I read this book for work, but I got to choose it from a list of unassigned books. I chose it because, well, I'm a thriller reader. Avid to the core. I read and write in this genre.
There are good and not-so-good things about The Last House Guest. I'll compact them into two lists to better explain them. The Good 1. The plot moves quickly. I did not feel like I was stuck in a total quagmire, trying in vain to get out. The chapters are short enough and digestible for readers like me who have short attention spans. And, yeah, this is how a good thriller should be paced. 2. There are some relate-able characters. Faith is a minor character who plays an important role and comes off as infinitely more likable than the narrator, Avery. Connor is also relatively likable and believable. But we do not get to see a lot of Connor or Faith, Avery's two former friends. 3. The description of the scenery is vivid enough for me to get a clear idea of what fictional Littleport is supposed to look like. These passages are some of the best parts of the novel, in my opinion. On to the Not-So-Good Things 1. Some of the language gets repetitive. I don't think I've ever seen "fulcrum" used as often in a novel. 2. The language can get lofty. Even for an adult thriller novel, it comes off as excessive. I would suggest that the author tone down some of the word choices to make the book more accessible. Some readers might also find this to be a bit pretentious. 3. What the hell is with the concluding chapter?! First off, Detective Collins' demise is not at all fulfilling. The showdown between Avery, Parker, and Collins just feels like a blip, not a climax. Then to have Avery reveal she has been investing all along, setting herself up to survive her split with the Lomans... It didn't feel right. It kind of made me dislike Avery even more. At no point in the novel did I feel sorry for her, but I had hoped that she would leave Littleport for good in the end. 4. It's not that thrilling. The format feels repetitive. Avery goes somewhere she shouldn't. Avery hears odd noise. Avery sees shadowy figure. Lather, rinse, repeat. I'm divided on how I feel about this novel. Parts of it are really good, and parts of it are just... bland. I don't know. Maybe it caters better to a younger audience. But, if it is trying to do that, the elevated lexicon gets in the way.
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Some situations have no simple resolution; all we can do is steer the course that causes the least harm. This isn't my first go with a Ruth Ware novel. I first read The Woman in Cabin 10 because I wanted to know what the hype was all about. Plus, I love thrillers. Like, really love them. Like, I'm in the process of writing one. And I wouldn't have started writing it if I hadn't read Ruth Ware's books.
The Death of Mrs. Westaway is predominantly told from the third-person, following Harriet 'Hal' Westaway, a poor fortune-teller from the seaside town of Brighton, UK. Her life telling fortunes with tarot cards on the pier doesn't pay well, but it's the legacy left by her mother, Maggie, who died in a hit-and-run accident several years before. Things change when Hal gets a letter from a lawyer in Penzance saying that her grandmother, whom she has never met, died and left her something in her will. But this woman cannot be her grandmother... Can she? Hal has her doubts. With unscrupulous debt collectors hot on her trail, Hal takes up the offer as a means of escape. It brings her to Trepassen House and to her newfound family: the will-obsessed Uncle Harding, his compassionate wife Mitzi, their children, Harding's brother Able, his boyfriend Edward, and the youngest of the brothers, angsty and aloof Ezra. She also meets the decrepit old housekeeper, Mrs. Warren, who seems to hate everyone but Ezra. The only person missing is Maud, Ezra's twin sister. As Hal learns about the Westaways, she discovers a secret deep and dark involving her mother and Maud, who are both Margarida Westaway - first cousins who share the same name. Will Hal be exposed as a fraud who does not stand to inherit anything? Will she be embraced by her newfound family? Worse... Is one of them out to kill her in order to keep their secret hidden away for good? I won't give the ending away because, well, it's absolutely worth finding out for yourself. I will say this, though - the novel doesn't lag. I'm someone who will easily put a book down and never look at it again if it starts to dull in any part. I didn't have that problem with his novel, and I haven't had it with any of Ware's other works. The way Ware writes tarot cards into the story is clever and appealed to me, someone who owns and uses tarot cards. She never strays too far into the mystical, keeping Hal and the story itself feeling realistic. But there is that touch of otherworldly mystery that drives the narrative. It's a novel worth reading, even if you're not big into thrillers. Where to find Ruth Ware online: Amazon Author Page "History is not history when it's fabricated."
If you are anything like me, you probably don't need 63 reasons to believe there was a conspiracy to assassinate JFK (as the book's subtitle suggests, verbatim). But Jesse Ventura is gonna give 'em to ya anyway. Co-authored with Dick Russell and David Wayne, They Killed Our President outlines the events leading up to and in the aftermath of John F. Kennedy's assassination in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. I did not belong to that era; it was 21 years before my time. My dad, however, still recalls exactly where he was and what he was doing the moment he heard over the news that JFK had been shot. That my 9/11. It's something that stays with you, haunts you. Ventura reminds readers of why JFK's assassination haunts our nation until this day. Reason after reason, Ventura details why Lee Harvey Oswald was not the "lone nut" he was made out to be. Oswald remains a baffling figure who worked as a U.S. intelligence operative and, from all accounts, did not actually have a motive for murdering the President or the ill-fated Officer Tippit, who was gunned down not long after President Kennedy's motorcade came under attack. A motorcade which, by all accounts, was a pretty wide-open, slow-moving target with minimized security detail. Throughout the book, Ventura establishes the evidence, illustrates Oswald's connection to his killer Jack Ruby, the cover-up of evidence that took place (including the silencing of multiple witnesses), the witnesses themselves, and who stood to gain something from Kennedy's death. All of the evidence that Ventura so thoroughly highlights is further compounded by the recent releases of previously-classified documents regarding the assassination (which can be accessed here). One of the documents released in August of 2017 shows that, in 1956, Earle Cabell (who was the mayor of Dallas in 1963) was listed as a CIA asset. Another document, released December 15, 2017, revealed that New Orleans bar owner Orest Pena identified Oswald as being his fellow intelligence operative. All of these things make even more sense after reading Ventura's book, yet the assassination itself will always be senseless. Ventura hammers home his point in the conclusion of the book, where he reminds us that we are still being played. Kennedy, the "patsy" Oswald, the numerous silenced witnesses... They were getting played in 1963. This book isn't for everyone, but it does not require that you put on a tinfoil hat and start living off-the-grid. It requires compassion for a man (two men if you include Officer Tippit, and three if you include Governor John Connally, who survived his wounds) who was gunned down just so that others could get what they want. Where to find Jesse Ventura online: Amazon Author Page Also, make sure you check this book out on Amazon! Hello, everyone! The front page of this site is going to be used for special updates that I make to the blog in the future. As for right now, have a browse about and, if you would like for me to review your book, read my Review Policy page, then go on over to Contact to get in touch with me.
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