Book Review (ARC): Make it Scream, Make it Burn by Leslie Jamison

Searingly honest and often uncomfortably intimate, this collection of non-fiction stories or “essays”, are elevated not only by the assured nature of Leslie Jamison’s writing, but also by how emotionally invested she becomes with her subjects.

In non-fiction, the trend is to be “once removed” from what you’re writing about, but not so here. Jamison is fully immersed in the telling. She’s the shadow of the photographer in every photo, her own personality, longings, obsessions and addictions seeping through, often with incredible results.

Though not every piece was as compelling as my favourites (52 Blue, We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live Again, Daughter of a Ghost, Museum of Broken Hearts), most – if not all – were blessed with Jamison’s rawness, her propensity for truth-telling, and her unflinching looks in the mirror. If her subjects are lonely or damaged or fraught with unseen hurts, well then, so is she. She’ll unwrap herself as surely as she unwraps them. This serves her better in stories where she can find a way in – in some, she still seems on the outside, trying to find a crack in the window.

In the best tales – mentioned above – there is a ribbon of understanding. Jamison’s empathy and desperate need to connect are beacons throughout the book – evident in one story about children who remember past lives. Where most journalists were dismissive of the claims, Jamison sought to cast aside her own belief system, opinions, or any other attitude that might reveal she was biased or had pre-conceived ideas – to do so, she felt, would be foolish and quick to judge:

It was more that I felt emotionally, spiritually and intellectually allergic to a certain disdainful tone that implied it knew better, that it understood what was possible and what wasn’t. It seemed arrogant to assume I understood much about consciousness itself – what it was, where it came from, or where it went once we were done with it.

Chased by her own demons – alcoholism, abandonment, guilt – Jamison tackles her subjects gently, peeling aside their armours and getting to the bloody truths with an unsparing eye and the brutality, the beauty, of language. Even as she shines the flashlight through the darkness, she seems to be saying, I can see you. You’re not alone. I know your story. I want to know your story.

Come here, I will tell of it.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I appreciate it!

Book Review (ARC): Anything For You by Saul Black

A smart and robust thriller from Saul Black, Anything For You is the third novel in his Valerie Hart series. My favourite of these – by far – is his debut, The Killing Lessons, which was creepy, atmospheric and crazy good at building tension.

In Anything For You, Valerie is investigating what, at first glance, is your standard issue home invasion. High flying attorney Adam Grant is found – stabbed and bludgeoned in his bed. On the floor next to him is his wife, Rachel, clinging to life after a stab wound to the chest. Fingerprints found all over the scene belong to convicted felon, Dwight Jenner, who’s disappeared in the bloody aftermath.

Through her search for Jenner, Valerie turns up photos and sightings of his mysterious girlfriend, blonde and beautiful Sophia, a known prostitute and seeming accessory to murder. Black flips back and forth between Sophia and Valerie’s perspectives, giving us glimpses of both women – on dark but opposite paths.

Though I appreciate Black’s gritty and sensual writing, I think there is a certain element to his portrayal of Valerie that just doesn’t ring true. Constantly thinking about and fantasizing about sex, one step away from flinging herself on most men she meets – Valerie reads to me, as a male fantasy of what men hope women are truly like. Her thoughts are stereo-typically masculine, and she’s also annoyingly aware of her own beauty, and seems to measure other women against it. Ick.

That aside, Black’s portrayal of Valerie’s alcohol consumption – and the refreshing change to see an author building a portrait of someone who chooses moderation rather than abstinence – is very well done. Valerie is always hovering on the avalanche of bad decisions, just a whisper away from plunging her life into chaos. While I think her character could use a female editor, I still enjoy reading about her.

The book is an electrifying race to find out whodunit, and there is a wham-bam shocker that hit me like a punch. Wow. Saul Black is an extremely talented author, and I look forward to more of Valerie Hart – or perhaps a male detective? I’d love to see Black conquer his own gender in that way – just my opinion, but I think his writing style would produce a fantastic male lead.

Book Review (ARC): The Night Before by Wendy Walker

First of all, what a gorgeous cover.

Second of all, I really did love Wendy Walker’s first thriller, All is Not Forgotten. Although I found the narrator repulsive, the premise of the book was so compelling and original.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t a huge fan of The Night Before. To be fair, I read it while doped up on Nyquil, so I’m not sure if that affected my reading comprehension, but I found it to be a fairly shallow thriller, albeit with a crackerjack surprise at the end.

The novel centers around two sisters, Laura Lochner (the night before) and Rosie Ferro (the morning after). A bit of a twisted and aimless soul, Laura is back living with her sister’s family after a disastrous end to a relationship leaves her reeling. Although Laura wants nothing more than to find love, the past looms ever present in her blood-stained rear-view mirror, and informs every decision she makes, from omitting her infamous last name on her dating profile, to seeing a psychologist to try and work out her own fears.

Still hellbent on finding her happily-ever-after, Laura heads out on a blind date, and doesn’t come home. In the morning after, Rosie frantically searches for her, aided by her husband Joe, and their childhood best friend, Gabe. In tracing Laura’s footsteps, they find her abandoned car, and the tension ratchets up a notch. But who is Rosie actually worried about?

Laura?

Or the man she was meeting?

Told from different narratives and different timelines, the novel gives us snippets of Laura’s date (which is tedious and for the life of me, why did she stay on it?), Rosie’s search, and interspersed, Laura’s sessions with a psychologist who seeks the truth of why his patient feels so unlovable and broken.

Though the denouement surprised me (I had zero idea who the actual villain was, and it was a shocker), I didn’t find there was enough pull in the actual narrative to keep me invested. Laura’s voice was scattered and unappealing – with a ton of repetition and confusing back-flows into the past. While Laura was at least complex, I found Rosie was a cardboard cutout – absolutely no character development at all – she existed solely to find her sister and/or worry about her.

While The Night Before wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, I won’t deny that it was entertaining and twisty, with enough “wtf” moments to keep it from sliding off the cliff. I think it was balancing on the edge of being truly good, and with some careful editing (Rosie’s flatness, Laura’s inner monologue, and the endless meandering date), it could have been a complicated and dark mountain of a novel.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I appreciate it!

Book Review (ARC): Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings.

Sounds simple, right? What could possibly go wrong?

Thankfully, quite a bit. This is a compulsively readable novel from Riley Sager, a favourite of mine since his debut, Final Girls, which was such a fresh take on the typical ‘slasher’ that I almost cheered when I read it. When authors can take a trope and make it feel as if you’re discovering it for the first time – that, my dear friends, is talent.

Although I always hesitate to pronounce any book the author’s “best yet”, well… I might make an exception? Because Lock Every Door was just so deliciously addictive.

As you can see from the blurb above, our heroine Jules Larsen has taken a new job as an “apartment sitter” in the Bartholomew, a fancy-schmancy building in one of Manhattan’s most coveted neighborhoods. Adding to the building’s appeal is is that it was the setting for one of Jules favourite childhood books, Heart of a Dreamer, a book she shared with her sister before she disappeared eight years before.

As you can imagine, Jules is pretty excited to be standing in the pages of a book she loves so much – and feel some connection to her beloved sister, so she takes the job without much introspection – even agreeing to the arcane rules – such as “no visitors” and “no talking to the other residents”.

Jules becomes close with another apartment-sitter, Ingrid. Ingrid isn’t quite so warm and fuzzy about the Bartholomew, and spills her worries about the building’s dark past, and what might be going on in the present. When Ingrid vanishes in the night, leaving only an echo of a scream, Jules feels compelled to find her, and sets out to do her own research into the Bartholomew, its residents, and what secrets the walls might be hiding.

At its heart, this is a story about relationships – between sisters, between friends, strangers, lovers, killers and victims, to buildings and to fantasies, between our bodies and our hearts. The connections between those things, between us and our past, between privilege and poverty – it’s all so tenuous but can feel so bloodied.

This is a wild ride, and you should let Sager take you on it. He knows exactly what he’s doing. I had absolutely no idea what the denouement would bring, and was that ever a treat.

One of the best thrillers of the year, no doubt. Enjoy.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. I appreciate it!