Mother Of by Lauren Coffin

Synopsis:

Following the arrest of her youngest son, caught burying a body in the woods near the home where she raised him, Meredith Mayes moves through the memories of her own life with disbelief. Her sense of loss is familiar: her husband and firstborn son died in a car accident ten years prior. These two events circle one another in her mind, enshrouding her as one grief reawakens the other.

The onslaught of a clamoring media is the noisy backdrop to the ferocious crush of her memories. With the arrival of her nephew, Curtis, she finds some measure of sanity, but he has trauma of his own to process. Neither of them can fully trust in the wake of what has happened, but together, they must work to find a way through.

The intrusions of the past and the immediacy of the present combine to make “Mother Of” a powerful examination of the choices we make, the lives we live because—or perhaps in spite—of them, and a heartfelt, gut-wrenching look at the soul of a mother coming to grips with the unthinkable.

When it comes to novellas, they can either be great or highly confuse you. When not written well, there can be too many descriptors and the story never progresses OR the story moves way too fast and doesn’t end up making any sense.

I was pleasantly surprised reading through ‘Mother Of’. It was written in a unique style with narrative, inner dialogue – moreso than inner monologue, and flashbacks. The use of font and verb tenses allows you to sort it out in your mind once you get used to it.

The story was intriguing, and I know it could probably be used to expand into a full novel, but I liked having a bite-sized version.

It's one that shows the struggle between love and morality. It really gives you something to think about.

If you’re a fan of crime novels or fiction in general – take an afternoon and check this one out. It’s quick. It’s interesting. It’s worth the read!

5/5 Stars

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The Crooked Staircase by Dean Koontz (Jane Hawk #3)

Synopsis:

Jane Hawk -- who dazzled readers in The Silent Corner and The Whispering Room -- faces the fight of her life, against the threat of a lifetime in this electrifying new thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling suspense master Dean Koontz. "I could be dead tomorrow. Or something worse than dead." Jane Hawk knows she may be living on borrowed time. But as long as she's breathing, she'll never cease her one-woman war against the terrifying conspiracy that threatens the freedom--and free will--of millions. Battling the strange epidemic of murder-suicides that claimed Jane's husband, and is escalating across the country, has made the rogue FBI agent a wanted fugitive, relentlessly hunted not only by the government but by the secret cabal behind the plot. Deploying every resource their malign nexus of power and technology commands, Jane's enemies are determined to see her dead . . . or make her wish she was. Jane's ruthless pursuers can't stop her from drawing a bead on her prey: a cunning man with connections in high places, a twisted soul of unspeakable depths with an army of professional killers on call. Propelled by her righteous fury and implacable insistence on justice, Jane will make her way from southern California to the snow-swept slopes of Lake Tahoe to confront head-on the lethal forces arrayed against her. But nothing can prepare her for the chilling truth that awaits when she descends the crooked staircase to the dark and dreadful place where her long nightmare was born.

This was a truly creepy edition to the series and also massively heartbreaking.

I almost felt like I never knew what was actually happening while reading this book. It seemed like it was being set up for a dramatic turn, and while it did have that, it wasn’t the one I was expecting.

Then, there was the building dread around Jane’s son and the Washingtons.

I always enjoy finding out what the cryptic names of the books in this series mean. This one didn’t disappoint. It’s definitely nothing I would have guessed.

Finishing this one really makes you need to start the next one immediately.

5/5 Stars

Memorable Quotes: “When you loved enough important qualities of a person, then you loved him or her, and you had better say it while time remained.”

“There was always a moment when iron will and a determined heart could no longer compensate for the fatigue of mind and muscle.”

“The sky was a sea of suns afloat in the eternal dark that only their light relented. The nearest sun of all, which warmed the earth, was hours below the eastern horizon. When it rose, it would reveal a world of wonders, a world on which had been lavished such natural beauty of such astonishing depth and complexity that an honest heart perceived meaning in it and yearned to know. In the night as it was now and in the morning light, there were men and women making music, writing poetry and novels, researching new medicines, fighting wars against malevolent forces, doing hard and honest work, raising families, loving, caring, hoping.”

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The Whispering Room by Dean Koontz (Jane Hawk #2)

Synopsis:

"No time to delay. Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this."

These are the words that ring in the mind of mild-mannered, beloved schoolteacher Cora Gundersun—just before she takes her own life, and many others', in a shocking act of carnage. When the disturbing contents of her secret journal are discovered, it seems certain that she must have been insane. But Jane Hawk knows better.

In the wake of her husband's inexplicable suicide—and the equally mysterious deaths of scores of other exemplary individuals—Jane picks up the trail of a secret cabal of powerful players who think themselves above the law and beyond punishment. But these ruthless people bent on hijacking America's future for their own monstrous ends never banked on a highly trained FBI agent willing to go rogue—and become the nation's most wanted fugitive—in order to derail their insidious plans to gain absolute power with a terrifying technological breakthrough.

Driven by love for her lost husband and by fear for the five-year-old son she has sent into hiding, Jane Hawk has become an unstoppable predator. Those she is hunting will have nowhere to run when her shadow falls across them.

It’s official. I’m addicted to this series. I thought it may have just been a fluke with the first book – The Silent Corner. But, nope. This one fully hooked me in as well. I had to put it out of sight and ignore it while trying to get work done or I would have just picked it back up and finished it all immediately.

This was a good follow up novel to The Silent Corner. Jane Hawk is still on the run, but she’s getting closer to the top of the mystery she seeks to solve.

There were so many new characters introduced in this book, but it was done really well I thought. As you get deeper into the book, there are just layers upon layers added to the story and it all builds up to another totally unbearable ending. But, if you read my last review, you know that the end was only unbearable because of how anxiety-provoking it is.

I find myself rooting so hard for the good guys in these two books that when any of them are in danger, I want to just physically close the book and ignore it and hope that if I don’t read any further it just means that they’re okay.

I have a lot of favorite protagonists and they all seem to be badass women, but Jane Hawk is definitely near the top of that list as well. I’m glad that I have the third book on hand so I don’t have to wait to start it. I don’t think I could handle waiting.

There’s something about the plot of these novels that is just so twisted and believably unbelievable that makes them so addicting and so hard to put down. It’s hard, in a way, to imagine a world that it outlined by Koontz in these books. But, at the same time, it’s not all that hard to imagine. It’s a whirlwind.

Also – the meaning behind The Whispering Room is absolutely wild. But, that’s all I will say.

I highly recommend this series to anyone who likes suspense/mystery novels.

5/5 Stars

Memorable Quotes: “Every human being was a mystery, each mind a maze of passages and secret rooms. No one ever really knew anyone or what they might be capable of doing.”

“The trouble with the what-if game was that once you began to play it, you couldn’t just quit whenever you wanted. From one what-if grew another.”

“Controlled paranoia was a survival mechanism. Unrelieved paranoia was a greased chute into madness.”

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The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Synopsis

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him...

This is the first book in awhile that I started and couldn’t put down until it was over. I read it in just over 24 hours – due to having to work during the day. I don’t know what about it really hooked me, but I needed to see what happened.

I don’t know if it’s just because I’m into psychology and I wanted to know what was keeping Alicia silent, or if the writing was just good enough to keep me turning the page. Either way, I sped through this one and was not disappointed.

I can see why it’s one of the books of the year. It keeps you on your toes. The story winds and weaves and you never really know what’s going on. It had almost a Gone Girl feel (which I loved) but I’m guessing that’s due to the journal entries.

The ending and twist reveal actually got me. I think I was predicting everything except what actually happened. I’ve read some reviews where people said they saw it coming a mile away – I’m just glad that I didn’t. As the chapter was building up to the reveal, I could feel my eyes widening and my jaw actually dropped.

It was a fun ride! The writing was decent. I enjoyed the shorter chapters. I think I would pick up another of Alex’s books to see if I like more of his work. Alas, this was his first novel. I’m interested to see if his next work is also a hit.

4/5 Stars

Memorable Quote: “I remember thinking, there’s no going back now. We were crashing through every last boundary between therapist and patient. Soon it would be impossible to tell who was who.”

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