This was a nice easy read, despite covering a very difficult time in London. Definitely a feel good book.
View all my reviews
Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In the quiet, wealthy enclave of Brecken Hill, an older couple is brutally murdered hours after a tense Easter dinner with their three adult children. Who, of course, are devastated.
Or are they? They each stand to inherit millions. They were never a happy family, thanks to their vindictive father and neglectful mother, but perhaps one of them is more disturbed than anyone knew. Did someone snap after that dreadful evening? Or did another person appear later that night with the worst of intentions? That must be what happened. After all, if one of the family were capable of something as gruesome as this, you'd know.
Wouldn't you?
Really enjoyed this book - kept me turning the pages. An horrific double murder brings to light many secrets shared by the Merton family and people close to them. Lots of possibilities as to who could have committed the crime some more credible than others. They are definitely not a happy family.
View all my reviews
Big Sky by Kate Atkinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Jackson Brodie has relocated to a quiet seaside village, in the occasional company of his recalcitrant teenage son and an aging Labrador, both at the discretion of his ex-partner Julia. It’s picturesque, but there’s something darker lurking behind the scenes.
Jackson’s current job, gathering proof of an unfaithful husband for his suspicious wife, is fairly standard-issue, but a chance encounter with a desperate man on a crumbling cliff leads him into a sinister network—and back across the path of his old friend Reggie. Old secrets and new lies intersect in this breathtaking novel.
This is my second book by Kate Atkinson and, like the first, it took a while to get into and I found the multiple characters a bit hard to keep track of but gradually I became hooked. Perhaps all her books are like that.
Anyway another enjoyable read and although the subject matter (sex trafficking) is quite dark it wasn't done too graphically.
View all my reviews
The Girl at the Lion d'Or by Sebastian Faulks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
In mid- Thirties France, seeking asylum from her past, a
penniless orphan, Anne, turns up as a waitress at a tatty hotel by the sea.
Befriended by the local landowner, Charles, Anne entrusts him with the highly
charged scandal that in the Great War left her parentless. Her longing to be
loved seduces him into tackling his own problems -- trauma at Verdun, decrepit
estate, childless wife -- with a courage matching hers....
I feel I should be able to say more about this book after all Faulks is an acclaimed writer. But….it’s not my favourite of his by a long way. It felt slow almost to the point of boring. There is beautiful prose and great description (of some things) but I didn’t take to the characters and it just didn’t move me in the way that Birdsong did. The blurb above is also, I feel, a bit misleading. I didn’t feel Charles was particularly courageous at all.
View all my reviews
A Dedicated Man by Peter Robinson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
A Dedicated Man is the second novel in Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, following on from Gallows View. A dead body. Hidden secrets. Banks will find the truth. The brutally murdered body of a supposedly well-liked local historian is found half-buried under a dry stone wall. But who would kill such a thoughtful, dedicated man? Young Sally Lumb, locked in her lover's arms on the night of the murder, tries to find the killer herself. But her good-intentions only leads to more danger. And when Chief Inspector Alan Banks is called to investigate he soon discovers that disturbing secrets lie behind the seemingly untroubled façade . . .
The second in the DCI Banks series and another solid crime procedural. Always a bit tricky when you've seen the televised versions of novels, especially when the main character doesn't match the image created in the book version. Will be interesting to see if subsequent novels align with the TV series. The ending of this one didn't feel that suspenseful to me.
View all my reviews
Trial By Fire by Danielle Steel
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
The life of a Parisian woman changes in a heartbeat when she’s trapped by wildfires in Napa Valley. Born to a French mother and American father, graceful Dahlia de Beaumont has been sole owner and CEO of the venerable family perfume business based in Paris since her early twenties, following the death of her parents. For twenty-five years, after losing her young skier husband in an avalanche, her life has centered on running Lambert Perfumes and being a devoted single mother to her four now-adult indecisive Charles, volatile Alexa, kind-hearted business visionary Delphine, and dreamy artist Emma.
Now fifty-six, she has an “arrangement” with a married French man but has been questioning that relationship. Dahlia comes to San Francisco on a routine business trip to check on her stores in the States. But shortly after her arrival, brush fires ignite in Napa Valley. Watching the sweeping devastation on the news, Dahlia is moved to help. But doing so will bring unforeseen consequences that endanger not only her life, but her entire future.
Forced to remain in San Francisco in the aftermath, she will make unexpected connections while also fighting to protect all she has worked for. What Dahlia learns will provide a new perspective of her life, forever changing what really matters to her and what comes next for her journey.
I last read a Danielle Steel book in 2019, before to that I'd have to look back prior to 2010. I don't think another of her books will make my list. I have certainly enjoyed her books in the past but this had so much repetition early on that I nearly gave up on it.
Plus points? Well it ticked the "Climate Fiction" prompt for the "52 book club" challenge - just! (There was a lot written about fires in California but not really much about them being caused by climate change or how that needs to be addressed.) Thankfully it was also a quick read.
Minus points? It needed much more editing. It was very predictable and it just felt formulaic to me.
View all my reviews
The Boy from the Woods by Harlan Coben
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Thirty years ago, a child was found in the New Jersey backwoods.
He had been living a feral existence, with no memory of how he got there or even who he is. Everyone just calls him Wilde. Now a former soldier and security expert, he lives off the grid, shunned by the community - until they need him.
A child has gone missing. With her family suspecting she's just playing a disappearing game, nobody seems concerned except for criminal attorney Hester Crimstein. She contacts Wilde, asking him to use his unique skills to find the girl.
But even he can find no trace of her. One day passes, then a second, then a third. On the fourth, a human finger shows up in the mail.
And now Wilde knows this is no game. It's a race against time to save the girl's life - and expose the town's dark trove of secrets...
Harlan Coben books have yet to disappoint me. This is another fast moving thriller with lots of threads to keep track of.
It starts with the missing girl, leads on to a missing boy and along the way there is an historic scandal affecting current lives in a complicated manner.
Lots going on. Perhaps my only criticism is that there might be too much going on – sometimes less is more but I still couldn’t stop turning the pages.
View all my reviews
