The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood

I am having such luck with authors lately! After finding the joy that was Ruth Ware, I was skeptical about how good the next thriller I read would seem in comparison. Fortunately, I picked this beauty up.

The premise of this book is nothing special really. The story follows several different people living in an apartment building, one of which is a serial killer. What makes it special is the writing style and the sheer brilliance of the characters. Again, on the surface they don't seem unique-there's the runaway teen delinquent, the kindly old lady, the weird misfit, the perverted landlord and many more. But every character is well-developed and you genuinely become very invested in their lives and what's going to happen to them next.

This actually helps a lot with one of the book's main issues. It's told in third person but each chapter focuses on a different character. This definitely takes some getting used to (there are a LOT of characters) but the characters are genuinely all quite different and having a unique voice for each of them stops it being the train wreck it could have been otherwise. Apart from that minor hiccup, I couldn't fault the writing style. It was engaging, suspenseful and all without being melodramatic or cheesy. Hey, actual good villain POV chapters! That never happens!

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed this book, enough to immediately acquire everything else the author wrote. I consider this her best book for sure and it's the perfect example of how to do a thriller right. Definitely worth a read

Overall Score:

.5

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

It's hard for me to judge which I liked better, this book or In a Dark, Dark Wood. I bought this as soon as I finished the latter and it did not disappoint. This one certainly has a more complex plot but not necessarily in a bad way. I think I liked the main character more or at least, she seemed to be more developed and have more meat to her.

The premise of this book seems simple on the surface-a journalist gets sent on a super fancy cruise as part of her job, only to get sucked into a mystery when she thinks she hears a woman get thrown overboard. The reviews describe this as Agatha Christie-esque but honestly, it's really not. This is not your traditional murder mystery setup and it's much more like a modern thriller. However, this doesn't mean it isn't good,

I must admit, I was not quite as sucked into this book as In a Dark, Dark Wood. That need to finish it quickly wasn't quite as strong, although I still read it across two days. It slumps a little sooner than her previous work too, although slump here means 'was slightly less engaging and still really awesome'. However, the ending really is its saving grace. Again, I was unable to predict what was going to happen and the direction it takes is an intriguing and less obvious one. I loved the reasoning behind everything, even if maybe the second to last bit was a bit directionless.

Again, this is a really solid book from a very satisfying author. I definitely won't be forgetting it anytime soon and really, that's all I ask for from my thrillers. Definitely worth a read and it shouldn't disappoint.

Overall Rating:

.5

In a Dark, Dark Wood by Ruth Ware

I have utterly fallen in love with this author. Admittedly, I picked up this book after reading a truly awful thriller so anything would have looked good after that. However, after reading more of her work I am convinced she is the real deal.

In a Dark, Dark Wood is a unique and compelling tale. The premise is a woman gets invited to a hen do in a secluded forest house by her old high school friend who she hasn't spoken to for 10 years. I can't really say anymore without ruining the plot but trust me, it's really good. What's more, it's actually very original. I couldn't tell where this was going at all but I was with it every step of the way, unable to put it down. I read it almost entirely in one sitting and finished it on the same day I started it.

The characters are another strong point of this book. They all seemed like real people and having the majority of them being well-written females was just another bonus. I felt for the main character without her needing to really say much about her pain at all. This is an author who appreciates show don't tell and I am so grateful for that.

My only gripe with it was that it got a little rocky about 3/4 of the way through. It didn't quite drag and it was still very good but it didn't hold my attention in quite the same way. This thankfully gets fixed by the climax and it does finish on a strong point. This is also a perfect example of having a complex and detailed solution without making the setup ridiculously convoluted or hard to follow.

Honestly, I really can't recommend this book or this author enough. In a genre flooded with books ranging from terrible to okay, this is one of the gems. Please please give it a try.

Overall Rating:

.5

Only the Truth by Adam Croft

I almost didn't finish this book. Seriously, that's how dull and uninteresting I found the plot. Not going to lie, the main problem of this book is its protagonist/narrator. It has been a long long time since I read about such a self-centered, stereotypically awful male protagonist. There are two female characters in this book and neither of them matter at all in terms of their character. For the most part, you are stuck listening to this whiny, self-pitying jerk narrate the really quite uneventful plot until the sweet release of the ending frees you.

Maybe it seems like I'm being too harsh. This book seems to be popular enough to be advertised to me on Amazon after all. I however can't find a single thing to say about it that's good. The plot sounds promising enough-the main character finds his wife's body in a hotel he's staying at and, in a fit of panic, runs away with his current lover who works there. But...it's just so bad. His wife is given zero personality and the protagonist mourns her very little. Even then, he only uses sentences like 'How can I possibly put into words how much I miss her?' without actually going on to attempt to tackle that challenge. The lover is slightly better but her character is tainted by constant physical descriptions of how slender and short she is, again seemingly the only thing the main character notices about her at all. She is however the only slightly interesting thing about the whole book which makes it even worse when SHE FREAKING DIES HALFWAY THROUGH.

That is the exact point I almost gave up. I basically skim read the rest of the book and I kid you not, it's just him going from one location to another with nothing worthwhile happening until the climax. Speaking of which, it's so painful. The lover turns out to be the one who killed his wife all along (of course, given that she's the ONLY OTHER CHARACTER) and she did it because...he's a jerk? The main character even acknowledges how little sense this makes, that's how bad it is.

Worst of all, the main character has learned precisely nothing by the end and escapes with no ramifications except a dead wife (we know just how much he cares about that). I actually agree wholeheartedly with the bad guy here and I'm not entirely sure I'm meant to. Aside from the fact she should have killed him rather than his wife, she was 100% right in my eyes. Ultimately, when you actively want the protagonist to suffer horribly, I don't consider that a great book.

Overall Rating:

Sometimes I Lie by Alice Feeney

You know, there's a common theme with modern thrillers that almost never ends well because it's been done to death. I am so sick of suspecting the main character or it turning out to have been the main character all along. You might ask then why I'd pick up a book so obviously intended to invoke the 'unreliable narrator' trope-good question. I do actually really enjoy the trope when it's done well. Unfortunately I'm not sure this is a shining example of that.

Sometimes I Lie actually starts off a lot better than I thought it would. Nothing special perhaps but the premise is intriguing enough and it fares better than most thrillers I've read lately. It starts off alternating chapters between present day and before the main character's accident and that's fine, but then flashbacks to her childhood diary also make an appearance and the whole thing gets a bit...crowded. I got fed up pretty quickly due to this but it actually turns out there is a very good reason for their inclusion and so I am more willing to accept them in hindsight.

The best word to describe this book is 'messy'. It has one genuinely good twist which surprised me and was kind of cool, but then it quickly descends into not making much sense. Then it tries to throw in more twists and there is far too much going on at the end which is unconnected to the main story or is too hard to follow. It's not complicated by any means, it's just not interesting enough to get me to focus enough to understand the poorly written reveals. The ending wasn't satisfying and I couldn't help but stop caring at that point. Also, as often happens with these books, the husband might as well have not existed. He had about as much personality as a sheet of paper and had even less influence on the plot.

Overall, this is one thriller that has some interesting potential but manages to ruin it in its attempts to be clever. Not a bad read by any means but hardly a standout in its genre.

Overall Rating:

.5

After the Cure by Deirdre Gould

Is it better to kill your family but you're not in control or kill strangers but have it be your choice?

This is just one of the many interesting questions this book raises. The second I read the blurb, I was hooked on the possibility of where this idea could lead. The premise behind the book is actually really simple-we've cured the zombie apocalypse. It's such an obvious idea and yet I have never read or seen anything which considers it. I was worried this would be one of those books with such a great premise that the actual content could never live up to it. Thankfully, I was plesantly surprised.

Now let me be clear, this book does not fully utilise the great idea behind it. To be honest, I don't think any book could. The main plot suffers a little bit from being too vague and ultimately disappointing, but the two central characters make up for it by being fully-fledged and quite compelling. They represent two sides of the apocalypse-those who were cured and must live with the knowledge of the terrible deeds they did, and those who were immune and...must live with the knowledge of the terrible deeds they did. Again, this could have been explored more but then the plot itself would have been even less focused. There are sequels to this book which may explore things further. However, this book felt quite complete on its own and I'm not sure about seeking them out personally.

Like I said, the main flaw of this is a lack of clarity. Without crossing too much into spoiler territory, the main villain maybe dies at the end. I say maybe because they kind of just stop being mentioned. A side villain (again, this doesn't give much away due to the changing nature of the plot) gets every second of their demise described quite clearly but I think we're just supposed to assume the main character dies at the same time. It's really jarring and probably my least favourite thing about the whole book. It's a little like forgetting to give Voldemort a conclusion.

The plot is the weakest element but on the whole, this is still a really strong story. It managed to do the near-impossible and not make me wish I'd thought of an idea first so I could write it how I wanted to. This was already pretty close to the stuff I would have included. Definitely a must-read if you like stories about morality (and zombies)

Overall Score:

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

What an utterly compelling book.

The Butterfly Garden tells the haunting story of a serial killer who kidnaps women and keeps them in a secret garden. This book is written beautifully, with most of the narration being told from the point of view of Maya, one of the kidnapped women who has recently been freed. I absolutely adored Maya as a character-she had the right amount of personality and numbness to make her really believable. In fact, I absolutely adored this book in general. It's a fairly simple idea but it's executed brilliantly and the world Hutchison creates just draws you in.

Alas, this book isn't perfect. The ending was a bit flat and not really worth the buildup. The part with Sophia having been in the garden was also not needed and didn't really make much sense as soon as you thought about it. However, the characters on the whole were very strong and as a character-driven story, this works beautifully. I would have liked to have had a bit more focus on Lorraine however. I found her fascinating as an idea but she doesn't get enough actual interactions nor character exploration which is a huge shame. She does feel like a wasted opportunity.

My only other niggle is with the order of the narration. The Garden stuff gets pushed aside to explore Maya's past at the start of the book and honestly, this didn't work for me. I was interested mostly in the Garden at the start and so was frustrated to have to wait so long to get to that part. It would have read better to have her past a little bit later on, once the general premise had been introduced. I also kept wondering why the police were more interested in her than the Garden itself. It didn't really make sense and again, it took away from the atmosphere a little.

On the whole, I really love how this story plays out. It isn't gory, it doesn't glamorise the violence but instead it gives a pretty accurate portrayal of a deeply twisted situation. Maya's straightforward descriptions of the terrible events really help give the impression that she's been through trauma, and it further cements her strong characterization. Definitely worth a read if the blurb intrigues you, though be prepared for a potentially disappointing ending.

Overall Rating:

Follow Me by Angela Clarke

This book has got some nerve.

For 330 pages I stuck with this book. It's not that it's not good or well-written, far from it-I actually enjoyed it a fair bit. It's just that it felt long to read and not much new was happening. It definitely dragged a lot but I was hoping the ending would make it all worthwhile. I should have been smarter.

Not only was the ending not worth it, it royally pissed me off. It ripped off Agatha Christie! Not only that, but the author pointed it out themselves in the same way a comedian might point out how unfunny they are. Newsflash-it doesn't make it okay. It just points out how blatantly unoriginal you are being. Also having someone on the inside do the crime? I've only started reading modern crime recently and I'm already sick of this cliche.

Of course, this book has many other flaws for me to pick at. The weird subplot between Nas and Freddie that never ends up amounting to anything. The total lack of suspects which means the crime element is limited to police investigation, incidentally my least favourite part of the crime genre. Speaking of the police, how can anyone be this unaware of Twitter? The police are presented as total idiots throughout and it's basically an excuse to justify the main character being a part of the plot.

This is lazy writing without any effort. I was going to give it kudos for at least having interesting characters and a reasonably compelling narrative voice but it's not worth it after the total ripoff of an ending. Do yourself a favour and just read Christie-she did it much better.

Overall Rating:

.5

Firsts by Laurie Elizabeth Flynn

This book is extremely well done. I don't necessarily mean well-written, although it is that too. But seriously, how many authors could make a book like this work? How many could make a character who regularly sleeps with other people's boyfriends into not only a likeable, but a sympathetic one?

Mercedes is one of the most complex and compelling characters I've ever seen in YA fiction. I totally got what was going on inside her head at any given moment which is very impressive considering she spends most of the book making the wrong choice. Even though the plot is fairly predictable, there are plenty of new elements to stop it feeling samey. I must admit, I didn't care much for Faye. Something about her was...off. I didn't get her the same way I got the other characters. Angela's boyfriend also gets demonized to a ridiculous degree, although I am glad they didn't make it a rape thing.

Having said that, this book is a weird one and I can get why people might not like it. I've seen a lot of arguments as to whether this book is sex-positive or not and honestly, I don't really know the answer. Angela is not portrayed as wrong for wanting to wait until marriage and Mercedes does enjoy sex when she's doing it for the right reasons. Ultimately I'd say it is more sex-positive and definitely more frank about sex than many other YA novels and I can only see that as a good thing. It's maybe not the portrayal of someone who enjoys sex and so has a lot of it that some people wanted to see, but it's complex and I'm not sure that's what the author really wanted to do anyway. I always put story before messages and this one has a story that I very much enjoyed. I would highly recommend giving it a try if the blurb intrigues you.

Overall Rating:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

I don't think I like this book.

I say 'think' because admittedly, I'm not entirely sure. I really wanted to like it, or maybe I felt like I should. Ultimately though I have to be honest and I feel Brave New World falls flat in what it's trying to do.

Okay, my first reason is probably the most 'controversial' but honestly, I don't see the future world as being all that bad. Obviously it is bad in comparison to the real world, I'm not an idiot. But in comparison to other dystopias? Everyone is happy and those who aren't get sent somewhere else to be with a whole bunch of other people like them. Not killed, not brainwashed or imprisoned. Just sent away to live their lives how they please. Again obviously, the constant drugging, biological manipulation of the lower classes and lack of art or science are all terrible things. I do not want to live in this world by any means but I think the sex part is what is supposed to be so awful about it and honestly, that makes the book come across as dated and diminishes its impact.

My second issue is with the characters. In the entire book, the only characters I kind of liked were Lenina, Linda and Helmholtz. Bernard was okay but I could not stand John at all. I think my dislike of John is one of the reasons I can't quite see this as a terrible world. He was so pretentious and utterly joyless that, when presented as the alternative, he doesn't make a very good argument for it. It also makes it harder for me to agree with any of his arguments, no matter how valid they are. His treatment of Lenina is appalling and I did not find him particularly sympathetic. The crush angle also seemed repetitive to me as Bernard's crush on Lenina and John's crush were pretty similar in terms of how they fit into the plot and both played the same purpose narratively.

However, the thing I disliked the most was how unsubtle this book was. Characters literally have long discussions about the theme of the book and it feels like the author is whacking you in the face with it. I do not like books which are purely a vessel for a certain message and while this book was too well-written and developed to be just that, it came dangerously close.

Honestly though, there were a lot of good things about this book. I think I like projecting my own interpretation of the story more than I like the actual story itself. Like John-the whole part where he pleads for the right to be unhappy feels like it should be really meaningful and in my head now, it is. But when I was reading it, I felt nothing but weariness. I think this book has a lot to say but its execution lets it down, which is weird because it is well-written. Something is missing but I'm not sure what. For the first time ever, I'm not going to rate this book because I honestly have no idea what to rate it on. My review probably sounds a lot more negative than I feel and this book will certainly stick with me if nothing else.

Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

'But it wasn't like you had to really search for the philosophy. It was pretty straightfoward, I thought.'

^ That quote up there pretty much summarises Perks perfectly. I knew I was not going to love this book, purely from the kind of book it is. I was pleasantly surprised to find I enjoyed it more than expected. Perks is one of those 'life lesson' books, complete with the usual detached and 'intelligent' protagonist who somehow knows very little about actual life and yet gets to have all these experiences.

'The thing is, I didn't know what it said even if it said it very well.'

Perks has exactly the opposite problem of that. There is no way in hell you could miss the (admittedly good) messages in this book, mainly because they are all just stated by the narrator with no finesse or attempt to show and not tell. Every single one is presented as something really profound that the main character has discovered and must share with you. Newsflash-this book has nothing very meaningful to add in terms of messages. Sure, it makes several good points but it's nothing we don't all know from a) our own life experiences and b) much better media. Having the narrator announce basic life lessons as though they're something new and deep is just annoying at best.

Ah yes, the narrator. I do not buy Charlie as a super intelligent person. I genuinely thought he was 12 for most of the book and was shocked to find out he was 15/16. I know intelligence takes many forms and presumably his detached, childlike style of narration was a deliberate choice by the author but I'm sorry, it doesn't work for me. He knows so little about everything it seems and apart from reading apparently advanced books (Is To Kill a Mockingbird really that advanced/hard to understand?), his intelligence is not depicted at all. It makes his teacher just seem naive for singling him out.

Those two issues aside, Perks is mostly a hipster dream. For me, a book needs strong character voices in order for me to truly love it and that just didn't happen here. I found it interesting and I didn't hate it but it covers so many traumatic issues without actually covering them properly. They're plot devices to be dismissed a few pages after they happen, nothing more. In the end, Perks didn't disappoint me but probably only because I expected so little.

Overall Score:

.5

The Grownup by Gillian Flynn

MILD-ISH SPOILERS

Gonna be honest, I thought this was a book. Nevermind. I'm not one to turn down a good short story, especially not when it's as engaging as this. Quite different from her usual work in a good way. I'm getting a bit sick of the whole 'evil woman' thing, if only because it makes her work predictable.

This story had such potential. I was mildly shocked by the first line and drawn in soon after. I just wish, wish, wish it had ended at the first twist. That was good, that was clever, that was something I could get behind. Instead Flynn tries to go one step too far but then somehow takes the step back and then it just kind of ends in a really unsatisfying way. I get what she was going for and sure, the ending makes sense I suppose. Maybe I'm just too fond of my more horrific short stories.

There's not really much else I can say about this. If it hadn't carried on the way it did, I would have given it a much higher rating. It's still wonderfully written and very engaging so I can't fault it too much but yeah, ultimately it disappointed me.

Overall Score:

Girl Online by Zoe Suggs

Expect my choice of books to get a whole lot more diverse because I have joined a book club. Hence why Girl Online is the book I'll be talking about today.

Okay, so reading this wasn't my choice which isn't a great place to start from to be fair. But hey, I was optimistic. I've been known to read and occasionally enjoy my share of crappy YA books. Why should this one be any different?

Oh dear god, this book is a sugary wonderland of tween fantasy. I can never eat more than one marshmallow at a time because it hurts my teeth and this book was like someone had stuffed a hundred in my mouth at once. There is no substance whatsoever in this. The author is so terrified of conflict that any drama introduced before the last few pages is immediately solved, just in case the readers start to worry that things might not be perfect after all.

Let me make one thing clear-I am a hopeless romantic. The key being 'hopeless'. Everything is just a little too perfect here. Like I said, it's a tween fantasy sold in a shiny pastel package. The main character (whose name I have already forgotten) manages to solve her anxiety, get the guy, gain self-esteem and become a fairly famous blogger all in just over a week. It's a shame because the conflict at the end could have been interesting but not when the story has been so irritatingly perfect so far. Also it felt like the story completely changed plots when she went to America. I guess it was on purpose but it was still a bit odd somehow. Not sure why.

I'll give this 2.5 stars because a) I appreciate I'm not the target audience and b) the writing is okay and the characters are at least semi-interesting (or different from each other). Maybe I'm being too kind but if you're not allergic to fluffy, soulless marshmallows like me, you might actually find something to enjoy here.

Overall Score:

.5