Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter? by Nicci French - Review

On the last day of my holiday we couldn't do a lot except sit around, and then we had a long transfer via coach back to the airport, so I had a lot of time to read. I picked this up and probably wouldn't have if I'd known it was over 500 pages long. But then I had so much time to read that I ended up getting really into it and I read it in just a couple of days. So thank you to the long book for keeping me company while I travelled! 

I had this book recommended by my friend Janet, who often posts recommendations of books that are just a pound or two on Kindle. I often end up buying a couple! I read something by Nicci French absolutely forever ago, and didn't really like it, but that was honestly like about twenty years ago so I was probably overdue to give them a try again (Nicci French is the pen name of a husband and wife team, if you didn't know). I have seen that this is the first book in a series about the detective who appears at the end, Maud, and I would definitely read another book with her in because I really liked her. 

The first part of the book is set in the early 90s, I think. Alec Salter is turning fifty and is throwing a party. The family lives in Suffolk. His wife is Charlotte. Everyone loves her. They have four children - Niall, Paul, Ollie, and Etty. She is only fifteen when the party happens. Charlotte never turns up, though. Alec isn't concerned but Etty is. The party happens. Etty and Ollie (it might be spelt Olly, sorry) walk around looking for Charlotte, but don't find her. 

In the coming days the family does take it more seriously. The police come and suspicion falls on Alec. It's true that he and Charlotte didn't always have the greatest relationship. Her coat is found in the river which makes Etty realise she must be dead. 

The family is friends with another family in the village - dad Duncan, agoraphobic and chronically depressed wife Francesca, and sons Greg and Morgan. Greg and Etty go out on Christmas Day, a couple of weeks after Charlotte's disappearance, and discover Duncan's body. There were rumours that he and Charlotte were having an affair and the police quickly agree. They think Duncan killed her and then himself, and they declare the case closed.

Etty, though, never accepts this version of events. As soon as she can she leaves the family and is rarely back. But then it's twenty five years later and Alec is suffering from dementia and the Salter children have gathered at his house ready to sell it and all of his stuff and move him into a home. He often thinks that Etty is Charlotte and Etty thinks he will confess to her murder. Morgan, meanwhile, is a film maker now and he starts a podcast about the events that happened with his dad and Charlotte. Lots of things come to light and it is obvious that the police in the original investigation basically bumbled the whole thing. 

Hence why Maud is invited down! She lives and works in London but she comes to Suffolk to work on the case. I really liked her. I liked the setting, too. I could imagine it really well. The one thing I didn't quite get fully was Charlotte herself - but it's easy to see why because Etty kind of idolises her and obviously because she's young she doesn't know her mother as an adult. 

I felt for so many of the people in this book. I found it really intriguing and just really wanted to know what happened. I'm giving it five out of five because it kept me so engrossed! 

The Fells by Cath Staincliffe - Review

Thank you so much to Joffe Books for giving me access to this book via Netgalley! I cam across it while browsing and was intrigued, so I was pleased to be able to read it. I was provided with an electronic copy of this book for review purposes but was not otherwise compensated for this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

I love detective fiction but I hadn't come across Cath Staincliffe before. This is her first book in the series with these detectives, but she has other books with other officers and I would be interested in picking one of those up. I would also definitely read more in this series, I hope to see one soon! 

The detectives are Leo, who is fifty something, happily married, and good at his job. His son, though, is causing a bit of worry because he's quite right wing and racist and stuff like that. Leo and his wife don't know what to do with him. 

Shan is new to the department I think, she's definitely new to Leo. She's married to a woman and she's pregnant with their first child. She tells Leo this straight away but is keen to get stuck into her new job.

And the job is this: a potholer has found a skeleton in a cave and Leo thinks it must be the bones of a young woman called Vicky who went missing in the late 90s. She was in the area with friends, at a festival, when she went missing, and was never found. It was commonly thought that she was another victim of a serial killer in the area, although he always denied it. She left a note saying she was going to watch the sunrise, but was never seen again. Two of her friends have stayed in touch with her mother, who desperately wants to know what happened to Vicky and to bury her properly. 

Leo and Shan - who has Chinese heritage, although she's adopted - get to work going over the cold case. 

I was worried in case this book was a bit too close to something by J R Ellis - there's even one of his about a body found in a cave in the Yorkshire Dales - but I shouldn't have worried. This story felt fresh and new and I liked how the mystery was solved. I liked the parts set in the 90s, too, and I liked Leo and Shan and want to know what's in store for them in the future. As you can see from the photo I was reading this while on holiday and it was perfect holiday reading for me! I'm giving it four out of five. 

The Housemaid by Freida McFadden - Review

I have seen a few people reading this book and I was intrigued, so I looked it up on Amazon and found all three books on Kindle for only a few quid so I bought them. I'll read the next two soon I think because I liked this and found it really compelling. In the most I like books that keep me engaged and that I want to finish reading, and this definitely fulfilled that brief. I don't think any of the characters are particularly likeable. I knew there was a twist in this book and it really didn't disappoint - I didn't expect it at all. That's the mark of a good book for me - I've read a lot of books and can often predict what is coming, but I didn't predict this at all. 

The hero of the book is Millie. She has recently been parolled from prison and is desperate to get her life back on track. She applies for a job as a housemaid with the Winchesters. She will be a live in cook and cleaner and will help to take care of their daughter, Cecelia. She somehow doubts that she will pass the background check but to her surprise, she is offered the job. The Winchesters live in a huge house and clearly have a lot of money. Millie's room is in the attic, and to her shock, her room only locks from the outside. 

Straight away she comes up against Nina, the woman of the house. Nina is exacting, wanting things doing to her exact specifications and finding fault with Millie at every turn. Her daughter, too, refuses to eat what Millie has prepared and then says she is allergic to peanuts - so then why is there a huge jar of peanut butter in the pantry? Nina says she told Millie, but Millie is certain she didn't. This is just one example of the weirdness within the house.

But Millie has nowhere else to go. She was sleeping in her car before this and she needs a job. She also likes Nina's husband, Andy. He's dashing and very charming and she wonders what he sees in a woman like Nina. 

There are murmurings about how ill Nina was when Cecelia was born, and how she's 'nuts' now, and how no one thinks Millie will hack the job. There's also the hot gardener, Enzo, who speaks little English but who seems to be trying to warn Millie away from the job and the family. 

As I said I thought the twist was excellent and I can see what might happen in the next books. I'll have to get to them soon. I'm giving this four out of five. 

The Light Between Us by Elaine Chiew - Review and Blog Tour

Hello! Welcome back to my blog for my belated stop on the tour for The Light Between Us by Elaine Chiew. As I explained previously, I didn't get chance to read and review this book before I went away on holiday. I was reading it when I left so it accompanied me on my aeroplane ride and the first couple of days of my holiday, and it was perfect reading for that! I haven't ever read a book like this before so I'm so glad I joined in the tour!

So, in the present day, Charlene, known as Charlie, is living in Singapore. She grew up there but studied in the US. She works as an archivist. Her family is complicated - her dad had three wives before he died. Her mother, his first wife, is also dead. Charlie and her mother lived in London for a while. Her first stepmother is still around and controlling the family fortune as well as the family in general. She has two sons. She also owns the family compound; Charlie lives in a lodge also on the property. Her dad's third wife, Peony, had a son, Sebastian, who Charlie met at university and is now best friends with. They are the outcasts in the family and there's clearly a lot of trauma around their family and their stepmother. 

In 1920, Tian Wei is a photographer in Singapore, although he's from the mainland. He is concerned about his friend, Aiko, who has gone missing. Through some kind of slip in time, his letter appears in a digital folder of Charlie's, and she replies to him. 

They strike up a friendship and then a romance through time. The time isn't linear, though - what is only a couple of days to Charlie is weeks and then months for Tian Wei. I knew the book couldn't end happily but I thought what happened was perfect, it was just such a lovely romance. I liked Charlie a lot and really felt for her - she's an orphan trying to just live her life but her stepmother and her half brothers were just terrible people who seemed to like to make her miserable and to manipulate her. I thought the depiction of modern Singapore was brilliant, showing the difficulties between tradition and modernity. 

Likewise, I like Tian Wei and his world too. Singapore in the 1920s is not something I knew anything about so I liked learning about the place and about the differences between the mainland Chinese people and Singapore nationals. Plus by the end of Tian Wei's story, the Japanese occupation is about to happen which casts a long shadow over his story too. 

The romance is really lovely and believable. I'm so glad I read this and I would definitely read something else by the same author. I'm giving this four out of five. Thank you for having me along! 

Out of Bounds by Val McDermid - Review

After I read the first Karen Pirie book recently I realised I actually really liked her - I don't like some of Val's other series - so when I came across three more of the Karen Pirie books while on an afternoon out in Holmfirth I bought them. They were only a couple of quid each so I did well! This is the fourth one in the series and there's a massive spoiler for something that must have happened in book two or three, but I don't really care about that and I'll get around to them eventually. I made my mum read the first one and she really enjoyed it, but she says she needs to read them in order! So I will lend this to her at some point. 

Karen is DCI of the Historic Crimes Unit, which looks at cold cases, and in this book the unit has been moved to Edinburgh. She is going through something - which I won't spoil - and she's taken to walking around late at night, where she meets some Syrian asylum seekers. This is one small strand of the book which I actually really liked. 

But the main case she is looking at is the rape and murder of Tina Macdonald twenty years ago. No one was ever caught for her murder. But then some lads get into a joyride and the driver ends up in a coma. When his DNA is matched against the database, it turns out that Tina's murderer must have been a close male relative of his. Problem is: Ross Garvie was adopted and he doesn't know about it, and his records are sealed. Karen has to go to court for the right to access the records. I found that really interesting actually. 

She also meets a friend of hers who is a social worker, and while she's there, a detective is looking into the death of a man called Gabriel. At first it was considered suicide, and then a murder, but then Karen's colleague has decided it is a suicide after all and is basically ready to shut the case. But Karen's interest is piqued. It turns out that Gabriel's mother, Caroline, was killed in a place explosion over Scotland twenty five years ago. Flying the plane was an MP who had been outspoken about the IRA, so the death was thought to be terrorist activity. But no one was ever caught and no one ever took responsibility. Karen doesn't like coincidences so she starts looking into the old case as well as Gabriel's death too. 

Her colleague in the unit, Jamie Murray, is nice enough but a bit dim. Karen needs to train him. She also struggles with her superiors because she is just such a maverick which yes is a huge cliche in crime novels but I like her so I just can't be cross about it. 

In all I really liked this and I found it really compelling so I will probably pick the others up soon. I'm giving this four out of five. 

A Terrible Kindness by Jo Browning Wroe - Review

This book was my choice for book club this year. I saw it while browsing in WH Smith or something last year, but didn't pick it up. But I thought it would be good for book club so chose it. I am writing this review before the book club meeting so I am intrigued as the what people will think. This is partly because the book didn't go how I thought it would at all. It wasn't that I disliked it, but the blurb doesn't quite match up to the actual narrative.

The main character is called Will. At the very beginning of the book he is nineteen and he has just qualified as an embalmer. He is at a fancy dinner with his girlfriend, Gloria, when the whole room - all embalmers celebrating - get the news that the Aberfan disaster has happened. Some volunteer embalmers are required to go to south Wales and help with the clean up of the bodies. Will volunteers and sets off from his home. He will be the closest he has been to his mother in five years, as she lives in Swansea. It's not clear why he is estranged from her for quite a while, but it becomes clear. 

The book splits off into different narratives in different time periods. It isn't confusing to follow but I'm not quite sure it was the right decision to make as the author, but I will take each strand separately.

First of all there's Aberfan itself. If you're not familiar, the disaster was that a coal spoil tip slid - after three weeks of rain - down the hillside into the school and into some houses. About 150 people died, including something like 116 children. It happened at about 9.15am so the kids had just arrived for the day. Hundreds of people - mostly miners - turned up to help pull bodies from the slurry, which solidified as it stopped moving, and their bodies were taken to two local chapels nearby. There really were embalmers who came over to help, including some from Ireland who also brought dozens of tiny coffins for the children. Will is a fictional version of these men and the story here is absolutely harrowing. I hadn't ever really thought about the trauma that the bodies must have gone through before being found. It took days for them to find all the bodies, and no survivors were found after 11am on the day of the disaster. It's something that I am interested in so I picked the book on this basis.

It is clear that Will suffers PTSD after his work in Aberfan, and really that's what the book is about. He marries Gloria but tells her that he doesn't want children because of what he saw small bodies go through. He suffers from nightmares and flashbacks. Reading this from a modern perspective is really interesting, actually.

But he also has PTSD from other events in his life, if you want my opinion. His dad and his dad's twein brother, Robert, were funeral directors, along with Robert's partner - in the business and sexual sense - Howard. Will's dad wants him to follow in the family business but his mother, Evelyn, is against it. She's quite jealous of the relationship that Will has with his uncle and Howard. Will's dad dies when he about eight years old. A couple of years later, Will is off to chorister school in Cambridge. He has a beautiful voice although later, as an adult, he rarely sings anymore because of his traumas. At the school he meets Martin, but it's clear he has become estranged from Martin, too. His uncle and Howard love him like their own, but they don't know what he went through in Aberfan.

I feel like Aberfan was just kind of a useful tool to show someone's trauma, which kind of annoyed me. I wonder what other people in my book club will think. I did like the book, though, and I'm giving it four out of five. 

Paper Girls Vol I by Brian K Vaughan and Cliff Chiang - Review

A friend of mine lent this to me ages ago and I picked it up one day in late August and read it really quickly. I liked it so much that I've got the rest in the series to read too. It's a really fun graphic novel and I would really recommend it whether you like graphic novels or not.

The comic is set in 1988 and all the action takes places in one day on the first of November. Erin is twelve years old and has recently got a job delivering newspapers. She is out delivering when she meets KJ, Mac, and Tiffany. A group of teenagers attacks them and steals a walkie talkie from them. The girls chase them and find some kind of strange machine in the basement of a house - it's sort of like a UFO. The girls then try to protect themselves from the strange groups of people who are fighting - the teenagers and some weird dinosaur-like creatures. 

I really liked the colours used in the comic, and the fashions of the girls which showed that the setting was the late eighties. I am so intrigued to read more and will probably do that soon. I'm giving this four out of five.