Tag: Books

Review: Daddy ‘ s Gone a – Hunting

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The first book I picked up this year was The Chalk Man . It looks like C J Tudor used several elements from the Stephen King ‘ s books and fleshed out her narrative . While IT had Losers , C J introduces us to The Misfits and frankly the backstories of some of the Misfits sound vaguely familiar if you are familiar with the IT world . . My imagination did not bother or lacked the power to picturise the ” horrifying ” scenes down to the minute detail that I did not get scared as much as I hoped to be .  So I breezed through the book and returned it to the library . Nothing stood out about The Chalk Man that I remember it or could have written about here . .

That’s why I picked up a Mary Higgins Clark  . But even Clark turned out to be a huge disappointment this time . But I have finally come to terms with the bitter truth that every  great writer has a few mediocre  books to his or her credit and Clark is no exception . The first thing that popped up in my mind after reading this book was if Clark actually wrote this book . Okay , without further rant , I will get started with the review . .

Plot summary :

A dark secret from a family’s past that threatens the lives of two sisters, Kate and Hannah Connelly, when the family-owned furniture firm in Long Island City , founded by their grandfather and famous for its fine reproductions of antiques , explodes into flames in the middle of the night , leveling the buildings to the ground , including the museum where priceless antiques have been on permanent display for years.

The ashes reveal a startling and grisly discovery , and provoke a host of suspicions and questions . Was the explosion deliberately set ? What was Kate—tall , gorgeous , blond , a CPA for one of the biggest accounting firms in the country , and sister of a rising fashion designer — doing in the museum when it burst into flames ? Why was Gus , a retired and disgruntled craftsman, with her at that time of night ? What if someone isn’t who he claims to be?

Now Gus is dead , and Kate lies in the hospital badly injured and in a coma , so neither can tell what drew them there , or what the tragedy may have to do with the hunt for a young woman missing for many years , nor can they warn that somebody may be covering his tracks, willing to kill to save himself . . .

My thoughts on the book : 

This is not a regular Clark novel and here are the reasons for it –

I have always raved about Clark’s heroines being young women who can  tackle unexpected problematic situations in their lives with grit and intelligence .  But sadly , Hannah Connelly does not have neither the intelligence  or  the  grit for some amateur sleuth work or even bring some decent intuition until  the last  – but  – one  chapter . . . The amateur sleuth ( Hannah ‘ s sister Kate as a matter of fact ) is unfortunately sent to the coma within 3 chapters and we are left to put up with one of the most unimaginative Clark heroines who can only sit by her sister’s bedside holding her hand . . .

While I might have appreciated the deviation from the template requiring a  I – can – handle – it – all – by – myself heroine , what  irked me about Hannah Connelly is that she doesn’t bring anything to the plot . Take her out of the story line and still you would have a decent suspense story with the remainder of the characters  . Note :  You can also take her love interest from the plot . I seriously wouldn’t miss either of them . Katie ‘ s  friend and her love – interest atleast do some thinking and give us some new angles to  think about . . .

There is a reference to a Roman Catholic father who turns up at Kate’s hospital room to pray for her . I was expecting him to bring something significant information to the hospital visit along with his prayers . . . Nope , he had only the prayers and yet he took up an entire chapter . Talk about suspense genre writing  sins . . . In addition to introducing characters who were only trying my patience as they took up entire chapters , the overall character development was not satisfactory . Sometimes it looked even amateurish .

While we are guaranteed a happy ending with Clark ,  I can’ t buy some aspects of the plot . . . While I might liberally overlook if those aspects are those of the subplot  , the fact is that I can ‘ t  buy the reveal of the main plot itself . . .

** Spoiler alert **

Will a four year old repress her intuitive knowledge regarding her father and the associated memory and actually grow up to be a young woman whose interactions with that man are very normal like a regular father – daughter ? I happened to pick up Agatha Christie ‘ s Sleeping murder ( as a re – read ) in which , coincidentally the heroine ‘ s  ( Gwenda Reed ‘ s ) memory from early childhood gets triggered and she screams out when she sees the play The Duchess of Malfi and hears the following words spoken by one of the actors  –  “Cover her face; mine eyes dazzle; she died young” . . .

While Christie does not specify Gwenda ‘ s age ( at the time Gwenda actually thinks she witnessed the murder of a young woman named Helen ) , we can safely assume she was probably two or  two – and – a – half . While several little things help Gwenda piece the memories ( with Miss Marple ‘ s help , of course )  , wouldn’t anything in all these years of Kate ‘ s life triggered something like an uneasiness regarding the man whom she called her father ? ? The man had actually threatened Kate that she should not say those words again when she had inadvertently let the incriminating words slip through . Will the threat become a part of the sub – conscious that easily ? I just can’t buy that . . .

When you have umpteen questions  regarding the big reveal and downright unimpressed with the lead pair , you can ‘ t give it even a 3 .

Rating : 2 . 5 / 5

P . S : Now that we are in a lock-down in India  , I don ‘ t have any option but to revisit my bookshelves. I am thinking of picking up a classic for a change .  Hoping that the next read would be a change from all these disappointments . . .

Two books in three months – I know that the count is pathetic . . . Hoping I will be able to remedy that . . .

Review : The Hunting Party

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Huntin'Party

Author : Lucy Foley

Publication Date : 2019

Publisher(s) : Harper Collins

Plot Summary :

A group of old friends have come together to celebrate the New Year of 2019 in a remote Scottish hunting lodge . There are Giles & Samira – the new parents , Nick & Bo , Julien & Miranda – the ” Golden ” couple , Mark & Emma and finally , Katie – the singleton in the group . Then one of them is found dead . It does not look like an accident . . .

My thoughts about the book :

The Hunting Party is described as ‘ Gripping ‘ by Sophie Hannah . It also has other one – adjective praises by authors like A J Finn and Laura Marshall . I picked up this book on seeing these praises and am resolved in future not to pick up any book based on any author ‘ s recommendations alone . . . The most questionable adjective that can be given to this book is from Laura Marshal – ” Eerie ” .

The narrative covers the period from Dec 30 2018 to Jan 2 2019 . The story has 4 first person narratives  from Miranda , Katie , Emma and Heather ( the Lodge manager ) and a third person narrative  for Doug (  the Lodge gamekeeper ) . There were a few aspects of the writing which did not sit well with me . . .

Too many dandelions :

I seemed to trip upon the dandelions – sometimes a lone one and sometimes in clusters almost in every single chapter . I was trying to make allowance for one or two popping up occasionally , but the more often you encounter them , the less patience you have left to deal with them . When I trip upon a dandelion , my brain goes – ” Here comes the next one . . . Doesn’t it sound . . . “  . I get interested in the choice of words put together for the newly – minted simile / metaphor and for the next 5 minutes this one is going to have my attention .

” And there is a red bloom around her head where it has struck the rocks – a starburst , a supernova of red . . . “

The problem with the current crop of suspense / detective fiction writers  is , they try to emulate the literary fiction in terms of  language & narrative  – with disastrous results . While experimenting with hyper-realistic narratives and flowery language , the current breed of crime fiction writers seem to forget that they are writing for the suspense genre where a good pace is the key to guarantee the reader a great reading experience [ ” the ending that leaves the reader breathless ” , ” the shocker that you can never see coming ” and other similar reactions . . . ]

Thankfully , the author stopped with the flowery language and did not go for the hyper – realistic narrative . Perhaps , none of the characters  are portrayed with a depth that would require a hyper – realistic approach or any innovative narrative technique to actually peel off the layers off the character the reveal the real person .

The usage of  ” millennial ” slang  in the narratives :

While the narrators are millennial , trying to capture that in the slang is not a good idea . I never realized millennial conversations ( with those filler words ) , when put on paper looks so bad . . . There is the liberal mindless usage of the f*** word , the afterthoughts without which some characters can’t seem to finish a sentence – all these were major put – offs . Here is one :

” ‘ But who wants Westminster – all those sweaty bodies pressed together – when you can have this ? ‘ Emma asks . ‘ This place ‘ , she spreads her arms wide , ‘ and best friends . ‘ She links her arm with mine , and smiles at me , a proper , warm smile . I want to hug her . Thank fuck for Emma . ” 

The thing which amused me highly is this one :

There is a chapter which is narrated by the character when she is drunk . ” Being in a temporary state in which one’s physical and mental faculties are impaired by an excess of alcoholic drink ;  intoxicated ” is the definition provided for the word drunk . And here , the narrator is perfectly aware of her surroundings .  Here is a second one from the same narrator  –

” It’s the way he says it : so quiet , under his breath , so that no one else can hear . I suddenly feel cold in a way that I don’t think has anything to do with the freezing air . I take a step back . . .” 

For someone who says ” I feel numb . I’d forgotten I had so much wine before the champagne . My thoughts are jumbled , my mind fuggy . . . “ , she sure has a heightened awareness of self and her surroundings to be able to pin down even the smallest reaction she had to somebody ‘ s words . . .

Frankly , I was so disappointed with this one – I was looking for a solid closed circle mystery  and the setting looked promising for a good mystery . Instead  the average writing and a not-very-convincing solution to the question ” Who is the killer ? ” only made me wish that I hadn’t bothered with this one . . .

Rating : 2 . 75  / 5

Is there something in the post you disagree with ? Feel free to write about it as well in the comments section . . .

Until the next review then . . .

A final note :

This might be the last post for this year – unless I get a short read I need to rave about . . . Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year in advance . . .

Review : All The Missing Girls

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download

Author : Megan Miranda

Publication Date : October 2015

Publisher(s) : Simon & Schuster ( US )  &

Corvus ( UK )

When the suspense / detective fiction genres stayed simple , we had a crime or a string of crimes  , a detective and a good number of suspects . Sometimes these detectives came with their own sidekicks who will be the faithful chronicler / comic relief and sometimes bring his / her own accidental observations to the table which would help the sleuth to identify the perpetrator of the crime(s) . Then one sidekick proved that the detective needs to keep an eye on the person behind him too – one of the early books in the genre to feature an unreliable narrator . Then our crime fiction writers pounced upon it and now it has been done to death .

*Review starts here for the reader who can’t bother with my musings*

Once in a while , a writer is game enough to try something unusual in the way a story is told . And if the book becomes a bestseller , it would become yet another latest literary trope that several subsequent releases would implement . Megan Miranda has tackled an interesting narrative technique in her debut novel and has done it really well – the narrative traces the storyline in reverse : from Day 15 to Day 1 . Sounds interesting right ? ? I am waiting to see how this newest narrative technique picks up .

Here ‘ s brief summary of the story line –

Nicolette Farrell receives a letter from her father – ” I need to talk to you . That girl . I saw that girl ‘ . ‘ That girl ‘ is Corinne Prescott , her best friend who disappeared without a trace ten years ago . Nicolette left her hometown after Corinne ‘ s disappearance  and lives in Philadelphia . She returns home , concerned that her father ‘ s dementia has worsened or has he actually seen Corinne ? .

Then , another young lady disappears , almost to the day of the anniversary of when Corinne vanished . The townspeople relive Corinne ‘ s disappearance once again – searches are conducted ; everyone becomes a suspect . . . but there is no sign of the missing girl .

My thoughts on the book :

Nicolette is the narrator here and one can see what happens when the author goes with the first person narrative from a non –  sleuth character : The narrative has too much domestic drama rather than the sleuth action . I wouldn’t mind it if the story had a good pace though . . . Unfortunately , that was not the case here .

Nicolette ‘ s narrative comprises chiefly her teenage memories ( understandably ) –  the dynamics and the drama in the teenage friendships , relationship troubles and almost everything in between about her teenage years .  While Megan has played well with the plot points involving teenage psyche and even the psychological make – up of the characters in the present , Nicolette going on and on about her feelings then and now sometimes becomes too irritating . Then , there is the ” capture the moment ” writing where Nicolette points out every insignificant thing in the scene . While the hyper-realistic approach might work for the literary fiction / contemporary fiction genres , it slows down the pace and ( at-least for me ) it was really frustrating .  Only Megan’s pretty good writing kept me turning the pages .

A humble suggestion to the new crop of authors who feel a book must have 300 + pages to qualify as a book :

All this exposition of the characters’ psyche in addition to the real life drama is good only when the drama doesn’t become melodrama ( at-least by the standards of the suspense genre ) with detailed descriptions of what the character actually is feeling / might be feeling  .  Few genres like suspense could do very well without long – winded and flowery descriptions and metaphors coined by you .

After navigating through the torrent of drama in Nicolette ‘ s life , it is somewhat difficult to appreciate the really good ending . There were few scenarios where I also felt the characters did not react consistent with their characterization .One of my earlier reads also had the same problem of too much distracting stuff – coincidentally that too had a sighting of a girl who had been missing  for a long time .

Some suggestions to the new crop of crime fiction authors who feel a book must have 300 + pages to qualify as a book ( especially for newbie ‘ s who are right now banging away at their keyboards to write the next Gone Girl or the next Girl On The Train :

All this exposition of the characters’ psyche in addition to the real life drama is good only when the drama doesn’t become melodrama ( at-least by the standards of the suspense genre ) with detailed descriptions of what the character actually is feeling / might be feeling  .  Few genres like suspense could do very well without long – winded and flowery descriptions and metaphors coined by you . I would like to quote Stephen King here –

“I believe the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they’re like dandelions. If you have one in your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day…fifty the day after that…and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely, and profligately covered with dandelions. By then you see them for the weeds they really are, but by then it’s—GASP!!—too late.” 

It has become sort of a trend nowadays for crime fiction writers to fill up the pages with too many details & preferences of the characters , I wonder why . . .

A final word –

Also this needs to be a one sitting read so that you don’t get confused by the reverse narrative . When you go for multiple sittings ( like I had to , unfortunately ) the reading experience won’t be very great . However , it is a superb storyline and for a debut author to experiment with the narrative technique and pulling it off successfully , it is really remarkable .

You can pick this book if you are ready to give it enough time . If you want a racy read , then this wouldn ‘ t be a good pick . If you have already read this book , how do you feel about this book ?

Is there something in the post you disagree with ? Feel free to write about it as well in the comments section . . .

Until the next review then . . .