Review: The One I Left Behind

The One I Left Behind

Author: Jennifer McMahon
Pages: 432
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours

Description from Goodreads:
Bestselling author Jennifer McMahon is back with a gut-wrenching mystery about an architect whose troubled mother has been found 25 years after being kidnapped-by a killer who is still on the loose.

The summer of 1985 changed Reggie's life. Thirteen, awkward, and without a father, she finds herself mixed up with her school's outcasts-Charlie, the local detective's son, and Tara, a goth kid who has a mental hold over Reggie and harbors a dark secret. That same summer a serial killer called Neptune begins kidnapping women. He leaves their severed hands on the police department steps and, five days later, displays their bodies around town. Just when Reggie needs her mother Vera-an ex-model with many "boyfriends" and a thirst for gin-the most, Vera's hand is found on the steps. But after five days, there's no body and Neptune disappears.

Now a successful architect who left her hometown behind after that horrific summer, Reggie doesn't trust anyone and lives with few attachments. But when she gets a call from a homeless shelter saying that her mother has been found alive, Reggie must confront the ghosts of her past and find Neptune before he kills again.

With her signature style, Jennifer McMahon portrays the dark side of adolescent friendship and introduces characters who haunt the imagination, along with a disturbing web of secrets, betrayals, and murder.

First Sentence: "It began with the hands."

Review:

Mysteries and thrillers really have never been of too much interest for me, but I do tend to make an exception for serial killer stories. I'm going to try not to look to deeply into myself as to why that is. I tell you this, so that you're aware that this is not a normal genre for me to read, just so you know to take my criticism with a grain of salt. While I did enjoy The One I Left Behind, I definitely think it will be a more powerful read for those more into the genre.

McMahon's writing is good, and this definitely falls under more of a literary category than most mysteries I've read. If you go for action-packed thrillers, the slow pace of this one might irk you. If however, you like well-crafted stories that slowly unfold to the reader, McMahon's will be perfect for you.

The story alternates between 2010 and 1985 third person limited perspective on Reggie, with occasional tidbits from a book written about the events of 1985. In 1985, a serial killer struck in their little town Brighton Falls, Connecticut. First, a hand, removed from the woman's body, would appear on the steps of the police station. Then five days later, the body would be located, naked and strangled. Then, Reggie's mother's hand appeared, but her body was never found. In 2010, Vera, her mother, reappears, crazy and alive.

The stakes are upped when Neptune captures another woman, Reggie's childhood best friend, Tara. With that the search is on. In 1985, Tara, Reggie and Charlie are searching for Vera in the four days before Neptune will kill her; in 2010, Reggie's doing the same for Tara. This narrative structure works very well, and definitely amps up the suspense in the second half.

Reggie has been emotionally damaged by her childhood, both pre- and post-Neptune taking her mom. Through her investigation into the serial killer, she comes to terms with everything more, and learns valuable life lessons. Her emotional arc ties up a little too nicely, but she will probably have setbacks past the window the readers get to see.

Though I'm not usually a great guesser of twists, I did figure out who Neptune was really early on. That really does not affect my enjoyment of stories, because, mostly, I just revel in how smart I am the whole time, unless I do not approve of said twist. I think the killer just so obviously had to be the person that it was, but, as usual, any number of other suspects will need to be cycled through first.

Literary suspense fans, this book is for you! Enjoy! I wouldn't be entirely opposed to reading more McMahon, but I just don't read enough of this genre to make that entirely likely, at least with my current reading tastes.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'You're my one true friend, Len. The person I'm closest to in the world. I'm not going to pretend I know how to define our relationship, and I can't promise I'll ever be ready to move in with you. But I love you, Len. In my own fucked-up little way, I love you very much."

Review: Paper Valentine

Paper Valentine

Author: Brenna Yovanoff
Pages: 368
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: January 8, 2013
Source: Publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
The city of Ludlow is gripped by the hottest July on record. The asphalt is melting, the birds are dying, petty crime is on the rise, and someone in Hannah Wagnor’s peaceful suburban community is killing girls.

For Hannah, the summer is a complicated one. Her best friend Lillian died six months ago, and Hannah just wants her life to go back to normal. But how can things be normal when Lillian’s ghost is haunting her bedroom, pushing her to investigate the mysterious string of murders? Hannah’s just trying to understand why her friend self-destructed, and where she fits now that Lillian isn’t there to save her a place among the social elite. And she must stop thinking about Finny Boone, the big, enigmatic delinquent whose main hobbies seem to include petty larceny and surprising acts of kindness.

With the entire city in a panic, Hannah soon finds herself drawn into a world of ghost girls and horrifying secrets. She realizes that only by confronting the Valentine Killer will she be able move on with her life—and it’s up to her to put together the pieces before he strikes again.

Paper Valentine is a hauntingly poetic tale of love and death by the New York Times bestselling author of The Replacement and The Space Between.

First Sentence: "My sister, Ariel, is sprawled upside down on the couch, pointing with the TV remote."

Review:
When I went to ALA in 2010, one of the numerous ARCs I picked up and took home, in a haze of disbelief that people would want to give me free books just because I was in training to be a librarian, was Yovanoff's debut novel The Replacement. The Penguin publicist I spoke to hyped it big time, I think because it was part of their Breathless Reads collection. Something I've learned about myself since is that I don't tend to be a huge fan of the most-hyped books put into those collections, though they do tend to do very well, they just are not my thing. Such was the case with The Replacement, which showed promise in the gothic tone and writing, but mostly fell flat. When I was sent a review copy of Paper Valentine, I really did not get that excited, but I did resolve to give Yovanoff another try, and I am so glad that I did, because she has grown a lot as a writer since her debut novel.

Ever since Lillian's death from anorexia, Hannah has been haunted by her best friend. Not by the memory of Lillian, no, but by her ghost. Lillian follows her around, giving her advice or criticizing her behavior, or both at the same time. Only Hannah can see Lillian, and, after six months of this, Hannah's pretty resigned to it, even though it can be an inconvenience and having ghost Lillian around isn't the same as having the real Lillian there.

Paper Valentine follows a lot of different plot lines, weaving them together expertly into a powerful novel. The first arc deals with friendship, with peer pressure, and with self-acceptance. Hannah and Lillian were incredibly close, best friends forever. They were also the most popular girls in school, making their own style and setting the trends. With Lillian gone, stuck with the rest of their group, now dominated by Angelie, Hannah's coming to realize that, much as she loved her, Lillian wasn't a very nice person all the time and that she could be a bad influence on Hannah. Watching Hannah come into her own as a person, both accepting the parts of herself wholly unlike Hannah and incorporating a bit of Hannah's advice made me so glad for her. Hannah needed a bit of Lillian's gumption, enough that she could tell off Angelie for being horrible and rude, but also needed to be Hannah-enough to not get too hung up on being popular.

Family, though a more minor thread certainly, still plays a crucial role in Paper Valentine. The parents are mostly absent, though the mother does ground Hannah for sneaking out and insist on meeting a boy before Hannah can go out with him. The relationship being dissected here is that of the two sisters, Hannah and Ariel. Though Ariel annoys her, understandably so, the two clearly have so much love for one another. Hannah can see how much Ariel tries to protect her and gets what Hannah is going through more than their mother and step-father do. I found their relationship touching, and loved that there was much more focus upon it than usual.

The book gets much creepier than just Lillian's ghost, however. Girls are being murdered, left in the park, heads bashed in, surrounded by the trappings of childhood, toys and candy. Next to each body is a paper heart. Needless to say Hannah will become wrapped up in the murders. Yovanoff does suspense and eerie settings very well, and there were some scenes that straight up freaked me out. What made Paper Valentine special, though, was how Hannah reacts when she finds herself in danger: she uses her brain and does not just collapse into a weeping heap waiting to be rescued. Unlike some heroines, she doesn't spend her doom-filled moments thinking of how much she loves some boy, but of ways to escape and of her sister and her dead best friend. As with when she fought back against bossy Angelie, Hannah held her own and refused to be cowed, and that just made me respect her and root for her so much.

Admittedly, I was quite skeptical of the romance at first, because I feared it was going straight down stereotype highway. See, Hannah has a secret crush on one of the bad boys. When we first see him, he's wearing a wife beater, even. He dyes his hair white-blonde with Clorox, has tattoos, and a missing pinkie. Early on, he shoplifts. I mean, not really swoon material. He never really does become the kind of guy I would swoon over, but Yovanoff makes him work, and I totally ended up shipping Hannah and Finny, who made me think a bit of Hanna and Caleb from Pretty Little Liars. Also, their romance reminded me a bit of Pushing the Limits too, only with less focus on romance, no pet names, and a murder mystery.

Yovanoff gives the reader a little bit of everything, and, after my lackluster first experience, I now plan to read The Space Between, her second novel, as well as whatever she has coming next. What a wonderful lesson in the importance of not writing an author off based on one book, especially a debut, because they have so much room to grow.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote: "'It doesn't matter what you say,' she whispers. The words are icy, but her voice sounds almost sad, like she knows that whatever happens next is going to hurt. 'They're not going to believe you. No one ever believes teenage girls about things like whether or not the guy they're running around with is a killer. No one ever treats us like we know what we're talking about.'"

Review: The Diviners

The Diviners
The Diviners, Book 1

Author: Libba Bray
Pages: 592
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Source: Nabbed at BEA

Description from Goodreads:
Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies." When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.

First Sentence: "In the town house at a fashionable address on Manhattan's Upper East Side, every lamp blazes."

Review:

Woohoo, I finally finished The Diviners. This thrills me both because it's insanely original and good, and because it's so incredibly long and took me forever. Partially, this was because it was my secondary book, but still...oof. Libba Bray has firmly cemented herself in my mind as an Awesome Author, both for her hilarious personality and her talented writing. Though I didn't like A Great and Terrible Beauty when I first read it ages ago, I loved Beauty Queens and now this one. Libba Bray is one of those authors with the remarkable ability to do something entirely new and astounding every time.

Though The Diviners was pretty slow-going for me, I really did pos-i-tute-ly love it. The storytelling style Bray uses appealed to me entirely. She tells the story in third person, but with a sort of magical realism flair to it, sometimes following a character and sometimes trailing the wind. This fit the story like a glove, and really set up the precise tone needed to pull this tale off.

On the downside, I wasn't entirely sold on Bray's use of multiple perspectives. I love them usually, whether third or first person, but it felt forced here. Basically, most of the book was Evie, with a smattering of chapters from Memphis' perspective, and then random bits of chapters following other characters/things. For the most part, the narration that didn't follow Evie found my mind wandering off course just a bit. I just feel like Memphis didn't do enough to justify his having such a large chunk of narrative relative to his importance.

The paranormal plot line, though clearly not yet fully-fledged, still opening up like a bud to become a bloom, delighted me too. Diviners have abilities, sort of like X-Men, which you know is totally one of my favorite things. Evie can see a bit of the past when touching objects. Memphis can heal. The powers are different for each individual and all fascinating. As I said, this was not as big a part of the book as you might expect yet, but will clearly be more central to the next installment.

Another aspect that Libba Bray gets just right is the creep factor. If you're someone who's scared by books, she will no doubt have you cowering into your blankets. Thankfully, I'm not bothered by horror in books (though I can't stomach it in the slightest in films), so it didn't scare me. I could still admire, however, her ability to create suspense and an eerie scene. I suspect that the story is told the way that it is precisely so we can pop over to the victims' points of view.

On top of that, I loved Evie. She starts out as this shallow, selfish girl, who I definitely still loved, but grows into this even more loveable girl throughout. I say that, but her core doesn't really change at all. She lets more of her good qualities shine through, but she's not magically a good girl or something; she still loves to party, to drink, to manipulate people and to be the center of attention. Evie is straight up hilarious, and I like that, much as she's a party girl, she really doesn't seem all that bothered about boys. Romance doesn't seem to matter to her all that much, except in the matchmaking sense, determined to help her straight-laced friend Mabel land her crush.

I never quite felt the same liking for any of the other characters that I did for Evie. Jericho and Will I like, but I don't know enough about them to be super invested. Memphis really does seem like a marvelously nice guy, but he just bored me, and I'm really creeped out by pretty much every other character in his story line. My least favorite character, though, by far was Sam. Intellectually, I know he's sort of the more messed-up, male version of Evie, but, for whatever reason, I just cannot stand him. Maybe I just can't get over the fact that he stole from Evie when he first met or how freaking cocky he is.

While The Diviners was not a perfect read, I still declare myself awash in admiration for Libba Bray's talent. This book is so unlike anything else I've read and the writing is superb. For those with a bit of patience, you will not want to miss this one, as it is remarkable.

Rating: 4/5

Favorite Quote:

"'I thought you went to the library,' Uncle Will said.
   Evie cut her eyes at Will, who didn't look up from his book. 'Why do you think I'm so exhausted? If you'd like to know anything at all about this city in 1876, please raise your hand. No show of hands? Pos-i-tute-ly shocking.' Evie bunched a pillow into a corner of the settee and rested her face against it. 'There is a hideous invention called the Dewey Decimal System. And you have to look up your topic in books and newspapers. Pages upon pages upon pages . . . .
   Uncle Will frowned. 'Didn't they teach you how to go about research in that school of yours?''
   'No, but I can recite 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic' while making martinis.'
   'I weep for the future.'  
'There's where the martinis come in.'"

Who Are You - The Who

Green River Killer:
A True Detective Story

Author: Jeff Jensen
Illustrator: Jonathan Case
Pages: 234
ARC Acquired from: Dark Horse via NetGalley

Brief Summary:
Detective Tom Jensen has been working the Green River case since early in his career, for almost twenty years. Finally, it seems they may have caught the man who killed 40+ prostitutes in the Seattle area. Unfortunately, this man, Gary, seems unable to recall any details to prove that his confession is true. Have they caught the serial killer or is he still out there?

Review:
Jeff Jensen, the author of this graphic novel, is the son of the detective. He wrote the story as a means of honoring and understanding his father's quest to catch this murderer. The story is, in some ways, like reading an episode of CSI, or perhaps Cold Case. However, those shows generally add really dramatic scenes for, well, dramatic effect. Except for the prologue, however, the scenes in this graphic novel are really understated, more thought provoking and mental than filled with action. The artwork works perfectly with the overall tone of the story.

Green River Killer made for an interesting read, but I, rather like Tom Jensen, am not completely satisfied with the resolution of the murder investigation. There are questions left unanswered that I would be really curious to discover the answers to. Of course, that's life.

"Well, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
Tell me, who are you? (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)
'Cause I really wanna know (Who are you? Who, who, who, who?)"

Horror Movie Psycho Killer - Humungo Ginormous

American Psycho

Author: Bret Easton Ellis
Pages: 499
Publisher: Vintage Books

(Seriously) Brief Summary:
Pretty much everyone already knows what this is about, thanks to Christian Bale. If you don't, it's about a filthy rich yuppie in the eighties who gets his kicks killing people in really icky ways.

Review:
What do three young, female librarians choose as the first title for their book club? Why, American Psycho, of course. This is not your average book club. I just wanted to share our uniqueness with everyone. Now to the review.

I really wanted to read this book, even though I hated Less Than Zero, one of Bret Easton Ellis' other books. Lord save me from the privileged and their issues. I definitely liked American Psycho better, but I wouldn't say that I liked it. Nor did I hate it precisely. However, I would be skeptical of anyone who loved it.

Here's the thing. On one hand, this is fairly well done, in the sense that Ellis is definitely getting his point across about American society in the 80s and what all of the materialism does to people. On the other, it is really hard to read and not even because of the gory bits, which are really gross and hard to read, but do not expect those for a hundred pages plus.

The real difficulty for me, the thing that made this book such a slog to get through, was his repetitiveness. You can count on hearing about what Patrick Bateman and every other person he sees are wearing, every visible item and their designer. People are constantly mistaken for one another. Bateman constantly asks about his hair. There are inevitable descriptions of overpriced restaurants and their tiny food, along with the disgusting amounts of money spent there (hundreds of dollars for one meal....in the 80s). And, don't forget, that Bateman needs to return those video tapes. And those are just a selection of the topics you can expect to read about in almost all of the many chapters.

At least, the repetitiveness does get to his character, vanity and completely fatuous lifestyle. The worst parts, the ones I deem entirely unnecessary to the flow of the story, are the chapters on popular musical artists in the 1980s. Genesis, Whitney Houston, and Huey Lewis and the News are the folks so honored. Why? No clue. To show that he's obsessed with music? I already got that from his constant, repetitive mentions of music. I recommend skipping these, as they do not advance the plot one whit.

The best part of this book was how outdated it now is. Patrick Bateman constantly brags about how he owns all of the coolest tech, but since it's the 80s that means top of the line in music was...the walkman. Seriously. He argued with some other yuppie scum about how his walkman was better. Hilarious!

P.S. The actual high point of the book is when someone mistakenly refers to Bateman as Batman. I cannot tell you how I awesome I find this and I really hope it played some part in Bale's career choices. Also, for those who are curious, the movie adaptation is pretty much spot on. Additionally, I am realizing how freaking weird it is that I saw that movie on a date...

"Let me chop in half
Let me bite him in the back
Horror movies, I adore 'em
Always laughing at the gore."