Category: Mystery

‘The Last Thing He Told Me’ – Laura Dave

I’m still waiting on NetGalley regarding this one, but I had heard such good things about this that I couldn’t resist buying it…and it is a bit of a treat.

Hannah is our main character. She is a woodturner by trade, and she has not long been married to Owen. They have a relatively quiet life and she is, slowly, making headway with Owen’s daughter, Bailey, who has been rather resistant to the appearance of a stepmother having spent so long on her own with her father. Hannah senses that Bailey remains resistant to her, but she keeps trying.

This could have been a relatively humdrum story focusing on the developing relationship between Hannah and Bailey. While their relationship is a focal point, it is set against an intriguing backdrop of events that you can’t help but get drawn into.

One night, Hannah receives a message on a torn piece of paper from a girl in Bailey’s school. She is told that Owen passed it on. The message says ‘protect her’. This means nothing to Hannah, until she hears on the news that Owen’s office is under investigation for fraud. Could he be hiding something?

The answer – obviously – is yes…but it isn’t exactly what you are thinking.

We follow Hannah and Bailey as they try to adjust to their new situation, deal with the fallout of events Owen is caught up in…and Hannah tries to make sense of the new details she learns about the man she thought she knew.

Pacing was, for me, a bit of an issue at times. I’m not wholly convinced that people would have reacted in the way they do here, but it was entertaining and definitely a good burst of escapism.

 

‘Little Secrets’ – Jennifer Hillier

Little Secrets explores the depths you might be prepared to go to when your life is turned upside down.

Our main character, Marin, is so removed from the everyday experience that it was hard to warm to her initially. The book opens with her Christmas shopping with a fractious four year old…then the worst happens. She loses hold of little Sebastian’s hand and he is gone. Over a year later there is no sign of him, and Marin’s relationship is under extreme stress.

For the situation alone I found myself wondering how this would impact her. Her stress, guilt and reactions to those trying to support her were very sensitively portrayed…and this sense of discomfort never left us. While the story of Sebastian’s disappearance begins the book, it is used as a way of introducing some of the little secrets to which the title alludes.

Quite early on Marin reveals she hired a private investigator…and she is shocked to learn that her husband has, for the last six months, been having an affair. The young woman concerned is not an anonymous figure – we learn a lot about her and her motivation.

This was a book I found myself quite absorbed by. Some of the hints given early on seemed like huge flags to me, and yet having an inkling of how this might end up didn’t put me off while reading. I enjoyed thoroughly seeing how the various strands played out, and my only gripe was that the final elements of the story seemed to get resolved rather quickly. This isn’t necessarily a read that’ll stick with me long after is read it, but as I was reading I found it captivating.

 

‘Every Last Secret’ – A.R. Torre

Every Last Secret was, thankfully, a slow burner. When I started reading I felt genuine antipathy towards the characters, and the writing style left me feeling as if I were watching specimens in a jar. Though this lack of engagement with any of the characters put me off initially, upon reflection I think it serves the book well as you watch the drama unfold.

Cat Winthorpe is our alpha-female. Leader of her social circle, her marriage to William Winthorpe puts her in an enviable social position. Few see how much time and effort is invested in keeping this position, but it’s fascinating to see what she does when her role is challenged. The potential usurper is Dr Neena Ryder, the new employee at her husband’s company and their new neighbour. From the outset we mistrust Neena, and sense her motivations for cosying up to Cat are not entirely wholesome.

What seemed to be a story about a rather unexciting affair/love triangle soon develops into a more menacing game. There’s ‘accidents’ that could have been worse, and our insight into the psyche of both female leads means we are genuinely uncertain who is behind the increasingly bizarre things happening. On more than one occasion we are wrong-footed, and when we finally realise what’s happening it’s safe to say we’re truly immersed in the madness.

 

‘The Girl Who Died’ – Ragnar Jónasson

My first Jonasson read, and it definitely won’t be my last. The Girl Who Died is a haunting tale, deftly weaving a contemporary tale of murder and deception with a years-old ghost story.

For reasons known only to herself our main character, Una, has decided she needs a change of scene. Fed up of the anonymity of living in Reykjavík, she decides to look into the advert given to her by a friend. The job? Teacher to a small school in the village of Skàlar…population, ten.

Her arrival at her new home and the sense of unease she feels was masterfully presented. The beauty of the landscape can’t hide its oppressive qualities, the locals are not all that friendly and she can’t help but feel uneasy at the rumours of ghosts in the home she’s living in.

Not much happens…but the building sense of unease hints at Una being caught in something she’s unprepared for. The residents of the village have their secrets, and it’s just a matter of time until these secrets start to unravel.

I’m so grateful to NetGalley for granting me access to this prior to publication (scheduled for June 2021) and now I need to look through my kindle to see what other books by this author I can read. Any recommendations?

 

‘Our Last Echoes’ – Kate Alice Marshall

 

Our Last Echoes was always going to have to be a book I tried as soon as I saw the Twin Peaks mention…and it definitely has its surreal, downright creepy, moments where you’re never quite sure what is actually going on. I also started reading The Girl Who Died by Ragnar Jonasson at the same time, and there was a similar oppressive quality to the description of the place where much of the story takes place.

Our main character Sophia recalls nearly drowning as a young child, and she has always been plagued by memories that she can’t explain. Passed from one foster home to another, she has always felt the need to learn more about the disappearance of her mother and to learn of the significance of Bitter Rock to her life.

After pestering Dr Kapoor – the woman who is in charge of those who are allowed to work on the island – Sophia is allowed to visit. Given what we later learn about her link to Bitter Rock I still think this is rather unlikely, but it’s a necessary device to get her to the heart of where these strange things keep happening.

Many people have heard of this place. Throughout time, people who have visited the island mysteriously disappear. Nobody can explain what happens to them. As we learn more about these unusual events, I can fully understand why.

From the outset it is highly suggested that we are in the grip of something that is hard to explain. After finishing the book I can still think of no rational explanation for what happens, and if you were to get caught up in events such as this in reality you would be terrified.

This is certainly a book to go into with little warning of what is to come. It doesn’t shy away from some very dark moments, and this will not be to everyone’s tastes. However, the inclusion of interview transcripts and the details from different times lends a fascinating element to a most unusual story.

‘The One’ – John Marrs

I am kicking myself for not having read this earlier. From the moment I picked it up I found myself rifling the pages, desperate to see where this was going. With a large cast of characters and over a hundred chapters I wasn’t sure how this would work…but everything is paced well, and each character is very quickly identifiable. Piecing together the details was an absorbing process.

The concept is intriguing. A test has been discovered that, in exchange for a DNA sample, gives you the identity of your Match…the person you are destined to be with. Taking the risk out of choosing love seems to appeal, and the success of the Match Your DNA app shows this. Since its inception, the app has appeared to change society. However, the premise raises some intriguing ethical issues and the book’s success depends very much on the fact that people are not always honest.

Upon starting the book I was immediately struck by how quickly I raced through the opening quarter. Learning the details of the various characters who’d signed up to the app and their motivations definitely added something to reading about their reactions and subsequent behaviour. Though the characters were all very different, I was keen to see what would happen.

Certain characters stuck out: Christopher, Mandy, Kevin and Nick. Though I won’t reveal why, their stories engaged and captivated me. Though the details are not always palatable, it was hard not to get sucked into trying to work out what would happen for each of them.

There was a point in the story – a little over halfway through – that my attention wandered a little. We were learning the details of these characters, but I was struggling to see the significance of their tales to the overall book. It felt as if we were going to have to be given a reason for these very different stories to be threaded together. It took a while, but we got there…and certainly made me review some of the interactions.

So, given all these positives, why not five stars? It’s hard to explain without giving away details of the plot. However, Ellie’s story hadn’t captured my attention sufficiently to really engage me by the time key information came out later. The moral ambiguity surrounding Ellie in the closing stages rather concerned me. There’s also a part of me that thinks relationships don’t come with hard and fast guarantees, and anyone so desperate to seek such affirmation is trying to ignore their personal responsibility for their choices and the way they impact on others. Perhaps on a different day this would have got five stars from me, and it’s certainly a read I’d recommend highly.

 

‘I Know What I Saw’ – Imran Mahmood

I Know What I Saw is one of those rare treats, where you will convince yourself you’ve worked it all out…only to then be slipped a little detail that makes your theory untenable. This mercurial element comes from the shifting details provided by our narrator.

Our main character, Xander, is homeless and we follow him through what can best be described as a bewildering sequence of events. Attacked for invading another homeless man’s patch, Xander is forced to seek shelter one evening. He finds an open doorway, and keen to escape heavy rain he enters a house. While trying to dry off he falls asleep, and is woken by voices. Crouched behind a sofa he hears an argument and sees a woman being murdered.

When Xander goes to the police they have no evidence of a crime being committed. He is charged with wasting police time, and they are convinced his mental health is impacting on his ability to engage with his environment.
As we follow Xander through this experience, we learn more about his past. There’s clear signs of trauma, and indications that events in his life have impacted badly on him.

When the police reveal that Xander’s recollections of the crime match an unexplained accident that took place thirty years previously, he is charged with murder. His freedom depends on him being able to recall facts his brain does not seem able to process.

Once we’d got underway I found myself engrossed, desperate to work out what had happened. Not every question was answered, and there were clear signs that even by the end not everything had been tidily resolved. Xander remains something of an enigma, but this was still a great read.

Huge thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this before publication in exchange for my review.

 

‘The Obsession’ – Jesse Q. Sutanto

I cannot even begin to imagine where the author will take this story in book two, but I found myself surprisingly captivated by Dee who is (without a doubt) the real focus of our story.
The story is told from two points of view – of Logan, a star lacrosse player, and Dee, a new student at the school. From the beginning my senses were tingling in overdrive at Logan and his earnest creepiness. Nobody seemed suspicious of him, but his internal monologue as he talks about a past student and his relationship with her gives off very worrying vibes. When he sees Dee across the school site, he is convinced they are destined to be together and so begins his one-sided pursuit of this quiet young girl who is definitely not what she first appears.
Dee has her own secrets. Some of which are more serious than others, and some of which certainly took me rather by surprise. What we know from very early on is that Dee is suffering at the hands of her abusive stepfather…but as he’s a policeman she and her mum believe they’re on their own.
Splitting between the two views means some of the plot details are not revealed quite as quickly as you might like. Logan is convinced he has the upper hand in his relationship with Dee, and I can’t begin to imagine how terrifying it would be to find yourself faced with a stalker who’s under the delusion that you are as committed to the relationship as he is. However, we also learn pretty early on that Dee has a resolve to her that is positively scary.
Reading this became a tense cat and mouse style chase, where we knew someone would come out of this badly but we genuinely don’t know who it will be. We know we haven’t seen the end of this setting/characters, and I am very curious to see how things develop as they leave the safety of high school.

 

‘The Boyband Murder Mystery’ – Ava Eldred

I’ve never found myself being so enamoured with a boyband that I could fully understand the mentality of those who find themselves immersed in the fandom. I know it happens, but there’s something inherently worrying for me that people can become so attached to a construct that they come to define themselves by it. The friendships forged in the name of such fandom can, I’m sure, be intense…and perhaps my lack of understanding for such a situation is why I found myself not quite as engaged with this as I hoped to be.
The Boyband Murder Mystery sounds as if it should have all the ingredients for success. A world-famous boyband, a close friend, an inter-group relationship and something alarming that happens which threatens to rock the band to its core should make for an interesting story, but there were times within the story where I found myself not being quite sure what I was reading.
Our main character is Harri, a nineteen year old in her first year at university, who has spent the last five years defining herself by the friendships formed around her love of the boyband Half Light. For Harri, the boys (Frankie, Kyle and Jack) are everything and she – along with the other millions of girls like her – is convinced she knows everything about the boys, would do anything to save them and can’t live without them.
When Frankie is arrested on suspicion of murdering his best friend, Evan, nobody can quite believe it. Harri and her best friend Jas – who she has never met, and doesn’t really know – are determined that they will use their knowledge of the group to do whatever it takes to prove Frankie’s innocence.
Now, a far more interesting story might have been if such a person had murdered someone…but the focus is really on the girls, so we assume he is innocent and watch as they carry out their own investigations – without ever coming across a police officer – and try to work out who is responsible for setting him up.
There’s no doubt this was entertaining. The story itself, however, felt crazily far-fetched and I found myself quite irritated by Harri and her inability to interact with anyone in the flesh – but it was a good way to while away a few hours. Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this before its publication.

‘What Beauty There Is’ – Cory Anderson

The tale of Jack and Ava is bleak, but you can’t help but fall under their spell.
Each of them knows what it’s like to have a secret. They’ve spent years learning to hide the reality of who they are. They each know how others judge them because of their family.

Jack’s father is in prison for his involvement in crime. His mother has given up, and when Jack finds her hanged in her room, he vows not to let his younger brother down. He buries his mother, then sets about trying to do whatever he can to find the money his father is rumoured to have hidden and look after his brother.

Unfortunately, his father’s ex partner (who also happens to be Ava’s dad) and others are determined to get their hands on the money. Jack is at risk and he has to trust someone who has the capacity to hurt him greatly.

We follow the boys as they search for a way to escape what looks inevitable. We see the growing closeness between Jack and Ava, and we see our two main characters forced to make difficult choices as they determine how they want to live life for themselves.

I can’t begin to understand the background of either of these two, but their grit and determination was admirable. I’m curious to know more about the sheriff who ultimately helps them out, and the ending certainly implies we’re not done with this story yet.

Thanks to NetGalley for granting me access to this prior to publication in exchange for my honest thoughts.