Item: The Close
Rating: 4.5
Author: Charli

I received an advance copy of this book from HarperCollins to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This book may contain material that is disturbing to some readers. Please Google for a full list of trigger warnings. Thank you!

This post contains affiliate links you can use to purchase the book. If you buy the book using that link, I will receive a small commission from the sale.

The Close by Jane Casey
Series: Maeve Kerrigan #10
Published by HarperCollins on 03/02/2023
Genres: Fiction / General, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / General, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Police Procedural, Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths, Fiction / Thrillers / Crime, Fiction / Thrillers / Psychological, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense, Fiction / Women
Pages: 416
Format: Hardcover
Source: HarperCollins
Amazon // Barnes & Noble // IndieBound
Goodreads

‘If you haven’t read Jane Casey, start immediately’ Marian Keyes, the Sunday Times No.1 Bestseller Suburban bliss

The new neighbours seem just right for Jellicoe Close, a pretty street filled with perfect houses and happy families.

Sinister secrets

But one neat front door hides a ruthless criminal – and the new neighbours aren’t what they seem to be either. DS Maeve Kerrigan and DI Josh Derwent are undercover, posing as a couple to investigate a deadly conspiracy.

Murderous deception

As they try to gather the evidence they need, they have no idea of the true threat they face – because someone in Jellicoe Close has murder on their mind...

‘A full-blooded triple-decker mystery...The Close is Jane Casey at her very best’
The Times

‘A deliciously bingeable read’
Ruth Ware

‘Another cracker from Jane Casey’
Cara Hunter

‘Thrums with the tension of a classic crime thriller’
Sarah Hilary

‘The most dangerously addictive series in crime fiction’
Erin Kelly

‘The Close is Jane’s best Maeve Kerrigan novel yet. Absolutely brilliant!’
Liz Nugent

‘A brilliant example of nothing being as it seems’
Harriet Tyce

Content Warning: Domestic violence references, human trafficking, child sexual abuse/molestation

By now we should all know that if a book is a horror, thriller, or mystery, I’m probably going to want to read it. So when HarperCollins reached out and asked if I’d like to read The Close by Jane Casey, I said yes pretty quickly. Thank you to HarperCollins for sending me this book and facilitating my honest review.

Characters

The Close has an interesting cast of characters, beginning with Maeve Kerrigan. I admit, I do quite like our main character and I love the leading man, Josh Derwent as well. They’re well written and even though this was my first encounter with them, I found myself full immersed in their story.

As for characters that should be unique to this particular book, my annoyance with Rhys Vonn has rarely been matched with other characters. Trust me when I say, he’s an ass. Not overly fond of Mike Knox, Tom Thwaites, or Brian[mfn]I don’t remember his last name and don’t feel like getting up to get the book lol[/mfn] either.

All in all, great characters that have enough background to keep you going. And special shoutout to Pippin… you’ll figure it out when you read it.

Atmosphere

I like the tiny suburb feel of the book. I don’t live in England and have never been to England, so I’m not sure if Jellicoe Close is meant to be a suburb, a tiny town, or just a neighborhood. But I love the setting so much. I love that it feels like one of those close-knit neighborhoods where everyone knows everyone, everyone gets along as well as they can, and everyone has a great time together. But it also has the feeling of being creepy, especially when an unknown person seems to be watching everything the neighborhood does. It’s great!

Writing

I really enjoy Jane Casey’s writing style. It is well paced, easy to read, and entertaining. I’m looking forward to finding and reading the first 9 books in the Maeve Kerrigan series and hoping there will be an 11th and beyond.

Plot

I really liked this plot. Posing as a couple to spy on one house because there may be wrongdoing going on, working a prior murder case at the same time, and then stumbling into even more trouble than they thought is a lot, and it works. It works very well. This plot kept me wanting to read more.

Intrigue

Well, it is a mystery/suspense/thriller novel, so obviously there is going to be intrigue! And it will keep you wanting more of it. Who is this mysterious lurker, whose thoughts we occasionally get to read? What is going on at number 7 in Jellicoe Close? What other secrets are the residents of Jellicoe Close hiding?

Romance

I know, it’s a mystery/suspense/thriller. But there is romance. There’s definitely a spark between Miss Kerrigan and Mr. Derwent. Even if they don’t really understand it yet and even if they don’t know what, if anything, they want to do about it. It’s very interesting and I want to know more. Again, hoping for more books…although leaving this budding romance this way makes me think there will be.

Ending

The book’s ending was a surprise but also quite satisfying. All of our cases have been wrapped up neatly and there are no strings hanging – except that pesky budding romance, of course. But this was a seriously great ending.

Conclusion

I gave this one 4.5 stars because it is truly a great read. It kept me on my toes and made me want to read the rest of the series, plus any that come out later on. I highly recommend it to my thriller lovers, especially if you like thrillers set in England.

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The Bone Code by Kathy Reichs
Series: Temperance Brennan #20
Published by Simon and Schuster on 04/26/2022
Genres: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths, Fiction / Thrillers / General, Fiction / Thrillers / Suspense
Pages: 432
Format: ARC, eBook
Source: NetGalley
Amazon
Goodreads

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs’s twentieth gripping novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, whose examinations, fifteen years apart, of unidentified bodies ignite a terrifying series of events.

On the way to hurricane-ravaged Isle of Palms, a barrier island off the South Carolina coast, Tempe receives a call from the Charleston coroner. The storm has tossed ashore a medical waste container. Inside are two decomposed bodies wrapped in plastic sheeting and bound with electrical wire. Tempe recognizes many details as identical to those of an unsolved case she handled in Quebec years earlier. With a growing sense of foreboding, she travels to Montreal to gather evidence.

Meanwhile, health authorities in South Carolina become increasingly alarmed as a human flesh-eating contagion spreads. So focused is Tempe on identifying the container victims that, initially, she doesn’t register how their murders and the pestilence may be related. But she does recognize one unsettling fact. Someone is protecting a dark secret—and is willing to do anything to keep it hidden.

An absorbing look at the sinister uses to which genetics can be put, and featuring a cascade of ever-more-shocking revelations, The Bone Code is Temperance Brennan’s most astonishing case yet—one that gives new meaning to today’s headlines.

This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through my links, I will receive a small commission or free services from the sale at no additional cost to you.

Trigger Warnings: Murder, Child Murder, Gore, Descriptions of Dead Bodies, Animal Cruelty, Attempted Murder, Mentions of DNA modification and vaccines.

In the early 2000s, I fell in love with a TV show called Bones. I would later discover that the TV show was loosely based on the Temperance Brennan series of books by Kathy Reichs. Earlier this year, I decided I was going to make it a point to read/listen to as many of those books as I could. I didn’t get too far in, but I knew I had the 20th book in the series, The Bone Code, in my NetGalley queue. I finally got off my butt and read it.

First things first, you don’t have to read the Temperance Brennan books in order to understand what’s going on. You’ll be given enough details to help you figure things out if previous books are referenced. So don’t let this being the 20th book in the series scare you off. You can totally read this without reading any of the others first.

I love Temperance’s character. I find it funny that she isn’t nearly as “odd” in the books as she is in the TV show Bones. In the show, she doesn’t understand pop culture references and is very clinical, doesn’t get social cues. In the books, she isn’t like that at all. Which is nice because I’m not sure I’d like the books as much as I do if she was. I also enjoy Andrew Ryan’s character. He’s the perfect foil for Temperance and I love to see all the little tidbits of their relationship.

As for the plot of this particular book, I thought it was very intriguing. A “new” case in the Carolinas is startlingly similar to a 15 year old case from Canada that Temperance and Andrew had worked on. This leads them both down a path filled with danger and surprising revelations. I was kept wondering what would happen next and I absolutely loved the way the plot kept twisting. This book was definitely not boring.

I enjoyed this book thoroughly. It is a mix between a slow-burn and fast-paced. Some areas are slow, some move really fast. The buildup to the final fight scene was well executed. I wasn’t left feeling let down by the ending – it was a great ending to a great book.

If you like mystery/thrillers and you like series, I definitely recommend this book and this series.

Genre: Fiction / Mystery & Detective / Women Sleuths

The Close by Jane Casey