In ROCCO's spotlight THE SEARCH PARTY

Meow!  Today I'd like to shine a spotlight on Simon Lelic's new thriller, SEARCH PARTY!

Hailed as Kafka meets Orwell (The Herald Scotland), award-winning author Simon Lelic does not shy away from creating twisty, chilling plots. He hooks readers in from the first page, not letting them go until the end. Known for his intricate, powerful, and deeply unsettling crimes and characters, Lelic is back to keep us guessing in THE SEARCH PARTY.

Like his previous highly-praised novel The New Neighbors (2018), which was called an “intense ride” (Publishers Weekly), “a bundle of creepy chills” (The Observer), and “simply ingenious” (BookReporter.com), THE SEARCH PARTY is a masterpiece of tension and a brilliant, frightening look into the core of human relationships.

From the book cover:

A twisty, electrifying new thriller from the author of The New Neighbors and The Liar's Room...

The entire town thinks sixteen-year-old Sadie Saunders is dead. Missing now for a week, they say she was murdered. And they think they know who did it.

Sadie's five best friends aren’t so sure, and they vow to find out the truth. So they pack their bags and head into the woods where Sadie was last seen.

But they’re not just friends, they’re suspects. And each of them has a secret.

As the landscape opens up, and the darkness closes in, the reality of their situation becomes clear…

This was never really a search party.
    
It’s a witch hunt.

And not everyone will make it home alive.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Clever and atmospheric, with shades of Stand By Me."—Mark Edwards, author of Here To Stay

"A brilliantly tense tale of teenage frustration, lost souls, and sibling love, with an atmosphere as tense as the end of summer storm that threatens throughout the book. Plus a whirlwind of an ending that's like riding a rollercoaster."—Araminta Hall, author of Our Kind of Cruelty

"I've spent every free moment of the last few days feasting on The Search Party...a bloody good read and the very definition of unpredictable. Twisty, creepy, brilliantly paced, and with a denouement I never saw coming."—John Marrs, author of The One

"A chillingly complex, well-crafted web. The voices cry out from Simon Lelic's pages as if they are standing right next to you."—Jane Corry, author of I Looked Away

ROCCO's August Cozy reviews!

Meow!  It's time to review new cozy mystery titles for August!


CAT ME IF YOU CAN
Miranda James
Berkley Prime Crime
August 25, 2020
Hardcover
Five Stars

Charlie Harris and his feline companion Diesel take a bookish vacation but discover that murder never takes a holiday, in this all-new installment of the New York Times bestselling series. 
Charlie and Diesel along with Charlie's fiancée, Helen Louise Brady, are heading to Asheville, North Carolina to spend a week at a boutique hotel and participate in a gathering of a mystery reader's club composed of patrons of the Athena Public Library. In addition to seeing the local sights, the members will take turns giving talks on their favorite authors. 

The always spry Ducote sisters, friends of the hotel’s owners, are helping underwrite the expenses, and they’ve insisted that Charlie, Helen, and Diesel join them. Anxious to get Helen Louise away from her bistro for a vacation, Charlie readily agrees. While Charlie is looking forward to relaxing with Helen Louise and Diesel, other members of the group have ulterior motives including a long-standing score to settle.

When an intrusive, uninvited guest turns up dead, only one mystery club member with a connection to the deceased appears to have a motive to kill. But could the answer really be that simple? Charlie and Diesel, along with the detecting Ducote sisters, know that every murder plot has an unexpected twist.

Charlie and Diesel are always a good read and we're glad the Ducote sisters have gotten a second life in this popular series!  Diesel gets better looking with each cover!  Good summer read, five paws up!

WITCHES AND WEDDING CAKE
Bailey Cates
Magical Bakery Myster
July 28, 2020
Berkley Prime Crime
Four stars

Baker Katie Lightfoot is crafting her own magical wedding cake and tracking down a malicious murderer in the newest installment of this New York Times bestselling series.

Katie will be marrying firefighter Declan McCarthy in less than a week, and she's still finding time to run the Honeybee Bakery, where she infuses sweets and treats with special spells and cheerful charms. But her hope of getting hitched without a hitch is short-lived. When Declan's family shows up early to enjoy a few extra days in Savannah, his youngest sister finds an unsavory surprise: her ex-husband, dead in a hotel room hours after they argued.

The ex was scam artist with a lot of enemies, but the argument puts Declan's sister under suspicion. Between dress fittings and dough-kneading, Katie—along with her witchy friends in the spellbook club—will really have to work some magic to figure out who killed the con man...or there may not be a wedding.

Another good entry in this delightful series!  

MURDER IN THE EAST END
Jennifer Ashley
Penguin Group
August 4, 2020
four stars

A new upstairs, downstairs Victorian murder mystery in the Kat Holloway series from the New York Times bestselling author of Death in Kew Gardens.

When young cook Kat Holloway learns that the children of London's Foundling Hospital are mysteriously disappearing and one of their nurses has been murdered, she can't turn away. She enlists the help of her charming and enigmatic confidant Daniel McAdam, who has ties to Scotland Yard, and Errol Fielding, a disreputable man from Daniel’s troubled past, to bring the killer to justice. Their investigation takes them from the grandeur of Mayfair to the slums of the East End, during which Kat learns more about Daniel and his circumstances than she ever could have imagined.

Good mystery for those who like ones set in Victorian era.

ROCCO reviews STRONG FROM THE HEART

MEOW!

Today I am reviewing a novel by an author both the Human and I love:  Jon Land.  You may know him best as Jessica Fletcher's new writing partner in the Murder She Wrote series, but Jon has done other books as well...the  most notable being his Caitlin Strong series!

Caitlin Strong wages her own personal war on drugs against the true power behind the illicit opioid trade in Strong from the Heart, the blistering and relentless 11th installment in Jon Land's award-winning series.

The drug crisis hits home for fifth generation Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong when the son of her outlaw lover Cort Wesley Masters nearly dies from an opioid overdose. On top of that, she’s dealing with the inexplicable tragedy of a small Texas town where all the residents died in a single night.

When Caitlin realizes that these two pursuits are intrinsically connected, she finds herself following a trail that will take her to the truth behind the crisis that claimed 75,000 lives last year. Just in time, since the same force that has taken over the opiate trade has even more deadly intentions in mind, specifically the murder of tens of millions in pursuit of their even more nefarious goals.

The power base she’s up against―comprised of politicians and Big Pharma, along with corrupt doctors and drug distributors―has successfully beaten back all threats in the past. But they’ve never had to deal with the likes of Caitlin Strong before and have no idea what’s in store when the guns of Texas come calling.

At the root of the conspiracy lies a cabal nestled within the highest corridors of power that’s determined to destroy all threats posed to them. Caitlin and Cort Wesley may have finally met their match, finding themselves isolated and ostracized with nowhere to turn, even as they strive to remain strong from the heart.

If you like a hard hitting thriller with plenty of action this is the book/series for you!  We give this one a definite five paws!!!!!! Pick it up today!!!!!


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