If It Bleeds (AUDIOBOOK) – Stephen King – 23.10.23

I listened to this collection of short stories because I love the Holly Gibney books, and one of these stories features her (it’s a sequel to The Outsider, and since I read it after Holly, I’ve got my chronology a bit off!).

I actually thought all the stories were very strong and affecting and thought provoking. One of them ‘The Life of Chuck’ describes the end of the world – the internet failing, power outages, weather catastrophes, wars etc and I found it very uncomfortable reading since many of those things are happening right now! (the resolution of the story was a twist that I hadn’t seen and an interesting thought experiment.)

There’s also a writer making a Faustian deal with a rat(!) An old man communicating from beyond the grave via mobile phone. Stephen King is such an amazing writer who moves with the times embracing the modern zeitgeist even though he’s a man in his late seventies!

Holly (AUDIOBOOK) – Stephen King – 17.10.23

I’m still on my Stephen King Holly Gibney odyssey, and this is one of my favourite so far.

SPOILER ALERT – don’t read this review if you haven’t read the other books in the series yet.

Holly is still reeling from the death of her partner Bill Hodges, and has to come to terms with the death of her mother, with whom she had a very complicated relationship (I know of several people, myself included who can identify with the mixed and chaotic feelings aroused by the death of a ‘difficult’ mother figure). Her feelings toward her mother are further wrenched by discovering that her mother had lied to her in a pretty big way.

The mystery in this novel is not supernatural, but it is horrific – a series of abductions and murders by some very twisted people.

The book was very much set during the height of Covid, and the pandemic is almost one of the main themes or even a character in itself. Some people say this will date the book, but it is a valid historical period and no less interesting a setting as a book set during a war or other huge happening.

This book has a female narrator, and I was glad to get a way from the weird Holly voice that the male narrator in the other books in the series does.

Forged: An Alex Verus Novel – Benedict Jacka – 16.10.23 Risen – An Alex Verus Novel – Benedict Jacka – 20.10.23

In the last two books of the Alex Verus series the excitement really ramps up. Alex started as a mild and meek kind of character who tried to do the right thing but kept getting caught up in things that pushed him into dangerous and morally questionable scenarios. I often felt like he was constantly tossed about in a storm not of his own making, but after advice from his lovely spider friend to pick a side, he, in these final books, finally decides to take charge.

His beloved Anne is possessed by a Djinn intent to destroy humans and everyone is tying to kill her to stop it. Alex has to try and save her – not an easy task. Meanwhile he is also being influenced by the artificial hand imbued item that is giving him amazing power but also threatening to take over his whole body which would probably kill him.

I have complained in my reviews of this series so far that I get bored by all the action and fighting, and there was action and fighting in these last two books, but somehow I think the climactic endgame nature of the battles made them necessary and therefore they annoyed me less (hardly at all!).

I did like the ending, how everything was wrapped up and I almost felt sorry that the series was over (I had previously thought that I would see it through, but would be kind of glad to see the end).

I read the author’s note at the end of the final book, and how happy he was to have the whole series published after he had such a hard time with rejections when he was starting out as a writer, which made me like the writer more 🙂

The Outsider (Audiobook) – Stephen King (Author), Will Patton (Narrator) – 15.10.23

I’m really enjoying reading/listening to the Stephen King Holly Gibney books. This one starts with a small town police officer investigating a horrible child murder where the DNA of a local well loved baseball little league coach is all over the crime scene, but he also has a rock solid alibi for the time of the murder.

I was somewhat impatient with the first part of the book because I was waiting for Holly to appear, as she was the reason I wanted to read it, but she did eventually, and since she had been through an experience with a supernatural evil entity, she was able to gently open the minds of the investigating team to the possibility that something spooky was going on.

I know there are lots of people who don’t like magical realism, or supernatural elements in stories, arguing that it’s not real therefore stupid. I actually really like that in the world of fiction we can bend the prosaic rules of what is real and introduce magic. I don’t believe any magical stuff in real life, but I do in stories. After all, fiction is all about ‘what ifs’. I don’t think that introducing supernatural elements to stories belittles the realism – I read books about serial killers knowing that almost certainly (and certainly hopefully!) I will never experience these situations in my real life, but it’s a way of vicariously working through fears and I can wholeheartedly enter into the spirit of things as a reader, and the same is true of supernatural stuff.

Will Patton is a great narrator on the whole, although I don’t love his portrayal of Holly Gibney’s voice as very stilted with unnatural pauses and emphasis. I think females on the autism spectrum are generally good at blending in (hence why autism is much more underdiagnosed in females) and that Holly would be able to talk more naturally, but that is only a small peeve and I do think he is very good other than that.

Notes from the Burning Age – Claire North – 11.10.23

Claire North is one of my favourite writers, but this book was dull. I really wanted to like it, but really didn’t and struggled to get through it.

Set in a distant future where society has rebuilt after an apocalyptic ‘burning age’ presumably caused by climate change the book follows a priest who is an expert in interpreting ancient texts (which is things from our times like WhatsApp threads and other internet type things) who becomes a spy.

There were different factions: ones who wanted to hide events from the past, ones who wanted to learn from the past so they could be better, and ones who wanted to learn techniques from the past for mining and warfare etc to exploit for money and power. These are interesting things, I guess, but I wasn’t engaged by the way they were presented.

There was a lot of the spy running away then getting caught and tortured then running away again then getting caught again etc. I was quite bored by it and didn’t care for any of the characters.

End of Watch – Stephen King (AUDIOBOOK) – 10.10.23

This third and final book in the Bill Hodges (Mr Mercedes) trilogy is the first to delve fully into the supernatural/horror genre.

Holly ended Brady Hartsfield’s killing spree in Mr Mercedes by bashing him over the head with a cosh and causing serious brain damage. Bill always suspected that Brady was hiding how much awareness he still had, which was true, and this, combined with some experimental treatments Brady’s doctor was testing on him gave him some powers of telekinesis and mind control which he employed to wicked ends.

Can Bill and Holly stop this new murder spree even though Bill is suffering from advanced cancer?

This book gets mixed reviews on Amazon, but I enjoyed it very much.

The Running Grave: Cormoran Strike, Book 7 (AUDIOBOOK)- Robert Galbraith (AUTHOR), Robert Glenister, (NARRATOR) – 05.10.23

Loved it!

After being a but meh with the last book in the Strike series (mostly because the pace of the audiobook was excruciatingly slow with all the URL addresses being read out all the time) this one (in my mind at least) was a total return to form and I was completely gripped.

Robin goes undercover in a cult which uses all kinds of unpleasant coercion and mind control tactics and her situation becomes more and more perilous and frightening, while Strike’s new healthy eating kick is pushed to its limits by the stress he feels over Robin being in danger as well as other things in his life.

I love both these characters and I even love their will-they-won’t-they relationship which is masterfully teased out. The mystery elements were also well done and I very much enjoyed listening to this book!

In the Blink of an Eye – Jo Callaghan – 04.10.23

In The Blink of An Eye | Book by Jo Callaghan | Official Publisher Page | Simon & Schuster UK

This was fun!

A police detective returning to work after compassionate leave following the death of her husband is not pleased to be assigned the role of heading up a pilot using an AI program to investigate missing persons cold cases.

The AI presents as a hologram (different avatars are available, but he usually goes as a tall attractive black man) that interacts in real time with the people around it. He reminded me of Mr Spock in Star Trek (or perhaps Data, also from Star Trek) in that he is unerringly logical and not very tactful (at least at the start) and at odds with the police woman’s gut feelings approach.

The programmer who designed him has no love for the police since her gentle and studious brother was jailed for a crime he didn’t commit after being racially profiled and possible had evidence planted on him by police.

I found the book very readable – I liked the race against time element as we saw that some of the missing people were being held captive and I liked the characters all having complex and interesting backstories and going on journeys of personal development. I could see it as a good TV series.

The Inheritance Games: The Inheritance Games, Book 1 – Jennifer Lynn Barnes –01.10.23

Uuugh! I should definitely have a rule that I don’t buy anything that says ‘Tik-Tok made me buy it’ in it’s Amazon heading. I guess I’m not the target audience, (YA) and clearly I’m in the minority in my opinion because the book has thousands of glowing reviews, but I thought it was drivel.

Simpering teen is told she’s inherited billions from a man she’s never met as long as she lives in his house with his four grandsons who she instantly falls in love with (and they her) and solves some very easy and overexplained puzzles.

Oh for goodness sake, spare me.

I will not be buying any more books from this series.

Finders Keepers (AUDIOBOOK) – Stephen King – 26.09.23

This is the second book in the Mr Mercedes trilogy. Retired detective, Bill Hodges, has set up a detective agency with the lovely autistic Holly Gibney and the main plot of this book revolves around Pete, the son of a man who was badly injured in the incident that opened the first book in the series. Pete finds a trunk full of old handwritten notebooks written by a famous writer murdered twenty five years previously, as well as thousands of dollars in cash. Through flashbacks, we learn about the young man who murdered the writer and hid the trunk but was jailed for an unconnected crime before being able to retrieve it. Pete and his family are thrown into horrible danger when the criminal gets out of prison and comes looking for his stash.

Again, I very much enjoyed this book, Stephen King is a great storyteller and the detective crime solving style is one I like. The book ended with a supernatural sting in the tale which made me excited to read the third book!