I love this and love this idea for more in the future. I am a really big person on the first few pages catching my attention. If they do not, I will put a book down. This sampler made it very easy for me to know which books I want more of and which ones were not going to be for me. I ended up already adding some to my list to finish/plan on requesting them on here/ or etc. Great idea!

I always look forward to Minotaur Samplers. This one - Gate Keeper, The Mind Game, Outside...and others i can't wait to read.... and it is nice they have some selections that are stand alone's and some in series. Thanks Net Gallely!!!

These compilations are great for finding books that you might like to read and review. Just enough of each to whet your interest and get you anticipating new books coming out! Such a great concept!

What a great way to get me excited for upcoming books than this sampler! I was able to read a chapter or two of these upcoming books and am not excited to read them when they are available!

Great way to try out numerous books and see if they are for you! I really enjoyed reading through the many books and look forward to reading them fully.

These samplers are such a great way to get taste of several upcoming books. Having enjoyed the writing in the past, I am looking forward to the new books by Jennifer Hillier 'and Sandie Jones. There are also quite a few first-in-series book, which is exciting!

Of the excepts in this collection- I had already read 2 of them- (and loved them both)- and I found 2 more that I have requested. thanks so much for this preview!

The new Minotaur Sampler, Vol. 5, is a real treat! There are excerpts from eight books to be published this spring and summer, all of which grabbed my interest in their own unique ways!

The Favor is a debut domestic thriller by Nora Murphy featuring two women living parallel lives who are pushed to their limits by abusive spouses. I will definitely be seeking out this suspense novel.
Outside is the latest novel by Ragnar Jonasson. Four friends are on a hunting trip in Iceland—what could go wrong?! This promises to be another gripping thriller by the master of Icelandic noir.
Last Call at the Nightingale by Katherine Schellman takes the reader to Manhattan, circa 1924, where speakeasies, sweatshops, and strong but desperate women are caught up in a murder mystery.
James Byrne’s The Gatekeeper is a fast-paced thriller featuring retired mercenary Dez Limerick as he helps to foil plots, and tracks embezzlers and threats to the U.S. Lots of action and intrigue mark this as a “must read”.
A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong is an intriguing mystery set in 2019 whose protagonist, detective Mallory Atkinson, is mugged and is then inadvertently transported to 1869, inhabiting the body of a young woman who was attacked in a similar fashion. This promises to be compelling, as one woman in two time periods narrates all the action.
Things We Do in the Dark by noted author Jennifer Hillier features a tarnished heroine, Paris Peralta, who is trying to build a new life but ends up getting involved with a criminal from her past—Paris is a character I would like to get to know better, and this sounds like a terrific whodunit!
Die Around Sundown by Mark Pryor takes the reader to Nazi-occupied Paris in 1940. Inspector Henri Lefort becomes involved in solving the murder of a German officer killed with an ice pick in the Louvre. The first chapters are riveting and promise plenty of intrigue and action.
The Blame Game, by best-selling author Sandie Jones, revolves around Naomi, a psychologist who focuses on treating victims of domestic abuse, but who blurs the lines around professional help and personal aid to her clients. Her actions lead to unexpected consequences, including her own personal danger. It sounds like a real page-turner!

There are suspense novels for every type of reader in the above excerpts! I will be looking for most of these thrillers this spring and recommend them to readers of suspense, domestic thrillers and crime fiction!

Thank you to Minotaur Books/NetGalley for the ARC. These are my unbiased opinions.

OH I love this so many great books coming out!! I definitely can't wait to read so many of these. These are some of my favorite authors too.

Another great mystery sampler! I particularly liked the samples of Outside, which introduced you well to the characters and left a huge cliffhanger, and Last Call at the Nightingale, which already had me fearing for Vivian and the ways she was about to be caught up in other people's machinations. I loved the Gatekeeper so much that I've already received, read, and reviewed the title and am waiting for the next book with the main character, Dez.

I am so ready to read every single one of these books when they are published!! Luckily, I have already been gifted advanced reader's copies of a few of them and I will be bumping them right up to the top of my to be read list. I am hooked on them all and I can't wait to see how each one ends!

I appreciate the chance to preview so many thrillers and suspense books, this really was a great way to plan for some upcoming reads and reviews.

Nora Murphy's The Favor: I have already downloaded this from NetGalley, I found the sample materials atmospheric and heartbreaking and yet suspenseful and engaging as well. I thought the examination of alcoholism and the nuanced connections with domestic abuse to be well executed. I look forward to reading this one!

Ragnar Jonasson's Outside: Well I have to now know what it was they saw when they opened that cabin... This is my second book from this author and I am looking forward to reading this one. The suspense and underlying sense of dread was impressive even with a few chapters.

James Byrne's The Gatekeeper: this was indeed action packed and a lot of fun! It's been a while since I read an action focused thriller and this was a nice change of pace. I do see potential of course for this to be developed into a series, the main character is compelling and I liked Dez and his mysterious past a lot.

Katharine Schellman's Last Call at the Nighintgale: The writing was rich in detail and evoked a style and context that did bring to life the jazzy boozey 1920s. I liked the vibrancy of the writing.

Kelly Armstrong's A Rip Through Time; I enjoyed the chapters I read, I find plots that play with time and I know I will have to read more to see how the modern day murder is solved by the victim herself (who finds herself back in time after being murdered) This is a great plot and I look forward to reading more.

Mark Pryor's Die Around Sundown: This seems like a great police procedural blended with a detailed historical context. I am fascinated by mysteries that involve art/museum and a connection to psychology.

Sandie Jones' The Blame Game: Ms. Jones is great at writing the perfect summer beach read thriller, I had fun reading The Guilt Trip via NetGalley last year and this too looks like just the kind of book I enjoy supporting for a summer read. Escapist (which to me is a good thing), quick to draw me into the plot and tension with a focus on a therapist who might be at risk for helping... that's a theme I can dive right into, especially with the first person dialogue and the early sense of unease.

Jennifer Hillier's Things We Do in the Dark: I was already looking forward to this book based on seeing early posts with the amazing glow in the dark cover (!!!) and being a fan of this author's Jar of Hearts thriller. I love her writing style and how she creates rich characters and sets a well paced engaging plot from the start. The themes of disassociation and celebrity and murder are intriguing as is the blend of criminal investigation/legal thriller vibes.

This sample gives the reader a sneak peek into some amazing thrillers. All the standalones are really impressive and left me intrigued enough to immediately request already. A rip through time which is a first in series always held my interest with the whole Scottish backdrop and the different time period. But the thrillers excerpts easily win by far with such amazing opening chapters! I don't think I have read any previous samplers but this was good for me to decide which ones I will need to prioritize and which can wait for longer.

Thank you for the samples of upcoming thrillers! I can’t wait to read things we do in the dark and the favor!

The sampler volumes that Minotaur puts together are always great and they definitely whet your appetite! Those who enjoy mysteries and thrillers will find the excerpts very enticing. There are four standalone and four firsts in a new series, and each one is intriguing.

Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur for making these available.

When a member of the Minotaur Books marketing team offered me a chance to read their newest sampler, I jumped at the chance, as it’s a great way to get a taste of soon-to-be-released thrillers. The Minotaur Sampler, Volume 5, is bigger than ever, featuring opening chapters from eight standalones or first-in-series novels. Below is a brief summary of each.

The Favor by Nora Murphy introduces two women, Leah and McKenna. Leah is an alcoholic and is in a very unhappy, abusive marriage. One day she spots another woman, McKenna, at a liquor store and immediately pegs her as someone who is just like her - controlled by her husband, trapped.She follows her home and starts watching her. From the prologue, we know that Leah does something that is most likely illegal. The three chapters in this sampler were enough for me. I generally avoid reading books that focus on domestic violence or abuse. Perhaps the plot turns out to be more clever and suspenseful than I expect, but I’ll pass on this one.

Outside by Ragnar Jonasson is set in the highlands of Iceland. A group of friends decide on a getaway during a cold November weekend. They set out for their destination in the middle of nowhere. Daniel, an actor who lives in the UK, along with his best friends Gunnlauger, Armann, and Helena spend the night in a “lodge”, which is more like a shack, but at least it has heat and electricity. After an evening of drinking, things get a bit tense…The finale of the sample ends with a dramatic scene which does not bode well for at least one of the characters. I’m on the fence about this one.

Last Call at the Nightingale by Katharine Schellman is a series opener. Set in 1924 New York City, the Nightingale is a speakeasy where Bea is a black waitress and Vivian is her friend, an orphaned Irish woman. During Bea’s break, the two women are dancing, sipping drinks. Before Vivian returns to work, the pair head out the back door to the alley for some air. There, they find an unpleasant surprise. Since the Nightingale is not sanctioned, so to speak, the police will not be called. Owner Honor Huxley, a no-nonsense woman, will handle this – ahem – event – her own way. I liked the tone and the feel of this one and will be requesting it.

The Gatekeeper by James Byrne presents Desmond Aloysius Limerick, better known as Dez. He’s a retired mercenary, also an amateur musician. He’s also a “gatekeeper”, described as a guy who "opens doors and keeps them open." From the few chapters I read, he’s a Rambo kind of guy. I found the plot description rather confusing, but it’s too early to judge after reading only a handful of pages. The best line so far: After a scene where he’s dealt with some unknown thugs firing guns and removing a mystery woman from harm’s way, she mentions that it seems he doesn’t just play bass. He sheepishly replies that uh, no, he also plays a bit of keyboards too. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. For those who enjoy high-powered action, this could be quite a ride. Me? No thanks, even though I do kinda like Dez.

A Rip Through Time by Kelly Armstrong starts out fine, but then. No. Mallory is an attorney who is sitting with her dying grandmother. While out for a run to give herself a break, she experiences a strange visual event and winds up being assaulted. She wakes up in what appears to be a Victorian home in Edinburgh, Scotland, exactly 150 years iearlier. It turns out to be the date that a woman was strangled, and she wonders if she can reverse ther fate somehow. This is part mystery, part fantasy, part hoax, I think. Not my cup of tea.

Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier is a standalone in which Paris Peralta is suspected of killing her celebrity husband, who was 30 years her senior. Elsie Dixon, a litigator who was once a public defender and good friend of the deceased, agrees to represent Paris. Seems to think it could be suicide, given Jimmy’s past. But is it? Paris is hiding details of her past, which makes this more intriguing. I’ll be requesting this!

Die Around Sundown by Mark Pryor is a first in a series historical fiction mystery set in Paris in 1940. The city is occupied by the Nazis, and Inspector Henri Lefort and his French police cohorts are trying to figure out how to work around or with the German invaders. The inspector is called to the scene of a murder/robbery. Another of the perpetrators is hiding in the home, and when he tries to run off, a detective is killed. Princess Marie Boneparte is the client; she also happens to have studied under Freud, and she spends some time trying to analyze Lefort! But his hopes of being re-assigned from to the murder case are dashed the next day when he is assigned instead to the murder of a German officer. And he has one week to solve it. Lefort is glib, cheeky, but quite astute. Should be an enjoyable read! Yes to this one too!

The Blame Game by Sandie Jones features Naomi, a psychologist specializing in domestic abuse. She goes waaaaay above and beyond to help a client in need…and then the file goes missing. This seems to be a pattern. What’s going on? I felt uneasy the entire time I was reading this, and not in an "ooh," anticipatory way. This one is a no-go for me.

All in all, Volume 5 is quite a diverse selection of fictional works that should appeal to those with a variety of reading interests.

Thanks to all of the authors, to Minotaur Books, and to NetGalley for this sampler in return for my unbiased review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

It's so nice to be able to sample the first few chapters of a book to know whether or not I want to commit to reading the whole thing! I love the thrillers that Minotaur puts out, but now I'm especially excited for Outside, Things We Do in the Dark, and The Favor! Thanks to Minotaur Books and St. Martin's Press for allowing me to read this sampler in exchange for my honest review!

I was thankful to receive an invite to check out this Minotaur Sampler, Volume 5. I really enjoy the Minotaur sample as they lead me to new books. There hasn't been a Minotaur book that I have not enjoyed! This sampler teases us with eight different books, giving you the first few chapters to read of each book. There are many that sound so intriguing to me such as the Favor, Last Call at the Nightingale, Things We Do In the Dark, and The Balance Game. I hope to read many of these books! Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for this sampler to read!

The Minotaur Sampler, Volume 5 has some great new releases coming up.
8 amazing samplers here.

The Favor by Nora Murphy...... What I read made me want more of it!

Outside by Ragnar Jonasson...... I love Ragnar and his books. And Outside is going to be such a phenomenal read.

Last Call by Katharine Schellman..... I enjoyed what little bit I did read

The Gatekeeper by James Byrne..... I liked the writing and it seems to be an enjoyable story.

A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong..... Kelly Armstrong is a favorite author of mine. I love her writing and ARTT is an extraordinary story.

The Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier....... This Author is so amazing and her books a fabulous. TTWDITD is going to be oh so good. I can't wait to read the rest of this book.

Die Around Sundown by Mark Pryor...... This is my first time read a book by Pryor. An what I did read was very good. The writing was Greta and held my attention.

​The Blame Game by Sandie Jones...... I need to get my hands on the rest of this story.
What I read was captivating and actually made me upset because I couldn't read all of it. Like I can't wait to read the rest of it.

Thank You Minotaur Books

I absolutely love these samplers and getting a glimpse into these titles! No surprise here, but Ragnar Jonasson's Outside was my favorite! I am so excited to read the full book! Sandie Jones' and Jennifer Hillier's were also SO good. They will both be added to my tbr.

Thank you NetGalley and Minotaur for the opportunity to read these!