The Break-up Retreat by Camilla Sten

 In the isolated Swedish wilderness sits the Himlafall Clinic, an ultra exclusive psychological sanctuary promising to cure vulnerable women of their devastating heartbreaks. Intrigued by whispers of malpractice and traumatized patients, investigative journalist Isobel Anderssen goes undercover armed with a fabricated backstory. She intends to expose the clinic’s popular founder, Dr. Martina Hastings. 

Upon arrival, Isobel’s investigation quickly unravels. Her inside contact has not shown up and someone steals her hidden phone. Worst of all, Dr. Hastings displays a predatory ability to get under Isobel’s skin and starts battering her psychological defenses by exposing her relationship issues. It’s as though the doctor is manipulating her and the others in therapy there. The unorthodox methods seem dangerous and Isobel starts to feel threatened as the other women crumble under the strange cult like treatment. 

This premise was good but the execution stumbled because Isobel made some really reckless and frustrating choices. It made me question her journalistic integrity and competence in her pursuit of an expose. The writing really forced that sense of doom as the author focused on creating an atmosphere involving bad weather, isolation, mistrust, the lack of outside communication, and no free will. I struggled to connect with the characters, especially the other patients. I never felt any emotional stake. Definitely the reader will have to suspend a lot of disbelief through some of the melodramatic turns and the over the top conclusion. The wrap up didn’t deliver the payoff I’d hoped for nor any revelations about the whole clinic process.

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, (in her debut performance) Payton Mader, did a fabulous job of voicing the characters and bringing them to life. She wasn’t overly dramatic and her smooth tone and pitch brought a welcome change to audio books where the narrators sometimes sound overwrought and screechy in tense situations. I enjoyed listening to her and the production definitely enhanced my enjoyment of the book. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre and tags: psychological thriller, treatment, clinic, therapy, murder, unhinged characters

Based on a True Story by Sarah Vaughn

 Slow burner of a psychological and domestic thriller

Dame Eleanor Kingman has meticulously crafted her life story, transforming her journey from poverty to a multimillion dollar franchise as a children’s author. Her books, based somewhat on her youngest daughter, have made her rich and… now she finds that she’s a target. 

She’s preparing to celebrate her 70th birthday at a lavish party on her newly purchased Cornish cliff side estate. Suddenly, the carefully curated facade beings to crack. While a journalist and his crew prepare to film a documentary about her life and rise to fame, Eleanor starts to receive threatening emails. Someone wants to expose her and out the lies she’s hidden for almost fifty years. 

All of the tension is not just Eleanor’s as her three adult daughters, Gilly, Rachel, and Delia, are also having some intense issues and are hiding some serious secrets of their own. 

This is a slow burning family drama that focuses on identity, truth, and betrayal. The setting on the isolated, windswept cliff at Cornwall creates a mood as well. This was not a bad novel, it just took so long to get to the point and it seemed eons until it got there while also being quite predictable and contained all the typical tropes of the genre. 

The narrative shifted in points of view with some time jumps as well. Granted, the family is dysfunctional and the characters are not really likable. The theme reflecting the nature and cost of maintaining a public persona especially rings true when the main character is threatened with revelation of those long buried secrets.

I was able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, Juliet Stevenson, had a huge job trying to differentiate all the female characters to make them unique. Since so many were female, this story would have been better served in this format to have a larger cast. All those female voices blended together and it was hard to distinguish between the characters if I had not been reading along at the same time. She did a decent job, but some of those accents and tones were a bit much. As always, however, I always enjoy the immersive experience of a simultaneous read while listening. 

3.5 stars

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre and tags: psychological and domestic drama, thriller, mystery, author, murder, assault, secrets and lies, adultery, Cornwall

Marion by Leah Rowan

 Debut author delivers a razor sharp, modern “rage thriller” adaptation of Hitchcock’s iconic movie, PSYCHO. The story flips the classic horror script on its head, centering on a woman who is on the run with stolen money when she meets up with a deeply unstable man. 

Marion Cage, the name she uses when she checks into the secluded, outdated Billings Motel, is full of contemporary fury over toxic power dynamics and a situation of spousal abuse involving her sister. When she’s attacked in the shower by a knife wielding Norman Billings, things don’t end in the familiar way. Now she’s started something. 

I had such high hopes for this novel and it started out with a fast pace. The core suspense and the angry woman aspects were good, but then it got over the top and veered into the unbelievable. I particularly didn’t care for so much repetition and also this constant voice of Marion’s mother in her head. The attempted twists and red herrings were a bit far fetched and kept the reader off kilter. There are several unanswered questions and I was not a fan of the ending. 

The story alternates between the point of view of Marion (we never learn her real first name) and a private investigator named Hannah. Now Hannah really irritated me with her social commentary and virtue signaling and I didn’t care for her character at all. 

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrators, Tawny Platis and Natalie Naudus, had a satisfactory, if not somewhat overwrought at times, performance. Some of my annoyance might be due to the text they had to speak and the repetition of certain words. Since most of the novel involved female dialogue, they both managed to come up with accents and tones to try to make them sound unique and different. Listening while reading always enhances my enjoyment of a book. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre tags: spousal abuse, murder, toxic masculinity, rage, revenge, embezzlement, adaptation or reimagining of Hitchcock’s movie Psycho

Missing Sister by Joshilyn Jackson

 Domestic drama and thriller focusing on sisterhood and revenge. 

Penny Albright is a rookie police officer in Georgia, a career path she chose after her twin sister, Nix, died of a drug overdose when she fell apart as the result of a traumatic sexual assault. While responding to her very first homicide scene, Penny is stunned to find that the victim is Danny Bowery, one of the three men responsible for her sister's downward spiral. 

While searching the area, Penny finds a woman named Thalia Gray covered in blood and holding the box cutter that had just killed Danny. Instead of arresting her, Penny hesitates when Thalia utters the word, "sisters." Penny gets it into her head that this woman knew or was connected to Nix.  Penny lets Thalia escape. 

From then on, Penny is on a mission to uncover who Thalia is and why she is seeking vengeance for her sister's death. 

This was a character driven mystery thriller that tries to balance a personal vendetta with a crime investigation. Since Penny steps away from the police and her job, this is all focused on her own investigative skills and judgement. There is a lot of emphasis on internal conflict, right and wrong, and doing what needs to be done. Penny has a lot of grief and guilt and she makes some bad decisions putting herself and her family at risk. It's kind of a slow burn with all the extraneous family dynamics and some repetition with how much she misses Nix and how she can't get over her death. But then the second half takes off and it all comes together with some surprising twists. 

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book, both provided by the publishers. The narrator was the author herself, which was a first for me. I really think, that although Joshilyn did a decent job, that the production would have benefited from a full cast. And, full disclosure, the way she voiced the character of Thalia got on my last nerve -- too breathy for my taste. She deftly handled the southern accents typical of Georgia natives.  I do feel, however, that the immersive experience of listening and reading really enhanced my enjoyment of the book.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre and tags: murder mystery, twins, sexual assault, sex trafficking, drugs, family, police procedural, suspense, crime thriller, revenge, moral quandary 

Writers and Liars by Carol Goodman

 Atmospheric locked room mystery that is steeped in Greek mythology and hints at the dark underbelly of the antiquities trade.

Maia Gold is a museum supervisor who wrote a successful debut novel years ago during an exclusive writers' retreat on Eris, a private Greek island. That week ended in bitter personal betrayal, however, involving her boyfriend, Ian, and her new best friend, Annika. Maia's novel, based on that drama, ultimately ended her writing career. 

Now it's 15 years later, and billionaire Argos Alexander invites a few of the original cohort back to the island. When all arrive, the host is missing but has left instructions with the housekeeper for a writing contest. They retreat to their rooms to try their chances at winning the promised prize but in the morning, instead of Argos waiting to give out awards, they find his dead body. 

Of course, there's no phone or any means of communication. They are trapped on the island. As suspensions fester and another body is discovered, Maia must figure out the secrets hidden on the island. Fortunately, she has expertise in Greek mythology and uses that knowledge to guide her quest.

This was quite the lesson in Greek mythology (unfortunately not a subject that I am familiar with) and sometimes it seemed way too much. The pacing relies on a shifting timeline between several discrete periods -- the distant past when Maia's parents were on the island, when the first writers' retreat occurred, and now in the present with the return. With so few characters, it was easy to sort quickly who the probably villain must be. It's a whodunit, but definitely has a lot of intellectual subplots and extraneous information that overwhelms the narrative. The fast-paced action scenes and the descriptions of some parts of the island were quite over the top, but the book was entertaining even as it was predictable. 

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publisher. The narrator, Kirsten Potter, had quite a time with all the characters as she tried to voice both male and female characters without sounding exaggerated. Although she did a decent job, a full cast or at least a male and female speaker for those parts would definitely have balanced out the dialog a little better. I always enjoy listening to a book while reading because it allows me to fully immerse myself in the story and enhances my enjoyment of the book.

3.5 stars

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre and tags: writers, antiquities, Greek mythology, murder, manipulation, Greek island 

The Trad Wife’s Secret by Liane Child

 Behind the filter — the #tradwife exposed in this psychological and domestic suspense thriller.

On her idyllic Montana homestead, Madison March is the ultimate social media commodity: a flawless, apron-wearing “triad wife baking sourdough for her rancher husband, Michael, and their four adorable children. Over a million followers crave her aesthetic. But when Cally, a tutor feeling her own mistakes, enters the home, the flawless filter starts to slip. Told through 3 fractured perspectives: the ruthlessly curated Madison, the desperate tutor Cally, and Brianna, a young girl trapped in a parallel homesteading nightmare. 

This novel un peels the toxic, high level deception behind the lens of influencers. In the March house, submission isn’t just a lifestyle choice; it’s a survival tactic.

This novel offered an interesting look at the dark side of internet influencer culture and the modern homesteading movement, but it ultimately fell into predictable patterns and required a huge suspension of disbelief at the coincidences and connections. The atomosphere was tense and the ominous behavior of Michael was threatening and unsettling as he exerts his dominance and control. The contrast between the online image and the grim reality provided a good setup for the expectation of bad things to come. The final chapters really were over the top stretching believability a huge step too far. 

I was able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator, Lauryn Allman, did a good job of voicing the many characters in this novel and tried to keep accents and tones such that they did not blend together and retrained some individuality. Since most of the characters were women and children, she had a lot to keep straight. I always think a story like this would benefit from a full cast especially to have at least one solid male voice. Listening always enhances my enjoyment of the book as it creates an immersive experience. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre and tags: suspense, tradwife, domestic abuse, infertility, assault, social media influencer, mother, children, murder

Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth

 A wonderful character driven drama that avoids typical thriller cliches and defies categorization.

Elsie Fitzpatrick is an 81-year-old woman living a quiet life in a Melbourne suburb. Her peace is shattered when she goes to the aid of a neighbor only to find him dead on the kitchen floor. The police investigate and uncover Elsie’s true identity; she is actually Mabel Waller. In 1954, at the age of 15, she became the youngest person convicted of murder in Australian history. She was known to the public as Mad Mabel. As notoriety once again revisits, Elsie decides to tell her side of the story to a pair of YouTubers. 

The narrator I’ve alternatives between Elsie’s childhood in the 1950s and her present-day reality. The very large personality that is Elsie is blunt, grumpy, unbothered by social niceties, and extremely cynical and funny. I actually laughed out loud so many times at her comments and responses to people and situations. When a book makes me laugh, I’m so much more invested and I could not put this down. I kept guessing, and hoping, with the slow build to the reveal of Elsie’s actual crime and her victim. The characters came to life on the page and the story was well balanced between the dark themes and the humor. I was not expecting to like this as much as I did and definitely recommend it.

I was lucky enough to be able to listen to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrators, Hannah Fredericksen (young Mabel in the 1050s) and Jenny Seedsman (81-year-old Elsie in present day) were absolutely fabulous. It was also tricky for them, I’m sure, to do the child parts as those never quite sound right. Both did a marvelous job of giving life to Mabel’s story and I enjoyed the immersive experience that enhanced my appreciation of the book. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Genre and tags: contemporary, mystery, thriller, drama, murder, abuse, sexual assault, childhood trauma, suicide