This was a thriller that lived up to its hype! Did Lucy murder her best friend? Everyone in town thinks so, but no one has ever been able to prove it. And honestly, Lucy doesn’t know…

Years earlier Lucy is found wandering the streets covered in her best friend’s blood – with no memory of what happened. To escape all the talk and suspicion of her local town, she moves to Los Angeles and starts a new life. But when the popular true crime podcast “Listen for the Lie” decides to investigate, Lucy returns to her hometown hoping to find out what really happened that night. 

This mystery had plenty of twists and lots of wit! It was well written and kept me fully engaged from beginning to end. If you like your thrillers with a side of humor and romance and a heavy helping of smarts, pick this one up!

An unexpected death, a family fortune, and three estranged siblings. Add in one father, three divorces, and four love stories. Yes, it gets complicated. As love does.

This is, at its heart, a love story. A man’s love for a woman, a father’s love for his children, a child’s love for their parents. It’s a slow burn mystery that is much more about the “why” than the “what” or “how.” Laura Dave walks us through many complex emotions as she slowly unravels the mystery of this dual timeline story, weaving a deeper narrative of love, acceptance, purpose, and what it means to love and be loved simply for who we are.

I enjoyed this book very much, even though I struggled with one big “Why?” that I can’t spoil for you here. 😉 If you appreciated Laura Dave’s previous novel The Last Thing He Told Me and other domestic “thrillers” that are more about the family story than the mystery, this one may be right up your alley!

Synopsis: Nora Noone is the eldest child of resort titan Liam Noone, but she’s never been interested in the family business – or its financial benefits. Though she loves her father, she doesn’t understand him. After his sudden death, Nora and her estranged half-brother Sam suspect it wasn’t just an accident, and struggle to find out what really happened the night their father fell from his beloved cliff-top coastal property.

When a book starts like this, you know you’re in for a thrill of a read:  “The drought started in the West. We watched on the news as the waters dropped in the reservoirs and lakes, and their secrets and ghosts slowly emerged.”

Growing up in Mirror Lake nestled in the mountains of North Carolina, Hazel Sharp is the daughter of the town’s most respected detective and the town’s most hated swindler — which is why she left many years ago.

But on the day of her father’s memorial service — 62 days into a devastating drought — she’s back with her brothers, both now on the police force, as a car is pulled from the dwindling waters of Mirror Lake. The old car is not the day’s only surprise: Hazel has inherited the family home, much to everyone’s surprise and to her brothers’ outrage.

As secret after secret is discovered in the family home and under the receding waters of the lake, doubt is cast on everything — and everyone — Hazel has ever known. Why did her mother disappear without a trace all those years ago? Was she a criminal, or was she a victim? The answer to this question — and the more dangerous one: Who’s victim was she? — will either devastate or, quite literally, kill Hazel.

This novel is not only a family mystery, but a family drama, and the structure of the novel reflects that. The book is broken into four parts — Father, Mother, Sons, Daughter — each delving into the characters’ past and current lives. Every family member has endured their own personal traumas, and the scars are still raw.

If you are a fan of suspense and family drama, Daughter of Mine needs to be in your book bag!

Halfway through this one, suddenly my head was spinning – Wait, WHAT just happened??!

Olivia is a missing twenty-two year old young woman. Julia is the detective leading the investigation. But Julia has a secret, and someone knows it. If Julia finds Olivia, Julia loses everything. If Julia refuses to frame an innocent person, she loses everything. If Julia makes even the slightest move to do the right thing, she loses everything.

I became an anything Gillian McAllister writes reader the moment I finished her first novel Wrong Place, Wrong Time.  She is a master of the ethical dilemma, and if you’re game to struggle along with basically good characters as they grapple with these difficult choices, give her books a try!

Isabelle Drake hasn’t slept in a year. Not since the night her son was taken from his crib in the middle of the night…

All the leads have gone cold and everyone except Isabelle has given up hope. That’s why she agrees to cooperate when a true-crime podcaster wants to investigate, despite her misgivings. Her insomnia combined with his constant questions about her past have her questioning everything and everyone about that fateful night – including herself. 

Fact: I cannot imagine waking to find my toddler missing without a trace. I admired Isabelle’s resolve to continue searching, despite the pushback she received from law enforcement and even her husband. If you want a mystery that keeps your attention and hurts your heart at times, pick this one up.

Who’s the liar? Who’s the victim? Better questions: Who’s NOT the liar? Who’s NOT the victim?

Evie Porter has the perfect life:


• The loving, gorgeous boyfriend.
• The nice house in the old-money neighborhood.
• The new friends who came with the wealthy new boyfriend.

What Evie Porter doesn’t have is a history — because Evie Porter doesn’t exist. 

I raced through this book from page one! I thought I’d guessed the “identity” (IYKYK) halfway through, but I was wrong! Giving it a 5 for grabbing me and not letting me go, but dropping it overall to a 4 because, though the ending was satisfying, it’s not the one I wanted. 🤫

Put this on your thriller list!

If your bookish love language is a twisty thriller that will keep you turning the pages (or listening, as I did!) late into the night, this 2024 mystery by Rachel Hawkins needs to be on your reading list! 

This one makes you wonder how much darkness there is inside any of us…if we are good (or bad!) by nature or nurture…and just how easily we can justify our actions when we’re pushed to our breaking point.

The most infamous mansion in North Carolina, a widowed heiress with four husbands dead under suspicious circumstances, a kidnapping, and a fortune anyone in the family may be willing to kill for — these twisted elements are merely setting the scene for a family drama with surprises to the very end.

The narrative unfolds through three voices: 

• Ruby tells her story in mysterious letters written to an unknown “Darling.” 
• Camden, her adopted son, has chosen to sever all ties to his family and his fortune. But he can’t escape the demons that still haunt him, no matter how far he runs.
• Jules met Cam by chance and is now his wife. Despite barely scraping by, they are each other’s soulmates, true loves, and confidants. Aren’t they?

Secrets that have been buried for generations start finding their way to light, and they can be deadly when the largest fortune in the state is the all-or-nothing prize.

From Kansas to Pennsylvania to Tuscany to England to Paris to Washington DC, get ready to run for your life!

You’ve got a crime boss, a rookie Sheriff’s deputy, a missing girl, two unidentified dead bodies, and twisted threads connecting them all. 

This is a crime thriller, yes. But it also had me thinking a lot about the responsibility we bear for choices we make when we’re young. There are always consequences, some short-lived, some that last a lifetime and can never be made right — no matter how much guilt we hold onto.

High school seniors Ali and Ryan are parked in the woods near the lake five years ago. But then Ali screams, Ryan is hit in the head, and Ali disappears. Five years later, Ali and her car are still missing, Ryan is in law school in Georgetown, and rumors still circulate that he killed her. Then her car is found, with two dead men and a note in Ali’s handwriting: “If something happens to me…”

Ryan risks everything to discover the truth about that night. He takes us with him, and we see the rolling hills, glittering streets, and yes, the violent acts. (We’ve got crime bosses, remember? It gets ugly.)

Plenty of triggers in this one, friends: bullying, missing teenagers, violence, murder, suicide. But there’s also hope, so if you don’t mind the crime, it’s a great story!