Ghosts of Women Writers Mystery

The Butterfly Sister

by Amy Gail Hansen

I spotted this book at the airport. A great read for a plane trip!

Genre: Women's Fiction, Thriller

Review: This mystery is a fast-paced read. After receiving a lost suitcase, an English literature student returns to her alma mater in search of the truth about a missing friend. She must also face her troubled past, which involves the ghosts of her favorite women writers. Some of the plot twists toward the end were more contrived than surprising-- a late-introduced character plays a central role. Don't skip it though. 

I enjoyed reading the book in one day and enjoyed the plot thread about Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Plath, and Woolf, and both the New Orleans and women's college settings are evoked vividly.

Author website

Song to Read By: "Sylvia Plath" by Ryan Adams, live

For all of you literature lovers out there: Go back to the sources and read The Bell Jar, A Room of One's Own, and "The Yellow Wallpaper."

Night Film: The Best Thriller You'll Read this Year

Night Film

 by Marisha Pessl

Genre: Literary Thriller

Review: Reading this book was like diving down into deep, dark water. It takes a long time to swim back up. The surface seems far away, but eventually you reach the top.

Disgraced journalist Scott McGrath investigates enigmatic film director Stanislas Cordova, piecing together the last days of Ashley Cordova, along with sidekicks Hopper and Nora. The text is interspersed with articles, transcripts, screenshots, and other unconventional choices are made. As they search for the truth about Ashley, they encounter black magic, unreliable witnesses, and at last, The Peak. Night Film is an astonishing literary thriller.

MORE STUFF

Very cool author website

The book has an app and interactive content. NPR story about this.

Apparently there is going to be some content on her YouTube account as well.

Alafair Burke's Latest Novel...

If You Were Here

by Alafair Burke

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Review: In Burke's second stand-alone thriller book, readers follow former public prosecutor turned reporter McKenna Jordan. The opening scene occurs on the subway as a boy steals an iPod, and is chased by a woman who later lifts him off the subway tracks. McKenna is hot on the trail when this video footage goes missing; however, she tracks the video because the woman in the photo reminds her of long-lost best friend Susan. Is Susan really alive? Is it safer for McKenna not to find out the truth about Susan.

Sorry, but my short review doesn't do the book justice; let's just say that after reading I rushed to the library to check out two more of Burke's novels, Long Gone and an Ellie Hatcher series novel, Never Tell.

**Burke says this is her most autobiographical novel with a character like her husband, a graduate of West Point. The novel uses Susan's character to delve into elite military culture.

Author website: http://alafairburke.com/ Her website is pretty cool, with frequently updated blogs, tweets, and videos of her TV appearances. She also posts works in progress and asks fans for advice on scenes and character names, etc. which I think is cool.

Best. Thriller. Ever. Read

Before I Go to Sleep 

By S.J. Watson

Genre: Psychological Thriller/Mystery/Adult Fiction


Review: Thrilling. Absolutely Terrifying. Completely Chilling. 


I finished this book just past midnight, nerves jittery, adrenaline rushing through my veins. Absorbing. The pages flew by. I looked up, and 40 pages had gone by.


 The book follows Christine as she begins writing in a journal in an effort to improve her memory, which had been destroyed years earlier. She has a rare form of amnesia. This book had me reflecting deeply on memory and identity. Who are we without our memories? Of friends, family, faces, everything we've learned in school?


Author's debut novel. One of the best thrillers I've ever read. 


Song to Read By: You will be so immersed in the book you wouldn't hear or notice music if you wanted to.