I received this book for free (hey, thanks!) in exchange for an honest review. I promise that this does NOT affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. For real.
I Need You to Read This by Jessa Maxwell Genres: Adult, Mystery/Thriller
Published by Simon and Schuster on August 13, 2024
Also by this author: The Golden Spoon
Format: Audio/eARC (304 pages) • Source: Everand, Publisher
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The author of the “clever, atmospheric, and creepy” (Andrea Bartz, New York Times bestselling author) The Golden Spoon returns with a sly and addictive new mystery about an advice columnist searching for answers about her predecessor’s murder.
Her most important letter might be her last…
Years ago Alex Marks escaped to New York City for a fresh start. Now, aside from trips to her regular diner for coffee, she keeps to herself, gets her perfectly normal copywriting job done, and doesn’t date. Her carefully cultivated world is upended when her childhood hero, Francis Keen, is brutally murdered. Francis was the woman behind the famous advice column, Dear Constance, and her words helped Alex through some of her darkest times.
When Alex sees an advertisement searching for her replacement, she impulsively applies, never expecting to actually get the job. Against all odds, Alex is given the position and quickly proves herself skilled at solving other people’s problems. But soon, she begins to receive strange, potentially threatening letters at the office. Francis’s murderer was never identified, turning everyone around her into a threat. Including her boss, editor-in-chief Howard Dimitri, who has a habit of staying late at the office and drinking too much.
As Alex is drawn into the details surrounding her predecessor’s murder, her own dark secrets begin to rise to the surface and Alex suddenly finds herself trapped in a dangerous and potentially deadly game of cat and mouse that takes her all the way from the power centers of Manhattan to Francis Keen’s summer house, where her body was found and where the killer may just be waiting for her.
I was one of the people who loved THE GOLDEN SPOON but I totally understand why people didn’t. That book was exactly what I wanted and expected it to be – basically a cozy mystery taking place at GBBO. I wasn’t expecting high-stakes thrills. Because of that, I went into I NEED YOU TO READ THIS with the same expectation. I think, for that reason, I enjoyed this more than others (though not as much as her adult debut). Her mysteries are not fully cozy but they’re not fast-paced thrillers either.
I think this one took a while to get grooving – the main character was going through a lot but it wasn’t necessarily a thriller. Yes, she wanted to figure out what happened to the previous Dear Constance but there weren’t scary moments necessarily. I got halfway through the book and didn’t feel like anything happened.
I thought some of the “twists” were incredibly obvious while others would have been, in my opinion, impossible to figure out (and not in a good way). I always hear people talk about “fair play mysteries” where you as the reader have all the information you need to solve the crime or mystery within the pages. No random boogeyman can come out and be the culprit. While I *do* think this technically counts as a fair play mystery, one of the elements came out of nowhere and it didn’t feel fair in a way. I won’t spoil it.
The ending or whodunnit wasn’t my favorite for those reasons but I did like the actual end of the story. Again, no spoilers, but it was hopeful and nice (for a MC that deserved that). Overall I was still drawn to Maxwell”s writing style and the premise; I enjoyed following along but really don’t see this as a thriller until the final few chapters.
Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus Genres: Young Adult, Mystery/Thriller
Published by Random House Children's Books on July 30, 2024
Also by this author: One of Us is Lying, Two Can Keep a Secret, One of Us Is Next, The Cousins, You'll Be the Death of Me, Nothing More to Tell, One of Us Is Back
Format: Audio/Physical (400 pages) • Source: Purchased, Spotify Audiobooks
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The newest mystery from the author One of Us Is Lying, the Queen of thrillers, Karen M. McManus! When mother-daughter grifters set out on their final job, the heist gets deadly and dangerously personal.
For all of Kat’s life, it’s just been her and her mother, Jamie—except for the forty-eight hours when Jamie was married and Kat had a stepbrother, Liam. That all ended in an epic divorce, and Kat and Liam haven’t spoken since.
Now Jamie is a jewel thief trying to go straight, but she has one last job—at billionaire Ross Sutherland’s birthday party. And Kat has figured out a way to tag along. What Kat doesn’t know, though, is that there are two surprise guests at the dazzling Sutherland compound that weekend. The last two people she wants to run into. Liam and his father—a serial scammer who has his sights set on Ross Sutherland’s youngest daughter.
Kat and Liam are on a collision course to disaster, and when a Sutherland dies, they realize they might actually be in the killer’s crosshairs themselves. Somehow Kat and Liam are the new targets, and they can’t trust anyone—except each other.
Or can they? Because if there’s one thing both Kat and Liam know, it’s how to lie. They learned from the best.
Karen M. McManus is an auto-read for me even though I’ve moved away from YA books for the most part. I think she writes some of the best YA murder mysteries out there. It was really fun to see her do something different with a heist book, especially with some morally gray characters.
Kat and her mother have been working in some less-than-savory “jobs” since they escaped their shitty past and they’re ready for one last heist before going straight. They just need to steal a necklace and swap it with a fake. Little do they know, her mom’s ex and his son Liam are also going to be guests at the rich and fancy birthday party weekend.
This isn’t a favorite but overall it was fun and entertaining, especially as reveals happened toward the end. I didn’t really put anything together and maybe some of it was far-fetched, but I enjoyed it.
For some reason this really took me a long time to read. I didn’t love the audiobook, which meant I pretty much never chose to listen to it instead of a podcast when driving around. I definitely could have completed it earlier if that wasn’t the case. Honestly I could have sat and finished it in a few days but I didn’t ever feel motivated to pick it up.
Overall, I’d recommend it if the premise is interesting to you. I think it lived up to what I expected and it was mostly a ME issue.
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