Only Daughter - Anna Snoekstra

Mira, September 20, 2016.

Three Stars

In 2003, a sixteen-year-old girl named Rebecca disappeared on her way home from work, just steps from her family home. Eleven years later, a girl claiming to be Rebecca is arrested for shoplifting in a nearby town. Although we know from the start that this second girl is an imposter, she manages to infiltrate Bec’s life surprisingly well. The fake Bec, who remains nameless throughout the novel, has her own issues, and the missing girl’s identity is a perfect place to hide.

The imposter Bec fully expects to get caught – she hopes her lie will at least get her out of the shoplifting charge – and she is more surprised than anyone when Bec’s parents and twin brothers welcome her into their home. Although Bec’s best friend Lizzie eventually realizes that she is not who she says she is, Lizzie cannot understand why no one else is questioning who she is. Meanwhile, the fake Bec begins to feel comfortable with her new family, thinking that she will be able to start a new life with them. She is a bit of a sociopath, and it’s hard to empathize with her, but it’s pretty entertaining to listen in on her thought processes.

Interspersed with Rebecca’s new life are flashbacks to the summer when the real Bec disappeared. At sixteen, she was working at a local fast-food restaurant, having fun with her friends and crushing on her coworker. It all seems like fun, but there is an underlying creepiness. Strange things start to happen to Bec, such as blood in her bedroom, unexplained blackouts, and an ominous feeling of being watched. The same weird feeling starts to creep up on the imposter Bec, and at the same time in alternating chapters, both girls realize that their biggest threat may be coming from someone closest to them.

Only Daughter is a disturbing thriller, with fairly good writing and an interesting plot – unfortunately, it is just unbelievable overall. It was a major effort to suspend disbelief enough to enjoy the story, although that didn’t stop me from reading as fast as I could to find out what happened in the end. The past and present points of view work perfectly in tandem to enforce the storyline and elevate Bec’s fears. The novel is infused with an eerie atmosphere, but the ending kind of came out of nowhere – it needed just a bit more build up in the right direction. There were quite a few loose ends, and the whole premise was pretty impossible overall, but it was still a fun, entertaining read.

I received this novel from Mira and Goodreads First Reads in exchange for an honest review.

Dark Matter - Blake Crouch

Crown Publishing, July 26, 2016.

Five Stars

Jason has a wonderful yet mediocre life with his wife and son. He gave up a promising career as an experimental physicist to teach at a local college, and his wife abandoned her painting to stay at home and raise their son. Although he has occasional regrets, Jason’s happiest moments are spent with his family, cooking dinner and talking about their day in their cozy kitchen.

One night, Jason goes out for a drink with a work colleague who has just won a prestigious physics award. He feels pangs of jealousy, but ultimately just wants to get home to his family. On his way home, Jason is abducted by someone who seems to know everything about him, including his thoughts and moves before he even makes them. His kidnapper leaves him unconscious in a dark, abandoned building – but when Jason wakes up, he is far from alone. Instead, the building is filled with scientists who claim to be his coworkers, joyously welcoming him home from a multi-dimensional physics experiment.

As Jason struggles to come to terms with his new reality, he learns that his wife is no longer his wife, and his son does not exist. Instead of his comfortable, domestic life, Jason is a world-renowned physicist who has created a way to explore parallel universes. Although he now has success, money and power, it is not his life. He cannot at first come to grips with which world is the real one – or if both are real, where does he belong? All that matters to Jason is getting back to the family he left behind, and he is willing to sacrifice everything to get there.

Dark Matter explores the many worlds theory of physics, in which all possible worlds exist at any given time. It is an old concept in science fiction, but Crouch manages to explore it in a new and entertaining way. It is a sci-fi thriller with increasingly complex twists, although it is always clear and easy to follow. There is no unnecessary scientific jargon to take away from the pure fun of this story. It is a complicated concept made very simple, and anyone can enjoy this book, regardless of scientific knowledge.

With its multi-genre appeal, this novel will interest a wide audience. Just when you think Jason has everything figured out, there are more shocking twists to thwart his path back to the life he left behind. He must take a surprising journey to get back, which includes confronting the darkness inside himself, as he may be his own worst enemy. The biggest lesson that Jason leaves us with is the importance of appreciating the life we have, because it could disappear without warning. This was such fun to read, while really making you think at the same time – for me, a perfect summer read.

I received this novel from Crown Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Unseen World - Liz Moore

W.W. Norton & Company, July 26, 2016.

Three Stars

Ada was raised by her eccentric scientist father David, who runs an early computer lab in 1980s Boston. His project is the creation of virtual consciousness – training a computer system called ELIXER to respond to human actions and emotions. Ada is homeschooled, and she grows up with David’s colleagues as her companions, especially a woman they call Liston. When David’s mind begins to go, Ada must turn to Liston to help her make her way in the wider world.

David has a degenerative disease and he is rapidly losing his memories. As he becomes less able to function as a guardian to Ada, he is moved into full-time care and Ada moves in with Liston and her family. The intricacies of public school come as a shock to Ada, who has always functioned in an adult world. Her crush on the boy next door is also a major source of confusion for her. Through it all, she continues to communicate with ELIXER – and it seems that both of them, the pre-teen girl and the language processing computer program, are learning to function in the human world at the same time.

With David regressing into his own past, Ada soon discovers that he has many secrets – in fact, he may not be who he has always said he was. Ada has been told that her mother was a surrogate who did not want to be involved in her life, but there may be more to the story. As David becomes less able to communicate, Ada may be losing her chance to find out the truth about her and David’s origins. David has always tried to control every aspect of Ada’s upbringing, and he sometimes sees her as an experimental project, much like ELIXER. David had been using the computer program to understand human mental processes – how we think and feel, and what it is that makes us human. Ironically, it is ELIXER that enables Ada to learn the truth about David’s past.

The Unseen World has a slow pace, and while Ada is busy solving a mystery, the reveal is not the most important part of the novel. Instead, it is more about Ada’s growth outside of her father’s shadow, as seen most clearly in the chapters set in Ada’s future. Ada is precocious and grown up in many ways, but in others, she is young, naïve and even emotionally stunted. The mystery of David’s past drives the plot forward, but Ada’s complexities hold it all together and create depth of character.

The writing is good, but not always original or exciting – the novel overall is perhaps too long and slow. The chapters set in David’s past were not as interesting as the present and future, and I found myself skimming over them, looking for more from Ada. She is a strong, youthful female character, which seems to be more common in literary fiction lately, and it’s a positive trend. The ending of the novel brings everything together in a clean, purposeful way – ELIXER’s human training is complete, and Ada has found her place in the world.

I received this novel from W.W. Norton & Company and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

School of Velocity - Eric Beck Rubin

Doubleday Canada, August 23, 2016.

Three Stars

Jan is a pianist at the height of his career, but he is struggling with his music due to auditory hallucinations that will eventually destroy his future in music. At one of his final performances, he is beset by memories of his childhood friend Dirk, with whom he has lost touch. Without any upcoming performances, Jan is set adrift, and he decides to find Dirk and rekindle their friendship.

The two boys met in elementary school, and their relationship blossomed into one of deep intimacy – at times, their intense friendship blurred the lines into physical love. In fact, the synopsis reminded me of A Little Life, but it was really nothing like it, and School of Velocity was disappointing in comparison. It is a much shorter novel, but even so, I felt like it didn’t go into as much depth of emotion as it could have. However, that may also be a cultural difference, as this novel is set primarily in the Netherlands, and it has a very European feel.

Before his final meeting with Dirk, Jan reminisces about their coming of age and his emotional, obsessive feelings for Dirk – Jan’s memories gradually lead the reader to the present day, and to his reunion with Dirk. It is an exploration of Jan’s repression of his true sexuality, and their adolescent blurring of the line between sex and friendship.

The novel has a musical background, and the lyrical writing flows nicely even as I lost interest in the characters. Jan and Dirk are complex, but I did not connect with them. By the time they reunited, I just didn’t care about them anymore. The ending was good because it was not perfect, and I enjoyed the realism of Jan’s feelings. I just wished for more depth in his journey of self-discovery.

I received this novel from Doubleday Canada and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Five Roses - Alice Zorn

Dundurn Press, July 23, 2016.

Three Stars

Five Roses is named after the “Farine Five Roses” sign in Pointe St. Charles in Montreal, and the main characters in the novel are all connected by the sign in ways that are not obvious to begin with. As the story develops, we gradually see how their lives are tangled together in surprising ways.

As Pointe St. Charles becomes gentrified, Fara and her husband buy a house in the up and coming area. They find out that their house was the setting of a disturbing tragedy that reawakens Fara’s own sad history, and they soon discover that their house may be frequented by one of the survivors. Maddy lives next door to Fara, in the same house where her infant daughter was kidnapped years before – she was a teenager living in a commune, and the loss of her child still haunts her.

Rose is the most ethereal character in the novel – she grew up in a cabin in the woods outside of Montreal, and she doesn’t feel that she belongs in the city, as she seemingly floats down its busy streets. Once she gets her footing in Pointe St. Charles, she becomes a new person and rethinks her past. Her mother’s secrets link her with the other women in surprising ways, but it is not until the ending that we even see these connections.

The neighbourhood is rundown and needs care and attention to bring it back to its best self – much like these three women. This is a historical Canadian setting, and Montreal is featured here as its own character. It is an ode to this particular neighbourhood and it’s interesting to read about, but I felt like I had a hard time connecting to the story because I don’t know the area. Even so, Zorn does a good job at describing the multicultural, old world feel of the streets of Pointe St. Charles.

The novel has a slow pace, although several dramatic incidents are treated without enough depth – the issues were skimmed over and it was disappointing. The book is less about story and more about character, although I wanted to learn more about them too – especially several of the minor characters that were featured prominently and then just sort of disappeared. One of the main themes is the difference between our inner world vs. how people see us, and I think Rose was the greatest example. She developed throughout the novel, but just not quite enough.

It was disconcerting because I expected the separate storylines to converge a bit sooner – and then when they finally did come together, the connections were tenuous for some.  It made the entire novel feel a bit disjointed, and I think it may have worked better as a series of loosely connected stories with Pointe St. Charles and the Farine Five Roses as the common theme.

I received this novel from Dundurn Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.