Category Archives: Simon & Schuster Inc

Review: The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave

Title: The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense, Mystery
Length: 320 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

A gripping mystery about a woman who thinks she’s found the love of her life—until he disappears.

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they’re also building a new future—one neither of them could have anticipated.

With its breakneck pacing, dizzying plot twists, and evocative family drama, The Last Thing He Told Me is a riveting mystery, certain to shock you with its final, heartbreaking turn.

Review:

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave is an engrossing mystery.

Hannah Hall and her husband Owen Michaels live with his sixteen-year-old daughter Bailey on a floating house in Sausalito. Their marriage is happy but her relationship with her step-daughter is fraught. One day while Owen is at work, Hannah receives an unnerving note from Owen in which he says nothing more than “protect her”. She immediately knows he is referring to Bailey, but she has no clue what she needs protecting from.  Her fear continues to increase after US Marshall Gray Bradford and later, two FBI agents show up asking her where Owen is. That is a question she has been frantically trying to answer as her phone calls to him go to voicemail.  Unable to understand what is going on, Hannah deduces the one place she might learn the truth about her husband. With Bailey in tow, they hope to get a head start in unearthing the secrets Owen has been keeping.

Hannah and Owen met by chance and immediately begin to fall for one another. The initial obstacle to overcome is distance: she lives in New York while Owen and Baily live in California. Luckily, Hannah’s furniture making business is easy to relocate, so she readily moves across the country and marries the man of her dreams. Despite her inability to break through Bailey’s defenses, Hannah and Owen are blissfully happy and looking forward to a long marriage together.  But that all changes once Hannah realizes everything she knows about her husband might be nothing but a lie.

In order to understand what is going on, she and Bailey travel to the place Hannah believes might provide answers about her husband’s past. They try to fly below the radar as they track down the slimmest of leads in order to try to find out his true identity. With Bailey’s hazy memories guiding them, Hannah thinks they are on the right track. But is she prepared for what they might unearth? And will she figure out a way to honor Owen’s wishes to keep Bailey safe once Hannah knows what she is protecting her stepdaughter from?

The Last Thing He Told Me is an incredibly fast-paced and engaging mystery. The storyline is completely captivating with clever twists and turns. Hannah and Bailey are at first uneasy partners in their quest for answers. Flashbacks provide fascinating glimpses of Hannah and Owen’s courtship and marriage.  With a great deal of tension, Laura Dave brings this suspense-laden mystery to a bittersweet conclusion.

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Filed under Contemporary, Laura Dave, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Simon & Schuster Inc, Suspense, The Last Thing He Told Me

Review: Other People’s Children by R.J. Hoffmann

Title: Other People’s Children by R.J. Hoffmann
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Three mothers facing impossible choices learn what makes a family, and discover just how far they’ll go to protect the ones they love.

What makes a family?

Gail and Jon Durbin moved to the Chicago suburbs to set up house as soon as Gail got pregnant. But then she miscarried—once, twice, three times. Determined to expand their family, the Durbins turn to adoption. When several adoptions fall through, Gail’s desire for a child overwhelms her.

Carli is a pregnant teenager from a blue-collar town nearby, with dreams of going to college and getting out of her mother’s home. When she makes the gut-wrenching decision to give her baby up for adoption, she chooses the Durbins. But Carli’s mother, Marla, has other plans for her grandbaby.

In Other People’s Children, three mothers make excruciating choices to protect their families and their dreams—choices that put them at decided odds against one another. You will root for each one of them and wonder just how far you’d go in the same situation. This riveting debut is a thoughtful exploration of love and family, and a heart-pounding page-turner you’ll find impossible to put down.

Review:

Other People’s Children by R.J. Hoffmann is an un-put-downable novel that is an emotional journey of one couple’s attempt to start a family.

Gail and Jon Durbin’s quest for a family has been absolutely heartbreaking following repeat miscarriages. They turn to adoption but so far, they have been unsuccessful. Unbeknownst to Jon, Gail agrees for the adoption coordinator, social worker Paige, to give their “book” to unwed teenage mom to be Carli Brennan. Following an anguishing, longer than usual wait, Paige and Jon are nervous but thrilled that Carli wants to meet them. After another seemingly interminable amount of time, Carli selects them to adopt her baby after she gives birth.

Gail is involved with going to Carli’s appointments and getting to know her so she is a little nervous but mostly confident that they will soon be parents. Before Jon and Gail leave the hospital, Paige worries that Carli’s dominating mother, Marla, is going to be a problem. With a 72 hour wait until Carli signs away her rights to her baby forever, Jon and Gail fall in love with their new baby. How will they react if the adoption does not go through?

As soon as Gail becomes pregnant the first time, she and Jon move to the suburbs in preparation for their expanding family. The repeated miscarriages take their toll on their marriage and they sometimes feel excluded by their new neighbors who all have children. They are also under pressure by the weight of their families’ expectations for them to have a baby. Gail tries to temper her hope for the upcoming adoption but it impossible not envision a future with their soon to be adopted baby.

Jon suggested starting a family but he has not been honest with anyone about his fears about fatherhood. His childhood was less than ideal for several years, and he is afraid of the possibility of history repeating itself. So, Jon is absolutely stunned by how quickly his deepening feelings for the baby begin to overpower some of his anxiety. Jon is broadsided by the possibly that Carli can change her mind about giving up her baby since Gail has been taking care of the adoption process.

With heart-wrenching twists and poignant turns, Other People’s Children is a compelling debut that provides an insightful look inside the heartache of infertility and uncertainty of adoption. The characters are realistically developed and come from different walks of life  with very different socio-economic backgrounds. Carli’s decision to give up her baby is fraught since she knows first-hand what it is like to grow up with financial insecurity and an indifferent, abusive parent. With unexpected decisions by both families, R.J. Hoffmann brings this riveting novel to an edge of the seat, tension-filled conclusion. I very much enjoyed and highly recommend this incredible story.

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Filed under Contemporary, Other People's Children, Rated B+, Review, RJ Hoffmann, Simon & Schuster Inc, Women's Fiction

Review: The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

Title: The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 320 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Two former best friends return to their college reunion to find that they’re being circled by someone who wants revenge for what they did ten years before—and will stop at nothing to get it—in this shocking psychological thriller about ambition, toxic friendship, and deadly desire.

A lot has changed in the years since Ambrosia Wellington graduated from college, and she’s worked hard to create a new life for herself. But then an invitation to her ten-year reunion arrives in the mail, along with an anonymous note that reads “We need to talk about what we did that night.”

It seems that the secrets of Ambrosia’s past—and the people she thought she’d left there—aren’t as buried as she’d believed. Amb can’t stop fixating on what she did or who she did it with: larger-than-life Sloane “Sully” Sullivan, Amb’s former best friend, who could make anyone do anything.

At the reunion, Amb and Sully receive increasingly menacing messages, and it becomes clear that they’re being pursued by someone who wants more than just the truth of what happened that first semester. This person wants revenge for what they did and the damage they caused—the extent of which Amb is only now fully understanding. And it was all because of the game they played to get a boy who belonged to someone else, and the girl who paid the price.

Alternating between the reunion and Amb’s freshman year, The Girls Are All So Nice Here is a shocking novel about the brutal lengths girls can go to get what they think they’re owed, and what happens when the games we play in college become matters of life and death.

Review:

The Girls Are All So Nice Here by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn is a tense, suspenseful mystery.

Ambrosia “Amb” Wellington’s college dream of becoming an actress has given way to a career in PR.  Once she leaves college, she never looks back but she is still friends with two of her college roommates. When she receives an email to her ten-year reunion, Amb immediately hits the delete button. She is rattled by a card she receives in the mail but it convinces her she is right to skip the upcoming reunion.

But after her friends mention the reunion in front of her husband Adrian, Amb feels pressured to attend. The last person she expects to see is her former college friend, Sloane “Sully” Sullivan. Amb works hard to resist the falling under Sully’s spell again.  However, when unnerving things begin happening, she turns to Sully to help figure out who is behind the vague threats.

Amb has worked hard to forget what happened during her freshman year at college. Back then, she was desperate to belong. After she becomes friends with charismatic Sully, she brings out all of Amb’s worst instincts. The two young women party hard and embark on numerous one-night stands.

Amb’s roommate, Flora Banning, could not be more different than her and Sully. She is sweet, caring and studious and since she has a long-distance boyfriend, she attends very few parties. After events spiral out of control, Amb wants nothing more than to leave her regrets and bad memories behind her.

The college reunion is Amb’s worst nightmare.  She is under incredible stress as she worries about what Sully might say or do. And she must face the girls who know the secrets she is keeping. Then there are the unnerving things that let her know that someone knows what she and Sully did their freshman year. What does this person want from them? And who could be behind what is happening at the reunion?

The Girls Are All So Nice Here is an incredibly riveting mystery. Few of the characters are likable and even as adults, many of them continue to be “mean girls”.  The chapters weave back and forth in time with the tension ratcheting up as Amb and Sully’s actions hurtle to a shocking conclusion.  Laurie Elizabeth Flynn brings this mesmerizing mystery to an absolutely shocking dénouement.

I absolutely loved and highly recommend this engrossing mystery to fans of the genre.

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Filed under Contemporary, Laurie Elizabeth Flynn, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Simon & Schuster Inc, Suspense, The Girls Are All So Nice Here

Review: The Power Couple by Alex Berenson

Title: The Power Couple by Alex Berenson
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Suspense
Length: 428 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and Edgar Award winner Alex Berenson comes a supercharged thriller about marriage and the dangerous secrets spouses keep.

Rebecca and Brian Unsworth appear to have it all. A nice house in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Two well-behaved, healthy teenage children. Important government jobs—Rebecca working in counterterrorism for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Brian serving as a coder for the National Security Agency. Their lives stand to improve even more as Brian, in his off-hours, has just developed and sold a highly profitable app.

However, the Unsworths’ marriage isn’t as perfect as it seems. After two decades together, they’ve drifted apart, talking little and having sex even less. Seeking to revive their strained relationship, they decide for their twentieth wedding anniversary to take their two kids, Kira and Tony, on a European getaway.

They have a blast…until one night in Barcelona when Kira doesn’t come home from a dance club. She’s gone. Abducted. Over the course of a single weekend, the Unsworths will do everything possible to find her—as Kira herself discovers just how far she’ll go to break free of the trap that’s been set for her. And even as Rebecca and Brian come together for Kira, they realize their marriage is more tenuous than they realized.

The Power Couple is both a fast-paced, globe-trotting espionage novel full of surprising twists and a nuanced look at modern marriage—the challenges of balancing career, parenthood, sex, and love.

Review:

The Power Couple by Alex Berenson is a suspenseful mystery about a couple whose daughter has been kidnapped during a family vacation.

Rebecca Unsworth is an FBI agent stationed in Washington, DC. Her intense dedication to her career lands her a job working Russian counterintelligence. Her climb up the career ladder has had an impact on her marriage to Brian and her kids, but things are finally settling down at home. Brian works for the NSA as a coder.  Their daughter Kira is nineteen and attending college and son Tony is seventeen. Rebecca and Tony are celebrating their twentieth anniversary with a European vacation with their kids.

Their first stop is Paris, where unbeknownst to her parents, Kira meets a young man. The family is leaving for Barcelona the next day and she is delighted by his suggestion they meet at a bar he knows in town. When Kira fails to return after her night out, Rebecca and Brian are afraid something dire has happened to their daughter. When their worst fears are realized, they frantically hope for word from the kidnappers in hopes of arranging her release.  And Rebecca and Brian cannot help but wonder if their daughter was targeted at random. Or is her kidnapping related to either one of their careers?

Rebecca always planned on having children but she failed to realize how dedicated to her she would be to her career. With Brian staying home with Tony and Kira, she concentrates on ensuring she makes the most of her transfers to different cities.  With several successes under her belt, Rebecca is thrilled with the transfer to Washington. But instead of working less hours, Rebecca continues to put her career before her family.

Despite her flourishing career, money is always tight for the family and Brian is not always happy to be pushed into taking jobs he does not like. He also resents Rebecca’s spendthrift habits. Despite the growing rift between them during one of their moves, Brian is happy to stay home with the kids and they are quite close.  After their move to Washington, he finds his niche at the NSA and when he sells an app he designed, they family is much more financially stable.

When Kira goes missing, Rebecca utilizes her FBI resources to get the local authorities to begin searching for her daughter. She is frantic with worry but Kira is resourceful as she tries to placate her captors. She also intends to escape if at all possible because she is afraid of what the kidnappers plan to do with her. Using any means necessary, Kira plots her escape but will she be successful?

Unfolding from Kira, Rebecca and Brian’s perspectives, The Power Couple is an engrossing mystery with a clever storyline.  The chapters from Rebecca and Brian’s points of view provide an intimate look into their marriage and the effects of Rebecca’s career on the home life. Kira’s chapters reveal an intelligent young woman who keeps her wits about her during her harrowing ordeal.  With very shocking plot twists, Alex Berenson brings this riveting mystery to an edge of the seat conclusion. I greatly enjoyed and highly recommend this twist-filled thriller.

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Filed under Alex Berenson, Contemporary, Rated B, Review, Simon & Schuster Inc, Suspense, The Power Couple

Review: Piece of My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke

Title: Piece of My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke
Under Suspicion Series Book Seven
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 336 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

In the latest thrilling collaboration from #1 New York Times bestselling author and “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark and Alafair Burke, television producer Laurie Moran must solve the kidnapping of her fiancée’s nephew—just days before her wedding.

Television producer Laurie Moran and her fiancée, Alex Buckley, the former host of her investigative television show, are just days away from their mid-summer wedding, when things take a dark turn. Alex’s seven-year-old nephew, Johnny, vanishes from the beach. A search party begins and witnesses recall Johnny playing in the water and collecting shells behind the beach shack, but no one remembers seeing him after the morning. As the sun sets, Johnny’s skim board washes up to shore, and everyone realizes that he could be anywhere, even under water.

A ticking clock, a sinister stalker, and fresh romance combine in this exhilarating follow up to the bestselling You Don’t Own Me—another riveting page-turner from the “Queen of Suspense” Mary Higgins Clark and her dazzling partner-in-crime Alafair Burke.

Review:

Piece of My Heart by Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke is an intriguing mystery. This seventh installment in the Under Suspicion series can be read as a standalone but I highly recommend the previous novels.

TV producer Laurie Moran and her soon to be husband Alex Buckley are celebrating his birthday with their families in the Hamptons.  Laurie and her ten year old son Timmy arrive before her father, retired NYPD policeman Leo Farley. Alex and his brother Andrew, his wife Marcy, seven year old Johnny and their twin daughters are eager for the upcoming celebrations. But their joy turns to fear when Johnny disappears from the beach in the split second he is out of view of his babysitter.  Although the local police are soon on the case, Laurie, Leo and Alex believe one of their enemies might be responsible for taking Johnny. Will they figure out the kidnapper’s identity and rescue Johnny before it is too late?

Laurie cannot help but wonder if someone whose path she crossed while producing her show might be out for revenge. As she is trying to narrow down a suspect, Leo is worried Johnny’s kidnapping has something to do with an old case of his. Eighteen years ago, Darren Gunther was convicted of stabbing a popular bar owner to death. However, Gunther is attempting to overturn the conviction based on new evidence and false accusations against Leo.  Laurie and Leo are working together to investigate this angle but will their efforts prove successful?

Chapters from young Johnny’s perspective provide an intimate peek into his experiences with the kidnapper. Johnny manages to keep calm as he obeys the kidnapper’s demands.  He is frightened but cool under pressure during extremely their stressful exchanges. Johnny remains hopeful his loved ones with soon rescue him but his situation takes a dire turn.

Piece of My Heart is an engrossing mystery with a fantastic cast of regular characters. The secondary  characters are well drawn and life-like. The search for Johnny moves at a brisk pace as Laurie and Leo leave no stone unturned during their quest for answers. With unexpected plot twists,  Mary Higgins Clark & Alafair Burke bring this suspenseful mystery to a dramatic conclusion. Old and new fans are sure to enjoy this  newest addition to the Under Suspicion series.

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Filed under Alafair Burke, Contemporary, Mary Higgins Clark, Mystery, Piece of My Heart, Rated B, Review, Simon & Schuster Inc, Suspense, Under Suspicion Series

Review: The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda

Title: The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 332 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Everyone knows the story of “the girl from Widow Hills.”

Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and held vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.

Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows—from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.

And now, the girl from Widow Hills is about to become the center of the story, once again, in this propulsive page-turner from suspense master Megan Miranda.

Review:

The Girl from Widow Hills by Megan Miranda is a chilling mystery.

Hospital administrator Olivia Meyer  has re-invented herself and distanced herself from her past.  But the recent discovery that her estranged mother has passed away stirs up unpleasant memories.   Olivia is a little shaken when she begins sleepwalking again but she plans to put measures in place to ensure she cannot leave her bedroom. At the same time, she begins noticing little things around her house that disturb her, but she dismisses them as inconsequential. However, the next night, Olivia discovers the body of a man from her long ago past and self-doubts begin to set in. She is certain she had nothing to do with his murder, but why are her memories of the night before so patchy? And why is Detective Nina Rigby warning her to be careful around her neighbor and friend Rick Aimes?

As a six year child, Oliva (aka Arden Maynor) and her mother Laurel are unexpectedly thrust into the national spotlight.  Swept away in a storm, the town of Widow Hills and many other volunteers frantically search for Olivia. After her rescue, Laurel does not hesitate to cash in on their popularity whereas Olivia wants nothing more than forget what happened to her. As a teenager, Olivia finally gets her wish but she cannot leave behind the aftereffects.

However, having changed her name and completed college, Olivia can finally breathe a sigh of relief that no one can find her. In exchange for keeping a tight lid on her secrets, her friendships tend to be a little superficial. Which does not really bother her until her closest friend Bennett Shaw learns about her past. Regretful at keeping him and her other friend Nina Ferano at arms’ length, Olivia tries to explain. Bennett seems to have forgiven her, but Nina has unexpectedly vanished. Although troubled about Nina’s sudden disappearance,  Olivia has her hands full trying to protect herself during Detective Rigby’s murder investigation.

The Girl from Widow Hills is a riveting mystery with an intriguing storyline that brings to mind the Jessica McClure story.  Olivia is a sympathetic character but her obsessive need to hide her past seems a bit over the top. However, it is very easy to cheer for her as she tries to uncover the truth about who killed the man in her yard and eventually, events from her childhood.  The story is fast-paced and it is easy to suspend disbelief for some of the more far-fetched aspects of the plot.  With one final stunning plot twist, Megan Miranda brings this unpredictable mystery to a shocking conclusion. Highly recommend to fans of the genre!

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Filed under Contemporary, Megan Miranda, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Simon & Schuster Inc, Suspense, The Girl from Widow Hills