The most important thing you should know about REAL WITCHES is this. Listen very carefully. Never forget what is coming next.
REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work in ORDINARY JOBS.
That is why they are so hard to catch.
Truth be told, I never read this book as a child. I got about 40 pages in and it scared the living daylights out of me. Now, as an adult, I can still understand why. I can now also truly appreciate how terrifying it is! I mean, this book contains subjects such as a car accident killing our narrator's parents, adults murdering and eating their own children, children being led away by claw handed women, maids threatening to drown pets… it’s all so horrifying!
The imagery in this book is the stuff of nightmares. Grandma really doesn't hold back on the horror and gore in her stories, they are deliciously dark and disturbing. Honestly, one of the worst parts of this book, for me, is when we first encounter a witch from the narrator's eyes - She was looking up at me and smiling in the most peculiar way… this woman’s lips went upwards and downwards, showing all her front teeth and gums. The gums were like raw meat. Gah, horrifying!
Fun fact: This book terrified (and terrifies) me so much that I'm still affected by it today (no thanks to my mum!!) Each and every night I still tuck my thumbs into my fists, to stop the witches coming and taking them away, like they did with Grandma’s.
While I am still scared by this book, I can also now appreciate the comedic aspects of it too. Grandma is an absolute hoot! Some of the conversations between grandson and narrator are hilarious.
Why this book is for kids I'll never know, so as a children's book, it gets 2 stars, but in general terms I think this is one of the best horror novels I've ever and will ever read so it gets a full 5 out of 5 from me!...more
I cannot go on like this. I feel such a burden to you. You are young and can start again. You deserve that chance. By the time you read this I will be dead. Do not grieve for me, for I am now without pain.
This was a real page-turner from page one! Would have been unputdownable if it hadn’t been for the fact that I had to put it down while at work.
I found myself absolutely loving Monica’s character. I’ve seen a couple of reviews that state her as “unlikable” but I thought she was very likable! She was a really unique character due to her constant pain and the way that affects her daily life and relationships. I loved that she could be sassy, lovely, and angry all in one go, she was a really fun character to immerse yourself in.
The plot of the unreliable narrator, the secretive husband etc wasn’t unique, I’ve read several books very similar to it in the past year in fact, but there was a certain edge to this book that made it so much more intriguing than some of the others I’ve read. It’s not that the twists were much better or more unpredictable than those in the other novels, it’s just simply that I enjoyed the writing style, characters and pace of this book more. For a mystery like this, novels usually try to cram as much as they can into the story to make the biggest number of twists possible, to get the reader excited, but this was nice and slow paced. It had just the right amount of shock moments in it, you didn’t feel overwhelmed by it at all.
The ending really got to me and was certainly not how I expected this book to end up. I’ll admit that I got a little emotional. If you’re a mystery thriller junkie like me, I definitely recommend this, it’s one of the best I’ve read this year.
Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
The problem is that Scientology is a system that makes it nearly impossible for you to think for yourself.
What is Scientology? Is it a religion or is it just a way of life? I can’t quite get my head around it. I also can’t get my head around the fact that Scientology has become such a widely followed… thing. L. Ron Hubbard, was a sci-fi author, an adulterer (he eloped with his 2nd wife while still married to his first wife), an abuser, a hypocrite and a criminal. Did you know, when he kidnapped his 2nd wife, he told her she would never see her baby again if she didn’t go with him. He then, obviously, retracted this statement and told her that he’d “chopped the child into little pieces and watched them float down a river” and it was her fault he had done so, because she had left him. What kind of sick maniac was this man, and why do people follow his beliefs? No wonder he thinks psychiatry is evil, they obviously all told him he was medically insane and he refused to believe it because his ego was so big.
Scientology is just a big manipulation machine. Do as you’re told or you get humiliated - it’s disgusting.
Anyway, on to a review of the actual novel, not just the religion/following (which clearly I have some issues with).
Reading all about Jenna’s life in Scientology from such a young age is certainly eye opening and while a lot of people are saying she gives us too much information, I actually thinks it’s great that she’s included so much of what she did day in and day out throughout her progression in Scientology because it really gives us an insight into how messed up being in the Sea Org is and Scientology as a whole.
The humiliation and abuse she was put through, all because she did something as trivial as fancying a guy with a lower title than her or wanting to call her parents, is absolutely horrid and I’m amazed she’s come out of this life long experience rather normally. That being said, this isn’t as juicy as I was hoping it would be. I’m glad she wasn’t beaten and physically harmed in anyway, but I was lead to believe this was going a bit more terrifying by the “My Harrowing Escape” part of the title. Don’t get me wrong, Jenna went through some awful, awful stuff, I’m not discounting that at all, but… I don’t know, it just wasn’t macabre enough for me, as horrible as that sounds.
This is definitely a great book if you want to get a better look into life as a Scientologist, it gives you plenty of insider info, but I wouldn’t say it was the best of these kinds of book that I’ve read, though it’s probably the best about Scientology....more
...some lies, even errors and guesses, do turn out to be true.
Stay clear of most the reviews on this book so far because I accidentally skimmed over them and got some stuff ruined! Ugh! I promise I won’t spoil anything in my review!
I really like Armstrong’s style of writing, this is a fantastic debut. It’s fast paced, witty and thrilling!
The plot was so intriguing and entertaining, which is why I don’t get why people found this so average on Goodreads! Yeah, maybe the plot has been done before, but that made this no less interesting or fun to read. There were certain aspects of the story that were easily predictable, but reading them unfold made up for the fact you could guess them beforehand.
Lily was a great character! She was really sweet but also incredibly funny! I found myself chuckling at the situations she got herself into and the little anecdotes she’d often share. It was really nice to have this down-to-earth character, who was pretty barmy, troubled and weird, but also happy and friendly to the reader and fictitious neighbours.
This was a really fun book to get carried away with, totally unputdownable! I’m certainly going to keep my eyes peeled for more of Armstrong’s writing in the future.
Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin UK for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.
p.s. I have an interview with Armstrong coming out on the 29th (the same day this is published), so please check that out on my blog! I'll link it when it's up :-)...more
There was nothing exceptional about the story, the characters or the crimes involved in this detective novel. Reading through the current reviews of this, I can’t understand how people thought this was gripping from the start, because for me, this was a little boring. A lot was happening, but at the same time, nothing was happening. Personally, I prefer heavier and darker reads, this felt a little too cosy for my liking.
Props to Sherratt for creating a detective novel where the detective has a normal life and no depressing baggage to carry around. Eden’s husband walked out on her, but that’s the only sad thing we learn about her! She has a daughter who loves her, and a new man on the scene. She also has a really close relationship with her sister who lives down the road and she likes all of her colleagues! Is that a first? Very possibly!
The other characters in this novel were pretty forgettable, and being as there were hundreds of different people involved in the story, I did forget who each one was most of this time! The Barker family were supposed to be the rough ones of the area, the kind of people you wanted to avoid, yet Sherratt named the main one Travis… Travis Barker… so all I could imagine was a cute, funny and extremely quiet drummer.
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Laura was an irritating character. I know her daughter was missing, but she was a complete nutcase and considering her sister was a police detective, she seemed to have no idea how reporting a crime and being question by the police worked. E.g. When Eden asked for a list of all the people she knew, Laura was like “WHAT? WHY?” … um so they can narrow down suspects maybe? And when she gets a call from Jess’ kidnapper and tells Eden not to get too involved???? I mean, your daughter has been taken by a mysterious, dangerous man, and you’d rather not have the police look into it as quickly as possible?
The language of this novel felt a little “young adult” for me. I’m not really sure how to describe what I mean, but sentences just felt a little too simple, speech seemed a bit to-the-point and unrealistic. Also, some of the characters acted overly juvenile for their age. I know 16 years olds aren’t always so mature, but these one’s felt really oblivious to adult life. Such as, when Katie was writing home, she wrote about how Deanna’s “never never going to wear nice clothes or fancy shoes again” as if that’s the main concern here. Surely Sherratt doesn’t think 16 year old girls are really that obnoxious? If I was 16 and involved in a murder trial, I wouldn’t be thinking about how the victim couldn’t dress up nicely anymore, I’d be thinking about how her future was taken from her, how she could have grown up to be a world renowned scientist etc.
This needs some serious proof reading before it’s published! Chapter 48 and 49 were all over the place! First they were just finishing up questioning Travis and then going to question his brother Damien, then Eden got distracted by a phone call before she was going in to talk to Travis (again, or did it mean Damien???), then they went into the questioning room and were talking to Damien, but halfway through the conversation he turned into Travis! Very confusing. I had no idea who they were actually speaking to.
This wasn’t great for me. It felt a bit childish and some of the characters actions got on my nerves. I didn't quite get how Katie's story and Jess' story were connected either, it just seemed a bit vague and I wouldn't have personally connected the two plot lines together. I very much doubt I’ll be keeping up with this series.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
Send help. Diamond’s last book, The Teacher, was fun and page turning, with interesting characters and an exciting plot. This, on the other hand, was not. I guess the plot was kind of thrilling, bent cops, kidnapping etc but everything just felt a little off the wall. Nothing felt real enough for me to get really into it. Let’s take Bridget’s situation. She basically witnessed the murder of two “friends”, ran away from the murder and then fell asleep on some grass when she was trying to escape the killer. Then she wakes up in a basement, thinking about her boyfriend Sam, but when an unknown man comes in, who she presumes is her captor, with her favourite foods and a soothing voice, she sleeps with him straight away? I mean please.
What happened to Grey and Miles?Actually what happened to all her characters?! Every one in this book acted so ridiculously juvenile and all conversations were embarrassingly unrealistic.
”Sam just kind of broke into my house.” “He did what?” … “Did he hurt you?” … Adrian began to pace, this face dark and his fists clenched at his sides. “No. Apart from scare the shit out of me, he never touched me.” ... “Am I allowed to hit him?” “No, I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. I’m just going to head off to bed, if that’s OK?”
I mean come on. That’s not how a conversation goes when a guy who got your unborn baby killed breaks into your house and shoves you up against a wall. I’m going to put the blame on these silly conversations down to Grey. It annoyed me how tough-guy she was always trying to be. She’d run along to Miles and then act like nothing was wrong. She’d whinge and complain at him like he was causing her all this grief, just like a stroppy teenager. Just like Kevin the Teenager.
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Also, she had a soft spot for a criminal so she let him cut some guys finger off in front of her without doing anything? Nice police work, love. And then their blossoming romance almost had me vomiting. Ugh! It felt like such a 13 year old crush they had going on. Sorry, I just don’t like Imogen Grey.
There were too many pov’s in this and it could get confusing to remember who was who and what their relevance to the story was. It’s obvious that the story is going to merge together at some point, but until that very moment, there are no connections between each of the characters. When other books are written like this, you tend to find connection throughout each chapter that draws you closer and closer to the climax. This didn’t do that. This was all over the place until it suddenly wasn’t. I definitely think the layout of this book could have been rethought.
Also, I didn’t get how some of the plot connected up? MAJOR SPOILERS COMING! So when they found out the killer was Imogen’s half brother, and the baby was the missing girl’s, Isabelle’s, child they said “it connects to Bridget’s case” … but how? Because the guy cut the man in the same place as the prostitute? Really? I’ve read enough crime novels to know that’s purely circumstantial evidence! Please, someone, correct me if I’m wrong about this, but there was no connection between the two cases.
I’ll be honest with you and say I totally skim read the last 15% of this. I just couldn’t handle reading this anymore. It just kept getting sillier and sillier until I was actualy scoffing at what was happening. I’m sorry Diamond, I truly am. I loved the first DS Grey novel, but I hated this. I definitely will not be continuing with this series.
Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, Avon for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
It came to Lib then that the question to ask was not how a child might commit such a fraud, but why?
The Wonder is an absolutely beautiful and thought-provoking novel and by far one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Set in towards the end of the 19th century, we meet one of Ms Nightingale’s own nurses, shipped out to Ireland to investigate a so-called miracle. Young Anna O’Donnell hasn’t eaten since her 11th birthday, which passed four months ago. Lib begins a frustrating journey into learning whether Anna is truly a modern day Saint. She is determined to prove the miracle a hoax, but being faced with old Irish superstitions she doesn’t understand, sexism and strong Catholic faith, she has a hard time getting to the truth.
It’s a bit of a slow ride, but it’s interesting enough to keep you wanting to know more. Donoghue creates a beautifully vivid story for you to really lose yourself in, you’ll find yourself reading this book within a couple of days (or hours, depending on when you’re reading it). Not what I’d classify at a mystery novel - the story is so much more than just working out the story behind Anna’s apparent loss of appetite. It’s a story of faith, believing in yourself and following your heart.
A really enjoyable book, with a wide array of likable and dislikable characters, beautiful scenery and heart warming lessons to take away, this is a must read for any historical fiction lover....more
He smiles, but he doesn’t show what he has in his heart.
I really enjoyed this book, but for reasons I can’t really pinpoint. It wasn’t like any other true crime book I’ve read, it was more like a memoir of Heinrich Scholl’s life. It was certainly a very dry read in parts, in terms of the actual crime, but I just quite liked reading about how well Heinrich succeed in his life. By the time we got the trial, I was actually very excited to see how it all played out, and I was really rushing through the pages (in a good way). The one big downfall with this book was that I don’t know enough about the history of Germany - the war and the fall of the Berlin wall etc - so a lot of the relevance to these events and Scholl’s life were a little lost on me.
Heinrich was abused mentally as a child and by his wife - even after all his successes in life, so it was kind of unstandable for him to fall into these relationships, with the lady from the town hall and with Nani. and call it “love”. Because he was never loved beforehand. It’s sad really. And his desperation to succeed as an older man was also very upsetting. But he was also wrong to string his wife along for years and years, if he was really unhappy, he should have tried harder to leave her.
Heinrich’s wife, Gitti, was a horrid woman! I understand the marriage they had was pretty much a complete sham, but she treated her husband like dirt. Another reason it’s no surprise Heinrich went looking for other relationships. But I also feel sorry for Gitti, not just because she was murdered, She lost all her family in the most depressing of ways and because she obviously had some troubles of wanting and not succeeding to have the perfect life, and this clearly damaged her. She clearly had some mental issues that made her flit between cursing Heinrich, wanting Heinrich back, and killing herself.
The crime of Brigitte Scholl’s death is certainly a strange one. Everything points to Heinrich as the murderer, but then it also doesn’t. I’m not sure I believe it was calculated murder. Manslaughter? Maybe. But murder, no. I actually find it hard to believe he did it at all, but maybe that’s because I have so much pity for him.
This book just leaves you wondering around with your own thoughts. It comes to a conclusion, the charge of murder, but it doesn’t lead you to any final decision. The choice is yours to make; is Heinrich Scholl guilty of murdering his wife and dog?
Thanks to Netgalley and Text Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
What an interesting and unique mystery thriller book! I’m very happy with how this turned out. A much more fun and exciting read than the last few things I’ve read.
So eloquently written! I feel like I’ve read too many books recently that just give you a story, they don’t do anything to set up the story, don’t give you a clear picture of where the story’s set, how the characters are feeling, how beautiful or horrible their surroundings are. The Fire Child, however, does all of that and more. This is the sort of novel that you completely invest your imagination into, the language in this book shows you what you’re reading. The simultaneously gorgeous and terrifying sights of Cornwall come alive in your mind while you’re reading this.
Each character in this book was so well developed. You really managed to get to know each and everyone of them. All of them helping you piece together the mystery of Nina’s death, little by little.
I have been in a bit of a slump with reading this past week, but the last 15% of this novel really had me hooked! I was rushing through the pages, trying to work out what was going on, praying Rachel and Jamie would be safe. I loved how creepy it got! Mystery thrillers tend to just be exciting and fast faced, but this had a kind of scary factor within it too, with all the old history, deaths and talk of ghosts, it was certainly a rather unique mystery book.
So I was so certain I’d guessed what the twist was going to be and oh what a fool I was to think I could have guessed it so early on in the novel. This has a shocker of an ending. Well, maybe it doesn’t, but because I was so dead set on what I thought was going to happen, it feels like it does.
I feel like all novels out there are just trying to put women off getting into a relationship / marriage with men! Why are men so evil in books?
Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
But doesn’t every guilty man hide his deeds behind his words and hide his thoughts behind his smile?
This was perfectly set up to be a great novel, but unfortunately, like so many novel nowadays, it instead failed to excite and thrill me, and in the end, turned into an extremely mediocre read.
It wasn’t until around 70% of the way through this book that I realised how dislikable DeMarco, our supposed hero, was. His anger and grief was completely understandable after the loss of his wife and child, but I felt he was unnecessarily unkind to his peers and overly passive aggressive in general. (view spoiler)[Plus can we talk about how much of a shitty cop he was? Getting into a car with a bleeding out dead body to chase an armed, highly fragile man and not alerting anyone? Murdering the main suspect on a case just because he could? Only in fiction. (hide spoiler)]However, out of our two main characters, I was happy to read more about DeMarco than Thomas. I found Thomas’ PoV to be slow and a little pointless. Again, I understood his anguish and shame etc, but I guess I just couldn’t connect to his character and summon up the right emotions to care about his story that much.
This was a slow read for me, but I kept pushing through it because: 1) it wasn’t that bad and 2) I was led to believe, by some other reviews, that an amazing twist was going to be revealed. Unfortunately, we got the ‘amazing twist’ and my reaction was more of an “oh” than a “whoa!!” (view spoiler)[I guess I wanted to the book to feel more realistic, I wanted some innate human darkness to be the cause of the murders, I didn’t want a book about revenge. (hide spoiler)] The plot, overall, wasn’t too bad, there were some exciting moments, but for the most part this could only just hold my interest.
Two Days Gone didn’t grab my attention well enough for me to rate it anything higher than 3 stars. It was an average story, with average characters and an average plot twist. It’s a shame because had high hopes for this one, but nevermind, you win some, you lose some. I see Amazon have specified this as a “Ryan DeMarco novel” so I’m assuming we may be seeing a series come out from Silvis, but I won’t be keeping up with it.
Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
I thought this mystery was going to be a dark and creepy thriller, due to the fact the cover looks so angsty and sombre, but it’s not. This is the cosiest mystery I have ever put myself through… also the last I’ll ever put myself through too. It wasn’t a terrible novel, it just doesn’t fit into the genres I like to read. I’ll stick to my macabre thrillers from now on…
To me, Harriet and Sam felt like bored middle aged people who loved a bit of a nose into other people's business, not superb mystery solvers. It was all very reminiscent of the drama that used to occur in primary school (elementary school for you Americans out there) and how everyone would go around and create dumb theories on what they thought was happening.
Each of the characters were really well thought out, with their own individual back stories and unique personalities, but there were just too many! If you’re going to give us an in depth background for each character, stick to three or four people, don’t give us fourteen to remember! Yes, that’s right, fourteen characters.
I didn’t like a few of the characters, but that was to be expected for some of them, I think. Take Linzi, the victim, for example, she’s horrid to every single character in the novel, there’s no way we’re supposed to have sympathy for her. However, I think we’re supposed to like Harriet, yet I didn’t. Just because she was an old headmistress didn’t give her the right to talk to fully grown adults as if they were school children. She was snappy, rude and condescending. Sam was also a dislikable character, he was extremely demanding and stroppy. Other than those, I liked pretty much all the side characters, especially sweet little Madeline, Seren and kooky Bonnie!
I was definitely all for giving this an average 3 stars, but then the ending happened and everything went downhill. The book itself was pretty slow and (for me) dull, but the ending was just deathly boring. So, 2 stars it is.
Thanks to Netgalley and Endeavor Press for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.
P.S I’m about to have a rant about the layout of this ARC, this has nothing to do with the plot so it’s not really worth reading, I just wanted to release my anger. This is probably the messiest Netgalley book I’ve ever read. How could they have got it so wrong? Some sentences were completely unreadable. They’d been split up and shuffled about, for example, ””...we’ve a full schedule tomorrow so I vote we move,” she slid a glance at Linzi while everyone checking their mobiles as individual bills. rummaged in bags and wallets, one or two inevitably the waiter produced his card machine along with their”, I mean what?! Yes, I could work it out in the end, but how could that have become so mixed up in editing?...more
This started badly, for me. There’s nothing like starting a new detective book and being planted in the middle of a therapy session. Who would have thought a senior police officer who has enough baggage to need therapy? Well I never! That’s something I’ve only seen done 1 million times before… sigh. Thank God it picked up with the excitement afterwards because I wasn’t interested in Hawkins’ anxiety or love life.
This was by no means unique to other detective novels out there. They all have the same sort of plot and characters and themes, but this one did keep me more interested than some of the others I’ve read, purely because there was a humorous side to it as well as the serious side too.
This had some really exciting moments and it had some really drawn out, drab moments where we were repeatedly updated on how the case was going, even though we already knew… cause we were reading the book… so I think a lot of this novel could have been cut down to make a shorter novel. 400 pages is quite a lot for a detective series novel, especially one where there’s not a lot of evidence or leads to the case. This really was up and down, up and down, the whole way through. I lost interest so much in some places that I was completely distracted while reading it but then when we got onto a big reveal or breakthrough part, I rushed through it to know what happened next! There were some really great edge of the seat, nail biting moments! It was quite the hit and miss story.
As far as characters go, there weren’t any that I really connected with very well, but none of them were dislikable people. It could get a bit confusing to remember who was who because they’d go from their first name to their last name, back to their first name and then their last name again etc etc. It would have been nice to have some consistency with what the author called them.
This was by far a 3 star read until the twist at the end. I mean, really, I should have seen it coming, I’ve read a million crime thrillers before, but I just hadn’t suspected this one! Really, there were two twists at the end of this, the first one shocked me and then the second one I was expecting because of the first. The ending of this novel was really thrilling and nerve-wracking, it was a great way to finish it off.
Also, considering this is the third novel in a series (something Netgalley hadn’t made me aware of when I requested it!) this did really well as a standalone novel. I didn’t feel like I was missing any part of the characters stories, even when it came to the subject of Hawkins’ therapy sessions.
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK - Michael Joseph for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
I’ve never read any of Ian McEwan’s work before, but it seems like I started on a good one, because almost everyone is saying this is his best yet!
ThiI’ve never read any of Ian McEwan’s work before, but it seems like I started on a good one, because almost everyone is saying this is his best yet!
This has such an intriguing and unique plot, it would be hard to pass it up if you saw it in store. Are there actually any other novels out there told from the PoV of a foetus?
Considering no one actually knows what it’s like to be a foetus, that is to say, we’ve all been one, but we don’t remember back that far, I feel like McEwan really got what it’s like to be in the womb through the third trimester.. I wasn’t sure how anyone could write as an unborn child but it was done so well in this! The child was a very likable character, he was witty, intelligent and interesting - certainly not things I would think to associate with an unborn child.
The overall plot was certainly different and intriguing, but it wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be. I didn’t expect this unborn child to be able to solve a murder or stop a crime etc, but I did think it was going to be more of a thriller mystery than it was. That’s not to the say that the plot made the story any less fun to read, I just had to alter my mindset into accepting this as a different sort of book.
Unfortunately for me, this didn’t move me as much as it has done other readers because this is a Hamlet retelling, but I’ve never read Hamlet. (I have pretty much no time for the “classics”, they tend to just bore me, there’s no way around that, I’m just not that kind of girl). So maybe some of the beauty of this was a bit lost on me?
Anyway, this was a very enjoyable read. A solid piece of fiction that has and will appeal to thousands....more
We had struck an iceberg, and though three of us survived, we were left adrift, each to find the shore on our own.
Yes, yet another story about missing girls, but I’m a sucker for a mystery! For me, this one started out really well and very slowly got mediocre until I reached the predictable ending and was left not knowing what to think.
This sort of reminded me of The Lake House - big old fancy house that’s been frozen in time, age old unsolved mystery disappearance of kids etc - but this held my attention better and was a whole lot less cheesy!
I loved the mystery in this! There’s nothing quite as exciting as going through a book and being the detective yourself. McHugh doesn’t give anything away too easily, which is so refreshing in modern books. I hate being given too much information that’s just a curveball or that gives too much away. I did feel a little cheated out of extra mysterious mystery thanks to a romantic subplot I wasn’t that fussed about. Luckily it didn’t take up too much time in the story so it was tolerable.
The characters were all well rounded and interesting but it did get a little difficult to work out who was talking some of the time, but this is probably due to the fact I read an ARC copy. I enjoyed following Arden’s character around, even though she seemed immature a lot of the time. She was level headed and less annoying than a lot of the other mc’s in these kind of novels. She was in a constant state of grief, understandably after moving back into the house that caused her family so much pain, but she didn’t go on and on about it, or use it to get herself pity.
Unfortunately the ending, for me, was predictable, which made it much less exciting to find out about and left me feeling a little disappointed.
It’s a well written, a quick and easy read and also pretty intriguing for the most part but it fell short of shocking me with a twist. I’ve classed this as a 4 star read, but I think it’s more deserving of 3.5 stars.
Thanks to Netgalley and Random House UK, Cornerstone for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
"That old fable" Sarah says, "a scorpion asks a frog to carry him across the river. The frgon warns 'sting me and we both die.' But halfway across, the scorpion stings the frog anyway."
Karl nods. "The frog's dying word is 'why?' and the scorpion says 'it's in my nature'..."
Ugh, well I was really looking forward to giving this novel a read because it sounded different from the usual serial killer - detective novels out in the market, and for a while it did feel different and more interesting, but it still managed to disappoint me.
This started off pretty well, with a pretty intense and unusual female serial killer that likes to murder men to soothe her addiction to blood and control. With a pretty unorthodox, weed smoking policeman and sex and violence obsessed psychiatrist. All definitely interesting characters in their own right, but when brought together to form this story, they didn’t quite blend together nicely, instead ending up in a sort of lumpy mash instead.
The plot was pretty same-y to most of the other detective novels out there, a troubled cop with family issues trying to find a killer who seems all but impossible to catch. There was nothing exceptional about this particular story - it wasn’t really funny, the characters weren’t out of this world amazing, though the plot did take quite an unexpected shock twist at the end, possibly one of the best twists I’ve read about in a while, but unfortunately it felt so ridiculous and silly it kind of took away the amazing-ness of it. I get that it was meant to be a whoa-what-a-shocker ending but it felt so over the top!
I was all for giving this 4 stars until the ending. It didn’t go the way I wanted it to go, (view spoiler)[Sarah and Martin’s relationship irritated the fuck outta me and I hated the way he kind of just let her walk away rather than doing his duty as an officer of the law (hide spoiler)], and so that made me a bit grumbly and annoyed. I also realised an hour or so after reading this that we were left with a whole heap of loose ends and unanswered questions, and nothing annoys me more than loose ends and unanswered questions.
I read this in one 4 hour sitting on the plane journey home so it obviously had enough tension and excitement to keep me entertained, but in the end it turned out to be a pretty mediocre read for me, which is a shame because I was really happy and excited to have been accepted to read it.
P.S I love the cover!
Thanks to Netgalley and V.R. Stone for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
I think that most people rating this book have judged it based on the author's hoax at claiming this was a true story but if you ignore all that mess, what you find here is a really weird, heart breaking and hilarious novel. I think people need to start looking at this as a stand-alone novel and push the whole scandal to the side to see how brilliant this book actually is.
I wasn't sure why I decided to request this from Netgalley because it's the sort of book I'd normally steer clear of, but I'm glad I left my comfort zone to read this, because it was worth it.
Sarah will take you through every single emotion you can possibly think of, from love to terror to hope and you'll find yourself a bit lost once it's all over. I have another JT LeRoy book to start next, I'm hoping I like it just as much as this.
Thanks to Netgalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
There aren’t really any more avenues for detective novel writers to go down, each story follows a very similar storyline to the last but still we pick them up. Why? Because some are shite and others are amazing but it’s so hard to tell by just reading the synopsis. This one? Well it’s certainly similar to other novels but it’s refreshingly lighthearted, still managing to tackle dark subjects but in an easy-to-read way.
My one problem with the book that I noticed straight away was too many narrators. Luckily, as the novel went on, it got easier to remember who was who so it wasn’t as annoying as in the beginning but it was a little confusing at the start.
Other than my hatred for having to focus so much on whose chapter it was, I actually liked all of the characters in this book! It was so nice to have a police based book where none of them were arseholes and they all managed to get along, like most colleagues do in the real world! Even the SIO was normal! Though, I will admit, I found reading about Miriam a bit dull, I could have done without most of her stuff.
Manon was such a realistic person, she really reminds me of an actual human being rather than that fuddy duddy police machine type robot you find in so many of the these types of books. I loved that she had a life outside of work that we got to see, that wasn’t only depressing. Granted it was a little sad that she was so lonely but her internet dates were so funny and that made everything a lot nicer to read. Also, her whole spiel on hobbies was hilarious!
”I’ve decided to get hobbied up.” “And how is that going?” asks Davy, with hopefulness that would imply he’d never met Manon. “Awful. I hate it. I mean, what’s the point of doing something just for the sake of it, when it isn’t your job?”
Davy was by far my favourite character in the book. It was so refreshing to find an officer who thoroughly enjoyed their job and time with their colleagues. He was a total sweetheart, I loved him! I also loved the mystery that was Kim, she was a funny ol’ character to have as an extra, just brightening up a scene every now and then with her strangeness.
I felt the plot for this novel was more of a character building plot, rather than a fast paced mystery thriller, but that was something I didn’t mind when it came to this book because all of the characters were worth getting to know.
The resolution of the novel kind of disappointed me. It wasn’t how I would have pictured the missing person's case to have ended up, but I was happy with how the ending chapters gave us an insight into how everyone on the force was doing and how their personal lives ended up.
I’m glad to hear that Manon will be featured in other novels by the author because she was a great character and I will definitely be reading more novels with her in!
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins UK, HarperFiction for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
Beneath the water the body sank rapidly. She would lie still and undisturbed for many years but above her on dry land, the nightmare was just beginning.
I liked how this story was focused on a cold case, rather than something that was happening at that very moment. I feel like cold cases seem so much more real than all these modern day serial killer books. It’s so rare that we hear about serial killers in the current news, it seems much more likely we’d hear about some new evidence coming to light in relation to an old case.
I found this novel more exciting in general than the other two books. All the different paths the case could go down, and all the interesting and troubled characters definitely made for some great reading! Also, Erika’s growing relationship with Peterson had me fangirling! I’m so eager for them to get together, I have been since book number one, The Girl in the Ice!
Unfortunately, I felt Erika was a bit snappier and harsher in this book. I know she’s more of a serious character, but she seemed a lot less fun. I get that Crawford was meant to be a dislikable character, but when she took her anger out on him in chapter 41, I actually felt sorry for him! She not only had a go at him unnecessarily, but she also completely humiliated him, which was completely unfair! I definitely didn’t like her that much in this book.
My only problem with this novel was that there was some quite graphic sexual encounters that felt out of place and unnecessary to the plot.
Another thrilling and fast paced novel by Bryndza! I love the writing, the characters and the fabulous twists and turns the plot takes. I’m loving this series and will continue reading it for as long as it happens to last.
Thanks to Netgalley and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review....more
Trigger warnings are noted in the first paragraph.
We’re all of us, every day, just a hairbreadth away from evil. If I’ve learnt anything from fifteen years of reporting, it’s that. But I couldn’t expect these people to understand.
This is a really heavy read as it deals with some really dark and depressing subjects, such as the war and refugees in Syria, domestic & child abuse, rape, death, mental illness, alcoholism and miscarriages. Don’t read this if you’re having a low period in your life because this is not going to make you feel any better, throughout it’s a rather distressing and upsetting story.
Each character in this novel was well developed, no matter how small a part they played in the plot. Ellwood has done a fantastic job with her research into PTSD as Kate’s fears and anxieties seem so real to the reader. Though I’ve never experienced anything even close to PTSD, I can really imagine how terrifying and disturbing it would be, from reading this book. It’s definitely the best and most harrowing description of the condition I’ve ever read in a fiction novel.
This was a really well presented novel and I’m amazed that it’s a debut! It was excellently written and thought out. My only issue being that sometimes, the timings in this book felt a little off. When Kate and Paul were together, one minute they'd be serving dinner and the next, after a small 5 lined conversation, it would be midnight and time for Paul to leave and Kate to get into bed. It seemed like large chunks of the day would just disappear.
Maybe I shouldn’t have read some other people’s reviews on this beforehand, but because I was expecting all these super duper amazing twists, I kind of didn’t feel that they were super duper amazing. I also found some of them to be a little far fetched and silly, rather than surprising.
I can definitely see why this has gained so many 5 star ratings, but it’s all down to personal preference at the end of the day, and this one was just a little too dark for my liking. That's not to say I didn't like this...I enjoyed this a lot, hence the 4 stars. I found myself not wanting to put it down, even when my eyes were telling me it was definitely time for sleep. It was certainly a thrilling and page turning read, but I don’t know if I could recommend this to anyone because of all the dark subject matters. It seems like the sort of book some people are going to love for it’s dark realism and others are going to hate that and find it too distressing to read.
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books UK for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review....more
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