September 2013 Group Read - Rush of Blood by Mark Billingham

[David]

Perfect strangers.

A perfect holiday.

The perfect murder...

Three couples meet around the pool on their Florida holiday and become fast friends. But on their last night, their perfect holiday takes a tragic twist: the teenage daughter of another holidaymaker goes missing, and her body is later found floating in the mangroves.

When the shocked couples return home, they remain in contact, and over the course of three increasingly fraught dinner parties they come to know one another better. But they don't always like what they find: buried beneath these apparently normal exteriors are some dark secrets, hidden kinks, ugly vices...

Then, a second girl goes missing.

Could it be that one of these six has a secret far darker than anybody can imagine?"

[Mary]

Taking a while to finish what I am reading now but have this book and am excited about starting it--sounds like it may be really good.

[David]

It is good Mary. I have finished it and I was happily delighted with it. I will do my review this week sometime but not post on the thread so as not to spoil it for members.

[Mary]

David wrote: "It is good Mary. I have finished it and I was happily delighted with it. I will do my review this week sometime but not post on the thread so as not to spoil it for members."

Thanks for that, David--I read in very slow and very fast spurts. Baby ill this last few days and not much concentration for reading.

[Mary]

Started this book-once I sorted out the couples it is getting more and more interesting. Thought I knew the murderer immediately but am now doubting my pick. Good read so far.

[Tim]

Hard to follow who was married to who, but the story is starting to pickup.

[Bill]

Read this one before but now that I know who the villain is, it is fun to re-read looking for clues.

[Mary]

Tim wrote: "Hard to follow who was married to who, but the story is starting to pickup."

I finally just wrote them down! Only 3 couples so felt a bit silly but it works...

[Diana]

An interesting idea. As the true characters were revealed I didn't like any of them. They may have been entertaining for a few hours around a bar on holiday but back in their home setting I thought they were all dysfunctional. Am I being too hard them?

[Mary]

Diana wrote: "An interesting idea. As the true characters were revealed I didn't like any of them. They may have been entertaining for a few hours around a bar on holiday but back in their home setting I thought..."

No-they are pretty much nasty people which is why I am a little embarrassed to say I enjoy ED and Sue! But hard to like when you know one of them murdered a Down;s syndrome child but not yet sure who...

[Diana]

Not joined in with one of these before so shout if I'm saying the wrong things. Been waiting for someone else to say something. So here goes, I thought the fact the 3 couples were unpleasant was a double-edged sword. It kept me guessing because they were all awful enough to kill the girl, BUT I disliked them so much I didn't care too much which one was caught as the murderer.
I loved his style of writing though.

[Mary]

Finished book and am confused about the title but I guess that is not important. I enjoyed the book once I got used to the jumping around to different places and people-sort of seemed very disorganized mostly in the Florida part of the book. The names of chapters also seemed to have nothing to do with the chapter. But I enjoyed the characters very much and the story was enticing enough for me to not want to put down and GO TO SLEEP! I thought I knew who the murderer was throughout most of the book but the second dinner party made me switch and I was correct. There are clues earlier in book that I should have picked up on but didn't. Thanks to whoever chose this book--I really enjoyed it. 4 stars on goodreads scale from me.

[Bill]

My review's on my read shelf now.

[Mary]

Bill wrote: "My review's on my read shelf now."

Just read your review and wondered why you gave 4 stars....

[Bill]

Hi Mary,

Thank you so much for your message. I was wondering why my reviews seemed to get so few comments & feared they might be too eccentric to notice. I normally give 4 stars to a competently written & suspenseful read with a griping story, & Rush of Blood is all of those. But for 5 stars I'd require real excellence - for a mystery story that's the class with The Likeness, Now You See Me, & Innocent Blood, where the story and the characters keep coming back to haunt me. When I 1st joined Goodreads I probably over-rated a lot of books I'd already read; now I'm more exacting. My criteria: 5 stars = really excellent; 4 stars = an enjoyable read but falls short of excellence; 3 stars = readable but had serious problems with it & wouldn't have started it if I'd known (vita brevis &c); 2 stars = pretty bad but I actually finished it; 1 star = too lousy to finish & I almost never review a 1 star.

And thank you for giving me the chance to share.

[David]

I like your 1 to 5 Bill. Easy to understand your scores.

[Mary]

Bill wrote: "Hi Mary,

Thank you so much for your message. I was wondering why my reviews seemed to get so few comments & feared they might be too eccentric to notice. I normally give 4 stars to a competently w..."

All makes sense, Bill. I sometimes think I rate books too high for reasons like I usually have really liked the author in the past. So sometimes I am actually rating the pleasure of past books rather than the one I just finished.

[Diana]

I find some books easy to rate and Bill's system works for many. But sometimes I really struggle. I would really appreciate people's opinions on how they rate
1,a book that you didn't really enjoy but was technically very well written?
2,a book by a very talented writer but you felt he/she was starting to follow a formula/being a bit lazy?
3,a book where the plot seemed thin but the writing was excellent?
4,a book with a brilliant or original story that you loved even though the writing/editing wasn't up to scratch?
5, a book where you feel the writer has put their heart and soul into their words and you can tell is passionate about what they are trying to say but the writing is poor?
6,and lastly a book that maybe is brilliant in so many different ways but just didn't appeal? (Or sometimes in my case I think I just wasn't clever enough to get it so found it boring)
Do you lump them all into a 3 rating or do you give more consideration to writing skill or the passion/originality of the writer.

[Mary]

Diana wrote: "I find some books easy to rate and Bill's system works for many. But sometimes I really struggle. I would really appreciate people's opinions on how they rate
1,a book that you didn't really enjoy ..."

Diana, I really think that the rating of books is quite personal. It is based on what YOU like. I don't really give authors points for "effort". If I look forward to reading it then it gets a high score--if finishing it is a chore then low score. Simple as that...The Rush of Blood book was given a pretty high rating from me-not because the author is a literary genius but because I found myself really interested in Who Dun It? I went back daily for a taste of story.

[David]

For me it doesn't matter how well written a story is, the story has to be good. If it isn't then it wont get passed a 3 with me.
Also the only time I allow for poor writing is if it is a new free book or self published first one where they haven't had the publisher check it over. Then I will allow a few grammar errors but not to many as bad grammar and spelling will switch me off.

[Diana]

Mary wrote: "Diana wrote: "I find some books easy to rate and Bill's system works for many. But sometimes I really struggle. I would really appreciate people's opinions on how they rate
1,a book that you didn't..."

It wasn't really in relation to Rush of Blood, which I easily rated as 4 but more in response the earlier comments about rating. Thank you for answering my question. I rate on how much I enjoyed book and liked the author. I just worry sometimes I should be considering literary merit and things like that.

[David]

I tend to think that you know when you have read a really great book and it gets a 5 stars, rare though it maybe.
I tend not always to consider the author but the book itself. Although if I read an author I know or think is good, say a Rankin, then I will expect it to be a set standard and would be disappointed if it fell below that.

[Diana]

David wrote: "I tend to think that you know when you have read a really great book and it gets a 5 stars, rare though it maybe.
I tend not always to consider the author but the book itself. Although if I read an..."

Thanks for replying. Most books it is easy. But some I really agonise over and want to say something positive. Quite often if it is really bad I just pretend I haven't read it.
I'm a born worrier.

[Mary]

David wrote: "I tend to think that you know when you have read a really great book and it gets a 5 stars, rare though it maybe.
I tend not always to consider the author but the book itself. Although if I read an..."

I agree with you on holding favorite authors to a certain higher standard. But I give many 5's because I am a bit in awe of anyone who can write a good story.

[David]

Diana wrote: " Quite often if it is really bad I just pretend I haven't read it.
I'm a born worrier. "

Oh no if a book is bad then I never ignore it. I always put it in my review, that way an author knows if they bother to read reviews.
At the end of the day if a book is a stinker then it's 1 star.

My biggest problem, and I suspect others may have it, is I love mysteries and thrillers and sometimes it can be too easy to work out a whodunnit etc. when you have read a lot of them. I like the author not to make it easy to work out and hopefully surprise me.