Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

Mystery/Thriller

Camille Preaker is returning to her small home town with many reservations. Having left years ago because her sister died and her mother never loved her, Camille finds herself back. Camille was recently released from a facility to help her stop cutting words into her body and now works at a Chicago newspaper. Her boss wants her to report on a recent kidnapping of a child in her home town, falling on the heels of a murder of a similarly aged child a few months ago.

Camille has a new half-sister, Amma, who gets all the doting attention of her mother. Nothing seems to have changed in the town. Her mother still acts the same way, her mom's friends still gossip as vigorously as they used to, and the police department is too small and inexperienced. Camille starts asking around and instead of getting information on who the possible murderer is, instead gets depressing stories about people that have remained in the town and horrible stories about her mom.

This is Flynn's first book, before Gone Girl became a hit. This is a fantastic book too though and carries its weight against Gone Girl. It had me incredibly angry at Camille's mother, sympathetic towards Camille, questioning Camille's love choices, and pretty much every other reaction I'm sure Flynn was going for.

I could not put this book down. I wanted to slap Camille's mom so many times and just kept hoping for her to get put in her place. This was almost as important to me as determining who the murderer was. I love psychological thrillers and this ranks right up there among the best of them.

First Line: "My sweater was new, stinging red and ugly."

Rating:
(4.5/5)

The Swimmer by Joakim Zander

Thriller

Klara Walldeen was orphaned as a baby and brought up by her grandparents in a remote part of Sweden. As an adult, she works in Brussels as a political aid. An ex-boyfriend reaches out to her to let her know she'll be in town and wondering if she wants to meet. Klara puts off getting back to him until she's called by him frantically saying he needs to meet. Hearing the urgency, Klara agrees and is brought in to a dangerous situation of the American government's secrets and what they are willing to do to make sure no one has access to them.

Before talking about the book, I want to mention how much I enjoy the cover art. It's difficult to tell from the picture, but the red of the cover is shiny and the ripples of the swimmer are raised. It's really an eye-catching cover.

Klara is a strong female character to centre most of the narrative around and she holds her own. Some thriller novels with female leads make the female weak in some way, usually with a love interest, but Zander didn't do this, for which I was thankful. Klara could have given up many times throughout the story but she didn't. She saw through to the end because of her strong morale foundation.

What I found amazing, and rather scary, about this book is how ruthless the government was willing to be to protect this secret. Local police were involved but had no clue what they were helping the American government do. Some small piece of me believes that this could happen and governments would be willing to take these steps to stop some secrets from being told.

This is a debut novel but it reads like an experienced thriller author. I had troubles putting this down. It's the best mystery/thriller I've read so far this year.

You can visit the author's Twitter if you're interested. Thank you to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this tour.

First Line: "Every time I hold you is the last time I hold you."

Rating:
(4.5/5)

Dangerous Denial by Amy Ray

Thriller

Trevor Mayhew grew up in a broken home. His father abused him and his mom passed away when he was young. Trevor's grandmother was the only source of happiness in his life but he was forbidden from seeing her, until his grandmother took Trevor and ran away. Years later, the past catches up to him.

BK Hartshaw also had a less than loving childhood. Her mother favoured her other sister and, once their mom married a rich car mogul, the kids were basically forgotten. Trying to make something of herself, BK moves in to an apartment with her best friend and starts work at a PR firm. BK's friend has a stalker though, causing the girls to always be looking over their shoulders.

This book is a thriller through-and-through. Most of the characters are treated horribly, which makes you root for them and hope they make positive changes in their life that their families try to stop from happening. Despite rooting for these characters, I felt like I didn't know them enough. I think this may have been a factor of the time shifting in the book. There were months and even whole years skipped in the book for, I assume, the purpose of shortening the book, however if some of that additional time had been included in the book I feel like I would have more context behind the characters and the decisions they were making. For example, what really happened between BK and her boyfriend Max? Rather than their split making sense, it felt like just a tool for driving the plot forward. Added to this, the book started with headlines as to which year we were in, but later in the book this seemed to be forgotten and I got a little confused as to where in time we were.

This book is a quick, fun read for those in to thriller novels. I would recommend it as a summer read, even though that season is now behind us. Pretty good for a debut author!

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for letting me be a part of this book tour!

First Line: "BK Hartshaw stared at the face of the man with the gun."

Rating:
(3.5/5)

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About the Author Amy lives near the short but picturesque seacoast in New Hampshire with her husband and daughter. Before becoming a writer she owned an old fashioned five and dime store where, in addition to regular priced merchandise, she had a display of items that actually retailed for five or ten cents each. Dangerous Denial is her first published novel. Check out her Facebook | Twitter

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner

In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner
Fiction

Seven year old Raami lives in luxury in the capital of Cambodia. She comes from royal lineage, has a nanny, and loves the flowers that the caretaker plants. Her world is torn apart when revolutionary soldiers of Khmer Rouge force everyone out of the capital. Raami's family moves to their summer home but soon get forced out of that as well. Their next home is a school, where they stay in a classroom. When soldiers enter the school and demand that Raami tell them who her father is, being only 7, Raami answers honestly. The soldiers are looking for highly educated, wealthy individuals, which almost guarantees the death of her father. The family is moved from place to place. They are broken up and brought back together. They meet many terrible people but there also a few warm-hearted people that help them stay alive. This is a heart wrenching story of a family getting torn apart during a war.

This novel is the first for author Vaddey Ratner but it reads like she's a seasoned writer. The writing is absolutely beautiful, but not in a way that only English Majors could understand. For me it was never hard to read.

The emotions described within this book are so raw and real. Ratner describes at the end of the book that the story is very close to her own. It's really amazing how much Raami understands and grows over the two years this book takes place. At the same time, Raami doesn't understand some things that the reader does which adds further to this novel.

Really, I don't think I can praise this novel enough. It's definitely my best read of the year so far and I imagine it will still be very high on the list by the time the year is done.

First Line: "War entered my childhood world not with the blasts of rockets and bombs but with my father's footsteps as he walked through the hallway, passing my bedroom towards his."

Rating:
(4.5/5)

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Non-genre/Fiction

This book is Setterfield's debut novel, and quite a magical one at that. The Thirteenth Tale explores the life of famous novelist Vida Winter. Winter has worked with many different biographers before and given each one of them a different tale about her history. Once she gets sick, however, she selects Margaret Lea to come write her real biography. Margaret wonders why she, an amateur who has only written about dead people, has been selected by one of the most famous novelists in the world.
The relationship between the two character is at time strained but it eventually blossoms into respect and friendship. Margaret herself has some life issues to work out. A secret she found out when she was young has changed everything for her. The relationship with her mother is strained. I didn't feel like I quite understood the relationship when I was reading the book. Infact I thought that Margaret was avoiding her mother until I was specifically told otherwise in the book. It would have been nice to get that a little clearer towards the beginning of the novel.
Looking back on the book, the plot line was fairly complicated. But Setterfield gives you just enough information for you to be able to figure things out on your own, if you're smart enough! I love the way she very slowly peels back the layers until the truth is exposed underneath.
Some of the desciptions given in the book are fantastic! I think my very favourite was when Margaret was at Miss Winter's house and looking out the window when it started to rain and her face started to melt with the rain. It was such a great description of something that you see all the time but never really pay attention to.
I would definately recommend this book and will be looking out for Setterfield's next book.

Rating:

(4.5/5)