Review: The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen

The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was provided both an ALC and an ARC of this book via Netgalley all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this psychological thriller.  Georgia has been accused of murdering her younger sister, but instead of prison she has been placed in a psychiatric institution on hold while she awaits trial.  She is completely aware of what is going on, but to give herself time she is pretending to have a mental break.  Unbeknownst to Amanda, Georgia is her twin and the only one she wants to talk to while she is locked up awaiting trial.  Amanda and Georgia were both adopted as newborns but neither  knew they were a twin.  They both lived very different lives growing up, and Amanda is determined to find out how they are connected and find out the truth about her new sister.  She unravels a web of lies and manipulation in a world of wealth she doesn't understand.  As she pretends to be part of Georgia's world to find the truth, she realizes that there is much more to the story than anyone let on.  

I found this to be very entertaining and fast paced.  The story alternates between Mandy and Georgia's points of view.  We get to learn about their lives growing up and who they are today.  How their relationships with their families shaped them and how things progressed to the night of the murder of Annabelle the younger sister.  There were plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing and a big unexpected twist at the end that I never saw coming.   

January LaVoy remains one of my favorite narrators and she did a wonderful job with this.  She is so talented and did different voices for the different characters so you can always tell what is going on and who is speaking.

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Review: Angel Down: A Novel by Daniel Kraus

Angel Down: A Novel by Daniel Kraus
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I was provided a ARC of this book via Netgalley and Atria books, all opinions are my own.

I loved Whalefall by Daniel Krause, however this book is much different.  This is set on the battlefields of WWI and follows Cyril Bagger as he trudges through the trenches and the mud (there is so much mud).  Bagger isn't the best soldier nor is he a great guy, however when he stumbles across an angel his tune changes a bit.  He spent his time prior his service in the Army running cons, and now he swindles his fellow soldiers every chance he gets and he stays as far away from the action as he can get.  When he and his mates are sent to rescue a shrieking comrade they find something very different.  The each have very different experiences with the angel that Bagger finds and it either brings out the worst or the best in each man.

This book while it has chapters is written as one big long sentence.  There are plenty of commas, but there isn't much other punctuation if there is any.  It was an interesting choice for writing style.  I'm not a huge fan of stream of conscious style writing, and it typically doesn't work for me.   The pace is also very slow.  We don't meet the angel until many chapters in and much of that time is Bagger and his fellow soldiers tromping through mud contemplating their existence, which is probably a fairly accurate portrayal of what a soldier was going through at that time in France.  The story focuses on Bagger's experiences and what is happening around him.  Parts of this story are very gory and graphic which adds to the atmosphere.  Each person who lays eyes on the angel has a very deep and personal reaction, and is forced to have an internal struggle the longer they are in her presence.  They battle their internal demons and see who wins.

Overall I thought this was a very unique take on WWI historical horror.  I really enjoyed Bagger's growth and his relationship with Arno.  Overall the writing style and pacing on this one wasn't for me, I tend to enjoy this style more as an audiobook especially with the slower pace.  The conflict and challenges each soldier faced were interesting and really captured the human condition.

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