Hidden Nature Review

Author: Nora Roberts

Publisher: St. Martins Press

Release Day: May 27, 2025

Many thanks to St. Martins Press for a complimentary arc of this title. Opinions expressed are my own.

Review first publisher in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

The #1 New York Times-bestselling author presents a new novel about an injured cop who must fight to bring down a pair of twisted killers…

Review:

HIDDEN NATURE by Author Nora Roberts is a tantalizing blend of mystery, suspense thriller and romance. Roberts once again delivers a heartfelt story with authentic, highly relatable characters, vivid settings and immersive plot lines. Once I settled in, I couldn't put this page turner down.

Natural Resources police officer Sloan Cooper walks into a convenience store and interrupts a robbery in progress. A quick on the trigger thief leaves her fighting for her life. With a long recovery ahead of her, Sloan returns to her parent's home in Heron's Rest, the small town where she grew up. While diligently working on her rehabilitation, Sloan's interest is piqued by a missing woman's case, and she decides to work the case on her personal time. A chilling pattern soon emerges - multiple people of all genders and ages spread across three states disappeared with their vehicles left abandoned suggesting the work of a serial killer. What is the common thread among these victims? How does the killer choose them? Sloan relies on her expertise, wits, and family ties to guide her as she stalks a killer unaware of how close they may be.

Meantime, Nash Littlefield moves to Heron’s Rest from New York, leaving behind an established career while cutting final ties with his estranged parents. Having purchased an old house in need of renovation, he begins work while deciding on his future path. When his younger brother, Theo, joins him also looking for a fresh start, they form The Fix-It Brothers, a handyman business. Soon, they have enough local clients in need of their services to keep them busy, and their skills bring them into contact with Sloane and her sister, Drea, through the Cooper family's rental business. Sparks flare between Drea and Theo, and Nash is intrigued with both Sloan and the case she's investigating and offers to lend her a hand with the investigation with the added benefit of spending more time with her. As the pair pursue a killer, Nash soon realizes the woman he is coming to care about will do whatever it takes to get justice for the victims . . . including putting her life at risk again.

Author Nora Roberts excels at rendering immersive small town, family-oriented stories that draw readers in with vivid prose, complex, relatable protagonists and just the right blend of romance and suspense. Her expert skills at world building and character development are evident in HIDDEN NATURE through her detailed descriptions of community life in a typical small town with a menage of colorful characters. As is often the case, the theme of family both born and found is woven throughout with examples of a close knit, supportive family in the Coopers who welcome Nash and Theo with open arms in contrast to their estranged birth family. The increasing tension drives the pace through thrilling twists as Sloan gets closer to unmasking a killer. I appreciate the author's diligence with details while taking time to develop both suspense and romance over the course of the book as it lends an authentic feeling to the unfolding events while affording the reader an opportunity to connect with each main character. Fans of romance suspense and mysteries will enjoy this latest offer from Author Nora Roberts.

Synopsis:

Natural Resources police officer, Sloan Cooper, and her partner had just taken down three men preying on hikers in the Western Maryland mountains. Driving back, she pulled in at a convenience store—and walked right into a robbery in progress. One gunshot from a jittery thief was about to change her world.

After being shocked back to life on the operating table, she has a long recovery ahead, so she moves back to her parents’ peaceful house in Heron’s Rest. As for the boyfriend who dumped her via text while she was in the hospital, good riddance.

She may be down, but she’s not out. So when a woman vanishes, leaving her car behind in a supermarket parking lot, Sloan searches online for similar cases. She finds them, spread across three states. Men and women, old and young—the missing seem to have nothing in common. And the abductions keep happening.

Luckily, the new man in her life shares her passion for solving this mystery. But it will take every ounce of endurance to get to the dark heart of this bizarre case—and she's willing to risk her life again if that's what it takes to stop the horror.

This Is How We End Things Review

Author: R.J. Jacobs

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Thanks to the publisher for a complimentary arc of this title. Opinions expressed are my own.

 Riley Sager meets If We Were Villains in a compelling new psychological thriller by RJ Jacobs, following a tight-knit group of graduate students studying the psychology of lying. When one of them is discovered dead after an experiment, everything the group thought they knew about deception crumbles...

A foreboding new dark academia thriller of deception and suspense, This is How it Ends follows the unraveling of a close group of students as they contend with what it means to lie, and be lied to.

Review:

Six graduate students enter a study of the psychology of lying to assist Joe Lyons with a project. Scarlett is a single mother and appears as the peacemaker of the group. Robert, a senior assistant on the project, is highly disciplined, earning the nickname of "teacher's pet". Tattooed Britt is impulsive and prefers keeping things to himself. Bad boy Chris is reckless and has a past connection to Britt. Beautiful Elizabeth is secretive and cunning and generally disliked because of her affair with Joe. New team member, Veronica, is a lawyer who assists with legal advice and apparently has had a conflict with one of the group in the past. Each graduate has dark secrets, and a past they prefer to keep buried. When a brutal murder is discovered, each one of them is suspect, but how do you figure out which one among a group who are masters in the art of lying?

THIS IS HOW THINGS END is a well-written, intelligent murder mystery with a sea of red herrings all who are liars, all with dark secrets. To unmask a killer, detectives will have to unravel a web of lies and dig into each character's past. This is an eerie, page burning mystery, a dark academia style story, that challenges readers to figure out whodunnit. While I managed to do so shortly before the reveal, it in no way impacted how much I enjoyed trying to solve this puzzle of a mystery.  Highly recommended to fans of dark academia books and murder mysteries.

Synopsis:

Campus is empty, a winter storm is blowing in, and someone is lurking in the shadows, waiting for their chance to kill again.

Forest, North Carolina. Under the instruction of enigmatic Professor Joe Lyons, five graduate students are studying the tedious science behind the acts of lying. But discovering the secrets of deception isn't making any of the student's more honest though. Instead, it's making it easier for them to guard their own secrets – and they all have something to hide.

When a test goes awry and one of them is found dead, the students find themselves trapped by a snowstorm on an abandoned campus with a local detective on the case. As harbored secrets begin to break the surface, the graduates must find out who's lying, who isn't, and who may have been capable of committing murder. It turns out deception is even more dangerous than they thought...

I Would Die For You Review

Author: Sandie Jones

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Release Day: Mar. 25, 2025 (First released Mar. 13, 2024)

Thanks to Minotaur Books for a complimentary arc of this title for review. Opinions expressed are my own.

First reviewed in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Reese's Book Club Pick The Other Woman and The Guilt Trip comes an electrifying new novel.

Review:

I WOULD DIE FOR YOU by Author Sandie Jones is a psychological thriller highlighting what can happen when deadly secrets buried in the past come knocking on your door. It's a story of a woman who's agonized for years with guilt and regrets over an impulsively, life-altering decision that changed the course of lives. It's a story of a woman with ugly secrets and ghosts, constantly looking over her shoulder . . . a woman whose time is up.

In the present, Nicole Forbes enjoys an ordinary life with her husband, Brad, and young daughter, Hannah, until the morning a writer, Zoe, knocks on her door asking questions about her connection to a 1980's British rock band and the tragic, mysterious death of lead singer, Ben Edwards. Unnerved, Nicole refuses to comment but her feeling of impending doom deepens when Hannah doesn't arrive home from school at her normal time. Contacting the school, Nicole's informed Hannah was picked up by her aunt as prearranged . . . except there is no aunt. A search ensues with questions from the police Nicole can't or won't answer, claiming to have no clue as to who would take Hannah. Secretly, her gut tells her it's connected to the mysterious writer who showed up on her doorstep. Who was she? Why show up all these years later? Nicole’s world is imploding . . . is it payback time?

In the past, Nicole makes ends meet working at a bar and singing at open mic nights while caring for her terminally ill mother and trying to keep her rebellious sixteen-year-old sister, Cassie, on a straight path. The young teen is infatuated with a 1980's British band known as Secret Oktober and as she follows them from venue to venue, she becomes obsessed, convincing herself there's a relationship blossoming between her and lead singer Ben Edwards. A friend has an inside source feeding her information about parties and events where the group will be, and the two girls manage to slip in. Typical to the time and bands, loud music, alcohol, drugs and sex are openly indulged. Cassie is out of her league, but she'll do anything to grab Ben's attention. She doesn't yet know Ben has met Nicole and is falling fast for her. When Cassie discovers their secret affair, jealousy and an overwhelming sense of betrayal quickly morphs into uncontrollable rage and a burning need for revenge. When the dust settles, who will be left standing?

I WOULD DIE FOR YOU unfolds in past/present chapters through multiple points of view. The story highlights the complicated relationship of sisters and how they affect family dynamics. Readers also gain insight into the complex lives of boy bands in the 80's, including the jealousy and vindictive backstabbing that tore bands apart along with the measure’s young, besotted groupies would take to connect with their idols. At times, I found these characters hard to like, hard to find empathy for, leaving me with a need for more from them than I received. However, the mystery of what really happened in the past as well as who was behind the escalating events unfolding in the present kept me flipping pages in search of answers. I know some readers will find the ending a bit too open-ended, but I've come to anticipate and appreciate Jones' signature endings where she challenges readers to step onto the scene and "read between the lines" to form their own conclusions.

Jones flawlessly weaves the mystery of a tragic event that shocked the music world in the past with the present-day nightmare of a woman on the brink of having her world destroyed a second time in this riveting mystery. I WOULD DIE FOR YOU is a character-driven thriller with all the right elements for a highly entertaining read. A missing child, a woman whose past comes calling, rock idols, groupies, estranged sisters, obsession, lies, secrets - all entwined in an intriguing mystery that's hard to put down. Highly recommended to fans of suspense thrillers and fans of 80's bands.

Synopsis:

Now: Nicole Forbes lives a quiet life in a small seaside Californian town with her husband and daughter. She is not expecting a writer to knock on her door asking for her personal insight into the downfall of the biggest British band of the 1980s—unveiling the threads of a life she put behind her years ago. The same day, her daughter goes missing and the school claims her aunt picked her up . . . but she doesn’t have an aunt. Convinced of a link between the two, Nicole is forced to revisit long-abandoned memories from her past to protect everything she now holds dear.

1986: Sixteen-year-old Cassie is obsessed with the hottest band in London, Secret Oktober. Harboring an intense crush on the leading man, Ben Edwards, she will do anything she can to capture his attention among the throngs of groupies at the band’s scandalous backstage parties. But when Ben discovers her older sister Nicole singing at a local bar one night, he can’t help but feel drawn to her, setting in motion a collision course that could tear their family apart.

Infused with the sounds of the 80s, this thrilling new novel from the inimitable Sandie Jones will captivate her readers, as she explores what the frenzy of fandom can lead to in this shocking blockbuster.

Wild Dark Shore Review

Author: Charlotte McConaghy

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Release Day: March 4, 2025

Many thanks to Flatiron Books for a complimentary arc of this title. Opinions expressed are my own.

Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

From the beloved, New York Times bestselling author of Migrations and Once There Were Wolves, a novel about a family living alone on a remote island, when a mysterious woman washes up on shore.

 

Review:

WILD DARK SHORE by Author Charlotte McConaghy is a hauntingly beautiful love letter to nature as well as a warning to those who habitually abuse her. McConaghy has a gift for lyrical prose that slides through you like a majestic bird gliding on air while delivering a punch to the gut with the power of angry waves crashing on the shore. WILD DARK SHORE is a story about the fight for survival by both humans and nature. It's a story about family, human nature and impossible choices. There's an air of imminent danger permeating each page throughout this story, so my advice is to get comfortable before beginning this hypnotic voyage because you won't feel safe and secure again before finishing.

Shearwater Island (setting based off of Macquarie Island) is an isolated island near the Arctic Circle and home to the one of the world's last seed vaults (based on Svalbard Global Seed Vault) and its caretakers, Dominic Salt and his three children - eighteen year old Raff who doesn't understand or know how to control the rage brewing within him; Fen, seventeen, who prefers spending her nights on the beach among her beloved seals; and nine-year-old Orly who is obsessed with botany and the wonder of the natural world; and then there's Dominic, a man riddled with grief and guilt who's haunted by the ghost of his dead wife and completely at a loss as to how to hold his fractured family together. With sea levels rising daily, the team of researchers previously working on the island have all gone home, leaving the Salt family the sole occupants. Their mission now is to pack up the precious seeds for transport and be ready when the ship that comes every six months arrives to carry them to a safer place. The enraged sea threatening to swallow the island has other ideas.

During a terrifying storm, Fen drags a woman's body from the water and is startled to find her still clinging to life. The family nurses Rowan back to health as they tip toe around one another each guarding dark secrets. Who is the mysterious woman of the sea? Where did she come from? Why is she here? From Rowan's perspective, who is the Salt family? Why do they live here in isolation? What big secret are they guarding with their lives? For all of them, the biggest question is who smashed all the communications equipment on the island? Cut off from the rest of the world, things quickly escalate, and it becomes a fight for survival. Who will be left standing in the end?

Author Charlotte McConaghy sweeps readers away to discover one of earth's remaining wonders in a remote corner of the world, highlighting the dire consequences of climate change through captivating prose that beckons you into a breathtaking story impossible to turn away from. The story is rendered through short past/present chapters via multiple points of view that change with each chapter, allowing readers to feel, if not understand, each character's emotional turmoil. The short chapters and blunt change of point of view could be confusing, but through the author's skillful manipulation of story, character and reader, it serves to build the suspense through every twist and turn to a shocking climax. McConaghy's vivid prose brings the setting to life as another character, portraying all the beauty and wonder of an island that can turn deadly in a heartbeat with both known and unknown threats. The sense of extreme isolation emits claustrophobic, locked room type vibes with no hope of rescue in sight. The pace is driven by an ever-increasing sense of foreboding, a suspicion that all is not as it seems on the tiny island in the middle of nowhere. With a storm brewing both offshore and on, times running out. Who can be trusted with their lives?

WILD DARK SHORE is an epic, highly emotional story of a family and earth in crisis - a rollercoaster ride of feelings - love, loss, regret, guilt, shame, agonizing choices. The author's extensive, in-person research is evident in every lesson on nature, flawlessly woven into a mysterious, character driven story that's impossible to put down. The unmeasurable power of love with no limit and the fight for survival have never been portrayed more realistically than in WILD DARK SHORE. Author Charlotte McConaghy is a truly gifted writer, and I can't wait to learn what corner of the globe she takes on next. Highly recommended to fans of mysteries, suspense, and literary fiction.

Synopsis:

A family on a remote island. A mysterious woman washed ashore. A rising storm on the horizon.

Dominic Salt and his three children are caretakers of Shearwater, a tiny island not far from Antarctica. Home to the world’s largest seed bank, Shearwater was once full of researchers. But with sea levels rising, the Salts are now its final inhabitants, packing up the seeds before they are transported to safer ground. Despite the wild beauty, isolation has taken its toll on the Salts. Raff, eighteen and suffering his first heartbreak, can only find relief at his punching bag; Fen, seventeen, has started spending her nights on the beach among the seals; nine-year-old Orly, obsessed with botany, fears the loss of his beloved natural world; and Dominic can’t stop turning back toward the past, and the loss that drove the family to Shearwater in the first place.

Then, during the worst storm the island has ever seen, a woman washes up on shore. As the Salts nurse the woman, Rowan, back to life, their suspicion gives way to affection, and they finally begin to feel like a family again. Rowan, long accustomed to protecting her heart, begins to fall for the Salts, too. But Rowan isn’t telling the whole truth about why she set out for Shearwater. And when she discovers the sabotaged radios and a freshly dug grave, she realizes Dominic is keeping his own dark secrets. As the storms on Shearwater gather force, can they trust each other enough to protect one another—and the precious seeds in their care? And can they finally put the tragedies of the past behind them to create something new, together?

A novel of heart-stopping twists, dizzying beauty, and ferocious love, Wild Dark Shore is about the impossible choices we make to protect the people we love, even as the world around us is ending.

Kills Well With Others Review & Book Tour

Welcome to my stop on the Kills Well With Others Book Tour! Scroll down for my review and Meet the Author.

Author: Deanna Raybourn

Series: Killers of a Certain Age #2

Publisher: Berkley

Release Day: March 4, 2025

Many thanks to Berkley for a complimentary arc of this title. Opinions expressed are my own.

Review first publisher in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

Four women assassins, senior in status—and in age—sharpen their knives for another bloody good adventure in this riotous follow-up to the New York Times bestselling sensation Killers of a Certain Age.

 

Review:

KILLS WELL WITH OTHERS by Author Deanna Raybourn is the sequel to the bestselling KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE featuring four, deadly, elderly women assassins. The gang is reunited when the fabulous four are called out of retirement by the head of an organization known as the Museum. Resuming about a year after the end of book one, the four are ready, willing and able to come out of retirement to take on what proves to be the challenge of a lifetime. Prepare to laugh at the snarky banter, but don't mistake this for just another cozy mystery because there's plenty of gory scenes to go around.

Four former women assassins of a "certain" age, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie, are rested and let's face it . . . bored out of their minds by retirement. An off the book assignment is just what the doctor ordered to cure what ails them. The challenge is to uncover the mole working on the inside leaking information, specifically a list of major kills carried out by the agency's assassins over time, while tracking down the Eastern European criminal seeking revenge by working her way down the kill list and ordering her own assassinations in retaliation. It's no surprise that the four retirees' names make a prominent appearance on that kill list. Their mission is to find and take out the evil queen bee before they get taken out. As the story unfolds, the ladies travel across the globe in a race against time to face the most challenging opponent of their long careers. Who will emerge the winner?

Author Deanna Raybourn excels at rendering well-developed, unique characters who are slightly larger than life facing seemingly impossible odds while delivering hilarious one-liners -  all the while making it believable and entertaining. KILLS WELL WITH OTHERS is delivered via present and flashback chapters through Billie's point of view allowing readers insight into Billie's past and her trust issues. Interaction between the four friends is not always smooth highlighting the many nuances of long-term, complex friendships. The author's ability to showcase the character and relationship development in these women through interactions among themselves and others and flawlessly weave it into the story is the mark of an expert. The steadily increasing pace is driven by swift action through twists and turns as they race towards the final showdown. A snarky dose of humor lightens the load of blood and gore making KILLS WELL WITH OTHERS a witty, engaging, highly entertaining read that's hard to put down. Think Golden Girls meets Charlie's Angels and you have these four, intelligent, funny women defying their age who just happen to kill people who commit unforgivable crimes. Highly recommended to fans of humorous mysteries and suspense thrillers.

Synopsis:

After more than a year of laying low, Billie, Helen, Mary Alice, and Natalie are called back into action. They have enjoyed their rest, but the lack of excitement is starting to a professional killer can only take so many watercolor classes and yoga sessions before she gets the itch to get back in the game. When they receive a call from Naomi Ndiaye, the head of the elite assassin organization known as the Museum, they are ready tackle the greatest challenge of their careers.

Someone on the inside has compiled a list of important kills committed by Museum agents, all of them connected to a single, shadowy figure, an Eastern European gangster who rules her business empire with an iron fist and plays puppet master in international affairs. Naomi is convinced this criminal queen is bent upon revenge, killing off the agents who attempted to thwart her, and the aging quartet of killers is next.

Together the foursome embark on a wild ride across the globe on the double mission of rooting out the Museum’s mole and hunting down the gangster and her assassin. But their nemesis is unlike any they’ve faced before, and it will take all their experience and a whole lot of luck to get out of this mission alive.

Deanna Raybourn

Website

http://www.deannaraybourn.com/

Genre

Literature & Fiction, Mystery & Thrillers

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New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Deanna Raybourn is a 6th-generation native Texan. She graduated with a double major in English and history from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Married to her college sweetheart and the mother of one, Raybourn makes her home in Virginia. Her novels have been nominated for numerous awards including two RT Reviewers’ Choice awards, the Agatha, two Dilys Winns, a Last Laugh, three du Mauriers, and most recently the 2019 Edgar Award for Best Novel. She launched a new Victorian mystery series with the 2015 release of A CURIOUS BEGINNING, featuring intrepid butterfly-hunter and amateur sleuth, Veronica Speedwell. Veronica has returned in several more adventures, most recently AN IMPOSSIBLE IMPOSTOR, book seven, which released in early 2022. Deanna's first contemporary novel, KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE, is now available.

Dead Man's List Review & Book Tour

 

Welcome to my stop on the DEAD MAN'S LIST Book Tour! I'm loving this series and look forward to more! Check out my review below along with the Synopsis and Author Info.

Series: San Diego Case Files #3

Publisher: Berkley

Release Day: March 4, 2025

Special thanks to Berkley Publ. for a complimentary arc of this title for review. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

First reviewed in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

Homicide Detective Kit McKittrick's latest case exposes San Diego’s seedy underbelly in this nerve-shattering tale of romantic suspense from New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose.

Review:

DEAD MAN'S LIST is the third book in author Karen Rose’s San Diego Case Files series featuring Detective Kit McKittrick and Dr. Sam Reeves. As always, Rose delivers an intense, complicated, twisted murder mystery that keeps fans guessing right up to the shocking climax.

DEAD MAN'S LIST is a complex, multi-layered thriller featuring a gritty, introverted heroine who keeps her emotions tightly wrapped and others at arm's length as much as possible. Kit's horrific experience bouncing around the foster system left her toting a great deal of baggage but extraordinarily little trust before she hit the lottery with foster parents Harlan and Betsy McKittrick whose unconditional love and security chipped away at her defenses helping form the capable woman and resolute detective she is today. Her keen sense of duty and dedication drive her not only to seek justice for victims, but to also give back to the foster parents who saved her by mentoring other young girls and women.

Dr. Sam Reeves, a police psychologist working with the San Diego Police Department, breathes a sigh of relief when SDPD Detective Kit McKittrick finally agrees to go out with him. Sam understands Kit's emotional state remains precarious when it comes to forming relationships, but he's a patient man willing to invest the time to show her he intends to be part of her future. Wanting to share his love of hiking with her, he takes Kit and their dogs to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park for a casual date. Just as he feels he's making progress breaking through her defenses, they stumble over the partially buried body of a well-known city council member named Brooks Munro. Multiple stab wounds indicated a vicious crime of rage and given the unpopularity of the politician, Kit and Sam know the suspect list will be a long one. As Kit and her team begin working on the case, it's clear several powerful and influential people have dark secrets they’re determined to keep hidden. However, there's a missing binder of names and rumors of extortion circulating, and when more bodies surface, Kit’s certain someone is working through a kill list eliminating witnesses one by one. As Kit gets closer to unmasking the killer, she becomes a complication the killer can't ignore.

Author Karen Rose excels at weaving taut, intricate suspense thrillers with detailed characterizations and multiple plotlines that keep readers on the edge of their seats from start to finish. Dedicated support characters with their own issues help to steadily drive the pace forward as the action increases through twists and turns, crisis after crisis before exploding in a shocking climax most will never see coming. Multiple red herrings provide readers with several possible villains for consideration, and armchair detectives should watch closely for the bread crumb clues the author sprinkles throughout. A budding, slow burn romance between Kit and Sam adds a human touch, allowing readers to join the couple as they explore new emotions, especially Kit as she struggles with accepting she’s worthy of this man. Like the seasoned expert author she is, Rose maneuvers readers and characters through another fantastic suspense thriller. I recommend DEAD MAN'S LIST to fans of murder mysteries, romance suspense and police procedurals as I look forward to the next one.

Synopsis:

On a long-anticipated second date with police psychologist Dr. Sam Reeves—right as things are getting steamy—Kit stumbles across the mutilated body of a local San Diego politician. The politician is loved by many of his constituents but is hated and reviled by many more. That the suspect list is long is no surprise to anyone, but exactly who ends up on it stuns Kit and her team.

As the SDPD reveal the victim’s sinister dealings, Kit and Sam are forced to navigate the lawless world of the city’s most rich and powerful citizens to find answers. But time is rapidly running out, with their sources of information dropping like flies as the killer methodically eliminates loose ends—and anyone else who stands in the way.

About the Author:

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
www.karenrosebooks.com

Internationally bestselling, RITA-award winning, author Karen Rose was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. She met her husband, Martin, on a blind date when they were seventeen and after they both graduated from the University of Maryland, (Karen with a degree in Chemical Engineering) they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Karen worked as an engineer for a large consumer goods company, earning two patents, but as Karen says, “scenes were roiling in my head and I couldn't concentrate on my job so I started writing them down. I started out writing for fun, and soon found I was hooked.”

Her debut suspense novel, DON'T TELL, was released in July, 2003. Since then, she has published fifteen more novels and two novellas. Her seventeenth novel, ALONE IN THE DARK, will be released in 2016.

Karen's books have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, London's Sunday Times, and Germany's der Spiegel (#1), and the Irish Times, as well as lists in South Africa (#1) and Australia!

Her novels, I'M WATCHING YOU and SILENT SCREAM, received the Romance Writers of America's RITA award for Best Romantic Suspense for 2005 and 2011. Five of her other books have been RITA finalists. To date, her books have been translated into twenty-four languages.

A former high school teacher of chemistry and physics, Karen lives in Florida with her husband of more than twenty years, her two daughters, two dogs, and a cat. 

Penitence Review

Author: Kristin Koval

Narrator: Therese Plummer

Publisher: Celadon Books/MacMillan Audio

Release Day: Jan. 28, 2025

Many thanks to Celadon Books for a complimentary arc of this title. Opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine

For readers of Ann Patchett and Celeste Ng, Penitence is a poignant exploration of love and forgiveness. It’s a suspenseful, addictive page-turner filled with literary insight that compels readers to consider whether each of us is more than the worst thing we’ve ever done.

Review:

PENITENCE by Author Kristin Koval is a complex, heartbreaking domestic suspense highlighting how impulsive decisions can change the trajectory of lives. Not only for the people directly involved, but also for the waves of people that wash in and out of lives over time. It's a story of profound grief, life altering choices, guilt, redemption and forgiveness. It's a story of the extraordinary power of love.

The story opens with thirteen-year-old Nora sitting in a jail cell while local police ponder what to do with a child that has just confessed to killing her older brother Nico. Nora hasn't spoken a word since the early morning hours when gunshots woke her parents, sending them rushing into the horrifying nightmare of their son lying in a pool of blood, their daughter holding the smoking gun. Fighting shock and tears, Nora's father David contacts small town lawyer Martine to plea for her to defend Nora while her mother Angela falls apart. Martine in turn contacts her son Julian, a successful New York City crime defense attorney who specializes in seeking justice for minors and asks him to take the case. This is where things get tricky . . . Julian and Nora's mother, Angela, were teenage sweethearts with plans for marriage after college before a tragic accident claimed a life, tearing the young lovers apart and banishing Julian to New York to live and finish school at the home of his grandmother. Both went on to marry others and appear to live normal, happy lives, but the burden of guilt, secrets and unanswered questions remain between them over what happened that dark night on the ski slopes. And now questions about what happened the night Nico’s killed are threatening to rip this family apart. Did Nora enter her brother's bedroom and shoot him with her father's gun in cold blood? Nora says she doesn't remember what happened, but is she telling the truth?

PENITENCE, Koval's debut novel, is an amazing, poignant, heart wrenching domestic thriller with a depth of characterizations and plot lines seldom found in debut novels. The story unfolds through dual timelines, the present with the tragedy unfolding with Nora and her family, and the past with Angela and Julian's tragic story with all its ugly secrets becoming known. Along the journey there are a multitude of broken promises and lives, all buried beneath some dark, take to the grave secrets that have festered for years. Koval's ability to tap into human emotions following unspeakable trauma is a stunning achievement. Richly drawn characters render flawless performances as the author delves deeply into the flawed juvenile justice and legal system highlighting the tendency to punish vs. rehabilitation. From the first page to the last, the pace escalates as Nora's situation plummets at every twist and turn until the final verdict is rendered. Some readers may find the ending too open ended, while others will nod their heads in agreement that justice is served. This reader is somewhere in the middle.

I highly recommend the audiobook version of PENITENCE as narrator Thérèse Plummer delivers an outstanding performance rich in emotion bringing each character to life. PENITENCE is a stunning, gut wrenching domestic thriller that encourages self-reflection. One this reader couldn't put down. Two stories of unfathomable tragedy, two shattered families entwined in crisis, two snap decisions decades apart forever changing the course of lives. Highly recommended to fans of soul-searching domestic suspense and family drama. I look forward to more from the talented Author Kristin Koval.

Synopsis:

When a shocking murder occurs in the home of Angie and David Sheehan, their lives are shattered. Desperate to defend their family, they turn to small-town lawyer Martine Dumont for help, but Martine isn’t just legal counsel—she’s also the mother of Angie’s first love, Julian, a now-successful New York City criminal defense attorney. As Julian and Angie confront their shared past and long-buried guilt from a tragic accident years ago, they must navigate their own culpability and the unresolved feelings between them.

Spanning decades, from the ski slopes of rural Colorado to the streets of post-9/11 New York City and back again, Kristin Koval’s debut novel Penitence is an examination of the complexities of familial loyalty, the journey of redemption, and the profound experience of true forgiveness.