I read 19 books in January which was below my goal but it was a great start to the year for me.
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides 4.75 Stars - The opening to The Silent Patient was interesting as we are introduced to the artist, Alicia Berenson and her photographer husband, Gabriel. We learn early on that Gabriel is concerned about Alicia’s depression and he gives her a diary to write her thoughts in although she actively tries to avoid putting her negative thoughts in there which defeats the purpose of it. We get snapshots of their marriage which ends with Alicia shooting Gabriel in the face several times before becoming mute. Upon her arrest, trial and incarceration in the Grove mental hospital she doesn’t say a word which makes her a very interesting character. In the Grove she is under the care of Professor Diomedes and this is where we are introduced to our primary protagonist, Theo Faber, a psychotherapist working at Broadmoor before he transfers to The Grove specifically to treat Alicia who he seems to have a connection with.
Comfort Me with Apples by Catherynne M. Valente 4 Stars - The opening to Comfort Me With Apples was strange as we are introduced to Sophia, who lives in Arcadia Gardens with her husband. The first things that made me questions what was going on is Sophia constantly repeats that she was made for her husband and that they are perfect for each other although we haven’t met him yet. What we learn about Arcadia Gardens is also strange as there are a lot of rules for those that live there and it seems very much like Big Brother is watching them at all times.
Allison’s Adventures in Underland by C. M. Stunich 4.5 Stars - Allison’s Adventure in Underland came up as a recommended read for me and the synopsis was interesting so I decided to give it a go. We are introduced to Allison who is being dragged to a party by her sister, Edith even though she would rather be at home reading because her crush is going to be there. She ends up having a run in with a man who wears rabbit ears who ends up shooting her crush, wanting to do the right thing Allison follows him and ends up falling down the rabbit hole where he disappears. She ends coming across a room containing a very naked pair of twins and she realises she must be in some fucked up version of Alice in Wonderland but I have a feeling this is going to be a very dark and erotic retelling of the classic tale and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
Allison and the Torrid Tea Party by C. M. Stunich 4.5 Stars - The opening to Allison and the Torrid Tea Party was interesting as it picked up where the first book ended although now we know that Allison has feeling for Tee and Dee and is well on her way to catching feelings for North. They have been kidnapped by Raiden Walker, who isn’t like the other men we have been introduced to as he is originally from Allison’s world not Underland which could explain why he is a bit madder than the rest. As he is a mercenary he will do just about anything for the right price so when North offers to pay him a million coins, paid half by him and half by the King, Raiden changes his plan to bring them to the King of Clubs and takes them to the King of Hearts instead but he adds that he expects Allison’s hand in marriage too and she has no choice but to agree. During the journey to the palace we get the first sex scene between Allison and North which was delightful as all their playful banter, training and fear roll over into this.
The Butcher of Anderson Station by James S. A. Corey 3.75 Stars - I absolutely adored Leviathan Wakes and I can’t wait to binge the rest of the series as well as the TV show so I am moving onto the novella surrounding the history of Fred Johnston and what really happened at Anderson Station as it is referred to several times in Leviathan Wakes. The first thing to note about The Butcher of Anderson Station is that it take into account to different timelines. The first is what happened in the moment on Anderson Station and the second is Fred being questioned about those events by Anderson Dawes.
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert 4 Stars - I have never read anything by Elizabeth Gilbert before although I do remember seeing the Eat, Love, Pray movie which was decent, however, the dual timelines of City of Girls and the fact the main character is telling her life story reminded me vaguely of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. This coupled with the fact I picked up my copy in a charity shop for less than £2 (hardcover although missing the dust jacket) meant it was finally time for me to pick this book up. We are following Vivian Morris between the present day and the 1940’s when she had been kicked out of Vassar College and sent to live with her Aunt Peg at the age of 19. The story begins with Angela sending Vivian a letter informs her of the death of her mother and asking what Vivian’s relationship was with her father. While Vivian can’t tell Angela what she meant to her father as only he could do that she can explain what he meant to her which hints at a strong relationship between them. However, Vivian begins her response by discussing how she grew up in an isolated home where there wasn’t much love for her and being sent to live with her Aunt Peg seemed to be the best thing for her at the time.
The Paper Menagerie by Ken Liu 3.5 Stars - I have heard a lot about Ken Liu especially his fantasy books but I thought I would start with the most recommended book of his which is The Paper Menagerie. Since this is a short story collection I am going to follow the same process I have with other collection and review the stories individually before wrapping the review up with my thoughts on the collection as a whole.
Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenebrg 4 Stars - The opening to Confessions of the Fox was interesting as we see Jack Sheppard being taken to the gallows to die for his crimes but we then jump back to when Jack was a child known as P. P is female it seems and is sold into slavery for ten years by her mother in the early 1710’s. P was tirelessly for these period of time to earn her freedom although throughout this period she refers to herself as Jack using male pronouns and even hates wearing female clothing or even moving in a feminine way making me think that P/Jack might be transgender. We are also introduced to Bess, a young woman fleeing her life for London where she becomes a prostitute in order to make money which she isn’t opposed to and even makes fun of her first client for knowing nothing about female pleasure. Jack and Bess’ stories are entwined as Bess is seen as the lover of Jack Sheppard but we are going to find out. Obviously, this is being told in the past tense with footnotes as this confession was found by Dr. Voth who is examining the confessions prior to publication.
Call Me Daddy by Jade West 5 Stars - I have read a few books in the past by Jade West but I didn’t love any of them as much as I did Call Me Daddy. We are introduced to the 18 year old Laine, celebrating her birthday when she ditched by her best friend, Kelly-Anne and she realises that Kelly-Anne has her keys, phone and money in her bag meaning Laine has no way of getting home and to make it worse there is heavy rain this night. She ends up bumming a cigarette of a guy who mistakes her for a prostitute even though nothing about Laine’s looks or personality suggests this and he is on the verge of assaulting her when she runs out into the road to almost get run over by Nick. Nick realises what is going on and rescues Laine from that situation and even lets Laine stay at his place for the night given the fact she can’t get into her house and offers to take her home the following morning and she accepts. From the very beginning there is a lot of tension between the pair but Laine is a virgin and Nick is a lot older than her so nothing happens.
My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite 3.75 Stars - The opening of My Sister, The Serial Killer definitely was gripping. We are introduced to Korede, who is phoned by her younger sister Ayoola because she has killed her current boyfriend, Femi. We know from the way Korede reacts that this isn’t the first time she’s had to clean up her sister’s need but they had only been dating a month. Korede essentially gets rid of the evidence and the body herself with little help from her sister. After that Ayoola returns to Korede’s place and she is instantly worried by her sister’s behaviour.
Horrorstor by Grady Hendrix 4.5 Stars - Last year I read The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and I was disappointed by it, I have been recommended Horrorstor a lot so I decided to give it a go. If it doesn’t work for me then the next book I try will be the last chance I will be giving Grady Hendrix as an author before I write them off. All I knew about Horrorstor before getting into it was that it takes place in the Orsk furniture superstore in Cleveland, Ohio and has a haunted house theme to it. We are introduced to Amy who almost a year ago transferred to this store but today things start going wrong from the second the employees arrive. She is quickly taken aside by her manager, Basil, who seems to have it out for her along with another employee, Ruth Anne. Amy believes Basil is going to fire her but he offers them an extra shift that night, it seems there has been vandalism on the store of the past few weeks and the security cameras haven’t picked up anything. Basil, Ruth Anne and Amy will stay in the store overnight hoping to catch the person or people responsible for vandalism before people from head office arrive the following day. He agrees to pay them more money at the end of the shift and also agree to approve Amy’s transfer back to her previous store so she and Ruth Anne agree to the extra shift and I have a feeling things might only get creepier from her.
This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp 5 Stars - I remember when this book came out and it came onto my radar and I am ashamed to say it has taken me years to pick it up. All I knew about This is Where it Ends before getting into it was that it follows a school shooting minute by minute. The opening of This is Where it Ends wasn’t eventful but it was ominous as we are introduced to what I believe is going to be our man cast of characters. We have Claire and Chris who are both on the track team with enlisted family members, Tomas and Fareed who are breaking into the Principal’s office for information on a student, Tyler Browne and finally we have Autumn and Sylvia, best friends and Tyler is Autumn’s brother. I have a feeling that Tyler after he left school the following year and is returning now might be the shooter but we don’t know why yet. We are also introduced to these children’s lives and not all of them are good but I hope these issues are expanded on. As the assembly, held by the Principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s high school draws to a close people begin to realise they can’t leave the auditorium.
The Humans by Matt Haig 4 Stars - I have read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig and loved it so when I was recommended The Humans I decided to pick it up. All I knew about it before hand was it involved aliens and body-snatching. We are introduced to the Martin family consisting of Professor Andrew Martin, his wife, Isobel and their son, Gulliver. However, Professor Andrew Martin has been abducted and killed by aliens and he has been replaced by one of these aliens. He was replaced because he solved a mathematical hypothesis and the aliens knows that the humans are ready for this leap in advancement so the alien is sent to destroy any evidence of Andrew solving the hypothesis. When the alien arrives on Earth, he appears in the wrong place so he wanders the night naked trying to make sense of the world. While the alien might look like Andrew he doesn’t have any of his memories and doesn’t have the slightest clue about how to appear human. He does have some information on Andrew like his name, age, and his family but these are limited.
Bared to You by Sylvia Day 4.5 Stars - The opening to Bared to You was interesting as we are introduced to Eva Tramell and her best friend and roommate, Cary Taylor. Eva has just moved to New York to work for Waters Field & Leaman which is located in the Crossfire Building. She isn’t the most relatable of characters because she does come from a wealthy background thanks to her stepfather, Stanton but she is relatable in the sense we’ve all gone through things like the first day on a new job and embarrassing yourself in public. Eva does this when she tries to help a woman and ends up flat on her ass when confronted with the most handsome man she has ever met. Eva is instantly attracted to the man but holds herself in check as he meets her new boss, Mark. Mark is instantly loveable and we get to see his relationship with his partner, Steve and I loved them both from the very beginning. After a work meeting she learns that Dark and Dangerous as she calls him, is Gideon Cross, the owner of the Crossfire building. Their interactions are great but this is ramped up when Gideon approaches Eva and plainly asks her if she is seeing anyone because he wants to sleep with her and wants to know if anything is going to get in his way. While she turns him down, we know that Gideon is going to give up in pursuing Eva but we know there is more to her as Cary mentions their pasts. We know before modelling that Cary had issues with drug addiction thanks to his childhood but he is a great friend for Eva. While Eva’s background hasn’t been gone into much yet she does have something hiding in her closest.
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel 5 Stars - The opening to the first book in the Themis Files, Sleeping Giants was very interesting. We are introduced to Rose Franklin, who as a small girl feel down a hole into a giant, glowing metal hand. Years later as a physicist, Rose in working on an NSA project to uncover what the hand is. The novel at the moment is told in a series of interviews where the identity of the interviewer is unknown. Rose explains her connection to the hand and how no one seems to know much about it when she had a revelation. The hand was found in close proximity to a mine where they detected the presence of argon-37 and she believes that the hand responds to this specific isotope and if she can figure out how to make and dispose argon-37 safety they might be able to find the rest of the body. We are also introduced to Kara, a military pilot who unknowingly discovers the forearm in Turkey while looking for unauthorized nuclear activity in Syria. As Rose mentions they will need pilots to find and collect the rest of the pieces of whatever the hand belongs to, I believe Kara’s interview is for her to be a pilot on this mission.
The Cambodian Book of the Dead by Tom Vater 4.25 Stars - I recently read both The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu and Kolkata Noir by Tom Vater and really enjoyed them both so I was looking forward to getting into The Cambodian Book of the Dead and maybe the rest of the series. We are introduced to Maier who is a war correspondent in Cambodia as the war is coming to an end in 1997 with his friend and guide, Hort. They are discussing Hort’s upcoming wedding when a bomb intended for Maier kills his friend and causes him to leave his job and return to Germany. The war finally ended in 1998, but Maier now a private detective couldn’t care about it. We are also introduced to the widow, Dani Stricker, after the death of her husband, Harald who is from Cambodia as she hires as assassin to find someone presumably responsible for the death of her family as he wants revenge. When we get back to Maier he is once again heading for Cambodia this time to track down and observe a Hamburg heir who is living there after being hired by the young man’s mother.
Behind the Veil by E. J. Dawson 4 Stars - I must say before getting into the meat of my review that I don’t normally read historical fiction outside of very specific areas because it is a genre I have never really got into but this really hooked me from the first page. The novel is set in LA in the 1920’s which is an interesting period, and we are following Letitia Hawking who is sailing from England in an attempt to bury her old life and begin anew. Letitia is what I can only describe as a medium as she walk the path between life and death offer closure to loved one of the dead and while I was sceptical at first she is genuine and has some insanely strong powers but she also has some strict rules on which cases she will take.
Cinema 7 by Michael J. Moore 4 Stars - After having read a lot of psychological thrillers and the goriest of horrors in the years I’ve been a reader I didn’t think there was a book out there that could scare me. I’ve read all of Stephen King’s work who is known as the master of horror and nothing has phased me but I have a feeling that Michael J. Moore just changed that for me. The first chapter alone had me hooked and was similar to the opening scene of Halloween where we witness a little girl called Kim stab her mother and her mother’s boyfriend to death at the command of a figure in her room and this was just the beginning and it only got darker and more gruesome from here.
Deep Dive by Ron Walters 4.5 Stars - I have a love/hate relationship with sci-fi thrillers and this is mainly due to the sci-fi element not suiting my tastes but Deep Dive blew me away with its VR and immersive technology elements that really enhanced the thriller elements of the novel. Deep Dive is an intensely emotional novel that had me hooked from the very beginning. We are introduced to Peter Banuk who has been failing to get his career in the gaming industry to really take off and he is failing to balance this with his family life. His last project, Scorchfell was a failure and he wants and needs a success more than anything right now. His friend ends up calling him to announce that he has cracked the secret to a full immersion game and Peter rushes over to check it out and this is where the novel really kicks off.
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