Long Black Veil by Jennifer Finney Boylan

"From the New York Times bestselling author of She’s Not There, a new novel about a woman whose family and identity are threatened by the secrets of her past.

Long Black Veil is the story of Judith Carrigan, whose past is dredged up when the body of her college friend Wailer is discovered 20 years after her disappearance in Philadelphia’s notorious and abandoned Eastern State Penitentiary. Judith is the only witness who can testify to the innocence of her friend Casey, who had married Wailer only days before her death.

The only problem is that on that fateful night at the prison, Judith was a very different person from the woman she is today. In order to defend her old friend and uncover the truth of Wailer’s death, Judith must confront long-held and hard-won secrets that could cause her to lose the idyllic life she’s built for herself and her family."


The above is the description taken from Goodreads.
However as fitting as that is, it is not the description from the cover, and I feel a bit let down. I was expecting this book to be more of a thriller, and I guess I was expecting it to be.... thrilling. I suppose it is more a mystery, and it's aftermath. When the reason for Wailer's disappearance was revealed I was let down again, and even more so at the ridiculous ending.
I received a complimentary copy for review.

Where Wolves Run by Jason Parent

THE BEASTS WILL FEED.

The dense Bavarian forest outside the town of Rattenberg has long been rumored to harbor something sinister, something wild — mythical beasts that vanish into the shadowy woods after each attack, leaving carnage as the only evidence of their existence. Many villagers turn a blind eye to what is happening, but those who believe tremble at the mere whisper of the word: werewolf.
There are those who stand and fight, however. Konrad is one such boy. Too poor to live in the village, he and his mother fend for themselves in their forest hovel alone for months at a time, his father preoccupied with mysterious business abroad.
After a vicious assault on their homestead, Konrad finds himself buried beneath his mother’s mutilated body, escaping death only due to his father's chance return. Alive, but taking no comfort in the presence of the man who had left him and his mother to face death on their own, Konrad soon discovers that his father’s work has followed him home…

…and it's hungry.


Konrad has never had much of a relationship with his father. He's always off somewhere, rarely returning home. "Mostly he and his mother lived alone, happy."
When Konrad's mother is murdered he finally learns what Father is up to. Werewolf hunting! But does Father always know best? Konrad is not sure whether he should trust Father's ability to discern werewolves from men, or who should be put to death.  
This was a short read, less than 100 pages. There was nothing really remarkable about it other than "Father" never being named and only referred to as "Father" even when not with his son, which seemed odd.
I did like the ending.
I received a complimentary copy for review.

The Boulevard Monster by Jeremy Hepler

Description
I KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD ABOUT ME

You say that I am a madman. You say that I am dangerous. You say that I am the one who has been abducting women, slaughtering them, and burying their corpses all around this city for years. You are wrong, because only part of that statement is true…

I AM NOT A KILLER

I know that you probably won’t believe me. Not now. Not after all that has happened, but I need to tell my side of the story. You need to know how this all began. You need to hear about the birds, but most of all, you need to understand…

I AM NOT THE BOULEVARD MONSTER



Seth Fowler was near the end of an ordinary day when it all started. There would be no more ordinary days for Seth. When his long time friend and coworker Randy stops by with a 6 pack and a brand new truck that he shouldn't have been able to afford Seth is understandably a little jealous and maybe a little suspicious but he doesn't notice the birds just yet. What he does notice, when Randy goes in the house to use the bathroom.. is the dead body in the back of the truck. When Randy leaves, Seth calls the cops, but soon he is met by Luther, an otherworldly  stranger who makes him an offer he can't refuse. Literally, there is no way to refuse Luther, so Seth will do what it takes to protect his girlfriend, his adopted daughter and his elderly father from harm, but the police and his brother-in-law are getting suspicious and meanwhile the bodies are piling up.

I can't tell you this wasn't a bit of a crazy story, or that I wouldn't have liked some sort of explanation of what and why Luther is whatever he is, but damned if I didn't enjoy it anyway. It's suspenseful, and creepy, and Seth is just plain likable. I was rooting for him, I wanted those pesky cops to leave him alone. I wanted his brother-in-law to mind his own business, and now I think the birds are spying on me!
4 out of 5 stars from me.

I received a complimentary copy for review.

The Child by Fiona Barton

Description

The author of the stunning New York Times bestseller The Widow returns with a brand-new novel of twisting psychological suspense.
As an old house is demolished in a gentrifying section of London, a workman discovers a tiny skeleton, buried for years. For journalist Kate Waters, it’s a story that deserves attention. She cobbles together a piece for her newspaper, but at a loss for answers, she can only pose a question: Who is the Building Site Baby?

As Kate investigates, she unearths connections to a crime that rocked the city decades earlier: A newborn baby was stolen from the maternity ward in a local hospital and was never found. Her heartbroken parents were left devastated by the loss.

But there is more to the story, and Kate is drawn—house by house—into the pasts of the people who once lived in this neighborhood that has given up its greatest mystery. And she soon finds herself the keeper of unexpected secrets that erupt in the lives of three women—and torn between what she can and cannot tell…

 

I have mixed feelings about this one. I didn't realize it was part of a series before I started it, and although it is a stand alone story I find that I am not that big a fan of the main character Kate.

 

Emma on the other hand, was captivating. I felt a lot of sympathy for her.

 

Emma is a woman haunted by her past. She suffers bouts of anxiety and depression. Her husband knows this, accepts this, but does not know or pursue the reasons for it. He does know that she has a very strained relationship with her mother Jude, and that for many years they did not speak to each other. He doesn't know why. For the longest time in Emma's childhood it was just her and Jude, until she was sent away. Some women will do absolutely anything for their children, but not Jude. Jude is one of those women who just can't be without a man, no matter what. I loved hating Jude.

 

Then there is Angela and Nick, who decades ago, when their marriage was already in a turbulent state, lost a child. Their newborn baby Alice was whisked away out of Angela's hospital room, never to be seen again. The case has gone cold but not a day has gone by that Angela has not thought of her baby. My heart just ached for her.

When Angela hears that a tiny skeleton was unearthed at a construction site she is sure that it is her Alice.

 

Of course there is far more to this story as journalist Kate uncovers.

Now as spellbound as I was by Emma, I was just so bored with Kate. It was all I could do not to skip past those parts about her, and her son, and her annoying new trainee.  Thankfully those parts were brief. Whenever the story focused on Kate it felt kind of like watching your favorite soap opera and you can't wait for it to get back to the characters with the more exciting parts and quit interrupting the storyline with the bits about people you aren't interested in.

 

3 out of 5 stars from me

 

I received an advance copy for review