Book #32 Snap

Snap by Belinda Bauer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Mesmerising, in the true sense of the word. Belinda Bauer is a master at creating the perfect crime novel. She often focuses on a child and how trauma affects them. Jack and his siblings, Joy and Merry. Left alone in a broken down car on a motorway as their mother seeks help, looking for a motorway 'phone. She never returns.... Move forward three years. Seemingly unrelated events form threads in the plot. Inexorably they develop and intertwine. The pace of the first few chapters was hypnotic. Think of the soundtrack to "Jaws" - staccato rhythm. Had me holding my breath. It is difficult to say more without spoiling the plot for future readers. I will say that SNAP goes to the top of my Best Reads of 2018. A stunning crime novel.

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld publishers for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Book #86 The Hazel Wood

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This has confirmed that I should be more circumspect in the ARCs I accept to read. The Hazel Wood was not for me. Unfathomable, well almost. Is this a dark fairy story, a story within a fairy story, is it supernatural, is it ”an unfathomable vastness, like lentils scattered through ashes”?

I can say it’s about seventeen-year-old Alice and her mother Ella, spending life on the road, no permanent abode, habitually having to avoid bad luck - until Ella is taken - to the Hazel Wood, the Hinterland? The abode of Alice’s recently deceased grandmother, author of supernatural fairy stories, Tales from The Hinterland. Her mother leaves behind a message for Alice: Stay away from the Hazel Wood. But, like a magnet, the Hazel Wood pulls Alice into a nightmare world of dark characters and monsters, stories within stories, as Alice seeks her mother. It’s all rather bewildering.

One character says to Alice: ”The quickest way to end this is to begin it, and that’s no way to start, is it?” Well, I rather wish I hadn’t. I struggled to finish The Hazel Wood, almost abandoned it, several times. Not my cup of tea at all.

I must still thank NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the opportunity to read this ARC.

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Book #84 The Heart's Invisible Furies

The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK Transworld for my ebook copy of The Heart’s Invisible Furies.

The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne is the best book I have read this year, one of my all time best, featuring alongside Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks and An Equal Music by Vikram Seth. It is that good. A novel that spans seven decades, a tapestry of social and political events in post-war Ireland. A tale of one man seeking happiness, looking for his true self in a country beset by the Catholic church, moral hypocrisy and sexual repression. One man - Cyril Avery.

Who is Cyril Avery? Adopted at birth in 1945 by Charles and Maude Avery his adoptive parents who persist in telling him he is not a real Avery and never will be. Despite this he is well looked after and cared for by the wealthy Averys. He was born out of wedlock to a teenage girl cast out from her rural Irish community. Cyril has no idea who his birth mother is. Cyril will spend a lifetime seeking an identity, a journey that will take him to many countries over his three score years and ten when happenstance will feature so often. The reader knows what Cyril doesn’t. Throughout, this results in passages of belly-laughing hilarity and heartbreaking moments that reduced me to tears.

This is the story of Ireland from the 1940s to today through the eyes of one ordinary man. It has made me laugh out loud and well up with tears, often on the same page. it reminds us of the redemptive power of the human spirit. The Heart’s Invisible Furies is a joy to read, a treasure, near six hundred pages of perfection.

I loved this book and have been fortunate enough to obtain the hardback edition signed by the author. A wonderful keepsake.


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Book #69 The Hanged Man

The Hanged Man by Simon Kernick
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hugh Manning is on the run in fear for his life. Erstwhile accountant for high-octane criminals, he has become a hunted man. His crime bosses are killers and Manning has seen too much. He has skimmed off enough to provide him and his wife with a wealthy future, if only they can escape and flee the country…

Ray Mason is a cop who has a history of flying by the seat of his pants. A cop with a cavalier attitude. There are many references to previous events that saw him suspended. Events that occurred in ‘The Bone Field’ (1st in the series that I was not aware of). The remains of seven unidentified women have just been discovered at a remote location and Mason and fellow officer Dan Watts are determined to hunt down the killers. I often found myself at a disadvantage not having read The Bone Field, where this all began…

Mason and Watts need to locate the witness to these murders before the killers do. And Mason is in a relationship with PI Tina Boyd, herself a former policewoman, and she adds another dimension to the investigation…

The Hanged Man just about reads as a stand alone although I am certain that reading The Bone Field first would explain a great deal and fill in much useful background information. The quest to find Manning is fraught with danger at every turn, littered with bodies and tainted with betrayal.

This is a cracking read (even if, like me, you haven’t read #1). The last 100 pages or so are breathtaking. I had to finish the book and did so in the early hours. Pulse-racing, heart-stopping action led to a nail biting finish. Wow!

Simon Kernick has written a gem of a thriller and, given that ending, there must be a Bone Field #3 in the pipeline. I cannot wait!

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Book #57 Anything You Do Say

Anything You Do Say by Gillian McAllister
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

With thanks to Net Galley and Penguin Random House UK for the opportunity to read this ARC. Opinions expressed are entirely my own. Anything You Do Say will be published in January 2018.

Laura and Joanna. Enjoying a Friday drink as they do most weeks. A crowded bar. A swarthy bloke with a smart-phone. Pushes in for a selfie. Takes an aggressive fancy to Joanna. Grabs her, pushes against her. A frisson of fear invades the atmosphere. “Leave us alone…” The girls escape and leave the bar. They go their different ways. Joanna takes Warwick Avenue, away from Little Venice and towards the canal. She is being followed and her life is about to change - forever. A moment of panic, on the bridge over the canal, she pushes him. A bad fall - hits his head, lands in a heap at the bottom of the steps.

Two ways to go, two choices. Fight or flight. Call the emergency services or leave him and run? Parallel lines, different outcomes. Two stories in one book. Damned if she doesn’t, damned if she does.

Comparisons to ‘Sliding Doors’ are inevitable. Two stories, two outcomes, one final destination. But Gillian Mcallister handles this with tremendous skill. To develop two outcomes with such credulity and power is masterful. The pace, whichever route you follow, is relentless. Reveal or conceal. Beautifully written with a forensic eye for detail.

I cannot say much else for fear of giving away too much. I can say that you won’t read a better book this year…

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