Category: Mystery

‘Twelve Minutes to Midnight’ – Christopher Edge

Orphaned Penelope Tredwell has taken on the mantle of publishing the magazine, The Penny Dreadful, after the death of her father. It’s 1899 so, as a young girl, she is expected to act with a certain decorum – which is at odds with her fascination with the macabre. Though she has raised circulation of the periodical by writing under the pseudonym of Montgomery Filch it is a time where nobody could believe a young girl would be capable of such writing, so Penelope is forced to pay a jobbing actor to pretend to be the writer in a bid to boost publicity.

A letter is sent to Mr Filch by a doctor at the notorious Bedlam asylum. Upon investigation Penelope learns that at precisely twelve minutes to midnight the inmates of Bedlam rise out of their beds and start feverishly scribbling what seem like nonsensical words and ideas on anything they can lay their hands on. Caught up in this real-life adventure, Penelope learns that these scribblings are being engineered, as someone is determined to use these visions as a way of predicting the future.

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, and we are plunged into a crazy world. Edge creates an authentic setting, and his style of writing is entertaining. I loved the range of vocabulary and literary skill evident here. Though this is targeted at upper primary/lower secondary age students, it is definitely one for more confident readers – but if you like Lemony Snicket then this should be right up your street.

‘The Secret’ – Katerina Diamond

You don’t have to have read The Teacher before you read this, but it would definitely help – if only to understand a little the rather odd dynamic in the relationship of Miles and Grey, and the very graphic violence featured unrelentingly.

The blurb for the book tells us…

Bridget Reid has a secret, one that could get her killed… If she can escape the man who is keeping her locked in a basement bedroom.

DS Imogen Grey is good at keeping secrets – truths she’d never reveal to her colleagues at Exeter Police. She worked hard to get where she is – she nearly died for it. Now her past is catching up with her…

As DS Grey and her partner DS Adrian Miles search for Bridget, they uncover a terrifying web of abuse, betrayal and murder. And they realise that some secrets are better left buried…

An undercover cop (Bridget) escapes when the other prostitutes in her house are killed. Someone is onto her…Imogen Grey becomes entangled in this case, and it quickly becomes apparent that there’s links to what happened to Grey a couple of years ago.

We jump timeframes a lot – and, on occasion, I found myself having to check where we were – but this was, for me, one of the most compelling parts of the book. As we slowly come to work out the links between the characters, and see that sometimes the bad guy can be right under your nose, I was desperate to work out just how things would connect.

The end, which suggests we could be in for another story following Adrian’s attempt to bring down his ex-wife’s new partner, both frustrated and excited me.

A departure from my normal reading, and not a genre I’m totally at ease with because of the seemingly increasing need to torture characters in increasingly violent ways. However, here it is evident that the details do shed light on the characters and the set-up we are being asked to witness. Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for my review.

‘Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore’ – Matthew Sullivan

Scheduled for publication in June 2017, this is a book that I only saw how clever it was after I’d finished it.

If you want to hide something, often the easiest place to hide it is in the open. It’s a much-repeated phrase in Literature, and it certainly rings true here. Everything is very much apparent – once we have it all laid out for us, and can see just how the various bits of the puzzle inter-connect.

Lydia, our main character, works in the Bright Ideas bookstore. When one of the regular customers kills himself there, it kickstarts a deeply unnerving set of events. For Joey, the young victim, is found with a picture of Lydia as a child in his pocket.

At the point that Lydia starts to try to establish why Joey had this picture, and why he felt compelled to leave all his possessions to her, we get introduced to Lydia’s horrific past. The stuff of prime-time TV drama, we get to learn all about a night in Lydia’s past that she had tried hard to bury.

Slowly, and with an ominous sense of inevitability, we learn how Lydia and Joey are linked, and we get the full details of that night. Claustrophobic in mood, but I was desperate to know exactly what happened.

Unsettling, desperately sad but very very readable. Thank you to publishers Scribner and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy in advance in exchange for my thoughts.

‘Seven Trees of Stone’ – Leo Hunt

An unusual read, but it will thrill fans of the series.

It’s been a while since I read book two but this gives some recaps while plunging us into a new story. It doesn’t take long to pick things back up, honest.

Luke has got used to a quieter life, and some time has passed since the events of Book Two. There are still issues between Luke and his mother, and his acceptance of her new boyfriend Darren. When Luke is persuaded to spend New Year’s Eve in Darren’s woodland home we are expecting something dramatic – but this was off the scale of what I thought might happen.

This story tells us about a New Year’s Eve with a difference. After an argument, Luke wakes to find himself in Deadside with no idea of how he came to be there. The world has frozen over, and something is attempting to take over the land of the living.

We watch Luke and Elza encounter some pretty nasty things, but they are resourceful and find a way to take on these Essentials. As with previous books, there’s some graphic description but it is exciting stuff.

I was pretty surprised by the final showdown, and think that’s a fitting ending to events. However, Luke’s final actions imply there could be more to come.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

‘One of Us is Lying’ – Karen M. McManus

Due for publication at the end of May 2017, I am really grateful to the author and publishers Delacorte Press (via NetGalley) for allowing me to read this early.

For readers of the target group, the John Hughes movie The Breakfast Club will probably not mean anything. But, throughout, I could see the influence of this movie – and one or two hit teen dramas of recent years – on the way this was written. Yet I never felt I was simply rehashing old ground.

The basic plot is simple. Five students of Bayview High – the “walking teen stereotypes” – are put in detention one night. One of the five, Simon, runs a hit app on which his peers depend for their gossip. Unfortunately Simon was planning to reveal a little secret belonging to each of the four students with him in detention. This provides each of the four with a reason to be a suspicious character in the investigation that ensues after Simon (who suffers with a peanut allergy) ends up dead.

A high-impact start, and we are taken on something of a rollercoaster ride as we learn a little more about Bronwen, Nate, Addy, Cooper and the young man who seemed to hold the key to their high school happiness in his hands.

Don’t worry, there’s no big reveal here. What I will tell you is that I was second-guessing everyone and everything I was told. I trusted nobody and, though I suspected the final revelation, I still wasn’t certain until very close to the end.

A greta debut, and one I will be heartily recommending to my students.

‘I Found You’ – Lisa Jewell

Alice looks out of her window one morning and sees a man sitting on the beach. It’s raining, but he has no coat. Later that day he’s still there. Most of us would turn away, but Alice invites him into her home-even though he has no memory of who he is.

At the same time we see young bride Lily going crazy because her husband has not come home. They are recently married and life is idyllic. So where is he? Nobody knows, and Lily realises she knows little about the man she’s married-made worse when the police tell her that her husband doesn’t actually exist.

Alongside these two stories we are taken back to 1993, where we follow Graham and his family on their summer holiday. They encounter Mark Tate, an older teen who attaches himself to the fifteen year-old sister of Graham. Something is seriously wrong, and we watch in anticipation of working out exactly what this is.

We follow the story as the two women come to learn how their stories link.
I liked the jumping around time frames and slowly piecing together exactly what happened. However, I felt that this was character driven and the characters weren’t ones I particularly cared for.

‘Sometimes I Lie’ – Alice Feeney

A lot of reviewers have drawn parallels between this debut and Gone Girl which is annoying – if you didn’t particularly enjoy that novel you might overlook this one and it would be a shame.

Of course there are similarities – we have a female narrator who we mistrust from the off; there are secrets aplenty; lots of characters give us reason to mistrust them/their motives and there are some great twists. However, there is something different about this – though we don’t get to see this until the author chooses to reveal it to us.

The jumps from past to present and the switching focus from character to character meant that it was very difficult to predict just where this was going. I enjoyed trying to spot plausible lies and to predict just which details were designed to throw us off the scent. Some elements of this were quite clear to see, but as a whole we only had our suspicions confirmed fully at the close of the novel.

With a character who spends most of the novel in a coma we had a distorted view of what was happening. It was genuinely creepy to overhear some of the conversations taking place in Amber’s room, but I could never quite trust myself to fully believe everything she was telling us. Eventually I reconciled myself to having to place my trust in someone who did not seem to merit it.

Deliberately we are led to dislike Amber’s husband, Paul, and though he doesn’t come out of it particularly well he is much higher up the chart than the vile character of Edward. From our first encounter with him there is something off-kilter about him. Little details that are given further support our mistrust of him. However, the details surrounding him and his role in Amber’s life did – if I’m being honest – feel rather gratuitous, and didn’t necessarily add much to the story.

Some elements aside, this was a well-plotted thriller. I feel the elements of the past that were brought in really meant this was operating on a whole new level. I was rather surprised at some of the revelations, and the ending was something of a shock.

All in all, a great read.

‘The Doll Funeral’ – Kate Hamer

I haven’t yet read The Girl in the Red Coat, but based on my reaction to this I might be tempted to obtain a copy.

This novel is set in two different time periods, the 1970s and 1983. Initially, the switch between narratives and times is confusing – but as we learn of the link between the two characters, it becomes easier to follow.

The character of Ruby – our main character of 1983 – was an interesting one. Rather precocious in some ways, but desperately unhappy in others, Ruby is a thirteen year old caught on the cusp of maturity. She inhabits a strange shadow-land in-between childhood and adulthood. When she receives the news that her adoptive parents, Barbara and Mick, are not her parents she is desperate to find her roots and family. However, things are not that straightforward. Much as you want her to get her happy ending, you get the feeling that it’s not going to be so easy.

Our second character, Anna, was less well-defined for me. She is a somewhat naive seventeen year old who finds herself pregnant. Against social conventions she decides to keep her child, but her relationship with the father is not an easy one and neither is in the best position to act as parents to their young daughter.

The two narratives are linked, and we can see how quite easily. However, the main appeal for me of this novel as in the atmospheric description of the woods around the Forest of Dean and exploring the characters’ emotions. The boundaries between the living and the dead are blurred throughout this narrative. Ruby has been friends with ‘Shadow Boy’ since she was a child, and she can definitely sense things that nobody else can see. The descriptions of Ruby’s forays into the woods are creepy, but I couldn’t wait to see what happened.

This was eminently readable, and though elements were not totally successful for me it worked as a whole to create a much more optimistic read than I was expecting.

Thank you to publishers Faber and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this in advance of publication.

‘Girlhood’ – Cat Clarke

Scheduled for publication in May 2017, I have to thank NetGalley and Hachette Childrens’ Group for allowing me to read an advance copy.

First things first, though Girlhood is set in a boarding school and features a close-knit group of friends this is no Enid Blyton-style experience. Our first introduction to the girls establishes them as a group who know each other pretty well, but we can never entirely know someone and Harper’s secret about her sister is one she wants keeping.

When new girl, Kirsty, arrives at the school we watch somewhat horrified as she is subjected to The Hole – being trapped overnight in a confined dark space. However, her experience establishes a bond between Harper and Kirsty that the new girl is keen to exploit. We cannot help but ask ourselves why, and it’s not long before we get some answers.

Unfortunately, Kirsty is not quite what she sets herself up to be and the cracks in the group start to show.

The stifling atmosphere of the boarding school ensures that the issues the girls have are maintained at high intensity. Though the fluctuating dynamics between the girls did, to me, appear rather exaggerated I think teen readers will find plenty to like about this.

I certainly enjoyed the story, and was desperate to unravel the mysteries that were set up. My only real gripe was with the ending. Of course people make mistakes, and grief will affect everyone differently. However, I was surprised at how quickly the girls seemed to forgive Kirsty even after some of the things she had done.

‘The Marvels’ – Brian Selznick

The Marvels

When I ordered this from my local library I really did not know what to expect. First impressions – and I’m being honest – were that it was VERY heavy, but that it looked beautiful with the gold trimmed pages and the intricate design on the front cover.

The story begins with almost 400 pages of pictures. They are wonderful illustrations, but it did make me nervous as it is so different to the usual thing I read.  However, from the opening pictures – where we see young Billy Marvel shipwrecked and his rescue – I was entranced. This is the kind of thing that you could return to time and time again, and not tire of looking for further details as you become more familiar with the story. Watching the history of The Marvels unfold before my eyes was intriguing, and I was rather sad when our story turned to 1990 and the prose section.

For those who admire the illustrations I can imagine this section – focusing on Joseph Jervis running away to London to visit his mysterious uncle – will be off putting. However, unravelling the mysteries of Albert’s story and the links to the earlier part of the book were immensely satisfying.

As soon as I finished this I felt I’d spent time with something truly wonderful. It was a real work of art, and I was most intrigued by the afterword, where the author reveals the source of this story. I’ve never heard of Dennis Severs before reading this, but I feel compelled to read more about his amazing home.

This didn’t make it onto the shortlist of the 2017 Carnegie Awards, but it is on the Greenway Awards shortlist and is a book that I can see finding itself a place on my bookshelf in the near future.