this was a great suspenseful murder book, the characters were great and I really enjoyed reading this from beginning to end.

I could not resist reading this book even though I knew it would cause nightmares for me! Curiosity when a new neighbor moves in quickly changes to horror. Be sure and read with the lights on!

Description
Stalkers rarely become serial killers, but when they do, it is even rarer if the murderer is a woman. But, it happens. In "The Swirling Red Mist: A Tale of Murder" it happens in beautiful Solana Beach, CA in the affluent South Cedros Design District when Nancy Thomason moves on the block where she has acquaintances, a new career, and escalating mental illness. No one seems to notice until it is too late.

My Review:
This psychological thriller grabs you from the beginning and does not let you go until the very end. Overall the book is very well written and the characters are well defined. However the one thing i did not like about The Swirling Red Mist is the cover image. I know many may think this is petty, but there are many people who are visual and I think this cover does not do justice to the excellent writing of the book. I would like to see another cover used.

I was provided this book free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion. If you enjoy twists and turns and novels that you are so engrossed in you cannot put down until the very end, then this is the book for you.

The Swirling Red Mist is a superb psychological thriller. The story moves very quickly and draws you in right from the start. I ended up staying up until almost 3 am to finish this on a work night. Even though you have a pretty good idea what is going to happen, there are still plenty of surprises along the way. I would love to see this book made into a movie! It would be an instant hit. Well written, gripping, and heart pounding.
Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC. All opinions expressed are my own.

Newly graduates of college, Riki and Bonnie each start their own businesses in a small district in California. Riki is an artist and opens her own gallery full of her own paintings. Bonnie has opened a bookstore ... her lifelong dream. The two have been friends forever and now they're working just doors away from the other.

There's also a newcomer in the district .. Nancy ... someone both Riki and Bonnie went to school with. Not well liked, Nancy has a dark side and she lives for revenge. She has created chaos wherever she goes and she's become quite adept at stalking ... and murder.

As a reader, you will know the identity of the psychopath early on who is determined to ruin everyone's life.... the people she is jealous of ... the baker interested in someone other than her ... an old boyfriend who wants nothing to do with her ... the woman who confronts her about her stalking ... even the little boy who threatens to tell on her.

Each confrontation is worse than the last and it's like watching a train wreck. Your eyes are riveted on the destruction. So it is with this story and these characters. The ending is explosive.

The only thing I didn't care much for was the conversations Riki and Bonnie had with other people and each other. They spoke more like high school girls, rather than young businesswomen.

Many thanks to the author / BooksGoSocial / Netgalley for the digital copy of this Psychological Fiction. Read and Reviewed voluntarily, opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

3.5 Stars

What a mess of a story. Way too many characters and not enough background. Way too many murders and no explanation why. It was a horrible book.

That's my honest opinion.

Rating 0

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you NetGalley.

I have to admit that I initially found the book predictable, but the last mintue twist really got me!

The Swirling Red Mist was a swirling big mess for me. The writing was just not cohesive and this was almost a book that I didn't finish.

Oook, this review is going to be relatively short and to the point. Unfortunately, I did not like this story for multiple reasons, but my main reason was that it didn’t make much sense.

The characters weren’t well developed and neither was the story line. In fact, the story seemed to jump from one topic to the next without any rhyme or reason. I enjoy reading an odd book or even one that is completely different, but that hinges on the story making some kind of sense and unfortunately, I just didn’t get that.

We find a few friends who attend college together about to graduate and embark on their lifelong careers, and while they are going about their lives, a strange woman continually pops up in places that she shouldn’t be. On one hand, Riki is terrified of this would be stalker and then when a friend of hers advises she should involve the police, she’s like no I can handle myself, and then she turns around and wants someone to stay with her and watch her every move because she’s frightened. Strange occurrences continued to happen and people kept coming up dead, but I couldn’t figure out what the meaning behind all of this was, except that the killer was crazy.

Often times when two characters were interacting, they would have conversation and then the conversation would end without any resolution and the character would be in a completely different scene. As much as it pains me to say this, the story seems as though an extreme novice wrote it. I’m speaking of someone had watched a great deal of TV and/or movies and figured they could put pen to paper and make up a story. And, although stories often are written like that, again, there has to be some sense behind what you’re stating. Regardless if you’re writing a fantasy book or a murder mystery, one plus one must equal two and if it doesn’t, you need to go back to the drawing board and figure it out.

Needless to say, I didn’t like this book at all. It was all over the place. Every time I thought I was getting a rhythm going, the author would switch it up and take me someplace else, and that began to grate on my nerves to the point I almost abandoned the read. In the synopsis it mentioned to get inside the head of a psychopath, but for me, I couldn't wait to get out, and not because it was too much to handle, but quite the opposite. As my readers know, I do try my best to give every author the benefit of the doubt, but I struggled to get through this one.

The Sexy Nerd gives The Swirling Red Mist: A Tale of Murder three deadly stars. At the end of the day, I could not wrap my head around this story line at all. I tried to make heads or tails out of this, and I came up with neither. I truly tried to find something to like about this story, but I could not. The Swirling Red Mist: A Tale of Murder wasn’t my cup of tea, but perhaps you’d like to take a sip and see.