The Birds and Other Stories by Daphne du Maurier

Oh, Daphne. You sure could write. 

Near as I can tell, The Birds and Other Stories is my 9th read by Daphne du Maurier and it's my second deliberately spooky/atmospheric read for fall in 2021. I never did figure out how to sign up for this year's RIP Challenge, but that's OK. I've become so accustomed to reading at least one or two books that are spooky, witchy, atmospheric, or scary to usher in autumn that I do so by force of habit. I'm not in touch with Carl, who started the RIP and helped me form this habit, but I'm grateful that he started it as it helps to make those last hot, sticky days of summer feel like they pass a little more quickly. Our second cool front is finally on its way, this weekend! 

Back to Daphne. I've had The Birds and Other Stories on my TBR for a year or two but it didn't click for me till last week. I loved all but one of the stories. Unfortunately, the least enjoyable of them was the longest. It was more odd and mysterious than creepy or frightening. But, the rest were suspenseful, spooky, atmospheric. Du Maurier had a knack for building tension in the most unexpected ways. Summaries of the stories follow with my thoughts below in italics:

The Birds - The most well-known story, thanks to Alfred Hitchcock, is different from what I know of the movie (I've only seen bits and pieces). A farm hand, injured in the war and only able to perform the easier chores, is shocked when he hears a tapping at his window one night and is attacked by birds, then discovers that his children have left their windows open and are being attacked, as well. The next day, he realizes the birds are hovering offshore, waiting to attack when the tide comes in. So, he rushes his children home and boards up all of the windows. The family hunkers down during the evening attack while the farm hand worries about supplies. How will they survive if this continues? They have barely any food left and there seems to be no end in sight to the attacks. 

I can see why this story is a classic that has given plenty of people a fear of birds. Absolutely kept me on the edge of my seat. 

Monte Verita - When the beautiful wife of the narrator's friend disappears into a strange mountain complex, he's determined to wait for her to emerge. But, she'll only communicate with him in writing and she says she's never coming back to him.

This is the longest story that asks, "Will the man ever figure out how to get his wife to emerge?" and "Do the people inside this complex stay forever young, as the nearby villagers have told him?" A strange story that I didn't particularly enjoy. 

The Apple Tree - When a man's wife dies and he notices that one of his apple trees looks like her, he wants it cut down. But, his gardener is determined to keep the tree alive as it's blossoming for the first time. Each time a piece of the tree enters the house, something goes wrong. Is the tree out to get him? 

One of my favorites. I will never think about apple trees in quite the same way. 

The Little Photographer - A Marquise on holiday with her children and nanny is captivated by the local man who runs a photography business. Bored with her life, she begins meeting him during siesta time on a cliff where he likes to take photos. But, what will happen when her husband decides to come to the seaside a little earlier than expected? 

Trouble, that's what. Good story. The tension is in the fact that they could be caught at any time, but then something shocking happens. 

Kiss Me Again Stranger - When a mechanic goes to see a movie, he falls for the usherette and they take a walk together. A few strange moments intersect with a news article, the next day, and he becomes aware of the danger he was in. 

Another story with a good shock factor. It doesn't feel entirely creepy till the end; you just get the sense that something is off. 

The Old Man - The narrator has been advised to stay away from "the old man" who lives near the lake. Did he kill his children?

The surprise twist ending totally caught me off-guard. Not my favorite. In fact, I'd totally forgotten what this one was about and had to flip through the book. 

Highly recommended - The second book of short stories I've read by du Maurier (Don't Look Now is the other; link leads to a mini review). Of the two, The Birds is better in my humble opinion. Only one story fell totally flat for me and the last story felt like it had a bit of a cheap twist. 4 of the 6 were exceptional. And, as I said in my mini review of Don't Look Now, Daphne du Maurier's books are always worth reading because her writing is stellar.

This is my favorite cover of The Birds. My copy looks like the one at the top of the post. 

©2021 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica is about a judge's daughter who is kidnapped. The fellow who kidnaps her was supposed to drop her off with a criminal for whom the kidnapper does various jobs, but he thinks she might be in danger of being killed and decides to hide out with her in a remote cabin. The decision to go to the cabin is so spontaneous that he has no idea how they're going to survive, how long he'll keep her captive, or how to end the mess he's gotten himself into. Months pass and winter sets in. Will they both survive?

In a second timeline, the judge's daughter is no longer a captive but she has selective amnesia and is so traumatized that she hardly speaks or eats. What happened and is there a way to jog her memory?

I remember hearing a lot of positive buzz about The Good Girl when it came out. I wasn't as enthusiastic as most, when I closed it. I figured out literally all of the plot twists way early in the book. Whether that was just lucky guesswork or the author dropped too many hints, I can't say. But, in spite of that, I enjoyed The Good Girl and would probably read Mary Kubica again.

Recommended but not a favorite.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Bring Me Back by B. A. Paris

Brace yourself for something rare. I finished a book I confess I should have abandoned. That doesn't happen often!

Bring Me Back is the story of Finn, a man whose girlfriend disappeared at a rest stop in France 12 years before the book begins. Layla was in the car when he left; when he returned she was gone and so were two of the other vehicles that were parked when they arrived at the rest stop. Was she kidnapped or did she run away? No sign of her has been found.

Now engaged to her sister, Ellen, Finn is disturbed when a former police officer who became his friend phones to say that the elderly man who lives next door to the old cottage Finn and Layla shared, which has been locked up since a short time after her disappearance, has spotted Layla. Then, small Matryoshka dolls start showing up in places that Finn and Ellen will easily find them. Finn and Ellen both know the meaning of the dolls. Finally, Finn begins to receive emails asking about his cottage in Devon and then clues about Layla after Finn realizes the emails are too much of a coincidence and questions the sender. What's going on? Is Layla alive? If so, why doesn't she just show up instead of dropping hints? Is it her kidnapper toying with Finn? Or, could the emails be the job of an ex-girlfriend of Finn's, now that he's engaged to Ellen?

Not recommended - I gave this book 3 stars and I'm rethinking that rating. Midway through the book, I considered abandoning it. It had become repetitive -- another doll found, another email, the sender is off his or her rocker. Finn theorizes, Finn walks back his theories after eliminating people from the suspect list, another doll is found, and another and another and another. I found it less compelling than exhausting. And, the ending was simply impossible to buy.

Would I read this author again? Oddly, yes, but only if the book comes highly recommended. I was quickly immersed in the story, even if I later decided it wasn't going anywhere and the ending was implausible. I've heard B. A. Paris's first book was excellent. If I do ever read it, I'll check it out from the library. I would definitely give her a second chance. But, I just don't feel like Bring Me Back was worth the time I spent on it.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Odd Child Out by Gilly Macmillan

Odd Child Out by Gilly Macmillan is the second in the Jim Clemo detective series. Here's a quick link to my review of the first Jim Clemo book:

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

If you click through that link you'll find that I didn't fall in love with What She Knew, but I found it memorable enough that I wanted to read the next in the series and I'm glad I made that decision.

Noah Sadler has been fighting cancer for many years and now he's losing the battle. His best friend, Abdi Mahad, has been the one constant companion in his life who doesn't let the illness get in the way of their friendship. But, when Noah is found floating in Bristol canal and Abdi is unable or unwilling to answer any questions about what happened, he comes under suspicion. Did Abdi push Noah into the canal? If so, why? If not, what exactly happened?

Detective Inspector Jim Clemo is back on the job after a bit of a breakdown led to mandatory leave. Noah's case is the first one he's been given and he's determined to get it right. But, the more he learns, the more convoluted and confusing the case becomes. What does a photograph taken by Noah's father have to do with Abdi? Did it have anything to do with Noah ending up in the canal? Does Abdi's Somalian background have anything to do with what's happened, the friendship, his behavior? Noah's mother is suspicious of Abdi, but is she merely prejudiced?

I found Odd Child Out utterly gripping but also a difficult read. Gilly Macmillan is hard on young characters. You do know at the outset that Noah Sadler is going to die, but you don't know if he'll recover from his near-drowning in the canal and then die of his long-term illness and the author actually puts you in Noah's point-of-view, at times.

While Detective Clemo and his partner are trying to get to the bottom of what happened, the story of a Somalian man in the photograph taken by Noah's father unfolds and, toward the end, there are some heart-pounding scenes when the strands finally wind together. While I don't remember what exactly caused Jim Clemo to break down in the first book, I found him likable and enjoyed reading about his troubled background in this second book. He's turning out to be a more interesting and complex character than I initially suspected, so I'm looking forward to future books in this series.

Highly recommended - Painful as it is to know that a character is going to die, regardless of how the case turns out, Odd Child Out is suspenseful and the pages absolutely flew. I enjoyed it immensely and found the heart-pounding scenes toward the end of Odd Child Out incredibly satisfying. I did figure out one strand that I think was supposed to be surprising (which is not unusual) but it was not enough to give away the most important piece of the puzzle. This is a page turner, in my humble opinion.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

I guess the first thing you need to know about this book (and maybe the only one, from this blog) is "Everyone liked it better than meeee!" No idea why that's true, but I'm often the odd reader out.

The Last Mrs. Parrish tells the story of a young woman who has chosen a wealthy man as her target for marriage. Amber wants to be wealthy. She has done some research, chosen her target, and studied up on his world and how to work her way into it. Amber buddies up to Daphne Parrish intending, of course, to take her place and using her friendship to determine the individual weaknesses of husband and wife. Will Amber succeed at luring the fabulously wealthy and handsome Mr. Parrish away from his wife Daphne and becoming the next and last Mrs. Parrish?

The book is told in several parts. Part 1 is told from Amber's POV and Part 2 from Daphne's. When you're in Daphne's point of view, things begin to change. You've only seen the marriage from the outside. Daphne's recollections are every bit as shocking as Amber's. While Amber has been studying them, transforming herself, even reading the books they read, she doesn't know what's really going on behind closed doors and you'll begin to wonder, "Who is really being played?"

I found the plotting clever, once I got to the second section and realized what was going on, but I found the first section so hard to buy into that I almost didn't make it that far. The dialogue was particularly flat and lifeless. I only stuck the book out because of a friend's gushy review. In the end, I liked The Last Mrs. Parrish enough to not think of the reading as a waste of my time, but I didn't consider it exceptional in any way. I thought the characters were far too easily manipulated, for one thing. But, it was the atrocious dialogue that killed the book for me.

Neither recommended or not recommended - It's worth noting that just about everyone else seems to love The Last Mrs. Parrish and it is, in fact, a pretty clever idea. But, I was unable to suspend disbelief and gave it an average rating. The positives were the plotting and the quick pace, although there were times I felt bogged down by dull dialogue and disbelief. The book improves after the first section because the second part is where the bones of the plotting are slowly exposed. "Oh," you'll say to yourself. "I had no idea." And, you'll wonder what's going to happen, but you might not care -- at least, I didn't. I think part of my problem was that there's nobody to really root for, possibly because the dialogue makes everyone sound like an automaton. They're not witty characters, although they're intelligent in their own ways.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The River at Night by Erica Ferencik

I had a little trouble getting into The River at Night, partly because I had just finished three utterly brilliant books in a row (this was back at the end of July) and partly because the beginning is a bit slow. A suspense about 4 women who get together yearly for a getaway, the book begins with a concept that's a little hard to buy into. Pia wants to go somewhere remote and challenging - a "get back to nature" type of trip - and she's chosen whitewater rafting in Maine. Rather than finding a place that's safe with trained tour guides, she's found a 20-year-old who has mapped out a remote section of river in Maine that he'll guide them down after a night of camping in the wilderness. Win (short for Winifred) narrates the trip.

There's some painfully overdone foreshadowing via Win's fears, at the beginning. But, once the women arrive at the river and begin their journey, the pace of the story picks up. Rory, their guide, seems competent enough. There was just never a point at which I was able to say to myself, "Yeah, sure, I believe 4 women would be willing to go to this remote area with a single guide and no knowledge of their own." It just didn't make sense to me. Why not go somewhere safer? I've been whitewater rafting. You can choose a trip every bit as challenging as what Pia chose (a weekend trip) but without the added danger of going somewhere so ridiculously remote without any kind of emergency plan. It's almost like you can sense the author plotting, "Where can I send my characters to make sure they're in the worst possible situation?" Setting up the plot in this way ensured that the characters in the book fall into the "too stupid to live" category.

Recommended but not a favorite - The author did a great job of changing the scenery, keeping the geography fairly fresh as the group traveled downriver; her descriptions of the river were beautiful. And, once things started to go horribly wrong and the storyline in The River at Night went a little big Deliverance, I considered the challenge the women faced unexpected and therefore interesting. I give the author credit for uniqueness of the specific dangers she created and the fact that I did find the story suspenseful, if a bit predictable. But, the overall result was average to a bit above average. Points off for overdone foreshadowing and a story that never fully allows one to suspend disbelief.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy

The Possessions by Sara Flannery Murphy is yet another book that I found hard to get through but, like other recent reads, I think part of the fault lies in the fact that I'm just a little slumpy and having trouble finding the perfect books to get me over the hump.

Eurydice works for The Elysian Society. Her job is channeling the spirits of deceased loved ones. In her uniform - a sheer, white dress - and items that belonged to the deceased, Eurydice (also known as "Edie") speaks softly to those who are hurting and then takes a small, white pill called a Lotus. The Lotus allows her to step aside while the spirit steps forward and speaks to the living. But, there's an inherent danger in letting someone's spirit take over your body and The Elysian Society has tight rules to prevent such dangers. The distribution of Lotuses is strictly controlled and contact with certain types of spirits is forbidden.

When Eurydice finds herself drawn to a client whose wife drowned and another client tries to get Edie to channel a girl who was murdered, Eurydice begins to put her life in danger. How far will she go to find answers about whether or not her client killed his wife? Is she willing to give up her body to someone else in a way that's forbidden? What happened to the murdered girl and was she connected to The Elysian Society?

The Possessions is a very moody, atmospheric book and I loved it for that, although I did find it a bit slow. Again, it was almost undoubtedly partly my own mood that made the book drag, but I think there was also a deliberate slow build. And, I was definitely anxious about what was going to happen to Eurydice, as I was reading.

Recommended but not a favorite - What I liked best about The Possessions was its uniqueness. I've never read anything quite like it. Not only the idea of channeling, but the concept of a world in which it's common, made it an unusual story. But, there were some little things that gnawed at me. Eventually, you begin to understand why Eurydice (whose real name you never know) is willing to even allow her body to be taken over; the kind of people willing to do such a thing have something in common. But, her secret reasoning for becoming a "body" didn't seem all that plausible to me - at least, the medical portion of it. I did like the ending a lot. But, the overall effect fell flat. Still, the author deserves kudos for the uniqueness of her storyline and the writing is solid. I particularly recommend The Possessions to anyone looking for an atmospheric, unusual read.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly

I just finished reading Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly, two nights ago, and since I keep falling behind on reviewing, I figure I should talk about it right now.

Just What Kind of Mother Are You? is about a woman who is a working mother of three, married to a taxi driver and living in England's Lake Country. She works at an animal shelter and is so overwhelmed that she finds herself frequently spacing out, particularly around the children. Lisa is thinking about the fact that she needs to be more attentive when her friend Kate calls and asks her a strange question: "How are the girls?" This throws Lisa, but it's not till later that anyone realizes her friend's daughter, Lucinda, is missing. Lisa feels responsible. Lucinda was supposed to have spent the night with Lisa's daughter, Sally, but Sally became ill and missed school. Nobody knows exactly when Lucinda disappeared but she should have been with Sally. Lisa didn't bother calling Kate to let her know Sally was ill.

Lucinda is the second 13-year-old to disappear in England. The first was half naked when she showed up, having been repeatedly raped. A known rapist is out there. Does he have Lucinda? When a third girl goes missing and Lucinda hasn't shown up, does that mean Lucinda is dead?

There are all sorts of little twists and turns to Just What Kind of Mother Are You? While I figured out a couple of the questions that the story posed before they were revealed, I found the book impossible to put down for long and raced through it. The ending, while predictable in some ways, was still utterly satisfying. Unfortunately, reading a single suspense novel did not manage to usher in cold weather as I'd hoped, although it has cooled off a little bit. So, I need to read a second suspense and cross my fingers that a real cold front will show up as I'm reading.

Highly recommended - I love a suspense that has so many little strands that it poses a lot of questions. Just What Kind of Mother Are You? was apparently Paula Daly's first book. If so, I'm impressed. It is very well-written with believable, very human characters and suspense that keeps going, right till the answers are revealed. It didn't even matter that I figured out a couple of the mysterious plot points because there was enough left hanging that I was still in suspense, even when I thought I knew what exactly was going on. Now, I'm wishing I had more of Daly's books sitting around. I may look to see if there are more titles I can order. I've enjoyed both of the books I read by Daly and I'm glad I saved Just What Kind of Mother Are You? for a time when I needed a slump-breaker.


©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan is December 2015 release from HarperCollins that tells the story of a child's disappearance, the way the mother becomes a public scapegoat when she does a poor job of appealing to the public for help finding her son, and how a detective develops insomnia and other issues after he thinks he's made a terrible mistake.

Rather than using a single narrative, author Gilly Macmillan tells the story of 8-year-old Ben's disappearance through mother Rachel Jenner's viewpoint, along with the transcripts of the detective's sessions with a psychiatrist and articles and comments on social media. She does a pretty terrific job of showing how easily a person can be tried by the jury of public opinion and how appearances are not always what they seem.

Having said that, What She Knew was just a so-so read for me and I think that is almost entirely down to timing. The story didn't grab me until I reached about page 150 (out of nearly 500 pages) so I should have probably put it aside. I also admit to being so worried that the child was going to turn up dead that I kept putting off the reading. It does not bother me at all to flip to the end of a book if I'm worried it's not going to turn out the way I'm hoping; I have no idea why I didn't bother just doing that (apart from the fact that I had a migraine most of the week), but eventually I got over myself and the pace picked up. I didn't love the ending but I won't tell you why because it's a spoiler.

Recommended but not a favorite, probably due to bad timing - In spite of the fact that I never did fall in love with What She Knew, I can tell you that there were moments that I really appreciated the depth of emotion portrayed by the author and I thought the use of social media and the way people make judgments without knowing all the facts is timely. I've talked to several friends who found the book a very fast-paced read so I want to reiterate the fact that I think it was just bad timing for me.

Total unrelated note:  I completely forgot to put links to last week's reads in my Monday Malarkey post, yesterday. The post has been updated and republished to fix that error.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Everything She Forgot by Lisa Ballantyne and a Fiona Friday pic

Margaret Holloway is headed home from work on a snowy night when she's caught in the worst automobile pile-up in London history. Saved from a fiery death by a mysterious man who has clearly been burned in the past, Margaret is uninjured but shaken. In the days after her accident, she becomes even more uncomfortable as buried memories begin to surface. What happened to Margaret that was so traumatic she suppressed it?

Margaret's storyline takes place in 2013 and there's a second storyline in 1985 (plus a third involving a journalist, also in 1985). George was madly in love and asked his girlfriend to marry him but her family prevented their marriage, even after the birth of their child. In 1985, still longing for his beloved and wishing to see his child, George steals some money and goes to find Kathleen. Maybe now she will reconsider. He can whisk her away with young Moll, far away from his family and the dangers. But, things go very, very wrong.

Recommended - Everything She Forgot is suspenseful, if a bit predictable. In spite of its minor flaws, I gave it 5 stars, probably partly because of the fact that the book is set in the United Kingdom but also definitely because I was craving a fast-paced read and it was simply the right book for the moment. I particularly recommend Everything She Forgot to those who like a bit of suspense but don't mind if some of the plot points are a bit transparent. I didn't mind that at all.

On to Fiona Friday:

After three days of gradually re-introducing the cats, they've gone from a mere five minutes of harmony to nearly three hours. Progress! I cannot wait until they can be around each other all the time, again. I'm so exhausted from the banging and howling (by whoever is stuck outside the master bedroom at night) that it's getting hard to function like a normal human. Fingers crossed they'll be interacting normally within a week or so. Not sure how much longer I can stand the sleep deprivation.

©2016 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon

The Night Sister by Jennifer McMahon
Copyright 2015
Doubleday - Fiction - Suspense/Paranormal
322 pp.

He was still a joke to Piper. He saw it in the way she watched him, waiting for him to screw up in some way, to let Margot down. There was something slightly amused--mocking even--in the way she looked at him and spoke to him, as if he were still an awkward little boy.

~ from p. 87 of The Night Sister

Amy, Piper, and Margot were best friends as children. Amy lived in the Tower Motel, a motel in London, Vermont with a tower fashioned after the Tower of London of English fame. After a highway began leading traffic around the town, the hotel lost its thriving business and it sat, mostly empty, the tower crumbling nearby. The friendship of the three girls faded after the year they found a suitcase full of letters written by Amy's great aunt, Sylvie Slater, who supposedly went to Hollywood but was never heard from, again.

When Amy and her family are found murdered, only their young daughter still alive, Piper returns from California, half out of concern for pregnant Margot's health but mostly because of a cryptic note Amy left behind. Margot and Piper know it's a clue and they don't believe Amy was capable of murder, but they'll have to work carefully around Margot's husband Jason to determine what happened. To find out what's going on and what kind of monster killed Amy's family, they must return to the hotel and delve into the lives of the past, to Sylvie and Rose. Rose, Amy's grandmother, is still living. And, she believes in monsters.

My thoughts:

The Night Sister is seriously creepy, but it's more frightening at the beginning and then loses a bit of its tension as the story goes back and forth in time. Still, the questions that make the book a page-turner continue to pull you through the book, even if it seems to lack the urgency of the beginning. What became of young Sylvie? What did the three girls find in the suitcase that caused them to drift apart? What's the meaning of the message about the 29th room? Are there really monsters in Vermont? Was Amy killed by a monster or did she murder her own family?

Recommended - I liked The Night Sister for the fact that the pages flew, but I confess that I found the ending a bit of a letdown and some of the answers to the questions were a shade disappointing. I think it's partly that I wanted it to go one direction and instead it went another. Having said that, I enjoyed the story, in general (I gave it 4 stars at Goodreads), and think it's absolutely right for this time of year and would make an excellent read for the RIP X Challenge, if you're participating. It did give me nightmares at the beginning, so watch out if you're nightmare prone!


©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly

Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly
Copyright 2014
Corgi (an imprint of Random House UK) - Suspense/Crime
399 pp. incl. Q & A with author

You already know I won Keep Your Friends Close and another of title from the author, Paula Daly, if you hang around here much. Well, I was just emerging from a slower-paced title and craving a quicker pace when the two books walked in the door. I kept looking at this one and I love the cover; it's appealing in a creepy way and just looked like something suspenseful enough to keep the pages flying. So, I gave in within 24 hours of the book's arrival.

Good decision. Keep Your Friends Close is the story of Natty, a woman whose family owns a hotel and house next door to each other in England's Lake District. How Natty and her husband Sean managed to acquire such a prime bit of property is never mentioned but they have succeeded due to a lot of hard work, drive extraordinarily expensive cars to show for it, and clearly cater to a wealthy clientele.

Natty is obsessive to the point of neglecting her husband and even her health. She's growing a bit too thin. Her children are her other priority. Alice is a bit sulky. Felicity is more laid-back. Felicity is on a school trip to France as the book opens and Natty is cleaning like a madwoman. She's so obsessive about cleanliness that it's almost a family joke; she even follows the maids, whom she thinks not quite dedicated enough to do the job right.

Natty's best friend from college is dropping by for a visit. Just as Eve arrives, though, Natty receives a dramatic call from Felicity's teacher. Felicity has fallen ill and is in surgery. It's unknown whether or not she'll survive. Natty hastily packs and Eve offers to watch after Alice and the hotel but Sean can only get a single ticket on the next flight and Natty insists that she must be the one to go. Their manager is on vacation so Sean ends up remaining behind at Natty's request, even when he's able to join her.

And, here is where the suspense begins. Eve is a dangerous woman who has set her sights on Sean, a man neglected enough that he's easily wooed. By the time Natty and Felicity return, Sean and Eve are a couple. Shocked to her core, Natty becomes irrational and gets into a bit of trouble. But, when Natty begins to suspect that there's something bigger going on than just a friend stealing her husband, she discovers that Eve is not the person she claims to be. Through the combined efforts of Natty and a detective named Joanne, Eve's history begins to form. But, will it be too late for Natty and her family?

Highly recommended - A genuine page-turner. There were some moments that I thought, "This is a bit implausible," but I didn't care. I found Keep Your Friends Close addictively readable and was astonished at how many times the author surprised me. Just when I thought I knew what was going to happen next . . . nope, wrong again. And, every time I put it down I kept thinking, "Argh, I want to read!!!" I love that. I'm looking forward to reading the other Paula Daly book I won in that Twitter drawing and particularly recommend Keep Your Friends Close for beach, train or plane reading.

©2015 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Don't Try to Find Me by Holly Brown

Don't Try to Find Me by Holly Brown
Copyright 2014
William Morrow - Fiction
Source: Harper Collins for review
Scheduled release: July, 2014

I made the mistake of picking up a book that doesn't release till July when I was trying to find something, anything that would grab me (hence the photo of an ARC taken on my breakfast nook floor) So, if you're interested in Don't Try to Find Me, you'll have a bit of a wait but I want to go ahead and post about it while it's fresh in my mind.

Brief synopsis:

14-year-old Marley has run away, leaving a note on a white board telling her parents not to bother looking for her, she'll be fine.  At first, her mother is dumbfounded. Could she be talking in the silly language they used to use, "opposite speak"? Someone must have forced her to write that message. Marley's not the type to run away. Or is she? While Marley's mother Rachel bolsters herself with false hope and tries to bury her one and only secret, casting herself in suspicion, her father turns to social media, the news and the police in a campaign to make her face so familiar across the country that someone will undoubtedly find her.

Through Rachel's thoughts and a journal written by Marley, the reader follows the unfolding mystery from one end and the escalating horror from the other. Will Marley be found in time? Will Rachel's secret be uncovered?  What did Marley's father do to upset Marley and is his massive campaign to find her just a way to cover up the mistakes of his past or is he genuinely concerned about his daughter?

My thoughts:

First things first:  Don't Try to Find Me has been compared to Gone Girl in the publicity material. Throw that idea out the window. I haven't read Gone Girl so I didn't have to worry about the burden of comparison but those who have read Gone Girl are, I observed, not pleased. They were expecting one thing and got another. Understandable.

For my part, I thought Don't Try to Find Me was suitably gripping. It saved me from a slump, after all. Written by a practicing family therapist, the author tends to use a lot of terminology that makes her background clear but masks it by making Marley a young girl who went through therapy and then was declared cured. Marley's former therapist eventually becomes important to the storyline.

Was the book well-written?  I would say it's average, as far as the writing style. It's not highly quotable, there's nothing lyrical or beautiful about it.

Were my expectations met?  Yes and no. There was enough suspense to keep the pages turning but there's a little too much build-up over issues that, in the long run, are pretty minor (the errors of the parents).  However, the author does make it clear that being young and vulnerable are enough to lead to trouble. It seemed to me the book was as much about how easily a youngster can be drawn into a truly dangerous situation because of her youth and innocence as it was about the suspense. I found the psychological aspect pretty fascinating.  Read the comments beneath any article about statutory rape, these days, and you'll find that a shocking number of the commenters think it's no big deal -- Who doesn't have sex by that age? they'll say, excusing older men for luring an innocent, as if doing so is no longer a crime because of societal expectations.

Don't Try to Find Me is a book that reminds you that youth and wisdom don't go hand in hand, that paying attention to your child and making it easy for her to share her feelings can be crucial to her safety and that, yes, statutory rape truly is a crime because girls who are not yet of legal age are definitely not mature enough to understand what they're getting into. Kudos to the author for an important reminder about an issue our society doesn't fully understand.

Recommended - A suspenseful story that fizzles a little in the middle when you find out the parents' mistakes are not all that shocking but picks up again when you realize the danger to Marley, well plotted and believable. I don't know the author's intent but I thought she did an excellent job of portraying a young teenage girl's emotional vulnerability. There are some frightening/unsettling scenes and a bit of graphic sex, another rare case in which those scenes are actually important to portraying the characters.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Help for the Haunted by John Searles

Help for the Haunted by John Searles

Copyright 2013

William Morrow - Suspense

362 pp.

First sentence:

Whenever the phone rang late at night, I lay in my narrow bed and listened.

Summarize the plot without giving away the ending:

Sylvie's story began when her parents answered a late-night phone call.  Their business was helping the haunted and possessed; it was not unusual for the Masons to go to work in the middle of the night.  But, on that fateful night Sylvie sensed danger.  As she obediently sat waiting alone in her parents' car outside a darkened church, snow blanketing the windows, she heard gunshots and left the safety of the car to find out what was happening.  

Her parents were killed in the church, that night, Sylvie the only known witness.  But, her sister Rose knows more than she will let on. When Sylvie's identification of the murderer comes into doubt, Sylvie begins to question her memories and sets out to discover the truth.  Who was in that church, behind the gun that damaged one of Sylvie's ears and killed her parents?  Why is Rose so bitter and why has she forbidden Sylvie to mention that Rose was also in the church, having lured her parents there, if she was not the murderer?  Why has the basement light come on in their house and what is down there? What exactly did the Masons due to "help the haunted"? What did the man who wrote a book about the Masons say that caused them to fall on hard times before their death?

Help for the Haunted jumps back and forth in time, describing the events leading up to the death of the Masons while following Sylvie as she attempts to determine who killed her parents and why.

Capsule Description:

A mysterious shooting, a haunted basement, the memory of a possessed doll and an oddly shifty sister.  When young Sylvie realizes she may have identified the wrong man as her parents' murderer, she must piece together what really happened the night her parents died.

What did you like best about Help for the Haunted?

I liked the fact that Help for the Haunted was just creepy and suspenseful enough to suit me without being so scary I couldn't read it at night. The basement contains objects that may or may not be haunted, which lends a nice chill to the atmosphere and since the details about what the Masons actually did for a living were held back from Rose and Sylvie, there are a lot of questions posed at the beginning of the book.  Help for the Haunted is nicely paced, the pieces of the story revealed slowly while ratcheting up tension until the exciting scene in which Sylvie finds out the answers and nearly loses her life in the process.  

What did you dislike about Help for the Haunted?

I was expecting it to be much different than what it turned out to be but to say what part of Help for the Haunted didn't match my expectations would be a spoiler, unfortunately.  It wasn't anything that ruined the reading; that much I will say.

A favorites scene:

I like all the scenes with Dereck, a former boyfriend of Rose's.  Rose is a bitter character who becomes a bit tiresome, at times, and Sylvie takes time to develop some intestinal fortitude, since she's accustomed to trying to please everyone. The secondary characters give the book a bit of spark.  Dereck's scenes help to soften the story while Sylvie's uncle and her parents' biographer add interest.  I also loved the climactic action scene in which the identity of the killer and the killer's motive are explained, as well as the scenes in which Sylvie reflects on the childhood game she and her sister played on the foundation of a house that was never completed.  There's a final chapter in which things are quietly wrapped up.  I was hoping the author would wrap the book up in a way that explained what happened to Sylvie and liked the way he tied up all the loose ends.

Recommended - (rating: 4/5) A suspenseful, mysterious, well-paced story about how things are not always what they seem, Help for the Haunted is also about kindness, friendship, lies, the relationships in a dysfunctional family and the difficulty of being the trusted child who feels obligated to live up to parental expectations. Help for the Haunted is suspenseful and atmospheric enough to make a nice read for the RIP challenge, definitely recommended to those in the market for creepy books. 

Cover thoughts:

I like the cover because the color combined with the image of a girl running give it a slightly spooky look, but it's nothing special. The large lettering makes the cover appear . . . common, I guess.  It looks like a typical mystery/suspense.

I received a copy of Help for the Haunted from HarperCollins in return for an unbiased review.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

What a Mother Knows by Leslie Lehr

What a Mother Knows by Leslie Lehr
Copyright 2013
Sourcebooks Landmark - Contemporary Fiction/Suspense
336 pp., incl. Reading Guide

What a Mother Knows by Leslie Lehr is about a woman who has been in a terrible car accident.  Over a year after her accident, nearly half of which was spent in a medically-induced coma due to swelling in her brain, Michelle returns home.  But much has changed.  Her husband has moved from California to New York and, after bringing her home, only stays long enough to get her settled in.  Their son Tyler has moved to a boarding school on the East Coast.  And, their daughter Lexi is missing.

Because she experienced traumatic brain injury, Michelle doesn't remember the accident or events leading up to it.  Gradually, her memory will return in flashes, bits and pieces that she must fit together like a puzzle as she tries to remember what happened and why there was a young man in the vehicle with her.  Where was she going and how did the accident occur?  Where is her daughter?  During her time recovering, Michelle received messages from her daughter, but what did they mean?  Is Nikki missing or in hiding or even dead, now?  As Michelle deals with a new life, a lawsuit, rumors and the confusing question of why her husband insists that he can't return to California to work, Michelle searches for her daughter.  

My thoughts:

I found What a Mother Knows rather gripping, and yet . . . it just didn't work for me, primarily for two reasons.  Even though I wanted to know what Michelle would find out about her daughter, I found the answers to the questions that What a Mother Knows poses surprisingly transparent. In the end, I predicted every major plot point.  But, what I  most I disliked about What a Mother Knows was the main character.  Michelle is not likable. Before her accident, she was a hard-nosed Hollywood producer and when she seeks answers, she is forceful and often rude.  

I might have found Michelle's behavior more tolerable if her head injury had something to do with her outbursts.  Traumatic Brain Injuries can cause a dramatic change in personality or loss of self-control.  But, apparently Michelle was just a little on the nasty side to begin with.  As a reader, I found her annoying enough that it was only curiosity and the fairly fast pace to the book that kept me going.

The bottom line:

Recommended but not a favorite - Gripping, suspenseful, satisfying in the end, yet unsurprising.  An unlikeable main character and predictable ending made What a Mother Knows just an average read for me, but there is much to like about the book.  Even though in the end I found that I'd made the correct assumptions about every major plot point, I found the questions compelling enough to keep the pages rapidly turning.

In other news, things are blooming, here:

It's rather difficult to convince oneself to spend time on the computer, this time of year.

©2013 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Clouds Roll Away by Sibella Giorello

The Clouds Roll Away: A Raleigh Harmon Novel

by Sibella Giorello

Copyright 2010

Thomas Nelson - Suspense/Christian

322 pages

Whenever I thought I was right, I forgot to listen for the sibilant whisper. Hearing only my own counsel, my righteous insistence, I failed to hear the asp slithering through the grass. It was only later, in the messy aftermath, that I began to peel away the justifications and rationalizations, the false logic and shifting blame, until I was left with one small dark object, resting in the palm of my hand like an apple seed.

My hasty choice.

After several months working in the FBI's Seattle office (as punishment, possibly for insubordination but I never quite figured that out), Raleigh Harmon has barely settled into her home in Richmond, Virginia when a cross is burned on the lawn of a plantation owned by a celebrity rapper known as "RPM". Hate crimes are high-profile, high-priority cases and Raleigh, a forensic geologist, has a limited amount of time to solve the crime.

Raleigh's personal life is just as messy as her job. Her widowed mother, Nadine, suddenly wants to celebrate Christmas for the first time since her husband was murdered and she also seems determined to place Raleigh in the path of Raleigh's former boyfriend, DeMott. And Nadine's companion is suddenly angry and distant after he begins to work as a photographer for the targeted rapper.

As Raleigh digs deeper to solve the crime, she slowly uncovers a tangled web that leads in unexpected directions with interconnected crimes testing her skills and a boss and home life forcing her to rely heavily on her faith to guide her and provide clarity.

What I liked about The Clouds Roll Away:

I'm not much of a suspense/mystery reader, but this particular book sounded so fascinating that I signed up for a book tour. And, I have to say . . . wow. I was really impressed. Raleigh Harmon is a fascinating character and in The Clouds Roll Away, the author pretty much plunks her in the middle of a ring of fire with a cup of water (metaphorically speaking). The challenges she faces, both personally and professionally, are so overwhelming that you can't help but race through the book.

I was absolutely dying to know what would happen and surprised by how beautifully the author tied together seemingly diverse strands and then had her character solve the crime while dealing with a boss who obviously couldn't stand her, a mother who was either flipping out or suddenly improving (a conundrum that carried a startling ring of truth) and a shaken faith as her father's murder remained unsolved.

The Clouds Roll Away is the second in a series and it stands alone fine, but it's so well written that I want to read the first book, merely on the merits of the second -- although, I also wouldn't mind knowing what exactly Raleigh did to end up getting sent to Seattle. If that was described, it didn't stick with me. Raleigh is one tough cookie. I love the character.

What I disliked about The Clouds Roll Away:

Since The Clouds Roll Away is a Thomas Nelson publication, you have to expect some talk about God -- and, as a Christian, I like a "clean" (no sex, no bad language -- but this one does have some graphic description of crime scenes) read. I appreciated that about this book but I thought occasionally the segue into thoughts about faith was a little odd and didn't quite fit the tone.

Raleigh's thoughts about God and faith become less jarring the farther you get into the story, though, so I think it was really a case of not knowing the character and where she was coming from. Once I got to know Raleigh, her thoughts started to make a lot more sense and didn't seem to just come out of the blue. I did occasionally get tripped up by her writing style, which can be a little confusing at times, but there was never a point that I felt hopelessly lost.

A rather irrelevant side note:

There was one minor error that I thought was rather interesting. Raleigh refers to a record her mother is playing as an "RPM". I assume the author wasn't around in the days of vinyl because "RPM" stands for "revolutions per minute" and refers to the speed at which a vinyl album was played -- or would be, if you still had your old record player and you haven't gotten rid of your old vinyl. I think she meant an "LP" or long-playing album, as opposed to a single but that's just picky details. I can't believe I'm so old that the music I grew up with (some of which is still tucked in a cabinet) is now referred to as "antique". Eeks.

The bottom line:

Stunning writing, a complex and satisfying mystery and a kick-butt heroine make this book a page-turner. The book gets a family warning for graphic description of crime scenes but is otherwise clean -- no bad language, no sex, just lots of emotion and a rocking fine plot.

Cover thoughts:

The cover doesn't exactly scream, "Suspense! Mystery!" It looks placid, actually, and I think it's absolutely beautiful but it did surprise me that the crimes involved were so intense and even a bit on the gory side. And, yet, the book is as much about Raleigh returning to her hometown during a snowy Christmas and facing her own personal demons as it is about Raleigh Harmon solving a crime. After closing the book, I think the cover fits. It's got a pensive look, an image of the character that fits (before her haircut -- you have to read it to get the implications that come with the haircut) and the snowy Richmond setting. It's really perfect.

FTC notice:

I received a copy of The Clouds Roll Away for a book tour. My thanks to Thomas Nelson and LitFuse for the review copy.

Coming up:

I actually kept meticulous notes on the books that entered and left my house, this past week! I'll write about them in a separate post very soon; and, after I write my review of Why We Need Love, I'll also post a round-up of my November reads.

I've been holding off on the November list until I've managed to review everything I finished reading in November, so that I can provide links to all of my reviews. And, then I believe I have one or two more reviews and I'll take off a couple of weeks from blogging for Christmas break and ponder my reading and life resolutions for next year. Yes, I still do that -- Lord knows why. It's not like I'm good at keeping my resolutions, but I still plan to try. Are you making plans for 2011?

©2010 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery and Babble, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.