The Girl in the Woods by Gregg Olsen

This is an excellent novel by best-seller writer, Gregg Olsen. First , may I comment on the characters which I am 100% coincidental. I just watched a British TV series that is called "The Silent Witness" which stars Amanda Burton (the old series, not the current one). Here,  our coroner has a blue collar sister with a son who idolizes his aunt . Her sister (the boy's mother ) is a single mom and is assigned to take care of their senile mother. It's strange that the poorer sister with a son is the one assigned to take care of the mom while the richer one with no teen can just visit when she has time. The difference is the coroner's sister in the book has a spouse and the mother of the two is a cantankerous old woman. Why they did not shove the banshee in a home to end everyone's problems is beyond me.
         Anyway, in both cases the boy flees his home and opts for the home of his more tolerant aunt. Then the similarity ends.

The Pocket Wife by Susan Crawford

Dana Catrell is a woman with a bipolar disorder who was called in by her neighbor, intent on sharing a photo of an apparent adulterous liaison she caught in her phone's camera. After a few drinks with the distressed neighbor, Dana has a heated argument with her because she suspected the woman is unusually distressed by the photo. Unfortunately, after she wakes up from her drunken stupor, she finds her neighbor murdered. Not being able to recall what has happened, she can only remember a few snippets of their conversation that went sour before she blacked out. Hence, she's not even sure if she murdered her neighbor.

It was a good thriller reminiscent of "Under My Skin" but with a different outcome. I was uncomfortable with the adulterous strain of the novel but I was interested to know if Dana would be vindicated after the disastrous events following the murder. I know millions of murder books involve adultery but I developed a strong compassion for the main character and how she was treated by her spouse.

Thankfully a total of 2 adulterers get punished physically and legally  for their sins except for one, who was relieved from the punitive measures he deserves. I am not a fan of unfaithfulness and believe all adulterers should be severely chastened.
The result of the murder investigation was satisfactory with a note at the end hinting that the living "victim" has a second chance involving her  future and love life.

The Forgetting Place by John Burley

An absolutely amazing novel by our doctor author, John Burley who is still practicing medicine. Dr. Lise Shields is a psychiatrist at a correctional psychiatric hospital in Maryland for 5 years. As the story progresses you see her getting attached and intrigued with one particular patient whose history and case is closely guarded by the hospital. Initially , I had very strong suspicions about the main gist of the story but John Burley is very much adept in throwing in situations that make you doubt your initial hunches and couples it with medical descriptions that make you veer away from whatever you are thinking. Being an experienced mystery reader I did guess the ending correctly but with a totally different resolution from what the author will eventually explain in the end. A very good read!

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

"The Girl on the Train" is the first thriller published by journalist Paula Hawkins. This spine chiller starts out innocently. Rachel entertains herself while riding the train by fixating on an adorable looking couple who she sees from afar as the train passes by their home regularly. Then she notices something "odd" about the picture that seems very off from the usual idyllic scene she always witnesses as she passes by these couple's home. As the story unravels, the reader will eventually find out that Rachel has actually a strong connection between these couple and their lives are additionally entwined with still another couple - her ex-husband and his present wife. What makes matters worse is that Rachel has a drinking problem which makes her susceptible to blackouts and memory loss. Then there are the bruises she discovers she has after she awakens from her mental relapse. Is she remembering something or has she lost the capacity of differentiating reality from fantasy? A very good first novel!

Madeline Roux's Mystery Combo

"Asylum" and it's sequel  "Sanctum" are two magnificent but sinister photo-illustrated novels reminiscent of "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children". It looked like the author has been inspired to adapt her novels from very old but ominous photos she has discovered depicting life in an old asylum.

You definitely have to read "Asylum" to better understand its spin-off , "Sanctum" because several references from the former book  is mentioned in the sequel. Though made for "young adults" or teens, these books still manage to create  a suspenseful atmosphere that could  intimidate mature mystery aficionados without the regular steamy sex and bloodshed typically seen in adult mystery novels.

"Asylum" starts with a summer program geared for teens being held at a college with residential facilities being placed at a former asylum. After several mysterious events occur, Asylum ends with the culprit of all these baffling events being unmasked. Still the story is left hanging with the readers wanting to seek "closure" by reading "Sanctum". "Sanctum" explains why these certain events happened and explained certain situations that were left unanswered in Asylum. Definite good reads for a cold rainy day!

The Absence of Mercy by John Burley

This is a horrifying book!I am not talking about the author's ability to write but rather the storyline of his novel. The author , being an actual doctor, begins the chapter with an extremely grisly description of a teenager's death. It was way too graphic for my taste. Though I have read worse, it appeared that the author was actually describing a particular macabre death he encountered in real life. Not just a wild imagination of a horror writer whose main aim was just to inflict terror on his audience. Burley's description depicted the death with so much detail that it reminded me of an actual case committed in 1993 that made headlines during that time. I could actually visualize the pain and suffering of the poor boy. The only thing I did not like about the book was the use of too much medical terms that made the reader more overwhelmed than informed. It would have been good if it were an actual movie or tv program wherein visuals could help the viewers understand all this medical rhetoric. Anyway, the killer came to me as a surprise as I had to skip some portions because of the confounding amount of details being given.

Virtue Falls by Christina Dodd

The storyline is wonderful and very intriguing. I have to admit though that I almost did not finish the book because there were quite a few factors that really annoyed me. But before I go off tangent again let me briefly give you the gist of the novel. Elizabeth Banner is returning to Virtue Falls 23 years after her highly intelligent but dull-looking father allegedly kills her beautiful but adulterous mother.

I had read a lot of murders involving cheating spouses but the story glorified the wayward mother so much as if she was such an image of  beauty that of course she was allowed to stray from that old, unattractive husband of hers! The poor dad eventually got humiliated and tortured by the murder for 23 years even though there was not enough evidence to throw him in prison.

Then the author gives a description of Elizabeth Banner. She is absolutely drop dead gorgeous with huge breasts, a small waistline, huge hips, long legs and a sexual appetite (with her ex-husband) enough to rival a porn star. And wait! Not only is she goddess like beautiful like her mother, she also inherited the astute brain of her plain looking dad that has allowed her to excel both academically and professionally! Hence, every single straight male lusts for her while her cousins tortured her just like Cinderella got tortured by her ugly step sisters. The proverbial "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful!"

It was insinuated that her mother was killed by her lover but they don't know who he is! You see, every straight male wanted her mom so there was a big spectrum of potential lovers to choose from. The description of both women were like in an adult fairy tale. Both were beyond beautiful that all men went on an orgasmic trance just looking at them while all plain janes trembled at their sight. Okay! I'm exaggerating. But Ms. Dodd immediately immerses the reader with more fast paced events that I fell into the spell of reading the whole novel faster than my normal pace. It was good and suspenseful.

The Boy Who Drew Monsters by Keith Donohue

It's a chilling story about a boy named Jack Peter whose drawings of monsters came to life. These creatures not only haunt him but also starts to terrify his family and his best friend, Nick. An "accident" involving him and his friend Nick has caused him to develop a disorder that was later diagnosed as Asperger's syndrome. This is when the frantic drawing of monsters start . What started as a drawing "phase" eventually develops into a more malevolent exercise. I did not like the ending but just like "Pan's Labyrinth" it was necessary in order to explain the bizarre happenings and make the story more effective in creating an impact on the reader. 

Your Not Safe by Mary Burton

This is an excellent thriller. It's about former residents of an upscale mental health facility for suicidal patients who are gradually being killed off  several years after being released. It also manages to mix in a little romance that heightened the story line without evoking the cringe factor most romantic thrillers usually give. Being a regular murder mystery aficionado I managed to predict the murderer but more out of instinct rather than failure of the author to "deceive" the reader. She always manages to make you doubt every suspicion you have by always inserting some clues that would help mislead you until the very end. Mary Burton has definitely improved her writing style as I made a mistake of borrowing an earlier book after being impressed with this one. Very disappointing, I should say. Hence, I urge readers to stick to her later works .