Dead in the Water

Fiction by John Marrs

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

When Damon almost drowns in the English Channel, his life flashes before his eyes. He sees his parents, his wife, and other scenes he remembers. But he also sees one scene he does not remember: a young redheaded boy, dying in the street. Damon becomes obsessed with this vision. Is it a real memory? If so, why can't he consciously remember it? He feels that he MUST know the truth.

This was an exciting and twisted story with several unpleasant characters and quite a few surprises. 

I also read recently by this author: The Stranger in Her House

Serial Killer Support Group

 Fiction by Saratoga Schaefer

https://www.audible.com

Cyra Griffin is searching for her sister Mira's killer, and she somehow manages to infiltrate a so-called Serial Killer Support Group, seven men who connected on the Dark Web and meet in secret. Cyra has to pretend to be one of them in order to find out which man murdered her sister.

Okay, so this book requires some serious suspension of disbelief. I really don't buy the idea that serial killers would meet regularly like this to discuss their activities, but for the sake of the story I was willing to let that go. Mostly.

If you can swallow the premise, this is a pretty good story with a surprise ending.

Hunted

 Fiction by Darcy Coates

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

A young college student named Eileen planned a short day hike in Ashlough Forest, but she never came home. Only her camera is found, days later and washed downriver. The local police conclude that she must have become lost and either drowned or died of exposure. Now her brother Chris and his friends have gone looking for her, refusing to accept that she is dead. But there is danger lurking in the forest. Will they come out alive?

This was an exciting story but very dark.

Too Old For This

 Fiction by Samantha Downing

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Lottie Moore is an elderly woman who just wants to take it easy and be left alone in her old age. Unfortunately, when you have a criminal past, it can be difficult to truly relax. Complications can keep arising...

This book was surprisingly great fun! (Which you wouldn't expect, given that the protagonist is an old lady who happens to be a serial killer.)

I also read by this author: My Lovely Wife

The Kept Woman

 Fiction by Karin Slaughter

https://www.amazon.com

This is number EIGHT in the Will Trent series, which merged up with Grant County series back in book four (I think) and just kept going. GBI Agent Will is still dating medical examiner Sara Linton (protagonist of the previous series) at the beginning of this story, but trouble is coming...

Will not-quite-ex-wife Angie is coming back to stir things up, and there's been a body found in an abandoned building in downtown Atlanta. Plus, Will has failed to make a rape charge stick to a famous athlete; his months of hard work failed to overcome the mountain of money thrown at the case by the athlete's management. Could all of these things end up being connected?

This was an exciting mystery with several surprises.

I also read recently by this author: Criminal

The Program

 Fiction by Gregg Hurwitz

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This is apparently #2 in the Tim Rackley series, which I wasn't aware of when I picked it up. I didn't need to have read The Kill Clause (the first book) to understand this one; however I do think reading this one might have ruined the prospect of reading the first one by giving everything away...

In this story ex-state trooper Tim Rackley is tasked with trying to rescue a girl called Leah from a cult. It's kind of upsetting to read; I don't like to think that a cult could really suck normal people in like that.

This was an exciting story but very dark.

I also read by this author: The Survivor

Kill For Me, Kill For You

 Fiction by Steve Cavanagh

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this story, Amanda has only one goal: to kill Wallace Crone, the man who got away with murdering her daughter. But she gets caught stalking him and is slapped with a restraining order and court-ordered counseling. 

Then in a support group she meets another bereaved mother named Wendy, a woman who is equally obsessed with the man responsible for her daughter's death. Amanda gets an idea that she and Wendy can help each other. Like the Hitchcock movie Strangers on a Train, they decide to swap murders. But can they really go through with it?

This was a very exciting thriller with several surprises!

I also read recently by this author: The Plea

The Reaping

 Fiction by Jess Louery

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This the second book by this author featuring cold case detective Evangeline "Van" Reed and investigator Harry Steinbeck and it is as creepily exciting as the first. (see below for #1)

This case takes the duo to a small insular town in rural Minnesota called Alku, where everybody is related to everybody else and the main industry is a secure mental hospital for the criminally insane. Like I said, creepy....

This was an exciting story with some surprises and good characters. The conclusion did stretch plausibility a bit, but not too much. 

I also read by this author: The Taken Ones

Fifty Grand

 Fiction by Adrian McKitry

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This a revenge story, and those kinds of novels can be quite dark. In this book a female detective from Cuba risks everything to try to hunt down and punish her father's killer.

The characters were well-drawn and believable and the story was interesting, but it was just SO dark. And it didn't seem like anyone was satisfied at the end.

I also read recently by this author: The Chain

The Chain

 Fiction by Adrian McKinty

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Thirteen-year-old Kylie is waiting for the school bus when she's abducted at gunpoint. Her mother Rachel receives a ransom call, but the kidnappers don't just want money for Kylie's return. They also want Rachel to join The Chain and kidnap another person's child...

This was a super exciting thriller with several surprises!

I also read by this author: The Island

The Reformatory

 Fiction by Tananarive Due

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

It's 1950 in Gracetown, Florida, and 12-year-old Robbie is living with his older sister Gloria in the old shack on their family's land. There had been a house there, but the Klan burned it down after their daddy, Robert Stevens Senior, was discovered trying to unionize the Negros at the mill. The audacity he showed really riled the white folks in town, and a bogus criminal charge was quickly found to issue a warrant for the arrest of Robert Stevens, causing him to flee the area and leave his children behind. 

Then Robbie kicks a white boy who tries to put an arm around Gloria, and all heck breaks loose. The local authorities see this incident as a perfect pretext to catch Robert Senior, arresting Robbie for assault and sentencing him to six months at the Boy's Reformatory outside of town, a true horror of a place. (The ghosts that haunt it are probably the most benign problem. It's BAD.) There the story really begins.

This was an amazing novel with great characters and an affecting storyline. Real and imagined events mix together to give the reader an exciting ride through the past, and also inspires a lot of thought for the present.

The Family Experiment

 Fiction by John Marrs

https://www.audible.com

In a futuristic Britain, the divide between rich and poor becomes ever-wider, and government control over individuals grows stronger and stronger, as the line between private corporations and public entities blurs. In this installment of the story, couples who can't have biological children compete on reality TV for the opportunity to have AI kids.

Wait, what? Just accept the premise. It's the dystopian future!

This book is listed as #3 in the "Dark Future Series," which includes The One, The Marriage Act, The Passengers, and The Minders. I have read all of these and I think they have the order wrong; this one is more like number four or five. But that's not important, I guess.

The important thing is that this book was really good, especially in audiobook form with the different narrators.

Look Closer

 Fiction by David Ellis

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

At the beginning of this book, Lauren Betancourt is murdered in her expensive Grace Park, Illinois, home. It's Halloween night, and to all appearances, she was killed by the man she was having a secret affair with. But is that really what happened?

This was an exciting thriller with several surprises. Most of the characters were truly awful people...

Alice Isn't Dead

 Fiction by Joseph

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Keisha's wife Alice disappeared, and eventually was presumed dead by everyone except Keisha, who refused to believe it. Then Keisha set out to find Alice and prove that she was still alive.

This is an interesting premise, and I liked the beginning of the book. Then it got weirder and darker and I didn't like it anymore.  Then it got even weirder and darker; I gave up about halfway...

Criminal

 Fiction by Karin Slaughter

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

In this story, number six --#5 was Fallen-- in the Will Trent series, Will and Sara have finally gotten together but face trouble from Will's past. The reader learns a lot more about Will's origins than has ever been reveled before.

Also there's a serial killer to stop, of course...

I also read by this author: Fallen

The Green Mile

 Fiction by Stephen King

https://www.audible.com

This book may be considered a classic. It was originally published in the nineties as a serial novel in a set of installments. I had heard of it but hadn't read it before.

The story is of a prison guard remembering his time working on death row. As is usual with Mr. King, the characters are top-notch and something creepy happens.

I also read recently by this author: Duma Key

When She was Me

 Fiction by Marlee Bush

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

Identical twins Cassie and Lenora live in the woods, far from civilization, and try to forget their traumatic past. But then Sarah buys the campground cabin they rent, and she, along with some weekend visitors somehow bring back bad memories, for both Cassie the protector, and Lenora the damaged girl.

When tragedy strikes, is it one of the twins who is responsible? And what really happened in their troubled past?

I didn't really like this book; it was hard to care about the characters. And when the "surprise" ending finally came, it seemed too far-fetched. I did finish it, though...

Duma Key

 Fiction by Stephen King

https://www.audible.com

Edgar Freemantle loses his right arm in a freak accident that also leaves him with a major head injury. On top of that, his wife of over 25 years decides to divorce him. Edgar wants to end it all, but settles for a change of location, renting a beach house on isolated Duma Key, a Florida island.

Once Edgar is on the island, however, strange things begin to happen, Did Edgar choose to go to Duma, or did Duma choose him?

This was an interesting and kind of frightening story. I loved the characters.

I also read recently by this author: End of Watch

The Surgeon

 Fiction by Tess Gerristen

https://www.barnesandnoble.com

This book is listed a the first in the Rizzoli and Isles series, and I suppose it is; however, it actually just features detective Jane Rizzoli before she teams up with the other woman. 

This story is about a serial killer called "The Surgeon" who kills women and then removes their wombs. Ewww....

It's a pretty good mystery, but there's a bit more ick (and also more boring parts) than I like. I've read a few by this author and some I like better than others.

I also read by this author: Playing with Fire

End of Watch

 Fiction by Stephen King

https://www.audible.com

This is the third book in the Bill Hodges series. (I read the first two a while ago.) 

I just found out this one existed, and I was pleased to fill in what happened between the book Finder's Keepers and the beginning of the Holly Gibney series in the book The Outsider.

It was an exciting thriller with great characters.

I also read recently by this author: If It Bleeds