A room swept white

This is the fifth thriller by author Sophie Hannah.

Helen Yardley, Sarah Jaggard and Rachel Hines are three women (among many others) who have all been charged with the murder of their children and while Helen and Rachel were convicted, they were later acquitted following revelations that the doctor, Judith Duffy, who testified against them in court was negligent and is being investigated for misconduct. The claims made were that the children weren’t murdered — it was cot death instead. In other words, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome — where an infant dies due to no known medical reason.

Fliss Benson is a TV producer who is given the job of producing a documentary on the stories of these women once her boss and  a man who has been fighting for these women’s justice Laurie Nattrass suddenly resigns. The very same day she is told about the job, Fliss receives a card from an anonymous sender with four rows of four numbers…numbers which do not make any sense to Fliss.

Things take a turn for the worse when Helen Yardley is shot dead. And with her body is a card with four rows of four numbers. Exactly like the one Fliss received.

Who killed Helen Yardley?

What will the investigation of her murder reveal about her history — did she or didn’t she kill her children?

Why did Ray Hines accept to be part of the documentary only after Helen’s death and Sarah’s withdrawal?

Is Fliss Benson going to be the next to be killed?

Why does Fliss not want to produce the documentary in the first place?

And why is Laurie Nattrass so elusive?

To know this and so much more, you have to read the book.

Once again, it’s an intriguing thriller by Sophie Hannah which keeps you guessing. However, unlike her previous work, this book to me wasn’t as gripping. It wasn’t one where I stayed awake reading late into the night to find out whodunit. And in some areas it seemed to be a bit disconnected. Having said that, if you are looking for decent thrills, go ahead and read this.

I give it a 3 (although ideally I would like to say two and a half) only compared to her other books like Point of Rescue, The Other half lives, Little Face and especially Hurting Distance.

Until next time,

Cheers!!!

The Almost Moon

When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily.

That’s the way ‘Almost Moon’ by Alice Sebold begins.

It is a book about a woman, Helen Knightly who ends up killing her mother without really meaning to. A mother whose love she has been trying to win since she was a little girl. A mother with mental health problems who couldn’t give her what she wanted.  The book looks at the next twenty four hours of Helen’s life as she tries to deal with her mother’s body and relives all the moments that led her to do the deed. The messed up life as a child growing up with an agoraphobic parent. The way in which her father maintained her mother’s illness. The way in which she grew up too soon. All the choices she made up till that point. What led her to the current actions? Was her mother really that tiresome? And what led to the choices she made in life herself?

The book did not really do much for me. What I thought to be a very different idea and interesting theme sort of just fell off. It ended up being a bit anti-climactic. It does have interesting parts in terms of Helen’s childhood and you can see how difficult it would have been for her to live with a mother like hers. It is also an easy read.

On the whole, I would rate it a 2. I understand Alice Sebold tries a different tact but so far she hasn’t really done it for me. Her other book The Lovely Bones was previously reviewed on our blog and has received rave reviews but I had different opinions about it. So who knows? Despite my rating, you might enjoy this book.

Until next time,

Cheers!!!

Water for Elephants

…by Sara Gruen.

Jacob Jankowski, a ninety year old man in an old age nursing home, recollects his life back when he was in his twenties as a conversation he overhears at the nursing home triggers his memories. He recalls how, only days before his final exams, the last step towards becoming a veterinarian, he gets the news that his parents passed away. He tells the story of how that incident changed his life – how he decides not to go back to school to finish his exams; how he comes to join a circus group as a vet; how he meets all these different characters while working there; how he falls in love with a married woman. Alternating between the life back then and life now, Jacob tells his readers everything from what happened back then to how he misses it all now, from how life transformed as he got a chance to be a part of a circus to how it led to what life has become now.

The first thing that attracted me to the book was the cover and the title of the novel. It intrigued me enough to make me order the book even without knowing what it was all about. And once I started reading it, the first few chapters got me hooked. But after having read the whole book, I have mixed feelings about it.

On the one hand, the setting of the story is different…something that I haven’t read before. I got to know a lot of things about life of a person working for a circus after reading this book. I don’t know how much of it is true to comment on whether or not it’s authentic, but since it was unlike anything I’ve read before, it held my interest.

On the other hand, the story itself didn’t come out as something exceptional. At least not as good as some people made it to be. Everyone that saw me reading the book commented that it was a good read and that the story was amazing. But I didn’t feel that way. For me, the story wasn’t anything out of the ordinary; rather it was very one-dimensional, too plain. As I was reading, I kept expecting something dramatic to happen, but that never did; it was predictable all the way through. And the writing – I didn’t care for it much either. It’s easy to read and follow, yes; but neither was it gripping, nor did it do anything to compensate for the depth that the story lacked.

Overall, a nice novel if you want to read a story set in a backdrop different than usual, but do not get into it expecting anything profound.

My rating: 4*.

*for the rating scale, click here.