Tears of joy might stain my face: EXIT

Exit by Belinda Bauer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic, twisty thriller with a heart

Felix Pink enters a home with one goal: to kindly keep a dying man company. But when he flees fifteen minutes later--more quickly than his seventy-five years usually allow--he's on the run from the police. Because Felix has made a mistake, and now his quiet life will never be the same.

"The [words] he needed finally dropped slowly from his numb lips. 'We killed the wrong man.'"

Oh my gosh, this book was amazing. Absolutely excellent. It has a different premise, keeps you guessing, and the characters are beyond superb. Bauer utterly captures Felix, with whom I fell completely in love. Yes, seventy-five-year-old widowed Felix is my new literary love. She also does an excellent job with Calvin, the young policeman who must investigate Felix Pink. These two men--along with the supporting cast--jump off the pages of this thriller. I was completely enthralled.

Even better, somehow this tale is witty despite it revolving around death. Felix has a superb sense of humor and the entire book is just infused with wit and a feeling of tenderness. It's also incredibly shocking, with a couple of plot twists that made me gasp. It's twisty and a total page turner. Rare do you get a mystery that is sweet yet exciting. But EXIT is just that.

Overall, this book is a total winner. Funny and heartwarming coupled with an excellent, intricate mystery plot that keeps you surprised at each turn. Highly recommend this one! 4.5 stars.

I received a copy of this book from Grove Atlantic and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review. It is available in the U.S. on 2/2/2021.

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The jagged bits and pieces of who you used to be: SNAP.

Snap by Belinda Bauer

My rating: 4+ of 5 stars


Jack is eleven when his pregnant mother goes for help after their car breaks down by the side of the road. She leaves him in charge of his two younger sisters. But she's gone too long and Jack and his siblings eventually go in search of her. But they do not find her: just a broken pay phone. Jack never sees his mother again, and it's eventually revealed she's been murdered. Three years later, Jack is doing the best to support his sisters, especially since his dad went out for milk and never came back. Meanwhile, another pregnant woman named Catherine While is startled when her house is broken into--while she's home--and the intruder leaves her a disturbing note. A strange set of occurrences leaves Catherine feeling unsettled and watched. And Jack is starting to wonder if he's getting closer to finding out who killed his mother.

This was a really bizarre book in many ways, but I totally enjoyed it. It's mainly told from the point of view of Jack, Catherine, and two policemen: Reynolds, a fastidious Detective Sergeant and Marvel, a disgruntled DCI. It often quickly changes viewpoints between these characters, but somehow, it all works. In fact, while the novel is compulsively readable in terms of finding out what happened to Jack's mother, it's also oddly funny at times: there's a dry wit running underneath the story.

Even more, the characters are really enjoyable. Catherine, eh, she wasn't my favorite (her decision-making leaves a lot to be desired), but Jack was great: I was rooting for him the entire time, even in cases where I probably shouldn't have been, based on some of his behavior. The poor kid has a lot to deal with, trying to care for his kid sisters. And Marvel and Reynolds: they can be annoying and even spiteful in their actions at times, but they are really fun to read about. The whole combination of this group somehow works, and it kept me flipping the pages, wondering what on earth had transpired and how, when, and why. The novel is creepy at times, funny at times, and sad and heartbreaking at times: impressive.

There are definitely a lot of characters in this book, and sometimes keeping track of them all was a bit of a challenge, but I was impressed at how Bauer connected them all eventually. And, seriously, you get attached to them, or annoyed with them as if they are real people--which I find doesn't always happen to me with a thriller. Some of what the police do seems a little much--part of why I say the book seems a little bizarre, as does some of the plot, but I found myself enjoying the book so much that none of it mattered. Bauer lets us put the pieces together simultaneously as her characters do, and the story in this one was just compelling, fun, and different.

Overall, this was a fun, intriguing novel that keeps you guessing until the end. The characters are interesting and draw you in immediately. There's humor and heartbreak, but also a great puzzle to solve as well. 4 stars.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher and Netgalley in return for an unbiased review (thank you!).

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I shall love you until I die: THE BEAUTIFUL DEAD.

The Beautiful Dead by Belinda Bauer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Eve Singer is a beleaguered TV crime reporter dealing with a pushy boss who wants Eve to be everything: younger, covering every story, and on top of every lead. In her personal life, Eve goes home to her childhood home and her father, Duncan, who is suffering from dementia. When Eve winds up covering the murder of a young woman, she doesn't realize she will soon be entwined with the girl's killer, someone who is obsessed with death, and the desire to be recognized for his "killing performances." As the killer pulls Eve deeper into his twisted web, she has some startling choices to make.

I have to say, my last book of 2016 surprised me. This novel was certainly creepy, but also had a certain nuance and depth to it that I wasn't expecting. Eve is a complicated and likeable character, and the book doesn't just cover murder and gore, it goes into her personal life, and the struggles she has caring for her father and his failing memory. The bits with her father are often both sad and humorous; they are very real and give the book a true humanity. Indeed, there's a real depth to Eve, who is stuck in a man's world and the pressures and unfairness that brings to to her career-wise (there's always a younger, prettier reporter waiting in the wings, as her boss never hesitates to remind her), as well as the burdens a woman feels as a caretaker. After all, it's not her brother taking care of her dad. Further, the book looks at an interesting psychological conundrum: how our society seems to need murder and the way it feeds on the social media aspect of it, as of late. Without society's interest in murder and death, Eve has no job.

Overall, I really enjoyed this one. It lost me slightly for a bit near the end, but managed to get back on track, and even threw in a very interesting twist I didn't see coming. Although I admit, I kept wondering where the police's behavioral scientist was. Why was the poor Lead Detective reading and deciphering everything from a serial killer alone? However, I digress. This was a well-done thriller with a different and engaging plot. I really found myself drawn to Eve, and her father, Duncan. It was an enjoyable novel with which to end the year.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher and Netgalley (thank you!); it's available in the U.S. as of 01/03/2017.



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