If you’ve been here before, or you follow our Insta, you know I love books! And not just kids books, although they hold a special place in my heart. I tend to read books that go with the seasons, so this month I’ve been making my way through a bunch of thrillers. Here are reviews of my recent reads:

The Herd by Andrea Bartz -5/5 Stars

I can’t recommend this book enough! It’s a poppy, flashy, fun thriller that you can breeze through in a few days. This book tells the story of an ultra-cool all female co-working space founded by Eleanor Walsh. When Eleanor goes missing right before she’s set to make a major announcement, her best friends try to figure out where she could be. The book feels timely, exciting and full of great characters including her best friends from college (who also work for her), an ex-boyfriend and of course the people that hate what she and her business represents.

The Searcher by Tana French - 4/5

I am generally a big fan of Tana French and I’ve enjoyed most of her books. She reminds me a lot of Jan Harper, another author I love and highly recommend. French’s books are atmospheric and she really captures the landscape where the stories take place. In this one, Cal Hooper is a retired cop who decides to leave Chicago for rural Ireland to tackle a fixer-upper property and escape everything he’s seen in the city. Of course it doesn’t turn out as planned when a local kid starts bugging him to help search for a missing sibling. When Hooper starts digging he learns that the idyllic town is full of secrets and the quiet life he was seeking isn’t possible. The only reason I gave this one 4 stars instead of 5 is while I really enjoyed it, I didn’t feel like I needed to stay up until 3 in the morning to finish it which is a sign of a true 5-star book for me.

Eight Perfect Murders by Peter Swanson - 3/5

What to say about this one?? Well, it starts out really strong. The book tells the story of Malcolm Kershaw, a bookshop owner and crime book aficionado. Years prior to when the story takes place, he wrote an article about the eight perfect literary murders. Now murders are taking place in real life that seem to be using his list as an inspiration. I really loved the first half of the book and enjoyed that the “perfect murders” he referenced are all based on real books, some of which I have read. But after a few twists and turns I started to enjoy the book less and wasn’t a fan of some of the surprises toward the back end of the book. Definitely not a total dud, but not one I highly recommend when there are so many other great thrillers out there.

Happy reading!

- Callie AKA “MiLOWE Mom”

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