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The Teacher's Secret by Lauren North
Published: 23rd February 2024

Wednesday 26 November 2014

REVIEW: Ted and Ann by Rebecca Morris


Ted and Ann: the Mystery of a Missing Child and her Neighbor Ted Bundy by Rebecca Morris
Genre: True Crime
Read: 26th November 2014
Purchase: Amazon

★★★★★ 5 stars

DID HE OR DIDN'T HE?
I've read a number of books on Ted Bundy, and this one is definitely an eye opener and interesting look into the younger Ted.

But let is not forget about why this book was written. 53 years ago, a trusting and somewhat flirty 8 year old girl disappeared from her home and vanished without a trace - never to be seen again. Her parents went to their graves never knowing what became of their eldest daughter, and that in itself has to be heartbreaking, if not devastating.

So did Ted Bundy kill Ann Marie Burr in 1961 at the tender age of 14? I know what I believe, but I'll let you be the judge.

Wednesday 5 November 2014

REVIEW: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn


"Gone Girl" by Gillian Flynn
Genre: Thriller
Read: 5th November 2014
Purchase: Amazon

★★★ 3 stars
Firstly, I would not call this the "thriller of the year". I'm not even sure it's a thriller!

So I ummed and ahhed about giving this 2 or 3 stars because I've certainly read better more deserving of the 3 stars, yet I enjoyed the second half of the ride enough to give it more than 2. I think maybe I'm caught in the "do I or don't I?"/"am I or aren't I?" world of Nick and Amy for this review...lol


I started this book a couple if months ago, recommended to me by a friend who thought I might enjoy it after hearing rave reports about it. Though she herself is not a reader, she knows how much I am and the kind of books I enjoy. I admit I struggled at first between the different perspectives, though I've read plenty in that style before. (So I stopped and read a few other books then came back to give it another go in the last week or so). This one just was so different and out of character with each chapter - neither felt in step with the other, that it just felt too fake. Nick and his sister just bitched all the time, mostly about Amy, while her perspective were her diary entries (in every other chapter) from the time she met Nick to the present day just oozed fakeness and bullshit. I didn't like Amy from the beginning...and that didn't change. The only thing that did in that respect was the depth of my dislike for her. And sadly, I found Nick - who, deep down, had so much potential - to be spineless. I guess Amy was right on that score - he was a coward.

I ended up enjoying the perspective writing. To see the story progress from both perspectives yet in different mind sets with different outcomes. That is why I gave it 3 stars. But that would have to be the only reason....because the start was boringly uneventful and the ending? Certainly nothing beyond 3 star material, though still cleverly done - with the last word bit. However, it leaves readers feeling somewhat cheated. Death? Suicide? Murder? Something other than what it became!

In the end, the whole tale is somewhat sad. Sad that this is what someone's life had become. That they would actually think and feel this way. Or even feel at all. Sociopaths feel no remorse. In fact they don't even see that what they are doing or have done is even wrong! That the whole world really does revolve around them. They are the all-time narcissist - one without feeling. And this book has them both - two narcissists, one of whom is a sociopath.