I think I woud have enjoyed this more if the storyline wasn't so drawn out. The book was a little wordy at times. The last quarter of the book as things came together and secrets and twists were revealed was really good.

Thank you NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the copy of Black Rock Bay. Mia and Izzy were wonderful characters and a great team. I love ‘locked room’ mysteries and this one really delivered. Imagine being trapped on an island where the only way off is at the whim of the weather and a killer might be lurking around. Imagine going home to the island where people suspect you were behind mulitple murders in your youth. The writing is propulsive and the story is puzzling. I am now hooked on books by Brianna Labuskes!

The intention of psychological manipulation and texture depends on the people that are playing a game. Doing it on a well-to-do island where everyone knows everyone is a tricky procedure. While the set up and progression of most of its narrative seems to work, “Black Rock Bay” [Brianna Labuskes/Thomas & Mercer/363pgs] falters in the final pages simply because the viciousness and smartness of the antagonist is not realized or as satisfying as it should be. The book begins with Mia and Izzy, two detectives from Maine, going out to a secluded border island that is both a haven for the rich but also a home to locals. Mia left after she was a teenager because of her supposed role in the killings of her best friends. No one knows what really happened but the prologue speaks to altered perspective which may or may not be correct. Returning to the island is a contradiction in terms for Mia. No one really wants to say anything but they also want to protect their own. 2 of Mia's friends: Asher and Monroe become pawns unwittingly as does Cash, one of Mia's former loves. The book works best when it mixes in elements of misdirection. However the details, however distinct become a little misshapen. The actual settings is quite interesting and the elements of storms and lighthouses definitely bring a distinct flavor to the proceedings. Ultimately, the book is a story of betrayals between family, blood and beyond. But the resolute mechanics that the book spins even in regards to the character Lacey never feels undeniably formed. It feels like a distinct movie of the week, perhaps a Lifetime movie, a fun enough guilty pleasure but one that doesn't elevate itself beyond its primary goals. C

By Tim Wassberg

Great thriller which I could not put down. Brilliant characters, and twists and turns. Highly recommend to others!

This book was a bit of a crazy ride! There are secrets, but it is a slow moving dark story. It will reel you in and you will be brought back to Mia's past because it is now becoming her present. She is wary of going down these same paths yet it cannot be helped because everything is connected.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* Pretty good, wouldn't mind rereading eventually, didn't want to put down :)

Well written, interesting from the start, captivating and well developed storyline at a good pace.

This is my honest review. All opinions are my own

TW suicide, self harm

The first time I picked up this book I put it right back down after the first page. The first page contains a fairly graphic yet disjointed memory of self harm that put me off the book at first. I decided to give the book another shot and I’m glad I did.

The small community the majority of the book takes place in was incredibly atmospheric and I felt like all of the characters were incredibly interesting. I don’t read a ton of mystery/thrillers but I felt like the pacing of information was enough to keep you interested and guessing without feeling overwhelming. As you get to the end of the book the pace picks up nicely, making that switch from mystery to thriller and tied most all loose ends up at a nice pace without feeling rushed.

I was teetering between 4 and 4.5 stars for this one but unfortunately the final scene was not my favorite and bumped it down to four stars to me. I am not normally someone who includes any spoilers in my reviews but there is just no way to explain my thoughts on this one without some spoilers so if you want to avoid spoilers just skip the rest of this paragraph. The descriptions of self harm in this one were just too much for me and were not done tastefully in my opinion. Not that there are really many tasteful ways to describe self harm, but the last scene of the book seemed unnecessary and just there for bloody shock value. I don’t even like books that leave you hanging with an unanswered question and I think I would have preferred not finding out what had happened 15 years ago to that scene.

Overall a very enjoyable read that I would definitely recommend to someone like me who is new to the thriller scene. 4 stars. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was heavy on atmosphere and chills, the perfect set-up for a thriller with mysteries that span the decades.

Mia Hart left the small island community where she grew up after a tragic night when she was 16. Now she’s back for the first time, after the body of a journalist was found washed up on the island’s shore. Was it suicide or murder? Mia and her partner, Izzy, get the feeling someone wanted him dead, and it may be because he was asking uncomfortable questions about the night that changed Mia’s life forever.

Like I said, the atmosphere and energy are the stars of this book, with the cold weather seeping out of the pages and the characters just coming alive as Mia navigates the ins and outs of the community, which is full of secrets as well as liars.

As the mystery unravels, things take a darker turn and the ending is really dynamite. It’s the type of ending that you don’t really feel too sure about, and it kept me thinking long after I had closed the book. But it wasn’t a bad feeling, just one that made me think about things. About justice, the past, etc. I don’t want to give too much away.

Mia and Izzy make a great pair, and I’d love to see more of them in the future. They’re the classic opposites make the best friends sort of team.

I’d definitely read more from this author in the future. I look forward to it, in fact.

This is a slow-burn of a thriller that might take a while to get into but is worth sticking with. Premise - a detective returns to the small island she grew up on off the coast of Maine to determine if a recent death was a murder or suicide. The trouble is, she left the town under a cloak of suspicion after a suicide pact left her two best friends dead and her nearly there. While solving the current investigation, her past comes back to the fore, and she may get the answers she was looking for. I have a few quibbles, like, who doesn't eat for 3 days and still functions, and there was a shooting that seemed unrealistic, but overall a good story well-told.

Black Rock Bay was a really atmospheric and intriguing mystery that has me excited to read more by this author! This is my first book by this author but it certainly won't be my last! One of the things that I enjoyed about this book so much was the sense of isolation that was present throughout this book. Mia and her partner Izzy go back to the island where Mia grew up - it's this tiny island that is difficult to reach and with a very small population. The island is also this strange place where no one trusts outsiders and really most of the islanders cannot be trusted themselves. And then there were constant storms, snow, and other difficult weather that just gave this book such an eerie feeling. The constant sense of isolation that was present was at times suffocating but so very suspenseful! I loved every minute of it! I also loved the feeling that there wasn't anyone that I as the reader could really trust (even Mia herself with her missing memories). Izzy was about the only one that I fully trusted throughout the entire book. I saw another review that compared this book to Gillian Flynn's Sharp Objects - I can definitely see the comparison. This book has that same layer of distrust that is present throughout the book and it also has the small town feel where nothing is as it seems. I love books that are atmospheric and keep me guessing the entire time! My one complaint is that I just didn't quite jibe with the ending and I can't put my finger on why. It was good (don't get me wrong) but just didn't feel as strong as the rest of the book. I wish I could put it into words more but it would be a spoiler and I'm not even sure I could explain it if I tried. I think I just wanted a bit more maybe so let's leave it at that.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will definitely be reading more by this author! The tension and suspense in this book were top notch! I truly hope that other readers find this book because it deserves way more attention than it has gotten. I don't think I've seen it on bookstagram at all which is a shame! I think that readers will enjoy this one if they enjoy isolated or locked room mysteries (not quite the same but the island is cut off so close to same thing), if they enjoy slow building thrillers filled with suspense and atmosphere, and definitely if you enjoy books with characters where you don't know who to trust. Highly recommended!

Bottom Line: This book and author are one of my standout finds so far for 2020!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. Honest thoughts are my own.

I read this book in a weekend - it sucked me in and kept me hooked until the end. I'd highly recommend it and will definitely be looking out for more work by this author. There were enough twists to keep me guessing, which doesn't happen often for me.

Very interesting ready, enjoyed it thoroughly. Thank you to the author and publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read

Black Rock Bay is a captivating detective novel. A young detective returns to her hometown to investigate the death of a local reporter. It doesn't take long for her to be swept back into the mystery surrounding the apparent suicides of two of her high school friends. While it is a slow burn, readers will be rewarded with a chilly thriller, and when the fog clears, you will be surprised at what it reveals.

*Many thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy via NetGalley.

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Avid Reader – ☆☆☆☆
M/F Psychological Thriller
Triggers: Murder and suicide

Mia is back to where it all began. She hates where she grew up, but with a murder on the island, her boss knows that she is probably the only person who will be told what truths might be out there.

Izzy is Mia's new partner and while they are still figuring out whether or not they can trust, they are thrust onto the island where Mia grew up. While Izzy tries to figure out who can be trusted, she also knows that they don't really have time for everyone to be lying.

This was an interesting psychological thriller with a lot of people involved. I really liked watching the clues come through. While I was able to figure out the bad character, it was a challenge up to the end. The twists and turns this story takes are exciting and unpredictable. I truly enjoyed watching this story unfold.


Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
St Lucy’s, a small island of the coast of Maine, is a cold place to live. The weather is cold and the people are cold if you are not one of them. When the body of a reporter is fished out of the water in St Lucy’s, Cold Case Detectives Mia Hart and her partner Izzy Santiago are sent to investigate.

There is a real bleakness to St Lucy’s. From the time of Mia and Izzy's arrival it is clear that there is far more going on than meets the eye and that the current case is somehow linked to the events that saw Mia leave the island at 16 years old without a backward glance.

The connection between then and now make for an intriguing mystery and kept me turning the pages in the beginning, which starts off slowly. It takes time to meet the locals and potential suspects and many are not willing to talk. But it was worth being patient. Halfway through I was fully immersed and hanging to find out who the killer was and what it all had to do with Mia. The action and tension really ramp up in the second half and moves at a much quicker pace. I felt like I was racing to get to the end, reading faster and faster, although I probably wasn't. When I got the end I was satisfied, surprised, and even a little unsettled. Black Rock Bay is an excellent mystery and if you like a good “who done it” this book is worth your time.

It's been 15 years since Mia had been on St. Lucy's Island, Maine. This tiny place, home to about 200 residents year round, was isolated, battered with horrible weather, and full of bad memories. Mia Hart is now a police detective in Rockport and was sent to the island to investigate the death of a journalist on Black Rock Bay because it was familiar to her having grown up there. She's accompanied by her partner, Detective Izzy Santiago, and they are meant to determine if Robert Twist ended up in the ocean due to murder or suicide -- then off and away within a couple of days. That's the plan but it all starts going awry fairly quickly after their arrival. For one thing, NO ONE on the island will answer their questions truthfully. Even though Mia knows most all of them, she also knows that they protect each other and lying is something that everyone does very well. How can they solve this case and get back home before winter storms keep them stranded. With every contact and interview, the investigation gets steered off course and Mia is hampered by her own history there. Can the detectives get to the bottom of this very complex web of secrets, lies and obstruction? NO SPOILERS.

This was a very complicated and, at times, very frustrating read. Because of the evasiveness of the answers given by the townspeople, it was hard to figure out what was going on and which of the possibilities could be eliminated for the various scenarios. The description of St. Lucy's made me shiver as I could feel the cold and the isolation of the island so very well done with the writing style. There were so many characters to keep track of and hard to wade through the information. Add to that the fact that the detectives couldn't get cell or internet service -- well, they had to operate in a vacuum surrounded by so many untrustworthy people. The chapters alternated between the points of view of both Mia and Izzy -- the insider and the outsider -- which gave another dimension to each interaction and experience they shared. This wasn't a particularly fast read but I sure spent a lot of time trying to outguess the author to figure out where this was all going, the motivation, and the revelations that would explain it all. This is the first book I've read by this author and I did enjoy the atmospheric tension and, though a bit slower of a pace than I'm used to, I would try another book by Brianna Labuskes.

Thank you to NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for this e-book ARC to read and review.

Interesting premise of a detective returning home to the scene of a tragic suicide pact that she managed to survive. However, the authir asks you to suspend disbelief that our detective has selective amnesia related to the incident. The story is a bit convoluted and the characters somewhat underdeveloped.

3.5 stars for me!
A great mystery/thriller about a young woman trying to solve a crime and it leading into her past. This story is told in a 2 person POV and while it does drag a little and move slowly in the beginning, it did pick up and get more intriguing as it progressed. I enjoyed this story and was going back and forth trying to figure it out the answers.

An amazing page turning thriller! Imagine growing up on a secluded island where everyone knows everyone and no secrets can stay buried. Mia ran from it as soon as she could but had to go back years later as a lead detective in a murder investigation. She was shocked but not so shocked to find out the investigation is leading to the very reason she left the island to begin with. What really happened that night? You’ll want to keep reading until you find out what happened.

Hello, hello!  Tomorrow is Halloween, so guess what that makes this post!  Yup.  Welcome to October's book review.  This month, I decided to try something a little darker, set on an island off of Maine.  It's called Black Rock Bay and it's by Brianna Labuskes.  It was released yesterday (October 29th), so of course I got an ARC.  Therefore, I must thank NetGalley and the publisher, Thomas and Mercer (an imprint of Amazon Publishing), for giving me access to the book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.  Now, let's get onto the fun part.

Black Rock Bay follows Mia and her newest detective partner, Izzy, as they get sent to Mia's old home in order to investigate a suspicious death.  It's an unusual assignment since they handle cold cases, but the islanders are secretive and only warm up to their own.  Granted, Mia hasn't been back in fifteen years due to a mysterious suicide attempt gone wrong, but her boss hopes being born and raised there will earn her some good will.  As Mia and Izzy dig into the suspicious death, they uncover something far more sinister than the average murder and it takes Mia right back to the time of her life she most wants to forget.

Sounds cool, right?  And it is, to a point.  I think I'm just going to jump right into my issues with the story.  The plot is interesting and plausible, but at the end there are a few loose ends that are never adequately explained.  Normally, this wouldn't be so bad, but it affects the believability of key parts of the story.  For instance, why is Ellen so easily manipulated?  Yes, people in trouble do weird things, but we never really get to know her motivation which makes her flat and seem like she was added specifically as a tool for the baddie.  But my biggest issue was what Sammy did.  He had absolutely no legitimate reason for that.  And the excuse we get was a vague mention that the baddie might have had something on him.  It was a really weak spot that made the whole story less believable.  And it was a twist that was completely unnecessary.  Even the author couldn't come up with a better explanation than "psychopaths do things for shits and giggles."  Like, yeah, but this is fiction.  There needs to be a reason for all the major plot points or things start to fall apart.

That being said, I really liked the core characters.  Mia was strong and a good lead.  She had her own issues to face, but fought against them until she absolutely had to deal with them.  Izzy was a nice foil, but she could have been more.  Lacey was a fun character that was a little hard to read.  And Cash was a bit neurotic.  I'm not entirely convinced he was supposed to be, but it made him more interesting.  The whole reclusive islander thing worked really well.  Izzy's ostracization was entirely believable.  No one was overtly rude to her, but they effectively shut her out.  That dynamic was probably my favorite part of this book.  And Izzy breaking down barriers with some of the islanders was artfully done.

The writing itself flowed nicely and made for an easy read.  It was interesting how the point of view swapped back and forth between Mia and Izzy; however, the narrative voice never really changed enough to differentiate the two, so if I didn't note who each chapter was focused on (it tells you at the beginning of each chapter), I admit I got confused.

Ultimately, I found Black Rock Bay to be so-so.  It's not bad.  In fact, the beginning is pretty good.  But it doesn't hold up.  It's not something I'll read again and it doesn't make me want to hunt down other books by the author.

Overall, I gave it 3 out of 5 stars.  Probably closer to 2.5 if I'm being completely honest.  It just didn't work for me, but maybe you'll like it.