The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough

The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Tonight is a special, terrible night. A woman sits at her father's bedside watching the clock tick away the last hours of his life. Her brothers and sisters - all traumatised in their own ways, their bonds fragile - have been there for the past week, but now she is alone. And that's always when it comes. As the clock ticks in the darkness, she can only wait for it to find her...

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The Language of Dying by Sarah Pinborough was a book that seemed to be fantastic and that a lot of my friends on Goodreads ( and other readers there) love. However, now and then am I the odd one out because this book didn't do a thing for me. I kept on expecting for the moment to show up when I would get enthralled and get sucked into the story, but it never happened.

Instead, it just dragged on, and this is not a thick book, only 144 pages long, but it felt like it took forever to get to the end. I just couldn't connect with the character nor the story. The fantasy aspect of the story was also a big failure. Instead of being mysterious and intriguing it was just odd and felt out of place. I wonder if the book and worked better if one had gotten to know the characters better if the story had been more developed. Now instead it feels like you get a quick introduction to each of the siblings, but you never really get to know them or care for them or their father.

Now, this is just my humble opinion, it's a well-loved book and perhaps it will work better for you.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

#BookReview Murder by Sarah Pinborough

Murder by Sarah Pinborough
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Dr. Thomas Bond, Police Surgeon, is still recovering from the event of the previous year when Jack the Ripper haunted the streets of London - and a more malign enemy hid in his shadow. Bond and the others who worked on the gruesome case are still stalked by its legacies, both psychological and tangible.

But now the bodies of children are being pulled from the Thames... and Bond is about to become inextricably linked with an uncanny, undying enemy.

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I like how Sarah Pinborough uses a combination of fantasy and real events and persons in her books Mayhem and Murder to tell a story. The Upir is an interesting creation and I like that it's a vampire, but still quite different. Vampires have become too popular in my opinion and that has made them quite boring to read about.

The story in this book takes place a couple of years after the first book and Dr. Thomas Bond is back, but he is still haunted by the memories of what happened years before when Jack the Ripper and the Torso Killer roamed the city. But now something is stirring in the city, there are dead children being pulled out of the river Themes is the evil back, didn't the priest manage to get rid of the Upir when they took care of the Torso Killer in Mayhem?

It was an interesting book to read, but not totally engrossing for me, I had some trouble getting really invested in the story and the love triangle made it not easier. The rivalry between men over a woman can be interesting, but in this case, the outcome was not that surprising and even though it was a logical part of the story I just didn't care for it so much. The book did manage to make some surprisingly turns even though I did guess the outcome right in the end and it was a perfect ending to a setup for a third book!

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!