Pieces of Her by Karin Slaughter was an ARC I received. I'll admit that I thought I had this one figured out early on, and I was kind of aggravated. However, I should have known better! This is the first Karin Slaughter I've read, and y'all, this one was awesome. The premise is that 30-something Andrea (bonus points for having a character with my name) and her mom Laura are out shopping at a mall. It's just a normal shopping day, and then something goes down. This opens the flood gates of truth, as Laura has a whole past that Andrea knew nothing about. The book alternates between present-day and Laura's past to piece the story together. I don't want to reveal two much about the crux of what Laura was involved with previously as that totally spoils the twists in this one that made it so, so good. Trust me, it'll make you turn the pages as you try to figure it all out. I would have read this one in a day had sleep not been a thing I needed in life. Oh, and they're turning this one into a TV series, so you should read this before that. #BooksOverTV #AndMovies
Read this book if - You're looking for a thriller that you won't be able to put down. You dig a thriller where you just can't figure out any of the twists. You're looking for something that revolves around big, big secrets.
Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Carnival Crime and Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Soccer Scheme by Donald Sobol were throwback reads for me. These were later ones in the series, so I hadn't read them before. First of all, I underestimated how excited I would be about solving one of the cases. In fact, in each book I solved three cases! I mean, that's a 30% success rate, but y'all it's something. Going back to Idaville was definitely more enjoyable than I planned. I was actually only planning on reading one of these, but loved the first one so much that I decided to take in one more. I really just appreciate the wit and logic in these. They're built so well, and there's always that one clue that is the solution. I was thrilled (again, legit thrilled) when I figured it out, but also intrigued enough to go back and figure out what I missed when I didn't.
Oh, and I just have to say that the Carnival Crime has one of the best, corniest, most amazing jokes of all-time, "They should have called themselves the Lamp Chains. They were always pulling something shady." Right? RIGHT!?!?!?
Read this book if - You're looking for a blast from the past. You love finding the twist in a short story that is a bit more lighthearted.
Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Meija read like an episode of 48 Hours. That's not a bad thing, but it's the best parallel I can draw. I wanted to LOVE this one, and instead I just liked it. This one focuses on Hattie Hoffman, a high school senior who is found murdered. Through flashbacks that cover the previous year and present-day discoveries from multiple characters, it is revealed that Hattie had a big secret involving a relationship. The question then becomes what role did this relationship play in her death? The story comes in pieces as you try to figure out who is responsible. I didn't guess the twist on this one, and in fact, there was even a fake twist! I appreciated that, but something in the formula just didn't make this one totally my jam.
Read this book if - You are a fan of 48 Hours/Dateline and/or 20/20 mysteries. You want something where there are double lives/intense secrets to wade through to solve the mystery.
