Book Review: NEVER LET YOU GO by Chevy Stevens

Title: Never Let You Go
Author: Chevy Stevens
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Read: December 2016
Expected publication: 14 March 2017



Synopsis (Goodreads):

Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash escaped into the night with her young daughter and left an abusive relationship.Her ex-husband was sent to jail and she started over with a new life. Now, Lindsey is older and wiser, with a teenage daughter who needs her more than ever. When her ex-husband is finally released, Lindsey believes she’s cut all ties. But she gets the sense that someone is watching her. Her new boyfriend is threatened. Her home is invaded, and her daughter is shadowed. Lindsey is convinced it’s her ex-husband, even though he claims he’s a different person. But can he really change? Is the one who wants her dead closer to home than she thought? 

My thoughts:

When Lindsey took her small daughter Sophie and ran away from her abusive husband, she knew that one day he may come looking for them. With her daughter now a teenager, and Lindsey herself in a relationship with a stable, supportive man, she is as happy as she has ever been. Until she finds out that her ex-husband, freshly out of jail after serving a sentence for dangerous driving causing death, has moved into her neighbourhood. Soon she feels no longer safe in her own home – have things been moved or touched? Is she in danger? Worst of all, she finds out that he has tried to make contact with Sophie. Sophie claims that she has seen her father, and that he is a changed man. But leopards never really change their spots, do they?

Despite an interesting premise, a constant atmosphere of tension and a clever twist at the end, Never Let You Go never fully gripped me. Perhaps it was the voices of the characters, who didn’t quite speak to me, or the format of various different voices narrating individual chapters set in the past and present. I felt that I never fully got to see into the hearts and minds of any of the characters, and just didn’t care enough about them to find the story compelling. Or perhaps I have just been spoiled by some very masterfully constructed psychological thrillers recently, and now nothing can quite live up to them. Whilst Never Let You Go was an ok read, for me it lacked – something. Depth, perhaps. An emotional connection. Despite musing on it and trying to give constructive feedback,  I cannot quite put my finger on it. So I will just put it down to being the wrong book for me at the time. It happens. 2.5 stars from me.

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

Book Review: THE LANGUAGE OF DYING by Sarah Pinborough

Title: The Language of Dying
Author: Sarah Pinborough
Publisher: Quercus Books, Jo Fletcher Books
Read: December 2016



Synopsis (Goodreads):

Tonight is a special, terrible night. A woman sits at her father's bedside watching the clock tick away the last hours of his life. Her brothers and sisters - all traumatised in their own ways, their bonds fragile - have been there for the past week, but now she is alone. And that's always when it comes. As the clock ticks in the darkness, she can only wait for it to find her... 

My thoughts:

A daughter sits at the bedside of her dying father, holding his hand, pouring out her heart to him for the last time. He can no longer hear her, but that is ok, there are still so many things to be said, so little time to say them. The final good-bye.

Very gently, despite the heat and energy raging at me from outside, I kiss your head. I leave my love there forever [...]

As the family gathers for the last time in their old family home, it becomes obvious that their father was the glue that held them together. Without his presence, cracks are already beginning to show, even whilst he is still clinging to life, his body slowly wasting away, the strong man of their childhood now only a dry husk.

[...] It’s crystal clear that we’ve fallen apart. We’ve fallen apart and we didn’t even have the good manners to wait until you’d gone before we did it.

As the siblings each try to come to terms with the loss of their parent and say the final good-bye, old grievances come out, tensions rise, arguments erupt. In the end, there is only the middle daughter left to hold her father’s hand in that last, terrible vigil.

The Language of Dying is a beautifully written book which will speak to anyone who has ever had to watch a loved one die, or is caring for a terminally ill family member. Written in the narrative of a daughter talking to her dying father, the book touches the very centre of the heart, where our love, our grief and our heartbreak live.  Pinborough has a way with words that is both touching as well as evocative, exploring the desolate, lonely place only death can bring us to.   Most of all, it is honest, baring the soul and exploring that most feared of all situations – losing a loved one. There is a mystical, supernatural element to the story, too, which will mean something different to every reader, but which for me embodied the terrible and yet compelling power death has over us. Whilst The Language of Dying is sometimes confronting, bringing us face to face with our own emotions and fears surrounding death, I highly recommend it to anyone who has ever had to say their final good-bye to someone they love. A powerful, emotional read, one of my favourites for the year.

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

Book Review: THE WITCHFINDER'S SISTER by Beth Underdown

Title: The Witchfinder's Sister
Author: Beth Underdown
Publisher: Penguin Books UK
Read: November 2016
Expected publication: 2 March 2017



Synopsis (Goodreads):

Before Salem, there was Manningtree. . . .

This summer, my brother Matthew set himself to killing women, but without ever once breaking the law.
Essex, England, 1645. With a heavy heart, Alice Hopkins returns to the small town she grew up in. Widowed, with child, and without prospects, she is forced to find refuge at the house of her younger brother, Matthew. In the five years she has been gone, the boy she knew has become a man of influence and wealth but more has changed than merely his fortunes. Alice fears that even as the cruel burns of a childhood accident still mark his face, something terrible has scarred Matthew s soul.
There is a new darkness in the town, too frightened whispers are stirring in the streets, and Alice s blood runs cold with dread when she discovers that Matthew is a ruthless hunter of suspected witches. Torn between devotion to her brother and horror at what he s become, Alice is desperate to intervene and deathly afraid of the consequences. But as Matthew s reign of terror spreads, Alice must choose between her safety and her soul.
Alone and surrounded by suspicious eyes, Alice seeks out the fuel firing her brother s brutal mission and is drawn into the Hopkins family s past. There she finds secrets nested within secrets: and at their heart, the poisonous truth. Only by putting her own life and liberty in peril can she defeat this darkest of evils before more innocent women are forced to the gallows.
Inspired by the real-life story of notorious Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins, Beth Underdown s thrilling debut novel blends spellbinding history with harrowing storytelling for a truly haunting reading experience. 

My thoughts:

The Witchfinder’s Sister tackles a fascinating chapter of history, the life of the legendary witch-hunter Matthew Hopkins, who is believed to have been responsible for the deaths of 300 or more women in the mid-1700s in Essex, England. In her fictional account, Underdown bestows Matthew with a sister, Alice Hopkins, a strong and independent woman of her time, who finds herself back in her brother’s house after the sudden death of her husband. I loved the historical details of the novel, which were fascinating and sometimes confronting, as there seemed to be little cause for Matthew to accuse a woman of being a witch and condemn her to death. Alice, suddenly dependent on her brother’s mercy, is caught in a terrible dilemma – can she stand up for the women she thinks unfairly accused without endangering her own life?  

Underdown does a good job in creating an undertone of danger and malice in her descriptions of Matthew’s quest, and Alice’s dilemma is felt keenly by the reader. Personally, I would have liked to be able to explore the folklore and superstitions of the time a bit more, which allowed Matthew to carry out his sinister work. I am guessing that the author purposely steered away from this approach by creating a no-nonsense, intelligent protagonist, but I would have loved to delve a bit deeper into the psyches of the women accused and persecuted, as I found some of the female characters a bit difficult to connect with. Seeing that most women of the time wouldn’t have had much education and would have depended heavily on their menfolk for their survival, it would have been interesting to see their reaction to and feelings about the ever present danger of being accused o f witchcraft. The later part of the book introduces a lot of characters with a lot of different backgrounds and personalities, and I felt myself getting lost in different threads a few times, with some loose ends remaining. Apart from that, The Witchfinder’s Sister was an intriguing and interesting read, recommended to all lovers of historical fiction.  

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

Book Review: THE DEADLINE by Ron Franscell

Title: The Deadline
Author: Ron Franscell
Publisher: WildBlue Press
Read: November 2016



Synopsis (Goodreads):

Neeley Gilmartin, imprisoned in 1948 for the murder of a little girl, is let out of prison in 1996 because he's dying of tuberculosis. Wracked with pain, he still smolders from the injustice done to him all those years ago, and pleads with the newspaper editor, Jefferson Morgan, to clear his name and find the one who really killed the child.Morgan finds the request abhorrent, and is unable to believe that Gilmartin could be innocent. He refuses to help, until he does a little research and realizes that Gilmartin could indeed be telling the truth-the local sheriff won't release the trial records; the library has the microfiche files in a safe; Morgan's own newspaper clippings of the event hint at a cover-up by the town fathers at the time of the murder. Everything points to Gilmartin's innocence, and when someone burns down the newspaper office -- apparently to kill Morgan himself -- Morgan is sure of it.But what else will Morgan lose before he can print the truth? 

My thoughts:

In 1948, an out-of-work drunk named Neeley Gilmartin was convicted for the murder of nine-year-old Aimee Little Spotted Horse in the small community of Winchester, Wyoming. After having threatened Aimee’s father during a drunken bar fight, the case seemed a no-brainer, and there were no other suspects. But after 50 years in prison, Gilmartin, now dying of end-stage lung cancer, is back, and insists that he is innocent. Nobody in the community would ever take him seriously, except newspaper editor Jefferson Morgan, who always has an open ear for a good story and has made a reputation for himself by solving a tricky murder case whilst working for a paper in Chicago. Although sceptical, Morgan decides to look into the old crime to see if there is any truth behind the old man’s claim. Is it possible that the real killer is still out there? However, he soon discovers that there are people who are not happy about him asking questions about Aimee, and will go to any lengths to keep the past in the past.

The Deadline is an intriguing mystery set in the remote wilds of Wyoming. Franscell’s evocative writing brings forth believable characters in an interesting small-town setting, with its small-town politics, allegiances and tangled relationships. There is an undertone of menace and escalating tension in the background, slowly building to pose a real threat to Morgan’s safety, whose only interest is to find out the truth, and to clear the name of a man he believes innocent of the crime he served 50 years in prison for. The deeper Morgan digs into the town’s past, the more secrets and lies he uncovers, risking lifelong friendships along the way and putting himself in the firing line of people who want to keep the past buried. I loved the small town dynamics Franscell describes so well, and the slow but even pace the old mystery unfolded at. With a vivid cast of small-town residents, warts and all, the story comes to life and delivers a suspenseful, intriguing read which kept me captivated from beginning to end. There were some emotional moments as the secret and its terrible implications were revealed, adding a whole new depth to the mystery. Perhaps a few minor details at the end did not quite add up for me, but this did not detract from the overall reading pleasure.

I am excited about having discovered this talented new voice in crime fiction, and look forward to reading Franscell’s second novel in the series, The Obituary.

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

Book Review: WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING by Kathryn Croft

Title: While You Were Sleeping
Author: Kathryn Croft
Publisher: Bookouture
Read: November 2016
Expected publication: 16 November 2016



Synopsis (Goodreads):


You wake up to find the man beside you is dead.

He is not your husband. This is not your bed.
What do you do?

Tara Logan lives a quiet life with her husband, Noah, and two children, teenager Rosie and eleven-year-old Spencer.

But her peace is shattered when she wakes in her neighbour Lee’s bed, with no memory of how she got there or what happened between them.
And worse – he has been stabbed to death.

Convinced she didn’t kill Lee, Tara stays silent, fearing the truth will rip her family apart.

But as her daughter spirals out of control, and her husband becomes increasingly distant, Tara soon realises that someone in her life knows what really happened to Lee. She must get to the truth before they do.

Tara made a mistake … but will one night cost her everything? 

My thoughts:

Looking at my one singular star, you can probably tell that I did not enjoy this book. It wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, but it was probably one of the worst I have read this year. So whilst I give 1 star for effort, and perhaps another half for getting it published, I am finding it hard to point out anything I actually liked about While You Were Sleeping, except the title, which sounded intriguing, and the general premise of the story, which I thought held great potential and made me request this book in the first place. So where did it go so terribly wrong?

Firstly, I found it very hard to get any sense of character, place or time in this novel. Without actually searching for it, I am still unsure of where this book was actually set. Some non-descript cul-de-sac in a suburbian neighbourhood in ??? England? Australia? Siberia?  Tara’s rather bland and somewhat juvenile monologue is non-descriptive, telling rather than showing, and saying very little that is actually worthwhile knowing. Whilst the teenage Rosie can maybe be excused for being a complete strop due to her age, there was no defence for Tara’s faulty reasoning. There was no blood on me, therefore I couldn’t have killed my neighbour. No, I just woke up naked in his bed, with no recollection at all of what happened, but never mind, let’s just get on with our lives, shall we? I have seen plenty of people in shock through my work to know that there can be a certain sense of denial, but Tara really takes it to the extreme. She either is on a high dose of daily valium, or needs a mental health assessment – stat!

The writing often struck me as amateurish, and the police investigation is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever come across in a murder mystery. Forget about forensics, who needs them? No, instead, DI Holden Hunt (the name!!!), bases his whole investigation on: “Call me crazy, but I’ve always trusted my instincts, and you are not a murderer”, and shares the details of the ongoing murder investigation with one of the main suspects of the crime. Just to bring this point home to the reader, he repeats this several times in different passages: “But I am trusting my instincts here.” Perhaps this is a new technique we have not heard about, set to entrap the unsuspecting murderer?  Forget method – you have instinct? Welcome to the force! I am hoping that no real police detective out there ever picks up this novel, or my emergency department will be full of police officers with sore abdominal muscles from laughing too hard!

So, giving up on taking anything that comes out of Tara’s mouth seriously after statements like: “Turning back to me, he shakes my hand, and I hope he doesn’t take my clammy palms as a sign of guilt”, I read on with the sort of wry amusement that comes from resignation. This book was never going to do it for me. I was either going to give up on it, feeling slightly cheated out of the good read promised to me by comparisons of the novel to Gone Girl and The Girl on the Train (I should know by now that this usually means very little), or see the strange humour in between the lines. I hate giving up on any book, but it proved difficult. Sadly, While You Were Sleeping never managed to redeem itself to me with anything clever in its revelations or twists.

Perhaps I have been spoiled by recent 5-star reads such as The Trespasser (now there is one of the best fictional police investigations I have ever had the pleasure to read!), or I See You (a real suspense thriller), but While You Were Sleeping did not deliver for me at all. I certainly did not get the palpitations experienced by another reader, except perhaps from laughing too much about one of Tara’s more absurd statements. Thrilling? No. Believable? No. Even the mystery is questionable, as in the end I really did not care about who killed the man. But, as always, this is only my very personal opinion, so if you are game, pick it up and judge for yourself. Rant over.

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