Sleepless - Romy Hausmann

I enjoyed Romy Hausmann's first English novel, Dear Child (my review) and happily picked up her newly released novel Sleepless. 

The premise? From Flatiron Books:

"It's been years since Nadja Kulka was convicted of a cruel crime. After being released from prison, she's wanted nothing more than to live a normal life: nice flat, steady job, even a few friends. But when one of those friends, Laura von Hoven--free-spirited beauty and wife of Nadja's boss--kills her lover and begs Nadja for her help, Nadja can't seem to refuse.

The two women make for a remote house in the woods, the perfect place to bury a body. But their plan quickly falls apart and Nadja finds herself outplayed, a pawn in a bizarre game in which she is both the perfect victim and the perfect murderer..."

Sleepless opens with a letter - the sender or recipient are not named. The letters continue throughout the book offering up a look at the past of the writer. I always enjoy epistolary entries in a book.

The time frames of Sleepless goes back and forth from chapter to chapter. Nadja's entries always have her name, but the other timeframes are identified only by date. A myriad of players populate these chapters. 

I found it impossible to connect with the lead character Nadja. I felt like I should because of her past, but she makes impossibly foolish decisions over and over again. There's another character called Nelly who appears at the beginning of the book in a past timeframe. Her I liked. As the book progressed I wondered how her story and Nadja would connect by the end of the book. But that connection ended up being only marginal and I questioned her even being in the book. Same goes for her counterpart Paul. He too only has a tangential connection with the main plot. Without saying too much, the epilogue was an odd add-on.

I liked Hausmann's premise, but felt the execution was lacking for me. The jumping timelines, the twists that defied belief and the disjointed feeling overall. I really had higher hopes for Sleepless based on Dear Child. I'm sorry to say this one was a bit of a disappointment for me. See what others thought on Goodreads.

Kill the Father - Sandrone Dazieri

Kill the Father is Italian author Sandrone Dazieri's North American debut.

When a woman is beheaded in Rome and her six year old son taken, the major crimes Chief calls in an unexpected duo to secretly track the killer and find the boy. Deputy Captain Colomba Caselli is still recovering from her last case or catastrophe, depending on your viewpoint. She is joined Dante Torre, a man who spent his childhood trapped inside a concrete silo fed by the gloved hand of a masked kidnapper who called himself 'the Father'. He escaped but has been irreparably damaged by his horrific ordeal.

I thought this was an excellent premise. The two leads were well drawn and I am always attracted to the 'walking wounded' protagonists. Kill the Father is listed as the first book in the Columba Caselli series. So, a great introduction to this character and her back story. Torre is of course, horribly affected by his ordeal as a child, but I found that his reactions to situations etc. became somewhat repetitive as they were described over and over again.

The plot is intricate and complex, but I found it started to drag over the course of the 500+ pages and I found my attention wandering.

I chose to listen to Kill the Father. I do find when I read a book vs. listening to it, that it's a different experience. Repetitive descriptions that I may have glossed over in physical book format are more pronounced in audio. The character seem more 'real' when they have an actual voice.

The reader of Kill the Father was Cassandra Campbell - one of my favourite audio book presenters. Her performance was excellent. She has such a smooth voice that is so pleasant to listen to. There's a melodic undertone that makes her voice sound so polished and effortless. I liked her interpretation of the Columba character. It fit the mental image I had created for the character. Her pacing of the narrative is good, as are the inflections she gives to dialogue and action. She handles the Italian phrases used in the book admirably. Listen to an excerpt of Kill the Father.

Great audio performance, but overall, Kill the Father was just an okay book for me. Read an excerpt of Kill the Father.

Perfect Days - Raphael Montes

Raphael Montes's novel Perfect Days was 'hugely celebrated' in his native Brazil. Thirteen other countries have snapped up publishing rights, including the US, where Perfect Debut releases on February 16/16.

Book covers are the first thing that grab my attention. How does the image used relate to the story? Vacation? Marriage breakup? It could be anything. But I doubt you'd ever guess the connection in this case. Let me explain.....

Teo is a loner, living with his paraplegic mother. He is quite brilliant and does well at medical school. Well, technically, he does well, but socially not so good. "He learned that if his playacting seemed real, it was all a lot easier." Teo counts the cadaver he works on as his best friend. Uh, huh, starting to get creepy isn't it? Not done yet...

Teo is surprised when he spots Clarice at a party - he actually feels something - he's attracted to Clarice. He begins following her, imagining how perfect their relationship is going to be. And of course there will be a relationship - why wouldn't there be? Except Clarice isn't quite on the same page....but Teo takes things into his own hands. Ready?

"By stuffing Clarice in a suitcase and bringing her home, had he become a criminal? It hadn't been premeditated, nor was he interested in a ransom. He just wanted what was best for Clarice."

Now, you may be thinking I've given away the entire plot and spoiled the book for you. Nope, not even close! Teo just needs a bit more time to convince Clarice that they're meant to be together. Road trip maybe?

Perfect Days is twisted, creepy and completely unpredictable. I had no idea where Montes was going to take the story (and was somewhat frightened to see what was next) but was unable to put the book down. You know, like watching a scary movie and telling the characters to not go down the basement stairs. Teo's inability to see that what he is doing is wrong and his rationalizing is downright terrifying. Or perhaps I should be more worried about the author? Perfect Days is definitely one of the creepiest books I've read in a long time. And there's one last gotcha in the final pages that was unexpected. Read an excerpt of Perfect Days.

Perfect Days is probably not for the faint of heart.....I loved the book trailer and reaction clip from Penguin...