Keeper – Johana Gustawsson

  3 Stars

Another book that did not live up to the hype. I was so looking forward to read it for months! But with having so many books from NetGalley to review I hardly have the time to read the books I actually bought myself. So finally I managed to squeeze this one in. I had so high hopes for this book because of all the raving reviews. But unfortunately the book could not live up to it for me.

 

I had a hard time finding into the book from the start. The writing did not capture my attention and there where so many new characters joining in in every chapter. The reason why I skipped the first book of this series, “Block 46” was that Jack the Ripper was mentioned in the blurb. But I could not make the connection from the timeline told in the past, starting at the Ripper murders, to the story in 2015. I was distraught how every single character in this timeline somehow out of the blue developed a strange behavior. The book is also slow paced although it has short chapters. But the story did not intrigue me. Finally, at the last third of the book, the tension got stronger and I could see how the stories where connected eventually.

 

Maybe it was a mistake to skip the first book so I missed the mains things on the characters. At the end I must say that the story was good and tricky. I did not see that coming and I was surprised. This is what made this finally a 3 star read. I was disappointed that the Jack the Ripper connection was very weak and I have the feeling it was only built into the story because for attention-grabbing. I think the story could have worked without it. The story after all is good but very unrealistic and I found all this sudden cruelness some characters developed very weird.

 

I think I will not read another book from this author. The blurb of “Block 46” and her new book sound almost the same just with a different connection to past events.

Dark Pines – Will Dean

  2 Stars

Well, apparently I am in the minority here. I never found my way into the story. I also never connected to Tuva. To be honest, I did not like her. I found her actions and investigations quite stupid.

Yes, there was a dark and disturbing atmosphere. The setting is creepy but the story itself did not work for me. I got bored and almost stopped reading. But I tent to finish books I got from NetGalley, just to give it a proper chance. Also there are a lot of raving reviews so I thought I was just missing something. But the end was no twist for me, maybe a bit of a surprise but the motive was ridiculous.

I also did not like the writing style. It was very slow and full of strange metaphors. For example: “The three-quarter moon makes the woods as grey as the blood you find under a cooked salmon filet”. Hm….I just kept stumbling over such strange sentences.

I always feel terrible when I have nothing good to say about a book which was given to me kindly by a publisher. I wanted to like this book so much. Fortunately I am almost the only one who did not like this book. It is probably me. Maybe I get picky or just read too much thrillers over the years. I find it harder and harder to be thrilled by a book these days. I hardly had a 5 star-review last year and I am very disappointed in myself that my first review in 2018 is just a 2 stars.

I am very sorry but “Dark Pines” war not my cup of tea.

I reveived an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review