Month: December 2022

A Small Affair by Flora Collins is one of the more unique books I’ve read this year. I have a hard time defining it. Mystery? Thriller? Mystery Thriller? All of the above?

The reader knows from the beginning that something happened to Vera that turned her world upside down and inside out.

However, the exact details of that are revealed slowly throughout the entire book. There are answers right away, but don’t mistake that for knowing everything about what happened.

You don’t.

The author saves some info until literally the very last pages.

Vera is a tough character to like. I wanted to feel sorry for her because of “the event” and how it affected her. But in the flashbacks to her life pre-event, she is not a very likable person.

I think this conundrum made the book more interesting. It kept me actively disliking the person but rooting for her because of the situation.

There are parts that appear to be uneven. But that is only a superficial way of looking at the plot. In reality, the author paints the story in layers.

No, strike that. The author makes a collage of the events, with some characters more prominent than others. Just like Vera does.

I just now put that together.

That being said, there are layers to the onion when it comes to the plot. For example, it might seem like a departure for the author to flashback to Odilie’s past – but there’s a reason for that.

Just like there’s a reason for detailing Odilie and Tom’s relationship.

Honestly, it’s all just very twisted.

I did think that the end was a little bit disappointing. It seemed to wrap up too neatly after the mess that was Vera’s life leading up to then.

But it turns out that what she had was anything but a small affair. And Flora Collins keeps the mystery going to the end.

Just when I think that Carol Wyer has created the ultimate mystery/thriller novel, she outdoes herself. As much as I love her other series, I think Behind Closed Doors may be my new favorite.

I don’t know if it’s because it’s a stand-alone or just because she’s that good. At any rate, I’ll put it out right here that this should 100% be on your TBR list.

You can read the blurb for the basics. Stacey survived a horrific experience when she was younger and has long since buried the memories of that time. However, when her ex shows up and says his daughter Lyra (Stacey’s ex-stepdaughter) is missing, events are too similar for Stacey to ignore.

Is the person responsible for Stacey’s horror the same person who took Lyra? Is it a copycat? Or is the truth more nefarious?

Yeah, right, like I’m going to give ANY of that away!

One area where this author really excels is in making the reader feel like they’re a part of the action. She really grabs you, reels you in, and keeps you on the hook as she keeps you running along with the characters.

She also treats her secondary characters with as much respect as her lead characters. Every one of them has their part to play. Nobody is superfluous. It just adds to the realism of her stories.

In this case, I loved the secondary characters almost more than the leads. Stacey knows a lot of people, some legit and some seriously shady, and I was thoroughly entertained seeing how each of them helped her along the way.

My challenge with these reviews is that I want to talk about the plot, but I don’t want to give away any of the several excellent moments in the story. I’ve said it in my reviews of her books before, but they’re just so smooth.

There are no last-minute revelations that come out of nowhere. Anything that happens has had ample groundwork laid for it. It’s totally on the reader if they don’t follow that path to the conclusion.

And hang on to your seat because there are revelations right up to the very last page.

I know this is supposed to be a stand-alone, but I’d love to see Stacey again.

Anyway, I can’t say enough good things about Behind Closed Doors. From the cover to the opening to the very last pages, Carol Wyer has created one humdinger of a mystery thriller.

I can’t quite define The Opportunist by Elyse Friedman. I suppose it is part thriller, part family drama? But I’m not sure that accurately describes it.

Alana is pretty much estranged from her extremely wealthy family for reasons unknown until later in the book. And then more reasons appear even later in the plot. But more on that…later.

Her brothers worry about their place in the inheritance line when their father takes up with his much younger nurse. They ask for Alana’s help in breaking up the relationship in the most drastic way. “Messy family dynamics” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

I think that is one of the things that I didn’t get about the book – a lot of things seemed like they were overreactions to the actual situation. The family thrived on drama. I suppose there was a good reason, as we find out via flashbacks.

Turns out the family has always been a mess with a dark side.

The chapters aren’t set up with titles so that the reader knows when they are and who is “remembering.” So, you kind of have to pay close attention to that.

Additionally, there are characters and situations that seem thrown in just because…with no real follow-through. And some things come out of nowhere.

For example, Alana’s daughter’s condition isn’t entirely necessary in the bigger scheme of things (unless I missed something somewhere). Stephen comes and goes for one thing. Gertrud also is a mystery, especially given the events at the end.

And don’t get me started on the “twist” about Ed. That felt extremely gratuitous like the author needed to have something contemporary to draw it all together. Oh, and Alana’s sister Lillian as well.

Frankly, the whole middle was muddled to me, like the author had a lot they wanted to put in but didn’t exactly know how to fit it all? And I guessed a major twist about halfway through. Although, to be fair, it was so messy that I wasn’t sure if I was right or not.

What’s funny, though, is that once I accepted that mess, I started looking at everything through a different lens, wondering if I was right and how the author was going to resolve it all.

Turns out that any one of the characters could have been the opportunist. And I liked the book better afterward than I did while I was reading it. Elyse Friedman has written an odd thriller that I would still recommend.