Frailty by Betsy freeman reavley

Frailty is the new release by Betsy Reavley, who is one half of the awesome bloodhound publishing and to my mind an author to watch. Frailty is the story of a child who has been abducted, I’m going to try and write the rest of the review without giving away any of the plot.

I like how this tells you the story from different perspectives and although for once I suspected the person who turned out to be the criminal it really didn’t matter for me, as the novel was so engrossing.

I don’t know how to start with my Feedback there are parts of this novel that are deeply discomforting to read and felt to me like they came very close to the line of what is ok, Betsy really knows how to play with the readers emotions. I have not read a novel that has played on my mind so much since the lovely bones (which along with Room are very worthy comparisons, they are uncomfortable reads but stupendous). However  it is worth keeping on even if you feel this way because those parts of the story create a real suspense and emotional edge to the novel that is quite refreshing.

I think the characters in this novel were masterfully written and reacted in ways that were surprising but really fitted with the ways that they developed through the story. This is a true standout in the Domestic Noir genre, and may have knocked the opticians wife by the same author out of contention for my top 10 novels of the year list.

It receives a solid 5* from me but its hard to say its enjoyable, it is however uncomfortable to read and deeply engrossing.

no bookvember (WTF)

in the footsteps of stoptober (a month dedicated to stoping smoking)  comes nobookvember a whole month dedicated to not to not buying books. where to start.

This sounds like a half baked internet conspiracy designed to make the populous stupider, but no this is very real. First the equivalency of books to tobacco, yes of course smoking is bad for you it causes cancer and costs a small fortune so yes stopping is an excellent plan (dry months where you quit alcohol are also awesome). However books don’t harm your health. they cost less than cigarettes too (especially if you buy on kindle or develop a little black classic habit), they provide a form of escapism and encourage learning and curiosity.

I don’t understand why someone would want or need to quit, I do understand the need to reduce costs but that can be done, stopping altogether on the other hand……

Bookshops and Authors (those wonderfully crazy people who make us happy) rely on our support and many of them are struggling to make ends meet to. Choosing not to buy books for a month could have a serious impact on your local store or your favourite author as an analogy here the same things happen with bands, they need support to keep going especially through tour support. Choosing not to buy their music or go to their gig could put them out of a job just like choosing not to buy books could, especially when its done in a totally arbitrary month.

i’m not sure what this concept actually achieves but in the interest of being solution focussed I have some suggestions for you month adopters. How about New author month, instead of going dry buy a book from someone you have never heard of and champion them for a while. Have a month where you campaign to get your favourite authors into your local bookstore for a signing. If your TBR pile is getting to large donate a book to someone else. It’s ok to reduce buying books but you don’t need a whole month to do it.

I think we as book geeks have a responsibility to at least always be vocal about books and encourage our authors to keep writing, buying books from them goes along way towards achieving this.