REVIEW: The Game You Played by Anni Taylor

The Game you Played by Anni Taylor

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Read: 28th January 2018

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****4 stars

This book really played with your mind! But it was a brilliant read! What I loved about this was that it was (surprisingly) set in my home of Sydney, Australia...so I really knew the places described. Although the setting of the street they all lived in was actually fictional, I recognised the area well (from descriptions) as part of Sydney's historic The Rocks area around Miller's Point which was home to much of Australia's first settlers in convict times.

The book is about the disappearance of a child, Tommy Basko, while the mother Phoebe was preoccupied and the father Luke had gone to get ice creams. And so it delved into the history of the couple and their friends who all lived on the same street growing up and returning later in life to live there once again. As the story develops it is revealed that there is a secret surrounding one of the houses on the street (next door to the creepy girl they knew as teenagers and her mother) and the secret they all left there about a decade or so before. It was this secret; that house...that lead to Tommy's disappearance today. Or so it seemed. 

"The Game You Played" is about secrets and mind games and is a thrill ride you are sure to remember. And wonderful to read something set in my hometown. I recognise the water park (we've played there ourselves - as it's also for big kids), the areas, the streets... A great read!

REVIEW: Falling by Emma Kavanagh

Falling by Emma Kavanagh

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Read: 20th January 2018

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Purchase: Amazon

★★ 2 stars

What can I possibly say about this book? The synopsis showed it had promise...but that was where it ended. So many times whilst reading I found myself thinking if I should continue. But I did...hoping it would get better. It didn't.

It begins with a plane crash. A plane falling from the sky. And sadly it did not stop there. The book just seemed to continue "falling". The story is told from four perspectives, that interweave together to paint the bigger picture. I don't mind different perspectives, as they really tell so many different sides of the same story and make it interesting at the same time. But this one would have been better if the story ended on that Welsh mountainside with the plane. I did not like Cecilia from the get go. I found her cold and unlikeable and utterly bloody depressing. Her husband Tom was marginally better, but he was really a fool to stay in a loveless marriage with such an unlikeable woman. Therefore he was a little depressing. Freya, the daughter of the pilot of the plane, I found somewhat detached, but then she was no stranger to her father and his secrets so growing up in their house would surely be bound to leave some scars. Another depressing story behind their walls. Jim, the retired police superintendant, was probably the only likeable character in the book, but as he was also the father of a murdered young woman, he was also rather depressing as well.

So I guess you could say in all, they were all rather depressing. The only one I found somewhat cheerful was Maisie Collins - the elderly woman Cecilia rescued from the plane crash. Despite losing the love of her life and husband of nearly 60 years, she still had a cheerful outlook. Unlike the rest of them.

When Cecilia walked along the cliff edge watching the seagulls, I found myself willing her to do everyone a favour and jump. While her past story was a sad one, she just didn't move on from it and it ended up defining her as a cold unlikeable and depressing woman. I think her jumping from that cliff would have been an apt ending.

And as this is the first Emma Kavanagh book I have read, I certainly hope the others are a far better read than this one.

REVIEW: The Cold Cold Sea by Linda Huber

The Cold, Cold Sea by Linda Huber

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Read: 14th January 2018

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Purchase: Amazon

★★★★★ 5 stars

OMG! What a powerful read this book was! This is my second book I have read by Linda Huber - the first being The Attic Room (which I loved) - and I must say I love her style.

It's every parent's worst nightmare. 3 year old Livvy goes missing on a secluded Cornwall beach, leaving her parents Maggie and Colin frantically searching. It is soon believed that Livvy drowned in the sea. The tragedy puts a strain on Maggie's and Colin's marriage while their remaining child, Joe, struggles to find normalcy in a life without his little sister.

Then there is Phillip and Jennifer Marshall. At the beginning, I was wondering where Phillip came into the story as he was in California and I was thinking "how is this to do with the story?" But all is revealed as the story unfolds.

Two families who have lost their daughters of similar age in tragic circumstances. As the story unfolds, their own stories become entwined with the other. It is a heartbreaking story and I found myself become rather emotional in the penultimate climax to the end. It is a sad story, a tragic story, one that is felt deeply as a reader (and not even a mother). 

A real page-turner that will keep you reading long into the night, and without giving away spoilers, "The Cold Cold Sea" left me feeling a little sad for a couple of the characters, despite the tragedy. Because they too experienced it...and left them severely scarred. A fantastic read.

REVIEW: He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

He Said/She Said by Erin Kelly

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Read: 7th January 2018 (could not finish)

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Purchase: Amazon

★ 1 star

Talk about a slowish start! After 2 days I was still only about 10% into the book and I was bored to death with the constant narrative, particularly with mathematical aspects thrown in. I hated and failed maths so it wasn't "beautiful" to me at all. Neither was this book thus far. I began to wonder whether to bother continuing, as it had taken me two days to get this far and still nothing was grabbing me. I like more dialogue...not the constant monotony of monologuing. I thought it was just me being tired the first night but the next day was no different.

So I skipped a few chapters to take me to the assault on Beth and see if it picked up pace. I persevered for as long as I could but I really am just bored. There is nothing remotely interesting about this book and if I can't get into it now I never will. Time to give up and move on to something far more enthralling.

For me this book is a big *yawn*...and there are not many I can say that about. I have plenty of others on my to read list far more interesting...

REVIEW: Blink by K.L. Slater

Blink by K.L. Slater

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Read: 5th January 2018

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Purchase: Amazon

★★★★★ 5 stars

A tense psychological thriller about a grieving woman, a missing child and a woman with "locked-in syndrome" after suffering a stroke. What can I say? It was edge of your seat despite the slow start which I found relatively uneventful, until it began to gather a bit more speed. I have to say, I didn't like any of the characters...lol...they were all loathsome in their own way. The only one I did like I questioned her niceties as a facade. Everyone just had too much going for them as Evie's abducter as most of them appeared to have ulterior motives. There were only three characters who were "nice" one of which I'd already questioned her niceness. I won't spoil it by mentioning who they were but I correctly guessed the guilty parties. While it didn't seem to make sense, I still didn't trust them.

In all, it was an enjoyable read. My first of K.L. Slater's and it won't be my last.

REVIEW: Bella Poldark by Winston Graham

Bella Poldark (The Poldark Saga #12) by Winston Graham

Genre: Historical Fiction

Read: 3rd January 2018

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★★★★★ 5 stars

I can't believe it! 12 books and 2 and a half months later and I have finished the complete series! I am so going to miss my much beloved characters from the north coast of Cornwall. Having read the final pages, I'd wondered if Winston Graham intended to continue the series at some point but died before he could...I guess we will never know. However, having said that, the ending was absolute in one way or another and did so perfectly. Whether he had intended to continue the series or not, the final book "Bella Poldark" still gave a wonderfully complete ending either way. I just know that I will miss them, having lived and breathed alongside them in reading each book back to back. Going back to my usual genre of psychological thrillers and mysteries are going to seem lacking in part after having lived in 18th and 19th century Cornwall for the past 2 months.

This book was a little different in part than the previous Poldark books, in that we had an element of mystery with a murderer afoot, killing off women by slashing their throats and leaving them to be later discovered by a passerby. I must admit, given my usual genre of thrillers and crime, I had my own list of suspects and narrowed it to 2 possibles in the end before the killer was revealed. My reasoning for suspecting them were different for each character, but in the end on Guy Fawkes night all was revealed. I should have liked to have learnt the outcome of the fate of the"killer" but as his trial wasn't until February 1821 and the book only covered up till 1820 I figured that was never going to happen in this book. However, he was sitting in Bodmin prison awaiting his trial but it seemed his fate was inevitable regardless.

There were also quite a number of deaths in this book - some significant and some not so significant. Given that there was a murderer on the loose, it goes without saying that there were going to be several deaths. Demelza was followed one night on her way back from the Paynters (I'm amazed those two were still alive and kicking after the 35 years covered in the books) and narrowly missed what may have been the killer. Another young woman walking home to her village one night also almost fell victim but was a luckily escapee also. Several others, mostly insignificant name except for Agneta Trenelgos, were not so lucky.

Last book we saw the Poldark's oldest child Jeremy killed at Waterloo in the Napoleonic war and Clowance's husband Stephen Carrington also dying. One missed, one not so missed. In this book we saw the near death of our favourite adversary Sir George Warleggan, when his horse fell and he found himself in a muddy hole almost unable to keep himself from sinking. I really thought we would be rid of him at last! But notably he has taken a back seat in the later novels and the continual feud between George and Ross has simply been "background" to rest of the story. Our favourite larrikin Valentine who, having disinherited himself from the Warleggan fortune by going against his father and marrying Selina Pope, is still up to mischief.

I must say there was a discrepancy I found regarding Valentine and Selina, or rather their child. At the end of the previous book, in which the timeline went up until 1815, Valentine had mentioned that Selina was "6 months forward" in her pregnancy. If that had been the case, then come the time this book's timeline started in 1818, the child would therefore be 3 years old, or near to. However, this book opens under the part titled "Valentine" and with the news that Selina has just given birth to their first child. Either, Selina miscarried 3 years before and it was never mentioned in this book, it was a mistake or Selina's pregnancy has to be the longest one on record! Oh well, I guess we will never know. Valentine, naturally, has not given up his womansing ways and goes forth and continues to bed many a woman in the county and beyond! As much I loved Valentine, this was an awful thing to do to a woman who is obviously devoted to him but would not stand for such behaviour. I know it was "the norm" in those days for men to keep mistresses despite being married but it's not a type of behaviour I condone nor welcome.

Which brings me to Bella's beau, Christopher, whom she met last book whilst they were in Paris and she just a mere 13. For 5 years to continue their "affiliation" with each other and ultimate betrothal, he still maintained a membership to an exclusive gentlemen's club where women were for the taking! And to tell Bella that he would stop about a year after their marriage. To say that he still intended to continue seeking those services even after their marriage was appalling! I don't blame Bella for upping and going off to Paris with the sleazy Maurice Valery, though I did not like him in the slightest. However, Christopher has been betrothed in a sense to Bella for many years and despite this flaw, I preferred him to Maurice. This book focused a lot on Bella and her rise to become prima donna in the opera, but after Maurice pushed her too far too soon, she returned to England with a sore throat, which upon arrival back in England Dwight diagnosed as diptheria - aka the morbid sore throat that killed the Poldark's first child Julia and that Demelza had been incredibly sick from. After several months of recuperation, Bella could no longer reach those higher notes and sought a life in the theatre, where she ended up playing Romeo in a production of "Romeo and Juliet", titled "Two Lovers of Verona", after the original Romeo was injured in dress rehearshal. The book in ending, went on to say that she became famous and had appeared successfully in many more theatre productions, which she was oblivious to at this moment in time. An apt way to end the series.

But apart from all I have mentioned, so much more happened too. There were several marriages, a few births and of course many deaths. So much took place within these final pages of a much loved series, I could barely express it all. One thing I will say...at least Ross and Demelza survived the entire series and remained as much in love as in the beginning.

A brilliant end to an even more brilliant series!!