Book Review: TRACED by Catherine Jinks

 

 

Title: TRACED

Author:  Catherine Jinks

Read: January 2025

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description (Goodreads):

 

Jane is a contact tracer. She has to call a lot of people and some of them don’t want to talk. Various reasons—tax or immigration issues, infidelity. Domestic abuse.

Jane knows all about that. She and her daughter Tara have spent years in hiding from Tara’s manipulative and terrifying ex. Now, as Jane talks to a close contact, she realises the woman on the phone is scared of the same man—and he’s close. Too close.

Suddenly the past comes slamming back into the present as Jane realises she and Tara can’t keep running forever.

One day, they’re going to be found.

My musings:

 

This book was utterly terrifying! TRACED starts with our main protagonist, Jane, a covid-19 contact tracer, calling people who have unwittingly been exposed to the virus and reminding them to isolate for 14 days until they have been declared virus-free. Nicole, her latest client, sounds absolutely terrified when she hears that her cousin has just tested covid-positive. She confides in Jane that she is scared that her fiancé, who controls her every move, will be furious that she allowed her cousin to visit, and that she is afraid for her life. At first, Jane thinks that Nicole is overreacting – but once she hears who her fiancé is, she knows that Nicole’s life truly is in danger.

 

We soon learn that Jane speaks from experience: her own daughter Tara only narrowly escaped from the clutches of her abusive, controlling ex, which involved changing her name and moving to a place he would never think to look for her. After being so very careful, Jane has once more crossed his path, and she is terrified that he will come after her and Tara.

 

TRACED was a taut domestic thriller with a constant undercurrent of danger that built tension as it raced towards its utterly terrifying finale. It was frightening and confronting to witness Jane and Tara’s well-grounded fears and their feeling of helplessness as once again the noose threatens to tighten around their necks, despite all their efforts to stay under the radar. I found Jane’s voice extremely compelling, to a point where I fervently wished death upon one particular character in the book. I was biting my nails as the inevitable showdown neared!

 

TRACED surpassed all my expectations and is my first 5-star read for the year. If you love an original, enigmatic protagonist, then Jane is the perfect character. A race against time in an atmospheric Australian setting, fighting a very real battle many women in our society face every day – which is perhaps one reason this book was so terrifying. Jinks is a talented writer, and I look forward to reading more of her books in future. Highly recommended!

Book Review: CHAI TIME AT CINNAMON GARDENS by Shankari Chandran

 

Title: CHAI TIME AT CINNAMON GARDENS

Author:  Shankari Chandran

Read: July 2024

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description (Goodreads):

 

Welcome to Cinnamon Gardens, a home for those who are lost and the stories they treasure.

Cinnamon Gardens Nursing Home is nestled in the quiet suburb of Westgrove, Sydney – populated with residents with colourful histories, each with their own secrets, triumphs and failings. This is their safe place, an oasis of familiar delights – a beautiful garden, a busy kitchen and a bountiful recreation schedule.

But this ordinary neighbourhood is not without its prejudices. The serenity of Cinnamon Gardens is threatened by malignant forces more interested in what makes this refuge different rather than embracing the calm companionship that makes this place home to so many. As those who challenge the residents’ existence make their stand against the nursing home with devastating consequences, our characters are forced to reckon with a country divided.

Chai Time at Cinnamon Gardens is about family and memory, community and race, but is ultimately a love letter to story-telling and how our stories shape who we are.

My musings:

 

CHAI TIME AT CINNAMON GARDENS is one of the best and most relevant books I have read so far this year! Don’t be fooled by the cosy cover and title, because this story is gritty and confronting in parts. It will touch your soul and break your heart.

Cinnamon Gardens is a nursing home, and if there is a similar place in real life, please sign me up! Started up by Sri Lankan immigrants, the place truly cares about its residents, taking not only their bodily needs but also their spiritual and cultural preferences into consideration. The food alone sounded divine, and the activities nurturing, provided by people who really care. I loved the concept so much! Exploring both the beginnings of the nursing home, going back into the early lives of its founders, as well as its current fate, was a journey I won’t soon forget.

The most difficult reviews are those of books that are so well written that my words will do them an injustice, and CHAI TIME AT CINNAMON GARDENS definitely falls into that category. Chandran manages to pack a lot of content into the book’s 384 pages, all relevant in Australia today. I learned so much about Sri Lankan culture and the country’s troubled history, and reflected on parallels drawn between its colonial history and Australia. The theme of the migrant experience and racism features prominently and also offered a unique angle from the author’s family’s own experience. I loved the way Chandran brought her characters to life, they all felt very real and dear to me.

CHAI TIME AT CINNAMON GARDENS was a bookclub choice, and there was so much to discuss! As stated before, my words feel totally inadequate summing up my reading experience and the reflection it prompted. I feel that everyone living in Australia today needs to read this book! It both warmed my heart and broke it and I shed many tears over the fates of its characters. Highly recommended!

 

Book Review: FALSE WITNESS by Karin Slaughter

 

Title: FALSE WITNESS

Author:  Karin Slaughter

Read: August 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 

 

Book Description:

 

AN ORDINARY LIFE

Leigh Coulton has worked hard to build what looks like a normal life. She has a good job as a defence attorney, a daughter doing well in school, and even her divorce is relatively civilised - her life is just as unremarkable as she'd always hoped it would be.

HIDES A DEVASTATING PAST

But Leigh's ordinary life masks a childhood which was far from average... a childhood tarnished by secrets, broken by betrayal, and finally torn apart by a devastating act of violence.

BUT NOW THE PAST IS CATCHING UP

Then a case lands on her desk - defending a wealthy man accused of rape. It's the highest profile case she's ever been given - a case which could transform her career, if she wins. But when she meets the accused, she realises that it's no coincidence that he's chosen her as his attorney. She knows him. And he knows her. More to the point, he knows what happened twenty years ago, and why Leigh has spent two decades running.

AND TIME IS RUNNING OUT

If she can't get him acquitted, she'll lose much more than the case. The only person who can help her is her younger, estranged sister Calli, the last person Leigh would ever want to ask for help. But suddenly she has no choice...

My musings:

 

Let me introduce my latest book hangover! Once I have gathered up the thousand pieces of my broken heart I may be able to read another book, but this gut wrenching story will stay in my mind for a long time to come. It was intense!

 

I have always looked for Slaughter’s books when I was in the mood for a dark, gritty thriller, but in FALSE WITNESS she also managed to sneak past all my defences as sisters Leigh and Callie fight a demon from their past. Not only was there murder, grit and mystery, but the sister relationship was so astutely and tenderly portrayed that it made me choke back tears many times. I also had to fight back an intense loathing for some of the other characters, putting me firmly into the sisters’ corner, no matter the dark secret that has shaped their lives. This roller coaster of emotions defined my reading journey, because every time I thought we were in safe waters I found that a raging waterfall was just around the corner. Talk about an adrenaline fuelled ride!

 

Anyone who has read Slaughter’s other books will know that she never shies away from the brutalities of life. She doesn’t beat around the bush. If you are triggered by anything ugly then this book is definitely not for you. Child abuse, paedophilia, drug addiction, murder, blackmail, guilt, trauma – it’s all there, and more. At times, it’s so violent and disturbing that you want to take a shower and just smell some flowers to get the darkness out of your head. Set in the present time also meant that Slaughter had to tackle the c-word, life in a covid world. It takes a skilled writer to bring the pandemic into her story without making it a main feature of the book, but here we just see people who are living with the reality of the virus, just as we are doing on a daily basis.

 

I can’t really say much more without giving anything away, except that the plot is so cleverly constructed that I fell for each and every red herring. I made my first assumption in the opening chapter and was promptly proven wrong, a theme that continued throughout the whole book. Having been emotionally totally sucked into the story, these moments winded me!

 

Summary:

 

All in all, FALSE WITNESS is the type of dark, gritty story you have come to expect from Karin Slaughter, but it is also full of heart. Her portrayal of the sister relationship between Leigh and Callie is as beautiful as it is heartbreaking. As the sisters battle a dark demon from their past, only their love and loyalty may give them a chance to get out of this alive. It was gut wrenching, graphic and emotionally exhausting but also one of the best thrillers I have read this year.

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: THE FAMILY DOCTOR by Debra Oswald

 

Title: THE FAMILY DOCTOR

Author:  Debra Oswald

Read: June 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

Paula is a dedicated suburban GP, who is devastated by the murder of a friend and her children by their estranged husband and father. Stacey and the children had been staying with her after fleeing his control, and Paula is haunted by the thought that she couldn't protect them when they most needed it. How had she missed the warning signs? How had she failed to keep them safe?

Not long after, a patient with suspicious injuries brings her anxious young son into Paula's surgery. The woman admits that her husband hurts her, but she's terrified to leave for fear of escalating the violence, and defeated by the consistent failures of the law to help her.

Can Paula go against everything she believes to make sure one woman is saved, one child spared? She isn't motivated by revenge. She's desperately trying to prevent a tragedy . . .

 

My musings:

 

Before I begin, let me tell you a little story we were told in an ethics class long ago, which has always stayed in my mind. A train is racing towards a canyon, where the bridge has collapsed. You have the power to stop the train by diverting it onto an unused line, but a family are sitting on the tracks having a picnic and there is no time to warn them. What do you do? Let the train run its current course and know that hundreds of passengers are doomed, or save them by diverting the train but kill a family in the process?

 

This is the sort of ethical dilemma Dr Paula Kackzmarek faces in Oswald’s confronting and thought provoking novel THE FAMILY DOCTOR. Paula has always been a rock to her friends and family, even through times of personal tragedy when she lost her young husband to cancer. When her long-time friend Stacey and her two kids had to flee their family home to escape Stacey’s violent husband, Paula didn’t hesitate to take them in. But then the unthinkable happened, and Paula came home from work to find her friend and her two children had been shot by her estranged husband, in a terrible murder-suicide. So when Paula encounters a woman and her child in her clinic, bearing the scars of domestic violence, she is determined to help her. With a system often powerless to stop violence against women and legal processes that see many predators freed due to technicalities, Paula feels helpless. Can she stand back and risk another woman being killed by her violent husband, or should she take matters into her own hands?

 

When I picked up THE FAMILY DOCTOR, I had no idea how deeply this novel would draw me in, and keep me captivated in a state of permanent moral conflict. Initially I stood firmly on my own moral highground, but as the story unfolded, layer after layer, I realised what a complex and ambivalent story this had become. Oswald draws her characters so well that I was quickly emotionally invested and could no longer look away or pretend that this was not troubling me on many levels. Even now, I feel like I need to discuss this book with someone! According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1 in 6 women have experienced violence from a current or previous partner. These terrible numbers don’t lie!

 

Throughout the book, I felt the author’s frustration with a legal system that often sets predators free, only to continue the cycle of violence. By exploring the topic through a variety of characters – a doctor, a journalist covering a murder trial where a man has been accused of killing his girlfriend, a police detective plus several victims of domestic violence – Oswald explores all the ethical and moral nooks and crannies associated with this issue.

 

Summary:

 

THE FAMILY DOCTOR is a well researched, well written novel that really got under my skin! I was in a constant state of anxiety trying to sort out my own thoughts about Paula’s situation, and confronting my own moral highground and preconceived ideas about many issues surrounding the topic of domestic violence in our society today. Being set in Australia made it even more relevant, as it described processes I am familiar with through my work and everyday life. This was a profound if troubling piece of writing, which will stay in my mind for a long time to come. I can’t wait to read more from this author in future!

Book Review: INVISIBLE GIRL by Lisa Jewell

 

Title: INVISIBLE GIRL

Author:  Lisa Jewell

Read: September 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

Owen Pick’s life is falling apart.

In his thirties, a virgin, and living in his aunt’s spare bedroom, he has just been suspended from his job as a geography teacher after accusations of sexual misconduct, which he strongly denies. Searching for professional advice online, he is inadvertently sucked into the dark world of incel—involuntary celibate—forums, where he meets the charismatic, mysterious, and sinister Bryn.

Across the street from Owen lives the Fours family, headed by mom Cate, a physiotherapist, and dad Roan, a child psychologist. But the Fours family have a bad feeling about their neighbor Owen. He’s a bit creepy and their teenaged daughter swears he followed her home from the train station one night.

Meanwhile, young Saffyre Maddox spent three years as a patient of Roan Fours. Feeling abandoned when their therapy ends, she searches for other ways to maintain her connection with him, following him in the shadows and learning more than she wanted to know about Roan and his family. Then, on Valentine’s night, Saffyre Maddox disappears—and the last person to see her alive is Owen Pick.

 

What attracted me to this book:

 

I have loved Lisa Jewell’s books ever since reading THE HOUSE WE GREW UP IN (which still remains my favourite book of hers) a decade or so ago, and she has been an auto buy author for me ever since. I particularly love the way she presents us with an insight into the psyche of her well-rounded characters, in a way that makes them come to life on the pages.

My musings:

 

I am happy to say that Jewell has come through for me again with her latest book – here we have her trademark troubled characters, all wrapped up in a multi-layered, suspenseful domestic mystery. The secret lies in the slow simmer of danger as things are trending South in our protagonists’ lives, like a train destined to plunge into the abyss as all brakes have failed. Such is the situation for Owen, a loner in his 30s who is so socially inept and afraid of women that he has never yet had a sexual partner and still lives with his forbidding aunt in a tiny portion of her house. When a spade of sexual attacks occurs in the area, and a young girl disappears, everyone is very eager to point their finger at the “weirdo” living in the neighbourhood.

 

The premise of this one seemed all too real, because we all tend to find scapegoats in the people that don’t quite fit into society. I found it both heartbreaking but also interesting as I challenged my own prejudices and misconceptions. If I was a parent, would I too be afraid of the strange man living next door? Just on account of him being different? As Owen is accused of the crimes and his life slowly unravels, my heart ached for him, even though I admit that I also found him slightly creepy.

 

I did feel at times that the underlying themes were chosen to reflect the current political climate and came a little bit close to preaching a message at times, especially towards the end. However, it did prompt me to reflect, and kept me turning the pages, so I cannot complain!

  

Summary:

 

INVISIBLE GIRL is a slow burning and yet complex mystery that will appeal to readers who appreciate a character driven story that delves into the psyche of different people and explores the way they think and act. Jewell has mastered the art of creating suspense without any of the hard hitting gore and horror of other mysteries, but rather uses our society’s prejudices and biases to raise our hackles. In the end, it’s those preconceived ideas that will prompt reflection as the answers are revealed in a satisfying finale. I really have come to love Jewell’s writing style and can’t wait to read her next novel.

 

 

Book Review: THE NIGHT SWIM by Megan Goldin

 

Title: THE NIGHT SWIM

Author:  Megan Goldin

Publisher:  St Martin’s Press 

Read: August 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

 

 

Book Description:

 

 

After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.


The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.


Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?

 

What attracted me to this book:

 

With THE ESCAPE ROOM having been a five-star read for me, I was thrilled to receive an ARC of Goldin’s latest novel, THE NIGHT SWIM. Do you keep some books on your TBR for a special treat to cash in at a time you really need it? Well, I did that here and it totally paid off.

 

My musings:

 

Over the last couple of years, I have noted a rise in mysteries featuring social media and podcasts, and I enjoy the inclusion of various types of media to flesh out the story. Goldin’s main protagonist, Rachel Krall, is the creator of a popular true crime podcast, and her recordings feature as separate chapters telling part of the story. It almost had the feel of a “book within a book” concept, and I love that!

 

THE NIGHT SWIM may have triggers for some readers, such as violence and rape, but it did make for compelling and contemplative reading. Rachel Krall is covering a rape trial in which a small town’s golden boy has been accused of raping the sixteen-year-old granddaughter of the police chief. The town is divided. Is she lying? Is he guilty? As Rachel knows, rape trials are excruciating agony for the victim, as they have to re-live all the gory details of the attack. It doesn’t help that it usually comes down to a he-said-she-said trial, in which each solicitor is trying to win over the jury by whatever means they can. It is Rachel’s goal to provide her audience with as much neutral facts as she can.

 

But Rachel’s attention is not purely focused on the trial after receiving an anonymous letter from a woman who is asking for help in finding her sister’s killer. Allegedly the murder occurred in the same small town where the trial is taking place, over 20 years ago. Once Rachel starts asking questions, she feels like she is hitting a brick wall, and her curiosity is piqued ...

 

A tale of two rapes, in the same small town, decades apart – this may not sound like uplifting reading, but it was woven into a compelling mystery with such skill and sensitivity of a brilliant writer that I could not tear myself away. All the feels with this one: fear, fury, grief and a fist-clenching anxiety as I was waiting for justice to prevail. THE NIGHT SWIM is a book that will take you on a rollercoaster of emotion and spit you out, breathless and exhausted, but not after the last page has been turned. Told trough the POVs of both Rachel and Hannah and interspersed with episodes of Rachel’s podcast, I frantically turned the pages to find out more. I was disappointed that this was not a real podcast I could get addicted to, because it ticked all the boxes for me – the podcast that puts you in the jury box. Yes please! Harrowing – yes. But utterly compelling.

  

Summary:

 

It is hard to believe that both THE NIGHT SWIM and THE ESCAPE ROOM came from the pen of the same writer, because on the surface they couldn’t be more different. But once you look deeper, you will see some similarities, mainly in the strong female leads and their quest for justice. And, of course, the brilliant writing! Edgy, raw and very relevant today, this was a total winner for me and I cannot recommend it highly enough.

 

 If you enjoyed the podcast elements in this one, you may also like:

 

 

Thank you to Edelweiss  and St Martin’s Press for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

 

Book Review: UNFOLLOW ME by Charlotte Duckworth

Title: UNFOLLOW ME

Author: Charlotte Duckworth
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Read: March 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟1/2

“I’ve never met any of them – don’t even know what they look like – but they know more about this than anyone in my real life.”

Book Description:

You Can't Stop Watching Her.

Violet Young is a hugely popular journalist-turned-mummy-vlogger, with three young children, a successful husband and a million subscribers on YouTube who tune in daily to watch her everyday life unfold.

Until the day she's no longer there.

But one day she disappears from the online world - her entire social media presence deleted overnight, with no explanation. Has she simply decided that baring her life to all online is no longer a good idea, or has something more sinister happened to her?

But do you really know who Violet is?

Told from the perspectives of her most avid fans, obsessed with finding out the truth, their search quickly reveals a web of lies, betrayal, and shocking consequences...

What attracted me to this book:

Social media is a topic that is becoming more popular in crime fiction, and without physical boundaries it lends itself to some very intriguing stories. I often wonder about the potential consequences of sharing our lives so freely with random strangers, so the premise of this book instantly drew me.

My musings:

Violet Young is a “mummy blogger”, a YouTube sensation whose honest (or not so honest) account of her post partum depression and the trials of motherhood have earned her thousands of followers on social media. One day she has vanished into thin air, her Instagram account has been deleted and all her former blog posts have gone. Her followers are devastated and worried – what has happened to Violet? And: how dare she do this to them?

From here, the story unfolds through three different POVs: Lily and Yvonne, who are devoted Violet fans, and Henry, who is Violet’s husband and a bit of a social media star himself. It soon becomes obvious that they are all hiding something, which for the women may be the root of their obsession with Violet, and for Henry something more sinister altogether.

Even as someone who has an Instagram account and a book blog, I found Lily’s and Yvonne’s addiction to Violet’s social media accounts fascinating in a horrified kind of way. Both women’s grief and outrage over finding Violet gone were something to behold, and were definitely on the boundary of being a mental health issue.

Even though I was drawn very quickly into the story, and found the whole premise fascinating, I didn’t end up liking the book as much as I thought I would. The story slowed significantly in the second half, and after the initial build up of intrigue I found the ending a bit lacklustre and unoriginal. I also quickly tired of Lily and Yvonne, who became more and more unlikeable and strange as the story progressed.

I did, however, like the theme of addiction to social media accounts portraying the “perfect family”, even where reality is very different. This would make for some great bookclub discussions, especially relating to the ethical minefield of using your children to become a social media “influencer”. Do your kids have a right to privacy? Will this exposure of their personal lives have lasting consequences for them in later life? I would have liked to talk about these issues with my friends.

Summary:

In summary, UNFOLLOW ME had some interesting concepts and good material for discussion in a book group, even though I was ultimately a bit disappointed in the book’s conclusion. Young mums may find that they better relate to the themes of motherhood, IVF, post partum depression and the ethical issues surrounding your children’s featuring on social media. I think that this book would appeal more to a younger crowd and that my experience was partly related to the generational gap. All in all a quick entertaining read and an interesting modern day topic. 

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

Book Review: LONG BRIGHT RIVER by Liz Moore

Title: LONG BRIGHT RIVER

Author: Liz Moore
Publisher: Penguin Random House UK
Read: February 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

"I could picture the drug as the Piper [of Hamelin]. I picture the trance it casts: I can see this trance quite clearly every day that I work, everyone walked around, charmed, enthralled, beguiled. I imagine the town of Hamelin after the story ends. [...] I can hear it: the terrible silence of the town."

Book Description:

Mickey Fitzpatrick has been patrolling the 24th District for years. She knows most of the working women by name. She knows what desperation looks like and what people will do when they need a fix. She’s become used to finding overdose victims: their numbers are growing every year. But every time she sees someone sprawled out, slumped over, cold to the touch, she has to pray it’s not her sister, Kacey.

When the bodies of murdered sex workers start turning up on the Ave, the Chief of Police is keen to bury the news. They’re not the kind of victims that generate a whole lot of press anyway. But Mickey is obsessed, dangerously so, with finding the perpetrator - before Kacey becomes the next victim.

What attracted me to this book:

I hemmed and hawed a lot whether I should pick up this book or not. I see the consequences of addiction and the long lasting effects on both the victims as well as their families at work, and it’s not pretty. Reading is an escape for me, and I wasn’t sure whether a hard hitting book about drugs would be for me. I even started reading it last month and put it aside again. But now that I have sat down and read it, I am so glad that I did!

My musings:

Kensington, Philadelphia, is about as far removed from my reality as it gets, but with an author as talented as Liz Moore that was no hindrance at all. It wasn’t long until she had transported me into the dark alleys of the city, where people die from drug overdoses on a daily basis, where women sell their bodies for money for their next fix and where babies are born already in withdrawal. It’s a scary world, but handled with such compassion and care that the great human tragedy of the opioid crisis was brought very close to my heart without any political agenda or judgment of the people involved.

Mickey is a policewoman who is very familiar with the terrible cost of the opioid crisis on human lives. Having grown up in Kensington, the daily confrontation with the effects of drug addiction are an everyday occurrence to her. But Micky has an Achilles heel – her own sister Kacey is one of the victims of the drug, and she has been missing for weeks. Every time Mickey finds the body of yet another woman on the streets, she is expecting it to be Kacey, and it emotionally breaks her.

I felt so sad for Mickey. Having lost her mother to a drug overdose when the girls were only small, Mickey and Kacey were sent to live with their grandmother, who didn’t bother to hide her resentment of having to look after two young children. I never quite understood why she was so horrible to those two little girls – she professed to be heartbroken over losing her daughter, and yet she seems to hate her granddaughters! Whilst Mickey is determined to make something of her life, her sister falls into the same trap as their mother did and becomes an addict. I can never fully understand what it would be like to grow up with such tragedy, and in such a scary and tragic neighbourhood. Here every family seems to have lost a child, a parent or a sibling to addiction, but the author portrays her characters so vividly that I found I could easily relate to their plight.

Part police procedural, part family drama, the story soon pulled me in with all its complexities and the mystery surrounding Kacey’s disappearance. Whilst I would not primarily call it a mystery, there are a lot of elements that define that genre, and a twist I did not see coming. I loved the way the author portrayed the relationship between the sisters, which ultimately drove the story for me.

Summary:

LONG BRIGHT RIVER was a powerful, hard-hitting and gut-wrenching story that was handled with such insight, sensitivity and compassion for the victims and families affected that it was impossible not to be touched deeply by it. It’s not a happy read, and sometimes it felt like a heavy weight on my heart to pick it back up and keep reading, and yet I could not put it down. If you are finding it off to a bit of a slow start, stick with it, because it was worth it!

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

Thoughts on the book: SUCH A FUN AGE by Kiley Reid

Title: SUCH A FUN AGE

Author: Kiley Reid
Read: February 2020

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

I don't need you to be mad that it happened. I need you to be mad that it just like ... happens.

Book Description:

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living showing other women how to do the same. A mother to two small girls, she started out as a blogger and has quickly built herself into a confidence-driven brand. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler one night. Seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, a security guard at their local high-end supermarket accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make it right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix’s desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix’s past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

What attracted me to this book:

Sometimes I avoid hype books, and other times I am irresistibly drawn to them – this one was snatched up in a bad case of FOMO and bookstagrammademedoit. I liked the sound of a social satire on class and race, one that would challenge my own prejudices and misconceptions. Plus, it was a group read with some great bookish friends, and I can never resist those!

My Musings:

I admit that it took me a little while to get into the story. As you know, there is an incident in a grocery store where Emira gets accosted by the security guard, who thinks she has abducted little Briar, who she is babysitting at the time. Whilst this incident provides the fulcrum of the story, it takes some time to set things in motion.

From chatting to other readers, my initial disconnection may have had something to do with living in Australia and not being familiar with the social complexities of Northern USA. For example, here no one would even blink an eye if a twenty-five year old woman decides to do odd jobs like babysitting instead of choosing a very concrete career path straight out of college. There was also the generational gap – I am a long way past my twenties and thirties, and some of those agonising insecurities are thankfully also in the past. However, as the story progressed I was feeling more and more intrigued and itching to discuss some of the finer points with my reading group.

So here is my recommendation to you – find yourself some buddies to read this book with. Our discussion, which involved people from various backgrounds, ages and nationalities, was such good value! Reid really knows how to stoke the embers that made different opinions flare, highlighting some of our own beliefs, preconceptions and if I am honest, also prejudices I may have lived with for so long that they no longer stood out until challenged by our chat. Don’t you love it when books do that? I appreciated that Reid never once bogged her book down with preachy overtones or overly contrived wisdoms, but chose humour and characters you could either love or hate, which prompted me to form my own opinions. Is there a right or wrong? Our discussion showed that we each took something very unique away from the story, and I can’t ask for more than that. There were certainly enough themes to choose from that most of us could relate – apart from social class and racial issues the story revolved around the intricacies of transactional relationships, motherhood, friendship, trust, loneliness, career and many more.

Whilst I initially had trouble bonding with the characters, I found that I related to parts of them. Emira’s odd jobs and lack of career path in her twenties, Alix’s sense of isolation after moving away from her friendship group, even little Briar, who reminded me of my daughter as a toddler. Briar was by far my favourite character and immediately stole my heart. Oddly, I also felt an almost visceral dislike for Kelley, the root of which I am not entirely sure of yet.

Summary:

All in all, SUCH A FUN AGE delivered all the things that made me pick it up in the first place, despite some slight cultural differences that may be the reason it didn’t blow my mind as it has with other readers. However, it initiated a fantastic discussion that made me reflect  on my own ingrained beliefs and prejudices, which is always the sign of a good read. Best read in a group or with a reading buddy!