The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

Michael Joseph | January 2018 | 352 pgs

Source: Purchased

This debut novel by C.J. Tudor is part coming of age, part psychological suspense which had me captivated from the beginning till the end. 

Told from a first person perspective and with two time frames shifting back and forth (1986 and 2016), at its core this is a story about a past event which had affected the lives of five teenagers and how it comes back to haunt them when they are adults. 

Eddie Adams and his friends are twelve when they first stumble upon a body in the woods in their neighbourhood in Anderbury. To be precise, the body is dismembered and they didn't really find it accidentally. Directions marked by chalk lead them into the woods and before that, they have had fun conjuring secret codes using chalk and each of them has their own coloured chalk to indicate their identity but none of them is white. So who is this Chalk Man and most of all, why them? 

Back to the present, Eddie is now a teacher and when he receives a letter with drawing of a chalk figure, he knew what happened in the past isn't over and it is finding its way back to the group of five childhood friends who used to be close together. Years and circumstances have distanced them, but Eddie still keep in touch with Gavin (Fat Gav) and David (Hoppo) occasionally. The mystery gets more obscuring when one of the group, Mickey, turns up at Eddie's house and make a proposition of writing a book of the events happened back then in 1986 and then it is like they are back in their teens when the chalk figures start appearing again. This time around it leaves them with more questions instead of answers and it gets creepier as the truth starts unravelling. 

Foreboding and filled with twists and turns, The Chalk Man will satisfy readers who love a good suspense and characters development. Well crafted and well written, the story had captured the emotional and struggles of the characters as they grow from teenagers to adults and Eddie's voice is both addictive and compelling (and oh, what an ending!) A great debut and a new author to look out for.

Before ending this post, I'd like to thank Lark for this buddy read (please also check out Lark's review and the Q&A here). Below is some questions from Lark to me regarding the book: 

1) What did you like best about the way C.J. Tudor wrote this book?
Foreboding, unpredictable and a cast of intriguing characters. Truth be told, I'd no idea where the story is leading and it was so much fun watching the story unfolds. The author has also captured the teenaged life of the characters beautifully; in fact the flashbacks are the draw for me in this book not only it is the beginning of the series of consequences which would happen later but also they capture the voice and the innocence of each teenager's mind.  

2) If you were going to give Eddie and his friends new nicknames, knowing what you know about them now, what names would you give them?
Hmm... that's a tricky one. I'm bad in naming names so I've absolutely no idea what to name them. However, I think Gavin's nickname (Fat Gav) is the most fitting among all given his build. 

© 2018 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

HarperCollins Publishers | February 2017 | 432 pgs

Source: Library

I'd read a few Karin Slaughter's books in the past and she is one of the best authors I've come across for writing dark and compelling suspense thrillers. Although some of them aren't always easy to read when the subjects are concerned, Ms. Slaughter manages to capture the realism and sensitivity behind those dark horrifying tales that make you feel for the characters and think what you'd do under those circumstances. 

This novel revolves around missing girls, secrets and the relationship between two sisters who have distanced from each other and reunited again under a circumstances which reminds them of a horrifying past incident and how it comes back to haunt them again. 

Claire and Lydia lost their eldest sister, Julia, when the latter was sixteen years old. A missing case and her body was never found. She was last seen at a bar and was later accounted by a friend that she left alone thereafter. No one knew what happened to her and the years move on. As the remaining two sisters grow up with their family being torn apart after Julia's disappearance, they began to distance from each other. Claudia sees Lydia as a girl who smokes pot and living a wild life so she didn't believe a word she had said then, until another case of a missing girl and the murder of Claudia's husband bring back the horror and the heartbreaking past back into their lives. Now the two estranged sisters have to form an alliance to unravel the truth and bring down the evil perpetrator who has murdered countless girls cruelly and destroyed their family. 

Pretty Girls was a really dark, intense psychological thriller with all the thrills and chills. Both suspenseful and heartrending, this story wasn't an easy read with all the horror and the violence inflicted on the female victims. Karin Slaughter didn't pull any punches when it comes to writing such scenes, and I cringed every time I read how the poor girls are cruelly abused and tortured. This aside, I've to applaud Ms. Slaughter for creating two compelling and strong-willed characters who will fight for justice and survival just when I thought the situation was bleak at times and that finding evidence could be a challenge to them. Claudia and Lydia touched me with their fighting spirit and their love for Julia; this was what drove me to read on despite the dark subject and not to mention the riveting plot and my wish to see the case resolved and that justice will prevail in the end. 

© 2018 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Right Behind You by Lisa Gardner

Penguin Publishing Group | January 2017 | 400 pgs

Source: Library

Lisa Gardner's Find Her has left a deep impression on me. Fast-paced and charged with intensity, it was also one of the most complex psychological thrillers I read in 2016. Her latest release, Right Behind You (FBI Profiler Series, #7 [which works well as a stand-alone in my opinion]) was much more intense and complex as it was multi-layered with lots of twists and turns; and heartrending moments as it involved domestic abuse and childhood trauma.

Eight years ago, Telly May Nash who was only ten, bashed his drunken father to death with a baseball bat when he threatened to kill him and his younger sister with a knife after he had stabbed their mother. Although acted out of self defense, Telly already showed signs of RAD (Reactive attachment disorder) and disproportionate display of rage growing up with two alcoholic and drugs addicted parents. The counselor finally decided that the siblings are best to go to separate foster homes, thus the bond and contact between the siblings are lost until now - a double murder at a local gas station and the police has pointed it as Telly being the shooter after his identity was caught in the security camera. It also appeared that he had murdered his foster parents before gunning another two at the gas station upon further searching by the police.

Sharlah May Nash, now thirteen years old, is adopted by retired FBI profiler Pierce Quincy and his partner, Rainie Conner. Rainie used to be a law enforcer too and Sharlah loves this about her new parents because they are all experts on monsters. When Sharlah knew that her older brother is on the run after his killing spree, she struggles to recollect the memories when they were children and what he had done with that baseball bat to their father. She knew Telly is her saviour, her protector, considering that he had taken up the adult role of taking care of her when their parents were too drunk in their own stupidity. But does she really know Telly after all these years? Has he become a serial killer?

Right Behind You will be one of the most unforgettable reads for me this year. For starters, it features a pair of profilers couple instead of the detectives we've so often read and although both are law enforcers, they're more into criminology as they've to study and analyse the criminals' behaviours and their mindsets. Fugitive trackers are another profession we so rarely read in books and I was glad they're an essential part of the investigation case here. And most of all, it is a story about Telly and Sharlah and how my heart ached for them so badly reading about their sad experiences and the childhood they've been through. This book has three segment consist of Telly's and Sharlah's narrations as well as chapters told in third person. I liked the writing format as I could get into the siblings' minds, so to speak, yet I also get to analyse from an outsider's view through the third person POV.

Another feature I liked is how the story is about family and trust despite it was dark and complex. And what's an investigation without some little help from our canine friends and I've to say Luka (formerly a police dog and now beloved pet to Sharlah) was the sunshine which brought some warmth to my heart reading about those dark moments. Highly recommended.

© 2017 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Drama Review: Live Up to Your Name, Dr Heo (名不虚传)

Live Up to Your Name, Dr Heo is a story between two doctors from two different time period set in the present and the Joseon period.

Heo Im (starring Kim Nam Gil) is an oriental physician well known for his acupuncture and moxibustion skills. Although his medical skills are well recognised by civilians as well as the royals, his lowly status (he is born to a concubine) often earns him much lower respect as compared to his peers despite his skills is the best among all. However, his fate is about to change when he accidentally finds himself travels through time to present Seoul.

Choi Yeon Kyung (starring Kim Ah Joong) is a cardiac surgery third year resident who only believes in modern medicine despite her grandfather is an acupuncturist. Emotionally scarred by her father's accident when she was a child, she vows to become a doctor so she could save people's lives. Her initial encounter with Heo Im was full of misunderstandings and mistrust as their personalities and ideologies in medicine clash. However as the time goes by, she begins to see him in a new light and their love blossoms. But Heo Im doesn't stay in Seoul forever; he has a help mission he hasn't accomplished in Joseon and he accidentally found out that by impaling pain to his body or a narrow escape from death he could be able to time travel to and from Joseon. And this time around he wants to remedy his past mistakes and to prove his worth even though there's a war with Japan and that he might never return to the modern day for good.

(Credit Source)

I was totally immersed in this time travel medical drama. I loved the premise and thought it was rather refreshing to see the cross between oriental and modern medicine and how each works differently yet effectively according to each patient's health condition and considering the circumstances. I may not be a huge fan of time travel genre but I thought this was quite well done, with a balance between medicine, time travel and romance. I liked the overall concept of the old versus new (referring to the time period here) and likewise the traditional medicine versus modern medicine in this package, and finally not forgetting the age-old definition of love and the compassion for humankind.

© 2017 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Final Girls by Riley Sager

Penguin Publishing Group | July 2017 | 352 pgs

Source: Publisher via Netgalley

Final Girls has been receiving a lot of hype since its release and I think it is well worth it as it was such a chilling and thrilling read (Why, even Stephen King quoted this on its cover: "The first great thriller of 2017 is here.")

Quincy Carpenter, Lisa Milner and Samantha Boyd are known in the press as the Final Girls; a film-geek speak for the last woman standing at the end of a horror movie. Lisa had lost nine sorority sisters to a college dropout's knife; Sam walked away alive after a sicko dubbed as the Sack Man assaulted her during her shift at the Nightlight Inn; and finally our protagonist, Quincy, who managed to escape from Him (the perpetrator she refuses to call by name after all these years) after she fled from Pine Cottage after he had massacred five of her college friends ten years ago. Now the three Final Girls are attempting to put each of their nightmares behind them. As much as they knew each other by name and those horrendous events they had gone through, in reality they have never met.

Quincy is doing well at present though; she has a caring boyfriend Jeff, a popular baking blog and a caring cop who checks on her occasionally ever since he saved her life all those years ago. What makes her life easier to get by is she has no recollection of what really happened that night at Pine Cottage. Like a few missing puzzles, she could only remember the before and after of that horrendous massacre; what happened in between was lost on her and she has no intention of remembering it. Then Lisa Milner was found dead with her wrists slit. Sam Boyd then appears on Quincy's doorstep claiming concern over her after those years laying low. Quincy quickly forged a friendship with Sam but as the days go she realises that Sam is relentless in bringing out that rage which had buried deep inside her since that fateful night. As dire consequences happen one after another after Sam moves into her house, Quincy begins to question everything including Lisa's death and what really happened to her and her five friends at Pine Cottage.

Final Girls was one great psychological suspense with a cast of intriguing characters. What made this such a compelling read is aside from the characters, the plot and the writing style keep the reader engrossed throughout the story. And personally I felt the two parts narrations really brought out the intensity as the reader will see two sides of the story - the present in Quincy's POV and the other in third person narration as flashbacks of what happened at Pine Cottage as the story moves towards the closure. This book had me on edge all the time and while I was curious over the friendship between Sam and Quincy, I was also eager to find out what really happened at Pine Cottage. I could easily picture this story makes its way onto the big screen because it has the combination of a slasher flick (think Scream and the like) and suspense. A fresh voice in the psychological thriller genre and I'll definitely be looking forward to more by this author.

© 2017 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Penguin Publishing Group | September 2017 | 352 pgs

Source: Publisher via Netgalley

I read Celeste Ng's Everything I Never Told You in 2015 and enjoyed her writing style and most of all the sensitivity and the insightfulness when portraying her characters and crafting her story. This second book is no exception and once again I found myself immersed in Celeste's storytelling and her interesting cast of characters set in Shaker Heights, Cleveland. 

The Richardsons is an upper class family consists of six members. William Richardson works as a lawyer and his wife, Eleanor, is a journalist with one of the local papers. Shaker Heights has its own history and for all Eleanor knows her family roots are there. One can say Shaker Heights is a well-planned suburb and the Richardsons are quite happy with the community there until Mia Warren and her teenaged daughter, Pearl, enter into their lives. 

Mia, a single mother, is an artist and together with her daughter they travel from places to places until Shaker Heights becomes their latest resting place. They rent a house from the Richardsons and soon the four Richardson children are drawn to this enigmatic mother-daughter pair. Pearl soon quickly adapts to their new environment and has found friendship in Moody, the third child of the Richardsons family. Mia remains quiet and reserved until a coworker at a part-time place where she works confides in her about her baby daughter, May Ling Chow, whom she left at a fire station out of desperation due to her poverty condition, decides to have her baby back but an old friend of the Richardsons, the McCullough couple (the wife had had a few pregnancies but couldn't keep her babies) has decided to adopt the homeless baby and soon Eleanor and Mia find themselves on opposing sides as the custody battle divides the once peaceful community. As if that is not enough, Eleanor is determined to unravel Mia's past but that obsession will soon come with a price. 

What made someone a mother? Was it biology alone, or was it love? ~ Pg 280

Once again, Celeste Ng has delivered a taut and an insightful piece of work centering around secrets, identity and the ferocity pull of maternal love. The story begins with a slow start, basically the introduction of the Richardsons and Shaker Heights but towards the middle the reader will embrace the change of direction and momentum as lots of things happened quickly. The characterisation is the huge draw of the story and I found myself invested in Mia's story and why Eleanor Richardson is relentless in pursuing Mia's mysterious past despite of consequences there might be. Celeste Ng has portrayed a multiple aspects of the role of a mother which is both moving and thought-provoking and although I liked her previous novel, I've to say I liked this one better. 

© 2017 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter

HarperCollins Publishers | August 2017 | 512 pgs

Source: Publisher via Edelweiss

This is my first Karin Slaughter standalone book and wow, what a compelling read! 

Twenty-eight years ago, Samantha and Charlotte Quinn witnessed the murder and death of their mother. Zach and Daniel Culpepper, who broke into their house were actually looking for the girls' father, who is also Pikeville's most well-known and notorious defence attorney. His clients involve robbers, rapists and even murderers and for this, Rusty Quinn has often received death threats but nothing is serious until this tragedy. After their mother's death, Sam and Charlie Quinn fled for their life but each meets with a different destiny as one fight back while the other escape. Nevertheless, that fateful day remains a permanent scar for both Sam and Charlie, physically and emotionally as they grown into adults and each goes on her own way. And the Quinn family is never the same, again. 

Now twenty-eight years later, like a good daughter Charlie follows Rusty's footsteps as a lawyer. Then a mass shooting incident left Pikeville in shock and in rage. Charlie isn't supposed to be at the scene, but she did and it left her traumatised by the sheer violence of it and worst of all being the first witness of the school tragedy. Kelly Wilson, the seventeen-year-old schoolgirl is found guilty for murdering the principal and an eight-year-old girl. As all evidence points to Kelly, Charlie is left with a bit of doubts as the murder weapon couldn't be found and on top of it Kelly's intellectual mind appears to be slightly lower than her peers. Faced with this tragedy which reminds her of the past, Charlie turns to her estranged elder sister, Sam. And both of them will soon discover that Kelly's case would unleash the shocking truth which destroyed their family many years ago. 

Well, let me say The Good Daughter surprised me on many levels. Not only it was a good psychological suspense filled with intrigue and twists but it was also filled with heart, too. I've to confess it wasn't an easy read either, as there was violence and it made me ache reading what happened to the young victims as well as the Quinns sisters. Ms. Slaughter knows how to craft her story well and it shows in her writing, the tone and yes, the character development (of Charlie and Sam) too as this is very much about Charlie's story alongside the mass shooting incident. Reading about the Quinns family also struck a chord of various feelings in me; first empathy followed by a wave of melancholy which left a lump in my throat towards the finishing. It is rare that a crime thriller have that kind of effect in me. I'll have to check out her other stand-alones and her series books as well. 

© 2017 Melody's Reading Corner (https://mel-reading-corner.blogspot.sg/), All Rights Reserved. If you are reading this post from other site(s), please take note that this post has been stolen and is used without permission.