New and Notable Suspense Novels

by Susan Roberts

As the dog days of summer stretch on, it is too hot to do much more than sit in the air conditioning with a book you won't want to put down. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for honest reviews.

Crime Fiction for the Long, Cold Nights

by MK French

The long, cold nights of fall and winter are a great time to read crime fiction. Today, I have two that you will want to put on your reading list and two that you can start reading today.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

A Very Bad Thing by J.T. Ellison ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

'A great writer knows when to deliver a juicy plot twist. But for one author, the biggest twist of all is her own murder.'

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Her Dark Lies by J.T. Ellison ~ a Review & Excerpt

by MK French

Isla Isola is an idyllic island off the coast of Italy, and where Claire Hunter will marry Jack Compton. The idyll is shattered almost the moment Claire arrives on the island. A body is found, and then there are creepy texts, a ruined wedding dress, and the mystery of Jack's first wife. When the power goes out, it all goes downhill from there.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Good Girls Lie by J.T. Ellison ~ an Excerpt

Today, we have an excerpt from J.T. Ellison's new psychological thriller Good Girls Lie.

A Thousand Doors: An Anthology of Many Lives, J.T. Ellison, Editor ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

The Day She Died, pg 7

Tear Me Apart by J.T. Ellison ~ a @harlequinbooks Review

by Susan Roberts

The first paragraph of the prologue.

Wow -- this is an intense, exciting book that will keep you enthralled until the last page. I must admit, I was up after midnight last night because I had to find out how it ended. There were so many twists and turns in this novel and just when I thought I had it all figured out, I found out that I was totally wrong. The ending is a surprise but is absolutely perfect.

Psychological Suspense at Its Best! Lie to Me by J.T. Ellison

by Susan Roberts


Lie to Me is a wonderful book that kept me reading on into the night. I had a clue early in the book of the person responsible but was I ever wrong! This book has more twists and turns than you can imagine and just when you get a clue, it turns out to be false and replaced by an even bigger twist to the story. You are going to read comparisons to Gone Girl in many reviews but this book is so much better and more interesting. When you start this book make sure that you can clear your calendar because you won't want to put it down.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this link. A free book was provided for an honest review.

September 2017; MIRA; 978-0778313649;
ebook, audio, print (416 pages); thriller

As the novel begins, Ethan finds a note from his wife that says she's left and not to try to look for her. Ethan is shocked to find that her wallet, laptop, and phone are still in her home office so immediately thinks that someone has abducted her. As he thinks back on their lives together and their love for each other, the reader can tell that he is leaving out crucial information but we don't know what it all has to do with her being gone. Once he calls the police, they immediately decide that he is responsible for his wife's disappearance and possible death. Because Ethan and Sutton are both well known authors, the media arrives on his front door and camps out and the search for Sutton becomes an international story. And when Sutton's friends are interviewed by the police, a totally different story about their lives together emerges. Have their lives been a perfect love story as Ethan would have the world believe or are there secrets that both have kept from the world and from each other?

Read this perfectly done suspense thriller for the answer and be prepared to be kept guessing until almost the end.

This is my first book by JT Ellison and I think it's time to go back and read some of her earlier books. To me, this was psychological suspense at its best!

Buy Lie to Me at Amazon

About the Author: 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J.T. Ellison writes standalone domestic noir and psychological thriller series, the latter starring Nashville Homicide Lt. Taylor Jackson and medical examiner Dr. Samantha Owens, and pens the international thriller series “A Brit in the FBI" with #1 New York Times bestselling author Catherine Coulter. Cohost of the Emmy Award-winning literary television series, A Word on Words, Ellison lives in Nashville with her husband and twin kittens.
Website | Facebook | Twitter

Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina when she isn't traveling.  She and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening and spending time with their family and friends.  She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and thrillers. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with her on Facebook, Goodreads or Twitter.

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What a Ride: All the Pretty Girls

All the Pretty Girls by J. T. Ellison
audio book, Narrator: Joyce Bean
Published: April 2010 by Brilliance Audio
ISBN13: 9781441838407
Listened: September 2012
Source: Digital Library
Find it at Goodreads, IndieBound, Amazon

What a thrill ride this book was. I was not familiar with this series. I found it when searching the digital library for the Percy Jackson series. All the Pretty Girls is the first book in the Taylor Jackson series.

I didn't check it out right away because I was afraid it would be too close to horror for my liking. And it did start off pretty gruesome - a dead body with severed hands.

It was a little hard to follow on audio as the cast is kind of large and there isn't one crime, but two crimes being investigated. There is the main murder mystery - the Southern Strangler. Then there is serial rapist - the Rain Man. The secondary crime seemed a little odd. I had to check to make sure this was the first book in the series. In some ways, it was as if we should already know the players and we are dropped more into the middle of the investigation. I'm not sure what the point of having this second story except to divide the reader's attention.

The primary murder mystery had a number of twist and turns. At about 60 percent, I was sure I knew who the Southern Strangler was. But then the cops thought so too and the doubt began to creep in. There was a curve ball thrown and I'm not sure if missed something or if it really was out of left field. The ending was shocking.

I definitely want to check out more of this series. I like Taylor and Baldwin (who I hope is in the rest of the books). Unfortunately it doesn't look like the digital library has any of the others and a quick search of my library's online catalog showed none there either.

Looking for an excellent crime thriller? Pick up a copy of All the Pretty Girls.