Another person behind on reviews although I was quite startled to see how very far behind I was. apologies for the immense review dump. Bit of a mixed bag here!
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Day One, by Abigail Dean. Stonesmere is a village in the Lake District with a close knit community and predictable seasons, until there is a tragic shooting at the primary school. This is told mainly from the points of view of Marty, a relative of the teacher killed, and Trent, an internet conspiracy theorist who is unconvinced by accounts, interspersed with some short chapters from the schoolchildren and their relatives. Tense, horrifying and heartbreaking, this is the best paced crime novel I've read in a long time. It's also excellent on the underbelly of internet conspiracies, and the way that relationships work between inhabitants of a small town. I thought her debut Girl A was very good but this is better done.
17. Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. The story of Chris McAndless, who hiked into the Alaskan wilderness and was found dead a few months later. The timeline was confusing and repetitive, and I found the chapters about Krakauer's own climbing of the Devil's Thumb slightly thrown in - I know the intent was to explain why Chris might have taken the risks that he did, but it was quite jarring. I was also quite shocked by his theorising about Chris's cause of death - first the theory in the book, then another article in the New Yorker, neither of which was correct. Good but not great - unlike Into Thin Air which deserves all the praise it gets.
18. Ghost Wall, by Sarah Moss. Continuing my theme of reading things about 5 years after everyone else… Very late to the party, but bloody hell, this was spectacular. Tight, taut, Moss makes every word count. The 90s setting felt very authentically written, as did the chippy Northern abusive father, and having Silvie report speech rather than having it quoted worked really well for me. I've seen some reviews which say it's far too blunt an instrument about feminism, but as a contemporary of Molly's it felt pitch perfect to me; The early 90s were 30 years ago and attitudes really were very different. I didn't care for Night Waking but have loved her more recent books.
19. Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter, by Nicci French. A good, solid thriller, this has three main parts - the first set 30 years ago when Charlotte Salter disappears, the second in the current day when a podcast about her disappearance begins, and the third set in the current day following the reopened police investigation. I found the first third hard going and realistically depressing, as Charlotte's family falls apart without her and the repercussions of her disappearance ripple through the village. The second was much easier going and I actively enjoyed the third part, with an excellent detective in charge - I hope she will be a recurring character. This is long but they held all the threads of the story together and although I was surprised by the culprit, ultimately the plot made sense. Nicci Gerrard and Sean French have been writing together for decades and it shows.
20. What Happened to Nina?, by Dervla McTiernan. As per the blurb, "Nina and Simon are the perfect couple. Young, fun and deeply in love. Until they leave for a weekend at his family’s cabin in Vermont, and only Simon comes home." This was very good but I hated the twist at the end. The last part felt very rushed and slightly messy, after a very well-paced main. And I think there were some late breaking decisions about voice - most characters' chapters are written in the first person, but Andy never sounded differentiated and there were points where he should have said "I" but said "He" - I think this must have been a failed edit. I presume this was based on the Gabby Petito case, which makes me feel quite uneasy. All in all not a bold, but a near miss.
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Subculture Vulture, by Moshe Kashner. A very bold bold. I wasn't familiar with the author, who's an American writer and comedian. This is mostly a memoir but told through the stories of six sub-cultures that have shaped his life - AA, rave culture, the Burning Man festival, being the child of deaf parents, being Jewish, and the stand-up community. Compelling, moving and very funny in places.
22. The Shop on Royal Street. I read this because I love New Orleans, where this is set - it's not otherwise something I'd pick up - the genre is cosy mystery/romance with a dollop of supernatural. But I really liked it! The (somewhat overblown) blurb is: "After a difficult hiccup on her road to adulthood, Nola Trenholm is looking to begin anew in New Orleans, and what better way to start her future than with her first house? But the historic fixer-upper she buys comes with even more work than she anticipated when the house's previous occupants don't seem to be ready to depart. Although she can't communicate with ghosts like her stepmother, luckily Nola knows someone in New Orleans who can--even if he's the last person on earth she wants anything to do with, ever again. Because Beau Ryan comes with his own dark past, a past that involves the disappearance of his sister and parents during Hurricane Katrina, and the unsolved murder of a woman who once lived in the old Creole Cottage Nola is determined to make her own whether or not the resident restless spirits agree…" Very easy reading, and part of a series which I will read when in need of a comfort read or in a slump.
23. The House on Prytania, by Karen White. OK, I lied - this is the sequel to the previous read, and equally enjoyable. The New Orleans setting is really vivid and while this genre isn't particularly my cup of tea, I will read the next one when it comes out because I love the setting so much, and am growing fond of the characters.
24. Burn Book, by Kara Swisher. Kara Swisher is an excellent journalist, and has been scooping Silicon Valley news for decades, as evidenced by her extensive quoting of her own stories in this book. I think she's fantastic, but this book is a bit of a mess. It jumps all over the place, is littered with mistakes (probably due to her being very late delivering it to her publisher) and is very full of her telling us how often she was right. I was hoping for more memoir and behind the scenes gossip, but instead this is much more a history of tech and its often-obnoxious main players. On the plus side, she is utterly fearless and brutally frank in her assessment of others - referring to Murdoch as Uncle Satan made me snort - and doesn't hold back with her writing. Overall a decent read, but it doesn't live up to its potential.
25. Toxic, by Sarah Ditum. Examining the sexist culture of the 2000s through the lens of 9 women - Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Aaliyah, Janet Jackson, Amy Winehouse, Kim Kardashian, Chyna (WWE wrestler), and Jennifer Aniston. Packed with notes and research, some chapters were stronger than others but overall I thought this was very well done. I thought she tried to shoehorn the overturning of Roe v Wade in there at the end, but otherwise I have no major criticisms. It really is startling how much things have changed and how unacceptable things recounted in the book would be now - although I suppose the early aughts were 20 years ago. How can that be?!