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On the one hand, I was surprised by some of this book. The cover and the taglines on the cover made me think it would just be rehashing of the undoubted evils of Fritzl's well-known crimes. However, it firstly focused on Fritzl's upbringing and his early involvement with the law, as well as his relationship with his wife and the eventual decline into the story we all know so well. The beginning of the book has a special focus on the contribution that growing up in Nazi-occupied Austria had on the path Fritzl took, as well as his apparent admiration on Adolf Hitler. He offers no evidence or explanation to measure the actual influence of the historical period or "national socialism" in general upon Fritzl's personality or even upon his crimes. However, he continues the comparison to Nazi Germany and occupied Europe throughout and compares the trapping of Elisabeth and her children in the basement to concentration camps. It is obvious here that Hall has taken advantage of the part of Europe where this happened to make a tenuous at best connection.
The author also turns an already shocking story into a narrative from the mind of Fritzl. He was not interviewed for this book and his thoughts on entering the basement he built for the first time would surely not be known to a tabloid journalist. It seems here that Hall is adding unknown, unneeded detail to add excitement to his story. However, the interviews conducted with friends, family members and tenants of the building in which Fritzl and his family left and in which he imprisoned his daughter and their children were a helpful and informative addition.
A point I liked about this book was the focus put on Elisabeth as a survivor rather than a victim. Continually, Hall refers to the amazing fact of her survival and her care for her children who she tried to give as normal life as possible under impossible circumstances. Some of the words used to describe those Fritzl imprisoned range from insensitive to cruel, however, which lends no credibility to the author. His writing is also nothing to be raved about and attempts at best to preserve the image of this book as one about an "evil" man. It is probably one of the worst written non-fiction books I have read in awhile but its subject made it interesting and no doubt a quick seller.
This amazing book documents the life of a juvenile delinquent, caught by the law before being changed into a person incapable of committing crime. While showing the transformation of a person, it also shows the limits of human freedom in a futuristic society.
The story starts with Alex and his gang tormenting a city with rape, burglary, violence and murder. Alex, a young man, has been doing these things for years and is caught when his friend who are scared of his power purposefully leave him where the police will find him. The entirety of the speech in this part of the book is in a sort of slang which is confusing enough to entice the reader but at the same time easy enough to follow. It is clear from the beginning that Alex commits his crimes out of a sense of pleasure; he enjoys the violence, the bloodshed and the risk-taking and has no plans to curb his offending. When the government is made aware of a new method which will render criminals incapable of committing or even considering committing violent crime, an innocent Alex is persuaded into being a test subject with the promise of freedom. The trial resembles some method of hypnosis and Alex is released to a world where even thinking about consensual sex is totally impossible.
The book is written with great thought put into the dialect of Alex and his gang. The meeting of Alex with the author of a book forces Alex to think about what he has done. I am told the original of the book is missing one chapter, so the book in this case ends with hope that Alex will change his ways.
Overall, this book explores the limits of human freedom and forces the reader to consider whether being 'evil' deserves the sterilisation of the brain that Alex receives. I would highly recommend it.
This is a sequel to the book Case Histories reviewed awhile ago. I'm not sure I like it quite as much but it was still a good read. In this book, Jackson (the PI) follows his girlfriend, Julia (also from Case Histories) to Scotland. The book begins with a man witnessing an incident of road rage and saving the victim. He is a crime writer himself and is stunned at how he enters into the spotlight when the press learn of this fact. The plotline continues with murders, spies, attacks, illegal human trafficking and other misnomers which all seem to lead to Jackson becoming a suspect.
Soon after this however, the policewoman in charge doubts his guilt and enlists Jackson's help to solve the crimes. We are meanwhile further introduced to Martin, the witness of the original attack who is subject to the murder of a friend staying with him, he is also confusingly involved in the crimes and finds himself also under suspicion but his nerdy, awkward character seems to sway the suspicion away. We are also introduced to the policewoman and new love interest, Louise as well as her slightly-off-the-rails teenage son who has somehow ended up with some highly illicit material.
The good thing about this book was that it wasn't full of untimely coincidences like many books of its type are. As it came to a close, all the plot twists made sense but it didn't enthrall me quite as much as its pre-decessor.
This spectacular book is the first I have read by Atkinson and hopefully won't be the last, it tells the story of a Private Investigator looking into what at face value look like three completely different cases, all involving suspicious disappearances or deaths. These are outlined in case histories at the beginning of the book.
As the story grows the character of Jackson Brodie (the PI) is developed slowly and his past leading to his current profession becomes clearer and his rather gruff manner also begins to make a lot more sense. The other characters that appear throughout the book are developed piece by piece as if putting together an extremely complex puzzle. Two sisters looking into the never solved loss of their younger sister live out their grief in different ways, a man who has lost his favourite daughter tries to come to grips with why she was killed and a woman builds a new life for herself hiding a secret that no one can ever know.
The thing I loved about this book was the multiple storylines, every one explored fully and every one with its own twists and turns. The character development as mentioned before throughout the book was also most impressive and well placed. It came to a finish weaving all three cases together and shows the reader the complexities of loss and the terrible burden of guilt.
Would highly recommend this to anyone.
This thriller/crime story tells the tale of a family hunted by a savage killer who's crimes are both personal and terrifying. FBI Agent Pierce Quincy enlists the help of a private detective who he once shared a relationship with, Rainie. Together they try to hunt down this savage killer before Quincy's family evaporates before his eyes.
The whole of this book to me screamed "way too far-fetched." As much as I love books about serial killers, the plot of this book was stretched to fairly impossible odds in order to keep the excitement of the story going. More character exploration would have made a better book, as well as a better explanation of the work that actually went into finding the killer rather than over-dramatic by-storylines.
Despite this I would still recommend the book to you if you're a fan of thrillers, despite being completely unlikely it will keep you turning the pages.
I need to go to the library which I will do tomorrow, so have been reading my mother's murder mysteries. I was pleasantly surprised by this author. The two principal characters are a lawyer and a police officer which will always make for an interesting story. Their stories collide as they both tackle potentially extremely dangerous cases which threaten their lives as well as that of their families.
The writing itself in this book is not anything to rant and rave about, but it follows on well and makes sense. I found myself not wanting to put the book down in the way that only a good thriller can make you feel.
Some of the time I found myself exclaiming at the stupidity of one of the characters is particular who kept pursuing a dangerous road even when she knew her family were being put in danger from what she assumed were her actions. I can't quite believe anyone with intelligence would do the things she did after she had been warned of what she was dealing with.
This book does display many situations rather well though. In particular it shows the discrepancies between those who have grown up in the British upper class compared with the working class and how many people feel like once their status has risen they have something to prove, over and above people who have previously been their superiors.
This is a good read, good enough that the next book I read was by the same author. I definitely recommend it to fans of thrillers or crime novels.
