Book Review - Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica

Amazon UK

Title: Don't You Cry

Author: Mary Kubica

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: MIRA

Publication Date: 17th May 2016 

Rating: 3.5 Stars

In downtown Chicago, a young woman named Esther Vaughan disappears from her apartment without a trace. A haunting letter addressed to My Dearest is found among her possessions, leaving her friend and roommate Quinn Collins to wonder where Esther is and whether or not she's the person Quinn thought she knew.

Meanwhile, in a small Michigan harbour town an hour outside Chicago, a mysterious woman appears in the quiet coffee shop where 18 year old Alex Gallo works as a dishwasher. He is immediately drawn to her charm and beauty, but what starts as an innocent crush quickly spirals into something far more dark and sinister.

As Quinn searches for answers about Esther, and Alex is drawn further under the stranger's spell, Mary Kubica takes readers on a taut and twisted rollercoaster ride that builds to a stunning conclusion.

It took until the last quarter of the book for me to be hooked on it at all, which point I was just thankful I was reading it on a Friday evening with no work the following morning, as couldn't put the remainder down. 

However for the majority of the book I was enjoying Quinn's part of the story about her missing room mate, but just couldn't get to grips with Alex's half, to the extent that I found myself skimming some of Alex's pages as there was so much narrative, but not enough action for my liking. 

It is a story about the disappearance of a house mate, and the appearance of a stranger in another town. From reading the blurb I had my suspicions but it took until a quite far into the book for me to realise the truth of what was actually happening, and it wasn't like I suspected and there are definitely some red herrings thrown in for good measure too. 

The writing was good, I think it's just that I enjoyed Mary Kubica's previous book a lot more and thus was disappointed by this story, however since the last part redeemed itself, I am glad I read the whole book.  I find with psychological thrillers I either love them and find them unputdownable, or like this one I struggle a lot until I find the redeeming features. I'm very slowly learning that I need the blurb to excite or hook me from the start, as those are the books in this genre that I tend to enjoy. 

Obviously books affect everyone in different ways, and it may just be that I wasn't quite in the right head space for this book when I read it. Don't You Cry is an interesting story, some of the characters were really nice, especially Quinn, but yet I found the lack of information about the two girls central to the story frustrating at times, as it made it that bit harder to connect to them. 

Thank you to Netgalley and MIRA for this review copy. This was my honest opinion. 

Quick Peek at Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica - Blog Tour

When I enter Esther’s bedroom, the first thing I notice is the cold. Drafts of frosty November air sail in from the window. A stash of paper on her desk—held secure by a heavy college text-book: Introduction to Occupational Therapy—blows in the breeze, making a raucous noise. Frost covers the insides of the window, condensation running in streams down the panes of glass. The window is pushed up all the way. The fiberglass screen is re¬moved, set to the floor with cause. 

I lean out the window to see if Esther is there on the fire escape, but outside the world—on our little residential block of Chicago—is quiet and dark. Parked cars line the street, caked in the last batch of fallen leaves from nearby trees. Frost covers the cars and the yellowing grass, which fades fast; soon it will die. Plumes of smoke escape from roof vents on nearby homes, drifting into the morning sky. The whole of Farragut Avenue is asleep, except for me.

The fire escape is empty; Esther is not there. 

I turn away from the window and see Esther’s covers lying on the floor, a bright orange duvet with an aqua throw. “Esther?” I say as I make my way across the boxy bedroom, hardly big enough for Esther’s double bed. I trip over a stash of clothes tossed to the floor, my feet getting tangled in a pair of jeans. “Rise and shine,” I say as I smack my hand against the alarm clock to shut it up. Instead, I wind up turning the radio on, and a cacophony of noise fills the room, morning talk against the drone of the alarm. “Dammit,” I swear, and then, losing patience, “Esther!”

I see it then as my eyes adjust to the darkness of the room: Saint Esther is not in her bed.

I finally manage to shut off the alarm clock and then turn on the light, grimacing as the bright light makes my head ache, the aftereffects of an overindulgent night. I do a double take to make sure I haven’t somehow or other managed to miss Esther, check¬ing under the heap of blankets lying on the floor. Ridiculous, I know, even as I’m doing it, but I do it nonetheless. I check in her closet; I check the single bathroom, my eyes scanning past the prolific collection of overpriced cosmetics we share, tossed at random on the vanity.

But Esther is nowhere.

Amazon UK

That was a short extract from the start of Don't You Cry, if it has whetted your appetite for the book, then please do follow along with the rest of the blog tour, or of course head to your favourite retailer to purchase the book! 

Book Review - Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica

Amazon UK

Title: Pretty Baby

Author: Mary Kubica

Format reviewed: Ebook

Source: Netgalley

Publisher: MIRA

Publication Date: 13th August 2015 

Rating: 5 Stars

A chance encounter

She sees the teenage girl on the train platform, standing in the pouring rain, clutching an infant in her arms. She boards a train and is whisked away. But she can't get the girl out of her head…

An act of kindness

Heidi has always been charitable but her family are horrified when she returns home with a young woman named Willow and her baby in tow. Dishevelled and homeless, this girl could be a criminal - or worse. But despite the family's objections, Heidi offers them refuge.

A tangled web of lies

As Willow begins to get back on her feet, disturbing clues into her past starts to emerge. Now Heidi must question if her motives for helping the stranger are unselfish or rooted in her own failures.

I can't put my finger on exactly what is is about this book, but I feel like I absorbed the story. It seems to have seeped into my mind and I couldn't stop thinking about it while I was at work.  The content doesn't make light or overly pleasant reading at times, but yet I was compelled to know more, and to keep reading. 

The book has 3 completely different perspectives, Heidi, Chris and Willow. Heidi and Chris between them are telling the story from the present, with their differing views on the situation, but Willow's chapters are about her past leading up to the current day, including her frankly harrowing childhood. 

Heidi, works for a charity which teaches literacy to poverty stricken people, of all creeds and colours, and also does other things. She is struck by this young girl that she has seen a few times on the way to the train station, always trying to calm her baby, and looking like they may live on the streets. After Heidi can't get this girl out of her head, and she has seen them around Chicago a few times, she reaches out to the girl. 

Willow is a young girl, who is homeless, and has baby Ruby with her. She has nowhere to go and no one in the world to trust, so when Heidi reaches out to her, she is sceptical at first, and then accepts a small bit of help, and ends up staying with Heidi and her family for a few days. 

Chris is Heidi's husband, and although he is used to Heidi's soft hearted nature, he isn't too happy about having a young homeless girl and her baby staying in their house, for an undetermined amount of time. He isn't convinced at all about Willow, but he is also busy travelling around the country for work, and then there is also the tempting pretty girl he works with. He is the voice of reason in the book, but is often not heard. 

It was Willow's story that got completely under my skin, from the very first chapter of hers,  I wanted to know everything about her, unfortunately you need to be able to handle reading about some very tricky subjects, (which as a testament to Mary Kubica are written well, not sensationally, nor taking them lightly, just the right amount of detail). 

I purposely am being very vague as to the details in the book, as my advice would be just try this book, it will draw you in and you will lose track of the real world, while absorbed in this gripping fictional story.  I found it very interesting to see how all three stories were going to meet up to explain the current circumstances, and I could barely put the book down. 

Thanks you to MIRA and Netgalley for this review copy. This was my honest opinion.