Category: Thriller

‘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.

‘Contagion’ – Teri Terry

The first in a new Terry trilogy, ‘Contagion’ is a book that packs a punch.

Our story focuses firstly on a young girl, Callie, who went missing a year ago. She isn’t clear where she is – or even what she is – but she knows she is in an underground bunker, and that the people within its confines are experimenting with something.

Alongside Callie we are introduced to Shay, a teenage girl, who is struggling to fit into her new home in Scotland. She recognises a picture on a missing poster, and realises that she might well have been the last person to see this young girl alive. Of course, the girl she saw was Callie (it always helps for the stories to merge somewhere) and it helps that the brother desperately searching for Callie is not unattractive.

‘Contagion’ was a curious mix of genres – romance, thriller, dystopian – but I really liked the telling of the story through the two different viewpoints. It allowed us to do a little joining of the dots, and to get under the skin of the characters a little better.

As it becomes clear that there’s some form of contagion spreading through the country we join Shay and Callie in their attempts to work out who’s responsible, and how the country can fight back. I couldn’t have predicted some of the details that get dropped on us, but the writing about the fall-out of this spreading menace was horribly realistic.

My only real gripe with the novel was the fact that it ends with us still none the wiser about what has been happening. We have a couple of hints, but everything is left quite open. Frustrating, perhaps, but it has definitely left me desperate to get my hands on part two as soon as I can.

A huge thank-you to Teri Terry, publishers Hachette and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this prior to publication in mid-May 2017.

‘I Have No Secrets’ – Penny Joelsen

Due for release by Egmont in May 2017, Joelsen’s debut is a feel-good, dare I say it whimsical, story. I do not mean that response to sound so negative. As I was reading the story, I was desperate for the happy ending, and for things to work out as they did – but it all felt rather too neat once I’d had a little time to reflect on this.

The story is told through the voice of fourteen year old Jemma, a girl with severe cerebral palsy, who is unable to communicate with anyone. Yet do not make the mistake that many people who meet Jemma make…she is not stupid; she is totally sentient and she is a wry observer of the goings on around her. She simply cannot tell anyone about her experience or observations, and her frustration oozes from the page.

We are given privileged access into her mind, and her voice shines through the story. I loved the way she relays some of the issues of living with cerebral palsy without it turning into a pity-fest. She is a shrewd judge of character and her observations about her foster family and the other characters she interacts with were humorous. It is when she comes face to face with Dan, the boyfriend of her carer, right at the start of the book that we are given some indication that there is more to this than an attempt to raise awareness of living with disability.

Dan – convinced Jemma will never be able to communicate with those around her – is a very different character once he is left alone with her. In the best pantomime villain fashion he struts around Jemma’s living room or hospital room, making threats and revealing his prejudice (but only when he thinks nobody else is there to hear him). For this alone I would gladly have applauded all manner of nasty things happening to him. But Dan shares a big secret with Jemma. One that he can’t afford for anyone else to know. It’s such a shame that as we near the climax of the novel Jemma just so happens to come into contact with some wonderful researchers who are trialling a new method of communication that Jemma is actually able to use…yes, we know exactly where this is going, but we want it to happen and don’t care about how unlikely some of these events are. It all makes perfect sense at the time.

A huge thank you to Joelsen, along with Egmont and NetGalley, for allowing me the opportunity to read an ARC of this. Up there with ‘Wonder’ as one to get people talking…

‘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.

‘Bad Little Girl’ – Frances Vick

Bad Little Girl

Lorna Bell is one of those girls who live on the sidelines of life. She comes from ‘a bad family’ and her peers think she is a thief. It seems that, sadly, nothing is going to happen to help Lorna overcome the prejudices of others dealing with her.

Claire Penny is regarded as a bleeding heart teacher. She has taught in the same school for years, cares deeply about the pupils and is somewhat ridiculed by her peers. When she comes across young Lorna Bell there are definite suggestions that things aren’t right with the family, but Claire is manipulated into a dangerous situation.

Initially, the novel focuses on Claire and the extent to which an event in her past seems to have shaped her reaction to the pupils she teaches. She comes across as naive but well-meaning.

As the novel progresses we come to a much less credible scenario. There’s a definite sense of us not wanting to distrust Lorna-nowadays there’s too much potential for it to go wrong-but everything about her is just a little too calculating, a little too knowing and I found myself wondering just how far this would go.

Vick takes this story way beyond where it might have seemed credible into far-fetched territory. There may be readers who like the character of Marianne, and I suppose she does allow a Claire to take a step back from the situation, but I find it hard to believe that two grown women would get themselves into this scenario and also allow a child to terrorise them in the way Lorna does.

Sadly, for me, this was a book that was an interesting premise but just went into incredible territory and lost me.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my thoughts.

‘Behind Her Eyes’ – Sarah Pinborough

Behind Her Eyes

David and Adele seem like the ideal pair. He’s a successful psychiatrist, she is his picture-perfect wife who adores him. But why is he so controlling? And why is she keeping things hidden?

Having been entranced by ’13 Minutes’ I’ve gone through Pinborough’s other novels and had some mixed reactions. They’re well-written and there’s usually an element of mystery to them – and, on occasion, those twists you just don’t see coming. Having finally decided I had a clear enough run to read this without needing to keep stopping, I feel this is the same.

As with other reviews, this really is a book you need to know no more about than you’re given before you start.

The three main characters of David, Adele and Louise are all unlikeable to a degree. Their weaknesses are all too obvious, but this accurate depiction of them is, I think, what makes the premise of this work.

From the start it was all too clear that there was more to Adele and David’s relationship than we were being told. I spent most of the novel trying to second guess just who was playing whom…and I was getting there, but then the extra layer of oddness was drafted in and it totally bamboozled me.

Clever, very clever, but after I’d finished I couldn’t help but feel like I’d been conned. The ominous tone of the final scene also had me very uncomfortable!

‘Beware That Girl’ – Teresa Toten

Beware That Girl

It comes as little surprise to me that there are talks to turn this into a movie. Set against the background of an elite Manhattan school, we watch two girls – with plenty  to hide – play a dangerous game, and it has all the characteristics of a tense film. Unfortunately, though I had the sense that this could have been a great book, it just didn’t do it for me.

The story is told through a split narrative. Sadly this meant that I never felt I got to know either character well enough to really care about them or what happened to them. On one hand we have rich girl Olivia, used to getting everything she wants, and then we have scholarship girl Katie. Both girls have their secrets, which they will do pretty much anything to protect. So far, so familiar.

During their senior year the girls meet Mark Redkin, a member of staff whom everyone seems to fall in love with. Superficially, he seems to be everything someone could want but it soon becomes clear that he is not quite what he wants everyone to think he is. From the first time we meet him, there are obvious signals that something pretty nasty is going to happen.

I found the setting and characterisation of this book largely responsible for my not really engaging with it. I don’t think that Kate, as a survivor of serious domestic abuse, would have been left in quite as isolated a position as she is, and Olivia is so clearly struggling with addiction and mental health issues that I’m amazed she was let into school without more careful monitoring.

The role that abuse played in this story was uncomfortable. The constant flashbacks to Kate’s life didn’t help me understand her better and felt more than a little gratuitous. And as for Mark’s treatment of nearly everyone he encounters…call me naive but alarm bells would have been ringing way before he even stepped foot in the door.

It was once we got towards the end of the novel that I got a glimpse of what this could have been.

Having been somewhat disappointed with this, I think I have to just say that I didn’t click with the characters/story and yet I can see this gaining a lot of fans.