Category: Mystery/Crime

Contemporary · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Slow Burn – Julie Garwood

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107771| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Every fire begins with a little heat–and in Slow Burn, bestselling author Julie Garwood provides the spark, skillfully blending pulse-pounding action, intense emotion, and characters with grit and heart. The result is an electrifying novel of romantic suspense that will have readers burning through the pages.

An unpretentious beauty who radiates kindness, Kate MacKenna doesn’t have a bad bone in her body–or an enemy in the world. So why are bombs igniting everywhere she goes? The first explosion brings her face-to-face with a handsome Charleston police detective. The second sends her into the arms of her best friend’s brother–a Boston cop who’s a little too reckless and way too charming for comfort. But Dylan Buchanan won’t let emotion prevent him from doing his job: Someone is trying to kill Kate, and Dylan is the only one standing between her and the monster who wants her dead.

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My thoughts: Sometime you seek that kind of book, that gives you a feeling of comfort. That makes you want to settle down on the couch, in bed or in that favorite reading chair. With the biggest blanket (that you bought just to have when you read) with a big cup of beverage of your choice, and just stay there. The world outside does not exist and it is just you and your new friends. And for those brief moments, it all feels okay. Well, this is one of those books for me. And I hadn’t really expect anything less since this is Julie Garwood. I know what to expect and I’m so happy that I got it. It was just what I needed. Garwood is an great writer in this genre and one of my favorite authors. And I always feel so good after one of her books.

Here we get to follow Kate. After her mother’s death her life is starting to crumble around her. But she is a strong woman and refuse to give up. After she almost been blown up twice, in one week, Dylan Buchanan, Kate’s best friends brother, comes to help find out what is happening. He is on leave from his work at Boston PD and since he always had strong, secret feelings for Kate, he can’t let her fend for herself. The situation is intense and fireworks is going off right from the start.

This is a “typical” romantic suspense book. You pretty much know what is going to happen. Though I do not want to call it predictable. I couldn’t early one foresee who the bad guy was in this book. It was easy to see why and there was no secret about the reasons, but it was not as predictable to find out who it really was. It was awesome.

It is a great book. Just what I needed. There is great characters, great development, great story and plot and the way it is unfolding feels real and suitable. There is never any cliffhangers and sometime you get to meet characters that have had bigger parts earlier in the series. Mostly I would say that you can read it as an stand alone. But if you are as OCD as me, I do not recommend it.

Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Tennessee takedown – Lena Diaz

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18343283.jpg| GOODREADS | MY RATING: ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A SWAT officer in small-town Tennessee will do anything to protect the innocent beauty whose life has been put on the line in Lena Diaz’s Tennessee Takedown

It can’t be a coincidence that in the past twenty-four hours, three different thugs have tried to kill or abduct Ashley Parrish. Sexy SWAT team leader Dillon Gray saved her, but now he wonders why someone would want to murder the beautiful accountant and why he finds her so infuriatingly attractive.

Then the FBI comes after Ashley for embezzlement, and Dillon knows he must protect her from a killer and prove she’s being framed. Taking her on a hair-raising run through dangerous terrain barely fazes him. But wanting her from more than just one night scares the hell out of him.

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My thoughts: I have read Lena Diaz other series (Deadly Games) and I LOVED it. There is four books in that series, filled with hot alpha males, strong women, incredible thrilling suspense and complicated character relationships. Three of the four books got a 5/5 score and the last one, number four got 4/5. That is how good that series was. Can you imagine my surprise that I found this first book in one of her other series, extremely lacking and disappointing?

I had expected the same level of writing skill and imagination but there was nothing. Nothing! My mind is blank! I feel nothing other than disappointment toward this book. It starts right in the middle of a shootout and then there is action throughout the whole book. There is never a break and I think that is maybe the point that rubs me the wrong way. Ashley is just to TSTL (too stupid to live) and I Dillon is just a used up character with no real depth. I could not connect with them and they more irritated me than anything else. The plot was quite interesting until the end, when it just got too much. I mean, come on, can you be that stupid? I do like the whole stolen identity plot even though it was predictable right from the start.

What really saved this book is the other characters. Chris, Chief Thornton, Donna and so on. I don’t know if Diaz did it on purpose, but it did feel like she put more thought in those characters than what she did in her main ones. That is the only reason I feel I would like to read the second book in this series. The second book is about Chris and I do want to read more about him. *Wink*

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

The fire witness – Lars Kepler

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16085509| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Detective Inspector Joona Linna, under internal review by the National Police for an alleged infraction, is on leave to solve some troubling personal business when he is called in to “observe” the investigation of a gruesome and strange murder at Birgittagarden, a youth home for wayward teenage girls. But it’s not long before Linna is drawn deeply into the intricate, disturbing case. Intriguing, astonishing, and with all of the suspense that first captured audiences in The Hypnotist, The Fire Witness is Lars Kepler at his most psychologically complex and thrilling.

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My thoughts: The third book about the Swedish/Finish Cop Joona Linna. He is a ruff character with an immensely good moral compass and somewhat of an enigma. But in this book, you finally are starting to get some answers to who Linna really is and why he is and do as he does. However, you do sit in the end of the book, with a ton of questions but there are more books in the series so I’m pretty sure I will get my answers someday. The book do not end on a cliffhanger however, for those who are like me and don’t like that.

The books story is just great. Joona Linna is under internal review due to some stuff that happened in the second book. But since he is that good guy that he is, he breaks the rules to save a kid after getting called in to “observe” a crime scene at a youth home, where a young girl and the homes nightwatchman has been killed, and another girl is missing. Not only that but he has some personal issues to resolve and it makes the suspense a lot more intense. And not only that. A psychic comes in and stir the pot even more. And I just say, wow!

Lars Kepler is really not a person but an pseudonym for the married couple Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. Yeah I think they did the right thing with one name since theirs are so alike. I love their way of writing and how they succeed to include the readers in the story in a way I don’t feel many Swedish authors are able to do. Scandinavian litterateur is not one of my favorites but I try to broaden my view to also close authors. Not just authors from the other side of the glob.

I do have to warn you that this series is not an standalone series and I do recommend that you start with the first book if you are interested. But it is total worth it.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

The doll’s house – M.J Arlidge

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23519826| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: A young woman wakes up in a cold, dark cellar, with no idea how she got there or who her kidnapper is. So begins her terrible nightmare.

Nearby, the body of another young woman is discovered buried on a remote beach. But the dead girl was never reported missing – her estranged family having received regular texts from her over the years. Someone has been keeping her alive from beyond the grave.

For Detective Inspector Helen Grace it’s chilling evidence that she’s searching for a monster who is not just twisted but also clever and resourceful – a predator who’s killed before.

And as Helen struggles to understand the killer’s motivation, she begins to realize that she’s in a desperate race against time .

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My thoughts: I was skeptical about this book. I liked the first one in the series, but the second got pretty low rating by me. I am however happy that I choosed to read it anyway because it was really good. There is one thing I have an issue with however. And that is all the drama.

There is 5 female characters in this book who have some kind of issue with one another. There is jealousy and other stuff that just brings the story down. I hate drama and I hate office politics. Bringing this two together and it brings it all down for me and I am ashamed over the female genus because I know that this happens in the real world. However, it was still nice to get some kind of closure on the whole Grace and Harwood fiasco and I hope the drama is now over.

The story itself is classical. No big surprises and it is something you have seen or read to many times. It is still entertaining and then I also like these slow burner, English crime books that ends with a bang. Helen Grace keeps being an enigma and after three books, I can’t say that I know who she is. I know she has some problems due to her childhood and that she has a strong desire to help people. But other than that, she is a complete puzzle to us readers.

One other thing I liked with this book is that the chapters are really short and it pleases my OCD. I can absolutely see myself read the fourth book in the series.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Thriller/Horror

The treatment – Mo Hayder

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647954| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Midsummer, and in an unassuming house on a quiet residential street on the edge of Brockwell Park in south London, a husband and wife are discovered. Badly dehydrated, they’ve been bound and beaten, the husband is close to death. But worse is to come: their young son is missing.

When DI Jack Caffery of the Met’s AMIT squad is called in to investigate, the similarities to events in his own past make it impossible for him to view this new crime with the necessary detachment. And as Jack digs deeper, as he attempts to hold his own life together in the face of ever more disturbing revelations about both the past and the present, the real nightmare begins…

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My thoughts: I have very few triggers when it comes to books. I read most of it. I don’t like it all and it can affect me bad mentally, but mostly I can handle it. But the few triggers I do have, are different types of sexual assaults. Specially against kids. I can read a book when the story is that it already has happen and you get to read about it in past tense and preferable not in that much details. Read it happen in present time and aftermath is something I have tough time with and I do my best to avoid those types of books.

So, you can imagine how tough this book was for me. And I didn’t know that it was supposed to be about pedophilia and other sick monsters. Now I’m glad I didn’t know since the book is terrifyingly awesome and if given the choice, maybe I would not have read it. But since I do have read the first book, I should have been a little smarter and foreseen that this would be a big part of the book. Apparently, I’m not that smart.

This book was so much better than the first book and I love the broken dynamic between Jack and Becky and how they, even though all the shit that has happened, not give up. The truth comes out and it just makes them fight harder for them self’s and each other and I love that. Other than that, the book is a typical British crime novel. Some really sick stuff is happening and you get some answers on questions from the first book (So yeah you should read them in order) and it builds something of a series I can see myself continue.

But no, this is not a light read but I do think it’s worth it.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

Intensity – Dean Koontz

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33297557| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Edgler Vess is a sociopath intent on murder. He lives for one purpose only: to satisfy all appetites as they arise, seeking ever more outrageous experience. To live with intensity.

When he attacks her friend, Laura, Chyna Shepherd is saved by the instincts developed during a dark and turbulent childhood. Not knowing Laura is already dead, Chyna follows, hoping to save her friend, as Vess carries her body to his motor home – a dungeon and morgue on wheels. The killer, unaware of her presence, drives away. But Chyna is now trapped in his dangerous orbit.

Her sole aim is to get out alive, but when she learns the identity of the killer’s next intended victim, she knows she must act to save that precious life – and take risks beyond any that she ever imagined she could endure.

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My thoughts: It is funny how years and experience can change your point of view and how you perceive the world. I read this book for the first time when I was like 11-13 years old. I think it must have been wrongly placed in the library because they where really strict about children under the age of 15, reading this types of books. And even now, I don’t really see this one as an young adult book. But anyhow, it was the first book I ever read by Koontz and it mesmerized me. Terrified me. Woke my love for thriller, horror and the mystery that is serial killers. Now, like 17 years later, I still like it a lot, but I do not feel the same mesmerized feelings for it as I did when I was younger.

And that is what I mean about how different your point of view gets with age and experience. I remember a lot from the book but there was some really important details that I did not remember an actually surprised me. It was nice to read a book, where I did not remember it all, but still did. Do you know what I mean? And I perceive the book completely different now and what I did then. And in my opinion, there is no horror. It is an thriller and it is great. But I have probably read and seen to much, gotten to jaded, to feel that this is an horror. It does not mean it isn’t good. But I just don’t see it as an horror anymore.

I have read a lot by Koontz but here you can really see that it is his earlier work of art. I feel he writes his book different nowadays and that his older works, usually is better. More real and terrifying. Vess is just such an weird killer, so different from what you usually read about in books. He is just so much more down to earth, smart and not insane and very logical. And THAT is certainly terrifying. Chyna is a little gray and I think that really was the point with her history and all. But it made it a little boring and somewhat repeatable until she got her fighting spirit going and refused to let some asshole decide over her life. Overall a great book, worth to be read by those who likes thrillers and getting in the mind of the characters and see the actions through the killers mind, not only the good guys.

Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Romance · Suspense

Blue Smoke – Nora Roberts

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114184.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: Reena Hale grew up with an intimate knowledge of the destructive power of fire. When she was a child, her family’s restaurant was burned to the ground, and the man responsible was sent to jail. The Hale family banded together to rebuild, and Reena found her life’s calling. She trained as a firefighter and then as a cop, always with the end goal in sight: to become an arson investigator. Now, as part of the arson unit, she is called in on a series of suspicious fires that seem to be connected-not just to each other, but to her. And as danger ignites all around her, Reena must rely on experience and instinct to catch a dangerous madman who will not stop until everything she loves has gone up in smoke.

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My thoughts: I have said before that my biggest problem with Roberts books, is that they often start of slow. And we do not talk about just a couple of chapters but like 1/3 or 1/4 of the book is Slow. No difference here either, but this time it did not bother me as much. Maybe because it still happens a lot even though we have like 20 years to get through before we are the ace of the book. Or maybe it is because I was so prepared on the fact that it would start slow and I just need to have patience.

The story is great and as always I love all of the characters. That is something Roberts are very good at. Writing good and alive characters. And I love Bowen and how well he fit together with Reena and she is all thorns on the outside but he manages to sneak in between without getting stung to bad and that just makes it all so much better. But I have a huge problem with this book. And that is the red thread, the ending, the answers or what not I should call it. I knew it all from the start, and I mean all, through out the book but often thought for my self that, soon it will come an curveball. Soon something will happen and my thoughts will change drastically. It just can’t be this obvious. But yeah, it is that obvious which gave me an anticlimactic feeling in the end of the book.

To know it all, from the start off the book, and hope you are wrong, but are not, is just not a good feeling for me. And that only took of an star/heart in my rating of this book. That is how much it effected me. The story is still god and if I would have been prepared that it is somewhat clear water, it would probably not have affected me as much. But yeah, nothing to do about it now. Still a good book and I can still recommend it.

Contemporary · Humor/Funny · Mystery/Crime · Romance

Spotless – Camilla Monk

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30197979.jpg| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Island Chaptal—nerdy IT engineer by day, romance novel junkie by night—just walked into her messy New York apartment to find Mr. Right waiting for her. No, wait…Mr. Clean.

A gentleman professional killer with a bad case of OCD and zero tolerance for unsorted laundry, March isn’t there to kill her…yet. He wants the diamond her late mother stole for a sinister criminal organization. Island agrees to help him find it, facing the kind of adversaries who dismember first and ask questions later. Good thing she’s got March to show her the ropes. And the guns. And the knives.

The buttoned-up Island is soon having a blast racing from Paris to Tokyo following the clues in her mother’s will, and for the first time, she’s ready to get close to someone. But falling for a hit man may be the very definition of loving dangerously.…

Spotless marks the beginning of Island and March’s ongoing adventures.

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My thoughts: This is the first book of an series that an friend have recommended me. I finally got to the first book and I do not have words for what I’m feeling right now. I’m in love. In love with March and his bad OCD. He is such an broken soul and my heart cries for him. There is an little story in the book (about how he was caught and thrown in prison as an teenager) and it made me cry. It is so bad. Maybe it effected me so much because I have been there, but no longer are. Not as bad anyway. And I can still understand and relate. I really like Island even though that she is a little stupid. Or no, not stupid, but naive is probably the better word. It was some bits in the book that I was just angry at her and her actions. Come one, use your head. You are suppose to be smart. But yeah, if you are a little naive maybe it isn’t that easy.

The story is exciting, speedy and really cliffhanging. I could not stop reading and read this book in one go. I only stopped to eat and use the bathroom. That is how good this book was. But afterwards my head hurt a lot and that I cried to the ending did not help. I can’t handle this long reading sprees as well anymore. I’m getting old. 😉

There is 3.5 more books in this series so I know I will get to meet them all again, but I have had trouble to decide if I should continue the series right away or wait a bit. I chose to wait. Mostly because if the second book is as good as the first, I do not want to start it right before a new work week. I need some free time if it will be the same again. That is how good this book was. 😀

Fantasy/Paranormal · Fiction/Science Fiction · Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

Blood Harvest – Sharon J. Bolton

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8658911| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ |

Goodreads synopsis: Sometimes I wish that she’d just leave me in peace . . .

Psychologist Evi is worried about one of her patients – a woman who is convinced her little girl is still alive. Two years after the fire that burnt their house down.

Meanwhile, the new vicar in town is feeling strangely unwelcome. Disturbing events seem designed to scare him away.

And a young boy keeps seeing a strange, solitary girl playing in the churchyard. Who is she and what is she trying to tell him?

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My thoughts: I’m not one of those people who scares easily buy movies, series or books. I often feel them to much and quite exaggerated and overrated. I can enjoy an good scary movie but they do not affect me to that degree that I will have nightmares after. This book however did give me nightmares. And it is such a clever written book.

We get to meet Evi, Harry and the family Fletcher. They are like the main characters. Harry is the new vicar in town and the Fletcher’s are the new family who moved there not long ago. Then mysterious things begin to happen. Things they can not explain and one of the sons in the family is not believed by other than Harry, who is still trying to find natural explanations to it all. Then other stuff happens, children are disappearing and they are trying to find the truth to it all.

I think that the reason the book is so “scary” for me is the children. I cant go to close into it without give you an spoiler. But it is seriously terrifying and gives you that one bad feeling you cant really explain and put words on. It’s just sits there in you chest, sucking you dry of every confident feeling you ever had. I even woke up several times one night with the feeling that someone was watching me. However I do not want to scare you away from this book because it is seriously good. And in the end it is not really an horror story at all. I love the small English country town with there history and people but the very best ting with the book is that you get an explanation for EVERYTHING. Not a loose thread to be wondering about and it was great. Believable and fit the story perfectly.

I do however need to point out that on the absolute last page, it did happen one thing that I did not like and the story would have been better without it. But hey, you cant get it all and knowing Bolton, she is good to throw you curveballs in her books. So I should not be surprised.

Mystery/Crime · Suspense · Thriller/Horror

The Nightmare – Lars Kepler

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13722526| GOODREADS | AMAZON | MY RATING: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥|

Goodreads synopsis: A drowned young woman is discovered on an abandoned pleasure boat drifting by the Stockholm archipelago—strangely, her clothes are dry. The next day in Stockholm, a man turns up dead, hanging from a lamp hook inside his completely bare apartment—but how could he have hung himself with no furniture to climb upon? As Detective Inspector Joona Linna begins to piece together the two mysteries, he discovers that they are a mere prelude to a dizzying and dangerous course of events.

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My thoughts: For you who do not know it, Lars Kepler is actually a pseudonym name for the married couple Alexandra and Alexander Ahndoril. They are both published authors but together they write the series about Joona Linna under the name Lars Kepler. This is the second book in the series and even though I’m not much for “local” litterateur, I really like this book.

I listened on the first book about Joona Linna, back in 2012. I know that I also started the second book but could not remember if I actually finished it. There where parts that i recognized but i dont remember it all so I just listened on the whole thing again to be sure.

This one is the continuing book about Joona. The first book did not end on a cliffhanger but you as an reader should know that there is a lot of details about Joona that you dont really get to know. Also in this book. But i recon that later on in the series, all my questions will be answered.

I like the book even though I think the story about weapon export is a little dry and there is some parts in the book that really do not make sense for the books plot. I do like that I have gotten to know Joona a little bit more but still do not know all of his “secrets”. It is a book I can recommend but be advised that this is a slow burner in 500+ pages. Not as fast pacing (in my opinion) as the first book, but sometime it is nice withe those to.