REVIEW: Deception by Jack Jordan

Title: Deception
Author: Jack Jordan
Publisher: Simon and Schuster UK
Publication Date: June 2026
Genre: Thriller
Buy the Book: Amazon

Description: Emma and Miles are out of options. Their son needs life-saving transplant surgery, but in a world of privatized healthcare and impossible costs, they can’t afford it.

Then comes the offer: a shadowy syndicate known only as The Levels promises them the exact amount of money they need. All they must do is complete a series of tasks.

The catch? Each task is a crime. With every level the stakes rise, the payout grows and the line between right and wrong blurs.

But Emma and Miles aren’t the only ones playing this deadly game. As the competition intensifies and they struggle under the weight of their choices, they’re faced with the ultimate question:

How far would you go to save the one you love?

My Thoughts: Deception is the second book I have read by Jack Jordan, and once again, I was blown away by his ability to craft a story that pulls me completely into the lives of its characters. His writing evokes empathy, compassion, shock, and dismay in equal measure.

Emma and Miles are facing a parent’s worst nightmare: their young son needs a heart and lung transplant, and without it, he will die. When their insurance company drops them, they are left with no realistic way to raise the millions required for the surgery. That alone is heartbreaking, and the tragic unfairness of their situation had me near tears.

When Emma and Miles are offered the chance to earn not only the money for the transplant, but also enough to get out of debt and bring their overdue bills current, it seems like a miracle. The offer is simple on the surface: complete a series of tasks within a set amount of time, win money for each level, and advance to the next.

The problem is clear from the beginning: every task is illegal and failing even one level means being disqualified entirely. This forces Emma and Miles to confront the central question of the novel: how far are they willing to go to save their son?

With each task, the risks grow higher and the danger becomes more immediate. The suspense was intense as I followed along, wondering how far the game would go, what it would cost Emma and Miles, and whether they would lose sight of their goal before they lost too much of themselves.

My Final Verdict: Deception is a gripping, emotionally charged thriller that kept me fully invested from beginning to end. Jack Jordan takes an impossible moral dilemma and turns it into a tense, fast-moving story filled with danger, desperation, and heartbreaking choices.

What makes this book so powerful is not only the suspense, but the way it forces the reader to question what they might do when love, survival, and morality collide. It is disturbing, thought-provoking, and impossible to look away from.

I highly recommend Deception to readers who enjoy dark, high-stakes thrillers with strong emotional depth and moral complexity. It is the kind of story that lingers long after the final page.

REVIEW: Dear Wife by Kimberly Belle

Title: Dear Wife
Author: Kimberly Belle
Narrator: Vivienne Leheny, Chris Andrew Ciulla, Pete Simonelli
Publisher: Harlequin – Trade Publishing
Publication Date: June 2019
Genre: Thriller
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: From the bestselling author of The Marriage Lie comes a riveting new novel of suspense about a woman who must decide just how far she’ll go to escape the person she once loved.

Beth Murphy is on the run…

For nearly a year, Beth has been planning for her escape. She's thought through everything -- a new look, new name and new city -- because one small slip and her husband will find her.

Sabine Hardison is missing…

A couple hundred miles away, Jeffrey returns home from a work trip to find his wife, Sabine, is missing. Wherever she is, she’s taken almost nothing with her. Her abandoned car is the only evidence the police have, and all signs point to foul play.

As the police search for leads, the case becomes more and more convoluted. Sabine’s carefully laid plans for her future indicate trouble at home, and a husband who would be better off with her gone. But are things really as clear cut as they seem? Where is Sabine? And who is Beth? The only thing that’s certain is that someone is lying and the truth won’t stay buried for long.

My Thoughts: I absolutely adored this twisty thriller, which unfolds through multiple points of view and carefully layered plotlines. One storyline follows Beth, a woman on the run from her abusive husband. The other centers on Sabine, a woman who has vanished under suspicious circumstances. At first, the connection between the two is unclear, leaving the reader to wonder whether Beth and Sabine might somehow be the same woman.

The story is told through the perspectives of Beth, Sabine’s husband Jeffrey, and Marcus, the police detective assigned to Sabine’s case. This shifting structure keeps the tension high while gradually revealing how each character fits into the larger mystery.

Beth’s chapters offer a compelling look at the planning and caution required to escape an abusive relationship. Every detail of her flight feels deliberate, from preparing a new identity to taking steps to stay hidden once she is on the run. I had a strong sense of her fear: the feeling that her husband might be close behind, and that one wrong move could put her in danger again.

Sabine’s storyline brings a different kind of suspense. She is presented as a woman trapped in an unhappy marriage, having an affair, and possibly pregnant. Jeffrey, her husband, quickly becomes a suspect in her disappearance, and his behavior makes him seem increasingly suspicious as the investigation unfolds.

When the two plotlines finally converge, the reveal left me shocked and breathless. The story exposes just how far Beth’s husband is willing to go to protect his image and punish his wife. Although the book moves at a very fast pace, I was able to keep up with every twist, and the final 20% was especially gripping as Beth is forced into the confrontation the story has been building toward.

My Final Verdict: Dear Wife is a fast-paced, suspenseful thriller filled with tension, misdirection, and shocking reveals. I loved the way the multiple perspectives kept me guessing, and the final stretch delivered the kind of gripping payoff I hope for in a twisty domestic thriller. Readers who enjoy stories about secrets, survival, and carefully constructed deception will want to add this one to their list.

Thank you to the publisher, Harlequin – Trade Publishing, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.

REVIEW: The House Guest by Mark Edwards

Title: The House Guest
Author: Mark Edwards
Narrator: Will M. Watt, Stina Nielsen
Publisher: Amazon Publishing UK | Thomas and Mercer
Publication Date: June 2020
Genre: Thriller
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: A perfect summer. A perfect stranger. A perfect nightmare.

When British twenty-somethings Ruth and Adam are offered the chance to spend the summer housesitting in New York, they can’t say no. Young, in love and on the cusp of professional success, they feel as if luck is finally on their side.

So the moment that Eden turns up on the doorstep, drenched from a summer storm, it seems only right to share a bit of that good fortune. Beautiful and charismatic, Eden claims to be a friend of the homeowners, who told her she could stay whenever she was in New York.

They know you’re not supposed to talk to strangers—let alone invite them into your home—but after all, Eden’s only a stranger until they get to know her.

As suspicions creep in that Eden may not be who she claims to be, they begin to wonder if they’ve made a terrible mistake…

My Thoughts: The Hitchcock-style creepy vibes are strong here, and readers should check trigger warnings for cults and trafficking. While the story ultimately becomes intense, it took me a while to get invested because the early narrative felt flat and distant.

The setup asks for a lot of suspension of disbelief: Adam and Ruth are housesitting for Jack and Mona, a couple they barely know, and then they quickly welcome Eden into the home without being able to verify who she is. At first, that made Adam and Ruth seem naïve and kept me from connecting with the characters. Once Ruth disappears, Eden vanishes, and Jack and Mona return with no idea who Eden is, the mystery finally becomes compelling.

From there, the slow burn shifts into high gear as Adam realizes he does not know whom he can trust, even among the people closest to him.

After the intensity of Adam’s discoveries and the danger surrounding him, the ending fizzled for me. The lack of closure left a lingering sense of dread, but not in a satisfying way. Readers who enjoy terrifying thrill rides and do not mind cliffhangers may appreciate this more than I did.

Thank you to the publisher, Amazon Publishing UK | Thomas and Mercer, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.

REVIEW: Dirty Secrets by Karen Rose

Title: Dirty Secrets (Romantic Suspense #4.5)
Author: Karen Rose
Publisher: Headline
Publication Date: January 2014
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Buy the Book: Amazon

Description: Secrets
For months Emma Townsend has avoided her old house, haunted by its memories of her dead husband. Finding the courage to sort through their possessions, she's astonished to find an old love letter from friend Chris Walker and determines to make amends for the past.

That we all must
Chris, now a college professor, is trying to deal with the tragic death of a graduate student. Seeing Emma again brings back a flood of memories, re-kindling a long-lost passion. But with police investigating the student's death, Chris cannot act on his desires.

Fear
But is it too late? Because now someone's watching Emma and Chris. Someone who's nursing revenge. And they are about to be plunged into a nightmare where no one can be trusted and every dirty little secret is sealed with a kiss.

My Thoughts: Dirty Secrets fills in some of Emma Townsend’s backstory, which makes it an interesting stop for readers who like seeing how even minor characters fit into Karen Rose’s larger world. That said, this novella felt more like a bonus story than a truly essential installment.

Where It Fits in the Series:
If you’re the kind of reader who likes to go through a series in order, this one is probably worth picking up. But if you’re mainly here for the books that really move the bigger story forward, this is an easy one to treat as optional. As book #4.5 in a 37-book series, it definitely reads more like a side story than a major chapter in the overall saga.

What Worked and What Didn’t:
For me, this one landed somewhere in the middle. I didn’t dislike it, but I also kept waiting for it to feel more meaningful to the larger series. Since I haven’t made it all the way through the Baltimore books yet, I also felt a little disconnected from the characters and their place in the bigger picture.

What I did like was the setup: Emma and Christopher reconnect because of a long-lost love letter tucked inside her yearbook, which is such a great hook. Unfortunately, the romance itself didn’t completely work for me. After seventeen years of no contact, their chemistry flared up so fast that it felt a little hard to buy.

Still, Christopher’s preteen daughter—and her obvious unhappiness about Emma stepping into their lives—added some tension that made those scenes more interesting.

Bottom Line:
• Pick this up if you want every bit of Emma Townsend’s backstory.
• Feel free to skip it if you’re only reading the most essential books in the series.
• Overall, it’s a decent bonus read, but not one of the stronger standouts.

REVIEW: Maybe This Time by Jill Mansell

Title: Maybe This Time
Author: Jill Mansell
Narrator: Esther Wane
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Publication Date: June 2019
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: Is there ever a perfect time for love?

When Mimi Huish first visits her dad's new home in the Cotswolds, she falls in love with Goosebrook and the people who live there. There's Paddy, with his electric-blue eyes and seductive charm. Friendly and funny Lois makes Mimi laugh. And seriously gorgeous Cal Mathieson is welcoming and charismatic. Though Mimi loves her city life and her career, she'd be very happy to return to Goosebrook if it means seeing more of him.

Life is about to take some unexpected and shocking twists and turns. And Mimi's path and Cal's are set to cross again and again--but will it ever be the right time for both of them?

My Thoughts: One of the most important elements of any novel is the connection a reader feels to its characters. That connection does not always require immediate affection or deep empathy, but it does need to be present. Whenever I pick up a Jill Mansell novel, I expect to find characters who feel vivid, engaging, and easy to invest in—and Maybe This Time delivers exactly that.

What makes Mansell’s writing stand out is her ability to create not only compelling main characters, but also memorable secondary ones. The supporting cast never feels ornamental or pushed to the background. Instead, these characters add warmth, depth, and texture to the story, becoming an essential part of the overall reading experience.

The characters in this novel are the kind of people readers want to spend time with. They feel familiar, approachable, and real—like the sort of people you would gladly sit down with over coffee and get to know better. Even the few characters I felt less attached to at first still managed to surprise me by the end, which made the story even more rewarding.

I also loved the setting Mansell creates in the quaint village of Goosebrook. The sense of peace and comfort Mimi experiences there comes through clearly, making it easy to understand why the place feels so meaningful to her. Goosebrook feels like home, and its residents feel like the kind of friends and family readers are happy to return to.

At its core, this is a relationship-driven story that explores both the joys and the challenges of human connection. It captures emotional highs and lows with warmth and sincerity, and it left me feeling fully immersed in the characters’ lives. This is the kind of book that makes you feel deeply, and that emotional impact is one of its greatest strengths. I highly recommend this story to readers who are seeking that connection.

Thank you to the publisher, Sourcebooks Landmark, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.