In You Know What You Did by K. T. Nguyen, Annie committed a crime but no one knows she did it. The police are looking into it. What did she do and why? You will have to read the book to answer those questions. This book is really good! The story line kept me turning pages quickly and Annie is a great character to say the least! The ending is good too so I loved this one! (Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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In The New Couple in 5B by Lisa Unger, Rosie and her husband, Chad, are trying to make ends meet, but it is hard until they are left an apartment with $5,000,000! Unfortunately, the apartment building is known for having a history of people dying. Will Rosie and Chad be added to the list?
Lisa Unger is always good and this book is no exception. I kept turning pages and flew through it. The last 40 or so pages were packed with action and a great ending to say the least! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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The Only One Left by Riley Sager, is the best book I've read this year by far! It starts out a bit slow, but boy, does it pick up! It's about Kit, a caregiver, who is hired to take care of a paralyzed person who was suspected of murder and lives in a big spooky house at the top of cliff. Kit is hired soon after the previous caregiver mysteriously left. This book has it all--mystery, suspense, action, devious characters, creepy fathers and lots of surprise twists with a great ending! This was crazy good! Loved it and highly recommend it. (Karen's review, 5 stars)
Gerard's review 10/2023:
In The Only One Left by Riley Sager, Kit becomes a caregiver for Lenora Hope. It is believed Lenora killed her parents, but no proof was found. Kit is afraid after a few days but needs the money so stays on the job. She is soon to be a lot more frightened! This book is amazing! It has lots of twists and turns with an easy storyline to follow. The characters are great too. If you think you know how it all plays out, trust me, you do not! Must read this one! (5++ stars)
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In Hemlock Island by Kelley Armstrong, Laney gets an island as part of a divorce settlement which she rents out to make money. She gets a call that something strange is going on at the island and she better come down to look. Soon she discovers that she has a big problem! This book started off okay, but went sideways near the end. I never cared about the characters at all and I thought the ending was very strange. (Gerard's review, 3.5 stars)
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In The Other Emily by Dean Koontz, David can never get over the loss of his lover for life, Emily. It has been ten years. Then he meets a girl that is so like Emily! Is she still alive? This is good stuff. It has lots of action and an ending that you will not believe! You can never go wrong with a Dean Koontz book! (Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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In The Drift by C. J. Tudor is about survival. Hannah, Meg and Carter are all in a tough spot at different locations. They will have to work with other people to get out alive. What all three do not know is that a bigger danger awaits them! This has a good storyline with lots of action and I enjoyed the characters too! (Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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In The Puzzle Master by Danielle Trussoni, Mike Brink, because of a football head injury, can solve puzzles at an alarming rate. Jess Prell is in prison and she has a secret no one has been able to solve. Mike is asked to try. For the most part, this book was good; however, the last quarter it seemed that the author did not know how to end it. Due to that, I give it 4 stars. It was not as good as I expected. (Gerard's review)
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In Fairy Tale by Stephen King, Charlie, a young teen boy, becomes the caretaker to an old man when he falls from a ladder. Charlie and the man's dog, Radar, get along great. Before the old man dies, he tells Charlie to listen to a tape under his bed. What is on the tape is what this book is about. I thought this book was really good--vintage King. It has great characters and a good storyline. I also loved Radar and the ending! The dog was in it a lot! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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In Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak, Mallory really needs a job. So when a job comes up to look after a 5-yr.-old boy for a nice couple in a real nice neighborhood, she jumps at the chance to take it. How hard could it be to look after a 5-yr.-old boy? You'll have to read it to find out. This thriller is very good! I had a hard time putting it down. It has a great storyline and the characters were developed really well too with a heck of an ending! I highly recommend this one! (Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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In Come Out, Come Out, Whatever You Are by Kathryn Foxfield, five teens go on a reality show. They need to survive a night in haunted caves, but should they be afraid of each other? This book was okay. The storyline was pretty good, but not great. I never connected with the characters and wasn't impressed with the ending. (Gerard's review, 4 stars)
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In Road of Bones by Christopher Golden, Felix is fascinated by a road called "The Highway of Bones" 1,200 miles near the Arctic Circle. It is known as being a massive graveyard of prisoners of the U.S.S.R. who worked on the highway where bodies were paved over. It is said to be haunted by their ghosts. Felix gets the ride of his life. Do NOT read this book at night! This one was hard to put down! It's a really good ghost story! (Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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The Woods Are Always Watching by Stephanie Perkins is about two teen girls going on their first camping trip. They are best friends but will be separated when they go to different colleges in the fall. What should be a fun time turns into a nightmare! This book is good stuff! I liked both girls and the story moved along. (Gerard's review, 5 stars)
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The Institute by Stephen King got my attention and kept it throughout the book. There are no boring parts in this! I normally do not like Stephen King books; however, this one involving kids peaked my curiosity. It is horror because of the emotional and physical pain the children endure. It is about a bunch of kids who were kidnapped for experimentation on developing their special telekinesis and telepathy abilities for the good of the world. I liked the group dynamics among the kids and how they became friends and worked together to escape the Institute. It is not all horrific. There are some funny lines and lots of adventure. The ending didn't really make sense to me, but I liked the book anyway. (Karen's review, 5 stars)
Gerard's review 10/24/19: The Institute by Stephen King is about children who are really smart and have a special ability to do something are taken and put into a large building. They are held there and are experimented on and they better behave, or else! Who is doing this and why? What about the families of these children? This is very good! It flows well and is action packed to be sure! The ending was amazing! Good stuff! (5++ stars)
Teaser from page 63: Something began to flutter in his chest, and he took several deep breaths to try and quiet it. He went to the door and grasped the knob, sure he would find himself locked in.
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DRY by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman is teen fiction about a drought, or Tap-Out in southern California and the story of how teens Kelton, Jacqui, Alyssa and her younger brother Garrett evacuated on their own in search of a place with water. They pick up another teen, Henry, on the way who decided he couldn’t stay where he was. The group dynamics was both interesting and fascinating. Kelton and Alyssa were neighbors. Kelton’s dad was one who was a firm believer in being prepared to protect his family. Kelton was a bit weird and had a crush on Alyssa. Jacqui was a tough chick who helped save Kelton’s life and he offered to help her by giving her some antibiotics for her cut. Henry was an opportunist. Alyssa and Garret even have a pet dog which I liked.
This book shows how quickly people can lose their humanity when they get desperate. This is a modern-day horror book. I enjoyed this book because of the adventure the teens went through to just survive and also the interaction and vying for leadership among them. I liked how the story is told from the different perspectives of the main five characters. It was easy to follow because the name of the person telling each part was at the beginning of the section. This made me realize how valuable water is and how much we take it for granted.
(Karen’s review, 5 stars)
Here's my husband's thoughts, very different from mine: Dry by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman is about a group of teens who are dealing with a tap out, which means there is no water to be had! This book fell flat for me. There were some exciting parts that made me think, "Okay, here we go," but no! The story line was okay. I had no trouble with that, but I only enjoyed a few of the characters and others I found annoying. I give this book 3.5 because I just really never got into it at all.
Teaser from page 12: As I look around the stacks of drinks, I find a single case of water that someone abandoned there maybe yesterday, when it wasn’t such a precious commodity. I reach for it, only to find it pulled away at the last second by a thin woman with a beak of a nose.
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In Bad Man by Dathan Auerbach, Ben's brother disappeared in a local store in a small town. Ben was with him. Five years later, Ben needs a job and goes to work at that same store. Ben has never stopped looking for his brother! He hopes to find a clue or something in that store.
I thought this book was pretty good. I think it could have been shorter though. The characters were brought out well, but it only had a so-so ending.
(Gerard's review, 4 stars)
Teaser from page 18: Ben jogged uncertainly toward a truck that ambled up one of the lanes and away from the store. Seat poured down his back and sides, stung in his eyes. It sped up as Ben approached, but he couldn't run any faster.
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White is The Coldest Colour by John Nicholl is about a child Psychiatrist who is a sexual predator and part of a ring of many pedophiles in Wales. This is a work of fiction, but is based on the author’s experiences as a police office and child protection social worker. This book reflects the reality of how much harm sexual predators inflict on their victims. This book shows the depravity of man and is a very disturbing read! It also includes physical abuse and a lengthy investigation.
I can’t say I enjoyed this book because it is so dark and the doctor was a horrible human being! I had to keep reading to find out if the cops would find the missing 7-yr-old boy in time and see the doctor brought to justice. The ending was better than I expected; however, I would have liked the story to have continued on a bit to end on a happier note. It seemed to end too abruptly.
(Karen's review, 4 stars)
Teaser from page 6: If a respected doctor such as himself could abandon any semblance of a conscience, learn to fully embrace his true nature, and view life and death from a purely Darwinian perspective, why the hell couldn’t Sherwood do likewise? That was the one thing which may have saved him.
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The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay is one of the dumbest books I ever read! I should have known I wouldn’t like it when I saw Stephen King praising it. I just kept reading because I thought it must get better, but it never did. Two gay guys and their adopted Chinese daughter are at a cabin in New Hampshire on vacation when four strangers come to see them. Practically the entire book takes place inside the cabin. The only action in this book is killing people. The writing was annoying to me as well, very wordy. I was glad when it finally ended! It’s a stupid scenario and depressing. Maybe Stephen King fans would like it, but I really hated it. I give it zero stars if I can. It’s really the worst book I ever read and finished and feel like it was a big waste of my time. I should have quit on it from the start when I thought about it. I would not recommend this one to anybody.
(Karen's review)
Teaser from page 25: “We are not here to hurt you. We need your help to save the world.”
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This book tells the true story of Ray Hinton, who found himself on death row for a crime he did not commit! Most of this book is very depressing. He even had evidence that he did not do it, but it was ignored. No one paid any attention to that. The last part of this book is uplifting!
(Gerard's review, 5 stars)
Karen's review: The Sun Does Shine—How I found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton is the sad true, but inspirational story of his life. He was wrongfully convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. This book shows his journey of appeals and his imprisonment. It made me more appreciative of my freedom and certainly made me more aware of the injustices that happen in our nation. It is an emotional read, making me feel both sadness and anger. I even cried at one point when he received news that his mother had died. He lost 30 years of his life because of prejudice and he’s not the only one! This is horrible!
The afterward was especially sobering. It listed the names of all those who are sitting on death row as of March 2017 by state so the reader can pray for them! It said that "Statistically, one out of every ten sentenced to death is innocent. This was a shocking statistic to me and one that should put an end to the death penalty."
This was hard to read because it is a true story of injustice but I’m glad I read it. It speaks to the issue of capital punishment and I think it’s good that people be made aware of how inhumane life on death row is. It was sort of funny how Ray kept his sanity and sense of humor while locked up wrongly all those years by using his imagination. I recommend adults and teens read this book. (5 stars)
Teaser from first page of the forward:
He resisted mightily the notion that he was arrested, charged, and wrongly convicted because of his race, but he ultimately couldn’t accept any other explanation. He was a poor man in a criminal justice system that treats you better if you are rich and guilty than if you are poor and innocent.
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The Last Girl--My Story of Captivity, and My Fight Against the Islamic State by Nadia Murad is a true story! Nadia was born and raised in Kucho, a small village in Iraq. Life was okay and she enjoyed her large family. She had plans for her future, but that all changed when Isis moved in and took over. Her life became a nightmare!
Teaser from page 60: I couldn't see them as people. Like the guns they carried and the tanks they drove, the men themselves were just weapons to me, and they were aimed at my village.
This is not an easy book to read. Nadia went through unspeakable horror! This book opened my eyes to what these people had to deal with. I give her so much credit for telling her story!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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The Call by Peadar O'Guilin takes place in Ireland. The Sidhe have been banished and put in a land of their own and have the power to take young teens to their land. If you get the "call," good luck on getting away!
This book is an out-and-out horror story. If this was a movie, I am not sure I would want to see it. But I was fine reading it. Nessa is a really good main character. The last part of the book was a real page turner! If there is a book 2, sign me up! If you enjoyed the Hunger Games, then you will probably enjoy this one.
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)
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