Review | A Tap On The Window by Linwood Barclay | Brilliant Books

A Tap On The Window - Linwood Barclay
RRP - £7.99

I bought this book as part of Waterstones' "buy one get one half price" offer to read whilst I was on holiday in Mallorca this summer. It was the last book I read there as I was a tad reluctant to read it because of how disappointing the last Linwood Barclay book I read was for me. I first stumbled across Barclay's works in high school, reading No Time For Goodbye and  was eager to read Too Close To Home upon finishing it. However, the latter was slightly disappointing and to say I was put off Barclay afterwards is a bit of an understatement. But I thought I'd give this one a go! And I was not disappointed this time...

The synopsis details a man approached by a young girl who asks for a lift home one rainy night. He accepts and finds out the next day that she's disappeared. Although it sounds like a generic thriller plot line, it turns out to be much more complex than the synopsis gives it credit for; in fact, I'd go as far to say that it could actually be off-putting to some people. Just a chapter or two in, the novel becomes a lot more interesting when the girl gets out of the car and her friend, dressed as her, replaces her. Bewildered, the man confronts her and she runs out of his car. Now, the synopsis wrongly says that only one girl goes missing the next day, but in fact both the first girl and her friend turn out to be missing and so it becomes essential that the main character prove his innocence by finding them. I've included a photo of the synopsis that you can read for yourself here.

That's all I'll give away about the storyline but that one crucial twist which is so unlike the original impression of the book you receive turns out to be paramount to the investigation into the disappearance of the girls and the novel is full of twists and turns, corrupt police and a breaking marriage. In parts, I'll admit it can be a bit slow, the main character constantly going from pillar to post attempting to extract information from everyone and anyone. The travelling of the character, I'll admit, made even me feel tired from each journey so a little less of that might have been desirable. It's not exactly No Time For Goodbye - I think Barclay will always find it hard to live up to that - but it'll do for a damn good summer read.

Have you read 'A Tap on the Window'? Is it one of your favourite Barlcay books or has he not lived up to expectations with this novel? Let me know!

Review | The Fault In Our Stars | Brilliant Books

£3.95 individually or 2 for £7 at Tesco - June 2014

Recently I finally decided to read The Fault in Our Stars to see if it lived up to the hype. One of my friends let me borrow her copy after raving about how "life affirming" it was.

Safe to say, I was massively disappointed - for several reasons. The first of which was the fact that the novel was written in first person narrative which, I believe, severely limited the writing ability of the author. Very few novels which use first person narrative are actually decently written - things such as metaphors and grammar  tend to slide more than they would with third person narrative and, admittedly, it is something which I would find hard to deliver on. In this case, the use of first person narrative simply meant that the thoughts of main character, Hazel, were plainly written. These thoughts, I felt, were often meant to carry a significant message about the meaning of life, living with an illness like cancer, or dying. I believe that subtlety of messages like this in a novel is paramount to the novel's success and the impact of the message itself. For example, simply saying "I think everyone has regrets in their last living moments" is no where near as effective as describing the sadness in someones eyes as they slowly pass away from a perspective that is not their own. This is something which the author does not do.

In TFIOS, Hazel is scared to leave her parents after she overheard her mother say that when she dies, she won't be a mum anymore. She fears that her mother will have no life after her passing. Yet instead of portraying this metaphorically or subtly, the author decides that the reader will understand it through Hazel thinking something such as "my mom has no life outside taking care of me and won't once I die". I feel that it just spoils the messages contained within the book which I believe, if done differently, could have been very powerful.

In addition to this, I felt that because of the narrative chosen by Green which impacted on how the messages on the book were delivered, too many different ideas about life/death/illness were trying to come through and at the end of the book, I was basically left confused about what the overall message of the book was meant to be. What was the morale of the story? What does death mean and how does it impact on the dying? Perhaps the book chooses not to answers questions such as this for a reason - because nobody knows. But then why even write the book in the first place? Surely this entire novel cannot lead up to "nobody knows and nobody has a proper opinion on it".

The introduction of Augustus' ex-girlfriend was also something I felt the novel needed, but the lack of continuation of this character (although now dead) was an annoyance for me. I believe this character showed how not all people who are dying do so "bravely" or "courageously" and certainly do not keep making jokes and smiling until their last breath. The brutality of an illness like cancer is lightly touched upon in the novel and I think if it had been delved into more, the novel would have been much better and contained a much better overall message - i.e. that dying is not easy and is painful every step of the way for both the patient and everyone around them who feels their pain being thrown on to them - by their anger, frustration and the many tears shed. None of this is shown in the novel, nor is how painfully disgusting dying can actually be. Yes, shortness of breath is shown and yes, Gus is sick once in the entire novel. But infection, catheters, IVs, etc. are all incredibly painful on their own and although cancer is the overall main pain, the added pain of each of these individual nuisances should not be overlooked or romanticized.

Overall, I feel that the story had great potential and could have been written in a much better way. The premise was there but the delivery fell short.

What did you think of the Fault in Our Stars?