Shadow Man by Alan Drew

Title – Shadow Man

Author – Alan Drew

Published/Publisher – January 2018 / Corvus Books

Genre – Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense

Pages – 340

Summary from Goodreads

What Dennis Lehane does for Boston, Alan Drew does for Southern California in this gritty thriller about an idyllic community rocked by a serial killer—and a dark secret.

Detective Ben Wade has returned to his California hometown of Rancho Santa Elena for a quieter life. Suddenly the town, with its peaceful streets and excellent public schools, finds itself at the mercy of a serial killer who slips through windows and screen doors, shattering illusions of safety. As Ben and forensic specialist Natasha Betencourt struggle to stay one step ahead of the killer, Ben’s own world is rocked again by a teen’s suicide. Ben must decide how far he is willing to go, and how much he will risk, to rescue the town from a long-buried secret, as well as from a psychotic murderer.

With eerie, chilling, fine prose, Alan Drew brings us into the treacherous underbelly of a suburban California town in this brilliant novel of suspense about a man, and a community, confronted with the heart of human darkness.

My Thoughts

5 out of 5 stars

I was drawn to this book because it was marketed as a thriller. There was a quote on the front by Lee Child that said “Shadow Man is everything a thriller should be.”

I’ve only recently been reading thrillers and it is now my go to genre and when I was saw this on readers first I just had to enter to win and copy. When I think of thrillers I think of it being fast paced with twists and turns you don’t expect. Shadow Man in my own opinion it’s too slow paced to be a thriller and there was more focus on character building.

Why then you might ask did I give it 5 stars ? The easy answer to that is Alan Drew’s writing. I adored his writing and couldn’t stop reading. The story is mainly told from the POV of the Detective. I really enjoyed his POV and the more I learned about him the more I liked his character and I did feel so so sorry for him. Some of the chapters came from the killer and Alan Drew wrote it in such a lyrical, flowing and chilling way.

I read this in 2 or 3 days and really enjoyed the story. I wanted to keep reading and learn more about the characters. I loved Alan Drew’s writing and I wasn’t ready for it to be over.

I highly recommend this book to everyone. One of my favourite reads so far in 2018.

The Sleeper and The Spindle Review

Title – The Sleeper and The Spindle

Author – Neil Gaiman

Illustrations by Chris Riddell

Genre – Fantasy, Retelling, fairytale, Fiction, Young Adult

Publisher/Published – Bloomsbury / October 2013

Pages – 72

Summary from Goodreads

On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future – and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Twisting together the familiar and the new, this perfectly delicious, captivating and darkly funny tale shows its creators at the peak of their talents.

My Thoughts

5 out of 5 stars

I loved this. I’m a fan of retellings and I thought this was a well written one. I love Neil Gaiman’s writing and enjoyed his spin of this, then pair it with Chris Riddell’s illustrations and it was even more magical. This was a retelling of Snow white and Sleeping beauty and was so well written and I didn’t expect the twist at the end.

Just a quick review this time but more to come this week.

Shattered Memories Review

Title: Shattered Memories

Author: Virginia Andrews 

Published/Publisher : November 1st 2017 by Simon & Schuster Ltd

Pages : 432

My Thoughts:

3 out of 5 Stars.

Well I’m just going to start this review by saying this book disappointed me beyond words and I had to sit down and think about what I was going to say.

Shattered Memories is book three in the Mirror Sisters Trilogy written by Virginia Andrews ghost writer. So I was eagerly anticipating the release of Shattered Memories as I really enjoyed the first two books. I had such high hopes that this book was going to be a great conclusion and wrap the trilogy up nicely. But oh boy was I wrong about that. To me it was such a disappointment and if I’m honest a waste of my time.

Kaylee frustrated me the whole way through this. I was with her all through book one and two and supported her fully and really felt sorry for her after what happened to her. Unfortunatey by the end of this book I really didn’t like her, she was annoying, far to forgiving of Haylee and some of her action were ridiculous and totally uncalled for. I was so disappointed in her.

I hated Haylee but I feel like the author couldn’t be bothered writing her in to the plot and forgot about her. In to help first two books she was such a well written villain and you just had to hate her. Where as this one she wasn’t in it much and when she was included in the story it was just boring. The author could have taken the plot with her so much but to me it just seems like they gave up and couldn’t be bothered giving her a proper story line.

Kaylees roommate was weird and I expect her to be plotting with Haylee but nope the roomate might as well of not been there, she added nothing to the plot or story.

Oh and the ending has to be the worst ending ever written. I hated the entire ending and wanted to rip the pages out and throw the book at a wall. It was so senseless and unrealistic. It’s like the author gave up writing and decided to chose the easy way out. I was so angry with this book and I don’ think I’ll be reading any more Virginia Andrews books that have been written by the ghost author.

I don’t recommend this book to anyone!

 

 

2018 Reading Goals

Hey Guys, it’s been a while but it’s a new year and a new year for blogging. 

My reading goals are as follows:

• Read 100 books – I managed to read 80 books in 2017 so I’m pushing myself to read 100 this year. 
• Read the Game of Thrones series of books and watch all the tv episodes. I’ve only read book one and watch series one so far. 
• Read all the Mortal Instruments series, I read the first two books. 
• Read The Infernal Devices trilogy which I’ve still to read.
• Read as many unread books that are on my shelves.
• Read more thrillers, I discovered in 2017 that I love thrillers so I want to read more. 

That’s my top goals for 2018. Have you set any goals this year? Let me know.