People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo – and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up (2012)
by Richard Lloyd Parry Publication Date: May 22nd, 2012 (first published December 28th, 2010) Publisher: FSG Originals Edition Read: Paperback
Lucie Blackman—tall, blond, twenty-one years old—stepped out into the vastness of Tokyo in the summer of 2000, and disappeared forever. The following winter, her dismembered remains were found buried in a seaside cave.Richard Lloyd Parry, an award-winning foreign correspondent, covered Lucie’s disappearance and followed the massive search for her, the long investigation, and the even longer trial. Over ten years, he earned the trust of her family and friends, won unique access to the Japanese detectives and Japan’s convoluted legal system, and delved deep into the mind of the man accused of the crime, Joji Obara, described by the judge as “unprecedented and extremely evil.”The People Who Eat Darkness is one of Publishers Weekly’s Top 10 Best Books of 2012Drawing on two real-life experiences from his own past, Gross has crafted a richly personal, yet utterly terrifying tale of two brothers, one successful, one wayward, trying to bridge the gap of what tore them apart.
My Thoughts:
After I finished the prologue, I already had chills going down my spine. It was not a good idea to start this in bed/before going to sleep, since there was this “a ghost is sitting on my bed smoking a cigar” scene. I’ve been reading a number of dark books lately, I didn’t know if I could get through another and still have a good night’s sleep (being the scaredy cat that I am.) I debated immediately returning the book to the library, but ultimately decided to stick it out. I had a plan where I would read at least fifty pages a day of People Who Eat Darkness, while I also read other happier books to “neutralize” the horror. So much for that plan, because I ate (pun intended) this book up in two days.
Eyes Wide Open (2011)
by Andrew Gross (Twitter.) Publication Date: May 29th 2012 (first published January 1st, 2011) Publisher: Harper Edition Read: Paperback
Andrew Gross is the author of the New York Times and international bestsellers Eyes Wide Open, The Blue Zone, The Dark Tide, Don’t Look Twice, and Reckless. He is also coauthor of five number one bestsellers with James Patterson, including Judge & Jury and Lifeguard. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife, Lynn.
Jay Erlich’s nephew has been found at the bottom of a cliff at Morrow Bay. It’s all just a tragic suicide, until secrets from the past begin to rear up again. Did a notorious killer, jailed for many decades, have his hand in this?Years ago, Jay Erlich’s older brother, Charlie, a wayward child of the sixties, set out for California, where he fell under the sway of a charismatic but deeply disturbed cultlike figure. Tragedy ensued and lives were destroyed, but as the decades passed, Charlie married and raised a family and lived a quiet, secluded life under the radar. Yet the demons that nearly destroyed him never completely disappeared.
Drawing on two real-life experiences from his own past, Gross has crafted a richly personal, yet utterly terrifying tale of two brothers, one successful, one wayward, trying to bridge the gap of what tore them apart.
My Thoughts:
Ugh. I picked up Eyes Wide Open because I was hoping for the same non-stop action, heart-pounding page-turner that was 15 Seconds, which I enjoyed this past summer. Unfortunately, Eyes Wide Open was not that book. The unoriginal plot not only was messy and extremely repetitive. Pace was frustratingly slow. The characters were not only unlikable, but confusing. The villains defied logic. And the police are useless. However, there were some wonderful suspenseful moments. I also applaud Gross for using his only experiences, but overall Eyes Wide Open was just your average suspense novel that I would hesitate to even call it a thriller.
When In Crisis, Just Claim You’re A Doctor
Or at least that’s how the protagonist, Jay Erlich, operates. “I’m a doctor.” seems to be his default automated message. He says it to emergency personal, cops, reporters, taxi drivers, everyone else he meets. I get it, you have a fancy medical degree, so what? What being a doctor has to do with solving crime is beyond me.
For some reason, all of Jay’s “guesses” turn out to be correct, or somehow turn into truths as the story progresses. The witnesses claim to be unsure of the suspect’s gender. Along the way, the suspicions are dropped, and everyone believes the suspect is a woman…because a doctor (who didn’t even speak to the witness) suspected it.
Also, Don’t Tell Your Family Anything
One of the most annoying parts of the novel is Jay’s numerous phone calls to his over-reacting wife. He’s only gone for a week, and she’s already freaking out. Gosh, woman! Calm down! It’s ONLY been a week. I thought at any point she would be filing for divorce. His I’m-not-going-to-tell-my-wife-anything-because-she-won’t-understand attitude doesn’t help matters either. What kind of marriage is this? I’m supposed to like this guy? Really?
It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.
But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.
Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other.
My Thoughts:
As a thriller lover, and with all the hype surrounding this book, I’ve been anticipating Gretchen McNeil’s Ten since spring. Christopher Pike’s blurb that claimed McNeil’s setup to be flawless sold me. So I finally got my hands on it and finished it in about a day (it’s 300 pages long, but with the generous line spacing, it felt more like 150.) And now I think Christopher Pike is a filthy liar.
Pacing Saved (and Killed) This Book:
The fast pacing made Ten readable. Dead people left and right. But the fast pace (and the piling dead people) desensitized me while also severely limiting character development. The characters all felt like paper dolls created to be killed off a few seconds later.
Spooning. Is it just me, or does that sound dirty?
What I thought when I first encountered “spooning”: “Wait…they just witnessed a dead body five seconds ago, this isn’t a good time for sexy times! What’s wrong with these horny teens?”
I must’ve re-read both occurrences where “spooning” popped up, the image in my head wasn’t pretty. But this might be just me with my dirty mind. *twiddles thumbs* Why must they spoon? Is cuddling too mainstream?
In post-World War II Barcelona, young Daniel is taken by his bookseller father to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a massive sanctuary where books are guarded from oblivion. Told to choose one book to protect, he selects The Shadow of the Wind, by Julian Carax. He reads it, loves it, and soon learns it is both very valuable and very much in danger because someone is determinedly burning every copy of every book written by the obscure Carax. To call this book–Zafon’s Shadow of the Wind– old-fashioned is to mean it in the best way. It’s big, chock-full of unusual characters, and strong in its sense of place. Daniel’s initiation into the mysteries of adulthood is given the same weight as the mystery of the book-burner.
My Thoughts:
The best summary of my reactions I can come up with: if a Korean suspense drama was sprinkled with Gothic elements and turned into a Spanish novel, The Shadow of the Wind would be it. There’s a scandalously complex plot with characters that intersect with one another and a few plot twists thrown in for good measure. I went into this novel with high expectations, everyone seemed to proclaim it’s greatness. I wanted to start the series so that I could read its lauded third installment that just released without being lost: The Prisoner of Heaven. However, despite being entranced in the delightfully complex mystery and the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, I can’t bring myself to wholeheartedly recommend it. Partly because its pacing is too slow for my liking in the first third, some characters falling flat, and the denouement disappointing.
I’d Never Guess it was a Translation:
I am usually hesitant to read translations, fearing that a beautiful literary masterpiece will be skinned bare of its artistic elements into a stoic, mundane read. I’m glad The Shadow of the Wind didn’t join that party. I’m not sure how much was lost in translation–unfortunately, my Spanish comprehension ends at ¿Cómo estás? and I still haven’t figured out how to roll my r’s–but I could’ve been easily fooled that this was the original. Props to Lucia Graves!
15 Seconds (2012)
by Andrew Gross (Twitter.) Publication Date: July 10th, 2012 Publisher: HarperCollins; William Morrow Edition Read: Hardcover, Read for TLC Book Tours
Andrew Gross is the author of the New York Times and international bestsellers Eyes Wide Open, The Blue Zone, The Dark Tide, Don’t Look Twice, and Reckless. He is also coauthor of five number one bestsellers with James Patterson, including Judge & Jury and Lifeguard. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife, Lynn.
15 seconds can tear your life apart . . .
Henry Steadman is a successful Florida plastic surgeon on his way to deliver a keynote address at a conference when his world falls apart. Stopped by the police for a minor traffic violation, the situation escalates and he is pulled from his vehicle, handcuffed, and told he is under arrest. Several other police cars arrive and the questioning turns scary, but after it subsides, and Henry is about to move on, the officer is suddenly killed in his car and there is only one suspect: the very person he was about to arrest not ten minutes before. Henry! When a second friend turns up dead, Henry realizes he’s being elaborately framed. But in a chilling twist, the stakes grow even darker, and he is unable to go to the police to clear his name.
-synopsis from Goodreads.
My Thoughts:
Andrew Gross threw me on a roller coaster with 15 Seconds, Harlan Coben was not kidding when he said it was a “stay-up-all-night thrill ride.” Every time I glanced to the page number, I was another 100 pages in. The suspense glued me to the book (Which I finished in one sitting) until the last page was turned. Gross just knows how to keep his readers excitedly guessing. However, despite how much I was enthralled with the story, there are times when I couldn’t suspend my disbelief.
Plot:
I was disappointed that I already guessed where the story was headed before the first hundred pages and how the characters were tied to each other (though I did expect a more complex plot.) It didn’t stop me from wanting to experience the story–but was a slight let-down when the plot wasn’t as brilliantly complex as I hoped. I really wanted a mind-blowing plot twist–but everything was resolved too easily before tension can be built.
Characters:
Henry: The stereotypical nice guy, rich plastic surgeon, and handsome. I pitied him since he gets himself in a mess by seemingly being at the wrong place at the wrong time–but then it turns out he was at the very right place at the right time. He also does hilariously stupid things like attempting to chase a murderer by going crazy on a highway…which only makes him more human. I like him, but I was frustrated at his LUCK: how a nationally wanted serial killer can walk into a prison is beyond me (even if he has a poorly made fake id.) I also thought he got off way too easily; he isn’t completely innocent and owed a few apologies.
What if the world’s worst serial killer…was your dad?
Jasper (Jazz) Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say.
But he’s also the son of the world’s most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could–from the criminal’s point of view.
And now bodies are piling up in Lobo’s Nod.
In an effort to clear his name, Jazz joins the police in a hunt for a new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret–could he be more like his father than anyone knows?
My Thoughts:
Barry Lyga almost had me in an heart attack with I Hunt Killers–and he didn’t even inject me with Drano. The suspense was gripping, and a refreshing (although terrifying) addition to Young Adult horror. Lyga attempts to explore the complexity of serial killers, a teenager trying to find himself, while delivering a thrilling mystery with a huge chunk of suspense thrown in. And also a lot of blood. I’m trembling to read what else Lyga has up his sleeves. Continue reading →
Michael Shipman is paranoid schizophrenic; he suffers from hallucinations, delusions, and complex fantasies of persecution and horror. That’s bad enough. But what can he do if some of the monsters he sees turn out to be real?
Who can you trust if you can’t even trust yourself? The Hollow City is a mesmerizing journey into madness, where the greatest enemy of all is your own mind.
-description from Macmillian.
My Thoughts:
I originally had another book (coincidently, another Macmillian book) I was planning to feature for this week’s Waiting On Wednesday since I already posted about Dan Well’s Isolation on last, last week’s WOW and it felt like I was violating my imaginary rule of “don’t post too much about one author, it will bore your readers.” I ended up shifting the book I planned to post this week over to next week because if I waited another week, this book would already be released, and that can’t happen–it would ruin my plans of being a hipster.And I ignored my imaginary rule because I don’t have readers anyway.
So what made me reschedule my post? Dan Wells’ podcast, Writing Excuses did. That podcast is oddly addicting…even if I have no plans to become a novelist. I happened to be listening to the episode about Pitching last week, when Wells presented his one-line pitch for The Hollow City: “the story a guy with schizophrenia who realizes that some of the monsters he sees are real.” And that sold me.
So in adherence to my imaginary rule, I will put myself on a Dan Wells posting ban until…well, the release of Isolation probably.
Do you have a book that is making you count down to its release date? Leave a comment, I would love to know.
a novel toybox 