Review: Defending Jacob

Defending Jacob by William Landay
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Bought with an Amazon XMas Gift certificate from my Sister Katja and her Husband Andreas.
April 25th, 2020:
The limited TV series is now in Germany on AppleTV+ - of which I have the first year free with my iPhone 11.
The book is not translated in German, well that does not concern me, reading it english, but it is strange.
And the German title of the TV-Series is "Verschwiegen" not too bad, compared to "Quicksand" which has the German title "Im Traum kannst du nicht lügen" (translates to "You cannot lie in (a) dream"), which is also the title of the German translation of the book, but really bad and nonsensical nonetheless, imho. Probably the same people who thought “Thirteen reasons why” translates good to “Tote Mädchen lügen nicht” (meaning “Dead Girls do not lie”)...

Started reading this today, as I just checked and now all episodes of the TV-Series are available - meaning I can binge them, which is really the purpose of streaming series. But I will try to finish the book first, to better compare it to the series.

No real suspense, and I hate the father as a narrator. Will try to fast-forward and finish it today or tomorrow, as this smells like 2 star DNF-bore. The interesting parts are the social media relevations, but these are sprinkled sparingly inbetween. Not so sure wether I will like the TV-series, but I will try. Still waiting for a twist, hopefully one I did not guess.

Just having finished it, I still hate it. The ending of the story does not really twist it enough, and for me this is no justice, but rather a desperate ending.
No justice, no peace, ignore the police... (or the law).

Still, it was a surprise and that alone saves this mediocre book from getting 2 stars, pushing it to 3.
After the book ends, there are a few pages with more information and a section further reading, there one of the books is another book I have still on pause for a few years now for the missing suspense, and I will really count it more as a DNF We Need to Talk About Kevin - and it has also been filmed, which makes my question why? OK, then there are the people who filmed Gone Girl, so, obviously, there is an audience for bad movies from worse books.

Recommended if you want to bore yourself brainless. No suspense, only one twist (nearly the ending), no surprises and too many brainless thoughts from the father, quite a lot of do nothing to further the story. So to put it out there, not recommended as interesting, suspenseful entertainment or food for thought. Will watch the series on AppleTV+, probably in FF, if it is as bad as the book.
And I will never read another book by this author.

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Review: Schwarze Brandung

Schwarze Brandung by Sabine Weiß
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: The Girl Beneath the Sea

The Girl Beneath the Sea by Andrew Mayne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lent this with Kindle Unlimited, which I paid for, as I found a few books, which I would have bought otherwise, so the fee for a few months is justified and cheaper than buying the books.

Petra's short and to the point 4star review alerted me to this book.

YA, in my opinion, no sex, very little romance - which is in this context ok for me. A lot of additional info, which is not always needed, but did not feel like a filler. What sets this apart are the descriptions of diving etc. where for me believable and felt true.
Also it was mostly not an "I do everything alone and know better and stumble into dangerous situations without anyone knowing where I am and what I do".
Instead it was more a motley crew, and decisions where guessed by the most knowledgeable or discussed shortly till a conclusion was reached.

Suspense could have been better, but for me the diving scenes and the scenery underwater more than made up for it. Also people get hurt, some die, so there is that, and for me this adds to the real feeling of the story. Some detailed descriptions of corpses the MC had to retrieve or found in the story may disturb some, but I see no reason for trigger-warnings.

Recommend it as a different kind of crime-book for people who like reading about diving or dive themselves.
Looking forward to the next book in the series, which is currently supposed to be published February 21, 2021, and should then also be on Kindle Unlimited.

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Review: Forgotten Secrets

Forgotten Secrets by Robin Perini
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lent this with Kindle Unlimited, which I paid for, as I found a few books, which I would have bought otherwise, so the fee for a few months is justified and cheaper than buying the books.

This is more romance than thriller and for me no page-turner. Some nice twists, but one of them was advertised early on, and the others did not really safe it for me.
Looks like a 2-3 star review, proably 2.5 rounded to 3 and not recommended, and will be the only book by this author I will read. At about 50% I could not wait to finish it started skipping the romance parts.

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Review: Cross Her Heart

Cross Her Heart by Melinda Leigh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Lent this with Kindle Unlimited, which I paid for, as I found a few books, which I would have bought otherwise, so the fee for a few months is justified and cheaper than buying the books.

Decent crime but no page-turner for me. Looks like three stars.
Jup, just finished it, and while I like the writing, will most probably not read another book by this author, it could have done with more suspense, and while there enough suspects, the killer was just meh for me, not enought investigation either, to much grief and family life. Even that I have read better Stillhouse Lake comes to mind.
Again, the blurb and comments by others promised more than this book delivered for me.

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Review: Enna Andersen und das verschwundene Mädchen

Enna Andersen und das verschwundene Mädchen by Anna Johannsen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Lent this with Kindle Unlimited, which I paid for, as I found a few books, which I would have bought otherwise, so the fee for a few months is justified and cheaper than buying the books.
Review in German, as this book is imho not available in English translation (yet).


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Review: Forsaken

Forsaken by J.D. Barker
My rating: 1 of 5 stars



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