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 91: The mystery of the missing socks

My Project: 365 Creative Writing Prompts

Day 91: The mystery of the missing socks

Have you ever done a load of laundry and ended up with an uneven number of socks? Of course, you have, everyone has. Experts have even made a study of it and came up with the following explanation:

Practically speaking, the study found the most common causes for missing socks were falling behind radiators or under furniture, pairs getting separated in different washes, socks falling off a washing line or simply forgetting to put them in the wash in the first place.

I have experienced that problem too, not once but several times. I know that I have 24 pairs of white socks, but the last time I counted I only had 21 pairs.

In an attempt to find them, my first port of call was the laundry basket. I tipped them upside down, sifted through them, but found no socks. I looked under my bed, looked behind cabinets, checked the bathroom, even the walk-in closet, but no socks could be found. It was, to say the very least, very strange. One sock going missing is already mysterious, but 6 socks!

And then one night the mystery got solved, just like that. I came home and changed my socks because they were slightly damp from walking in the snow. I left the damp socks on the floor to dry and went to the kitchen to make coffee.

When I came back into the living room I nearly dropped my cup in surprise. There was Halley with my sock in her mouth!

(Excuse the bad quality of the pictures. They were snapped in a rush.)

“And what are you doing?” I asked her.

She looked at me, eyes big with surprise. Before I could say another word or make a move, she turned tail, trotted into Dieter’s bedroom and slipped under the bed.

We couldn’t stop laughing. It was the funniest sight … Halley running off, dragging the sock between her paws. When I tried to take it away from her, she held on for dear life. Okay then, she could keep the sock for a while.

It was great entertainment anyway. Eventually, Halley came back into the living room with the sock, played with it for a while, dragged it to the kitchen, ran with it to the bedroom, all the while providing us with laugh out loud laughter.

After a while she showed up without the sock, so she obviously had deposited it somewhere. Since I had seen her slip under Dieter’s bed I wanted to retrieve my sock from there, but I was in for a bit of a surprise … I found not one but six socks. The little thief!

And while we’re on the subject of hiding things, it’s only fair to say that Halley also finds things.

The other day, we heard her batting something around in Dieter’s room. When he went to check he found her playing with a screw. A day later she was playing with a ring. Now it’s become a bit of a joke, when we hear her playing with something Dieter says, “Now what has she found?”

So far, she’s dug out a Christmas ball, a hair clip, a pen, a lipstick, and a subway token, all items that were forgotten. She even found a long-lost piece of paper.

Weeks ago, Dieter had written down a schematic for something he wanted to print and for some reason that piece of paper had gone missing. He’d searched for it, but it was gone. He assumed that he accidentally threw it away.

Then a few days ago we saw Halley reaching for something under the love seat. By the looks of it, she couldn’t quite get what she was reaching for, but that didn’t stop her from trying. Persistent little thing as she is, she eventually got what she was digging for … Dieter’s piece of paper.

Now as it turns out, Halley can not only hide and retrieve things, she can also count. If you don’t believe me get a load of this.

This morning she was playing with a soft yellow ball. The ball rolled under a bookcase and since she couldn’t reach under it I got the ball for her. While on my hands and knees (closely watched by Halley who also peered under the bookcase), I did not only find the yellow ball, but also a blue ball, a green ball and red one.

I retrieved the yellow ball and gave it to her. She looked at the ball, looked at me and waited. I retrieved the blue ball and placed it next to the yellow one.

“Do you want the others too?” I asked her. She just sat there, waiting. So, I first got the green one and finally the red one. And would you believe it, as soon as I placed the last ball in front of her paws she started batting one of the balls around. The little bugger knew that there were four balls under that cabinet and waited until she had all of them back.

Now if that’s not impressive I don’t know what is.

www.connymanero.weebly.com

 https://www.facebook.com/bespokebirdhousesandboxes

The Woman in Cabin 10 - Part II

Yesterday I sang the praises of ‘The Woman in Cabin 10.’ However, to be perfectly honest, after finishing the book I had a few questions. Part of the story made no sense to me, leaving me guessing whether the author had made a mistake. (For the sake of future readers I’d rather don’t go into too much detail).

I went online, searching if someone else had picked up on these ‘mistakes’, but couldn’t find anything.

Desperate for answers I looked up Ruth Ware on Facebook and sent her a message. I didn’t actually expect her to answer, very few authors do. At best you get an automated reply, thanking you for your feedback. But I was going to give it a shot anyway.

Much to my surprise, Ms. Ware did reply and not just a one-liner, but a thorough explanation of what I had perceived as a mistake.

Even with her explanation though, I still didn’t quite get it, so I asked for further clarification, and moments later that’s exactly what I got. Ms. Ware even went as far as apologizing that she hadn’t spelled out the details more clearly.

I’m quite sure Ms. Ware is not to blame. It was me, this is what happens when I read until all hours of the night. My eyes fly over the lines, eager to know what happens next, and in the process some details escape my attention.

Then again, my Kindle might be to blame. By clicking next page, it’s very easy to skip a page. While fully alert, one might pick up on that skip, but who – at 2:00 in the morning – is alert enough to notice such a detail.

So, not only did ‘The Woman in Cabin 10’ impress me, Ms. Ware impressed me even more. She doesn’t act as the grand dame of literature, but rather as an average woman who doesn’t consider herself too posh to respond to a reader’s question.

Next up, ‘In a Dark, Dark Wood’ also by Ruth Ware. I’m only 17 pages into the story, but I can already tell … my nightlight will stay on long after midnight. 

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.

Do you like the blog? Visit www.connymanero.weebly.com 

and sample my books. 

You might like them.