This Book Will Bury Me

Title: This Book Will Bury Me
Author: Ashley Winstead
Published: March 25, 2025 by Sourcebooks Landmark
Format: Kindle, Hardcover, 475 Pages
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Blurb: After the unexpected death of her father, college student Jane Sharp longs for a distraction from her grief. She becomes obsessed with true crime, befriending armchair detectives who teach her how to hunt killers from afar. In this morbid internet underground, Jane finds friendship, purpose, and even glory.

So when news of the shocking deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho takes the world by storm, and sleuths everywhere race to solve the crimes, Jane and her friends are determined to beat them. But the case turns out to be stranger than anyone expected. Details don't add up, the police are cagey, and there seems to be more media hype and internet theorizing than actual evidence. When Jane and her sleuths take a step closer, they find that every answer only begs more questions. Something's not adding up, and they begin to suspect their killer may be smarter and more prolific than any they've faced before. Placing themselves in the center of the story starts to feel more and more like walking into a trap.

Told one year after the astounding events that concluded the case and left the world reeling, when Jane has finally decided to break her silence about what really happened, she tells the true story of the Delphine Massacres. And what she has to confess will shock even the most seasoned true crime fans.

My Opinion: This novel was my first introduction to Ashley Winstead, and if this isn’t considered her best, then I’m buckling up, because what’s in her earlier works must be phenomenal. From the first page, I was swept into a mix of memory, grief, digital sleuthing, and narrative trickery that pulled me deeper with each chapter.

Told in distinctive parts, the story is told from the perspective of Jane Sharpe (aka Searcher24), who enters the true crime world not out of voyeuristic obsession, but out of personal grief. Her plan was to learn more about her late father, whose past is knotted in shadows. That pursuit leads her to an underground collective of amateur sleuths, each with their own skills and motives: Lightly, the retired cop and father figure; Mistress, a retired librarian; CitizenNight, has a navy background; and Lord Goku, a high-level techy.

As the narrative shifts into co-ed murders that echo the recent Idaho Kohberger case and the Richard Speck case from the mid 1960’s, Winstead ups the ante. Relating a storyline to true events isn’t a bad idea, since Paula McLain did the same thing in her book ‘When the Stars Go Dark’ and the abduction and murder of Polly Klaas.

There are moments when you feel like you’re reading investigative journalism, but then Winstead reminds you that with fiction, nothing is safe. Even the structure itself is a sly deception: we’re reading Jane’s book, layered with footnotes and reflections that hint at motive, defense, and possibly guilt. A book within a book. A crime within a question.

The storytelling is laced with references to real-life cases and famous true crime voices. Ann Rule floated to the surface early for me, like a breadcrumb meant to be followed. It’s oddly satisfying how Winstead dances between homage and originality, grounding readers in familiar territory while leading us toward a disturbing and ultimately shocking ending. And let’s talk about that ending; yes, I spotted the twist early, but still, she managed to keep my interest all the way through. What I didn’t see coming was how satisfying and unsettling the final pages would be.

This book is for anyone who enjoys crime fiction that not only entertains but also raises questions about obsession, morality, storytelling, and the individuals who pursue ghosts in digital back alleys.

And with this book, Ashley Winstead earns her spot on my “be on the lookout for” list.

Broken Country

Title: Broken Country
Author: Clare Leslie Hall
Published: March 4, 2025 by Simon & Schuster
Format: Hardcover, 320 Pages
Genre: Women's Fiction

Blurb: Beth and her gentle, kind husband Frank are happily married, but their relationship relies on the past staying buried. But when Beth’s brother-in-law shoots a dog going after their sheep, Beth doesn’t realize that the gunshot will alter the course of their lives. For the dog belonged to none other than Gabriel Wolfe, the man Beth loved as a teenager—the man who broke her heart years ago. Gabriel has returned to the village with his young son Leo, a boy who reminds Beth very much of her own son, who died in a tragic accident.

As Beth is pulled back into Gabriel’s life, tensions around the village rise and dangerous secrets and jealousies from the past resurface, this time with deadly consequences. Beth is forced to make a choice between the woman she once was, and the woman she has become.

A sweeping love story with the pace and twists of a thriller, Broken Country is a novel of simmering passion, impossible choices, and explosive consequences that toggles between the past and present to explore the far-reaching legacy of first love.

My Opinion: I’m honestly puzzled, not by the storyline, but by the glowing reviews. A farmer dies, someone’s on trial, and there’s a slow-moving triangle that should have built suspense. But instead of a gripping mystery, the reader was given a meandering narrative that tiptoes around its revelations.

That’s not to say that the writing isn’t smooth since Hall knows how to craft a sentence and set a scene. I could see the farm, feel the heat of the summer, and sense Beth’s quiet unraveling. But the pacing? Painful. By a third of the way in, I still wasn’t sure what I was supposed to care about. The trial chapters tease just enough to keep you curious, but never offer the kind of breadcrumbs that make you lean in.

We get Beth’s before and after, Gabriel’s reappearance, and Frank caught in the middle, a brother’s anger, and the emotions at stakes, but other parts felt diluted by all the vagueness. I kept waiting for the moment that would hook me. It never came. Not really.

Things do pick up toward the end. The trial gains momentum, names are finally dropped, twists emerge, and it all ties together in a way that makes you reassess some characters. But it took too long to get there.

A love story, yes. One filled with broken promises, miscommunication, unresolved grief, and to be honest, more lies than insight. By the final chapter, I understood what the author was trying to do, but it didn’t hit me the way I’d hoped. I kept wanting more, but didn’t get it.

The Diva Poaches a Bad Egg

Title: The Diva Poaches a Bad Egg
Author: Krista Davis
Published: May 27, 2025 by Kensington Cozies
Format: Kindle, Harcover, 320 Pages
Genre: Amateur Sleuth
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: A Domestic Diva Mystery #18

Blurb: Stylish brunches are all the rage this autumn in Old Town Alexandria, and everyone’s posting their parties on social media. But while Domestic Diva Sophie Winston juggles her event-filled calendar, she’s approached by local designer Mitzi Lawson—who is afraid someone is following her. The very next day Mitzi loses her best friend and business partner, Denise. The two were renovating a generations-old house where Denise died unexpectedly, and Mitzi fears that it wasn’t a medical condition to blame, but murder.

It could just be the shock talking, but Sophie agrees to help Mitzi involve the police. Then she receives a panicked phone call from Mitzi, and when she rushes to the old house, Mitzi is nowhere to be found. Now Sophie’s appetite for investigation is piqued even more than her appetite for eggs Benedict and mimosas.

Could Denise’s death be connected to her viper’s nest of in-laws or the house she was working on which her husband just inherited? What of the self-proclaimed etiquette expert with some improper secrets, or the scheming mistress? Or does the old house harbor secrets of its own? There’s a generous buffet of suspects to keep the Diva scrambling for an answer . . .

My Opinion: Eighteen books in, and Sophie Winston is still at it in Old Town, Virginia. Solving murders, relying on gossip and rumor, and somehow always wearing the perfect seasonal outfit from her magic closet, since she rarely steps inside a boutique.

If you’re new to the series, don’t worry. Davis gives a friendly recap of the usual cast of characters (because who can remember seventeen books' worth of backstory?). That said, this installment throws in a whole batch of new names and you might need to reference a family tree, or at least a nap and a notepad, to keep them straight.

The setup is classic cozy: a historic mansion, a dead interior designer with complicated connections, and a whodunnit that hinges on hearsay and social slipups. With so much in the mix, Sophie is summoned, yet again, because being an amateur sleuth seventeen times gives you lifetime murder-solving privileges. And yes, on occasion, she lets the actual police do their job.

Aunt Faye’s maybe-haunted portrait (this was a plot point in an earlier book) gets a revisit in this book. The light is golden, the frame tilts, but alas, the supernatural subplot from previous books seems to have fizzled into little more than a nod. Still, that detail, plus a twisty discovery of bones from the late 1960s found behind a wall, and Faye’s journal, offers just enough surprise to keep things rolling.

The Diva Poaches a Bad Egg is exactly what you'd expect from Krista Davis: a cozy mystery that’s more about quirky charm and familiar rhythms than heart-pounding suspense. Is this groundbreaking? Nope. But it’s not supposed to be. This is your revisit with fictional friends who get the job done while never missing brunch.

My Friends

Title: My Friends
Author: Fredrik Backman
Published: May 6, 2025 by Atria Books
Format: Kindle, Hardcover 436 Pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Blurb: Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of a wide expanse of sea. But Louisa, soon to be eighteen years old and an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise. She is determined to find out the story behind these three enigmatic figures.

More than two decades before, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up every morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that, after a chance encounter in an alleyway, will unexpectedly be placed into Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to discover how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more anxious she becomes about what she'll find. Louisa's complicated life is proof that happy endings are sometimes possible, but they don't always take the form we expect them to.

My Opinion: This is not a book you simply read, it’s one you endure, absorb, and carry with you long after the final page. The first chapters punch you in the heart so forcefully, it’s almost daring readers to continue. Yet those who continue will discover a master storyteller who weaves pain and longing into every moment.

Backman doesn’t write characters. He conjures souls. Louisa, the orphaned teen searching for belonging, holds the narrative in a fragile, fierce, and illuminating way. Her grief over Fish’s death lingers on every page. She’s forged herself a backstory to fill the void, and her desperation to avoid another foster home is palpable. Ted, drawn into her orbit, is both shaken and transformed. And then there’s the painter who cracks the veneer between art and truth, and is held tightly by those who believe in him.

What begins with a postcard and the quest for a painting becomes an emotional scavenger hunt through human suffering, reluctant hope, and the weight of memory. Backman’s style demands focus; questions are asked with no promise of immediate answers. But the journey between question and resolution is where the reader truly lives. Reaching for hope, but knowing that is not an option.

The writing is prophetic, often circling back to earlier seeds planted quietly between pages. Just when you think Ted and the others might catch a break, Backman holds back. There is no easy redemption, no tidy conclusion; only truth that is raw, devastating, and, at times, gorgeous.

Louisa injects chaos into Ted’s life, almost hilariously so. And while 40 absolutely isn’t “old,” she threatens to age him decades by sheer emotional force alone. Their dynamic adds a flicker of light in an otherwise dark tale.

I had to walk away from this book for a short time. Not because I didn’t love it, but because it created a sadness and wouldn’t let me go. Yet when I returned, it greeted me with wisdom I hadn’t seen before and proof that the most painful stories often require courage to finish.

As I reached the final pages, I found myself stalling. I didn’t want to say goodbye. And then, in a bittersweet twist, Louisa becomes someone else’s postcard. That full-circle moment. That’s where the tears come. If you reach the end and don’t feel it in your bones, I’m not sure you’re fully human.

A novel that will hurt you. It will haunt you. And you’ll love it for that.

Just Beachy

Title: Just Beachy
Author: Wendy Wax
Published: June 3, 2025 by Berkley
Format: Paperback, 304 Pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Blurb: After losing her long-time acting gig on the hit show Murder 101, Sydney Ryan decides she needs a break from Hollywood politics. She heads to Treasure Island, Florida where her grandmother has been visiting and now refuses to leave. Sydney’s plan to lay low for a bit quickly goes awry though, as she is swept up in her grandmother’s now flourishing social life—Grand not only bought a new house in Casas de Flores, she’s also helping her neighbor Myra open a bookstore in Pass-a-Grille. But when someone breaks into Grand’s house repeatedly Sydney realizes her grandmother is keeping something from her.

Determined to ferret out the truth and protect her grandmother, Sydney enlists the help of the Ten Beach Road ladies and Luke, a local police officer who was once her high school crush. While Sydney puts her television crime solving skills to the test, she decides to act on the sizzling chemistry between her and Luke. And as Sydney spends more sunsets toasting to true friends and new romance, she begins to wonder if the sun is setting on her time in Hollywood and if this town could be the dawn of a new chapter.

My Opinion: I went into Just Beachy thinking I was diving back into the warm familiarity of the Ten Beach Road series, full of sunshine, friendship, fixer-uppers. What I got instead was... confusion. Sure, there are throwaway mentions of Pass-a-Grille and a nod to the ladies from the original crew, but this story is all Sydney Ryan. And wow, does her storyline stretch the boundaries of believability.

So, here’s Sydney: she’s been on a wildly successful, award-winning TV show for five years, winning Emmys and Golden Globes. But somehow, she’s broke? Because she spent it all on her dream home and personal maintenance? That math doesn’t math. Then the public supposedly confuses her with her character Cassie, a woman written into rehab, which leads to Sydney’s career collapse and a move to Florida to visit her grandmother and reinvent herself. As one does when they’re trying to reboot their Hollywood acting career. In Pass-a-Grille?

Let’s pause. Los Angeles to Florida as a career jumpstart? That’s not rebooting, that’s relocating to irrelevance. And the notion that people can't tell the difference between an actress and her character? Have we fallen into an alternate reality where basic media literacy no longer exists?

Then there’s the steamy scenes between Sydney and Luke, where I genuinely laughed out loud because they were written like an awkward improv sketch.

This book felt like one long misunderstanding between logic, plotting, and potential. Honestly, I should’ve abandoned ship early on. But instead, I popped in my earbuds, doubled the playback speed, and scrubbed the baseboards just to feel productive while waiting for something to happen that wasn’t as predictable as grandma’s secret and the gray fox.

I’m not saying I’ve broken up with Wendy Wax, but let’s just say we’re on a trial separation.

A Thousand Tiny Stitches

Title: A Thousand Tiny Stitches
Author: Stephanie Claypool
Published: November 12, 2024 by Atmosphere Press
Format: Kindle, Paperback, 313 Pages
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Blurb: After a hit-and-run driver tragically kills Lily's daughter and son-in-law, she is left with unspeakable grief, custody of her eight-year-old granddaughter Emma, and an impossible wish: to fulfill her daughter’s dream of opening a quilt shop in the old house in their small Western Pennsylvania town.

The house is in shambles, coated with years of grime, but Lily, unable to afford contractors on her late husband’s pension, tackles the job herself. As Emma’s emotional struggles deepen, the old house presents a barrage of increasingly costly obstacles. Worse, when Lily discovers a squatter living on the property, she fears for their safety. Only her unwavering belief that the shop is the best way to build a new life for herself and Emma keeps Lily pushing forward.

But not everyone in town is rooting for Lily’s success, and the line between helper and hinderer isn’t always clear, forcing Lily to make sacrifices she never imagined. She will need to prove it isn’t the patchwork that makes a quilt but the thousands of tiny stitches that bind the layers—and maybe hold a family together.

My Opinion: A Thousand Tiny Stitches opens with heartbreak. Widow Lily loses her daughter and son-in-law in a sudden car accident and is left caring for her eight-year-old granddaughter Emma. Both are quietly drowning in grief, each one afraid to crack the surface for fear of upsetting the other. And so, instead of sitting with their sorrow, they chase a dream: Amanda’s dream of opening a quilt shop in their small town. If they can focus on making something, they won’t have to look at the pieces of their life that shattered.

From there, it becomes less about quilting and more about mending the soul. The shop isn’t just a business; it’s a refuge. Lily’s circle of quilting friends rally around her, armed with comfort and tenderness. Doug, a homeless veteran living in a garage out back, shows up with his own story stitched in trauma and eventually, in kindness. And the café owner’s parents? They become another set of grandparents, helping with Emma as the community begins to form something beautiful and unexpected.

There’s just enough friction to keep things real—betrayal, financial struggles, emotional scars—but Claypool never lets the darkness take over. Instead, the story leans into second chances: love blossoms quietly, broken people find connection, and Lily rediscovers her strength one DIY project at a time. Everyone's navigating a new path, and somehow all those tangled emotions turn into something quietly triumphant.

Will you shed a tear? Yes. But it's also warm and affirming in that small-town-women’s-fiction kind of way. There's laughter tucked into even the saddest chapters, and moments where hope sneaks in through a dusty window. Lily and Emma’s grief doesn't disappear; it’s stitched into their new life softened by the people around them, and that’s what makes this story feel so gently uplifting.

The Day I Died

Title: The Day I Died
Author: Anne Frasier
Published: October 28, 2024 by Belfry Press
Format: Paperback, 294 Pages
Genre: Thriller
Series: Olivia Welles #2

Blurb: Detective Olivia Welles vanished into the shadows, faking her own death to shield the ones she loves. But now the clock is ticking and the danger she thought she'd escaped has come roaring back. Forced out of hiding, Olivia must confront her past, outsmart relentless enemies, and risk it all in a pulse-pounding race to save everything—and everyone—that matters. Hold on tight for this high-stakes, nonstop thrill ride!

My Opinion: Two and a half years after ‘The Night I Died’. Olivia is now working in a bar in the middle of nowhere, thinking she will stay there until her husband and daughter need her. This would be the same husband and daughter who think she has died.

Enter Alasdair “Father Love” Smith, a cult leader so unnervingly charismatic that it’s easy to understand how he amassed followers by the millions. He’s not just a villain in the traditional sense; he’s a reminder that manipulation stems from magnetism. When he targets Olivia, blaming her for the carnage at his compound, which took his wife and children, the stakes take on a sinister tone.

Frasier doesn’t throw her punches early. Instead, she plants quiet, seemingly unremarkable details that bloom into pivotal revelations. Those moments where the mundane becomes meaningful, hit with precision. You’re suddenly questioning everything -- who to trust, what’s real, whether Olivia herself is telling the whole story, and whether she can make it to the end.

But even as the plot becomes more demanding, what stood out most was the novel’s soul. At its core, this is a character-driven story. Horrific things happen, but it’s the people who carry you through. Olivia’s complexity and her fractured strength are compelling. Calliope might be too witty for a three-year-old, but her sass adds the emotional break you need. Will and Finn, each vying for Olivia, offer emotional tension grounded in sincerity. And Griffin... dear sweet Griffin, will quietly break your heart.

Frasier also slips in something unexpected: insight into the anatomy of cults. Not a deep dive, but just enough to make you pause. To wonder. To realize how charisma and planted ideas can shape and warp followers.

I often wonder why more readers aren’t talking about Anne Frasier. Her stories thread together suspense, nuance, and the kind of emotion that lingers. She has a devoted fan base, but her name deserves more recognition on the thriller aisle.

The Case of the Secret Spirit-Half

Title: The Case of the Secret Spirit-Half
Author: Lucy Banks
Published: October 11, 2022 by Chicago Review Press
Format: Paperback, 288 Pages
Genre: Cozy Paranormal
Series: Dr Ribero's Agency of the Supernatural #5

Blurb: Kester is a wanted man.

After letting the daemon Hrschni escape, Infinite Enterprises are hunting Kester down, and the rest of Ribero’s supernatural agency swear they’ll never forgive him. But who can he trust, Hrschni or Infinite Enterprises?

While on the run, he reencounters the powerful daemon, who uses his powers to take Kester back and forth in time. As a spectre of the past, Kester must learn the truth about his mother while staying one step ahead of agents on his tail. But when Miss Wellbeloved and Ribero are seized by Infinite Enterprises, Kester uncovers a shocking truth, one that may change the course of the entire supernatural world.

In the last and final instalment of Dr Ribero’s Supernatural Agency, it all comes down to Kester and the secrets of the past.

My Opinion: After three years away from this quirky little gem of a series, I didn’t expect to slip so seamlessly back into its world, but I did, and it felt like I had never been away from this old group of friends who just so happen to deal with the spirit world for a living.

All the familiar faces are here: Hrschni, Ribero, Kester, Miss Wellbeloved, and the full, endearing, often maddening roster of colleagues, roommates, and not-quite-smooth love interests. The story flows in a “then and now” dual-timeline that stitches together the present-day chaos with Gretchen, Kester’s enigmatic mother’s, past, who once walked the halls of the School for Supernatural Further Education.

Through a risky time-travel experiment, Kester is given the chance to see the version of his mother he never knew. A woman who was vibrant, powerful, and deeply entangled in the lives of Ribero and Jennifer Wellbeloved. It’s part revelation, part reckoning, and more than a little heartbreak.

Kester has always been the most unlikely of heroes. A reluctant recruit and the softest in the Agency is now at the center of it all. It’s up to him to piece together what’s been hidden, carry forward what matters, and protect both the living and the spirits. And he rises to it, in the most Kester way possible.

This book doesn’t just wrap up the plot threads, but deepens them, weaving in an unexpected backstory that gives weight to the title and meaning to the journey.

Tone-wise, this falls firmly into what I’d call “cozy paranormal.” No grimdark shadows or graphic encounters, just warm, peculiar people navigating the supernatural with heart, charm, and dry wit. You won’t find blistering romantic tension or haunted house horror, but you will find characters you grow to truly care about.

This series deserves a brighter spotlight. And as finales go, this one hits the perfect notes of touching, funny, and quietly profound in the way only the best genre-crossing novels manage to do.

Slow Burn Summer

Title: Slow Burn Summer
Author: Josie Silver
Published: June 10, 2025 by Dell
Format: Kindle, Paperback, 352 pages
Genre: Romance
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Blurb: Talent agent Charlie Francisco has three problems: a divorce that ended his screenwriting career, a business he never planned to inherit, and a take-your-breath-away romance novel whose author wants nothing to do with its publication. The book is a surefire hit, if only his agency can find someone to “play” author on its summer book tour.

Enter Kate Elliott, a former soap actress who’s miraculously right for the part at the very moment her life seems to be going all wrong. Kate is still recovering from her own divorce and Charlie’s job offer is a lifeline. She agrees to the pretense for all interviews, signings, and appearances surrounding the novel’s publication. But she can’t know who really wrote the remarkable story—the one so beautiful it’s made her believe in love again.

When Kate and Charlie meet they’re all friction and sparks—the one thing they have in common is they’re determined to play their respective parts. But as the summer heat ups and the lies get bigger and bigger, can they stick to their lines . . . or will they go off-script?

My Opinion: I don’t typically reach for romance novels, but I learned a while ago that when Josie Silver is writing, it’s my kind of romance, full of warmth, wit, and just the right amount of swoon.

Kate doesn’t just speak, she meanders, tangents, and spirals in the most delightful way. Her panicked, spiraling is pure gold, and when they ricochet off her sister Liv’s grounded pragmatism, it’s laugh-out-loud funny. Their dynamic is worth the read all on its own.

By chapter ten, you might think you’ve cracked the mystery of the ghostwritten book Kate’s been hired to promote. And you might be right… or maybe not. Silver plays with reader expectation just enough to keep you guessing, layering in small twists that tug at the rug beneath your feet right when you think you have it all figured out.

Then there’s Charlie. Ah, Charlie, with his “whiskey and cola” eyes and that simmering, buttoned-up demeanor that all good slow burns require. The professional boundaries are there. The spark is undeniable. And yes, eventually we get that scene, the one that hits just right and earns every wistful sigh. True to the slow burn promise, nothing comes easy. Even that scene is treated like a “deleted scene” tucked between complicated decisions and emotional restraint. Still, the embers linger... and maybe, just maybe, they get a second chance.

Just when you think the story’s comfortably coasting toward resolution, a reveal shakes everything loose. It’s not what you were expecting. It’s substantial. Kate has to decide what she’s willing to risk for the sake of someone else’s happy ending. And she does it with a kind of quiet courage that sneaks up on you.

Silver sprinkles in pop culture nods and literary Easter eggs give the book extra sparkle, making it a breezy summer read with heart and humor. This isn’t a story of fantasy spice levels, it’s a story of chemistry, conviction, and the little moments that matter most.

Bitterfrost

Title: Bitterfrost
Author: Bryan Gruley
Published: April 1, 2025 by Severn House
Format: Kindle, 336 pages
Genre: Thriller
Series: Bitterfrost #1

Blurb: Thirteen years ago, former ice hockey star Jimmy Baker quit the game after almost killing an opponent. Now, as the Zamboni driver for the amateur team in his hometown of Bitterfrost, Michigan, he’s living his penance. Until the morning he awakens to the smell of blood . . .

Jimmy soon finds himself arrested for a brutal double murder. The kicker? He has no memory of the night in question. And as the evidence racks up against him, Jimmy’s case is skating on thin ice. Could he have committed such a gruesome crime?

As his defence attorney, Devyn Payne and prosecuting detective Garth Klimmek race to uncover the truth, time is running out for Jimmy. Because all he can really be sure of is that he is capable of taking a life. The question is, in his blacked-out state, did he take two?

My Opinion: Bryan Gruley is one of those authors I’d read in the past and somehow let slip off my radar. That is, until Bitterfrost jolted him right to the forefront. This novel unfolds with a quiet intensity set deep in the heart of Midwestern Noir. An atmospheric blend of moral ambiguity, isolation, and hard truths.

Gruley builds a town that’s equal parts physically remote and emotionally stranded, where hockey isn’t just a sport, it’s the one fragile thread that might offer hope of getting out. That theme of escape, reminiscent of Fredrik Backman’s Beartown, echoes throughout the story as broken characters navigate corruption, trauma, the messy ethics of survival, and flickers of hope.

The pacing is deliberate, withholding backstory until just the right moment, then delivering a twist that feels both surprising and, in hindsight, inevitable. You don’t cheer for these characters because they’re perfect, you root for them because they’re real. Flawed, haunted, and trying.

This isn’t a story of redemption wrapped in a bow. Instead, it closes with an exhale and a sense of earned endurance. The people may still be broken. The town, still bleak. But something has shifted just enough for the reader to feel it.

This is the first in a series. I’m not sure when the second book will be released or where the story will go, but I know for certain I won’t let this author fall off the radar again.

Death Stake

Title: Death Stake
Author: Andrew Mayne
Published: October 29, 2024 by Thomas & Mercer
Format: Kindle, 311 pages
Genre: Thriller
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Trasker #2

Blurb: Retired intelligence operative Brad Trasker heads security at a remote aerospace facility when there’s a major breach. A photo of their top-secret AI-designed hydrogen engine has surfaced online. Trasker’s investigation into who did it soon leads to a start-up in Bangkok, where its three software developers have disappeared, along with nearly a million dollars in investment money.

Following their tracks, Trasker hits a dead end. The start-up’s HQ is a padlocked crime scene. No one—not the cagey locals, the mobbed-up gangs, or the Royal Thai Police—is keen on answering Trasker’s questions. But their message is get out of Bangkok or die.

Hunted by assassins, Trasker is drawn into the same complex high-tech underworld of cryptocurrency, digital espionage, and betrayal that swallowed up the runaway coders. As the line between ally and enemy blurs, and the stakes become life and death, Trasker must navigate the dangerous intersection of modern intelligence and old-school spy games to survive.

My Opinion: This novel took some time to find its footing. About a quarter of the way through, to be exact. At first, the usual high-intensity pacing I’ve come to expect from Mayne was missing, replaced by too much filler and a lack of the snappy banter that normally keeps the dialogue lively. But once the story opened, the stiffness faded, the unanswered questions started to resolve, and the momentum finally kicked in.

The technology, whether real or convincingly placed, is something I’d rather not dwell on. Some things are better left in the shadows, and the world of espionage is one of them. The mid-story twist saved the pacing from stagnating just as it was slipping into predictability, but the overall rhythm felt uneven. Lulls stretched too long, only for tension spikes to rush through like an afterthought.

Compared to the first book, this one felt a bit underwhelming. Where the debut was nonstop action, Death Stake moved in waves, starting with excess fluff before diving into a rapid, almost hurried conclusion. And let’s talk about the tangled web of Mayne’s interconnected series -- at this point, keeping track of them all is an exercise in patience. Maybe reading by publication date is the safest bet.

Then there’s Brad Trasker. A narcissist? Maybe. A man with just the right experience and just the right anecdote for every situation? Absolutely. I won’t say I don’t like him, I do, tremendously, but maybe I liked his mother more, and her absence here was a noticeable disappointment.

Trasker is the kind of protagonist who gets the job done, no matter the moral ambiguity. If you love thrillers and espionage with a central character who plays fast and loose with the rules, he’s your guy. Would I want to sit down for a meal with him? Not particularly. But if everything went sideways? He’d be the first call, right up there with Liam Neeson.