THE SKIN COLLECTOR By Jeffery Deaver

Good book. Really good book. Definitely a perfect contender for the Mystery/Thriller category of the reading challenge.

Picked this one up in the supermarket on special, I'm terrible for buying books on special offer, I really am.

This is the story of Lincoln Rhyme; a paraplegic, independent criminalist and consultant to the NYPD and this time, he's got a slightly different case to solve. A perp is taking happenstance victims, sedating them, and tattooing messages on their stomachs. Only, the killer isn't using ink... after all what's the fun in that? No. This perp is tattooing with poison.

I really liked this book a lot. It is incredibly well written, twists and turns on every page; enough to keep you entertained but not so much that you get confused and lose the thread of the story. Even without the amazing writing of Jeffery Deaver, the unusual choice of murder weapon is enough to catch the eye and make this a book you're going to remember having read.

I've got to admit, that towards the end, I felt that there were places that Deaver could have ended the book and I was a little unsure as to whether i wanted to risk reading on in case he had ruined the end of the book and tried to hard to end it, but I should have had more faith in him. He delivered amazingness throughout the entire book and the ending was no exception. I

I've read so many crime novels now, that I can usually tell you did within the first few chapters, but Deaver kept me thinking and rethinking all the way through!

An excellent book, but definitely not one for the faint hearted. In fact I'm kinda glad the book hangover was minimal...

I AM PILGRIM By Terry Hayes

Okie doke folks! Here is the book that I have read for the category of A book with more than 500 pages. In fact this book has closer to 900 pages and that is also the reason that it has taken me so long to read it and upload a review about it.

This book follows the story of a retired intelligence agent who is pulled out of retirement to try and solve the biggest terrorist attack that America has ever seen, a new, hot, unstoppable strain of small pox.

Obviously this book contains a lot more than just this one story and I'm not going to lie, I did get a little bit worried when I realized that smallpox was going to be the terror agent in this book and I as quick to become sceptical that it was going to become samey and unoriginal, however, I loved it. I really really did enjoy this book an awful lot.

The thing I found most interesting about this book it the way that the beginning, middle, and end of the book, are all completely different and could; in themselves, be separate volumes, but they still flowed seamlessly from on to another, and it honestly didn't feel like 850+ pages.

It was also really nice to read a modern book which is aimed at adults without being sexually explicit. It really goes to show that although sex sells, it isn't the only thing that makes a book worth reading, or a film worth seeing. I think throughout the whole book, there is only one mild innuendo that i can remember and to be honest, I've read this more graphic than that in YA books.

This is a fantastic book which I would recommend to everyone. It is ridiculously well written and if I hadn't know beforehand, I would never have guessed that this was a debut novel. Hayes may have little novel writing experience, but he has the talent and voice of a master.

THE METHOD By Juli Zeh

Okie dokie! Here we are with the fourth book I have read for the POPSUGAR 2015 Reading Challenge. This time I've read a book to fill the category 'A book originally written in another language'. The Method was originally written in German and the translated into English by Sally-Ann Spencer.

Mia is a scientist in the world run by The Method. Everything about this world is completely health based. Everyone is required to submit various blood tests and urine samples to The Method in an attempt to create an completely illness free human race. Things begin to get a little heated when Mia stops submitting her data. She is now technically a criminal and could be facing a fate worse than death.

Ermm.... I'm not really sure where I should start with reviewing this book. It had the weirdest effect on me, no word of a lie. I found that while reading this, I wasn't particularly hooked, I wasn't gripped to the story line, I didn't even find the book overly special or interesting, but something kept the pages turning. I'm not entirely sure what it was. It could have been the fact that I wanted to make sure it ended right, or I had a slight hint of hope that it might get a little more gripping.

I really, really liked the idea and the structure of the world that Zeh created and I think there is a lot of potential for this to have been a really good book. I felt that the relationships between characters were very confused. As a reader, on many occasions, I wasn't sure whether the writer wanted me to like a character or not.

Over all I think it was an interesting book and a good idea that maybe could have been written down better. Whether or not the German manuscript read better or not, I don't know and unfortunately as I don't speak German, I will never know. I didn't not enjoy this book but I didn't particularly enjoy it either and unfortunately I don't think I'll be reading an of this author's other books in a hurry.

As usual I don't like telling people what they can an can't read. We all have different preferences and this blog is purely my personal opinion. If the synopsis sounds like something you would like to read, go for it. It's only a short book. What have you got to lose?

TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES By Thomas Hardy (PHASE THE SEVENTH)

Alas! It is finished. To be honest it all seemed to end rather quickly and I can't decided whether that is a good thing or a bad thing. All the way through, despite enjoying the book, and I've been longing for it to finally finish, and now that it is finished, it's sort of left me with a bit of a book-hangover. I genuinely never expected Tess of the d'Urbervilles to give me book-hangover. For those of you who are unaware of the term book-hangover here it is:

Even twenty four hours after finishing the book, I still don't really know how I feel about the ending. Its really difficult to explain without giving too much away, although with it being a classic, everyone probably knows how it finishes anyway.

I knew what was coming and I knew it was going to be awful,but I never envisaged it to be like this. In fact, this has been the only section of the book when I haven't been furiously angry with the author, the characters and everyone else involved in the book. Hardy wrapped everything up and tied all the loose ends incredibly quickly, leaving you with a sense of almost lostness and almost defencelessness because for so long you have had these characters and their personalities to keep you going and now it all ends so quickly that you don't really have time to say goodbye properly. In addition to this, I find that Tess becomes very harsh and impulsive in the final chapter of this book, which is understandable once she meets Angle again but, before hand it seems a little odd that she has gone so long living in the hope that her husband would return that you never expect her to suddenly up and leave to go somewhere else.

I found that once Angle returned to the country from Brazil, I didn't hate him nearly as much as I did before he left and what was more was that I wasn't upset with myself for not hating him either. In fact the tables turned a little and I felt really sorry for him and I was so please that he had finally come to his sense, but even Angle seems to follow the same metaphor as everyone else in this book: Too little too late.

Over all I have very much enjoyed reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles and I would not at all mind reading some other works of Thomas Hardy. Hardy is a very successful author who definitely knew how to get a response out of his audience and how to make them feel exactly what he wants them to feel. I admire him and his work and would recommend that most people should read his work if they get the chance.

THE WHISPERING SKULL By Jonathan Stroud

GOOD PEOPLE OF EARTH! ITS FINALLY HERE!

I've finally managed to get my hands on a copy of The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud, the waiting list at the library was not far off enormous.

Now, if you've been following my blog, you will remember that a while back a read the predecessor to this wonderful novel, The Screaming Staircase. I remember ranting and raving about how amazing that book was and as I brought this one home just three days ago, I felt that Stroud had indeed, set himself an incredibly high standard.

But never fear because, the genius author of The Lockwood and Co. series has done himself proud and gone over and beyond the standard he set himself last time.

I think the best thing about this novel is that as well as being a separate novel that can be read independently of the first, it takes one element of the previous novel and expands in, explains it and takes it to a whole new level. That tiny little side mystery that you never really get to see much about? well this time Stroud's written an entire novel on it. The other thing I think is brilliant things is that it isn't just a copy of the first book with different side characters and storyline. He has taken the supernatural and dystopian element from his work, and very cleverly woven into it a clear crime/detective style sequence of events making this book open to an even wider audience than it was before!

All the way through, I was on the edge of my seat, I was shocked and horrified as I was the darker side of characters whom I thought were just kids bent double with bad-luck, and all in all I don't have a bad word to say about it.

But one thing I will say is this: Mr Stroud, you better get writing, because that cliff hanger you left and the end almost killed me!

EENY MEENY by M J Arlidge

OH MY DAYS!!!!! Read it! Read it! Read it! Read it!

And to think that I very, very nearly returned this book to the library without even starting it!!! I would be kicking myself now if I had done.

This is the story of DI Helen Grace as she tries to capture the serial killer who is taking pairs of people and locking them away with only one instruction. One person must shoot the other. One dies, the other goes free...

This book is so, incredibly gripping and twisting in so many brilliant ways. It keeps you hanging on right until the very last page, the very last word even. You think your just getting the hang of the story when it takes another brilliant turn in a completely unthinkable direction! I've read crime novels with a similar final target to this before, but never have I read one so unique and different!

Each and every single one of these characters is so deep and well written that they become almost real to the reader. My personal favourite (Other than Helen) being Charlie. But even the other, more minor characters such as Bridges and Sanderson, had enough material written into them that they had real emotion and story, that you can't help but remember them in the way that you remember an old friend from school. Not always at the front of your memory and mind, but still always, definitely there somewhere.

Mark was an incredible piece of work in my opinion. So very often, the cops are always the people who have over come everything and become what they are today, but I think Arlidge's take was very interesting. It's really rare to read about a cop who is still going through his life changing events while at what appears to be the top of his game.

Wow this is an easy book to write about!

This does does contain adult, mature and graphic content and is very likely to leave you thinking what you would do in that situation, who you would be with etc... This is a very gripping book, that moves at such a pace it is unbelievable.

I would definitely recommend this book at all maturer readers, but make sure you keep arms and legs inside the car at all times as you're in for a bumpy ride!