Author: Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

An avid reader whose current interest lies in mysteries and thrillers. Line 'em up! Also personally love fantasies and any stories to do with magic, and a sucker for the occasional (good) romance.
3.5 star

Review: No one Needs to Know by Lindsay Cameron

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

When an anonymous neighborhood forum gets hacked, the darkest secrets of New York’s wealthiest residents come to light—including some worth killing for—in this gripping suspense novel from the author of Just One Look.

It was all confidential. Right up to the moment when it wasn’t.

UrbanMyth: It was lauded as an alternative to the performative, show-your-best-self platforms—an anonymous discussion board grouped by zip code. The residents of Manhattan’s exclusive Upper East Side disclosed it all, things they would never share with their friends or their spouses: secret bank accounts, steamy affairs, tidbits of juicy gossip. These are the same parents who would go to astonishing lengths to ensure their children gain admission to the most prestigious boarding schools and universities. So when a “hacktivist” group breaks into the forum and exposes the real identity behind each poster, the repercussions resound down Park Avenue with a force none could have anticipated.

And someone will end up dead.

Will it be Heather, the outsider who would do anything to get her daughter into the elite’s good graces and into even better schools? Norah, the high-powered suit failing to balance work and the emotional responsibilities of motherhood? Or Poppy, perfect on the outside but hiding more than her share of secrets?

Each of them has something to hide. Each of them will do anything to keep their secrets hidden. And each of them just might kill to protect their own.

This is another one of those books that I picked up just on a spree at the library, trying to fill my reading roster for the next while. The popular books of course always have a long wait, so this was one of the books that I picked up in the meantime to fill the time. The premise was definitely interesting, though I think in the end it wasn’t exactly what I expected. I’m not entirely sure whether that’s a good or bad thing though.

No One Needs to Know revolves around a couple of POVs of a rich society in the Upper East Side. If you’re immediately thinking Gossip Girl, you’re really not that far off. An anonymous website called UrbanMyth holds the neighbourhoods’ elites’ secrets. Alls fair in love and war, especially when it’s anonymous—right? Of course, when a hack releases everyone’s identity, just what will be revealed? And on top of that, someone is dead.

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discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – Seeing the Real World Through Books

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits is the new host for Let’s Talk Bookish! If you aren’t following her yet, good check out her blog and give her a follow!

January 19: Seeing the Real World Through Books

Prompts: Many fiction books have messages about social issues, current events, and more. Some are underlying themes, and others are much more overt. Are you more drawn to books that dive into these serious topics, or do you prefer to have fiction be more of an escape from the world? What are some novels that have impacted you? What do you think are the most effective ways for authors to get their messages across?

Welcome to another week of LTB here at DTRH, everyone! It is cold, cold, cooold, where I am, and I’m not in the coldest part of the country (-50 degrees elsewhere, what?!). Ignoring all that, today’s topic is about the “real world” as seen through books, and the messages authors can send. Is this a good or bad thing?

For me, I am definitely drawn to books that dive into serious or even less serious topics. At the same time, I also read books to escape from the real world almost every time, sticking to fiction over non-fiction. So how can these two be reconciled?

I think the easiest way to explain would probably be to say what I tend to avoid. First, non-fiction, and the true stories that are often just more tragic than tragic, and have the even more devastating blow of being actually real. Particularly with the hard topics, I find these super hard to digest, and even when I do, it feels just particularly heavy. In that sense, I think I’d rather just watch the news or listen to a lecture, rather than be pulled so deeply into a book. I personally find it rather troubling and not too productive.

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2.5 star

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend’s sudden, mysterious death, and has since spent her life trying to forget, sets out to track down answers. What she uncovers, deep in the woods, is hardly to be believed….

Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer.

Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer–the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.

At her mother’s house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father’s book that didn’t stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank’s cabin….

Utterly unique and captivating, The House in the Pines keeps you guessing about whether we can ever fully confront the past and return home.

This was one of the ones I picked out of a list of thrillers just to get started on for the season, and unfortunately it wasn’t a great hit for me. Maybe it was just the themes, but I didn’t find it particularly enthralling on any level. Just when it was going to redeem itself, it didn’t, so all in all it was pretty disappointing.

The House in the Pines follows our unreliable, memory-suppressed protagonist, Maya, who is brought back to a past she had run away from when a video pops up with of her ex-boyfriend. Two girls having dropped dead in front of the same man, with no explanation, and Maya has no recollection of how it went down the first time around. Seeking a resolution for her missing memories, Maya heads back to her home town to hunt down the truth.

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