Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Summary

“Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.”

In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable--something impossible.

Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe.

Review

When I began this book, I thought I knew what it would be about, but I was pleasantly surprised by turns in the plot, as well as with how much 'science' was actually included in the story line as well. I think it was a great read, and makes you think about what really makes you, you. As with all of Blake Crouch's books, it has just the perfect amount of character development, mystery, and a slight fantasy/supernatural feel.

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Basic Eight by Daniel Handler

Summary

Flannery Culp wants you to know the whole story of her spectacularly awful senior year. Tyrants, perverts, tragic crushes, gossip, cruel jokes, and the hallucinatory effects of absinthe -- Flannery and the seven other friends in the Basic Eight have suffered through it all. But now, on tabloid television, they're calling Flannery a murderer, which is a total lie. It's true that high school can be so stressful sometimes. And it's true that sometimes a girl just has to kill someone. But Flannery wants you to know that she's not a murderer at all -- she's a murderess.

Review

This is an interesting book, it reads like a diary, but has been modified by the writer in the future, as evidence for her murder trial. It's interesting to see how things play out, though it is eluded as to what will happen. You do begin to relate to the main character and feel bad for the inevitable that will come.

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Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

Summary

The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.

There are ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them.

Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons—and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they’ll disappear for good.

Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted and Tessa moved, and childhood friends just have a way of losing touch.

But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.

Only the closer Tessa gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

Review

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The Origin Mystery by A.G. Riddle

The Origin Mystery series includes: Atlantis Gene, Atlantis Plague, and Atlantis World.

Summary

THE ATLANTIS GENE is a thought-provoking techno-thriller about global genetic experiments, ancient conspiracies, and the mysteries of human evolution. Its complex characters and historical and scientific details will stay with you long after you finish. This sci-fi adventure is the first book in A.G. Riddle’s Origin Mystery Series.

Review

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I am the Weapon by Allen Zadoff

I am the Weapon is book 1 of The Unknown Assassin series by Allen Zadoff. It is also known as Boy Nobody.

Summary

Boy Nobody is the perennial new kid in school, the one few notice and nobody thinks much about. He shows up in a new high school in a new town under a new name, makes a few friends, and doesn't stay long. Just long enough for someone in his new friend's family to die-of "natural causes." Mission accomplished, Boy Nobody disappears, moving on to the next target.

But when he's assigned to the mayor of New York City, things change. The daughter is unlike anyone he has encountered before; the mayor reminds him of his father. And when memories and questions surface, his handlers at The Program are watching. Because somewhere deep inside, Boy Nobody is somebody: the kid he once was; the teen who wants normal things, like a real home and parents; a young man who wants out. And who just might want those things badly enough to sabotage The Program's mission.

In this action-packed series debut, author Allen Zadoff pens a page-turning thriller that is as thought-provoking as it is gripping, introducing an utterly original and unforgettable antihero.

Review

I am the Weapon is non-stop action. It has you questioning the whole way, and I did not see what was coming. The main character is likable and real. This was a good book, a fast read with an interesting plot with twists.

Note: I was provided a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman

Summary

"Two little girls banished from a neighborhood birthday party take a wrong turn down an unfamiliar Baltimore street and encounter an abandoned stroller with an infant inside. What happens next is shocking and terrible, and three families are irreparably destroyed.

Seven years later, Alice Manning and Ronnie Fuller, now eighteen, are released from "kid prison" to begin their lives over again. But the secrets swirling around the original crime continue to haunt the parents, the lawyers, the police all the adults in Alice and Ronnie's lives. And now another child has disappeared, under freakishly similar circumstances ..."

Review

I was a little skeptical when beginning Every Secret Thing. I was worried it would be dramatic and morbid, but was immediately drawn into the world of the characters. There are many different characters and sub-plots so that this book creates its own world with its myriad of characters. After seeing things from each characters perspective its almost impossible to not sympathize with them to some degree. The plot took a turn I did not quite expect, and I was hooked into the story so that I wanted to find out what happened. It didn't leave many loose-ends and I felt a nice resolution at the end of the book.

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