Kelley Armstrong: I’ll Be Waiting

Kelley Armstrong shows you never know who is on the other side of the veil when you call:

Nicola never believed that she would live this long, let alone find a career she loves and the love of her life. Nicola has Cystic Fibrosis and most children do not live to see adulthood. She knows that she needs to live every moment and she wants to do that with her Husband Anton. Neither of them thought that he would be the one to leave first, his final words to Nic haunting her every day, "I'll Be Waiting". This take Nic on a path of trying to contact Anton, talk to him one more time to say a proper Goodbye, but something sinister has come across instead, something with death and vengeance on their mind.

I'm a huge Kelley Armstrong fan. I love the way that she constructs her story and her ability to draw the reader in. I have read one other book by Armstrong that was more of the horror side of genres. This book had me hooked from the beginning, but i will say that it was heartbreaking at the beginning middle and end. Speaking of the end, the last 30% of the book goes by so fast as you try to turn the pages faster and faster to see what is going to happen next.

You cannot help but feel for Nicola from everything thing that she has gone through in her life, and what she is having to deal with now, not only the tragedy but also those trying to profit on the death of her husband. There are always those who will try anything to make a buck and that is highlighted in this book with the amount of mediums or psychics who say they will have the ability to contact her Husband Anton. With everything really falling apart it make sense why Nicola starts question everyone and everything around her, and herself, maybe she herself is going insane.

This book is only told from Nicola's POV and while I appreciate that but I think I would have enjoyed a different perspective at times and be in the minds of other people in the house, to truly see what they were feeling and experience. I think a POV from Dr. Cirillo and his reasons for being there would have been an interesting POV and scientific one at that.

Although this book is touted as a supernatural horror, I didn’t think it was that scary, but the creepy atmosphere was on point. Things do get a bit gory at times, especially near the end of the book, so i think some people will find it scary and fit the horror genre but for me it does not. 

Was able to figure out the twist but you really don’t know who is going to be there in the end.

I did enjoy this book even though it was not quite what i wanted it to be (and probably my least favourite of Armstrong’s books). I think those looking for a creepy book that has an eerie atmosphere, then pick up this book.

Enjoy!!!

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Steve Cavanagh: Kill For Me Kill For You

Steven Cavanagh shows that the strangers we meet can ruin one's life but also in strangers we can trust:

Two strangers meet by chance and they share a tragedy in life, the loss of their child, loss of the life that they had. They cannot live with culprit walking around free while their loved ones are cold and buried. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect plan from the famous work, Strangers on a Train. Across town a woman is attacked in her home by a blue-eyed stranger, a face she will never forget, will she ever feel safe again with Him out there stalking/hurting/killing other woman? Her husband is beside himself with worry and what would he do if he ever encountered that blue eyed man. A city full of violence and a few people willing to do what they thinks it takes to make the city a little bit safer, so no more have to suffer, especially if one can get away with it.

This is the first book that I have read by Cavanagh (I still want to read his Eddy Flynn series) and with all the hype surrounding this book I went in with high expectations. I really loved the idea of a modern versions of strangers on a train and I was looking forward to how Cavanagh would achieve this with such a change of technology from then to now. 

Overall, I just felt underwhelmed by this story. While the premise is done in a unique way and I felt invested in the characters, especially Amanda but i felt like this book lacked the suspense that I thought it was going to have as i found that it was fairly predictable. This was really sad as i found the beginning really captured you with what had happened to Amanda and Ruth (both heartbreaking in their own ways) but after that high the book begins to petered off.

I was able to figure out most of the twists except for the final one but by then I wasn’t really invested in the story as much as I wanted to be and I was like huh that was clever. I didn’t have the draw dropping moment most seem to have with this book.

I also wish there was more POV for Farrow, he felt underdeveloped and I really enjoyed him as a character and Detective. His drive to solve cases, his compassion to the victims or victims' families, I would read a book where he was the lead and solving the cases that no one else can solve or wants to put in the work to solve.

I can only really recommend this book to people who don’t read a lot of thriller or murder mystery books or someone who is looking to get back into the genre. As someone who reads A LOT in these genres I found this book okay at best but also predictable and didn’t have the thrills or mystery that I wanted it to.

Cheers!!!!

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S. A. Cosby: Razorblade Tears

S. A. Cosby shows what two fathers will do in a quest for Vengeance:

Ike and Buddy Lee are strangers to each other, even though their sons were married and had a daughter together. When their sons are murdered in a drastic way, they do not think that anything can get any worse, but their headstones are destroyed above their graves. This causes Buddy Lee to reach out to Ike and seek their own sense of justice for their boys. Even though they were both ashamed of their kids while they are alive they see this as a small way to atone for that, to set things right and bring Vengeance to those who dared to hurt their boys.

This is the first book that I have read by Cosby and this book was making quite a few ways when it was released in 2021 and i can see why, the act of vengeance and why Ike and Buddy lee go down this path is very powerful and Hell i can't blame them for it. A parent should never have to bury their children, and one's children should never be murdered how their son's were. So once you start reading the book you cannot help but root for them. Nothing else matters, not race or that they are both ex-cons, all that matters is Justice.

Ike and Buddy Lee are very different men, but very much the same as well. Ike, is ruthless in this book and I am hear for it, Buddy Lee is more of the comedic relief in the book through his comments/idea but he shows up when you need him too. Both of them HATE how they treated their son's while they were alive and this vigilantism is a way to atone for that. It is sad that Ike and Buddy Lee could not understand their sons’ life and who they loved. Although this book takes a short amount of time, there is growth in both characters as they spend more time together, especially Ike and how he sees gay men.

This book is quite dark and graphic at times, enough that one needs to know this going in to the book. Ike has a particular set of skills and anger to go along with it that he not afraid to pull this other side of him out in this book (he is savage at times). I also appreciated that Cosby understood that Ike and Buddy Lee are older men and the hinderances that comes with this, but also the men using this to their advantage with all the young bucks out there. 

All that said above this book took me a bit to get into. Is tarted this book on Audio and the character voices just didn’t really work for me, for lack of better words the voice was too soothing that it made me sleepy (lol). Once i started reading it in physical copy form I was able to get into the book. I did find the book a bit predictable as I was able to guess the twist well before the end.

I enjoyed this book by Cosby and I would like to read other books by him. I enjoyed the premise of this book of two different but same men coming together to get justice for this sons.

Enjoy!!!

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