Hello, and welcome to the blog tour for Fractured by Catherine McKenzie! Before I tell you about all the reasons I thoroughly enjoyed this book, check out the synopsis below:

Fractured by Catherine McKenzie. Lake Union Publishing. 362 pp.
Welcome, neighbor!
Julie Prentice and her family move across the country to the idyllic Mount Adams district of Cincinnati, hoping to evade the stalker who’s been terrorizing them ever since the publication of her bestselling novel, The Murder Game. Since Julie doesn’t know anyone in her new town, when she meets her neighbor John Dunbar, their instant connection brings measured hope for a new beginning. But she never imagines that a simple, benign conversation with him could set her life spinning so far off course.
We know where you live…
After a series of misunderstandings, Julie and her family become the target of increasingly unsettling harassment. Has Julie’s stalker found her, or are her neighbors out to get her, too? As tension in the neighborhood rises, new friends turn into enemies, and the results are deadly.
As I’ve mentioned a few times, TLC is great for my reading habits because it’s a great opportunity for me to branch out. My husband reads far more suspense novels than I do. I enjoy them, but I often don’t know where to start when choosing one. And TLC’s authors rarely disappoint. I was very pleased to be introduced to Catherine McKenzie’s words this month. This book is a smooth blend of voice, mood, clues, intrigue, and (huzzah!) clean writing.
Maybe it’s because I don’t know the bad from the good, but I’ve grabbed a thriller here and there and been shocked by how weak the writing was. The sentences were sloppy, the dialogue was unbelievable, and I had a tough time slogging through. (These were bestsellers, too.) Over time, though, I’ve been fortunate enough to encounter authors like Catherine McKenzie, ones who’ve shown me that perhaps I just picked up the wrong authors when I was getting started in this genre. She writes like a dream. I mean, I don’t think there was a moment in this book where she didn’t have me exactly where she wanted me, and it was an absolute pleasure to be manipulated by her words.
I loved that Julie’s and John’s chapters sounded different, that the weather could do so much to affect the mood of a scene, and that the author just nailed the minutiae (and mundanity) of suburban life.
I appreciated not knowing who was involved in the accident until the last possible moment; I didn’t figure anything out ahead of time, and believe me, I tried. My brain felt itchy and alive, working overtime as it assimilated new clues. I also loved how the characters began to question reality. It made it even more difficult to guess where things were headed. The plot started to feel hazy, like jogging through fog or slipping vodka into my morning orange juice.
I go to the bookstore often just to browse. Sometimes I buy a book or two; sometimes I don’t. But it’s a great way to see what’s been published recently. Also, it’s like Penny Lane says in Almost Famous: I’m visiting my friends. I look at cover art, I read synopses, I feel how velvety the covers are, and I enjoy myself immensely. To me, one of the signs of a good book is that it makes me want to pick up another book by the same author the next time I’m browsing. I may buy it that day or I may not, but it’s piqued my interest. (I may turn it to face forward on the shelf, even if I don’t buy it, in the hopes that it catches someone else’s eye. I know you’re probably not supposed to do that but I do it sometimes anyway and I’m sure I’m not the only one.) Catherine McKenzie has joined the ever-growing list of authors who I’ll be visiting the next time I browse. She’s gifted, and I look forward to reading more books by her.
Catherine McKenzie, a graduate of McGill University, practices law in Montreal, where she was born and raised. An avid skier and runner, Catherine’s novels Spin, Arranged, Forgotten, and Hidden are all international bestsellers and have been translated into numerous languages. Hidden was an Amazon #1 bestseller and a Digital Book World bestseller. Her fifth novel, Smoke, was an Amazon bestseller, a Goodreads Best Book for October 2015, and an Amazon Top 100 Book of 2015.
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Tuesday, October 4th: Chick Lit Central
Wednesday, October 5th: Open Book Society
Thursday, October 6th: Musings of a Bookish Kitty
Friday, October 7th: Palmer’s Page Turners
Monday, October 10th: Write Read Life
Tuesday, October 11th: From the TBR Pile
Wednesday, October 12th: Caryn, The Book Whisperer
Thursday, October 13th: Reading is my Superpower
Thursday, October 13th: Stranded in Chaos
Friday, October 14th: A Book Geek
Monday, October 17th: Luxury Reading
Tuesday, October 18th: Booked on a Feeling
Wednesday, October 19th: Kritter’s Ramblings
Thursday, October 20th: No More Grumpy Bookseller
Friday, October 21st: Not in Jersey
Monday, October 24th: 5 Minutes for Books
Monday, October 24th: A Bookish Way of Life
Tuesday, October 25th: Bewitched Bookworms
Wednesday, October 26th: Wall to Wall Books
Thursday, October 27th: Thoughts on This ‘n That
Friday, October 28th: Book Chatter