About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Tananarive Due
Rave Booklist With fully realized characters and well-placed twists, she ratchets up the tension until the final, extraordinary showdown.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Positive Booklist \"The intricate plot is supported by a fully realized setting and seamlessly integrated information about the detailed work of sound editing. Recommend to fans of Ring (2003), by Koji Suzuki; Night Film (2013), by Marisha Pessl; or Last Days (2013), by Adam Nevill.\
Stephanie Feldman
Positive Booklist Tense and suspenseful, Saturnalia features strong world building and a fully realized heroine. The down-on-her-luck protagonist navigating a system of secretive clubs will appeal to fans of Leigh Bardugo’s Ninth House (2019), while the book may also draw in readers of climate horror such as Omar El Akkad’s American War (2017) or Jeff VanderMeer’s Southern Reach trilogy.
Linda Holmes
Rave Library Journal Charming, often hilarious ... A delight from start to finish. Holmes has clearly done her research into how public librarians spend their time, and she also asks serious questions about how to make hard choices and live one’s life.
Kiersten White
Mixed Library Journal White’s adult debut still feels fundamentally like a YA novel. The prose is simplistic, and though the characters are out of their teens, most of them are emotionally stunted from trauma and seem younger (one has her first kiss ever during the competition). The idea that generational wealth requires violence to sustain it is delivered with an anvil, while the horror elements are underbaked; there are very few actual scares to be found ... This mashup of The Breakfast Club and The Hunger Games may appeal to young teens, but it’s not recommended for adult horror readers.
Dervla McTiernan
Positive Library Journal Twisty ... Fans of psychological suspense or McTiernan’s previous books will devour this one.
Lucy Foley
Positive Library Journal [A] well-paced, suspenseful locked-room mystery with shifting points of view, though the eventual solution to the puzzle is not as satisfying as in her earlier books ... Foley’s fans, especially those willing to suspend their disbelief about some of the more unlikely plot twists, will enjoy.
Zoje Stage
Positive Library Journal Though the plot moves swiftly, and all of the characters are fully fleshed out, this is very much Imogen’s story. As the nightmare scenario unfolds, her choices and motivations drive the story and build a complete, satisfying arc for the character ... An essential library purchase. Recommend to fans of survival stories and thrillers set in remote wilderness.
Beth O'Leary
Positive Library Journal Though some readers will find it hard to have much sympathy for privileged Dylan, his character shows a lot of growth between the breakup and the reunion. Addie is a warm and viviacious heroine, and readers will root for her to recover from her emotional wounds ... This sweet second-chance romance will please fans of The Flatshare and character-driven romances.
Stephen Graham Jones
Rave Library Journal Background tension in Jones’s latest thrums from the start—tension between Indigenous people and white colonizers, between longtime residents and incomers, between haves and have-nots—even before the meticulously crafted horror plot unfolds. Readers will be thinking about Jade long after they hurtle toward the book’s vivid, moving, gory end. Aspiring writers will especially appreciate the author’s acknowledgements, in which Jones shares the many changes the story went through over the course of years before its publication ... This extraordinary novel is an essential purchase.
Jasmine Guillory
Positive Library Journal Guillory\'s latest...weaves serious issues, including mental health and parental abandonment, through a believable romance that features relatable, good-hearted protagonists ... Recommend to the author\'s many fans, and readers who enjoyed the film Notting Hill.
Casey McQuiston
Rave Library Journal Both a satisfying romance and a heartwarming, realistic coming-of-age tale, McQuiston’s latest book features finely drawn, fully realized characters, a healthy dose of speculative mystery, and a soupçon of true crime. It will appeal to a wide range of readers and is essential for public library collections.
Megan Rosenbloom
Rave Library Journal This wide-ranging, engagingly written, and unusual book may not satisfy readers looking for gore, but it will fascinate those interested in a new angle from which to consider what it means to be human and what our responsibilities are to other people ... Essential for most libraries, especially where books about medical history and material culture circulate well.
Liz Phair
Positive Library Journal ... unconventional ... Fans of the author and those who enjoyed Patti Smith’s memoirs will relish this book.
Leigh Bardugo
Rave Library Journal Demand alone would necessitate purchasing multiple copies in all formats, but this is genuinely terrific. The worldbuilding is rock solid, the plot is propulsive, and readers will be clamoring for a sequel as soon as they read the last page.
Ruth Ware
Rave Library Journal The classic tropes—a nanny left alone with two children in a remote house, a bitter housekeeper, a mysterious caretaker, unexplained noises, a locked door that\'s never been opened—are combined with 21st-century creepiness ... Ware hits another one out of the park. Fans of hers or anyone with a taste for the disturbing will stay up late devouring this.
Linda Holmes
Positive Library Journal Holmes’s debut is charming, funny, and warmhearted and will please fans of Jasmine Guillory and Maria Semple.
Sharon Bolton
Positive Library Journal Many of Bolton\'s...previous books have alluded to the dark folklore of the author\'s native northern England, but it\'s front and center in this latest stand-alone novel ... Recommend to fans of the author\'s previous work or other British female sleuths. Readers who were delighted by the big twist at the end of Sarah Pinborough\'s Behind Her Eyes will similarly enjoy the final few pages here.