Bookwild - The Best Thrillers on Kindle Unlimited

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

We're taking your wallet in to account for this episode and sharing our favorite thrillers on Kindle Unlimited!Follow us on Instagram:Gare @gareindeedreadsKate @thegirlwiththecookonthecouchBooks We Talked AboutNinth HouseHell BentJar of HeartsThe Girl Who Was TakenUnder Her CareOff the Deep EndThe Drowned GirlsHer Final BreathErika Foster SeriesThe Quarry GirlsStillhouse LakeStill MissingRoomGo Ask AliceI Found YouThe Girls Are All So Nice HereGood Girls LieHer Dark Lies 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 

Hey guys, welcome to the Killing the Tea podcast. This is Gare and Kate. And we are going to be discussing all things, chills, thrills, and kills. Kate and I are going to be talking about our favorite books, TV shows and movies that are in the thriller or crime fiction genre, as well as some reading habits and other items related to how we met on Bookstagram that will fit in with this podcast. So, Thank you so much for joining us, and we hope that you have fun and get totally terrified. And now I'm reading Icebreaker by Hannah Grace, and I'm loving that, too. Oh, nice. There was a very scandal dandal scene that I just read before I, like, hopped on here, and I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to have the air conditioner on. Hair is going to be blown in the wind. He's going to be like, are you okay? Yeah, in my book, something really, really action-packed and exciting just happened, too.

But I can't give spoilers. Oh, that's right. Damn them. Because you're still reading Hellbent, correct? Yeah, I'm at like 81%. I love how we, like, found out at the same time, like, you're like, oh, my God, you know what? like fantasy suspense really works for me. And I'm like, you know, it works for me. Hockey Romance. You did. You found another niche.

Oh, my God. It's so crazy. It's so crazy. And like I just, it doesn't matter if it's like male, male hockey romance or like female male hockey romance. Yeah. You just like the hockey boys. I just love me a hockey. And like every time they describe them, they're like, he's tall and like thick bodied and he's got like these big hands and they're like, and just grabbing things and doing things. And I'm just like, oh, my goodness. Hockey's where it's out, apparently.

It sounds like it. So if anyone has great fantasy suspense recommendations or hockey romance recommendations, throw them our way. Yeah. Yeah. Start with hockey romance. You start with that one first, though. Kate's TVR is bigger than mine. I have plenty to read.

You guys don't have to worry about me. I just love how I'm like literally like January is like a little rough for me Like I read 15 books But they didn't all like hit As much as I wanted them to But like February is like all over the place Like I read like

The literary thriller by Tiffany McDaniel I loved it And then I'm like hockey romance And then I'm like ooh literary thriller Hockey Romance Ooh like something like cheesy or An easy popcorn thriller hockey romance.

You're just cycling through. I do. I do. But speaking of things we love, I have an icebreaker that's going to blow your mind. I'm ready.

I don't know why I turned that up. That's a little too bright. There we go. Okay. So, you are given a budget. And you get to come up with either like an elevator pitch, or a general plot to whatever book you want to read, and you can pick one author,

unlimited budget, who do you pick to write your ultimate, like, book? Like, and it could be any subgenre. So, like, if you want, like, a spy thriller, or if, like, like, for me, obviously, it would be, like, a serial killer thriller. Right.

Dark academia, you know. Yeah. So. Who would it be? The first answer that came to mind, especially when you said no budget, it made me think of like the most cinematic books I've read. No, no, no, no. You meant budget as they're writing the book, not a budget for. I was going a different direction.

Hold on. I was going a budget to turn it into a TV series. So I'll just start that answer all over again. I mean, either are. I know. Now I'm like, what would I want even? just for a book. Well...

You don't know, like, what, like, you would want it to be about. Like, you could just, like, like, picture, like, whatever book you would be, like, this is something that could be my favorite book in the entire world. Like, who would you pick to write it? But you're the one that can come up with the plot. Like, you can tell them, like, hey, you're going to write a book about this, this and this.

Okay. I think I would want Blake Crow. to write like a series that is kind of futuristic. What would keep the series together? But I would love to see him write in a series form that I could like really get into. That's kind of like the structure of my new favorite fantasy suspense genre. There you go. I love it.

I think that's what I would want right now. Yeah. Well, you never know. Yeah. It could change, but that sounds right up your alley. Yeah. I was like, I wonder she's going to pick, like, Lee Bardugo because you're like so much into like 9th House and Hellbent. I am.

I would pay a lot. I would, with a big budget, I want to get access to the next one. Yeah. Yeah. It's in good reads as untitled, but there is another one in the series on Goodreads. Yeah, I was wondering about that. I don't know if it was you that I mentioned it too, but like I was wondering if it's going to be a trilogy

or if it's going to be like a longer series. I know. I want to know. I know. I was like, I created a little monster, but I love it. Like a real monster. I am so obsessed. I love it. And I'm searching Yale and New Haven in Connecticut so much that

H&M put a really cool Yale crewneck in front of me. And I was like, oh my gosh, I need that because the Alex Stern series is my whole personality now. And they didn't have my size. So. But like I feel like if you search it, you could find it anywhere. I can find another one. Yeah. I always search Etsy for things like that.

Yeah. That's a good point. I do have some shirts and stuff from there, too. Yeah. I think I would have E.G. Scott do like, do like a trilogy, like a serial killer trilogy. They would, that would be amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I feel like with them, I love how they have the different character perspectives in their stories. And I feel like with like a trilogy, like you could really like dive into secondary characters.

So I would definitely have them do like a serial killer trilogy with like not only like the detectives perspective, but like kind of like what Caitlin Mullen did with Please See Us where you have like the victim's perspective like family members and stuff like that. Because I feel like they could really like build this huge story and it would be really good. Yeah. I think they could. Yeah. Kind of like broad church. Broad church is a little bit like that. Yeah. I don't know what that is. But I know. It's a TV show. I'm just stuck in my ways. That's okay. I finished the first season of only murders in the building, though, and I really liked it. It is just, like, cute and quirky.

Not too scary. It doesn't scare too much. No. I've, like, had, like, so many sleepless nights because of the Idaho case, and I keep, like, seeing things. And so I'm like, oh, my God. Like, now I can finally just watch, like, Ginny and Georgia or something that doesn't give me nightmares.

Probably a good idea for you right now. I had some of the darkest dreams and scariest dreams I've had in a really long time. And like I was reading about like going to hell before going to bed. So I brought it on myself. I had a horrifying dream the other night. But when I woke up, I was like, I'm really proud of dream gear. because he was doing the most. I had a dream that I heard somebody break into my house.

And I woke up. Really? Mm-hmm. They just kept trying to kill us over and over and over again. So in my dream, I was like in my bed and I heard the noise and I like knew that somebody was there. And I like went to grab my phone, but my like bedroom door like flew open. and dark figure comes at me and like he starts, I'm not going to say like,

I'm not going to say like how brutal it was, but like he basically this dude starts killing me. But I was yelling out in my phone, having Siri text my friend Nicole, and I was telling her everything. Like I was like six foot one, tall, like, I was telling her like everything I could like describe this man that was attacking me.

Like, I was, like, texting it to her. Like, with, like, I was, like, yelling it out to Siri to text her. Yeah. So that, like, they could find my murderer because I knew I was going to die. I mean, good for you, though. I was like, I woke up, but I was like, that motherfucker down with you. I was like, that was fucking terrifying. But also, like, what a bad bitch move.

Like, fuck, yeah. Some people are getting murdered and they're like, woe is me. And I was like, fuck no. Like, this motherfucker's coming down with me if I don't take him out. this is not this is not how I go down that's pretty epic yeah I was really proud of my little crime self but then I woke up and I was like okay like that was a really

quick thinking but like let's just never have that happen yeah let's like not manifested let's not get murdered because there's just too many books to read way too many way too many books way too many things big things happening in the world right now. Yeah.

To cover up and help people deal with some of this ugliness. Yeah. One of which they just announced that they're making another, I know you did last summer movie. Yes. Jennifer Love, Hewitt, and Freddie Prince Jr. are in talks to return. So I'm loving this. Oh, yeah.

Nothing's taking me down until I see this movie. No, I don't think it can't. I've always wanted it to be a trilogy and I'm like, oh my God, this is my moment. Like, this is my moment to shine because they did this with like, um, like bringing back Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis, bringing back scream with like the surviving, whatever. So I'm like, this is the time. This is the time to do it. It is.

And I'm just so pumped. So good things are happening. I know. Did you just fall over when you saw it? the news. I was like, okay, I make dream posters. Sometimes for books that I really enjoy. Like, if it was going to be a movie, this is what I would picture the poster being like. Last winter, I made an imaginary poster for, I will never forget what you did that summer with, like, the idea of having this new cast and

having, like, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prince Jr. and Brandy, like, coming back in like, smaller roles, like what they did with Scream. So, I feel like I manifested it. I think you did. I think it sounds like it. So I think I manifested it. I think you did. And that's my, that's my, like, rose of the week, I guess, we'll say. Yeah. Like a rose and a thorn or whatever. I don't have a thorn right now. Except for getting murdered in my dreams. That was pretty thorny. That, yeah, that kind of sucked a little bit until I woke up and I was like. dude, you're like a bad bitch. Even if you're getting murdered.

I was like, you know, how annoying. It is, though, when you're like, I'm just trying to sleep. Yeah, just let me freaking sleep. I do not sleep hardly at all. Like, I am a horrible sleeper. Right.

I could probably go somewhere and they'd be like, you literally have insomnia. But... Probably. I just want to sleep. I don't want to get murdered. Yeah. But...

I get it. I'm just happy for you though because when a book gives you a nightmare even if it's a nightmare instead of a dream it's like damn like I'm really wrapped up in this like yes you got your money's worth if a book gives you a nightmare and actually I didn't even have to pay for that book because it's on Kindle Unlimited. Ooh yeah wow do you know what that sounds like a really good segue into what we're going to be talking about. It's not all just bad dreams and resurfacing 90s horror movies. Yeah, so you messaged me. Did somebody tell you we should do this, or was this your idea? I saw it on just like another, someone asked somewhere on Facebook, like, hey, what Kindle Unlimited

books can I read? Like, I'm burning through books. I need to read ones on Kindle Unlimited. And I was like, ooh, that's an episode. Or two. Or two or three or maybe we'll do it every month. Maybe this is just our personalities. Yeah. That's unlimited. Yeah. I'm super pumped. The thing that I like about this is because it was really easy and fun to research, like what books to talk about. Because there are so many books on Kindle Unlimited, though, I feel like it's going to be amazing if we have any in common. I know. Because there's so many to choose from. There are.

A ton. I researched for, I'm not even going to lie to you, an hour and a half the other day. I might have spent an hour total. I was just like cruising along. Yeah. Oh, God. What an adventure. What an adventure. I know. I am going to say, because it's not one of my books. It's not one of my picks because everyone's going to be like, oh, predictable, but like, jar of hearts is on Kindle Unlimited. It's in my like bottom of my list because I was like, I mean, we need to say it. We need to mention it. Let the people know, but they know what we're talking about. It's my honorable mention, but I was like, okay, jar of hearts. I mean, that's all everybody knows. It's on Kindle Unlimited. If I could get, I would honestly pay $100 to, or more, to relive that initial first reading experience of that book because it meant so much to me and it was so good. So like if you can get jar of hearts on Kendall Unlimited for free and have that experience, then like, do it.

You're in for a treat. Mm-hmm. So, but that's not one way. But that's not one way there. I feel like next week I'm going to like pop on and be like, okay, I have a special announcement. I got a jar of hearts tattoo.

And I'm just going to be like, fuck yeah. Jennifer Hillier is like, I blocked you on social media because no one got a jar of heart. She's like, I am now basing a character around you. Yeah. Oh my God.

That would be amazing. I would love like, I know this is like sick, but like I saw this interview with Sarah Michelle Geller from like the 90s where she was like, I was in all these sports. movies and I had them kill me because like I was like what's the point of being a horror movie if you don't get like this really like crazy horrific death right because like obviously you don't

want that to happen in real life so you get to like doing a movie yeah and um I was like that's how I feel about books like I'm just like waiting for one of my author friends to like brutally murder me in a book and Jennifer Hillier everybody Jennifer Hillier would definitely it would not be an accidental death, it would be something crazy brutal. Because she is like the queen of like unsettling and gritty. Yeah, she is. Love her. She really is.

So. So Jar of Hearts is on there. Mm-hmm. Go read it if you haven't. Yeah. And then we're going to have Kate kick it off because Kate the Great. Yeah. I can't wait.

I have a feeling about this episode. You want to know why? That's good. I think. Yes, I do want to know why. Because I feel like every time your hair looks this amazing, your, like, creativity really flies out and you're like just bam, bam, bam, bam with the recommendations. Well, thank you. It is, it is, it's having a good day. I've noticed all day long. Having a good day. There's like literal light beams coming out of it. I know. That's, it's that awesome ring light. No, it's not. Mine's like blinding me.

Nobody's paying any attention to my hair. I'm gonna have some... Nobody is. You know, like, we are and, like, everyone else is like, they have hair? And we're like, yeah. Oh, yeah, they have hair. I actually got my haircut for the first time

in over a month yesterday because of my stupid vertigo. Calm A. F. She was like, your hair is so long. And I literally told her, I was like, I only missed one appointment. But, like, I literally feel like you see those people on like I survived,

who like got into a plane crash and like lived on like a raccoon diet in like the woods for like three years and they came out looking better than I did when I walked into my hairdressers yesterday. Like I walked in and they were like, this boy needs help. Oh my gosh. I was savage. I was like, did I have vertigo for like a week or did I like live in the woods like chewing on twigs and berries? Well, I'm glad you got it cut. I am too.

And then I got Taco Bell, obviously. Good. All is right in the world again. All right. That's probably what it is. It is. But the book that made me bring up Kindle Unlimited is ninth house, which is available on Kindle Unlimited.

So I'm just starting out with it. For everyone who doesn't know, this book is going to become my whole personality. I'm honestly ready for this book to be your entire personality because the minute I read it, I was like, this is right up your alley. Oh, I loved it so much. So Galaxy Alex Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale's freshman class.

Raised in Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shape. drug dealer boyfriends, dead-in jobs, and much, much worse. By age 20, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she's thrown her life away, but at her hospital bed, Alex has offered a second chance to attend one of the world's most elite universities on a full ride. What's the catch and why her? Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale's secret societies.

These eight windowless tombs are well known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood's biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive. Bam! Bam! All of my conversations that I've had about, you with this book is like talking about how many like genres it has in it. And so that's like the

main thing you need to know is if you like dark academia, fantasy that takes place in the like present world, horror, uh, kind of procedural. There's like murder mysteries happening in both of them. There might be something else that I'm missing. But it hits in thrillers, like, suspense, just thrillers in general. It's so suspenseful. It feels like you're reading a thriller, but it also, like, feels, has some of the feeling of, like, epic fantasy in that it's, like, a really big journey towards something in the whole book. And I'm just obsessed. Me too. I also will say, Like, I had not the brightest bulb on the tree, but, like, sometimes things did not make sense to me when I was reading it. And I, like, come around my mind around it.

And I was like, but I just kept going. And it still at the end made sense to me. Good. That's good. So if you feel like you're not intelligent enough to binge on fantasy, like, you can get through this because I did. Yeah. You did. I did.

And because you did, I read it. I read them back to back. I am too. Mm-hmm. It's the best. And then you're just not going to read anything until the third one. And then I'm just going to be depressed until next year. I'm going to be like stalking Lee Bardugo.

Mm-hmm. That's okay. I'm already getting a restraining order from Jennifer Hillier, so. you can get one from Jennifer Bar-Ducca or V-Bardugo. Yeah, I loved it. So good. Such a good pick. Such a good pick.

It also was trending for like a while. So I feel like anytime something like that is trending like that, you're just like, okay. It must be good. Let's get down with the darkness. Yeah. Um, my pick, like, I, my first one, I feel like I've talked about this, you've talked about this, but like when I saw it on Kindle Unlimited, I was like, there's no way I can't not talk about this book because I love it so

much. So, um, my first pick is the girl who was taken by Charlie Dunley. Mm-hmm. Um, which is about two girls who are abducted, only one of them returns. they were not really friends, but they disappeared at the same time. No clues were found. And then a year later, when the one girl who resurfaces has like a best-selling book that comes out, she's doing like Oprah, Dr. Phil, all that shit.

And then the other girl who is still missing, her older sister is a forensic pathologist. And she's just basically waiting for the day. that her sister's bodies found. Because if you're gone for a year, like, there's just no way that, you know, you're coming home safe and sound like the other girl dead. So they end up getting a clue and basically go on this, like, adventure to, well, not like a, not a ninth house adventure,

but, like, it's just a journey trying to figure out what happened or where she is. But basically, as the book progresses, you find out the girl who survived, kind of knows more than she's leading on. Some of the details in this bestselling book about her experience aren't necessarily accurate, and there's, like, a lot more to the story. And it's amazing, and you'll want to read all of Charlie Donnelly's books after you read it. So good.

I just couldn't stop. I really want to read it again. Every time we talk about it, I'm like, why have I not read it again yet? Same. Same. Because I think I have it on my Kindle, and I have it, like, in hard, cover and like paper attack. But yeah, every time

I'm like, why can't I just pick that up again? I know. And I think there's a new cover on the Kindle. I saw a new cover when I was looking at it on the Unlimited store. So I was kind of cool. Yeah. So that's my

recommendation. Yeah. Twisty. I just love like when people investigate cases that like were pretty much forgotten about that they like didn't have any clues on whether it's like a year ago or 10 years ago or 20 years ago or something I just love that and I also love a missing person's case so when you combine the two solid yeah and this one does both of them justice yes good old charlie I love it

yeah charlie donnell you'll become a fan immediately and you'll just want to read all of them I'm so excited for his one in March oh my god I know too I have a recommendation that has teenagers in it too. That was the best I could go. I like that. There is a teenage female in this book is my segue. But it's under her care by Lucinda Barry. So in Alabama, the mayor's wife is brutally.

murdered. And standing next to her body is 14-year-old Mason Hill, the autistic son of former Miss USA Genevieve Hill. And the locals are all pretty much like they think he did it. The town detective calls in local autism expert Casey Walker to consult on the case. And at first Casey's trying to keep her mind open, but the more she's around Genevieve, the more her unease grows. And she suspects that Genevieve is doing more than just protecting her son. So Casey's misgivings about Genevieve are kind of confirmed when she meets her 19-year-old daughter, Savannah. And a lot of disturbing secrets of their family life are brought to the surface. I lost my spot.

Oh, so as Casey dives deeper into the Hill family dynamic, Her search for the truth leads to another shocking murder, one that shatters her understanding of the human condition and ways she never imagined. It is such a dark, twisty, psychological thriller, and it's really good. I need to read it. I need to read it. I really like Listen to Barry. Yeah, I do too. I need to read off the deep end.

Yes, you do. So good. I really enjoyed that one. I also want to point out too, some people are sensitive to this when there's an autistic character in a book. But Lucinda Berry was a psychologist prior to becoming an author. So she does have, you know, knowledge of autism and things like that. It's not just an author that's using their imagination and writing an autistic. character without really, you know, much research or anything like that.

So, um... Which goes for some of her other books, too. There's so... Oh, yeah. Yeah. Stuff that we're like, where yet the fact that she, uh, it was, it was, psychologists or psychiatrist. I can't remember which one. I think psychologist. It really helps how real her other books feel as well. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, she's fantastic.

She's so cool. And she has a lot on Kindle Unlimited. So like that, you could start with Amy Lucinda Berry book, and there are a bunch of them on Kindle Unlimited. Yeah. It'll definitely be like a rabbit hole. Mm-hmm. I think so. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. She's fantastic. Mm-hmm. Speaking of something you could go down a rabbit hole with, my pick is... The Drowned Girls by Lorith Ann White, which is the first in a trilogy. So if you like it, then you can get the other two on Kendall and limited as well. But this one is such a chunker and it's so good.

I just love the pacing. It says, he surfaced two years ago and then disappeared. Detective Angie Palerino never forgot the violent rapist who left a distinctive calling card, crosses etched into the flesh of his victim's foreheads. When a comatose Jane Doe is found in a local cemetery sexually assaulted, mutilated, and nearly drowned, Angie is struck by the eerie similarities to her earlier unsolved rapes. Could he be back? The body of a drowned young woman floats up in the gorge, also bearing marks of the serial rapist,

and the hunt for the predator becomes a hunt for a killer. Assigned to the Joint Investigation Task Force, Angie is more than ready to prove that she has what it takes to break into an all-male homicide division. But her private life collides with her professional ambitions when she's introduced to her temporary partner, James Maddox, a man she met the night before in an intense, anonymous encounter. Together, Angie and Maddox agree to put that night behind them, but as their search for the killer intensify, so does their mutual desire. So my initial hesitation when I read this book is was comparing it to other romantic suspense, where the suspense felt very like,

like the thriller aspect kind of felt like cable TV. And the romance was like a little cheesy. That's a good way to describe it. This is like romantic suspense on HBO. Like you get like nitty gritty, dirty, dirty, like all of the good stuff. Like she doesn't hold back with the violence. I really respect people who write crime fiction and don't hold back with some of the ugly things that can happen in the world. And they don't take like the cheap way out.

Like they're not like, oh, she was hit by a car and, you know, nobody found her in this ditch. Like she's like, these are some of the horrible things that happen to women. These are some of the horrible things that sadistic men who don't go to therapy are capable of. And, you know, enjoy. it for what it is in crime fiction, but also be hyper vigilant if you're a woman. And also be self-aware if you're a fucked up man. Go to therapy instead of killing women. That is the PSA. Also, possibility that you might fall in love at work if you're a cop. Go ahead. Right. So that is my recommendation. My friend Cindy recommended this trilogy to me and I like

binge read all three of them. I, when you talked about it, I can't remember when. I would just, like, downloaded it because I have Kindle Unlimited and I keep seeing it. And I'm like, I'm going to get to it one day. I was initially drawn to them. I'm not even going to lie about this, but I was initially drawn to them because the covers are fucking gorgeous. They're very beautiful.

Yeah, I love them. They're gorgeous. And I love when you have, like, a series or a trilogy or a duology and, like, the covers, like, kind of, like, match up. Like you can tell that they're, you know, related to one another. So, yeah. The drowned growth thing. Yeah.

And everybody will love Angie Palarino. Mm-hmm. She's a badass detective. I'm just going to read all night. I'm just going to have, I'm just going to have some espresso when we get off this. And I'll just stay all night. No, you're not. No, I know.

I can't. You're going to drink some water and you're going to give in to your desire to sleep and get a good night's rest. I know. I know. Doctor's orders. Dr. Gare. Dr. Gare. I'm just so happy I met someone who points the way I do because I do it a lot to like I do it when I'm like passionate about something. Like if I'm like arguing or if I'm like, hey, listen to. Let's get excited. And apparently it's like triggering to people when you're arguing with them because somebody like called me out for it. Even though the person that called me out for it does the exact same thing.

Of course. It's always like that. I'm just less condescending when I do it. So I just didn't realize it. But I do it a lot when I have, when I'm like, like, when I like have a great idea or like put something together and Tyler's like really brought the hand into it. I'm like, I talk a lot with my hands. So if I'm excited or if I'm nervous or if I'm just talking. So you can't help that like I talk with my hands when I'm angry too. Yep. Yeah. It's when you see this one. that you need to fucking run.

That's when you need to worry. Listen here, motherfucker. What I go back and for? Speaking of serial killers. Yes. I know. I was pretty excited about that too. I'm super pumped.

It's actually another series. So you can read so much if you end up loving it. But I picked I picked the second one in the series. Okay. For Tracy Crossway by Robert Dugoni. I was like, I know I haven't talked about how cool I thought the second one was.

So you can go read the first one too. If the second one even sounds good, you probably want to. But this one was like, I just remember feeling terrified the whole time I was reading it. Homicide Detective Tracy Crossway has returned to the police for after the sensational retrial of her sister's killer. Still scarred from that ordeal, Tracy is pulled into an investigation that threatens to end her career, if not her life. A serial killer known as the Cowboys,

killing young women in cheap motels in North Seattle. Even after a stalker leaves a menacing message for Crossway, suggesting the killer or copycat could be targeting her personally. She is charged with bringing the murder to justice. With clues scarce and more victims dying, Tracy realizes the key to solving the murders may lie in a decade-old homicide investigation that others, including her captain, Johnny Nalasco, would prefer to keep buried. With the cowboy on the hunt, can Tracy find the evidence to stop him or will she become his next victim? It's freaky and good. So freaky.

I really want to pick that series back up. Yeah, I know. Me too. I have to read a few more, and then we can read them together. I know. Same. Mm-hmm. Then we can. I have to catch up to where you're at, and I have notes on my phone. Yeah.

I'm like, you need to read this book, this book, and this book, and then you can tell Kate, and then you guys can read this book, this book. So I have it. I just need to get my ass in here and do it. But, yeah, I think that that series is one of my favorites in crime fiction, too. Mm-hmm. I agree. that and I don't know if they're Kindle Unlimited, but Robert Brinza's Erica Foster ones are really Oh yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, I do love Tracy Crosswhite. Speaking of things that scare us. Oh, Robert Brinza is Kindle Unlimited. There you go. Detective Eric Foster series is really good, too. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think I read the first one in that and I really liked it. Mm-hmm.

I'm behind on it too. But if you want somebody else who's unsettling and gives you the creeps and scares you, because all of her books have, my girl, Jess Lowry, this year, well, 2021 the end of it, had a book called The Quarry Girls come out that takes place in 1977, Minnesota. So love that. I just love, there's something really unsettling, too, about putting your reader in a position where the device. devices and everything that you have now you didn't have back then. So you can't just like track somebody's cell phone. Like people disappeared. They disappeared. Yeah. So, um, 1977, Minnesota, um, for the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the funnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it's not all

fun in games. Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw on the dark and something they can't forget. They've decided to never tell a soul, but their vow is tested when their friend disappears, the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate. Heather is terrified that the missing girls are connected to what she and Brenda stumbled upon that night. Desperately searching for answers on her own, she learns that no one in her community is who they seem to be, not the police, not the boys she met at the quarry, not even her parents. But she can't stop dating. She can't. because she knows those girls are in danger and she also knows that she's next.

Wow. So good. So good. I have to read it. Yeah. It's so good. It's very unsettling. Jess Lowry's another one of those authors that does not hold back.

Yeah. She kind of makes a story that takes place in the 70s a little timely too because you have the asshole police detectives who are like, oh, yep, she's probably a runaway. Like, don't be home when she wants to be or you'll never see her again because she's off making a new laugh. And you still have men doing that today. You still have asshole, and it's always a man. You still have asshole police detectives being like, oh, like, probably a runaway. And I just think the thing is, is like, I feel like if somebody knows you enough to know that you're missing and, like, it's not right that, like, they know enough to know that you're

not a runaway. Yeah. You know, like, you're going to go to the cops and be like, listen, like, my teenage daughter, she's ran away before, she ran away again. I just want to make sure she's safe. You're not going to be like, she's missing and she never does this. Right. Right.

Right. Oh, she's a runaway. Yeah. That and that high risk lifestyle bullshit. If I hear any police officer say high risk lifestyle, I'm going to snap. Like, well, can you go look for her then if she's in risk? Yeah. If she's in a high-risk lifestyle, then that means she's in more danger, which means you should be taking this more seriously. Exactly.

But I just also think that there's no such thing as a high-risk lifestyle anymore because literally everybody's in danger because there's so much violence in our country right now. You're not wrong. No. You could be a complete introvert who only leaves their house once a month to go grocery shopping and get shot at the grocery store. Definitely could. that's what I've learned. Every now and then I get nervous in movie theaters. I used to get anxiety in movie theaters for a while after that. It's like when they give the announcement that's like, and if you notice anything suspicious, report it.

And I'm like, oh, the lights just turned off and you're going to remind me like, hey, if anyone comes in here with a gun, here's what to do. I live in such a remote area that I don't even know if my like movie theaters have caught on with that and like I've started announcing it. otherwise it probably would make me anxious. Yeah, I'm like, you're just like sitting there like all cozy in the AMC recliner seats. You're like, I'm going to enjoy a movie. My dog's not going to interrupt me. And they're like, if you think someone looks suspicious and something bad's happening. And I'm like, well, I wasn't until now.

Yeah. No one looked like a creep until you said that. Like, thanks for just activating the anxiety. Could you also like imagine like, okay, so say you go to the movies and, like, like the movie starts and it's like two hours long and you're like you get up and you go and you're like that there's this guy in the third row he's giving me like this vibe i feel like you know if you see something say something so i'm letting you guys know like something's off about him and then what happens they go and realize that like he's not doing anything wrong he's just creepy and you have

to sit through a two hour movie with some guy like this exactly glaring at you because you're just basically were like you look like a fucking killer if i've ever seen one Exactly No wait for stream Unless it's like a scream movie I'm just waiting for streaming Yeah Yeah I get it

But I also have to drive very far To go to the movies You have to drive really far I have to drive well you know In the in the United States I have to drive like an hour hour and a half to go to the movie theater There is one in Canada that's about

half hour from me. I used to go to it a lot in, like, high school and college, and I'm going to try it again with the new screen movie in, like, a month. Mm-hmm. That'll be fun. Yeah. So hopefully it works out. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, speaking of... Speaking of characters who don't get shot in the movie theater. Yeah. Um, like, you know, the cover of Corey Girls has water in it. And this book's cover is on a lake. So there we go. Um, but Stillhouse Lake. Another series. Did I recommend all series? Nope, the rest of them are. I was like, did I recommend all series and not notice it? Um, but it is another series by Rachel Kane. Um, so Gina Royal is the definitely. definition of average, a shy Midwestern housewife with a happy marriage and two adorable children. But when a car accident reveals her husband's secret life as the serial killer, she must remake herself as Gwen Proctor, the ultimate warrior mom. With her ex now in prison,

Gwen has finally found refuge in a new home on the remote stillhouse lake. Though still the target of stalkers and internet trolls who think she had something to do with her husband's crimes, Gwen dares to think her kids can finally grow up in peace. But just when she's starting to feel at ease in her new identity, a body turns up in the lake and threatening let her start arriving from all too familiar addresses. Gwen Proctor must keep friends close and enemies at bay to avoid being exposed or watch her kids fall victim to a killer

who takes pleasure and tormenting her. One thing is certain she's learned how to fight evil and she'll never stop. Bam. Yes. It is like action-packed, just like, you're just like nervous the whole book. Whole time. Whole time. I read the first book a while ago.

God, I think like five or six years ago I read the first book. And I am dying to read it again because I want to binge the rest of the series. Yeah. Mine says I read it in 2017. So it's been a bit. I think that's probably when I would have, or 2018 maybe. I can't remember if I read the second one. No, I haven't even read the second one.

Ooh, more buddy reads for us. I know. I have a little bit of PTSD with this book. Mm-hmm. Because this is the one that I told you. You know, her serial killer husband is like the one guy that you would like never suspect to be a serial killer. Like he was like charming and handsome and like the all-American boy like next door, whatever. Like anything you could just do to describe a perfect guy.

I picked Channing Tatum and people fucking lost their shit. Oh, this is that one. This is that one. Because I was like, okay, I'm trying to picture, obviously, I'm trying to picture like, okay, who could play somebody who, like, you would never believe to be a serial killer? And I'm like, everybody loves Channing Tatum. And he, like, nobody would ever... He has like a baby boy face.

Yeah, he's like the guy next door, like, All-American, like, handsome. Like, ladies love him, men love him. Everybody loves him. Animals love him. And, yeah, I was just like, Channing Tatum, nobody will suspect him to be a serial killer. And people were like, not happy. And what was their reasoning?

I think they were just like, how dare you pick Channing Tatum to play him? I was like, okay, dude, like, did you see Christian? What if he wants to play a villain? Zach Efron played time. had Bundy and did a fantastic job. Right. Literally, like, that's the thing.

Like, you don't see creepy janitors and creepy truckers. Those are the people that save you from the serial killer because, like, they're usually like, like, Christian Bale and American Psycho. Like, nobody was having Steve Busemi play fucking Patrick Bateman. Yeah, right. Somebody who does look like a serial killer. Exactly. But like, I was like,

well, and you, like, he does not look like a killer. Oh, I thought you meant me. Not you, the TV show. I was like,

I was like, I'm not one. You're like, what? Like, I only, like, I only, like,

leave my house, like, one day a week to go out of dinner with my friend. So I'd be, like, the shittiest killer. No,

Joe Goldberg. No, no, no, uh, uh, uh, um,

Yeah, but I loved Stillhouse Lake and I can't wait to read it again. So that is a fantastic choice. Thanks. Speaking of Still, my next pick is a book that is an odyssey of emotions. It scared me, it made me cry. It made me sick to my stomach. just every emotion you can think of was brought out in this book called Still Missing by Chevy Stevens. It's her first book and it's like the one that like turned me into like a Chevy Stevens fan.

I think that everything she writes is fantastic. She's amazing. Props to her. She's Canadian. She's gorgeous. She's talented. She is gritty and dark and I love everything about Chevy Stevens. But still missing is about a woman who was abducted.

Her name is Annie O'Sullivan. was a 32-year-old realtor, she had three goals the day that she was taken. Sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van, she's about to leave. Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. Still missing innerweaves the year that Annie spent as the captive of a psychopath and a remote mountain cabin, which unfold through sessions with her psychiatrist, with a second narrative

following the events after her escape, her struggle to piece her shattered life back together, and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor. That sounds so good. It's so good. It's so sad. I've talked about something similar to this before with, like, the book, the final girl support group by Grady Hendricks where you know you kind of take those women that

there were the last like the final girl like the last girl standing in a horror movie and like how fucked up their lives are after the credits roll and like how Grady Hendricks explored that in such a believable way and this is the same thing you know you think of a horrible situation kind of like what I mentioned with the girl who was taken by Charlie Dunley like people don't go missing. and come home a year later.

But in this case, when they do, like, it's not over. You don't, you don't just come home and you're like, okay, like, you know, what do I have to do Monday morning? What do I, like, trying to get back into a routine. Like, you're dealing with extreme trauma and PTSD and anything that you can think of that is just, like, mentally and emotionally horrifying, like, this character does deal with. And Chevy Stevens did a fantastic job of, even these small, minute details, just capturing that fear and anxiety in such a believable way.

It's kind of like, oh, I can't think of it now. The, is it called house? No. I don't know. Room, is what I'm thinking of. Yes. Because that actually still follows when they're out of it. And it's not just like, oh, and then I went back.

to work. Like, it doesn't work that way. No. There's like, yeah, it's, it's very much like PTSD trauma. I think there might be elements of like agoraphobia in it as well, as one can imagine. But yeah, there's just like a lot of things that. And I thought about that too, you know, I mean, I'm an introvert. I'm not agoraphobic, but I've also thought of like how that's probably why like home invasions are like,

my biggest fear because you take that thing like I'm most comfortable and I feel like my best when I'm at home relaxing like in my environment nothing here gives me anxiety or anything like that and especially the past few years because like we've said like movie theaters grocery stores right work like there's just so many things where people feel unsettled now yeah um just trying to live their everyday lives so So, you know, being at home, it's like, that's just traumatizing, too. Think about a home invasion where you don't feel safe in your own home. And they explore that in this book as well, you know, because it's not just like,

oh, I'm not stuck in this cabin anymore. I'm like, back home. Like, let me just hop in the shower and crank open my windows for some fresh air. Like, it's just every small thing that can give you anxiety just being at home. She really explores this. So it's really gripping and emotional. I've got to read that. I read quite a few of her other ones.

But not that one and not, there's another one that you were talking about. Those girls. I need to read those girls and still missing. Those girls is really tough. That's what you said. Those girls is really, really, really tough. I read that one probably a couple of times.

Uh-huh. By all means, like, I would definitely, not just for you, but for like anybody listening. I would save those girls for last because it's the one that deals a lot with like really, really horrible, horrifying things that happen to women. And it's very violent and it's very detailed. So I would definitely save that one for last just because if I were a woman, I don't think I would have been able to make it through that book.

Oh, wow. Yeah. Okay. Consider yourself warned. Consider yourself warned. Yeah. But still missing sounds really good. I'm like, my interest is piqued. Yeah. Yeah. And also...

Some people might love those girls. I also will say, like, you might love it. You might not find it as disturbing as I do. But I just picture myself, like, it's one of those things that makes me feel bad because I think to myself, like, I couldn't imagine being a woman doing that, like, there are things out there that happen. Granted, yes, they happen to men too, but it's not as common. I will also say, though, like, sometimes I can be a wimp. I still, to this day, think that if I were a woman, I would not have been able to make it through the book, Go Ask Alice. I haven't read that one. It's like a, it's a Y-A book, and they had us read it in school. Whoa. Yeah.

I mean, it is, it's a Y-A book. Don't get me wrong. It's kind of about this girl who starts experimenting with drugs and alcohol in the crazy way that it kind of takes over her life and what happens to her. But I would have, if I were a teenage girl or a woman, I would not have been able to make it through that book. Yeah, that's a lot. It's all personal preference and what you can handle. Yeah, that's true. That's true.

But speaking of missing people. My next recommendation is I found you by Lisa Jewel. East Yorkshire. Single mom Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he's doing here. Against her better judgment, she invites him into her home. Surrey, 21-year-old Lily Monroe's has only been married, for three weeks. When her husband fails to come home from work one night, she is left stranded

in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed. Two women, 20 years of secrets and a man who can't remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewel's brilliant new novel. It's like it is a mystery. It is a thriller, but it's like softer. It's like it is a little more a character. driven, a little more relational, but, like, there's still some mysterious stuff happening. I thought that was so cinematic, too. I liked it a lot. Mm-hmm.

It was cinematic, and what's the word? The imagery in it, like, I could just, like, picture myself there. Being on the beach. Like, yeah, like, I remember a lot of scenes in my head from it. I've never been to Surrey. Yeah. But I could picture it taking place in May. if they adapted it or something.

Or if you're reading it, like, I could picture being like Maine. Even, I don't know. I guess Maine. Yeah, I agree. I think Maine is. We'll say, like, we'll say New England. It's kind of like when I read watching you by her. Like, I pictured San Francisco in my mind when I read that one.

So, yeah. But yeah, she's fantastic. That was actually my first Lisa Jewel book. Me too. Oh my God. Yeah. We're such twins. We're such twins.

And you're such a good girl. Oh, thanks. Speaking of good girls. Oh, my gosh. I see what you did there. Had to. My last pick of the evening is my girl J.T. Ellison. Good girls lie.

Perched atop a hill. I sound like I should. like BBC. Catch to chompah hell. PBS. In the tiny town, in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia,

the good school is a prestigious prep school known as Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status,

long-held traditions, an honor code. are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to good, and this Ivy has turned poisonous. In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder. When a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with the secret that drove her to suicide, but look closely because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened.

Sounds so good. So good. Sounds good. If you want, like, yeah, yeah. I mean, it's not really like a spoiler, but like it literally like pops off with this like beautiful, like boarding school and you're like dark academia. I think it's like fall or like something and you're just like oh my god this is going to be so good

and then it's like there's a fucking dead body like first page and it is like brutal but like I just love when people explore no I shouldn't say people I should say women

I love when women explore the cruelties of what being a teenage girl is like yeah um Because nothing against it. Men shouldn't be telling those stories. I don't think so. Like, men shouldn't be...

O'Burnum did one well, was the only thing that came to mind. He produced that 13. Was it called 13? Oh, yeah. I don't need to argue your point. Go on. No, I think that with that movie, though, that was based on Nicky Reed's younger years. Yeah. And I think the screenplay might have been a woman who wrote it. I don't think so.

But maybe I'm wrong. Unless Nikki Reid gave them, like, stories. It was directed Ian Britton by Bo Burnham. Eighth grade is what I'm talking about, though. Oh, I'm talking about the movie 13. Yeah, 13 wasn't right. It's eighth grade was what I was thinking. Well, good for him.

But, well, I think with a story like this where it results in murder. Yeah. And, like, fucked up things that, like, because, you know, there's kind of like, I don't know what I was watching the other day. I think it might have been Roseanne. I've been watching old episodes of Roseanne. Sitcoms helped me fall asleep at night, apparently.

But there was, like, something where, like, two women had gotten into an argument. And, like, the husband was like, I don't understand. And, like, she's like, you don't understand because, like, women do things differently than men do. Like if a man gets into an argument, you guys take a couple of swings at each other and forgive each other the next day. And like, sometimes with like emotional people, you will hold grudges and like things will resurface. And I just think that like when you think of like Ashley Winstead, when you think of the book, is it Lori Elizabeth Flynn? That's what I was going to say next. Yeah. Think of like that. Rose are also nice here. Yes. There's another one.

called sorority. There's just like, it's kind of like a trend, but I think that women should be telling those stories because, you know, they've grown up dealing with mean girls, witnessing mean girls, being involved in those clicks, maybe. But I just think that like when it comes to like stories about like women being pitted against one another, just to avoid stereotypes and get like a realistic look like. they should be written. Yeah.

Because if a man does it, I'm just like, ugh, like, what do you know? You know what I mean? I know. That's like those hilarious TikToks that are like, I'm a woman written by a man. And they just like do like ridiculous shit. Yeah. But, you know, J.T. Ellison is one of my favorite storytellers. And like with this one, it was just a little bit different than her other books because

her other books deal a lot with, you know, adult characters. And these ones had like a lot of younger ones. women. And it was just so good. And it's fantastic. Yeah, I need to read more of her books. Yeah. She, I think, I just have to read her upcoming one and I've pretty much read everything. I definitely. I think I have quite a few that I could read of her still. She does have, I will say. I don't know if it's Kindle Unlimited. I don't think it is. Maybe it is. I don't know. I don't know. I can't. I'm nervous. She has a short story that is 60 pages.

Oh, yeah. Called These Cold Strangers. So I highly recommend it to everyone. It's 60 pages. I flew through it. It was so good. It was just like a nice little like thing. Well, not it's not nice.

It's scary. But it was like a very like enjoyable reading experience. It was just a nice old sweet story. It was so nice. Perched on top of the hill. Ain't no love. here, doll. Channeling my honor.

That's not Adele. I don't know who that was. It was probably like a streetwalker from like Jack the Ripper era, definitely. Yeah. I think, yeah. I think that's it. Two pence for a blowy. So yeah, I need to read more J.T. Ellison. Yes.

I didn't realize her dark lies was hers, too. Mm-hmm. I've had that one on my like, yeah. I might read this one day forever and I never realized it was J.T. Ellison. When you catch up to like everything that you want to read, or you're in the mood for like a series, the Taylor Jackson series by J.T. Allison, I think you will love. I know. And I know you told me that. I just saw that cover and I was like, oh, yeah. I think you will 100% love it. All the pretty girls. I just like, I need to read it.

and you just need to like read a bunch of hers yeah everyone should be reading a bunch of hers and they should be reading everything that we recommended tonight literally everything and more that we will recommend to be continued Oh, ha ha ha ha ha ha.