Tag Archives: Thriller

Two Books That Were Not Gone Girl

American Literature, British Literature

America’s Test Kitchen Radio has this great feature where they test kitchen gadgets and tell you one that’s hot and one that’s not. So I’ve got two Gone Girl knockoffs, one that’s hot and one that I read anyway. You: A Novel has an irresistible premise, in which a stalker narrates his growing obsession with a troubled young woman. He addresses her using the 2nd person, but within the context of a first person narrative. Author Caroline Kepnes had to use a teeny bit of…

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The Book of You by Claire Kendal

British Literature

Synopsis: After a night she can’t remember that left her with bruises on her thighs, Clarissa can’t shake Rafe, whose unrelenting attentions gain added menace when she starts noticing the parallels to a rape trial she’s attending as a juror. Review: The Book of You had some strong and memorable elements, particularly Claire’s emotional and physical isolation as a result of Rafe’s stalking. Unfortunately, the secondary characters remained largely flat on the page, never serving as much more than an unwitting Greek chorus to Claire’s…

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Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

American Literature

Synopsis: A reporter heads back to her hometown to write about a serial killer, only to find her own past coming back to haunt her. Review: I didn’t love Sharp Objects, but I will admit it’s a good page-turner. I just couldn’t get past the central character conceit, that she’s carved her body full of words. I knew someone once who gave himself a home tattoo of the word “TRUST” after the Hal Hartley movie, and it took up like half his leg because it…

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Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King

American Literature

Synopsis: A recently retired detective finds his suicidal urges lifting when he receives a taunting letter from someone claiming to be the man who drove a stolen Mercedes into a crowd of job seekers, killing many of them, including a baby. Review: I really don’t have much to say about Mr. Mercedes, except that I really wish Stephen King would stop writing black characters who like to talk like racist caricatures on purpose, only to have their white liberal friends laugh knowingly. I am really…

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Shirley: A Novel by Susan Scarf Merrell

American Literature

Synopsis: A young couple spends a year at Bennington College living with gothic writer Shirley Jackson and her philandering husband. Review: George and Martha from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? have nothing on Shirley and Stanley, in real life (as chronicled in the wonderful biography Private Demons), and Shirley: A Novel delivers every ounce of juice you would hope for. Even better–the plot and characters are nothing short of excellent. Author Susan Scarf Merrell uses a thriller structure, and the plot is filled with allusions,…

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Close Reach by Jonathan Moore

On Reading

Synopsis: Kelly and her husband Dean have sold everything to live at sea, but their dreams of repairing their broken marriage are shattered when their radio signal is jammed after hearing a terrifying cry for help and a battered fishing vessel comes alongside them–with no intention of helping. Review: Close Reach scared me to death, and I loved every minute of it. It’s a tightly crafted thriller set in a fabulously spooky world (in the middle of the ocean near the Drake Passage to Antarctica),…

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Before I Wake by C.L. Taylor

British Literature

Synopsis: When her daughter falls into a coma, a politician’s wife goes searching for the truth, even as a past abusive relationship and her own mental instability come back to haunt her. Review: Before I Wake was a wild enough ride. It had enough juicy backstory to keep me engaged even though the present-day mystery was a bit of a slog. Though Susan’s sordid previous relationship didn’t hit any fresh notes, it attacked all the expected ones with gusto. The mystery was a little implausible…

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Josie and Jack by Kelly Braffet

American Literature

Synopsis: An isolated but brilliant girl grows up under the thrall of her charismatic older brother, and when he leaves home the choice to follow him may be her undoing. Review: The dark, psychological thriller may possibly be my very favorite genre to read, and Josie and Jack was a gem-perfect example. These days I just don’t have a lot of time to read, between homeschooling my two kids, seeing private practice clients as a lactation consultant, and devouring Breaking Bad. But this book made…

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Night Film by Marisha Pessl

American Literature

Synopsis: When the daughter of a reclusive horror film director commits suicide, a disgraced investigative journalist sets out looking for the truth, only to find himself in a labyrinth straight out of one of the director’s “night films.” Review: The biggest hook in Night Film is Stanislas Cordova, a character who is a delectable melange of Stanley Kubrick, Roman Polanski, Michael Haneke, and Eli Roth. Descriptions of his oeuvre pepper the novel, with tantalizing plot details that made me ache to see the movies. I…

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All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

American Literature

Synopsis: Two teens travel back in time to stop their best friend from building a time machine, in the hopes that they can save the world before it is too late. Review: Breathless, I tell you, I was breathless as I sped through All Our Yesterdays. I loved it. What I most appreciated was that the love triangle wasn’t a matter of Team This vs. Team That. There was real depth to the romantic dilemma faced by Em, because the way that time travel is…

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