thereadingmum's reviews
772 reviews

I found my mind wandering a bit while reading this.

I guessed the twist about halfway through, but not the ending. I kinda wanted one more link and for one of the characters to be a bigger villain. 

Also, what happened to the dog?! 😭

It definitely felt like this second to last Poirot novel was not as tight and possibly the most rambling. Ariadne Oliver just doesn't cut it as a sidekick. Comparing this to the last Poirot where Hastings returns, that was a wonderful swan song for the Belgian detective. 

I'm going to be honest. Wait, when am I not?

I almost dnf this one. Almost. The first third made it look like one of those stories when you can see the bad things happening to the MC from a hundred pages away and the internal cringing threatens to overwhelm.

Buuut...it totally redeemed itself or rather the MC, Bonnie, did by being a lot more resourceful and a lot less of a doormat than she appeared to be in the beginning. Boy am I glad she grew a spine. Of course it didn't stop me from getting very worried for her as the book moved towards its climax.
Unlike the last gothic thriller I read, Hare House, the ambiguity of the ending was done well and I was left with no bitter aftertaste.

I thoroughly enjoyed Macneal's The Doll Factory so I don't know why I delayed so long reading this nor why I haven't read her second book, Circus of Wonders, yet either. 

One advantage of coming back to review a book a few weeks after having finished it is that you are left with what impressed you the most. If there was nothing then there really is no point writing a review is there?

What I loved:
- The adherence to a proper gothic genre, ie melancholic, almost depressing landscape, scary, looming house with creepy stuffed hare exhibits abnd every character unlikeable to some degree.
- The writing is excellent.
- The story kept me enthralled.

So why is less than 4stars? The ending. A bit too vague and a bit too much innuendo and not enough clarity. Also, I thought the withholding of the main character's name just like in Rebecca a bit gimmicky as it doesn't seem to have the same thematic use. 

I may come across as a curmudgeon but the writing in this was just a bit too preachy. It's one of the dangers of a 3rd person POV. 

Was it heartwarming? Yes, mostly. Did the bad person get his comeuppance? Sure, but there were also excuses made. Did I get a bit emotional about the whale? Yes, but animals are my weakness. It was an easy little book to read and many of my issues were my own hangups. 

It will appeal to Paulo Coehlo and Mitch Albom fans. 

Oh dear, I seem to be having a bad streak with review copies lately. This was another one I really wanted to love, but that fell short. 

The premise is great. Portals to a demon dimension open up across the world suddenly and an evil megacorporation has been both protecting and controlling the world from the demons that periodically emerge from those portals since. Jasper works at the soul-numbing, Temu-like store Here for You discount store with its own monster portal right in aisle nine. He is battling demons obv, but also amnesia from a work accident months ago and his crush on one of the portal guards assigned to his store, Kyle (read, I think as Kylie).

Ok so what I didn't like:
1. The name Kyle just annoyed me so much. This is clearly me and my hangups but WHY?! 
2. The writing is for middle-grade rather than YA and even then feels too dumbed down. I compare it to books like The Hunger Games or even Roald Dahl's children's books and really, it's only passable.
3. The "twist" was really obvious, but this can be forgiven if the writing was better.

However, it was entertaining and I think many of the older middle-grade to younger YA will enjoy it because the humour is quite dry and it gives off a Warm Bodies vibe. So I did pass it to my 14yo saying I thought she would like it, but it's not a book I would buy for anyone. 

This was an interesting one because instead of beginning with a murder, it starts with a young woman thinking she had committed one, but not having any evidence or even a body. This piques Poirot's interest as well and he starts to look into this woman, her family, friends and living situation.

I've always had an issue placing any Christie book outside of the 1930-1950 period. However, the 1970s was very evident here and very informative. I was interested to learn that the pracrtise of young women subleting the remaining rooms in their rental apartments out to other young women sort of started then. 

Christie used the proliferation of drugs as a theme in this one, which was also very timely. I thought the mystery itself was good and typical Christie. However, I found the social observations a bit too much. I don't exactly read a cosy murder mystery for those so for the first time, actually skipped bits of the novel.

Any Discworld novel with The Luggage in it is automatically 4 stars for me. Rincewind's voice is slightly lower than I imagined but the tone is perfect. He is the penultimate luckless hero.