The Final Chapter Review

David, Samuel, and Julie were childhood friends in the Summer of 1986. Until she disappeared.

Thirty years later, David is a famous author and Samuel is his Publisher. Each receives a Manila envelope with the first chapter of what will be twelve, of a manuscript exposing the TRUTH about what happened that Summer.

There will also be a third recipient.

Each is receiving the document because of his or own failure in the Past.

One failed to listen.

One failed to report what he saw.

One should have spoken out.

And, the sender wants the truth to finally be exposed. But who knows all of their secrets?

I was grabbed from the very start by this book due to the idea of a story within a story and it totally worked for me, I was hooked from the beginning. The narrative is carried out perfectly and the characters are relatable, likeable and well written with the use of childhood memories along with present day really allowing readers to get to know the characters as they develop through the story.

The plot is complexly created through the use of flashbacks and discussions intertwined with the three manuscripts, all of which are identical except for the last chapter which holds the clues to solving the mystery. I found this style unusual and really enjoyable.

The best part that was the ending was unpredictable right up to the last which is a rarity in crime fiction.  I cannot wait to read more of Jerome Loubry’s work. A solid 4 star novel.

Stolen Truth Review

Bree Michaelson wakes up one day feeling drugged and confused, to find her boyfriend, Todd Armstrong, and her infant son, Noah, missing. But why does no one believe her? Lacking witnesses to her pregnancy, a birth certificate to prove a child was born, or a marriage license to prove her invisible husband ever existed, Bree will find it impossible to get the help she so desperately needs to find her baby.

Nevertheless, despite suspicious friends, family, and authorities, Bree sets out to find Todd and Noah. Only when her sister commits her to a hospital psych ward that Bree begins to doubt her own story. In the past, she suffered from a false pregnancy. Is this an imagined recurrence? She must fight to find the truth of what has happened to her-or admit that is all in her own mind.

Stolen Truth is an irresistible psychological thriller that fans of Gone Girl and Girl on a Train will fall completely in love with. It is hard enough to pen a thriller that grabs you from the start and compels you to get on the journey with the protagonist. It is much harder when she is an “unreliable narrator,” one whose perceptions you doubt—just as do all the people she’s trying to convince that she’s been married, pregnant, and had a baby who has disappeared along with his father. However, Henya Drescher has managed this and then some.

This is a compelling and suspenseful story that had me on the edge of my seat and mad me question everything and everyone and the ending was totally believable and mind-blowing. I cannot recommend this book enough I will definitely be reading it again and looking for more work from this author. 5 stars.

Past Grief Review

Kim Brady, third generation NYPD, returns to the job after her father’s recent suicide and catches a career-making case—a mass shooting in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. There is one eyewitness, Leanne, but she can’t come forward because she’s transgender and she fears coming out. Kim resists her lieutenant’s demands to force Leanne’s cooperation for personal reasons. She’s also being undermined by someone inside the department who is tampering with evidence, threatening the other witness, stalking Leanne.

Kim’s father died under a cloud and her feelings for him are complicated. And as Kim realizes that someone in the department is behind the shooting, her personal feelings clash with her professional mission. That tension stretches her relationship with her fiancé to its breaking point. The mastermind behind the attack presses Kim’s soft spots to gaslight her. Unravelling the elaborate criminal conspiracy forces her to apply the lessons from her father’s experiences.

I found this to be a fast-paced police procedure storyline with short engaging chapters and an action-packed plot that moved quickly and efficiently showcasing the police officers, the good, the bad and sometimes the evil. Every crooked cop makes it harder for good ones to do their jobs. No one hates a crooked crop more than good cops and the determination shown by the good cops in the story to uncover and weed out the bad ones is totally on point.

My only negative is that I found the threat aspect a little unrealistic as Kim had spent her whole career playing by the book and then someone starts threatening her and that changes.  However that didn’t take away from the storyline at all and I am awarding Past Grief 4 stars.