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OutsmartYourShelf
Room 55 | Helena Kubicek Boye
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Mehso-so

Psychology graduate, Anna Varga, applies for a position at the Säter, notorious clinic for forensic psychiatry which underwent a recent scandal. Still, it's prestigious & would be a great career step, so even when Anna arrives at the clinic to start her new post & learns that her predecessor disappeared, she carries on.

Anna is asked to work with a new patient, a man who committed a well-planned murder but claims to have no memory of doing so.

OutsmartYourShelf Her work with him is intriguing but behind the clinic walls, something is terribly wrong. Where is the whispered about “Room 55“, & who is sending Anna the anonymous notes?

Reading this book is a lot like catching sight of something out of the corner of your eye, but when you turn your head to look - nothing is there. There's the promise of a chilling thriller but it's buried under trivial detail, for example, if you removed the character
(edited) 17h
OutsmartYourShelf of Milo from the book absolutely nothing would change in the storyline except for deleting several sex scenes. I have no problem with sex scenes if they add something to the narrative - these didn't.

(edited) 17h
OutsmartYourShelf TLDR: Somewhere in here is a decent thriller but it's hidden behind unimportant characters & unnecessary & out of nowhere sex scenes. 3⭐

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, Saga Egmont, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7731393006
Read 2nd-3rd Aug 2025

#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
17h
19 likes3 comments
review
OutsmartYourShelf
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Mehso-so

Tessa Hart has severe agoraphobia & has lived in her room for the last year. Her one escape is the online world as part of the fandom for pop sensation Eric Thorn, as @TessaHeartsEric, & she writes a fanfic story which goes viral.

Eric Thorn feels trapped by his fame & frightened by the dedication of some of his fans, especially since a fellow pop star was murdered by an obsessive fan. (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf His media team however want him to interact with his fans & order him to follow @TessaHeartsEric. Eric decides to use this to his advantage & contacts her via a pseudonym in order to eventually take her down, but their messages gradually develop into a real online relationship. But anyone can pretend to be whoever they want online, it doesn't mean it's true & when the two arrange to meet IRL, things turn deadly. 2d
OutsmartYourShelf I thought the insight into the life of a manufactured star was good, but I really thought it was going to be much darker in tone than it turned out to be. The majority of the book is the online romance between the two with some suspense at the end. 15-year-old me would probably have loved it, present me thinks it was just OK. 3.25⭐

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4290910247
Read 1st Aug 2025

2d
DieAReader 🎉🎉🎉 6h
28 likes4 comments
review
OutsmartYourShelf
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Panpan

A collection of 15 cases which offer a glimpse into the world of forensic science & its use in solving crime.

Forensic science is endlessly fascinating to me & the real life cases obviously provided a wealth of knowledge, but unfortunately that didn't transfer into the written word. In the ARC version I had, it read as if a foreign language book had been translated into English by AI, it was phrased oddly & was very disjointed. (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf There was also minimum description of the cases themselves & everything seemed to be rushed through. I seem to be in the minority opinion though as others have enjoyed reading it. 2⭐

My thanks to #NetGalley & the author for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5830058486
Read 1st - 3rd Aug 2025

#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
3d
24 likes1 stack add2 comments
review
OutsmartYourShelf
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Pickpick

The Zapruder film: a staple in JFK documentaries & films, it is regarded as the most critical visual record of President Kennedy‘s assassination. This book asks what would it mean if it could be proved that this version is not the original footage captured by Abraham Zapruder on November 22, 1963?

It was certainly an interesting read & will add to the ever-growing pile of evidence that a conspiracy was covered up. 3.75🌟

OutsmartYourShelf My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, Forum on Open Access to Government Records, Inc, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7691056065
Read 28th-31st July 2025

#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
5d
DieAReader 🎉Excellent!! 4d
29 likes2 comments
review
OutsmartYourShelf
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Pickpick

Good pace, a well-thought out plot, & two appealing main characters made this one of those books you can't put down! The narrative is told from both Lizzie & Bex's points of view & it lifts the lid on the disconnect that these women are selling traditional gender roles whilst raking in millions of dollars & that probably very little of what is seen online is real. (continued)

OutsmartYourShelf Overall I really enjoyed this fictional look at the darker side of the whole tradwife thing. 4🌟

My thanks to #NetGalley & publishers, HQ, for the opportunity to read an ARC.

Full Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7557447650
Read 26th-28th July 2025

#ReadAway2025 @Andrew65 @DieAReader @GHABI4ROSES
6d
DieAReader 🎉🎉🎉 5d
27 likes2 comments
review
OutsmartYourShelf
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Pickpick

England, 1910 & John Innes Nisbet boarded a train to work, carrying with him the colliery wages as usual but by the end of the journey, his body was found stuffed underneath the carriage seats in an empty carriage compartment. Nisbet had been shot 5 times with 2 different guns & the money stolen. A local man, John Alexander Dickman was arrested after several witnesses saw Nisbet with a man identified as Dickman at the station before boarding.

OutsmartYourShelf Despite extremely flimsy evidence, Dickman was sent for trial, found guilty, & hanged for the crime despite maintaining his innocence to the end. This book examines the evidence & asks if the real killer escaped justice, before giving a compelling alternative theory for what might have happened that day.

It certainly seems that this was a shocking case of a miscarriage of justice.
7d
OutsmartYourShelf Whilst reading through this, it became clear that the case itself rested on circumstantial evidence including a couple of very shaky eyewitness testimonies. Indeed if you remove one of the eyewitness stories & posit instead that the witness was not telling the truth, then alternative suspects come into focus.

A great pity that we will probably never know the truth & that a likely innocent man was executed. A very interesting read. 4🌟
7d
27 likes3 comments