Funny and childish... I was expecting something more adult and creepy! They go through all aspect of a clown adding absurd jokes here and there like every survival guide to «something». Not really original. A big joke! Not really worth it!

I think the translation of that book was not that good and that it might have affected my opinion on this one... That being said, this book is just too long for the story, it could have been cut from a good third of it and it would have been fine. The book is about a women who kill a man, in what seem a random course of circumstance, and then through flashback and interrogation by the cops, we try to demystify what have happen and why. The writing is really not that good and the story is just too long, and like many others said, yeah a bit confusing, because the women seem half crazy and the other half are lies... so... kind of hard to get the true. Overall it's a story about sins, religious belief that have gone wrong, sexual abuse and vengeance. I think it would have been better to see the past of the women and then saw her kill the man, the rhythm would have been better, because the way it's written you know she kill him, and you go through 350 pages to find out why, and at some point you don't really care anymore, there is not much to get a grip at and to push you to continue on your reading. To say that this book is a pages-turner is a very very big lies. When you read others review you find out that people seem to really liked it or just hated it, not a lot of middle liking for this one, unfortunately, I was in the doesn't like it group.

Oooohhhhh that was so bad! I don,t get the positive review of this book! The writing is good, good pacing, a bit raw and not much style, but alright for this kind of thriller. But the story made no sense from start to finish, a bad case of unreliable characters, something that have been done too much already in the past few years. And at the end, being careful not to spoiled things here, if you are very cautious you might want to stop reading...

But this is just not a thriller, this is a bad case of a weird manipulative relationship with a bunch of crazy folks!

Not a thriller in my opinion, not a good book either, I was going for one stars, but because of the writing, which was okay, I will give it a fair and generous two. But I don't recommend it!

2,5/5. Two words! Plot hole! Big one. This book start so well with a very intriguing premises and then a good start (the first 100 pages were pretty good). And then you start to see it going nowhere... at all. Still I wanted to know how it will end so I kept on going and going quite fast because the writing, while being very simple, is very fluid and fast paced. But at the end you realize that even if it's was fast pace, it could have easily been cut in half, because the same thing happen and are repeat over and over again without it being necessary it all, because it's quite easy to follow, anyway... So I kept going and then the end happen and it was a very bad ending, two many things unanswered, things that are answered but don't make any sense. So good and bad, but more bad then good, and not really worth it. To resume it briefly, a strong idea, strong start, and then it's like the author didn't think all through before writing and fit it all in something to make it work more or less, not a very good execution. Disappointed... I had high hope even if too many people have says that I shouldn't read it, I didn't listen, I should have!

Dans le cadre du Prix des lecteurs du livre de poche, je me retrouve à lire ce premier roman de la triple sélection du mois de mars. Très heureux de m’y attaquer, car c’est un livre que je me serais sans doute procuré de toute manière. La prémisse intéressante et le clin d’œil à l’Overlook Hotel de Stephen King (il y a d’ailleurs quelques références à l’auteur dans ce livre) m’avaient d’amblé intrigué. Après un excellent départ, un bon rythme et un bon mystère, un tombe de plus en plus dans un thriller/policier assez classique, mais en accéléré (le livre fait 280 pages et si l’on enlève les blancs de saut de chapitre, on en a pour moins de 240 pages de texte). On tourne de nombreux coins ronds, l’intrigue se retrouve non pas tenu pas des ficelles évidentes, mais carrément d’énormes câbles aberrants. La fin est prévisible, sans doute un des livres les plus prévisibles que j’ai lu de ma vie. Honnêtement je ne suis pas excellent pour prévoir les intrigues et je n’essaie jamais à fond de deviner le tout, mais dans ce cas le tout sautait aux yeux et je crois que j’avais le tout en tête avant la page 20, ce qui est tout simplement ridicule. On y retrouve des éléments, glisser à la va-vite, de neuroscience et même de physique quantique, mais le tout est à peine lancé, effleurer au passage et non appondit. Ce qui résume assez bien le livre, manque de profondeur dans tout, les éléments de bases étaient présents, mais j’en suis à me demander le cœur et le sérieux que l’auteur y a mis, car le tout me semble paresseux. Des éléments de sciences peu approfondies qui sentent le manque de recherche, une intrigue bâclée, des personnages génériques. J’avais déjà lu deux livres de cet auteur, qui sans être extrêmement marquants avaient un certain mérite, mais ici, franchement, c’est décevant. Le tout se lit très rapidement et j’avoue avoir eu un certain intérêt pendant la première moitié, mais après cela, les travers ressortent de plus en plus et la fin a fait extrêmement mal.

This book is about fictional women character of a supposedly comic book fiction universe. My first disappointment was that those were not «real» character from comic book world. I’m not an expert, but I read my fair share of comic, and those characters don’t exist as far as I know. They are based on some, Jean Grey is certainly an inspiration for one of them. The writing style was interesting and the humor makes me laugh a couple of time, but it wasn’t enough to keep me interested in the long term reading. Last but not least, nothing happen, it’s mostly the character complaining about their life. There is no action, no reflection... just nothing and complaint. Some person describe this book as a feminist book, and a good one, but seriously if the feminist is at a point where it’s biggest concern is the fictional faith of fictional women in a fictional world, then I think there is no need for feminist in this world! (Seriously I know feminist is more than needed in this world, but I also know that there are way more important battles to be fought in the real word, don’t fight it for fictional women!!)

1,5/5. I'd felt very unsure going into this book. Octopus is a fascinating creature, a creature I've learn to respect so much that I wouldn't even think to eat it and felt ashamed I did, but this isn't a fascinating book at all. Exception made of the few facts disperse here and there in the book, the book is clearly more about the author experience then the octopus itself. An author who have some major contradictions between her behavior and her sayings. And a book that just felt very empty, not much content and it disappointed me.

Première rencontre avec Elizabeth George et je crains qu’elle soit également la dernière. Ce qui m’a d’abord paru comme un roman intéressant, est rapidement devenu une lecture insipide et ennuyeuse. J’ai bien aimé l’écriture, très descriptive, mais de belles descriptions de paysages et des lieux. J’ai aimé aussi que l’auteur utilise le format policier, mais qu’elle sorte de l’enquête et d e l’enquêteur, pour développer les personnages autour de l’enquête. Par contre, le problème est que tous ces points positifs deviennent en cours de lecture si extrêmes qu’ils deviennent des défauts. L’écriture devient lente, l’histoire n’avance pas, ralentit par ces fameuses descriptions, mais aussi par de nombreux dialogues vides qui tournent en rond pendant des pages et des pages. L’enquêteur est tellement peu présent qu’il est pratiquement un personnage secondaire, si ce n’est un figurant, pour la première moitié en tout cas. L’histoire, voulant s’étendre et se complexifier, se perd finalement dans une série de sous-histoire. Une histoire familiale, sans doute la plus intéressante à mon avis, une histoire d’amour, une enquête bien sûr et un discours d’opinion. C’est ce dernier qui m’a complètement perdu. L’opinion de l’auteur transparaît tellement à travers n’ont pas un, mais une série de personnages que cela déviant lassant. La misandrie est à son paroxysme. Les femmes sont des féministes fortes, alors que les hommes sont soit des lâches, des agresseurs, des adultères, des dépendants affectifs qui ont besoin d’être pris en charge, etc. Cela devient risible et le message féministe qui aurait pu être entendu devient perd toute crédibilité. Il y a aussi de nombreuses erreurs de «chronologie» ou de respect du temps. Au début, lorsqu’on fait un décompte des mois à l’envers, si l’on prend la peine de compter les mois, le décompte ne fonctionne pas… De plus, je me suis rendu compte qu’il s’agit de la 19e aventure de l’enquêteur, alors que celui-ci est encore dans la trentaine… comment est-ce possible si l’on considère qu’une enquête typique de roman, ou le laps de temps entre deux enquêtes, est plus ou moins d’un an, pour assurer une certaine crédibilité. Finalement, l’auteur produit un roman de plus de 750 pages (dans mon édition) qui aurait pu en faire 350. On aurait facilement pu en retrancher la moitié, donc, de grosses et pénibles longueurs. Ceci étant dit, je comprends le succès commercial de cette auteure et la clientèle cible qui la suit, mais je ne serai pas de ceux (celles) là.

2,5/5. Not so sure what I was expecting about this one, but I was hoping for something funnier. Yeah it’s a humoristic book, kind of a parody of a cookbook, original for sure and funny in maybe the first twenty pages, but it soon became repetitive and lot less funny. Not really worth it!

2,5/5. Disappointing on so many levels. I felt incomplete, some part of it goes really quickly, too quickly. The illustration felt very childish, not my main concern, but I would have enjoyed something a bit more adult. Also, it just didn’t bring anything to the story, just a fast telling of the «original» story. I think that could be an easy way in for newcomers, to get the basis fast, but I was expecting a lot more from this one!