Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: June 2019
There are people in Edgewater, Oregon, who think that twenty years ago, Rachel Gaston got away with murder.
Rachel still has no idea how a foolish teenaged game turned deadly—or who replaced her soft pellet air gun with a real weapon. When a figure leapt out at her from the darkness, she fired without thinking. Too late, she recognized her half-brother, Luke, and saw blood blooming around his chest.
Despite counseling, Rachel’s horrifying dreams about that night continue. Her anxiety contributed to her divorce from Detective Cade Ryder, though he blames himself too. But as Rachel’s high school reunion nears, she feels her imagination playing tricks, convincing her that objects in her house have moved. That there’s a hint of unfamiliar cologne in the air. That someone is tailing her car. Watching her home.
She’s right to be scared. And as connections surface between a new string of murders and Luke’s death, Rachel realizes there’s no escaping the past, and the truth may be darker than her worst fears
Paranoid is another recent thriller that I was excited to read, but was kind of let down in the end. The premise of the book was promising...someone is killing classmates of Rachel Gaston's just in time for their class reunion. Each of them were involved in a nighttime game in an abandoned factory when the game turned deadly. Now as her friends are dying, someone is stalking her.
On the one hand,, I did enjoy the mystery part of the book. I didn't call the killer or any of the twists in the end. There were some very creepy scenes. The big lesson to learn here? Don't meet your lover in an abandoned school at midnight. The pacing was good and I wasn't bored.
What I didn't like were some of the characters. They weren't memorable and most of them were horrible people. Rachel's kids needed to have their attitudes majorly readjusted. As an aside, why do authors keep writing teens like this? I have two and I would never put up with attitudes like theirs. I was also disappointed with the way Rachel and Cade both kept having inner dialogue with themselves about how much they missed the other, but it was never followed through with. I would have loved a bit more romance in that area. Ultimately, I would recommend it, it just wasn't as good as I was hoping.
Aw it's too bad the characters weren't better. I would have a hard time getting through it with teens having too much of an attitude--I also don't understand that trend, but I guess I'm lucky in not knowing teens who act like that? Good to know the mystery itself was enjoyable!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds a tad similar to Lisa Scottoline's Someone Knows. Sorry to hear it didn't live up to the promise of its premise.
ReplyDelete