Julie's Review: The Dark Corners of the Night

Author: Meg Gardiner
Series: UNSUB #3
Publication Date: February 18, 2020
Publisher: Blackstone
Pages: 352
Obtained: Library
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Scary stuff but no one writes it like Meg
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Summary: I am the legion of the night …He appears in the darkness like a ghost, made of shadows and fear—the Midnight Man. He comes for the parents but leaves the children alive, tiny witnesses to unspeakable horror. The bedroom communities of Los Angeles are gripped with dread, and the attacks are escalating. Still reeling from her best friend’s close call in a bombing six months ago, FBI behavioral analyst Caitlin Hendrix has come to Los Angeles to assist in the Midnight Man investigation and do what she does best—hunt a serial killer. Her work is what keeps her going, but something about this UNSUB—unknown subject—doesn’t sit right. She soon realizes that this case will test not only her skills but also her dedication, for within the heart of a killer lives a secret that mirrors Caitlin’s own past. Hesitancy is not an option, but will she be able to do what must be done if the time comes? ~amazon.com

Review: Honestly, Meg Gardiner has never let me down in her writing. She writes strong, brave, fierce female characters that stick with you long after you have closed that back cover. Caitlin Hendrix is no different. She's a badass FBI Profiler and allows herself to get into the minds of the evil that she encounters to understand how to stop them. That isn't to say that Caitlin doesn't have her vulnerabilities or issues because she does but that makes her even more real.

The FBI unit is called in from DC to assist the LAPD with the Midnight Man's seemingly serial killings. The  Midnight Man is terrorizing families and making them feel unsafe in their homes and neighborhoods. As he continues to strike, the public wants to know what the police are doing to catch him. This is where Caitlin and the rest of her teams' skills come into play. They have the technology to help hone into the Midnight Man's area, which will assist them in the profile build.

As Caitlin starts to build the profile she doesn't necessarily like where her hunches and skills lead her. It will change the game in how they hunt and capture him.


What I love about Ms. Gardiner's writing is that she scares the crap out of me by using psychology. It's not horror or blood and guts. It's using how our minds work and how they can fail us that is truly scary. What a human can do to another human, is disturbing and fascinating. It is fascinating to figure out why they do what they do, in hopes of stopping others or in figuring out how to treat mental illness.

This is the 3rd in her fantastic UNSUB series and I highly recommend you start with the first one. You don't need to but it will help you understand the references throughout the novel. Plus you'll get more Sean Rawlins and trust me that's a good thing.

Extra shout out to the art department for this freaky cover! It really captures the terror you feel reading the novel!

Julie's Review: Into the Black Nowhere

Author: Meg Gardiner
Series: UnSub #2
Publication Date: January 30, 2018
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 368
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Psychological Thriller
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: I love Meg Gardiner and you should too
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Summary: In southern Texas, on Saturday nights, women are disappearing. One vanishes from a movie theater. Another, from her car at a stoplight. A mother is ripped from her home while checking on her baby. Rookie FBI agent Caitlin Hendrix, newly assigned to the FBI's elite Behavioral Analysis Unit, fears that a serial killer is roaming the dark roads outside Austin. Caitlin's unit discovers the first victim's body in the woods, laid out in a bloodstained white baby-doll nightgown. A second victim in a white nightie lies deeper in the forest's darkness. Around the bodies, Polaroid photos are stuck in the earth like headstones, picturing other women with their wrists slashed. The women in the woods are not the killer's first victims, nor are they likely to be his last. To track the UNSUB, Caitlin must get inside his mind; he is a confident, meticulous killer, capable of charming his victims until their guard is down, snatching them in plain sight. He then plays out a twisted fantasy—turning them into dolls for him to possess, control, and ultimately destroy. Caitlin's profile leads the FBI to focus on one man: a charismatic, successful professional who easily gains people's trust. But can they apprehend him before it's too late? As Saturday night approaches, Caitlin and the FBI enter a desperate game of cat and mouse, racing to capture the cunning predator before he claims his next victim. ~amazon.com

Review: I'm going to be honest and if you go back and search the blog you will find out that we are HUGE, I mean, HUGE fans of Meg Gardiner. Whether it's her Jo Beckett, Evan Delaney or now Caitlin Hendrix series' we can't get enough. Plus then there are her standalone novels that are fantastic as well. So if I gush about her latest, Into the Black Nowhere, it's because I know I won't be disappointed.

This is the 2nd book in her UnSub series and we rejoin Caitlin as she's about to go out on her first case with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). She's the newbie on the team but while she's confident in her abilities there are times when she feels like a fish out of water. She wants to gain the trust of her colleagues but needs to give herself time to prove her skills.

As she develops the profile for the Unsub she starts to have some flashbacks to her own issues in her teens that came to the surface with her last case. Will these issues help her or hold her back in catching her killer? Will she let him get the best of her or will she rise up and catch him?

For me these books invade my mind so much so that I have dreams/nightmares about them but I always say that it's just the definition of a fantastic novel if that happens. I also love how Caitlin is a hellava strong women but she also has her vulnerabilities. Can she compartmentalize enough to be successful?  The romance of the novels is always with a partner who is complementary to her female heroines. They never detract, they always have yin/yang. That doesn't say that they aren't without their own issues. For Caitlin it's the fact that she's on one coast and Sean is on the other but they'll figure it out.

This one is left with quite the cliffhanger, so the quicker that Unsub #3 can be published, the better.

Now if you've never read Ms. Gardiner , what the heck are you waiting for? Any where is a good place to start!

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Julie's Review: UnSub

Author: Meg Gardiner
Series: UnSub #1
Publication Date: June 27, 2017
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 368
Obtained: publisher via Netgalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction, Contemporary Romance
Rating: 4.75/5
Bottom Line: Not for the faint of heart
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Summary: Caitlin Hendrix has been a Narcotics detective for six months when the killer at the heart of all her childhood nightmares reemerges: the Prophet. An UNSUB—what the FBI calls an unknown subject—the Prophet terrorized the Bay Area in the 1990s and nearly destroyed her father, the lead investigator on the case. The Prophet’s cryptic messages and mind games drove Detective Mack Hendrix to the brink of madness, and Mack’s failure to solve the series of ritualized murders—eleven seemingly unconnected victims left with the ancient sign for Mercury etched into their flesh—was the final nail in the coffin for a once promising career. Twenty years later, two bodies are found bearing the haunting signature of the Prophet. Caitlin Hendrix has never escaped the shadow of her father’s failure to protect their city. But now the ruthless madman is killing again and has set his sights on her, threatening to undermine the fragile barrier she rigidly maintains for her own protection, between relentless pursuit and dangerous obsession. Determined to decipher his twisted messages and stop the carnage, Caitlin ignores her father’s warnings as she draws closer to the killer with each new gruesome murder. Is it a copycat, or can this really be the same Prophet who haunted her childhood? Will Caitlin avoid repeating her father’s mistakes and redeem her family name, or will chasing the Prophet drag her and everyone she loves into the depths of the abyss? ~amazon.com  

Review: Meg Gardiner, is one of my favorite thriller writers and she doesn't disappoint with her latest, Unsub. Meg writes the most kick-ass, strong female leads that you'll read and yet they are so relatable.

It is no different with Caitlin, Cat. She's a fantastic Narcotics cop but she's always been haunted by the case that destroyed her father, the murders by a serial killer called the Prophet. Now, he's back and his murders are getting more frequent and more violent. Since her father was the lead detective 20 years ago, the current team is hoping that she'll be the conduit to getting him to open up about the case.

Caitlin allows herself to be consumed by the case and is close to losing herself. As she starts to piece together the previous murders, she begins to see a pattern but will she crack the code in time? Why has the Prophet zoned in on her? Why have the murders escalated and how they stop him?

This is a book that is fast-paced but it has a depth to it as well. If you are uncomfortable with getting into the mind of a killer, then you will want to stay away. I loved how Caitlin started coming into her own and then came out of her father's shadow. How she put all the pieces of the puzzle together to stop the killer. I'm very excited to see how Caitlin develops in the next book which is out in January!

I can't recommend Unsub enough. I can't do a detailed review because that would ruin the book. 😊😊😊

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Julie's Review: Phantom Instinct

Author: Meg Gardiner
Series: None
Publication Date: June 26, 2014
Publisher: Dutton
Pages: 368
Obtained: publisher
Genre:  Mystery, Thriller
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Not my favorite heroine but still an well executed, fast-paced novel
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Summary: When shots ring out in a crowded L.A. club, bartender Harper Flynn watches helplessly as her boyfriend, Drew, is gunned down in the cross fire. Then somebody throws a Molotov cocktail, and the club is quickly engulfed in flames. L.A. Sheriff Deputy Aiden Garrison sees a gunman in a hoodie and gas mask taking aim at Harper, but before he can help her a wall collapses, bringing the building down and badly injuring him. A year later, Harper is trying to rebuild her life. She has quit her job and gone back to college. Meanwhile, the investigation into the shoot-out has been closed. The two gunmen were killed when the building collapsed. Certain that a third gunman escaped and is targeting the survivors, Harper enlists the help of Aiden Garrison, the only person willing to listen. But the traumatic brain injury he suffered has cut his career short and left him with Fregoli syndrome, a rare type of face blindness that causes the delusion that random people are actually a single person changing disguises. As Harper and Aiden delve into the case, Harper realizes that her presence during the attack was no coincidence—and that her only ally is unstable, mistrustful of her, and seeing the same enemy everywhere he looks. ~powells.com

Review: I'm not usually ambivalent about my heroines and especially the ones that Meg Gardiner writes, but with Harper Flynn, I'm still on the fence. It's not that she's unlikable, it's just that I'm not so sure I trust her. I don't know why, but with this one Ms. Gardiner has planted a seed of distrust between Harper and I, even if it was completely unintentional.

Phantom Instinct is about running away from your past only to have it catch up with you in the worst way. It is about seeing the enemy when the enemy isn't there and dealing with the fallout of your actions. Harper and Aiden are thrown together when a year after the attack at the club she's looking for answers and Aiden, a former LA Sheriff Deputy, is the only one who shares her vision of a third attacker. The only problem is that Aiden has seizures that makes him see the phantom shooter in random people. You just know that in the thick of it, this will come back to somehow bite Harper and Aiden in the butt.

As the layers are peeled back, we find out that there is much more to Harper than meets the eye. Although, I found it more intriguing that there was more to her than just a bartender in the wrong place at the wrong time. Aiden isn't all that he seems either.

What I thoroughly enjoyed about Phantom Instinct was the twists. One made me go "ah-ha" and the other one made me go "Oh Sh&t!" I always love it when an author can still surprise me and Ms. Gardiner hasn't lost that touch. I enjoyed the high-octane of the final few chapters for they definitely kept me on the edge of my seat and wondering what the outcome was going to be.

With this one, Ms. Gardiner has definitely left the door wide open for a sequel. I'll be interested to see if she revisits Harper and Aiden sooner rather than later.

While Phantom Instinct isn't my favorite Meg Gardiner, she still shines as one of my "go-to" thriller/mystery writers.


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Group Review: The Shadow Tracer

Summary: Can a person ever really disappear for good by going off the grid? And what happens when vanishing is no longer an option? Sarah Keller is a single mother to five-year-old Zoe, living quietly in Oklahoma. She’s also a skip tracer, an expert in tracking people who’ve gone on the lam to avoid arrest, prosecution, or debt—pinpointing their locations to bring them to justice. When a school bus accident sends Zoe to the ER, their quiet life explodes. Zoe’s medical tests reveal what Sarah has been hiding: Zoe is not her daughter. Zoe’s biological mother—Sarah’s sister, Beth—was murdered shortly after the child’s birth. And Zoe’s father is missing and presumed dead. With no way to prove her innocence, Sarah must abandon her carefully constructed life and go on the run. Chased by cops, federal agents, and the group responsible for Beth’s murder, Sarah embarks on a desperate journey. Can her knowledge as a skip tracer help her stay off the grid, remain one step ahead of her pursuers, and find a way to save her daughter? Meg Gardiner is acclaimed for her richly drawn characters, propulsive plotting, relentless suspense, and shocking twists. The Shadow Tracer delivers on those fronts and more. ~us.penguingroup.com


Jenn's Review:  I was thrilled to receive an advanced copy of this book.  It's no secret that we love Meg Gardiner's books here on the blog.  Her writing just pulls you in and doesn't let go.  The Shadow Tracer is no different.

This one was hard for me to get into because, knowing the subject matter and knowing Meg Gardiner as an author, I knew what I was in for.  She makes you love her characters, but there is no guaranteed safety for anyone in her books.  There are very few authors who write thrillers that actually make me anxious, but Meg Gardiner is one of them. Once, she hooked me, though, I couldn't set it down.

In a way this book reminded me of the first Evan Delaney novel, China Lake, with it's crazy religious cults going after children.  But that's where the comparison ends.  Sarah Keller is much more raw and far more desperate than Evan.  This is something that Sarah has been preparing for since the moment she rescued Zoe.  I love that she is determined to do things on her own, but knows when she's over her head.  I loved Danisha and how she stuck by Sarah and I loved Theresa too, who took it upon herself to help Sarah even when she knew what she was getting into.

No one twists a story like Meg Gardiner and there are plenty of good twists.  The vigilante FBI agent was a destabilizing element that just kept rolling.  His lack of grip was both gut wrenching and horrifying all at the same time, like a walking time-bomb.  The climax of the novel is intense.  Then, as always, just when you think things are wrapped up neatly, Meg Gardiner unfolds a little more, to leave things a bit open ended.

The Shadow Tracer kept me riveted.  Meg Gardiner is a master of suspense and she pulls me in every time.  I look forward to each new novel and once again, I can't wait for the next.  If you love thrillers, give her a try.  You won't be disappointed.

Jenn's Final Take:  4.75/5


Julie's Review: Here's the thing about Meg Gardiner books, you won't want to put them down and they always have a strong and yet vulnerable women as the protagonist. In The Shadow Tracer, that female is Sarah Keller and she quickly has to try to outrun a religious cult family. As always, this one starts off quickly and never lets up. Not even the last line stops with the adrenaline.

Sarah Keller may be on the run but she's not without asking for help. Even if she didn't ask for it she was going to get it from her boss Danisha and the man who saved her life 5 years ago, Michael Lawless. (God, that's a clever name). She also takes command of her situation and wants to try to write her own outcome.

The setting is perfect for this novel. It brings the foreboding to a new level. There's something solemn about an airplane graveyard that makes you a little more on edge for the climax of the novel. Not only that but the villains are hideous individuals. They think they are doing the glory of God but really they are working for a crazed mad man who is behind bars. Not only that but you also have a loose cannon of an FBI agent working the case. He's got a vendetta and will use Sarah to exact his revenge.

The Shadow Tracer is a fast-paced thriller that will have you hanging on to the edge of whatever piece of furniture you read on. If you haven't read Meg Gardiner, what are you waiting for?

Julie's Final Take: 4.75/5


Thanks to Dutton Books for our copies!


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Group Review: Ransom River

Summary: A stunningly complex and atmospheric crime novel from Edgar Award–winning author Meg Gardiner, Ransom River features a deeply flawed, compelling heroine, a murder trial, and the long-unsolved mystery it exposes.

Rory Mackenzie is juror number seven on a high-profile murder case in her hometown of Ransom River, California. It’s a place she vowed never to visit again, after leaving behind its surfeit of regret and misfortune and the specter of a troubled past that threatened to disturb the town’s peaceful façade.

Brilliant yet guarded, Rory has always felt like an outsider. She retreated into herself when both her career aspirations and her love affair with a childhood friend, undercover cop Seth Colder, were destroyed in a tragic accident.

While most of the town is focused on the tense and shocking circumstances of the trial, Rory’s return to Ransom River dredges up troubling memories from her childhood that she can no longer ignore. But in the wake of a desperate attack on the courthouse, Rory realizes that exposing these dark skeletons has connected her to an old case that was never solved, and bringing the truth to light just might destroy her.

Departing from her popular series novels, Meg Gardiner has gone deeper than ever into the utterly convincing lives and compelling pasts of her characters. Ransom River is an intimate crime thriller with a dark mystery at its heart—one that will keep readers breathless until the very last page. ~blurb  

Jenn's Review:  Oh, how I love Meg Gardiner's books!  She writes fantastic suspense novels with edgy, strong women.  I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to reading this one... except that reading it means I only have one unread Meg Gardiner book on my shelf and I do like to save them to savor.

The book begins with a snippet of Rory's childhood.  I was actually a little worried about where things were headed at first, but I shouldn't have been.  It is just one piece in the twisted jigsaw puzzle that is Rory's past.  From the outset, the attack on the courthouse seems ...wrong.  Honestly, I was just as surprised as Rory when things turned ugly at the police station.

 And then we meet Seth.  I love the way Ms. Gardiner can take two people, rip them apart, mangle them, and then see how or if they fit back together again.  Life is messy.  Things happen.  It's how you pick yourself up and move on that matters... and sometimes people can move with you, and sometimes circumstances make them move back towards you.  This is Ms. Gardiner's greatest talent... next to writing thrilling, suspenseful, parts that won't let you stop turning pages.  Seth and Rory have a history and it's ugly, and though Rory may think she's left it behind, her current situation leaves her no choice but to revisit.

Truly, I had no idea where things were headed.  It's awesome that Meg Gardiner can still keep me guessing after all this time.  There is twisty surprise after twisty surprise and very few that I saw a few things coming.   I've learned not to jump to conclusions and just let things play out, because nothing is ever quite what it seems.   I think things were more neatly wrapped up than most of her other novels, but that is probably because it's currently a standalone.  Yes, there is enough loose thread at the end to pick up and keep going, but it also feels perfectly all right that things are left as they are.

We gush about Meg Gardiner around here.  We do.  (Fact:  I did not read Julie's review before writing mine.)  I can count on one hand the number of authors whose works I feel that way about.  I can't encourage you enough to pick up one of her novels.

Jenn's Final Take:  5/5


Julie's Review: Meg, thank you for writing another strong yet emotionally scared woman. I absolutely adored Rory. I loved how she fought back against the allegations that were going to come at her but she didn't put herself in situations that she couldn't handle.

In the beginning of the book, because you aren't yet familiar and trusting of Rory, you do wonder if she's involved the courthouse attack. It's not too soon after that you figure out that it is what it seems, wrong place wrong time. Until of course you walk the plank with Rory and figure out that it is much, much more than that.

What Ms. Gardiner does extremely well is she keeps you guessing about everything plus she add a little of electricity between Rory and Seth to keep that subplot humming. Seth is everything you want in a sexy, bad boy except he's not really a bad boy. He only seems like it and perhaps he's a little reckless but that's what makes him appealing. The problem is that he was reckless when Rory was with him and it caused her a lot of pain. It is what made her leave Ransom River.

This is a fast-paced mystery/thriller that keeps you guessing until the final pages of the novel. There is a definite cast of characters who are both crazy and evil; some of them are related to Rory. I did guess a couple of the twists that were coming but again it didn't diminish the story for me. I couldn't wait to see how Ms. Gardiner would unravel them. I don't want to say too much to ruin the novel for you guys, so I'll just stop here.

Again, if you haven't read a Meg Gardiner book, (why haven't you!?), Ransom River is the perfect one to start with since it's a stand alone novel. Although, this reader is hoping to read about Rory and Seth sometime in the future.

Julie's Final Take: 5/5


Julie wants to thank Dutton Publishing Group for her copy of the novel.

Author Interview: Meg Gardiner

If you read our blog with any regularity, you know that Jenn and Julie are huge Meg Gardiner fans. We even got Alice to read her first Evan Delaney book China Lake. Needless to say, when Ms. Gardiner agreed to do a Q&A with us we went a little "fan girl". We can't thank her enough for taking time out of her schedule to answer our questions. Enjoy!

GJR:  We both found you through the Stephen King article in Entertainment Weekly a few years back. Were you aware that Stephen King was going to write about your work or was it a surprise? Have you ever spoken to him?

Meg Gardiner (MG): Entertainment Weekly had contacted me to fact check the article, so I knew it was in the works. But I was still blown away. Stephen King is my favorite author, so it was incredible to learn that he likes my books so much. Even more wonderful has been his support and encouragement. And yes, I’ve met him. He’s great—thoroughly engaging and genuine.

GJR: So many authors, even some or our favorite mystery thriller writers, fall into a formulaic trap. How do you keep your plots so fresh and unpredictable?

MG: I try to write the kind of books I want to read: books that enthrall and surprise me. That means I have to look past the first ideas that occur to me—because ideas that occur off the top of our heads tend to be familiar and clichéd—and dig deeper into the story’s possibilities. I keep a piece of writing advice in mind: Give readers what they want, but not the way they expect it.

GJR: It always takes us by surprise that you can (and do) kill off your characters so easily. We have to ask, does it hurt you as much as it hurts us?

MG: It’s not easy at all. It’s terrible. But I write thrillers. This means the characters will find themselves in danger, facing life and death situations. And if they always survive, where’s the suspense? When I first started writing, I protected my characters, because I liked them. Though I put them in danger, I knew in the back of my mind that they’d be okay. I never truly put them at risk, and that meant that I never truly took a story as far as it could go. I stunted its possibilities from the beginning. Besides, if a writer knows the characters are safe, at some level so does the reader. And that inevitably drains a story of tension. A book becomes a theme park ride instead of a gripping adventure. So I got out of the protection racket. I made the characters live without a safety net. And it’s only when the characters face uncertainty—when their choices have permanent and potentially fatal consequences—that they’re called to heroism. And when good guys die because of a courageous decision, or to protect others, it means something. Though sad, it resonates.

GJR: Julie and Jenn were both anguished over where we left Evan at the end of Kill Chain. (WHY?!? *sob*) What made you decided to leave things so open ended?

MG: Kill Chain is a culmination of many threads in the series. It’s about currents in Evan’s life coming together turbulently. A cozy ending was never in the cards. But I don’t intend to leave the series hanging. The big question is: what happens next?

GJR: Please tell us there is more to Evan’s story... and that you’re going to continue the Evan Delaney series! (We know she makes a cameo in Jo Beckett’s Nightmare Thief -Jenn has held off on reading it until she caught up with the Evan Delaney series so as not to be spoiled)

MG: Evan’s story is not over by a long shot. In fact, I’ve written an Evan short story, a prequel, which will be published later this year. Details soon.

GJR: How do you decide whose book, Delaney or Beckett, you are going to write next? Does the fact that the Delaney series was first published in the UK and the Beckett series in the US affect this?

MG: Once I started the Jo Beckett series I knew I would write several books, so the series could develop and readers could get to know Jo. US versus UK publication hasn’t affected this. The thing is, I have a lot of stories I want to tell. Some fit Evan, some fit Jo, and some fit other characters with their own lives. In fact, my next novel is a stand alone thriller.

GJR: Evan is a strong character that has become broken and Jo is a broken character who has become strong. Was that planned, or was that how they came to you?

MG: A bit of both. Evan and Jo are both resilient women who have a core of inner strength. Life has thrown a lot at them and their loved ones. The two series have joined them at different points in their lives. In particular, the Jo Beckett series starts not long after her husband has been killed in the crash of a medevac helicopter. It was always going to be about how she faces the world in the wake of such a loss.

GJR: When you write, do you have to have background noise or total silence?

MG: Half the time I want silence. The other half I crank up the Foo Fighters or the Inception soundtrack. The loud half usually comes when it’s time to write an action scene.

GJR: What is the strangest, coolest and scariest thing you’ve researched for a book?

MG: Strangest: apocalyptic survivalist cults. They live in a parallel mental universe and some of these folks are truly salivating for violent confrontation in the name of God. Just browsing their web sites is enough to give me the heebie-jeebies.

Scariest: nanotech. I researched it for The Memory Collector. My brother-in-law is a physicist, and when I asked him how to craft a story where experimental carbon nanotubes contaminate people and cause disastrous memory loss, he spent an hour getting more and more wound up about the possibility that such a disaster could actually happen, until he blurted, “These things could get loose in your head and really f*** you up!” Just what I wanted to hear. Except not.

Coolest: Search and rescue with the pararescuemen of the 129th Rescue Wing of the California Air National Guard. They took me on a tour of their facilities at Moffett Field (in a corner of one of the enormous hangars sometimes seen on Mythbusters) and generously talked to me at length about their work. These are guys who willingly throw themselves into the worst disasters on land, sea and air, who get paid very little to do extremely dangerous work for almost no public recognition—and they do it to save the lives of people like you and me. I can’t tell you how much I admire them.

GJR: You’re having an author get-together, dinner party. Who’s on the guest list, which recipe would you grab, and why?

I’d invite authors I love and whom I know would make me laugh all evening long: Stephen King, Laurie R. King, Jeff Abbott, Sharon Kendrick, Kathryn Fox, Zoë Sharp, Brett Battles, and Harlan Coben. I’d make a plate of nachos the size of my kitchen table and let everybody dig in.

So, now that Jenn and Julie will be anxiously waiting for the Evan Delaney short story and the new stand-alone novel, we will be digging back into the Jo Beckett series (Jenn is further in than Julie).

So, if you haven't read Meg Gardiner, what the heck are you waiting for?!!

Group Review: Kill Chain

Summary:

When her father’s car is found wrecked at the bottom of a California ravine, Evan Delaney feels sure that he has been abducted or killed for reasons associated with his work for Naval Intelligence, but the FBI thinks Phil’s fled the country to avoid prosecution.

Then Evan receives a sinister phone call and her suspicions are confirmed: Phil Delaney has been kidnapped.  Evan has only 72 hours to find what they want – or she and her loved ones will find themselves at the end of the kill chain. ~ 

product description


Jenn's Review:  If you've been reading our blog long, you know that we are huge Meg Gardiner fans.  She is an expert at weaving a thrilling tale and this one is right up there with the rest.  I was devastated at the end of Crosscut, and while Kill Chain made me feel a little better, I'm still agonizing over the plight of Evan Delaney.  Honestly, I think that's the true test of a writer of any fictional genre... can you make the reader care so much about your character's so much that they think of them as real people?  With Meg Gardiner's stories, you can't help it.

I was getting a little frustrated with Evan for her inability to stay out of trouble, but lately trouble seems to find her.  The one thing I adore about Evan (here I go again, discussing her as though she were real) is the fact that she doesn't wait around for things to be taken care of, but jumps in with both feet whether she has all the facts or not.  She would do anything for those she loves, which is what makes this book particularly heart-wrenching.

The story is solid and while there is little room to catch your breath there is always Ms. Gardiner's droll sarcasm to help lighten the mood a little.  I was slightly dismayed at the fact that this book is left so open-ended, because I feared that it might be the last book in the series - this book was published in 2008 and since then Ms. Gardiner has turned her attention to another fantastic series, Jo Beckett.  However, Ms. Gardiner assured us that this is not the end of the road for the Delaney series, so I can breathe a little easier.  Evan actually makes an appearance in Gardiner's latest Jo Beckett book, The Nightmare Thief - I actually bought this book the day of it's release but held off on reading it, because I wanted to be up to date with Evan.

I don't want to say too much more about the book for fear of spoiling things, but I loved how we got some answers to questions that have been plaguing Evan for a while, even though they only brought more questions.  This is a fabulous series and Kill Chain is a spectacular addition to it.  I'd say it's my second favorite book in the series.  I can't get enough of her work, and if you love thrillers, with kick-butt women, Meg Gardiner's books are for you!

Jenn's Final Take:  4.75/5


Julie's Review: So, in my opinion this was the best Evan Delaney novel yet. Did it have a doozy of an ending and a heart-wrenching cliff-hanger? Yes, but that doesn't mean I can't love the book. Evan is a character that at times I want to shake her and other times I truly admire her moxie. This time, I admired her moxie.  Once she figures out that her dad is in trouble, she springs into action regardless of how much trouble she could end up in. For Evan, she was the only one who could get her dad back, so who cared about pesky laws that might inhibit her.

What is so great about Ms. Gardiner's writing is that she always keeps you on the edge of your seat and always keeps you guessing. This is a high-octane plot line that never slows down. I love anything that deals with spying, covert operations and the government, so this plot was right up my alley.

Phil Delaney was in the military or so Evan thought but little did they know he was in intelligence as well. We first get a good glimpse of Phil in Crosscut, when he reveals a government program gone wrong. This time, his past has caught up with him and put him in harms way. Kill Chain also brings back into the mix Jax Rivera and Tim North.

Just when I think I had the whole thing figured out, Meg Gardiner pulls a fast one and throws another twist into it. I pretty much knew where the ending was headed and yet still it brought tears to my eyes. I can't say that I don't understand Evan's reaction, but I'm wondering if it's fair and just. I'm also wondering where Evan goes from here. What's next for her? I know she turns up in The Nightmare Thief with Jo Beckett but I've got to get up to speed on that series; pronto.

I highly recommend anything by Meg Gardiner but I do think it serves the series justice if you start at the beginning with Evan in China Lake. You will want to quickly read the others in the series.

Julie's Final Take: 4.75/5


 

Alice's Review: China Lake

Summary:  Santa Barbara attorney Evan Delaney is gutsy and tough, but she has a tender side, too. She dotes on her nephew, Luke, who’s staying with her while his fighter-pilot father, Brian, is deployed overseas. (Brian, who’s stationed at the Mojave Desert naval weapons-testing center, China Lake, has been divorced from Luke’s mother, Tabitha, for years.) Evan’s peaceful cohabitation with Luke is thrown into chaos when Tabitha returns to town under the spell of the Remnant, a fundamentalist sect arming itself for the apocalypse with artillery and biological weapons. Tabitha wants Luke back—no questions asked. Brian comes home, and when the sect’s eerie leader is found dead in Brian’s backyard, the career military man is thrown in jail with little hope of release. Evan and her boyfriend, Jesse, come to Brian’s defense, prompting a flood of memories for Evan, who grew up in China Lake. ~amazon.com

Review:  The thing about the List Swap Challenge is that I get to read great novels chosen for me by Julie.  China Lake is a great one too.  From the very first page, Ms. Gardiner threw me right into the story.

I enjoyed the characters.  I liked Evan a lot.  She was the kind of person I would like to be friends with.  Down to earth, witty, a bit of a smart ass but a heart of gold.  She was stubborn and willful.  Thankfully that tenacity paid off.  She was the ultimate hero.  Jesse, Evan's boyfriend, was a bit annoying at times.  I'm not a fan of characters who are omnipotent, overly opinionated and sanctimonious.  At times Jesse was the poster boy.  Brian, Evan's brother, was a bit like Jesse.  He carried himself in a way that showed he was in-charge and the authority on all. Truthfully, I thought he was a jerk.  The string of villains Ms. Gardiner brought to the table were fantastic.  All equally creepy and delusional.  I particularly liked Glory who with time I thought could have been a great ally to Evan. And with Evan's guidance, a strong resourceful woman.   And then there is Luke.  I liked Luke a lot.  He was well spoken, smart, an old soul.  I hated seeing all the trauma he had to go through.  Thankfully Aunt Evan was there to protect him. 

What frightens me about this novel is how real it can be.  How there are Christian zealous groups out there who can wreck havoc on the world in the name of Jesus.  I think Ms. Gardiner wrote this novel in such a way that I experienced that terror myself.  While I was reading this novel, I actually went on the Internet, searching for these kinds of groups to see how safe we are as a nation from them. 
This novel was chocked full of surprises.  With every page there was a new surprise.  Every corner led to more mystery, more thrills.  I had no idea where she was going or how we would get there.  It was a suspenseful  journey, one that left me breathless in the end.  One that had me wanting more adventures with Evan. 

Final Take: 4/5

Julie's Review: The Dirty Secrets Club

Summary: An ongoing string of high-profile and very public murder-suicides has San Francisco even more rattled than a string of recent earthquakes: A flamboyant fashion designer burns to death, clutching the body of his murdered lover. A superstar 49er jumps off the Golden Gate Bridge. And most shocking of all, a U.S. attorney launches her BMW off a highway overpass, killing herself and three others. Enter forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett, hired by the SFPD to cut open not the victim’s body but the victim’s life. Jo’s job is to complete the psychological autopsy, shedding light on the circumstances of any equivocal death. Soon she makes a shocking discovery: All the suicides belonged to something called the Dirty Secrets Club, a group of A-listers with nothing but money and plenty to hide. As the deaths continue, Jo delves into the disturbing motives behind this shadowy group—until she receives a letter containing a dark secret Jo thought she’d left deep in her past, and ending with the most chilling words of all: “Welcome to the Dirty Secrets Club.” ~amazon.com

Review: Jenn gifted me The Dirty Secrets Club (Jo Beckett) for my birthday a couple years ago and it ended up on my TBR Challenge list for 2011. It's not that I didn't want to read it, because I did other books just got in the way. I love Meg Gardiner; her Evan Delaney books are some of my favorites and now I feel a need to devourer all the Jo Beckett books. If you love thrillers, mysteries, crime fiction then you need to start reading Meg Gardiner. No, seriously go buy her books!

Immediately she draws you in and her storytelling never lets you go. I liked Jo from the moment she was introduced. I knew she was going to be a take charge kind of gal and how can you go wrong with that?! She's also a woman with a lot of emotional pain and baggage. Ms. Gardiner slowly reveals her history throughout the book and does it in a way that is consistent with the plot. I can't stand it when authors add a back story with out plot justification.

There were a couple times in the course of the book that I felt it was a little slow but that didn't last for that long. This is definitely a high octane ride with a couple stops to fill up for gas. I feel like I should have seen the twist coming in the end but I didn't.

Unfortunately, there were no pet bunnies in this book but there was an emotional support therapy monkey. Yes, a monkey. He actually isn't just a comic bit, he works his way into the storyline in quite a useful manner.
Like Evan Delaney, Jo finds herself wrapped up in the case a little too tightly but then again that's what I've come to expect from my female heroines.

My next book order will include The Memory Collector and The Liar's Lullaby. Just add two more books to my huge TBR pile. :)

Final Take: 4.5/5

Jenn's Review: The Dirty Secrets Club

Julie's Review: Crosscut

Summary: School’s out forever. And the class reunion is a killer. Because something, or someone, is eliminating Evan Delaney’s graduating class. For Evan, China Lake was a tough place to grow up. But she didn’t realize just how tough until, returning to the desert military base for her high school reunion, she discovers that a disturbing number of her classmates have died young.
And the night of the reunion, another one is savagely butchered. She is just the first. There’s a serial killer on the loose. One with a major axe to grind with China Lake high school graduates. ~meggardiner.com

Review: Crosscut is a step up from Jericho Point for me in the world of Evan Delaney. It seems like on the break between cases/books, Jesse has finally started to deal with the PTSD from his accident. He didn't seem as reckless to me in this one. Sure he still takes chances for Evan and she does the same for him but that's pretty much their relationship.

Evan goes to her 15 year high school reunion back in China Lake and looking at the "In Memoriam" realized that a disproportionate amount of her classmates have died. Of course, this being Evan and the fact that 2 more people are found dead by the most unnatural causes, begins our case.

I don't want to give much away but you will particularly like this Evan Delaney book if you are into government conspiracies and if you like thinking that our government experiments on humans. One thing that I love about Meg Gardiner's writing is her ability to infuse humor when the novel really needs it. This is where Evan's tarty cousin Taylor enters. She is always good for a laugh or two.

Evan always finds herself in precarious positions but this one is a doozy. I knew the outcome wouldn't be in Evan's favor but I can't say I was surprised. I loved the involvement of her parents in this novel. I hope to see Phil and Angie in more future novels. They are actually the couple I'm rooting for right now, even if they are divorced. Now, don't get me wrong I want Jesse and Evan to make it, I really do but for some reason I still have reservations about Jesse. I can't peg why but I just do. It has nothing to do with him being paralyzed either. Maybe one day I'll figure it out.

I'm happy that I have Kill Chain up soon because I'm anxious to see what happens next to Evan. What kind of situation did she get herself into this time.

In addition, I need to start reading The Dirty Secrets Club, the first book in her Jo Beckett series. Both of her books are on my short TBR list for the rest of 2011.

If you are a fan of mysteries/thrillers than I urge you to pick up and read Meg Gardiner. You won't regret it.

Final Take: 4.25/5

Jenn's Crosscut Review

Jenn's Review: Crosscut

Summary: Evan Delaney knew China Lake was a tough place to grow up. But she never knew how tough until now—she returns to the desert military base for her high school reunion, and learns that a number of her classmates have died young. Then, on the first night of the reunion, another one dies— this one savagely butchered. And she’s just the first. Someone has an axe to grind—and Evan’s graduating class has something to fear.

Review: I have never flipped to the end of a book to read the last page just to make sure everything turns out ok... Until now. Meg Gardiner is a master of suspense, and no one keeps me on the edge of my seat like she does.

This is the fourth book in the Evan Delaney series and it's a nail biter. (And by the way, flipping to the end and reading the last page made me no less anxious.) Evan and Jessie are finally back on solid ground, but the ground is being pulled out from underneath them. Evan has been in some sticky situations before, but this, for me, was the most frightening. I hate seeing calm, collected Evan in so much turmoil. She's been through so much already. (Yes, I realize she's fictional, but I've grown attached to her!)

Meg Gardiner has no qualms about killing off characters, after six books, you'd think I'd know that, but it takes me by surprise every time.  And her plot twists are killer.  I'm always blown away when the climax arrives.  I always have a hard time reviewing Meg Gardiner's books, because I don't want to give anything away, so I won't say much more.

If you love suspense and thrillers, Meg Gardiner is an author you must read.  I love both her Evan Delaney and her Jo Beckett series.  Read them all!  It's imperative!

Final Take:  4.5/5

Jenn's List: Top Books of 2010

As 2010 draws to a close, the time has come for us girls to tell you our favorite books of the year.  As I look over my read list, I'm pleased to see I've been reading more this year ~not as much as when I had a lunch hour before I became a stay-at-home-mom, but steadily increasing as my daughter is older and more independent.


ASLEEP by Wendy Raven McNair:  This is the first book in a trilogy by a self-published author and it's an amazing series so far.  It's YA super hero story with a strong, female, African-American hero.  (Review) AWAKE, the second book in the trilogy, is also tops on my list. (Review) Again I cannot recommend this series enough.  You really must read it!

The Liar's Lullaby by Meg Gardiner:  This is the third book in her Jo Beckett series. In this installment, forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett is called on to do a psychological autopsy of a country singing diva to determine murder, suicide, or conspiracy.  (Review)  If you love thrillers, you must try her books.  (China Lake is the first book in her Evan Delaney series and The Dirty Secrets Club is the first book in the Jo Beckett series.)

This Must Be The Place by Kate Racculia: A sixteen-year-old, un-mailed postcard launches a story of uncovering, recovery, and self-discovery in this debut novel.  I don't usually read contemporary fiction, but I loved this one! (Review)

Columbine by Dave Cullen:  This was my non-fiction read of the year.  It's an incredible case study of an horrific event that changed the face of education. (Review)

The Girl Who Chased The Moon by Sarah Addison Allen:  A little food and a little magic, there is really no one who compares to Sarah Addison Allen. (Review) All her books are hard-cover-must-haves for me and I anxiously await her March 2011 book, The Peach Keeper.  

Ice Cold by Tess Gerritsen: This is in the middle of the Rizzoli & Isles series, that the new TNT show is based on. I loved this book and the TV show, so I think I'm going to have to go back and read this thriller series from the beginning! (Review)

Virals by Kathy Reichs: This is forensic anthropologist Reichs' new YA series. It's an updated Nancy Drew with a paranormal twist. If you like her books but find them a little heavy, this is like reading Reichs-lite! (Review)

Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel: I was a little "vamped" out, but this book made me fall in love with vampires all over again. I can't wait for the next book in the series due out in June 2011! (Review)

In the Woods by Tana French: This was a great case study in how are experiences impact our per eption and shape our future. I adored the rich detail and will be reading more from French this year, I hope.  (Review)

The Icing on the Cupcake by Jennifer Ross: I don't often enjoy a book where the protagonist starts off as unlikeable, but this was so well done, that I couldn't help but learn to love her as Ansley found her way in the world.  (Review)

I am excited about a new year of reading (yes, I'm nerdy, but we knew that,) and I hope that Roof Beam Reader's 2011 TBR Challenge will help me get to more books this year.

Wishing you a happy, healthy New Year filled with good books.
Happy Reading!

~Jenn

Julie's Review: Jericho Point

Summary: When a woman’s body washes up on the shore of California’s Jericho Point, she’s identified as Evan Delaney. Except that Evan is very much alive—apparently the victim of an identity thief who’d been scamming Hollywood elite. The thief may be dead, but the crimes she was murdered for—committed in Evan’s name—are turning Evan’s life into a nightmare. Now it’s all Evan can do to survive in the shadow of a dead woman’s lies. ~amazon.com

Review: Ah Evan, she always finds herself and her loved ones in precarious situations but this one takes the cake. This is the worse possible case of stolen identity that I could ever dream of. Not only is your fiance/lover on his way to identify your body, but you have bills you didn't even know about. How do you deal? Well if you are Evan Delaney, you throw yourself right into the mix. Me, I'd cry and try to wade through it with the police. Hence, why I'm not a kick butt attorney/writer.

Jericho Point picks up soon after Mission Canyon and we still see the affects of that on both Jesse and Evan. Jesse is even more self-loathing and destructive than before, but it's bordering on reckless for both himself and Evan.

Somehow Evan always ends up taking things into her own hands and yes, she comes out ok in the end but there is going to be some emotional and psychological ramifications here as well. You can't go through what Evan does in the book and not be seriously affected.

Meg Gardiner always knows how to write a fast-paced, action packed book with character development and I LOVE that. So many times, it's one or the other. I also loved that she brought back Evan's brother Brian, nephew Luke and Brian's wingman, Marcus Dupree. OK, I admit it I find Marcus Dupree yummy. I wouldn't mind if Evan found solace in those arms. I know she won't because she loves Jesse, but a reader can dream.

There is one thing that did bother me about the book and that was the mastermind behind the identity theft, I just didn't buy it. I just didn't think the character was smart enough and cunning enough to pull it off. You also can figure out pretty early in the game the crowd that's involved and like Evan we just need to puzzle the whole picture together. The band of criminals almost seemed cartoonish at times, especially the leader.

Also, I feel that Jesse needs to grow as a character. He needs to deal with his anger over the accident and move past that. Same with Evan. I know she loves Jesse but she needs to figure out if she's ever going to be willing to marry him. I think they have issues that would have came to a head even if Jesse hadn't been in an accident. Jesse's reckless behavior will have disastrous effects on both of them.

All in all a good entry in the Evan Delaney series. I still really enjoy Evan and I love the way Meg Gariner writes. I just want to see character growth in the next couple books. I don't think that's much to ask.

Crosscut is the next novel in the series and I definitely plan on reading that in the next few months. Pretty soon I'll be caught up and anxiously awaiting a new book.

Final Take: 3.75/5

Jenn's Review: Jericho Point

Jenn's Review: The Liar's Lullaby

Summary: Tasia McFarland is a washed-up country-pop singer desperate for the break that will get her topping the charts again. The tabloids have raked over every part of Tasia's rocky life, following every high and low, her addictions, her breakdowns, her increasingly erratic behavior-and every broken relationship. The highlight of this lowlight reel: her failed marriage to an ambitious Army officer whose political talents earned him a spot in the nation's highest office. Tasia McFarland is the ex-wife of the President of the United States.
So when Tasia writes a song with politically-charged lyrics, people take note and her star begins to rise anew. In the spectacle-driven opener of her comeback tour, she is lowered into a stadium on a zip line and as helicopters fly overhead she fires her prop Colt 45 at the fireworks-filled stage. Tasia is riding high.

Until she's killed by a bullet to the neck, before the shocked crowd of 40,000.

When video can't prove that the shot came from Tasia's own Colt .45 and the ballistics report comes up empty, the authorities call on forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett to do a psychological autopsy and clean up the potential political disaster. But as Jo sifts through the facts, she only finds more questions. Was Tasia's gun loaded? Did she kill herself in one last cry for attention? Were her politically-charged lyrics the rantings of a paranoid woman losing her grip? Or warnings from a woman afraid and in danger? For Jo, pouring over Tasia's past quickly becomes a race to extinguish the conspiracy rumor mill before it incites a level of violence that reaches America's highest corridors of power-and tears apart the very fabric of our nation.

Review: It's no secret that I'm a huge Meg Gardiner fan – both her Evan Delaney series and her Jo Beckett series. This is the latest installment in the latter and it does not disappoint!

Being a forensic psychologist has it's caveats. It can make you a target for grieving family and psychopaths, and in a high profile case such as this, stalkers, conspiracy nuts, killers, and government intimidation. Jo must investigate this case quickly and thoroughly as she is feeling pressure from all sides to wrap things up (and everyone's pushing for a different outcome) but records are missing, interviewees are uncooperative, or unavailable, and things just aren't adding up.

Gardiner's books are fast paced and detailed. Did I figure out the whodunit before Beckett? Yes, but that's because the reader is supplied with far more information than poor Jo. The fascinating part was having more pieces of the puzzle than Jo, and being able to get a hazy picture of the situation, but not being able to put all the pieces together. We need Jo's investigation to do that for us. And even with all of that, there were still twists and turns that surprised me. Gardiner, as always, also finds a way to alleviate some of the the intensity in the book by inserting levity in the form of wit, sarcasm, and in this case, revenge on a prying media hound.

Though her books are parts of a series, Gardiner also makes them stand-alone accessible –especially the Beckett series– but with most series, they're more enjoyable in order. Relationships and non-plot related conflict are left open, leading the reader into the next book.(The first book in the Evan Delaney series is China Lake. The first book in the Jo Beckett series is The Dirty Secrets Club.)

Gardiner's one of the few thriller authors whose books I can never put down. I suggest you pick her up.

5/5

Julie's Review: Mission Canyon

Summary: After a hit-and-run accident leaves a friend dead, Evan Delaney wants justice. But she underestimates the power of the person responsible. When the witnesses begin dying one by one, Evan is unprepared for the dark places retribution will take her. ~amazon.com

Review: From the description, I thought this was a flashback to Jesse's accident that left him in a wheelchair. It's not. I takes place after China Lake but it deals with Jesse's accident and what happened. Mission Canyon: An Evan Delaney Novel is a solid thriller and entry into the Evan Delaney Series.

Evan always seems to find trouble or does trouble find her? Regardless, she does manage to find her way out of it by using her brain. This one like China Lake, is intensely personal for Evan. The man who paralyzed Jesse, killed his friend Issac is back in town and Jesse is looking for justice. Of course things are never so easy and never so black and white.

The book has a ton of interesting characters and by interesting I mean shady and slimy. It's about cover ups, fraud and greed. It's about having your vices used against you. It's about your past coming back to haunt you and affecting your present day life.

I can't give too much away otherwise,you won't want to pick it up and read it for yourself. I will say that I'm still not sold on Jesse Blackburn. I understand he had a major life altering accident but I have a feeling his attitude was the same before this happened to him. Some of the things he says to Evan in the course of the book are rude, hurtful and untrue. I think it's some of his own insecurities coming through and he takes it out on her.

There are some great twists and turns in the book. My favorite addition of characters are the CIA agents, or are they CIA agents? I really do hope to see them back in a future Evan Delaney novel.

All in all, this is a great 2nd novel in what I think is a brilliantly written series.

Final Take: 4/5

Jenn's Review: The Memory Collector

Summary: Forensic psychiatrist Jo Beckett’s specialty is the psychological autopsy— an investigation into a person’s life to determine whether a death was natural, accidental, suicide, or homicide. She calls herself a deadshrinker instead of a head-shrinker: The silence of her “patients” is a key part of the job’s attraction. When Jo is asked to do a psychological autopsy on a living person—one with a suspect memory who can’t be trusted to participate in his own medical care—she knows all her skills will be put to the test.

Jo is called to the scene of an aircraft inbound from London to help deal with a passenger who is behaving erratically. She figures out that he’s got anterograde amnesia, and can’t form new memories. Jo finds herself racing to save a patient who can walk and talk and yet can’t help Jo figure out just what happened to him. For every cryptic clue he is able to drag up from his memory, Jo has to sift through a dozen nonsensical statements. Suddenly a string of clues arises, something to do with a superdeadly biological agent code-named “Slick,” a missing wife and son, and a secret partnership gone horribly wrong. Jo realizes her patient’s addled mind may hold the key to preventing something terrible from happening in her beloved San Francisco. In order to prevent it, she will have to get deeper into the life of a patient than she ever has before, hoping the truth emerges from the fog of his mind in time to save her city—and herself.


Review: I hardly think the summary of this book does it justice. This is the second installment of the Jo Beckett series and I throughly enjoyed it. Typical Gardiner, there was lots of action (an incredible fight scene with two women and a hot iron) and even a little romance thrown in. But it was also a fascinating psychological thriller. I cannot imagine living constantly in the present... while there is something too be said for the technology around "slick" being a little fuzzy, I found it easily forgivable. The only part I had trouble with is a cop with back up going missing and the rest of the team being clueless... outside of that, I think Gardiner has solidly established Jo as a character. The Jo Beckett series has really come into it's own.

Final take: 4/5