Bogormen

Title: I Know What You've Done
Author: Dorothy Koomson
Genre: Suspense
Rating: 3.5/5
# pages: 376
Date read: January, 2023

Do you have any idea what the people you know are capable of?

Bestselling author of All My Lies Are True, Dorothy Koomson, asks how well you can really know your neighbors. Fans of Lisa Jewell and Louise Candlish will rip through the pages of this addictive new thriller.

What if all your neighbors' secrets landed in a diary on your doorstep?

What if the woman who gave it to you was murdered by one of the people in the diary?

What if the police asked if you knew anything?

Would you hand over the book of secrets?

Or ... would you try to find out what everyone had done?


Utterly impossible to put down. Every page just added more questions to the mix, and as the chapters were very short, I would constantly read "just one more chapter", to see if perhaps SOME of the questions were answered. This book takes unreliable narrator to the max, and while that does sometimes annoy me, here it really worked to keep me guessing.

I have no clue how it'll work as a reread though, as part of its charm is definitely that you have NO clue what's going on until the very end. There were several reveals along the way, and I'd guessed all of one of them (and guessed two others very wrong).

Not high literature - but extremely readable. 4 stars for unputdownableness, 3 stars for the plot itself, so I've split the difference.

Title: The Woman He Loved Before
Author: Dorothy Koomson
Genre: Chick-lit, Suspense
Rating: 2.5/5
# pages: 465
Date read: June, 2016


Libby has a nice life with a gorgeous husband and a big home by the sea. But over time she is becoming more unsure if Jack has ever loved her - and if he is over the death of Eve, his first wife. When fate intervenes in their relationship, Libby decides to find out all she can about the man she hastily married and the seemingly perfect Eve. Eventually Libby stumbles across some startling truths about Eve, and is soon unearthing more and more devastating family secrets. Frightened by what she finds and the damage it could cause, Libby starts to worry that she too will end up like the first woman Jack loved.


While I absolutely adored the first book I ever read by Dorothy Koomson ("My Best Friend's Girl"), most subsequent reads have unfortunately disappointed. This one more than most, as I spent most of it deeply frustrated by Jack and Libby's complete inability to communicate! For really stupid reasons too.

The last 150 pages showed a brief improvement, and I was pretty much tied to my chair to discover what happened next during that time, but unfortunately the ending was another disappointment with - wonder of wonders - yet more failure to communicate. This time with a better reason, granted, but still.

Title: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up
Author: Marie Kondo
Genre: Non-fiction
Rating: 3/5
# pages: 224
Date read: December, 2014

Japanese organizational consultant Marie Kondo takes tidying to a whole new level, promising that if you properly declutter your home once, you'll never have to do it again. Whereas most methods advocate a room-by-room or little-by-little approach, the KonMari Method's category-by-category, all-at-once prescription leads to lasting results. In fact, none of Kondo's clients have been repeat customers (and she still has a three-month waiting list of new customers!). With detailed guidance for every type of item in the household, this quirky little manual from Japan's newest lifestyle phenomenon will help readers clear their clutter and enjoy the unique magic of a tidy home--and the calm, motivated mindset it can inspire.


Not a book I would usually pick up, but it was recommended on the "Books on the Night-Stand" podcast, and actually sounded interesting, so I read the sample, and then bought the book.

It had a lot of good points and definitely gave me some advice I will try to incorporate to my daily life, but there were also some elements that had me rolling my eyes at the author. No, I am not going to anthropomorize my items by "thanking my shoes for a job well done" when I take them off after work, or "revitalize my off-season clothing, by running my hands through them and sending energy into them" a couple of times a year.

However, doing a serious declutter and keeping only what is necessary and brings me joy is a useful tactic, and something I have been neglecting for years.

Title: Phantoms
Author: Dean Koontz
Genre: Horror
Rating: 4.5/5
# pages: 448
Date read: November, 2013

The lights are on in Snowfield, California, a cozy ski village nestled in the Sierra Madres, but nobody seems to be home. When Dr. Jenny Paige returns to the small town, she finds tables set for dinner, meals being prepared, and music playing in living rooms, but there's no trace of the people who put the water on to boil or set an extra place for company at the dinner table.

As she explores the town, Paige finds friends and neighbors felled by a mysterious force--the bodies show no visible signs of violence or disease, and no known plague kills victims before the ice in their dinner drinks has time to melt. But the deep quiet that surrounds her offers few clues about the fate of the town's inhabitants.

Dean Koontz is a bit hit-and-miss for me, but when he's good he's very, very good; and for pure thrill-value he beats most of Stephen King's novels hands-down. I read this in a day and absolutely loved the feeling of diving into a great book again. In atmosphere it reminded me quite a bit of "The Oath" by Frank E. Peretti, so I may have to reread that one now.

I love thrillers, but am not too fond of the gore often found in them. Fortunately this novel strikes the perfect balance and is very heavy on psychological terror while fortunately light on blood and guts. I felt totally immersed in the story and was deliciously scared pretty much from chapter 2 or 3.

... that "deliciously scared" feeling did turn into a "is this smart?" scared feeling after dark when I found myself home alone though... so knowing my husband was only an hour away from coming home, I briefly put the book aside in order not to scare myself too silly before he came back home again ;) I DID pick it right back up when he got home though, and made sure to finish it well before bedtime.

The ending was mostly satisfactory. For some weird reason it always sort of disappoints me when the explanation turns out to be supernatural - even when I've seen it coming - but I must admit that it gave me a thrill to discover that many of the mass disappearances mentioned were based on truth.

Possibly the best book I've read by Dean Koontz so far.