Upon reading even just the first few pages of this new one, I knew I was in for a fun ride.

Desperate Paths follows Brooklyn, an aspiring actress who has somewhat isolated herself from her family so she could move to the Big City and make her dreams come true. But when her dad falls and ends up in the hospital, she takes some time to go home and make sure things are taken care of. Her sister is not the most helpful when it comes to communication.

At the same hospital that night is an actor who did make it big from their hometown, Darius Woods. He was shot, and the police are searching hard to discover who is responsible.

The novel has so many twists and turns as we learn alongside Brooklyn the truth of her family and her hometown. As you read, you see the pieces come together, and you start to solve the mystery yourself.

BUT THEN: NOPE. WRONG.

Just like in Broken Grace, once you think you have the mystery solved, TWIST. You solve it again? TURN.

The answer to the mystery is so unexpected from where the book began, and it left me turning the pages and turning the pages.

Honestly, my favorite thing about EC Diskin is that you read the book and think “ugh I know how this will end.” But then you actually don’t. This book has so many twists and turns you won’t want to put it down.

4/5. I enjoyed this one a lot!

Brooklyn was told that she was adopted a young age from her Dominican mother on a mission trip. The truth is so much different and she is soon going to face it. When she gets a text from her sister, she rushes home and is immediately in the middle of something that could completely destroy her life as she knows it. I thought this book was well written yet there were some character issues where I struggled to really understand how certain parts played into the outcome. Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley.

Description
In Eden, the truth can have deadly consequences.

Brooklyn Anderson knows it looks bad. She was found wiping down a gun. Her father now dead. His blood on her hands. The incomprehensible nightmare has started.

My Review
Wow, what a riveting engrossing novel. Desperate Paths is well written and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Definitely a must read.

Pretty quick read. HEAVY on the drama. I loved E.C. Diskin's Depth of Lies. This story was a little too much for me, but a quick read that definitely wasn't boring! 3 drama-drama-drama stars!

"Desperate Paths" was packed full of family secrets and lies. I loved and totally embraced the plot and drama within the novel. E.C. Diskin delivered an intriguing, well-written and entertaining read that gradually increased in tension and suspense. The complex characters were masterfully drawn and I thought the structure of this story was immensely enjoyable. I was hooked right from the very first chapter.

For me, E.C. Diskin did very well creating intricate pieces of puzzles to ponder over. but being an armchair sleuth didn't work out well for me. I had a go at guessing, but I never knew the why or how of pretty much anything until the fulfilling and neat ending.

Overall, this novel was a fun, entertaining and enjoyable read that I would certainly recommend.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Thomas & Mercer via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Excellent psychological thriller! It moved at a fast pace with twists and turns throughout! I can’t wait to read more from this author!

This book turned out to be different than I expected but it was still a good read. Most of the “secrets” were predictable but there were still a few surprises. There was so much drama that I felt like I was reading a soap opera but Brooklyn was such a likable character that I was compelled to keep reading.

A gripping suspense! Full of secrets and lies!!
This book was a real page turner that I couldn’t put it down till the end!

I’ve read two other E.C. Diskin’s books and I liked them both. As she sent me the heads up for her new book and saying this one has a different kind of story, I felt excited and suspicious simultaneously. This book didn’t betray my excitement. I don’t know how she always comes up with these brilliant suspense ideas!!

Brooklyn is a young woman from a small town and trying to make it as an actress in NY. She was adapted by her religious parents and has an older sister, Ginny who doesn’t get along with her, neither of their parents well. One day, Brooklyn get a text from Ginny saying their dad has had a fall and sent to the hospital, and also he seems showing signs of dementia. At the same time, there was a big incident in her hometown that a town hero movie celebrity was shot in his home and staying at the same hospital as Brooklyn’s dad. As she discovers what has happened when her dad fell, her family secrets begin to show up, turning over Brooklyn’s view of her past completely.

This book was slow start but when it flipped over the secrets kept coming up and completely blew my mind. The ending was a bit too ambitious, I didn’t know how it’s going to end but there was no need to worry, the author handled it beautifully.

There are also many social issues contained such as racism, abuse and religious fanaticism and they all tangles up to the twists.

I really enjoyed reading this book.

I marked it as 4.0 stars out of 5.0.

Everyone has buried secrets but just what is so terrible that it ends up leading to death, injuries, and more secrets? What is the truth behind the accidents? what is the truth behind the death of Brooklyn's father and what does her sister really know and what is being hidden? Twists and turns from chapter to chapter. More questions then answers until things start to become revealed. Thank you NetGalley for the chance to review this gripping story.

Loved this book! I couldn't read fast enough! It was hard not to feel something for every character no matter what they had done. This is my second book by E.C. Diskin and it won't be my last. Thank you NetGalley for the copy.

Thanks Netgalley and the publisher/author for this ARC for my honest review.

Well goodness. If you like drama, there’s enough in this book to last you awhile. Seriously. The chapters go back and forth from last week to current whike she’s in jail. Fair warning though, if you’re easily offended by certain topics such as racism,abortion and so forth, you may want to skip this one.

There is a LOT going on in this book between the main characters to the secondary characters. Murder. Abortion clinic, teen pregnancy, drama drama drama.

Desperate Paths is a standalone thriller which journeys into betrayal, racism, abuse, abortion and misguided parental teachings.

Brooklyn’s dad was a shining light in her life. She came to see him a week ago after her sister, Ginny, let her know that he had fallen and broken a hip. So why now, a week later, is she sitting in a police cell after being found wiping a gun and standing over his body?

Eden is a good, clean town guided by the morals and teachings of religion and Pastors like Gary who want nothing more than to let loose decent, upstanding teenagers into the world. So, it’s proper that the community turn on the local abortion clinic and kill a doctor, right? Well, no one knows exactly who did it, but you don’t hear any complaints.

Darius Woods is a boy who left Eden and made it big in the world of showbiz. He has now returned to see his father and brought with him a manuscript for a movie he has written about some of the residents and happenings in Eden. The names have been changed to protect people, but if this gets out, no one will be safe from the repercussions. Darius is shot shortly after arriving back in Eden—was this a case of racism, which is still rife in this town, or someone willing to do whatever it takes to save their name from being exposed in the manuscript?

The web of lies is being held together by a thread which is threatening to snap. If it starts to unravel, who knows what will be exposed. Eden is not the paradise it claims to be, after all...

This book is really busy, with a lot of storylines and intermingled timelines and I enjoyed it tremendously. I was literally just going one more chapter, one more chapter and I’ll go to sleep! You are introduced to Brooklyn who was adopted as a baby from the Dominican Republic and never quite accepted at school or by her older sister. As she starts questioning Ginny’s story about her dad’s accident and sees how Ginny is relying more and more on alcohol, she begins to realise that something is not adding up. The author takes you on the journey of her anguish through what she believes to be true now might not be and jumps back and forth in time in the story from the day she is arrested to the week prior when she comes home. This makes filling in the blanks like a treasure hunt where the reader is only fed tiny nibbles of the clues until Pandora’s Box opens and secrets start spilling out in a tsunami.

There are so many questions that just as quickly as they are answered lead to more questions and very often you find yourself liking a character and are then shown who they really are and land up hating them. It goes to show how often we make assumptions based on one trusted person’s opinion when there are a number of people warning us off but we won’t listen. The secondary characters all played pivotal roles, from a cop who wants to help out a friend by manipulating the rules of justice to a husband who is so self-involved that the world constantly lets him down as nothing can meet his standards.

I really appreciated the level of editing in the book as there were no mistakes in grammar and punctuation that interrupted the flow of reading and you were left to just devour each page as it went by. To be picky, there are one or two scenes that seem a little far-fetched even in the context of the story, but without them, the bigger picture wouldn’t be what it is, I guess. You will most certainly find yourself wanting to fly through the book in order to see where the story ends.

The themes in the story are deep, and if you are a person who is easily offended by stories involving abuse in the church, racism and abortion then take this as a warning before you decide to start to read. If you can read it for the sake of reading a great story, then jump right in; the highs and lows will have you questioning decisions and actions and sometimes just outright shaking your head. I highly recommend this book.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the author for the opportunity to review Desperate Paths.

3 stars to this chock-full-of-deception tale

Brooklyn is living her dream life in New York, auditioning and waiting to make it big in acting. Then she gets a message from her estranged sister Ginny that their Dad is in the hospital. Brooklyn races home to the small Midwest town where she grew up.

This one is told in two timelines, as the book opens Brooklyn is in jail and then the other chapters fill us in on her life and what has led up to this point. This one is full of twists, secrets, and drama and it was a bit hard to keep track of it all. There are equally complex subplots: racism, blind faith and trust in the church, teen pregnancy, and police looking the other way for friends in town.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this one, it just didn’t quite work for me.

Drama anyone? There is lots here to offer if you enjoy a bit of drama or in this case a lot in your domestic suspenseful novels!

I read this one with my Traveling Sisters and we had some different options on this one. We all agree there was a lot of drama going on here with this one and that affected the way we felt. There were three of us reading this one and we ended up feeling different about this one. One of us loved the drama, one thought enough drama and the other sister thought too much drama.

Small town, family dark secrets and lies, a murder charge, a shooting and some sister drama along with some family drama.

Desperate Paths send me down a desperate path of my own. A head-spinning path I didn’t know what direction to go path but in the end, it didn’t really matter because every path took you to the end. There was just that much drama going on here.

Desperate Path explores a few things here with the core around a family and their secrets and lies. It starts off a little slow but intriguing and then picks up near the end where we find out all the secrets and lies at once. Now this one did have some drama that I must admit I enjoy and that’s sister drama. I have been known to create a little sister drama myself that has left Norma’s head spinning. lol Did I just say that? lol I enjoyed the dynamics here between these sisters and the tension created between them added to the story for me. However, there was a little too much overall drama that came on very quickly and my head started to spin and I became desperate to finish. I recommend for readers who love a bit of drama in their thrillers.

I really enjoyed the author's previous bookThe Depth of Lies, and I am interested to see what she comes out with in the future.


Thank you so much to NetGalley, Thomas and Mercer & E. C. Diskin for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

For more thoughts from us the Traveling Sisters can be found on our blog
https://twosisterslostinacoulee.com/2019/03/27/desperate-paths-by-e-c-diskin-bookreview-bookbloggers-travelingsisterreads-askthetravelingsistersaboutourreads-askusaboutourbook/

Entertaining, unputdownable and an intriguing read!

DESPERATE PATHS by E.C. DISKIN is jam-packed full of family secrets and lies and as the story progresses they just keep on coming with lots of twists and turns to be had here. For some the overzealous plot and drama might be a little too much to handle but for me I totally embraced and loved it all. In fact, I finished reading this one in less that 24 hours as I just could not put it down.

E.C. DISKIN’S delivers an interesting, tense and well-written read here that gradually increases in tension and offers a suspenseful twisty plot with complex characters. I thoroughly enjoyed the structure of this story and it had me hooked right from the very first chapter.

So this is where things went a little sideways for both Lindsay and Brenda where I thought that E.C. DISKIN did a fabulous job with creating little intricate pieces of puzzles for us to ponder from the story while sleuthing how they fit together when in reality I don’t think being an armchair detective works out well for this one. Although, I had lots of guesses and some of those guesses came to fruition I was never confident in saying that I knew the why or how of pretty much everything that came to pass.

This was a Traveling Sisters read that I read along with Brenda and Lindsay and out of the three of us I was the only one that really enjoyed this one.

Norma’s Stats:
Cover: Eerie, suspenseful, eye-catching and a great representation to storyline.
Title: Intriguing, interesting and totally could feel the desperation emanating from the different paths that these characters took.
Writing/Prose: Well-written, entertaining, engaging and readable.
Plot: Complex, interesting, dramatic, thought-provoking, fast-paced, twisty, and entertaining.
Ending: Twisty, surprising, neat and totally satisfying. With the complex nature of this story and all the twists and turns I really appreciated the neat and concise ending.
Overall: This was a fun, entertaining and enjoyable read that I thoroughly enjoyed the escape! Would recommend!

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Thomas and Mercer & E. C. Diskin for the opportunity to read an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.

An interesting story about how the past and the present overlaps, a story of family secrets, a town with secrets and healing.

Desperate Paths is a very complex mystery, shadowed with family dysfunctions, virulent addictions, and dishonorable clergy. That said, it's a very interesting read, hard to put aside to fit your daily life around the story. I should be rototilling the garden....

Brooklyn is about 20 with Hollywood stars in her eyes, living for about a year in an NYC walkup with several other aspiring actors despite her father's disappointment that college was not for her. Adopted as a baby born in the Dominican Republic after John and Bonnie's sole chick was grown, Brooklyn never had much of a relationship with her sibling Ginny. Their mother Bonnie passed with cancer about six months ago, and Ginny texts Brooklyn to come home to Eden, Illinois as their father is now in the hospital with a broken hip and lacerated head after taking a fall at home.

Home is not what Brooklyn expected, and the secrets creeping out of the woodwork are overwhelming. Why is Ginny telling lies? Is John really deeply into dementia? Did Ginny really have a relapse into alcoholism after 13 years sober? Who shot the abortion clinic Doctor all those years ago? Who shot actor Darius Woods last week as he was visiting his father? Who has read Darius' play about his high school days in Eden? Will Ginny be able to get her life back under her control? Whoever said living in a small town was simple?

Desperate Paths was a gift from author E.C.Diskin and publisher Thomas & Mercer through the Netgalley program, in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

2 stars. Too much drama for me!

Brooklyn Anderson returns to her hometown of Eden to help care for her aging father who is in the hospital. While there, she reconnects with her estranged sister Ginny who needs helps caring for their father. Darius Woods is a famous actor who grew up in Eden and recently returned with a screenplay and many hidden secrets from his past. Darius is shot and taken to the same hospital as Brooklyn’s father within hours of his return to town.

This novel takes place over a seven day period, starting at Day Seven, moving to Day One and then the days in between. I was intrigued with how it started at the conclusion of the story which kept me wondering what lead to such a drastic situation.

After the first half of the book, the drama kicked into high gear and I completely lost any sort of connection I had. I ended up skimming quite a bit toward the very end because there was so much dramatic effect. Unfortunately, this novel simply wasn’t for me. With that being said, I loved this author’s previous novel, The Depth of Lies, so I would be interested to see what she comes out with in the future.

This was a Traveling Sister read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Thomas & Mercer and E.C. Diskin for providing me with an ARC to read and review.

Brooklyn lives in NYC as a struggling actress. She gets a call from her sister, Ginny who asks her to come home because their dad fell and is in the hospital. She goes home, but she is frustrated because Ginny has never been very nice to her. She realizes when she gets home that her dad may not have fallen and a lot of things are not what they seem. A pretty quick read from Diskin.

This book has a very interesting plot, but I don't like all the jumping around in time. It's messy, the story gets messy and there's a lot of repetitions to explain things over and over.