Category: Adult Fiction

‘The Book of Cold Cases’ – Simone St James

The Book of Cold Cases blends thriller and paranormal elements to draw us in as we follow Shea Collins in her investigation.

Shea is a doctor’s receptionist, recently divorced, and blogger. Her obsession is with examining cold cases, unsolved crimes, and nothing taunts her more than the case involving the infamous female serial killer of Claire Lake. When Shea recognises Beth Greer in her doctor’s surgery, she is shocked when Beth agrees to an interview.

Initially, we focus on learning about Shea and picking over the known details of the case. Beth Greer was a wealthy socialite in the 1970s, attractive and yet distant. When arrested for the brutal killings of two men, everyone thinks they know Beth. She was, eventually, acquitted and has lived in the town since with many convinced she got away with murder.

Splitting our focus between Shea’s focus in the present and Beth’s past, there’s lots of hints about the case. We slowly pick out what’s relevant and, from the outset, it was apparent that each character involved had their secrets.

The truth about the crime was identifiable from quite early on, which made me think I would be rather underwhelmed by my suspicions being confirmed. That was far from the case though.

As the story develops we learn a lot more about Shea – a character with more in common with Beth than she might like to admit – and the exploration of society’s attitudes to women/crime was interesting. The paranormal elements created an unsettling atmosphere, but the rational part of me found it hard to reconcile these with details of the crimes.

 

‘Remote Sympathy’ – Catherine Chidgey

Remote Sympathy begins with Doctor Lenard Weber’s initial forays into a revolutionary cancer treatment. Inspired by a visit to an exhibition, Weber plans to try and cure cancer using his machine – the Sympathetic Visualiser. While there were a couple of seemingly positive reactions, at heart Weber knows his machine does not work. He becomes preoccupied with survival as he takes the steps necessary to survive the changes made in Germany under the Nazi regime.

Our other key focus is Greta Hahn, the young wife of the new Commandant of Buchenwald camp. Determined to support her husband, she makes the best of her new home. She fears the camp and those working inside, but she vows to try and make the best of her situation. After all, with so many craftsmen on their doorstep, Greta and the wives of the other officers are able to get whatever they want from the inmates.

The story focuses initially on Greta and her family, showing how life in such a place continues seemingly normally. The attitudes of those in power showed they were all too aware of what they were supporting, but they found ways to justify their actions.

When Greta shows signs of illness, she thinks she may be pregnant. The reality is that she has cancer. Her husband reads of this fantastic machine and, in desperation, arranges for Dr Weber to be sent to Buchenwald in order to treat his wife.

Set against the backdrop of a truly barbaric situation, the reality of these characters’ lives is depicted with honesty. Many take actions that could be seen as morally wrong, but each does what is necessary to survive. We can only watch as events unfold in front of us.

As time passes and we sense the increasing likelihood of Allied intervention, things at Buchenwald become increasingly desperate. The closing stages of the book were difficult to read, particularly so as we have laid out in front of us the reality that so many were complicit in such events by turning away. A timely novel that I would encourage others to read.

 

‘Such a Quiet Place’ – Megan Miranda

Such a Quiet Place begins a little too slowly for my liking, developing our understanding of events before picking up the pace and finally forcing our narrator to play their hand.

When Ruby returns to the quiet neighbourhood of Hollow’s Edge people are surprised. People suspect her motives. People wonder what she has to gain. This is because Ruby has just been released from prison after being wrongfully charged with the murder of two of her neighbours. She turns up at her old house, where her roommate Harper wonders just what she is going to do next.

From the opening we get a sense of Hollow’s Edge as the kind of community where, superficially, things are perfect but it only takes a little digging to realise that’s not the case at all.

A substantial part of the book establishes some of the key events of the past but also sets up our cast. When Ruby is found dead after a pool party, it doesn’t take long for the police to label it a homicide. So then we watch as characters’ behaviour changes. Who has most to lose? Who’s hiding what?

The truth is not quite the dramatic reveal that was implied. However, we see that people can do anything when they feel it will serve them well. I was rather surprised by Harper’s role in the key events, and did wonder why such a large cast had been brought in and not all developed fully.

 

‘At the Table’ – Claire Powell

A glut of recent releases feature a character face down on the cover. This one really tickled me when I saw it, but the subject matter is a lot less humorous than it might appear.

At the Table is a debut novel focusing on characters and their interactions with one another. Though major life events take place, this novel focuses primarily on the little moments that make up the mosaic of our lives.

Our focus is a family comprising Gerry and Linda and their grown-up children, Jamie and Nicole. Their lives have been marked by meals, and this focuses on a year in their lives at different moments. We start with a meal where the parents reveal they’re getting divorced and we end with a meal shared with mother and daughter who are, due to the events they’ve been through, forging a new relationship. Along the way we have celebratory meals, catch-up meals, drunken meals but our focus is always the family and their gradual discoveries about themselves and each other.

Powell paints a frank yet tender picture of people at their lowest. The events felt, on occasion, as if they were washing over me but I found myself touched by the attempts of the author to show the characters shifting and developing.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to review this prior to publication.

 

‘Black Cake’ – Charmaine Wilkerson

Black Cake had me gripped at the start and, though I can understand why some feel as if rather too much was added into the pot by the end, it will definitely go down as one of my highlight reads of the year.

The book opens with estranged siblings Benny and Byron being called to attend a meeting with their mother’s lawyer to hear the recording bequeathed to them. Details are, initially, sparse but we learn that their mother had a secret. A secret that now she is dead can be shared.

The story she wants to share with them explains exactly who Eleanor Bennett was. They learn of their mother’s past living with her immigrant father, the ill-fated marriage with an older man her father was in debt to, her new life in Britain and her journey towards the life she grew into in California. While her story may be familiar in many ways for the time, it comes as a shock to her children.

I loved the structuring of this book and the gradual way we got to learn about the lives of all the characters involved. The characters are not without flaws, but their resilience and determination to try and do their best was something that I found appealing. I enjoyed reading about Eleanor’s experiences, and the love story between the key characters was well-depicted. As a number of reviews point out, there’s a shift towards the latter stages of the book to social commentary with a lot of issues being explored, but I think this reflected the rich tableau of characters and experiences we were introduced to. It certainly did nothing to diminish my enjoyment of the story laid before us.

‘Sundial’ – Catriona Ward

Sundial is a curious read, where I admit to feeling things were eluding me at key moments. This wasn’t a bad thing, but it was a mercurial read and I’m still not wholly certain that I fully understood some of the finer details of our characters’ situations.

Ward creates a delightfully menacing environment in which our characters exist, but there were too many instances in which I found myself puzzling over exactly what was happening to feel quite as enamoured of this as I did The Last House on Needless Street. However, it is a story that explores some troubling scenarios and definitely encourages us to consider how our environment shapes us.

Our main character is Rob, mother to two young girls – Callie and Anne. There are hints that she is in an abusive relationship and it appears that Callie has rather disturbing tendencies. As a means of trying to help her daughter, Rob takes her to Sundial…the home of her childhood.

Alongside the story of Rob and her family, we have flashbacks to Rob’s past. It soon becomes clear that Rob came from a less than healthy environment, and that there are plenty of questions about her family.

I found myself perplexed by the details given about Rob’s younger life. The horrors she experienced as a child seem to have been swapped for other awful things…and yet she seems drawn to the darker elements of her experience. Without giving crucial plot details away, I am still convinced that Rob is not who we think.

By the time we draw close to the end of the story it is obvious that there will be deeply unsettling revelations. There’s an attempt to misdirect us somewhat, but the details of Rob’s past hint at what might be happening. I liked that the ending remained ambiguous in some ways though I can’t help wishing we’d got other viewpoints.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this before publication.

‘The Devil’s Playground’ – Charly Cox

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me access to this before publication. While The Devil’s Playground takes on an unpleasant subject, we are spared the worst of the details and this makes it slightly easier to read.

Our story begins with London reading a story to her friend’s two young children when she hears noises she wasn’t expecting to. Concerned by this unexpected occurrence, she hides with the children in the closet and we are in for a tense wait as we try to work out what this might mean.

The evening results in the ritual killing of two young women, the abduction of London and the children safe but traumatised by their experience. Detective Alyssa Wyatt is called in and, as with the previous books in the series, she approaches her task with grim determination to ensure she gets the result she wants.

The remainder of the book then splits our focus. We are given details from the perspective of Detective Wyatt as she investigates. We see the torment London is subjected to as she is tortured. We also see inside the minds of the two responsible for these brutal killings. What we don’t see until late on is how the little details combine, and exactly how the various details piece together.

Without giving too much away, this is a solid instalment in the series. We continue to see the main characters develop, and we also get an insight into their work.

 

‘How to Kill Your Family’ – Bella Mackie

When we first meet Grace she tells us she is incarcerated for murder, but claims her innocence. However, she then expresses frustration about the fact she has been imprisoned for a crime she did not commit when she has actually been responsible for the murders of six of her family. From that statement, I was drawn in. What was this character, and what on earth were we going to learn?

What we quickly discover is that Grace is the product of an affair between a very wealthy English businessman and a young Frenchwoman. She has never met her father and when her mother dies, Grace is determined that the man who denied her existence will be made to pay for his rejection. So, she comes up with a plan to kill off each member of his immediate family and then reveal her identity before killing him.

While her logic might be more than a little skewed (ie. totally deranged), the black humour with which she sets about her task is mesmerising. I found myself repulsed by her behaviour while highly amused by her wry comments on society and the people she is targeting. I’m not sure what that says about me!

The book itself is structured rather repetitively as we learn about each of the murders. Grace, though in prison (which means this does not seem like the most sensible of moves), is writing her memoirs, determined that one day people will give her credit for her actions. This need for affirmation places her, for me, very firmly in the sociopath category…but she is thwarted by a mix of bad luck and other characters.

Her plan for the destruction of the family of Simon Artemis comes under threat when her best friend’s fiancé falls off a balcony and dies. Grace is charged with the murder, though she was in no way responsible. Eventually, Grace is released and is free to continue her plans. Unfortunately, while she is deciding on her next course of action her father dies. Grace has no part in this…or does she?

As we neared the end of the book I found myself wondering quite how events would be wrapped up. Would Grace finally admit her identity and get her inheritance? That was the plan. Her plans are thwarted, however, by a character that we learn about very late on – yet who is integral to events. While this made me a little more sympathetic to Grace, it also frustrated me.

How to Kill Your Family is definitely a book I’d recommend to others, and I loved the narrator for Grace in the audiobook version I was lucky enough to be granted access to via NetGalley.

‘The Final Girl Support Group’ – Grady Hendrix

As someone who can’t watch horror movies or read horror unless it’s light outside, I’m surprised by how much I enjoyed this.
In The Final Girl Support Group we get to see a little of what happens after the bloodbath. We get to see how these final girls – the ones who survive indescribably horrific experiences – cope once normal life resumes. Having to live with the knowledge that you (probably) killed someone to survive and (usually) watched close family members and friends murdered in increasingly brutal ways is going to have an impact. I can’t imagine how you pick yourself up and carry on after this.
When we’re first introduced to the group – a disparate group of women whose only link is they are known by the ‘final girl’ moniker – we can see many of them are not able to let go. Our main narrator is Lynette, who clearly is struggling to feel safe in real life. When she learns that one of their group has been murdered we start to think she may have been right to express reservations about how they’re managing.
The book focuses on Lynette’s increasingly bizarre attempts to make the others think she’s right to be scared. They react badly, and things get very awkward. There’s some darkly amusing moments as Lynette and the other survivors attempt to get to the bottom of these attacks and take on – for one last time – their bogeyman.
Initially a little slow as we establish the characters and the setup. There was a section once things started kicking off where the water got very muddy as the characters got sidetracked by a manuscript telling their stories and I wondered how this would sustain my interest. Then Hendrix lets us a little deeper into these women, fleshes them out a little and has them barrelling towards the ultimate fight for survival. At this point I couldn’t wait to see who was behind things and how events would be resolved.
While it seems Hendrix is a huge fan of the slasher movie, and clearly knows the conventions, it feels a little dated and I’m not sure how you can move past this. The reliance on stock characters/moments lends a sense of familiarity, and we’re encouraged to see these characters as real people, but ultimately it’s more of the same misogyny. I concede there’s some challenging of these attitudes but the characters remain trapped by our expectations for the genre. As a result, it feels like more of the same. I’m sure that someone, somewhere, will express this more articulately than I have.

 

‘Act Your Age, Eve Brown’ – Talia Hibbert

Pure unadulterated gooey loveliness.

Eve Brown is the youngest of the Brown sisters and something of a pampered princess. After yet another ‘failed career’ move, her parents give her an ultimatum – she has to keep a job for a year in order to have her trust fund restarted.

Now that is so far removed from the experiences of most readers it would be easy to feel no sympathy for Eve. However, from her evident social awkwardness and the sheer gusto with which she tackles everything to not fall a little in love with her would be unfeasible.

While her response to this makes little sense, her storming out and driving means she finds herself at a lovely B&B just at the moment they’re interviewing for a new chef. Of course, Eve is not suited to the job in so many ways…but the way she interacts with the boss Jacob tells us from the off exactly where this will end up.

From their first meeting I really loved the interactions between these two. Both autistic – though in Eve’s case this is undiagnosed – there’s something inherently satisfying about the idea that you can always find someone who gets you. And if they don’t get you as you are, then they’re not your person.

Some wonderful comedic moments, the expected sexual tension and a genuinely feel good message. Now we’ve had an insight into the three Brown sisters I feel sad there might be no more to come.