LibraryReads for July

The LibraryReads for July just came out yesterday so...hot off the presses I am going to tell you about the books that made the top 10 in libraries around the world. There are some good ones.

Number one on the list is The Lying Game by Ruth Ware. Ware's prior works (In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10) received great reviews so there were a lot of people waiting for this one. The plot here sounds vaguely familiar to me but....perhaps it is completely different when you are reading it.  Isa receives a text from Kate - a friend from school days that she hasn't seen in 10 years. All it says is 'I need you'. Within 24 hours she and two other friends from those days drop everything and are on their way. While at school, they like to play 'the lying game' which was to make up some outlandish lie and see how many they could get to believe it. However, something more sinister happened and something has washed up on the beach that could destroy the lives they built.

The rest in no particular order:

Watch Me Disappear by Janelle Brown. Brown has written domestic fiction but this is her first try at suspense. Here, a happy family of 3 - wife, Billie, husband, Jonathan and daughter, Olive - is destroyed when Billie goes out for a solo hike and never comes back. One year later, Jonathan is trying to get his wife declared dead so he can collect the insurance while Olive starts seeing her mother in 'visions' and becomes convinced she is still alive. Then secrets from Billie's past are discovered.

The Marriage Pact by Michelle Richmond is on the list. If you think this is a romance from the title - you would be spectacularly wrong. Here newlyweds Jake and Alice are invited to join an exclusive club - The Pact  - that will help them stay married and together. The 'rules' seem harmless - but what if you break one? What if you want to leave? No one ever leaves The Pact. One reviewer called it "entertaining and super suspenseful with a satisfying creep factor."

Next on the list is Final Girls by Riley Sager. First of all, Sager is a pseudonym of another published author so this may be the first novel under this name but not the first novel she has written. The reason I have explained that is the high praise by Stephen King who calls this "the first great thriller of 2017!". High praise indeed. Quincy Carpenter went on a vacation with friends and during the vacation everyone was murdered except her. She ran through the woods, bloodied but not dead to escape. The press linked her with 2 other survivors who made it through massacres and called them the Final Girls. Although they had never met or really been in contact, when the first 'final girl' was found dead, the second girl shows up on her doorstep forcing Quincy to relive her trauma. Why?

Down A Dark Road: A Kate Burkholder Novel by Linda Castillo made the list. This is the ninth in the Kate Burkholder (the once Amish Police Chief) series. Here, Joseph King, a fallen Amish man convicted of killing his wife 8 years ago, escapes and returns to Kate's small Pennsylvania town and kidnaps his children. When Kate tries to talk him down, he captures her too but releases her telling him to go prove he is innocent. So...Kate is faced with a cold case that she must investigate. Could the police be hiding something?

When The English Fall by David Williams is next. There are more than one David Williams and I don't want you to get confused. I believe that this is the first 'novel' that this David Williams has written. He is a pastor in the Presbyterian Church and he has written other religious nonfiction works. This is apocalyptic fiction. It is written from the point of view of Jacob, an Amish farmer. There is a solar storm which pretty much wipes out all modern communities. No phones, no televisions, no gas pumps that work, no electricity. Pretty much all modern conveniences are gone. The Amish, however, have supplies to rely on and knowledge of how to live without modern conveniences until, of course, the English as non Amish people are called, come to take all his supplies away from him. How peaceful can he remain?

Joshilyn Jackson has The Almost Sisters on the list. I am going to start out by quoting one of the reviewers so you can get the big picture of what this book is about. She said "I adore this author, will read anything she writes. How many authors can combine the grace and elegance of the south while deftly showing many of the issues that are still apparent underneath the charming veneer." OK - it is the story of Leia who finds at 38 that she is pregnant from a one night stand; her stepsister's marriage is falling apart and her grandmother is acting strange. She goes to her hometown in Alabama to straighten things out but finds a dark family secret.

Next comes Eve Chase's The Wildling Sisters. Eve Chase is another pseudonym this time for a British journalist. This is a story of family and how they come together, grow apart and react to problems. In 1959, the Wilde sisters spend the summer at Applecote, a country manor, with their aunt and uncle who are distraught from the disappearance of their daughter. The sisters, left to their own devices grow distant. 50 years later, Jesse and her family move back to Applecote hoping to start over. They become involved in the old mystery and things get dark.

Wired by Julie Garwood is on the list. Romantic suspense at its finest. FBI Agent Liam Scott is looking for a leak in his department. Allison Trent is a hacker; college student; model. Allison has been recruited by her family to protect her cousin from his criminal record. Scott uses this information to get Allison to work as a consultant for the FBI and find his leak. Allison has people after her but Liam is the person to keep her safe.

Lastly, Hello Sunshine by Laura Dave. Sunshine MacKenzie had a popular cooking show; several bestselling cookbooks; an architect husband - she had it all. Then, she secrets came out. She lost everything in one day and had to retreat to her estranged sister's home. But...Sunshine has plans. She WOULD succeed. Follow her on her path.

OK - lots of suspense this month but two others for those non suspense people. Hopefully one will draw your attention. Enjoy!