes suspense/thrillers. The short summary of this book is this: Jack Quinlan's aunt Julia, who raised him after his mother was murdered and his father disappeared, has fallen down the stairs and is in a coma. He and his wife Sarah rush back to his hometown of Penny Gate, Iowa to be with her and his uncle. When his aunt dies the police suspect foul play and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Jack's mother resurfaces, placing the family under scrutiny. Sarah, who is a journalist by trade, finds herself drawn into the awkward circumstance of investigating her husband, sister-in-law, and other relatives for murder. There is a lot of small town drama, several creepy abandoned barns, and scarily dark cornfields involved along the way. 

To be honest, this book read like a domestic drama almost as much as it did a mystery. Sarah and Jack do not feel like a couple that have been together for 20+ years with two daughters in college. They seem awkward and uncomfortable when they interact and came across as much younger then they apparently are. They don't seem to have a solid marriage despite there being no real reason they wouldn't prior to Julia's death. That aside, I did like that Sarah was portrayed as a strong female character, though I would have liked to see a bit more from her, especially considering that she's an investigative journalist by trade. She seems to ignore what felt like fairly obvious red flags throughout this book. Also, her strange jealousy over her husband's ex-girlfriend from high school seemed absurd. 20 years and two kids and she's jealous of some girl he was "in love with" as a high school student? It unnecessarily weakened her character and felt like it was tossed in to create drama where it didn't need to be.

The plot was full of twists and turns (some made more sense than others) until the "bad guy" was finally revealed.  I found the ending so convoluted and confusing that it dropped my rating an entire star. I thought I knew who did it. The author was pushing readers in a very specific direction (almost too hard) and then the real killer came out of nowhere. Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of twisty endings...when they make sense. There were several suspects who had *actual* motives for wanting Julia dead and yet the Gudenkauf manufactured a weird "they're just crazy" reason for her murder. It felt like a stretch and I found it unsatisfying as a reader.

The book was a fast and entertaining-enough read if you're looking for a suspense/thriller that is neither too creepy or too tense. I prefer either a fast-paced plot or thoughtful, well-developed characters and this book had neither. I'll probably pick up another by this author (I own a few, as it turns out) but I'm not in any hurry to do so. 
(Thank you to MIRA and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

We'll Never Be Apart: Sister Trouble

We'll Never Be Apart
by Emiko Jean
Hardcover, 279 pages
HMH Books, October 6, 2015
2 stars

While committed to a mental institution, charged with a crime of which she claims she is innocent, seventeen-year-old Alice Monroe struggles to regain her memories of the night a fire killed her boyfriend. Convinced that her sister Cellie is actually responsible for the blaze and is being housed at the same facility, Alice decides to find her and put an end to their destructive relationship once and for all. 


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

"So where does a story that ends in fire and death begin? It begins in the snow on the coldest day of the coldest winter of the last fifty years on their sixth birthday in a silent house. It begins with a body."

Let me start by saying that I'm not generally a fan of YA novels.  This one had a good amount of buzz surrounding it, though, and it seemed to have an interesting premise. It's a debut novel, so I expected bumps. This novel, however. starts out dark and atmospheric and then starts to fade pretty quickly into a giant, predictable cliche. I am not exaggerating when I say that I guessed the "twist" ending from reading the epilogue. The foreshadowing in this book is about a subtle as a fire alarm. After giving away the farm in the first few pages, the book then manages to continue on for 270-odd pages about a character in a mental institution with zero insight into any kind of mental health issues. I can handle a bad "twist" if the book at least offers some kind of peek into mental illness or a unique look into issues like the ones facing the protagonists (and there were *so* many to choose from here). This book offered none of that, unfortunately. It relied almost entirely on the suspense building to the big reveal at the end, and, to be honest, even if the ending hadn't been so obvious from the start, the twist was so unoriginal that it would likely have been a disappointment anyway.

The plot also falls apart in several big ways. We're told from the start that Alice's goal is to regain her memories from the night of the fire and find her sister. A solid two-thirds of the book revolves around her budding romantic relationship with another boy at the hospital. It's an odd turn of events for someone who is supposedly so hellbent on finding her sister who she believes to be housed in the same facility. When given the opportunity to sneak around at night, she and her new guy end up on the roof chatting, in the kitchen fixing sandwiches, and wandering the grounds. Some of this gallivanting took place the night before Alice was to attend the funeral of her boyfriend, the love of her life, who had died a week or two earlier. For someone we're told is devastated by this loss, the speed of her new-found relationship is a big problem. Also, apparently this hospital has no security whatsoever because *none* of that is something two kids in a locked-down mental institution should be able to do. Razors were hidden in rooms, key cards easily lifted from several different staff members, locked rooms being broken into, patient files stolen...I mean, at this point that hospital should just be shut down for sheer incompetence in care.

I could go on but there's not much point. In the end, the book was a quick read with a not-terribly-complicated writing style. However, because of a weak, nonsensical plot, I can't recommend it to anyone. Hopefully Jean's subsequent work will be more well-constructed. I'm unlikely to read another.

My beverage recommendation for this book is a tequila shot or two. Our protagonist indulges in some during a party in her childhood and it could help make you care less about the plot holes you're wandering through.

My backlist bump for this book includes All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven (a YA novel that actually explores mental health issues in teens, including depression and PTSD) or Shutter Island (a suspense/thriller also set in a mental institution that will keep you up at night with it's creepy plot and shocking ending). 

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.