Dead Daughters by Tim Meyer

 

Drew Lowery is living the American Dream. He has the perfect family, a stable job, and a beautiful home in the suburbs of central New Jersey. Things can't get much better. But what seems like the ideal life is suddenly upended when he receives a blank envelope in the mail.

Inside lies a picture of his daughter, a photograph of her violent murder. Only it can't be her. He just tucked her in and kissed her goodnight ten minutes ago. But the mysterious Polaroid is only the beginning.

There's the van following his daughter to school. The man she sees outside her window late at night. The fact someone entered her room while the Lowerys slept peacefully.

Local authorities are clueless. No leads, no clues, and ultimately--no answers. Drew launches his own investigation, falling into a hole of lies and deceit, a truth he never saw coming. Dead Daughters is the new twisted thriller from Tim Meyer, author of The Switch House and Kill Hill Carnage.

This is only my second venture into the creative mind of Tim Meyer but he is now officially on my very short list of must read authors. This book came to me on a day when I was in the middle of reading something else. I meant only to take a quick peek at it out of curiosity but was drawn like a high powered magnet into the depth of character building and the blood chilling plot. The author conjures such a sense of dread and anxiety in the reader over what may happen to Drew Lowrey's daughter that I actually had to ask him if he had children because I felt so strongly that only a parent could know this fear. (I was right by the way, he is a dad.)

I am not going to get into the story line too much but I have to tell you that no author in the history of.....ever has been talented enough to give me goose bumps from something as simple as a to do list until now. 

This is my first 5 star read of the year.
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I received a complimentary copy for review.

About the author
Tim Meyer dwells in a dark cave near the Jersey Shore. He's an author, husband, father, podcast host, blogger, coffee connoisseur, beer enthusiast, and explorer of worlds. He writes horror, mysteries, science fiction, and thrillers, although he prefers to blur genres and let the story fall where it may.

You can follow Tim at https://timmeyerwrites.com

OR like his Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/authortimmeyer

If She Dies by Erik Therme

 

Nine months ago, Tess’s five-year-old daughter was killed in a car accident. The driver, Brady Becker, was sentenced to two years in prison. It didn't make Tess’s pain go away.

Brady also has a daughter: A twelve-year-old named Eve who walks to Chandler Middle School every day. Tess knows this because she's been watching Eve for the last three weeks. It isn’t fair that Brady’s daughter gets to live, while Tess’s daughter does not.

When Eve goes missing, all eyes turn to Tess, who doesn’t have an alibi. But Tess isn’t guilty.

Or so she believes.

 

As the story opens, Tess has already lost her daughter to a car accident and is on the brink of losing her marriage as well. The grief is all consuming and she can barely function. Her husband has insisted on moving them out of town to a house she can't stand and he believes the change of scenery and a little therapy is going to set her on the path to becoming "old Tess" again.

What he doesn't know is that she stalks and spies on the wife and child of her daughter's killer nearly every day. While she is watching them, someone is watching her! Ominous messages in festive red envelopes have been showing up addressed to Tess that taunt her over her daughter's death. Who would want to torment a grieving mother? On top of all this is some domestic drama with her brother, and the secrets her husband seems to be keeping. This harrowing psychological thriller is loaded with suspense and a roller coaster of emotions. I grieved with Tess for her loss, and all the twists made it impossible for me to know who to trust.

I received an advance copy for review.

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About the author

Erik Therme has thrashed in garage bands, inadvertently harbored runaways, and met Darth Vader. When he’s not at his computer, he can be found cheering on his youngest daughter’s volleyball team, or watching horror movies with his oldest. He currently resides in Iowa City, Iowa—one of only twenty-eight places in the world that UNESCO has certified as a City of Literature. Join Erik’s mailing list to be notified of new releases and author giveaways: http://eepurl.com/cD1F8L

The Children God Forgot by Graham Masterton

Description
A rash of strange and horrifying births sweeps through London in the new horror thriller from master of the genre Graham Masterton.

A SERIES OF STRANGE BIRTHS
A young woman is rushed to the hospital with stabbing pains. The chief surgeon performs a C-section, and delivers a catastrophically malformed foetus that is somehow alive...

A DEVASTATING ATTACK
Sewage engineer Gemma is plunged into a ghostly darkness in the tunnel where she works. She escapes, but her boss goes missing in the chaos. He is later found alive... but his legs have been severed and his eyes pulled out.

A SUPERNATURAL THREAT
DC Jerry Pardoe and DS Jamila Patel of the supernatural squad must team up once more to solve the mystery and save the city. But, if they are to succeed, first they must delve into the dark arts of witchcraft...

There is a lot going on in this book. Mysterious pregnancies, murderous mutant fetuses, deformed children skulking through sewers clogged with body parts. I think this is the craziest story I have read in quite some time, but I don't mean that in a bad way. Oh and there's a witch, lets not forget the witch. There are characters in this book from a previous novel "Ghost Virus" which I believe I described as gruesome gore fest of a story but you don't need to have read that to get onto the wild ride of The Children God Forgot. I am pretty good with handling gore but the graphic descriptions of what went on in the sewer had me holding my breath and trying not to suffocate.

I received an advance copy for review.

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In the Garden of Spite by Camilla Bruce

 

An audacious novel of feminine rage about one of the most prolific female serial killers in American history--and the men who drove her to it.

They whisper about her in Chicago. Men come to her with their hopes, their dreams--their fortunes. But no one sees them leave. No one sees them at all after they come to call on the Widow of La Porte. The good people of Indiana may have their suspicions, but if those fools knew what she'd given up, what was taken from her, how she'd suffered, surely they'd understand. Belle Gunness learned a long time ago that a woman has to make her own way in this world. That's all it is. A bloody means to an end. A glorious enterprise meant to raise her from the bleak, colorless drudgery of her childhood to the life she deserves. After all, vermin always survive.

I'm not sure what to call this book so I will settle on fact based historical fiction with a heavy leaning towards true crime. Although events have been changed and some characters invented it is based on the life of a Norwegian-American serial killer who was active in Illinois and Indiana between 1884 and 1908. 

Belle Gunness is thought to have killed at least 14 people and possibly many more. Most of them were men she conned into marriage or the promise of marriage, and others who just got in her way. As the story opens. Belle (who is known as Brynhilde at that time) is an unhappy girl from a poor family who is abused at home and working as a maid. She is in love with a farmer's son and too naïve to understand that his family is considered above her station in life and that he will never marry her. I felt a lot of sympathy for her at first as she is left pregnant and in fear of the shame that will bring if the father of her child refuses to stand by her. When she threatens him it leads to horrific violence and it at this time she changes from naïve child to broken and vengeful woman. I think I still felt for her at this time even while she plotted and manipulated her way to America. Upon her arrival, her true nature starts to take over and it becomes clear that she has very little emotion other than rage. Belle views people only as something to be used to get what she wants. The author creates a very detailed, gripping and chilling account of the inner workings of a murderers mind. 

4 out of 5 stars

I received an advance copy for review

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About the author
Camilla Bruce was born in central Norway and grew up in an old forest, next to an Iron Age burial mound. She has a master's degree in comparative literature, and has co-run a small press that published dark fairy tales. Camilla currently lives in Trondheim with her son and cat.