Reconstructing Amelia – Kimberly McCreight

Psychological Thriller
4*s

Kate Baron is a successful litigation lawyer and single mother to Amelia. Despite her hectic life Kate has made a success of their small family with time put aside to concentrate on Amelia to make up for the hours spent working late. Amelia used to have the company of her nanny who had looked after her since she was a small child but at fifteen Kate was persuaded by Amelia who argued she was too old.

One day Kate gets a call from Amelia’s school while she is in one of the most important meetings of her career, Amelia has been suspended, the matter to be discussed in person with the Headmaster. Later that day Amelia is found dead; soon classified as suicide but then Kate gets a text that claims that her daughter’s death wasn’t suicide at all. Kate sets about what really happened to Amelia and the texts, emails and social media pages, including a blog will make the most hardened adult wince.

This book quickly drew me in to the heart of the tale which is Kate’s belief that she knew her daughter but as soon as she starts investigating, she finds out that Amelia had secrets, lots and not just from Kate but from her best friend too. Female teenage friendships are complicated at the best of times but in the progressive American High School that Amelia attended there were also secret societies complete with initiation tasks and a complete stink, rather than a mere whiff, of bullying about them. Could membership, or not, really be behind the loss of life, of all that potential?

As the gap between mother and daughter is laid bare, the tension mounts as Kate is determined to uncover the truth and it would seem that there is more than one person who is determined to obfuscate what really happened that day. And the author manages that tension superbly with only too realistic text exchanges between Amelia and Ben, a friend from out of town, revealing one version of events whilst an anonymous blog is busy revealing the secrets of many of the pupils to all and sundry telling a slightly different one. We also get Amelia’s perspective of her life in the lead up to the fateful day as well as Kate’s in the present, and in the past – be warned, keep your eye on the dates that head up each narration to be sure where you are on the timeline!

This was a far more engaging read than I expected and there were plenty of secrets to discover but this is one of those reads where I think you have to go with the flow and not question some decisions and actions too closely, if you do you may find yourself wondering quite how likely some of the scenarios posed really are. This is a dramatic read, one that could make parents of teenage girls get into a spin and worry themselves stupid about the dangers of social media, but in many ways, although the book uses social media as a vehicle to illustrate Amelia’s life, at the heart of the book is a young girl’s loneliness and her need to be accepted by her peers, and that story definitely pre-dates facebook, mobile phones and emails. One thing is for sure Kimberly McCreight has created a haunting story which won’t be forgotten in a hurry!

First Published UK: 20 June 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
No of Pages: 400
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Amazon UK
Amazon US

This Week in Books (September 14)

Lypsyy Lost & Found my Wednesday post gives you a taste of what I am reading this week. A similar meme is run by Taking on a World of Words

My book of the moment is The Woman on the Orient Express by Lyndsay Jayne Ashford

Blurb

Hoping to make a clean break from a fractured marriage, Agatha Christie boards the Orient Express in disguise. But unlike her famous detective Hercule Poirot, she can’t neatly unravel the mysteries she encounters on this fateful journey.

Agatha isn’t the only passenger on board with secrets. Her cabin mate Katharine Keeling’s first marriage ended in tragedy, propelling her toward a second relationship mired in deceit. Nancy Nelson—newly married but carrying another man’s child—is desperate to conceal the pregnancy and teeters on the brink of utter despair. Each woman hides her past from the others, ferociously guarding her secrets. But as the train bound for the Middle East speeds down the track, the parallel courses of their lives shift to intersect—with lasting repercussions.

Filled with evocative imagery, suspense, and emotional complexity, The Woman on the Orient Express explores the bonds of sisterhood forged by shared pain and the power of secrets. NetGalley

I have just finished The Kill Fee by Fiona Veitch Smith which is a brilliant book set between Moscow at the time of the Russian Revolution and London a little while later. The Kill Fee is the payment made to papers not to print a story.

You can read the synopsis and an extract in yesterday’s post.

Next up is Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight a book that has sat on my bookshelf neglected, for far too long.

Ever wondered what goes on inside your daughter’s head?

Stressed single mother and law partner Kate is in the meeting of her career when she is interrupted by a telephone call to say that her teenaged daughter Amelia has been suspended from her exclusive Brooklyn prep school for cheating on an exam. Torn between her head and her heart, she eventually arrives at St Grace’s over an hour late, to be greeted by sirens wailing and ambulance lights blazing. Her daughter has jumped off the roof of the school, apparently in shame of being caught.

A grieving Kate can’t accept that her daughter would kill herself: it was just the two of them and Amelia would never leave her alone like this. And so begins an investigation which takes her deep into Amelia’s private world, into her journals, her email account and into the mind of a troubled young girl.

Then Kate receives an anonymous text saying simply: AMELIA DIDN’T JUMP. Is someone playing with her, or has she been right all along? Amazon

Have you read any of these? Do you want to?

Let me know what you are reading this week by adding your comments or leaving your link below.

20 Books of Summer 2016! Part II #20booksofsummer

Cathy at Cathy 746 has a yearly challenge to read twenty books over the summer months starting on 1 June 2016 and running until 5 September 2016, and I’ve decided to join her.

As I’m competitive I signed up for the full twenty. My personal challenge is to read these twenty books from my bookshelf, physical books that I already own before the end of the challenge. I’m on book nine at the moment (although only up to review number five) and as I only chose the first ten books at the start, I promised I’d add the second set half way through the challenge – so here we are books eleven to twenty!

The Narrow Bed by Sophie Hannah

The Twins by Saskia Sarginson

They Did It With Love by Kate Morgenroth

Standing In The Shadows by Jon Stasiak

Did She Kill Him? by Kate Colquhoun

The Rehearsal by Eleanor Catton

Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight

Tea by the Nursery Fire by Noel Streatfeild

The Chemistry of Death by Simon Beckett

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

I have been joining Cathy by tweeting my way through the challenge using the hashtag #20booksofsummer. Each of my posts for this challenge have the logo and the number of the book attached.

Like last year there is a master page linking the titles to my reviews as they are posted.

So what do you think of the second half of my choices? Do you have any suggestions on where I should start or perhaps you think some of these need to be put back on the shelf and forgotten about? All comments welcomed!

Where They Found Her – Kimberly McCreight

Psychological Thriller
4*s

I was very tempted by this author’s previous novel Reconstructing Amelia but sadly didn’t get around to reading it, so when I saw this one on NetGalley I was keen to give it a try.

And boy does this book start with a bang! Molly Anderson has joined the local paper in Ridgedale, a big step since she had suffered a stillbirth eighteen months earlier and had suffered with severe depression as a result. With the help of her husband Justin and a move to a new area Molly is slowly becoming more confident in parenting her daughter Ella and hoping to make new friends in the area when she is asked to stand in for the chief reporter as he is in hospital. Molly makes her way to the edge of Ridgedale University campus where a body has been found – to her horror the body is that of a very small infant. The question is whose baby is it? Will Molly be able to put her grief to one side and report on the issue without it compromising her recovery?

This book uses one of my favourite devices, the links of various characters to tell a story and in this book, all the key characters we meet are connected in some way and the way their stories are intertwine as the plot unfolds. Although much of this tale is revealed through Molly’s eyes we are also treated to transcripts from her psychiatrist, a mother of a classmate of Ella’s and a teenage girl as well as a diary dating back nearly twenty years. I am a real fan of multiple viewpoints in books, but only when it is well executed, and this one is done superbly. Every switch was easy to follow and each piece had something to add to the overall story with the pieces of the past colliding with the present until all the information comes together and the truth is revealed. As well as the multiple viewpoints we also have different ways of reporting the story including some of Molly’s reports for the paper complete with comments which I have to admit felt a little bit forced in this instance, although I am an avid reader of these in ‘real life.’

With the truth being revealed in pieces the author cleverly maintains the tension and this story had me gripped as I wanted to know the secrets that were hiding in the various strands because this book isn’t just about the baby’s body, this small community where crime is rarely committed is hiding a lot more. I enjoy it when books have a decent range of characters both in terms of age and situation, and the Rigedale community is well represented in this tale. Kimberley McCreight presents us with a wide range of characters including some that first appeared to be real horrors, although through the excellent writing I later grew to understand some of them, if not like them.

A very satisfying and intricate novel which I really enjoyed, this is very much a character driven novel and although the police are involved to be honest it is lucky for them that they have someone who is as keen to get answers as Molly because they don’t seem to have much of a sense of urgency, or even the most basic detection skills.
I’d like to thank the publishers Simon & Schuster for my copy of this book in return for my honest opinion. Where They Found Her was published yesterday 24 September 2015 here in the UK.

Stacking The Shelves (August 22)

Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you’re adding to your shelves, be it buying or borrowing. From ‘real’ books you’ve purchased, a book you’ve borrowed, a book you’ve been given or an e-book they can all be shared!

Just a few additions to the bookshelves this week all from NetGalley.

First up is Where They Found Her by Kimberly McCreight which I’ve seen good reviews of around the blogosphere. This is due to be published on 24 September 2015.

Blurb
The very worst crimes are those we commit against the ones we love

Motherhood hasn’t come at all easy for Molly Anderson. But she’s finally enjoying life as mother to five-year-old Ella and as Arts reporter for the small but respectable Ridgedale Reader. That is, until a body is found in the woods adjacent to Ridgedale University’s ivy-covered campus. This is a discovery that threatens to unearth secrets long buried by the town’s most powerful residents, and brings Molly to two women who are far more deeply connected than they have ever realised.
Where They Found Her is a riveting domestic thriller which offers a searing portrait of motherhood, marriage, class distinctions and the damage wrought by betrayal. NetGalley

Next is the second in Louise Smith series, Behind Closed Doors by Elizabeth Haynes. Having really enjoyed Under A Silent Moon this had been sat on my wishlist since publication in January this year but the lovely NetGalley have it on their site ready for the paperback release dated 8 October 2015.

Blurb

‘To begin with, nothing was certain except her own terror . . .’
Ten years ago, fourteen-year-old Scarlett Rainsford vanished without a trace during a family holiday to Greece. Not being able to find Scarlett was one of the biggest regrets of DCI Louisa Smith’s career and when Scarlett is discovered back in her home town after all this time, Lou is determined to find out what happened to her and why she remained hidden for so long. Was she abducted or did she run away?
As Lou and her team delve deeper into Scarlett’s past, their investigation throws up more questions than it answers. But as they edge closer to the truth about what really went on behind closed doors, it is more sinister and disturbing than they had ever imagined. NetGalley

Lastly I have a copy of The Good Neighbor by Amy Sue Nathan which I have to confess was chosen in error… I thought it was the book with the same name by Beth Miller but this one sounds good too! This one is due to be published on 13 October 2015.

Blurb

Things are a little rough for Izzy Lane. Still reeling from the break-up of her marriage, the newly single mom moves back to the Philadelphia home she grew up in, five-year-old Noah in tow. The transition is difficult, but with the help of her best friends—and her elderly neighbor, Mrs. Feldman—Izzy feels like she’s stepping closer to her new normal. Until her ex-husband shows up with his girlfriend. That’s when Izzy invents a boyfriend of her own. And that’s when life gets complicated.

Blogging about her “new guy” provides Izzy with something to do when Noah’s asleep. What’s the harm in a few made-up stories? Then, her blog soars in popularity and she’s given the opportunity to moonlight as an online dating expert. How can she turn it down? But when her friends want to meet the mysterious “Mac,” someone online suspects Izzy’s a fraud, and a guy in-real-life catches her eye, Izzy realizes just how high the stakes are. That’s when Mrs. Feldman steps in, determined to show her neighbor the havoc that lies can wreak. If Izzy’s honest, she could lose everything, and everyone. Is the truth worth any cost? NetGalley

Any of these take your fancy or perhaps you’ve already read them?
What have you found to read this week? Please do share in the comments below