Book Review / The Other People by CJ Tudor

 

A gripping new thriller about a man's quest for the daughter no one else believes is still alive, from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man and The Hiding Place.

Driving home one night, stuck behind a rusty old car, Gabe sees a little girl's face appear in the rear window. She mouths one word: 'Daddy.' It's his five-year-old daughter, Izzy.

He never sees her again.

Three years later, Gabe spends his days and nights travelling up and down the motorway, searching for the car that took his daughter, refusing to give up hope, even though most people believe that Izzy is dead.

Fran and her daughter, Alice, also put in a lot of miles on the motorway. Not searching. But running. Trying to keep one step ahead of the people who want to hurt them. Because Fran knows the truth. She knows what really happened to Gabe's daughter.

Then, the car that Gabe saw driving away that night is found, in a lake, with a body inside and Gabe is forced to confront events, not just from the night his daughter disappeared, but from far deeper in his past.

His search leads him to a group called The Other People.

If you have lost a loved one, The Other People want to help. Because they know what loss is like. They know what pain is like. They know what death is like.

There's just one problem . . . they want other people to know it

 

Published:     28th January 2020
Publisher:  Ballantine Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

MY REVIEW

There's nothing like the feeling of finding a new thriller author that you enjoy reading and knowing there are more books written that you haven't got to yet.  C J Tudor is most certainly an author I am going to be reading more of and I am certainly going to be picking up all the books that I can for now!

This story was fast paced, plenty of twists and turns and a fantastic ending.  I just could not put this down and actually read this in one sitting!  

What I didn't like about this story,

There were many things that I loved about this story.  The first was the pacing.  This story was very much fast paced.  Just what I wanted in a thriller to keep the action going.  There's nothing worse than having a thriller that is meant to be fast paced but written in a slow pace. I also loved the twists and turns this story takes you on.  Obviously I won't go into much detail because I don't want to spoil it for you.

And what a great ending...  I hadn't guessed what would happen (and that doesn't usually happen).

I can't wait to pick up more from this author...

 

 

 

Book Review / Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.
 

 

Published:    8th October 2019
Publisher:  Flatiron Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Book 1, Alex Stern
Source:  Bought

 

MY REVIEW

 

OK, so yes this is a hyped up book that I try not to pick up all too often but the story just intrigued me too much that I had to pick it up.  I hadn't realised that this was going to be a series when reading this but that makes sense now given the ending.  

What I wasn't fond of with this book was the pacing.  With a story like this I was expecting there to be lots of twists and turns, lots of action and the story being fast paced.  Yes there are twists and turns and a bit of action but the story was, for me, very slow paced.  It made me slow down which was good in one way but when what I wanted was fast paced action it made me less excited.

What I enjoyed the most was the mysteries that are discovered in this novel.  I have always liked a good mystery and hidden secrets.  There are certainly a few twists and turns in this novel.  Although I felt that Alex was a bit haphazard in some of her investigating, I enjoyed following her around and discovering things the same time as she did.

Although I am intrigued to find out what happens next with book 2, honestly I probably won't pick it up. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review / The Maidens by Alex Michaelides

Edward Fosca is a murderer. Of this Mariana is certain. But Fosca is untouchable. A handsome and charismatic Greek Tragedy professor at Cambridge University, Fosca is adored by staff and students alike—particularly by the members of a secret society of female students known as The Maidens.

Mariana Andros is a brilliant but troubled group therapist who becomes fixated on The Maidens when one member, a friend of Mariana’s niece Zoe, is found murdered in Cambridge.

Mariana, who was once herself a student at the university, quickly suspects that behind the idyllic beauty of the spires and turrets, and beneath the ancient traditions, lies something sinister. And she becomes convinced that, despite his alibi, Edward Fosca is guilty of the murder. But why would the professor target one of his students? And why does he keep returning to the rites of Persephone, the maiden, and her journey to the underworld?

When another body is found, Mariana’s obsession with proving Fosca’s guilt spirals out of control, threatening to destroy her credibility as well as her closest relationships. But Mariana is determined to stop this killer, even if it costs her everything—including her own life.
 

Published:     15th June 2021
Publisher:  Celadon Books
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source:  Bought

 

MY REVIEW 

Having read and absolutely loved The Silent Patient, I couldn't wait to dig into another novel by this author.  I don't know a great deal about Greek mythology so this was a bit of a learning curve for me but luckily most of what was being talked about in conversations was explained enough for me.  

In this story we follow one character (i'm being deliberately vague here) as he joins this group of intellects who attend and gets accepted into an exclusive group of students.  Each one of these students have issues of their own which we follow as the story goes along but the main focus, for me, is the murder and following that story.  

If I had to make a slight 'complaint' it would be that, for me, the chapters were too short.  This was a story that I wanted to be slow paced so I can enjoy and take in all the details but with the chapters being short it made me read at a faster pace than I really wanted to.  I would have also loved to have a lot more of the story involved with the secret societies than it does. 

What made this story great for me was the characterisation and following each of the characters, as much as we are able to, to see how they respond to the different actions that happen in this story.   Yes, I had some problems with the story as mentioned above but I still loved it and it would certainly be a story that I would re-read.