Book #27 Dark Places

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dark Places left me cold. A mother and two of her daughters slaughtered in shocking fashion. The youngest daughter, Libby Day, survived this act of violence and her evidence put her fifteen-year-old brother Ben behind bars, guilty of the mass murder of his own family. Or was he? Twenty four years later Libby is contacted by a group calling themselves The Kill Club, all convinced of Ben's innocence. And if Ben wasn't guilty who did massacre the Day family?

There is not one character to like in this seedy tale of small-town America - Kinnakee, Kansas. The manipulative, alcoholic father, who leaves his wife and family to fend for themselves and cope with a run down farm; and they don't. The downtrodden mother, drowning in debt - doles out a meal of sandwiches that consist of a slice of bread spread with mustard. Ben's girlfriend Diondra - well, I won't go there - don't want to give too much of the plot away. And our 'heroine' the light-fingered Libby Day has few redeeming qualities. After contact from the group, headed by the enthusiastic Lyle Wirth, Libby begins to realise that everyone in her family had something to hide that day.... Was she mistaken with what she thought she heard as a seven-year-old?

In the latter half of the book there is one chapter that contains scenes of such depravity that left me reeling with shock. Gratuitous and unnecessary.

In some defence of Dark Places the plot is well constructed, switching chapter by chapter between the events of 1985 and the present, which helps to maintain a relentless pace. I finished the book relatively quickly, to be done with it. I so enjoyed Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn; I cannot say the same for Dark Places.

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Book #7 The Silent Wife

The Silent Wife by A.S.A. Harrison
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Utterly absorbing. The Silent Wife bears a remarkable resemblance to Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” insofar as this dark, psychological thriller is told in alternate chapters by Her and Him. And rather poignantly the author, Ms. A S A Harrison, died of cancer in April 2013, only weeks before her book was published. She was 65. Her book was released as a paperback original, not a hardcover.

This is the work of a very talented writer, each alternating chapter adds escalating character revelation. It is unnerving and compelling as Jodi (Her) and Todd (Him) rush haplessly toward the main event, a catastrophic finale with a delightfully black twist.

If you enjoyed “Gone Girl” you will love this; a Gone Girl for grown-ups.

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Book #60 The Starlings & Other Stories

The Starlings & Other Stories by Ann Cleeves
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Twelve photographs taken by David Wilson in Pembrokeshire are used by twelve authors to inspire short stories; interpret what they see and invest their own narrative into the photograph. An unusual concept that has worked reasonably well. But for all that I was left somewhat disappointed. Some of the endings were weak and needed more. One contained two continuity howlers, which I am surprised were not spotted by an editor or proof reader. See if you spot them.

My favourites were The Starlings by Ann Cleeves in which she reprises Vera Stanhope; The Man Who Didn't Breathe by Jim Kelly; Mountains Out Of Molehills by Valerie Laws - full of menace, and Sorted by Toby Forward that reminded me so much of Gone Girl.

So, some entertaining stories, some not so good. Overall 3.5 stars from me with my 60th and last book for 2015.

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It's Inevitable

I had to visit Brighton centre yesterday. My wife had two wristwatches that required new batteries and I wanted to purchase the Blue-Ray of the film 'Gone Girl'. This took me to Churchill Square for Goldsmiths - to install new watch batteries - and HMV for the Blue-Ray. It also took me close to the location of Waterstones, my favourite emporium....

I am a bibliophile. I cannot walk past a bookshop without slowing my step. I will linger at the window, gazing through the glass at stacks of books I have not yet read. I hover, telling myself I must read the pile on the bedside table before buying another. But I cannot resist the lure. Before long, I open the door, and that's it. I'm in, and I am going to be a while....

And so it was. There I was again, surrounded by thousands of books distributed over four floors. And of course I did. I bought a copy of "The Fish Ladder" by Katharine Norbury. It's her first book. According to Philip Pullman it is "a beautiful, strange, intoxicating and utterly unique story". Sounds good.

Meanwhile I must press on and finish reading "Wolf Hall" by Hilary Mantel - all 674 pages and then I have to read "Bring Up The Bodies", the sequel to Wolf Hall. So, I am not watching the BBC TV adaptation, currently showing, as this would probably get very confusing. I shall buy the series on DVD when it is released on 2nd March.

And then tackle that pile of books on the bedside table, not forgetting "The Fish Ladder"...

The Girl On The Train

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

“Don’t expect me to be sane, I can’t be, not with you.” And perhaps I have already said too much using this quote from ‘The Girl On The Train’. The book you cannot put down. How often have you read that in a review? Well, this was it for me. The book I could not put down. I finished it last night at 11:45pm, almost in a daze. Diabolical plotting, Hitchcockian, suspenseful, full of trickery and malice and right up there with ‘Gone Girl’. This book is a real chiller and I cannot say anything about the plot without giving too much away. The fact that I read it over a period of 24 hours speaks volumes. I cannot remember the last time I read a book that I could not put down....

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