Lay Me Down – Nicci Cloke

Contemporary Fiction
2*’s

One New Year’s Eve Jack meets Elsa and they get together. Life seems to be looking up when Jack gets a coveted job on the Golden Gate Bridge and they board the plane to San Francisco full of hope and happiness. Jack is prepared to bed in and get to know his colleagues while Elsa is on a tourist visa so she is free to explore the city, make friends and keep house. An optional extra to Jack’s new job is to be on call for the ‘jumpers’, those men and women who have decided that leaping from the bridge is their only option.

So there’s the premise and from here on in the book twists and turns, meandering from one episode to the next from both Jack and Elsa’s past and the reader gets a glimpse of why their romance fades in the shadow of one particular jumper.

I found this book quite confusing with the snapshots from one awful, depressing experience to the next with the absence of hope all-pervading from early on. The present offers no relief with Jack soon socialising with his new workmates while Elsa’s main source of company is the elderly woman next door who babysits her young grandchildren. With scant meaningful relationships to reflect the protagonist’s characters they are viewed in isolation presumably a device used to reflect both characters inner feelings.

The author does manage to paint a picture of San Francisco that felt authentic and I was easily able to imagine Elsa’s delight as in the first heady weeks after moving across the Atlantic from England as she explored her new home. The house that Jack had inherited was also easy to visualise thanks to a light but deft touch of the author’s writing.

On one level this story illustrates how you can’t escape from a past you haven’t confronted, Jack has moved around during his life escaping one disaster and soon replacing it with another and he is clearly haunted by his past but he never talks to Elsa, not willing to discuss previous relationships or any of the other important relationships in his life. Elsa meanwhile has used San Francisco to bury her past and is equally unwilling to share anything of any merit with Jack. On another level it is about the present, I can only vaguely imagine how hard it must be to confront the level of despair that would cause someone to jump from the bridge and it clearly causes lasting damage to Jack.

At least with Jack there are relationships with his colleagues that feel authentic if not particularly supportive but I wasn’t convinced by Elsa’s relationship albeit long-distance with her mother or her sister. I was also quite confused about what the relationship with the elderly neighbour was supposed to be illustrating as the interaction between the two seemed quite superficial even when Elsa started helping out with the children.

All in all I found this a depressing read, not that I expected a light read from the synopsis but this level of misery was hard to bear when stretched over more than 450 pages and from a reader who usually enjoys flashbacks in books, this just added to my frustration as with both characters pasts being told in this manner I just found it confusing as episodes were told without ever quite joining up leaving me with the constant feeling that I’d missed bits, and maybe I had as I finished this book unsatisfied.

I’d like to thank the publishers Random House UK for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for my honest opinion. Lay Me Down is due to be published on 19 February 2015.

Teaser Tuesday (February 10)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser this week is from Lay Me Down by Nicci Cloke

Blurb

What if the past won’t let you go?
London: 31st December, midnight. For Elsa and Jack, a stolen kiss becomes a shot at real happiness. Eight months later, they board a plane to begin a new life in San Francisco, where Jack has found his dream job working on the Golden Gate Bridge.
But this is not your average boy-meets-girl love story, for Jack’s new job comes with an extraordinary obligation. No one told him about the Jumpers – the men and women who try to leap from the bridge to their deaths every year. One in particular begins to haunt Jack, bringing back memories he thought safely buried. As he becomes more and more preoccupied, and Elsa, alone in a new city, becomes increasingly isolated, both retreat into their pasts, back down the paths that led them to that New Year’s Eve. Amazon

My Teaser

There is a picture that exists that he will always remember. In years to come, he will trace the faces with a fingertip; a couple and their little boy, behind them a bridge. His father is saying something, the camera – operated by an aunt – flashing too soon, and they are laughing. His mother belly huge and taut, holds his hand as she laughs, looking down at his small, tanned face.

What do you think? Want to know more?

Please leave the link to your teasers in the comments box below.

 

 

Musing Mondays (February 9)

Hosted by Should Be Reading
Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

Musing Mondays is a weekly meme that asks you to choose one of the following prompts to answer:

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

Todays random question is:

Do you have people in your life (face-to-face) that are readers like you? Or, do you find that you have to reach out to those online in order to find like-minded folk?

I am lucky in that I have a number of people I know that are voracious readers including my daughter, friends and work colleagues and so I am able to discuss books we’ve read, share books and recommend new authors to each other. However, I like the interaction I have with other book-bloggers which tend to me more focussed and frequent.

I am currently reading a book that is hard to categorise, Lay Me Down by Nicci Cloke .

Blurb

London: 31st December, midnight. For Elsa and Jack, a stolen kiss becomes a shot at real happiness. Eight months later, they board a plane to begin a new life in San Francisco, where Jack has found his dream job working on the Golden Gate Bridge.
But this is not your average boy-meets-girl love story, for Jack’s new job comes with an extraordinary obligation. No one told him about the Jumpers – the men and women who try to leap from the bridge to their deaths every year. One in particular begins to haunt Jack, bringing back memories he thought safely buried. As he becomes more and more preoccupied, and Elsa, alone in a new city, becomes increasingly isolated, both retreat into their pasts, back down the paths that led them to that New Year’s Eve. And the fragile love between them starts to unravel… NetGalley

I have just finished Second Life by S J Watson, author of Before I Go To Sleep which takes a look at what happens when someone, in this case a female, is leading a double-life.

My review for this book will be posted later this week

Next I am going to read another psychological thriller; Hidden by Emma Kavanagh,  which is due to be published on 23 April 2015.

Blurb

HE’S WATCHING
A gunman is stalking the wards of a local hospital. He’s unidentified and dangerous, and has to be located. Urgently.
Police Firearms Officer Aden McCarthy is tasked with tracking him down. Still troubled by the shooting of a schoolboy, Aden is determined to make amends by finding the gunman – before it’s too late.
SHE’S WAITING
To psychologist Imogen, hospital should be a place of healing and safety – both for her, and her young niece who’s been recently admitted. She’s heard about the gunman, but he has little to do with her. Or has he?
As time ticks down, no one knows who the gunman’s next target will be. But he’s there. Hiding in plain sight. Far closer than anyone thinks…Goodreads

What are you reading this week?

Friday Finds (December 5)

Hosted by Should be Reading

FRIDAY FINDS showcases the books you ‘found’ and added to your To Be Read (TBR) list… whether you found them online, or in a bookstore, or in the library — wherever! (they aren’t necessarily books you purchased).

Well another week where NetGalley has been very good at increasing my TBR

I’m delighted to say that I now have a copy of The Zig Zag Girl by Elly Griffiths who has written the series about Forensic archaeologist Ruth Galloway most recently in The Outcast Dead, the sixth in the series.

Having instantly coveted a copy of this book I was convinced that I had a desperate need to read it following a great five star review on FictionFan’s Book Reviews which you can read here

Blurb

Brighton, 1950. When the body of a girl is found, cut into three, Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens is reminded of a magic trick, the Zig Zag Girl. The inventor of the trick, Max Mephisto, is an old friend of Edgar’s. They served together in the war as part of a shadowy unit called the Magic Men. Max is still on the circuit, touring seaside towns in the company of ventriloquists, sword-swallowers and dancing girls. Changing times mean that variety is not what it once was, yet Max is reluctant to leave this world to help Edgar investigate. But when the dead girl turns out to be known to him, Max changes his mind. Another death, another magic trick: Edgar and Max become convinced that the answer to the murders lies in their army days. When Edgar receives a letter warning of another ‘trick’, the Wolf Trap, he knows that they are all in the killer’s sights…NetGalley

Next up I have a copy of Lay Me Down by Nicci Cloke which is due to be published 19 February 2015

Blurb

What if you can’t outrun your past?
London: 31st December, midnight. For Elsa and Jack, a stolen kiss becomes a shot at real happiness. Eight months later, they board a plane to begin a new life in San Francisco, where Jack has found his dream job working on the Golden Gate Bridge.
But this is not your average boy-meets-girl love story, for Jack’s new job comes with an extraordinary obligation. No one told him about the Jumpers – the men and women who try to leap from the bridge to their deaths every year. One in particular begins to haunt Jack, bringing back memories he thought safely buried. As he becomes more and more preoccupied, and Elsa, alone in a new city, becomes increasingly isolated, both retreat into their pasts, back down the paths that led them to that New Year’s Eve. And the fragile love between them starts to unravel… NetGalley

I am extremely intrigued about my next find Disclaimer by Renée Knight which is due to be published on 9 April 2015.

Blurb

What if you realized the book you were reading was all about you?
When an intriguing novel appears on Catherine’s bedside table, she curls up in bed and begins to read.
But as she turns the pages she is sickened to realize the story will reveal her darkest secret.
A secret she thought no one else knew… NetGalley

Lastly I have received a copy of a book I’ve seen amazing reviews for around the Blogosphere; Crooked Heart by Lissa Evans.

Blurb

When Noel Bostock – aged ten, no family – is evacuated from London to escape the Blitz, he ends up living in St Albans with Vera Sedge – thirty-six and drowning in debts and dependents. Always desperate for money, she’s unscrupulous about how she gets it.
Noel’s mourning his godmother, Mattie, a former suffragette. Brought up to share her disdain for authority and eclectic approach to education, he has little in common with other children and even less with Vee, who hurtles impulsively from one self-made crisis to the next. The war’s thrown up new opportunities for making money but what Vee needs (and what she’s never had) is a cool head and the ability to make a plan.
On her own, she’s a disaster. With Noel, she’s a team.
Together they cook up an idea. Criss-crossing the bombed suburbs of London, Vee starts to make a profit and Noel begins to regain his interest in life.
But there are plenty of other people making money out of the war and some of them are dangerous. Noel may have been moved to safety, but he isn’t actually safe at all… NetGalley

What have you found to read this week? – please share!