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Liar, Dreamer, Thief by Maria Dong
“Once upon a time, there was a girl with a vivid imagination, one who was not entirely sane. She was afraid of many things that weren’t real, but she didn’t tell anyone. They would’ve sent her far, far away, and she wasn’t ready to go.” Liar, Dreamer, Thief had all of the ingredients to be…
1st pov, 3 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, amateur detective, America, anxiety, cat and mouse, Contemporary, DEATH, female authors, feverish, gay side characters, hallucinations, korean american author, LESBIAN, lgbtq+, Liar Dreamer Thief, loneliness, Maria Dong, mental health, MYSTERY, NEW YORK, obsession, OCD, psychological, published in 2023, read in 2023, she is not feeling good at all, stalking, suicide, SUSPENSE, the female malaise, unreliable narrators, work culture -
The Woman in the Purple Skirt by Natsuko Imamura
The Woman in the Purple Skirt is a thing that exists.Did it elicit any particular reactions, feelings, emotions—be positive or negative—from me? Besides a big fat ‘meh’, not really. This short novel never truly delivers on its premise. After reading the summary, I was expecting this to be a psychological tale about voyeurism and obsession,…
1st pov, 2.5 STARS, Adult, ambiguous protagonist, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Contemporary, doubles, female authors, female doubles, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, jealousy, My reviews, MYSTERY, Natsuko Imamura, obsession, Psychological thriller, published in 2019, read in 2021, reading, slow pacing, stalking, SUSPENSE, The Woman in the Purple Skirt, THRILLER, TRANSLATED FICTION, unnamed characters, unreliable narrators, work culture -
Symptomatic by Danzy Senna
“Every day in this new city I was trying to live in the purity of the present, free from context. Contexts, I knew, were dangerous: Once you put them into the picture, they took over.” As with her latest novel New People, Symptomatic presents its readers with a claustrophobic and disquieting narrative that becomes increasingly…
1990s, 1st pov, 20th century, 4 STARS, Adult, ALIENATION, ambiguous protagonist, America, American, cold tone, colorism, Contemporary, Danzy Senna, dark, domestic thriller, doubles, existentialism, favourite authors, female authors, female doubles, feverish, grotesque, hallucinations, illness, introspective, jealousy, journalism, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, madness, mental health, MYSTERY, NEW YORK, obsession, office, passing, psychological, published in 2004, RACE, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, stalking, surreal, Symptomatic, terrific prose, the body, the female malaise, toxic relationships, unnamed narrator, work culture -
New People by Danzy Senna
“When she was just a kid, Gloria told her never to trust a group of happy, smiling multiracial people. Never trust races when they get along, she said. If you see different races of people just standing around, smiling at one another, run for the hills, kid. Take cover. They’ll break your heart.” A disquieting…
1990s, 20th century, 3 STARS, 3rd pov, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, bad love, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, Danzy Senna, ennui, existentialism, favourite authors, female authors, feverish, grotesque, hallucinations, identity, introspective, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, mental health, New People, NEW YORK, obsession, passing, PUBLISHED IN 2017, RACE, re-reads, read in 2021, read in 2022, she is not feeling good at all, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, stalking, the female malaise, UNIVERSITY/COLLEGE, unreliable narrative, unrequited love -
Treasure by Oyinkan Braithwaite
Treasure is a short story story that explores the darker side of Instagram fame. Treasure is an aspiring influencer who is quite willing to present a glamorised version of her life to her follower. She likes the attention, the compliments, and the devotion of her fans. User @Sho4Sure has become particularly obsessed by Treasure and…
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The Street by Ann Petry
“A woman living alone didn’t stand much chance.” Ann Petry is a terrific writer. The precise way in which she articulates the thoughts and various state of minds of her characters brought to my mind the writing of Nella Larsen and Edith Wharton. But whereas I could stand the cynicism and tragic finales of…
1940s, 20th century, 3rd pov, abuse, Adult, America, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Ann Petry, Black & Black heritage authors, class, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, modern classics, motherhood, NEW YORK, obsession, Poverty, published in 1946, RACE, read in 2020, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, social issues, stalking, The Street, tragedy, war related ptsd -
The Devotion of Suspect X (Detective Galileo #1) by Keigo Higashino
The Devotion of Suspect X is an unusual detective novel. By the end of the first chapter readers witness the murder that is at the centre of this novel. We know the identity and motivations of the perpetrator. What follows is a compulsive game of cat-and-mouse between ‘detective Galileo’ and Suspect X. At times this…
2000s, 3.25 stars, 3rd pov, Adult, cat and mouse, Contemporary, CRIME, DETECTIVE, Detective Galileo, Detective Galileo series, japan, JAPANESE AUTHOR, Keigo Higashino, male authors, MURDER, murder mystery, MYSTERY, obsession, police procedural, Psychological thriller, published in 2005, read in 2020, stalking, SUSPENSE, The Devotion of Suspect X, THRILLER, tokyo, TRANSLATED FICTION -
And Now She’s Gone by Rachel Howzell Hall — book review
“Boyfriends and husbands, baby daddies and one-night stands were always madly, deeply, truly in love. Bloody love. Crazy love. Love-you-to-death kind of love.” Last year I read the first book in Rachel Howzell Hall’s ‘Detective Elouise Norton’ series. It had a great sense of place and a brilliant main character. And Now She’s Gone shares…
3 STARS, 3rd pov, ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIPS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, And Now She’s Gone, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEWS, California, Contemporary, CRIME, domestic thriller, female authors, los angeles, missing persons, missing women, MYSTERY, private investigator, psychopaths, Rachel Howzell Hall, read in 2020, stalking, SUSPENSE, trauma -
Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier — book review
“They could support a teenage pregnancy, but not this, not a person who drifted from one moment to the next without any idea about where she was headed.” Sayaka Murata meets Ottessa Moshfegh in this freewheeling and darkly funny debut novel. Jean Kyoung Frazier’s deadpan wit and playful cynicism give a subversive edge to what…
4 STARS, addiction, Adult, ALIENATION, America, American, arc, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, BOOK REVIEWS, California, cheating, coming of age, Contemporary, contemporary malaise, DEPRESSION, fathers & daughters, female authors, feverish, Jean Kyoung Frazier, korean american author, lgbtq+, los angeles, mental health, millennial, motherhood, mothers & daughters, mumblecore, netgalley, obsession, Pizza Girl, pregnancy, published in 2020, queer, re-reads, read in 2020, read in 2021, read in 2022, stalking, the female malaise, trauma, unrequited love, work culture -
Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen — book review
“There is something bad in the air and in the water now, something rotten and wrong. A moral disease.” While Please See Us gives its readers a slightly more innovative “missing women” type-of-story. Providing us with a panoramic of Atlantic City Caitlin Mullen’s novel follows Clara, a young psychic, and Lily who has only recently…
3 STARS, addiction, Adult, America, American, Atlantic City, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Caitlin Mullen, Contemporary, CRIME, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, friendships, ghosts/spirits, MAGICAL REALISM, missing girls, missing women, MURDER, new jersey, obsession, Please See Us, published in 2020, read in 2020, serial killers, spiritualism, stalking, Summer, summer reads, SUPERNATURAL, SUSPENSE, tarots, THRILLER, violence, violence against women
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