As with many novels focusing on domestic drama, families often have skeletons hidden in the closet, and Vera and Eve are no exception to this rule; although their skeleton is literally in a cave they used to play in as children. Twenty-two years ago, a family drama that they would prefer to keep hidden is about to be unearthed, but unknown to them both, there wasn't just one body hidden in the cave. Further remains are soon discovered in a deeper part of the cave system; some remains were deposited before Sheree's body was dumped there, and others were deposited after Sherree. Who else knew about the complex cave system and why was it chosen to dump the bodies in?
#15. Part Of A Duology – Deeper Than the Dead by Debra Webb (Kindle)
As with many novels focusing on domestic drama, families often have skeletons hidden in the closet, and Vera and Eve are no exception to this rule; although their skeleton is literally in a cave they used to play in as children. Twenty-two years ago, a family drama that they would prefer to keep hidden is about to be unearthed, but unknown to them both, there wasn't just one body hidden in the cave. Further remains are soon discovered in a deeper part of the cave system; some remains were deposited before Sheree's body was dumped there, and others were deposited after Sherree. Who else knew about the complex cave system and why was it chosen to dump the bodies in?
#14. A Grieving Character – Eleven Liars by Robert Gold (Audible)
In 2020, as part of Hatchette publishers “secret reader” scheme, I received an advance copy of Robert’s book, “Twelve Secrets.” I enjoyed the book, so when I saw the second book in the Ben Harper series titled “Eleven Liars” pop up on Audible, I thought I would listen and see how the storyline had progressed.
“Journalist Ben Harper is on his
way home when he sees the flames in the churchyard. The derelict community
centre is on fire. And somebody is trapped inside.
With Ben's help the person escapes, only to flee the scene before they can be
identified. Now the small town of Haddley is abuzz with rumours. Was this an
accident, or arson?
Then a skeleton is found in the burnt-out foundations.
And when the identity of the victim is revealed, Ben is confronted with a crime
that is terrifyingly close to home. As he uncovers a web of deceit and
destruction that goes back decades, Ben quickly learns that in this small town,
everybody has something to hide.”
This book starts pretty much from where the last one left
off. Whilst it isn’t strictly necessary to read the first book in the series, I
would recommend it, mainly because it helps to understand who the characters
are, how their relationships fit together, and what issues have affected them
in the first book. That said, the plot of the book is straightforward enough to
follow, in chronological order, and Gold adds bit of information from the
earlier novel, so you can quickly pick up on the back story without it
hindering the rest of the plot.
The action starts immediately when investigative journalist
Ben Harper takes a shortcut home through
the local cemetery and saves the life of a man who is trapped in a burning
building. Despite Ben’s heroics, the man flees the scene before Ben can
recognise him. The next day a skeleton is found in the ruins of the burnt-out
building. No-one claims to know the identity of the body, or how it ended up in
the foundations of the church’s community centre.
#13. An Academic Thriller – Three Hours by Rosamund Lupton (Paperback)
This is the second Rosamund Lupton novel I managed to sneak into this challenge and it was easy to see why it was chosen as ‘Book of the Year’ by The Times, The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, Stylist, Red and Good Housekeeping.
“In rural Somerset in the middle
of a blizzard, the unthinkable happens: a school is under siege. Pupils
and teachers barricade themselves into classrooms, the library, the theatre.
The headmaster lies wounded in the library, unable to help his trapped students
and staff. Outside, a police psychiatrist must identify the gunmen, while
parents gather desperate for news. In three intense hours, all must find the
courage to stand up to evil and save the people they love.”
Three hours is 180 minutes or 10,800 seconds…it’s not that
long a time, unless you are being held hostage. If you’re anxiously waiting for
help to come, it can seem an inordinately long amount of time.
Tick Tock, Tick Tock…the amount of suspense that can be
derived just from the thought of a clock ticking down. Will help come? Will the
children be safe? Will the police fail in those last minutes? Whatever happens,
we know that it will all be over in three hours. This is a book you can’t put
down; you can’t leave the children in the school to their fate without knowing
the outcome.
School shootings and stabbings are the horrific news
headlines no-one wants to see, yet here, between these safe pages, you are
invested in this cat and mouse game between police and gunmen, entering the
psyche of the person at large. Why on earth would they want to target innocent
children, children that have been dropped off at a place of safety, children
who should spend the day knowing that in a few hours they’ll be back at home
watching TV or texting their friends.
This is a story built on a parent’s worst nightmare, you
are going to be with them every step of the way until you know whether their
child is safe or not. Three hours is not a long time at all, and I certainly
needed a bit longer than that to devour this book but devour it I did over a
wet and windy weekend.
#12. Starting With The Letter "L" – Lullaby by Leila Slimani (Paperback)
“The baby is dead. It took only a few seconds.”
Browsing the local bookshop, I gasped in shock as I read those
words. The first chapter is only 2.5 pages long, so I just continued reading,
mouth open. Immediately I knew I wanted
to read this book, and that it was one I wouldn’t put down until it was
finished, so armed with my new purchase, I headed off to the local park, bought
an ice-cream, and continued reading.
“When
Myriam decides to return to work, she and her husband look for a nanny for
their two young children. They find their dream candidate: Louise: a quiet,
polite and devoted woman who sings to their children, cleans the family's chic
Paris apartment, stays late without complaint and hosts enviable birthday
parties. But as the couple and their nanny become increasingly dependent on
each other, jealousy, resentment and suspicions start to breed, and Myriam and
Paul's idyllic domesticity is shattered.”
From the first lines, Leila Slimani sets out her intention,
that this is going to be a horrific tale and one that those triggered by child
violence should not read. There is not going to be a soft approach to any of
the issues which are raised in this book. Within the first paragraph you know
that a baby is dead, a little girl is in a critical condition and the mother is
hysterical. A 4th person has tried to take their own life. The
wheels have been set in motion and the reader must make an uncomfortable decision,
keep reading and head out on a journey
to find out how and why the children are dead, or leave the book on the shelf
and find something less disturbing in the bookshop.
TRUST. Such a short word, but so powerful. Believing
someone, hoping that they are honest, reliable, that they are speaking the
truth…it is a difficult thing to do, especially the older you get. We put trust
in people all our lives, from our early years of trusting someone with a secret
that they then tell the whole school about, so you find out that they’re not as
reliable as once thought, to getting older and trusting a complete stranger to
operate on us.
I’ve never had the worry about employing someone to look
after a child. The closest I’ve got to is when I go on holiday, there’s only
one person I trust with the welfare of my cat; God knows what I’ll do if I (or
they) ever move house. I know my cat is safe, so I really can’t imagine how
hard it would be for me to put my trust in someone to look after my flesh and
blood – especially a small defenceless child.
“ ‘My nanny is a
miracle-worker.’ That is what Myriam says when she describes Louise’s sudden
entrance into their lives.”
After interviewing several candidates for the role of a
nanny, Myriam and Paul decide they have struck gold when Louise walks into
their life. She is immediately at ease holding the baby and playing games with
Mila, calling her a princess. She cooks dinner and cleans the house so that
Myriam can concentrate on her career as a successful lawyer, and Paul can continue
with his demanding schedules working as a music producer. Louise quickly makes
herself indispensable, the household has never run so smoothly, but there is
already a chilling discomfort as each page is turned, the reader is aware,
unlike the parents, that Louise is no Mary Poppins.
#11. Title Starting With the Letter ‘K’ – The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley (Audible)
This is the fourth book by Natasha Pulley that I have listened to, and then decided that it would have been better to have read a physical copy of the book. At some point, I may treat myself to the books, because I’m sure there are details that I’ve missed whilst walking and getting distracted by something I’ve seen. That is a shame really, because her books are full of such exquisite details, they deserve more attention than what I’ve given them.
“Joe Tournier has a bad case of
amnesia. His first memory is of stepping off a train in the nineteenth-century
French colony of England. The only clue Joe has about his identity is a
century-old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse that arrives in London the same
month he does. Written in illegal English—instead of French—the postcard is
signed only with the letter “M,” but Joe is certain whoever wrote it knows him
far better than he currently knows himself, and he's determined to find the
writer. The search for M, though, will drive Joe from French-ruled London to
rebel-owned Scotland and finally onto the battle ships of a lost empire's Royal
Navy. In the process, Joe will remake history, and himself.”
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the history
you thought you knew was wrong? What if you were given the chance to go back in
time and change events that have already happened? If you did change things,
then the future as you know it wouldn’t be able to exist…you might not be
able to exist; those you love now might not exist because of the changes you’ve
made. It’s quite the deep soul-searching question, and one that comes to play
out in this novel.
The first thing that I have to say about this book is that
it is a slow burn, in fact all the novels I’ve read by Natasha Pulley are slow
burns, which is why I think I would do better reading her books than trying to
listen to them. That said, I don’t mean to suggest that the books are boring,
rambling on about nothing, I mean that the story slowly unfurls. Pulley is a
storyteller, she weaves a magical tale around “nothingness,” it is as though
you can read several pages and still feel left in the dark, but you continue to
read because you know, you know, that something interesting is being
kept from you, it’s just ever so slightly out of reach, but with a bit of
patience, the answer will come in its own time. At some point, everything you
have been told will suddenly start to make sense.
The year is 1898 when Joe Tournier disembarks from a train
in London into a world which is unfamiliar to both him and us the reader; only
this isn’t London, it’s Londres. The UK is under French rule and slavery still
seems to exist, somehow, the French won the Battle of Trafalgar, and the
English are now slaves.
#10. Told In Non-Chronological Order – After the Silence by Louise O’Neill (Audible)
“Nessa Crowley's murderer has
been protected by silence for ten years.
Until a team of documentary
makers decide to find out the truth.
On the day of Henry and Keelin
Kinsella's wild party at their big house a violent storm engulfed the island of
Inisrun, cutting it off from the mainland. When morning broke Nessa Crowley's
lifeless body lay in the garden, her last breath silenced by the music and the
thunder.
The killer couldn't have escaped
Inisrun, but no-one was charged with the murder. The mystery that surrounded
the death of Nessa remained hidden. But the islanders knew who to blame for the
crime that changed them forever.
Ten years later a documentary
crew arrives, there to lift the lid off the Kinsella's carefully constructed
lives, determined to find evidence that will prove Henry's guilt and Keelin's
complicity in the murder of beautiful Nessa.”
Two Australian filmmakers have arrived on Inisrun to film a
documentary about the infamous death, a documentary which Henry hopes will help
to clear his name and put the past behind him. The story is told via interviews
with various island residents and Keelin Kinsella; however, it becomes clear
she isn’t comfortable telling her version of the story to the camera.
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