The Whimsy Bookworm: A Book Blog from India

 Hello, hello, Since it is raining summer thrillers instead of actual rain (at least where I am), I thought I'd come over and review a few thrillers that I read and enjoyed recently. Let's get into it.  Book: Don't Let Him In  Author: Lisa Jewell  Pages: 368 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~3 hours  Plot Summary:  He’s the perfect man. It’s a perfect lie. Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband’s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling… Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband, Alista...

 Hello Loves!  The last week of the year is just to slow down and laze about and start prepping for the New Year.  I've started setting up my planners and organizing my supplies. Little things to get ready for 2025. I've also been watching some comfort films and reading some picture books.  Here are some faves from this week.  Lemon tea every night is a December staple.  Books and Tea.  Stickers and supplies.  Read this incredible spooky book.  Based on real life stories.  This was such good fun.  Mornings back in the hometown.  Blogging with a side of cookies.  Year end journaling, listing off  all my yearly highlights. 

 Hello, hello, We come to you today with the very highly anticipated list of our favourite thrillers/ crime fiction books of 2024! This is what a lot of you have been waiting for, so, without any further ado, let's get into it!  The Gathering by CJ Tudor: If you are a fan of vampire fiction and enjoy thriller, then is the perfect book for you to pick up! Set in a world where vampires (called vampyrs in this book) are known to exist and, seemingly, co-exist with humans, there is a murder of a 15-year-old boy in a small town in Alaska and a cop is sent from the capital to investigate. An atmospheric, interesting and engaging thriller. Full review can be found here .  The God of the Woods by Liz Moore: One of the best books I've read this year. It is a historical crime thriller book set between 1975 and, then, the late 1980s. It is based in a summer camp where a little boy goes missing in 1975 and then, years later, his younger sister goes missing as well. A very atmospheric...

 Happy Halloween🎃👻🍬  You know I love all things Spooky and every year for Halloween, I try to read some spooky and mystery books.  Here are five books I read this year in honour of Halloween.  Happy Halloween my Spooky 👻🐈‍⬛👽🎃👻 Pals.  Five books I read leading up to Halloween.                🎃👻🍬🎃👻🍬🎃👻🍬 Finally read Dracula and since it's such a big part of our cultural Zeitgeist, I feel like I knew this story through osmosis. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it immensely and was surprised how easy it was to read and accessible the writing was. Also watched two film adaptations. One made in 1992 by Fransis Ford Coppola (which was so campy and weird). The other produced by Wes Craven (who I love) which was fun but very, very not true to text. Both films are available on YouTube.  Mariana Enriquez was a revelation. I cannot believe it took me this long to finally find my way to her work. She writes like a dream abo...

  Book: The God of the Woods  Author: Liz Moore  Pages: 478  Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~5 hours  Plot Summary:  Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found. As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet. Things I Liked:  1. This book is full of retro summer vibes! It is set in a summer camp in 1975 and ha...

  Book: The Return of Ellie Black  Author: Emiko Jean  Pages: ~320 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~4 hours  Plot Summary:  It’s been twenty years since Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s sister vanished when they were teenagers, and ever since she’s been searching: for signs, for closure, for other missing girls. But happy endings are rare in Chelsey’s line of work. Then a glimmer: local teenager Ellie Black, who disappeared without a trace two years earlier, has been found alive in the woods of Washington State. But something is not right with Ellie. She won’t say where she’s been, or who she’s protecting, and it’s up to Chelsey to find the answers. She needs to get to the bottom of what happened to Ellie: for herself, and for the memory of her sister, but mostly for the next girl who could be taken—and who, unlike Ellie, might never return. The debut thriller from  New York Times  bestselling author Emiko Jean,  The Return of Ellie Black  is both ...

  Book: One Perfect Couple  Author: Ruth Ware Pages: 416  Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~4 hours  Plot Summary:  Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show,  The Perfect Couple , she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize. But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off fro...

  Book: The Gathering  Author: C.J. Tudor  Pages: 411 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~4 hours  Plot Summary:  WELCOME TO DEADHART. ALASKA. POPULATION 673.  LIVING.  In a small Alaskan town, a boy is found with his throat ripped out and the blood drained from his body.  The brutality of the murder of chillingly echoes a killing from twenty-five years ago. Out-of-state detective Barbara Atkins is brought in to assist the sheriff, Jensen Tucker, who investigated the original case.  However, the inhabitants of Deadhart believe they know who is responsible: one of the nearby vampyr colony who live in an old mining settlement deep in the mountains.  Barbara is under pressure to authorize a cull of the entire colony.  But the evidence doesn’t stack up, people are lying, and the more Barbara and Tucker delve into Deadhart’s history, the darker the secrets they uncover.  As the snow thickens and the nights grow longer, another teenager ...

 There is nothing I love better than a Saturday that I spend doing the things I love best~~~ Reading, Making myself breakfast and just Feeling Cozy and Happy.  Here is what my Saturday looked like:  I've been in a total thriller mood for the last few days.  I've read some 5 thrillers in the last couple of days and really enjoyed most of them.  These two books were read today, as in I finished reading What Waits in the Woods by Terri Parlato earlier today and loved it.  Then I quickly read The Summer House by Keri Beevis; this one was OK. More focussed on a romance angle than the thriller aspect but still enjoyable.  Got some stationery in the mail today.  Some cute things I'll haul soon.  Look how cute this faux Lamy looking pencil is?!!!  Bought purely for aesthetic reasons 🐸  Cute 🐻🐤🦆🐥 as can be.  Bookmark of the moment.  Full of cute cats 🐱 this one is from Bookcharms.  Hope your day has been sweet too 🥮

 Hey, hey,  As the title suggests, here are our Top 10 crime fiction/ thriller/ mystery books of 2023!  This year has been a good one for myster/ crime fiction/ thriller lovers because there has been such a nice little variety of books/ stories within the broad genre.  So, without any further ado, let's get into it, shall we?  Nine Liars by Maureen Johnson: Nine friends visit a country home. Two are found murdered by an axe. 20+ years later, a young amateur detective attempts to solve this cold case. A really engrossing, fun book about friendship, friend-group dynamics and such. Review can be found here . Villainy by Upamanyu Chatterjee: A fantastic, twisty, immersive book about an old crime and its long shadows. Very well written and you can find the detailed review here . The Trees by Percival Everett: Is an absolute 5-star must-read. When some racists in a small southern (American) town are found murdered, the body of a Black man, who resembles the victim of ...

  Book: Kill for Me, Kill for You Author: Steve Cavanagh  Pages: 368 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~3.5 hours  Plot Summary:  One dark evening on New York City’s Upper West Side, two strangers meet by chance. Over drinks, Amanda and Wendy realize they have much in common, especially loneliness and an intense desire for revenge against the men who destroyed their families. As they talk into the night, they come up with the perfect if you kill for me, I’ll kill for you. In another part of the city, Ruth is home alone when the beautiful brownstone she shares with her husband, Scott, is invaded. She’s attacked by a man with piercing blue eyes, who disappears into the night. Will she ever be able to feel safe again while the blue-eyed stranger is out there? Things I Liked: 1. The very inspired-by-Strangers-on-a-Train premise is what got me interested. It is not that I haven't read or watched movies with a similar premise but I do enjoy it when authors add their own take ...

  Book: Murder in the Family Author: Cara Hunter  Pages: 470 Read on: Kindle Read in: ~5 hours  Plot Summary:  IT WAS A CASE THAT GRIPPED THE NATION  LUKE RYDER’S MURDER HAS NEVER BEEN SOLVED  In October 2003, Luke Ryder was found dead in the garden of the family home in London, leaving behind a wealthy older widow and three stepchildren. Nobody saw anything. Now, secrets will be revealed – live on camera.  Years later a group of experts re-examine the evidence on Infamous, a true-crime show – with shocking results. Does the team know more than they’ve been letting on? Or does the truth lie closer to home? Can you solve the case before they do?  The truth will blow your mind. General Thoughts: If there is only ONE Crime Fiction/ Thriller book you read this year, make it this one! :) Now, on to the review.  Things I Liked:   1. The premise had me at hello! A cold case, a murder of a much younger step-father, no solid leads, promise of a m...

  Book: The Running Grave  Author: Robert Galbraith  Pages: 966 Read on: Kindle  Read in: ~7-8 hours  Plot Summary:  Private Detective Cormoran Strike is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has gone to join a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside. The Universal Humanitarian Church is, on the surface, a peaceable organisation that campaigns for a better world. Yet Strike discovers that beneath the surface there are deeply sinister undertones, and unexplained deaths. In order to try to rescue Will, Strike's business partner Robin Ellacott decides to infiltrate the cult and she travels to Norfolk to live incognito amongst them. But in doing so, she is unprepared for the dangers that await her there or for the toll it will take on her. General Thoughts: This is the seventh  book in the Cormoran Strike series and we have read and reviewed all six of the previous books on this blog. Click HERE to go find them. This is a good ser...