I wasn’t sure what to think of Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker when it first arrived on my doorstep – was this a thriller, or a work of literary fiction? The cover was difficult to decipher, until I saw that Ashley Audrain had blurbed it. Ah yes, a thriller then. For those who follow along with…
It’s time for my spooky season of reading to begin, and what better way to kick it off with a review of a book that excels in creating a creepy atmosphere? The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel lays the groundwork for uneasiness; it features bizarre behaviour, bad omens, unhealthy obsessions, and of course, crows. You…
I don’t follow American politics too closely; it’s depressing (especially now), and it feels helpless knowing I’m up in Canada and can only watch in horror. Maybe because I’m disengaged from the nitty gritty of it, I found myself picking up the political thriller The Last Election by Andrew Yang and Stephen Marche which I…
We’re just about into summer vacation here in my house and I was looking for something lighter (but with murder), so I picked up The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding. Thriller readers in Canada will recognize Harding’s name as she has written seven other books, most of them in this genre, and they often hit…
This book was originally sent to me by the publisher, Simon and Schuster Canada, for review early last year. I set it on my shelf and promptly forgot about it, as there is no shortage of domestic thrillers to choose from right now. But a few months ago, I was chatting with another woman who…
For someone who enjoys reading thrillers as much as I do, some may be surprised to hear this is my first Lisa Jewell book. She’s a mega author in the UK having written 21 books and selling over 10 million copies worldwide, so I thought this would be the perfect book to bring on a…
For those intimately familiar with Canadian Publishing and its history, the name Anna Porter will likely ring a bell. She started a publishing house that was quite successful for awhile, Key Porter Books, which was then bought out by another publishing house, eventually ceasing operations in 2011. Porter has also written quite a few books…
A trigger warning before I launch into this review; for those who have struggled with getting pregnant, give this novel a pass. Magpie by Elizabeth Day is a domestic thriller with a shocking plot twist, but it also offers an incredibly detailed and realistic accounting of infertility, and its affects on a relationship, and the…
There’s been lots of hype around this latest book by Liz Nugent. I read her first novel a few years ago and found it sufficiently creepy, so I was happy to give Strange Sally Diamond a try when it was sent my way. A few books into their career I find many thriller writers really…
When a colleague of mine mentioned that she had raced through Ashley Audrain’s latest book The Whispers, I asked if I could borrow it to read myself. I rarely read books that aren’t my own, simply because I have a shelf bursting with books I already committed to reviewing from my publishing partners, but I…
Toeing the line between horror, action thriller, and dystopian drama, The Drift by C.J. Tudor is a book with a very specific audience in mind. Although it contains elements of many different genres, it mostly includes a significant amount of death and violence. Some readers won’t mind this, but it will certainly prompt others to…
Her 8th and latest book, Zero Days by Ruth Ware is a slight departure from what she’s known for; thrillers, mysteries, gothic suspense are more typical of her backlist. Instead, this new release is more akin to an action movie, following a very similar plot to the Harrison Ford film The Fugitive. I’ll admit to…
