Put this Jar of Hearts in your beach bag with the sunscreen, or slip it into your carry-on; this tightly-plotted, yet multifaceted, book of character-driven, psychological suspense is a recommended, buzz-worthy addition to your summer - or anytime - TBR! Perfect for a long flight or train ride, once started, you will not want to stop reading! In the midst of all of the red herrings, the twisty, page-turning goodness, as well as a blossoming, romantic attraction between characters, Jar of Hearts addresses how sex can be weaponized for self-validation, manipulation, and dominance, and explores what exactly constitutes a "healthy" sexual, and loving relationship.
Read moreMINM Review: Dying Truth by Angela Marsons
Building to a breath-holding, heart-pounding, race-against-time climax, Dying Truth is installment eight of the Detective Inspector Kim Stone crime thriller series, written by Angela Marsons. Dying Truth opens with an action-packed prologue that foreshadows its denouement. The remainder of the novel counts down toward its life-or-death-hanging-in-the-balance-finish!
Read moreMINM Review: Don't Believe It by Charlie Donlea
Just in time for those “lazy, hazy days” ahead comes new-to-Mystery-in-Minutes author Charlie Donlea’s Don’t Believe It, a crime novel set partly on a Caribbean island, making it a terrific choice for pool-side, beach-side, summer reading! Fans of bestselling author Lisa Gardner are sure to enjoy Charlie Donlea's thought-provoking and entertaining latest offering!
Read moreMINM Review: Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall
Haunting and thought-provoking, with an underlying sense of inescapable menace, Our Kind of Cruelty by Araminta Hall is a psychological drama that keeps the reader enthralled and turning the pages right up until its unsettling finish.
Our Kind of Cruelty is, at its heart, the tale of one character's obsessive fixation with another.
Or is it?
Read moreMINM Review: Resurrection Bay by Emma Viskic
Confident and razor-sharp in its authenticity, Resurrection Bay is an extremely impressive debut that has won numerous awards. Talented Australian author Emma Viskic has crafted a pacy procedural that demands for readers to take notice. What sets this contemporary private eye novel uniquely apart is the portrayal of its central character, who, at around the age of five, and while only in primary school, lost his hearing after a bout of meningitis. Caleb Zelic, the chief investigator of the book, is deaf. Imagine, if you will, only being able to guess if someone is coming up behind you in the dark by sensing a change in the air, or by feeling vibrations in the floor. Imagine not knowing whether or not your adrenaline-fueled breathing is loud enough to reveal your hiding place. These are just two of the scenarios that create pulse-pounding tension within the novel.
Read moreMINM Review: Tangerine by Christine Mangan
An assured, stunner of a debut, Tangerine by Christine Mangan is an eloquent, slow-burning, historical novel of nuanced, psychological suspense. Tangerine is set predominantly in Tangier, during the lead up to Morocco's 1956 independence from France. With its Patricia Highsmith vibe, and its "Casablanca-esque" cover, this literary drama of intrigue is evocative of the medinas, the souks, the casbahs, the fragrant spice markets, and the heat of 1950s North Africa.
Read moreMINM Review: The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
Well-written, intricately plotted, and thoroughly absorbing, The Broken Girls by Canadian author Simone St. James provides readers with "the best of both worlds": a gothic, historical ghost story set at a "haunted" boarding school for girls in Vermont, and a contemporary mystery featuring a journalist with a connection to that same school, who begins her own investigation into the long-abandoned school's change of ownership and proposed renovation, only to discover more than she bargained for about Idlewild Hall's shadowy past.
Read moreMINM Review: THE SANDMAN by Lars Kepler
A breath-holding, heart-stopping thriller, The Sandman is the fourth in the internationally acclaimed Joona Linna series, written by new-to-Mystery in Minutes husband and wife duo "Lars Kepler". With a mysterious and complex plot, iconic and compelling characters, and content that should appeal equally to men and to women, this highly immersive novel can be read as a standalone.
Read moreMINM Review: The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
Is The Woman in the Window a highly entertaining and atmospheric psychological suspense debut? Absolutely! But it can also be thought-provoking. Kudos to A. J. Finn for "opening a window" on mental health, the importance of support and treatment, and the possibility, often, of healing.
Read moreMINM Review: The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurdardottir
Voted Best Crime Novel of the Year by the Icelandic Crime Authors' Association, The Legacy is the first installment in the Children's House series, written by "Iceland's Queen of Crime", Yrsa Sigurdardottir. The Legacy is an intelligent, slow-burning, character-focused police procedural that methodically reveals layer upon layer of ingenious plotting involving cryptic, coded messages, dark family secrets, and some of the most creatively horrific methods of dispatching victims this reviewer has ever read.
Read moreMINM Review: LOOK FOR ME by Lisa Gardner
Bestselling author Lisa Gardner has written an engaging police procedural with a plot, characters, and a finale almost operatic in their poignancy. Look For Me resonates within the current cultural shift toward empowerment of survivors, and the reckoning of those that abuse their positions of power.
Read moreMINM Review: Into the Black Nowhere by Meg Gardiner
Building to a gripping, race-against-time crescendo, Into the Black Nowhere is an immersive, meaty thriller for readers to sink their entertainment teeth into.
Read moreMINM Review: The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
Twisty and expertly plotted, The Chalk Man is a terrific, character-driven, psychological suspense debut recommended to be at the top of your 2018 reading list.
Read moreMINM Review: Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz
A tour de force valentine to books and reading, in general, and to the British whodunit murder mysteries of the golden age, in particular. Magpie Murders wins the award for the most highly developed plot read by Mystery in Minutes in 2017, and it would make a wonderful choice for the bookish traditionalist on your holiday season gift list.
Read moreMINM Review: The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen
One of the most accomplished crime fiction debuts read by Mystery in Minutes in 2017, with a plot that draws the reader in, and refuses to let go until the riveting resolution and beyond, The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen is.......
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