Nina LaurinCritiques

Mystery

A great debut thriller from Nina Laurin! Don't miss it!! Nina has a way with words that makes this book impossible to put down. I love a good thriller so this was amazing. Laurin has a way of making this a fast paced read while still giving the reader a chance to indulge and digest the information that is beautifully presented. Ella/Laine is not really a character that you can have sympathy for. Yet there are bits and pieces of a broken girl that you will find yourself dying to understand. The story is dark and twisty and you can’t help but continue to turn pages to see how it all plays out. 13 years ago, Ella disappeared without a word, daughter to a junkie no one even looked for her. Laine goes on a roller coaster ride trying to piece her past together to try and give a little girl a future. I cannot go into many details on plot without giving it away but if you are looking for a book to get lost in this is your book. Thank you to Netgalley the author and the publisher this was awesome.

Did the Audible version of this one. Pretty good story with a few minor twists. Kind of had the bad guy pegged from the beginning but wasn't quite sure how he did it.

What the fuck was this book. So bad. What the even fuck.

Out of all the books I've read by Nina Laurin is this the one I had the hardest time reading. Both What My Sister Knew and Girl Last Seen are great thrillers, while this took forever for me to get into. Now, I think it's because I right from the start felt very, very annoyed with Claire, the main character. And, the more I read the less I liked her. What kept me going was the fact that I wanted to know what the heck is going one and if Colleen really committed suicide. The best part was the last 1/3 of the book when you got Claire's husband Byron's POV as well. Now the story starts to make more sense, and I started to understand more about those weird chapters when someone is stalking Byron's wife that were interwoven with Claire's chapters.

The Starter Wife is not my favorite Nina Laurin book, the last part of the book did make the reading worthwhile, although I found the ending very abrupt. I found it particularly hard to read the book because of my dislike for Claire (for God's sake she doesn't even like cats), but if the Laurin had that in mind when she created the character. To make her as unlikable as possible, well then she succeeded. I would, however, recommend starting with the author's first two books before going for this one. They are way better!

I want to thank the publisher for providing a free copy for an honest review!

After reading the excellent Girl Last Seen last year was I curious to see if Nina Laurin next book What My Sister Knew would be just as good. I'm glad to say that it worked very well for me.

One thing I want to say about this book and that I didn't find the story that surprising, actually I had a pretty good idea about what would happen, and what secrets Andrea had. Not that the whole story was predictable, some nice surprises occurred. However, despite the fact that I suspected the truth is the writing so compelling. And the characters, especially Andrea and her brother Eli, are so interesting that the book hooked me and wouldn't let me go. The flashbacks to their childhood and to the fire that killed their mother and stepfather made the book extra interesting. And, since the present story was interwoven with the flashbacks do we get a little bit of the past at the time which makes the story even more compelling.

I will end this review by stating that Nina Laurin has once again made it. What My Sister Knew is great thanks to excellent writing and character that got under your skin. Now I can't wait to read Laurin's next book!

I want to thank Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

Girl Last Seen is the debut book by Nina Laurin and it's an exciting thriller that engrossed me from the moment I started to read the book. One of the reasons for the book to be so darn good is that Laine, the first girl that was taken was so well written that one could really feel her torment through the pages. She may have escaped her tormentor, but she is still not free. And, now another girl, Olivia has gone missing and the girl looks just like her. Is it a coincidence or has the man that took taken Olivia as well?

Now, there were things I saw coming that didn't surprise me, as things happen that made me perceive how it probably would go. Not that the book was without surprises. The last part of the book was definitely not lacking surprises. It's a book that pulls you in as you follow Laine being pulled into the investigation and even being suspected of being involved in Olivia's disappearance.

There was just one thing that bothered me in the book, but it's a spoiler thing so I can't really discuss it so much, but it's something that happens when the police officer in charge is at Olivia's school with Laine. They learn something there about Olivia that the school shouldn't know as far as I know when it comes to the law and I found that really puzzling. And, that's all I'm going to say about that! Other than that was the book really good!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Netgalley for an honest review!

I don't quiet know what to say about this book. I liked parts of it well enough but others left me feeling that I had missed something rather important but I couldn't figure out what it was. It's a story about twin a twin brother and sister, a sad childhood, and an escape from a house fire that affects their lives in later years. It covers all of the fallacies and mistakes of life. It had a good enough climax but a really sudden ending. It left me wondering about the outcome of the other characters and just wanting more.½

The new thriller by Nina Lauren will keep you on the edge of your seats and guessing till the very end.



From the book: "Well I'm happy to say you're exactly what we're looking for. A young, modern family. Modern values. Focused above all on self-fulfillment and deriving satisfaction from your life, experiences over possessions. This is exactly what SmartHomes are about. Experiences."



After being the victim of a home invasion where she killed the attacker, Cecilia and her husband Scott accept an offer to become test participants in a new home where the security is more than they could ask for. But this is no ordinary neighborhood. IntelTech has carefully vetted and preselected every person that inhabit the SmartHomes on their block. Each person has an identity chip that allows them to enter. Who wouldn't love living in a home that learned what kind of coffee you drink and prepared it at the exact time each day. Or how you like your toast. Where detecting your signature with a sensor laden handle, your shower knows what temperature and water pressure you prefer and adjusts for you.



But when the house begins to malfunction several months later Cecilia is annoyed and submits trouble reports. The coffee is wrong, the temperature of her bath burns her. Her daughters oatmeal burns her mouth. The music that is playing is not on her playlist. But when her AI calls her the wrong name, she begins to wonder who might have lived in the home before them and why would they leave?



This is a book with a very satisfying ending and while reading this I couldn't help but think what a great movie this would make. If you liked Passengers by John Marrs you will love A Woman Alone.



Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for this advanced ebook. I will definitely be recommending this book for readers at my library.

This book was lllooooonnnggggggg and over the top. The main character, Claire, is supposed to be an aspiring writer. In fact, in the book, she gets a rejection notice. Someone should have helped this author. No one has ever heard of Google? If you wonder about the death of a person in your town, Google. Was your husband a suspect? Google. Is your wife an alcoholic? Google.

Really interesting style and the first read by this author. it took a while to understand the tone but I think the story more than made up for that slow start to relate. It was a good cast of characters and enough confusion to mot make it obivous what was going on but not so confusing as to lose your interest.

I found the story short and succint and a good range of emotions on display. If anything I could criticise it would be that the husband did not come off as a very multidimensional character which was a shame as it made him a bit harder to relate to.

I have not read anything from this author before and I will try others now.

3.5 stars, an extra 0.5 since it's Laurin's debut thriller. I blew through this one in two days -- though that's likely the product of having a lot of pre-holiday time on my hands.

Lainey Moreno, as she's now known, was kidnapped at age 10 and held hostage for three brutal years. Now 23 and grasping on to any semblance of a life she can manage, she's working her grocery store job when she hangs up a missing girl poster. Olivia Shaw, age 10, is missing. Lainey has spent every year since her release waiting for the next girl, the one who would replace her in the basement where she was held captive. None were ever right -- not the right age, the right look, the right circumstances. Until Olivia. Which means, whether she likes it or not -- and make no mistake, she doesn't -- Lainey is involved ... in a much deeper way than we initially assume.

It's fast-paced, decently written and stirred an uncomfortable feeling in me throughout. Everything feels very real -- even if the setting and circumstances are foreign to the reader, Laurin does a good job bringing them home and making them realistic and believable. That said, the plot is not without its problems, and I got confused a few times -- with that "ready to be done" feeling. Still, this is a solid offering, and if you like thrillers, check it out. It won't blow you away or become your next favorite book, but you'll still probably want to find out what happens.

Oh, I must admit, I love psychological suspense fiction. Nina Laurin has just released A Woman Alone - and it's a twisty turny tale that you won't be able to put down!

Maybe you own one of those devices or use an app that allows you to simply speak and have something turned on (even remotely), programmed the way you like it or contacting someone. Chances are you do. What about living in a house completely controlled by an AI? (Artificial Intelligence) Venture, Illinois is a community of such houses. A place to feel safe and pampered. More time to do what you want. Your likes and dislikes programmed...and more. Cecilia, her husband and young daughter move into Venture. But, Cecilia feels like things just aren't right - and no one believes her...

This isn't a far fetched scenario at all. But the possibilities of how things might go wrong make for a delicious premise for a book.

Laurin dials the tension up by adding in secrets, twists and turns that you won't even see coming. Lots of chapter ending foreshadowing had me staying up quite late to finish the book. Honestly, I couldn't put it down - I wanted to know those secrets. Because everyone in the book is hiding something. And just as I got to the last chapter - Laurin got me again. No way did I see the last twist at the end coming! I really appreciate being surprised with a plot. And Laurin absolutely caught me off guard. Bravo!

Artificial Intelligence is at the heart of this novel. Cecelia, husband, and three-year old daughter have moved to a gated community which is controlled by IA. Supposedly, everything will be done for you and you can enjoy life. Of course, since this is a mystery you know that’s not how it goes. The IA starts calling her by another woman’s name, and the twists and turns in this novel will lead you to the end quickly. It’s a page-turner.

Maybe I’m becoming cynical in my old age…but this book didn’t live up to what the description promised. I was slightly disappointed to find that it was it was so predictable as well as disjointed. The main character was constantly idiotic…actually she was her own worst enemy. Her life consisted of drugs and self pity that left no room for the reader to feel any compassion for her at all. The author put the clues together well enough without being completely obvious about them…but the clues didn’t follow much of a pattern and some kept being repeated over and over as if this is what the author wanted the reader to focus on. It was an interesting topic…just too bad that it didn’t come together a bit better. I liked the story behind the novel so it’s worthy of 3 stars.

Cuckoo! Cuckoo! :)

This is definitely for all you mystery/thriller fans out there who can't get enough of your CRAZY WOMEN. You know, the Single White Female types, the Fatal Attraction types... or even Gone Girl. :)

All the nastiest tropes of our favorite crazy girls are upped here for our reading pleasure, evoking gales of disturbed laughter from tortured chests. :)

Fun. Good, evil fun. :)

Remember those good old days when twins always knew each other's minds and they didn't go all psycho on you?

Yeah, me either. That's why I really liked this particular mystery. It reminds me that siblings are never (or are always) exactly what they seem. :)

Confusing? Nah. This thriller will keep you turning those pages from the first car crash all the way to the last lit match. :) You know, to shine a little light on the problem.

I admit I figured out the big twist pretty early on, but it's not always about the end of the journey. The destination is usually not the biggest thrill in most mysteries. :)

Definitely worth the read if you like well-crafted characters and the slow descent into the secret past.

Thrillers are an addiction. Ask anyone. Sometimes they just thrill and sometimes they get under your skin and tie you up for years at a stretch, doing unspeakable things to you... and then they let you loose, making you feel like a monster for years and years.

Well, it hasn't been years, rather... minutes since I finished this book, and I can tell right away that I'm going to stay in a bit of shock.

This is a dark one.

I love the premise, the connection over many years, but I probably love other kinds of entanglements even more. I'm talking about you, Ella and Shaw. :)

There's a good deal of perfect twists and turns in the plot, but it's the downward spiral of poor Ella that takes center stage, the victim blaming the victim all the way, and yet, always holding onto tiny little sparks and obsessions to keep her going. I love it!

If this doesn't become the next big thing, I don't know what will! It goes down smooth. Real smooth. And scary.


(The fact that I know the author has nothing to do with my judgment of the book. I literally couldn't put it down from the time I picked it up.) :)

I was hooked from the first page of this book. Wife, Colleen, mysterious "disappears" and years later, the husband, Byron, is remarried, but clearly still loves the first wife. Did the husband kill Colleen May or did she really commit suicide? Claire, the new wife, does some strange things, like faking her identity at a fertility clinic so she can have a baby. She starts asking questions about the disappearance of the first wife. This story is told from Claire's perspective and a the perspective of the "stalker" who is obsessed with Byron.

This book was very confusing. It is told in 2 parts, the first being Claire, the second Tracy. Claire and Byron are married. She is much younger than Byron, and his second wife. His first wife, Colleen, died earlier - a suspected suicide, although her body was never found. Someone is obsessing about Byron, and you get the sense that something sinister is going to happen to Claire. But, you are being deceived!
I won't put spoilers here, but I wasn't entirely convinced about this storyline. While I understand that obsession is real, this novel set to confuse and to blur the voices.

#TheStarterWife #NinaLaurin

Girl Last Seen by Nina Laurin is a gritty, suspense-laden mystery.

In the ten years since her pedophile kidnapper inexplicably freed her, Laine Moreno has never fully recovered from her three year ordeal. Now twenty-three, she holds down two jobs to support herself and she relies on alcohol and drugs to keep her dark memories at bay. Laine comes face to face with her past when ten year old Olivia Shaw goes missing and Detective Sean Ortiz suspects there is a connection between Laine’s still unsolved case and Olivia’s kidnapping. Laine wants nothing more than to help find the young girl, but will she help or hinder the investigation?

Laine’s ordeal at the hands of abductor was horrendous but little was done to find her captor after her release. The daughter of a junkie, Laine was quickly forgotten as she became a ward of the state and soon turned to unhealthy methods of coping with what happened to her. Now on probation and still undergoing counseling, Laine is her own worst enemy as she numbs her pain with a plethora of prescription drug addictions and alcohol. She wants to help rescue Olivia, but Laine is impulsive and unable to cope with the traumatic memories from her time in captivity.

Since Olivia is from a wealthy family, her disappearance is a high profile case with intense media scrutiny. There is also a great deal of pressure on the police to locate the missing girl and Sean’s reason for reaching out to Laine is two-fold: rule her out as a suspect and check to see if she has recalled any new details about her own case. Laine implicitly trusts Sean due to their history but is her faith in him misplaced? Laine soon discovers she can rely on no one but herself as she continues trying to find Olivia on her own while she becomes progressively more paranoid as her downward spiral continues.

With plenty of unexpected twists and turns and an increasingly unreliable narrator, Girl Last Seen is a somewhat dark mystery that delves into some difficult subject matter. Although Laine is initially a sympathetic protagonist, it is easy to become frustrated with her erratic behavior and poor choices. Sean is not exactly impartial when it comes to Laine and he, too, makes some very ill-advised decisions. Nina Laurin brings the investigation to an adrenaline-fueled (but slightly improbably) conclusion and the novel ends on a surprisingly upbeat note.

4.5 stars.

The Starter Wife by Nina Laurin is a gripping domestic mystery.

Claire and Byron Westcott have been married for two years. She is an aspiring novelist and he is a college professor. Twenty years younger than Byron, Claire lives in the shadow of his first wife, Colleen, who committed suicide years earlier. At first blissfully happy, Claire is troubled by a recent distance between herself and Byron. But exactly how far is Claire willing to go to save her marriage?

Claire initially comes across as an even-keeled woman who is naturally upset by the changes in her husband's attention to her. But she figures she is partially to blame for the growing rift. The past few months have gone by in a bit of haze due to drinking and strange bouts of not feeling quite herself. Claire thinks she knows exactly what she needs to do to hang on to her man, but she has a few obstacles to overcome to achieve her goal. She also becomes obsessed with finding out more details about Colleen so she turns to an acquaintance who reveals some very enlightening information. As Claire begins snooping around in Byron's past, she begins to slowly unravel.

Byron is a bit of an enigmatic figure since he is spends most of his time away from home. He is quite solicitous of Claire, but she cannot help but wonder if he has an ulterior motive. Byron takes steps to rekindle their waning romance, but will Claire be receptive to his overtures?

Passages written from an unknown person's perspective add a high degree of suspense to the unfolding story. This person is clearly a bit unhinged and willing to do anything to get close to the object of their obsession. But is this person involved with some of the troubling events occurring in Claire's life?

The Starter Wife is a very entertaining and engrossing mystery. Claire is an intriguing character who slowly devolves over the course of the novel. The storyline is quite clever and fast-paced. With a few well placed red herrings and a series of misdirects, Nina Laurin brings this brilliant mystery to a twist-filled, jaw-dropping conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend this suspenseful mystery to readers of the genre.

Though I read the book, I plodded along and found that it lagged terribly in some chapters. A mother and father died in a tragic fire. Their daughter and son survived. The daughter was pulled from the fire by her brother. Her brother spent 12 years in jail for intentionally starting the fire.

The book begins with the daughter/sister Auddie, waking from a terrible car accident. When lucid, she believes she had the accident as a result of turning away from her brother who was in the middle of the road.

The book is a series of trying to escape her brother, while Addie lives with her adoptive mother and sister.

While the author tries to write so that the reader is not sure who set the original fire, this book falls flat in many ways.

Two Stars

I actually finished this in one sitting as it was a quick read. However; I did not love it and at times thought about DNFing. I kept pushing through waiting for something to happen.

The beginning was way too slow. There was nothing really happening. I knew things had to pick up, but it still took too long to get to the action. It just never had me sitting on the edge of seat. I wanted more.

I am glad I finished to see how everything unfolded, but this one is a pass from me.½

My Rating 3.5 Stars

For a moment, while reading The Starter Wife, I was reminded of Rebecca by Daphne DeMaurier. That feeling did not last too long in the book.

Was Claire Westcott, married two years to a man nearly twice her age, Byron, living in the shadow of his first wife, Colleen? Colleen, a successful painter, apparently committed suicide almost twenty years ago. Currently, the closing of the case of the suicide begins raising questions to Claire. While the police have finally vindicated Byron, rumors have not. Claire begins believing the rumors. Did Byron kill Colleen after all? Is Claire safe?

This entire story is relayed in two narrations, both in first-person. Quite naturally, we have Claire, with her everyday life and actions. Then we have someone unnamed, a person obsessed and who is stalking Byron. She is determined to save Byron. In dialog, she is quite clear that Byron's wife is not worthy of him. She will do anything she can to stop any harm from coming to Byron. Yes, she will go to any means necessary.

My connection to the classic that I alluded to at the beginning of this review? Claire is beset with jealousy and unease with any feelings Byron might have had towards Colleen, who was the starter wife. Claire is living in Colleen's house and enjoys the benefits from the the wealth that Colleen amassed due to her paintings, as well as her years as a college professor. Byron is also a professor, and seems oblivious to any feelings of uncertainty that Claire has.

With two unreliable narrators, and with a man like Byron, it was rather hard to feel drawn into the characters and their stories. However, I do think the story was done quite well, especially when a massive twist occurred in the story. I was absolutely riveted from that point on and my jaw simply dropped at the shocking conclusion.

I am glad to have read this book by Nina Laurin, even with the absolute crazy characters, and I definitely look forward to reading her books again in the future.

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing and to NetGalley for this ARC to review in exchange for my honest opinion.