Tag: fiction

Sleep by C L Taylor

Synopsis: Seven guests. Seven secrets. One killer. Do you dare to SLEEP? All Anna wants is to be able to sleep. But crushing insomnia, terrifying night terrors and memories of that terrible night are making it impossible. If only she didn’t feel so guilty…

To escape her past, Anna takes a job at a hotel on the remote Scottish island of Rum, but when seven guests join her, what started as a retreat from the world turns into a deadly nightmare.

Each of the guests have a secret, but one of them is lying – about who they are and why they’re on the island. There’s a murderer staying in the Bay View hotel. And they’ve set their sights on Anna. Seven strangers. Seven secrets. One deadly lie.

My Rating: 2/5

My Review: Recently I have been selecting books that are the oldest on my to read list and this was one of them. I have read a few CL Taylor books and largely enjoyed then however this one for me was a bit of a miss. Anna is the lead character and we see her starting a new job in a remote area of Scotland, an Island named Rum. She is helping run a guest house in the hope that following a horrific accident she can get away and start again.

First up Anna was just annoying as a character, yes she had experienced trauma but she just grated on me and I don’t even know why (I seem to have a problem connecting with characters lately). The general premise is that there are 7 guest and they get trapped there because of bad weather an all sorts of things start happening. I got the impression this was maybe meant to be a little creepy but I just got irritated by the characters. I finished the book but in all honesty I didn’t care much because it all became a little bit unbelievable.

We Can See You by Simon Kernick

.Synopsis: You have it all. Success, a beautiful home, a happy family. Until, in a heartbeat, it’s gone. We’ve kidnapped your daughter, and we know everything about you. Including the dark secrets from your past you thought were forgotten. We tell you not to contact the police – and that we’ll know if you do. Because we can see you. And now you know this is no ordinary abduction. It’s worse. Within hours you’re on the run, with only one thought in your head:That you will stop at nothing to get your daughter back

My Rating: 3/5

My Review: I have to start by saying that I am a big fan of Kernick especially books such as Relentless and The Last Ten Seconds however this….not so much. The synopsis felt like a departure from my expectations of a Kernick novel so I was excited to try something a little different. Brook Conner is on her way home and is excited to see her daughter Paige. When she arrives she just knows something is off as her housekeeper Rosa is not there with Paige but her car is. Confused she calls Rosa to no reply followed shortly thereafter to her husband. It becomes all too clear that her daughter has been kidnapped.

Now right out the gate I admit I did not warm to any of the characters in this book. Brook, her husband, her lawyer, literally everybody! The storyline also bordered on the ridiculous. Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against stretching the realms of reality for a story, but it has to be a good story for me to be on board with it! I managed to trudge my way through this but it felt like a chore. Every now and then you can read a book by an author you love and just not gel with the book and this is one of those times.