Book Review: The Stranger Upstairs

 Title: The Stranger Upstairs

Author: Lisa Matlin

Publisher: Bantam

Publication Date: September 26 2023

Rating: 5 out of 5

Sarah Slade, a therapist and influencer, buys a Victorian house in a small Australian community, envisioning renovating it, sharing progress on her feed, turning a quick profit, and getting lots of endorsements. But the house was the scene of a brutal murder 40 years ago and has all the hallmarks of classic horror mansion. When the improvements start going wrong, and her marriage starts to crumble, Sarah starts to mentally disintegrate. Who or what is leaving her notes?

Billed as a psychological thriller, this veers more to the horror genre. The book oozes dread throughout, and with each page turned more hidden secrets are exposed. I didn't see the end coming. That's the sign of a great story.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review. 

Book Review: Simply Lies

 Title: Simply Lies

Author: David Baldacci

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Publication Date: April 18 2023

Rating: 5 out of 5

David Baldacci rarely pens a boring book. His new book is certainly no exception. A stand-alone thriller, he features two strong women lead characters. One is a former cop, now work-from-home mom. A private investigator, Mickey excels at finding hidden money. The other is a con artist and possibly murderer. When the latter, Clarisse, cons the former into taking a field-work trip to a remote mansion to document the owner's possessions, she discovers a hidden room with a dead body and a secret message. From this unexpected discovery. Mickey becomes forced to pursue her own investigation and its a race between the two to discover the murderer, the reason, and the hidden treasure. With plenty of plot twists and villains, Baldacci interweaves the story from both Mickey's and Clarissa's perspectives. The book grabbed from chapter one and kept me guessing, furiously turning pages, until the very end. Another sure-fire hit from this great author.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review. 

Book Review: Double Indemnity

Title: Double Indemnity

Author: Robert Whitlow

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publication Date: June 76 2023

Rating: 3 out of 5

I requested this ARC as it was billed as a legal thriller from a Christian author. I love courtroom thrillers and am a Christ
-follower, so it ticked all the boxes. But I found it to be slow and dull. I was expecting a trial mystery, but none of the action occurs in the courthouse. Certainly, one of the main characters is a young lawyer, but the protagonist is a young preacher. And it took way too long, in my opinion, to really take off. If I wasn't planning to write a review, I would have given up on this after the first 20%, which seemed to be background and character setting. 

Whitlow does weave Christian themes into the story, and I like how he deals with prayer and the presence of God. But there was more discussion of sermon topics than there was of murder, until close to the very end. I'll give his other books a try, but hope they are faster paced and more exciting than this.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review.