Rust & Stardust by T. Greenwood

Camden, NJ, 1948. When 11 year-old Sally Horner steals a notebook from the local Woolworth's, she has no way of knowing that 52 year-old Frank LaSalle, fresh out of prison, is watching her, preparing to make his move. Accosting her outside the store, Frank convinces Sally that he’s an FBI agent who can have her arrested in a minute―unless she does as he says.

This chilling novel traces the next two harrowing years as Frank mentally and physically assaults Sally while the two of them travel westward from Camden to San Jose, forever altering not only her life, but the lives of her family, friends, and those she meets along the way.

Based on the experiences of real-life kidnapping victim Sally Horner and her captor, whose story shocked the nation and inspired Vladimir Nabokov to write his controversial and iconic Lolita.  


While not a "true crime" this compelling work of historical fiction based on real people and events broke my heart in a million pieces. In 1948 when 11 year old Sally Horner was abducted and held captive for 21 horrific months, news did not travel so quickly then as it does today. There were no amber alerts to cell phones, no world wide web on which to upload pictures of the missing and their captors, no national sex crime registry in which to keep track of the location of known child molesters. So although some characters are the invention of the author it is all to easy to imagine the real Sally losing all hope as her captor is able to keep her in his control for nearly 2 years staying one step ahead of the police and running to another state every time they get a lead on what state she might be prisoner in. This must be only a glimpse into the true heartache and suffering of Sally and her family which the author so deftly brings to life. With that I would like to leave you with this actual newspaper clipping of the real Sally, that you may think of her as you read.
5 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

Chasing Ghosts by Glenn Rolfe

The Cobbs were ignorant woods-people that died off and left nothing to fear. Locals in Naples, Maine think they know this story. But are they wrong?

Luke Howard and his mom move to Naples and Luke’s eager to make new friends. When Jason and Davey invite him out to the abandoned Cobb place for a game they call “chasing ghosts,” he’s ready and willing. However, the boys will come to discover that some vacant houses are better left to die alone.

Meanwhile, a punk band set to play in a rented cabin out of town feel eyes upon them. Somebody’s watching, but not their usual audience. When their lead singer strays too far from the group and disappears, his band mates set out in the darkness to find him.

Police Chief Walt Henderson is about to discover that there’s more going on out in the woods of his town than he ever imagined.

Chasing ghosts is more than just some children’s game.


If you are into slasher in the woods type horror this one's for you.
There's another party at the Marston cabin in the woods tonight. Everyone is welcome, but be warned, all this loud music and activity has attracted the attention of someone else hiding in the woods. Someone who likes to party in a much deadlier way. This was a quick read and the action starts nearly immediately.

I received an advance copy for review.

The Retreat by Mark Edwards

A missing child. A desperate mother. And a house full of secrets.

Two years ago, Julia lost her family in a tragic accident. Her husband drowned trying to save their daughter, Lily, in the river near their rural home. But the little girl’s body was never found—and Julia believes Lily is somehow still alive.

Alone and broke, Julia opens her house as a writers’ retreat. One of the first guests is Lucas, a horror novelist, who becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Lily. But within days of his arrival, the peace of the retreat is shattered by a series of eerie events.

When Lucas’s investigation leads him and Julia into the woods, they discover a dark secret—a secret that someone will do anything to protect…

What really happened that day by the river? Why was Lily never found? And who, or what, is haunting the retreat?

From the bestselling author of Follow You Home and The Magpies comes his most terrifying novel yet.  

Lucas Radcliffe is struggling to finish his horror novel. Well more accurately he is struggling to get any of it done. He returns to the town of his childhood and checks in to a newly opened writers retreat owned by Julia, a sad and lonely woman who has lost her family 2 years prior. There are only a few other writers staying at the retreat and it seems peaceful and comfortable enough other than the strange noises and occasional singing that can be heard coming from what should be an empty room. Lucas can't really focus on his novel as he gets more involved in the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Julia's daughter and the supposed town witch in the woods who will steal a child every 35 years.
This was an intriguing mystery that hooked me right away, although as it drew closer to what I thought would be the conclusion it did slow down a bit. Ultimately it delivered a satisfying ending.
4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review.

All We Ever Wanted by Emily Giffin

In the riveting new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of First Comes Love and Something Borrowed, three very different people must choose between their family and their values.

Nina Browning is living the good life after marrying into Nashville’s elite. More recently, her husband made a fortune selling his tech business, and their adored son has been accepted to Princeton. Yet sometimes the middle-class small-town girl in Nina wonders if she’s strayed from the person she once was.

Tom Volpe is a single dad working multiple jobs while struggling to raise his headstrong daughter, Lyla. His road has been lonely, long, and hard, but he finally starts to relax after Lyla earns a scholarship to Windsor Academy, Nashville’s most prestigious private school.

Amid so much wealth and privilege, Lyla doesn’t always fit in—and her overprotective father doesn’t help—but in most ways, she’s a typical teenaged girl, happy and thriving.

Then, one photograph, snapped in a drunken moment at a party, changes everything. As the image spreads like wildfire, the Windsor community is instantly polarized, buzzing with controversy and assigning blame.

At the heart of the lies and scandal, Tom, Nina, and Lyla are forced together—all questioning their closest relationships, asking themselves who they really are, and searching for the courage to live a life of true meaning.

When the gossip first reaches them, Nina and her husband Kirk are having a typical Saturday night, which for them consists of being honored at yet another gala event. Rumor has it that their son has taken advantage of an unconscious girl at a party by taking and sharing a sexually explicit and racist photo of her.
As Nina tries to find out what really happened at this party, she also begins to find that she never really knew her husband at all. His solution is to throw money at the problem to make it go away.
This domestic drama is quite relevant in today's world and shows that there are some things you just can't buy with all the money in the world.
4 out of 5 stars
I received an advance copy for review.