Once again I’m linking up again with Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea who hosts a post every Tuesday for people to share the first chapter / paragraph of the book they are reading, or thinking of reading soon. In really enjoy these tasters when I read them on other blogs so wanted to join in.
This week I am reading Quieter Than Killing by Sarah Hilary, an author I’ve read before but not for many moons. Here’s what it’s about….
It’s winter, the nights are dark and freezing, and a series of seemingly random assaults is pulling DI Marnie Rome and DS Noah Jake out onto streets of London. When Marnie’s family home is ransacked, there are signs that the burglary can have only been committed by someone who knows her. Then a child goes missing, yet no-one has reported it. Suddenly, events seem connected, and it’s personal.
Someone out there is playing games. It is time for both Marnie and Noah to face the truth about the creeping, chilling reaches of a troubled upbringing. Keeping quiet can be a means of survival, but the effects can be as terrible as killing.
And here’s how it starts…
Six years ago
He’s washing the car–slapping water, sloppy. She’s in the kitchen, cutting. Not meat and not bread, something that chunks under the knife. Carrots, or onions. The sounds soak up through the house to where Stephen is sitting in the room with the red wall.
What do you think – not much to go on is it? Would you keep reading to find out more?
As a dense yellow fog swirls through the streets of London, a deep melancholy has descended on Sherlock Holmes, who sits in a cocaine-induced haze at 221B Baker Street. His mood is only lifted by a visit from a beautiful but distressed young woman – Mary Morstan, whose father vanished ten years before. Four years later she began to receive an exquisite gift every year: a large, lustrous pearl. Now she has had an intriguing invitation to meet her unknown benefactor and urges Holmes and Watson to accompany her. And in the ensuing investigation – which involves a wronged woman, a stolen hoard of Indian treasure, a wooden-legged ruffian, a helpful dog and a love affair – even the jaded Holmes is moved to exclaim, ‘Isn’t it gorgeous!’
Inspired by the recent return of Sherlock on TV (and then left bereft by his all too quick departure from our screens – why are the series so short?), I decided to pick up a copy of Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four.
This is the second Sherlock Holmes novel and the second I’ve read and it’s a hard one to review because the story and the character are so entwined with the versions I have seen in films and on TV – not just Benedict Cumberbatch (who is brilliant) but also Basil Rathbone and Jeremy Brett (both of whom I remember from my childhood). It’s hard not to compare what I’ve seen with what I’ve read, when really I should be seeing the book as a standalone.
So, when the book opens and Holme’s is abusing cocaine because he is bored, my minds eye see Benjamin Cumberbatch spiralling in the latest season of Sherlock. When Holmes leaps from a window to chase a suspect, I see Jeremy Brett full of energy doing the same thing. And when Holmes is lecturing Watson – well, I could see any of the actors doing that because that is a common trend in every version I’ve seen. What has changed over the years is how energetically Holmes is played, manically even at times, with pace and vigour and enthusiasm for the chase.
What it is good to see is that these characteristics are not merely a reflection of the times or the actor so much as how Holmes is in the books. He takes cocaine when he is bored, stops when a case presents itself and then throws himself into this case fully, never sleeping (saying he does not need it) and barely pausing for breath.. It’s an energy that makes the character almost leap out of the page and, as a reader, carried me along through a plot which – if I’m honest – had more than a few holes and required more than a few leaps of logic. Because it was Sherlock making those leaps, though, all was forgiven.
The story itself follows a formula that seems pure Conan Doyle – a seemingly unsolvable mystery that has police and Doctor Watson baffled but that Holmes solves through a keen eye for observation and a way of seeing the world differently. Here it starts with a young woman – Mary Morstan – asking Holmes and Watson for help. Ten years previously her father disappeared; since then she has been receiving a pearl annually with no note or idea who it has come from. Until the most recent gift asked her to meet her “benefactor” with the promise that the truth will be revealed.
It is too good a case for Holmes to turn down and he launches himself into the investigation. Despite his announcement it will be easily solved, this isn’t the case as the initial meeting with the benefactor leads them to finding a dead body. A man has been murdered in a locked room – there are no means of entry to the room and no sign of a murder weapon. Police (as always) are clueless but Holmes is not, as he is only to keen to tell Watson.
What follows is a high-speed chase through London before the villains escape with Holmes fully in charge and leading the way (and, whilst he says he is beaten more than once, you never get the feeling he really is). There are plenty of twists and turns along the way to keep you interested and I enjoyed reading about a London I will never know with the smog, the river rats, the social mores. Reading a book written during the time period in which it is set can never be beaten for truly getting a feel for how things really were.
Watson, meanwhile, is a faithful recorder of events – both of Holmes’ actions but also his thoughts and feelings in relation to the case and Miss Morstan. Although usually portrayed as bumbling, Watson isn’t as dumb as he first appears – it’s just that nobody is as quick or as smart as Holmes. He is never going to be the one that solves the case – but he is the one that brings a balance to the story, the human element against an almost superhuman Holmes. Of the two, Watson I can relate to; Holmes I cannot.
That doesn’t mean I don’t like Holmes but he is in many ways a mix of characteristics vs. a personality if that makes sense. Watson is rounded and feels real. I could imagine sitting and having a conversation with him whereas with Holmes I would get a lecture and end up feeling pretty stupid I fear. It didn’t put me off the book (it’s not like I didn’t know what to expect) but I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first and only other Sherlock book I’ve read, a Study in Scarlet. Holmes was too hyper for me here, the plot required me to suspend belief too many times and, in the end, whilst I liked it, I probably wouldn’t go any further than that.
Emma
Source: Library
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Publication Date: Various (first published 1890)
Pages: 130
Format: paperback
Genre: crime, mystery, thriller
Morning all and welcome to another Sunday and another weekly round-up. Whilst this one started off a bit crazy for me (work again – no point in even going there, it just never seems to end) it ended in a very lazy way because, as of Friday, I am now on holiday for a week. It is much needed and, even though we aren’t going anywhere warm, we have lots of fun day trips planned ending with a long weekend away with friends.
Hopefully, I will find some time to do some of the “admin” I need to do on my blog – the nice to do list runs to pages at moment. At the very least I will get some reading done, a good thing as I have a fully loaded kindle at the moment with library books, ARCs, and purchased books. This week I added (clicking on the covers links to goodreads)…
I know I said I was going to stretch myself this month and not read so much crime fiction but at least there is one non-fiction book on there. Have you read any of these – where should I start? I have to say I’m tempted to go for Angela Marsons as I have been wanting to read Evil Games forever and know I’m so far behind in the series.
Reading wise, I did o.k. this week thanks to lots of time on trains. Plus I managed to post each day again (I’m going to have to stop patting myself on the back for this as I’ve managed it every week since Christmas)…
On Monday, I reviewed The Breakdown by B. A. Paris, which I really enjoyed. Here a young woman is murdered on a country road on a stormy night. The only possible witness, another young woman, is scared to tell and scared of life as she becomes convinced the killer is after her – if only she could get someone to believe her.
On Wednesday, I reviewed Captive on the Fens by Joy Ellis, the sixth in the Nikki Galena series. Here Nikki (Lincolnshire Detective) is on the hunt for a man who is kidnapping and torturing young women. It’s a tense read with great twists and turns. Plus Nikki is a great character.
On Friday, as part of Feature and Follow I wrote about my favourite re-read – there is only one for me, Dracula by Bram Stoker.
And that was it for my week – how was yours – what di you read? what did you do?
Emma x
This week, I’m linking in with Kimba at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and her Sunday Post and with (a little early) Katherine at Book Date for It’s Monday, What Are you Reading? Head over by clicking on their badges below to see what other bloggers have read, written about or just added to their shelves.
Once again, I’m joining in again with Feature & Follow hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. Each week they post a prompt, which you respond to, and then spend some time visiting and following other blogs (the following is an important part). Feel free to join in – it’s fun and a great way to meet other bloggers.
This weeks prompt is…
What book do you reread the most? (For people who don’t reread, what books have you considered rereading?)
This is a pretty easy one to answer because I rarely re-read books, and when I do it’s only once. Which means I don’t have to sit here trying to coust re-reads on my fingers because there is only one book up for consideration, Dracula by Bram Stoker.
I actually don’t know how many times I have read Dracula, at least 10 times and probably more since I first read it as a teenager. Every few years I have an overwhelming desire to read it.
Why this book? Because it scares me, every time, and I love being scared. I always read it at night and always at winter. And then I always sleep with the hall light on. It’s just so creepy and tension just build s all the way through.
Plus, it’s set in part in my favourite part of the world (yes world), Whitby. With it’s cliffs, harbour, gothic church and ruined abbey it is the perfect setting for Dracula to land and when I read it I could picture it clear as day. And it sent a chill down my spine.
As far as books go, I know many now are gorier and hold more twists and turns but this still can’t be beaten for me for setting a scene, building tension, and presenting the ultimate villan, one you kind of want to meet.
What about you, what do you re-read or what do you think you should?
You don’t have to believe in ghosts for the dead to haunt you.
You don’t have to be a murderer to be guilty.
Within six months of Pen Sheppard starting university, three of her new friends are dead. Only Pen knows the reason why.
College life had seemed like a wonderland of sex, drugs and maybe even love. The perfect place to run away from your past and reinvent yourself. But Pen never can run far enough and when friendships are betrayed, her secrets are revealed. The consequences are deadly.
‘This is about three deaths. Actually more, if you go back far enough. I say deaths, but perhaps all of them were murders. It’s a grey area. Murder, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. So let’s just call them deaths and say I was involved. This story could be told a hundred different ways.’
When Pen leaves home, taking a bus to her new life at university, her mother doesn’t even bother to say goodbye – instead, it’s her mother’s latest boyfriend that drops her at the station. When she arrives, fellow students can’t believe she has only one suitcase – and shows a gullibility beyond that of most new students. You know this because she tells you, writing in a journal her psychologist has encouraged her to write. It has all happened in the past and it is her version of events – something even she admits – though she says this version is the truth.
As a reader, you have to decide if it is – the truth – or if it’s a story to gain your trust and your sympathy, both of which Pen seems to think it’s important to gain as she slowly reveals why she is visiting a psychologist and why she is writing a diary. The reason is death – it seems to surround her. Her college friends died and her best childhood friend is in prison after killing a police officer. In both instances, Pen says she is an innocent bystander but – with so much death surrounding her – you have to wonder if that is the case.
As far as a plot goes, this sounded like a good one to me. I was eager to read the book and imagined plenty of twists, turns, red herrings and questions – my type of story. Unfortunately, I got so many twists I couldn’t keep up and, at least two weeks after finishing the book, I still am not sure exactly what I read or what I was supposed to get from the story.
The main problem for me was how it was told. There is Pen in the present, talking to her psychologist and sharing snippets of her life (having moved back at home after the murders of her friends), the Pen of the past writing about her life in college, and the Pen of the past past, writing about her friend’s murdering of a police officer. Then there’s the story Pen is telling her psychologist, which is different from her diary and which she admits isn’t the truth. Confused? I was.
Normally multiple threads don’t bother me and I like unreliable narrators. I am used to books that hop between past and present or have more than one voice telling the story and I love having to find out the truth – it keeps you engaged as a reader. Here though I didn’t know where I was in time and whether I was reading Pen’s diary or hearing her speak to her doctor. Part of the reason was that there was no break in the chapters to let me know the voice had changed. Text in italics or dates to head up the chapter would really have helped. Instead, I kept backtracking to try and figure out where in time I was.
As soon as I start doing that I lose the connection to the book, it takes me out of the story, and that is what happened here. I found that I really didn’t care, about Pen or what happened to her or her friends. If I’m honest, even if it had been easier to follow, I may not have cared anywhere because I didn’t like any of them. I really couldn’t find anything positive in their characters – they were all selfish and self-centred – or anyone to relate to. I think I was supposed to feel sympathy for Pen and understand how her behaviour in college was impacted by the death of the policeman but it took so long to get to the “what happened” there that I couldn’t pull anything back.
For all that, it wasn’t all bad. The first third wasn’t bad and I did find myself drawn in. I did want to know what happened and did see myself enjoying the book. However, as more secrets were revealed I just couldn’t keep up as I said and so my enjoyment turned to frustration, partly because I feel like there is a good story in here – I just couldn’t find it. A bit of a shame but it happens and does mean that this one wasn’t for me – sorry!
Emma
Source: Library
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Publication Date: 25th August, 2016 (first published 1st March, 2016)
Pages: 400
Format: ebook (Kindle)
Genre: mystery, thriller
A young woman’s body is found in a remote barn on the Fens. Before she was killed, one of her fingers had been cut off. Who is inflicting this violence and why? And can DI Nikki Galena stop them before anyone else suffers?
The young woman in the barn had been kept captive for some time. And the case shows strong similarities to an unsolved murder in Derbyshire. When another woman is found alive with similar injuries the case grows even more complicated.
At the same time, the Fenland police have received intelligence that the ruthless criminal Freddy Carver plans to make Greenborough the hub for his new enterprise. DI Nikki Galena is desperate to track down Freddie Carver and make sure that he does not put down roots in the Fens, but finding him is not easy. And what’s his connection to the kidnapped girls?
And who is the woman being held captive in a remote location? DI Nikki Galena must rally her team of detectives, while facing a traitor on the inside, in this captivating mystery which will have you gripped as Nikki races against time to save more than one victim, including someone she care deeply about
Detective Nikki Galena is back for the sixth book set in the Lincolnshire Fens, a place of beauty but also danger – at least in Joy Ellis’ world, where roads lead nowhere but the back of beyond and at night, even headlights aren’t enough to stop you getting completely lost or falling in a ditch. I have to say it’s not the fens I saw when I visited but I was only there a day or so. Now, I’m not sure sure I would go back. Unless of course I was in trouble and needed Nikki’s help.
Here, she and her team are on the hunt for a serial kidnapper, a man who takes young women, traps and tortures them; a kidnapper who seems linked to a local gangster (Carver) no police officer has ever been able to pin anything on – even though they know he is guilty of murder and worse. Nikki is convinced if they can catch the kidnapper, they can catch Carver, and sets her team on the trail of both. It’s a trail that leads them into the Fens and into neighbouring Derbyshire where more young women are turning up dead.
By heading into Derbyshire, Ellis was able to introduce a new character, Ben, who I hope we’ll be seeing more of, and give space to Cat, a member of Nikki’s team. I really liked that she did this, having Nikki not be centre stage the whole time and letting other characters come to the fore. Because there were different voices in Cat and Ben, it also changed the tone and the pacing of the book as it alternated between their investigation and Nikki’s. Neither of these were bad things and made the book feel different than previous reads and kept it fresh (something not always easy in series). Woven through is the voice of a kidnapped girl, one in pain, scared and possibly with not long to live – adding to the tension.
This is the third Nikki Galena novel I’ve read and one of the things that keep bringing me back is the tension Ellis brings to her stories, making you turn the pages. Another is that each has had a twist that turns the story on it’s head and makes you look at it afresh. They lull you into a false sense of security, making you think you are reading one story then realising you’ve been reading another. It’s taken me a while to catch on each time and, even though I should be prepared for it now, I still got caught out here.
I won’t say more than that for fear of spoilers, other than this is a well written, well plotted and well paced book with a strong and interesting female lead surrounded by characters I like in their own right. I liked it a lot and would definitely recommend it.
Once again I’m linking up again with Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea who hosts a post every Tuesday for people to share the first chapter / paragraph of the book they are reading, or thinking of reading soon. In really enjoy these tasters when I read them on other blogs so wanted to join in.
Right now I’m reading The Accidental Life of Greg Millar by Aimee Alexander and which has been on my TBR ever since reading about it over at Cleopatra Loves Books. Here’s what it’s about…
Lucy Arigho’s first encounter with Greg Millar is far from promising, but she soon realises he possesses a charm that is impossible to resist. Just eight whirlwind weeks after their first meeting, level-headed career girl Lucy is seriously considering his pleas to marry him and asking herself if she could really be stepmother material.
But before Lucy can make a final decision about becoming part of Greg’s world, events plunge her right into it. On holiday in the South of France, things start to unravel. Her future stepchildren won’t accept her, the interfering nanny resents her, and they’re stuck in a heat wave that won’t let up. And then there’s Greg. His behaviour becomes increasingly bizarre and Lucy begins to wonder whether his larger-than-life personality hides something darker—and whether she knows him at all.
And here’s how it starts…
A bird has just flown into my car – a moving car, a moving bird, heading in different directions yet somehow magically intersecting. I thought, at first, that it had simply flown close to my open window, passing by on its way somewhere else, but a manic flapping behind my head proves otherwise.
Cass is having a hard time since the night she saw the car in the woods, on the winding rural road, in the middle of a downpour, with the woman sitting inside―the woman who was killed. She’s been trying to put the crime out of her mind; what could she have done, really? It’s a dangerous road to be on in the middle of a storm. Her husband would be furious if he knew she’d broken her promise not to take that shortcut home. And she probably would only have been hurt herself if she’d stopped.
But since then, she’s been forgetting every little thing: where she left the car, if she took her pills, the alarm code, why she ordered a pram when she doesn’t have a baby.
The only thing she can’t forget is that woman, the woman she might have saved, and the terrible nagging guilt.
Or the silent calls she’s receiving, or the feeling that someone’s watching her…
Driving along country roads at night is never fun, especially in the pouring rain, and – for a woman alone – it can be especially scary, the idea of being stranded, alone, in the dark. For Cass all these fears start to come to the fore when she pulls over to help a stranded vehicle but can’t then get herself to get out of the car to see if the woman she sees sitting in the driver’s seat needs help. The fact that the woman doesn’t call out to her or get out of her car to talk to her convinces Cass she’s ok and so, instead of doing more, she heads home….only to wake up the next morning to the news that the woman is dead.
The news is bad enough, flooding Cass with guilt as she realises she may have been able to save the woman, but it’s made worse when she finds out that it’s someone she knew. This sends her spiralling, unable to sleep and a unable to concentrate. As the days and weeks go on, Cass struggles to get her mind back on track and starts to become more forgetful still, something which could be down to the murder, the mysterious calls she’s been receiving since then (with nobody speaking when she picks up), or it could be something worse – a sign of the early on-set dementia that killed her mother.
Her husband tells her it’s stress, her best friend tells her she’s been silly but Cass isn’t so sure. Something is wrong, a killer coiled be after her. The only problem is no one will believe her. That included me as a reader, at least at times. Her behaviour was so erratic; her friends, husband, doctors, are convinced she is stressed, anxious, cracking up and it does seem to be the case. B. A. Paris does a great job leaving you guessing almost all the way to the end as to who is right, then they reveal the truth and turn the story on its head.
It’s a formula followed by a lot of authors in this genre – the fragile woman who seems to be loosing her mind, the family and friends who want to support her but don’t believe her, the strange occurrences and odd happenings, before it all becomes clear at the end. I don’t mind formulas at all though as long as they are done well, and that was definitely the case here. B. A. Paris created an interesting character in Cass, one I couldn’t help but like and root for. She was well written, as was the book, with short chapters to keep you turning pages – which I did – and a strong plot.
When it got to the twist I had an inking but wasn’t 100% sure what was going to happen or how it would turn out. I thought B. A. Paris’ answer was clever and I was left completely satisfied. I hadn’t felt quite that way with their first book, though I had enjoyed it but this felt much more accomplished and much more confident. I am really glad I got the chance to read it – liked it a lot.
Morning everyone, welcome to another Sunday – the first in February – and a slightly less exciting one for me than last week, when I was off for afternoon tea. This one will be spent running errands unfortunately, not something I like to do on a Sunday but as yesterday was spent at birthday parties there is no choice if I want food in the fridge for the week. There might also be some painting and baking taking place if I can get motivated enough…it’s a big IF today though I must admit because last week felt like a long week (thank you again for that work) and really all I want to do is relax.
Despite work, I managed to post each day…my plan this year was to do that Monday to Friday as much as I could and so far I’ve managed it. Here’s what I wrote…
On Monday, I reviewed Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner, the latest instalment featuring her much-loved characters Quincy and Rainie – this time they are searching for the brother of their adoptive daughter, who might also be a killer.
On Tuesday, I introduced my latest read The Breakdown by B. A. Paris whitch I’ll be reviewing tomorrow so I’ll say no more about for now.
On Wednesday, I reviewed A Deadly Thaw by Sarah Ward, a really clever novel with a dead body turning up and turning out to be that of a man thought to have been dead for 12 years.
On Thursday, I posted my monthly round-up for January – bar a couple of books it was a good month if very crime heavy. I know it’s my favourite genre but I must add a bit of variety this month.
And that’s it for my blogging week. Reading wise, I didn’t do much, finishing one book – Captive on the Fens by Joy Ellis, though I did pick up a few to read (links to Goodreads)…
Which is where I will leave this week – how did yours go? what did you do, what did you read?
Emma x
This week, I’m linking in with Kimba at the Caffeinated Book Reviewer and her Sunday Post and with (a little early) Katherine at Book Date for It’s Monday, What Are you Reading? Head over to see what other bloggers have read, written about or just added to their shelves.
Once again, I’m joining in again with Feature & Follow hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read. Each week they post a prompt, which you respond to, and then spend some time visiting and following other blogs (the following is an important part). Feel free to join in – it’s fun and a great way to meet other bloggers.
This week, the prompt is…
Groundhog Day! What book or scene from a book could you live in and have it on “repeat?”
This is a difficult one as I don’t re-read many books so I’m going to have to go back to my childhood, when I read books again and again, and used to go to bed dreaming of the worlds I could live in and the characters I could be friends with. For me, then, there are two choices…
…first up I would join the Famous Five (making us the Famous Six!), which is where I think my love of crime fiction started. As a child I was a real tomboy and really, really, wanted to be George – my favourite character – and have the freedom to disappear in caravans and boats and live on islands without my parents.
…next would be Swallows and Amazons, another world of adventure I wished I could live. I could just picture myself sailing boats around the lakes, pretending to be pirates and fighting my enemies.
The funny thing is that, as an adult, I don’t like camping, fishing or the great outdoors and would probably be much better picking a world with Egyptian cotton sheets and five star hotels but I don’t read many books like those!
What about you – what world could you live in on repeat?
Once again I’m linking up again with Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea who hosts a post every Tuesday for people to share the first chapter / paragraph of the book they are reading, or thinking of reading soon. In really enjoy these tasters when I read them on other blogs so wanted to join in.
I actually don’t know how many times I have read Dracula, at least 10 times and probably more since I first read it as a teenager. Every few years I have an overwhelming desire to read it.
If you can’t trust yourself, who can you trust?
