The Pupil by Dawn Goodwin

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Aria in exchange for an honest review.

The best word for this book is...messy? Honestly I was confused from page one when I opened it and found out that Viola wasn't the main character. The blurb heavily implies that you are going to be reading a story about Viola trying to work out if she's met Katherine before, and if she has then what to do about it. Instead almost the entire book is told from Katherine's point of view with her being the protagonist. This is confusing at first and makes for a very different plot/atmosphere than the blurb implies.

The Pupil is actually about Katherine Baxter, a woman who takes a writing class with an author she admires and then gets selected to be mentored by him with the goal of getting her published. The author's wife is also his agent and she seems welcoming but suspicious (again, the blurb kind of gives away why she is acting this way). Katherine's husband is a controlling and miserable man who doesn't really want her to write. Neither does anyone else Katherine knows.

As far as thrillers go, there really isn't a lot going on here. It's well-written but the plot is very linear and there aren't really any twists. The ending is easy to work out by the time you've reached it and so it feels more like a forgone conclusion than an explosive finale. The characterisation is fairly good on the whole (excluding the children who are just named props), as is the pacing and general atmosphere. Honestly there isn't much to critique about this thriller, there just isn't a lot that particularly makes it stand out either. The literary aspect is interesting and there could have been more done with it, but again it isn't the story promised by the premise.

Goodwin is a decent writer and I would be interested in reading more from her in this genre. It's just a shame that this book is a little low on the thrills and has such a misleading blurb attached to it. Ultimately I think this book should have either focused on Viola or made it clearer from the blurb that this wasn't a thriller about whether or not someone was being tormented by someone from their past but rather, a woman not sure if she can trust the people offering her new career choices.

Overall Rating:

For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Net Galley and publisher Harlequin-Mira in exchange for an honest review.

The blurb of this novel is pretty vague so I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I think I kind of imagined two married people working together to murder someone to protect their son when he gets into bad stuff. For some reason I wasn't expecting their son to be a young child, and this book is actually about Natalie wanting to take revenge on a teacher who she believes has been abusing young students of his, including their son. I can't really give anymore detail than that without getting into spoilers, but I will say that I was pleasantly surprised by For Better and Worse.

The main reason I wanted to read this book was because I am getting a little tired of thrillers where the husband plays a minor or non-existent role. Far too often it is the case where the husband is relegated purely to a suspicious figure with little or no personality. This book seemed to hint at a larger role and indeed, Will becomes one of the two narrators later on in the story. Both Natalie and Will made for compelling characters to read about and I found myself invested in their plotlines and intrigued as to what decisions they would make.

Compared to some thrillers this is more of a slow burn, which isn't to say that's a negative. I personally enjoyed the pacing as the focus remains on the choices the characters make and how far they are willing to go to both protect their son and themselves. There aren't really any big twists (again, not a negative) but there are a few minor things which keep you guessing. The writing style is spot on and I loved how Hunt built up suspense using the dual narration. There are plenty of uncertainties to prevent you working out how it's going to go, and I was very invested the whole time I was reading it.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this thriller for people who enjoy a tense story without the need for huge twists or a breakneck pace. It explores an interesting marital relationship, the intense bond of family and the fallout that can come from when an adult sexually abuses a child. It puts a nice spin on the usual cat and mouse story and I will definitely be seeking out Margot Hunt's other work now.

Overall Rating:

Kill Creek by Scott Thomas

This is such a treat for horror fans. Honestly, I'm not entirely convinced I shouldn't just give this 5 stars straight off the bat because I loved it so much. The only thing that is stopping me is that I listened to the audiobook rather than reading it which is quite a different experience (the audiobook is many, many hours long). I would very much like to read this again and I'm almost certain I will be giving it 5 stars when I do.

Kill Creek tells the story of four horror authors, brought together to a haunted house in a publicity stunt. Each of the four authors represents a different kind of horror. You have Sam McGarver the protagonist, kind of a Steven King type everyman. There is TC Moore, a female writer who loves gore and graphic sex scenes. Sebastian Cole is the elderly pioneer of the genre while Daniel Slaughter is a loose parody of RL Stine. All four of these characters are incredibly fleshed out and I truly enjoyed reading about them. You can tell Scott Thomas is a lover of the horror genre and this shines through his writing.

Only the first part of this book is about the publicity stunt visit. I was expecting more of the story to be taken up by this but, while I was initially disappointed, ultimately the story is stronger for this not being the case. Instead of a bog standard haunted house story, you get something a little deeper and more interesting. I was unsure where the story was heading and there is a lot of creativity to be found here. Again, Scott Thomas clearly loves horror and I was impressed by how he managed to invoke a lot of tropes whilst still putting his own spin on them.

There were a few elements I wasn't so keen on. There is some weird sexual stuff earlier on in the book which sadly isn't uncommon in horror. Thankfully this did not play a big part in the story and there were only two instances overall which I was glad about. I found the ending a little hard to follow as well in parts, though this could easily be due to me listening to the audiobook. Overall, I would strongly recommend the audiobook itself. The narrator had an easy-to-listen-to voice and gave each of the characters distinctive voices, which made for a very enjoyable listening experience.

I have made it my mission to read more horror that isn't by Stephen King in 2019 and Kill Creek has gotten this off to a fantastic start. The blurb may sound like a cliche storm but it is a well-paced, fantastically detailed and above all entertaining horror book. Fans of horror will appreciate the nuances of each of the author characters, and those less familiar with horror will appreciate the strong plot and intriguing story. I cannot recommend this more.

Overall Rating:

.5