Book Review: 99 RED BALLOONS by Elisabeth Carpenter

Title: 99 Red Balloons

Author: Elisabeth Carpenter
Publisher: Avon Books UK
Read: July 2017

Expected publication: 24 August 2017

My Rating:🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Book Description (Goodreads):

When eight-year-old Grace goes missing from a sweetshop on the way home from school, her mother Emma is plunged into a nightmare. Her family rallies around, but as the police hunt begins, cracks begin to emerge.

What are the secret emails sent between Emma’s husband and her sister? Why does her mother take so long to join the search? And is Emma really as innocent as she seems?

Meanwhile, ageing widow Maggie Taylor sees Grace’s picture in the newspaper. It’s a photograph that jolts her from the pain of her existence into a spiralling obsession with another girl – the first girl who disappeared…

My musings:

I love it when I accidentally stumble across a book that is EXACTLY the type of novel I love reading – and that keeps me up all night because I get so engrossed in it that I can’t put it down. It was the title that first attracted me to 99 Red Balloons, because I remember singing this song in the car with my sisters when we were growing up – Nena was a big name in those days! Plus, I can never resist a story about missing children even though as a parent they are pretty harrowing. My advice to readers is to go into this story blindly to make the most of the author’s brilliant plotting – so I am going to hide the rest of my review under the spoiler tag as I don’t want to be responsible for giving anything away.

** POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT! **

Just having turned the last page, I am still reeling from the sheer brilliance of this book. It was just sooooooo good! Told in alternating chapters from the perspective of multiple characters, the book tells the harrowing tale of a family who are living through one of the worst nightmares a parent can ever imagine – the abduction of their daughter Grace. Each and every one of the characters in this amazing story has their own unique voice, and carries their own baggage, making for a rich cast of sympathetic, intriguing characters I couldn’t get enough of.  There is Emma, the girl’s mother whose own childhood is still shrouded in mystery but hints of neglect and trauma. Stephanie, her adoptive sister and aunt to Grace, is trying to support her sister but has been keeping some information from her that is still haunting her because she fears it could have a connection to Grace’s disappearance. Matt, the father, is angry and confused and not knowing where to turn. And then there is Maggie, a stranger to the family, whose own granddaughter Zoe has been missing for thirty years, and who follows Grace’s story on the news, reflecting on how Zoe’s abduction has destroyed her own family and cast a dark shadow over her entire life.  I am not going to say any more about the story or the other narrators for fear of giving away spoilers, except that the story held some amazing surprises in store that even my seasoned (and sometimes jaded) mystery lover’s nose did not sniff out. I love to be floored by unexpected   developments!

There were some harrowing moments in the book, and it was a very emotional read for me. Maggie’s story simply broke my heart as I imagined the pain and loss she had experienced as a result of her granddaughter’s disappearance. As a parent, I can imagine few things worse than not knowing what has happened to your child, and to feel guilty for not having been able to keep them safe. I particularly liked the way the author focused on the story from the family’s perspective, and only revealed details of the police investigation as they were being shared with family members. It added mystery and depth to the story, giving a hint of the fear and frustration the family would be feeling in that situation, thinking the police were keeping information from them.

Summary:

If you are looking for a brilliantly plotted multi-layered mystery that will surprise and shock you, look no further than 99 Red Balloons. Brimming with intriguing characters, this emotional read will take you straight into a parent’s worst nightmare and keep you guessing throughout.  It is definitely on my list of favourite mysteries for 2017 and I can’t wait to read more from this author. Loved it and can’t recommend it highly enough! 

A big thank you to Netgalley and Avon Books UK for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: WIMMERA by Mark Brandi

Title: Wimmera

Author: Mark Brandi
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Read: July 2017

My Rating:🌟🌟🌟 1/2

Book Description:

Set in a small town in rural Victoria near the Grampian mountains, Wimmera tells the coming-of-age story of two boys, Fab and Ben, whose friendship bonds them like brothers. Playing cricket in the backyard and going yabbying down the local creek, they support each other when either of them needs it: standing united against bullies, providing a safe shelter when Fab’s father has been drinking too much, discussing their changing bodies and having childhood crushes on girls or Fab’s mother. Until the day a newcomer arrives in town and their innocence is shattered forever.

My musings:

With his debut novel, Brandi combines two genres I love: a good coming-of-age story and a murder mystery. The two boys are likeable larrikins, facing the age-old and timeless problems of kids growing up in a remote Australia country town. As a mother of a boy, it was impossible not to feel maternal towards them! A large part of the book is set in the eighties, and there are some classic Australian elements in the story that will bring back many a reader’s childhood memories: the ageless  game of backyard cricket, for example, each boy striving to emulate their sporting heroes, which are all well-known names in Australian sporting history. Brandi sets a vivid, atmospheric scene, and I could picture it all very well: the dust, the heat, the flies and two boys drudging down the hill with their fishing nets and bait to catch some yabbies. And whilst both boys’ childhood is far from idyllic – Fab has a violent alcoholic father whilst Ben’s is somewhat remote and disinterested – their friendship usually sees them through.

There is a melancholic and bleak thread running through the story that has become a characteristic of some Australian crime novels and perhaps emulates the hardship faced by people living in remote locations with extreme climates and difficult economic situations. But Brandi takes it one step further, introducing a dark and sinister element which will set the story on its inevitable path of self-destruction. Be warned: there are some dark themes here. Domestic violence, racism, bullying, sexual abuse, suicide and murder, and a predator so depraved that he will change the boys’ lives forever. Whist Brandi is not shy at exploring some issues, he merely hints at others, which worked really well for me, as sometimes the things left to one’s imagination are more chilling than those spoken out loud. What starts as a happy-go-lucky tale of two boys growing up, soon takes on a worrying note, and I was terrified of what would happen to Ben. What didn’t work so well for me was the dual timeline, which abruptly changes mid-book and takes the story in a different direction. I was so invested in the first part, that I found it very difficult to change perspective. And the end – well, no spoilers, but it simply broke my heart! There were perhaps a few things that could have been explained a bit more to bring all the threads together, but generally I thought it was a gripping albeit very dark read.

Summary:

Wimmera is a dark and melancholy coming-of-age story / murder mystery from a talented new voice in Australian crime fiction. Incorporating some iconic Australian elements, the story is like time-travel back to the eighties, capturing the quintessential rural Australian spirit of the time. With some very dark elements running through the story, it may not appeal to all readers, but I found it a gripping and haunting read and am looking forward to reading more from this author in future.

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

Sunday Confessional: INJURED IN THE LINE OF DUTY - THE DRSABCD OF BOOKSTAGRAM

It’s been a bit of a rough week for me, but luckily I have a very short attention span and am already getting bored with wallowing in my misery. Besides, it’s all a matter of perspective, isn’t it? 

And what better way to deal with piss than taking the piss... especially of yourself! Sometimes you just gotta take one for the team!

The selfie injury

We get them a lot at work – the selfie injury. A diagnosis unique to the 21^st century. People who, armed with phone and selfie stick, injure themselves in the pursuit of attaining the perfect digital self-portrait to post to social media. Just moving back one step to get a better angle, and they plunge off cliffs, get swept away by king waves, get bitten by snakes or mauled by lions (ok, not a real problem in our area, but it does happen elsewhere). 

I never understood such blatant disregard for personal safety until I joined bookstagram. Suddenly and inexplicably my brain has gone to mush! Soon my ordinary, everyday photos were no longer good enough. Have you been on Instagram lately? There is some tough competition out there! I needed to get better quickly, and adopt a more interesting persona than my otherwise rather unremarkable existence. 

Steve Irwin? Nah – don’t really do wild animals (and you saw how that one turned out for him).  Bear Grylls? Hmmm, as long as I don’t need to eat elephant sperm or shelter in the stomach cavity of a rotted camel, I could possibly get to a few rugged places that would  lend me a certain watered down adventure vibe. The key is rugged. Cliffs, waves, steep granite boulders. Where before the D for Danger warning light would have set all my senses on high alert, I can now picture the perfect background for my bookstagram photo. A high cliff – perfect! If I support my weight on one toe and stretch up a little bit hiiiiiigher, I will get just the right amount of cloudy sky peeking out from behind the rock to add interesting texture.

In pursuit of the perfect photo

There is an old farm shack down the road from us, a short bike ride along a dusty trail away. Rustic boards with old lead paint peeling from them, the glint of shattered glass littering the ground around it, a moss stained tin rook perched like a witches’ hat atop its crooked frame. Atmospheric. Spooky. Perfect. Except that it is surrounded by a tall fence, designed to keep bulls in the paddock. Plus, it borders a fairly busy country road.

I am totally pathetic when it comes to being a law-abiding citizen, and just the thought of a speeding ticket can give me an anxiety attack. So even though trespassing onto a deserted farm property to take a photo would be relatively minor transgression in the big scheme of things, planning it immediately took on the dimensions of plotting a diamond heist. Trying to adopt an inconspicuous pose may as well have seen me wearing a balaclava with a bright neon signs flashing over my head: “Burglar!” A burglar clutching a book under one arm – who says that criminals can’t be literate? 

Cars are now slowing down and people are looking at me.

My palms are sweaty.

My heart is beating at about 200 bpm every time I hear a car in the distance.

I am actually having chest pains (I mentally triage myself as an ATS2 and rehearse how I will explain this to my colleagues when I am being brought to the ER in an ambulance).

Suddenly this whole adventure seems like a bad idea. My courage is flagging. After a lot of mental pep-talk, and satisfied that there is no car approaching, I finally muster up the courage to grip the top rung of the fence, ready to haul myself over to claim my photo opportunity.

Bang! An almighty flash. A tearing pain in my right arm. I am being flung through the air. Lying on my back and dazedly staring at the sky a fleeting thought flashes through my mind: “F*#K! Someone SHOT ME!” The photo shows a piece of sky at a weird angle and the concerned face of a motorist leaning over me: “You’re all right, mate?”

When planning my photo heist, I hadn't figured in the electric fence!

The moral of the story – in the DRSABCD of a bookstagrammer, I failed at D!

What lengths will you go to to get that perfect bookstagram photo?

Book Review: THE LYING GAME by Ruth Ware

Title: The Lying Game

Author: Ruth Ware
Publisher: Random House UK - Vintage Publishing
Read: July 2017

Expected publication: available now!

My Rating:🌟🌟🌟🌟1/2

"It's not a game," she said. "It's the game. It's the Lying Game."

Book Description:

There is no friendship as intense as when you’re fifteen. Isa, Thea, Fatima and Kate were inseparable at boarding school, a tight unit, invincible in the company of each other. At first their game seemed like innocent fun – the Lying Game, invented by Kate and Thea to prove that they could get away with anything, make people believe what they wanted them to. Until it went too far and it was no longer a game. Seventeen years later, one lie is still haunting them, threatening to destroy their lives ....

My musings:

Netgalley has come through for me again, with another fantastic read – The Lying Game, by Ruth Ware. After really enjoying The Woman in Cabin 10, this book has been on my wishlist ever since I spotted it on Goodreads. I’m glad to say my little happy dance on receiving an ARC was fully warranted! Within the first two pages, the author had set a scene so vivid, and so compelling, that I was hooked instantly. I love mysteries which take you on armchair travel trips to mysterious locations, and although the small fishing village of Salten is not on any “real” maps, I could picture it so clearly that I feel I have been there: an old tidal mill house on a deserted sand spit, crumbling away into a hungry sea. Delicious!

Apart from the location, the premise of the story holds its own unique pull. Four women, who had been inseparable friends when they were fifteen, reunite after seventeen years. What has kept them apart for so long? And what is the terrible secret that still holds such power over them after all this time that they will drop everything and rush to a friend’s aid when she asks them to? I was duly intrigued, loving the main protagonist Isa’s flashbacks to the time the four girls attended boarding school together. And if you haven’t had enough classic British scenery yet, the boarding school, Salten House, is like a mixture of Hogwarts and Malory Towers. My inner child was delighted – who can resist a good boarding school story, even as an adult? I felt a certain sense of longing reading about the teenagers’ friendship – you never quite feel the same intensity of loyalty again that consumed you at  fifteen, when your friends were your whole universe.

To cut a long ramble short, the book had all the elements to make for a riveting, irresistible mystery. And Ruth Ware does it so well! With her ability to create a tense atmospheric setting and highly strung, somewhat neurotic characters who drive the story with an urgency lacking in other protagonists, the book had me enthralled from beginning to end. Each women brings with her a unique and diverse element that makes this bunch of friends very interesting indeed – and even though this book did not need a “twist you will never see coming” to make it memorable, it had a few surprises in store. Whilst this is a slow-burning, heavily character driven story, there is a constant undercurrent of tension and melancholic longing running through the storyline that made this an extremely compelling read. If anything, I would have loved to find out more about that endless happy summer the four girls spent at Salten, and their individual lives. I was sad when it ended! 

Summary:

The Lying Game is a slow, character driven mystery in an atmospheric setting that had me hooked from start to finish. I loved it! With her ability to present interesting characters in a tense and atmospheric setting, Ruth Ware is quickly making her way onto my favourite authors list, and I will be eagerly looking out for future mysteries from this talented writer. 

A huge thank you to Netgalley and Random House UK - Vintage Publishing for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE SCANDAL by Fredrik Backman

Title: The Scandal (also published under "Beartown")

Author: Fredrik Backman
Publisher: Penguin UK - Michael Joseph
Read: July 2017

Expected publication: 28 August 2017

My Rating:🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Late one evening, toward the end of March, a teenager picked up a double-barreled shotgun, walked into the forest, put the gun to someone else's forehead, and pulled the trigger.

This is the story of how we got there.

Book Description (Goodreads):

People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys.

Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected.

Beartown explores the hopes that bring a small community together, the secrets that tear it apart, and the courage it takes for an individual to go against the grain. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

My musings:

The only one good thing about being sick is being able to stay in bed and read all day – and I couldn’t have chosen a better book to read than Fredrik Backman’s The Scandal (also published under the title Beartown). As I emerged, many hours later, blinking dazedly into the fading light like a bear just emerging from hibernation, all I can say is: Wow! What an emotional rollercoaster ride this book has been for me! I am not sure if I need to sit for a while to process the whole story before writing this review, or gush out my emotions whilst they are still raw, but one thing I know for sure – this book will leave a deep imprint on me for some time to come, and it will feature strongly on my favourites list.

I have only recently come across Backman’s books by picking up A Man Called Ove (and instantly kicked myself for not doing so sooner). The Scandal is a very different book in many ways, but shows off Backman’s innate skill of portraying human nature in its rawest form. May it be through a lovable curmudgeon like Ove, or through the many varied characters of Beartown, who jump from the pages like flesh and blood people I have known all my life. Absorbed in the story, I no longer felt like a reader, but a participant. I could describe Beartown to you as if I had walked the icy streets in the dark myself, so vividly did it play out in my mind.

If anyone had told me even a week ago that one day I would swoon over a book about hockey, I would have laughed in their face. I am not a sporty person – ask my husband! Whilst he can sit for hours watching the golf (and what is more boring than golf on TV, honestly!), I struggle to point out the difference between football and tennis. The closest I ever came to being sporty was giving birth to one of my children on football grand final day, and neither my husband nor the doctor (who arrived in the birthing suite dressed in his team’s colours and muttering something that sounded suspiciously like: “Couldn’t you at least wait until half-time?”) have ever fully forgiven me. But saying that, whilst hockey features very strongly in Backman’s book, the story is about so much more. The themes that particularly stuck out for me were about the responsibilities of parenthood, of peer pressure, of trying to belong to something. The phrase: “We can’t protect our children” stuck in my head for days – who, as a parent, hasn’t felt that way when your child was hurting and you couldn’t fix it, pave the way for them? Backman has a way of exposing people’s deepest fears that will resonate with readers of all backgrounds and ages, as we see a little bit of us in each character we encounter.

The story is told in many different POVs, and some of the various characters couldn’t be more different. In a book culture which seems to favour unlikeable characters at the moment, Backman’s strength lies in making even the most unlikeable characters sympathetic, even just in the tiniest spark of humanity shown in small acts of kindness or contrition. Despite themes that are troublesome and disturbing, each and every human being has some redeemable characteristics that stop the reader from being able to hate them – even though I wanted to at times! So despite the battle lines being drawn and a town coming to the brink of disaster, the one message that shone through for me was always that of hope, and forgiveness. I loved the way Backman seamlessly switches POV without losing the flow of the narrative, which added a new dimension to the book by exploring different perspectives of situations encountered. Each voice was authentic, and Backman strips his characters bare, exposes their deepest thoughts and feelings for everyone to see. There aren’t many books that can make me cry, but I sobbed unapologetically through this one, which felt strangely cathartic by the time I got to the end. 

Summary:

The Scandal (or “Beartown”) was easiest one of the best books I have read all year, which took me on a gut-wrenching emotional roller coaster ride like only few books can. Whilst hockey features strongly in the story, this book is about so much more than sport. Tapping right into the heart of small town life, the book explores what makes ordinary people tick and strips its characters bare until their raw emotion is exposed for everyone to see. With a variety of POVs and small snippets of wisdom and insight sprinkled among the pages, readers from different walks of life will be able to relate to various aspects of the story. A must read, very highly recommended!

Quotes:

We become what we are told we are.

His love of the camaraderie of the sport was grounded in a fear of exclusion.

People feel pain. And it shrinks their souls.

For me, culture is as much about what we encourage as what we actually permit.

Being a parent makes you feel like a blanket that’s always too small. No matter how hard you try to cover everyone, there’s always someone who’s freezing.

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