Review #642: My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“She is still a prisoner of her childhood; attempting to create a new life, she re-encounters the trauma.”

----Judith Lewis Herman

Gabriel Tallent, a Mexican author, has penned an extremely heart wrenching and horrifying, debut young adult contemporary fiction called, My Absolute Darling that centers around a young teenage girl, living with her crack head father, who teaches her about guns and shooting targets in the morning after her school and rapes her almost every other night, although the young protagonist, is clever and brave enough to get out of this terrifying life of hers, yet her emotions don't let her to, but her life drastically changes, when her grandfather dies suspiciously, her father pulls her out of school, where her teachers are worried about her lifestyle, and her father brings home another young girl.

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Review #636: The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“Sometimes you have to pick the gun up to put the Gun down.”

----Malcolm X

Karin Slaughter, the No. 1 bestselling author, has penned a hair-raisingly chilly and terrifying family thriller, The Good Daughter that centers around two crimes in a small American town, occurring in a time gap of 28 years, one the murder of a popular defense attorney's wife, that left the two daughters mentally and physically paralyzed for life, and the other, is a mass shooting at a local school, to which the younger daughter becomes a sole witness. And after the second crime, the daughters are pretty sure, that the memories of past crime that ripped their family apart won't stay buried under and that there is more mystery and buried lies behind both the crimes, and are they willing to explore all those mysteries, now that they have walked on the career footsteps of their father?

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Review #606: The Deviants by C.J. Skuse

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“You save yourself or you remain unsaved.”

----Alice Sebold

C.J. Skuse, an English author, has penned a tragic yet extremely riveting young adult thriller called, The Deviants that revolves around five high school teenagers whose friendship blossoms up when one of them is bullied badly, also gradually, the secrets of their lives begin spilling up, when one bad event after another challenges them to keep a hold on their friendships or their dark secrets, especially, it becomes a challenge for the couple from this group of teenagers, who seem to be drifting apart in a gradual motion.

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Review #599: Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


“There are all kinds of ways for a relationship to be tested, even broken, some, irrevocably; it’s the endings we’re unprepared for.”

----Katherine Owen

Paula Hawkins, the British international best-selling author, is back with her new psychological thriller, Into the Water that revolves around a small British town and on its ugly history of women drowning themselves into a pool, followed by the consequences and the mysteries they leave behind for their family and the townsfolk to live with it. Unfortunately, this book fails to live up to readers' expectation yet I think this story is going to survive for a pretty long time because this book is going to release while basking in the glory of the author's debut globally best-selling thriller, The Girl on the Train.

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Review #485: The House That Jack Built (Lars Winkler #1) by Jakob Melander

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“All men make mistakes, but a good man yields when he knows his course is wrong, and repairs the evil. The only crime is pride.”

----Sophocles

Jakob Melander, a Danish author, has penned a gripping and nail-biting pot-boiler in his new Scandinavian thriller, The House That Jack Built that introduces yet another new complex, tough and dedicated detective, Lars Winkler, and this is the first book in the Lars Winkler series. The city of Copenhagen is left by a dangerous killer who is choosing innocent prostitutes as his victims, and Lars is assigned on this case, but the professional life scene is not that good for Lars, as his wife has left him for his boss.

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Review #427: Please Don't Tell by Laura Tims

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“Love is a wonderful thing, my dear, but it leaves you wide open for blackmail.”

----Jasper Fforde

Laura Tims, an American author, pens her debut YA thriller, Please Don't Tell that narrates the story of a young teenage girl who after probably killing the boy who destroyed her sister's life becomes a victim of blackmailing from a stranger who knows what she did to that boy and that stranger will go at any lengths to use her for his/her own purpose.

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Review #286: What We Saw by Aaron Hartzler

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”

----Anonymous

Aaron Hartzler, an American author, pens his debut novel involving teens, assault, lies and mystery, What We Saw that accounts the story of a high school teenager who investigates the sexual assault on her friend in a small town. Withstanding the prejudices and unimaginable controversies, this young girl fights against the society, which gets enveloped by the darkness of a rape, to find out the truth.


This book is actually based on a true story, which goes as follows: (Source: Wiki)

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Review #232: Modern Monsters by Kelley York

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”

---- Gloria Steinem, an American feminist, journalist, and social and political activist

Kelley York, pens her new young adult contemporary novel, Modern Monsters that revolves around a dangerous crime destroying the life of an innocent teenager, and also threatens to snatch away his quiet yet successful future, thus it forces him to embark upon on a road where he can clear his name, but little did he knew that this road to truth can be a real bumpy one.

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Review #198: Every Last Promise by Kristin Halbrook

My rating: 3 of 5 stars




“If I maintain my silence about my secret it is my prisoner...if I let it slip from my tongue, I am ITS prisoner.”

----Arthur Schopenhauer, a German philosopher

Kristin Halbrook, an American author, pens her new novel, Every Last Promise that centers around the dangers and consequences of harvesting a secret within oneself and how it completely changes one's life.

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Review #186: All the Rage by Courtney Summers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


“There are far too many silent sufferers. Not because they don't yearn to reach out, but because they've tried and found no one who cares.”

---- Richelle E. Goodrich, an American author

Courtney Summers, the Canadian YA author, pens her new novel, called All the Rage about sexual abuse, bullying in school and taking a stand against it.

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Review #138: The Sea of Innocence by Kishwar Desai

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


According to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), every day 93 women are being raped in India.

I know, being an Indian, it's not only a shocking information but also an embarrassing piece of data. Moreover, in my country, we do not celebrate Republic Day, instead, we celebrate "Rape-"public day. Likewise, an Indian author named, Kishwar Desai, has opened our eyes with her new novel, The Sea of Innocence that features the dark, grim and forgotten world of rape victims. Not only that she has even paid tribute to the 16th December, 2012 gang rape victim in Delhi- which happens to be the most horrific gang rape in the history of our country.

Synopsis:
Goa, south India. A beautiful holiday hideaway where hippies and backpackers while away the hours. But beneath the clear blue skies lies a dirty secret… Simran Singh is desperate for a break and some time away from her busy job as a social worker-come-crime investigator. And so the unspoilt idyll of Goa seems just the place - white beaches, blue seas and no crime. But when a disturbing video appears on her phone, featuring a young girl being attacked by a group of men, she realizes that a darkness festers at the heart of this supposed paradise. And when she discovers out that the girl is Liza Kay, a British teenager who has gone missing, she knows she must act in order to save her. But first Simran must break through the web of lies and dark connections that flourish on these beaches. Everyone, it seems, knows what has happened to the girl but no one is prepared to say. And when more videos appear, and Simran herself is targeted in order to keep her quiet, the paradise soon becomes a living nightmare.

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