[REVIEW] Final Girls by Riley Sager @riley_sager

First of all THIS book – WOW – this is a strong and immersive debut novel.  I have been hearing about this book for a while but didn’t pay much attention to it until I came upon it again and started reading the reviews and following the reviews on Goodreads (daily). I decided to check NetGalley for it and to my luck I requested and got approved for this novel. I am so grateful to have gotten a chance to read it now!

This book focuses mainly on Quincy Carpenter who is a ‘Final Girl’ – the sole survivor of a massacre.  Ten years have passed since the massacre at Pine Cottage hapened and Quincy has a boyfriend and a baking blog but she still can’t shake the feeling of that horrible night and the cottage in which she lost her friends. There are three ‘Final Girls’ – Lisa Milner, Samantha Boyd and our protagonist Quincy Carpenter. Then something horrible happens to Lisa Milner which causes an unease in Quincy. Quickly after the death of Lisa Milner, the second ‘Final Girl’ Samantha Boyd appears in front of Quincy’s building. This is where the story starts to thicken and all hell breaks loose. Being a ‘Final Girl’ has its consequences and the women who experienced that terrible fear and shock possess something that others don’t.

An amazing debut novel from Riley Sager. It is compared to ‘Gone Girl’ which no book can beat but this book has it’s own power which makes it unique and a MUST read. Riley Sager writes really well, he gets under your skin with scary scenes. This novel is full of twists and turns which are cleverly done.  I must say that at one point I did predict what was going to happen but the last 100 pages were so fast-paced, gut wrenching and wonderfully done. Also I really loved the references to Old Hollywood movies (Vertigo..) and stars (Grace Kelly, James Stewart..).  Riley Sager has become one of my top authors now.

I would definitely recommend this book to everyone – especially lovers of mystery/thriller genre. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed by this book!

The novel comes out on July 11th 2017 so make sure you pick it up!

Thank you to NetGalley, Ebury Press and Riley Sager for granting me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

My rating: 

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  A native of Pennsylvania, Riley Sager is a writer, editor and graphic designer. Riley now lives in Princeton, New Jersey.

In addition to writing, Riley enjoys reading, movies and baking.

Riley’s first novel, FINAL GIRLS, will be published in 2017 in the United States, the United Kingdom and more than a dozen territories around the world.

Find her on:   Website,  Twitter,  Instagram, GoodReads.

[REVIEW] An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison

I have been interested in mental disorders for a while now – mainly because they affect a lot of population. I have read a few memoirs with similar topics as this one but this one is the most memorable. This is an autobiography of Kay Redfield Jamison – she is a clinical psychologist whose work mainly centers on manic depressive disorder (generally known as bipolar disorder). The characteristics of manic depressive disorder are mostly mood swings – a person’s mind tends to switch moods from over-the-moon happy to terribly sad.

Kay Redfield Jamison gives us an insight of her childhood and how the darkness consumed her and her way of living with mental illness. Within this pages you will experience what it is like being bipolar and get to know the story of this brilliant doctor. I have to say that this is really an essential book for everyone interested in psychology or manic depressive disorder. Kay Redfield Jamison is really brave for sharing her story with the world and I feel grateful to have read it. This autobiography deals with a lot of subjects which are important and executed really well. As I’ve said at the beginning of this review more than a half of the population suffer or experience depression and there are those who are affected by it every day for all of their life.  I truly believe that this book helped people realise that they are not alone – mental illness doesn’t define a person. This book gives hope to people who suffer from manic depressive disorder to continue fighting and know that they are worth it.

A powerful and poignant read that changes your perception of mental disorders specifically manic depressive disorder.

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[REVIEW] The Girl with a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson

This is my second novel from Peter Swanson and dare I say it didn’t disappoint. I first heard about his 2015 ‘The Kind Worth Killing’ – read it immediately and became interested in this author. I must also say that his second novel ‘The Kind Worth Killing’ is still my favourite of his.

The Girl with a Clock for a Heart follows George Foss and the mysterious  relationship he has with his college sweetheart who disappeared after the first semester. George finds himself sitting in a bar with his on-and-off girlfriend Irene when he sees a woman who reminds him of his college girlfriend Audrey Beck/Liana. He dismisses this fact and continues with his conversation with Irene – still having that woman on his mind – after telling Irene that he isn’t feeling well and leaving the bar he comes back to the bar with certainty that that’s his college girlfriend Audrey/Liana.

His intuition turns out right and they start having a chat where she tells him she needs a favour from him. He hesitates but agrees to do the favour even tho he knows about her troubled past and secrets she holds.

This was a great thriller which I expected it would be coming from this author. I love his writing and how he creates tension and twists. What bothered me was how quickly he believes her and trusts her to do what she asks of him. It don’t understand what kind of person can do that in an instant, I do get that he was in love with her even though she disappeared.  She left her mark on him which after twenty years never got healed. But nevertheless it was a fast thriller with interesting characters. As for recommending this book – If you’d like to read Swanson you better start with ‘The Kind Worth Killing’ and work through the rest. Looking forward to his next book ‘Her Every Fear’ which is out this year.

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[REVIEW] The Likeness by Tana French

After reading In the Woods I wasn’t really looking forward to reading anything else by French, but I read some reviews and asked some people if the second one is worth reading. Because of the fact that it’s similar to The Secret History by Donna Tartt I decided to read it.

The book focuses on Detective Cassie Maddox, now former partner of Det. Rob Ryan since she left the Squad. She has a new relationship, she moved to domestic crime section and is getting settled into her new life until she gets a call to attend a crime scene. Now this is the part where you have to let go of your biases and believe in the story. The murder victim looks exactly like her and is identified as Alexandra Madison which is the alias that Cassie used.

The Squad gets a mad idea to send her into the house in which Alexandra/Lexie Madison lived and find out who might’ve killed her. With a lot of hesitating she agrees and becomes entangled into the lives of Lexie’s housemates and her her issues as well.

I loved the fact that it was similar to The Secret History because I adored that book. The feel of a group of friends who are mysterious and quite terrifying in the eyes of others makes me like this book. Even though the plot of the book was bonkers, once you get past it, the book gets better. I think that this book was 10 times better than her first one. Again, her writing is flawless, her setting is magical and she gets into the psyche of her characters’ really well. I am looking forward to reading the next one.

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[REVIEW] In the Woods by Tana French

I have been hearing about this book for ages, it has great reviews and it is loved. So I decide to check it out. This book a Detective Rob Ryan who is the only child who got back from the woods in the summer of 1984.  The story is set in Dublin, Ireland which makes it even more compelling.

As you can predict Rob is tortured by his past and the happenings of that dreadful summer. One day he gets called into the same suburb his friends went missing to investigate a homicide of a twelve year old girl. Now that he’s back at the ‘scene of his nightmares’ he must conquer his trauma whilst working on a case in a small suburb of Dublin. He works alongside his partner Detective Cassie Maddox in order to solve this crime and find the person/people who committed it.

I love French’s writing style, it’s very rich and beautiful. She has a great way of getting into her characters’ psyche. French created a character with a troubled past who feels like a real person when reading the book. The story is good but the happenings in the novel were a bit too much for me. I didn’t like it as much as everyone else. Although I thought the book was great it wasn’t a ‘wow’ book. If you are a fan of mystery/thriller books I’d recommend it.

My rating is: 

[REVIEW] The Poison Artist by Jonathan Moore

The story follows Dr. Caleb Maddox who is a toxicologist from San Francisco.  What’s interesting about him is beside being  a toxicologist he studies chemical effects of pain. If that isn’t enough to make you read it here’s more.

One night he goes to a bar in which he spots a mysterious woman who’s name he later finds out is Emmeline. Emmeline is a true mystery and she plays a key role in the book for Caleb. He gets called to be a part of a murder investigation which has multiple victims with the same markings on them which makes them serial murders.  This strikes Caleb as odd because all the postmortems are inconclusive and one of the victims was in the bar he was with Emmeline. Was Emmeline behind it all, is she working with someone and she intentionally seduced Caleb knowing about him even before they met? These are all the questions which come up while you read the book. But you’re in for a surprise by the end.

This was a great thriller. I really liked the writing style and the feel of the book that Jonathan Moore created. It made me want to find out more and more about the characters and the story. The reason I gave this book four stars is because I did have some issues with it like: the abrupt ending of the book which could’ve been done better. Maybe the second novel The Dark Room will shine a light on some of the things in the first novel.

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