Category: 3.5 star

3.5 star

Review: Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Two couples, two close friends, one missing husband…

Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated fight the night before. But then a day goes by. Two days. Five. And Jake is still nowhere to be found.

Lily Scott, Nina’s friend and coworker, thinks she may have been the last to see Jake before he went missing. After Lily confesses everything to her husband, Christian, the two decide that nobody can find out what happened leading up to Jake’s disappearance, especially not Nina. But Nina is out there looking for her husband, and she won’t stop until the truth is discovered.

I think I saw a friend “recommend” this on social media, so I decided to give it a shot myself. I think overall I did enjoy it, but it was far from what I would rate as an amazing thriller. That being said, in terms of actual thrill (which may be the most important part in a thriller anyway), it certainly delivered! So adjust the rating as you see fit for how much it matters to you.

Just the Nicest Couple actually revolves around two main couples, and we follow half of each pair in Christian (married to Lily) and Nina (married to Jake). Jake goes missing from the start, and Lily seems to be the last person who saw him, for which Christian attempts to protect her at every end. Nina, after having fought with Jake, thinks it was their recent fight that triggered his leaving, but he hasn’t come home in way too long. Just where is Jake, and is he still alive? Nina gets increasingly desperate as the clues slowly come trickling through, though it is not until the very end where everything comes to light.

The characters were decent in this one. I didn’t hate them, but they were certainly very human and I really couldn’t agree with a lot of their actions. This kind of annoyed me (in the way that any character’s books with opposing morals would), and it felt to me like the story would (obviously) have played out differently if the characters had chosen to go on a different path in dealing with the issue rather than what they actually chose to do. But, keeping in mind that it is a work of fiction, the characters were well-built and fleshed out, and were generally quite consistent in their character, which I really appreciated. Though I was sometimes put off by what they would choose to do, I could really see each character in my head clearly as I was reading, and this really helped with clarity even as we flip back and forth between the two POVs.

The suspense was excellent and I would probably give it a 4.5 star rating if that were the only thing I were judging on. The paranoia that was built through the perspectives was very well-executed, and this really helped to drive the pace forward. I finished this book in one sitting (and it’s not too long) as I just could not put it down. I certainly had to stop here and there though because I was afraid of what was coming, which I think is the sign of a very very exciting book. The way we get the third person view that is also missing gaps in the information really helped to deepen the suspense and make it unclear just what was really going on.

The slight drawback here, for which I didn’t give the full 5 stars for suspense was because it was slightly predictable. Although the suspense really was very good, I felt that perhaps some of the foreshadowing was too strong in some places, which instantly took my mind to some of the possibilities. As a result, some of the twists weren’t as shocking as I would have hoped. That being said, overall because of the way it was written, I still felt that it was really high tempo and suspenseful. There were no huge giveaways or anything egregious that I’d point out, but as a seasoned reader I think I wasn’t blown away by the creativity in terms of the way the plot was crafted. If this is not your concern though, you won’t mind this at all.

The ending, which of course really is only a small part of any thriller novel, but a great bonus if the author does it right, was disappointing for me. I did not see it coming at all, but that meant really not seeing it coming at all—as in, that chapter felt out of place. It all came crashing down and became really clear right at that chapter, but it didn’t feel like a sense of clarity, it just felt like an “oh, okay,” moment, which I experience every so often in a thriller book. But, it really was a very small part of the book, and the rest of it was already really suspenseful and excellent. So as an overall journey it was really good as a thriller and taking me on an emotional rollercoaster, it just wasn’t my favourite in terms of the specific elements, or blowing me away on the plot.

Overall Recommendations

Just the Nicest Couple revolves around two couples, when one husband goes missing. Taking place in the POV of one half of each of the couples, the story revolves around one side searching for the truth, and the other couple deliberately trying to hide the truth. Clues slowly come up, but not before threats seem to appear around every corner for the wife searching for her missing husband. Just what will the other couple do to try and protect themselves? Full of suspenseful fast-paced writing, if you’re a fan of just pure emotional rollercoasters and uncertainty, this may be the book for you!

3.5 star

Review: Orchid Child by Victoria Costello

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

Kate is a neuroscientist who covets logic and order, unless she’s sleeping with her married lab director, and then logic goes out the window. So does her orderly life in Manhattan when she’s fired over the affair and Kate’s mother presses her to accept responsibility for her fifteen-year-old nephew, Teague, an orchid child who hears voices and talks to trees but rarely people.
To salvage her career, Kate agrees to conduct a study in West Ireland where hostile townsfolk rebuff her study of their historically high rate of schizophrenia and a local chief Druid identifies Teague’s odd perceptions as the gift of second sight, thrusting a bewildered Kate on a trail of madness, magic, and armed rebellion that leads to her own grandparents, who were banished as traitors from the same town.
When a confrontation with the chief Druid endangers Teague’s life, Kate lands at the intersection of ancient Celtic mysticism and 21st century neurodiversity, where the act of witnessing old wounds can heal suffering in both past and present – even hers, if she can accept the limits of science and the power of ancestral ties.

Note: I received a copy of this an advanced reader’s copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. All opinions put forward are completely my own.

This book was advertised as: Celtic mysticism meets 21st century neurodiversity. A hint of fantasy in an otherwise realistic world is usually a classic archetype that I would enjoy, so I definitely had to give this one a try. So when I was offered a copy of this, I had to jump on the ship!

Orchid Child revolves around a neuroscientist, Kate, who has a messy past in New York with her old job. Things get even more tumultuous when she assumes custody of her teenaged nephew, Teague, and move together to Ireland for a new position studying schizophrenia and other psychological disorders in a certain population in Ireland. Combining a bit of mysticism with science and the power of familial ties, this is a story told in multiple POVs and explores what it means to be family over generations and in the community. It also has lots of reference to mental health related aspects.

The characters in this book were quite good. The main ones had distinct personalities, and even if I didn’t overly relate with most of them, I still understood the point of the character and what they added to the story. Each had a defined personality, and were quite believable, and were internally consistent. Many also experienced character growth in a natural manner that wasn’t jarring. The one thing here I would say was that there were a decent number of characters, so sometimes it was a bit more difficult to keep track of the relationships that were being defined, especially as we get through multiple generations, and flip through the past and present.

The plot was quite decent. I think this plot really revolves a lot more around the relationships that are built and explored. In a way it reads a bit like a mystery with some suspense elements built in too because of the secrets that are slowly unearthed, even if the main story doesn’t revolve around a murder. It has a number of twists and turns that were quite exciting, and I also think the flipping of the POVs between the past and present slowly coming together is always a type of storywriting that I enjoy. There were a few plot gaps that I personally wish were more explored, but I think that is just an author’s choice. I just had a few questions at some points that were never really answered, but perhaps they were considered side plots and not all too important to the main story, which I totally understand.

I really liked the themes of family, land, and ancestral homes in this book. I can also see that it’s somewhat based on the author’s discovery of her family roots. I think that was one of the strong points of this book, in addition to the way the mental health is treated both by professionals and the lay person. The tying of the mysticism into mental health was also well done, and I found it to be an interesting new perspective on how to look at it as well. There was also a bit of a historical element to it, which was great in tying it all together. Overall I would say I enjoyed the book and its contents, although there were times in the book where I felt that it was leading somewhere, but it actually took me somewhere else. Again this is likely the author’s choice mixed with my own expectations of what I think would/should happen.

One last point is that I like that the title is tied into the book naturally, or is at least, a part of the story that is clear. It really feels like a “coming full circle” moment, and I always enjoy that.

Overall Recommendations

Orchid Child is a story that mostly takes place in Ireland, revolving around our protagonist Kate as she navigates her new job in a foreign country that takes her back to her ancestral homeland. A story of familial ties and everlasting loyalty, the story really explores themes of mental health, support, and perspective of various members of the community on mental health and its stigma. If you enjoy themes of family, ancestral land, with a hint of mysticism, this may be the one for you!

3.5 star

Review: The Controlled by P. J. Willett

Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

The Controlled is an urban science fiction about a group of disparate characters, trapped in a school by a gang of
deranged students. It is set in a post-Brexit nation, where cruelty trumps competence, and inequality is intensifying.

A selection of Subs (the school’s worst students) undergo an experiment designed to teach them restraint. But, when
something goes wrong, their minds are trapped in bodies they cannot control – passengers in the unravelling nightmare.

As the Subs’ violent rampage threatens to expose the school’s dubious practice, someone must risk everything to save them all. However, in a society that reveres malice, justice rarely prevails.

Told from the perspective of each of the varied characters, a gradual reveal of consequences builds to a claustrophobic
finale, challenging our original impression of who anyone really is.

The Controlled focuses on the events of a single day in the not-too-distant future, that will give rise to the spread of an
epidemic in the dumbest of dystopias.

Note: Thanks to the author for providing a copy of his book for review. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

In the most dystopias of dystopias is where The Controlled takes place. The setting takes place where humanity is barely humanity, and it is really more of a war of attrition on literal human resources and what happens when one day an experiment goes wrong at one of the facilities. Told over the course of everyone’s POV who is involved, this was a fast-paced, thrilling book, which challenges a lot about how we perceive our world.

The characters were all terribly unloveable. But I would say that in a good way, since this is a dystopian book, so kudos to the author for that. I hated them each deeply and I certainly wasn’t rooting for anyone in this crazy situation that breaks out. Each character has their own unique flaws and it is ugly as they all come out to play (or rather, fight). Building each of the characters through the perspective of all the other characters was actually something that was well done.

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