Tag Archives: Murder

Review: Recipe for Hate by Warren Kinsella

Book Review and Content, New Adult 18up, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

Recipe for Hate by Warren KinsellaRecipe for Hate
Warren Kinsella
Dundurn Press
Published on October 21, 2017

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About Recipe for Hate
The X Gang is a group of punks led by the scarred, silent, and mostly unreadable Christopher X. His best friend, Kurt Blank, is a hulking and talented punk guitarist living in the closet. Sisters Patti and Betty Upchuck form the core of the feminist Punk Rock Virgins band, and are the closest to X and Kurt. Assorted hangers-on and young upstarts fill out the X Gang’s orbit: the Hot Nasties, the Social Blemishes, and even the legendary Joe Strummer of the Clash. Together, they’ve all but taken over Gary’s, an old biker bar. Then over one dark weekend, a bloody crime nearly brings it all to an end.

Based on real events, Warren Kinsella tells the story of the X Gang’s punk lives — the community hall gigs, the antiracism rallies, the fanzines and poetry and art, and what happened after the brutal murders of two of their friends.

My Review
I kind of can’t resist books featuring punk kids or the late 70s era punk scene, and this book is both. It’s raw and gritty and soaked in the passion for personal freedom, disdain for authority, and commitment to indie music which the punk scene is so known for. Reading it felt, to me, much like watching the movie SLC Punk.

While I loved the setting and all the punk culture, the style of the writing was hard to follow at times. The narrator, Kurt, would digress from the present into memories and backstory—all of which were interesting and added some flavor to the story, but made it a little confusing to keep the timeline straight.

Scenes jumped around from one perspective to another, revealing details the narrator, Kurt, wasn’t present to witness. Sometimes he would explain he’d learned the details later. Especially toward the end of the book, as things begin to happen quickly, I found the narrative choppier. Sometimes the story would shift to a different scene or time within the same paragraph. I think it would have helped to have a hard break before each shift to make it easier to follow what’s happening visually.

In terms of plot, Recipe for Hate had some really surprising moments which I didn’t see coming. (I won’t give anything away.) More than once the story took a turn I didn’t expect—in a good way. The plot made sense but wasn’t predictable.

The story contains a lot of profanity and some graphic descriptions of violence, so that may be a barrier to sensitive readers. See the content section for more specifics. If you like murder mystery with a sort of stream-of-consciousness style narration, you will want to check out Recipe for Hate.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Kurt mentions that he’s gay. Some of their friends are Jewish or lesbian. Several members of radical racist groups say really inflammatory things. There’s a general disdain for police in the punk scene.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used frequently. Racial slurs used (by racist characters) infrequently.

Romance/Sexual Content
Brief kissing between a boy and girl. Kurt briefly recalls a friend telling him about two men who raped her. At one point, the boys find a girl whose clothes are roughed up, and she tells them a man planned to rape her but was interrupted.

Spiritual Content
The racist extremists have some devotion to a sort of twisted Christian doctrine. The first two boys found murdered have obvious connections to rituals celebrated by this group. (One boy is found in the position of a crucifixion for instance.)

Violent Content
The description of the murder scenes, while brief, is pretty brutal. Extremists beat up a young man and woman.

Drug Content
Some references to drinking alcohol.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Review: Murder, Magic, and What We Wore by Kelly Jones

Book Review and Content, Clean Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , ,

Murder, Magic, and What We Wore
Kelly Jones
Knopf Books for Young Readers
Publishes September 19, 2017

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About Murder, Magic, and What We Wore

The year is 1818, the city is London, and 16-year-old Annis Whitworth has just learned that her father is dead and all his money is missing. And so, of course, she decides to become a spy.

Annis always suspected that her father was himself a spy, and following in his footsteps to unmask his killer makes perfect sense. Alas, it does not make sense to England’s current spymasters—not even when Annis reveals that she has the rare magical ability to sew glamours: garments that can disguise the wearer completely.

Well, if the spies are too pigheaded to take on a young woman of quality, then Annis will take them on. And so she crafts a new double life for herself. Miss Annis Whitworth will appear to live a quiet life in a country cottage with her aunt, and Annis-in-disguise as Madame Martine, glamour artist, will open a magical dressmaking shop. That way she can earn a living, maintain her social standing, and, in her spare time, follow the coded clues her father left behind and unmask his killer.

It can’t be any harder than navigating the London social season, can it?

My Review

This was a fantastic light-hearted read. Rollicking and reckless, it kept up its tongue-in-cheek humor while still keeping me intrigued as Miss Annis attempted to puzzle out her father’s mysterious death. The plot was slightly predictable, but the wild humor kept everything fresh enough to hold my amusement.

This book did stretch my suspension of disbelief until it began to fray like a thread. However, I think that was intensional. The story is intended to entertain, rather than immerse, and for that purpose it works beautifully.

I loved the magic system in this book. It fit so perfectly with the historical period in which the story was set. Also, I liked how there were dashes of history thrown into the midst of the suspense, as it helped to ground the story a little more (and keep that thread of disbelief from snapping entirely).

Murder, Magic, and What We Wore is comparable to the Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal while being easier to read (and cleaner) for the younger generation. Fans of Cindy Antsey’s books will also fall in love with this comedy of manners. Overall, I’m rating this book 5 out of 5 stars. I hope that the author decides to make this book into a series, as I’m very curious to see what Annis and her friends do next!

Recommended for Ages 12 up.

Cultural Elements
Most of the characters in this book are English. One minor character is described as being either West Indian or African. Some antagonism (characteristic of the time period) toward those of French descent are shown.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
None.

Romance/Sexual Content
One character is insinuated to have attempted to rape several maids. He attacks Annis at one point, and it is assumed that he has less-than-honorable intentions. One proposal of marriage. One remark that it is not considered good form to allow a young gentlemen’s lips to approach a young lady’s.

Spiritual Content
A few characters dress as characters from Greek mythology for a masquerade.

Violent Content
A few suspicious deaths (off page). A few attacks, including one insinuated to be an attempted rape. Some injuries. Nothing graphic.

Drug Content
Characters drink and serve alcoholic drinks as a matter of course. One character comments on a memory of a lady getting drunk and behaving in a silly manner. More alcohol is added to the punch at the masquerade to insure that the guests forget the unusual events of the evening.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Review: One of Us Is Lying by Karen McManus

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , , , , ,

One of Us Is Lying
Karen McManus
Delacorte Press
Published May 30, 2017

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About One of Us Is Lying

On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention.

Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule.

Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess.

Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing.

Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher.

And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app.

Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose?

Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

My Review for One of Us is Lying

This is definitely the kind of story that keeps you turning pages late into the night. Every chapter hints at and slowly reveals new secrets that change what you know about each character in the room with Simon when he dies.

I liked that each character had a lot more going on than it originally appeared, and each is a lot deeper than her classmates initially perceive her to be. I liked each of the characters a lot, especially as I got to know them.

Throughout the story, important clues come from surprising places, which again kept me guessing. There was a point at which I thought I had the plot figured out and was pretty close. Honestly, by then, I was so invested in the story and so curious as to what would happen to the truly innocent parties, that I didn’t care if I turned out to be right.

If you’re a fan of the cult classic The Breakfast Club or murder mysteries in general, you need to add this one to your summer reading list. If you’re like me, once you read the first chapter, you won’t be able to put it down.

The series continues with One of Us Is Next, out in early 2022.

Content Notes for One of Us is Lying

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Bronwyn and her sister are half-Latino. One character comes out as gay midway through the story.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Addy’s mother teaches her that the only way to keep a man is to keep him sexually satisfied. She and her boyfriend make out on her bed, and it’s clear she means to have sex with him. Through the course of the story, she begins to question her mom’s advice and eventually decides to take a break from dating and be herself.

Some kisses are exchanged between boy and girl or between two boys.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violent Content
A boy goes into anaphylactic shock and dies.

Drug Content
Nate sells drugs to pay the bills his father ignores. After Simon’s death, he stops, knowing the police investigation puts him at too great a risk of getting caught. Eventually he finds other reasons not to pick the habit up again.

Note: This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support this blog. I received a free copy of ONE OF US IS LYING in exchange for my honest review.

Read the Next Book in the Series

One of Us Is Next by Karen McManus

Amazon | Bookshop | Goodreads | My Review

The highly anticipated sequel to the New York Times bestselling thriller everyone is talking about, One of Us Is Lying! There’s a new mystery to solve at Bayview High, and there’s a whole new set of rules.

Bronwyn’s younger sister, Maeve, and her best friend/ex-boyfriend, Knox, and their friend Phoebe become targets of the next gossip attack. Appearances from the original Bayview Four.

Review: The Devil You Know by Trish Doller

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , ,

The Devil You Know
Trish Doller
Bloomsbury
Published June 20, 2015

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Devil You Know
Eighteen-year-old Arcadia wants adventure. Living in a tiny Florida town with her dad and four-year-old brother, Cadie spends most of her time working, going to school, and taking care of her family. So when she meets two handsome cousins at a campfire party, she finally has a chance for fun. They invite her and friend to join them on a road trip, and it’s just the risk she’s been craving-the opportunity to escape. But what starts out as a fun, sexy journey quickly becomes dangerous when she discovers that one of them is not at all who he claims to be. One of them has deadly intentions.

My Review
After meeting Trish Doller at ApollyCon in March, I knew I had to read this book. I loved the idea that it’s set in Florida, but not at the beach, and while it’s a summer story, it’s a whole different kind of tale than the usual Florida vacation! As with Where the Stars Still Shine, the Florida setting is super vivid. As a Florida girl myself, I often nodded along with the descriptions and laughed with Cadie at some of the things the out-of-town boys asked about life in the Sunshine State.

I think my favorite part of the book was the vivid details about Cadie’s memories with her mom, her relationship with her brother and even Noah’s memories. All those little things gave the story so much depth and really made the characters seem real.

There’s definitely a position on the romance angle of the story. Cadie thinks a lot about conversations she’s had with her mom about sex and her own feelings that she shouldn’t feel guilty, that it’s right to do it when she feels read, and that it doesn’t need to be special or limited to one experience.

As far as the rest of the emotional experience of the story—I found myself totally wrapped up in the suspense. I sat down to read for five minutes and didn’t even realize how much time had passed before I’d read five chapters, was late for everything, and had to make myself stop!

If you’re a super sharp cookie, you’ll probably figure out some of the plot before it’s revealed, but even if that’s the case, don’t let that ruin it for you. I was pretty sure from early on about who the good guys and bad guys were, but it didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the read at all. There were enough other reveals and intriguing moments keeping me turning page after page all the way until the end. If I hadn’t needed to stop reading that first session, I probably would have read straight through the entire book right then. As it was, I finished reading the same night.

Recommended for Ages 16 up.

Cultural Elements
Major characters are Caucasian.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used with moderate frequency.

Romance/Sexual Content
Cadie worries that her ex-boyfriend may have shared intimate details about their relationship with his crude twin brother, who makes lewd comments to Cadie about oral sex.

Teens gather at a camp site for a party, where they drink alcohol and go skinny dipping. Cadie takes off her dress, and boys make some crude comments.

Cadie pretty quickly falls for a new boy. They share intense kisses and undress together. Later, she has sex with a boy. At one point, she tries to distract a boy by making him think she wants to have sex with him even though she doesn’t. It’s a desperate move and unclear how far she’s going to make herself go until she can’t do it.

She thinks a lot about sex and resents possible judgment about her choices. She believes she should be able to have sex when she wants without it being a big deal, and recalls her mom’s counsel advising her of this, too.

Spiritual Content
Brief mention of desperate prayer to God or anyone in the Heavens listening.

Violent Content
One boy appears to be the victim of a bullying incident. Cadie finds him naked and tied to a tree in the morning after a party.

References to a drunk fight between a man and his son which caused serious injury to both parties.

Twice people die of gunshot wounds, off-scene. It happens once in-scene. A boy attacks a girl and accuses her of making him hurt her. It’s clear he means her serious harm.

A crocodile grabs a boy.

Drug Content
Teens drink alcohol while camping and at a party. Reference to a couple Cadie thinks might be smoking pot.

 

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Review: These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly

Blogger's Favorites, Book Review and Content, Historical, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , ,

These Shallow Graves
Jennifer Donnelly
Delacorte Press/Random House Children’s

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

When news of Jo’s father’s sudden death rips her away from school, she returns home to her grieving family. Unable to accept the story that her father accidentally shot himself, she teams up with Eddie, a local reporter who worked for her father’s paper, to uncover the truth about his death. As each clue leads to more questions, Jo and Eddie quickly realize that the uncovering the truth could destroy everything her father once built. Jo also realizes she may be falling for the handsome reporter, but to surrender to her feelings would mean turning her back on her family.

I first fell in love with Donnelly’s writing in A Northern Light. More recently I’ve read the first three Waterfire Saga books, which are a lot lighter and geared for a bit of a younger audience. I enjoyed those books, too, but I have to say I’ve been craving the darker, more complex historical feel that first book contains, and These Shallow Graves absolutely delivered all that I hoped for and more.

The romance between Jo and Eddie had me flipping page after page. I loved the dynamics between them and also the way they each related to other characters in the story. I loved that the side characters had a lot of personality and many became significant to the story. Jo’s journey has a lot to do with answering the question of who’s valuable, and over and over Donnelly presents answers in the way these minor characters unexpectedly play significant roles in the way the story develops. I loved that message.

Readers looking for a murder-solving suspense, a taste of historical fiction, or a swoon-worthy romance will find these things and more in These Shallow Graves. If you liked A Northern Light, I suspect this one will be a sure win, too.

Language Content
Infrequent use of moderate profanity.

Sexual Content
Girls briefly discuss curiosity about sex – no details. Jo learns of the existence of brothels and briefly visits the parlor of one. She spends the night in the company of a man, but only sleeping occurs.

Spiritual Content
References to church attendance. A man claims regret over his past misdeeds causes him to have visions of Hell.

Violence
This book contains a lot of suspenseful and intense moments featuring bad, violent men, who don’t hesitate to harm women and children. The description are often brief, but so sinister.

One of the characters is a student of forensic medicine. He relates information about causes of death to Jo and Eddie. His descriptions can be a bit graphic.

Drug Content
Brief reference to morphine addiction. Several scenes take place in a bar or show characters drinking alcohol.

Waterfire Saga Giveaway

Don’t miss a chance to enter the giveaway for the first three books in the Waterfire Saga plus series-themed nail polish. Check it out here. (Giveaway ends 11/3/15)

 

Review: Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston

Book Review and Content, Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , , , , ,

Black Helicopters
Blythe Woolston
Candlewick Press
Published March 1, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

She heard the sound of the black helicopters approaching the day Mabby died. Since then, Valley and her big brother Bo have been hiding and waiting for their Da to come home. Staying out of sight because you never know when Those People will show up again. Valley wants to help. Da sends messages to Those People, ones they will not forget. Ticking packages that make Them listen.

But Da is gone now, and it is only Valley and Bo. Bo is forgetting. Only Valley remembers what Da said. Only Valley sees the bigger game. She will make Those People listen to her message. With one flick of her finger, they will feel her pain, her terror and never forget.

Indoctrinated from her youth, all Valley knows of the world is that it’s not safe. Life is carefully controlled by an elusive group who will shoot down anyone who tries to live outside their ways. The black helicopters will come. She marches along a dark path, fraught with poverty and abuse, determined to continue in her father’s footsteps. To destroy the world her enemies have created and make her voice and her story heard. Woolston creates a haunting tale of misery and paints the humanizing but tragic story of a girl whose life prepares her for only one fate: to become a suicide bomber. Readers who enjoyed Impulse by Ellen Hopkins or Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher will enjoy this novel.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
A small handful of heavy curses.

Sexual Content
Valley is abused by a man who is supposed to care for her and her brother. One scene briefly but graphically describes the abuse.

Spiritual Content
None.

Violence
This is the story of a suicide bomber, so it’s heavy material. However, there is little violence described. Valley threatens a boy and his dog. Her mother dies standing outside in a garden, but there is no gore.

Drug Content
Valley’s brother Bo drinks beer. Valley sips mead and elderberry wine.

Reviewer’s Note: A Deeper Look at Black Helicopters

I finished reading Black Helicopters as news of the attack in Boston began to break. Suddenly I felt like Valley stepped off the pages of the story and into our lives.

As headlines poured in, like most of America, I felt angry. Such senseless violence. What’s the gain here? What is an event like this supposed to accomplish?

The truth: Valley’s story awakened in me a grudging sense of compassion. Talk about a kid who never had a chance at normal. She was her own first casualty.

Tragic.

Yet this isn’t the word I think of when I see the images of the men who stowed bombs that injured and killed innocent people. And yet the choices made that led to the April 15 attack by the Tsarnaev brothers are tragic.

Innocents lost their lives. Survivors were forever changed. But before April 15, 2013, hatred devoured two brothers.

Please understand: I believe what happened was inexcusable and wrong. But the tragedy began long before those bombs exploded, and for Ms. Woolston, Valley’s story began in the wake of another tragedy: September 11, 2001. On April 17, 2013 she posted a blog detailing her response to the Boston bombing and the release of Black Helicopters. Like her novel, it’s brief but powerful.

Book Giveaway!

Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win a FREE copy of Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston. (Winner must have US address for shipping.) Contest ends Monday May 13, 2013 11:59 pm Eastern Time.

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