When it's freezing and dark outside, all I want to do is make myself a cup of tea and curl up on the sofa with a good book (yes I am intact an 80-year-old woman). Of course, me being me it has to be a thriller, something grizzly, creepy and exciting is a must cos you know, six years of watching The Walking Dead has really upped my standards when it comes to gore and horror so it takes a lot to creep me out.

Luckily, this perfect little foursome of novels fits the bill. My weird, worryingly morbid bill. Over the next week or so I'm going to be working my way through these beauties and of course sharing my thoughts with you about each one individually. I've just finished The Widow in a 24-hour sesh as it was SO good I couldn't put it down, literally, I was stirring pasta sauce over the hob with one hand and had the book in the other! 

Here's a little blurb about each one to get you interested and stay tuned for more on these as I work my way through them!

BOOKSHELF: THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN BY PAULA HAWKINS

A love of crime/thriller novels is one I think I've inherited from my mum, after first borrowing her James Patterson books I discovered a love for all things gruesome and grisly (I know, how weird does that make me sound) so when I first heard about this book I was dying to read it. This post won't contain any spoilers. Zero, zilch, nil!

The Girl On The Train* is told through the perspective of three different women; Rachel, Anna and Megan. Rachel is ultimately the girl on the train. She makes the same two journeys each day in and out of London and in the morning her train stops, like clockwork, at the same signal. From the train she can see into the lives of a couple that live in a house that backs onto the train tracks.

She names them; 'Jason' and 'Jess' and day in, day out she watches them, making guesses about their lives and relationship until one day the train stops at the signal and Rachel sees something that changes everything and she finally has a chance to become more than just the girl on the train.

The story is gripping, with insane amounts of twists and turns, some slightly predictable and if I am completely honest - which I always aim to be when writing my bookshelf reviews - the ending for me was less of a surprise and more of a confirmation of suspicions I'd had throughout. That's okay though, as it's not always necessary to be kept entirely in the dark where crime and thrillers are concerned, you'll want to keep reading regardless to find out if your theories are proved right in the end.

I quite enjoyed the fact that I found Rachel a difficult lead character to like, she had traits that I'm sure most women can relate to on some level but at times I was frustrated with her and I've rarely felt like that about a protagonist in a novel before.

It's tricky for me to talk about The Girl On The Train without spoiling aspects of the plot but I would 100% recommend this novel if you're a fan of twisting and turning mysteries and thrillers. This book isn't as gruesome or grisly as some others I've read, like YOU by Caroline Kepnes, but it's gripping nonetheless with a lot more insight into the emotional damage left behind by betrayal and broken relationships which is the recurring theme throughout.

Let me know if you've read The Girl On The Train, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

*This book was sent to me for review by Transworld Publications.

BOOKSHELF: DEATH CURE BY JAMES DASHNER

This book, guys. I can't even. I finished it a few weeks ago and hadn't got round to writing up my thoughts on it until now but I suppose I should start by saying there will be no spoilers in this review, as always.

I've mentioned many times now that the Maze Runner series by James Dashner is one of my favourites ever and this third book just had me curled up in a giant ball of emotions. This book follows on from The Scorch Trials and the Gladers are trying to figure out what the hell is going on - still. They've endured two hugely challenging trials, the Maze and the Scorch and are now faced with another two challenge, maybe a little closer to home - having their memories back or not and finding out if they are actually immune to the dreaded flare or not.

This book is the final chapter for Thomas, Newt, Teresa, Minho and the other characters and it's hard to talk about the story in depth without giving too much away. The Gladers get separated at WICKED HQ and Thomas, Newt, Minho, Brenda and Jorge are on a mission to escape the wrath of WICKED once more and they venture to a new city, built behind tall walls and supposedly safe from cranks, to find the friends that they've lost. Here they encounter a blast from the past as well as discovering that nowhere is safe from WICKED and the deadly virus that is sweeping the earth.

This book is intense and honestly I never wanted to put it down until I read a certain chapter - when you read it, you'll know which chapter I'm talking about - and then all hell broke lose and I was a wreck, more of a wreck than I was when I read PS. I Love You or The Fault In Our Stars. Yes, that emosh.

I loved it though and the only thing that will stop me missing reading about these characters is knowing that I'll be able to do it all again when The Fever Code is released in 2016!

BOOKSHELF: YOU BY CAROLINE KEPNES

As always, there will be no spoilers in this Bookshelf post so if you haven't read the book then don't worry, hopefully you'll want to by the end of this feature!

You may notice a recurring theme with my Bookshelf posts, I'm kinda going through a creepy-thriller phase which is probably partly down to the fact I had a bit of a chick-lit binge while I was on holiday earlier this year and now that's out of my system I needed something a bit more gritty.

I picked up YOU, written by Caroline Kepnes, while in Tesco which I love for book-buying because almost all of their paperbacks are £3.97 or two for £7 so my mum and I usually end up leaving the weekly food shop with three or four books between us. Once again, I was drawn to this book because of the amazing one-liners and ratings that adorned the back cover. I also really liked the comparison to 'Gone Girls meets a sinister Girls' as I thoroughly enjoyed reading Gone Girl and I'm hooked on the TV show Girls.

When a beautiful, aspiring writer strides into the East Village bookstore where Joe Goldberg works, he does what anyone would do: he Googles the name on her credit card.

There is only one Guinevere Beck in New York City. She has a public Facebook account and Tweets incessantly, telling Joe everything he needs to know: she is simply Beck to her friends, she went to Brown University, she lives on Bank Street, and she’ll be at a bar in Brooklyn tonight—the perfect place for a “chance” meeting.

As Joe invisibly and obsessively takes control of Beck’s life, he orchestrates a series of events to ensure Beck finds herself in his waiting arms. Moving from stalker to boyfriend, Joe transforms himself into Beck’s perfect man, all while quietly removing the obstacles that stand in their way—even if it means murder.

YOU is different from a lot of other books I've read because it's told from the villain's point of view. You read the book from inside Joe's head and as a result you discover his deepest, darkest thoughts. He also refers to Beck as 'you' throughout the whole novel and although at first it was a little strange, after a while it made everything a little bit more personal and a lot creepier. This book isn't for the faint-hearted, it contains a lot of very mature themes and violence and just as you think Joe can't get any crazier, he does.

I found this book utterly mesmerizing and it only took me a couple of chapters to become absolutely hooked. I loved the inclusion of modern day movies and celebrities , for example Beck has an obsession with Pitch Perfect and Joe seems to mention Taylor Swift multiple times throughout the book. If you're looking for a thriller that will really test your boundaries then you will absolutely love YOU by Caroline Kepnes.

Have you read YOU or would you like to? Tweet at me @laurenfell or comment below to discuss! 

Bookshelf: The Never List by Koethi Zan

Wow. This exciting, terrifying thriller written by Koethi Zan had me hooked from the very first pag and although I'm never one to spoil a good story, let me set the scene for this incredible book that gives Gone Girl a run for it's money.

In The Never List, two young women - who have been overly safety-conscious and wary since they were children - are kidnapped and thrown into a cellar where they are kept for years by a sadistic psychopath who uses them - and other girls - for his experiments. With four girls inside the cellar, only three manage to escape. The story follows survivor Sarah and her quest to find out what really happened in that cellar to the friend she never saw again.



I absolutely loved Gone Girl and I will gladly hold up my hands and say I enjoyed this book even more. The story is gripping to say the least and if you love a book that will push you to your limits then this is the one. The story is dark and grim but I don't know a great thriller that isn't.

The author Koethi Zan has a way of writing the gruesome and grizzly parts of this story in a way that makes you go back and read what you've just read a few times over, just in case you thought 'no, surely he didn't do that..'.

If you've read The Never List then I would love to hear your thoughts. Tweet me about it @laurenfell!