crime thriller

Review: Blood Like Ours (The Blood Trilogy #2) by Stuart Neville

~ megs14malloy

Blood Like Ours (Blood Trilogy #2)Blood Like Ours by Stuart Neville
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

Blood Like Ours is the 2nd-book in the Blood Trilogy by Stuart Neville. The 1st-book, Blood Like Mine, took me completely by surprise when I read it last year.

Initially, I thought that one was a standalone, so I was super excited when I discovered it was actually slated to be a trilogy. Since that time, I’ve been anxiously awaiting this installment and it didn’t disappoint.

These books are a stellar blend of Horror with Crime Fiction. It’s got such a tone to it. Dark, intense, and oh yeah, there’s a lot of blood involved.

Coffin Moon, which was a fairly-hyped Horror release this year, would be a fairly good comp in my opinion. So, if you enjoyed that one and are looking for more in a similar vein, you should check this series out.

Vein…did you see what I did there??

In this installment, we continue to follow Rebecca and her daughter, Monica, who she calls Moonflower. We also continue to follow FBI Agents, specifically, Special Agent Sarah McGrath, who’s very familiar with their case.

The cat-and-mouse dynamics from the 1st-book carry over here, but we also get a new perspective, an young Irish immigrant, who ends up with a shocking connection to Monica and Rebecca.

I love how this book continues to build out this world and cast of characters involved in this story. When it all started, it felt quite insular, with Rebecca and Monica feeling like islands unto themselves. As the story has progressed though, we discover just how many players are actually involved in this whole thing.

It’s intriguing as heck. The way Neville moves all these pieces around, it feels like you’re witnessing a first class chess match with a bunch of blood splatter.

This ending too, OMG!!!

There’s so much more to explore and I can’t wait to discover where the 3rd-book is going to lead us. One of my favorite aspects of this one was the new perspective, Emma, and all the insights she brought to the historical side of this story.

I don’t want to say too much, because the synopsis keeps it vague. I will say as a sequel, it’s completely successful at continuing the original story, whilst also bringing in a lot of new information and truly expanding the stakes, as well as the intrigue.

Thank you to the publisher, Recorded Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Book 3 cannot come fast enough. I can’t wait!!

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Review: This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

~ megs14malloy

This Book Will Bury MeThis Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After the unexpected death of her beloved father, college student, Jane Sharp is left reeling. His death was so sudden, and she’s completely unmoored by it.

In search of distraction, she ends up becoming obsessed with True Crime, and finding a new home in underground forums where armchair detectives investigate real life cases.

She finds a particular group of people who show her the ropes, and who before long she considers true friends. After making a name for themselves with a case in Florida, they’ve become top tier of their like within the online space.

When news hits of the gruesome deaths of three college girls in Delphine, Idaho, the whole world is captivated, and online sleuths from all around scramble to gain access to the details of the investigation.

Jane and her online friends are determined to beat everyone else to the scoop, and end up traveling to Idaho where they can have a real boots on the ground investigation.

This story unfolds mainly in a kind of confessional format. It’s set a year after the events that ultimately went down in Idaho, and has Jane breaking her silence and exposing the true story of what happened after their crew ended up there.

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Leslie Howard, and highly recommend that format. It felt like a true confessional, and really helped to bring the story to life for me. I’m not sure if I would have been as hooked into it if I had just read a physical copy.

I’ll be honest, I put off reading this for so long because I’d heard some negative buzz that it was exploitative of the Idaho College Murders case. After reading the novel, I do see why some people may assume that’s the case, or even feel that after reading it, but I have to respectfully disagree.

In my opinion, this really isn’t about the murders at all. It’s actually a fascinating exploration of the True Crime subculture and the phenomenon of armchair detectives. A topic worthy of discussion.

I think perhaps the author may have said she was inspired by the case, but I think when we say ‘inspired’ it’s more in the spirit of exploring the absolute public firestorm that came from those crimes, the whys and ramifications of the media coverage, and of the public interest.

I liked the way the author dove into this subculture of armchair detectives. I felt like each of the characters in Jane’s group had their own reasons and motivations for being there. I felt like she really tried to show all sides of the community, both good and bad.

At the end of the day, I ended up enjoying this so much. I feel the topics explored are important, particularly those surrounding the True Crime community and the phenomenon of armchair detectives. The goods, the bads, and the uglies. The details of the case mirroring the Idaho case so closely, I can see why that makes people uncomfortable, but I still feel like it’s well done.

It really opens up a lot of great issues for discussion, and maybe that uncomfortability is part of the point. I feel like this would make an incredible book club book because you are sure to have opposing opinions, both on the book itself and the subjects explored.

Thank you to the publisher, Tantor Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This is the first I’ve read from Ashley Winstead, but I’m definitely interested in picking up more!

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Review: Spider to the Fly by J.H. Markert

~ megs14malloy

Spider to the FlySpider to the Fly by J.H. Markert
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Spider to the Fly follows True Crime aficionado, Ellie Isles, along with her daughter, Amber, as they both pursue the identity of an active serial killer known as the Spider.

Ellie first became interested in the Spider after she saw news footage of one of their I-64 victims, who shockingly looked identical to her. It wasn’t her, but it could have been.

Ellie was fascinated by her dopplegänger’s grisly death, and went on to write a bestselling True Crime book about the Spider’s known crimes.

Fast-forward four years and the Spider still hasn’t been caught. With his victim count climbing, many initially unidentified, Ellie’s online-network of True Crime buffs are still pursuing their own potential leads and answers.

Together they’ve amassed a large database of missing persons that’s helped Ellie to successfully identify some of the victims. Seeing her potential usefulness, the task force working on tracking down the Spider, brings her in to help.

When Ellie’s own therapist is arrested for the murders, a man she feels is innocent, Ellie is more determined than ever to capture the Spider.

This has some solid concepts and I really enjoyed the MC, Ellie. I liked learning about her past and I really enjoyed her relationship with her daughter, Amber, whose perspective we get as well.

I also enjoyed how dark the crimes in question were. If you like grisly and gruesome Crime Thrillers, you should definitely check this one out. However, for me, it got too convoluted and confusing trying to track all the characters as the story progressed.

The first-half was really strong though, and even though it went a bit off the rails for me, I would say this is my favorite from this author. It is an intriguing mystery and it’s certainly action-packed.

The story revolves around a trope that I’m not crazy about, so I think once I discovered that’s what was going on here, that’s when it started to go down hill for me. A lot more characters were introduced at that time, and they became hard to differentiate between them all.

Sadly, it ended up being a case of great concept, poor execution for me, which I have felt before reading this author. All of Markert’s books sound so good, but none of them that I’ve read have been a real success.

Thank you to the publisher, Crooked Lane Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. Even though this wasn’t a huge win for me, I can still see the merit in the story and did appreciate the darker crime aspects.

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Review: Coffin Moon by Keith Rosson

~ megs14malloy

Coffin MoonCoffin Moon by Keith Rosson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

Coffin Moon centers around Duane Minor, a Vietnam Vet working as a bartender in his wife, Heidi’s, parent’s bar, and his 13-year old niece, Julia, who the couple recently took in.

Duane is struggling with his sobriety, while Julia is struggling with some very traumatic events in her home life that has left her separated from her mother and brother.

When Minor ends up crossing the baddies that try to pull some shady sh*t at the bar, it changes all of their lives forever. Leading the charge for the bad guys is a man named John Varley, not your average killer, who sleeps during the day and whose teeth grow extra long at night.

After Heidi is killed in retaliation for Minor’s interference, he is wracked with guilt, while Julia is filled with rage. What follows is a cat-and-mouse game of pursuit across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Their goal is to root out John Varley and make him pay for all he’s taken from them.

Will any amount of blood be able to sate their grief and guilt?

This was devilishly good. Set in the 1970s, I feel like Rosson did a fabulous job channeling the gritty Crime Fiction vibes of that era. The tone of it, it’s morose, devastating and heavily vengeance-focused. We love to see it.

I’d love to read this again and take more time with it. This time through, I went rather quickly, so focused on what was going to happen. In future, I think it would be worth a revisit to focus in more on the character work and relationships.

I loved both Minor and Julia. Their interactions together and the way their bond evolved, it felt so natural and it truly tugged at my heart-strings.

Additionally, John Varley was fascinating. We learn quite a bit about him and his history, and those are some of the moments that I would like to revisit the most. There was something sweeping and epic-feeling about his story that brought even more to the historical meat of this story.

There were so many devastating moments in this book. Moments where I would read it and think, OMG, how would you get over that? But Minor and Julia just kept on going on, and I love that resilience and even if it was driven by rage in Julia’s case, I respected the hell out of their strength.

It felt like Rosson poured a lot of emotion into this one. It hurt my heart a bit, not gonna lie, but it was so worth it. I was sad about much of it, but impressed with the fact that Rosson could make me feel so much for these characters in such a short amount of time.

Overall, I found this to be such a unique and classic-feeling Horror story. I have never read anything from this author before, but I will be reading more in the future.

Thank you so much to the publisher, Random House, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I think this will definitely be one of my most memorable reads of 2025!

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Review: No Rest for the Wicked by Rachel Louise Adams

~ megs14malloy

No Rest for the Wicked: A NovelNo Rest for the Wicked: A Novel by Rachel Louise Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Almost 20-years ago, Dolores Hawthorne fled her hometown of Little Horton, Wisconsin. She attended college, worked hard, and became a successful forensic pathologist.

She never planned to go back, until she gets a phone call from the FBI, telling her that her father, Little Horton’s former mayor turned US Senator, has gone missing under mysterious circumstances.

In spite of everything, Dolores cares for her father and returns to help in the investigation in any way she can.

Her reunion with her remaining family and the town is mixed, but before long, she’s coming to grips with her past and aiding the FBI with the search.

Other startling occurrences hit the town hard and it becomes clear, something sinister is haunting Little Horton this Halloween season.

Confession time. When I was offered an ARC of this book, I took one look at the cover, read the title, and thought, yes, absolutely, yes. It just looked like something I would enjoy, and luckily, that was true.

However, I had no clue what it was about, but made certain assumptions, and they were all wrong. I actually Buddy Read this with a friend and we both commented quickly that we both assumed it was YA, which it’s clearly not.

If you read the synopsis, unlike me, you’ll have no problem understanding that, but I just felt like the cover, though one of the most gorgeous covers that I’ve set my eyes on lately, really doesn’t portray the feel that I took from this Adult Mystery/Thriller novel.

With this out of the way, my head scratching at the cover art choice really has nothing to do with the book, or the story. I really enjoyed the twisted nature of this and all the dark small town drama. It was captivating and also contained one of my favorite tropes.

I absolutely adore when an MC returns to their hometown, after a number of years away, and ends up digging into some sort of mystery from their past. It’s even better when there are past and present mysteries intertwined, and that’s exactly what Adams delivered here.

It was interesting watching Dolores reintroduce herself to the home she left behind. The interactions among her family were interesting, and I liked how we learned about the past via various timeline/perspective shifts.

We also get a front row seat to the investigation into her father’s disappearance, as well as the other incidents happening around town.

Little Horton was a fun setting. It’s a self-proclaimed Halloween town, so they really lean into the holiday. It gave a lovely, moody backdrop to our overriding mysteries.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this. It was intriguing and fast-paced. I was surprised by it in many ways, and look forward to reading more from this author. I actually would love another book with Dolores as a main character. I grew very fond of her over the course of the story.

Thank you to the publisher, Minotaur Books and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with copies to read and review.

Everything from the tone, setting and characters, to the mystery itself, was engaging for me. Rachel Louise Adams is definitely an author I’ll be reading more from the future!

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Review: The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen

~ megs14malloy

The Locked WardThe Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**3.5-stars rounded up**

Twins, separated at birth and adopted into different families, come back together in adulthood when one of them is accused of murder.

Will Mandy be able to find the truth of the crime and use it to help free Georgia, or is Georgia actually guilty?

Georgia, adopted by the wealthy and well-connected Cartwright family, grew up very differently from Mandy, who was adopted by a family of much more modest means.

Another difference is that the Cartwright’s were able to conceive a child naturally just after adopting Georgia. Thus, her little sister, Annabelle came into their lives. It’s rumored that Georgia was always viciously jealous of Annabelle.

When Annabelle is murdered, and Georgia is found with the body with blood all over herself, it seems like a clear-cut case, and Georgia gets sent to a psychiatric hospital. But is the case really as clear-cut as it seems?

When Mandy is contacted about the whole situation, she can hardly believe it. She didn’t even know she had a sister, let alone a twin. This seems absolutely crazy, yet she’s intrigued, and goes to see Georgia.

Seeing the situation her sister is in, Mandy is compelled to help. She begins to dig in, finding out more about her mysterious sister, her adoptive family, and where both Mandy and Georgia came from. She discovers things she could have never imagined, but will anyone believe her?

There’s many scandalous secrets and individuals who, for various reasons, would prefer the past stay well and truly buried. Will these twins be able to come out on top, or will the evil actors be able to silence them forever?

The Locked Ward is the latest from one of my go-to Thriller authors, Sarah Pekkanen. I always look forward to Pekkanen’s new releases. I love how readable her stories are, and I find her plots and characters compelling.

This story is no exception. I found the set-up so interesting. It easily pulled me in. Mandy finding out that she had a twin, and the horrific circumstances that twin was currently in; I couldn’t even imagine being in that position.

Georgia’s perspective however, is told in 2nd-person, and honestly, I wasn’t crazy about that choice. I’m not a fan of 2nd-person in general anyway, and I just felt like in this story, I would have preferred a more clear, 1st-person narrative style for Georgia.

That is but a tiny personal preference issue though, and I felt like the rest of the story was great. It’s quite a tangled web. I found it unpredictable and very entertaining.

In addition to recommending the book itself, I would also recommend the audiobook if you’re going to give this one a shot. The narration by January LaVoy, unsurprisingly, was excellent. It definitely helped me to fully immerse myself into this story.

Thank you to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press and Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copies to read and review. As always, I look forward to whatever Sarah Pekkanen releases next!

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Review: King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby

~ megs14malloy

King of Ashes: A NovelKing of Ashes: A Novel by S.A. Cosby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

After Roman Carruthers receives word that his father has been in a terrible car accident, he returns home to be with his brother, Dante, and sister, Naveah, and closer to the hospital where his Dad is being kept.

The accident was serious, and the prognosis is grim. They aren’t sure if Dad will ever fully recover.

Roman has been away from his hometown, where his family owns and operates a crematorium, for many years. He’s built himself a highly-successful career in Atlanta, and seems to have left central Virginia in the past.

Now that he’s returned though, he must confront his younger brother, Dante’s, dangerous criminal enterprises, which have left him riddled in debt, as well as his sister, Neveah’s, burn out, as she struggles to hold everything together with regards to the family and the business.

Roman is a bit gobsmacked by the current state of his family. He didn’t know things had progressed this far, particularly in regards to Dante’s debt and substance use issues.

In doesn’t take Roman long to parse out that his father’s crash wasn’t an accident, and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in very grave danger.

Vowing to get his brother out of trouble, and save his family, Roman offers his very applicable services to the criminal overlords hunting down his brother. Roman is an expert negotiator and he’s sure he can see this through, and free Dante from his debts.

Concurrently, his sister is working on her own mystery project. She’s trying to determine what exactly happened to their mother, who disappeared years before.

There’s so much going on in King of Ashes. The most impressive part is Cosby’s incredible skill at writing such a complex story, while keeping it flowing naturally, and never making the Reader feel overwhelmed.

I enjoyed how quickly it all kicks off as well, as far as getting Roman back to Jefferson Run and involved with the flourishing criminal underworld there.

Additionally, this is a Long Game story, IYKYK, which is one of my favorite tropes in this kind of novel. Roman, as an MC, is incredible. He was so easy to root for. I loved his courage and determination in spite of the danger, no matter what, he was gonna fight to reach his goals.

I also enjoyed him as a bit of a reverse prodigal son. In spite of his successful time away, he still did seek a bit of forgiveness in a way from the other members of his family.

All the other characters were really well done too. Dante, though frustrating as heck, the guy’s literally a walking liability, was still believable and sympathetic, and I loved Naveah as well.

The plot was fast-paced and kept me super invested. I had no moments where I wasn’t fully locked into the audiobook while listening to it. I adored it.

In short, S.A. Cosby’s gripping, gritty stories, paired with the impeccable narration of Adam Lazarre-White, is nothing short of perfection. A winning combination!

While I was completely invested in this story, and maybe because I was so invested in it, I’m NGL, it CRUSHED me. This one is going to stick in my brain for a long, long time.

This is a must for everyone’s Summer Reading List!!

Thank you, Macmillan Audio, for providing me with a copy to read and review. S.A. Cosby is an auto-read author for me, and this firmly secures his place on that list!

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Review: Fifty Fifty (Eddie Flynn #5) by Steve Cavanagh

~ megs14malloy

Fifty Fifty (Eddie Flynn, #5)Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

Fifty Fifty is the 5th-installment to Steve Cavanagh’s Eddie Flynn series, but it’s only the 2nd-book that I’ve read in the series thus far.

Take it from me, I say this with confidence, it doesn’t matter where you start with this series, as long as you start it.

If you aren’t familiar with the series, as I wasn’t, it does indeed follow Eddie Flynn, a criminal defense attorney, as well as his team, as they investigate, work and defend various cases in and around New York City.

This starts off with such a bang, and it never let go of me. A complete mindf#*k, if you will. The opening scene features a 9-1-1 call that introduces us to the gruesome crime that is going to pull Eddie into a case for the record books.

Two sisters, Alexandra and Sofia, one of them brutally murdered their father, but which one?

Eddie thinks he knows who the guilty party is, and he only chooses to defend innocent people. Thus, he chooses to defend the girl he thinks deserves to be free, but is he right?

Fifty Fifty was such an incredibly fun ride. This case is hella dark and twisted, the two sisters pitted against one another, it was so intense. I couldn’t put it down.

My head was spinning the whole way through. I flipped back and forth between the two sister suspects so many times, trying to figure out who the killer was. It was completely engaging and wickedly compelling.

I love the way Cavanagh provided clues along the way that could’ve arguably fit either girl. It was a mental workout trying to figure it out, and I love a good workout.

I’m so happy to have discovered this series in 2025. These gorgeous new covers being released by Atria are the perfect reason to snatch them all up for my bookshelves. I’m looking forward to reading the rest.

Thank you to the publisher, Atria, for providing me with a copy to read and review. If you enjoy fast-paced, high-stakes, twisty Legal Thrillers, I highly recommend the Eddie Flynn series!!!

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Review: Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey

~ megs14malloy

Our Last Wild DaysOur Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Loyal left her small hometown of Jacknife, Louisiana, when she was just 18-years old, after a falling out with her best friend, Cutter. When she left, she took a lot of guilt with her over what she’d done to Cutter.

Now a decade later, Loyal returns to Jacknife to help care for her Mom, who seems to be teetering on the edge of dementia. Loyal is nervous about being back. It feels like she’s been on the run from her past this whole time.

Luckily, Loyal, a journalist, is able to get a job working at the tiny local paper, which she’d contributed to when she had been in high school. She hasn’t burned every bridge.

Her first day on the job, she and her coworker, Sasha, get word that a body has been discovered in the swamps. They rush to the scene to see what info that can glean from the responding officers.

It’s quickly revealed that the body belongs to Loyal’s estranged best friend, Cutter. Loyal is devastated on so many levels. She was hoping for a chance to reconcile with her friend, to apologize for what she had done, but now she’s been robbed of that chance.

Cutter’s early ife had been filled with hardship and tragedy, and from what Loyal’s heard, it’s only gotten worse recently. Now she’s been taken out just as tragically.

Many believe Cutter most likely took her own life, but Loyal isn’t buying that. There’s no way the girl she knew would do that, but how well did she actually know Cutter anymore?

Loyal and Sasha begin digging for answers, discovering small town corruption and dangerous dealings along the way. Will they be able to expose the truth, or will Cutter end up just being another person lost to the swamp?

Our Last Wild Days is Anna Bailey’s 2nd-novel, and IMO, it’s an improvement over their debut, Where the Truth Lies, which was good, but nothing about it really stood out for me.

I feel like this novel is going to stick in my mind. The characters were fantastically-developed and I thought the South Louisiana setting, the atmosphere created around that, was excellent as well.

If you enjoy gritty Crime Fiction, with a touch of a Hillbilly Noir-type feel to it, you should definitely give this one a shot. It has a nice slow burn, that definitely pays off if you stick around until the end.

And when I say slow burn, I don’t mean that it feels slow. The story itself builds at a nice clip, I just feel like Bailey really invested the time in building out the story in a way that would pull the Reader in and make them care.

By the end, I needed answers as badly as Loyal did. I needed for Cutter’s true story to be told. The characters felt completely realistic. I think for anyone who grew up in a small town in the U.S., you may even start to see bits and pieces of your own hometown on display here.

I’m impressed with this. I think Bailey has found their stride, and it’s only going to keep getting stronger. I hope they stick in this lane. This sort of atmospheric Crime Thriller really suits their writing.

Thank you to the publisher, Atria, for providing me with a copy to read and review. I’m looking forward to Bailey’s next novel already!!!

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Review: The Man Made of Smoke by Alex North

~ megs14malloy

The Man Made of SmokeThe Man Made of Smoke by Alex North
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

**4.5-stars**

🖤❤️🖤❤️🖤❤️🖤❤️🖤❤️🖤❤️🖤

When he was a kid, Dan Garvie had an encounter with a serial killer that he luckily escaped physically unharmed, but he’s been mentally haunted by that day ever since.

It had a huge impact, not just on him, but also on his Dad, John, as well. John was a police officer at the time the killer was active, and to have his son directly impacted by that encounter definitely hit a little too close to home.

As an adult, Dan has moved away from his small island hometown and has dedicated his life to understanding criminal minds. Focused on forgetting his past, Dan doesn’t keep in as close of touch with his Dad as he probably should.

When he receives news that his Dad has passed away under highly-suspicious circumstances, he rushes back to the island determined to uncover the truth.

Returning to his childhood home stirs up a lot of feelings and memories for Dan. It also brings him into contact with people he hasn’t seen in many years, including his childhood best friend, Sarah.

As Dan starts digging around, trying to find out what could have happened to his Dad, he uncovers some startling things. Is it possible his Dad’s unfortunate fate is connected to that horrible nightmare Dan has been running from for all of these years?

The Man Made of Smoke was so incredibly-engaging. Gripping and intriguing from the very start, I found it difficult to put this one down once I was reading it.

The story is told via three perspectives and I appreciated what each of them brought to the story. I grew attached to each character, but particularly to John. This is one of those rare Crime Fiction novels that really tugs at your heart-strings, or at least it did mine.

We also get past and present perspectives, which I feel like helped to really build out the truth behind this story.

The past perspective had a visceral feel to it; imagining being in the circumstances portrayed was gut-wrenching. The current perspectives were similarly impactful, filled with the character’s inner regrets and turmoil.

It was so well executed and really made me feel connected with this story. I actually cared. There’s no way I could have walked away from this one.

It also didn’t hurt that the set-up of a character returning to their hometown, after a long period of time away, and they have to reinsert themselves into their communities in order to solve something, either an old or new mystery, is one of my all-time favorite tropes.

As someone who moved away from their hometown many years ago, this idea always intrigues me. Maybe I should go back and solve some stuff, you know? Also, it’s set on an island, which is another thing I love.

All around it was clear from the start that this should be a hit for me, and Alex North definitely pulled it off. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of North’s previous novels, or if you love darker Crime Fiction stories in general.

Thank you to the publisher, Celadon Books, for providing me with a copy to read and review. This definitely met my lofty expectations. Well played by North!

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