Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds

Series: Prefect Dreyfus Emergency, Book Two

Publisher: Gollancz

Format: Hardcover

Published: 25^th January 2018

Number of Pages: 416

Book: For Review* 

Genre:  Science-Fiction, Space Opera, Crime Fiction, Thriller-Suspense, Mystery, Adult

Recommended Age: 13+

Contains: Violence, Death, Swearing

Author's Site: Alastair Reynolds

Blurb From Goodreads:

Featuring Inspector Dreyfus - one of Alastair Reynolds most popular characters - this is a fast paced SF crime story, combining a futuristic setting with a gripping tale of technology, revolution and revenge.

One citizen died a fortnight ago. Two a week ago. Four died yesterday . . . and unless the cause can be found - and stopped - within the next four months, everyone will be dead. For the Prefects, the hunt for a silent, hidden killer is on . . .

Alastair Reynolds has returned to the world of The Prefect for this stand-alone SF mystery in which no one is safe. The technological implants which connect every citizen to each other have become murder weapons, and no one knows who or what the killer is - or who the next targets will be. But their reach is spreading, and time is not on the Prefects' side.

                                                                   Review:

“He saw it now, what had always been there, always explicit, but which he only now forced himself t acknowledge in all its truth and simplicity.  To destroy Devon Garlin – to destroy the enemy of everything he held precious - it was first necessary to destroy Wildfire.

And so he would.”

The Glitter Band is a man-made system of planets and microworlds.  Run by the people, they are a utopia of sorts, where crime is almost non-existent.

But when it occurs, they need someone who can deal with it.  That’s why the Prefects were formed – a planet of police, ready to deal with anything that threatens to harm the Glitter Band.

Until they were forced to protect it by doing something unthinkable...

Now, dissent is rising among the worlds of the Glitter Band – led by a man named Devon Garlin, worlds are declaring independence from the Prefects.

Meanwhile, Prefect Tom Dreyfus and his fellow operatives are trying to stop a series of deaths – scores of people are dying, their implants overheating for no discernible reason, with no connection between the victims.  And the rate of Wildfire deaths is ever-increasing – soon it will be in the thousands and before long all of the Glitter Band could perish...

But when links begin to appear between the two cases, the risk of the destruction of the world as Dreyfus and the others know it is rising ever higher...

I have never read anything by Alastair Reynolds, but Elysium Fire intrigued me from the moment I received it.  Even though I hadn’t read any of the books in the series, let alone the previous Prefect Dreyfus Emergency, I was soon sucked right into the story.  I need to get my hands on the other books now – I am just in love with Dreyfus and the Glitter Band!  

Also, I’m pretty awful at reading sci-fi – let alone adult hard-core sci-fi space operas.  And there were a few terms I may have had to look up, but I found it really, really easy to just immerse myself in this world, in this story.  I’m a sucker for crime thrillers, although I think crime thrillers in space may have ruined me for the more mundane earthly kind!  

It helped that I just loved all of the characters in the book!  They were all brilliantly complex and three-dimensional.  I just need to read the first Prefect Dreyfus book so I can fully understand them all!  Because I need some more backstories, guys!

I love Tom Dreyfus – he is such a badass.  Plus he’s so driven and dedicated to protecting everyone.  I also love that while he’s very level-headed, he does lose his cool occasionally (to be fair, Garlin was a dick). I really have to read book one because I want to know more about him!

Jane Aumonier was awesome – such a brilliant leader and so very, very badass too.  She was tough, but fair – and when you messed with her, watch out!  I also loved Thalia and Sparver - they were amazing prefects and I just loved how they interacted together.  And I really enjoyed the characters of Julius and Caleb – and trying to figure out what their story was.  Those two intrigued me from the very beginning... 

This story was just genius.  I just loved the multiple story lines – we had the Prefects trying to solve the implant-caused deaths, then them trying to deal with the anarchy Garlin caused, and then there was another storyline following two boys with many a secret in their family past...  I just loved seeing how it all tangled together, all the little clues that we were given to unravel the plots and discover what was happening.  It was just so exciting and utterly addictive.

And I will admit, it probably would’ve helped if I’d at least read the previous Prefect Dreyfus book, because there were quite a few references to what occurred in it – but I managed to guess most things and catch up, so it really didn’t confuse me or take away from my enjoyment of Elysium Fire.

Oh, and have I mentioned the multiple perspectives?  No?  It was brilliant.  It let us follow so much action and mystery and plot lines in a single chapter and it really could’ve been confusing but it just wasn’t.  I loved it so very much! 

I honestly don’t know why I don’t read more sci-fi books – I enjoyed this so much.  Elysium Fire was exciting and intriguing and wonderful and I seriously have to get the rest of this series!  I definitely recommend the Prefect Dreyfus series to sci-fi lovers – and even those who don’t generally read sci-fi!  The crime thriller aspect is just amazing and I honestly can’t wait for my next adventure with Tom Dreyfus!

Star Rating:
4 Out of 5 

Read this book if you liked:

Prefect Dreyfus Emergency by Alastair Reynolds

Agent Cormac by Neal Asher

Invictus by Ryan Graudin

The Androma Saga by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings

Happy Reading

Megan

* This book was received from Gollancz in exchange for an honest review

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Series: Shades of Magic, Book One

Publisher: Titan Books

Format: Paperback

Published: 27^th February 2015

Number of Pages: 400

Book: Bought 

Genre:  Fantasy, Historical, Action-Adventure, Mystery, YA, Adult, Crossover

Recommended Age: 13+

Contains: Violence, Death, Swearing, Alcohol, Sexual and Sexual Assault References

Author's Site: V.E. Schwab

Kell is one of the last travellers – magicians with a rare ability to travel between parallel universes connected by one magical city. 

There’s Grey London, without magic and ruled by the mad King George III.  Red London – where magic is revered, and where Kell is raised alongside the heir to the empire.  White London – where people fight to control the remaining magic and magic fights back. 

And once there was Black London... 

                                                                   Review:

I've read a lot of fantasy in my time.  But little compares to the pure brilliance of V.E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic.  Gorgeous, clever, addictive and unique, I am just so very in love with this book.  So please be warned: fangirling ahead.

"I'm not afraid of dying.  But I am afraid of dying here."  She swept her hand over the room, the tavern, the city.  "I'd rather die on an adventure than live standing still."

Kell is an Antari – a rare magician with the ability to travel between worlds.  He lives in Red London – a vibrant place where magic and people both thrive, where Kell is raised by the King and Queen.  Grey London is the world that has forgotten all about magic.  White London is a world hungry for magic, starving for it, a place leeched of colour.  Once there was Black London, but there magic devoured the people, leaving the world dead...

Kell is running a typical message between worlds when he is asked to deliver a mysterious package.  He accepts, despite his reservations (and the fact that this is so very against the rules), and is then ambushed upon arriving in Red London.  Inadvertently, he has brought a forbidden relic to his world – a relic that could destroy them all.  He flees to Grey London and is found by Lila Bard, a thief, wanted (wo)man and pirate at heart.

Together, they must return the relic to where it belongs.  Together, they must save the remaining worlds from the curse of the lost one...

I honestly don't know where to start with this review.  Because I just love A Darker Shade of Magic and Victoria herself so freaking much.  Both are just amazing – brilliant, fantastic, wonderful, magical, vicious...  Just... wow.   

This review would go a hell of a lot better if I could just get over the blown-mind after effects...  But since I don't see that time coming any time soon, I'll just get on with it anyway.

Kell... Kell was a brilliant hero.  Brave, good, strong and also so very flawed, he managed to be both incredibly powerful and yet vulnerable all at once.  He didn't always make the smart decisions, he focused a little on the whole woe me at times and he was occasionally a little daft – and it all just made him even more loveable. 

And Lila was just amazing!  Vicious and blood thirsty and obsessed with knives!  I mean, this is really just my kind of girl.  She was just so cool and funny and sharp and I loved her to pieces.  I have my favourite crush in the series – and it's the swashbuckling, badass Delilah Bard.

I loved watching Kell and Lila together – they were funny and brilliant together.  There was next to no romance in this book – maybe there will be in the next book, because ships were definitely hinted at, just not fully realised.  I'm intrigued to see where this goes next because I just love these two together!

I also really loved seeing Kell with Rhy, his brother.  Rhy was just the sweetest – silly and flirtatious and funny, he was so much more than the rich playboy he first appeared to be and I just loved him for that.  Plus his relationship with Kell was just so sweet – they really did love one another, despite the brotherly conflicts.

The Danes were bloody terrifying!  They literally sent tingles of fear up my spine whenever they were around – they were so damn scary!   

As much as I adored the characters, the world just blew them all out of the water.   Bloody hell, it's amazing.  Just the very idea of these four unique Londons, all so different and so wonderful...  Mind-blowing.  My mind is officially and irreparably blown.  I am just in awe of Victoria.  It's hard enough to contrast a single fantasy world – she made three!  Three utterly unique, beautiful and horrible Londons – four, if we're counting the lost Black London.  Each London was so unique and detailed and amazing.  Red London was definitely my favourite – it was the thriving, alive London.  Grey London was a magic less, more historically accurate, place ruled by a mad King.  And White London...well.  Let's just say I'd avoid White London at all costs.  I just can't believe how much work and detail Victoria put into these worlds and I just can't wait to explore them more.  Amazing – just incredibly, wonderfully, perfectly amazing.

Unsurprisingly, the Slytherin queen of magic was a true wizard when it came to her writing. Gorgeous, witty and beautiful, she sucked me in from the very first sentence and had me utterly hooked from that same line.  I adored how we switched between Kell and Lila and then a few...added extra POVs.  I loved exploring all the Londons, seeing them through Kell's well travelled eyes and Lila's almost-as-new-as-our eyes.

And god, I just adored the storyline.  The idea of a quest across worlds, an evil stone, crazy rulers and brilliant characters – I mean, what's not to love?  I loved the race, the battles, the quest.  I loved the excitement, the adventure, the adrenaline-pounding pace and suspense...  I just loved all of it and cannot wait to get my hands on A Gathering of Shadows to find out what happens next!

So, if you haven't gathered, I loved A Darker Shade Of Magic just a little bit.  Ok a lot bit.  A bloody ginormous bit.  Victoria is my Slytherin queen and she has crafted a truly magical and amazing book here, one I love to absolute pieces.  It has magic, pirates, adventures, backstabbing, blood, drama, excitement and just so much more.  I am seriously struggling to find the words to do A Darker Shade of Magic justice – I just can't find the words to explain how much I bloody adored it.

Here's another attempt:

A Darker Shade Of Magic had me falling in love from the very first page.  I fell for the worlds, for Kell and Rhy and Lila, for Victoria's writing, for just about every damn thing.  I have read a lot of fantasy and I can say with certainty that this series is in the top five of my favourites – I just love it so damn much.  I honestly can't recommend it enough.  Just read it.  Read it, get your own mind blown, and then shove it into another person's hands.  Let's spread A Darker Shade of Magic like the black fever (you'll get the reference after you read the book)!  

Now I'm off to read A Gathering Of Shaodws because I gots to know what happens next!   Happy reading, Grey Londoners! 

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5 

Read this book if you liked:

The Grisha Series by Leigh Bardugo

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Happy Reading

Megan

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Publisher: Penguin

Format: Paperback

Published: 13^th May 2010

Number of Pages: 464

Book: Borrowed

Genre: Realistic-Fiction, Historical, Chick-Lit, Drama, Contemporary, Real-To-Life Fiction, Humour, Adult

Recommended Age: 13+

Contains: Swearing, Violence, Sexual Assault References and Domestic Abuse References

No Alcohol, Drug References

Author's Site: Kathryn Stockett

Enter a vanished world: Jackson, Mississippi, 1962.  Where black maids raise white children, but aren’t trusted not to steal the silver…

There’s Aibileen, raising her seventeenth white child and nursing the hurt caused by her own son’s tragic death; Minny, whose cooking is nearly as sassy as her tongue; and white Miss Skeeter, home from college, who wants to know why her beloved maid has disappeared.

Skeeter, Sibileen and Minny.  No one would believe they’d be friends: fewer still would tolerate it.  But as each woman finds the courage to cross boundaries, they come to depend and rely upon one another.  Each is in search of a truth.  And together they have an extraordinary story to tell…

                                                                   Review:
In Mississippi, 1963, those with black skin are treated like second class citizens, left to raise white people's children, but not trusted with valuables. 

Both Aibileen and Minny are black maids.  Aibileen is struggling to deal with her son's death and Minny is trying to cope with her new (secret) work, her sassy mouth and the "Terrible Awful Thing" she has done...

Miss Skeeter, a white, rich college graduate, only wants to be a writer and hates how society treats women – both black and white – and is desperate for news of her childhood maid Constantine, the woman who raised and loved her. 

The three women are worlds apart, but Skeeter's search for something worth writing about brings them together, binding them as she writes stories from "the help's" perspective – the truthful, honest perspective – and break down the walls society had put up to separate them... 

My mum and aunt read this ages ago and have been going on at me to read it. A break in my schedule gave me the chance to finally read it.  Oh, how I wish I'd read it sooner.  It’s such a powerful book, so emotional and moving and funny.  It's the kind of book that comes along once in a generation, the kind of book everyone everywhere should read.  It's amazing.  So amazing that ‘amazing’ doesn’t even begin to do it justice.

The three main women were… amazing.  Beyond amazing…  Aibileen: she was so loving of her "special babies" and so protective of Baby Girl.  She was a little cynical, but really did love the kids she took care of, and hated how they ended up like their parents and that there was nothing she could do to stop it.  And I just loved her so much. 

And Minny was brilliant and so funny.  I love her spirit, her sass.  She was really feisty and fierce and loved to cook.  And, man, did she kill me sometimes.  She was really protective of her employers – only she got to badmouth them!  Yeah, Minny was just a total legend.

Miss Skeeter was just brilliant – again, I loved her spirit and sass.  She was so clever and cared about what the maids had to say when no one else did.  I loved her for that. 

Miss Hilly, however, was a total female-dog.  She was also pretty much the stereotypical '60s white woman from Mississippi.  She was a good, loving mother, helped charities, had lots of friends.  And she treated the help like scum, wanted them to be totally separate from white people, thought they carried diseases and stuff.  She was also manipulative and vindictive.  Ergo: Hilly is a total female-dog. 

Some characters you hate from the get go: namely Miss Hilly.  Others you love so, so much at the beginning and love more each time.  I loved Celia Foote (she was so sweet and lonely and such a good person) and Mister Johnny (he was so sweet and just the best, kindest person).  Miss Skeeter's daddy was also the kindest man – and very Atkinson-like.  I guess Miss Hilly wasn't all bad, but I hated the way she treated the maids – hated it.  But that's what I love about Stockett's characters - they were all so complex and three dimensional - all different shades of grey.  

The complexity of the relationships between the employees and the maids really struck me, especially the one between Aibileen and Mae Mobley (Baby Girl) and Miss Elizabeth.  Aibileen loved Mae Mobley so much, and yet had to stand by and say nothing as Elizabeth hit the child or ignored her and pushed her away.  My heart actually broke every time the three-year-old "Mae Mo bad?" and Aibileen told her "You kind, you smart, you important.".  And when Baby Girl said "Aibee, you're my real mama," oh!  All enough to break a girl's heart, isn't it?  So is the love Skeeter has for her maid, Constantine, the woman who raised her and was always there for her – until she suddenly vanished.  You could tell how much Skeeter loved Constantine and desperate she was to find her.  And as time went on, she was so worried Constantine didn’t know how much she meant to Skeeter or if she didn't know how much Skeeter was grateful for everything she'd done…  Heart-breaking…

I adored Stockett's writing, how we got to read from Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter's POV – and how each sounded different and unique.  And all so alive – I could hear everyone's voices in my head, practically hear them all breathing.  And it was all just so powerful.  It made me laugh my head off and choked me up numerous times.  I was shocked and horrified by all the laws that separated white and "coloured" people – it made me sick.  

Even though The Help was funny and really made me laugh, the humour didn't take away from the whole grave situation.  This was southern America in the '60s and African-American people were treated so, so badly.  Like the blurb said, white people give their babies to black maids, but didn't trust them with their valuable belongings.  It honestly just made me sick. 

This book was funny and heart-breaking, and every shade of emotion between the two.  It was a roller coaster of a ride, with me practically holding my breath all through the story, rushing to the finale so I could know everything, feeling totally connected to each character, breathless as I watched each event unfold.  The Help was just such an amazing book.  Its deep without drowning you, funny without making light of the situation, horrible but not without beauty.  I honestly cannot find the words to do this book justice.  I don't think such words truly exist.  All I can say is that everyone just HAS to read this book.  I don't care if you’re rich or poor, male or female, young or old, or what colour your skin is.  We're all the same inside and that's what this book is all about: touching you so deep and strong on your heart that the marks it's left there never leave.  And that is what makes this story beyond words.  It's what makes it beautiful. 

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2012 (Hosted by Book Chick City)

Happy Reading

Megan

Sherlock: The Casebook by Guy Adams

Publisher: BBC Books

Format: Hardback

Published: 25^th October 2012

Number of Pages: 160

Book: Bought

Genre: TV-Movie-Tie-In, Mystery, Crime, Murder Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Non-Fiction, Adult

Recommended Age: 12+

Contains: Violence, Murder, Mindblowing Deductive Skills, Some Alcohol/Drug References

Author's Site: Guy Adams

“I’m a consulting detective.  The only one in the world.  I invented the job.”

Don’t buy this book.  The author has transformed what should have been a series of lectures into a gross and tasteless entertainment.

The science of deduction is a branch of human achievement requiring serious analysis and yet here I find it lavishly illustrated, disfigured with humour and infested with gossip.  Apparently, this kind of sensationalism is required to engage the interest of the reading public, but it is  rather like working an office romance into a paper on quantum physics.  Only an idiot would be impressed.  Help yourself.

“We solve crimes.  I blog about it, and he forgets his pants.”

This books is my humble attempt to shine a light on the work of the best and wisest I have ever

known.  He has, I think it is safe to say, elevated the science of deduction into an art form.

Having been at his side during some of his most remarkable cases, it has fallen to me to bring his achievements to the attention of the wider public.   He is, quite simply, the Mozart of criminal investigation.

I would say more, but I am flattered and delighted to say that Sherlock Holmes himself has agreed to write a piece for the cover.

                                                                   Review:

"You're keeping A SCRAPBOOK.

Only old ladies and pre-pubescent girls keep scrapbooks, John."

"It's not a scrapbook, Sherlock.  I'm collecting papers relevant to the cases.  It helps me remember the details.  And it was locked away in my desk drawer."

"The lock on your desk drawer was insulting me with its pretences at security.  

IT'S A SCRAPBOOK..."

Holy Crab, this book was awesome!!  I absolutely love the original Sherlock Holmes books; adore the Sherlock Holmes movies (y’know, the new ones, with Robert Downey Jr and Jude Law) and totally freaking LOVE BBC’s Sherlock.  So how, how, how was I meant to just leave Sherlock: The Casebook on the shelves in Waterstones?!  I just wasn’t.  That’s how. 

To a total Holmes addict such as me (I’ve got a post of Hounds of the Baskervilles on my wall – it’s the whole book, written in a way that shows a picture!  It’s awesome!), this book was perfection.  It may have focused on the TV series (my fave Sherlock adaptation ever, btw), but there was loads of non-Sherlock info in here too.  Like did you know that Arthur Conan Doyle absolutely hated writing the Sherlock Holmes books?  All he wanted was to write this big 'serious' novel, and all everyone wanted was for him to write about Holmes and Watson!  Ha!  That one made me laugh no end.  And the non-Sherlock info didn’t end there, and got more fascinating as you got in.  I loved learning about how Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss came up with the show idea, and all the characters and everything.  Oh, I just loved it all!  But to find the other stuff out, you’re just gonna have to read this…

But onto the Sherlock stuff now!  I adore the show.  Obviously.  And my God, this Sherlock stuff was just awesome!  It was laid out like a scrapbook, showing detailed info on all of the cases Sherlock and John have done.  It's written by John and was utterly fascinating.  And then there were the post-its Sherlock had stuck all over the place, offering snide comments and random remarks.  And then there was the banter between the two of them, which is so true to the show and had me cracking up.  Oh, I just loved it!  I loved it so, so much.  It was just so much fun and, despite what Sherlock may say, was utterly fascinating.  

I will admit now that this whole review has been the ramblings of a crazy fan girl.  But that's only because I am a crazy fan girl.  I am totally, 100% Sherlocked.  Sherlock Holmes is just so legendary.  It's the first crime novel I ever read and fell totally in love with.  Holmes is the reason I love shows like CSI and Criminal Minds and The Mentalist.  I just love how he's so, so smart that he's not really human.  He's amazing, incredible, beyond description.  His mind... oh, how I'd love to be in his mind, at least for a little while.   Though afterwards, I would probably be quite pleased to be back inside my own "vacant" little mind.

So yes: whatever kind of Sherlock Holmes fan you are, this book is definitely for you.  If you love Sherlock, read this to get even more into the show, to find out things you didn't know before.  If you aren't, read this and I promise you that you are going to be 100% Sherlocked too.  And if, like me, you're going crazy waiting for the next series - why is Autumn so flipping far away?! - then this is the perfect gift to tide you over 'til then.  It's a fun read that you can gobble up in one sitting (like me) or dip in and out of.  

Sherlock Rules! :D

Star Rating:
5 Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

Sherlock TV Series

Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2013 (Hosted by Book ChickCity)

Happy Reading

Megan

Fear the Worst by Linwood Barclay

Publisher: Orion

Format: Paperback

Published: 8^th July 2010

Number of Pages: 480

Book: Christmas Gift

Genre: Crime Fiction, Mystery, Realistic-Fiction, Thriller, Suspense, Adult

Recommended Age: 14+

Contains: Swearing, Violence, Death, Sexual and Alcohol References

No Drug References

Author's Site: Linwood Barclay

Suppose you come to pick up your daughter from her job – and find that no one has heard of her and she’s never worked there.  If she hasn’t been working all day, what has she been doing?

Tim Blake’s teenage daughter Sydney is staying with him while she works a summer job at a hotel.  But when one day she fails to arrive home from her shift and the stadd at the hotel say they have no Sydney Blake working there, he begins to see his life going into freefall.

What could have made her step out of her life without leaving a trace?  Only one thing convinces Tim that the worst hasn’t already happened – the fact that some very scary people seem just as eager as he is to find her.

The question is: who’s going to find her first?

                                                                   Review:

"I was filled with all this pent-up rage and frustration.  Where was Syd?  What had happened to her?  Why did she leave?

Why the hell couldn't I find her?"

Tim Blake's daughter Sydney is staying with him over the summer, working in a hotel an hanging out with her best friend Patty.  One day, she comes down for breakfast wearing a pair of Versace sunglasses.  Tim knows there's no way she could afford them on her salary.  So he confronts her about them.  She storms out, furious at him.

She doesn't come back.

To begin with, Tim thinks she's just mad.  But then one days goes into two and then three...  He knows something is wrong.

But when he goes to the hotel she's meant to work out to ask after her, he finds out that no one has heard of Syd, no one has even seen her.  He searches the street.  Nothing.  

Then her car turns up in a parking lot.  There is blood on the door.  

Caught up in every parent's worst nightmare, Tim strikes up his own desperate search for his daughter.  

And before long, he finds out something so so much worse - he isn't the only one looking for Syd.  And the others?  Safe to say they don't want to bring her home safe and sound. 

Can Tim find her first?  And what made her run in the first place...?

And should he find her, will he recognise the daughter who returns...?

I read No Time For Goodbye by Barclay a few years ago, back when it came out in 2008, I think, after my aunt lent it to my mum – yes, yes, I snatched it before mum could read it.  It just looked too good!  And it really was too good – mindblowingly so.  I still remember feeling so freakishly hoked to this book and zooming through it in no time at all.  So when I saw a set of three of Barclay's books on Book People for like five quid, I snatched them up.  One was my dear No Time For Goodbye, a book I can't wait to reread.  Another was this, Fear The Worst, which I read the blurb of and instantly started reading.  It was just as hooking and suspenseful land mystery-filled and amazing.  Barclay has honest-to-God gotta be one of my favourite suspense authors.  Like, ever.

One of the reasons has to be the fact that the books of his I've read never have the main character as a cop or a PI or something like that.  No, these are all just normal people who are in these horrid situations, trying to get to the bottom of their own private mysteries or losses.  Like in No Time For Goodbye, the lead was a woman whose entire family disappeared when she was a child, and she's spent the rest of her life blaming herself and looking for them.  And in this, in Fear the Worst, the main character is a guy named Tim Blake whose daughter just suddenly disappeared, and when he goes to look for her at her supposed place of work, they say they've never even heard of her.  So this is a story about a father desperately trying to find his daughter.  Seeing a theme here?

Speaking of Tim Blake, I really liked him as a character.  He was very real and you could really feel for the poor guy – I felt so sorry for him.  He had some brilliant quirks – his habit of calling cars their proper names and of constantly getting himself into trouble!  

I also thought Patty was just brilliant - so blunt and matter of fact.  And Sydney, she was a real teenager – she felt very, very normal and real.  She was a good kid, very caring and smart, but she wasn't perfect, which just made her more believable and likeable.  I really enjoyed getting to know a young Syd through Tim's flashbacks.

The writing was amazing - suspenseful and mystifying and addictive.  It was written in first person from Tim's POV – I do love crime novels written in first person and there are so few of them.  They make me really feel involved in solving the case, giving me real insight into these crime solvers, be they cops, PIs or desperate fathers of a lost girl.  And the plot was mindblowingly addictive.  It's freaking ridiculous how addictive it was really!  And I loved how twisty the plot was – I never knew what to expect, what would come next, when the next twist would come.  I loved that constant suspense and numerous big time shocks.  Like oh-my-god-where-is-my-jaw kinda shocks.  And the end... It just left me reeling!  Evil ending!

This was one hell of a book – such an amazing book to start 2013 with.  All future thrillers will be measured to this book.  To the way this book left me shocked and an emotional wreck and just with my mind 100% blown.  It was stunning.  Seriously.  Just absolutely freaking amazing.  I can't recommend it enough.  Honestly.  I've already passed it onto my cousin, the second I finished, literally.  So, again.  Whoa. 

Star Rating:
4½ Out of 5

Read this book if you liked:

No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

Sid Halley Mysteries by Dick Francis

Myron Bolitar by Harlan Coben

Challenges It's Taking Part In:

100 Books in a Year Reading Challenge 2013 (Hosted by Book ChickCity)

Happy Reading

Megan