A Box Full of Darkness by Simone St. James

 "Strange things happen in Fell, New York."

Growing up with two absent parents in a house haunted by shadows, bad dreams, and a ghostly presence none of them ever dared talk about did not leave the three Esmie children with many happy memories growing up. Except for their little brother, Ben, whom they all loved. Ben made everything better. Until the day he disappeared without a trace during a game of hide-and-seek when he was just six. It's the one moment from their past that haunts them all.

Now, two decades later, Violet, Vail and Dodie are headed back to Fell, New York, and their childhood home. It's time to find out what happened to Ben...and to lay all their ghosts. Especially the one they fear the most. If they can. 

My thoughts:  Eerie. Engrossing. And unsettling. I enjoyed this latest chilling ghost story from Simone St. James. The chapters alternate between the three siblings' POVs, which created nice layers to the mystery of what happened to Ben, because Violet, Vail, and Dodie each have their own memories and perceptions of what happened back then...and they all have their own unique encounters with what's haunting their childhood home now. I liked getting to know Violet, Vail, and Dodie, who are all flawed, but likable, and I enjoyed their sibling interactions...and their mutual adoration of their little brother. 

This is not the scariest ghost story I've ever read, but there's a nice building of suspense and the ending is intense...and satisfying. A fun read.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

P.S. The Sun Down Motel (one of St. James's previous novels) shares the same Fell, New York, setting and is mentioned in this one...which kind of made me want to go back and reread it. The link will take you to my review of that one. 😎

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme:  GENRE FREEBIE

I decided to go with one of my favorite genres: Twisty Thrillers. You know, those books that keep you in suspense all the way to the end and  make you say, "Wow! I did not see that coming."  

Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton 

Sister by Rosamund Lupton 

Good As Gone by Amy Gentry

The Never List by Koethi Zan

Find Me by Anne Frasier

Where Monsters Dwell by Jorgen Brekke

The Assignment by Mark Andrew Olsen

Chasers (Alone #1) by James Phelan

Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf

Safe by S.K. Barnett

Lightning by Dean Koontz

Dear Amy by Helen Callaghan 

Oops! That's 12 books. Oh, well. It is one of my most favorite genres, so that makes it hard to narrow it down to just 10 books. And all of these are so good. At least, I loved them all.

Happy Reading!

Thirty Below by Cassidy Randall

 

WHO:  Grace Hoeman, Arlene Blum, Margaret Clark, Margaret Young, Faye Kerr, and Dana Isherwood...also known as 'the Denali Damsels'. 

WHAT:  "The harrowing and heroic story of the first all-women's ascent of Denali."

WHEN:  1970

WHY READ IT:  This is a compelling account of women who loved to climb at a time when mountaineering was a hyper-masculine, male-dominated sport sadly full of misogynistic men who did not believe that women belonged on any mountain. These six women were out to prove them wrong. And Randall does an excellent job of capturing their individual stories and personalities, portraying the time period they were living in, and relating their challenging ascent up Denali. It's as good as any mountaineering book I've read. I love reading these kinds of extreme adventures and was completely enthralled by this one. Denali is nearly as challenging to climb as Everest, especially back in the 70s, and these women's climb is full of drama, peril, suspense, and personal triumph. 

RATING:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

SIMILAR READS:

Touching the Void by Joe Simpson 

The Next Everest by Jim Davidson 

Left For Dead by Beck Weathers 

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer 

Top Ten Tuesday...

 

Top Ten Tuesday is a fun weekly meme hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl.

This week's theme:  QUOTES FROM or  ABOUT BOOKS.

I often jot down favorite quotes from books I'm reading, and I love quotes about books and reading, too. So this week's TTT was right up my alley. Here a few recent favs:

"No one likes third-act breakups."

--Sarah Monzen, Hearts in Circulation

"The difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves, but how she's treated."

--George Bernard Shaw, Pygmalion

"In the book of life, everyone has chapters they don't like reading out loud."

--Heather Webber, South of the Buttonwood Tree

"Devouring books came as naturally to us as breathing."

--Haruki Murakami, Sputnik Sweetheart

"I consume romance novels for the same reason I watch birds--for the sparks of joy, because I prefer to be happy when the world gives us so many reasons to be sad."

--Sarah T. Dubbs, Birding With Benefits

"Adventures are measured in moments and memories, not minutes."

--Savannah Scott, Are We There Yet?

"It's all about writing the very best story of your life. Not just how you live it--but how you choose to tell it."

--Katherine Center, The Rom-Commers

Happy Reading!

The Clearing by Simon Toyne

 "Never go back into the woods.

That's what she and Maddie had vowed to each other after they had escaped.

Never go back and never look back.

Maddie had done both."

And now she was missing.

Midsummer's Eve. The Forest of Dean. A local legend known as the Cinderman--a local legend who supposedly haunts the woods and preys on young women. An off-grid commune in the forest called The Clearing. Two sisters (Adele and Maddie)...one missing, the other desperate to find her. An Earl and his son. And Dr. Laughton Rees, a criminologist who's been tracking cases of missing women. She heads to the insular community of Cinderfield to help investigate Maddie's disappearance, not knowing there are other dark secrets in play. 

My thoughts:  I think I've found a new favorite author. I really enjoyed this mystery. Toyne creates a real sense of urgency as the evil in Cinderfield starts to close in on Rees and Adele. The tension is palpable. Good writing and good suspense made this a very compelling read. And I really liked Laughton Rees. I very much want to read Toyne's previous mystery with her now. There is one major plot twist at the end of this one that had me questioning the feasibility of it in regards to the timeline. But then I decided to let it go and just enjoy the moment.  ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!

February's bookish art...

 

Claude Buck -- Woman Reading

"I think books are like people in the sense that they'll turn up in your life when you most need them."

--Emma Thompson

Inside Man by John McMahon

 

The team:  Gardner Camden, Joanne "Shooter" Harris, Cassie Pardo, and Richie Brancato, the rookie.

"(We) work for an FBI unit called PAR, which stands for Patterns and Recognition....Our job is to identify peculiarities in cases that have stalled or gone cold. To uncover details that others have missed, then hand the case off, either back to the field office that sent it to us--or to a team in Quantico. When people speak well of us, they call us puzzle-solvers. When they don't, we are thought of as oddballs. Freaks with a bent toward data. Often, they call us 'head cases.'"

Gardner Camden is the leader of this eccentric team, the oddest...and the smartest. He sees and calculates patterns others can't. He also has to remind himself to make small talk, and to smile, and try to show concern for others. Though never with his young daughter, Camila. With her, "I try not to be me."

He and his team are working a fraud case in Florida that quickly becomes complicated with a dead C.I., a missing shipment of ghost guns, the threat of domestic terrorism, and a possible serial killer.

My thoughts:  This book is as propulsive and gripping as McMahon's first Gardner Camden mystery, Head Cases, which was one of my favorite reads last year. Gardner is one of those characters that you can't help but like. And he's dealing with a lot in this novel. I love his interactions with his daughter, and how he figures out the intricacies of this cases. I couldn't put this one down. This novel is well-written, intense, compelling and entertaining. 

My rating:  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Happy Reading!