The Girl on the Train

by Paula Hawkins

Creepy psychological thrillers seem to be topping the reading charts, and if you're on that band wagon you've probably already read The Girl on the Train. If you haven't, then it should be your next Kindle purchase!

Rachel's journey into craziness begins when she can't get pregnant at which time the drinking also begins. When her husband dumps her for another woman, it picks up pace, but when the new woman has a baby, Rachel is a gonner! Her heavy drinking causes her to lose her job, but she continues her commute in town because the trip takes her right past the home of her ex and another "beautiful couple" who she observes and fantasizes about. She begins a campaign of harassing phone calls, random drop-ins and drunken rages where she suffers blackouts and memory loss. And then, "beautiful girl" disappears, and Rachel finds herself bruised and banged up and can't remember where she was when this happened. Suddenly, she is in a whole other world of trouble.

This book is full of suspicion and twists that keep you reading and guessing until the very end. If you liked Gone Girl and Sleep Tight, you'll like this. 

Murder as a Fine Art

by David Morrell

A very well-written historical fiction murder mystery! What makes this so well done is how much information you gain about Victorian England as you read, without it seeming as if you are having a history lesson. Morrell provides specific details that effortlessly fit in context and situation, making them a part of the story rather than a sidestep.

In 1854, Thomas de Quincey's last installment of "On Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts" was published, providing a shockingly gory account of the notorious East End murders, which occurred in the early 1800's. So when some similar murders begin taking place and because of his other scandalous essay "Confessions of an Opium Eater", de Quincey is a natural suspect. Fortunately for him, de Quincey has on his side London's Inspector Ryan and his own equally outstanding daughter, Emily.

In this novel, de Quincey delves into the mind of a serial killer and explains Murder as a Fine Art.  While trying to outsmart the "artist" he is constantly battling the haunting effects of his opium addiction. His brilliant daughter provides support, but is also a swashbuckler in her own right. She is a smart, sassy, daring character, if not a bit rebellious. Inspector Ryan and Constable Becker add some level-headedness to the mix and all bases are covered to solve the mystery.

If you liked The Pale Blue Eye and The Alienist, then read this one too!

She's Baaaaaaaaack!

So far 2015 has been one big roller coaster ride. There have been moves.... numerous.... births, deaths (again numerous), graduations, parties, tests and trials of many kinds, and yes, there have been books! You just haven't heard about them. For now, it appears that my ride may be coming to an end, or perhaps I'm just on the flat, windy track, so I will attempt to review those books. Generally, I can remember the main details of a book, but I'm not so good at remembering specific goods and bads. If I hated a book, I could probably say why, otherwise I can't provide much more than a synopsis. So until I'm caught up, these will be short.

The Irresistible Henry House

by Lisa Grunwald

At the Wilton School of Home Economics, young women are taught the basic skills of housekeeping and motherhood under the strict supervision of Martha Gaines, who herself has been neither a wife nor a mother, but is expert on both subjects. Every two years the school receives a baby from a nearby orphanage so the young ladies in the program can practice their skills. Henry is practice baby number 10, and Martha is immediately smitten with him! In fact, she loves him so much that Martha adopts him herself, for fear of losing him to a permanent home. And so begins the story of The Irresistible Henry House, who is loved by many mothers and adored by one.

We follow Henry through the '60's and '70's on his journey to find himself. He bounces among adoring women most of his life, but he can't ever seem to find that love for himself. Ironically, although he knows exactly how to make himself irresistible to women, in reality he truly isn't a charming person.

The one thing Henry does love is art, but even that suffers due to his lack of sentiment, so even though he loves to draw, he seems only to be able to copy the work of others. In fact he becomes so good at copying that he gets a job working with Walt Disney studios as a "betweener." An artist who fills in the cells for the movement of animated characters in films.

I enjoyed this story. It's an interesting perspective on these actual practice houses and the baby-boomer years, which may be part of the reason I liked it.

The Invisible Man

by HG Wells

A fast and fun read, The Invisible Man is pretty much what you'd expect on the surface, but lying underneath are overtones of how society shapes people, but I'll just stick with the actual story and not venture into assumptions.

A stranger comes to the small town of Iping, checks himself into the inn and locks himself into his rooms requesting no disruptions. This only piques the interest of the townspeople, who invent ways to discover who he is, which only serves to make the stranger angry. What the people don't know is that he is a scientist, who has discovered a formula for invisibility. In the beginning, this seems like a great advantage, but soon the stranger realizes how problematic invisibility can be, but he can't figure out how to regain his skin. Becoming more and more frustrated, the stranger embarks on a criminal path, first some petty theft and then declaring a Reign of Terror and recruiting people to help him.

So if you have an afternoon to sit by the fireplace and read, this would be a good choice. 

In the Woods

by Tana French

Detective Rob Ryan is good at his job, and he might be great if he didn't have this nagging unsolved mystery in his past creating a constant distraction. To begin, we learn that as a young teen, Rob (aka Adam) and his two best friends, Peter and Jamie go into the woods to a favorite hangout and stumble upon a rape in progress. The attacker notices the witnesses and begins chase, Rob escapes, his friends do not, but their bodies are never found.

Next we are introduced to the "main" mystery, a dancing prodigy who is murdered just before her departure to ballet school.  Ryan is assigned a new partner, Cassie who coincidentally reminds him of Jamie, which causes some conflicting emotions and instability for him. But he is determined not to let this sassy girl outshine him.

So that's it, two mysteries for the price of one! Here's what happens (perhaps a bit of a spoiler so proceed with caution if the above sounds interesting to you): the mystery of Katy the dancer comes to an unsatisfactory resolution. Despite the blatant clues the answer was still head-scratching. Intertwined throughout this story, Ryan is secretly revisiting the past in hopes of putting it to rest. As the story progresses, you can tell French wrote In the Woods as a beginning to a series, since it is obvious Ryan won't have all the answers by the end of these pages. Problematic though is the fact that by the end of this book, despite all the sneaking and spying, nothing else is uncovered. Detective Ryan is no closer to solving that mystery than he was on page 1. There is not one new clue! Furthermore, as the story develops the characters deteriorate to a point where I had lost interest in them and their plight.

In general the book is well written, just some plot flaws. If you like the noir genre then you'd probably enjoy this book and even continue with the series and discover whodunit. I have my ideas, but don't care enough to discover on my own... so if you read the rest of the story let me know.

Two Books One Author

by Laine Moriarty

There are two reasons I am combining these book reviews, first I am still rather behind on my blog posts and second the books are pretty similar in many aspects.

Big Little Lies
Madeline, mother of 3, has everything under control except the emotions of her preteen daughter. Jane, a single mom trying to run away from her past and Celeste, gorgeous mother of twins and married to the perfect husband become friends at the kindergarden parent night. The threesome join forces to battle a kindergarden bully, the snobby PTA members and even Madeline's ex-husband's new wife, but when someone is killed at the school social night they become the perfect murder suspects.

The Last Anniversary
Sophie is 39 years old, single, stuck in a rut with her job and her biological clock is ticking away. She has become frantic because she wants children, but can't seem to find a man for the job. Things aren't looking good for her and she is depressed. And that is when her ex-boyfriend calls her up with some shocking news that could change everything!







Both of these books were okay, but I didn't find either very engaging. Whereas they should have been light, easy reads I had to force myself to keep reading. To me the characters were unreal, unbelievable and silly and the plots were predictable. Her books all seem to go in the same direction with the same type characters, at least one of which is the most beautiful woman on earth.  Each book tries to address some relatively tough real life issues like postpartum depression, abuse, jealousy and unplanned pregnancy, but unfortunately they are dealt with in a rather nonchalant way and then seem to be blown off with miraculously happy endings.

The reason I went ahead and read the second book after not being super impressed with the first is because I had already purchased both and some of my friends really do like this author and her books, so you might love them too.