Melody's Reading Corner: From The Stacks Challenge

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Melody

I am so glad to have completed From The Stacks Challenge which is held from November 2007 to January 2008. The rules of this challenge is to read 5 books from our stack of purchased to-be-read books. Here is a list of books which I have chosen and completed:

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Little Face by Sophie Hannah
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
The Treatment by Mo Hayder

I have enjoyed reading these books, especially The Treatment which I have shortlisted for my Book of the Year this year. It is a page-turner, filled with suspense that held my attention from the first page till the last page of the book. I also enjoyed reading Sharp Objects, another great crime thriller novel which was the winner of "The CWA New Blood Fiction Dagger 2007". As for Atonement, I liked the story premise. It was so beautifully written, and I think the movie is equally great. I was excited that one of my favourite books has made it to the big screen! And Little Face was a scary read because it described a mother's nightmare very well. And then, there's Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere which had me mesmerized from the first page, which is not a surprise to me anyway.

I would like to thank Michelle from Literature Is The Thought of Thinking Souls for hosting this reading challenge.

Labels: From The Stacks Challenge 15 comments |

Little Face

Melody

ISBN-10: 0340840323
ISBN-13: 978-0340840320
Publisher: Hodder Paperback; New Ed edition (24 Aug 2006)
368pp

Alice Fancourt is excited about being a new mother. But when she finds her baby girl, Florence has gone missing from the cot and instead replaced by a nearly identical baby, she gets hysterical. However her husband, David thinks she is hallucinating and suffering from post-natal depression and brushed off her remarks.

But what most scary is, Alice thinks David is responsible in this in a way. She knows she has no reason to suspect him, but still she couldn't understand about the death of his first wife, Laura Cryer and thought he was upset when she brought up this subject from the beginning. She has dismissed it and thought he was upset then. Then again, there is Vivienne, her mother-in-law who wants the best of everything for her since the day she walked into David's life. She felt flattered at first, but what if there is an ulterior motive behind her kind gesture?

No one seems to believe Alice, except DC Simon Waterhouse who has a soft spot for her. But Waterhouse has his own issues too, for his superior DS "Charlie" Zailer has had a major crush on him and thinks he is overeacting with Alice's case. But when the baby and Alice disappear, Charlie begins to look into the case seriously....

Sophie Hannah weaved a taut and suspenseful thriller in Little Face. Readers will be enticed in this story through her two narrative voices - Alice as her own and Simon through a third person. While reading this book, I often wondered to myself if there was more to Laura Cryer's death, or was it simply an abduction case? As the story slowly unfolds, I realized that there is more than meets the eyes, and didn't see the twist coming until towards the end. It was a fascinating read. I can't wait to read her latest release, Hurting Distance which I have it in my TBR pile.

Labels: 4 stars, Book Review, From The Stacks Challenge, Psychological Thriller 18 comments |

Neverwhere

Melody

ISBN-13: 9780380789016
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Pub. Date: March 1999
400pp

I have only read two books by Neil Gaiman so far (Caroline and The Wolves In The Wall), and although they are classified under Children/YA genre, still I enjoyed reading them a lot. Neverwhere is actually my first attempt of his full length 'grown up' novel.

Richard Mayhew is a businessman living in London, and he has a fiancee named Jessica who demands a lot from him. Anyway, on his way to meet her superior for a meal, he sees a homeless and injured girl on the street. Although Jessica threatened him that she would call off their engagement if he had decided to help the girl, this doesn't stop Richard from doing so. Thus he brought her home and nursed her, although he doesn't understand why he would help her in the beginning.

The girl, whose name is Door, is actually fleeing from a pair of hired assassins whom had killed her family and that was when she stumbles upon "London Above" and meets Richard. Asides from the strange place she is from, she is also able to communicate with rats and pigeons. But it was until when Richard realizes people could no longer see or hear him, he has to join Door's quest to "London Below" to find out about her family's murder and prepare a battle to save this strange underworld from the others whose aim to destroy it.

Neil Gaiman once again has succeeded in weaving a great fantasy story filled with thrill and suspense. Through his great imaginative mind and skillful writing, he took his readers on a fantastic journey in Neverwhere. This is an extraordinary fantasy story in my opinion, and I am definitely looking forward to more of his books in the near future.

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Labels: 4.5 stars, Book Review, From The Stacks Challenge, Urban Fantasy 14 comments |

The Treatment

Melody

ISBN-13: 9780440236177
Publisher: Dell Publishing
Pub. Date: November 2002
416pp

I first read about the protagonist, DI Jack Caffery when I read Birdman some time ago. The story left me a deep impression, because it was dark and so intense. I decided to look out for more of Mo Hayder's books then, because I like her writing style and her stories are usually deep and complex, which make me ponder over the cases which has to be solved by DI Jack Caffery.

In The Treatment, DI Jack Caffery was called to solve the case where a nine-year-old Rory was found missing, and his parents Alek and Carmel Peach were found prisoners in their own home, suffered from beatings and in serious dehydration. When they found out Rory was dead after, this further reminded DI Jack Caffery of Ewan, his brother's disappearance some years ago which made him feeling angry and frustrated because it remained unsolved, although he thought his neighbour, Ivan Penderecki was the one who did it. Together with DCI Danniella Souness, they looked for clues but as they dug deeper into the case, things became more complicated. And to make things worse, it seemed that the killer has moved on to another family and everything seems to be happening all over again. But this time, DI Jack Caffery wasn't about to let the killer gets what wants, as he puts the forensic evidence together and tries to get into the killer's dark mind. But then again, time was running out fast and besides this, he also had to deal with his girlfriend, Rebecca who recovered from a brutal rape and it wasn't easy for any of them.

The Treatment is a dark and intense story, filled with suspense and at times, horror. Mo Hayder has succeeded in weaving an unforgettable crime thriller, and as I flipped through the pages I was very eager to find out about the real killer, which the author has kept it from her readers until nearing to the end of the book. Even after I had finished the story and closed the book with satisfactory that I have learnt the truth, I still have that 'wow' feeling. Not surprisingly, this is a keeper and will be shortlisted for my Book of the Year this year.

Labels: 5 stars, Book Review, Crime Thriller, From The Stacks Challenge 10 comments |

Sharp Objects

Melody

ISBN-13: 9780307341556
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, 254pp
Pub. Date: July 2007

Camille Preaker had a troubled past and a history of self-mutilation, but she had put that behind her and gets on with her life working as a reporter for a second-rate Chicago newspapers. Everything seems normal but bland for her until her editor, Frank Curry hands her an assignment at her old hometown, Wind Gap whereby two young girls were murdered. But she has her qualms as she has not returned in eight years but Frank wants her to cover the story, thinking this would help in boosting the readership as well.

She meets up her estranged neurotic mother and a half-sister she barely knows yet intrigues her. In a way, she is grateful that her mother had let her stay at her house, although it is an icy welcome. She interviews the victims' families but couldn't get any clues from them, and the hometown police didn't offer any much help either. So she snoops around but as she digs deeper into the story and the case, she can't help feelling she is reliving her childhood trauma again, and the scariest thing is things aren't what they appear to be.

Sharp Objects is a page-turner, both intriguing and thrilling. Gillian Flynn's sharp writing style has hooked me starting with her great opening line and it continues to keep my attention till the last chapter and she doesn't reveals the murderer until towards the ending. Although I have somehow guessed who the murderer was, the truth behind it still blown me away.

Gillian Flynn has written a great debut with this book. It is no wonder this is a winner of the CWA New Blood Fiction Dagger; and Stephen King also quoted this 'A terrific debut, relentlessly creepy' on the cover as shown on the right.

Labels: 4 stars, Book Review, From The Stacks Challenge, Suspense Thriller 6 comments |

Atonement

Melody

ISBN-13: 9780307387158
Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group, 368pp
Pub. Date: November 2007
First Pub.: March 2002

Quoted from Ian EcEwan's website:
Atonement received the WH Smith Literary Award (2002), National Book Critics' Circle Fiction Award (2003), Los Angeles Times Prize for Fiction (2003), and the Santiago Prize for the European Novel (2004).

Frankly speaking, I didn't know about these awards until I learnt it from the author, Ian McEwan's website. And not only that, Mr. McEwan also has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction three times, winning the award for Amsterdam in 1998.

The story begins on a summer in 1935. Like other girls her age, thirteen-year-old Briony Tallis has her dreams, and writing is one of them. She has an overly active imagination, and ironically the cause of this will change her life thereafter.

Cecilia is Briony's older sister. Robbie Turner is their childhood friend, or to be precise he is the son of a cleaning lady who works in the Tallis' family. Cecilia and Robbie attends the same university, and it is Cecilia's father who helps to fund Robbie's education. Cecilia and Robbie have feelings for each other, although they chose to be discreet. However one day, they broke a valuable porcelain vase during a quarrel and out of fury, Cecilia strips off her clothes and leaps into the fountain to retrieve the shattered pieces. Briony is startled when she witnessed this incident from afar, thinking that Robbie has asked her sister to do something shameful.

However, one thing leads to another, and when the sisters' cousin Lola cries rape late one night (although she couldn't identity the rapist), Briony quickly points to Robbie when Lola claimed the rapist was about his height. Robbie is then sent to jail.

In the second part of the story, Robbie is out of jail and into the army during World War II. By this time, Briony has grown up and is a nursing student. Through the years, she had came to know she had done an unforgivable deed so she seeks atonement through nursing and later through her writing.

I enjoyed reading Atonement because the story is so beautifully written, not to mention the plot is compelling and the characters engaging. And I like how the story wraps up towards the end, where we will read about the aging Briony and her thoughts. And finally, the best thing I learn from this story is how an innocent judgement might ruin one person's life. I am looking forward to the movie version which is scheduled to release in January.

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