Down the Rabbit Hole

Hercule Poirot is vacationing on the Cornish coast when he meets Nick Buckley. Nick is the young and reckless mistress of End House, an imposing structure perched on the rocky cliffs of St. Loo.

Poirot quickly takes a particular interest in the young woman. Recently, she has narrowly escaped a series of life-threatening accidents. Something tells the Belgian sleuth that these so-called accidents are more than just mere coincidences or a spate of bad luck. Something like a bullet! It seems all too clear to him that someone is trying to do away with poor Nick, but who? And, what is the motive? In his quest for answers, Poirot must delve into the dark history of End House. The deeper he gets into his investigation, the more certain he is that the killer will soon strike again. And, this time, Nick may not escape with her life.

Another Agatha Christie! Hopefully I can make my way through the Hercule Poirots eventually, but maybe not all at once. I saw this at a used bookstore, and I didn’t want to pick it up, but I did end up borrowing it from the library and quickly read through it. I love how short these are, and these writings are honestly timeless. I seriously can’t believe these were written so long ago.

Peril at End House revolves around the mystery of the attempted murder(s) on Nick Buckley, the young heiress of End House. End House is aptly named. Although it is large and vast, it is also run down, and currently a place of unhappiness. The recent attempts on Nick’s life have definitely made the title even more apt. Luckily again, Hercule Poirot is in town, and quickly steps in to prevent Nick’s assassin from claiming her life. Will Poirot be able to save her life and the culprit? Or will he have to give up one to save the other.

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2 star

Review: The Good Sister by Gillian McAllister

May 23, 2024 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

An electrifying novel about the unyielding bond between two sisters, which is severely tested when one of them is accused of the worst imaginable crime.

Martha and Becky Blackwater are more than sisters–they’re each other’s lifelines. When Martha finds herself struggling to balance early motherhood and her growing business, Becky steps in to babysit her niece, Layla, without a second thought, bringing the two women closer than ever. But when Layla is found dead one morning, at only eight weeks old, Becky is charged with the unthinkable: the murder of her sister’s child.

Nine months later, Becky is on trial and maintains her innocence–and so does Martha. Unable to shake the feeling that her sister couldn’t possibly be guilty, Martha sets out to uncover exactly what happened that night, and how things could have gone so wrong. As the trial progresses, fault lines between the sisters begin to show–revealing cracks deep in their relationship and threatening the family each has worked so hard to build. With incredible empathy and resounding emotional heft, The Good Sister is a powerhouse of a novel that will lead readers to question everything they know about motherhood, family, and the price of forgiveness.

This is one of the ones I just picked up the library since it was free to read and I had the time. The premise was super interesting and engaging, and reading back, it still was. Unfortunately, this book didn’t execute in the way I thought it would. I still made it through, and I wouldn’t call it terrible, but I certainly call it good—at least for my standards. Read on to maybe see if I was being too harsh.

The Good Sister is a courtroom mystery thriller that revolves around a tragic family incident, the death of Martha’s child, Layla. Worst of all, Martha’s sister, Becky, is on trial for the murder, and the odds are not looking good. Once each other’s closest lifelines, inevitably the family is literally and emotionally split apart as the trial threatens to reveal all the deep secrets of the family’s past, and air out every time detail of one’s personal life for all to see. Needless to say there cannot be a winner in this court game.

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4.5 star

Review: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

April 24, 2024 Fives @ Down The Rabbit Hole

It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the tenth annual Hunger Games. In the Capital, eighteen-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to outcharm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined — every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

While I did enjoy the original Hunger Games series, I was never that into it. I probably missed the hype by a bit, or perhaps by the age I was reading it, I was already in a different stage of life to really get into it. However, a friend did suggest to me that this prequel was very good, and I can safely say that I agree. I really enjoy learning backstory, and I think this book also read a bit like a thriller, which really worked for me.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which is quite a long title, although apt, revolves around the backstory of Coriolanus Snow, who will later become the president in the original series of The Hunger Games. This story follows the 10th ever Hunger Games, and Coriolanus’s involvement as a student of the academy in the Capitol. Suffering from the war that birthed the games in the first place, the Snow family has lost their family fortune, and Coriolanus is determined to keep up appearances while he devises a way to win it all back.

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