Audiobook Review: The Broken Ones by Sarah A. Denzil

Pub. Date:	Oct 11, 2016
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Narrator:	Alison Larkin
Length:	6 hrs 56 min
Source:	Publisher

This is such a hard review to write because I don't want to give anything away! So... bear with me if this seems a little vague, but I really do think it would be preferable for you to find out everything for yourself.

Sophie is a primary school teacher living with her mother in Yorkshire.  All-in-all, she has a pretty sad life. Sophie is in her 30s. childless but wanting a child, no dating life to speak of, and very few friends. Don't get me wrong - I am not knocking childless single heroines in their 30s (I am one myself!), but I would hope they are single and childless by choice, evincing a girl-power-type independence and rocking their single life. Sophie is none of those things. She is a victim that is co-dependent on an abusive and caustic mother. Sophie is so beat down that she seems to have given up on living her own life. While normally this would irk me, I actually found her to be a sympathetic heroine. Sophie's mother was truly awful... suffering from early-onset Alzheimer's has not improved her life-long bitterness and scathing treatment of other people. I can't imagine growing up with such a vile person and then voluntarily remaining in the toxic relationship as an adult. But Sophie really was a good daughter despite her mother's behavior. While she seems to have given up on obtaining her mother's approval for anything, she has continued to care for her after the onset of Alzheimer's and despite the repeated abuse.

ARC Review: Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Pub. Date:	Aug. 9, 2016
Publisher:	St. Martin's Press
Length:	351 pages
Source:	Publisher

This is a fabulously freaky debut psychological thriller from B.A. Paris. It has the feel of one of my favorite series, Consequences by Aleatha Romig. However, Behind Closed Doors does not have any romance to offset the total mindfeck that this relationship causes. I started reading this at 10pm and I couldn't put it down until I finished just after 2am. I think it has put me off marriage. Single life was looking much better after reading this terrifying tale.

Review: The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

The Passenger 
by Lisa Lutz
Pub. Date:  March 1, 2016
Publisher:  Simon & Schuster
Pages:  320
Format:  eARC
Source:  NetGalley


My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Spellman Files series, Lisa Lutz’s latest blistering thriller is about a woman who creates and sheds new identities as she crisscrosses the country to escape her past: you’ll want to buckle up for the ride!

In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it...

Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time.

She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born.

It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?

With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless.

Oh man this is a hard book to review. So let me start out by saying - I liked it! It was definitely outside my normal romance-genre reads. Sometimes I step outside my fantasy world looking for a palette cleanser, and its always nice to find one like The Passenger. Lisa Lutz is new-to-me as an author, but I hope she keeps writing books in this genre because I will be a fan. I may even give her Spellman series a shot if I get in the mystery mood.

Review: Shrink Rapt by Freda Hansburg

Shrink Rapt

By Freda Hansburg

Genre: Psychological Thriller
Purchase:  Amazon

My Rating:  
Sultry Scale:

Psychologist April Simon finds her career and life on the line after the murder of her arrogant department chairman.  When four of her patients, all subjects in the late psychiatrist’s research, begin to violently unravel, April tries to solve the riddle of their transformation.  Her quest alarms the killer.  Will she be next?  The more she learns about her colleagues, the less she trusts them.  Who do you turn to when no one is what they seem?

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and I was pleasantly surprised by it! I picked it up to read as I was in the middle of a reading slump. I have read around 10 books this week, and I felt pretty ambivalent about all of them. So I was looking for something to break me out of the doldrums. And, believe me, I was skeptical when I picked this one up. It's not the typical book that I review - I usually stay within the romance genre.

So color me surprised that this was an engaging read that I finished in one sitting, and kept me up until 1am. This book reminded me of False Memory by Dean Koontz... it might be because that was the only other "psychology-based" psychological thriller that I have read - but I enjoyed them both very much.

In this story, the murder victim is a psychiatrist connected to a university and resident program. He has been engaging in some very dicey behavior with regard to patients in a clinical drug trial. He is not a likeable man, and you don't really feel bad for his death. Everyone in the department seems to have skeletons in their closet, so you have lots of suspects. I figured out the culprit about half way through, but that did not take away from the story in the least. April Simons was a likeable lead character, especially when interacting with the broody Detective Sam Perone. 

The patients in the clinical trial were a good secondary story. I hated that part of their issues involved hurting animals... I sometimes like animals more than people. Luckily none of that was very graphic.

All-in-all, I found this story a realistic (if depressing) portrayal of academia.  Given that Hansburg is a psychologist herself, this does not surprise me. Full of competition, juicy secrets, and back stabbing. Throw in murder, a pregnant mistress, a bitchy aging wife addicted to botox, a "real woman" lead character, sexy Italian detective... and you have a juicy made-for-tv mystery that you won't want to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this read and am glad that I volunteered for the review opportunity.

Author Bio

Freda Hansburg is a psychologist who lives with her husband in New Jersey.  She is the co-author of the self-help books PeopleSmart and Working PeopleSmart.  Shrink Rapt is her first novel.

  

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