The Three by Sarah Lotz

I saw this book in all francophone bookstores, describe like an incredible phenomenon... but I had never heard of this book on the English side. So I bought the electronic version in English to see if that book is actually phenomenal.

I liked how Sarah Lotz describes how people would react to such an event. All the ultra religious, the alien people, the conspiracy people and the nut jobs are doing a great job trying to convince people of their truth. 

If a situation such as described in this book really arrived, I do not doubt that we would see that kind of madness (we just have to remember the madness about 2000 and the end of the world...) 

Sarah Lotz creates a very realistic story from this point of view and describes wonderfully the political stakes and wars of power generated by the 4 plane crashes. 

The narrative has a hashed side, because it consists of extracts from newspapers, interviews and reflections one after the other. This forces us to deduce some things, which I appreciated. On the other hand, and I understand that it is hard not to let anything pass, but it lacks some explanations to the story. 

I did not like the end as THE ultimate answer - which is to know what the three are - is, in my opinion, sloppy. After pages to hear the opinions of the different protagonists, one finds oneself with the so-called truth balanced at the last moment, without explanation and this truth seems a little too easy and too deja-vu. 

The characters are well written and I felt close to them, but I did not fully understand the interest of the story of the Ice Princess, who was an interesting character until the end. 

In a nutshell, a novel that reads well with a lot of promising ideas but disappointing at the end.

What's the story ?

Around the world, at almost the same time, four passenger airplanes plummet to the earth. There are no survivors, apart from three children (on three separate planes) and a woman who soon dies but not before leaving a recorded message that warns listeners to “watch the dead people.” The young survivors, soon dubbed The Three by the press, become worldwide sensations, even as some begin to suspect something is not quite right about them. Theories about The Three start to spread: they’re harbingers of doom, says one theory, the embodiments of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; no, says another, they were chosen for survival by our reptilian alien overlords. As it turns out, no one has any real notion of just how important and dangerous these children really are.

No one knows by J.T. Ellison

Hardcover, 368 pages
Published March 22nd 2016 by Gallery Books

First, I'd like to thank Netgalley and Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books for the ebook!

The story seemed promising, the character were quite well written, I really felt for Aubrey and though I was in for a ride. 

Well, it was more of a back and forward, what with all the flashbacks! But flasbacks can be good, cause they bring some better understanding of a situation, or a context. So I was happy to read them, as they let me appreciate Aubrey. 

Some stuff seemed quite strange though: the fact that nobody saw Josh at the wedding was a bit of a stretch for me. The wedding was quite far away, they arrived together, people saw her but not him and if he wasn't there, nobody asked her where he was... sure.

And then, just as I was enjoying the story, I felt cheated! I do love a good twist but not easy ones. And some explanation and twists were too much deja-vu for my taste. And the more I read the more I was "gosh, the author didn't use that trick too!" but he did. 

What's the story

In an obsessive mystery as thrilling as The Girl on the Train and The Husband’s Secret, New York Times bestselling author J.T. Ellison will make you question every twist in her page-turning novel—and wonder which of her vividly drawn characters you should trust.

The day Aubrey Hamilton’s husband is declared dead by the state of Tennessee should bring closure so she can move on with her life. But Aubrey doesn’t want to move on; she wants Josh back. It’s been five years since he disappeared, since their blissfully happy marriage—they were happy, weren’t they?—screeched to a halt and Aubrey became the prime suspect in his disappearance. Five years of emptiness, solitude, loneliness, questions. Why didn’t Josh show up at his friend’s bachelor party? Was he murdered? Did he run away? And now, all this time later, who is the mysterious yet strangely familiar figure suddenly haunting her new life?

In No One Knows, the New York Times bestselling coauthor of the Nicholas Drummond series expertly peels back the layers of a complex woman who is hiding dark secrets beneath her unassuming exterior. This masterful thriller for fans of Gillian Flynn, Liane Moriarty, and Paula Hawkins will pull readers into a you’ll-never-guess merry-go-round of danger and deception. Round and round and round it goes, where it stops…no one knows.

The Sculptress by Minette Walters

Series: Sculptress (Book 1)
Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; First Edition edition (October 15, 1994)

Well, I'll admit that the summary and the French title (as I've read this book in French which title is roughly translated : Bloody Kitchen) were so catchy that I wanted to read this book.

Who has never judged a person by one body? And when you have a not so pretty figure, like Olive, it's not easy to attract sympathy. And Olive, although she is scary, she is fine enough to know that she doesn't leave a good impression! 

Is that why she pleaded guilty? Knowing people already judged her. Is that why she doesn't speak? Knowing that this is useless?

In any case, she agrees to speak to Rosalind Leigh who initially is not wanting at all to write about her. But Rosalind, despite her first unfavorable impression, soon began to have doubts about Olive's guilt and decided to conduct her investigation. 

And we discover, in the course of Olive's confidences, a family history of the most nauseous, buried secrets, dirty trick among friends. Olive's life is not all rainbows!

What's the story?

In prison, they call her the Sculptress for the strange figurines she carves-- symbols of the day she hacked her mother and sister to pieces and reassembled them in a blood-drenched jigsaw. Sullen, menacing, grotesquely fat, Olive Martin is burned-out journalist Rosalind Leigh's only hope of getting a new book published.

But as she interviews Olive in her cell, Roz finds flaws in the Sculptress's confession. Is she really guilty as she insists? Drawn into Olive's world of obsessive lies and love, nothing can stop Roz's pursuit of the chilling, convoluted truth. Not the tidy suburbanites who would rather forget the murders, not an attack on her life-- not even the thought of what might happen if the Sculptress went free...

In a nutshell

A novel that reads quickly, a guilty too monstrously ideal, a twisted family history, a real pleasure! It's a 4/5 for me.

The Circle by Bernard Minier

Paperback: 496 pages
Éditeur: Minotaur Books (18 octobre 2016)

What's great when reading a second novel by an author is that you meet back with some characters and you get to know them, they are part of your circle of acquaintances (yes, yes, I made that joke!)

This is the second novel by Bernard Minier I read and I find it even better, though, I must say, I sometimes have a little trouble with the central character, Servaz, as I do not find him very realistic (or, if it is, I never had the opportunity to meet a person who quotes that often Latin or authors, even with my literature teachers!) 

Aside from that, helped by his team (very nice by the way), Servaz returns to the city where he was educated - and where his daughter is studying - for an investigation high in twists and discoveries about his past. One can only hope for a happy ending for Servaz, following the return of his childhood love. You'll come across a circle of student with very darkly dubious intentions and see hovering with a pleasant horror Julian's shade, the great villain from Frozen, Minier's first book. Minier also serves us a scathing critique of the political and academic circles without it turning around (the return of the joke, still not tired of it!). We move from one clue to action without a brake and it never gets boring!

What's the story?

June 2010. In the middle of a World Cup match, Martin Servaz receives a call from a long-lost lover. A few miles away, in the town of Marsac, classics professor Claire Diemar has been brutally murdered.

As if that weren t disturbing enough, Servaz receives a cryptic e-mail indicating that Julian Hirtmann, the most twisted of all serial killers, is back . . . and hitting a little too close to home. With death and chaos surrounding the small university town in southern France, where he was once a student and where his daughter is now enrolled, Servaz must act quickly.

With the help of detectives Ziegler and Esperandieu, Servaz will have to uncover a world of betrayal and depravity to connect the dots between the gruesome murders that keep reopening wounds from his past. Bernard Minier plunges readers once again into a perfectly constructed, dark, and oppressive atmosphere, driven forward by a gripping plot, pushing the limits of the genre."

In a nutshell
A fast reading novel with lots of twists.  A second book even better than the first one. 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.

Jonatha Strange & Mr Norrel by Susanna Clarke

Mass Market Paperback: 1024 pages
Éditeur: Tor Books; Reprint édition (1 août 2006)


The back cover promised that this book was THE fantasy book to read. A classic. And as the story seemed really cool... I read it.

My first impression was very positive. Clarke has been very successful in creating her universe, her world, her habits, her country and people. You can imagines them, you feel like you know that world, that it's familiar very quickly. 

I liked the notes which told other stories in the story. We learned the legends of this world, their History. This helps to better understand the actions and reactions of the characters and in addition, these stories were often cool. 

Some enthusiastic readers compared Clarke to Dickens and I can see why with some aspects. Her writing has indeed a likeness, it's as delightfully old-fashioned and relations are similarly described. This is what makes the strength of this book. 

Clarke tells well and details are never boring. 

Still, some things are annoying: 

- Strange and Norrell are described as highly intelligent, but at no point do they realize what is happening. They are misled by a fairy, while faires are described as fools... 

- Strange can do things he does not do during the war, we do not know why. Clarke says it's on purpose, OK, but it makes the book a little less credible in my view. 

- The book is very very loooong... There are many descriptions. Sure, it's nice to discover this new world but the atmosphere was there quickly, thanks to Clarke great writing so she did not need to say that much.

- I had to leave the book aside (which I did without pausing) and I had a hard time coming back to it. I was eager to finish and I ignored the latest descriptions because I was too bored. 

- I could not appreciate Norrell. In fact, I did not at all... which is a shame, as it is one of the main characters! And honestly, reading over 1000 pages about a character that you can't stand says a lot about my devotion to like this book! It was not easy and it took Clarke's storytelling talent to get there!

What the story?

At the dawn of the nineteenth century, two very different magicians emerge to change England's history. In the year 1806, with the Napoleonic Wars raging on land and sea, most people believe magic to be long dead in England-until the reclusive Mr Norrell reveals his powers, and becomes a celebrity overnight.

Soon, another practicing magician comes forth: the young, handsome, and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's student, and they join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic, straining his partnership with Norrell, and putting at risk everything else he holds dear.

In a nutshell

A book that takes you by the hand and walk you in a fantasy world very realistic. A bit too long for my taste and a character as unsympathetic as possible. It is a 3/5 for me.

An evil mind by Chris Carter

Series: A Robert Hunter Thriller
Mass Market Paperback: 496 pages
Publisher: Pocket Books; Reissue edition (September 27, 2016)

Suffice to say that the author has plenty experience in the field of criminal beheviour... to understand that this book (and the series it seems, although I haven't read all the books) has a touch of truth that makes it very realistic!

Carter has written a book that'll grip you and never let you down from the beginning till the end. And I shall add... till the end of each chapter as he instills that kind of mini-cliffanghers that make it so hard to close your book to go to work (cause, of course, you won't close it for something as trivial as sleep!)

I never read anything by Carter, so I didn't know Hunter, his character. But a thing is certain, he can wrote some very interesting and believable characters! I really liked Hunter and I feel like reading his other books to better know him. The FBI team was great too and Folter, the evil minds, is so manipulative and sick, it's a pleasure. 

For the more septic of you, just read the first chapter... you'll see how good Carter is and what kind of read you'll envoy! And for those of you who like shows like Criminal minds ou film like Silence of the Lambs, just go for it! But beware, that book is not for the faint hearted... some description are gruesomes.

What's the story?

A freak accident in rural Wyoming leads the sheriff’s department to arrest a man for a possible double homicide, but further investigations suggest a much more horrifying discovery—a serial killer who has been kidnapping, torturing, and mutilating victims all over the United States for at least twenty-five years.

The suspect claims he is a pawn in a huge labyrinth of lies and deception—but can he be believed?

The case is immediately handed over to the FBI, but this time they’re forced to ask for outside help. Ex-criminal behavior psychologist and lead detective with the Ultra Violent Crime Unit of the LAPD Robert Hunter is asked to run a series of interviews with the apprehended man.

These interviews begin to reveal terrifying secrets that no one could have foreseen, including the real identity of a killer so elusive that no one, not even the FBI, had any idea he existed—until now...

In a nutshell

A great book, a sick criminal, some twists you'll never see. It's 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.

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.