review: lies by t.m. logan

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It was all lies. One moment high school teacher Joe Lynch is driving home with his young son and the next he is following his wife to a hotel where she meets the husband of her best friend. There’s a confrontation and then a number of lies as Joe’s life unravels.

T.M. Logan’s debut novel is filled with so many excellent lies that the reader is on the same delicious hunt as Joe (though Logan does annoyingly hide a few of Joe’s final discoveries to further keep the reader in the dark). Lies is a fast read, in part because the writing is compelling and most chapters end with enough of a shock that one can’t help but keep reading. This psychological thriller is absolutely captivating.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, St. Martin's Press.

review: desert kill switch by mark s. bacon

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Desert Kill Switch begins with the shocking discovery of a bullet-riddled body next to a classic Pontiac Firebird. Lyle, a former cop, is with his stepdaughter in an area of Arizona with no cell service so he gets them away from potential danger and then calls the sheriff. But when they arrive there's no sign of the body or the car. It's a great setup, but Mark S. Bacon quickly drops that plot in favor of another murder mystery. Even when Lyle makes a big find related to the body in the desert, he drops it. The pacing of the two mysteries is excruciatingly slow. Eventually both get worked out, but it's a bit convoluted.
2/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, MM Book Publicity.