Top Five Wednesday: Books to Be Read Before the Year Ends

It's almost laughable to try to come up with only five books I want to read before the end of the year - I have more than that sitting in a pile next to me as I type, after all. That being said, there are a handful of books that I'm determined to move off my TBR sooner rather than later, primarily because they are (or will soon be) sitting on my actual book shelf.



This is one that's taunting me from my shelves as we speak (and has been for a couple of months now). Hannah is the queen of British suspense and this book sounds like a doozy. A mother finds that her daughter has written a disturbing story for a school assignment that tells of murders in their home. Once she starts poking around she discovers that her daughter's best school friend seems to be unknown by all of her teachers. Then the anonymous phone calls start. This sounds so deliciously creepy!





This is another book sitting on my shelf...waiting to be read. The story revolves around the two survivors of a private plane crash - a young boy who is heir to an extensive family fortune and a down on his luck painter. Moving between the aftermath of the crash and the backstories of the passengers, certain coincidences begin to appear that point to the crash not being an accident. I love a good mystery and this sounds like it will be exactly that. Plus...look at this gorgeous cover!




I know - another Sophie Hannah book - but it's also a Hercule Poirot mystery and there's no way I'm not reading this the minute I hold this book in my hot little hands. A wealthy woman hosts a party with the sole intention of letting everyone in attendance know she is cutting off her heirs and instead giving all of her money to an invalid who is expected to die within the month. When a murder is commited, Poirot finds that the victim chosen makes no sense at all. This sounds like vintage Poirot - a "locked room," a house full of suspects, and what will no doubt be a twisty plot that I'll devour, looking for clues, hoping to solve the mystery before the world's best detective.



This book is a chunker at 740+ pages so fitting this one in might require some dedication and a few quiet nights on the deck before the weather turns. A plague that causes spontaneous human combustion is sweeping the land and only an enigmatic man known as The Fireman can stop it. Normally this kind of "post-apocalyptic" sci-fi/fantasy tale isn't something I'm chomping at the bit to get to but I read the first chapter standing in Target and was tempted to go grab some Starbucks, sit down right there on the floor, and keep reading. I'm hoping this will be a nice meaty book I can savor a few chapters at a time through the fall.



My final choice shouldn't come as a surprise. I'm in love with Flavia de Luce and her clever mysteries. In this new installment, Flavia is returning home for Christmas and, upon finding her father ill, decides to make a visit to the village. There she finds a door ajar, a body hanging upside down from the rafters, and a cat who seems undisturbed by the whole scene. Flavia - of course - investigates. The fact that Flavia is a child and a science-obsessed genius makes this whole series both intellectually satisfying and a whole lot of fun. I'm counting down the days for this one.


What books are you determined to finish before the year ends? Tell us below!

*The Top Five Wednesday book tag was created by Lainey from GingerReadsLainey on YouTube and is now managed by Sam from ThoughtsOnTomes, also on YouTube. You can find the topics in their Goodreads group, Top 5 Wednesdays, here.*

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

The Couple Next Door
by Shari Lapena
Hardcover, 320 pages
23 August 2016, Pamela Dorman Books
4.5 stars

"Everyone is faking it, all of them pretending to be something they're not. The whole world is built on lies and deceit."

When their babysitter cancels, Anne and Marco decide to go ahead next door to a dinner party with the neighbors anyway. After all, they share a wall, they'll have the baby monitor with them, and they'll take turns checking every half hour. When they return their baby Cora is gone without a trace.

From that point the book takes off like a freight train and never applies the breaks. This was a book I read over the course of one two-hour sitting and I couldn't have put it down if I wanted to (and I did...I finished around 1:30am!). Around the half-way point you start to get a handle on what's going on but the pace doesn't slow down at all. This is a novel that maintains the suspense all the way to the last line.

The book is a touch melodramatic but I didn't find that to detract from the story in the least.(I watch a lot of Law & Order: SVU so maybe that's why?) The narration happens in an emotionally distant present tense making for some unsettling storytelling. Everyone around Cora seemed to have both a motive for the crime while simultaneously seeming innocent. Even though you know what everyone is thinking you can't tell who is telling the truth at any point. It all combines to create a pulse-pounding read.

Though it had some flaws this was a great debut and I can't wait to see what Ms. Lapena will come up with next.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Pamela Dorman Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris

Behind Closed Doors
by B. A. Paris
Hardcover, 304 pages
9 August, 2016, St. Martin's Press
4 stars

This is the first book being compared to Gone Girl that has lived up to the hype – not because they were anything alike in terms of writing style, plot, or book construction, but because it was the first book since Gone Girl that I couldn't put down. I sat down one evening and read the first half, only stopping because it was time for bed, and then I waited grumpily all day until I could sit down again and finish it. It was incredibly fast paced and, as fast a reader as I am, I was still irritated that I couldn't read it faster. That earns it the comparison, in my opinion. 

This debut novel presents the perfect couple, Jack and Grace. They met one day in the park when Grace's younger sister Millie was dancing by herself and Jack stepped in to be her partner. After a whirlwind romance they were married and rushed off to an exotic honeymoon in Thailand. Upon their return Grace loses touch with her friends and quits her job, seemingly content to stay at home in the beautiful mansion that Jack bought for them and decorate, garden, and enjoy her new wonderful life. Soon, their friends notice that Grace and Jack are inseparable and Grace is now unavailable for lunch dates alone. 

Do you see where this is going? Don't worry if you don't because Paris shows you before long. By the time that happens you won't care, though, because you'll want to know how the situation is going to resolve itself. The story flips back and forth between two timelines, the first following Grace as she meets Jack, falls in love, and accepts his proposal, and the second as she details what her life is like in the present. This moved the story ahead in a way that highlighted the frantic rush Grace was in. I also genuinely enjoyed the scenes with Millie, too. Her portrayal as a person with Down's Syndrome but still as smart as a whip, fun, and present in her sister's life felt very authentic.

The book was not without flaws. Without giving too much away, it did require a slightly higher-than-normal suspension of disbelief because one of the characters was SO extreme. The circumstances were so perfectly plotted that it seems impossible for anyone to be as well-coordinated as would be necessary to pull off their plans. There are a lot of trigger warnings in this book – nothing graphic but a lot of allusions to things – and they're scattered liberally throughout the book (not problematic but something to keep in mind before deciding to read it).

I recommend it but don't pick it up when you have places to be or things to do. You won't be able to put it down.

(Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
Hardcover, 1037 pages
1 September 1936, Scribner
5 stars

This book has become a classic - but the twist that I love is that Scarlett is something of an anti-hero, and the book is set in the American South before, during and after the Civil War, so there are strikes against it being such an amazing, moving book, but it won the 1937 Pulizer Prize, inspired a movie that utterly swept the Academy Awards in the same year that The Wizard of Oz was released.  

Cheers,
- Karli

Top Five Wednesday: Favorite First Lines

We all know that opening lines can set the mood for a book and give us a taste of what to expect. Just like first impressions, good first lines can make you decide to stick around. This week's top five is all about our favorite opening lines in books. 



"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

I'm sure this line is on most "best first lines" lists but it really does set the tone for this novel. As everyone in Regency England knew, a good marriage was the main concern of every mother across the country. It's slightly sarcastic tone gives us a hint of the personality we're going to find in Lizzie Bennett, a Regency mother's worst nightmare. Everything considered, you can almost forgive Mrs. Bennett for being off her rocker over her daughter's marriages. Almost.




"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Again, not the most unusual line to find on this kind of list but for a good reason. Tolstoy's philosophical examination of happiness and the idea that what makes us human also makes us unhappy gives us a glimpse of what we can expect from this sweeping novel - a host of families that are unhappy precisely because they have gone against societal expectations and behaved in painfully human ways.

"Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear."

In Roth's alternative history novel, a young Jewish boy is remembering back to his childhood in which Charles Lindburgh is elected president, an "understanding" is reached with Adolph Hitler, and a program of anti-Semitism is adopted by the American government. This opening line highlights the reality of what this kind of environment would be like for a child - perpetual fear.

"There are places I'll remember all my life - Red Square with a hot wind howling across it, my mother's bedroom on the wrong side of Eight Mile, the endless gardens of a fancy foster home, a man waiting to kill me in a group of ruins knows as the Theater of Death."

I guess when your main character is a super-secret international mega-spy it's not reasonable to expect a quiet opening line. This one, though, sets the stage for Pilgrim's intense adventure through multiple countries and countless adversaries. It packs a punch that you feel all the way to the end of this book.

"Nick Naylor had been called many things since becoming chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, but until now no one had actually compared him to Satan."

Buckley's hilarious satire of DC lobbyists, corporations, and media coverage is off to a snort-inducing start with this line. You start to feel bad for Nick, despite the questionable morality of his job. This line perfectly prepares you for a front-row seat to poor Nick's moral quandaries.




What are your favorite opening lines? Comment below and tell us!

*The Top Five Wednesday book tag was created by Lainey from GingerReadsLainey on YouTube and is now managed by Sam from ThoughtsOnTomes, also on YouTube. You can find the topics in their Goodreads group, Top 5 Wednesdays, here.*

Top Five Wednesday: Favorite First Lines

We all know that opening lines can set the mood for a book and give us a taste of what to expect. Just like first impressions, good first lines can make you decide to stick around. This week's top five is all about our favorite opening lines in books. 



"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

I'm sure this line is on most "best first lines" lists but it really does set the tone for this novel. As everyone in Regency England knew, a good marriage was the main concern of every mother across the country. It's slightly sarcastic tone gives us a hint of the personality we're going to find in Lizzie Bennett, a Regency mother's worst nightmare. Everything considered, you can almost forgive Mrs. Bennett for being off her rocker over her daughter's marriages. Almost.




"All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Again, not the most unusual line to find on this kind of list but for a good reason. Tolstoy's philosophical examination of happiness and the idea that what makes us human also makes us unhappy gives us a glimpse of what we can expect from this sweeping novel - a host of families that are unhappy precisely because they have gone against societal expectations and behaved in painfully human ways.

"Fear presides over these memories, a perpetual fear."

In Roth's alternative history novel, a young Jewish boy is remembering back to his childhood in which Charles Lindburgh is elected president, an "understanding" is reached with Adolph Hitler, and a program of anti-Semitism is adopted by the American government. This opening line highlights the reality of what this kind of environment would be like for a child - perpetual fear.

"There are places I'll remember all my life - Red Square with a hot wind howling across it, my mother's bedroom on the wrong side of Eight Mile, the endless gardens of a fancy foster home, a man waiting to kill me in a group of ruins knows as the Theater of Death."

I guess when your main character is a super-secret international mega-spy it's not reasonable to expect a quiet opening line. This one, though, sets the stage for Pilgrim's intense adventure through multiple countries and countless adversaries. It packs a punch that you feel all the way to the end of this book.

"Nick Naylor had been called many things since becoming chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, but until now no one had actually compared him to Satan."

Buckley's hilarious satire of DC lobbyists, corporations, and media coverage is off to a snort-inducing start with this line. You start to feel bad for Nick, despite the questionable morality of his job. This line perfectly prepares you for a front-row seat to poor Nick's moral quandaries.




What are your favorite opening lines? Comment below and tell us!

*The Top Five Wednesday book tag was created by Lainey from GingerReadsLainey on YouTube and is now managed by Sam from ThoughtsOnTomes, also on YouTube. You can find the topics in their Goodreads group, Top 5 Wednesdays, here.*

Try Not to Breathe by Holly Seddon

Try Not to Breathe
by Holly Seddon
Hardcover, 368 pages
23 February 2016, Ballantine Books
3.5 stars

"Some secrets never die. They're just locked away."

In this debut novel Alex Dale is a young journalist trying to hold her life together. Consumed by her alcoholism she has destroyed her family and career and is drifting from day to day in a haze, freelancing here and there, trying to remain functional and barely holding on. While writing an article about a doctor who is using brain scans to detect consciousness in coma patients she comes across a young woman who was brutally attacked as a teen decades ago and has shown signs of being somewhat aware of her surroundings. Alex remembers this girl, Amy Stevenson, and the case, being the same age as Amy when the attack occurred, and feels a connection to her. She decides to look deeper into Amy's case to tell her story and, at the same time, face down the addiction that threatens to end her life. 

Despite being told from multiple points of view and moving around in time from 1995 (the date of Amy's attack) through to the present day, this book wasn't in the least bit hard to follow. I generally enjoy books that are able to successfully show the motivations of multiple characters and Seddon pulled it off here quite nicely. The glimpses into the neurological ward and patients seemed well-researched despite Seddon's admission that she took some creative liberties with Amy's condition and treatment. 

I thought I had guessed Amy's attacker and, while close, didn't quite hit the mark. I always find that a nice surprise, though in this case I was a bit put-off when the attacker was revealed. The actual perpetrator and the motivation behind the attack wasn't really touched on until almost the end, creating a frustrating inability for the reader to follow along with the mystery. As a result, the book would have to be classified more as a "suspense/thriller" than a mystery. The character development was so good, however, that I would have been okay with whatever ending Seddon settled upon.  The plot was paced well, descriptive, and while the motivations were a bit unclear for the behavior of some characters, it was overall so believable that I was fully immersed in this story. I can't wait to see what Seddon does next.
What to Drink: Red wine - Alex's favorite.

(Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)

Listen to Me by Hannah Pittard

Listen to me

by Hannah Pittard

Mark and Maggie are driving across the country with their dog Gerome.  This is a trip they've made many times, but in the past year so much has changed, and both Mark and Maggie are wondering if they are going to survive the transition.

The suspenseful pacing of the novel, the creepy foreshadowing, and the always looming storm (actual and metaphorical) kept me turning pages, wondering what would come next.  The twisty ending was a shocker for me, and I finished the book, but know the story will continue in my head for a while to come.  

---Karli

Sirius by Jonathan Crown

Sirius
by Jonathan Crown
Hardcover, 247 pages
16 August 2015, Head of Zeus
4 stars

This book is a must for dog-lovers.  I have a few people who will receive this book as a gift, as I know they will be unable to resist Levi/Sirius/Hercules/Hansi....in all his roles, he is certainly the star that his second name implied.  It is as light-hearted a romp as possible when the subject is a Jewish family in the toxic Germany of the Hitler era.  But, as any true dog lover will tell you, the joy that a dog can bring his or her people is impossible to measure.

The novel is set from the early days of Hitler through the end of WWII and the setting goes primarily between Berlin and Hollywood.  Those interested in the Hollywood of the 30's and 40's will appreciate the stars that people Sirius's life in Hollywood, and those interested in WWII Germany will likewise find the German villains who Sirius encounters fascinating and more human than the history books can portray.  This perspective of those years through the eyes of an amazing dog who was privy to glamour, riches, poverty and war is one that the reader will remember.  

Cheers,
Karli

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn

 Sharp Objects
by Gillian Flynn
Hardcover, 254 pages
26 September 2006, Shaye Areheart Books
5 stars

Gillian FLynn is the undisputed master of dark and twisty - and I think I liked this one even better than I did Gone Girl.

Camille is a cutter.  She’s spent some time in some psych wards to deal with her self mutilation, and is now working at a paper in Chicago as an entry-level journalist.  Her boss assigns her a case that sends her home to Wind Gap, Missouri to investigate and report on the murder of one young girl, and now the disappearance of another.

Camille doesn’t want to go - because clearly if you have a history of self-abuse and an ugly childhood, who wants to re-visit that?  But of course, news is news, and having a reporter with such an unquestionable in is too much for a paper to resist, so Camille has little choice in the matter.  She returns to her home town and gets re-acquainted with her younger half-sister Amma, who is 13 (town mean girl, mama’s baby) and her mother Adora, who holds the cash and the keys to much of the town’s inner workings.

Camille helps unwind the mysteries of the current case, and is also forced to learn the truth of her own past in order to move forward and write her story.

This is a fascinating, dark and twisty book, and is perfect for fans of Law & Order SVU - after all, isn’t that where most of us get all our vocabulary for the worst criminals?

Cheers,
- Karli

Jennifer McMahon-a-Thon

The Winter People
by Jennifer McMahon
Hardcover, 317 pages
11 February 2014, Doubleday
4 stars

I love supernatural mysteries - and this book by Jennifer McMahon was the fantastic kind that makes you wonder the whole time if there is a supernatural answer, or just an evil human behind the horror.

Ruthie is 19, feels trapped in her tiny rural home outside a small town in Vermont.  Her dad has died fairly recently, and her mother Alice doesn’t want her leaving for college yet, claiming she needs help with Ruthie’s little sister Fawn, and that they just can’t afford it - both totally plausible answers, but Ruthie is resentful and wants to leave - but then she comes home too late one night and finds her mother is missing, and while looking for clues to her mothers disappearance she finds out that their old farmhouse has a dark history.  She then becomes immersed in learning what happened to her mother - and could it have anything to do with the horrible things that have happened in this house in the past.

The pacing on this book was perfect, keeping me turning pages as fast as I could to learn the answers as Ruthie did.  The book bounces between the past where the dark history begins, and into present day, where that history still resonates.  This is one of those books that you’ll want to devour in one sitting - it’s too good to stop.

AND - as it was too good to stop, I continued on to...

Dismantled

by Jennifer McMahon

Hardcover, 432 pages

16 June 2009

4 stars

In this supernatural or not story we are set in the summer rather than the winter.

The backstory is set only 10 years ago, while four friends at an art college create an art movement they name Dismantlement, where true art is found in the destruction of the thing.  Henry, Tess, Winnie and Suz do a little damage and then drop off the grid to art and destroy from a remote lake cabin.  At the end of the summer Tess is pregnant, Suz is dead and Winnie leaves while Henry and Tess marry.

Ten years later Tess and Henry have a marriage on the rocks, and an imaginative daughter named Emma who wants her parents to get back together, so she and her friend create a plan to get their old friends together so that Tess and Henry will remember what brought them together in the first place.

McMahon again weaves together a story where there are plausible explanations for the weird happenings, but said happenings are awfully creepy and also really point to ghosts and demons.  The twists and turns in this one keep you turning pages, guessing and ultimately surprised me in the end.  

Then, on to...

The Night Sister

by Jennifer McMahon

Hardcover, 322 pages

4 August 2015, Doubleday

3 stars

This tale bounces between three periods in time, two families and two sets of sisters.  In the 1950’s Sylvie and Rose live in a hotel in London, Vermont with their parents.  Their father has built his own Tower of London for his British bride Charlotte, and the two sisters have a rather idyllic life, performing a circus for guests, playing together and meeting the people who stay at their family’s hotel.  Sylvie wants to be a Hollywood star and writes letters to Alfred Hitchcock, telling him as the years go by of an amazing story that he would be very interested in.  She disappears after her 18th birthday, and everyone believes she’s gone to Hollywood to follow her dreams, but no one hears from her again…

In 1989 Rose’s daughter Amy being raised by her Grandma Charlotte and is friends with another set of sisters, Margot and Piper.  While playing in the now decrepit tower, they discover a suitcase that they believe to be Sylvie’s and open their own investigation into her disappearance, discovering way more than they anticipated.

In present day, Margot is 8 months into a high risk pregnancy, and her policeman husband Jason has to investigate the grisly murder of Amy and her family…and the only clue is a picture that Amy wrote “29th Room” upon.

This story bounces between  the times and characters very well, holding its mystery close and revealing the truth in a measured fashion.  Another great story by McMahon, who created quite a reading monster in me.  

Cheers,
- Karli

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

Fates and Furies
by Lauren Groff
Hardcover, 390 pages
15 September 2015, Riverhead Books
3 stars

This book was one of the hottest in 2015, and it is certainly a well-written book.  I can understand the buzz based on the fact that it was well-written, and fairly original.  However, I found this one something of a slog, and kept waiting for it to grab me and have that a-ha moment.  For me, that never happened.

Lotto and Mathilde are a young newlywed couple who have just graduated from college, he comes from a wealthy family and has been the biggest fish in his small college town, acting as the lead in all the school plays.  They are off to NYC to find their futures.  But…Lotto’s mom is not happy that her precious boy got married and cuts him off financially.  So, they have to find their way without the money that he’s always had access to.  Added to this, is the fact that he’s not that great an actor, and spends years trying to find the place his genius lies (because for some reason he’s just a genius and can’t possible get a job that’s beneath him to help pay bills and wallows instead).

Eventually Lotto becomes an amazing playwright, the couple continues their lives in wealth and art…and Groff writes the story in two parts, from Lotto’s perspective and then from Mathilde’s.  I found the first half tighter, easier to follow and the second half, from Mathilde’s perspective much looser, more difficult to follow but far more interesting.  The book really has no likable characters.  I found myself not really caring about any of them, which makes it much harder for me to get through a story with any excitement, which even with fantastic writing, makes it fall a little flat for me.  

Cheers,
- Karli

Listen to Me by Hannah Pittard

Listen To Me
by Hannah Pittard
Hardcover, 191 pages
5 July 2016, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4 stars

Mark and Maggie are driving across the country with their dog Gerome.  This is a trip they've made many times, but in the past year so much has changed, and both Mark and Maggie are wondering if they are going to survive the transition.

The suspenseful pacing of the novel, the creepy foreshadowing, and the always looming storm (actual and metaphorical) kept me turning pages, wondering what would come next.  The twisty ending was a shocker for me, and I finished the book, but know the story will continue in my head for a while to come.  

Cheers,
Karli

Poison, Planners, and the PTA by Laurie Tom

Planners, Poison, and the PTA
by Laurie Tom
ebook
July 13, 2016, Smashwords
3 stars

Sydney Yoshida is a mom of two who spends her days organizing her family – planning carpool, dinner, and work as vice president of the PTA around her husband's work schedule and her daughter's soccer, cheer, and basketball schedules, all while trying to squeeze in a bit of time for herself.  Her gated community is usually quiet so when sirens break the silence one morning she finds herself out on the street with the rest of her neighbors, horrified when news of the death of fellow cheer mom and PTA president Trisha becomes apparent. In between helping the widower plan the funeral and helping take care of  Trisha's children, Sydney also struggles with the police investigation that has targeted her neighbor and best friend Beth. Sydney is forced to take a closer look at people she considered friends to get to the bottom of Trisha's death while trying not to get herself killed in the meantime.

I had a blast with this book. I'm a sucker for a fun cozy mystery and this was right up my alley. I’m addicted to my planner (I'd be lost without it) and hoard office supplies like it's the end of the world, so the little mentions of pens, washi tape, and stickers made me laugh. Also, being a mom myself I could relate with the frustrations of the main character – trying to balance a home life with volunteer commitments, connecting to other moms through their children's school and extracurricular activities, and even maintaining a healthy relationship with her husband while being pulled in a dozen different directions.

This book had the typical bumps that come with first-in-a-series books and especially from a first-time novelist. Some of the character and place descriptions felt forced rather than being introduced more organically, and the book could have benefited from a more "show, not tell" approach. There were also references to name brands that were a humorous nod toward the "planner girl" community that might be lost on readers who aren't familiar with it. After about half-way through the book, however, the bumps had passed and the story itself was engrossing and the ending was entirely believable. Like any good mystery it was full of red herrings and had me guessing the murderer's identity and then changing my guess as I realized I was wrong.

This was a fun book that I would recommend to any cozy mystery lover, especially if you love crafting or depend on a series of lists to keep your life together. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.  

What to Drink: Coffee, iced if possible, caffeinated required. When you're running multiple lives AND a carpool you can't let up on the coffee. Ever. 

Backlist Bump: Since this is the first in a series there's no backlist, per se, but if you like cozies, the Goldy Bear series is full of tasty catering recipes and the Blackbird Sisters are a riot.

Come Closer by Sara Gran

Come Closer
by Sara Gran
Hardcover, 168 pages
July 1, 2003, Soho Press
5 stars

"What we think is impossible happens all the time."

It starts with a simple tapping in the apartment, explained away as a drippy pipe, or perhaps a mouse. An urge to start smoking again and more frequent bickering with her husband. Amanda, a successful young architect, feels a vague sense of unease at the changes in her life. As time passes, Amanda refuses to accept the improbable cause for these changes, with horrifying results.

I initially chose this book to host for my book club with more than a little trepidation. While I love a good horror story, especially the tale of "creeping dread" you expect from Alfred Hitchcock or Shirley Jackson, it's not everyone's cup of tea.  Frequently just saying a book is "horror" is enough to send potential readers running.  This book,  however, provided some interesting discussion about whether the narrator was suffering from some sort of supernatural possession or if she was having a mental breakdown.  While it still may not be for everyone,  if you're choosing a book for a club with somewhat eclectic taste, this could be a great option that's just a bit off the beaten path. 

At 169 pages, it's a short book, and Gran's writing is so clean and succinct that it feels even faster. The sparse writing creates a breakneck pace that causes a sense of panic for the reader, who cannot stop racing toward the same terrifying end as the protagonist. The ambiguity in the story is one of the novel's best qualities and is what draws the reader in. Is the overshadowing of Amanda's will and her seduction the result of insanity or something more supernatural - and does it matter?  The terror Amanda feels is palpable and Gran easily transfers this terror to the reader through prose that is both subtle and hypnotizing.

This is a truly horrifying story that is not about cheap scares and gory scenes but rather a literary approach to an easily dismissed and often unappreciated genre.

What to Drink: A good stiff vodka tonic is probably in order here. You'll need it to stave off the urge to check behind the door and in that dark corner across the room.

Backlist Bump: For a book with an unreliable protagonist who may or may not be going crazy, read The Shining by Stephen King. Jack Torrence's descent into madness is either his alcoholism getting the better of him during a bad case of cabin fever or it's the result of ghostly influences. Either way, don't read it after dark.