Book Review: A History of Fear

A History of Fear, by Luke Dumas

Publisher’s description for A History of Fear, by Luke Dumas:

“The Devil is in Scotland.

Grayson Hale, the most infamous murderer in Scotland, is better known by a different name: the Devil’s Advocate. The twenty-five-year-old American grad student rose to instant notoriety when he confessed to the slaughter of his classmate Liam Stewart, claiming the Devil made him do it.

When Hale is found hanged in his prison cell, officers uncover a handwritten manuscript that promises to answer the question that’s haunted the nation for years: was Hale a lunatic, or had he been telling the truth all along?”

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Five stars. A History of Fear is atmospheric, creepy, and unlike anything I’ve read before. A slow burning, uneasy read that keeps you off-kilter throughout. Masterfully done, Dumas lays the groundwork thread by agonizing thread to keep you on your toes, never knowing what to expect or who to trust. With the protagonist’s somewhat odd and arm’s-length writing style, you’re somehow both sucked in and unnerved, not sure what’s happening or what is coming. I was hooked and especially could not read the second half fast enough. All the way through to the very end you’re sure there is still more coming—and you’re not wrong.

This is a perfect spooky season read. I only wish it were going to be available before December!

Book Review: Last Summer at the Golden Hotel

Publisher’s Description for Last Summer at the Golden Hotel by Alissa Friedland

A family reunion for the ages when two clans convene for the summer at their beloved getaway in the Catskills.

In its heyday, The Golden Hotel was the crown jewel of the hotter-than-hot Catskills vacation scene. For more than sixty years, the Goldman and Weingold families – best friends and business partners – have presided over this glamorous resort which served as a second home for well-heeled guests and celebrities. But the Catskills are not what they used to be – and neither is the relationship between the Goldmans and the Weingolds. As the facilities and management begin to fall apart, a tempting offer to sell forces the two families together again to make a heart-wrenching decision. Can they save their beloved Golden or is it too late?

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You know how some books just grab you? I loved this one so much and couldn’t put it down. A perfect distracting summer read. Multi-generational families and lifelong friendships coalesce around a hotel-resort in upstate New York. Intrigue! Secrets! A looming decision! Long intertwined histories! Nostalgia! This is a perfect summer read.

It took me a little bit to figure out who all the characters are (there are a TON of characters) but once I did I was IN. I couldn’t read this book fast enough.

Book Review: The Bookshop of Second Chances

Photo from amazon.com

Publisher’s description for The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser:

Set in a charming little Scottish town, The Bookshop of Second Chances is an uplifting story of fresh starts and new beginnings by a hugely talented debut author.
 
Thea’s having a bad month. Not only has she been made redundant, she’s also discovered her husband of nearly twenty years is sleeping with one of her friends. And he’s not sorry – he’s leaving.
 
Bewildered and lost, Thea doesn’t know what to do. But, when she learns the great-uncle she barely knew has died and left her his huge collection of second-hand books and a house in the Scottish Lowlands, she seems to have been offered a second chance.
 
Running away to a little town where no one knows her seems like exactly what Thea needs. But when she meets the aristocratic Maltravers brothers – grumpy bookshop owner Edward and his estranged brother Charles, Lord Hollinshaw – her new life quickly becomes just as complicated as the life she was running from...

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3/5 stars

What happens when Evvie Drake lands in a Jenny Colgan novel? This book. A recently divorced middle-aged woman finds herself in a tiny Scotland town where she has inherited a house and starts working in a bookshop. It was a cozy read I devoured in a few days. I love sinking in to a small town British setting like this book has. On paper it has everything I like in a book!

But I had a couple of fairly major issues with it that ultimately bring down the rating. First, everything happens far too fast in the first chapter. The pacing was off. Come to find out, the first chapter was submitted to publishers as part of a contest, and once I knew that it made perfect sense. That uneven feeling carried through the book. I wanted more emotion and background about the main character's relationship with her ex-husband, more about her sorting through her feelings rather than brushing them off. Her response to his cheating and suddenly dumping her after decades largely comes across as 'Eh, I wasn't happy about it but I didn't want to be a jerk to him.' ?!?! And then, finally, and the reason I can't give this more than three stars even though there was a lot of it I enjoyed, is that the reader is asked to not only overlook abusive and discriminatory behavior from a character who literally forbids women working for him, but to ultimately somehow find it charming and fall in love with him a little. I am very over giving hateful men a pass. We can understand the reasons for this behavior without condoning it or needing it in our life. And the thing is, at times he was very charming and I did like him! So this aspect of his character just seemed like an unnecessary plot device.

All of which is to say, I read fast because I like the setting and the concept and I couldn’t figure out how I felt about the book. Ultimately, the character development was uneven and at times frustrating, and I ended the book with a lot of questions and some irritation. I think with sharper editing, tightened pacing, and cutting out some of the unnecessary extreme behavior, this book could be great.

Thank you, NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC!