The Hunter by Tana French

 I usually really like this author, whom Sierra originally recommended to me. When Eileen in our Monterey book club brought this book along to give away, I decided it was worth a try. It is a good story with fascinating characters and a good mystery!

The one BIG drawback is the almost constant swearing in every conversation...It isn't gratuitous; it sounds absolutely authentic, but I got tired of everything being "feckin'" or the real thing, etc., etc. Threaded by even the most upright characters' conversations. It was distracting at first, and felt normal throughout, and then merely annoying.

However, the character development and the way French explores the inner thinking of the main characters is amazing and instructing. The two main characters, Cal and Trey, are interesting and feel very true. Trey is fifteen and the constant way Cal measures his words to her, so as not to shut her down, is instructive. The Irish folk that populate this little village are fascinating too, and full of Irish humor and teasing. This si a serious book, though, that explores how the criminal inclinations of Johnny, Trey's father, impact not only his family, but the whole village. I often wondered how accurately the constant gossip and machinations of the village crowd and gossips was portrayed. Could they really be so coniving?

It's an isolated village, but it's hard to believe they would be so insular and sometimes naive in their thinking... It would be an interesting sequel to see how Trey navigates the world after this dramatic period of time with her father and ultimate rescue by Cal. Cal being an American helped me understand some of the goings on, as he tried to figure out the same things I was, about the local people. A really good read and rather suspenseful story if you can ignore the language.

The countryside, birds, dogs, and mountain are also beautifully described. The heat is also a constant presence in this drought of a summer. It does make me desire an Irish wander!

The Spiral Staircase by Ethel Lina White

 This is one of the books I'm reading for the "Friends" book club; the one the Stonebridge Ward women are in. I will be curious about who recommended this one, since it's very old-fashioned. Not great literature at all, but a story that would have been much better as a novella. There were so many redundant ups and downs and around the place, that I had trouble keeping track of who was who and where were they in the big house. It's a mansion, set off by itself, and is very spooky, and is full of spooky characters; most of them related. The central character, Helen, is riddled with fear and trepidation the whole time. Her imagination fools her, she pulls herself together again, and then it fools here again. And again. It gets very redundant.

The whole book takes place in one day, and so it gets rather plodding. There's a storm, and the trees are banging against the windows. There's fear around every turn. The characters are mildly interesting, although Helen is the only one we really get to know. Her altercations with the frightening nurse go on and on and get very boring. 

The notes say this author was as popular and well-known as Agatha Christie in her time. Well, I think Christie is miles ahead of this author.

What was interesting for me this time, though, was to attempt to read this in my Kindle app on my phone. The only library version available was electronic, so I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. I now know how to down-load and borrow this kind of book, but I would never choose it. It's convenient to have a novel on my phone, but it's too easy to be distracted to other apps. And, I like to read before sleeping, and I don't want to sleep with my phone in the room, so I have to get up when I'm really sleepy to go plug it in in the laundry room. Another annoyance is that I can't tell how I'm progressing through the book. I can tap and see a percentage, but I'd rather feel the thickness of the pages going by in real paper. Yes, I'm paper trained! Yet, I'm grateful for this experience, and grateful I could borrow and read this one for free. Because it certainly isn't something I would want to pay for or pass on...

It was kind of a fun read for upcoming Halloween...especially as I'm working on a Halloween table runner for Alice Jane. Fall is in the air, and it's early September!