Good me bad me, a review

Good Me Bad Me, by Ali Land was a really intriguing dark book, which I both read and listened to the audiobook. With 4.2 ratings on Goodreads, and recommendation from a booktuber, Good Me Bad Me had themes which immediately grabbed my attention. Mystery, psychological thriller and crime.

Good Me Bad Me is set around the protagonist Milly, 15, whose mother is a serial killer. Although Milly loves her mother, the only way to stop her mum is by turning her into the police, which gives Milly a fresh start with a new identity. Milly’s is given a new life, with an affluent family at an exclusive primary school, however, things become complicated. Milly has to decide, is she good or bad.
As I said previously this book is so dark, the audiobook was so creepy which was just right for the season. This book is best to go into unaware of what is going to happen. Throughout most of the book, the reader has no idea what crime Milly’s mother has committed and who Milly really is. The writing is beautifully done, quite poetic in most parts. There is an internal dialogue of Milly’s thoughts, which helps us gain a deeper understanding into the darkness that is Milly. This gives an insight into her psyche and actions as Milly is not a perfect and this is not a happy story. But it’s an amazing story.

Rating: 5/5

If you want to read my last review of the book ‘ I let you go’, click here.

I Let You Go – A review

I found psychological thriller ‘I Let You Go’ by Clare Mackintosh in a charity shop as one of those lucky finds. I saw the cover, and knew that I’ve seen it before in the thriller section in Waterstones. This book is so good; I definitely did not see it coming after it took me a while to get absolutely immersed in this book.

 

This book is a standalone and it follows the life of Jenna Gray after a tragic accident, which happens early on in the book. Hoping to move on from the accident Jenna moved to an isolated cottage on the Welsh coast in efforts to start again. Jenna gets a second chance at happiness, which she never thought would have been possible, only for her past to eventually catch up to her.

This book started off quite slowly and also has a secondary perspective of the officers who investigate the tragic accident in the beginning, which was a bit daunting at first because I did not care for them to begin with. Although the story starts off slowly, it does get more interesting at it goes along. The lack of dialogue in this book is also something that was a bit daunting to me as well because I love engaging dialogue between characters in books, however, this was more about the beautiful writing and scene building.

Overall, this book is great, I enjoyed the twists, the scenes, the writing. One thing I found amazing is the Author Clare Mackintosh, her experience as a police officer, and the death of her son created this book. I’m glad I made the effort to read the author’s note it made the book more than just a story.

 

Rating: 4/5

 

This book was also featured in my book haul, check that post out here.

Find the review to my favourite series here.

Also, comment if you’ve read this book, what did you think of it? I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

 

 

The Millennium Series Review

The Millennium series has been an amazing journey for me. This series includes the books The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest. I started The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo a year ago and I’d complete the final in the trilogy today. This book has actually gone beyond my expectations. This series follows Mikael Blomkvist, a reporter, who in the first book his reputation is diminished when he gets a chance to redeem himself after being hired by wealthy Henrik Vanger to write a book and solve the murder 40-year-old of his niece. He attempts to accomplish this task with the help of Lisbeth Salander, who is ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’. This whole series goes way beyond what happens in the first book.

The first book was a bit difficult to get into, mainly because this book is different from the books I normally read. It’s also a complex series that always surprised me. There is something important and interesting on every page, and there are so many characters, I had to flip back and forth sometimes to figure out who is who, which may be a bit daunting for some. This is a book to read if you need a simple book to read before bed unless you are into really intense reads.

This story is so well thought of it blew my mind.

One of the main themes in this series is the abuse of women, and how it goes unnoticed by the government, and the whole series highlights how influential individuals abuse their power. Stieg Larson presents facts about abuse against women in this book as early in the book it is established that ‘18% of the women in Sweden have at one time been threatened by a man.’ There is one scene in particular that some may find triggering. There are some critics of this book which say that it is misogynistic and too disturbing, however, in my opinion, these books are neither. Rather Larsson highlights the sadistic nature of certain events, rather than trying to romanticise in any way, and shape, therefore not saying that certain actions are right, but highlighting why these actions are wrong.

This is a series that I had to read in isolation without distractions. I started the whole series in June 2016, as part of my challenge to read 100 books in 2016. I read the final book in January 2017 and finished in July 2017, because with everything going on at university, I didn’t have the time to read something so in-depth and all encompassing. It took me a while to read the final book because I did not want the series to come to an end.

Overall, Stieg Larsson was an amazingly talented author, and I am grateful to read his work.