Gillian McAllister’s Wrong Place Wrong Time is a perfectly fine book that was also unfortunately the Wrong book for me for a few reasons. A friend suggested this as a blind recommendation based on reviews and the synopsis involving reverse “time travel” where Jen Brotherhood gradually progresses backwards in time hoping to stop her song from murdering a seemingly random man named Joseph Jones. I was expecting a time traveling murder investigation that touched on familial drama but what I actually got was nearly all familial drama. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing, however the delivery was not to my taste as I like both my mystery and drama genres to be more intense and complex than what I read. A middle-aged mother who’s overly concerned about how family is viewed is far from a character experience I empathize with, but moments when Jen reflects on how her past actions affected her family are thoughts that anyone can relate to. What Wrong Place Wrong Time does well is using the gradual reverse time-travel plot element as way for Jen to rediscover overlooked moments in her life while also providing a grounds hogs day setup where none of…
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Looking back on 2023 (admittedly quite late oops), I thought it would be nice to revisit last year’s reads and reflect on some of my top surprise reads that I stumbled upon. A lot of other book reviewers and influencers tend to do the “best reads of the year” type of recaps but that’s kind of boring since you can just look at whichever books I rated highly and I would only be summarizing what I already wrote about. Instead of that, I’ll be running through the top five most unexpectedly good reads or those that I was pleasantly surprised by. These are not necessarily my top five favorite reads of the year, but they are those that were distinctively refreshing for one way or another or managed to blow away whatever expectation I had for them initially. And with that, let’s get started! #5) The Midnight Library by Matt Haig I debated putting this one on the list at all considering how well-known and popular it is, hence why it’s at the bottom of my list. A perfect blend of contemporary fiction drama covering dark topics through a whimsical tone, the Midnight Library has mass appeal and is a…
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If Red Rising was the hook to get me interested, Golden Son delivered the full goods and sold me on this series. While I found Red Rising to be ambitious and an exciting read, it had some pretty notable drawbacks that took me out of the story at times. Does it matter that a random reader with no following like myself has critiques and notes for a book published a decade ago? Absolutely not but regardless, I found Golden Son to carryover all of the elements Red Rising got right and improve on every aspect I found initially lacking. The main elements that I found to be weak in Red Rising were primarily the sheer number of characters involved that are largely shallow and undeveloped, story arcs that were inconsistent in interest for me personally, and Darrow’s character voice being tiresome and being hyper masculine honor-based. While I’m still not a huge fan of Darrow’s personality, his growth and maturity in Golden Son is exponential which made him far more tolerable to me. With the narrative growing increasingly complex and politically-driven, it was a relief that he develops more emotional and strategic intelligence. With a smarter and more rational character…
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Two good signs that you’ve read a great mystery novel; the full reveal is a “wow” instead of a “well that just happened” and you feel the need to instantly re-read it with a notepad to jot down clues missed on a first read. I found Riley Sager’s The Only One Left to be a solid murder mystery novel that’s well-rounded and smartly constructed. As per my read of Home Before Dark, The Only One Left was a slow burn with an explosive yet still comprehensible whodunnit reveal. This is a book that rewards slow and attentive readers that enjoy piecing clues and evidence together. If you speed through mindlessly the reveal and ending may feel random with its endless plot twists (they’re not random if you pay attention). What I particularly liked about The Only One Left is the use of common mystery plot devices implemented in creative ways. Although the story is primarily told from home caregiver Kit McDeere’s perspective in the present real-time (that is, in 1983 when this story takes place), Sager also somewhat incorporates a 2nd split (abeit limited) perspective of Lenora Hope. Literally written in the past tense (via a typewriter as Lenora is…
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It took me longer than it should’ve to learn that Rivers of London was released in the US as “Midnight Riot” hence why it took me so long to read this despite it being high on my to-read list. In hindsight the rename makes perfect sense as Midnight Riot is a much more appropriate title for the better of two core plot/cases covered in book (not to mention that the series this book ended up starting is also called Rivers of London). Confusion on its dual-title release aside, I wanted to like Midnight Riot a lot more than I did as it has such an exciting premise. Peter Grant is a probationary constable/loose police officer who is assigned as an apprentice to Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale after having a run-in with a ghost while on surveillance duty following a grisly beheading murder at Covent Garden (as in the actual real Covent Garden, all locations are either real-life places or are heavily inspired fictional interpretations on boroughs of London). In training as both a supernatural investigative officer and a magic user, Peter Grant and Thomas Nightingale team-up to unravel the truth behind a series of seemingly random murders who’s only…