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As you may know by now, I have recently been reading new Mystery/Thriller novels like it is nobody’s business! The mystery/thriller genre has been my favourite since 2018, but I think I have read more books from that genre this year than I did all of last year! In 2019, I read J.P. Delaney’s The Perfect Wife, and while I really enjoyed it, I did not find to be very memorable. However, with her newest mystery/thriller Playing Nice, I don’t think I will be able to forget this story or these characters for a very long time.

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent’s worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete’s son, Theo, isn’t actually his son–he is the Lamberts’, switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they’ve been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again.
The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents–or even each other? What secrets are hidden behind the Lamberts’ glossy front door? Stretched to the breaking point, Pete and Maddie discover they will each stop at nothing to keep their family safe.
They are done playing nice.

There are two word I would use to describe this book: simply stellar. Everything about this book was so simple, but done to such a high degree of effectiveness. The overall concept of this novel is unique, but done so simply with such intricate emphasis on the plot. As I previously shared, I have read one other J.P. Delaney book, The Perfect Wife (click here to read my review), and while I enjoyed that one, I enjoyed this novel so much more. I found as the story in The Perfect Wife developed, it became less and less realistic, whereas that never happened with this one. I truly think what makes this book so thrilling, is not due to any specific detail in the novel itself, but rather the plot seems so horrifyingly realistic.

In the past, I’ve had issues with the pacing and longevity of thrillers—especially those that are around the 400 page mark. Some seem to drag on for ages, and not everything in them tends to be necessary for the overall development of the plot. However, this book felt like one of the shortest thrillers I have ever read—even though it is over 400 pages! The pacing of this novel was impeccable, and since this book has small twists or conversations that lead you to want to continue reading at the end of each chapter, I read the book so quickly, which in this case, I did unintentionally. Sometimes, especially in readathons, I will read quickly for a purpose, but this book was so engrossing and captivating that it pushed me to read it at an unusually quick speed.

The POV style of this book was very surprising, and immediately caught me off guard. You would think that a novel that centres around a pair of couples whose children were accidentally swapped at the NICU upon birth would be written in two POVS—one person from each respective couple. However, in this novel, the book is written from two POVs—the man and woman who have a partnership together (they are not married). As the plot line develops, it is unknown as to why the author made this choice, but when you get to the last few chapters, it suddenly becomes clear.

The writing itself was very simple, but incredibly enjoyable. I find that in thrillers, I appreciate simple yet clear writing, as it makes the story easy to read and helps to pick the pace of the book up, even if it is a little bit slow, unlike this particular novel.

The characters were very, very interesting. Immediately upon reading this book, I felt attached to Pete, the father of Theo. He is a stay-at-home father, a profession that is not typically amplified enough in many adult novels. He is a very kind and sensitive person, and takes passion in taking care of his son while his wife is at work. Because I liked him so much, it was easy to care deeply about his emotions and thoughts while the story developed. I also really enjoyed reading from Maddie’s perspective, Pete’s partner and Theo’s mother. She has a very distinct and ominous voice throughout the book, and her character developed into something unexpected but very appreciated as the novel concluded.

This book was an amazing mystery/thriller, that embodied everything I love about and in mystery/thriller novels. I rated this book 5/5 stars, and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys novels centred around family dynamics, children, or court room dramas.

Good Night Book Owls!

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As you may know, John Marrs has quickly become one of my new favourite authors of all time. His mystery/thriller novels are practically perfect in every way (movie reference, anybody?)! For the second half of 2020, I am going to try to get through all of John Marrs backlist publications, making this one the second Marrs book I have read this year. And boy oh boy, it did NOT disappoint!

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide.
When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course.
The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife – and parents of two – who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem?

This book was UNREAL. With every John Marrs book I read, I am more and more impressed by his writing and unpredictable plot twists. He seems to have gotten the thrilling aspect down to a tee, and his plot twists for exceptional mysterious aspects.

The Passengers features a very interesting cast of characters. Quickly, readers realize that everyone involved in this event has a secret to hide, and while I was expecting the secrets to be very basic (murder, money laundering, etc.), these ones were actually very complex and unexpected. Each of the secrets helped to further develop the characters, and they added to the uniqueness of this book.

Within this story, I found so many tropes that I love to read in novels, including an element of tech, majority of the story taking place over a small period of time, and a romance element that does not take over the whole story, just to name a few. Since this story was so plot driven, it was necessary for Marrs to include a lot of different tropes to help advance the plot of the story, and I thought that the ones he chose were not only interesting, but also executed so well.

I think this book would make a phenomenal movie adaptation, as the majority of the story takes place over only a few hours during one day. The technological aspect would be so interesting to see play out on TV, and I know the characters could easily be cast. I hope that after The One gets put on Netflix, Netflix will think about creating The Passengers into a movie!

And of course, I ended up giving this book 5/5 stars. Out all of the John Marrs books I have read so far, this one was my favourite!

Good Night Book Owls!

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If you are a frequent reader of my book blog, you will notice that I rarely read Sci-Fi novels. That being said, when I was first approached by Raquel to read her novel, Hamartia, I thought that the premise sounded very different from most Sci-Fi novels. Since the synopsis peaked my interest, I accepted to read and review it… and I am so glad I did!

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

Grace’s nine-year-old son, Jordan, is dying. First, the Metagenesis disease will tear his soul from his body, and then it will kill him. Desperate for a cure, Grace agrees to take part in an illegal clinical trial cloning souls. Supported by her best friend Kay, the two embark on the ultimate “Vegas Vacation” to the past in search of the right soul to clone, racing against time to save Jordan’s life. But someone is trying to stop them and when they discover why Grace must make a choice: let her son die or kill her husband. If she kills her husband, she triggers widespread Metagenesis, sealing the fate of the human race with a new plague.
Humanity is counting on Grace choosing to let her son die.

Right off the bat, the story takes place starting in Toronto travelling to Las Vegas 80-years in the past (Las Vegas circa 2000). This was so coincidental, as the last trip I took before COVID was to Las Vegas from Toronto! The overall world building was one of my favourite things to read in this story, which stemmed from Rich’s stupendous writing.

Rich’s writing is fantastic, especially for a debut novel. At times, I thought that the writing was a little ramble. Rich includes a lot of detail in this story, which is appreciated, however I didn’t think that all of it was absolutely necessary. This also goes for some of the character dialogue. However, her word choice and overall writing devices were written incredibly well.

In my opinion, the best part of this novel were the characters and character development. As readers, we see the characters go through a lot in this story, and I really enjoyed reading them develop. I especially enjoyed Grace’s character and all of the emotions she goes through throughout this story. I felt really invested in Grace’s story while reading this novel, which helped me read this story very quickly.

Since I was a bit nervous to read a Sci-Fi novel, I was incredibly impressed by how thrilling it was! There are quite a few plot twists in this novel that I did not see coming at all, which added to my overall enjoyment of the novel. Rich did a great job of incorporating an equal amount of sci-fi elements – especially time travelling – along with both emotional and thrilling elements.

Overall, I was incredibly surprised by this novel (in the best way!), and rated it 4/5 stars! Thanks very much to Raquel Rich for giving me a copy of Hamartia to read and review, I apologize for how long it took me to finally read it!

Good Night Book Owls!

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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides has been staring into my soul since it arrived on my shelf at the end of last year. I have had this book on my TBR since November 2019 (you can find it on multiple TBR posts on my blog!), and have been quite intimidated by it, only because of the massive hype in 2019. It was a #1 NYT bestseller, won several book awards, and earned the #1 Mystery/Thriller of 2019 on Goodreads! Oh, and did I mention it is a DEBUT NOVEL?!?!?!?!?!

Synopsis (Goodreads.com):

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…

This book was MIND BLOWING.

Most people’s ratings are strictly based off of their thoughts on the final (again MIND BLOWING) plot twist. What was interesting about this novel, is that you will either love or hate it depending on how you read it. Without going into much detail or spoiling the entire plot line, the plot twist at the end will shock you if you don’t think about the timeline presented in the book. That is ALL I will tell you… and I feel like even that is sharing too much!

Although I absolutely loved the plot twist, the stand out feature of this novel was the writing. I could not believe that this was a debut novel. The writing in this book was so simple, yet so elegant. Everything was written for a reason and only provided just enough detail for readers to visualize the [wild] events that were taking place. After completing the book, I read a few reviews that criticized the writing style, but I feel like those reviewers were used to a more outgoing first person narrator. This book is technically written in first person POV from the psychotherapists’s perspective, but there are also journal entries written from Alicia herself, which were fantastically written, as well. Normally when reading books written in this way, I will favour one POV/writing style better, but in this book, I enjoyed them equally!

The characters were really interesting and very well developed. Theo and Alicia’s characters contrasted each other, but as you continue to read the novel, you learn that they are actually very similar internally.

Overall, I gave this book a 5/5 stars (my second 5-star book out of my last three reads!), and would whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone who enjoys Mystery/Thriller novels!

Good Night Book Owls!