True Crime and Thriller Thursday: I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Agatha, and The Jolly Roger Social Club

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

"Something that disorients, that unsettles what's taken for granted, something that disturbs and disrupts reality--that's scary."

This quote sums up Reid's brilliant, eerie, disorienting thriller perfectly. In I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Reid seems to be telling the simple story of a couple, possibly on the verge of a breakup, on a road trip to visit the man's parents.

But nothing seems quite right. And that is the brilliance of this book, and of Reid's writing. Little things feel off, appear strange, building the tension until it's almost unbearable. The reader has to keep going on this not-quite-normal journey, no matter how frightening it gets.

You have to find out how it ends. Because let me tell you, not only will you not be able to put this book down, but the ending will absolutely leave you breathless.

Reid reminds me of authors like Shirley Jackson, who take a seemingly ordinary, possibly mundane, slice of life, and completely turn it on its head with a slow buildup that always packs the most eerie of punches.

Agatha: The Real Life of Agatha Christie is a graphic novel telling the story of Agatha Christie's life and most famous works. Interspersed throughout are appearances from her characters, including Tommy and Tuppence, Miss Marple, and, most frequently, Hercule Poirot.

This is an excellent, creative endeavor that manages a new take on the truth of Christie's life. It opens with her infamous and still unsolved disappearance, then takes readers back to the beginning of young Agatha's life, her relationship with her father, her first marriage, her divorce, her second marriage, her child, her travels...and all along, her writing.

I would definitely recommend this for anyone who is a fan of Agatha Christie.

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This did not affect my opinion of the book or my review itself.

In The Jolly Roger Social Club, Foster tells the tale of William "Wild Bill" Holbert, an American expat held in a Panamanian prison on the charge of murdering five people. Holbert, a real estate scam artist, was a man driven by greed and the desire for power, who thought he was always one step ahead of everyone around him.

The title of this book comes from the small bar that Holbert ran in Bocas del Toro, where fellow men and women, who had left America for what they viewed as paradise, would gather for greasy food and liquor. None of them seemed to have any idea that there was a serial killer lurking behind the bar.

Throughout the tale of Holbert and his victims, Foster intersperses the history and culture of the land Holbert coveted so deeply. This is an author who has clearly done his research, and it shows.