A special thank you to Edelweiss and Seventh Street Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Allen Eskens, a superb talent at building suspense— returns following The Guise of Another (2015) and The Life We Bury(2014) with his third strong novel, THE HEAVENS MAY FALL, (2016) featuring three characters from his previous bestselling books with a gripping murder case told from two perspectives.

The nice blend of legal drama, crime, mystery, and suspense with the twisty plot, will keep readers turning the pages! I love how he keeps his characters alive (they are not done 'not by a long shot').

Interview with the author

Summary of Characters
The Heavens May Fall, features co-protagonists, who were secondary characters in The Life We Bury. Max Rupert, the homicide detective from The Life We Bury, is investigating the death of Jennavieve Pruitt and is convinced that her husband, Ben, committed the murder. Ben is a friend and former protégé of Boady Sanden, the law professor from The Life We Bury. Boady comes out of retirement to defend Ben and is convinced that his friend is innocent.

If you will recall from the previous books, Boady and Max are friends in The Life We Bury and this case test that friendship to the limits. Also, each man has a personal demon to confront as the case builds. Ben is in the middle of these two former friends. With the case leading to trial, we hear from Max's POV- convincing us Ben is 'guilty'. Boady's POV, Ben is 'innocent." You have to read to find out which one is correct.

Minneapolis homicide Detective Max Rupert and his defense attorney, Boady Sanden are no longer friends. Max wanted Boady to know that lines had been crossed and it would forever sever the connection they once shared.

He didn’t need notes to take him back to that morning. He remembered it all too well. It was a broken morning, torn apart by the memories that visited him every year on the anniversary of his wife’s death. He had promised he would protect her and never let anything happen to her. They were going to grow old together.

It has been four years to the day since he broke that promise. As the months turned to years, he found a way to live with the sadness and grief, but he never learned to live with the guilt. Her death had gone unsolved. Not his case. He was the husband and the husband can’t be involved in the investigation. He was locked out and the hit-and-run-driver got away.

Presently Max has a new case on the anniversary of his wife’s death. A woman, an alley. He was quickly reminded of his Jenni. The woman wore a pair of earrings with diamonds. After tracking down the buyer of the earrings, it pointed to criminal defense attorney, Benjamin Lee Pruitt. She was found naked and dead in a bookstore parking lot. A socialite. Philanthropist. Daughter of Emerson Adler. She runs a number of foundations, but her main focus was a wetlands preservation group. Ben’s wife.

Max Rupert is convinced that Jennavieve Pruitt was murdered by her husband Ben. They also have a daughter Emma, ten years old. Whoever killed Mrs. Puritt had used Emma’s bedspread to haul her out of the house. Is he on the run with his daughter? Was she surprised or did she know her attacker?

“He may never be able to bring his own wife’s killer to justice, but this man squandered a gift. He killed his wife, a woman who loved and trusted him. Pruitt threw away that which Max would kill to have back.“

If he could bring Jennavieve Pruitt the justice denied to his own wife, she might help him find some small measure of peace. He knew this bordered on fantasy, maybe even crazy,but deep inside he hoped it to be true.

Ben turns to Boady to represent him even though he is no longer an acting attorney, but has kept his license. Ben thinks Max is coming after him and he knows no one is better than his friend to have on his side; Digging the truth out of a mess of lies. Ben knows if Rupert doesn’t find the real killer, he will come after him.

Boady is not sure his wife, will approve of his involvement. He was his former law partner and he was Emma’s godfather. She will be worried due to the Quinto case, that nearly killed her husband.

Professor Boady Sanden thinks that Ben, now his client, is innocent. Ben was in Chicago at an NACDL convention (National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers), on white collar crime, and was unaware of the whereabouts of his wife and daughter. Boady did not believe Ben would ever hurt his wife.

Max as the lead investigator, combined with the anniversary of Jenni Rupert’s death- things start unfolding and become intense quickly. Max and Boady are on opposite sides. Add Jennavieve’s sister, Anna Adler-King in the mix, who has her own motive for murder and for getting Ben, her brother-in-law charged with the crime.

A prenuptial agreement. Death over divorce? The family business. What else? Motive? Hang on . . . there is much more. (A good book does not give up all its secrets at once).

Boady is caught in the middle between his friendship with both Ben and Max. Boady had taught Ben about the game of chess. Boady had been one of the best at playing that game as relates to moves by the prosecution and tuning out distractions.

We also catch up with Lila Nash we met in the first book—Boady had been working with Lila’s boyfriend, Joe Talbert,when trying to exonerate a man who they believed had been wrongfully convicted on one of Lockwood’s murders. If it had not been for Max Rupert, both Lila and Joe would have been killed that night.

Lila went back to school and Boady returned to his world of academia. That was three years ago and she chose a law career. She is astounded the connection of Ben to both Boady and Max. Lila, of course, owes Max a great debt, but she agrees to help Boady.

For the second half of the book, we turn to Max, when he receives a mystery letter about his wife’s death. She was murdered and someone has proof. Can the case be reopened? Could it be a prank? The other investigator was retired and the file was closed as a hit-and-run. He was not allowed to touch the file and Parnell’s replacement didn’t have Jenni’s case on his list. He is on high alert, thinking of discovering the identity of the killer.

Emma’s dad is on trial for murder. A note. Max’s wife was murdered. The motive involved Max and his job as a cop? Max is distracted with the new happenings in his wife’s case; however, now he has to pull double time—Did Pruitt have time to drive back from Chicago the night his wife was murdered? Rupert’s brother Alexander was gone as well as his wife.

The action and drama heat up in Part 3 as we head to trial and get to catch up with Boady, Lila, and Max,as the suspense continues with Anna and Ben. Who stands to gain more with Jennavieve out of the way? Is Boady blinded by his past with Ben? Is he really a monster, murderer, a sociopath?

A plan B. Will these two old friends, join forces by the end of the book?

Esken fans will devour the legal drama, and the complex multi-layered mystery suspense; Combined with the cold case of Max’s wife adds intensity as the events unfold racing to the explosive ending. With numerous twists and turns, Eskens knows his way around the courtroom (criminal defense attorney for twenty years), a pro at keeping readers guessing.

Character-driven, with a twisty plot - strong dynamics between Max and Boady, both struggling with demons from their past, and trickling over to the present. A test of loyalties and friendships. An ideal choice for book clubs and further discussions.

The last 25% percent of the novel, will keep you turning into the wee hours of the morning, for a satisfying conclusion with the crafty reveal. Fans of the author and readers of the previous two books will enjoy revisiting the characters, combined with the author's legal expertise, making his third installment another bestseller hit!

I enjoyed reading all three books, each unique and impressive. Recommend reading them all. Looking forward to seeing what’s coming next! (yeah, a revenge story, Max, and more . . .)

Quote from the Author: " Next, I am writing a revenge story that is all about Max Rupert. I’m having a lot of fun with that idea right now. After that, I want to write the sequel toThe Life We Bury and then, hopefully, a novel that will be the backstory of Boady Sanden. As you can see, I have a very over-active imagination—now if I could just learn to type faster. " Read More

The Guise of Another (2015)
The Life We Bury (2014)

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By: Karin Slaughter

Will Trent #8

ISBN: 9780062430212

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: 9/20/2016 

Format: Other

My Rating: 5 Stars 

A very special "thank you" to Edelweiss, William Morrow-HarperCollins for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

One of the top female crime writers in the world, Karin Slaughter returns following her stellar performance Pretty Girls, landing on My Top 10 Books of 2015 and Cop Townlanding on My Top 30 Books for 2014 with her continuation of the highly anticipated, #8 Will Trent Series THE KEPT WOMAN. Man, "Slaughter can describe evil to the very core."

Set in HOT Atlanta, avid fans of Will Trent, Sara, and Angie (triangle)--you are going to devour The Kept Woman, and at the same time, get to catch up with Amanda, Faith, Tess and familiar characters. Worthy of all the hype. Please, someone make this into a movie/TV series. What is the holdup?

Angie is a woman we all love to hate. Please let her DIE!

Will is a flawed man you want to root for. Sara is a woman you want a happy ending with the man she longs to build a normal life with. Angie is always an ongoing source of pain, drama, and conflict. One nasty Bitch.

When will the nightmare be over?

Does Angie have a heart? Will she ever let Will go and be free from her clutches? Damaged, beyond comprehension, Angie a former cop, private eye, and a pro at running scams, running girls, running pills. How has her past caught up with her present?

The novel opens when the body of an Atlanta ex-cop, Dale Harding is found in a warehouse dead. There is evidence of another victim from the blood.

Special Agent Will Trent knows the warehouse, a club belonging to athlete, famous basketball star-Marcus Rippy, having just walked on a rape charge. He had repeatedly brutally assaulted his victim. A woman. Keisha Miscavage, her accuser. Now he is hiding behind lawyers.

Dr. Sara Linton is on the case as well as her lover, Will Trent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. All things point to involvement with the nasty ex-wife Angie Polaski, Will has been trying to divorce for years. She is in and out of his life like a bad revolving door.

Of course Amanda and Faith are thinking maybe Angie is dead. (we/Sara can only dream). She is too evil to die.

From flashbacks of events prior to the murder, the missing woman—a violent struggle. Blood. The Glock is registered to none other than Angie Polaski. Will’s ex-wife, and the woman he met as a girl. Dark hair, smart mouth, killer body.

Angie had been in and out of Will’s life like a mosquito since he was eleven years old at the Atlanta’s Children’s Home—both surviving abuse, neglect, abandonment, torture.

Wounded. Dangerous. Desperate.

Now Sara wonders what Will has been up to. Has he been honest? Seeing Angie behind her back?Angie was a cop for ten years and she knows the ropes. Will did not love her and according to him, he had been searching for her for a year to file divorce papers. Their marriage was a scam, something they had literally done on a dare.

Will had promised Sara he was doing everything possible to end it. She had never questioned him until now. There had to be more to the story. A break in, notes left on the car.

Someone murdered a cop who was on Kip Kilpatrick’s payroll in the service of Marcus Rippy. Also Angie had been stalking Sara, Will’s girlfriend. Sara is beyond upset picturing Angie at Will’s house touching her things. Angie always dictated the terms of their relationship. A twisted lover. One minute Angie loved him and the next she hated him. Disappearing months or years at a time. She was a constant in his life for nearly three decades. Everyone has a past.

Will’s scars were both emotional and physical. He did not trust easily and it had taken years to break the hold Angie had over him. Was it broken?

Now, what had Angie gotten herself involved in now? Where was Angie and how was she mixed up in this mess? The new intense crime (Will/Sara/Angie) will bring them all together once again. Rest assured, you will be anxiously awaiting the next Will Trent thriller!

“Damage. Some people had holes inside of them that they spent their lives trying to fill. With hate. With pills. With scheming. With jealousy. With a child’s love. With a man’s fist. Badness doesn’t come all at once. The dominoes fall over time. You hurt someone by mistake and they let you get away with it. Then you try hurting them on purpose and they still stick around. And then you realize that the more you hurt them, the better you feel.

So you keep hurting them and they keep hanging on, and the years roll by, and you convince yourself that the fact that they still stand by you, means that the pain you cause is okay. But you hate them for it. For what you do to them. For what they do to you.”

My favorite part: “Anybody know a doctor?.” Sara said, “I’m NOT touching her.” (go girl)!

On a serious note, once again Slaughter uses violence as a powerful tool in her crime writing. A means to talk about greater issues affecting society, and women; with domestic abuse, child abuse and rape.

She is a pro at portraying women who have suffered horrendous abuse and demonstrates how they put their life back together. From the social aspects to the horrific tragic acts of the past, emotional and psychological damage and how they interact within relationships and careers.

An EW online interview with the author:
“The Kept Woman, like many of my novels, explores how the events of the present can rip a tunnel into a long-gone past,” Slaughter tells EW.

“But more so than anything I’ve written, this book comments specifically and strongly on domestic abuse. Violence against women is an epidemic, transcending geography and social status, and in The Kept Woma I aim to shine a light on this heartbreaking truth.”

HINT! I want to see Karin Slaughter featured on Younger(one of my favorite shows), an American comedy-drama television series, from the creator of Sex and the City , based on the Pamela Redmond Satran’s novel of the same name-- created and produced by Darren Star.

With the frequent mentions of rival HarperCollins, would love to see Slaughter featured in a guest appearance scene with Maggie, played by Debi Mazar (Maggie is a 40-something lesbian artist, who is Liza's roommate and closest friend).

Please, let it be a more prominent scene than the short clip with author, Jennifer Weiner. If you blinked your eyes, you would have missed it. If you are a book lover, you will love the name dropping of top authors and publishers. Between sharp tongue, witty, Maggie- and Diana Trout, played by Miriam Shor (temperamental head of marketing) at the publishing house where Liza just got a job by pretending to be 26 years old—Slaughter’s appearance would be a total riot and ratings would soar! Also make sure to reference, Will Trent, Angie, and Sara to maximize the drama. Cannot wait for Season 3!

NO one can write like the "Queen" of crime thrillers, Karin Slaughter!

Have read them all—highly recommend. For new readers, Slaughter does a good job with a backstory of the characters from previous books. As always, plenty of action, crime, violence, and corruption.

The Will Trent series
• Triptych (2006)
• Fractured (2008)
• Undone (2009), Genesis (UK/Australia title)
• Broken (2010)
• Fallen (2011)
• Snatched (2012, ebook novella)
• Criminal (2012)
• Busted (2013)
• Unseen (2013)
• The Kept Woman (2016)

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A special thank you to HarperCollins-William Morrow and Edelweiss for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Talented Susan Wiggs picks up with Annie Rush, from her prequel short story, The Key Ingredient, with FAMILY TREE—heartwarming and emotionally charged; Annie finds life does not always go as planned, and throws us some curve balls, when we least expect.

Gran was a special person in Annie’s life. She had always taught her to remember the love. When things got hard and you wonder why you got married in the first place- to recall the love.

Martin was a catch. He made her laugh. When they came up with ideas, they would work on it together with joy. He was her husband, her partner and an irreplaceable element in her life’s work. They had a TV cooking show. Martin was the chef, and Annie worked in production.

Annie loved talking about her Gran. She missed her every day but the remembrances kept her alive in Annie’s heart. Gram had published a vintage cookbook back in the sixties. Her name was Anastasia Carnaby Rush. Her grandfather called her Sugar in honor of the family maple syrup brand, Sugar Rush.

It was a regional best seller in Vermont and New England for years. Gram was a self-taught chef. Cooking was her love. Annie could picture her in the sunny farmhouse kitchen happily turning out meals for the family. She had a special way with food, and always said every recipe had a key ingredient.

“That’s the ingredient that defines the dish.”

Martin’s latest cookbook featured him looking delicious- the perfect combination of Wild West cowboy and Cordon Blue chef.

Her passion had been born in her grandmother’s kitchen when Annie was too young to read or write. Even before Martin, she was about food. She met him when he had a food cart in Manhattan. She was too busy to be in front of the camera.

Martin has a new sexy co-host side kick Melissa Barrett. Annie and Martin had been married eight years. The show had taken on a life of its own. The challenge was always staying exciting and relevant and on budget.

Everything was going well and she is pregnant with their first child. Time didn’t simply tick past, unremarked, unnoticed. This kind of moment that made everything stop. The moment was made of something fragile and delicate, yet it possessed the power to last forever.

She could not wait to tell Martin. She had to give him the message in person. A gift from the heart. He deserved a key moment of his own. She wanted to see his face when she delivered the magical words. A family.

However, she is shocked by a betrayal. Disbelief. Disappointment. Horror. Revulsion. An out of body experience. Is this how it will end? In the process of what she has seen, she trips over cable and then the entire structure came crashing down.

Her life is shattered. From then to now, Annie finds herself in a year- long coma. Grieving, Annie retreats to her family home in Switchback, Vermont. The maple farm. Her brother, mother, and four young nieces and nephews.

A world she left behind years ago. A high school boyfriend, Fletcher Wyndham. Her first love. She had lost her virginity in the sugar house, and a boy she thought would be hers’ forever. Fate got in the way. Separated by space, time, and circumstances.

Wiggs takes readers back to Annie’s life as a senior in high school, dizzy with possibilities. But life had a way of interfering with one’s plans. Things popped up unexpectedly, and suddenly a carefully plotted route had to be recalculated. Annie had always been a big believer in magic.

An entire year wiped out. Her mind unfurled and slipped backward, seeking something that felt more real and substantial than the world she’d woken up to. From the life she left, and the one forcing her to return.

Finding the key ingredient, acknowledging its source, and building a story around the dish was a simple enough concept, but the execution was complicated. There are gaps, but there are those who can help.

Sugar Rush goes gourmet. Annie finally finds a way to reconnect with her past and her old dreams. The key ingredient was simple – to go back to the original dream.

As Annie goes through her grandmother’s cookbook she felt her come alive and she too captures what she loved: the preproduction, recipe testing, shooting animating, and editing. From writer, producer, and star. The key ingredient to life lay beyond the kitchen.

Was she ready to take the next step- a fresh approach to life? Second chances. Starting from scratch. Beginning anew from carefully chosen ingredients.

As always, Wiggs weaves a magical story of the heart with nostalgic voices of the past and cozy comforting settings and yummy cuisine. From triumph over tragedy, love, loss, the pain of the past, first loves, and rediscovery. Makes you want to head for the lush New England autumn leaves, the cold brisk fresh air, and the apple cider.

If you have not read Susan Wiggs, you are missing out!

As I have mentioned before, I am waiting for a Hallmark TV series, based on her charming books. Her settings and characters come alive, with all the key ingredients for a satisfying series like Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove, and Sherryl Woods’ Chesapeake Shores.

I am ready for Susan Wiggs’ close knit community in Vermont surrounded by family and friends with lots of joys, struggles, life, love, food, romance, spectacular settings, and heartwarming characters- small or large screen. (Be sure and include hot and sexy, Jesse Metcalfe and the adorable golden retriever, Axle.)

Read More inspiration for Family Tree from Susan's Blog.

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By: Amy Stuart

ISBN: 9781501151231

Publisher: Touchstone

Publication Date: 8/16/2016

Format: Paperback 

My Rating: 4.5 Stars

A special thank you to Edelweiss and Touchstone for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A smashing debut, Canadian Amy Stewart delivers STILL MINE - From drug addiction to spousal abuse, an old mine, hidden painful pasts, and dark secrets. An atmospheric, stark, isolated setting in the rural mountains, a strange tight-knit community, and a ruthless, fictional town of Blackmore.

From regrets, grit, intrigue, and suspense, and a cast of colorful, seedy, and eccentric mysterious characters; readers will be glued to the pages to uncover the mystery of two girls with similar pasts.

A small town is a great place to escape, to become hidden, until everyone knows the details of your life, which can be great until you’re up to no good.

"Blackmore is both strange and utterly familiar to Clare."

Shayna Cunningham Fowles, age 29 addicted. Missing for two weeks. She wanted to be a writer. Her mom says she wrote poetry. Some say she popped some pills and wandered off a cliff, where folks go to party. Some say she was high when she went missing. A junkie. Her family is looking for her, but not her husband.

Clare O’Dey, is running from an abusive husband, Jason. Until six months earlier, Clare had never ventured more than a few hours beyond her hometown. Until she began working for Malcolm Boon. Jason is still a threat. Can she ever truly escape him?

She is driving northwest into the mountains of Blackmore with a population of 2500. Now she has to muster the nerve to introduce herself to strangers. Not her true name. O’Dey means “of a servant”, “of a maid”. She is pretending to be a photographer. Not a cop, investigator, or a reporter.

A blast at Blackmore Coal Mine five years earlier killed thirty-two men and trapped eighteen others underground for over three weeks. There was no happy ending. At the time she recalled the story but people ignored other’s misfortunes. Only concerned of their own problems.

The two women are roughly the same age, and the same hair color. There is a sharp resemblance. Do they have more than outward appearances in common? What do their mom's have in common? Husbands?

Mysterious Malcolm Boon hired her to go to Blackmore to see what she can find. He was the answer in order to get her out of town. He is a stranger too. Does she trust him? Is he protective, or manipulative. A good partnership, or bad?

The town does not like strangers turning up with prying unwelcome eyes. One woman in town has gone missing and now another turning up out of nowhere—a stranger in their midst.

From a motel to the diner, she learns of a trailer for rent, Charlie Merritt-the town drug dealer. He lost his family in the mine-father and brothers. His mother swallowed a loaded rifle a week later. He is on a rampage. He is supposedly supplying junkies and kids.

He thinks Wilfred (foreman) killed his family and he needs for him to pay. The trailer is in the middle of the woods, next to the Cunninghams. (Shayna’s family). Bingo, a stroke of luck-a perfect place to learn more.

Clare finds herself in another small town, the dread, the sense of abandon, of nothing to lose. She feels her past bubbling up again. Who knows what sort of people live here, and the impending danger she may face.

These are the type of people here who refuse to leave a dying town. Devoid of hope. The kind who disappear. Her husband might think her dead, or lost, rather than running.

Is Shayna dead? Sometimes people vanish for good reason, leaving an entire life behind to escape just one part of it. Clare can feel Shayna’s story weaving into her thoughts, however it varies from hers.

As Clare learns more about Shayna and the events in her past that might have contributed to her disappearance, she realizes the harm in not learning from her own mistakes.Clare doesn’t want to fall victim to the same fate.

Shayna’s mother Louise has gone batty-in the early throes of dementia. The family worried about their daughter after she married Jared. He was described as a landscaper, a former miner, a flirt, a man arrested twice for drunk driving. Does he care that his wife was gone? Wilfred Cunningham, a coal mine foreman—the father is still searching.

If Clare is to solve the riddle of the missing girl, she will have to seek out Shayna’s friends and family one by one, an outsider looking for a way in. However, in the process she may put herself in danger and draw attention to herself. Possibly Shayna had her reasons for leaving-like herself. Maybe she does not want to be found, like Clare. This case will hit close to home.

She knows that Charlie hates Wilfred; Wilfred hates him back; Louise is suffering from dementia or out of her with grief. Doctor Derek, clean cut and proper; Jared, the ex-husband, and Sara a few friend who might be of use. Which one is capable of murder?

"Is there a core in each of us that can never be changed?Separating the good from the bad."

The ongoing mystery: Who is enigmatic Malcolm, and why did he send Clare to this town to find Shayna? They meet in person only, or an encrypted antique phone. He was the unlikeliest of employers directing her from the sidelines. Malcolm held the most intrigue, and how his piece of the puzzle will connect.

Everyone is hiding something!

In the process of searching for Shayna, Clare must confront her own demons as Stuart slowly reveals the truths, lies, traumas, and the demons. What is she running from? Will her past catch up with her? Regrets. Can one decision alter, a life?

STILL MINE is a gripping page-turner, with an atmospheric creepy setting, with a “rural noir” Gothic type feel. The mystery and suspense is slow burning, yet at the same time it is fast-paced. With twists and turns, there is tension and intensity, and a darkness lurking, making you aware something will soon be revealed.

Readers will “get” the brilliantly crafted "double meaning" by the time they reach the final conclusion – A thought-provoking fitting title and cover!

Stuart’s writing style is excellent, drawing you into the labyrinth of lies, making you question each character, their past, and their motives. The characters are compelling, and the author delves into the depths of pain, grief, blame, complexities, their past, and horror of addictions and abuse.

How does each character approach the present, based on their own past?

This talented Canadian author will be assured to set the thriller "rural noir" psychological suspense genre on fire. The ending is left, so as possibly a sequel. I for one, am hoping for a continuation of Malcom, Clare, Jason. There is still much more to explore! Can’t wait for the next adventure.

An excellent choice and ideal pick for book clubs! The author includes a very detailed reading group guide and some great discussion questions. There is much depth here beyond the surface, if you look closer and analyze the similarities you will find an array of hidden meanings and metaphors. An author to follow!

Do we have another up and coming "Linwood Barclay" on the horizon? Hope so, one of my favorites!

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On a personal note: Even though I read the book months ago, was called home the end of July, due to my mom’s illness- to her demise, funeral, and estate logistics. Thanks to my GR pals for your many condolences. Will be be flying home to Florida the first of Sept. My Aug. reading and reviews were put on hold this month; so playing a bit of catch up. Looking forward to diving back in.