Review: The Chain

The Chain by Adrian McKinty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Imagine getting a horrifying call telling you that your daughter has been kidnapped and in order to get her back, you have to pay a ransom and kidnap someone else's child!

They are The Chain, and they are watching you and you can't tell anyone about it. You have to follow their instructions to the letter if you have any hope of ever getting your daughter back.

And even when the ordeal is over, you can never, ever speak of it. To anyone. You need to move on with your life and try to forget that anything ever happened. And hope and pray that The Chain never contacts you again.

That is the ordeal that cancer survivor, Rachel, finds herself going through when her daughter, Kylie, disappears. Forced to do despicable things in order to get Kylie back, Rachel is haunted by her experience. But what can she do when The Chain is watching her every move?

This was quite an interesting read. I was keen to see how it all unfolded and the author did not disappoint. In Part 2 of the book, the reader watched how The Chain was born and unfolded. Very sinister characters there driving it, and I was rooting for them to be taken down!

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Review: Layover

Layover by David Bell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was an interesting read, but wouldn't particularly rate in my top books.

Joshua is between travel, and between relationships when he meets an alluring young woman, Morgan at the airport. They share a lunch and a kiss and Joshua is smitten, to the point of rearranging his work plans, and following her onto her flight.

But when he attempts to approach her on the flight, she denies knowing him and makes him out to be a stalker.

Confounded, Joshua retreats but attempts to find out more about this enigmatic stranger. Searching through social media, Joshua discovers that Morgan is "missing" and most of her friends are concerned about her disappearance.

Concerned, Joshua goes to the airport police to report this, and unwittingly finds himself embroiled in a murder investigation, while setting out to solve the question of who Morgan is on his own, and why she is behaving so oddly. The answers he finds end up horrifying him, but at the same time, make him take a good look at his own life.

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Review: One Little Secret

One Little Secret by Cate Holahan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Couples Susan and Nadal, Jenny and Louis and Rachel and Ben drop off their kids at camp and go off for a vacation at a pricey rental near the beach. It is meant to be a getaway for the six of them, a time to relax from pressures of work and kids and just enjoy a little timeout.

But the holiday takes a turn when the next morning, one of the women is found dead at the beach.

As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that every one of her neighbours had strong reasons to want her dead. Told in a dual timeline of "the night before" and "the morning after", the story unfolds slowly and with just the right amount of suspicion cast on each of the characters. But despite all their strong motives, who really killed her?

A wonderful, well written, suspenseful read.

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Review: A Stranger on the Beach

A Stranger on the Beach by Michele Campbell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've just finished reading "A Stranger on the Beach", my 119th read for the year. (I really need to get paid to read!)

Caroline, a 43 year old woman has a one night stand with Aidan, a dashing bartender, almost 15 years her junior. Aidan is smitten with Caroline, but for her, it was just a way to get back at her husband whom she is convinced is cheating on her. Throughout the book, Aidan's behaviour seems to become stalker-like, and escalate, but is everything really as it seems?

This book was quite an interesting read. Told from two perspectives, of Caroline and Aidan, this book offers two distinct perceptions of the events leading up to "The Storm", a night when everything seemed to go awry.

Who is telling the truth? Is it Caroline, who claims that Aidan is stalking her and tries repeatedly to hurt her? Or is it Aidan, who is in love with Caroline, and is simply trying to protect her?
Everything ties together in the second half of the book, which is set after the storm, when all the secrets and lies are gradually exposed.

It was a slightly slow start for me, but I'm glad I persevered with it, and Im looking forward to reading other books by the same author.
I definitely recommend this book if you're a fan of psychological thrillers!

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Review: The Wrong Man

The Wrong Man by Kate White
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This weekend I finished reading “The Wrong Man” by Kate White. What an interesting read!

Kit is on holiday and challenges herself to be bold for once in her life. She meets a man who introduces himself as Matt, and she’s immediately drawn to him. Throwing caution to the wind, Kit gives in to a no-strings attached night of passion with him. When back in New York, she gets a call from Matt, telling her that despite his no-strings stance, he’s love to see her again, and he gives her an address to meet him at.

But when she arrives at the apartment to meet him, she meets someone who claims to be the real Matt.

Suddenly Kit finds herself plunged into a nightmare she has no idea how she landed in. Her apartment is broken into, people seem to be dropping dead around her, and she has no idea who to trust.

It was a very well written book, moved at a good pace and an great read for lovers of all things thriller!

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