thriller

Reviews of ‘All the Colours of the Dark’ by Chris Whitaker and ‘Breakdown’ by Cathy Sweeney

~ scarlett1000 ~ Leave a comment

All the Colours of the Dark is the third book I have read by Chris Whitaker, and I was particularly looking forward to this one. It had a huge amount of buzz surrounding it when it came out, and the reviews are stellar.

The story focuses on two main characters, Saint and Patch. They meet and develop a strong friendship when they are thirteen. Patch is missing an eye and wears an eye patch, and Saint sees him as a pirate figure due to his adventurous nature and fearlessness. They bond over their uniqueness – he the pirate, she the beekeeper.

As a teenager, Patch’s life changes forever one day when he hears a girl screaming and instinctively runs to help her. The rest of the novel is about how this event impacts his and Saint’s lives over the next twenty-odd years. Two other characters become woven into the picture, Misty Meyer, the girl Patch saves, and Grace, but I won’t tell you anymore for fear of spoilers.

This is not light reading. It is an extremely dark tale. However, there are brilliant moments of humour dotted throughout the book, and it is the characterization of not just Patch and Saint, but the other characters in the novel – Norma, Misty Meyer, Chief Nix, and others, who I became completely invested in.

The writing is brilliant, and Saint and Patch are such adorable characters, flaws and all, that I was rooting for them from the start.

This is a novel about the choices we make, the things we do for love, and coming to terms with the consequences of our decisions.

I felt it could have done with being 50 pages shorter, but overall, I loved it. A great read 8/10.

Breakdown by Cathy Sweeney

Where the novel above was incredibly long, this is a short novel.

A middle-aged woman (we are never told her name) wakes up one morning and, without any apparent forethought or planning, leaves her life never to return. She drives to the ferry in Ireland and goes to Wales.

She is a teacher and she contacts the school and her husband to let them know that she is safe and well, but that she has gone away. The book follows her inner thoughts, fears, and perceptions of what her life has become. She is adamant she is not having a breakdown, but the title of the book begs to differ!

What I loved about this book was the voice. Pared back, simple, and oh so effective!

I could feel her pain. I could identify with her thought of not being able to put on one more wash, or clean one more dirty dish, or pick up one more pair of socks.

What she gains is a sense of aliveness, a new sense of living. While there are definitely moments of despair, she drinks and sleeps a lot – she is finding out for the first time who she really is and what she actually wants for herself.

It’s freedom, it’s liberating, and it’s complicated.

I can imagine many women thinking she’s just a selfish, irresponsible woman. Not me! I applaud her every step. For we cannot spend our lives being what others want us to be. At some point, we have to find our own meaning and purpose beyond being a caretaker.

This is a book I will read again, and I highly recommend it. 9/10.

Summer Reading

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Here are the last three books I read

The first one is Killing Me Softly by Nicci French.

This was my first Nicci French novel, and I enjoyed it despite certain events being beyond believable and ridiculous. I’ve always liked novels about obsession (not sure what that says about me?!!) and this was about Alice’s obsession with the taciturn Adam, who she meets in a ‘their eyes met across a crowded street,’ kind of way which was admittedly a huge cliche.

Once I got over the ridiculousness of her going straight back to his flat and having mind-blowing sex, I decided to suspend my disbelief and just enjoy the novel as light entertainment.

It’s written in a clear unambiguous style and I found the characterization and the suspense enough to keep me reading. There is a serious message within its pages and the suspense is unravelled slowly and subtly which I enjoyed. It’s a page-turner with flaws.

For pure entertainment alone I would give it a 7/10.

The next book I read was Green Dot by Madeleine Gray.

This novel centers around Hera, a young woman living in Sydney who is stuck in a rut and going nowhere fast. She takes a job at a call centre out of sheer need for money. There she ‘eventually’ meets Arthur an older journalist with whom she begins a relationship.

The writing in this book is what made it stand out for me – it’s funny, poignant, and brilliantly written.

It took me a while to get into it, but once I was in, I found myself longing to get back to it. Always a great sign with a book.

I wanted to shake Hera at times and yet I understood her fragility. A great read about the complexities of life when you are still young enough to be idealistic and angsty.

I’d recommend this one. 8/10.

The third book I read was The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue.

I have just finished this one and it was my favourite of the three novels. Set in Cork, the story revolves around Rachel and her best friend James, who she meets when they are both working in a book store.

They quickly become inseparable but life becomes complicated when Rachel’s professor Dr Byrne comes into their lives. Yes, a love triangle with a twist is on the cards.

The writing is fresh, funny and keeps you hooked all the way through.

If you are feeling at all nostalgic for college days and young love, this will take you right back there.

The characters of Rachel and James are so beautifully written I felt like they were real people I knew by the end of the book. I became so invested in what happened to them both.

A great read. 8.5/10 and that’s high for me!

The Secret Place by Tana French

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I was given this novel back in 2015 and have finally got around to reading it – Crazy, I know, but you haven’t seen all the books I have yet to read and if you did, I hope you’d sympathize!

I have heard great things about Tana French and she’s very highly respected in Ireland, so I picked up this large book and looked forward to some escapism.

The novel is written predominantly from the perspective of Stephen Moran, an ambitious detective who currently works cold cases, but would like to work in the murder squad.  Later the narrative switches to the perspective of three different female students at a prestigious all girls boarding school.

One of these students brings Detective Moran a note which was pinned to a noticeboard in the school called ‘The Secret Place,’ where the students can anonymously post notes to get things off their chest.   The note simply says, ‘I know who killed him.’

Cue Moran’s opportunity to work with Detective Conway on the unsolved murder of Chris Harper from the neighbouring private and also exclusive boys’ school.

Conway is a brash working-class female detective who has no time for niceties and Moran has to bite his tongue and swallow his pride more than once while trying to build a connection with Conway which proves an almost impossible task.  Watching the relationship between the two detectives develop was one of the more enjoyable aspects of the novel for me.   

The two pay a visit to the exclusive St Kilda’s school to find out who is behind the note. The murder took place a year previously and remains unsolved much to Conway’s frustration.

My issue with this book was that it could have done with a bit more editing.  The action takes place over the course of the day as the two detectives interview all the main players again and again.  Every detail is explained, every emotion described.   The plus side of this is it builds the atmosphere and the tension.  The negative was that I was exhausted by the time they were half way through the interviews.

The real power of this novel lies in the strong characterization of the two rival groups of teenage girls.  The angst, the loyalty and the sheer energy of their friendships are immediately recognizable to any of us who have lived through those teenage years.

The viciousness of the evil Joanne on the one hand is a marked contrast to the love and loyalty Holly’s group have for each other.  The feeling at that age that these are the only people who will ever understand you and you will never be able to live without them, is beautifully portrayed.  

Overall, I did enjoy the book and I would certainly consider reading another Tana French novel.  Maybe just a slightly shorter one next time.