Book Review #8 :The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden

 

The Perfect Son by Freida McFadden  

About the book

"Mrs. Cass, we were hoping your son could answer a few questions about the girl who disappeared last night..."

Erika Cass has a perfect family and a perfect life. Until the evening when two detectives show up at her front door.

A high school girl has vanished from Erika's quiet suburban neighborhood. The police suspect the worst--murder. And Erika's teenage son, Liam, was the last person to see the girl alive.

Erika has always sensed something dark and disturbed in her seemingly perfect older child. She wants to believe he's innocent, but as the evidence mounts, she can't deny the truth--Liam may have done the unthinkable.

Now she must ask herself:

How far will she go to protect her son?

 

My take

The story begins with a young girl Olivia Mercer going missing. Everyone suspects Liam, Erika’s son, who many seem to think to be a certified psychopath, to be responsible for the abduction and probable murder of Olivia. Erika herself is not so sure that Liam is innocent, especially because of the many incidents that have taken place in the past with Liam that have shaken Erika to her core. Still, being the protective mother that she is, she desperately hopes that Olivia is found soon, safe and sound, and her son is free.

Even as Erika feels Liam may be guilty, her husband Jason and younger daughter Hannah swear on their lives that they believe Liam could never do such a thing. Liam says nothing, and that makes Erika more worried.

While all of this is happening, Erika learns a horrible truth about her own past. And soon she beings questioning everything.

So what happened to Olivia? And is Liam innocent?

The story is gripping right from the beginning, as the narration shuttles between police interview transcripts of Olivia’s friends and their parents, as well as past teacher’s of Liam, who all seem to think that he may be responsible for whatever has happened to Olivia, and Erika, who tries very hard to hold herself together as she struggles to maintain peace in the family, at the same time bracing herself to face her worst fears. As the narrative goes forward, layers of the truth about Liam, who on the surface seems to be the most charming and most obedient boy on earth, but has a dark side to him, are slowly revealed. We get to know why Erika thinks her son is guilty, and how she tries to protect him from his own demons.

However, the ending is definitely an unexpected twist, and the suspense stays, revealing itself at the last page.

The only downside was the confusing use of tenses. Most of the story is narrated in the simple present tense, but suddenly some lines pop up in past tense and that becomes slightly irritating.

But overall, it is a gripping read, and I rate it 3.5 stars.

Book Review #7 - The Perfect Couple by Jackie Kabler

 

The Perfect Couple: by Jackie Kabler

About the book: The perfect couple … or the perfect lie?

A devoted wife…
A year ago, Gemma met the love of her life, Danny. Since then, their relationship has been perfect. But one evening, Danny doesn’t return home.

A missing husband…
Gemma turns to the police. She is horrified by what she discovers – a serial killer is on the loose in Bristol. When she sees photos of the victims she is even more stunned…they all look just like Danny.

Who would you believe?
But the police are suspicious. Why has no one apart from Gemma heard from Danny in weeks? Why is there barely a trace of him in their flat? Is she telling them the truth, or is this marriage hiding some very dark secrets?

About the author:

Jackie Kabler was born in Coventry but spent much of her childhood in Ireland. She worked as a newspaper reporter and then as a television news correspondent for twenty years, spending nearly a decade on GMTV followed by stints with ITN and BBC News. During that time, she covered major stories around the world including the Kosovo crisis, the impeachment of President Clinton, the Asian tsunami, famine in Ethiopia, the Soham murders and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. Jackie now divides her time between crime writing and working as a presenter on shopping channel QVC. She has a degree in zoology from Trinity College Dublin, runs long distances for fun and lives in Gloucestershire with her husband.

My take

The book begins with Gemma O’Connor, a freelance journalist, returning to her Bristol home from a work-related trip, to find her husband Danny missing. Gemma and her husband have recently, just three weeks back, shifted here from London. She awaits Danny’s return for a day and a half, with her dog Albert as eager as her to welcome Danny back home, before finally going to the police.

DCI Helena Dickens and DS Devon are already neck-deep in two murders that have rocked Bristol in recent times, and they are hardly interested in a missing person when Gemma shows up at the police station.

That is when they make a fascinating discovery. The victims that have been recently murdered are lookalikes of Danny O’Connor.

As they begin investigating the serial killer angle and trying to figure out whether Danny is alive or dead, and if alive, where, new facts begin to surface.

Contrary to Gemma’s claims that Danny has been in Bristol since past three weeks, no one else has seen him, nor is there any evidence that he ever was in Bristol. Neighbours claim they have seen only Gemma right from the beginning; Danny has never joined the new workplace Gemma claims he went to every day, five days of the week; there has been no bank transaction from Danny’s account; Gemma has no photos of the two of them from Bristol though she swears they had taken a few, and there is hardly any DNA belonging to Danny in the house.

As the needle of suspicion begins pointing towards Gemma, two more backdated similar, lookalike murders in London come to light.

Where is Danny? Why are people who look like him getting murdered? Where did Danny go every day when he went off to work? Or was he really never in Bristol ever?

DCI Helena is convinced that Gemma is lying through her teeth. DS Devon wants to believe Gemma, but all evidence points against her. Gemma desperately wants the police to believe her but she has no idea how to convince them.

As Gemma rushes against time to seek answers along with her friend Eva, she learns things about her own life that she had never known.

The story narration switches between the POV of the police officers and Gemma. The flow of the story is very nice, and every chapter ends on a cliffhanger, making us hungry to read more. The suspense is good, and the twists are unexpected. The ending could have been shorter, it feels unnecessarily stretched out. But overall it is a gripping book that kept me hooked on to it till I finished it. I could guess the suspense a little beyond midway, but still, the why’s and how’s kept me wanting to read more. So I rate it four stars.

 

Book review #6 - Play Date by Alex Dahl

 

Playdate: a gripping psychological thriller about a missing girl

By Alex Dahl

About the book:

It was meant to be your daughter's first sleepover.
Now it's an abduction.

Lucia Blix went home from school for a playdate with her new friend Josie. Later that evening, her mother Elisa dropped her overnight things round and shared a glass of wine with Josie's mother. Then she kissed her little girl goodnight and drove home.

That was the last time she saw her daughter.

The next morning, the house was empty. No furniture, no family, no Lucia.

In Playdate, Alex Dahl puts a microscope on a seemingly average, seemingly happy family plunged into a life-altering situation.

Who has taken their daughter, and why?

About the author:

Alex Dahl is a half-American, half-Norwegian author. Born in Oslo, she studied Russian and German linguistics with international studies, then went on to complete an MA in creative writing at Bath Spa University and an MSc in business management at Bath University. A committed Francophile, Alex loves to travel and has so far lived in Moscow, Paris, Stuttgart, Sandefjord, Switzerland, Bath, and London. She is the author of three other thrillers: Playdate, The Heart Keeper, and The Boy at the Door, which was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger.

My take:

Elisa Blix and Fredrik Blix are the typical family of four, with Lucia, a seven-year-old daughter, and Lyder, a five-year-old son to complete this seemingly happy family. One fine day, Lucia insists on going on a play date with her newfound friend from school, Josephine, and Elisa obliges, after meeting Josephine’s mother, Line.

Later, Lucia calls her from Line’s cell phone and begs to allow her a sleepover. Elisa is not very happy with the idea, but seeing how happy it makes Lucia, she allows. She heads over to the house of Josephine to handover Lucia’s nightclothes and stuffed toys, walks around the beautiful house where Lucia will be spending the night, watches Lucia as she happily plays cartwheels with Josephine, has a glass of wine with Line, and leaves, making arrangements for her husband to pick Lucia up the next morning, since she has her flight the next day, as the flight attendant for Nordic wings.

Their world turns topsy-turvy when the next day, Lucia is gone without a trace, no evidence of Line or Josephine at the residence they were staying at, or of Josephine at the school.

As the story progresses, many different angles are examined by the police, during which secrets come out, and the Blix family proves to be nothing close to the happy family they portray to be on Elisa’s Facebook and Instagram pages.

The story is narrated from different point of views, including Elisa, little Lucia, Line, Marcus, a criminal serving time in  the prison at Lillehammer, and Selma, a journalist who invests too many emotions in the case.

The flow of the story is nice. Human emotions are beautifully captured, including those of the young Lucia, who doesn’t know what and whom to believe anymore. The suspense is spell-binding, something I hadn’t thought of till I was almost 85% into the book.

The downside of the book is the way it drags on becoming boring and repetitive in the middle. The detailed descriptions, especially of Selma, about what she ate, what she wore, which roads she took, which shops she stared at, made me feel like giving up reading at one point. Had the story not been so compelling, I would definitely have left. I also developed a strong dislike for Elisa, and pity at the way Selma behaved. The secret that Elisa was carrying was mentioned so many times and yet not revealed till so late that it became irritating at one point.

So overall, a nice story, which could have been narrated in a better and crisp way.

I rate it 3.5 stars.

 

Book Review #5 : Lying next to me by Gregg Olsen

 

Lying next to me by Gregg Olsen

About the book:

No matter what you see, no matter what you’ve heard, assume nothing.

Adam and Sophie Warner and their three-year-old daughter are vacationing in Washington State’s Hood Canal for Memorial Day weekend. It’s the perfect getaway to unplug—and to calm an uneasy marriage. But on Adam’s first day out on the water, he sees Sophie abducted by a stranger. A hundred yards from shore, Adam can’t save her. And Sophie disappears.

In a nearby cabin is another couple, Kristen and Connor Moss. Unfortunately, beyond what they’ve heard in the news, they’re in the dark when it comes to Sophie’s disappearance. For Adam, at least there’s comfort in knowing that Mason County detective Lee Husemann is an old friend of his. She’ll do everything she can to help. She must.

But as Adam’s paranoia about his missing wife escalates, Lee puts together the pieces of a puzzle. The lives of the two couples are converging in unpredictable ways, and the picture is unsettling. Lee suspects that not everyone is telling the truth about what they know—or they have yet to reveal all the lies they’ve hidden from the strangers they married.

 

About the author:

New York Times and Amazon Charts bestselling author Gregg Olsen has written more than twenty-five books, including The Sound of Rain and The Weight of Silence in the Nicole Foster series. Known for his ability to create vivid and fascinating narratives, he's appeared on multiple television and radio shows and news networks, such as Good Morning America, Dateline, Entertainment Tonight, CNN, and MSNBC. In addition, Olsen has been featured in Redbook, People, and Salon, as well as in the Seattle Times, Los Angeles Times, and New York Post.

Both his fiction and nonfiction works have received critical acclaim and numerous awards, including prominence on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. Washington State officially selected his young adult novel Envy for the National Book Festival, and The Deep Dark was named Idaho Book of the Year.

A Seattle native who lives with his wife and twin daughters in rural Washington State, Olsen's already at work on his next thriller.

My take:

The story begins with the abduction of Sophie Warner in broad daylight from the beach cabin at Hood Canal where she has come with her husband Adam Warner and daughter Aubrey to spend the Memorial day weekend. Of the occupants of three cabins near Lilywaup, none has witnessed this. The only eyewitness is an old dog walker.

The detectives who respond to the crime scene are Lee and Montrose. Lee has a past, of which Adam Warner is an important part.

Tension begins when Sophie’s parents, the Flynn’s, who hate their son-in-law from their core, enter the picture. The blame game begins. Affairs are uncovered. Secrets are revealed.

The story keeps shifting the point of view from Adam to Lee to the couple at the third cabin (Kristen and Connor). Things get complicated as Connor can’t remember what happened the night before and the morning Sophie went missing.

A Facebook clue leads the detectives to Coyle, a history-sheeter. But things don’t add up.

The suspense is built up nicely. The shifting point of view gives us an entire picture, at the same time keeps us double guessing. Despite the limited characters, we keep shifting our needle of suspicion to each one in turn. The climax is well developed.

The ending is slightly expected, slightly unexpected – a mixture of sorts.

The only downside for me was a few inconsistencies I found in the storyline. I would have mentioned them but they would be spoilers. These inconsistencies made me go back and read some parts again. And they stayed unresolved.

So overall, a good and enjoyable read. I rate it 3.5 stars.