A Field of Darkness

 

A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read

Madeline Dare #1

Mystery

2007 Grand Central Publishing (first published in 2006)

Finished on November 6, 2020

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Madeline Dare isn't your average detective. Born into a blue-blood family, she followed her heart to marry ruggedly handsome Dean, a farmboy-genius investor who's as far from high society as humanly possible. Now Maddie's stuck in the post-industrial wasteland of Syracuse, New York, while her husband spends weeks on the road perfecting the railway equipment innovation that might be their only chance to escape. She can handle churning out lightweight features for the local paper--it's the Dean-less nights in their dingy, WASP-castoff-crammed apartment that Maddie can't stomach. Obsession trumps angst when a set of long-buried dog tags link her favorite cousin to the scene of a vicious double homicide. Drawn by the desire to clear her cousin's name, Maddie uncovers a startling web of intrigue and family secrets that could prove even more deadly.

I have no idea when or why I picked up this book, but it turned out to be a winner. My first impressions weren't very positive and I felt the author was working too hard at being literary, but once I got immersed in the story, I no longer felt that way and couldn't stop reading. There were times when I found Maddie's sudden role as a crime reporter a bit far-fetched, but I was willing to ignore that and felt the tension of her involvement mounting and had me holding my breath on several occasions as I worried about her safety. This is a solid debut mystery with well-developed characters, believable dialogue, a plot that kept me guessing and a denouement that quickened my pulse. And that part about Cornelia Read trying too hard at being literary? I was wrong, although the reviews are mixed on that point.

I'm looking forward to reading The Crazy School (Madeline Dare #2) and am happy to see that there are a total of four books in this series.

I read A Field of Darkness for the RIP XV Challenge.

R.I.P. XV Results

 

I'm very pleased with my RIP XV reading challenge results! I selected a dozen books from which to choose and read five, abandoned three, and started one that I knew I wouldn't finish before the 31st, but will still count. 

Books Read (click on link for review):

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough (4/5)

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica (2/5)

Elevation by Stephen King (2/5)

Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton (4/5)

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz (4/5)

A Field of Darkness by Cornelia Read (in progress)

Books Abandoned:

The House on the Strand by Daphne Du Maurier

Sycamore by Bryn Chancellor

The Good Daughter by Alexandra Burt

This was a good challenge to help whittle away at my TBR stacks, particularly those four ARCs that have been sorely neglected. While there were a couple of duds, the others were very good and I plan to read more by those authors (Pinborough, Bolton and Horowitz).

Magpie Murders

 

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Mystery

2018 Harper Perennial (first published in 2016)

Finished on October 28, 2020

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

From the New York Times bestselling author of Moriarty and Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery.

When editor Susan Ryeland is given the manuscript of Alan Conway’s latest novel, she has no reason to think it will be much different from any of his others. After working with the bestselling crime writer for years, she’s intimately familiar with his detective, Atticus Pünd, who solves mysteries disturbing sleepy English villages. An homage to queens of classic British crime such as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, Alan’s traditional formula has proved hugely successful. So successful that Susan must continue to put up with his troubling behavior if she wants to keep her job.

Conway’s latest tale has Atticus Pünd investigating a murder at Pye Hall, a local manor house. Yes, there are dead bodies and a host of intriguing suspects, but the more Susan reads, the more she’s convinced that there is another story hidden in the pages of the manuscript: one of real-life jealousy, greed, ruthless ambition, and murder. 

Masterful, clever, and relentlessly suspenseful, Magpie Murders is a deviously dark take on vintage English crime fiction in which the reader becomes the detective.

Magpie Murders has been lurking on one of my bookshelves for a couple of years and I decided to add it to my stack of books for this year's RIP challenge. It wound up taking me over two weeks to finish, partly because it took me a long time to get fully invested in the mystery and partly because we were camping, and I'm usually too distracted to settle down to read while traveling. As it turned out, we had gorgeous weather at our campground and I spend a good chunk of one day reading in the warmth of the sun. A mystery like Magpie Murders requires one to read continuously rather than in fits & starts. There are not only numerous characters, but a mystery within a mystery. Plotlines overlaps and similar names for characters and locations make for a very complex, if not convoluted, tale. I considered giving up, but hated to quit after spending so much time on one book. I'm glad I stuck with it, as the pace picked up and the denouement had me so enthralled, I didn't stop reading until I'd finished the book. 

I was torn between a 3- and 4-star rating, but settled on the higher of the two since the conclusion was so strong. And, I enjoyed it so well, that I plan to read Horowitz's upcoming release, Moonflower Murders. I'm also excited to see that PBS plans a six-part series based on Magpie Murders.

The television adaptation is scripted by Horowitz, who is known to Masterpiece fans for the popular World War II mystery Foyle’s War. 

Masterpiece executive producer Susanne Simpson said, “Anthony Horowitz is a master mystery writer, and Magpie Murders is a beautiful and complex work. Our Masterpiece audience will truly enjoy this intriguing story of a mystery within a mystery.” Masterpiece is presented on PBS by WGBH Boston.

Anthony Horowitz said, “Magpie Murders is my most successful novel and it wasn’t easy to adapt. But I think the result is a completely original drama that will delight and beguile audiences in equal measure.” (PBS.org)

Magpie Murders is a clever read. There are actually more than two mysteries, none of which I solved before they were revealed, and there are nods to familiar works within the genre, which I found very entertaining. I do have one quibble, though: If you're a reader who pays close attention to the page count, this book will drive you crazy. The page numbers change depending on whether you're reading Alan Conway's manuscript or Horowitz's novel. No wonder the book felt especially long!

I read Magpie Murders for the RIP XV Challenge.

Blood Harvest

 

Blood Harvest by S.J. Bolton

Mystery

2010 Minotaur Books

Finished on October 8, 2020

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

The Fletchers' new house--built between two churches in a small village--ought to be paradise, but they've barely settled in before they find that someone seems to be trying to drive them away with increasingly dangerous threats targeting their oldest child, ten-year-old Tom.

The adults in his life try to help, but there are hints that something isn't quite right in the village, starting with the mysterious deaths of three toddlers over the last ten years. It's not until Tom's younger siblings go missing that the village's secrets turns the family's dreams into a nightmare.

With Sacrifice, Awakening, and now Blood Harvest, Bolton displays her remarkable talent as a beguiling storyteller, a master of thrills, and the mistress of her own brand of modern Gothic tale. 

Blood Harvest was a perfect selection for this year's RIP challenge. This atmospheric mystery includes creepy voices in an old church and graveyard, unexplainable events and missing belongings, all of which add up to a chilling read. It was much spookier than I anticipated (with a supernatural Stephen King vibe) and I discovered that I couldn't read it late at night. As the mystery began to unfold, the tension ebbed and flowed ever so slightly and I was able to enjoy some of the light humor and tender scenes between Harry (the vicar) and Evi (the psychologist). I would love to see more of them in another book by Bolton.

Speaking of S.J. Bolton (aka Sharon Bolton), I didn't think I had read anything by her, but as I got further into this book, the more I sensed a familiarity to her writing. It turns out I read Awakening in 2011 and while I enjoyed it,  Blood Harvest was much better. It looks like she has seven stand-alone novels, as well as a couple of series. Yay! I'm looking forward to reading more by her.

If you enjoy Gothic mysteries, you'll love Blood Harvest. It's one I won't forget and may even read again in a few years. 

I read Blood Harvest for the RIP XV Challenge.

Elevation

 

Elevation by Stephen King

Fiction

2018 Scribner

Finished on September 30, 2020

Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

Although Scott Carey doesn’t look any different, he’s been steadily losing weight. There are a couple of other odd things, too. He weighs the same in his clothes and out of them, no matter how heavy they are. Scott doesn’t want to be poked and prodded. He mostly just wants someone else to know, and he trusts Doctor Bob Ellis.

In the small town of Castle Rock, the setting of many of King’s most iconic stories, Scott is engaged in a low grade—but escalating—battle with the lesbians next door whose dog regularly drops his business on Scott’s lawn. One of the women is friendly; the other, cold as ice. Both are trying to launch a new restaurant, but the people of Castle Rock want no part of a gay married couple, and the place is in trouble. When Scott finally understands the prejudices they face–including his own—he tries to help. Unlikely alliances, the annual foot race, and the mystery of Scott’s affliction bring out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others.

The last time I picked up a Stephen King novel was in 2014 when I read 11/22/63. It's a great book, especially for those who enjoy speculative fiction or time travel stories. I wish I could say the same of Elevation, which I initially borrowed from the library for my husband, but decided to add to my RIP XV reading challenge stack. This small volume is more of a novella and can be easily read in one sitting, for which I was thankful; I doubt I would have continued, had it been any longer. It started out fine, and I was curious about what evil forces could be causing Scott's unnatural weight loss, but after a couple of chapters, I felt it was too trite and sappy, as if Nicholas Sparks and Mitch Albom had gotten together to write a horror story. When it's time to compile my year-end summary, Elevation will go down as the weirdest book I've read since Aimee Bender's bizarre novel, The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake.

I read Elevation for the RIP XV Challenge.

Every Last Lie

 

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica

Thriller

2017 Park Row Books

Finished on September 16, 20

Rating: 2/5 (Fair)

Publisher's Blurb:

New York Times bestselling author of THE GOOD GIRL, Mary Kubica is back with another exhilarating thriller as a widow's pursuit of the truth leads her to the darkest corners of the psyche.

"The bad man, Daddy. The bad man is after us."

Clara Solberg's world shatters when her husband and their four-year-old daughter are in a car crash, killing Nick while Maisie is remarkably unharmed. The crash is ruled an accident…until the coming days, when Maisie starts having night terrors that make Clara question what really happened on that fateful afternoon.

Tormented by grief and her obsession that Nick's death was far more than just an accident, Clara is plunged into a desperate hunt for the truth. Who would have wanted Nick dead? And, more important, why? Clara will stop at nothing to find out—and the truth is only the beginning of this twisted tale of secrets and deceit.

Told in the alternating perspectives of Clara's investigation and Nick's last months leading up to the crash, master of suspense Mary Kubica weaves her most chilling thriller to date—one that explores the dark recesses of a mind plagued by grief and shows that some secrets might be better left buried.

Every Last Lie is another psychological thriller that's been on my shelf for a few years. I received the ARC from the publisher, probably through a giveaway on Goodreads, although I don't remember for certain. I added the book to my list for this year's RIP XV challenge and was excited to dive in as soon as I finished Behind Her Eyes. 

Every Last Lie does not have the annoying internal monologue device that Behind Her Eyes did, nor does the main character have a drinking problem, but Clara and Nick are both unlikeable characters and the narrative is drawn out far too long. I grew impatient with Clara and her paranoid suspicions (not to mention her lack of parenting skills) and felt the ending was weak with far too many loose ends. I'm sorry I wasted my time reading to the very end and I have no intention of reading more by this author.

I read Every Last Lie for the RIP XV Challenge.

Behind Her Eyes

 

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Psychological Thriller

2017 Flatiron Books

Finished on September 10, 2020

Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Why is everyone talking about the ending of Sarah Pinborough's Behind Her Eyes?

Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone.

When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.

And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife, but then why is David so controlling, and why is Adele so scared of him?

As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong, but Louise can’t guess how wrong―and how far a person might go to protect their marriage’s secrets.

Reminiscent of Gone Girl and Girl on the Train, Pinborough's psychological thriller is a compelling and fast-paced novel. The short chapters, narrated in the alternating voices of Louise and Adele, maintain the tension between the main characters and I had a difficult time putting the book down. As noticed in similar domestic thrillers, Pinborough includes not only an unreliable narrator, but one who habitually escapes reality in a bottle of wine. I can overlook these tired tropes, but Louise's internal monologues just about had me throwing the book across the room. Without a literary device of a diary or a trusted best friend, I understand the author's need to communicate a character's thoughts and feelings with these private monologues. What irritates me is that this rapid conveyance of thoughts sounds fake and not at all the way in which we would normally speak to one another. It doesn't ring true and is a distraction to the flow of the story. That said, I wasn't as acutely aware of these monologues in later chapters; they were either less frequent or I became immune to them.

Did the ending live up to all the hype? Yes and no. I raced through the final chapters, unable to stop reading, but that finale. Geez. It's not quite a Sixth Sense or Shutter Island ending, but it definitely took me by surprise, in spite of the need to suspend disbelief on several levels.

Sarah Pinborough won't win any awards for lyrical prose, but she managed to keep me guessing and entertained, in spite of my quibbles. Have you read Behind Her Eyes? Will you watch the upcoming Netflix series? Without leaving spoilers, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I read Behind Her Eyes for the RIP XV Challenge.

R.I.P. XV

 

It's that time again! I haven't participated in this reading challenge for quite some time, but I have several mystery/thrillers that I've been meaning to read, so challenge accepted! It looks like this will be an Instagram/Twitter challenge, with nobody hosting on their blog. So, the "rules" from one of Carl's previous R.I.P. challenges are thus:

Mystery. Suspense. Thriller. Dark Fantasy. Gothic. Horror. Supernatural. 

There is just something about this time of year, when the ghosts of past Autumns and the Autumn to come chase away the dog days of summer, that entices one to read books that fit into the above categories. 

It was a desire share the love of eerie, creepy, things-that-go-bump-in-the-night literature that brought me into the online reading challenge game for the first time back in September of 2006. My goals today, in this its third iteration, are no different than the inaugural R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge:

1. Have fun reading.

2. Share that fun with others.

It is that simple.

Choose one of more of the perils listed below: 

Peril the First: 

Read Four books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.  

Peril the Second:

Read Two books of any length, from any subgenre of scary stories that you choose.  

Peril the Third:

Read One book of any length from one of the subgenres listed above. This peril is for those who want to participate but don’t want to get bogged down in a long list of books. It is also for those who feel this type of reading is not their proverbial cup of tea but are willing to challenge themselves by giving just one book a try.

A dozen years have passed since I joined this challenge and now readers have included short stories, movies and group reads to the list of perils. In an effort to read from my stacks, I have chosen Peril the First and am optimistic that not only will I complete four books over the course of the challenge, but at least half of the dozen I have selected. 

Have you read any of these? If so, which are worth my time?

Click here to see posts from my previous R.I.P. challenges.