Rabbit rabbit: White Rabbit

White Rabbit, Red Wolf
by Tom Pollock
YA, Thriller | Published: 2019 | Goodreads
Seventeen-year-old Peter Blankman is a math genius. He also suffers from devastating panic attacks. Pete gets through each day with the help of his mother—a famous scientist—and his beloved twin sister, Bel.

But when his mom is nearly assassinated in front of his eyes and Bel disappears, Pete finds himself on the run. Dragged into a world where state and family secrets intertwine, Pete must use his extraordinary analytical skills to find his missing sister and track down the people who attacked his mother. But his greatest battle will be with the enemy inside: the constant terror that threatens to overwhelm him.

Rabbit rabbit: Rabbits

Rabbits
by Terry Miles
SciFi, Thriller | Published: 2021 | Goodreads
Conspiracies abound in this surreal and yet all-too-real technothriller in which a deadly underground alternate reality game might just be altering reality itself, set in the same world as the popular Rabbits podcast.

It's an average work day. You've been wrapped up in a task, and you check the clock when you come up for air—4:44 pm. You go to check your email, and 44 unread messages have built up. With a shock, you realize it is April 4th—4/4. And when you get in your car to drive home, your odometer reads 44,444. Coincidence? Or have you just seen the edge of a rabbit hole?

Rabbits is a mysterious alternate reality game so vast it uses our global reality as its canvas. Since the game first started in 1959, ten iterations have appeared and nine winners have been declared. Their identities are unknown. So is their reward, which is whispered to be NSA or CIA recruitment, vast wealth, immortality, or perhaps even the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe itself. But the deeper you get, the more deadly the game becomes. Players have died in the past—and the body count is rising.

And now the eleventh round is about to begin. Enter K—a Rabbits obsessive who has been trying to find a way into the game for years. That path opens when K is approached by billionaire Alan Scarpio, the alleged winner of the sixth iteration. Scarpio says that something has gone wrong with the game and that K needs to fix it before Eleven starts or the whole world will pay the price.

Five days later, Scarpio is declared missing. Two weeks after that, K blows the deadline and Eleven begins. And suddenly, the fate of the entire universe is at stake.

Happy release: An Honest Lie by Tarryn Fisher

An Honest Lie
by Tarryn Fisher
Thriller, Mystery | Published: 2022 | Goodreads
release date: April 26, 2022
“I’m going to kill her. You’d better come if you want to save her.” Lorraine—“Rainy”—lives at the top of Tiger Mountain. Remote, moody, cloistered in pine trees and fog, it’s a sanctuary, a new life. She can hide from the disturbing past she wants to forget.

If she’s allowed to.

When Rainy reluctantly agrees to a girls’ weekend in Vegas, she’s prepared for an exhausting parade of shots and slot machines. But after a wild night, her friend Braithe doesn’t come back to the hotel room.

And then Rainy gets the text message, sent from Braithe’s phone: someone has her. But Rainy is who they really want, and Rainy knows why.

What follows is a twisted, shocking journey on the knife-edge of life and death. If she wants to save Braithe—and herself—the only way is to step back into the past.

It's a clone, my dude

Dual (2022)
Director/Writer: Riley Stearns
Stars: Karen Gillan, Aaron Paul
SciFi, Thriller | imdb | my rating: 4

A woman opts for a cloning procedure after she receives a terminal diagnosis but when she recovers her attempts to have her clone decommissioned fail, leading to a court-mandated duel to the death.

The Echo Wife
by Sarah Gailey
SciFi, Thriller | Published: 2021 | Goodreads | my rating: 4
I’m embarrassed, still, by how long it took me to notice. Everything was right there in the open, right there in front of me, but it still took me so long to see the person I had married.

It took me so long to hate him.

Martine is a genetically cloned replica made from Evelyn Caldwell’s award-winning research. She’s patient and gentle and obedient. She’s everything Evelyn swore she’d never be.

And she’s having an affair with Evelyn’s husband.

Now, the cheating bastard is dead, and both Caldwell wives have a mess to clean up.

Good thing Evelyn Caldwell is used to getting her hands dirty.

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvi: Peril of the Fiction Read

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril xvi
September 1 - October 31 (details)
hosted by @perilreaders
#ripxvi #ripperils #ripcozy #riptradition #ripatmosphere
Peril of the Fiction Read
~*~

What's Done in Darkness
by Laura McHugh
Mystery, Thriller | Published: 2021 | Goodreads | my rating: 3
Seventeen-year-old Sarabeth has become increasingly rebellious since her parents found God and moved their family to a remote Arkansas farmstead where she's forced to wear long dresses, follow strict rules, and grow her hair down to her waist. She's all but given up on escaping the farm when a masked man appears one stifling summer morning and snatches her out of the cornfield.

A week after her abduction, she's found alongside a highway in a bloodstained dress--alive--but her family treats her like she's tainted, and there's little hope of finding her captor, who kept Sarabeth blindfolded in the dark the entire time, never uttering a word. One good thing arises from the horrific ordeal: a chance to leave the Ozarks and start a new life.

Five years later, Sarabeth is struggling to keep her past buried when investigator Nick Farrow calls. Convinced that her case is connected to the strikingly similar disappearance of another young girl, Farrow wants Sarabeth's help, and he'll do whatever it takes to get it, even if that means dragging her back to the last place she wants to go--the hills and hollers of home, to face her estranged family and all her deepest fears.

Never Saw Me Coming
by Vera Kurian
Mystery, Dark Academia | Published: September 2021 | Goodreads | my rating: 4
listen to author interview with Murder by the Book (here)
Meet Chloe Sevre. She’s a freshman honor student, a leggings-wearing hot girl next door, who also happens to be a psychopath. Her hobbies include yogalates, frat parties, and plotting to kill Will Bachman, a childhood friend who grievously wronged her.

Chloe is one of seven students at her DC-based college who are part of an unusual clinical study for psychopaths—students like herself who lack empathy and can’t comprehend emotions like fear or guilt. The study, led by a renowned psychologist, requires them to wear smart watches that track their moods and movements.

When one of the students in the study is found murdered in the psychology building, a dangerous game of cat and mouse begins, and Chloe goes from hunter to prey. As she races to identify the killer and put her own plan into action, she’ll be forced to decide if she can trust any of her fellow psychopaths—and everybody knows you should never trust a psychopath.

~*~
* part of RIP xvi challenge (schedule)

Books and Puzzles: The Last Resort

The Last Resort
by Marissa Stapley
Mystery, Thriller | Published: 2019 | Goodreads
The Harmony Resort promises hope for struggling marriages. Run by celebrity power couple Drs. Miles and Grace Markell, the "last resort" offers a chance for partners to repair their relationships in a luxurious setting on the gorgeous Mayan Riviera.

Johanna and Ben have a marriage that looks perfect on the surface, but in reality, they don’t know each other at all. Shell and Colin fight constantly: after all, Colin is a workaholic, and Shell always comes second to his job as an executive at a powerful mining company. But what has really torn them apart is too devastating to talk about. When both couples begin Harmony's intensive therapy program, it becomes clear that Harmony is not all it seems—and neither are Miles and Grace themselves. What are they hiding, and what price will these couples pay for finding out?

First sentence(s):
He struggles to breathe. There's blood trickling into one of his eyes. His glasses are gone. He can hear the ocean rising to meet him. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

The Seaside
Gray Malin puzzle (1000 pcs)

~*~
* part of Summertime time (schedule)

Books and Laundry: Yes, Daddy

Yes, Daddy
by Jonathan Parks Ramage
Contemporary, Thriller, LGBTQ | Published: 2021 | Goodreads | my rating: 5
Jonah Keller moved to New York City with dreams of becoming a successful playwright, but, for the time being, lives in a rundown sublet in Bushwick, working extra hours at a restaurant only to barely make rent. When he stumbles upon a photo of Richard Shriver—the glamorous Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright and quite possibly the stepping stone to the fame he craves—Jonah orchestrates their meeting. The two begin a hungry, passionate affair.

When summer arrives, Richard invites his young lover for a spell at his sprawling estate in the Hamptons. A tall iron fence surrounds the idyllic compound where Richard and a few of his close artist friends entertain, have lavish dinners, and—Jonah can’t help but notice—employ a waitstaff of young, attractive gay men, many of whom sport ugly bruises. Soon, Jonah is cast out of Richard’s good graces and a sinister underlay begins to emerge. As a series of transgressions lead inexorably to a violent climax, Jonah hurtles toward a decisive revenge that will shape the rest of his life.

First sentence(s):
You asked me to be a witness in the trial.
I owed you my life and so I said yes.
What does one wear to a rape testimony?

Books and Bus: The Other Black Girl

Back to reading on the bus with the work commute and adjusting to another new normal mode.

This story involves some sketchy goings on at the work place.

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Mystery, Thriller | Published: 2021 | Goodreads | my rating: 3

Twenty-six-year-old editorial assistant Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at Wagner Books. Fed up with the isolation and microaggressions, she’s thrilled when Harlem-born and bred Hazel starts working in the cubicle beside hers. They’ve only just started comparing natural hair care regimens, though, when a string of uncomfortable events elevates Hazel to Office Darling, and Nella is left in the dust.

Then the notes begin to appear on Nella’s desk: LEAVE WAGNER. NOW.

It’s hard to believe Hazel is behind these hostile messages. But as Nella starts to spiral and obsess over the sinister forces at play, she soon realizes that there’s a lot more at stake than just her career.

A whip-smart and dynamic thriller and sly social commentary that is perfect for anyone who has ever felt manipulated, threatened, or overlooked in the workplace, The Other Black Girl will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last twist.

Books and Chocolate: What's Done in Darkness

What's Done in Darkness
by Laura McHugh
Mystery, Thriller | Published: June 2021 | Goodreads

Seventeen-year-old Sarabeth has become increasingly rebellious since her parents found God and moved their family to a remote Arkansas farmstead where she's forced to wear long dresses, follow strict rules, and grow her hair down to her waist. She's all but given up on escaping the farm when a masked man appears one stifling summer morning and snatches her out of the cornfield.

A week after her abduction, she's found alongside a highway in a bloodstained dress--alive--but her family treats her like she's tainted, and there's little hope of finding her captor, who kept Sarabeth blindfolded in the dark the entire time, never uttering a word. One good thing arises from the horrific ordeal: a chance to leave the Ozarks and start a new life.

Five years later, Sarabeth is struggling to keep her past buried when investigator Nick Farrow calls. Convinced that her case is connected to the strikingly similar disappearance of another young girl, Farrow wants Sarabeth's help, and he'll do whatever it takes to get it, even if that means dragging her back to the last place she wants to go--the hills and hollers of home, to face her estranged family and all her deepest fears.

First sentences:
Sarabeth, That Day
Age 17

The blacktop road stretched empty in either direction, the sky hazy ad the air heavy as a sodden sponge. The heat of the late-morning sun amplified the autumn secnt of drying cornstalks, the putrid sweetness of persimmions rotting in the ditch.

HAPPY WORLD CHOCOLATE DAY!

Happy release: The Hive by Gregg Olsen

The Hive
by Gregg Olsen
Mystery, Thriller | Published: June 8, 2021 | Goodreads
In the Pacific Northwest, police officer Lindsay Jackman is investigating the murder of a young journalist found at the bottom of a ravine. Lindsay soon learns that the victim was writing an exposé. Her subject: a charismatic wellness guru who’s pulled millions into her euphoric orbit… To hear Marnie Spellman tell it, when she was a child, a swarm of bees lifted her off the ground and toward the sunlight, an uncanny event on which Marnie built a cosmetics empire and became a legend, a healer, and the queen of holistic health and eternal beauty. In her inner circle is an intimate band of devotees called the Hive. They share Marnie’s secrets of success—including one cloaked in darkness for twenty years.

Verity by Colleen Hoover

Verity
by Colleen Hoover

Published: 2018
Publisher: Independently published
Paperback: 331
Rating: 5
Thriller, Mystery, Romance | Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
I hear the crack of his skull before the spattering of blood reaches me.

Zombie sighting:
Most of the time, I cry in my shower and stare at my computer screen like a zombie, wondering how so many other authors can promote their books with so much confidence.
-chapter 4, page 41

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity's notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn't expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity's recollection of what really happened the day her daughter died.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen's feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognizes all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife's words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.

My two-bits:

Pleasantly surprised with the way this book played with its characters. I was torn on who to side with. Perfectly creepy and haunting in some parts.

~*~
* part of ibc book club (here)

Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan

Midnight At The Bright Ideas Bookstore
by Matthew J. Sullivan
narrated by Madeleine Maby

Published: 2017
Publisher: Scribner
Hardback: 328
Rating: 4
Mystery, Thriller, Audio | Goodreads

First sentence(s):
Lydia heard the distant flap of paper wings as the first book fell from its shelf.

When a bookshop patron commits suicide, his favorite store clerk must unravel the puzzle he left behind. Lydia Smith lives her life hiding in plain sight. A clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore, she keeps a meticulously crafted existence among her beloved books, eccentric colleagues, and the BookFrogs... the lost and lonely regulars who spend every day marauding the store’s overwhelmed shelves.

But when Joey Molina, a young, beguiling BookFrog, kills himself in the bookstore’s upper room, Lydia’s life comes unglued. Always Joey’s favorite bookseller, Lydia has been bequeathed his meager worldly possessions. Trinkets and books; the detritus of a lonely, uncared for man. But when Lydia flips through his books she finds them defaced in ways both disturbing and inexplicable. They reveal the psyche of a young man on the verge of an emotional reckoning. And they seem to contain a hidden message. What did Joey know? And what does it have to do with Lydia?

As Lydia untangles the mystery of Joey’s suicide, she unearths a long buried memory from her own violent childhood. Details from that one bloody night begin to circle back. Her distant father returns to the fold, along with an obsessive local cop, and the Hammerman, a murderer who came into Lydia’s life long ago and, as she soon discovers, never completely left.

My two-bits:

Interesting connections, twist and unexpected ending.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.
* part of Bookshops Challenge (here)

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby

Blacktop Wasteland
by S.A. Cosby
narrated by Adam Lazarre-White

Published: 2020
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Hardback: 304
Rating: 5
Mystery, Thriller, Noir | Goodreads
Travel destination: Virginia

Zombie sighting:
A few patients tethered to IV's were moving past the staff like forlorn zombies.
-chapter 33

First sentence(s):
Beauregard through the night sky looked like a painting.

Beauregard “Bug” Montage is an honest mechanic, a loving husband, and a hard-working dad. Bug knows there’s no future in the man he used to be: known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best wheelman on the East Coast.

He thought he'd left all that behind him, but as his carefully built new life begins to crumble, he finds himself drawn inexorably back into a world of blood and bullets. When a smooth-talking former associate comes calling with a can't-miss jewelry store heist, Bug feels he has no choice but to get back in the driver's seat. And Bug is at his best where the scent of gasoline mixes with the smell of fear.

Haunted by the ghost of who he used to be and the father who disappeared when he needed him most, Bug must find a way to navigate this blacktop wasteland... or die trying.

My two-bits:

Cars, heists, bad guys, good guys...

Great wild ride with this gritty contemporary story with a noir vibe and thrilling car chase scenes.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Armchair Autumn Travel (here)

* part of part of Summertime time (here)

The Tenant by Katrine Engberg

The Tenant
by Katrine Engberg
narrated by Graeme Malcolm

Published: 2020
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press
Hardback: 368
Rating: 4
Mystery, Thriller, Denmark | Goodreads

Travel destination: Denmark

Kørner/Werner series:
The Tenant
The Butterfly - release date: January 2021

First sentence(s):
The morning light swirled up dust from the heavy drapes.

When a young woman is discovered brutally murdered in her own apartment, with an intricate pattern of lines carved into her face, Copenhagen police detectives Jeppe Korner and Anette Werner are assigned to the case. In short order, they establish a link between the victim, Julie Stender, and her landlady, Esther de Laurenti, who’s a bit too fond of drink and the host of raucous dinner parties with her artist friends. Esther also turns out to be a budding novelist—and when Julie turns up as a murder victim in the still-unfinished mystery she’s writing, the link between fiction and real life grows both more urgent and more dangerous.

But Esther’s role in this twisted scenario is not quite as clear as it first seems. Is she the culprit—or just another victim, trapped in a twisted game of vengeance? Anette and Jeppe must dig more deeply into the two women’s pasts to discover the identity of the brutal puppet-master pulling the strings in this electrifying literary thriller.

My two-bits:

The theme of parallels pasts that intertwine struck me with this mystery.

~*~


* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Scandinavian Reading Challenge 2020 (here)

* part of Armchair Autumn Travel (here)

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

The Guest List
by Lucy Foley
narrated by Jot Davies, Chloe Massey, Olivia Dowd, Aoife McMahon, Sarah Ovens, Rich Keeble

Published: 2020
Publisher: William Morrow
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Hardback: 320
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Island: off the coast of Ireland

First sentence(s):
The lights go out.

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom a rising television star. The bride
a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine in a remote location. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

My two-bits:

Multiple points of view of unreliable and unlikable characters in a wedding celebration setting make this an intrigueing read.

There is a tinge of Irish folklore and hints of a haunted isle that create a creepy vibe.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Reese's Book Club 2020 (here)

* part of Summertime time ( schedule )

The Black Swan of Paris by Karen Robards

The Black Swan of Paris
by Karen Robards
narrated by Nancy Peterson
Published: 2020
Publisher: MIRA
Genre: Historical, WW2, France
Hardback: 480
Playlist on Spotify - get in the mood
Rating: 4
Goodreads | Website

First sentence(s):
When the worst thing that could ever happen to you had already happened, nothing that came after really mattered.

A world at war. A beautiful young star. A mission no one expected.

Paris, 1944

Celebrated singer Genevieve Dumont is both a star and a smokescreen. An unwilling darling of the Nazis, the chanteuse’s position of privilege allows her to go undetected as an ally to the resistance.

When her estranged mother, Lillian de Rocheford, is captured by Nazis, Genevieve knows it won’t be long before the Gestapo succeeds in torturing information out of Lillian that will derail the upcoming allied invasion. The resistance movement is tasked with silencing her by any means necessary—including assassination. But Genevieve refuses to let her mother become yet one more victim of the war. Reuniting with her long-lost sister, she must find a way to navigate the perilous cross-currents of Occupied France undetected—and in time to save Lillian’s life.

My two-bits:

Good mix of historical, romance and some thriller set in WWII Paris. Got different perspectives for this resistance story.

~*~
* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Paris in July (here)

Conviction by Mina Denise

Conviction
by Mina Denise

Published: 2019
Publisher: Mulholland Books
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Hardback: 376
Rating: 5
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
Just tell the truth.

The day Anna McDonald's quiet, respectable life explodes starts off like all the days before: packing up the kids for school, making breakfast, listening to yet another true crime podcast. Then her husband comes downstairs with an announcement, and Anna is suddenly, shockingly alone.

Reeling and desperate for distraction, Anna returns to the podcast. Other people's problems are much better than one's own--a sunken yacht, a murdered family, a hint of international conspiracy, but this case actually is Anna's problem. She knows one of the victims from an earlier life, a life she's taken great pains to leave behind, and she is convinced that she knows what really happened.

Then an unexpected visitor arrives on her front stoop; a meddling neighbor intervenes; and life as Anna knows it is well and truly over. The devils of her past are awakened--and in hot pursuit. Convinced she has no other options, she goes on the run, and in pursuit of the truth, with a washed-up musician at her side and the podcast as her guide.

My two-bits:

In for a wild ride with this one. Loved the true crime podcast element folded into this storyline.

~*~
* part of Reese's Book Club 2019 (here)

Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

Then She Was Gone
by Lisa Jewell

Published: 2018
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, UK
Hardback: 359
Rating: 4
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
Those months, the months befoe she disappeared, were the best months.

THEN
She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.

And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.

Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age. And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?

Who still has secrets to hide?

My two-bits:
That lady was nuts!

Certain parts were so sad. But the mystery was compelling.

~*~
* listened to the audio version

* part of Author binge: Lisa Jewell (here)

I Found You by Lisa Jewell

I Found You
by Lisa Jewell
narrated by Helen Duff

Published: 2016
Publisher: Atria Books
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Hardback: 352
Rating: 4
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
Alice Lake lives in a house by the sea.

'How long have you been sitting out here?'
'I got here yesterday.'
'Where did you come from?'
'I have no idea.'

East Yorkshire: Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home.

Surrey: Twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed.

My two-bits:
Unrealiable characters kept me on edge with this story.

Ended up liking one of the unreliables.

The topic of dissociative amnesia is introduced with this story - amazing how the mind protects.

Includes a touch of romance.

~*~
* Filipino characters mentioned

* Listened to audiobook version.

* part of Author binge: Lisa Jewell (here)

The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda

The Last House Guest
by Megan Miranda
Published: 2019
Publisher: Corvus
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Maine
Paperback: 336
Rating: 4
Goodreads
Website

First sentence(s):
I almost went back for her.

Littleport, Maine is like two separate towns: a vacation paradise for wealthy holidaymakers and a simple harbour community for the residents who serve them. Friendships between locals and visitors are unheard of - but that's just what happened with Avery Greer and Sadie Loman.

Each summer for a decade the girls are inseparable - until Sadie is found dead. When the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can't help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie's brother Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they're saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name before the facts get twisted against her.

My two-bits:
Captures the small town summer feels with a mystery that kept me guessing.

Got me thinking of the haves and have nots.

~*~
* part of Reese's Book Club 2019 (here)

* part of Books and States challenge (here): Maine