Review: The Accomplice

The Accomplice by Lisa Lutz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.

This book was just a miss for me. It is NOT a tense, chilling, suspense-filled thriller. It is a novel about friendship and what people will do for each other when those people truly care about you. It was an interesting book, but there were just too many things that I really didn't like to allow me to rate it any higher.
Owen and Luna meet in college and develop an incredibly strong friendship that most people don't understand. When Owen's on-again-off-again girlfriend ends up dead, Luna is one of the few people who stands by him, maybe because she has things in her past that she would rather stay that way. Many years later both Owen and Luna are married--to different people--but are still best friends. One morning Owen's wife is found shot. The police aren't sure who should be a suspect, but everyone knows that Owen and Luna definitely act like they have things to hide.
While there was a mystery (several, in fact) in this book, the author didn't really create a feeling of gripping tension throughout the book. One of the aspects that really took away from any feelings of a suspense-thriller was the fact that the book was written in an omniscient third-person point of view that bounces back and forth from one character to another multiple times on one page. The reader can see what is going on in any person's head at any point in the book. Any feeling of questioning motives or wondering what someone is thinking at any time is gone, and so most of the mystery is gone, as well. The tone comes across as very matter-of-fact, impersonal, and maybe a bit robotic. And for me, the ending wasn't great. I didn't really get much of a sense of personal resolution or character growth.
This was not a bad book--if you go into it knowing it is a literary mystery focused on the deep friendship between Luna and Owen. If you are wanting a tension-filled psychological thriller, then I'd look elsewhere.

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Review: My Darling Husband

My Darling Husband by Kimberly Belle
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC of this book.
I am rounding up a bit, but I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting thriller about a mother, Jade, and her two children who are taken hostage in their own home by a masked intruder. Jade learns that the man who invaded her home wants an oddly specific amount of money from her very rich husband, and the man wants the money in an almost impossible amount of time. Jade begins to wonder if her husband is hiding terrible secrets all while trying to find a way to keep her children and herself safe.
This author did a good job of ratcheting up tension while letting the story unfold. Jade had enormous rooting value and Cam was a compelling character, despite all of the mistakes he made. I enjoyed the way the story was told through Jade's point-of-view, Cam's point-of-view, and a TV interview after the fact.
This book really reminded me of another book, Mother May I. If you like domestic suspense, thrillers, and mysteries, I would recommend this book.

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Review: Final Girls

Final Girls by Riley Sager
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am really struggling with whether this book deserves a 3 or 4 star rating. Usually I'll just give a 3.5 and round up, but I don't think I can in this case.
The set up in this book really grabbed my attention: Quincy, the sole survivor of a massacre in a lonely isolated vacation cabin many years ago, is one of three famous "Final Girls." These are the girls who managed to escape bloody crime scenes, take down their would-be killers, and live. But this is a group that is hard to belong to, especially it seems for Quincy. In the beginning of the story, Quincy seems to be doing well: she has a successful baking blog, a great fiance, a wonderful apartment, and a bright future. Apart from the occasional call or text to the police man who helped save her life back in college and the occasional Xanax swallowed down with grape soda, it appears as though Quincy has moved past the dark and horrific events at the cabin. But then Samantha, another "Final Girl," shows up and Lisa, the original "Final Girl," is found dead. Quincy's finely created reality begins to splinter and she is not sure what is going on, who she can trust, or whether or not she is in danger.
I enjoyed the book up to the point when Samantha showed up. It was incredibly strange to me that Quincy would just let her in her home, let her in her life, and allow her to talk Quincy into doing some highly dangerous things. I certainly didn't like Sam, and the way Quincy was acting around her made me almost start to dislike Quincy. So the middle of the book, in which Sam comes into the picture and begins influencing Quincy's spiral into deceit, drugs, alcohol, and incredibly self-destructive behavior was difficult to get through. I just kept wanting to yell her her, "What are you doing? Why are you doing this? Stop! Kick Sam out of your apartment!! How many times are you going to let someone you don't know at all talk you into abusing prescription drugs, getting drunk, and then committing various crimes?" I felt like Quincy was just being too dumb.
Then the book picked up right toward the very end. The pacing, the tension, the story...everything got interesting again all of a sudden and I had to keep reading until I got to the very last page. I did not see the ending coming at all, and the author did a great job with the red herrings at that point.
So, that's why it's hard for me to rate this book. The beginning was pretty good. The middle was boring, repetitive, and frustrating, and then the ending was great. I'm not sure if I'd recommend it or not...maybe? Just know if you can get through the middle there is a pretty good conclusion waiting for you.

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