Book Review: KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS by David Bell

 

Title: KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS

Author:  David Bell

Publisher:  Berkley Publishing Group

Read: May 2021

Expected publication: 6 July 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

After years of struggling to write following the deaths of his wife and son, English professor Connor Nye publishes his first novel, a thriller about the murder of a young woman.

There's just one problem: Connor didn't write the book.

That’s all you need to know – trust me!

My musings:

 

School, university or college settings have become new favourites in thrillers ever since reading the likes of THEY NEVER LEARN by Layne Fargo and MAGPIE LANE by Lucy Atkins. So I was instantly intrigued by the premise of Bell’s English literature professor who plagiarises the novel of one of his missing-believed-dead student. However, he may not have been so eager to embark on this fraudulent path to literary success if he had known the consequences! I will leave it at that, because the less you know, the more you will enjoy the many twists and turns in this clever novel.

 

I love books that steer you in multiple directions like an out-of-control three-wheeled racing car, screeching around blind corners as if the devil was in pursuit. Just as I thought we were on the highway to truth, we turned into yet another dark alley. I saw in hindsight how cleverly Bell has laid all his little traps, from Connor’s past history to the mystery appearance of yet another student character, who initially plays a peripheral role. Like a spider intricately weaving its web, Bell drew me in slowly and hooked me totally until I knew all the answers. And as the web tightened around Connor, the tension increased – what should he do? Admit to the plagiarism and lose his job, his reputation and the trust of his friends and colleagues, or become the suspect in a murder case? Maybe you think that this is an easy answer , because isn’t he a cheat and a liar? Well, yes, BUT ... there is so much more to the story here.

 

I’m already blabbing too much, so I will cut this short: KILL ALL YOUR DARLINGS is a twisty, multi-layered mystery that will not only blindside you with each and every one of its twists and turns, but also present a true ethical dilemma or two. With an enigmatic and yet troubled lead character, Bell will take you on a journey you won’t want to exit until all is revealed. The college setting added an extra touch I very much enjoyed. Recommended to readers who love a twisty mystery with a bunch of characters who all have something to hide.

 

 

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

Book Review: INVITE ME IN by Emma Curtis

 

Title: INVITE ME IN

Author:  Emma Curtis

Publisher:  Random House UK

Read: May 2021

Expected publication: 2 September 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 all the stars!

 

Book Description:

 

To those who think they know her, Eliza Curran has it all: two healthy children, a stunning home and a wealthy, adoring husband. No one would guess the reality of her life: trapped in an unhappy marriage to a controlling man, she longs for a way out. When she takes on a new tenant, her life changes unexpectedly. Dan Jones is charming and perceptive, and quickly becomes a close friend to the whole family. But Dan's arrival threatens to tip Eliza's fragile world out of balance. And when someone has as many secrets as Eliza does, the smallest slip could destroy everything.

 

My musings:

 

If I tell you that I felt furious almost the entire time whilst reading this book, then you may think that contradicts my next statement: I loved this book! It's only a very skilled author who can elicit such a strong emotional response, and I would have walked through fire for our main protagonist Eliza to free her from her overbearing, bullying, controlling bastard of a husband!

From the very first moment Dan and Eliza meet and he cheekily introduces himself as her future tenant in the newly renovated flat she is renting out, we hear that Eliza is deeply unhappy. After ten years of living with a man who watches her every move and is emotionally abusive, she is desperate to leave her marriage. But her husband Martin holds some type of power over her, and she is trapped. Is it any wonder then that she would easily be charmed by her handsome, easygoing new tenant?

It's at this point that any similarities between INVITE ME IN and other likeminded domestic suspense stories end. As Eliza's trap tightens and she is becoming ever more desperate, lonely and isolated, I would have willingly finished off her nasty husband myself. Again, it's only a very skilled author who knows how to release her readers' inner psychopaths ;) And of course it's not as straightforward as that ...

When the twist came, I was and I wasn't surprised. I knew that the author would wait for an opportune moment to pounce and send her readers into a tailspin. But I had no idea how evil and twisted this plot development would turn out to be!

I'm not going to give anything else away. It's best to enter this story blind and let yourself get swept away in its emotional maelstrom. INVITE ME IN is that rarest kind of thriller- one that both chills with a constant sense of menace and danger and also blindsides you completely. I enjoyed every minute of it and read it in almost one sitting because I couldn't tear myself away. It will easily make it onto my favourites list this year and I highly recommend it to readers who may have become a bit jaded by the predictability of the domestic noir genre. As each dysfunctional character stumbled towards the inevitable finale, there was nothing predictable or formulaic in this story. Well done Emma Curtis!

 

 

 

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.

Book Review: SUCH A QUIET PLACE by Megan Miranda

 

Title: SUCH A QUIET PLACE

Author:  Megan Miranda

Publisher:  Simon & Schuster

Read: May 2021

Expected publication: 13 July 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

Hollow’s Edge used to be a quiet place. A private and idyllic neighborhood where neighbors dropped in on neighbors, celebrated graduation and holiday parties together, and looked out for one another. But then came the murder of Brandon and Fiona Truett. A year and a half later, Hollow’s Edge is simmering. The residents are trapped, unable to sell their homes, confronted daily by the empty Truett house, and suffocated by their trial testimonies that implicated one of their own. Ruby Fletcher. And now, Ruby’s back.

With her conviction overturned, Ruby waltzes right back to Hollow’s Edge, and into the home she once shared with Harper Nash. Harper, five years older, has always treated Ruby like a wayward younger sister. But now she’s terrified. What possible good could come of Ruby returning to the scene of the crime? And how can she possibly turn her away, when she knows Ruby has nowhere to go?

Within days, suspicion spreads like a virus across Hollow’s Edge. It’s increasingly clear that not everyone told the truth about the night of the Truett’s murders. And when Harper begins receiving threatening notes, she realizes she has to uncover the truth before someone else becomes the killer’s next victim.

My musings:

 

I love books about toxic neighbourhoods because the dynamics can be so interesting and hair-raising. Megan Miranda is an author who has an eye for interpersonal relationships and never fails to create a dark sense of menace simply by her characters’ interactions, which makes for an intriguing read.

 

At first glance, Hollow’s Edge looks like the type of quiet and idyllic neighbourhood everyone would want to live in. Situated on the shores a large picturesque lake, with a large nearby college supplying jobs for most of the townfolk, it seems like a safe haven for all its residents. At least it was, until Brandon and Fiona Truett were murdered whilst asleep in their beds. It didn’t take long for the residents to band together and find a likely suspect, the Truett’s dog walker Ruby, who was later convicted of their murder. But now Ruby is back after her conviction has been overturned, and she appears totally unperturbed by her neighbours’ hostility and suspicion. What is Ruby’s agenda? Is she out to prove her innocence or does she want revenge?

 

As with Miranda’s previous books, SUCH A QUIET PLACE is a slow burning, character driven mystery that unravels slowly as the tension creeps up. Rather than idyllic, I found the atmosphere of the tall fences and security cameras watching your every move unsettling and claustrophobic, which may have been the author’s intent. However, I admit that at times I struggled to keep up my interest, which was mainly to do with the bunch of unlikeable, dull characters at Hollow’s Edge, none of whom prompted emotional engagement on my part. And though I warmed a bit more to Harper as the story progressed, I was constantly puzzled by her decisions and never quite understood what motivated her. Would you let the person convicted of a murder in your neighbourhood move back into your house as a flatmate, even if it that will alienate you from the rest of the residents? I just couldn’t get my head around it, despite Harper’s protestations that this was a perfectly reasonable decision. Some of the elements that could have been creepy and threatening lost a lot of their impact seen through Harper’s eyes, because she was just so indecisive and – ok, let’s put it out there – as dull as the rest of the neighbourhood and a pushover to boot. But that could also have been part of the whole ploy, as later developments showed.

 

From here follows a back and fro of suspicions cast by all the residents onto each other, and quite a few well worn thriller tropes make an appearance: threatening notes delivered through mailboxes, people sneaking around in the night and shadowy images caught on people’s security cameras. I was pleased to see the tension creep up a bit as Ruby’s actions escalated, but the events about 75% into the book brought a strange sense of letdown for me – until that final twist that is one of Miranda’s hallmarks and proved most of my theories wrong.

Summary:

 

Megan Miranda is a great writer who can create an atmospheric story with her keen eye for human relationships, even if this time the dynamics didn’t work as well for me as with her previous books. SUCH A QUIET PLACE will appeal to readers who like a story based on neighbourhood dynamics, where suspicions are cast upon each and every character and everyone has a skeleton or two in their closet.

  

 

Thank you to Edelweiss and Simon & Schuster for the free electronic copy of this novel and for giving me the opportunity to provide an honest review.

Book Review: THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig

 

Title: THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY

Author:  Matt Haig

Read: May 2021

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟1/2

 

Book Description:

 

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

 

My musings:

 

I love the idea of a multiverse, of a “sliding doors” concept that lets us explore how different our lives would have been if we had made different choices. The thought of a library where you could read the book of an alternative life sounded intriguing and compelling. Wouldn’t that be fascinating? It’s a bit like googling and old boyfriend and feeling relieved (or not) that your 17-year-old self had the good sense to break up with him.

 

Nora is in her thirties and feels bogged down with regrets. Her life is stale, she has no partner or children, her cat has just died and her brother is not answering her calls. So she decides to take her life. But instead of dying, she is magically transported into a magic library where she can explore all her regrets and see how her life would have been if she had been more courageous and made “better” decisions. As soon as she opens a different book of her own life, she is magically transported into her alternative life as it would be right now had she made a different decision in her past – to stick with her band, to study glaciology, to continue with her swimming career. The strange thing, I thought, was that Nora was dumped into these other lives without context or knowledge of her past in that particular life, or the people surrounding her. I found this extremely anxiety provoking! But I won’t give anything away here, because I don’t want to spoil your fun exploring this premise for yourself.

 

I wanted to love this book as much as I liked its premise, but strangely didn’t find it as compelling as many other readers. Don’t get me wrong, it was an original and somewhat intriguing read, but didn’t grab me emotionally as much as I thought it would. I also found the ending predictable, though I hoped until the last page that the author would prove me wrong – he didn’t. Maybe my expectations were just too high. And because I can’t discuss the finer points without giving away spoilers I will just leave it at that. Thousands of readers have loved this thought-provoking and magical tale, so it’s best you go and judge for yourself. It certainly made me reflect on those crossroads in my life that may have led me into a totally different direction. An interesting read with some magical realism and food for thought that would make a great bookclub choice.

Book Review: MIRRORLAND by Carole Johnstone

 

Title: MIRRORLAND

Author:  Carole Johnstone

Publisher:  Scribner

Read: May 2021

Expected publication: out now

My Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

 

Book Description:

 

Cat lives in Los Angeles, far away from 36 Westeryk Road, the imposing gothic house in Edinburgh where she and her estranged twin sister, El, grew up. As girls, they invented Mirrorland, a dark, imaginary place under the pantry stairs full of pirates, witches, and clowns. These days Cat rarely thinks about their childhood home, or the fact that El now lives there with her husband Ross.

But when El mysteriously disappears after going out on her sailboat, Cat is forced to return to 36 Westeryk Road, which has scarcely changed in twenty years. The grand old house is still full of shadowy corners, and at every turn Cat finds herself stumbling on long-held secrets and terrifying ghosts from the past. Because someone—El?—has left Cat clues in almost every room: a treasure hunt that leads right back to Mirrorland, where she knows the truth lies crouched and waiting...

A twisty, dark, and brilliantly crafted thriller about love and betrayal, redemption and revenge, Mirrorland is a propulsive, page-turning debut about the power of imagination and the price of freedom.

 

My musings:

 

Johnstone nails the portrayal of a childhood damaged by trauma and its aftermath in her twisty, dark new thriller MIRRORLAND, where nothing is quite as it seems. How do children cope with trauma? By removing themselves from it and escaping into fantasy. Which makes their memories unreliable at best. As Cat returns to her old childhood home after her twin sister El’s disappearance, she is instantly transported back into memories of their imaginary “Mirrorland”, a dark alley next to their house they played in as children. But Mirrorland was more than just play – it was a safe place, an escape from the evil witch who would come and visit, and from their grandfather’s rages. Could Mirrorland hold the clues to El’s fate?

 

MIRRORLAND is a dark tale in which reality and fantasy blend, and it is up to the reader to look between the lines and find out the truth. When the sisters fled the house 20 years ago, there had been tragedy and murder, but all those details are hazy in Cat’s mind. Entering the house again after all these years brings all her demons crashing back, but they are disguised in the shape of her Mirrorland characters, the place that helped the sisters survive the horrors their childhood held in store for them.

 

At times, MIRRORLAND was a confusing read as Cat’s childhood fantasies mingle with reality. There is the clown cafe, and the pirate ship, and fantastical characters like Mouse, the evil witch, the tooth fairy, clowns, pirates and Indians, who are more real to the small girl Cat than her unhappy mother and volatile grandfather. As the reader, we are thrown headlong into Cat’s fantasies as if they were real memories, as if there really was a pirate ship anchored in the alley next to the house. It’s not until later, when the curtains slowly lift and Cat is forced to peek at the truths hiding behind the lies that the girls’ terrible trauma is revealed.

 

I admit that I struggled initially with the many magical realism elements of the story until the sinister tale sucked me in, nightmare-like, into a story so dark and horrible that it took me a while to shake it off. MIRRORLAND is a cleverly constructed, multi-layered tale that will stump even the best armchair detective. See through Cat’s eyes, her childhood trauma has been hidden under so many layers that the final truth is terrible to behold and Cat’s own life is again in danger.

 

MIRRORLAND will appeal to readers who are looking for a unique thriller that stands out from the rest through incorporation of unreliable childhood memories into its tale. Johnstone shows a keen insight into the effects of trauma on children and how they learn to cope with their distorted realities. It wasn’t until afterwards that I appreciated the true art of storytelling in this dark tale, and it gave me chills long afterwards. A wonderful debut from a talented writer!