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Can you keep a secret
Can you keep a secret
Karen Perry | 2021 | Mystery
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
196 of 250
Book
Can you Keep a Secret
By Karen Perry

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

 
Surviving the weekend depends on whether you can keep a secret . . . Lindsey hasn't spoken to Rachel in twenty years, not since her brother's eighteenth birthday party at their parents' remote country house. A night that shattered so many friendships - and left Rachel's father dead. Now Thornbury Hall is up for sale, and the old gang are back there, together again. A weekend to say goodbye to the old place, to talk about the past. But twenty years of secrets aren't given up lightly. Some won't speak about what happened that night. While others want to ensure that no one ever does.


I’m not one to write bad reviews I just try to put my honest opinion but would encourage anyone else to at least try the book!
For me this was just a no go I was so bored by the time I got to part two even with an event at the end of part one! I can’t put my finger on what was missing but I just didn’t find it entertaining at all.
  
Death by Haunted House
Death by Haunted House
Lee Hollis | 2022 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A Haunted Flashback
This novella flashes back ten years to 2009 and a time when series protagonist Hayley Powell was still married. A new family has moved to town and moved in next door to Hayley and her young family into a long-abandoned house that is rumored to be haunted. When they move in, they are unfriendly and obviously keeping secrets, and Hayley’s husband, Danny, is certain that they are hiding something. When a dead body turns up in the woods behind their neighborhood, Danny is certain they are involved. Is he right?

I found the story here very entertaining, although I did guess a couple plot points early. Still, the solution to the mystery was a surprise, and I had to laugh at some of the events along the way. On the other hand, I found Danny extremely selfish and annoying, and Hayley does something extremely stupid, with is ironic since she complains about Danny’s behavior at times.

NOTE: This story is a novella, roughly 100 pages, and was originally part of the novella collection Haunted House Murder. If you have that book, there is no need to buy this ebook. If you haven’t read the story, now is the time to sit back and enjoy this Halloween trip to Maine.
  
40x40

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2464 KP) rated The Paris Mistress in Books

May 16, 2024 (Updated May 16, 2024)  
The Paris Mistress
The Paris Mistress
Mally Becker | 2024 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Who is Bribing Dr. Franklin?
It’s been 10 months since Daniel Alloway went to Paris for his new employer, and Rebecca Parcell is thrilled to finally be joining him, with plans to wed while they are there. Daniel has been staying with Benjamin Franklin, and, not too long after Rebecca arrives, Dr. Franklin receives a note bribing him to end the Revolutionary War in England’s favor. When Daniel and Rebecca start to investigate, a dead body soon turns up. Can they figure out what is going on?

While I love the time period, I usually prefer to focus on what was happening in the colonies at the time. I am glad this book was set in France, however, since it allowed me to see how our war as impacting them. I really appreciated that insight. The plot is good. I was beginning to suspect where things were going, but there were so many secrets that I really wasn’t sure. Daniel and Rebecca are still a great team, and I enjoyed seeing them in action again. The characters, whether real or fictional, were just as good. If you enjoy this period of history, you need to read these books.
  
    Into the Dead 2

    Into the Dead 2

    Games

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    Journey through the zombie apocalypse in a race to save your family. Arm yourself with an arsenal of...

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Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone, #10)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
She ruined their lives. Now they’re going to destroy hers.
‘Someone is recreating every traumatic point in your life. They are doing this to make you suffer, to make you hurt and the only possible end game can be death. Your death.’
On the fourth floor of Chaucer House, two teenagers are found chained to a radiator. The boy is dead but the girl is alive. For Detective Kim Stone every detail of the scene mirrors her own terrifying experience with her brother Mikey, when they lived in the same tower block thirty years ago.
When the bodies of a middle-aged couple are discovered in a burnt-out car, Kim can’t ignore the chilling similarity to the death of Erica and Keith – the only loving parents Kim had ever known.
Faced with a killer who is recreating traumatic events from her past, Kim must face the brutal truth that someone wants to hurt her in the worst way possible. Desperate to stay on the case, she is forced to work with profiler Alison Lowe who has been called in to observe and monitor Kim’s behavior.
Kim has spent years catching dangerous criminals and protecting the innocent. But with a killer firmly fixed on destroying Kim, can she solve this complex case and save her own life or will she become the final victim?

Dead Memories is the tenth book in the DI Kim Stone series, wow what a story!
This is another very cleverly written and fast-paced plot. Wonderful well developed characters and a wide range of suspects to choose from.
Lots of action and tons of suspense from start to finish. Riddled with twists and this story is not predictable at all.
Absolutely the best in series so far in my opinion. Thoroughly enjoyed and I highly recommend reading!!

Thanks so much to Netgalley, Bookouture, and Angela Marsons for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest opinion.
  
Buffy the Vampire Slayer  - Season 2
Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Season 2
1997 | Horror
Der Kinder Stood (5 more)
Whistler
Angelus
Lie to Me
SPIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Judge
Ted (2 more)
Innca Mummy Girl
Go Fish
The competely love an episode or hate an episode season
This series has some of my favorite episodes and some of my least.
 It also introduced us to Spike so forever grateful to that.
It has my favorite one time character in the Whistler. When Glenn Quinn left i so wanted Whistler to replace Doyle in Angel.
Season 2 has my favorite one of There are some amazing moments in this series and some fantastic quotes.

“Passion. It lies in all of us. Sleeping... waiting... and though unwanted, unbidden, it will stir... open its jaws and howl. It speaks to us... guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. The joy of love... the clarity of hatred... the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd be truly dead.”



"Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So, what are we, helpless? Puppets? Nah. The big moments are gonna come, you can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are."
  
Jigsaw (2017)
Jigsaw (2017)
2017 | Crime, Horror
275. Jigsaw. Yea, I'm just about a full year late on this one. I wanted to see it, just got put on the back burner and forgotten, sorry Tobin. So somewhere along the way I was lead to believe this was a prequel. Well, it wasn't. Not sure why they changed the name to Jigsaw and not just Saw VIII. Several of the chapters took place after the death of John Kramer. Is it because the previous one was "The Final Chapter"... Friday the 13th did two final chapters, lol. So really there wasn't anything new to this one. I mean the trailers give away the most of the movie, so... We are lead to believe Jigsaw has a new game going, even though he's been a corpse for a decade, cops are baffled, bodies are piling up, who the hell could it be??? And if you are a fan of the series, c'mon you got this, the last one ended with Jigsaw having a cult like following, the audience knows he is very much indeed dead, and its been a common theme, that John is really just a guy there to help you... Help him, help you!!! And he once in awhile takes someone under his wing... duh... Amanda, Hoffman, and of course Dr. Gordon (I was kinda dissappointed he didnt pop up in there) But all in all... Jigsaw was a pretty cool blood fest, and sequel... you may disagree... but this is mainly for me... Filmbufftim on FB
  
Mother! (2017)
Mother! (2017)
2017 | Drama, Horror, Mystery
Pretentious. Is a word that sends shivers down my spine much more than any pseudo horror movie. It conveys the idea that the creator of a work is out of control, resorting to shock value over intelligent content. If the creator meant it all, then it is not pretentious, only dangerous.

Aronofsky is a difficult beast, because you can’t escape the fact he might deserve to be called pretentious. Such a fierce and singular film-maker, whose hit rate for getting it right is about 1/2. Yet, you can’t deny he has a go! His films are visceral nightmares, even when he pares it down to an earthly tale like The Wrestler. He wants you to feel before thinking. Black Swan pissed people off for this reason too; lucky for him, on that occasion, it mostly worked.

At the artist’s behest, mother! is to be spelled with a small case m, and an exclamation mark. I mean, that is an indicator of this man’s intent. It annoys me, let’s make no bones about it. It also excites me, because he has to live up to it! Opening every critical door available, because if you set yourself up to make that kind of statement, then the work better back it up.

The metaphor is thinly veiled; fooling some at the start that we might be watching a latter day Rosemary’s Baby, or, at the least, an invasion film with clever horror undertones. The mood is marvelously tense in the first hour, as we observe two massively capable actors doing their jobs effortlessly. So watchable are Lawrence and Bardem, that you begin to create your own movie in your mind around what is actually happening. Your own imagination is the star of the first half of this strange film.

It almost isn’t a spoiler anymore, so I will say, that Bardem is God and Lawrence is Gaia, mother earth. Take that onboard from the start and the whole may be more “enjoyble”. Although, Aronofsky doesn’t want you to enjoy it, he wants you to react… remember that! Because in the last hour he will force you to do so, and you probably won’t want to.

As with Requiem For a Dream, you may find yourself applauding the technical skill over the storytelling. With this film as evidence, I am now convinced that his trick is to throw the kitchen sink at you in the hope you will join the dots and find something worth talking about, without him having to bother. If I provide enough spectacle, he muses, they might label me a genius someday. Well, they might. But I won’t.

Yes, it almost makes sense if you crowbar it to, but, come on, it isn’t enough! At least David Lynch makes the weirdness so abstract to defy meaning. Aronofsky is creating dreamscapes that pretend to have relevance and wind up hollow, for the simple fact that we are not fools.

Does the last act violence offend me then? No, not at all. It simply isn’t a powerful enough film to do that. Despite some fine scenes in isolation, the whole of mother! is dead in the water as the work of art it wants to be. My lasting thought of it all is… why is Michelle Pfeiffer not doing more? She is an indestructible gem…
  
Behind Closed Doors
Behind Closed Doors
B.A. Paris | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
9
8.0 (18 Ratings)
Book Rating
158 of 250
Kindle
Behind Closed Doors
By B A Paris

Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments

Everyone knows a couple like Jack and Grace. He has looks and wealth, she has charm and elegance. You might not want to like them, but you do.

You’d like to get to know Grace better.

But it’s difficult, because you realise Jack and Grace are never apart.

Some might call this true love. Others might ask why Grace never answers the phone. Or how she can never meet for coffee, even though she doesn’t work. How she can cook such elaborate meals but remain so slim. And why there are bars on one of the bedroom windows.

Sometimes, the perfect marriage is the perfect lie.


Absolutely chilling! The whole book I just couldn’t put it down! It’s 1:37am and I just had to finish it! This is not a book if normally pick up but so glad I did! I had this knot in my stomach that hurt so much till o knew he was dead!! And what a fitting death. Highly recommend!