Final Girls by Riley Sager

Final Girls by Riley Sager

***** 5 stars

Review:

This really was a nail biting thriller and had me engrossed and on the edge of my seat all the way through it.

The Final Girls are 3 women who have survived horrendous ordeals and are the only ones left standing at the end of it.
But someone is trying to kill them. Is it a stranger who thinks that they shouldn't have survived their attacks? Or maybe one of them is going slowly insane and attacking and killing off the others? Or is it someone they know?

This was a great debut novel from this author and if this is her first attempt then Wow! What will her future books hold for us?
This was a great original plot with fantastic flawed characters and probably my favourite thriller of this year!
Highly recommended!!

What Nobody Knew by Amelia Hendrey

What Nobody Knew by Amelia Hendrey

***** 5 stars!

Review:

Wow! I just could not put this book down and read it in one day. I went through a rollercoaster of emotions and I need to tell you that you will be needing the tissues close by.

A heartrending  story of abuse and neglect of a young girl who just wanted someone to love and care for her, but instead she gets an abusive father and a step mother who turns a blind eye to the fathers behaviour and sometimes adds to it herself.
Her birth mother abandons her at an early age and her father gets sole custody.
He neglects her as he is slowly and surely becoming an alcoholic .
The abuse esculates as she gets older and finally culminates into a violent rape.
Then she has to find a way to put her life back together and learn to live in the world and care for herself when her step mother turns her back on her.

The writing had depth and emotion that enhanced and portrayed the story very well.
A very engaging and emotional read which I highly recommend!
A five star read for me!

The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore

The Greatcoat by Helen Dunmore

*** 3 stars

Review:

I was a little disappointed in this book, on the cover it was likened to The Woman In Black, but unfortunately the only thing they had in common was that they were both ghost stories.

This book fell very flat for me and I only kept on reading because it was a short book.

Isabel finds an old RAF coat and then Alec a pilot and a ghost starts to visit her.
Alec is linked to the coat found in the house  in which Isabel and her husband Philip a young doctor are now living.

This was more of a love story than a spooky ghost story. When Alex visits Isabel he is really visiting his lover Lizzie, but Isabel starts to have memories that she doesn't know where they have come from, which turns out to be Lizzie 's memories.

A quick read, but if you are wanting an atmospheric ghost story for Halloween then I am afraid this is not the book for that.

An Untamed State by Roxanne Gay

An Untamed State by Roxanne Gay

***** 5 stars!!

Review:

This book broke my heart as I was reading it, knowing that this does happen often in these countries.

Mireille is kidnapped in her parents home country of Haiti, but her father was adamant he would not give in to these rebels and pay the ransom for her safe return.

What Mireille went through physically, mentally and emotionally was truly shocking and sickening. What a human being can do to another human being all for the sake of money, greed and power is horrifying.

I just could not put this book down even though the storyline was disturbing, you really did feel as though you were in the cage with Mireille, watching these events unfold. I felt all kinds of different emotions racing through me as I continued on through the book.

A fantastic thriller and I will be reading the authors future books!

Burned Alive by Soud

Burned Alive by Soud

*** 3 stars

Review:

This was a truly shocking and heart breaking story about a young girl simply falling in love in the wrong country with horrendous traditions.

Soud is set on fire by her own family for becoming pregnant with her boyfriend before marriage, what they call an honour crime. Bringing dishonour to her family with hardly any repercussions.

Soud survived this horrible attack and the book tells of her recovery through many operations and much needed therapy.

I felt the writing lacked emotion, but I am sure that Soud needed to feel more detatched to write this horrific account of her life, as a child and about the crime that changed her whole life considerably.

The Bat by Jo Nesbo

The Bat by Jo Nesbo

**** 4 stars

Review:

I don't know why I have taken so long to start this series as this was a great book to introduce you to the main character of Harry Hole who is a Norwegian Police Detective with a tortured soul, trying to forget his past mistakes.

He is sent to Sydney to help them try to catch a serial killer. He partners up with Andrew and they follow leads that seem to lead them on a wild goose chase, also does Andrew already know more than he is willing to tell Harry?

A great thriller with many twists and turns that leave you guessing and plenty of red herrings leading you to wrong conclusions.

So glad I have now started to read this series with the next 2 books already on my tbr list. And looking forward to seeing how the character of Harry develops in further books.
Totally recommended!

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

***** 5 stars

Review:

A captivating story, based on the true account of the last woman executed in Iceland.

The character of Agnes was well rounded and you free to really feel for her and to understand her past and what made her do the things she did to put her in this predicament as the story unfolded.

Agnes was a person who I had empathy for and felt that she was unfairly treated in this whole process.
The ending was shocking even though you knew it was inevitable for her.

This book really had me gripped from the very start and held me enthralled to the very end.
A must read for lovers of good thrillers and true stories.
I will be reading more from this author as her writing really is exceptional!