Review: The Woman In Cabin 10

Title The Woman In Cabin 10
By Ruth Ware
Genre Psychological Thriller, Mystery
Format Audiobook
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Lo Blacklock, a writer for a travel magazine, is going on the maiden voyage of the prestigious cruise ship the Aurora. With a recent break in at her home and her relationship with her boyfriend on the rocks Lo is finding her insomnia unbearable but lack of sleep or not she's sure of what she hears and sees one night on the cruise. A scream and a splash and something that looks like blood smeared on the balcony next to hers. Sure that something awful has happened to the woman in the cabin next to hers, Lo starts investigating but no one believes. As she starts to dig deeper the threats start coming but Lo can't give up on trying to find the woman in cabin 10.

First Sentence
The first inkling that something was wrong was waking in darkness to find the cat pawing at my face.

  This is my first Ruth Ware book and a friend of mine was horribly disappointed in it so I was reluctant to pick it up. But, as often happens, I needed an audiobook to listen to and it was available so here we are.

I actually ended up really liking the book. Mostly, I think, because the main character, while a bit naive, was likable: A rare thing in these psychological thrillers.

I also really liked the story. I wanted to know what was going on and who Lo could trust. The present day to past timeline added to the intensity as well.

I felt like I was reading an Agatha Christie book a little because you have this cast of characters isolated from the world and someone has gone missing. But where an Agatha Christie novel would have a investigator on board and everyone scared of everyone else this one was just a magazine writer against the whole company. No one else believed her and there was no record of anyone missing on board.

Anyway, it made for a fun read and I enjoyed it. I'm eager to try Ware's other books now.

Friday Flicks: Murder on the Orient Express

Murder on the Orient Express
Rating ★★

What It's About
Detective Poirot is finally retiring. Taking a train from his last case, he's looking forward to a relaxing journey reading Dickens but he boarded the wrong train. A murder takes place and it becomes apparent that the murderer is still on the train, Poirot must come out of retirement to solve the murder but this will be the strangest and most difficult case he's ever worked.

There was so much buzz about this one, am I right?! At first I thought it was because it has such a large and famous cast but then, silly me, I realized it was based on a book. An Agatha Christie book. Sorry. I never read her books. I couldn't get into them. Anyways, After realizing why it was so popular I decided to give it a try; I like a good mystery, after all.

And it definitely was a mystery. I tried very hard to guess what was going on but they did a very good job of keeping you guessing (if you hadn't already read the book) and I appreciated that. Of course, now I'm trying to figure out why you'd want to see this one if you read the book. If I hadn't been guessing what was going on the whole time I might have been bored.

I did guess what was going on, right before the big reveal but maybe that's what I was supposed to do. And what a strange reveal it was. Suddenly this murder mystery was trying to be all important with a moral question presented. Meh. I wasn't blown away.

The cinematography in this one was beautiful! Seriously. I wouldn't be surprised if it gets nominated for an Oscar for that or at least costume design. It was a feast for the eyes. I loved it.

 Kenneth Branagh was a delight as usual. He was quite funny and you could tell he brought his personality into the directing.

All in all, I only found this one pleasing to watch for its cinematography. The mystery had me guessing but when all was revealed I was just left with a lot of questions.

Let's Talk
This movie really made me want to take a train ride on this kind of train minus the murder. Do these kind of trains even exist anymore? If not, I'm sad.

Recommendation
While I want to tell you to see its beauty on the big screen, you should probably just Redbox it or wait till it's on Netflix.

Review: What She Knew

Title What She Knew
By Gilly Macmillan
Genre Adult Crime Mystery
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
When a mother lets her 8 year old son run on up ahead of her the unthinkable happens. Benedict Finch goes missing. Following his mother and the detective assigned to the case, the story takes us through the 9 days after Ben's abduction.

First Sentence
In the eyes of others, we're often not who we imagine ourselves to be.





I'm all for a missing person book. Several of my blogging friends had read and recommended this one, so when it went on sale for Kindle I snatched it up.

 What no one mentioned was it's more of a crime novel than a mystery. Let me explain. I consider a mystery or suspense or whatever you want to call it a book about the people that a tragedy happens around or to and how they cope or figure things out. A crime novel takes us into the head of the detectives working the case. Many moons ago, crime novels are about all I ever read. I loved them. Couldn't get enough of them. I watched Law & Order SVU religiously and binge watched old episodes. Sadly, I burnt myself out on them. Now if I see a book or show about detectives my eyes glaze over. It's kind of like when you eat so much of something you never want to eat it again.

So while it was a crime book and I almost gave up when I saw that, I decided to stick with it. It did have the mother of the missing child's POV and I was interested enough in whodunnit that I kept reading. It was a rather fast paced book after the first 100 pages or so and I liked the way it drew social media into the story. It showed us how awful people that read about these things on line can be so horrible stating their unasked for and biased, judgmental opinion. There were enough red herrings in this one to keep me guessing, though I had my suspicions, and I liked that. I hate when I know who it is from page one.

My complaints about the book are pretty straight forward. The crime novel aspect while not completely torturous did make me struggle and almost give up and I really didn't like a single character in this book.

Sometimes I think authors try so hard to create flawed characters that feel human and real that they make them a bit too unlikable. While they didn't all drive me nuts, I found them to be a bit irritating and that effected my overall opinion. Thank goodness for plot, right?

Should you read it
If this sounds like your kind of book I'd recommend it.

Review: Dead Ringer

Title Dead Ringer
By Jessie Rosen
Genre YA Suspense/mystery
Rating ⭐️

Synopsis
What really happened to Sarah Castro-Tanner on the night she committed suicide by throwing herself into the river? Follow golden boy Charlie and his group of friends, who might have been there that night to Laura Rivers, the new girl in school who looks similar to the dead girl to Sasha, a hacker determined to discover what really happened at any cost.

First Sentence
Deep breath, big smile, and remember: it's all about swag.  




Note to self: Freaking research a book's author and publisher before blindly downloading it because the price is right! Oh my hell! This book, guys! I have been really working on giving up on books that aren't doing it for me and have been doing pretty good, thank you very much, but this book...Ugh! I should have known to give up the minute I started.

The writing was dreadful. It sounded like a first draft that some 12 year old wrote. (no offense to 12 year olds) It was seriously painful to slog through such horrible writing. Then why did I, you ask? Because of the mystery. I wanted to know what happens.

Somewhere, about half way through, I suspected what was going on but by this point I felt committed to see where this stupid book would go. So, I kept reading, and reading and reading! That's another thing I hated about it. It was so LOOOOONG!!!! Needlessly, pathetically, desperately LONG!

And are you ready for this kicker? It ended practically mid sentence! It was a non-ending! A stupid cliffhanger! A damn setup for the monstrosity that will be book two!!! When I realized this I think I sat for a full minute with my eye twitching! I couldn't believe what this stupid book had the gall to do to me!

I'm livid but at least I learned my lesson. Right?

Should you read it? 
I don't know, are you a masochist?

Review: Black-Eyed Susans

Title Black-Eyed Susans
By Julia Heaberlin
Genre Adult mystery/suspense
Rating ⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Tessa, is the sole survivor of a serial killer. Left for dead with several other victims in a shallow grave surrounded by black-eyed susan flowers, the victims become know as the Black-Eyes Susans. Years later the killer is on death row, his execution just months away, when someone starts planting black-eyed susans outside Tessa's house. Is the man on death row really the killer? Is the real killer still out there? Is Tessa and her daughter safe?

First Sentence
For better or worse, I am walking the crooked path to my childhood.   


I saw this book being talked about on Susan's blog awhile back. She hadn't read it but was mentioning she thought it looked good. Well, I concurred. It sounded very good. So, my radar for this book was on but I wasn't finding it for a price I liked. Enter my new foray into Overdrive and online library rentals. I placed this one on hold and a day or two later it was ready for me. I stopped everything I was doing and proceeded to read.

This book is more of a quiet suspense than a mystery. And by quiet I mean it was slower than I had anticipated. I read it in two days but wasn't nearly as riveted as I'd hoped. The story jumps back and forth from right after Tessa was found alive in the shallow grave to the present where she's helping a law firm try to save the man on death row for the murders. There's a lot of doubt that he's the actual killer and Tessa is quite sure it's not him.

But Tessa remembered nothing about what happened and she felt like a very unreliable narrator. I didn't know if she really didn't remember or was lying and it drove me a bit crazy. There was a lot of forensic details that, quite frankly, bored me to tears. The "romance" was unbelievable and unnecessary. The mystery, while it kept me guessing, was completely unbelievable as well. There's just no way! I can't say more. I don't want to ruin it but I was raising a skeptical eyebrow through the roof.

Still, I stayed up late into the night to finish it and I thought the writing was lovely. While I didn't outright hate the book I didn't love it either. Normally I'd chalk it up to my expectations being too high but, no, the story just didn't do it for me.

 Should you read it? 
I feel like I'm the last person who should decide that. If you're a fan of the TV show Bones you might find it fascinating enough but I still couldn't say if you'd like it.

Review: Pines

Title Pines (Wayward Pines #1)
By Blake Crouch
Genre Adult mystery/scifi
Pages 315
Rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Synopsis
Secret Service Agent Ethan Burke is sent to Wayward Pines Idaho to investigate the disappearance of two colleagues but a terrible car accident gives him amnesia. Waking up with no ID, no money and not even able to remember his own name he wanders the sleepy streets of Wayward Pines. As his memories return he realizes things are not as they seem and the residents are hiding something from him. Will searching for his colleagues and trying to piece together the town's mystery land Ethan in danger?

First Sentence
He came to lying on his back with sunlight pouring down into his face and the murmur of running water close by.

• Confession! I meant to read this book for my Adult Literature Month. I started it at the end of January thinking it would take awhile...Nope. I flew through it. I couldn't put it down and I ended up finishing it in two sittings...in January. I'm still counting it towards February though. 
• So yeah, I couldn't put this one down. It was one of the books that sucks you in because you want to know what the hell is going on! 
• It's been awhile since I read a mystery and I quite enjoyed myself. Before you completely write this one off because you don't like mystery you should know it has a hint of the scifi to it...I can't say more without ruining it, just don't write this one off without giving it a shot.
• After inhaling this one I read the author's note and found that he wrote this book because once upon a time he used to watch a TV show called Twin Peaks. He adored it and then it got canceled. Isn't that the way it always goes? So, he wrote his own story that reminded him of that old, beloved TV show. I totally can relate to this! I loved the show The Pretender that used to be on NBC and then got moved to TNT. It was canceled without an ending and I was devastated. I still have an old manuscript lying around with a story I wrote that was inspired by it.  
• Speaking of TV shows. This book was made into a TV series. Did notice the guy on the cover is Matt Dillon? Did you? The pilot episode was directed by M. Night Shyamalan. If that doesn't tell you how creepily great this book was, I don't know what will.  I'll be trying to find and watch this first season. 
• Ugh! I just want to say so much about how many great things were in this book! It was so creepy and atmospheric and, and, and! Oh! Just read it! 
• I did have a few issues with this one, of course. Mostly just that I wasn't enamored with any of the characters. Now, remember, I'm a plot girl but I do like to connect to at lease one character. 
• I also wanted to know if this one was self published or what? I noticed a few typos. It was fine but something I thought about. 
• Wow! This was a super rambling review. So, I'll just end on this: It takes a pretty intense, mysterious book to grip me and suck me and make me not want to put it down. This book did just that.

Should you read it?

I would totally recommend this one, but to be honest, I'd really only recommend it to certain people. If you love character driven stories with lots of romance and kissing this one might not be for you. But if you love mystery and excitement and having your mind blown than, yes. Read this book! 

Review: The Girl on the Train

Title The Girl on the Train
By Paula Hawkins
Genre Mystery/Suspense
Pages 336

Synopsis
Rachel lost her husband to another woman when she couldn't get her drinking under control. 

Megan's trying to piece a life together while still holding onto a secret that haunts her

Anna loves being "the other woman" if she could just get rid of the ex-wife. 

These three women's lives are about to be drawn together by a secret. A secret that will take one of their lives and might kill them all.

First Sentence There is a pile of clothing on the side of the train tracks.

What is has going for it
Everyone has or is going to read this book. Some books are written and for whatever reason are picked up, talked about, recommended and become wildly popular. I'm not one to follow the crowd but this book looked like one I might want to check out. So, when my book club decided to read it I was all for it. Something about this book (and I never was able to put a finger on what it was)  makes you unable to put it down. It's incredibly engaging and, well, much like watching a train wreck (no pun intended). I gulped this one up. I was completely enthralled. I didn't much care for any of the characters. I figured out the mystery fairly early in the book. Earlier than I was supposed to, I'm guessing, and yet. I sped read through it. I guess what I'm saying is this: What does this one have going for it? Whether you like it or not, you're most likely going to be dragged into the story and helpless to set the book down.

What's lacking
As I said, none of the characters are likable. Seriously! These people are completely horrible. And I don't mean perfectly flawed. They were worse than flawed. I could sympathize with Rachel but I really had no patience with her. What really bothered me was that the mystery was completely predictable and then you had the villain monologuing. Really?! Needless to say, after being completely enraptured for the whole book the ending was predictable and a complete let down. I felt something like this...

Yea or Nay?
I'd still recommend this one for the writing and the spell it casts over you but you'll probably see the ending coming. If not, you might like it.

Review: Into You

Title Into You
By Riley J. Ford
Genre YA mystery supernatural/paranormal
Pages 253
Recommended by Amazon Daily Kindle Deal

First sentence It happens in the movie theater when I finally kiss Ethan Cooper.

Synopsis
Imagine you can read people's minds. Imagine you have to kiss them to read their minds. Imagine it's ruining your life. Winter Reynolds Is dealing with this and more. The new girl in school with a troubled past ends up murdered and suddenly Winter has to use her power to solve the murder. Things are about to get crazy!


What it has going for it
Well, it had an interesting premise. I like the idea of mind reading. Who wouldn't want to know what others were thinking....as long as you could turn it off. I liked that there was the twist of the kissing too. The book kept me reading wanting to know who the murderer was...and, yeah, that's about it.

What's lacking?
Sadly this one made me roll my eyes more than once. It had way too many unbelievable aspects. I don't mean the mind reading either. It was convenient and trite and tried to be funny but was not and maybe shouldn't have even tried. I don't want to be too spoilery so if you're really wanting to read this one skip the next bit. ***What the hell was with the pregnancy thing? First of all Miranda acted like it was no big deal that she was pregnant and her whole life was about to change. There was no focus on the emotional drama that would cause. Then when she tells her parents...What the hell?! No parent would act that calmly! And the whole climatic ending at the dance. It was horrible. It was all over the place. I was livid that after Winter is attacked that she so quickly brushed it off and forgave Jason. If I went through what she did and knew the man I "loved" had just walked away??? No freaking way!*** Anywho, the book was a huge ridiculous disappointment.

Favorite moment
I'm not sure there was one.

Yea or Nay?
No, just no.