Giveaway & Book Review: Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson

April 18, 2013

About:
Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson is a mystery novel taking place in 1936. This is the fourth book in a series starring author Josephine Tey.

The pub­lisher is giv­ing away one copy of this book –to enter fill out the Raf­fle­copt­ter form at the end of the post.

  • 432 pages
  • Publisher:Faber & Faber
  • Language:English
  • ISBN-10:0571246281

Book Review Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson

My rat­ing for Fear in the Sunlight3

Buy this book in paper or elec­tronic format

More books by Nicola Upson

Thoughts:

The reason I chose to read Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson (website | Facebook) was because Alfred Hitchcock was in the story, I had no idea it was part of a series and probably wouldn’t have noticed either until I read it somewhere.

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I was looking forward to read a good mystery which was somewhat involved in Hitchcock’s movies. However the famed director is a character in this novel much like anyone else. Granted, not everyone has his insecurities and eccentricities but there is no Hitchcock specific take on the story.

The story was very slow to start but once it got going it held my interest until the end, but the large cast of characters kept me confused and I had to re-read some sections to make sure I had the story correct.

I felt the author was trying to do several things in this novel, while interesting none of them really shine or come to the front. The mystery, Josephine Tey’s personal life, Hitchcock’s personality, marriage, show business, police work and others are all part of the story. However, it seemed that Ms. Upson was also trying to tie her story to Hitchcock’s themes of voyeurism, suspense, mistaken identities, the charming sociopath, as well as wink and nods to the great director’s films (staircases, bell tower and more). While as a movie buff I appreciated those nods, I felt they pushed the actual story to the background. I was less interested in Ms. Tey’s part of the story and wanted to read more about Chief Inspector Penrose who I felt was a more interesting character.

This novel needs to be read with care and attention, simply breezing through it would confuse the reader due to the several stories and timelines. After a slow start, the novel is a worthwhile read which delivers on the mystery aspect being promoted.

Synopsis:
Author Josephine Tey and her friends go to celebrate her 40th birthday at the resort village of Portmeirion. They are to meet Alfred Hitchcock and his wife to discuss

turning Josephine’s novel into a movie. When a Hollywood starlet gets murdered in a nearby cemetery Chief Inspector Archie Penrose becomes involved, yet he is unsatisfied with the way the investigation was resolved.

Several years later, another murder happens, also linked to a Hitchcock’s movie. Penrose goes back to the scene to try to uncover the truth.

Josephine_Tey_April_7_1934Mystery author Josephine Tey

Buy thisbookin paper orelec­tronicformat

More books by Nicola Upson

Give­away

  • Give­away ends: April 24, 2013

  • US/Canada Ship­ping Addresses Only

  • NoPOBoxes

  • Win­ners will have 24 hours to write back with their address, oth­er­wise an alter­nate win­ner will be picked

Congratulations: gnometroll@

TLCBook Tour for Fear in the Sunlight by Nicola Upson:

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer:I got this book for free fromTLCBook Tours.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account

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5 Comments

  • RuthApril 18, 2013 at 10:02 am

    Yep, I basically agree with everything you’re saying here. There were parts I enjoyed but overall it was a bit underwhelming.

  • AmusedApril 18, 2013 at 12:41 pm

    Sooo I was totally confused with this one. I felt like there were so many characters I needed to have read the rest in the series to know what was going on.

  • Heather J. @ TLC Book ToursApril 20, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    I’m glad that you could say that this book it worth reading in spite of the challenges you experienced.

    Thanks for being a part of the tour!

  • RyanApril 23, 2013 at 7:39 pm

    I really need to get caught up on this series so thanks for the review and the giveaway.

  • Tiffany HarkleroadApril 23, 2013 at 8:37 pm

    Seems like a lot of us had the same response to this one! Glad I was not alone!

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