Dog Rose Dirt
6.0
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When prodigal daughter Heather Evans returns to her family home after her mother's baffling suicide,...
Exquisite Corpse
9.5
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To serial slayer Andrew Compton, murder is an art, the most intimate art. After feigning his own...
LGBT Splatterpunk
Slip Out the Back Jack (Jack Ryder Book 2)
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They take turns with the knife, cutting their thumbs open. A drop of blood lands on the dark wooden...
horror suspense mystery contemporary fiction series
The Invisible Heiress
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A psychiatric patient with a dark secret Preston Blair, a blogger with a dark sense of humor, is...
crime fiction contemporary suspense thriller adult
Busted Lip: Anthology
Cory Cline, Michael Noe, A.R. Vidal, A.T. King, Xtina Marie , Essel Pratt , Kasey Hill and Peyton Pratt
10.0
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In the land of nightmares and gore lives a troop of authors that were sent to haunt your happy...
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2534 KP) rated Murder Off the Books in Books
Sep 15, 2023 (Updated Sep 15, 2023)
Those who have read the first two books in the series will know what to expect here. We get a plot with some wackiness that fits this story and these characters perfectly. I did find some of the humor fell flat for me (might just be me), but I still laughed plenty. Yet the story comes together for a logical climax. The characters are all strong and entertaining as well. I did find a handful of political comments, which were superfluous to the story, threw me out of the story. The author does a good job of skirting spoilers for the previous books, which fans will know is a pretty big task. If you want a mystery filled with humor, you’ll be glad you picked this one up.
The Family on Smith Street
7.0
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A happy family. A picture-perfect street. A secret someone would kill for. My husband James and I...
The Quiet Tenant
6.0
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Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate town...
Initially I thought this would be a thriller, and whilst it has elements of that, its so much more. Butter looks at how women are regarded in society - how “thin is King (or Queen?)”, particularly in Japan. Kajii sets Rika tasks, one being to learn to cook and actually enjoy her food (that’s two tasks) - less of the “food is fuel” school of thought.
Rika learns that she’s lonely, her life is centred around her work. She wants independence, but she also wants connection. As Rita gains weight she feels happier in herself, but she’s judged by those around her of being slovenly. I mean, the work she puts in to learning to cook and actually cooking would say otherwise, but then that’s society for you.
I will say not to read this whilst you’re hungry. The descriptions of the food, it’s smell, texture, flavours - I’m getting hungry just thinking about it!
I’m glad I read this. It was a really interesting insight into Japanese culture, more so than ‘just’ a thriller. There were more food descriptions than murders, that’s for certain!!
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Beautiful Dead in Books
Feb 8, 2018
I have to say, my last book of 2016 surprised me. This novel was certainly creepy, but also had a certain nuance and depth to it that I wasn't expecting. Eve is a complicated and likeable character, and the book doesn't just cover murder and gore, it goes into her personal life, and the struggles she has caring for her father and his failing memory. The bits with her father are often both sad and humorous; they are very real and give the book a true humanity. Indeed, there's a real depth to Eve, who is stuck in a man's world and the pressures and unfairness that brings to to her career-wise (there's always a younger, prettier reporter waiting in the wings, as her boss never hesitates to remind her), as well as the burdens a woman feels as a caretaker. After all, it's not her brother taking care of her dad. Further, the book looks at an interesting psychological conundrum: how our society seems to need murder and the way it feeds on the social media aspect of it, as of late. Without society's interest in murder and death, Eve has no job.
Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It lost me slightly for a bit near the end, but managed to get back on track, and even threw in a very interesting twist I didn't see coming. Although I admit, I kept wondering where the police's behavioral scientist was. Why was the poor Lead Detective reading and deciphering everything from a serial killer alone? However, I digress. This was a well-done thriller with a different and engaging plot. I really found myself drawn to Eve, and her father, Duncan. It was an enjoyable novel with which to end the year.
I received a copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!); it's available in the U.S. as of 01/03/2017.