Sunday 12 March 2023

Audiobook fest

 







No time for reading? Why not try an audio book? It's no secret that I absolutely love them. I listen to them everywhere - whilst doing the dishes, walking the dog, driving to and from work. They make the most boring chores enjoyable. Here are some beauties I have listened to recently. And the best news is, they are all available for free from your library on the Libby and Borrow Box apps.



ALL GOOD PEOPLE HERE by Ashley Flowers

 

I love thrillers in which an adult protagonist returns home to a small country town and starts investigating a crime that has traumatised them in their younger years – this trope never gets old for me! In ALL GOOD PEOPLE HERE, Margot returns home to the small town of Sarakusa, Indiana, to care for her uncle, who has recently been diagnosed with dementia. When a young child goes missing, Margot is reminded of the disappearance and murder of her best friend when they were six years old, a crime that has haunted her for two decades. Are there similarities between the two crimes? Hoping both to lay old demons to rest and perhaps revive her flagging career as a small town journalist, Margot starts asking questions …

 

I listened to the audio version of ALL GOOD PEOPLE HERE and the story immediately drew me in, even though (or perhaps because of?) parts of it were slow burning character studies rather than an action-fuelled thriller. Carrying the burden of a childhood trauma, a dysfunctional family background and the stresses of caring for a sick loved one, Margot made for an intriguing and sympathetic character that was easy to root for. Her flashbacks to her childhood and the murder of her best friend made for two interesting stories running parallel to one another, and I was invested in finding out the answers to both.

 

ALL GOOD PEOPLE HERE was an intriguing small-town mystery linking two separate crimes through the eyes of one protagonist. I really enjoyed the small town atmosphere and – even though this will be polarising – thought the ending was very cleverly carried off. I hope to read more from this author in future.

🌟🌟🌟🌟



WHEN THEY FIND HER by Lia Middleton

 

Weaving the best and the worst of parenthood into a taut psychological thriller made WHEN THEY FIND HER a nerve wrecking and heart breaking read from beginning to end. Savoured slowly through the (excellent) audio narration allowed me to immerse myself deeply in the novel’s flawed characters, a journey that is not for the faint of heart.

 

After an incident that is not revealed until much later in the book, Naomi Williams has not only lost her marriage but also custody of her four-year-old daughter Freya. Finally, she has managed to persuade her ex-husband Aiden to allow Freya to spend a night with Naomi at her remote farmhouse. That night, whilst Naomi is under the influence of heavy sleeping pills, something terrible happens to little Freya. Having no memory of the night, and trying to protect herself, Naomi reports her daughter as missing to police, starting a landslide that can only end in more tragedy …

 

You can see that no matter how this story pans out, there can be no winners at the end. And yet the journey to the answers was so cleverly woven and so intriguing that I couldn’t stop reading until I had all the answers. Love Naomi or hate her, she is an unreliable narrator of the best kind, always casting a shadow of doubt over everything she is willing to share with the reader.

 

If you are a reader who expects lots of action, then perhaps this won’t be the right book for you. Yet for those of you who, like me, can appreciate an excellent, in-depth character study of mental illness and addiction casting shadows on marriage and parenthood, then this book should definitely be on your list. With Naomi’s hazy recall of events, her denials and her excuses and her erratic decision making, the journey was both harrowing as well as utterly intriguing. The ending may also surprise you!

 

This was my first book by the author but it definitely won’t be the last.

🌟🌟🌟🌟



THIS TIME TOWMORROW by Emma Straub

 

Time travel books can go either way for me and the secret is usually whether the plot is clever enough to help me suspend disbelief. In THIS TIME TOMORROW, Straub focuses not so much on the intricacies of time travel, but on the emotional theme of second chances and our desire to help those we love most. As Alice tries time and time gain to save her father by turning back the clock and changing a few details of that fateful night when she was sixteen, we are instantly reminded of losses we have experienced ourselves. Who would not want to turn back the clock to have the chance to save one of loved ones? Having lost both my parents, I would give anything just to spend a few more moments with them and tell them how much I love them.

 

If you have any misgivings that this story would be overly emotional or soppy, rest assured that Straub doesn’t dwell there but lets her story flow easily from the pages, allowing the reader to fill in the gaps with their own emotional baggage. I found the book moving in a way that never crossed the line into melodrama, which is not an easy balance to achieve with themes of love, loss and grief. I was also pleasantly surprised that the teenage Alice was as easy to relate to as the adult one, again highlighting the author’s skill at characterisation. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed THIS TIME TOMORROW, reminding me to treasure the time I have with my loved ones and the memories of those who have passed. A touching story that prompted reflection and may have made me shed a tear or two.

🌟🌟🌟🌟



THE LAST PARTY by Claire Mackintosh

 

Mackintosh is one of my go-to authors when I want to read a good slow-burning mystery, and even though THE LAST PARTY wasn’t my favourite by the author, it still made for an intriguing read. Extra credits go to narrator Chloe Angharad Davies, without whom I would never have known how to pronounce the Welsh names and quotes in the story – and who brought each character to life for me.

 

Popular singer Rhys Lloyd is dead, and half of the locals of the small Welsh community of Cwm Coed seem to have a motive for murder. With so many people hating the man, solving the crime won’t be easy, even involving two murder squads, one from England and one from Wales.

 

With an extensive ensemble cast, multiple timelines and suspects galore, this police procedural allowed for plenty of armchair sleuthing. Unfortunately I found Rhys, the victim, so repulsive that I almost wanted to give a medal to his killer for ridding the community of a menace (or is it politically incorrect to admit this?). I did, however, really enjoy the chemistry between the two main investigating detectives, DC Ffion Morgan and DC Leon Brady. The picturesque Welsh lakeside setting made for a wonderful backdrop, and I was longing to take a plunge into its icy waters.

 

With this being the first of a series, we are bound to see more of Ffion and Leo, and I am very interested to see how their relationship will develop and what other crimes they will get to solve.

🌟🌟🌟1/2



THE PINK HOTEL by Liska Jacobs

 

Sometimes you just have to go into a book blind without overthinking whether you would like it or not. THE PINK HOTEL is probably not my usual choice of story, but I do love a good social critique and thoroughly enjoyed reading about the antics of the super-rich in a luxury hotel whilst around them the world is on fire. Some scenes oddly reminded me of scenes out of Titanic – the band plays on whilst the ship is sinking, i.e. the staff keep serving drinks so people don’t have to think about their imminent death. The Pink Hotel prides itself on giving in to its guests’ every whim, and we certainly meet an eclectic bunch here, all catered for by its dedicated staff.

 

This is the place young married couple Kit and Keith (Mr and Mrs Collins) find themselves in on their honeymoon. The Pink Hotel wasn’t Kit’s idea of a romantic getaway, and the couple certainly don’t fit the demographic, but Keith has met the hotel’s manager on a previous occasion and is hoping to secure a job here to provide them with a better future than their humdrum existence in rural Florida. Whilst Keith is easily mingling with the rich and famous and even working unpaid shifts in the hope of ingratiating himself with the hotel manager, Kit feels like a fish out of water, which is soon putting their marriage under strain. Meanwhile, outside the hotel’s lush grounds, wildfires are raging and riots are destroying homes, but the guests of the Pink Hotel party on, choosing to stay ignorant about anything that does not directly affect them.

 

I thought that THE PINK HOTEL was a well-written, dark social satire exploring both the fascination with the rich and famous as well as the unspoken class system that is ruling our society and our response to outside events. The characters, whilst sometimes a bit over the top, provided some entertainment and cringes, but were always strangely fascinating. Jacobs’ writing style is descriptive, which painted a vivid picture of the hotel’s lush gardens and its guests. The audio version of the book helped me to immerse myself in its atmospheric setting and stay engaged. Whilst there was little action as such (I lie – there was a gory scene involving a wildcat), the dark undertones and the characterisations were intriguing and kept me interested. I think that this book may not be for everyone, but readers who like a dark social critique should definitely give it a go. I certainly enjoyed it as something different from my usual reading choices, and characters that made me scrutinise my own feelings and choices in our times.

🌟🌟🌟1/2



NEXT OF KIN by Kia Abdullah

 

NEXT OF KIN was my first book by Kia Abdullah and a difficult one to review. It’s well written and immaculately researched, and yet I felt conflicted. This story is grim! Even if you get past the sheer tragedy of a child’s death from being left in a hot car in the middle of summer, there are more blows yet to come. As an ED nurse I’m not easily shocked, but the final few chapters felt like a punch in the gut and left me reeling. On one hand I applaud the author for her courage to tackle such a difficult matter, on the other I found the final reveal detracting from its initial premise even though it certainly added shock value and that “killer twist” that has become so popular in thrillers.

 

I can’t quite put my finger on why I didn’t love this book more than I did, other than finding the pacing a bit inconsistent and struggling to connect to either one of the sisters (which perhaps made more sense as the story progressed). Purely as a family drama some of the emotional dynamics seemed a bit off to me, even though those also made more sense in the light of the “mystery” element. Gosh, it’s so hard to talk about this book without giving spoilers! I feel an intense need to discuss this with someone. So perhaps it would make a great bookclub book, if the audience can stomach some of the more gruelling elements. I really liked Kia Abdullah’s writing style though and will definitely read some of her other books.

 

🌟🌟🌟1/2 sitting-on-the-fence stars from me

No comments:

Post a Comment