Review: True Crime by Patricia Cornwell

True Crime: A Memoir

by Patricia Cornwell

Release Date: May 5, 2026

2026 Grand Central Publishing

Hard Cover ARC; 464 Pages

ISBN: 978-1538778449

ASIN: B0FTWDWQ47

Audiobook: B0FY85VMQ5

Genre: Non-Fiction / Memoir

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

In this achingly honest memoir, Cornwell excavates her own life, detailing her traumatic childhood being raised by neglectful parents, her father abandoning the young family on Christmas day, her mother being institutionalised twice, an abusive foster family, and developing a parental relationship with evangelist Billy Graham's wife Ruth. Cornwell depicts a harrowing hospitalisation and near-death car accident. She unflinchingly shares overcoming obstacles that later gave her the ambition to become an award-winning police reporter. From there it was research in a medical examiner's office that would turn into a full-time job. She would become a forensic expert and worldwide publishing phenomenon.

 

My Thoughts

True Crime is one of those memoirs to which I was looking forward because I had a vested interest in the Kay Scarpetta series when they were first published.  My interest has since waned for a variety of reasons, but I still remember those early days and having a female Chief Medical Examiner as a lead in a murder mystery series was exciting and interesting. Patricia Cornwell has definitely had a very interesting life, one that has been fairly unstable, full of abuse and trauma, and I am not really here to rate that aspect of the book, but the overall way in which she shares her story was somewhat rambling and a bit annoying and this is what I am reviewing.

 

By the first half of the book, the author is barely out of high school with a full memory of things that have happened to her.  I am not questioning the trauma, the abuse, the neglect, etc..., and she certainly shares a lot of traumatic episodes with us, but I do sort of question the level of detail, although her journals may have helped with that.  What I can't recall is when she actually started keeping journals as I don't remember her mentioning them when she was younger, only as she grew older and developed bulimia. 

 

For a writer with as many awards for her books as she has, I would have expected this memoir to be more concise and less rambling than it was, but it was all over the place, jumping from topic to topic constantly. She also seemed to jump quite quickly past topics where she should have taken more responsibility for her actions, but seemed to gloss right over those as if they just happened, she got lucky she wasn't charged, and just moved on to the next thing which sort of a left a bad taste in my mouth.  It made it seem like she felt more lucky and didn't really seem to acknowledge the risks and danger she put others in.  Comments like 'Everyone used to to this' just don't really fly when you should be responsible for your actions.   

 

I did think the work she did for in a medical examiner's office was interesting and I did find it fascinating to learn about some of the things she did as research for her books.  But even some of that comes off as bragging as she has this tendency to gloss over some of the more interesting things to name drop, discuss her house or car purchases, etc..., and because this happens repeatedly, it got old, fast.  There were some really amazing things that happened, some important ones, but those were just mentioned in passing; however, we did get to read two pages about the great car she purchased and was grateful she wasn't driving the night she crashed because she was drunk. And even then she blamed her actions on the medication she was taking. Um, when you drink, what do you think could happen?  

 

Verdict

True Crime definitely had some very interesting aspects to it and I appreciated how much research she did while writing her novels. She worked in a morgue, volunteered with the local police force and ambulance, spent time at the Body Farm, learned how to fly helicopters, and a lot of other interesting things. But I really felt like she was being very guarded with regards to this memoir and didn't really share much about what she has been doing these last years as most of it was spent on her childhood.  By the end of the book, while I can empathize with the trauma and abuse she suffered as a child, I still am not sure how that fueled her writing.  She did say that authors are very jealous of each other so maybe she didn't want to share that aspect for this reason, but in the end, I don't feel like I really got to know her, what she really likes to do other than play tennis, and all of it is superficial. Again, authors can reveal as much as they want, but I would have expected something a bit tighter in its writing and this one rambled too much, glossing over things that seemed important.   

 

Review: Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox

Pretty Dead Things

by Kelsey Cox

Release Date: July 7, 2026

2026 Minotaur Books

Ebook ARC; 336 Pages

ISBN: 978-1250378842

ASIN: B0FLYPRSWV

Audiobook: B0FP48M1Q9

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

2000: Isabelle Whitmore vanishes at Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, without a trace.

2025: The annual Lone Star Princess Pageant looms, bringing long-standing grudges to the surface. Ingrid fled Anhalt in the wake of her sister Isabelle’s disappearance and has now returned, just in time for a construction crew to start digging up Sherman Ranch; the pageant brings up past traumas that Melanie can't forget; Cat, newly sober, starts to feel threatened in ways that bring back old demons; and Sarah Lynn, who comes from a long line of pageant winners, knows that losing is not an option.

When old resentments and new confrontations reach their boiling point, temperatures drop to deadly degrees as a record-setting storm brings down the state’s power grid. With everyone trapped under one roof, scores will be settled, and more than one person will end up dead.

 

My Thoughts

Pretty Dead Things had an interesting description and I liked the idea of former beauty pageants preparing their daughters for the same pageant in which they competed twenty-five years earlier. I thought there would be a lot more intrigue and a lot more of the toxicity that the book earlier implied, but it seemed a bit meh to me as far as that went. While the writing style had a way of drawing me into the story and definitely had its moments, I did find it predictable and thought the characters were pretty one-dimensional.

 

The story was told through multiple POV and I didn't feel like I really got to know any of them except on a superficial level.  In hindsight, I think I connected with Cat the most because I empathized with her situation and how it must feel to always have people second-guessing your sobriety and relating your current situation to anything you did in the past. I didn't empathize as much with Sarah Lynn and Melanie although I think I was supposed to feel more sympathy for Melanie and be annoyed by Sarah Lynn. Melanie just annoyed the crap out of me and I wanted to know more about Sarah Lynn as I found her interesting. Yes, she was toxic as hell, but she seemed to have the most personality out of all of them.  In any case, none of them were developed above a superficial level and I didn't really care about most of them. 

 

The book takes place in a small Texas town where the Princess Pageant is the highlight of these young girls lives and can change their lives. I did find the dialogue surrounding the pageant to be quite interesting and I would have liked more discussion around the actual pageant and its toxicity, especially when they were discussing the prize package. Where I live, pageants aren't a thing so I do find the pageant scene to be quite fascinating. I liked how the discussions evolved from simple makeup to makeup tutorials to expensive dresses to plastic surgery. Considering one of the prizes in the prize package was a trip to a plastic surgeon, it brings up a great topic of beauty and acceptance with regards to young adults and beauty influencers.  

 

The mystery itself wasn't bad, but I did find it somewhat predictable based on characters who did things that were predictable. It really wasn't that hard to figure out who the culprit was and I sort of wished it had gone in a different direction, but there you have it.  The set-up is pretty stereotypical as well as you have a power outage, an impending storm, things occurring to pageant members, and a room full of mothers and daughters who want desperately to win. There was a lot of foreshadowing included in this book that didn't quite work the way the author intended and left me feeling somewhat disappointed. 

 

Verdict

Dead Pretty Things was an interesting read, but I don't think it quite worked for me.  There were a lot of threads and plot lines in this book and I felt like the author wasn't sure which thread to have stand out or which one to pull the tightest.  I did like the discussion surrounding pageants, grudges, toxicity, etc... and there was a lot of unpack in terms of themes, but overall, the ending was unsatisfying and I thought the overall character development was weak.   

 

Review: Half City by Kate Golden

Half City (Harker Academy, #1)

by Kate Golden

Release Date: February 17, 2026

2026 Ace

Audiobook & Ebook ARC; 496 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593953433

ASIN:  ‎ B0F88X3LP9

Audiobook: B0FBH51228

Genre: Fiction / Urban Fantasy

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Viv Abbot is an average twenty-one-year-old girl. She lives in an expensive city where the rent is too high, works long hours at a thankless job, and is dating a guy she doesn’t even like in the hopes of winning her prickly mother’s approval. She just also happens to be a demon hunter.

Ever since her father's murder, she's been forced to hunt deviants alone, meaning everyone, including her family, sees her as an outsider. . . . Until the day she crosses paths with a dangerously alluring demon, Reid Graveheart. The reformed deviant tells her of a school for people just like her: Harker Academy for Deviant Defense. If she enrolls, she'll learn to hone her craft, work with other hunters, and never be alone again.

But Viv has a deadly secret. One that not even her new friends at Harker can know about. Not when the school might hold the answers to untangling the mystery surrounding Viv's father’s death. When strange occurrences begin to plague the students, Viv will have to figure out who she can trust, and fast. All while trying to ace her classes, not fall for a demon, and make it through her first year at Harker in one piece. How hard could that be?

 

My Thoughts

Half City is one of those books that took me a little while to really get into, but now I'm fully invested. I think part of the problem is that I couldn't warm up to Viv at all, but I liked the world-building and the other characters enough to continue so when things really started to get interesting, I was in it for them and not necessarily for Viv. There were plenty of twists and turns and while some of them were a bit predictable, there were enough of them that caught me off guard to keep this story interesting.

 

First of all, let's start with Viv as a main character. While she eventually did grow on me somewhat, and I do understand why she is the way she is, there is something about how she looks down on others that is a bit condescending, as if her powers and how she has been fighting demons for her entire life grants her the right to be that way. When things go sideways later on in the book because of some bad decisions on her part, I was glad to see some redemptive arcs in her character development so I am hopeful the author created her this way on purpose and we will see how grow throughout the series.  For now, that is enough and while I can't empathize with her at the moment, I understand her a bit better by the end of the book and am glad to see the author is not neglecting character development.  

 

I did however, really enjoy the secondary characters in this book, and one character really caught me off guard as I did not guess what was happening there at all, so I am looking forward to learning more about them and seeing them grow and develop along with Viv.  For me, the secondary characters made up for Viv and her attitude.  And Deacon? Probably one of the best characters in this book so far, so mysterious and...I don't know what else to say about him at this point. But can't wait to find out more.

 

The plot actually moved a bit slowly at the beginning as it was focused on world-building and Viv's background, but when it picked up, it definitely picked up and I had to put the book down to think about all the little side plots that were going on. I liked the concept of the demon hunter academy and while I know the concept is not new and is quite tropy, it was still fun as all get out.  I did think the weakest point of the book was the 'romance', not because I am opposed to romance in this book, but because I didn't quite feel it yet. Don't get me wrong, I want some zap and some zing between Reid and Viv, nand while it was fun, I'm not fully feeling it. And I have some theories about our Reid and his role in this book.  And about Deacon. Should be some interesting times ahead for our characters. 

 

Verdict

Half City was an engaging read, and I enjoyed the audiobook quite a bit. While it did start a bit more slowly as it spent some time world-building and introducing characters, it built up to quite a crescendo in the end where I couldn't stop listening.  I enjoyed the overall investigation as well as the attacks on the school and thought the training was interesting, but I liked that kind of thing which is why I gravitate towards LitRPG because there are so many books with that trope.  I am glad to see the author put a lot of emphasis on character development as well as plot development and yet, there is still a lot of room for our characters to grow. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys urban fantasy and I am looking to my ARC read of book two.  

 

Review: In Case I Go Missing by R.N. Swann

In Case I Go Missing

by R.N. Swann

Release Date: May 26, 2026

2026 Viking Books for Young Readers

Ebook ARC; 400 Pages

ISBN: 978-0593695333

ASIN:  ‎ B0FNVY6N8V

Audiobook: B0GR8CP6MK

Genre: Fiction / YA / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Seventeen-year-old Fenny Allen has been Sarah Vincenty's sidekick for as long as she can remember, ever since the two of them solved the mystery of the stolen library books back in elementary school. Over the years, Sarah has ruffled a few feathers in their small town, building a reputation as both an amateur detective and a vigilante who has dispensed her own form of justice.

Now Sarah is missing. The police have written her off as yet another teen runaway, but Fenny is convinced that something more sinister has happened. When she discovers a binder Sarah left behind entitled In Case I Go Missing, Fenny learns that at the time of her disappearance, Sarah was investigating her biggest case yet.

Fenny knows that it's up to her to finish what Sarah had begun. As she and her friend Sam piece together the clues that Sarah left for them, they find themselves up against a decades-old mystery—one that links to the town's dark history. But is this binder a guide to finding Sarah—or are Fenny and Sam already too late?

 

My Thoughts

In Case I Go Missing was an intriguing YA mystery that focused on the disappearance of a friend as the other two friends in their friend group learn she was secretly investigating a case on her own. This book had quite a few twists and turns, but what intrigued me the most was the effect Sarah's disappearance had on the friendship of the two left behind and how it affected them going forward. Yes, there were a lot of secrets exposed in the town and the investigation was interesting, but I really enjoyed the human element behind Sarah's disappearance and how everyone reacted to it.

 

The story is told from Fenny's POV, but this is one time I wish we also had Sam's POV as I found his character to be quite as interesting as Fenny's and would have loved knowing his thoughts and insights. Fenny was quite capable and very determined to find out what happened to her friend, but I also loved how she wasn't reckless or stupid in her investigation, knowing when to keep her counsel, when to get the police involved and not keep clues to herself, and being smart. I really enjoyed the relationship between Fenny and Sam and am so, so, so glad the author didn't make their relationship a romantic one, but stuck to a platonic one as it would have felt so out of context for the story.  Both of them had major struggles going on and I am glad the author didn't ignore those struggles and took the time to focus on them and intertwine them with Sarah's investigation.

 

I became quite invested in this investigation and I have to credit the author's writing style for that. It was definitely a suspenseful murder mystery, but it was so much more than that as the clues Sarah left behind for Sam and Fenny allowed the author to reflect on the power of friendship and how well friends can really know each other.  This shone through the events and gave Fenny and Sam purpose as they found clues that only they would recognize and understood that Sarah was not necessarily ignoring them, but protecting them.  I did suspect quite early on what had happened, but that was okay. The author kept the tension high from pretty much the first page of the book and didn't let you relax until the last page and managed to pull all the different threads floating around into one interesting ending. It might seem a bit chaotic at times, but upon reflection, there was purpose behind everything in this book. There were multiple themes running through this book; loyalty, friendship, the unraveling of family legacy and secrets, neglect, murder, trust, the conflict between justice and revenge, loneliness, death, and the list goes on.  

 

Verdict

In Case I Go Missing was an unpredictable book and I was not sure in which direction it was going for most of it, but at the same time this was an accessible book and definitely written with the YA audience in mind.  Both the plot and character development were good, and the tension never really let up right from the first page. Yes, naturally there were some cliche moments and there were some tropes used, but they didn't interfere with the scope of the story nor did they interfere with the twists and turns of the story. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a tension-filled mystery and I am looking forward to reading more works by this author.

 

Review: One Second Away by Rick Mofina

One Second Away

by Rick Mofina

Release Date: April 28, 2026

2026 Doubleday Canada

Softcover ARC; 400 Pages

ISBN: 978-0385701983

ASIN: B0FJ7YXY96

Audiobook: B0FJBDDJGZ

Genre: Fiction / Thriller

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3.75 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

One sunny day in California, Jessie is hugging her nine-year-old son, Dylan, goodbye at the airport. He's travelling by himself, all the way across the country, to visit his father, Jessie's soon-to-be ex-husband, and his grandparents. Several hours later, Jessie gets a frantic call from Dylan's grandmother in New York. Dylan is missing.

In a second, Jessie's world turns upside down. The AirTag she'd stuck in his backpack says he's still at LAX. The airline insists that he was picked up at JFK by an elderly couple claiming to be his grandparents—but Jessie's in-laws insist they haven't seen him. Dylan has disappeared into thin air.

At the same moment, miles away, in Toronto, a train operator loses control of a subway train, and the fiery crash injures dozens of passengers. Jessie doesn’t know it yet, but this crash is inextricably linked to Dylan's disappearance. She has to find out how—and where her son is.

 

My Thoughts

One Second Away is one of those books that I read with a lot of trepidation as it took several of my fears and put them into one book: one, the fear of losing a child; two, the fear of being in train/plane collision; and three, having no control over any of it. This author grabbed your attention with a train crash right at the beginning of the book and pretty much never let up on the tension from that point on. 

 

While I enjoyed this quite a bit, I did struggle with Jessie as a main character.  I could certainly forgive her abrasiveness when wanting to know more information from the police about her missing child, but it irks me to no end when a person thinks they have a right to know everything and even barges in on a scene that is being criminally investigated and could compromise evidence. This was Jessie. Don't be Jessie. While brilliant when it comes to computers (something I'll come back to in a moment), she was not very good with personal relationships. While I understood her being abrasive with the police as they thought she was a suspect, she was like that with her friends as well. And for such a brilliant computer coder/designer, she spent most of her time running around the country like a chicken with her head cut off rather than doing any of her brilliant computer stuff. I know she had a team to help her, but why wouldn't she help them too? Why wouldn't she at least try to take some of the information herself and try to figure it out? She kept hinting at how it could be personal, so why share everything she had with others when they may not be trustworthy? I just didn't get it. 

 

Where this book really shines however, is the plot. This is not a character-driven story by any means, so the fast, tension-filled plot redeems the lack of character development. This is one of those books I kept picturing as a movie as it moved pretty quickly and the tension never let up. And I kept thinking of the movie Speed, how fun it was, but how silly some of the scenes were because you had to suspend belief for a lot of the movie. This is exactly the way it was in this book. Great action scenes, but you just had to go with it. I didn't find it difficult to figure out the culprit(s) in this book, but as I mentioned the character development was one-dimensional, at best.

 

Verdict

One Second Away was a fun, propulsive thriller that was heavy on tension and plot, but light on character and character development. You had to suspend belief quite a few times and just go with it, but that was okay, although I am sure those with more technological know-how might have different thoughts about this. I liked how the author managed to pull all the threads together even if I thought the reason was flimsy in the end. If you like fast-paced thrillers, this one might be for you. 

 

Review: Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World by Patrick Wyman

Lost Worlds: How Humans Tries, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World

by Patrick Wyman

Release Date: May 5, 2026

2026 Harper

Ebook ARC; 464 Pages

ISBN: 978-0063256484

ASIN: B0FP9C8WB4

Audiobook: B0FPRNDH6J

Genre: Non-fiction / History / Anthropology

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

There’s a familiar story about us humans: we went from hunting and gathering to farming, wandering bands to villages and cities, clans and chieftains to states and kings. But Lost Worlds offers a new narrative of humanity’s deep history. Here beloved podcast host Patrick Wyman focuses on the 10,000-year span between the end of the Ice Age and the decline of the Bronze Age—the period when civilization as we understand it emerged, introducing social hierarchies, urbanism, complex political organizations, and the written word.

In this nuanced retelling, human progress is no longer a straight march from caves to cities: Farming didn’t always replace foraging, villages didn’t automatically spark agriculture, and cities didn’t necessitate rigid hierarchies. For thousands of years, humans merely improvised. By the end of the Bronze Age, the world had become unrecognizable: mammoths and giant sloths replaced by cattle and sheep, scattered nomadic bands replaced by millions living in cities, and farming on nearly every continent. Wyman argues that the rise of states and steady food production wasn’t inevitable, but rather, the outcome of countless choices that reshaped the planet and made us who we are today.

 

My Thoughts

Lost Worlds is one of those books that I found quite interesting, both from the anthropological perspective as well as the archaeological perspective. When I took archaeology classes in university, I was one of those people that never accepted the linear development of a civilization as absolute as humans are far too complex for that to exist everywhere and in every society.  I sort of liken it to child development where there are many different paths to how a child learns to walk and not every child takes the same path. The grown of civilization is much more complex and spread around the world, so it just didn't make sense to me that societies would develop along the same pathways. This book takes a look a complex political and social organizations and how human progress wasn't linear and didn't necessarily follow identical paths from foraging to villages to cities. 

 

It follows a 10000-year span from the end of the Ice Age to the decline of the Bronze Age and because of the scope of the work as well as the amount of civilizations involved, the author focuses on different societies for each chapter. This suited me quite well, but one must remain cognizant of the choices as well as they would support the reasoning for the book. Similar societies could have been chosen which would have supported a counter-argument, but the scope for that would have required a much longer book than this one. 

 

While I know quite a bit about Neolithic and Bronze Age Societies, there were some that were chosen with which I was not as familiar so I enjoyed learning about how they developed and how their societies functioned. Because the book focused on the agriculture side of the development, the author did spend a lot of time discussing the importance of foraging and producing enough food for the people of these developments, some of which turned to agriculture while others simply moved locations when the food sources dried up. I found it fascinating and did learn quite a bit about how societies survived. This was not a book about battles, kings and queens, emperors, etc..., but about how a civilization survived and the complex hierarchies and societies developed to ensure survival.  It was also a book that speculated as to the reasons why some societies turned more towards farming while others, just as complex, never developed beyond foraging. The author mentioned quite often it was a mistake to think these societies that didn't develop along the same lines weren't as complex as those that did and provided ample proof for his statements.

 

The anthropological and archaeological studies used to determine how these complex societies functioned ran through all the explanations given in this book and I enjoyed learning about a lot of the processes being used today, so different from my studies over thirty years ago.  Scientists have this ability to analyze information that was not previously available through new techniques and they are developed even newer ones all the time.  I found it fascinating when I read about how much information they could get off a single frozen body that was over 5000 years old just by analyzing DNA in the bones or from the stomach contents. And that was just the simpler stuff.  Bodies can give us cause of death, injuries sustained during a lifetime, illnesses sustained during a lifetime, where they grew up, where they traveled, and the list just goes on and on. And I have always know how much information one can get from a trash pit, but with the new techniques it must be mind-boggling today.  

 

Verdict

Lost Worlds was definitely an enjoyable read and I personally thought gave the reader a clearer picture into some complex societies of the past. It was not a book about individual people, battles, dominance, etc..., but more about how different societies developed differently from others, but still made it work. It was also to show that complex societies and hierarchies didn't grow linearly, but grew according to local needs and necessities.  Naturally, some societies were closer to others and would have had an impact on each other, but others were quite far away and developed at the same time, but still had different approaches and results. This is what I found particularly interesting with regards to this book. While there were some parts that were a bit repetitive, and I did feel as if the author was struggling with his reader audience, a struggle between the more rigorous scientific approach or a more layman's approach, and this could be seen in the book, there was still quite a lot to absorb and think about. I have not listened to this author's podcasts at this point, but I am probably going to start as I found his book quite interesting.  

 

Review: Rune Seeker by J.M. Clarke and C.J. Thompson

Rune Seeker (Rune Seeker, #1)

by J.M. Clarke, Carter J. Thompson

Release Date: March 24, 2026 

2026 Atheon: Vault (Previously published independently by author)

Hardcover ARC & Ebook Editions; 704 Pages

ISBN: 978-1638493242

ASIN: B0CBSQZMW4

Audiobook: B0CDMVD1YM

Genre: Fiction / LitRPG / Fantasy

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4.25 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

Hiral is the Everfail, the weakest person on the flying island of Fallen Reach. He trains harder than any warrior. Studies longer than any scholar.

But all his people are born with magic powered by the sun, flowing through tattoos on their bodies. Despite having enormous energy within, Hiral is the only one who can’t channel it; his hard work is worth nothing.

Until it isn’t.

In a moment of danger, Hiral unlocks an achievement with a special Access a Dungeon to receive a Class-Specific Reward.

It’s his first—and maybe last—chance for real power. Just one all dungeons lay in the wilderness below the flying islands that humanity lives on, and there lay secrets and dangers that no one has survived.

 

My Thoughts

Rune Seeker is the first book in the Rune Seeker series and it's one of those series I've been meaning to read, but just haven't had the time to start, so when the publisher reached out and offered me copies of the first three books when they are available, I jumped at the chance.  This book probably dropped on my lap at the right time as I found it addictive and I had trouble putting it down, but still found the character development to be somewhat one-dimensional.  The pacing however, kept me entertained and I really enjoyed the dungeon elements quite a bit.

 

Hiral is the main character and the story is told from his viewpoint. Hiral struggled growing up as he seemed to have a lot of potential, but simply could not unlock it despite the efforts of his parents and the intense training regimen he put himself through.  Because of his struggles, he developed relationship issues with his mother, something I feel will be addressed in future books, but I hope the author doesn't make Hiral accept anything from her simply because he has unlocked his powers. I am always amazed when parents don't support their children because they don't turn out the way they want them to be.  As a result of his issues growing up, he has trouble trusting himself in situations as well as trusting others. While he could come across as sulky at times because of this, I think it does ring true to his character and the issues he had growing up. 

 

The secondary characters were actually quite interesting, but weren't fully developed in this book.  I am looking forward to learning more about them as the story progresses. 

 

The plot and the pacing are two of the reasons why character development was sort of shunted to the background as both of these were relentless in this book.  As soon as something happened, then was resolved, something else came up almost immediately.  I didn't mind this too much as the 'battles' were actually quite creative and used the leveling up system as well as the magical system in an interesting way.  There were a couple of things that weren't fully explained however, and I do have questions, questions that I hope will be answered in future books.  I love dungeon-based reads, but I love it when there are big mysteries and ancient secrets much more, and this one hints at the discovery of some of those ancient mysteries in the future.  And the sword inked in Hiral's back. Can't wait to discover how that one plays out. 

 

Verdict

Rune Seeker was a fun read and I enjoyed it tremendously. There was an issue with character development and I did feel like the authors glossed over some things that happened or did not take the time to explain them when they occurred perhaps knowing the issue will come up in future books or thinking the reader would not notice.  In any case, the pace was relentless and very action-heavy, but I didn't mind.  Because I am anal and have to read to the end of any chapter, that posed a problem in this book as the end of each chapter was written in a way that made you want to read the next chapter, something I did often until the wee hours of the morning.  I am definitely looking forward to the next book in this series.

 

Review: The Fourth Girl by Wendy Corsi Staub

The Fourth Girl (Haven Cliff, #1)

by Wendy Corsi Staub

Release Date: March 25, 2025

2025 Thomas & Mercer

Ebook Edition; 396 Pages

ISBN: 978-1662523809

ASIN: B0D9W5256F

Audiobook: B0DK3XZRNK

Genre: Fiction / Mystery

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

3 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

On prom night, Caroline Winterfield walked away from the ruins of an abandoned mansion called Haven Cliff and into the woods…never to be seen again. Only her three best friends know what really happened. But a secret is a secret, and a promise is a promise—even when it shatters lifelong friendships.

On the twenty-fifth anniversary of that night, Midge, Kelly, and Talia reunite at Haven Cliff, now a gleaming architectural jewel. But they aren’t alone. Someone is watching. Someone who knows what really happened to Caroline—and to the man who now lies dead a stone’s throw from where she was last seen.

 

 

 

My Thoughts

The Fourth Girl is the first book in the Haven Cliff series, and this one focuses on the friendship between four girls as they navigate high school and then reunite twenty-five years later hoping to reunite with one of the four who disappeared all those years ago.  Told through multiple POVs, we get a somewhat mish-mash story of one girl's life and her desperate need to get away, but something goes terribly wrong. 

 

First of all, what I really did enjoy was the friendship between the four girls.  There was a lot of drama and intrigue and I like how the story was told through each girl's perspective, both from the present and the past.  As forty years olds, we can definitely look back upon things that happened from a different perspective from when we were fifteen and see things we may have missed due to naivety and innocence even when the signs were there.  The friendships were definitely relatable and I really enjoyed the 90s nostalgia; it made me think about my own high school years and my own friend groups, things I hadn't really thought about in years.  There were a lot of secrets and a lot of things happened that were told through quite a nuanced story line that the reader would pick up on but that a teenager may not really grasp. It actually added to the tension in the story as you wondered what was really happening behind closed doors and how bad did things really get that were only hinted at but never really fully explained. I will mention here though that I never really understood the purpose of Gordy in the story line as it didn't make sense at all especially the way Caroline's character was being described.  

 

The plot itself actually moved along rather quickly, but it was quite predictable and I was able to figure out what was happening quite early on in the book. And honestly, the author's writing style was still stellar as I found myself flipping through the pages with a high level of tension wondering exactly what I would discover, but at the same time feeling like I had already read this type of story a dozen times.  And I didn't really care that this was slow, but in reality, the actual investigation when the murder did occur, was shunted to the background and the drama between the women/girls was always in the forefront, something that did affect the overall feel to the book in the end as I was left feeling underwhelmed. I realize this is the first book of a planned series, so maybe I will get some answers in future book?

 

Verdict

The Fourth Girl did have its moments and there were a lot of themes running through the story, but the character development was very one-dimensional which made it difficult to invest any energy in any of them. I didn't mind the slower plot, but did feel like the investigation took a backseat to the drama that engulfed the girls and was more of an afterthought.  There was enough in this book however, that I will be continuing the series to see what happens next.