Mystery Book Reviews

The best mystery book reviews. Mysteries are typically crime stories in which readers follows a detective or amateur sleuth attempting to solve a criminal puzzle. Compared with “crime thrillers,” mysteries often feature less graphic violence and shocking subject matter.

The Man by the Sea, a Highly Recommended Mystery by Jack Benton

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Bottom Line: An absolute feast for noir and paranormal thriller fans alike. Highly recommended. Slim Hardy is a functioning alcoholic who has paid his dues to the military. More recently, he has embarked on a career as a private eye, where he is tasked with figuring out exactly what Ted Douglas is doing in a remote cove every week. What seems like a straightforward marital […]

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The Escape Artist, a Truly Magical Crime Thriller by D.B. Cooper

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The Bottom Line: Hands down, Brad Meltzer’s best novel. Whether in his novels or in his short-lived TV show, Decoded, Brad Meltzer has always favored using historical events as the basis for implausible but entertaining conspiracy thrillers. In The Escape Artist, Meltzer demonstrates that he can also invent a truly magnificent character that, in virtually all ways, is better than the real-life characters he often

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Longreave, a Mesmerizing Horror Novel by Daniel Barnett

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The Bottom Line: Horror fans will find a treasure trove of supernatural surprises in Daniel Barnett’s Longreave. Set in a hotel called Longreave, situated in the fictional Atlantic seaboard town of Manxfield, author Daniel Barnett delivers plenty of creepy ambiance, especially when he introduces Mark Currier, a man who is picking up the pieces after a failed marriage. Mark isn’t unfamiliar with the hotel. His

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Force of Impact, an Addictive Crime Thriller by Bryan Cassiday

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The Bottom Line: A potent shot of contemporary LA Noir that will have readers hooked from page one. Fans of Dennis Lehane and James Ellroy will love Force of Impact. When LA horror novelist Bart Dillinger’s girlfriend doesn’t return home to the condo they share, he calls one of her friends to see if she’s seen her. The awkward call doesn’t produce any leads, so

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Silent Victim, a Dark Psychological Thriller by Caroline Mitchell

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The Bottom Line: If only they were all this good. A shake-you-to-the-core thriller that will touch every reader’s deepest fears. Emma is a loving wife, a devoted mother…and an involuntary killer. For years she’s been hiding the dead body of the teacher who seduced her as a teen. It’s a secret that might have stayed buried if only her life had been less perfect. A

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In a Cottage In a Wood, a New Thriller by Cass Green

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The Bottom Line: If you love big, never-saw-it-coming endings, this wintertime gem is for you. With the audiobook version weighing in at a brisk eight hours (compare that to The Goldfinch’s 32 hours), the payoff rests on a carefully-crafted crescendo, starting when a woman, Neve, meets troubled Isabelle on Waterloo Bridge late one night. Isabelle forces a parcel into Neve’s hands and jumps to her death

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One of Us, an Essential YA Whodunnit by Karen M. McManus

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The Bottom Line: An essential whodunnit for both YA and adult crime fiction fans. Karen M. McManus’ teen murder mystery is the perfect antidote to Netflix’s Riverdale, the Twin Peaks-meets-Archies mashup that never really feels set in high school. By contrast, McManus artfully sets up a believable single-setting high school atmosphere that feels inspired by both Clue and the Breakfast Club. On Monday afternoon, five

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The Wife Between Us, a Crime Thriller by Greer Hendricks

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The Bottom Line: Fans of Gone Girl will love Venessa Thompson, the book’s deliciously unreliable narrator. From the start, The Wife Between Us is a grand setup, a literary house of mirrors intended to invite expectations and then destroy them one by one. So yes, it’s contrived. But is it good? You betcha. This fast-paced story about a love triangle gone really wrong is driven

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Best Thrillers of 2017

The Best Thriller Books of 2017

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Our 2017 list of the best mysteries and thrillers is incredibly diverse, ranging the gamut from psychological thrillers such as Rose Edmunds’ second Crazy Amy book to Douglas E. Richards’ latest sci-fi mindbender. Unlike previous years, we’re highlighting exceptionally read audiobooks in our list as well – a nod to the growing popularity of the format. Infinity Born by Douglas E. Richards The Bottom Line:

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