What Happened to Nina? Dervla McTiernan

Published: HarperCollins Australia
Date: 28th February 2024
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home.

WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA?

Nobody knows. Simon’s explanation about what happened in their last hours together doesn’t add up. Nina’s parents push the police for answers, and Simon’s parents rush to protect him. They hire expensive lawyers and a PR firm that quickly ramps up a vicious, nothing-is-off-limits media campaign.

HOW FAR WILL HIS FAMILY GO TO KEEP HIM SAFE?

Soon, facts are lost in a swirl of accusation and counter-accusation. Everyone chooses a side, and the story goes viral, fuelled by armchair investigators and wild conspiracy theories and illustrated with pretty pictures taken from Nina’s social media accounts. Journalists descend on their small Vermont town, followed by a few obsessive ‘fans.’

HOW FAR WILL HER FAMILY GO TO GET TO THE TRUTH?

Nina’s family is under siege, but they never lose sight of the only thing that really matters – finding their daughter. Out-gunned by Simon’s wealthy, powerful family, Nina’s parents recognize that if playing by the rules won’t get them anywhere, it’s time to break them.

My thoughts.

What a disturbing crime/mystery story this is. We meet Nina in the prologue, we see things and when she disappears we know enough to be worried for her.

We see her family – distraught and out of their minds. We see Simon and his family and for a start they see money and power as the way to proceed. They are not likeable!

We see the police following up on small leads, and we see the online trolls that Rory – Simon’s father has set in place to blacken Nina and her family. That part I found chilling and oh so real. We see it every day over smaller matters than possible crime.

Have You Seen Nina? was a riveting and disturbing read. Would justice be served? I didn’t see what was coming and that was even more disturbing. It wasn’t something I could rest with or delight in. Messy!

All the Little Truths. Debra Webb

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Date: 7th November 2023
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Legal investigator Finley O’Sullivan has dealt with her share of shady characters, but the firm’s latest client has an even darker past than most. In fact, Nashville Metro Police seems to think he’s a murderer.

Finley isn’t so sure. Her investigation into Ray Johnson’s history focuses on the unsolved murder of a teenager who died thirteen years earlier. The case went cold, but questions remain. Months after the girl’s death, people close to her started disappearing—her mother first, then Ray’s brother. But why?

As Finley races to solve a decades-old murder, she uncovers new clues and long-buried secrets that could blow the case wide open. But whoever killed the girl all those years ago may still be a threat—and now the chase is on.

All the Little Truths is #3 in a trilogy about Finley, who works with Jack a defense attorney, as a sort of private investigator. Previously she was an assistant District Attorney.

When Ray Johnson hires Jack to defend him in a cold case that questions who killed Lucy, Finley soon finds herself in all kinds of interesting situations. The kind of situations that keep a reader reading late into the night!

There are so many pieces to this evolving story. Ray’s brother Ian is missing, Lucy’s mother has dropped off the face of the earth. Then Finley finds out that others near and dear to her are involved and holding on to secrets.

Finley is thorough and the more people she interviews, the more questions she asks, the tangled webb eventually begins to untangle in very surprising ways.  Danger lurks around many corners for Finley, but she courageously continues on until all is revealed. So many surprises.

I very much enjoyed this story and really hope to hear more about Finley as she moves on in her life and seeks to become the next District Attorney.

Recently Placed Books on to my TBR Shelf

Well that would be my virtual TBR! Which has grown again. I often put a book into my virtual TBR and hope that I will get to it. I did cull it, but maybe I need to do that again. But in the meantime I am looking at five of the latest that I have added that I am more likely to pick up.

What? First in a crime series. It involves a a couple of police characters and killer of course and its set in a small town in Woodbury MA. One character is Ellery Hathaway. No one there knows she was once victim number seventeen in the grisly story of serial killer Francis Michael Coben. The only one who lived.

Why? I liked the review of the #3 book in the series that I read and so I always like to start with #1.

How likely am I to get to it? Some likelihood. It is at our local library so that increased the possibility. Crime reading only forms part of my reading diet but I do like one now and then.

What? Stuck in a dreary Boston winter, Annabelle Martin would like nothing more than to run away from her current life. She’s not even thirty years old, twice-divorced, and has just dodged a marriage proposal… from her ex-husband. When she’s offered her dream job as creative director at a cutting-edge graphic design studio in Phoenix, she jumps at the opportunity to start over.

Why? Again I was alerted to this book via someones review. It’s contemporary women’s fiction and that’s probably my top reading genre.

How Likely am I to get it? A good likelihood. It is at the local library which is a point in favour. I like a story where a woman starts over.

What? London 1943: War and dwindling resources are taking their toll on the staff of Partridge Press. The pressure is on to create new books to distract readers from the grim realities of the war, but Partridge’s rising star, Alice Cotton, leaves abruptly and cannot be found.

Why? Again a review drew me to this book. It’s WW2 and involves some publishing and I think a missing child.

How Likely Am I to get to it? Highly likely as I have it already out from the library. Which doesn’t mean I always will read a book, but when its sitting there I will pick it up if I can.

What? Melanie Trenholm and her family navigate the eerie happenings in their town as ghosts threaten to upend their lives once again.

Why? It’s part of a series – #7 that I am reading, but I need to read #6 first. This one publishes later in the year. The final one I believe. It involves ghosts and mystery.

How Likely Am I to get it? 100 % likely. I am invested in reading or listening to this series.

What? When thirty-nine year old Maria Forssmann wakes up in her seventeen-year-old body, she doesn’t know how she got there. All she does know is she has to get back: to her home in Bienville, Mississippi, to her job as a successful psychiatrist and, most importantly, to her husband, daughters, and unborn son.

Why? Again I read a review for this book and it appealed. It has some time travel and magical realism. Plus it has a women’s fiction feel.

How likely am I go get it? A good likelihood. It’s not at the library, but it is on audiobook at Audible and so I have put it in my Wish list.

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Edge of Darkness by Karen Rose

Published: Headline/Hachette Australia
Date:  2nd November 2017
Format:e-ARC
Pages: 608
Genre: Suspense/Crime
Source: Hachette Australia via NetGalley

Homicide detective Adam Kimble is no stranger to battling demons. But Meredith Fallon is a different kind of weakness: one that could actually be good for him, if only he would let himself depend on her. Meredith has loved Adam for a year, and seeing how hard he’s worked to deal with his PTSD makes her feelings only stronger, but she respects his needs. Her work keeps her busy anyway: she counsels sexually abused women like Mallory Martin to help them reintegrate into the world. But someone doesn’t want Meredith helping women like Mallory, and Meredith finds herself the target of a very determined killer. Adam would risk anything for Meredith, but they’ll soon find out the killer is just a little too close to home…

Edge of Darkness by Karen Rose is one of those books that I just had to keep reading. By rights I shouldn’t even like it, it is full of crime, nasty crime and so many killings. However its the fight of good against evil and I know the evil is going to be eventually overcome.

I’ve only read two other books in this series but I want to go back and read all of them! Some day! In the meantime this was perfect and while it is part of a series it can stand alone, although it doesn’t hurt to have met the characters before. Yes there are quite a few of them. The first time I read a book in the series I jotted down names and how they are related, and hey presto now there is “no problemo”.

This is the story of Adam Kimble – detective and Meredith. We’d seen Adam withdraw from his family and friends – they didn’t know why and neither did the reader. In this book all is revealed as Adam becomes centre stage. Adam and Meredith are always seeking to do what is right for others, they are both wounded people and are coping with their own dysfunctions. Yet their hears are full of love, loyalty and courage.

The story ranges over about a week – it is told from the viewpoint of many – Adam, Meredith, the perpetrator of the crimes and some of the victims. For a long while we don’t know who is behind the shocking things that happen and when we do find out it is to discover that greed, jealousy, callousness and evil are alive and kicking in the heart of the person who has caused such devastation.

What draws me to these books are the strong bonds that exist between all the detectives, the people who help victims as does Meredith, the newspaper team and the IT team. Bonds of loyalty, support and love are strong. I loved Meredith’s grandfather, I want to see more of Diesel the IT newspaper guy who walks a fine line in terms of the law and Dani the doctor – sister of one of the detectives. The little cameos of fun and humour don’t hurt either.

Fast paced, full of tension, fantastic characters and a plot that took me away from my world into another. Can’t ask for more.