Great roller coaster of emotions! Loved this new thriller by Karen McQuestion. Twists and turns I never saw coming. Highly recommend
Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book

Name of Book: 214 Palmer Street
Author: Karen McQuestion
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Bookouture
Pub Date: April 6, 2022
My Rating: 4

I am a big psychological thriller fan; however, I was not familiar with [Author; Karen McQuestion].

Story starts interesting with a complicated plot ~

Maggie Scott, a self-appointed “Neighborhood Watch” concern neighbor is suspicious when she sees movement in Josh and Caldwell’s house as they are out of town and will be gone for four weeks. Maggie goes to check it out and finds a Sarah who states she is the house sitter.
Sarah thought she has been super careful. She has been suspicious that her husband Kirk has secrets that include something that happened at 214 Palmer Street. She was out to find the truth and didn’t count on nosey Maggie spotting her.
Sarah has been having memory loss and vertigo since her serious head injury. The injury occurred one day when she went to her backyard to investigate why her neighbor’s dog was barking ~ and was suddenly hit in head with a rock!

At first had no idea why Sarah was injured or why she was suspicious of her husband and was checking out 214 Palmer Street.

Soon author, Karen McQuestion is throwing little bread crumbs of clues.

Story is told with multiple POV including ‘Her”.
(Soon got my ‘Ah Ha’ when I was sure I knew who “Her” is!)

Story is a page turner that moves easily from then and now ~ each keeping me super interested!

Plus To me the ‘Cherry on top’ of a great read is the Author’s Acknowledgements ~ an enjoyable/ insight to the motivation for the story.

In this case, in addition to Acknowledgments’ Ms. McQuestion includes ~ “A Letter From Karen”.
She tells us that she used to have a repetitive nightmare; where she was in her childhood home or perhaps the house where she and her husband once lived. She kept telling herself that she wasn’t supposed to be there….. what if the new owners came and found her…. but she somehow couldn’t leave.

Want to thank NetGalley and Bookouture for this eGalley. This file has been made available to me before publication in an early form for an honest professional review.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for April 6, 2022.

This book was disappointing! With an interesting premise and a good start, I was hoping this to be good, but nah, the plot kept getting predictable and lethargic, and went completely downhill post the 50% completion mark. A story that begins with Maggie Scott spotting a strange woman in her neighbour’s house who seems to know everything about the owners and Maggie as well (thanks to cyber stalking), and calls herself their house-sitter, could have been dealt in a much better way. As a reader, I hate it when the author tries to spoon feed me the clues. Give me a complex plot, drop subtle clues and let me work my way out. This is exactly what McQuestion got wrong for 214 Palmer Street.

Sadly, the characters had no depth and took ridiculous decisions which made me stop and sigh a few times. There were so many things/events beyond any logical reasoning: why Sarah chose to trespass Cady’s property instead of confronting her husband, or why Gavin exhibited the unpopular machete at his place and even demonstrated it rather proudly, or why Phil thought helping fulfill Sarah’s unreasonable plan was completely okay - well, we’d never know. I did find Stephanie interesting for most part, but like everything else, she got predictable and boring too.

Overall, a quick read, not quite the one that’ll amaze you.

Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
Publication Date: April 6th, 2022.

TW: Assault, Death of a child, Murder, and Stalking.

This is a light easy to read thriller, not a particularly exciting plot though, with few plot twists or surprises. I can’t say it was one I would bother to read again I’m sorry to say

The story alternates between Sarah’s past and present. The mystery of how Sarah went from happily married to living in a strangers house hooked me. Added to the timelines is an unnamed narrator for part of the story.
So several layers to the mystery. This was interesting for about a third of the story but at that point pieces of the plot started to come together too early. For someone who reads a lot of mysteries and thrillers the mystery element was just too simple. It went where I expected. I did keep going to see if I was correct.
I think this book would be a good choice for readers who like less complex thrillers or mysteries. While this isn’t a cozy, it has a similar feel in terms of the level of complexity. It certainly was an easy read. I recommend this for readers who want an easy, fast read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was an engaging and enjoyable read, very pacey and very hard not to read in one sitting! The story developed was handled very deftly and the different perspectives gave it texture and depth which I really enjoyed. The one thing I didn't love which I've knocked a star off for was the character development, they are really one dimensional, almost caricatures of themselves which makes it a bit of a shallow read - but still very entertaining.

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for an early copy of 214 Palmer Street. Great, Fast, Captivating read!!!!! Love books like this one. Kind of figured it out early on but didn’t want to put it down because it was easy to like. All around a fun weekend read!!!

Exciting read. Thrilling. It had me gripped from the off. There’s always something interesting about books written about neighbours. There always seems to be something sinister involved. Interesting characters. Found the book well written and flowed well. Definitely recommend this one

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for my honest review*

This was my first book by this author. This was an okay mystery book - it moved a little too slow for me. The writing was good and the story was good, it just dragged a little to me in the middle. I would definitely read more by this author because all in all, it was a good book.

This was a great read that kept me guessing, and the mystery of it kept me reading. It was hard to put down because I really wanted to know what happens next! The twists and turns were well executed, and I enjoyed that the character development included enough background that their motivations made sense.

I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery and suspense!

Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for an ARC. All opinions are my own!

Spoiler included!

This is the first book I’ve read by the author but prolly not the last. I really enjoyed it, read it in 48 hours. I like how it sets you up questioning the husband but, for once, he wasn’t the guilty party. That’s pretty rare these days. While not many of the characters were at all likable, that’s not a problem for me & while the protagonist has her issues (who doesn’t?😆), she’s still worth rooting for. Enjoy!!

This read left me impressed and satisfied. The draw normally found in thrillers brought me in, but the quick pace had me read it all in one day. I adored the way the story developed and revealed itself.

I found that in many of the reviews I have seen for 214 Palmer Street eviewers found the characters were unlikeable. I would disagree with this notion. I loved how the characters were authentically themselves and felt like they could be real people. They all had their good qualities as well as their selfish desires, darker motivations. What is a human without their vices? NOT REAL that's what.

Karen McQuestion was clearly unafraid of trying new things and refused to fit a model of what these characters should be. They did things that surprised me and I applaud the creativity in the ending. It was refreshing to see bold moves being taken with no remorse.

I loved that the book itself jumps between perspectives of Sarah, Kirk, Chief Gavin, Clarice, and a mysterious "Her" character. When the reading experience itself is driven by trying to make assumptions on; what's happened, what's going to happen, and what's going on it was addicting to have your perceptions change as different characters revealed more of the puzzle.

My only concern with the read was that it could get a bit repetitive. This is bound to happen when the narration jumps from present to past, however, I found some less important information being repeated by multiple characters, like the fact that Sarah had quit her job. Regardless of who said it the facts brought nothing new to the story.

I do recognize this could be for the benefit of those who may have chosen to read the book in multiple sittings versus one go like I did. The information reminders might be nice, just not my favorite writing decision.

After reading a handful of thrillers they can start to get cyclical and predictable, 214 Palmer Street is one to read if you are looking for something fresh.

Full Book Review goes live March 13th 2022 at: https://rxonebookaweek.wordpress.com/2022/03/13/book-review-214-palmer-street/

This was a quick read that I enjoyed. I found myself having trouble keeping the characters straight in the beginning and I was unable to follow the timeline throughout the whole thing but despite that it was still a fun story.

This book wasn’t really what I was expecting. As a psychological thriller it didn’t work for me because I knew what was happening from about a third of the way through so there were no twists and turns, however it was an interesting read.
The characters are well written, we really get to know them in depth which is great, although I have to say I wanted to shout at Kirk at times to give Sarah some space as he was very clingy but it was done in a loving way rather than a controlling one. He just wanted her to be happy. The description of the book talks of Maggie the nosey neighbour but she plays a very small part, she is introduced at the beginning and then we move straight on to how we got to that point of her meeting Sarah. I would have loved Maggie to have had a bigger role as I am sure she had some stories to tell.
The book covered a variety of topics including relationships, trust and guilt and each character shared their own stories relating to these, even though the main character is probably Sarah all the others played an equal part which was really interesting.
This was an easy read, the story flowed nicely, moving between past and present and had me wanting to find out how it all ended. If you want to escape and delve into someone-else’s lives for a few hours then give this one a go.
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC, all opinions are my own.

214 Palmer Street has a little bit of everything! There’s the nosey neighbor, don’t we all have one? There are so many secrets, and twists, and acts of revenge I had a hard time putting it down. Every time I thought I had it figured out, snap, there was a twist! It made for a quick read as the story moved easily from past to present throughout. I do have to admit that there were times I just wanted to shake some sense into Sarah, and I really wanted to pinch Clarice many times! I enjoyed the book and do recommend it. Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for an ARC. All opinions are my own!

Woah!
214 Palmer Street has some awful secrets!
This intense suspense story had me finishing this novel in a day.
I truly found myself thinking and working my brain to figure it out when I was supposed to be asleep.
It was just that crazy!
No spoilers, but as I turned the pages, the mystery and horror slowly begin to divulge themselves and when I was sure there could not be more, there was!

If you enjoy suspense- then this is the book for you! I promise, you will be reading it quickly!

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for this ARC and allowing me to read and provide my review.
Karen McQuestion never disappoints.

I found this to be a well written twisty tale. Multiple suspects and scenarios are presented to lead the reader into a tangled web of lies and deception. To make it even more enticing, the characters all knew each other as teenagers and several are forced take a hard look in the mirror regarding their past behavior. As the events of the past are revealed, it also opens the door to the mystery currently taking place. A great blend of mystery and character development.

#214PalmerStreet
This book is really awesome n it engaged me fully inside the story. It's a high suspense thriller. Everything was just picture perfect..
Thanks to NetGalley and Bookouture for giving me an earc.

This is a really good read. It was well written with an engaging and gripping storyline and well developed characters that were so interesting. It was a compelling read that was twisty and unpredictable and left me not knowing what to believe, who to like or what was happening - and I was there for it. I loved it,

I love when books fully engage my mind and have me wondering and trying to figure out the mystery. It’s the best therapy for keeping an aging mind sharp and so much fun! Right from the opening pages, that is what I got reading 214 Palmer Street. Plus, I can’t express how much I appreciate and applaud Karen McQuestion’s writing. She doesn’t need or use graphic content and offensive language to deliver an entertaining and satisfying suspense. I will be reading more of her books and looking for her new releases. I also enjoyed the way she wrapped up the ending of this suspense and told what happened to the characters. Highly recommended author!

Thank you to Bookouture for a complimentary copy of this book! Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. (I will post reviews on Amazon, B&N and Goodreads upon publication.)