Blood Sports by Eden Robinson | Book Review

Title: Blood Sports
Author: Eden Robinson
Publisher/Year: Mclelland & Stewart/2006
Series: No
Source: Purchased 

Goodreads 

Summary

Tom, a young man, hardly innocent, has been caught up over the years in Jeremy’s world of drugs, extortion, and prostitutes, while Jeremy, vindictive, vicious, either protects Tom or uses him, but always controls him. Added to the mix is Paulie, a junkie two years clean and Tom’s girlfriend, and also the mother of his daughter. This lethal triangle shifts when word gets out Tom has been talking to the police, and men from the past who have a lot to lose reappear. Suddenly Tom and Paulie are pawns in a much larger game, with everything at stake.

Thoughts and Reactions

I have to be honest, crime thrillers aren't my usual genre. I have a weak stomach, what can I say. No matter how well written a novel is I'll find myself skipping over parts of it I find too gruesome; it's the same reason I don't watch horror movies. I generally stick to contemporary for a reason. That having been said, every once in awhile I find myself picking up a crime novel, a novel that describes itself as gritty, and giving it a shot. I have yet to fall in love with one of these books, Blood Sports included. 

Blood Sports fits squarely into its genre. It takes place on the Downtown East Side of Vancouver; one of the poorest areas of North America. Tom is living with his girlfriend and daughter in a small apartment, trying to leave his past behind, but it starts to catch up with him. He is kidnapped, tortured; it is all brutally described in detail. It may be a work of fiction, but none of it is entirely out of the realm of possible, making it that much more difficult to read. 

Robinson's prose suits the genre and helps set a dark, dank and downright creepy tone throughout the novel. It is direct, never shying away from the more unsavoury details of whatever a character is going through, whether it be a drug overdose or torture. It is brutal and fitting. An interesting stylistic choice that I found to be quite effective was the way the story jumped around in time. It was jarring and on occasion it took me awhile to figure out where in time we were, but it added to the story's overall chaos and confusion. We are normally seeing the story through Tom's eyes and he is often unsure of what is happening; the jumps through time help  bring that confusion to the reader. 

The characterizations are brilliant and while I felt for Tom and his girlfriend Paulie; I could also clearly see how they ended up in the situation they were in. They made many poor choices, compounded by bad luck. That's not to say that I didn't want them to come out ahead in the end as they were complex characters who were clearly trying to build a better life, but it was also easy for me to see why that was so difficult for them. Jeremy Reiger, Tom's sociopathic cousin is one of the most disturbing, unfeeling characters I have come across in literature and not somebody I want to revisit anytime soon; I can only assume that was Robinson's goal while writing him into this novel and that she was successful at it. 

I didn't love Blood Sports, but I didn't expect to. I found it to be more than a little unsettling and I do think that that's a sign of a successful thriller/murder mystery. I put down the book and felt so creeped out; there really was no reprieve to the tension. I think Robison wrote an excellent crime novel and I love that it was set in a Canadian city. It may not have been the book for me and I won't be picking up another thriller in the near future, but I would definitely recommend it to somebody who liked the genre and maybe, just maybe, has stronger nerves than me.

The Splendour Falls by Susanna Kearsley

TITLE: The Splendour Falls
AUTHOR: Susanna Kearsley
PUBLISHER/YEAR: 2012/Allison & Busby (originally 1995/Corgi)
SOURCE: Stolen from a friend

Goodreads / Author's Website

Do any of you have those authors that are just like a cup of coffee and a warm blanket on a cold day? You know what I'm talking about right? Like your go to I'm having a bad day and just really need some comfort kind of author? I'm sure you do, we're all kind of book lovers around here right. Well that's Susanna Kearsley for me. I read Every Secret Thing awhile ago and fell in love and sure, I've had my moments when I thought, well that's that then, relationship over. But I keep going back. This book is why I do. I pretty much loved the mystery, the romance, the setting, the bits of history. So good right!

I think part of my love for this book has to due with me just being in the right mood for an easy to read romance. Stressful times call for feel good kind of books you know. The Splendour Falls pretty much had everything I love in droves. So Emily Braden is a former romantic, current cynic living in a small English town, pretty ordinary life, until her cousin Harry, the Plantagenet expert, drags her along on his trip to Chinon France. But when Emily gets there Harry's hasn't arrived yet. She falls in with the quirky characters at the hotel and so the adventure begins. 

Of course there are a couple of potential love matches for Emily. The rich vineyard owner up the way and the quiet, mysterious Neil at the hotel. I liked the romance as a sort of sub plot, but  what I really loved is the mystery. I loved loved loved Emily searching this historic town first as an interested tourist and later as a concerned cousin. So Emily's mystery is intertwined with not one but TWO historical ones. First we've got Queen Isabelle who hid some kind of treasure at Chinon as rebels closed in on her castle and then Isabelle the poor chambermaid who had an affair with a German officer during the second world war hid diamonds which had never been found. These three stories just kind of sucked me in. 

The characters at the hotel are also wonderful. The young Canadian traveler Paul has to be my favourite, so calm and kind. But each character has a back story and some sort of endearing quality which I loved. They're not necessarily the most well drawn characters, but I can forgive that. The story is told from Emily's perspective and she's just met all of them. This is a book that doesn't need great character development. The plot is intriguing and it just kind of goes along. Don't get me wrong, I love a great character drama, I just didn't need this book to be one. 

The other thing that I really loved about this book is the setting. The description of the town was just gorgeous. It's one of those books that makes me go, okay, so I'm packing my bags now to head to a French town a continent away. The castle, the hotel, the streets and tunnels. It was all so appealing. I pretty much need to visit this town now. 

There's a reason Sussana Kearsley is on my obviously buy as soon as it's out list. Like I said, there's just something comforting in her books. The strong heroines, the blend of mystery and romance. It sucks me in nearly every single time. 

Bloody London by Reggie Nadelson

TITLE: Bloody London
AUTHOR: Reggie Nadelson
PUBLISHER/YEAR: Arrow/2006
SERIES: Yes
SOURCE: Purchased

Goodreads / Author's Website

Bloody London is one of those books that I bought years ago that I never got around to reading. I'm trying to get through the massive pile that's been sitting next to my bed for literally years now and this was my start. Bloody London didn't peak my interest from the beginning, but it got better as I got further into the story. 

Artie Cohen is an ex New York cop and current private eye. He drinks a little, smokes a lot and runs on a steady diet of cynicism. Artie doesn't want any trouble, but when Tommy Pascoe, a rich New York socialite and philanthropist, is murdered Artie's on the case. Russian's are clearly involved and this former Soviet citizen unintentionally gets mixed up with the wrong group of thugs as old world money, new world ambition and the veneer of philanthropy collide.

It definitely took me awhile to get into this book. I think part of the problem was that this was the third book in the series; characters had already been established and I had no idea what was going on. There was a lot of back story that I just wasn't aware of. That having been said this was a pretty good noir-ish crime story. 

Nadelson keeps the pace snappy and the dialogue quick, although in typical noir style the character tends to have fairly drawn out internal monologues. The tone is dark, the plot filled with intrigue. Here's the thing, it was just a bit too cynical for my taste. I don't think that has anything to do with the author; it's my issue. It was just very, the rich are terrible,the poor are terrible, the middle class is bored and the world might as drown. 

I also had some issues following the plot. There's a huge cast of characters with a rich history, each character has a rich back story and while those are all positives; I just couldn't keep up. Combined with the previously mentioned snappy pace I was lost at parts. I think I finally pieced things together at the end and it would probably be a lot easier to follow if you've read the first two books. 

I liked the book, I did. It was well written and paced. The plot was interesting with conspiracy following conspiracy. I would read another Nadelson book and although I'm not in a huge rush, I might pick up the first book in the series if I come across it. 

Bloodman by Robert Pobi

TITLE: Bloodman
AUTHOR: Robert Pobi
PUBLISHER/YEAR: Touchstone/2012
GENRE: Thriller
SERIES: No
SOURCE: Goodreads First Reads


Goodreads / Author's Website

First things first, Robert Pobi's Bloodman is definitely a genre read. I don't typically read book in this genre because I just don't find them that appealing. That having been said, there have a been a few thrillers that I've thoroughly enjoyed. When they're well written or if an author takes a new twist on the genre I might find myself pleasantly surprised. Bloodman didn't quite do it for me. 


My overwhelming impressions of Bloodman is violence, violence, and then some more violence. Jake Cole is an FBI agent who's gone back to his hometown, Montauk, to deal with his aging father who suffered severe burns and lost both of his hands in an Alzheimer's related accident. While in Long Island Jake must confront demons from his past, deal with his estranged father and solve a mystery. The day he arrives, a woman and child are skinned alive. Of course, a massive hurricane is also rushing towards the seaside town. 

There are a lot of graphic descriptions in Bloodman. The pain is described, the exact methods the killer used, everything. I found it a little much. I don't need that much gratuitous violence in my reading. I almost put the book down after the first few chapters, but persevered, mainly because I hate giving up on a book. 


I honestly don't have that much to say about this book. How can I accurately review a book when from the outset it wasn't something that appealed to me? The back cover describes it as "twisted" and "gritty." I can like both of those things, but in this case I found that it just amounted to insane levels of violence. Something I figured out within the first few pages. 


There's a twist at the end, as there typically is, but I didn't think this one was as shocking as it could have been. Clues were strewn throughout the book. They weren't super obvious, but they start to add up, maybe about 2/3s of the way in? 


If you like thrillers and like to read the same type of story rewritten, you'll like this book. I just didn't think that it did much new with the genre, relying on familiar tropes and adding in a lot more blood. Gritty city agent takes on serial killer, the story in a nutshell. Not for me, but I'm sure plenty of others will like Pobi's take on the plot. 

Scrapbook of Secrets by Mollie Cox Bryan

TITLE: Scrapbook of Secrets

AUTHOR: Mollie Cox Bryan

PUBLISHER/YEAR: Kensingston Publishing Corp/2012

GENRE: Mystery

SERIES: Yes. This is the first book in the new Cumberland Creek Series. The rest have not been published.

SOURCE: Won via Goodreads First Reads

Goodreads / Author's Website

First off, I think I need to start off this review with an apology for disappearing for the past while. I went into Tech, which is the crazy busy time period in the theatre when you incorporate the technical aspects of the show into rehearsal. Think no food, no sleep, 13 hour days. I'll explain everything in another post soon. This is a book blog, but I said up front I work in theatre and it's definitely going to impact my blogging sometimes. You all deserve an explanation for my long absences. 

So it took me ages to finish this book and add a little time to that for me to actually review it. It just never really hooked me. Sure it was cute and the characters should have all been interesting, but something was off and it took me awhile to place my finger on it. The back jacket promises quirky characters, mystery and dark town secrets. Honestly, I didn't think it really delivered on any of it. 

The book is centred on the small town of Cumberland Creek, a sort of do nothing town where everybody knows every one else. There's a group of women who meet weekly to scrapbook, drink wine and talk. Annie is the newcomer to this community and is having trouble fitting in and missing her job as a journalist which she gave up to raise her children. There's also Bea, an elderly but feisty woman, and a host of other "quirky" women. They all had their problems, but I didn't think any of them were real. I didn't believe their reactions. I didn't believe that they were people and if a book can't convince me of that then I'm lost. This group of women start investigating an apparent suicide, but quickly determine that it's murder and use their scrapbooking abilities to piece everything together. 

The mystery itself wasn't that interesting. We get to know one of the suspects, the victim's husband, but other than that we didn't really get to explore the motives anybody else might have had. We were just left to believe whatever the women thought up. Also, at the very end there was a twist that just didn't seem to fit with the rest of the book. I was left thinking Deus Ex Machina. I don't like it when the God Machine comes out to play in theatre and I don't like it in the books I read; especially in a mystery there shouldn't be some event out of the blue that just fixes everything. At least that's how I felt about the twist, feel free to disagree. 

I honestly don't have that much to say about this book. The deep dark town secrets didn't strike me as that deep or dark. They seemed like some pretty standard secrets and they weren't handled deftly. In fact, they hit the reader over the head with a hammer. Of course, these secrets didn't have any consequences on the plot so I'm not sure why they were there. To build up some non existent tension I suppose? 

This book was cute and I think it could appeal to a niche group, I just didn't fit into that group. 

So Much Pretty by Cara Hoffman

TITLE: So Much Pretty
AUTHOR: Cara Hoffman
PUBLISHER/YEAR: Simon & Schuster/2011
GENRE: Mystery 
SERIES: No
SOURCE: Goodreads First Reads 


Goodreads / Author's Website


Summary From Goodreads
A beautiful and chilling exploration of violence, vengeance, and the loss of innocence that would drive someone to commit an unthinkable crime.


Okay, so I originally posted a short review of So Much Pretty on goodreads and loved it. I raved. I had just finished reading it and was absolutely floored by the novel. I've had a few days reflection on it now and I'm not so sure. I still liked the book and it definitely stuck with me which is a positive sign, but I'm not sure that I'm still raving about it. 


From the beginning we know that local small town girl Wendy White has been found dead in the forest and we know that Alice Piper is in some sort of trouble which may or may not be connected to the White case. Other than that we don't know much. Details are given to the reader sparingly. The story is told from multiple perspectives and jumps around in time. It's an interesting concept that annoyed me at first, but it's one of the things that I think really worked. It just took some time to get into. I think that less could be given away with police reports though; those were the only things that struck me as a kind of literary crutch.

Hoffman's writing is haunting and poetic, another thing I loved about this book. The writing is just so beautiful that even though the story is a slow one, it works. Yes, the story's slow. It followed a sort of lilting pace that seemed to connect to the locale; it is set in a town that's barely a town after all. It really didn't bother me. The writing itself was one of the major draws for me. 

The subject matter itself is difficult. It deals with violence. Lots of violence. Violence against women is particularly focused on. Originally, I thought that the subject matter was dealt with brilliantly. I still think that it was handled with great delicacy. I like that Hoffman doesn't focus on the gruesome details of the crimes and instead the causes behind them and the societal attitudes that can lead to horrific events. I just don't know if the way she wrote about attitudes was as nuanced as I originally thought. 

Hoffman attempts to show a difference in outlooks between the rural inhabitants of Haedon, New York, the small town where the book is set and the Pipers, relatively recent arrivals from the city. It's a difference in politics, reading material, attitudes towards commerce, just everything really. The more I thought about it, the more I thought that I'm not sure what conclusion I was supposed to draw from these difference. I'm not sure I fully understood the point behind it; I didn't get the correlation between these particular attitudes and the actual conclusion. Sections that focused on Wendy White were clear and I thought they worked so well. That's what made me love the book in the first place. The Alice Piper story line on the other hand, lost me a bit. 

I still think it's a good book. It tells an important story and should not be ignored. I just don't love it as much as I once did. 

Favourite Quote: "A man can only take so much pretty walking back and forth in front of him."