The End We Start From by Megan Hunter

The reports varied - they were supposed to have more time, their home would be under water for sure, their home would be safe after all...In the end, it didn't matter. She was in the hospital giving birth when the floodwaters came and their home, with it's newly decorated nursery, was no more.

So the new family - father, mother, and son - took refuge in the country. And then in a shelter. Before long, even that base had to be abandoned, leaving the still nursing mom to travel to safety alone with her son. All her efforts are in protecting and nurturing him. All her resources and her self are given over to him.

Survival is her only focus.

The End We Start From is short and spare - almost, and just barely not, a story in verse.

Characters are referred to by letters only: Z, R, etc. And the story is basic as bones in terms of overall narrative. There's a flood, it's cause is environmental, the family loses everything. What's not spare is the emotion given over to the story. And maybe even that is in actuality spare but considering I'm nearing the end of a pregnancy as we speak I couldn't help but feel the raw emotion while reading. The fear and the desperation as well as the love and determination in caring for and ensuring that the infant Z survives no matter what. That his life is affected as little as possible by something that has turned his family's lives upside down.

The End We Start From is short enough to read in one sitting but will stick with you long after.

A Circle of Wives by Alice LaPlante

When noted plastic surgeon John Taylor dies in a hotel room in Palo Alto, the initial suspicion is natural cause. But evidence soon proves this may not be the case. A spike in potassium and a puncture wound are certainly suspicious, as is the fact that Taylor was apparently a bigamist! With three wives to his name - and at least two of them unaware of the others - it's no wonder someone might have snapped and offed the man. 

The case is assigned to Detective Samantha Adams, a young officer used to busting drunken college kids and handling mostly minor crimes. Taylor's murder is her first big case and one she's determined to solve no matter what. 

What a hot mess! Not the book - that's excellent! No, the victim is a hot mess. As the story unravels, and more and more is learned about Taylor and his wives and I found myself kind of unsure who to sympathize with. In truth, by the time the case was solved it was even harder! It was interesting, though, how my perceptions of the characters, the case, and the story changed throughout as each of those elements developed.

Though Taylor is dead from the start, LaPlante paints him as something quite different than I'd expected. Chapters alternate between each of the wives and Samantha, and LaPlante offers up a great view of each of the various characters through all of their eyes. This adds a fabulous layer of complexity to the story (and the characters, obviously) that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Circle of Wives is a great puzzle of a read. I had my suspicions about who was behind the murder. In the end I was right, but LaPlante still surprised me in revealing the actual plotting. All in all it's an excellent mystery with psychological suspense leanings.

Rating: 4/5

Keep Your Friends Close by Paula Daly

Natty's best friend Eve couldn't have timed her visit more perfectly. Natty's youngest, fourteen-year-old Felicity, is on a school trip to France when her appendix bursts. Frantic, Natty immediately flies in to be by her side, taking comfort in the fact that Eve has offered to stay and help with Natty's oldest, Alice, leaving Natty's husband, Sean, time to take care of their business. 

But when Natty returns Sean and Eve drop a bombshell: they've fallen in love and Sean is leaving. Natty is understandably livid. Her best friend and her husband... it's the ultimate betrayal. Natty feels she's losing everything and acts out in a moment of attempted vengeance, landing her in potentially hot water with the authorities. And then she learns that Eve has done this before. With her former friend moving in to take her place, Natty has no choice but to uncover Eve's deepest and dirtiest secrets in an attempt to take back what is hers. 

Paula Daly's second release is in the vein of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle and Fatal Attraction - a female villain who sets out to take another woman's husband and life. Eve is a manipulative sociopath with a degree in psychology, so in some sense it's hard to lump Sean completely into the villain category with her. I'd say his history and his actions do earn him a sliver of sympathy, but Natty and the girls are the ones you really feel for here.

This is one of those reads it's impossible not to get emotionally invested in. I think there were more than a few points when my blood was literally boiling as I read! Eve is twisted and smart so it's easy to believe she's done this before, many times before. But in choosing Natty as her victim it seems Eve has made her first mistake. The two women have known each other since college so Natty is the only person who really knows anything about Eve. Eve's hubris ultimately may prove to be her weakness.

I loved Natty! Like I said, I became terribly emotionally invested in this book, at one point even crying alongside Natty (shhh, don't tell!). More than anything, though, I was anxious to see her vindicated and literally cheered when she started to take matters into her own hands.

Keep Your Friends Close is out now from Grove Press. If you're a fan of psychological suspense I definitely recommend it!

Rating: 4.5/5

Note: Daly debuted last year with Just What Kind of Mother Are You and I understand there are a few crossover characters between that first book and Keep Your Friends Close. The stories are only linked through setting and those few characters - as far as I understand - but Keep Your Friends Close was too fantastic for me to miss out on Daly's previous book. Amazingly - coincidentally - the eBook of Just What Kind of Mother Are You is on sale for $1.99 right now.

Wolf by Mo Hayder

Yes! It's time for another Mo Hayder post. I look forward to each and every new release by this author with twisted glee and anticipation!

DI Jack Caffery's brother has been missing for decades. In his time as a cop, he has never stopped looking for clues to his brother's fate. When the Walking Man finds a dog sporting the message "Help Us" he asks Jack to step in, promising in exchange to reveal something key in that long ago disappearance. But uncovering the identity of the person behind the message is just part of an increasingly odd and twisted crime. And as Jack investigates, time is surely running out for the family in danger. 

There's not much that matches my excitement in being able to spend an afternoon absorbed in a new book by one of my favorite authors. Mo Hayder's phenomenal plots (really, I'm not joking. They're phenomenal. I've said it before but pieces are in place multiple books ahead of time and it's only in coming across the meaning of those pieces that you then remember where you saw it first!), impeccable attention to detail (those pieces again), and truly creepy way of bringing it all together and all to life keep me coming back for more. And she honestly never disappoints.

It's hard to find something new to say in reviewing a long running series. Especially when I'm trying valiantly, I feel, to keep my fan girl gushing in check while also not giving too much away about the series or the particular installment. This is the seventh book to feature Caffery and while many of them can be read on their own, there are obviously ties to the previous books throughout the series. Jack's brother has been a long running element, one that plays a big role in the character's development. The Walking Man is another key player who has been in the series for a number of titles now - in fact the books featuring him are a sub series the author refers to as the Walking Man Series.

If you do happen to be new to Hayder - and if you haven't read her before I do highly, highly recommend her, but with a warning: the books are quite violent and quite disturbing. If you're sensitive to those things this is not the series for you. Anywho, if you're new to her here's the series list in order as reference:

Birdman
The Treatment
Ritual - Walking Man 1
Skin - Walking Man 2
Gone - Walking Man 3
Poppet - Walking Man 4
Wolf - Walking Man 5

Treat yourself and start from the beginning!

Poppet by Mo Hayder

It's that time again - yep, time for another gushing fan girl post on one of my top ten all time favorite writers! Seriously, though. I hate to rank favorites because it's kind of impossible but I'd definitely have to say Mo Hayder ranks right up there with Stephen King for me.

Something evil stalks the halls of Beechway psychiatric hospital - or so the patients and some of the staff believe. They call it the Maude and say that it's the spirit of a woman who once worked in the hospital years ago. When a patient dies unexpectedly, rumors of the Maude begin circulating once again. For AJ LeGrande, it begins as an inconvenience and a difficulty in keeping the wards staffed on overnight shifts. It soon becomes something worse, though, when AJ starts to suspect that there might be some truth in the rumors. But AJ doesn't believe the Maude is anything supernatural. In fact, he believes the Maude could actually be one of Beechway's recently released patients. AJ approaches Jack Caffery in hopes the detective might be able to begin a quiet inquiry. It would be bad for Beechway and its staff if it was discovered they'd released someone who is a danger to society. For Caffery, the case begins as a nuisance but quickly intrigues him. And it's an opportunity to take his mind off the other issues that have been plaguing him of late. 

This latest from Hayder is another installment in her long running Jack Caffery series It's just as dark and somewhat gruesome as the others, so do be prepared. It's also not one I'd recommend using as a starting point with the series, though I will say that it's entirely possible. Hayder is a master plotter in my humble opinion. She always seems to be two steps ahead, something the reader will only realize in continuing further into the series.

Poppet can essentially stand on its own but the book picks up in the aftermath of the previous installments so parts of the plot do rely on events that have taken place in past titles. And considering I'm such a huge fan of Hayder's work and this series in particular, I always suggest that anyone interested start at the beginning.

The series titles in order are:
Birdman
The Treatment
Ritual
Skin
Gone
Poppet

Poppet starts slow and quickly intensifies, building to an almost frantic pace. Hayder is a guaranteed keep you up all night read any time and Poppet is certainly no exception, so lock your doors and settle in. You're in for a fantastic and creepy ride!

Rating: 5/5

Pre Pub Book Buzz: Poppet by Mo Hayder

I'm bringing back Pre Pub Book Buzz -- or Books I'm Stoked About -- Saturdays! Why? Because there are always a ton of upcoming releases I can't wait to read and Saturdays are kind of a free day to do promote those.

There are some massively exciting books coming out soon and Mo Hayder's latest is one of them. I put Hayder right up there on my list with Stephen King. I'm not kidding. She's dark and creepy and intense and, like King, I can't get enough of her work. 

Poppet is the latest in the Jack Caffery series and is due out March 28 in the UK and (happy, happy, happy dance we don't have to wait that long) April 30 from Grove/Atlantic here in the States!

Here's the description from the publisher's page:

Mo Hayder has for years been a master of chilling, seamlessly plotted thrillers that keep the reader glued to the page long after lights out, and fresh off of winning the Edgar Award for Best Novel for Gone, Hayder is at the top of her game. Her latest novel, Poppet, is Hayder at her most terrifying: it’s a gripping novel about the search for a dangerous mental patient on the loose.

Everything goes according to procedure when a patient, Isaac, is released into the community from a high-security mental health ward. But when the staff realizes that he was connected to a series of unexplained episodes of selfharm among the ward’s patients, and furthermore that he was released in error, they call on Detective Jack Caffery to investigate, and to track Isaac down before he can kill again. Will the terrifying little effigies Isaac made explain the incidents around the ward, or provide the clue Caffery needs to predict what he’s got planned?.

Mo Hayder is renowned for conjuring nightmares that sink under the skin, and in Poppet she has delivered a taut, unbearably suspenseful novel that will not let readers go.

Hayder is not for everyone, but if you like your thrillers dark as dark can be then I definitely recommend checking her out. Here's the series list in order:

Birdman

Treatment

Ritual (this one begins the Walking Man Series, part of the Jack Caffery series)

Skin 

Gone

And she's got the following stand alones as well: The Devil of Nanking (aka Tokyo and my absolute favorite of her titles), Pig Island, and Hanging Hill. 

In my blogging history I have not done posts for all of the Hayder titles, though I have read them all. You can find reviews for all of the books (except Devil of Nanking - that one I have done here on the blog) in the Bookbitch.com alphabetical archives. 

Another Must Read From My Collection!

I know I've talked about her before, but I was searching on the internet and saw that even from over the pond, a blurb from my review of Hayder's Ritual made it to her site! Yay! Considering the fact that Hayder is one of my absolute favorites, this is pretty cool stuff!

This little book left was my introduction to Hayder - official since she had already been recommended to me. 

We got in this ARC along with a couple of others and I eyed this baby all through a meeting with our Loss Prevention dude at BN. It was actually like my first day, or week, or month at the new store and I think it was the first ARC I happened to see there. I can't for the life of me remember what else was sitting on that table, but this one intrigued me.

The Devil of Nanking is about a woman named Grey who travels to Japan to look for a piece of film from the 1937 Nanking Massacre. The film itself is only rumored to exist, but shows something so gruesome that for years people have told Grey she made it up. Grey has been institutionalized, for what we don't know until the very end of the book. She contacts a scholar she believes has this footage and he agrees to hand it over on one condition, Grey must find something for him first. Grey gets work in a men's club in Japan in an attempt to gain access to a local mob leader who has what the scholar wants. 

I promise you this is the ultimate in creepy, suspenseful, up-all-night reads! I have recommended it to numerous people, some of whom have come back and told me that this was the most disturbing book they'd ever read, and they loved it! It's gruesome and gory and everything that's missing from really great scary reads. As I've said before, though, none of it is gratuitous. 

Since then, I have become a severely impatient Hayder fan who just cannot wait for the American release. I ordered both Pig Island and Ritual from mystery bookstores who stock UK editions, so that I could get my Hayder fix. If you haven't read her yet, I envy you as I am now impatiently waiting for a book that will be at least a year in the making! 

Devil and Pig are both stand-alones. The remaining three titles all feature DI Jack Caffery, a damaged hero if ever there was one. First comes Birdman then Treatment (which I think was the most disturbing for me by far) and finally Ritual (can also be read as a stand-alone) which hits shelves in the states in September, but for the extra cost you can get it from High Crimes or The Poisoned Pen. 

Happy reading!