Monthly Archives: July 2012

July 14, 2012

Three bookshops and a bookfair later…

By bibliomouse

I do like living in Newcastle but, due to the ridiculous amounts of rain recently, I’m beginning to get a little bored of going to the same cafes etc. all the time, and staying inside makes me a little stir crazy. With this in mind, Mr Mouse persuaded me that 2 hours on a bus would be a good idea and dragged me off to Alnwick on Saturday, for a day of book shopping. One book fair, two second-hand bookshops and an indie later, we crawled back onto the bus home clutching bags of books. I was quite impressed at how restrained I was really…

I was really happy with what I found, especially with The Song of Achilles, as I’ve been arguing with my copy of the net galley of it for weeks. I’ll be reviewing some of these once I’ve read them, but here’s a bit about them from the blurbs:

Catch Your Death

A terrifying enigma – with the power to destroy…

Twenty years ago, Kate Maddox was a volunteer at a research centre where scientists hunted for a cure for the common cold virus. That summer, Kate fell in love with a handsome young doctor, Stephen, but her stay ended in his tragic death and Kate fled to a new life in the US.

Now Kate is back in England and on the run with her young son, this time from her vile husband. But a chance encounter sets her on a terrifying path of discovery. What really happened at the Cold Research Unit two decades ago?

Pursued by both her estranged husband and a psychotic killer who is obsessed with his prey, Kate must fight to solve the puzzle of the past – uncovering a sickening betrayal and a truth more horrifying than she could ever have imagined…

Heft

Former academic Arthur Opp weighs 550 pounds and hasn’t left his rambling Brooklyn home in a decade. Twenty milesaway, in Yonkers, seventeen-year-old Kel Keller navigates life as the poor kid in a rich school and pins his hopes on what seems like a promising sporting career-if he can untangle himself from his family drama. The link between this unlikely pair is Kel’s mother, Charlene, a former student of Arthur’s. After nearly two decades of silence, it is Charlene’s unexpected phone call to Arthur – a plea for help-that jostles them into action.

Through Arthur and Kel’s own quirky and lovable voices, HEFT tells the winning story of two improbable heroes whose sudden connection transforms both their lives. It is a novel about love and family found in the most unexpected places.

The Return of Captain John Emmett

1920. The Great War has been over for two years, and it has left a very different world from the Edwardian certainties of 1914. Following the death of his wife and baby and his experiences on the Western Front, Laurence Bartram has become something of a recluse. Yet death and the aftermath of the conflict continue to cast a pall over peacetime England, and when a young woman he once knew persuades him to look into events that apparently led her brother, John Emmett, to kill himself, Laurence is forced to revisit the darkest parts of the war.

As Laurence unravels the connections between Captain Emmett’s suicide, a group of war poets, a bitter regimental feud and a hidden love affair, more disquieting deaths are exposed. Even at the moment Laurence begins to live again, it dawns on him that nothing is as it seems, and that even those closest to him have their secrets . . .

The Hidden Child

Crime writer Erica Falck is shocked to discover a Nazi medal among her late mother’s possessions. Haunted by a childhood of neglect, she resolves to dig deep into her family’s past and finally uncover the reasons why.

Her enquiries lead her to the home of a retired history teacher. He was among her mother’s circle of friends during the Second World War but her questions are met with bizarre and evasive answers. Two days later he meets a violent death. Detective Patrik Hedström, Erica’s husband, is on paternity leave but soon becomes embroiled in the murder investigation. Who would kill so ruthlessly to bury secrets so old?

Reluctantly Erica must read her mother’s wartime diaries. But within the pages is a painful revelation about Erica’s past. Could what little knowledge she has be enough to endanger her husband and newborn baby? The dark past is coming to light, and no one will escape the truth of how they came to be…

The Song of Achilles

Greece in the age of heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the court of King Peleus and his perfect son Achilles. Despite their differences, Achilles befriends the shamed prince, and as they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something deeper – despite the displeasure of Achilles’s mother Thetis, a cruel sea goddess. But when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, Achilles must go to war in distant Troy and fulfill his destiny. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus goes with him, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they hold dear.

Witch Child

When Mary sees her grandmother accused of witchcraft and hanged for the crime, she is silently hurried to safety by an unknown woman. The woman gives her tools to keep the record of her days – paper and ink. Mary is taken to a boat in Plymouth and from there sails to the New World where she hopes to make a new life among the pilgrims. But old superstitions die hard and soon Mary finds that she, like her grandmother, is the victim of ignorance and stupidity, and once more she faces important choices to ensure her survival.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in American, British, Detective/Crime, Historical, Lists, Scandinavian

July 12, 2012

The Pure in Heart by Susan Hill

By bibliomouse

Publisher: Chatto and Windus

ISBN: 978-0701178949

Publication date: 2nd June 2005 (paperback)

The second in Hill’s crime series featuring Chief Detective Inspector Simon Serrailler, The Pure in Heart is another assured piece of sensitive and absorbing writing. Called back from a holiday in Venice when his severely disabled youngest sister, Martha, contracts pneumonia, Simon finds himself heading up the investigation into the disappearance of a nine year old boy, David Angus, who has vanished without a trace. Glad to have something to distract him from the feelings that last year’s shocking murder stirred up, Simon throws himself into the case with the help of Nathan Coates, newly promoted to Detective Sergeant.

As with The Various Haunts of Men, this novel concentrates more on the community of Lafferton and its reaction to the crime than actual police work. Simon himself is far more present in this novel than the first in the series, and he reveals himself to be highly contradictory. He can be generous, lively and amusing but also cold, distant and intensely private, which causes problems when Diana, a woman with whom he had a casual affair in past years, develops possessive tendencies despite his indifference and, indeed, disgust.

Cat Deerbon, Simon’s sister, is the heart of the novel. Pregnant with her third child, she finds herself deeply upset by David’s disappearance, especially in addition to her family’s own situation with Martha. The disintegration of David’s family is also profoundly affecting. The portrait of a grieving family is shown in such intimate detail that it feels almost voyeuristic. Details such as his mother adding cold water because she shouldn’t be allowed the luxury of a hot bubble bath whilst her son is missing are brilliantly and sensitively observed.

As readers might have gathered, it’s not a cheerful book and although I didn’t personally find it as upsetting as The Various Haunts of Men, I can imagine that anyone with children might find the descriptions of David’s captivity and his mother’s grief highly emotive. However, the quality of Hill’s writing prevents the depiction of such naked emotions from feeling gratuitous. There are many loose ends remaining at the end of the novel and this might be frustrating to some readers; for me, it just made me hanker for the next book  (which, luckily, was waiting for me on the bookcase). The Pure at Heart wasn’t as satisfying as Serrailler’s first outing but, as one in a series, it’s a excellent read.

4/5

This review was originally written for New Books Magazine September/October.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , , | posted in British, Detective/Crime, Recommended, Relationships, Reviews

July 9, 2012

The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill

By bibliomouse

Publisher: Chatto and Windus

ISBN: 978-1856197144

Publication date: 3rd June 2004 (hardback)

I recently agreed to review the second in Susan Hill’s Simon Serrailler series for a feature in New Books Magazine, with a really tight deadline, thinking that I’d read the first book already. It turns out that this was completely imagined and the 560 pages of The Various Haunts of Men were still to be tackled. I have to admit that I was a little daunted at the prospect – I’ve read so many crime novels recently that the idea of reading two more in a fortnight wasn’t exactly appealing. However, I prefer to read series in order so I picked up Simon Serrailler’s first outing and got on with it.

As so often happens, I’m really pleased that I did. Much like Ruth Rendell, who is quoted on the front cover, I loved this book. I should have known that it would be excellent as the other two books by Hill that I’ve read have both been brilliant. The Woman in Black was a novel thrust upon me when I was about 12 as a set text at school and I liked it then; I’ve read it since and picked up so much more atmosphere and detail than the first time around.  Similarly, Strange Meeting was a text on a World War I module for my BA and, despite it being one of several novels that we had to read, it was the one which I’ve since re-read for pleasure. Hill’s writing is always a joy to read and often belies the horror of her subject matter.

Set in the fictional cathedral town of Lafferton, The Various Haunts of Men is ostensibly about the disappearence of a middle-aged woman who vanishes one foggy evening. There are few leads as Angela, the missing woman, lived alone and kept very much to herself. Once these leads dry up, the case is downgraded in priority and only Detective Sergeant Freya Graffham thinks that there is more to the case than meets the eye. She is proved right when there are more disappearences, although the missing persons have nothing to connect them other than vanishing whilst up on The Hill. D.S. Graffham, along with her Detective Constable, Nathan Coates, is determined to find out whether Lafferton has its first serial killer.

I’ve read reviews of this novel which criticise it for the slow pacing and, whilst I recognise that this isn’t the most rip-roaring of novels, I do think that those reviewers are missing the joy of Hill’s writing and plotting. Although the crime aspect kept me interested, the real point of the seems to be the way that the reader gets to know the town and its inhabitants, many of whom will be featured throughout the series.

There’s Angela Randell, who lives alone but is in love with a mystery man for whom she buys expensive and, potentially, inappropriate gifts; Debbie Parker, a depressed young woman who seeks answers in the alternative therapies on offer in nearby Starly, and her flatmate Sandy who worries about her friend being taken in by charletans. Karin McCafferty, a professional gardener, discovers she has cancer but refuses her doctor’s advice and also turns to  alternative medicine, and Dr. Cat Deerbon who has to find the line between being Karin’s doctor and her supportive friend, as well as dealing with tensions surrounding the increase in  Cat’s mother Muriel, herself a retired doctor, is heavily involved in local activities and it is through the choir that she meets Freya Graffham, recently moved from London after a messy divorce. Freya discovers that she already knows Muriel’s son, Simon Serrailler – he’s her D.C.I., and she is also, inconveniently, in love with him. All of these characters are vividly brought to life and, although some are featured more heavily than others, none feel redundant or superfluous.

It’s the strength of Hill’s characterisation and the sense of community that it invokes which makes the crimes in the novel so affecting. And they are emotional, from the disappearances of characters that the reader has come to care about to the shock ending. Ah, that ending. If anyone remembers the first ever episode of Spooks they might know what I mean when I say that the denouement of this novel was shocking. I think it’s fair to say that I was a wreck by the end of the novel, and Mr. Mouse had serious reservations about me reading any more of the series. To be fair, even thinking about Bambi makes me teary, so I’m not the best measure of  the emotional power of anything, but I’d definitely advise you to have tissues to hand when approaching the ending.

I don’t really have anything bad to say about The Various Haunts of Men, which is slightly dull – sorry! As mentioned in my post about my favourite books of the first 6 months of 2012, I promised myself that I’d finishing writing this review before reading The Risk of Darkness, the third in the series. That didn’t happen, mainly because I just couldn’t not read it once it was on the bookcase. Bearing in mind the size of my TBR pile, this says a lot about this series. One word of warning – I would strongly recommend reading these in the correct order as I think the emotional heft would be lessened otherwise.

Go! Read!

4.5/5

3 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in British, Detective/Crime, Relationships, Reviews

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