My choice of audiobooks to review from Netgalley in January was quite an interesting and slightly diverse group. Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought of them.

The Dark Below by Sherry Rankin

The Dark Below is a tense, emotionally layered crime thriller that digs far deeper than its central mystery. When troubled veteran Chase Loudermilk is found dead and the town quickly labels it suicide, criminology professor Teddy Drummond refuses to accept the easy answer. What follows is a gripping investigation that peels back secrets buried beneath a seemingly ordinary community.

Rankin does an excellent job of building atmosphere. There’s a constant sense of unease, not just about who committed the crime, but about what the town itself might be hiding. The partnership between Teddy, a former cop still carrying heavy emotional scars, and Detective Raina Bragg adds compelling tension. Their fraught dynamic gives the story an extra edge, especially as they’re forced to work together despite personal history and mistrust.

The pacing is steady and deliberate, with each revelation leading to something darker. The idea that consequences can surface years later is woven effectively through the plot, and the twists feel earned rather than sensational. When another body turns up, the stakes rise sharply, and the race to uncover the truth becomes genuinely gripping.
That said, there were a few threads that felt frustratingly unresolved. Certain past events are only vaguely alluded to, particularly regarding Teddy’s son and his facial injuries and surgeries. The lack of closure around that storyline left a noticeable gap and felt like an opportunity for deeper emotional resolution.

Overall, The Dark Below is a thoughtful, character-driven thriller that blends mystery with psychological depth. Despite a few lingering unanswered questions, it’s an engaging read that lingers long after the final page.

The Vermilion Sea by Megan Chance

The Vermilion Sea is a richly atmospheric and hauntingly beautiful novel that blends historical fiction, science, and creeping psychological suspense with remarkable skill. Set just after the Great War, the story follows Billie McKennan, a brilliant scientist determined to carve out her place in a male-dominated world. From the very first pages, Billie’s ambition and vulnerability make her a compelling and deeply human protagonist.

The voyage aboard the lavish Eurybia is rendered with lush detail, and Megan Chance masterfully builds tension as the expedition drifts further from reason and into something far more unsettling. The mix of scientific discovery, buried secrets, social tensions, and rising superstition creates an intoxicating sense of claustrophobic unease. When a mysterious specimen is captured, the tone shifts in subtle but powerful ways, and the psychological unraveling that follows is gripping.

Chance excels at exploring themes of belief, power, and sacrifice. Billie’s internal conflict between logic and the inexplicable, adds emotional weight to the unfolding mystery. The presence of her ex-husband aboard the ship adds further layers of tension and unfinished history.

Elegant, eerie, and thought-provoking, The Vermilion Sea is a beautifully written tale that lingers long after the final page. It’s a compelling journey into the unknown — both beneath the ocean’s surface and within the human psyche.

Superhero by Tim Blake Nelson

Superhero is a sharp, witty, and surprisingly intimate look at the machinery of modern blockbuster filmmaking, and the fragile egos that power it. Tim Blake Nelson pulls back the curtain on Hollywood with biting humour and razor-sharp dialogue, creating a story that feels both insider-authentic and deeply human.

Peter Compton is a fascinating protagonist: an A-list actor with everything to lose and something to prove. His ambition to elevate the role of comic-book hero Major Machina into something transcendent is both admirable and self-destructive. As the pressures of production mount and tensions flare among cast and crew, Nelson expertly captures the high-stakes chaos of big-budget cinema.

The dynamic between Peter and his producing partner and wife, Marci Levy, gives the novel emotional depth. Their relationship, tested by viral scandal and professional strain, anchors the spectacle in something real and relatable. The exploration of fame, identity, addiction, and reinvention adds layers beneath the glossy Hollywood surface.
Smart, funny, and incisive, Superhero is as much about vulnerability as it is about power. It’s a compelling behind-the-scenes drama that reminds us even the most “god-like” figures are human, and sometimes the greatest heroics happen off-screen.

A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow by Matthew F. Jones

A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is a dark, gripping thriller that wastes no time pulling the reader into its relentless spiral of tension. What begins as a simple act of roadside kindness quickly detonates into something far more sinister, and Matthew F. Jones masterfully keeps the momentum building from that first shocking turn.

Jack Spinks is an everyman protagonist thrown into extraordinary danger, and his growing desperation feels visceral and real. As he’s hunted through an increasingly claustrophobic landscape, the novel blends psychological suspense with raw survival tension. Jones excels at creating atmosphere: the back roads, the woods, the sense of being cut off and watched, all feel ominously alive.

What elevates the story beyond a straightforward chase thriller is the haunting thread tied to Jack’s own past. The mystery unfolds in layers, drawing him closer to truths he has long avoided. The emotional undercurrent gives the narrative depth, making it as much about reckoning and identity as it is about escape.

Taut, unsettling, and expertly paced, A Reckoning Up Black Cat Hollow is a compelling crime thriller that lingers after the final page; a powerful reminder that sometimes the greatest danger lies not just ahead, but behind us.

The Impossible Detective by Bob Reiss

The Impossible Detective is a smart, fast-paced thriller that blends classic detective storytelling with chillingly modern technology. Bob Reiss delivers a gripping mystery that feels both contemporary and unsettlingly plausible.
When twelve-year-old Abani Singh insists she witnessed a self-driving car commit murder, the premise immediately hooks you. The idea sounds impossible — and that’s exactly what makes the story so compelling. Private detective Mark St. Johns, heir to the legacy of “The Falcon,” steps into the case with scepticism, but what unfolds quickly turns into something far more dangerous than anyone anticipated.

Reiss builds tension expertly as the mystery shifts from a curious claim to a high-stakes battle against an invisible and formidable threat. The blend of technology, crime, and suspense feels timely, raising fascinating questions about automation, control, and trust. The targeting of Abani adds emotional urgency, making the story not just clever but deeply human.
With crisp pacing and a fresh twist on the detective genre, The Impossible Detective is an entertaining and thought-provoking read that proves sometimes the most impossible things are the most terrifyingly real.

The Quiet Neighbor by J.D. Barker and Adam Roach

The Quiet Neighbor is a tense, twist-filled thriller that grabs you from the first page and refuses to let go. J.D. Barker and Adam Roach masterfully blend psychological suspense with emotional stakes, creating a story that feels both deeply personal and relentlessly suspenseful.

Cynthia Burrows is a compelling protagonist: a successful attorney whose carefully rebuilt life begins to unravel when her daughter vanishes. The chilling reappearance of the name Alexander Beaufort, a serial killer from her past who should be locked away forever, instantly raises the stakes. The authors expertly tap into Cynthia’s trauma, forcing her to confront old wounds while racing against time to save her daughter.

The pacing is sharp, the tension constant, and the suburban setting feels deceptively calm; the perfect backdrop for secrets waiting to explode. As clues surface and loyalties are questioned, the story keeps you guessing right up to the end.
Dark, gripping, and emotionally charged, The Quiet Neighbor is a compelling reminder that the past never stays buried — and that sometimes the most dangerous threats live just next door.

Hemlock by Melissa Faliveno

Hemlock is a haunting, hypnotic novel that blurs the line between psychological unraveling and something far more elemental. Melissa Faliveno crafts a story that feels intimate and feral all at once; a slow-burning descent into memory, addiction, and the uncanny.

Sam’s return to her family’s crumbling cabin in the Wisconsin Northwoods is steeped in atmosphere from the outset. The forest feels alive: creaking, watching, waiting. As her sobriety falters and strange occurrences begin to seep into her reality, the novel moves with a dreamlike menace. A neighbour who leaves no trace, a talking doe echoing her mother’s voice, and the eerie gifts that appear without explanation all deepen the sense that something is closing in, whether from the woods or from within Sam herself.

Faliveno’s prose is lush and visceral, capturing both the pull of addiction and the wildness of the landscape with striking intensity. The novel’s exploration of inheritance, of trauma, desire, and self-destruction, gives it emotional weight beneath its eerie surface.

Dark, sensual, and unsettling, Hemlock is a beautifully written meditation on transformation and survival. It lingers like the scent of pine and smoke: mysterious, intoxicating, and impossible to shake.

The Better Mother by Jennifer van der Kleut

The Better Mother is a gripping, fast-paced psychological thriller that delivers exactly the kind of deliciously tense drama it promises. From the moment Savannah Mitchell discovers she’s pregnant after a brief fling, the story wastes no time escalating into something far more sinister.

Jennifer van der Kleut masterfully builds suspense as Madison, the ex-girlfriend-turned-helper, inserts herself into Savannah’s life with unsettling enthusiasm. What begins as oddly over-involved support quickly morphs into something far darker, and the tension steadily tightens with each encounter. Savannah’s growing unease feels authentic and relatable, making the emotional stakes even higher.

The comparisons to Fatal Attraction, Single White Female, and The Hand That Rocks the Cradle are spot on: this novel fully embraces that edge-of-your-seat psychological intensity. Madison is a chilling presence, and watching the dynamic spiral from awkward to alarming is utterly compelling.

Twisty, dramatic, and impossible to put down, The Better Mother is a thoroughly entertaining thriller that keeps you guessing until the very end.

The Trial of Leopold and Loeb: Dickie & Babe by Ben Devlin

The Trial of Leopold and Loeb: Dickie & Babe is a riveting and brilliantly executed retelling of one of the most infamous courtroom dramas in American history. Ben Devlin transforms the 1924 trial into a gripping dramatic experience, allowing the case to unfold through authentic dialogue drawn from transcripts, testimony, and contemporary reporting.

Structured as a courtroom drama, the book feels immediate and alive. The voices of lawyers, witnesses, experts, and the defendants themselves carry the narrative with striking clarity, preserving the moral tension and psychological complexity that made the original proceedings so compelling. Rather than simply recounting events, Devlin places the reader inside the courtroom, where ambition, privilege, intellect, and persuasion collide under intense public scrutiny.

Thoughtful, gripping, and meticulously constructed, The Trial of Leopold and Loeb is more than true crime; it’s a powerful exploration of law, psychology, and the performance of justice itself.