Creep by Jennifer Hillier
My Rating:  5 of 5 Stars

Title:  Creep
Author:  Jennifer Hillier
Length:  368 pages
Publisher:  Gallery Books
Published:  July 5, 2011
Genres:  Fiction; Suspense Fiction; Psychological Fiction

My Rating:  ✮✮✮✮✮

Synopsis:

Pulsing with the dark obsession of Radiohead’s song “Creep,” this taut thriller—Jennifer Hillier’s superb debut—rockets from its seductive opening to a heartpounding climax not easily forgotten.

If he can’t have her . . .

Dr. Sheila Tao is a professor of psychology. An expert in human behavior. And when she began an affair with sexy, charming graduate student Ethan Wolfe, she knew she was playing with fire. Consumed by lust when they were together, riddled with guilt when they weren’t, she knows the three-month fling with her teaching assistant has to end. After all, she’s finally engaged to a kind and loving investment banker who adores her, and she’s taking control of her life. But when she attempts to end the affair, Ethan Wolfe won’t let her walk away.

. . . no one else can.

Ethan has plans for Sheila, plans that involve posting a sex video that would surely get her fired and destroy her prestigious career. Plans to make her pay for rejecting him. And as she attempts to counter his every threatening move without her colleagues or her fiancé discovering her most intimate secrets, a shattering crime rocks Puget Sound State University: a female student, a star athlete, is found stabbed to death. Someone is raising the stakes of violence, sex, and blackmail . . . and before she knows it, Sheila is caught in a terrifying cat-and-mouse game with the lover she couldn’t resist—who is now the monster who won’t let her go.

My Review:

Wow!  What a debut novel from Jennifer Hillier!  If this book is any indication of her work to come, this lady will have an amazing career as an author of suspense and psychological novels!  I was amazed at her writing abilities, especially as a newbie.  She writes like a pro, as if this is her twentieth novel, not her first!  I can't wait to see what else she has in store for us!

The title of the book is absolutely the most fitting of any title I've ever read!  Everything about this book was creepy, from the characters, down to the plot!  

The characters in this book were such a diverse group, but enjoyable to read about throughout the book.  I can't think of any other book with characters like these, and I enjoyed that!  I am one to always root for the good guys and the happy ending, so I must say that I was rooting for Sheila and Morris from the get-go!  Ethan creeped me out from the first moment I met him, and I enjoyed Jerry later on in the book!

The plot was so thick and full of details, with many different unpredictable twists and turns!  I had determined early on that I knew who the killer was and that Hillier was just trying to show the reader's what went through a killer's mind, but BOY WAS I WRONG!  It was one of those, I knew what it was until it slapped me in the face, and it left me standing there, with a big red hand-print on my cheek, stinging, going WHOA!!! I totally DID NOT see that happening!  What a thrilling read!!  The second half of this book was a total rumdinger, as it kept me on the edge of my seat, dying to know what happens next!  I went to reading two to three chapters a day, to reading the whole second half of the book in a matter of 24 hours!  I COULD NOT PUT THE BOOK DOWN!

When I first began reading Creep, I wasn't aware that Hillier had written another book, so I was a little taken aback by the ending, thinking what they heck?  Either she left it wide open for another book, or that the readers are just going to be out in left field forever.  When pulling up the title to do this review, I found that Hillier wrote a book that takes place after Creep, which is Freak and I can certainly assure you that I will be running out to get my hands on a copy of it as soon as I possibly can!  I HAVE to continue with this author and find out what other great reads she has in store for me!

Overall, I LOVED this book!   I was thrilled with the writing, the story, the characters, the suspense...everything about it!  I am STUNNED that this is a debut novel, because it is expertly written, like that of a professional.  I would compare this work to that of suspense greats, Lisa Gardner and Chelsea Cain!  This girl has got the talent, and I can't wait get my fill of more!!

Would I Recommend This Book:
Seriously, need you ask after that review??  I WOULD NOT HESITATE to recommend this book to anyone and everyone that will listen to me!

Stand Alone or Part of a Series:
Part of a series

• Creep #1

A Tap on the Window by Linwood Barclay
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Title: A Tap on the Window
Author: Linwood Barclay
Length: 500 pages
Publisher: New York; New American Library
Published: August 6, 2013
Genres: Fiction; Mystery Fiction

Visit my review/blog HERE!

My Rating: ✮✮✮✮✮

Synopsis:
It's been two months since private investigator Cal Weaver's teenage son, Scott, died in a tragic drug-related accident. Ever since, he and his wife have drifted apart, fracturing a once-normal life. Cal is mired in grief he can't move past. And maybe that has clouded his judgment. Because he made a grave mistake driving home on a very rainy night. A drenched young girl tapped on his window as he sat at a stoplight and asked for a ride. And even though he knew a forty-something man picking up a teenage hitchhiker is a fool, he let her in the car--she was the same age as Scott and maybe she could help him find the dealer who sold his son the drugs that killed him. However, after a brief stop at a roadside diner, Cal senses that something's not right with the girl or the situation. But it's too late. He's already involved.
Soon Cal finds himself mired in a nightmare of pain and suspicion. Something is horribly wrong in the small town of Griffon in Upstate New York. There are too many secrets, too many lies. And Cal decides to expose those secrets one by one.

My Review:
This was my first Linwood Barclay book, and I have to say that I very quickly got my hands on another one of his books almost immediately after finishing A Tap on the Window. I had this book on the shelf for a rather long time before I started it, but once I did, it didn't come out of my hands for long, unless, you know, I had to get some sleep or something crazy like that! Other than for sleep and work, my nose was stuck in this book from beginning to end! I thought that it was such a great thriller with deep-seeded emotions wrought throughout.

Barclay does a wonderful job at keeping you guessing throughout the entire story, right up until the bitter end. He offers plenty of twists and turns, and makes you believe you've got it figured out, and that's when he throws you another curve! It is similar to the ups and downs of a roller coaster! Absolutely thrilling!

His characters are flawed, which I think makes them so much better to read about, because seriously, who always wants to read about the perfect person, with the perfect life, with the perfect spouse, and perfect house and job and everything else in the world? BORING...certainly not me! Cal and his wife are grieving parents, dealing with the hand of cards that life has recently dealt them, with raw emotions!

Barclay has given us a book with real life situations in it, something that could happen to you and I, so I think that is what made this book all the more pleasurable, knowing that this scenario could be a reality! Overall, I thought that this was a fantastic read and was kicking myself in the butt for taking so long to read it! I can't wait to read more from this author! I think he will quickly rise to one of my favorites!

Disclaimer:
I received this book as a First Reads book on Goodreads. I hereby express that this is my honest and unbiased opinion of this book!

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Night Road by Kristin Hannah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was my first Kristin Hannah book and it certainly won't be my last! I am so thrilled to have come across this author, as she seems to have the ability to write exactly what it is that I enjoy reading (when not knee deep into mysteries and thrillers)!

The characters were so raw and deep with emotion. You have the characters that you can't help but love and want to route for no matter what it is that they do, then you have the characters that you are screaming at through the book and ready to choke them! There is such a broad range of characters present throughout this book and I loved that!

The emotions in this story are so raw and real and the reader (at least speaking for myself) can feel them to the core. I found that throughout reading Night Road, that it brought many other emotions to light that didn't even have anything to do with the book! Kristen Hannah has such a spectacular talent when it comes to emotional writing!

The only change I would have made about the book is a bit more for the ending. I felt like the ending was left a little too open for such descriptiveness throughout the rest of the story. I felt like I was left hanging, and would have liked more insight into the future or how the lives of the characters played out. That is the only thing that kept me from giving Night Road 5 stars, but I would still give it a 4.75!

Overall, I am so thrilled that a friend recommended and loaned this book for me to read so I could ride the roller coaster ride of Kristen Hannah and I certainly can't wait until I get to get on the next ride to see what else Hannah has in store for her readers!

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