Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone? by Louise O'Neill

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Random House UK, Transworld Publishers  in exchange for an honest review.

Whatever Happened to Madeline Stone? tells the story of Chelsea Stone, an ex-child actor who is now struggling with her adult life. Chelsea used to act with her identical twin sister Madeline but they grew apart when Chelsea beat her for a key role and Madeline went off the rails. Now Madeline has disappeared and Chelsea is left wondering what happened to her sister.

Louise O'Neill has a talent for writing stories which tackle the difficult aspects of being a woman and I was looking forward to her take on child stars. Unfortunately, I kind of felt this book was about the wrong twin. Chelsea is an interesting character but her main purpose as the protagonist is to allow for the mystery of what happened to Madeline to drive the story. In terms of the biting social commentary and emotional grit that I love in O'Neill's work, Madeline would have made for a much better main character. Instead of getting a close look at the darker side of child stardom, these dark aspects are experienced second hand by the narrator. This means that a lot of the emotional gut punches are muted and don't quite land.

Putting that aspect aside, the general plot is a little messy too. It took me longer to get into this book than it normally does with O'Neill's work and I think that's partially due to the mismatch between the present day plot and the flashbacks. The present day plot flirts with being a thriller but stays solidly as a contemporary drama. Neither plotline fully explores its events either and this combines with the problem mentioned above to weaken the story further. A good example of this is the twin's mother, Erin Stone. She is a complex and interesting character to explore and yet she is a little sidelined and the emotional payoff of her story never really makes it to the surface.

Overall, I did enjoy this book and I really admire what it was trying to do. I think it was a bit messier and a bit less emotionally impactful than I have come to expect from the author. I also suspect that the marketing may draw in some thriller audiences who will be disappointed. If you want a thoughtful exploration of the exploitation of women, I think O'Neill's other books are unfortunately a better pick

Overall Rating:

3.5/5 stars

We Are Hunted by Tomi Oyemakinde

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Books in exchange for an honest review.

We Are Hunted is the story of a teenager named Femi who goes to a Jurassic-Park style island with his family for a exclusive vacation. Things start to go wrong in expected and not so expected ways, and he's left trying to escape the island with his life.

I will admit, this book ended up being a lot different than I was expecting. It is listed as a horror which is not necessarily unfair, but I think sci-fi fits it much better as a label. There aren't too many horror elements apart from descriptions of violence/attacks (which are fairly gruesome), and there is more in common with traditional sci-fi stories in terms of characters and plot. The action scenes are the best written however and I thought that part of the story was handled really well.

Overall while this book ended up not really being my typical genre, I still really enjoyed reading it. I won't be seeking out anymore in the series but it was a fun one-off and I'm glad I read it.

Overall Rating:

3/5

Sociopath: A Memoir by Patric Gagne

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan in exchange for an honest review.

I don't read a lot of memoirs but Sociopath caught my eye because of the unusual angle to the subject matter. There are many books about sociopaths in the context of true crime and, while these are very popular, they have never been my particular cup of tea. As a psychologist I have studied many darker aspects of humanity through a research-focused, neutral lens and so the idea of what being a sociopath feels like from a non-offending sociopath's point of view was exactly the kind of thing to grab my interest. I am so glad I got a copy of this because interesting is definitely the word for it.

It is hard to review memoirs because unlike fiction, these are the real aspects of someone's life. I found the pacing of this pretty spot on, although I was a little sad when the childhood portion was over. I think the focus on the relationship with her mother was particularly intriguing and it was something that wasn't hugely covered in the latter half of the book, which is valid but a bit of a shame. The writing was solid and I really appreciated the candid tone of the whole thing. It felt very honest and very real, which seems hugely important in this kind of book.

There is huge value in reading this memoir. I think everyone gains benefits from understanding how sociopaths might function and think, and it's also just a well-told and engaging story. I am pleased to see any kind of work which might expand or challenge people's views on a stigmatised condition and I hope more books like this get published in the future

Overall Rating:

5/5

Death Comes at Christmas edited by Marie O'Regan

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

I haven't always had the best luck with anthologies but I am pleased to report that Death Comes at Christmas is nothing but a good time. This is a delightful mix of short stories focused on crime at Christmas time, taking place over a wide range of time periods and settings. There was a good amount of variety and surprisingly for an anthology, there were no stories I disliked particularly.

Some of my favourites were:

• How to Commit Murder in a Bookshop-A bookshop event turns sinister
• The Red Angel-A true crime podcaster crashes in the snow and ends up at a creepy house with his girlfriend
• Christmas Lights-A surprisingly touching story of grief with a somewhat sinister tone
• The Naughty List-Vigilante justice turns festive

All in all, this is a great festive read and a welcome addition to the world of Christmas thrillers. If you want something to dip in and out of on Christmas day where the stories are all of comparable quality, then this is definitely worth checking out

Overall Rating:

The Christmas Appeal by Janice Hallett

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Serpent's Tail / Viper / Profile Books in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of The Appeal and I think it's a book which stands up on a reread, so I was pretty excited when I heard about a sequel coming out. The Christmas Appeal continues the antics of the Fairway Players as they put on a production of Jack and the Beanstalk at Christmas time. As with the first, this book is told entirely through emails, texts and other forms of communication.

For full disclosure, I have actually read this book twice now and my opinion on it has changed slightly. The first time I read it, I was incredibly disappointed. While this book mimics many of the qualities of the first one, it lacks any real ingenuity to the murder case. There is little opportunity to solve anything and no real additional elements once the incident is revealed, which for me is the main appeal of the first one. The whole thing just falls a little flat and doesn't seem to add much as a result.

Having said that, I reread this book this Christmas and I had a bit of a better time. I still stand by the opinions above but I was able to see a bit more of the fun in it, and it certainly fills a good role as a book to read around Christmas which doesn't require too much attention. The characters are enjoyable, it's very readable and it has a decent enough atmosphere.

Overall, I think this book is worth checking out but perhaps lower your expectations if you're a big fan of the first one. Whether it's due to the shorter length or just the 'Christmas tone', this book isn't a great example of the murder mystery genre but it can be a lot of fun and is certainly better than some other Christmas-themed thrillers I've read.

Overall Rating:

Ink Ribbon Red by Alex Pavesi

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House in exchange for an honest review.

At the time I read Pavesi's first book (Eight Detectives) I really enjoyed it. I recently reread in anticipation of this book and I found it much more lacking than I remembered. Still, I went into Ink Ribbon Red with excited optimism. Unfortunately, the whole thing fell a bit flat.

This is a very hard book to get into. The premise is that a bunch of old university friends are at a house for a weekend together. During this trip, they play a game where they write stories about murdering each other. This is alluded to by the blurb but isn't made clear in the book until a good 30-40% of the way through. Meanwhile, you have a narrative which is jumping around wildly because it turns out that some of what you're reading is the stories written by the characters. This is a great idea in theory but without being set-up properly in the book itself, it creates a horrible mess for a first-time reader. It also means you have to pay really close attention to the times/dates at the start of each section which I find tiresome. I find I can ignore these in most books without any confusion so it's a pity the writing was not clear enough here.

In terms of the content of the book, I found the characters diverse and interesting enough. I wasn't particularly invested in the story, partially because of the issues mentioned above and partially because there wasn't much to work out aside from the content of the stories. Ultimately I think this book had a great idea but it wasn't executed to its full potential. I like the creativity behind it but it definitely needed to be refined a bit more in order to create a better reading experience

Overall Rating:

A Lesson in Cruelty by Harriet Tyce

 

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Headline Audio | Wildfires in exchange for an honest review.

The plot of A Lesson in Cruelty is a little hard to summarise without spoilers but I shall do my best. This is really a book of three separate plots which then come together. The first part is about Anna, a woman who is being let out of prison only to find her cellmate dead on the day of her supposed release. The second is about Marie, a woman imprisoned on a remote Scottish island (that's about it really). Finally we have Lucy, a law student who desperately wants to sleep with her professor and gets the chance to when they go away to a conference together.

If these plots sound a bit disjointed then good, I have accurately represented the listening experience. Never has a book had so much going on and yet so little of it which actually matters in the end. The swaps in character did not feel particularly natural and I actually found it intrusive to the flow of the story. The three characters are distinct but when the plot starts coming together and the different threads start to collide, you start to realise how much faff there was. It is at this point that some events are chalked up to 'random coincidence', something I'd be more forgiving of if this wasn't already a bit of a mess in terms of how its crafted.

I also just need to talk about Edgar for a minute because he is in some ways the most outlandish character. He is a law professor and honestly cartoonish in the way he neglects his family and how he conducts 'research'. I'd like to point out here that I am actually a lecturer and even allowing for the liberties fiction can take, what he gets away with is absurd. It pokes a huge hole in an already-punctured plot.

The 'twist' at the end is painfully obvious as several reviewers have pointed out, but it's made even more obvious by the way the audiobook is narrated. The narrator does an ASMR voice for some passages where we're not supposed to know who exactly is narrating them, but then the same voice (admittedly dialled back) is used for that character so it becomes clear who it's going to turn out to be. Additionally, some lines near the end are a different volume to the surrounding ones. This was very distracting and just made the production seem a bit cheap, like they'd been dubbed in afterwards.

Overall, I sadly wasn't very impressed by this thriller. The plot is oversaturated and requires suspension of disbelief to buy that certain aspects would be allowed to happen. The characters are decent but there are so many of them and too many coincidences play out in terms of their relationships. Perhaps if the audiobook had been better then I would have enjoyed this more, but it wasn't my cup of tea

Overall Rating:

So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

Harrison is a fairly new author to me and one whose work I am immensely enjoying. Black Sheep was one of my favourite books of the year. I thought The Return was a little lacking but I loved the themes and writing. So Thirsty is kind of a revisit to The Return, albeit with a different lens and focus.

So Thirsty is the story of two friends, Sloane and Naomi. Sloane is the calm, meeker of the two who is currently in a somewhat unhappy marriage. Naomi has always been wild and never thinks about the consequences of something before she does it. Whilst on a trip for Sloane's birthday, Naomi insists they go party with some strangers in an isolated house which triggers a chain of events leading to them both getting turned into vampires.

I did really enjoy both the writing and general atmosphere of this book. It continues the 'toxic friendship' line of thought from The Return, though I felt this could have been more strongly tied into the vampire aspect. Maybe the author wanted to avoid the obvious but it makes sense to link metaphorical bloodsucking with literal, no? Everything was still a little bit vague, a little bit abstract. Even by the end of the novel, I couldn't tell how Sloane really felt about Naomi or vice versa. I wanted a deeper exploration of the nuances of the friendship, of how a situation like that really affects people emotionally.

Having said that, this book is still well worth the read. I feel like Harrison is so close to releasing my favourite ever horror book about toxic female friendship. So Thirsty isn't quite that, but it is an interesting and strong vampire horror novel and those in themselves are rarities in my opinion. If you've not read anything by her before, I'd recommend Black Sheep over this but if you've enjoyed her other works, this is perfect to pick up

Overall Rating:

The House Share by Kate Helm

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books UK in exchange for an honest review.

The House Share tells the story of Immi and Dex, two young twenty-somethings who move into a strange but financially-enticing houseshare in London. A little like a cult and a little like university, the houseshare promotes communal living and a vested interest in helping each other as a community. And as with both a cult and university living, there is a bit of a darker side with things taking a turn for the dangerous.

The House Share is a book of two halves. For the first 60-70%, I really enjoyed it but then something odd happened. Characters started acting stupidly, one of the narrators vanishes off the page and stops being important, mental health gets emphasised in a weird way. It was so disappointing because while the writing itself was still pretty good, the plot had taken a sharp downturn. In particular, the epilogue is a real slog and suffers from having the perpetrator dramatically reflect on their crimes like a Bond villain. I also can't believe we don't get to hear again from Dex's point of view after he finds out he's innocent. That felt like such an oversight to not get his reaction at all.

The final twist of it being a psychological experiment also didn't ring true to me. Why pick those particular people if that was the case? Why is the psychology behind everything so shaky? I am not a clinical psychologist but I do have a doctorate in mental health research and the representation, while not awful, was not super accurate either.

Overall, there is still a lot to like about this book and in terms of the thriller market, this is one of the better ones. It's a shame the quality wasn't consistent throughout but I do think this author has huge potential and I would be interested if they released another thriller

Overall Rating:

.5

My Darling by Amanda Robson

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books in exchange for an honest review.

My Darling is a confusing, messy story about two women and (sort of) two men. Jade is married to Tomas and she is delusional, rude and unpleasant. Emma has just begun dating Alastair, a man who starts to show controlling tendencies. Emma herself is pragmatic and honestly, she doesn't have a second personality trait. Jade becomes convinced Tomas is cheating on her with Emma and decides to take matters into her own hands, resulting in a multi-layered murder plot where everyone is framing everyone else.

This book was so painful to read. I initially started with the audiobook but that was far too confusing, so I swapped to the e-arc which was a bit easier to follow. The characters are quite bland. I expected there to be more going on with Jade but no, she is just delusional and horrible to everyone. I expected there to be more going on with everyone to be honest. We learn more about Emma but it doesn't really translate to anything meaningful in terms of how we view her. Alastair has an ex-wife who shows up a few times and is described in a huge amount of unpleasant detail, but why? What does it add?

The plot itself is very melodramatic and a bit tedious. I wasn't surprised by anything that happened. I am not someone who needs a huge twist in my thrillers, but it almost felt like it was written to contain twists but there just weren't any? I won't give the details of the ending but it is framed like a standard ominous thriller ending where we are meant to feel dread at what the protagonist might do next, except I feel like everything she did was reasonable given the world and people she was dealing with. This is a side effect of the melodrama. Everything becomes a potentially reasonable response because the actions themselves are so extreme, and the people so one-dimensionally unforgiveable.

I was so disappointed by this book. The one saving grace is that this is quite an easy read, so I did finish it rather than abandon it halfway. Unfortunately I can't recommend it though

Overall Rating:

I Love Romcoms and I am a Feminist by Corrina Antrobus

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and White Lion Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

This was a super fun read and pretty much exactly what I wanted from a book with this title. This is a light exploration of 100 romcoms through the lens of 'feminist lessons learned'. I loved the mix of famous romcoms and lesser-known films. It meant I have a few new movies to check out, which is always great. The amount written about each film was about perfect. It's a good book to casually flick through, and it's the kind of thing I love to read on Christmas day inbetween all the bustle. If you're a fan of romcoms, this is definitely worth a read!

Slasher Witch at the Waterpark by Penny Moonz

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and Victory Editing NetGalley Co-op in exchange for an honest review.

What an absolute blast this book is!

Slasher Witch at the Waterpark is a farcical horror comedy book about a witch killing a bunch of people at a waterpark. It is equal parts ridiculous and fun, with a lot of creative deaths and details which made this book such a delight to read. An ancient witch getting drunk off frozen margaritas whilst she murders dozens of people? Timeless.

There's honestly not much else to say about this book. The title tells you what you are in for, and it certainly delivers. I will say, I genuinely did love the range and creativity behind the deaths and the horror. Parts of the waterpark start coming to life, sea creatures reign terror and the skies open up to meteorological horrors. There are a few gross moments to be aware of but I am usually quite sensitive to certain elements (bodily fluids etc) and I found it manageable. If you're looking for a fun horror read that is goofy in all the right ways, I cannot recommend this more!

Overall Rating:

.5

The House That Horror Built by Christina Henry

 I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

It should be no surprise that I absolutely love everything Christina Henry writes at this point, and The House that Horror Built is no exception. This book tells the story of Harry, a single mother who begins cleaning the home of famous horror movie director, Javier Castillo. This involves cleaning all of the creepy props which adorn his home and following a very strict set of rules. Harry manages to successfully keep a professional distance from her boss until one day, she and her son are forced to move in with him due to her limiting financial circumstances. She then has to balance maintaining her boundaries whilst also suspecting there is something very odd about the house...

This is a hard book to pinpoint. If I had to, I'd say it was a slow-burn ghost story with a few psychological elements. Most of the book is focused on a creeping sense of dread, with only minimal horror 'stuff' actually happening. This was more than enough for me as a reader though. I found the characters interesting and I wasn't really sure where the story was going to go. I think the climax more than makes up for the slow pace of the beginning. The story gets very intense and troubled, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I am a huge fan of horror as a way of exploring human emotion and trauma, and this book does that very well in my opinion. I also like books which keep you on your toes. Which characters can you trust? Are things are sinister as they seem? This book plays with that well, and that's where the more psychological aspect comes in.

It should also come as no surprise that I am going to recommend this book. It's admittedly a little different than Henry's other, more-action filled works but I think that's a strength rather than a detriment. I think there's a lot here for horror fans to love

Overall Rating:

An Unlikely Proposition by Rosalyn Eves

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Macmillan Children's Books in exchange for an honest review.

An Unlikely Proposition is the second book in the Unexpected Seasons series, although you can read it without having read the first one and pick up on most of the story beats. This book focuses on Thalia (from the first book) and Eleanor (new) as they navigate romance and their livelihoods on the London marriage scene.

I'm going to be honest, Thalia was not the character I particularly wanted to read more about. She was my least favourite from the first book and I wasn't really looking forward to spending more time around her. Having said that, she is much less infuriating this time around. She still makes some bad decisions and I still found her poetry stuff a little annoying. 

Unfortunately though, the main takeaway was this book didn't really make me feel anything. I only read it about a month ago and already I can remember so little about it. Eleanor is fine as a protagonist but she is quite flat. She is prim, to the point where I found it really hard to buy that she is only 17. I had to keep reminding myself that she was a young woman because it was almost jarring when she started doing what Thalia was. I kept mixing up the two love interests and now I couldn't tell you a single thing about them. I don't want to be mean, I just generally can't recall even their names.

Overall, I unfortunately can't recommend this book. The first one is still a good time for most of it so I'd give that a read, but this didn't really offer me anything new

Overall Rating:

.5

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison

I received an ARC of this book thanks to NetGalley and publisher Titan Books in exchange for an honest review.

I read Rachel Harrison's debut novel The Return and thought it was really enjoyable but a little unpolished. I am happy to say that Black Sheep is that book with all the polish and so much more.

Black Sheep is the story of Vesper, a young woman who escaped her upbringing on a cult-like religious farm and is now struggling to get by. One day she receives an invitation to return to the farm to attend the wedding of her favourite cousin, Rosie. It just so happens that Rosie is marrying Vesper's childhood sweetheart and so despite her better judgement, she decides she has to go back to find out what is going on.

This book embodies all the best aspects of horror for me. Horror as a metaphor for trauma can be such a powerful tool, and Harrison uses it impressively here. Some of the themes present in The Return can also be found here, but this time they feel fully explored and the metaphor is far stronger. I loved going into this book almost blind and I encourage other readers to do the same. I simultaneously felt like I knew exactly what was going to happen but also I wasn't quite sure, which is a great position to be in as a horror reader.

The characters are also really strong. Vesper in particular stands out, but I loved the hints of complexity surrounding her mother. Other characters like Rosie and Brody are less complex, but it feels by design. We don't get to know much about them and why should we? Vesper views them a particular way and we are limited by her narration.

This book has convinced me to read everything Harrison writes forever. I didn't think this was really a topic area I was hugely interested in going in, and I fell in love with the writing and style. Her other books similarly aren't about things I would normally seek out (witches, vampires) but now I can't wait to read them. If you're a fan of horror used to explore human emotion and depth, I strongly recommend giving this a try

Overall Rating:

.5