This Dark Road To Mercy by Wiley Cash

Twelve year old Easter and her younger sister, six year old Ruby, are put into foster care after the sudden death of their mother in Gastonia, North Carolina. They haven't seen their father Wade in a long time when he reappears and wants to spend time with his girls, unfortunately because he signed away his parental rights years ago the only way this is possible is take them away in the middle of the night.

 

The girls legal guardian Brady Weller goes searching for them and he isn't the only one. Wade has stolen a large amount of money that is linked to an armoured car heist and someone not only wants to get it back but is looking for revenge. 

 

The story is told from various characters points of view, all of them are believable but I especially like Easter's. She's suspicious of Wade and wary of trusting him again as she can remember more from her childhood than Ruby. I did feel sorry for him at times despite his bad boy status and found the relationship between him and his daughters touching. This isn't only a suspense story but also one about family and relationships, particularly between fathers and daughters, Brady is also trying to rebuild one with his teenage daughter who now lives with her mother and step father. 

 

I loved this book as much as Wiley's first, A Land More Kind Than Home, he is now added to the list of authors whose novels I eagerly await.

 

Rating: 4 out of 5

Book Beginnings On Fridays (The Lie)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

My book beginning is The Lie by Helen Dunmore

 

He comes to me, clagged in mud from head to foot. A mud statue, but a breathing one. The breath whistles in and out of him. He stands at my bed-end. Even when the wind is banging over the roof that I've bodged with corrugated iron, it's very quiet. He doesn't speak. Sometimes I wish that he would break the silence, but then I'm afraid of what he might say. 

  

Book Description:

 Cornwall, 1920, early spring.

A young man stands on a headland, looking out to sea. He is back from the war, homeless and without family.

Behind him lie the mud, barbed-wire entanglements and terror of the trenches. Behind him is also the most intense relationship of his life, forged in a crucible of shared suffering.

Daniel has survived, but the horror and passion of the past seem more real than the quiet fields around him.

He is about to step into the unknown. But will he ever be able to escape the terrible, unforeseen consequences of a lie?

Set during and just after the First World War, The Lie is an enthralling, heart-wrenching novel of love, memory and devastating loss by one of the UK’s most acclaimed storytellers. 

Waiting On Wednesday (Mr Mercedes)

 

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we can't wait to be published.

 

This week mine is Mr Mercedes by Stephen King

 

 

A cat-and-mouse suspense thriller featuring a retired homicide detective who's haunted by the few cases he left open, and by one in particular - the pre-dawn slaughter of eight people among hundreds gathered in line for the opening of a jobs fair when the economy was guttering out. Without warning, a lone driver ploughed through the crowd in a stolen Mercedes. The plot is kicked into gear when Bill Hodges receives a letter in the mail, from a man claiming to be the perpetrator. He taunts Hodges with the notion that he will strike again.

 

Hodges wakes up from his depressed and vacant retirement, hell-bent on preventing that from happening. 

 

Brady Hartfield lives with his alcoholic mother in the house where he was born. And he's preparing to kill again. 

 

Only Hodges, with a couple of misfit friends, can apprehend the killer in this high-stakes race against time. Because Brady's next mission, if it succeeds, will kill or maim hundreds, even thousands.

 

Published: 3rd June 2014 by Hodder & Stoughton

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Its Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

As I mentioned in last weeks post I had a busy week planned, the girls were off school because it was half time, my Mum stayed with us for a few days and also my oldest daughter had her 11th birthday (where has the time gone!).

 

I did manage to finish The Prince Of Tides by Pat Conroy though and to be honest I was a little disappointed after all the good things I'd heard about it. It's a long book with my copy running at almost 700 pages but I don't normally have a problem with books of this size. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't terrible and parts of the story were very good but overall I think a couple of hundred pages could have been lost and it wouldn't have mattered, for me anyway.  Unfortunately it felt like a chore to finish it which obviously isn't good.

 

I'm now reading and enjoying This Dark Road To Mercy by Wiley Cash, I loved his first novel A Land More Kind Than Home and managed to get first in the queue at the library for his latest. 

 

 

As the girls are back at school this week I'm hoping to get a bit more reading done, especially as I'm starting a new job, working two days a week from next Monday. My next book will probably be The Lie by Helen Dunmore which I've got on my kindle.

 

 

 

 

Book Beginnings On Fridays (This Dark Road To Mercy)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

My book beginning is This Dark Road To Mercy by Wiley Cash

 

Wade disappeared on us when I was nine years old, and then he showed up out of nowhere the year I turned twelve. By then I'd spent nearly three years listening to Mom blame him for everything from the lights getting turned off to me and Ruby not having new shoes to wear to school, and by the time he came back I'd already decided that he was the loser she'd always said he was. But it turns out he was more than that. He was also a thief, and if I'd known what kind of people were looking for him I never would've let him take me and my little sister out of Gastonia, North Carolina, in the first place.

   

Book Description:

When their mother dies unexpectedly, twelve-year-old Easter and her six-year-old sister Ruby are shuffled into the foster care system in Gastonia, North Carolina, a town not far from the Appalachian mountains. But just as they settle into their new life, their errant father, Wade, an ex-minor league baseball player whom they haven't seen in years, suddenly appears and wants to spend more time with them. Unfortunately, Wade has signed away legal rights to his daughters, and the only way he can get Easter and Ruby back is to steal them away in the middle of the night.

Brady Weller, the girls' court-appointed guardian, begins looking for Wade, and he quickly turns up unsettling information linking Wade to a recent armored car heist, one with a whopping $14.5 million missing. But Brady Weller isn't the only one hunting the desperate father. Robert Pruitt, a shady and mercurial man nursing a years-old vendetta, is also determined to find Wade and claim his due. 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Its Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

This week I read:

 

The Killer Next Door  by Alex Marwood

 

I'm currently reading:

 

The Prince Of Tides by Pat Conroy, I'm really enjoying it but it's taking a while to get through as it's almost 700 pages long.

    

I'm not sure yet if I'll start another book straight after I've finished The Prince Of Tides, it's half term and also my oldest daughter's 11th birthday this week so lots planned. If I do I'll choose an easy read.

Musing Mondays

Musing Mondays is run by Should Be Reading and asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

 

I have decided I am going to try and catch up with what I have on my TBR and not buy too many new books. If it's something off my wishlist that I'll read straight away than that's allowed, too often I buy a book and it sits unread on my shelf for ages. I'm also cutting back on review books for the time being unless it's one I really want to read, I went a bit mad when I first joined Netgalley last year. I've found that sometimes I'm reading books because I have to rather than want to, I'd like to get back to reading simply for enjoyment for a little while.

Book Beginnings On Fridays (The Prince Of Tides)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

My book beginning is The Prince Of Tides by Pat Conroy

 

My wound is geography. It is also my anchorage, my port of call.

I grew up slowly beside the tides and marshes of Colleton; my arms were tawny and strong from working long days on the shrimp boat in the blazing South Carolina heat. Because I was a Wingo, I worked as soon as I could walk; I could pick a blue crab clean when I was five. I had killed my first deer by the age of seven, and at nine was regularly putting meat on my family's table. I was born and raised on a Carolina sea island and I carried the sunshine of the lowcountry, inked in dark gold, on my back and shoulders. 

 

 Book Description:

Pat Conroy's inspired masterpiece relates the dark and violent chronicle of an astounding family: the Wingos of Colleton, South Carolina. No reader will forget them. And no reader can remain untouched by their story.

All Wingos share one heritage ... shrimp fishing, poverty and the searing memory of a single terrifying event - the source of Tom Wingo's self-hatred and of his sister Savannah's suicidal despair.

To save himself and Savannah, Tom confronts the past with the help of New York psychologist Susan Lowenstein.

As Tom and Susan unravel the bitter history of his troubled childhood, in episodes of grotesque humour, poignant lyricism and shattering violence, the door opens vividly onto a world peopled by a cast of colourful, eccentric and unforgettable characters.

 

 

The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood

The Killer Next Door is a great suspense novel full of twists and turns. Set in a London house that has been turned into bedsits it is owned by lecherous, obese landlord Roy Preece who seems to have no redeeming features. Most of the tenants have secrets they want to keep hidden, among them are Collette who is on the run and in fear of her life using her bedsit as a place to hide and Cher, she looks older than her years but is a young girl who has escaped from a children's home. Other characters include Vesta who has lived in the basement flat all her life, first with her parents, then her husband and now on her own, lonely Thomas and Iranian asylum seeker Hossein. There's also Gerard, he's very rarely seen but his loud classical music is often heard. One of them is a serial killer, but who?

 

They are all brought together one night when there's an accident, not something I ever saw coming, in fact I didn't guess most, if any of the revelations throughout the story. Although you do gradually learn more about the tenants as the novel progresses there's no slow build up with this one and it gets straight into the action. It is gory but only when necessary and isn't overdone or gratuitous.

 

I loved Alex Marwood's debut novel The Wicked Girls so was very pleased to get a copy of this from Netgalley. The Killer Next Door is as good, if not better than her first and she is definitely an author whose books I will now eagerly await. 

 

Rating: 4 out of 5

 

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Its Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

 

This week I read:

The Examined Life  by Stephen Grosz

The Shock Of The Fall by Nathan Filer

 

I also started reading The Library Of Unrequited Love by Sophie Divry, it's only a short book but I wasn't enjoying it all and gave up half way through.

 

 

I'm currently reading:

The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood 

Book Beginnings On Fridays (The Killer Next Door)

Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader and as she says the idea of this meme is for you to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author's name. There's a linky list on the website and you can use #BookBeginnings on Twitter.

 

My book beginning is The Killer Next Door by Alex Marwood and it's out now as an eBook and will be published in paperback in June. I've only just started this and have been looking forward to reading it as I loved her first novel The Wicked Girls

 

He checks his watch and downs the last of his coffee. "Okay. Miss Cheryl should be done with her fag break. Let's take you down to her."

She follows him down to the interview rooms and he surreptitiously checks his reflection in the wired glass of a door as he passes it. DI Cheyne's a bit older than he usually goes for, but she's a good-looking woman. Slightly hard faced, but a life in the MET doesn't make for a lot of childlike innocence. Women who understand your unorthodox working hours are few and far between; attractive ones even fewer.

 

 

Book Description:

No. 23 has a secret. In this gloomy, bedsit-riddled South London wreck, lorded over by a lecherous landlord, a horrifying collection quietly waits to be discovered. Yet all six residents have something to hide.

Collette is on the run from her ex-boss; Cher is an underage children's home escapee; lonely Thomas tries to make friends with his neighbours; while a gorgeous Iranian asylum seeker and a 'quiet man' nobody sees try to keep themselves hidden. And there for them all is Vesta, a woman who knows everything that goes on in the house - or thought she did.

Then in the dead of night, a terrible accident pushes the six into an uneasy alliance. But one of them is a killer, expertly hiding their pastime, all the while closing in on their next victim...  

The Shock Of The Fall by Nathan Filer

Matthew Homes is a nineteen year old with schizophrenia and The Shock Of The Fall is narrated by him; his Nanny Noo gives him a typewriter so he decides to tell his story. His mental health issues started after the death of his brother Simon and have gradually got worse. Simon died when he was twelve and Matthew only nine, and ever since he has blamed himself. 

 

The book moves back and forth and covers lots of time periods from before the tragic event to the present day, but is never confusing. It perfectly gets across Matthew's state of mind and we also get an insight into how all of the family coped with their grief; I loved all of the characters.

There were moments when I had tears in my eyes but I never found it depressing. Also considering the subject matter it is quite an easy read; I picked it up just to make a start and was almost half way through before I put it down again. This would be an impressive novel for any author and is even more so considering it is Nathan Filer's debut. So often I'm told or hear good things about a book only to be disappointed, that certainly wasn't the case with this one.

 

Rating: 5 out of 5

 

Book Description: 

I’ll tell you what happened because it will be a good way to introduce my brother. His name’s Simon. I think you’re going to like him. I really do. But in a couple of pages he’ll be dead. And he was never the same after that.’

There are books you can’t stop reading, which keep you up all night.

There are books which let us into the hidden parts of life and make them vividly real.

There are books which, because of the sheer skill with which every word is chosen, linger in your mind for days.

The Shock of the Fall is all of these books.

The Shock of the Fall is an extraordinary portrait of one man’s descent into mental illness. It is a brave and groundbreaking novel from one of the most exciting new voices in fiction.

 

Waiting On Wednesday (Carnival Of Shadows)

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme, hosted by Breaking The Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we can't wait to be published.

 

This week mine is Carnival Of Shadows by R.J. Ellory.

 

Book Description:

 

Kansas, 1959. A travelling carnival appears overnight in the small town of Seneca Falls, intriguing the townsfolk with acts of inexplicable magic and illusion. But when a man's body is discovered beneath the carousel, with no clue as to his identity, FBI Special Agent Michal Travis is sent to investigate.

Led by the elusive Edgar Doyle, the carnival folk range from the enigmatic to the bizarre, but none of them will give Travis a straight answer to his questions. With each new turn of the investigation, Doyle and his companions challenge Travis's once unshakeable faith in solid facts and hard evidence.

As the consequences of what has happened become ever more disturbing, Travis struggles to open his mind to a truth that defies comprehension. Will he be able to convince himself that things are not what they seem? Or will he finally reconcile himself to a new reality - one that threatens to undermine everything in which he has ever placed his trust?

 

Published: 22nd May 2014 by Orion

  

The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz

Stephen Grosz is a psychoanalyst and this book looks at some of the cases he has dealt with over the years. I'm not a big fan of non fiction but had heard lots of good things about The Examined Life so borrowed a copy from the library. To start with I found it quite interesting and was pleased that he didn't use complex psychological speak to get his point across. As the book progressed though the short chapters started to annoy me, maybe he can't reveal everything about each case because of confidentially (he does use false names) but I found the lack of detail and information annoying. I wanted to know more about these people and what happened to them.

 

It's ok and probably worth reading if this kind of thing interests you but it wasn't as in depth or eye opening as I was hoping it to be, after all the 5 star/best book I've ever read reviews I was expecting a lot more.

 

Rating: 2 out of 5

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

Its Monday! What Are You Reading is a weekly meme run by Book Journey and you can mention books you've just finished, are currently reading and any you plan to read this week. You can leave a link to your blog and read other bloggers posts.

 

This week I read:

The Martian  by Andy Weir

Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary

 

I'm currently reading:

The Examined Life by Stephen Grosz

I don't normally read non fiction but have heard a lot about this so though I'd give it a go.

 

 

Not sure what I'll read next but it will be one of my own, got quite a lot going on and to think about at the moment so want to avoid having to decide what to say in a review about an ARC. Just try and relax and enjoy a book with no pressure of what I think or need to say about it if that makes sense.

Someone Else's Skin by Sarah Hilary

Detective Inspector Marnie Rome and Detective Sergeant Noah Jake are investigating a crime and visiting a women's refuge to interview one of the residents. What they discover when they arrive is a man lying seriously injured on the floor, he's been stabbed and is the husband of one of the women. Suddenly Marnie and Noah are in charge of a complex investigation and one that soon spirals out of control.

 

As well as a couple of storylines concerning the refuge there is also one from Marnie's past when she suffered a devastating loss to a violent act. Despite it being very well written, I found all the different parts of the story made it a little difficult for me to get into the book properly to begin with and I wasn't sure where it was all going. Around half way through though the story accelerated and became much more interesting for me. The book has plenty of short chapters to keep you reading as well as twists and turns. I thought I was being very clever having worked one of them out only to be surprised again.

 

This is the authors first novel and it is an impressive debut. Despite my early reservations I did like the characters of Marnie and Noah and I'm hoping that this will be the start of a series, I would like to discover more about the pair of them.

 

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in return for an honest review.

 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 

 

Publication date: 27th February 2014 by Headline