Books and Sensibility

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★★★★

The Dry by Jane Harper and One Little Mistake by Lucinda Berry

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I read more thrillers!

The Dry by Jane Harper

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Finance investigator Aaron Falk hasn’t visited the struggling farming community of Kiewarra in over 20 years—not since he was run out of town for his association with a dead girl. But when his childhood best friend commits a grisly murder-suicide Aaron is called to attend the funeral and gets roped into the investigation.

This was a solid crime novel, to quote one of the blurbs on the back; it has twists on every page. My favorite thing about Jane Haper’s books are her endings–she writes revelations right up to the last word on the last page.

I’ve been experimenting with crime thrillers this year and this is one of my favorites. I liked that it had a character-driven angle with Falk’s past.

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The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

384 Pages | Roaring Brook Press | Science Fiction YA | 5/4/2021

This book was very much Black Mirror but make it Cli-Fi.

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Hollywood Homicide by Kellye Garrett (Detective by Day #1)

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

  10 Hours 4 Mins | Midnight Ink | Mystery | 8/08/2017

I enjoyed this book and was looking forward to getting more into the series but I just found out Garrett’s publisher closed and the series has been on pause since book 2. Something like this happens to me every time I find a series I like!

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Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

  8 hours 19 minutes | Harper Audio | Contemporary | 9/15/2020

CW (from publisher): mention of sexual abuse, rape, assault, child abuse, kidnapping and addiction to opioids

28-year-old superstar Korey Fields promised to make 17-year-old Enchanted Jones singing dreams come true. Instead he lures her into an abusive relationship she can’t escape from. Part contemporary novel and part literary thriller, Grown is a brilliantly modern addition to the canon of YA books about abusive relationships.

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The Lost Man by Jane Harper

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

  11 Hours 3 Mins | Macmillan Audio | Mystery/Thriller | 2/05/2019

I devoured Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty a few years ago and have been on the lookout for a book with similar vibes ever since. I picked up this Australia-set thriller after Anne Bogel recommended it on the What Should I Read Next podcast. The book opens with two Bright brothers meeting in the middle of the Australian Outback over the body of their middle brother. We then follow Nathan Bright as he tries to piece together what lead to his brother’s mysterious death. 

This is one of those slow atmospheric thrillers where secrets are quietly revealed until the truth comes out. I haven’t read much in this genre but once I understood the structure, I found this to be an intense and emotional read.

 I was absolutely fascinated by the Outback setting and learning all the precautions people have to take to survive. They are isolated from pretty much everything and have to be prepared for the worse. Let me tell you; it wouldn’t be me. 

The audiobook is narrated by Stephen Shanahan, he goes all-in during his dialogue and is a great narrator. While I liked hearing the Australian accent it was sometimes hard for me to understand as an American listener. I had to keep this one at 1x. 

The Lost Man is a standalone, but the rest of Harper’s book are in the Aaron Falk series…which was just adapted into a movie. I want to go back and check these out!

I’m still not sure how to review thrillers without spoilers but…there is a lot of of violence against women. Is that just a common thing in the Grip-lit/thriller genre?

Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse

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Rating: 4 out of 5.

I did the thing. I saw a fantasy written by a female author and assumed it was YA. I am not proud of how long it took me to realize this wasn’t YA. I t convinced I was calculating the character ages wrong.  *sigh*. Anyway…

Black Sun is an immersive pre-Columbian-inspired fantasy with intrigue, danger, and magic. The countdown is on as we follow an ensemble of characters to the day of a prophetic solar eclipse, where a vengeful god is set to claim his rightful place from the Sun Priest. The characters and plot completely pulled me into the story and left me wanting more.

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