Review: If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay

Title: If Something Happens to Me

Author: Alex Finlay

Genre: Adult, mystery thriller

Publication date: May 2024

Published by: Minotaur Books

Source: Borrwed from library

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Synopsis: For the past five years, Ryan Richardson has relived that terrible night. The car door ripping open. The crushing blow to the head. The hands yanking him from the vehicle. His girlfriend Ali’s piercing scream as she is taken.

With no trace of Ali or the car, a cloud of suspicion hangs over Ryan. But with no proof and a good lawyer, he’s never charged, though that doesn’t matter to the podcasters and internet trolls. Now, Ryan has changed his last name, and entered law school. He's put his past behind him.

Until, on a summer trip abroad to Italy with his law-school classmates, Ryan gets a call from his father: Ali's car has finally been found, submerged in a lake in his hometown. Inside are two dead men and a cryptic note with five words written on the envelope in Ali’s handwriting: If something happens to me…

Then, halfway around the world, the unthinkable happens: Ryan sees the man who has haunted his dreams since that night.

As Ryan races from the rolling hills of Tuscany, to a rural village in the UK, to the glittering streets of Paris in search of the truth, he has no idea that his salvation may lie with a young sheriff’s deputy in Kansas working her first case, and a mobster in Philadelphia who’s experienced tragedy of his own.

My rating: ★★★★☆

I read The Night Shift by this author a couple of years ago, and I loved it! And after all this time, I finally got my hands on another of his books, and it was another solid mystery thriller.

Review: Spy x Family (Vol. 4) by Tatsuya Endo

Title: Spy x Family: Volume 4

Series: Spy x Family #4

Previous books in this series: Spy x Family (#1) | Spy x Family (#2) | Spy x Family (#3)

Author: Tatsuya Endo

Genre: YA, adventure, humor

Publication date: March 2021

Published by: VIZ Media

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis: Master spy Twilight is unparalleled when it comes to going undercover on dangerous missions for the betterment of the world. But when he receives the ultimate assignment—to get married and have a kid—he may finally be in over his head!

The Forgers look into adding a dog to their family, but this is no easy task—especially when Twilight has to simultaneously foil an assassination plot against a foreign minister! The perpetrators plan to use trained dogs for the attack, but Twilight gets some unexpected help to stop these terrorists.

My rating: ★★★★★

Bond! I love Bond!

Review: How to Fake a Haunting by Christa Carmen

Title: How to Fake a Haunting

Author: Christa Carmen

Genre: Adult, horror

Publication date: October 2025

Published by: Thomas & Mercer

Source: Purchased paperback

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Synopsis: A desperate woman’s plot to frighten her husband out of her life takes a nightmarish turn in a chilling novel of modern horror by a Bram Stoker Award–winning author.

Lainey Taylor is being pushed to the brink by her alcoholic husband, Callum. Prone to hallucinations and erratic behavior, it’s only a matter of time before he puts Lainey’s life—and that of their daughter, Beatrix—in jeopardy. A divorce and full custody is out of the question. In Callum’s words: Over my dead body.

Lainey’s sympathetic friend Adelaide has a wild solution. They’ll stage a haunting so convincing it will drive Callum out of Lainey’s life for good. Nothing too over the top: strange smells, noises in the walls, and flies unleashed along the windowsills. It could work. Considering Callum’s alcohol-induced night terrors, he’s already close to broken. With each new scare, Lainey is closer to seeing the haunting through to its bitter, freeing end.

But in a house filled with so much rage, resentment, and fear, is it any wonder that Lainey and Adelaide’s plan goes horribly wrong? As their fake haunting spirals into something no one can control, Lainey discovers that the only way out of this frightening trap is to join forces with Callum, or die trying.

My rating: ★★★★⯪

"So"—Adelaide's eyes had that glint again, all fire and excitement—"what do you say? Shall we turn this place into a motherfucking haunted house?”

I LOVED the premise of this book! This is what our protagonist has been dealing with in her home life:

My current reality—shackled to a man more concerned with drinking than his daughter, my dreams reduced to getting through each day, holding things together for Bea while practically falling apart myself.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? #472: In My Nonfiction Era

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Date and Unleashing Reads.

Review: Tastes Like Candy by Jessica Lacy

Title: Tastes Like Candy

Series: Tastes Like Candy #1

Author: Jessica Lacy

Genre: YA, horror, mystery thriller

Publication date: September 2025

Published by: Sourcebooks Fire

Source: Borrowed from library

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Synopsis: A senior year goodbye morphs into carnival carnage...

Everyone at Pritchett High wants an invitation to the Senior Scavenge, and this year, Violet Warren and her friends are the lucky ones. Eight girls will break into the Poison Apple Carnival after hours for a scavenger hunt, a school tradition to welcome the best and brightest into their senior year.

But warm welcomes turn into gory goodbyes as those hunting become the hunted. One by one, Violet's friends are viciously murdered by a mysterious masked figure running loose through the carnival grounds.

Can Violet survive this roller coaster ride from hell and unmask the killer in time?

Or will her head end up on a cotton candy pike?

My rating: ★★★⯪☆

I loved the premise of this book! I especially loved the setting!

The Poison Apple Carnival was Belldam's premier Halloween-themed year-round tourist attraction for families.