Book Review: OUTSIDE by Ragnar Jonasson

 

Title: OUTSIDE

Author:  Ragnar Jonasson

Publisher:  Penguin Michael Joseph UK

Read: December 2021

Expected publication: 28 April 2022

My Rating: 🌟🌟

 

 

Book Description:

 

 

In the swirling snow of a deadly Icelandic storm, four friends seek shelter in a small abandoned hunting lodge. Miles from help, and knowing they will die outside in the cold, they break open the lock and make their way inside, hoping to wait out the storm until morning.

But nothing can prepare them for what they find behind the door . . .

Inside the cabin lurks a dangerous presence that chills them to their core.
Outside, certain death from exposure awaits.
So with no other option, they find themselves forced to spend a long, terrifying night in the cabin, watching as intently and silently as they are being watched themselves.

But as the evening darkens, old secrets are beginning to find their way to the light.
And as the tension escalates between the four friends, it soon becomes clear that the danger they discovered lurking in the cabin is far from the only mystery that will be uncovered tonight.

Nor the only thing to be afraid of . . .

My musings:

 

Ragnar Jonasson is the master of chilly, atmospheric settings, which is why I will always rush out to get my hands on every one of his books! In OUTSIDE, he has turned this skill to good use again as he describes the stark, lonely cabin in the Highlands of Iceland, where four friends find themselves stranded in a blizzard. Having been to Iceland in winter, I could well imagine the cold, the howling winds, the long dark night and the isolation, and I loved the chills this sent down my spine!

 

However, I am wondering if something got lost in translation for me, because even though the setting was wonderfully atmospheric, the human part of the story didn’t work so well. As we get the POV of each of the friends, I was hoping for some connection and an insight into their motivations, but this never came. It was difficult to distinguish between the characters’ voices, as they all appeared rather flat and unemotional, making me feel firmly on the outside and puzzled at their intentions. In fact, some parts of the story were just plain strange and made little sense, in particular the involvement of the fifth character, which was too far of a stretch to be credible. I would have loved more dialogue and emotional interaction between the friends to build tension and introduce some rationale for their motivations instead of just having this spelled out in the final chapters without the emotional background to make it more understandable.

 

Having read many previous novels by the author I have always enjoyed his sparse, to-the-point prose that usually manages to set the scene well and moves the story along at a good pace. Here, however, I needed a bit more background and emotion to bond with the characters. It may have worked better to just give us one or two POVs to be able to bond with those characters, than four perspectives that just skimmed the surface.

 

 

Summary:

 

Even though I remain a firm fan of Jonasson’s books, I feel that this one fell a bit short for me, which is probably related to my specific reading preferences. I am a reader who very much needs the emotional ties to at least one character to make me feel invested in the story, and I did not get that here. Which is a shame, because the setting delivered exactly the right stage on which these characters could have starred and carried me off into their world.

 

 

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

Book Review: THE PARIS APARTMENT by Lucy Foley

Title: THE PARIS APARTMENT

Author:  Lucy Foley

Publisher:  HarperCollins UK

Read: January 2022

Expected publication: 3 March 2022

My Rating: 🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge

Everyone's a neighbor. Everyone's a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.

My musings:

 

I was very excited to get my hands on an early copy of Lucy Foley’s latest book, because her closed door mysteries are always a joy to read. Unfortunately I found that THE PARIS APARTMENT and I did not gel as I had hoped.

 

“What’s not to love about a mystery set in a luxury apartment block in Paris?” you ask.  Good question. Paris, this wonderful romantic old city is indeed an ideal place to host a bit of murder and intrigue. And yet I found that I got very little sense of place from this book. Whilst the descriptions of the apartment are atmospheric and gave me old creepy house vibes, the rest of the story could have been set anywhere in the world and would not have been any different. I wanted to FEEL like I was in Paris, the city of love and romance, only to be betrayed by the city with fear and murder. I wanted to picture the smell of coffee and croissants in smoky cafes, the melodic chatter of Parisians milling in the streets, the feel of the ancient city as it pressed in on me. And yet, the city felt flat. None of French charm here. Not even creepy vibes of dark back alleys. If some Paris landmarks hadn’t been mentioned, this could have been anywhere in the world.

 

Then there was the cast of characters. In retrospect, they all blend into one big glob of unlikeable people with few distinctive characteristics to set them apart. Again, the French could have been any nationality, this horrible bickering family that would have fitted into any other setting without having to change a thing. I tried to get invested in Jess’ plight as she desperately searches for her brother, but even she couldn’t touch my heart. The multiple POVs, instead of drawing me in, made the book feel disjointed and stole a lot of its mystery. To be honest, I stopped reading a few times and only persevered because this was an ARC, and I thought the ending may redeem it. However, even though many things finally fell into place and the story picked up pace, the final denouement seemed farfetched to me. I really wanted to love this book, so it pains me to say that I barely made it through until the end!

 

 

Summary:

 

All in all, THE PARIS APARTMENT and I weren’t a good fit. I am finding more and more that I am not a fan of multiple POVs, especially in mysteries. I often come away thinking that one person tapping in the dark and struggling to get the answers would make the story more suspenseful. So perhaps it is due to reader preferences that made me struggle with this book, as many other readers have loved it. Saying that, will I line up to read Foley’s next book? Most definitely. At a different time, a different mood, it may all work out better – sadly this time the story and I just didn’t gel.

 

 

 

 

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

 

Book Review: THE SANATORIUM by Sarah Pearse

 

Title: THE SANATORIUM

Author:  Sarah Pearse

Publisher: Random House UK

Read: 2020

My Rating: 🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

An imposing, isolated hotel, high up in the Swiss Alps, is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But she's taken time off from her job as a detective, so when she receives an invitation out of the blue to celebrate her estranged brother's recent engagement, she has no choice but to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge. Though it's beautiful, something about the hotel, recently converted from an abandoned sanatorium, makes her nervous - as does her brother, Isaac.

And when they wake the following morning to discover his fiancée Laure has vanished without a trace, Elin's unease grows. With the storm cutting off access to and from the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.

 

My musings:

 

Given the atmospheric, claustrophobic setting in the Swiss Alps during a blizzard I expected to like this book much more than I did – I wonder what went wrong here?

Let’s start with the things I did enjoy, and the setting is definitely a treat. An old sanatorium high in the Swiss Alps that has been converted into a fancy but sinister hotel – it doesn’t get much better than this. And when a massive blizzard cuts off the hotel from civilisation, and people start dying, the stage is set for a tense closed door mystery. Pearse brings her setting to life with vivid descriptions of the old TB sanatorium and its eerie presence despite having been remodelled into a fancy resort. With a shady history, the building itself seems to exude an air of menace and danger that made for a wonderful backdrop.

So why didn’t it work for me? Probably a few reasons, and mostly to do with reader preference.

1) Mainly, I found the whole premise extremely unbelievable, from the strange way that people suddenly start dying, to the investigative efforts of a British policewoman on leave for PTSD (who has absolutely no jurisdiction in Switzerland), to the reveal of the final culprit and the motives of the murder spree. I felt that the book suffered from the problem of “trying too hard” to fit in everything under the sun to make it a twisty read, only to end up being confusing and lacking cohesion.
2) The characters: even though I liked the premise of Elin, a policewoman with PTSD, I felt that she always kept me at arms’ length and I didn’t bond with her throughout the entirety of the book. As a detective she didn’t ring true for me, even considering that she was recovering from a recent breakdown. As for the other characters, not only did I find most of them thoroughly unlikeable, but they also lacked believability for me. Some remained mere stereotypes I never really got the hang of. I felt entirely emotionally detached throughout the book, which took away a lot of the enjoyment for me.
3) I have found from previous experience that I do better with closed-door mysteries if they are told from one POV only, which helps build suspense for me. Here, the POVs from the murder victims made the story appear choppy, added an added element of having to suspend disbelief and took away a lot of the mystery for me. Again, personal preference, other readers will totally disagree with me here.
4) The final reveal: given that the body count rises throughout the book, I expected an evil villain with a strong motive and found the final reveal just a bit lacklustre and – again – farfetched.

Summary:

 

All in all, THE SANATORIUM was a book that contained all the things I usually love in a novel, but for various reasons did not end up working well for me. With a wonderfully atmospheric setting and a mounting body count, it will undoubtedly thrill other readers, though, so it’s one you need to pick up and try for yourself rather than taking my personal reader preferences into account here.

 

 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.

Audiobook Review: THE OTHER PEOPLE by C.J. Tudor

Title: THE OTHER PEOPLE

Author: C.J. Tudor
Read: February 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟

"People say hate and bitterness will destroy you. They’re wrong. It’s hope. Hope will devour you from the inside like a parasite."

Book Description:

Three years ago, Gabe's family disappeared. Most people think they died. Some of them blame Gabe. Hardly anyone believes the truth--that Gabe saw his daughter the day she and his wife disappeared, smiling at him from the back of a rusty old car speeding down the highway. So even though it's been three years since that day, Gabe cannot give up hope. Even though he has given up everything else. His home, his job, his old life. He spends his days travelling up and down the highway and sleeping in service stations, searching for the car that took her.

It's hard for most people to understand. But Gabe has found some who do in an online group set up by people who have also lost loved ones--who have suffered like him. They call themselves "The Other People." Because isn't that what everyone thinks: bad stuff only happens to "other people."

When the car that Gabe saw driving away that night is found in a lake with a body inside, Gabe is suddenly under suspicion--and in danger. In desperation, he turns to The Other People for help. Because they are good people. They know what loss is like. They know what pain is like. They know what death is like. There's just one problem . . . they want other people to know it too.

What attracted me to this book:

I can rarely resist the temptation of a mystery with a ghostly element, especially when it comes as highly recommended as this book.

My musings:

I am going to be a big party pooper here, because this book has probably been my biggest disappointment this year so far! I loooved THE CHALK MAN, really didn’t care much for ANNIE THORNE, and this one was a huge flop for me. I am coming to the conclusion that the author’s writing style might just not be a good fit for me.

Firstly, it was all so farfetched! Yes, I am terrible at suspending disbelief, but honestly, this was taking it too far! I don’t mind a good supernatural element, but one scene here actually made me laugh because it rolled out in my mind like some low budget supernatural horror flick. It was so out of context and so silly that I was wondering if it was meant as a satire or if I had missed something.

Ok, let’s back track a bit and start with some positive for the first layer of my shit sandwich. As the opening scene unfolded with Gabe driving on a congested highway and spotting his daughter in a stranger’s car, my heart duly plummeted. What a powerful image! Terrifying! I thought I was in for a treat. Tudor went on to set a dark scene, but I was soon finding that instead of feeling menacing and suspenseful it got depressing. Gabe really wasn’t the most engaging character, the relationships between the characters were unconvincing and I found that none of the other cast members particularly interested me.

As the story delved deeper into the premise of “the other people”, I found myself losing interest. Yeah, yeah, the dark web, we’ve all heard about it, it’s dark and sinister and criminals trawl it, but it just didn’t work for me. There were so many inconsistencies in the plot that I lost track of them all, and the regular little quips about the meaning of life thrown into the story at regular intervals started to grate. I was like a grumpy bear woken early from hibernation and not liking what I saw. I read words like “engaging”, “captivating”, “brilliant” in other readers’ reviews and I just don’t see it. The only clickety-clack I got was from my eye rolls as yet another totally implausible plot point or horror-movie cliché made its appearance.

In summary, I thought the idea was there but the execution didn’t work for me. I hated each and every character, the supernatural elements were thrown in randomly and without context (or purpose) and I was getting a migraine form all the eye rolling. Even though I listened dutifully to my audio book until the very end, I still feel none the wiser of all the hows and whys and how the loose threads could ever connect in a meaningful way. I missed the suspense and the menacing darkness of other thrillers and just felt sad and depressed as the lacklustre plot unfolded. I can normally see why other readers love a book that flopped for me, but I am struggling to understand how one could excuse so many plot holes without stumbling at least once.

Since you are meant to finish a shit sandwich with another positive layer, I will say that my audio version redeemed itself by offering some short stories at the end which I did enjoy much more than the book. 

Summary:

Sorry, folks – I hope that the many fans of the book will eventually learn to forgive me. I think I will stay clear of this type of story for a while ...

Book Review: UNTIL THE DAY I DIE by Emily Carpenter

Title: UNTIL THE DAY I DIE

Author: Emily Carpenter
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Read: February 2019

Expected publication: 12 March 2019

My Rating: 🌟🌟

Book Description:

If there’s a healthy way to grieve, Erin Gaines hasn’t found it. After her husband’s sudden death, the runaway success of the tech company they built with their best friends has become overwhelming. Her nerves are frayed, she’s disengaged, and her frustrated daughter, Shorie, is pulling away from her. Maybe Erin’s friends and family are right. Maybe a few weeks at a spa resort in the Caribbean islands is just what she needs to hit the reset button…

Shorie is not only worried about her mother’s mental state but also for the future of her parents’ company. Especially when she begins to suspect that not all of Erin’s colleagues can be trusted. It seems someone is spinning an intricate web of deception—the foundation for a conspiracy that is putting everything, and everyone she loves, at risk. And she may be the only one who can stop it.

Now, thousands of miles away in a remote, and oftentimes menacing, tropical jungle, Erin is beginning to have similar fears. Things at the resort aren’t exactly how the brochure described, and unless she’s losing her mind, Erin’s pretty sure she wasn’t sent there to recover—she was sent to disappear.

My musings:

I absolutely loved Carpenter’s novel The Weight of Lies, which was one of my favourite books in 2017, with the “book-within-the-book” format also presenting one of the most original novels I have ever read. So I was overjoyed to receive the author’s latest novel Until the Day I Die, excited to find out what the author would come up with this time. And BTW, isn’t that cover absolutely stunning?

It is with some sadness that I have to say I have mixed feelings about this book. From the outset, I was struggling to fit it into a genre, comparing it in my mind to a hybrid between Nine Perfect Strangers, Lord of the Flies  and a James Bond movie as the plot unfolded. Whilst I found some aspects of the plot thoroughly intriguing and mystifying (like the coding and computer stuff, which seemed like a foreign language to me), other elements seemed to be so farfetched and stereotypical they fit more into the Bond category than the mystery I had signed up for. There are more serious topics, too, like grief, mental health, a coming-of-age story, and the mother-daughter dynamics I so enjoyed in The Weight of Lies. Not to forget the adventure / survival stuff as Erin tries to brave the wilderness, which made for a faster pace in the second half of the book. At times, I was left wondering if some elements were supposed to be dystopian, or maybe I have just been living under a rock (or a book) and have no idea of what is happening in the real world?

It was all there for the taking, and yet it never fully came together for me. Erin, who is portrayed as your typical corporate power-woman, seems meek and helpless for some parts of the story, and feisty in others, which was confusing. She seems to come more into her own as the book progresses, which redeemed her character slightly for me, but I never really bonded with her. I much preferred her daughter Shorie, our second narrator, whose brilliant mind when it comes to all things computer was a force to behold. Whilst the mother-daughter dynamics didn’t have the same emotional impact on me as those in The Weight of Lies, they matured slightly towards the end of the book, so if you feel as disheartened as I did at the start, take heart that things will improve on that front at least!

But where are the gothic elements that I adored in The Weight of Lies and in Every Single Secret? I appreciate that readers’ expectations must be the most frustrating hurdle for an author trying to branch out and try something different. Forgive me – I tried to keep an open mind, I really did! But at times I struggled to believe that this book was written by the same author who made me virtually house-bound whilst reading The Weight of Lies, which would have required an amputation to prise it out of my hands. Whilst Until the Day I Die kept me turning the pages, it never quite got under my skin the way her previous works had. I found the beginning too slow, and just as I thought that things were finally coming together, there was that very far-fetched ending that I just couldn’t wrap my head around.

Summary:

Ok, so here is my take on it: I recommend going into this one with an open mind and zero expectations. If you have read Carpenter’s work before, do a few deep breathing exercises and let all your preconceptions float off into the ether. Or maybe you are a reader who is a lot more flexible than my stubborn little mind, and won’t have any trouble enjoying this anyway. I am the first one to admit that my expectations ultimately were my downfall with this one, and that I may not be the right audience for the type of story that Carpenter is telling here. However, the plot contains enough elements to be entertaining and will undoubtedly be appreciated by many other readers, so please do not be deterred to pick this one up and judge for yourself! For now, let this just be a blip on the radar on my reading journey – I look forward to reading more from this author in future.

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

Audiobook Review: THE THINNEST AIR by Minka Kent

Title: The Thinnest Air

Author: Minka Kent
Read: August 2018

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟

Book Description:

Meredith Price is the luckiest woman alive. Her husband, Andrew, is a charming and successful financial broker. She has two lovely stepchildren and is living in affluence in a mountain resort town. After three years of marriage, Meredith’s life has become predictable. Until the day she disappears.

Her car has been discovered in a grocery store parking lot—purse and phone undisturbed on the passenger seat, keys in the ignition, no sign of struggle, and no evidence of foul play. It’s as if she vanished into thin air.

It’s not like Meredith to simply abandon her loved ones. And no one in this town would have reason to harm her. When her desperate sister, Greer, arrives, she must face a disturbing question: What if no one really knows Meredith at all? For Greer, finding her sister isn’t going to be easy…because where she’s looking is going to get very, very dark.

My musings:

I recently read The Memory Watcher by Minka Kent and was totally blown away by it. It contained all the elements I hope to find in a twisty psychological thriller, and I couldn’t wait to read Kent’s latest novel, The Thinnest Air, settling in for another breath-taking experience.

Initially, Kent fully pandered to my wishes. I really enjoyed the dual POV: the elder sister, Greer, narrating the present, in which she is looking for her missing sibling; and Meredith, the younger sister, telling us about the last 3 years leading up to her disappearance. As in The Memory Watcher, all characters are flawed, some more unlikeable than others, and even though I did not feel warm and fuzzy about any of them they were all somehow relatable in our screwed up society. As the story unravels, some dark secrets come to light that had me construct all sorts of wild and wonderful theories about Meredith’s fate, remembering how Kent had totally blindsided me in the past. The author has a way of setting the scene that allowed me to vividly picture all characters and settings, which created an irresistible sense of tension and quickly drew me into the story.

Picture my jaw-dropping disappointment when the story made an unexpected turn about ¾ into the book, totally surprising me – unfortunately not in a good way. Really, that was it? None of my theories were even remotely in the ballpark, seeing how I had expected the unexpected (if that makes sense). Instead, the story followed the lead of thousands of other been-there-done-thats in the genre, predictable, boring, unoriginal. If I did not know what Kent is capable of in terms of delivering a well-constructed plot and a great twist, I could have seen this one a mile off! What happened? Where did it get bogged down so badly in clichés and stereotypes? I admit that I am feeling extremely let down right now and had to force myself to read to the end just in case there was a surprise lurking there. But no, it all meandered along the well-trodden path of same-old and fell totally flat for me. There was one element in the ending (which I can’t give away because of spoilers) that irked me so much that it knocked another star off my rating!

Summary:

In summary, the ending was a major let-down in what could otherwise have been a fast and entertaining read. Not only was it predictable, boring and unoriginal, but it also left some questions unanswered and hinged on some questionable actions by some of the characters. Some threads led nowhere at all and I was left wondering what the point had been to include them at all. I guess that part of my disappointment is related to the fact that I know what a brilliant writer Kent is, and how much I loved her earlier novel. That said, if you are new to the author and a reader who prefers a fairly straight forward and predictable story to a crazy twist that messes with your mind, then this will probably be a good read for you. I love my stories dark and unpredictable, with complex characters, so it didn’t live up to my expectations this time. However, I am looking forward to the author’s next novel, hoping she will return to her habit of delivering a well thought out plot with a gob-smacking finale!

Book Review: OURS IS THE WINTER by Laurie Ellingham

Title: Ours is the Winter

Author: Laurie Ellingham
Publisher: HQ Digital
Read: October 2017

Expected publication: 17 November 2017

My Rating: 🌟🌟

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Book Description (Goodreads):

Journeying across the Arctic, their pasts are about to catch up with them. 

Erica, Molly and Noah are embarking on the challenge of a lifetime, driving Siberian huskies across the frozen wilderness of the Arctic. Cut off from the world and their loved ones and thrown together under gruelling conditions, it isn’t long before the cracks start to show.

Erica has it all. A loving husband, a successful career and the most adorable baby daughter. But Erica has been living a double life, and as she nears her fortieth birthday her lies threaten to come crashing down.

Molly was on her way to stardom. But when her brother died, so did her dreams of becoming an Olympic champion. Consumed by rage and grief, she has shut out everyone around her, but now she’s about to learn that comfort can come from the most unexpected places.

Noah has a darkness inside him and is hounded by nightmares from his past. Tortured, trapped and struggling to save his fractured relationship, he knows this journey is not going to help, but try telling his girlfriend that.

As their lives and lies become ever more entwined, it becomes clear that in the frozen wilds there is nowhere to hide. 

My musings:

To be honest, this book wasn’t at all what I was expecting, and I will probably be very unpopular when I say that I was majorly disappointed with it! I was initially drawn to the beautiful cover and the premise of a tense survival story in a merciless remote setting, where personalities clash and tension simmers. Unfortunately it was none of that. True, we do have a remote setting, and I loved the interesting facts about huskies and mushing, which I knew very little about. I also enjoyed the descriptions of the snow covered landscape and the rock where the boundaries of three countries come together. However – here it comes:

I didn’t like any of the characters – sorry! How old were these people? For the best part of the book they act like hormonal teenagers, sulking, being snippy to each other and storming off in a huff not talking to each other, and then – SPOILER ALERT – it suddenly all gets resolved in one happily ever after moment that was so far fetched for me that I wanted to throw the book and get back the time I had invested in it. All the affirmations and positive thinking in the world is not going to get you a bow-tied ending like this, where all the threads come together so perfectly. At times the book felt preachy to me, as if it was trying to give lifestyle advice, when the angry hormonal characters reflected on some deeper level and had some insights into life and its mysterious ways. And the romance – no, just no. In fact, the whole situation these people found themselves in was based on an action by one of the characters that was so immature and far-fetched that it seemed like a looooong stretch for me to be even remotely credible. Phew, I had to get that off my chest!

Personally, I think that a great opportunity was lost here. With a setting that provided an excellent opportunity for some simmering tension and an undercurrent of menace and danger that kept the reader engaged, and the opportunity to create real drama, the author focused instead on some stereotypical elements that did not live up to my hopes for the tense story of survival I had hoped for. None of the characters rang true for me, and the primary emotion when reading was irritation. I wanted to slap each and every one of them and tell them to “grow up”! I concede that I probably set my expectations too high and was just the wrong audience for this book. For me, this was definitely NOT a thriller, or a mystery. I am sure that other readers will enjoy it, even if just for the gorgeous huskies and the unusual setting. Unfortunately not a good fit for me – life’s like that. I may now go into my corner and sulk. 

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

Book Review: A STRANGER IN THE HOUSE by Shari Lapena

Title: A Stranger in the House

Author: Shari Lapena
Publisher: Random House UK, Transworld Publishers
Read: June 2017

Expected publication: 27 July 2017

My Rating:🌟🌟1/2

Book Description (Goodreads):

You're waiting for your beloved husband to get home from work. You're making dinner, looking forward to hearing about his day.

That's the last thing you remember. You wake up in hospital, with no idea how you got there. They tell you that you were in an accident; you lost control of your car whilst driving in a dangerous part of town.

The police suspect you were up to no good. But your husband refuses to believe it. Your best friend isn't so sure. And even you don't know what to believe . . .

My musings:

The book starts out strong: a man comes home from work to find the house unlocked and his wife’s car gone. The kitchen shows signs of dinner being prepared: a pot of water on the stove, vegetables chopped on the kitchen counter. He calls for his wife but there is no answer. She has left behind her purse and her mobile. Worried, he begins calling her friends, their neighbours, but no one has seen her. Then a policeman knocks on the door ....  Lapena really sets the scene here, and I actually had goosebumps visualising it!

Unfortunately, from here, the books began nosediving for me, like a shot-down plane on its fiery spiral into the abyss. Perhaps the first warning sign was the main protagonist’s amnesia. Don’t get me wrong, amnesia can be a good tool in a psychological thriller if used the right way. Include a few confusing flashbacks, some conflicting witness stories, some inner turmoil, some suspense. But not on its own, not simply to disguise the plot by throwing the big dark blanket of “I can’t remember” over everything just as an excuse to withhold vital information to the reader that could solve this “mystery” in two minutes flat.

A Stranger in the House is a book with very few characters. Tom, Karen and Brigid from next door. And of course the detective, whose name I have already forgotten because for me, he felt like a very forgettable character. There wasn’t a single personality trait to the man that made him stand out from any other run-of-the-mill detective, except that he did not seem to be particularly good at his job.  I was surprised to discover that this was the same detective from The Couple Next Door, the author’s debut novel, which I had enjoyed. Anyway, the problem with a very small cast is that unless they are engaging and captivating, the reader soon loses interest. I thought my life was pretty boring, but compared to this little troupe my social life is a downright circus!  There are no friends, no family, no work colleagues. And to be totally honest, I hated all three characters. So now we have a problem, because I really didn’t care what happens to any of them, especially Brigid, who seemed so stereotypical that I was wondering at times if the author was writing tongue-in-cheek to throw some wild curveball right at the end. But sadly, no.

I am sure that A Stranger in the House will appeal to an audience who is less particular about their fare of “psychological thriller”. The bottom line is – I do want to be thrilled. I want my mind messed with. I want tension, I want suspense. After enjoying The Couple Next Door, it saddens me having to admit that I did not get any of this from A Stranger in the House, even though there were moments when there was real potential for it to become interesting. 

Summary:

After having read a few disappointing “psychological thrillers” lately, I believe that I may simply not be the right audience for A Stranger in the House. It may appeal to people who enjoy a quick and undemanding read for the beach or the plane, but for me was lacking in depth and thrills. 

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

Book Review: BLINK by KL Slater

Title: Blink

Author: K.L. Slater
Publisher: Bookouture
Read: February 2017

Expected publication: 16 February 2017

Synopsis (Goodreads):

What if the person you love most in the world was in terrible danger … because of you?

Three years ago, Toni’s five-year-old daughter Evie disappeared after leaving school. The police have never been able to find her. There were no witnesses, no CCTV, no trace.

But Toni believes her daughter is alive. And as she begins to silently piece together her memories, the full story of the past begins to reveal itself, and a devastating truth.

Toni’s mind is trapped in a world of silence, her only chance to save herself is to manage the impossible. She must find a way to make herself heard. She must find her daughter.

A compelling, gripping thriller with a breathtaking twist that will keep you awake until the early hours. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors and The Sister.

My thoughts:

A young widow. A missing child. An unknown woman in a coma. A troubled teacher. How are these people linked?

After the tragic death of her husband whilst on active duty in Afghanistan, young mother Toni Cotter tries her best to raise her 5-year old daughter Evie on her own. As if things were not difficult enough, the pair has to move to a new neighbourhood in order to be able to afford paying the bills and to be closer to Toni’s mother, leaving their friends and support network behind. With their old life gone up in flames, Toni struggles psychologically with the aftermath of grief and the burden of responsibility of being a single parent, relying on sedatives to make it through each day. Evie is having trouble settling into her new school, her once cheerful personality giving way to moodiness and anxiety. When Toni starts a part-time job to make ends meet, she is forced to rely on her mother’s help to pick Evie up from school some afternoons. One day Toni receives a call from the hospital that her mother has had a fall and sustained some serious injuries. Caught up in traffic on the way to the school to pick Evie up herself, Toni is running late. When she finally gets there, the school gates are locked, and a mother’s worst nightmare has come true - Evie is gone.

In a hospital bed lies a woman in a coma who is being kept alive by machines. Noone knows who she is, and she has long been given up for dead. But deep inside her unresponsive body, her mind is very much alive and alert, and she is silently crying out for help. If she could only blink her eyes ...

I loved the premise of the story – a mystery revolving around a woman with locked-in-syndrome, a neurological disorder causing the paralysis of all voluntary muscles but retaining intact cognitive function. Trapped like a prisoner in her own body, this person may have the answer to the secret but is unable to communicate. It sounded really intriguing! However, reading it as a trained health professional there were too many holes as big as bear traps in this story to make it believable. I certainly won’t spoil it for anyone, but personally I found it hard to suspend disbelief enough to make it through some chapters without rolling my eyes, and this really ruined the read for me.

As for “the killer twist you’ll never forget”: does this have to be announced prominently on the cover? Knowing that as a reader you need to question everything you read takes the fun out of the journey, and makes every false lead stand out like a giraffe in a crowd of zebras. There are plenty of red herrings thrown into this story, sometimes with the subtlety of a wet fish slapping you in the face. Admittedly, one worked for me. The others didn’t. Some characters seemed to appear only with the purpose of leading the reader down the garden path, and were never heard from again after that, which is a shame, when so much effort was being invested in them originally. For me, a “twist” is a clever manipulating of the story rather than a complete change in direction without any prior warning. Personally, I felt a bit cheated. In summary, not the right book for me, though I am sure that a lot of people will love it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. 

Book Review: WHAT HAPPENED TO ROSE by Helga Zeiner

Title: What Happened to Rose
Author: Helga Zeiner
Publisher: POW WOW Books
Read: December 2016 / January 2017


Synopsis (Goodreads):

Carola’s life is perfect – or so it seems. Her husband, her friends, her staff don’t see the emptiness of a loveless existence. Every day is the same, until the day when she has enough. Without warning she leaves her home country of Germany to start a new life in the Canadian wilderness.
But she is not equipped to handle the hardships of a lonely existence in a remote cabin. A five-day snowstorm brings her close to her breaking point. Searching for means to survive, she discovers the written confession of the previous cabin owner who wants to clear his conscience by admitting to a terrible sin he committed involving a girl called Rose.
When the storm subsides, Carola begins to ask questions but nobody is willing to talk. Nobody wants to tell what happened to Rose, but Carola becomes obsessed with finding out the truth.

Will Rose finally get justice? If you love mystery and suspense, with an added romance bonus, this new novel by an Amazon bestselling author will keep you turning the pages all night long.

My thoughts:

When Carola’s childless marriage fails and her husband tries to cheat her out of her fair share of marital possessions, Carola flees to Canada to escape her pain and disappointment and make a new start. Settling in an isolated country cottage in the backwaters of British Columbia she thinks she has found the simplicity and peace she had been hoping for. Drawn to Jason, the young realtor who first rented her the property, she is even taking a stab at love again, only to come up against the forbidding presence of Jason’s mother, who tries everything in her power to keep her away from her son. Stranded in her snowed in cottage in a wild storm for a few days, Carola comes across and old journal written by a man called John McLure on his deathbed, where he confesses to committing a terrible injustice to a young child, Rose, who came into his life after losing her mother in a coach accident. Drawn into the story and Rose’s sad childhood, Carola sets out to discover more about Rose’s fate – with unexpected results.

I agree that reading a book is a bit like a date – if you haven’t clicked by page 100 (aka the 3^rd date, according to Bookstr), the chemistry just isn’t there and you’re not going to live together happily ever after. In fact, you may abandon the whole thing all together, and leave half-way through your first G & T, resigning yourself to a life of celibacy. What Happened to Rose was such a book for me – having fallen for its blurb I was eager to meet its characters, only to find we had absolutely no connection. I put the book down, I picked the book back up, and felt nothing, nil, nada. Even the historical backstory, which had intrigued me enough to pick up the novel in the first place, only elicited a wan yawn. Sadly, after thinking Carola would be a strong, independent woman setting out into the wilderness alone, I found her needy and inconsistent in her thoughts and actions, obsessed with finding herself a new man at all costs. Perhaps I am being unfairly harsh here, but I didn’t like any of the characters. Or perhaps, after a strong finale to 2016 as far as books are concerned, I am just experiencing reading fatigue. It obviously wasn’t the right book for me, despite the beautiful setting, which was the one aspect that kept me reading on. If you like romance with a historical twist, you may enjoy the aspects of the book that didn’t work for me. I looked for a bit of mystery, and felt let down, but as a light holiday read this book may just work for you.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. 

Book Review: WITNESS by Caroline Mitchell

Title: Witness
Author: Caroline Mitchell
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Read: December 2016 / January 2017


Synopsis (Goodreads):

To Rebecca it was a brave decision that led to her freedom from domestic abuse. To Solomon it was the ultimate betrayal.

It’s been ten years since Rebecca’s testimony saw Solomon locked away. Enough time for the nightmares to recede, the nerves to relax; enough time to rebuild her life and put the past behind her.

Then one day a phone rings in her bedroom—but it’s not her phone. Solomon has been in her home, and has a very simple message for her: for each of the ten years he has spent in jail, Rebecca must witness a crime. And, to make matters worse, she has to choose the victims.

Fail to respond and you get hurt. Talk to police and you die. Ready to play? You have sixty seconds to decide…

As the crimes grow more severe, the victims closer to home, Rebecca is forced to confront a past she had hoped was gone forever.

My thoughts:

Ten years ago, Rebecca finally managed to get away from her abusive partner Solomon and start a new life. Now mother to young Lottie and wife to veterinarian Sean she lives a peaceful existence in the Welsh countryside belying her traumatic past, which she has successfully hidden from her family. Her life is about to change when Solomon is released from prison after serving ten years for murder. Rebecca knows that it won’t be long until he will come to find her – and seek revenge. But even Rebecca could not have foreseen what Solomon has in store for her. To save herself and her family, she must become a player in a twisted game he has devised specially for her. For every year of his prison sentence, Rebecca must choose a victim for a crime Solomon has planned, and witness it unfold – and therefore become an accomplice in his crimes.

In a market saturated with crime novels, it is difficult to come across an original idea that has not been explored before. In Witness, Mitchell has found the one element that makes her novel unique – the game Solomon plays with Rebecca to get his revenge for ten years in prison after she betrayed him and handed him over to the authorities. I loved the premise of the story, which makes Rebecca an accomplice in Solomon’s crimes, simply by being forced to choose the victims. Very clever! The idea is both confronting as well as thought provoking: would you choose your victims from amongst your enemies so you can justify that they will only get what they deserve? How sweet is revenge, really, when it comes down to it? There is so much potential in this idea and the ethical and moral dilemmas arising from it, it could have served as the single element of the whole story and still succeeded in keeping the reader’s interest. If only Rebecca had been a character I could have liked, wanted to understand, care for! Which is exactly where the novel failed for me – as hard as I tried (and I really did), I could not empathise with any of the characters. Despite insightful descriptions of domestic abuse that would make anyone’s skin crawl, Rebecca remained an enigma to me, and I never quite understood her motives or the torment she would / should have felt when confronted with her abusive former boyfriend once again. Solomon, the ultimate sociopath, was such a stereotype that his chapters didn’t ring true for me, and the book would have worked better if it had excluded his POV altogether.

I really wanted to like this book, because it had so much potential to be great, and Mitchell definitely knows how to write and build suspense. On self-reflection, I don’t think that I judge a book simply by whether I like the characters. I think I can deal with unlikeable protagonists, for example Paul Morris in Sabine Durrant’s Lie With Me, as long as I can relate to them, picture them as flesh and blood beings in my head until the acquire a life of their own, infiltrating my very being whilst the story plays out in my mind. Unfortunately, this never happened for me here. The one thing that kept me reading on, and pick the book up time and time again when I had vowed to give up on it, was the brilliance of Solomon’s “game”, which intrigued me until its final conclusion.

I realise that I am definitely in the minority here, my twin stars drowned by a tidal wave of 5-star reviews, which just goes to show that readers are individuals, with different tastes, preferences, likes and dislikes. This is why everyone should take my review with a grain of salt, and just as it has been intended – as my personal opinion only.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free electronic copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.