Category: Mystery

‘Death Spiral’ – Jane Codosh

Having raced through this in the course of one sitting, I have to say I’m surprised to have never heard of the book before now.

The main character, Faith Flores, is a truly terrifying sixteen year old. Living with her aunt after the death of her mother, Faith is something of a loner and desperate to keep people at a distance. Being known as a junkie’s daughter is enough to keep most people away, but there’s a vulnerability to Faith that you can’t help but warm to. Clearly smart, Faith is a victim of circumstance and it’s more than a little depressing that someone so bright and sparky would – in all probability – struggle through life due to the things she can’t access.

When Faith goes to visit her mother’s friend she’s given evidence to suggest that the details of her mother’s death are not quite what she’s been told. Her mother was involved in a clinical trial, and when her asking questions about the trial leads to threats and people linked to it dying it’s pretty obvious that Faith is onto something.

With the help of her friends – and a fair amount of luck – Faith digs into the scientists running the trial and learns some unpalatable truths. High-risk situations aplenty, this book is genuinely hard to put down.

 

‘I Know You’ – Claire McGowan

I Know You was one of those thrillers that had me second-guessing what, exactly, had happened and wondering what trick up the proverbial sleeve would be pulled out before the end. It is gripping, and while you know you’re not being told everything it’s not clear why this is until the very end.

Our main character is Rachel, a woman who stumbles across a dead body while walking her dog. Rather than call the police, she runs home and tries to ignore it. Suspicious? Certainly it seems so when we learn the body is that of her partner’s ex-wife. Less so when we learn that Rachel was, for five years, kept on Death Row for the murder of three of the family she acted as nanny to. She was cleared, but the fear of being accused of a crime you didn’t commit causes scars.

Of course, the details of each case are important. I found myself more intrigued by her past, and what led her to be in this situation. From start to finish, the pace is quite relentless. I was never sure of the extent to which we could trust Rachel, and the way the book was resolved felt quite unlikely. However, it was a great escape read.

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

 

‘The LightHouse’ – Fran Dorricott

The Lighthouse had the potential to be a humdinger of a book. A group of friends are travelling to a remote Scottish island to stay on an island for their reunion holiday. Unfortunately, it soon becomes apparent that things are not quite as they seem. From early on we’re waiting to see the creepy things we assume will happen, and yet I couldn’t help feeling things fell a little flat.

Our initial introduction to the characters hints at discord between them. The presence of a new partner will, we assume, be problematic and at least one of them shows signs of growing mental instability. Throw alcohol into the mix and we soon see that things between this group are far from rosy. As we get to see their interactions it’s hard to work out whether the problems are down to them, or if there is something supernatural happening.

After an intriguing start, I felt everything slowed down just a little too much. Seeds of upset are sown, but things took a long time to really develop and the reactions of some of the characters felt rather exaggerated. As we only see their reaction to events, and sometimes some time after the event, it became increasingly hard to feel concerned.

Once we start to get answers as to what’s going on, I found myself frustrated. I can’t imagine this scenario would have taken place, and gone uncovered, so it was difficult to understand how the group got to where they did. The resolution to their problem felt unnaturally quick, and I can’t honestly imagine anyone would experience such an event and be so willing to effectively ignore it.

While I didn’t find this quite as engaging as I’d hoped, I’d like to thank NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this before publication in exchange for my honest review.

 

‘The Undiscovered Deaths of Grace McGill’ – C.S. Robertson

 

Grace McGill…a character who makes her living out of death, and the undiscovered deaths referred to in the title are not quite what we might believe. Our journey with Grace might seem quite predictable in ways, but it throws up some interesting diversions along the way.

I’ve noticed there’s been an increasing number of characters in books released over the last year or so that are likely to be on the autistic spectrum and Grace is no exception. Socially awkward, lonely, liable to become fixated on certain topics and with a keen sense of right and wrong…Grace ticks a lot of the conventional boxes that alienate her in a neurotypical world. Her choice of job exacerbates the sense of oddness that hangs over Grace, but it’s crucial to what unfolds.

Grace is a death cleaner. She is called to clean up after a body has been discovered – often having lain undisturbed for months, sometimes years. Grace cleans and decontaminates these rooms, preparing them once again to join the normal world. The details given are stomach-churning, but to shy away from them would make us part of the problem. Grace believes that these people she works with, though no longer with us, are victims. Victims of society. The ones that slip through the cracks, with nobody deeming them important enough to check in with. So Grace vows to do her duty and help them leave this world with dignity.

I’ll admit to finding the details about Grace’s work unpleasant but darkly fascinating. I was intrigued by her attitude to her work, and the revelation that she creates these beautiful dioramas of the rooms she encounters struck me as unusual. Grace’s determination to honour each of her clients in representing their final rooms showed her obsessive nature to perfection. So it came as little surprise when she started to notice patterns in the scenes…

When she goes to the police with her observations about a dried daisy being found in two of the rooms she has recently cleaned they virtually laugh her out of the station. Yet Grace is convinced there’s more to this than meets the eye. In her mind, these deaths are related and she is determined to find out how.

It was at this point – a little over halfway through – that the book takes a turn in a rather unexpected direction and shifts into more familiar territory. Grace gets caught up in investigating a decades-old mystery, determined to restore dignity to this young girl who went missing after a holiday with friends. This shift in focus jars initially, and felt a little disappointing after such an intriguing opening, but as things continue it becomes apparent why it’s been done this way.

Grace McGill is not a character that readers will necessarily find endearing. She’s not without her faults, and yet there’s something about her and her story that gets under your skin. As we got given more details about Grace and the mystery of Valerie Moodie it was apparent that there was more to the character of Grace than meets the eye. There were signs throughout the book of what was happening, but it was easy to overlook them or – as I did – think I was reading too much into a throwaway comment. However you come to view Grace it’s hard not to be affected by her final work and what it tells us about her.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this before publication. I can’t wait to see how Grace is received when she makes her way into the world in January 2022.

‘The Christie Affair’ – Nina de Gramont

Due for release early 2022, I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the chance to read this before publication. The Christie Affair focuses us on the imagined story of what happened when the novelist Christie disappeared for a period of eleven days.

Though I was aware of this period in Christie’s story, I didn’t know any details and I found Gramont’s version of events highly entertaining. I had expected the character of Agatha to play more of a key role in the story but I actually found myself caught up in the story of our narrator.

Our narrator, Nan, is a young woman who has been having an affair with Archie Christie. For reasons that become clear later, she is determined to make a future with him. Obviously, the fact he is married makes this difficult. When Agatha is told about the affair she is angry…and the next thing we know, her car is found abandoned by a nearby lake and there is no trace of her. She’s abandoned her daughter, taken little with her and the worst is assumed about her husband.Though at this stage in her life Christie is not the celebrated author she becomes, she’s certainly known well-enough that her disappearance sparks a nationwide manhunt. Archie is under suspicion, and people are determined to find her/learn what happened.

In spite of her being the other woman, Nan is a likeable character who actually seems more central to events than we might expect. As we unearth Nan’s story it’s unclear how much is true, but she certainly knows how to spin a yarn.

Imagined it may be, but this tale of Christie’s missing days was a cracking read.

 

‘The Man in the Brown Suit’ – Agatha Christie

The Man in the Brown Suit is my first foray into the 2022 Christie challenge, and I knew nothing about it before starting.

Our main character is the spirited Anne Bedingfield, a young woman who is not without intelligence and who finds herself firmly embroiled in a mystery like no other, the mystery concerning the man in the brown suit.

After the death of her father Anne finds herself low on funds but determined to make something of herself. When travelling one day she finds herself caught up in some rather unusual events.

A young man, scared by something he has seen, falls onto the rails and is killed. A doctor in a brown suit attempts to help, but Anne soon realises that this mystery man is far more involved than initially suggested.

With the murder of a Russian ballerina at the home of a respected gentleman, Sir Eustace Pedlar, it seems that there is more to this. Rather than walk away, Anne determines to investigate further and finds herself on a boat headed for South Africa.

The story focuses on Anne’s attempts to work out what’s happened, and a lot of to-ing and fro-ing between characters who are not all that they seem. Diamonds, double crossing and attempted murders keep the frantic pace going, although it felt the ending rather fizzled out. However, as a first journey into the Christie back catalogue it wasn’t a bad start.

 

‘The Night Caller’ – Martina Murphy

The Night Caller is a slow-burn thriller, interweaving a standard police procedural with an intriguing character study.

Set in Ireland, we follow our two main characters as they are investigating a murder. A young woman was found, beaten, and the investigation into her death throws up some rather odd facts. Though we don’t learn how until much later, it’s tied to a killing that took place years earlier and some more recent crimes.

I enjoyed learning about Dan and Lucy as we watch them carry out their investigation. They each have their issues, and I can certainly see these being explored further if this is part of a series. While this was interesting, it never became a distraction from the gritty focus of our main story.

As things progressed, I found myself slack-jawed at what was unravelling. The crime and our knowledge of the one responsible was quite unexpected, though the clues are there if you remain alert.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to read this before publication in exchange for my review.

 

‘The Twyford Code’ – Janice Hallett

 

The Twyford Code is, I think, going to be one of those Marmite stories…but, however you respond to it overall, it’s a cleverly constructed puzzle.

Told through a series of audio file transcripts, it appears to be a series of recordings from ex-con Steven Smith to his son. In the files, Steven tries to work out exactly what happened to his remedial English teacher, Miss Isles, after she took he and his peers on a school trip and disappeared. For Steven this event is inextricably linked to his discovery of a book on a bus, a book by the writer Edith Twyford. This book was filled with strange markings, which his teacher interpreted as a code for helping to decipher a long-forgotten mystery. Steven can only recall fragments of that day so upon his release from prison he tries to use his old schoolmates to work out what happened.

Initially, I found it quite a puzzle to read. The transcriptions are not always clear, and some words are inaccurately presented. However, once you get a feel for the language then it is less noticeable.

The story is a fantastic one. Seen through the eyes of a rather unlikely hero, it’s very much a story that seems to make little sense. Steven’s obsession with the Twyford Code and his attempts to work out what it all means lead to all manner of scrapes. Things become increasingly dangerous, and it seems that there may be more to this than we were led to believe.

As the story nears its conclusion it becomes clearer that what has been presented to us is very much a smokescreen. Usually, this would annoy me no end, but I found it helped to make sense of some of the little details that had irritated me as I was reading. Now there was a reason for them, and it wasn’t quite what I expected.

I’m excited to see how this book is received by others once it’s released. Now I have finished it and know what’s being hidden, I think this might be a book to reread and enjoy in a whole new light. Though I enjoyed The Appeal, this was a whole new experience and I can’t wait to see what Hallett comes up with next.

Thanks to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this in advance of publication, and what a book to end 2021’s reading with.

 

‘Apples Never Fall’ – Liane Moriarty

Apples Never Fall is a book that fans of Moriarty may love unreservedly, but which may perplex others.

The story begins rather slowly…with the disappearance of Joy Delaney.
Joy, along with her husband Stan, is a character who seems to have it all. A long marriage, four adult children, a successful tennis coach and embarking on retirement in a comfortable situation. Yet Joy disappears, leaving no note and a garbled text message to each of her children. Her husband has scratches on his face…and the detective investigating this case is, probably rightly, suspicious of the family and their reluctance to tell all.

The initial setting-up of the story felt odd, and it soon becomes apparent that there is more to this. A mysterious young woman arrived on the doorstep of the Delaney home, claiming to have been attacked by her boyfriend. They take her in, and she quickly becomes embedded in their nest.

The arrival of this cuckoo definitely stirs things up. We don’t learn the details quickly, but I was intrigued by the way these characters interacted and the shifting focus we had which allowed us – slowly – to start piecing things together.
While the story is not quite the dramatic one I thought it was going to be, I actually found myself liking it more because of the way it examined relationships and how our actions can impact on others even years down the line.

Without giving too much away, the ending had – for me – a wonderful conflict. There was happiness and acceptance on one hand and a chilling sense of a story yet to be uncovered.

 

‘Real Easy’ – Marie Rutkoski

Real Easy was not what I expected at all…and I’m grateful to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this before publication.
Our setting is the Lovely Lady strip club. We get to meet the girls, the other staff and some of the patrons over the course of the novel as we watch the police try to uncover the identity of the person responsible for running two women (both of whom worked at the club) off the road, killing one and then holding the other hostage.
The scenario around the serial killer targeting strippers feels like it has been done before, but this was a cast of characters that you couldn’t help but root for. We receive a sympathetic portrayal of a business that may not be to everyone’s states, and a chilling reminder set of the risks involved in certain types of work.
There were more than one or two moments where I found it hard not to prejudge. While I still had a lot of questions, there was plenty to keep me satisfied.