Book Review: When I Kill You

Title: When I Kill You

Author: B.A. Paris

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publication Date: February 17, 2026

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

B.A. Paris knows how to mess with your head, and this book had me second-guessing everything. The creeping paranoia of being watched, the silent phone calls, the unexplained flowers—it all gets under your skin fast.

The novel's initial structure alternates between Nell's current life and her past identity as Elle Nugent. Fourteen years ago, Elle witnessed student Bryony Sanders getting into a stranger's car—a seemingly innocent moment that became the catalyst for murder and obsession. Paris skillfully uses this dual timeline to reveal how one traumatic event can fragment a person's entire life, forcing them to reinvent themselves while never truly escaping the past.

Where the novel stumbles slightly is in Elle's all-consuming fixation on Brett Parker, the man she believes murdered Bryony. While obsession is central to the story's psychological depth, watching Elle's life completely disintegrate—her relationships crumbling, her future collapsing—sometimes felt like it pushed past believability into melodrama. The intensity of her fixation, while compelling, occasionally made me question whether any person would truly sacrifice everything so completely for a case where she had no personal connection to the victim.

Yet this same obsession creates the novel's most fascinating element: how past trauma shapes Nell's inability to form genuine connections in the present. Her relationship with Alex becomes a study in two damaged people trying to build something real while drowning in secrets. Paris excels at showing how the lies we tell ourselves are often more dangerous than the lies we tell others.

The second half shifts entirely to the present, focusing on the central mystery: who wants Nell dead? Here, Paris hits her stride. Just when I thought I'd pieced together the puzzle, she pulled the rug out from under me. The climax arrives with shocking force, revealing connections I never saw coming and transforming everything I thought I understood about the story.

What elevates this beyond a standard thriller is Paris's exploration of identity and reinvention. Can we ever truly escape our past? Does changing our name change who we are? Nell/Elle's dual existence raises questions about whether we're defined by our worst moments or whether redemption is possible when we're haunted by unfinished business.

A big thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.  I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Book Review: Witness Protection

Title: Witness Protection

Author: Robert Whitlow

Publisher: Thomas Nelson Fiction

Publication Date: April 7, 2026

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I wanted to love this one more than I did. The setup pulled me in—a man in witness protection, a sketchy drug case, the constant threat of his old life catching up to him. It should've been nail-biting. Instead, I found myself checking how many pages were left.

Jon Tremaine's new life in Brunswick gets complicated when he tries to help an employee accused of drug smuggling, and attorney Kelli Quinn takes the case while rebuilding her own life after divorce. The bones of a good thriller are here, but the story never quite finds its rhythm. Things move slowly, and the suspense I kept waiting for never really materialized.

What bogged things down most were the subplots involving Kelli's kids, which felt like they existed mainly to showcase Aunt Carly's faith and prayer life. As a believer myself, I appreciate Christian themes in fiction, but this one laid it on thick—so thick that the legal thriller got lost underneath. Prayer scenes and spiritual conversations kept interrupting when I just wanted the story to build some momentum.

It's not a bad book, just not the tense ride I was hoping for. If you're looking for inspirational fiction with some legal drama mixed in, you might enjoy it more than I did.

A big thank you to Thomas Nelson Fiction and NetGalley. I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Book Review: Anatomy of an Alibi

Title: Anatomy of an Alibi

Author: Ashley Elston

Publisher: Viking Penguin

Publication Date: January 20, 2026

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

This is Ashley Elston at her absolute best—a tense, layered, and utterly consuming thriller that plays with perception, trust, and the lies we tell to protect ourselves and those we love. The story unfolds in clever, time-jumping fragments that built toward an explosive conclusion.

Elston weaves the alternating perspectives of Aubrey and Camille with precision, drawing readers deep into a dangerous game where truth and deception blur. The shifting timeline adds to the tension, revealing just enough at a time to keep you guessing who’s really in control—and who’s in danger. Each twist hits harder than the last: first the nature of their connection, then the truth behind a long-ago killing, and fina
lly, the reveal of who’s behind the present-day murder. It’s fast, tense, and deeply satisfying.

What I loved most was the psychology running under the surface—the way Elston digs into why we lie and who we protect. Lines like “It’s not just the anatomy of an alibi... it’s the psychology of it” stay with you because they hint that sometimes the biggest cover-ups aren’t about crimes at all—they’re about love and survival.

The pacing is pitch-perfect, the dual timeline is seamless, and the interplay between past and present builds a rich emotional and narrative tension. By the time I reached the final twist, I realized this wasn’t just a story about murder—it was about guilt, loyalty, and the fragile boundaries of morality.

A big thank you to Viking Pengiun and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review. 

Book Review: Imposter

Title: Imposter

Author: L.J. Ross

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Publication Date: February 3, 2026

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I was pretty sure I'd cracked this one early on. There's something particularly humbling about confidently pointing at a suspect in your mind, only to have the author pull the rug out completely. LJ Ross got me good with this moody Irish thriller, and I loved being wrong.

Dr. Alexander Gregory is running from his past—a profiling case gone sideways that left him holding the bag. Now he's keeping his head down at a mental security hospital, building walls between himself and the rest of humanity. But when a small town murder drags him back into investigation mode, those walls start crumbling. What really got under my skin was watching Gregory battle his own demons through increasingly vivid nightmares, all while wrestling with this crushing sense that he's a fraud. The book doesn't just tell us he feels like an imposter—it lets us feel it with him.

The pacing starts off deliberately, perhaps a bit dry, but this measured approach serves the story well, allowing readers to sink into the Irish setting and get inside Gregory's analytical mind. Ross expertly builds tension, and the momentum picks up considerably as the investigation deepens. The revelation of not one but two imposters in the story adds layers of complexity. 

This is psychological suspense that trusts its readers to think while keeping us entertained. Sometimes the best mysteries are the ones that make you feel a little foolish for not seeing what was right there all along. Ross has created a character with tremendous potential for future installments, and I'm already eager to see where Gregory's journey takes him next. 

A big thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley for providing an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.