Thin Air by Lisa Gray

Private investigator Jessica Shaw is used to getting anonymous tips. But after receiving a photo of a three-year-old kidnapped from Los Angeles twenty-five years ago, Jessica is stunned to recognize the little girl as herself.
​
Eager for answers, Jessica heads to LA’s dark underbelly. When she learns that her biological mother was killed the night she was abducted, Jessica’s determined to solve a case the police have forgotten. 

Meanwhile, veteran LAPD detective Jason Pryce is in the midst of a gruesome investigation into a murdered college student moonlighting as a prostitute.
A chance encounter leads to them crossing paths, but Jessica soon realizes that Pryce is hiding something about her father’s checkered history and her mother’s death.
To solve her mother’s murder and her own disappearance, Jessica must dig into the past and find the secrets buried there. 

But the air gets thinner as she crawls closer to the truth, and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe. -lisagray.com

Thin Air was like a mash-up of some of my favorite things.  The initial premise of a young woman who discovers she may have been a kidnapping victim as a toddler is the same initial premise of one of my favorite books, Caroline B. Cooney's The Face on the Milk Carton. In The Face on the Milk Carton, Cooney did a fantastic job of detailing the conflicting emotions one would likely feel in this situation.  For me, Jessica's reaction in Thin Air was very undeveloped.  She didn't really seem that shocked to discover that her late father had lied to her about her mother and her background. Perhaps, she was just repressing a lot of emotion as she was still recovering from her father's unexpected death but I would've liked to have seen that explored more. 

Thin Air is told from various points of view at alternating timelines some from the mid-90s when Jessica was first abducted and in the present as Jessica works to solve the mystery of her past and Detective Pryce works a mystery in the present.  The flashbacks and alternating points of view wove together nicely and reminded me of one of my favorite shows, Cold Case.  While Pryce and Jessica cross paths on a personal level, I really thought Pryce's case would've been best told separately in another novel all about him or perhaps he and Jessica will team up in subsequent novels and work together. 

When we meet Jessica, she is living a nomadic life doing PI work throughout the United States.  She reminded me a little of Lee Child's Jack Reacher except Jess travels with a lot more clothes and toiletries.

This was a sharp little thriller and it will keep you guessing but I hope subsequent installments in this series delve deeper into Jessica's emotional state, her connection with Pryce and I hope we see her "friend" Jack Holliday again.

3.5/5 Stars

For more information on Thin Air and information on where to purchase, check out Lisa Gray's website.

Special Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher Thomas & Mercer for providing a free digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Meme Crush Monday

Forget about “Man Crush Monday’s,” here #MCM means Meme Crush Monday! For those who don’t have access or don’t wish to use Instagram, I’ll share a bookish meme right here weekly on the blog.


This Week’s #MCM Meme Crush Monday:

I am guilty of often using the phrase “impossible to put down” in a review for a book I loved. What was the last book you read that was “impossible to put down”? Share with us in the comments!   

Fear Street: Lights Out by R.L. Stine

Welcome to the second installment of Summer of Fear,  a weekly series of posts where I will review/revisit a classic YA Horror/Thriller from the 70s-90s.  This week I re-read Lights Out, part of the Fear Street series by R.L. Stine.

Lights Out was the second Fear Street I ever got in the mid-90s. My first was The Knife. This was before the "Goosebumps" phenomenon. I was searching for something a little different than my favorite standbys The Baby-Sitters Club and Sweet Valley High. The cover intrigued me and a love of Fear Street soon developed.  My mom even paid for me to be in a “Fear Street Book Club" where I received two backlist titles a month. It even came with this rad magnet I still have today.  At the time I was adverse to horror movies, finding them too scary, but somehow I felt myself drawn to these books. In retrospect I see that they were horror “lite” and primed me for my current love of horror movies.

Lights Out has a lot of “jump scares” and a one very dark really good scare.  I loved the protagonist Holly. She was strong and resourceful in trying to solve the mystery and save her uncle’s camp. Early on one of the counselors references the Friday the 13th movies and one character is even described as resembling Kevin Bacon who started in the first Friday the 13th film. Light Out definitely had some subtle homages to my favorite 80s slasher film. This was a fun reread and I highly recommend seeking it out at your favorite used bookseller or secondhand online retailer. 3.5/5 Stars

I have had the pleasure of meeting R.L. Stine at Book Expo a few years ago.  His friendliness and humor in real life makes his books that much more enjoyable.

This year, R.L. released Return to Fear Street novels. My favorite of the new novels is You May Now Kill the Bride.  You can find more information about those here.

In my mid-90s copy of Lights Out, R.L. Stine has his author bio in the back pages. His son Matt referenced in the bio is now a music producer for Bettlejuice on Broadway. Clearly artistic talents for creepy fun run in the family. Good luck to the cast and crew of  Beetlejuice at this year’s Tony’s and check out Matt's production work on the recently released Beetlejuice Broadway Cast Album. You can find more information on that here.

Have you read Lights Out?  What is your favorite Fear Street book?

The Red by Tiffany Reisz

Welcome to a TBT Throwback Thursday Review.  I am working on reviving this blog and catching up on some long overdue book reviews. The Red by Tiffany Reisz was released in July 2017. 

Mona Lisa St. James made a deathbed promise that she would do anything to save her mother's art gallery. Unfortunately, not only is The Red painted red, but it's in the red.
Just as she realizes she has no choice but to sell it, a mysterious man comes in after closing time and makes her an offer: He will save The Red if she agrees to submit to him for the period of one year.
The man is handsome, English, and terribly tempting...but surely her mother didn't mean for Mona to sell herself to a stranger. Then again, she did promise to do anything to save The Red...
- tiffanyreisz.com

If you're looking for a red hot scorching read, look no further than The Red by Tiffany Reisz.  This book is full-fledged erotica and not for the timid.  It's also quite kinky and strays very far from anything resembling shades of dismal hues.  Mona's passion extends way beyond her passion for art and her late mother's gallery.   What makes The Red really shine is the development of the relationship between Mona and "the stranger" who intends to save the galley.  Plus the descriptions of all the paintings will have you running to your nearest art museum and fantasizing over the paintings mentioned in the book and letting your imagination run wild over those that catch your eye.  5/5 Stars

While The Red is considered a stand-alone novel, Tiffany has recently released a companion novel, The Rose and you can find both at your favorite local bookseller or by visiting the author's website, tiffanyreisz.com for more information.

Meme Crush Monday

Forget about “Man Crush Monday’s,” here #MCM means Meme Crush Monday! For those who don’t have access or don’t wish to use Instagram, I’ll share a bookish meme right here weekly on the blog.

This Week’s #MCM Meme Crush Monday:

I think we’ve all experienced a moment like this. You’re relaxing on your lunch break, engrossed in a book when a well-meaning coworker comes to join you and immediately launches into a conversation about their weekend. So, what do you do? How do you shut the conversation down and get back the book without being rude?  Share your tips with us by commenting below.



Special Thanks to Melanie Combe my Borders bestie for naming this series.

Summer of Fear Week One: Summer of Fear by Lois Duncan

Happy First Saturday of Summer! I know it's not officially Summer but it's June 1st already and it sure feels like it.  I'm kick starting a relaunch of this blog with "Summer of Fear" a weekly series of posts where I will review/revisit a classic YA Horror/Thriller from the 70s-90s.  The serial takes its name from my first review in the series.

I recently, so recently that it was literally just an hour ago, finished reading "Summer of Fear" by Lois Duncan which was first published in 1976 and subsequently republished throughout the years. Duncan is also the author of "I Know What You Did Last Summer," which was adapted into a blockbuster horror film in the late 90s although many elements were changed for the film.  "Summer of Fear" was adapted into a TV movie in the 1978 starring Linda Blair and directed by Wes Craven who went onto to achieve horror legend status for directing “A Nightmare of Elm Street” and my personal favorite “Scream” among many others.  "Summer of Fear," the film is currently available on Amazon Prime and I hope to check it out and bring you a review soon.  If you've already seen it, please comment with your thoughts below.

Covers Throughout the Years (cat image is just a placeholder)

From the moment Rachel's cousin Julia arrives that summer, she seems to seep into Rachel's life like a poison. Everyone else is enchanted by her - including Rachel's boyfriend. But what does Julia really want? - goodreads.com

This book reads like a "Lifetime Movie" and just like a "Lifetime Movie," it was predictable but to me that is the fun of those movies and this book.  I love watching the heroine try to figure out how to outsmart the "big bad."  From the minute Rachel meets Julia, she senses something is not quite right with her and Duncan does a fantastic job of slowly building the creep factor from mild to intense.  One of the elements of the book is a little too odd though but perhaps the fact that it was from the late 70s dates the novel.  Rachel's brother, Pete develops a huge crush on Rachel and tries to date her - his first cousin.  Ummm OK?  Julia ends up rejecting him for someone else.  The lack of cell phones and the internet though keeps this mystery going and makes it a fast, fun throwback read.  This book is light on gore and the relationships kept modest but the creep factor is marked.




Have you read "Summer of Fear" by Lois Duncan? Share your thoughts below.


One note of caution, I initially started reading the most recent reprint of "Summer of Fear," and some changes to include modern technology were added and seemed out of place so I hunted down an older copy.  The copy I began to read is the one with the graphic red head on the bottom right as pictured above and the one I then read was the copy with the photo in the developer solution.  

COVER REVEAL: Damien by J. Kenner

COVER REVEAL!!  J. Kenner has a new entry in her bestselling and fabulous “Stark” series called “Damien.” We’re thrilled to be part of a group of book bloggers and bookstagramers who were asked to spread the news!  “Damien” will be released 01/08/19 but is available for PRE-ORDER NOW!!!

 

I am Damien Stark. From the outside, I have a perfect life. A billionaire with a beautiful family. But if you could see inside my head, you’d know I’m as f-ed up as a person can be. Now more than ever.

I’m driven, relentless, and successful, but all of that means nothing without my wife and daughters. They’re my entire world, and I failed them. Now I can barely look at them without drowning in an abyss of self-recrimination.

Only one thing keeps me sane—losing myself in my wife’s silken caresses where I can pour all my pain into the one thing I know I can give her. Pleasure.

But the threats against my family are real, and I won’t let anything happen to them ever again. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep them safe—pay any price, embrace any darkness. They are mine.

I am Damien Stark. Do you want to see inside my head? Careful what you wish for.

Pre-order your copy today!
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Kz8iu7
iBooks: https://apple.co/2njN3TZ
Nook: https://bit.ly/2vSDO0X
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2KAllvd
Google Play: http://bit.ly/2ON7sgJ
Paperback: https://amzn.to/2APgarN