Blood Orchid

Cover retrieved from Goodreads

Blood Orchids (Lei Crime #1)

Toby Neal

Self-Published sold by Amazon Digital Services: 2011, 314 pages

Reviewed by Jessie Park

Blood Orchids is the first of Toby Neal's series that focus on Hawaiian policeman Lei Texeira.  Lei had a very troubled past but is trying to move forward, even if she still has some spells that she'd rather keep on the down low.  On patrol, she and her partner find two murdered teenage girls and she wants in on the investigation, even if she hasn't been promoted to a detective just yet.  Adding to the stress is that fact that she is being stalked.  But working with the lead detective has been pleasant, even with all the chaos around her.  Readers should be aware that certain scenes can be triggers; there is sexual assault (adult and child) and some violence.

The Girl Next Door

Cover retrieved from Goodreads

The Girl Next Door

Jack Ketchum

Leisure Books: 1989. 370 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

When Meg and Susan's parents die in an accident, they are sent to live with their aunt Ruth in New Jersey in the 1950's.  Ruth, a single mother who has three sons of her own, is none too happy with having to take in the girls.  Ruth's pathological hatred of Meg steadily increases, and she enlists her sons and other neighborhood children to help her in teaching Meg a lesson about what it means to be a woman.  This book is definitely not for the faint of heart, as it graphically depicts torture and abuse, both physical and psychological.  Perhaps most disturbing is that this book is based on the true story of Sylvia Likens, a 16 year old girl who was tortured and murdered by her caretaker in Indiana in 1965.  I hesitate in recommending this book, as it is truly horrifying, but it does provide a thought-provoking portrait of true evil.