Book Review. Category: Suspense, Page Turners.
This is my second book review. I’ve tried to group them in similar styles. This one is the suspense/page-turners. All these books were thrifted and most have been re-donated. As a side note, I’m always surprised to see hardcovers, barely worn-just read once it seems- available at a fraction of their original prices. The photos are my actual books, from the Instagram post. They are in great condition.
I’m pretty happy with my reading. I mentioned in a previous review (non-fiction) that I’d stopped reading for a while and was racking up too much screen time. Where we put our attention and time, both finite, is ever important as media become more intense and content increases, while realism decreases. The astrology shows everything speeding up in 2026, with a shift of the outer planets to fire and air signs. It’s combustive over the next several years. And our human brains are struggling to keep up. So make time to unplug and sit with a good book.
The Silent Patient – Alex Michaelides
A well written classic suspense. There’s unease from the start of this page turner. You know something is going on, but you can’t put your finger on it. In the end, we see the clues were there all along. 
Alicia is an established painter, married to her photographer husband, equally well known. One day, for no apparent reason, she kills him and is deemed insane. Many years later, when there’s an opening at the Grove, a psychiatric hospital in North London, Theo jumps at the chance to work with Alicia. He is determined to get her to speak, she who has not said a word since the events of that fateful night.
Is Theo just intense in his desire for a breakthrough with Alicia? Or does it stem from arrogance or fame seeking? What is Alicia trying to say through her paintings? And what exactly did happen on that fateful day?
The Casual Vacancy – JK Rowling
This started out slowly and seemed much ado about nothing, but I was, unsuspectingly, pulled into a story that becomes fast moving, complex, and, pardon the cliché, leaves the reader, breathless.
Pagford is an idyllic quaint village so small it doesn’t have a town council, but rather a parish council. But there’s a brewing conflict between Pagford residents. Years ago, a member of the village’s aristocratic family sold off land at the far end of their estate to the city of Yarville, who then turned it into The Fields: a section of subsidized housing (or council housing as it’s called in the UK, or projects in America). It is a sad, rough neighborhood of suffering people: poverty, child neglect, addiction, mental health issues, abuse, violence and crime. Because of the geographical division, children from the Fields attend school in Pagford. To some it’s a blessing, giving these children a chance. For others, lines must be redrawn, The Fields cut loose, and Yarville children can stay in Yarville.
When Pagford councilman Barry Fairbrother dies suddenly, the fight to win his seat and sway the vote is on. This sets in motions a series of events where husbands, wives, and teens undermine each other. In fact the teenage characters are the main players (in true Rowling style) and as the story progresses, it gets darker and darker. There is no magic in this book, nothing fantastic, just a lot of harsh reality. There are scenes that are so spot on, so true, I can only assume Rowling researched well and had first-hand accounts from people working in social services. This is my first JK Rowling read. She is an amazing storyteller.
Nine Perfect Strangers – Liane Moriarty
I watched the mini series (because of Nicole Kidman) before I even knew there was a book. Disclaimer: the endings are different. Nine Perfect Strangers is a relatively light read. Although it does deal with topics of suicide and loss of a child.
Masha runs a reputed retreat for people who need to get their life back together. The group she welcomes is diverse and they do not suspect Masha has hand picked each of them: a former football player who drinks too much; a couple who won the lottery, but now their marriage is falling apart; a family who suffered the loss of a child; a best-selling romance author who’s been scammed —to name a few. While they expected the retreat to be all meditation, exercise, diet, and guidance from Masha, what they don’t know is she is experimenting with micro dosing. And she also has her own agenda as well as her own issues.
The Girl on the Train – Paula Hawkins
There are no endearing characters here. Told in first person from three different viewpoints—all women, all unreliable, all off the rails (pun intended). Rachel has a drinking problem, Megan is unstable and Anna is crumbling.
Rachel takes the train into work every day (actually pretending, she lost her job months ago) passing by a row of houses in a small community outside London, where she used to live. But now Anna lives there with Rachel‘s ex-husband Tom and their baby. A few doors down lives Megan and her husband Scott. Every day, Rachel scans the backs of the houses, especially Megan’s, from the train. She doesn’t know Megan or Scott and she’s nicknamed them Jason and Jess. A perfect couple that she sometimes sees sitting outside on the terrace. But then Megan disappears and Rachel thinks she’s seen something, on her daily transit, that could be a clue. 
But Rachel isn’t sober most of the time and blacks-out often. She’s harassing her ex-husband Tom, although she can’t ever remember. Anna is afraid of her, especially when Rachel shows up in her yard, next to the baby carriage. Tom threatens to call the police, but keeps giving her another chance. And she’s becoming disturbingly obsessed with Megan’s life, even posing as her friend to meet Megan’s husband and going to see her therapist.
Megan carries a huge secret from her checkered past and struggles to settle down. Although her turbulent years seem behind her and she appears settled with Scott, their marriage in not doing well. And he’s the number one suspect. But has she runoff, not an unlikely possibility for Megan, or has something really happened to her?
Anna’s life seems perfect, with her new husband and baby, but she is deeply unsettled. She keeps asking Tom to make sure Rachel stays away from their house, and wants to call the police herself but Tom insists he’s handling. Anna isn’t sure. In fact, she’s less and less sure about everything. Why does Tom keep giving Rachel a chance? Why won’t he protect them?
This is a fast read. It’s a good thriller, but none of the characters illicit a lot of sympathy. I found Rachel concocts a lot of stories in her mind and acts selfishly, manipulating and lying. Her Megan obsession is disturbing. She’s very deceptive and rationalizes she’s trying to help (the worst). Girl, stop drinking!
Megan, who is missing when the story starts, is profoundly unhappy. But she’s also impulsive and foolish. She seems to have reinvented herself, and buried her past. Girl, get some serious help!
Anna is fearful of Rachel but too weak to confront her, and it’s maddening. If you came into my backyard and were anywhere near my baby, the police would be taking me away. Anna tries to go through Tom, who won’t to go to the police. Girl, fix this yourself!
I recommend it as a light read, entertaining but not deep or moving. Which is exactly the type of read we sometimes need.
American Dirt – Jeanine Cummins
Easily one of my best reads in a long time. When Stephen King praises your book as “an extraordinary piece of work” and John Grisham says ‘it’s been a long time since I turned pages as fast as I did with Amesrican Dirt”, you know it’ll be a great read.
Lydia and her son Luca are on the run from a new and powerful cartel leader. No one can help them, they’re all dead. The police force is corrupted. There is no time to take passports or empty bank accounts (that’ll be traced), and her car will be spotted.
Lydia must become invisible, one of the many migrants clandestinely traveling north. She discovers a whole world, a no man’s land with no rules. They must ride La Bestia, the name given to the trains traveling north towards the border, learning to jump on from an overpass. What regions to avoid at all costs, even if it makes the journey longer, because migrants are robbed, raped and killed. Discovering places that offer shelter and food.
She meets migrants from different countries with different stories: two sisters, who have fled the gangs and sex trafficking; men who have left their families to work in the US to support them; deported illegals who are returning.
On one hand she relies on them. Some seem to know which trains are the ones going north, or start north but change direction, which will cross bad territory, . They have a ‘passer’, called a coyote, lined-up for the border. They know of shelters. On the other hand, she mistrusts them. She constantly fears being recognized. She is afraid for her son and for the two sisters she has befriended. But especially of Los Jardinieros who are looking for her everywhere, circulating her photo and promising reward. Will someone figure out who she is and betray her? Sell her out to save themselves?
Cummins tells two stories at once. There’s Lydia’s, trying to survive. But on a macro level, it’s the story of all migrants. The horrible events and conditions that force them to take horrible chances to flee. Because why else would you do this?
Have you red any of these? Do you have any recs? Drop them in the comments!