Category Archive for "Books"

Book review: Day One by Abigail Dean

Wednesday, August 2, 2023 Permalink

It took me some time to realise Day One by Abigail Dean was named after a particular school day, rather than a countdown of days (like Ruth Ware’s recent release), or referring to the first day AFTER an event.

I didn’t enjoy Dean’s popular debut novel Girl A as much as others, and I wondered if it’d been over-hyped, though I mention in my review that as Dean kept readers guessing for some time, I’d not engaged in the plot as much as I would have liked cos I was kinda confused about what I was reading. Day One similarly keeps secrets from readers, though we most certainly know there are some as Dean foreshadows the events of the present / past and future so – though we know we’re not learning about the events in linear fashion – we kinda know where we end up.

Book review: The Guest Room by Tasha Sylva

Sunday, July 30, 2023 Permalink

Very weirdly I read The Guest Room by Tasha Sylva while staying at an AirBnB in England and had to leave it there as I’d accumulated some extra books at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival. I realised the owners and other visitors might be slightly perturbed because of its content (involving a host snooping through her guest’s belongings), but also hoped someone else happily whiles away their time with it while travelling.

Book review: Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh

Friday, July 28, 2023 Permalink

Book cover:Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh

Kill for Me, Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh arrived when I was away for work recently and I allowed it to leap over others on my TBR list because I was about to head to Harrogate (in England) to the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival and he was to be there.

I wasn’t planning on taking the book for him to sign as I’m not really into autographs, though do like chatting to authors… but I certainly wanted to have read it beforehand. However… there was an unfortunate bath-related incident in which the book threw itself into my bath (where I was reading) days before my departure.* Not one to be deterred, I dried it out in the winter air and gave it a day to two lest the pages tear as I turn them, before diving back in because though I was only about one-third of the way through, I was engrossed.

Book review: None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

Wednesday, July 19, 2023 Permalink

Book cover - None of This is True by Lisa Jewell

The title of Lisa Jewell’s latest book, None of This is True could be seen as offering readers a huge spoiler. And it does and it doesn’t. It – along with the blurb however – warns us that trusting Josie Fair comes with some risks. But Jewell manages to unravel Josie’s story in a way that keeps readers guessing. The book itself unfolds in the present (at the time of [ahem] certain events), and later… when all of the stories have been told and secrets apparently revealed.

Book review: After That Night by Karin Slaughter

Friday, July 14, 2023 Permalink

Cook cover - After that night by Karin Slaughter

I very much enjoyed After That Night by Karin Slaughter which is the 11th in the Will Trent series. I must have missed one or two I think as I think I knew Will and Sara Linton were together but had forgotten how much I like their relationship and the way they complement each other.

The underlying plot here is shocking though I’ve read similar books. It’s a reminder that sociopaths somehow manage to find one another and also raises the nature vs nurture debate.

Book review: The Watchful Wife by Suzanne Leal

Friday, July 7, 2023 Permalink

Book cover - The Watchful Wife by Suzanne Leal

The Watchful Wife is the latest new release by Australian author Suzanne Leal. She tends to tackle complex social themes in her novels, touching here again on some featured in her first novel, The Teacher’s Secret – around the education system and allegations of misconduct – and that of religion, which featured in her second novel Deceptions. I very much enjoyed this book which takes on the sensitive topic of sexual misconduct but predominantly from the point of view of the wife of a man accused.

Book review: The Drowning Girls by Veronica Lando

Saturday, July 1, 2023 Permalink

Book cover - The Drowning Girls by Veronica Lando

The Drowning Girls by Veronica Lando is reminiscent of her first novel, The Whispering as it offers up vivid imagery and again Lando manages to place readers in the north of my state of Queensland. And I was very much reminded of a trip I had earlier this year to Weipa (further north than the setting of this book), where we were welcomed to the ‘west coast of Queensland’. It was surreal to most as we tend to forget that my states’s entire west isn’t landlocked and there’s a whole coastline in the tropics – offering a dichotomous view of red dirt reminiscent of outback Australia against palm trees and blue sea.

Book review: The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon

Friday, June 23, 2023 Permalink

Bookcover The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon

The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon was a proverbial sleeper for me. Not because I thought it wasn’t paced well. I noticed other bloggers, bookstagrammers and reviewers commenting on it being slow out of the gate, some saying they ended up putting it aside. I confess I had ignored it for some time, the blurb making it sound a tad predictable. Hence my surprise when I was intrigued from its opening, with Michallon able to offer multiple voices and give readers insight into the complexities of human nature as we look upon a serial killer who’s also a helpful and thoughtful member of his community, and devoted father.

Book review: The House Next Door by MT Edvardsson

Sunday, June 18, 2023 Permalink

Book cover: The House Next Door by MT Edvardsson

The House Next Door by MT Edvardsson unfolds from three points of view. As we’re introduced to them Edvardsson intersperses their narratives with police interviews as each are questioned about the deaths of a man and woman. Slowly over the course of opening chapters we meet most of the players and get a sense of where they fit into this puzzle.