Title: In the Bones (North Country #1)

Author: Tessa Wegert

Release date: November 4th, 2025

*Huge thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for a digital ARC!*

Now, you may be asking yourself – Wait? Steve’s reading what? That? Well, I didn’t know Steve read mystery/thrillers!

And you wouldn’t be crazy in your thinking. Though I have enjoyed more mainstream books in the past, I’ve definitely veered sharply over my life more towards the horror realm and it does take a lot to get me out of my chosen genre.

But, I’ll also push back about the lack of mainstream books in my reading history and remind you of who my favorite author is, who coincidentally might be one of the biggest mainstream horror writers we’ve ever seen.

And it was through that author that I connected with Tessa, and when I asked Andrew about how the book he blurbed for her was, he told me it was fantastic and highly recommended I check out her books.

So, here we are. Now, I wasn’t too sure what to expect outside of the set up – a former NHL player buys a house in a remote North East town. Folks are excited to have him as a member of the community. But that all changes when an intruder surprises a woman cleaning the house and the body of a young woman is found in the basement.

I was intrigued. Who wouldn’t be? And with that, I dove in and found myself smack in the middle of a wild who-dunnit.

What I liked: If you’ve read any of my prior reviews, you’ll know that one of my biggest pet peeves is multiple POVs. Well, guess what? That’s this book. But where I normally roll my eyes and huff out in frustration, I just went with it, understanding the need for the switches.

The book loosely focuses on Nicole, the wife of Woody, who owns a seasonal mini-golf location. They have two daughters, the oldest about to graduate and head to college, and – as with many people these days – money is tight. They’re also struggling personally, as behind Nicole’s back, Woody signed on to be a partner with Mikko Helle, former NHLer, in an upstart business in town. Woody’s given Mikko their entire life savings and after a party at Mikko’s, Nicole isn’t sure if she can trust him like she used to.

From this point on, we jump between a bunch of characters, getting the present happenings of the investigation, while also seeing tidbits from the past. It works well to keep us informed, while Wegert also plants little seeds of ‘potentials.’ Those moments where we’re certain we know who did it, only to discover they couldn’t be the one… only to have that seed replanted when new information comes to light.

The pacing picks up throughout, which works perfectly to ramp up alongside the investigation and it leads us to the big reveal where we discover who did it.

Wegert guides us well, keeping us on our toes from start to finish.

What I didn’t like: Hey, look at that – I actually liked the multiple POVs! As for what didn’t work for me, there were two aspects. The first – and I think this is a case of me not reading much in this current landscape of mystery/thrillers – is there was a lot of exposition in a lot of the opening chapters. And it happened later on. I get that the characters are kind of rambling through thoughts and trying to figure out what was going on, but there were times when it just seemed like a lot considering where we were in the story.

The second thing itself was the ‘big reveal’ and events at the end. It always grinds my gears when we have all of this build up only for the ‘ta-dah!’ to be a few paragraphs long and this fell closely into that world. Again, I think this is a case of ‘standard plotting’ for this type of novel and what the readers like to eat up who read largely in this genre, but I wanted more of a ‘final confrontation.’

Why you should buy this: Tessa is known for her critically acclaimed Shana Merchant series, and Shana is a secondary character within the book as this branches off from that world, so fans of that series and of Shana’s will definitely be flocking over to this one.

For those who’ve not read Tessa’s work yet, this is a smart, sharp, edge-of-your-seat novel that felt a lot like how CSI and NCIS used to feel back when it started and was fresh. There’s a lot of moving pieces, Tessa delicately and expertly works them around each other and together and we’re all the richer for how well she handles this thriller.

This was a lot of fun, and even though it was far outside my standard reading preference, I was hooked and I’ll definitely be keeping my eye open for when we see a North Country #2 down the road.

Title: Hard Luck Jenny

Author: David Sodergren

Release date: October 3rd, 2025

*Huge thanks to David for the digital ARC of this one!*

Ahhhhhh, the novella.

In my opinion, often the perfect length for horror storytelling. 60-120mins of reading time, with a massive story packed in and not nary a room to breathe between pages, it grabs me, holds me (sometimes caresses me, oh la la, lol!) and won’t let go until the very – and often times – bitter end. Perfect.

Now, Sodergren has released a few novellas, both as himself and as Carl John Lee, but recently he’s been focused on the mid-length novels in his releases, so a return to the novella length had me excited. Double exciting (though also with a touch a sadness, I will admit), I had no idea what to expect with this one, as this was the first book of his own excluding ‘The Forgotten Island’ (and not counting Carl John Lee’s ‘The Blood Beast Mutations’) that I didn’t beta read. Though, saying that, we did message back and forth a bit about what he was working on and he’d mentioned a few things from this one.

So, with an open mind and an hour set aside to read this, I dove in and was blasted straight in the face.

What I liked: The story follows chronic urinator Dennis, who is driving on a rainy Scotland evening. He needs to get back home as he works in the morning. His frequent pee breaks mean he’s meticulously planned out his route, but when a downed tree forces a detour, he ends up in the middle of nowhere and accompanied by a bursting-at-the-seams-bladder. A few years prior, he had an accident while driving drunk, and ever since he’s remained sober. Which forces him to make a heavy choice, when he rolls into a small town and finds the only place open is a pub. But nature’s calling and he heads in.

Up until this point, the story is fairly straight forward, if not a touch silly in the set up. Dennis is on the phone with his wife and leaves the phone in the car as he heads in, but things really ramp up once inside.

Here’s where Sodergren shines with storytelling. You immediately feel like you’ve been in this pub. Even with scant details of the actual location, you vividly picture it in your mind. Same with the folks he interacts with. Like the bartender who is pissed off that Dennis orders ‘only a Coke.’ You feel like you’ve interacted with him before. And once in the bathroom, he runs into an older man who berates him for not being more respectful to Jenny, though Dennis doesn’t know who she is and can only assume it’s the gorgeous lass with the ram’s head adorning her head. And why should he be more respectful? It’s her recently deceased husband’s wake. Colin has died and Dennis finds himself in a bind. And as he tries to get free of the pub and make his escape, he discovers that the locals are nuts and just maybe he won’t be able to leave after all.

From that point on the novella is campy, riveting and filled with total chaos. Dennis tries to flee, Jenny and her family are having none of it and it mixes Ray Garton’s ‘The Folks’ with Dan Howarth’s ‘Last Night of Freedom’ fantastically.

The ending is a bit of gruesome fun, highlighting the insanity of the people in this small town, the pub itself and the mess Dennis has found himself in.

What I didn’t like: I’ve never been a fan of books where the interactions between characters are so far off the wagon that it makes me frustrated and Sodergren used that method here. While it works to showcase the complete lunacy of the people and place, every time Dennis interacted with someone I wanted to scream at my Kindle haha! So, while it fits the book and was purposeful by David, it completely annoyed me and at times pushed this book to the very edges of Bizarro fiction, which I really struggle with.

Additionally, I wished there was more about the ‘why.’ The why of this community being like this and why this is happening and at this particular moment, why it focuses on Jenny.

Why you should buy this: At this point do I really need to suggest why you should buy a Sodergren book? He’s one of the top Indie authors out there and his books are on every second or third IG and Tik Tok book post I see. BUT, if I was being forced to suggest why you should read this, I’d tell you that this novella is a rampaging ball of brutality and fun. Equal parts absurdity and carnage, David writes with such glee that you’ll zip through this one and find yourself sweating and breathless.

Another winner from Sodergren, an author you need to be reading if you’ve not read yet.

Title: The Glass Man (Leo Asker #2)

Author: Anders de la Motte

Release date: August 26th, 2025

*Huge thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of this one!*

Last year, my great book pal Char, suggested I should check out ‘The Mountain King’ the first book in this series. I always listen to Char’s rec’s and I’m glad I did, because it was a blast.

Fast forward to early July, and I received an email from Atria, letting me know that the second book was being released with an English translation and asked if I’d like to give it a read. Absolutely!

I wrapped up a couple reads and dove in, with high expectations and believing I had more than enough time to get this one done prior to release date. Life got in the way a bit and slowed me down, as well, this was one of those books where sometimes I’d read for an hour or two and somehow I didn’t make any progress, so my apologies to Atria and the author for not finishing this one prior to release date.

What I liked: So, this is a book two and in this case, you absolutely have to have read book one, as this picks up literally during the phone call at the end of book one, so everything ahead in this review will come off a bit spoiler-ish, so read with caution if you’ve not read book one.

After surviving the events of ‘The Mountain King,’ Leo receives a phone call from her estranged father, Prepper Per, letting her know that a body has been found near his compound and that he’ll be implicated in the death. He suggests she help him, otherwise there will be bloodshed when the police come to raid his place. As well, Hill has come through surgery after the events of book one and is taking a leave from the university. Expecting to relax, he’s surprised by a phone call from Gunnar Irving’s company. Gunnar is a billionaire, medical tech genius who credits his tech discoveries to seeing a UFO when he was younger and getting the information from those onboard. He lives at Astroholm Manor, a secluded place with an island in the middle of lake where strange things have been said to happen.

As Leo struggles to decide if she should help Per, Hill heads to the Manor to write his dream book, but as is always the case, what you see isn’t always what you get.

The book bounces back and forth between Leo and Hill and we see them struggle with their unexpressed feelings towards each other, as well as with their individual storylines. de la Motte does a great job by juggling these two storylines and keeps the tension high with tight, shorter chapters. Everything feels snappy and fresh and very rarely does a cliff hanger happen and the shift to the next chapter feel like a let down.

As the mystery of both storylines deepens before merging, we get some phenomenal lore building within Hill’s storyline and we get a deep, robust father-daughter relationship dynamic plot line in Asker’s. This works really well to let areas of the novel breath, especially when the shit hits the fan in the final quarter.

At the end, we get a lot of questions answered, as well as secrets revealed and those revelations will either work for the reader or not, but within the context of the story, they manage to bring a conclusive element to the book.

Saying that, the ending suggests there’s more in store for Leo, and so far, there’s been four total books released in Sweden, so I assume we’ll be getting a third soon.

What I didn’t like: While we do get a lot of questions answered, I will say the portion of Per’s storyline where he’s seemingly planted somebody where they’ll perfectly help him and surveil for him seemed a bit too perfect. There’s a lot of questions unanswered on that particular plot point.

Why you should buy this: I mean, if you loved book one, you’ll love book two. Otherwise, book one dealt with urban exploration and book two deals with a crazy mansion with secret doors, UFO’s, something strange with red eyes roaming the woods and a family mystery that’s decades old. All very intriguing and all explored thoroughly within this one. What’s not to get your interest?

This one was a ton of fun and it was great following Leo on an adventure again.