Detective · mystery · suspense · thriller

The Ninth Month – James Patterson & Richard DiLallo ★★★★

Blurb; In this action-packed thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of The Midwife Murders, a mother-to-be sees the women in her social circle start to disappear—and she could be next . . . Emily Atkinson leads a complicated life in New York City. She’s a successful marketing executive who lives in a luxury apartment and enjoys a glamorous existence until she lands in the hospital with a double diagnosis: she parties too much—and she’s pregnant. Her nurse and new best friend, Betsey, helps Emily rediscover how much she loves morning runs in the park and quiet nights at home. But as a series of women in her wealthy social circles go missing, Emily’s pregnancy becomes decidedly high-risk.

My Review; As we all should know by now, I’m a huge James Patterson fan. Again, this did not disappoint me. A thrilling, fast-paced, suspense filled story. A who is it story? Why are women going missing? Who is it? Who is stalking our main character who also happens to be pregnant? I can tell you now it is a judge every character story it doesn’t matter who you are, everyone was a suspect in my eyes and yet I still didn’t guess that outcome. An explosive ending I did not see coming. Kept me hooked. Short chapters. The story follows two friends who are both pregnant over their nine months of pregnancy. Highly recommend. A well-deserved four stars from me.

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crime · Detective · mystery · suspense · thriller · Young adult

As Good As Dead – Holly Jackson ★★★★★

Blurb; The finale to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder series. By the end of this mystery series, you’ll never think of good girls the same way again…

Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?

Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars.

Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself—or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle… and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears…

My Review; I have loved every book in this trilogy, but this has to be the best book out of the lot. Oh. My. God. This was such a fast-paced, suspense filled read. The fact that our main character faces death herself in this book just shocked me and made this book as good as it was. A story that will be hard to forget. It’s a jaw-dropping, heart-pounding read that finished this trilogy perfectly. It shows just how clever our main character is and determined until the end. Highly recommend. Brilliant author. Brilliant story. A well-deserved five stars from me.

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crime · Detective · mystery

Finlay Donovan Junps the Gun – Elle Cosimano ★★★

Blurb; Author and single mom Finlay Donovan has been in messes before―after all, she’s a pro at removing bloodstains for various unexpected reasons―but none quite like this. When Finlay and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero accidentally destroyed a luxury car that they had “borrowed” in the process of saving the life of Finlay’s ex-husband, the Russian mob did her a favor and bought the car for her. And now Finlay owes them.

Mob boss Feliks is still running the show from behind bars, and he has a task for Finlay: find and identify a contract killer before the cops do. The problem is, the killer might be an officer themself.

Luckily, hot cop Nick has just been tasked with starting up a citizen’s police academy, and combined pressure from Finlay’s looming book deadline and Feliks is enough to convince Finlay and Vero to get involved. Through firearm training and forensic classes (and some hands-on research with a tempting detective), Finlay and Vero use their time in police academy to sleuth out the real contract killer to free themselves from the mob’s clutches―all the while dodging spies, confronting Vero’s past, and juggling the daily trials of parenthood.

My review; I feel really bad having to give this three stars as I loved books one and two, which I co read with Mel from Melanie’s Reads on all these books. We both felt the first two books were miles better than this one. This story for me was more comedy at first and actually made me laugh. It does get good towards the end by but then it’s too late. I still enjoyed the story, but I think after books 1 and 2, I expected so much more from this book. Little disappointed but still enjoyed it. Three stars from me.

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