Friday, July 5, 2019

Review - Paranoid

Title:  Paranoid
Author:  Lisa Jackson
Genre:   Mystery/Thrillers
Publisher:   Kensington
Format:  Kindle ARC
No. of Pages:  387
Date of Publication:  June 25, 2019
My Rating:  4 Stars

DESCRIPTION:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jackson comes a new novel of nerve-jangling suspense as a woman haunted by guilt realizes that nothing can be trusted—not even her own memory …

There are people in Edgewater, Oregon, who think that twenty years ago, Rachel Gaston got away with murder.

Rachel still has no idea how a foolish teenaged game turned deadly—or who replaced her soft pellet air gun with a real weapon. When a figure leapt out at her from the darkness, she fired without thinking. Too late, she recognized her half-brother, Luke, and saw blood blooming around his chest.

Despite counseling, Rachel’s horrifying dreams about that night continue. Her anxiety contributed to her divorce from Detective Cade Ryder, though he blames himself too. But as Rachel’s high school reunion nears, she feels her imagination playing tricks, convincing her that objects in her house have moved. That there’s a hint of unfamiliar cologne in the air. That someone is tailing her car. Watching her home.

She’s right to be scared. And as connections surface between a new string of murders and Luke’s death, Rachel realizes there’s no escaping the past, and the truth may be darker than her worst fears …


MY THOUGHTS:

When Rachel Gaston was a teenager she got involved in a dangerous game. This involvement led to the tragic death of her brother Luke. Acquitted from the crime, it is now twenty years later. Someone is bound and determined to make her pay for Luke's death.

Rachel had quite a bit of counseling and even had a nice life for a while. She married and had two children. However, her nightmares and anxiety have a profound affect on her and she and husband, Detective Cade Ryder divorced. They are good co-parents to their teenage children and with rapidly changing circumstances, are drawn together quite often in this story.

Rachel and several others were in the process of preparing for their twenty-year high school reunion. One of the former classmates is murdered and several other things, including other murders, happen in quick succession. This, quite naturally, makes Rachel quite nervous. All she wants to do is to forget the past and prepare her children for the future. All the while, she wonders about her relationship with Cade, and he has similar thoughts throughout.

Paranoid is a thrilling story. There is a strong element of revenge in this story, and this reaches deep into the lives of Rachel, and also her children. There is also the paranoia Rachel feels as her past continues to resurface. The danger is present from the outset, and despite the family drama, reunion planning and personality issues, their are enough twists and turns, as well as plenty of plausible suspects, to make this a difficult book to put down. Lisa Jackson is a remarkable author and I always enjoy reading her books.

Many thanks to Kensington and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion. 


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Lisa Jackson is the number-one New York Times bestselling author of more than 85 novels, including Afraid to Die, Tell Me, You Don’t Want to Know, Running Scared, Without Mercy, Malice, and Shiver.  She is also the co-author of the Colony Series, co-written with her sister, Nancy Bush. There are over 20 million copies of Lisa Jackson’s books in print in twenty languages.  

Before she became a nationally bestselling author, Lisa Jackson was a mother struggling to keep food on the table by writing novels, hoping against hope that someone would pay her for them. Today, neck deep in murder, her books appear on The New York Times, the USA Today, and the Publishers Weekly national bestseller lists.

With over thirty bestsellers to her name, Lisa Jackson is a master of taking readers to the edge of sanity – and back – in novels that buzz with dangerous secrets and deadly passions.  She continues to be fascinated by the minds and motives of both her killers and their pursuers—the personal, the professional and downright twisted.  As she builds the puzzle of relationships, actions, clues, lies and personal histories that haunt her protagonists, she must also confront the fear and terror faced by her victims, and the harsh and enduring truth that, in the real world, terror and madness touch far too many lives and families. 



5 comments:

  1. Lisa Jackson is one of the authors I plan on trying out this summer, and I think I'll start with this book, because it sounds fantastic. Great review, Robin! Happy weekend.

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  2. Sounds like a good one. Thanks for the great review.
    Gemma @ Gemma's Book Nook

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  3. Looks like a good book! Glad you enjoyed it!

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  4. I've not read this author before but looks like I should. Thanx for the review

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  5. I haven't heard of this book before. Sounds good. Great review.

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