A breakthrough novel that pits young kingpins against a Mexican drug cartel, Savages is a provocative, sexy, and sharply funny thrill ride through the dark side of the war on drugs and beyond. Part-time environmentalist and philanthropist Ben and his ex-mercenary buddy Chon run a Laguna Beach-based marijuana operation, reaping significant profits from their loyal clientele. In the past when their turf was challenged, Chon took care of eliminating the threat. But now they may have come up against something that they can’t handle–the Mexican Baja Cartel wants in, and sends them the message that a “no” is unacceptable. When they refuse to back down, the cartel escalates its threat, kidnapping Ophelia, the boys’ playmate and confidante. O’s abduction sets off a dizzying array of ingenious negotiations and gripping plot twists that will captivate readers eager to learn the costs of freedom and the price of one amazing high. Following “the best summertime crime novel ever” ( San Francisco Chronicle on The Dawn Patrol ), bestselling author Winslow offers up a smash hit in the making. Savages is an ingenious combination of adrenaline-fueled suspense and true-crime reportage by a master thriller writer at the very top of his game.
Main Characters
Ben (Ben Leonard): A brilliant botanist and philanthropist who develops a highly potent strain of marijuana. He is an idealist and part-time environmentalist who wants to use his wealth for good, often in third-world countries. He is the more pragmatic of the two male protagonists when dealing with the cartel’s demands.
Chon (John McAllister Jr.): Ben’s best friend and business partner, a former Navy SEAL who provides the “muscle” for their operation. He is pragmatic, tough, and has a “post-traumatic lack of stress disorder,” a hardened warrior with a soft spot for Ben and O.
Ophelia (“O” Sage): The beautiful and free-spirited woman whom both Ben and Chon love and share in an unconventional, intimate relationship. She is kidnapped by the Baja Cartel, which acts as the main catalyst for the plot.
Antagonists
Elena Sanchez Lauter (“La Reina”): The formidable and ruthless leader of the Baja Cartel, a powerful figure with a strategic mind who wants to take over Ben and Chon’s successful business.
Lado (Miguel Arroyo): A cold and brutal enforcer for the cartel who carries out Elena’s orders without question, including the abduction and torment of O.
Dennis Cain: A corrupt, double-dealing DEA agent who is involved with the cartel and tries to play all sides for his own profit.
I love Winslow’s writing style and unconventional flow. The chapters are sometimes two sentences. The tongue in cheek is amazing. I love the dry humor tucked in between the drug running and murders. It’s honestly brilliant, as are all of Winslow’s works that I’ve read. Lots of explicit sex and language. Don’t say no one warned you. This book is not for the faint of heart. Despite the roguish nature of the book, it has a light air and is a good palate-cleanser after a heavy read. I thoroughly enjoyed it, as I expected. It doesn’t really end happily ever after, but I think the characters were ultimately content.
J.G. Hetherton was raised in rural Wisconsin, graduated from Northwestern University, and lived in Chicago for the better part of a decade. Along the way to his first novel, he dabbled in many different day jobs before moving to North Carolina for a girl. They live in Durham, North Carolina with their twin daughters, and when he’s not writing, you can find him on the hiking trail or sitting down with a good book.
Perfect for fans of Jeffery Deaver and J.A. Jance, in this thrilling second book in the series, Laura Chambers finds herself caught in a deadly web of small town secrets.
Hillsborough, North Carolina is a town with a dark history that is bubbling to the surface. Twenty years ago, Laura’s friend’s family was slaughtered in their beds, and the sole survivor, Laura’s eight-year-old friend, was whisked away to distant relatives. That was the last time Laura ever saw her best friend.
Twenty years later, a woman runs onto the interstate, directly into the path of a truck, and the gruesome accident leaves behind a mangled corpse. Her very last phone call was to Laura, just before she was killed, but her face is disfigured beyond recognition. Identification seems impossible, and the victim was barefoot and in a state of undress. The only thing in her possession is an old photograph depicting Laura, Laura’s father—and standing next to them, her lost friend from childhood.
Laura’s father passed away when she was eight, and she thought she understood why he vanished from her life in the year before he died, but the photograph and the corpse begin to cast doubt on everything she thought she knew.
As the lines between fact and fiction blur, Laura digs into the history of the deceased, and her own family, determined to discover what lies beneath…
Laura is an interesting bird. She has been emotionally abused by her mother her entire life and lied to by both her parents, among others. Over all, I like her character. She’s flawed and I like that, but also stays in her own head a little too much. I found myself irritated with her more than once.
J. G. Hetherton was in raised in rural Wisconsin, graduated from Northwestern University, and lived in Chicago for the better part of a decade. Along the way to his first novel, he dabbled in many different day jobs before moving to North Carolina for a girl. They live in Durham, North Carolina, with their twin daughters, and when he’s not writing, you can find him on the hiking trail or sitting down with a good book.
A Sun-Sentinel Top Debut Mystery of 2018
This pulse-pounding series debut is the next obsession for fans of Julia Keller and David Bell, and readers of unflinching thrillers.
Sometimes, the journey home is the most harrowing. And it’s every parent’s worst nightmare.
Investigative journalist Laura Chambers is back in her tiny hometown of Hillsborough, North Carolina, the one place she swore never to return. Fired from the Boston Globe, her career in shambles, she reluctantly takes a job with the local paper. The work is simple, unimportant, and worst of all, boring—at least until a missing girl turns up dead, the body impeccably clean, dressed to be the picture of innocence.
Years earlier, ten-year-old Patty Finch left home and never made it back. But for the people of Hillsborough, Patty was just the beginning. Child after child disappeared, a reign of terror the town desperately wants to forget. Now that terror has returned to seize another girl. And another.
This is the story Laura’s been waiting for—her one last chance to get back onto the front page. She dives deeper into a case that runs colder by the second, only to discover the truth may be far closer to home than she could have ever imagined. Powerful, intricate, and tense, Last Girl Gone will have you looking over your shoulder long after the last page.
I love reading debut novels, and this one was really good. I liked the characters, and Laura’s turbulent relationship with her mother added to the mix nicely. I am looking forward to the next book from this author.
Born in the South, raised in the Midwest, Charly Cox now resides in the Southwest in the Land of Enchantment, Green Chile capital of the world, which is good because she enjoys eating copious amounts of the spicy food. When she’s not reading, writing, or plotting sinister evils with her antagonists, she enjoys doing jigsaw and crossword puzzles, hanging out with her husband and her spoiled Siberian Husky, visiting her son in Arizona, and traveling, preferably to places surrounded by sun, sand, and warm uncrowded beaches.
Detective Alyssa Wyatt is hunting a serial killer. She doesn’t know that he’s also hunting her.
A woman is found naked, badly beaten, and barely alive in the New Mexico mountains. The shocking discovery plunges Albuquerque Detective Alyssa Wyatt into a case that will test her to the limit. It appears that Callie McCormick is the latest plaything of a mysterious psychopath who leaves a long shadow on the streets of New Mexico—an individual linked to a string of deaths but leaving no evidence. But when Alyssa makes a breakthrough that just might reveal the killer, she unknowingly puts herself in the crosshairs of a brutal maniac—one with an old score to settle. Because the killer knows Alyssa very well, even if she doesn’t know him. And he’s determined that she’ll know his name—even if he has to extract his deadly revenge on her and everything she loves.
Fans of Kendra Elliot, Melinda Leigh, and Angela Marsons will be utterly engrossed.
Great reviews for the Detective Alyssa Wyatt Series! “Wow, did All His Pretty Girls pack a punch! I was shocked when I found out this was a debut…a heart-in-your-mouth read that will have you racing through those pages.” ―On The Shelf Reviews
“Oh boy, was I swiped off my feet as what was already a totally gripping read escalated into my top five for this year…It felt like my heart was beating in the back of my throat!” ―Books From Dusk Till Dawn
“A serial killer chiller where the action never flags, the suspense is red-hot and the twists and turns jaw-droppingly brilliant, fans of the genre need to add Charly Cox to their list of must-buys.” ―Bookish Jottings
“A compelling thriller that I could not put down! The killer was insane, the story was addictive and the writing was fantastic. This is everything I want when I pick up a police procedural!” —Jessica Belmont, writer/blogger
This is a debut novel. As far as those go, it is solid. I had this series by Charly Cox on my wish list for a long time and I decided to take the plunge before it wasn’t included in my audible membership anymore. It was okay. Probably three stars. Middle of the road characters and story line. I will read the rest of the Alyssa Wyatt series because I can’t not read it after I’ve already started it. Reasonably entertaining. No kids or puppies die, so I guess it was okay.
Detective Alyssa Wyatt – Protagonist, works with the Albuquerque Police Department
Brock Wyatt – Alyssa’s husband
Isaac Wyatt – Alyssa and Brock’s son
Holly Wyatt – Alyssa and Brock’s daughter
Mable Wyatt – Brock’s mother
Detective Cord Roberts – Alyssa’s partner
Sarah Roberts – Cord’s wife, nurse
Evan Bishop/ – Antagonist, the killer, whose perspective is also featured in the story, providing insight into his motivations and actions
Callie McCormick – one of Evan’s victims, found nearly dead after being missing
Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father’s family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen’s grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men’s magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale (“The Glass Floor”) to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men’s magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
In the spring of 1973, Doubleday & Co. accepted the novel Carrie for publication. On Mother’s Day of that year, Stephen learned from his new editor at Doubleday, Bill Thompson, that a major paperback sale would provide him with the means to leave teaching and write full-time.
At the end of the summer of 1973, the Kings moved their growing family to southern Maine because of Stephen’s mother’s failing health. Renting a summer home on Sebago Lake in North Windham for the winter, Stephen wrote his next-published novel, originally titled Second Coming and then Jerusalem’s Lot, before it became ‘Salem’s Lot, in a small room in the garage. During this period, Stephen’s mother died of cancer, at the age of 59.
Carrie was published in the spring of 1974. That same fall, the Kings left Maine for Boulder, Colorado. They lived there for a little less than a year, during which Stephen wrote The Shining, set in Colorado. Returning to Maine in the summer of 1975, the Kings purchased a home in the Lakes Region of western Maine. At that house, Stephen finished writing The Stand, much of which also is set in Boulder. The Dead Zone was also written in Bridgton.
In 1977, the Kings spent three months of a projected year-long stay in England, cut the sojourn short and returned home in mid-December, purchasing a new home in Center Lovell, Maine. After living there one summer, the Kings moved north to Orrington, near Bangor, so that Stephen could teach creative writing at the University of Maine at Orono. The Kings returned to Center Lovell in the spring of 1979. In 1980, the Kings purchased a second home in Bangor, retaining the Center Lovell house as a summer home.
Stephen and Tabitha now spend winters in Florida and the remainder of the year at their Bangor and Center Lovell homes.
The Kings have three children: Naomi Rachel, Joe Hill and Owen Phillip, and four grandchildren.
Stephen is of Scots-Irish ancestry, stands 6’4″ and weighs about 200 pounds. He is blue-eyed, fair-skinned, and has thick, black hair, with a frost of white most noticeable in his beard, which he sometimes wears between the end of the World Series and the opening of baseball spring training in Florida. Occasionally he wears a moustache in other seasons. He has worn glasses since he was a child.
He has put some of his college dramatic society experience to use doing cameos in several of the film adaptations of his works as well as a bit part in a George Romero picture, Knightriders. Joe Hill King also appeared in Creepshow, which was released in 1982. Stephen made his directorial debut, as well as writing the screenplay, for the movie Maximum Overdrive (an adaptation of his short story “Trucks”) in 1985.
Stephen and Tabitha provide scholarships for local high school students and contribute to many other local and national charities.
Stephen is the 2003 recipient of The National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters and the 2014 National Medal of Arts.
A masterful, intensely suspenseful novel about a reader whose obsession with a reclusive writer goes far too far – a book about the power of storytelling from a master storyteller. – Starring the same trio of unlikely and winning heroes Stephen introduced in Mr. Mercedes, winner of the 2015 Edgar Award for Best Novel.
“WAKE UP GENIUS.”
So begins Stephen’s megasuspenseful story about a vengeful reader. The genius is John Rothstein, an iconic author who created a famous character, Jimmy Gold, but who hasn’t published a book for decades. Morris Bellamy is livid, not just because Rothstein has stopped providing books, but because the nonconformist Jimmy Gold has sold out for a career in advertising. Morris kills Rothstein and empties his safe of cash, yes, but the real treasure is a trove of notebooks containing at least one more Gold novel.
Morris hides the money and the notebooks, and then he is locked away for another crime. Decades later, a boy named Pete Saubers finds the treasure, and now it is Pete and his family that Bill Hodges, Holly Gibney, and Jerome Robinson must rescue from the ever-more deranged and violent Morris when he’s released from prison after thirty-five years.
Not since Misery has Stephen played with the notion of a reader whose obsession with a writer gets dangerous. Finders Keepers is spectacular, heart-pounding suspense, but it is also Stephen writing about how literature shapes a life—for good, for bad, forever.
Morris Bellamy:The central antagonist, Bellamy is a deeply disturbed individual with a fanatical obsession with author John Rothstein, particularly his fictional character Jimmy Gold. He believes he has a personal connection to the character and becomes enraged when Rothstein ceases writing, leading him to murder the author and steal his unpublished manuscripts.
Pete Saubers:A young man who stumbles upon Rothstein’s hidden notebooks while cleaning out an old house, unaware of their true value. He is initially drawn to the stories but soon becomes entangled in the dangerous world of Bellamy’s obsession when he realizes the potential financial gain from selling the manuscripts.
A retired detective from the previous novel, “Mr. Mercedes,” who is now a private investigator and becomes involved when Pete’s family seeks his help in dealing with Bellamy’s threats.
Holly Gibney:Bill Hodges’ partner, a highly intelligent and observant character who plays a pivotal role in piecing together clues and tracking down Bellamy.
Jerome Robinson:Another former police officer from “Mr. Mercedes” who assists Hodges and Holly in their investigation.
Jeneva Rose is the New York Times bestselling author of several novels, including the multi-million copy bestseller, The Perfect Marriage. Her work has been translated into more than two dozen languages and optioned for film/tv. Originally from Wisconsin, she now lives in Chicago with her husband, Drew, and her English bulldogs, Winston and Phyllis.
Historically, I love everything Jeneva Rose writes, so I absolutely was looking forward to reading this one. The story is told through Sarah’s and Adam’s point of views in alternating chapters. The characters are well developed and the story kept me guessing until the very end. It wasn’t too heavy, but heavy enough to keep me invested. I can count on Jeneva Rose for a solid story with great characters and a satisfying end. This novel empowers women. It lets the strong female lead, Sarah, rise to the top. Her achievements are celebrated, regardless of the way she wraps up the ending. We are left questioning her sanity and ethics, as intended. I really enjoyed the book.
Adam Morgan – Sarah’s husband, failing author, resentful of his wife’s success, unfaithful
Sarah Morgan- Adam’s wife, prestigious Washington DC lawyer
Kelly Summers – Adam’s mistress that is stabbed to death in Adam and Sarah’s lake house; has an abusive husband
Ann – Sarah’s assistant at the law firm
Matthew – Sarah’s gay best friend
Bob – Sarah’s fellow lawyer and nemesis at the law firm
Kent – the original partner at Sarah’s law firm
Eleanor – Adam’s mother, hates the fact that Sarah works, has a volatile relationship with Sarah and dotes on her son
Deputy Scott Summers – Kelly’s abusive husband, a deputy at the police department
Sheriff Stevens – boss at the police station that is holding Adam
Don Winslow has written twenty-one novels, including The Border,The Force, The Kings of Cool, Savages, The Winter of Frankie Machine and the highly acclaimed epics The Power of the Dog and The Cartel.
The son of a sailor and a librarian, Winslow grew up with a love of books and storytelling in a small coastal Rhode Island town. He left at age seventeen to study journalism at the University of Nebraska, where he earned a degree in African Studies. While in college, he traveled to southern Africa, sparking a lifelong involvement with that continent.
Winslow’s travels took him to California, Idaho and Montana before he moved to New York City to become a writer, making his living as a movie theater manager and later a private investigator in Times Square – ‘before Mickey Mouse took it over’. He left to get a master’s degree in Military History and intended to go into the Foreign Service but instead joined a friend’s photographic safari firm in Kenya. He led trips there as well as hiking expeditions in southwestern China, and later directed Shakespeare productions during summers in Oxford, England.
While bouncing back and forth between Asia, Africa, Europe and America, Winslow wrote his first novel, A Cool Breeze On The Underground, which was nominated for an Edgar Award. With a wife and young son, Winslow went back to investigative work, mostly in California, where he and his family lived in hotels for almost three years as he worked cases and became a trial consultant. A film and publishing deal for his novel The Death and Life of Bobby Z allowed Winslow to be full-time writer and settle in his beloved California, the setting for many of his books. Branching into television and film, Winslow, with his friend Shane Salerno, wrote a television series, UC/Undercover, and the two collaborated on the screenplay of his novel, Savages.
His novels have attracted the attention of filmmakers and actors such as Oliver Stone, Michael Mann, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott, Robert DeNiro and Leonardo DiCaprio. Twentieth Century Fox has optioned his next novel about a NYPD cop as well as The Carteland The Power of the Dog. Earlier books Savagesand The Death and Life of Bobby Z were made into films, too.
In addition to his novels, Winslow has published numerous short stories in anthologies and magazines such as Esquire, the LA Times Magazine and Playboy. His columns have appeared in the Vanity Fair, Vulture, Huffington Post, CNN Online, and other outlets.
Winslow is the recipient of the Raymond Chandler Award (Italy), the LA Times Book Prize, the Ian Fleming Silver Dagger (UK), The RBA Literary Prize (Spain) and many other prestigious awards.
He lives in California with his wife of thirty-one years.
Don Winslow returns to the world of PI Boone Daniels and the Dawn Patrol. Doug is one of the Dawn Patrol regulars. He has a miserable job as an accountant for a payday loan company. He has an unsatisfying marriage to Carli, who looks down on him even though she’s only five foot three. He is not exactly a joyful person. He doesn’t exude happiness or enthusiasm. But while surfing, Doug is in a state approaching euphoria. He loves it. He’s happy. Otherwise…not so much.
One September morning, Doug accidentally runs right into another surfer on the beach. There are rules about these things. The other guy should call Doug a jerk, Doug should say, “my bad”, and they should both paddle back out and move on. Problem is, the other surfer doesn’t want to move on. He wants to fight. And for once in his life, Doug wants to fight back.
I love a good underdog story, and this scratches that itch. Doug sticks it to everyone he should by the end, and finds peace. I think this is kind of what we all would like at some point in life.
Cara Bastone is a full time writer who lives and writes in Brooklyn with her husband, son, and an almost-goldendoodle. Her goal with her work is to find the swoon in ordinary love stories. She’s been a fan of the romance genre since she found a grocery bag filled with her grandmother’s old Harlequin Romances when she was in high school. She’s a fangirl for pretzel sticks, long walks through Prospect Park, and love stories featuring men who aren’t crippled by their own masculinity.
True love is put to the test in this romantic comedy brought to hilarious life by Santino Fontana (Frozen, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Stephanie Einstein, and a full cast!
This Psych 312 assignment just might send me off the deep end. Determining whether love at first sight really exists with Robbie Moravian as my project partner, of all people?
He’s the sappiest man alive, so upbeat I could scream, and clearly rooting for happy endings at every turn. How does he not learn from experience considering our own meet-cute last semester almost got us expelled?
But we both need to pass this course to graduate. So we’re interviewing five random couples about their meet-cutes and relationships and spending all this time together. Which is certainly…educational.
Because it turns out Robbie isn’t just the charming golden boy I thought I knew. There’s some actual depth beneath all those lame dad jokes and the ‘70s-inspired thrift wardrobe (even if he does look ridiculously great in a flared collar). Next thing I know he’s walking me back to my office on the regular and finishing all my sentences and protecting me from freak storms, and…
Wait. Could Robbie be right? Can happy endings really come from unhappy beginnings? Is he about to change my entire world view?
Group projects are the worst.
I’m not a big romance fan, so I thought I would dip my toe in the genre by listening to a short audiobook that is currently free on Audible. It is 4 hours and 35 minutes long and honestly a delight. It is light, fun, and spins a hopeful look on romance and love. The narrators are perfect for the roles, in my opinion, and I highly recommend the listen. The plot is based on Robbie and Marigold working together on a romantic psych project. They interview several couples about their respective relationships for their class. I love that a lesbian, divorced, and elderly couples were included in the work. The professor of their class also references his husband, Scott. I am big on inclusion. This is a great choice if a break from serious, intense, or emotional reads is needed. It makes me miss that flirty, light stage in the very beginning of relationships… a little.
Marigold – 27 years old, working on her bachelor’s degree, working on a project for Psych 312 class with Robbie, striving to prove love at first sight does not exist, parents are divorced science teachers employed at the same school, light brown hair, petite
Robbie – 28 years old, working on his bachelor’s degree, working on a project for Psych class with Marigold, striving to prove love at first sight exists, father owns a car dealership and mother is a retired superintendent, tall, has an infectious smile
Lisa Jewell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone, as well as Invisible Girl and Watching You. Her novels have sold over 10 million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into twenty-nine languages. Connect with her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK, on Instagram @LisaJewellUK, and on Facebook @LisaJewellOfficial.
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author known for her “superb pacing, twisted characters, and captivating prose” (BuzzFeed), Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.
Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.
A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.
Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.
But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.
Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?
I HIGHLY recommend listening to this book instead of reading it. It really enhances the content. I love podcasts, and I follow several closely. That was my first attraction to this book. I’ve heard a lot of great things about Jewell’s books, but never read any. The beginning of this book was confusing to me, and wasn’t very fluid. It may have been just my frame of mind, of course. Alix has kids still at home, and Josie has grown kids, but I believe one was still at home (Erin), although there is mystery surrounding her from the beginning. Josie is quickly obsessed with all things about Alix’s life. She’s a bit of a kleptomaniac and steals little things from Alix’s house. The characters are fascinating and the book kept me on my toes until the very last words. I will definitely seek out more Lisa Jewell books.
Josie Fair – wife of Walter Fair, whom she married when she was 18, and the mother of Erin and Roxy Fair
Walter Fair – husband of Josie Fair, whom he married when he was 43
Erin Fair – Josie and Walter’s daughter, reclusive in her room
Roxie Fair – Josie and Walter’s daughter, left home at 16, possibly anger issues
Fred – Josie’s dog
Pat O’Neil – Josie’s mother
Alix Summers – popular podcast host, and the wife of Nathan Summer
Nathan Summers – Alix’s husband, works in high-end real estate leasing
Eliza Summers -Alix and Nathan’s daughter
Leon Summers – Alix and Nathan’s son
Mandy – Office Manager at Alex and Nathan’s kids’ school
Lucy Foley studied English literature at Durham University and University College London and worked for several years as a fiction editor in the publishing industry. She is the author of five novels including The Guest List and The Hunting Party. She lives in London.
THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“Told in rotating points of view, this Tilt-A-Whirl of a novel brims with jangly tension – an undeniably engrossing guessing game.” — Vogue
“[A] clever, cliff-hanger-filled thriller.” — People
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide…
Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there.
The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.
The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge
Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.
This starts with the prologue. We see at the very beginning that Ben is most likely in some kind of trouble. An intruder enters his apartment and he is obviously afraid.
Jess arrives to the apartment and immediately thinks she sees a shadowy person crouched hiding behind a car. She then looks up and sees someone watching her from a window above. Soon, after talking to several people in the building, she knows that something is very off with the situation and Ben may be in some trouble. She is also in some obvious trouble and running from something or someone.
Foley creates characters that you can’t quite trust, so everyone is under just a little bit of suspicion at least. I love that. The characters are well-developed, as usual, and the ending will knock your socks off as well. I gave this four stars and would definitely recommend. I read it in a few days, so definitely a solid page-turner.
Ben (3rd floor) – Benjamin Daniels, missing when the story begins, aspiring writer, journalist, Jess’ half brother (they share a mom)
Jess Hadley – brave, intelligent, independent, Ben’s half sister, from London, former foster kid
Antoine (1st floor) – angry alcoholic that abuses his wife
Dominique – Antoine’s wife, they split early on
Sophie Meunier (penthouse) – rich, 50 years old, married to Jacque
Benoit – Sophie’s silver whippet
Jacque – Sophie’s husband, business owner, frequently travels,
Concierge (lives in guard cabin) – elderly lady, very private, cleans and watches over the property
Mimi (4th floor) – 19 years old, convent educated, naive, fragile, and maybe mentally compromised, obsessed with Ben
Camille – Mimi’s roommate, promiscuous, polar opposite of Mimi
Nick Miller (2nd floor) – unemployed but obviously rich, oxy addict, attended Cambridge with Ben
Theo Mandelson – Ben’s Paris editor
Irina – the mystery girl that surfaces later in the story
Pretty Colors Unabridged 