Backlist Quick Reviews

One Night at the Lake by Bethany Chase (2019)

I've been waiting for Bethany Chase to release a new book for awhile now, and I was not disappointed!  One Night at the Lake is told from the dual POVs of best friends Leah and June, seven years apart.  I liked the format of the story; in June's later timeline, we know that something terrible happened to Leah at Seneca Lake years before, and now June is engaged to Leah's boyfriend.  In Leah's timeline, she seems so happy and vibrant that it's hard to imagine what could happen to her.  Chase's writing is very readable and the characters are so fleshed out and real.  I loved the setting of Seneca Lake; having been to the area before, I could picture much of it in my head, and Chase did a great job of describing it.  If you like a lot of action in your stories, this might not be the book for you; it is a quiet book that focuses on love and friendship.  4 stars

The Blue by Lucy Clarke (2015) (Thanks to Greg at Book Haven for the recommendation!)

While traveling in the Philippines, best friends Lana and Kitty are invited to join the crew of The Blue, a yacht worked by a loose group of friends wandering the seas.  When one of the crew is lost at sea, the group is fractured.

I think I was expecting this to be more of a thriller, so in that sense, I was a little disappointed.  It was more character-driven and less "murder on the high seas."  But, this was still a good read.  It was interesting to meet all the characters and learn their different reasons for wanting to get away from their old lives, why this yacht and the wandering lifestyle appealed to them.  I also liked the structure of the story, told in dual timelines from when Kitty and Lana join the crew and several months later, after Lana has left the yacht and finds out that it has sunk and the crew is missing.  There are plenty of secrets and lies in this one!  4 stars 

Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay (2019)

New York City erupts in chaos when the elevators of its high-rise buildings are taken over by a terrorist.

This book was a wild ride!  When I first heard of it, I thought it would make a great movie, and so I'm glad I listened to the audiobook.  The narrator was really wonderful; he had a very distinctive voice.  The story opens with a bang with a body found along the High Line.  Then, the elevators start plunging.  Several characters are introduced and we see the story from the perspective of the police, a journalist, and the mayor.  I thought the author was very creative in his depiction of how New York City would be affected if all the elevators had to be shut down.  I think there were a bit too many sideplots going on; at times I almost wondered if I had picked up a book in the middle of a series because there was more characterization than I'm used to in thrillers and I thought maybe it was referring back to things that had happened in earlier books.  So, the story could have been a lot tighter, but in the end, I definitely didn't guess the identity of the killer, and that's always good when reading a thriller!  4 stars