Book Review: THE CASE FILES OF GG MICHAELS: PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR

Title: The Case Files of GG Michaels: Paranormal Investigator

Author: JL Meredith

Publisher: Self-published

Pages: 213

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Guenevere ‘Guen’ Grace Michaels, the GG of the title, first encounters the paranormal when Hannah Schaeffer, a dead 16yo schoolgirl, appears to her as a vampire in 'The Face in the Window'. Guen is only 12 years old at this time.

Her second brush with the paranormal, 'The Padded Cell', takes place in college on Halloween night when she espies a ghost, who has not been able to move on. This Halloween party is being held in an abandoned asylum for the mentally ill. The asylum is not haunted by just one spirit. Something far more ancient and evil lurks in the dark. This is her roommate and best friend, Janet Yamashita’s, first experience of the paranormal. This is also where we meet Izaak Washington, a strapping footballer who saves Guen from the asylum and becomes her boyfriend.

In 'Ouroboros Charm', Izaak is away but Guen and Janet have been invited to a spring festival being held in a quaint town called Ouroboros Charm. Guen has been chosen as a princess of sorts for the main festivities. But the truth is that this is a dangerous cult, in thrall of a 100-yard worm. Will Guen and Janet get out of there alive?

In 'Beldam and the Belle', Janet and Izaak are both away meeting their respective families. Guen takes up what promises to be a quick assignment. A black businessman, Xavier Fox, wants to buy a defunct old ship called the Belle, and convert it into a hotel. He wants Guen to check out the ship and get rid of the ghosts that haunt it. The townsfolk are not pleased with his intention. One woman, in particular, Mrs Eunice Beldam, who runs a derelict charm store and operates as a witch, enchants both Fox and Guen through a powerful spell. Will Guen be able to resist the spell and release the ghosts? And what will happen when Eunice Beldam invokes a zombie?

In 'What Lies Beneath', Guen and Janet are called to the nearly 200-year-old Monahan House to release the ghosts reported to be haunting the place. There they discover something far more frightening than a few lost ghosts.

 

The book is written as several connected short stories, which describe a series of encounters that Guen has with the paranormal at various stages of her life.

 

WHAT I LIKED:

The author did a fine job with the descriptions, filling them with active imagery that helped me picture the scenes.

The paranormal creatures featured in each story are depicted by well-drawn black and white sketches at the end of each story.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

There were parts in at least two of the stories, where the writing seemed to aspire to become some kind of erotica writing. Not something I want to read.

The book needed better editing. There were many grammatical errors. A character’s ‘imposing’ strength is described as ‘interposing’.

The dialogue between Guen and Janet in Ouroboros’ Charm could have been edited better. It was hard to follow exactly who was speaking.

I found it odd that the 3^rd person PoV omniscient narrator referred to Guen as a blonde several times in the story. There was no need to objectify her like that. It’s the sort of thing a man writing a female character would do. The frequent references to her movie-star looks and calling her the blonde immediately got me out of the story.

 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK:

Guen was too focused on growing her showbiz career. Her previous successes seemed to have made her blasé about the danger posed by the paranormal. In the last story, she was fixated on the episode she was recording than on what should have been her calling.

Also, she is a Catholic, but her faith seems to be a mere peg on which to hang the premise. Throw in a few Hail Marys, carry a rosary in her purse, say the prayer to the Archangel Michael to prove that she’s a good Catholic. But then the moment she’s given a charm necklace, she takes off her chain which has a cross without a second thought. Not a smart move for someone who is Catholic and aware of the Evil One’s power. Also, not a smart move to insist on wearing heels while out on the job.

In the last story, she has the arrogance to wonder "if He put her into these situations to foil His enemy."

Why introduce a new character, the boyfriend, Izaak, and never let him feature in any of the remaining stories?

 

ALL SAID AND DONE: The book had its moments, but there were sections that didn’t quite work.

 

 (I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: CRAZY LITTLE THING CALLED LOVE

Title: Crazy Little Thing Called Love

Author: Kristin Mulligan

Publisher: Self-published

Pages: 157

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Chloe Simpson, still single in her early 30s, signs up for a speed dating event for singles, to be held on Friday, February 6, a week before Valentine’s Day, allowing enough time for singles to hit it off with someone and pair up for the big day. She will meet 15 men for 5 minutes each, hoping one of them will be the man of her dreams.

When she arrives there, she meets Jude, a drop-dead handsome paramedic that she hopes she will be paired with. Inside there are other good men. There’s Lucas, a handsome accountant; Dominic, a kind-hearted farmer who appears so wholesome; Peter, a podiatrist with a foot fetish, and Dustin, the over-animated organiser of the event. Then there’s Augustine, who gives Chloe the creeps, and Warren, who is horribly sexist and rude, Tyler, who is polished but still married, and the charming Grant.

Before the night is over, Chloe finds herself trapped in a dark space, with no way of escaping. It is clear that her captor is someone related to the speed dating night. But who is it? And what plans do they have for her?

 

The book is written in the 1^st person present tense PoV of Chloe, with occasional chapters written in the 1^st person present tense PoV of her kidnapper. The chapters alternate between Now and Before, meaning Before she was kidnapped.

 

WHAT I LIKED:

The book raises questions about the fraught world of dating, with its dangers as much as the unrealistic expectations that this social ritual raises. The story also serves as a cautionary tale, in terms of alcohol combined with the malicious intentions of unknown people.

The author has thoughtfully provided a content warning for attempted sexual assault, kidnapping, physical violence and psychological stress, among other grievous crimes.

 

I liked the Main Character; her brand of honesty and self-awareness was very relatable. Her experience was so graphic and visceral that the trigger warnings made sense. I was totally hooked on the story as it played out. The writing was good, evoking imagery that was vivid and sensory.

For once, the Main Character’s profession is not just a random thing. Here, Chloe’s knowledge as an architect helps her in captivity. When she uses terms like drywall and caulk, we don’t question, how does she know.

There is a point in Chapter 9, in the Before, when Chloe tells us, I know where I’ll be held prisoner during the event, effectively and unknowingly foreshadowing the future for herself.

There are 15 men at the event who could have kidnapped Chloe. The mystery bothers us as much as it bothers her.

The name of the book, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, reminded me of the song by Queen. The chapter names are a playlist of some of my favourite songs from the 80s and 90s, and a few from the 60s and 70s too, songs I haven’t heard in ages. I’m going to listen to them once I’m done with this review.

The song titles cleverly evoke reactions and emotions that are the opposite of those evoked by the songs whose names they bear. Coupled with the story of unhinged love, the chapter names take on new meaning.

Here are some examples of the naming of the chapters:

Chloe finds herself trapped in a dark space = Come Undone (song by Duran Duran)

Chloe is increasingly frightened after her cries have brought no help = Take My Breath Away (song by Berlin)

Chloe first meets Jude = Can You Feel the Love Tonight (song by Elton John)

Chloe finally remembers = It’s All Coming Back to Me (song by Celine Dion; this title was rather clever)

Here's a list of all the songs that have been referenced in the chapter titles, besides the ones named above:

Friday I'm in Love -- The Cure

Every Breath You Take (I'll Be Watching You) -- The Police

I Want to Know What Love is -- Foreigner

Careless Whisper -- George Michael

Isn't She Lovely? -- Stevie Wonder

I Don't Want to Miss a Thing -- Aerosmith

Nothing's Gonna Stop Us -- Starship

Said I Loved You But I Lied -- Michael Bolton

I Swear -- All 4 One

(Everything I Do) I Do It For You -- Bryan Adams

Kiss From a Rose -- Seal

You Make My Dreams -- Elvis Presley

Right Here Waiting -- Richard Marx

Wicked Game -- Chris Isaak

Can't Fight This Feeling -- REO Speedwagon

Let's Get It On -- Marvin Gaye 

Unbreak My Heart -- Toni Braxton

Faithfully -- Toby Mac

How Deep Is Your Love -- BeeGees

Endless Love -- Diana Ross and Lionel Richie

Tainted Love -- Soft Cell

All Out of Love -- Air Supply

Truly Madly Deeply -- Savage Garden

From This Moment On -- Shania Twain

I Would Do Anything for Love But I Won't Do That -- Meat Loaf

Crazy Little Thing Called Love -- Queen

Hungry Eyes -- Eric Carmen

Didn't We Almost Have It All -- Whitney Houston

(I Just) Died in Your Arms -- Cutting Crew

Save the Best for Last -- Vanessa Williams

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: Nothing

 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK:

There was one mistake, where the narrator tells us that Dustin has just made a wildly inappropriate remark. But Dustin hadn’t said anything at that point.

At one point, the captor reveals that the first woman he ever kidnapped escaped. We are never told who that woman was or what happened to her. This felt like a loose end. 

 

ALL SAID AND DONE: The premise of unhinged love is not an uncommon one. But the clever way in which the author has packaged this story, showing us the danger posed by obsession and unhinged love, and the manner in which she has written it wins a big recommendation from me.

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: I CAME BACK FOR YOU

Title: I Came Back For You

Author: Kate White

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Pages: 299

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐

Bree Winter, 53, is living in Uruguay with her partner, Sebastian. She is in a good place and healing from the trauma of her past life. Eight years ago, her college-going daughter Melanie was killed by a ruthless serial killer, Calvin Ruck. In the aftermath of that horror, Bree and her husband Logan Chase drifted apart as he sought to manage his grief through infidelity.

In the present time, Logan has donated an enormous sum of money towards two scholarships and the renovation of the editorial office of the college’s literary magazine, both in the name of Melanie. Around this time, Ruck, who is serving time for his crimes, has admitted to killing two other women, while asserting that he didn’t kill Melanie.

Now Bree and Logan are thrust once again into the nightmare. She flies up to New York to attend the reception in honour of the scholarships, and begins her own investigation into who might have wanted her daughter dead.

 

The story is written in the first-person present-tense PoV of Bree.

 

WHAT I LIKED:

It was good to see a protagonist in her 50s. The fact that she is older than Sebastian by two years is also unconventional and welcome.

Logan came out reasonably well-drawn. Despite the infidelity, he appeared to be a decent character. Bree too came out strong as a mother, torn asunder by grief and desperate for closure, particularly in the second half of the book. The first half, not so much. Given the situation, I liked the note on which the book ended. It made me feel connected to the mother and daughter, after a whole book of struggling with both characters.

There was a smattering of Spanish words and phrases in the chapters set in Uruguay, that I liked.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

There was far too much filler stuff. The book could have been a lot thinner. The scenes in Uruguay seemed like so much filler. The only reason why it has been put there is probably to justify the title, I came back for you. She came back to New York all the way from Uruguay.

The pace improved only when Bree began her own investigation at the 41 percent mark. But only slightly. Then the pace dropped again, then increased at the 46 percent mark. Then it dropped again, and re-surfaced at 51 percent.

While the author built up Logan, Sebastian remained vague. It didn’t help that we meet him in person on page 1, where he flies off to Buenos Aires, and then we only see him through phone calls, texts and emails. We meet him again at the 96 percent mark. Even Melanie came off as insubstantial. Considering that the whole book was about her parents struggling with grief, we don’t get to see much of her personality. The flashbacks relating to her don’t help.

The challenge that befalls Bree at the 67 percent mark doesn’t seem particularly dangerous.

WHAT DIDN’T WORK:

The writing was good but there were far too many flashbacks, not all of them very relevant to the story. Many of the flashbacks relate to Logan and their marriage. It got in the way of building tension in the present.

The trajectory of the relationships wasn’t hard to predict. In many ways, I saw this book as women’s fiction as much as a murder mystery. Bree spent a long time trying to get a grip on her feelings for her ex and her current partner.

There were some questions that remained unanswered. For instance, why does a particular character lock Bree in the basement office of the literary magazine? Also, why doesn’t the killer kill Bree when they have the chance, despite knowing that she has figured it all out?

 

ALL SAID AND DONE: The book should have been shorter. As a mystery, it could have been a lot tighter.

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: ALWAYS THE QUIET ONES

Title: Always the Quiet Ones

Author: Jamie Lee Sogn

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Pages: 238

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐

Bea Ku, a hardworking and accomplished Filipina lawyer who has been passed over for promotion for five years, finds herself shortchanged once again when her colleague, lazy and incompetent Greg Farrell, whose work she checks and improves, is promoted over her. Her boss, Landor Laurie, is insufferable, misogynistic and chauvinistic, and overworks her, repeatedly gaslighting, shortchanging and demeaning her.

The loss hits Bea hard, reeling as she is from the picture-perfect lives that her teenage best friend Allegra and her husband Caleb Crown live. Her parents are constantly comparing her to Allegra, now an expectant mother. It is as if they haven’t forgiven her for messing up her life as a teenager by getting addicted to performance enhancement drugs.

At a party held to celebrate their firm's acquisition of new client Granite from rival, Saul group, Bea meets Kelli Stewart, a harried lawyer working at Saul group. One drink leads to another, and then Kelli suggests, “I’ll kill yours if you kill mine.” And Bea responds, “There’s an offer I can’t refuse.” Then Landor is found dead, and Bea's memory of what happened is fuzzy. She begins to fear that the new life she’s built for herself is about to come crashing down.

The book is written from the 1st person PoV of Bea. 

 

WHAT I LIKED:

The book raises important questions about sexism, about the toxicity rampant in certain workplaces, especially in legal firms which often operate as old boys’ clubs. We also get a sense of the male ego that cannot bear rejection, and the sense of entitlement that some men carry about with them, which they feel is justified due to their position and gender.

The book also touches on the attitude and beliefs about single women, particularly if they aspire to senior positions, as well as the issues faced by immigrants in a country in which English supersedes all languages. 

 

Landor Laurie steps inside Bea’s office, sits on her chair, and leans back with his feet propped up on the desktop. This one image was so colourful, giving us a clear idea of what the man was really like.

 

At first I didn’t like Bea much, but I warmed to her a little once the author started giving away bits of her history. We also get to see how annoying Bea’s mother can be, especially with reference to her fondness for Allegra.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

The story opens on the Monday morning on which Bea expects to get her promotion. Yet instead of getting to the point, it leads with unnecessary information about Bea's morning routine, the pills she takes etc. The pill addiction could have been worked in later.

In the first chapter, Bea tells her mother that she and her parents are the only ones to live in the house. It is annoying when the Main Character tells another character things they should know for our benefit. The descriptions of Bea and her mother were equally unnecessary.

I liked the first part of this book more than anything that followed. The author really showed us how badly Bea was being shortchanged at work, and I waited for her to take action. But that never happened. After Landor’s death, the pace completely goes off.

 

None of the characters were really likeable. Bea is good at her job, but she lacks common sense and makes a number of stupid decisions. Given her training as a lawyer, and she was supposedly a good one, her actions didn’t sit right. The detective, Judith Branson, was uninteresting, and Allegra was rather annoying.

 

The book was a slow burn. After Landor’s death, which we come to know of at the 29 pc mark, the investigation falls asleep, it seems. Nothing much happens. There's a slump. The next increase in pace takes place at the 66 pc mark, but not much happens even then. The action perks up only towards the end, but the so-called plot twist that Bea resorts to in order to save herself is something that she had suggested early on. So even that turned out to be a letdown.

 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK:

The whole Strangers on a Train premise wasn’t pulled off quite well.

 

The dynamic between Bea and Caleb wasn’t fully explored. They were thick as thieves as teenagers and there’s a hint of a romance that isn’t fully explored. So when they meet for the first time after nearly 20-odd years, I expected some kind of fireworks, some excitement, the barest hint of emotion. But it was so tame and flat.

 

The relationship between Bea and Simon seems to progress far too soon. I couldn’t see why Simon would choose to take the actions he did. His actions weren’t credible.

A minor quibble, but two partners at Bea's firm had alliterative names: Landor Laurie and Olivia Oxford, which seems made-up and takes us out of the story. 

 

ALL SAID AND DONE: The premise of the overworked, competent working girl taking action to right things in her life carried promise, but that promise wasn’t quite fulfilled. 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: THE NEW SON

Title: The New Son

Author: Iain Maitland

Publisher: Inkubator Books

Pages: 268

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐

Nina lives with her partner, Gary, and his 16yo daughter Chloe from a previous marriage with ex-wife Gemma. They are not married, but Nina hopes to settle down next year. She is still dealing with the pain of a miscarriage, and with the lack of support from Gary, who is controlling, and Chloe, who is disrespectful and rude.

Nina longs to be a mother. She receives her first glimmer of joy and hope in the longest time the day 19yo Alex, the child she gave up for adoption, turns up on her doorstep. Now named Liam Riley, he was born of a teenage pregnancy at 15 when she had sex with her boyfriend, and the love of her life, Ryan, also aged 15 then. Nina can’t wait to have a happy family.

A day later, Liam says that he needs a place to stay and moves into Nina’s house. At first, Gary welcomes Liam, assuming that his adoptive parents are rich and that he can con him into parting with cash. But then he works out that Liam is not Nina’s cousin, and he becomes furious. He confronts Liam and disaster ensues.

Nina is now in the difficult position of having to support one beloved man against another. How can she begin to do that? And what does she really know about the son she has just met? Is he really as innocent as he portrays himself? Or does he have a sinister agenda?

 

The book, written in the first-person present tense PoV of Nina, is divided into three parts: Part I: The Reckoning, Part II: Truths or Lies, and Part III The Unravelling.

 

WHAT I LIKED: The first plot point, at the end of Part I, marks a turning point for Nina, a point of no return, and we find ourselves on the edge of our seats as she becomes increasingly desperate and beside herself as a reaction to that event. At this point, Nina was an interesting character, especially given her overactive imagination and her naivete.

I began to warm up to Nina only after she admitted to herself that she wanted Gary gone. The pace improved markedly after a particular critical plot point takes place. I won’t mention it since the book synopsis doesn’t, but the story takes a bizarre turn, compounding Nina’s difficulties.

 

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

Not one of the characters was likeable, but they were true to type. Gary was a classic example of the kind of man that no woman should have anything to do with. He has low self-esteem and he tries to compensate by trying to control Nina.

She, on her part, tries to “make him feel good about himself”. I detested both Gary and Chloe, and Nina for putting up with it. She admitted that she was being taken advantage of, but she accepted the situation mutely. Not once did she ever speak up for herself.

I couldn’t understand why Nina put up with Gary and Chloe. It is her house, and she is the one who pays the bills. Plus, she cooks and cleans up, and puts up with the tantrums of the father and daughter. It would have been nice if she had a little more spirit.

There were other ways in which she was naïve. Whenever someone wanted to share their mobile number with her, she would hand over her phone to them, and share her passcode, instead of entering the number herself.

Right at the start, Nina proceeds to give us information about her life. And it’s all Tell, no Show. Also, she’s not very quick on the uptake. It takes her very long to question things; for the most part, she quietly accepts whatever is told to her.

Long after the 75 percent mark, there was a monotonous lack of action. The action relating to the climax came out of the blue, without sufficient cause or provocation. The twist that came up at this time was far from impactful. Also, there was no real closure about what happened after the end of the last chapter.

 

 

WHAT DIDN’T QUITE WORK:

Nina kept repeating over and over that Ryan was her one true love. It got annoying the second time, but she kept doing it so many times, I lost count.

Nina’s dream/nightmare sequences were totally unnecessary and detailed and all too many. They served no purpose other than to assert the power of the author’s imagination. The description of one nightmare would have been more than enough.

 

Chapter 3 carries a subhead, Tuesday, 18 July. It should have been Tuesday, 4 July.

The book would have been better if it had focused on the sociopathic tendencies of another character, instead of giving us only Nina’s PoV.  It would have made the antagonist a lot more menacing, instead of the tepid and dull character we saw here.

 

There were some inconsistencies. First Nina tells us that she has nothing to do with the neighbours, then says that she occasionally has a brief chat with Tony, the neighbour on her left.

One minor character blackmails Nina about something really bad, and then doesn’t follow up on the threat in any way. It’s as if the character just forgets that they had ever made any threat.

In the Epilogue, the 3^rd person omniscient narrator tells us that a particular woman is a widower. The right word is widow.

 

ALL SAID AND DONE: I had chosen to read this, believing that it had potential. This one didn’t work for me. 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: THE DOLL'S HOUSE

Title: The Doll's House

Author: Lisa Unger

Publisher: Amazon Original Stories

Pages: 98

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Jules, aged 37, and her 17yo daughter, Scout, are moving into Winslow House, the mansion owned by her boyfriend, Kirin, a handsome, wealthy and famous doll and puppet maker. Scout not only resents the move and the forced separation from her best friend, she is also upset that her mother has moved on from her dad, Doug, a best-selling horror novelist, who died just a year ago. Naturally Scout dislikes Kirin.

When they reach the house, the women discover that the house, though old-fashioned in appearance, has been rigged with smart technology. Then Scout finds a doll that Kirin says belonged to his late sister. But even as Scout makes an attempt to forge a connection with Kirin, she fears that something dangerous is happening at the house.

Then there’s a mysterious girl that both women have sighted on the grounds of Winslow House. Who is she?

The story is written in the first-person present tense PoV of both Jules and Scout.

WHAT I LIKED:

Parts of the story were extremely high on menace and felt super creepy. The story was spooky enough. The AI-type of smart voice and the descriptions of the dolls added further layers of dread to the story.

The writing was good. Here’s a quote I liked:

A good mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child.

The book ends on an interesting cliffhanger.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

One of the characters writes a book called The Doll’s House, literally the book title. That’s a done-and-overdone trope.

 

ALL SAID AND DONE: This was a good paranormal short story.

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD

Title: The Greatest Story Ever Told

Author: Bear Grylls

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Pages: 276

My GoodReads Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

 

When I first read the title, it reminded me of the book (same title) by Fulton Oursler, which was a fictional retelling of the Gospel. Bear Grylls’ version tells the story through the first-person accounts of five key people: Jesus’s mother, Maryam; a sceptic called Ta’om (more familiar to us as Thomas); one of his first disciples, Shimon (Simon Peter); his disciple and friend, Yohannan (John); and Maryam of Magdala (Mary Magdalene).

The Prologue takes us to the aftermath of the crucifixion, when two men travelling on the road to Emmaus, are joined by a third man who they don’t recognize initially. The author doesn’t mention the name Emmaus here, calling it Hammath instead, possibly the Hebrew name, but one of the two men, who are unnamed in Luke’s gospel, is named Alpheus here.

Maryam’s story starts from the Annunciation, including Elizabeth’s unexpected pregnancy, and her husband’s lack of faith, the Nativity in Bethlehem, the Presentation with the prophecy of Shimon (a sword shall pierce your heart) and Anna, and the finding of the Child Jesus in the temple, then on to the Baptism at the river Jordan, 40 days in the desert, stopping at the wedding at Cana.

To’am’s account starts from the wedding at Cana, and then covers the bulk of Jesus’s ministry, stopping at the calming of the storm. He brings us up to speed with the meeting with Nicodemus, the upturning of the merchants’ tables at Jerusalem, the Samaritan woman at the well, the woman who touched the hem of Jesus’s garment, the man possessed by demons, the house of Shimon’s mother-in-law, the healing of the leper, the invitation to Levi, the tax collector etc. We get a sense of what it was like to be a disciple, constantly on the move, following Jesus, no comforts. To’am’s account helps us understand how Yeshua’s growing influence made the religious leaders uncomfortable.

Shimon’s account doesn’t give us details about Jesus’ ministry because To’am has already covered that ground. Shimon takes us deeper, riffing off the calming of the storm. But he shares the miracle of the blessing of the loaves and fish to feed 5000 people, (Typical Yeshua. Giving away far more than is ever asked for), the miracle of walking on the water, the Our Father, Yeshua asking His disciples, Who do you think I am?, the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor, raising Lazarus from the dead etc.

Yohannan’s account takes us to the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus. And then Maryam of Magdala takes us through the days after the Death and Resurrection, and finally the Ascension.

 

WHAT I LIKED: The use of the original names and spellings for people and places hints at a desire to be authentic. The story hits the right beats. For instance, Maryam’s story starts with the Annunciation, then the visit to her cousin, Elizabeth, the journey to Bethlehem for the census, they all follow in sequence.

The personal viewpoint reveals the character of every PoV. It also highlights the humanity of Jesus, within His divinity, through his playfulness, his laughter, compassion, and occasional frustration.

Each PoV reads almost like a journal. Each voice holds its own. Through each, we can sense the author’s faith, something he has been vocal about.

Mother Maryam’s account of the visit of the three wise men was a chapter I really enjoyed. It showed us the Child Jesus, shy, unsure of stranger. He watches the foreigners worship Him with one eye, while His head is tucked sideways against His mother’s hip. How cute is that! The chapter also talks about the emotions stirred by the gift of myrrh.

Maryam’s account impresses us with the fear and uncertainty that must have gripped her and Joseph through the tumult of their son’s early childhood. They were after all refugees through those years, constantly fleeing danger.

Ta’om’s PoV threw up an insight that I appreciated: that they celebrate Passover — freedom from Egyptian oppression — while being under Roman rule. Hope is dangerous to the oppressed. Ta’om is the disciple we know as Doubting Thomas. Here Grylls builds him a back story of disbelief, and we get a ringside view as Ta’om’s scepticism slowly crumbles. To’am crosses over from scepticism to belief when Jesus calms the storm.

Incidentally, Christians in India have a special bond with Ta’om since it was he who brought Christianity to India.

One strong point of the book is the structure. The PoVs lead onward chronologically, but always stay true to the core gospel.

Maryam of Magdala reinforces that it was to her, a woman, considered second-class citizens in that era, that the Lord first revealed Himself after the Resurrection. I loved particularly her recounting of how Peter came to drop his shame, after he denied the Lord three times, and how the Lord forgave him. The number 3 is crucial here.

 

WHAT I DIDN’T LIKE: The narrative could have done with better and tighter editing. In some places, prepositions or conjunctions were missing. Some of the phrasing was awkward. For example, “A coming king who would hold the very keys…”

“His local name was Yeshua.” What is a local name? Did the author mean to say His name as pronounced in Aramaic?

There is a spelling mistake in Yohannan’s PoV. The author meant to say, I wanted to retch. But he used the word, wretch, instead.

 

WHAT DIDN’T WORK FOR ME: The author refers to the Sabbath as shab-ta. Isn’t it Shabbat in the original?

ALL SAID AND DONE: The writing in this book has a slightly modern slant, which has its own appeal, and might bring in a whole new group of readers who are unfamiliar with the Bible. Grylls gives us just the right amount of detail to help us to picture the Gospel story. I would definitely recommend this one.

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)

Book Review: ALIBIS: WHERE WERE YOU?

Title: Alibis Collection: Where Were You?

Authors: Frieda McFadden, Sally Hepworth, David Lagercrantz (tr. Elizabeth Denoma), Chris Bohjalian, Chad Zunker, Wanda M Morris

Publisher: Amazon Original Stories

Pages: 328

My GoodReads Rating: Mentioned below for each story

 

This was my first time reading any of these authors.

 

Death Row by Frieda McFadden ⭐⭐⭐

Talia Kemper is on Death Row for murdering her husband, Noel. If her appeal fails, she will be executed in two weeks. She insists that she didn’t kill her husband. Is she lying?

 

I felt cheated with this story, first of all, because it upturned the theme in a manner that was clever but unjust to the theme. When I hear the word, alibi, I expect a murder, and there was that here, until there wasn’t. Many twists too many ruined the effect for me. The conclusion of this story left me feeling both sad and disappointed.

This could have been a good story, and it was, but not in a book themed, Alibis.

 

Ex-Wives Club by Sally Hepworth ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ian Curley, a philandering and wealthy restaurateur with three ex-wives in his past, is now going steady with his much-younger girlfriend, Emma, who is as old as his older son, Max. On the night when Ian is stabbed to death, his body left in the meat freezer, he has had conflicts with all his ex-wives, Anita, Mary-Jane and Rosie, his son and his daughter, Daisy.

DI Charlene Li is determined to find the killer but it’s going to be tough, especially when she has dumb and lazy detective Adrian Collins as a partner. Besides, every one of the suspects has a strong alibi.

Strangely, the three wives are thick with each other, and meet for drinks every Friday at Curley’s restaurant, no less. The two children are employed at the restaurant.

Then there’s Yvette Renard, the French waitress who has never got along well with Ian, but is very good at her work. 

It was interesting to note that the author’s sympathies didn’t lie with the police at all or even with the victim, but with the larger cast of Curleys.

 

False Note by David Lagercrantz; translated by Elizabeth Denoma ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wille hates his father, Knut, an opera singer who became famous. The man has a reputation for loving outrageously and cruelly. Having lost his mother when he was less than five years old, Wille hates the cruelty of his father and vows never to become like him.

As a student of medicine, he falls in love with Ebba, and she with him, or so it seems. But then she insists of meeting his father and becomes besotted with the older man, and breaks up with the son. A betrayal that Wille comes to know of only six weeks later.

The night after he confronts his father and leaves him to go away and drink his sorrows to death, Knut is found beaten to death. Wille is accused of murder, but he won’t reveal his alibi.

The story is written in the past tense PoV of Wille. We come to know his name, Wille, more than halfway into the story. Till then we know nothing about him, yet we are drawn to him. This young man who has suffered so much.

We learn eventually of the alibi, and it leaves us feeling confused. The conclusion of the story felt justified and sad at once, as it hurtles towards disaster. The story ended on a cliffhanger of sorts. I could definitely have done with closure on what happened next.

 

The Skydivers by Chris Bohjalian ⭐⭐⭐

A woman who is out biking stops by the wayside to watch two men skydiving. She is not prepared for what happens next. One of the two skydivers heads straight in the path of a harvested and is shredded to bits. The police believe that it is a suicide, that Pete Hamilton, the younger of the two brothers, who skydived together to spray the ashes of their dead father on his beloved field, was crazy with grief and chose to kill himself. But the lone eyewitness knows better. She thinks it is murder, and that the older brother, Leo, is guilty.

Though well written, this story took too long to get going. The story is drawn out needlessly. We are drawn into the conversation of the brothers over nine chapters from The Night Before and The Day It Happened. If the story had turned out the way the witness’s suspicions led her to believe, I think it would have been a better story.

Instead, the story went completely off-track after that, ending with a huge infodump that way absolutely not the way a story should end. So much information that we readers are left with and we don’t know what to do with it, because the story ends there, with a hint that events will be continued. Which is more than a short story can bear.

 

Good Neighbours by Chad Zunker ⭐⭐⭐

Kara Reed is a good neighbour to her friend, Mindy McGregor, who suspects that her husband, Bill, is having an affair. Her husband, Jackson, tells her not to get involved but Kara wants to be “good neighbours”. So when Kara sees someone sneaking into Mindy’s home while Mindy is away with her two kids at another child’s birthday party, she decides to investigate and find out who the Other Woman in Mindy’s marriage is. But Kara is thrown when she sees the visitor shooting Bill at point-blank range.

Pretty soon, Kara is fleeing for her life as the killer chases her to kill her.

The Alibis theme wasn’t so clear here.

 

Small Things by Wanda M Morris ⭐⭐⭐

Hannah Ferguson has always loved small things, pretty button, small seeds, coloured pebbles etc, things her husband hates. Rusty is always talking down to her, telling her how cheap her tastes are, dissing her hobbies. His verbal abuse increases with her inability to conceive. When she does get pregnant, she miscarries thrice. And Rusty’s cruelties get worse.

This story was well written. However, even though it was true to the theme, we are left in the dark about how a critical plot event takes place. This weakens the conclusion.

 

(I read this book on NetGalley. Thank you to the author, the publisher and NetGalley.)