Her by Harriet Lane

Her
by Harriet Lane

I think it's just coincidence that I chose to read two very sinister books one after the other. First there was The Night Guest, and now this, 'Her'. Harriet Lane's first novel, 'Alys, Always' was given very good reviews. I haven't read it, but with review words such as "thriller", "chilling", "surprises", "dramatic", "Ruth Rendell", "tragedy", "mysterious", "suspense", and "psychodrama", I can imagine that it is in the same vein as this, her second novel. I could use all the same nouns and adjectives to describe the story. Think "Single White Female" crossed with "Fatal Attraction" and even though the premise is different, the feelings you get while reading the book aren't.

The one thing about the book which annoyed me, was that you were told a scene from the viewpoint of the one main character, Nina, and then told the same scene from the viewpoint of the other, Emma. So I found myself skimming through a few paragraphs to reach unknown territory. Other than that, if you like to be made feel uncomfortable and on edge at the end of a reading session, then this is for you. Watch out who you let into your life.

The Night Guest by Fiona McFarlane

The Night Guest
by Fiona McFarlane

Ruth is in her 80s and lives alone in a house by the sea in Australia. She is a widower and her two sons, Jeff and Phil, live away. The only thing she has for comfort and companionship are her two cats and her memories. She is happy and she gets by. The only thing she is slightly troubled by is the feeling that some nights she has a visitor - a tiger. She thinks she can hear it in her living room, slinking around. She telephones Jeff, her nearest son, in the middle of the night to tell him about her fears, but she can tell he is slightly irritated by the interruption of sleep, and especially with a farcical, fantastical tale of a tiger in the house.

The next day, she gets another visitor, this time in human form. She is Frida and she says she's been sent by the government as home help for a few hours every morning. Ruth lets her in without many questions and even Jeff, on being telephoned and informed of this, does not seem to be surprised or anxious about this sudden arrival of a very larger-than-life character. Frida fusses, cleans, cooks, posts mail, takes calls, shops, looks after bills, and eventually, but quietly, moves in.

If this already hasn't started to sound unsettling and unnerving, then the rest of the book definitely will. Poor Ruth seems totally incapable of halting Frida's intrusiveness. You feel so sorry for her helplessness, and angry with her sons for not hearing any alarm bells ringing with the whole situation. The author does a very good job of drawing you deeper into the suspense and the horror of a poor defenceless old lady up against a big, bustling, matronly, bullying, dark character of a lady that is Frida. It cannot end well.

The tiger continues to make appearances throughout the book, and you start to wonder who or what this animal actually is or stands for. Is it out to harm or protect. Ruth does not always seem to fear the animal's visits, in fact she seems to enjoy to seek out evidence of its existence in her home.

This is the author's first novel, and if you love mystery and psychological suspense and the workings of the mind, then this is for you.

Bellman & Black by Diane Setterfield

Bellman & Black
by Diane Setterfield

I spend about 90% of my time reading children's and teen books, and even though I love most of what I read in those age groups (and more adults should read children's books, they're more exciting than you'd imagine - we have more and more grown-ups visiting the young adult section of our bookshop), I do look forward to a change of writing in an adult book. Several years ago I read The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and rather enjoyed it, so when I was given the opportunity of reading Bellman & Black, I was quite excited at the prospect. I absolutely loved it. Her writing is just glorious. I could even compare it to Dickens - full of detail, wonderfully descriptive, incredibly atmospheric. I'm a bit of a fan of dark, ghostly stories, and even though this is not a ghost story as such, it leaves you with that same prickly feeling, which you both love and fear at the same time.

When he is 10 years old, William Bellman is out with his friends when he produces a home-made, finely crafted catapult. His friends make him a bet that he can't knock out that rook from that tree way over there. William takes up the challenge, and even though he knows he can do it, when he sees the stone from the catapult arc its way directly towards the rook, he silently wishes the rook would fly away. It does not. It falls dead from the tree. The story then continues with William as a young handsome man, admired by the ladies. He is offered work as an apprentice at his uncle's mill. He is a quick learner and a hard worker, and the business flourishes. His fortune seems to improve over the coming years until accidents and illnesses start to befall those around him he loves, and a strange man in black appears at all the funerals. Something niggles at the back of William's mind. Who is this man and what does he want, and why does he only make appearances at funerals?

Gripping, dark, thrilling, sinister, atmospheric - a memorable and moving story of how one act can pave a way to your downfall. Don't mess with rooks. They remember everything.

If you enjoy this, also try the rather scary Uncle Montague's Tales of Terror by Chris Priestley. But not in the dark on your own.

The Bunker Diary by Kevin Brooks

The Bunker Diary
by Kevin Brooks


A rather disturbing story with a none-too-happy ending. A homeless teenager busking in London is chloroformed and bundled into a van by a man pretending to be blind. On waking, he finds himself in a damp basement of some sort with six bedrooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a lift. We as the reader are left realising at the same time as him what has happened and what is happening - and very probably what will happen to him. Over the course of the next couple of days, five other people are abandoned in the bunker, and it is the start of psychological games by their abductor to see who will last the longest - if any. Have something happy to hand to read when you've finished this!

The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

The Lifeboat
by Charlotte Rogan

It is 1914, two years after the sinking of the Titanic, and a mystery explosion sinks the cruise liner The Empress Alexandra. Lifeboats are lowered, brimming to over-capacity with survivors. Grace Winter is separated from her husband, Henry, and finds herself in one of the lifeboats. So begins a diary of events told from the viewpoint of Grace in a letter to her solicitor while she is in prison, for a crime we are not fully aware of but can guess from the start. The book explains quite well the huge rollercoaster of emotions one must go through if you're floating at sea with little food or water, wondering if you're ever to be rescued. The physical and mental changes are well described, and you find yourself at one with Grace while she deliberates the meaning of survival, guilt, innocence and justice.