Tag: thriller

Book Review: The Visitors

The Visitors by Catherine Burns

First line: Like a white bird, the scream flew up from the depths of the cellar, then became trapped inside Marion’s head.

Summary: Marion, a spinster, living with her brother in their cluttered childhood home, is scared of the secret that is hidden in the cellar. When her brother has a heart attack, she has to face the reality of what he has been hiding. Told through flashbacks and snippets of their past lead you to believe that people are not always what they seem.

Highlights: A slow burning thriller. Little pieces of information are scattered throughout the book leading to theories. I kept thinking I had figured out who and what was happening but then I would second guess myself. Marion and John’s relationship and lifestyle oddly transfixed me. Who are these people? How have they lived this long like this and no one has ever discovered their secret? The end leaves you with a sense of “what happened?” Very unsettling but in a good and spooky way. I had a very tough time putting this down.

Lowlights (or what could have been better): The only problem I found was I kept waiting for some big reveal at the end but it didn’t come. But I wasn’t really disappointed because I still am thinking about the story and the ending and wondering. Who is to blame? Who was the scarier of the siblings?

FYI: Not fast paced but worth every page.

Late September new releases

The first few weeks of school are out of the way, the mornings are a little cooler, and we can always find more excuses reasons to read, right? There are some books that look like they will be great reading as fall makes its way to Kansas. So take a look at a few books we think are worth noticing as the pumpkins start to ripen.

Click on the title to go to the library catalog where you can see if the book is available and put it on hold. Grab your favorite hot drink, find a comfy chair and sit and read for a while!

Sept. 19: Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore
Jane was raised by her Aunt Magnolia, a deep sea photographer and adjunct professor. But now Jane is a year out of high school and Aunt Magnolia got lost during an expedition to Antarctica a few months ago. Jane is now obsessed with the umbrellas that reflect her dreams. When she is invited to a gala at the island mansion Magnolia told her to absolutely go to if she ever got the chance, Jane goes. What Jane doesn’t know yet is that every choice made in the mansion comes with a reward, or a price.

Cover of The Cuban Affair by Nelson DeMille
Meet Daniel “Mac” MacCormick, owner of a fishing boat that may be making a trek to Cuba to recover $60,000,000 hidden during the Cuban revolution.

Sept. 19: The Cuban Affair by Nelson DeMille
Daniel “Mac” MacCormick is a decorated U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Afghanistan during his 5-year stint as an infantry officer. Now he owns a 42-foot charter fishing boat and is sitting in a bar waiting to hear why he should take a $2,000,000 fare to Cuba. After hearing Sara’s story of the $60,000,000 her grandfather hid during the revolution, he knows that he’ll either come away from this job rich, or he won’t come back at all.

Sept. 26: Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King

Cover of Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King
Stephen King co-authored “Sleeping Beauties” with his son Owen King.

This father-and-son collaboration explores the question of what might happen if the women of the world disappeared. From Goodreads: “In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place. The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied, or is she a demon who must be slain? Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women’s prison, Sleeping Beauties is wildly provocative and gloriously absorbing.”

Sept. 26: The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan (non-fiction)
If you have been to Asheville, North Carolina, and visited the Biltmore Estate, or if you’ve never been to North Carolina and only seen pictures of the Biltmore Estate, this book tells the magnificent story of how the country’s grandest residence was built. However, the book is more than just the story of how a 175,000-square-foot home was built. You’ll also learn the story of George Vanderbilt and Edith Stuyvessant Dresser.

Cover of Wishtree by Katherine Applegate
This book for middle grade readers is a wonderful story about relationships.

Sept. 26: Wishtree by Katherine Applegate (for young readers)
From Goodreads: “Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood ‘wishtree’—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red’s branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red’s hollows, this ‘wishtree’ watches over the neighborhood. You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red’s experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever. “

Book Review: The Breakdown

The Break Down by B.A. Paris

First line: The thunder starts as we’re saying goodbye, leaving each other for the summer holidays ahead.

Summary: Cass is driving down a back road during a storm when she sees a car along the side of the road. She is scared to stop fearing that it could be dangerous. But when she finds out that the woman in the car she saw was her new friend, Jane, and that she was murdered the guilt begins to eat at her. And she cannot seem to remember little pieces of her day. With the recent loss of her mother, who suffered from Alzheimer’s, this is another fear to add on top of the guilt. Are the mysterious phone calls and suspicious man outside her house Jane’s killer? All this is leading Cass to a break down or is it?

Highlights: I was constantly wanting to listen/read this book. Whenever I had free time I would pick it up. I kept having to look back whenever Cass had a memory lapse to check and make sure that I was not forgetting something as well. Alzheimer’s is a scary disease, which I have personally seen with my grandmother so this hit close to home. The ending was perfect for the book. Once all the pieces fall into place and the way that Cass deals with it was exactly how I wanted it to happen.

Lowlights: Even though I loved the ending I felt like it was a little obvious. About ¾ of the way through I had a good idea what was happening but it was still rewarding to read it.

FYI: Quick and fun thriller. Definitely looking forward to reading B.A. Paris’ other book soon.

Early September new releases

The holiday weekend means I’m a little behind this month, but here are some new releases we’re looking forward to this month. I hope you found some time to get some reading in on that last great weekend of the summer.

Yesterday really did seem to be our last blast of summer with temperatures in the Wichita area hovering near 100 degrees. Today feels like the beginning of fall with much cooler temperatures and a cloudy sky! But for us readers, that just means that we can move our reading indoors with a cup of our favorite warm beverage (librarians here are split between coffee and tea, although my favorite is hot cocoa).

Take a look at the titles below and see if something here grabs your interest. You can click on the title of the book to find it in our catalog.

Cover of Lie To Me by J. T. Ellison
A tale of a relationship built on lies, and how it can unravel.

Sept. 5: Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison
Where does a life built on lies get Sutton and Ethan Montclair? Not very far it turns out. While it appears that the couple is made for each other, the truth is much darker. They have been consumed by troubles, both personal and financial, and the two both love and hate each other. When Sutton disappears, leaving a note that directs people not to look for her, the lies begin to unravel and Ethan finds himself at the center of the gossip and questions. A thriller full of twists and turns that will have you turning pages.

Sept. 5: All That Makes Life Bright by Josi S. Kilpack
This romance tells the story of Harriet Beecher and her relationship with Calvin Stowe. Harriet has a strong faith in God and believes that God will help her accomplish everything she is meant to be, including a wife, mother, and writer. When Calvin is called away on a European business trip, Harriet begins to wonder about her place in his life as she knows he still misses his first wife. Even when Calvin returns, life is much harder as Harriet tries to fulfill her many roles.

Cover of The Golden House by Salman Rushdie
A new tale from a literary master.

Sept. 5: The Golden House by Salman Rushdie
Another masterful tale from Rushdie, this novel tells the story of the Golden family, from the perspective of their Manhattanite neighbor, confidant and aspiring filmmaker, Rene. Nero Golden is a real-estate tycoon with three adult children. They move into a mansion in downtown Manhattan after immigrating to the United States under mysterious circumstances. Rushdie calls on pop culture, cinema, literature, and current events to tell this story.

Cover of Lines by Suzy Lee
A magical picture book explores the designs a young skater makes on a frozen pond.

Sept. 5: Lines by Suzy Lee (picture book)
From Goodreads: “And magic once again flows from the pencil and imagination of internationally acclaimed artist Suzy Lee. With the lightest of touches, this masterwork blurs the lines between real and imagined, reminding us why Lee’s books have been lauded around the world, recognized on New York Times Best Illustrated Books lists and nominated for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the highest international honor given to children’s book creators. This seemingly simple story about a young skater on a frozen pond will charm the youngest of readers while simultaneously astounding book enthusiasts of any age.”

Sept. 12: Warcross by Marie Lu (young adult—not yet on catalog, but is on order)
For those who log in every day, Warcross is more than just a game. Emika Chen is a teenage hacker who also works as a bounty hunter, searching for those who bet on the game illegally. She needs to make some quick cash, so she takes a risk and hacks into a game, but accidentally glitches herself into the action. She’s convinced she’s going to be arrested, but instead ends up on a mission for the young billionaire creator of the game.

Sept. 12: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Cover of Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
Celeste Ng creates a simmering suburb in this story of how a secret can upend a community.

Shaker Heights is a carefully planned suburb of Cleveland, from the layout of the roads to the color of the houses. Elena Richardson embodies the ideas behind the suburb perfectly, as she absolutely believes in following the rules. But when Mia Warren moves in — an artist and single mom — and rents a house from the Richardson, life in this carefully ordered community gets upended.

Book Review: A Stranger in the House

A Stranger in the House by Shari Lapena

First line: She doesn’t belong here.

Summary: When Tom comes home late from work he finds the house empty.  His wife, Karen, is missing but her phone and purse are still there.  Where did she go?  Shortly after he receives a visit from a police officer telling him that Karen has been in a car accident in a rough neighborhood.  What was she doing there?  When he visits her at the hospital, she cannot remember what happened in the previous hours.  However, when a body is found murdered near the area of the car accident Karen becomes a suspect in the investigation.

Highlights: Lapena’s second novel is gripping and a fast read.  I liked the ways that little facts and tidbits are revealed slowly throughout the story line.  The end was not what I was expecting.  I should have known to expect a surprise after the author’s previous book.

Lowlights: Several of the details and twists were easily predictable but it was still enjoyable to read and know that I was correct.

FYI: Perfect for fans of Girl on the Train and All the Missing Girls.

Late August new releases

Man, it feels like we were just here talking about early August new releases, and now it’s time for late August new books already! The good news is we have THREE more Tuesdays in August for that much more good reading to be available!

Here are a few of the books we think will make an end-of-summer splash with their releases later this month. Which ones will make it onto your list of to-reads?

Cover of Bonaparte Falls Apart
This new picture book is great for Halloween or the start of the school year.

Aug. 15: Bonaparte Falls Apart by Margery Cuyler (picture book)
If you have a child who is anxious about starting school, check out this adorable picture book about Bonaparte, who has issues when playing catch (his arm flies off with the ball) and other minor mishaps. His good friends Franky Stein, Black Widow and Mummicula are there to help him out.

 

Aug. 15: How to Behave in a Crowd by Camille Bordas
Meet Isidore Mazal, an average 11-year-old who lives in France with his five exceptional older siblings. While his siblings are on track to have their doctorates by age 24, writing a novel or playing with a symphony, Isidore notices things and asks questions others are afraid to ask. When the Mazal family experiences a tragedy, Isidore is the one to notice how the rest of the family is handling their grief and he may be the only one who can save the family, if he doesn’t decide to run away from home first.

Aug. 15: A Map for Wrecked Girls by Jessica Taylor (young adult)
Emma and Henri are sisters who have always been best friends. Emma trusted Henri implicitly, and then something happens that wrecks them and they end up washed ashore. They are stranded with only Alex, a troubled boy who has secrets of his own.

Aug. 22: Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton
In the second-to-last installment of Grafton’s alphabet mysteries, Kinsey Millhone finds herself in drawn into one of her most disturbing cases yet. In 1979, four boys sexually assaulted a teenage girl, videotaped it, and not long after the videotape went missing and one of the boys was killed. Fast forward to 1989 when one of the perpetrators is released from prison. A copy of the missing videotape shows up with a note demanding ransom, and the perpetrator’s family calls Kinsey in.

Cover of The Half-True Lies of Cricket Cohen
Cricket and her grandmother Dodo go on a Manhattan adventure in this middle-grades novel by Catherine Lloyd Burns.

Aug. 22: The Half-True Lies of Cricket Cohen by Catherine Lloyd Burns (middle-grades novel)
From Goodreads: “Cricket Cohen isn’t a liar, but she doesn’t always tell the exact truth. She loves thinking about geology and astronomy and performing tricky brain surgery on her stuffed animals. She also loves conspiring with Dodo, her feisty grandmother who lives in the apartment right next door. And one Manhattan weekend when she’s in hot water with her teacher and her controlling parents over a fanciful memoir essay, Cricket goes along with Dodo’s questionable decision to hit the bricks. Imagining all sorts of escapades, Cricket is happy to leave home behind. But on a crosstown adventure with an elderly woman who has her own habit of mixing truth and fantasy, some hard realities may start to get in the way of all the fun.”

Aug. 22: Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin
Aviva Grossman is a congressional intern in Florida. When she engages in an affair with her boss — a very married congressman — then blogs about it, she takes the fall when it goes public. She changes her name and moves to Maine to become a wedding planner. However, as events in her life unfold, she discovers that thanks to the power of the Internet, her past is never actually left behind.

Cover of Glass Houses by Louise Penny, the 13th novel in the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series
Louise Penny’s beloved Inspector Armand Gamache faces not just a physical investigation into a murder, but an internal investigation of his conscience.

Aug. 29: Glass Houses (Chief Inspector Armand Gamache #13) by Louise Penny
A mysterious figure appears on the village green in Three Pines. A body is discovered when it vanishes and it is up to Gamache to discover the ins and outs of the murder. The story takes the reader not just through the discovery of the body and the arrest of the suspect, but through the trial of the accused. All the while, Gamache wrestles with the actions he’s set in motion, and his conscience.

Aug. 29: Pretend You’re Safe by Alexandra Ivy
A serial killer buries his victims on the banks of the Mississippi. Years later, the rains and floods unearth the bodies. While his victims were disappearing, Jaci Patterson was finding “gifts” on her porch — the first was a golden locket with a few strands of hair wrapped around a bloodstained ribbon inside. The deputy sheriff at the time was convinced that Jaci was just a publicity-seeking teen. Until Jaci comes home again, and the nightmare has started again.

Aug. 29: Dog Man: A Tale of Two Kitties by Dav Pilkey
Dog Man is back in his third adventure from the author of the Captain Underpants series. Dog Man is on the police force, which hasn’t always been the best thing to happen. But now, Petey the cat has dragged in some trouble, in the form of a kitten, and Dog Man is going to have to work extra hard to stay top dog!

Book Review: Into the Water

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

First line: I was very young when I was cracked open.

Summary: The Drowning Pool as it has been dubbed by the locals is where several women have been found dead.  Julia has not been back to her hometown in many years and rarely spoken to her sister.  However, when she gets the call that her sister, Nel, has been found in the water she has to travel back to take care of her fifteen-year-old niece, Lena.  As the police look into the two most recent deaths of Nel and a young girl named Katie, they begin to discover that they might be connected. 

Highlights: I listened to this as an audio book and was happy to find that many of the characters had different readers.  When there are, multiple points of view listening can be very difficult.  The story was suspenseful enough to keep it interesting.  I liked that several different storylines were intertwined with the main plot.  The chapters are nice and short which make the story move along quickly.  This is a fast read and great for rainy day.

Lowlights: I felt like the ending was a little predictable.  I was not 100% sure with who Nel’s killer was but it was not hard to figure out once several more pieces fell into place.

FYI: Perfect for readers of Gone Girl and The Couple Next Door.

Early August new releases

It’s nearly time for the kids to be back in school and summer is coming to a close. Those long, lazy days by the pool (did you actually get any of those?) are soon to be a memory, but there are plenty of good books coming out the first two Tuesdays in August, that I wish I could have endless days by the pool to read!

Here are eight (eight!) picks that we think will be satisfying reads for the end of summer. Our next new releases blog post will cover new releases for Aug. 15, 22 and 29. Click on the title of the book to go to the library catalog, where you can see if it’s available and place it on hold.

Aug. 1: The Address by Fiona Barton
From the author of The Dollhouse comes a compelling story, set around New York City’s most famous residence: The Dakota. It’s 1884 and Sara Smythe, who is working her way to head housekeeper at a posh London hotel, has a chance encounter with Theodore Camden, one of the architects of a grand new apartment building in New York. In 1985, Bailey Camden, once an interior designer and huge party girl, finds herself fresh out of rehab, homeless and needing a new start. One hundred years apart, Sara and Bailey face similar struggles, and Bailey’s discovery in the basement of the Dakota could change everything she thought she knew.

Aug. 1: The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor
If you are familiar with the story of two young women who convinced the world through their photographs in 1917 that faeries existed, this novel reimagines their story. But 100 years later, Olivia discovers that her life intertwines with the lives of Frances and Elsie. Olivia finds an old manuscript in her grandfather’s bookshop, but when she also discovers an old photograph, past and present begin to blur and Olivia’s understanding of what is real and what is imagined begins to blur.

Aug. 1: Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta
Eve Fletcher is 46, divorced and her only child is moving away to attend college, leaving Eve trying to figure out what comes next in her life. One night her phone lights up with an intriguing text from an anonymous number: “U R my MILF!” Over the next several months, she becomes obsessed by the message and a website called MILFateria.com, about the sexual exploits of middle-aged women like herself. Meanwhile, her son is struggling with his own issues at college, where his hard-partying lifestyle isn’t quite as welcomed as he’d hoped.

Aug. 1: The Bedlam Stacks by Natasha Pulley
A former East India Company smuggler is stuck at home after an accident leaves him with a broken leg. Then he begins seeing things that shouldn’t be happening and his brother says he must be mad. When presented an opportunity to go to the jungles of South America in search of quinine, he knows he shouldn’t. After all, everyone who has ever gone to Peru on a similar expedition has ended up dead. Despite barely being able to walk, he sets off against his better judgment.

Aug. 8: Little & Lion by Brandy Colbert
Suzette attends boarding school in New England, but when she goes home to L.A., she doesn’t want to go back. Her brother needs her support when he is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. And besides, L.A. is where her family and friends are. She’s settling into her life again, but finds herself confronted with the knowledge that she is falling for the same girl her brother is in love with. As her brother’s illness threatens to overwhelm him, she has to find a way to help her brother and confront her own mistakes.

Aug. 8: The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
A new thriller from a No. 1 bestselling author. Sisters Samantha and Charlotte Quinn had their lives torn apart 28 years ago, when a brutal attack on their family home left their mother dead and their father devastated. Charlie has followed in her father’s footsteps and become an attorney, when her small town is plunged into terror once again. Charlie find herself besieged by memories that she’s tried to keep buried.

Aug. 8: Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker
Sisters are a theme in this thriller, where two sisters go missing and one comes back. Forensic psychologist Abby Winter looks deeper into the dysfunctional family, and from what she sees, something just doesn’t add up.

Aug. 8: Paper Girls Vol. 3 by Brian K. Vaughan
This is the collection of issues 11 through 15 in the popular graphic novel series. From Goodreads: “The multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning series from BRIAN K. VAUGHAN and CLIFF CHIANG continues, as newspaper deliverers Erin, Mac and Tiffany finally reunite with their long-lost friend KJ in an unexpected new era, where the girls must uncover the secret origins of time travel… or risk never returning home to 1988.”

Late July new releases

July is more than half over, and school starts in about a month. How is summer flying by so fast? Could it be that the time I spend reading makes the days go by faster? If so, I don’t want to have to stop reading to get summer to slow down. I love finding new books to read and being one of the first patrons at the library to read a new book. And there are some great ones coming out the last two weeks of this month!

Here are a few of our picks:

Cover of the book The Breakdown by B.A. Paris
“The Breakdown” is a chilling new thriller by B.A. Paris.

July 18: The Breakdown by B.A. Paris
Cass took the shortcut home, the one she promised her husband she wouldn’t. She saw a woman sitting in a car, the woman who was murdered. Now, she’s having a hard time. She’s forgetting everything: whether she took her medication, where she left the car, why she ordered a baby pram when she doesn’t even have a baby. The one thing she can’t forget? The woman who was murdered. A murder she might have been able to prevent.

July 18: The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell
Modern day New York: Magic is pretty much extinct. Pretty much, but not completely. There are a few, the Mageus, who have an affinity for magic, but must keep who they are a secret. And if any of them cross into Manhattan, they will never leave. It’s sealed by the Brink, a dark energy barrier that locks them on the island. But the Order, which created the Brink, didn’t count on Esta, a talented thief who steals magical artifacts from the Order. Esta can steal from the past, but can she steal the item she needs from 1902 before it is destroyed by the Magician?

Cover of The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond
“The Marriage Pact” by Michelle Richmond explores what happens when a young, newlywed couple join a secret group committed to making marriages last, at a significant price.

July 25: The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond
Alice is a rock-and-roller turned successful lawyer. Jake is a therapist for kids and teens and is breaking into marriage counseling. They are getting married, and Alice ends up inviting one of her clients, a famous musician, to their wedding. Finnegan invites them to join a group that promotes healthy marriages, and Jake and Alice can’t see why it wouldn’t work, as they are both wholly committed to making their marriage successful. However, The Pact has some rules and the consequences for breaking any of the rules can be pretty severe.

July 25: The Lying Game by Ruth Ware
Isa spent the most significant years of her life at a boarding school near the marshes at Salten. Now she has received a simple three-word text message: I need you. Isa drops everything and, with her baby daughter, heads to Salten. Something terrible has been found on the beach, which will force Isa and her three best friends, whom she hasn’t seen in years, to confront their past.

Cover of Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed
Goodreads describes this debut novel as “‘Never Let Me Go’ meets ‘The Giver’.”

July 25: Gather the Daughters by Jennie Melamed
An isolated island, settled by ten men and their families just before the country was left uninhabitable by incineration. Only chosen male descendants of the original 10 colonists, known as Wanderers, are t allowed to cross to the still-smoldering wasteland. The daughters are wives-in-training. Only in the summer do the children run free, and one summer Caitlin Jacob witnesses something so terrifying and against everything she’s been taught, that she has to share it with the other children. 17-year-old Janey Solomon, who is slowly starving herself to prevent entering puberty, takes on the task of learning the truth, and encourages an uprising of the girls on the island.

Click on any of the titles above to see the book in our catalog.

Book Review: The End of Everything

The End of Everything by Megan Abbott

First Line: She, light-streaky out of the corner of my eye.

Summary: Thirteen-year-old Lizzie and Evie have always been best friends. They know everything about each other, no secrets . . . or at least they thought. Then one day Evie disappears, and Lizzie tries to find out what happened and along the way learns things about herself and her best friend’s “picture-perfect” family that makes her love and hate them even more.

Highlights/Lowlights: Seeing things from a 13-year-old’s perspective is both intriguing and frustrating.

FYI: Not for the faint of heart. It’s dark, raw, and graphic in some parts of the book. If you like Gillian Flynn, you will like this.