Rider on the Rain - Sebastien Japrisot

My literary love affair with Japrisot began when I read The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun. I love his style and his ability to project so much in his novels, all fairly slender volumes by comparison, yet there is always the sense of having read something of substance.

In Rider on the Rain Japrisot manages to convey a sense of claustrophobic tension as Mellie Mau grapples with a life changing event in her life. The plot is intelligently constructed, the twists subtly poised to spring out at you from behind the most innocent of pages! The narrative structure ping pongs between straightforward third person narrative and play script dialogue. Not surprising then that a film was made of this story way back in 1970. I haven’t seen it but it is easy to imagine the book visually. And if the knowledge that a film was made of this story forty odd years ago makes you feel the book may be dated, fear not, it isn't! It reads as fresh as a contemporary thriller.

Japrisot also has a knack of pivoting situations to an unexpected outcome. I don’t want to give anything away but Mellie Mau manages to survive a harrowing ordeal with a dramatic resolution that determines the progress of the story. As a reader you believe that only you are privy to what Mellie has done but when the enigmatic Harry Dobbs makes an entrance you realise that may not be the case. What follows is a tense cat and mouse type game between Mellie and Dobbs that is almost as disturbing as the initial event that fuelled Dobb’s obsession, almost, of finding out the truth from Mellie. The contrasts between the two characters and the dynamic of their relationship is almost hypnotic.

I had a sense of Patricia Highsmith, too, whilst reading this, that strangely off centre feeling created out of ‘normal’ occurrences that spiral out of control. In short this is a compelling and immersive story with a denouement that has an unexpected elegance to it. Japrisot is such a talent.

My thanks to Gallic Books for a gifted copy.

Daughters of Sparta - Claire Heywood

 In company with Pat Barker, Madeline Miller, Natalie Haynes et al Daughters of Sparta continues the contemporary trend of revisiting the Greek myths from the female perspective. Here we are treated to the engrossing story of sisters, Helen and Clytemnestra, (in the book the Greek spelling is acknowledged with a ‘K’). And ‘treat’ is the operative word.

With an accessible and flowing narrative this author has created a believable and engaging account of how events might be viewed from the sisters’ context. It’s a dual narrative with chapters switching between the two women. We see them grow from childhood to womanhood caught within the protocols of the grecian culture of the time - arranged marriages, male freedoms etc.

Greek mythology is complex and one myth/legend is inextricably linked to others. This book focuses on the sisters and the subtler points of that relationship, their own thoughts and emotions. Once parted by marriage I don’t think they ever saw each other again but their connection is implicit.  Helen’s genealogy is not specifically explored, hinted at maybe, and some of the relationships between the men, Hector, Achilles remain unstated but the point of the book is to look at a much told tale from another angle, the sisters. There is no attempt to intellectualise the events but rather to try and get under the skin of two women born into a culture and society very different from our own.

It’s a very readable book and hopefully very accessible to those who might otherwise eschew the thought of a story about ancient Greeks! My thanks to team Bookends for a gifted proof.

The Black Dress - Deborah Moggach

Oh my! As I settled to read what seemed to be a bittersweet tale of a lady close to myself in years, and celebrating such a book that has a mature ‘heroine’, nothing, just nothing prepared me for the most audacious twists I’ve encountered in a long while. One after the other!! I actually roared with laughter. Not from the specifics of the plot but for the sheer joy of what an experienced novelist can produce to entertain and delight readers. So clever the way the story turns on it’s axis from light to dark with a wit and observation that is typical of Deborah Moggach’s work. 

The black dress seemed to be me to be somehow symbolic - Prudence’s acknowledgement that the entire dynamic of her life was changing, almost as if the wearing of the dress was a character changer. At least I did early on in the book! Then thoughts of Congreve and spurned women fuelled my impressions! I really don’t want to give anything away but the story develops from Pru’s husband of many years walking out on her and how she copes with life after marriage, from confiding in best friends to gatecrashing funerals in the black dress she finds in a charity shop.

A cast of colourful characters, a well paced narrative that urges the reader on, with an exploration of human nature - how people’s perceptions of themselves differ from how other see them and what lengths people will go to achieve their end goals.

It is an entertaining read and sure to delight Moggach’s fans.

My thanks to Team Bookends for a gifted proof. 

My Best Friend’s Secret - Emily Freud - Blog Tour

A debut novel is always an exciting prospect. Like opening a new jar of coffee. This offering from Emily Freud proved to be a tricky one to place in any single genre. It’s not exactly a thriller yet there’s plenty of elements to place it in the psycho thriller compartment, there’s romance, that might propel it into the chick lit box but ….. not completely , and there’s sufficient for it to dip a toe in the mystery category. However the overriding themes embrace female friendship and substance dependence. 

‘Kate Sullivan has a beautiful home, a job she loves and a handsome fiancé: all she’s ever dreamed of since getting sober and painstakingly piecing her life back together.

 But a chance encounter with her old best friend, Becky, threatens Kate’s newfound and fragile happiness. She remembers nothing of the last drunken night out, the night Becky broke off their friendship without warning or explanation.

With Becky back in her life, Katie is desperate to make amends for the past. For the closure she craves, Kate needs to know what she did that ruined everything. But what is the truth is worse than Kate could’ve imagined?’

A blurb sufficient to whet your appetite. Then you begin the book and you realise you are starving! For the first two pages suggest a less than straightforward fiction and you are urged on by the perceived premise of those opening paragraphs.

When I used the phrase ‘substance dependence’ I was trying very hard not to offer a spoiler. But it would be hard to write about this book without acknowledging that Kate’s problem has been that of alcoholism. The blurb does hint of it by mentioning her getting sober but a very large part of the book deals with the acknowledgement that alcoholism is a disease, an illness and sufferers require treatment and support. The story also highlights the pressure and strains that such an illness can place upon friends and family and the damage that can be done. But it is also a redemptive tale. I think that makes the book an important one and may offer help and hope to sufferers of this dreadful illness. Alcoholism might be seen as a sensitive subject to deal with effectively in a fiction but I believe the author has done so convincingly and with such compassion that I am fearful that much first hand experience went into the writing of this book.  If so, then I hope writing this book was a cathartic experience. 

But it is more than a signpost to Alcoholics Anonymous for it explores the nature of friendship and family ties. As you progress through the narrative suspicions start to creep in as to the credibility of some of the characters and the nature of, Becky,  the best friend, and the secret. For the author skilfully leads the reader down one path, we are fully engaged with Kate and we see things from her perspective but is that necessarily the correct one? The final twist, the secret, wasn’t wholly predictable but all the clues were there, I guess, for the astute reader and it’s explosive.

I found it easy to read in spite of the sometime challenging story line. The characters were well drawn and believable. Kate’s vulnerability was skilfully portrayed and Becky, enigmatic and elusive as Kate tries to unravel the ‘secret’. Oliver’s almost perfection had me pondering. The locations were described palpably. Camden, always a vibrant, cosmopolitan  part of London, the sights and sounds come alive. This is a credible debut from a new writer of whom I am sure we will be hearing more of in the future.

My thanks to Joe Christie at Quercus Books for a gifted copy and a place upon the blog tour. My opinion is but one. Do see what my blogging colleagues have to say about this book. 

Sleepless - Romy Hausmann translated by Jamie Bulloch

 ‘ It's been years since Nadja Kulka was convicted of a cruel crime. After being released from prison, she's wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven - free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja's boss - kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can't seem to be able to refuse. 

The two women make for a remote house in the woods, the perfect place to bury a body. But their plan quickly falls apart and Nadja finds herself outplayed, a pawn in a bizarre game in which she is both the perfect victim and the perfect murderer . . . 

Dark secrets past and present collide in this haunting novel of guilt and retribution from the internationally bestselling author of Dear Child.’

Romy Hausmann seems to have this incredible knack, within the psychology/thriller genre, of taking tried and tested themes that could so easily present as formulaic but she never lets that happen. She turns those themes on their head and renders them into something completely fresh and new. I felt that with “Dear Child“ and I feel exactly the same with “Sleepless“. 

And if that sounds as if the author is becoming formulaic in her style then think again! It’s not the case.  In ‘Dear Child’ I engaged with some of the characters and they just captured my heart but in Sleepless I found myself dispassionate towards them. I didn’t feel that any of them were particularly likeable people. And I’ve always believed that an important part of this type of thriller. Because the reader can remain objective. I suppose towards the end of the book I found myself becoming a little more kindly disposed towards Nadja. She’s a damaged soul.

I had the sense of very controlled, slow paced writing. There are many strands within the book that require the reader to pay attention and focus carefully on all the information being given. There are times when you’re questioning how one strand relates to the others and some patient reading persistence is required and the rewards are immense!

The author has an acute sense of the atmospheric and there was often a sense of having to look over one’s shoulder because one felt so unnerved. Even in the warmth of one’s own home the sense of being alone in a forest was palpable. It’s very skilful writing and there’s almost a feeling that the reader is being manipulated, in the nicest possible way of course. But it’s that delicious relationship between author and reader, A kind of literary sandwich where the actual story is the filling in between the slice of writer and reader. You need all the components to end up with the end product. Maybe that’s stating the obvious but I think there are some books where all the reader needs is to sit back and be entertained. Yet there are other books like this where the reader is required to put some effort in for maximum benefit and pleasure.

The twists are delightful. Very much a case of “I never saw that coming“.Structurally we are getting some letter extracts all meticulously numbered, some chapters defined by their dates and others that relate to Nadya and written in the first person. It makes me think that the plotting is detailed and scrupulous But I have to chuckle here. For I was fortunate enough to be able to interview Romy when Dear Child was published and I asked her about plotting. This is what she said.

‘ Don't laugh, but I actually plot too little. I have only one basic idea and a few individual key points that I know I want to talk about – the rest is relatively organic if you let yourself be led by your characters. They show you the way, and if they are well laid out and consistent, everything will come together in the end.’

For me, I think that makes it all the more impressive! If you’re interested in reading the whole of that interview here is the link.

https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2020/05/an-interview-with-romy-hausmann-author.html

Yet again, Jamie Bulloch has done an impressive job with the translation.

My thanks to Joe Christie at Quercus Books for a gifted copy of Sleepless.

Songbirds - Christy Lefteri

 If you were in any way worried that Christy Lefteri would be unable match The Beekeeper of Aleppo then relax! Songbirds is as good if not better. Like Beekeeper it will stay with you long after you’ve finished reading.

It’s a beautifully constructed novel and the prose flows with elegance and fluidity. In common with Beekeeper this is a tale of people, not refugees in this case, but migrant workers forced to leave their own environments in order to earn enough money to live and support their loved ones. And you get a sense from the novel of just how desperate people become before they take this drastic step. It’s a story also that powerfully illustrates how class and race can dramatically impact outcomes. But it’s a story, too, of love and loss and how an individual may deal with those states. 

‘When there is love, there is safe place for sadness.’

 The story is told from the perspectives of Petra, a widowed optician raising her child and Yiannis, a forager by day and a poacher of songbirds by night. The story unfolds through their narratives and we learn of their lives and that of Nisha, a domestic worker from Sri Lanka. Petra has employed Nisha for the past nine years. Nisha is in a relationship with Yiannis. The thrust of the story pivots on Nisha’s unexplained disappearance.

Petra and Yiannis are poles apart socially but their solidarity towards the common goal of finding out what has happened to Nisha enables them to contemplate themselves and their own lives, a journey of discovery. Their mission also highlights how little Petra really knows of Nisha and the unfolding of that realisation and comprehension is poignant. Important, too, is Petra’s daughter, Aliki, and another commanding part of the story is how the dynamic of their mother/daughter relationship is affected by Nisha’s disappearance. But Nisha has a daughter too, and she is the reason Nisha came to Cyprus in the first place - to earn money for her child’s education.

It’s a slow paced story which demonstrates the agonising frustration and hindrance of prejudice and bureaucracy. There’s an understated simplicity to the writing that belies the complexity of situations and emotions described. Yet there remains a certain sense of hope at the end of the story.

I saw the songbirds as symbolic of the fragility and potential dangers of migration. As characters in the book their plights and fates were heartbreaking and upsetting but as a literary device they impress as a potent metaphor. 

My thanks to Readers First for my gifted copy.

A Deadly Coincidence - Keith Finney Blog Tour

 I love the paradox of ‘cosy crime’ ! Always wondering how any crime can ever be cosy. But of course its not the crime that’s cosy, it’s everything else!

This story is apparently the first in a new series set in the fictional Norfolk village of Lipton St. Faith.  As well as nestling comfortably in the crime genre it also fulfils the historic fiction genre with its WWII  setting. Anna Grix is our feisty, no nonsense heroine with an insatiable curiosity. When her path crosses that of American serviceman, Eddie,  the two form an alliance that sees them sleuthing their way across the Norfolk Broads.

It’s an entertaining read with a credible plot and some well defined characters. There was a sense of the Golden Age of Crime about it. Old fashioned policing for a start, requiring DIY forensics from Anna and Eddie, but the narrative seemed to transport the reader effortlessly back to a previous age with authentic dialogue and attention to detail where the reader never doubts for a moment they are experiencing a small community dealing with war and all its implications.

For all its cosiness there are moments of intrigue and tension not to mention danger for both our protagonists. But it’s all neatly resolved by the end of the story with a promise of more on the horizon. I look forward the next Lipton St. Faith mystery.

Author Bio
Keith is British and was born in the United Kingdom; grew up playing the horn in Brass Bands, and earned pocket money delivering newspapers. Between leaving school and taking up his apprenticeship in carpentry, Keith sold ice cream at a drive-in tourist park.

Discovering construction sites involved working in the wind and rain, which he hated, Keith opened a joinery workshop. He ran this until becoming a college lecturer ten years later.

Over the following twenty years, he steadily rose through the ranks, ending up as an Assistant Principal at a large college of further & higher education in Norfolk.

Now retired, Keith divides his time between writing, volunteering for the National Trust and helping child-mind his two youngest grandchildren. However, his wife calls into question Keith’s definition of ‘helping’.