Genre: Mystery Thriller

The paranormal episodes of Scooby Doo crossed with Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, Susan Dennard’s The Executioners Three is a really fun and entertaining mystery thriller read that has the perfect tone. Campy in all the right places, yet surprisingly compelling and mysterious when it chooses to be, this YA novel skillfully blends its murder mystery, light paranormal spooks, and high school hijinks, all while serving as a nostalgic love letter to the late 90’s (particularly the X Files). While narratively and tonally slotting in as a YA novel, the Executioners Three is a peculiar case of mismatched references and storylines that ironically give it a lot of crossover appeal. Following the adventures of Freddie Gellar in her senior year of high school (plus occasional short chapters that cut to rival high school student Theo Porter’s perspective), the story is very much a YA book with school prank wars, classmate crushes, ditching class, elements that are very teenage-centered. However, this book has a clever asset that surprisingly isn’t really highlighted in its book blurb synopsis, that being its complete commitment to 90’s camp. From quoting the X-Files repeatedly, to featuring cutting edge Nokia cell phones, Backstreet Boys…

Imagine a fantasy world with an affinity for plants. Now in a pot, throw in the essence of a monster-filled world, Sherlock Holmes and Watson, dark academia alchemy, and an Agatha Christie complete collection. What you get is Robert Jackson Bennett’s impeccably crafted and compelling The Tainted Cup, the first novel in what has since become the Shadow of the Leviathan series. While considered a high fantasy novel to be expected from RJB, at its core The Tainted Cup is a brilliantly written serial murder mystery thriller embellished with a distinctly unique and creative fantasy wrapping. Featuring a complex and twisty murder investigation, a lavishly developed fantasy world, not to mention a charming pair of off-beat main characters, The Tainted Cup is an incredibly cool genre bender that I loved every minute of. “Projecting motives is a fool’s game. But how they do it- that’s a matter of matter, moving real things about in real space.” In the world of the Tainted Cup, the Imperial Empire maintains a series of hulking walls that are designed to keep giant leviathan monsters in the bordering seas from invading and destroying everything in their path (think of Attack on Titan but in the…

Like my other reviews for very popular books with numerous reviews, I’ll be skipping my editorial-style intro and go right into my general thoughts and impressions. I really liked Holly Jackson’s A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, particularly the whodunnit mystery investigation and the way the story effortlessly shifts suspicions and new reveals across its large cast of characters. Full of excellent twists and featuring a focused narrative that doesn’t ever stray too far from its core premise and mystery, I thought it was a solid mystery thriller and fully understand why its popularity contributed to its pick-up for a Netflix adaptation (also on my to-watch list). As a YA novel, the book is very easy to read and strikes a tone that balances its YA appeal without feeling too juvenile or silly. Although the book’s language, content, and character flaws aren’t overly graphic considering its intended readership, the story doesn’t shy away from addressing material that can be considered triggering (as with most crime books, sensitive readers be sure to check your trigger warnings). While its two main characters Pip and Ravi are decidedly high school and collegiate age respectively, the novel doesn’t treat the reader like a sheltered…

The following review is based on a complimentary ARC provided by Sourcebooks Landmark via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Beautiful, fit, smart, on the surface Lily Lennox appears to be the perfect seasonal employee and lifeguard of the exclusive Riovan Wellness Resort that celebrities, influencers, and the wealthy flock to in the pursuit of healthy “wellness”. While physically matching the social media curated brand look of the resort, Lily hides a hidden motive for her annual Caribbean summer job. A lifeguard when on-duty, vigilante killer of toxic and problematic people off-duty, her fifth year at Riovan starts out like every past summer. That is until an attractive and charismatic guest Daniel Black starts asking the wrong questions, complicating her annual tradition as well as causing her to question her actions, motives, and her hopes of “saving people.” Despite this novel being classified on paper under the romance genre, A Killer Getaway has so much more to offer outside of a possible tropical summer romance. Blending elements of the mystery thriller, crime thriller, literary fiction, and of course a bit of romance, Sienna Sharpe has crafted an extraordinarily well-rounded and ambitious Women’s Fiction/Contemporary drama story that was a consistently…

Frances White’s debut novel Voyage of the Damned is an ambitiously plotted story that smoothly crosses over across a variety of different genres outside of its main fantasy classification. While definitively a fantasy novel due to its fantastical scale, magical powers and traditional fantasy-realm setting, the story is just as much a whodunit mystery thriller investigation tale (debatably even more than its fantasy-wrapping) as well as a lightly inspired queer romantasy (with asterisks around the romance). Comments summarizing Voyage of the Damned as an Agatha Christie novel dressed up in fantasy outfit is a decent comparison as it definitely gave me faint Murder on the Orient Express vibes, if the Orient Express was a grand and luxurious sailing vessel ala Death on the Nile. However, Voyage of the Damned’s ill-fated events also have compelling political ramifications to the growing body count and a wild last minute plot twist that can either make or break the reading experience depending on the reader’s suspension of disbelief. For me personally, it worked very well, and its ending managed to course-correct and explain nearly every potential plot hole or point of criticism I had while reading the novel. While White’s flavor of character narration…