My old log

 

My old blog disappeared. However, you can still old posts by clicking this link 

http://murdermysteryblogofjoie.blogspot.com/

To see more reviews check out the Blog Archives on your right.

The Ghost of Graylock (A Hauntings Novel) by Dan Poblocki

 

From Amazon:

Everyone's heard the stories about Graylock Hall.It was meant to be a place of healing - a hospital where children and teenagers with mental disorders would be cared for and perhaps even cured. But something went wrong. Several young patients died under mysterious circumstances. Eventually, the hospital was shut down, the building abandoned and left to rot deep in the woods.As the new kid in town, Neil Cady wants to see Graylock for himself. Especially since rumor has it that the building is haunted. He's got fresh batteries in his flashlight, a camera to document the adventure, and a new best friend watching his back.Neil might think he's prepared for what he'll find in the dark and decrepit asylum. But he's certainly not prepared for what follows him home.

My take:

I'm surprised that I liked this mystery made specifically for kids. Anyay, it turns out that the nurse never killed any of the kids .

Neil and his siter where sent to live with their aunts.Their mother was recuperating from a mental breakdown after being abandoned by her husband, their father.

Upom arrival at his aunts' place, Neil becomes obssessed by the Graylock Ghost legend of the neighboring abandoned asylum. Rumor has it that the abandoned asylum was haunted by the nurse who supposedly killed 3 patients.

After investigating the legend more thorougly, Neil realizes that the haunting was not made by the nurse but by one of the dead patients. 

The nurse was actually living in a senior home and was quite aware of the rumors surrounding her departure. After careful scrutiny they found out that the last patient who died demanded to be placed in the asylum after her mother died. He, along with his sister and 2 friends, realized she was escaping her step father who she suspected killed her mom. The murderer turned out to be one of their aunts' friends who always tried to help them anyway he can.

When they realized he was the killer who was about to murder them, the ghost of the girl helps them escape. The killer eventually dies.

After the end of the summer, Neil and his sister goes back to their mom who has fully recovered.

Everyone is Watching by Heather Gudenkauf

 

From Amazon:

Five contestants have been chosen to compete for ten million dollars on the game show One Lucky Winner. The catch? None of them knows what (or who) to expect, and it will be live streamed all over the world. Completely secluded in an estate in Northern California, with strict instructions not to leave the property and zero contact with the outside world, the competitors start to feel a little too isolated.

When long-kept secrets begin to rise to the surface, the contestants realize this is no longer just a reality show—someone is out for blood. And the game can’t end until the world knows who the contestants really are…

My Take:

This is the 2nd Heather Gudenkauf book I didn't like. There are 3 important characters in the book. The Owner, who was offering the 10 million dollar prize, her assistant and one of the contestants , a single mom with 2 kids, one with a medical condition and who is also dirt poor. 

The owner bullies and harasses the assistant while the poor assistant bears this persecution because she was saved in the past by the owner. She was sexually harassed by one of the bosses but was saved by the owner. During that time the owner was also an employee. They eventually left the company with the owner forming her own business and bringing the other girl as her assistant. Then the owner hatchd this new reality show wherein they invite contestants to participate. This shall be  live streamed and the one who finishes on top receives 10 million dollars.

When they started fielding the participants, they realize that one of the contestants was the man who almost raped the assistant. To make the story short, the owner, at the end, pulls the man with her and they both dove to their deaths after falling from the balcony. After the cops were called, a letter is given to the assistant wherein  the owner mentions she was dying and after paying all her debts 10 million dollars is left. The assistant is the sole heir of the owner. So the lucky winner was actually the assistant .

After the contest everyone goes back to their merry ways, seemingly unaffected financially by their departure from their work except for the mother with 2 kids. While trying to figure out how to pay her bills an envelope arrives from the assistant. She gives the mother a check for 1 million dollars.

It just wasn't as good as the other books of Heather, though as a stand alone, it was't bad at all.

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

From Amazon:

Ever since her true-crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall has become a household name―and the last hope for people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The new season of Rachel's podcast has brought her to a small town being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. A local golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. 

My Take:

There are 2 crimes , 25 years apart that involves almost all of the characters at the present time. 25 Years ago, a teenager of ill repute supposedly drowns. It was ruled an accidental death but her younger sister refuses to believe it was an accident. She starts hounding Rachel to help solve her sister's murder.

25 years later the granddaughter of the police chief is raped and both her mother and father demand justice. The Prosecuting lawyer of the rape victim finds an eye witness, a severely scarred homeless guy who just got out of jail. They found out that he was inprissoned for being the driver of the car that hit the tree causing the demise of 2 of his friends 25 years ago.

What really happened:

There were 4 of them. 2 raped the girl while the others watched. However, one of them, the badly scarred homeless guy 25 years earlier was enraged and put up a fight. The other 3 beat him up and decides to kill him. They put him in the truck and can't decide whether to bring him to the hospital or just dispose his body. In the meantime, the 3rd guy, who happens to be the police chief's son, decides to get rid of the evidence and throw the girl's body in the lake. He is the father of the victim raped 25 years later. 

When he catches up with the others, he sees that the truck hits the tree and kills both boys. The 3rd one , the boy they beat up is barely alive. So he calls his father, the police chief, and they place the unconscious boy in the driver's seat and burns the truck. 

Unbeknownst to them the unconscious boy wakes up and is badly burned. He is then blamed for the death of the other 2 and incarcerated after undergoing several operations. When released, he goes back to the town he came from but under a different name. He then became the witness for the prosecution. After solving the crimes, the father of the raped girl escapes and kills himself. The Raped girl and her mother leaves town to start all over again.

The swimmer is aquited for the crime of rape but is still found guilty on 2 other crimes related to the rape. The homeless guy is told he never caused the death of the other 2 boys and cries.

Shutter by Ramona Emerson

 

From Amazon:

Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer working for the Albuquerque police force. Her excellent photography skills have cracked many cases—she is almost supernaturally good at capturing details. In fact, Rita has been hiding a secret: she sees the ghosts of crime victims who point her toward the clues that other investigators overlook. 

My Take:

I loved the idea of a forensic photographer seeing ghosts at the crime scene. What I didn't like was a particular ghost from the start of the story who ended up being annoying, irritating and very self-centered that she always puts Rita in very precarius situations. 

Instead of trying to ingratiate Rita to her side by being more amiable ,she constantly harasses the poor girl and brings her to unsafe situations. I just want to bring her back from the dead and throw her over the bridge again and again until she becomes more tranquil and appreciative of what Rita can do her her. She's just like a raging banshee that you would like to burn in a stake.

Anyway, everything turns out well with the bad guy getting what he deserved,

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

 

Amazon's Summary:

When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to return: a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

My Review:

When Hazel's step father passes away, his brother, notifies her that she inherited his house. This made one of her step brothers upset because he felt the house should be split between the 3 of them.

Important details:

1. Her step brothers' real mother died in an accident which was witnessed by Caden, the younger brother. He has suppressed this memory thus making him have terrifying nightmares when he was young.

2. Her stepfather marries her criminal mother and life goes on smoothly until her mother disappears and supposedly drained her stepfather's bank account.This created a very hostile atmosphere between Caden and her. The older brother,Gage, did not change the way he treated his stepsister.

3. There were actually 3 crimes that made the whole scenario very confusing. The recent one was about a group of teenagers who broke into homes and stole an item as proof of their deed. The second one was the one that happened 10 years ago was when her mother disappeared and siphoned ll money from her stepdad's bank account. The other one was the accidental death of her step brothers's mom.

4. What really happened:

    * The boys' real mom was having an affair with the uncle and accidentally died while trying to meet him. This was witnessed by Caden,the younger brother. Caden confesses this incident to Hazel's mom who decides to escape, fearing for her life. She had intentions of coming back for Hazel and writes a note to Hazel. Why she didn't bring Hazel in the first place is beyond me. She had to make her new place safer for Hazel before getting her?

    * Gage sees the note and thinks his father killed Hazel's mom so he replaces the note. His father thought Gage killed the mom so he siphoned all his cash and placed it inside a secret wall. This is to make it appear her mom took the money and left. Minwhile, the uncle was blackmailing the father all these years. Caden thinks the mon left because he told him her secret.

    * The father made a will and stipulated Hazel gets the house but the boys should inherit everything in the house which included the stashed money on the wall.

5. It was the uncle who killed her mom and all other witnesses. He eventually died in the flood while he was trying to kill Hazel. In the end Hazel split the inheritance with her brothers, with Caden and his family occupying the residence. It is assumed Hazel goes back to her own place and resumes working with her friends.

:

Bitter House by Kiersten Modglin

 

Amazon's Summary:

Vera Bitter is dead, but her secrets have yet to be buried.

After the tragic death of Bridget’s parents, her grandmother took her in. Vera Bitter raised her from behind a closed door—cold and uncaring from the moment she arrived at Bitter House. After Bridget’s high school graduation, Vera kicked her out without so much as a goodbye, and Bridget never heard from her again. Which is why, when she receives word of Vera’s passing and discovers she’s inherited the family manor, she’s immediately filled with dread.

Those worries are amplified when she arrives at Bitter House after years away to find an enigmatic piece of her past waiting for her. Growing up, there was only one person Bridget distrusted more than her grandmother, and that was Cole Warner—the son of Vera’s house manager and the bane of her childhood existence. Now, he’s her new housemate.

Owning the house she was once forced to leave with a man she’s always despised forces Bridget to confront feelings and questions she’s been running from since the day she was driven away from Bitter House.

My review:

Once she is forced to share the house with the son of Vera Bitter's secretary,things start to spark up. Though Claire, the secretary took  good care of her she and Cole fought bitterly as kids. But now the proximity between the two started paving the way for a blooming romance. Then she starts receiving messages warning her how bad her grandma was. Each letter proved to be true until finally the  truth comes out on the 7th letter. Vera wrote those letters and instructed her neighbors to gradually give it to Brigitte.

The bodies in the garden were the bodies of Cole's abusive father and the guy who killed Brigitte's parents. The secret tunnels let Vera and her neighbors  save abused women and give them alibis while they got rid of their husbands.

What started out as a promising novel fell flat in the end because Brigitte and Cole for the next ten years continued the crimes with the neighbors. I thought they would end this crime spree and live happy ever after. Apparently not!