Dreamrunner by Clare Jay

Leo is a 6-almost 7 year old boy, living with his parents in a suburb of Lisbon, Portugal. He is the centre of his parents', Olivia and Carlos',  world.  Gentle and loving by day, Carlos begins to suffer nightmares, violent, explosive nightmares that send him leaping and fighting around the house. When the nightmares happen, Carlos heads straight for Leo's bedroom and, when Olivia tries to stop him, he hits her or throws her out of the way. Terrified for the safety of herself and her son, Olivia has to choose between her husband and her boy.

Carlos's tale is told in flashbacks. He is 7 years old and has a secret friend, a street orphan of whom his rich and well connected father disapproves of strongly. Carlos' mother is dying and his aunt (his father's sister) sleep-walks into the kitchen and eats her way through the contents of cupboards and the fridge.

Clare Jay gradually and delicately compares Carlos the man with Carlos the boy, showing us the parallels between his boyhood and manhood. The story of his boyhood friend is mirrored in the presence of a street beggar in his adult life; his aunt's sleep-walking and his own nightmares and so on, and we come to see how Leo's 7th birthday is the catalyst for Carlos' dangerous behaviour. We learn about Leo, as his child's mind tries to process the strange things that are happening around him and his quest for resolution through the 'magic' of dolphins, a quest that takes him into even greater danger.

The secret that Carlos has kept for 30 years - the reason for his nocturnal violence - is revealed in the final chapter and is as shocking as anything that Olivia imagined.

This book is an exploration of family life, of the power of the unconscious and the damage that parental  manipulation can cause. Beautifully written, almost poetic in places, Clare Jay has a light touch and a rare insight into the minds of children.

With the touch of a thriller, a mystery and a generational family tale all rolled into one, this book is well worth a read. I kept turning the pages long after I should have turned out the light.

 

The Cutting Season by Attica Locke

In her short career (2 books - Black Water Rising and now The Cutting Season) Attica Locke has received plaudits from other authors, media critics and readers alike. In this, only her second book, she demonstrates, again, a steady hand on the tiller of slow moving crime suspense writing.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and the breakdown of her relationship with Eric, Caren Gray moves herself and her daughter back to her childhood home, the Belle Vie estate in Louisiana . There she manages the estate as the tourist attraction it's become under the ownership of the last of the Clancy family. The house is used as a venue for conferences and weddings, and a cast of players performs a production meant to depict a snap-shot picture of life at Belle Vie during its days as a slave worked sugar plantation, for tourists.

Caren's quiet but busy life is turned upside down by the discovery of a young woman's body, buried after her throat has been cut, in a shallow grave on the estate's border with a sugar field across the road.

What follows is the story of Caren's desperate attempts to solve the crime and the mystery of the young woman's identity. She has real fears that her 9 year old daughter might, somehow, be involved in the crime, and the re-emergence of her former partner, Eric, in their lives complicates things. Caren's feelings become conflicted, which doesn't help her keep a clear head as she tries to understand what's been happening on 'her' estate. When a young man employed by the estate is arrested and charged with the murder, Caren becomes even more desperate to find out exactly what happened.

Then Caren learns that the estate is to be sold to an industrial farming combine, and the house and its ancillary buildings will be raised to the ground to make way for new sugar fields. Could the success of this deal be threatened by publicity surrounding the murder? Is the sale somehow connected? What does the history of Caren's ancestor, Jason, have to do with today's mystery?

This is a slow burning story, sometimes re-tracing itself, as Caren becomes more anxious and more determined to find answers in the face of police incompetence and stereo-typical assumptions. Tension builds gradually, carrying the reader forwards in skilful fashion. The plot is complex and almost leisurely in the way it performs the twists and turns of the very best crime stories. History and today collide in thought provoking fashion without a trace of sentimentality.

This book will appeal to lovers of crime fiction, mystery stories and those who have an empathy with the American deep south and its history. Recommended.

A Dark Matter by Peter Straub

The Guardian newspaper's critic said, about this book "……terrifying……" and "Gripping". Stephen King, that master of terror and suspense, said "Terrifying……impossible to put down", so I have to wonder - is it just me?

The story tells of 4 American High School students, 2 College 'frat boys' and a beautiful teenage girl who all fall under the spell of a man who purports to be a charismatic, travelling, free spirit, a psychic, a wizard. He tells them he can change the world, if only for a moment, through a special ritual that he proposes to hold in a local field. This is the 1960s, when the world seems to be full of people like this character, Spencer Mallon, so it's less difficult yo believe that these kids would follow a character like this than it is, perhaps, nowadays, in our more cynical times.

The story is told, in retrospect, by the husband of one of the main characters - a girl nicknamed the Eel (her name, Lee, backwards). It works less well in the UK, where the female variant is Leigh but that's by-the-by. His name is also Lee (confused? you will be!) Harwell and they, together, are nicknamed, the Twins.
The 4 students all have nicknames, too and Straub flips backwards and forwards between the full names, shortened names and nicknames often - sometimes several times in the same sentence. More confusion.

All 5 of these characters - the students plus the teenage girl - are telling their versions of the story to Lee (the husband) much later on in their histories, after years of being separated by life's experiences and the trauma of the night in the field with Spencer. The incident in the field is filled with weird and inexplicable happenings, such as the appearance of nightmarish creatures, a tear in the fabric of reality and violent death.

There is redemption in the telling, and a repairing of old, fractured, relationships, but there are also a number of hanging threads. Who, for example, is the character who appears at the edge of Lee's (the husband, not the Eel) vision? Who is the man who gives him a warning that saves his life, and why? these, and other questions, are never answered.

I found this book neither frightening or satisfactory. The explanations of what happened in the field are long - perhaps too long - and grow tedious, which isn't conducive to the generation of fear. As for frightening - well, it might work as a film (visual images are certainly more evocative) but I can't say that I was frightened anywhere in this story. It's laboured and loose in it's construction, so much so that I struggled to maintain my motivation to read it and almost gave up several times. Sorry, but can't recommend.

A Dark Matter is published by Doubleday.

Letters to my Daughter's Killer by Cath Staincliffe

This is a harrowing story, told in a series of letters from an ordinary grandmother, Ruth Sutton, whose much loved daughter, Lizzie, is murdered in her own home. Lizzie and her husband, Jack have a 4 year old daughter. They share childcare because they're both freelance - Lizzie as a sign language interpreter and Jack as an actor.

Ruth learns of her daughter's death in a phone call from Jack late one night. Lizzie has been horrendously beaten. Initially, suspicion falls on a stalker, who trouble the little family a couple of years before, but the police quickly discount him. Jack, shocked and stunned, says that "It's always the husband that they look at first, isn't it?" when he brings his little daughter to Ruth's house as the police look for evidence at his home.

In the years after the killer is caught, convicted and gaoled, Ruth's anger, grief and hatred grows. She realises that these feelings are destroying her life but can find no way of moving beyond them, even while helping her grand-daughter's recovery from the traumatic loss of her mother. So Ruth begins to write to the killer in gaol. She writes letter after letter, telling the story of Lizzie's childhood, of her and Jack as a couple, at what Lizzie's murder has done to her. She asks for answers to numerous questions.

No-one in my family has ever suffered from a violent crime, so I have no basis of experience about this subject. Nevertheless, I sank into this story and wanted to help this grieving mother. It made me realise, if I needed reminding, that there are many experiences from which people suffer that they have to suffer alone. That well intentioned sympathy and even the practical assistance of walking the dog, bringing food, running errands, offer little or nothing to the traumatised.

Whilst this is a difficult story to read, Cath Staincliffe handles the subject with rare insight, emotional intelligence and great sensitivity. Her research is meticulous. There is no happy ending to this story but there is a kind of hope, visible in the last page, for Ruth and her little family.

Handle with care before you read on, but it's well worth it. Recommended

"Letters to my Daughter's Killer" is published by Constable and Robinson, ISBN 978 1 78033 571 1 (paperback) and 978 1 78033 572 8 (eBook)

Fall from Grace by Richard North Patterson

Adam Blaine has moved as far away from his home in Martha's Vineyard as it's possible to be. He works as an agricultural advisor in Afganistan. At least, that's what he tells everyone. He's estranged from his father, Benjamin, a famous novelist but, when Ben dies in an apparent accident, Adam returns home for the funeral to find his mother has been disinherited and the circumstances of Ben's death are less than straightforward. Much to his amazement, Ben's will appoints Adam as the administrator of his estate.

Even though Adam is the administrator, he feels duty bound to his mother to try to overturn the will, protect his mother, uncle and brother from poverty and accusation, and get to the bottom of the circumstances of his father's death. What he uncovers is a labyrinth of lies, deceit, betrayal and secrets.

RN Patterson has written many books about secrets, guilt and judgement. In this one he populates his narrative with fine portraits of familiarly related and flawed characters, all with their secrets. Everything that happens is linked back to the character of the one person who features only as a dead man - Ben Blaine. We can, however, read between the lines as Patterson draws us into the weaknesses of the other characters - why did they allow their lives to be dominated so intently by Ben Blaine? What hold did he have on each of them? Why did he feel the insatiable need to dominate and control his family?

I found this to be a fascinating read about what motivates people and just how far will they go to protect their own weaknesses, which kept me turning the pages long after I should have turned out the light. I was keen to find out if Ben's death was an accident or if he was murdered. If he was murdered, was it one of those relatives or someone not yet introduced into the story? Characters whom the reader is encourage to see as 2 dimensional suddenly become interesting in their own right, with back stories that could form another story.

I enjoyed this book and recommend it.

Fall from Grace is published by Querus, ISBN978 0 85738 700 4 or eBook 978 0 85738 701 1

10th Anniversary by James Patterson

As the title suggests, this is the 10th book in the Women's Murder Club series, on which Patterson collaborates with other writers; in this particular case, with Maxine Paetro.

Recently married American detective Lindsey Boxer has been called to investigate an unusual crime. A teenage girl is found, abandoned, in the road. She is bleeding and on the verge of death. She's recently given birth but her baby is nowhere to be found.

Alongside Lindsey's case, a friend - Yuki Castellano - is prosecuting the case of a woman accused of murdering her husband. The case seems simple; the woman was found in the house, with the gun used in the killing, and with gun shot residue on her hands. The woman says that an intruder shot her husband, and she used the gun to fire shots to scare him away.

Neither case is what it seems. Lindsey uncovers evidence to suggest that the accused woman could be innocent and she struggles to find any evidence at all to help locate the teenager's missing baby. It quickly becomes clear that both the woman accused of murder, and the teenage mother, have secrets they're keeping close and that both have ways of confusing the investigations into the crimes that affect them.

Will Lindsey be able to solve both mysteries? Is the accused guilty or innocent of murder? Where is the baby?

James Patterson is a master of crime fiction, with numerous titles, including books for children, to his credit. When you pick up one of his books, you know just what you'll get. Well crafted plot lines, a knowledge of police and legal systems in the US and a way of building characters through their home lives, as well as through the crimes with which they are attached to the story. He does it with effortless ease and style.

For lovers of American crime/mystery, this is recommended

"10th Anniversary" is published by Arrow Books, ISBN 978 000 9957 07 45

The Twins by Saskia Sarginson

Identical twins can be a mystery and an enigma to many people. Are they telepathic between themselves? Do they like to be dressed alike or do they strive for originality? Do they cleave to each other or move heaven and earth to be unique?

Isolte and Viola, the twins in this story, have an usual childhood. Their mother is a free spirit living in a rundown cottage in the woods; their father unknown. The girls play together, whisper together and, yes, often feel each others feelings. In childhood they are also mildly prescient.

They meet, and become friends with, another pair of identical twins, this time boys from a dysfunctional, local, family. Together the quartet run wild and, as adolescence beckons, Viola and John become closer.

But this isn't Enid Blyton and things begin to change when Isolte and Viola's mother, Rose, meets a widower who has a young daughter, Poppy. The twins resent these intruders, especially when Rose insists that they allow Poppy to join their games. During this final summer of innocence, the 4 older children do all they can to discourage Poppy from following them until, quite unintentionally, they lose her. In the aftermath, Rose's new romance falls apart and tragedy follows tragedy.

Years later, Isolte is a fashion designer for a London based magazine but Viola is chronically ill, haunted by the past. In desperation, Isolte revisits their childhood haunts to try to resolve buried traumas. Can she succeed and, in the process, free both herself and her twin from shadows of the past?

This book illustrates how few of us leave our childhoods behind when we grown up, whether for good or ill. Childhood might be innocent, but it can carry the seeds of destruction. Blending joy and tragedy, light and a darkness of the soul, this book is a wonderful debut for this new writer.

Recommended

"The Twins" is published by Hachette, an imprint of Little, Brown, ISBN 978 0 7499 5869 5