Tag: ZooLoo's Book Tours

I think I was predisposed to like The Lodge, a new psych thriller by Miranda Rijks. She had me hooked at “game reserve in South Africa.”

Two of the best trips of my life were to Africa. I absolutely devoured the descriptions of the animals on the reserve as they brought back memories of our safaris. A few times in the book, I found myself looking forward to those rather than the actual plot.

I think that’s because the initial setup felt a bit contrived to me. I thought the coincidences were way too “convenient.”

That was right up until the main character, Anna, voiced exactly what I was feeling. That’s when I knew the author had more planned, and I needed to go along for the ride.

I didn’t expect it to be as twisty as it was. And there were certainly a couple of “Oh no way!” moments, especially towards the book’s last third. There is one twist in particular that I never saw coming, which threw the entire story to a different level.

I thought Anna was a sympathetic character – even though her impulsiveness seemed to repeat itself with Clayton and Joel. Clayton is by far one of the creepiest antagonists I’ve ever “met.”

A couple of things didn’t quite ring true and seemed obvious, but those were minor in the bigger picture of the whole story. And the pace is a little bit off. It seemed like there was a long setup, and then once the shoe dropped, it was a race to the end.

As a result, a couple of the resolutions seemed very rushed. But I suppose those are minor gripes.

All in all, I think The Lodge is a great psych thriller and one of the better ones that Miranda Rijks has written. I’ll definitely be looking for her next one.  

The Party by Nora Valters is a psych thriller that you need to suspend your disbelief to be able to fully enjoy. If you do that, you should have no problems with the plot.

The reason I say that is that simply put. There are a few things in this one that absolutely do not ring true. That doesn’t take away from the plot itself. But it could make for some frustrating reading if you don’t just let yourself “go with it.”

The setup is clear in the blurb. Ruth is at the party with a bunch of friends. She allegedly injures a baby. Everyone turns against her. She spends the rest of the book trying to figure out what the truth of the matter is. She knows what she did could not have been that bad.

I found the introductions of the characters to be confusing. Granted it is at a party, so there are a lot of people who need to be identified. But it takes a while after that to figure out who is important in the overall plot and who is just sort of…there.

As to the plot itself, Ruth has a lot going on. After “the incident” (as I generally thought of it), she has to deal with fallout professionally and personally – the latter through both friends and family.

Some of it works and some of it doesn’t.

One of the things that I did struggle with was the reaction of Ruth’s friends (I’ll get to her family in a minute). I did not think it was at all plausible that every single one of them turned against her, including her fiancé. That seemed very much over-the-top overreaction.

At first, I thought that her parents’ reaction fell into that category. But as the story progressed, it became clear that issues with her father ran deeper than just the incident. So, that didn’t bother me as much.

I did like how Ruth began to question her own perception of reality, especially as more events pile on top of the initial one from the party.

And not to give anything away (as always) – but prepare yourself for some wild revelations along the way. I mean, it got seriously gonzo.

Especially by the time the entire truth comes out. Honestly, it’s one of the craziest resolution threads I can think of in recent memory.

Remember what I said at the beginning of the review, about suspending disbelief? Yeah – you’ll appreciate the author’s goals for the resolution if you do that at the “big reveal.”

Nora Valters has certainly written a unique psych thriller with The Party. I will continue to look for her books.