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The Reckoning: A Psychological Thriller
Some things aren’t meant to be remembered.
Destiny’s mother has just been arrested for killing her father.
The evidence? Unshakable.
The truth? Unthinkable.
Grief spirals into obsession as Destiny uncovers secrets her family never wanted her to find. The deeper she digs, the more tangled the lies become.
And some doors were never meant to be opened.
At the centre of it all is a cabin in the woods—
and memories she’s not sure are even hers.
Everyone has something to hide.
But not everyone survives the reckoning.
A twist-packed psychological thriller with a heart full of secrets, The Reckoning explores how far we’ll go to protect the people we love—and the truths we can’t afford to face.
Destiny’s mother has just been arrested for killing her father.
The evidence? Unshakable.
The truth? Unthinkable.
Grief spirals into obsession as Destiny uncovers secrets her family never wanted her to find. The deeper she digs, the more tangled the lies become.
And some doors were never meant to be opened.
At the centre of it all is a cabin in the woods—
and memories she’s not sure are even hers.
Everyone has something to hide.
But not everyone survives the reckoning.
A twist-packed psychological thriller with a heart full of secrets, The Reckoning explores how far we’ll go to protect the people we love—and the truths we can’t afford to face.
- GenresThriller
698 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 26, 2025
55 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
June 12, 2025
No sentence structure. No actual paragraphs. This 698 page book reads more like poetry, if written and formatted correctly it would probably be less than 300 pages, including a lot of black pages to flip through on kindle. It went on and on about who was mom and dad’s favorite daughter and how great mom cooked.
June 14, 2025
Oh, my days! There are so many twists and turns I almost lot my way. So many times, I thought I had it all figured out, and NOPE not even close.
July 2, 2025
I was recommended to give this thriller a go by the author earlier today and I didn’t want to forget so I started it right away.
For starters, don’t let the page count scare you off as it’s not traditional prose so it’s very fast moving and the equivalent of about half the state page count.
That being me to the style. I think it’s attempting to be written in verse? First, I think that the atypical writing style and what it intends to be should be disclosed in the description as it leaves the reader very confused.
Secondly, I “think” its intent is to be in verse? Unfortunately it misses the mark as it’s not consistent. It’s filled with there short sentences with no real paragraphs and at times just sentence fragments. I hate to be so hard on an Indie authors work but I’m wondering if it had a professional editor as it doesn’t seem so. For instance it has these random sentences underlined and so can’t figure out why. It doesn’t follow any known English formatting system and is filled with grammatical errors.
Setting the technical writing aside, the actual thriller was interesting. It definitely had a lot of twists and turns. Some were connected in that they had basis in the writing and some seem out of thin air. There was an awful lot of pages dedicated to which parent liked which sister better. It didn’t need to be there as it took you out of the story.
In all it was an interesting read. I think it is a good outline for a solid story with some editing. If it was written in a traditional manner it could have had a richness to have the reader feel apart of the story in stead of being disconnected and being told what was happening over being shown. But I do applaud when new authors try to write outside of the box. It just needs a bit of tuning…
For starters, don’t let the page count scare you off as it’s not traditional prose so it’s very fast moving and the equivalent of about half the state page count.
That being me to the style. I think it’s attempting to be written in verse? First, I think that the atypical writing style and what it intends to be should be disclosed in the description as it leaves the reader very confused.
Secondly, I “think” its intent is to be in verse? Unfortunately it misses the mark as it’s not consistent. It’s filled with there short sentences with no real paragraphs and at times just sentence fragments. I hate to be so hard on an Indie authors work but I’m wondering if it had a professional editor as it doesn’t seem so. For instance it has these random sentences underlined and so can’t figure out why. It doesn’t follow any known English formatting system and is filled with grammatical errors.
Setting the technical writing aside, the actual thriller was interesting. It definitely had a lot of twists and turns. Some were connected in that they had basis in the writing and some seem out of thin air. There was an awful lot of pages dedicated to which parent liked which sister better. It didn’t need to be there as it took you out of the story.
In all it was an interesting read. I think it is a good outline for a solid story with some editing. If it was written in a traditional manner it could have had a richness to have the reader feel apart of the story in stead of being disconnected and being told what was happening over being shown. But I do applaud when new authors try to write outside of the box. It just needs a bit of tuning…
July 11, 2025
I got this e-book sent for free for an honest review and I truthfully wasn't sure what to expect. From the moment I started reading I was hooked, the short chapters made it easy to read and i really liked the different perspectives through diary entries. I feel like the book could have been 100 or so pages less and still have the same storyline. Not many likable characters, and the twists are so far fetched, and there was way too many of them that they lost wow-factor. The author seems like a really kind person though with lots of potential and I'm super grateful i got the opportunity to read this book. Ending this review with the only thing going through my brain the whole time I read this book and to put it simply "This is some Jerry Springer shit"
June 15, 2025
I want to thank C.J. Lax for giving me the opportunity to read this book as an ARC! It was really good, I loved all the plot twists, and can’t wait to read more of her books! I highly recommend this read as a psychological thriller!
October 22, 2025
2.5
this book wasn't necessarily bad, but it definitely has some issues with the writing.
there was a lot of repetition and it felt like the main character couldn't say anything other than that her father was amazing and her mother was too nice to kill.
then it just felt like the book was written to put as many plot twists into it as possible and it got less and less plausible as it went on.
also poor Jared died and then was forgotten about for like the last half of the book lol.
that being said, the concept is very intriguing and if there was a bit more revision and plot devising it could have killed.
this book wasn't necessarily bad, but it definitely has some issues with the writing.
there was a lot of repetition and it felt like the main character couldn't say anything other than that her father was amazing and her mother was too nice to kill.
then it just felt like the book was written to put as many plot twists into it as possible and it got less and less plausible as it went on.
also poor Jared died and then was forgotten about for like the last half of the book lol.
that being said, the concept is very intriguing and if there was a bit more revision and plot devising it could have killed.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2025
Okay wow. I had such high hopes seeing only 50 reviews and all 5 star reviews! So I’m super bummed. This book starts out great and I was instantly pulled in…. But I hated her writing style. The dialogue and how parts were written in poetry format were annoying. She would reword something multiple times over multiple pages. CJ honey, I got it the first time and it wasn’t as big of a shock as you are trying to make it out to be. Overall the story is a 3, but the writing gets a 1 so it’s 2 stars from me.
Destiny has dissociative amnesia and is trying to uncover the truth about her father’s murder. There’s a TON of twists and turns, “Even Netflix couldn’t predict that twist” per the author. Some of it was too far fetched, actually most of it’s not believable, but the story itself is fun with the family Legacy! I just can’t get past the dialogue.
Destiny has dissociative amnesia and is trying to uncover the truth about her father’s murder. There’s a TON of twists and turns, “Even Netflix couldn’t predict that twist” per the author. Some of it was too far fetched, actually most of it’s not believable, but the story itself is fun with the family Legacy! I just can’t get past the dialogue.
June 16, 2025
loved it. Great read! can't wait for the next one!
July 14, 2025
I went into The Reckoning: A Psychological Thriller with high hopes. The premise sounded intriguing, and I was ready for a gripping, twisty ride. While the storyline did have potential and moments of suspense, I ultimately came away feeling underwhelmed.
Throughout the book, I often found myself confused about who was speaking. The dialogue lacked clear tags or transitions, which made it hard to follow. I had to backtrack several times just to make sense of what was happening. The characters themselves also felt a bit underdeveloped. There weren’t enough descriptions to help visualize them, and there was little mention of their ages or defining traits. That made it hard to connect with anyone or stay invested.
For a psychological thriller, there was a surprising amount of family drama that took center stage. It sometimes felt more like a domestic drama than a suspense novel, which made the tone feel uneven. And by the time I reached the end, I was hoping for a big, mind-bending twist, but the conclusion wasn’t all that surprising. It wrapped up in a fairly predictable way.
Overall, the foundation was there, but the lack of character depth, the confusing dialogue, and the flat ending made this a frustrating read. With tighter editing and more attention to pacing and development, this could’ve been much more effective. There’s about a 50/50 chance I’ll pick up the second book. I’m curious, but not fully convinced.
Breakdown:
Plot/Pacing: 3/5 – had potential, some intrigue, but the ending didn’t deliver.
Characters: 2/5 – lacked depth and clarity; hard to visualize or connect with.
Writing Style: 2/5 – unclear dialogue and structure made it hard to follow.
Genre Expectations: 2/5 – felt more like domestic/family drama than psychological thriller.
Throughout the book, I often found myself confused about who was speaking. The dialogue lacked clear tags or transitions, which made it hard to follow. I had to backtrack several times just to make sense of what was happening. The characters themselves also felt a bit underdeveloped. There weren’t enough descriptions to help visualize them, and there was little mention of their ages or defining traits. That made it hard to connect with anyone or stay invested.
For a psychological thriller, there was a surprising amount of family drama that took center stage. It sometimes felt more like a domestic drama than a suspense novel, which made the tone feel uneven. And by the time I reached the end, I was hoping for a big, mind-bending twist, but the conclusion wasn’t all that surprising. It wrapped up in a fairly predictable way.
Overall, the foundation was there, but the lack of character depth, the confusing dialogue, and the flat ending made this a frustrating read. With tighter editing and more attention to pacing and development, this could’ve been much more effective. There’s about a 50/50 chance I’ll pick up the second book. I’m curious, but not fully convinced.
Breakdown:
Plot/Pacing: 3/5 – had potential, some intrigue, but the ending didn’t deliver.
Characters: 2/5 – lacked depth and clarity; hard to visualize or connect with.
Writing Style: 2/5 – unclear dialogue and structure made it hard to follow.
Genre Expectations: 2/5 – felt more like domestic/family drama than psychological thriller.
July 14, 2025
I received this e-book from the author in exchange for my honest review. 😊
The description intrigued me right away. I didn't know this story was going to be FULL OF TWISTS!!! So many twists, sometimes I felt like I couldn't keep up which was GREAT!! I loved the writing format the author used because it made it easier to read, in my opinion. This was a very hard book to step away from. It was long but it honestly didn't feel like it because of the action packed in this great book!
There were so many unlikeable characters in this story, but I liked the way the author connected all the dots at the end. I also enjoyed the multiple points of view and the way the story ended with Noah.
I wish I could write what it was about, but I don't want to give anything away. THIS IS SUCH A GREAT READ!! I recommend to anyone who enjoys suspenseful stories full of secrets, lies, mystery, and many unforeseeable twists 😉
This is a well-deserved 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ read!!! 👏👏
The description intrigued me right away. I didn't know this story was going to be FULL OF TWISTS!!! So many twists, sometimes I felt like I couldn't keep up which was GREAT!! I loved the writing format the author used because it made it easier to read, in my opinion. This was a very hard book to step away from. It was long but it honestly didn't feel like it because of the action packed in this great book!
There were so many unlikeable characters in this story, but I liked the way the author connected all the dots at the end. I also enjoyed the multiple points of view and the way the story ended with Noah.
I wish I could write what it was about, but I don't want to give anything away. THIS IS SUCH A GREAT READ!! I recommend to anyone who enjoys suspenseful stories full of secrets, lies, mystery, and many unforeseeable twists 😉
This is a well-deserved 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ read!!! 👏👏
July 22, 2025
This book was interesting. There were parts I truly loved. There are a ton of twists in the story. I love a good twist or two of three. I never thought I’d say this but this book actually had too many. It became unbelievable and confusing at times. The character’s relationships are completely intertwined. Honestly if the book had been about three stories in a series it would’ve been better, it was just too much for one book. There was a lot of repetition in thoughts and statements in the chapters, seriously repeating someone was going to vomit like 4-5 in one short chapter. Also some storylines just seemed to end and be forgotten even though they needed more closure.
But overall I did like the concept. I believe this is the authors first book, self published. I truly think with some proper editing he could write a great book. Even with these issues, I’d be willing to try another book by this author I did receive this book as a free download from the author
But overall I did like the concept. I believe this is the authors first book, self published. I truly think with some proper editing he could write a great book. Even with these issues, I’d be willing to try another book by this author I did receive this book as a free download from the author
July 19, 2025
I wanted to love this book and I gave it a honest try but oh my goodness the redundancy…..there were times I thought I might have forgotten to turn the page because there was almost the same exact thing written page, after page, after page. The plot could have been descent enough but right when you thought you understood the characters, some other off the wall detail was added and it made it all the more difficult to understand the plot, who was who, and what was what. It was a jumbled mess. The story at times had me “shocked” but my frustration outweighed my excitement over reading the story. This was one of the longer books I have read this year and it certainly wasn’t because the content was needed but simply because there was entirely too much rambling.
August 16, 2025
First of all, this book started with a bang and didn’t let up until the end - it had me hooked. Unfortunately, the way it’s written makes it difficult to read. It isn’t written in paragraphs or dialogue tags. I often had to backtrack because I couldn’t tell who was speaking, and I didn’t understand the seemingly random underlined, bolded, or italicized sentences. There were so many twists in this book - many I figured out, most seemed far-fetched, but they kept me reading. The characters weren’t very likable and the timeline was hard to follow. The main character made some decisions that weren’t at all realistic. Lots of criticisms, but I keep going back to how hooked I was and I had no idea how it was going to end. Not bad!
June 23, 2025
What a Twisty Journey
I read this on my Kindle. When I started reading it I had no idea it was 698 pages long. Took me a day and half to read. This book had me from the beginning and kept me enthralled until the 698th page!! If you are looking for a twisty thriller then this is the book for you. Although it’s very gruesome it’s still worth the read.
I read this on my Kindle. When I started reading it I had no idea it was 698 pages long. Took me a day and half to read. This book had me from the beginning and kept me enthralled until the 698th page!! If you are looking for a twisty thriller then this is the book for you. Although it’s very gruesome it’s still worth the read.
July 4, 2025
Thank you to CJ Lax for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review. WOW. Just WOW. At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about this book but about 1/4 way in I was hooked. Last half? Couldn’t put it down. I love a good thriller with plot twists and this one kept them coming. Some of them I was able to predict, others came out of left field. Definitely a book you all will want to read!
June 13, 2025
Holy crap!! Get ready for the ride of your life! If you think you have it all figured out I’ll promise you, you don’t! This book was a great read! Page turner from the start and could barely put it down!!!
June 20, 2025
A good story and quite twisty - so many different strands and characters are drawn into the plot. Although not the most deeply drawn of characters, I did quite like the MFC and happy to follow what happens to her.
Some pretty awful people in this too, with not many redeeming features. Worth a read.
Some pretty awful people in this too, with not many redeeming features. Worth a read.
June 25, 2025
I really enjoyed this book! It was filled with twists and every time I thought I had it all figured out, another piece of the puzzle came to light. It kept me interested the entire time and as a busy mom of 2, any spare moment I had was spent reading to see what was next!
June 29, 2025
Fantastic!
I really really loved this book. I flew through this book quickly. I was intrigued and had to know what was happening. The first book in a long time, that held my interest and excitement.
So suspenseful and thrilling and twisty.
Can't wait for the next book.
I really really loved this book. I flew through this book quickly. I was intrigued and had to know what was happening. The first book in a long time, that held my interest and excitement.
So suspenseful and thrilling and twisty.
Can't wait for the next book.
October 10, 2025
wowza - twists and turns
Great read with twists and turns galore!! I took off one star due to so many knowing about ______ and not Turing them into police! Looking forward to sequel!
Great read with twists and turns galore!! I took off one star due to so many knowing about ______ and not Turing them into police! Looking forward to sequel!
June 16, 2025
Constant twists!
This was a long one but worth the time! The author throws twists and turns all throughout the book. Highly recommend!
This was a long one but worth the time! The author throws twists and turns all throughout the book. Highly recommend!
June 28, 2025
What a ride! Twist after twist until the explosive ending! I was hooked straight away and thoroughly enjoyed the thrill. This is an author I will definitely be looking out for!
July 2, 2025
Book was long, but I really enjoyed it. Was hard to put down because all the twists and turns made me want to keep reading.
July 11, 2025
The grammar structure of this book needs some work but it kept me engaged the entire read! Great book!
July 23, 2025
DNF 48% in my opinion, no matter how good a story is, if It takes you longer than 300 pages to tell it. then somewhere in between those pages. you're regurgitating the same material.
July 31, 2025
Great Read
Great read! So many twists and turns. Can't believe this is the author's first novel. I hope he's working on another!
Great read! So many twists and turns. Can't believe this is the author's first novel. I hope he's working on another!
August 29, 2025
What a crazy twist!!! loved it!!
July 26, 2025
I am absolutely FLOORED. Jaw dropped. Holy Cow.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
December 8, 2025
The story was just so unrealistic, kind of dumb
September 15, 2025
Storyline was very far fetched but I was HOOKED- so many twists and turns could never predict what came next.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews