What Has Become of You by Jan Elizabeth Watson

This is a psychological thriller with some mystery thrown in, centered around the character of Vera Lundy, a teacher who also wants to be a true crime writer. Vera's deep interest in true crime began when she was a child, and has led her to seek connections among recent murders of young girls.

Meanwhile, Vera is subbing in as an English teacher at a prestigious private girls' school, where she meets a girl named Jensen Willard, who continuously turns in long journal entries that have a troubling undertone. When tragedy hits Vera's classroom, she is forced to confront truths about her students and herself.


Vera comes across as a bit of a twisted Harriet the Spy, especially in regards to what we learn about her past. I actually wanted to learn more about these important events from when she was a teenager, as they seem fundamental to who she became as an adult. Vera herself even says she sometimes feels she is still the same fifteen year old girl on the inside. The past events are teased out, but I would have liked to see them fleshed out even more.

As a teacher myself, there were a lot of instances when I was grimacing at the choices Vera was making in regards to her class and her students. She desperately wanted to be "the cool teacher". But it made sense in the lens of what she went through as a teenager.

Watson does a great job with the slow burn. The story gradually builds until you realize you haven't put the book down in hours. The lines between fiction and truth begin to blur, and you're not sure what to believe anymore. I found the ending satisfying and fitting, though I know not all readers did.

3.5/5 stars

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Debut Authors Who Have Me Looking Forward to Their Sophomore Novel

(hosted by The Broke and Bookish )

Top Ten Debut Authors Who Have Me Looking Forward to Their Sophomore Novel

1. Paula Hawkins

2. Jessica Knoll

 

3. Amy Butcher

 

4. Ami Polonksy

 5. Joel Dicker

6. Maggie Mitchell

 

7. Christopher Bollen

8. Christopher J. Yates

9. Jane Shemilt

10. Kate Bolick

Dead by Sunset by Ann Rule

As someone who loves reading true crime, I knew I had to fix the fact that I had never read a book by Ann Rule.

Dead by Sunset follows the murder of Cheryl Keeton, and the life and crimes of her ex-husband, Brad Cunningham. The story has many twists and turns, and at times would read as completely unbelievable in the hands of a lesser author. Rule expertly takes us through the tales of Brad's many wives, his outbursts, threats, and exploits, his ego and lies.

Rule has clearly done her research, not just by sitting in at the trial, but through exhaustive interviews and documentation. She brings this stranger than fiction tale to life.

4/5 stars

October Roundup

This October, I read thirteen books:

  

 

I received one new book as a gift:

 












And won one new book from the Spooktaculer Giveaway Hop, thanks to Read Now Sleep Later :

In total, I finished 6/7 books for the R.I.P. challenge, and am 2/3 of the way through the last one on my list, thus completing Peril the First:

  

1) Loonies by Gregory Bastianelli -Done
2) Dead by Sunset by Ann Rule
3) The Postman Always Rings Twice by James M. Cain-Done
4. The Best American Crime Reporting 2007 edited by Linda Fairstein-Done
5) The Hiding Place by David Bell-Done
6) People Who Eat Darkness by Richard Lloyd Parry-Done
7) The Kind Worth Killing For by Peter Swanson-Done

What did you read this October?

What I'm Reading Wednesday

(I will be alternating between What I'm Reading Wednesday and Whodunnit Wednesday)


These are the books I'm currently reading! I'm one of those readers who usually has multiple books going at the same time. Frequently one is the book I keep on my bedside table for nighttime reading.

* Dead by Sunset-I have had this on a TBR shelf for quite a while, and as a true crime lover, knew I needed to read a book by Ann Rule. This is the first of hers I have read, and she has a real talent for research and spinning a story. This is also a book from my list for the R.I.P. reading challenge.

*Pride and Prejudice and Zombies-My amazing friend Nicole just surprised me with this book in the mail! She is not only a great friend, but she has great taste in books too, and knows me really well. I will definitely be starting this one tonight.

*The Hiding Place-I enjoyed Bell's previous novel, Cemetery Girl, and am very interested in giving his other books a try. I am a few chapters into this one, but got sucked in by Dead by Sunset, so haven't read very far yet. This is also a book from my list for the R.I.P. reading challenge.

*Chicago Haunts: Ghostly Lore of the Windy City-I recently heard the author of this give a talk in my neighborhood, and realized I already had a copy of one of her books on my TBR shelf. This is definitely an interesting read, especially given how often I've walked by some of the places she talks about!

What are you reading right now?

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Creepy Reads

(Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by Broke and Bookish )

I love a creepy read any time of the year, and so for this Top Ten Halloween freebie week, I couldn't resist talking about ten creepy books I really enjoyed. I've tried to only pick books this week that I haven't talked about at length on this blog already, so while I love And Then There Were None and The Turn of the Screw, they won't be making an appearance this time.

 

1. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

"On a damp October night, beautiful young Ashley Cordova is found dead in an abandoned warehouse in lower Manhattan. Though her death is ruled a suicide, veteran investigative journalist Scott McGrath suspects otherwise. As he probes the strange circumstances surrounding Ashley’s life and death, McGrath comes face-to-face with the legacy of her father: the legendary, reclusive cult-horror-film director Stanislas Cordova—a man who hasn’t been seen in public for more than thirty years." (Amazon)

I seriously love Night Film more than I can say. It is so clever, and so unique, and has an amazing mystery that is seriously scary.

 

2. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

"First published in 1959, Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House has been hailed as a perfect work of unnerving terror. It is the story of four seekers who arrive at a notoriously unfriendly pile called Hill House: Dr. Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, his lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own." (Amazon)

This is one of those books that has such a deep, foreboding nature about it that never lets up, and leaves you wondering just what exactly is real within the book's terrifying world. 

 

3. We Have Always Lived in the Castle

"Taking readers deep into a labyrinth of dark neurosis, We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate." (Amazon)

Simply put, this book contains some of the absolute creepiest characters you will ever encounter.

 

4. The Alienist by Caleb Carr

Carr unrelentingly takes his readers deep into the terrifying mind of a killer.

5. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

This was required reading in college that really stuck with me, and that I have revisited and recommended to friends since then. Gilman unflinchingly puts the reader into the mind of a woman who is going insane.

 

6. The Ghost Writer by John Harwood

"In this tantalizing tale of Victorian ghost stories and family secrets, timid, solitary librarian Gerard Freeman lives for just two things: his elusive pen pal Alice and a story he found hidden in his mother's drawer years ago. Written by his great-grandmother Viola, it hints at his mother's role in a sinister crime. As he discovers more of Viola's chilling tales, he realizes that they might hold the key to finding Alice and unveiling his family's mystery-or will they bring him the untimely death they seem to foretell?" (Amazon)

Like The Haunting of Hill House, this is a book that has you constantly questioning how much is real. Can the protagonist's mind be trusted?

 

7. Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson

Watson taps into a deep, terrifying nightmare-the idea that one day, someone could be in an accident, and every morning wake up not realizing they can't remember years of their life. What would it mean to have to rely completely on a person who might as well be a stranger?

 

8. Drood by Dan Simmons

Even the cover of this book is creepy! Drood features the real-life characters of Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens, is a chilling tale of obsession and madness, and is one of the most haunting, eerie books I have ever read. 

 

9. Cast of Shadows by Kevin Guilfoile

Just how far would you go to find justice for a murdered loved one? In this book, a scientist takes the DNA of his daughter's unknown murderer, and clones him, then watches the clone grow up, hoping to find answers.

 

10. The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of Mystery and Suspense by Joyce Carol Oates

Oates writes some of the scariest short stories I have ever read. I highly recommend all her short story collections.

What are some of your favorite scary reads? :)

Memory Monday: Frightful Fall Reads

Today I decided to combine Memory Monday and Frightful Fall Reads to bring you some of my favorite scary books from my grade school days!

 

This book series was absolutely terrifying as a child, and still holds up as terrifying today. These were the type of stories to give you nightmares, and the illustrations were just as scary as the stories themselves.

I remember I collected these in grade school, and my friends and I would pass them around as soon as we got a new one. I'm almost positive I owned every Joan Lowery Nixon mystery at one point before eighth grade. These YA mysteries were full-on scary, featuring everything from the paranormal to all-too-human killers.

Once I read my first Christopher Pike, I was hooked. I would grab every one I could find at yard sales and used book stores and immediately devour them. They were like the gateway to "grownup" scary books, playing on a lot of the same themes of books I read now.

What were your favorite scary reads when you were a kid, or teenager?