Review: The Three by Sarah Lotz

The Three by Sarah Lotz
Publisher: Hodder & Staughton
Release date: 22 May 2014
Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: Black Thursday.  

The day that will never be forgotten. The day that four passenger planes crash, at almost exactly the same moment, at four different points around the globe. There are only four survivors.  

Three are children, who emerge from the wreckage seemingly unhurt. But they are not unchanged. And the fourth is Pamela May Donald, who lives just long enough to record a voice message on her phone. 

A message that will change the world.  

The message is a warning.

  
02 January 2012.  

Dubbed Black Thursday by the media.  

Four almost simultaneous plane crashes across the globe; 

Maiden Airlines goes down in the Florida Everglades 
Go! Go! Airlines seemingly vanishes into the sea
Dalu Air in to a shanty town in Africa
Sun Air into a creepy 'suicide' forest in Japan. 

They're here ... The boy. The boy watch the boy watch the dead people oh Lordy there's so many ... They're coming for me now. We're all going soon. All of us. Pastor Len warn them that the boy he's not to??-- The last words of Pamela May Donald (1961 - 2012)

I'm not sure exactly how much I can say about The Three. I don't want to give anything away - at all.

That is how much it enthralled me, and I want others to experience the same.

It's one of those novels, where the less you know about it, the better.

Others may disagree, but I would just recommend that you pick it up.

Trust me, you won't be able to put it down until you've finished.

Even then, you will still be thinking about it.

The Three is available from Amazon online and all good book shops.

 

    Thank you to the publishers who approved my request on netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Landing Gear by Kate Pullinger

Landing Gear by Kate Pullinger
Publisher: Touchstone

Release date: 20 May 2014
Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: Suburban housewife Harriet spends her days doing what she’s worst at. Formerly a local radio host, now she grocery shops for her family who has too much to eat, parents a son who refuses to communicate with her, and tries to be a wife to a man who hasn’t embraced her in years. But what starts out as a mundane trip to the supermarket turns her world upside down when a mysterious man falls out of the sky from the landing gear of an airplane onto her car, and survives. He’s starving and he’s freezing cold. What can she do but bring him home to her family?






Landing Gear was inspired by real-life accounts of airplane stowaways. It is very different from anything I've read recently. Highly original in her writing, Kate Pullinger has the ability to switch between characters in the novels initially very short chapters without confusing the reader.

Landing Gear opens with Harriet, one of our main protagonists at the Supermarket, minding her own business loading her shopping into her car when suddenly a man is falling from the sky, right on to her car. Is this possible? Is he dead? Is Harriet dead?

Landing Gear then switches back a few years to the shut-down of all European air space following the eruption of Mt. Eyjafjallajokull and its all consuming ash cloud. At this time Harriet is working at a local radio station desperately trying to make it in to television. She seizes her chance to capture the 'quietness' of London in the absence of air traffic as her big break.

Here we also meet the other characters; Harriet's husband Michael is stuck in the US on business, her son Jack hanging out with his mates in places that he shouldn't be, and Emily, not part of the family, but somehow you feel she should be. And then there is Yacub, working in Dubai, desperately trying to make some money to send back to his family in Pakistan.

These characters are not only separated by the ash-cloud, but something deeper. It is the arrival of Yacub some years later straight on to Harriet's car that somehow brings them all together and teaches them all something about themselves.

Landing Gear is a unique read, one that I would highly recommened to anyone looking for something a little different.

You won't be disappointed.

Landing Gear is available from Amazon online



Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Bookbridgr Box Set Blog Tour: Jonathan Kellerman

Review: Killer by Jonathan Kellerman 

Publisher: Headline

Release date: 11 February 2014

Rating: *****

Back cover blurb: L.A., the City of Angels, has more than its share of psychopaths, and no one recognizes that more acutely than the brilliant psychologist and police consultant Dr. Alex Delaware. Despite that, Constance Sykes, a sophisticated, successful physician, hardly seems like someone Alex needs to fear. Then, at the behest of the court, he becomes embroiled in a bizarre child custody dispute initiated by Connie against her sister and begins to realize that there is much about the siblings he has failed to comprehend. And when the court battle between the Sykes sisters erupts into cold, calculating murder and a rapidly growing number of victims, Alex knows he’s been snared in a toxic web of pathology. Nothing would please Alex more than to be free of the ugly spectacle known as Sykes v. Sykes. Contd...
 

 

'Killer' is Number 29 (!) in a series of Crime books featuring Alex Delaware by author Jonathan Kellerman.

 

I am ashamed as a crime fan to confess to never having read any of his novels before. After reading Killer for Bookbridgr's first 'Box set' blog tour, that is about to change...

 

Killer opens with our main protagonist Dr. Alex Delaware being threatened with a gun. Delaware is not a cop so this doesn't happen to him often, despite his line of work as a psychologist and Police consultant. Certainly not on a daily basis, and he is duly shaken by the incident, although he tries to play it down.

The person threatening him, is not one that he had perceived to be dangerous, and Delaware starts questioning his ability to carry out his daily job. Shortly after enlisting the help of his friend, Detective Milo Sturgis, Delaware discovers that this is no one off incident and the suspect wants him dead, no matter what the cost.

What follows is a gripping tale full of suspense, murder and mystery.

Delaware is a thoroughly likeable character and you can really tell that he just wants the best result for everyone.

I've read a few unfavourable reviews about this novel, but I can't say that I agreed with any of them. I thoroughly enjoyed Killer and would recommend it to any fans of crime/thriller/mystery/suspense etc.

Now that I've read Killer, I think I'm going to have to start at the first Delaware novel and work my way through them all!

12th May - fromfirstpagetolast 'Guilt'

13th May - TraceyBookLover 'Bones'

14th May - Adventures With Words 'Mystery'

15th May - Compelling Reads 'A Cold Heart'

16th May - Men Who Stare At Books 'Evidence'

17th May - Book Addict Shaun 'Deception'

18th May - BleachHouseLibrary 'Therapy'

19th May - A Book Worm UK 'The Murder Book'

20th May - Books, Biscuits and Tea 'Victims'

21st May -  Right here!!!! 

Killer is available from Amazon online and all good book shops

      A massive thank you to Bookbridgr for the novel, and for allowing me to take part in my first blog tour.

Review: Black Lake by Johanna Lane

Black Lake by Johanna Lane

Publisher: Tinder Press
Release date: 1 May 2014
Rating:  *** and a half
Back cover blurb: For generations, the Campbells have lived happily at Dulough, an idyllic, rambling estate on the windswept coast of Ireland. But upkeep has drained the family coffers. Faced with the heartbreaking possibility of having to sell, John Campbell makes a very difficult decision; to keep Dulough he will turn the estate into a tourist attraction. He and his wife, daughter and son will move from the luxury of the big house to a small, damp caretaker’s cottage. The upheaval strains the already tenuous threads that bind the family, and when a tragic accident befalls them, long-simmering resentments and unanswered yearnings are forced to the surface. As each character is given a turn to speak, their voices tell a complex and fascinating story about what happens when the upstairs becomes the downstairs, and the legacy that remains when family secrets are revealed.

I was intrigued when I sent details about Johanna Lane's debut novel, Black Lake and immediately requested a copy on netgalley, which was duly approved.

Black Lake is Johanna Lane's debut, and I was expecting great things. Johanna writes beautifully, but the novel itself for me was lacking that extra little something special.

 

I expected Black Lake to revolve around an 'event' and to a certain extent, it does, but just perhaps not to the degree of impact that I was expecting. In fact, I actually had to read back several pages to check, as I almost missed it.

John Campbell and his wife Marianne, along with their children Phillip and Kate are forced to move out of their stately home (the fictional) 'Dolough' (Black Lake) in County Donegal, Ireland, when the family's historic financial issues finally catch up with them.

John inherited the estate, his brother the family's money, and it appears that they have not communicated well regarding the finances of the estate and that John has largely buried his head in the sand where monetary matters are concerned.

After striking a deal with the local government, the family move into a cottage in the grounds whilst the estate is taken over by the government for guided tours and general profiteering. 

The move inevitably causes a huge impact on the whole family, and they all deal with it in very different ways, until one of these ends in tragedy.

Black Lake is told from all four family members points of view in turn, and covers both past and present events which at times can be a little confusing. It is a short novel about how one family and its members deal with loss, in all kinds of different ways.

Black Lake is available from Amazon online and all good book shops.

    Thank you to the publishers who approved by request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Telling Error by Sophie Hannah

The Telling Error by Sophie Hannah
Publisher: Hodder & Staughton
Release date: 24 April 2014
Rating: *** and a half

Back cover blurb:  Controversial newspaper columnist Damon Blundy has been murdered, and a woman who has never met him – housewife and mother Nicki Clements – is brought in for questioning. Nicki can’t answer any of the baffling questions detectives fire at her. She has no idea why a killer might use a knife in such an unusual way – a way that involves no stabbing or spilling of blood.  She doesn’t know what ‘HE IS NO LESS DEAD’ means, or why the murderer painted it on the wall of Damon Blundy’s study. And she can’t explain why she was so close to the crime scene – not without revealing the secret that could ruin her life. Because, although Nicki is not guilty of murder, she is far from innocent…

The Telling Error is another of those novels that has been on my 'to be read' list for ages and I was kindly granted authorisation by the publishers via netgalley whilst I was in Canada, and have literally only just gotten around to reading it.

The Telling Error is a complex story featuring the murder of controversial (and unpopular) newspaper columnist Damon Blundy. Nicki Clements is driving to her son's school to deliver his forgotten P.E. Kit when she sees the Police stopping vehicles in Elmhirst Lane where Blundy lived. Rather than waiting for instructions, Nicki does a u-turn to avoid the police. 

Unfortunately for her Nicki has to make several trips to the school that day, so when the Police view the CCTV footage from that day looking for clues and see a women behaving bizarrely, she becomes one of their prime suspects.

Of course, Nicki didn't kill Damon Blundy, but she can't answer the questions that the Police are throwing at her for fear that she will land herself in real trouble - with her family. For Nicki is deeply embroiled in an online relationship with a man that she has never met.

As the investigation in to Damon's murder gathers pace, detectives are told that Nicki Clements was having an affair with Damon Blundy. Was he really her online lover, or is someone trying to frame Nicki?

 

I really enjoyed the Telling Error, right up until the end. Whilst others may enjoy the uncertainty for Nicki following the uncovering and ending of her online affair, I didn't, and would like to know what happens next... but maybe Hannah has this in mind for a future novel.

  The Telling Error is available from Amazon online and all good book shops.
    Thank you to the publishers who approved by request via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Lying Down Room by Anna Jaquiery

The Lying Down Room by Anna Jaquiery

Publisher: Mantle

Release date:

Rating: **** 

Back cover blurb: At night Armand lay in bed with a sadness in his heart that ballooned until there was room for nothing else. He thought with horror of the lying-down room... Paris; in the stifling August heat, Commandant Serge Morel is called to a disturbing crime scene. An elderly woman has been murdered to the soundtrack of Faure's Requiem, her body then grotesquely displayed. At first this strange case seems to offer few clues; and Morel has problems of his own. His father - always a great force in his life - is beginning to succumb to senility; and he is unsettled by the reappearance of the beautiful Mathilde, the woman he once loved. Only origami can help calm the detective and focus his thoughts on this troubling crime. As the investigation progresses, the key suspects to emerge are a middle-aged man and a mute teenage boy who have been delivering religious pamphlets in the city's suburbs.. contd.

The Lying Down Room is the first of a proposed series of novels to feature Commandant Serge Morel. Set mainly in Paris with parts of the novel set in Brittany and Moscow, The Lying Down Room is a beautifully written crime novel.

We meet our protagonist Serge Morel when he is called to the scene of a gruesome murder of an elderly lady. There is something strange about the lady's appearance and Morel is disturbed by the crime scene in general, to him, an experienced detective, something just doesn't sit right.

He is not the only one to think so, and quickly he and his colleague Lila are deeply involved in the investigation, determined to find their elusive prime suspect.

Serge and Lila have a brilliant working relationship and I can't wait for them to investigate more together in future novels. Serge himself, is not what I would describe as an 'ordinary' fictional detective, but that only made me like him more.

As Serge and Lila continue their investigation, one by one their witnesses begin to meet their demise in the same grusome way, and the pair find themselves racing to catch the murdered before he or she strikes again.

The Lying Down Room is an excellent crime novel and a brilliant start to the series, I can't wait to see what the author has in store for Morel next.

 The Lying Down Room is available from Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank you to the publishers who approved my request on netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: That Dark Remembered Day by Tom Vowler

That Dark Remembered Day by Tom Vowler

Publisher: Headline

Release date: 13 March 2014

Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: One family, one town, devastated by one tragic event. Can you ever know what those closest to you are really capable of? When Stephen gets a phone call to say his mother isn't well, he knows he must go to her straight away. But he dreads going back there. He has never been able to understand why his mother chose to stay in the town he grew up in, after everything that happened. One day's tragic events years before had left no one living there untouched. Stephen's own dark memories are still poisoning his life, as well as his marriage. Perhaps now is the time to go back and confront the place and the people of his shattered childhood. But will he ever be able to understand the crime that punctured their lives so brutally? How can a community move on from such a terrible legacy? 


That Dark Remembered Day is the first novel that I've read by author Tom Vowler. Now that I have, I've added his previous novels to my ever growing pile of books to be read by new authors (new to me anyway..)

That Dark Remembered Day is the story of one family who's lives were turned upside down on one day in 1983.

We meet our main protagonist Stephen in 2012, currently suspended from work due to an uncharacteristic outburst. He is spending increasing amounts of time in the pub, or in bed nursing off a hangover and his wife is becoming increasingly worried about him.

He knows he needs to sort himself out, he just isn't sure exactly what he needs to do to fix the mess that he has found himself in. Until one day, out of the blue he receives a phone call informing him that his Mother is unwell and he should come 'home' to be with her.

Stephen is forced to return to his home town, the area he has been avoiding since he was a teenager, since the day that his family's life was torn apart by the events of that one day that still haunt him years later. To the extent that he may be facing the sack as an indirect consequence.

Stephen arrives to find that little has changed in the town where he grew up including the local residents reluctance to talk about that one day. Stephen struggling with his own life, wants to remember, as if it can help him come to terms with what happened.

Stephen and his family's story unfolds through a series of flashbacks combined with present day events. Told not only from Stephen's point of view, but also that of his Mother and Father. That Dark Remembered Day deals with some difficult subjects very sensitively and is a must read for 2014.

That Dark Remembered Day is available from Amazon online and all good book shops.

Thank you to the publishers who approved my request via Bookbridgr in exchange for an honest review.

Review: Frog Music by Emma Donoghue

Frog Music by Emma Donoghue

Publisher: Picador

Release date: 27 March 2014

Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: San Francisco, 1876: a stifling heat wave and smallpox epidemic have engulfed the City. Deep in the streets of Chinatown live three former stars of the Parisian circus: Blanche, now an exotic dancer at the House of Mirrors, her lover Arthur and his companion Ernest. When an eccentric outsider joins their little circle, secrets unravel, changing everything – and leaving one of them dead. Frog Music, inspired by true events, is an evocative novel of intrigue and murder: elegant, erotic and witty.

Frog Music is a novel that has been on my 'to read' list for what feels like ages. It's the first novel I've read by Emma Donoghue, but I have since bought Room as I enjoyed Frog Music so much.

Frog Music is essentially a work of historical fiction combined with crime novel, involving the murder of Jenny Bonnet at Eight Mile house  in San Francisco.

Jenny's murder is witnessed by our main protagonist Blanche Beunon. The pair are in hiding from Blanche's ex-lover Arthur Deneve and his best friend Ernest.

Blanche is convinced that the bullet that killed Jenny was meant instead for her and the narrative at the end of the opening chapter reverts to a flash back of Blanche and Jenny's unlikely first meeting. Blanche, a burlesque dancer and prostitute is unused to female company and has never had a female friend before, but there is something about Jenny that makes Blanche want to befriend her.

Keen to know Blanche's life story, Jenny is reluctant to reveal her own, but soon has Blanche questioning her profession, relationship and facing hidden secrets from her past. 

It is this questioning that leads Blanche on a journey of discovery, but she is not prepared for what she will find and how it will change her life forever.

Frog Music is based on true life characters and events but Emma Donoghue adds her own unique take and makes it feel like a true work of fiction.

Frog Music is available from Amazon online and all good book shops.

 
Thank you to the publishers who approved my request on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Investigation by Jung-Myung Lee

The Investigation by Jung-Myung Lee (translated by Chi-Young Kim)
Publisher: Mantle

Release date: 27 March 2014
Rating: ****

Back cover blurb: Fukuoka Prison, 1944. Beyond the prison walls the war rages; inside a man is found brutally murdered. Yuichi Watanabe, a young guard with a passion for reading, is ordered to investigate. The victim, Sugiyama - also a guard - was feared and despised throughout the prison and inquiries have barely begun when a powerful inmate confesses. But Watanabe is unconvinced; and as he interrogates both the suspect and Yun Dong-ju, a talented Korean poet, he begins to realise that the fearsome guard was not all he appeared to be... As Watanabe unravels Sugiyama's final months, he begins to discover what is really going on inside this dark and violent institution, which few inmates survive: a man who will stop at nothing to dig his way to freedom; a governor whose greed knows no limits; contd ...
 
The Investigation is inspired primarily by Korean poet Yun Dong-Ju and uses his work throughout the novel to great emotional effect.

Ultimately The Investigation is Yuichi Watanabe's story.

He is just 17 years old when he is called up to join the Japanese war effort. He is posted to a guard's position at Fukuoka prison and assigned to Ward Three, notorious throughout the prison for the criminals it holds.

His fellow guard Sugiyama has a celebrated reputation for being a former war hero, but he is brutal with the prisoners and has few friends inside the prison.

When Sugiyuma is found dead, Watanabe is given the task of investigating his colleague's murder. He assumes it will be a straightforward task as Sugiyama is bound to have many enemies.

It's not long before Wantanabe gets the confession he anticipates from one of his strongest suspects. What he doesn't expect to find is another side to Sugiyama's character, a side that few knew existed.

Watanabe remains sceptical at the early confession, but he knows that in continuing to investigate Sugiyama's murder he is likely to uncover some dark and disturbing truths about the inmates and the staff of the prison where he is forced to spend his days doing duty for his country.

I found the investigation difficult to follow in parts, I don't think it was due to the translation, I just think it is heavy going in places, but it is worth persevering with. Part war crime, part literary work, The Investigation is quite unlike anything I read before and I would thoroughly recommend it.

 

The Investigation is available from Amazon online and all good book shops.

 

Thank you to the publishers who approved my request on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review: The Accident by C.L. Taylor

The Accident by C.L. Taylor

Publisher: Avon

Release date: 10 April 2014

Rating: *****

Back cover Blurb: You took my child. Now I'll take yours... Sue Jackson has the perfect family but when her teenage daughter steps in front of a bus and ends up in a coma she has to face a very dark reality. Retracing her daughter's steps she finds a horrifying entry in Charlotte's diary and is forced to head deep into her daughter's private world. In her hunt to discover the truth, Sue begins to mistrust everyone close to her and is compelled to delve into the murky depths of her own past. Sue will do anything to protect her daughter. But what if she is the real reason that Charlotte is in danger?

C.L. Taylor's debut novel 'The Accident' was another on my 'to be read' list, and another that I picked up at the airport on the way to Canada. I wasn't disappointed, and found it very difficult to put down.

The Accident opens with our protagonist Sue Jackson at her daughter Charlotte's bedside. Charlotte is in a coma after being hit by a bus. Everyone around Sue is convinced it was an accident, but Sue has just discovered her daughter's diary which tells a different story.

Trying desperately to protect her daughter's privacy she hides the terrible truth from her husband. Determined to find the exact truth behind her daughter's diary entry Sue sets about interrogating Charlotte's friends, their parents, her step-son, and even her husband.

Appalled at the accusations being thrown at him, and annoyed that his wife has kept him in the dark about Charlotte's diary, Brian refers his wife to a doctor, convinced that she is mentally ill.

But why would any husband think that of his wife?

Could Sue's own past have played a part?

Has she been so consumed by grief that it has driven her mad?

Or is the truth so appalling that no one wants to believe it?


These are the questions that you will find yourself asking as you read through the novel. You will find yourself just as determined as Sue is to find the truth, and you won't be able to put it down until you do.

 The Accident is available from Amazon online and all good book shops.