The Girl Next Door/ Jack Ketchum/ 370 pages/ Horror

David lives in what seems to be a happy neighborhood to grow up in. Nice homes, lots of boys in the area his age to hang out with. However, happy home life is not the case for Meg and her sister Susan. Their family was in a car accident causing the death of both their parents and they must move in with their aunt Ruth and her sons. Shortly after arriving to their new home they are imprisoned in the basement where Ruth allows the neighborhood boys to torture Meg and if Meg doesn't behave Susan is punished.
This book was extremely disturbing and grusome. If you are sensitive to that I do not recommend you picking this book up.
I think this book was very well written and accomplished what it intended to do. Jack Ketchum wanted his readers to be uncomfortable reading this in order to make an impact. It was an excellent example for us to listen to those around us who come to us for help and for us to get help fast. If David went to get help from the beginning he could have stopped things before they escalated to the point they got. Because of the content, I didn't have an enjoyable time reading this but at the same time I could not stop reading and I felt like it is a good story that makes an impact and sticks with you. One that I won't be forgetting anytime soon with lessons I want to keep. If you're looking for something disturbing and horrific for Halloween-time you may want to try this.

A Deadly Thaw: A Mystery / Sarah Ward / 377 pages

  The second volume in the Detective Sadler series by Sarah Ward. I enjoyed the first one so much I immediately started the second one. Once again the past has come back to haunt not only the police force but also the village of Bampton. In 2004 a woman was convicted of killing her husband. She offered no defense, no reason as to why she committed the crime. She went to prison and served her time. In 2016, her husband was killed again. What is going on?
  Detective Sadler has been charged with finding out the truth. First what happened back in 2004 because it is the belief that will have an affect on the present. His team is back and just as competitive as ever. They have to tread carefully because it looks like the first investigation wasn't handled correctly. The story alternates once again between suspects, interested parties and the police. This is a fast paced plot with a lot of twists. I am in awe of the author who can keep all the different character threads spinning without causing the reader confusion. Excellent mystery.

6 Degrees of Reading: The Trespasser by Tana French, The Woman In Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris.

In Bitter Chill / Sarah Ward / 314 pages

 In this British police procedural dark secrets have a habit of coming out in the long run. In 1978 two young girls were kidnapped and only one managed to escape. No one was ever arrested and the other girl was never found. Thirty years later, the survivor Rachel has managed to make a life for herself and is trying to live as normally as possible. Unfortunately the past has a way of rearing its ugly head with terrible consequences.
  A first volume in what I hope to be a long series. In the town of Bampton, we have a police force still trying to live down its own past misdeeds. Detective Inspector Francis Sadler has a squad of young officers who are not weighed down by the past. He is asked to look into the recent suicide of a woman who was connected with the kidnapping. Is he going to find anything new to help resolve the long-standing case? In this brilliantly constructed puzzle we follow the police and the suspects through out the investigation, wondering what is a clue, red herring or the true murderer. I loved the twists and turns and the relationships of the characters. It is a fast read with a truly well rewarded and exciting ending. I can't wait to see what else the author Ward has up her sleeve.  

6 Degrees of Reading: Black-Eyed Susans by Julia Heaberlin, Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry, The Ex by Alafair Burke.

Summer Secrets/Jane Green/308 pages

Cat Coombs is in her twenties, a journalist and a party regular. She grew up with a distant father and her depressed, American mother in England. She always knew she was a disappointment to her father, but she never knew why. After his death and a particularly bad hangover, her mother reveals a secret that gives Cat hope for a better family life. But her trip to Nantucket doesn't go like she hopes and her life in England goes on. Years later, another trip to Nantucket, this time to make amends, opens up a surprise relationship and leads her back to another one.

I don't know anything about Jane Green, but this book and it's intimate knowledge about alcoholics and AA seems very close to her. I almost wouldn't call it a summer read or beach book just because it's such a heavy subject. But with its focus on relationships and forgiveness, it is just what most people want from summer book.

Daddy's Gone A Hunting/Mary Higgins Clark/338 pages

When Kate Connelly is severely injured and Gus Schmidt is killed in an explosion at Kate's family's furniture plant, the assumption is that they were responsible for the blast in an effort to collect insurance money. Kate's sister, Hannah, and Lottie Schmidt are sure that there is another culprit, but since Kate is in a coma, there's only supposition on the part of the fire investigators. A skeleton found in a sinkhole found during the clean up of the site only adds to the mystery. Plus, evidence of a squatter in one of the wreaked delivery vans in the back of the parking lot also throws more doubt at the theory. Add several more murders and one (possibly two) fraud schemes and you have a typical M.H. Clark monstrosity. 

I loved Clark's first five or so books, but it's been decades since I've read her books. It all became come back to me while I was reading this. She has so many stories going on at once, it makes me dizzy. After I finished the book and went to bed, I woke up suddenly with the realization that she had left one part of the mystery unexplained. I went back and reread the pertinent parts and found out that she just didn't finish that part of the story. She was probably just as dizzy as I was. I don't recommend this book.