The Killing Hour - Paul Cleave

The promo paragraph for The Killing Hour by Paul Cleave immediately caught my eye and sounded like the kind of thriller book I really enjoy - everyday person in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

"Imagine waking up covered in blood - but it's not your blood. There's a nasty bump on your head, and the morning paper reports that two young women were brutally murdered. You recognize their names. Pieces of the night before come back to you through the haze. And now you're the suspect in their grisly deaths. Welcome to Charlie's world."

Spoiler alert - If you have plans to read this book, stop here.

Although the premise is excellent, the delivery fell short, very short for me. We've got at least three viewpoints going on - the dying cop who decides to pursue Charlie on his own and exact justice on his terms, Charlie's narrative and that of  Cyris, the man Charlie claims is the killer.  The cop's narrative was the most readable of the three. Charlie's first person narrative was rambling.  He also talks to 'ghosts'.

The plotting seemed over the top and far fetched. Charlie watches two women get attacked, jumps in, saves them,  kills the bad guy and then accompanies them back their house to take a shower rather than go to or call the cops!? Really? There were other situations that just had me shaking my head - his wife going along with his plan to catch the 'real' killer was unrealistic as well. And still, they never call the police.....Same thing, over and over again.

And the killer. Well, the original incarnation of The Killing Hour as a horror novel is quite obvious. The guy won't die. And frankly, he just got tiresome. Cleave seems to delight in provide grisly, graphic details to shock the reader. Breast in a box on a bed anyone?

An excellent premise, but sadly it just fell (really) short for me. The Killing Hour was originally written as a unpublished horror novel in the nineties. Cleave reworked it as a crime novel after selling another book. And it was rewritten again for release to the North American market. (Cleave is a Kiwi author and this book is set in New Zealand)

For this reader, this first taste of Paul Cleave will be my last. Although his newer novels may be an improvement over The Killing Hour, I won't be bothering to pick up another book by this author. Read an excerpt of The Killing Hour.

The Red House - Mark Haddon

I loved Mark Haddon's best seller The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I haven't read any of his other books, but based on that one read I was eager to pick up his latest - The Red House.

Richard and Angela are brother and sister living in England. They rarely see each other, but following the death of their mother, Richard, a wealthy doctor, invites his sister, her husband and their three children to vacation with him for a week in the country side. Richard has recently remarried and his new wife and step daughter will also be there.

You can see lots of angst and fodder for thought in just the set up - estrangement, death, grief, family squabbles and more. Angela and her family are rife with problems.

I've had this book for a bit and have been picking it up and putting it down, unable to consume it at prolonged sittings. The book is told in a 'stream of conciousness' narrative. Each of the eight characters' thoughts and actions can appear at any time.  Many times it's not clear who is speaking - chapters begin with She for example. As I read further and began to know each character and their way of thinking it became easier to identify the current speaker. But, then sometimes Haddon throws in passages from a book someone is reading or lists of things that really have no bearing on anything.

The Red House has been leaping onto bestseller lists everywhere. I find myself feeling a bit lost, like the kid who doesn't get the joke.  For I found Red House disconcerting, disturbing and demoralizing by turns. Although I agree that Haddon's explorations of his characters' desires, needs and wants are quite intimate and thought provoking, I could only take so much at a sitting. Hence, the length of time it took me to finish the book.

There's no denying that Haddon has explored family dysfunction in great depth with an inventive vehicle to carry those observations.  However, there seemed to be no resolution from first page to last. The characters are still nursing the same angst as they were in the beginning. I realize that not every book needs to have a happy ending or ends all tied up, but I felt no sense of satisfaction on turning the last page. Rather, just relief that I had finished.

Read an excerpt of The Red House.

Here, Home, Hope - Kaira Rouda

Kaira Rouda is a very successful woman - she is the founder of the Real Living Real Estate brand and the Real You - a road map for success for womenpreneurs. This doesn't even begin to touch on her many, many accomplishments.  Here, Home, Hope is the culmination of "her life-long dream to publish a novel."

Kelly Johnson has it all - million dollar home, loving husband, two happy, healthy sons, loving friends and family, but as she's looking at her fortieth birthday, something is missing from her life. She hasn't worked since the boys were born - her husband is a successful law partner- and she gave up her PR job. There are a lot of things she'd like to change. To remind herself she puts up post-its with reminders throughout her home. (The list is pretty good and is printed in it's entirety at the end of the book)

Rouda tackles a subject many women can identify with. What happens when the kids don't need you as much? When is it time to want more for yourself? Using her own entrepreneurial background Rouda empowers Kelly as she starts her own home staging business, reconnects with friends and helps solve the seemingly myriad problems in her friends' lives. Spoilers ahead.

Unfortunately I found it really hard to connect with Kelly and crew. Her 'emergency blonding appointment' runs $295.00, she is worried about the six pounds she gains every summer when her two boys go away to camp in Maine for the summer. (It really shows on her 5'5' frame...)

"Did we all simply have too much time on our hands, we Grandville stay-at-home moms? What about the other six million women who stay at home full time? Did all of us use our time to judge one anther and feel fortunate, superior even, that we were the chosen ones, able to quit our jobs and be there for our kids? I wondered what the 74 million moms who work outside the home would think about these petty salvos."

When Kathryn, one of her closest friends, asks Kelly to have her anorexic daughter Melanie stay with Kelly for part of the summer she agrees. Kelly also enlists the help of a former anorexic friend, Beth, who is now a counsellor, to help with Melanie. Beth is the mother of a 6 week old girl. But Melanie, who is under 16, attempts suicide.

Kelly - "The ER doctor had insisted a parent be called, and since they told me Melanie was stable, I decided not to call Kathryn right away. She still hadn't returned my call from the other night, and perhaps we could handle this situation better without her."

Seriously? C'mon....

Kelly herself is a little weight obsessed....

"Afterward as we cuddled, Patrick complimented me on losing weight. I told him that having an anorexic around had prompted me to think about eating healthier through watching portion sizes and writing things down."

"I did a little dance in front of my full-length mirror and thought again about permanently adopting Mel and inviting Beth and her family to come live with us. I need to keep the people on the road to healthy eating around me. This could be way better than Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig. I could save money and spend it on clothes."

When Kelly meets Beth's husband..

..."Beth's husband, Ryan - who seemed nice, dressed metrosexually, and was not necessarily gay, I decided -"

Umm, isn't he the father of the 6 week old baby, and really, does the way someone dresses denote if they're gay?

There's more, but I'll stop. I think the idea Rouda is promoting is great...

"...something in my life had to change. What I also discovered was that I was the only one who could do it. Not having that realization was what held me back for so long. I was ready to rewrite Things to Change rule Number One. My life is up to me to define. I needed to make my own dreams come true."

...but I think the delivery left something to be desired. I just found the careening from one crisis to another unbelievable and quite far fetched in some situations. I found the story to be almost a series of plot ideas on a whiteboard joined conveniently together. I never connected with Kelly and quite frankly found her annoying.

Read an excerpt of Here, Home, Hope. Find Rouda on Facebook and on Twitter.

For other opinions check out In Search of Balance, The Book Chick, ForeWord Reviews.

Penguin Luck - Kay Mupetson

Well, from the cover I thought I was in for a chick lit read. Sassy photo, cute font and a photo of a stuffed penguin on the back cover.

Penguin Luck opens with Doreen Lowe, a young attorney on the subway....with her ghosts - three spirits of child Holocaust victims, who insist that Doreen 'carry on for them' and that they 'must be replaced.' I was caught off guard had to reread to confirm. The Penguins are Doreen's name for her balding, waddling male relatives (father and uncle) that survived the Holocaust.

Back to the chick lit elements - engaged to the wrong man, marries someone else spontaneously, female friends as the supporting cast - one very outgoing, one reticent. This alone would have made an entertaining book.

But the combining of this light hearted fodder with the serious story of a woman coming to terms with her Jewish heritage and family's Holocaust history was especially jarring. Again, this storyline on it's own would have been a good novel.

The two just didn't mesh for me. It was choppy and didn't flow freely. Mupetson is an attorney and was counsel for a telecommunications company. Guess what Doreen and her husband work at? It almost seemed like Mupetson has taken vignettes from her personal life and inserted them into a novel format. I found the minute details of the telecommunications deals, history, promos and takeovers boring and skipped most of them.

The story 'jumps' in many places, covering the time period from 1989 to 2002. At the end, it seemed almost rushed in order to tie it all up with a bow.

Too much, too busy, too contrived. Some of the prose were incredibly awkward. For example - remembering a friend who has died. "Tears came to my eyes as a vision looped through my neural organ."

Many lawyers have turned to novel writing with varied verdicts. I think you can guess mine, but here are some other arguments.

Bookjourney, Bookbinge, Momma's Gone Over the Wall, Adventures of a SWAHM, Alexia's Books and Such.