A Slow Fire Burning, book review. (Paula Hawkins)

Much like Paula Hawkins' second book, Into the Water, A Slow Fire Burning is a book full of characters. Some you like, some you don’t, some you feel sorry for and some you want to throttle but all the same, they all seemed well rounded to me, particularly Laura Kilbride – a girl who has nothing but a shit life and a limp - a limp we later find out was caused by the man who was having an affair with her mother when he knocked her off of her bike (she was thirteen), before fleeing the scene, only to become her step-father a few years later – and I particularly liked Irene, who is widowed, elderly, a good neighbour and has Laura buy her shopping for her.
Then there’s Daniel Sutherland, who has been stabbed to death on a narrowboat in the centre of London, and the setting alone, with its alleyways, bridges, toe-paths and splattering of expensive houses juxtaposed with Laura’s high-rise council flat, is like a character in its own right (there’s a map included, too, so don’t worry), and adds a lot to the story.
In addition we have the nosey neighbour, Miriam: 53, dumpy, unattractive (her words not mine), keeps herself to herself, but has a tendency to be very vigilant - which stems from the time she and a friend where kidnapped when they were fifteen and her friend was killed – who happens to see Laura one morning (the morning after the murder), leaving Daniel’s boat with blood on her cloths, as does a local author, Theo Myerson, whose house fronts the river.
Now, Theo was married to Carla but after the loss of their son, Ben, thirteen years earlier, they separated; it is Carla’s nephew who has been murdered.
Carla’s sister, Angela, who also lives by the river (next door to Irene in fact) and has spent the last thirteen years drinking to block out the tragedy of Ben falling to his death from her balcony when she was supposed to be looking after him as opposed to shagging some bloke, is also dead; but is falling down the stairs when you're an alcoholic suspicious or not?

The writing here is clever in revealing just enough about the double lives being led, the hatred and obsessions between characters and in some cases their history, that I found it hard to put down, and it has suspense, fear, sadness and kept me guessing until the big reveal at the end, which I loved.
Poor Laura (or is she?), is dragged in for questioning, twice, loses her job and has her flat searched, all whilst Miriam, who found the murder victim, is stealing evidence, tipping of the police and harassing Theo, who in turn, is in and out of his ex-wife's (Carla's) bed, in spite of their separation, and lies continuously.
Crime?
Thriller?
A ‘who done it’?
Maybe it’s all of those.
But who cares for labels when a book takes you through so much at such pace with characters you root for and those you don’t, in such a great setting in the heart of London? I don’t and I suggest neither should you because whether it's Laura, Theo, Carla, little old Irene (remember Miss Marple, who fools everyone time and again into thinking she's a frail old lady sticking her nose in where it isn’t wanted?), Angela, before she had her ‘fall’ or invisible Miriam on her nice tidy narrowboat, who is the murderer, you are going to love finding out.
Four stars for Paula Hawkins’ third novel then, with the only week link being the police officers – although Laura, when she is interviewed is brilliant, and had me totally invested.

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The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, book review. (Stieg Larsson)

This is a reread for me, as per my blog post on the 1st January, so having read this several years ago and never moving on and completing the trilogy, I thought it better to refresh my tired old brain before books two and three, and I'm glad I did.

The book opens with Mikael Blomkvist having just lost his highly publicised libel case against the very wealthy and corrupt Wennestrom and what could be the end of his journalistic career and the magazine he co-owns with his part time lover, Erika Berger (Millennium). But there's hope on the horizon. The industrialist billionaire Vanger.

Vanger lost his niece, Cecilia forty year ago, disappearing off of the island (Hedeby), the family own and live on, never to be seen again, and her disappearance, which he strongly believes was murder - has become an obsession; but time is running out, Vanger hasn't long, he's old and, thinking that one of his own family is responsible he needs to try one more time to get to the truth.

Then there's Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo; a computer hacker, sorry, 'investigative researcher' and before employing Blomkvist, Vanger has had her look into his background, which leads to her and Blomkvist working together later in the book.

With Blomkvist going through the archives on Hedeby island, speaking to family, piecing things together, Salander begins investigating further afield, all whilst dealing with her new legal guardian (her previous guardian having died), who rapes her repeatedly before she exacts a very explicit revenge, and it is here, in the thick of the book where the writing becomes exceptional.

Chapters fly by as clues are unearthed, twists follow turns, secrets are revealed, lives are threatened and lost and as the book bounces between characters, it unearths the darkest secrets of a family Nazi and his legacy and, when Blomkvist is captures and tortured - by the serial killer Vanger suspected was in his family all along - and when Salander taps Cecilia's sister's phone in England, the truth of what happened to Cecilia all those years ago is unearthed.

This is not a short book but it's a page turner, feeding you just enough to keep you guessing. I liked the characters, too - although there did seem to be a rather high proportion of weirdo's to non mentally challenged people in this book - and when it gets violent it gets seriously X rated violent, so it's definitely not a book for the faint hearted/easily offended - you have been warned.

Four and a half stars for the first book in the Millennium trilogy then and highly recommended to all who like books with grit, mystery, multiple characters and with a good dose of back-story.

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