Isabella's Reading Corner: Elevator Pitch

Elevator Pitch

Author: Linwood Barclay

Publication Date: September 17, 2019

Publisher: Doubleday Canada/William Morrow

A series of seemingly random freak accidents are taking place in Manhattan. It soon becomes apparent that these horrifyingly tragic occurrences are deliberate attacks by someone who is determined to terrorize the city! I have a phobia of elevators so I was petrified by the premise alone.

This is an extremely fast-paced suspense novel with an array of multi-faceted characters and an intriguing story. I’ve been a fan of Linwood Barclay’s novels for many years now and Elevator Pitch is hands down one of my favourites. My suggestion is you set aside a good amount of undisturbed reading time for this book as once you pick it up, you won’t want to put it down until you’ve finished the last page!

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the copy provided for review.

From the publisher:

The New York Times bestselling author of A Noise Downstairs and No Time for Goodbye returns with an edge-of-your-seat thriller that does for elevators what Psycho did for showers and Jaws did for the beach—a heart-pounding tale in which a series of disasters paralyzes New York City with fear.

It all begins on a Monday, when four people board an elevator in a Manhattan office tower. Each presses a button for their floor, but the elevator proceeds, non-stop, to the top. Once there, it stops for a few seconds, and then plummets.

Right to the bottom of the shaft.

It appears to be a horrific, random tragedy. But then, on Tuesday, it happens again, in a different Manhattan skyscraper. And when Wednesday brings yet another high-rise catastrophe, one of the most vertical cities in the world—and the nation’s capital of media, finance, and entertainment—is plunged into chaos.

Clearly, this is anything but random. This is a cold, calculated bid to terrorize the city. And it’s working. Fearing for their lives, thousands of men in women working in offices across the city refuse to leave their homes. Commerce has slowed to a trickle. Emergency calls to the top floors of apartment buildings go unanswered.

Who is behind this? Why are they doing it? What do these deadly acts of sabotage have to do with the fingerless body found on the High Line? Two seasoned New York detectives and a straight-shooting journalist must race against time to find the answers before the city’s newest, and tallest, residential tower has its ribbon-cutting on Thursday.

With each diabolical twist, Linwood Barclay ratchets up the suspense, building to a shattering finale. Pulsating with tension, Elevator Pitch is a riveting tale of psychological suspense that is all too plausible . . . and will chill readers to the bone. 

You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on Elevator Pitch here.

Isabella's Reading Corner: The Family Upstairs

The Family Upstairs

Author: Lisa Jewell

Publication Date: November 5, 2019

Publisher: Atria Books

The Family Upstairs, the latest domestic thriller by Lisa Jewell, is a sinister story told through multiple perspectives and varying timelines. There are quite a few characters to keep track of initially, but it comes together quickly. Spine-tingling and filled with lots of dark secrets and craziness, this book mesmerized me, and I couldn’t put it down!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for the copy provided for review.

From the publisher:

Be careful who you let in. 

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am. 

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them. 

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone. 

In The Family Upstairs, the master of “bone-chilling suspense” (People) brings us the can’t-look-away story of three entangled families living in a house with the darkest of secrets.

You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on The Family Upstairs here.

Isabella's Reading Corner: The Perfect Wife

The Perfect Wife

Author: JP Delaney

Publication Date: August 6, 2019

Publisher: Ballantine Books

The Perfect Wife has an original premise and is chock full of surprises! It’s an unusual, compelling novel and a disturbing spin on the psychological thriller genre.

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for the copy provided for review.

From the publisher:

Abbie awakens in a daze with no memory of who she is or how she landed in this unsettling condition. The man by her side claims to be her husband. He’s a titan of the tech world, the founder of one of Silicon Valley’s most innovative start-ups. He tells Abbie that she is a gifted artist, an avid surfer, a loving mother to their young son, and the perfect wife. He says she had a terrible accident five years ago and that, through a huge technological breakthrough, she has been brought back from the abyss.

She is a miracle of science. 

But as Abbie pieces together memories of her marriage, she begins to question her husband’s motives—and his version of events. Can she trust him when he says he wants them to be together forever? And what really happened to her, half a decade ago?

Beware the man who calls you . . .

You can read my original Isabella's Reading Corner post on The Perfect Wife here.