Book Review: Courtney Summers - The Project (published in 2021)

 

I don't know why but when I read a book by Courtney Summers it takes me a while to really understand what I'm reading. I'm going to be re-reading [book:Sadie|34810320] to see what it is about her writing that is confusing me a bit. 

 

That having been said, once I got into it. I was fully into it, hard-hitting feels and all. 

 

This book is about two sisters. After Lo's parents die her sister Bea joins the Unity Project. Lo spends years trying to prove her gut-feeling that there's something wrong with The Project and its leader Lev, especially when her sister breaks off all contact with her. 

 

The cult-like religion is well-loved in the region though and she can't find anything concrete, until a man walks into the office of the magazine she works for to let them know that his son has been killed by The Project. This fuels Lo's passion to dive into the subject matter to find out what has happened to her sister for once and for all. 

 

Prepare to be shocked and amazed several times. I thought I could kind of foresee what would happen at the end, but I was wrong. Boy, was I wrong. 

 

Lo is a great conflicted character to be following. She has lived through intense trauma after surviving the car accident that killed her parents; that in combination with being abandoned by her sister brings on an interesting vengeful spirit. It's difficult to read between the lines of her emotions and the truth.

 

The only thing I didn't fully enjoy was the cult/religion element. This is what most people will love when they pick this book up, but I've seen too many documentaries and TV series about this subject recently. I'm happy to report that even if you're a bit "cult-sick" it's still worth the read.  

 

I think a lot of people will like this book and rightfully so. 

 

Many thanks to the publisher St. Martin's Press and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

4 stars

Statistics:

Date read: December 22, 2020

Date published: February 2, 2020

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Format: eBook

Pages: 345

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Horror

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 2

Goodreads

 

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Book Review: Suzanne Redfearn - Hadley and Grace (published in 2021)

 

Suzanne Redfearn has done it again people! She has completely obliterated me with one of her stories. 

I went into Hadley & Grace thinking it couldn't be as good as In An Instant. I mean Thelma & Louise is a movie from the 90s, the story about two renegade ladies running lose in the USA has been done and told and frankly the concept is a bit outdated. 

 

Luckily, Redfearn realised this and changed Hadley & Grace enough to make it current. Apart from that, she makes it so that the story takes a hold of you and doesn't let go. Let me talk about the plot first. 

 

Hadley's husband Frank is a very bad man and father (to put it mildly). Hadley who has been nothing but obedient the last 15 years decides that enough is enough and sees her chance to escape from him with her 14 year old daughter Mattie and her sister's son Skipper. She knows Frank has some money lying around his office so that's the first place she goes. There she runs into Grace, a disgruntled employee who also decides to take Frank's money and run away with her baby boy Miles. 

 

These two ladies have nothing in common, but their fates intertwine on the day they decide to rob Frank. What they didn't know though is that the FBI has had their eyes on Frank's money as well. They end up not just running from Frank but also from the FBI. 

 

This is a road trip story, but really it's more about the characters then about the scenery. I like to travel, and I wasn't inspired once to check out where they were going, I was too immersed in the stories of the two heroines and their kids. I found out in the author's note that Redfearn based Skipper on a real person, I'm not surprised because he felt so real to me. All other characters are well-rounded; Mattie is a real teenager with troubled feelings and Grace and Hadley make decisions and choices that fit their personalities. 

 

The last thing I want to mention is this: Have you ever felt like a scene in a novel or film was so frustratingly heart breaking that you feel it's unnecessary, but it's still good? That's what I have with this book. My heart broke, I felt it was not needed I could've thought of so many other ways this story could end, but I understand it. I think I can find it in my heart to forgive Redfearn. 

 

Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a review copy!

5 stars

Statistics:

Date read: December 15, 2020

Date published: February 1, 2021

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Format: eBook

Pages: 347

Genre: Contemporary

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 2

Goodreads

 

Book Review: C.J. Tudor - The Burning Girls (published in 2021)

 

I picked up the latest C.J Tudor against my better judgment. I read The Chalk Man in 2018 and I left a scathing review for it on Goodreads. I read the synopsis of The Other People and The Hiding Place and decided to skip them. 

 

In short, I was hesitant to pick up another novel by C.J. Tudor. 

 

Along came The Burning Girls which will be released in 2021. I have to be honest here and I was rueing my decision to request it from the publisher who kindly provided a copy to me. I was armed with apprehension and reasons why I wouldn't like it started to stack up as the novel picked up. 

 

The novel is about Jack Brooks, a single parent and unconventional vicar who moves to a small town in the English countryside with teenage daughter Flo. Jack is escaping life in Nottingham where a whole lot has happened that we will uncover throughout the novel. 

 

However, this isn't some sleepy town either. Jack unwittingly moves into a community where two girls have gone missing 30 years ago, and where protestant martyrs were burned five hundred years ago. The more Jack and Flo get acquainted with the town and its history, the deeper they are drawn into its mysteries. 

 

Tana French wrote a really slow-burning novel about a small town in the Irish countryside this year called The Searcher. The Burning Girls is nothing like that. No pun intended but it burns with a passion. 

 

C.J. Tudor tries to cram a lot of subjects into this 300 page novel. I tried to keep track but I might have missed a few: exorcism as misogyny, mental illness, addiction, child abuse, the church and its inner workings, nature vs nurture, racism, homosexuality. That's not it, because the plot also contains a lot of different mysteries and every character has a backstory which contains some kind of death. 

 

I thought I was in this novel to dislike it.  Imagine my surprise when I crossed the 75% mark and found myself enthralled by the plot while the mysteries were slowly unravelling. It turns out, the story isn't such a stretch after all and C.J. Tudor has weaved it all nicely together. 

 

I ended up enjoying the overall experience, which goes to show that you should really give authors another try even if you disliked one of their novels. They might surprise you after all. 

 

This novel isn't really for the faint of heart, but those who like fast-paced mysteries with a few unexpected reveals might enjoy this read. 

Many thanks to the publisher Penguin Michael Joseph UK and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

3.5 stars

Statistics:

Date read: December 7, 2020

Date published: January 21, 2021

Publisher: Penguin Michael Joseph UK

Format: eBook

Pages: 304

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Horror

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 2

Goodreads

 

Book Review: Wendy Webb - The Haunting of Brynn Wilder (published in 2020)

 

Oops, this is what you get when you read a book based on the cover and title. My expectations and what the book served were completely out of sync!

 

This novel is about Brynn Wilder who makes her way to Wharton to stay in a B&B for the summer. She has recently lost her mum due to the cancer and she needs to escape her normal life for a while. In Wharton she meets a lot of different people, including Dominic and Alice. He is her broody and handsome next door neighbour and she is the ex-wife of another resident who suffers from early-onset Alzheimers. However, she also seems to know more about Brynn than Brynn would have expected. 

 

I started reading this book believing it would pan out to be a suspenseful gothic horror novel. I actually really liked the characters. Their banter is so genuine I found myself laughing out loud a few times. A suspenseful horror novel it is not though. At the last 80% of the book I started wondering what it was the novel was actually working towards. The finale brings a bang, but one I had expected. 

 

This novel reminds me of something Nicholas Sparks could have written. The setting at Wharton and Lake Superior sounds magnificent. The characters are all incredibly likeable and well-developed. The plot is a slow burn and everything gears towards a tragic and romantic ending. 

 

I'm giving this book 2.5 stars not because I didn't enjoy it. It's because I feel it's out of sync with what it's advertised to be. If you can go into it wanting a paranormal romance, you'll enjoy your experience much more than I did. 

2.5 stars

Statistics:

Date read: November 18, 2020

Date published: November 1, 2020

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Format: eBook

Pages: 272

Genre: Paranormal

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

Goodreads

 

Book Review: Zaina Arafat - You Exist Too Much (published in 2020)

 

I didn't know what to expect from this novel, but the storytelling is incredibly compelling. I had no defence, it pulled me right in. 

 

We follow a young Palestinian-American woman who is exploring her sexual and cultural identity while struggling with the demons from her past. We are propelled from love story to love story, but all of them hurt and none of them stick.

 

This novel explores so many complicated subject without scruples and with a lot of thought. It might seem like we're propelled into a "Sex and the City" kind of tale with a bit more hurt and rehab than you would expect from the TV series, but it's actually so much more than that. All the while our narrator is likeable and easy to relate to and understand, even if you have almost nothing in common with her. That I feel is the strength of good writing. Zaina Arafat has done her main character justice. 

 

An added bonus is that this novel doesn't only take place in the US, it also takes place in Palestine which brought back memories to my trip there in 2019. 

 

My review might seem a bit more disjointed than it normally would be, but I loved the novel. The storytelling. The setting. The hard-hitting elements. I hope you will too. 

 

Many thanks to the publisher Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

4 stars

Statistics:

Date read: November 13, 2020

Date published: November 19, 2020

Publisher: Little Brown Book Group UK

Format: eBook

Pages: 272

Genre: Contemporary

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: Ruth Ware - One by One (published in 2020)

 

I've read one book by Ruth Ware and even though I liked it I wasn't a fan.  I read The Turn of the Key  this year, and I found the story to be a bit boring. Some of the storylines were introduced and then abandoned straightaway and I didn't love the reveal. I actually wanted to give the ending of the book 1 star. Imagine, gothic horrors are my favourite genre….

 

Anyways, you're reading a review for One By One so let me tell you that I actually (surprisingly) liked it much more. I see some reviewers who prefer her gothic books, I think I'm not one of them. Instead I thought this book was deliciously thrilling. It kept me on the edge of my seat, and most importantly it kept me reading and fully enthralled with the story. 

 

It's about an off-site company retreat in the snowy mountains of the Alps. Snoop is company owned by millenials and the owners and co-workers try to make big decisions during this retreat. There are two hosts present as well, Erin and Danny. And then the chalet is buried by an avalanche. What is worse, the co-workers disappear one by one. 

 

The story is told through the eyes of Erin, the aforementioned host, and Liz, one of the shareholders. I thought this was clever because it didn't muddle or slow down the narrative too much. I think two characters' perspective out of the ten people present was plenty. 

 

I expected a whodunit, but really this a story about survival. It reminded me a bit of some of the scenes of No Exit by Taylor Adams. I liked the atmosphere, and I think it's a great read if you're wondering what to read now that most of the world is going into a second lockdown due to Covid-19. 

 

I'm now considering reading Ruth Ware's earlier works, if they're anything like this one I think I will enjoy them. 

4 stars

Statistics:

Date read: November 4, 2020

Date published: November 12, 2020

Publisher: Harvill Secker

Format: eBook

Pages: 384

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Horror

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 2

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Book Review: Nicola Upson - The Dead of Winter (published in 2020)

 

There's something about whodunnits in wintery isolated settings this year. I've read The Guest List, Snow and One by One is the next book I've planned to read. 

The Dead of Winter also takes place on an isolated location, namely St Michael's Mount in Cornwall in 1938. An exclusive charity event has been planned by the owner of the Mount in order to support displaced Jewish children from Germany. 

The police officer Archie has been invited since he's an old friend of the owner Hilaria St. Aubyn. She has invited a celebrity to attend as well hoping that it would bring about some publicity for the Mount and its cause. Archie in turn invites his two friends Josephine and Marta. 

You might have guessed it. The guests all have their own backstories and as they arrive on their location one by one, they find out that the Mount will be isolated for a few days due to bad weather. They are ready to celebrate Christmas, so they don't mind until one of them ends up dead and the only one who could've done it has to be among them. 

I felt that this book was a little bit short. It's strange to say, but the action and investigation started half way through and it wasn't enough to fully grip me although I found the ending to be satisfying. 

The story is told through the eyes of around eight different characters, which means part of the first half you'll have to guess who was who. Then when the action gets going the novel has ended. 

I like that this novel is in a way based on real life. Josephine Tey is apparently the Agatha Christie of her time, the celebrity is also well-known and St Michael's Mount was in hands of Hilaria St. Aubyn back then. I didn't mind that there are 8 novels about Josephine prior to this one. Sure, I don't know the characters as well as fans of this series will do but I still enjoyed the story. 

All-in-all it's an OK read. The setting didn't feel as isolated or grim as I would've liked it to, and there are a few too many characters for such a short novel. It's an interesting whodunnit though with a few twists and turns I didn't expect. 

Many thanks to the publisher Faber and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

3 stars

Statistics:

Date read: October 31, 2020

Date published: November 5, 2020

Publisher: Faber

Format: eBook

Pages: 320

Genre: Historical Fiction

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: Sara Foster - The Hidden Hours (published in 2017)

 

There are two things I don't like in thrillers. I don't like an insecure female lead who spends a lot of her time worrying internally and making up stories in her head. I also don't like when the story revolves around a character who consumes too much alcohol especially when it's the key element of the story. 

 

The first 50% of this book was going fully in the direction of my two most hated tropes. Confession time: I was considering putting the novel down, which I hardly ever do especially when I have received a copy from the publisher. 

 

I'm happy I didn't put it down though, because the last 50% of the book is actually pretty good. The suspense continually rises and by the end of it I was really wondering what had happened to Arabella. 

 

This novel is about Arabella Lane who is found dead in the Thames. No one is sure whether she has been pushed or whether she has jumped. It happened on the night of the big Christmas party of her company. Eleanor, our protagonist, was there but doesn't remember a thing because she was drugged/drunk. 

 

Eleanor is our tortured female lead. She escapes her past in Australia, and little by little we find out what has happened to her and her family there by means of alternating chapters. That's how the story is told, through Eleanor's eyes both then in Australia and now in London. There is also a paragraph reserved every chapter for people who have sighted Arabella or who knew her, but I don't really see the significance in terms of storytelling for those ones. 

 

The first 50% of the story Eleanor was in her head a lot. Feeling sorry for herself. For the situation. The usual. However, once the chapters in Australia started picking up speed, I became more and more invested in the story in London as well. I'm happy to report that I think this book ended up being an interested read. It helps that the author presents us with more than a murder mystery, because it also tackles the subject what secrets can do to a family.

 

Many thanks to the publisher Legend Press and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

3 stars

Statistics:

Date read: October 18, 2020

Date published: November 2, 2020

Publisher: Legend Press

Format: eBook

Pages: 352

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Horror

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: Tana French - The Searcher (published in 2020)

 

Guys, it has taken me years to get on the Tana French bandwagon. Now that I am on it, I will hold on for dear life because she can write a great thriller! I'm looking forward to all that has passed and all that is yet to come. 

 

Judging by the mixed reviews the best is yet to come for me, especially her Dublin Murder Squad series has been received with a lot of praise. For what it's worth, I'm a newbie to her writing and I really enjoyed The Searcher. 

 

Sure, the most common remark from negative reviews is the pacing and the fact that it's slow to start. I found that to be the case as well, but I didn't mind it. It takes time to build a character from the ground up, especially if the setting is small. 

 

The story is set in a small town in Ireland. The kind of place where everyone knows everyone and one day our protagonist walks in and he's the talk of the town. Cal is an ex-police office from Chicago of all places and he's looking for peace and quiet after a painful divorce. The novel starts with a lot of talk about home renovations, because that's what Cal is focused on when the story kicks off. 

 

However, he doesn't have time to complete it before a local child, Trey, finds him and appeals to him for help. His brother has disappeared and he's hoping Cal can find him. Cal reluctantly agrees, because he feels a restless itch. The fact that something iffy seems to be going on in this small community is impossible for him to ignore. 

 

What I loved most about this novel is that Cal's situation felt really realistic. He's a retired policeman from another country, he doesn't have the means to do investigations the way he did them back in the States. How he deals with this is the strength of the story and the reason why I think the slow build up is OK. I found myself completely absorbed into the story and its setting in rural Ireland. I really wanted to find out what happened to Trey's brother. 

 

I give this book 4.5 stars and I can't wait to read more books by Tana French. 

 

Many thanks to the publisher Penguin General and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

Statistics:

Date read: October 15, 2020

Date published: November 5, 2020

Publisher: Penguin UK

Format: eBook

Pages: 320

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Horror

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: Alix E. Harrow - The Once and Future Witches (published in 2020)

 

I didn't know what to expect from this book since I don't often read novels about witches. It's not really a conscious decision, the description usually either doesn't appeal to me or they don't cross my path. 

 

The catch phrase of Alix E. Harrow's The Once and Future Witches spoke to me straightaway. "There's no such things as witches. But there will be."

 

This novel is so much more than "just" a story about witches, let me tell you why. It's set in the past in 1890's Salem. Well, it's set in New Salem because Old Salem has been destroyed when the witch burnings took place in the past. 

 

The story is about the three Eastwood sisters. They were apart for many years because of their painful history, but they meet again in the city. They join the suffragists and start the search for the forgotten words and ways to make the women's movement into the witches' movement. 

 

These words and ways are important because they make Harrow's tale unique in my view. Witches don't really exist. They are actually women scorned who have found the words and ways, and most importantly the will to change their circumstances. Apart from women's rights, this book tackles a whole foray of other issues. At times a bit too obvious for my liking, but most of the times nicely tucked away inside the seems of the storyline. 

 

A story like this needs a strong antagonist. The Eastwoods' adversary is mayor-elect Gideon. He's a man who seems frail from the outside but seems to make shadows move at his will. He's pretty evil. To be honest, I expected a YA story but I don't think it is because it does get a bit dark at times. 

 

I'm really happy I picked this novel up. I could happily rave about different elements of this story for hours such as the fact that the words of magic hidden are hidden in well-known fairy tales. How clever is that?

 

If you're interested in reading a book with multiple layers which tackles interesting subjects and which includes witches a fast-paced story and quite a lot of action. Look no further!

 

Many thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

 

4 stars

Statistics:

Date read: October 7, 2020

Date published: October 15, 2020

Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group UK

Format: eBook

Pages: 528

Genre: Fantasy

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: John Banville - Snow (published in 2020)

 

What an apt title. Snow features in this novel like a true master of suspense. It weaves the story together like a pro. Ireland's landscape is atmospheric in any season, but snow makes the rural town in Ireland feel even more remote. 

 

This remoteness is the perfect setting of John Banville's latest novel. The story takes place in 1957. It starts with the body of a priest in a library and a detective unwilling to return to small town Ireland to solve the murder. The cast of characters are like actors in a play. It feels like an overdone Agatha Christie novel, but the plot never falters and I found the novel impossible to put down because I couldn't wait to find out whodunnit. 

 

What I liked most about the novel is that Banville doesn't shy away from heavy subjects such as the divide between Catholics and Protestants and the struggle with the IRA. The historical setting fits this novel perfectly, as does the small town environment and its people. You have to be ready to face the hard-hitting subjects head-on if you'd like to enjoy this novel. 

 

It met my expectations of murder mystery perfectly. It had the perfect cast of characters and a fantastic historical setting. 

 

Many thanks to the publisher Faber and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

5 stars

Statistics:

Date read: September 27, 2020

Date published: October 1, 2020

Publisher: Faber

Format: eBook

Pages: 352

Genre: Historical Fiction

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: David Quantick - Night Train (published in 2020)

 

Sometimes you find a hidden gem. I requested this book from the publisher who kindly provided it to me. Let me say that I’m super thrilled I found out about David Quantick’s Night Train! 

The plot sounded really promising to me. First of all, it’s labelled a dystopian/horror/science-fiction. I do enjoy a good horror novel every now and then. It doesn’t always have to take place in a realistic setting. Believe me, this one is not (I hope). Secondly, it takes place on a train. There’s something about horror stories that take place in one location that scare the heck out of me. 

A woman wakes up, and she has no idea where she is. All she knows is that she’s on a train and she’s surrounded by dead people. All she can see outside are occasional explosions. She decides to take matters into her own hands and move to the front of the train. On the way she meets people and otherworldly things. Little by little she figures out what is going on. 

What’s good about this book is the way the story is propelled forward by the moving train and the fact that the characters are always trying to move to the front of the train. I didn’t find a reason to stop reading and I was intrigued until the last page to find out what was going on and how things would end for our protagonists. 

There are gruesome scenes in here. Luckily, they’re not so bad I had to stop reading. There’s a lot of absurdity as well, I’m sure you’ll be surprised if I tell you there’s a scene with sparkling turtles… What, on a train? Yes, exactly. Sometimes, I’m OK when a horror story doesn’t make that much sense for me. Sometimes I just want to be thrilled, and I want to be shocked by what I’m reading. 

This book delivers just that, with an occasional chuckle on the side. 
*Many thanks to the Titan Books and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy

4 stars

Statistics:

Date read: June 4, 2020

Date published: October 6, 2020

Publisher: Titan Books

Format: eBook

Pages: 400

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Horror

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: Donna Tartt - The Secret History (published in 1992)

 

Ok, this is a completely different book from what I was picturing. I was ready for a lengthy novel about a fraternity dabbling in Mysticism and even Satanism. The only thing I got was the lengthy novel part... 

So, what isn't this book about. It's not about a professor bringing a group of students together to do evil deeds. It's not a mystery, it's not a thriller, it's not a horror. 

What is it? A novel about Richard, who joins a new university and is accepted into this elite classics class which is taught by an enigmatic professor. He only accepts five students, but they have to commit fully to him (this freaked me out with anticipation, but it does nothing for the plot). 

Henry, Francis, Bunny and the twins Charles and Camilla are already part of the group. All rich kids. This book is around 630 pages of rich kids being intelligent. Rich kids trying things out. Rich kids making mistakes. 

The whole time I had the feeling the action happened outside of the book. We're seeing things through the eyes of the outsider, so maybe Donna Tartt intended it to be this way but I didn't like it. It made the story drag on and on without any thrill. 

Why did I give it three stars? I can kind of enjoy a book about a friend group every now and then. Even if it's a bit slow-paced. It didn't fulfil why expectations about evil fraternities or professors, but it is a well-written novel. This means a lot from someone who hated Bret Easton Ellis' "Brat Pack". This book is a bit reminiscent of his books, but here it bothered me less that the student were so incredibly elitist and just taking alcohol and drugs all day while complaining about all their money. 

Ok, I need to stop writing before I change my rating..

3 stars

Statistics:

Date read: September 24, 2020

Date published: 1992

Publisher: Penguin

Format: Paperback

Pages: 629

Genre: Contemporary

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: Fredrik Backman - Anxious People (published in 2019)

Right, this little book is not really my kind of thing. Let me explain. 

The story is about a bank robbery which accidentally turns into a hostage situation. The bank robber tries to rob a cashless bank. This goes wrong. The robber then runs into a house where a viewing is taking place. There are eight people inside. The robber then disappears. 

The police interview the hostages one-by-one to find out what exactly happened inside the apartment. 

I thought my rating would be lower than it turned out to be. The reason for that is that I didn't enjoy the "witty" dialogue. It reminded me of Richard Curtis' writing. The screenwriter of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Love Actually. I didn't like the characters either. They felt a bit like caricatures. 

However, the novel turned out to be a bit deeper than I though it would, hence my average rating. I think a lot of people will absolutely adore this book. The story really is strong and the development of the characters is as well. However, it's just not for me. 

I'm curious about Backman's other books as they are immensely popular, but I don't think I will pick them up in a hurry.

3 stars

Statistics:

Date read: September 19, 2020

Date published: April 25, 2019

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Format: Audio

Pages: 352

Genre: Contemporary

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: John Lanchester - Reality, and Other Stories (published in 2020)

 

I do enjoy a short story horror collection every now and then, especially as Halloween is just around the corner. 

 

The tone that was set in the first two stories gave me real uncanny vibes. I enjoy gothic horror novels, so it's something I thoroughly enjoy reading. After the third story, the plot lines started to shift a bit more towards Black Mirror with a lot of emphasis on modern technology. 

 

I found a few of the stories to be mediocre. The endings would either be a bit weak for my taste, a bit too easily predicted or the story itself would not be thrilling or interesting enough. 

 

There are a few gems in this collection though. Ones that kept me reading and guessing and ones that will stick with me due to the gruesomeness of them. I guess that's always the case when it comes to short story collections. They are hardly ever completely perfect for everyone. 

 

I've had John Lanchester's The Wall on my TBR list forever, I think it's time I check that one out as I do enjoy his writing. 

 

My favourites are Signal, Coffin Liquor, Cold Call & Charity. 

 

My rating of the short stories: 

Signal: 4 stars

Coffin Liquor: 5 stars

Which of these would you like? 3 stars

We happy few: 1 star

Reality: 2 stars

Cold Call: 4 stars

The Kit: 2 stars

Charity: 4 stars

 

This book will be published on the 1st of October. 

 

Many thanks to the publisher Faber and Faber and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

3 stars

Statistics:

Date read: September 17, 2020

Date published: October 1, 2020

Publisher: Faber and Faber

Format: eBook

Pages: 208

Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Horror

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Book Review: Maaza Mengiste - The Shadow King (published in 2020)

 

I have to admit I had low expectations when I started reading this book. The top reviews of Goodreads had DNF'ed this book and called it long-winded. 

 

My feelings about this book are wholly different though. I also found it hard to get into. The writing style isn't easy going. It's been called lyrical, but I didn't think it flowed. However, once I was in, I was in and I couldn't put it down.

 

I initially picked the book up, because the premise sounded great. The story is about the Italian invasion in Ethiopia during WWII. Another thing most people don't know about is the fact that there were a lot of female soldiers in Ethiopia back then. Mengiste has written a work of fiction based on facts. We follow Hirut and Aster, two female soldiers who are the fiercest soldiers of all. I love learning new things in books, and this book definitely opened my eyes a bit more in terms of the country's history.  

 

This book is written from different points-of-view. There are sections that cover Haile Selassie's story. We hear Hirut's thoughts, but also the Italian commander & photographer play a big role in the telling of the story. 

 

If Hilary Mantel final instalment of the Thomas Cromwell trilogy, would not have been released this year I think Maaza's novel would be a strong contender for the Man Booker Prize this year. Who knows, she might just win anyways!

 

Many thanks to the publisher Canongate Books and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy!

4 stars

Statistics:

Date read: September 13, 2020

Date published: September 3, 2020

Publisher: Canongate Books

Format: eBook

Pages: 448

Genre: Historical Fiction

My Number of Books Read by this Author: 1

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Goodreads

 

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