Adult Fiction – Page 40

‘The Haunted Hotel’ – Wilkie Collins

A contemporary of Dickens, Collins is not the kind of writer you tend to stumble across. I first came across his works when I had to read ‘The Woman in White’ as part of my studies, and I was intrigued by the idea of ‘The Moonstone’ being the first detective novel. I had never read this, and decided it was about time to try something a little different.

The first thing that I have to say about this novel is that it focuses on a rather straightforward mystery, but is made that little more special due to the fascination with the supernatural.

Lord Montbarry breaks off his engagement to Agnes Lockwood, he marries the mysterious Countess Narona (about which there are more than one or two rumours) and then travels to a run-down palace in Venice. We learn of Montbarry’s death, and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it. Suspicious, Montbarry’s brother travels to Venice to try and determine exactly what happened. The palace in Venice where Montbarry was staying has been turned into a fashionable hotel, but mysterious things are seen there.

I shan’t give away the specific details of what transpired, but it was a well-plotted and interesting story. What really stuck out to me was the deep interest in the supernatural that Collins shows. Some of the descriptions were quite horrific, but I thoroughly enjoyed this novel.

‘The Lake House’ – Kate Morton

Living on her family’s idyllic lakeside estate in Cornwall, England, Alice Edevane is a bright, inquisitive, innocent, and precociously talented sixteen-year-old who loves to write stories. But the mysteries she pens are no match for the one her family is about to endure…

One night, Alice’s younger brother Theo goes missing. Although the house was full of party guests, Theo is never found.

Many years later a police officer visiting her grandfather stumbles across Alice’s old family home, now deserted. She starts asking questions about the estate and what happened there.

Throughout the reading I was picking over every little detail and trying to work out what was significant. It felt like the stories took a while to weave together, but I quickly got caught up in it. Unfortunately, though I enjoyed it at the time I can’t help but feel the ending was contrived.

‘A Spool of Blue Thread’ – Anne Tyler

This was a book received as a digital copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, and part of my attempt to make a conscious decision this year to not just focus on YA fiction.

On the Man Booker shortlist, this is Tyler’s 20th novel and yet she is a writer that I’ve never read anything by before. I loved the idea of a novel that focused on a family that, in Tyler’s own words, are unremarkable.

This tells us the story of the Whitshank family and the home they live in. Nothing out of the ordinary really takes place, but I found this a really warming story. It felt familiar, even comforting, and I enjoyed getting to see the family over time and seeing how their relationships are affected by the events of their daily lives.

It felt a strange novel to be on the Man Booker shortlist, but it was certainly a book that I enjoyed…a lot.

‘Satin Island’ -Tom McCarthy

I received a copy of this from NetGalley as part of their shadowing of the Man Booker Prize process.

This wasn’t an author I was familiar with, so I went into this book somewhat blind. I can see it’s very clever, and I was expecting a book that explored concepts and was very different to those I would normally read. On that score, it delivered.

One review I read before starting this book said it was “Packed with daring cerebral insights and swashbuckling prose” and that it “could be about the futility of meaning.” Perhaps I’m a little out of practice with more cerebral reads, but this felt like being trapped with the pub bore and unable to escape as they ranted, over and over, about their important insights into the world. Not a pleasurable experience for me, I’m afraid.

‘The Quickening’ – Julie Myerson

I understand that famous horror-movie company Hammer joined forces with Arrow books to ask established writers to produce a book in a specific genre, focusing specifically on psychological horror. This is the third in the series, and focuses on a honeymoon couple who visit the Caribbean and end up experiencing some strange and unexplained events.

From the outset I found Rachel an unreliable narrator, and one that I just couldn’t gel with. When she is told by locals that her husband, Dan, is in danger it’s not clear what is real, what she is imagining because of her pregnancy/past events and what is meant to be ‘unexplained’. Dan himself is the kind of character that is controlling and unsympathetically portrayed throughout. At a number of points in the story I found myself hoping he would be next on the list of characters to be murdered so that the book would end!

Suffice to say this is well-written, and keeps you reading, but it is odd and that oddness prevented me from finding this the kind of book I would recommend strongly to others.

‘Forty-one’ – Lesia Daria

I received a digital copy of this from NetGalley, and I have to say this is not one I would particularly recommend.

This sounds horribly stereotypical but I think women of a certain age and socio-economic group will be hooked on Eva’s concerns and fretting over her life, present and past. Personally, when the novel opened with a lengthy focus on curtains I wasn’t sure if this was one I should continue to read.

The first part of the book was very slow, and I struggled to find much interest in the character or her concerns. I found her priggish, and if her life was really that bad she should have done something to change it! However, once she contracted meningitis and we saw how this impacted on her life I felt more concern for her as a character.

Ultimately I felt this was trying too hard to do too many things. Definitely not my cup of tea, but I can imagine it being a book that some will love.

‘A Game for all the Family – Sophie Hannah

Justine Merrison is a TV executive who has escaped her high-presssured life in London to move to rural Devon. This was meant to be a new start for the family, but then Justine starts to receive mysterious phone-calls from someone who seems to know more about her than Justine is prepared to tell us.

These calls come at the same time as her daughter, Ellen, is experiencing problems at school after her best friend, George, is excluded. When Justine goes to school to investigate matters, she learns there is no pupil called George. Her concerns for Ellen’s wellbeing are heightened when she reads a chilling story – written by her daughter – about a series of murders committed in their new home.

After losing my interest in Sophie Hannah’s recent novels I felt this was back on form in many ways. It made me doubt my own sanity at times, but it gripped me from the start and I was desperate to know exactly what was going on.

‘Elizabeth is Missing’ – Emma Healey

I cannot help but feel that losing one’s memory, and having your sense of self eroded, must be one of the worst things imaginable.

I felt the utmost sympathy for Maud, who writes endless notes to herself but cannot remember when she wrote them. She knows her friend Elizabeth is missing, but seems to have no recollection of why she believes this to be the case. However, she seems to experience a sense of clarity when recalling the facts surrounding the disappearance of her sister, Sukey, many years previously. Unfortunately, as an unreliable narrator we are never quite clear what Maud is remembering and what she thinks she remembers.

This is a book that crosses a number of genres. It was not a comfortable read by any means because of the nature of the illness Maud has, but I did enjoy this story because of the controlled way in which we see the pieces coming together.

‘The Tea Planter’s Wife’ – Dinah Jeffries

Due to be released in September 2015, this book tells the story of 19-year-old Gwendolyn Hooper. When she leaves England she is full of hope for her new life as the second wife of tea plantation owner, Laurence. Upon her arrival it is clear that her new home and family harbour many secrets, some of which will have far-reaching consequences for Gwen.

The opening of the novel had a languid feel to it, with beautiful and evocative descriptions of another land. Seeing this new land through Gwen’s eyes means we also focus on the issues surrounding race and colonialism that would have been prevalent in Ceylon at this time.

The novel was not what I expected at all. The bitter choice that Gwen makes early on has far-reaching consequences, the effects of which are only fully revealed later. The cast of characters kept me intrigued, and I think this is a novel that would warrant a re-read (if I could bear to put myself through the emotional wringer again!)

One of my unexpected pleasures of my summer holiday reading, and I thank Netgalley for allowing me the opportunity to read an advance copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

‘Go Set A Watchman’ – Harper Lee

When it hit the news that a manuscript for ‘Go Set A Watchman’ had been found I completely understood the concerns that many readers will have had. ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is a modern classic, and one that so many people hold dear for numerous reasons. How on earth would publishing the novel that was rejected add to anything? I admit to thinking it seemed like a fairly cynical money-making ploy, and certainly seemed like a rather frail woman was being taken advantage of.

When the novel was first published I was quite surprised by the furore surrounding some of the revelations. It was the idea that this was the book that become ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ that intrigued me and my interest to see the book as part of a process was what, ultimately, persuaded me to purchase a copy.

It took some time to read. Not because it was challenging, or because I couldn’t get into it. If I’m being honest, the character of Scout is such a defining character that I could not read this without thinking of her as she was. The story didn’t really seem to go anywhere. There was nothing awful about it, but nor did I really find anything to rave about.

For me this is a novel that has to be read alongside ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, and purely to see it as part of a process of writing.

I can’t help but think this is a valuable document for lovers of literature, but not a book to recommend to readers for its own sake.