50 Books Challenge - 2nd Thread.

Sparklefizz

#69 No One Home by Tim Weaver
This book sounded good - on Halloween 9 neighbours gather for a dinner party. They live in an isolated group of houses.
By the next morning they have all disappeared without trace - no bodies, no evidence and no clues.

How could they all just vanish overnight? What secrets were the neighbours keeping from each other?

Two years later, the mystery remains and the families of the missing turn to investigator, David Raker, in the hope of getting answers.

This book was ok, well-written, but the storyline was a bit silly in places (in my opinion). I did finish it but by the end I had lost interest in how/why they had all disappeared. The book was described as "a dark thrilling rollercoaster, unputdownable" ..... for me, it was not. 7/10

I remember reading that book Sparklefizz and having the same thoughts about it. Sometimes Tim Weaver's books can be really good though, others not so.

Book 61
The Evening and the Morning - Ken Follett
Always a bit daunting to start an 800+ word novel, but as always with Ken Folletts writing, I was soon drawn in.
This one is the prequel to The Pillars of the Earth, set in the dark ages, it follows the fortunes, and misfortunes of three young people
A young and ambitious monk, Aldred, master builder Edgar, and Ragna, a Norman noblewoman who comes to England to marry.
Of course it’s quite predictable in some ways, but it’s a really good story, so much cruelty and violence, and so little justice.
But of course, after many challenges our trio have their well deserved happy ending.
I enjoyed it.

TerriBull and Sparklefizz, I quite enjoyed this book, I agree it stretched reality a bit, especially towards the end, but I found it kept me guessing.

72. The 19th Christnas, James Patterson

An easy read, gangland mayhem set at Christmas.

81 The Hallmarked Man Robert Galbraith

I've finally finished it! you know you're getting your money's worth with Galbraith, coming in at just over 900 pages equivalent to 2 books. possibly 3.

What a host of characters! at times they gave me positive brain ache trying to piece them all into the complex jigsaw of the main plot not to mention a couple of sub plots. Some were mentioned earlier in the book and then when they re occurred a bit like a series of meandering maths lessons for the dim witted (me) I'd completely forgotten the first part and just how the various strands juxtaposed to produce the final result. I did get there in the end. This is a book with quite extraordinary detail even for her.

The dark narrative opens with the corpse of the hallmarked man of the piece found in a vault of a silver shop, his body mutilated in a grotesque way to suggest it has been some Masonic ritual murder. Who is he? Strike and Robin are commissioned by a woman who believes the dead person is her missing boyfriend and that is the first strand the plot hinges on before it dives off in multiple directions, introducing umpteen possible victims, missing people, assailants and a myriad of motives.

In the meantime, the dynamics of the complicated relationship between Robin and Strike which is one of simmering longing and undeclared love continues, often with opportunities thwarted, particularly as Robin is at a crucial stage in her relationship with her boyfriend of two years, cop Murphy, not without its problems. In her heart of hearts she knows this could possibly be history repeating itself a doomed relationship just as her brief marriage proved to be.

Although Galbraith cantilevers all the umpteen moving parts of the plot together she still leaves us, the readers, up in the air as to the direction Robin and Strikes relationship will take, which in my op is sometimes more captivating than the criminal investigations at the heart of the book.

Confusing at times but very good. It's a long one!

Agree Terribull, the Robin/Strike relationship is far more riveting than the somewhat convoluted crimes.

Book 62
Getting Away - Kate Sawyer
A close look at five generations of one family through their breaks and holidays, from Butlins to travelling the world.
Very emotional, a close and loving family, but with big secrets. I raced through it, crying for much of the time.
Enjoyable if you like a book which deals with the intricacies of a family.

#93. A Neighbour’s Guide To Murder by Louise Candlish.

130=Home Fires and Spitfires-Daisy Styles
A most enjoyable story set in a 1940's Lake District Residential Home for unmarried mothers. An example of friendship and unity between women from a variety of backgrounds, each of them having to worry about family members fighting in the war.

#94. Burial Of Ghosts by Ann Cleeves.

131-Blacklight Blue-Peter May
The 3rd in the Enzo Macleod series, a bit complicated, so you have to be wide awake to follow the twists and turns of the plot. Not one to read when you're tired. Set in Strasbourg so some interesting descriptions of the area.

Book 63
48 clues into the disappearance of my sister- Joyce Carol Oates
One of my favourite writers, but not one of my favourites books.
I didn’t even know what had happened, could be me, because it wasn’t really holding my interest, but the ending didn’t resolve anything for me at all.
Unpleasant characters, a story which didn’t really go anywhere, wouldn’t recommend.

Calendargirl

#93. A Neighbour’s Guide To Murder by Louise Candlish.

I read that two weeks ago and enjoyed it !

#95. Blind To The Bones by Stephen Booth.

73. Cold Blooded Killer, Alex Pine
74. The Killer in the Snow, Alex Pine

These were good choices for the time of year - murder mysteries set at Christmas in Cumbrian villages. I’d like to have read the series in order, but these were the two offered by my library service. I’m sure I’ll catch up with the rest at future Christmases. I found some of the conversations a bit stilted, but the characters are likeable and I still enjoyed the plots.

82 Silent Bones - Val McDermid

The latest Karen Pirie. Historic cold cases, a body found in a motorway landslide, sounding just like "The Unforgotten" Uncovering shady goings on with powerful people linked to Scottish politics, particularly the Scottish Independence Referendum. The remains belonging to Sam Nimmo, investigative journalist who disappeared after being linked to the murder of his pregnant fiancee. Running parallel is a 2nd case involving the death of a hotel manager, on the surface appearing accidental, but investigations unearth it was also possible murder, again with links to powerful people protecting their sordid secrets. It was Ok, middle ranking, pace a bit slow, particularly as it was bogged down in the tedium of Scottish politics. The ending was a bit of a damp squib imo. I've become a bit disappointed with her writing of late, I always loved her Karen Piries this for me was a bit lacklustre, given I still consider one of her early stand alone books, A Place of Execution, one of the most riveting crime novels I've read in recent years.

#72 We Solve Murders by Richard Osman
I know there are mixed views on this one. I enjoyed it, but thought it was over complicated with too many characters. 7/10
#73 The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths
I finally got to the front of the list in the library for this one. I don’t normally read anything with a time travel element to the story, but her characters were as wonderful as ever and I enjoyed it. 8/10
#74 The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue I hadn’t read any by this author before, I loved this one.
Set over 3 days in Dublin in a small maternity fever ward during the influenza epidemic 1918, just as the war looked like it was coming to an end. It was intense, sad, happy and engrossing. 9/10
#75 Live Anthony by Lisa Genova
Olivia Donatelli's dream of a 'normal' life was shattered when her son, Anthony, was diagnosed with autism at age three. He didn't speak, hated to be touched, almost never made eye contact. Then, just as Olivia was learning that happiness and autism could coexist after all, Anthony was gone. Not as good as some of her other books. 7/10
#75 The Big Man Upstairs by J.D. Kirk
The next instalment of the D I Logan series, set in Inverness and the Scottish Highlands. Very good. 8/10

132-Moving On-Anna Jacobs
Molly Peel has been downtrodden for years, with her controlling husband and her two selfish lazy children. When she decides to move to Wiltshire and start a new life, her ex presents difficulties and her children are shocked. Can Molly find the courage to stick to her plans?

# 70 The Art of Falling by Danielle McLaughlin

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It built slowly showing how intimacy and estrangement can coincide, with relatable characters exploring love, art, truth and infidelity.

Nessa's marriage has been rocky after her husband's affair but they are trying to work things out. They have a teenager daughter, Jennifer, who is sometimes difficult.

Nessa works for an art gallery and is arranging an exhibition of sculpture by one of Ireland's enigmatic and beloved artists, now dead. Two outsiders interfere with both her professional and personal world and a chance encounter with an old friend threatens to expose a betrayal Nessa had thought she had long put behind her.

I give it 10/10.

#96. Scared To Live by Stephen Booth.

Book 64
Not Quite dead yet - Holly Jackson

Holly Jackson is best known for her highly successful YA novels, and I felt there was still quite a YA feel to this one.

Jet is viciously attacked in her own home and left for dead, she comes around in hospital only to be told she will die in a week of an aneurysm , so with the help of her childhood friend Billy, she sets out to solve her own murder.
It’s not a bad read, though not as amazing as the critics have said, I always dislike books where the F word is used constantly, and it’s certainly used here in almost every sentence, puts me off characters who can’t speak without swearing, even if they’re dying.

It was ok, but not memorable.

I keep going back to Arthur Hailey. He's one of the best authors I have ever read.

Also, John Wyndham books are still favourites, along with Neville Shute and Elizabeth Goudge,

I also enjoy Jean Plaidy's books, and t love reading PD James.

I do agree with your opinion of Not Quite Dead Yet Sarah. Ok but over hyped.

#78 “The Book of Ebenezer le Page”. Rambling fictional recollections of Guernsey in the first half of the XXth century. I read it when it first came out and my lovely late son was a baby.

#76 Over by Margaret Forster.
18 year old Miranda has died in a boating accident. The book is in the form of the journals her mother Louise starts keeping a couple of years later, documenting the obsession her husband Don has with proving that someone must be to blame, because the accident can’t simply have been caused by Miranda’s own inexperience. His obsession drives the family apart, having a huge impact on both Louise and Don, as well as Miranda’s twin Molly and younger brother Finn. It’s a powerful story, only 200 pages, but I found it to be quite a long and, at times, difficult read. 7/10