The New Neighbour by Miranda Rijks

 

Review

It is strange that we people, although live in a society, a community and a family, should live together in harmony, but they do not succeed.  In this book, this community is represented by The Close, which consists of only five houses, five families, the environment is idyllic and harmonious, yet no one is happy, neighbors hate and watch each other with suspicion.  Harmony is not complete within families either, there is cheating, jealousy and constant suspicion everywhere.  The experience from this book is also that we live in a community, yet we are very alone, we can only count on ourselves.

I’m always a little worried to start a book written by a woman, a woman is the protagonist, and through her eyes and thoughts we can follow the story.  And lately, these books are mostly written for women as well, as most of the readers come from them.  But now my fear was unfounded, I could hide in Isobel's skin, the character was sympathetic, I was excited that by the end of the book everything would turn out well.

The story is a standard suburban thriller with intrigue, silenced sins and secrets.  The author of the book masterfully adds tension, every word, every sentence is in place, everything serves the purpose of maintaining interest and entertaining.

The events and the twists were a bit predictable, but that didn’t make the book boring.  I didn’t always agree with Isobel’s actions because maybe she was the only one who loved her family unconditionally and cared about her neighbors as well.  All she wanted was for her to be reciprocated, for her opinion to be listened to, and for her interests to be taken into account.  Unfortunately, that’s why she’s the one the others are watching with suspicion, rumors about her, all about what’s wrong.  Of course, such is the police, who still prove that it is not always in their best interest to find the real culprit, but only to arrest someone, and then it will be up to the judiciary to decide whether he is guilty or he is a victim.  While a good law enforcement organization should work to always find the perpetrator of the crime, the court should have only one task left to determine what punishment the perpetrator should receive.

To sum up the previous ones, this is an unputdownable, suspenseful suburban thriller with a bit of social criticism.

Thanks to Netgalley and Inkubator Books for allowing me to read this book!

Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

Review

I love books that re-evaluate life a little, that make me think.  That is, those in which there is little more value than words, or just the story itself.  This book is like that.

The story isn’t fast-paced, sometimes too slow, almost boring.  Yet I didn’t want to put down the book, I wanted to know what would happen in the end, who the killer was, and what the motives for the murders were.  There were not many surprises, yet the writer maintained the tension until the end.  In fact, the end was the best, although I would have finished the book with the letter because I already felt the last few pages were redundant and uninteresting.

In most of the books, the operation of law enforcement is illogical.  Although that may be why the story is lifelike.

I’ve been avoiding books in the crime genre lately because they’re starting to get a little one-sided for me.  But sometimes I get a book like this, but in that case, the book has to meet two conditions in order for me to read it: the description promises such an exciting story that it should definitely pique my interest, and preferably not be part of a series that  the person in charge of the police officer is bound because such books are usually unnecessarily full of irrelevant information about the life of the police officer.  This book has gone through the filter, so I read it and it became a favorite.

Agatha Christie is my favorite, and the basics of the story have been compiled from her books, as Peter Swanson describes it.  But it didn’t become a bad imitation, but rather an interesting and improved version.

 

The Silent Sisters by Robert Dugoni

Review

I started reading the book a month ago, I was moving through it very slowly, there were a lot of things in it that annoyed me, so now I’m giving up at 30% and no longer reading.  Yet Dugoni is a good writer, as he has proven in several books that were not about spies.

This book is the third in a series.  Unfortunately, or maybe luckily, I didn’t read the first two.

The biggest problem with the book is that it is full of stereotypes.  In Western countries, every Russian is thought to be stupid, violent, and the mafia is everywhere.  Except for those who are spying for Americans for some reason.  They are the good, the heroes.  The leaders of Russian counter-espionage are fat, lazy, idiots, alcoholics and sex addicts.  The American protagonist, on the other hand, defends the oppressed,  he is black, tall, handsome.  I do not understand why a black agent should be sent to Russia?  Wouldn’t it be more logical for a mid-tall white who could fit in better with the locals and not have to paint himself white?  But really, what's the logic of sending a black there?  And why does he automatically accept the assignment?  He is not young, has a family, and his physical characteristics make him unfit for this mission!  Or are there so few agents in America that even he is the most suitable?

What he does at the bar the first night in Russia is simply incomprehensible.  A spy can't be such an idiot!  I don’t hook up with the locals while I know the room is being cameraed!  And while he has all sorts of disguises, he forgets to put on his gloves while drinking his beer!  Why did he go to the bar at all?  If I were a spy, I would definitely not go out for a beer in an enemy country.  After all, the goal would be not to draw attention to myself.

But the biggest problem with the book is that I felt like the writer hadn’t gotten information about what Russia is like, how spies, anti-spies work.

Nor did I understand why the Russian text had to be written phonetically and then translated into English.  Maybe it would have been enough to write only English or the Russian text in Cyrillic letters.  So, writing the text twice is pretty confusing.  Especially that phonetic writing is confusing and often flawed as well.

But the previous ones are just highlights of what I think are the flaws in the story.  I could have written much more than that.  And because of these, the book is more of a fantasy than a spy thriller.  Because it has little to do with reality.

The Old Woman with the Knife by Gu Byeong-mo

 

Review

It is a twisting story, which is characterized by a peculiar mood that stems from the writer’s distinctively simplified prose and a mix of Eastern-specific culture that remains true to the traditions of South-Korean literature.  While reading it, I was reminded of Kill Bill many times.  Slower and faster parts of the book alternate, creating an environment that should be slow and close to passing due to the age of the protagonist.  However, the dynamism and bloody details of the flashbacks contrast with this, making the story full of tension, almost impossible to put down.

Gu Byeong-mu makes a minimal use of dialogue which often means that the story is developing at a slower pace, but fortunately, the author's prose is of high quality and, as a result, the reader never feels bored or frustrated. The last part of the book is picking up speed and as the story reaches its climax there are many surprises and twists pending, leading to a satisfying finale. Every thriller fan should keep in mind the name of the author and I firmly believe that it is worth exploring further the South-Korean perspective on the genre.

Thanks to Edelweiss and HarperCollins for the opportunity to read this great and exciting book.

They by Kay Dick

Review

Vision?  Prophecy?

About the future?  About the present?

Simple words, sentences.

The lyric, the complexity and beauty of the thoughts are gone.

They tell us what we can think of, what is the law and what is the society.

Only we have responsibilities.

Only their society exists.  Our society is a thing of the past.

The individual is dangerous, a source of disease, of infection. The community is good where everything is the same, safe, conform.

The writer’s vision for the dystopian future in 1977, which has now become a sad reality.  Simple, stripped-down words come together into a mosaic-like image that amplifies fear, terror.  In 1977, she could only have imagined how this terror would come to fruition, but today we can clearly see the new ideas and isms by which this dystopia is created.  We still have an ideal, beautiful picture of how to live our lives in a beautiful, meaningful way, but the development of the global state, the Western culture, the social media dictatorially gray it out and conform it.

The language of the book is simple, yet difficult to understand, and almost allegorically fits the content.  Behind the pictures of the seemingly idyllic life there is fear and dread.

In the book, the figures of terror are not filled with life, they form a dark, shapeless mass, so in fact, everyone can fill them with their own thoughts and fears.  That is why the book can become a dark dystopian reality of the present, and within that, of every individual.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this great book.  I hope it opens the eyes of many people and helps them understand the processes that govern our current world.

 

Or Else by Joe Hart

 

Review

Great thriller, twisting, exciting, and total surprise at the end.  Although there may be those who say it was predictable.

I really liked Andy Drake’s character, a perfect investigative writer, he’s where he needs to be, the air around him is glowing, he’s always on track, we’re not bored with it.

Police action/inaction reinforces the existing stereotype that the goal is not to find and capture the real killer, but to find a sucker with zero work who can be tricked into committing the murder.  Not to mention that for a death, the police immediately realize it was an accident or a suicide, despite the facts to the contrary.  Unfortunately, this is already common in books.  And unfortunately in real life.  We were not short of murders, we were moving pretty slowly, tracing the perpetrator.

There’s not a page I’m bored with, the book is almost impossible to put down.

My favorite character was the father, despite his illness, he saw the events most clearly.

Thanks to Netgalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read this book.

This World Does Not Belong to Us by Natalia García Freire

 

Review

The book is like a long lyrical poem, a ballad about death, life, family, religion, nature, the meaning and meaninglessness of life, its beauty and brutality.  It will really be understood by those who were or are in a similar situation or who have not had a good relationship with their father, but we mourn his death, we are sorry we can no longer tell him our feelings.  And the tragedy for all of us is that we have to imagine what happens to our loved ones after they die.  And we know it’s a natural process, yet we can’t reconcile with the horroristic, horrible images that appear before us.  And this is when we think about what the meaning of life is, and what was the meaning of the life of the father, the mother, why they loved or hated, if they were already dead, if only their bodies were feasted under the ground by insects.

Thanks to the writer for this beautiful lyrical, yet naturally brutal, but sincere poem, and thanks to Netgalley and World Editions for the opportunity to read this book.

Bone Deep: Untangling the Betsy Faria Murder Case by Charles Henry Bosworth & Joel J. Schwartz

 

Review

What an exciting, intriguing yet compelling book it is!  Impossible to put it down, it is impossible to sleep until we get to the end.

We still have the illusion that Anglo-Saxon, and within that, American democracy, law enforcement and justice systems are the best in the world, everyone who does not follow must be forced to follow.  According to them, this is the democracy, and he, who does not profess this, is not a democrat, or he is even a downright fascist.  And then we get this book, which faithfully describes a murder, an investigatian and two trials, and it arises in us, why are they lying to us from all sides?  Because it seems to me that this is not a unique story, but the result of a systemic failure.  Or maybe the system itself is bad?

I am beginning to understand in part those who took to the streets and demanded the cessation of the police.  Because it seems that just fixing the bugs is not enough here.  The political, executive, law enforcement and judicial systems need to be fundamentally demolished, rethought, and rebuilt.  And we must put an end to the idea that history is over, and that it has ended with the victory of liberal democracy and the United States.  Apparently this is a lie.  But still live up to the hope that there is a better and more humane society.

The co-author of the book is the defence attorney himself, who is also the main character of the story, we can follow his struggle to get the victory of truth in this unjust system.

In principle, law enforcement and judicial organizations should serve society, the citizens.  However, we are very far from this principle.  Almost no one, no investigators, no prosecutors, no judges care anymore about who the real killer is and how to give justice to the victim.

One reason for the problem is that almost every position is filled by those who are unfit and unskilled, who have only an interest in getting their pay and abusing the little power that has fallen into their hands.  Though all of them take an oath to serve society and the people, their vows are almost never kept.  Of course, I don’t want to generalize, but in my opinion, most of them are like that, and sooner or later everyone will adjust to them.

But going back to the book, apart from the outrageous part, it’s a book I’ll remember even years from now, searching for events on wikipedia, going through the trial of crime again and again, fighting with the defense attorney against unfit prosecutors, investigators, and judges, and  I sympathize with the accused, who had to spend years in prison innocently.

How should this malfunctioning political system be changed, how should the state (reserved for our taxes) be served us?  Unfortunately, I cannot give an answer to this, I can only hope that someday our descendants will live in a better and fairer society.  But I’m a realist, and I have to admit there’s no chance of that.

The Guest Room by Rona Halsall

 

Review

It’s always hard to write an opinion about a thriller without telling anything about the story.  So most of all, I just write about my feelings about the book.  I have to admit that I didn’t like the first few chapters, I felt like this, too, would be just one of many average books that would knit together the usual cliches for thrillers, and add nothing to that.  But then the story started to get complicated, there was more and more action, I liked the characters and was excited about what was really going on, who was bad and who was good, and what was the driving force behind their actions. I confess, I soon realized who was behind the many bad things that had happened to Steph.  Yet it was exciting to read on because I was curious about the motives for the act and whether it was really the perpetrator I was thinking of.  The police work seemed a little strange to me, though I don’t live in England.  At my place of residence, the police would certainly not care if I reported that someone was visiting my house without my permission.  Maybe they would take such a report seriously if there was already blood.  But maybe not even then.  So based on that, England seems like a well-functioning country, but I’d rather assume that this detail doesn’t fully reflect reality.

The final conclusion is that it is an exciting and interesting story that maintained the tension to the last pages.  I’m sorry this was just the first book from the author’s pen I’ve read so far, I promise I’ll be a faithful follower of the writer after that.

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book before its later official publication.

To The Lake by Yana Vagner

 

Review

Thanks to Netgalley for the book.  Thanks for this great book, which made me forget the bitterness of the world for a few days, by highlighting its horrors, yet leaving a little hope. Because hope is in us and in our loved ones, we can trust in ourselves and in them to find the meaning of life, the purpose of struggle, love, even in plagues and wars.

The story of the book bears many similarities to my own life.  An escape from the many horrors that make our lives difficult and bitter.  We can call this an epidemic, a plague, or even a war.  But today, the people, the state, the bureaucracy, the woke, the BLM and the gender movement, neoliberalism, the destruction of nature, the false greens, the communists, the Brussels bureaucrats, the liberals and socialists of the European Parliament, the repressive machinery of the United States  we have to run away.  These are the plagues of today, embodied in the covid, and thus, appear in this form in the book.  Which is an apocalyptic vision in the form of an epidemic that shatters the current order of human society, causing chaos and collapse where we can’t trust anyone, we always have to keep our arms ready, because although love is our main guiding principle, we still have to assume the worst  about our fellow human beings so that we can protect ourselves and our loved ones.  Because we can have any kind of disputes with our wives, children, parents, friends, neighbors, yet we know them, we can trust them, we can love them and we can fight for them.  Because even though we lose our faith in people, in the meantime we still believe in the love that binds those around us.

I fled to a tropical island where it was overtaken by state arbitrariness that expropriated my property, the destruction of nature, the influx of black migrants.  From there I fled to a resort village near a big city, in the mountains.  But there, too, the horrors of civilization, the barking of dogs, bad neighbors, ineffective administration, construction, human evil, have caught up.

So a week ago, like the characters in the book, I packed up in the car and set off with my wife on the way to the mountains and forests.  And at the end of the road, on the border, on the bank of the small stream, I found the house where I now think I can find refuge from the plague that people, human evil represents.

Because of the above, it was a pleasure to read this book because it was as if the events of my own life had appeared in the pages of this book.  I was reading a Russian story, yet it was as if the writer had written about me.  To whom I thank this experience for actually writing about me, my life, my feelings, even with other characters, in other locations.

I don’t know how this book was received by readers, reviewers.  But it means nothing.  The bottom line is that it has given me a lot, the hope that the purpose of my life can still be found away from people and the depravity of society, intertwined with nature.

Today I ran 50 miles in the mountains, roasting beef and chestnuts.  And I finished this exciting, unputdownable book.

The Delivery by L.A. Detwiler

Review

It’s the story of a couple from the beginning of love to the collapse.  From the perspective and narration of the wife, we can follow the events, we have to believe that what she feels and what she thinks is real, that her actions have meaning and reason.  While we suspect that it’s not the reality we see, that there’s a twist in the story that makes it understandable.  I say, we know this, just like when on the front pages of a crime we already know who the killer is, but we continue to read the book because we are curious about what led to the murder being committed.  In this novel, too, we know what’s behind the events, the exciting way to find out what are the reasons that lead to the collapse.  This road is excruciating, long and dark.  For us, too, it’s a bit long, we often feel it is repetitive and a little boring.  Yet, every word and sentence is needed to know the loneliness and darkness of Evette’s soul.  I read the book overnight, which means it’s almost impossible to put it down.  Still, I’m not saying the book is perfect or that I’m completely happy with the story.  Maybe not because we also need to see and know the other side, the husband’s thoughts and the reasons for his actions, to get a full picture of what is happening.  That’s why I’m looking forward to the author’s next book, which is the story of John, the husband.

Thanks to Netgalley and the Xpresso Book Tour for the opportunity to read the book.

 

Cry Wolf by Hans Rosenfeldt

Review

The events in the book are cinematic, which is not surprising since the author also writes screenplays. It interestingly depicts the life of a small town located on the Swedish-Finnish-Russian border, almost coming to life, where we, the inhabitants of the town, are only temporary actors.

Violence caused by drugs breaks into this quiet world in this small town. Sometimes this violence seemed a little too much to me, even compared to the Russian mafia, it was more like the cartel wars in Mexico. Of course, a film is exciting and spectacular when there are as many bloody murders as possible, but I’d rather have another twist appear in the story instead, or the author explains the connection between Hannah and Thomas better. Which didn’t seem real to me anyway, I find it impossible for spouses to behave like this in reality, to feel like each other. But these excuses don’t detract from the value of the book, it was like watching an exciting action movie, I got excited for the characters, even the assassin, I cheered for her to escape and for everything to be good and beautiful by the end of the book. Of course, that’s not the real world, and that’s why this story couldn’t end that way either. But it didn’t even have to end definitively, as maybe this is also the first part of a series, and we can look forward to the new book with Hannah in the lead role soon.

Thanks to Edelweiss and Laurie Mularchuk (Harlequin Sales) for the opportunity to read and comment on the book before it was released.