Review: Trust No One

Trust No One by James Rollins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for the advance copy of Trust No One by James Rollins. Here's my honest review.

What a rollercoaster! It's been a while since we've had a James Rollins standalone. He's got Sigma Force, going on forever now. He's got fantasy stuff. He's got some side stories about Tucker and Kane, but it's been since what, Altar of Eden, that we've gotten a new standalone? And it was worth the wait.

This one does not disappoint. A small group of college students is thrust into a very dangerous power struggle between two factions that have been warring for generations - the Brotherhood and the Guardians. What are they fighting over, you ask? The treasures of a historical figure, the last of which supposedly includes the secret to extending life far past the normal limits.

Alas, the evil Brotherhood didn't foresee this group of meddling kids getting in their way.

Trust No One was a LOT of fun, and I highly recommend it to thriller fans, Dan Brown fans, fans of Rollins' other work, Steve Berry fans, etc.

Five stars.

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Review: How to Get Away with Murder

How to Get Away with Murder by Rebecca Philipson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's for the pre-release copy of Rebecca Philipson's debut novel, How to Get Away with Murder. Below is my honest review.

What a way to start off 2026... with a banger of a five star read. One of the best debut novels I've ever read (and I read a lot of those!), so Rebecca Philipson, you've got my attention!! I can't wait to see what you do next.

I will say there are a LOT of potential triggers in this book, mostly from the chapters discussing the cold cases/Denver Grady speaking on his past murders, which involve all sorts of content warnings. But also because the main character is dealing with the fallout of a colleague in her office SAing her. So be warned going in, this could trigger you. Philipson doesn't go into much detail on that, and the emotional arc for the main character is overcoming the trauma this has caused her and regaining her strength, and it's done with aplomb and power.

Hard to put down, compelling, and really, really, really good.

Five stars. First read of the year and I highly HIGHLY recommend picking it up if you read mystery/thriller and are okay with some grit.

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Review: Nowhere Burning

Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Tor Nightfire for the pre-release copy of Nowhere Burning by Catriona Ward. You'll find my honest review below.

Wow. Just... wow. This book slammed straight into my heart. I absolutely loved this one. The twists, the turns, the traumas, the triumphs, the devastation of abuse and being powerless, loss, grief, hope, finding strength... so many big feels and big psychological explorations.

This is my first Catriona Ward, beyond a little shortie through Amazon's Original Stories (Night and Day in Misery, part of The Shivers collection) that I really enjoyed, but this will not be my last.

I really don't want to spoil things, because the synopsis does a fantastic job of giving you a picture of the plot setup, but it doesn't really prepare you for what's to come. And the "what's to come" was what really pushed this novel into becoming one of my favorite reads of 2025.

Five stars, highly recommended, but gird yourself - there are potential trigger warnings all over with this one.

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Review: First Sign of Danger

First Sign of Danger by Kelley Armstrong
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's for the pre-release copy of First Sign of Danger by Kelley Armstrong. Below you'll find my honest review.

ALL the stars. Extra if I could.

I love love love this series (from Rockton #1 all the way through until this one, Haven's Rock #4), and this one was no exception. Twists and turns and a dark mystery to solve.

There were some touch and go moments in this one that were hard to process, but I can't spoil anything so I won't say what they were.

All in all, another fantastic entry into Armstrong's delectable Yukon settlement series. I was super sad to see the note at the end that said to look out for Casey and Eric's final installment in February 2027. I don't want another one of my favorite series to end. Sad.

Five stars, highly recommended, but please don't start here. This is like 11 books deep into a series and its spinoff. You'll spoil so much for yourself if you start here. The series is entirely bingeworthy, so do yourself the favor and start at the beginning.

Sad to see the note at the end saying the final Haven’s Rock book will be Feb 2027. Another of my favorites ending :(

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Review: The Devil's Bible

The Devil's Bible by Steve Berry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Grand Central for the pre-release copy of The Devil's Bible by Steve Berry. Below is my honest review.

This one is Berry at his best, even though it's brutal and heartbreaking and nerve-wracking and stressful. There was a lot of intrigue in this one, like usual, but The Devil's Bible had quite a few layers of plots and schemes. Luckily, they weren't convoluted, so they were easy to follow, and watching Cotton, Vitt, and Nelle untangle the knotted web of alibis and deception was entertaining. We had a lot of past to revisit in this one as well, with references and discussions of the events of books gone by.

I had some issues with the sheer volume of sentence fragments and questions missing question marks, but I'm hoping many of those were or will be caught with final passes before publication. Not sure why Berry has suddenly started using fragments so often (one page is almost entirely sentence fragments!) in his last few books. Maybe he always did and I just didn't notice. I'm not sure.

Anyways, the ending of this one was world-shifting, so I'm interested to see where Cotton's story goes from here and how things will work moving forward.

Four and a half stars, rounded up. Highly recommended for fans of political intrigue and action movies with historical references, etc mixed in. I'd very much suggest reading the rest of the series first, as this one is built on LOTS of past history and ties up some MAJOR threads. But that's up to you, dear reader.

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Review: Secondhand Luck

Secondhand Luck by Kim Harrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for the pre-release copy of Secondhand Luck by Kim Harrison. Below is my honest review.

Kim Harrison built a really cool world in Three Kinds of Lucky. In Secondhand Luck, she tore it to pieces and built it back even cooler.

Most of the time I feel like book two in a series is weaker than book one, as they're still finding their footing and trying to make sure the characters all have storylines, etc. But in this one, I felt like it was stronger than book one, or at the very least, just as strong.

It really changed the game up. I loved the development of new bonds - specifically the ones Pluck has with himself and those around him. I loved the fun powers. The villain was actually pretty scary and always a step ahead.

Five stars, highly recommended for urban fantasy fans. But do yourself the favor of reading book one first.

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Review: Operation Bounce House

Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for the pre-release copy of Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman. Below you'll find my honest review.

This one was a roller coaster! I recently discovered and binged the entire library of available installments in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and LOVED them, so when I saw this standalone by Dinniman on Netgalley, I knew I had to request it.

Sadly, for the first half (maybe 60%) of the book, I was struggling hardcore. It was slow and a little repetitive. But the last 40-50% totally made up for that in awesomeness, so I'm glad I didn't give up!

He's crafted a novel that touches on how we treat people we perceive differently than ourselves, the issues with AI, and what it means to be a human on every end of the spectrum of behaviors.

I don't want to give too much away (Roger was my favorite, so I'll say that), but I'll say this:

First half or so - 2 stars. Needed some pacing work.

Second half or so - 5 stars. Top notch, real emotional and storyline payoff.

So on average, that's about 3.5 stars (2+5 = 7, divided by 2 = 3.5), and I'll round up because the last half was that good, so 4 stars overall.

Recommended for fans of sci-fi and dystopia, but be warned, don't go in expecting Dungeon Crawler Carl. Give it a fair shake as its own thing, like I did by the end but should have at the beginning.

(PS - thank you, Dinniman, for the little easter egg of Princess Donut.)

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