Bookwild - Mind Benders and Cold Cases with Gare Billings

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

This week, Gare and I chose our own sub-genres to give recommendations for!I chose "Mind Benders" and Gare chose "Missing Persons/Cold Cases" so if you are looking for books in either of those genres, we've got you covered!Kate's BooksRecursionI’m Thinking of Ending ThingsThe Mechanics of MemoryThe New OneStay AwakeGare's BooksThe Lost HouseA Flicker in the DarkThe Man on the TrainLeave the Girls BehindAll Good People Here Get Bookwild MerchCheck Out My Stories Are My Religion SubstackCheck Out Author Social Media PackagesCheck out the Bookwild Community on PatreonCheck out the Imposter Hour Podcast with Liz and GregFollow @imbookwild on InstagramOther Co-hosts On Instagram:Gare Billings @gareindeedreadsSteph Lauer @books.in.badgerlandHalley Sutton @halleysutton25Brian Watson @readingwithbrian 

Hello, it is I. He's back to the good old days is what I was about to say. You beat me to it. It's so weird to see us. Yeah, just two of us. Our little blonde bombshell in the middle. I know. She's just a busy bee this week.

Yeah. Yeah. It's okay. Just kicking it old school. Kicking it old school. Killing it tea style. Yeah, let's kill some tea. Um, so I've been doing some major, like, organization, like, on my phone and my notes,

with my life, with my books specifically. And I have one of those, like, book trees with, like, the shelves that kind of go like this. Oh, yeah. For anybody watching, like, they, or for anybody who can't see me, they're just, like, in the middle of one another, pointing in different directions. Um, and I think I'm going to make that my TBR. Ooh, that's a good size for it. Yeah.

So I was going to do that and then I'm replacing one of my book carts with a larger book cart for some of the books that have been piling up all over. And I've done some like major organizing with like backlist I want to read in 2025. I have like piles of books that I got myself for like. after Christmas with like gift cards and stuff. Oh, yeah. So I was going to ask you as our icebreaker. Oh, yeah. I know that you're a Kindle Girlie, but whichever one works more specific for you,

is there anything book-wise that you would like to organize better in 2025? And if not, because you're a Kindle Girlie, how many books do you think you have downloaded after Christmas to now? I didn't get any gift cards so that answer won't be as fun um I did see that temper uh by lane fargo that's only one of hers I haven't read yet was a dollar 99 because actually because step sent it to me a couple days ago so I bought that one and did I buy anything else oh I bought hostage because that's like the backlist book club pick so there's a the two that I have bought organization-wise, though, in terms of the podcast specifically,

or like it is kind of a bookish thing still, I guess is what I'm saying. I need to like organize the transcripts somewhere so that we can make deep cut references sometimes if we wanted to. Or like search the amount of time, like for just like fun data to like how many. times we've actually talked about bright young women or Ashley Winstead. It would just be fun day to have, so I kind of want to do that. And it's like, Riverside does it. It's just a matter of me putting it all in one place. Yeah, yeah. I've just been like organizing my notes with like, here are my arcs. Here's like the back list. Like,

here's what I got myself. Because I wanted to like take a picture for like Instagram of like, here's what I got myself with like gift cards and stuff like that. Yeah. But like I'm like looking at like the pile of like stuff that I want to read and I'm like, where's the time? Oh, I know. No. I keep thinking for whatever reason when I wake up in the morning.

I'm like, I'm going to get through all my work so fast. Which like, you know, you just I get a, I can't remember what some people call it, but I have an inflated sense of like how quickly I can do something in the morning. like I'm overly optimistic and I'm like then I'm just going to read read read read read and then I'm like no there's just shit I need to do I know I know I feel you I feel like everything like kind of like hits all at once for me like I come in and like come in I start work in the morning because I work from home and I'm like oh it doesn't look like it's going to be too bad today and I'm like then like 930 like the shit hits the fan and I'm like super swamp which was like today was one of those days like everything hit me all at once um Or I'm like, oh my God, I'm so busy. I'm never going to catch up. And then like 10 o'clock comes and I'm like, okay, I'm a little bored right now.

So I get that. I get that a lot. But yeah, I've just been like trying to like organize books and get my life in place. And I feel somewhat optimistic about it. I'm just nervous that this cart is going to get here. And I'm going to be like, I still have too many. I know. You have a lot.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm just like a little anxious about that. But we'll see. Once it's organized, I'll feel better, I'm sure. Because I'm one of those people that feels less anxious when like things are organized. As you can see with my one TBR car right here that has like piles of books on it. Here are some clothes that I got that I received today that I had ordered myself.

Here's some clean jeans that need to go be put away. But I just, you know. That's where you're at. I love to stretch myself in. Yeah. but I was thinking even when you and I used to do killing the tea

and sometimes when it's like you Steph and I I feel like we have these um like we have so much in common but we also have like our own interests and it's like we all love like books about podcasts or like certain thriller tropes

but like then like sometimes it's like kind of hard to like fit in things that you're very passionate about because you're like, oh, I love this book, but there's no podcast element. It doesn't fit in with this. It doesn't care with that. So, like, I was thinking because, like, we usually discuss things like this anyway. I thought it would be fun to have an episode where we picked out our favorite, like, subgenre or niche drama, genre, genre or drama. I mean, it could be drama if you wanted to be. It can be. Or like something very specific that we like in thrillers just to highlight some books that, you know, we really love seeing that in. Yes.

I love doing these like subgenre or like microgenre picks. I do too. They're just fun. They're fun. Yeah. I mean, I love talking about books in general. Right. I just sometimes struggle when I'm like, oh, here's an opportunity for me to talk about bright young women again.

and people are like rolling their eyes or like oh like I love this this topic but I have like three when we're going to discuss four or something you know what I mean so I just thought it would be like fun to like highlight some books that you know you love that you're very passionate about that might not be something I've read or I would be into but like all of the people who are the book wild babes might appreciate yeah because it's like I I keep discovering new little subgenres, like even last year. Like, it just still happens. You would think that, like, eventually I would have discovered them all.

But sometimes you hear something and then you try it. And you're like, oh, maybe this is for me. Hmm. Yeah. Hmm. And I think it's, like, also good for, like, people who listen to because, like, some people are like, oh, my God, I love serial killer thrillers, but I also love spy thrillers. Yeah.

You know what I mean? Whereas, like, I'm, like, a serial killer story. give it to me and like a spy thriller i'm going to get lost on it because we've justified that there are just some subgenres that i am not very smart with you're just differently interested i'm just still being haunted by this is the year oh you even have it this is the year i'm going to finally read this yes i'm adding it to my i'm excited i'm excited to talk with you you about it. Even if I like don't understand it, I'm just going to be like, I did it. There's still vibes is the thing too. You don't even have to, because like some of understanding it or like

what happened to me when I just went into a full-blown mania about it was like I wanted to think about every single thing. And like you don't even get answers to every single thing. So it's like also you can read it and enjoy it and then also read other theories and be like, oh, okay. Like that that still makes it fun. Yeah. And I also was like thinking like I don't want to like insult anybody, but there's like an account that I follow that like posted about it recently and they were like, oh my God, I love this. And like typically this account reads like a lot of like popcorn thrillers and like things that like I've read that I'm like, oh, like these are very, these are books that are like easy to follow. So like I'm like maybe, you know, even if I don't pick up on certain things, I'll still

love it. I think you'll love the vibes. It's very creepy. yeah so here's the year that i read we used to live here cheers for that it's so good well um kind of in line with that I picked mindbenders

as my subgenre and the reason I thought it was kind of fun when it came to mind is it made me realize that also still fits multiple genres So like I have a sci-fi one, I have a horror one, I have a, I don't know, traditional thriller one. So it was kind of cool when I realized like mind bender also encompasses a lot. Mine is like very like specific. But like mine are all basically like crime fiction thrillers that like deal with cold case murders.

I love a cold case murder thriller, but I really love when, and I blame Return to Midnight for this. I love when it's something that has happened a while ago. And there's either like the question of, did this person that we think is responsible do it? Or is there more to the story than just like what was solved or is it like still going to remain like unsolved? So I noticed that I really, really like that, that like plot device. And I've felt like every book that I've read that has used it has been like a winner for me. That's awesome. You know, like there haven't been any that I'm like, oh, that doesn't work.

You know, like so I was like, that's something that I would love to highlight because I feel like it just really works for me. But it keeps me invested in the story. Yes. More. Yeah. That's how I feel about mind bending ones. Yeah. It keeps me in it. Why don't you kick us off then? Tell me about your favorite mind-bending thriller.

Yes. So this one was kind of cool because an author I just interviewed. He mentioned this one and I hadn't thought about it in forever. And I was like, I don't know if I've even talked about this one on the podcast. Recursion by Blake Crouch is, I think, one of his trippiest. like it's a little trippier than dark matter even. Where does this? Here we go.

Memory makes reality. That's what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning. As he investigates the devastating phenomenon, the media has dubbed false memory syndrome, a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived. That's what neuroscientist Helena Smith believes. It's why she's dedicated her life to creating a technology

that will let us preserve our most precious, memories. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent. As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face to face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease, a force that attacks not just our minds with the very fabric of the past. And as it and as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena working together will stand a chance of defeating it. But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them. Dang.

Such high stakes in all of his books. There's like, God, of course I don't remember the name of it. I can remember the poster. There's like a movie that I watch that has like a little bit of like a sci-fi element to it. And I feel like it would be like a Blake Crouch book. But it's basically like, I don't remember the name of it.

It's about this man whose wife is murdered. And this scientist comes up with this like formula that he can inject into the husband so that the husband can see what she saw before she was murdered so that he can like solve and find out who killed her. Oh, that sounds good. It was really good. It was really good. I think like Ray Leota might be. I think it's like Ray Leota and Linda Fiorantine. know, and then that really creepy guy from Sons of Anarchy.

I don't know who the creepy guy from... It's called Unforgettable. I just found it at the same time as you. And the creepy guy is Kim Coates. Okay. Yeah. Damn. Yeah, I'm going to have to watch that.

It is so good. I'll watch it with you the day that you watch it. I don't know. It's like one of those things that like I watched it like a long time ago. So I kind of wonder if like I watch it again. If I would still be like, oh my God, that's so good. and interesting or if I'd be like, ugh. Right.

You once had shitty taste. Yeah. I know. You can't always tell how things hold up. Some things do and some things don't. But I feel like Blake crouch is like somebody that could do something that's like a thriller that's like, even if you're not into like sci-fi necessarily, like you could get into his books. Yeah. It's really approachable sci-fi.

Approachable sci-fi. I love your wording sometimes. I'm like, you know. Thank you. I'm like the Valley Girl and you're the, like, the studious. Just wordy, whatever that is. Yeah. And I'm like, you know what I mean?

Like, when I like saying. Oh, I have my fair share of likes. No, I, so sometimes just to relive good mems or to listen back to myself and see if there's any way I can improve, I always listen to our episodes when they come out. well i mean i listen to all your episodes but i kind of like focus on like oh yeah like where can you improve when i hear the ones that i'm in and i always think to myself i don't realize how many times i say the word like until i'm listening back yeah and it's like sometimes i wonder how many times people have probably turned off the podcast because they're like if he says the word like one more time i'm going to lose my mind

I think a lot of people do it more than you think it could be but I'm okay with it I guess it's just who I am so yeah but yeah late Crouch

yeah he's awesome I've heard a lot of good thing well I'm sorry what is the other really popular title that he did Dark Matter Dark matter And that's a movie or a show A show on Apple

I want to watch that I'm adding it to my list I need to. We've been watching slow horses on Apple and it is so good. We're in a spy. We're in a spy world right now. Tyler all of a sudden got interested in watching TV if it was spies and I was like, welcome to my world. Wow. Pretty much. Well, I feel very happy that in a previous episode I had discussed that I was going to try to not be so hard on myself with like my reading goals and set a lower one so that I can try to process books. So I'm only on my second book of the year so far. Which is not like me too.

Yeah. Which is not like me. But I am loving it and it fits my theme here. Even better. So I'm going to talk about a book that features a cold case. called The Lost House by Melissa Larson. And it is about a 40-year-old crime in which a young woman and her infant daughter were found brutally buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except for the mother's throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. just a suspicion turned into the theory of the husband is the one who did it.

When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt. Now nearly half a century later, and a year after his death, his granddaughter Agnes is ready to clear her grandfather's name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once stable life, which is why she so readily accepts the true crime expert Nora Carver's invitation. to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on the last fly out to the remote town of B-Frost. I know. I don't know how to pronounce it either. By-frost. She's in Iceland, leave this to say.

She's an Iceland, guys. Where Nora is staying and where Agnes's father grew up and where supposedly her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter. Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the same weekend Agnes arrives? suddenly Agnes and Nora's investigation is turned upside down and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is held bent on delivering and even her life, discovering how

far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets. There's a lot going on. A lot. A lot. And it is. so like cinematic and atmospheric. It like the way that she combines the eerieness of the weather in Iceland with how beautiful it is visually is just so good. You know, and we're having a snowstorm up here.

We're having like very cold, cold, cold weather. It's about 15 degrees and snowing and blowing. So I just kind of feel as though I'm in Iceland, even though I'm in the comfort of my own home in upstate New York. I feel you. It's the same thing here. We got like a foot of snow. It's a lot.

It is insane. It is insane. I've been cooped up. I haven't left my house in four days. Damn. It's just a lot for me. You're injured ready to get. We're supposed to get three to six inches of snow tonight.

And I'm like, I am still, I'm still venturing out because I, if I get cabin fever anymore, I have to. I just not working for you I have to save my sanity yeah definitely but yeah the lost house is

so good right now I need to read it I think you'll really get into it because you've read Nordic noir before yeah and it's like Nordic noir but it's more fast-paced because it is a little bit more here's some atmosphere

here's a little cliffhanger yeah and I like feeling cold or pretending I'm feeling cold so yeah it's one of those books where there's there's a scene when this is obviously not a spoiler I wouldn't mention it but there's one of those scenes where when Agnes arrives she's talking about how like she can feel the cold through her bones and she sees this very plush warm inviting bed and just how tempting it is to like take a hot shower and climb right in. And I just thought those are eyes.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Well, add it to my list. I think this next one is the last book I read in 2024. I think it was. I don't know. But this is my horror mind bending one.

It's, I'm thinking of ending things by Ian Reed. And the synopsis is, is very vague and everything about it is very vague. I'm thinking of ending things. Once this thought arrives, it stays, it sticks, it lingers, it's always there, always. Jake once said sometimes a thought is closer to the truth to reality than an action. You can say anything, you can do anything, but you can't fake a thought. And here's what I'm thinking.

I don't want to be here. And this smart and intense literary suspense, not very. Ian Reid explores the depths of the human psyche questioning consciousness, free will, the value of friendships, fear, and the limitations of solitude. Doesn't tell you much, but you want to not know much. Is this a movie? On Netflix, yeah. Okay. There's this book and another one called Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.

Yeah, you mentioned it a couple of. episodes. Always confused the two. Oh, yeah. So I always wonder which one is the movie. But I believe the movie of this one is, I believe Tony Colette is in it, correct? I don't know. I haven't watched it because like some of the readers talked about how some of the changes they made it. They didn't really like and so I've been scared to watch it. So I haven't. Tony Collette is in it. Nice. You knew it. Yeah. It was. I will say about this one is this one is really fun if you like if you like thought experiments in terms of like that comes up in philosophy but sometimes saying philosophy sounds so heavy or whatever. But if like thought experiments are really interesting to you, this book will be very interesting to you. But it's very niche. It's very unique. So yeah. I don't know. Maybe I'll get into horror a little bit more this year.

Maybe. No. Once I read, we used to live here. Imagine I'm just filling my teeth with best. Yeah. I just filling my TBR with like nothing but horror and mind bending things and then I'm in sci-fi and then I'm feeling adventurous. I bring you all the way into the sci-fi world. I'm like, I don't want to ever read a serial killer book again. Who's bright young women? But no, I don't know. I was thinking of watching the movie.

movie before. Usually I obviously like to read the book before I watch the movie, but I kept thinking if I'm going to get lost in the book, then maybe the movie would be kind of, you know, the route to go. Yeah. So maybe I'll watch it. But I know what it's like to have an adaptation that just kind of fails you. Yeah. I know. It's a, it would be with the snowman. Oh, yeah. I think if you watch the movie and didn't read the book, you'd be like that wasn't too bad. Mm-hmm. But there are some things that they did in the book or in the movie that I was not expecting because that's not how it happened in the book and I was just pissed.

Yeah, I don't blame you. Like killing people that are supposed to survive. Oh my gosh. I was like, no. That's shitty. I did not read an entire series of these things. people for you to just knock them off in a one movie. Right.

Speaking of murders. Speaking of murder. Speaking of murders, one of my favorite books that deals with Cold Case serial killer is a Flickr in the Dark by Stacey Willingham. I love

family dynamics. I love serial killers and I love cold cases. So let's just get this party started. When Chloe Davis was 12, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of summer, Chloe's father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath. Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist and a private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she's worked so hard to get.

sometimes though she feels as out of control as her own life as the troubled teens are to their patients when a local teenage girl goes missing and then another and that terrifying summer comes crashing back is she paranoid and seeing parallels that aren't really there or for the second time in her life is she about to unmask a killer i loved that book that book was so fun it was so good it was so good and I just... Such a strong debut. I always kind of... I always love, obviously,

because that's my theme. I always love where there's a cold case and maybe a copycat or that question of, is this person guilty or are they not? I always find it very interesting, but I feel as though I always see it in a police procedural

from the detective perspective. So the fact that it's Chloe's perspective and it's her father that is the allegedly guilty serial killer. I just thought it brought a lot more to the story than just saying like maybe this, you know, John Doe is not the killer. It's just like somebody that I don't know where it's,

you know, she's kind of going back and forth with her memories and everything that happened that summer and how it's parallel to what's happening in present time. She's found it really good and fascinating. Yeah, I really personalized it. Oh, no. as my voice completely goes out. It happens to the best of us.

Well, I have one that also is asking the question, who did what? That's my clunky segue. So this is my more traditional thriller. Stay awake by Megan Golden. And I just burned through this one. I remember, like, I read this one in less than a day because I was, just obsessed from the get-go. Liv Rees wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there.

When she's dropped off at the door of her brownstone, a stranger answers, a stranger who now lives in her apartment and forces her out in the cold. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it's missing and in its place as a bloodstained knife. That's when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin. Stay awake. Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, dating a new man, and thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now she's lost and disoriented in New York City in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. Catching a glimpse of the local news, she's horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim's blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, the same message that's inked on her hands. What did she do last night?

and why does she remember nothing from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn't remember committing as she tries to piece together the fragments of her life. But there's someone who does know exactly what she did and they'll do anything to make her forget permanently. I was just always such a terrifying idea to like all of a sudden like kind of like come to consciousness and you're like, who am I, where am I?

What did I do? Mm-hmm. Especially where like, or like you say, like one of your fears is being framed. Framed. So like, could you imagine waking up and not knowing who you are, but then somebody's like... Oh, I would fall apart. You're a murderer. I'm like, I'm sure of self-defense. There's also, if you like stay awake, there's a book called Are You Sarah by S.C. Lally.

That's really good. It is about a girl in a bar. who runs into another girl in a bar and she's drunk and they kind of befriend one another and they both find out that their names are both Sarah and one's with an age and one's without. And when they go outside and they leave the bar, they get into their ubers and part ways. And then our main protagonist realizes that she's in the wrong Sarah's Uber. So by the time she gets home, the other girl that she met is murdered on her doorstep. So she's like, did somebody, like, was somebody trying to be. to kill me instead or like what is happening and it's so good and it's very action-packed.

Ooh, I need to read this one. I remember you talking about it. Yeah, it's really good. So that's my comment. Definitely need that one. I wish I could like, I wish I could come up with my own little like one to two sentence synopsis of other books the way that I just did that one because that. Yeah, you really did.

Coming from memory was actually pretty good. but I feel like I'm always nervous. I'm going to spoil something. Oh, I know. Well, my next one is a book that you and I both loved. And it is The Man on the Train by Debbie Babbitt. Yes. And I just absolutely love this one.

I love both of the books that I read by her and I still have to read Saving Grace. Yeah. One man is about to have a midlife crisis like no man has ever had before. Before his wife, the nightmare is just beginning. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Linda Haley is awakened one morning by two police officers at the door. She has no idea that her husband has been living a secret life during his daily commute into the city. Now, Guy is the prime suspect in a brutal murder that could derail Linda's high-powered career and may be connected to a cold case. And Guy has also disappeared. With a warrant out for his arrest, Linda travels to the scene of a

40-year-old unsolved murder and a night of violence that shattered the serenity of a fishing hamlet on the eastern end of Long Island. Aided and abetted by an ex-cop who's in love with her, she searches for evidence that could clear guy's name. But as the manhunt intensifies and she begins to uncover the shocking truth and the past guy is buried deep, Linda must decide if the stranger she married is innocent or guilty, and if he truly deserves to be saved. Oh, one is so good. it's so good I still think about it I just loved I don't want to say I I loved the police procedural investigation aspect of that but I also loved the

other timeline chapters because it felt very sinister yeah A without being YA because obviously the book is extremely dark it is but just the combination of her traveling with this cop and trying to figure out what's going on and where is her husband and there's just so much going on in it. There is. The two timelines are so different that I just, it was impossible to put down. Yeah, I felt the same way. Love that book.

Very atmospheric. Oh, yeah. Very tense. It was so good. So good. And she's just a sweetie. She's so sweet. I'm like, what are you thinking?

I know. What's going on in that mine, you little sweet pee? I know. This stuff, apparently. I guess. well my next one is sci-fi so totally different but this one i've talked about before and when i saw it or thought of it whatever i was like man i technically still am chasing the high of this book like this one was that good and it's the new one by evie green um for tamsin

and ed life is tough they both work long hours for very little money and come home to their moody, rebellious daughter, Scarlett. After a tragic accident leaves Scarlett comatose and with little chance of recovery, Tamsin and Ed are out of options until a lifeline emerges in the form of an unusual medical trial. In exchange for the very best treatment for Scarlett, a fully furnished apartment, and a limitless spending account, the family must agree to move to Switzerland and welcome an artificial copy of their daughter into their home. Suddenly, their life is transformed.

Tamson and Ed want for nothing and the AI replacement Sophie makes it feel like makes it feel just like having their daughter back except without all the bad parts. Sophie is engaged, happy and actually wants to spend time with her parents. But things take a turn for the worst when Scarlett makes a very real recovery and the family discovers that the forces behind their new life are darker than they ever could have imagined. This one is like if you love Black Mirror, you would love this book. is what's the name of it the new one okay oh I thought you were saying this is the new one like this is the new book by EV oh no no no this is the title the title okay I was kind of laughing because I remember you posting like a blooper when I was like wait what's the name of it you were like I never said the name so I was laughing thinking we were going to have another

one of those but no it's called the new one yeah it's called the new one i thought you were saying it's the new book by e v green that sounds really good it's really good it's shocking at the end sounds like something i think that i might give it a whirl i think you'll like it it it's not um it's like so near future you know like it's not like too far from the future feels it sounds like it's pretty followable. Oh yeah. Mm-hmm. Like I wouldn't be too awesome. It's pretty character-driven for how suspenseful it also is. I'm just side note. I downloaded Fable and I'm obsessed. I download a Fable because of you. And, um, yes, but there's so much more that you can do with Fable than Goodreeds, but I'm still using both because I don't know how to add things to, I'm not as quick with Fable and this would be

very long episode that you would have to cut while I'm trying to add things to my TVR on Fable. Right. And I'm also, I love the little tracker with Fable where you can track every day that you've read. I know. And it gives you a little calendar, but I missed Saturday. Like I read on Saturday and I didn't mark it. You just didn't punch it.

I didn't punch it. I know. It's kind of a smart trick to get you to open it up every day. I know. Jeez. Brilliant. Yeah. But yeah.

No, I would actually think that I might give this one a shot. You should. I would love to tell. I remember so much about the ending and I read it like over two years ago. It kind of gives me, I love some of the domestic, like, evil children vibes. Yeah. Like, I love the movie The Orphan. Yes.

And if you saw Megan. I actually loved Megan. It's along those lines, too. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And they're making another Megan movie. Yeah, I'm excited for that one. I am too. And I also loved The Perfect Child by Listen to Barry. I read that this year. I need to read it.

That had such the ending to that. Which is like, that and saving Noah are the two books by her that at the end. I was like, holy fuck me. Yeah. She has that effect. So my next one is leave the girls behind by Jacqueline Bublets because she's amazing and I love her. It is about Ruth Ann Baker, who is a college dropout and a bartender. But she's also an amateur detective who can't stay away from true crime. 19 years ago, her childhood friend was murdered by a suspected serial killer, Ethan Oswald. Still tormented by the case, Ruth can't help but think of the long dead Oswald when another girl goes missing in the same town.

When she uncovers startling new evidence that suggests Oswald did not act alone, she's determined to find his deadly partner in crime. Embarking on a global investigation, Ruth becomes close to three very different women, one of whom might just hold the key to what happened to the missing girl. And her childhood friend all those years ago. You might like this one because she does, it's not like a, I don't know how to say it. it's not just her in one area she does go travel to like different countries and stuff yeah i do need to read this one i ended up not getting it on net galley and then i forgot to pick it up that cover so pretty it's so pretty and it's so good and i was just thinking about how like much

of an odyssey it was i mean it's not a very long book but it just takes you on such a wild journey because it really kicks off, you know, and it's really dark. Per yush. Per yush. But it's so like there's so many similarities in her writing between her first novel and this one that I just can't wait to see what she has up her sleeve for book three. I know. There's so many similarities in the writing, but the plots are so different, but they're just like that dark and haunting and I just. love me some jacqueline i know i need i need to join you guys in that because step read it too

yeah she did yeah well my last one is another one about memory from last year the mechanics of memory by audrey lee which also one of the cover i think it's so cool um never forget memory is Copeland Stark's business. Yet after months of reconsolidation treatments at their sleek new flagship facility, Hope Nakano still has no idea what happened to her lost year or the life she was just beginning to build with her one great love. Each procedure surfaces fragmented clues that erode hopes trust in her own memories, especially the ones of Luke. As inconsistencies mount, her search for answers, reveals a much larger secret Copeland Stark is determined to protect. but everyone has secrets including hope.

Yeah, this one, for some reason, it kind of reminded me of Legion, which was a TV show, but there's not superheroes in this one, but like the feeling of being in the like rehab treatment was similar to how Legion portrayed it. I don't think that's actually very helpful for most people, but there's that fact. I just I really think to myself 2024 was not a great year for me Yeah And I think of what How different my life

And everything that's happened in the past year But I went through all of that So I just can't imagine waking up and being like Well your life kind of went to shit But you don't know why Yeah You have no recollection of the last year Like that scares the hell out of me

I know same just losing memories in general sounds terrifying well i love how your picks are all scaring me for like different reasons where i'm like i can read a book about a serial killer or like fall asleep to a true crime documentary and that doesn't scare me but the fact of me being framed or waking up with no memory or losing a year of my life i'm like well thanks a lot kate no i'm not going to sleep You're like, I don't have to read them. I'm scared. Yeah, I know. I know. It's kind of like how you're nervous about a couple of the heartbreaker books that I want you to read. And I'm like, well, I'm nervous because I don't think

that I would sleep in this case. And I'm like, if I read it the wrong day, I'd be out depressed for weeks. Yeah, I'm going to build you. I'm stronger than that. I'm going to build you up. Yeah. build you up. You will. My last one is very bleak. Well, it needs to, it better be. It has to be.

But it's one that I don't even know when I read this. Oops. I said run my chapstick across my. Let me see here. So two years ago, over two years ago. And I still think of this ending. Wow. And I still think of this ending.

And I still remember, like, details and what I envisioned when I read it. And it is all good people here by my incredible love of my life, Ashley Flowers. Is Wakarusa, Indiana, a real place? Yeah. Is that how you say it? I think so. I don't know. I only know because I almost went up there to make content, but it was three and a half hours away, and I never was able to make it fit.

That's a rough. I don't know there. well hopefully i'm not butchering it but everyone from wakarusa indiana remembers the case of january jacobs who was found dead in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone margot davies was six at the time the same age as january and they were next door neighbors in the 20 years since margot has grown up moved away and become a city a big city journalist but she's always being haunted by the fear that it could have been her and the worst part is january's killer was never brought to you to justice. When Margot returns home to help care for her sick uncle, it feels like walking into a time

capsule. Walker Russo is exactly how she remembered. Genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks of the five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over who's gone missing under eerily similar circumstances. With all the old feelings rushing back Margot vows to find Natalie and solve January's murder once and for all. But the police, the family, the townspeople, they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie's disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January's case feels. Could the killer still be out there? Could it be the same person who kidnapped Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night?

Dang, dang, dang. Ellen is so good. I'm just obsessed. And I still think of that ending. I know. That ending is extremely memorable. There's a very haunting line in the end of this one. And I just remember reading it and going over and over again in my mind, like, I can't believe this really happened.

So good. Yeah, I really enjoyed that one. I'm excited to see what her second one is like. You have it, right? I do have it. It's pretty good. Oh, it's so pretty. And it's kind of, I guess, I know I'm in a little.

I know I'm probably going to love it. I really hope that I do love it, but it kind of fits my, my, um, my theme too, um, where it deals with, um, oh, yeah, cold, cold cases. Oh, and Misha Waka, Indiana. She's doing Indiana again. She's from Indiana, right? Yes. Yeah. Nice.

That's my girl. Yeah, I'm excited to read this one. I don't think I've gotten it. I think it's pending on Netflix net galley. We'll see. I know I got all good people here. So I would assume I would get this one, but who knows? This was literally.

So when they sent me an email about the missing half, they probably thought I was a lunatic because I was just, I was checking my email as the email came in. And all I saw was Ashley Flowers and immediately responded within 30 seconds. It's like I will give you whatever you want in life or like a copy of this. I don't care what happens. You're like, please just send it to me. But, you know, I love me some Ashley flowers. I love the cover. And I love cold case murder bugs.

Same way I love mind benders. And that is who we be.