Category: 20 Books of Summer

#BookReview Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

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About the Book

A private jet plunges into the sea with only two survivors: the young son of the family who chartered the plane – now heir to a TV mogul’s fortune – and a man who only chanced to be on board at all, down-on- his-luck artist Scott Burroughs, the hero who saved the boy’s life.

But nothing is simple when big money is concerned and even bigger reputations are at stake. In the media storm that follows questions start to be asked. Is Scott Burroughs as innocent as he seems?

Format: Paperback (400 pages)  Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Publication date: 6th April 2017 Genre: Thriller

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BeforeTheFallMy Review

In his own words Scott Burroughs is ‘a single man approaching fifty, a notorious womanizer and recovering alcoholic, a struggling artist who’s never been able to keep a single lasting relationship. He is nobody’s role model. Nobody’s hero’. Yet he finds himself cast in the role of hero when he saves four-year-old JJ Bateman from the plane crash which killed everyone else onboard. The rescue is a remarkable demonstration of strength and endurance, described in the most thrilling way.

‘Everyone is from someplace. We all have stories, our lives unfolding along crooked lines, colliding in unexpected ways.’ This observation is reflected in the structure of the book with Scott’s experiences following the rescue and the media interest it creates, and the investigation into the cause of the plane crash, being interspersed with the back stories of the other passengers on the plane.  Within these stories are possible circumstances that might have led to the crash. Or was it simple mechanical failure?

There’s David Bateman, father of JJ, and the brains behind the ALC News TV channel whose agenda is not so much to report the news as to make it, expounding a point of view and a quite extreme one at that (think Fox News).  The station’s shock-jock presenter, Bill Milligan, who will stop at nothing to unearth a story, risks involving the station in criminal activity which might result in Bateman’s resignation. Added to this Bateman’s family have received threats resulting in them needing 24/7 armed security. Another passenger on the plane, financier Ben Kipling has just learned he is facing an indictment for money laundering, an activity which has seen him involved with some very shady organisations including some possibly engaged in terrorism. And you probably wouldn’t want members of your flight crew engaging in drink and drug fuelled parties during stopovers.

An intriguing element of the book are sections describing Scott’s paintings all of which depict scenes of catastrophe or impending disaster – a train crash, a building collapse, an approaching tornado. These come to play a key role in how Scott is viewed both by the media and those investigating the crash.  From being a hero, he becomes a suspect and the subject of media intrusion during which details of his private life are pored over and twisted to suggest his guilt.  Just how friendly was Scott with Bateman’s wife Maggie and what is behind his continuing interest in young JJ now being looked after by the boy’s aunt, executor of her brother’s multi-million dollar estate? And isn’t it the case that his paintings will be worth much more now than they would have been before?

I confess when the reason behind the crash is finally revealed, following some last minute disclosure of information, it was the least interesting of the possible scenarios and felt a bit of a letdown. Having said that, the brisk and breezy style of the writing, and the fast pace of the book kept me turning the pages. It would make a great beach read or to while away the hours on a long journey, possibly just not if it’s on a plane.

I received a proof copy courtesy of Hodder & Stoughton. Before the Fall is the fourth book on my list for the 20 Books of Summer 2022 reading challenge. And, yes, I am aware the end of August is fast approaching…

In three words: Gripping, twisty, stylish

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Noah HawleyAbout the Author

Noah Hawley is the Emmy award-winning creator of the hit TV series Fargo, and a Golden Globe, PEN, Critics’ Choice and Peabody Award-winning author, screenwriter, and producer. He has published four novels and penned the script for the feature film Lies and Alibis. He created, executive produced, and served as showrunner for ABC’s My Generation and The Unusuals and was a writer and producer on the hit series Bones. 

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#BookReview The Women of the Castle by Jessica Shattuck

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The Women of the CastleAbout the Book

Bavaria, Germany. June 1945. The Third Reich has crumbled. The Russians are coming.

Amid the ashes of Nazi Germany’s defeat, Marianne von Lingenfels returns to the once-grand castle of her husband’s ancestors, an imposing stone fortress now fallen into ruin following years of war. The widow of a resister murdered in the failed 20th July 1944 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, Marianne plans to uphold the promise she made to her husband’s brave conspirators: to find and protect their wives, her fellow resistance widows.

Marianne assembles a makeshift family from the ruins of her husband’s resistance movement, rescuing her dearest friend’s widow, Benita, from sex slavery to the Russian army, and Ania from a work camp for political prisoners. She is certain their shared past will bind them together.

But as Benita begins a clandestine relationship and Ania struggles to conceal her role in the Nazi regime, Marianne learns that her clear-cut, highly principled world view is infinitely more complicated now, filled with secrets and dark passions that threaten to tear them apart.

All three women must grapple with the realities they now face, and the consequences of decisions each made in the darkest of times…

Format: Hardback (368 pages)     Publisher: Zaffre
Publication date: 18th May 2017 Genre: Historical Fiction

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20-books-of-summerMy Review

The Women of the Castle is the third book from my list for the 20 Books of Summer 2022 reading challenge. Yes I know, we’re already over half way through August. Like all the other books on my list, it’s been in my TBR pile for way too long.

Firstly the things I liked about the book. I thought the way the author uses the prologue to contrast the glamorous atmosphere within the castle with events elsewhere in Germany was very powerful. ‘But outside, beyond the walls, terrible things were happening.’ Even more so once we realise the party is taking place on what will come to be known as Kristallnacht. I also liked the fact the book focuses on Germans who were opposed to the Nazi regime, including those such as Marianne’s husband who made the difficult choice to take direct action to oppose Hitler. I found the stories of Ania and Benita especially powerful (even if I never quite worked out how Ania ended up on Marianne’s list of the wives of resisters).

As the book progressed I didn’t mind the changes in point of view from one woman to another but the frequent moving back and forth in time left me frustrated and often confused.  At one point the book jumps back to 1923 and a rather unnecessary (to my mind) final part sees us in 1991. Often there are brief references to quite significant events in the past but it is many chapters before we learn the full details of them.  At times, I felt the book glossed over some events while dealing with others in painstaking detail.

Marianne is the dominant character in the book, or perhaps domineering would be more appropriate. So many of the events in the lives of the other two women are influenced by the decisions Marianne makes. On a number of occasions they are wrong, even fateful decisions. As Benita observes at one point, ‘It was so much like Marianne to act first and then think.’ I had to agree with Ania’s first impression of Marianne as a woman ‘accustomed to giving orders.’ Although I could admire Marianne’s determination to fulfil the promise made to her husband to be ‘the commander of wives and children’ and rescue the families of his co-conspirators, I found her rather contradictory. For example, she is effortlessly multi-lingual but can’t acquite basic cookery skills.

Focussing on the positives once again, I felt the book was particularly successful in demonstrating how difficult it can be to lay to rest the events of the past, to heal the divisions caused by war, and to repair, both physically and mentally, the damage that has been done. Benita exemplifies this well. ‘History was horrible, a long, sloppy tail of grief. It swished destructively behind the present, toppling everyone’s own personal understanding of the past.’

In the Acknowledgments, Jessica Shattuck reveals that it took her seven years to write this book, much of it inspired by her own family history. The depth of historical detail in the book is evidence of her painstaking research. However, although I found much to admire about The Women in the Castle, the back and forth structure of the book didn’t quite work for me.

I received a review copy courtesy of Zaffre.

In three words: Powerful, detailed, expansive

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Jessica ShattuckAbout the Author

Jessica Shattuck is the award-winning author of The Hazards of Good Breeding, a New York Times Notable Book and finalist for the PEN/Winship Award, and of Perfect Life. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker, Glamour, Mother Jones, Wired, and The Believer, among others. A graduate of Harvard University, she received her MFA from Columbia University. Shattuck now lives with her husband and three children in Brookline, MA.

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