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Breathe In, Bleed Out
Author: Brian McAuley
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Published: September 2, 2025I’m relatively new to the horror genre, and I didn’t think I’d like slashers, but there was something about this book that allowed me to peek through my fingers at the gruesome goriness!
- Cult like atmosphere? Check!
- Mysterious guru and creepy accomplice? Check!
- Remote setting? Check!
- Infighting among friends? Check and check!
Hannah has lost her boyfriend in a hiking accident, although we get the feeling there is more to it. She is wracked by all kinds of guilt and keeps hallucinating he’s haunting her. Her visions are so disorienting that she messes up at work and is put on leave. She decides to reach out to her former friend, who invites her to a spa – all details are shrouded in mystery since it’s by invitation only. Of course, it’s in a secluded area. Of course there’s a charismatic guru. And of course, people are unalived. I told you this was a slasher, right? 🙂 To say more would be to give too much away, but just know that this is the perfect gateway book for someone new to horror!
Thank you to Camp NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for an advance reader’s copy. -
The Burning Library
Author: Gilly Macmillan
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: November 18, 2025This book is categorized as a thriller. I would call it an intelligent thriller.
How many secret societies exist in the world? And would you know the members if they weren’t looking for you?Dr. Anya Brown is just trying to make a name for herself. When she solves the mystery of Folio 9, she’s sought out by a group purporting to be an elite academic university. But soon she’s caught in the crosshairs between two female-led societies, with opposing philosophies. And they want what Anya holds the key to.
This book starts out slowly while it establishes the background, but it’s worth sticking with! If you enjoy Dan Brown-style books or Katherine Neville’s The Eight, fiction based on historical facts, and Scottish settings, this one is for you!
Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for an advance reader’s copy. -
You’ll Never Know
Author: Caleb Stephens
Publisher: Thrillerscape
Published: November 9, 2025If you like smart thrillers with pacing that slams in your solar plexus, this is one for you. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – Caleb Stephens is an auto-buy for me!
Grant and Avery set off for a remote hike that Reddit says has a stunning view. Grant is white-knuckled, thinking that they’re lost, until he sees the stunning mountain landscape in front of him. Just before they get out of the car, Avery gives Grant a present that makes him love her even more than he already does. A photo of an ultrasound. Just before she’s kidnapped.
This is a complex story, with three intersecting plots. But hang in there, because once the connections are made, you’ll be screaming over what happens next. Grant is in a race to solve riddles the kidnapper sends, with barely enough time to make his connections. And then it’s up to you, dear reader, to choose sides.
Thank you to the author and Thrillerscape Press for an advance reader’s copy of this thrilling read! -
Hazelthorn
Author: C. G. Drew
Publisher: Macmillan Publishing Group
Published: October 28, 2025I knew I was in for a treat when I saw the cover of this book. I didn’t realize how much empathy I would feel for the main character, Evander, and then for Laurie, the misunderstood, quietly witty son of Byron, an unscrupulous man who owns the Hazelthorn estate.
he’s lying, he’s lying, he’s lying
When he is mysteriously released from his room, Evander doesn’t know who he can trust. All of the once-forbidden family descend on the house once Bryon dies (is murdered), and Evander suspects all of them. Most of all, he doesn’t trust Laurie, the object of his desire and hate. But once he ventures into the garden, memories start flooding back – they never should have left him in the kitchen…
CG Drews made the house feel alive, with vines and flowers undulating in musty rooms, creeping up the wallpaper, and even under the beds. You can see the peeling wallpaper, smell the rot clinging to the floorboards, and visualize the overgrown garden, as it flourishes beyond control. And maybe, you might just dream about Hazelthorn…Background photo courtesy of Judson Moore at Unsplash.
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan’s Publishing Group for an advance reader’s copy. -
House of Cavanaugh
Author: Polly Dugan
Publisher: Sybilline Press
Published: October 7, 2025This is the second book in my track from the BookSparks #FRC2025 Fall Reading Challenge.
House of Cavanaugh revolves around the worst kind of secret: an affair that led to a pregnancy, that neither the woman’s husband, her daughter, nor the father knows about.
Through a series of coincidences and accidental revelations after she dies, Joan’s husband, children, former lover, and his daughter are thrust into circumstances they could never have predicted. This is the story of how they handle it, and the complexities of relationships in the aftermath of a life-changing event.
The story is told with an angst that felt so real at times, and so intensely personal, that it was hard to put the book down, and I surprised myself by reading it in one day.
Many thanks to Sibylline Press and to BookSparks for an advance reader’s copy by this new-to-me author. -
Nine Dolls
Author: Rupa Mahadevan
Publisher: Joffe Books
To Be Published: September 25, 2025I loved learning about the Hindu Festival of Dolls, or Navaratri, where traditionally, nine dolls are displayed on handmade tiers. The higher tiers represent gods and goddesses, characters from mythology, or scenes from weddings. Everyday scenes are displayed on the lower tiers. However, Leela’s version is a unique take, wherein the dolls assume the significance of the secrets of the people who have been invited to this remote house in the Scottish Highlands.
Leela carefully unwraps each doll and places each on the shelves, in the cabin adjacent to the house, which she and the other guests will visit each day. But then, the dolls are moved, each day, a different secret revealed. It’s bad luck to even touch the dolls, but this? This is a very bad omen!
The book started out slowly, and the chapters are interspersed from different characters’ POV. The problem I had was that there were reveals with backstories coming later, so that I always felt like I was missing something. What kept me engaged, though, was the great plot, learning about a cultural practice that was so well described and implemented into the storyline, and the twists at the end. This was a very ambitious and clever suspense thriller from this debut author.
Thank you to Joffe Books for publishing diverse voices and for sending me an advance reader’s copy to review -
In Deadly Company
Author: L. S. Stratton
Publisher: Union Square & Co.
To Be Published: September 2, 2025As an ambassador for the BookSparks Fall Reading Challenge, I chose the “Secrets” track. This is Book One of my challenge!
In Deadly Company takes you through the days leading up to a birthday bash for Nicole Underwood’s very entitled boss. We flip back and forth between the events that took place, and the movie set for the movie based on Nicole’s retelling of those fateful days, that ended in Xander’s death. It’s the story about a cross, double-cross, and double-double cross.
On the flip side, there is the presumed murder of the company founder, and Nicole is on a mission to find out “who dun it”. There is a love interest (“What? He loves me?), a con-man (could they be the same person?), a cheating spouse, and a couple who maybe don’t want to be a couple. There’s a twist I saw coming, but you may not. Overall, this was an easy-breezy, quick read, with a good dose of humor.
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Too Old For This
Author: Samantha Downing
Publisher: Berkley Publishing Group
To Be Published: August 12, 2025Where do old serial killers go to die? Why, the local nursing home, of course!
Lottie only has a few things on her mind: bingo, what to bring to bingo (store-bought or homemade?), her son’s (second) marriage, and where to bury the bodies…
Despite the fact that she’s never been caught for any of her (alleged) murders, Lottie wants to continue to fly under the radar. But these pesky visitors keep showing up at her door faster than she can dispose of them. And to top it off, her son has a secret he’s been keeping from her, and someone from her past is on her tail again. Can she get through the next few months until she’s sold her home and moved into a care home?
There’s only one problem – there won’t be room for a freezer…
Even though this went way over the top at times (do you know how heavy it is to lift “dead weight”?), I enjoyed reading about a character who was so relatable. Life might not be exciting for Lottie, but it sure is interesting!
Thanks so much @thrillerfriends_giveaways for my copy, and the Thriller Obsessed Buddy Read group for reading along! -
The Winter Visitor
Author: B. P. Walter
Publisher: Bookouture
To Be Published: September 23, 2025BLOG TOUR
A Scottish castle √
A raging snowstorm √
Family secrets √
One, no two, possibly three murders √
This story is set in timelines 10 years apart, 2005 and 2025, at Christmas. Three brothers have been living with the consequences of what happened that first Christmas, when Sherie, George’s teenage fling, came to visit, under false pretenses, in the middle of a snowstorm. But someone knows their secret. Ten years later, there’s another visitor, mid-snowstorm, Christmas day. But he can’t be who he says he is, can he? Did I mention there’s an inheritance hanging in the balance? Yeah, complicated.
While this book started out slowly, once the twists came, they kept on coming, reminding me again of why I like B.P. Walter. If you like (almost) locked room thrillers, secrets and lies, and twisty endings, read The Winter Visitor!
Thank you to NetGalley, and to Bookouture for taking me along on this blog tour!Background photo courtesy of Luca on @unsplash
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6:40 to Montreal
Author: Eva Jurczyk
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
To Be Published: October 28, 2025While this book could have almost devolved into the black comedy humor of Weekend at Bernie’s, it actually unfolds as a macabre sequence of events that occur after Agatha is encouraged by her husband to take a train from Toronto to Montreal as a way to rejuvenate her writing. And boy does it! No one could have predicted the train stalling on the tracks after a ferocious snowstorm. Or that all of the cell connectivity would disappear. Or that the group of characters on board would be the strangest people to be stuck with.
I did have trouble getting into the book, especially since one of the characters was named Dorcas (which is way too much like dufus), but the need to find out what was going on overrode that. There is a lot that will require the reader to suspend disbelief, but just go with it and I promise this book will stick in your head for a long time!
Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for sending an advance reader’s eArc by this new-to-me author!
Background photo courtesy of Felix Rottman @unsplash
Book Cravings 