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Book Summary and Reviews of Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

Security

by Gina Wohlsdorf

  • Critics' Consensus (8):
  • Readers' Rating (11):
  • Published:
  • Jun 2016, 288 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

The inventiveness of A Visit from the Goon Squad meets the down-the-rabbit-hole suspense of The Girl on the Train in this chilling, pulse-racing thriller from an electrifying new writer.

When the gleaming new Manderley Resort opens in twenty-four hours, Santa Barbara's exclusive beachfront hotel will offer its patrons the ultimate in luxury and high-tech security. No indulgence has been ignored, no detail overlooked. But all the money in the world can't guarantee safety. As hotel manager Tessa and her employees ready the hotel for its invitation-only grand opening, a killer is in their midst. One by one, staff are picked off with ruthless precision. And before the night is over, as Tessa desperately struggles to survive, it will become clear that the strangest and most terrible truth at Manderley is simply this: someone is watching. 

With stunning ingenuity, Gina Wohlsdorf puts readers front and center as the elite resort becomes a house of horrors. Riveting to the final sentence, Security is fierce, wry, and impossible to put down. With a deep bow to the literary tradition of Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and Daphne du Maurier, Wohlsdorf's razor-wire prose blitzes readers with quick twists, sharp turns, and gasp-inducing terror. Security is at once a shocking thriller, a brilliant narrative puzzle, and a moving, multifaceted love story unlike any other.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

BookBrowse member reviews

"Starred Review. Security is perfectly tuned for blockbuster status: scary, gory, kinky, and experimental enough to push readers' envelopes without going so far as to lose mainstream appeal. They don't make a hotel big enough to house all the people who will want to read this, and soon, as in Manderlay, all eyes will be on Wohlsdorf." - Booklist

"Starred Review. (A) stellar debut… As the Ducati-swift plot accelerates…it's a testament to Wohlsdorf's skill that she successfully negotiates the numerous tonal shifts between the unfolding Grand Guignol splatterfest and Tessa and Brian's rekindling passion. Readers will gradually discover an even more emotionally affecting story as the action races to the moving climax." - Publishers Weekly

"This horror story with a humorous edge casts video surveillance as both hero and villain and raises plentiful goose bumps as a result." - Kirkus

"Be surprised, be very surprised: Gina Wohlsdorf brings more than just plot twists and a terrifically tender love story to this thriller about a disastrous opening for a luxury beach-front hotel. It's her playful homage to Hitchcock and du Maurier that had me reading, howling, and just plain loving this novel. I can't wait to read her next!" - Sara Gruen, author of At the Water's Edge

"Lee Child fans, in particular, will be able to appreciate how brilliantly Wohlsdorf subverts our expectations of the action genre in this smart, shocking, poignant thriller." - Emily Croy Barker, author of The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

"Written in vivid and beautiful, nuanced language ... Shocking and filled with Tarantino-ish dark humor ... Like nothing else. Get ready." - Ann Beattie, author of The State We're In

"Original and imaginative ... I predict Security will be this year's The Girl on the Train." - Sandra Brown, author of Friction

"Terrifying, sexy, dizzying, and impossible to look away from." - Tim Johnston, author of Descent

This information about Security was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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Author Information

Gina Wohlsdorf

Gina Wohlsdorf was born in Bismark, North Dakota, and graduated from Tulane University. In 2013 she earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of Virginia. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado. Security is her first novel.

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