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soobooksalot's reviews
971 reviews
Incidents Around the House by Josh Malerman
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Other Mommy - she's not like regular Mommy. She might be in your closet. Or your bathroom. Or as someone you know.
Eight-year-old Bela is the narrator of Incidents Around The House, which gives this creepy tale even more of an unreliable edge.
Bela is haunted by Other Mommy, but eventually others in her house - Mommy and Daddo - can see the being as well. Is Other part of the house, or even more far-reaching?
Josh Malerman's latest is an unconventional take on the haunted house trope, and while I found it a bit uneven at times, I overall rather enjoyed.
Recommended!
Eight-year-old Bela is the narrator of Incidents Around The House, which gives this creepy tale even more of an unreliable edge.
Bela is haunted by Other Mommy, but eventually others in her house - Mommy and Daddo - can see the being as well. Is Other part of the house, or even more far-reaching?
Josh Malerman's latest is an unconventional take on the haunted house trope, and while I found it a bit uneven at times, I overall rather enjoyed.
Recommended!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Drug use, Infidelity, and Alcohol
Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Alcohol
The Chamber by Will Dean
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The Chamber is quite literally an immersive thriller. As locked-room as it gets.
Will Dean's newest centers around six saturation divers, who are locked together in their tiny hyperbaric chamber for weeks at a time while working on oil and gas lines at the bottom of the ocean.
Dive control personnel at the surface are in charge of their survival, everything from water, food, clothing, medical attention, and Heliox to breathe.
Even in an emergency, decompression takes no less than four days before they could emerge.
And that scenario happens when one of their own suddenly dies. Then another.
The Chamber is truly a page-turner, and quite a fascinating one when the job and living conditions of the divers are laid out as the setting.
Tension and disorientation are to the maximum once the deaths start and the reveals begin.
Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for my eARC for review. Recommended!
Released on Aug. 6
Will Dean's newest centers around six saturation divers, who are locked together in their tiny hyperbaric chamber for weeks at a time while working on oil and gas lines at the bottom of the ocean.
Dive control personnel at the surface are in charge of their survival, everything from water, food, clothing, medical attention, and Heliox to breathe.
Even in an emergency, decompression takes no less than four days before they could emerge.
And that scenario happens when one of their own suddenly dies. Then another.
The Chamber is truly a page-turner, and quite a fascinating one when the job and living conditions of the divers are laid out as the setting.
Tension and disorientation are to the maximum once the deaths start and the reveals begin.
Thank you to @atriabooks and @netgalley for my eARC for review. Recommended!
Released on Aug. 6
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, Car accident, and Murder
Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Death, Grief, and Car accident
I Was a Teenage Slasher by Stephen Graham Jones
challenging
dark
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
What Have You Done? is one of those thrillers you want to dig into with every spare moment.
This one is up there with the first two books of Shari Lapena's I'd read and made me a fan - A Stranger In The House and The Couple Next Door.
Thank you to @penguinrandomca and @netgalley for my eARC for review!
Popular high schooler Diana Brewer is found dead in a farmer's field. Her small town is rocked by the news, and soon the secrets of those around her come to the surface. Many local men become suspects, and their disturbing stories are released in measure.
I waffled back and forth as to I thought whodunnit, and twists certainly complicated that.
This is a satisfying and quick-read thriller with a touch of the supernatural - recommended!
Released on July 30.
This one is up there with the first two books of Shari Lapena's I'd read and made me a fan - A Stranger In The House and The Couple Next Door.
Thank you to @penguinrandomca and @netgalley for my eARC for review!
Popular high schooler Diana Brewer is found dead in a farmer's field. Her small town is rocked by the news, and soon the secrets of those around her come to the surface. Many local men become suspects, and their disturbing stories are released in measure.
I waffled back and forth as to I thought whodunnit, and twists certainly complicated that.
This is a satisfying and quick-read thriller with a touch of the supernatural - recommended!
Released on July 30.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Murder
Moderate: Death
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The God Of The Woods doesn't read like a nearly-500 page book. It doesn't read like chapters featuring multiple POVs, entangled family trees, and timelines.
It flows, expertly. And it's so hard not to keep the pages flipping when life gets in the way of reading!
The wealthy Van Laar family founded Camp Emerson in the 1950s, the camp being the setting of much of the book.
The beloved Van Laar son, Bear, went missing in 1961.
Fourteen years later, their daughter Barbara also disappeared.
While it is these mysteries forming the basis of the plot, don't go into this one expecting a thriller. I would call it a literary mystery, and Liz Moore's newest has easily joined my list of top reads of the year.
Definitely recommended!
It flows, expertly. And it's so hard not to keep the pages flipping when life gets in the way of reading!
The wealthy Van Laar family founded Camp Emerson in the 1950s, the camp being the setting of much of the book.
The beloved Van Laar son, Bear, went missing in 1961.
Fourteen years later, their daughter Barbara also disappeared.
While it is these mysteries forming the basis of the plot, don't go into this one expecting a thriller. I would call it a literary mystery, and Liz Moore's newest has easily joined my list of top reads of the year.
Definitely recommended!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body shaming, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Grief, and Alcohol
Rules for Second Chances by Maggie North
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Yes, and...
Rules For Second Chances has unique elements in the classic "second chance romance" trope.
Thank you to SMP Romance for my gifted copy (and gift items!) for review.
Tobin and Liz need to work on their marriage. She feels she doesn't have a voice, both personally and professionally at West By North wilderness tourism. Liz wants to feel like she has magic, that certain way with people that Tobin seems to have, effortlessly.
Enter an improv comedy class, and The Second Chances Handbook (both courtesy of friend McHuge). Liz and Tobin have no problem with their physical relationship, but improv skills open up a whole new world of communication for them.
Physician-turned-author Maggie North blends humour, heart, self-discovery, and neurodiversity rep for this distinctive romance story. (Not to mention a cat named Kris Kristofferson!)
I quite enjoyed it and recommend!
Rules For Second Chances has unique elements in the classic "second chance romance" trope.
Thank you to SMP Romance for my gifted copy (and gift items!) for review.
Tobin and Liz need to work on their marriage. She feels she doesn't have a voice, both personally and professionally at West By North wilderness tourism. Liz wants to feel like she has magic, that certain way with people that Tobin seems to have, effortlessly.
Enter an improv comedy class, and The Second Chances Handbook (both courtesy of friend McHuge). Liz and Tobin have no problem with their physical relationship, but improv skills open up a whole new world of communication for them.
Physician-turned-author Maggie North blends humour, heart, self-discovery, and neurodiversity rep for this distinctive romance story. (Not to mention a cat named Kris Kristofferson!)
I quite enjoyed it and recommend!
Years in the Making by Megan McSpadden
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death, Mental illness, Grief, and Death of parent
The Unraveling by Vi Keeland
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Drug abuse, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, and Alcohol