The Knowledge of Water

Finished August 21

The Knowledge of Water by Sarah Smith

This historical novel has elements of suspense and romance, as well as an interesting historical setting. It is 1910 and in Paris. 

One of the main characters, Alexander von Reisden adopted his current life when he was very young. At the age of eight, he was an American boy who killed in self-defense and fled, changing his name and his country. For years he had buried his memories of the past, but eventually remembered and now feels the weight of his actions heavily. He worried that his crime is a personality and moral flaw that he cannot escape. But the three people who know of his past have absolved him, recognizing the circumstances of the action he took. He now runs Jouvet Medical Analyses, an institute that specialized in mental disturbances and has an impressive case archive going back decades.

Perdita Halley is the other main character. She is a young American woman studying music, specifically piano, persevering in spite of her instructor's misogyny and her own failing sight.  She is the protégée of American rare book expert Gilbert Knight, who funds her studies and worries about her enough that he sends his friend, investigator Roy Daugherty to Paris to check on her, determine whether an outright gift of money is a good idea and see if his hoped-for union of Perdita and Alexander is likely.

Perdita and Alexander are close, and they grow closer despite their misgivings. They are drawn to each other, but Perdita worries that marriage will mean giving up music, and Alexander worries that Perdita won't be happy. 

Meanwhile the rain in France is at record levels and flooding issues grow more dire. There is also a murdered woman, who identified with the Mona Lisa, and whose body sits in the morgue waiting for the investigation on her death to lead to her murderer, and the museum guard who may have killed her. There is Milly Xico, a French writer whose ex-husband still tries to control her and exploit her talents as he did during their marriage, even as she makes strategic choices of her own. There is a possible art fraud regarding paintings by an artist who died a few years earlier, and his widow, Madame Mallais, who may be part of the fraud. 

I enjoyed the undercurrent of feminism here, with Perdita, Milly, and Madame Mallais, as they each navigate a world where women have different rules and expectations. There is also the very real flooding that happened in Paris and the immense damage it did, with both infrastructure damage and lives lost. 

The Prisoner

Finished August 13

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris

The main character, Amelie, lost her mother when she was young and afterwards her father sued the hospital where she died for malpractice, a case which has dragged on, and the pair moved to England. They are very close. As the book opens we see Amelie in the present, where she has been kidnapped from her husband's home and is being held prisoner in a dark room, with minimal contact with her captors, none of which is verbal.

We are also taken to a past timeline, beginning when Amelie is in high school, caring for her father whose health is bad. As we watch her make choices to move to London, to befriend an older woman, and to enter into a problematic marriage, we also see how she has ended up where she is now. 

She is a young woman with an independent spirit who doesn't want pity or sympathy, just wants a chance to be the best she can be. Her circumstances limit her or change the timeline for her dreams, but they don't take the dreams away. She is kind and friendly and somewhat naïve, and thus others take advantage of her. 

In the present we soon learn that her husband is also a prisoner in another room of the building she is in, and that his security guard has been recently killed. We watch Amelie learn about her environment, use any tool that she can find to work for her, and try to figure out what the kidnappers want. She also fears being released with Ned for reasons that become clear. 

This is an interesting psychological suspense novel, as are all the ones I've read by this talented writer. 

The Same Backward as Forward

Finished May 25

The Same Backward as Forward by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I picked this up in a bookstore because it is one of those novels that tells the story from two points of view, flipping the book to read the second viewpoint. It sounded intriguing and I only later realized it is the sixth book in a series. However, it appears that the actions here are before most of the other books in the series, and so it is sort of a prequel. Because I picked it off a display, I also didn't realize that it was a young adult novel, and given that the two main characters are in their late twenties / early thirties, I think that classification may be from the series and not this specific title. 

Hannah Rooney is a young woman whose mother runs a local criminal empire. Hannah moved out of her home as soon as she could and is studying to be a nurse. She interacts with her family as little as possible, with the exception of her younger sister Kaylie, a wild child, who she tries to protect and keep an eye on. Along the coast where they live is a private island, Hawthorne Island, owned by a wealthy family. As Hannah's story begins, she has stopped in at a local bar to see Kaylie and notices three obviously well-off young men who seem also wild as well as arrogant. That night there is a fire on the island with no apparent survivors, and Hannah is distraught when she finds out Kaylie was out there. 

When local recluse fisherman Jackson comes to Hannah for help, she is surprised to find that there was a survivor, one of the young men she'd seen the night before. He is in bad shape, with burns and injuries. It soon becomes apparent that he also has no memory of what happened or who he is. As Hannah works to save him, partly as a punishment for the death of her sister, she and Jackson must also work in secret, hiding him from both her family and his own. 

They dub him Harry.

Harry's story is the one I read second, and it continues in time past Hannah's. It is also a story of trauma, and one can see what the two have in common. There are many secrets in both families as well as ruthless individuals. Harry loves puzzles of all kinds, wordgames, codes, and games. As he and Hannah engage in these with each other, they come to know each other better than anyone else does, and this gives them both strength and vulnerability. 

The puzzles and games were interesting and seem to a theme of the series overall. This book went in a direction I didn't expect it to,

Survive the Night

Finished April 5

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

This psychological suspense story was a great read, with twists and turns along the way. The specific time setting isn't stated, but it is set before cell phones are around. The main character is Charlie Jordan, who is named after a character in a movie. She goes to college in New Jersey, but is from Ohio. Her eccentric, charismatic roommate Maddie was the third victim of the campus killer, a serial killer as yes uncaught. The killer kidnapped and killed the young female victims, and took a tooth for a souvenir. The last piece of information hasn't been made public. 

The night Maddie was killed she pressured Charlie into going out to a bar, and Charlie was not enjoying the night at all. She finally told Maddie that she'd had enough and wanted to go home, but Maddie wasn't ready to go. Charlie actually saw the back of a man talking to Maddie when she looked back, not realizing that he was the killer. Charlie feels extremely guilty for leaving Maddie, and Maddie's family blames her as well. She's been struggling with life since the murder. 

She's finally decided to go home, and goes to put up a post on the Rideshare board at the college, but meets Josh Baxter who is just posting that he is looking for someone to share the trip to Akron with. He's a graduate student. Charlie is a little nervous about the whole thing, given the recent murders and not knowing Josh, but she so wants to get away that she brushes any concerns aside.

On the drive, she begins to notice discrepancies in Josh's story, and becomes suspicious.

Add to this Charlie's love of thriller movies. She's watched them all her life, first with her parents, and later, after their deaths in a car accident, with her grandmother who is a huge fan. Charlie has, at time, had episodes where she kind of zones out and lives a scene in her head. She always has realized that this happens to her as soon as her episode is over, but now she wonders whether things she has seen are real, or one of these "movies" that plays in her head. She doesn't trust her own observations anymore, and isn't sure what is real and what isn't. But she keeps telling herself all she has to do is survive the night.

Before she left campus she had jokingly set up a code phrase with her boyfriend in case something happens, and as a result of her actually using this phrase, he gets drawn into the action as well.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book, the character Charlie is, the character Maddie was, and the well developed plot. 

A Dozen Deadly Roses

Finished March 20

A Dozen Deadly Roses by Kathy Bennett

This novel begins in Los Angeles, where Jade Bennett is a police officer. She is the single mother of a four-year-old boy, and is doing well in her job, now training rookie officers. When she's at work, her son stays with her father and his girlfriend. both recovering alcoholics. 

As the novel starts, Jade is getting florists boxes of dead roses hand-delivered to her. First at her home, then at her work, and even at her father's house. They are obviously a message and a threat, with the first delivery containing twelve roses and each subsequent one containing one less. It is obviously a countdown to the threat. She has told her superior officer, but the woman doesn't like Jade, and dismisses it as a joke and doesn't provide any police support or investigation to it. Jade realizes that she must deal with it herself and begins carrying her gun everywhere she goes. 

Five years ago when she started with the police, Mac Stryker was her training officer, but he was going through a difficult time after the violent death of his wife and child, and was drinking to numb himself. On one call, Jade used lethal force to a threat, and Mac was too drunk to be useful. He left the police. Now he's back after going through therapy, and Jade is assigned to be his training officer, something neither of them like. They manage to make a workable arrangement for their shifts together, but Mac becomes interested in her personally and notices the threat that she is facing. As they deal with a variety of cases, from the mundane to the dangerous, he becomes closer to not only her, but also to her family. The threat to her intensifies and extends to her family as well. 

The back stories of the characters was interesting, and the threat believable. There are emotions involved and the issue of trust arises as well. The characters have depth and the plot is a page turner. 

The Vanishing Place

Finished October 21

The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin

This suspense novel moves from the present to the past, as a young girl appears in a small New Zealand town covered in blood. She made an initial statement, giving her name as Anya, but hasn't talked further, and this statement causes the local police officer to contact Effie, who now lives in Scotland. Effie grew up in New Zealand, living deep in the bush with her parents and two siblings. When her fourth sibling is born unexpectedly, her parents are unprepared and her mother dies in childbirth. Effie takes on the care of her new brother, who they call Four. Her father is distraught and disappears for some time, returning with a woman Effie has met before briefly. As we gradually learn of Effie's past and her connection to this small town and the man who called her to return, we also deal with the present, the strange, quiet young girl who looks very much like Effie did as a child.

Returning to New Zealand awakens memories in Effie, memories both good and bad. The bad ones are of terror, terror for her family still out in the bush and what the presence of Anya means. She knows that she must return to find out, but the return to the home she grew up in brings her to a nearly empty cabin. Someone lies dead on the floor, and there are signs of confinement, but no possessions to show that anyone has been there lately besides the body. 

As Effie tries to get closer to Anya, and learn what she can from the traumatized girl, we also learn about the trauma that caused Effie to leave. 

This is a story that has more than one moment of suspense, and lots of unexpected situations and plot elements. I could hardly put it down. 

I liked Effie and could understand her choices. I also liked Anya and could understand why she was so wary of the people who tried to help, even though she'd run to them. This is a complex tale, with trauma across generations. Highly recommended. 

Clever Little Thing

Finished April 2

Clever Little Thing by Helena Echlin

This psychological thriller is set in England. Charlotte, who is English, is married to Pete, an American. Pete works for a startup company using mushrooms to make biodegradable packaging. They have had some success, but are trying to get a big company on board, so Pete is working long hours. The couple have a daughter, Stella, who is eight, and Charlotte is pregnant with their second child. 

Stella has a lot of the signs of being neurodivergent, but they've not had her tested. She is very sensitive to noise, likes her food separated, and taught herself to read early. She very interested in birds and science, and as we see at the beginning, on a trip to the beach, she finds a dead bird that she wants to bring home to examine. Some of her behaviours can be offputting for the neurotypical kids in her class, and Charlotte is trying to socialize her more. 

Charlotte has a babysitter that looks after Stella, a woman named Blanka, who is very patient with her, and doesn't talk a lot. When Blanka suddenly quits without explanation, Charlotte is surprised and disappointed. When she finds out Blanka died a few days after quitting she is saddened. Shortly afterward, she begins to notice changes in Stella, who seems to be losing her fear over some things, but is becoming more withdrawn. She is using phrases that Blanka used to use like "Oh yes" in her responses, and doesn't seem interested in her usual passions. As Charlotte tries to make sense of these changes, Pete seems to think that Charlotte is making too much of it, and increasingly Charlotte feels herself alone, without anyone to tell her worries to. She reaches out to an unlikely ally and finds herself trusting to herself more than ever before.

This is a story that escalates slowly. We can see the changes in Stella as Charlotte notes them, and understand her growing worries, and why she takes some drastic actions. Charlotte loves Stella as she is, and while she wants Stella to be able to function more easily in school and have friends, she also feels that Stella isn't herself and finds herself thinking about Blanka and how Stella seems to be exhibiting more and more elements of Blanka's personality. 

This is a story of manipulation, of love between mothers and daughters, with an eerie underlying tone. The touches of creepiness are so well done, and you feel Charlotte's frustration and desperation as she tries to understand and save her children. 

Hard to put down. 

The Golden Hour

Finished January 24

The Golden Hour by T. Greenwood

This is a book I plucked off my shelves to meet a reading challenge, and it was so much more than I expected. The central character here is Wyn Davies. She is an artist who has started selling custom art featuring birch trees to match clients' decor. She doesn't love this work, but it pays some of her bills. Wyn is unhappy about a lot of things in her life, and she recently asked her husband Gus for a separation. She now lives in the other half of their New York duplex and their four-year-old daughter Avery moves back and forth.

When Wyn was thirteen, she took a shortcut home from school through the woods and was violently attacked. The police found the boy involved, Robby Rousseau, walking home with blood on him and he soon confessed. He has spent the last twenty years in prison, but now his supporters are fighting for DNA testing on the evidence and a new trial. Wyn can't face that, and when she receives a threatening phone call, she decides to take her friend Pilar up on her offer to stay with her for a few months in an old house she bought on an island in Maine. 

As Wyn struggles to identify all her feelings, her fears, and her hopes, she must face the truth about her past, one that is gradually revealed over the course of the novel, and figure out what she wants for her future. In the house she discovers another woman's story, and gets caught up in that .

This is a very intriguing book, one that had me reading into the wee hours. I liked the way that art was so important here, and how Wyn worked through her fears. A great read. 

The Blue Hour

Finished August 22

The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins

This novel is centered around Eris, a small island in Scotland, accessible only during low tide via a causeway. Vanessa Chapman, a famous artist known for her moods and innovative work, owned the island and lived there in a house she renovated after it being unoccupied for many years. She also transformed the barn into her studio, doing not only painting, but also pottery and multimedia work there. Despite her ownership, the island outside of the buildings is open to the public and does get some visitor traffic. 

When Vanessa's ex-husband Julian disappeared shortly after a visit with her, she became the prime suspect, but the police couldn't find any evidence to charge her of the crime. 

An exhibition that Vanessa was planning was inexplicably cancelled just after the disappearance, leading to a rift with her long-time agent, Douglas Fairburn, a man who was also a lover despite his married status. With Vanessa's recent death, her friend Grace, a local doctor, inherited the island and the task of sifting through her work and papers to transfer the artistic material to the Fairburn Foundation, a gallery owned by aforementioned Douglas. Douglas has also recently died in an accident and his son Sebastian is putting pressure on Grace to transfer the remaining artistic material to the foundation. 

When one of Chapman's multimedia pieces causes an investigation following an exhibition at the Tate, questions are raised about Julian's death again. 

Gallery curator Becker is tasked with meeting with Grace to convince her to finalize the transfer. Becker is a big fan of Vanessa Chapman and knows her work well. He wants to have a cordial meeting to convince Grace, but the meeting unveils other information that he and the gallery weren't aware of. There is an interesting plot element, that of Becker's wife, Helena, now pregnant, who was previously Sebastian's fiancée. 

There are many interesting facets to this story from the history of the island itself to many questions that become apparent over the course of the novel. Is Julian dead, and if so was he killed and where is his body? Was Douglas' death really an accident? What happened to the missing art pieces Vanessa had listed for the cancelled exhibit? Why did Vanessa leave her art legacy to the Fairburn Foundation despite her falling out with Douglas? What was the nature of the relationship between Vanessa and Grace? 

The two main narrators here are Becker and Grace, and each have their own secrets and motivations. Becker is a man who lacks confidence despite his knowledge and expertise, and Grace is a woman who has struggled with rejection and friendships. 

This is a slow-moving page-turner, with lots of suspense.  

The Guest

Finished June 27

The Guest by B.A. Paris

A twisty mysterious suspenseful tale of the type I've come to expect from B.A. Paris. The couple at the center of this novel, Iris and Gabriel have been married a long time. Their daughter Beth is taking a gap year volunteering in Turkey for an organization that works with abandoned and abused dogs. 

Recently Gabriel was the first one on the scene when a teenager, Charlie died after going over the edge of a nearby quarry. Charlie was still alive and said some things to Gabriel before he died. Gabriel had coached Charlie a few years back, and was deeply affected by this tragic experience. He is now on leave from his medical practice for an indeterminate time. Iris has a home-based business where she works with homeowners to decorate and furnish their spaces. The experience that Gabriel had has made for a distance in their marriage. 

As the novel begins, they arrive home a day early from their holidays and find an old friend Laure in their home. Laure is distraught, and says that Pierre, her husband has told her he had a child with someone and has just discovered her. He hasn't told Laure who the woman is, but Laure has suspicions. Iris had long wanted children, but Pierre did not, so she feels very betrayed at this point and is trying to figure out what she wants to do. As Iris tries to escape Laure's presence, she finds new friends in the village, a couple near her age that recently moved into a large property that had been abandoned for years. Hugh and Esme are in a second marriage for both of them, with Hugh widowed with a grown child and Esme divorced. Esme is now pregnant and eager to make new friends as well as bring the old house back to life. Along with them is Joseph a gardener that Esme's parents knew, who has recently lost his job. Joseph is helping with the grounds of the house. 

As the friendship begins, the presence of both Laure and Joseph bring tension to the atmosphere. Most of the characters have secrets that they haven't shared that will soon come to be uncovered, unless circumstances allow them to stay secret. 

There is lots of suspense here, with tension between many of the characters, and the ending is unexpected and unnerving. A real page-turner. 

Goodnight Stranger

Finished May 26

Goodnight Stranger by Miciah Bay Gault

This tale is set mostly on Wolf Island, a fictional island near Martha's Vineyard. The main character Lydia Moore is 29 and feeling like she is stuck, unable to have a fulfilling life. She went to college for almost one term, but returned home due to her mother's illness. She has stayed in the family home, with her twin brother Lucas, who has extreme anxiety. She works seasonally in the information booth near the ferry dock. She likes to look at those exiting the ferry and classify them as tourist, visitor, or resident. One day she notices someone who doesn't fit, and makes eye contact with him. She feels compelled to meet him and soon he has found his way into her life.

Lucas is sure this man, Cole Anthony, is the reincarnation of their dead sibling, Baby B (real name Colin), who died when they were infants. If he hadn't, they would be triplets. Lydia isn't convinced despite things that he does or knows about them. She is determined to find his real identity to save herself from what she feels is a man taking over her life. 

Along the way, she finds help from an unlikely new friend, and perhaps a way to break out of the rut her life was in before. She also gets to know some of her fellow islanders and things about the island that are new to her. 

This is a story with a dark tone, as Lydia feels menaced by this man she has met. Sometimes it feels like things are eerie and haunting, and sometimes just uneasy. I liked how Lydia was able to find strength within herself to continue her search for the truth. 

A story that is hard to put down.  

The Stranger Inside

Finished August 21

The Stranger Inside by Lisa Unger

This mystery suspense novel takes place around an unnamed American city. There are two main characters that we see the story from: Rain Winter, an woman who worked as a national news reporter, but has taken some time off since the birth of her daughter; and Hank, a childhood friend who is now a child psychologist. There is also another voice that is anonymous at first, a person that we get to know gradually. 

As the story opens, a man who was acquitted on a technicality of his wife's murder has been found dead in his home under unusual circumstances. A prologue has set the scene for this. 

Rain's journalism instincts, along with her own past, are alerted by this and she decides to follow the story. She talks about returning to work in some way, perhaps as a freelance reporter. As she follows up on this, she also gets drawn back into her own past, and we learn of a significant childhood trauma, one that ended a close friendship between three young children and left those who remained alive severely traumatized. 

This is a novel that reveals things slowly in bits and pieces, adding to the mystery and the suspense. 

I liked the character of Rain, her sense of independence, and her drive. Her husband Greg is more of a secondary figure, as is her journalism partner Gillian. 

Hank is a complex character from the beginning, obviously still haunted by his past experiences. 

A fascinating and surprising read. 

The Book of Cold Cases

Finished May 22

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

This book is centered on a young woman who was a victim of a crime in her childhood, and who now writes a true crime blog in her spare time. Shea Collins works as a receptionist in a medical office and has a trust issue due to her past experience. It is 2017, and Shea has lately been interested in a cold case from forty years ago. She lives and works near the area of the crimes, and finds herself visiting places connected with the case. 

The 1977 crime consisted of two killings of men. Both were shot at close range with the same gun. A wealthy young woman, Beth Greer, was seen leaving one of the crime scenes and was tried for the murders, but acquitted. When Shea runs into Beth by chance, she impulsively asks her for an interview and to her surprise, Beth agrees. 

This connection opens other doors and leads Shea to new sources of information on the crime. She learns a lot about Beth's family and her reclusive life, and she finds herself noticing things  at the mansion that Beth lives in that have no rational explanation, and make her very uneasy. 

One of Shea's fans is a local private investigator and ex-cop, Michael De Vos, and she has often bounced ideas off of him. She's never met him, but she has a connection with him, and this case strengthens that connection. 

She also has her married sister Esther, who lives nearby, and who worries about her. And there is the unexpected appearance of a stray cat, who Shea more or less adopts and who helps her make a breakthrough in some of the issues she has from her own experiences.

I found Shea a very interesting character, a woman who wants to overcome her issues, but doesn't really know how to. She's so used to putting up barriers in her life, that she finds it difficult to remove them. The cold case, and the mysterious Beth bring a level of the paranormal to the book, that makes it creepy in moments that leave you holding your breath. 

A great read. 

The Needle

Finished April 29

The Needle by Francis King

This is a short novel about the relationship between two siblings. Lorna, the eldest is a doctor, with the practice located on the lower level of her home. Her partner, Matty, is also a friend, and up until the return of Lorna's brother Bob from Kuala Lumpur three years earlier, had been a frequent visitor upstairs. Bob and Matty don't seem to like each other much, but they aren't overt about it. Lorna, a widow, also has a grown daughter, Edie who visits from time to time. 

Lorna and Bob grew up with a stepfather who entered the picture shortly after Bob was born. Lorna fondly remembers their father, who died of a sudden illness before Bob was born. Bob was a weak boy, fond of telling fanciful stories, until he was sent to boarding school. He returned more silent and shuttered. 

While he lives with Lorna, and supposedly makes a little money from short-lived acting roles, he doesn't share with her. She has no real idea what he does with his time, who his friends are, or much really about his life. He is in many ways as dependent on her as he was when they were young, but much more secretive about her life. 

As elements of his life begin to intrude on Lorna's life, she begins asking questions and learning more about him, learning about things that aren't that comfortable to know. As she learns of his actions, her reaction is also a surprise. 

An interesting, yet unsettling read. 

I Found You

Finished February 28

I Found You by Lisa Jewell

Single mom Alice Lake hasn't always made the best decisions when it comes to men. Each of her three children has a different father, none of whom are present in their lives. So when she sees a man on the beach in front of her home in the resort town of Ridinghorse Bay, she resists the urge to see what he's doing there, at least at first. But eventually she approaches him and she ends up taking him under her wing when she discovers his situation. 

Her youngest dubs him Frank, and immediately accepts him, while her older two are more wary. Alice herself isn't sure about what she is doing, but it feels like the right thing to do. 

As small things gradually remind Frank of things from his life, she both hopes he will remember more and is scared of what he will remember, as is he/

Near London Lily waits at home for her husband Carl, but he doesn't arrive. She can't understand it. They've only been married a couple of weeks, and he has been hurrying home from work, eager to be with her, bringing her gifts. But the night before he didn't arrive and Lily knows that something is wrong. She knows little about her new husband, and less about where she now is. They met when he was at a conference in her country of Ukraine, and had a whirlwind romance. She's been continuing her studies online and wanting to meet his friends and family, but he wanted to keep her to himself a while longer, or so he said. 

She knows something is wrong when he doesn't answer his phone, and she isn't sure where he might be, but she is determined to find him. When the police get involved, she learns some disturbing things about him and begins to have questions herself, but it doesn't dissuade her from her search for him. 

As a reader, I sensed early on that these two situations were connected, but was very surprised to find out how. 

This is a tale of suspense, a tale of loss and grief, and a tale of hope for the future. I really liked Alice, and was intrigued by Frank. A book I found hard to put down. 

Behind Every Lie

Finished February 2

Behind Every Lie by Christina McDonald

This is a real page-turner of a novel. It takes place mostly in the Seattle area, with a quick journey to England. Eva Hansen wakes up in the hospital confused and uncertain where she is. She has been struck by lightning and the last thing she remembers is being at a restaurant celebrating her mother's recent award. One of the first things she learns after waking is that her mother Kat is dead, found murdered in her own home, and Eva's car was near her mother's house and she was found in a nearby park.

Eva doesn't believe that she had anything to do with her mother's death, but the police seem to suspect her, and because she can't remember, she doesn't know what happened. 

She decides that she must dig into her and her mother's past to clear her name and find out the truth. This takes her back to London, where she was born, and as she digs deeper, she is unsure who she can trust.

Her brother Andrew seems unsure whether to believe that she is uninvolved, her partner Liam seems to be trying to keep her from talking to the police, and she has doubts about her own behaviour. 

As her memories slowly come back to her and she learns her mother's secrets, she realizes that things are more complex than she realized. 

This book had me gripped to find out what happened next. One secret after another is revealed, slowly as Eva along with the reader learns the truth. Eva is a woman who has been unsure of herself for many reasons, one who hasn't trusted her own instincts until now. 

Die For You

Finished January 15

Die For You by Lisa Unger

This is a fast-moving suspense novel that I had trouble putting down. 

Isabel has been married to Marcus for a few years, after he showed up at a bookstore where she was doing an author reading. Before that, she'd thought that a deep and lasting relationship like that of her sister's was something that would never be hers.

There have been a couple of blips in their marriage, but things are going well as the novel begins. Marcus leaves for work one morning, prepping for an important meeting, and doesn't come home. The following day, when Isabel goes to his office in search of answers, there is a dramatic raid there and she is left with even more questions.

When the police begin to dig into her husband's past and find that he wasn't who she thought he was, she remains determined to get to the bottom of things, and find the real answers as to why he married her and where he has gone. 

Isabel is a writer of novels herself and her mind works in problem-solving ways on a regular basis as she creates her plots. She is good at piecing together bits and pieces to make a story, and she begins to do that with her husband. She has some bits from her own experiences with him, and more from others who interacted with him, and as she researches she finds more disparate pieces that bring her to follow a faint trail back to his native Czech Republic. 

I loved Isabel as a woman who has been taken advantage of and won't give up in her search for answers. She has been underestimated by more than just her husband, and she faces the unknown with facts. 

Cold to the Touch

Finished January 10

Cold to the Touch by Frances Fyfield

Fyfield is one of the queens of the psychological suspense novel and this one is no exception. The central character here is Sarah Fortune , a woman who has made a career out of helping men overcome a variety of issues and build relationships. This is the sixth book in the series featuring Sarah. Here she has a younger friend, Jessica, who she encounters one early morning in London and takes back to her flat. She tries to find out what is going on with Jessica, discovering only that Jessica had gone to the Smithfield meat market in hopes of meeting a man she has strong feelings for and ended up making a fool of herself. Jessica is a very spontaneous, emotional young woman, and when Sarah makes an offhand remark about wanting to leave London for a cottage near the sea, Jessica immediately seizes upon it, and arranges for Sarah to rent a house that Jessica's mother owns in the small village of Pennyvale, where Jessica grew up.

As Sarah enjoys the village, spending time walking through the countryside, watching the people, and the sea, she stays in touch with Jessica, and tries to find out why Jessica feels she can't come home, and also tries to advise Jessica about this mysterious man she can't seem to get over. Sarah hasn't yet engaged directly with Jessica's mother who seems to be a sad figure, unhappy and yet somehow still involved in many of the village goings on. 

When Jessica tells Sarah that she will come visit, and never arrives, Sarah must go back to London, looking for the clues for Jessica's fate, and trying to find her mystery man. 

Sarah is a very interesting character, a woman who is open-minded, intelligent, and kind. She seems to have good relationships with the men she's been involved with previously, and is attractive to men in general. She has good instincts, and pays attention to details. She is a good friend and cares about people. 

And yet she can also be ruthless when needed, and calculating. 

I really enjoyed both the characters here (Andrew the local vicar, and Jeremy the butcher's helper in particular in addition to Sarah) and found the plot quite intriguing. A great read. 

How a Woman Becomes a Lake

Finished May 20

How a Woman Becomes a Lake by Marjorie Celona

This novel about a woman who disappears on New Year's Day, and the subsequent ramifications of that disappearance is haunting. Vera Gusev had gone out that morning with her dog, to walk by the lake. But something different happened. She used the phone in one of the parking lots there to call the police, saying that she'd found a boy, lost. Then she cried out and left the phone. 

This story begins with the police officer, Lewis, as he finds her car, engine running and doors open, and her dog, but no sign of her. 

A man, Leo, and his two young sons, Jesse, ten, and Dmitri, six, also went to the lake that morning. Leo wanted to write resolutions on paper and make boats to set off on the lake. Leo and his wife Evelina had recently separated, and Leo has taken the boys for this outing this morning. Evelina is worried about how long they've been gone and has called around considering accidents and other such reasons. 

Last night Vera and her husband Denny had an argument, and Denny had gone to see the fireworks alone and then drunk too much. When he awakens to an empty house, he doesn't worry right away, not knowing for sure exactly when his wife left on her outing, but is uneasy about her absence and regretful of their fight. Things haven't been going well lately and he is worried about their relationship, but loves her.

As we learn more about these characters, their motivations, and their worries, we see how their lives intersect, and how they deal with this situation in different ways. We gradually learn what really happened that day, and what the long-term implications are.

I found Vera's viewpoint very interesting, in a cosmic way. This is a story of random encounters that changed people's lives. 

Perfect Little Children

Finished May 15

Perfect Little Children by Sophie Hannah

Beth hasn't seen her former best friend in twelve years and she isn't sure what prompted the interest now, but when her son has a football game near her friend's house, she decides to take a look. She has no intention of approaching her. But as Beth is sitting in her car outside the house, she sees a vehicle arrive. Flora is driving, but when she gets out, paying more attention to the phone call she is on than anything else, something seems off. And when Ben sees her usher two children out of the vehicle, children with the same names and at the same ages as the children Flora and her husband had twelve years ago, Beth is stunned. She doesn't know what to think. But she can't let it go.

Beth's husband Dominic humours her at first, but becomes irritated when she won't give up, despite being given plausible answers. 

Beth is still bothered by the breakup of the friendship, seemingly for social reasons, but as she thinks about it more and more, she wonders if there wasn't more to Flora's behaviour even back then. The reader gradually learns of the circumstances around the rift, and has similar misgivings to Beth. 

This is a book of psychological suspense, one that is hard to put down. 

I really liked the character of Beth's daughter Zan, and her confidence and intelligence. She plays an important role here, and the relationship between her and Beth is a good one, despite some typical drama.