I believe Burnet was born in a field. Okay, he was actually born in place that my SatNav says horribly wrong.
The year is 1869. A brutal triple murder in a remote community in the Scottish Highlands leads to the arrest of a young man by the name of Roderick Macrae. A memoir written by the accused makes its clear that he is guilty, but it falls to the country's finest legal and psychiatric minds to uncover what drove him to commit such merciles acts of violence. Was he mad? Only the persuasive powers of his advocate stand between Macrae and the gallows. Graeme Macrae Burnet tells an irresistible and original story about the provisional nature of truth, even when the facts seem clear. His Bloody Project is a mesmersing literary thriller set in an unforgiving landscape where the exercise of power is arbitrary.
I love the number of blurbs this book has without any reference to Scotland there is. Whitewashing strikes again. Honestly, its odd because it is extremely Scottish in themes and location. 19th Century Highlands was a special place of sadness which comes up in the plot.
This is the found footage of books, but luckily shakey cam is not recreated in this. It's made up of "Historical" documents mostly made up of Roddy own account of what lead him to the murders as well as summary of newspapers and witness accounts. This in the style of other faked documents, except without the deception of by a know killer, like the several apparent diaries of Jack the Ripper that I have read and its done very well.
This is not a book answers, that way it actually like history. I have tons of questions, I know very little facts about the plot of this book. Its written really well as historical thing (in opinion of someone who reads that stuff sometimes). That does make it a very dry in places with words no longer in use.
Overall, I give this 4/5 stars for digging peat. I liked this book, and now I'm going to tell people its YA book to see if anyone will believe me with that title. It was an interesting look at this time period.
I don't even like alcohol. The taste or the effect.
Rachel catches the same
commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal
each time, overlooking a row of back gardens. She’s even started to feel
like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and
Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If
only Rachel could be that happy.
And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough.
Now everything’s changed. Now Rachel has a chance to become a part of the lives she’s only watched from afar.
Now they’ll see; she’s much more than just the girl on the train…
Ar the awkward the experience of having a main character with the same name as you. Correct spelling and all. You probably heard about about this book by now, especially as the film adaptation is currently in theatres as I type. The big thing is this has been compared to is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn which I have yet to read, I will compare it to this instead or I might just straight disagree. The question is does meet up to the hype. The answer is mostly 'Yes'.
The novel is mostly told from Rachel present POV with Megan POV of the past. Rachel is drunk often and has blackouts so we can't trust her narrative. Megan just leaves giant chunks out for no real reason other mystery and plot.
The plot is mostly just Rachel stumbling around drunk. While not being a obvious, it's all very convenient. In terms of matching up all the narratives, they was a point that felt would have been better if we had gotten a vital piece of information in the other narrative and I would have changed them around personally, but each to their own and I'm clearly not a best selling author. I get what the Hawkins was going for but the solution didn't really work for me fully. I just don't buy it. The ending was rather meh.
The characters were okay. They all meant to be flawed and I think this is done in the realistic way. I've seen on Goodreads that a lot of people straight up hated them, but honesty, while they do unlikable and regrettable things I don't get the hate for all of them. I hated Anna, but pretty sure you're meant to. Rachel's ex-Husband Tom is totally unappealing and I don't get why anyone would want him, never mind two women.
I listened to the Audio book with Clare Corbett, India FisherandLouise Brealey voice acting. I found them to be good and well casted. The only thing that was slightly off putting is when two of the voice actors did completely different interpretation of the same character, especially as I really liked the first one I was exposed to.
Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for canned gin. I enjoyed listening to this novel. Definitely over hyped but also a decent Thriller novel so I would recommend it if that what you like to read.
I brought a camera yesterday. Did I spend too much money on it? Perhaps. Did I go overboard? Most definitely. I ordered five lenses, but three of them having arrived yet. I've been thinking of getting a camera before I even started uni.
I haven't forgot about you. I have given up the pretence that I have been writing posts every week. Its not a lack of having anything to say. It isn't even that I haven't had time. I've just been life writing stump where I go to write and then get stuck. I'm back to writing reviews by forcing them out with the Knowledge that I'm current;y sitting on the number of reviews that are left in the year. But I have wrote the ones enough the rest of November so November will have reviews for the rest of the year.
I will make myself write the reviews for the rest of the year. The terrible thing is the one I have negated to write for almost ten months. I might leave it for last for kicks. Uni is still going. Making films and learning about film. I got taught about Sigmund Freud's theory about men having a fear being castigated because women don't have a penis therefore it was cut off. Yeah, literally no idea what that has to do with horror, which what we were meant to be learning about. I mean Freud has been mostly discredited and is the one with the mother issues. Mutilation of the genitalia is horrifying, but I don't think Freud's theory should be taught in any class, unless it directly influences a film. We also watched the Psycho remake It is god awful. He mess up the iconic scene so much. I know everyone knows the twist by now, as it is a iconic film and has had a massive influence, but that doesn't mean you give up on it if you going to go to the effect of a remake.
I honestly don't get what Freud's theory about Castration anxiety had to do with the appeal of Horror. He's came up before in another class,though that was the ego and the id which are probably nonsense but is fiction not all nonsense. That being said I don't want to be taught seriously the theories of a man who thought all women wanted to be men and that everyone fancies their mothers. Penis Envy is not a real thing. Yes, they are transgender men but no one thinks that a penis was taken from them at birth. Oh, it would blown his mind to know that in fact we start out we all start out as female in the womb. It is just Freud pushing his own, sexist ideas on other people.
That was weird route to go down. Have you missed the nonsense of my own brain? The world has became more horrifying since we last spoke like this. Clowns attacking people and Lex Luther is on his way to be president, with no Batman or Superman.We live in a terrible dimension. I would like to collide with another dimension at this point.
I recently came to the realisation I don't really know what horror is in the written form. Horror in film is obvious due it format. Horror in books, especially as supernatural and thrillers are their own genres in books and I am immune to fake fear apparently. People tell me that they find films I find laughable scary. I can't even see it.
In summary I'm making a horror film and I don't know if its going to be remotely scary. But it will follow the format. I'm running out of things to say so I shall leave now. I am here and on the YouTube. See me there.
It ain't a serial killer without a type. It's 1956 and fifteen-year-old Betty Broadbent has never left the Cornish fishing village of St Steele or ventured far beyond the walls of the boarding house run by her erratic mother. But when the London press pack descends to report on a series of gruesome murders of young women, Betty's world changes. In particular she is transfixed by mysterious and aloof reporter, Mr Gallagher. As the death toll rises, an unlikely friendship blossoms between Betty and Gallagher. But as their bond deepens, they find themselves entangled with the murders and each is forced to make a devastating choice, one that will shape their own lives - and the life of an innocent man - forever.
The only reason I finished this novel was that I wanted to know if I was right about the plot. I didn't fully read the summary before I started listening to it because I was in a hurry to find an audio book for the long drive home. If I had read the whole description, then I wouldn't have pick it up. It doesn't help that Laura Powell has the same name as another writer, who I thought this was when I picked it up. This is made more confusing by the fact they both British with Welsh links. This is (one of the reasons) why pen names are a thing. The opening is really strong, introducing us to Betty and what's the situation going on within the village. It really hooked me in. However, then the next chapter is a flash forward to 2006 Mary, a pathetic 65 year old that has no motivation and is waiting for the sweet kiss of death. Except for revealing what happened in 1956, I didn't care what went down in these chapters involving Mary. Especially, as1956 Mary is completely unlikable without a redeemable thing about her and 2006 Mary is the same. The biggest problem is the characters. They are all terrible, uninteresting people who only grow more unlikable the more time you're forced to spend with them. I liked and was invested in Betty in the beginning but this was ruined half way into this book. She starts as a capable 15 year old who often left to run a hotel by herself due to her mentally ill mother. The complicated nature of her relationship with mother, who is most likely Bipolar, was done really well. The more the book goes on the more Betty becomes like the other characters who are whinny and bland. You can have unlikable characters, but they should be distinct from each other. An another big issue is the romance. Even if you look past that Gallagher is double the age of an underaged Betty, he is still terrible to her. He's all we can't do this but keeps doing it while being a jerk to her. The plot largely rides on this relationship and the Betty we get at the beginning disappears into him. While some people do start relationships and change into them, Betty is gone immediately for plot reasons. It some what mixed signals about whether we are meant to like this relationship or not. I get the feeling we are, in the beginning Gallagher is described as younger, so you don't realise that he middle age for this time period straight away. I'm almost anti-romance in books in general, so this might be less of an issue for some other people, but Gallagher is still a grown arse man who blames everything on a 15 year old and still gets to play hero.
The plot in theory is really good, but the execution is weak. I honesty don't think anything is gained by having parts set in 2000s. A lot of the better parts of plot go undeveloped and the ending is rushed. I figured out the ending and thought it would actually be really good until we got there. Then it was unsatisfying and Betty has no agency at all. Yes, she directs the plot but its to kick someone else into gear. The mystery is what actual mystery are like, you don't know who it is until they tell you. I did figure it out but this more random guessing. This hard to explain without spoiling but I will try my best. I have a really big issue with the solution. I totally believe it, it works. However, we get no overshadowing so it ends up being lazy and stereotypical. I listen to this on audio book and I wouldn't recommend it. Not sure if it was the voice actress or the writing but parts often sounded like audio description. I lean towards writing, as we got sentences for actions e.g. Betty put her shoes on. The main reason I would suggest reading over listening is I often had to rewind back to clarify what was said. The end was especially bad for this but I think is mainly to do with the ending being rushed. Overall, I give this book 2/5 stars for Missing Knifes. There's an interesting idea here, but the execution is done terribly. Some things are done well which I wished more time spent on these aspects. As this is Powell's debut novel I'm incline to be more forgiving, e.g. maybe she doesn't realise than none of the female character has any real agency. There's definitely a good novel in her. This isn't it- for me at least. I would read her again if the plot was right.
My name is Stacey Woods and I was raped. Stacey is the victim of a terrible sexual attack. She does
not feel able to go to the police, or talk about it to anybody other
than her best friend, Patrice. Patrice, outraged, when she cannot
persuade her to go to the police, encourages Stacey to write everything
down. This is Stacey's story.
This is a book joining a number of YA books that have recently came out dealing with rape and can't help but compare it to those brilliant books. It differers in that just deals with the immediate time around the rape and is set in England. It also written by a author that I have read (and reviewed) tons by.
My favourite part of the book is that the surrounding plot is a parody of the way so many YA romance books go, where the protagonist trusts a complete stranger and has a magical adventure so this book acts as caution story as in not to follow their lead.
The book is from Stacy POV looking back at the events surrounding her Rape and the things that followed it. I think it could have been more reflective as that was the best of the book.
Stacy has the dream of becoming of a fashion designer. This is basically just the standard 'want' so that Stacey has something to flipflop over during the process of the book. It does actually functions a lot in the plot. Stacy doesn't have much personality besides her relationship problems.
Overall, I give this novel 3/5 stars for scrap material. This is a short book dealing with a serious issue, while doing an okay job of exploring it. However, it pales to next to the other books with the same themes and almost feels like a manual on the important notes on rape, rather a story about Stacy. It important that books like this exist aimed at teenagers so that makes it great.
I got this book for review off NetGalley and is being published by Hot Key Books on 3rd November 2016.
I found this random Anthology in the library. Yes, it was in the kids section but as always that is not a excuse for the level of bad in these the stories. Most of these authors are unknown to me and none of the stories have made me motivated to go out to find more about the authors I wasn't already aware of before. As always I have review each stories, though this time I didn't review each one straight after listening.
The Castle Ghosts by Joseph Delaney - Spooky castle I saw the ending coming for miles. 3/5 stars for mysterious contents. The Caretakers by Susan Cooper - This story was ruined for me straight off the bat by the protagonist describing her brother James as "not being autistic but something that has no name". He's autistic. Unless you actually going to give a diagnosis of something else then don't bring up the fact that the character with clearly autistic traits is not autistic. Maybe because an autistic person will be listening to the audio book adaptation of your story and be done with your shit. I don't really rate much besides the 'not autistic thing'. It's yourstandard creepy haunted house/island story. The title doesn't work, it's just a straight up misdirect and think this would have been more interesting from James POV instead of someone with no character traits at all. 2/5 stars for Lake screaming. 1/5 stars for Ableism.
'I have a voice but it isn't mine. It used to say things so I'd fit in - to please my parents, to please my teachers. It used to tell the universe I was something I wasn't. It lied.'
Fifteen-year-old Tess doesn't mean to become mute. At first, she's just too shocked to speak. And who wouldn't be? Discovering your whole life has been a lie because your dad isn't your real father is a pretty big deal. Tess sets out to find the truth of her identity, and uncovers a secret that could ruin multiple lives. But can she ask for help when she's forgotten how to use her voice?
This is an interesting book in that the main character doesn't stop speaking straight after the 'traumactic event' and develops an imaginary friend or a Tulpa I guess. I went into this book basically blind. I must have read the summary of this book where I request it for review and brought it (the cover is really cool) so mostly went on the fact that Annabell Pitcher is award winning writer who has really interesting titled books. I think that worked for this book, but I'm not the person to advocate for that (I intentionally spoil myself all the time to find out if something is worth investing the time in). Still nothing I considered a spoiler is in this review.
Tess is a typical awkward teenager who's relationship with her parents is secretly stained. Major secrets on both sides. There were times where I wanted to shake Tess but I'm certain that was intentional. Tess has bad decision making skills, so generally a realistic teenager. Her relationships with the other characters are complex and the important one all have some form of lie attached to them.
Tess also spends a lot time of arguing and lying to herself in a form of Mr Goldfish. While this done mostly well, there were times where Tess described communication would have been noticeable to the people around her.
I think the silence that Tess develops is done well. That mainly comes from the fact it does develop and immediately after the cause. Its starts with Tess not wanting to say anything for spoiler plot reasons. Then from this she trapped in continuing not to say anything as the book goes on. I have Select Mutism so I have dealt with being unable to talk in awkward situations myself and found Tess emotions and reactions to this to be realistic. Her interaction with teachers (especially one near the end) were very reminiscent to my own. This is definitely the best book I've read so far where the main character is mute for most of the book.
That being said I declared that Main characters that don't talk was going to be a trend and I think I can say safely say it is a trend now so I might keep an on going rank with books that try the whole Selective Mutism experience on for size. I'm going to write why that problematic in another post and not side track this review for a book that does a good job of it to criticize the ones that don't (that being said I found a book that can only be pigging backing on this one). For those unaware of Selective Mutism, this is not nor is it meant to be a portrayal of it. Selective Mutism would come into play if it was long-term issue and she did talk in situations she was comfortable in. Still successfully captures some of the things you experience if have Selective Mutism.
A big part of the book relies on Tess making big leaps and doing stupid stuff. I know people can be blinded by what they want to be true, other realitity but Tess is meant to be a teenager and
often she would have a complete disregard for reality. We have Mr Goldfish to prove that she does see the reality, it just she talks about her fantasy as though they could actually become reality. She also seems to live in a world where no one else has complicated families e.g. step dads. I mean if somehow not in her own life, this stuff is on TV and various other media now.
There was also a bit of a rush to resolve everything in the book. I would have liked more time spent on her friend Isabell. She mostly just a plot device than a character and her ending is bit unsatisfying.
Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for Redundant Taxis. This was an interesting book that deals with realistic issues with uncommon ideas. Some parts could have been executed better, but as a whole it was good read with complicated life issues in it.
The year is 1869. A brutal triple murder in a remote community in the Scottish Highlands leads to the arrest of a young man by the name of Roderick Macrae. 
