JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

One Way by S.J. Morden

A murder mystery set on the frozen red wastes of Mars.
Eight astronauts. One killer. No way home.

WE STAND AT THE DAWN OF A NEW ERA

Frank Kittridge is serving life for murdering his son’s drug dealer. So when he’s offered a deal by Xenosystems Operations – the company that runs the prison – he takes it, even though it means swapping one life sentence for another.

THERE HAS NEVER BEEN A BETTER TIME TO BE ALIVE

He’s been selected to help build the first permanent base on Mars. Unfortunately, his crewmates are just as guilty of their crimes as he is – and he’ll have to learn to trust them if they’re to succeed.

THE FUTURE OF SPACE TRAVEL IS IN SAFE HANDS

As the convicts set to work on the frozen wastes of Mars, the accidents multiply. Until Frank begins to suspect they might not be accidents at all . . .

XENOSYSTEMS OPERATIONS: MAKING DREAMS A REALITY

There’s a murderer amongst them, and everyone’s a suspect.

One Way by SJ Morden is a murder mystery science fiction novel set on Mars. Protagonist Frank Kitteridge has two options: journey to Mars to help build a base for scientists, or remain in prison with a life sentence. What would you choose if you were him?

This may be science fiction, but it’s also a thriller. Frank is sent to Mars among other convicted criminals, and as people start dying, Frank realises that they’ve been murdered. He must find out who is killing and why, before they come for him.

“He checked his air. Twenty per cent. That gave him nominally…OK, that wasn’t a good sign. He should have been able to just come up with a number. He was good with numbers, calculating quantities and part-loads in his head and getting it right. An hour and forty-five.”

The novel is too predictable, unfortunately. It followed a fairly standard plot — one by one people start dying and then right at the end we find out who did it. Additionally, it was quite obvious early on who the murderer was. I didn’t find the ending surprising or shocking.

The pacing was a little uneven; the story took too long to get started. And the pacing was jolted by the need for technical jargon and logistics thrown into the story. There was a lot of set up needed, and I wondered if S.J Morden could’ve begun the novel at a different point to make it more intriguing for the reader.

I found myself skim reading a lot of the book because of all the technical detail. Yes, most of it needed to be there but I do think some of the specific information could’ve been cut. Unless you’re a scientist or astronaut, you’re going to struggle to understand a lot of it and then your interest might wane.

“Frank unplugged it from the RTG, and removed the hoses that fed oxygen to the ship, and he and Zeus — mainly Zeus — lifted it onto a trailer. They coiled up the power lead and the hoses, put them in an empty drum, and collected the empty reserve tanks: big, black, lightweight cylinders made of carbon fibre.”

Frank is a great protagonist. He’s three dimensional and the reader really sympathises for him. He murdered his son’s drug dealer and ever since being convicted and sent to jail, his wife and son have seemingly abandoned him. He’s alone, and he accepts this mission because he wants his son to be proud of him.

I don’t think the other criminals are as layered as Frank. In fact, they felt a little like cardboard cut outs who were only in the story so they could get murdered and further the plot. They could’ve been further developed — particularly their backstories — so that the reader felt something when they died.

As a result, it is hard for the reader to feel the suspense or the tension as the novel progresses. I found myself reading the book to get to the end, but I wasn’t particularly hooked and I think I could’ve stopped reading the book and it wouldn’t have bothered me.

I would recommend this to people who love science fiction, because the technical terminology and the space logistics will really interest them. I don’t think this is best targeted at fans of mysteries or thrillers, because I think the ending is too predictable and you’ll see the twist coming quite early on.

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

One Way
S.J. Morden
April 2018
Hachette Book Publishers

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

When you read this book, you will make many assumptions.

You will assume you are reading about a jealous wife and her obsession with her replacement.

You will assume you are reading about a woman about to enter a new marriage with the man she loves.

You will assume the first wife was a disaster and that the husband was well rid of her.

You will assume you know the motives, the history, the anatomy of the relationships.

Assume nothing.

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen is a chilling novel about the complexities of marriage and what we fail to see when we’re so blinded by love.

Vanessa Thompson has recently split from her husband, hedge fund manager Richard. She is devastated to hear that he’s now engaged to the woman he left her for. She’s a bit of a mess. She can’t seem to hold a job, she’s living with her Aunt, and she’s obsessed with Richard’s new fiancé. Vanessa becomes so obsessed with Richard’s fiancé that she starts to stalk the two of them. And then just when the reader feels like they understand what’s going on, the story starts to twist and turn and you realise that what you thought you knew was wrong.

“I hurry across town, ignoring the man who tries to shove a flyer into my hand. My legs feel shaky, but I press on toward the entrance to Central Park…Maureen is probably at the restaurant by now. Richard would have ordered a nice wine; savoury bread would be placed on the table. Perhaps the three of them are clinking glasses, toasting to the future.”

This novel is not what it seems, with more surprises than I thought there would be. Vanessa is broken; Richard’s new girlfriend is hopeful, happy and in love. The two characters seem to be pretty stereotypical at first, Vanessa being the bitter wife and the new girlfriend being the victim.

But as the reader continues to delve into this tale, they learn that things are not as clear cut as they first appeared to be. These women are not as clear cut as they are first portrayed.

I won’t give anything away, but I will admit that I guessed the first twist. About halfway through the novel, the reader realises something about these women, and I saw it coming. Not because of the writing, though. Greer and Sarah have done a marvellous job of weaving this tale. I saw the twist coming because of the blurb (above). The way the book is described means that I was on the lookout for any way that this plot could be misleading. And as a result, I was able to guess one of the major twists within the first couple of chapters.

“This is good.”
“I remembered you told me once lamb vindaloo was your favourite dish.”
“I said that?” Richard bent his head to take a forkful of rice.
I’d felt puzzled. Hadn’t he?

Greer & Sarah have done a great job with the pacing, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat and enticing us to turn every page hastily. I was desperate to find out how they would wrap up the book, and I found it rather satisfying.

This is a quick read, with short chapters and a lot of shifting back and forth in time. Interwoven throughout the books are flashback scenes so that we come to understand why Vanessa’s marriage to Richard ended so abruptly. After a series of failed attempts at conceiving a child, their marriage deteriorated and Vanessa started drinking a lot and Richard ended up having an affair and leaving her.

The Wife Between Us reminded me of The Girl on the Train, and just like with that book, any reader who picks up this book will have no trouble following the story. The Wife Between Us is haunting and harrowing. All of the characters are flawed, and we are also dealing with an unreliable narrator so the reader has to work hard to determine what is real and what is fake. All of this allows for an addictive read!

I recommend this to readers of crime and thriller fiction. But if you’re a frequent reader of that genre you may see the twist coming like I did, so perhaps don’t think too much of the blurb or the twist will be spoiled for you as well.

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

The Wife Between Us
Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
February 2018
Pan Macmillan Publishers

The Confession by Jo Spain

You find out who did it on the very first page.On the last page, you’ll find out why.

Late one night a man walks into the luxurious home of disgraced banker Harry McNamara and his wife Julie. The man launches an unspeakably brutal attack on Harry as a horror-struck Julie watches, frozen by fear. Just an hour later the attacker, JP Carney, has handed himself in to the police. He confesses to beating Harry to death, but JP claims that the assault was not premeditated and that he didn’t know the identity of his victim.

With a man as notorious as Harry McNamara, the detectives cannot help wondering, was this really a random act of violence or is it linked to one of Harry’s many sins: corruption, greed, betrayal?

The Confession by Jo Spain is an absolute page turner — a gripping psychological thriller that will leave you guessing for the entire book.

This book is not about trying to discover who committed the crime; it’s about discovering why they committed the crime. The reader ventures into the story knowing everything about the present. Harry is a disgraced banker and together, he and his wife Julie hold many secrets. And then JP bashes Harry late one night and it seems like it was for no reason.

Over the course of the novel, we are thrown into both the past and the present. We are taken back years to when Julie and Harry first met, and we discover all about their marriage troubles and Harry’s indiscretions and the crimes he committed whilst the CEO of his bank.

In the present, Alice is the detective assigned to the case and she’s having trouble believing that JP’s assault was not premeditated. She delves deeper into Harry’s past in an attempt to uncover his secrets.

The plot and structure of the book allows for an addictive read. Just when you’re reading about Harry and Julie’s wedding and the suspicious activities going on, you’re then thrust back into the present where Alice is uncovering evidence about the attack. The way this book is written means that I was desperate to keep going, and eager to get to the end of each thread to find out what happened.

“Toby was wrong. Harry wasn’t back within the week. I let him stew for a whole month…I was consumed with guilt but too full of self-pity and heartbreak to do anything about it.”

None of the characters in this book are likeable. Harry is manipulative and controlling. He may never physically harm Julie, but he does mentally. He is incredibly conniving, lying to her and twisting his words. He also encourages her to work less so that they can spend more time together, but then he isn’t home with her and she has to spend a lot of time alone. Additionally, Julie struggles to get pregnant for the years that they are together and Harry grows incredibly distant. Soon, Julie grows paranoid and becomes an alcoholic.

Julie is a weak character. She is portrayed as a person who has been so manipulated by her husband that she chooses to turn a blind eye to his bad behaviour. However, I felt like the characterisation wasn’t really there. Instead of really showing us how Julie has been brainwashed by Harry, Jo Spain tells us through Julie’s internal monologues. There’s a point in the novel where it’s really obvious that Harry is cheating on her and yet Julie decides not to witness it because once she witnesses it, then it becomes real.

“I knew I was being a coward, but I couldn’t bear physical witness to my husband cheating. I’d wait until he came back and confront him,once I’d got everybody out of the house. Once I’d summoned up the courage.”

As you can guess, she never really does confront him. She prefers to act blind to it, even though this doesn’t fit the character she was first introduced to us as. At the beginning of the novel, she’s portrayed as a strong character who refuses to be pushed around. But there seems to be no transition into this weak, timid character. Straight away, she’s being cowardice and it makes no sense to the reader. It’s actually incredibly frustrating. And then Julie says things like this and I realise she’s actually my least favourite character in the entire book:

“She’s not an ugly woman, I realize, despite her pear shape. Her hair is awful, sure. Greasy and thin, an insipid brown scraped back in a severe, unforgiving ponytail. But her face is very pleasant.”

I definitely think the second half of the book is stronger than the first half. Until about midway through the book, the reader is still blind to a lot of things, so I felt a little in the dark. Plus, Julie is so unlikable and at times I wish she were the one who was attacked. But as you read the second half of the book and Harry’s manipulation grows and Julie’s state of mind fractures even further, the details of JP’s history comes to light. We start to understand why he was there that night and how his life intersected with Julie and Harry’s. And the ending is rather satisfying.

I read this book in a matter of days. Once I’d hit that turning point halfway through the novel where things started to fall into place, I was desperate to get to the end. If you love crime and thriller novels, then you’ll love this. Just be warned: you won’t warm to any of the characters and Julie is just as frustrating as she is naive.

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

The Confession
Jo Spain
January 2018
Hachette Publishers

The Dry by Jane Harper

The Dry is crime fiction set in the small country town of Kiewarra. Luke Hadler, a struggling farmer, has turned a gun on his wife and child, and then himself. It appears that the years of punishing drought had finally tipped Luke over the edge, causing him to murder his wife and child and leave one sole survivor: his baby daughter. Federal police investigator Aaron Falk, 36, returns home to Kiewarra for the funerals after twenty years away. After Luke’s parents plead with him to look into the case, Falk decides to stay on and investigates the deaths, just in case Luke’s family were actually murdered.

Jane Harper has done a wonderful job of illustrating a closed in environment – a small town where everyone knows everyone and secrets don’t stay hidden for long. Kiewarra is suffering a drought, causing all the farmers to struggle and tensions to rise. Jane Harper has written the dry Australian outback very well, drawing in the reader with this vast open setting. At times, the reader feels claustrophobic, their world getting smaller and smaller with each accusation or twist in the plot. We can feel the tension building between the characters and we start to suspect everyone who comes into the book.

The Dry is written beautifully. It’s a slow build, with sly comments and throwaway sentences that could just as easily be clues to the mystery, and the reader isn’t sure what to take note of and what to cast aside. It becomes a guessing game, suspecting everyone in the town. In a crime novel, it can be frustrating when the clues are too obvious but the detective can’t see it. But in The Dry, Falk is smarter than the reader. He joins the dots faster than we could and his character helps propel the story forward and keep the reader interested.

“When Aaron Falk was eleven, he’d seen Mal Deacon turn his own flock into a staggering, bleeding mess using shearing clippers and a brutal hand. Aaron had felt an ache swell in his chest as he, Luke and Elli had watched one sheep after another brawled to the ground of the Deacons’ shed with a sharp twist and sliced too close to the skin.”

I thought the ending to this book would be a massive twist. But the reasons why Luke Hadler’s family died really couldn’t have been guessed, so I felt a little cheated. I like to read thrillers like this and then get to the end and think ‘oh I can’t believe I didn’t guess that’. But you really can’t guess the ending to this book. There’s no twist or turn or surprise. Just an explanation.

One of my only criticisms of the book was that I did feel like the characters were a little too light. Falk felt like a cardboard cut-out to me, with so much information left out about him that I felt like I didn’t really know him well and in turn, I didn’t really care about him as much as I would’ve like to. I cared more for the mystery than the characters in the story, and I felt like I should’ve cared about both of those elements.

But, for any readers who love crime fiction and thrillers, this mystery will envelop you and keep you intrigued until the very last page. The writing is beautiful and the characters are realistic and the setting is brilliant. A fantastic premise for a crime fiction debut, and very well executed by Jane Harper.

The Dry
Jane Harper
May 2016
Pan Macmillan Publishers