Our Kind of Cruelty (Araminta Hall)

Gillian Flynn, otherwise known as the Gone Girl priestess, wrote a blurb for Araminta Hall's Our Kind of Cruelty.  In it, she stated that the novel was disturbing but that she loved every minute of it. It seems every dark and twisted thriller nowadays is judged on how it compares to GG, but I will put myself out there to say that this outranks it in the need to "feel like you must take a shower afterwards."

That's not to say it's not a great read -- I couldn't put it down!  Our narrator is Mike Hayes, who is totally, completely, and blissfully in love with Verity Metcalf.  Mike and Verity do a sick and twisted role play game called the Crave.  While they were once together as a couple, Verity breaks it off over Mike's one night stand and rebounds quickly into a happy marriage with Angus.  But Mike sees Verity's new stage of life as just a part of their "game," and eventually goes deep into stalking her, with things taking a very dangerous turn.

You won't find the twists in Our Kind of Cruelty that you found in GG, but the suspense is the real "killer" here.  From the very first page, the reader knows that Mike and Verity's story will not end well.  It's getting to that point that keeps you turning the pages fast.

MY RATING - 4

Reconstructing Amelia (Kimberly McCreight)

After reading the last page of Kimberly McCreight's extraordinary Reconstructing Amelia, I felt exactly like I did after finishing Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl -- like I had just been put through a washing machine on the spin cycle.  However, while I couldn't wait to exorcise Nick and Amy Dunne from my brain (even though I loved Gone Girl), I found myself thinking about Amelia's story long after I turned the final page.

Reconstructing Amelia is the story of bullying to the extreme.  Kate is a high-powered lawyer who one day gets a call out of the blue to come pick up Amelia, her daughter, from school.  Amelia has been caught up in a cheating incident, which is very hard to believe because she is a perfect student.  Upon arriving at the school, Kate is told that her daughter has jumped off the roof of the building; it is ruled a suicide.  However, when Kate begins to get texts that her daughter did not jump, she becomes obsessed with learning the true story of what happened. Through Kate's narration, Amelia's narration, Facebook posts, and texts, the reader is slowly given the entire picture...as heartbreaking as that is.

I cannot even imagine being a middle school or high school student in today's world of social media.  No longer is bullying limited to a physical altercation in the schoolyard; now it is much more sinister.  McCreight effortlessly pieces together Amelia's story until the reader is left with the unforgettable conclusion.

MY RATING - 5

The Silent Wife (A.S.A. Harrison)

For the first time in over four years of book reviewing, I am about to give an in-between rating.  I’m not going to make a habit of doing this, but this particular novel did not deserve to be rounded up or down to either whole number.  So A.S.A. Harrison…your newest book forced me to do something against my blog rules!

First, do not for one minute listen to those people who are comparing this to Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.  That does not continue to be a bestselling phenomenon just for the heck of it; it’s an extremely well-written tale of a marriage gone horribly wrong and gave me a cloying sense of claustrophobia while reading it.  As I stated in my December 2012 review, “I strongly suggest to Ms. Flynn that she lock herself in a room with puppies, rainbows, apple pie, and other happy things.” I am not in any way comparing the writing of Flynn and Harrison, as they are both very strong.  However, Flynn knew when her trainwreck (in the best possible way) of a story was done; Harrison fills her tale with needless psychobabble, a pointless delve into the main character’s past, and an ending that just won’t quit (in a not-so-good way).

The Silent Wife is told in two viewpoints, HIM (being Todd) and HER (being Jodi).  Todd and Jodi have been together for decades, never marrying or having kids, until Todd begins to have an affair with his friend’s daughter.  When he learns that he is going to be a father, he “leaves” Jodi, coming back once or twice for the night only when he misses her.  The final straw is when he sends her an eviction notice, forcing Jodi to think about her future.  Even though Jodi is “The Silent Wife”, not standing up for herself until Todd leaves, the reader learns that she is actually astonishingly calculating.  Her emotionless, horrifying actions made my blood run cold.

I couldn’t put The Silent Wife down…until I could.  Harrison would have earned a solid 4 if not for filling her pages with things that didn’t need to be there.  This book would have been excellent if Harrison whittled things down about 25 pages.

MY RATING – 3.5

The Dinner (Herman Koch)

The past few years have seen books trending towards the psychological thriller.  Some, such as William Landay’s Defending Jacob and S.J. Watson’s Before I Go to Sleep are like giant puzzles, just begging for the reader to put them together.  Others, like Gillian Flynn’s phenomenally successful Gone Girl, practically make the reader feel queasy inside and want to take a shower at the end.  Herman Koch’s international bestseller The Dinner is a hybrid of the two styles.

We start off with Paul and Claire, a husband and wife, getting ready for to go to an exorbitantly expensive restaurant with Paul’s brother and sister-in-law, Serge and Babette.  As Paul is the narrator (and he becomes an increasingly unreliable one at that as The Dinner progresses), we quickly learn that he does not want to go, but we're left to think that it’s because he does not get along with Serge.  Before they leave, Paul goes to his son’s (Michel’s) room to search for something on Michel’s cell phone.  We know that Paul found what he was looking for but do not quite know what that is until the real reason for the dinner becomes horrifyingly clear. 

Koch wisely fills the book with minutiae that lulls the reader almost into a false sense of complacency.  He describes the food ad nauseam, brilliantly naming each section after the dinner courses.  Then, without warning, Koch pulls the rug out from under us; the serene meal descriptions stop so he can get into the real “meat” of the story, and we are reminded that, unfortunately, things are rarely what they seem.

MY RATING - 4

Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn)

I strongly suggest to author Gillian Flynn that she lock herself in a room with puppies, rainbows, apple pie, and other happy things.  The bestselling author of Sharp Objects and Dark Places has done it again with the enormously successful, grotesque (in a good way) Gone Girl.  When I say enormously successful, I was 895th on the library’s waiting list.  It’s the heartpounding account of a marriage gone bad, and like a train wreck, I couldn’t look away and always came racing back for more.

It's impossible to say much about Gone Girl without giving key parts of the plot away.  What I will say is that Flynn has created a mindboggling tale, which is dripping with suspense and twists you never see coming.  I felt a cloying sense of claustrophobia while reading Nick and Amy's story, but that didn't stop me from coming back to it night after night.  The key characters are realistic but over-the-top at the same time.

I apologize for this being short and sweet, but the less I say about this book the better, lest I give too much away.  But Gillian Flynn, seriously...puppies.

MY RATING - 5

Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn)

After reviewing another Flynn novel, "Dark Places", a few posts ago, I was a little hesitant to do another one. Don't get me wrong. Flynn is a very talented author, but you really have to be in the mood for her. Her books are not frivolous beach reads, filled with rich girls shopping and sleeping around to their hearts content. Flynn's novels are dark and messy. The covers are jet black, with one small picture in the middle. I have to say that of the two, I preferred the book I am about to review, "Sharp Objects".

This is the story of Camille Preaker, a Chicago newspaper reporter. Camille is sent back to her hometown in Missouri to report on the murders of two preteen girls. While there, she must deal with family ghosts...a mother who never loved her, a half-sister she has never met, and a sister who died long ago. Her past is not pretty, but she must confront it if she wants to report on the murders and get on with her life.

"Sharp Objects" is hard to put down but not a fun read. Gillian Flynn just needs to go on vacation somewhere and relax to get away from her dark side. I will be reviewing "Twenties Girl" by Sophie Kinsella, the queen of chick lit, very soon! I need to get back into "summer" mode!

MY RATING - 4

Nineteen Minutes (Jodi Picoult)

Oh, yes....another Picoult book. Get used to it. She is an outstanding writer and deserves every bit of her success. I am in the process of reading "Sharp Objects" by Gillian Flynn, so while I am finishing that, here is another Picoult to devour.

Think about a ripped-from-the-headlines issue that you feel sharply for or sharply against. Picoult takes these issues and, in her "I have no idea how she does it way", makes you see all sides. How can you possibly have even an iota of sympathy for some of the characters in her books? You will....you just wait and see.

What can you do in nineteen minutes? Bake cookies? Dust the bedroom? What can you do that will change everything as you know it? Accidentally fall down the stairs? Jump off a bridge in a fit of despair? "Nineteen Minutes" is the story of a shocking, violent school shooting. Sterling, New Hampshire, is changed forever in nineteen minutes. Once the killer is identified, Picoult makes the reader feel uneasy. What role does society play in tragedies such as these? Most importantly, who has the right to judge anyone else?

MY RATING - 5

Dark Places (Gillian Flynn)

I stumbled across "Dark Places" one day in the library. It immediately struck me how similar Gillian Flynn's style is to one of my favorite authors, Jennifer McMahon. There is one key difference, however. The reason you cannot stop reading a McMahon novel is because you just have to find out what happens. The reason you cannot stop reading a Flynn novel is quite the opposite. You actually DON'T want to find out what happens, but you are powerless to stop yourself. As the king of macabre, Stephen King, says in a blurb on the jacket of "Sharp Objects" (which I am currently reading and will review in a future post), "I found myself dreading the last thirty pages or so but was helpless to stop turning them."

Let's start with the main character, Libby Day. When she was seven years old, most of her immediate family was murdered in front of her. She testified that her brother, Ben Day, was the killer. Fast forward twenty-five years later. Ben is in prison, and Libby lives off the money she makes from her trust funds. You know Libby is a not-so-nice girl when she regrets new murders that occur because they will take attention away from "her".

The Kill Club, a group of people obsessed with famous crimes, contacts Libby when they become convinced that Ben did not commit the murders. Money-hungry Libby decides that this is her prime opportunity to make more money. She will tell the club what she knows and contact key players in exchange for hefty fees.

Who is the killer? What is the motive? What happened twenty-five years ago? Libby is certainly not a Pollyanna, and she is not a character you will root for. However, you will desperately want to find out the answers to these questions.

MY RATING - 4