Review: The Likeness, Tana French

In the second of her police procedural series set around the Dublin Murder Squad, Tana French focuses on Detective Cassie Maddox, a traumatised cop who bears an uncanny likeness to a murder victim. 

A former undercover police officer, Cassie is recovering from the fallout of a prior case. When her new boyfriend, the solid and dependable detective Sam O’Neill, is called to a crime scene where a woman’s body has been found in a broken down cottage, he at first thinks it is Cassie. Instead, the victim is identified as Lexie Madison, a mature student who lives with a group of intellectual misfits at a grand house in the nearby village.

Although the privileged and aloof gang has a knack of making itself unpopular, there is no obvious motive for Lexie’s murder. With no leads or clues, the police hatch a plan to take advantage of the similarity between Cassie and Lexie to solve the crime. What ensues reveals that the two women may have had more in common than just outward appearance.

This slow-burning suspense invests time in building up characters, motives and tension. With the large cast of housemates and villagers, French expertly allows us to ponder their possible involvement in the killing. The mood of eccentricity, elitism and anachronism that pervades Whitethorn House slowly casts even battle-hardened Cassie under a spell; although the friends will also ring bells with anyone who enjoyed Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History”.

The most engaging element is the collision between personal and professional in Cassie’s mind - we, like her, gradually conflate the officer and the victim until we don’t know where Lexie ends and Cassie begins. This is the heart of the novel: Cassie identifying and healing herself in the guise of the lost woman. So much so that the resolution of the central mystery — who killed Lexie Madison? — is almost an anticlimax that gets in the way of the more compelling curiosity about how Cassie will ever step out from the shadow of her ill-fated doppelgänger.

Review: The Food of Love, Amanda Prowse

I like to surprise myself now and then by venturing outside my usual literary stamping ground. I first ‘discovered’ Amanda Prowse when she became the latest big name author to join my publisher, Lake Union Publishing. Her back catalogue and the loyalty of her fan base made me curious about the ‘Queen of Family Drama’ - and what I might learn from her writing.

The Food of Love tells the story of the Braithwaites, a regular if somewhat bohemian family who don't have much money but compensate with a love of life and each other. Freya spends her days cooking and writing about food. When she’s called to her youngest daughter’s school by a teacher who suspects that Lexi may have an eating disorder, mum dismisses the concern. After all, who knows more about nutrition and healthy eating than a food journalist?

What ensues is a heart-wrenching and uncompromising portrayal of the way anorexia can tear apart a life and a family. Amanda Prowse has spoken of the research that goes into her ‘big issue’ novels, and you can feel it throughout The Food of Love: Freya and Lexi perform an intricate dance of secrets and lies, revealing the devious and destructive nature of the illness. Freya also displays the self-delusion of a parent who doesn't want to hear the truth—while this makes her character unsympathetic at times, I applaud Prowse for not offering easy solutions to a complex issue.

By its very nature, the subject of anorexia — whereby the patient may improve only to relapse — gives the novel a repetitive feel. Prose offsets that spiral with a mystery sub-plot—Freya, the father and the older sister write letters to Lexi ahead of an unspecified event. Could it be a wedding, a graduation - heaven forbid, a funeral? It keeps the action moving even while circling the main issue.

The Food of Love will interest readers who like the emotional lives of characters in the forefront of the drama.

Review: The Good Widow

Jacqueline “Jacks” Morales is horrified to hear that her husband, James, has been killed in a car crash on the idyllic island of Maui, Hawaii. Adding insult to injury, he died alongside a young woman, Dylan, who appears to be his mistress. Reeling from a double-blow of grief and betrayal, Jacks agrees to accompany Dylan’s fiance, Nick, to Maui in search of answers. While Jacks anticipates an emotionally painful trip, she has no idea of the trauma and obsession that will escort them on their journey.

The location of Hawaii works especially hard in this gripping psychological thriller. First, it’s easy to share Jacks’ hurt—and sympathise deeply—when she learns that James took a ‘holiday of a lifetime’ with his bit-on-the-side. As soon as she arrives on Maui, the juxtaposition between the romance of the setting and the reality of her anguish is stark; and also ripe for conflict and the kind of confusion that keeps the chapters fresh. 

The Good Widow is perfect for anyone who likes secrets and lies; and to keep guessing and second-guessing to the last page.

***

The Good Widow by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke is available on Amazon

Why a dog plays a central role in my debut novel

Meet Horatio! He’s a character in my novel, All the Little Children. The girl is my daughter and she’s not in the novel, although her wit and wisdom provided some of the best lines spoken by my fictional children.

We met the dog five years ago at a riding stables in Switzerland and hit it off. He’s a sweetheart. And HUGE. This photo doesn’t quite do him justice. He's massive.

Some writers cast famous actors into lead roles, but I only ever cast Horatio. Looking back, I wonder why I gave such an important narrative role to a dog?

Here’s what I think was going on. The main character in All the Little Children is not an easy woman. Marlene Greene is brilliant in many ways – a success story who seems to “have it all” – but we see behind the scenes and behind the eyes. She doesn’t feel like a success.

Loving doesn’t come easily to Marlene. She wants to, but it gets stuck inside – as she says at one point, “like one of those sneezes that just won’t come”. The daily chaos that comes with running a business and a household of three children doesn’t make matters easier – it’s difficult to access soft feelings when life is hard.

When disaster strikes and Horatio picks Marlene to be his guardian angel, we see what she’s capable of, emotionally speaking. So Horatio is there to be loved. Although, pretty soon, Horatio has to prove that he’s a guardian angel too.

Review: The Beautiful Dead, Belinda Bauer

Reading Belinda Bauer thrillers when you're alone in the house is never a good idea. Reading her books when you're alone and supposed to be writing your own novel is a terrible idea. With the story dipping and diving between the surface tension of the plot and the depths of the characters, it is hard to come up for air.

Eve Singer is a TV reporter on the 'meat beat' as a crime correspondent. Although a fairly typical hack in terms of ruthlessness and cunning, her squeamishness and aplomb in the face of casual sexism from rival hacks give her instant appeal. Most sympathetic of all, her home life is almost as tragic as the news she covers day-in, day-out. When a serial killer bursts onto the scene - literally, he sees himself as an artist - Eve thinks she has a chance to make the big time. Until she realises that she might become the next item on the evening news.

The baroque nature of the killer, who bears a passing resemblance to whatsisname from Silence of the Lambs, is alluded to in the butterfly-strewn cover art. But that is perhaps the only over-familiar aspect of this elevated crime novel - Bauer rings unusual notes that lift The Beautiful Dead out of the realms of the ordinary; lashings of black humour, a sweet little romance, a touching father-daughter plot line, and a wonderful kick-ass female detective whose diminutive size belies her mad skills.

Fans of crime fiction will love The Beautiful Dead. Fans of a nicely-turned phrase will too.

On the Edge

On a perfectly normal family holiday to the south coast of England, I wandered to the edge of this cliff. It was the silence that drew me there - not until you get right to the lip of the land does the sound of the surf warn you of the danger ahead. After a few seconds - enough to film this video - my vertigo kicked in and I scurried back to the path. The sheep who sleep on the edge watched me retreat with disdain.

Later that day, I wrote a short story about a woman who stands on this spot, looking for her family, scared she may fall. Little does she know that she's already fallen.

The story, called The Lily Stains White, is available for free by clicking the orange banner at the top of this page. 

Cliff top near the Smugglers Inn, Weymouth UK

Knock Knock - short stories with Mr O

Despite winning Singapore's most lucrative literary award with his first novel, Now That It's Over, the author O Thiam Chin insisted that he's most comfortable writing short stories. Ahead of the deadline for the 2017 Golden Point Award, he gave an afternoon workshop focused on short fiction at Singapore's beautiful Arts House.

This was my first workshop dedicated to short stories. In the past, I've started writing many short stories but found them too lean and slippery to pursue: the ideas whip away from me, snakelike. Novels, somehow, are more substantial and less mysterious. Like animals, the bigger the form, the simpler the creature.

Amid an unusually informal and interactive atmosphere, Thiam Chin shared writing tips, while weaving in exercises to focus the mind on craft.

Using a story by Mary Gaitskill, Thiam Chin concentrated on first lines; universally, we agreed, the trickiest point. The tone should be there from the off and a good start creates a mixed reaction in the reader. Gaitskill's story, The Other Place, starts at a pivotal moment, forcing us to wonder which way the story will turn. And there's evidence of the three Cs required in a strong Voice - it's consistent, compelling and has authorial control.  

Her writing is deceptively simple - but Thiam Chin warned us about simplicity: achieving it is a lifetime process. At first, he said, build a lavish life on the page and cut it down to size.

Finally, we looked at how to get characters unstuck. Of his many suggestions to keep up the momentum within scenes - such as the Murakami trick of getting an unexpected phone call or a 'knock, knock' on the door - I liked the idea of introducing a stranger. "A stranger is a universe in himself," said Thiam Chin, which I found rather lovely.

Whether the new material that transpires makes the final cut or gets edited back in the pursuit of simplicity, the stranger is a two-way mirror through which to see our character afresh.

As I sit here now, on a hiatus from trying to edit a short story of my own, I'm grateful for one further example shared by Thiam Chin. The great Alice Munro, whose story The Bear Came Over the Mountain was subtly but meaningfully re-edited even after its first publication in the New Yorker. The impact was huge - not just to the story, but also to the audience in the Arts House. If Alice Munro feels the need to work and re-work her stories across the decades, then surely so must we.

O Thiam Chin, author of Now That It's Over and five collections of short stories.

Review: The Dinner, Herman Koch

The novel plays out during an evening meal at a fancy restaurant, while two brothers and their wives attempt to resolve a family issue. It's a masterclass in the unreliable narrator and the slow reveal, as we are lead to conclude that the main character is a cranky misanthrope with a long-suffering wife, a failure with a humiliatingly-successful sibling, a sociopath with violent tendencies, and worse... and worse... until the true natures of the individuals gracing the dinner table are revealed. It's impossible to like anyone in this novel, but it's equally hard to stop thinking about them after it's finished. Brilliantly judged, whenever its exceptional darkness threatens to turn the stomach, a wicked dash of humour cleanses the palate.

What to read... in Singapore

People very often ask for recommendations of books to read while in Singapore. Here are my top ten titles to prepare you for life in the Garden City.

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The Fall of Singapore

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Snapshots of colonial life

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The lives of Raffles' wives

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Expats amid imperial ruins

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The Rise of Singapore

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A glimpse of Asia's jet-set

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Characters of modern SG

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The 2004 Asian tsunami

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Emma, set in Singapore

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A rising literary talent

And if I've left you wanting more, check out Singapore's vibrant poetry scene, especially my personal favourite, Cyril Wong.

Review: All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld

Beautiful, lyrical, unusual suspense novel that perfectly walks the line between literary and thriller.

When we first meet Jake Whyte she is a lonely misfit, caring for sheep using her brutal strength amid the inhuman landscape of a Scottish island. Something is coming for the lambs in the night and we're not sure if it's a fox, a strange beast that locals claim inhabits the island, or something worse - something from Jake's past that may be connected to scars on her back. Then we move backwards in time, through Jake's sordid past in Australia, where every stage in her sad life is not quite what we expect.

Accomplished and moving novel, with an intriguing main character who upsets all our expectations of both women and literary tropes.

***

For more reviews follow my Goodreads author page: https://www.goodreads.com/goodreadsjofurniss

Debut novel cover reveal: All the Little Children

It's been a long time coming. Back in 2013, while studying for an MA in Professional Writing, I wrote a short story. I wasn't planning to focus on fiction (non-fiction seemed like a better development of my previous career in journalism) but I caught the bug.

That story became my final MA project - that 20,000 words became a novel - and that manuscript caught the eye of an agent in Chicago who took it to Lake Union Publishing.

Seeing a book cover feels like a milestone, a point on the road where I should pause a while and catch my breath. The view is great - a cover that captures the story as though plucked from my mind.

Review: We Need to Talk about Kevin, Lionel Shriver

It's hard to write a review for a book that could easily support a thesis.

This novel is a rare example of both form and content being raised to the highest level, as well as a conclusion that is inevitable but shocking. It's extraordinary in its ability to trigger both revulsion and sympathy, and leave you feeling for the characters long after the pages have turned.

I gave this novel 5* on Goodreads, where you can follow my reviews or author page

Radio Daze: how a career in broadcasting influences my fiction

“Let the listener invent their own dragon.” I can’t remember who uttered this line, but it has stayed in my mind since last century, when I took a BBC News Skills training course in London.

The nervy young broadcast journalists renamed it News Kills. Until a man in tweed came to our stuffy classroom to impart his code for living: “It’s only radio, but it’s what we do.”

I learned to create sound pictures that let the listener see “their own dragon”. Why state you’re on a beach when you can immerse the audience in surf and seagulls? Why say an interviewee is nervous when you can hear his shallowness of breath between carefully-chosen words? A broadcaster, like a novelist, is a magpie for the glimmering detail that sparks life into a story.

To read more of my guest post about how a career in broadcasting influences my fiction, visit Women Writers.

Review: The Mothers, Brit Bennett

“All good secrets have a taste before you tell them, and if we’d taken a moment to swish this one around our mouths, we might have noticed the sourness of an unriped secret, plucked too soon, stolen and passed around before its season.”

Affecting novel about the choices we make in our youth that stay with us for a life time. Nadia Turner is a young woman, grieving for her mother, while growing up in a tightly-knit, conservative town dominated by a church community. Its judgmental voice is brilliantly rendered by The Mothers – a collective group of elders who cannot respect the freedom and individuality Nadia seeks and the steps she takes to achieve her goal. But this novel is never simplistic; we also witness their wisdom and the warmth that Nadia seeks within their fold. Packed with deep themes and pertinent observations, the prose offers moments of great beauty.

Review: Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaswal

In this brilliantly-observed novel, the main character reminds me very much of her home city of London; Nikki embodies its complex blend of cultures, its tradition and modernity, conformity and subversion, warmth and conflict.

When Nikki volunteers to run a writing class at a local gurdwara, she becomes our guide to Southall, where we meet a group of barely-literate women who quickly reveal a shared passion and talent for story-telling. Their tales are both erotic and risky, given the social tensions at play within their Sikh Punjabi community.

The novel is packed full of lifelike characters who are drawn with warm-hearted (and sometimes wicked) wit. By turns touching and saucy, with a suspense to raise the stakes, Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows is a layered and satisfying read.

But I may never feel the same way about ghee.

***

Follow my reviews or author page on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/goodreadsjofurniss

How a short course helped my publishing career

A strange thing occurred while I was taking the Professional Writing Academy’s Introduction to Writing Crime Fiction course. 

I was working on an exercise for the first class—we had to write about a detective—when a woman walked into my office and sat on the pull-out sofa bed. She was slight and reserved, but commanded my attention. She crossed her legs and bounced one child-sized foot on the parquet, allowing me time to jot down a backstory that followed her like perfume.

At the time, I was also writing a novel, a domestic thriller that didn’t feature a detective, but as I settled down each week to tackle another exercise for the course, this woman came back. She wanted in on my novel.

For the rest of my guest post about how a crime-writing course helped secure my publishing deal, visit The Professional Writing Academy.

Now That It's Over, O Thiam Chin

"During the Christmas holidays in 2004, an earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggers a tsunami that devastates fourteen countries. Two couples from Singapore are vacationing in Phuket when the tsunami strikes."

Beautifully structured and paced tale of two couples caught up in the Asian tsunami of Boxing Day 2004; their minor personal tragedies revealed by the major disaster. Deserving winner of the inaugural Epigram prize, Singapore's richest literary award.

I gave this novel a 4* rating on Goodreads