I don't normally stamp my foot when business decisions are made in the online world because I understand moves and changes happen in Corporate America and it is what it is. However, maybe I'm just not technologically savvy enough to figure this recent issue out.

What I Like to Do

Many other book reviewers prefer to include links in their posts to other bloggers who have reviewed the same book. It's an opportunity for online networking, advertisement to fellow readers, etc., and I like doing it because I like it when other bloggers link back to me, etc.

The Issue

One of the many things I appreciated about Google Reader was the ability to search the blogs I follow for specific keywords. It easily filtered to those blogs that reviewed the same book and I could quickly link to that specific review in my post so other readers could visit those sites.

I have connected to both Feedly and Bloglovin in anticipation of the big demise of Google Reader in July to see which I preferred to work with, but I am stumped with both... whenever I click in the search fields to only search the blogs I follow, I instead get results of every blog with that keyword on either Feedly or Bloglovin, respectively.

The Big Question

Do you know how to do it and I'm just confused?? Would love any insight you have.

It's been a long time since I felt comfortable diving into a series, one right after another, and foregoing all other new releases. As a blogger, you tend to feel that if you don't regularly change it up, you'll disengage your audience and lose readership. This year, however, has been a fairly complacent year of posting new reviews anyway and my "short" sabbatical was unintentionally extended for much longer. My last post was almost a month ago.

And yet I feel so much better. I am enjoying this relaxed approach and while I realize readership might be declining, I'm comfortable with it. This roller coaster year has given me more than I anticipated, so taking the time to just enjoy the pleasures of reading, listening to audios, and posting whenever I want to, has been a thrill.

So I decided to finally dive into The Talented Mr. Ripley series by Patricia Highsmith (also referred to as the "Ripliad"). And it was incredible. Which then motivated me to listen to the second and the third in the series as well. There are two more remaining to complete the series, so I'll get to that later this summer.

The Talented Mr. Ripley

Written in 1955, released in audio format 2012

Narrator: Kevin Kenerly

Audio Time: 9 hours, 35 minutes

Publisher: Audible, Inc.

If you haven't watched the beautiful 1998 film version starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jude Law, you really must pick it up. I'd advise you to read the book first, of course, and if you're really feeling cheeky, you might as well try the audiobook. The first in Highsmith's disturbing psychological series introduces us to Tom Ripley, who really is a loner struggling to find his place in life, and quite an up-and-coming con artist in training. When he is recruited by the father of Dickie Greenleaf to find Dickie lounging in his nonchalant and casual life in Italy spending his father's money, Tom accepts immediately. It's only when Tom meets Dickie and Marge that he realizes the life Dickie has is the one he wants. What follows is a dark and disturbing foray into Tom's world as he manipulates, cajoles, fools, and even kills, in order to get everything he's ever wanted.

This was my favorite of the first three I listened to. Kevin Kenerly was pristine in the role of narrator, his voice clean and eerily distinct. It was my first time listening to him, and I've become a big fan.

Ripley Underground

Written in 1970, released in audio format 2012

Narrator: Kevin Kenerly

Audio Time: 9 hours, 42 minutes

Publisher: Audible, Inc.

Not really my favorite, but still silkily delivered by Kevin Kenerly, which therefore kept me completely tuned in. In this Ripley installment, it's been several years since the Dickie Greenleaf events. Now living in France, Tom has several entrepreneurial investments going on to keep him and his wife well off in the French countryside. Although still occasionally haunted by Dickie which sometimes ruins Tom's credibility, Tom remains successful. His current project of interest is the Buckmaster Gallery which houses several famous Derwatt paintings. When an American questions the authenticity of one Derwatt, Tom decides he must keep up appearances for the gallery and convince the American that the Derwatt painting is real. As Tom gets caught up in his own acts, one wonders if this time he really will get caught.

Written almost fifteen years after the first installment, Ripley Underground was interesting, but I think it fell a little flat compared to the disturbing nature of the first. I didn't have a hard time going through this at all, though, partly because of the short audio time, but mostly because the narrator was just fantastic.

Ripley's Game

Written in 1974, released in audio format 2012

Narrator: Kevin Kenerly

Audio Time: 9 hours, 13 minutes

Publisher: Audible, Inc.

Ahhh, now we get back to good ole Tom being completely off his rocker, even though he's really not. Which is probably what is the scariest about it all. Tom is clearly unstable, but it is because he is so incredibly "normal" in his approach, and his ability to know people so intuitively, that he can manipulate every moment to his desired result. He is a brilliant sociopath. In this third story, the title truly fits. This one really is a game.

Tom, now in his late thirties, early forties, has established his reputation as a problem-solver. He is approached by a businessman he's worked with before to murder a member of the Mafia hurting his business. Tom, however, really doesn't like murder and only uses it if it is the last possible resort, so he simply turns it down. After thinking about it, Tom instead decides to offer a replacement to commit the murder. At a recent party, he had been mildly insulted by Jonathan, a local picture-framer, and felt that Jonathan's terminal cancer would be something Tom could manipulate to get him to agree to commit the murder. What follows is a story filled with more psychological and sociological disturbances, told from both Tom's and Jonathan's perspectives. This switch between perspectives is new for the series, but oh, boy, was it brilliant.

I highly recommend the Ripley series from Patricia Highsmith, and of course Kevin Kenerly was outstanding in the role of narrator. I've got the next in my Audible.com wish list and I can't wait to start.

Side Note

I think the beauty of Patricia Highsmith's work is that it is so straight-forward in its disturbing psychological process playing out for each character, scene, triumph, and failure. It is oddly engaging, charming, humorous, yet deeply dark and frightening. I think I'd love to have dinner with Patricia Highsmith and Daphne du Maurier. Well, at least be a fly on a wall? I might be too scared to lower my guard around those two freaky writers.

About the Author

Patricia Highsmith was born in 1921 and passed in 1995. She was an American novelist, and was known for several acclaimed novels and film adaptations, including her first novel Strangers on a Train, which many may know because of Alfred Hitchcock's film version. Her novels also include the Ripliad series (Tom Ripley), The Price of Salt, The Two Faces of January, and more. For a full list of her work, please click here.

I finally got a chance to dive into Sarah Waters' work and I am content. I have made a special note that the fall season really is the best time to experience her work, so I'm looking forward to Carl's RIP Challenge this year even more so.

BookLust reviewed the audiobook and as I was coming off audios which really weren't up my alley, I went ahead and downloaded The Little Stranger. This Gothic tale had the right amount of spooky atmosphere, psychological thriller, and bump-in-the-night ghost story tale to wonderfully keep me a bit on edge when I'd listen to it in the car on a cold and dark night.

Dr. Farady has a long history with Hundreds Hall, a rambling and sprawling English manor that has seen better days. When once his mother used to work there in the prime of pre-World War II life, the post-war era certainly has a crumbling result, both to the home and to the family. With only two servants now supporting the house, and the Ayers family living an eccentric life, Dr. Faraday's relationship begins. It's a slow and quiet build-up of eerie tension and with Dr. Faraday building an uncomfortable attachment to the house and family, there is the sense that perhaps he is an unreliable narrator. Although he delivers the events as they happen to him and the family, part of me questioned whether or not I should believe him. Needless to say, that contributed to the success of the disturbing tale.

Simon Vance was a phenomenal narrator, and you may recall that while I didn't like the story of Dr. No, I finished the audio only because of Simon Vance.

Fans of Asylum by Patrick McGrath will be pleased with this story.

Others said:
BookLust
Prairie Horizons

Publisher: Penguin Audio
Release Date: 5/8/2009
Audio Time: 15 hours, 54 minutes
Narrator: Simon Vance

FTC Disclosure: I purchased this book from Audible.com

About the Author

Sarah Waters, a Welsh novelist, is the author of five novels: Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith, The Night Watch, and The Little Stranger. All of them have either already been adapted for television, or the film rights have been optioned.

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When Gillian Flynn recommends that The Next Time You See Me, by Holly Goddard Jones, is an "astoundingly good novel," I know I have to read it. Many of you know just how much I love the dark and twisted writings of Gillian Flynn, especially Gone Girl.

There are so many incredible things quietly and eerily happening through Holly Goddard Jones' debut novel. It's a story filled with the loneliest of people in a small town in Kentucky, and when hard-partying Ronnie goes missing, her sister, Susanna, is the only one who notices and cares. While the rest of the town struggles through their own deep secrets and insecurities, Susanna worries for her sister, her husband, daughter, and the feeling of missing out on life. As Tony Joyce, prior potential major league ballplayer and crush for Susanna, now detective, becomes involved in her missing sister's case, the intensity of the search builds and each person becomes crucial to the town itself and not just to the disturbing details of Ronnie and where she may be, or what may have happened to her. In fact, in truly dark and twisted fashion, the author depicts Roma, Kentucky as almost its own personality, a bruise on the state with its dismal factories and lost dreams.

The Next Time You See Me is incredibly well written. It is engaging in its sadness, the quiet tales of each character's misery or resentment or the feeling of missing out on life itself are all deeply felt by the reader. Probably the most disturbing sections were not just the complete dejection of Wyatt and lost love, but the teenagers in the middle school who Susanna teaches. Emily and Christopher, each on opposite sides of the spectrum of popularity,  simultaneously deal with their own internal tortures and confusion, but Christopher's bullying of Emily is disgusting, perhaps drawn out by the evil figurehead of popularity which can be its own evil beast. Christopher is almost incapable to believe his own confidence and choose to go the opposite way from his girlfriend and friends, and not hurt others. Peer pressure is a dirty thing, and Christopher is not just the leader of it, but a victim to it as well. With the many secrets Emily keeps however, one could almost understand why she is shunned by the larger part of society, which also peel back the layers of why it hurts so badly when she is tormented; the question a reader might ask themselves is "Would I think she was weird, too?" It's not fair, and it's a dark part of "humanity" that is questioned. Perhaps you won't like what you see of yourself.

A common theme throughout is bullying. While it's much more pronounced and currently relevant when represented in Emily's character, it's also portrayed in adulthood with Wyatt and Sam. The book could almost be a dire predicament of what could happen if bullying goes unchecked, no matter what age.

The Next Time You See Me is a quiet and brutally honest story, one that keeps you flipping the pages. If I could have sat uninterrupted for an afternoon, I easily could have finished it in one sitting. Needless to say, it was a book I always took with me on errands: in doctors' offices, nail appointments, waiting in the car to pick people up, and more. I highly recommend this to anyone, especially those who enjoy Gillian Flynn and Chevy Stevens.

Others said:

My Friend Amy

Publisher: Touchstone (a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.)

Release Date: 2/12/2013

Pages: 372

FTC Disclosure: I received a finished copy from the publisher for my honest review.

About the Author

Holly Goddard Jones is the author of the short story collection Girl Trouble. Her work has appeared in The Best American Mystery Stories, New Stories from the South, Tin House magazine, and elsewhere. She was a 2013 recipient of The Fellowship of Southern Writers' Hillsdale Award for Fiction and a 2007 recipient of a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award. She teaches in the creative writing program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and lives in Greensboro with her husband, Brandon, and two rowdy dogs. The Next Time You See Me is her first published novel.

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