It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Y2K is expected to end in chaos: planes falling from the sky, elevators plunging to earth, world markets collapsing. A digital apocalypse. None of that happens. But at a Blockbuster Video in Linden, New Jersey, four teenage girls working the night shift are attacked. Only one survives. Police quickly identify a suspect who flees and is never seen again.
Fifteen years later, in the same town, four teenage employees working late at an ice cream store are attacked, and again only one makes it out alive.
Both surviving victims recall the killer speaking only a few final words… “Goodnight, pretty girl.”
In the aftermath, three lives intersect: the survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive her tragedy; the brother of the original suspect, who’s convinced the police have it wrong; and the FBI agent, who’s determined to solve both cases. On a collision course toward the truth, all three lives will forever be changed, and not everyone will make it out alive.
Twisty, poignant, and redemptive, The Night Shift is a story about the legacy of trauma and how the broken can come out on the other side, and it solidifies Alex Finlay as one of the new leading voices in the world of thrillers.
The Review
THE NIGHT SHIFT by Alex Finlay.
Reading this book is like watching an action movie. The tension and pacing were high and quick. If you like that sort of thing.
The story, although set in the 90’s, is not immersive. I’ve heard some compare it to SURVIVE THE NIGHT and although I see the similarities and the proposed readers are similar, I’d suggest this thriller is a bit rougher around the edges and straight to the point.
Which may be its intention.
It comes across as very masculine. And what I mean by that is in the efficiency of the plot. There’s not a lot of explaining going on. Motives are not pondered, it’s declarative and concise. There’s not a lot of conjecture.
The thrilling part is not necessarily peeling back each character like an onion, it’s more following a case. It’s really more of a procedural and it’s similar to thrillers like those written by James Patterson, Lee Childs, and Jonathan Kellerman.
A crime thriller.
Maybe I was in the mood for something else when I picked it up.
I would recommend it to readers who don’t need finessing or nuance.
Thanks to Netgalley and St Martins Press for this advanced copy!
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In this moving debut novel, two estranged siblings must set aside their differences to deal with their mother’s death and her hidden past–a journey of discovery that takes them from the Caribbean to London to California and ends with her famous black cake.We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?
In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a traditional Caribbean black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child, challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage, and themselves.
Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right”? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?
Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names, can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.
The Review
Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson
I was hesitant to pick this one up. I read it concurrently with WHAT MY BONES KNOW and I was nervous about the combination.
Something about the synopsis led me to believe it was going to be emotionally charged and although it was heartfelt it was written at a distance which allowed me to access the themes comfortably. And I appreciated that.
The writing was textural and rich and layered. I recommend to readers looking for solid writing, a captivating family mystery, and themes around strained relationships.
Out now!
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for this advanced copy!
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A searing memoir of reckoning and healing by acclaimed journalist Stephanie Foo, investigating the little-understood science behind complex PTSD and how it has shaped herlife
“Every cell in my body is filled with the code of generations of trauma, of death, of birth, ofmigration, of history that I cannot understand. . . . I want to have words for what my bonesknow.”
By age thirty, Stephanie Foo was successful on paper: She had her dream job as an award-winning radio producer at This American Life and a loving boyfriend. But behind her office door, she was having panic attacks and sobbing at her desk every morning. After years of questioning what was wrong with herself, she was diagnosed with complex PTSD–a condition that occurs when trauma happens continuously, over the course of years.
Both of Foo’s parents abandoned her when she was a teenager, after years of physical and verbal abuse and neglect. She thought she’d moved on, but her new diagnosis illuminated the way her past continued to threaten her health, relationships, and career. She found limited resources to help her, so Foo set out to heal herself, and to map her experiences onto the scarce literature about C-PTSD.
In this deeply personal and thoroughly researched account, Foo interviews scientists and psychologists and tries a variety of innovative therapies. She returns to her hometown of San Jose, California, to investigate the effects of immigrant trauma on the community, and she uncovers family secrets in the country of her birth, Malaysia, to learn how trauma can be inherited through generations. Ultimately, she discovers that you don’t move on from trauma–but you can learn to move with it.
Powerful, enlightening, and hopeful, What My Bones Know is a brave narrative that reckons with the hold of the past over the present, the mind over the body–and examines one woman’s ability to reclaim agency from her trauma.
The Review
Stephanie Foo’s eerily monotone voice leaks out from headphones as she vividly walks me through her story of Complex-PTSD.
The reason behind the monotony will impale you whether or not you are listening or reading with your eyes.
I received an early copy but knowing that Stephanie was to narrate compelled me to wait until publication to read.
One of the healing aspects of reading and memoirs specifically is simply the process of giving voice to that which is silent. To shed light on what is dark. To illuminate the shadows.
This human journey is one we are all doing together and every person lives their own life however, knowing you are not the only one to have been through something allows you and your experience to be affirmed.
I hope more work will be done in this area and field. I appreciate Stephanie’s story and will be looking into further reading on C-PTSD.
This book will not be the answer to anyone’s struggles with Complex PTSD, it will be an echo. I hope you pick this up, it’s available everywhere books are sold.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group-Ballantine for this advanced copy!
