Two Adult Reads

Somebody I Used to Know by David Bell

Genre: Adult, Mystery, Thriller

Source: I received a copy from netgalley for review.

I liked this book. It grabbed me from the very beginning and I finished it in less than three hours. We have the main character Nick who has had a lot of bad situations in his life pertaining to women.  While in college he dates a woman named Marissa.  Just days after breaking up with him she dies in a dorm fire along with her three roommates.  Nick moves on with his life becoming a social worker. Then he marries a woman who has a young son from a previous marriage. Their marriage falls apart and they divorce.  He has bonded with her son and wants to see him.  She has him arrested.  Move to present day and we find him shopping in a grocery store when he sees someone who is almost a dead ringer for his dead college girlfriend Marissa.  She even has the same mannerisms.  When he approaches her in the grocery store and asks if she is related to that family the girl drops her groceries and runs from the store.  The next morning Nick is awakened by the police beating on his door.   The young girl he saw in the grocery store has been murdered in motel and was found with his name and address.  Nick quickly becomes the prime suspect.  He reconnects with friends from college who knew Marissa.  Two of those friends Heather and Laurel tell him things he never knew. Laurel convinces him to hire a lawyer.  She can’t get what is happening to Nick out of her mind and once she latches on to something, she can’t let it go.  The problem is someone somewhere doesn’t want anyone knowing the truth.  Reading this book was like watching an episode of 48 Hours on TV. This could have been ripped from the current headlines.  If you are one who loves mysteries then I definitely recommend this book. It is easy to read, the pacing keeps you turning pages. Definitely one you need to check out.

The Beautiful Daughters by Nicole Baart

Genre: Adult, Contemporary Fiction

Source: I received a copy from netgalley for review.

From the prologue you are sucked into this story.  You know there has been a death.  Adri lives in Africa as a nurse.  She has run away there after her fiancé’s death.  She and her best friend Harper blame themselves for David’s death. The story is told switching from present time to remembrances of her former life before David’s death.    You learn she grew up on the farm next to his mansion and visited there every year, yet she never knew David well until college.  Harper, her best friend in college introduced them to each other. Along with two brothers, they become an inseparable group of five.  Harper has run away to a completely different life.  She finds herself in an extremely abusive situation.  I found it hard to understand how each of them felt like anything bad that happened to them was deserved.  David’s death broke apart the friendship that Harper and Adri had.  When David’s mother dies, Adri receives the call in Africa and learns she is the executor of the estate.  Will going back be healing for Adri and Harper or will it serve to increase the gap that has grown between them?  I love reading books like this.  Where a lot of people will find the back and forth of the present tie and the memories of the past annoying, I find this kind of writing to be very intriguing.  I enjoyed this book because it is about love, friendship and redemption.  I recommend it to those who love reading realistic or contemporary fiction.