My latest read was actually an Audible listen. I’ve realized recently that I’m a sucker for an English thriller featuring a 20- to 30-something woman. Also, I often like books that tell a story in two time periods. So J.P. Delaney’s The Girl Before would seem to be a match for me. Two Londoners–Emma (then) and Jane (now)–each rent the same austere house. Each sees it as the solution to her problems. Each follows a path that leads to jeopardy. Also on that path is […]
Creeping Dread Coated with a Veneer of Bigotry
My introduction to the works of H.P. Lovecraft was most likely the film Reanimator, though I don’t know if I realized the source at the time. I was interested in reading these stories because Lovecraftian mythos is has been the source of so much pop culture that I’ve imbibed – movies, books, video games – Lovecraft has either provided a source for other storytellers to embellish (as in the case of Reanimator) or has inspired all new horrors (like the xenomorph in Alien). Chances are […]
A mysterious murder and excess alcohol consumption? Must be an unreliable female narrated thriller…
I’ve been on a bit of a thriller kick recently, so–like many other Cannonballers–I’ve read In a Dark Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. They relied very heavily on the ‘unreliable female narrator’ trope, bringing up inevitable comparisons to The Girl on the Train. They’re not as good as Girl on the Train. (I haven’t read Gone Girl, while I have seen the film, so I can’t compare there.) I’m way behind on my reviewing, but I figured I’d start with these ones. Quick […]
“Nothing good happens in the middle of the night, right?”
Elizabeth receives a call late one night, and it’s the worst news she can imagine. Her son, Tommy, has vanished into the local woods without a trace after spending the day at his usual hangout, a large split boulder deep in the woods that the boys have been calling Devil’s Rock. The friends he was with seem to be hiding something and there are no other leads on where he might have gone. As the official investigation into his disappearance stalls, Elizabeth begins to see […]
Women are always the strong ones. [gratuitous David Tennant]
“You couldn’t turn on the TV without hearing about the missing teenage girl. Sixteen years old. White. Middle class. Very pretty. No one ever seemed quite as outraged when an ugly woman went missing.” I will admit I was not immediately into this book. It opens from the point of view of a father writing to his dead daughter which was a bit overly emotional to me. Then cut to one insufferable woman who hates on the other mother’s at her daughter’s basketball game all […]
“You left me alone but you’re still my own”
The key to a good suspense/mystery novel is similar to that of a good horror film. The characters reactions to things have to be realistic and make sense. That doesn’t mean they have to necessarily be smart or follow basic common sense. It means they have to make sense given what we know about the character’s past experiences and personality. That way, when everything goes pear shaped, it feels like these things are being experienced by a real human and not merely a vessel to […]
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