Six Degrees of Separation – from Prophet Song to Whitethorn Woods

It’s time for #6degrees, inspired by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. We all start at the same place as other readers, add six books, and see where it ends up. This month’s starting point is the 2023 Booker winner, Prophet Song by Paul Lynch.

I got Prophet Song from the library this week for Reading Ireland 2025 as it is about an Irish family and takes place in Dublin (as I plan to read it I avoided spoilers).

WWW Wednesday – April 24, 2024

WWW Wednesday is hosted by Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently Reading

Gilbert & Sullivan Set Me Free is an unusual and appealing young adult book set in a women’s prison outside Boston in the early 1900s, based on a real occurrence.

The Searcher - slow paced suspense from Tana French

Title: The Searcher
Author: Tana French
Publication: Viking, hardcover, 2020
Genre: Suspense

Description: When Cal Hooper decides to get away from it all – the senseless violence of 25 years as a Chicago policeman, a bad divorce, a daughter who has moved to Seattle and barely speaks to him, he buys a run-down cottage in a small village on the west side of Ireland anticipating that fixing it up will keep him busy for years.

WWW Wednesday: November 18, 2020

It’s Wednesday, so it’s time to take a look at what I’ve read, what I’m reading, and what I’m planning on reading.  This was inspired by Taking on a World of Books.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

Favorite Reads of 2014 (somewhat belated)

Fiction

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid (2014)

The Austen Project, in which Jane Austen was retold by 21st-­century authors, was commissioned (I assume) by HarperCollins, and here Northanger Abbey is reimagined in modern-day Scotland during the Edinburgh Festival, which sounds like so much fun.  Young Catherine Morland is obsessed with Twilight and imagines everyone is a vampire, which seemed an inspired tribute to the original character’s gothic imaginings.

The Chalk Man (Book Review and Giveaway)

Title: The Chalk Man
Author: C. J. Tudor

Publication: Crown Publishing, Hardcover, 2018

Genre: Psychological Suspense

Giveaway:  I have one copy to give away to someone who likes suspense.  Please leave a message by March 3rd telling me why you would like to be entered and I will pick a winner.  U.S. only.

Plot: In 1986, Eddie and his friends are scruffy English schoolboys on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy little village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code; little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing is ever the same.

In 2016, Eddie is a solitary adult who thinks he’s put his past behind him. But then he gets a letter in the mail, containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a prank . . . until one of them turns up dead.

That’s when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago.  Alternating between flashbacks and the present day, The Chalk Man is the kind of suspense novel where the characters are compelling, albeit creepy, and where the twists will surprise even the most cynical reader.

Audience: Fans of authors such as Paula Hawkins, Ruth Ware, Jonathan Kellerman.

My Impressions: Set in the depressing present, looking back at the sordid past, this is a novel of suspense about four 12-year-old English boys, juggling a surprising number of secrets between them (some they know and some which are just beyond their grasp), and how those secrets have endured and poisoned their adult life.  Eddie Adams is at the heart of the story, both as the narrator and because he was in the right place to help save a life at the beginning of the story. As we all have heard, if you save someone’s life, it then belongs to you – or, at the very least, you share a special bond with that person.  And it is surely no coincidence that Eddie became a teacher like the odd Mr. Halloran, who taught at the boys’ school and, among other things, saved Eddie and his father from abuse and false accusations, respectively.  

The best books are about secrets, and this one is fast paced and full of quirky individuals. It was a quick and entertaining read, marred only by the lack of any appealing character. I was reminded of In the Woods by Tana French but she has a defter hand at creating multi-dimensional characters who are flawed yet likable. However, while French and her narrator Rob deliberately leave questions unanswered, C. J. Tudor is more considerate of her reader and clears up some loose ends at the end, which I appreciated.  Then she adds a startling new development on the last page, just to make sure we were still paying attention! Nice touch!

Source: I was provided a pre-publication copy of this book by TLC Book Tours and the publisher for review purposes.

Please join C.J. Tudor for other stops in her tour and follow her on Twitter: 

Tuesday, January 2nd: BookBub blog “18 Books for Stephen King Fans Coming in 2018”

Friday, January 5th: BookBub blog and Facebook video “16 Novels We’re Looking Forward to Reading in 2018”

Monday, January 8th: Katy’s Library blog and @katyslibrary

Monday, January 8th: Jenn’s Bookshelves

Tuesday, January 9th: @everlasting.charm

Tuesday, January 9th: Clues and Reviews and @cluesandreviews

Wednesday, January 10th: She Treads Softly

Wednesday, January 10th: Moonlight Rendezvous

Wednesday, January 10th: Tome Tender

Thursday, January 11th: Books a la Mode – author guest post

Thursday, January 11th: Rockin’ & Reviewing

Friday, January 12th: Snowdrop Dreams

January 15th: BookBub Blog – author guest post “Eight Thrillers with Scary Children/Teenagers”

Tuesday, January 16th: Bewitched Bookworms

Tuesday, January 16th: Booksie’s Blog

Wednesday, January 17th: Suzy Approved

Wednesday, January 17th: A Chick Who Reads

Thursday, January 18th: Lit Wit Wine Dine

Thursday, January 18th: Bibliotica

Friday, January 19th: Write Read Life

Friday, January 19th: 5 Minutes for Books

Monday, January 22nd: What is That Book About

Monday, January 22nd: Ms. Nose in a Book

Tuesday, January 23rd: A Bookworm’s World

Tuesday, January 23rd: The Book Diva’s Reads

Wednesday, January 24th: Girl Who Reads

Thursday, January 25th: Black ‘n Gold Girl’s Reviews

Friday, January 26th: Lovely Bookshelf

Monday, January 29th: Novel Gossip blog and @novelgossip

Monday, January 29th: A Literary Vacation

Monday, January 29th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, January 30th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, February 1st: No More Grumpy Bookseller

TBD: Jathan and Heather

The Burning (Book Review)

Title: The Burning (Maeve Kerrigan, #1)
Author: Jane Casey

Publication Information: St. Martin’s/Minotaur Books, Hardcover, 2011

Genre: Suspense/Crime Fiction  Setting: 21st century London

Plot: Maeve Kerrigan is a London detective with the usual challenges of solving crimes while dealing with annoying and condescending male counterparts.  They especially like to taunt her about being Irish and belittle her contributions to the murder investigation. I disliked them all, including, initially, the handsome Detective Constable Rob Langton who is working with her to catch a serial killer.   Another very intriguing character is Superintendent Godley, whose name denotes his seemingly inscrutable demeanor.  Godley sees Maeve’s potential but never seems to interfere in the squabbles of his staff.  I would say these detectives need workplace harassment awareness training from an employment lawyer such as myself but I am sure that would only make things worse for Maeve.  Her cohorts won’t change their ways until they are sued and/or forced to resign.