Before I started reading predominantly romance, I used to read a decent amount of thrillers. Whether they were YA or Adult, I found myself reaching for them regularly but started to get annoyed with them being so hit or miss. I have only read a handful of thrillers over the past couple of years so I thought, given the time of year, I would give a few popular thrillers a go. I decided to pick up three books that I have heard a lot of great things about and see if I could find the book to make me fall in love with thrillers again. I decided it might be interesting to share my thoughts before, during and after reading to see how my feelings changed throughout.
50% Thoughts: I am completely hooked. This book sucked me in straight away with the atmospheric setting and flipping between the wedding night and the days before. I really enjoy the various POVs, I think it makes for such a fast read. The mystery is still so unknown at this point, we don’t really know much about what has happened yet. I like that as I can’t make any guesses, which is usually what ruins a mystery/thriller for me if I manage to guess correctly. I’m really enjoying this so far and I just hope nothing happens to change my thoughts.
Final Thoughts: I am happy to say that this is a thriller that was worth the hype for me. It was full of twists that kept me reading on and I just loved the way it was written. We are following the bride, groom, various members of the wedding party and the wedding planner in the days leading up to the wedding and the wedding night. The multiple POVs made for such a fast paced read and kept the mystery going as you didn’t know who you could trust, as did the jumping between past and present timelines. I enjoyed how the ending was set up as even though I did manage to guess who the killer was, the journey to get to the reveal was still so intense and intriguing. This was exactly the kind of thriller for me and I will definitely be looking for more like this in the future.
Rating: ★★★★
50% Thoughts: The first half of this book was boring. I hate to say that as it was not what I was expecting from this. All I have heard is how thrilling and intense this book is but I haven’t felt any of that so far. Despite the slow start, the characters are interesting and the plot still has potential so I am hoping it picks up a bit from this point. I’m pretty sure I’ve guessed the twist though, I hope I’m wrong.
Final Thoughts: I wasn’t wrong. I guessed the twist the second a character was introduced. It doesn’t bother me too much when I guess the twist if getting to it is exciting and the reveal is worth it. Sadly, this was a bit disappointing. It wasn’t a bad book, it just didn’t live up to the hype for me. It did pick up a bit in the second half and things got more exciting and intense but never enough for me to be all that invested. As I said before, the characters were interesting and just as twisted as I like to see in my thrillers. While the pacing was slightly off, the plot itself wasn’t bad. It was a unique concept and the author did a great job of throwing in red herrings and keeping you guessing; It’s just a shame that I made a good guess early on. Although this one was a bit of a disappointment for me, I would be interested in reading more from Riley Sager now as I did enjoy the writing.
Rating: ★★★
50% Thoughts: This one has been a bit of a surprise for me because so far I am really enjoying it! It is unlike anything I have read before and has me completely hooked. This is following a high profile murder trial of a movie star following the murder of his actress wife and their head of security and is told from two perspectives. The first is of the lawyer who becomes involved in the case, the second is that of the killer who has gotten himself on the jury. I am so in awe of how cleverly written this is. Maybe it is just because I don't read a lot of books like this but I don't think I have ever been this hooked when reading a thriller. It is intense and pretty graphic and gory, which are not things I really love to read, but it is all just so intriguing. The twists keep on coming, I have no idea where this is going and I can't stop reading. I really am loving this so far!
Final Thoughts: In a surprising turn of events, this was my favourite of the three and probably the best book I have read in months. I loved it! I am now questioning my reading tastes; am I actually a romance reader or should I now be reading legal thrillers and crime novels? My final thoughts are pretty much the same as my thoughts from the half way point. This book just continued to keep me interested and shock me with the twists it took. I never knew what would come next, it was so cleverly written. It was intense and gripping, I was completely immersed in this story and couldn't put the book down. I'm a lover of true crime documentaries and this read in a similar way, to me at least. I will definitely be reading more from this author and I might have to start asking my family for some book recommendations as they are all big crime readers.
Rating: ★★★★★
This was something a little different for me as I have been reading so much romance this year. Even though I love romance, I was starting to get a little burnt out and found myself getting slumpy and rating everything around the 3 star mark. This has definitely gotten me out of my reading slump and I even found a new five star book.
If you have any thriller recommendations based on my thoughts on these three books, please let me know so I can find some more new favourites.
What is your favourite type of thriller?
Sophie :)
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