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jen-writes93 · 1 month

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Book Review - The Trapped Wife

The Trapped Wife by Samantha Hayes – My Review Get ready for a rollercoaster of twists and turns in Samantha Hayes’ thriller novel, ‘The Trapped Wife.’ But hold on tight – this ride might make you wonder how far is too far when it comes to plot twists. Told through dual timelines and different perspectives, the story spins a complex web of secrets and lies, leaving you wondering – who can you…

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#book blog #Book Club #book club discussions #book club reading #book recommendations #book review #book reviewer #book reviews #books #books to read #bookworm #thriller book reviews #thriller books

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emi12209-blog · 3 months

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Another writing meme! Let me know if you relate.

#women writers #books #wattpad #writing #thriller #writers on tumblr #books and reading #bookworm #book review #writerscorner #writing encouragement

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mostlysignssomeportents · 4 days

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Rebecca Roque’s “Till Human Voices Wake Us”

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TOMORROW (Apr 17) in CHICAGO, then Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

"Till Human Voices Wake Us" is Rebecca Roque's debut novel: it's a superb teen thriller, intricately plotted and brilliantly executed, packed with imaginative technological turns that amp up the tension and suspense:

https://www.blackstonepublishing.com/till-human-voices-wake-us-gn3a.html#541=2790108

Modern technology presents a serious problem for a thriller writer. Once characters can call or text one another, a whole portfolio of suspense-building gimmicks – like the high-speed race across town – just stop working. For years, thriller writers contrived implausible – but narratively convenient – ways to go on using these tropes. Think of the shopworn "damn, my phone is out of battery/range just when I need it the most":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIZVcRccCx0

When that fails, often writers just lean into the "idiot plot" – a plot that only works because the characters are acting like idiots:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot_plot

But even as technology was sawing a hole in the suspense writer's bag of tricks, shrewd suspense writers were cooking up a whole new menu of clever ways to build suspense in ways that turn on the limitations and capabilities of technology. One pioneer of this was Iain M Banks (RIP), whose 2003 novel Dead Air was jammed with wildly ingenious ways to use cellphones to raise the stakes and heighten the tension:

https://web.archive.org/web/20030302073539/http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.03/play.html?pg=8

This is "techno-realism" at its best. It's my favorite mode of storytelling, the thing I lean into with my Little Brother and Martin Hench books – stories that treat the things that technology can and can't do as features, not bugs. Rather than having the hacker "crack the mainframe's cryptography in 20 minutes when everyone swears it can't be done in less than 25," the techno-realist introduces something gnarlier, like a supply-chain attack that inserts a back-door, or a hardware keylogger, or a Remote Access Trojan.

Back to Roque's debut novel: it's a teen murder mystery told in the most technorealist way. Cia's best friend Alice has been trying to find her missing boyfriend for months, and in her investigation, she's discovered their small town's dark secret – a string of disappearances, deaths and fires that are the hidden backdrop to the town's out-of-control addiction problem.

Alice has something to tell Cia, something about the fire that orphaned her and cost her one leg when she was only five years old, but Cia refuses to hear it. Instead, they have a blazing fight, and part ways. It's the last time Cia and Alice ever see each other: that night, Alice kills herself.

Or does she? Cia is convinced that Alice has been murdered, and that her murder is connected to the drug- and death-epidemic that's ravaging their town. As Cia and her friends seek to discover the town's secret – and the identity of Alice's killer – we're dragged into an intense, gripping murder mystery/conspiracy story that is full of surprises and reversals, each more fiendishly clever than the last.

But as good as the storytelling, the characterization and the mystery are, Roque's clever technological gambits are even better. This book is a master-class in how a murder mystery can work in the age of social media and ubiquitous mobile devices. It's the first volume in a trilogy and it ends on a hell of a cliff-hanger, too.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/16/dead-air/#technorealism

#pluralistic #books #reviews #novels #mysteries #thrillers #technorealism #gift guide #rebecca roque

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brandyschillace · 7 months

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First novel!

UNBOXING! With my cat Darwin to help. Just got the ARC for my book (coming out with Harper Collins this winter). It’s a mystery novel—sort of gothic, with murder and crumbling estates—and the protagonist is neurodivergent! (I’m autistic, myself). Ready for an openly ND citizen-detective? Message me if you’d like an ARC (I have 25 of them). Preview video on my YouTube https://youtu.be/ryJC_w-orzo?si=mXX36CE46wqrcI88

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#book reviews #booksbooksbooks #books #bookblr #books and reading #mystery #thriller #gothic #author #neurodivergent #neurospicy #neurodiversity #being autistic #actually autistic #autism #autistic author #detective #cozy mystery #Youtube

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harringtonfan4 · 11 months

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#thriller books #books and reading #books #books & libraries #booksbooksbooks #book blog #book quotes #book recommendations #bookaholic #book review #booknerd #bookshelf #horror books

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andreai04 · 16 days

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It was starting to sink in that for the rest of my life, the people I met, the people I became close to—there would always be a chance that they saw me as a payout.

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antoinemaillard · 10 months

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Cover llustrations for the New york Times Book review about the Stephen King review of "All the Sinners Bleeds" by S. A Cosby. Thank you so much AD James Blue and Alvaro Dominguez

#editorial illustration #new york times #book review #stephen king #s a cosby #pencil drawing #digital color #thriller #west virginia #small town

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megaeralwrites · 2 months

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Honestly? 100% accurate. This may not be the most rave review my book has gotten so far, but it's definitely one of my favorites. Read the whole thing here.

#the shabti #ghost stories #historical fantasy #queer fiction #2024 debuts #ancient egypt #lgbtqia books #writing community #supernatural thriller #my art #goodreads review #hermann goschalk #gay character #jewish characters #m/m romance

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ystrike1 · 1 year

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Can You Just Die, My Darling? - By Kaname Majuro (9/10)

I have great news! This is available to purchase for real. Not just as an ebook or on an app. You can buy it in English and own it. Hooray, and also this is an incredibly unique yandere apocalypse style story. Regular thriller fans and yandere fans will love it.

ID is a horrible disease that gives the victim super strength. It makes the victim feel more uninhibited. Violent. Deranged and sometimes lustful. Specifically when they are in love.

Kamishiro is the first victim of this disease that we meet. He's a stereotypical nice guy. He's in love with his childhood friend. That childhood friend, Hanazono, is trying to rekindle their friendship. Kamishiro is initially happy, but then it happens. He almost stabs her multiple times. He starts to daydream about killing her. He snaps at her to push her away.

His strange behaviour just makes her worry more. Hanazono is a stereotypical popular girl. Everybody thinks Kamishiro should be honored to have her attention. He is branded as a weirdo for avoiding her.

It gets dark really quick. Kamishiro is willing to do anything to stop himself. He even thinks about killing cats to satisfy his needs, but it doesn't work. Nothing does. He is always thinking of Hanazono. His prey and love.

By the way the super strength is a huge plot point. The yandere disease is a huge potential source of misery. It literally makes the victims strong enough to rip up cars and buildings.

Scary.

A teacher is the first villain. Warning. The sexual side of this disease and the villains are super dark. This is a thriller. It's only kind of a romance. The romance is the payoff after alot of pain. The end goal is finding a cure for the disease before the country is torn apart by lovers in love, and stalkers in lust.

My favorite part of this series is the in between. Everyone affected by ID tries to be normal. They try to stay sane in public so they can continue their daily lives. It's painful and awful and awkward and the hallucinations about killing are gory.

The other characters and enemies are also unique. Love isn't black and white here. I really highly recommend this one. It's just a good manga series. It doesn't just exist to fulfill your yandere fix.

#yandere #male yandere #yandere male #yandere boy #recommendations #recs #rec #recommended #webtoon #horror #thriller #manga review #book review

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bookguide · 3 months

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“There is nothing wrong with the love of Beauty. But Beauty, unless she is wed to something more meaningful—is always superficial.”

— Donna Tartt, The Secret History

#donna tartt #the secret history #keep reading #bookguide #currently reading #new books #aesthetic #quotes #bibliophile #book blog #book summary #book review #murder mystery #mystery #thriller #dark academia books #dark academia #light academic aesthetic #light academia

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rogue-indshadows · 23 days

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Books recommendation 📚😇😊🥰

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emi12209-blog · 3 months

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Writers meme!

#women writers #books #wattpad #writing #thriller #writers on tumblr #books and reading #book review #booklr #writerscorner #writer memes

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oli-reads · 5 days

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𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 "𝐀 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥'𝐬 𝐆𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐓𝐨 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫" 𝐛𝐲 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬𝐨𝐧

“I’ve already learned my lesson here: when you catch someone lying about a murdered girl, you go ask them why.”

Title A Good Girl's Guide To Murder

Author Holly Jackson

Genre Mystery; Thriller; YA

Pages 433

THIS REVIEW HAS A COUPLE OF SPOILERS, NOTHING TOO SIGNIFICANT.

Hello fellow readers! What I have in my paws today is a review of "A Good Girl's Guide To Murder" by Holly Jackson! This is a YA mystery-thriller with a lot of twists and turns, investigation entry logs, maps, etc, which allow you to get into the whole investigative vibe!

Reading Flow ★★★★★

Writing ★★★★★

Plot ★★★★

Characters ★★★★

Spicy none

“But sometimes remembering isn’t for yourself, sometimes you do it just to make someone else smile. Those lies were allowed.”

Goodreads rating 4.33★ My rating 4.5★

This one had me hooked asf. I went from not wanting to put it down, to reaching the final chapters and not wanting to continue it because I was enjoying myself too much to finish it. 😂

*SPOILER ALERT* I really enjoyed the whole plot and was excited for most of it but I was a little sad and confused with Barney's death. I don't think it was necessary and it actually bummed me out quite a lot.

Aside from that I really was at the edge of my seat at the end of each chapter as the investigation got more and more captivating, I just HAD TO KNOW what happened and so I found it a very easy-to-read book because it flows naturally. It mentions various subjects like mental health, substance use, sexual assault and at some point even racism. It has romance happening in the background but it's never the focus and aside from the characters interactions you don't see much mention of it.

“He kissed her, and she glowed with that feeling. The one with wings. “You bring the rain down on them, Pip.” “I will.”

This book will have a tv show adaptation some time soon! Shooting has already wrapped up yet we don't have a date yet. I'm both excited and scared for this because, well, we know how hard it is to capture a book's magic and expectation, but at least it's not a movie. I think it has more potential if we have several episodes to explore the story.

“women can be just as dangerous as men.”

Anyway, if you made it this far thank you for reading this review! I'll leave you with the synopsis if you'd like to take a look, as well as it's Goodreads link. See you soon! 𓃠

If you'd like, follow Oli's instagram page!

SYNOPSIS

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40916679-a-good-girl-s-guide-to-murder

Everyone in Fairview knows the story.

Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town.

But she can't shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer?

Now a senior herself, Pip decides to reexamine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn't want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

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literary-illuminati · 10 months

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Book Review 31 – An Unauthorized Fan Treatise by Lauren James

This was a book (or, web fiction piece. Web serial? I’m not actually sure how it was initially released) that I read basically on a lark after getting curious seeing a few people talk about it on tumblr. So, score one for viral marketing and the convenience of reading free webfiction, I suppose – I was up until half past three in the morning barrelling through it all in one sitting. Which is all just incredibly appropriate for this story in particular.

So, the story’s a thriller/murder mystery, but specifically one about the actors on a trashy CW-style hot-young-adults-playing-supernatural-creatures-having-teen-drama style tv show, as told in the form of a sprawling series of essay-length posts by a fan devoted to proving that the two male leads are fucking in real life but forced to hide their live by the homophobic network. Things get more tangled from there.

So, as I said, very appropriate that I learned about this on tumblr. Basically everything about it is about online fan culture – there’s tens of thousands of words devoted to recounting livejournal sockpuppet drama, every chapter ends with a ‘comment section’ that’s mostly a Greek chorus but occasionally relevant to the plot, and almost literally every single aspect of the story and framing are a reference or pastiche to some famous online clusterfuck or other of the kind you’ve probably watched far-too-long video essay retrospectives of on youtube. Or I have, anyway (but then again, ninety percent of the references were a bit before my time anyway, so the cultural education was pretty crucial to me understanding what this was going for at all).

And, given all that, I ultimately found this pretty disappointing? It was absolutely readable, and enjoyable in the moment, but the metatextual commentary element meant the thriller plot at the heart of it just ended up seeming like, well, cheap soap opera. Beyond that, the framing device just seems like one giant missed opportunity, the commentary on fandom culture was in the end pretty shallow, and the shocking twist in the epilogue was, I think, just a mistake.

So okay, lets justify all of that in order.

When I say the plot didn’t really hold together for me, that might be more the fault of the word-of-mouth marketing that pointed me towards the story more than any promises the text itself makes, honestly. But I went in expecting a story about fan obsession and hallucination, projection and parasocial relationships, and all that. And downstream of that, I was expecting something a bit grounded? And the story just wasn’t either of those things; to begin with, the two celebrities the ‘fan treatise’ is about really are secretly dating and being forced to hide it, which seemed like kind of inexplicable decision to me as I read it. It’s not just that, either. Like to be clear this story absolutely has an unreliable narrator, but for a story ostensibly about fan obsession, it seems a bit odd for, lik, there to be an extended digression about how a famous actor was totally of an asshole in a livejournal fanfic community a decade previously, and then have that be revealed to be totally and unambiguously correct.

It’s less of an issue, but as I said the actual murders and intrigues at the core of the story are kind of just..ridiculous? Which I honestly normally wouldn’t mind, but- wen your story spends so much time talking about trashy supernatural tv shows and fanfic, it becomes kind of important that the ground-level narrative seem real by comparison, you know? And this had altogether too much talk of ‘the dark web’ for that.

I’m very possibly going to be putting my foot in my mouth hear (most of the specific fan cultures and pieces of drama being referenced, I only really know second hand through various salacious youtube gossip rags), but for all that the entire story’s utterly preoccupied with, in the end I found the commentary on fan culture really..shallow? Sure, the entire premise is having a laugh at larry stylinson-style RPF shipping conspiracies, the entire livejournal plot is a pastiche of the MsScribe drama, there are plenty of jokes about how m/m shippers literally forgetting about te female lead in te show she headlines, etc, etc. And they’re, largely, well-done references and jokes! Not really complaining about that.

But I’m kind of left feeling like there’s nothing really underneath it all. Which- if James had sat down a story with the explicit purpose of Saying Something About Fandom, it would almost certainly have been terrible. But between the murder plot and the revelations of Gottie’s byzantine revenge scheme (which honestly I’m consciously choosing not to think about too hard lest this just turn into cinemasins-for-books), in the end all the fandom stuff almost felt like window dressing? Elaborate, detailed, and impressive window-dressing, to be sure, but as the story went on and the plot became more clearly thriller-ish, increasingly revealed to be surface level and ornamental.

Speaking of ‘surface level’: the web serial medium and use of links here was such an incredible missed opportunity. You have an utterly unreliable narrator with a secret agenda and a grudge writing tens of thousands of words of livejournal essays about celebrities, and then you go to the effort of making actual accounts on twitter/insta/whatever to leave real links to when you cite them, and then you have her actually faithfully relate what the cited paged say? What a waste! This would have been so much better if it was 50% more postmodern and up its own ass about playing with the format. And doing so would even let you have that (incredibly obvious on one level, entirely out of nowhere and dramatically dead when it’s dropped as the literal last word of the story) reveal in the epilogue actually work!

Anyway, this all sounds incredible negative. Which isn’t entirely inaccurate, honestly, but I should reiterate that I googled this out of idle curiosity on a Friday evening and only realized it was 3am when I finished it. The negativity is more because this seemed so close to being amazing than because it was anything heinous.

#book review #an unauthorized fan treatise #web serial #thriller #lauren james

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inabooknook · 1 month

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The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton

This book had a very interesting premise. The story follows an island at the very end of the world - a fog has taken over the rest of the planet, and the island is populated with some people who have found a way to keep the fog at bay. However, a murder occurs which sets into motion the fog coming for the rest.

The book was interesting and unique, unlike most other books I've read recently. The story was engaging, the twists were unexpected, and it was hard to predict what would occur next. I liked it because it was definitely different, and given many books nowadays, that is generally hard to come by.

I would recommend this as something for anyone who enjoys a good thriller but is tired of formulaic writing, and predictable endings. At no point during this book did I have any idea what would come next. Highly recommend!

#booklr #reading #books #netgalley #book recommendations #book reviews #fiction #book review #bookstagram #thriller #the last murder at the end of the world #stuart turton #mystery

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onemorechapterandcupofcoffee · 21 days

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Episode Thirteen

Craig DiLouie

If your guilty pleasure is watching ghost hunting tv shows, you'll love this book. The story of a paranormal team investigating a long abandoned house that is the center of a decades old mystery will intrigue and delight. If you're an audiobook lover, then you're in for a treat. This audiobook is fully immersive. From background music to a full cast. You won't regret giving it a listen. 4.5/5 stars, would definitely read again.

#booklr #books #books and reading #book blog #bookish #book recommendations #book review #book cover #book community #reading #reader #audiobooks #horror books #horror fiction #paranormal fiction #thriller

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