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[j-rants-reviews-random-stories]

Andy Grey and the Abbott Mansion Murderer (Part 2)

Carl went to get himself a glass of water from the kitchen around 11pm, only to find the body of Ms. Stewart, clad in only her pyjama shorts and a t-shirt, sprawled across the dining room floor in a pool of blood. After Carl, I was the first to arrive at the site of the murder. Quick to follow me were Diane, Luna, Chadwick, Will, Thomas, and then Emerson, who was still donning her beautiful maroon dress she had worn to dinner earlier in the evening unlike everyone else, who opted to change into lounge wear or pyjamas soon after dinner. Based on the smudges of her eye makeup and water stains on her dress, I assumed she had been preparing to take her makeup off when she heard Carl screaming like a little girl and came running.

Carl seems like the type to get in the middle of a lot of things. It must be quite annoying for Emerson to have smudged makeup across her face.

Everyone began to talk at once when we all recovered from the shock of seeing the cadaver on the floor. Diane quickly took control of the situation and ordered us to remain calm. Her calculating gaze that she held when she looked at us told me she was analyzing us all. I did the same. When looking everyone up and down for clues, maybe blood or perhaps offensive wounds from Ms. Stewart, I came to a startling realization.

“Where’s Colin?” I asked quietly. Everyone’s eyes shot to me, then quickly to their surroundings to see that Colin Dawson was nowhere to be seen.

Luna suggested that Colin was the killer and that he ran. We all opted to stay on guard and go back to our rooms and lock our doors since the hurricane left us with very few options, but everyone seemed uneasy at the thought of going upstairs. Diane finally led the charge to head up the staircase and everyone followed like some twisted follow the leader game.

When I got to the top floor I looked around quickly for any signs of Colin, and noticed that the door to the room he was staying in was ajar. I tapped Chadwick on the shoulder, who had been walking in front of me, and pointed to the door. Chadwick crept silently over to the door, catching everyone’s attention. We watched as he stopped in front of the door, paused for a moment, and swiftly kicked the door the rest of the way open, only to lurch back in surprise.

On the floor was Colin Dawson, throat slit and a rose placed stem first in an open wound in his chest.

Things quickly spiralled from there. Everyone began to run about like headless chickens. I hid myself in the bathroom nearest to my room for a few minutes to recompose myself, and noticed a bit of blood on the sink after I gathered myself and took in my surroundings. I found this odd, I didn’t think I had gotten blood on myself when I was downstairs near Ms. Stewarts’ body.

I was broken from my thoughts by a knock at the door.

“My dear, there have been another two bodies found, and someone is missing,” the soft voice of Diane vibrated through the heavy bathroom door. I ripped the door open to see Diane’s ashen face, and she led me to the library where the bodies of Luna and Chadwick were found.

“What happened?” I questioned her. “How could this have all happened so fast? There were only ten of us here, who could be the killer.

“I don’t know, most of us went to our rooms. Chadwick said he was going to go downstairs and try to find any clues pointing to who the killer is. The rest of us went to our rooms. We only came out when we heard glass breaking downstairs, but we all waited before rushing downstairs. This is when I found them like this. Emerson, Will and Carl came down soon after.”

The shock I had felt earlier began to set in again as I realized the reality of the situation I was in.

So far the only body we haven’t found is that of T​​homas Hunter, the 40 year old writer who recently faced a lot of backlash for a controversial book he wrote when he was 23 and had quickly been blackballed in the industry. It’s a miracle he was invited to this convention.

“Yes but he's the one with the most motivation!” cried Will, the calm man who reminded me of my grandfather in a way, quiet, reserved, and not quick to raise his voice. Now is a special circumstance however.

“Yes,” voiced Emerson, finally speaking up and moving closer to the group. We all stood in the atrium of the house, debating whether to brave the hurricane and walk to the closest town. It was a good 3 kilometres from the mansion, but facing the storm seemed a lot more appealing than facing a murderer right now.

“He does have the most motive, but Andy is right about the red herring. Theres a high likelihood that the real murderer has planted a red herring to lead us off his trail.” Emerson continues.

“But if that's the case, then who else is here that could be a suspect besides the 5 of us currently in this room?” asks Carl, who eyes everyone suspiciously. We all eye each other up and down uneasily, wondering which one of us had the potential to be the killer. I quickly realize Carl is right, no matter how much of an asshole he is.

“Jesus Christ I'm too old for this shit,” mutters Will, shaking his head and putting his hands over his face. “

“Excuse me young man, I am 5 years older than you, don’t go calling yourself old just yet. You sure as hell better not be trying to say we aren’t going to make it out of here alive. I have too much life left in me yet to go out without a fight,” exclaims Diane loudly. Something tells me she isn’t the murderer, and I have a sneaking suspicion that neither is Will. To be completely honest, they just seem like they want to get out of here, but I can’t rule them out. I don't plan to be one of those idiots in a horror film or novel that ends up trusting everyone and gets killed. I’m actually genre aware.

“Okay, we can’t start turning against each other right now, we need to figure out what the fuck we need to do to get out of here. We obviously can’t call the police because of the hurricane, so what are our other options?” Questions Emerson.

“I vote that we high tail it out of here and walk to the closest town,” Carl snarks back in a ‘duh’ tone.

“You know what Carl, you can go right ahead and go out in that hurricane and walk to the next town which happens to be a 4 kilometre walk. If you can make it to town without getting blown away then you can get the police, but right now I’m doing the smart thing and staying here. I can fight another person, but I can’t fight the elements. If you're confident that you can fight mother nature herself then have at it,” Diane condescendingly says. Damn, I really like this woman. Explains why I love her books so much .

Carl looks down at his feet, unsure of how to respond, and looks back at the front door which is a mere 6 feet from where he is standing, and looks away in defeat.

“I’m with Diane,” sighs Will in resignation, realizing that Diane’s plan was perhaps the safest option right now. Emerson and I silently agree and nod.

“Okay, well if we’re going to stay here then what are we going to do, wait for whoever the murderer is to come out and slit out throats too?” Retorts Carl. Goddamn I wish someone would slit his throat to shut him up.

Well, maybe don't actually slit his throat, but at least knock him out.

“No,” I finally cut in. We aren’t going to wait for the killer to come after us. We are going to find him.”

[j-rants-reviews-random-stories]

Andy Grey and the Abbott Mansion Murderer (Part 1)

I had always prided myself on being analytical and cool in the face of fear and danger, but when I was confronted with the real possibility of being trapped in a house with a murderer, that cool facade flew out the window.

“I only write about murder! I don't want to be part of a real murder! I’m too young to die!”

“Diane, you are 70 years old, I’m pretty sure you're past your expiration date”

“What do you know about expiration dates Carl? Your stories expired on the shelves years ago, it's a wonder you were even invited to this convention,”

“I’m pretty sure the only reason people were invited to this was so the coordinator could slowly pick us all off one by one,” I pipe up frantically, in hopes to get the others to shut the fuck up so I could think.

After being a murder mystery novelist for the past 15 years I was thrilled to be invited to this convention, with the chance to meet some of the best writers from the past 50 years, but a couple of things kind of ruined that.

The hurricane that is cutting off all cell service.

The corpses that began showing up.

There had originally been 10 of us at the convention, now only 5 of us were left, potentially 6, but there is a chance that if the sixth is alive, they aren’t on our side.

“And what would you know, I hadn’t even heard of you before coming to this convention, what could you possibly know about murder and the motives of a murderer,” mutters Carl, who I was quickly beginning to despise as the night went on.

“Just because you haven’t heard of me doesn't mean shit,'' I spit at him. “There are 4 bodies and 1 person missing right now, I don't think you should be focusing on how little recognition I've had over the years, maybe more on finding out who is killing us and why they want to do this! In case you haven't noticed, we are trapped here with no cell service until the hurricane calms down which isn’t likely to happen for at least another 12 hours,” I continue. Carl looks ashamed at his actions.

Diane quickly steps in and adds “Yes, but don’t we already know who’s doing it? It's obviously the person that went missing - their body is the only one that hasn't turned up yet, so they are the most likely suspect,”

“Not necessarily,” I reason with her. “Isn’t it the first rule of a murder mystery to throw off the detectives, to create a red herring?”The other four in the room murmur their agreement

“I suppose you're right,” replies Emerson in a quiet voice. She is the only one close to my age, being the youngest here at 22 and me being 28.

Both Emerson and I started writing out murder mystery stories at a young age, catching the attention of publishers before we each reached 18. Before that I had only had recognition on small blog posts as a writer, until I hit the big tims. After my first novel that sold however I was struggling to keep up with sales and demand for new books. This struggle to keep up with popular demand over the years is what made me skepctical of my invitation to the convention at Abbott House.

Many rumours circulated for years, inspiring many of the famous mystery writers invited to the convention, especially Diane.

So far this evening 4 bodies have been found, all displayed the same way as the Abbot family was; throats slashed and a rose stuck in the open stab wound through their hearts. The first victim was found after everyone heard a shrill scream around 11pm, at which time most of us were in our assigned guest rooms. The victims tonight were Christina Stewart, a 45 year old writer who had been topping sales charts for the past 20 years. Colin Dawson, a 37 year old writer from the south who was well known for his detective series inspired by Agatha Christie’s Poirot novels, Luna Harkin, 53 years old from Spain, who specialized in amateur detective novels, and lastly the body of Chadwick Bradbury was found, 68 year old writer who was famous in his prime for his gruesome stories based in the 50’s about women being slain for their organs.

All found dead within an hour, and nobody knows who did it.

[j-rants-reviews-random-stories]

Rant: Lack of Living Wage

Okay besties I’m about to rant about something that everyone should be concerned with; the fact that people are paid minimum wage and not living wage because NEWSFLASH!

THEY AREN’T THE SAME THING!

Where I am currently living the living wage is roughly $16.20 an hour. But minimum wage? That shit is only $15.00 an hour. 

That may not seem like a big deal to some people but let me break this down for you.

In this example, let’s say that part time is equal to 25 hours of work a week and full time is 40 hours a week.

A full time week on living wage makes approx. $648.00 and a minimum wage would make $600. Part time workers being paid living wage would make $405.00 (assuming they can get a full 25 hours since many places give part time employees way less than that). Part time workers being paid minimum wage? They would only make $375.00 a week.

Still doesn’t seem like a big difference?

Full time employees being paid living wage would make about $33,696.00 a year assuming they worked every single week with no vacation time. If they were on minimum wage they would make $31,200.00 a year. Part time employees paid living wage would make $21,060.00 a year with no vacation time. If they were paid only minimum wage that income would decrease to $19,500.00 annually. 

Now to some people that still may not seem like a big deal. But inflation is a thing that exists and prices for everything have drastically increased in recent years, so even $20 can make a huge difference for a lot of people, but sadly many employers don’t see why they should be paying their employees a living wage even though much of the work that minimum wage employees do is labour work or simply work that many people would rather not do.

I won’t pretend to be an expert on this, but I have taken a sociology course in university and know a sociology major who I have spoken to about this and simply, the numbers added up do not equal loving and caring employers who actually give a damn about their employees lives past their usefulness to the company they work for. 

EMPLOYEES. ARE. HUMAN. AND. THEY. DESERVE. ENOUGH. MONEY. TO. LIVE.

[j-rants-reviews-random-stories]

Good Girl, Bad Blood

Holly Jackson has done it again. Like the first book in the AGGGTM series, it had me on the edge of me seat from the first word to the last word, and like the first book I devoured it within a day. Some of my favourite parts of the book include;

1. Ravi and Pip. They are one of my favourite couples in literature that I have read recently. Their relationship is healthy, with lots of communication (especially on Ravi’s part, not so much with Pip but she obviously isn’t as much of a communicator when it comes to her feelings). The consistent nicknames that Ravi gives Pip GIVE ME LIFE. I want my own Ravi Singh now.

2. More interactions between Pip and her other friends. Jackson didn’t include many interactions between Pip and her other friends in the first novel, mostly focusing on Pip’s friendship with Cara (whom I adore), and seeing more of the friendship between Connor and Pip made me that much more engaged. I also loved the portrayal of how friendships can fall apart. Like, I was seriously ready to jump into the book and choke out Ant and Lauren. 

3. NAT DA SILVA RIGHTS!!!!! I seriously love her so much, and love how her relationship developed with Pip throughout the story, especially at the end of the trial when the verdict was reached. I also absolutely loathe Max Hastings and wanted to jump into the book and choke him out as well, the bastard. But  also appreciate how Jackson displayed an accurate r*pe trial because unfortunately many r*pists do not receive jail time. As much as I would have loved to see that bastard behind bars I can also understand why Jackson went the sadly more realistic route and had Max be found innocent. Going off of this, my all time favourite part of the novel is,

4. Pip’s character development. I think that it’s extremely obvious that Pip started out as a more neutral good character in AGGGTM, possibly a chaotic good, but in Good Girl, Bad Blood she definitely takes a turn toward being more of a chaotic neutral in my opinion. I mean, our girl went and vandalized Max’s house and wrote rapist on his door. She has definitely started giving less fucks about what she does. Although I can’t say I don’t like it because I think that she did what many readers wanted to do when reading about Max being found innocent. And the fact that she went and told Ravi right after it happened and he basically went “ *sigh* what crazy shit did you do now?”, like I love that he just accepts that he cannot stop his girlfriend from doing potentially dangerous and illegal things.

To sum up, I fucking LOVE this series, I love this book, I love Holly Jackson, and I love Pip and Ravi. If you like this type of stuff in your books, mystery with a dash of romance, realism and vandalizing the house of r*pists, READ THIS BOOK.

[j-rants-reviews-random-stories]

The Silent Patient

This book was quite something.

I will start this off by saying that this was by far NOT a favourite of mine, but that isn’t to say it was not good. This book had a couple of very strong points, but they were outweighed by several very weak points in my personal opinion.

Some of the strong points;

1. Alicia’s diary entries were absolutely PHENOMENAL. They were easily my favourite part of the whole novel. The insight into her relationship with Gabriel before she killed him, as well as her relationship with others such as her cousin Paul, her BIL Max (who I absolutely LOATHE), and Jean-Felix. 

2. THE. PLOT. TWIST. I can easily say I was not expecting the major plot twist at the end. The author, Alex Michaelides did a good job in tying both Alicia’s and Theo’s stories back to each other.

However, these are the weaker parts of the story that I noticed.

1. The major inconsistencies. In the beginning, Theo’s lighter was confiscated when he first started working at the Grove for safety measures, yet later in the novel there were a few members of the staff as well as patients smoking. PATIENTS. I’m sorry, but who the hell allows mentally disturbed patients anywhere near something that has the capability of lighting things on fire? That is one small inconsistency that bothered me greatly.

2. There were many things left unresolved/unanswered. For example, did Theo leave Kathy? What happened to Max Berenson after the scene he caused in the parking lot of the Grove near the end of the novel? What happened to Christian after his malpractice was revealed? SO many things that I have questions about that were not answered, which ties into my next point which is;

3. The ending seemed rushed. As I stated before, there were many things I felt were left unresolved/unanswered in the book, and this is due to the rushed ending. It all seemed to happen so suddenly, and while I recognize that this is most likely because Michaelides wanted to create a larger shock factor with the plot twist at the end, it just made the writing seem extremely sloppy.

4. If anyone else has read The Silent Patient, please let me know if you agree or disagree because I genuinely am curious if I’m the only one who disliked Theo’s character form the very beginning. it wasn’t even a vibe I got from him, I think it was simply how his character was written. His character was very complex, but I also think it should be recognized that a lot of his thoughts when describing himself seemed juvenile and made me feel as though I was reading something from the POV of an angsty teenager. I understand that Theo had his own mental health issues, but I found it unconvincing and frankly took away from his merit as a psychotherapist. On the other hand this could have been planned on the author’s part to show that while Theo was so taken with helping Alicia, in the end he also needed the same help but he never received it,

Overall I think that this book was an okay read. It wasn’t great, wasn’t awful. It certainly won’t be one that I will be ranting about to my friends and saying “OMG YOU HAVE TO READ THIS IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE”, but that being said, I am glad that I read it. I can however confidently say that I will most likely never re-read this book.

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AGGGTM

Okay, I have many, many, MANY thoughts about this book.

First of all, I can easily say this is one of the best YA novels I have read. Holly Jackson did a spectacular job creating an interesting story that has the ability to suck the reader in from the very first word. 

ALSO

SHE. DIDN’T. MAKE. THE. ROMANCE. THE. MAIN. PART. OF. THE. STORY.

This is not a slam against YA romance novels, not at all. I am merely commenting on the fact that while there was romance in AGGGTM, it wasn’t the main part of the story and it stayed in the background compared to the actual murder mystery plot. The novel had its beautiful moments between Ravi and Pip and created romantic atmospheres between them without detracting from the main problem, which was “Who killed Andie and Sal?”

Speaking of the murders, all I can say is “OMG the plot twist!” If anyone else is like me and tried to figure out who the killer was before the end, then I want to know, was anyone else shocked? I know that Pip had multiple suspects on the list but I have to say I was shell shocked when I found out the identity of the real perpetrator. The lead up to the climax was so intense it had me on the edge of my seat (quite literally as I finished reading the novel while seated at a train station waiting for my train). 

I also have comments on the characters themselves. Holly Jackson did an amazing job of being inclusive in the novel. We have LGBTQ Cara who has a personality that isn’t solely based on her sexuality. As a bisexual woman it made me so happy to see a character who identifies as non-heterosexual being portrayed as an ACTUAL PERSON and not simply a personified version of every stereotype that their sexuality has. The characters are all dynamic, and they act exactly like teenagers do; they drink, they party, they have fun.

Pip’s character is also amazing, and so is Ravi. I love Ravi and Pip separately, but together they are an unstoppable duo. Their relationship is also healthy which is quite uncommon in any type of novel that includes romance. Ravi is supportive of Pip throughout the whole book, even if he is scared out of his mind and thinks Pip has completely lost it when she pulls some crazy stunts. They have nicknames for each other and their banter is probably one of my favourite parts of the book.

There is also amazing familial relationships in the book, showing Pip’s relationship with her parents as well as her brother Josh, and oh would you look at that, her parent’s aren't always absent and they actually show that they care about her wellbeing.

Overall I think that this novel is amazing, and anyone looking for a good YA mystery to read that includes a dash of humour and romance, this is definitely the book for you.