Mystery – Page 2 – My Good Reads

‘The Only One Left’ – Riley Sager

A Riley Sager novel appearing on NetGalley always puts me in a flap…just in case I don’t get access to it and have to wait publication. Thankfully, that didn’t happen and this is definitely a thriller you will not want to put down.

Kit is in a difficult position. Since being accused of killing her most recent patient she’s been suspended from work and her father can’t look her in the eye. The people around her think she’s a killer. So when she’s given the chance to work again, she’s desperate to take the job…even after she learns who she’ll be looking after.

Kit’s new patient lives at Hope’s End, a rambling mansion perched on the cliff tops. Her name is Lenora Hope, and when she was seventeen she was accused of murdering the three other members of her family.

The story follows Kit as she spends her days caring for someone she isn’t entirely sure she trusts. Strange noises can regularly be heard from her room, but Lenora can’t walk or talk. When Lenora lets on that she can type, Kit starts to learn more of what happened that night.

Sometimes the truth is stranger than anything you can come up with.
Sager does a good job of drawing us in to this very mixed-up family. The atmosphere of the house is suitably oppressive and the development of the story is well paced. I can’t say more as I’d hate to ruin the surprises for someone.

‘Promise boys’ – Nick Brooks

A pacy mystery, focusing on the murder of Principal Moore and the prejudices at play as his murder is investigated.

Promise School was founded as a place to support those boys who have difficulty fitting in elsewhere. The book opens with its focus on the school and the strict environment created to control its students. Our main focus is three boys – Trey, JB and Ramon – who are all in detention on the evening Moore is shot. In the frame for his murder, they have to overcome their own prejudices to work together and find out what really happened.

The story is split into clear moments building up to the crime and afterwards. We see the different viewpoints of the boys, and it soon becomes clear that someone is trying to set them up.

The identity of the one responsible was not quite the surprise you might have thought. Unfortunately it says a lot about the kind of environment created for these boys and the way society often exploits our inner fears for others’ gain.

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

‘I Have Some Questions for You’ – Rebecca Makkai

Bodie Kane recalls her time at Granby School with little fondness, her years there marred by the death of her roommate and the years she spent feeling an outcast. Now an adult, and a successful podcaster, Bodie is asked back to the school to teach a class. It’s not long before her focus returns to the case that so many know of.

Thalia Keith was loved by many. There were rumours about her behaviour, but when she was found dead in the school pool the investigation soon found the school’s athletic trainer guilty. Few questioned the conviction at the time, but with the benefit of hindsight some – Bodie included – wonder whether they knew more than they realised and whether the wrong person was convicted.

We follow Bodie as she settles into her life at the school. One of her students asks to investigate Thalia’s case. Without giving key details away, Bodie oversees their work while also finding a chance to try and pass on the information that she feels should have been given at the time.

The precise details of the crime are never fully outlined. While frustrating, it highlights just how easy it is for femicide to take place and the way we as a society view those impacted by it. I found myself increasingly irritated by the way crimes against women were referred to here. Yes, there’s lots. Yes, there’s people in positions of power who abuse that power and get away with it. Yes, many in society look to blame the victim. It’s all awful, makes my blood boil, and yet I couldn’t help but feel I wanted something more from the book.

My expectations were high going in, perhaps too high. It’s an engaging read, and yet it doesn’t really offer anything different. Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this before publication.

‘The Cloisters’ – Katy Hays

A coming-of-age story with a dark undercurrent reminiscent of The Secret History.

Ann Stilwell has moved to New York to take up a research post. Upon her arrival she learns the post no longer exists, but a chance meeting sees her seconded to The Cloisters, a gothic museum. Under the tutelage of the curator, Patrick, Ann is tasked with research. What she is looking for is not immediately apparent, but it is linked to ideas about fortune and fate.

Drawn slowly into this world of academia, it’s evident that nobody is quite what they seem. Ann’s curiosity soon becomes obsessive and it is clear that her unexpected discovery is going to become something significant. She is warned about Rachel, the graduate who takes her under her wing. But it soon becomes clear that Ann is not quite the naive ingénue she depicts herself as.

A slow burner. The atmosphere builds slowly, developing in a very unexpected way. I found myself rather open-moved at the revelation about Ann very near the end of the book, but this then helps to explain a particularly unexpected course of action.

I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read and review this prior to publication and look forward to sampling more by this debut author.

‘Sad Cypress’ – Agatha Christie

A mystery that breaks the unwritten rules that mean we should be able to work out the truth if we’re paying attention. In this Poirot story, he plays his cards close to his chest and only reveals a key detail at the latter stages. Frustrating at the time of reading, but a nice change from the other Christie books I’ve read.

The story itself centres around Elinor Carlisle who is on trial for the murder of Mary Gerrard, a young woman befriended by Elinor’s late aunt. Elinor’s fiancé, Roddy, travelled down with her to visit their aunt, sees Mary and falls in love with her. The suggestion is that Elinor, wracked with jealousy, poisoned the object of her fiancé’s blossoming affections.

The truth is far simpler (and stranger).

Sad Cypress is organised into three distinct parts. We begin with an introduction to the characters and their situation. The second part focuses on Poirot’s casual interrogation of the key players. Finally, we have the trial, evidence and eventual revelation of the crime. Very distinct sections, and it did feel rather slow.

‘The Snowstorm’ – Triona Walsh

I was able to read and review this thanks to NetGalley.

A remote Aran island. A storm cutting the island off from the outside world. Six friends gather to mark the anniversary of a terrible tragedy that changed them all, and one of them is found dead. The killer was someone on the island, so it’s up to Garda Cara to try to work out what happened.

I like a locked-room story as much as anyone. Unfortunately, our locked room was an island so the tension was somewhat dissipated by the comings and goings, and endless scenes involving a search of yet another potential site of interest.

The group of friends consists of Cara, the outsider whose position is reinforced by her job, and her childhood friends. Each of them has their history and this is exploited as Cara tries to work out who killed her best friend, Maura.

While the story sounded tense, the pacing of the story was not quite what I thought. Events took a while to unfold, the additional characters muddied the water and delayed the truth being discovered, and the resolution felt like something that would have been known on some level a lot earlier. I found the characterisation of all but Cara quite superficial, and I always felt as if something was being held back.

There were some evocative descriptions of the storm, and I found the creation of the environment in which the story took place quite intriguing. The inclusion of two languages is integral to the book, though this in itself started to feel like another detail included simply to serve a point later on.

‘Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone’ – Benjamin Stevenson

As soon as I saw the title while bookstore browsing, I was intrigued. This is the kind of book that won’t necessarily be one I’ll rave about but it was darkly humorous and cleverly put together.

The story itself focuses on a decades-old crime and a rather common situation. However, when we begin it’s fair to say that the links between this past crime and the present are not apparent.

Ernest Cunningham is something of a fan of crime books. He has got used to life as one of the Cunninghams, a family that have had their share of hard luck. However, when we’re told that every member of the family has killed someone I couldn’t help but wonder what we were about to get. The truth is not something you’d easily come to, so it’s best to sit back and enjoy the ride.

From the moment we know Erin was caught up in a shooting and that he is sitting on several hundred thousand dollars for his brother I really couldn’t have guessed where this would end up. As the bodies pile up and we start to learn exactly who the mysterious body at this holiday resort is, I was desperate to learn exactly what had happened.

‘Going Dark’ – Melissa de la Cruz

Going Dark begins with Josh Reuter returning from his trip to Rome without his girlfriend, influencer Amelia Ashley. This might seem innocuous…but they argued before Josh left Rome and nobody has heard from Amelia since.
When Josh’s missing suitcase is returned, the police discover Amelia’s blood on a T-shirt inside. Suddenly Josh has gone from concerned boyfriend to suspect in a missing person’s case. He seems stunned by this twist in events, but there’s niggles of doubt from those around him.

Just as we have the shock news of Amelia’s blood revealed, we then shift viewpoints and start to learn a little more about Amelia. She is not who we thought…and sometimes going dark may be done for a very specific reason.

It was at this point that things become a little less predictable. While the story itself hinted at a darker and much more interesting focus – the way the media report on missing person’s cases and how easy it is for money to buy you anonymity – this shift in events made a tenser read than that which I originally thought we were in for.

The premise for this story really was absorbing, and it might have been nice to have some elements examined in greater depth. However, this was a tense and neatly plotted read, if a little predictable.

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

‘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.

‘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.