House Swap.

Caroline and Frances's marriage is hanging together by a thread due to the hurt and tensions caused by addiction, infidelity, and depression. When a chance comes for them to have a city break away together via an internet house swap site they leap at it to try and recapture some of their former togetherness. But (of course) things don't go as planned -  an eerily stark house, an overly friendly neighbour, and a series of strange coincidences soon finds Caroline in despair and fearful as her past comes back to haunt her and familiar tensions once again rear their ugly heads. 

I love British psychological thrillers and The House Swap was well written, whip-smart, and absorbing. There's an edge of menace throughout this dark and chilling book that makes it an eerie and atmospheric read. 

The book is well written and plotted and slowly yet steadily the background to the story is revealed. There are plenty of little twists along the way to keep you guessing until the end when everything is revealed and neatly packaged away. It is rare that I enjoy a book with unlikeable characters but I found myself thoroughly engrossed in this one and I don't think that there was anything about it that disappointed me.

Recommended.     

The Secret Lives of Color.

In The Secret Lives of Color design journalist Kassia St Clair explores the world of colors. After a short introduction about what colors are and how we see and perceive them Kassia takes us a trip across the spectrum. The stories of individual colors, how they are made up, how they came to be, and the origins of their names are told in a series of short (1-2 pages) essays. Each page edge is printed with the color being discussed. 

The Secret Lives of Colors is a fascinating read for anyone interested in design, art history or simply pigments. The essays are highly entertaining and anecdotal and some of them really made me think! How did certain pigments come about? How did the fine artists of the past cope with a limited palette? Why do we associate different colors with specific things? (And a hundred and one other questions that I hadn't previously even considered!)

I read this book cover to cover, but equally, it is a book that is perfect to dip in and out of. I think it is a great book for gifting as although not overly large it is handsome enough to grace a coffee table. 

I recommend this unusual and informative book highly. 

How Hard Can It Be?

After taking time out from her career to raise her children Kate Reddy the heroine of I Don't Know How She Does It is back!

With a crumbling home to restore, two teenagers to provide for along with a husband who feels the need to quit work in order to 'find himself' and retrain as a counsellor, Kate finds herself needing to return to work. Knocking a few years off her age Kate puts on her best supportive undergarments (!) and returns to work in the field of finance.

Of course, Kate being Kate, she doesn't only have a career to restart, she has to do it while battling her way through the menopause, dealing with her social media obsessed children, ageing parents, a functioning alcoholic best friend, and a marital crisis. Then to throw a further spanner into the works of her life, a man she is obsessed with sends her an email.

I absolutely loved  I Don't Know How She does it (and Allison Pearson's other book I Think I Love You) so I was eager to read How Hard Can It Be? So what's the verdict? Well, I enjoyed it but not as much as I was expecting it too. Kate is still a brilliantly likeable heroine and I was on her side sympathising with her throughout this episode of her life But it took some time for the book to get going and I found the first 150 or so pages a bit of a drag. It was only once Kate returned to work that the story took off for me. The writing and story do flow well once the book gets going and while it's not lol funny it is filled with plenty of amusing and witty observations about all aspects of modern life, from hipster cocktail bars to customer call centers.

There are a few inconsistencies and things that you need to take with a grain of salt along the way but overall it's a fun witty beach type read (once it gets going). The book's primarily happy ending ties up a lot of loose ends and there's certainly scope for another instalment of Kate's life to be told in a further volume -  which I am sure is in the works.

I think that I may have been anticipating this book too much but once it got going after that long slow start I found it to be an enjoyable and relaxing read. This is one to pop in your beach bag!

The Other Mother.

Daphne and Laurel are both new mothers with baby girls called Chloe (although sophisticated Laurel spells her Chloe's name with an umlaut). Both are married to older men and living isolated lives in suburban Westchester when they meet at a New Mum's group where, to Daphne's delight, Laurel takes her under her wing and the two become close friends. But it soon appears that Laurel is a little obsessed with Daphne as they begin dressing alike, styling their hair the same, and Laurel appropriating Daphne's stories as her own. As their friendship becomes darker Daphne feels she has to escape, from both Laurel and her own domineering husband, and she accepts an archivists job with an author who lives in the shadows of a sinister upstate psychiatric hospital where the story of one of the inmates uncannily mirrors that of Laurel and Daphne.

The Other Mother had potential as a domestic suspense novel but there was simply too much going on. There were so many twists and turns to this tale that it became bewildering and nonsensical. Carol Goodman is a well-respected thriller writer but I felt that she had lost her way with this story - there were too many things happening and the plot simply wasn't tight enough. 

This is a dark tale, dealing with mental illness, psychosis, and postpartum depression, and it isn't something that I would recommend to anyone who is feeling distressed or who is a new mother. In fact, this is such an unbelievable and confused muddle of a book that I would advise anyone to give it a wide berth. 

Not recommended.    

Sometimes I Lie.

Amber Reynolds is in a coma, she can hear everything around her but cannot communicate. Amber Reynolds doesn't know what has happened to her but she fears that it may be something that her husband has done that has caused her hospitalisation... 

Sometimes I Lie is a riveting psychological thriller told from the POV of comatose Amber, alternating with the story of what happened in the days leading up to her coma, along with entries from a child's diary. All three of the threads are packed with twists and turns that will have you reading far into the night as pieces of the puzzle fit together and the story is gradually revealed.

The background and build up to the story are skillfully written. I particularly liked the way that the coma parts of the tale were executed, we could see things from Amber's perspective as she lay there and share her terror and anxiety as well as her confusion. It's a very well paced and plotted book and while I didn't exactly like the characters they were all very well presented and believable. There's a lot of suspense and surprises here, the plot becomes a little complex as the story is revealed so you do need to pay attention but I didn't find it too hard to follow until the very final twist at the end that left me puzzled.

This is an exceptionally well written and riveting debut by Alice Feeney, very English in setting and tone, which is something that I always enjoy. I was enthralled by Sometimes I Lie and it leaves me eagerly anticipating her next book.

Recommended.

The Italian Party.

American newlyweds Scottie and Michael arrive in Sienna in 1956. They don't know each other very well and they are both harbouring secrets from each other - quite big secrets actually!  

Set in postwar Italy at the height of the cold war this light-hearted romp peopled by cliched expats and Italians is an easy breezy summertime read but one that left me cold and disappointed.

Its another book that has had - you've guessed it - excellent reviews and one that once again proved to be something of a disappointment to me.  I found the storyline to be way too far-fetched to be believable and even the timeline of the story made no sense. The shallow characters were all stereotypes who acted unrealistically with no consequences, I honestly cannot see people living as they did. 

The writing was okay, there were some good passages but so much of the story seemed irrelevant and the author appeared to be trying to fit in far too many elements (Horses! Fashion! Food! Politics! Espionage!) in order to set the scene of Tuscany in the 1950's.

I suppose this may be an okay book to take with you if you are holidaying in an Italian villa but ultimately, for me, it was a silly book that I was happy to finish.  

  

The Good Neighbours.

The Good Neighbours in question are a close-knit group of four families with young children. The families all socialise and celebrate holidays together in their upmarket Boston suburb. When one of them adopts a young Russian girl to complete their family the other families are excited to welcome her into their privileged world. 

Soon after her adoption, it emerges that the girl, Winnie, has various behavioural and social problems and soon her adoptive parents withdraw from the other families in the neighbourhood as they find their idea of a 'perfect family' unobtainable. The other families find themselves observing and questioning as to just how much they should become involved with Winnie and her adoptive parents. 

Is this what Good Neighbours would do or are they pushing the boundaries too far?

I was going to say that this was an enjoyable read but this is actually quite a dark book. Perhaps what I should say is that it is an interesting and engrossing read. It is very accomplished for a debut novel, I liked the writing and the characters and scenarios were all highly believable. It is packed with astute observations about suburban life and judgemental 'friends'. 

I wasn't a fan of the way this ended but overall it was a very good domestic drama that left me pondering many things about family and friendships.

Recommended.

The Missing Hours.

In a sleepy border town between England and Wales a woman goes missing and a body is discovered on the same morning. D.C. Leah Mackay is assigned to the case of the missing woman, Selena Cole. Leah's brother, D.I Finn Hale, leads the inquiry into the murder of Dominic Newell, a police solicitor. When Selena Cole turns up twenty hours after her disappearance Leah is determined to find out what happened to her. As Leah digs deeper it appears that the two seemingly disparate cases are linked. Can Leah and Finn find out how?

I've had a bit of a run of so-so books of late so when I stumble upon a good one I'm giddy with excitement! This intricately plotted book is told in short chapters by alternating characters, interspersed with short case histories of various kidnappings. (Don't be tempted to skip the case histories! While they may seem irrelevant they all serve as background to the story.) There's a lot of dialogue in The Missing Hours so its a fairly swift read but it tells a story that is intriguing and intelligent. There are twists and turns galore, the characters are all immensely believable and the writing is a dream.

The Missing Hours was a fantastic book and I can't wait to read more by this author. 

Less.

Writer Arther Less isn't having a good time of things lately. His book sales have declined, his publisher has turned down his newest novel and to top it all his younger boyfriend is getting married to someone else. When Arthur receives a wedding invitation to his (now) ex's wedding he is too distraught to attend but to refuse would be churlish. Arthur's solution to the problem of the wedding invitation is to embark on a whirlwind trip around the world which incorporate a series of work-related events and pleasurable side trips. His tour includes hosting literary soirees in Paris, attending a writers retreat in India, teaching at a German summer school and attending the birthday party of a friend of a friend in the Moroccan desert to name but a few. Only when the wedding and the accompanying celebrations are over does Arthur feel he can finally return home comfortably.

I picked Less up on a whim, I liked the cover and it had had promising reviews - hell, it had even won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction! I was looking for a lighthearted read and this book was branded as being hilariously funny by numerous reviewers. Well, I worked my way through this parody of an educated American abroad stony-faced, I didn't even crack a smile. This was another book that left me wondering what all the great reviews were about. It was a great idea for a novel and there were so many scenes that had potential but failed to deliver. Less himself was flat, an unfleshed out character that I could not get to grips with, and the book was filled with cliches and cliched characters. 

This was a tedious read, the only thing I liked about it was the surprisingly sweet ending. Less was mediocre at best and I'm left scratching my head as to why it has received so much acclaim.

Not recommended.

All the Missing Girls.

Nicolette returns to her hometown ten years after the mysterious disappearance of her best friend Corinne. Within days of Nicolette's return Annaliese, another young woman, also mysteriously disappears. Are the disappearances connected? Is Nicolette involved in them? Or is everything coincidental?

All the Missing Girls is a tale of suspense. As the story is revealed we learn not only what happened to Annaliese but also what happened to Corinne ten years ago. After the initial 'setting of the scene' type introduction, the story is told in a reverse time sequence. It's an interesting plot device but I did find it a little confusing to follow the story backwards and it was only at the end of the book that I appreciated the telling of the story in this way. 

Aside from slowly revealing the story in reverse I have to say that I found very little that was surprising or original in the plot/story. I wasn't enamoured with the characters and although I could appreciate the monotony and smallness of small-town life I felt it was a point that was reiterated more than it needed to be. I didn't totally dislike this book but it failed to grip me and I thought the story lacked pace. It took me a long time to get through this book and I found a lot of it was filled with rather unnecessary wordy descriptions. 

Perhaps with a severe editing I would have liked it more, but overall this was a plodding read for me that sadly leaves me disinclined to pick up anything else by the author.

Boys Keep Swinging.

Boys Keep Swinging is the autobiography/memoir of Jake Shears who is the lead singer of The Scissor Sisters.

The first part of the story details his childhood in Arizona. The second part recounts his life as an adolescent in Seattle where he comes out as a gay man. In the remainder of the book, he talks about his life after college in NYC where he forms the Scissor Sisters and the success the band achieves.

I love biographies of rock stars, in fact, they are one of my favourite genres of books. And while I'm not a die-hard Scissor Sister fan I like them enough to have two of their albums and I once saw them live.  I was looking forward to reading this but I am left with conflicting feelings. I can't say that I disliked this book but the first two parts of it were slow going and took me some time to get through. Once the story moved to New York I enjoyed the book immensely as I love reading about places I know and I was familiar with the bars, clubs and restaurants mentioned.

I can't quite put my finger on it but there was something missing from this book for me. While Jake Shears was very candid about his sexual activities and drug taking I felt that he was holding back in other areas. He talked a little about his creative process, life in the band and on the road, but a lot of the time I felt that he merely scratched the surface without telling the reader the whole tale. There's a fair amount of name-dropping in the book but little in the way of specifics to explain why. 

Bafflingly the book ends in 2006 which I find odd for something that has been published this year. What's happened to Jake in the meantime? Are The Scissor Sisters still together? I honestly don't know the answers to these questions without googling them...I'm sorry to say that I finished this book thinking less of Jake than when I picked it up. I appreciate his candidness but I don't think he did himself any favours and he comes across as being very self-centred. 

If you're a fan of The Scissor Sisters you may want to pick this up, if you're not then I'd probably recommend you skip it.

How to stop time.

Tom Hazard appears to be a normal forty-one year old but he has been born with a rare condition where he ages slowly. Tom has actually been alive for centuries and has met many of the great characters of history - he was a friend of Shakespeare, sailed to the South Pacific with Captain Cook, and entertained stars of the silver screen with his barroom piano playing. 

Tom and people with his condition hide their longevity from the world and are protected by the secretive Albatross Society, membership of which requires a total change of identity every seven years and absolutely no falling in love. 

How to Stop Time has had outstanding reviews and I was so eager to read it that I bought it as an ebook. Unfortunately, this tale of fantasy failed to woo me. 

The book was easy to read and although I'm not a fan of this fantasy type genre of storytelling in general, I was expecting to enjoy this one. It wasn't badly written and the story certainly held great promise but I found it to be dull and very slow going. The story and its characters failed to resonate with me and ultimately I wasn't bothered by the outcome of the tale.  

I'm hesitant to give this a 'Not Recommended' because 99% of readers seem to think that this book is amazing so maybe it's just me but reading this following a couple of excellent books left me feeling let down and extremely unsatisfied.

The Flight Attendant.

Flight attendant Cassie is on a layover in Dubai when she wakes up and discovers herself in a strange hotel room lying next to a dead man. He has been gruesomely murdered while Cassie was passed out at his side after a night of heavy drinking. Cassie flees the murder scene desperate to rejoin her flight crew and return home to New York. 

But Cassie is plagued by questions. Who was her one night stand really? Is it possible that Cassie killed him? Or was the murderer somebody else and Cassie herself is now being watched and targeted?

I picked up The Flight Attendant after having seen lots of good reviews and I was expecting it to be a thrilling psychological murder mystery. However as the story progresses it turned into a more complex tale involving Russian conglomerates, spies and the smuggling of chemical weapon information. I have to admit that this sort of storyline isn't my type of thing at all so I didn't love reading this one. 

The writing was fine, and I did actually enjoy the early part of the story, but the plot was very slow to get going and I found a lot of it to be quite repetitive.

Cassie is soon revealed to be more of a hopeless drunk than a fun party girl, and although I was on her side, I didn't find her character to be likeable or endearing. There were plenty of other characters in the story but I felt that they weren't very well developed and I didn't get a good feeling for them or feel any connection with them 

All in all I thought that the flight attendant was a dull read. It was slowly paced and the storyline wasn't my kind of thing at all. I started this book with high expectations but it failed to live up to them so unfortunately I won't be rushing to read more by this author anytime soon.   

This is How it Ends.

Photographer Molly is an older hardcore activist/anarchist and Ella, a student protester and blogger who wants to help change the world is her young protege. 

When Ella finds the body of a man, Molly fears them both being implicated in his death and together they conceal the body. But as time passes Molly finds herself questioning what really happened on that night before her arrival on the scene. As the truth is slowly revealed Molly finds that her trust and friendships have been compromised... 

This is How it Ends is a dark crime novel set in inner city London, against a backdrop of gentrification. Events play out in the soon to be demolished tower block where Molly and a dwindling handful of hangers on remain. The setting is superbly drawn and adds much to the ambiance of the tale not to mention the unease that the characters find themselves in. Each chapter is told in turns  from either Molly or Ella's point of view and both are strong female characters. Molly is likeable, Ella less so. 

It's a very well crafted novel with a good plot and Ella's story cleverly reverses through time so that her story gradually reveals the truth at the heart of the story. The ending of the book is both shocking and superb. 

The story isn't fast paced but it has a lot of depth and touches on many subjects relevant to the story such as class, poverty, the changing face of inner cities and the abuses of power found across the board of the establishment. It is a very English book in terms of language and situation which may be off putting for non English readers but I thoroughly enjoyed this expertly constructed, if far from upbeat, tale.

Recommended. 

Friend Request.

When Louise receives a FaceBook friend request from Maria Weston she is shocked and unnerved. Maria was a sometimes friend from school who disappeared on the night of the school leaving party in 1989, and although her body has never been found she has long been presumed to be dead. 

Now there's an upcoming school reunion and in the days leading up to it, Louise tries to uncover the truth about the request. On the night of the reunion something even more shocking than the strange friend request occurs, something that leaves Louise frightened, confused and searching for even more answers.

 Laura Marshall's Friend Request is a well written and brilliantly plotted debut novel. It's an extremely clever story that is recounted in chapters that alternate between the present day and Louise's school days. There are also short chapters dotted here and there voiced by an anonymous character which add a menacing touch to the book. Much of the flashback 1989 material is set in the period leading up to and the night of the leaving party which nicely mirrors the present day reunion.

Louise is a sympathetic character and the twisted ending to the story was simply mind-blowing to me. (It also went a long way towards helping to explain a lot of Louise's anxieties.)

Friend Request is a dark twisting tale, full of menace and suspense. It was a clever, accomplished book that I loved.

Highly Recommended.

Then She Was Gone.

It has been ten years since fifteen-year-old Ellie Mack disappeared. Her Mother, Laurel has had her world shattered and her life turned upside down. Now Laurel has met a charming man, Floyd, who soon becomes her boyfriend. Oddly Floyd's youngest daughter, Poppy, looks uncannily like Ellie. 

As her relationship with Floyd becomes more intense Laurel finds herself drawn to Poppy and she becomes more and more unsure about how she feels about Floyd.

Okay, a disclaimer: I love Lisa Jewell, I've not read a book by this author that I haven't loved and Then She Was Gone was no exception.

It's not a thriller as such but is a compelling and intriguing story that I found to be unputdownable.  The writing is great, the story flows and the characters are all highly believable. The main idea driving the plot is a little extreme but it's not totally unrealistic. 

I've nothing bad to say about this book, it is a little dark, it is a little emotional but mostly it's just a brilliant read that I enjoyed immensely.

Highly recommended.  

Tangerine.

Set in Tangiers in 1956, Tangerine recounts the story of Alice Shipley who is living there rather unhappily with her rakish husband John. When Alice's ex-college roommate, Lucy Mason, shows up unexpectedly, Alice soon finds herself feeling stifled with a head full of thoughts that soon have her and those around her questioning her state of mind.

This novel of suspense has been said to be inspired by Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith. I found it to be a highly derivative female version of 'The Talented Mr Ripley'. 

The writing is adequate if a little repetitive, but the plot isn't original, tight, or detailed enough and verges on being unbelievable at times. Coupled with the tale's unpleasant characters and a somewhat stereotypical view of Morocco I was left feeling unsatisfied.

(One of the things that initially attracted me to the book was that it was set in Morocco in the year of Moroccan independence and considering that the name of the book refers to the natives of Tangiers I was expecting this exotic local to have more significance to the story. However, there was scarcely any mention of the political upheavals of the time and apart from mentioning the names of a few famous cafes and landmarks the setting could have been almost anywhere).   

Although Tangerine is a debut novel I was expecting it to be a competently executed literary thriller as it has had excellent reviews and been so widely recommended. Sadly I found this book to have been a victim of overhyping which left me feeling unsatisfied. 

Theft By Finding. Diaries 1977-2002.

Theft by Finding is volume one of writer and humorist David Sedaris' personal diaries written between 1977 and 2002. (I'm assuming a Volume II from 2002- present will be forthcoming as a follow up). 

I love David Sedaris, his previous books are some of the few that actually do make me LOL. These snippets from his diaries give an insight into his early life and show how he evolved as both a writer and a person. Some of the early entries are a little depressing as he drinks and drugs his way through a series of apartments in the wrong part of town and dead end jobs but slowly he sorts his life out and his lot improves. (Hooray!) 

Theft by Finding isn't a traditional biography, rather it is a collection of short extracts which are arranged chronologically and form a series of small vignettes - some connected, others not. Many are simply small observations or snippets of overheard conversations.

Honestly, I must admit that I didn't love the first half of this volume, not just because it was a little sad and depressing, but more because the material hadn't really stood the test of time and the writing was less polished than the later entries. I did however like the later part of the book a lot and there were many entries there that made me chuckle. 

I read this volume straight through but you could equally dip in and out of it reading small sections at a time. If you are a David Sedaris fan I think you will enjoy this, but if in doubt I would suggest waiting for the second volume as the later material here was simply so much better.

   

The French Girl.

Six friends from Oxford are holidaying in a French villa. Severine is the sophisticated teenager living next door who visits them daily. On the day that the friends return to England Severine disappears.

Ten years later Severine's body is discovered in a well at the villa. Alan Modan, the investigating police officer, shows up in London to question the holiday makers in the hope of resolving the murder. One of the friends, legal recruiter Kate Channing, soon appears to be the prime suspect. 

Can Kate find out what really happened in order to prove her innocence and at the same time saving her reputation and fledgling business venture? Or will Kate become a victim?

The French Girl was very much Kate Channing's story. It is recounted from her point of view and in addition to the murder/mystery there are side plots involving Kate's work dramas and her love life. Kate's a likeable character and from the beginning I was on her side.  Her work and love dramas fitted very nicely into the clever plot as well.

This was a bit of a slow starter for me but once the story started taking shape I found it pretty enthralling and the last hundred or so pages were so good - real edge of the seat stuff! It's a well written story, with believable characters and a credible plot that doesn't rely on unrealistic scenarios or coincidences to make things work.  The French Girl is smart and sharp, if you like thrillers and psychological dramas you're in for a treat!

Recommended. 

The Woman in the Window.

After her involvement in a tragic accident psychologist Anna Ford develops severe agoraphobia and is unable to leave her home. She never ventures out, her doctors and therapists visit her at home, and groceries are ordered online and delivered. The only other human interactions she experiences are those that she sees through the windows of her Harlem brownstone.

One night Anna witnesses a woman being stabbed in a house opposite hers. After she makes a frantic emergency call the police question Anna. No one will believe her story as Anna has a history of acting out to gain attention, is self medicating with prescription drugs, and drinking far too much. Can Anna convince people that what she 'saw' was real or will she too become a victim?

The Woman in the Window has had so many good reviews and is another one of those books that everyone appears to be either reading or wanting to read.

It's a quick read and one that I found engrossing. At the time I was reading it, it didn't 'wow' me, but it is one of those books that now I have finished I keep thinking about! 

There were lots of subtle hints and clues peppered throughout the story and the plot was really quite intricate. The portrayal of Anna as a desperate woman falling apart and the squalidness of her situation was very well written. There were some creepy scenes in this and setting the tale in a eerie old brownstone was a clever move by the author as it added to the whole 'noir' atmosphere of the story. The ending was superb, a nail biting twist that took me completely by surprise!

On consideration The Woman in the Window was very good. I sort of regret having sped my way through this. I really feel I should go back and read it more carefully but as I know the outcome I most likely won't... If you do read it take your time and savour it you won't be disappointed.

Recommended.