⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I literally couldn’t put down City in Ruins. Don Winslow caps off both his Danny Ryan trilogy and his career with a knockout of a finale that’s equal parts brutal, beautiful, and heartbreaking. Former dockworker and Irish mob soldier Danny Ryan has transformed into a Las Vegas casino mogul, swimming in wealth and respectability. Life finally seems golden—he has a son he adores, a woman he might love, and enough money to last several lifetimes. But when Danny tries to buy a prime piece of real estate to build his dream resort, he stirs up a hornet’s nest of corrupt Vegas power brokers, a ruthless FBI agent bent on revenge, […]
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A Brilliant and Explosive Finale to the William Warwick Series
Jeffrey Archer ends his William Warwick saga with End Game, a masterful thriller set amid the tension and spectacle of London’s 2012 Olympic Games. When Britain wins the bid to host, the celebration is cut short by an international conspiracy to launch a devastating attack that could throw the world into chaos. Commander William Warwick and his Scotland Yard team must outthink a network of ruthless operatives in a race against time—from London’s crowded streets to the shadowy halls of power—to stop the assassin before the Games begin. Archer is in top form here, blending political intrigue, espionage, and human drama with his signature precision. The pacing is relentless, the […]
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Dust, Secrets, and Stalled Dreams
3.5 stars rounded up to 4 Pay Dirt Road drops you into a small Texas town where the sun is relentless and everyone knows each other’s business. Annie McIntyre has come home after college with no real plan, which already feels like defeat. When a former coworker is murdered, she gets pulled into her grandfather’s private investigations work. The early chapters move slow, and some of the personal conflict feels cooked up just to keep the pot bubbling. But Samantha Jayne Allen’s writing gives the setting real texture. You can feel the heat, the empty fields, the heavy quiet. Annie’s struggles with identity, belonging, and disappointment feel real, which keeps […]
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A Fast-Paced FBI Thriller with One Head-Scratching Twist
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Flashpoint hooked me from the get-go. I went in cold, never having read the previous books in the series, and still felt right at home. Catherine Coulter wastes no time. The danger is real, the stakes are high, and the characters have that lively spark that keeps you leaning in, waiting to see what they’ll try next. Elizabeth Palmer is trying to rebuild her life after surviving a bombing, but someone clearly didn’t get the memo. Attempts on her life start piling up, and MI5 steps in before she can take a breath. Meanwhile, we follow Autumn Backman and Tash Navarro, two kids pulled into trouble through their strange “gift.” […]
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Krueger at His Best in Apostle’s Cove
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ rounded up to 5 After reading all twenty installments of the Cork O’Connor series, I can honestly say Apostle’s Cove might be my favorite yet. William Kent Krueger has once again struck that perfect balance between taut suspense and heartfelt storytelling. When Cork’s son reopens a decades-old case—one Cork himself helped close—it forces father and son to confront guilt, justice, and the murky space between right and wrong. Krueger’s signature blend of mystery, spirituality, and small-town Minnesota atmosphere shines here. The northwoods come alive with his evocative prose, and the characters—flawed, loyal, and deeply human—carry the emotional weight of the story. The dual timeline keeps the tension sharp, revealing secrets one […]
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Office Politics Turn Deadly in This Twisty Psychological Thriller
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Freida McFadden’s The Coworker takes a simple setup—a missing employee—and turns it into a devious psychological maze. Dawn Schiff is the office oddball: awkward, punctual to a fault, and obsessed with routines. When she suddenly vanishes, her bubbly coworker Natalie Farrell is the first to notice—and the first to realize something’s very wrong. As police and colleagues start digging, Natalie’s version of events begins to crack, and the truth becomes far murkier than anyone expected. McFadden keeps the tension high with alternating points of view and short, punchy chapters that make it nearly impossible to stop reading “just one more.” The twists land hard, especially the mid-book reveal that flips everything […]
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Secrets, Shadows, and a Vanished Girl in the Adirondacks
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (4 stars) The God of the Woods is an atmospheric and tragic mystery that transported me straight back to my own camp days in the 1970s—the bug spray, the creaky bunks, and the secrets whispered after dark. Liz Moore’s novel is a haunting literary mystery set in 1975, when thirteen-year-old Barbara Van Laar disappears from her family’s elite summer camp in the Adirondacks. It’s not the first tragedy to strike—the girl’s brother vanished years earlier—and soon the line between victim and culprit blurs in a web of privilege, power, and buried secrets. Moore captures the claustrophobic tension of a small town divided by class, where the wealthy Van Laars employ many locals who […]
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A Heart-Wrenching Tale of Friendship, Survival, and the Darkness That Divides Them
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ In the small town of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. Thirteen-year-old Patch Macauley, a one-eyed misfit with a good heart, becomes an unlikely hero when he stops a kidnapping. But his act of courage sets off a chain of events that will scar the town—and everyone who loves him. By the time the police arrive, Patch has vanished, leaving behind only a bloodied T-shirt and a whole lot of questions. Over the next twenty-five years, his best friend, Saint Brown, can’t let go of what happened. Her search for answers takes her from small-town Missouri to the FBI, where her past still shadows every step. Meanwhile, Patch endures […]
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Sherlock Holmes Heads North in a Clever Farewell to Minnesota’s Favorite Sleuth
I hadn’t heard of Larry Millett’s Shadwell Rafferty series before this book—which is funny, considering I live in Minnesota. Rafferty’s Last Case: A Minnesota Mystery Featuring Sherlock Holmes is the ninth and final installment, and it’s a smart, nostalgic sendoff to a beloved local detective. The story kicks off with a shocker: St. Paul saloonkeeper and sleuth Shadwell Rafferty is found murdered just as he’s about to reveal a killer’s name. When word reaches Sherlock Holmes—who happens to be on a lecture tour in Chicago—he and Dr. Watson head north to investigate their friend’s death. Set in 1928, the novel captures the grit and glamour of old St. Paul, from its smoky speakeasies to […]
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A Killer Wedding Gets Lost in Its Own Drama
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Joan O’Leary’s A Killer Wedding serves up luxury, lies, and lethal secrets at an Irish castle where the elite gather for the society wedding of the year. Christine Russo, a reporter for Bespoke Weddings, thinks she’s landed the assignment of a lifetime covering the nuptials of the Ripton dynasty—until the family matriarch, Gloria Beaufort, turns up dead before the ceremony. Instead of calling the police, the Riptons make the mind-boggling choice to hide her death and let the wedding proceed. It’s a juicy premise, dripping with privilege and dysfunction, and O’Leary’s sharp humor pokes fun at influencer culture and the absurdity of the ultra-rich. But the book gets bogged down by too […]
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