Meet BTB Reviewer Teresa Brock

Background: Empty nester trying to get as many book babies into the world as possible.  

Go-To Author: The Orphan X Series by Gregg Hurwitz is something that I always look forward to.  Whatever and whenever the next book in this series comes out I will literally take a day off to read.  I found the first book in the series at a thrift store and the rest is history.  

Author People Should Discover: Robert Dugoni is actually the author that probably started this obsession back up when I read The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell.  I think that is a book that should be mandatory reading.  If you ever read it you will never forget it.  

Book You Would Recommend From 2025: My top book from 2025 is Welcome to Cottonmouth.  Imagine a town full of retired assassins and assets with secrets, skill and arthritis.  I couldn't get enough of this one.  

Most-Anticipated Book Of 2026: All the Little Houses by May Cobb was my most-anticipated pick for 2026 and for good reason.  It is devious, delicious and full of drama.  A totally over the top binge read.  May Cobb is an auto read author for me.  

Favorite Local/Indie Bookstore: A Likely Story in Midway, Kentucky and Carmichael's Bookstore

Favorite Charities: The Wounded Warrior Project.

Follow Teresa on Twitter or Instagram or contact her via the site.

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View Teresa’s Latest Reviews (book pub. dates)

The Women in White by Sarah Pekkanen (8/4/26)
The Tuxedo Society by Paul Rudnick (5/26/26)
The Memory Foundation by Amanda West (5/26/26)
Beneath a Broken Sky by Joshua Moehlin (5/26/26)
Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister (5/20/26)
Rules of Engagement by Ward Larsen (5/19/26)
Mist and Malice by Rachel Howzell Hall (5/19/26)
The Fourth Option by Jack Carr & MP Woodward (5/16/26)
The Pawn by John David (5/14/26)
The Anniversary by Alex Finley (5/12/26)
Dear Mother by Rea Frey (4/28/26)
The Girls in the Dark by Avery Bishop (4/24/26)
The Caretaker by Marcus Kliewer (4/21/26)
Last One Out by Jane Harper (4/14/26)
A Wound that Will Not Heal by Eric Beetner (4/7/26)
Nothing Tastes as Good by Luke Dumas (3/31/26)
The Survivor by Andrew Reid (3/24/26)
Dig by J.H. Markert (3/24/26)
She Fell Away by Lenore Nash (3/10/26)
Judge Stone by James Patterson & Viola Davis (3/9/26)
Turn Off the Light by Jacquie Walters (3/3/26)
One Beautiful Year of Normal by Sandra K. Griffith (2/24/26)
Adrift by Will Dean (2/17/26)
Children of the Savage City by Elizabeth Heider (2/17/26)
Murder at 30,000 Feet by Susan Walter (2/17/26)
The Hard Line By Mark Greaney (2/17/26)
Cold Zero by Brad Thor & Ward Larsen (2/10/26)
The Better Mother by Jennifer van der Kleut (2/10/26)
Antihero by Gregg Hurwitz (2/10/26)
In Her Defense by Phillippa Malicka (2/3/26)
Impostor by L. J. Ross (02/3/26)
The Cormorant Hunt by Michael Idov (1/27/26)
Detour by Jeff Rake & Rob Hart (1/26/26)
Very Slowly All At Once by Lauren Schott (1/20/26)
All The Little Houses by May Cobb (1/20/26)
The Bourne Revenge by Brian Freeman (1/20/26)
Such Sheltered Lives by Alyssa Sheinmel (1/20/26)
Robber Barons by Rodger Carlyle (1/20/26)
Dead in the Water by John Marrs (1/20/26)
The Method by Matthew Quirk (1/20/26)
Inside Man by John McMahon (1/13/26)
Dark Sisters by Kristi DeMeester (12/9/25)
Silent Bones by Val McDermid (12/2/25)
Dead Ringer by Chris Hauty (12/2/25)
Executive Power by Andrews & Wilson (11/25/25)
Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino (11/25/25)
The Picasso Job by Avanti Centrae (11/18/25)
The Adversary by Andrews & Wilson (11/4/25)
The Secret Sand Circle By Christina M. Abt (11/3/25)
Trigger by Jennifer Stockdale (11/1/25)
The Mannequins by C. Toms-Arbel (10/31/25)
Remain by Nicholas Sparks & M. Night Shyamalan (10/24/25)
The Midnight Knock By John Fram (10/21/25)
War on the Porch by Travis Davis (10/16/25)
The Gunman Jackson Swagger by Stephen Hunter (10/14/25)
The Gallery Assistant by Kate Belli (10/14/25)
The Devouring Light by Kat Ellis (10/7/25)
Keep this for Me by Jennifer Fawcett (10/7/25)
Cry Havoc by Jack Carr (10/7/25)
Victim #8 by Traci Hunter Abramson (10/7/25)
Silent Creek by Tony Wirt (10/7/25)
Photograph by Brian Freeman (10/07/25)
The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens (10/7/25)
Denied Access by Don Bentley (9/30/25)
The Whisper Place by Mindy Mejia (9/16/25)
The Wasp Trap by Mark Edwards (9/16/25)
Scar the Sky by J. Todd Scott (9/9/25)
Family Ties by Michele Packard (9/9/25)
The Quietist by Daniel David Gothard (9/2/25)
In Deadly Company by L. S. Stratton (9/2/25)
Breathe In, Bleed Out by Brian McAuley (9/2/25)
Spider to the Fly by J. H. Markert (9/2/25)
8114 by Joshua Hull (8/26/25)
Leverage by Amran Gowani (8/19/25)
The Witch's Orchard by Archer Sullivan (8/12/25)
The Art of a Lie by Laura Shepherd Robinson (8/5/25)
A Noble Sin by Andrew Bridgeman (8/5/25)
The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen (8/5/25)
The Ever End by Audrey Wilson (8/5/25)
Departure 37 by Scott Carson (8/5/25)
Fade In by Kyle Mills (7/29/25)
The Confessions by Paul Bradley Carr (7/22/25)
Blood and Treasure by Ryan Pote (7/22/25)
The Red Letter by Daniel G. Miller (7/22/25)
Whatever Kills the Pain by CW Blackwell (7/18/25)
Welcome to Cottonmouth by Jay S. Bell (7/8/25)
Remote: The Five by Eric Rickstad (7/8/25)
The White Crow by Michael Robotham (7/1/25)
Edge of Honor by Brad Thor (7/1/25)
Proof by Jon Cowan (6/24/25)
Gone Dark by Ryan Steck (6/17/25)
Of Flesh and Blood By Hunter Burke & N.L. Lavin (6/10/25)
Sister Butcher Sister by KD Aldyn (6/10/25)
King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby (6/10/25)
Blood Feud by Martin Rooney (6/3/25)
The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark (6/3/25)
Be Mine by Lizzy Barber (5/27/25)
Tell Them You Lied by Laura Leffler (5/27/25)
Lay Your Armor Down by Micahel Farris Smith (5/27/25)
The Safari by Jaclyn Goldis (5/20/25)
The Palace of Sinners and Saints by Ammar Merchant (5/20/25)
Spontaneous Remission By Joel Shulkin (5/13/25)
Fog and Fury by Rachel Howzell Hall (5/13/25)
Marguerite by the Lake by Mary Dixie Carter (5/8/25)
No Man's Ghost by Jason Powell (5/6/25)
See How They Fall by Rachel Paris (04/29/25)
Bop City Swing by ME Proctor and Russell Thayer (4/22/25)
Vatican Daughter by Jonie Marie Iraci (4/15/25)
Streets of Nashville by Michael Amos Cody (4/15/25)
Remote: The Six by Eric Rickstad (4/8/25)
The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer (4/8/25)
Dark Rising by Andrews & Wilson (4/8/25)
Heartwood by Amity Gaige (4/1/25)
Flames of Deception by Travis Davis (3/25/25)
Gothictown by Emily Carpenter (3/25/25)
Nowhere by Allison Gunn by (03/25/25)
Where the Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski (3/22/25)
The Buffalo Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones (03/18/25)
Another Try by Gene Koon (3/10/25)
The Extraterrestrial Zoo by Samantha van Leer (3/4/25)
The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica (3/4/25)
The Memory Ward by Jon Bassoff (3/4/25)
Real Bad, Real Soon by Eric Beetner (2/25/25)
Nemesis by Gregg Hurwitz (2/11/25)
Not Our Daughter by Chad Zunker (2/11/25)
Dark Vector by Ward Larsen (2/4/25)
A Long Time Gone by Joshua Moehling (2/4/25)
The Department by Jacqueline Faber (2/4/25)
The Enigma Girl by Henry Porter (1/28/25)
At Dark I Become Loathsome by Eric LaRocca (1/28/25)
Penitence by Kristin Koval (1/28/25)
Johnny Careless by Kevin Wade (1/25/25)
The Spear and the Sentinel By J. L. Hancock (1/18/25)
Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson (1/8/25)
The Dragon the Eagle and the Jaguar by Rodger Carlyle (01/14/25)
Assume Nothing by Joshua Corin (12/10/24)
The Good Bride by Jen Marie Wiggins (12/10/24)
Nobody's Hero by M.W. Craven (12/03/24)
Baker by Michele Packard (12/01/24)
The Egyptian Enigma by David Darling (11/26/24)
Out in the Cold by Steve Urszenyi (11/12/24)
Burn This Night by Alex Kenna (11/12/24)
The Lake of Lost Girls By Katherine Greene (11/5/24)
In Too Deep by Lee Child & Andrew Child (10/22/24)
Good Looking Ugly by Rob D. Smith (10/22/24)
Origin Story by A.M. Adair (10/22/24)
The Slate by Matthew Fitzsimmons (10/8/24)
Hometown Vendetta By Traci Hunter Abramson (10/1/24)
Somewhere by Matthew Reed Williams (10/10/24)
The President's Lawyer by Lawrence Robbins (10/8/24)
Not Yours to Keep by Zelly Ruskin (10/8/24)
Fortunate Son by Andrew Bridgeman (09/24/24)
Heroic Measures by Joel Shulkin (09/17/24)
The Bachelorette Party by Sandra Block (9/3/24)
Love You Till Tuesday by M. E. Proctor (08/12/24)
The Chamber by Will Dean (8/6/24)
The Rule of Three by Sam Ripley (8/6/24)
Homecoming Queen by Chad Boudreaux (8/6/24)
Stone Creek by Kate Brandes (8/6/24)
May the Wolf Die By Elizabeth Heider (7/2/24)
Tempest North by Rodger Carlyle (7/16/24)
Show Game by Steve Anderson (7/2/24)
The Midnight Rambler by Don Carr (6/20/24)
Three Burials by Anders Lustgarten (6/18/24)
Dreams in Incarceration by Cillian Dunne (6/18/24)
The Vixen Amber Halloway By Carol LaHines (6/11/24)
The King Street Affair by Jon Sealy (6/6/24)
Moneymaker by Josh Boldt (6/5/24)
A Better World by Sarah Langan (4/9/24)
Relentless by Michael Maloof (11/17/23)
The Hollywood Con Queen by Scott C. Johnson (6/6/23)

The Women In White By Sarah Pekkanen

First of all, note that Project Stargate is real: a government backed program where scientists investigated psychic phenomena, specifically remote viewing for intelligence gathering. That alone makes this story feel unsettlingly plausible. Each chapter opens with factual inserts tied to those experiments, and while this is fiction, there’s enough truth threaded through the pages to make everything feel possible. In this novel, Dr. Trimble identifies four women, Betty, Kathleen, Ivy, and Helen, who appear to possess mental abilities operating outside the known laws of physics, allowing them to sense or gather information remotely. The testing is relentless, invasive, and without clear limits… and then suddenly, the women vanish and the program is erased. Enter Riley, newly divorced and running from a dangerous ex, who takes a caretaker job with Betty, now elderly, wheelchair bound, and seemingly frozen in the 1960s. Betty has been shielded from the modern world by her late husband, and the reasons why quickly become another mystery. As Riley settles in, the questions pile up, and together they begin searching for answers, especially what happened to the other three women in white.

This book gave me everything I wanted. And while I’ve enjoyed everything Sarah Pekkanen writes, this one feels like she’s leveling up again. We move between 1964 and present day with multiple POVs, mainly Riley and Betty, but we also get glimpses into Kathleen, Ivy, and Helen. We see what brought them to the university, their growing friendships, the psychological toll of the experiments, and the lasting repercussions of being treated like test subjects instead of people. The emotional weight here runs deep, the bond between the women, the confusion surrounding their abilities, and the long term trauma that follows them into the future.

I loved the mix of historical fiction and domestic thriller layered with eerie psychological suspense. It is a slow burn, atmospheric, quietly creepy story that builds tension through questions; and the most unsettling part is the idea that this could have happened. Honestly, how many times can I say I loved this? Because I loved the friendships, I loved the creeping dread, I loved the emotional depth, I loved the bond between Riley and Betty and I especially loved how believable it all felt. Give me strong mysterious women, questionable science, and buried secrets any day. This one absolutely delivered.

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Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

The Tuxedo Society By Paul Rudnick

Holy bajole, this was the funniest thing I have read in a long time. To call The Tuxedo Society by Paul Rudnick “not your typical spy thriller” feels almost criminally understated because this book is operating on its own fabulous wavelength. I do not think two pages went by without a laugh out loud moment. From the second Andrew "Drew" Birnbaum is swept into the orbit of this elite group of queer spies, the story explodes into chaos and never once slows down. Every member of the Tuxedo Society brings their own kind of brilliance to the madness, from lesbian real estate moguls to a tech genius to former operatives who feel like they walked straight out of a fever dream. It reads like a spy spoof that knows exactly what it is and leans all the way in with sparkle and attitude.

This book is unapologetically big and I could talk about it for days. Maybe it was the protein bar (a bomb) or the yoga mat masquerading as a gun, or maybe it was the fact that Drew is still afraid of his mom... I LOVED IT ALL! The satire lands, the pop culture nods hit, and the whole thing feels wild, theatrical, and delightfully ridiculous in the best possible way. This is not about realism. This is about the vibes, the one liners, the absurdity, and the joy of watching everything spiral into campy perfection. It is loud, chaotic, and an absolutely ridiculous good time. I had so much fun with this one and honestly kind of wish the Tuxedo Society were recruiting because I would sign up immediately.

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Purchase The Tuxedo Society
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

The Memory Foundation By Amanda West

The Memory Foundation delivers exactly what thriller readers show up for and then pushes it further into eerie, speculative territory. An isolated snowy facility. Avalanche warnings hanging in the background. A powerful organization promising to unlock, preserve, and possibly control human memory. Yes please. The story alternates between investigative journalist Natasha Walker, a new mother desperate for a career saving story, and Lydia Hunter, the wife of founder Wade Hunter. Together, their perspectives peel back the glossy promise of a breakthrough. The Memory Foundation claims it can capture and preserve a person’s memories before they disappear, allowing them to be experienced again in vivid detail. Marketed as hope for dementia patients, this technology promises to safeguard identity by holding onto the moments that shape who we are. But if memories can be stored, they can also be filtered, softened, or erased. What begins as compassionate science quietly raises a more dangerous possibility. If you can control memory, you can control how someone understands their past and ultimately who they become.

Tash needs this story. Her mother is fading from dementia, her career is teetering, and Wade Hunter is guarding the kind of scientific advancement that could change everything. When a mysterious Patient A offers her a way inside, the tension starts simmering immediately with secrets, paranoia and the sense that she is being watched. Patient A refuses to give real answers yet somehow feels connected to Tash in a way that raises more questions than it resolves. What follows is a locked room style thriller wrapped in speculative science, morally gray ambition, and psychological tension that keeps tightening.

This is the kind of speculative thriller that feels both chilling and addictive with memory experiments, ethical lines being crossed and characters carrying secrets heavy enough to bury them. The hype makes sense. Amanda West has been making noise, and this one shows us why. The concept is smart, the atmosphere is claustrophobic, and you will question what happens if this sort of technology becomes available, because controlling memory is not just about healing the past. It is about rewriting the future, and that is where things get dangerous.

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Purchase The Memory Foundation
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Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

Beneath A Broken Sky By Joshua Moehlin

In Beneath a Broken Sky by Joshua Moehling, a violent tornado rips through the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake, leaving behind devastation and a small community that thrives on tourism trying to recover from wildfires, downed trees and a pretty big economic downturn. When a controversial local mother is murdered after publicly challenging the school system over bullying against her gay son, Detective Ben Packard is pulled into an investigation that exposes deep divisions within the community. As tensions rise and suspicion spreads, Packard navigates a case shaped as much by prejudice and fear as by evidence. While the bodies pile up, Ben is confronting personal struggles and the complicated reality of living openly in a town that does not always welcome him.

I have loved this series from the beginning because it is so deeply character focused, and watching Ben grow into himself has been the real reward. His struggle with identity, the tension within the police force, and the push and pull of small-town life give the story an emotional core that always feels genuine. The town itself becomes a character, full of charm and contradictions, and the familiar touches make it even richer this time around. The issues among these pages are real. Whether the topic is an illegal immigrant, a broken dream or too much alcohol, Moehling’s writing makes it easy to connect with the story.

Between books I find myself looking forward to Ben’s three-legged corgi Frank and the perfectly timed banter between Ben and Jill Theilen, which offers welcome moments to smile amid the heavier themes. You do not have to read the entire series to appreciate this book, but spending time with these characters as they evolve makes the experience even more meaningful. Readers are always allowed a little more into his past and what makes him the man he is today. The mystery is always strong, but what keeps me coming back is Ben’s devotion to his work, his community, and the quiet determination to build a life where he truly belongs.  

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Purchase Beneath A Broken Sky
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

Caller Unknown By Gillian McAllister

Simone Seaborn travels to Texas for what is supposed to be a simple camping trip and long overdue mother daughter time with Lucy, her teenage daughter who dreams of becoming an actress. After a frustrating journey, they settle into their cabin for the night, only for Simone to wake the next morning to find Lucy gone. What follows is not a ransom demand but something far more unsettling. The kidnapper leaves strict instructions, starting with tell no one and absolutely not the police, and demands a series of tasks instead of money. From there, the story becomes a relentless cat and mouse chase that unfolds across harsh landscapes and impossible choices, delivering a tense and original thriller that never lets up and times its twists with precision.

This book hit close to home for me. My youngest just graduated college and the reality of an empty nest is settling in, which made Simone’s fear and devotion feel painfully real. Simone is shaped by a traumatic childhood, and motherhood is the one role she has always chosen with certainty and purpose. Her love for Lucy is fierce, uncompromising, and willing to cross lines most people would never consider. Is it over the top at times? Absolutely. Did I care? Not for a second. Gillian McAllister balances high stakes suspense with the emotional reckoning of a parent who would risk everything for their child, and she does it with confidence and control. This is sharp, intense, and emotionally charged storytelling, and readers should grab it immediately. McAllister remains an auto read author for me, no hesitation.

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Follow Teresa on Twitter or Instagram or contact her via the site.

Purchase Caller Unknown
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

Rules Of Engagement By Ward Larsen

In Rules of Engagement, President Jack Ryan is pulled into a global crisis after what should have been a routine diplomatic trip ends in a deadly plane crash in Turkey. Official reports call it an accident. However, with only fifteen bodies recovered and a missing intelligence asset who clearly matters to the wrong people, the hunt becomes a race across multiple countries to uncover who survived, what they’re carrying, and why powerful forces are willing to burn everything to get to them first. As threats stack up and time collapses, Ryan works side by side with his children, trusted allies, and legends like John Clark to connect the dots before a shadow war turns very real.

Ward Larsen absolutely knocked this out of the park. He stays true to the heart of the Ryanverse while bringing a fresh rhythm and edge that feels modern, urgent, and fearless. I loved seeing generations of relationships come back into play, the trust built over decades paying off in high pressure moments where every decision counts. This story feels so relevant, and scary, to think about all of the covert operations unfolding while the rest of us are just living our normal lives, unaware of the chess game happening behind the curtain. It makes you pause and wonder how much of the world is quietly being steered in rooms we will never see.

The action is relentless and wildly creative, from drone dogfights I never knew I needed to pulse pounding extractions that had me holding my breath. Add in cutting edge AI, rapidly evolving tech, and dialogue that crackles with both tension and perfectly timed humor, and you get a thriller that never feels heavy or stiff. Between the burning coffee pots, sharp one liners, and characters who feel real even when the stakes are insane, this book delivers on every level. Smart, fast, authentic and absolutely gripping, Rules of Engagement is the kind of thriller that reminds you why the Jack Ryan series continues to dominate.

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Follow Teresa on Twitter or Instagram or contact her via the site.

Purchase Rules Of Engagement
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

Mist And Malice By Rachel Howzell Hall

Mist and Malice by Rachel Howzell Hall wastes exactly zero time—this thing picks up right where Fog and Fury drops you and basically says, “hope you stretched.” So yes, you absolutely need book one first, but honestly? That’s not a chore, it’s a gift. Sonny Rush is barely three-ish weeks into her life in Haven, California, and already knee-deep in chaos: dead bodies, missing people (and dogs), human trafficking, poisonous cupcakes (yes, really), and enough lies and fraud to make your head spin. Sonny doesn’t care if she’s getting paid or not.  She is relentless, stubborn, and just reckless enough to make it work.This time around, she’s juggling a runaway girl, a missing husband, and the long-buried truths about her father.

What makes this hit is that it’s not just about what’s happening; it’s about who it’s happening to. This is a character-driven thriller in the best way: messy motivations, emotional baggage, and a main character who is deeply flawed but impossible not to root for. We dig further into Sonny’s past; why she was dismissed from the LAPD, her complicated relationship with her mother, her god-father Ivan, and the dynamics with Cooper and India (my queen, my favorite). Haven itself feels like a beautifully toxic mess, and Sonny moves through it with a strange mix of grace and pure “cocaine bear energy.” She’s protecting the vulnerable, confronting betrayal head-on, and somehow holding it together while everything around her burns. The atmosphere is thick, the stakes are real, and the emotional weight lands. I love this series, full stop, and I will be first in line for whatever comes next

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Follow Teresa on Twitter or Instagram or contact her via the site.

Purchase Mist And Malice
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

The Fourth Option By Jack Carr & MP Woodward

I wanted to do something a little different with this review. Jack Carr and M. P. Woodward are two authors I will follow forever, but The Fourth Option hit me in a way I was not expecting. This one feels personal, raw and uncomfortably real. I’ll keep the endgame twists to myself, but I need to talk about why this story stayed with me.

I went in knowing Carr’s style from the The Terminal List—tactical, precise, no-holds-barred. But this? This feels different from the first page. It is quieter, more intimate, and it absolutely knocked the wind out of me.

We meet Chris Walker, a former Navy Seal and former CIA Ground Branch member, at rock bottom. He was medically retired after a TBI and was drowning in survivor’s guilt after losing his close friend and Master Chief, John Staub. Walker is living out of a beat-up 1984 Volkswagen Vanagon that is part home and part rolling arsenal. When we find him, he sits there with a 1911 in his hand, ready to end it. That opening scene is heavy. Not dramatic for the sake of it. Just quiet, crushing, and deeply human. You can feel his isolation. His loss of faith and in everything he once believed in.

Then the phone rings.

It is Staub’s widow. Her son Connor is dead from what looks like another opioid overdose, another statistic the system is ready to file away and forget, but she knows something is wrong, and she calls the one person she trusts – Walker – and that call changes everything. It gives him purpose again, and from there the story turns into something that feels almost like a modern western. Walker starts pulling at threads from New Orleans outward, uncovering a conspiracy that goes far beyond one family’s tragedy. This is not just about drugs. It is bigger, darker, and rooted in failures at every level—law enforcement, courts, and institutions that are supposed to protect people.

Walker decides to become something else entirely.

The pacing builds from that emotional spark into a full burn. The action is classic Carr—tight, tactical, and brutal—but it is the why behind it that makes it hit harder. Walker is not just fighting enemies. He is fighting himself, what he believes and what justice actually means when the system fails. This is where the title lands perfectly. The “fourth option” is vigilante justice. The path no one is supposed to take. The one Walker was always heading toward whether he realized it or not.

Also, I need to say it—I am completely obsessed with Paladin. Even the name says everything - holy warrior; champion for a cause.

By the end, Walker feels cut from the same cloth as James Reece, but he stands on his own as a more fractured, searching kind of hero. He is messy, human and dangerous in a way that feels inevitable. I closed this book thinking about loyalty, purpose, and about what justice really looks like when the system stops working.

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Follow Teresa on Twitter or Instagram or contact her via the site.

Purchase The Fourth Option
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

The Pawn By John David

The Pawn delivers a sharp, modern crime story anchored in the pursuit of truth. Right in the middle of an NCAA playoff game, journalist Pete Lemaster receives a call from his friend Cole, about his uncle (Scotty)  having been arrested in Singapore for drug smuggling  What begins as an effort to spotlight a possible wrongful accusation quickly widens into something far more complex. Alongside Lieutenant Rebecca Dawes, Pete follows a trail that cuts through media attention, public perception, and deeper forces at play. The international backdrop and headline driven stakes give the story a sense of immediacy that feels grounded and relevant.

Seeing the investigation unfold through a journalist’s lens adds weight to every discovery, where uncovering the truth is only part of the battle and telling it carries its own risks. The pacing is tight, the dialogue is confident (and sooo fun), and the interplay between Pete and Rebecca continues to build with purpose. Even the supporting cast leaves an impression, especially Pete’s mother, Evelyn, my personal favorite side character. This is a fast moving, character driven thriller that balances suspense with insight.  The Pawn delivers the kind of crime thriller readers crave, fast, sharp, and impossible to put down.

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Follow Teresa on Twitter or Instagram or contact her via the site.

Purchase The Pawn
(Note: most indie bookstores can fulfill an order as quickly as larger retailers. Please consider contacting them for your next purchase.)

Barrington Books
Chapter 2 Books
Murder By The Book
Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

The Anniversary By Alex Finley

Meet Jules Delaney and Quinn Riley. It is 1992 and they share a high school, but not the same life. Then May 1 changes everything. Jules survives an attack by the May Day Killer, a predator who leaves a trail of girls who were not as lucky. That same night Quinn’s future implodes after a concert fight spirals out of control and he is arrested. The story returns to May 1 each year as more girls disappear, Quinn’s mother is murdered, and the distance between Jules and Quinn slowly collapses until their lives collide in ways neither of them could have predicted. The book's structure works like snapshots across a decade, revealing pieces of the past while the present tightens. The tension never lets up and the identity of the killer stayed just out of reach the entire time.

This book absolutely deserves the hype. The one day a year format makes it impossible to stop reading, each chapter is sharp, fast, and loaded with emotion. The dual perspectives add depth while the serial killer storyline keeps the intensity high. Grief, survival, friendship, and the messy ways people grow after trauma are woven into a twisty, bingeable thriller that delivers on every level. The pacing is tight, the mystery is layered, and the payoff is completely worth it. This is everything I want in a thriller and probably his best yet. Alex Finlay is an auto read author for me and with books like this, I will shoot them straight to the top of the to be read pile every single time.

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Dear Mother By Rea Frey

Isabelle Archer is many things at once: an investigative journalist trained to chase truth, a mother trying to protect her own child, and a daughter shaped by a childhood that never offered safety or simplicity. Raised in a home full of foster siblings, her past is marked by one child who vanished and three more lost in a devastating fire—an “accident” that never sat right. Illness, fear, and whispered theories trailed the family, all tightly controlled by her mother, Gail, whose grip on the narrative was as suffocating as it was unwavering. When Gail dies, Isabelle returns home expecting paperwork and closure. Instead, she finds autopsy results that crack open the past. What follows is a reckoning—across dual timelines and shifting POVs—that forces Isabelle to relive what she survived and confront what may have been deliberately hidden all along.

This is the kind of book you fall into fast and don’t surface from easily. Rea Frey doesn’t sanitize motherhood, mental illness, or abuse; she leans into the discomfort and lets the mess breathe. The emotional tension is sharp, the atmosphere heavy, and the mystery unfolds with quiet control rather than cheap shock tactics. Isabelle’s love for her mother exists right alongside fear and suspicion, which makes her feel achingly real. The structure is clean, the twists land, and the emotional stakes never feel manufactured. Frey remains an auto-read for me because she understands how to braid psychology and suspense without losing the human core. Dear Mother is proof that family secrets don’t fade—they ferment, and when they finally surface, they demand to be faced.

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The Girls In The Dark By Avery Bishop

Megan and Allison Hadley were abducted near their home by a serial killer who targets twins. Months later, after being held in cages and tortured, Megan manages to escape, but her sister and the killer were never found.  Megan tries to move on. She's written a book and gives talks about being a survivor, but chapters of her past life have not been finished.  There is no peace or closure which  keeps her looking over her shoulder constantly. Twenty years later, on the anniversary of their disappearance, a new clue surfaces, pulling Megan back into a past built on missing pieces, buried truths, and secrets she’s been carrying far longer than anyone realizes.

From the first page, I was locked in.  Seriously, this is the kind of book that if you have to call into work - so be it.  It is totally worth it.   The story unfolds across two timelines: the brutal past where Megan and Allison endure the unthinkable, and the present where Megan’s carefully guarded secrets keep tightening the screws. It’s claustrophobic and breathless in the best way. Every chapter adds another layer, and just when you think you understand what happened, the book shifts again. The tension never lets up, and the truth stays just out of reach until the very end.

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The Caretaker By Marcus Kliewer

Marcus Kliewer’s The Caretaker opens with desperation and a choice that feels both reckless and inevitable. After losing their father in a horrific accident, Macy Mullins is barely keeping life together for herself and her younger sister Jemma, while they wait for a life insurance payout that never seems to arrive. The trauma of the accident followed Macy into every part of her life, making it nearly impossible to hold a steady job. Macy applies for a caretaker position at a very remote and isolated house. All of the warning bells are ringing. The man she was supposed to care for is dead, but she is offered nine thousand dollars for three days of work with three thousand paid up front. Turning this kind of money down just isn’t an option. Macy is handed a VHS tape and a list of rigid rules left behind by David, instructions that must be followed exactly if she wants to survive the weekend. The question is not just what she is caretaking, but why the rules exist at all.

From the moment those rules begin, The Caretaker tightens like a vise. Kliewer builds a suffocating atmosphere where literally every action matters and every choice could have a dangerous outcome. The story blends psychological dread with supernatural horror in a way that feels cinematic. The isolated setting, the strange rituals that must be performed in precise patterns, and the growing sense that something ancient is waiting just beyond the edge of the house create relentless tension. As the weekend unfolds the pressure never lets up, escalating scene by scene until the reader feels trapped alongside Macy, questioning every sound and every shadow. It is the kind of story that crawls into your head and refuses to leave.

From the prologue, Kliewer commits to the experience. The fear is not cheap or fleeting. It is patient, intelligent, and deeply unsettling. He understands how to make the reader participate in the terror, turning every page into an act of bravery. The result is a high concept horror story about isolation, ritual, and the terrifying possibility that some rules exist for a reason. The Caretaker is a rare novel that does not just tell you a horror story. It dares you to survive it.

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Last One Out By Jane Harper

Five years after her son Sam vanished without a trace, Ro Crowley returns to Carralon Ridge, the rural Australian town that has nearly disappeared along with him. What once was a thriving community,  is now a hollowed out place being swallowed by a coal mine, with abandoned homes, dust, and silence standing where families once lived. Sam’s disappearance left behind only a rental car and muddy footprints, and Ro is still chasing answers that no one ever found. As she moves through what remains of the town, old secrets surface, the pain of losing a son is still there, and the mystery of what happened that night slowly begins to take shape.

This book was far more emotional than I expected, in the best way. The ache that Ro, her husband Griff, and their daughter Della carry after losing Sam is on every page, the constant wondering, the lack of closure, the way grief quietly tears a family apart. Jane Harper writes this pain beautifully and with so much honesty. The story is very character driven and a true slow burn, letting you sit with the loss, the tension, and the unraveling truth instead of rushing to answers.

Carralon Ridge feels like a character all its own, a dying town shaped by economic devastation and the people left behind who have lost not only livelihoods but hope. This is as much a story about grief and change as it is about a missing young man, about what happens when families and communities are forced to watch everything familiar slip away. The mystery unfolds gradually, but the emotional weight is what truly pulls you in, making this a haunting, atmospheric, thoughtful, and deeply moving read.

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A Wound That Will Not Heal By Eric Beetner

In February 2024, Eric Beetner introduced readers to Carter McCoy.  A vigilante born not from recklessness, but from a terminal diagnosis and the realization that the systems meant to deliver justice were failing the very people they claimed to protect. A Wound That Will Not Heal brings that journey to its most devastating and urgent chapter. Carter moves through a world where grief, violence, and moral consequence are his constant companions.  Carter is a man who has buried his wife and daughter, taken a life, and still carried a stubborn belief that the world should be better than what it is. In this installment, the threat cuts especially deep: men posing as immigration officials exploit fear and power, rounding up vulnerable people for profit under the protection of authority. When their cruelty touches someone connected to Carter, his fight becomes inevitable. What follows is not simply a confrontation, but a reckoning with corruption, with truth, and with the cost of doing what is right when nothing else works.

What makes this book, and the entire trilogy, my absolute favorite is Carter McCoy himself (well I love Chester too!). He embodies a kind of moral clarity and courage the world often seems to lack. He acts when others hesitate. He confronts injustice directly. He protects those who cannot protect themselves. Carter represents a quiet but persistent longing for accountability, truth, and decisive action in a world that can feel indifferent, manipulated, or broken. He is deeply kind-hearted and genuinely wants what is best for others, yet he carries a warning edge, being a man shaped by loss who refuses to tolerate cruelty. Across the series, the stakes grow heavier as his illness advances, and every act of resistance demands more from a body that is failing him. The tension between his weakening physical state and his unyielding sense of justice gives the trilogy its pulse.

I cried reading this book and not only because of its tragedy, but because of the fragile hope threaded through every page. It is powerful, unsettling, and deeply human.  I will miss Carter and Chester and even that old truck, but what I will never forget is the feeling that goodness, determination, and integrity can still exist in a damaged world. These novels offer more than suspense; they offer the possibility that one person’s refusal to look away can still matter. The Carter McCoy series is not an escape from reality — it is a confrontation with it, demanding readers wrestle with justice, accountability, and what it means to stand for what is right when the consequences are permanent.

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Nothing Tastes As Good By Luke Dumas

Nothing Tastes as Good by Luke Dumas is a chilling and unsettling look at diet culture wrapped in a disturbing horror story that feels uncomfortably close to reality. Emmett Truesdale has struggled with his weight his entire life, and living in image-obsessed Southern California only magnifies every insecurity. After years of failed diets, social rejection, and feeling like he will never measure up, Emmett enrolls in a clinical trial for a revolutionary weight-loss drug called Obexity. The results are immediate and dramatic—pounds drop quickly and for the first time people begin to see him differently. But the miracle treatment comes with side effects that no one fully understands, and with enormous money and reputation riding on the drug’s success, some consequences are quietly pushed aside as Emmett’s transformation takes a far darker turn.

This novel feels painfully real. Beneath the body horror and moments of gore is a heartbreaking exploration of diet culture, social media pressure, and the cruel expectations placed on bodies in our society. My heart genuinely broke for Emmett. All he wanted was to feel comfortable in his own skin and be accepted for who he was. Even as he begins achieving the results he thought he wanted, he remains trapped in the same emotional isolation. The structure of the book adds another layer of immersion with the inserts from Emmett’s blog posts, social media updates, and the clinical notes tracking his progress. Watching the numbers on the scale drop while simultaneously seeing the shifts in his physical, mental, and emotional state was both fascinating and disturbing, and the small satirical jabs at diet culture (EmaC-8 and more) along the way were brilliantly done.

After speaking with Dumas at Bouchercon and reading the author’s note at the end (which is absolutely worth your time), it becomes clear that there is a deeply personal element woven into this story. That authenticity shines through on every page. This is horror that is disturbing, a little gory, and thought-provoking in equal measure, forcing readers to confront the uncomfortable reality of how much value our culture places on appearance and acceptance. And just when you think everything has wrapped up neatly, Dumas delivers a final twist that lands perfectly. If you enjoy horror that unsettles you while also giving you something meaningful to think about long after the last page, this one is definitely worth picking up.

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The Survivor By Andrew Reid

Told in alternating points of view, the story moves between Ben Cross—an anxious, seemingly unremarkable young man harboring lethal secrets from his past—and NYPD Transit Detective Kelly Hendricks, who is just as determined and dangerous in her pursuit of justice.

The Survivor by Andrew Reid is a white-knuckle thriller that grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let go. Set almost entirely on a hijacked New York City subway train, the novel creates an atmosphere of claustrophobic tension that feels both cinematic and immediate. With each new car, the stakes rise, the body count climbs, and Ben Cross is pushed to his limits—not just physically, but emotionally. Reid’s ability to balance breathless action with psychological depth keeps the reader on edge, questioning not just who’s behind the terror, but how far one man will go to survive.

No matter how much time passes, the past doesn’t stay buried—it waits. And when it rises, it does so piece by piece like the delicate clicks of tumblers turning in a lock. A flash of memory here, a whispered lie there—each revelation falling into place with precision. Until, finally, with a deep metallic clunk, the last secret is exposed, and everything once hidden swings wide open.

This is a lean all the way in and hold the hell on kind of book.  

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Dig By J.H. Markert

Dig drops you onto Crow Island, a fictional coast near Savannah that feels real enough to raise goosebumps. The Geechee and Gullah folklore is not window dressing. It is the heartbeat of this story. Boo hags, haints, rituals — they are alive on these pages. And yes, I fully went down the rabbit hole on boo hags and immediately regretted it because nothing prepares you for a skin-shedding spirit that rides your sleeping body and steals your breath. If that doesn’t terrify you, I cannot help you. 

This book blends horror, history, supernatural dread, generational trauma, and buried family secrets until you have no choice but to dig for the truth right alongside the characters. Every layer uncovers another lie and another echo from centuries past. Markert handles it with intention. The human darkness and the otherworldly darkness show up with no apology.

I’m not gonna lie — this one got under my skin. I had nightmares. I switched to daytime reading like a coward and still couldn’t look away. Markert, a Kentucky author with a fearless storytelling style, built a world soaked in atmosphere and dread. If you’ve ever wondered what happens to your dreams, or what would happen if your worst one came true, Dig belongs on your list immediately.

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She Fell Away By Lenore Nash

In She Fell Away, Lenore Nash introduces Lake Harlowe, a U.S. State Department diplomat whose new posting in New Zealand quickly turns into a search for a missing American teen, Bowie Bishop. What begins as a disappearance unfolds into something far darker, pulling Lake into a web of power, secrets, money and buried truths. As the investigation deepens, so does the story’s emotional core, revealing Lake’s own past growing up in a cult and the lingering trauma that still shapes her choices. The case becomes more than a mission. It becomes personal, especially as the connections between Lake, Bowie, and the complicated relationships with their mothers begin to surface.

I was pleasantly surprised by the emotional depth running beneath the tension. Nash’s background in historical romance shines through in the immersive writing and carefully built atmosphere. This is not a breakneck thriller chasing plot alone. It is deeply character driven, spending real time inside Lake’s grief, guilt, and internal struggles. The dynamics between Lake and her mother, Bowie and her mother, and the growing connection between Lake and Bowie give the story weight and urgency. Lake’s childhood trauma unfolds slowly, revealing pieces of a painful past that adds another layer of intrigue and keeps the emotional stakes high.

Pick this up if you want a thriller with substance and mood, one that values psychological complexity as much as suspense. The tension is steady, the emotional threads are compelling, and Lake Harlowe feels like a character with much more to reveal. I am genuinely excited this is the start of a series because her story feels far from finished, and I want to see where her journey goes next.

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