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.
4.5 star

Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story—until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew’s dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

Another one that I just picked off the Libby shelf. I have been lucky once again though, because this one was truly a riveting ride. So sinister, I was honestly a little bit scared reading it but just good enough to enjoy it without actually being too scared to read. Overall, a great thriller! I wasn’t surprised to see that many people put a hold on this one. I’d recommend the same.

Lock Every Door has an interesting premise. Our main character, Jules, is invited to be paid to live at a luxury apartment in Manhattan, just to “apartment sit.” Sounds too good to be true. And of course it is. Slowly she realizes something is amiss, when more and more suspicious things begin to build up, until they are too many to be ignored. However, leaving is not so easy, when you have no family to turn to and no money to speak of. Just what is going on at Bartholomew?

Continue reading “Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager” →
discussion

Let’s Talk Bookish – To Borrow or To Buy?

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Aria @ Book Nook Bits will be 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!

May 6: How do you decide what books to borrow or buy? (Jillian @ Jillian the Bookish Butterfly)

Prompts: Do you buy a lot of books? Do you borrow books from a library, or from friends? What do you look out for in books you buy? Are there any book genres you typically buy more of? Do the types of books that you buy differ from the types of books you typically borrow? Do you prefer to borrow or to buy books?

Welcome to another week here of LTB on DTRH! Today’s topic is certainly a good one, and I can’t wait to hear what all of you do. I figure money (and bookshelf space) are the main deterrents but how does one make the choice?

I buy a medium number of books. I think I used to buy more but recently I’d say I’ve been buying a lot less (since I got more acquainted with Libby). I still do try and buy books that look nice and that I know I like, but sometimes I also buy books that are on sale. Bookshelf space in mind, I definitely don’t mind purchasing a book while at a bookstore!

Nowadays I usually borrow off of Libby, or go to a library proper and borrow books off a shelf. The books I read I don’t often re-read, so I would quickly run out of space. However, library and borrowing is less commitment, if the book is that good, I can buy it! I have recently tried to do some book exchanges with friends, which has also been a nice way to introduce each other to good books.

Books I buy are usually something that I imagine would look good on my shelf, and that more importantly I would actually read and enjoy. Although I also think there’s something to be said about buying books for what looks good because that is where it would spend most of its time anyway. Agree or disagree?

I typically buy the most books of authors I want to support, or books I want to read right away without waiting in a long queue of holds in the library. Usually I just wait in the library for something I anticipate just in case it isn’t good, but for authors I support, I will usually go ahead and just buy the book if I happen to see it at the store.

I tend to buy and borrow the same kinds of books: mysteries and thrillers! Although those are definitely prone to being read only once. Still, I like to have a collection if possible. I will tend to judge books more by their cover if I do end up buying it and leaving it on my shelf though. Because I tend to read these kinds of books only once, I generally want to just borrow them (and buy it if it’s really good), rather than just buy it. Thrillers tend to be shorter too, so I can go through them fairly quickly. I think I’d run out of space way too quickly if I just bought every thriller I could get my hands on!

What do you all buy? Or is buying just out of fashion now? There’s something to be said about saving the environment and printing in general, but who can resist the lure of new books?! I know I can’t.

4 star

Review: Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

The author of the “rich, dark, and intricately twisted” (Ruth Ware, New York Times bestselling author) The Family Upstairs returns with another taut and white-knuckled thriller following a group of people whose lives shockingly intersect when a young woman disappears.

Owen Pick’s life is falling apart.

In his thirties, a virgin, and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a geography teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, which he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel—involuntary celibate—forums, where he meets the charismatic, mysterious, and sinister Bryn.

Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. But the Fours family have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He’s a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night.

Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre Maddox disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.

With evocative, vivid, and unputdownable prose and plenty of disturbing twists and turns, Jewell’s latest thriller is another “haunting, atmospheric, stay-up-way-too-late read” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author). 

This is a book I randomly picked out at the library the other day when I was picking out other books. I say random but I suppose I was familiar with the author at least. I did not enjoy the last book I read, but I have to say this one was a big improvement! It wasn’t the most in the suspense department but the intrigue was enjoyable.

Invisible Girl really takes place over a couple of POVs. One is Owen, a bitter teacher who gets accused of sexual misconduct is the main point of intrigue. A less than ideal family lives across the way, and the girl at the centre of it all, Saffyre Maddox, who is somehow tied to that family. What exactly transpired between all these characters that led up to this moment, where Owen is the last one to see Saffyre?

Continue reading “Review: Invisible Girl by Lisa Jewell” →