Tag Archives: Murder

Monsters by Emerald Fennell

10 Tuesday Nov 2015

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Sometimes murder is child’s play….

I read this in one sitting last night and my skin is still crawling – my mind feels slightly disconnected, altered somehow. Don’t let the Blyton-esque cover fool you. This is a dark, deeply disturbing portrait of childhood gone wrong, in the vein of The Wasp Factory and We Need to Talk About Kevin – not for the easily perturbed.monsters

The nameless narrator is a twelve-year-old girl whose parents “got smushed to death in a boating accident when I was nine. Don’t worry – I’m not that sad about it.” Sent to live with her true-crime-obsessed Grandma, the girl develops an unhealthy interest in serial killers. Spending the summer with her aunt and uncle who run a crappy hotel in Fowey, Cornwall,  that interest will spiral out of control.

Two exciting things happen that summer. Firstly, the body of a naked woman is hauled out of the sea. Secondly, a thirteen-year-old boy called Miles comes to stay in the hotel. Completely dominated by his vile mother, Miles is unlike other boys, and the girl becomes Miles’s first friend. They quickly discover they share a passion for the macabre, and deciding to investigate the murder (as the police, they agree, are hopeless), the pair show the reader the underside of Fowey – not so much picturesque fishing village, as Royston Vasey by the sea. They also enjoy passing time playing the “murder game”, in which Miles attempts to strangle or drown the girl – a game which hints at the darker turn the story will inevitably take. As their friendship develops, and it becomes clear that a real serial killer is on the prowl, the pressure builds and builds until the children’s repressed emotions break free.

The narration is superb – the girl’s voice is as clear as crystal and utterly compelling. And through her narration we see the truth of things – yes, the children are monstrous, but so are the adults that surround them, who turn blind eyes to the children’s trauma and saturate them with shame. It is little wonder that things turn out the way they do. This is a portrait of how children turn bad, and how society likes to pretend that it happens in isolation – the children must have been “born evil”. The truth is far more disturbing.

Monsters is not for the faint-hearted – it’s ending is very shocking and the themes that it explores are uncomfortable in the extreme. But it’s brave and original, and lingers long in the mind. I really couldn’t put it down – it’s exceptional.

Aimed at a young adult audience, I would recommend this for 14+ to adult; and I think it’s definitely a novel adults should read, as it raises a dark mirror to the way we raise (or fail to raise) our children.

Hot Key Books, 2015, ISBN 9781471404627

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

21 Sunday Sep 2014

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Last year it seemed like everyone was reading Gone Girl, and I just never caught on. So I thought I’d try Sharp Objects, Flynn’s first novel, before catching up with the rest of the universe. It’s a disturbing read, both in subject matter and in the resonance to relationships many of us have experienced in the real world.

Camille is a journalist assigned to cover the case of a second missing girl in her home town in backwater Missouri, sent because her boss thinks her local knowledge will be useful. But Camille detests her home, and her relationship with her family is fractured beyond repair. On her return she realises that she is still the outsider – while everyone else closes ranks and turns blind eyes to the secrets that haunt the town. As Camille becomes embroiled in a complex relationship with the investigating detective, Richard, she discovers that to find justice for the missing (and murdered) girls she has to blow her own life apart.

The crux of this book is the potentially poisonous nature of relationships between women, and it doesn’t make for comfortable reading. From the insidious gossip that characterises peer groups, to the disturbed behaviour that can evolve between mothers and daughters, this is an unflinching expose of the worst aspects of female nature. I saw the twist coming but it was no less hard-hitting for that; this tortured narrator with her own faults is compulsively readable, and her tragedy lingers in the mind long after the book is finished. Excellent, and deservedly award-winning.

Rating:****

Phoenix, 2007, ISBN 9780753822210

The Carrier by Sophie Hannah

16 Wednesday Apr 2014

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This is a really tricky one to review. I usually love Hannah’s books – they’re properly riveting, and shocking, and uncomfortable. The Carrier is definitely uncomfortable, but I can’t say I enjoyed that feeling this time. And looking at the reviews on Amazon, it seems to have similarly divided other fans.

Gaby is a wealthy businesswoman who ends up sharing a bedroom with gobby Lauren when her flight home from Germany is cancelled. Lauren is hysterical – revealing that an innocent man is about to go to prison for murder – and it just happens that that man is Tim Breary, Gaby’s ex-lover. Gaby determines to help him clear his name…

Without giving the plot away, this novel is about ethics in relationships. None of the characters are remotely likeable – not even the police officers, who are far more philosophical than normal detectives. Reading it made me frustrated as I couldn’t care about anyone enough to be on their side. But having mulled it over for a few days, I think that may have been Hannah’s whole point. The ending is a shock, and really made me think, and that I didn’t like the main protagonists made it have more of an impact. What is abuse within a relationship, and where is the “line”? What could you tolerate? What extremes would you go to? No one is innocent in The Carrier, and Hannah’s depiction of various types of abuse is actually deft and sensitive. While she completely overturns your expectations, she’s challenging you to stop thinking in a simplistic way. Relationships are torture, abuse isn’t always visible, and the innocent may be guilty,as the guilty are innocent. Complex and ultimately disturbing, this is one that’s going to stay with me for a long time.

Hodder, 2013, ISBN 9780340980743

The Truth Will Out by Jane Isaac

15 Tuesday Apr 2014

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What would you do if you witnessed an assault over the internet? That’s the dilemma facing Eva when a Skype call to her best friend Naomi turns nasty. In fear for her own life, Eva flees… and DCI Helen Lavery is the woman left picking up the pieces. Uncovering a web of corruption, violence and drugs, her own life is soon on the line. But who can she trust?

Issac’s second novel is an enjoyably tense read with a sympathetic heroine in Helen Lavery, who juggles single parenthood with a career. I liked the domestic detail of Helen’s life and felt that she was portrayed positively, without the fatal flaw that is compulsory for so many fictional detectives – she’s successful in her field, has a relatively normal family life, and her love life is instantly recognisable. Lavery’s understandable need for emotional and sexual distraction is realistically portrayed and the consequences of her choices are gripping; rather than a fatal flaw, she’s a normal woman, facing the same relationship turbulence that we all experience, and that makes her an eminently empathetic character.

The plot also deviates from the standard crime story by showing us the identity of the killer early on; this led me down a few blind alleys in terms of my expectations of what would happen – I was expected the killer to feature far more heavily in the last half of the book – but instead it twists into a different type of crime story, becoming far more focused on the inner circle of Lavery’s world, and it’s stronger for that. I also debated Eva’s actions quite a lot – would I react like that? – but I think that’s where a book group would have a great time arguing for and against!

The Truth Will Out is an enjoyable thriller with a strong female lead. The opening gambit is strong and compelling, and the twists and turns of the plot (some I was ahead of, and some were a shock!) kept me glued to my bench in the April sunshine. I was fortunate to be able to attend the launch of this title, and wish Jane every success with this and future novels.

Legend Press, 2013, ISBN 9781909878556

Poppet by Mo Hayder

05 Wednesday Mar 2014

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Reading Mo Hayder is a singularly visceral experience. I can only describe it as like the bit on a rollercoaster when you’re inching up the track, knowing that any moment you’ll plunge downwards at terrifying speed, leaving your insides miles behind you – the anticipation is terrifying, and the outcome… well. You can work it out. I read Hanging Hill when it first came out and the ending to that story still makes me go ice cold when I think about it – it was a brilliant piece of thriller writing. And Poppet didn’t disappoint – I was hooked from the first graphically nasty opener to the shock ending.

It starts as a horror story – the residents of the secure psychiatric hospital are being tormented by a small, vicious ghost they call the Maude, which is driving them to self-harm in horrendous ways. But psychiatric nurse AJ LeGrande – Average Joe – isn’t convinced that the cause is supernatural. Could it be one of the patients themselves? Calling on Detective Inspector Jack Caffrey for help, AJ is determined to stop the culprit before anyone else gets hurt. But his mission is complicated by his new romance with the unit’s boss, Melanie, whom he fears may be the next target of the Maude….

Meanwhile Jack Caffrey has his own problems, both with murder and with love. You don’t need to have read the previous books in this series to get a sense of this complicated cop and the moral nightmare in which he’s caught; he’s an intriguing character and his story arc is tense and compulsive.

Hayder does not shirk away from nastiness but her descriptions are just short enough of graphic detail to leave you breathless for more, rather than stomach-churningly off-putting. They are tautly plotted with lots of twists and turns that keep you hooked throughout – there are no lulls, no bits to skip, she keeps you right there in the action all the time. I loved AJ’s character and was vicariously living the story through his eyes all the way. And the ending was brilliant – so right, so satisfying, and yet so sad. I loved this book and it’s creepy cover – and yes, that shiver is still firmly in my spine. Rating: ****

Bantam Books, 2013, ISBN 9780857500762

The Merrily Watkins series by Phil Rickman

09 Sunday Feb 2014

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The last two weeks I’ve made no secret of the fact that I have an unhealthy new obsession. I’ve told everyone that will listen the intricate ins and outs of this series of crime novels and have completely neglected doing any housework at all, gripped by the convoluted plots and bizarre characters created by this man. In short, I’m doing the fan thing.

I posted earlier on the blog about The Magus of Hay and how much I enjoyed it. So I kept my promise and read more in the series, and it’s become an addiction. It’s a most unlikely premise – on the Welsh border near Hereford, single mum and parish priest Merrily Watkins reluctantly takes on the role of Deliverance minister (or exorcist) and finds herself embroiled in the machinations of the local community, both spiritually and criminally. So far she’s encountered a sexually predatory Bishop, a solicitor who won’t let his dead wife go, a group of SAS-wannabes who may have commited murder… Not to mention a varied assortment of witches and Druids who challenge her belief system, and supernatural entities that are giving her serious grief…. So gritty crime meets religion head on, and somehow it works. Brilliantly.

I totally believe in Merrily as a character, and in her circle of friends. Her daughter Jane, who’s a pagan, is feisty and fun to read about – I was gripping the arm of my chair in The Secrets of Pain as she walked into horrendous danger. Lol, Merrily’s would-be boyfriend, is likeable and I really wish they’d sort it out and get together. The relationship between the two detectives Frannie Bliss and Annie Howe adds a whole new level of tension. And is Deliverance instructor Huw friend or foe? He’s not at all ambiguous…

But I love, love, love Gomer Parry. This down-to-earth, practical grandfather-figure who stands for no nonsense and saves the day in his JCB. Frequently. Awesome isn’t the word!

It’s kind of like a grittier Midsomer Murders on speed. There’s so much going on, and I can never predict what’s going to happen next or how it will end. I’m reading them slightly out of sequence, but I can’t get enough. Rickman touches on many themes, creating a complex world which takes social and religious issues and puts them under an intense microscope. His sense of place is brilliant, both in his descriptions and in his characterisation, revealing a real tension between town and country, local or incomer. I particularly like how the religious aspect is handled. You can take the supernatural elements as real or as just part of the characters’ interpretations of events; the dying Denzil Joy may be just a nasty man who leaves unpleasant memories behind, or a sexually deviant ghost, but either way his malignant presence is horrible and unsettling. The scene in the hospital (scritch scratch) will haunt me for a long time. And both sides of the religious debate, Christian and Pagan, are shown as good and evil in equal measure. The stresses of being a female minister in a traditionally man’s world are not glossed over either.

In short, Rickman’s damn good.

There’s a website at www.philrickman.co.uk that gives you the lowdown on the real life inspiration for the series (both people and places). And a mention that the Merrily Watkins series has been optioned by ITV Drama…. Fingers crossed!

Now for the next one…

Midwinter of the Spirit, Corvus, ISBN 978-0857890108

A Crown of Lights, Corvus, ISBN 978-0857890115

The Secrets of Pain, Corvus, ISBN 978-1848872752

The Magus of Hay by Phil Rickman

21 Tuesday Jan 2014

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Ooh, interesting! This was a Kindle daily deal which tempted me with the alluring of combination of paganism, murder and quirky bookshops, set just over the Welsh border. It’s part of a series – Merrily Watkins – chronicling the (mis)adventures of a parish exorcist, none of which I’ve read before so I plunged right into the latest installment. It reads well enough alone so you can follow the action, although the ongoing stories of the recurring characters remained slightly shrouded in mystery. But I enjoyed it nonetheless, and I’ve just downloaded the first two books in the series so I can get to grips with the beginning.

It’s certainly a different premise for a crime series. Merrily is the exorcist, called in to help (officially and unoffically) when bizarre occurances threaten the sanctity of Hay-on-Wye, famous for its bookselling trade. In this story, the death of a mysterious old man who lived a semi-isolated life up in the hills opens up a can of worms when his identity as a chaos magician is uncovered. Earlier in his life he had written extensively on how magic was central to the Nazi ideology, and this earned him unsavoury followers whom he spent years trying to avoid. But did someone uncover his past, and is his death a form of magical intent? When a young police officer investigating the case goes missing, events take an even darker turn.

I’ve not been to Hay-on-Wye for over twenty years, but I could really picture the town, and get a good feel of its inhabitants. The newcomers Betty and Robin with their creepy bookshop, which just might be the scene of a decades-old murder, are very sympathetic. And I loved Jeeter. Now I want to know if the actual shops are really there! The atmosphere is also built up very convincingly, as this seemingly picturesque town is revealed to harbour a sinister undercurrent of violence and hatred. Oddly, I didn’t want to leave, so engrossed I become with this odd community.

What did startle me was that according to the author, the story is not as far-fetched as it might appear – “For reasons of credibility, the eccentricity of Hay has been underplayed” he states in the credits. Several of the characters mentioned are actually real people, and the history that forms an integral part of the setting is true, as is the landscape. There are lots of famous people whose names are casually dropped, from Beryl Bainbridge to Aleister Crowley. But worryingly the satanic neo-Nazi groups on the Welsh border are also rather too real. It’s certainly challenged my romantic view of Wales…. But as a “slack pagan” myself I found it intriguing; the interplay of Christianity, neo-Paganism and and fascism could have been sensational, hysterical and misinformed, but Rickman handles it sensitively. I half-expected to be offended by the way in which Christianity or Paganism were depicted, but gratifyingly I wasn’t.

I can’t wait to read other books in this series. They’re refreshing, melding esoteric, mythical beliefs with the cold hard reality of a crime investigation, and producing something quite unique.

Atlantic Books, ISBN 9780857898685 (paperback, due June 2014)

Before the Poison by Peter Robinson

22 Sunday Sep 2013

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This was a really enjoyable read which livened up my lunch breaks, by the author of the DCI Banks crime novels. Before the Poison is a standalone novel so a good place to start if you’ve never tried Robinson before. It tells the tale of an infamous murder case in the 1950s, in which a woman was hanged for her husband’s murder. In the present day, composer Chris moves back to England after the death of his wife, buying the isolated farmhouse in which the murder occurred. Before long he’s obsessed with the story of the scarlet woman Grace Fox, and determined to prove her innocent of the crime. The dead woman is enigmatic and inscrutable, but Chris feels an emotional connection to her, so much so that he can see her in the shadows of the house…. Ghostly undertones aside, as her story is slowly unravelled he will uncover much more than human tragedy, but endurance beyond belief, the shocking capacity for evil that lurks behind the facade of respectability, and corruption that reaches into the present day. The truth behind the events of that fateful night in 1953 is revealed with aplomb, and Robinson creates a convincing and highly readable mystery with characters that engage you. I thoroughly enjoyed this spooky murder mystery and will definitely read more by this author. Rating: ***

Hodder, 2012, ISBN 9781444704853

Broken Harbour by Tana French

21 Wednesday Aug 2013

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Cover reproduced with kind permission of Hodder

Cover reproduced with kind permission of Hodder

“Let’s get one thing straight: I was the perfect man for this case.”

Tana French is fast becoming my favourite crime writer. Her intricately constructed tales are focused on character, and her meticulous exploration of the psychology of human beings is riveting; her novels are not just about the crime of murder but also about the trauma of living.

In Broken Harbour, detective Michael Kennedy has a record number of “solves”. So he’s confident, when he attends the crime scene with rookie Richie Curran, that he’ll soon close the disturbing case of a family butchered in their own home. Statistics say the father is the most likely perpetrator, but the private life of the Spain family is a riddle that Kennedy determines to crack. But nothing is as it seems, and Kennedy’s private life is about to intrude into the investigation in a big way.

I just got lost in this story. Kennedy is perhaps not as strong a character as Rob and Cassie, her previous detectives, but I was soon embroiled in his flawed viewpoint and moral dilemmas. The rest of the cast, with their complex and intriguing motivations, really live and breathe. Her evocation of the dying housing estate is hauntingly moving and the broken harbour of the title takes on a multiplicity of meanings as the story slowly unravels. And I didn’t see the ending coming.

I think what stays with you in all French’s novels is the sense that moral judgement is meaningless. All her protagonists are faced with huge choices between right and wrong, and whatever they do there isn’t actually a right answer; we do what we do, and we have to bear the consequences. Her stories are haunting, disturbing because they have such truth in them, and beautifully wrought. Rating: *****

Hodder, 2012, ISBN 9780340977651

The Devil’s Cave and The Resistance Man by Martin Walker

27 Monday May 2013

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The lovely thing about sunny bank holiday weekends, the chance to laze about in the garden with good books! Heaven! Being very far from anywhere exotic however, I chose two books set in rural France, so at least I could imagine I was on a proper holiday while I sipped my cheap French beer. I’d not come across Martin Walker and his fictional detective hero Bruno Courreges before, but found myself thoroughly enjoying these murder mysteries set in the small town of St Denis, and although I’d not read previous escapades it did not detract from the experience.

In The Devil’s Cave, Bruno, chef de police, is charged with solving the mysterious death of a young woman found floating naked and dead in a small boat down the river, with signs that her death may involve sinister rituals. Before long the local press are having a field day invoking rumours of a satanic cult and some of the local people are encouraging the stories in an attempt to increase the tourist trade. Dealing with local politics, including protests about the development of a tourist resort in the town, leads Bruno into a complex case of financial, sexual and historical intrigue, all the while trying to balance his own complicated love life. In The Resistance Man, an antiques dealer is found dead and the prime suspect is linked to a conspiracy harking back to the Second World War, while Bruno has to deal with his own guilt about a previous case of homophobic violence that is far too close to his current assignment.

Bruno is a satisfying protagonist with an interesting past and is given an ongoing story arc with his romantic relationships. He is not as tortured as many modern fictional detectives, and if I have one critical comment it would be that I would have liked more insight into his interior world, to understand what is making him tick (other than food – of which there are many loving descriptions – his dog, and his romantic entanglements!). But there are many hints as to a darker past in his armed forces experience, and this leaves you space to construct his character in your own head. The recurrent members of the cast are painted simply but well, and it evoked a similar feel to Midsomer Murders in that although the details of the crimes are gruesome and shocking, they are not dwelt upon, so reading this series is a pleasurable rather than tortuous experience. There are no graphic descriptions, no overwrought pushing beyond the boundaries of taste, that many modern crime novels resort to in order to terrify and titillate. Instead they’re simply highly readable, well-constructed tales, that you can relax into and enjoy. If you like Henning Mankell’s Wallander novels, or Camilla Lackberg’s Patrick Hedstrom stories, you’ll enjoy Martin Walker’s Bruno novels. And they are perfect reads for sunny Sundays, although be warned, the gratutious descriptions of French cuisine will make you hungry (and jealous!). Rating:***

The Devil’s Cave, Quercus, 2012, ISBN 9781780870700

The Reistance Man, Quercus, 2013, ISBN 9781780870717

Copies of these books were provided by the publisher