A Good Thriller discussion

My 3 star review of Breakneck Point by T. Orr Munro.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Angler Island I just got back from a trip to Angler Island, the fictional locale of Brad LaMar’s newest YA adventure Sci-Fi novel. We’ve all heard of Star Wars being called a classic ‘space opera.’ Well, Angler Island is YA ‘Sci-Fi opera.’ An opera of the highest order. Several good guys, several bad guys and a convoluted cat and mouse game.
A family and their teenaged son, Evan, are on a family cruise. By a twist of fate, they find themselves marooned on a mysterious island. There is no way off the island, but the previous residents have turned the island into a utopia: or so it would seem. Evan and his new fiend Taylor begin to suspect that all is not as it was portrayed. What makes this such a compelling read is that there are several story threads all rushing to the same climatic scene, excellent. Of course, there was so much more to make this a very entertaining read.
The one thing that I look for in a good Sci-Fi is a solid, unpredictable ending and Angler Island has a doozie. Some mysteries are solved but others are created. The whole situation is more confusing at the end than in the middle. That said, the ending would seem to be the perfect lead in to a follow up book, maybe even a whole series of books. We can only hope.
My favorite character in the chaos was the genetically enhanced monkey that led everyone on a non-stop chase, lol. For me Brad LaMar’s Angler Island was more that a fun read and worthy of my five stars. Well done. Jeff Bailey, author of the conspiracy thriller Not On My Watch.

A disappointing 3* for

My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Shadows Reel by C.J. Box

C. J. Box continues to excite readers with unique mystery thrillers that are full of suspense and action. The twenty-second book in the series featuring Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is full of multiple discoveries happening around Thanksgiving

My 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Edgware Road by Yasmin Cordery Khan tells the story of an international banking scandal and how an English-Pakistani family living in London got caught up in it, to the point that someone ends up dead. Excellent!
4.5~5★ Link to my Edgware Road review

I finished a romance today: Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting.

My 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I really enjoyed this domestic thriller 4 1/2 * for

My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished 100 Plants to Feed the Birds: Turn Your Home Garden into a Healthy Bird Habitat by Laura Erickson.

My 5 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong.
This is a historical mystery with a time travel element.

My 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Jewel of the Nile by Tessa Afshar https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read Murder at the Porte de Versailles by Cara Black I enjoyed it and rate it 4 stars. My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The author is an American who frequently visits France and he books have been translated into French. The book is set in Paris, a few months after 9-11.
This was an Edelweiss book.

Great mystery from Megan Miranda 4* for

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I received my copy from EW but it is also available on NetGalley!

I finished The Fervor by Alma Katsu. My 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The novel is is dark, intense, and disturbing, but contains important themes that are just as applicable today as they were in 1944. While this is fiction, internment camps during World War II and many instances of violence against those of Asian (and other) ancestry in America are a harsh reality. That is one of the reasons this is such a difficult review to write and do justice to the book. The story can be categorized in many ways. It is historical fiction, a medical suspense, and a historical horror with a bit of folklore and supernatural suspense.

I read The Golden Couple by [author:Greer Hendricks|16935182 I enjoyed it and recommend it to psychological mystery fans. My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

a disappointing 3* for Sager's

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Defending David by Barbara M. Britton https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Here is my 3 star review of the cozy mystery
A Fatal Booking by Victoria Gilbert

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Facts and Other Lies: Welcome to the Disinformation Age, by Aussie author Ed Coper, is just as unnerving as you probably gather it is from the title. The current division in many democracies has been caused by bad actors with thousands of automatic bots that set us off down fake rabbit holes. Started with the printing press, escalated to social media.

You may be sent one way, while I'm sent another. CLASH! If democracies crumble, guess what happens next?!

5★ My review of Facts and Other Lies

It's long, but I've included a lot of examples from this terrific book.

Crystal Vision I just finished Larry Radness’ third book Crystal Vision. It was an unexpected read. It typified one of the things that I like most about Rodness, all of his books are very different from his other books. That difference was one of the things that I most I liked about Stephen King. The books follow the same genre, but they are so different.
In Crystal Vision, a group of ‘fantasy gamers’ are thrust into a situation where they must fight the forces of evil (but in IRL) to save one of their own, the owner of the fantasy shop, Ariella. True to the style of Rodness, Ariella is not all that she seems. There is a reason that the demon wants her. What better group to battle a real demon than a bunch of ‘fantasy gamers?’ Game on. The group’s leader, Jeremy, has a plan.
Of course, they have a plan!!! What could go wrong? Well just about everything. This is a great YA, light horror story, good for 12 and up. I’m 75 and I enjoyed the read. There is some very mild violence and language but no sexual connotation. I can see a mass appeal to a huge segment of the reading public, case in point, the Harry Potter series.
For me, five stars once again for Larry Rodness and for Crystal Vision. Jeff Bailey, author of the conspiracy thriller Not On My Watch.

I just finished the outstanding The Patient’s Secret
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I just finished The Mad Girls of New York

Just ok for me. My three star review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My 4 star review of Tough Justice by Tee O'Fallon:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Romantic suspense.

4+ * for this great mystery
available on NetGalley and Edelweiss

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

how can I stop getting this notifications?

I finished reading Girl in Ice by Erica Ferencik - a 5 Star insanely atmospheric, heart stopper thriller! I couldn't stop reading, and yet was afraid of what would happen on the next page. A 2022 Favorite!My Review

The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan is a departure from her Irish detective series. This finds a US group trying to rescue wrongly convicted people from Death Row. But were they wrongly convicted?
4★ My review of The Murder Rule

My Review Things We Do in the Dark
The MC has assumed someone else's identity. And now she's suspected of murdering her celebrity husband. Can life for Paris Peralta get much worse? Oh, yes. Yes, it can.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My outlier 2* review for

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read The Burning Pages by Paige Shelton It is a cozy mystery set in Edinburgh, Scotland. An American now living in Scotland sets out to salve a mystery.
I rated it 3.5 stars. My review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Still available.

I've finished a couple of new items:
Buried in a Good Book by Tamara Berry
My 5 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

NetGalley's Book Advocate Toolkit by We Are Bookish
My 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Death & Taxes Death And Taxes was the perfect title for this thriller. The book opens with the apparent, that is - apparent, suicide of an IRS agent in his office at the Fresno, CA. IRS offices. FBI Agent Dick Hartmann and his team are assigned to investigate. There’s not much to this investigation. It should be a cake-walk, right? The story is fast paced and seems so real that it is almost scary. Every newly developed detail of the case turns up another twist and complication. Each complication making the case more difficult and dangerous. The story follows both the good guys and the bad guys during the chase. I liked the realism that Rupp introduced by showing the good guys and the bad guys during the lulls in the timeline. No real investigation is on point every second. Everybody has to kick back, eat and sleep. These interludes just added to the rest of the tension. I liked Agent Hartmann and his newest team member Coleen (Coleen with one ‘l’) Ryan as protagonists. In his own way, I liked the antagonist, ‘Al’ the Fresno Gang boss. He was intriguing.
This was my second Richard Rupp read. I read Death On The High Seas first and liked it so well that I had to go back and read all of Rupp’s books. I’m glad I did. I judge a thriller by how fast I get to reading when I’m in story mode. Trust me, I couldn’t read fast Death And Taxes enough for the last eighty pages. And, as usual, there was that trademark super-story-twist right at the end just when I was expecting something else in the wrap-up. Excellent. Five stars for both Richard Rupp and for Death And Taxes. Jeff Bailey, author of conspiracy thriller Not On My Watch.

I finished Girl on the Run by Carolyn Arnold.
The prologue in Girl on the Run by Carolyn Arnold is strong and impactful and sets a suspenseful tone that escalates as the novel progresses.

My 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Aussie author Candice Fox has really established herself as a thriller writer, with the new TV series Troppo, set in the North Queensland tropics, based on her first book, Crimson Lake. Her latest, The Chase, finds 600+ prisoners turned loose in the Nevada desert, including those on Death Row. Why? You may well ask. I can see another film prospect here!
4★ My review of The Chase

I finished The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and found it to be another excellent domestic thriller from this writing duo. 4 Stars My Review

The Night Shift
Finished The Night Shift

My Review https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just completed This is the night they come for you by Robert GoddardRobert Goddard
A fascinating and highly entertaining book

Here's my 5* review

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished Movieland by Lee Goldberg
Overall, this is a tense, gritty, and engaging novel with wit, suspense, action, and some great twists.
My 4 star review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

5* for Alice Feeney's newest thriller, also available on NetGalley

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read Girl on the Run by Carolyn Arnold
I rated this police procedural 4 stars. My review. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mystery set in the US by a Canadian author

Due out next month, The Investigator

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

My 4 star review of a paranormal romance with a little suspense:
Mad for a Mate by MaryJanice Davidson

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read a historical fiction book Forbidden City by Vanessa Hua
It is set in 1966 China, during the Cultural Revolution. My review
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Historical fiction mystery set in NYC in 1924, Last Call at the Nightingale is an entertaining read.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I finished a historical fiction tale that includes romance, danger, and suspense. A Relentless Rake by Anna Harrington.

My 4 star review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

a great thriller/historical novel

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

4* for this very good thriller

My review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read a biography of a courageous US Marine Valor: The Astonishing World War II Saga of One Man's Defiance and Indomitable Spirit by Dan Hampton
I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading stories of courage in the face of overwhelming adversity.
My review, 4.5 stars, rounded up https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

5* for this great police procedural

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Stacy Green's 5th Nikki Hunt book comes out in May, The Trapped Ones

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley is an entertaining debut by Sean Lusk which has some history, some magic, and exotic locales (think sultan and harem!) so I can see a real fan base for this when it comes out in June.
3.5★ My review of Second Sight of Zachary...