Book Review: Die Again by Tess Gerritsen

*Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

Five years ago, a group of people hungry for adventure goes on a safari trip in Africa. But soon what seems to be an exotic trip becomes the worst nightmare. People die. People disappear, in the night, in the bushes. No one knows what is going on.

Five years later, in US, police finds a human body hanging from a tree. That person worked as a taxidermist and ended like the animals he was working with. When a second body appears, the dynamic duo Rizzoli and Isles figures out that this is more than just a homicide, it is a serial killer we're talking about. The taxidermist seems that has no family. His only son disappeared five years ago in Africa.

I've been Rizzoli & Isles fan since forever. They are my favorite couple for solving crimes. What I like here is not just the puzzle that has to be solved and the tension that goes with it, but also showing both Rizzoli and Isles as human beings with ups and downs in their personal lives. Rizzoli has a daughter and husband and starts to learn that family comes first. Isles learns how to bond by taking care for one of the cats of the deceased victim. She also questions her relationship with her mother who is in prison. Do your ancestors define who you are? Coping with personal issues in their private lives, both Rizzoli and Isles have a crime to solve. A crime that takes them to a journey in the past of the victims' lives, takes them to the deepest jungles of Africa and shows them the darkest corners of the human mind. The story goes back in time for five years showing an African adventure seen from someone else's point of view. Then goes back to present where the taxidermist has been killed. The connection, well, you're have to read the book. Totally gripping, fulfilled with nail-biting moments and so many turn-overs, this read makes you ask yourself who is the biggest predator in the world. Hint: it is not an animal!

My opinion: 5 / 5.

Book Review: Before I Go To Sleep by S.J.Watson

Cristine's life is everything but ordinary. Every single day is a blank page for her. She suffers from amnesia and every morning she wakes up not remembering the last twenty years of her life. There is a diary that she writes every day, and she re-reads it every other day. But the most confusing is the sentence in the diary: Don't trust Ben. Ben is her husband, her loving husband who does everything he can to help her coping with her condition. She sees a psychiatrist who helps her to remember, who calls her every single day to tell her to read her secret diary. With every other day, memories rise from the dark. Is Cristine the person she thinks she is? Is the life she lives real or everything in her life is a lie? Who can she trust?

 Before I Go To Sleep is a complex drama that includes three main characters, Cristine, her husband and her doctor. Every single one of them is full of secrets, everyone has something to hide. Cristine hides her newborn memories, Ben hides the past, and the doctor hides himself from Ben. The three characters are very complex and it was very hard for me to connect with any of them. There is no much action in the story, but every dialogue is fullfilled with tension and doubts. Every time when Christine remembers, there is a question mark about that memory, is it real or is it just a fantasy? Can memories be placed?

I must say that the end really surprised me. I was expecting some turn-over, but I wasn't expecting that end. After so slow-paced drama, it hit me like a rock. The gripping end saved the whole story and that's why I'm giving it higher grade.

 My opinion: 4 / 5.

Book review: Whispers of the Dead (David Hunter #3) by Simon Beckett

As a huge fan of mystery and thrillers, I bought this book recently on a book fair . I've never heard of this author before, but after this one, I'm gonna get some more of his books. The story itself kept me awake almost entire night, it was gripping and creepy and unpredictable till the very last page. 

Have you seen the tv show "The Body Farm"? I did couple of years ago and previously had no idea that those places really exist. A body farm is a research facility where human decomposition is studied in a variety of settings in order to use the results for solving crimes, like timing and circumstances of death. I'm mentioning this because the story at the beginning reminded me of this tv show. But as the story continued, it was very different from it, it became a hell-of-a-thriller itself. 

D-r David Hunter is British anthropologist visiting his friend and mentor working on the famous Body Farm in US. But in the meantime, a murder happens under very unusual circumstances. Male body is found naked in a chalet, tortured. D-r Hunter's mentor works on the case and asks him to assist. Another body appears and it becomes obvious that it is serial killer we're talking about, and the chase of cat and mouse begins. But who's the cat, and who plays the role of the mouse?