ARC Review Roundup: The Night Shift, The Club, and The Book of Cold Cases

 I received ARCs of these book from the publisher in exchange for honest reviews. This did not affect my opinion of the books or my reviews themselves.

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.

I was especially excited to get an ARC of this book, as I really enjoyed Finlay's Every Last Fear. The Night Shift features two small-town murders years apart, where teenagers are murdered at local businesses after hours. The survivors from both crimes find themselves linked together, as well as an FBI agent, and the brother of the original suspect. The original suspect has never been seen again since he made bail, and fear is gripping the town once again.

This is a great book full of complex characters, secrets from the past, and lots of twists and turns. I could not put it down, and finished it quickly. The ending was a complete shocker to me that worked so well.

This book was a bit of a disappointment to me. I was highly intrigued by the concept, a very high-end getaway for those on the A list, where people suddenly start disappearing and turning up dead. I pictured a celebrity And Then There Were None.

This was not a bad book by any means. It kept my attention, and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. But the story moved slowly, and there wasn't a real heightened sense of danger. No one really seemed to know what was going on while it was happening, and so there wasn't any of that tension and fear that really make a book like this exciting and gripping. 

I'm not against recommending this book, just know going in it's a lot tamer than you're probably hoping for.

I have really enjoyed every book of St. James I have read. She has a way of twining together mysteries that feel real world with elements of the supernatural and paranormal, making it all feel realistic and as if it could happen in any small town. 

In The Book of Cold Cases, Shea Collins runs her own true crime blog. Having thwarted her own almost-abduction, she lives in fear and uses her blog as her outlet. By chance at her day job, she meets Beth Greer, once suspected of being The Lady Killer, the most infamous murderer to hit Claire Lake.

This book is eerie, scary, suspenseful, and full of twists and turns. The characters are complex and highly complicated, blood runs from taps and footsteps sound where they shouldn't, and there's even a romance that made me giddy. St. James keeps the hits coming, and I already can't wait for her next book.