The Dinner By Herman Koch

Description

"It’s a summer’s evening in Amsterdam, and two couples meet at a fashionable restaurant for dinner. Between mouthfuls of food and over the scrapings of cutlery, the conversation remains a gentle hum of polite discourse. But behind the empty words, terrible things need to be said, and with every forced smile and every new course, the knives are being sharpened.
     Each couple has a fifteen-year-old son. The two boys are united by their accountability for a single horrific act; an act that has triggered a police investigation and shattered the comfortable, insulated worlds of their families. As the dinner reaches its culinary climax, the conversation finally touches on their children. As civility and friendship disintegrate, each couple show just how far they are prepared to go to protect those they love.
     Skewering everything from parenting values to pretentious menus to political convictions, this novel reveals the dark side of genteel society and asks what each of us would do in the face of unimaginable tragedy"

 

The description made me want to read this book, but while the story held my interest I found it difficult to connect with any of the characters or empathize with any of their decisions. There was not so much a "tragedy" that any one was faced with nor did it make me wonder what I myself would do if faced with such an impossible "tragedy" The characters were too unreal. The plot was too implausible and the narrative too often stated "I'm not going to tell you" As in the wife is hospitalized but "I'm not going to tell you why" She had multiple surgeries but "I'm not going to tell you" what they were. One character has a mental illness of some sort but "I'm not going to tell you" what it is (since no such condition exists) oh and this illness could have been diagnosed before birth with an amnio but "I'm not going to tell you"   This was less a story of how far you would go to protect those you love and more a story of how far you would dig yourself into a deeper hole along with someone who was never in a million years going to be able to get away with what they've done.

 

I received this book from Blogging for Books for review

 

About Herman Koch

HERMAN KOCH is the author of eight novels and three collections of short stories. The Dinner, his sixth novel, has been published in forty countries and was an international bestseller. He currently lives in Amsterdam

 

more info

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/221991/the-dinner-by-herman-koch/

 

The Curse of Crow Hollow by Billy Coffey

Description
"With the “profound sense of Southern spirituality” he is known for (Publishers Weekly), Billy Coffey draws us into a town where good and evil—and myth and reality—intertwine in unexpected ways.
Everyone in Crow Hollow knows of Alvaretta Graves, the old widow who lives in the mountain. Many call her a witch; others whisper she’s insane. Everyone agrees the vengeance Alvaretta swore at her husband’s death hovers over them all. That vengeance awakens when teenagers stumble upon Alvaretta’s cabin, incurring her curse. Now a sickness moves through the Hollow. Rumors swirl that Stu Graves has risen for revenge. And the people of Crow Hollow are left to confront not only the darkness that lives on the mountain, but the darkness that lives within themselves."

I fell in love with this book! The Curse of Crow Hollow is a spine tingling story related to you slowly through a folksy down home narrative that made me feel I was a trusted friend sitting around a spooky campfire being let in on a secret.

It is a story of superstition, suspicion, mob mentality oh and lets not forget the witch! Is she or isn't she? Can she really curse a whole town or is it all in their own minds like some mass hysteria? When a birthday party gone wrong leads a group of teens to the witch's door long hidden secrets make their way to the light and evil can live not just in a witch's shack but in the hearts of men.

I received an advance copy for review.

The Island Of Worthy Boys By Connie Hertzberg Mayo

Description
"In 1889, the Boston Farm School didn’t accept boys with any sort of criminal record. Which made it the perfect place for two boys who accidentally killed someone to hide.

Charles has been living alone on the streets of Boston for the last two of his twelve years. Aidan’s mom can’t stay sober enough to keep her job. When the boys team up, Charles teaches Aidan the art of rolling drunks in the saloon and brothel district, and life starts to look up―until a robbery goes horribly wrong one night and they need to leave the city or risk arrest. When the boys con their way into The Boston Farm School―located on an island one mile out in Boston Harbor―they think they’ve cheated fate. But the Superintendent is obsessed with keeping the bad element out of his school, and as both their story and their friendship start to splinter, Charles and Aidan discover they are not as far from the law as they had hoped."  

This was an engaging, beautifully written work of historical fiction. While the main characters Charles and Aidan are fictitious, Boston Asylum and Farm School for Indigent Boys did actually exist as does Thompson Island MA.
Charles and Aidan meet quite by accident and although Charles is wary of people and used to being alone the two quickly become the best of friends. They are each suffering through their own hard times and their friendship is only solidified when things take a turn for the worse. I was totally immersed in this story and couldn't put it down.

I received an advance copy in exchange for review

The Lost Girl - A Fear Street Novel by R.L. Stine

Description
"Generations of children and teens have grown up on R.L. Stine's bestselling and hugely popular horror series, Fear Street and Goosebumps. Now, the Fear Street series is back with a chilling new installment, packed with pure nightmare fodder that will scare Stine's avid fan base of teen readers and adults. New student Lizzy Palmer is the talk of Shadyside High. Michael and his girlfriend Pepper befriend her, but the closer they get to her, the stranger she seems… and the more attractive she is to Michael. He invites her to join him on a snowmobile race that ends in a tragic accident. Soon, Michael's friends start being murdered, and Pepper becomes convinced that Lizzy is behind the killings. But to her total shock, she and Michael are drawn into a tragic story of an unthinkable betrayal committed over 60 years ago. Frightening and tense in the way that only this master of horror can deliver, The Lost Girl is another terrifying Fear Street novel by the king of juvenile horror"

 I have bought a lot of R.L. Stine books over the years but this is my first time actually reading one. I bought all the Goosebumps for my son when he was little. Then in his early teens I bought him all the Fear Street series. I watched the TV shows with him and recently even rewatched the Haunting Hour on Netflix because I enjoyed the R.L. Stine series so much, but as a woman in my 40s it just never occurred to me to read something that is targeted at teens or YA I'm only sorry I waited so long!

This is a stand alone story, as in you will not need to have read previous books in the  Fear Street series but you will certainly want to!

This is a story within a story, part happening now and part what has happened nearly 70 years ago.

New student Lizzy shows up in town, nobody knows anything about her other than wherever she goes she always seems to be lost. She latches on to. Michael and he and his girlfriend Pepper and their friends try to befriend her. There is something not quite right about Lizzy and the closer they get to her, the stranger she seems.  This is a very fast paced story with lots of thrills and chills. Though it is intended for a younger audience, adults who enjoy a good spooky story can enjoy it too. R.L. Stine can both scare and entertain without needing the distraction of excessive blood or gore.

I received an advance copy for review