One of these days I'll stop posting my book posts almost half way through the following month! But better late than never I suppose! August was a slower month of reading for me. It was a really busy month as summer wound down, but the five books I read were pretty good for the most part!

Five Stars

Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty by Patrick Radden Keefe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I have a feeling this will end up being the best book I read in 2022. This book takes a close look at the Sackler family and the way they aggressively marketed OxyContin. The writing is phenomenal. I couldn’t put this book down and multiple times I’d finish a chapter and be thinking how can this be a true story. The insidiousness of this family is truly mind blowing

Four Stars

Reservations for Six by Lindsey J. Palmer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Three couples meeting at the same restaurant six times per year to celebrate each of their birthdays. It's a tradition that's bound them together forever. But when one of the members of the group makes a surprising announcement at a birthday dinner, the friend group gets shaken up. Told through multiple points of view, you get a look into what is happening with each couple, the secrets they keep from each other and from the group and sense of never quite knowing what's happening with even your closest friends!

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Jess arrives at her stepbrother's very fancy Paris apartment, she finds him missing. He's left her a strange voicemail, and she can't quite place how he affords such a fancy apartment on his journalist salary. As Jess begins trying to figure out what happens, the other residents of the building have odds reactions. This book was good, and while I thought I'd figured out the twist, it turns out I definitely hadn't. A fun, though dark, thriller like Lucy Foley typically delivers.

Metropolis by B.A. Shapiro
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw this author speak at the Gaithersburg Book Festival and was inspired to pick up her book after hearing her talk about it. Metropolis is a storage facility and this book tells the story of six people who either have storage units or work at Metropolis. At the book's opening, someone has fallen down an elevator shaft. You don't know if they're alive or dead, if the jumped or were pushed. The book jumps back in time and from six different perspectives you find out what happened to get to that point and what happens after. I really enjoyed this book, even though everything maybe tied up a bit too nicely at the end.

Three Stars

The House Across the Lake by Riley Sager
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I fell in love with Riley Sager books over the last year or so, but his newest one really didn't do it for me. It started off pretty slow and took me a while to get into it. There was also a paranormal element to this book that I thought just really detracted from the whole story line. One thing I've always loved about Sager's thrillers is that they're so twisty, and I can't believe half the time that something like that could happen. But in this case, one of the major plot points just wasn't believable and that kind of ruined the whole book for me.

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