Thriller | Book Chatter

The Stowaway
By James S. Murray & Darren Wearmouth
St. Martin’s Press, 9781250263650, September 2021, 320pp.

The Short of It:

Gruesome, but oddly entertaining.

The Rest of It:

Two years ago, Maria Fontana, the head of the Psychology Department at Columbia University, sat on a jury for one of the most depraved cases ever to pass through the hallowed halls of City Hall. ~ Indiebound

The set-up is very good. Maria’s role on that jury comes back to haunt her and her family as they are vacationing on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. Maria and her fiancé are trying to put the events of the past behind them while getting a little R&R with Maria’s young children in tow. But things suddenly take a dangerous turn on the ship when people turn up dead. People, mostly, young children. How can this be? Could the man on trial, Wyatt Butler have a copycat?

Maria spent a lot of time reviewing the evidence of that case. All the gruesome photos of Butler’s young victims. Plus, her background in Psychology gives her enough info to know how these serial killers work, but could there really be a copycat on board? Why? What is he after?

This book is a classic example of being trapped with no place to run. It’s a ship but there are only so many places to hide and Maria’s knowledge of the case and what this killer is capable of keeps the story flowing at a breakneck pace. I really enjoyed this one. I read it in one sitting and could not put it down for long.

But…

It’s gruesome. The crime scenes are very graphic. It seemed somewhat tolerable only because the killings are not in real time. As readers, we only hear of the aftermath but it’s children, which is a bit hard to swallow. Many of you warned me about how graphic it was but it was done well-enough that it didn’t keep me from frantically turning those pages.

If you need something a little different, something that is hard to put down and you don’t mind the graphic nature of these killings, then I highly recommend it.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Bloodless
By Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
Grand Central Publishing, 9781538736708, August 17. 2021, 400pp.

The Short of It:

Didn’t disappoint. Loved visiting with Agent Pendergast again.

The Rest of It:

Agent Pendergast faces his most unexpected challenge yet when bloodless bodies begin to appear in Savannah, GA.

This was a fun story to read right before the big trip to Missouri. Bloodless bodies begin to appear. The first body is torn apart. The second is almost entirely intact, the only mark left is the exit wound where the blood was removed from the body. Is it the work of a vampire? Someone thinking he’s a vampire? Agent Pendergast is called and when he arrives to investigate the evidence left behind, he is reunited with some people from his past. Some, have their own secrets to hide.

The setting for this one made the book for me. Savannah, GA with all its old school charm, marred by these horrible killings. I have to tell you though, it has a little bit of “woo woo” in the story if you know what I mean and a tiny bit of time traveling. Kind of. But Pendergast is Pendergast with all the mannerisms that we readers have grown to love. This the perfect book to entertain you as we head into Fall. Would be good for the R.I.P Challenge too. I have not read every book in the Pendergast series and yet, they all read like stand alones to me so I think you can still enjoy this one without reading the others.

Recommend.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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