an Anonymous Girl/Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen/371 pgs

Jessica is a makeup artist who is very good at transforming her clients and making them look beautiful.  She also works very hard trying to make extra money so that she can help her parents financially with the care of her disabled sister, Becky.  Becky had an accident as a child for which Jessica feels responsible.  And the therapy that helps Becky is expensive.

At her job, sometimes Jessica has clients who really don’t need her help, they’re just willing to pay to have someone do their makeup for them.  And one day something happens that changes Jessica’s life.  Her client received a phone call about a study.  The client did not want to take the call or participate in the study. But, Jessica sneaks a look at her client’s phone, gets the information, and goes in her client’s place.  The money is very good, but the questions are unusual.  Pressed for money, Jessica continues to participate in the study, but the requirements begin to be more demanding than she could have imagined.  

This story is a page turner you don’t want to miss.

I Let You Go/ Clare Mackintosh/ 369 pages

I Let You Go written by Clare Mackintosh introduces us to Jacob and his mother.  When Jacob is killed by a hit and run driver, his mother abandons her life.  Jenna flees leaving behind all but a small bag of her possessions.  At the same time, Bristol DI Stephens and his assistant Kate try to solve the hit and run.  In her new home, Jenna encounters Bethan and Patrick.  With their help she slowly begins to put her life back in order.  Just as things come together, Stephens and Kate solve the crime.  Now Jenna must once again deal with Jacob's death.  This book will appeal to the reader who enjoyed Gone Girl and the Girl on the Train in that it contains both physical and mental components.

All Things Cease to Appear/ Elizabeth Brundage/ 399 pages

All Things Cease to Appear by Elizabeth Brundage opens with George walking to a neighbor's house after finding his wife, Catherine, murdered.  George is able to evade the local sheriff with the aid of his parents who sweep him off to their home.  There is one possible eye witness, Franny, the couples three year old daughter who was in the house when the murder occurred.  First the reader is introduced to the old Hale house and it's history.  Then the reader is then transported back in time to when George and Catherine first meet.  Is it the house or the people that are haunted by their pasts?  George appears to be the obvious suspect, but Brundage does a good job in creating several viable suspects.  As the evidence adds up, it is not until the end that the reader knows who really committed the crime.  On a positive note, the story does not revolve around the sheriff pursuing the wrong suspects.  This book will appeal to readers less interested in police procedure and more interested in relationships and psychology.

Where They Found Her/ Kimberly McCreight/ 324 pages

Where They Found Her, written by Kimberly McCreighton is a riveting novel set in a college town outside of New York City.  Molly Sanderson, arts and features reporter, is assigned the story when a baby is found near the Essex Bridge.  Covering this story could be a challenge for Molly who is just now coming to terms with the stillborn birth of her own child.  The story advances through the perspective of several of the town's women.  This was an enjoyable mystery with lots of possible outcomes.  For more information check out the SCCCLD website.

In the Blood/Lisa Unger/352 pgs.

I read the ARC version of the book, and was drawn in from the first page.  It is told in Lana Granger's voice, a psychology student in a small, private college in upstate New York.  She has experienced a troubled childhood, and takes the job as a babysitter for Luke Kahn, a very disturbed youngster, whom she feels she will be able to help. Luke is not just disturbed, he has psychopathic tendencies. Then, one of Lana's roommate's goes missing, and more of Lana's secrets surface as she becomes the focus of a police investigation. There are twists, turns, suspense--you name it, this book has it! It's a psychological suspense mystery of the first degree. Recommended!

Golden Day, The / Ursula Dubosarsky / 149 pages

  Eleven young girls are students at a private school in Australia. They come from all walks of life but always move as a group during the school days. Their teacher Miss Renshaw walks to the beat of a different drum. She exposes the children to art, music and poetry all the while keeping the reality of the Vietnam War at bay. Miss Renshaw takes the children to the local park to commune with nature and begin writing poetry. On one of their outings they meet the garden's caretaker, Morgan who catches the teacher's eye. One day a field trip is proposed to see some cave paintings down by the sea. The girls are unnerved by the walk and the cave itself.
   Miss Renshaw keeps acting strangely and Morgan keeps urging everyone on. When the girls are inside the paintings are invisible and the darkness is impenetrable. The girls panic and leave, waiting outside the cave entrance for Miss Renshaw to appear. But she doesn't. When the students return to school she still isn't there. They remember what Miss Renshaw had written on the board Not Now Not Ever. So they don't say anything and soon a new teacher is assigned to their classroom. What follows is how the girls cope with the disappearance and its implications.
   The book feels like it is written from a distance. The characters and events feel far away and impersonal. The girls don't individualize clearly in this reader's mind. Though in the starred review this was considered a "stunning feat of perspective." The ending is a stumper for me. I am unsure what to make of it and would love a conversation with someone to bounce ideas around. I did enjoy the author's style of writing and the way she evokes surroundings without a ton of words. Haunting book.

Six Degrees of Reading: Picture Me Gone by Meg Rosoff, Far, Far Away by Tom McNeal, The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata.

Defending Jacob / William Landay / 421 pgs.

For suspense readers, finding a plot that hasn't done to death is a real prize.  The novel “Defending Jacob” manages to supply a few new twists for those readers. 

In a small Massachusetts town, a young boy is found murdered in the woods.  Initially a pedophile is suspected, but soon, another classmate, fourteen-year old Jacob Barber, the only child of well-respected district attorney, Andy Barber, is a person of interest and eventually charged with his classmate's murder. Jacob admits to finding the body in the woods, touching the body, but being afraid to tell anyone about it. Andy and his wife Laurie find it hard to believe that there could ever be capable of such an act, but yet at times they wonder if it could be true. Jacob's is a sullen boy, often moody and withdrawn and full of secrets. The fact he has posted things on Facebook that could be used against him will not help in proving his innocence. The family is from a nice suburban town, and is shamed and shunned by the community.

When the prosecuting attorney introduces the “murder gene” theory, Andy is forced to take a closer look at his own life.

This title is highly recommendable, which is the true test of any book.

An Unattended Death/Victoria Jenkins/214 pgs.

This is the first in a series featuring Irene Chavez. Irene is a widow with a 14 year-old son, Victor.  More importantly, Irene is the only female detective in a rural Washington State sheriff's department. She is the first one on the scene when the body of Anne Paris is found floating in the slough at the bottom of her family's summer vacation home. It looks as if Anne is the victim of a sailing accident, but it appears otherwise to Detective Chavez. As she looks closer at Anne's family, Irene becomes more determined to find Anne's murderer. Family secrets are revealed, Irene's character and family life come into play, as does the new prosecuting attorney of Mason County, Theo Choate. In a sense, it's more of a psychological, rather than suspenseful mystery. I look forward to the next installment!

I'd Know You Anywhere/Laura Lippman/373 pgs.

Several victims are kidnapped and murdered--why was Eliza Benedict allowed to live? Discovering the answer to this question is what propels the plot in Lippman's psychological mystery. It's a very absorbing read; I highly recommend it!