Book Slayers

Betty (00:01.89) We read four thrillers this week and honestly, I don't think either of us are okay.

Some of these books had twists, some had trauma, and one of them felt like it was personally attacking me.

We've got the couple next door, nothing tastes so good, the patient's secret, and where he can't find you.

And we have thoughts.

Stace (00:22.563) Like, why are we trusting these people?

Why is everybody lying?

And why do we keep doing this to ourselves?

We're talking about what worked, what absolutely did not work.

And assigning stabby ratings based on vibes, chaos, and emotional damage.

Because some of these books deserve all the stars and some deserve to be left in a locked room and left for dead.

Okay, let's slay this books.

Do you want me to read the opening, the intro?

Betty (00:53.857) So Stace (00:54.957) Welcome back to Book Slayers.

Betty (00:57.678) I actually don't have that, so yeah, you better.

You might have done, maybe I've just copied the first message.

But I ain't got it, so yeah, you crack on.

Stace (00:59.981) I didn't send you that!

Okay, sorry.

my god.

Stace (01:07.853) Okay.

Welcome back to Book Slayers, the podcast where we read the books so you don't have to, although you definitely will want to when we are finished.

We are your host, the resident dark fiction gremlins, professional readers, and full-time judges of fictional decisions.

And today's episode is our mini thriller book pod, which means yes, we put ourselves through four thrillers this week for your entertainment and for one, my suffering.

Today we're diving into the couple next door.

Nothing tastes so good.

The patient's secret and where he can't find you.

He will be breaking down what worked, what absolutely did not work and what made us stare at the wall and reconsider our life choices.

We're gonna see whether or not our stabby ratings were correct with our predictions last week.

Let's get to it.

What do you wanna start with?

Betty (02:01.55) Shall we do the couple next door?

How do you pronounce the name again?

Sheri Lapina?

Sheri Lapina, I can never say it right.

Yeah, okay, that was very exciting.

Stace (02:04.439) Okay, let's do it.

Shari Lapanna!

Betty (02:19.31) Yeah, I think I audiobooked this one.

I read this a couple of weeks ago so I'm even now like refreshing my memory.

I feel like it went good.

The story is based around there's a couple, they live next door to another couple, they've got a new baby.

I can't remember how old the baby is but it's a baby.

Stace (02:37.827) Six months.

Betty (02:38.922) Six months, thank you.

And they've arranged to go around for dinner, but they had a babysitter come in, babysitter cancelled, so they decide because they're next door, they're just going to take the baby monitor and they're going to check the baby every half hour.

Baby goes missing.

Do you know what?

You know, when I was reading it, I was just like, what fucking idiots are doing this?

Are there people that are doing this?

This is nuts to me.

Stace (03:01.497) People do do this.

People do do this all the time.

Betty (03:05.57) This is fucking nuts to me.

I think I just get quite anxious about stuff anyway, so I just couldn't.

Also, why didn't you just move the party to your house rather than go to theirs?

They can still cook and they can bring the food round.

That's fine.

You can still take it back and wash it up as well.

Stace (03:24.525) No, I would have been like, you want a server for your shitty husband's birthday, whatever the fuck it was?

I'd like, you either have my baby or you find other guests.

Betty (03:33.75) Yeah, because wasn't the wife, the other wife, so the main, so the parents are Anne and Marco and the other couple is Cynthia and Graham.

And isn't Cynthia, she's like quite against like the kids.

She's like, no, children.

It's an adult's birthday party.

Stace (03:48.993) And I would have been like, sorry, these two adults have no babysitter.

Betty (03:52.63) Yeah, yeah, very strange.

But so the child goes missing.

They obviously call the police.

The story unravels a lot.

get this sort of lots of different twists that happen through the books.

It does definitely keep you interested.

It does definitely keep it intrigued.

I don't know if I like the twists in it.

I don't know if I should say too much, but yeah, there's no spoilers.

There's a lot more to it than just Stace (04:09.721) So what did you like?

What did you like about it?

Yeah.

No, no spoilers!

This is the non-spoiler episode!

Betty (04:24.002) the couple and like obviously in most cases I think this is fair to say I don't think this is spoiling it obviously they start looking at the parents first because you always look closest first don't you and you're reading it from like different people's points of view I think it changes I'm not sure who's though Stace (04:33.645) Always.

Stace (04:42.649) between the husband and the wife.

Betty (04:44.576) Is that all it is?

See, this is my problem with the book.

I don't find it massively memorable.

Like had to go back and read my notes today because I did read, I audio booked it a couple of weeks ago.

So I think that's my, it was good.

I was listening to it.

I was into it, but it wasn't very memorable for me.

Stace (05:02.295) Yeah, so it's not one of the things that you didn't like about it then it was just once you it was over it was gone.

I your brain.

Betty (05:08.256) Yeah, yeah, maybe it's not one that's stuck in my head.

It's not, it wasn't bad.

I don't think it was bad.

Like I said, I wanted to keep listening to it.

I wanted to find out what happened.

It just wasn't, just wasn't memorable for me.

Stace (05:23.577) There was nothing really, I found the same thing.

I'd actually read it before.

I listened to the audio book because Libby had it I'm like, I've got a few hours, why not?

And I'm like, I remember everything that happened except the major twist at the end that I had forgotten, which is like the whole point of the book was that major twist at the end.

And I'm like, I'd forgotten all about that.

So you know what?

It was one of those books where the pacing just didn't feel quite right for me.

So I felt a bit repetitive in spots, but I gave it four stars the first time around and I gave it Betty (05:31.054) Yeah.

Betty (05:39.842) Yeah.

Stace (05:53.399) the same this time around, so it was decent.

It was all right.

Betty (05:55.599) Yeah, I was 3.5.

So it wasn't, yeah, it's not, if someone said, what did you think of this book?

I'd be like, yeah, read it.

It's, it's okay.

It's good.

It's good enough.

Stace (06:05.177) Yeah, I would recommend it for sure.

I would definitely give it the Bonnie seal of approval, but it wasn't like mind-blowingly brilliant.

Like I said, I've completely forgot a major twist.

like, cause I knew, knew stuff, but I didn't remember the most important stuff.

It was weird.

Yeah.

I would, definitely like her books though.

She's, I do like her as an author.

Betty (06:12.547) Yeah.

Betty (06:27.008) Yeah, I've got another one of hers.

It's on my bookshelf.

I got it at one of the charity shops.

It's Everyone Is Lying.

And I think from what I've read, that might be like her best one.

So I'm really excited to read that one.

I just need to find time for it, which isn't anytime soon.

But yeah.

Stace (06:36.951) Yeah, I- Stace (06:43.587) Feel your pain there, I do.

Now, the first book I did that you did not read was Nothing Tastes as Good by Luke Damarse.

And this one was interesting.

It's a horror thriller.

I like him as an author because the last one I did of his, was like paranormal.

Well, this one wasn't like that.

This was like body horror.

There's like, he's obese and he really wants to lose weight because he feels like he's not valued as a person in society because he's huge.

Like he's a big boy and he's writing a blog.

And there's a miracle cure.

So this is like one of the key themes of the book is that he joins this like program to get money whilst they're testing this weight loss drug.

And then we find out that he's got lost time.

He's unreliable as an arrear.

And there's cannibalism.

You're to put two and two together and realize that he's blacking out and there's people turning up like, yeah, okay.

Yeah.

Betty (07:40.104) my god!

Stace (07:42.905) Now, I started the book and I know what this author is like.

He tends to like go, la la la la.

And then you go, oh my fucking God, what did I just fucking read?

And yeah, he worked his magic here too, okay?

Now the book was really heavy on trigger warnings.

Like there's eating disorders in there, because obviously he's, you know, there's fat phobia, childhood abuse, and it is gory as fuck.

If you did not enjoy, you did not enjoy the book that we did for the Splatterpunk.

I do not recommend this book for you even a little bit.

Not even a little bit.

I loved it because it was gross.

It was absolutely fucking gross.

I was so disturbed, but I had to keep reading and I felt myself like needing more information quicker because he paced the book really, really, really well.

And I loved how the story kind of like unfolded as it was going.

I was on the edge of my fucking seat.

needed to know things, okay?

But the problem for me is I had an art copy of this book.

And so I had it on Kindle.

Betty (08:11.224) punk.

Betty (08:25.358) you Stace (08:39.073) And when they're talking about it, when it's the story rolling out, it was fine.

But the blog post, because he was a blogger, were like this much on the screen and it was like right in the...

my God, it was pissing me right off.

Like the format and...

I was like, but it's going to be like that for everybody on Kindle.

So it's like the whole page.

Now it's like squished in the middle and I fucking hated that.

And I, I'm not going to lie, I might have skipped a couple of sections of the blog because I'm like, fuck that.

Betty (08:52.498) I'm reaching a bit of a half a minute.

Stace (09:08.345) I'm like, no thank you.

And the character Emmett was a fucking, my God, he was such a whiny little bitch baby.

A whiny little bitch baby.

I did not enjoy that at all.

And he had this fucking habit of like using pop culture in such a way that I felt ashamed for him.

I felt cringy and I'm like, I don't know why you did that.

Leave that the fuck alone.

And it wasn't as suspenseful as I would have liked.

Like we knew that the cannibalism like early on and.

It kind of felt like we'd just been given the information and we were just kind of following along.

And that really sucked because I wanted to give it five.

That's what I predicted, but I gave it four.

And I'm like, you know what?

You could have done so much more with this book and it would have been the best book of the fucking year.

was, I was literally like, you know, you know, when you said you were pulling faces when you're reading that, yeah, I could feel my face was like, that was like.

Betty (09:40.737) you Betty (09:57.487) It does sound mental and it sounds like a very different type of story.

you know, what I think once I've done a bit more like, what do you call it when it's like family drama?

Do you know what I It's like, yeah, no, it come, it come then in my head and then the words just gone again.

Domestic thriller.

I've got a bit more that side.

This sounds very different and very intriguing, actually, like.

Stace (10:02.253) Yeah.

Stace (10:09.163) Yeah Stace (10:17.881) Domestic thrillers, yeah.

I need the word to and I'm like, oh, that.

Betty (10:27.244) I mean, I don't like all the chorus.

I don't like if it's gross, but the splatter punk was just, it was too much of a descript, like it just went on for too long.

But if it was just this.

Stace (10:27.287) I have to warn you because I you don't like gross stuff and I don't like gross stuff so I'm like- Stace (10:36.983) Okay.

Okay.

Well, this one wasn't like that.

So you, you might, okay.

I'm not saying don't, I'm just saying go in with that mindset because I was, yeah, there was some spots like, and I'm like, Betty (10:42.317) Yeah.

Betty (10:49.356) Some people are eating him while he...

They're like sucking the fat out of him or something.

What's happening?

Okay.

Stace (10:55.607) I don't want to spoil it, this is supposed to be the spoiler free part, but it's like, I knew it was cannibalism going in because that's like one of the key themes, so it's not like it's a secret, but yeah, you, yeah, yeah.

Betty (11:04.204) Yeah, okay.

Betty (11:09.292) Yeah, well, still full star though.

Stace (11:12.951) I stood, yeah, I really enjoyed it.

Like I said, he's really fantastic writer.

I read the paleontologist.

It was a really good book.

I knew I was going to like it.

I just didn't.

Yeah, that was, it was a format and thing was, was huge.

Like I must've skipped at least six of the blogs because I can't read it on my Kindle like that.

was, how fucking retarded is that?

Betty (11:33.263) Do you know what?

I'm reading Unspeakable Things, which I've been trying to get free for ages.

And it keeps doing like little tiny squares with this writing.

And I'm literally, the Kindle's like on my fucking nose that I can't read it because it's so tiny.

Yeah, but I'm reading it laid in bed with my cover on, with the Kindle being held on the Kindle holder with my clicker.

I'm not getting out of the covers.

will suffer and just lean forward more.

Stace (11:45.753) You can make it bigger!

I know.

Stace (12:02.946) That's still on my list to read, but I'm to read that on my iPad because that's where I tend to read my Kindles and that's a big space.

Betty (12:07.98) You might want to wait till I'm finished because I'm not really sure how it's going to be fair.

It was it felt a bit bit down and then I didn't pick it up for a couple of weeks because we were doing something else and I was like, I'm into this and now I'm not sure again.

I'll keep like, I'm like, who the fuck knows?

At the minute, I wouldn't be recommending it to be honest, but I will finish it and see.

Because I think what I liked about it was it is based on like a true Stace (12:11.627) Okay.

Yeah, because I'm Stace (12:28.311) Okay, well maybe I'll hold off on that then.

Betty (12:37.378) true crime that happened.

I don't know if it's in Canada this one, because the next book we're going to talk about is also based on a real crime.

okay.

I'm so excited to hear what you're saying.

I don't know if you're angry with me about this book.

This is what I can't tell.

Stace (12:43.259) we're gonna leave that one till last.

We're leaving that one till last.

Yeah, we're gonna leave that one till last.

I got shit to say to you.

Stace (12:54.873) we'll talk.

So what was your next book?

What was your next book?

Betty (12:57.422) We'll get to No, I've only got those two.

Oh no, I was going to do Missing You.

No, I wasn't.

Yeah, Missing You.

I thought we was just doing four though.

You've confused me.

I do have another one.

Stace (13:04.387) Yeah.

Stace (13:12.845) Yeah, we're doing four because I did my, I did two and then our shared book, right?

So that would be, that's only three.

Betty (13:18.958) Yeah, I did too.

Okay, I'll tell you about Missing You then.

So Missing You is Harlan Cobham.

think a lot of people think he's as an author.

I had actually watched the TV series, but when it came out, which was probably, I don't know, in the last couple of years, I imagine, I can't remember.

So I sort of knew the story, but I couldn't remember all the details.

Stace (13:26.253) DO IT Yep.

yeah, that's right!

Yes, I remember now.

Stace (13:46.862) Yeah.

Betty (13:47.555) So we follow Kat Donovan who, she's police officer.

She, I don't know, she goes on this dating app and she ends up matching with her ex of like 10 years ago who she like really loved and he just kind of up and left and it all got left a bit funny.

So they sort of started talking, but he started pretending as if he didn't really know who she was.

And so she was a bit like, that's weird.

Anyway, another side, so that's one side of the story where she sort of Stace (14:10.371) Yeah.

Betty (14:17.366) Confused about this guy Jeff who she's got with then she gets approached by someone called Brandon who his mom's gone missing and he tracks down a cat because she's been talking to Jeff on this app and he's like hacks the app because his mom is Apparently her boyfriend is Jeff So it's all like all like links together and it obviously builds quite slowly.

It builds really nicely.

So then it's just sort of investigating like why is Jeff involved?

Where's the mum?

There's also another side story about Kat's dad and what happened to her dad.

He was killed while working.

He was also a police officer.

So she's still not happy with what they've said has happened to her dad.

So she's also trying to work that out as well.

and it all like kind of plays out together like these kind of all different storylines.

So yeah, it was really good.

You know, long lost love tragic death like some good tropes in there.

But yeah, it's really interesting.

I audio booked it again.

Audio booking is easy to do on the go.

But yeah, it was good.

It's good.

It's just like a classic Harlan Coban.

Not that I've, this is actually the first one that I've read or listened to.

I've before when I've done them, it's when they've done the TV series.

So there was this one, there was another one who had Michelle Keegan in it and I can't remember what it was called, but really enjoyed both.

Stace (15:38.167) I've done them all.

Every time he drops one, we binge it.

Me and Mike, yeah, we fucking love him.

Betty (15:44.524) Have you done, because we was going to at one point on our list, we was going to do the Reese Witherspoon Harlan Catoen.

We should do that at some point.

Stace (15:51.331) Yep, I'm down for that.

I'm so down for that.

I've arched a couple of his books.

I've done arch-reviewing for a couple of them on NetGalley, so I like his writing style.

I do.

Betty (15:59.343) Have a great day.

Betty (16:03.958) Is there, do you have a favourite?

Stace (16:07.447) of his books?

Stace (16:12.257) not that standing out.

They're all pretty much four stars.

I've only read like four of them.

I did two arcs and two separate.

You know who we should do?

Sarah Pimbra.

Have you seen this show on Netflix behind her eyes?

I know I gonna say Netgalley.

The book is brilliant.

The book was brilliant.

Betty (16:25.858) What did you say?

Betty (16:30.477) Oh yes, yes, Behind Her Eyes is amazing.

Yes, I'll definitely be up for doing another one of her books.

100%.

Can't remember what I rated.

What's that?

Is that the dog?

I did see it, yeah, but I can't see the dog.

Oh yeah, I did, I full-styled it.

It's a good story book, definitely recommend it, especially if you already like Karl and Cobham.

Defo, good one to read.

Stace (16:38.989) Hey, get out of my lights, you.

Sorry.

You didn't see my lights, Flickr?

The dog's playing under my seat.

Good.

Yeah.

Show was good.

Stace (16:57.689) I will do my last one before we move into the other one.

Okay.

So I did Why He Can't Find You by Darcy Coates.

I actually thought it was a thriller.

It's not.

It's a young adult horror book.

So that really blew me away.

Now I didn't know what to expect going in because obviously I didn't even know what fucking genre it was.

But it was basically like this small town and it's got like this dark secret and they just pull this new cop to work there because no one wanted their position.

And he brings his daughter and people just go missing.

And then like after so much time, their body parts are found, but sometimes so together with other people's body parts.

Yeah.

So they know they'd have a good idea who it is because he goes and buys the exact thread that's used on this.

Okay.

But they can't prove it.

They literally, and he just swans around doing his fucking thing.

And it's got like a stalker, like slash serial killer going on in there.

Betty (17:38.062) Eww!

Stace (17:56.515) found family, final girl.

And everything seems to happen in the woods, but every now and again, it doesn't.

But these people go missing when no one, like, like no one sees anything.

And it's creepy as fuck.

Now I love the story about like the woods and what was going on in there.

It was, it was creepy.

It was done really well.

And it was all kids, right?

So these kids are the ones that are like, they're coming up with rules about not going out alone and doing this and doing that, how to cope.

And They literally figure out what's going on, like, because they piece it together, because they want it to stop.

And I thought it was so clever and the kids weren't annoying, which I really liked, because sometimes like 16 year old kids are like, fuck off.

Like, you're an idiot, fuck off, what the fuck do you know?

But I also didn't like the fact that they're the ones to fix the problem, because they had all these adults that kind of just like accepted it, which is like, oh, whatever, like people die and they go missing and then weird shit happens.

like the whole town was like a ghost town.

Betty (18:35.854) Yeah.

Stace (18:54.841) Like no one drove anywhere.

I don't know why.

Like, so all these cars were just abandoned.

It was weird.

People couldn't sell their houses.

No one wanted to fucking live there.

It was just really fantastical to me that these kids are the ones that go, fuck it, we're going to stop this because we've had enough and no adults thought to help.

Like, I don't know.

It just, it seemed really far fetched, but with Stranger Things being a TV show, I was like, kind of have to overlook that because they, they started fixing all this shit, right?

Betty (19:13.505) Yeah.

Betty (19:24.398) That's funny because you went to Stranger Things and in my head I was thinking of Scooby Doo.

Stace (19:30.775) Really?

That's fucking hilarious.

Yeah, I guess them as well.

But I don't know, it just it wasn't as creepy.

Like it sounds really creepy, right?

But it wasn't quite as creepy as I was hoping it would be after I realized what it really was.

I didn't hate it.

I didn't love it.

The pacing was like decent enough that I wanted to know what happened.

And I think I gave it like 3.75 in the end because I don't know, the ending was just like, I just don't believe it.

I know it's a horror and most of the shit that happens in horrors don't really happen.

Even what was happening with the bodies, I could get behind that, but the kids like fixing it all on their own.

just, I, that what I couldn't, I wasn't sold.

But I really liked it.

The audio book was really good.

Like I, I really did enjoy it.

I really did.

Betty (20:01.591) Yeah.

Betty (20:07.63) I Thank you.

Betty (20:19.086) I quite enjoy young adult books.

done a few of Holly Jackson, obvious one.

Do know what?

I'm thinking all of them are Holly Jackson.

Have you done Five Survive?

Is that Holly?

Yeah.

Yeah, I quite enjoy young adults.

And then with them, I'm more likely that one of my kids might read it and speak to me about it.

Yeah.

Stace (20:22.486) I do!

I love Holly Jackson.

Stace (20:32.91) Yeah.

Stace (20:36.449) Alright, we- Stace (20:45.785) We're gonna move into the book that you told me to read.

You wanna introduce it?

Betty (20:49.454) okay so this is the patient's secret by where's an angle it's Lorif and white probably right again for someone who reads a lot I can't pronounce a lot of words I'm realizing fucking dumb and you think I just Google this shit before we started doing this but I'm clearly not prepared and so yeah so the story start the story starts with a body's found on the beach It's found by the husband.

I'm trying to find my notes.

there we go.

The husband's called Tom.

He finds a body on the beach.

He's out on a jog in the morning.

He comes back to his house.

His wife sees him come in.

goes upstairs and he calls the police.

On the way, at the beginning, you realize that on the way he's popped into his shed, and we don't know why.

The son's kind of sinned this.

We've got multiple points of view going on here.

So the story is kind of finding out what happened.

And it turns out that they know this lady, name's Arwen.

She was sort of, I don't know if she's like, I think I like she's moved into that area.

And we meet sort of some different couples that all know each other.

Some of the lads go out drinking together.

They're all like the main woman who is Tom's wife, Lily.

She's a psychotherapist and Tom is a kind of therapist.

He's in that field as well, but I think he might work at a school.

Then they've got other friends who I think are probably all sort of that kind of vibe, them sort of people.

Arwen moves there, she's single mum.

She works at the bar where they go drinking.

So we find out that they do know her.

And then the story just builds on...

all the different things to do with this character, Arwen, and how she knows everyone.

So then you start getting your different sort of suspects of who's done it.

like, it comes down, it could be like any of them really.

But we, then we've got to work it out.

But yeah, what did you think then?

Stace (22:46.905) All right, I'm just gonna say to start with, like this book had unreliable narrators, like the narration, you didn't know who you could fucking trust, small town gossip, which I really enjoyed, and the true crime fiction aspects of it, because this is also based on a true event.

Now, it's funny because I had to Google it before I started the book, and it actually was based on a murder that happened right here in Alberta, not far from here, happened in Medicineham.

So it was 2006.

Betty (22:48.814) You Betty (22:54.83) Yeah.

Betty (23:13.57) Stace (23:17.273) A girl wanted to date a much older boy.

was, I think she was 12 and the parents didn't want her to do that.

she, they, between them murdered her whole family so that she could be with her 20 year old boyfriend.

She's literally the youngest person in Canada ever be convicted of a crime of that magnitude, like the youngest murderer ever.

And I was like, woo, I'm excited.

author, she is an investigative journalist and I'm like, she knows how to write.

How am gonna put this?

I DNF'd it.

Betty (23:49.598) Shut up, you didn't.

Stace (23:51.069) I did, I got 70 % through it and I'm like, why am I doing this to myself?

And I stopped.

Betty (23:59.821) How could you stop?

Stace (24:01.731) It was horrible.

It was horrible.

I didn't care.

It was slow.

It was horrible.

I hated everything.

I hated the characters.

I hated the pacing.

I hated the plot.

It felt ridiculous.

She felt like she was a robot writing a fucking story.

I know, I felt the same way.

I did.

I felt the same way.

wah, Yeah.

And I literally was laying in bed and I'm like, I'll finish this tonight.

Betty (24:05.13) I'm really surprised you don't really do this.

Stace (24:31.671) And Mike's like, how much you got left of that book?

I'm like, a lot.

He was like, you've been reading for two hours.

I'm like, I've done 36 pages.

Betty (24:38.862) Hahaha Stace (24:40.503) That was it.

Her writing was awful.

Like I'm not saying that she's not a good author.

She was so not for me.

It wasn't even funny.

And he was like, why are you still reading it?

I'm like, because we're doing it on party.

was like, yeah, but don't you advocate for like DNFing?

I'm like, you are right.

And I stopped and I don't regret the decision at all.

Betty (25:00.994) God, I'll have to tell you what happens at the end because you won't know what happens, but I'll tell you what happens.

Stace (25:01.975) Yeah, it was horrible.

Stace (25:07.661) don't care.

I don't care.

I know why she was there.

I don't care.

know that they had like the, like the backstory of like the, the family was found and whatnot, didn't care.

I could have quite happily have just kept going.

Like, I don't know.

I just, I was not vibing with that story one little fucking bit.

And I really wanted to, because I was like, when I first started and I realized what the story was going to be loosely based on, I was anticipating it was going to be a solid four stars.

And I was really fucking excited.

I gave it a one because I Betty (25:13.966) Yeah.

Stace (25:37.361) I didn't finish it.

I DNF'd it.

my fucking god.

No, I DNF'd it.

I DNF'd it.

I'm like, I can't do this.

I'm like, why am I putting myself through this?

It was horrible.

Betty (25:39.157) I forced out it.

Betty (25:47.886) It was good.

I'm actually quite shocked, but I do agree if you're not enjoying a book.

But if I'd got 70 % for a book, I think I would finish it.

Stace (25:57.369) And I normally would have, but I pushed myself to get to that 70%.

It took me almost three days.

I should have been finished.

I had other things to do.

I had other books to read.

And I was getting to the point where I was like, I would have rather have read the next two books in a series of the books that used to start.

Or was that one, The Husband, something or whatever, can't remember now.

Yeah.

Betty (26:02.508) Yeah.

Betty (26:09.546) I'm Betty (26:17.422) I'm How's it going today?

Stace (26:23.981) The dog agrees with me.

She's like, give me more treats because it was horrible watching you go through that.

you go.

Yeah, I did not like it.

Not one little bit.

Betty (26:27.744) That's crazy.

But yeah, if you're not enjoying it, don't do it.

The only thing that I've I can't I won't say too much because this we're not going to spoil it.

But I didn't see the ending come in.

I was slightly annoyed about something not being explained, but it's because it was based on these real murders that Because I didn't know, I knew it was, I sort of heard something.

And when I read after I was like, that's why she's done it like that, because she can't explain it because of how these murders was done.

you know, I don't like unanswered questions, but it's a real thing that was never answered and still not been answered.

I was like, okay, that's fine.

and I can't say the other bit because it might spoil it but yeah there was something else but I would say overall I enjoyed the pacing I cared about the story the only thing is though there was a couple of bits in there you know like you mentioned about the real life crime was like a 12 year old girl and the boyfriend was about 23 or something like it was mental.

And then she references a lot that I don't know she was sort of more mature or whatever.

But there's also Lily and Tom's daughter Phoebe, I think was her name.

She's also going out with Arwin's son Joe and he's 16 and she's 12.

And I'm like, why are we doing this?

Why are we doing this?

Why are we doing this like?

Stace (27:37.219) Yeah.

Yeah.

Stace (27:49.271) Yeah.

Betty (27:50.095) Do you know, mean, like 12 to 16 is a massive difference of who you are at that age, I think.

That is huge.

16, you know, you could be getting ready for other sorts of relations, can't you?

12 year olds, you're not thinking, well, you're hoping that your kids ain't doing that.

I don't know why she used, like she already had the one reference in the past of these murders.

So I don't know why it was necessary.

I don't really know how much that changed the story either, that being part of it.

Stace (27:54.519) Yeah Stace (28:19.449) I don't know if she was using it as symbolism for foreshadowing of what had happened in the past.

History could have repeated itself.

And I think that maybe that's what she was, but it didn't land for me.

didn't.

I was, no, I just, I don't know.

was not, I was just like, meh, meh, meh.

And I don't, if I've made it that far in, I'm like, I'm fucking plugging, but I just, couldn't.

Two hours for 30 pages, come on.

Betty (28:19.714) I didn't know.

Betty (28:27.202) Yeah, probably.

Betty (28:31.501) didn't like.

Betty (28:47.726) I, that Unspeakable Things, I had put it down to read other books.

When I went back to it, I was like, I'm just going to see how much I've read.

And I was like, oh, I've already done 30%.

I'll finish it.

You've got to see this.

Stace (28:59.437) Yeah.

Well, I usually get, I did, and I wished I'd stopped sooner because I didn't, not, didn't gain anything by continuing.

I was hoping that it would amp up, but it really didn't.

It was tragic because I really, really wanted to, because I remember that story.

I was, lived here during that story and it was absolutely horrific.

Yeah.

Like it was, it was, yeah, it was all over the news.

I remember it well.

Betty (29:08.824) Yeah.

Betty (29:20.782) Hello, I didn't know that.

Stace (29:28.611) about this book just went.

Stace (29:33.527) What in the plopper?

That was a big plop.

Betty (29:36.271) Wow, I'm honestly quite shocked but we do seem to be disagreeing on a lot of books lately.

It's like we've been doing this since the end of November December.

We've pretty much got the same vibe and feels from a book apart from that the husband's one that you said that I too saw and then made you read it which you liked.

Other than that we're pretty similar and we've been quite different recently.

Stace (29:43.693) Just slightly, yeah!

I'm intrigued to see what- yeah, I dunno.

Stace (29:58.798) Yeah.

Stace (30:03.449) Yeah, I don't know.

It's been, I don't know if it's me, maybe I'm in a different, a slightly different era, because I'm a mood reader.

So I flit around a lot.

So I'm wondering if it's just the mood I'm in right now.

But we've also been picking books I already knew I didn't like.

So that's also trying to change my mind and I ain't working.

Betty (30:13.667) Yeah.

Betty (30:20.236) Yeah, that is true.

That is true.

Have you got any plans for next mini pod for what you want to read?

Stace (30:32.089) Well, gonna, well, no, I hadn't because what we'd set up was we were gonna do the top three thrillers of the year we liked so far and then the three worst and then we were gonna dip diverted.

Betty (30:39.397) yeah.

Yes?

Yes, yes.

Stace (30:44.537) So that's what we got coming up.

So next week, what you're gonna get from us is my top three thrillers of the year so far and my worst three and Betty is gonna do the same thing.

So that's gonna be an exciting episode because I wouldn't even know what to pick at this point.

If somebody put me on the spot, I'd have no clue, would you?

Betty (31:05.742) I feel like I've got two that I don't, that I didn't like.

Stace (31:10.765) Well, I can't, I was gonna say, I've got Gongo and Silent Patient, but I think I'm gonna, there are other books, so I think I'm gonna surprise you all.

Betty (31:16.704) Yeah, yeah, I'll I'll go through my list and see, go through my Goodreads and see what I've got.

But yeah, if you, if you want to keep up with us, if you want to see what books we're recommending and what we're not recommending, make sure you drop us a follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcast.

So you can check us out next week.

Stace (31:35.415) Yeah, and you can definitely decide whether or not you're more on Bonnie's side of the fence or if you're on Betty's side of the fence, because we are not so much lately.

And it'd be nice to see which teams, kind of like Verity when you've got team manuscript and team letter, I wanna know whether you're team Betty or team Bonnie.

Let us know in the comments.

Yeah.

Betty (31:44.532) Nope, not like that.

Betty (31:51.982) I can't wait to understand this reference to verity.

Stace (31:56.153) you will.

You will.

We hope that you have the reading week that you deserve and we hope that you join us next week.

Take care, readers.

Betty (32:07.321) See you soon.

Why do I keep saying that?

Stace (32:11.694) It's hot.

Book Slayers

Dark Secrets & Twisted Lies, Dark Psychological Reads | Mini thriller pod

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