Staff Reviews: Mystery
Check out these book reviews written by the staff of the Marathon County Public Library, featuring reviews of books for all ages! (For reviews of books of all genres, visit our main Staff Reviews webpage.) These book reviews also are published at Goodreads.com; follow us for the latest updates.
"Coffin Road"
Imagine: you suddenly wake up to find yourself on a deserted beach. You have no idea how you got there, where you are, let alone your first name. What would you do? Meanwhile, a homicide detective is scouring the desolate island to find out who murdered the lighthouse's most recent victim. Who killed him, and does it have anything to do with the mysterious...
"Into the Water"
From the author of The Girl on the Train comes a new story of secrets, complicated relationships, and a history of mysterious deaths. Women have been drowning in a small British town for centuries. First was Libby Seeton, a woman convicted of witchcraft in the 1700s. Recently, Katie, a fifteen-year-old girl, committed suicide by drowning herself in the same...
"Enchantment Lake"
Seventeen-year-old Francie bolts from an audition and hops on a plane from New York City to Minnesota after receiving a troubling call from her great aunts Astrid and Jeannette. She hasn’t visited her aunts’ home in northern Minnesota since her father’s death seven years prior, but she has fond childhood memories of Enchantment Lake. However, she cannot...
"A Study in Charlotte"
Jamie, a descendant of John Watson, is still adjusting to life at his new boarding school and recovering from a recent and disastrous encounter with Charlotte Holmes (descendent of Sherlock Holmes) when the pair become prime suspects in the death of a fellow student. It seems someone is intent on framing the duo, but who could it possibly be? They weren’t...
"Big Little Lies"
Mayhem. Madness. Murder. This is not how the annual trivia night fundraiser at Perriwee Public School was supposed to go, culminating in the death of one of the school's parents. But as the story unfolds, we find that appearances can be deceiving in this small, seemingly perfect oceanside community, and that boiling tensions will eventually erupt. ...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Contemporary Fiction
"With Love from the Inside"
Grace Bradshaw is on death row for the murder of her infant son, William. When William was months old, he was always ill until he finally had a seizure and died. The investigation into William's death found traces of windshield wiper fluid in his bottle. Grace was diagnosed with Munchausen by Proxy and was found guilty for her son's death. Sophie,...
"Her Every Fear"
Kate Priddy is no stranger to anxiety and fear. After suffering a traumatic kidnapping in her past, the world around her becomes even more terrifying. When a chance arises to leave her cramped London apartment for a spacious, fancy apartment in Boston, Kate reluctantly makes the journey to a temporary change in surroundings. The day after she arrives,...
"The Twilight Wife"
What would you do if you woke up tomorrow and suddenly didn't remember anything from the past few years? What if you didn't know your husband, your friends, yourself? Kyra suffers memory loss from a diving accident, and depends deeply on her husband, even though she suddenly barely knows who he is. When Kyra starts seeing visions, she doesn't know whether...
"I See You"
In another fantastic novel by an author who quickly became one of my favorites, readers meet Zoe Walker, who is quickly pulled into a living nightmare after seeing her picture in a classified ad on her morning commute. Each day brings a new advertisement, and soon it's clear Zoe's every movement may be watched and other women are in danger along with her....
"All the Missing Girls"
28 year-old Nicolette Farrell reluctantly returns to her North Carolina hometown after a 10-year absence in order to renovate and sell her childhood home and care for her father, who is ailing from Alzheimer's. While back in town, Nic reconnects with her brother Daniel, with whom she has a strained relationship; and her high school boyfriend Tyler, whose...
Audience: Adults | Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
"Missing, Presumed"
Manon Bradshaw loves her job as a detective sergeant in the Cambridgeshire Major Incident Team and excels at it, but her personal life is unfulfilling. She has grown weary of the internet dating scene, even as she plays the game of shaving a few years off her actual age (39) and cribbing her hobbies and interests from other people’s profiles. In her latest...
"Ink and Bone"
Finley does not know what it feels like to really be alone. Sitting on the floor by her bed is a young boy playing with a train, and on her way down the hall she passes a woman watching her carefully, both of whom have been long dead. Haunted by a gift she neither wants nor understands, Finley is quickly pulled into a missing persons case. Merri has been...
"All Is Not Forgotten"
In a small, wealthy community in Connecticut, Jenny Kramer is violently assaulted in a wooded area outside a high school house party. With her parents’ consent, she is given a relatively new drug that erases her memories of the traumatic event, in hopes of sparing her emotional distress. Unfortunately, the emotional trauma remains, and those emotional...
"Little Black Lies"
In the Falkland Islands terror grips a small community when children start to go missing. Though no one can believe there is a murderer among them, everyone becomes involved when the third child disappears. Among them is Catrin, a woman who lost all of her children in a horrible accident three years ago, who now seeks revenge on the woman who used to be her...
"I Let You Go"
In this unforgettable and deeply moving novel, Jenna Gray's life is catapulted into chaos one rainy night in November. To try to survive her nightmare, she escapes to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast. But her past never stays truly hidden, and she is plagued by what happened and the choices she made, even though she tries to heal from her mistakes. When...
"Fool Me Once"
In his latest thriller, Harlan Coben introduces us to Maya, a pilot recently home from the war. When the unthinkable happens and her husband is murdered by unknown assailants, Maya focuses on caring for her daughter more closely. Maya's life is radically changed again when she sees the impossible: her dead husband playing with their daughter on the newly...
"Wilde Lake"
Luisa “Lu” Brandt, a middle-aged widow and mother of eight-year-old twins, is the new state’s attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a position her highly-esteemed father once held. Homicide is relatively rare in Howard County, so Lu is eager to prove herself as she tries the case of a homeless man being tried for strangling a woman to death in her apartment...
"Where I Lost Her"
I absolutely loved this gripping new novel! Not only was it about a woman's difficult but ultimately uplifting journey of healing after an adoption gone horribly wrong, it was a captivating mystery about a missing little girl seen wandering in the woods. As Jess is on her way back from getting more wine to drown her emotions at her best friend's cabin in...
"No One Knows"
In this fast-paced new thriller, Aubrey Hamilton is still intensely grieving over the mysterious disappearance of her husband five years later. Not only was she accused (but thankfully acquitted) of his murder, she now receives a letter from the state declaring Josh officially dead, even though no body has ever been found. It seems that her ex mother-in-law...
"Nothing Bad Is Going to Happen"
Kippy Bushman is still recovering from the physical and psychological damage caused by her investigation into her best friend Ruth’s death. She and her father have a rocky relationship, her former tormenter Libby is the closest thing she has to a friend, and the sociopath who killed her friend Ruth continues to contact her. At least things are going well...
"The Widow"
What would you do if you found out the innermost secrets your husband has locked away; that he has a whole other life he's been keeping from you? What if you realize your husband could really be a monster? These are the questions Jean is forced to face after a local girl suddenly vanishes and the police end up on her doorstep. The novel shifts between the...
"The Shadow Year"
In this captivating novel, Lila is devastated from a terrible loss. When she is anonymously sent the key to a tucked away cottage in the Lake District, Lila flees London for the quiet of the mysterious cottage. As her bruises, both physical and mental, slowly start to heal, Lila throws herself into renovating the hidden cottage. But the cottage isn't what...
"River Road"
Nan Lewis, still devastated by her young daughter's death by a drunk driver, just found out she's not getting tenure at the college where she teaches creative writing. On the way home, emotional from the day's revelations, she hits a deer that she's unable to find after she strikes it. The next day the police are knocking on her door because a student was...
"Need"
The teens in Nottawa Wisconsin high school are joining the newest, hottest networking site and answering one question: what do you need. In exchange for a minor task, the NEED site will fulfill their request. One of the teens, Kaylee, is desperate to help her brother who needs a new kidney. Others are asking for backstage passes to a concert, new iPhones...
"Lie Still"
Julia Heaberlin is one of my new favorite voices in the mystery genre. I've loved all of her books so far, and "Lie Still" is no exception! Emily Page and her husband have moved from New York City to small town Texas in order for her husband to accept a job of police chief. Emily, pregnant with the couple's first child, hopes her haunted past and the...
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