Book Review - Good Girl, Bad Blood

Title: Good Girl, Bad Blood
Series: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (#2)
Author: Holly Jackson
 
Description: Pip is not a detective anymore.

With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.

But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.

The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening.
With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her.
But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh.
The police won't do anything about it. And if they won't look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town's dark secrets along the way... and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it's too late?
 
Review: “Good Girl, Bad Blood” is the sequel to “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder”. In this second volume, Pip and Ravi have set up a podcast called “A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder”. In it, they discuss what happened and how they solved Andie’s  murder. They also closely follow the trial that is underway against Max Hastings, the boy who raped several girls. Pip vowed not to play detective anymore. Solving Andie’s murder cost her dearly. But when one of her best friends, Connor, shows up at her door saying his brother Jamie is missing, Pip can’t help but help her friend. She gets out to find out what happened to Jamie. But the more she discovers, the more questions arise about his disappearance.   
 
This book cannot be read separately from the first book, you have to have read that before starting “Good Girl, Bad Blood”. For example, the trial of Max Hastings plays a big role and events from part one are often referred back to. What this book does do very cleverly is give a brief summary of everything that happened in the first book. This is very nice to refresh your memory a bit, if it’s been a while since you read the first book. I read it last year and it was my second favorite that I read that year. And I already know that this is also going to be one my top list of this year.  
 
Jamie’s disappearance is incredibly mysterious and the more Pip discovers, the more questions are added. And you never expect what eventually is revealed. And you’re not sure about all of it for a very long time. You just want to keep reading this book, even if you get 10 more questions for every answer. With that, Pip is one of the best female characters I have read in a long time.
 
Until the very end, author Holly Jackson manages to keep the reader on their toes and it is almost impossible to predict how things will turn out. I’m an avid thriller reader, but even I didn’t predict any of it. I’m not a big series reader, but I haven’t been this invested in a book series since “The Hunger Games”. And I can’t wait to continue reading these books.
 
Holly Jackson has a very pleasant writing style. The book is very easy to read and  even with 400+ pages, I flew through it, which is perfect for a slow reader like me. The story never has a dull moment in it and, like the first book, I really loved the concept of this. With not only standard storytelling, but also journal entries, transcripts from Pip’s podcast, interviews, news paper clippings. It makes the book super interesting. And you get a glimpse of what goes on in Pip’s head.
 
The unfolding of the mystery is extremely well put together. I really can’t say one bad thing about this book, you really need to read this series!
 
Rating: 5/ 5

90s Movie Review - Primal Fear

Director: Gregory Hoblit
Genre: Drama/ Thriller/ Crime/ Mystery
Runtime: 129 minutes
Year: 1996
Starring: Richard Gere, Edward Norton, Laura Linney, John Mahoney, Alfre Woodard, Frances McDormand, Maura Tierney, Andre Braugher, Terry O’Quinn, Steven Bauer

Description: An alter boy (Edward Norton) is accused of murdering a priest, and the truth is buried several layers deep.

Review: In Chicago, when an archbishop is murdered in cold blood, alter Boy Aaron Stampler is seen fleeing from the scene covered in blood. It’s as clear is day, but lawyer Martin Vail is eager to take on the defense. He likes cases that will generate a lot of media attention. His charming ex Janet is the prosecutor on the case. But it’s a tough job: the stuttering defendant is a wimpy kid, but was covered in blood.

“Primal Fear” is an exciting thriller, not just set in the courtroom. It’s one of Richard Gere’s best roles and Edward Norton’s first. And especially Norton impresses and he gives away an unforgettable performance. Norton deservedly received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role and knowing that Cuba Gooding Jr. won for “Jerry Maguire” that year, I believe Norton should have won it. He has not won an Academy Award to date, Norton is one of the finest actors out there, and already proved that in his first film.

The film has tension and is investing from start to finish. It has some surprising plot twist, midway and at the end, that blew my mind when I first saw it. But it still impacts after a rewatch. A very good thriller.

Rating: 4,5/ 5

80s Movie Review - Spoorloos

Director: George Sluizer
Genre: Thriller/ Mystery
Runtime: 107 minutes
Year: 1988
Starring: Gene Bervoets, Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Johanna ter Steege, Gwen Eckhaus

Description: Rex (Gene Bervoets) and Saskia (Johanna ter Steege), a couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia goes missing. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.  

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 6: A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER

Review: Saskia and Rex are on vacation. In the car, Saskia tells him she has a recurring nightmare, about her being trapped in a golden egg and must love forever alone in darkness. The book this movie is based on is called “The Golden Egg” by author Tim Krabbé and it has a deeper meaning, which you will learn at the end of the film.

While on the road, Rex and Saskia stop at a service station. Saskia goes inside to get both of them something to drink, but she never returns. Rex is left with a million questions. After 3 years, he starts receiving letters.

“Spoorloos” is one of our Dutch national film treasures, that not many people seem to talk about. Or probably seem to remember. It had a limited budget, but this movie proofs that you don’t need it. A good story and solid performances are often enough. I was invested in this movie from start to finish and loved the symbolism the golden egg represents. The movie was remade in the US in 1993, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Jeff Bridges and Sandra Bullock, as “The Vanishing” (also the English title for the Ditch version), which I also really loved. But for once, the Dutch version is the better one here. Directed by George Sluizer as well, but not loved by athor Tim Krabbé.

Rating: 4/ 5

Book Review - A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

Title: A Flicker in the Dark

Series: -

Author: Stacy Willingham
 
Description: When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?
 
Review: Stacy Willingham has come out with her debut novel “A Flicker in the Dark” and was nominated for a Good Reads choice award in the category mystery/ thriller. We meet Chloe Davis, a psychologist, whose father was convicted of murdering several teenage girls twenty years ago. When girls start disappearing again, Chloe is confronted with her past.
 
We follow the story from Chloe’s point of view and since she is on constant medication, she might be an unreliable narrator. We get to know her very well, since we are following to her in various time periods.
 
The start has a slow start, but yet you immediately feel a subcutaneous tension. And you also start questioning the people around her and Chloe’s mental health.  The setting is well-described and I liked the different timelines it was told in. Stacy Willingham’s writing is smooth and she wrote a pretty solid debut novel. I did kind of see that ending coming, even though we were misdirected a few times.
 
“A Flicker in the Dark” is a psychological thriller, with tension, but a not-so-surprising ending. Solid, but not something that will stick with me for too long.
 
Rating: 3/ 5

80s Movie Review - Nine to Five

Director: Colin Higgins
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 109 minutes
Year: 1980
Starring: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman

Description: Three female employees (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton) of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot (Dabney Coleman) find a way to turn the tables on him.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 5: A MOVIE FROM THE 1980S
 
Review: Three working ladies are done with their sexist and narcistic boss and decide to give hi a taste of his own medicine.

“Nine to Five” is without a doubt a fun film, with comedy. There is many to laugh about and the three leading ladies work well together. The story itself isn’t all that special and the acting is questionable (Dolly Parton should stick to singing). It’s a very cheesy, yet entertaining 80s comedy, with a title song that is better then the actual movie.

Rating: 3/ 5

Movie Review - Babylon

Director: Damien Chazelle
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Runtime: 189 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Jean Smart, Olivia Wilde, Diego Calva, Flea, Tobey Maguire
 
Description: A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.

Review: The craziness in “Babylon” begins with bickering over the transport of an elephant. Manuel, jack-of-all-trades behind the scenes of Hollywood anno 1926, has arranged for the animal to be the summit of entertainment of an exorbitant party thrown by a movie studio boss.

Hollywood prodigy Damien Chazelle (of the fantastic personal favorites “La La Land” and “Whiplash”) creates yet another prologue in his bursting at the seams fourth film: a protracted orgy of sex, cocaine, booze, song and dance at the aforementioned party. Here Manuel meets the wildly charming aspiring actress Nellie LaRoy and the equally charming yet smug star actor Jack Conrad. Manuel and Nellie then work their way up at lightning speed, while Jack is overtaken by time.  

“Babylon” is a mesmerizing, merciless and remarkably cynical deconstruction of Hollywood’s golden years: the first great transition phase of the American film industry, spurred by the invention of the talking movie (in 1927, with “The Jazz Singer”). One of my other personal favorites, “Singin’ in the Rain” also did this and this movie eventually turns out to be a very important one in “Babylon” as well. And I really loved this take. The conclusion of “Babylon” was surprising and satisfying.

The scenes where we got to go behind the scenes of the making of movies, where without a doubt the best. Especially one wild scene where Nellie first steps onto a film set. The way this was filmed, cinematographically it looks perfect and all the chaos going on is felt in every bone of your body.

Where, in my eyes, Chazelle’s “Whiplash” and “La La Land” were perfect in every way, “Babylon” is more flawed. Some explicit scenes I could have done without. I don’t shy away from nudity in film, but it sometimes felt unnecessary and felt like it was only there for the purpose of shock. With that, the movie is a bit too long, it could have been at least 30 minutes shorter. And that one scene, with Tobey Maguire, which is the most insane bit of the film, felt ridiculous.

“Babylon”, ode to and reckoning with the film industry all in one, proves that that American dream factory still delivers colorful films. Not a film I would recommend to anyone, because I don’t think most people I know, would appreciate it as much as I did. A wild ride that stimulates all you senses.

Rating: 4/ 5

20s Movie Review - Where the Crawdads Sing

Director: Olivia Newman
Genre: Drama/ Mystery/ Romance
Runtime: 125 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, David Strathairn, Michael Hyatt, Sterling Macer Jr., Garrett Dillahunt, Ahna O’Reilly  

Description: A woman (Daisy Edgar-Jones) who raised herself in the marshes of the Deep South becomes a suspect in the murder of a man with whom she was once involved.

Review: “Where the Crawdads Sing” is a film based on the novel of the same name, written by Delia Owens and released in 2018. The book became extremely popular, being piced up as a favorite for Reese Witherspoon’s book club, so a movie was the logical next step.

The story is about Kya, a young girl who lives with the family in the marshes of North Carolina. Her mother has a terrible life because her father is not averse to abuse. When Kya’s mom leaves and eventually her siblings are done with the violence as well, Kya is left hopelessly behind with her father. When her father later also leaves, she is struggling to survive on her own.

When Kya grows up, she is simply known as “the marsh girl”. When suddenly, Chase Andrews, a wealthy young man from Barkley Cove, dies in a strange way, everyone in the village has their judgment ready: it was Kya, the marsh girl.  

“Where the Crawdads Sing” has a well-constructed story. Kya is portrayed as an easy victim, simply because she is different. The movie is entirely consistent with the book, only little has changed. The ending, which I did predict when I read the book, is surprising to most. The tension persists until the end of the story.

But still, the book is better. Because the tension is more present there, the movie somehow missed that mark.

Rating: 3, 5 /5