Book Review: Yaa Gyasi - Transcendent Kingdom (published in 2020)

 

This book really is something. I've had Homegoing on my list from the moment this novel was released. Yaa Gyasi is a Ghanaian- American author and the two books she has written take place in both the US and Ghana. 

In the case of Transcendent Kingdom, it mostly takes place in the US. We follow Grifty. Her parents have moved to the US when her brother Nana was young and when she wasn't even born. The story this novel this is one of grief. Years after her parents have moved to the US her father hasn't been able to put down roots so he returns to Ghana, and her brother Nana has had struggles of his own and passes away.  

What I liked about this story is the fact that it's really small in scope, yet grand in what it's trying to say. We follow Grifty at university where she's working on her research with mice, but the parallels this research has with her life are heartbreaking. 

The way her mum deals with the hardships and the way she does is really well-told by Yaa Gyasi. I really should read her previous novel, and I'll keep my eyes out for her future releases.  

4 stars

Book Review: Alex Finlay - Every Last Fear (published in 2021)

 

Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay started with a bang, and the story kept me invested the whole time. 

There are few novels where the premise and the start of the novel pull me in that I really want to know the ending badly. Most of the time, I just read a story as it was written without really guessing or waiting for the answer. I found myself reading, just to experience the thrill of the plot twists and the big reveal. 

That is not to say that the book isn't well-written. Alex Finlay has done their (I don't know if we know whether their a female or male author) best to create enticing characters and the different point-of-views through which the story is told (I think there are five or six in total) really works well and adds to the horror of it all. 

Normally I start my review with the plot, but I couldn't contain myself. OK, this story is about the tragic Pine family. Father, mother, son and daughter are found dead in Mexico. Their son Matt, who attends NYU, is notified of this fact. The media attention and news coverage that follows is not new to Matt. Several years before his brother Danny was incarcerated with questionable evidence and an interrogation technique that would make the police officers in Making a Murderer proud. 

Matt's father and sister never really seized to investigate the matter as they fully believed Danny did not kill his girlfriend that night. 

We follow Matt's father, his sister, his mother, the FBI agent who is on the case and Matt himself. As I said it provides nice threads in the main story and mystery. The reveals are quite shocking and I almost never saw the plot twists coming. 

I really enjoyed this read. The only reason I deducted .5 stars is because I felt the ending was a bit rushed. I didn't necessarily want it to end, so it took me by surprise when it did. There is more I would love to learn about the characters.

Many thanks to the publisher Head of Zeus and Netgalley for providing me with a review copy! 

4.5 stars

Book Review: J.D. Barker - A Caller's Game (published in 2021)

 Yes! Die Hard is mentioned in the blurb and I'm not surprised about that. I had strong Die Hard vibes throughout a part of the book. 

This novel is about a controversial talkshow host Jordan Briggs. She's not the nicest of protagonists, but she is portrayed this way for a purpose. She is cut-throat, honest to a fault and she doesn't try to spare anyone's feelings. She is successful for a reason. 

Then one morning a man calls into her studio to play a game. She makes fun of the situation until this game turns deadly and she is taught that her actions and decisions have harrowing consequences. 

The pacing of this novel is a little bit off. It starts out so thrilling and horrific and then it slows down a little bit towards the middle right until the end. That's OK though, because it's still a wild ride from start to finish with unexpected and a few expected twists-and-turns. 

We follow Jordan Briggs and officer Cole all the way through the book, which offers different perspectives as Jordan is stuck in her studio and Cole can roam around the city. I didn't like any of the characters at the beginning - apart from Jordan's kick-ass clever 11-year-old daughter - but they certainly did grow on me as the plot unfolded. 

Overall, I had a good time reading it. 

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

3 stars