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.


Scar the Sky by J. Todd Scott (9/9/25)View Teresa’s Latest Reviews (book pub. dates)

Caller Unknown by Gillian McAllister (5/20/26)
Dear Mother by Rea Frey (4/28/26)
The Survivor by Andrew Reid (3/24/26)
Dig by J.H. Markert (3/24/26)
One Beautiful Year of Normal by Sandra K. Griffith (2/24/26)
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)
Imposter 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)
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Executive Power by Andrews & Wilson (11/25/25)
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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)
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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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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 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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One Beautiful Year Of Normal By Sandra K. Griffith

When August Caine was eleven, her father was murdered and the crime was never solved. In the aftermath, her mother, Claire, fell into debilitating depression, leaving August largely on her own in New York City until her Aunt Helen intervened and Claire was placed into care. August then spent a single year in Savannah with her aunt, a brief and defining period where life felt safe and ordinary. Years later, August receives a phone call informing her that Aunt Helen has died and that she is the sole heir to her estate. The news is jarring. August had been told her aunt died fifteen years earlier. Returning to Savannah means stepping back into a history shaped by omission, loss, and carefully maintained silence.

This mystery is rooted in mental illness, generational secrecy, and withheld truth. The novel unfolds through alternate timelines that slowly expose the fractures in August’s understanding of her own life. As she moves through Savannah, the family history she was never allowed to know emerges in pieces, each revelation complicating the last. The suspense here is character driven rather than plot heavy, built on what August remembers, what she was protected from, and what was deliberately hidden. Griffith allows tension to grow through emotional recognition instead of shock, creating a quiet unease as August begins to see how survival shaped the version of reality she was given.

I am a sucker for a debut author, and this one earned my trust early. Set in Savannah, the novel immerses the reader in a Southern atmosphere that feels lived in and intimate, where history, old money, and secrets exert quiet pressure all around August. Griffith’s background in psychology is evident in her careful handling of trauma and perception, allowing pain to exist without spectacle. By the end of the book, I found myself longing for normal alongside August, hoping she might reclaim what was taken from her before she understood its value. One Beautiful Year of Normal is thoughtful, restrained, and deeply compassionate. This book had a heart, and it never lost sight of it.

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Children Of The Savage City By Elizabeth Heider

Children of the Savage City pulls you straight into its world and refuses to let your attention drift for a single moment.  Nikki Serafino is back in Naples working with the Phoenix Seven, the liaison group navigating the impossible space between the police and the US military, and while it is possible to read this as a standalone, you are only cheating yourself. This is book two, and the continuity between the stories is half the thrill, because every character carries history, every choice has weight, and every secret has its own echo. This time the death of a young woman inside the historic Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo spirals into something far darker, all while dangerous debts cling to both Nikki and Valerio like smoke. Then there is Beatrice, Nikki’s mother, and the long shadow cast by her death and the death of her brother Adriano. When Nikki’s father arrives asking for three names she never expected to hear, she knows the past is alive and kicking and not finished with any of them.  The way clues are dropped into place is masterful, like someone feeding you crumbs that you think you understand, until the final pages and one final clue is dangling in front you leaving you needing the next installment.

The multiple story lines in this book are incredible, but it is the texture of Naples that takes center stage. You feel the pulse of the city in its churches, its food, its traditions, and its fierce families who hold their love as tightly as their secrets. Yes, there are a lot of characters.  Get to know them. You need them. Every one of them. They move across both books with purpose and carry their own stories like they have lived there forever. Naples in this series is a maze of beauty and danger built on Il Sistema, the system that shapes its children from the moment they can walk. Crime and survival blur until the difference becomes almost philosophical. The beasts of Naples hunt anywhere they please. Churches. Alleys. Market squares. Homes. Young or old, innocent or guilty, no one is exempt. Cops can be bought. Judges can be bent. People with money can be just as dirty as those with nothing. Everyone needs something from someone else, and no one seems to know who sits at the top of this food chain or if that person even exists.

The plot moves like a chase from beginning to end because Nikki never gets a moment to breathe. She trusts almost no one and with good reason. Trouble loves her and follows her like a dark shadow. And Valerio, who continues to make me root for him at every turn, carries his own broken corners that make him both dangerous and deeply human. As the two of them work to uncover the truth behind the murder at Chiesa del Gesu Nuovo, their own pasts drag them into the underworld of Naples where survival is a skill and loyalty is currency. This story is dark, smart, and emotionally honest. It asks what power does to people and what people will do to protect whatever is left when power strips everything else away. It is atmospheric. It is character driven. It is crime fiction at its finest, and I will keep saying that until everyone listens. Clear your schedule.  Thank me later.

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Purchase Children Of The Savage City
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Murder At 30,000 Feet By Susan Walter

I binge read Murder at 30,000 Feet last night and I have zero regrets. This is a high altitude whodunit with tension that never lets up. When Federal Air Marshal Carlos Renaldo boarded Flight 866 to San Juan, he didn’t expect anything more than a smooth flight. After all, in all his years on the job, no one had ever been in real danger. But this flight was different. A violent storm with a lightning strike that causes a power glitch and when the lights flickered back on one passenger was dead. And suddenly, the calm skies turned into a full-blown crime scene. 

This story moves fast and doesn’t waste a moment. There are so many intersecting threads and multiple narrators including a bridal party, a high school baseball team, solo travelers, and plenty of drama unfolding at 30,000 feet. As the clues come together and the chaos builds in the air, all signs begin to point to one big secret that started in the small town of Crestwood and the suspicious death of Matthew Kessler, a high school baseball player who died in a hit and run accident three years earlier. Everyone has something to lose, and no one is completely innocent

Murder at 30,000 feet  balances action and emotion. The story feels cinematic but still grounded in raw human fear and guilt. It’s more than a murder mystery; it's a collision of past and present, of lies that refuse to stay buried. It's a story of cause and effect and the impact of decisions made. Susan Walter has been, and will stay, on my radar; she knows exactly how to keep the tension tight, the story moving, and the reader hanging on every word until the wheels hit the runway.

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The Hard Line By Mark Greaney

He is known by many names - Courtland Gentry, Sierra Six, The Gray Man, The Violator. Different names, one singular purpose, and in this book that purpose is sharpened to a razor’s edge. From the opening pages, the action never lets up. This story revolves around Gauntlet, a private company contracted by the United States to handle black ops and deniable missions. At the center of it is James Arthur Westwood, a man selling secrets to the Chinese while quietly harvesting intel from inside nearly every three-letter agency. To protect himself, he unleashes hired assassins and sets off a chain reaction that pulls Court into a fight that feels both global and deeply personal.

Things turn brutal when Bulgarian mobsters snap Gentry’s photo, threatening to blow his cover. There is only one solution, and it is absolute. Cleaning house draws the attention of Whetstone through his son, tying revenge directly to Court’s actions. At the same time, Matt Hanley and his Ghost Town team operate in the deepest shadows imaginable. Ghost Town is darker than Gauntlet, more deniable, more dangerous, and when Gauntlet realizes their assassins are being eliminated, they bring the war straight to Ghost Town’s doorstep. Travers, Hightower, Gentry, and the rest suddenly find themselves hunted by another black ops group, and the story becomes a collision of secret worlds that were never meant to touch.

The Hard Line is a little different in how much emotional weight Greaney allows into the story without slowing it down. Court is sometimes fueled by blind rage that is unstoppable and ferocious, but there is also vulnerability I did not expect. Not just from him but from the other operatives as well. Their histories surface, old connections return, and longtime readers will recognize how many threads are finally coming full circle. The dialogue between characters is sharp, revealing, and often electric, easily my favorite part of the book. The technology, the globe-trotting, the relentless pace all hit hard, but it is the humanity beneath the violence that makes this one stand out. This is my favorite book in the series so far, a full throttle story that still manages to dig deep and hit with real force.

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The Better Mother By Jennifer van der Kleut

This is madness, meticulously crafted. Twisted taunting and utterly intoxicating.

I had the chance to meet debut author Jennifer van der Kleut at Bouchercon this year in New Orleans, and when the opportunity came to read her first novel, The Better Mother, I jumped on it faster than my TBR pile could protest. The story follows Savannah Mitchell, who finds herself unexpectedly pregnant after what was supposed to be a casual hookup. Enter Max’s ex, Madison. A charming, helpful, and just a little too eager to be involved. What starts as an uneasy truce between two women quickly unravels into a dizzying descent into obsession and control. It’s a slick, modern psychological thriller that digs into the dark side of motherhood, obsession, and the illusion of control.

I love it when an author can make me anxious in the best possible way. My eyes couldn't move fast enough across the page making it that I physically needed to know what happened next. The Better Mother delivers exactly that kind of high. It’s smart, unsettling, and eerily believable, the kind of psychological thriller that keeps you up way past your bedtime muttering, “just one more chapter.” Warning - for the love of your nerves, clear your schedule because you’re going to binge this in one sitting.

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Purchase The Better Mother
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Once Upon A Crime
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Antihero By Gregg Hurwitz

Evan Smoak is many things—Orphan X, government-trained assassin, and to those who find his untraceable number, the Nowhere Man. Stolen from a foster home and forged into a weapon by a covert program that erased names and replaced them with letters, Evan became the perfect operative—silent, precise, unstoppable and living back Jack John’s 10 Commandments. But he walked away, turning his lethal skills toward a new mission: saving the helpless when no one else will. To the outside world, he’s just a ghost, but to the desperate, he’s a last chance. Always hunted, always alone, Evan lives by a strict code—protect the innocent, punish the guilty—no matter the cost.

In Antihero, Evan is challenged on so many levels.  He is still the smart ass, calculated, OCD, vodka drinking, magnet shirt wearing guy we love, but his feelings are a constant tug-of-war between isolation and connection, duty and humanity. He is deeply disciplined and controlled on the surface, but underneath he wrestles with loneliness, guilt, and the heavy weight of what he was trained to do. Evan is a man caught between two worlds: the weapon he was made to be and the human being he wants to become and after losing Tommy and watching Joey grow up, the unknown softer side (yeah I said softer)  of Evan is winning, and I am so here for it.

This mission just hits differently.  It is raw, real and relevant and is happening every single day in the world that we live in.  When Luke Devine calls for some help, Evan is put on track to find and help a young woman, Anca Dumitrescu, and American Romanian who had a seizure on a subway train.  She was taken, assaulted and abandoned.  Evan and Joey head to New York to find her, help Devine calm the hell down, and uncover a dirty wretched world that will simply turn your stomach knowing that crimes against the unwilling happen every single day.  Evan must balance mercy with vengeance per the request of the young woman who was defiled and abused yet finds the light even in the worst situations and that light is what Evan needs.

If you haven’t started the Orphan X series, stop everything and dive in—you won’t regret it.  The Nowhere Man, pulls you straight into the action and refuses to let you go, leaving you desperate for the next mission. Antihero might just be my favorite installment yet. Gregg Hurwitz crafts Evan with meticulous precision—every detail matters, from the smudge of bird droppings on a window, to the way Evan scans a room, to the quiet complexity of how he navigates the women in his life. It’s that level of detail that makes this story tangible, authentic and one I need to see on the big screen. And yes—he even gets a brand-new commandment. I cannot wait to see where it takes him next.

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Purchase Antihero
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Chapter 2 Books
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Once Upon A Crime
The Book Dragon
The Poisoned Pen

Imposter By L. J. Ross

This was my first L.J. Ross book, and what an introduction. We meet Dr. Alexander Gregory, a forensic psychologist with a rare gift who can read the darkest corners of the human mind, a skill that makes him both brilliant and haunted. Gregory works with violent offenders, the kind of people most would rather forget, yet their thoughts and actions follow him long after the day is done. Beneath his calm professional exterior lies a man carrying secrets of his own, hidden deep for reasons we can only begin to guess.

The prologue sets the stage with a chilling tale of a mother with Munchausen Syndrome, seemingly killing her own children, though one survives. It is a disturbing and unforgettable opening that lingers as the story unfolds. Soon, Gregory is drawn into a small Irish community where a brutal murder has shattered the calm. His task is to unravel the mind of a killer hiding in plain sight. But as dreams bleed into reality and old wounds resurface, the truth becomes as elusive as the killer he is trying to profile.

Ross’s writing is taut and cinematic, almost claustrophobic in how it traps you inside this tight-knit community and keeps the list of suspects painfully close. Every page hums with tension, and just when you think you have found your footing, Ross tilts the ground beneath you. The ending lands with a sharp cliffhanger that leaves you desperate for the next installment. Impostor is dark, psychological, and utterly consuming.

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The Cormorant Hunt By Michael Idov

ARI FALK IS BACK!!! (and yes that is me yelling) I loved The Collaborators, so there was zero hesitation when I got the chance to read The Cormorant Hunt. This is not a standalone, and I strongly recommend starting with book one because the payoff here is worth the investment. Michael Idov drops us straight into a world rich with current geopolitical intrigue, where the stakes feel immediate and uncomfortably real. The settings are vivid and global, grounding the story in a reality that gives the tension real weight and urgency.

What Idov does best is keep the story moving with precision. The dialogue is sharp, the momentum never drags, and the characters operate where ethics are flexible and consequences are unavoidable, which is exactly where this series thrives. Ari Falk continues to be compelling, but it’s his dynamic with CIA officer Asha Tamaskar that truly elevates the book. Their connection is tense, intelligent, and layered, adding real substance to the suspense and giving the story its edge.

This is spy fiction without padding. No fluff, no wasted space, just tight storytelling and an attention to detail that brings humanity to the chaos of espionage. And just when you think you understand where it is all heading, the ending proves otherwise. Hold your breath, clear your schedule, and be prepared to want the next installment immediately. This series continues to deliver, and I am fully locked in. 

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Detour By Jeff Rake & Rob Hart

I went into Detour completely blind because when Jeff Rake and Rob Hart team up, you just show up and buckle in. What I did not expect was the way this book grabbed my face, turned my head, and said “look closely,” only to twist everything in the final moments and leave my jaw on the floor. It feels like binge-watching your newest obsession right before a global shutdown, only to learn the next episode is delayed indefinitely. So here I am, sitting in the wreckage of my own brain, trying to piece together the shards of what I just read and wondering how I’m supposed to function until the next installment exists.

The setup already sounds like reality TV meets prestige sci-fi: three astronauts and three civilians get handpicked for a bold mission to Titan, Saturn’s famous moon, and the expectations are sky-high. Part of the goal is pure political theater.  Billionaire John Ward wants shiny “I care about the planet” points as a third-party presidential candidate, and part of it is a genuine Hail Mary for a dying Earth cooked crispy by climate change. The astronauts bring the skill, the civilians bring the chaos, and together they launch into a mission that is equal parts noble, messy, and deeply suspicious from the jump.

And then the book detonates. Explosions, betrayals, weirdness in deep space, and a return to Earth that feels like stepping into the uncanny valley with a badge and a pulse oximeter. The final twist is so bold, so unhinged, so absolutely “wait, WHAT?” that I had to sit there in silence like someone just unplugged me. Detour is fast, fun, stressful in the best way, and full of that serialized cliffhanger energy that demands a season two immediately. If you like your sci-fi thrillers with high stakes, political shade, and endings that leave dents in your soul, this book is going to break you — and you’ll thank it.

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Very Slowly All At Once By Lauren Schott

Mack and Hailey Evans have done everything right. A custom home in a coveted neighborhood. Prestigious careers—Hailey as a high-powered divorce attorney, Mack as a celebrated professor who quietly fancies himself the next Hemingway and two wonderful daughters. But beneath the polished surface, cracks (iykyk) are already spreading. Hailey is staring down a client who owes her firm a staggering sum. Mack is hiding both an investigation into inappropriate relationships with students and a family history he has never fully shared. Then the checks start arriving. Large ones. Unexplained ones. And with each deposit, the question sharpens—is this money solving their problems, or engineering something far more dangerous?

Told through alternating points of view between Mack, Hailey, and a chilling unknown narrator with a godlike vantage point, Lauren Schott builds tension with surgical precision. This is a story about erosion. Small compromises stack quietly. Boundaries blur. Then, all at once, everything gives way. The unknown narrator doles out just enough backstory to keep you guessing, pulling strings you didn’t even realize were there. The red herrings are perfectly placed, the moral ground constantly shifting, and the constant reminder that no one here is innocent. As their professional and personal lives collapse in tandem, Mack and Hailey find themselves unable to trust each other—or their own judgment.

What makes this novel hit so hard is how deeply relatable its descent feels. Financial pressure. Career anxiety. Aging parents. The quiet terror of realizing that “enough” never really feels like enough, always wanting more, chasing a dream and what boundaries are we willing to push to get those things.  Schott shows us how fragile stability really is, and how quickly security can curdle into chaos.  The result is an unhinged, slow burn, domestic thriller that tightens page by page, choice by choice. If this is her debut, sign me up immediately for whatever she writes next.

PS - I love how the title of the book Very Slowly All at Once is a nod to Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises since Mack had dreams of being the next Hemingway.

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All The Little Houses By May Cobb

All the Little Houses by May Cobb absolutely delivered and then some. I am genuinely thrilled I chose this as one of my most anticipated reads of 2026 because it earned that spot without breaking a sweat. Set in a small Texas town from the tail end of the school year straight through a sweltering summer, the tension rises with the temperature. Every day the dial turns higher. This story is juicy, sassy, and soaked in gossip, the kind that dares you to put the book down and then laughs when you cannot. Cobb leans fully into the mess and makes no apologies for it, creating an unhinged thrill ride that feels bold, scandalous, nostalgic, and completely addictive.

The novel unfolds in three parts with multiple points of view, each one sharp and delicious in its own way. Nellie, Charleigh, Jane, and Jackson guide the chaos, and every chapter feels like another secret slipping loose. These characters are authentic, catty, and wildly self interested, though never in the same way or for the same reason. Whether they are dripping in wealth or scraping by in a hand me down dress, the backstabbing is ruthless and the motivations are layered. Cliques, infidelity, swindling, manipulation, secret pasts, overprotective parents, and betrayals pile up fast, turning this into a dark, gossipy thriller that thrives on social tension and quiet cruelty.

And then there is the ending. A full on cliffhanger ending that will leave you staring at the final page and immediately demanding more. This book practically begs to be adapted for television, with its sharp dialogue, volatile relationships, and escalating drama. All the Little Houses is the kind of story you inhale in one sitting, equal parts wicked fun and psychological suspense, and proof that May Cobb knows exactly how to keep readers hooked and hungry for whatever comes next.

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The Bourne Revenge By Brian Freeman

I have not dipped into the Bourne universe in a long while, so when this landed in my hands, I opened it with equal parts nostalgia and curiosity. It did not take long for me to slide right back into the chaos. Bourne is fresh off a mission and trying to pretend he is on vacation. His handler keeps telling him to relax and enjoy himself which is a hilarious suggestion for a man who cannot turn his brain off for five seconds. When a gorgeous importer crosses his path and an operative Treadstone has been chasing appears on the horizon you know this getaway is about to combust.

What pulled me in is how human Bourne feels in this round. He is not a stone-faced weapon. He is a man carrying the weight of every face he has ever put in the ground and he cannot shake it. His memory slips at the worst times yet his instincts remain sharp which creates this constant tension between what he knows and what he fears he might have forgotten. The details are razor clean too. When Fang threads the suppressor onto the barrel of a QSZ 92 pistol you can see it. You can hear it. It is that vivid. There is just enough drama and just enough heat to give the story a little James Bond shimmer without drowning out the grit.

The story brings modern espionage roaring in with AI databases, shadow warfare and Chinese intelligence networks all spinning around Bourne's fractured past. It adds a new dimension to a character who has survived decades of reinvention and still finds new ways to surprise us. The mix of espionage, memory loss, betrayal and identity crisis is sharp and addictive. This is the kind of book that reminded me of why Bourne became a legend in the first place. If you have been away from the series like I was this is your sign to jump back in. It is sleek, tense, emotional and impossible to walk away from.

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Such Sheltered Lives By Alyssa Sheinmel

Such Sheltered Lives drops three wealthy strangers onto an isolated wellness retreat and then slowly peels back every layer they work so hard to hide. Amelia Blue Harris is the daughter of a rock legend and she is losing her fight with an eating disorder. Lord Edward of Essex arrives wrapped in the brittle confidence of a British aristocrat who is drowning in addiction. Florence Bloom is a pop star whose life has turned into a string of scandals she can no longer outrun. On the surface these guests have more money than I could ever imagine, yet their lives are filled with grief and trauma and choices that haunt them. Watching them land at Rushs Recovery with their secrets packed tighter than their suitcases is an instant pull.

The multiple points of view work beautifully because they let you slip into each character’s history and fear and motivation for getting out of this place as soon as possible. Their desperation is quiet at first, but it grows and you begin to understand why this retreat is not the safe bubble it pretends to be. There is also a separate thread that follows a body discovered on the island, and this entire community becomes a character of its own. The facility, the staff, the routines that look polished from afar all start to reveal something darker behind them. You feel the tension of a place that sells peace but survives on secrets.

Addiction, privilege, mental health, and generational trauma are explored with care and nuance, and the story moves with a confidence that makes the slow burn feel intentional. Then the last third of the book hits and everything tightens. The pace snaps forward and you realize you have been lulled into a false sense of calm right before the floor drops out. It is absorbing, unsettling, and surprisingly emotional, and despite the idea of a wealthy wellness retreat and days without responsibility - I was ready to get out of there too.

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Robber Barons By Rodger Carlyle

I have read every book Rodger Carlyle has written and have had the chance to meet and interview him, so I can tell you firsthand that his passion for storytelling runs deep. You can feel it in the pages, in the care he takes with research and historical accuracy, and in the vivid sense of time and place that he brings to life. Whether he is writing about the Gritt family or another era entirely, his love for history and the people who shaped it shines through.

Set in 1865, as the United States takes possession of Alaska, this story unfolds against a backdrop of unchecked greed and corruption. The Gritt brothers stand in stark contrast to the ruthless industrialists who descend on the territory to strip it of its riches, crushing small traders and exploiting Native communities. One brother runs steamboats on the Yukon while the other trades along Alaska’s southern coast, and both refuse to yield to men who would destroy everything for profit. The attention to real locations, historical context, and even the inclusion of a tribute to a true Alaskan, Old Joe, give the book an authenticity that pulls you completely into the frontier world.

What elevates this story even more are the people who fight beside the brothers; those you root for and trust. Danielle Post, a young attorney with grit and grace, and Belle Medev, an Alaskan native whose quiet strength and faith ground the story, bring balance and hope to a brutal time. The novel captures the heart of what made America’s expansion both inspiring and devastating. It reads like Ken Follett’s sweeping historical drama laced with the rugged soul of Louis L’Amour. From Alaska to Washington and beyond, this is a journey through courage, greed, and the enduring power of integrity.

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Dead In The Water By John Marrs

Dead in the Water by John Marrs drags you straight into the deep end of memory, obsession, and fear. When Damon nearly drowns after a reckless dare, his life flashes before his eyes, but when he comes back after the near-death experience, he brings with him an image of a person he does not recognize. A dead boy. An image that haunts him, that he can't shake and a truth he can’t remember. That missing moment becomes his obsession, pushing him to risk everything to relive death and uncover the secret buried in his past. The whole premise screams movie adaptation.  It is haunting, cinematic, and impossible to look away from.

John Marrs delivers exactly what readers want in a psychological thriller and then some. He hits hard with multiple points of view, short, punchy chapters, and a relentless pace that keeps you flipping pages long past midnight. The tension is razor-sharp, the writing electric, and the added touch of the paranormal is pure perfection. Marrs is a master of the unexpected.  Just when you think you’ve figured it out, he hits you with a twist that changes everything.

This story is gloriously unhinged, connecting characters across a lifetime in ways you’ll never see coming. It’s dark, it’s daring, and it digs deep into what our memories hide to keep us safe. Dead in the Water is not just a thriller—it’s a full-blown experience that proves why John Marrs remains one of the boldest voices in modern suspense.

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

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