2024 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2024 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

Murder Road by Simone St. James

July 1995, April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

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2023 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2023 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

She Started It by Sian Gilbert

Annabel, Esther, Tanya, and Chloe are best friends - or were, as children. They drifted apart in adulthood, but shared secrets have kept them bonded for better or worse, even as their childhood dreams haven’t quite turned out as they’d hoped. Then one day they receive a wholly unexpected invitation from another old friend. Poppy Greer has invited them all to her extravagant bachelorette party: three days of white sand, cocktails, and relaxation on a luxe private island in the Bahamas.

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2023 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2023 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

The Only One Left by Riley Sager

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

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2023 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2023 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Ten years ago, college student Quincy Carpenter went on vacation with fie friends and came back alone, the only survivor of a horror movie-scale massacre. In an instant, she became a member of a club no one wants to belong to - a group of similar survivors known in the press as the Final Girls.

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2022 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2022 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager

This book was a wild ride from start to finish. I’ve only read one Riley Sager book in the past so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Apparently supernatural elements are somewhat common for this author which I didn’t know so I was very unsure what to expect with this book. The beginning did grind my gears a bit. The traumatized single woman with a drinking problem who doubts what they see and spies on their neighbours is a little bit OVERDONE at this point in time. Having that trope shoved in my face right off the bat made me feel like this book would be too similar to others with the same trope and that I wouldn’t enjoy it. But I stuck with it and I’m glad I did because, even though the main character was generic, the plot was different enough from anything I’d read that it kept me hooked.

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2022 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2022 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

The Book of Cold Cases by Simone St. James

In 1977, Claire Lake, Oregon, was shaken by the Lady Killer Murders: Two men, seemingly randomly, were murdered with the same gun, with strange notes left behind. Beth Greer was the perfect suspect - a rich, eccentric twenty-three-year-old woman, seen fleeing one of the crime scenes. But she was acquitted, and she retreated to the isolation of her mansion.

Oregon, 2017. Shea Collins is a receptionist, but by night, she runs a true-crime website, the Book of Cold Cases - a passion fueled by the attempted abduction she escaped as a child. When she meets Beth by chance, Shea asks her for an interview. To Shea’s surprise, Beth says yes.

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2022 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2022 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up - to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? - he’s not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbours are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question. The socialite - The nice guy - The alcoholic - The girl on the verge - The concierge. Everyone’s a neighbour. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.

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2022 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2022 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, her own father had confessed to the crimes and was put away for life, leaving Chloe and the rest of her family to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

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2021 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2021 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike - particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as the Maidens.

Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on the Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? and why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Marian’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything - including her own life.

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2021 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2021 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

Verity by Colleen Hoover

Lowen Ashleigh is a struggling writer on the brink of financial ruin when she accepts the job offer of a lifetime. Jeremy Crawford, husband of bestselling author Verity Crawford, has hired Lowen to complete the remaining books in a successful series his injured wife is unable to finish.

Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, ready to sort through years of Verity’s notes and outlines, hoping to find enough material to get her started. What Lowen doesn’t expect to uncover in the chaotic office is an unfinished autobiography Verity never intended for anyone to read. Page after page of bone-chilling admissions, including Verity’s recollection of the night their family was forever altered.

Lowen decides to keep the manuscript hidden from Jeremy, knowing its contents would devastate the already grieving father. But as Lowen’s feelings for Jeremy begin to intensify, she recognized all the ways she could benefit if he were to read his wife’s words. After all, no matter how devoted Jeremy is to his injured wife, a truth this horrifying would make it impossible for him to continue to love her.

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2021 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski 2021 Bookshelf Taylor Jakubowski

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at a campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, its guilt and grief over the shocking murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it’s to help care for his sick father - or so he says.

The longer she sits in the passenger seat, the more Charlie notices there’s something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn’t want her to see inside the trunk. as they travel an empty, twisty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly anxious Charlie begins to think she’s sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie’s jittery mistrust merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?

One thing is certain - Charlie has nowhere to run and no way to call for help. Trapped in a terrifying game of cat and mouse played out on pitch-black roads and in neon-lit parking lots, Charlie knows the only way to win is to survive the night.

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