Tuesdays Gone by Nicci French (Frieda Klein #2)

I really enjoyed this. I liked the first novel in this series and this one definitely continued on that track. Freida is definitely a super interesting character. She’s very complicated and has a history we’re only starting to get a glimpse into now.

I feel like we’ll see lots more of of her past family life in the future.Her brother for instance seems to be a very strange character. He’s not a horrible man but he sure doesn’t seem exactly nice either.

The plot line this time around was quite interesting. It basically centered around a man who’s body is found slowly decomposing in a slightly disturbed woman’s house. Turns out the woman found his body in an alley and brought it back to look after him. Not something that’s recommended with rotting corpses. As the police along with learn more about the background and life the man was leading he turns out to be not that nice of a person. Infact he’s a scheming conman who has made a lot of money off vulnerable people. Not exactly someone you feel too sorry to find dead.

The only annoying thing I found about this book was the little paragraphs we got from Beth were really interesting and I wanted to find out more about her and how she came to be in that position. Unfortunately it all came to a head pretty quickly and we never really got to learn much about her at all which was a pity.

Other than that this book was really interesting and I enjoyed it. Looking forward to future instalments in the Frieda Klein series.

 

The Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman (Governor Series #1)

What. The Absolute. Fuck? Don’t get me wrong I freaking loved it but what the hell? Big twist at the end has me all confused!

I was excited to read this novel because let’s face it I have a pretty serious obsession with zombies and I love, love, love the walking dead world especially. Now I’m a little ashamed to admit I don’t actually own any of the Walking Dead comics because I’m not really a comic book fan but I do adore the TV show so I was looking forward to delving into the creepy mind of the governor.

I think they got the names of the novels in this series mixed up because I’m pretty sure this one could have been called the Road to Woodbury and the next instalment could have been the Rise of the Governor. First of all we don’t even reach Woodbury until the last few chapters and secondly he doesn’t become known as the governor at all in this book.

We meet the Blake brothers a few days into the zombie apocalypse travelling with Philips friends Nick and Bobby and Philips daughter Penny. Brian and Philip Blake are polar opposites of each other. Brian is a wimpy, sickly, weakling of a man and Philip is your atypical gung-ho, tough guy, mans man. Philip quickly establishes himself as the leader and shows signs of becoming the cruel governor that we all love to hate.

However let’s throw a spanner in the works because even though we all know Philip becomes the governor do we really? Are you sure? How do you know its really Philip?

Hmmm…

Sure Philip is the one we see raping women, torturing people, keeping his zombie daughter alive tied to a tree but all that proves nothing. Turns out in a major plot twist the author has decided to let Philip die and Brian the weakling brother take over his identity.

Although I thought this was a good twist and all there were a few issues with it. Firstly Brian is not an evil character. In actual fact he’s the nicest character in the book. He cared more for Penny before she died than her own father did and he was quite averse to killing of any kind, zombie or otherwise. How will he become the evil person we see as the governor in the future? More horrible things will have to befall him otherwise this plot line just won’t make sense. However I do believe the author has made us think that maybe even the governor has a heart beneath it all. He wasn’t always a horrible person.

Intriguing!!!

 

The End of Everything by Megan Abott

What the hell was going on with this book? No really, what in the bloody hell? I grabbed this in the library thinking it looked vaguely interesting and I wasn’t totally wrong. It was interesting alright but it was so bloody weird. The weirdness outweighed the interesting I’m afraid…

Basically it follows a thirteen year old girl who becomes caught up in a whole scandal involving her best friend who is apparently abducted by a child molester. Lizzie, the protagonist, is a strange character. I think the author can get away with a lot because of the characters age. I understand that yes, you can have intense relationships at that age both romantic and platonic and yes, the feelings seem so much more intense than they probably are but some of the stuff that happens in this novel is just plain disturbing. I’m not jus talking about the child abduction and subsequent rape which is obviously extremely disturbing too. However I understand that there are horrible people out there who are paedophiles and prey on young girls or boys. I understand that thirteen year old girls are impressionable enough to find the affections of an older man flattering instead of disgusting. These are things I understand.

I do not understand how a seventeen year old girl can have a crush on her father? I don’t understand how a thirteen year old girl would think it’s acceptable to let older boys touch her while they pleasure themselves? I don’t understand how an older brother would think it’s okay to show his younger sister using cling film what it’s like to be raped? I don’t understand how an older sister would attempt to murder her little sister by pressing a hockey stick so hard against her throat she goes purple? I don’t understand how a mother in her presumably mid-forties thinks it’s ok to have sex on her back porch when her kids are in the house? I just found parts hard to read. I also didn’t get the whole tension between Lizzie and Evie’s father. It seemed to border on sexual at times which makes me cringe just thinking about it.

This book did very little for me other than to make me feel uncomfortable and disgusted. Not a good combination I think.

 

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult

Picoult is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. Her books always just seem to have that exciting, gripping edge to them. It’s almost as if they have this almost car crash appeal to them. You know you shouldn’t want to look but you can’t help staring anyway. Her subject lines are always very controversial and raise a lot of questions but you know what? I love that.

In this novel we follow Ellie who in a roundabout way ends up representing a young Amish girl who has been charged with murdering her newborn infant. Because of bail conditions Ellie ends up living within the Amish community while preparing for the trial.

First of all it was a great storyline because it slowly told us what happened and we had numerous suspects along the way. Even though neonaticide is such a horrible thing, it is a fact of life that it does happen and it does make for an interesting read as you struggle to make sense of the situation and try to understand what could cause this situation to arise.

The most interesting thing about this book to me, however, was reading about the Amish community. They’re so secluded and isolated in real life that they have become these almost mythical creatures that only exist in films or books so to read about their day to day lives was so interesting to me! Obviously Ireland doesn’t exactly have a large Amish community, in fact I’d be surprised if there were any at all living here but that made it all the more exciting to me as they are literally something I have never seen or experienced in real life.

The characters were all well written and I enjoyed Ellie and Coopers love story a lot. It wasn’t too in your face cliched stuff that I’m so sick of reading. It was subtle and slow and lovely. Looking forward to another Picoult read soon enough.

 

Brother Odd by Dean Koontz (Odd Thomas #3)

I really really enjoyed this! So far the Odd series has been hit and miss for me, the first one I thought was only okay but I did like the second in the series a lot more. This followed in that trend as I found it a really exciting good read. The thing I most enjoy about these novels is the subtle humor. It’s quite tongue-in-cheek and sarcastic and I just found it refreshingly different than the usual clichéd humour you get in most novels these days.

The plot line was exciting and original and I couldn’t get enough of the whole monastery setting and Odds new friends, the nuns and brothers. The nuns especially were very well written and I adored each and every one of them that we got to know along the way.

My favourite character was probably Mr Romanovich simply because of the repertoire that he had with Odd. It was funny and interesting to read and I liked the way they bounced off each other. I was so glad to find out he was actually a good guy in the end but it did worry me a little as it just proved that Odds physic or intuitive abilities can be a little off sometimes.

I was sad to see Elvis pass on to the next world as I enjoyed him and Odds little exchanges and Elvis flamboyant costume changes. Still we got a worthy replacement in Mr Sinatra I guess! Looking forward to future instalments.