December 17

Decades: Compiling the Ultimate Library with Lisa Gray

It’s mid December and it has been eleven months since my first Decades guest joined me back in January. That first guest was Sharon Bairden, an author I often met while attending book launches in Glasgow. So what a happy coincidence that my final guest of the year is also an author I would frequently meet when we attended book launches in Glasgow: Lisa Gray.

Don’t panic about the “last of the year” comment, I always say “DECADES WILL RETURN.” But with the busy holiday season approaching I have decided I am not going to share any new guest selections until 7th January 2022. Decades is as much about my guests as it is about their book selections so I do not want anyone to be overlooked while there are so many other distractions at this time of year. I have been asked to make my personal Decades choices so that may happen.

But back to the present (no Christmas pun indended). This week I am delighted to be joined by one of my best bookish pals, Lisa Gray. The challenge remains the same, Lisa has to nominate five of her favourite books which she thinks should be added to my Ultimate Library. She is allowed to choose any five books but can only select one book per decade from five consecutive decades.

Sometimes one of my guests will nominate a book and I will be instantly gobsmacked that the book or author has not yet featured in a previous selection. This is true of this week too…I shall let Lisa explain.

 

DECADES

Lisa Gray is an Amazon #1, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. Her debut novel, Thin Air, was the third-bestselling Kindle book on Amazon.com in 2019. She previously worked as the chief Scottish soccer writer at the Press Association and the books editor at the Daily Record Saturday Magazine. She lives in Glasgow and writes full-time.

Lisa is the author of the Jessica Shaw books. Jessica is a troubled and tenacious private eye of no fixed abode, who investigates cases in and around Los Angeles. The latest in the series, Lonely Hearts, sees Jessica delve into the Lonely Hearts Club and the world of women who write to dangerous convicted criminals.

 

1970s — Carrie by Stephen King

I know, I know. Yet another Decades contributor picking a Stephen King book, but I do think it’s fascinating that we’re all choosing completely different ones! Carrie was the first King book I read, the first he had published, and it’s the one that has stayed with me the most. That heartbreaking scene in the girls’ locker room… That iconic scene with the pigs’ blood at the high school prom… It doesn’t matter if you read the book or watched the film, you’re not going to forget those images in a hurry. Carrie White is an outsider, bullied by her classmates and her own mother, before her telekinetic powers allow her to inflict a terrible, bloody revenge on the town that terrorised her. I liked that the novel was told in an epistolary style with newspaper articles and scientific reports included as part of the story. A true horror classic.

 

 

 

1980s — A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton

Confession time. Even though this book was published way back in the ‘80s (the best decade ever in my opinion), I only read it for the first time a couple of years ago. Like Grafton, I write a series about a plucky female private eye who doggedly investigates cases in Southern California. When people started comparing my Jessica Shaw books to the famous ‘Alphabet’ series, I knew I had to check it out. What can I say? That comparison is one hell of a compliment! I absolutely adore the twice-divorced Kinsey Millhone and her page-turning mysteries. If I can ever write a novel half as good as Sue Grafton, I’ll be happy.

 

 

 

1990s — The Concrete Blonde by Michael Connelly

 

The Concrete Blonde is one of the closest things you’ll get to a perfect police procedural in my opinion. It has everything—a complex plot, a warped killer, a dogged cop in the superb Harry Bosch, intrigue, suspense and plenty of twists. And all set against the wonderfully drawn backdrop of the City of Angels. For me, Connelly always nails the big three of character, plot and setting. He’s the best in the business. The fact that this book was only the third that he wrote kind of blows my mind.

 

 

 

2000s — Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Everyone knows Gillian Flynn for Gone Girl, the book that made her a household name—but Dark Places is easily my favourite by the author. Libby Day is the sole survivor of a massacre that happened during the ‘satanic panic’ of 1980s small town America. Years later and strapped for cash, she agrees to help a group of amateur sleuths delve back into what really happened the night her mother and sisters were murdered, and her brother was jailed for the horrific crimes. Flynn is the queen of the unlikeable female narrator and just a really, really terrific writer. One of the few books I’ve read more than once. 

 

 

 

2010s — Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter

 

First of all, I should probably say that Karin Slaughter’s books aren’t for everyone. They are often brutal and unflinching, and Pretty Girls is no exception. It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted but what it is, is a masterclass in making the reader care about the characters. It’s about teenage girls who disappeared years apart and it gripped me, surprised me, and, ultimately, it broke my heart. I cried twice reading it and I don’t mean delicate tears dropping onto the page, I’m talking full-blown ugly sobbing. One twist floored me so much I actually shouted, ‘No way!’ and had to set the book aside for a few moments. Between the crying and the yelling, it’s just as well I read Pretty Girls at home and not on the morning commute to work… 

 

 

 

Ending the year with King and Connelly and also introducing Karin Slaughter, Sue Grafton and Gillian Flynn to the Decades Library means I get to finish 2021 on a real high. My thanks to Lisa for these terrific recommendations. As this is the last Decades of the year I would like to thank all my wonderful guests who have made this feature a year-long celebration of booklove.

 

DECADES WILL RETURN

 

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August 13

Pieces of Her – Karin Slaughter

You’ve known her your whole life…
Andrea Oliver knows everything about her mother Laura. She knows she’s always lived in the small town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life.

but she’s hiding something…
Then one day, a trip to the mall explodes into a shocking act of violence and Andy suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura.

and it could destroy you both…
Hours later, Laura is in hospital, her face splashed over the newspapers. But the danger has only just begun. Now, Andy must go on a desperate race to uncover the secrets of her mother’s past. Unless she can, there may be no future for either of them…

 

My thanks to Heidi Bland for the chance to join the blog tour, I received a review copy from the publisher through Netgalley.

Pieces of Her is a dual timeline thriller. Our focus is mainly on Andy who finds herself thrust into danger when she is caught up in a shooting incident. Andy and Laura, her mother, come face to face with the gunman – they are the last two standing but Laura steps in front of her daughter to confront the shooter.

She tries to persuade him to shoot her in order that Andy may go free. As she speaks to the gunman Laura is also urging Andy to run for freedom.  There is a flurry of activity and before Andy can know what is happening the shooter is dead and her mother stands over his body. Self defense she claims yet the incident has been caught on film and any suggestion that Laura may have been a vulnerable victim is gone – it looks like she has used combat skills to eliminate a threat.

This all takes place very early in the story but Andy finds herself querying if she even knows who her mother is. There are clearly secrets which Laura has buried deep and of which Andy has no knowledge. Andy’s story is uncovering the pieces of the puzzle as to who her mother really is.

I mentioned this was a dual timeline story.  Alongside Andy’s flight from a crime scene on a quest to understand Laura better there is also a story thread running which introduces new characters – this part of the tale is set in 1986.

Readers will know that the two story threads will eventually intertwine and that there will be some overlap to explain why an industrial accident in the 80’s has an impact on a random shooting in the present day.

While you read it can be perplexing to randomly spring to a different story and you have to trust in the skill of the author to know that everything shall make sense in the end. But when the author is Karin Slaughter you know that the author has all the skills to weave a deft tale which rewards the reader.

Pieces of Her was often surprising and a highly enjoyable reading experience.

 

Pieces of Her is published by Harper Collins and is available in Hardback, digital and audiobook.  You can order your copy here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pieces-Her-stunning-thriller-bestselling-ebook/dp/B0796VNPPX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1534101709&sr=8-1&keywords=pieces+of+her

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