The One - John Marrs

Title: The One
Author: John Marrs
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 416 pages
Date read: August, 2018

How far would you go to find The One?

A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner—the one you’re genetically made for.

That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.

Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.” They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others…


I was absolutely captivated by this book. Didn't want to put it down, and couldn't stop thinking about it when I had to.

The plot focuses on 5 different people/couples and jumps from one to the next between each chapter - something that would usually really bother me, but which worked very well here, and there was no one story line I was more interested in following than the others. Some of the twists I had guessed ahead of time - others, definitely not!

The resolution of some of the story lines came a bit too easy or had a few too many details glossed over, which is what brought it down that half-star, but as a whole I absolutely loved it!

The Outsider - Stephen King

Title: The Outsider (Finder's Keepers #4)
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 577
Date read: August, 2018

When an eleven-year-old boy is found murdered in a town park, reliable eyewitnesses undeniably point to the town's popular Little League coach, Terry Maitland, as the culprit. DNA evidence and fingerprints confirm the crime was committed by this well-loved family man.

Horrified by the brutal killing, Detective Ralph Anderson, whose own son was once coached by Maitland, orders the suspect to be arrested in a public spectacle. But Maitland has an alibi. And further research confirms he was indeed out of town that day.

As Anderson and the District Attorney trace the clues, the investigation expands from Ohio to Texas. And as horrifying answers begin to emerge, so King's propulsive story of almost unbearable suspense kicks into high gear.

Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy but there is one rock-hard fact, as unassailable as gravity: a man cannot be in two places at the same time. Can he?


A stand-alone novel in the "Finder's Keepers" universe. You can read it without having read the Bill Hodges trilogy, but it will spoil both the first and the last one.

Every bit as good as I've come to expect Stephen King's newer novels to be. There was definitely an element (understatement of the year!) of the supernatural in this one as well, but as the precedence for that had already been set in the last Bill Hodges book, I was prepared and didn't mind as much as I had there. I liked Ralph Anderson (despite his bad decisions in the beginning) and was really pleased to see Holly again!

It was spooky, captivating and thrilling. Stephen King didn't pull any punches, and killed off some people I wish he hadn't, but as a whole the story really worked for me. And I'm really pleased that he gave the book a proper ending, rather than leaving it open like he would have in his younger days.

Shelter in Place - Nora Roberts

Title: Shelter in Place
Author: Nora Roberts
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 4/5
# pages: 439
Date read: August, 2018

It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses. Mothers and children shopped together, and the manager at video game store tended to customers. Then the shooters arrived.

The chaos and carnage lasted only eight minutes before the killers were taken down. But for those who lived through it, the effects would last forever. In the years that followed, one would dedicate himself to a law enforcement career. Another would close herself off, trying to bury the memory of huddling in a ladies' room, helplessly clutching her cell phone--until she finally found a way to pour her emotions into her art.

But one person wasn't satisfied with the shockingly high death toll at the DownEast Mall. And as the survivors slowly heal, find shelter, and rebuild, they will discover that another conspirator is lying in wait--and this time, there might be nowhere safe to hide.


I by far prefer Nora Roberts' suspense novels to her romance novels. Sure, there's an element of romance in all of them, but she understands how to balance it properly, and writes suspense really, really well. I thought this a fascinating account of the aftermath of a mass-shooting - how different people handle the experience differently, and how people employ more or less healthy coping-mechanisms in order to move on.

There was less of a twist in this book than in some of the others I've read, but I didn't mind that part. And I loved reading about Simone's art as well as life on the island. Cici was just amazing, and Barney not half-bad either. Simone's fall-out with her family seemed slightly unrealistic, but their way of making up didn't, which really appealed to me. It's seldom reconciliation is written well.

Parts of this novel reminded me of Louise Bagshawe's novels... just with a lot less fluff!