The Boy at the Door by Alex Dahl

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So — I found this title on Net Galley and I love a suspenseful read, even more if it takes place in Norway! This was well-plotted and suspenseful, though I did figure out what was happening. Moving through time and place with different narrators, the stories eventually weave together to the present.
I have to say that I did not like the main character, Annika, at all. I wanted to feel something for her — sympathy, empathy, pity, a connection, something! — but I didn’t. She was pretty much a self-centered, selfish, egotistical, cruel, immature, and heartless person. Pretty much.
If you like suspense, you should check out The Boy at the Door. Thank you for my review e-copy!

THE BREAK DOWN by B. A. Paris

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So I really enjoyed BEHIND CLOSED DOORS, and especially liked their marketing of the book (I got creepy postcards asking for help from the protagonist), so I was more than thrilled when the good folks at St. Martin’s Press sent me a review copy of THE BREAK DOWN, the newest thriller from B. A. Paris. I read it in July in two days since I couldn’t put it down!

Here’s the overview via Amazon:

If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?

Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside―the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped.

But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby.

The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt.

Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her…

You won’t be able to put down B. A. Paris’s The Breakdown, the next chilling, propulsive novel from the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors.

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So — I did really like this novel, but I think I liked BEHIND CLOSED DOORS more. I will admit, I figured this story out by page 24 — unbelievable and maybe just a lucky guess, but it kind of ruined the rest of it for me. It is thrilling, suspenseful, scary, and one that makes you ask, “what would I do?”

If you like this type of suspenseful thriller, don’t miss THE BREAK DOWN by B.A. Paris!

Review: “Gone Girl” by Gillian Flynn

So – everyone in the blogosphere has read “Gone Girl”. Generally I stay away from books like that (Facebook friends know how I felt about “Shades of Grey”). However, several friends who typically love the books I do have LOVED this book, so I bought it from Amazon.

First I must say that every review on this book I’ve read has said things like: “I can’t really write about what happens in this book without giving it away”. I must say I had to wonder what the scoop was on this. Can’t write about the plot without spoilers? Can’t tell us what you liked or didn’t about the writing? What was this book anyway? I read in the synopsis that it was about a young wife who goes missing on her and her husband’s fifth wedding anniversary. I wasn’t sure if it was a mystery or something else.

(WARNING  – MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS). I’d classify this book as a psychological thriller. First you’re in his head, then hers, and as the story progresses you aren’t sure who is truly in their right mind. Every time I thought I had this book figured out it twisted and changed. I was up late reading. I was up early reading. I’d wake up at 3 am (which I do sometimes) and start reading. I could not put this book down. In one way I loved it. I didn’t love the ending, though. In fact, I didn’t like the ending/last section of the book. Why? I just didn’t like how it turned out. But during most of my reading, I couldn’t stop thinking about this book and its characters. Gillian Flynn is quite brilliant at making characters come to life. These people were real.

Okay – so I didn’t spoil too much for you I hope. Are you still reading this? If so, you should be reading “Gone, Girl” instead!