Book Review: RUN TO ME by Diane Hester

Title: Run to Me
Author: Diane Hester
Publisher: Random House Australia
Read: May 14, 2013


Synopsis (Goodreads):

Run To Me is a suspenseful, impossible-to-put-down chase thriller with riveting twists and turns . . .

It's been two years since Shyler O'Neil's beloved son Jesse was killed - but his final moments are as vivid to her now as they were that dreadful day. Suffering from post-traumatic stress, and convinced she did not do enough to protect him, she retreats to an isolated cabin in the woods of northern Maine.

Meanwhile, Zack Ballinger - a ten-year-old boy who has never known a mother's love - finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. He's seen too much and is now running for his life. Fleeing into the woods, Zack soon finds himself at Shyler's cabin. He'll take whatever help she can give - even though, for some reason, she keeps calling him Jesse . . .

With the pursuers hot on their heels, 'mother' and 'son' go on the run. Protecting Zack may well be Shyler's one chance at redemption.

Either that, or she is the child's greatest threat . .


My thoughts: 

The premise of Diane Hester’s debut novel “Run to Me” had me hooked from the very start. A reclusive mother suffering PTSD from the horrific incident which claimed the life of her young son two years previously. Three neglected young boys in a dysfunctional foster home, who witness an event which makes them the target of some very evil men. As their paths intersect, each has something which may be crucial to their survival. Thus addressing three very powerful human emotions – grief for a lost child, the mothering instinct and humankind’s innate fight for survival – the novel promised a rollercoaster ride of action and suspense.

Run to Me certainly is an action packed thriller. The wilderness areas of northern Maine, a place very dear to the author, provide the perfect setting for a nail-biting manhunt in which our innocent protagonists must fight for their survival. Hester’s love for the place becomes apparent in her atmospheric descriptions of the countryside and its wildlife – one particular scene with a wild moose has stayed with me, and was one of my favourite parts of the story.

My personal opinion of this novel is very divided, and after procrastinating over my review I am still finding it hard to put my thoughts into words. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the book well enough, but I didn’t love it, which was a great disappointment because I had been waiting for my copy with bated breath and could not wait to start reading when it finally arrived. Whilst it provided plenty of action and made for a few hours of entertaining reading, it never fully grabbed me in the way other recent reads have. Trying to work out why I can only put this down to character development and perhaps revealing too much too soon, which robbed the story of much of its mystery and suspense.

Of all the characters, Shyler is the one who I found most believable. Her struggles with PTSD were well portrayed, and her motives rang true throughout the story, from her protectiveness towards her new charge to her preparedness for survival in a harsh environment.

Dr Chase Hadley, on the other hand, was the one character I struggled with most. Being a health professional, even his concern for an obviously troubled patient could not exonerate him from his unprofessional behaviour towards Shyler and his failure to involve law enforcement even when confronted with a murder scene and a subsequent break-in. Chase’s actions opened a minefield of legal and ethical dilemmas which in a real life situation would not lead to a happily-ever-after but would most likely see him disbarred from the medical profession. Similarly, I struggled to understand the motives behind the actions of Lazaro’s people and would have loved some more compelling reasons for the manhunt as well as the emotional connections between the team, which didn’t quite gel at times.

However, having seen mostly 4 and 5 stars reviews for this novel, I may stand alone in my opinion. It is quite possibly due to my inability to ignore inconsistencies in the plotline even for the sake of entertainment, which always annoys my family, who have barred me from making comments or asking questions (Why? How? What for?) through certain action-adventure movies which push those boundaries a bit too far for me. So whilst the novel offered plenty in terms of action, I never felt fully emotionally engaged with the characters, which made it an ok read but not a memorable on for me.

Having said that, Hester’s debut novel shows her talent as a new writer on the scene and I am looking forward to reading more from this author in future.

To summarise, Run to Me is an action packed thriller which will make for a few hours of entertaining reading either curled up in front of the fire or at the beach. Whilst it did not meet all my expectations I did enjoy the wilderness setting and general premise of the story and it kept me entertained through a lazy afternoon off sitting in the sun on my verandah and losing myself in a different world for a while.

This novel forms part of my 2013 Australian Women Writers Challenge.

 

Book Review: ALL THE BIRDS, SINGING by Evie Wyld

Title: All the Birds, Singing
Author: Evie Wyld
Publisher: Random House Australia
Read: May 09-10, 2013


Synopsis (Goodreads):

Who or what is watching Jake Whyte from the woods?

Jake Whyte is the sole resident of an old farmhouse on an unnamed island, a place of ceaseless rains and battering winds. It's just her, her untamed companion, Dog, and a flock of sheep. Which is how she wanted it to be. But something is coming for the sheep – every few nights it picks one off, leaves it in rags.

It could be anything. There are foxes in the woods, a strange boy and a strange man, rumours of an obscure, formidable beast. And there is Jake's unknown past, perhaps breaking into the present, a story hidden thousands of miles away and years ago, in a landscape of different colour and sound, a story held in the scars that stripe her back.

Set between Australia and a remote English island, All the Birds, Singing is the story of one how one woman's present comes from a terrible past. It is the second novel from the award-winning author of "After the Fire, A Still Small Voice".

My thoughts: 

All the Birds Singing is Australian fiction at its best – gritty, atmospheric and suspenseful, it represents a true gem of the genre.

Jake Whyte is a young woman living an isolated life on her recently purchased sheep farm on a remote English island. Scarred by a traumatic past she avoids human contact, preferring the company of her dog to that of other people. But there is an evil afoot, which kills her sheep at night and makes its malevolent presence felt in the dark, even invading Jake’s house. When an unexpected visitor arrives on Jake’s doorstep, she must weigh up her avoidance of human contact against her need for help to combat the unknown threat to herself and her lifestock.

All the Birds Singing is a dual time novel, starting with Jake’s life in England at the present time. The other part of the novel is cleverly constructed and offers snapshots of Jake’s troubled past in a backward chronological order – from the most recent to the very unfortunate event in Jake’s childhood which derailed her life and led to her current circumstances. This may sound confusing, and can often be disruptive to the storyline in other books, but Wyld’s storytelling is so accomplished that the unusual structure only adds to the suspense and character development. Whilst Jake’s present experiences form the main part of the mystery, her past slowly constructs the character of Jake and gradually reveals her life story. To the reader, the snapshots from Jake’s past feel like flipping through a photo album in reverse order, from the present-tense Jake who is too old for her years to the innocent young girl she once was.

Very much character driven, the novel centres around human relationships and our innate need for company, no matter how dysfunctional. On the dark side, there is Otto, whose motives are never fully revealed but carry sinister undertones which paint a picture of increasing threat and simmering violence, reflected also in the hostile environment Jake is trapped in. Revealing the escalation of threat in a backward fashion makes it all the more sinister and claustrophobic, watching a young Jake stumble into a terrible situation, knowing how it will all end.

Lloyd, on the other hand, offers a kind of redemption and hope to the story. Honest, guileless and with scars of his own, he appears just as Jake is most in need of help. Whilst their relationship remained an enigma to me, it also was the one which offered a way out of despair and made me close the book with a sense of hope for the future.

Wyld perfectly captures the harsh atmosphere of outback Australia and the struggle to survive in a hostile environment, which is often as unforgiving as its people. Jake is a survivor, and her struggles really touched my heart – even more so once the source of her fall from grace and loss of innocence were revealed.

As the setting changes from Australia to rural England, so does the novel’s language and overall atmosphere – from a gritty story of survival to a mystery with almost paranormal overtones. As the evil closes in on Jake’s present, I often reflected whether this presence was a true threat or a metaphor for the menacing shadows from the past following Jake to her new home. Wyld has a gift of creating suspense without the need for action or artificially constructed plots – instead, the haunting atmosphere and the unspoken things, the questions remaining, are the very details which kept me reading until late into the night, unable to tear myself away. This is a novel which would be perfect to read as part of a bookclub – it affected me so deeply that I was aching to discuss it with someone and hear their view on scenes and relationships which were left open to interpretation – like the earring in the barn (this is not a spoiler, only readers of the novel will know what I am talking about – wasn’t it the most sinister thing?).

I have not read Wyld’s first novel, After the Fire, but it is now very firmly on my tbr list.

All in all, I loved this novel and its haunting atmosphere will stay with me for some time to come. It is amongst the best I have read this year, and implants Wyld firmly as one very talented Australian writer I want to hear a lot more of in future.

A big thanks to the Reading Room and Random House Australia for supplying me with a free advance reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This novel forms part of my 2013 Australian Women Writers challenge, as well as the 2013 Monthly Keyword Challenge (keyword "bird").

 

Book Review: BENEATH THE SHADOWS by Sara Foster

Title: Beneath the Shadows
Author: Sara Foster
Publisher: Random House Australia
Read: May 4-8, 2013


Synopsis (Goodreads):

HOW DO YOU BEGIN TO MOVE ON WHEN THE PAST WON'T LET YOU GO?

When Grace’s husband, Adam, inherits a cottage on the isolated North Yorkshire moors, they leave London behind to try a new life. However, a week later, Adam vanishes, leaving their baby daughter on the doorstep.

The following year, Grace returns to the tiny village of Roseby. She is desperate for answers, but it seems the slumbering village is unwilling to give up its secrets. As Grace learns more about the locals and the area's superstitions and folklore, strange dreams begin to trouble her. Are the villagers hiding something, or is she becoming increasingly paranoid? Only as snowfall threatens to cut them off from the rest of the world does Grace begin to understand how close the threat lies, and that she and her daughter may be in terrible danger if she cannot get them away in time.

My thoughts: 

Grace has some misgivings when her husband Adam moves her and their baby daughter Millie from London to his grandparents’ cottage in the remote village of Roseby on the Yorkshire moors to escape the rat race, but has agreed to give it six months to see if she can adapt to the isolation. One cold winter’s day Adam fails to return from his walk with Millie – Grace finds the baby abandoned in her stroller in front of the house, with no sign of her husband anywhere. With Adam’s passport missing and his recent withdrawal of a large sum of money from their bank account, the police are certain that Adam has planned his disappearance. Shattered and heartbroken, Grace flees to the sanctuary of her parents’ home to come to terms with the loss of her partner.

One year later, Grace still has not had any answers regarding Adam’s disappearance. With Adam being missing, not dead, she feels in limbo, unable to move on or sell any of their assets. She returns to Roseby with the plan to clean out the cottage and use it as a holiday rental and extra income source. However, once back in Yorkshire, Grace is once again overcome by the events of the past – and furthermore, the cottage seems to have a strange hold on her, with mysterious happenings in the night and new discoveries which once again make Grace doubt that her husband really disappeared from her life willingly.

I loved the premise of the novel and the blurb’s promise of a good gothic mystery on the Yorkshire moors. Having briefly visited that part of England, I was looking forward to cozying up with my book under the doona whilst a storm was raging outside, and give myself goosebumps with stories of old English haunted houses and eerie windswept moors.

Sadly the book did not quite live up to my expectations. Personally, the problem I have with Foster’s books is that she gives away too much too soon, which totally destroys the mystery and robs the story of much of its suspense. Whilst the seeds of suspense and mystery were sown early in Foster’s atmospheric descriptions of the Yorkshire moors and the hints of ghostly happenings, these were fast dispelled by the change of focus on the rather predictable relationship developing between Grace and Ben. Grace, who seems rather timid and not one for action, further stalled the story by not doing much at all other than mourning Adam and tending to the baby – which in reality is probably true, but doesn’t make for very compelling reading. Give me a plucky heroine in the mould of S. J. Bolton’s mysteries (which have similar settings) any time! Grace was just a bit too – boring (there, I have said it). She could have strapped a baby carrier to her back, combed the village for answers and been caught up in some action – the backbones of a solid mystery were there, they just needed some charismatic characters to keep the reader interested. Instead, all characters seemed a bit too two-dimensional, stereotypical and – I will say it again – boring, and their relationships predictable.

All in all, the book was readable enough but in my own personal opinion did not live up to its full potential – which is especially frustrating when the underlying premise of the novel was solid and could have offered so much more! Recommended for an easy holiday read, but not if you want heart-pounding gothic action-suspense-mystery in the mould of S. J. Bolton's Awakening (English setting), or closer to home, Honey Brown's Dark Horse (Australian setting).

This book forms part of my 2013 Australian Women Writers Challenge.

If there are any chilling gothic suspense stories you could recommend, please leave a comment below, I would be keen for any reading suggestions - thanks!

Audiobook Review: SUSPECT by Robert Crais

Title: Suspect
Author: Robert Crais

Narrator: MacLeod Andrews
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Read: April 27 - May 3, 2013



Synopsis (Goodreads):

The explosive new masterpiece of suspense from the #1 New York Times' bestselling author.

LAPD cop Scott James is not doing so well. Eight months ago, a shocking nighttime assault by unidentified men killed his partner Stephanie, nearly killed him, and left him enraged, ashamed, and ready to explode. He is unfit for duty...until he meets his new partner.

Maggie is not doing so well, either. A German shepherd who survived three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan sniffing explosives before losing her handler to an IED, her PTSD is as bad as Scott's.

They are each other's last chance. Shunned and shunted to the side, they set out to investigate the one case that no one wants them to touch: the identity of the men who murdered Stephanie. What they begin to find is nothing like what Scott has been told, and the journey will take them both through the darkest moments of their own personal hells. Whether they will make it out again, no one can say.

My thoughts: 

Crais has been on my list of favourite authors for years, and his latest novel Suspect once again firmly cemented his place there – despite initial misgivings about a canine protagonist, which I am happy to say turned out to be totally unfounded.

LAPD officer Scott James is still recovering from an unexpected night-time shooting which left him severely wounded and killed his partner Stephanie – a death he still blames himself for, reliving her agonised cries for help every night in his dreams. Not trusting himself with another human partner, he joins the K9 team in the hope of a new career which might help him overcome the effects of PTSD and the anger he still carries inside him.

Maggie, a military trained German shepherd faces similar obstacles to Scott – after her handler Pete lost his life in an explosion in Afghanistan and she was shot by a sniper, she is afraid of crowds and loud noises and has been declared unfit for duty. Working with Maggie provides Scott with a way to face his own fears and pain, and soon the two are an inseparable pair. But Scott cannot rest until Stephanie’s killer is found, and when a new pair of detectives are entrusted with the case he sees a perfect opening to conduct some investigations of his own – this time with the help of his canine partner.

I have long since enjoyed Crais’ Elvis Cole books and was very interested to see what his new protagonist would have to offer – and was not disappointed! Not only is Scott an interesting character with a turbulent past and his own demons to conquer, but his canine partner provides a whole new perspective to what proved to be a solid police procedural with a well constructed plot and plenty of suspense. I loved the way Crais gives Maggie a voice, without coming across as corny, or personifying his canine protagonist too much, which is often the case with other animal stories. Instead, Crais offers wonderful insights into dog psychology and police dog training, which I found thoroughly fascinating (and I normally wouldn’t call myself a dog person – which would no doubt inspire some contempt from Crais’ “dog-man” character Dominick Leland). I also found the way in which the relationship between a man and his dog slowly develops – or, as Maggie sees it, they become “pack” – very touching and believable.

Scott James is a very different character from Elvis Cole – perhaps I missed Elvis’ wry sense of humour a little bit, but had no time to dwell on it, since the story soon drew me in and kept me interested. The story itself is pure police procedural, driven by Scott’s strong emotions connected to the shooting and very much dependent on his need to redeem himself from the survivor’s guilt he still carries. If I had to offer one criticism, it would be that the mystery was a bit slow to develop, and when it finally did the ending came very abruptly, as if the author was trying to wrap it all up in a neat bundle too soon – it could have done with a bit more action and twists at the end to give answers to some outstanding questions and prolong the suspense.

I had the audio version of the book and must also give credit to MacLeod Andrews for delivering a wonderful narration and lending each character their own unique personality.

All in all, Suspect will appeal to dog lovers and readers of police procedurals alike, and should appease Robert Crais fans who are sceptical of a protagonist other than Elvis Cole or Joe Pike. I am very interested to see if we will see Maggie and Scott James in future novels.

I read this novel as part of my 2013 Audiobook Challenge.

Book Review: RED QUEEN by Honey Brown

Title: Red Queen
Author: Honey Brown
Publisher: Penguin Australia
Read: April 28 - May 1, 2013



Synopsis (Goodreads): 

Shannon and Rohan Scott have retreated to their family's cabin in the Australian bush to escape a virus-ravaged world. After months of isolation, Shannon imagines there's nothing he doesn't know about his older brother, or himself – until a stranger slips under their late-night watch and past their loaded guns.

Reluctantly the brothers take the young woman into their fold, and the dynamic within the cabin shifts. Possessiveness takes hold, loyalties are split, and trust is shattered. Before long, all three find themselves locked into a very different battle for survival.

Daring, stylish and sexy, Red Queen is a psychological thriller that will leave you breathless.

My thoughts:

Apocalyptic novels are normally not my thing, but I love Honey Brown’s writing and still needed to read a dystopian novel for my 2013 Eclectic Reader Challenge, so I thought I would give Red Queen a go.

After narrowly surviving falling victim to the deadly Red Queen virus which claimed the lives of their parents, Rohan and Shannon Scott are living in isolation in a remote cabin in the Australian bush. Having been in hiding for months they have had no news from the outside world, which is in chaos since the very contagious virus has claimed the lives of millions all around the globe. Thanks to their father’s foresight they have plenty of food to last them for several years, and their lives have settled into a steady – if lonely – routine.

One day a lone woman appears on their doorstep. Denny Cassidy claims that she also is the sole survivor of her family and had been marooned in an abandoned farmhouse not far from the cabin. After running out of food she accidentally stumbled across Rohan’s tracks, and is now asking the brothers for shelter. Despite serious misgivings, Rohan and Shannon accept Denny into their fold, which drastically changes the dynamics of the household and creates tension between the brothers. But what are Denny’s real motives? Is she playing one brother off against the other?

Red Queen won the 2009 Aurealis Award, and it is not hard to see why. Even in her debut novel, Honey Brown already shows the hallmarks of her writing – a taut compelling narrative exposing the most innate fears of the human soul. Brown is a master at setting the scene and creating an atmosphere of suspense which haunts the reader long after finishing the story, and her descriptions of the Australian bush allow the scenes to play out clearly in one’s mind. By isolating the characters from the outside world (as Brown has masterfully done in her latest novel Dark Horse), a small universe is created in which the human soul is stripped to its very core, and the most intimate emotions come to the fore.

Red Queen is a study of human nature operating under pressure, and of interpersonal relationships and family dynamics. It was fascinating to see how the arrival of a woman in their cabin would fundamentally change the hierarchy the two brothers had established – with Rohan, the older, firmly in charge, and Shannon doing his bidding. As sexual tension is introduced into the mix, the rules suddenly change and Shannon is no longer content to blindly obey his brother. It is inevitable that there would be conflict, and even without knowing her true motives it was easy to see how Denny uses this to her own advantage. From here the story plays out in almost biblical old-world fashion, with the female temptress creating conflict between the brothers, who each now have reason to try and establish their dominance over each other and the newcomer. Interesting to me were the characters’ androgenous names – each name could be male or female … perhaps to highlight the gender dominance issues in the novel?

Despite being drawn in by Brown’s writing, I admit I did not enjoy the novel as much as I thought I would. Not really warming to any of the characters and missing an emotional connection left me slightly irritated by their behaviour, and as the inevitable conflict plays out and Denny’s past comes into the mix, I was relieved when the conclusion was reached.

My rating reflects personal reading pleasure only. Fans of the dystopian genre and apocalyptic setting should definitely give this book a go – its tension is palpable, its setting masterfully drawn, and the suspense build until the very end. Brown does the genre justice and has firmly established herself as one of Australia’s best thriller writers. I have now read every one of Brown’s novels, and will am looking forward to reading a lot more from this author in the future. 

If you like a good suspense novel, why not give Honey Brown's other books a go (you won't be disappointed): The Good Daughter, After the Darkness, Dark Horse.

This book forms part of several of my 2013 reading challenges:

* 2013 Eclectic Reader Challenge (dystopian)

* 2013 Australian Women Writers Challenge

* 2013 Colour Coded Reading Challenge