The Unwilling Review

Author: John Hart
Genre: Crime Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: Feb. 2, 2020
Purchase Link: Amazon

My Rating:  5 Fractured Hearts

A special thank you to St. Martins Press for an early arc of this book via Netgalley.  Book Synopsis and Author Bio follow my review.

Set in the South at the height of the Vietnam War, The Unwilling combines crime, suspense and searing glimpses into the human mind and soul in New York Times bestselling author John Hart's singular style.

Review:
A family shredded by the Vietnam war.  A father and mother left grieving the loss of their eldest son, unable to forgive their second son, and vowing to protect their youngest son.  Three brothers - the good one, the bad one, and the dead one.  Robert, whose brothers idolized him, died serving in Vietnam, Jason, following in the steps of his brother, served three tours and returned home a broken, angry, drug addicted shell of a man, and Gibby, a high school senior on the cusp of manhood, struggling to live up to his parents high expectations while stretching his boundaries and discovering first love.  Jason has served his time - both in the war and prison - and now wants to recover the bond with his younger brother Gibby against the wishes of his parents who fear Jason will lead Gibby down the wrong road.  The French family is irrevocably broken - split apart by an unpopular war, devastating loss, and paralyzing fear and guilt.  And when Gibby goes against their wishes and sneaks away for a day with Jason and two women, events are put into play that will raze their lives once again.  Murder, accusations, a day of reckoning. But who will pay?

This is my first book by John Hart.  It will not be the last.  What I discovered is a clean, sharp, precise author who doesn't waste words and yet delivers emotionally charged characters and vivid scenes that stimulate all five senses while fully engaging mind, heart, and soul.  Plot lines are intricately woven and challenging, unfolding at a brisk pace and ominous tone.  I was quickly drawn into this dark tale of love and hate and anguish and hopelessness.  The Unwilling is a raw, gritty crime thriller - a story of a family ravaged by war, reckless words, blame, guilt, and fear.  It's a story of redemption, proving oneself, and coming of age.  It's about hearts forever scarred.  The Unwilling is a taut, tense masterpiece - one I won't soon forget.  I highly recommend it to everyone.

Synopsis:

Gibby's older brothers have already been to war. One died there. The other came back misunderstood and hard, a decorated killer now freshly released from a three-year stint in prison.

Jason won't speak of the war or of his time behind bars, but he wants a relationship with the younger brother he hasn't known for years. Determined to make that connection, he coaxes Gibby into a day at the lake: long hours of sunshine and whisky and older women.

But the day turns ugly when the four encounter a prison transfer bus on a stretch of empty road. Beautiful but drunk, one of the women taunts the prisoners, leading to a riot on the bus. The woman finds it funny in the moment, but is savagely murdered soon after.

Given his violent history, suspicion turns first to Jason; but when the second woman is kidnapped, the police suspect Gibby, too. Determined to prove Jason innocent, Gibby must avoid the cops and dive deep into his brother's hidden life, a dark world of heroin, guns and outlaw motorcycle gangs.

What he discovers there is a truth more disturbing than he could have imagined: not just the identity of the killer and the reasons for Tyra's murder, but the forces that shaped his brother in Vietnam, the reason he was framed, and why the most dangerous man alive wants him back in prison.

JOHN HART is the author of six New York Times bestsellers, and of THE UNWILLING, which will be released on February 2, 2021. The only author in history to win the best novel Edgar Award for consecutive novels, Hart has also won the Barry Award, the Southern Independent Bookseller’s Award for Fiction, the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and the North Carolina Award for Literature. His novels have been translated into thirty language and can be found in over seventy countries. “My only real dream,” John declares, “has been to write well and to be published well.”

He lives in Virginia with his wife, two daughters, and four dogs.

http://www.johnhartfiction.com

Dear Child Review

Author: Romy Hausmann

Genre: Suspense Thriller

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Release Date:  Oct. 9, 2020

Purchase Link: Amazon

My Rating: 5 Psychotic Hearts

Many thanks to Flatiron Books & Macmillan Publishers for an arc of this book. #readinginsidersclub

Gone Girl meets Room in this page-turning thriller from one of Germany's hottest new talents

Review:

BAM! The sound of a watermelon smashing as it's dropped on the floor . . . or a head shattering as it's beaten against a wall . . . or my mind exploding after reading this dark, chilling, one-of-a-kind psychological suspense thriller. You'll get the analogy after you read Dear Child.  Friends, what we have here is as rare as hen's teeth - a brilliantly written thriller that imprisons readers in an isolated, windowless shack deep in the woods in the middle of nowhere with a woman, 2 children, and their "protector".  If you think you've read something like this before, think again. I promise you if you survive and find your way through all the smoke and mirrors to the astounding end, you'll realize how unique and special this story is. 

I knew nothing about Dear Child when I accepted an arc other than what the synopsis told me.  It sounded intriguing, but in no way prepared me for the harrowing journey to come.  Avoid spoiler reviews and this twisted tale of mind-games will spike your blood pressure and raise the hair on the back of your neck.  Before I realized what was happening, I found myself incarcerated by the dark, gripping multi-layered plot, malicious undertones and unreliable, flawed characters.  Shackled to my seat, I couldn't stop reading or break the chains binding me until the blindsiding end.  I read a LOT of psychological thrillers and often figure things out well before the end.  Not this time.  I devoured Dear Child trying to figure out WHO to believe, WHO is deceiving who, WHO is the real villain, WHO is the monster - for that matter ... WHO is the captive?  

Dear Child unfolds through three points of view - a woman captive, a child, and a father. Vague? Yes.  As I said, go into this one blind.  The water gets murky quickly in this horrifying, jaw-dropping tale.  The story is told in present time with heartbreaking glimpses into the past raising several tough questions.  I found the voice of the child Hannah especially disturbing yet compelling - an almost monotone delivery of knowledge, facts and insight way beyond her years in a near programmed-like state, and amazingly, this set the gripping tone that drives the gut-wrenching story forward at a brisk pace.  I haven't read a book before that challenged me as a reader as thoroughly as this one did.  I'll say it touches on the fragile psyche of victims held in captivity for long periods of time.  It speaks to the many different perspectives on what is "normal" and the manner in which our perceptions are authenticated.  It emphasizes the long, hard road to recovery for people trapped in their own mind by horrifying life experiences and the heavy burden laid on them by a world that can't understand.  I applaud German Author Romy Hausmann for her first book to be translated in English as she has set the bar high.  I dare say I don't expect to read another thriller like it for long time to come if ever.  Dear Child is a raw, gritty, psychotic suspense thriller that blew me away on its way to earning every single one of my 5 stars along with a spot on my All-Time Favorites List.  Fans of mystery, suspense, and psychological thrillers, you must read this book and help spread the word.  There's a new sheriff/suspense author in town!  Dear Child is a brilliantly delivered, one-of-a-kind stunner!

Synopsis:

In a windowless shack in the woods, Lena and her two children live a life that follows the rules set by their captor, the father: Meals, bathroom visits, study time are strictly scheduled and meticulously observed. He says he is protecting them from the dangers lurking in the outside world.

One day Lena manages to flee, but the nightmare continues. There is the question of whether she really is the woman named "Lena," who disappeared without a trace fourteen years ago?—she has the distinctive scar, but the family swears she isn’t the girl they lost. The police and Lena's family are all desperately trying to piece together a puzzle that doesn't quite seem to fit. And it feels to Lena as if the tormentor she fled still somehow wants to get her back.

Dear Child is told from three points-of-view: the woman who escaped and is coming to terms with life outside the shack; the missing Lena’s father, who would do anything to get her back and is becoming more and more unhinged; and the daughter raised entirely in that isolated world, a little girl with Asperger’s and a photographic memory who may know more than she’s letting on.

Twisty, suspenseful, and psychologically clever, this captivating thriller, which starts where others end, has all the ingredients of a breakout hit.