Book Review | Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Following a long stretch of time when I was unable to commit to reading (I know, shocking) I decided my return to literature deserved a classic, and being I was gaining traction with futuristic verging on science fiction books, I picked up Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I remember my first hazing experience in college, where one of the leaders of the group posed as a teacher on a supposed first class, which turned out to be an elaborate hoax, and told us this book was mandatory reading that semester. More than 10 years would pass before I actually read the book. It's one of those cases where one has to actually wanted to and be prepared to the experience.

I'm not I was. Knowing nothing about the book and imagining it to be a classic, I was not prepared for the world I was about to enter. This takes place, from my poor math skills and given that the calendar for this story has the zero starting point as the release of the Model-T car by Ford, in 2540. It is the future, and what an intriguing one. This future is so devoid of all things that I would define right now as making us human, it makes for an effortful exercise in understanding. Life as we know it is much different. Babies are produced like any other commodity, and from the artificial placenta conditioned in laboratory-like settings to perform certain tasks and achieve a predetermined status in society, and as opposed to George Orwell's 1984 or Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, it is all done so under the guise of a pretty pleasurable and happy life. It seems so.

The book starts with a tour through a facility where humans are produced, with the lead explaining how some future citizens of the World State are put off by what they're not meant to like or be skillful at if they are to occupy a predetermined place in society, in a way similar to Skinner's operant conditioning. From there, we turn to the main characters, people from the upper class, living a life of guilty pleasures without the guilty part, and sedated by a state-issued drug called soma. One of those pleasures is, of course, sex, which is incentivized and even pushed onto people as a frequent activity to perform promiscuously from an early age through sex classes, from which I could only gather that kids are motivated to touch each other freely.

As one would expect, the conflict that gives way to the climax, pun intended, of the book is through someone who questions how society works, a man called Savage, because he was raised in the outskirts of said society, and said conflict unfolds into a pretty non-cathartic conclusion, which was really the only problem I had with the book. I was very much invested in the functionality of the World State, of how Ford was god and was praised as such with numerous "Thank Fords," of how happiness might be achieved, as is put forth by one of the elite, if one is given a purpose and a means to achieve it. I have to say I wanted to know more about such society, more about the main character's lives, and could easily have read 500 more pages about the context.

I really loved the book except for the ending, but it did ironically make me think, would it be so bad to live in a society like this? I could play out a scenario where it could be possible we turn out like this, grim as it may sound, much like I imagined it could be possible to see the events of The Handmaid's Tale play out or even a society like the one described in 1984 become true. Such is the magic of Brave New World.

Where can you purchase this book?
On the Book Depository from €7.14.

Vanessa

Book Review | The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Christopher Boone likes math and science, but human emotions and social behavior are a mystery to him. He seems to be a genius, and yet fixates on aspects of life and gives them meaning in a particular way. For instance, he dislikes yellow and brown colors in an extreme way, and when he eats curry, it's with food coloring in it for that reason. It's not explicitly written in the book, but clearly Christopher is an autistic boy, and that's what makes The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon a special book.

The boy lives with his father; his mother passed away. He follows his routine. The one night the neighbor's dog, Wellington, is killed, and Christopher becomes obsessing with solving this mystery just like his favorite detective, Sherlock Holmes, would do. That's when his world shifts completely and the order he so likes turns to chaos. Being unable to perceive reality in a way other than literally, Christopher slowly opens his eyes to what was there all along, and soon the mystery of the dog is solved and another arises from the chaos.

The story is written from his perspective, with plenty of detail as to how he portrays the world in his head. There are plenty of curiosities and personality quirks spread throughout the book in drawings, lists, anecdotes. It makes for a pleasant read, but at times tiresome. This is one intense 15-year old. His adventures make him understand adults better, and his writing made me understand the world of autism a bit better too. 

Although its themes are universal, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a tale like no other because it goes beyond such themes. Love and family and understanding are all wrapped and sometimes hidden inside a mystery story that turns into a personal quest for truth. It's not a universal truth. It's a kid's truth, but nonetheless magical like a fairy tale, because his way of seeing the world is so unique.

All that said, it took me a while to actually finish reading the book. Even though all the details were interesting, they also meant meandering through sometimes convoluted ramblings apart from the main story, and the part about the dog turned out to be just a fraction of the accounts. Maybe what I perceive as flaws in the novel are actually my own barriers to it. Who knows. For all its qualities, the book was almost exhaustive to read at times, and by the middle point forward I was wondering when was it going to end.

I'm certainly glad I chose to read it, though. But maybe I should have read it earlier.

Where can you purchase this book?
On the Book Depository from €7.03.

Vanessa

Book review | The Dark Half by Stephen King

Stephen King's pseudonym Richard Bachman was once exposed when no one knew Bachman was King. The Dark Half is a bizarre scenario, lightly inspired in having his secret revealed, where the author who once wrote under a different name imagined a twisted tale of darkness that did not exactly start with a writer's pen name being outed, but where that is one of the many twists and turns in the story. Writer Thad Beaumont, the protagonist, writes also under the name George Stark, and when he does so he seems to turn into a different person.

However, the book starts many years before, and what events are told there seem to make way for something huge coming up for Thad. What I did imagine was not at all what happened, and that is one of the great things about this book. Stephen King led me to believe the plot was going to follow something scientific, realistic even, but fantasy soon takes over, and the peculiar unfolds in masterful words that as always paint the scenario clearly in my mind and flesh out characters that soon turn into friends. Thinking I knew these people, I could not, but did, think the worst of them after crime and crime again is committed. Has Thad gone mad?

I wondered and wondered, got intrigued and intrigued, and time and time again surprised and surprised. The Dark Half is quite literally about the ultimate embodiment of evil in what could be called an outlandish way. It was thanks to King's way of writing that I let go of logic and immersed in the plot. Does the story have to make perfect sense after a series of terrifying, unusual, nightmarish events? Not in this case. It was one of  those wild rides into literary madness, and quite worth the while. In a way it was exactly what I needed to read after a row of unsatisfactory books, and one of them very recently with sparrows in it, too.

Would definitely recommend to those who like horror, weird, fantasy novels.

8/10

Where can you purchase this book?
The Dark Half on the Book Depository from €9.18.

Book Review | Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

William Bellman seems to be the perfect human specimen. He's handsome, talented, healthy, and successful. But he seemed also, to me, increasingly detached, cold, rational to a fault, and overall not at all relatable, and he's the lead character in Bellman & Black. None of the characters, actually, caught my attention. Diane Setterfield is a brilliant writer, and that's what kept me plodding through a plot that felt uninteresting even though the premise was promising, until I finished the book and was left unsatisfied as the richness of the prose was not accompanied by a captivating enough story. I so, so wanted to like this book.

Imagine this. Bellman kills a rook (crow) as a kid and that haunts him through his life as an afterthought. There's a sense of impending doom. He goes on to become a businessman, a very successful one making clothes and then managing the making of clothes. Then he marries and has four children, all the while neglecting his family in favor of his endeavors. Tragedy strikes. He bargains with a stranger in black and seems to go on to be even more successful by entering the mourning goods business and building an emporium. The plot is interspersed with little chapters that explain some curiosities about rooks and these birds are often in the shadows of the main chapters. Other than that, there's not really much connection to the events that started the book.

The plot dives deep into how mathematical, methodical, and without flaw Bellman goes about his life. That's what the action amounts to. He plans, multitasks, predicts, surpasses his predictions, and seems to bend time with all of his tasks being accomplished almost in mystical fashion. That's most of the story. There are no strong female characters. There's not much tension. There's not much character development other than Bellman. There's really no passion, it seemed to me. The end was not at all satisfying. Quite the contrary.

I was one of those who loved The Thirteenth Tale, Diane Setterfield's debut bestselling novel. Unfortunately, that maybe set the bar too high. About seven years passed and I would look up Setterfield's website to check on any upcoming novel. When I saw the summary for Bellman & Black I was ecstatic. I read her entire blog. When I started reading the book, I was engrossed in the plot until midway. When I got near the end and saw the third part of the book had only three or four pages, I knew I would not feel my time had been paid off. But her writing style will definitely make me go back to her third novel, Once Upon a River.

5/10

Vanessa

Book Review | Dune Messiah (Dune #2) by Frank Herbert

Muad'dib was already mentally powerful and now holds a material power greater than being the descendant of a duke. He is an super-being and emperor. In Dune Messiah 12 years have passed since the Battle of Arrakeen, where Paul Atreides seized the Lion Throne for himself, making Arrakis the center of the universe. But even though he is seen as a god by some, a new conspiracy against him arises which sets in motion a plot filled with political agendas and tactics. The main point is that Paul Muad'dib is aware of the future and has to grapple with all that is to come, but he's also dealing with the consequences of his actions in the first book. This makes it a book filled with angst. One can also feel the sense of impending doom in Frank Herbert's writing.

I'm reminded of Harry Potter in the Order of the Phoenix. Here, however, the main character is a political and religious figure dealing with the wishes of a trophy wife, the one who permitted him to reach the throne, the wishes of his true love, the return of an old friend, resuscitated by the Bene Tleilax, a society where genetically-engineered Face Dancers follow an agenda of their own, the ever-present Jihad blowout, and overall his own prescience, which is made to seem like a curse. In that way and despite of its title, Paul is seen as a Messiah but much of the book centers around his human point of view, his difficulties, his impassivity.

Dune Messiah was much more concise and to the point than Dune, but none of the story's magic was lost on me. However, this book felt as if a transition to another, more grand plot, and as a reader it was a nasty experience. Entering the mind of such a haunted character and knowing all the tragedy about to unfold made this a sad, depressing book, but in a weirdly good way. That's when one, as a reader, knows the level of attachment only a great author can instill through his words. I only wish this book was longer, like Dune, and showed more of the life during those 12 years that have passed. I missed certain characters that populated the first book, and the glimpses into a society that looks so foreign to me that Herbert constructed so well before.

I will now take a break from this world to come back with fresh eyes.

9/10

Where can you purchase this book?

Dune Messiah on the Book Depository from €7.01.

Vanessa

Book Review | The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Robert Oliver attacks a painting with a knife at a national museum. His new psychiatrist, Andrew Marlowe, turns into a private investigator of sorts to figure out what the man does not tell him. Oliver, a painter himself, puts brush to canvas to paint the same woman over and over. The woman, dressed in nineteenth century garments, might be the key to this man's madness. The investigation leads Marlowe to two women in Oliver's life, none the same as the face in the paintings. This novel is as much about Oliver as it is about Marlowe as well as the woman in the portraits. I was mesmerized by Elizabeth Kostova's debut work, The Historian. By this one not so much.

The Swan Thieves would no pass the Bechdel test. Women in this novel only exist for the pleasure of men, it seems. Maybe I have too skewed a view after reading The Handmaid's Tale that might have brought to the surface the feminist in me. By the way, something weird is happening. I did not like the only other book by Margaret Atwood I read but loved The Handmaid's Tale. Now I did not like Elizabeth Kostova's second novel but loved her first one. It's one of my favorites, actually. Anyway. I felt disappointed by The Swan Thieves. It was hard to keep reading it after I felt no empathy for the characters. It did not help that the book was written in three distinct voices, plus some third-person commentaries and faux historic accounts in the form of letters.

Having loved The Historian, I'm not disappointed because The Swan Thieves did not live up to it in some way. I'm looking at it as a blank slate. I did not like it for what it is and also for what it was not. Maybe I do not have an artistic side to me that would appreciate the book in a way a painter would. Maybe I was expecting a connection with at least one of the characters. Maybe I was expecting a remarkable payoff for this 600-page novel that seemed so promising. What made it bearable, in retrospective, was the beautifully crafted prose.

However, in the end I did not have the answers I was looking for. I felt like the book was a big exposition of characters who rambled about their relationship to Oliver, in memoir style, SPOILER: the end felt rushed, and in conclusion there were no reasons to explain Oliver's behavior other than an obsession exacerbated by a hinted-at mental illness. Why did he stop talking at all? On the other hand, Marlowe's quest seemed to end in a lucky hunch that would put to shame art experts and historians if it all were real. I so wanted to like this book, I felt drained and disappointed in the end. I get it, Oliver is big and strong looking. This book felt tedious and lacking passion, which is weird since all characters were passionate about something or someone.

5/10

Vanessa

Book Review | The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Here's a book so horrifyingly sad and beautiful it haunts a reader who might try then to find similarities between fiction and reality. The Handmaid's Tale is set in a future where women's rights were reversed because of and in a climate of political oppression, pollution, and overall uncertainty. Margaret Atwood calls it speculative fiction. The book was written after George Orwell's 1984 and is said to have been slightly inspired by it. Each in their own sphere is a chilling account of what might one day be if. Let us hope none of them materialize.

Atwood's novel is a firsthand account set in Gilead, within the borders of the United States. The main character is Offred, a telling epithet that pretty much summarizes the plot. It turns out, in this possible future women are a commodity or a possession. Thus, the preposition of and name of the man to whom women are associated with are what constitutes their new name. Fertility rates have plummeted and the top 1% have access to fertile women, Handmaids, who bear them children just out of the kindness of their hearts, a feat imposed by Christian religion based on bible accounts. So, not exactly a willing thing. Free will does not exist in this world.

The plot is purposely chopped (at the end we know why and how that happens) and details of this new system are embedded in Offred's account of her daily life after she becomes an Handmaid and in memories of a previous existence that went sour. Margaret Atwood ingeniously imagined how terrorism can be turned into a weapon by the supposedly terrorized country to enslave its own people, how the effects of pollution can possibly impact humankind, and how one individual can become oppressed and obedient in this grim environment.

I could have read this book in one or two days, it was so enticing. The writing style is compelling and poetic, weaving beautiful scenery into terrifying experience, words crafted in a resulting pleasurable read. I could not get enough of Offred's story, and I wanted a conclusion, which did not satisfy. That's mainly why I'll be watching the television series. To see what's possible. To see Offred once more. SPOILER: in my mind, she did escape. The ending left me hopeless, but the historical notes made it seem that at least women regained some control. 

10/10

Related:

Notice how different this review is from my previous one on another Atwood's novel. 

Book Review | Life Before Man by Margaret Atwood

Where can you purchase this book?

The Handmaid's Tale on the Book Depository from €7.78.

Vanessa

Book Review | Dune (Dune #1) by Frank Herbert

Truth is, reading this book made me feel dumb initially. There was so much to grasp in the beginning, so many concepts and words, I got trapped while trying to get into the world Dune sets, slowly making my way for months, wondering why my brain was so closed to it. Thankfully, that was only the beginning. Unlike the editors who refused this book for being too complex, I did not give up on it. That made it all the more enjoyable when something like a consciousness shift occurred and Dune became impossible to put down.

I could not even begin to summarize this story. It contains politics, religion, philosophy, mysticism, and surprisingly, ecology. In fact, one could read this book under one of those umbrellas, and then go back and read it through another lens and get a different meaning. Modern science fiction is clearly set on the shoulders of Frank Herbert's Dune. Therefore, I am of the strong opinion that Dune should be taught in schools.

Wishful thinking aside, Herbert's prose was hard to decipher. I read the dialogues and could almost feel the enormous subtleties in meaning that were completely passing me by. The prophecy of Muad'Dib, a messiah figure on the fictional planet Arrakis, was an intriguing one. All chapters seemed to start with quotes from a fictional book telling the story of the mystical Muad'Dib, or explaining foreign traditions so well in the future, but with so many ancient details to them, that this felt like a real telling of an historical future yet to take place.

The world of Arrakis, which I find so familiar because it resembles the Middle East, with a precious resource, finite and coveted, a harsh desert that carves customs and faces, and in era where computers are the enemy, all of that made this world so enticing. There are sandworms, nomadic people with strange and understandable traditions related to water, a precious resource that's lacking and that dictates daily life and war life, and there are futuristic politics between houses, a whole universal imperium ruled in a business fashion, but yet religious practices, and even a bible. And prophecies. And drugs that make humans a little closer to gods.

It's hard not to take Dune as a sort of prediction of the future, the millennial future in which the interstellar travel might be child's play, artificial intelligence becomes an enemy, life is based on another finite resource other than oil, the top 1% grows stronger, and people need a messiah like Muad'Dib to guide them to a prosperous future.

10/10

Where can you purchase this book?
Dune on Book Depository from €7.70.

Vanessa

Book Review | Waiting by Ha Jin

Set in the shadow of China's Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Waiting is an easy to read novel that describes the journey of Lin Kong, a doctor in the Chinese army that for 18 years tries to divorce his wife Shuyu to be able to turn official his platonic love for the nurse Manna Wu. While every year his attempts conclude in failure and Lin faces a number of setbacks, including his lack of confidence, this novel is more than a love story.

Ha Jin captures in this book the pressures of a political environment that Westerners cannot fathom, the dichotomies between the busy city life and the placid rural existence, human longing and human weakness, as well as the eternal question as to what love really means. Lin is attached to simple-minded, bound-feet Shuyu through an arranged marriage, but he yearns to be free and marry someone whom he loves, though he does not think he ever experienced true passion and I would even say he's the most passionless character I've ever read.

The story turns cruel and bleak at times, testing the main characters' patience and reason. Descriptions were minimal, though not lacking richness. They were mainly about changes in season, with broad strokes about characters and the political climate. Though interesting, I felt the story turned quickly into a satirical view on human desire and developed into an anti-climactic ending. It was an enjoyable read, nonetheless.

6/10

Where can you purchase this book?

Waiting on Better World Books at 60% off, lowest price at $5.98.

Waiting on Book Depository here at 45% off, lowest price at €9.15.

Vanessa

Book Review | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

How would aliens see us, humans? In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy you get one possible outlook on planet Earth. For a book published in 1979, Douglas Adams had quite a futuristic viewpoint. 

It only adds to the experience that his is quite satirical as well. So this book starts minutes before our planet is set to be demolished to create a galactic highway, coincidentally right when Arthur Dent’s house is also set to be demolished. His best friend Ford Prefect, an alien who’s been commissioned to write for the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, takes him away for a trip where all kinds of weird happen because... well, aliens.

One certainly has to read this book with an open mind, not expecting realistic stuff to happen. The odds are always something bizarre and characters are often unpredictable, and with names very hard to pronounce. All scenarios are minimally described, so you as the reader needs to do some brain work to set up everything and not think about how our reality is now. For example, Adams describes machinery and computers at a time where they were not as developed as they are now, so one has to be careful not to smudge his descriptions with today’s views. It is quite the exercise. It put me in Deep Thought (pun for those who read the book).

This is the first book in a trilogy of five. While it was entertaining and so much fun, I feel this book works great as a standalone, though as soon as I find the other books at a discount price, I will probably build up my collection and continue following the strange group of individuals that makes up this book. Fortunately, the movies stopped at the first one. No way they could make another one without Alan Rickman.

8/10

Where can you purchase this book?

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on The Book Depository from €5.73.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on Better World Books US from $5.98.

Vanessa

Book Review | Saturday Requiem (Frieda Klein, #6) by Nicci French

This is the last installment of the Frieda Klein series so far, but Nicci French already confirmed a seventh book to be in the works, which will be the last one. In Saturday Requiem, Klein is asked to look into an old police case where a whole family has been murdered. Once more, she accepts the challenge.

It's great to be reunited with all the characters in Klein's life and a few new ones. As always, these books are well crafted, although the recipe feels the same. That's not to say this is a boring book. It feels familiar, but with a different story, a quick pace and interludes that show the main character taking walks in London.

Frieda is like a dog with a bone, unwilling and perhaps not capable of letting go of her instincts, which is the main reason no one else believes her until she's able to prove her point. It's annoying to know she's got it right so many times, yet she's always doubted at first, including by the police. Even people she interviews know and trust her for her abilities to get to the heart of the matter. Authorities, on the other hand, seem to hate her.

This case was not as interesting to me as past ones though. It was full of twists and turns as usual, but not as gripping for some reason. Dean is also back to haunt Frieda, but this time he exceeded himself. The conclusion felt devastating this time and it all ends with a cliffhanger, which means I'll have to wait for the final book to know what happens. Once more, Frieda's house is no longer her beloved sanctuary.

It was a good read, refreshing and interesting, with many details developed carefully and surprises until the end. This is one of my favorite book series. Here's to hoping the next one doesn't take long.

8/10

Related:

Book Review | Friday on My Mind (Frieda Klein #5) by Nicci French

Vanessa

Book Review | Such a Long Journey by Rohinton Mistry

This books unravels in Bombay, India, in 1971. A family goes through what so much others have been through. Political turmoil, corruption and war, specifically the Bangladesh Liberation War with Pakistan. Many Difficulties. Internal conflict. But also many tales and metaphors and melancholy.

Rohinton Mistry wrote what is now one of my favorite books, A Fine Balance. However, this is a completely different novel. Much more political and grounded in detailed events. But not without a dose of superstition and religion and magical things to cure physical problems that cannot be dealt with otherwise.

The first and second acts were enjoyable and intricate. The third one was too political for my taste and left the story to be developed through the cracks of everything else. What saved it was the charismatic characters. One feels compelled to keep going to finally understand where they're headed.

I found this book to be dense, but also very enjoyable overall. There is intrigue and shock and amazement. It's beautifully written, but not without Mistry used words from Indian dialects that were hard to understand and Google did not offer much help. It made me feel like something was missing.

Now there's only one book from Mistry that's left for me to read. I'm hoping it's going to be A Fine Balance between it and this one. This is certainly an author to look for.

7/10

Related:

Book Review | A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

Vanessa

Book Review | The Breast by Philip Roth

Short and weird. The Breast by Philip Roth is a tale about a man who sheds his human form and turns into a huge breast. One must not dwell as to the practicality of it as much as the scenario itself. 

As such, this book ends up being quite scary as well as absurd. Can you imagine the horror of being the first human to experience a new illness? Can you imagine being turned into something that gets you trapped?

The character of David Kepesh, an intelligent, hypochondriac man, turns into question after question. What is the meaning of all of this? Why did this happen to me? The tale turns into an existentialism piece from the point of view of a selfish man who turns into such a feminine icon, all the while trying to make sense of it all.

The book is quite amusing. It does not try to explain the facts, just keep one wondering. David Kepesh ends up assuring himself and others he must have gone insane and is just imagining being turned into a breast, while in reality being in an hospice. He is also paranoid, thinking he's being filmed and broadcasted for the scientific community to see. Is he? Everyone confirms him of the opposite, actually. But is that true?

This was overall a very entertaining tale, full of wonder and surprise.

8/10

Vanessa

Book Review | Friday on My Mind (Frieda Klein #5) by Nicci French

Frieda Klein is on the run. She is the prime suspect in a murder investigation after her ex-boyfriend is found dead with a hospital tag bearing her name on his wrist. A new detective is in charge of her case and chooses to believe all of those in the police force who think Klein is a maniac, even though she helped solve four cases.

Near the end, Frieda's friend in the police force summarizes perfectly the absurdity of this investigation. Why in the world would someone intelligent kill and leave a tag with his or her name on the dead body? Duh. All those against Frieda are always obnoxious and quite dumb. They do not even seem like real people.

I do not believe this book could be a standalone. Although it is its own story, one would have to really like Frieda to get engrossed. Besides, much of the background stories tie in perfectly to create a good plot, I think.

The book was a bit slow to develop and it showed a reckless Frieda who, being chased by the police, didn't avoid being exposed. I have to say though that one of the scenes where she helps a stranger by defeating his bullies was like a small gem. I could not help but feel proud. But that's because I like this character.

The twist was as usual in the series. Unexpected. I guess Nicci French like to surprise readers. Sometimes I found myself paying attention least expected person because that's usually the one. The solution always comes from a surprise detail readers didn't know about. I'm not a big fan of that, but it works out in the books.

I was hoping for some resolution as to one particular character that is like a shadow since the first book, Blue Monday. It seems like that will be left for the final book, which I still need to get.

This one left something to be desired. I felt the same with the previous one. It was slow at times and there was not as much action as in previous books. Let's hope the next goes out with a bang.

7/10

Related:
Book Review | Thursday’s Child (Frieda Klein #4) by Nicci French

Vanessa

Book Review | Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

What to say? Much like Gone Girl and Sharp Objects, Dark Places starts with first person account of someone not quite well in the head. But Libby has reasons for it. She survived her family being murdered one cold night and testified against her brother for doing it. Now 20 years have passed and she recalls the events, interviews people and even doubts herself after being contacted by a group of amateur detectives, the Kill Club.

The book goes back and forth between present day and the day her family was massacred, amidst the satanism craze of the '80s, to tell the story of Libby's brother and her mother. All the pieces are available, from teenager rebellion and school rumors to financial problems with the family's farm. Flynn is masterful at creating character depth and a complex plot. Everything seems purposeful. All quirks are evidence of something.

Libby is quite a main character. She is ironic and strong, but still childish and probably depressed, judging from her mannerisms. We travel with her through the dark places in her mind and through the darkness of her brother's journey until that night. There was a point where it was impossible to put down the book.

In the end it all makes sense and there's no twist without background just for the shock-value of it. It's all laid out, the details scattered until put together to make up one gruesome night. It all unraveled as I expected.

Now I'll have to wait until Gillian Flynn writes and releases another book. I'm certainly a fan and I'll be following her from now on. Her writing is uniquely enthralling, suspenseful and wonderfully detailed.

10/10

Related:
Book Review | Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Vanessa

Book Review | Thursday’s Child (Frieda Klein #4) by Nicci French

I had mentioned in my previous book review that I had read the summary of the next book of the Nicci French's series and could not hold off reading it. The main reason I so wanted to read Thursday’s Child was the fact that it was all about Frieda Klein herself, as opposed to being about Klein solving a mystery. Well, of course, there is one, but it's almost all about her, her past and her history. It felt like a break from all the previous dread.

I had also mentioned even before that reading another book of this series was like getting together with an old friend. This one felt even more like it because the main character has always been herself a mystery. There was never much about her. Her actions and some of her thoughts were all readers could get.

With Thursday’s Child everything is clearer. Frieda's past is explained, as she goes back to her home town after one of her high school colleagues asks her to talk to her daughter. As it turns out, her daughter's anxiety was triggered by an event similar to one that Frieda experienced when she was about the same age.

As usual, her instinct leads her to put random pieces together with the help of her usual friends. Also as usual, the suspense and thriller aspects of this book do not disappoint. There is a sense of dread as everything unfolds. One feels there's something lurking that's about to be uncovered and that it's probably not pretty.

I liked the pace of the book except the last third. Once it was figured out, there was no real surprise, actually. It was there all along, because once one follows Frieda, one gets a sense for the reasoning of criminal minds and their modus operandi. This was an introspective book designed to pull at the strings of melancholy.

It left me content to be able to know about Frieda's ways. Why she likes walking at night so much. Why she develops sympathy for her patients and why she got so close to one of her friends, Sasha. Why she appreciates independence and freedom and time alone. Why she doesn't like talking about her past.

Once more, I felt like storing this book next to the previous one and grabbing the next. I will let this one sink in first though and get a break from this world. I will keep Friday on My Mind (perfect title) while I go on reading other books waiting to keep me company. Only two books to finish the series. I'm feeling nostalgic already.

9/10

Related:
Book Review | Waiting for Wednesday (Frieda Klein #3) by Nicci French

Vanessa

Book Review | Waiting for Wednesday (Frieda Klein #3) by Nicci French

Two cases unravel in this third installment of Frieda Klein's series while she seems to fall in a downwards spiral of guilt, dread, unsolved cases, subtle connections and love. While the second book felt too fictional, with hard to believe coincidences, this one succeeded in transporting me to a world of real possibilities.

The first case involved a woman found dead in what seemed to be a burglary gone wrong. The second, a short detail in a tale that led to a mystery, then missing girls, then dots put together. All the while, Frieda followed the leads and tried to heal the wounded. It may seem vague, but it's hard to put all of this into words, into a story, without ruining the book's magic, which is made of tiny pieces of a giant puzzle.

That's what it felt like anyway. Although I did like the thrilling cases, all the intricacies and descriptions, this time, like a true friend, I felt like shaking Frieda Klein to make her snap out of her self-doubts and misery. It almost spoiled it all, her self-harmful ways, her self-neglect, her peculiar obsession, her dark passion.

This novel, much like the first one, was compelling to its core. As usual, Nicci French's writing feels like home. In fact, they almost have their own shelf in my library. I have almost all of their books and they had one thing in common: they never failed to deliver. They were never boring nor tiresome nor predictable.

All of their thrillers were really thrillers, with powerful, rich details and unique characters and gruesome cases and in-depth villains with perfectly reasonable, in their own madness, explanations.

It's hard to already be on Wednesday in the series. Saturday approaches. I'm wondering about Sunday, while I'm pacing myself not to read Thursday's Child just yet. Will I do it? I don't know.

No. I just read the summary of the next one. I cannot not read it now. Heading on to one more Frieda Klein story then. All the other books can wait in line for the next opportunity.

10/10

Related:
Book Review | Tuesday's Gone (Frieda Klein #2) by Nicci French

Vanessa

Book Review | Lock In by John Scalzi

Set in an undefined future, John Scalzi's Lock In takes place in a world where a global pandemic called "the Great Flu" evolved into a state of complete paralysis named Haden's syndrome. About 1% of the population lost control over their bodies as a result of Haden's and some of them use people as Integrators to be able to live through someone else. In this world, cars self-drive and highly advanced gadgets are common in everyday life.

The plot starts with a brief introduction into this scenario, but little else is provided as we follow agent Chris Shane's first and second day on the job as an FBI agent. He is assigned to a crime scene where an Integrator is involved and some shady business is clearly going on. What follows is a series of legal procedures and a large amount of information without context or detailed explanation, but I feel it was intended.

One of the most interesting aspects of the plot is that besides being able to integrate, Hadens can also use android figures called threeps to roam around. Chris Shane is the poster child of such practice, which comes in handy in his line of duty, as the threep can be destroyed, but the mind that controls it stays intact.

The novel felt short for such implications. There are so many nuances to explore that it felt the book was not enough to go into detail and also cover a crime at the same time. Actually, even though I enjoy crime novels, the investigation part ot this book felt boring when there were so many other things I wanted to know about.

John Scalzi has a very peculiar narrative in which characters are not physically described as much as they are described by their actions. Gender, ethnicity, sexual preference is all up to interpretation. Chris can very well be a woman. Chris' partner can also not be a woman. Who knows? What was left for interpretation is one of the strong suits of this book. All the implications of one being able to integrate in another one's body to go through experiences otherwise impossible has many variables, the darker ones detailed in the novel.

I enjoyed this book, but felt it was too short. I wanted to know more about this world where androids are part of the society, but still viewed as outcasts in a way. I also wanted to know more about the way in which science advanced so much it was possible to implant things in the brain to have threeps be possible.

If you're interesting in reading this, you might also enjoy an article styled novella John Scalzi wrote. It's at Tor.

7/10

Vanessa

Book Review | Tuesday's Gone (Frieda Klein #2) by Nicci French

The second Frieda Klein novel felt like getting together with an old friend. Set one year after the events narrated in the first book, Tuesday's Gone was just as intense a read as Blue Monday. It's slightly longer though.

This time it was not a disappearance that prompted the events. It's a body discovered in the house of a woman with hoarding problems and a more serious mental disability that does. With the help of Frieda, the team of police investigators discovers new clues and people that lead to an unexpected outcome.

Although it was a pleasure to get back on the streets of London and follow Frieda again, I have to say there were was one particular that put me off and reminded me this is a work of fiction: the coincidences.

Frieda's personal problems, which give us insight into her mysterious personal and family life, get tangled with the investigation. It seemed far-fetched when it all unfolded. The twist was amazing though.

Most of the clues were not available to the reader, which was also something I would like to have. While there was an abundance of characters to follow, plus some of the characters from the first book, there were not many details a reader could have known to feel as though one helped solve the mystery.

I wish it had been more interactive this way. However, the plot involves the reader with uncertainty and unrest. Descriptions and character insights are rich and powerful as ever. One of Nicci French's many qualities.

I finished this one and wanted to keep being in the world of Frieda Klein. I almost grabbed the next book and started reading it without a pause. I thought it better to have a break though so I can appreciate it more next time and have a fresh mind for the mysteries to come. Nicci French deserve my full attention.

8/10

Related:

Book Review | Blue Monday (Frieda Klein #1) by Nicci French

Vanessa

Book Review | Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

I'm a Gillian Flynn addict now. It started with Gone Girl, both the book and the movie script. Both brilliant. Now Flynn's debut novel, Sharp Objects. A sharp read indeed. Now I'm fangirling so hard.

You know you're about to embark on a thriller ride when a debut novel rocks a Stephen Kind review on the back cover. Written in red. "An admirably nasty piece of work," was one of the things he wrote. I agree.

I read this book in less than three days, picking it up whenever I had time to spare and even when I didn't.

Where to begin? Sharp Objects is a first person account where journalist Camille goes back to her hometown to report on a murder and a disappearance. As soon as you get to know Camille, you notice some odd behavior, which then is explained as the plot unfolds. The girl has issues. Getting back home doesn't help.

The novel enveloped me in a sense of dread hard to shake off. It sticks. Maybe the visuals, the vivid descriptions and alliterations, are to blame. They are dark and poignant, especially because they are described in an objective way, as if all of it is normal to Camille. It added to the imagery. It made it all seem morbidly intriguing.

I would recommend Sharp Objects to anyone who enjoys crime novels, thrillers and even horror stories. This book will, I know, haunt me. I know I will keep reading novels with similar themes and compare them to this one. This one will probably be my personal benchmark for contemporary thrillers from now on.

Thank you, Three Rivers Press for including a mention about the font used in this book. I was wondering about it from the beginning and it was a nice surprise to see a note about it at the end. Bauer Bodoni is great.

10/10

Related:
Book Review | Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Vanessa