Category: Contemporary

‘The Wilderness Retreat’ – Jennifer Moore

The Wilderness Retreat takes place in a remote Swedish setting. Bella is treated to a luxury stay at the retreat by her sister to help her cope with the sense of loss after dropping her teenage son off at university. We sense her unease from the outset, and as she is introduced to the other guests it appears there are tensions between them. When the bombshell of another guest is dropped on the group, we are privy to the fact that this is the father of Bella’s child.

Watching Bella unravel was a rather slow process. The first half of the book focused on introducing the characters and creating a general sense of unease. Slowly, we are told of other events that are throwing Bella off her stride but it’s hard to tell whether these are genuine threats or Bella’s own fears manifesting in other ways.

As things start to build up we can sense there’s more to this story. However, at this point things felt clunky and somewhat manufactured. When we are finally told the truth of what’s happening then it becomes a lot more obvious just how heavy-handed some of these hints were. This was a book that had promise, but which (for me at least) ultimately failed to deliver.

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

 

‘Pumpkinheads’ – Rainbow Rowell

I’m very aware that as someone who doesn’t read graphic novels, I may be missing something here. Certainly, reviews of this are glowing…so perhaps I’m just not quite the right reader for this book right now.

The story focuses on Deja and Josiah, friends who spend every Halloween working in the same pumpkin patch. For the last three years Josiah has had a crush on the girl who works in the fudge shop, but he’s never spoken to her. On their last night, Deja gets it into her head that she will help Josiah to get his girl.

We follow them round the pumpkin patch as they try to find the mystery girl. What becomes clear very early on is that these two are great together…so I wonder why it takes so long for there to be any acknowledgment of their evident mutual attraction.

I liked the colour scheme for this and the pictures had a certain cuteness to them, but the whole thing just felt a little twee. The characters could have made things a whole lot easier for themselves by actually having a conversation. On the whole, this won’t be enough to convince me that graphic novels are the way to go.

 

‘This Time Tomorrow’ – Emma Straub

My third book of the new year, and this was much more like it!

This Time Tomorrow has forty year old Alice as its protagonist. She doesn’t feel as if she has done much with her life, and regrets not having her life sorted in the way she envisaged it being. She misses her father – the eccentric novelist who wrote a celebrated novel about time travel – and with him asleep in a hospital bed Alice is not sure if she will ever get the chance to speak with him again.

Context is everything, and at the heart of the novel is Alice’s changing relationship with her father. So it is not really surprising when events take place that result in Alice travelling back in time to the morning of her sixteenth birthday.

Her initial return to the past is explored in great detail, and it was fascinating to see Alice explore the various strands of her life and to make little changes to see how this might impact on her life in the present. However, we soon learn that Alice will have the ability to return to this day when she chooses – as long as the initial conditions are met – and this brings its own problems.

As Alice tinkers with the details of her life/lives, she has to work out which elements are the things she wants and which she would be happy to lose. While it might have been interesting to see these attempts in more detail, the number of times Alice clearly tried this was emphasised by the scant details given about each occasion. Her inability to alter the one thing that she clearly wanted to change was poignant, and led to an emotional resolution.

This Time Tomorrow is certainly a book that I would recommend to others, though I think it will be more satisfying to readers who have already had to start thinking about some of the issues raised within its pages.

 

‘Here’s to Us’ – Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera

I feel awful as I loved book one so much, and this just felt like overkill.

Ben and Arthur are not together, they each have new boyfriends (of sorts) and they are moving on with things…and then events conspire to have both of them back in New York for the summer. They meet up to show how much they’ve moved on – and it’s painfully clear that they haven’t at all.

The majority of the book sets them up on a number of double dates or meet-ups with new partners and friends, but each occasion offers a reminder of their past in some way. Nobody calls them out on it, but it’s pretty obvious that each is holding something back because they haven’t quite got over their past.

For most of the book it felt like I was reading a collection of scenes rather than a cohesive narrative. Things shift into predictable territory near the end, and I’m afraid that I found myself thankful that it would all draw to a close soon. Much as I wanted to love this, I couldn’t help but feel this book stemmed from a desire to do-over decisions made in the past, which were made for a reason. Sometimes it’s best not to look back!

 

‘Yellowface’ – R.F. Kuang

Though I have a number of books by Kuang on my TBR pile, this seemed an interesting one to start off my 2023 reading with. Yellowface is a book that explores the publishing industry and its intricacies. I’m not sure how realistic it is, but this definitely seems to be a book written by someone who has, perhaps, had to grapple with some of the dilemmas posed here.

Our main character, Juniper Song Hayward, has always wanted to be a writer. She has been published, but has had nothing like the success of her friend Athena Liu. There seems to be some professional jealousy on Juniper’s side but because Athena dies early on, we never really get to see anyone else’s view.

When Athena suffers her freak accident, Juniper is with her. She tries to save her, to no avail, but she also leaves Athena’s apartment with a first draft of a manuscript for her latest novel. For reasons that are never satisfactorily explained, Juniper uses the draft and rewrites elements of it, passing it off as her own. It seems she’ll get away with it…at least at first.

The publication of Juniper’s latest novel causes problems. Rumours of plagiarism follow her, but more damning is the fact that a white woman has written about something she has no experience of.

Once we enter into the territory of authorship and narrative voice, I honestly found myself feeling as if everyone else was in on a joke that I hadn’t quite understood. The narrative became acutely aware of how it would be perceived and I was never sure what was the writer’s voice/commentary on the issues and what was the view of the character. By the end it felt as if the plot was tying itself in knots as it tried to set up something far cleverer than was needed for the occasion.

From the reviews of Kuang’s other novels I understand this is something of a departure for her. In some ways that’s good because this didn’t quite hit the mark for me, and I had been really looking forward to reading Babel. I might opt for something in between, though I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this prior to publication.

 

‘The Nothing Man’ – Catherine Ryan Howard

Thank you Catherine Ryan Howard for giving me such a read for my final book of 2022. A book about a serial killer might seem an unusual choice to rate so highly, but this was clever…and once I’d started I really didn’t want to put it down.

The story focuses on a decades-old series of crimes committed by the killer dubbed the Nothing Man. Though he seems to have got away with his crimes, Eve Black survived the attack on her family. She was twelve when The Nothing Man broke into her home, killed her younger sister, raped her mother and left her father dead at the bottom of the stairs. Eve has taken years to feel comfortable talking about her experience, and has now written a book that examines what happened.

Eve’s book has become something of a runaway hit, and it has everyone in Cork talking about this killer. No traces of him were ever found at the scenes of his crimes, and nobody linked to the attacks is seemingly able to offer any details that could help to catch him. But Eve maintains that her book will help in the ongoing pursuit of this killer.

Alongside the fictional book that has generated such interest, we are given the character of Jim. Never has a title felt more fitting as Jim was – is – The Nothing Man. Now in his early sixties, and a security guard in a local shopping centre, Jim’s viewpoint focuses on him learning about the book and his desperate attempts to find out exactly what Eve recalls of that night…and how he can stop her before she reveals what she knows.

From start to finish this was a compelling read. While the details given about the crimes were sparse, enough was given to help us understand the horror of such scenes. I was strangely absorbed by the character of Jim and the insight into his mind, though the real hit was the decision to let the story unfold through the pages of this fictional book.

A clever read, which was paced perfectly, and which I’m surprised not to have heard more about. It’s certainly one that I’d recommend.

 

‘The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels’ – Janice Hallett

It’s fitting that at around the same time last year I was reading The Twyford Code, since ending the year’s reading with the latest offering from Janice Hallett could quite easily become a part of my Christmas routine. Another great example of a story where nothing is quite as it seems, where the characters know a lot more than they realise and where we are privy to the secrets before we quite understand their significance.

With the mention of a key to a safety deposit box holding the only copies of research by author Amanda Bailey at the start, I was immediately intrigued. The research was focused on the case of the Alperton Angels and Amanda’s quest to find the right angle to hinge her upcoming book on.

While the premise of the book drew me in, it took a while for me to fully engage with the intricacies of the story. The relationship between Amanda and her former associate Oliver was a puzzling one, and the vast array of characters and material being discussed made it quite tricky to keep track of the key events. Certain anomalies in the story stuck out, but were not drawn attention to…at least, that is how it seemed.

Everything centres on the case of the Alperton Angels, a group of people who believed they were angels on earth. Three of the group were found in a deserted basement, their throats cut and evidence of satanic rituals. The purported leader of the group is in prison for the murder of a young restaurant worker, and many believe him to be responsible for the other deaths. A young girl and boy were rescued at the scene, and the baby at the centre of the case was adopted afterwards and their current identity is unknown. Almost eighteen years after the event interest is high, and Amanda is keen to learn the identity of the baby and hopes to discover exactly what happened.

Unfortunately, anyone who has investigated this case has a nasty habit of meeting an untimely death. Supernatural forces at play, or a more mundane attempt by those involved to cover up the truth of what happened? As Amanda and Oliver race to find their truth, each gets drawn into the story in ways they could not have foreseen. Shadowy figures and things that are not recalled clearly by witnesses make this a frustrating case to examine…but once we know the truth (or what seems to be the truth) it’s hard not to be impressed by what Hallett offers.

Again, thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this before publication, and thanks to Viper books for spotting another great story.

‘All the Dangerous Things’ – Stacy Willingham

I’m pleased to report to have been wildly off the mark with my guesses about what happened here, and that really is testimony to the plotting and execution of the story.

Isabelle Drake is a woman struggling. One year ago her toddler son disappeared from his bedroom. There has been no trace of him, and Isabelle is convinced that in some corners she is blamed for what happened. Her marriage has broken up and she is having difficulty sleeping. After talking at a true crime convention Isabelle meets with someone involved in a podcast. She wants to tell her story, though she fears telling it might incriminate her in some way.

As we become more immersed in Isabelle’s story we learn details of her past that lead us to believe she might have been involved. She has memories of events in her past that strongly implicate her.

From the moment we start to learn more about Isabelle and her history, it was hard to gauge where this was going. There were snippets that would hint at the story going one way, and then we’d shift into an alternate place. It was genuinely hard to pinpoint quite which details were pertinent and how we were being manipulated.

I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this prior to publication (scheduled for January 2023). A truly satisfying thriller.

 

 

‘The Kind Worth Killing’ – Peter Swanson

I only wish I’d found this sooner…such a good read!

When Ted meets Lily as he’s waiting for his plane he is struck by her beauty. Over a couple of drinks they get talking, and during the flight play a bizarre game of truth. Ted admits that he thinks his wife is having an affair and he discusses killing her.

A seemingly crazy scheme is hatched and we get caught up in a series of events that appear to have been set in motion many years previously. Neither Lily nor Ted is quite what they claim to be, so then to factor in Ted’s wife and her scheming I really did half think they deserved each other!

This was a book that had to be read carefully to ensure links were not missed. The machinations unfolding in front of us made me very worried for the human race but thankful that some of the best villains can be painted in words.
By the time we got to the end a small part of me really wanted them to get their come-uppance, while also applauding the ingenuity that allowed them to get away with what they did.

I understand there is a second in the series and wonder what will happen. Definitely one to try and get my hands on!

 

‘The Sharp Edge of Silence’ – Cameron Kelly Rosenblum

The Sharp Edge of Silence examines toxic masculinity and its impact from the perspectives of those it affects.

Set in the privileged Lycroft School, students are accustomed to being asked who they want to be. Their alumni take up powerful positions in society, which makes this a read that you can’t help but notice.

Our story focuses on a number of students, among them Quinn who has returned to school having been raped by one of the star athletes at the end of the previous year. We also experience life at school through the eyes of her roommate, girlfriend of one of the rowers implicated, a scholarship student inducted into the rowing team and his best friend. There are also snippets on interactions between key staff which allows us to examine this culture from a number of positions.

Although we know from early on that Quinn was raped, the book opens by focusing on her unusual behaviour upon returning to school. You’d think people would notice and they do, eventually, but my goodness is she put through the wringer before things start to get done.

Having read the synopsis of this book I was under the impression that the focus would be firmly rooted on the reaction to the event. It is, but in a much more drawn-out way than you might think. This is not a bad thing, just quite different to what I predicted, which took a while to adjust to.

Once we move into the closing stages of the book, we see more than one or two students examining their assumptions. The way the lid is blown on this sordid experience is nothing short of spectacular. Though there are repercussions for the key player involved it frustrated me no end that we never gain any insight into his mind after the truth comes out. While this might be the grim reality, part of me wants more hope from our fictional explorations of such behaviours.

I’m hugely grateful to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this before publication, and I can’t wait to see how it’s received upon publication next year.