Whodunit | Books: The Cheapest Vacation You Can Buy

{August 26, 2014} {ARC Review} How to Fall by Jane Casey

From Goodreads: Sixteen-year-old Jess Tennant has never met any of her relatives, until her mom suddenly drags her out of London to spend the summer in the tiny English town where her family’s from. Her mom’s decision is surprising, but even more surprising is the town’s reaction to Jess. Everywhere she goes, people look at her like they’ve seen a ghost. In a way, they have—she looks just like her cousin Freya, who died shortly before Jess came to town.

Jess immediately feels a strange connection to Freya, whom she never got to meet alive. But the more Jess learns about the secrets Freya was keeping while she was alive, the more suspicious Freya’s death starts to look. One thing is for sure: this will be anything but the safe, boring summer in the country Jess was expecting.

Beloved author Jane Casey breaks new ground with How to Fall, a thrilling and insightfully written mystery.

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This novel is actually about two separate things: How Freya died, and the truth about Dan Henderson. However, only one aspect is actually answered in the novel, which left me a bit frustrated since the mystery surrounding the police officer is definitely a key point in novel, even though it does not really relate to what happened to Freya.

Jess Tennant has an uncanny resemblance to her deceased cousin, Freya, a person she never met due to her mother’s estrangement from her twin sister. Because of her looks, and Freya’s apparent accident, she’s the talk of the town, it seems, which spurs Jess on to find out the truth about Freya’s death. I agree with Jess, I’d be determined to find out the truth, too, and I love Jess’ spunk. She has some crazy ideas and awesome comebacks throughout the novel, and I really enjoyed that about her. I loved the end too—the way Jess finally learns the truth–while a bit far-fetched (or, not something I would ever consider) it works well with the storyline and I was glad that this aspect of the novel had a conclusion.

But I am left unsatisfied. What do I need to know? More about Dan and Jess’ mother’s relationship. Is Dan a real creeper, like he seems? Why is he so rude and aggressive towards everyone? What is he hiding? Was he coming on to Jess, or was she just overreacting? What is the relationship between Dan and his son really about? What’s going on there? Why do people seem to fear Dan? While we’re given a small paragraphish glimpse into the story behind Dan and Jess’ mother, it’s not enough to answer any of my questions, and I really felt like the novel set itself up to tell this story, but then didn’t. Which left me confused. I have one thought about Jess and Will’s relationship and why Dan might not want it, but I can’t go into specifics because, A. I’m probably wrong and, B. it’d be a bit spoilery to state it.

Dan aside, I did love the language of this novel. It is so very British in its colloquialisms, and I enjoyed them very much, having spent some time abroad when I was in college. There are some terms that some may need to look up, but overall they translate easily enough for readers outside Britain, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Three stars.

I received this novel from the publisher, via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. This title releases today.

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{May 22, 2014} {Review} Next Time We Steal The Carillon by Louie Flann

From Goodreads: College life and crime detection are seen through the eyes of our student investigators. These contemporary temporary sleuths live through a cozy mystery set at a Midwestern college during the 1990s. Missing: a valuable antiquity. Suspicious occult occurrences, a séance, car troubles, another séance, injury in the forest, strange people not a part of the campus community are roaming the campus, pleasant fall weather, and, someone is following our Veronica. Is he some rejected suitor or someone harboring bad thoughts about our investigators? Holy smoke! What’s she going to do? What are they going to do? Will the ancient bowl return? Will our detectors find who done it? Are Veronica and Monica, who are cute as kittens, affecting the objectivity and efficiency of Ralphy and Jason? I can’t tell! Who won the game, and what happened at the dance? All these questions—and more—will be answered before you put this book down. This is a story about good kids with a devil of a job.

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This was an interesting whodunit type mystery dealing with college aged students, though it reads more as a YA or MG novel. It’s easy to understand prose and characters draw the reader in from the get go, and it’s definitely a fun ride. There are a bit more characters involved in this story than I’m used to, and so as a reader I had more people to try and keep track of, but overall Flann does a good job keeping the reader on track. I will say that I didn’t really connect with any of the characters due to the vast amount of them—they were spread a little thin in terms of characterization for me—but overall, they were likable and intriguing, spurred on by different motivations that cast them in different lighting as the novel progresses.

While I found some of the events within the novel to be a little far-fetched, the premise was on point and I thought the search for the missing artifact to be actually quite enjoyable. From crazy sleuthing in the dead of night to false antics, the characters and events kept me on my toes as it all came to a head. This is a clean novel with a somewhat humorous take on the “whodunit” mystery, and if you’re in the mood for something a bit light, then I suggest taking this novel for a spin. Three and a half stars.