I have been into reading for years now and I deeply regret why I did not start when I first learned to read! Lol. Something about being a captive of a story and a character makes me feel... relaxed. It somehow serves as a break form the norms. From your life routine. You are somewhere else. Idk if I'm making sense here, there's so much words to describe how I feel when I'm (binge) reading and one post is not enough.
So anyway, I have been into psycho crime thrillers the past months and I must admit it is rather addicting. It isn't my usual read but I have always liked those you-cannot-stop-until-you-find-answers type of stories so I wasn't surprised I binge read to the point I sleep deprived myself when I started :p
Anyway, on to the books for I'm about to talk about 9 books here. This is the first psycho crime thriller book series I've read, the first ones are stand alone books (which I'd love to talk about too soon!) and as I was searching for more, I came across one of the books from this series and the rest is history.
Book #1: Little Face — Only gone for a couple of hours, Alice Fancourt found out the baby the she comes home to is not her baby she left by with her husband. Alice insists the baby in their nursery room is not her daughter and said somebody must have swapped their baby for another. David, her husband, predicts she is either lying or is going nuts.
Book #2 Hurting Distance (Also published as 'The Truth Teller's Lie') — Falling deeply in love with a married man who suddenly vanishes, Naomi Jenkins is convinced something wrong happened to Robert Haworth and that she is not just being one of those mistresses who wants to dig into her lover's life, like the police is saying. Her suspect: Robert's wife. Naomi got an idea on how to persuade the police and look for Robert. Only to find out that this step will lead her back to something horrible that happened to her in the past.
Book #3 The Point of Rescue (Also published as 'The Wrong Mother') — Watching the news about the murder of Geraldine and Lucy Bretherick, Sally's ear rang with a familiar name mentioned on the TV: the victims' husband and father, Mark Bretherick. On a supposedly work trip turned into holiday Sally took last year, he met a man named Mark Bretherick with the same address, same job, same wife and daughter details as the Mark on TV has. Except the man on the news is a man she have never seen before.
Book #4 The Other Half Lives (Also published as 'The Dead Lie Down') — *This is probably the craziest among all! Not to mention the accurate Art History involved in the story.* Ruth Busey, finding a love while trying to reassemble her life after being involved in something that she deeply regrets now, also finds herself in an unbelievable situation when her lover, Aidan Seed confesses of murdering a woman named Mary Trelease. To her shock, the name seem familiar and when it hits her why, all fears were refreshed along with bafflement because the Mary Trelease she knows is very much alive.
Book #5 A Room Swept White (Also published as 'The Cradle in the Grave') — In the midst of controversies about cot-death (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) involving mothers whom some believe were wrongly accused along with Dr. Judith Duffy who is now under investigation for misconduct when she did her best to send these women to prison, Fliss Benson finds herself working on a documentary regarding the said issue. This requires her digging deep into the stories of the involved mothers Helen Yardley, Sarah Jaggard and Rachel Hines. One day, Fliss received an anonymous card at work with sixteen numbers on it, arranged in four rows. After a couple of attempt, she is convinced these numbers has nothing to do with her. But not until Helen Yardley was found dead with the same card with same details on her pocket.
Book #6 Lasting Damage (Also published as 'The Other Woman's House') — Connie Bowskill, a woman which we could say living a simple life with her husband finds herself logged on to a property website, searching for a specific address:11 Bentley Grove for a particular reason: To find peace of mind. But instead, what she saw at that 11:15 PM time frame is not something that would give her the satisfaction of what she wants. On the virtual tour, in the living room, in the middle of the carpet, there's a woman lying face down in a huge pool of blood.
Book #7 Kind of Cruel — Suffering from chronic insomnia, Amber Hewerdine sees a hypnotherapist just out of desperation and with no assumption of being treated. During the session, under hypnosis, she uttered the words, "Kind, cruel, kind of cruel." She was sure that time it meant nothing to her but at the back of her mind knows she read it somewhere if only she could remember where. The same day, still dazed, she was arrested for questioning regarding the murder of Katharine Allen, a woman she does not know about, because of this.
Book #8 The Carrier — A plane delayed overnight, a woman who's just about to go home from a work trip and one terrified young woman throwing tantrums at the airport insisting the flight must push through. Gaby Stuthers is forced to share a hotel room with Lauren Cookson whom she finds not just terrified of the delayed flight and her husband finding out she flied that night, but also of her. She suddenly blurts out something about sending an innocent man to prison whom Lauren later on find out is Tim Breary, the only man Gaby truly loved. From then she realized that crossing paths with Lauren tonight is not a coincidence at all.
Book #9 Woman with a Secret (Also published as 'The Telling Error')— Nicki Clements, a mother and a wife stuck on traffic on Elmhirst Road caught a glimpse of a familiar face she does not want to see again went on a state of panic, made a U-Turn and tried another route. A couple of hours later, she was invited for questioning in connection with the murder of a controversial columnist Damon Blundy because of this behavior at the road. She was bombarded with questions about the murder and all she could say in all honesty is that she has no idea. There is just one question remained unanswered though: Why did she fled Elmhirst Road that day? Nicki knows she did not kill anyone, but she also knows she is not innocent at all.
This whole series revolves around Hannah's fictional team of cops investigating these murders in the english town of Spilling. The characters, from the sharp tongued DS Charlie Zailer, brilliant DC Simon Waterhouse, their boss DI Proust (nicknamed The Snowman) and the rest of the team, showed very very keen eye to details, logical understanding and intense gut feeling. Each have their own substantial character which I'd say makes the entirety of the team effective. Hannah sure knows how to make each character stand out, and when to put them under the spotlight.
I myself have been drawn and gripped by the whole series and I so love the unpredictability of the plots. If you are the type who likes the feeling of, let's say one moment being sure, the next thing you know you aren't certain about what's true anymore, then these books are for you. It will deny you easy outcomes and everything about the stories and plot twists are not one of the typicals. Hannah has this habit of surprisingly weaving a complex plot and pulling it off. The way it grips you in the first chapters and uneases you as you go on makes each of them irresistible. It was very hard to put her books down and stop reading. I'm not being OA! It is that entertaining.
Btw, do not cling to the word 'series' as these books can be read as stand alone. Though as I mentioned, the entirety circles around the detectives and their lives (Not to mention Zailer and Waterhouse's awkward and confusing romantic relationship. LOL.), it kind of served as a background only and the stories still focus on the murder mystery itself. (I actually read book #2 'The Hurting Distance' first and because I obvs loved it! I started in sequence afterwards.)
For fans of Liane Moriarty like me (Damn, I love that girl. After I read one of her books, I promised to read ALL of her works. Which I religiously did! And just exactly what happened to me with Sophie.) and Gillian Flynn, Sophie Hannah will be yo' girl too. Click Here.
I am not sure when book #10 will be up but what I know is it will surely not disappoint. Meanwhile, I cannot wait to read the rest of Sophie Hannah's books outside this series I haven't indulged to yet. :)
That's it for now! Oh my god. The pleasure of sharing what I thought about certain books I've read! Why am I doing this just now?! Hahaha! If you aren't the type who's into reading, you don't know what you're missing. YOU SHOULD.
YEY! I cannot believe I finally have my first book review and I'm about to publish this in a few after being in draft for over a week because WERRRK. -_- Happy happy, joy joy. Comment below, will ya?
'Til next blog!♥
xM
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