The Best Day Ever - Kaira Rouda

Description

A loving husband. The perfect killer?

‘I wonder if Mia thinks I have a dark side. Most likely as far as she knows, I am just her dear loving husband.’

Paul Strom has spent years building his perfect life: glittering career, beautiful wife, two healthy boys and a big house in the suburbs.

But he also has his secrets. That’s why Paul has promised his wife a romantic weekend getaway. He proclaims this day, a warm Friday in May, will be the best day ever.

Paul loves his wife, really, he does. But he also wants to get rid of her. And with every hour that passes, Paul ticks off another stage in his elaborately laid plan…

Review

The book blurb tells us upfront that Paul is going to get rid of his wife, so no surprises there. I began reading the book, waiting to see how and when Paul was going to pull this off.

For about the first third of the book I wasn't really getting into the story. However, I was beginning to hate Paul with every fibre of my body as the pages went by. What a smug character he is. We are given flashbacks to exactly how Paul met his wife and subsequently married her with two children to follow. Flashbacks to Paul's office life and the brilliantly written HR scenes. Not hard to follow, nicely flowing in with the story line.

I began to wonder how did Mia stay with Paul when it seemed apparent what he was about i.e. himself and no one else. Surely she must have glimpsed his true character. Well as the book gets down to the action we realise just exactly why Mia didn't "cotton on" to Paul and makes him well and truly even more of a despicable person than I already had him pegged down as.

About the last quarter of the book, and literally all hell breaks loose. The action got very gritty and I was gripped, I really wanted to know how this was all going to end. Some clever twists and although I think the author dropped a couple of hints along the way the ending was still a good one.

That is why I personally didn't like that the book had an epilogue. I just don't think it needed it and I'm not sure I learnt anything new from it. Many a time I hate it when a book leaves you in mid air - but this time it was sewn up just a little too neatly.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for a copy of the book to review.

Into the Water - Paula Hawkins

Description

In the last days before her death, Nel called her sister. Jules didn’t pick up the phone, ignoring her plea for help.

Now Nel is dead. They say she jumped. And Jules has been dragged back to the one place she hoped she had escaped for good, to care for the teenage girl her sister left behind.

But Jules is afraid. So afraid. Of her long-buried memories, of the old Mill House, of knowing that Nel would never have jumped.

And most of all she’s afraid of the water, and the place they call the Drowning Pool . . .

Review

After The Girl on the Train I couldn't wait for this book, hoping it would be just as good. I know a lot of people who did not get on with The Girl on the Train, which I just couldn't understand. So, I began to read the latest book from Paula Hawkins "Into the Water" and I hated it!

I had my review in my head already - if you didn't like Girl on the Train then you definitely won't like this. At least TGOTT was set in amongst every day life. Whereas this began with what felt like The Crucible - references to others who had drowned in the pool decades ago across the centuries. People hearing voices and some being drawn to the pool - to drown.

I began to wonder whether I should just call it a day - too many characters each with their own chapters - a difficult time recognising who was narrating unless I referred back to the chapter heading - was it worth my time?

Then in part two of the book it turned into a regular detective novel. Why I wondered had there been a need for all the superstition about the pool and suchlike. It was at the end of the day a modern whodunnit. The characters began to be fleshed out and some secrets were outed - I was beginning to understand what was happening.

By the final part of the book I really wanted to know how this book was going to end. How did other happenings in the book fit into Nel drowning.  I got to a few pages before the end and all was made clear - a great ending. However - that was not the ending, characters began to have their own chapter again telling their tale. Wow! it was like a cannonball rushing at you - the real ending........

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars although when I began it was more like 3 out of 5! I marvel at how Paula Hawkins came up with this web of a novel. I ended up revisiting parts of the novel to read what I now realised were glaring clues to the initiated.

The Girlfriend - Michelle Frances

Description

She loves your son. She wants your life. How far would you go to protect your son?

Laura has it all. A successful career, a long marriage to a rich husband, and a twenty-three year-old son, Daniel, who is kind, handsome, and talented. Then Daniel meets Cherry. Cherry is young, beautiful and smart but hasn’t led Laura’s golden life. And she wants it.

When tragedy strikes, a decision is made and a lie is told. A lie so terrible it changes their lives forever . . .

The Girlfriend by Michelle Frances is a gripping and chilling debut psychological thriller – the story of a mother, a son, his girlfriend and an unforgivable lie.

Review

I had heard the hype about this book, something that normally makes me avoid a book, but I was intrigued, so decided to read it for myself and I am so glad I did.

It was so refreshing to read a book - just read it, and not try to second guess what was really happening as I usually do. The style of writing and the pace of the book meant that I had no time to try and think ahead, it just drew me in and I was totally absorbed in the tale.

I loved the ordinariness of the book. Day to day life, normal events, someone working in Tesco, but of course with twists. I kept changing camps whilst reading the book. Was I on the side of the mother Laura, or Cherry the girlfriend. Different view points meant you never really felt on either side the whole time. I devoured this book over two days - I really couldn't wait to pick it up again and just get lost in the pages.

If I have one tiny gripe it was at the beginning of the book when a character talked about his pants. Now being British that means underwear, but I think it was the American meaning of trousers that was being referred to. I see now that the author has lived in the USA - I did wonder if she was American. It was the only slip in an otherwise perfect novel.

I loved the ending - my heart was in my mouth. I don't do spoilers so I can't say anymore than that. A sign of a good book for me is when you are still thinking about it. I had a thought pop in my head that maybe I was on a different side than the one I was on at the end of the book. And so it goes on...........

I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars and look forward to more from this author.

The Thousandth Floor - Katherine McGee

Description

Welcome to Manhattan, 2118. A thousand-storey tower stretching into the sky. A glittering vision of the future, where anything is possible – if you want it enough. 

A hundred years in the future, New York's elite of the super-tower lie, backstab and betray each other to find their place at the top of the world. Everyone wants something… and everyone has something to lose. 

As the privileged inhabitants of the upper floors recklessly navigate the successes and pitfalls of the luxury life, forbidden desires are indulged and carefree lives teeter on the brink of catastrophe. Whilst lower-floor workers are tempted by a world – and unexpected romance – dangling just out of reach. And on the thousandth floor is Avery Fuller, the girl genetically designed to be perfect. The girl who seems to have it all – yet is tormented by the one thing she can never have. 

So when a young woman falls from the top of the supertower, her death is the culmination of a scandal that has ensnared the top-floor elite and bottom-floor. But who plummeted from the roof? And what dark secrets led to her fall? 

Friends will be betrayed and enemies forged as promises are broken. When you’re this high up, there’s nowhere to go but down…

Review

This book is set in Manhattan in the future year of 2118. It's a cross between Clueless and Mean Girls, think rich kids spending their parents money and trying to out do their friends in the process. It is a YA novel but I was intrigued by the futuristic setting.

I found the book a little hard going to begin with and I thought the book was just going to turn out to be about a bunch of rich kids in the future. However, once the book began to address some very deep issues and the characters began to be fleshed out more I was drawn in, hook, line and sinker.

The parts of the book I loved the most were the descriptions of the tech of the future. A future were just the blink of the eye can issue commands and contact other people. One of the characters takes it a little further and has AI as an integral part of his brain. This was an aspect of the book that I found fascinating.

Life may be very tech orientated and glitzy on the Thousandth floor but the lower you travel down the tower the people are much less privileged and so this gave another twist to the story. People from the different floors interacting and finding out that without the technology and underneath the surface glitz they aren't that different after all. Some people got to go up the tower and experience things they never dreamt of and others ended up down the bottom of the tower stripped of their former life.There were so many different plot lines, but they all weaved together to form a brilliant and cohesive story. 

I was surprised by the ending - so much so that I never really thought of there being another book. But, now I want to read that book.

I'm giving this book four out of stars. My thanks to Netgalley for a copy of the book to review.

goodbye, things - fumio sasaki

Description

'There's happiness in having less. If you are anything like how I used to be - miserable, constantly comparing yourself with others, or just believing your life sucks - I think you should try saying goodbye to some of your things'

Fumio Sasaki is a writer in his thirties who lives in a tiny studio in Tokyo with three shirts, four pairs of trousers, four pairs of socks and not much else. A few years ago, he realised that owning so much stuff was weighing him down - so he started to get rid of it.

In this hit Japanese bestseller, Sasaki explores the philosophy behind minimalism and offers a set of straightforward rules - discard it if you haven't used it in a year; be a borrower; find your uniform; keep photos of the things you love - that can help all of us lead simpler, happier, more fulfilled lives.

Review

This is the third de-cluttering book I have read and reviewed. But this one is also by a Japanese author as was The Life-changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo. Where this differes from Marie Kondo is that Marie was from an early age a declutterer, whereas Fumio becomes a minimalist after being a hoarder. This is why I decided to read the book as I thought maybe it would be more realistic to achieve.

Whilst the book has lots of good advice and indeed references the Kondo method several times what Fumio has achieved is so far away from what I think is a practical life. He has so few possessions, instead thinking of shops as his personal stores, so that if ever he needs something, he buys it, there is no need to store it. In fact one item he has given away twice now and has decided if he buys it a third time he will keep it.

I liked the way the chapters were set out in the book. One chapter is "Why did we accumulate so much in the first place?" and another "55 tips to hepp you say goodbye to your things". One of his methods is to photograph possessions so that you will always have a memory of them, you do not need the physical item. 

I have after reading this book I decluttered yet again - but this time more ruthlessly. I have far less items on display - meaning also less dusting. Fumio also says that your brain is working harder when it has more items to look at and process - it's true I do feel lighter now there are fewer things around.

I'm giving this book five out of five stars. Although a lot of it was not relevant to me, if you want to become a minimalist - then this is the book for you.

Tattletale - Sarah J Naughton

Description

The perfect brother. The perfect fiance. The perfect revenge. 
A thriller you won't be able to predict.

One day changes Jody's life forever.

She has shut herself down, haunted by her memories and unable to trust anyone. But then she meets Abe, the perfect stranger next door and suddenly life seems full of possibility and hope.

One day changes Mags's life forever.

After years of estrangement from her family, Mags receives a shocking phone call. Her brother Abe is in hospital and no-one knows what happened to him. She meets his fiancé Jody, and gradually pieces together the ruins of the life she left behind. But the pieces don't quite seem to fit...

Review

When I began reading the book it seemed a little disjointed, I couldn't fathom out what was going on and how did it all fit together. I stuck with it and then the main plot of the book took hold of me, and although I had guessed a tiny part of what was happening, there was so much more that I hadn't guessed. I don't do spoilers so I will leave it to see if you guess the same part too.

I think that the characters live in a converted church really added something to the story - I could just picture it all as it was well described but not overly so. Little by little we get to find out more about the main characters and how they became who they are today. There were some quite upsetting scenes mainly from flashbacks as the story is told from different perspectives. I can see they were necessary for the premise of the book story line but I did read them very quickly. The characters are very well drawn and this added to the rawness of what I was reading. 

Towards the end of the book when I thought everything was done and dusted, something happened, and I thought aaah!!! that is what happened at the beginning of the book, which I had completely forgotten about. So when I finished the book I went back and read that part again to get the perspective of the complete picture.

A sometimes unpleasant story but overall I really enjoyed reading this book and it kept me guessing to the end. I'm giving this book 5 out of 5 stars and my thanks go to Netgalley and Orion Publishing Group for a copy of the book to review.

Here and Gone - Haylen Beck

Description

Her fresh start is about to turn into a nightmare...

'A fantastic thriller - a lone woman, a nightmare scenario, high stakes, breathless suspense...It doesn't get better than this' LEE CHILD

'A brilliant, relentless rollercoaster of suspense that shreds your emotions' PETER JAMES

Audra has finally left her abusive husband. She’s taken the family car and her young children, Sean and Louise, are buckled up in the back. This is their chance for a fresh start.

Audra keeps to the country roads to avoid attention and finds herself on an empty road in Arizona, far from home. She's looking for a safe place to stay for the night when she spots something in her rear-view mirror. A police car is following her and the lights are flickering. Blue and red.

As Audra pulls over she is intensely aware of how isolated they are. Her perfect escape is about to turn into a nightmare beyond her imagining…

Dark secrets and a heart-pounding race to reveal the truth lie at the heart of this page-turning thriller.

Review

I began reading this book one evening and by the time I put the light out to sleep I was afraid I was going to have nightmares, as I do have an overactive imagination. I then purposely read the book only in the day time, which as it turned out was only a few hours as the story line had me well and truly hooked.

To put this into context for you, I just found the story very unnerving in the beginning and I was concerned that the horrifying dark web content was going to go into details, fortunately it didn't. What did happen is that Audra finds herself in jail without her children and you are left wondering if the police aren't on her side, how on earth will she ever get out of this hell?

The author has a very clever answer to Audra getting help and in its own way it also brought me a little anxiety, but the will she won't she aspect of the book just drove me to read it in two sittings. All the characters were very well drawn - perhaps too well sometimes I certainly wouldn't like to meet them. That is apart from the children - Sean, Audra's son is certainly a smart cookie and he too was a very believable character.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars and my thanks go to Netgalley and Vintage for a review copy of the book.

BTW apparently Haylen Beck is a pseudonym of  Stuart Neville. I have never read any of his books but you may wish to know that if you want to read this book.