Skyggen af en sky - Taru Väyrynen

Title: Skyggen af en sky (The Shadow of a Cloud)
Author: Taru Väyrynen
Genre: YA
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 207
Date read: April, 2015

Henna and Krista are best friends and are staying at a boarding shool for troubled teens. One day Krista is found brutally murdered. Everybody expects the murderer to be a stranger, but then the evidence starts to show...


I remember reading and loving this back when it first was published (1992'ish), but haven't read it in probably about 15-20 years. I remembered almost nothing of it going into the book, but as the story unfolded, I'd find myself remembering things 3-5 pages before it happened, which was kinda fun.

It doesn't quite stand the test of time, but it does have an interesting twist, and I can see why I loved it so much back then.

Coraline - Neil Gaiman

Title: Coraline (graphic novel)
Author: Neil Gaiman
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 186
Date read: April, 2015

When Coraline steps through a door in her family's new house, she finds another house, strangely similar to her own (only better). At first, things seem marvelous. The food is better than at home, and the toy box is filled with fluttering wind-up angels and dinosaur skulls that crawl and rattle their teeth.

But there's another mother there and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go. Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and all the tools she can find if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.


Disclaimer: I've never read the original, but thought the graphic-novel version would be perfect for the read-a-thon. The drawings were gorgeous, but as usual I feel like I can take or leave Neil Gaiman as a story-teller... although that's perhaps not an entirely fair assessment, considering the medium, which did mean that it was at best a very superficial version of the story.

The Book of You - Claire Kendal

Title: The Book of You
Author: Claire Kendal
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 363
Date read: April, 2015


Clarissa is becoming more and more frightened of her colleague, Rafe. He won't leave her alone, and he refuses to take no for an answer. He is always there.

Being selected for jury service is a relief. The courtroom is a safe haven, a place where Rafe can't be. But as a violent tale of kidnap and abuse unfolds, Clarissa begins to see parallels between her own situation and that of the young woman on the witness stand.

Realizing that she bears the burden of proof, Clarissa unravels the twisted, macabre fairytale that Rafe has spun around them - and discovers that the ending he envisions is more terrifying than she could have imagined.


Terrifying from pretty much the very first page. I picked it up at 11pm on an evening where I was home alone, which was less than intelligent, as it got me on high alert. Perfect for a read-a-thon where I needed to stay awake though ;)

The book is about 360 pages, and I absolutely LOVED the first 330. It was at turns frustrating, intriguing, terrifying and satisfying. Totally unputdownable.

But unfortunately the last 30 pages didn't work for me. Without giving too much away, I thought I found a plothole, and the ending itself employed one of my biggest pet peeves in suspense novels, which unfortunately subtracted a couple of stars.

I still think I'd recommend it though, because for most of the book I was totally captivated. Could just have wished for a less stereotypical ending.