3 Best Thrillers of June with Stunning Twists Now
- Published on
- Shalini
- in Book Posts, Book Reviews, Digital Reads Media, Fiction
My 3 best thrillers out of the 8 books I read in the last week of June.
Table of Contents
The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding
Blurb of The Drowning Woman
Lee Gulliver never thought she’d find herself living on the streets—no one ever does—but when her restaurant fails, and she falls deeper into debt, she leaves her old life behind with nothing but her clothes and her Toyota Corolla.
In Seattle, she parks in a secluded spot by the beach to lay low and plan her next move—until early one morning, she sees a sobbing woman throw herself into the ocean.
Lee hauls the woman back to the surface, but instead of appreciation, she is met with fury.
The drowning woman, Hazel, tells her that she wanted to die, that she’s trapped in a toxic, abusive marriage, that she’s a prisoner in her own home.
Lee has thwarted her one chance to escape her life.
Out of options, Hazel retreats to her gilded cage, and Lee thinks she’s seen the last of her, until her unexpected return the next morning.
Bonded by disparate but difficult circumstances, the women soon strike up a close and unlikely friendship.
And then one day, Hazel makes a shocking request: she wants Lee to help her disappear.
It’ll be easy, Hazel assures her, but Lee soon learns that nothing is as it seems, and that Hazel may not be the friend Lee thought she was.
Publication Date: June 2023
Book Links
What was it all about
The Drowning Woman by Robyn Harding was an interesting book that spoke of sisterhood, even when one was stabbing the other in the back. I loved the subtle byplays that seemed to occur between my two main characters Lee and Hazel.
Lee was down on her luck, having lost her restaurant in the pandemic. Hazel was the drowning woman, escaping an abusive husband, whom Lee saved. The whole story was all about how their lives intertwined with half-truths and blatant lies. And of course, the men in their lives, including the idiot cops investigating a murder.
A standalone, this was my first book by this author. I could borrow the book from my friend and had a good time reading this.
The Trigger Warnings & the Hook
Trigger Warnings: lying, dumb men along with dumber women.
The secrets and lies kept me hooked on it. Compared to the books I had been reading, this was one of the better ones. At any rate, I felt the book surpassed my exception.
Characters & Style of Writing
I liked the two women. There was some sort of camaraderie between them. An open friendship along with something else in the background that kept my attention focused on to them.
The writing style, in any case, made me hold on to the book until I reached the end. I felt I liked most parts of the book, though some points did niggle me. Read on…
In truth, how many different ways could you write a thriller plot? As an author told me, there were bound to be creative license taken advantage of, including similar plot lines.
I liked the crazy situations the two women were thrown into, but had to admit, I didn’t like their lack of brains where men were concerned.
Plot & Pace
There was a murder and layers of betrayal. Added to them were the abuse and bad luck heaped on the women. I loved how suspense was carefully embedded in the story, making me want to get to the bottom of the things.
The twists, even when I expected them to come about, were so unexpected in the way written that earth shook beneath me. Deals made, deals broken, followed by the double deals and no deal attitude made the book a roller coaster.
A slow-paced book that had bursts of adrenaline started out with Lee’s POV then became Hazel’s. And it was easy to believe both of them.
But…
The book was not without its problems. There were a few unbelievable scenes of both the characters sleeping with the man in question, despite not knowing much about them. The logistics of how scenes were brought about sometimes felt to be too fantastical. Dark web needed Tor, and things couldn’t be bought off it so easily. A little research would have shown that.
I wished women were cast intelligently in the books, taking care that women in abusive relationships or those who had been living in the streets and attacked would develop great instincts. That’s survival ABC. Sadly enough, even the secondary characters, Lee’s sister, was dumb with regards to men, believing a man caught cheating, rather than her own sister.
Authors, women are so much more than what you have portrayed them as.
How it made me feel
Despite all its problems, the book kept me gripped to the story. The analytical part of my brain had to be told to kept schtum, and only the thrill of the ride to be experienced. I had a good time once I did that.
Would recommend this book as it was different and intriguing.
She Started It by Sian Gilbert
Blurb of She Started It
The party of a lifetime is nothing like what they expected…
Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe are best friends—or were, as children. Despite drifting apart in adulthood, shared secrets have kept them bonded for better or worse, even as their childhood dreams haven’t quite turned out as they’d hoped. Then one day they receive a wholly unexpected—but not entirely unwelcome—invitation from another old friend. Poppy Greer has invited them all to her extravagant bachelorette party: a first-class plane ticket to three days of white sand, cocktails, and relaxation on a luxe private island in the Bahamas.
None of them has spoken to Poppy in years. But Poppy’s Instagram pics shows that the girl they used to consider the weakest link in their group has definitely made good—and made money. Curiosity gets the better of them. Besides, who can turn down a posh all-expenses-paid vacation on a Caribbean island?
The first-class flight and the island’s accommodations are just as opulent as expected…even if the scenic island proves more remote than they’d anticipated. Quite remote, in fact, with no cell service, and no other guests. The women quickly discover they’ve underestimated Poppy, and each other. As their darkest secrets are revealed, the tropical adventure morphs into a terrifying nightmare.
Publication Date: June 2023
Book Links
What was it all about
She Started It by Sian Gilbert had four high school friends coming together in a reunion on an all-expense paid luxury trip. All this was courtesy the girl they had bullied right through high school.
But just the idea of free food and stay and the need to escape their boring lives got the girls excited enough without thinking of the repercussions of such an invitation.
This standalone was my first book by this author, and oh my! I was blown by the swiftness of the pace.
The Trigger Warnings & the Hook
Trigger Warnings: Mean, bullying girls turning into mean women
Could women be so mean to other women? Maybe you didn’t believe it thus far. But, post reading this book, you would start believing it. The amount of bullying one girl went through at the hands of four others shocked the heck out of me. Literally had goosebumps all through.
In the light of all that, I realized I was supporting the underdog, and I had to read the whole book. The book evoked a torrential wave of emotions that I couldn’t stay away from it.
Characters & Style of Writing
All of the characters were pretty bad, despicable word came to mind when I started reading. But that was what made them more interesting. It was so much fun to hate all of them.
Tanya, Esther, Annabel, Chloe didn’t waste a moment to make Poppy’s life miserable in high school to the point that she lost all her career options. And to think they considered their bullying in high school to be minor pranks, light foibles. Absolute blasphemy.
Poppy was their intended target in high school, and she was the one sponsoring this trip. Little did the others ponder the fact that nobody could ever forget such meanness or wonder why Poppy would consider the four to be best friends and intended bridesmaids.
As the case might be, idiots deserved what came to them. And the author’s writing was powerful in building up those impending repercussions. I knew it was going to come, but I didn’t know when and how. And that was where the thrill was.
Plot & Pace
Blasting was the pace from beginning to end, often wavering to unbelievable scenes. Think Kill Bill, and channel Uma Thurman, if you will.
The story was predictable, no doubt. All of us thriller readers could easily guess the end. But the little games Poppy played were equally gripping. During the journey down the pages, many unexpected things happened.
The author managed to capture the atmosphere of locked island pretty good, where I too was ensnared by it. I spent the whole afternoon reading it. Wow.
My heart with its thriller-y need for vengeance was satisfied. The book was slightly longer than needed, quite macabre at the end. But the lack of remorse shown by all, even after the truth is revealed hit me hard.
How it made me feel
Humans were mean to each other. That was the first thought I had. And the second was – I was happy I loved Kill Bill both parts with its gore.
If you were like me, you would enjoy this book.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager
Blurb of The Only One Left
At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope
Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929.
While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it.
Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.
Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life
It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night.
In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter.
One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.
“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead
As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know.
But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.
Publication Date: June 2023
Book Links
What was it all about
Only One Left by Riley Sager was about one broke, charged-with-her-mother’s-death caregiver Kit and one broken, seventy-year-old woman who needed help in her daily life on a wheelchair, as she could barely move one hand. Lenora Hope
Riley Sager’s books were hit or miss for me. Luckily, this was a semi-hit. But … and a very big but … the book had a lot of plot holes, which could have been fixed if it had gone through a fish-eye scrutiny.
A standalone, this could easily capture you with the premise, as suddenly, down the pages, Leonora Hope wanted to tell Kit her story about the stabbings of her parents and sister’s hanging. All via the typewriter using one finger typing one word per minute.
The Trigger Warnings & the Hook
Trigger Warnings: Plot holes. Leave your brains when you read this book. Don’t analyze it.
There were a lot of things that were not synchronized to the plot the author was narrating. But compared to all his books, this was one of the better ones.
Characters & Style of Writing
Hated all of these characters. But they were intriguing too. As if they were waiting for me to unmask them and reveal their secrets to the world.
But they were quite similar to what Riley liked in his books, nothing new in the characterization.
The whole book was quite atmospheric with its house on the cliffs where pieces of it were regularly falling into the sea. The family massacre that knocked the town for a six and was still a dare to kids to enter. Only 3 employees who had been there for years. The previous caregiver having suddenly disappeared.
Plot & Pace
The plot made you want to guess the story and keep reading to check if your curiosity had outguessed the author’s devious mind.
The concept and the writing was extremely like Agatha Christie. The story was a slow burner, where the author kept adding one interesting facet after another.
But…
The book had crater-like plot holes. There was no one to check the continuity of the story in the publishing house. At one place the wheel-chaired woman could nod and in another, she couldn’t.
The typewriter, though heavy to lift, could be easily dumped on Lenora’s lap. Remember she was a frail woman on a wheelchair with atrophied muscles.
Too many repetitive words and lines. Wished the author had varied vocabulary. There was always the Thesaurus, which wasn’t referenced by anyone in the team.
How it made me feel
The ending, though unbelievable and even impossible, still made me happy because I had totally guessed it.
You need to watch a lot of Hindi movies from India, as such a story had been done in the 1970s.
I would still recommend this book for the atmosphere of a palatial mansion falling into the ocean nearly every week with its slanting walls and floor.
Check out the other books available on Amazon.
I downloaded the digital version of the book from an online retail, and this is my journey down its pages, straight from the heart. STRICTLY HONEST and UNBIASED.
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3 Responses
Oh such great reviews. I haven’t really heard about She Started It but I’m very invested after this review. I do have the other two high on my TBR. Can’t wait to pick up these three books.
Hey. How are you
Read it with a pinch of salt. They are not perfect books, but they are highly entertaining.
let me know how it goes.
Oh okay, that is good to know. Thank you for letting me know. Defintely looking for some highly entertaining books at least.