Book Review: ANNA O by Matthew Blake

 

Title: ANNA O

Author:  Matthew Blake

Read: February 2024

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

We spend an average of 33 years of our lives asleep. But what really happens, and what are we capable of, when we sleep?

Anna Ogilvy was a budding twenty-five-year-old writer with a bright future. Then, one night, she stabbed two people to death with no apparent motive—and hasn’t woken up since. Dubbed “Sleeping Beauty” by the tabloids, Anna’s condition is a rare psychosomatic disorder known to neurologists as “resignation syndrome.”

Dr. Benedict Prince is a forensic psychologist and an expert in the field of sleep-related homicides. His methods are the last hope of solving the infamous “Anna O’”case and waking Anna up so she can stand trial. But he must be careful treating such a high-profile suspect—he’s got career secrets and a complicated personal life of his own.

As Anna shows the first signs of stirring, Benedict must determine what really happened and whether Anna should be held responsible for her crimes.

Only Anna knows the truth about that night, but only Benedict knows how to discover it. And they’re both in danger from what they find out.

Joining the ranks of Gillian Flynn, A. J. Finn, and Alex Michaelides, Matthew Blake delivers the thriller of the year: a dark, twisty, and shocking mystery about a young woman who commits a double murder while sleepwalking, and then never opens her eyes again.

My musings:

 

Even with my shiftwork induced obsession with sleep, I was surprised to find out that the average person spends 33 years of their life asleep. 33 years of ZZZZ! But would I willingly sacrifice any of those blissful moments under the doona for more productivity? The answer is no. And yet there seem to be people who can multi-task and combine sleep with some amazing / terrifying feats, such as killing someone whilst sleepwalking. This is the crime Anna O has been accused of, and yet she cannot face trial, since she has never woken from her slumber since the fateful night her two friends were murdered four years ago.

 

Dr Benedict Price is a forensic psychologist specialising in sleep disorders and related crimes. As an expert in his field, he is tasked with the tricky job of waking Anna from her slumber. Facing issues in his own personal life and the ethical dilemmas that his job brings, Benedict has some reservations about the whole project, and yet cannot resist the opportunity to be involved in such a fascinating case. But will waking Anna put them both in danger?

 

I loved the whole premise of sleep disorders, sleepwalking and crimes committed whilst fast asleep and greedily hoovered up all the little morsels of insight into some case studies the author mentions along the way – I would have loved much more of this! But whilst I felt the science behind the novel fascinating and well presented, the actual thriller part of the book seemed to stall and lack in places, especially in the later half. I felt that both Benedict as well as Anna lacked character development, and despite its twists and turns, I guessed parts of the outcome of the story long before the final reveal. So perhaps this was not the thriller of the year for me, but as an original premise it made for hours of interesting reading and intrigue and I mostly enjoyed it. If you find sleep in general fascinating, then this book should definitely be on your list!

Book Review: NINE LIVES by Peter Swanson

Title: NINE LIVES

Author:  Peter Swanson

Publisher:  Faber and Faber Ltd

Read: April 2022

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

 

Book Description:

 

Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know or have ever met the others on the list. They dismiss it as junk mail, a fluke - until very, very bad things begin happening to people on the list. First, a well-liked old man is drowned on a beach in the small town of Kennewick, Maine. Then, a father is shot in the back while running through his quiet neighborhood in suburban Massachusetts. A frightening pattern is emerging, but what do these nine people have in common? Their professions range from oncology nurse to aspiring actor.

FBI agent Jessica Winslow, who is on the list herself, is determined to find out. Could there be some dark secret that binds them all together? Or is this the work of a murderous madman? As the mysterious sender stalks these nine strangers, they find themselves constantly looking over their shoulders, wondering who will be crossed off next....

 

My musings:

 

I’m not usually a fan of too many characters because it often prevents me from bonding with any of them and it takes a lot of energy to keep them all straight in my mind. However, after a few doubts in the beginning of NINE LIVES, I found that this wasn’t a problem here, as Swanson managed to highlight those particular character traits in each person that made them stand out from the rest. They all piqued my interest, even though a few of them barely made it through one chapter before the grim reaper got to them. I soon regretted any bond I had with a few of the more intriguing characters, as they gradually fell victim to the murderer. If you have read Agatha Christie’s book AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (which is referred to often as the nine ill fated members of the murder list contemplate their lot), then you will know that no one gets spared.

NINE LIVES was a quick read from beginning to end as the list of survivors got ever smaller, and the body count mounted quickly. Swanson’s prose is sparse and he kept his multi-perspective chapters short and on track, which moved the story along at a good pace. Blink, and there’s been another death. Keeping with Christie’s style, the murders are not exactly cosy, but not too gruesome or distressing either, and I was more intrigued than distressed as even my favourite characters fell off the perch.

Did I guess the culprit? No. Then again, I was not particularly impressed with the final denouement or the killer’s motivation for the murder spree, which ultimately let the story down for me. However, I did like the matter of fact way Swanson presented his nine victims, which made me feel invested and kept me reading and guessing until the end. Whilst this didn’t come anywhere close to the magic of THE KIND WORTH KILLING, it was entertaining enough and would make for a quick holiday or weekend read.

 

 

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

 

Book Review: THIS PLACE OF WONDER by Barbara O'Neal

 

Title: THIS PLACE OF WONDER

Author:  Barbara O’Neal

Publisher:  Lake Union Publishing

Read: April 2022

Expected publication: 19 July 2022

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

In the wake of a personal tragedy, four women face the past, their futures, and each other in a novel of broken ties and healing by the Amazon Charts bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids.

When famed chef Augustus Beauvais dies, he leaves behind a celebrated reputation―and four women grappling with loss, anger, pain, and the question of how the world will turn without him…

Meadow, the ex-wife with whom Augustus built an empire―and a family―still holds a place for him in her heart, even as she continues to struggle with his infidelities, which ended their twenty-year marriage. More unforgiving is Maya, his estranged daughter, who’s recently out of rehab but finally ready to reclaim her life. Norah, his latest girlfriend, sidelined her own career for unexpected love and a life of luxury, both of which are now gone with Augustus. And then there’s Rory, Meadow’s daughter, the voice of calm and reason in a chorus of discontent.

As Meadow, Maya, Norah, and Rory are flung together by tragedy, grief, and secrets yet to be revealed, they must accept―or turn away from―the legacy of great intentions and bad decisions Augustus left them. And when the circumstances around his death are called into question, their conflicted feelings become even more complicated. But moving forward is the only choice they have, and to do so, they’ll need to rely on family, friendship, and inner strength.

Set on the stunning, rugged California coastline, This Place of Wonder is an emotional, lush, and empowering story of four women finding their way in a changed world―and what a wondrous journey it will be.

My musings:

 

I really enjoyed Barbara O'Neal's previous book, WHEN WE BELIEVED IN MERMAIDS, and was very excited to have the opportunity to read her new novel. O'Neal is a master of atmospheric settings - once again we are taken to a house on the rugged Californian coast that makes for a fantastic backdrop. Famous chef Augustus Beauvais has died suddenly, leaving behind Meadow, his ex-wife, his daughter Maya, stepdaughter Rory and mistress Norah. As each of these women have to come to terms with their grief, their relationships are slowly being unveiled, revealing complex histories rooted in tragedy and pain.

 

Told through the POVs of three of the women, we slowly get to explore how each of them related to Augustus, as well as the man himself, seen from many different angles. O'Neal does a great job in exploring how one and the same person can be perceived so differently, depending on the viewer. Whilst Meadow, who has known Augustus the longest, still considers him her soul mate, despite his infidelities and their messy split, his daughter Maya has never forgiven him. For Norah, Augustus is a generous saviour from a lonely and sad childhood in multiple foster homes, and Rory adores him as a lovable and generous grandfather to her children. O'Neal tries to introduce an element of mystery into the story when Augustus' death is being questioned by police, though I never really felt this aspect convincing enough to keep me yearning for answers.

 

Whilst I particularly enjoyed exploring the sister relationship between Rory and Maya, I admit that the story ended up dragging a little bit for me. Even though Maya's struggle with addiction was portrayed in an insightful manner, the constant references to AA and her relationship with alcohol bogged the story down for me. I didn't warm to any of the characters, especially Augustus, who came across as selfish and ruthless rather than the enigmatic character he was portrayed to be. Also, I would have loved to hear from the POV of Rory, the only character who doesn't get a voice. 

 

 

Summary:

THIS PLACE OF WONDER will appeal to readers who like a slow burning, character driven story exploring topics such as relationships, addiction, infidelity and grief. Personally, I found it a little slow and thought that in this case the multiple POVs were a bit repetitive, though it certainly prompted reflection and kept me interested until the end.

 

 

 

 

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.

Book Review: THE MURDER RULE by Dervla McTiernan

 

Title: THE MURDER RULE

Author:  Dervla McTiernan

Publisher:  HarperCollins Publishers Australia

Read: February 2022

Expected publication: 4 May 2022

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

First Rule: Make them like you.

Second Rule: Make them need you.

Third Rule: Make them pay.

They think I’m a young, idealistic law student, that I’m passionate about reforming a corrupt and brutal system.

They think I’m working hard to impress them.

They think I’m here to save an innocent man on death row.

They're wrong. I’m going to bury him.

What attracted me to this book:

 

Dervla McTiernan’s Cormac Reilly books are one of my favourite crime series, so I was excited to hear that the author had a new stand-alone book coming out this year. I love a good legal thriller, too, so this sounded like the perfect story for me.

My musings:

 

Hannah Rokeby is a law student with her own agenda – to avenge a great injustice done to her mother before Hannah was born. Ever since she discovered her mother’s diary, Hannah has been determined to bring the perpetrator to justice. The opportunity presents itself when the Innocent Project at the University of Virginia takes on the case of Michael Dandridge, who is in prison for allegedly raping and murdering a young woman. Wrongfully incarcerated, according to the project’s founder, Professor Rob Parekh and Michael himself, who keeps proclaiming his innocence.  With ingenuity and some cunning, Hannah makes certain that she is included in the team investigating the case – but she is following her own agenda.

 

With Hannah’s thirst for revenge disclosed early in the story, I soon became invested to find out more: what, why and how? I’m usually not a great fan of diary entries as POV, but in this case they worked well to give motive to Hannah’s quest. With her background as a lawyer, the author presents us with an intriguing premise that worked well for me for the first ¾ of the book. Sadly, the last ¼ lost a lot of credibility, with many unanswered questions remaining in the end. Whilst I could understand Hannah’s motives (despite the troubled relationship she had with her mother), some of the other characters seemed to be driven by agendas that were never fully explained, and I was left feeling like I had overlooked some crucial bit of information that tied it all together. Whilst the action ramped up nicely in the final chapters, it did so at the expense of believability, both regarding the last courtroom scenes as well as character development of some of the secondary players. This may have all been excused if I had understood the prime motivations, but as I came to the end, I was scratching my head in puzzlement and flicking back to earlier chapters to see what I had missed.

 

 

Summary:

 

It’s difficult to rate a book that initially had me glued to the pages, but left me feeling disappointed with the final reveal. I still love McTiernan’s writing style but feel that the character development here was nowhere as convincing as in her Cormac Reilly series and in some parts appeared stereotypical to me (which Cormac Reilly definitely was not). One of the things I always loved about McTiernan’s previous novels was that they offered something unique in terms of characters and setting, whilst this one seemed a bit like your run of the mill American law enforcement novel. Whilst the concept of THE MURDER RULE was intriguing and it was entertaining enough, it didn’t have the same impact on me as the Cormac Reilly series and I would love to see the author return to her Irish settings or perhaps an Australian one in future.

 

 

 

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

Book Review: BENEATH THE STAIRS by Jennifer Fawcett

 

Title: BENEATH THE STAIRS

Author:  Jennifer Fawcett

Publisher:  Atria Books

Read: February 2022

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

A woman returns to her hometown after her childhood friend attempts suicide at a local haunted house—the same place where a traumatic incident shattered their lives twenty years ago.

What attracted me to this book:

 

Count me in for all the haunted house books!

My musings:

 

As soon as I heard the premise of Jennifer Fawcett’s book BENEATH THE STAIRS, I knew I had to read it. And Fawcett’s Octagon House is as creepy as it gets. Just from the author’s descriptions of the house you would not get me anywhere near there, especially at night, but of course true to any character in a horror film or a creepy story, the people in this book are inexplicably drawn to the place. You may reason that if a door that opens and closes at will and an unlit, dank basement doesn’t scream “run for your life!” at you, then you may not be cut out for the natural selection process – but then we wouldn’t have the opportunity to watch these characters stumble headlong into disaster.

 

Whilst the story presents itself in four separate timelines and various POVs, our main character is Clare, who reluctantly returns to her childhood home of Sumner’s Mills to offer support to her childhood friend Abby who is in hospital after a suicide attempt. Clare knows some of the demons that have haunted Abby for most of her adult life, because she was part of the events that started Abby on this slippery path of trauma and obsession. Whilst Clare has been able to block out the events from twenty years ago, she knows that it is all connected to the creepy house in the woods, Octagon House – the site of a child’s disappearance and a family’s murder long before Clare and Abby were born. To help her friend, Clare knows she must finally confront the demons from their childhood ...

 

BENEATH THE STAIRS was a creepy story that gripped me very quickly and kept me up at night. However, I felt that it got a bit bogged down in the middle with detail that added little to the mystery (all those teenage friendship dynamics could have been cut short), and then wrapped up the ending so quickly that many of my questions remained unanswered. I’m still not sure if I missed something crucial or if the story had skipped over some of the detail that would have linked all the threads together in a satisfying whole. Apart from the characters making questionable decisions – after all, that is the essence of any horror story – I felt that someone along the way would have called the police and saved themselves a whole lot of trauma.

 

 

Summary:

 

All in all, I felt very divided about this book. On one hand I loved the creepy, Gothic atmosphere and the haunted house setting, which I could visualise vividly. On the other hand, I felt that the story lost its way a bit with too many timelines and POVs and backstory, which never quite came together in the end. I feel that the author wanted to pack too many element into this book, which sadly only worked to dilute its creep factor. However, as far as creepy house settings go, this one was atmospheric and nightmare inducing and made for a fantastic backdrop to a ghost story.

 

  

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

Book Review: THE GIRL BEHIND THE WALL by Mandy Robotham

 

Title: THE GIRL BEHIND THE WALL

Author:  Mandy Robotham

Read: November 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

A city divided.
When the Berlin Wall goes up, Karin is on the wrong side of the city. Overnight, she’s trapped under Soviet rule in unforgiving East Berlin and separated from her twin sister, Jutta.

Karin and Jutta lead parallel lives for years, cut off by the Wall. But Karin finds one reason to keep going: Otto, the man who gives her hope, even amidst the brutal East German regime.

When Jutta finds a hidden way through the wall, the twins are reunited. But the Stasi have eyes everywhere, and soon Karin is faced with a terrible decision: to flee to the West and be with her sister, or sacrifice it all to follow her heart?

What attracted me to this book:

 

Having grown up in Europe with the spectre of the divide between East and West very real to us (my grandparents lived near the then Czechoslovakian border, with barbed wire and a minefield) I was very drawn to the premise of this book. Robotham does well to explain some of the political wheeling and dealing that took place around the construction of the Berlin wall, and the impact it had on a city divided.

My musings:

 

Jutta and Karin, two young and vibrant Berliners, made for enigmatic protagonists to take us on this journey and let us catch a glimpse into the lives of ordinary citizens affected by this dark point in history. By switching POV between both sisters, we got to see alternative viewpoints that ultimately led to each sister’s fate. With a heavy emphasis on the sisters, some of the more peripheral characters missed out on character development, which made me question some of their decision making processes.

 

As with any historical fiction, it is called “fiction” for a reason, and some suspension of disbelief was necessary here. I would have liked to see more tension, because even as a child I felt the fear people experienced when the Stasi were mentioned. Despite a few hints at the dangers the sisters faced, I didn’t get this sense of utter terror when they faced being caught. I also travelled to East Germany two years after the wall came down, and the bleakness and despair was still palpable in many places, and the contrast between East and West obvious in the drabness of the buildings, the dire state of the roads and smaller, less obvious things that struck us, like the “holiday camp” near a polluted lake that was totally surrounded by barbed wire. I would have liked to get this sense of entrapment and hopelessness from Karin, who would have experienced it firsthand.

 

This made the story a light reading experience rather than one that packed a punch, which seemed like an opportunity missed to me – but then perhaps this is what the majority of HF readers prefer these days? I see that it has become a trend to steer towards romanticising WWII for the sake of fiction, and I’m not a fan. There was so much potential here to make this a tense, heart pounding story of two sisters divided by a wall, but only ever skimmed the surface. For this very reason, a few elements were implausible given the control and the reach the Stasi had at the time, and their ruthlessness in pursuing anyone they deemed an enemy of the state, plus their friends and families. I’m trying not to give too much away here, but Jutta’s repeated exploits would have been discovered very early on in real life, especially considering the risks she took. Okay, I hear you: “It’s fiction!” you say, and as such it was a light, enjoyable read with the background of a historical era that is fascinating and made for much pondering. 

 

Summary:

 

THE GIRL BEHIND THE WALL  will appeal to readers who enjoy a lighter brand of historical fiction that is hopeful and uplifting rather than delving into the darker themes that defined the era. Postwar Germany is a time in history that is not often covered in HF and made a nice change from the multitude of WWII novels that have hit the shelves lately. If you are a reader who prefers a heavier read, then I suggest reading CONFESSION WITH BLUE HORSES by Sophie Hardach, which doesn’t shy away from exploring the more sinister side of life in the GDR.

Book Review: I KNOW YOU by Claire McGowan

 

Title: I KNOW YOU

Author:  Claire McGowan

Publisher:  Amazon Publishing UK

Read: October 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

When Rachel stumbles upon a body in the woods, she knows what she has to do: run. Get away. Do not be found at the scene. Last time, she didn’t know, and she ended up accused of murder. But when this victim is identified as her boyfriend’s estranged wife, Rachel realises she’s already the prime suspect.

With mounting evidence against her, Rachel’s only hope is to keep the truth about herself well hidden. Because twenty years ago she was someone else—Casey, a young nanny trying to make it as an actress in Los Angeles. When the family she worked for were brutally murdered, all the evidence pointed to her and she went to prison. Back then, she narrowly escaped the death penalty and managed to free herself on appeal. Now she’s fighting to save the life she’s spent years piecing back together.

But with her behaviour raising suspicion and the police closing in, Rachel can’t help wondering: Was her discovery in the woods really just an awful coincidence, or is someone framing her for murder? Someone who knows who she is, and wants revenge…

 

My musings:

 

Have you noticed that it is always some poor unsuspecting dog lover who finds a dead body in the woods? However, for Rachel, the dog walker whose canine sniffs out a corpse in the woods in the picturesque Lake District, this may not be the first time she has been in that situation .... Are you intrigued yet?

 

I admit that I KNOW YOU was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I loved the premise of a woman whose past secrets have come back to bite her, and Rachel’s backstory sounds truly harrowing. The inclusion of true crime podcasts, online forums and newspaper articles provided a nice touch to marry past and present mysteries together and gave it a very contemporary feel. But even though I could relate to Casey, having been a nanny myself at the same age, there was something that just didn’t totally gel with me. Both Rachel and Casey never got under my skin as much as I had hoped. To be totally honest, none of the characters felt genuine to me. Perhaps I have just been reading too many mysteries lately, but nothing about these characters really stood out for me, and a few days after finishing the book it has already become blurry in my memory.

 

That said, the mystery surrounding Casey’s conviction for murder at a young age kept me turning the pages to get all the answers and tied up the loose ends in a satisfying finale. I just didn’t feel the same way about Rachel’s timeline, and found her story a bit dull. Even though we get a thorough look into Rachel’s / Casey’s past, her character felt poorly developed to me, which was a real loss. Without any true emotional connection, I was hard pressed to understand each character’s motivation and decision making process. Whilst I understood the author’s choice to make Rachel live under the radar under a different name, the story would probably have worked better for me if Rachel had forged out a richer, “normal” life for herself by the time her past caught up to her. As it was, her decisions seemed half-formed and immature, especially in the light of her past experiences.

 

Summary:

 

I KNOW YOUwill appeal to readers who enjoy a story of past secrets catching up with the present and those who enjoy seeing different elements included in the book, such as true crime podcasts and other online content. Whilst I did not love the book as much as I had hoped, the premise was intriguing and the final reveal added a slight twist that I had not seen coming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Book Review: THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED by Lisa Jewell

 

Title: THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED

Author:  Lisa Jewell

Read: October 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

2017: 19 year old Tallulah is going out on a date, leaving her baby with her mother, Kim.

Kim watches her daughter leave and, as late evening turns into night, which turns into early morning, she waits for her return. And waits.

The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah's friends who tell her that Tallulah was last seen heading to a party at a house in the nearby woods called Dark Place.

She never returns.

2019: Sophie is walking in the woods near the boarding school where her boyfriend has just started work as a head-teacher when she sees a note fixed to a tree.

'DIG HERE' . . .

My musings:

 

I’ve been enjoying Lisa Jewell’s books ever since picking up THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN many moons ago (which remains my favourite), so it was a given that I would read her latest book THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED as soon as I could lay my hands on it! Revolving around the disappearance of young teenage mum Tallulah and her boyfriend after a night out with friends, this slow burning mystery slowly unravels what happened to the young couple that night. In typical LJ style, each character held a few surprises in store and the final denouement was (even if not totally surprising) unexpected. 

 

I read this as part of a group read, and whilst not my favourite book by the author, we had a lot of fun coming up with wild theories about Tallulah’s fate. Overall, I felt that some elements of the ending lacked conviction for me, and I felt like the author was trying a bit too hard to come up with a number of (quite implausible) plot elements to offer us her signature twists. Saying that, it was still fun to be led down the garden path and I eagerly kept turning the pages to get the answers. My favourite part was the abandoned old mansion, which made for a deliciously creepy setting. I also appreciated that there were several POVs that each approached the mystery from a different angle, which made it all more interesting.  

 

Summary:

 

All in all, THE NIGHT SHE DISAPPEARED was an enjoyable slow burning mystery trying to explore the circumstances behind the disappearance of a young teenage couple that made for a great buddy read. This book will appeal to readers who enjoy a slow burning mystery rather than an action packed whodunnit and don’t mind suspending disbelief for the sake of entertainment. 

Book Review: HOSTAGE by Clare Mackintosh

 

Title: HOSTAGE

Author:  Clare Mackintosh

Read: July 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

Mina is trying to focus on her job as a flight attendant, not the problems of her five-year-old daughter back home, or the fissures in her marriage. But the plane has barely taken off when Mina receives a chilling note from an anonymous passenger, someone intent on ensuring the plane never reaches its destination. Someone who needs Mina's assistance and who knows exactly how to make her comply.

It's twenty hours to landing. A lot can happen in twenty hours.

My musings:

 

Clare Mackintosh is one of my auto-buy authors and I would line up to read one of her shopping lists, so I was doing a little happy dance when I first heard that her new book would be released mid-year. Despite this, the book and I were off to a rocky start. Firstly, I got a “computer says no” message from Netgalley and – oh horror – I had to wait a few agonising months for the publishing date. Then I thought – hey, audio would be great, it would make my commute so much more fun! Only to find that the narrator was about as exciting as listening to a lecture on the life of a garden snail. Heads up, there are about 100 characters in the book and the monotone voice of the narrator made them all blend into bland same-ness, totally confusing me. Not to be easily deterred, I then went out and bought the book to settle in for a great read. And I must say that Mackintosh knows how to start her novels with a bang – quite literally. I was going to be in for a treat!

 

I can see you looking at my three star universe and anticipating the “however”. It’s one of those books that left me feel torn. I wanted to love it, escape into it. And I did love some aspects of the story and the way the author initially built tension and included the POV of several passengers on the doomed plane. As a locked-door, claustrophobic setting the 20-hour non-stop flight was just perfect and held so much potential to be truly terrifying. I also really appreciated getting an insight into the life of an airhostess, especially trying to balance such a demanding job with motherhood and marriage. I found Mina to be an enigmatic and interesting character for most of the book. Mackintosh is a great writer and she knows how to slowly hook her readers and make her characters come to life. So why did I feel underwhelmed?

 

Despite (or maybe because of) the multitude of current affairs issues the author packs into her story, it didn’t quite hit the spot for me. You will hear about the pitfalls of adoption, addiction, marriage problems, parenthood, mummy-guilt, climate change, extremism, childhood trauma, grooming, infertility and probably others I missed. The plot, which in itself could have been thrilling, is practically being drowned in not-so-subtle messages about things we see every day on the news. All that was missing was the pandemic. And to be honest, I would have found it more believable if a bunch of anti-vaxxers had threatened to blow up the plane. Adam’s narrative added very little to the plot for me and fitted too many stereotypes to make him believable. The scenes on the plane were just bit too much over the top dramatic and some of the other passengers’ stories just hung there without context. And the final “killer twist” that hallmarks most of the author’s books was so far-fetched that it merely induced an eye roll from me.

 

Summary:

 

In summary, I felt that the book needed some serious editing. Pick three issues and concentrate on them rather than just about every first-world problem we have right now. That way, Mina’s decision under pressure could have included a bit more soul searching before she went with Option B in the famous trolley dilemma. Adam could have been a normal bloke and father, and it would have made zero difference to the plot and been more believable than the stereotype he had to live up to. I could go on, but that would give spoilers and I would hate to take away any reading pleasure from others who can enjoy the story without analysing it too much.

 

Ah well. *Shrug* Not every book can be winner for everyone and this one just missed the mark for me. But will I line up to read Mackintosh’ next book? Most definitely! 

Book Review: SURVIVE THE NIGHT by Riley Sager

 

Title: SURVIVE THE NIGHT

Author:  Riley Sager

Publisher:  Hodder & Stoughton

Read: June 2021

Expected publication: 23 Dec 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

It's November 1991. George H. W. Bush is in the White House, Nirvana's in the tape deck, and movie-obsessed college student Charlie Jordan is in a car with a man who might be a serial killer.

Josh Baxter, the man behind the wheel, is a virtual stranger to Charlie. They met at the campus ride board, each looking to share the long drive home to Ohio. Both have good reasons for wanting to get away. For Charlie, it's guilt and grief over the murder of her best friend, who became the third victim of the man known as the Campus Killer. For Josh, it's to help care for his sick father. Or so he says. Like the Hitchcock heroine she's named after, Charlie has her doubts. There's something suspicious about Josh, from the holes in his story about his father to how he doesn't seem to want Charlie to see inside the car's trunk. As they travel an empty highway in the dead of night, an increasingly worried Charlie begins to think she's sharing a car with the Campus Killer. Is Josh truly dangerous? Or is Charlie's suspicion merely a figment of her movie-fueled imagination?

What follows is a game of cat-and-mouse played out on night-shrouded roads and in neon-lit parking lots, during an age when the only call for help can be made on a pay phone and in a place where there's nowhere to run. In order to win, Charlie must do one thing--survive the night.

What attracted me to this book:

 

Even though I think that Sager’s books are written for a different audience than me, I still find myself weirdly drawn to them. So if you, too, suffer from FOMO then you best give in to the hype and judge for yourself.

My musings:

Charlie is so traumatised and riddled with guilt over the death of her best friend Maddy at the hands of the “campus killer” that she decides to leave her college mid-term to return home to Ohio to see her grandmother. Seeing she doesn’t drive since the death of her parents in a car crash, she posts an ad on the campus noticeboard looking for a lift. Despite being suspicious of strangers since her friend’s murder, she accepts a ride from a young man who states he is also heading interstate. But it’s not long until Charlie starts having terrible doubts – is she alone in the car with the killer? Is her life also in danger? 

 

First of all, let me say that I really liked the setting in the 90’s. This type of thriller works better without cell phones and internet on tap, when making a phone call involves having to find a payphone and you need a map to find your way. The claustrophobic setting of being trapped in a car with a person who could be a killer also created the type of tension I am looking for to keep me engaged. 

 

I also enjoyed the format of the story, which rolled out like the scenes in a screenplay. It managed to set the scene well and made the book more of a visual experience, the way movie-buff Charlie would have seen it. In fact, this book definitely works better if you read it as if you were watching the movie. Charlie makes some questionable decisions, but hey – it’s just a movie! That way, some scenes in the book even benefited from the use of well-worn thriller and horror tropes, such as the diner in the middle of nowhere or the old motel, which gave the story a darker, more sinister feel (but would have been slightly corny and over the top if you don’t ride with the movie theme). 

 

Even though I enjoyed the overall experience, I did have a few problems with the story: 

*) Charlie’s “movies” in her head – what exactly was this? Hallucinations? Psychosis? PTSD? It made her an unreliable narrator, but in a slightly cheap way that made me feel tricked. I prefer the more subtle doubts whether a character is telling the truth than the “but the previous chapter was just one of her hallucinations” kind.

*) Most of the book is written from Charlie’s POV, but for a few pages here and there we get someone else’s perspective, which was strange. It also didn’t end up fitting in well with the roles those characters played in the end. 

*) I would have liked to feel more of a sense of danger from Josh/Jake and the scenes in the car than mild curiosity about his character. I couldn’t stop comparing this book to Paullina Simons’ novel 11 Hours, where the sense of danger and claustrophobia increased dramatically as the journey went on and I feared for the life of the main character at the hands of her abductor.

*) My main gripe with Sager’s portrayal of young women characters is that they all fit into the stereotype of being “not like other girls” and yet somehow lack personality. I didn’t find Charlie all that well developed as a character, i.e. I never really understood her motivations or decision making processes, or her over-the-top guilt for leaving a party early she didn’t want to go to in the first place. But maybe I am a couple of generations too old for this type of story (even though I was in my wee youth in the 90’s and related to other aspects of the era just fine). 

 

The ending was fairly predictable for me, but luckily there was a clever little twist at the end that created a more unique and unusual spin to an otherwise run-of-the-mill type of story. 

Summary:

 

All in all, SURVIVE THE NIGHT is the kind of easy popcorn read you can devour in a single sitting on a plane or on the beach. It is definitely more rewarding if you go with the movie theme and see it roll out in your head like the screenplay it is formatted as – that way Charlie’s “movies in her head” may also make more sense.

 

 

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

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