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Midge (525 KP) rated Death Comes to Call (A Tara Thorpe Mystery Book 3) in Books
Mar 2, 2019
A Fantastic Mystery/Thriller!
I'm a great fan of mysteries and thrillers so, when I saw “Death Comes To Call” featuring DC Tara Thorpe being launched, I knew I had to read it. This is actually the third book in the Tara Thorpe Mystery Series. Although I haven’t come across the other two novels in the series - “Murder on the Marshes” (Book 0ne) and “Death on the River” (Book Two) - I thought “Death Comes To Call” worked fine as a stand alone as there was enough back-story provided to understand some of the dynamics between the different characters. Reading this novel, however, and Clare Chase’s excellent writing, have inspired me to go and get myself copies of the first two books!
In the opening chapter, we are introduced to DC Tara Thorpe who is Cambridge Police’s youngest detective and isn't afraid to step on toes to get results.
When a promising local artist disappears, the victim’s brother begs Tara to take the case. It seems there’s no evidence of foul play… he simply disappeared without a trace.
Tara agrees to investigate however her unconventional approach to policing has upset some of her colleagues, including her former boss DC Patrick Wilkins, currently suspended, but who is prepared to do anything to bring her down. Luckily, she’s on good terms with DI Garstin Blake…
I loved that in “Death Comes To Call,” the sub-plots that explore the detectives’ personal lives run parallel with the murder investigation. Clare Chase writes with flair and an easy style. I thought the characterisation was very well done and I liked the gripping plot, as well as the wonderful depictions of the setting.
All in all, this was a story that held my attention well and I loved that things came together for a great finish and wrapped everything up very neatly.
[My thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for providing me with a free advanced copy of this novel.]
In the opening chapter, we are introduced to DC Tara Thorpe who is Cambridge Police’s youngest detective and isn't afraid to step on toes to get results.
When a promising local artist disappears, the victim’s brother begs Tara to take the case. It seems there’s no evidence of foul play… he simply disappeared without a trace.
Tara agrees to investigate however her unconventional approach to policing has upset some of her colleagues, including her former boss DC Patrick Wilkins, currently suspended, but who is prepared to do anything to bring her down. Luckily, she’s on good terms with DI Garstin Blake…
I loved that in “Death Comes To Call,” the sub-plots that explore the detectives’ personal lives run parallel with the murder investigation. Clare Chase writes with flair and an easy style. I thought the characterisation was very well done and I liked the gripping plot, as well as the wonderful depictions of the setting.
All in all, this was a story that held my attention well and I loved that things came together for a great finish and wrapped everything up very neatly.
[My thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for providing me with a free advanced copy of this novel.]
The World's Favourite: And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
8.0
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A boxed set of the three books that have been confirmed in a popular vote as the World's Favourite...
The Devil Aspect
8.5
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A terrifying novel set in Czechoslovakia in 1935, in which a brilliant young psychiatrist takes his...
gothic historical fiction thriller suspense murder
The Poe Shadow
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“I present to you . . . the truth about this man’s death and my life.” Baltimore, 1849. The...
Meddling Kids: A Novel
8.1
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With raucous humor and brilliantly orchestrated mayhem, Meddling Kids subverts teen detective...
Fiction Horror Humor Dark Fiction Mystery Paranormal
Interesting and engaging mystery
It's a bright May day when Cedar Valley Detective Gemma Monroe is called to Lost Lake. Sari Chesney, who was camping with her boyfriend, his brother, and her best friend, has gone missing. Sari hated the water, and the group is convinced she would never go missing on her own so near the lake. Sari was scheduled to work at a big gala at Cedar Valley's museum later that evening--a huge event she had been working on for months. Her friends insist she would never miss it. It's still chilly in Colorado in May, the lake still tinged in ice. Gemma begins the search for Sari, not realizing how quickly one woman's disappearance will lead to so much more.
"Later, much later, I would regret every decision I made that morning."
This is the third book in Emily Littlejohn's Gemma Monroe series, and I really enjoy both Gemma's character and the series. The books stand alone, but it's an enjoyable series, and I do recommend reading them from the beginning. At this point, Gemma has a six-month-old daughter, Grace, with her fiance, Brody, and one of my favorite things about the books is how realistically Littlejohn paints Gemma's struggles as a working mom. She loves her career and yet finds it difficult to leave Grace and juggle working and caring for her daughter.
Gemma is a great character overall, and I always enjoy reading a strong mystery that features a female detective. We find Gemma not only dealing with Sari's disappearance, but several more things that happen in the aftermath, which lead to her becoming quite busy, and allow us a solid set of cases to follow. This one kept me guessing the whole way, with a few good twists thrown in too. There's occasionally a bit of telling versus showing, but overall Littlejohn is a strong writer, and you can't help but root for Gemma.
In this one, I especially felt like Gemma was growing as a person, as we find her struggling in her partnership with Finn (her fellow detective) and second guessing some of the decisions she makes in Sari's case. It's nice to see a story where everything isn't easy, cut and dried, and our heroine seems so human and regular. One of the things I like so much about Gemma is that she seems like someone you could befriend (if maybe she let her walls down once in a while). It leads to an insightful and thoughtful book coupled with a good mystery (or two) as well.
Overall, I enjoyed this one. I feel like I can always count on Littlejohn for some excellent characterization with Gemma, and I found the plot to be interesting. It kept me engaged and guessing.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review (thank you!)
"Later, much later, I would regret every decision I made that morning."
This is the third book in Emily Littlejohn's Gemma Monroe series, and I really enjoy both Gemma's character and the series. The books stand alone, but it's an enjoyable series, and I do recommend reading them from the beginning. At this point, Gemma has a six-month-old daughter, Grace, with her fiance, Brody, and one of my favorite things about the books is how realistically Littlejohn paints Gemma's struggles as a working mom. She loves her career and yet finds it difficult to leave Grace and juggle working and caring for her daughter.
Gemma is a great character overall, and I always enjoy reading a strong mystery that features a female detective. We find Gemma not only dealing with Sari's disappearance, but several more things that happen in the aftermath, which lead to her becoming quite busy, and allow us a solid set of cases to follow. This one kept me guessing the whole way, with a few good twists thrown in too. There's occasionally a bit of telling versus showing, but overall Littlejohn is a strong writer, and you can't help but root for Gemma.
In this one, I especially felt like Gemma was growing as a person, as we find her struggling in her partnership with Finn (her fellow detective) and second guessing some of the decisions she makes in Sari's case. It's nice to see a story where everything isn't easy, cut and dried, and our heroine seems so human and regular. One of the things I like so much about Gemma is that she seems like someone you could befriend (if maybe she let her walls down once in a while). It leads to an insightful and thoughtful book coupled with a good mystery (or two) as well.
Overall, I enjoyed this one. I feel like I can always count on Littlejohn for some excellent characterization with Gemma, and I found the plot to be interesting. It kept me engaged and guessing.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review (thank you!)
Hadley (567 KP) rated The Other Mrs. in Books
Apr 4, 2020
Mental illness done correctly (1 more)
Addictive
Mental illness.
I've read a lot of horror books that cover this subject, watched horror movies covering this subject, listened to music covering this subject, but none of them have covered mental illness as well and correctly as Mary Kubica's "The Other Mrs.."
So, with that said, if you have any type of PTSD, this book may be hard for you to read. Otherwise, this novel is very addicting, filled with so many twists and turns that you won't be able to set it down for long. For me, someone who deals with C-PTSD, 'The Other Mrs.' by Mary Kubica has been a heartache to read, but also very fulfilling to finish.
Kubica is known for her best-selling novel 'the Good Girl' - - - a thriller following a mother and a detective in search of the the former's missing daughter that leads them down a twisted tale of family secrets. From highly acclaimed critics, 'the Other Mrs.' has out-done 'the Good Girl' as Kubica's best novel so far. Kubica sticks with her psychological thriller writing that she is known for in this newest novel. She keeps the reader guessing at what will happen next, and she plays out mental illnesses in a way that most who suffer can relate while winding in a mystery well enough that the reader won't be able to guess everything before the ending.
I can't give such a heavy review on this book because, to do so, would give away a lot of the ending, so I'll stick to talking about noteworthy characters that make up the novel. The main character is a woman named Sadie, whose family is being uprooted from Chicago and moved to a small island in Maine after her husband's sister dies, which leaves them with not only a house in the will, but a sixteen-year-old niece named Imogen.
Sadie is already a mother of two sons, both younger than sixteen, when she suddenly finds herself in-charge of the stereo-typical edgy teenager, Imogen. Sadie describes her the first time she sees Imogen: " But there she stands, a morose figure dressed in black. Black jeans, a black shirt, bare feet. Her hair is black, long with bangs that slant sideways across her face. Her eyes are outlined in a thick slash of black eyeliner. Everything black, aside from the white lettering on her shirt, which reads, I want to die. The septum of her nose is pierced. Her skin, in contrast to everything else, is white, pallid, ghostlike. She's thin. "
Early one morning when Sadie is heading off to work, she finds a word spelled on her car window. The word reads: "Die." Sadie, as most readers, quickly assumes that Imogen is responsibly for this, as she tries to explain: "I've tried to be understanding because of how awful the situation must be for her. Her life has been upended. She lost her mother and now must share her home with people she doesn't know. But that doesn't justify threatening me. Because Imogen doesn't mince words. She means just what she said. She wants me to die."
The next character that makes up a big part of this story is a confident, self-centered woman, whose name is Camille,and is also the 'other woman' in this story. Camille is a woman who gets what and who she wants, and won't let anyone get in her way, including Sadie, whose husband is someone Camille wants. I can't go much into the things that Camille's character does because it would give away a lot of the surprises in this novel - - - I can say though that there is murder and mystery throughout; the book will leave most readers guessing until the very end.
One other character who deserves mentioning is a little girl- - - with the nickname 'Mouse' - - - who finds herself suddenly dealing with a horrific stepmother, who abuses her physically and mentally unbeknownst to Mouse's father. One time, in which Mouse shows how smart she is to her the stepmother while being in front of her father (who Mouse likes to call 'Fake Mom'), later that night, when Mouse's father isn't looking, Fake Mom lets Mouse know how she felt about that:
" But later that night, when he father wasn't looking, Fake Mom got down into Mouse's face and told her if she ever made her look stupid again in front of her father, there would be hell to pay. Fake Mom's face got all red. She bared her teeth like a dog does when it's mad. A vein stuck out of her forehead. It throbbed. Fake Mom spit when she spoke, like she was so mad she couldn't stop herself from spitting. Like she was spitting mad. She spit on Mouse's face but Mouse didn't dare raise a hand to wipe it away."
Mental and physical abuse make up all that The Other Mrs. is about. So far, this is the best story I have read in a long time. My only problem with it is it's written like a YA novel, where it seems Kubica tried to keep that from happening by throwing in some heavy syllable words to make it more fitting for adults. But, luckily, she left out most of the wishy-washy elements that make up YA novels, so I believe most adults will enjoy this. I highly recommend this book to people who love murder mysteries!
I've read a lot of horror books that cover this subject, watched horror movies covering this subject, listened to music covering this subject, but none of them have covered mental illness as well and correctly as Mary Kubica's "The Other Mrs.."
So, with that said, if you have any type of PTSD, this book may be hard for you to read. Otherwise, this novel is very addicting, filled with so many twists and turns that you won't be able to set it down for long. For me, someone who deals with C-PTSD, 'The Other Mrs.' by Mary Kubica has been a heartache to read, but also very fulfilling to finish.
Kubica is known for her best-selling novel 'the Good Girl' - - - a thriller following a mother and a detective in search of the the former's missing daughter that leads them down a twisted tale of family secrets. From highly acclaimed critics, 'the Other Mrs.' has out-done 'the Good Girl' as Kubica's best novel so far. Kubica sticks with her psychological thriller writing that she is known for in this newest novel. She keeps the reader guessing at what will happen next, and she plays out mental illnesses in a way that most who suffer can relate while winding in a mystery well enough that the reader won't be able to guess everything before the ending.
I can't give such a heavy review on this book because, to do so, would give away a lot of the ending, so I'll stick to talking about noteworthy characters that make up the novel. The main character is a woman named Sadie, whose family is being uprooted from Chicago and moved to a small island in Maine after her husband's sister dies, which leaves them with not only a house in the will, but a sixteen-year-old niece named Imogen.
Sadie is already a mother of two sons, both younger than sixteen, when she suddenly finds herself in-charge of the stereo-typical edgy teenager, Imogen. Sadie describes her the first time she sees Imogen: " But there she stands, a morose figure dressed in black. Black jeans, a black shirt, bare feet. Her hair is black, long with bangs that slant sideways across her face. Her eyes are outlined in a thick slash of black eyeliner. Everything black, aside from the white lettering on her shirt, which reads, I want to die. The septum of her nose is pierced. Her skin, in contrast to everything else, is white, pallid, ghostlike. She's thin. "
Early one morning when Sadie is heading off to work, she finds a word spelled on her car window. The word reads: "Die." Sadie, as most readers, quickly assumes that Imogen is responsibly for this, as she tries to explain: "I've tried to be understanding because of how awful the situation must be for her. Her life has been upended. She lost her mother and now must share her home with people she doesn't know. But that doesn't justify threatening me. Because Imogen doesn't mince words. She means just what she said. She wants me to die."
The next character that makes up a big part of this story is a confident, self-centered woman, whose name is Camille,and is also the 'other woman' in this story. Camille is a woman who gets what and who she wants, and won't let anyone get in her way, including Sadie, whose husband is someone Camille wants. I can't go much into the things that Camille's character does because it would give away a lot of the surprises in this novel - - - I can say though that there is murder and mystery throughout; the book will leave most readers guessing until the very end.
One other character who deserves mentioning is a little girl- - - with the nickname 'Mouse' - - - who finds herself suddenly dealing with a horrific stepmother, who abuses her physically and mentally unbeknownst to Mouse's father. One time, in which Mouse shows how smart she is to her the stepmother while being in front of her father (who Mouse likes to call 'Fake Mom'), later that night, when Mouse's father isn't looking, Fake Mom lets Mouse know how she felt about that:
" But later that night, when he father wasn't looking, Fake Mom got down into Mouse's face and told her if she ever made her look stupid again in front of her father, there would be hell to pay. Fake Mom's face got all red. She bared her teeth like a dog does when it's mad. A vein stuck out of her forehead. It throbbed. Fake Mom spit when she spoke, like she was so mad she couldn't stop herself from spitting. Like she was spitting mad. She spit on Mouse's face but Mouse didn't dare raise a hand to wipe it away."
Mental and physical abuse make up all that The Other Mrs. is about. So far, this is the best story I have read in a long time. My only problem with it is it's written like a YA novel, where it seems Kubica tried to keep that from happening by throwing in some heavy syllable words to make it more fitting for adults. But, luckily, she left out most of the wishy-washy elements that make up YA novels, so I believe most adults will enjoy this. I highly recommend this book to people who love murder mysteries!
TC
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