Sally Spedding

This was an okay book. I was sometimes confused because it had so many points of view, and it didn't use traditional quotation marks for dialogue. I saw some of the twists coming a mile away, but didn't guess the ending. I don't really understand why she named this novel "A Night with No Stars." There wasn't really anything in there about it. Other than that it was rainy and foggy most of the time, there really isn't an explanation for it, especially since most of the action was during the day. Some of the story didn't even really need to be there, it just took up space. Lucy wasn't as sympathetic a character as you would have thought, given everything that had happened to her. I liked Mark Jones, even though he was a little sketchy at times. I finished this book rather quickly, even though I didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped. I gave it three stars, but I consider that generous. I wouldn't really recommend it unless you really like books about Wales.… (altro)

In How To Write a Chiller Thriller Sally Spedding manages to coach, motivate and entertain at the same time. I found the combination to be wonderful and I am ready to (try) find the time to write the next great chiller thriller, or at least one that isn't horrible.

This book offers ideas and suggestions based openly and honestly on Spedding's own experience yet stopped well short of being a "do as I say" guide to writing. In fact, she emphasizes from the beginning to be who you are and write what you want (all such statements come with qualifiers, of course, but the point stands) as long as it is from your passion.

I found many of the exercises and examples very useful and am planning to take some time this spring and work my way more methodically through the book. Who knows, maybe next year at this time I will be asking for reviews! Or not, but I'll certainly enjoy trying to get to that point.

I would highly recommend this to aspiring writers within the chiller thriller genre (kinda a hybrid of horror and thriller, she defines both terms at the beginning) and I also believe the tips and ideas are valid across genres for the most part so my recommendation carries over to any writer of fiction.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (altro)

This review may change as I think more about what I have just read. This book was pretty amazing and different to anything I've read.

This book has a fantastic, well paced beginning. It's a slow to start but not a bad slow. A good slow which builds pace and lets the plot unravel wonderfully. I like the idea of an aspiring writer being the main protagonist too, and I'm not sure why.

Set in the dramatic Welsh mountains, this mystery/thriller/horror/crime novel is every bit as dark and brooding (and mysterious) as the cover implies. And then some. OK, so I cannot pronounce most of the Welsh but hey-ho, I'm not Welsh. It didn't really matter really. I spent a lot of time placing myself there, in the remote mountains, surrounded by evergreen plantation forests and rusting equipment, swirling mist and soaking rain. I could smell the cloying scent of roses, hear the rooks calling.

As the story goes on it gets creepier and creepier. I found myself reading faster and faster, eager to know what malevolent turn this book would take next. It is deliciously dark and twisted and atmospheric. and just when you think you have everything worked out BAM! Oh no you don't. Because there is another unexpected sinister twist.

This book is as haunting as the plot and the characters, and will probably stay with me for a long time.

ISBN: 9781907230394… (altro)