Book Review: Apartment 401 by Boris Baćić
Apartment 401
Series: Haunted Places
Author: Boris Baćić
Published: February 28, 2021
286 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
There’s something wrong with Apartment 401…
When the newlywed couple Brad and Julia decide to move into their new home, they are ecstatic to start their new lives. They finally have a home of their own, and with a baby on the way, this couldn’t have come at a better time.
However, just one day in the apartment is enough to tell them that something is very wrong. Things go missing only to reappear in strange places, footsteps and whispers echo in the rooms, and every night, the same song plays from somewhere inside the apartment.
The longer Brad and Julia spend in the apartment, the more they learn about the dark secrets that haunt it. No longer able to afford moving to a new place, they have to make a decision – run away from their new home, or face the apparitions that plague it.
One thing is for sure, though. They are not the only inhabitants of Apartment 401.
Kim’s Review:
This is my book club’s pick for October … spooky season!!!
And this cover looks amazing, just saying. I really liked this story! The only reason for the 4 stars is because I didn’t like how it felt like all the loose strings wouldn’t be tied up by the end of the book. Once the twist happens, I want everything to fall into place. This twist was crazy and I admit that I didn’t see it coming, but once it did, I didn’t like how I had to fight to make the little details make sense. Other than that, this book was good! Creepy!
I don’t want to get into the plot line too much because I don’t want to give it away. At first, I thought it was going to be a Rosemary’s Baby type story but then it went full on ghosts and haunting! I enjoyed the characters and they all had me questioning their motives at one time or another. This is a great one for Halloween or just anytime you have a horror itch!!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: Your Corner Dark by Desmond Hall
Your Corner Dark
Author: Desmond Hall
Published: January 19, 2021
384 Pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: September 12-29, 2021
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
American Street meets Long Way Down in this searing and gritty debut novel that takes an unflinching look at the harsh realities of gang life in Jamaica and how far a teen is willing to go for family.
Things can change in a second:
The second Frankie Green gets that scholarship letter, he has his ticket out of Jamaica.
The second his longtime crush, Leah, asks him on a date, he’s in trouble.
The second his father gets shot, suddenly nothing else matters.
And the second Frankie joins his uncle’s gang in exchange for paying for his father’s medical bills, there’s no going back…or is there?
As Frankie does things he never thought he’d be capable of, he’s forced to confront the truth of the family and future he was born into—and the ones he wants to build for himself.
Jessica’s Review:
Your Corner Dark is the debut novel by Jamaican native Desmond Hall who gives the reader a whole different perspective of how difficult life on the island can be: Jamaica isn’t just pretty sand and beaches, it has a whole rough side of life to it dealing with the harsh social, political, and economic realities of many who live there.
Frankie is our main character who has just received a full ride to college in the USA! He is ready for this to better himself and then something unexpected happened: Frankie’s father is shot and hospitalized. And the bills are going to be very costly.
Frankie is given an option from his uncle: He will pay Frankie’s father’s medical bills if Frankie joins his gang, which would mean giving up his scholarship and the way he thought his future was going to go. And Frankie’s father would be furious if he joined the gang….
Hall shows us another side of Jamaica with what the natives go through– a very difficult life– and we experience most of that with Frankie and the choices he makes and the repercussions from those choices. This was a hard novel to put down as I had no idea how it was going to end or what was going to happen with Frankie next!
There is a small potential romance that comes in the last portion of the book, but with everything else going on, it was not really necessary for me. There is a lot of violence, and yes, death along with political leanings and poverty in this novel, but you can’t help but to root for Frankie to pull through everything. And I really liked Aunt Jenny as well!
The conversations in the novel are written as how the natives would speak. I did have to get used to it, but it also added to the novel for me.
This book would not have come to my attention if I was not taking part in #Diverseathon2021 this year. I read this for September’s prompt which was a book set in Jamaica. I am glad I came across and read it. I did get Your Corner Dark finished in September, but was just not able to get the review written.
Now since we are in a new month: For October the prompt is: A main character who lives/lived with abuse.
October’s Host is Yami @ A Bookworm’s Thoughts. She will host at Facebook and Instagram.
**She will also be having a giveaway: See her Facebook and Instagram pages for information on the giveaway.
For full details on this year long read-a-thon, please click here.
And don’t forget about the awesome GRAND PRIZE at the end of the year. Click the link here for that information.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: The Boys from Brazil by Ira Levin
The Boys From Brazil
Author: Ira Levin
Published: February 12, 1976
312 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Alive and hiding in South America, the fiendish Nazi Dr. Josef Mengele gathers a group of former colleagues for a horrifying project—the creation of the Fourth Reich. Barry Kohler, a young investigative journalist, gets wind of the project and informs famed Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman, but before he can relay the evidence, Kohler is killed.
Thus Ira Levin opens one of the strangest and most masterful novels of his career. Why has Mengele marked a number of harmless aging men for murder? What is the hidden link that binds them? What interest can they possibly hold for their killers: six former SS men dispatched from South America by the most wanted Nazi still alive, the notorious “Angel of Death”? One man alone must answer these questions and stop the killings—Lieberman, himself aging and thought by some to be losing his grip on reality.
At the heart of The Boys from Brazil lies a frightening contemporary nightmare, chilling and all too possible.
Kim’s Review:
I randomly found this book referenced in a silly conspiracy book I found in the clearance section of Books-a-Million. It was about Hitler’s use of dark magic in his rise to power and all it did was disprove the author’s whole thesis. I didn’t make it through chapter 3 of that book, but thankfully, I got a good book recommendation out of it.
I’m not sure I’d call Rosemary’s Baby horror, and I kinda feel the same way about this book. The overall idea is a scary one. However, the book comes across more as a thriller with some medical leanings. I mean, Dr. Mengele is the main villain so of course there’s gonna be some medical weirdness happening. I don’t want to give away the twist, though I knew half of it going into the story. I was still surprised once the twist was completely laid out for me. I didn’t see the whole picture clearly until then and I actually liked that. Even the open ending didn’t bother me!! It did get a little slow in the middle, but other than that, I really enjoyed this book!!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK