Winter is still here and sometimes you want to cozy up with a good book. In this case, I’m talking about page-turners. The kind that keep you up too late and those you don’t want to put down. The...
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Winter is still here and sometimes you want to cozy up with a good book. In this case, I’m talking about page-turners. The kind that keep you up too late and those you don’t want to put down. The kind of mystery or thriller that grabs you right away and draws you in to the story. These five books did all of the above for me. If you like to read a good page-turner, read on and maybe there’s one on my list you missed.
5 of my favorite page-turners:
Last Child by John Hart
The Last Child is the story of 13 year-old Johnny whose family was devastated by the disappearance of his young sister a year before. He’s made it his mission to find out what really happened. His mother is broken and falling apart but the detective who worked on his sister’s case hasn’t let it go, either. It reads like a literary novel but has the twists, turns and surprises of your favorite thriller. With the backdrop of a North Carolina town, a river, the backwoods and even a bit of history, Hart weaves together a story and characters you won’t soon forget. This was the 2010 Edgar Award winner. Other novels of his to note are Iron House, Down River and King of Lies.
The Long and Faraway Gone, A Novel by Lou Berney
The Long and Faraway Gone, the 2015 Edgar Award winning novel, begins with two horrific crimes that devastated Oklahoma City in 1986. But the novel centers around two characters, Wyatt and Julianna in the present day, 25 years later. Unknown to each other, they are each trying to find answers to what happened in those unsolved crimes and why they are still here when others are not. It’s about looking back on dark secrets from the past. I had not heard of Lou Berney until I happened across this great book. He has since published another amazing book, November Road which was published in 2018.
The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens
College student Joe Talbert has a class assignment pending. The assignment, to write a short biography on someone he doesn’t know. This leads him to a nearby nursing home and elderly Carl Iverson who is also a convicted murderer. Carl claims he didn’t do it. What really happened all those years ago? The Life We Bury is full of mystery, suspense and great characters, this novel is one you don’t want to miss.
Triptych by Karin Slaughter
It’s no secret I am a fan of Karin Slaughter, I wrote a whole post about her books. But Triptych is the one that started it all for me. I sat under my amazing beach umbrella last summer and read it in a couple of days. This is the first book in her thrilling Will Trent series. In Triptych we first meet Will Trent, an agent for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Set in Atlanta, the police are investigating the rape and murder of a prostitute but things are not as they seem. Slaughter is a master of surprise twists and turns and this one is no exception.
Beartown, A Novel by Fredrik Backman
“Late one evening…a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else’s forehead, and pulled the trigger.” This is how Backman’s Beartown novel begins. We don’t know what has happened to bring things to this point but this is how he sets the stage. Beartown is a small hockey town. Their success on the ice unites everyone but a violent crime occurs and they have to grapple with the facts and what they hold most dear. Amazing character development and story telling as only he can, the story unfolds and leaves you asking, how could this happen? I adore Fredrik Backman of A Man Called Ove fame and his novel Britt Marie Was Here (the follow-up to My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry) is probably in my all time top ten list.
I hope I’ve helped you add at least one page-turner title to your must read list. Two books that I’ve not read but are on my list are The Secret History by Donna Tartt (I loved The Goldfinch) and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. Good ideas? Any other recommendations? Let me know!
The post Read Past Your Bedtime? 5 Page-Turners You Don’t Want to Miss appeared first on Menopausal Brunette.
