Book reviews

  • Book reviews

    Book review: Murder in the Family by Cara Hunter

    Title: Murder in the Family

    Author: Cara Hunter

    Genre: Mystery/Thriller

    Publisher: William Morrow

    Publication date: 19th September 2023

    My rating: ★ ★ ★

    Summary:

    It was a case that gripped the nation. In December 2003, Luke Ryder, the stepfather of acclaimed filmmaker Guy Howard (then aged 10), was found dead in the garden of their suburban family home.

    Luke Ryder’s murder has never been solved. Guy Howard’s mother and two half-sisters were in the house at the time of the murder–but all swear they saw nothing. Despite a high-profile police investigation and endless media attention, no suspect was ever charged.

    But some murder cases are simply too big to forget…

    Now comes the sensational new Netflix series Infamous, dedicated to investigating–and perhaps cracking–this famous cold case. The production team will re-examine testimony, re-interview witnesses, and once again scour the evidence. The family will speak. The key players will be reunited–on camera. The truth will come out.

    My review:

    By now mystery and thriller fans are aware of Cara Hunter’s series featuring DI Adam Fawley and may be pleasantly surprised to discover this standalone book. Unlike the Oxford based series, Murder in the Family does not have a strong focus on the crime and forensics investigation but rather interprets human emotion and relationships through the lens of a famous Netflix series, Infamous. There are, however, many similarities between this book and Cara Hunter’s series, including an increasingly complex web of deceit and camoflouge as most characters are revealed to be hiding secrets as new episodes of the series are aired.

    The storyline takes place almost 20 years in the aftermath of the merciless murder of Luke Ryder, a somewhat ordinary character with a visibly uninteresting past. As the characters in the Infamous series are introduced, we soon discover that many of the characters played a pivotal role in the immediate discovery of the body, although the original reports did not focus on this in the beginning. Although it may seem as if the trail has gone cold, the story unfolds as each episode focuses on a key part of the small team’s investigation many years post dicovery of the crime. I thoroughly enjoyed this format and it is a fundamental characteristic of Cara Hunter’s writing style and a clever way to engage the reader.

    As always, the character development for almost all of the characters is impressive and intricantly woven into the storyline from the beginning. I was most curious about the family dynamic between the three siblings and was unsure about how this would transpire. The secrets in this family were not only shocking but also deeply ingrained into the present day relationships between the siblings and a core part of the events surrounding Luke Ryder’s death.

    The pacing in Murder in the Family is just right, with each twist driving the narrative into a different direction as the spotlight shifts to a different potential suspect. There were many key twists and turns that shocked me and I found myself unable to put the book down. At one point I could guess what had happened and who the killer was based on a specific subtle hint that was mentioned and this is the only downside for me in this otherwise clever and well written book.

    I highly recommend Murder in the Family to anyone looking for their next masterfully crafted thriller. With a set of intriguing characters and meandering plot, Cara Hunter skilfully draws in the reader until the last page.

  • Book reviews

    Book review: The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

    Title: The Midnight Library

    Author: Matt Haig

    Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Science Fiction

    Publisher: Viking

    Publication date: 29th September 2020

    My rating: ★ ★ ★

    Summary:

    “Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

    In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.”

    My review:

    “Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices… Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?”

    The Midnight Library is a moving and thought-provoking exploration of how the infinite possibilities and choices we make shape our lives. This beautifully written book takes readers on an incredible journey through the life of Nora Seed, a woman who finds herself at a crossroads and discovers a mysterious library where she can choose a vast number of books that reveal how her life may have turned out if she had made different choices.

    I was particularly taken by the key theme revolving around regret and the what-ifs that we always find ourselves looking back on. After an extremely difficult period, Nora enters the Midnight Library and explores these parallel lives. Through this exploration she starts to question her identity, purpose and the true meaning of happiness. As usual waith Matt Haig’s books, the character development from start to finish is tremeandous and by the end it almost appears that Nora is a completely different person with a newfound vision of who she is.

    The writing is expressive and engrossing as Matt Haig weaves in between the past, present and future with ease, capturing the emotional character of the different lives in each book. The pacing is excellent and I was constantly rushing to turn the page and follow Nora on her journey to find herself and what truly makes her happy. The other minor characters were also carefully chosen and represented different stages of her potential lives.

    The Midnight Library is a treasure of a book. I sat holding this book and reflected on it a long time after reading the last page, contemplating on how the smallest decisions in our lives have the biggest impact without us consciously knowing it. With this book Matt Haig has created a timeless literary masterpeice and one that I will come back to and recommend to everyone around me for a long time. It is by far his greatest book to date and I am eager to read his next novel.

    “Every life contains many millions of decisions. Some big, some small. But every time one decision is taken over another, the outcomes differ. An irreversible variation occurs, which in turn leads to further variations”

  • Book reviews

    Book review: Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

    Title: Wish You Were Here

    Author: Jodi Picoult

    Genre: Contemporary Fiction

    Publisher: Random House

    Publication date: 30th November 2021

    My rating: ★ ★ ★

    Summary:

    “Diana O’Toole is perfectly on track. She will be married by thirty, done having kids by thirty-five, and move out to the New York City suburbs, all while climbing the professional ladder in the cutthroat art auction world. She’s not engaged just yet, but she knows her boyfriend, Finn, a surgical resident, is about to propose on their romantic getaway to the Galápagos—days before her thirtieth birthday. Right on time.

    But then a virus that felt worlds away has appeared in the city, and on the eve of their departure, Finn breaks the news: It’s all hands on deck at the hospital. He has to stay behind. You should still go, he assures her, since it would be a shame for all of their nonrefundable trip to go to waste. And so, reluctantly, she goes.

    Almost immediately, Diana’s dream vacation goes awry. The whole island is now under quarantine, and she is stranded until the borders reopen. Completely isolated, she must venture beyond her comfort zone. Slowly, she carves out a connection with a local family when a teenager with a secret opens up to Diana, despite her father’s suspicion of outsiders.

    Diana finds herself examining her relationships, her choices, and herself—and wondering if when she goes home, she too will have evolved into someone completely different.”

    My review:

    It is no secret that the pandemic was an extremely difficult time for many people around the world, especially healthcare staff. In Wish You Were Here, Jodi Picoult highlights some of the struggles that many of us faced by introducing a main character, Diana, who is hoping to soon be engaged to a doctor, Finn. As the pandemic sets in full force, Finn has to stay behind and work on the frontline while Diana decides to travel to the Galapagos for the holiday they had originally planned. This forced separation is one that many couples can relate to with the imposed travel restrictions during the pandemic and is a significantly important turning point in their relationship.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the setting of the Galapagos islands and the characters that were introduced during the first part of the story. This was done exceptionally well and it truly seemed like all of the sites and landmarks were carefully chosen to fit well into the storyline. I felt fully immersed in the beautiful surroundings and could imagine the vivid backdrop that Diana was experiencing for the first time.

    Unfortunately both the character development and plot fell flat for me. There were times where Diana seemed selfish and immature and not in love with Finn. While the story is told in Diana’s point of view, Finn is a key character in the plot and is told through her eyes in both a glorified way and towards the end in a somewhat malicious way. It almost felt like this was done on purpose and rather unwillingly as, apart from one incident in the Galapagos islands, there were no other concrete reasons on why their relationship took the turn it did.

    Jodi Picoult is renowned for her incredibly moving novels that shed light on important and often times controversial topics where the main characters are forced to make difficult decisions. This trait is usually what sets her books apart from others in the market and she somehow manages to do this with ease. However, her writing has recently transitioned into a different format, tackling themes that are not as hard-hitting as in the past. Wish You Were Here is the perfect example of this. Although I was slightly disappointed with the storyline and not too impressed by the characters, I loved the setting and was pleased to read a book set during the pandemic that focused on some of the difficulties that society faced.

  • Book reviews

    Book review: The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

    Title: The Four Winds

    Author: Kristin Hannah

    Genre: Historical Fiction

    Publisher: Macmillan

    Publication date: 2nd February 2021

    My rating: ★ ★ ★

    Summary:

    “Texas, 1921. A time of abundance. The Great War is over, the bounty of the land is plentiful, and America is on the brink of a new and optimistic era. But for Elsa Wolcott, deemed too old to marry in a time when marriage is a woman’s only option, the future seems bleak. Until the night she meets Rafe Martinelli and decides to change the direction of her life. With her reputation in ruin, there is only one respectable choice: marriage to a man she barely knows.

    By 1934, the world has changed; millions are out of work and drought has devastated the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as crops fail and water dries up and the earth cracks open. Dust storms roll relentlessly across the plains. Everything on the Martinelli farm is dying, including Elsa’s tenuous marriage; each day is a desperate battle against nature and a fight to keep her children alive.

    In this uncertain and perilous time, Elsa—like so many of her neighbors—must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or leave it behind and go west, to California, in search of a better life for her family.

    The Four Winds is a rich, sweeping novel that stunningly brings to life the Great Depression and the people who lived through it—the harsh realities that divided us as a nation and the enduring battle between the haves and the have-nots. A testament to hope, resilience, and the strength of the human spirit to survive adversity, The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.”

    My review:

    The Four Winds narrates the bitter and heartbreaking story of the dangers, hardships and tragedies that millions of people across the United States faced during the Great Depression. Following the Martinelli family through a treacherous journey from the Great Plains to southern California, the reader is immersed into a riveting storyline full of ups and downs that profoundly reveal what it means to be human.

    I was immediately drawn to the main character, Elsa, who is described by others as plain and dull but soon shows to possess many wonderful qualities as a mother and later on as a leader. Even though her life is filled with misfortune and trouble from an early age, she never ceases to amaze with her determination to provide the best possible life to her family. Her wonderful children and parents-in-law were all beautifully developed and multi-layered characters and I also enjoyed getting to know the other minor characters that were introduced later in the book when the family moved to California.

    The journey across the US is not an easy one for Elsa and her children as they come across hunger, poverty and many people with ill intentions. Kristin Hannah is brilliant at storytelling and, just like her past books, she is a master at making the reader feel completely immersed in the plot and connected with the characters. It was hard to read certain parts in the book and witness the struggles this family, and many others, lived through. However, the courage and resilience that each character showed during these moments of hardship were incredible and there were several distinct moments in the book that are hard to forget.

    Few books have made me stop and reflect on life, but somehow Kristin Hannah’s books are always at the top of that list. Although my heart felt heavy while reading most of this book, I cannot recommend it enough. This period was an incredibly difficult time for many and is often underrepresented in books so I am pleased to see it highlighted in The Four Winds. It’s a poignant story with wonderful characters that should be read by all, even those who may not originally think of reading a Historical Fiction book. I cannot wait for the next book by this author as I already know that it would be another great read.

  • Book reviews

    Book review: Hope to Die by Cara Hunter

    Title: Hope to Die

    Author: Cara Hunter

    Genre: Crime

    Publisher: Penguin

    Publication date: 21st July 2022

    My rating: ★ ★ ★

    Summary:

    “It looks like a burglary gone wrong, but DI Adam Fawley suspects there’s something more to it.

    When the police discover a connection to a high-profile case from years ago, involving a child’s murder and an alleged miscarriage of justice, the press go wild.

    Suddenly Fawley’s team are under more scrutiny than ever before. And when you dig up the past, you’re sure to find a few skeletons…”

    My review:

    Similar to the past books in the series, the sixth addition to the DI Adam Fawley series promises to deliver from the very start. This time, the Oxfordshire Police struggle to put the pieces together when a strange case of what at first appears to be a burglary gone wrong reaches their department. DI Fawley and his team work to solve the puzzle and create a timeline that spans decades and involves a family tragedy and many red herrings.

    While the storytelling and plot did not seem as clear cut as some of the past books in the series, the recurring protagonists continued to inspire with their impressive police work and fascinate with their deep and complex personalities. By now it truly feels like we as readers are part of the family as we follow each character through their highs and lows. I was delighted that after all the hardships, DI Adam Fawley is now more established in his career and personal life. 

    The plot of Hope to Die is riveting and intense with many twists and a steady pace as the team of investigators tries to understand how the victim and those around him are interconnected. Cara Hunter is an expert at keeping the reader on their toes, constantly building up the tension before each twist until the very end where all the questions are finally answered. 

    Hope to Die is a brilliant crime story from beginning to end. It boasts a solid set of characters, both past and new, and a steady-paced plot that delivers on all fronts. It is the perfect read for those who are new to the genre and want to try out a crime fiction book as well as avid fans of the genre who are looking for a reliable book that will not disappoint.