I just came back from a week of vacation (my family went to a cottage by the lake), where I spent a lot of time reading…because there wasn’t much else to do. And since coming up with blog post ideas is hard, I thought this week I would do short reviews of all of the books that I read while I was away!
Right off the bat, I want to say that these are all non-spoiler reviews, so if you want to read any of these but haven’t yet, don’t worry about the story being spoiled! I kind of figured that would be the best way to do things because a lot of these are mysteries and one of them is a new release, which are all obviously things no one would want spoiled for them.
So, without further ado, here are my (relatively) short reviews on each of the books I read on vacation:
- The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
(I have to be honest and say that I technically started this before we left, but I finished it while on vacation so it still counts.)
This story is all about a mysterious, magical circus that’s only open at night, and a competition between two young magicians (and star-crossed lovers) who have been training in the magical arts since childhood, their fates are intertwined with the circus and everyone around them. What’s not to like?
What struck me the most about this book was how lush and realized the setting of the circus was, and how the magic on the page was palpable. I officially have an answer for that question of “Which book’s setting/fictional world would you like to live in”, because I would give anything for this circus to be real and for the chance to experience it. Morgenstern’s writing is gorgeous, and is truly what makes the book feel as magical as it does; she has this incredible way of painting a picture of a scene without it feeling tedious, and the whole thing really feels like a fairytale.
I didn’t have many problems with it, other than that I found the romance between Celia and Marco a little boring. I know that it’s a main point of the story and I didn’t find it bad or anything, but I just wasn’t interested in them, and honestly didn’t feel much chemistry between them, despite the fact that they’re supposed to feel like star-crossed lovers. In general, I don’t get excited about romances that aren’t super slow burn, so while it wasn’t quite instalove, I just found that not enough time was spent on describing them falling in love. It kind of felt like it just happened without them really realizing, or that they were instantly drawn to each other. Again, I can’t dock it for that too much because I think that’s more of a personal preference thing than an actual story problem, but either way I found that romance to be the least interesting part of the story.
That aside, it’s a fantastic book with a rich setting, interesting characters, and beautiful writing, so if (like me) you still haven’t read this one, I would definitely recommend it! But be warned, it will make you want to run away and join the circus.
Rating: ★★★★☆
2. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
I re-watched the masterpiece of a movie that is Knives Out recently, and since we’re entering into fall, it got me in the mood to read some old-timey murder mysteries, as it’s a genre that I’ve never really delved into before. So, before we left for vacation, I stopped at the library and picked up a whole bunch of mysteries by various authors. This happened to be the first one I read, because I had heard that this was a pretty famous Agatha Christie novel.
As I said, this was my first time reading a Christie book, and I have to say that I’m a fan now! I was initially worried that this might be tough to follow along with, as I tend to have trouble with the language and syntax used in older books, but Christie has this wonderfully simple writing style that is super easy to follow. She still weaves a masterful story, and it isn’t couched behind complicated language.
This story in particular is fantastic (and I believe it is the story of her’s that first became popular and launched her into fame), as it seems to be a small mystery taking place in a small British town, but it gets more complex as the book goes on. The ending reveals why she is heralded as the master of the genre, as she is able to produce a twist that is surprising, but also shows you exactly where the foundations have been laid the entire time. Even the smallest and most innocuous of details become important in the end, and she lays out a perfect path to get to the solution, though most would not realize it until Poirot explains it. And the actual twist/resolution itself is just pure brilliance.
Overall, this novel has definitely made me want to pick up more of Agatha Christie’s novels and more murder mysteries in general! Since it was a genre I was somewhat unfamiliar with, I’m glad that I discovered that it’s one that I want to experience more of.
Rating: ★★★★★
3. When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole
This is a book I was excited to pick up, and actually talked about as one of my most anticipated fall reads. This one…isn’t exactly a feel-good read. In fact, I kept getting angry as I read it (which is the intention) because of all of the subtly and not-so-subtly descriptions of racist people and gentrification. I assume this was written before the recent wave of BLM activism and protests, though it was published this month, but it feels very timely. Of course, none of this is a new issue, things like this have been going on for a long time before the general public (or the white general public) really caught wind of a lot of it.
This is a book about a woman named Sydney who has lived in a Brooklyn neighbourhood her whole life, and has watched as new people (often wealthy or middle class white people) have moved in and the neighbourhood has started to change and is marketed as a place that needs these fresh new people to come in and “revitalize” the area (aka gentrification). Sydney begins to notice, however, that her neighbours seem to not just be leaving, but disappearing, and that things in this neighbourhood are much more sinister than they seem.
Obviously, the situations in this book are exaggerated from reality, but it feels more real than something like, say, Get Out, which is what I kept relating this book to, as they have some similar-feeling elements. This book truly feels like something that could happen. Perhaps not this exact situation, but a lot of the circumstances in the book – especially surrounding gentrification and housing in regards to race and class – are things that could and do happen. Again, this is a fictional story, but I feel like I learned a lot about a place and situation that’s so different from the one I was raised in (as someone from a rural, mostly white Canadian town—which is about as far from a place like Brooklyn as you could get).
That aside, the actual story itself was great. The characters were interesting, and the writing balanced between tension and humour really well. The book was creepy, not necessarily because of the writing, as for a lot of it, Cole kept a lighter tone, but because nefarious things were hiding underneath the humour. It made it even more jarring and thrilling when something really upsetting happened. I read this whole thing in a day, not just because I really had nothing else to do, but because I found myself unable to put it down for long stretches of time. If you’re a fan of thrillers, I would definitely recommend it!
Rating: ★★★★☆
4. Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie
Another great murder mystery by the queen herself! This one takes place at a hotel by the sea in the summer (so not exactly a fall vibe), and includes my favourite trope in a mystery: a bunch of people in a confined space where a crime has been committed and everyone in this cast of characters is a suspect. I assume this is quite common in the genre as most of the mystery media I’ve consumed has involved this, but it’s definitely popular for a reason. It’s so good every time!
This book is fun because it has an interesting cast of characters, and once again I was in the dark about who was guilty until the final explanation. Some parts of my guesses were correct, but ultimately Poirot’s assertion of the murderer was still an exciting surprise. I don’t want to compare this too much to the other Christie novel I read this week because I feel like it’s more fair to judge them on their own merits, but I didn’t find myself as grabbed by this story as I did by The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Maybe I shouldn’t have started with that one as it’s brilliance might make a lot of these other mysteries seem duller by comparison, but I didn’t find Evil Under the Sun quite as exciting. I enjoyed reading it, but I came away from it simply satisfied rather than wowed. Like I said, though, it’s still a great mystery read!
Rating: ★★★ 1/2
5. The Catherine-Wheel by Patricia Wentworth
Yet another old murder mystery by a female author, and yet another story where there is a group at a location, someone is murdered, and everyone in the group is a suspect. This one takes place at a sort of family get-together at an old inn, and our intrepid detective is a clever old Englishwoman.
I enjoyed this story for the most part, but it took me much longer to read than the others (probably partially due to the fact that I had only read about half of it before we left the cottage to come home and once I was home again, I got very distracted by the Internet). There is a large cast of characters, some of whom are interesting, but the amount of characters introduced at once was a little confusing, and I feel like some of them weren’t very fleshed out, or had no real purpose in the story.
Miss Silver as a detective is fun to read about, because she appears as an unassuming old lady that the police and other investigators mostly dismiss, but, of course, she turns out to have a much better handle on the events of the murder than they do. In fact, one of the most fun parts of the novel was watching Miss Silver work around the police incompetence and stubbornness to come up with new theories (rather than just the most obvious ones) and solve the mystery.
The setting was an interesting idea, as an old inn has potential to be a dark and spooky setting, but it wasn’t really fleshed out in that way, which I found sort of disappointing. I also felt that the story dragged on a bit in places and got a bit repetitive with the statement of the facts and events of the murder (which is probably just for clarity so readers don’t get confused, but I found myself skimming passages where they repeated facts of the case they had just stated earlier).
I feel like I’m being a little harsh about this book, because overall I still enjoyed it. I think part of the problem was that I read the Agatha Christie novels first, and so naturally I kept comparing this one to those, and it wasn’t quite as good in my opinion. However, I’ve also heard that this isn’t the best Patricia Wentworth novel, so perhaps I should try one of her others and see if I like it better. Either way, if you’re looking for an author similar to Christie, I would recommend Wentworth!
Rating: ★★★☆☆
So there you have it: somewhat short reviews of all of the books I read. Overall, I’d say it was a pretty good week, considering I really enjoyed almost all of these!
Let me know if any of you have read these books and what you thought of them, or if you plan on reading them in the future! Also, if you have recommendations for murder mysteries, I’d love to hear them!
Redhead Readings 