Tag Archives: Nina Sadowsky

Convince Me by Nina Sadowsky – a Review

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Convince Me by Nina Sadowsky – a Review

 

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Description:
Justin Childs is handsome, likeable, smart. A devoted son to his mother, Carol; a loving husband to his wife, Annie; and a sure-footed, savvy business partner to his best friend from college, Will. To so many, the perfect man.
He’s also a liar. And now he’s dead.

When Justin’s body is retrieved from the wreckage of a car accident, his death leaves his loved ones with more questions than answers. In life, his charm and easygoing nature inspired trust, making him friends wherever he went. Now that he’s gone, the cracks begin to show: disturbing discrepancies in his company’s financials, unaccounted-for absences, a medical record that appears to be entirely fabricated.

As the secrets and betrayals pile up, Annie, Carol, and Will realize their beloved Justin was not the man they thought he was. And why was he found dead with Valium in his system when he notoriously detested drugs? Was the crash that killed him really an accident–or did Justin finally get caught in something he couldn’t lie his way out of?

 

 

 

Review:

Convince Me by Nina Sadowsky is a psychological thriller. I have read a few books by Sadowski, which were very good mysteries.  I am happy to note that Convince Me was a fantastic thriller, which had me glued to my kindle. 

Annie, our heroine, meets the man of her dreams after a car accident.  She met Justin, who ended up helping her at the accident scene and went to the hospital with her. But as fate would have it, they fell in love and became a perfect couple; Justin was successful and the life of the party and everyone envied Annie.  They are married for a short time, when Justin was killed as he lost control of his car over a cliff.

Convince Me is told with three POV’s;  Annie, his wife; Carol, his mother and Will, his best friend.  Each of the three are devasted by Justin’s death.  After the funeral, both Annie and Will begin to find discrepancies about Justin, such as his and Will’s company and their financials; business partners that are not as it seems, absences and medical issues that seem to be fabricated.  The early part of the story, we get to see the family and friends, and the good times, but about a 1/3 of the way in, especially after he died, things change drastically. The man who everyone admired, the husband who Annie loved, the perfect son, and a friend to die for. Slowly they discover the secrets and lies, that he is not who they thought he was. Was he a sociopath?  Did Justin die accidently or did someone kill him?

What follows is that Annie and Will begin to work together to find the truths that emerge about the real Justin, as the secrets and betrayals are revealed, escalating into a unique, exciting, game changing psychological thriller that will upend both of their lives. As the plot thickens, the body of a women Justin may have been cheating with is found dead.  Carol receives letters from Justin that was sent before his death that implicates Will.  At this point, the last 1/3 of the book is a wild, intense, exciting race to the finish, with one surprise and twist after another.  I was unable to put the book down, as it was an edge of your seat thriller.

With so much happening, effecting all three of them, I cannot tell too much more, since it would be spoilers.  You really do need to read this book.  A definite do not miss.  Bravo to Nina Sadowsky, who gives us a great psychological thriller that is totally different then most thrillers.  I also must say that the climax was an amazing ending.   Convince Me is so very well written by Sadowsky. If you enjoy thrillers with a few twists, you need to read Convince Me.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

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The Empty Bed by Nina Sadowsky – a Review

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The Empty Bed by Nina Sadowsky – a Review

 

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Description:
Eva Lombard is being followed. Or so she suspects

Eva and her husband, Peter, are in Hong Kong on a romantic getaway from London when Peter wakes up in their hotel room to an empty bed, his wife gone without a trace. His worst fears are confirmed: Eva wasn’t imagining things. Suddenly, he finds himself the number one suspect in his wife’s disappearance, trapped in a foreign country with no one to turn to. He calls his boss, Forrest “Holly” Holcomb, who enlists the help of Catherine, his ex-flame and the enigmatic operator behind the darknet witness-protection program known as the Burial Society.

As a favor to Holly, Catherine sends her team of highly trained Society members on a dangerous chase through Hong Kong to find Eva–while she takes care of pressing business at home. Not only is she tasked with a mission in Mexico City, protecting a family that knows too much from a vengeful pharmaceutical company, but an FBI agent tracking down the missing wife and child of a charismatic businessman is about to come dangerously close to exposing the Society’s secrets.

In these intertwining story lines that converge in unexpected ways, not everyone is who they appear to be–and not everyone who is lost wants to be found.

 

 

Review:

The Empty Bed by Nina Sadowsky is the 2nd book in her Burial Society series. I did not read the first book in this series, but once I got used to the multiple POV’s, it did read well as a standalone.  As noted, in each chapter, it was a different POV, which was a bit confusing early on; but about a ¼ of the way in, I knew the characters., though I was a little stumped as to where this was heading.

Catherine is the lead in this series, as she runs The Burial Society, who help rescue people in dangerous situations, and helps them escape to sort of a witness protection system.  She has a group of trained members, whom she sends to various missions; in The Empty Bed, some of these missions will tie in.

The story starts with Eva and Peter Lombard going on a vacation to Hong Kong to fix their failing marriage, which Peter surprised his wife with.  Eva notices a strange man seemed to be following her, and when she tells Peter, he just brushes it off as her imagination.  The following morning, when Peter wakes up, with his wife not in the hotel room; after trying to call her, he decides she is playing hardship with him, and goes out on his own.  Along the way he gets mugged, and when he gets help, he realizes that Eva was right, someone must have been following her and now she is missing.

When Peter calls his boss for help, Catherine, who is a friend of the boss, is notified and sends a team to Hong Kong.  Stevie and Jake (not their real names) try to work with Peter to find Eva, as well as protect him from those chasing him.  We learn that Eva has old powerful friends in Hong Kong who are helping her, as she has no idea who is after her and why.  As they get close to finding each other, the danger escalates for all of them, as the villain has ties to someone closer to Peter, and Eva might have a picture on her camera that they want.  While Stevie and Jake protect them, it is Catherine who realizes her old friend may have something to do with whatever is going on.  Can she trust him?

Catherine is also working with a couple of other members to help a woman and her child escape an abused relationship from and powerful enemy.  There is also another POV of an FBI agent who is trying to find the woman and child that are missing.

The Empty Bed is an intriguing, exciting, action filled and intense mystery that had three storylines going at the same time, with two tying in.  There were some twists and surprises along the way, though I will say it at times it was difficult to keep up with.  With that being said, The Empty Bed had an excellent premise written very well by Sadowsky, and interesting society protecting those in danger and lots of action.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

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