Book Review: Baby (Thriller/Suspense)

Baby

by

Annaleese Jochems

Publisher: Scribe Publications
Publication Date: 5th March 2019
Pages: 272
RRP: $29.99
Format Read: Paperback Advance Reading Copy.
Source: Courtesy of the publisher via Better Reading 

 

 

‘Cynthia can understand how Anahera feels just by looking at her body.’

Cynthia is twenty-one, bored and desperately waiting for something big to happen. Her striking fitness instructor, Anahera, is ready to throw in the towel on her job and marriage. With stolen money and a dog in tow they run away and buy ‘Baby’, an old boat docked in the Bay of Islands, where Cynthia dreams they will live in a state of love. But strange events on an empty island turn their life together in a different direction.

I can’t say I loved this book but it certainly was compelling reading. It’s not a book to be loved; it’s a dark story of obsession, both possessive and self.

It takes place over a relatively short period of time. There is very little before in the telling.

Cynthia is a young woman of 21 but she looks and acts much younger. She runs away with Anahera, her fitness instructor.

Cynthia’s mind is chaotic, she flits from highs to lows and as the story is in her POV it makes the story also quite chaotic. She is constantly internally obsessing over Anahera’s love for her.

Cynthia has no conscience; her only thoughts are what Cynthia needs and what Cynthia wants. She was a complex character easily obsessed and just as easily bored.

I wasn’t sure where the story was heading until a third character was introduced that completely changed the dynamics of the plot. A male is introduced who is also interested in Anahera and he will not so easily pander to Cynthia’s moods.

 The setting of the boat was both claustrophobic and atmospheric. The characters could not easily get away from each other which made for some volatile scenes

The characters have no past and what little we do learn is unreliable as to its truth.

This is a strangely compelling read and I was intrigued to find out what would happen next.

Baby is a tautly written dark satire on the age of entitlement and self obsession.

My Rating  3.5/5     ⭐⭐⭐½

#BRPreview

Content: minimal coarse language

                 some violence

                 sexual references

Photo credit: Scribe Publications

Annaleese Jochems was born in 1994 and grew up in Northland. 

She won the 2016 Adam Prize from the International Institute of Modern Letters and the 2018 Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction for Baby, which is her first book.

 

Mailbox Monday - March 4th

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog. Head over and check out other books received during the last week. 

 

I can not believe how quickly Monday comes around and I'm once again posting a list of wonderful sounding books received in my mailbox.

Life Before by Carmel Reilly                                                                               

Publication Date: 6th May 2019                                                                     

Lori Spyker is taking her kids to school one unremarkable day when a policeman delivers the news that her brother, Scott Green, has been injured and hospitalised following a hit and run.

Lori hasn't seen Scott in decades. She appears to be his only contact. Should she take responsibility for him? Can she? And, if she does, how will she tell her own family about her hidden history, kept secret for so long?

Twenty years before, when she and Scott were teenagers, their lives and futures, and those of their family, had been torn to shreds. Now, as Lori tries to piece together her brother's present, she is forced to confront their shared past-and the terrible and devastating truth buried there that had driven them so far apart.

Compassionate, wise and shocking, Life Before tells the gripping story of an ordinary family caught in a terrible situation.

 Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi                                                                          

Publication Date: 7th March 2019   

      

Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children's stories--equal parts wholesome and uncanny, from the tantalizing witch's house in "Hansel and Gretel" to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can--beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe.

Perdita Lee may appear to be your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor walk-up apartment with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there's the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it's very popular in Druh�strana, the far-away (and, according to Wikipedia, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee's early youth. In fact, the world's truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread is Harriet's charismatic childhood friend, Gretel Kercheval--a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met. 

The Cinema at Starlight Creek by Alli Sinclair                                  

Publication Date: 20th May 2019

                                                                                                                               Queensland, 1994 When location manager Claire Montgomery arrives in rural Queensland to work on a TV mini-series, she's captivated by the beauty of Starlight Creek and the surrounding sugarcane fields. Working in a male-dominated industry is challenging, but Claire has never let that stop her pursuing her dreams-until now. She must gain permission to film at Australia's most historically significant art deco cinema, located at Starlight Creek. But there is trouble ahead. The community is fractured and the cinema's reclusive owner, Hattie Fitzpatrick, and her enigmatic great nephew, Luke Jackson, stand in her way, putting Claire's career-launching project-and her heart-at risk.

Hollywood, 1950 Lena Lee has struggled to find the break that will catapult her into a star with influence. She longs for roles about strong, independent women but with Hollywood engulfed in politics and a censorship battle, Lena's timing is wrong. Forced to keep her love affair with actor Reeves Garrity a secret, Lena puts her career on the line to fight for equality for women in an industry ruled by men. Her generous and caring nature steers her onto a treacherous path, leaving Lena questioning what she is willing to endure to get what she desires. 

What am I looking forward to reading?

 I can't pick just one book this week. The three books are very different in story and genre and I'm drawn to each of them for a different reason. 

The Life Before: I love family secrets and skeletons in the closet and these family secrets sound compelling.  

Gingerbread: This sounds like it will be a strange and wonderful mix of  fairytale and modern day family saga. 

The Cinema at Starlight Creek: Narrated in dual time lines moving from Hollywood to a small country town in Queensland Australia. What more could I want? Oh, and there's romance! 

What Books did your postman deliver this week?

Post a link to your Mailbox Monday or simply list your books in the comments below.

 
 

Book Bingo - Round 5

Book Bingo is a reading challenge hosted by Theresa Smith Writes , Mrs B’s Book Reviews and The Book Muse. Every second Saturday, book bingo participants reveal which bingo category they have read and what book they chose. 

As there are 30 categories and only 26 rounds I will need to complete a few double category posts and I'm happy this round to be crossing off two from my bingo card.

Crime genre:

I really enjoyed Death of an Old Girl a cozy murder mystery written in the 1960's which gave it an old world charm.

My review can be found here

Written by an author you've never read: 

This was an easy category for me to fill because I am always reading new to me authors. I read Louis and Louise by Julie Cohen. The book had a very interesting and original concept and I'd be happy to read more from this author.

My review can be found here

#BookBingo2019 

Book Review: The Christmas Card Murders (Murder/Mystery)

The Christmas Card Murders

by 

Anthony Litton

This is my next Christmas read and I'm still on track to get them all read before Easter (that's my plan). 

Publisher: Endeavour Media
Publication Date: 25th December 2017
Series: Beldon Magma Mysteries #4
Pages:182
Format Read: eBook
Source: Courtesy  of the publisher via Netgalley

A generation ago a young woman was knocked off her bicycle in the snow and left to die alone.

Decades later, the murders start. The first victim is a semi-disabled couple who are brutally ambushed and killed in their home. Others follow, each killing more horrendous than the last…

And in all the attacks, a calling card is left, a final indignity that suggests that revenge and retribution are at the heart of the brutal murders.

With The Christmas Card Murders, newly promoted Detective Inspector Bulmer and Chief Inspector Robert Calderwood and their friends, and sometimes colleagues, Desmond Blaine-Appleby and Gwilym Owen, have a particularly chilling mystery on their hands, and it is up to them to find out the link between the deaths and to stop the killer once and for all – before yet more blood is spilt. 

 

The Christmas card Murders certainly wasn’t my usual Christmas type of read. This gruesome murder, mystery takes place in the lead up to Christmas.

DI Robert Calderwood, on his recent promotion to Chief Inspector, is asked to investigate a recent double murder and on doing some checks finds a similar murder in London. There is an unmistakable connection between the two and he thinks they may be connected to a local fatal hit and run 40 years earlier. Calderwood’s team immediately gets on the case but he feels it will be beneficial to bring local resident Gwilyn Owen to ask questions as he grew up with the victim families.

The character development is good but way too many characters are brought into the story and each one has back-story explained which seemed irrelevant.

The plot was well developed but it was quite obvious we were to feel no sympathy for the victims as they were all slovenly and distasteful people.

The astute reader may pick up on the cleverly dispersed hints throughout the story but I was clueless and certainly didn’t guess the murderer.

The story reads as a stand-alone but I would recommend reading the series from the start to get a solid understanding of the main characters.

My rating   3/5  ⭐⭐⭐

Content: murder scenes.

 

 

 

 

Mailbox Monday - Feb 25th

Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog. Head over and check out other books received during the last week. 

 

My postman was certainly kept busy this week with six books received for review.

Under The Midnight Sky by Anna Romer
Publication Date: 1st may 2019

When an injured teenager goes missing at a remote bushland campground, local journalist Abby Bardot is determined to expose the area’s dark history. The girl bears a striking resemblance to the victims of three brutal murders that occurred twenty years ago and Abby fears the killer is still on the loose.

But the newspaper Abby works for wants to suppress the story for fear it will scare off tourists to the struggling township. Haunted by her own turbulent memories, Abby is desperate to learn the truth and enlists the help of Tom Gabriel, a reclusive crime writer. At first resentful of Abby’s intrusion, Tom’s reluctance vanishes when they discover a hidden attic room in his house that shows evidence of imprisonment from half a century before.

As Abby and Tom sift through the attic room and discover its tragic history, they become convinced it holds the key to solving the bushland murders and finding the missing girl alive.

But their quest has drawn out a killer, someone with a shocking secret who will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

Beneath the Mother Tree by D.M. Cameron
Publication date: 1st August 2018

On a small island, something sinister is at play. Resident alcoholic Grappa believes it’s the Far Dorocha, dark servant of the Faery queen, whose seductive music lures you into their abyss. His granddaughter Ayla has other ideas, especially once she meets the mysterious flute player she heard on the beach.

Riley and his mother have moved to the island to escape their grief. But when the tight-knit community is beset by a series of strange deaths, the enigmatic newcomers quickly garner the ire of the locals. Can Ayla uncover the mystery at the heart of the island’s darkness before it is too late?

The Woman from Saint Germain by J.R. Lonie
Publication date: 1st march 2019

She is a celebrated writer stranded in Paris after her French lover is killed fighting the German invasion. He is an enigmatic foreigner with a dangerous secret, fleeing Nazi-controlled Austria. Only the war could bring them together. 

Armed with a precious first edition of Finnegans Wake and an even more precious stash of Chesterfield cigarettes to barter with, Eleanor Gorton Clarke joins the sea of refugees escaping the city for the Spanish frontier. But when a stranger kills two German soldiers to save her life, Eleanor is forced on the run with her mysterious rescuer, pursued by a vengeful detective from the Wehrmacht.

Two strangers from vastly different worlds, the unlikely pair despise each other at first. But as the ruthless hunt for the two fugitives escalates and they are forced to become allies to survive, a powerful attraction erupts between them.

As their relentless German pursuer begins to close the net, a heartbreaking discovery forces the great romantic novelist to experience something she was supposed to know all about – the true nature of love.

War Doctor - Surgery on the front line by David Nott
Publication date: 21st February 2019

For more than twenty-five years, David Nott has taken unpaid leave from his job as a general and vascular surgeon with the NHS to volunteer in some of the world’s most dangerous war zones. From Sarajevo under siege in 1993, to clandestine hospitals in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, he has carried out life-saving operations and field surgery in the most challenging conditions, and with none of the resources of a major London teaching hospital.

The conflicts he has worked in form a chronology of twenty-first-century combat: Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur, Congo, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Gaza and Syria. But he has also volunteered in areas blighted by natural disasters, such as the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal.

Driven both by compassion and passion, the desire to help others and the thrill of extreme personal danger, he is now widely acknowledged to be the most experienced trauma surgeon in the world. But as time went on, David Nott began to realize that flying into a catastrophe – whether war or natural disaster – was not enough. Doctors on the ground needed to learn how to treat the appalling injuries that war inflicts upon its victims. Since 2015, the foundation he set up with his wife, Elly, has disseminated the knowledge he has gained, training other doctors in the art of saving lives threatened by bombs and bullets. 

I Thought I Knew You by Penny Hancock
Publication date: 7th March 2019


Jules and Holly have been best friends since university. They tell each other everything, trading revelations and confessions, and sharing both the big moments and the small details of their lives: Holly is the only person who knows about Jules’s affair; Jules was there for Holly when her husband died. And their two children – just three years apart – have grown up together.
So when Jules’s daughter Saffie makes a serious allegation against Holly’s son Saul, neither woman is prepared for the devastating impact this will have on their friendship or their families.
Especially as Holly, in spite of her principles, refuses to believe her son is guilty.

The Go-Away Bird by Julia Donaldson
Publication date: 7th March 2019

A gorgeous story about friendship and working together from a star picture-book partnership, the inimitable Julia Donaldson and award-winning Catherine Rayner.

‘The Go-Away bird sat up in her nest, With her fine grey wings and her fine grey crest.’ One by one, the other birds fly into her tree, wanting to talk or to play, but the Go-Away bird just shakes her head and sends them all away. But then the dangerous Get-You bird comes along, and she soon realizes that she might need some friends after all . . .

I also attended an author signing day in Sydney and came home with another 10 books which I won't list here or this post will be much too long. You can read all about the Books By The Bridge author signing event in my post here
 
What am I looking forward to reading?
This week I am going to choose War Doctor. I have recently read two Historical Fiction books set during WWII where the main character was a doctor so I'm very interested to read a non fiction account of a doctor operating on the front line and seeing just how true to real life the fiction accounts were.

What Books did your postman deliver this week?
Have you attended an author signing event? What did you think? Would you attend again?
Post a link to your Mailbox Monday or simply list your books in the comments below.