Best Psychological Fiction
Anna’s best friend, Sarah, hasn’t been telling the whole truth about what really happened that night—and her parents have been keeping secrets of their own. Someone knows where Anna is—and they’re not telling. Covering crime for so long, she watched and was deeply moved by all the ripples each case caused, and the haunting impact on the families, friends and witnesses involved.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"However, when the author moved to subsequent chapters (everything else in third person), the phrases and partial sentences continued. The other stylistic device used over and over was the introduction of a secret at the end of almost every chapter. When the guilty person is finally revealed, it was difficult to believe that the police would have neglected to perform a full investigation (the author tells us at the end that police only did a “cursory” investigation on the person). I hesitate to say more as it would potentially become a spoiler, but for me, this became a fatal flaw and made the ending feel forced."
"This story follows the perspectives of Ella, Sarah, Anna's father, and a private investigator in the year following Anna's disappearance. Although not to this extreme, I think most people can relate to being in a position where you question whether or not to say something or stay quiet and mind your own business."
"Fast-moving plot full of unpredictable twists; flawed yet sympathetic characters; realistic dialog."
"Each chapter was a cliffhanger that carried into the next chapter."
"Many POTs."
"I really enjoyed this book."
"This book grabbed me and kept me up until 3am two nights in a row, guessing until the end."
"I found this story a bit slow at first and then the tempo just building and building until I couldn't put it down."
Twelve years ago, Sarah Baker was abducted by the Watt Lake Killer and sexually assaulted for months before managing to escape. She has won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award for Romantic Suspense, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the Romantic Crown for Best Romantic Suspense and Best Book Overall.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I was not interested at all in the dysfunctional family drama, the legal thriller which looked a bit boring to me, and the silly-looking teenage supernatural hunter book one of a series. By romance, I'm talking the whole nine yards - she noticing his biceps, deeply tanned skin, masculine appeal and yearning for what she has denied herself all these year, etc., this is it. As another reviewer said, this book was similar to "The One That Got Away" in it's plot of the one serial killer victim that escaped, but with serious PTSD which she fights to overcome. It is ridiculous that a just retired cop would lure the killer he still believes to be on the loose to the home of the victim that got away (not going into how he knew that) and not warn her or anyone else there of the danger. Yet, there are many readers who love books about strong female lead characters that overcome tremendous odds to survive. I also agree that there was rich texture in the depiction of the surroundings, which is the rugged Canadian northwest, which adds flavor to the book."
"Admittedly, the hero and heroine fit the standard expectations of the genre - she's tough and feisty, he's ultra cool and masculine without undermining her, and their attraction is immediate despite differences between them - but these characters also have some depth with their complicated histories, and the well-developed secondary characters bring a lot to the story and make it feel more grounded. In the end, I looked past these story elements because it is a romance, which often involves a degree of fantasy, and I enjoyed the story, which really is well written."
"What I liked: The book is told from different people's perspectives which normally would bother me but in this book it worked. The book just needed an epilogue like 6 months down the road to show where everything was at."
"Some of the parts I felt did not seem to add up, and others were pretty predictable, but the way the story was written kept a good flow going and kept you wanting to make sure that you were on the same path as the author."
Darby Thorne is a college student stranded by a blizzard at a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere. She’ll have to spend the night in the rest stop with four complete strangers. There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, no way out because of the snow, and she doesn’t know which one of the other travelers is the kidnapper. Full of shocking twists and turns, this beautifully written novel will have you on the edge of your seat. “ I found myself having to tell myself to stop read and just BLINK, and breathe, for crying out loud. Would have read it quicker if I could have hidden myself away from the rest of the world, but alas, there was no escape from reality! The suspense starts at the very first page and only becomes more compelling until the explosive ending.” Linda Strong. “Once starting this story I just could not put it down, call it engrossing, engaging, intriguing or whatever you’d like it truly turned into one of those reads that I couldn’t break away from and today I really need a nap.” Carrie Glover. OUR LAST NIGHT Dan Rupley has 24 hours to get his dead fiancée back.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Full of lots of twists and turns - keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish."
"Enjoyed the fast pace of the story."
"Slow start."
"I bought it last min before boarding a flight, I barely read the description- I was blown away."
"This was a well written book keeps you guessing and I really enjoyed it."
"Could not put it down."
"Kept me in suspense the whole book."
"This was one of the most gripping thriller I have ever read."
Best Political Thrillers & Suspense
A decade ago, fourteen-year-old Suzanne Lombard, the daughter of Benjamin Lombard—then a senator, now a powerful vice president running for the presidency—disappeared in the most sensational missing-person case in the nation’s history. “This live-wire debut begins with a promising lead in the long-ago disappearance of the vice president’s daughter, then doubles down with tangled conspiracies, duplicitous politicians, and a disgraced hacker hankering for redemption...Hang on and enjoy the ride.” — People. “Unbridled power and relentless revenge converge in the exciting, tightly plotted The Short Drop ...The multifaceted Gibson has the makings to support a long series.” —SouthFlorida.com.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"That said, I did enjoy the second half of the book which did keep moving from beginning to end, holding my interest without my having to push myself to read it like I did for the first half of the book. So, when the central plot line in The Short Drop turned out to be the fact that a current Presidential candidate's 13 year old daughter had been kidnapped, I merely wrote that off as a coincidence."
"I’ve found that thrillers, particularly those with a political bent, can be a little light on character development and a little heavy on the unbelievable-and-over-the-top plots. The characters are well developed, complex and multi-faceted, flawed and susceptible to injury (both emotional and physical)."
"As an old retired IT guy it made sense to me where it needed to and was not written for the 17 year old."
"This book caught my attention from the sample on Kindle and held it through half a week while I told myself I had time of other already purchased books to read."
"His characters are beautifully developed and appropriately psychologically complex, so much so that the reader doesn't know who the "bad guy" is and might even fall in love with him or her in the meantime. 4.5 stars. Note: Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher, Thomas & Mercer, for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review."
Best Paranormal Suspense
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. A stunning new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts— Year One is an epic of hope and horror, chaos and magick, and a journey that will unite a desperate group of people to fight the battle of their lives… It began on New Year’s Eve. As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. ” -- New York Times Book Review. NORA ROBERTS is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including The Obsession, The Liar, The Collector, Whiskey Beach, and many more.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I love all of her trilogies, and I own every single book she's written to include the JD Robb In Death Series."
"Intense story with a very probable future earth."
"Once again Nora Roberts gives us characters that you can love and cheer for as well as ones to cheer against."
"Started a little slower for me than some it about 1\4 of the way through pulled me right in."
"Not what I expected as the story played out."
"I don't usually read Nora Roberts, but the theme of this book intrigued me."
"I've always loved Nora but this book was different, had an different feel, and I loved it!"
"I read when I am walking on the treadmill and 90 minutes passed before I knew it."
Best Occult Suspense
Jillian Guthrie, a troubled young journalist, stumbles onto a tantalizing mystery: the same man, unaged, stands alongside Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, and Gandhi in three different photographs spanning eighty-five years of history. Creator of the landmark original miniseries V , he also produced The Six Million Dollar Man and created iconic Emmy-winning shows such as The Bionic Woman , The Incredible Hulk , and Alien Nation . He has presented his unique graduate-level seminar, The Filmmaking Experience , at UCLA, USC, NYU, Loyola, New York Film Academy, the National Film and Television School (UK), Moscow State University (Russia), and many others.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It was intriguing, the writing grabbed me and pulled me through the first 150 pages."
"The author did a masterful job of weaving together the stories of the major characters with those of the minor ones. The main character was condemned to an eternity of wandering the earth, but the author did not reveal the reason until maybe halfway through the book. The true reason this man was being pursued through the centuries and across continents was also revealed in the latter chapters. I enjoyed the tales told by the main character of interactions with famous people throughout history. One last thought -- Although many people are telling their stories throughout this book, I had no trouble keeping them straight."
"Also, I'd like to say up front here that, "the start of this book was boring/confusing/you-have-to-read-past-100-pages", is a common theme, even among five star reviews. After he woke up, he almost immediately gave a description of himself by looking in a mirror--something I absolutely hate since I simply CANNOT connect with a character that way--and after that, the book launched into a literary ocean of frustration, confusion, and boredom. Seriously, I really do hate critical reviews, but at some point around page 60 all I wanted to do was start bashing my head against the wall. Honestly, how many times do you have to observe someone handing out charity money to understand that yes, obviously, he’s a good guy? I had no idea who was actually relevant to the story later on, and who was just a convenient prop for demonstrating bits of information or more of Will’s “character”. Off the top of my head I’d say like Angels and Demons, but that book had me hooked from the first chapter. This one only fed me vague hints about some mysterious darkness, in a manner that was prominent enough it was obvious I should care about said hints, but so vague and with so little information there is no way I could possibly know enough to feel genuinely disturbed as, yes, I so obviously should have. It was the fact that I was 83 pages in, and I still hadn’t been given a single legitimate reason why I should WANT to keep reading. I’m absolutely positive a lot of people will love this book, and that it will get its fair share of glowing reviews."
Best Ghost Suspense
To save mankind's future, the members of Sigma Force must make a devil's bargain as they join forces with their most hated enemy to stop an ancient threat in this gripping adventure from #1 New York Times bestselling author James Rollins. Strangest of all, this inexplicable threat traces back to a terrifying secret buried a century ago beneath the National Mall: a cache of bones preserved in amber. An ancient horror. ―. dormant in the marrow of those preserved bones. ―. is free once more, nursed and developed into a weapon of incalculable strength and malignancy, ready to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world. “Rollins’ latest Sigma Force novel is one of the best in the series....The mix of science, history, and high-concept adventure is always first-rate in a Rollins novel....Devotees of Clive Cussler and Steve Berry are no doubt reading Rollins already, but if they’re not, what’s keeping them?” ( Booklist (starred review)). “Bone-chilling.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review) ). “Bestseller Rollins’s epic...features exotic locales, heroic quests, quixotic villains, action galore, and enough science and scientific curiosities to titillate even casual readers....Rollins’s characters are as large as his landscape in this vast and vastly entertaining thriller saga.” ( Publishers Weekly (starred review)). About James Rollins JAMES ROLLINS is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of international thrillers that have been translated into more than forty languages. Rollins' rare blend of action, suspense, and knowledge was also mentioned by the Huffington Post, which stated that "After Crichton passed away in 2008 he clearly passed the baton to James Rollins, who like Crichton, is a renaissance man." This hands-on knowledge of medicine and science helps shape the research and scientific speculation that set James Rollins books apart.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"He and his team of scientist were on an island off the coast of Brazil where all life has been destroyed, expended, and overcome by a species outside a mind's eye. Gray, Seichand, Kowalski, Professor Ken Matsui, Palu, and Aiko are at the site trying to stop the evil that threatens the world. Kat, Monk, Elena Delgado, and Sam Benett are putting together the missing pieces between the bit of amber and James Smithson.This threat may be more than Sigma can understand or halt. Rollins tales are epic and they feature exciting settings, daring quests, idealistic scoundrels, action abundant, and plenty science and methodical inquisitiveness to titillate even casual readers."
"I'm a long time reader of James Rollins and as good as his other Sigma Force books are, I would have to say that this is clearly his best to date."
"Would love to see new stories in the Sanguine Series!"
"I also like the fact there is more fact than fiction in Rollins' books."
"James Rollins keeps you up late hoping to find a calm space so you can put the book down."
"New twist for the Sigma team."
"JR never fails to keep you on the edge of your seat."
"As usual, Mr. Rollins delivers."
Best Horror Suspense
Now a major motion picture Stephen King’s terrifying, classic #1 New York Times bestseller, “a landmark in American literature” ( Chicago Sun-Times )—about seven adults who return to their hometown to confront a nightmare they had first stumbled on as teenagers…an evil without a name: It . But the promise they made twenty-eight years ago calls them reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city’s children. The amazingly prolific King returns to pure horror, pitting good against evil as in The Stand and The Shining. Moving back and forth between 1958 and 1985, the story tells of seven children in a small Maine town who discover the source of a series of horrifying murders. But there is enough material in this epic for several novels and stories, and the excessive length and numerous interrelated flashbacks eventually become wearying and annoying.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"When I was on a school field trip in the seventh grade, I took Stephen King's "IT" with me to read. I'd gotten into reading Stephen King two years before by way of a trip over the previous summer to my uncle's house. He had a collection of Stephen King novels and I'd started reading them with Pet Sematary, which had been adapted to the big screen two years before. In the intervening time, I'd devoured Salem's Lot, Carrie, Firestarter, and Misery, and The Shining. Whereas as a kid I identified with those elements as mapping directly onto my friends and setting, I did it unconsciously. I appreciated how well King encapsulated the distance between childhood and adulthood and all the roads we travel in between. King doesn't use mere words to tell stories, he uses meanings themselves, woven seemingly seamlessly into shades of context and pigments of innuendo and occasionally bright, obvious splashes of unobfuscated emotion that jar you because...hey...in real life that's how it works. And in getting that right, King manages to make the impossible elements like the supernatural nature of IT and the relationship IT has with the town of Derry and the inhabitants there...normal."
"Seven outcasts form a bond in order to defeat It, deeming themselves The Loser’s Club. Thinking they defeated It as children, they lead a life outside of Derry until the murders start happening again. Twenty-seven years later, The Loser’s Club makes their way back to Derry to defeat the evil once and for all. With the way King goes into details, it’s like you are actually in the book right beside the characters as they go through the horrors of every day life of living in Derry. His style definitely works by making you really feel terrified as you read, as if It could actually reach out and grab you at any minute. “…she took her washcloth and leaned over the basin to get some water and the voice came whispering out of the drain: ‘Help me….’”. -Stephen King, It. I loved the way this book was formatted. The book is split up into 5 parts, alternating between childhood and adulthood in the perspective of every member of The Loser’s Club. “Can an entire city be haunted?”. –Stephen King, It. This novel wouldn’t be what it is without the addition of the Derry Interludes at the end of every part. She wasn’t a major part of the storyline; therefore, I really didn’t care to hear about her life. Also I feel the need to mention one specific scene that just did not sit well with me, mainly because the ages of the characters at this point in the novel."
"I still own the paperback edition but I went only trough several chapters because the presentation (in my opinion) was hard to read the words very tiny, so I never finished it."
"I’m not going to lie...when I first saw the thickness of this book I was a little intimidated, I like to read as much as anyone just about but I like books that can hold my attention and “It” is definitely doing a great job of that!"