Review: The White City

The White City by Karolina Ramqvist
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the most claustrophobic books that I've read, but it's a mental sensation I got, not a physical one.

Karin is living with her baby daughter Dream in a big, isolated house. There's no heat, it's dirty and there's almost nothing to eat. Her partner was some kind of big criminal (he's no longer in the picture) and despite his promises of nothing bad ever happening to them, she's alone and none of his "business partners" has done anything to help her. He´s gone and she's alone and broke. Also, the authorities have already told her they're taking the house and the car from her.

The sensation of everything closing in around her is real, as she travels to the city, white with snow, to search for John's friends and partners and find out if there's any money left for her.

You can feel Karin's physical discomfort, her almost mental breakdown, the cold and the grime surrounding her. But just when everything seems to be against her, she finds the resources and help to turn everything around.


I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: French Rhapsody

French Rhapsody by Antoine Laurain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even the most staid people can have an amusing and fun life in their youth. Such is the case of Doctor Alain Massoulier, who in his middle age receives a letter that has been lost in the mail for more than 30 years.
Alain was the guitarist for the new wave group "The Holograms", and sent a tape to a record company, never receiving an answer. Now, so many years later, he learns that the company was interested in them. The band broke up as nothing ever happened to encourage them to keep on playing, but now Alain is determined to find them and rebuild the group.

The book portrays all of the group members and hangers on, who have taken separate and quite dissimilar paths: there´s a right wing extremist, an artist, a hotel owner, a new age guru, an antiquarian, and a businessman.

The book portrays not only French Society, but modern society in general. As Im about the same age as the characters in the group are, I related 100% with the description of the 80's, the music, the clothes, etc. It's deep and light at the same time, and can be quite funny. When you think things are on a certain path, the plot will turn and leave you quite surprised.

Great book!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: Nineveh

Nineveh by Henrietta Rose-Innes
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For someone that hates bugs as much as I do, this would not be the ideal selection. Curiously, I didn't mind the bugs at all, and there are quite a few of them.

Katya Grubbs (quite a good name for someone in the pest business) is not an exterminator, as she values the lives of the creepers and crawlers she is called to erase from this earth, but a relocator, taking them where they will thrive and live happily ever after, without bothering any humans.
Her father was also in the business, but a traditional exterminator and quite a nasty human being.

When Katya is hired by a local (and very rich) businessman to eradicate the pests in an estate he constructed (the Nineveh of the title), she is faced with a huge problem. The whole place is uninhabitable due to some very strange bugs. To her surprise, her father was involved before her in this, which is not good news.

Good plot, good characters, a very good book from a new to me author.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: The Confidant

The Confidant by Hélène Grémillon
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a dual timeline novel, that alternates between 1975 and the years before-during-after WWII.

In 1975, in Paris, Camille has just lost her mother when she receives a long, unsigned letter. She tries to find the anonymous sender to no avail, and she keeps getting letters about a woman named Annie and a man called Louis, describing their lives during the Second WW. Somehow, she feels this must be related to her, but doesn't understand why or how.

I thought I'd had my share of WWII books, but this one reads as a mystery, which happens to be one of my favorite genres, and although it speaks of the horrors of the war (no way not to mention them), it's more about the people.

It's also about Camille and the decisions she will make with her life, and how the letters influence her 30 years later after the events the letters narrate.

Great book, beautifully written and translated.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes

The Whole Art of Detection: Lost Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes by Lyndsay Faye
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While I did like this book and enjoyed reading it, I didn't love it.
My mistake, perhaps, as the same has happened to me with the "remakes" of Agatha Christie's books. You have great characters, good plots and amazing writers but the whole doesn't seem to gel together.

I've been a Sherlock Holmes fan since I was quite young, and I've re read most of the books several times. The plots are very smart and Sherlock Holmes and Watson flow through the books, where their personalities complement each other and grow with each book.

In this book, some of the stories were much better than others, that is that I found them quite uneven. Also, I can't picture Holmes and his relations with women as they are described in this book. And Watson is not as interesting as in the original stories.

Overall, a pleasant read but not comparable to the original.


I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: The Front Seat Passenger

The Front Seat Passenger by Pascal Garnier
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another small-great book by Pascal Garnier.

When I first started reading this book, there was a sense of dèjá vu. A man learns his wife has been killed in an accident; she was a passenger in a car driven by her lover. The widower, Fabien, then decides to stalk and befriend the lover's widow.

The part where the plot is not like any other one is that it was written by Pascal Garnier, a master in describing strange people, with many issues, in strange circumstances. Most of the characters in the books I've read by Garnier are not what you can call "normal".

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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Review: The Suicide Shop

The Suicide Shop by Jean Teulé
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In a not so distant future, where religions are all mixed into one and smiling is not a normal thing, the Tuvache family owns a suicide shop. That is, a shop full of artifacts to aid the general and depressed public in ending their life swiftly and safely.

The family is composed of Mishima, the father, Lucrèce the mother, Marilyn the daughter and Alan and Vincent, the sons. Perfect names for their profession.

But Alan, the youngest is not normal. He smiles, he sees life as beautiful and in a subtle way, changes all that surrounds him.

This little book (it's less than 200 pages long) is full of black macabre humor. And the ending... the ending is perfect!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

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