Category: Adult Fiction

‘The Day She Came Back’ – Amanda Drowse

Victoria is eighteen, about to travel with her best friend and a little nervous about leaving her beloved grandmother Prim behind. Our opening quickly establishes the loving relationship Victoria has with her grandmother, and alerts us to the fact that there are no other family members in this relationship. So it is something of a shock at the end of the opening chapter when Victoria returns home to find her grandmother dead in her gardening chair.

What follows clearly establishes the shock and upset you might experience at the sudden death of a family member. Victoria sleepwalks through the days immediately following the discovery, unsure how to feel or act now her only living family member has left her.

You can only begin to imagine the maelstrom of feelings experienced by Victoria at this point. So when, at the funeral, a woman turns up who claims to be Victoria’s mother it really is hard to know what to think/feel.

The book follows Victoria as she takes on this news and tries to work out what to do. She has always been told her mother died when she was young, so it’s understandable to see her upset/anger/confusion/excitement at this point. She takes the decision to find out more, and then we watch as these two start to unpick the choices that led them to the position they are in, and to try to work out how to move forward with this new information.

I loved reading this, even though it was heavy on the emotional elements that in real life are so confusing. The author depicted the mix of emotions so clearly, and it was hard to feel anything other than understanding and compassion for each of those involved.

Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in advance of publication in exchange for offering my honest thoughts.

 

‘Never Look Back’ – Mary Burton

I wish now I had read the first two books in this series as I enjoyed this, though it works perfectly well as a stand-alone read.

The focus for our story is Agent Melina Shepherd. Found abandoned by the side of the road as a young child, Melinda has earned herself a reputation as a lone wolf who’s determined to see her cases out. When she is asked to investigate the disappearance of two local prostitutes she gets herself closer to a serial killer than she bargained for.

As the case is investigated we realise there’s more to this than meets the eye. The investigation results in things getting very personal for Marina, but she remains focused and professional throughout.

The revelations deliberately throw us off the scent for a while. We find out some pretty shocking details, and one of my key thoughts was how this would impact those concerned. The focus is more on the here and now, but as part of a series maybe this gets looked at later.

I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the chance to review this before publication, and I’m definitely curious to look at the first two books in the series.

 

‘The Switch’ – Beth O’Leary

Two remarkably similar characters, a generation apart, but it takes quite a shift in circumstances for them to learn a little about themselves in this unapologetically heart-warming book.

Our focus is the Cotton family. It’s almost a year since Leena’s sister died of cancer. Since then she’s withdrawn from her family and thrown herself into her work. When we meet Leena she’s clearly experiencing extreme stress – and is horrified when her boss offers her paid leave for two months.

Many people might wallow at home for a bit then go on holiday. Leena takes herself off to Yorkshire to visit her grandmother, Eileen, and it’s at this point they come up with the madcap idea to switch lives.

What follows is highly obvious, and nothing happens very quickly, but it’s infectiously positive and I ended it feeling as if everyone involved in this large cast of characters had experienced their own personal journey. Nothing earth-shattering here, but good-humoured and it did (in a light-hearted way) try to examine some hard-to-hear issues. I defy anyone not to fall in love with Eileen!

‘Nothing Can Hurt You’ – Nicola Maye Goldberg

Nothing Can Hurt You centres on the killing of a young student, Sara, by her boyfriend, Blake, who we are told has schizophrenia and who claims to have taken LSD on the night he slit Sara’s throat. Blake comes from a wealthy family, has never been in trouble before and has the means to arrange for a good lawyer. Perhaps surprisingly, he is acquitted on the grounds of insanity and goes free.

This novel is a hard one to pin down. We’re not really finding out more about what happened to Sara, nor are we learning more about the killer. There’s little focus on questioning motive or even really seeming to come down on a certain view on how we as a society deal with such events/people. I ended this not entirely sure how I was meant to feel about things.

While this doesn’t fit the expectations of a thriller, it was cleverly constructed. Each chapter has as its focus someone involved with the murder of Sara. We begin with the woman who discovered her body, but we also have a young girl who she babysat, her half-sister and a journalist investigating the story amongst others. What they all have in common is a sense of disruption following the death of Sara.

In style and focus, this reminded me very much of Jon McGregor’s Reservoir 13. I was somewhat surprised to learn this was based on a true story, as the way in which it is written makes it seem so separate from the everyday world most of us inhabit. I’m grateful to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication, and it does strike me as a book that will offer up new links/perspectives upon further reading.

‘The Girl From Widow Hills’ – Megan Miranda

A thriller that actually gets better as it progresses, with a finale that leaves us in no doubt more than one person knows the truth of events but that – sometimes – not being completely honest can be the better option.

I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve read by Megan Miranda before now, and the way this is described really hooks the reader.

When we first meet Olivia Maynor she is working in a local hospital, and we know that she has changed her name after press interest in the events that took place when she was a child. Everyone has heard of little Arden, the six year old from Widow Hills who was missing for three days after sleepwalking and being washed away by rising storm water. When she was eventually found her rescue was praised, and people were invested in her story.

Over time Arden had to face some criticism, and not everyone believed her account. For this reason she changed her name and tried to bury her mother’s requests for press interviews.

Catching up with Olivia we learn more of her past as she comes to fear for her present. Her neighbour, Rick, is keeping his own secrets but when Olivia discovers a dead body outside her property she wonders whether her past is catching up with her.

The events taking place in the present have a very close link to the past. As we start to unpick these links I was quite certain I’d established what was happening. Throughout, at the back of my mind, there was a niggling unease that something was missing. There are clues that things aren’t quite as straightforward as we believe, and the revelations when they come thick and fast do take us somewhat by surprise.

Much as I enjoyed the story, the ending left me with so many questions. I can’t wait to see what is made of this once it’s released, but I’m hugely grateful to NetGalley for allowing me to read this prior to publication.

‘The Phonebox at the Edge of the World’ – Laura Imai Messina

Scheduled for release in late June 2020, I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this beautifully written, evocative story exploring loss and how we come to accept it before publication.

One of our characters is Yui, a radio broadcaster who lost her mother and daughter in the recent tsunami. She seems emotionally stuck in the aftermath, not sure how to move on from such a loss. Like so many dealing with such unexpected loss, the emotions are complex.

Alongside Yui we have other characters. They are brought together by the existence of Bella Gardia, a remote garden curated by an elderly man, in which there is a disused telephone box. When people speak into the phone they are given the opportunity to talk to their loved ones, to have another moment with those no longer there. Through this opportunity, they begin to come to terms with their grief.

When Yui travels there she finds she does not need to speak into the receiver. For her, the process of visiting the garden and hearing the stories of others is enough. One of the people she meets is Takeshi, a man mourning the death of his wife and trying to work out how to help his daughter who has stopped speaking.

What follows is the tentative blossoming of a new relationship. It ends on a beautifully hopeful note, yet there’s a wistful tone to this that I think will remain with readers. I loved the fact that after reading the story I learned it is based on a real place, and right now that seems a lovely thing to be able to hold onto.

 

‘If It Bleeds’ – Stephen King

A collection of stories that have echoes of other of King’s works, showing an obvious fascination with the supernatural and unexplained. Each has its charm, though I have my definite favourite.

In Mr Harrigan’s phone we focus on good guy Craig, a young lad who earns pocket money by reading to the elderly Mr Harrigan. Over time they became almost friends, and Mr Harrigan definitely plays a part in the developing personality of this young man. Four times a year Craig is sent a scratch card and one of them ends up earning him three thousand dollars. He is grateful to Mr Harrigan (who brushes of this event) and buys him an iPhone. Mr Harrigan was dismissive of the gift, but then comes to see how useful it could be. Entertaining to see a character at such an early stage in media use, but when Mr Harrigan dies and still seems able to help Craig out we wonder just how much power these objects actually have.

The second story, the Life of Chuck, was one of the least engaging for me. The story begins with what looks like the end of the world (though we never know what’s going on) and then works backwards in time to explore the character of Charles Krantz and his life. The latter parts of the story were more interesting, so it ended more strongly than it began (with the opening of the narrative).

Though I enjoyed the second story it was always going to be hard to stand up against If It Bleeds, a longer story focusing on the lovely Holly Gibney and a very unusual case. The story begins with an awful attack on a middle school and then we go into what I think of as typical King territory. Holly becomes aware that there is another outsider, passing through time and feeding off the misery of mankind. This time round, it’s actually engineering the horror and a Holly is determined that it will not succeed.

The final story I confess to almost leaving out – anything called Rat immediately puts the proverbial fear of god into me. The story had echoes of The Shining, focusing on a writer who has never managed to complete more than short stories. A failed attempt at a novel had him almost burning down his house, so his wife’s concern when he plans to visit his remote family cabin to write his novel is understandable. Tucked away, things are going okay. Then he comes down with a serious flu, and is cut off by a serious storm. Thinking he’s going mad, our writer ends up making a deal with a rat. The extent to which this was imagined is never clear, and yet it works.

 

‘The Vanishing Half’ – Brit Bennett

This was a story that I’m so pleased I had the opportunity to read thanks to the publishers and NetGalley, and I can’t wait to see what others make of what I genuinely feel is a must-read story.

Desiree and Stella Vignes are twins, and the main focus of our story. When they were little they witnessed their father dragged from his home by white men and killed. They live in a small town called Mallard that cannot be found on any map, where anyone with dark skin is looked down upon. Is it any wonder that after such a beginning they might not feel comfortable here?

The girls leave Mallard for a new life. Together, they feel they can take on anything, no matter how difficult it gets. Illegal work in a laundry and sleeping on a friend’s floor is not ideal, but they’re managing. Then one day Desiree comes home to discover Stella has gone.

Our story is told through the viewpoints of a number of characters (Desiree, Stella, and their respective daughters) and piece by piece we establish what each has done and how their early life has set up their present. From Desiree escaping an abusive marriage to return home with her dark-skinned daughter, to Stella living in constant fear that she will be found out for passing as white for so long. We watch Jude leave the racist taunts for a new life in California where she finds love with Reese, a man facing his own battles, and we follow Kennedy as she tries to find herself and come to terms with the truths she learns about her mother.

We are set in a changing world where race and attitudes to it remain something to examine. There were so many painful stories, and though I understood the choices Stella made it still felt unbearably hard that she should feel that was necessary.

The main characters of the twins had a complex relationship, but it was their daughters who I found fascinating. In these two girls there were signs of shifting attitudes on a number of subjects, and their stubborn refusal to ignore each other gave an indication that family connections run deeper than we might think.

 

From the Shadows (Monica Kennedy 1) – G.R. Halliday

From the Shadows is one of those books that throws a lot at you, and you can’t help but become immersed in the world described. It’s not pleasant reading, but it’s a tense experience.

Our story really begins with the discovery of a body of a young man. A serious attack, and the autopsy reveals the boy has had a stone lodged in his throat. DI Kennedy (as the main investigator) is our focus, and we get enough snippets to know her back-story is an intriguing one. Perhaps as the first in the series we’re not told everything, but certainly enough to know that Monica Kennedy has a little more to her than meets the eye.

Set in and around the Scottish Highlands, this beautiful setting forms a macabre backdrop.

Nobody is sure what they’re dealing with. The boy who was found was at home, fine, and had then disappeared by the morning. Before long, we’re starting to see links with other disappearances.

There’s a lot of characters involved, and some suspects are set up as quite deliberate red herrings. We get the voice of the killer but very little to identify them until late on. There’s evidence of police corruption, and Kennedy has to rely on some rather unconventional methods to get results.

Suffice to say there’s some parts that could have been refined but this was a solid introduction to a new character, and definitely had me keen to read more. Thanks to NetGalley I have a copy of Dark Waters (the second in the series) to read before its scheduled July 2020 publication.

 

‘Just My Luck’ – Adele Parks

Reading stories in the press about huge lottery wins always concerns me. I know it makes good news, but you never hear of someone winning a life-changing amount of money and enjoying it. You only hear of those who squander the winnings or how people become a target for all manner of scams. Though we know this, and how low the chances of winning actually are, there’s probably a good number of people who think about what they’d do if they had such a win.

In Just My Luck we follow a regular couple who suddenly find themselves nearly £18 million better off. Lexi is fairly cautious, wanting to invest wisely and use the money to make a difference. Her big indulgence is to buy some Teapigs tea! Her husband, Jake, is the ultimate stereotype. His first act – even before they have the money – is to buy a top Ferrari and to buy his way out of whatever comes up. It’s not hard to take quite a dislike to him, and as the story progresses he was increasingly infuriating.

One of the first issues this seemingly normal couple has is the insistence from some friends that they were a syndicate and, as such, should be sharing the money. From this point on we see the money drives a wedge between the family.

Most of the family has secrets, some of which have more of an impact than others. The story took something of a detour with the character of Toma, but the links are outlined eventually. Things got awfully dark, and a substantial part of this book had me wondering whether people really could be so awful in reality. Even the characters we were meant to root for were secretive, and some of them were so horrendous that it made me want to ban the lottery forever.

Thanks to NetGalley for granting me access to this before publication, and I’d definitely recommend this read – even as a salutary lesson to readers.