Caina

Hello! Hope you’re all doing well, it’s Heather here, posting a quick review on the crime novel Caina by Joe Albanese. Many thanks to the author for sending me a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Information

Author: Joe Albanese

Published: May 2018

Publisher: Mockingbird Lane Press

Length: 174 pages

Brief Description (from Amazon)

Twins tend to be closer than typical siblings. They often share a bond that is oftentimes unexplainable.*

For some reason that bond didn’t apply to Grant and Lee Tolan. Grant was always the responsible one. Lee, on the other hand, was always in trouble and in jail, self-destructing to the point the twins hadn’t seen or spoken in years.

In trouble with the Irish mob who wanted him sleeping with the fishes, finding Grant dead of an apparent suicide, Lee did the only thing that made sense. He switched identities.

Instead of making life easier, Lee is plunged into a world the Irish and Italian crime families, the Mexican cartel and the DEA. Pitting one against the other, Lee enlists the help of friends to save his own life. He will need a miracle.

But Grant’s secret is the biggest shock of all for Lee and he must re-evaluate his entire life.

*Maureen Healy, author of Growing Happy Kids.

(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Caina-Joe-Albanese/dp/1643167847)

Review

Anyone familiar with Dante’s Inferno may already associate the word Caina with the Ninth Circle of Hell and, more specifically, treachery against kindred. That pretty much sums up the main plot. Despite being twins, Lee absolutely loathes his law-abiding brother Grant. However, after discovering his corpse, Lee finds himself impersonating Grant and realises that he may not have been as much of a goody-two-shoes as Lee had anticipated. 

As a person, I don’t know if Lee and I would have been besties. He’s irrationally bitter over his brother’s success, immature, totally unsympathetic, spends too much time dallying about in illegal matters and is generally very selfish and rude, though I appreciate how much he cared for Angela and Clare. However, as a character, I found him refreshing. I cannot count the number of crime novels and shows centred around yet another random busybody that feels like meddling in something that has nothing to do with them but, despite their complete and utter lack of experience or qualification, are granted access to the crime scene and solve the entire thing in less than a week. Or that good old detective with a long, swishing coat and ominous tone laced with sarcasm. To be fair, I normally rave about how wonderful these characters are (the nosy meddlers and very-serious detectives feel like family) despite the blatant stereotypes but nonetheless, Lee was a welcome change of perspective. 

The flow of the plot was good. I never thought I’d encounter a character that would come across their (admittedly estranged) identical twin brother’s body and, rather than grieve, pretend the corpse was their own to trick a gang and take on the deceased brother’s identity without thinking it far-fetched but this proved to be an exception. It’s like a twisted, criminal version of The Pretty One. Lee is just so… Lee that I have no issue with the plot here. However, I did find the excess of gangs a bit much. Personally, I’d have preferred just one or two gangs with more focus on each member of the gang and their background. Instead, the reader relies on a brief description of the majority ethnic group of each gang and the names of the most important members, which can get a little confusing towards the end. The highlight of the plot for me has to be the ending. Albanese really built the everything up well and I was concerned I’d be disappointed but found myself pleasantly surprised. My main question to the author is whether a sequel is on the horizon? I feel like the ending lends itself to another book and I certainly wouldn’t protest reading another novel in Lee’s narrative voice.

I found there were very occasional typos, like a few haphazard speech marks that must have been missed over the editing period, but there weren’t enough for this to be an issue when reading. I also thought the cover of the novel perhaps a bit too dark and serious looking for a crime comedy but looked very smart even so. Aside from that, the formatting was good – the font was slightly larger than average, making it a joy to read, the blurb describes the novel perfectly etc. 

Albanese's strongest skill in this novel would have to be his creative use of perspective. I've already mentioned how interesting Lee was as a narrator, but I haven't spoken much about Grant. We learn so much about Grant without even meeting him when he's alive. He comes across as a hard-working and loving man and I found it quite endearing how he cared about Lee and tried to support him despite Lee's stubborn dislike of him. Naturally I found it irksome how Lee showed very little sympathy towards poor Eric, who was clearly close to Grant, but again, that's just... Lee. Overall, I did enjoy this book despite the slight confusion over the numerous gangs.

That’s it for today, folks. Let me know what you think of Caina if you’ve read it. I’ll be back next month with a review for a memoir on addiction.

Written in Blood

Hello, it's Heather posting today! Oh my goodness. Just wow. This novel is phenomenal. It slightly reminded me of The Silkworm. I’ve been preparing for university, so it was a relief to tear myself away from the woes of how I’ll ever pay my student loans, and read this instead.

Information

Author: Layton Green

Published: November 2017

Publisher: Seventh Street Books

Length: 320 pages

Brief Description (from Amazon)

Detective Joe "Preach" Everson, a prison chaplain turned police officer, is coming home. After a decade tracking down killers in Atlanta, and with a reputation as one of the finest homicide detectives in the city, his career derailed when he suffered a mental breakdown during the investigation of a serial killer who was targeting children.

No sooner does Preach arrive at home in Creekville, North Carolina--a bohemian community near Chapel Hill--than a local bookstore owner is brutally killed, the first murder in a decade. The only officer with homicide experience, Preach is assigned to the case and makes a shocking discovery: the bookstore owner has been murdered in exactly the same manner as the pawnbroker in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.

With the help of Ariana Hale, a law student and bibliophile who knew the victim, Preach investigates the local writer's community. As their questions increase, a second body is found, this time eerily resembling the crime scene in a famous Edgar Allan Poe novella. Preach and Ariana realize that their adversary is an intelligent, literate killer with a mind as devious as it is disturbed--and that one or both of them may be his next target.

(https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1633883612)

Review

The detective protagonist, Joe ‘Preach’ Everson, is investigating the murder of a bookstore owner who was killed in a way that had remarkable parallels to that of the murder in the classic novel Crime and Punishment. As the novel progresses, more murders with links to literary classics take place, and Preach frets that, in the crucial moment, he’ll repeat an error he made earlier in his career. Along with Officer Kirby and aided with the help of Ariana Hale, who adores reading, they try their hardest to catch the murderer before anyone else is killed.

The description throughout is thoughtful and illustrative, I particularly enjoyed the imagery of Damian Black’s house, which was pretty much the ideal horror writer’s home. The dialogue is also expressive and interesting. What really stands out is the plot, however. I found myself gasping out loud and texting friends frantically towards the end about the amazing twists and turns. As usual, I failed to guess who the culprit was – I love the feeling a reader gets when the detective finally realises who the killer is. The only slight criticism that could be put forward would be that everything is a little too convenient in terms of who-knows-who, but given that the place is quite small, and most of the main characters grew up in the area, this is definitely excusable.

Normally, I chastise authors for taking too much time to write about romance, but Ari is lovely and actually helpful in solving the crime; their relationship doesn’t distract from the story and develops at a natural pace. I think most readers can also relate to Ari, I’m sure most of us would love to work in a bookstore. And Preach is such a brilliant character. His backstory unfolds through his therapy sessions, making the reader really see how much suffering and guilt he’s endured (despite him never being at fault), it was a very clever idea to include the therapy sessions - lots of authors overlook the mental strain solving crime can have. I was delighted to have a protagonist who had emotions, empathy and vulnerabilities, and going against his past self. There’s a bit where Ari analyses him, and he does the same back, and it’s fascinating to see these impressions, and how they were formed.

There are some dark themes in the novel, so anyone under eighteen would not be advised to read this. Other than that, any fans of the dark crime genre will be sure to enjoy this. I’m definitely going to look out Layton Green’s books in the future, leave me a comment if you’ve read this!

Smugglers & Scones: Volume 1 (Moorehaven Mysteries)

Hey, it’s Heather here! Today I’m doing an honest review for Scones and Smugglers, a murder-mystery novel, hope you all enjoy.

Information

Author: Morgan C. Talbot

Published: January 2017

Publisher: Red Adept Publishing

Length: 222 pages

Genre: Mystery, Detective Fiction

Brief description (from Amazon)

Pippa Winterbourne runs Moorehaven, the Oregon Coast’s quirkiest bed-and-breakfast and former home of world-famous mystery writer A. Raymond Moore. Guests come there to write their own crime novels. When a real-life murder takes a local’s life and washes a handsome boat pilot into her arms, Pippa is yanked into a deadly plot of her own. A tangle of secrets crashes past into present, and Pippa must uncover clues dating back to Seacrest’s Prohibition days, including a secret Moore himself hid from the world. Juggling her book-writing guests, small-town intrigues, secret club agendas, and a possibly fatal attraction, Pippa must sort fact from fiction to know who to trust before a desperate killer claims a final revenge nearly a century in the making.

Hey, it’s Heather here! Today I’m doing an honest review for Scones and Smugglers, a murder-mystery novel, hope you all enjoy.

(https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smugglers-Scones-1-Moorehaven-Mysteries/dp/1940215870/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501591707&sr=8-1&keywords=smugglers+and+scones)

Review

Scones, friendship and a murder mystery, what more could anyone want in a book! The plot was good; from learning about Pippa’s usual day working at the bed and breakfast, to the murder solving bits, it was a nice measure of fun and serious stuff. I really liked how the history of the people and the town linked into the story – and no, I did not guess who the culprit was, so the last few chapters were quite a surprise for me. Writing style throughout was friendly with nice splashes of description and humour every now and then. I especially liked the references to Hermione’s patronus and Doctor Who. Each chapter begins with a Raymond Moore quote – the fictitious mystery writer who the bed and breakfast used to home – which was a charming touch. I was also pleased with the sensitive way depression and suicide was mentioned, showing that despite Pippa being mostly recovered now, the suicide of her roommate still impacted her massively.

The characterisation was good, Pippa in particular making herself an appealing protagonist with her welcoming and empathetic personality. I loved the scone recipe in the back and will certainly be making a batch later on in the summer, I certainly felt a craving for them as I read. The entire concept of running a bed-and-breakfast solely for authors was wonderful. From their breakfast games to the way they picked up on certain phrases and words, I adored the bunch, and was thoroughly entertained with how their innocent curiosity to research led to some troublesome situations. In fact, the book involves a wealth of lovely characters without getting confusing or too stereotypical at any point. The community itself is really nice to get to know, and I’m sure that we’ll hear back from many of the characters in books to come. There was also a theme of friendship throughout, something very underrated in novels that made the read endearing. I’ve included my favourite quote, and my excuse for giving my besties the pet name scone.

“Scones are the edible version of a lifelong friend. They’re full of amazing things. They can adapt to any circumstance. And they’ll never let you down with some weird kind of cream-filling surprise.”

The only aspect I was less keen on was the romance between Pippa and Lake, which I felt was a little rushed. Detective fiction and romance are always difficult to mingle because the reader is in a constant sense of suspicion about who the murderer could be, therefore making it difficult for the reader to happily anticipate the protagonist growing close with anyone. In Beaton’s Agatha Raisin books, it took a really long time for Agatha and her attractive neighbour James to become a couple, even at that stage their relationship was unsteady, the snooping detective life being hard to balance with life and love. Given that Lake was found at the scene of the murder without any memories of what happened, I’d have been extremely cautious about romancing him, so was rather surprised at how rapidly they got to the kissing stage and did not warm to his character. As the series continues and his character develops, however, I’m sure I’ll like him more; I’m rather hoping for a Tommy and Tuppence styled relationship to divulge.

Many thanks to the author for letting me read this. I'm pretty excited about reading the rest of the series when it comes out. If you’ve read this, let me know your thoughts below (and if you guessed who the killer was, because I could not have been more wrong about my initial prediction)!

The Fourth Monkey

Hello! It's Heather, apologies for being a day late with posting this, my laptop had a breakdown and deleted my first draft of the review. This book is being released later this year, so let me know if you want to read it in the comments.

Information

Author: J.D. Barker

Published: June 27^th 2017

Publisher: Harper Collins

Length: 416 pages

Rating (all out of five)

Characters: ★★★★

Plot: ★★★★★

Writing Quality: ★★★★★

Overall: ★★★★★

I have read very few thrillers, but I love crime fiction so was delighted to be afforded the opportunity by Harper Collins to read this in exchange for a review (thank you to them!). The Fourth Monkey is a book based around the ideology of ‘hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil, do no evil’ as the elusive murderer first sends the ear of a daughter of one corrupt individual in a neatly wrapped box, then her eyes, then her tongue, then leaves her corpse to be found. This strangely reminded me of the MAGIC! song, no evil. Having been in action for five years prior to the book, the killer has just taken a new victim so the reader follows detective Sam Porter as he tries to save her and unravel the man nicknamed #4MK’s true identity using clues from his diary, which is left in the jacket of a man that’s just stepped in front of a bus. The reader is treated with a range of perspectives including Porter's narrative, extracts from the diary and occasional glimpses into how the victim herself is fending.

Anyone that is deterred by gore may want to avoid this one; Barker has carved (sorry, bad pun, don’t kill me) intensely vivid imagery of the horrors that both the killer and the victims experience… honestly… I had a nightmare about knives plunging into my flesh after having read a particularly graphic scene before retreating to bed. Any book that, even days after reading it, can make you shudder and tremble and tense at every faint noise in case you get kidnapped and tortured should be commended. The writing is truly excellent and conjures up disturbingly strong images in your mind that will haunt you. As someone squeamish about the whole let’s-cut-off-some-limbs-oh-look-a-stream-of-blood-and-tissue-that-you-don’t-blow-you’re-nose-on, this book was a challenge to get through without vomiting, so I’m proud to have succeeded in that. The diary part was especially sinister, but really fascinating to uncover what turned #4MK to his psychopathic antics.

Like I said earlier, generally I’ll indulge in standard crime and detective fiction, be it some Agatha Christie, M.C. Beaton, Alexander McCall Smith or a radio-play of Paul Temple and various television crime shows, so this was quite different. At first, I clung to Porter’s familiar detective narratives, being reluctant but intrigued to read the diary parts. Porter is pretty standard in terms of crime fiction, he loves his wife and job and is very fond of his colleagues. The way his police team tease each other makes his narrative entertaining to read, I particularly enjoyed the Sherlock Holmes based quips they had for Watson. Porter is also undergoing some personal issues that become clearer as the book progresses, so overall, he’s a very effective character. I’d have liked to have seen more interaction with his co-workers as they had an amusing relationship that left me craving for more.

The perspective of the victim of #4MK was probably the most distressing as the reader is exposed to her astonishment of waking to find her ear extracted, trapped within a dark room with music blaring aggressively and no exit… oh and the knowledge that her tongue and eyes will probably be removed too. Each glimpse into her head reveals madness feasting upon her through the voice of her deceased mother, comfortingly scolding her. The reader really develops a sympathetic bond with her character and finds themselves turning the pages frantically in the hope that she’ll survive this without endearing too much more pain.

My aim since co-creating this book blog has been to explore different genres and thriller/horror is one that I rarely venture to, being reluctant to read gory description, so I’m really glad I’ve read The Fourth Monkey for overcoming this. The plot is delicately constructed with several plot twists diverging, especially at the end, a few of them I could predict but that didn’t make the read any less enjoyable and one of them was so spectacular, I’m not complaining. I’d really recommend this to any fanatics of the genre, or anyone like myself who wants to conquer more variety in literature. Of course, I’d highly dissuade anyone from reading some parts of this before eating or to relax, be warned of the risks, it’s creepy and it’s startling, but it’s also addictive to read.

The Man in the Brown Suit

Hi, this is Heather here (these intro bits always feel awkward to write). It’s been a while since I’ve written a review on a book that hasn’t been recently published, so I’m back with some Agatha Christie. I initially read this when I was about eight or nine and I was hiding from some party downstairs with the first book I could seize without getting caught, but heard a rather brilliant audio book version of it a few weeks back that made the memories flood back. This should avoid spoilers.

Author: Agatha Christie

Published: August 1924

Publisher: The Bodley Head

Length: 238 or 312 pages depending on the one you get

Rating out of 10 (I keep forgetting to do this): ★★★★★★

In Christie’s world of Poirot and Miss Marple and Tommy and Tuppence, The Man in the Brown Suit rather stands out because there is no ‘detective’ as such. The little chunk at the start sets the scene for the orphan Anne, who has a quenching desire to seek out adventure (hence she calls herself Anne the Adventurer a few times)! I believe people would now call her spur of the moment idea to use whatever money she can muster to fulfil this excitement ‘yolo’ – as she travels with very little aside from the reputation of her deceased father, professor Beddingfield across the ocean. It doesn’t take long for an adventure to come along as some commotion over which cabin she’ll be sleeping in leads her to being involved in a dangerous position as she becomes suspected of being allied with the ominous ‘Man in the Brown Suit’ that ‘The Colonel’ is after.

Christie switches the narrative from Anne to Sir Eustace Pedlar, now I know that many people dislike the idea of points of view changing but in this instance, it really works. Anne is sweet, young and naïve, very likable – and that’s great – but you really need Sir Eustace to make this book worthy of reading. You can tell that Christie had a wonderful time writing his part, with his selfish soul, taunting his dear secretary, Pagett, Sir Eustace is that jolly old chap that has no filter and bluntly announces every thought to enter his head, however rude it may come across.

“To begin with, it appears he caught sight of a man behaving suspiciously. Those are Pagett’s words. He has taken them straight from the pages of a German spy story.”

Oh Pagett. Pagett is hard to put into words… He works tirelessly for his employer and seems to suspect a good many people of being guilty. Yet despite the mocking he receives, he always means well. Anyway, another main character who I feel I should mention is Suzanne, who craves a little excitement, but not too much, nothing that would take away the fun or dampen her hair. She gets on brilliantly with Anne and they form a strong friendship, both of them splashing out on lots of little wooden animals and having a lovely time of it between the more serious scenes. I’ve rambled again. You get the picture, Christie is yet again amazing at bringing to light some extraordinary characters. In fact, the only character I wasn't too fond of was the man in the brown suit ironically enough.

The plot and pacing of the novel is quite good. Personally, I found the last bit a little rushed and the last quarter seemed perhaps a tad too random for me. I won’t spoiler it because it isn’t necessarily a bad ending; the book is most certainly still worthy of a read – I think from a modern perspective, everything seems less romantic, but it’s critical to remember that this book, whilst by no means old in terms of literature, is also not exactly modern. This means that some of the ideas do reflect the time it was written in as Anne becomes a little less independent. It’s also good to remember that Christie is not an emotional writer in the way of writing deep, philosophical or mournful pieces, in this novel it’s all fairly light-hearted. Aside from the last bit, the pace is excellent, and the switching of narrators makes it an enticing read. Though I did find the structure a little on the annoying side – the prologue is so entirely different to the majority of the book and only really links in at the end. This means the story first appears confusing as it switches rather hurriedly from a Russian dancer and some diamond scandal to an introduction on Anne before the story really starts happening. Had the prologue been the penultimate chapter, it would have been far clearer in this sense.

Since I still have some time left to write, I thought I’d add a little section on the context of the novel and how that altered its reception. This book was preceded by a Poirot book, which meant that Christie had some fans that were anticipating a similar style – according to Wikipedia (I know, not very reliable, but it’s the best I can do), one reviewer noted that Christie regrettably had dispensed of the Sherlock-Holmes-like Poirot, which is what had caused the success of her prior books. This review kind of annoyed me for suggesting that Poirot was the pure reason Christie was so successful; I’d like to see them write as many different plots with such powerful characters! I rather liked having a protagonist who had no knowledge of how to solve crime except that of the works of fiction, it means the reader can relate more to the protagonist. Don’t get me wrong, Poirot is a masterpiece, but by no means is he the only detective that Christie came up with worthy of her success.

As a stand-alone novel to get yourself into Christie’s work, this is a good choice! The characters are, as usual, spectacular, giving this book a light, funny kind of style. If anyone did get the audio version, I must add in that the voice of Sir Eustace and Pagett is hilarious and really brings the book to life.