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patchworkbunny's Reviews (2.12k)
Ex-cop Jazz Callender is trying to drown her sorrows in a biker buy when James Borden walks into her life with a strange offer. Dressed in brand new, squeaky leathers, she can’t take him serious but he’s offering $100,000 for her to set up her own private investigation company. She can’t help but be intrigued and the resources would help her find a way to prove her ex-partner’s innocence. The catch is, she’s got to partner with a woman she’s never met and Borden refuses to tell her who he’s working for.
Full of suspicion and intrigue with kick-ass heroines, Devil’s Bargain is a thriller with only a hint of supernatural, but one that should appeal to fans of Rachel Caine’s writing. You really feel that Jazz is in a no win situation, with corrupt police threatening to stitch her up for something, just like Ben, her ex-partner who is now serving a life sentence and a suspicious sounding, secret organisation offering her the world. Jazz sways between denying ben’s innocence and blaming herself for trusting him. She’s altogether a bit of a mess but one thing the offer does, is bring her into contact with other people, people who may just help her put her life back together.
I liked how the supernatural side was just on the edge of being believable. No immortal creatures or fantastical powers here. I’m looking forward to see how that is explored in the next book, Devil’s Due. The explanation came across as a little rushed but that may come down to Jazz’s lack of belief and the fact they were in a life or death situation half the time.
A word of advice, don’t read the cover blurb; it contains a big fat spoiler. The cover itself has been designed to mirror the Morganville Vampires series, which may draw existing fans in but it isn’t young adult and relies heavily on the crime aspect, which I personally loved. I just think the whole package is a bit misleading, even down to the title.
Full of suspicion and intrigue with kick-ass heroines, Devil’s Bargain is a thriller with only a hint of supernatural, but one that should appeal to fans of Rachel Caine’s writing. You really feel that Jazz is in a no win situation, with corrupt police threatening to stitch her up for something, just like Ben, her ex-partner who is now serving a life sentence and a suspicious sounding, secret organisation offering her the world. Jazz sways between denying ben’s innocence and blaming herself for trusting him. She’s altogether a bit of a mess but one thing the offer does, is bring her into contact with other people, people who may just help her put her life back together.
I liked how the supernatural side was just on the edge of being believable. No immortal creatures or fantastical powers here. I’m looking forward to see how that is explored in the next book, Devil’s Due. The explanation came across as a little rushed but that may come down to Jazz’s lack of belief and the fact they were in a life or death situation half the time.
A word of advice, don’t read the cover blurb; it contains a big fat spoiler. The cover itself has been designed to mirror the Morganville Vampires series, which may draw existing fans in but it isn’t young adult and relies heavily on the crime aspect, which I personally loved. I just think the whole package is a bit misleading, even down to the title.
Alice Bell isn’t allowed out after dark. Her crazy, paranoid father will not permit it; he believes there are monsters out there just waiting to pick his family off. Until one night, her birthday, she persuades her parents to let her sister go to her dance recital, which finishes after sunset. What harm can it do? But that night she loses everything.
Supposedly inspired by Alice in Wonderland, the only links seem to be a girl called Alice, a cloud shaped like a rabbit and erm, a friend called Kat who sometimes grins. I think I was expecting more of a retelling or something, instead it seems to be a title designed to sell books. Plus the z-word isn’t even mentioned until page 175 which kind of ruins some of the suspense. The title in itself prevents you from doubting her “crazy” father from the start.
But that’s not the main problem with the book for me. If you’re going to deviate from the traditional with supernatural creatures, you have to spend time creating a believable mythology. If your zombies are just the walking dead then fine, we can just use our prior knowledge to fill in the gaps. Instead, Gena Showalter tries to make them a bit different and the result is a bit of a mess. She contradicts herself in what they are, the ending is impossible if you believe the explanation for how the dead can be reanimated. I also felt that the “special powers” were a bit silly and the book was trying to do too many things at once.
Oddly enough, I really enjoyed the high school part of it; strip the zombies and powers away and it becomes a reasonable contemporary story. The concept of the jocks not being at the top of the pecking order because the bad boys have some sort of feared respect was something I’d like to have seen more of. There’s Kat’s struggle between wanting to be popular and wanting to be content in her life; cast out when she’s with the wrong boy but allowed back in when she comes to her senses.
Of course there’s a good girl meets bad boy story at the heart of it, which is enjoyable enough. The friendship between Alice and Kat is the best part. There wasn't really enough emotion at the start when she loses her family though. The addition of Justin didn’t really make a love triangle; he seemed a bit of a clumsy add-on, created as a vehicle for the plot and nothing else.
Supposedly inspired by Alice in Wonderland, the only links seem to be a girl called Alice, a cloud shaped like a rabbit and erm, a friend called Kat who sometimes grins. I think I was expecting more of a retelling or something, instead it seems to be a title designed to sell books. Plus the z-word isn’t even mentioned until page 175 which kind of ruins some of the suspense. The title in itself prevents you from doubting her “crazy” father from the start.
But that’s not the main problem with the book for me. If you’re going to deviate from the traditional with supernatural creatures, you have to spend time creating a believable mythology. If your zombies are just the walking dead then fine, we can just use our prior knowledge to fill in the gaps. Instead, Gena Showalter tries to make them a bit different and the result is a bit of a mess. She contradicts herself in what they are, the ending is impossible if you believe the explanation for how the dead can be reanimated. I also felt that the “special powers” were a bit silly and the book was trying to do too many things at once.
Oddly enough, I really enjoyed the high school part of it; strip the zombies and powers away and it becomes a reasonable contemporary story. The concept of the jocks not being at the top of the pecking order because the bad boys have some sort of feared respect was something I’d like to have seen more of. There’s Kat’s struggle between wanting to be popular and wanting to be content in her life; cast out when she’s with the wrong boy but allowed back in when she comes to her senses.
Of course there’s a good girl meets bad boy story at the heart of it, which is enjoyable enough. The friendship between Alice and Kat is the best part. There wasn't really enough emotion at the start when she loses her family though. The addition of Justin didn’t really make a love triangle; he seemed a bit of a clumsy add-on, created as a vehicle for the plot and nothing else.
Cormac Easton is a journalist. A journalist left on a space-ship where his crew has died; all alone, contemplating the end. What happened isn’t really the question, they died in mundane ways, things that happen in space. In a vacuum.
First off, I absolutely loved this book, gripping and clever; it kept me up reading late into the night. Set in the not too distant future, the technology is on the edge of possibility. The spaceship setting has an eerie, claustrophobic feel. For as much as space is fascinating and beautiful, it’s pretty scary place even without the threat of aliens or anything the mind can fabricate. It doesn’t take much for something to go wrong and be life threatening.
James Smythe manages to combine a first person narrative with third at the same time. That might not make sense now, but I don’t want to reveal a spoiler for the second act. This removes some of the limitations of first person whereby things not in Cormac’s knowledge are revealed to the reader and to Cormac. Going forward, the novel is full of things that don’t quite make sense at the start. It’s the stuff of nightmares that a few days without brushing your teeth will make them loose! I read on (whilst trying not to poke my teeth) and patience was rewarded. And isn’t just a nice feeling when you have that ahhh moment?
Back on earth, flashbacks start to patch together the events that brought Cormac to the mission and his relationship with his wife. Elena came across as a bit needy and over-reactive at the start, but as the information is drip fed, you begin to realise why she was the way she was. Hindsight is all very good when he’s floating around in a doomed spaceship but most of us would be overjoyed that a loved one had a chance to do something so amazing. However is all leads up to another moment of realisation.
The politics of space travel are also touched on. Gone are the days of the space race where millions of dollars were thrown at space exploration. It is expensive and dangerous and there are justifications for the Ishiguro’s mission, even in an age where it’s not considered that important. Also raised are questions about private sector funding and implications.
The minutiae of space living is either going to be fascinating or tiresome, depending on if you’re interested in space travel. There’s not a lot to do in space after all. I enjoyed the descriptions of the day-to-day on-board the Ishiguro. Even if it’s not your thing, still give the book a chance, the writing and plot will carry you through.
Finally, there are some lovely writerly little touches; comments about tense and a wonderful passage approaching the end, contemplating the act of finishing reading an ebook.
First off, I absolutely loved this book, gripping and clever; it kept me up reading late into the night. Set in the not too distant future, the technology is on the edge of possibility. The spaceship setting has an eerie, claustrophobic feel. For as much as space is fascinating and beautiful, it’s pretty scary place even without the threat of aliens or anything the mind can fabricate. It doesn’t take much for something to go wrong and be life threatening.
James Smythe manages to combine a first person narrative with third at the same time. That might not make sense now, but I don’t want to reveal a spoiler for the second act. This removes some of the limitations of first person whereby things not in Cormac’s knowledge are revealed to the reader and to Cormac. Going forward, the novel is full of things that don’t quite make sense at the start. It’s the stuff of nightmares that a few days without brushing your teeth will make them loose! I read on (whilst trying not to poke my teeth) and patience was rewarded. And isn’t just a nice feeling when you have that ahhh moment?
Back on earth, flashbacks start to patch together the events that brought Cormac to the mission and his relationship with his wife. Elena came across as a bit needy and over-reactive at the start, but as the information is drip fed, you begin to realise why she was the way she was. Hindsight is all very good when he’s floating around in a doomed spaceship but most of us would be overjoyed that a loved one had a chance to do something so amazing. However is all leads up to another moment of realisation.
The politics of space travel are also touched on. Gone are the days of the space race where millions of dollars were thrown at space exploration. It is expensive and dangerous and there are justifications for the Ishiguro’s mission, even in an age where it’s not considered that important. Also raised are questions about private sector funding and implications.
The minutiae of space living is either going to be fascinating or tiresome, depending on if you’re interested in space travel. There’s not a lot to do in space after all. I enjoyed the descriptions of the day-to-day on-board the Ishiguro. Even if it’s not your thing, still give the book a chance, the writing and plot will carry you through.
Finally, there are some lovely writerly little touches; comments about tense and a wonderful passage approaching the end, contemplating the act of finishing reading an ebook.
Last month’s book group read was The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar and I have to admit it was one of the most boring books I’ve ever read (or not read completely). I took it with me to read on the way to London and whilst it was my only reading material, I was gazing out the window about 20 pages in. I did soldier on to page 100 but gave in when it showed no sign of improving. I am usually able to find something positive to say about a book so I think it garnered a lot of interest on Twitter when I said was bored by it. However a few people at book group really enjoyed it so don’t let me put you off if you think it’s your thing!
The main problem is all the misery. As a statement of class divide and oppression of women in modern India, it’s pretty bleak. These women are miserable about everything and have not one iota of joy in their lives. Where is the strong female character to give us hope? Whilst I can imagine the things that happen do happen, I’m convinced India is better than that. It’s also rather anti-men.
Then there’s the lack of plot. There wasn’t much happening, just a meandering string of (miserable) stories going from one character to the next. Having discussed with the rest of the group, I missed nothing by stopping where I did. I’d already worked out what had happened to Maya and there’s no other major plot point to focus on to keep you reading.
Finally, the writing left me cold. There were no evocative descriptions of India, as one member said “it could be set anywhere”. The characters were not written in a way which made you sympathise for them, despite the horrible things that happen, I just didn’t care which left me feeling a bit heartless. Someone pointed out that her journalistic background might account for this; the descriptions are very matter of fact, however I have read some amazing books from journalists so I don’t think it’s an excuse.
The main problem is all the misery. As a statement of class divide and oppression of women in modern India, it’s pretty bleak. These women are miserable about everything and have not one iota of joy in their lives. Where is the strong female character to give us hope? Whilst I can imagine the things that happen do happen, I’m convinced India is better than that. It’s also rather anti-men.
Then there’s the lack of plot. There wasn’t much happening, just a meandering string of (miserable) stories going from one character to the next. Having discussed with the rest of the group, I missed nothing by stopping where I did. I’d already worked out what had happened to Maya and there’s no other major plot point to focus on to keep you reading.
Finally, the writing left me cold. There were no evocative descriptions of India, as one member said “it could be set anywhere”. The characters were not written in a way which made you sympathise for them, despite the horrible things that happen, I just didn’t care which left me feeling a bit heartless. Someone pointed out that her journalistic background might account for this; the descriptions are very matter of fact, however I have read some amazing books from journalists so I don’t think it’s an excuse.
Single mum Lara returns to Bath for the first time since she was sixteen. Her father is dead but she really can’t bring herself to care. It’s not like he cared for her when he and her step-mum turfed her out the family home 18 years earlier. But when she meets up with her once best friend Evie, Lara decides to stay and that means bumping into her ex, Flynn and explaining her 18 year old daughter to him.
If you’ve read Jill Mansell’s books before, you’ll know what to expect. They are very similar in content and style but are fun easy reads. Instead of concentrating on just Lara’s story, the secondary characters get nearly the same page space. Lara is determined to match-make the newly single Evie with a variety of men but she gets the wrong end of the stick about the one she really likes (you know how it goes). Then there’s the odd side story of Harry the shirt-maker and an American rap star. By the end you realise Harry’s role in Lara’s life but it didn’t seem to fit with the rest of it.
The multiple plots means that everything’s over too quickly and it feels like things fall into to place far too easily in their lives. Which, when you think about it, isn’t really the case. I would have preferred a longer novel or just to concentrate on one character’s relationships.
If you’ve read Jill Mansell’s books before, you’ll know what to expect. They are very similar in content and style but are fun easy reads. Instead of concentrating on just Lara’s story, the secondary characters get nearly the same page space. Lara is determined to match-make the newly single Evie with a variety of men but she gets the wrong end of the stick about the one she really likes (you know how it goes). Then there’s the odd side story of Harry the shirt-maker and an American rap star. By the end you realise Harry’s role in Lara’s life but it didn’t seem to fit with the rest of it.
The multiple plots means that everything’s over too quickly and it feels like things fall into to place far too easily in their lives. Which, when you think about it, isn’t really the case. I would have preferred a longer novel or just to concentrate on one character’s relationships.
Fury’s Kiss is the third book in Karen Chance’s Dorina Basarab series and therefore this review may contain spoilers for the previous books. It is also set in the same universe as the Cassie Palmer series and shares some characters so they are really best read together (and in order).
When Dory wakes up in a strange lab, she has no memory of who she is but she knows one thing; she is a dhampir, half vampire, half human and her mission in life is to kill vampires. So when there’s one standing over her, she attacks, even if it is Louis-Cesare who is just trying to help. With her split nature, Dory is used to blacking out but when a team, of first-level masters is killed, she must regain her memories to find out what happened.
The characters in Karen Chance’s books are like friends to me now and I just love returning to their world and being immersed in their stories. I was surprised at first that Dory’s memory loss didn’t last long but soon it starts to come together. There are several memories (in italics) which really won’t make a lot of sense until the end and it’s one of those books that would deserve a re-read with the benefit of hindsight.
The memory loss means you don’t get that oh-so-common recap at the start and I found myself going back to the final chapter of Death’s Mistress just to remind myself where things lay. Although I like that the reader’s sense of disorientation mirrors Dory’s. Just as the Cassie Palmer series has the displacement of the time travel scenes, Fury’s Kiss delves into the landscape of memories and I enjoyed the visualisations.
We learn more about Dory’s dhampir side and you will start to worry for her future but there were some absolute awwww moments which will leave you satisfied. There is also plenty of laugh out loud humour, fast paced action and a good dollop of sexiness. I cannot wait until the next book considering what happens at the end (not a cliffhanger but on-going character development that I want to see continued). Just please write faster Karen! 2013 will see a new Cassie Palmer book but I fear there will be a long wait to meet up with Dory again.
When Dory wakes up in a strange lab, she has no memory of who she is but she knows one thing; she is a dhampir, half vampire, half human and her mission in life is to kill vampires. So when there’s one standing over her, she attacks, even if it is Louis-Cesare who is just trying to help. With her split nature, Dory is used to blacking out but when a team, of first-level masters is killed, she must regain her memories to find out what happened.
The characters in Karen Chance’s books are like friends to me now and I just love returning to their world and being immersed in their stories. I was surprised at first that Dory’s memory loss didn’t last long but soon it starts to come together. There are several memories (in italics) which really won’t make a lot of sense until the end and it’s one of those books that would deserve a re-read with the benefit of hindsight.
The memory loss means you don’t get that oh-so-common recap at the start and I found myself going back to the final chapter of Death’s Mistress just to remind myself where things lay. Although I like that the reader’s sense of disorientation mirrors Dory’s. Just as the Cassie Palmer series has the displacement of the time travel scenes, Fury’s Kiss delves into the landscape of memories and I enjoyed the visualisations.
We learn more about Dory’s dhampir side and you will start to worry for her future but there were some absolute awwww moments which will leave you satisfied. There is also plenty of laugh out loud humour, fast paced action and a good dollop of sexiness. I cannot wait until the next book considering what happens at the end (not a cliffhanger but on-going character development that I want to see continued). Just please write faster Karen! 2013 will see a new Cassie Palmer book but I fear there will be a long wait to meet up with Dory again.
The vampire race is dying out. Charged with their protection are the Black Dagger Brotherhood; an elite group of warriors who hunt down lesser and allow civilian vampires to lead their lives in peace. But when Darius is killed by one of the lesser, he leaves behind a daughter, half human half vampire and she doesn’t know what she is. Loyal to his brother, Wrath vows to protect her and help her through the transition, if she will even survive.
The Black Dagger Brotherhood series has a pretty established following and I often see bloggers getting excited about the latest instalment. I picked up a few copies in The Works over the years but only just got around to reading one. This is the first in the series and sets up an alternative vampire myth. The plot is a bit all over the place to be honest; there’s a lot of interesting elements and is an easy read, but looking back it is hard to summarise. It's a blend of urban fantasy, crime and romance which needed a bit more coherence to hit the mark.
The good bits? The incredibly creepy lessers are a great addition. Created from humans, they are soulless and follow the orders of the mysterious Omega. In charge of the New York lessers is X, who in human terms would be a sociopath and serial killer. I wanted to know more about the history and the hierarchy. The mythology shows promise and is at least a bit different from the norm.
However I’m not convinced by the vampires only feeding off other vampires and not humans part. It just seems a bit odd (and no wonder they’re dying out, they’re just like pandas). The names of the brotherhood annoyed me a bit, misspelled words that I suppose described aspects of them; Tohrment, Phury, Zsadist, Vishous. Only Wrath is spelled normally, and yes he is wrathful, it all seemed a bit clichéd. And why Darius had a normal name I don’t know; is it because he gets killed off in the opening chapters?
I personally found the relationships a bit vomit inducing. They start off quite hopefully with a bit of tension and general restraint but descend very quickly into mushiness. I’m sure there’s some vamp mojo at work but it really could have been done without all the gushing. Not to mention the sex scenes seemed a bit out of place in the general plot; especially when Beth bounces back so quickly from nearly being raped in an alley. The characters just don’t seem very consistent, although I liked them much more in kick ass mode. I also hope Zsadist gets developed more in later books, he shows promise to be an interesting and multi-faceted character.
The Black Dagger Brotherhood series has a pretty established following and I often see bloggers getting excited about the latest instalment. I picked up a few copies in The Works over the years but only just got around to reading one. This is the first in the series and sets up an alternative vampire myth. The plot is a bit all over the place to be honest; there’s a lot of interesting elements and is an easy read, but looking back it is hard to summarise. It's a blend of urban fantasy, crime and romance which needed a bit more coherence to hit the mark.
The good bits? The incredibly creepy lessers are a great addition. Created from humans, they are soulless and follow the orders of the mysterious Omega. In charge of the New York lessers is X, who in human terms would be a sociopath and serial killer. I wanted to know more about the history and the hierarchy. The mythology shows promise and is at least a bit different from the norm.
However I’m not convinced by the vampires only feeding off other vampires and not humans part. It just seems a bit odd (and no wonder they’re dying out, they’re just like pandas). The names of the brotherhood annoyed me a bit, misspelled words that I suppose described aspects of them; Tohrment, Phury, Zsadist, Vishous. Only Wrath is spelled normally, and yes he is wrathful, it all seemed a bit clichéd. And why Darius had a normal name I don’t know; is it because he gets killed off in the opening chapters?
I personally found the relationships a bit vomit inducing. They start off quite hopefully with a bit of tension and general restraint but descend very quickly into mushiness. I’m sure there’s some vamp mojo at work but it really could have been done without all the gushing. Not to mention the sex scenes seemed a bit out of place in the general plot; especially when Beth bounces back so quickly from nearly being raped in an alley. The characters just don’t seem very consistent, although I liked them much more in kick ass mode. I also hope Zsadist gets developed more in later books, he shows promise to be an interesting and multi-faceted character.
The Calling is the second book in the Darkness Rising trilogy and therefore this review will contain spoilers for the first book, The Gathering.
After fleeing the forest fire, Maya and her friends start to suspect their helicopter pilot doesn’t have their best interests at heart. When a scuffle breaks out, they lose control and crash land on the shore of Vancouver Island. Miles away from civilisation, they must find their way back to their parents without getting caught. But Maya has only just discovered what she is; a skin-walker. Can she trust her friends with the truth and will they even believe her?
After putting The Calling off for months, I ended up liking it a lot more than the first book in the trilogy. It somehow seems more like a Kelley Armstrong book, perhaps the presence of the cabals is the cause or the concept of supernaturals trying to get to grips with their powers, which is common in her work. For a moment, I thought she was going to make the mistake of teenagers being able to fly a helicopter (really, computer games do not prepare you) but it’s fine, they crashed. I know, I sound cruel, but the resulting trek across Vancouver Island makes for a surprisingly gripping story.
There’s bickering, misunderstandings and jealousy. Everything you’d expect when a bunch of hormonal teens ended up stuck together in the woods, even without taking their supernatural situation into account. I found the bits about Rafe a bit predictable but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to keep on reading just to make sure! The ending at least felt a little bit more like an ending this time too.
After fleeing the forest fire, Maya and her friends start to suspect their helicopter pilot doesn’t have their best interests at heart. When a scuffle breaks out, they lose control and crash land on the shore of Vancouver Island. Miles away from civilisation, they must find their way back to their parents without getting caught. But Maya has only just discovered what she is; a skin-walker. Can she trust her friends with the truth and will they even believe her?
After putting The Calling off for months, I ended up liking it a lot more than the first book in the trilogy. It somehow seems more like a Kelley Armstrong book, perhaps the presence of the cabals is the cause or the concept of supernaturals trying to get to grips with their powers, which is common in her work. For a moment, I thought she was going to make the mistake of teenagers being able to fly a helicopter (really, computer games do not prepare you) but it’s fine, they crashed. I know, I sound cruel, but the resulting trek across Vancouver Island makes for a surprisingly gripping story.
There’s bickering, misunderstandings and jealousy. Everything you’d expect when a bunch of hormonal teens ended up stuck together in the woods, even without taking their supernatural situation into account. I found the bits about Rafe a bit predictable but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to keep on reading just to make sure! The ending at least felt a little bit more like an ending this time too.
When Camille receives a letter describing events from pre-war France, she is sure that the writer has got the wrong address. When the letters continue to arrive, she starts to suspect one of her authors, pitching a new novel in a different yet sneaky manner. But as the letters keep coming, they tell the story of Louis and Annie, struggling with their own personal drama against the back drop of war. Camille becomes wraps up in the story as she slowly comes to realise that she is not a random recipient.
When the novel opens, Camille’s mother has just died and the last of the condolence letters had dropped through the door. Set, in part at least, in 1970s Paris, this allows the letter format to be less out of place than today. An untraceable correspondence full of secrets and lies; a confession on behalf of others.
When the letters start, they sound like a very normal tale of a boy and a girl in rural France, but soon artistic Annie is whisked off to Paris by a glamorous woman merely known as Madame M. In her naivety, on learning of her friend’s infertility, Annie offers to bear a child on her behalf. In the years after the Great War, there was a huge push to repopulate France and having children was practically their patriotic duty. But as you can imagine, a simple act of kindness can soon turn nasty and The Confidant soon turns into a gripping tale.
Just as Camille starts to crave the next instalment, the reader will want to keep going until the shattering end. It’s one of those books I instantly wanted to go back and read again. Whilst the modern day story was relevant, it didn’t take over and didn’t leave me feeling it was getting in the way of the historical one. Overall it’s a wonderfully well balanced time-slip novel. Camille’s circumstances mean that the unfolding story resonates with her and there are some connections, perhaps more would be made on a re-read. Hindsight is such a useful thing!
When the novel opens, Camille’s mother has just died and the last of the condolence letters had dropped through the door. Set, in part at least, in 1970s Paris, this allows the letter format to be less out of place than today. An untraceable correspondence full of secrets and lies; a confession on behalf of others.
When the letters start, they sound like a very normal tale of a boy and a girl in rural France, but soon artistic Annie is whisked off to Paris by a glamorous woman merely known as Madame M. In her naivety, on learning of her friend’s infertility, Annie offers to bear a child on her behalf. In the years after the Great War, there was a huge push to repopulate France and having children was practically their patriotic duty. But as you can imagine, a simple act of kindness can soon turn nasty and The Confidant soon turns into a gripping tale.
Just as Camille starts to crave the next instalment, the reader will want to keep going until the shattering end. It’s one of those books I instantly wanted to go back and read again. Whilst the modern day story was relevant, it didn’t take over and didn’t leave me feeling it was getting in the way of the historical one. Overall it’s a wonderfully well balanced time-slip novel. Camille’s circumstances mean that the unfolding story resonates with her and there are some connections, perhaps more would be made on a re-read. Hindsight is such a useful thing!
When Jeremy Dyson is contacted by journalist Aiden Fox to uncover Britain’s hidden ghost stories, he embarks a hardened sceptic. As he sets off around the country he learns how the mundane can turn terrifying in an instant.
The success of many of these stories is the complete normality running up to the ghost encounter. One minute you’re reading about the minutiae of everyday lives and the next an edge of fear has crept into the text. The fear that a noise or a touch can bring is somehow much more real than monsters that lurk in the dark. Hardened horror fans may find the pace a little slow but I found several of the stories really gave me the creeps.
The Haunted Book is rather ambiguously marketed, presented as a collection of ghost stories from around Britain sourced by Dyson. It is left up to the reader to decide the truth but inevitably it becomes clear it if fiction masquerading as non-fiction. Even if you are inclined to believe in the stories themselves, the fact that there’s a book within a book, within a book would leave very little that could be genuinely attributed to Dyson.
Like many short story collections, there are hits and misses and I found myself skipping over a few. Yet there was always the feeling that you could turn the page to be confronted with something terrifying and the lack of it just adds a little to the tension. What really lifted the book for me was the end; hidden away in those black pages. If you are a book geek you will love it. Maybe every book should end that way!
The physical hardback is certainly one of those books that begs to be picked up. Indeed, when reading at my desk during lunch (because I’m a big wimp and need to read scary things in daylight) several people came and leafed through it. The designer has managed to replicate the old journal look perfectly.
The success of many of these stories is the complete normality running up to the ghost encounter. One minute you’re reading about the minutiae of everyday lives and the next an edge of fear has crept into the text. The fear that a noise or a touch can bring is somehow much more real than monsters that lurk in the dark. Hardened horror fans may find the pace a little slow but I found several of the stories really gave me the creeps.
The Haunted Book is rather ambiguously marketed, presented as a collection of ghost stories from around Britain sourced by Dyson. It is left up to the reader to decide the truth but inevitably it becomes clear it if fiction masquerading as non-fiction. Even if you are inclined to believe in the stories themselves, the fact that there’s a book within a book, within a book would leave very little that could be genuinely attributed to Dyson.
Like many short story collections, there are hits and misses and I found myself skipping over a few. Yet there was always the feeling that you could turn the page to be confronted with something terrifying and the lack of it just adds a little to the tension. What really lifted the book for me was the end; hidden away in those black pages. If you are a book geek you will love it. Maybe every book should end that way!
The physical hardback is certainly one of those books that begs to be picked up. Indeed, when reading at my desk during lunch (because I’m a big wimp and need to read scary things in daylight) several people came and leafed through it. The designer has managed to replicate the old journal look perfectly.