Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Darkrooms by Rebecca Hannigan: A gripping Irish mystery with unforgettable, flawed women

On the night of the Summer Solstice in 1999, nine-year-old Roisin O’Halloran vanished into the Hanging Woods, a copse that had terrified generations of children in the small Irish town of Bannakilduf. Twenty years later, her disappearance remains a shadow over the town—and over the two women now drawn together to uncover the truth: Roisin’s older sister, Deedee, a rookie cop barely holding herself together, and Caitlin, Roisin’s childhood best friend and a petty criminal with a penchant for deception and risky behavior. In Darkrooms, Rebecca Hannigan delivers a lush, moody thriller that explores guilt, justice, and the dangerous ways past traumas shape the present.

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If you’re a fan of unlikeable characters and unreliable narrators, this novel is made for you. Caitlin lies, steals, and teeters on the edge of self-destruction, and you’re never quite sure whether to believe her confessions—or whether they hint at something even darker.

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Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Briars by Sarah Crouch: When a mountain town’s secrets turn into a predictable romance

A thick chill crept through the fir trees the moment I stepped into the pages of The Briars — I could almost smell the damp pine needles underfoot in Lake Lumin. In The Briars by Sarah Crouch, an atmospheric backdrop, a lone game warden fleeing her past, and the ominous presence of both a cougar and a hidden murderer promise a taut thriller.

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Coming into the novel, I was mesmerized. The descriptions of the Pacific Northwest setting — moss-clad trees, misty mountain ridges, ancient forest trails — transported me so completely I was ready to pack my car up and head to Lake Lumin myself. Annie Heston, newly employed as a game warden, chasing whispers of a cougar sighting: that narrative worked. Her patrols through the woods, the sense of isolation, the danger — I wanted to linger there.

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