My First Page-Turner Of The Year

I love that Hur always takes us to a time period and place I never see in the crime genre (probably any genre?). This one especially works for fans of royalty, intrigue, medical dramas, and secrets. We’re in the mid-1700s Joseon-era Korea, inside a palace where a nurse becomes embroiled in a mystery to save a fellow nurse, her mentor, from torture and execution.

Hyeon and her friend Jieun are both eighteen, daughters of concubines, friends, and working as palace nurses. After a group of women are murdered and Hyeon’s mentor is taken into custody, she decides she must investigate–especially being one of the few people who knows the Crown Prince had a decoy that night. Not an easy feat but she has her medical training to help and Jieun’s half-cousin, who is a new police inspector. The more Hyeon investigates, the more danger she places herself and those around her in…

I really enjoyed the voice, the palace setting, the politics, the medical information, and the underlining possible romance buildup here. I continue to look forward to June Hur’s books.

(TW torture, police brutality/ mentions of childbirth deaths, not graphic)

Lisa Lutz wrote The Spellman series, which I love, so this was an automatic grab for me. It’s not zany like The Spellman’s, and feels very much like a hit for Samantha Downing fans, which made for a nice surprise to get another well-written yet different type of crime book from Lutz. What I mean by “for Samantha Downing fans” is it has that feeling throughout that even when something crime related isn’t happening, you’re just waiting, even if you don’t know why you’re waiting or for what. And with that said, I want to note that I grabbed the audiobook knowing not a single thing about it and really enjoyed watching how things unfolded. I may be giving away some things below that aren’t in the book summary, so if you like surprises skip the next part and just grab the book.

A thing I found super interesting about this book was that it almost feels like it’s set up like a domestic thriller focused on a couple, except they aren’t a couple. It’s a friendship. A real friendship. And I never get to read about men and women who are really friends and it’s not a setup for something more, or suddenly reveals that it once was more etc which is something I loved about this book. The friends are Owen and Luna. They met in college when Luna was having a seizure. Luna is super reserved, keeps her cards to her vest and Owen is from a wealthy family, a seemingly all around normal dude who’s just never really content.

In the present Owen’s wife is found murdered. In the past Owen is also linked to a woman’s death. In the present we watch as the police try to unravel what happened to Owen’s wife, why Luna found her, and why Owen seems so strange during interviews. In the past we watch Owen and Luna’s friendship, and get to know who they really are…

This was my first page-turner of the year, and I really enjoyed watching all the pieces come together as I got to know Owen and Luna.

(TW domestic violence, only on page for a brief moment/ seizures)