Simple Book Reviews

A modern true-crime-inspired mystery, Missing Clarissa follows two teenage girls who start a podcast investigating a decades-old disappearance, but not every mystery is meant to be solved. Twenty years ago, Clarissa Campbell vanished without a trace, and now high school students Cam and Blair are determined to uncover the truth for their journalism class project. […]

Riley Sager delivers another twisty psychological thriller in The House Across the Lake, a story filled with unreliable narrators, eerie atmospheres, and unexpected turns. Casey Fletcher, a once-famous actress, is drowning in grief, and bourbon, after the tragic loss of her husband. Banished to her family’s remote lake house to recover from a public meltdown, […]

A dark and unsettling thriller, I’m the Girl is a bold exploration of power, privilege, and survival in a world that preys on the vulnerable. Sixteen-year-old Georgia Avis dreams of working at Aspera, an exclusive resort for the wealthy elite. When the resort’s owner tells her she’s beautiful, she believes it’s her ticket out of […]

Only Taylor Jenkins Reid could make me care about tennis. Carrie Soto Is Back is an electrifying sports drama about ambition, resilience, and the relentless pursuit of greatness. Carrie Soto is the greatest tennis player the world has ever seen, or at least, she used to be. Now retired, she watches from the sidelines as her […]

A fun and chaotic high school mystery, I Kissed Shara Wheeler delivers an over-the-top rom-com with plenty of heart. For four years, Chloe and prom queen Shara have been academic rivals, competing fiercely for the title of valedictorian. But just a month before graduation, Shara kisses Chloe, and then vanishes. Determined to find out what […]

Paula Hawkins, best known for The Girl on the Train, delivers another character-driven mystery, but A Slow Fire Burning doesn’t quite hit the same mark. The novel opens with the gruesome discovery of a young man’s body on his houseboat. The suspects? Laura, a troubled woman with a tragic past who was last seen with him. […]

A refreshingly unique mystery novel, Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone combines dark comedy, crime fiction, and a classic whodunit in a way that’s both entertaining and clever. Ern’s family has a dark past—every single member has killed someone, including himself. As the narrator, he breaks the fourth wall, addressing readers directly and guiding them […]

A harrowing psychological thriller that explores trauma and survival, Dark Room Etiquette by Robin Roe is a gripping YA read that’s hard to put down. Sayers Waites has lived a privileged life, never needing to work hard or face real hardship. But everything changes when he is kidnapped by a man named Caleb, who believes Sayers […]

A 1950s murder mystery filled with family secrets, a suspected serial killer, and a 12-year-old boy portrayed as a monster, on paper, this book has all the makings of a gripping thriller. Unfortunately, it didn’t fully work for me. While I appreciated the courtroom testimonies that framed the story and the suspenseful trial, I found […]

A mind-bending, genre-blurring thriller, The Other Side of Night is a book unlike any other. David Asha is haunted by the biggest regret of his life, leaving his son Elliot. In his grief, he writes their story, intertwining it with the life of Harriet, a former police officer who stumbles upon a cryptic message in a […]

A literary drama filled with family secrets and ambition, A Likely Story follows Isabelle Manning, the daughter of a bestselling New York author, as she struggles to make her own mark in the publishing world. After the sudden death of her mother—the glue that held the family together—Isabelle’s life begins to unravel. As her father struggles […]

Spooky, suspenseful, and utterly addictive, Lock Every Door is a perfect read for fans of gothic thrillers. Jules is down on her luck, broke, recently dumped, and desperate for a fresh start. When she lands a job as an apartment sitter at the luxurious Bartholomew building in Manhattan, it seems too good to be true. But […]

A chilling, gothic-inspired thriller, Daisy Darker delivers a locked-room mystery reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Nana Darker has always known she wouldn’t live past 80, and as her family gathers at her secluded island home to celebrate her birthday, old tensions resurface. But when Nana is found dead at midnight, and another […]

What if you could find your soulmate through a DNA match? In John Marrs’ gripping psychological thriller The One, a revolutionary matchmaking service claims to do just that, pairing people based on their genetic compatibility. But love isn’t that simple. Five individuals, each eager to meet their perfect match, soon discover that their ideal partners […]

An action-packed crime thriller, Pigeon-Blood Red follows Rico, an underworld enforcer on a relentless chase after Robert, a desperate gambler who has stolen a priceless necklace. The pursuit takes them from the gritty streets of Chicago to the tropical beauty of Honolulu, where betrayals, danger, and unexpected twists keep the tension high. At first, I struggled […]

A powerful and thought-provoking novel inspired by true historical events, Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins Valdez is a deeply emotional read that sheds light on a horrifying chapter in American history. The story follows Civil Townsend, a young Black nurse in 1970s Alabama, who is assigned to administer birth control shots to two young sisters. […]