Lynn S. HightowerReseñas

sf. author of Alien Blues & Alien Eyes

suspense, suspicion, danger, thriller, widow, grieving, grief, grim, despair, invisible-disability, France, cultural-exploration, service-dog, law-enforcement, detective, triggers****

It is probably a very good book, but not for me. The author delves far into the deep despair of the grieving widow and does so very convincingly. Been there, done that, got the ashes to prove it.
I requested and received an EARC from Severn House via NetGalley but just couldn't finish it. Sorry.

A well written detective thriller with a Satanic cult at its center, this book introduces us to Lena Padget, a private investigator who has lost a family due to the cult. When a member from that past gets out of jail, he wants the hidden away money owed to him from a job gone wrong, and Lena gets involved.

As a detective novel, this is fine. Hightower gets high praise from me regarding characters and their relationships. Also, for her research of occult practices to fill in that part of the story. For the horror fan, this is more of a detective story with horror set pieces.

The ending was a bit of a letdown for me, feeling unfinished in a way that didn’t quite leave me satisfied but with an open door for more. I don’t mind open ended stories that tease the next book, not at all. But this one felt rushed to try and save the ones in need of saving without a high climactic finish. There was danger, but I didn’t feel the danger deep into my own toes. So, while it’s a solid 3 for me, I didn’t feel compelled to push it to a 4.

It's still a more than worthy consider though for those who like a dash of gruesome with their detective stories.

Satan’s Lambs. (A Lena Padget Mystery). Lynn Hightower. 1993. Lena became a private investigator after her sister and nephew were killed by her crazy, Satan-worshiper brother-in-law. He has been released from prison and is stalking her. She goes to Mendez, a policeman who was familiar with the situation, for help. When a child is abducted, Lena is positive he will be killed by the satanic group. She and Mendez work together to rescue the child. Readers should remember cell phones were not in use at the time this novel was written. It is suspenseful and violent. The satanic elements are frightening. Lots of violence.

From Amazon Book Description:

When Olivia James receives a phone call just after midnight, she recognizes her brother’s voice. But there’s a problem: her brother has been dead for the past nine weeks. Moving back to her old childhood home in Tennessee – the place where her brother has just died – her young daughter Teddy seems troubled, telling her mother that she’s being visited by a menacing ghost. When another tragic death occurs and her daughter disappears, Olivia must confront the demonic force that has cursed her family.

My Thoughts:

For readers who love reading bone-chilling thrillers with paranormal elements that make the hairs on your neck stand up, look no farther, as The Piper does not disappoint. The author successfully delivers a well-written story that captures the reader's attention and imagination; watching it unfold like a movie so clear and vivid in their head - a movie that you won't soon forget. Not you typical "ghost" story but embossed with paranormal electricity in every chapter. Sometimes what you don't see is scarier than what you do.

From Amazon:

oy Miller, once a famed TV evangelist, retired years before when two tragedies struck her family: the first leading her husband to suicide; the second leaving her son dead and his wife and daughter estranged from her.

She now lives a lonely, reclusive life, until a package arrives in the mail containing graphic photographs of three people she knew long ago - all brutally murdered. When Joy reads the note in the package, she knows immediately who it's from: a ghost from her past, a dangerous individual who knows far too much about the skeletons in Joy's closet. Then people start disappearing ...

My Thoughts:

I have read three other Lynn Hightower books and really enjoyed them so to say I was not impressed with this offering is an understatement. I'm not an expert on the art of editing, but it seemed this one was rather flawed. The plot was sluggish and dry. The characters were so-so, nothing exciting. I seldom give 2 stars but I felt based on her previous books she has done better.

From Amazon:

A suspenseful and chilling tale of a family undone by a mother's mysterious death and a father's startling secrets.Beaufort, South Carolina, is home to the Smallwoods, a family that appears close-knit but is in fact deeply at odds. The youngest sibling, Georgie, is consumed with anger at her father, Fielding, an unforgiving ex-marine, whose involvement in a notorious scandal many years earlier cast a shadow over his career and the Smallwood name. A fierce patriarch, Fielding neglects Georgie's mother; belittles her brother, Ashby; and denies her sister, Claire, the financial support she needs after a trying divorce. When her mother dies suddenly and of mysterious causes, Georgie immediately suspects that her father was somehow involved.As she works to convince Ashby and Claire of her suspicions, however, their father is murdered, and Claire is implicated in his death. Georgie desperately attempts to piece together both her family and her personal life, but the evidence of their father's betrayal and the secrets of his past threaten to leave the Smallwood family in ruin.

My Thoughts:

It's a mystery but it is more of a tale of a dysfunctional southern family told mainly through the voice of the oldest daughter, Georgie. Three people are dead by the end but almost without shedding a drop of blood. What it will do is catch you up in the lives and the desperation of this family. A surprisingly good read.

High suspense and surprising plot twists. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and at 210 pages it's a quick read. Highly recommend for suspense fans.

Particularly in the earlier sections of the book, this is an absorbing read. The central character, a cop and single mom, is interesting and likeable, and the gritty Cincinnati setting is convincing. As the book wears on, however, the increasing improbability of the story began to wear on me, weakening my interest. Yes, there are lots and lots and LOTS of books about serial killers (in the world of crime fiction, being killed by a crazed serial killer would seem to be one of your everyday risks, like traffic accidents). And yes, there are lots and lots and LOTS books where the cop becomes a target of the killer, either directly or through his or her loved ones. But this book fired full blast on both barrels, leaving me a bit overwhelmed and considerably less interested than I was about 100 pages in. Not bad to pass the time, but forgettable.

The tension starts early in this novel as a killer is released from jail and announces his intention to complete a mission by killing Lena Padgett the sister and aunt of the original victims. More tension is piled on as a child is taken foe evil purposes. Take your Xanax before you start of just skip to the end and see what happens.

Dit boek las ik eerder in 1998. Ik herinner me er absoluut niets meer van . Ik houd niet zo van de cynische stijl waarin het is geschreven, maar het verhaal was verder redelijk overzichtelijk en geloofwaardig. Grappige passages over paarden.

Georgie Smallwood's mother has just died. Did her father kill her mother? Her son, who ran away from home two years before, suddenly shows up at her door. Then her father....then her father's mistress...then the police chief....I won't give any more details so as not to spoil the book for those who might want to read it, but all of that happened in the first 75 pages. Way too many major plot points thrown at the reader way too fast with very little page time given to story development or character development so that you actually care about what happens to any of these people.

I started reading Lynn Hightower's books only last year, and each and every one is an absolute gem. For fans of suspense thrillers, Ms. Hightower is definitely an author that should go on your auto-buy list, as her series starring private investigator Lena Padget only gets better and better as time goes on.

In WHEN SECRETS DIE, Lena is faced with a case that truly has her baffled. Emma Marsden is still grieving over her young son's death from what she believes to be some type of rare liver disease. Trying to piece her life back together for both her sake and her fifteen-year-old daughter, Blaine, Emma attempts to deal with infant Ned's death as best she can. Her temporary reprieve is shattered, however, when her son's pediatrician, Dr. Theodore Tundridge, accuses Emma of killing her son herself-of secretly poisoning him in a crazy bid for attention as a sufferer of Munchausen by Proxy.

Still reeling from her son's death, Emma must now deal with the charges brought against her. Blaine, Ned's half-sister, may now be taken away from her mother due to the investigation by the Department of Children and Family services. With nowhere else to turn, Emma enlists the help of P.I. Lena Padget to disprove the allegations against her.

Lena finds other suspicious deaths that have happened under Dr. Tundridge's care, most specifically two SIDS deaths of children of one of his employees, Amaryllis Burton. Then there's more incriminating evidence against the pediatrician-the doctor has sold, for millions of dollars, an unusual, patented genetic material that was found in Ned Marsden's blood. When it looks like the doctor himself might possibly be behind Ned's death, Lena discovers a video-tape that shows, almost without a doubt, that maybe Emma Marsden isn't the innocent, grieving woman she appears to be.

But then Blaine goes missing, and no one knows what to do. Is the doctor behind her disappearance, a man who wants nothing more than to get his hands on more genetic material? Is Emma Marsden really suffering from the horrible and unexplainable Munchausen by Proxy? What really happened to Amaryllis Burton's children? And most importantly, can Lena get to the bottom of the mystery before any more innocent children die?

WHEN SECRETS DIE is Lynn Hightower at her best. Although Lena Padget isn't the main character of this book in the series, I was thoroughly immersed in the story from start to finish. I've always been interested in the machinations of Munchausen by Proxy, wondering exactly what must be missing in a person's brain chemistry to make them harm their own children for attention. WHEN SECRETS DIE explores not only this dreadful disease, but the fact that power, in the wrong hands, can be a deadly weapon.

I can't wait for the next book in the series, and can only hope that Ms. Hightower delves into another interesting subject!

Readable, but I found the plot too predictable.

NIL