Wendy here, coming down from the high that was reading two back-to-back thrillers in the last week. I’m not usually a mystery/thriller reader, to be honest. I don’t hate them — I’ve just always preferred getting lost in historical fiction, literary fiction, poetry, classics, the occasional romance.
But then, mostly unintentionally, I read two thrillers in a row — and loved them both!
First up was The House Beyond the Dunes by Mary Burton.
I picked this novel up at Buxton Village Books in the Outer Banks, where we spend a lot of time. There was a handwritten note from the bookstore owner in front of the book. In her beautiful cursive that always makes me smile was info about how the book takes place in the Outer Banks and that she loved it. That’s all it takes, sometimes, to get me to say “yes” to a book.
I was juggling a couple of books at once but I couldn’t wait to pick this book up every day. It was a true mystery and it felt very ominous and thrilling throughout. I couldn’t escape this heavy air hanging around the story and the main character. The book opens with main character Lane waking up in a hospital after surviving a fall that claimed the life of her new boyfriend. She quickly realizes she maybe didn’t know Kyle at all. The minor characters around her start to draw her suspicion, as does Kyle’s dusty past.
Wendy’s rating: 4.75 stars
Spice level: None
Considerations: Death, rape, injuries/wounds
Right after completing that book, I jumped into The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides.
Yep, I know I’m late to the party on this one. It spent a long time sitting on my shelf.
I read this one mostly as an e-book, however, on my Peloton-meets-Kindle time.
A therapist joins a team at a mental institution simply so that he can treat its most famous patient, Alicia, a world-renowned painter who supposedly murdered the husband she adored in cold blood and then went totally mute immediately after.
There are some red herrings and dual perspective moments told through the therapist and through Alicia’s journal entries that keep you constantly rethinking what really was the truth. A couple of “icky” moments from the therapist kept this from being a five-star read for me, but I did fly through the reading of it.
Wendy’s rating: 4.75 stars
Spice Level: Very low
Considerations: Abuse, self-harm, substance abuse, mental health
