Thriller – Carol's Notebook

Forever and a Day by Anthony Horowitz

April 14, 2025April 14, 2025 by Carol4 Comments

I like Horowitz. I enjoy James Bond. Apparently the two put together are annoying. It’s the early ‘50s and British intelligence is worried about unusual activity in Marseille’s underworld so they send one of their elite agents to check it out, but 007 is murdered. His replacement? A young man named Bond. James Bond. And it is a stereotypical Bond story. We have a beautiful, intelligent woman and the bad guy is appropriately evil and easy to describe. We have food, drinks, cars, gambling, and plenty of violence. Maybe that's what had me rolling my eyes. It was predictable. The plot does move along quickly and if you're looking for a James Bond story, it is definitely that. Maybe that's just not what I was in the mood for....

This Book Will Bury Me by Ashley Winstead

March 26, 2025March 26, 2025 by Carol1 Comment

This Book Will Bury Me is told from Jane Sharpe's point of view. She's 24, has recently lost her father by way of a heart attack, and has become obsessed with true crime, or maybe more accurate, with a true crime online forum where amateur sleuths discuss clues and theories about the murders in the headlines. I listened to the audio and the narrator does a fabulous job. Her tone and pace match the story well. Each character has a distinctive voice, and she brings out Jane's emotions well. Take the time to read the author note on this one. She was inspired by several real life murder cases, including the killings in Idaho in 2022, and the loss of her own father. How you feel about that may influence whether you want to pick this one up or not. The plot is engrossing. Jane has found acceptance and support in her online community, even a bit of fame. Then...

The Fury by Alex Michaelides

January 15, 2024April 10, 2024 by CarolNo Comments

The blurb for The Fury grabbed my attention. A famous former movie star and her friends trapped on a Greek Island and someone is murdered - sign me up. Elliott Chase is our narrator and listening to the audio worked perfectly for the writing style. Elliott constantly addresses the reader, tells us the events but only from the angle he wants us to see, and acknowledges his flaws as a narrator. It was interesting how he goes back over scenes, each time adding new details, but how he could have known some piece is unclear. Jennings does a good job of hitting Elliot's tone and moods. Honestly, the fact that it was an audiobook is what allowed me to finish it. The setup was so promising, but the book never lived up to it. The narrative style came across as trying too hard to be clever. I didn't care about any of the characters and while the island should have been gorgeous,...

The Cliff House by Chris Brookmyre

October 7, 2023September 8, 2023 by CarolNo Comments

Six women travel to Clachan Geal, a remote Scottish island, for a bachelorette party. The women, some old friends, some new acquaintances, are renting out the luxurious mansion on the private island, where it will be just them, a personal chef, and the property manager. The whole thing goes awry quickly. Before dinner but after drinking several cocktails, the chef is discovered dead in the kitchen, clearly murdered, and one of the women is taken, threatened with death by The Reaper. The Reaper claims one of the woman is not who she appears to be, and if she doesn't tell her secret and unless she tells her secret, the hostage will die. The beginning is a bit slow as we get to know all the women and see the situation from each perspective. I'm not sure if listening to the audio helped keep everything straight or hindered it. It took me a while to really figure out who was who and...

The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin

July 5, 2023July 5, 2023 by Carol1 Comment

I confess I have never seen the movie version of The Boys from Brazil. Honestly, I only picked it up because I was looking for a book set in Brazil and this one is a classic thriller. It's set in the world of the Nazi hunters of the mid and later twentieth century. It's conspiracy mixed with historical facts. The story begins with a top-secret meeting in a Japanese restaurant to initiate a mysterious project by 'the comrade organization'. Six hitmen are assigned to kill 94 older civil servants scattered throughout the world, and they must die on the designated dates set forth by the still-hunted Josef Mengele. Renowned Nazi-hunter, Yakov Liebermann learns about the plot via a mysterious phone call from a twenty-something American who went down Brazil to investigate. The young man is killed while on the phone call. The novel is gripping and while the plot is maybe a bit far-fetched, it was fascinating. It was easy to...

Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes

March 27, 2023March 28, 2023 by Carol4 Comments

It's not often that I pick audiobooks based on the narrator, but Simon Vance and Neil Patrick Harris, and the title is Murder Your Employer - I was sold. The McMasters Conservatory for the Applied Arts is an exclusive institution of higher education for aspiring murderers, referred to by the school as deletists. The classes cover a large range of subjects from "Herbicide" to forgery to croquet (mallets can be deadly weapons). Murder Your Employer details the experiences of three students from the graduating class – aeronautics engineer Cliff Iverson (whose anonymous sponsor remains a mystery revealed at the end of the story), hospital employee Gemma Lindley, and Dulcie Mown (alias for Hollywood diva Doria Maye) - each of whom wants to kill their respective employer/boss. We follow all three candidates through their orientation, training, and ultimately their “thesis” or how well they apply what they learn and execute their plan. The 1950s setting gave it a nostalgic air and the campus...