Anything for you.

Publisher: Broadway (Random House)
Pages: 270
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-307-71676-7
First Published: 2011
Date Reviewed: 3rd December 2012
Rating: 4/5

Laney tells her story of why she was arrested for a crime, including all the heartache and tears that led to the moment a trigger was pulled. Miss Baby also tells her story, a tale laced with a similar longing for love but of a differing nature. Both stories, initially separate, join together as gaps in one story are filled by the other and the women find themselves in like situations.

Break The Skin rests quite firmly in “literary fiction” whilst simultaneously keeping both feet in a blend of thriller and crime. At once housing aspects of loneliness and love akin to a YA book, the story touches on issues that place it in an older age range. To say that the novel would appeal to many would be an understatement.

It ought to be noted that the thriller element is quite minor. There is a crime, and a good lead up to it, but the reveal isn’t, perhaps, as surprising or sudden as would generally be expected in a book with such a structure. However this is somewhat negated by the general category as well as the locations and characters.

Because it can’t be said that Martin’s emphasis on personality rather than crime was a bad one, indeed the way the author weaves the two tales together whilst ultimately providing two separate stories is rather compelling. The focus on a need to be loved at all costs puts two characters that are otherwise very different in the same box, literally at times, and keeps the threads tied even when they seem loose. Martin’s characters, especially Laney, are at the extreme ends of neediness, but they surely demonstrate a reality that isn’t given enough notice in our world. Perhaps the saddest part is that both situations could have been avoided, in particular Laney’s, if things were just that little bit different.

Thus, neediness being prominent, the possibilities for manipulation and the way a person in need can do the wrong thing, or anything that isn’t appreciated either way, are centre stage. What’s interesting is how Martin includes the manipulation – it’s subtle, sometimes barely apparent, but there nevertheless. And the secondary characters, such as parents, show how easy it is for others not to notice everything that is happening, to only see part of the story, and thus to make the situation worse. And in Miss Baby’s case, one manipulates another, letting them think the other is manipulating them.

The writing is generally good, although sometimes a bit “clunky”. However there are occasions where accents or dialects are used which can help a reader unfamiliar with the setting, and cultural references tend to be explained well.

The differences in time between the two narratives are incredibly interesting, not just for the changes in setting but for the periods themselves. Whereas Laney’s story, the more informed story, takes place over a number of months, Miss Baby’s is after the event and shows the affects of that event on one of the characters. In a way it could be wondered how relevant Miss Baby is besides being akin to Laney in status, because Miss Baby doesn’t really play much of a part to her Donnie’s story, but it allows Martin to demonstrate feelings, and how people don’t always realise how another feels for them.

Witchcraft makes a play for the reasoning behind the crime, and its inclusion is interesting. Martin doesn’t take a side; he shows how the occult could have an effect, whether real or as a consequence of belief, as well as showing how it might not have played a part at all. He allows space for suggesting it’s a bad thing that affects lives, and space for suggesting it doesn’t work. His handling is objective and includes all sorts of perceptions.

Break The Skin deals with people being very down on their luck, as well as those who believe they are but are in fact not. It shows how a person can easily slide from ambition and self-worth to thinking they are nothing, and highlights the differences in worlds that can allow that to escalate. Its characters are not particularly special, and it’s for that reason the premise and themes work, because they are so normal. Even the fact that there is nothing to recommend them works in Martin’s favour.

In the case of this book, extra analysis may prove indispensable, due to the way that the book can, on the surface, appear dull. Because there is a lot to Break The Skin, and in a way the title is apt far more than in view of the narrative. Martin’s thoughts are there, but he wants you to really think about it, instead of handing it to you on a plate and making it easier to read and forget. Once you break the spell, you’ll see it all.

I received this book for review from Crown Publishers.

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None yet.

If love hurts, what does no love do?

Publisher: Headline (Hachette)
Pages: 358
Type: Fiction
Age: Young Adult
ISBN: 978-0-7553-8915-5
First Published: 29th March 2012
Date Reviewed: 4th April 2012
Rating: 4.5/5

Violet has joined Sara Priest’s team, joining others who have abilities. When an anonymous caller tips the police off about a body, Violet goes to find it – another body that adds to a list of girls a man has killed. When another girl goes missing, the hunt begins again and Violet sees how each person on her team has talents that she believes best hers. Yet hers may turn out to be the most important.

The Last Echo is the third in the series of books that is one of those where the author could keep writing and writing and never be considered taking it too far. Never employing filler tactics, Derting heads towards each book’s conclusion, ensuring there are no dull spots and that the strength that begins each book continues until the end.

The book moves away from the singular nature of The Body Finder and Desires Of The Dead. Whereas the first book was all about Violet, and of course Jay, and Desires Of The Dead bore the light inclusion of Sara Priest and Rafe, The Last Echo pulls in a bunch of characters which ensures that while the basic idea – find crime, find victim, get caught by killer, solve case – may be the same, there is ample reason to want to read on. And while the inclusion of several main characters into a previously single-character story often serves as the beginnings of a waning talent, Derting’s usage only improves her tale and allows her to develop Violet further. In fact this usage is a part of an overall element that pervades her work – she never uses ideas to excess, constantly only using things minimally – and it is completely refreshing.

But what does this mean for the other section of the plot, the development of Violet and Jay’s relationship? Inevitably there is less time given to it, which might seem a pity at first because it is another example of where Derting excels, but thinking about it is rather appropriate as well as being understandable. In order for Violet to progress and thus for the story to remain interesting, Derting cannot let things stay the same in the way she tells her story. Therefore more time has to be given to Sara’s team. And the fact that a lot of time has been spent previously on the relationship means that what Derting does include – hot and realistic as usual (another plus) – feels enough. The reader knows about the relationship and unless there is a break-up, moving it to the back seat is entirely rational.

However this doesn’t mean that nothing happens in the relationship at all, for of course we have this potential angst-maker in Rafe. Jay doesn’t like Rafe, because he worries about having a rival, but that doesn’t mean he puts his foot down. On the contrary he trusts Violet and lets her do what she needs to do. And best of all, Derting treats this potential triangle with care; she doesn’t fall into the trap of dramatising it and doesn’t make it the be all and end all of her book. The reader looking for romance over thriller will be disappointed, because Derting won’t get bogged down in issues that don’t relate to her plot.

There are a couple of fantastic twists, including, as always, a hint of the path the next book will take. Or maybe it won’t follow it – that possibility in itself being a reason to keep reading. And Derting doesn’t let the climax move in the way previous experience may have led you to expect, though as before she allows it to play out slowly, a true thriller thread that makes no allowances for those who want things to end quickly.

So she’s a master at relationships, at structuring her story, at slow but sure character development, and at writing a creepy young adult thriller. The only Derting could rethink is her literal use of language – there are quite a few repetitions and “interesting” usages. But if a good story overrides perfected prose then Derting is a competitor for the crown, and her stories, her knowledge of people, and the obvious research that prevents errors, means that the words themselves don’t matter anywhere near as much as the whole. Even her villain is well characterised and given lots of time for presenting his side of the story.

The Body Finder was great, so too was Desires Of The Dead, but like the top authors, Derting has taken it up another step and the potential for the fourth book is incredible. Knowing Derting, she won’t disappoint.

If Violet could create an echo for the book, it would be short and would reflect the fact that you really ought to read this book.

I received this book for review from Headline publishers.

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The kick-arse chick takes on the bad guys, but it’s a lot more complicated than it has ever seemed.

Publisher: Broadway (Random House)
Pages: 307
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-307-71710-8
First Published: 2011
Date Reviewed: 9th December 2011
Rating: 4/5

Richard Burbank’s daughter is missing and for years he’s had people looking for her unsuccessfully. His employee Miles suggests they seek the services of Munroe, a woman Miles knows will be able to find the girl. Munroe thinks differently to others and has extensive knowledge they lack. In order to find Emily, Munroe must confront her past, as well as work out why Emily’s disappearance is so mysterious.

The Informationist is a book that for a long time appears to be very average before turning on you and showing you what it’s really made of. Indeed the climax is drawn out at several chapters long. The average nature of the majority of the book doesn’t just conceal its ending (and whether or not the reason for the character’s search is predictable or not matters not one bit) but it hides all the extra twists, plot points, and mysteries that Stevens will employ just when you think you’ve worked it all out.

Stevens doesn’t stray from portraying some gruesome situations, and while the book may first come across as a standard kick-arse chick story, the situations in it make it very much a book for adults.

Stevens’s main character, who for the sake of this review will be called Munroe, is an androgynous undercover woman trained to win and to kill. She is constantly strong throughout for reasons Stevens details well. Even when the plot changes track for a short while and allows us to see that Munroe hasn’t been quite as successful in putting away emotions as she would claim (though this is hinted from the start) she doesn’t let the present run away with her and remembers her goal.

It’s difficult to talk about the other characters without spoiling the story a little, but suffice to say that there comes a point when Munroe isn’t working alone and it’s an exciting read, despite the fact that Munroe thinks she’s better working alone. And the author never promises anything – you never know if there will be a happy ending or if things will resolve.

That Stevens has knowledge of her chosen settings – in the main Africa – is apparent. And while the book may be about getting away from the continent she provides the balance and includes positive views when she can. That the book centres on people who live there, most of them happily enough, makes up for most of the negativity that the pages needed to present for its story to work.

There are some things that could have been done better, for example sometimes the way the characters reach an understanding of what has happened isn’t explained very well and it can be confusing as to why they’ve chosen to take a particular “route”. And there are one or two occasions where things simply don’t add up, like telling someone the air-con, if turned on, will make too much noise and draw attention, and then that person going and doing something that would make a lot more noise than the air-con.

The negatives are there but it’s not hard to say that this book is worth a read. Anyone looking for something that will surprise, shock, educate, and leave them panting for breath by the end should most certainly look it up.

I received this book for review from Crown Publishers, Random House.

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The truth can haunt you.

Publisher: Bantam Press (Random House)
Pages: 451
Type: Fiction
Age: Adult
ISBN: 978-0-593-06708-6
First Published: 7th July 2011
Date Reviewed: 31st August 2011
Rating: 5/5

Sarah left Laurie after he’d decided to sleep with her friend because he couldn’t understand her [Sarah’s] depression over giving birth to a stillborn baby. She travelled to Sicily with her sister in order to get away from everything and it’s there she meets Alexander and his son Jamie. Alexander’s wife has left him after a turbulent marriage and no one knows what’s happened to her, but to Sarah that’s not as important as the feelings she is starting to have for him. When Alexander suggests she move in with him and Jamie and live in the village of Burrington Stoke, where outsiders are not welcome, she joins him on impulse. But the mystery of the wife is far from over.

Douglas has created a work that binds different genres together into something quite extraordinary. What’s intriguing about it is the way in which it’s told. Douglas favours a sort of detailed abstract style – there is plenty of detail in it but sometimes it feels as though she’s left things out, the not so important things, even if in actual fact she hasn’t. It’s a unique style and means that you come away with a completely different experience than you do with so many writers who are hard to tell apart from style alone.

The story is well plotted. There is never a dull moment, during the mundane activities Douglas never lets her narrator stop thinking. The book takes place over several months yet it could just as easily have been a few days for how quickly it moves, and rather than be strange this aspect is interesting. It shows how rapidly problems can escalate.

Now Sarah is a difficult one to place on the spectrum of good or bad because she is clearly affected by the death of her child, and the reader can see times where her judgment is affected because of it where she can’t herself. Because her depression continues throughout the book one only knows her in this state. Yet a few things she does makes you wonder how much is due to her trauma and how much is due to that usual feeling of jealousy in love. Does what Sarah does sometimes illustrate control from outside, her mental state, or a spiteful character?

The book dissects the idea of a perfect living situation and shows how undercurrents can produce more harm than situations generally thought to be harmful. When everyone is living in everyone else’s pockets, everyone seems to know everything. But this feature of the village actually introduces the situation where no one actually knows anything and had there been true discretion the mystery might have been solved a lot quicker. Lives lived in public produced more secrets.

There is so much detail and thought given to the twists in the plot and the red herrings. Unlike a lot of books where at least some of the results are obvious early on, in The Secrets Between Us you really can’t say for certain what’s happened or who played a part. It’s like a whodunit only in pure “literary fiction” style and without the detective narrator.

The characters and their secrets affect the reader’s knowledge, as the reader only ever knows as much as Sarah does about Alexander. In this way the book’s title takes on a second meaning – not only are there secrets between the couple, those secrets spill over to the reader.

Some things are never used in the plot, such as the similarities between the wealthy mother and her daughter. When Virginia discusses her theories with Sarah never does the irony of the situation come into play, whether in discussion or in thought. And an idea about police involvement doesn’t get resolved.

But the few negatives are nothing when placed in the whole. Douglas is an extremely talented author whose ability to spread out a plot over a vast number of pages without once waning, still has this reviewer in awe. When she does exploit the idea of drama she still keeps a hold of the element of realism and possibility and so the book is truly spooky. And even though it’s spooky you just can’t stop reading it.

You will take away with you knowledge – the knowledge that you still have so little knowledge about the characters, which is something you don’t actually realise until you think back on the book. Douglas had you going there for a minute, thinking you know everything, but you don’t. Those secrets that were between you and the book are actually still there. And that feeling is incredibly satisfying.

The Secrets Between Us is for anyone who is looking for one of those elusive blow-me-away books, those that are off the scale for reasons you could never quite explain.

I received this book for review from Transworld Publishing, Random House.

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This time it may hit closer to home.

Publisher: Headline
Pages: 355
Type: Fiction
Age: Young Adult
ISBN: 978-0-7553-7896-8
First Published: 15th February 2011
Date Reviewed: 23rd February 2011
Rating: 4/5

Violet knew that ringing 911 when she felt the echo of a body in the shipyard was a risk she had to take. When Sara Priest, an ex-FBI agent contacts her, she realises that it was a mistake to have let the police know something that nobody should. Now she must decide whether to take Sara up on her offer, and to reveal her ability. But there is something else on Violet’s mind. What’s the deal with this new guy, Mike, and his sister?

Desires Of The Dead is the worthy follow-up to last year’s, The Body Finder. In it, Derting packs all the same winning qualities that made the first a success, and takes it up a notch on many levels.

The most obvious difference is the inclusion of the FBI. Whereas Violet’s association with her local police is because of her uncle, Sara Priest enters as a third party, a separate entity. Where The Body Finder was literally about working at ground level, Desires Of The Dead deals more with professional interaction and suggests that in future the series will focus more on things that well befit the crime genre.

The book explores the concept of the family and it’s variations – Violet’s family, a metaphorical family, and this time also the family of the person killed. Family is the basic backbone of the book and whereas before the emphasis was on a person’s mental state, this time it is about how you protect those you love.

Violet has to be one of the best YA heroines of recent years. Continually strong and always equal to her boyfriend, it’s a pleasure to read about her. Jay is also wonderful, and I think it’s fair to say that Derting has a way with characters, which makes them very real.

Jay sat down across from Chelsea and took both of her hands in his. The oversized lunchroom was buzzing with activity, and he practically had to yell to be heard.
“Chelsea, for the love of everything good and holy, please… please stop ruining my friend.”

The romance in the book is never idealistic, and when Violet thinks about Jay she never goes overboard. She thinks about him a lot, but there aren’t paragraphs and paragraphs of it. It’s just so natural. And although Jay is fiercely protective of Violet he gives her space when she needs it.

Before, Derting wrote scenes from the enemy’s point of view, and she does this again in Desires Of The Dead. It’s an interesting device. The reader isn’t so much excited to find out who the person is as they are excited to find out how the conclusion is reached. Because you are already acquainted with the enemy, even if you’re not sure who the enemy actually is, you can enjoy the journey to discovery more because there’s no desire that the author hurry up and tell you. Although the need for speed can be exciting, you often miss interesting details in your rush to finish, and so this isn’t an issue here.

The new elements introduced in this book suggest that next time the difference is going to be quite something, and it appears that from standing on the fence between paranormal and totally realistic (because Violet’s ability is actually rather believable in our world where psychic abilities are acknowledged), Derting is going to jump over and explore the fantastical side. Personally I have little doubt that she won’t keep it just as real as before.

Derting and Violet both know that things cannot stay the same, Derting for the progress of a story, and Violet for the help her ability can bring. The awareness of these things together ensures the development of everything and makes the reader receptive of a third book.

Desires Of The Dead speaks up where others stay silent and proves that a realistic paranormal is possible. The dead have staked a claim on Violet but there’s no reason why you shouldn’t too.

I received this book for review from Headline publishers.

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