Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney - [Book Review]

     

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Book Details:

Title: Beautiful Ugly

Author: Alice Feeney

Genre: Psychological thriller, thriller, mystery

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Print Length: 320 pages

Source: A copy from the local library

Blurb:

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER from the author of His & Hers, now a #1 Netflix show, and the hit bestseller My Husband's Wife!

“Her best book yet.” ―Harlan Coben
The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . .
. . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible – a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.

“Magnetic and jaw-dropping.” ―Mary Kubica, bestselling author
"Unforgettable." ―Chris Whitaker, bestselling author

Purchase Link:

Amazon

My Review:

This gripping thriller follows a bestselling author whose life is turned upside down when his wife mysteriously disappears. Struggling with grief and unable to move forward, he retreats to the secluded island of Amberley to finish his next novel. The trip is encouraged by his agent and a close family friend, who hope the peaceful setting will help him heal and rediscover his creativity.

But Amberley is far from the quiet escape it appears to be. The island is filled with secrets, hidden histories, and unexpected connections—one of which ties directly to his missing wife. When he unexpectedly encounters her on the island, the mystery deepens, and nothing is quite what it seems.

Beyond the suspense, the story explores relationships, the secrets people keep, and the sacrifices and compromises we make for those we love.

What I Loved

I thoroughly enjoyed the storytelling. The narrative is engaging from the very beginning, and the suspense keeps building with every chapter. It was one of those books that was difficult to put down.

The multiple points of view add depth to the story and make the mystery even more compelling. There are plenty of unexpected twists and revelations that keep you guessing until the end. I also loved the atmospheric setting—the island's unpredictable weather, its isolated landscape, and its intriguing residents all contribute to the book's eerie and suspenseful tone.

The pacing felt just right. The story unfolds steadily, revealing clues at the perfect moments without ever feeling rushed. I especially appreciated that the climax felt believable and grounded rather than overly dramatic.

Overall

A fascinating, immersive thriller packed with mystery, secrets, and surprising twists. If you enjoy atmospheric suspense and character-driven mysteries, this is definitely a book worth picking up. It's easy to see why Goodreads readers have been recommending it so highly—it was one of my favorite thriller reads of the year as well.

My Rating: 5/5

Until next time,

The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward - [Book Review]

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Book Details:

Title: The Last House on Needless Street

Author: Catriona Ward

Genre: thriller, horror, suspense, psychological thriller

Print length: 368 pages

Source: Kindle copy from local library

Blurb:

This is the story of a serial killer. A stolen child. Revenge. Death. And an ordinary house at the end of an ordinary street.

All these things are true. And yet they are all lies...

You think you know what's inside the last house on Needless Street. You think you've read this story before. That's where you're wrong.

In the dark forest at the end of Needless Street, lies something buried. But it's not what you think...

Purchase Link:

Audio Book - Limited time deal!

Paperback

My Review:

Layer within a layer, story in multiple perspectives, a mental disorder, and domestic abuse - This is what I can tell about this book in one line. 

The story is definitely not straight forward. It's complex as it's narrated from 3 entities' perspectives and one of them is cat! 

This book has rave reviews and many recommendations from other book lovers. That reason made me pick this up to read. But, this book is not for me. I felt it's tough to follow. I agree, it's my favorite genre and perfect combo - thriller, suspense and psychological thriller, but it is a bit complex for me to understand. 

Ted is living alone in a house after his mom dies and he is one of the suspects in the case of a missing girl Lulu. Lulu's sister Dee moves in to the neighboring house to reveal the murderer of her sister or to find her sister (if she is alive). But, how Ted lives, his insecurities, his mental disorders, how he copes up with problems, his secrets and what happened to Lulu is the remaining story.

The story is narrated in the perspective of Ted, Lauren (daughter of Ted) and Olivia (Cat of Ted). This is like going into their brains and reading their thoughts closely. The writing might be great as other book lovers said, but at some places, it felt too boring for me that I wanted to stop reading in the middle. 

So, without spoilers I can say, it's an average and unique read for me. 

My Rating: 3/5

About the Author:

CATRIONA WARD was born in Washington, DC and grew up in the United States, Kenya, Madagascar, Yemen, and Morocco. She read English at St Edmund Hall, Oxford and is a graduate of the Creative Writing MA at the University of East Anglia.

'The Last House on Needless Street' (Viper Books, Tor Nightfire) was a Times Book of the Month, Observer Book of the Month, March Editor’s Pick on Open Book, a Between the Covers BBC2 book club selection, a Times bestseller, and is being developed for film by Andy Serkis’s production company, The Imaginarium.

'Little Eve' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2018) won the 2019 Shirley Jackson Award and the August Derleth Prize for Best Horror Novel at the 2019 British Fantasy Awards, making her the only woman to have won the prize twice, and was a Guardian best book of 2018. Her debut Rawblood (W&N, 2015) won Best Horror Novel at the 2016 British Fantasy Awards, was shortlisted for the Author’s Club Best First Novel Award and a WHSmith Fresh Talent title. Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. She lives in London and Devon.

Until next time,

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell - [Book Review]

 Book Details:

Title: The Family Upstairs

Author: Lisa Jewell

Genre: Mystery, thriller, suspense

Publisher: Atria Books

Print length: 352 pages

Source: Copy from the local library

Blurb :

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA COVER TO COVER BOOK CLUB PICK

“Rich, dark, and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect.” —Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author

“A haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read.” —Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Then She Was Gone comes another page-turning look inside one family’s past as buried secrets threaten to come to light.

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

Purchase Link:

Amazon

My Review :

I got this book from our local library intrigued by the blurb. 

Oh my God! It's a perfect mystery thriller with a lot of unexpected twists in the story. I thought it is a horror while reading the first few pages. The story parallelly narrates  2 different time periods touching 3 to 6 characters.

Libby who unexpectedly inherits the ancestral house in Cheyenne walk is excited as well as curious about this inheritance. She tries to learn more about the house and the mysterious murders that happened 25 years ago with her friend and an investigative journalist Miller.

Lucy with an abusive ex-husband and 2 children, tries to come back to the house after 25 years to find the baby they left in the house long ago.

Henry is a pivotal point to the story and the most mysterious character. Clemency, Justin, and Phin play an important role in revealing the facts gradually about the house and their families.

Connecting the dots from past and present and reading the story from different people's perspectives is the most interesting part of the book. 

What's great?

Unexpected twists, parallel stories, interesting characters, and mystery maintained till the end.

What might have been better?

I would love to read more about Henry. The story ends well, but the curiosity about Henry stays when you finish the book. 

I didn't feel the title is apt. Yes, the mysterious family of David stays upstairs. But, I felt, there is more to the story overall.  

I would love to read more about David and his personality. A few pages from the perspective of David / Birdie / Justin / Henry Sr / Mom might have been better to understand the reasons for their strange arrangement. It really seems unbelievable that David could twist the mind of the main family members and use them to his advantage. I wasn't sure about his final goal. 

My Rating:

4/5

I recommend this book to readers who love suspense stories with multiple unexpected twists. 

Until next time,

The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides - [Book Review]

Book Details:

Title: The Silent Patient

Author: Alex Michaelides 

Genre:  psychological thriller, suspense, Murder thriller

Print Length: 336 pages

Publisher: Celadon Books

Blurb:

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

Purchase Link: Amazon

My Review :

This is a perfect psychological thriller. It doesn't seem to be the debut novel of the author as it seemed like the best work. The details about psychiatry, the different mentalities, the reasons for people's behaviors and connection to the past are well covered.

The story runs around psychologist Theo who tries to treat Alicia, who joins the hospital after killing her husband. She doesn't speak at all and no other doctor could make her talk. Other than displaying some violent behavior and suicidal tendency, she doesn't give any clue about her mental disorder making the treatment impossible for all other doctors.

But, Theo takes a special interest in her case, he even goes many steps further by talking to people close to her, investigating her past, her behavior, etc. The plot is engrossing, and I completed the book in one go even though it's a lengthy book.

The narrative, characters, the details, and of course the twists and a wonderful climax made this a joyful read.

My Rating: 5/5

About the Author:

Alex Michaelides was born in Cyprus to a Greek-Cypriot father and English mother. He has a MA in English Literature from Cambridge University and a MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. The Silent Patient is his first novel.

Until next time,

Sealed by Naomi Booth - [Book Review]

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Book Details:

Title : Sealed
Author: Naomi Booth
Genre: Horror, Suspense, thriller, Psychological literary fiction
Print Length: 240 pages
Publisher : Titan Books
Sold by : Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Source: A copy from the local library

Blurb:

Sealed is a gripping modern fable on motherhood, a terrifying portrait of ordinary people under threat from their own bodies

Heavily pregnant Alice and her partner Pete are done with the city. Alice is haunted by rumors of a skin-sealing epidemic starting to infect the urban population. She hopes their new remote mountain house will offer safety, a place to forget the nightmares and start their family. But the mountains and their people hold a different kind of danger. With their relationship under intolerable pressure, violence erupts and Alice is faced with the unthinkable as she fights to protect her unborn child.

Timely and suspenseful, Sealed is a gripping modern fable on motherhood, a terrifying portrait of ordinary people under threat from their own bodies and from the world around them.

Purchase Link :

Amazon

My Review :

I am very picky when I have to select some random books from the library. I always scroll through best sellers or read the blurb and decide. The blurb and cover of this book seemed interesting.

Sealed is a psychological thriller. The suspense lies in many aspects - the plot, a disease with unknown reason, the narration of the story, the characters, the scenes, the environment etc., I really liked the narration. At a few places, the thoughts of the protagonist itself are spine chilling. 

The story starts with Alice and Pete moving to the quiet mountain town away from city life, planning to start their new life with baby. But the fears of the past are not easy to forget. 

Alice who used to work in a government office is haunted by the events, people and her investigations related to a disease 'Cutis' which seals some parts of the body making people die. The reason is not known, but Alice finds through her investigations that the disease might be due to air pollution, heat waves, chemicals etc., Wherever she goes, whatever she eats, she is concerned and scared about catching Cutis. 

To add to the problems, she is heavily pregnant and there are no medical facilities in the place they move. Without even a working phone line or internet connection, she is isolated. Pete strikes off her anxiety as pregnancy hormones and she doesn't have anyone to clear her doubts about her current state of body and mind.

The story takes some unpredictable turns after this and there are shocking scenes in the climax. The ordeal she has to go through alone makes us numb with shock. 

I liked the suspense and narration. I would have loved to read an epilogue or prologue about Cutis. If you love mystery and psychological fiction, you will love this.

My Rating : 4.5/ 5

Until next time,

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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - [Book Review]

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Book Details:
Title : The Girl on the train
Author: Paula Hawkins
Genre: Psychological thriller, fiction, mystery
Print Length : 326 pages
Source: A copy from the local Library

Blurb:

Rachel catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She's even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. 'Jess and Jason', she calls them. Their life - as she sees it - is perfect. If only Rachel could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It's only a minute until the train moves on, but it's enough. Now everything's changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she's only watched from afar. Now they'll see; she's much more than just the girl on the train...

Purchase Link:

Amazon

My Review :

The Girl on the train is a great psychological thriller. The story is narrated in the perspective of  2 ladies. Rachel who is divorced and still couldn't cope up with her single life even after 2 years is a regular commuter by train to the office. Since she is frustrated with her life, she fancies watching 'Megan' from train daily and thinking of how lucky she is to have a loving husband and a happy life. 

While Megan seems to be a happy wife to her loving husband Scott, she has her own problems to deal with. While her past still haunts, she is not able to reciprocate her love to Scott. 

While the story is narrated through both of these characters, an unexpected incident involves Rachel in Megan's life. Megan is dead and Rachel thinks that she could be of some help to give important information to Police on her disappearance. Unfortunately, her involvement makes her entangled in deep trouble but, the investigation also helps her to make peace with the past. 

A good page turner, indeed. I loved the characterization. It is interesting to understand the deep layers of each character through the narration. Characterization and mystery element made me read the book continuously. I didn't read it in one go but would have done it if I wasn't busy with office and home.

One more plus is the narration. I liked the way the suspense is maintained till the end and how things are revealed gradually in the story. 

I know, it is a best seller and so, I had high expectation on the book. This book has met all my expectations. If you love psychological thrillers, you might like this book.

My Rating : 4.5/5

Read my Review of Paula's other book - Into the Water.

About the Author:

Paula Hawkins worked as a journalist for fifteen years before turning her hand to fiction.

Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, Paula moved to London in 1989 and has lived there ever since. Her first thriller, The Girl on the Train, has been published in over forty languages, has been a No.1 bestseller around the world and is now a major motion picture starring Emily Blunt. Into the Water is her second thriller.

Until next time,

This post is written as part of a blog train #letsblogwithpri hosted by Prisha. Thanks to Kanika for introducing me to this blog train. I would love to introduce Noor to the blog train. Noor writes about her life experiences about travel, parenting and lifestyle topics. Read her posts.

Hosted By :Prisha Lalwani Mummasaurus.com IG: @mummasaurus1FB: /mummasaurus1

Just One Time by K S Hunter - Cover Reveal

Just One Time

The first novel by K.S. Hunter, the alter ego of an international bestselling author, whose identity will remain a secret.

Desire can have dire consequences

Two years ago, David Madden made a mistake that almost cost him his marriage. His wife, Alison, gave him another chance, but she has not forgotten, nor has she forgiven.

She is irresistible

Then David meets the alluring Nina at a theatre in London. When he loses his phone in the dark, she helps him find it, and by giving her his number he unwittingly invites her into his life.

What David initially views as an innocent flirt turns into a dangerous game of deception. His increasingly suspicious wife thinks something is up, and each lie he tells pushes them further apart.

She is insatiable

Nina pursues David relentlessly, following him to New York where she gives him an ultimatum: sleep with her, just one time, and then she’ll get out of his life forever; or she’ll ruin everything he holds dear.

She is unstoppable

Of course, one won’t be enough for Nina, and what David hoped would be the end is merely the beginning.

A modern-day Fatal Attraction, Just One Time is a steamy psychological thriller that will have you hooked from the first page and holding your breath until its shocking conclusion. 

Praise for K.S. Hunter

‘An author to watch out for – always interesting and unpredictable’Sophie Hannah

Is your book part of a series / standalone? 

Standalone

Are there any possible trigger warnings that bloggers/readers need to be aware of? Some graphic sexual content

Publication Date - 7^th December 2017

Author Bio – K.S. Hunter is the pseudonym of an international bestselling author. The identity of the author, who lives in the United Kingdom, will remain a mystery.

Social Media Links –

https://www.facebook.com/author.kshunter

https://twitter.com/Author_KSHunter

Until next time,