by Jasmyn | Jul 24, 2019 | Book Reviews, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Readers
Nocturnal is quite a rollercoaster ride of paranormal suspense mixed with a good dose of horror. It starts out like a gritty cop drama, with Bryan and his partner, Pookie, showing up at the scene of a gruesome murder. But even though they are the best in the city, they don’t get assigned to the case. In fact, they’re told to stay away from it.
So, of course, they don’t. They follow along, getting themselves deeper and deeper into a world they never even imagined existed. Monsters, a hooded hunter, a rising King all wait along the way.
This book isn’t for the squeamish – there were a few times my stomach turned at the scenes and descriptions – so be warned. But it’s well worth it, and I just had to know what was going to happen next.
My only complaint about the audio was that Pookie (one of the detectives) sounded exactly like Mike Wazowski – the little green guy from Monsters Inc – so that is what I pictured every time.
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Title: Nocturnal
Author: Scott Sigler
Genre: Paranormal Suspense, Horror
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Homicide detective Bryan Clauser is losing his mind.
How else to explain the dreams he keeps having—dreams that mirror, with impossible accuracy, the gruesome serial murders taking place all over San Francisco? How else to explain the feelings these dreams provoke in him—not disgust, not horror, but excitement?
As Bryan and his longtime partner, Lawrence “Pookie” Chang, investigate the murders, they learn that things are even stranger than they at first seem. For the victims are all enemies of a seemingly ordinary young boy—a boy who is gripped by the same dreams that haunt Bryan. Meanwhile, a shadowy vigilante, seemingly armed with superhuman powers, is out there killing the killers. And Bryan and Pookie’s superiors—from the mayor on down—seem strangely eager to keep the detectives from discovering the truth.
Doubting his own sanity and stripped of his badge, Bryan begins to suspect that he’s stumbled into the crosshairs of a shadow war that has gripped his city for more than a century—a war waged by a race of killers living in San Francisco’s unknown, underground ruins, emerging at night to feed on those who will not be missed.
And as Bryan learns the truth about his own intimate connections to the killings, he discovers that those who matter most to him are in mortal danger…and that he may be the only man gifted—or cursed—with the power to do battle with the nocturnals.
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by Jasmyn | Jun 28, 2019 | Book Reviews, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Readers
While You Sleep turned into so much more than I ever expected. In this small Scottish town there seemed to be more secrets than residents, and American artist Zoe Adams brings a few along with her. Renting a house she soon finds out is supposed to be haunted by the spirits of the current owner’s long-ago relatives. Relatives that were heavily into the occult. Rumors of a child promised to the devil that disappeared – or died – no one seems to be really sure.
Zoe finds herself caught up in the ghosts of the house, or maybe just caught up in her own mind. Stephanie Merritt expertly weaves the story around both possibilities and left me wondering which was really true. Was Zoe being visited by spirits or was she just going crazy?
The paranormal and haunting aspects weren’t too over the top though. There were enough entirely human elements for Zoe to worry about while she was there. As the tale wraps up, secrets come out, a town is forced to face its past, and Zoe is left wondering – about a lot of things.
I loved this story! It was perfectly eerie and gothic, with just the right touch of reality mixed in to make me think this could all really happen. I highly recommend this for lovers of a good book to read during a late night storm – it will definitely set the mood for you.
**I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book**
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Title: While You Sleep
Author: Stephanie Merritt
Genre: Gothic, Paranormal Suspense
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It begins, they say, with a woman screaming . . .
On a remote Scottish island, the McBride house stands guard over its secrets. A century ago, a young widow and her son died mysteriously there; just last year a local boy, visiting for a dare, disappeared without a trace.
For Zoe Adams, newly arrived from America, the house offers a refuge from her failing marriage. But her peaceful retreat is disrupted by strange and disturbing events: nighttime intrusions; unknown voices; a constant sense of being watched.
The locals want her to believe that these incidents are echoes of the McBrides’ dark past. Zoe is convinced the danger is closer at hand, and all too real—but can she uncover the truth before she is silenced?
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by Jasmyn | Jun 5, 2019 | Book Reviews, Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Readers
The end of the third book in the Charlie Davidson series was emotionally draining and somewhat traumatic. Betrayal all around, and I wondered how Charlie was going to come out of this one.
Well, she doesn’t exactly. Which was a stroke of brilliance by author Darynda Jones to make her seem more human and real. She is no longer the Grim Reaper and PI Extrodiarre, she is also Charlie – the woman who was hurt, betrayed, and tortured – trying to come to terms with what she’s going to do next and looking for comfort in her credit card and home shopping channels.
It takes a new case to start to bring her back to herself. And this case was pretty interesting. I loved the look at the psychology behind our memories and what trauma can do to them. There were some pretty nice twists in it as well, and while I sort of had things figured out, there was one really big surprise that I didn’t see coming at all. I understand that Charlie’s cases need to be action-packed and exciting, but I’d like to see her come of out one without a near-death experience.
Reyes is back and not in Charlie’s good graces. But he has a few things up his sleeve still to try and make things right with her. I’m incredibly curious to see where their storyline goes as we find out more and more about Charlie’s unknown abilities and Reyes’ background and motives.
I think the narrator for this audiobook is one of my favorites. She tells the story so well and is very easy to listen to.
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Title: Fourth Grave Beneath My Feet (Charlie Davidson #4)
Author: Darynda Jones
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Suspense
Format: Audiobook
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Welcome to the world of grim reaper extraordinaire Charley Davidson. Try as she might, there’s no avoiding her destiny.Sometimes being the grim reaper really is, well, grim. And since Charley’s last case went so awry, she has taken a couple of months off to wallow in the wonders of self-pity. But when a woman shows up on her doorstep convinced someone is trying to kill her, Charley has to force herself to rise above…or at least get dressed. It becomes clear something is amiss when everyone the woman knows swears she’s insane. But the more they refute the woman’s story, the more Charley believes it.
In the meantime, the sexy, sultry son of Satan, Reyes Farrow, is out of prison and out of Charley’s life, as per her wishes and several perfectly timed death threats. But his absence has put a serious crimp in her sex life. While there are other things to consider, like the fact that the city of Albuquerque has been taken hostage by an arsonist, Charley is having a difficult time staying away. Especially when it looks like Reyes may be involved.
Just when life was returning to normal, Charley is thrust back into the world of crime, punishment, and the devil in blue jeans in this hilarious fourth installment in the New York Timesbestselling series.
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