Sometimes you need to feel uncomfortable

 

This book was on my tbr for a long while, and it took my friend putting it on my February tbr for me to pick it up. It’s about an old lady who is certain that her friend has gone missing, but no one seems to believe her and she doesn’t know why.

Maud’s memory is terrible, she can be in the middle of an act when she forgets what she’s doing and her family and carers are starting to get fed up. That’s where me feeling uncomfortable comes in, as my gran is going the same way and we do all get annoyed at her. As far as I know she isn’t this bad, but we don’t live anywhere near her and there’s no one to check on her. I worry. Because of this, for me specifically, a lot of this story is uncomfortable. Which definitely is altering my view of the book as a whole, however, I did enjoy the flashbacks to Maud’s childhood and the mystery there.

The end was both surprising and not, and I’m grateful that both halves of the story get wrapped up, and that we aren’t left hanging wondering what had happened in the late 1940s or in the present day. I ended up giving this book 3.5 stars overall (3 on Goodreads) and I think it had the chance to be pushed up to 4 star if I hadn’t had that guilty feeling, as well as being annoyed with Maud at the same time.

It’s a very interesting book which will make you think about the fragility of life and about how you will be when you age. Young people have the tendency to think they they’re immortal and it’s good to have reminders that it isn’t the case, and that one day this will happen to us too.

 

My first Stephen King!

I’ve finally read something from Stephen King!! It took me damn long enough to get to something by him! My friend, who picked this for my tbr, still hasn’t read this one, but once she does I’ll update with her opinion!

As for me, I really enjoyed this book! For quick a while it’s “just” a gripping thriller, where the wrong man is being convicted because all of the evidence points to him. But he’s got a solid tight alibi which says he wasn’t even in the area when the crime happened. What’s the truth?

Turns out it’s weirder than the detectives expected with a horror twist as you get further into the story. I really was engaged throughout this book and the audiobook is good too. I will say that there were sections which made me uncomfortable. Some of them were obviously supposed to, describing the crime scene and such. Some of them, however, weren’t supposed to. Descriptions of women, or of POC, seemed crude and kind of derogatory, which I didn’t enjoy.

I can look past that for a story well told, however, I feel like I have to mention it. Not doing so would make me feel like I was saying I was fine with it. Especially given that this book was published recently it’s just unacceptable and I hope that King changes his writing style to not objectify people.

An interesting read, which stayed in my head for a while, and a discombobulated review, because this book is a madhouse!

Three Days Dead, The Damned vol. 1

I’ve been reading a lot of comics so far this year! This is yet another graphic novel that I enjoyed and want to continue with the series. We follow a gun-for-hire who keeps coming back from the dead, as long as someone touches him after he dies, and a bunch of daemons having a gang war in the city. Yeah… it’s an interesting concept! It’s a classic noir comic with a twist of horror and a big dollop of death, a main character who you want to keep following and an art design that very much fits the genre with its sharp, angular preferences.

This is a new release of a previously published comic, and the major addition seems to be that this is now in colour. Although a black-and-white theme would suit this style of comic, the addition of colour really brings the world to life and adds a whole new dimension. I don’t want to say much more to let you discover what this graphic novel has to offer on your own. Definitely one to pick up if you like action, crime and a little bit of horror (I hate horror books or films but comics I can deal with for some odd reason) with some daemons thrown in for good measure.

Thank you to NetGalley for a free eCopy of this graphic novel in return for an unbiased review.