Crime Fiction

Girl on Trial by Kathleen Fine

December 30, 2023 Leave a Comment

Trigger Warning : Sexual assault

I binged the first season of Freeform’s Cruel Summer because of its nostalgia, fast-pace, and intense storytelling that moves back and forth through time. Girl On Trial has a lot of the same elements. In the late 2010s, teenaged Emily is accused of causing the death of a young family. The story flashes between the trial and events from earlier that Fall when Emily befriends Hannah, a troubled girl with a wild streak.

Emily lives in a small Maryland town where everyone is trying their best to get by. The events that unfold involve class, peer pressure and the need to belong. Some painful truths are revealed towards the end that are shocking and hard to read about. It sort of caught me off guard. Overall, I thought it was a solid blend of contemporary YA and crime fiction.

This book was published by the small press CamCat Books. I’m curious to read more of their work.

Jess’ End of The Year Mini Reviews

December 28, 2022 2 Comments

No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfeld

A vicious murder-suicide at an idyllic lake house leaves a small town reeling. and a society housewife on the run.

I found this to be an enjoyable quick read. It’s a study in class and the choices afforded to those with money and privilege. Rosenfeld does deep dives into her characters, which can sometimes leave the plot wanting.

I hate to be that person but I clocked the twist in this book by the 4th chapter. I read this on audio and print– the print makes the twist very obvious. I think the author is somewhat aware of this and the ‘reveal’ actually comes in the middle of the book instead of the end.

Now that we are firmly in the 2020’s I’m finding more books are having to consider social media when delving into the character’s past. If a character is between 18-30 years old you can’t talk about their high school experiences without considering what their high school Facebook or Instagram looked like.

Heartbreak Symphony by Laekan Zea Kemp

My first impression of this book was wow…this feels like it could be a prestige television show. It was this down-to-earth and character-driven book with an ominous narrative twist. Aspiring DJ Aarón Medran embarks on a series of clandestine humanitarian missions around his small barrio at the behest of La Maquina, a celebrity DJ and hometown hero Aarón is never alone on these missions as La Maquina’s 7-foot-tall robot mascot has been following him since his mother’s death. This seemingly friendly robot has a foreboding nature and leads to some of the more poignant and moving parts of the story. I liked this strange aspect of the story. I always enjoy YA books that go for a high or unusual concept.

We also follow Nina, a high school senior whose self-doubt has kept her from pursuing her dreams and performing the trumpet she loves dearly. Her story honestly felt like it could have been a companion book. I felt like both stories could have stood on their own.

Kemp masterfully balances grief, hope, and forgiveness in this emotion-packed read.

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

November 15, 2021 Leave a Comment

I read more thrillers!

The Dry by Jane Harper

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 Herd by Andrea Bartz

October 13, 2021 Leave a Comment

336 Pages | Ballantine | Mystery/Thriller | 3/24/2020

I rarely read long-form journalism but I devoured this piece in the New York Times Magazine about the false utopia of the all-female co-working space The Wing, so when I saw this book had a similar premise I had to pick it up.

In this book, the fictional aspirational feminist co-working space is called The Herd and the novel follows the twisty aftermath of disappearance of the founder, Eleanor Walsh.

The Bradley sisters, Katie and Hana, are best friends with the missing Eleanor and as they search for the truth their own dark secrets surface.

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Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh

November 7, 2020 Leave a Comment

331 Pages| Montlake | Mystery/Thriller | Release Date: 03/17/2020

This chilling new mystery/thriller series from Melinda Leigh follows Bree Taggert, a Philadelphia homicide detective, as she returns to the small town where decades ago her father killed her mother. Tragedy has struck again and now Bree is on the hunt for her sister’s killer. In a strange twist of fate her sister’s estranged husband is the main suspect– but his best friend, former deputy Matt Flynn, thinks otherwise. On opposing sides, Matt and Bree decide to team up and investigate under the watchful eye of a possibly corrupt police force.

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What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

September 13, 2019 Leave a Comment

12 Hours 2 Min | Crime/Suspense | Harper Audio | Release Date: 12/01/2015

I am one of those people who really got into true crime after listening to the Serial podcast. I like how true crime gives you a snapshot of people’s lives and how chance encounters and small moments can change lives forever.

Because I dive so much into true crime I don’t generally gravitate towards crime fiction however, I was in the mood for some plotty fiction with momentum and maybe some plot twists— crime fiction seemed to fit the bill and What She Knew was one of the top audiobooks on Scribd. It’s ominous background and san-serif text instantly told me it was suspense/crime fiction.

Set in the small city of Bristol, England What She Knew flips POV between Rachel, a recently divorced single mother and Detective Inspector Clemo; their paths collide when Rachel’s eight-year-old son is abducted in broad daylight. Rachel has an emotional outburst during a press conference that makes the public suspicious of her. As the case hits the national spotlight both Clemo and Rachel endure public outrage, dark family secrets and lies that threaten to crumble the investigation.

Because of the first person POV it feels in the beginning like there is some unreliable narrator stuff happening or that there was going to be a major plot twist, but honestly most of this book felt like a procedural with the kind of bonkers out of left-field reveals you’d find in a 2010’s episode of Law and Order SVU –that had nothing to really do with the main crime.

Audiobook narrators Penelope Rawlins and Dugald Bruce-Lockhart are a dynamic pair. They really work the silences in the text and give emotional moments room to breathe. They capture the hopelessness of the situation as everyone scrambles to find the missing child. Rawlins narration mimics Rachel’s fragility as she endures harsh accusations and is publicly shamed for losing her own child. Bruce-Lockhart gets that tough authoritative tone as Inspector Clemo, but I really liked his no-nonsense lilting portrayal of the Scottish police chief.

I like reading books that take place in other countries and it was a nice change of pace to read a British book that didn’t take place in London. I think my only real barrier to entry was trying to understand how their police system works.

When I finished this book I thought it was a little outlandish and that the portrayal of the media and police was over the top…then I listened toTrue Crime Obsessed talk about The Disappearance of Madeline McCann which just had a lot of rampant and harmful speculation, so I wonder if Gilly McMillian was inspired by the case at all ?

Suspenseful and a little head scratchy this is a book that will keep you on your toes, but doesn’t quite hit the landing.