After the Crash by Michel Bussi

Hachette Books; 1 edition (January 5, 2016)
384 pages

I have heard repeatedly about Michel Bussi, the author who skyrockets in France, mainly through word of mouth. Michel Bussi is a fairly prolific author who already has his fair share of books.

I chose After the Crash, because the story was quite different from what is usually done: we do not seek the murderer but the identity of a baby! 

The book alternates between different views, different countries, different periods, which can stun a little when it is wrongly done but that's not the case here. Here, it gives more of a sense of urgency to find the answer to the question: but who is this child?

It's a theme that has always intrigued people I think: imagine a child who was raised in the wrong family. Here, one family is rich, but crazy, the other is poor, but loving. How does one know which one is the right one? Credule Grand Duke (just that name made me want to read this book!) a private detective in search of that answer, pays the truth with his life. 

Mark, the brother of the girl and who love that same girl, will do everything to find the identity of the sister he loves as a man. One can only hope for him that she's the child of the other family, the mad-crazy rich family, even if everything points to his own. 

And then the end comes to destroy all the tracks that you thought you had found. The end, as fast and brutal as the death of Credule Grand-Duc at the beginning, will throw you to the ground as fast as an unexpected newspaper article. We feel a certain sense of race against time (even if we only know why that race is so important towards the end) that ended up at a steady pace and a great twist. 

But what's the story? 

On the night of 22 December 1980, a plane crashes on the Franco-Swiss border and is engulfed in flames. 168 out of 169 passengers are killed instantly. The miraculous sole survivor is a three-month-old baby girl. Two families, one rich, the other poor, step forward to claim her, sparking an investigation that will last for almost two decades. Is she Lyse-Rose or Emilie?

Eighteen years later, having failed to discover the truth, private detective Crédule Grand-Duc plans to take his own life, but not before placing an account of his investigation in the girl's hands. But, as he sits at his desk about to pull the trigger, he uncovers a secret that changes everything - then is killed before he can breathe a word of it to anyone . . .

In a nutshell

Am I glad to having discover yet another great French author! After the Crash reads in one enjoying sitting with a sense of urgency about the search of an identity that makes all the difference.

Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.

The Red Mohawk by Anonymous

Published May 12th 2015 by Black Shadow Press (first published May 8th 2015)



Just for the cover, it's worth buying it! There's some kind of irreverence that led me to believe that the tone of the book was already given.

So what's about that book? Well, it's a blast! It's mind-blowing! No real respite in this novel with hints of 80s, American road trip and a kind of San Antonio ambiance. I confess that I usually find those kind of stories so-so (what with whores, pimps and all that) but the tone, very dark, cynical and funny, the characters and the story managed to make me forget my habitual lack of interest for this kind of story.

In fact, this book gave me the impression of having been written in one go by an author completely stoned or drunk (I can't decide between the two) all the while shouting "Oh, frack, that's good!!!"

This book is so enjoyable, you're not reading it, you're watching a Tarantino, which is quite something! Full of clichés and references, this book will appeal to fans of the 80s, of B-movies and many other things that you will discover by reading it. In my case, I really enjoyed the ride and had quite a good laugh, which is quite nice and changing from the usual crime fiction.

The Blurb

The new book from the anonymous author of the international bestselling Bourbon Kid series.

Everything seems peaceful in the small town of B Movie Hell until a mysterious serial killer in a skull mask topped with a red mohawk shows up and starts butchering the locals. Government agents Jack Munson and Milena Fonseca are sent to track down and eliminate the masked psychopath. But as they soon discover, the residents of B Movie Hell don’t want their help. This is a town like no other, and the locals have many dark secrets….

Already a hit in France and Germany with film rights optioned by Tobey Maguire's Material Pictures, The Red Mohawk is a fun, outrageous and bloody thriller full of cinematic references and homages to many cult movies.

In a Nutshell

A book that does not take itself seriously, with a very brisk pace, characters all more cliché than the other, but what a fun book to read! It is a 5/5 for me.

Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

June 4th 2013 by Mulholland Books




Second novel I read by that author and I find The Shining Girls better than  Broken Monsters which end was a little disappointing  for me because it was a bit too easy.

Again, I find back with pleasure the writing style of Lauren Beukes, fluid and nervous at the same time.

This time, the author takes us from one year to another, from one character to another, from one victim to another, in a constant coming and going neither obvious nor easy to follow, it's a hurly-burly!

It's a story that asks us to take the time to read it not to lose ourselves in it. It is also a novel in which time, or should I say times, are passing at breakneck speed. No time to be bored or to linger, we are lead by the nose.

Here, a serial killer striking in several decades without aging, because time does not pass for him, he travels in it. Here, a young girl, a survivor of the killer, who seeks to understand why, who try to find her murderer, who seeks the truth but the truth is not easy to accept.

Cleverly written characters, victims who do not just die, you get to know them even slightly. We discover brilliant women, dedicated, full of boldness and courage, whose life is shattered because of these qualities.

An end a little fuzzy, leaving an unfinished feeling. Maybe, ending isn't Lauren Beukes strength? But, over all, a gripping story, thrilling, to which one must cling, certainly, but worth it!

The blurb

In Depression-era Chicago, Harper Curtis finds a key to a house that opens on to other times. But it comes at a cost. He has to kill the shining girls: bright young women, burning with potential. He stalks them through their lives across different eras until, in 1989, one of his victims, Kirby Mazrachi, survives and starts hunting him back. Working with an ex-homicide reporter who is falling for her, Kirby has to unravel an impossible mystery.

In a nutshell

In short, a novel that is best read in one sitting not to lose the thread. A time vortex for a murderer traveler, this is a 4/5 for me.

 

Little Black Lies by Sharon Bolton

St. Martin's Press - Minotaur Books
Pub Date May 19, 2015

The first thing that emerges from this book is the atmosphere of a private island, where everyone knows each other, where no one is truly free. This oppressive atmosphere that makes people to always stay within the bounds of what is acceptable in the community, where everyone knows the lives of others, their story, their past, their mistakes...

So naturally when something horrible happens, the community tends first to deny the evidence because otherwise their lives would break into pieces. Then, at some point, it's no longer possible to deny the facts and there, Sharon Bolton reproduced perfectly the suspicion, the looks, the whispers, the gossip that follow the disappearance of children. She writes with love and a lot of insight on these small communities. It's very well done.


The characters are very well written and quickly become members of our own community, we feel included, we know them. The author, in the same way she describes the community is very good to make us feel the emotions of her characters. We understand Catrin's distress and sometimes hatred, Rachel's  guilt, Callum's love. After the disappearance of her children Catrin locked herself in her despair, while her husband, got a new life. And the way those two survived the loss of their children is very realistic, very fair and humane.

As for the story, no complaints. Suspicion falls on different characters, we believe in it every time, reasons abound. The creeping insanity in the population and among the tourists on the island are very realistic (unfortunately I would say). Some scenes reminiscent of those that we have all seen on the news and bring weight to the plot, well played Sharon! The end is really unexpected, I never discovered the identity of the culprit.

The blurb

In such a small community as the Falkland Islands, a missing child is unheard of. In such a dangerous landscape it can only be a terrible tragedy, surely...

When another child goes missing, and then a third, it's no longer possible to believe that their deaths were accidental, and the villagers must admit that there is a murderer among them. Even Catrin Quinn, a damaged woman living a reclusive life after the accidental deaths of her own two sons a few years ago, gets involved in the searches and the speculation.

And suddenly, in this wild and beautiful place that generations have called home, no one feels safe and the hysteria begins to rise.

But three islanders--Catrin, her childhood best friend, Rachel, and her ex-lover Callum--are hiding terrible secrets. And they have two things in common: all three of them are grieving, and none of them trust anyone, not even themselves.

In Little Black Lies, her most shocking and engaging suspense novel to date, Sharon Bolton will keep the reader guessing until the very last page.

In a nutshell

A great novel, as oppressive as small communities, well-written characters, it's a 4/5 for me.

Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.

Lost Girls by Angela Marsons

Bookouture (Nov. 6 2015)
442 pages

Everything seemed promising, from the story really that intrigued and horrified me, I must said - what would I do in such a situation? - to the cover, worrying at will.

I did not know this English author who seems to know a growing success (her books are very popular on GoodReads) and I wasn't against the idea of ​​reading a story with a female cop... written by a woman (yep... the last female characters I've read were written by men!)

So what dit I think of it?


I found that some stuff annoyed me:

- Sometimes I didn't understand what the author meant, either because Kim was telling something that she alone had to understand or that only she and her team had to understand... but not us. I don't know but I got the impression that I was put aside. I read the text several times to try to understand, could not do it, I tried to translate the text... it didn't make sense either... which hinders the flow of reading.

- The somewhat gratuitous violence bothers me. I'm not against it (in books !!) but I don't care for unnecessary violence. In Lost Girls, a man is particularly cruel and one can understand it in a few lines. He is evil incarnate and Marsons was great at making that clear. But it was not enough for Marsons who adds to the cruelty up to include a completely useless and violent scene with a young gay. It's only so-so in my opinion.

- Kim... Yes, I know, it's a shame as she's the main character! But I admit that her rudeness towards others tired me. She obviously has a very heavy past and something horrible happened in her childhood (which may have been explained in the previous two books) but that does not excuse the fact of treating people like shit.

Otherwise the story is good, the plot well done, the outcome well brought. The tension between the families is very realistic, the secrets revealed are very clichés but the reactions to these truths are very well written. Marsons know how to describe the relationships between people and the reactions of people facing various situations.

The author also knows how to play with our nerves and the more we advance in the plot, the more there is concern for the little girls, I feared for their lives and at a time, I wished that Kim and Bryant would accelerate. The end is great, Kim is no superhero but eventually becomes more human.

The blurb

Two girls go missing. Only one will return.

The couple that offers the highest amount will see their daughter again. The losing couple will not. Make no mistake. One child will die.

When nine-year-old best friends Charlie and Amy disappear, two families are plunged into a living nightmare. A text message confirms the unthinkable; that the girls are the victims of a terrifying kidnapping.

And when a second text message pits the two families against each other for the life of their children, the clock starts ticking for D.I. Kim Stone and the squad.

Seemingly outwitted at every turn, as they uncover a trail of bodies, Stone realises that these ruthless killers might be the most deadly she has ever faced. And that their chances of bringing the girls home alive, are getting smaller by the hour…

Untangling a dark web of secrets from the families’ past might hold the key to solving this case. But can Kim stay alive long enough to do so? Or will someone’s child pay the ultimate price?

In a nutshell
The story is good but sometimes too violent, the main character is not always friendly, it's a 3/5 for me.

Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.

Written in the Blood by Stephen Lloyd Jones

Mulholland Books (May 26 2015)

488 pages

Just to make a change from all these bloody and violent thrillers... I let myself be tempted by Written in the Blood, a fantasy story in a "vampire", hemoglobin and horror fashion (well, that's a real change !)

Good to know, this book is the sequel of another book - The String Diaries (not read yet). So yes, there are references to what happened before, but the explanations are enough to understand the context and allow us to read the story without feeling too much lost.


So, I'm not used to this kind of story but I found it to be a pleasant reading. The characters are well written, they are very well thought and one takes a liking for Leah who tries to save her world and her mother who's trying to protect her as well. Small note for moms who'll read this book: moms have the spotlight in this novel between Hannah, the mother, who cares for her daughter who takes risks to help her people and mothers who sacrifice themselves for their children.

The world imagined by Stephen Lloyd is very well done and change from usual vampires stories. In fact, there is relatively little interaction with the "human" and Lloyd never mentions a constant need to drink blood to stay alive. We're not talking about immortal beings, since they can die but beings with longevity and exceptional life, not really vampires in the traditional sense. Lloyd created a hierarchy among the "eternal", a past, a "police", the eternal hunter, a disappearance of their kind... One has the impression of being on the other side of the mirror, the side that allows us to understand the way eternals live.

Written in the Blood isn't just a story of a chase but also a story of struggle against the inexorable, struggle for power, love-hate, revenge, consequence of past histories. All that told with some talent. So, admittedly, the terms were not always easy to understand and the fact that I had not read the first book hadn't help neither but if you start this book by seeking something different, you won't be disappointed! Written in the Blood makes Twilight look like a story from the Care Bears world! Here, no schoolgirl love story but a girl who wants to save her clan from extinction, no schoolyard quarrels but politicized groups fighting against each other and mortal enemies.

The blurb

See the girl. Leah Wilde is twenty-four, a runaway on a black motorbike, hunting for answers while changing her identity with each new Central European town.

See the man, having come of age in extraordinary suffering and tragedy in nineteenth-century Budapest; witness to horror, to love, to death, and the wrath of a true monster. Izsák still lives in the present day, impossibly middle-aged. He’s driven not only to hunt this immortal evil but to find his daughter, stolen from an Arctic cabin and grown into the thing Izsák has sworn to kill.

See the monster, a beautiful, seemingly young woman who stalks the American West, seeking the young and the strong to feed upon, desperate to return to Europe where her coven calls.

In a nutshell

A really different vampire novel, a well-conducted plot, it's a 4/5 for me.

Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.

Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay

Publisher: Doubleday Canada (July 28 2015)

Sold by: Random House Canada, Incorp.

Linwood! A great author of our country (but where's your country, would you ask, you who love to read!) (Well in Canada of course!) And yeah, one can be a "New York Times Bestselling Author" and Canadian...

I had already read Never Saw it Coming, which I had found very good. And Linwood has an unblemished reputation in crime fiction, so the risk was not great to read his latest novel Broken Promise.

What I like about Linwood is that he knows quickly and perfectly how to plant an atmosphere, characters and a context. Here, the story is about David, a widower, who returns to his hometown after a series of bad luck and who will end up in the heart of a investigation that touches his own family.

I liked David and his family, good people. His parents are a lovely couple and they take good care of their grand-son. I liked Marla, his cousin, who suffered the unthinkable and remained marked.

I liked the family secrets, revealed bit by bit. We can see how secrets poison a family and that their consequences are often devastating. In Never Saw it Coming, Linwood already made us think and led us to ask the question of what we should have done instead of Keisha. Here he leads us to think about the weight of secrets... or family lies. Is parents' love always benevolent? Does they always do the best for their children? There's a lot of stuff to think about in this novel!

As for the plot, or rather the intrigues, they take place in a logical and progressive way, with some dramatic turns and one begins to devour the pages with ease, for it's Linwood's power: his writing is really flowing with well placed touches of humour.

The blurb

After his wife’s death and the collapse of his newspaper, David Harwood has no choice but to uproot his nine-year-old son and move back into his childhood home in Promise Falls, New York. David believes his life is in free fall, and he can’t find a way to stop his descent.

Then he comes across a family secret of epic proportions. A year after a devastating miscarriage, David’s cousin Marla has continued to struggle. But when David’s mother asks him to check on her, he’s horrified to discover that she’s been secretly raising a child who is not her own—a baby she claims was a gift from an “angel” left on her porch.

When the baby’s real mother is found murdered, David can’t help wanting to piece together what happened—even if it means proving his own cousin’s guilt. But as he uncovers each piece of evidence, David realizes that Marla’s mysterious child is just the tip of the iceberg.

Other strange things are happening. Animals are found ritually slaughtered. An ominous abandoned Ferris wheel seems to stand as a warning that something dark has infected Promise Falls. And someone has decided that the entire town must pay for the sins of its past…in blood.

In a nutshell

One is never wrong with a book by Linwood. The characters are very well written and engaging, the story is well put together, well brought outcome. It is a 4/5 for me.

Disclaimer: An e-galley of this title was provided to me by the publisher. No review was promised and the above is an unbiased review of the novel.