Books awarded 5 stars in 2015

According to the stats on my beloved Goodreads app, I have now read 122 books since the start of the year (as I have already mentioned, insomnia and a pregnancy mostly spent in bed did wonders for my To-Be-Read pile).  

But all this reading (and therefore money spending) would be of no great benefit if I did not share my impressions with you, my dear readers.

So, below is the list of the titles to which I have awarded 5 glorious stars since January. I hope that you will find a few gems for yourself...

Happy reading!

Review -- Little Sister Death

Little Sister Death by William Gay

**Disclaimer: I have received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

I will be honest with you dear blog reader: this book has defeated me. By this, I mean that I just do not know what to make of it. Do I like it? Do I not like it? I actually have no idea...

Little Sister Death is one of the "lost" novels by American writer William Gay, which have been found recently and will be published in the coming days. It is described as an eerie Southern Gothic novel inspired by the famous 19th century Bell Witch haunting of Tennessee and follows the unravelling life of David Binder, a writer who moves his young family to a haunted farmstead to try and find inspiration for his next book. 

The story is told from different perspectives in time and therefore the reader is frequently catapulted between 1785, 1933, 1956-1965, 1980 and 1982 in order to follow the lives of the families who have successively inhabited the haunted farm. Now, I would usually agree that time jumps add rhythm to a narrative and can make it more entertaining; however, I found this device quite confusing here, especially due to the sheer number of characters thus portrayed in the book. 

This book had started so well, especially the first few chapters set in 1785 which were very gripping (despite the fact that I needed my dictionary at hand every two minutes) and the subsequent stories set in 1933 and 1956-1965 were equally entertaining. However, I was left cold (not ghost cold unfortunately) and disappointed with the narrative set in the 80s. To be honest, I was expecting the story to turn all Shining-like at some point, which it sadly did not. 
Now, it has to be said that Gay possessed undeniable narrative powers and his descriptive skills were incredible as evidenced in this book. Unfortunately, his writing style was just not my cup of tea as I found it too elaborate most of the time.

The Bibliovore's verdict 2.5 ⋆
Since I am between two minds here and do not really know what to make of Little Sister Death, it seems fair to give it an average 2.5 stars, especially since I have actually enjoyed the time jumps set in the 18th century and early 20th. If you happen to read this book, please let me know what you think of it. I would be glad to hear a dissenting opinion.

Review -- Gift of Darkness

Gift of Darkness by Craig K. Comstock

**Disclaimer: I have received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Gift of Darkness tells the story of a boy who, like Anne Frank, lived in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Unlike Anne, he was not taken into early hiding, and was thus able to move around the city, even to help serve its Jewish community, and observe first-hand the ominous things that were happening. Robbert Van Santen lived each day not knowing how or when the war would end, not being sure that he would survive, not imagining that as an elder he would articulate his experiences to an American author. 

Like millions of people, I read Anne Frank's diary when I was in secondary school and her harrowing story has stayed with me ever since. This is why I found myself immediately attracted to Gift of Darkness and Robbert Van Santen's incredible story. It is actually interesting to note that Robbert went to the same school as Anne Frank, despite being in a different grade. 

This story of survival in Nazi-occupied Holland is told from two different perspectives which frequently intertwine throughout the book. One is Robbert's account told in the first person and present tense; the other consists of interviews between the author and the subject of this book. 

While I believe that the use of the first person/present tense to tell Robbert's story helped bring immediacy to the narrative, I found the inclusion of interviews and present-day information somewhat confusing and distracting from the main act which, in my opinion, is Robbert's story as told by himself.  

Having said that, Gift of Darkness was a very interesting read narrated with honesty and sincerity. 

The Bibliovore's verdict ⋆⋆⋆
I would encourage you to read this book if you aim to learn more about this dark period of our history and are looking for a different perspective than that of Anne Frank's. However, I would absolutely urge you to read Anne's diary at all costs.

Review -- Salvage

Salvage by Duncan Ralston

**Disclaimer: I have received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

When Owen Saddler's little sister mysteriously drowns, Owen is determined to uncover the circumstances by following in her footsteps, even if it means diving into the murky--some would say haunted--waters of Chapel Lake. Thirty years earlier, the town of Peace Falls had been flooded to build a hydroelectric dam, and its ruins remain below the surface of Chapel Lake. The strange disappearance of the town Pastor, along with many of the parishioners, still haunts the citizens of Chapel Lake. But does the church haunt the lake itself? Is Owen really seeing ghosts... or has he descended into the depths of madness?

The decent cover and excellent blurb immediately attracted me to this book. Furthermore, it was described on Amazon as a dark and disturbing horror novel about depression, religious fanaticism and the afterlife. I mean, what could be better than a good old horror story peppered with ghosts and sects? Nothing, said I to myself as I ventured into the first few pages with great enthusiasm and expectations. 

Well, I have to say that it was slowww going. After pages and pages of non-action and non-ghosts, I decided to check my reading progress on my Kindle -- something I never do when I am enjoying a book, therefore a sure sign that something was amiss from the start. 24% completion said the mighty machine. That is all well, I thought, but when is the story going to properly begin? A quarter into the book and I still did not know what to expect nor was I remotely gripped by the story yet. 

Unfortunately, I went from disappointment to further disappointment when I realised that the ghosts were not really ghost and that the horror element was simply missing. Yes, I am aware that "horror" does not always mean blood, chainsaws and gore. However, I did not feel any alarm, panic, revulsion or any other similar emotion that could relate to horror. 

The Bibliovore's verdict ⋆ 
I must have been in a bad mood or something when I read Salvage because I did not like it one bit while it seems to receive high praises on Goodreads. This leaves me wondering whether there is something wrong with me...

Review -- The Survivors

The Survivors by Anne Edwards

**Disclaimer: I have received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

Who was Luanne Woodrow? Only one man at the glamorous ski resort knew the answer. His name was Hans Aldik. He was a world-famous writer. And he was following this hauntingly beautiful, strangely reticent girl for a single purpose. She was the only surviving member of the Woodrow family. All the others had been murdered in one of the most notorious crimes of the century. Luanne alone held the key to the Woodrow mystery. 

This book by Anne Edwards was initially published in 1968 but, in my opinion, it has not aged well unfortunately and feels very dated indeed. Now, I do not usually mind a good old nostalgic experience and I am very fond of historical novels (which this is not), therefore "dated" does not scare me.

However, I found it very hard to finish this book after a very slow start, a slow middle part and an unbelievable ending. Overall, the story was quite convoluted and the narrative contained too many descriptive passages for my liking. I like a bit of action and dialogue myself, which did not happen until well in the book. 

I really wanted to like this book and make an effort. After all, I had been drawn to it by the cover and the interesting blurb. Alas, I just could not stomach the love story between Luanne and Hans which was totally unbelievable in my opinion, i.e. the characters were madly in love with each other after spending two days together in the Swiss ski resort! 

Similarly, Luanne had spent the last ten years cooped up in a retirement home with no interaction with the outside world, but that did not prevent her from playing socialites at the resort. Nothing in her character or demeanour seemed to reflect this long isolation. I don't know, these two aspects of the story did not compute with me.

Other unbelievable events in the story did not sit well with me (the return trip to London in five hours, for instance) and just distracted me from the main plot and its resolution, which also left me cold.

The Bibliovore's verdict ⋆
Could I recommend this book to anyone? Unfortunately not if they have similar tastes as mine and like believable characters and plot. 
  

Review -- Fear The Silence

Fear The Silence by Iain Cameron

**Disclaimer: I have received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.**

A missing woman is not what DI Henderson needs right now, just when he's on the verge of nabbing whoever is behind big drug shipments coming into Shoreham Harbour in Sussex. The missing woman is none other than Kelly Langton, once the glamour model 'Kelly,' and now an astute businesswoman. Even without the police evidence against him, her husband's robust manner and aggressive attitude have swayed public opinion. He is arrested and questioned but Henderson is not convinced as everyone else seems to be, and even more so when another woman goes missing in what he believes are similar circumstances. 

Note that Fear The Silence is the third instalment in the series featuring Scottish Detective Inspector Angus Henderson from the Sussex police force. When I initially requested this book from the publisher, I did not know that it was part of a series. However, this did not prevent me from enjoying the story as Iain Cameron did a good job at providing background information whenever needed.

I enjoyed this police procedural in general, especially the main plot around the disappearance of Kelly Langton and the subsequent quest for the culprit. The story was crafted skilfully enough that I kept trying to guess the killer's identity until the end. 

Likewise, I quite liked the character of DI Henderson, which I thought was an interesting lead and believable in his actions and words. Overall, I believe that Cameron has done a good job of bringing his characters to life, even if I did not care much for the other protagonists, such as Walters, etc.

As in most crime books, there was a sub-plot to the Kelly Langton disappearance, which centred around drug shipments in the Shoreham Harbour (Sussex). This sub-plot was apparently one of the main plots in the first two books in the series and, in this latest entry, DI Henderson is still trying to nab his nemesis, the drug lord operating in the area. Now, I understand the need for sub-plots in books and I generally think that they really add to the narrative. 

However, I found this second plot quite confusing at first as one of the characters was common to both storylines and this made me wonder had I missed something crucial in the narrative. Similarly, I was not really drawn into the drug dealing thing. Not that it was badly written or anything, but I just felt that it detracted from the main plot and did not add much to the whole story.  

As for the end, I feel that it was somewhat rushed and neglected a bit. One thing that I do not understand is the meaning of the title. I did not really see any specific reference to silence in the book. Maybe I missed it. I know that it is only a detail, but I like being able to correlate the title to the story. But that is just me.

The Bibliovore's verdict ⋆⋆⋆

Overall, Fear The Silence was a decent read but I do not think that I will read the first books in the series, nor the next one for that matter. There was just something lacking for me, that je-ne-sais-quoi that would have made it great.