Holiday Reads Mini Review #3: THE WINTER PEOPLE by Jennifer McMahon

Title: The Winter People
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Read: September 2017
My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Book Description:

West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter, Gertie.

Now, in present day, nineteen-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara's farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister, Fawn. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that suddenly proves perilous when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished without a trace. Searching for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary hidden beneath the floorboards of her mother's bedroom. As Ruthie gets sucked deeper into the mystery of Sara's fate, she discovers that she's not the only person who's desperately looking for someone that they've lost. But she may be the only one who can stop history from repeating itself.

My musings:

The Winter People was one of the books that stowed away in my suitcase, and I was looking forward to a chilly, spooky read that would make a stark contrast to hot sunny beaches – there's nothing like chilling with a good book! Within the first couple of chapters, McMahon had broken my heart as I followed Sara’s tragic account of how she lost all her babies and her beloved daughter Gertie – who would not go crazy with grief and pain in her situation? The atmospheric writing transported me effortlessly into a bleak, snow-covered landscape, chilling my heart and soul.

I really enjoyed the dual time frame and different POVs, which served to make the story more relevant to our present time than a purely historical account could have done. For me it managed to forge a strong  link between the past and present.

This was a bleak and often desolate story, which had its power in the unknown, the mystery surrounding Sara and the legacy of terror living on in her house. The first half of the book duly delivered on its promised creep factor, which made me feel like sleeping with the lights on and the closet doors firmly locked. For me, the story was being let down by its ending, which tried to explain the mystery surrounding Gertie and added unnecessary horror elements, which distracted from the brilliant mystery the author had constructed and forced me to suspend disbelief, which I’m not good at. Why? Up until then, the horror had been communicated in artfully disguised and chilling scenes that showcased McMahon as the skilful writer she is: the scene where Ruthie admires Candice’s house and suddenly notices that everything is dusty and broken was simply brilliant.

Overall, I admit regretfully that didn’t enjoy the story as much as I thought I would, though I loved the author’s writing style and am keen to read her other works.

Holiday Reads Mini Review #2: THEN SHE WAS GONE by Lisa Jewell

Title: Then She Was Gone

Author: Lisa Jewell
Publisher: Century
Read: September 2017 on the train from Vigo to Porto 

My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Book Description:

THEN
She was fifteen, her mother's golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her. And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie disappeared, but Laurel has never given up hope of finding her daughter.
And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.

Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.
Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age.
And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?
Who still has secrets to hide?

My musings:

I’m a huge fan of Lisa Jewell’s writing, so Then She Was Gone was one of my most anticipated new releases for 2017. The story starts with Laurel’s POV, and I immediately felt the easy familiarity with her that Jewell seems to achieve so effortlessly with her characters. Laurel’s grief and her efforts at trying to come to terms with her daughter’s disappearance over ten years ago resonated with me and I felt a deep emotional connection with this character throughout the story. I especially liked Laurel’s frank confessions about her feelings towards her husband and other children after Ellie disappeared, and her long journey towards making peace with herself and her family and reestablishing a relationship with her older daughter  (it even made me a bit teary at one point).

For me, this connection was unfortunately lacking with the other narrator, whose name I will not divulge here for fear of giving away spoilers – but anyone who has read the book will know who I am talking about. Personally, I have never been a fan of reading a story from the POV of a psychopathic character because I think that very few authors can pull this off in a way that the person is both believable and relatable on some level  - I just don’t “do” repulsive characters very well. In this instance, I really struggled to connect, which stalled the story a bit for me. I felt that a lot of the subtleties in Jewell’s writing that usually flesh out her characters and make them real to me were missing in this person and he/she needed to have either a few more redeeming features or background to explain some of their actions and motives. This was a slight disappointment for me, as I usually find Jewell’s character development faultless and am normally able to empathize with even her most flawed protagonists. Perhaps these chapters would have worked better for me from an omniscient narrator, but this is purely a personal preference and other readers will undoubtedly disagree with me on that.

Whilst the general story was nothing new, I enjoyed the details that made it different from similar books in the genre, even though I found a few logistics slightly puzzling and somewhat far fetched. I noted Jewell’s confession at the end of the book that her original draft was too twisted for the publisher, which immediately piqued my interest as I think I would have liked a few more unexpected twists!

Despite my minor quibbles I enjoyed the story and found it hard to put it down. So whilst Then She Was Gone is not my favourite from the author, it was an enjoyable mystery with some unusual elements that set it apart from others in the genre, which will undoubtedly appeal to many readers. Jewell’s writing is as ever engaging and captivating and I look forward to her next book.

Holiday Reads Mini Review #1: EXQUISITE by Sarah Stovell

It's holiday time! I've had my reading list sorted for ages, leaving the most coveted books on my tbr pile for my trip - which you must agree shows great restraint!

After much agonising, I chose this little gem to sneak into my cabin luggage and be first off the rank. Unfortunately I was much too tired after coming off night shifts to read much on the plane, but made up for it once we got to the beautiful city of Barcelona.

I will try to post mini reviews of my holiday reads by painstakingly typing them out on my trusty old Samsung in hotel rooms at night, and challenging myself by trying to figure out my Blogger app as I go, so please forgive me any formatting errors.

Pictured here is the beautiful ancient city of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain, where we are currently staying.

Title: Exquisite
Author: Sarah Stovell
Read: September 2017 in Barcelona, Spain
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐1/2

Book Description (Goodreads):

Bo Luxton has it all—a loving family, a beautiful home in the Lake District, and a clutch of bestselling books to her name.

Enter Alice Dark, an aspiring writer who is drifting through life, with a series of dead-end jobs and a freeloading boyfriend. When they meet at a writers’ retreat, the chemistry is instant, and a sinister relationship develops. Or does it?

Breathlessly pacey, taut and terrifying, Exquisite is a startlingly original and unbalancing psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the very last page.

My musings:

Ever since its release date earlier this year, I have kept stumbling across raving reviews about Sarah Stovell's dark and unsettling psychological thriller about obsession and lies, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. With a premise that was certain to mess with my mind, I thought it would make the perfect holiday read. And true to its promise, once I started I was well and truly hooked!

Told in the alternating voices of Bo and Alice, the story soon spiralled into the murky waters of lies, deception and a friendship gone terribly wrong. Having two unreliable narrators, each with their own agendas and motives, soon saw me constantly questioning everything I read, which made for an interesting if somewhat exhausting reading experience. To be honest, neither of the two women were particularly trustworthy, both scarred from dysfunctional childhoods that make most of our ordinary lives sound like princess fairy tales. Despite the age gap between the women, and their obvious differences, their rich background stories explained perfectly why they would be drawn to one another. I confess that the young struggling Alice struck me as the more innocent of the two and I warmed to her much more than to Bo, despite her love for hiking (which I share) and being much closer in age to me.You will have to see for yourself whether I was on the right track or not!

Stovell's writing is engaging and seductive, drawing me so deeply into the story that I emerged a long time later like a sleeper out of a disturbing dream. With its constant twists and turns and two narrators who both tried to convince me that there account of events was the right one, I was constantly questioning what I was reading, to the very last page. And to be totally frank with you, I'm still not sure if I got it right, even after the last page has been turned. Yes, it certainly made good on its promise of messing with my mind!

I don't want to give any spoilers, so will not delve any deeper into the story other than to say that there is a lot of tension and foreboding as the two women's friendship blossoms. For me, disaster was always the inevitable outcome, and the power of the story lay in its detail. Personally, I thought that the ending was a bit of a let-down, feeling slightly rushed where it could have drawn out the unbearable tension just a tad longer to make it truly satisfying. However, I can fully understand the hype Stovell's book created, and will be anxiously looking out for her next book in anticipation of another great read.

Summary:

Exquisite is an unsettling and utterly compulsive story of a friendship gone wrong that will mess with your mind and make you question everything you read. A must-read for lovers of domestic noir who are looking for a character driven story with unreliable narrators who will stay with you long after the last page has been turned.

Book Review: DARK PINES by Will Dean

Title: Dark Pines

Author: Will Dean
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Read: September 2017

Expected publication: 4 January 2017

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

Book Description:

An isolated Swedish town. A deaf reporter terrified of nature. A dense spruce forest overdue for harvest. A pair of eyeless hunters found murdered in the woods.

It’s week one of the Swedish elk hunt and the sound of gunfire is everywhere. When Tuva Moodyson investigates the story that could make her career she stumbles on a web of secrets that knit Gavrik town together. Are the latest murders connected to the Medusa killings twenty years ago? Is someone following her? Why take the eyes? Tuva must face her demons and venture deep into the woods to stop the killer and write the story. And then get the hell out of Gavrik.

My musings:

Tuva is an interesting, multi-dimensional character who I like straight from the start. Being deaf from childhood, life has not always been easy for her, but she is never bitter of bemoaning her fate, determined not to let her disability stop her from achieving her goals. Wanting to be near her dying mother sees Tuva give up her career as a journalist in London and move to the small town of Gavrik in a remote region in the Swedish countryside, where she finds work writing small features for the local paper. Her job suddenly becomes a lot more interesting when a man is found murdered in a gruesome fashion in the forest, mutilated in ways that link him to other killings twenty years ago.

The more Tuva starts investigating the town's dark secrets, the creepier the book becomes. There were some truly terrifying characters there - those woodcarver sisters will give me nightmares for some time to come I think! Everyone seems to have a motive for murder, and most of the characters are - for lack of a better word –odd, yet strangely compelling. There were so many interesting side stories here that would make for whole books just on their own, and I could have kept reading on long after the mystery had been solved just to find out more about this unusual cast of characters. Dean portrays small town mentality perfectly, with all its prejudice, allgiances and narrow-mindedness, Tuva always remaining the outsider. Her friendship with Tammy was portrayed beautifully, and I was glad that at least she had someone fighting in her corner!

I am always a sucker for a creepy remote setting, and the author certainly knows how to set the atmosphere: the dark, sinister woods Tuva is so afraid of take on a life of their own, closing in tighter and tighter around the small town the more people fear for their lives with a serial killer on the loose. Dean does a brilliant job in ratcheting up the tension by including small, seemingly insignificant details that add to the general undercurrent of danger, like the plague of insects that attack Tuva every time she goes into the woods, or the pile of rotting mouse carcasses she finds piled up against a stonewall near one of her suspect's homes. With its air of menace, the forest becomes almost like another character Tuva is up against in her quest to find out the truth. 

Summary:

Dark Pines is one of those dark, atmospheric and haunting thrillers that contains everything I look for in a good mystery, and I was instantly hooked. If you are looking for a sympathetic gutsy heroine, a rich cast of unusual characters, a creepy claustrophobic setting and a chilling murder mystery, you can’t go wrong with this one!  It definitely earned itself a spot on my favourites list for the year and I look forward to reading more from the author in future. Very highly recommended. 

Thank you to Netgalley and Oneworld Publications for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: COLD BLOOD by Robert Bryndza (Detective Erika Foster #5)

Title: Cold Blood (Detective Erika Foster #5)

Author: Robert Bryndza
Publisher: Bookouture
Read: September 2017

Expected publication: 20 September 2017

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

Book Description (Goodreads):

When a battered suitcase containing the dismembered body of a young man washes up on the shore of the river Thames, Detective Erika Foster is shocked. She’s worked on some terrifying cases but never seen anything like this before.

As Erika and her team set to work, she makes the link with another victim – the body of a young woman dumped in an identical suitcase two weeks ago.

Erika quickly realises she’s on the trail of a serial killer who’s already made their next move. Yet just as Erika starts to make headway with the investigation, she is the victim of a brutal attack.

But nothing will stop Erika. As the body count rises, the twin daughters of her colleague Commander Marsh are abducted, and the stakes are higher than ever before. Can Erika save the lives of two innocent children before it’s too late? She’s running out of time and about to make a disturbing discovery…there’s more than one killer.

My musings:

I’ve been a big fan of the Erika Foster series from the start, and was duly excited to see that a fifth book is coming out, doing my usual happy dance around the kitchen when I got the approval for an ARC from Netgalley. I’m not sure what it is exactly that makes Erika such a stand-out character for me, but I find the series totally addictive! Bryndza has a very direct, “no-frills” writing style that works well for the genre and really appeals to me. The short chapters are filled with action and move the story along at a good pace. Plus, I have grown very fond of the team of detectives and forensic scientists that have been featuring alongside Erika, eagerly following their side stories.

As usual, Bryndza has given Erika a chilling and challenging case to solve, which she approaches in her usual “give-it-all” manner, determined to find the killer/s before the body count mounts. Parts of the book are narrated from the perpetrators’ POV, and I must admit that on this occasion this did not work as well for me than in previous novels, especially Nina’s diary entries. The trouble I have with most fictional diaries is that they rarely read like a real-life diary, and tend to slow the story down with lots of internal dialogue. Personally, I thought that this distracted me from the main story and pushed Erika and her team into the background. I felt that I was not invested enough in Nina’s story to care about her most intimate thoughts, which made the book flag a bit for me in the middle. I would have much preferred to be more involved in Erika’s investigation and problem solving, which was overshadowed by the story of the two perpetrators and always being a few steps ahead of the police. This is purely a personal preference and will probably not bother other readers, but I didn’t feel that Cold Blood offered the same thrilling cat-and-mouse game as previous books. I am also not a big fan of the theme of detectives becoming targets, finding it overused and often quite far-fetched. That said, once the story picked up pace in the last quarter of the book, there was plenty of action to make up for the short lull, and I loved the tense and thrilling finale. 

Summary:

Whilst Book 5 was not my favourite instalment in the Erika Foster series, it features a chilling murder case, a ruthless perpetrator and plenty of action, and I am sure that many readers will love it. I am still a big fan of the series and am looking forward to Erika’s next case - I hope that she will finally find a bit more happiness in her personal life!

Thank you to Netgalley and Bookouture for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Audiobook Review: INTO THE DARKEST CORNER by Elizabeth Haynes

Title: Into the Darkest Corner

Author: Elizabeth Haynes
Read: September 2017

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

“You think you know now, don't you? But you have no idea what it was like.” 

Book Description (Goodreads):

When young, pretty Catherine Bailey meets Lee Brightman, she can't believe her luck. Gorgeous, charismatic, and a bit mysterious, Lee seems almost too perfect to be true.

But what begins as flattering attention and spontaneous, passionate sex transforms into raging jealousy, and Catherine soon discovers that Lee's dazzling blue eyes and blond good looks hide a dark, violent nature. Disturbed by his increasingly erratic, controlling behavior, she tries to break it off; turning to her friends for support, she's stunned to find they don't believe her. Increasingly isolated and driven into the darkest corner of her world, a desperate Catherine plans a meticulous escape.

Four years later, Lee is behind bars and Catherine—now Cathy—is trying to build a new life in a new city. Though her body has healed, the trauma of the past still haunts her. Then Stuart Richardson, her attractive new neighbor, moves in. Encouraging her to confront her fears, he sparks unexpected hope and the possibility of love and a normal life.

Until the day the phone rings . . .

My musings:

Rarely has a book ever made me so angry! At one stage, I almost experienced a murderous rage against one of the characters, wanting – needing – to see justice done. It says a lot about the author’s writing skills to be able to elicit such strong emotional responses in her readers. Whilst this is a slow-burning mystery, its tension relying more on the psychological states of mind of its characters rather than action, at times it was almost unbearable to follow their slow but inevitable fate as they walked head first into the abyss.

Catherine Bailey and Cathy Bailey may be one and the same woman, but they are like night and day. How can the carefree young Catherine have turned into a frightened, obsessive recluse, too afraid to get out of her house, and endlessly checking windows and doors to make sure they are secure? Don’t worry – you are about to find out. Told in a “now” and “then” format from the POV of Cathy as she reflects on her present life and her past, we get to follow her journey from first meeting the charismatic Lee to having to lock herself in her flat and fearing for her life. The experiences that turned Catherine into Cathy are as intense as they are terrifying – I listened to the audiobook, and some scenes left me shaking in horror as well as rage of the sheer “wrongness” of it all. Without giving anything away that has not already been mentioned in the blurb, Into the Darkest Corner is a tale of domestic abuse, psychological terror and of a relationship gone horribly wrong. The story is so well plotted that every time I questioned Catherine’s options, I realised just how limited they were, how omnipotent the evil that had taken over her life. I constantly asked myself: what would I do? And shuddered at the image of the dead-end corner Catherine had found herself in, with her back against the wall.  

Summary:

Into the Darkest Corner tells of one of the most chilling fictional relationships I have ever encountered in a psychological thriller, and it terrified me to the core. A brilliantly plotted, dark and sinister book that will stay with me for some time to come, and makes me want to check that my windows and doors are locked up tight. It would make for some brilliant bookclub discussions!

Credit must also go to Karen Cass, whose voice was perfect for narrating Cathy’s story – I loved listening to her and she gave life to all the characters in the book. 

Book Review: LITTLE SECRETS by Anna Snoekstra

Title: Little Secrets

Author: Anna Snoekstra
Publisher: Harlequin Australia
Read: September 2017

Expected publication: 23 October 2017

My Rating:🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

Book Description (blurb):

What happens when ambition trumps the truth?

A town reeling in the wake of tragedy…

An arsonist is on the loose in Colmstock, Australia, most recently burning down the town’s courthouse and killing a young boy who was trapped inside.

An aspiring journalist desperate for a story…

The clock is ticking for Rose Blakey. With nothing but rejections from newspapers piling up, her job pulling beers for cops at the local tavern isn’t enough to even cover rent. Rose needs a story — a big one.

A bizarre mystery…

In the weeks after the courthouse fire, porcelain replicas of Colmstock’s daughters begin turning up on doorsteps, terrifying parents and testing the limits of the town’s already fractured police force.

Rose may have finally found her story. But as her articles gain traction and the boundaries of her investigation blur, Colmstock is seized by a seething paranoia. Soon, no one is safe from suspicion. And when Rose’s attention turns to the mysterious stranger living in the rooms behind the tavern, neighbour turns on neighbour and the darkest side of self-preservation is revealed.

My musings:

I think that over the last decade or so, Australian mystery & crime fiction has really come into its own, with authors using unique characteristics in their stories and creating a niche market for themselves that draws readers from all around the world for an Aussie interpretation of “noir” . For me, these are books that have a strong sense of place, using the harshness of nature and the remoteness of the setting to create tension and a constant undercurrent of menace and danger to the story. Little Secrets definitely falls into that category! Snoekstra has done a wonderful job in creating not only a setting, but also characters that captivate and terrify at the same time. The dying little country town of Colmstock is so quintessentially Australian that you can literally feel the heat and hear the flies buzzing in its dusty, deserted streets! Not only does its remote setting make for a perfect background to a chilling mystery, but Snoekstra includes some seemingly insignificant but terrifying elements that make the streets of this particular country town even more creepy: such as the smoking ruins of the courthouse, or the spooky presence of the paper plate kids – and those creepy dolls of course! I had goosebumps reading it!

In Rose, Snoekstra has created a wonderful main protagonist – one you cannot help liking, even though she definitely has her flaws. Young and ambitious, Rose’s main dream is to get out of the dying town she has grown up in, and yet has limited means to do so. An aspiring journalist, Rose knows rejection only too well, even though this latest one threatens to put all her best-laid plans to rest. Like any creature trapped, Rose is not afraid to fight for her chance of an escape. Her friend Mia, on the other hand, has long resigned herself to living and dying in Colmstock, which makes her both adore and resent Rose in equal measure. The dynamics between the two best friends was fascinating and very well drawn, and held a few unexpected surprises.

I really don’t want to give anything away to spoil this wonderful mystery for anyone, so won’t be delving too much into the storyline, except to say that it had me captivated from beginning to end. If it hadn’t been for the reality of having to go to work, and catch a few hours sleep, I would have devoured this book in one giant read-a-thon. I couldn’t tear myself away! As things start heading south, and the small community of Colmstock is beginning  to unravel like a pack of wild dogs snapping and snarling at each other, the tension was almost unbearable. I loved how the author slowly strips each and every character of their masks, revealing their true personalities underneath. There were a few surprises there!  Snoekstra’s ability to give all her characters true-to-life personalities and flaws made them come to life for me. As tensions grow, and neighbours turn against neighbours, friends against friends, there was a palpable sense of menace that had my heart racing and my knuckles turn white as I gripped the book tightly in my hands, wanting, needing to find out how this would all end – what more can you ask from a good mystery? 

Summary:

Little Secrets is Australian crime fiction at its best – this is the type of psychological thriller that makes me come back for more, and I can’t wait to read more from this talented author. Highly recommended! 

A big thank you to Harlequin Australia for the free copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: IF I DIE BEFORE I WAKE by Emily Koch

Title: If I Die Before I Wake

Author: Emily Koch
Publisher: Random House UK, Vintage Publishing
Read: September 2017

Expected publication: 11 January 2018

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

Book Description (Goodreads):

Everyone believes Alex is in a coma, unlikely to ever wake up. As his family debate withdrawing life support, and his friends talk about how his girlfriend Bea needs to move on, he can only listen.

But Alex soon begins to suspect that the accident that put him here wasn’t really an accident. Even worse, the perpetrator is still out there and Alex is not the only one in danger.

As he goes over a series of clues from his past, Alex must use his remaining senses to solve the mystery of who tried to kill him, and try to protect those he loves, before they decide to let him go.

My musings:

I know that this book is not going to be published until January. Plus, I have plenty of books on my reading list that I should be reading first. But I felt like I just needed something a bit different, something that stood out from the fray– what would fit the bill better than a mystery told from the POV of a character in a permanent vegetative state, his active mind trapped in a lifeless body and unable to communicate? I just couldn’t resist!

Alex is in a coma, unable to move his body, eat, speak, or even move his eyes.  Two years after a terrible climbing accident, the doctors have long given up on him ever regaining any function and have been unable to prove that Alex is even aware of his surroundings. Pneumonia has almost claimed his life several times, but still Alex clings on to the small hope that one day he can return to his old life, his girlfriend, his family. Lying helpless in bed, totally at the mercy of others, he overhears his visitors talking about the incident that has cost him his life as he knew it, but as hard as he tries to think back, he cannot remember anything. Hearing that the police are investigating his accident as a possible attempted murder, Alex is determined to find out what happened – if it’s the last thing he will ever do.

I really loved the premise of If I Die Before I Wake, which was both original and captivating. Imagining what it must feel like for our main character, Alex, trapped in his own body unable to communicate even his most basic needs or pain, created an almost unbearable tension. His frustration over his helplessness was highlighted by the many scenes in which he had to endure pain or suffering, simply because of being locked into his lifeless body. It was horrible to imagine what this must be like! The mystery element is well thought out and kept my attention, and it was interesting how slowly but surely all the pieces of the puzzle came together in Alex’s mind. The interpersonal relationships were sensitively drawn – the nurses, the doctors, Alex’s girlfriend and family – and made for some touching and some infuriating moments.

The main issue I had with the book was the pacing. Whilst Alex’s predicament made for an original plotline, it also slowed down the story quite significantly in places, whilst the reader follows his long internal dialogue and his daily frustrations. It reminded me a bit of Tom Hanks’ epic movie Castaway, where a marooned Chuck Noland only has his volleyball to talk to – which, to be fair, is very original, but wore a bit thin after a while. Parts of the story dragged a bit for me, and I would have liked to have a different element introduced, a different POV perhaps, just to move the story along and shed light on some other aspects of the investigation Alex was not privy to. Some threads didn’t seem to go anywhere, like the scene where Alex’s catheter “fell out”, which made me wonder if I had missed something? Because of this, I struggled at times to fully connect to Alex, hoping for things to move along a bit faster than they did. 

Summary:

All in all, If I Die Before I Wake was a very original mystery written from the POV from the most unlikely character – a man trapped inside his lifeless body, surely one of the most terrible situations a person could find themselves in. Koch explores this topic with sensitivity and insight, realistically portraying the frustrations of her helpless character as he strives to find out the truth. Whilst the pacing was a bit slow for me at times, the story certainly made up for it in originality. One of the most unusual mysteries I have read this year.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: ARE YOU SLEEPING by Kathleen Barber

Title: Are You Sleeping

Author: Kathleen Barber
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
Read: August 2017

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

Book Description (Goodreads):

Josie Buhrman has spent the last ten years trying to escape her family’s reputation and with good reason. After her father's murder thirteen years prior, her mother ran away to join a cult and her twin sister Lanie, once Josie’s closest friend and confidant, betrayed her in an unimaginable way. Now, Josie has finally put down roots in New York, settling into domestic life with her partner Caleb, and that’s where she intends to stay. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past—starting with her last name.

When investigative reporter Poppy Parnell sets off a media firestorm with a mega-hit podcast that reopens the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, Josie’s world begins to unravel. Meanwhile, the unexpected death of Josie’s long-absent mother forces her to return to her Midwestern hometown where she must confront the demons from her past—and the lies on which she has staked her future.

My musings:

I love mysteries that feature or revolve around strong dysfunctional family dynamics, and Are You Sleeping certainly fits the bill. Two estranged sisters. A father who was murdered when the twins were in their teens. A mother who abandoned her children to join a cult. Wow, that makes my own life look pretty normal!

Out of this cast of dysfunctional characters, Josie – our narrator – is probably the most level headed one, trying to escape her past and the legacy of her father’s murder, for which a (then) teenage neighbour is currently serving time in jail. Having changed her name and dissociated herself from everyone who knew her then, Josie has managed to create a normal life out of the spotlight. Even her boyfriend has no idea who she really is. But as false identities go, Josie’s is about to burn down in flames after her mother’s suicide in Northern California. Returning to her old hometown for the funeral, Josie must not only face her estranged twin Lanie, but also the reasons which drove the sisters apart all those years ago. To make matters worse, the Buhrman twins are being relentlessly pursued by Poppy Parnell, a true-crime reporter who has been questioning the verdict in the twin’s father’s murder case, which hinged solely on Lanie’s testimony at the time.

By including excerpts from Poppy Parnell’s true-crime podcast and social media feeds into the story, Barber not only creates a very contemporary and unique narrative, but also manages to build tension as Josie’s life is once again thrown into the spotlight. I admit that it took me a little while to get engrossed in the story, due to the many different elements in the beginning, but once the whole extent of the mystery was unveiled, I was well and truly hooked.

There are plenty of skeletons in the Buhrman family closet, which were intriguing and unsettling and made for compulsive reading to find out all the gory details. Whilst the main plot held few surprises for me, the general theme of the brutal impact of social media on the victims’ lives was an eye-opener. We know that this happens, but to be honest, I had never given it much thought before. Having to change one’s identity to escape the media spotlight and live a normal life out of the public eye seems like an extreme measure to take! It was unsettling to read the online trolls’ judgments and opinions about the Buhrman family, so brutally and thoughtlessly discussed in public forums, with no feelings spared for the people involved. I really felt for Josie, an innocent victim in the whole sorry saga. The complicated dynamics between the sisters added an irresistible psychological element to the story, even though I thought that some of the darker elements could have been explored a bit more deeply to create extra tension. 

Summary:

All in all, Are You Sleeping is an original and contemporary psychological thriller focusing on dysfunctional family dynamics and the impact of social media on victims’ lives. Including several different elements into the narrative made for interesting reading and reflection, and I really liked Barber’s engaging writing style. Whilst lacking some of the dark tension some readers may look for in the genre, this slow-burning mystery made up for it in originality and character development. I really enjoyed it and would not hesitate to recommend it to lovers of the genre. I look forward to reading more from this author in future.

Thank you to Netgalley and Pan Macmillan for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

More mysteries featuring sister relationships:

Click on cover for link to Goodreads

    

What's your favourite book featuring sisters?