Tag: Books On Tour

Do I Really Know You? by Sheryl Browne is a psych thriller that keeps the suspense building. The reader has to guess who is telling the truth, who is lying, and who can be trusted.

Turns out that none of the characters are really easy to know. That goes for the characters knowing each other as well as the reader figuring everything out.

As is usual with a psych thriller, the story starts with a prologue that features an event. But it is impossible to tell who the victim is and who is the perpetrator.

That continues into the present-day action. But first, there is a brief flashback to fifteen years prior that provides backstory to the relationships between the four main characters: Kiara, Dave, Maddie, and Nathan.

We then enter present time. It quickly becomes apparent that none of them really know each other at all. And that goes for the married couples as well as the long-time friendships.

Maddie begins to question everything when a tragic “accident” involving Kiara throws the remaining three friends into turmoil, especially as their disbelief of each other is strengthened during the police investigation.

Who is lying? Why are people hiding secrets? Who is the victim in all of this? Are additional people pulling the strings, or is it a coincidence?

The author wisely keeps the answers to these questions mostly hidden until the end, which leaves the reader guessing right along with Maddie. As a result, she’s the one who becomes pivotal in the whole scheme of things.

I did guess one of the twists from the beginning, but as I have mentioned before, it’s more because I like to try to outguess the author. However, other readers will find the reveal of the culprit to be a surprise.

There are other twists and surprises that I did not guess. I liked the balance of obvious (to me) and not knowing something until the author revealed it.

I’m a big fan of Sheryl Browne (see also The Invite), and Do I Really Know You? is another solid psych thriller from her.

Author Bio:

Bestselling Author, Sheryl Browne, writes taut, twisty psychological thriller. A member of the Crime Writers’ Association and the Romantic Novelists’ Association, Sheryl has several books published and two short stories in Birmingham City University anthologies where she completed her MA in Creative Writing. Sheryl has also obtained a Certificate of Achievement in Forensic Science and – according to readers – she makes an excellent psychopath. Sheryl’s latest psychological thriller DO I REALLY KNOW YOU? comes to you from BOOKOUTURE. Her previous works include the DI Matthew Adams Crime Thriller series, along with contemporary fiction novels, The Rest of My Life and Learning to Love.

Shalini Boland continues to grow as a psych thriller author. A Perfect Stranger is a combination of taut scenes, complex characters, and “omg, what did I just read” moments.

Even as the reader has to suspend disbelief just a bit, it is not hard to do so because the entertainment level is so high.

In other words, you’re not going to get a lot of depth, but you’re going to get a page-turning and engaging psych thriller if you just roll with it.

Like many psych thrillers, the story starts with an event before going back in time to the months leading up to that event. Sometimes it is easy to see how the event plays into current events.

In this case, however, it is not so apparent. I spent a good part of the first half of the book wondering how the prologue fits into the narrative. I like that it kept me guessing.

Even as Emily and Aidan circle around the issues they are facing it is easy to see that there is a lot more going on underneath the surface. Some of that doesn’t appear until way late in the book.

Again, it is an effective way to keep the reader hooked.

The story unfolds in alternating chapters, going back and forth between Emily and Dani’s points of view. As with other aspects, it takes a while to figure out how they are connected.

And oh boy, are they.

The way those are revealed is part of the suspension of disbelief that I mentioned earlier. But by the time you actually get to the point where you need to do that, you are all in.

The author wisely drops some red herrings along with some legit clues as to what is causing all of the trouble for both Emily and Dani.

Even after you get to the event of the prologue, there is still more to come. The author saves one big twist for the very end.

And that twist illustrates just how everyone in this book is pretty much a perfect stranger to everyone else.

Shalini Boland has done it again. If you liked her other books, such as The Family Holiday, you’ll like A Perfect Stranger.

Author Bio:

Shalini lives in Dorset, England with her husband, two children and Jess their cheeky terrier cross. Before kids, she was signed to Universal Music Publishing as a singer songwriter, but now she spends her days writing suspense thrillers (in between school runs and hanging out endless baskets of laundry).

The Resort by Sue Watson is a psych thriller that has some Agatha Christie elements and is mostly a good read.

I’ll explain that in a bit.

I liked the setup of a luxury hotel on an island. Not being familiar with the area, however, I wasn’t sure if I believed how “tropical” it could be. It sometimes feels like the descriptions stick between “old school glamour” and tropical.

I also liked the whodunit aspect of the plot. In an isolated place, there are theoretically a finite number of suspects, so anyone could have been the culprit for the horrible events.

This feeling was especially strong when the police announced that nobody was going to be able to leave the island. You could almost feel the gate come down around the resort.

However, there were a couple of things that could have been a bit better.

Because the author focuses on the three couples, for the most part, the reader doesn’t get the feeling that anyone else is actually a suspect. So, that seems like a wasted opportunity. Suspicion of one employee seems to dissipate and go unresolved.

There are also a lot of inner monologues of characters thinking about things (sometimes to the point of tedium) and then later explaining that something happened.

I would have preferred there to be more action. The important events should take place “in time” where we can see them happening – not just read about them. This happens a few times, and it is a little disappointing. It also makes the characters slightly boring.

Also, noting whose perspective we are reading from would be helpful. It just felt muddied. And don’t get me started on the investigation by the police. (Ugh).

All that being said, I did guess a few of the twists. But, I did not catch one of the main whodunits, so the author did surprise me on that one.

The Resort has good bones. I didn’t get a lot of “psych” from the psych thriller, but there is a tension that builds throughout. I still like this author and will continue to look forward to her books.

Author Bio:

Sue Watson was a journalist on national magazines and newspapers before becoming a TV producer with the BBC.

Now a USA Today bestselling author, Sue explores the darker side of life, writing psychological thrillers with big twists. Originally from Manchester, she now lives with her family in leafy Worcestershire.

Nicole Trope has become one of my favorite psych thriller authors. I know that I’m going to get a solid story that will probably keep me guessing. His Other Wife is a great example of what she does so well.

I like it when a psych thriller starts out with a scene that actually occurs somewhere later in the story. It makes me actively read, looking for that scene, or for clues that might lead up to that scene.

It is an effective storytelling device because it builds tension, and this author uses it perfectly.

I could tell from the very beginning that there was more to Charlotte than meets the eye. She was too perfect. And anyone that “understanding” usually isn’t.

Sarah, on the other hand, is instantly a sympathetic character. Any mom will be able to relate to her instincts to protect her child at any cost. Coupled with grief, it is easy to see how that could wreak havoc on one’s mental health.

Frankly, I found Gideon to be an idiot and a catalyst for all that happens in the book. If he loved Sarah as much as he said he did (and this is not a spoiler) he wouldn’t have moved on so quickly or easily. Just sayin’.

And then there is Charlotte’s mother, Carol. I have mentioned before how I sometimes get flashed of other characters that I am reminded of, especially when they are vivid.

For me, every time Carol appeared in the book, I pictured the grandmother from Kindergarten Cop. You know, the bad guy’s mom who was constantly telling him what to do? Perfectly dressed, perfect hair, very proper…but a sociopath.

Yeah, got that vibe from Carol.

As for the plot, I did guess part of “psych” part of the psych thriller. I just “had a feeling.” But the author went deeper with it than I expected, so there were aspects that surprised me, which isn’t easy to do.

I particularly liked the endings. And yes, that’s plural, because even though it wraps up in a single epilogue, there are a few different endings to be found. It was actually one of the most satisfying epilogues in recent memory.

If you’re looking for a solid psych thriller for a beach read, pick up His Other Wife. Or, actually, any other Nicole Trope book, like The Stepchild.

About the author

Nicole Trope went to university to study Law but realised the error of her ways when she did very badly on her first law essay because-as her professor pointed out- ‘It’s not meant to be a story.’ She studied teaching instead and used her holidays to work on her writing career and complete a Masters’ degree in Children’s Literature.

The idea for her first published novel, The Boy under the Table, was so scary that it took a year for her to find the courage to write the emotional story.

She lives in Sydney with her husband and three children.

The Boyfriend by Kerry Wilkinson feels like a bit of a departure from past psych thriller stories.

There is a lot of character-building and introspection from Jodie. The story is solely hers. As such, the reader only experiences things from her perspective. Period.

This is good and bad.

It is good because the reader gets to really deep dive into Jodie’s frame of mind and how she deals with everything. But it’s bad because it makes a lot of things one-dimensional. At times it also slows down the action.

You can read the plot points in the blurb and other reviews. Suffice to say that after Jodie’s dad dies, she is left with the responsibility of cleaning out his house. In the process, she finds something that brings past events in her life into question.

It’s a great premise, and it does deliver in many ways. There are plenty of suspects for each of the events, and as Jodie looks at people with a side-eye, so does the reader. The author definitely keeps the reader guessing.

However, there are also characters and events that have promise but lack follow through. Jodie’s mom is kind of a non-entity, conflict with the sister-in-law starts strong but fizzles, and her supposed best friend is just kind of…meh.

And then there is Jodie’s son, Owen. I don’t even know where to start with him. He plays a major part in the story. But it is all odd, really.

Because however you think the story is going to end, you are absolutely wrong. I guarantee it. Not only is the culprit of the main event not who you think, but the author saves one last gigantic “What the heck” moment that will probably drop your jaw to the floor.

Honestly, I am not quite sure of the purpose of it. It doesn’t exactly fit with the rest of the story, and almost seems like it’s gratuitous.

In fact, overall, it feels like this is an early attempt at writing because more recent books have been much more evenly plotted.

Regardless, I still enjoy Kerry Wilkinson’s writing, and The Boyfriend is a good psych thriller if solely for the shock factor.

Check out my review of The Perfect Daughter for a link to other books by Kerry, or type “Kerry Wilkinson” into the search bar! 🙂

Author Bio:

Kerry Wilkinson is from the English county of Somerset but has spent far too long living in the north. It’s there that he’s picked up possibly made-up regional words like ‘barm’ and ‘ginnel’. He pretends to know what they mean.

He’s also been busy since turning thirty: his Jessica Daniel crime series has sold more than a million copies in the UK; he has written a fantasy-adventure trilogy for young adults; a second crime series featuring private investigator Andrew Hunter and the standalone thriller, Down Among The Dead Men.