Book Review: Sebastian Fitzek - The Soul Breaker (Translated in 2021)

 

In my opinion, this novel is trying to do a bit too much. I was thrilled but also confused and sometimes a little bit bored which isn't the greatest combination in a suspenseful thriller. 

SEBASTIAN FITZEK has written and published this book back in 2008 in German. It has now been translated to English. I think that's a clever call, because it's essentially a good book, about a topic I've not seen in thrillers very often. 

The story is about the Soul Breaker. A serial "killer" who doesn't kill their victims. They paralyse their victim leaving them stuck in their own body. They have a note in their hand. Then one day a man shows up in a remote clinic with no memory of his past and who he is. Then due to bad weather, the clinic becomes shut off from the world and when a woman ends up paralysed in the bath tub with a note in her hand, it's very likely the Soul Breaker in in there with them. 

There's a bit of a story in a story narrative which I liked. The main story is read by students who are participating in a psychology trial. This give the story a bit more of a twist. In the end though, I was left wanting more and at the same time less. 

The last thirty or so pages are dedicated to explaining everything that happened. I didn't think that was necessary. Also, the scenes inside the clinic became a bit confusing at times. 

All-in-all I enjoyed myself and I'm curious to read more of Fitzek's more recent work. 

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

Book Review: Megan Abbott - The Turnout (published in 2021)

 

I have seen that MEGAN ABBOTT has a tendency to gather both negative and positive reviews for her books. I have never read her previous releases so THE TURNOUT is my first foray into her writing. 

I can tell why this book has mixed reviews. The way she has constructed the novel will work for some people but not for all. It didn't work for me. 

There were parts I did enjoy/was horrified by. The language is dark. I got a grim feeling from everything on these pages. It's incredibly tense, even though it's hard to tell (until the ending) why it would be. I don't know much about ballet, but the way Abbott tackles the challenges of this "sport" gave me a good idea about it. I will never look at those shoes in the same way. 

The novel is about two sisters Marie and Dara who have inherited a ballet school from their parents with they run with Charlie who was kind of part of their family since a young age. We follow Dara who has married Charlie and who is struggling with her slightly more enigmatic sister Marie. One day there's a fire in one of the ballet studios, right before the school starts their rehearsals for The Nut Cracker, which is when everything starts to unravel. 

I'm in the middle of renovating an apartment, so I was horrified by some of the scenes in this novel when the contractor Derek starts working on the project. That's beside the point though. 

Like I mentioned the novel is taut with suspense and dread, but at the same time I felt it didn't really deliver. I feel that Abbott creates a distance between the reader and Dara, which results in the shrugging of shoulders when we reach the ending. 

In summary, I did enjoy the language and in a way the writing style but the fact that it didn't deliver means it fell flat for me. I don't think this book will stick with me. If you enjoy slow-burning novels that centre on family dynamics and deal with ballet, you might really like this. Don't just take my word for it, do check out different reviews if you're in doubt.