R.I.P. VIII Challenge Wrap-up

October is over and with it the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril Challenge. I read the following books for this challenge:

When Nights Were Cold by Susanna Jones
Slaves of Obsession by Anne Perry
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
14 by Peter Clines

I really liked all of these books a lot. I'm especially happy that I finally read 14, as it's been on my list to read for quite a while now and I think I needed this push to finally prioritize it. It was very unusual and creative and just fantastic. I highly recommend it. Even the Anne Perry book was a particular standout for that series. Her books are comfort reads to me in a way because I always know what to expect, but this one was especially good. The Stephen King book was especially well timed for this challenge, though I would have read it whenever it came out. When Nights Were Cold was also a priority since I had ordered it all the way from the UK. (It's still unavailable in the US, but there are some used copies on Amazon, and I highly recommend it.)

I had hoped to finally read The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins, but although I checked it out of the library and even renewed it at least once, I never quite got to it. I also wanted to read Your House Is On Fire, Your Children All Gone by Stefan Kiesbye which my library was supposed to have available, but I looked all over the place and couldn't find it. Until yesterday, when I was walking past the display of new large print books and spotted it lying there completely out of place. I've read only a few pages so far, but the style reminds me a bit of Shirley Jackson and that is a good thing.

The R.I.P. VIII review site is here if you'd like to read the reviews of other participants, which I recommend. There are almost 500 reviews there now, from somewhere around 200 different blogs.

I don't frequently participate in reading challenges, but I'm glad I took part in this one. It was fun, seasonally appropriate, and has encouraged me to read a couple of books I had been putting off for quite a while. I look forward to participating again next year!

14

14 by Peter Clines (2012)

Nate Tucker has a crappy data entry job and shares a house with a few roommates. When they all decide to part ways, he happens on a great deal for an apartment. It's a little too good. He moves in, starts meeting his neighbors, and begins to notice very odd things. Like, green cockroaches with extra legs. A light fixture in his kitchen that turns any bulb into a black light. Mysterious padlocked doors. As he visits the other apartments in the building it just gets weirder and weirder and soon Nate is organizing a group of newfound friends on a quest to investigate their strange building. They find way more than they ever expected.

I heard about this book last year, when it got great reviews and made some "best horror books of the year" lists. I knew it was about a creepy apartment building, but it is so much more than that. Of course I can't tell you what because that would ruin it. But it just got better and better as the residents tried to solve the mystery of their building, and it goes places that I never expected. A quote on the cover compares it to the show Lost, and I can see why. There are lots of little mysteries that don't seem to relate to each other, but you know that somehow they're all part of something larger. It was just riveting.

One of my favorite things about the novel was that I really felt the characters come together and form friendships through the course of their adventure. And they were good characters who I was rooting for (most of them, anyhow.) Of course it was also a great mystery that was quite creepy in parts, with strong elements of science fiction and even steampunk. Everything about it was very compelling and I found it difficult to put down.

Despite the press it got last year, I don't know that this is very widely read. However, I'll certainly be recommending it. It's like a cross between Lost and the best aspects of House of Leaves, but still unusual and original. Really fantastic!

I just want to briefly mention the publisher, Permuted Press (tagline: "Enjoy the apocalypse.") I'd never heard of them before, but had great fun looking at all the covers and titles featured in the back of 14 and on their website. I would have been all over these books when I was a teenager. Some of them look awesome now. Judging totally on how they look though, I'd say that 14 is of a higher caliber than most of the books. But if you like horror, definitely take a look.

Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King (2013)

The little boy from The Shining is all grown up, but the memories of that one winter at the Overlook Hotel aren't far away. Dan Torrance has turned into an alcoholic like his father and has hit rock bottom. As he starts on the road to recovery, he secures a job at a hospice where his special talents are useful helping the residents pass out of this world. Meanwhile, a group of older folks called the True Knot travel around in Winnebagos seeking out kids with the shining; torturing and killing these kids releases steam upon which the True Knot feeds, but they are growing weaker. However, they soon learn about a girl with an especially powerful gift, maybe even stronger than that of Danny Torrance himself, and decide to go after her next. They don't know what they're getting themselves into.

In his author's note, King says that no sequel is as good as the original and that he's not the same person he was when he wrote The Shining. Maybe he doesn't think it lives up to the first book, but I think it's just a different book entirely. This isn't The Shining; it's another book starring Dan Torrance a couple of decades later and although all the history is there, there's another whole cast of characters and a fresh new plot, not to mention new ways in which the shining powers manifest.

I didn't re-read The Shining before starting this so the details I remember about it really come from Stanley Kubrick's movie, which I've watched several times since reading the book. I know the movie departs from Stephen King's version (and King apparently doesn't like it) but I don't think I missed anything by not having those details in my recent memory. In fact, this novel could probably stand on its own.

I liked seeing how Dan Torrance's life progressed, how he was both trapped and freed by his past. He would make bad decisions and then up and move to another town where he quickly got himself into trouble, starting the cycle again. It was gratifying when he finally began to pull himself together, and meeting Abra - a kid with whom he could strongly identify - helped a lot. We even find out interesting new information about Dan Torrance's family.

The other characters were great too. Abra made a formidable protagonist, her combination of strength and anger a match for any villain. (In an early scene, she predicted 9/11 as an infant. It kind of gave me the chills.) It would have been easy to dislike Rose the Hat even without her supernatural aspects, but with them she was not only cruel, but frightening. Even supporting members of the cast were well-developed enough to feel like people we've met before, a particular talent of King.

I'm not sure if Doctor Sleep was as scary as The Shining - it's been too long since I read it, and I was just a teenager then - but it's definitely dark and creepy. Mostly, it's a great story with characters I liked reading about, and it kept me very interested for its entire 530 pages.

Slaves of Obsession

Slaves of Obsession (William Monk #11) by Anne Perry

Investigator William Monk is hired to find the parties who are trying to blackmail a gun dealer named Daniel Alberton. But that is not Alberton's only problem - America is in the midst of the Civil War and he has promised to sell a large quantity of guns to the Confederates. Their representative is present when Monk visits, and they are soon joined by a man named Breeland who represents the Union and urges Alberton to sell to his side instead. But Alberton will not go back on his word infuriating Breeland as well as Alberton's own daughter Merrit, who is romantically interested in Breeland. A heated exchange about the war and slavery is followed later that night by a murder, and soon William Monk and his wife Hester find themselves on their way to war-torn America in search of a killer.

I hadn't expected to pick up another Anne Perry mystery so soon, but I needed something comforting and familiar. After finishing When Nights Were Cold, I didn't know what I wanted to read and started about 5 different books, finally settling on MASH Angels and Slaves of Obsession which I ended up reading concurrently. Do you ever get in that sort of a reading funk where nothing seems right? It happens rarely, but I really hate it. I know by now that all I can do is pick something and force my way through while waiting for the feeling to eventually pass. It's a good time to pick up a book where you know what to expect.

There were, however, a couple of things especially interesting about this one. First, the Civil War. This was unexpected but welcome. Slavery is a part of our history that no matter how much I read about it is still somehow difficult to believe, and I liked seeing it from the perspective of the British. But also, the trip to the US during the war was a great opportunity to see Hester in action as a nurse. My favorite part of the story was when Monk and Hester were searching for Breeland and Merrit who had run off together and were suspected murderers. They found Merrit right away and she joined Hester on the battlefields helping wounded soldiers. One of my favorite aspects of this series is Hester's experiences as a nurse and though we learn a bit about her experiences in the Crimea, those are told through flashbacks. I was very happy to get to see her in action on the Civil War battlefield.

Another important thread in this series is Monk's memory loss. In the very first book he wakes up after an accident and cannot remember anything about his life before, or the person he once was. Slowly he discovers things here and there and doesn't like what he learns about himself. In the course of this investigation he stumbles across someone he knew in his previous life and learns something about himself that is especially distasteful and about which he feels quite ashamed. This would have been bad enough before, but now that he is married to Hester - and doesn't keep anything from her - he worries about her reaction when he tells her. This all adds a bit of extra tension to their relationship while all these other events are going on.

I'm over halfway through this series - it's up to #19 as of this year - and still enjoying it. I think now I'm caught up to the point where I can start getting the audio version again (the last few weren't available) so I look forward to that for the winter!

When Nights Were Cold

When Nights Were Cold by Susanna Jones (2012)

In the early 1900s women are not encouraged to pursue higher education, never mind embarking on dangerous journeys of exploration, but Grace Farringdon dreams of doing both. She defies her mother's wishes and begins college, where she quickly forms an Antarctic Exploration Society with other like-minded women. Fast forward 15 years and Grace is a virtual prisoner in her family home, the only survivor of her Society. Haunted by the ghosts of her past, her mental health deteriorating, Grace may finally be ready to confront the terrible events of her youth.

Growing up, Grace plays an exploration game with her father where they move objects like buttons and thimbles across a map, representing the explorers Shackleton, Scott, and Wilson who were at that time exploring the Antarctic. Grace's older sister, Catherine, was usually at the piano, though her dreams of being a concert pianist were ultimately crushed when her parents refused to let her go to music school. It was a strange family, loving in some ways, and completely stifling in others.

The book shifts back and forth in time, the past slowing work itself towards the present we keep seeing glimpses of. We know at the very beginning that Grace has lived through some sort of tragedy. She hasn't seen her sister in years, though they used to be so close. Grace keeps trying to write Catherine a letter inviting her to stay, but struggles to finish and send it. She is clearly worried about writing it exactly right and enticing Catherine to come live with her, and afraid of just pushing her away forever. The tragedy that claimed the lives of her college friends hovers nearby and we learn more and more as the back story progresses.

As you can see from that big red dot on the cover, the Guardian called this novel "A gripping psychological thriller." This description is baffling because, although there are psychological elements to the story, this is no thriller. There's also a quote on the back cover of my edition that refers to a scene that never took place. Perplexing. Not to mention that the Goodreads description and jacket copy sound like two different books. Never mind - I heard great things about this book in a podcast - I think it was The Readers - and I'm very glad I read it.

I was entrance by the very idea of a woman at that time who was so interested in exploration and who felt compelled to climb mountains. Many parts of the story were murky and dreamlike, either because they held the quality of memories or were illustrating Grace's mental decline. It was pretty fantastic. Her relationships with her mountaineering friends Cicely, Leonora, and Winifred - all dead now - were complex, to say the least.

This is my first book for the R.I.P. VIII Challenge and although it didn't turn out to be a thriller, it was certainly dark. Death, doomed romances, and a whole lot of crazy combined to make a pretty compelling story. If I was young again and could stay up until the wee hours reading, I would have done so. As it was, I sat in bed desperately trying to keep my eyes open while I read the same sentence over and over because I couldn't admit defeat and put it down for the night.

I ordered When Nights Were Cold from Amazon UK because, tragically, it's not available in the US. I cannot imagine why. It was absolutely worth the price of postage and I recommend it to any of you who can get your hands on a copy.