Rea Frey

I always enjoy Rea Frey’s women’s fiction for its well-drawn characters and dark, twisty situations.

The players:

Desi designs houses and has just moved from Chicago with her husband Peter and teenaged daughter Jules to the small town of River Falls. Peter is ex-military and now is into the survivalist life. His marriage with Desi is strained. Jules is dating Will, whose mother is sick with end stage cancer. Jules had been planning to attend college in New York, but now wants to forego show more school in order to stay in River Falls and be close to Will. Desi’s estranged brother Tommy shows up in town. Like Peter, he’s ex-military. Carter is Desi’s ex. He also served with Peter and Tommy in the Marines and has been trying to contact Desi.

The action of this book takes place over the course of a year. Many people in the book are under stress because of big life events. Will Jules and Will be parted when Jules goes to Columbia in the fall? Will and Ava’s mother continues to grow sicker as her cancer advances. Some characters are keeping secrets and have been for years. The marriage between Peter and Desi made me shudder to read at times. I wouldn’t really call either of them particularly likeable characters. Peter was cold and controlling and Desi was meddling and manipulative, but from a drama standpoint, watching their marriage self-destruct made for terribly interesting reading. Several huge medical events happen in the book and they were very well written with nail biting action and excellent pacing. My favorite thing about this book was the description of the setting.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC copy of this book from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for review purposes. show less

WHEN SHE’S GONE was a great thriller by Rea Frey that combines gymnastics, abductions in past and present timelines, and a Halloween setting I loved. This might be my favorite book by Frey!

Cora Valentine was an Olympic gymnast hopeful when she was abducted one night just before Halloween. Decades later, the people who took her have never been found and she’s never regained her sense of safety, which impacts her parenting as she struggles to find a way to parent her daughter Lulu without show more smothering her. But when Lulu is abducted and the notes Cora receives point back to the kidnapping, Cora is sent on a creepy trail of terrible choices.

This was a thriller that started off fast and never let up the pace. I loved the gymnastics element, being a fan of the Olympics, and the setting on Halloween added a great element too. It’s told in dual timelines, set back when Cora was a teen and an Olympic hopeful and in the present day when her daughter has been taken. Author Rea Frey did an excellent job of keeping the tension high, the demands on Cora, the sense of fear and uncertainty. I had my guesses and I liked that the book kept me guessing about who was behind it and their motivations. 5/5 stars.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary ARC copy of this book from Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for review purposes. show less

Dear Mother by Rea Frey is one of those thrillers that pulls you into a dark family mystery and keeps you thinking about it long after you finish. Set in the eerie forests of the Pacific Northwest, the atmosphere alone gave me a constant feeling of unease.

The story follows Isabelle, an investigative journalist who returns to her hometown after the death of her estranged mother. Isabelle has been haunted for decades by a tragic fire that killed three of her foster siblings when she was show more thirteen. Even though it was ruled an accident, she has always suspected something darker may have happened. When new information surfaces after her mother’s death, Isabelle realizes the past might not be finished with her yet.

What really drew me in was the emotional complexity of the story. Isabelle’s feelings toward her mother—love mixed with suspicion and fear—felt incredibly real. The bond she shared with her foster siblings also added a lot of heart to the story and made the mystery feel even more personal.

The novel moves between past and present timelines, slowly revealing what happened the night of the fire while Isabelle investigates her mother’s death. I enjoyed the alternating perspectives and how each piece of the puzzle added to the tension.

I’ll admit I suspected the culprit fairly early on, but that didn’t take away from my enjoyment. The suspense and emotional weight of the story kept me fully invested, and the final chapters had me feeling anxious, unsettled, and eager to see how everything would come together.

Overall, this was a gripping, atmospheric read about family secrets, complicated mother-daughter relationships, and the way the past refuses to stay buried. If you enjoy psychological thrillers with strong emotional themes and plenty of tension, this one is definitely worth picking up.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed are my own.) show less

Interesting way to tell a story. In two alternating timelines, the story tells 2 different realities. Kate and her daughter, Olivia (Liv), go on a 2-week beach vacation. Kate's ex, Michael, texts Kate, so she momentarily looks down at her phone. In that instance, Liv disappears in the ocean. 1st scenario, Liv is fine, rescued from the waves. 2nd scenario, Liv is pulled out via a riptide, knocked unconscious, and drowns. What follows are 2 timelines of how Kate moves on with her life, her show more relationship with Michael, her best friend-Jason, and his daughter, Ayana. Finally, her life with Ian whom she meets on a farm. Grief and joy are both examined in this unique story of what if... show less