JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

Billy Summers by Stephen King

Billy Summers is a man in a room with a gun. He’s a killer for hire and the best in the business. But he’ll do the job only if the target is a truly bad guy. And now Billy wants out. But first there is one last hit. Billy is among the best snipers in the world, a decorated Iraq war vet, a Houdini when it comes to vanishing after the job is done. So what could possibly go wrong?

How about everything.

This spectacular can’t-put-it-down novel is part war story, part love letter to small town America and the people who live there, and it features one of the most compelling and surprising duos in King fiction, who set out to avenge the crimes of an extraordinarily evil man. It’s about love, luck, fate, and a complex hero with one last shot at redemption.

You won’t put this story down, and you won’t forget Billy.

Stephen King’s latest thriller, Billy Summers, follows an ex-marine contract killer whose final kill turns out to be more complex than originally planned.

When Billy is offered an extraordinary amount of money to kill a convicted killer, he bunkers down in an office building for months under a new identity — he’s pretending to be a man writing a novel, so people won’t suspect him of foul play and he’ll have optimal range when it comes time to make the shot.

But there’s something about this one last job that feels uncomfortable. The escape plan seems foolproof, but Billy has an inkling he’s being played. And soon after he kills his target, it’s about more than just survival. This is where the novel really picks up.

“Hoff smiles. Probably it’s charming when he’s on his game but he’s not on it now. He’s in a room with a paid killer. That’s part of it but not all of it. This is a man who feels the walls closing in, and Billy doesn’t think it’s because Hoff suspects he might be played for a patsy. He should know but he doesn’t.”

Billy Summers is a little slow for the first third, but once Billy completes the kill he was hired for, the pacing quickens, the stakes heighten, and the novel gets very good. We meet a new character, Alice — she’s wounded, broken, complex and she offers something fresh to the novel. It’s hard to talk about the rest of the novel without giving spoilers away, but the story does venture into really dark territory, particularly pertaining to Alice.

She does, however, offer some light in the novel. Together, Billy and Alice compliment each other as they work to deal with the fallout of recent events. The novel would’ve felt a bit limiting or lonely if Billy remained solo for his journey, so the introduction of another major character was no doubt a stylistic decision to keep the story moving in an interesting and inviting way, but also to allow the chance for Billy to grow and reflect as a character. Being around Alice resembles some sort of father-daughter bond, and we witness them both grow over the course of the story.

“At some point during that summer — his season of many identities — Billy re-reads the story of Bob Raines’ death and the hearing that followed. Then he goes to the window and looks out at the courthouse, where a sheriff’s car has pulled up to the curb.”

Admittedly, there are a few moments in the book that feel a little out of joint. King suggests some sort of attraction between Billy and Alice, which doesn’t feel natural — in a post-MeToo era, this element of the book does feel a little dated and inappropriate. And the scene where Billy takes Alice in after she’s been attacked, and then examines her body and describes it to the reader, didn’t feel overly necessary. Lastly, Alice seems really eager to join Billy on his endeavours, despite knowing him very little.

“He thinks briefly of deleting everything he’s written, it’s awful, but saves it instead. He doesn’t know what anyone else might think, but Billy thinks it’s good. And good that it’s awful, because awful is sometimes the truth.”

Recommended for readers of thriller and crime. Billy Summers is a little different to the horror and fantasy reads that fans of Stephen King will be accustomed to, but I do think his fanbase will enjoy this latest offering. Readership skews male, 25+

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

Billy Summers
Stephen King
August 2021
Hachette Book Publishers

Such A Quiet Place by Megan Miranda

There was no warning that she would come back.

Welcome to Hollow’s Edge – a picture-perfect neighbourhood where everyone has each other’s backs. At least, that’s how it used to be, until the night Brandon and Fiona Truett were found dead…

Two years ago, branded a grifter, thief and sociopath by her friends and neighbours, Ruby Fletcher was convicted of murdering the Truetts. Now, freed by mistrial, Ruby has returned to Hollow’s Edge. But why would she come back? No one wants her there, least of all her old housemate, Harper Nash.

As Ruby’s return sends shockwaves through the community, terrified residents turn on each other, and it soon becomes clear that not everyone was honest about the night the Truetts died. When Harper begins to receive threatening, anonymous notes, she realizes she has to uncover the truth before someone else gets hurt… Someone like her.

Megan Miranda’s Such A Quiet Place is a suspense novel centred around a mysterious double murder in an idyllic and close-knit neighbourhood, and the young woman they all believe to have committed the crime.

When accused murderer, Ruby Fletcher, is released without charge and returns home to Hollow’s Edge after two years, everyone in town appears unsettled. What happens when another murder is committed, and it’s clear that not everyone has been truthful about their past?

“During the investigation, we had established an official neighbourhood watch. A self-imposed curfew. The remnants of our fear carried over long after. We locked our doors and the patio gates, we pulled the curtains tight, we slept with a can of Mace beside our beds – and more.”

Written in first person from the perspective of Ruby’s former roommate and friend Harper, Ruby’s characterisation and voice is probably one of the strengths of this novel. She’s somewhat blank in her delivery and evokes this all-knowing personality – like she’s spent the last two years working out what to do when she got home to Hollow’s Edge. She’s calculated but controlled, her impulsivity mostly erased. She’s not actually a great person, and certainly not someone you’d want to be friends with, but as a character she is interesting to read about.

Harper’s paranoia grows over the course of the novel, as events start to cloud her judgement and make her doubt what she remembers and what she believes. The neighbourhood and its inhabitants provide this closed-in, suffocating setting. Everyone still believes Ruby to be a murderer, and they see nothing wrong with twisting memories or events to suit their perspective.

“There was no sign of Ruby when I woke. When I stepped out of my bedroom, groggy and light-headed, the house was eerily quiet…Last night, after the news program with her lawyer, Ruby had taken a phone call and disappeared upstairs, never to re-emerge.”

There is a strong sense of voyeurism in the novel, and it forms the backbone of the story. Who are we behind closed doors, compared with how the public view us? Would we kill to keep our secrets? There are enough characters in the novel that the truth is hard to guess and the ending didn’t feel predictable. Whilst some reviews of this book haven’t been favourable, I devoured this in one day and loved it.

Admittedly, the pacing lacks a bit in the first half of the novel. Harper is quite timid to start, and understandingly quite wary of Ruby’s sudden arrival. It isn’t until halfway through the novel, at a neighbourhood barbecue, where a new twist means the pace and tension pick up and we’re addicted until the final page.

“We knew who didn’t make it in to work (and whether they lied about the cause); we noticed whose cars didn’t make it home at night; we saw whose recycling bins were overflowing at the edge of the driveways (though we were rarely surprised); we listened to the arguments carrying from open windows and backyards, feeling more like confidants than voyeurs.”

Fast-paced and gripping, Such A Quiet Place is recommended for readers of crime, thriller and mystery. An enticing suspense novel for even the most reluctant of readers.

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

Such A Quiet Place
Megan Miranda
August 2021
Allen & Unwin Book Publishers

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

Sixteen Horses by Greg Buchanan

She thought of the horses, of the eyes in the earth.
She thought about that number, sixteen. That strange number . . .

Near the dying English seaside town of Ilmarsh, local police detective Alec Nichols discovers sixteen horses’ heads on a farm, each buried with a single eye facing the low winter sun. After forensic veterinarian Cooper Allen travels to the scene, the investigators soon uncover evidence of a chain of crimes in the community – disappearances, arson and mutilations – all culminating in the reveal of something deadly lurking in the ground itself.

In the dark days that follow, the town slips into panic and paranoia. Everything is not as it seems. Anyone could be a suspect. And as Cooper finds herself unable to leave town, Alec is stalked by an unseen threat. The two investigators race to uncover the truth behind these frightening and insidious mysteries – no matter the cost.

Sixteen Horses is a story of enduring guilt, trauma and punishment, set in a small seaside community the rest of the world has left behind . . .

Greg Buchanan’s debut thriller Sixteen Horses is set in a small English seaside community, and follows the discovery of 16 severed horse heads on a remote farm, partially buried. The mystery soon unravels into much more than just murdered animals, drawing the reader in with secrets and a multi-layered crime.

Everyone holds secrets in the secluded town of Ilmarsh — marriages are fraught, relationships are tested, and there’s a lot for local police detective Alec Nichols to uncover. The initial crime feels quite unique to the genre, and the story takes you on quite a journey as you work to figure out who killed the sixteen horses.

“The killer had secured the horses in the ground by digging holes, dropping the heads within these holes, caking soil around the flesh, then spreading loose dirt to help the skin blend in with the surrounding earth. The purpose was to delay them being found, but not indefinitely. To make the realisation itself a moment of power.”

Similar to other rural crime novels, the strength lies in the setting. The dry, desolate, stretched town where nothing really happens but everyone manages to possess some dark secret.

Stylistically, the book feels quite jagged — stop-and-start. Quotes are scattered throughout, as well as short brief chapters. Each passing day is clearly marked, and some chapters towards the end require a re-read to grasp masked plot — twists you missed or didn’t see coming. Greg’s writing style feels very poetic and lyrical, keeping pace on each page and maintaining intrigue. There’s a dreaded feeling of foreboding as you make your way through the story, which is the sign of a great crime novel.

The ending will satisfy readers.

“The teenage angled away from the rising sun. Her whole face convulsed, forcing a sneeze out onto the damp mossy rock beside her. In the early light, droplets dribbled down into the miscoloured marsh below. The void behind her nose ached. She was alone.”

Admittedly, I did confuse some of the secondary characters with each other. Whilst written in third person, the POV does shift between quite a few different characters and after a while they all start to merge together. Perhaps the number of perspectives could’ve been stripped back?

“The journey took a few hours, enough for the specialist to feel queasy without travel sickness pills. Trains weren’t normally too bad, and driving herself, that was fine, but the carriages heaved at slight angles along the rails. Her body, her mind — they lost their balance. The world sank into nausea.”

Evocative, intelligent and haunting, crime and thriller fans will love Sixteen Horses. For those who loved The Dry and Scrublands. The genre skews towards gothic, and readership skews 20+

Warning: extreme animal abuse.

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

Sixteen Horses
Greg Buchanan
June 2021
Pan Macmillan Book Publishers

Still by Matt Nable

Darwin, Summer, 1963.

The humidity sat heavy and thick over the town as Senior Constable Ned Potter looked down at a body that had been dragged from the shallow marshland. He didn’t need a coroner to tell him this was a bad death. He didn’t know then that this was only the first. Or that he was about to risk everything looking for answers.

Late one night, Charlotte Clark drove the long way home, thinking about how stuck she felt, a 23-year-old housewife, married to a cowboy who wasn’t who she thought he was. The days ahead felt suffocating, living in a town where she was supposed to keep herself nice and wait for her husband to get home from the pub. Charlotte stopped the car, stepped out to breathe in the night air and looked out over the water to the tangled mangroves. She never heard a sound before the hand was around her mouth.

Both Charlotte and Ned are about to learn that the world they live in is full of secrets and that it takes courage to fight for what is right. But there are people who will do anything to protect themselves and sometimes courage is not enough to keep you safe.

Set in 1963 Darwin, Matt Nable’s Still is a rural crime drama that explores corruption and violence within the police force, racism, and the murder and cover-up of a local Indigenous man.

Matt’s strength lies in the story’s setting and atmosphere — the dry, humid, sticky Northern Territory. The crocodile-infested marshlands. The temperature and the desolate landscape leap off the page, contributing to a visceral and compelling rural crime story for fans of The Dry and Scrublands.

“Ned Potter, a fishing rod resting loosely on his hip, looked north. The Timor Sear in front of him, bumpy and moving in all directions, was rebounding in torn crests off the weathered edges of the rock platform he stood on. His short sandy hair moved with the wind across the sharp part on the left side of his scalp.”

Stylistically, the novel is written in third person and switches POV between policeman Ned Potter, a law-abiding but alcohol-addicted policeman who refuses to pin a local murder on two innocent men, and the young Charlotte Clark, whose marriage to her husband is not what she was anticipating. She feels trapped in her own home, craving more than the constricting life with her flawed and cheating partner.

My favourite storyline was Charlotte Clark — her storyline and her chance encounter with a beaten man propels the story forward. Whilst Ned is an interesting character, and the corruption in the town is an interesting story to unravel, I don’t think Ned could’ve carried this novel. Charlotte expands the story and the plot, and female readers may find themselves able to relate to elements of Charlotte’s life.

“Before Charlotte turned around, she saw a gust of wind sweep over the swamp and spoil the black slate of still water. The moonlight bounced off the disturbance and she caught the glowing eyes of a crocodile just before they sank beneath the water.”

Because it’s quite clear who is responsible for the murder quite early on, and because this novel is more about uncovering police corruption, Still feels quite unique in the crime genre. We’re following these characters to find out if justice will be served — this isn’t a whodunnit kind of story. Whilst this novel won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, there is plenty with these pages to keep a reader turning.

A small flaw but I did find a lot of the dialogue very unrealistic, particularly between Ned and the other policemen, and also the Mayor. The dialogue felt quite over-the-top, caricature and not at all natural. I felt that some of the masterminds behind the corruption could’ve been a bit more clever in their conversations — a bit more intimidating and coy, choosing their words carefully. As a result, some of these secondary characters, particularly the villains, felt a little underdeveloped and like cardboard cut-outs. I think there was room for more depth there, particularly in how they communicate with others.

“Ned sat across from Senior Sergeant Riley in the waiting room outside Mayor Landry’s office. They didn’t speak. Ned didn’t even look at Riley but could feel his glare. And he could hear his tongue running across his gums, loosening the remains of what he’d just eaten.”

Descriptive and gripping, Still is recommended for fans of crime, thriller and mystery. Readership skews male, 18+

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

Still
Matt Nable
June 2021
Hachette Book Publishers