Mark Edwards

Deutsche Fassung am Ende.

Expectation setting: This (audio) book would not be considered to be a thriller by most, rather a … psychological family drama with high suspense.

Isabel died almost five years ago in 2013 because she tragically fell from her window. Her husband Dorpak still has does not have another woman in his live but spends his time with sister Nina or his in-laws; Isabel’s mother still cannot enter the house where Dorpak now lives on his own; Isabel’s younger sister Jessica is suffering, but has to keep her family running with husband Will and kids Felix and Olivia. Then suddenly Jessicas four-year-old daughter Olivia starts with a very very strange behavior. She frightens other children, knows details from the path, seems to hide a secret. And why does a grey car follow Jessica? Did Isabel really die from an accident?

The elements, the suspense, the nested setting – those are despite my categorization of the book common elements of a thriller. I like Mark Edwards’ books a lot, because they have rather uncommon topics - I think it is no spoiler to mention that I would not have expected to find, for example, a #MeToo – topic in this one. The nesting of the solution is typical for Edwards, and with “In her Shadow”, that Matrioshka-principle is very strong: after the first explanation there is another and yet another and… But this would not be the one book by this author I would recommend to a first reader – by my experience, most readers do have an issue with such “in between the genres” books. The solution follows the concept of a whodunnit, style and structure that of thriller and psychological drama, family drama results from the situation. In addition, especially the middle goes very in depth with the option of the supernatural – that was only acceptable from my part, as I knew the author to lay out a trace for which his hints are rather thick.

I again was meant to whispersynching, but ended up with the audio only but for the spelling of Isabel's widower. I quite liked how Ester Wane read this, but for the delivery of little Olivia – way too squeaky and unnatural.

Altogether 3 1/2 stars, down to 3 to compare to other Edwards-books. An okay read, but not my favorite of his.

Erwartungshaltung: Dieses (Hör-) Buch würden die meisten nicht als Thriller einordnen, eher als … psychologisches Familien-Drama mit hohem Spannungsfaktor.

Isabel ist vor fast fünf Jahren (2013) gestorben durch einen tragischen Sturz aus dem Fenster. Ihr Ehemann Dorpak hat bis heute keine neue Frau in sein Leben gelassen und verbringt lieber Zeit mit seiner Schwester Nina oder seiner Schwieger-Familie, Isabels Mutter kann das Haus, in dem Dorpak jetzt allein lebt, bis heute nicht betreten, Isabels jüngere Schwester Jessica leidet, muss ihre Trauer aber dem Familienleben mit Mann Will und den Kindern Felix und Olivia unterordnen. Da fängt Jessicas kleine vierjährige Tochter Olivia an, sich sehr sehr merkwürdig zu verhalten. Sie ängstigt andere Kinder, weiß Details aus der Vergangenheit, scheint ein Geheimnis zu verbergen. Und warum folgt ein graues Auto Jessica? Ist Isabel wirklich durch einen Unfall gestorben?

Die Elemente, die Spannung, das Verschachtelte – das sind ungeachtet meiner Einordnung des Buches die Elemente eines Thrillers. Ich mag Mark Edwards Bücher sehr, weil sie recht ungewöhnliche Themen aufgreifen – ich denke, ich spoilere nicht, dass ich hier beispielsweise kein #MeToo – Thema als eine der Zutaten vermutet hätte. Auch die Verschachtelung der Auflösung ist typisch Edwards, das erfolgt gerade bei „In her Shadow“ besonders stark im Matrioschka-Prinzip: hinter der ersten Aufklärung folgt eine weitere, folgt eine weitere, … Aber dieses Buch wäre jetzt nicht das Buch vom Autor, das ich jemandem als das erste seiner Bücher empfehlen würde – meiner Erfahrung nach haben die meisten Leser zu sehr ein Problem damit, wenn ein Buch etwas „zwischen den Genres“ hängt. Die Auflösung folgt dem Muster des Whodunnit, Stil und Aufbau dem von Thriller und Psychodrama, Familientragödie ergibt sich aus der Situation. Dazu wird gerade im Mittelteil recht in die Tiefe gehend die Option des Übernatürlichen breit ausgewalzt – das ging für mich nur, weil ich bei dem Autor schon kannte, dass er eine Fährte gerne mit vielen Zaunpfählen markiert.  

Ich wollte mal wieder Whispersyncen, habe dann bis auf die Schreibweise von Isabels Witwer nur gehört. Die Stimme von Esther Wane hat mir ganz gut gefallen, bis auf die Stimmlage als Olivia - viel zu quietschig-künstlich.

Insgesamt 3 ½ Sterne, die ich wegen meiner Bewertung der anderen Edwards-Thriller abrunde auf 3: Ganz okay, aber nicht mein Favorit.

Anscheinend noch KEINE deutschsprachige Ausgabe des Romans - "Dir auf der Spur" ist ein anderes seiner Bücher, das klang zuerst so schön naheliegend ;-)

When 27-year-old Richard Thompson met Marie, he was fascinated from the very beginning. Yet, he did not dare to address her, when he had accompanied as a photographer his colleague, reporter Simon Ryder, to make an interview about UFO-seekers in the hills of his local Hastings. Marie was among the group camping out to await another sighting, out along with Andrew and Pete. But when a little later Richard meets Marie again in a nightclub, he is allowed to accompany her home. They become a couple soon after this, and Marie moves in with Richard quickly. There is even the promise of a boost to Richard’s career and everything could be fine – if it were not for Marie’s strong believe in aliens and Ufos. And if Marie had not disappeared all of a sudden.

I followed Richard in his longing for Marie, then Marie in hers for outer space – with some wondering about how this should be working in the long run, with a couple of so different “beliefs”. After Marie was gone, Richard appears more and more obsessed. First, he tries to contact Marie’s family and friends, thus delves deeper himself into her beliefs. When he uncovers some startling photography and more ominous contacts among the fans of Roswell and area 51, his search will bring him into contact with more ruthless opponents and even take him abroad.

At some point, I wondered: Richard really did not now much about Marie – and this never felt strange to him? He never suggested her to invite friends? Not all of them were ufo-fans, like those from uni. And why taking chances and leave Marie’s laptop left behind? Richard’s growing obsession also felt weird to me – he risked career, money, health, … for somebody he hardly knew. Yes, first love and all, young love in the beginning – come on, that guy is 27, not a teenager – he should at least have left notes behind about where he went just for personal security, any sort of life line.

Mark Edwards is actually a thriller writer, normally rather subtle ones and not too gory. This one might even not be seen as a thriller at all, maybe not even as a mystery story…I would go for “a novel about following your passions uncompromisingly, with mystery elements and somewhat unexpected crime(s)”. The story does mention a little sex and a little violence and some elements in a sect-like context, as for my general note of warning. There is a lot in terms of a sense of dark foreboding, again as often with Edwards, some developments come to the reader like being inevitable. There is a lot of ironical humor to the style of telling.

I whispersync-ed this, so mostly audio book, some ebook for names etc. I liked Lister's voices, but would still prefer Simon Mattacks a LOT, like with other Edwards' books.

So one might say, I still liked the style of writing, I wanted to know where the story lead me, but I find this one of Mark Edward’s weaker stories. 3 ½ stars, rounded down to 3.

Deutsche Übersetzung als “Nesträuber“, wobei Magpies Elstern sind. Der deutsche Titel verrät mal wieder etwas zu viel (oder der Verlag hält deutschsprachige Leser für zu dumm, etwas über Elstern zu wissen?!)

Whispersynced, meaning that I was capabale to alternate between audio and ebook, which is nice to look up names

Jamie and Kirsty are young and in love. So the IT-specialist and the nurse are overjoyed when the find the flat of their dreams, in a quiet street in London, and affordable to purchase. Even the neighbours seem to be nice – couple Chris and Lucy in the garden flat underneath them, Brian and Linda in the top flat and Mary with her cat Lennon in between. So when the fire brigade arrives at their house warming party, it is probably rather some bad joke. Jamie and Kirsty start to befriend the neighbours. All the while, something is going on. There a taxis, parcels, pizzas coming to them, which the young couple did never order. There are strange accusations. There are complaints about noise. And then, a terrible accident happens. But nobody seems to believe them.

Two WARNINGS: first, this is not the standard thriller, so some readers might be disappointed. This is rather a very somber story with some thriller-like elements, I call books like that a “psycho-drama”. Second, some readers might be offended by explicit descriptions of sex – it is there for a reason.

Have not most of us had at some time rather weird incidents with neighbours? I certainly still wonder about that one woman who managed to use up all the space in the rubbish bin by bringing out her trash daily, tiny portions always wrapped up in plastic bags with that much air knotted in so it was overly bulky. This is nothing like what happens to the Knights. This story is not about “who did it”, that will be pretty obvious very soon (although I kept wondering). This is about what to do against this, if nobody takes you serious or even believes you. The story is about drama in the making, when you know exactly this is going to go oh so very wrong, but I could not have even guessed about how bad it might become. There is foreboding and it is gripping and I sat glued to the text (even more spooky when heard as an audio book) and it is thrilling (though, as I had pointed out, rather not a thriller).

The pictures in your head are there when you compare to your very own “special” neighbor and they start even worse when you put down the book, like “oh, my situation is so much better”. But had not the Knights thought so when it all started? What a subtle and really mean way to draw the reader in – big “Like”. Oh, and the narrator is Simon Mattacks, who is simply great (I looked out for him after some Jess Ryder book and another from the same author). He manages to give each of ther persons in the house their own voice! I think the text would make a great group read, too, with the discussion it might bring about.

Disliked? Well, fortunately I am not at all into covers. A young woman in probably her nightgown in a winterly forest does not have anything to do with what happens. Oh, and I found some minor inconsistencies… in the trial, was there nobody talking about the 20.000 – it should have made for a motive AND wilful intent? And how come that Jamie found allies – it did not feel that obvious to me? Chapter 17 – the symbolism with the crows and the graveyard, that was a bit too thick for my taste. Hence, 4 ½ stars, adjusted downward to a very good 4.

By the same author, 5 stars, and a veritable serial killer: https://www.lovelybooks.de/autor/Mark-Edwards/The-Lucky-Ones-1752164214-w/rezension/1755151410/