Book Review - The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon

Title: The Quiet Tenant
Series: -
Author: Clémence Michallon
 
Description: Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate New York town where he lives. He’s the kind of man who always ends a hand and has a good word for everyone. But Aidan has a dark secret he’s been keeping from everyone in town and those closest to him. He’s a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women and there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed, fearing for her life.
 
When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter Cecilia are forced to move. Aidan has no choice but to bring Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a “family friend” who needs a place to stay. Aidan is betting on Rachel, after five years of captivity, being too brainwashed and fearful to attempt to escape. But Rachel is a fighter and survivor, and recognizes Cecilia might just be the lifeline she has waited for all these years. As Rachel tests the boundaries of her new living situation, she begins to form a renuous connection with Cecilia. And when Emily, a local restaurant owner, develops a crush on the handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into Rachel and Ceceilia’s orbit, coming dangerously close to discovering Aidan’s secret.
 
Review: “The Quiet Tenant” took the reading community by storm. I’ve been seeing this book everywhere and I was super intrigued. I gets raving reviews and I had very high expectations. Dangerous, always. But fortunately it did not disappoint.
 
While story itself is not super original, the way it is told is. The trapped woman is no longer herself. To survive, she has to leave her own identity behind and sort of stepped outside of herself. This is why we read the story from the you-perspective. She is talking to herself because she is no longer herself: she is Rachel.
 
The start of the story is also very well done. Thrillers regularly have a set structure, but author Clémence Michallon does something different here. We step into the middle of a situation that has been going on for some time. We get very little clarity and the situation remains a mystery for a long time. Only small bits of information are given, just as Rachel remains in the dark for a long time. The tension she feels is unavoidable as a reader. She must survive. We are sucked into the brainwashing that has taken place and experience, to the point of frustration, how this man was able to destroy a woman. This manipulative man playing a psychological game while managing to disguise himself as the perfect father, husband and citizen.
 
“The Quiet Tenant” is intense and hard to put down. A hyped thriller that really lives up to the expectations I had. Would recommend.
 
Rating: 4, 5/ 5

Book Review - The Deep by Nick Cutter

Title: The Deep
Series: -
Author: Nick Cutter
 
Description: A strange plague called the ‘Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget, small things at first, like where they left their keys. Then the not-so-small things like how to drive, or the letters of the alphabet. Then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily and there is no cure. But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Marianas Trench, an heretofore unknown substance hailed as “ambrosia” has been discovered. A universal healer, from initial reports. It may just be the key to a universal cure. In order to study this phenomenon, a special research lab, the Trieste, has been built eight miles under the sea’s surface. But now the station is incommunicado, and unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths… and perhaps to encounter an evil blacker than anything one could possibly imagine.
 
Review: “The Deep”, part horror, part psychological nightmare, is a novel that fans of Stephen King and Clive Barker don’t wan to miss. This book will definitely freak you out of you either have a fear of the dark or the deep.
 
The story is reminiscent of movies like “The Abyss” and “Alien”. And these were definitely influences for this story. Just like author Nick Cutter is influenced by the aforementioned King and Barker.
 
Luke is the main character, through him we follow the story. His brother Clayton is a scientist, on board of the Trieste. Clayton might have found a cure for the global plague. Luke is sent down to talk to him, since all communication with this deep sea lab has been lost.
 
“The Troop” was my introduction with author Nick Cutter. It blew my mind, left me speechless and really messed me up. I loved it. A lot of the elements that shocked me and kept my attention for that book, were also present in “The Deep”. Cutter knows how to build a chilling atmosphere and writes the most gruesome scenes. Again, not very kind to animals. So I had to put it down several times because of this.
 
Where “The Troop” became a favorite of mine, “The Deep” never reached that level. It focuses a lot on the past of the main character, which makes it a bit more of a character study as well. “The Troop” also had this, but these characters and their lives were more interesting. “The Deep” had some uninteresting moments. Some even a bit dull. The book is a lot creepier then “The Troop” though, especially if you have thalassophobia.
 
Overall I enjoyed the reading experience, but “The Deep” didn’t capture me from start to finish.
 
Rating: 3, 5/ 5

Book Review - The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson

Title: The Kind Worth Saving
Series: Henry Kimball/ Lily Kintner # 2
Author: Peter Swanson
 
Description: There was always something slightly dangerous about Joan. So, when she turns up at private investigator Henry Kimball’s office asking him to investigate her husband, he can’t help feeling ill at ease. Just the sight of her stirs up a chilling memory: he knew Joan in his previous life as a high school English teacher, when he was at the center of a tragedy.
 
Now Joan needs his help in proving that her husband is cheating. But what should be a simple case of infidelity becomes much more complicated when Kimball finds two bodies in an uninhabited suburban home with a “for sale” sign out front. Suddenly it feels like the past is repeating itself, and Henry must go back to one of the worst days of his life to uncover the truth.
 
Is it possible that Joan knows something about that day, something she’s hidden all these years? Could there still be a killer out there, someone who believes they have gotten away with murder? Henry is determined to find out, but as he steps closer to the truth, a murderer is getting closer to him, and in his hair-raising game of cat and mouse only one of them will survive.
 
Review: When private detective and former teacher henry Kimball is hired by a former student to investigate her husband on infidelity, nothing is what is seems. When the supposedly simple case takes a weird turn, Kimball turns to the one person he can trust: Lily Kintner. “The Kind Worth Saving” is the sequel to the very loved “The Kind Worth Killing”.
 
“The Kind Worth Killing” is what introduced me to author Peter Swanson. This thriller instantly became a new favorite and might be the best book I’ve read in 2023. I think you could read this book if you didn’t read the first, because this is a sequel. But I recommend to read “The Kind Worth Killing” first, because otherwise you miss the shared history between the returning characters. And that is pretty important to understand them.
 
Like in the first book, “The Kind Worth Saving” has some great twists and reveals, but not as good and surprising. Again, the plot takes many unexpected turns and nothing is what it seems. I was hooked from page one and it was a page-turned. But it never lives up to the first book.
 
Rating: 3, 5/ 5

Oldies Movie Review - Barefoot in the Park

Director: Gene Saks
Genre: Comedy/ Romance
Runtime: 106 minutes
Year: 1967
Starring: Robert Redford, Jane Fonda
 
I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 37: A MOVIE from the 60s
           
Description: Paul (Robert Redford), a conservative young lawyer, marries the vivacious Corie (Jane Fonda). Their highly passionate relationship descends into comical discord in a five-flight New York City walk-up apartment.

Review: Paul and Corie settle into a shabby little apartment in Greenwich Village after a luxurious honeymoon. Their apartment is a bit smaller than expected and has some defects, but they both try to make the best of it.

Enjoyable screenplay by Neil Simon, who adapted his play for film. It is mainly the fresh, casual acting by Robert Redford and Jane Fonda that holds the attention throughout the film, since the most scenes are set in their tiny apartment.

I loved this film, it was funny and heartwarming.

Rating: 4/ 5

10s Movie Review - Dracula Untold

Director: Gary Shore
Genre: Action/ Drama/ Fantasy
Runtime: 92 minutes
Year: 2014
Starring: Luke Evans, Dominic Cooper, Sarah Gadon, Art Parkinson, Charles Dance

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 36: A PREQUEL
 
Description: As his kingdom is being threatened by the Turks, young prince Vlad Tepes (Luke Evans) must become a monster feared by his own people in order to obtain the power needed to protect his own family, and the families of his kingdom.

Review: “Dracula Untold” is an origin-story about the most famous vampire: Dracula. Set in fifteenth-century Transylvania, Vlad the Impaler keeps the Turkies armies at bay by adopting the superhuman powers of a primordial vampire, but naturally pays a price.

I expected the origin story of Dracula would be way bloodier. This was not even a horror film. It was just fine. I didn’t think it was terrible, but it wasn’t good either. I liked Charles Dance in it, I like him in everything to be honest. But a vampire movie with barely a drop of blood, isn’t really a successful vampire movie.

Rating: 2/ 5

Rewatching My 100 Favorite Movies - Update 23

I decided to rewatch my 100 favorite movies of all-time. What those are, you can check HERE. I watch them in random order, there is no rhyme or reason there, just watching those movies I love so much.
 

76/ 100: Dances with Wolves (1990)
In his directorial debut, Kevins Costner portrays America’s natives differently than has long been common in Hollywood. Costner plays a nineteenth-century U.S. army lieutenant who, at a forward post in the Black Hills, pours his heart out to the noble natives, and to the first white woman he meets there. It was a breath of fresh air that for one the Native Americans were portrayed as real people. Check out my full review HERE
 

77/ 100: Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
In “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”, Arnold Schwarzenegger is back. In “The Terminator” from 1984, Schwarzenegger played a terminator who was sent to the past to kill Sarah Connor, to make sure John Connor will never be born. In the sequel, he returns with the task to protect John Connor from another terminator. At the time of release, “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” has groundbreaking effects. It’s a rock-solid action/ sci-fi film. My brother’s favorite movie of all-time, and also one of mine. HERE is my full review.
 

Still to watch: 23

Movie Review - The Flood

Director: Brandon Slagle
Genre: Action/ Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 93 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Casper van Dien, Nikcy Whelan , Louis Mandylor, Ryan Francis, Eoin O’Brien, Bear Williams, Randall J. Bacon, Alexander Winters, Alex Farnham
 
Description: A daring jail break during a dangerous Louisiana hurricane is interrupted by a horde of large hungry alligators.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2023 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 35: A MONSTER MOVIE
 
Review: During a dangerous storm in Louisiana, a group a crooks are planning a jail break. When everything is flooding, a horde of alligators is terrorizing them.

You know when getting into this movie, that it’s not good. And it’s really bad, but I’ve seen worse monster movies. Way worse!

The story is not very complicated, has plot holes and is very illogic. What you would expect. It follows a familiar formula and has terrible CGI, the acting is weak and it’s really predictable. I would not recommend, but again, there are worse movies out there.  

Rating: 1,5/ 5