Blogtoberfest Day 8: W... W... W... Wednesdays



I'm joining in with a meme organised by MizB @ shouldbereading. To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
 
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?
 
Currently reading: 'Rage Against the Dying' by Becky Masterman.  The blurb on the back of the book says: Remains found. Confession secured. Case Closed.  Or at least that's what the official FBI channels believe.  But Brigid Quinn - a retired agent with a bloody secret of her own - doesn't think so.  They've got the wrong man.  Which leaves only one question: what would make you confess to a murder you didn't commit?


This was one of the Richard and Judy Book Club Spring 2014 reads and it earned four and a half stars (out of five) and so far it is living up to that rating.  It's not too demanding but it is keeping my interest and is definitely a page turner, which is what I was hoping for.  I haven't read a crime/thriller for ages so am out of practice with the gory descriptions but this one seems particularly gruesome as the crimes themselves are quite dark, dealing with mummification and necrophilia.  Despite that, I like the style of writing; the story moves at a good pace, characters and conversation are believable and there is enough description to enhance the story without stopping the flow.
  
Recently finished: My last two books have been book group reads: 'The Light Between Oceans' by M.L. Stedman and 'The One I Was' by Eliza Graham.  The book groups will be meeting tonight for the first one and next week for the second one.  Neither book is my usual choice of reading matter but as I joined the book groups to broaden my choices, I shouldn't complain.
 
The blurb for 'The Light Between Oceans' says: A boat washes up on the shore of a remote lighthouse keeper's island.  It holds a dead man and a crying baby.  The only two islanders, Tom and his wife Izzy, are about to make a devastating decision.  The break rules and follow their hearts.  What happens next will break yours.
 
This was an easy enough read but to be honest, I found it all a little unbelievable and for me, the story didn't flow too well - quite slow paced to start with and then a rush at the end to fit it all in.  I particularly found some of Izzy's behaviour difficult and didn't feel that sympathetic to her as a result. 
 
The blurb for 'The One I Was' says: The past will always find you out... Rosamond Hunter has spent her adult life running away from the past, filled with guilt about her involuntary role in the death of her mother. Rosamond is a nurse, a kind of midwife for those leaving rather than entering life. Her work brings her back to Fairfleet, the country house at which her mother died so long ago, to nurse the dying Benny Gault, a former Kindertransport refugee from Nazi Germany. Rosamond soon discovers that Benny is hiding a secret about his last days in Germany he badly needs to confess, a secret that somehow connects with Rosamond's own family history. Just as the pair begin to unthread the mystery binding them together, a figure from the past returns to Fairfleet to menace them.
 
Of the two book group reads, this was the one I preferred.  This was a pleasant, gentle read.  I liked the characters and they were all well drawn and believable.  The story flowed well and progressed at a good pace; it alternates between Rosamond's story and Benny's story, doesn't give away too much too soon and has all the loose ends tied up by the last page of the book.  I'm so fed up with reading novels that don't have a proper ending!


Reading next: I'll be reading the next book group selections but won't know what they are until I've been to the meetings.  I'll also carry on and finish 'Rage Against the Dying' and then I'd like to read either 'Eeny Meeny' by M. J. Arlidge or 'I am Pilgrim' by Terry Hayes

 
The blurb for 'Eeny Meeny' say: Two hostages. One bullet. One lives. One dies.  They were going to spend the rest of their lives together. Soul mates. But when a young couple wakes up alone together, disorientated and trapped, they are yet to grasp the true horror of their situation. They have no food, no water. Instead there is a gun loaded with a single bullet and a mobile phone with enough power only to deliver a short message: ‘when one of you kills the other, the survivor will walk free’. For their captor it’s simple: set the scene, watch, wait and leave the victims to do the killing. Tortured by fear, desperation, starvation and thirst, there’s only one way to end their ordeal: one of them must die. DI Helen Grace and her team know they are hunting a complex predator whose broken survivors must endure their role as living calling cards. And killers. The victims - work colleagues, a mother and daughter, a pair of dancers - appear to be chosen at random and yet the planning is meticulous. There must be something driving the choice of victims, but until DI Grace can establish a connection, the killer is unreachable. A breakthrough is elusive and then, terrifyingly, the investigation begins to turn full circle...
 
The blurb for 'I am Pilgrim' say: Can you commit the perfect crime?  Pilgrim is the codename for a man who doesn't exist. The adopted son of a wealthy American family, he once headed up a secret espionage unit for US intelligence. Before he disappeared into anonymous retirement, he wrote the definitive book on forensic criminal investigation. But that book will come back to haunt him. It will help NYPD detective Ben Bradley track him down. And it will take him to a rundown New York hotel room where the body of a woman is found facedown in a bath of acid, her features erased, her teeth missing, her fingerprints gone. It is a textbook murder - and Pilgrim wrote the book.  What begins as an unusual and challenging investigation will become a terrifying race-against-time to save America from oblivion. Pilgrim will have to make a journey from a public beheading in Mecca to a deserted ruins on the Turkish coast via a Nazi death camp in Alsace and the barren wilderness of the Hindu Kush in search of the faceless man who would commit an appalling act of mass murder in the name of his God.
 
They both sound good and I've seen lots of recommendations for both books on various blogs.

Linking with Blogtoberfest 2014

Comments

  1. Wow. If I wasn't trying to expand my horizons before, I am now. These are not my usual genre, but they all sound fascinating. I may have dip my toes into some new reads. Thanks for sharing. Here's mine: http://etoithomas.com/2014/10/08/www-wednesday-100814/

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  2. Oh I have Rage Against the Dying to read too. Glad you're enjoying it. I like the sound of The One I Was too. Thanks for visiting my WWW http://cleopatralovesbooks.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/www-wednesday-october-8/

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  3. I loved 'The Light Between Oceans' for a book club a while back and I just loved it. Our book club had a really great discussion around motherhood and ethics. I hope you have a good discussion!
    Here's my WWW: http://samannelizabeth.wordpress.com/2014/10/08/www-wednesday-8-october-2014/

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  4. Looks like you've got a lovely selection of books to get stuck into. I enjoy looking at the Richard and Judy book club reads.

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