BlogTour This Wild, Wild Country by Inga Vesper

It’s my turn on the BlogTour This Wild, Wild Country by Inga Vesper – the captivating new mystery from the author of The Long, Long Afternoon.

About the Author

Inga Vesper is a journalist and editor. She moved to the UK from Germany to work as a carer, before the urge to write and explore brought her to journalism. As a reporter, she covered the coroner’s court and was able to observe how family, neighbours and police react to a suspicious death. Inga has worked in Syria and Tanzania, but now lives in Glasgow, because there’s no better way to find a good story than eavesdropping on the chatter in a Scottish cafe on a rainy day. Follow @wekesperos on Twitter,

About the book

Three women. An isolated town. A decades-old mystery. – They hate me down there, in Boldville. I can read it in their eyes, smell it on their noxious breaths. That dreaded little town hates everything about me: not just my personality and form, the clothes I wear, but the way I think. The things that I know.

1933. Cornelia Stover is headstrong and business-minded – not the kind of woman the men of Boldville, New Mexico, expect her to be. Then she stumbles upon a secret hidden out in the hills . . .

1970. Decades later, Joanna Riley, a former cop, packs up her car in the middle of the night and drives west, fleeing an abusive marriage and a life she can no longer bear. Eventually, she runs out of gas and finds herself in Boldville, a sleepy desert town in the foothills of the Gila Mountains.

Joanna was looking for somewhere to retreat, to hide, but something is off about this place. In a commune on the outskirts a young man has been found dead and Joanna knows a cover up when she sees it. Soon, she and Glitter, a young, disaffected hippie, find themselves caught up in a dark mystery that goes to the very heart of Boldville, where for too long people have kept their eyes shut and turned their heads away. A mystery that leads them all the way back to the unexplained disappearance of Glitter’s grandmother Cornelia forty years before . . .

Review

For me the veins of gold in this story – pun totally intended – are the moments in history that have been retold through the lens of those who write history. Predominantly white men, who speak of free love, rebellion, lack of boundaries and peace. What would those historical movements look like if told through the lens of women, but stripped down to the bare facts without the flowy, flowery, drug-fuelled unicorn fluff of that era.

How many people have shoved their own MeToo moments into a box and labelled it all part of the hippie culture and free love movement. Then swallowed those moments and the trauma eventually surfaces when the confines of those times no longer have any validity. Often things are merely in vogue or the way the voice of the people rises above the norms of society with loud murmurs of discontent.

It’s interesting how those murmurs and attempts at changing the status quo are recalled. A certain element of irresponsibility and lack of clarity, a minor blip of youth experimentation. The reality hidden behind the exterior of talk of peace and harmony.

In a way all of the main characters share their own moments in history where they are stereotyped, abused and oppressed, which is where their paths meet. It’s an interesting second book from this author, and has its place when you consider the first book. A mystery hidden in a forest full of issues, emotional baggage, and a story of women. I wonder where the story and the author will lead us next.

Buy This Wild, Wild Country at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher ‏: ‎Bonnier Zaffre – Manilla Press pub date 4 Aug. 2022. Buy at Amazon com.

29 Seconds by T.M. Logan

What I enjoyed most about 29 Seconds is the way the author changed the playbook.

As a reader you think you know exactly what kind of read you’re in for after the introduction to Sarah and the predator at her heels, then suddenly the focus changes entirely.

The topic of sexual harassment is on the tip of everyone’s tongue at the moment, due to the revelations about Weinstein and quite a few other Hollywood bigwigs. The #MeToo movement has resulted in a landslide of women and men coming forward to talk about their experiences at the hands of abusers.

Sarah finds herself, like many other women, in a daily struggle to avoid the advances of the man in charge of all of her possible career advancements. Technically it doesn’t mean she can’t get a promotion or be acknowledged for her academic achievements if she is willing to do what he wants and when he wants it. Imagine being blackmailed for sexual favours every single day and trying to fight the systemic abuse our society ignores on a major scale.

How many times are the victims demeaned, destroyed and ridiculed when they try to expose the abusers. To Invalidate and blame the victim is the name of the game. Not really surprising that victims don’t speak out against their abusers.

For me the most intriguing part of the premise was the question. I’ll admit I pondered what my response would be, would have been fifteen years ago and which person I would pick. So the answer for me is a yes, and I wouldn’t worry about it like Sarah or suffer from a guilty conscience either. By the way don’t tell the police I said that.

Logan writes a captivating story, which is driven by the protagonists desperation and fear. It’s a premise, which will make readers think and definitely talk about the book. Both the sexual harassment and the possibility of a crime without repercussions are excellent standalone topics for a story, but together they make an exceptional read.

Logan knows how to capture the heartbeat of public opinion and describe exactly what we wish for in the dark recesses of our minds. The only thing I want to know is, where is my Russian?

Buy 29 Seconds at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Follow @TMLoganAuthor @BonnierZaffre

Genuine Fraud by E.Lockhart

There are definitely comparisons to be drawn to The Talented Mr Ripley, just with main characters of the opposite gender.

I think at one point I lost the plot and wasn’t sure who was pretending to be whom. It was a wee bit confusing at times, which is probably what made this a less enjoyable read. Too disjointed, and not enough clarification.

We begin at the end and return to the beginning to understand how Jules and Imogen get to know each other, and how the two of them end up the way they do. The longing for a connection and a friendship leaves one of them dead and the other hiding.

It’s a story of lies, delusions and about the social status of each girl. How the desire to belong and be friends becomes an obsession, which culminates in an uncontrollable internal anger.

Personally I think the story was flighty and underdeveloped. It lacked clarity, and the characters were weak versions of what they should have been. It could have been so much more, despite the similarities to the aforementioned book.

Buy Genuine Fraud at Amazon UK or go to Goodreads for any other retailer.

Follow @elockhart  @BonnierZaffre