Remember Me by Mary Higgins Clark (Review)

Remember Me by Mary Higgins Clark

Blurb

Unable to forgive herself for the death of her two-year-old son Bobby in a car accident, Menley Nichols’ marriage to Adam starts to fall apart – until the birth of their daughter Hannah. Determined to rebuild a life together around their precious baby, Menley and Adam decide to rent a house on Cape Cod for a month, confidant that the tranquility of the place will be ideal for Menley and little Hannah. But the peace they crave is disturbed when strange things start to happen – incidents which make Menley relive the horror of the accident in which she lost Bobby… incidents which make her fear for Hannah. And step by step, Menley and Adam are drawn into a dark and sinister web of events which threatens their marriage, their child and ultimately Menley’s sanity.

Review

I read my first Mary Higgins Clark book about four years ago and at the time I didn’t realise it was also her first published novel but I really enjoyed it and she turned into an author I always keep an eye out for her books. Just recently at my church someone has obviously had a clear out of Mary Higgins Clark books, leaving them at the back with the other second hand books, so I have been snapping them up whenever I see one I haven’t read. This is where Remember Me came from.

This is definitely my favourite Mary Higgins Clark book so far. I couldn’t put it down and it had me hooked with no idea what was going on or what would happen next. Menley and Adam have rented out Remember House on Cape Cod for a month where they hope to get the much needed rest together and time to relax as a family together with their baby daughter Hannah.

Menley plans to work on her next book during this month away and so delves into research and work which is where she is happiest. It also gives her a chance to escape the past where Bobby her two year old son was killed in a car accident. However, this planned month of family bliss is not quite as quiet as they planned because Adam keeps being called away to work. This means Menley is left alone with the baby and strange things start to happen at night that start to make Menley question her sanity and fear for baby Hannah’s safety.

There are a lot of strange events that happen in this book and I never had a clue of what to expect next. However, there were certain aspects of the story that were clearly not right and alarm bells were going off in my head that circumstances were not quite right but I couldn’t work out how these things were happening or who was responsible. I had quite a shock when it was all revealed at the end. I also loved the very last paragraph of the book and thought it linked everything up with the Remember House and Menley’s research.

This book is very cleverly written by Clark because it keeps the reader hooked but doesn’t give much away. I also loved Clark’s descriptions especially of Remember House because I could easily picture the house in my mind. I could not put this book down and give this book 5 out of 5 Dragons.

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Purchase Links

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About the author

Mary Higgins Clark (1927-2020) was an American author of suspense novels. She published 51 books and each one was a United States best seller.

Etsy

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Review)

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Blurb

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

For readers of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane and fans of Madeline Miller’s Circe, Piranesi introduces an astonishing new world, an infinite labyrinth, full of startling images and surreal beauty, haunted by the tides and the clouds.

Review

I was so excited to get this book and I have had it preordered since I don’t know when so it went straight to the top of the TBR pile or should I say piles.

I loved the detail in this book and the descriptions of this amazing building in the first chapter had me hooked to the story. I felt like I was walking through these amazing halls looking at all these incredible statues whilst listening to the waves hitting the walls. Although, I did keep wishing that the building had a rather nice library to go with all these wonderful statues.

Piranesi is an interesting character and instantly likeable. Piranesi lives and breathes all things to do with the house. He knows all the statues like friends and can navigate the vast labyrinth of rooms all using the map in his head. He also knows all the tides so he knows when it is safe and when it is not. Piranesi loves the house and believes that all will be well because the house will provide.

The Other who is the other person in the house is not so likeable in my opinion and instantly put me on edge. He is also clearly using poor Piranesi but Piranesi is too good natured to notice.

I will be honest as I was reading this book I had such high hopes for it and I had several ideas in my head about how the book might end but I will be honest I was rather disappointed. This book had such potential to be an amazing story and it just felt rushed and like Clarke had come up with the easiest option to finish the book quickly. I felt robbed in some way.

I have really thought long and hard about this book because I really loved parts of it and the storyline but the conclusion was just not my cup of tea and that has upset me because I really wanted to love the whole book. I have given this book 3 out of 5 Dragons and those 3 Dragons are for the incredible detail, the concept of the house and how adorable Piranesi was. Not what I expected after how amazing Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell was but still a good read that I recommend to fantasy lovers.

Purchase Links

Book Depository • Foyles • Waterstones • Wordery

About the Author

Susanna Clarke (1959) is an English author who has published novels and short stories. Her debut novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell and her set of short stories The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories are all set in a magical England.

Friday Poetry: Gillian Clarke

I love plums! Green Gages are my absolute favourite. Due to this I have chosen a poem about plums by the Welsh poet Gillian Clarke.

Plums

When their time comes they fall

without wind, without rain.

They seep through the trees’ muslin

in a slow fermentation.

Daily the low sun warms them

in a late love that is sweeter

than summer. In bed at night

we hear heartbeat of fruitfall.

The secretive slugs crawl home

to the burst honeys, are found

in the morning mouth on mouth,

inseparable.

We spread patchwork counterpanes

for clean catch. Baskets fill,

never before such harvest,

such a hunters’ moon burning

the hawthorns, drunk on syrups

that are richer by night

when spiders pitch

tents in the wet grass.

This morning the red sun

is opening like a rose

on our white wall, prints there

the fishbone shadow of a fern.

The early blackbirds fly

guilty from a dawn haul

of fallen fruit. We too

breakfast on sweetnesses.

Soon plum trees will be bone,

grown delicate with frost’s

formalities. Their black

angles will tear the snow.

Gillian Clarke