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.
Tuesday, 26 August 2014
Thursday, 14 August 2014
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)
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
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
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