#fiona barton

[wholesomeobsessive]

And then, there he was. Glen Taylor. He looks like the bloke next door, was Sparkes' first thought. But then monsters rarely look the part. You hope you'll be able to see the evil shining out of them - it would make police work a damned sight easier, he often said. But evil was a slippery substance, only glimpsed occasionally and all the more horrifying for that, he knew.

The Widow by Fiona Barton

[nacpanaasoup]

Podobno co nas nie zabije to nas wzmocni. Ludzie tak mówią, kiedy przytrafi im się coś strasznego. Ale to nie prawda. Co nas nie zabije, łamie nam wszystkie kości, roztrzaskuje na kawałki, trzymane w całości brudnawymi bandażami i pożółkłymi plastrami. Wszystko trzeszczy wzdłuż lini pęknięcia. Jesteśmy krusi, śmiertelnie zmęczeni trzymaniem się w jednym kawałku. Czasem żałujemy, że to nas nie zabiło.

Fiona Barton

[oldshrewsburyian]

Summer reading: Feminism and the psychological thriller

This summer, partly because I’ve been reading public library ebooks, I’ve been sticking closer to the bestseller list than usual. And the subgenre I’ve been exploring is that of “psychological thriller featuring women and their complex interior lives.” All of them have been more or less unsettling, because guess what? masculinity is toxic and the patriarchy is coming for us all. And ALL of them contain domestic abuse of some kind. But I’ve enjoyed them, and I’ve found almost nothing for them on Tumblr, so here goes with mini-reviews.

1. The Au Pair, Emma Rous. This strikes me as a more morally ambitious and complex take on the Kate Morton subgenre of “family secrets in picturesque English locations.” Don’t get me wrong, I do love family secrets and/on English estates. And I enjoyed the ways this book explored what has and has not changed in attitudes towards women’s bodies and lives from the late twentieth century to today. Class is handled fairly thoughtfully as well. But I’d have to reread the novel to figure out whether or not it passes the Bechdel test. And I wished that more had been done with the elements of folk beliefs in magic.

2. Her One Mistake/Now You See Her, Heidi Perks. This has a major twist which is surprising and makes sense. Even though the true villain of toxic masculinity is in plain sight all the time, the unfolding of the plot is satisfying. Also, the ways in which the middle-class housewives of the book navigate the expectations of performative 21st-century motherhood are fascinating, as well as not a little unsettling.

3. She Lies in Wait, Gytha Lodge. I was afraid this book was over-hyped. And I wasn’t sure I could take seriously a protagonist named Jonah (Jonah!) But I love the members of the strange little team of detectives, and this iteration of “Mysterious Crime Occurs, Truth Is [Literally] Unearthed Decades Later” was really masterfully done. Due to my detection obsession, I know mystery novel tropes really well, and this still kept me guessing in very satisfying ways.

4. The Widow, Fiona Barton. This is another one that left me wanting more of the main characters (and yes! it is the first in a proposed series.) Middle-aged journalist Kate is allowed to be serious about both her job and her family without being punished for it, and I wish that didn’t feel like a rarity, but it does. And she’s great. It took me a few chapters to settle into the dual-timeline narrative, but it’s a poignant and well-plotted mystery.

[noattu]

Siempre que ha querido algo, lo ha tomado sin que le importaran las consecuencias, sólo porque creía merecerlo.

Emma, "La madre" de Fiona Barton.

[foxfables]

Books I’ve Read in 2018 →The Child by Fiona Barton 3.5/5

When a paragraph in an evening newspaper reveals a decades-old tragedy, most readers barely give it a glance. But for three strangers it’s impossible to ignore. For one woman, it’s a reminder of the worst thing that ever happened to her. For another, it reveals the dangerous possibility that her darkest secret is about to be discovered. And for the third, a journalist, it’s the first clue in a hunt to uncover the truth. The Child’s story will be told.

[snuhffles]

People say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. They say that when you've been through something terrible [...] but it doesn't. It breaks your bones, leaving everything splintered and held together with grubby bandages and yellowing sticky tape. Creaking along the fault lines. Fragile and exhausting to hold together. Sometimes you wish it had killed you.

The Child by Fiona Barton

[sublecturas]

"La viuda", de Fiona Barton 

[readcommendations]