Day 34: Book Review - Trust Me by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Between You, Me and the Lamp Post

Day 34: Book Review - Trust Me by Hank Phillippi Ryan

I finished ‘Trust Me’ by Hank Phillippi Ryan and what a letdown. The synopsis sounded interesting:

'An accused killer insists she’s innocent of a heinous murder. A grieving journalist surfaces from the wreckage of her shattered life. Their unlikely alliance leads to a dangerous cat and mouse game that will leave you breathless.'

Breathless? It didn’t leave me breathless at all. In fact, I skimmed over quite a few pages to get to the end. When I got to the end, I thought ... that’s it, that’s all?

Right from the beginning, it bothered me that the main character displayed such hatred toward the woman who supposedly murdered her child. If she uttered her feeling once, twice or even three times, I could understand, but she keeps harping on about the same over and over and over again. It got on my nerves.

Meanwhile, she herself is guilty of murder. She caused an accident, killing her husband and daughter. It was ruled an accident, but still, she is guilty of taking two lives.

The story starts a year after the accident, but rather than moving on, she keeps talking to her dead husband and daughter. This bothered me too. They’re dead, they’re gone, get over it.

You might think such a statement heartless, but it so happened that many years ago I knew a woman who lost her son in a tragic accident.

Margot and her three girlfriends came back from a week-long holiday. As they arrived in their home town, they noticed a headline in the newspaper that four boys had been burned to death in a car. They were horrified.

But things got worse when Margot came home, she found out that those boys weren’t just any boys, one of them was her son.

A week after the funeral Margot was back at work. She couldn’t afford to grieve for a year, she stated that she came back to work to be among people and to keep busy. She obviously suffered and she was never the same again, but she tried, she didn’t dwell on the loss.

Another thing that bothered me in ‘Trust Me’ was the drinking habits of the two women. My goodness, they didn’t just drink, they gulped it down by the bottle. Whether it was morning, afternoon, evening or night, they constantly had a glass of wine in their hand.

As for eating, there was very little mention of that, short of ordering pizza (accompanied by a bottle or two of wine). I wonder if the Hank Phillippi Ryan gave any thought to the many recovering alcoholics reading her book.

And she’s not the only one. I have read countless other books where I couldn’t turn a page or the characters were drinking. With some it was wine, others beer, or in same cases gin and tonic. In one particular book, I actually counted these drinking habits of the main character and came to 37 bottles in 7 days.

In conclusion ... I give ‘Trust Me’ a big thumbs down. The synopsis is well written, but the book is a big disappointment.

Day 117: My new best friend

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 117: My new best friend

I have a new best friend and now that we’ve met, I can’t believe it took me this long to make his acquaintance. I’ve been reading for decades, the bookstore being my home away from home, and yet I never paid him the slightest of attention. His name, James Patterson.

Those who are familiar with his work will probably gasp “You never read a James Patterson novel!” and to my shame, I must admit that I never did. I thought his books were not my cup of tea. I saw the movie “Along Came a Spider” of course, with Morgan Freeman portraying Alex Cross, but I had no interest in his other stories.

That all changed last Friday. I found myself in downtown Toronto with nothing to read. The nearest bookstore would have taken me a good 20-minute walk and I just didn’t have the time or the energy to go that far. So I popped into the nearest Drug Market and browsed book section.

There wasn’t much choice: the usual romance novels, fantasy and science-fiction, children’s books and some murder mystery stories. One of them was ‘The Store’ by James Patterson. I picked it up, flipped it over to read the synopsis and … hm, this sounded interesting. So I paid for it and walked out with it.

And OMG the story was so gripping that I couldn’t put the book down. If it had been possible I would have read the story cover to cover in one sitting. The further I got the more enthralled I became and near the end the building could have collapsed around me, the steak could have burned on the pan, I had to know how this ended.

The second story in the book was called ‘The End’ with Owen Taylor as the main character. At first, I didn’t like this story. It was a war story and not only do I have zero interest in war stories, it’s set in the middle east, which interests me even less. But I had paid for the book so I might as well read it.

It didn’t take long for me to get absorbed in the story and once again I found myself reaching for the book every chance I got. Near the end, I literally couldn’t put the book aside and so I stayed up until 2:45 a.m. to know how Owen Taylor fixed his problem. And I was not disappointed. The ending was superb, and so much so that I found myself cheering for this man.

All too often I buy a book and like the story, but near the end, it seems the author got fed up with writing and rushes the conclusion or the ending is completely unsatisfactory. That was not the case with ‘The Store’ or ‘The End’. Patterson wrapped both of them up nicely leaving the reader hungry for more.

And hungry for more I was. As soon as the book was finished I wanted to read another one of James Patterson's works. Having arrived at the bookstore (a proper bookstore this time) I was in for a surprise though … there were no less than five shelves of James Patterson books. Oh dear oh dear oh dear, now what was I gonna do? How would I make a choice? So I did the only thing I could do … eeny meeny miny moe and I picked the book where my finger came to a rest. The book turned out to be ‘Guilty Wives’. I’m only a few chapters in the book but I can already tell, this is another excellent story.

I guess it’s safe to say that James Patterson and I will have a long and happy relationship. 

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Day 88: Book Review – The Woman in the Window

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 88: Book Review – The Woman in the Window

I found myself with nothing to read last Friday. Among other presents Father Christmas had given me three books, I’d finished them all and so now what … Fortunately, I was downtown and within walking distance to Chapters Indigo, Canada’s largest book retailer.

Since the authors I follow had nothing new on the shelves, I browsed for something else to read and came across ‘The Woman in the Window’. I remembered seeing a poster for this book on the subway, I read the synopsis and I was intrigued.

Synopsis

Anna Fox lives alone—a recluse in her New York City home, unable to venture outside. She spends her day drinking wine (maybe too much), watching old movies, recalling happier times . . . and spying on her neighbors.

Then the Russells move into the house across the way: a father, mother, their teenaged son. The perfect family. But when Anna, gazing out her window one night, sees something she shouldn’t, her world begins to crumble and its shocking secrets are laid bare.

What is real? What is imagined? Who is in danger? Who is in control? In this diabolically gripping thriller, no one—and nothing—is what it seems.

The reviews weren’t bad either …

Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller!

For readers of Gillian Flynn and Tana French comes one of the decade’s most anticipated debuts, to be published in thirty-six languages around the world and already in development as a major film from Fox: a twisty, powerful Hitchcockian thriller about an agoraphobic woman who believes she witnessed a crime in a neighboring house.

“Good choice,” the cashier of the store smiled when I went to pay. “There’s been a lot of hype over this book.”

I left the store withe the book tucked under my arm, happy in the knowledge that I had made a good choice. Or so I thought …

No sooner did I start reading the book or I thought … what is this … this is rubbish. I kept on going though, if others had such good things to say about the book, then maybe the story would pick up. It didn’t. If anything, it got worse.

On Amazon I read the reviews …

“The Woman in the Window is one of those rare books that really is unputdownable. The writing is smooth and often remarkable. The way Finn plays off this totally original story against a background of film noir is both delightful and chilling.” (Stephen King)

“A dark, twisty confection with an irresistible film noir premise. Hitchcock would have snapped up the rights in a heartbeat.” (New York Times bestselling author Ruth Ware)

“Finn’s debut lives up to the hype … A riveting and mature first novel that stands out in a crowded genre.” (Library Journal)

After reading such lavish praise, I began to wonder what was wrong with me. If everybody loved this book, what did that say about my taste in literature?

Then again, I know from experience that these so-called critics can’t be trusted. What Stephen King and Ruth Ware had to say, you can’t really believe because they’re not going to criticize a  fellow writer. Good manner dictate that they must be supportive.

As for the so called professional reviewers … I never believe a word of what they say. Whether it’s a book, a movie or a play … they nearly always have nothing but good to say.

So, I had a look on Amazon what real readers had to say …

"I love a good domestic/psychological mystery. Lately I have been disappointed. This book seemed so promising, published with high praise from writers I trust like Gillian Flynn and Louise Penny. There were 5 star reviews by readers. What could go wrong.? As I read it an old song by the Who kept going through my head, “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

"So boring. Kept waiting for the story to start.

I am 130 pages in and not sure if I will continue."

"The characters are not very likable or interesting and now I am losing interest. Not sure if I will continue or not, so many good reviews though so maybe it gets better."

There was another very detailed negative review, but that has since been removed so couldn’t copy that one.

In addition, there are indeed some very good 5-star reviews, which left me wondering … did those people read the same book I did? They called the story ‘riveting’, ‘thrilling’ and ‘twisted’. I found it childish and annoying.

The main character, Anna, is not exactly a sympathetic one. She suffers from agoraphobia and is an alcoholic. All she does all day is guzzle wine, whether for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a late night ‘snack’.

This alone bothered the hell out of me. Why did every wine she drinks have to be named and described? Did he get a fee from a liquor store to advertise alcohol? When someone smokes critics and people alike are quick to jump down the smokers’ throat, because oeh smoking causes lung cancer. But nobody seems the least bit bothered  by the constant drinking of characters in books and movies. Shouldn’t it be pointed out that alcohol causes high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, not to mention liver cancer?

In addition to her alcoholism, Anna watches black and white movies. A. J. Finn obviously has a love for these old movies because the book is peppered with their titles and plots. Every single chapter has movie titles in it, or a reference to a well known person.

So, eventually I thought … to hell with it. Life's too short to waste it on this rubbish. I took ‘The Woman in the Window’ back to the bookstore and moved on to something else. Safe to say, I’ll never pick up another book from A. J. Finn again.

I find it absolutely baffling that so many manuscripts get rejected, yet this one got published. Does A. J. Finn have connections in the publishing industry?

As for the critics who praised this story … they should be prosecuted for misleading information and lying through their teeth.

The Woman in Cabin 10

Every avid reader has their favorite authors. For me that’s Erica James, Penny Vincenzi, Lesley Pearce, Joy Fielding, to name but a few. When I need something to read, I check out those names first because I know their stories won’t disappoint.

However, since my favorite authors seem to be in hibernation, as they had nothing new on the shelves, I had to look for something else.

For me this is always a gamble, as I’ve tried quite a few authors over the years whose book I tossed aside after a few pages, wondering how the heck this got published in the first place.

My latest gamble was ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ by Ruth Ware.

I liked the look of the book (goes to show that some people do judge a book by its cover), while the synopsis seemed promising.

In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…

With surprising twists, spine-tingling turns, and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another taut and intense read in The Woman in Cabin 10—one that will leave even the most sure-footed reader restlessly uneasy long after the last page is turned.

‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ carried no less than 402 reviews on Amazon, but I’d rather didn’t read them. For one, many amateur reviewers give away part of the story without a spoiler alert warning, and two … I put little or no stock in other people’s opinion. After all, what’s good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.

I made the mistake of starting ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ shortly after midnight. I was only going to read for ten minutes or so, but before I knew it, it was 2:00 a.m.

I resolved not to read that late again, but the next night it was 2:30 before I turned the light off.

Near the end of the book going to sleep was not an option, I had to know how the story ended.

So, if you’re planning on reading ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’, prepare to turn page after page, wondering what will happen next. Prepare to chew your lips and bite your nails.

I gave ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ a five-star rating.

The Husband's Secret. Liane Moriarty doesn't care if she offends her readers. Contains Spoilers

When amateur writers seek the advice of professionals on how to write a good story they invariably are told to:

Have an attention grabbing opening to the story;

To show rather than tell; and

To pay close attention to spelling and grammar

In my opinion, there should be a fourth piece of advice … give the story a good ending.

I recently read “The Husband’s Secret” and while the story was good, the ending was so disturbing that I will never read another book of Liane Moriarty again.

In The Husband’s Secret we first meet Cecilia, model wife of Jean-Paul, mother of three girls, and perfect housekeeper, who one day finds a letter her husband has written many years ago, in which he confesses to murdering a 17-year old girl.

We also meet Tess, wife of Will, mother and successful business woman who discovers that her husband is having an affair with her best friend.

Finally, there’s Rachel, a widow and mother of the murdered girl.

While Cecilia knows of the murder, and is deeply shocked, after reading the letter, she does nothing.

Once Tess finds out of her husband’s infidelity, she takes her son and runs home to her mother. Once there she meets an old boyfriend, Connor, with whom she has mind blowing sex.

Rachel works as an administrator in a primary school where Cecilia’s daughters and Tess’ son go to school and have Connor as a PE teacher. She is convinced that Connor killed her daughter, but lacks any proof.

The story babbles on and it’s quite enjoyable until the end.

Seeing how the police refuses to arrest Connor, after Rachel presented them with a new piece of (weak) evidence, she is going to take matters into her own hands.

During an Easter Sunday drive, she spots Connor crossing the street and floors the accelerator. Only Connor gets out of the way and she hits Cecilia’s youngest daughter, whose right arm has to be amputated.

When later she learns that it was actually Cecilia’s husband who murdered her daughter she decides not to report this to the police. He strangled her daughter, while she is responsible for a girl losing her right arm, so that makes them even.

(In a sort of epilogue the author mentions that the amputee girl will never get the chance to play tennis. I guess Liane Moriarty has never heard of John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Andres Gomez who were all left handed tennis champions.)

As for Tess … she gets a visit from her husband, who states that having an affair wasn’t quite as much fun after she left the house, and he wants her back. Even though Will is a frumpy, overweight, hairy man, who is unable to satisfy her sexually, she takes him back without a second thought to Connor, the gorgeous ex-boyfriend, PE teacher, who sent her to the moon and back with orgasms.

I guess Tess has never heard the saying … once a cheater, always a cheater. Several women will tell her that, once a man has eaten the green grass on the other side, sooner or later he will go back for another nibble.

Not only that, Tess finds herself pregnant with another child. Is it Will’s or is it Connor’s … she claims she will never know. Has Liane Moriarty never heard of DNA testing?

The marriage is clearly in trouble, but Tess thinks that another baby will make Will stay put. Not only is this naïve, it’s irresponsible.

As for Cecilia … she knows that her husband is a murderer but she will do nothing. She loves her husband and that’s that. She will continue to keep the house clean, do the laundry, do the cooking and now busy herself with her research on arm prosthesis and will be that.

The moral of the story …

Once you’re married and have kid, your happiness is of no importance. It’s all about the kid, let the kid not lose his father because then you’ll ruin his life.

(What kind of message does this send to desperately unhappy women? You don’t matter and put up with anything and everything? What about divorced women, are they supposed to feel guilty? I would like to tell Liane Moriarty that divorcing my husband was the best decision I’ve ever made.)

It’s okay to take the law into your own hands and almost kill an innocent man while a murderer goes free, she’ll even have him over for a cup of tea.

It’s okay to stay married to a murderer. After all, in your marriage vows you promised to be there for better or for worse, so a woman’s place is by her husband, regardless of his actions. Better that than for your three daughters to lose their father, for you to lose an excellent provider and having to move out from a stately home.

And it’s also okay to be a murderer as long as you’re sorry. After all, Jean-Paul as the killer gave up rowing (his favorite past time) and a few years later he gave up sex for 6 months. Oh well, who can argue with that?

Never mind that some people get the death sentence for murder, get life in prison, or spend several years in prison for manslaughter, this guy is sorry, gave up rowing and sex for a few months so that evens it out.

I am by no means a professional, but my advice to enthusiastic writers would be … pay attention to the ending of your story. People of all walks of life, all with their own problems will read your story and hopefully forget their troubles for a while. Do you really want to be judge and jury and risk offending your readers?

www.connymanero.weebly.com

Memory Man by David Baldacci

I like a good murder now and then. So while I mainly read novels of a romantic nature, when I need a break from lovesick men and women and their antics, I go looking for a mystery novel.

Having read a “The Hit” and “The Innocent” by David Baldacci’s, I returned to the mystery writer and selected “Memory Man”.

Where it comes to novels, I’m quite demanding. The story has to grab me from the first page, even from the first paragraph. And “Memory Man” did just that.

Synopsis - Amazon

Amos Decker's life changed forever--twice.

The first time was on the gridiron. A big, towering athlete, he was the only person from his hometown of Burlington ever to go pro. But his career ended before it had a chance to begin. On his very first play, a violent helmet-to-helmet collision knocked him off the field for good, and left him with an improbable side effect--he can never forget anything.

The second time was at home nearly two decades later. Now a police detective, Decker returned from a stakeout one evening and entered a nightmare--his wife, young daughter, and brother-in-law had been murdered.

His family destroyed, their killer's identity as mysterious as the motive behind the crime, and unable to forget a single detail from that horrible night, Decker finds his world collapsing around him. He leaves the police force, loses his home, and winds up on the street, taking piecemeal jobs as a private investigator when he can.

But over a year later, a man turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murders. At the same time a horrific event nearly brings Burlington to its knees, and Decker is called back in to help with this investigation. Decker also seizes his chance to learn what really happened to his family that night. To uncover the stunning truth, he must use his remarkable gifts and confront the burdens that go along with them. He must endure the memories he would much rather forget. And he may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

On Amazon.com, “Memory Man” counts 3,958 reviews, of which 63% give the book five stars.

I tend to agree with them. As soon as I started reading, I couldn’t stop. Computer work was forgotten, even going to bed was forgotten and when I eventually did go to bed, I took “Memory Man” with me.

What I particularly like about the hero of this story, is that he’s not the typical tall, dark and handsome man. On the contrary, he’s an older man and he’s fat. He’s has one distinctive quality though … an extraordinary memory. Hence the name … Memory Man.

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7 month old baby dies at the hands of a drunk driver

For at least one family in Erie County, Christmas is over before it even began.  Due to a car accident, cause by a 24 year old female drunk driver, their seven month old baby was killed.

When can we expect laws that are harder on these drunks?  Do you really think the slogan “Don’t drink and drive” is enough?  In my opinion it’s not, not by a long shot.  Simply saying, don’t drink and drive is not even a slap on the wrist, it’s a tickle with a feather.

What we need are laws that scare the crap out of drivers who are thinking of drinking.  Fines starting from $10,000 would be a good start.  If caught again under the influence, $50,000 and 5 years in jail. 

If anyone gets hurt in an accident involving a drunk driver, 10 years in jail.  If anyone dies in the accident, life imprisonment.

In addition, labels should be posted on all bottles of alcohol and all glasses in which it is served.  Labels that look much like those on cigarette packets, carrying pictures of gruesome accident scenes along with slogans such as:

“Drinking and driving makes you a potential murderer”

“Alcohol abuse is the leading cause of spousal abuse”

“Drinking causes liver cancer”

Not to mention that for many, drinking can cause a complete change of personality.

Take last Wednesday for instance when Classic Trios got together for our weekly bowling night.

The team we bowled against that night started off perfectly friendly and well behaved.  During the course of the night that changed.  Two out of three players turned from friendly, to grumpy to downright rude.  The more alcohol got into them, the more abusive language spewed from their mouth.

While I have nothing against people enjoying a drink now and then, some people can’t hold their liquor and shouldn’t be allowed to drink.

I equally blame the bars selling alcohol to those people.  Can’t they see when these drunks had enough?  All things considered, when accidents or crimes happen due to drunk driving, the sellers are equally guilty as the consumers.

In the case of 24 year old Danielle Kellogg, her excessive drinking has not only claimed the life of a baby, it ruined the live of the mother and the father.  A child dying so young is bad enough, but to die because of some drunk brat … it’s unforgivable.

When she goes on trial, I hope justice is served and she goes to jail for years to come.  I’d say, lock her up and throw away the key and make an example out of her for other drunk drivers.

http://www.buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121129/CITYANDREGION/121129158/1010