Reprise Review: Pocketful of Bones by Julie Frayn

 

Genre: Psychological Suspense

Description:

“Finnegan MacGillivray, red-haired, freckle-faced social pariah, finds solace in his mother's garden while she entertains ‘dates’ in his home. When an accident takes the life of a friend, Finnegan buries the evidence amid the purple dead nettle and bougainvillea, and unearths a treasure trove of human remains. Did his house rest atop an ancient burial ground? Or was there a killer tucking him into bed at night?

His fascination with bones grows as fast as his obsession with his mother. She rejects his advances, and he escapes to the other side of the country. Years later, he returns to his childhood home, to the secrets and the guilt and the bones -- and to fulfill his destiny.”

Author:

“Julie Frayn is a multi-award-winning Canadian author of novels and short stories that pack a punch. And a few stabs. She is fluent in three languages — English, sarcasm, and profanity. Although she didn't invent swearing, Julie wields it like the visionary vulgarian who threw the first f#(k out into a crowd. She writes psychological suspense filled with a lot of death, a bit of sex, and sprinkled with the F-word (sometimes… not so sprinkled). Her favourite pastime is murder night (translation: watching crime drama and drinking beer with her daughter). Her least favourite pastime is writing author bios (translation: author bios — yuck).”

Appraisal:

They say there are only so many stories and, at a high level, I understand they’re right (whoever they are). But it’s the added detail that makes or breaks a story and gives it its unique flavor. In the case of Pocketful of Bones, I’m sure it fits one of those high-level templates, but it has so much in the details that isn’t like anything I can remember reading before that I can’t imagine what pattern it might fit. It’s a strange story that has me liking and pulling for characters that I could easily find repulsive, yet don’t, even when they do things that are … we’ll call them “not good.” Bad is going too far. (Okay, maybe I’m trying to cover for them here.) But I understand why they do what they do. I’m sure you would too.

In case it isn’t apparent, I liked this book, both the characters and the strange, out-of-left-field life that they lead. If you like slightly offbeat stories and psychological suspense, you should too.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Did you read the author’s bio? Obviously if a swear word or 50 are going to be an issue for you, this isn’t your kind of book.

Canadian spelling. You can deal with an extra ‘u’ heure aund there, riught?

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Reprise Review: Pocketful of Bones by Julie Frayn

 

Genre: Psychological Suspense

Description:

“Finnegan MacGillivray, red-haired, freckle-faced social pariah, finds solace in his mother's garden while she entertains ‘dates’ in his home. When an accident takes the life of a friend, Finnegan buries the evidence amid the purple dead nettle and bougainvillea, and unearths a treasure trove of human remains. Did his house rest atop an ancient burial ground? Or was there a killer tucking him into bed at night?

His fascination with bones grows as fast as his obsession with his mother. She rejects his advances, and he escapes to the other side of the country. Years later, he returns to his childhood home, to the secrets and the guilt and the bones -- and to fulfill his destiny.”

Author:

“Julie Frayn is a multi-award-winning Canadian author of novels and short stories that pack a punch. And a few stabs. She is fluent in three languages — English, sarcasm, and profanity. Although she didn't invent swearing, Julie wields it like the visionary vulgarian who threw the first f#(k out into a crowd. She writes psychological suspense filled with a lot of death, a bit of sex, and sprinkled with the F-word (sometimes… not so sprinkled). Her favourite pastime is murder night (translation: watching crime drama and drinking beer with her daughter). Her least favourite pastime is writing author bios (translation: author bios — yuck).”

Appraisal:

They say there are only so many stories and, at a high level, I understand they’re right (whoever they are). But it’s the added detail that makes or breaks a story and gives it its unique flavor. In the case of Pocketful of Bones, I’m sure it fits one of those high-level templates, but it has so much in the details that isn’t like anything I can remember reading before that I can’t imagine what pattern it might fit. It’s a strange story that has me liking and pulling for characters that I could easily find repulsive, yet don’t, even when they do things that are … we’ll call them “not good.” Bad is going too far. (Okay, maybe I’m trying to cover for them here.) But I understand why they do what they do. I’m sure you would too.

In case it isn’t apparent, I liked this book, both the characters and the strange, out-of-left-field life that they lead. If you like slightly offbeat stories and psychological suspense, you should too.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Did you read the author’s bio? Obviously if a swear word or 50 are going to be an issue for you, this isn’t your kind of book.

Canadian spelling. You can deal with an extra ‘u’ heure aund there, riught?

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Reprise Review: A Woman Misunderstood by Melinda Clayton

 Genre: Psychological Suspense

Description:

“On a sweltering July morning in rural Tennessee, fifty-year-old Rebecca Reynolds visits the family farm, where she literally stumbles across the mutilated bodies of her parents and younger sister, a sister who had spent life in a wheelchair after a birth fraught with complications.

Rebecca’s first thought is to call 911. Her second is to find her estranged sister, Lena, who was disowned by the family years before. Her third is to wonder how long it will be before Lena is arrested for the murder of their family.

As the police gather evidence pointing to Lena, the sisters turn to attorney Brian Stone. Convinced of Lena’s innocence, he agrees to take on the case. But in a family ripped apart by dysfunction, is anyone truly innocent?”

Author:

 “Melinda Clayton is the author of The Cedar Hollow Series, which includes novels Appalachian Justice, Return to Crutcher Mountain, Entangled Thorns, and Shadow Days.

Clayton also authored Blessed Are the Wholly Broken and Making Amends, two dark novels of tragedy and suspense.

In addition to writing, Clayton has an Ed.D. in Special Education Administration and is a licensed psychotherapist in the states of Florida and Colorado.”

For more, visit Clayton’s website.

Appraisal:

What a wild ride reading A Woman Misunderstood was. It starts with the book’s protagonist, Rebecca, walking into her childhood home and discovering the decomposing bodies of her mother, father, and one of her sisters. That first short chapter ends with these words:

After I finished screaming, my first thought was to call 911.

My second was to find Lena, my surviving sister.

My third was to wonder how much time we had before her arrest.

This is important, this third thought of mine. If you stick with my story, you’ll understand why.

I hesitate to say much about the story itself other than to say that by the time you, the reader, have a full understanding of the complete repercussions of these statements you’ll be dizzy from the unexpected twists and turns, be shaking your head and saying, “well, I never saw that coming.”

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

 Some adult language.

Original review published May 1, 2017

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words

Review: The Forgotten Sons of Wyoming by Brady Koch

 

Genre: Psychological Suspense/Mystery

Description:

“The men at Trinity Ranch all have something in common: none of them can remember how they arrived there or the terrible secret they all share.”

Author:

Prior to this series Brady Koch had authored three collections of short fiction. This is the second book in the “All Our Forgotten Futures” series with two more slated for release in 2023.

For more about Brady Koch visit his blog.

Appraisal:

For those who are reading this series in order this second book of the series might seem different from the first, but ultimately it isn’t and the similarities become more and more obvious as the book progresses. Like the first, the author describes it as psychological suspense. This installment has a bit of mystery and both have a smidgen of what I’d describe as near future science fiction with a mild dystopian leaning thrown into the mix.

This book is different from the first in the series with the bit of mystery thrown into the mix. The mystery comes down to Asher, the main character, trying to answer three questions. “Why am I here, where did I come from, and why can’t I remember?” Most of Asher’s cohorts who work at Trinity Ranch, a cattle ranch and meat packing plant, have the same questions. In fact, outside of management and their onsite preacher, no one seems to have a clue to the answers. At least not at first. How some of these answers come out and what those answers are kept me guessing to the end. I’ll summarize this by saying that if you read and liked the first book in the series, I think you’ll like this one too. If you haven’t read either, but like suspense and mystery with a few bits of other genres thrown into the stew, give it a try.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

While part of a series this book stands alone. Although I recommend both books I’ve read thus far, the order you read them doesn’t matter.

Format/Typo Issues:

Review is based on an ARC (advance reader copy), so I can’t gauge the final product in this area.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 45-50,000 words

Review: The Negotiated Death of Sara Glen by Brady Koch

 

Genre: Psychological Suspense

Description:

“The results of an at-home DNA testing kit reveal the key to eradicating an emerging threat. Getting that key may cost Sara her life.”

Author:

Prior to this book Brady Koch had authored three collections of short fiction (two of them flash fiction). This book is the first in a series of four novellas with a full-size novel anticipated to follow in the winter of 2023. For more, check out Mr Koch’s blog.

Appraisal:

The Covid pandemic has shown us how little many of our fellow humans are willing to do in order to help prevent spreading of a potentially fatal virus. This novella explores the flipside of this. What if all indications were that another pandemic was coming soon with the beginning already happening, the anticipated peak of the pandemic was coming fast, and the anticipated impact was going to be far beyond anything ever seen in the past. But researchers have discovered the route to a cure. Only one problem. That cure requires a contribution from one person, and that person would have to pay the ultimate price to bring the cure to fruition. Now imagine that you’re that person.

As you might imagine, no one is going to find this experience easy. What to do (or not to do) is going to make virtually any somewhat decent person feel torn. That’s the story chronicled here as we follow Sara Glen through this experience.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

A small number of proofing issues and misses.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 35-40,000 words

Reprise Review: An Elegant Theory by Noah Milligan

Genre: Contemporary Literature/Psychological/Suspense

Description:

“Coulter Zahn sees reality differently than others. Much like light can theoretically be in all places at once, Coulter sees multiple versions of his life… An existential psychological thriller, An Elegant Theory explores how the construction of memory and consciousness can shape motive, guilt, and identity through the lens of a modern-day mad-scientist motif.”

Author:

“Noah Milligan splits his time between words and numbers and is a longtime student of physics, prompting him to write his debut novel, An Elegant Theory, a draft of which was shortlisted for the 2015 Horatio Nelson Fiction Prize. His short fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines, including MAKE, Storyscape Literary Journal, Empty Sink Publishing, and Santa Clara Review. He is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Central Oklahoma, and he lives in Edmond, OK, with his wife and two children.”

Appraisal:

Coulter Zahn is a promising PhD candidate at MIT with a wife and a baby on the way. Understandably, he is under a lot of pressure writing his dissertation. When his hypothesis comes under criticism and his estranged mother (who suffers from mental illness herself) returns, his life starts unraveling or perhaps fracturing would be a better word? As Coulter loses control everyone’s life around him becomes irreparably changed forever.

Mr. Milligan uses a style writing An Elegant Theory that I have not experienced before. There are sudden time-warps where the story will jump either back in time or into a future you are not quite sure is real or imagined. He has employed this style to keep the reader as off balance as Coulter is feeling as his own mental health is deteriorating. And it works. At one point I was convinced Coulter was suffering from schizophrenia, however if you consider the subject of his dissertation it’s likely he was experiencing different planes of existence altogether.

The plot is character driven and not linear. The twists in the story are extreme and well thought out. The most important people are well developed and realistic. I’m wondering if I should warn the readers they may come away from this novel with a taste of quantum physics and string theory as well as what it may feel like to go slowly insane.

I think if I re-read this book, it’s possible, I may come away with a totally different theory about what was actually happening here. After saying that, this would be an excellent novel for discussion with a group or book club. Egads! I don’t think I have ever said that before in a review. I believe Noah Milligan is an author to keep an eye on in the future.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

**Warning** this book may change the way you see yourself, those around you, or life in general, forevermore.

Original review was posted on December 16, 2016.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant proofing or formatting issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: ?wazithinkin

Approximate word count: 95-100,000 words

Review: Pocketful of Bones by Julie Frayn

Genre: Psychological Suspense

Description:

“Finnegan MacGillivray, red-haired, freckle-faced social pariah, finds solace in his mother's garden while she entertains ‘dates’ in his home. When an accident takes the life of a friend, Finnegan buries the evidence amid the purple dead nettle and bougainvillea, and unearths a treasure trove of human remains. Did his house rest atop an ancient burial ground? Or was there a killer tucking him into bed at night?

His fascination with bones grows as fast as his obsession with his mother. She rejects his advances, and he escapes to the other side of the country. Years later, he returns to his childhood home, to the secrets and the guilt and the bones -- and to fulfill his destiny.”

Author:

“Julie Frayn is a multi-award-winning Canadian author of novels and short stories that pack a punch. And a few stabs. She is fluent in three languages — English, sarcasm, and profanity. Although she didn't invent swearing, Julie wields it like the visionary vulgarian who threw the first f#(k out into a crowd. She writes psychological suspense filled with a lot of death, a bit of sex, and sprinkled with the F-word (sometimes… not so sprinkled). Her favourite pastime is murder night (translation: watching crime drama and drinking beer with her daughter). Her least favourite pastime is writing author bios (translation: author bios — yuck).”

Appraisal:

They say there are only so many stories and, at a high level, I understand they’re right (whoever they are). But it’s the added detail that makes or breaks a story and gives it its unique flavor. In the case of Pocketful of Bones, I’m sure it fits one of those high-level templates, but it has so much in the details that isn’t like anything I can remember reading before that I can’t imagine what pattern it might fit. It’s a strange story that has me liking and pulling for characters that I could easily find repulsive, yet don’t, even when they do things that are … we’ll call them “not good.” Bad is going too far. (Okay, maybe I’m trying to cover for them here.) But I understand why they do what they do. I’m sure you would too.

In case it isn’t apparent, I liked this book, both the characters and the strange, out-of-left-field life that they lead. If you like slightly offbeat stories and psychological suspense, you should too.

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Did you read the author’s bio? Obviously if a swear word or 50 are going to be an issue for you, this isn’t your kind of book.

Canadian spelling. You can deal with an extra ‘u’ heure aund there, riught?

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 75-80,000 words

Review: A Woman Misunderstood by Melinda Clayton

Genre: Psychological Suspense

Description:

“On a sweltering July morning in rural Tennessee, fifty-year-old Rebecca Reynolds visits the family farm, where she literally stumbles across the mutilated bodies of her parents and younger sister, a sister who had spent life in a wheelchair after a birth fraught with complications.

Rebecca’s first thought is to call 911. Her second is to find her estranged sister, Lena, who was disowned by the family years before. Her third is to wonder how long it will be before Lena is arrested for the murder of their family.

As the police gather evidence pointing to Lena, the sisters turn to attorney Brian Stone. Convinced of Lena’s innocence, he agrees to take on the case. But in a family ripped apart by dysfunction, is anyone truly innocent?”

Author:

“Melinda Clayton is the author of The Cedar Hollow Series, which includes novels Appalachian Justice, Return to Crutcher Mountain, Entangled Thorns, and Shadow Days.

Clayton also authored Blessed Are the Wholly Broken and Making Amends, two dark novels of tragedy and suspense.

In addition to writing, Clayton has an Ed.D. in Special Education Administration and is a licensed psychotherapist in the states of Florida and Colorado.”

For more, visit Clayton’s website.

Appraisal:

What a wild ride reading A Woman Misunderstood was. It starts with the book’s protagonist, Rebecca, walking into her childhood home and discovering the decomposing bodies of her mother, father, and one of her sisters. That first short chapter ends with these words:

After I finished screaming, my first thought was to call 911.

My second was to find Lena, my surviving sister.

My third was to wonder how much time we had before her arrest.

This is important, this third thought of mine. If you stick with my story, you’ll understand why.

I hesitate to say much about the story itself other than to say that by the time you, the reader, have a full understanding of the complete repercussions of these statements you’ll be dizzy from the unexpected twists and turns, be shaking your head and saying, “well, I never saw that coming.”

Buy now from:            Amazon US        Amazon UK

FYI:

Some adult language.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues.

Rating: ***** Five Stars

Reviewed by: BigAl

Approximate word count: 50-55,000 words