Mini Review Monday #140

I’m sharing another instalment of my Mini Review Mondays, the most recent of which was last week. In case you haven’t seen any of my previous posts, I do ‘mini’ reviews of books that I’ve previously read and am now ready to share my full thoughts about.

All of today’s reads have murder on their minds, as they all sit within the thriller genre. I’ve been really enjoying picking up thrillers recently across adult and YA!

First up, I’d like to talk about The Dream Home by T. M. Logan. Thank you Eleanor Stammeijer at Bonnier Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Adam and Jess move into a new house with their three young children: a rambling Victorian villa right at the very top of their price range. Before long Adam discovers a door hidden behind a fitted wardrobe, concealing a secret room.

Inside Adam discovers an array of forgotten items, among them a wallet, an antique watch and an old mobile phone. Jess thinks they should simply throw them away. But Adam resists. He is fascinated by these items and how they came to be inside the hidden room.

But like the house, Adam has his secrets too. And soon he will find himself setting in motion a series of events that will place his family in terrible danger.

Publication Date: 29th February

TW: murder, death, fire, stalking, kidnapping, blackmail

Goodreads | Waterstones

My Thoughts:

The Dream Home is a riveting read – a perfect thriller for these dark and cold nights. You may even start to question the secrets hidden within your walls.

Logan hits the nail on the head for the realm of perfectly believable, slowly escalating tension that grows into these increasingly bizarre and dangerous events. The plot builds in a creeping fashion, but without sacrificing momentum and pace. You can feel the walls closing in on you as the anonymous threats get ever more alarming. Adam’s obsession sucks you right in and makes you share this curious but slightly paranoia headspace, wanting to uncover every mystery hidden within the house. From the get go, Logan had me hooked – I mean a secret room is always a winner for me. This builds into an explosive mystery, while also firmly keeping its focus on themes of family, grief and those questions you cannot quite keep out of your head. I liked how character focused the book was, particularly on Adam and Jess’s relationship and the impact of this chaos on the children. There is a particular scene early on regarding a child’s nightmare that got under my skin.

The twists are also excellent and totally unexpected, pulling the rug out from me each time. Logan has weaved together a subtly menacing plot and in hindsight the signs are glaringly obvious. That final sequence is quite a feat. There will be no spoilers here, but my heart was in my mouth throughout those final few chapters. Overall the book goes from Gothic intrigue to some more modern forms of crime typically seen in the media.

The Dream Home might have been my first read from T. M. Logan, but it certainly won’t be my last. This was a cracking read, with perfect pacing and suspense throughout.

Next up, I’d like to delve into Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera . Thank you to Bantam Books for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

You probably already know about me. Lucy Chase, the woman who doesn’t remember murdering her best friend.

You all think I did it. That’s OK, I get it. Being found wandering the streets covered in her blood wasn’t a great look.

Believe me, I’m as frustrated as you are. I’d love to know if I’m a murderer – it’s the sort of thing you really should know about yourself, isn’t it?

And now, thanks to true-crime podcast Listen for the Lie, I finally have the chance to find out. But will I be able to live with myself if it turns out it was me?

And if it wasn’t, will digging into the secrets of the night I forgot make me the next target of whoever did?

Publication Date: 14th March

TW: murder, death, toxic family relationships, cheating, alcoholism, abusive relationship, sexual assault, rape, physical abuse, gaslighting

Goodreads | Waterstones

My Thoughts:

Amy Tintera has created something special here. Listen for the Lie was a riveting, brilliantly written and compulsively readable thriller with a central character you will not forget any time soon.

I love a different way of telling a thriller narrative, particularly with the use of multi media. This book made full use of the podcast element, fleshing out the story and side characters, as well as introducing new perspectives and twists we had not yet considered. It played on the form ingeniously, existing as a form of media within the book and adding this textural layer that was so meta and fun to read.

Also, it allowed space from Lucy’s headspace, which was often muddied and complicated. She was a prickly, hurt and vulnerable protagonist. We slowly get to see behind her walls and snark to see the deeply caring person beneath. However, as the tagline goes, you go into the book knowing your trust is precariously walking a tightrope. Tintera leans into this, giving us a fully realised and three-dimensional, complex and extremely messy main character. Her inner voice is one that is very good at reading people to the point of pushing their buttons just to let loose. In short, I loved her.

At the same time, we delve deep into the ethics of true crime and the way people involved in cases become these sensationalised characters for consumers to obsess over. Lucy is a complicated figure – made more so from the ceaseless theories surrounding her. However, Tintera also shows that this comes from her own community and even her family, totally isolating her. It creates this vast and deeply tragic rift and without spoilers, there were moments where my heart ached for her. You always have to question though – what narrative is she presenting at any one time?

Listen for the Lie was a thriller that, like any good podcast, had me utterly hooked and needing to race through to uncover every last secret.

Finally, I’d like to talk about The Summer She Went Missing by Chelsea Ichaso. Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire for sending me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Paige Redmond has always felt lucky to spend her summers in Clearwater Ridge, with lazy days sunning at the waterfalls and nights partying at the sprawling houses of the rich families who vacation there. The Covingtons are one of these families, and beautiful, brilliant Audrey Covington is Paige’s best friend. And last year, when Audrey’s crush-worthy brother Dylan finally started noticing Paige, she was sure it would be the best summer ever.
Except Audrey didn’t seem quite like herself. Then one night, she didn’t come home. Though Audrey wasn’t the first girl to disappear in Clearwater Ridge, she left behind more lies than clues. Now, one summer later, her case has gone cold, and nobody, least of all Paige, can make sense of what happened.
When Paige stumbles across a secret hidden in Audrey’s room, however, it changes everything she thought she knew about last summer. She and Dylan set out on their own investigation, discovering things even the police don’t know about the people of Clearwater Ridge. But tracking down missing girls—girls who might be beyond saving by now—means entering a world far darker than Paige has ever imagined. And if she isn’t careful, she’ll become the next girl to vanish.

Publication Date: 5th April

TW: death, murder, kidnapping, imprisonment, drugging, assault, injury, violence

Goodreads | Waterstones

My Thoughts:

Chelsea Ichaso is a YA thriller author whose books are always ones I’ll pick up. They are well plotted and filled to the brim with secrets, lies and danger. The Summer She Went Missing continues to hit those points with a dark and twisted story that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

This was that sort of book that keeps you guessing, particularly when it is focused on manipulations and lies. The use of two timelines also helps exacerbate this, as reveals happen in either time that have far reaching consequences for the other. There’s also a central tension about what really happened last summer: a runaway case or something far worse?

You can feel that sinister presence throughout, but Ichaso has plenty of surprises in store for the final act. The twists in this are great and yet again, it is a solid and highly entertaining YA read. I enjoyed Paige as a protagonist with her conflicted feelings and torn loyalties. There is a sense of needing to absolve in her hunt for the truth. I also liked how the romantic aspect complicated the plot further, adding another layer to this tangled web. However, it never stayed as the primary focus. It was a fun addition to the focus on friendship as a pivotal relationship. In particular, it focuses on messy female friendships and how this sometimes spiralled into something more toxic and co-dependent. These summers are a gateway to another world for Paige. Ichaso also included a throughline about financial privilege and how class played a huge factor into which people were deemed as worthy victims of the limited investigations you saw play out. This social commentary was well thought out and again, added a new dimension to the book.

The Summer She Went Missing was another excellent read that fully immersed me and left me desperate to untangle the knot of events at its core.