"You can find magic wherever you look. Sit back and relax, all you need is a book." Dr. Seuss
Have you ever been reading a thriller just before bedtime, promising yourself you’re going stop soon, just five more minutes? But then a truly crushing, blow-your-hair-back plot twist goes down and suddenly it’s two AM and all hope of a good night’s rest is gone? Evaporated like smoke? No? Maybe it’s just me. I have curated for you a collection of reads sure to provide you with plenty of thrills, even if only vicariously. Hang on tight…
Do we as readers not long for deliciously flawed protagonists, flagrant lies, and potently malevolent villains? For stories that unfold in uncommon and innovative ways. For an author drop us unceremoniously in the middle of the plot, making us scramble to gain our footing. I love to be lied to, led astray. My mind toyed with. At least where my reading is concerned. Sometimes, the best parts of a book are the parts that simply didn’t happen the way we’re told they did. If you are prepared to be enthralled, confounded, and outsmarted, for a narrative that deviates from the usual, follow me…
This book brazenly borrows tropes from fairytales. Happily Ever After is not one of them. This book was all kinds of nasty fun, full of unabashed and relentless bloody carnage. The sort of epic horror we got in the ‘80’s that came out swinging and left nothing unscathed. Ah, the good old days. Is it any surprise that Stephen King was an inspiration? Not to this reader!
Celebrated children’s author Annie has had a dreadful year. Desperate for a fresh start, she moves with her young son Charlie to a charming small town. But small towns always have secrets. Secrets that seep into everything and everyone one. Secrets that might play tricks with your mind and make you act in unusual ways. There is a kind of spectral creepiness to this book. The way in which the author has teased out the tale is pitch perfect. A gem!
One morning, Maggie is caught in an act of meddlesome behaviour and a battle of wits ensues. Blackmail notes begin to arrive at her door, someone has clearly been in her room, snooping, searching, and has someone changed out her medication? The sociopathy in the one upmanship these two engage in is mind-blowing. Each more twisted than the other with every move. Have I mentioned that one of them is an eight-year-old? No? My bad.
A Hitchcock inspired thriller that borrows from the premise of Strangers On A Train. Where two strangers meet and come to an arrangement. I’ll kill yours if you kill mine. You might be thinking, oh god, not another predictable spin on this classic. But that is the last of the similarities. Hitchcock himself could have never predicted where this story was going to take us. A summer must read!
They have loved each other in a thousand lifetimes. They have killed each other in every one of them. Lovers. Soulmates. Assassins. Enemies. The story opens with Evelyn and Arden exchanging their wedding vows; I love you. I have loved you. And I will love you again. Minutes later they lie dead after slitting each other’s throats. Talk about romance am I right?
Looking for some book recommendations? Tell me a book or two you have loved and I will put a list together for you. Totally gratis!
