JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

The Others by Mark Brandi

On his eleventh birthday, Jacob’s father gives him a diary. To write about things that happen. About what he and his father do on their farm. About the sheep, the crop, the fox and the dam. But Jacob knows some things should not be written down. Some things should not be remembered.

The only things he knows for sure are what his father has taught him. Sheltered, protected, isolated. But who is his father protecting him from? And how far will his father go to keep the world at bay?

All too soon, Jacob will learn that, sometimes, people do the most terrible things.

Firmly establishing himself as a master of crime and thriller, Mark Brandi’s latest novel The Others is another haunting tale.

Set on remote farmland and largely written in diary form, The Others follows an 11-year-old boy as he documents his day-to-day interactions with his overly protective but secretive father. Just who are the others he keeps talking about? And is Jacob actually in any real danger?

“So I have to stay home, and I have to stay in my room. It’s just in case the others come. I don’t mind staying home so much, because it gives me time to do my own things. Sometimes, I hear gunshots from somewhere in the bush. It must be a long way away, because it takes a long time for sound to travel.”

The Others reminds me a little of Room by Emma Donoghue. We only get snippets of the truth because we’re experiencing everything through the mind of an innocent child. Jacob looks to his father as protector, however his father is anything but.

As the reader, you know that Jacob is being fed lies and you witness him start to realise that his beloved parental figure might not be entirely truthful. It’s about following the story as the tension builds, pacing increases and you wonder how the tale is going to unfold.

Strengths lie in Jacob’s voice – he’s young and innocent, and quite naïve. But he’s not annoying or frustrating as a narrator. He is both insightful and present within his surroundings. His childlike voice offered a new perspective to Brandi’s novels, which haven’t yet delved into this kind of protagonist yet. It felt like something unique to his repertoire, and fans of his work will appreciate the pivot.

“He cooked it good this time. He always cooks the meat and I do the porridge. That’s the deal. He served it up and it was nicer, with the crispy bits, and the meat cooked right through.”

I did find that the book ended with a lot of unanswered questions, particularly around the women out hiking. The woman seemed to know Jacob’s father, so I’m not sure why he felt so threatened by her. And it perhaps felt a little unrealistic that the woman managed to find Jacob’s cabin so easily, when later in the novel we are told just how incredibly remote and difficult to discover it actually is?

And was Jacob’s mother actually sick? Jacob’s memory seemed to imply she was bedridden for a long time, but the revelation at the end seems to contradict that. Perhaps there was a bit of scope to reveal some of that information, particularly during those short sections where we’re with Jacob when he’s an adult.

Also, when is this novel set? It’s not necessary to know this, but talks of sickness and plague and illness made me think this was all fictional, but another reviewer interpreted this novel to be set post-COVID.

“The soft eyes are worse than when he gets angry. They hang around like the fog. Like the fog on the hill in winter. That’s what it’s like. But when he gets angry, even if the whites of his eyes scare me, it passes pretty quick.”

Overall a really entertaining novel and very quick to read – more pages than paragraphs, it felt. I ripped through this in one afternoon and really enjoyed it. The Others is engaging and atmospheric, and recommended for readers of crime, thriller and mystery. Readership skews 25+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Others
Mark Brandi
July 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

The Husbands by Chandler Baker

Welcome to the neighbourhood. We do things differently here.

Recently, Nora has started to feel that ‘having it all’ – a family, a soon-to-be new house, a successful career in law – comes with a price, one her husband doesn’t seem to be paying quite so heavily. She loves Hayden, but why is it that, however hard men work, their wives always seem to work that much harder?

Then her house-hunting takes them to an affluent suburban neighbourhood and Nora’s eyes are opened to a new world. One where women can have it all. One where the men actually pull their weight.

But a wrongful death case involving one of the local residents draws Nora further into this perfect world and she begins to realise that the secret of ‘having it all’ is far more complicated than she could ever have imagined. In fact, it may be worth killing for…

Feminist thriller The Husbands is Chandler Baker’s second novel, this time set in an affluent suburban community in Austin Texas, where the residents aren’t as they seem and protagonist Nora gets sucked into solving a strange house fire.

The Husbands is very reminiscent of Stepford Wives, where behaviour doesn’t quite have an explanation and each domestic relationship holds countless secrets. The Husbands imagines an environment where husbands pull their weight and responsibility is shared equally — an environment I’m sure many female readers wish existed.

“But he looked so sad. It was her fault — she’d been the one to go and marry an extrovert. And he’d really wanted to have one with Liv, only Nora had never gotten around to planning it. And anyway, he promised, promised, that they weren’t those kinds of parents.”

Strengths lie in the pacing and build-up of tension, drip-feeding clues to the reader and enticing us to keep flicking to the next chapter. The Husbands will please fans of thrillers and mysteries.

The characterisation of Nora will resonate with the reader, as Chandler does well to capture her frazzled, frustrated state of mind. She’s fed up and at the end of her tether, and Chandler captures moments of tension between Nora and her husband with relatable dialogue and scenes.

“Nora finds much of the explanation has flown over her head: Maybe she has one of those interrupted neural pathways. Science always makes her feel like a dimwit. But she makes an encouraging noise as they continue to walk and talk through the next corridor, where closed doors line either side.”

The premise of the novel isn’t anything new, nor is Nora’s character arc. A determined career woman trying to juggle a career and a family, with very little help from her dopey husband, feels like quite a common plot. But the mystery surrounding the Dynasty Ranch neighbourhood and the strange house fire that killed a man does add another layer to it that separates it from the rest of the genre.

I do wish the revelations at the end — in particular, the backstory provided by Cornelia — was less of an info dump. Cornelia’s truth would’ve been more interesting to discover had Nora stumbled upon some of it herself, instead of Cornelia just blurting it all out at the end of the book like a horror movie.

“Nora and Francine linger a moment longer, sizing one another up. Nora tries to sort through what her role here is, attempts to calculate which would be worse, to tell Cornelia and Asher or not to.”

Clever and twisty, The Husbands is recommended for readers of contemporary fiction and thriller — part murder mystery part domestic psychological thriller. Readership skews female, 30+

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Husbands
Chandler Baker
July 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

The Eighth Wonder by Tania Farrelly

New York, 1897. The richest city in the world.

Beautiful, young and privileged, Rose Kingsbury Smith is expected to play by the strict rules of social etiquette, to forfeit all career aspirations and to marry a man of good means. But she has a quietly rebellious streak and is determined to make her own mark on Manhattan’s growing skyline. When the theft of a precious heirloom plunges the Kingsbury Smiths into financial ruin, Rose becomes her family’s most tradeable asset. She finds herself fighting for her independence and championing the ideal of equality for women everywhere.

Enigmatic Ethan Salt’s inglorious circus days are behind him. He lives a quiet life on Coney Island with his beloved elephant Daisy and is devoted to saving animals who’ve been brutalised by show business. As he struggles to raise funds for his menagerie, he fears he will never build the sanctuary of his dreams … until a chance encounter with a promising young architect changes his life forever.

Just when Rose is on the verge of seeing her persistence pay off, the ghosts of her past threaten to destroy everything she holds dear. In the face of heartbreaking prejudice and betrayal, she must learn to harness her greatest wonder within.

Historical fiction at its finest, Tania Farrelly’s debut novel The Eighth Wonder is a sweeping saga that will take readers all over New York and Coney Island in 1897, an incredibly progressive era for visionaries and creative individuals who dared to dream.

Written in third person, we meet the beautiful and wealthy Rose just as her family loses an expensive heirloom to a thief. Soon, they’re struggling to pay the bills and the stress placed on her family forces Rose’s mother to encourage a marriage – something Rose never wanted. It forces Rose to be look for success elsewhere, in an effort to save her family from destitution.

“Rose hovered for a moment, her mind reeling with the truth about Jack. For a moment she just stood there, rooted to the spot, feeling a strange mix of betrayal and hurt. She pressed her hand to her throat, as if it might smooth her breathing.”

The Eighth Wonder shines a light on women who exceeded expectations and followed their instincts. Rose is an intelligent visionary, desperate for more than a future as a wife and mother. She has to fight society’s expectations of her, as well as her own mother. Her father too sometimes doubts her, although there’s clearly a very strong relationship between the two that gives Rose strength and drive to pursue her passion for architecture.

Rose’s character development comes with acknowledging her elitism and privilege, and there’s a pretty striking scene where she ventures into another area of New York and is confronted with the harsh realities of how the other half live. Over time, she comes to realise there’s more to life than riches. It’s about staying true to yourself, and those you love.

“Once, he would have made a run for it. But now that he stood a full six foot four and a half inches in bare feet and had a face that invited second glances, he’d discovered the most effective way to escape any threat was to stay cool.”

Rose’s love of architecture was an interesting addition to the plot, and something I loved reading. Architecture would’ve been such a male-dominated industry in the late 1800s New York City, so watching Rose persevere through setbacks, more determined than ever, was heart-warming.

Animal welfare is another theme explored in the book, and as I understand it, inspired by true events. Reading about Jake and Ethan and their determination to limit abuse to animals was a touching element to the story.

Tania’s writing is stripped and sleek, it’s hard to accept this is a debut. This slots into the historical fiction genre effortlessly.

“For the first time ever, Rose doubted whether he would defend her. She wished the floor would open up and swallow her whole, especially on seeing Edith take her place by the mantel and swirl the brandy Rose had wrongly assumed was for her father.”

The Eighth Wonder is recommended for fans of historical fiction. Readership skews female, 30+

Thank you to the publisher for mailing me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

This review is featured by Twinkl in their blog about the latest must-read books. See more recommendations and get involved at Book Lovers’ Top Picks For Your 2021 TBR List.

The Eighth Wonder
Tania Farrelly
July 2021
Penguin Random House Publishers

The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry

‘If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.’

In Queens, New York, 22-year-old real estate agent Madison May is showing a house. The buyer, a man she’s never met, is friendly, engaging . . . and claims to be her soulmate from a parallel life. She’s in danger, he tells her. He’s come to save her.

Later that day, newspaper journalist Felicity Staples is assigned to report on Madison May’s murder. Discontent with her own life, Felicity finds herself drawn into a shocking conspiracy involving a powerful group who have harnessed the ability to slip between lives – to move between one version of reality to another.

On the run, turned into an imposter in her own life, Felicity is forced to seek the truth behind Madison May, the woman who is murdered over and over, in different ways, wherever she goes. For only by saving Madison May can Felicity reassemble the broken pieces of herself.

Max Barry’s The 22 Murders of Madison May is a parallel-universe thriller about a crazed psychopath and his incessant, unexplained need to travel between different worlds to kill the same girl, over and over — Madison May.

We meet Madison in the opening chapter. She’s a young real estate agent showing a new listing to a potential buyer. Before long, he’s professing his love for her. And then he’s stabbing her to death. When reporter Felicity Staples is assigned the story, she’s suddenly thrust into an inter-dimensional saga that has her leaping through time in an effort to save Madison May.

“She sprawled on the tracks, banging her chin and elbow and knee. Her bag hit the ground and vomited forth her belongings. She raised her head quickly, because there was a train approaching, she recalled, a train, its lights blooming, and as she did, the air split with a bone-rattling blast from its horn.”

Barry’s novel is very good — so good I ripped through the story in one day. This is the very definition of a cat-and-mouse chase.

The world-building is complex enough to be interesting and draw the reader in, but not so complicated that it’s hard for readers to follow. Everything about this novel is comprehensible and easy to follow.

In each new world, Felicity’s life is very similar, with a few exceptions. Perhaps her boyfriend suddenly knows how to cook, or one of her cats doesn’t exist. Her job is the same, and her apartment as well, but her furniture might be different. And in every new world, Madison May has the same aspirations and the same friends, but her life is in a different place. She’s a real estate agent or a waitress, or perhaps she’s trying to make it as an actress.

Once we’ve moved on from one world, we never go back again, so the story is always progressing in a forward motion and there’s always something new to discover when we meet Madison May again and again and again. The poor girl just keeps getting murdered, and yet Felicity is determined to save her, even though she knows that when she moves into another world, she’ll never be able to go back to her old life. She’s moving further and further away from her own reality.

Experimenting with notions of the space-time continuum, The 22 Murders of Madison May is certainly something I could see playing out on the big screen.

“She didn’t want to give up the egg. It was practically the only thing she had: the only thing that had come with her aside from the clothes she’d been wearing. But she couldn’t hide it for much longer. Eventually, they would find it.”

There’s a small cast of characters, which allows Barry to capture each with depth and believability. Each new world is an alternate construction of Madison May, and how she intersects with Felicity, Clay and Hugo. Occasionally, secondary characters make an appearance.

I’ll admit, there didn’t seem to be as much introspection for Felicity as I would’ve expected. She doesn’t seem particularly stricken to discover she can never go back to her old life, and she seems to cast aside her job rather quickly — so quickly I forgot her job existed at all. Her character development is about embracing the life you’re given and not dwelling on what’s lost, but still, I expected a bit more reflection from her character. Psychologically, shouldn’t she be more affected by what she’s facing?

“She didn’t dare turn. But she saw his eyes shift. The hand holding the knife moved lower, hovering between the front seats like the fang of a snake. He would let the car pass, she saw. If she moved, he would stab her, but his plan was to kill her after it had gone.”

Chilling and clever, and progressing at breakneck speed, The 22 Murders of Madison May is a joy to devour. For fans of crime, thriller and mystery novels. Readership skews 20+

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The 22 Murders of Madison May
Max Barry
July 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

A hug in book form – the number one Sunday Times bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive rethinks the self-help book.

Nothing is stronger than a small hope that doesn’t give up.

The Comfort Book is a collection of little islands of hope. It gathers consolations and stories that give new ways of seeing ourselves and the world. Matt Haig’s mix of philosophy, memoir and self-reflection builds on the wisdom of philosophers and survivors through the ages, from Marcus Aurelius to Nellie Bly, Emily Dickinson to James Baldwin.

This is the book to pick up when you need the wisdom of a friend, the comfort of a hug or just to celebrate the messy miracle of being alive.

The most powerful moment in life is when you decide not to be scared anymore.

Anyone who has read a Matt Haig book before will know what they’re in for with this one. The Comfort Book is a reassuring, uplifting collection of anecdotes, lessons, advice and reflections to help even the most secure of people feel loved and supported.

There’ll be something for every reader in this book. Some stories won’t resonate, but others will. Some advice won’t help, but there will be advice that will. There’ll be reflections you won’t be able to relate to, and then there’ll be reflections that you will. Sit back, put away your phone, and delve into this book. It’s exactly as the blurb describes — a warm hug, in book form.

“You don’t have to continually improve yourself to love yourself. Love is not something you only deserve if you reach a goal. The world is a world of pressure but don’t let it squeeze your self-compassion. You were born worthy of love and you remain worthy of love. Be kind to yourself.”

Like his previous works, this book isn’t very long, and there aren’t a lot of words on the pages. I breezed through this in one sitting, and then found prime placement on my shelf for this book to stand tall.

Each page offers a terse, brief pearl of wisdom, perhaps even a listicle. The Comfort Book allows for reflection and contemplation, and prompts the reader to think beyond the page and into the various aspects of their life. There are a couple of personal stories in here, but mostly this book feels very open-ended, allowing the reader to insert themselves to each scenario that they feel relation to.

“The sky isn’t more beautiful if you have perfect skin. Music doesn’t sound more interesting if you have a six-pack. Dogs aren’t better company if you’re famous. Pizza tastes good regardless of your job title. The best of life exists beyond the things we are encouraged to crave.”

Stylistically, there is no linear narrative to this book. You can read it in whichever order you would like, as slow as quick as you’d like. Each new page offers a new perspective or learning, so nothing carries over to the next page. This is a great read for people who aren’t seasoned readers, because it doesn’t feel like an overwhelming task to delve in. A beautiful book like this could be a great coffee table gift for a friend, family member or loved one.

“We grow through hard times. Growth is change. And when everything is easy, we have no reason to change. The most painful moments in life expand us. And when the pain leaves, space remains. Space we can fill with life itself.”

Matt Haig’s The Comfort Book should be embraced by all readers, not just those in need of reassurance. It’s a beautiful package and a very quick read, and deserves placement on a bookshelf for those difficult times when you really need a bit of guidance. Readership skews 25+

Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

The Comfort Book
Matt Haig
July 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers