Tag: NetGalley

I Know Everything – Book review **

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Amanda Brock , psychiatrist Randall Brock’s wife dies in what seems to be a freak car accident .  Investigator Susan Adler is forced to take a second look at Amanda’s  case when the Medical Examiner’s office finds evidence pointing to murder .

When Brock thinks he knows everything about Amanda , he receives a visit from a stranger who lets him onto two of Amanda’s secrets – secrets which make him realize that he had not known his wife well .  The stranger also implies that Amanda was murdered and he knows more about Amanda’s death . In exchange for revealing Amanda’s secrets and information about her death to him , Randall must reveal his secrets to the stranger .
Randall too has his own secrets – things from his traumatic past which he thought he had buried all together . Having those secrets out in the open meant the end of everything he had rebuilt – his career , his life , his reputation . As this visitor lets him know that he knows too much about him and implicates Randall further with his every visit in Susan’s eyes about his involvement in Amanda ‘s death ,  Randall starts unraveling from the pressure of it all . Eventually he begins questioning his own sanity as evidence against him mounts…..

It is up to Susan now to find out who is Amanda ‘s  killer – Is it always the husband ?

Beyond the Gossamer Veil – A Review

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Mr.Holland Astonbury has acquired a singularly sinister reputation in Mr.Fox’s village.
The village rumors made every other delivery guy quake in his boots when the Post Master came looking for volunteers for an urgent delivery to Astonbury Hall.  Fox knew ( or thought he knew ) better than to take into account these tales – this assignment could turn to be the trump card he would play to move up the ranks as there was no other man willing to even step forward despite the handsome sum it promised . So,our Fantastic Mr.Fox starts for Astonbury Hall with the package – how does the assignment go?? Read a first hand account from Fox himself about his expedition – Yeah, all those tall tales had made a journey to a mansion in his own village an expedition!!

Martin had had a really bad week. First, it was his breakup with his altogether too demanding girlfriend . He was too occupied to give much thought to trivial things like breakups . But , in the coming days , the market downslide and the declining profits gave him something to worry about seriously the rest of the week . Come Friday , he was on his way for a much needed weekend getaway but it looked like his disastrous week didn’t end with the boardroom  and the bedroom (strictly Martin’s opinion about his relationship(s) ) .The latest one was his Cadillac Escapade’s run in with a Toyota Corolla . Now watch out  his weekend getaway plans take a turn for something else.

Beyond The Gossamer Veil –  Eldritch Tales of the Supernatural by Todd William is the book you need to pick up if  I have managed to pique your interest with the above snippets from his collection of stories . The stories were gripping from the first page with me wanting to finish atleast the story which I had started in one sitting (even if I could not sit through the entire book in one day) . All credits to his superb story telling – he knows how to shock people with the violence or scare them when he takes the readers to eerie places or if he wants you to see the nature’s beauty in his settings, you can get to see some breath-taking beauty of the landscape. It just depends on Todd’s plot to take you to  interesting places and watch the drama unfold albeit a bit slowly . Sometimes , I found it difficult to pace my reading to savor his language without plodding through a gripping start.

Every setting for his story is different and his character sketches were  really good . A suspense / thriller fan subconsciously picks up the deerstalker hat to play the what’s -gonna – happen – next guessing game I guess when he or she comes across stories that offer such scope . I actually guessed the direction the story was proceeding for a few correctly – 3 out of 7 to be precise . A few seemed to wander into  familiar turfs but Todd managed to spring a surprise at the end . Humor , pathos , a crime shrouded in something more than regular mystery – Todd’s package offers a rich variety and he manages to engage the reader early on in his stories  –  I envy Todd’s rich vocabulary . But as with his narrative style which sets the pacing slow , a few words just seemed to be used just for the sake of getting a different word . For non-native speakers , just a quick question – How many of you know the meaning of the word macadam?

Yeah, the reading experience itself was very interesting one for this book –  I was of  two minds  whether I should race through the stories without pacing my reading to actually soak in the beauty of the language and the vivid imagery it evoked or to turn the pages slowly because Todd gets you hooked in the first few pages and thereafter there seems to be no option but to sit through the entire story . The tales are quite tall and that’s what made it difficult to finish a story sometimes in one sitting once I got started with one .

So , having written about my reading experience and a quick review of the book , I can assure you that Beyond The Gossamer Veil turned out to be a rewarding read in several aspects . Pick it up if you want to get an idea about how to tell a story . Sometimes , the sheer mastery over the art of storytelling it what it all matters!!!

Rating – 3.75 / 5

For people who picked up the book , I would love to hear about your reading experience and thoughts about the book .