Catherine Raynes: The Act of Disappearing and I Will Ruin You

The Act of Disappearing by Nathan Gower 

Julia White is struggling: her bartending job isn’t cutting it and her first book has sold hardly any copies. She’s broke, barely able to make ends meet while drowning in her late mother’s medical bills and reeling after a one-night stand with her ex-boyfriend, who’s now completely ghosted her. Enter Johnathan Aster, world-renowned photographer, with a proposal: he has a never-before-seen photograph of a woman falling from a train bridge, clutching what appears to be a baby. And he wants Julia to research the story. 

Alternating between present-day Brooklyn and Kentucky as it enters the 1960s, the story unfolds as Julia races to find answers: Who was the woman in the photograph? Why was she on the bridge? And what happened to the baby? Each detail is more propulsive than the last as Julia unravels the mystery surrounding the Fairchilds of Gray Station and discovers a story more staggering than anything she could have imagined. 

 

I Will Ruin You by Linwood Barclay 

How would you react in a life-or-death situation?  
It’s a question everyone asks themselves, but few have to face in real life. English teacher Richard Boyle certainly never thought he would find himself talking down a former student intent on harming others, but when Mark LeDrew shows up at Richard’s school with a bomb strapped to his chest, Richard immediately jumps into action. Thanks to some quick thinking, he averts a major tragedy and is hailed as a hero, but not all the attention focused on him is positive. 
 
Richard’s brief moment in the spotlight puts him in the sights of a deranged blackmailer with a score to settle. The situation rapidly spirals out of control, drawing Richard into a fraught web of salacious accusations and deadly secrets. As he tries to uncover the truth he discovers that there’s something deeply wrong in the town—something that ties together Mark, the blackmailer, and a gang of ruthless drug dealers, and Richard has landed smack in the middle of it. He’s desperate to find a way out, but everyone in his life seems to be hiding something, and trusting the wrong person could cost him everything he loves. 
 
What price will he pay for one good deed? 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to this Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks atb.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Catherine Rains has here to recommend her two reads for
this weekend. Hey, Catherine, morning, dach. Okay, let's start off
with the Act of Disappearing by Nathan Gower.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
So, Julia White's a bartender and a struggling author, and
her mother's just died. And while she's at work, this
renowned photographer, a guy called Jonathan Asta, approaches her with
this never been seen published photo from the six nineteen
sixties of a woman jumping off a bridge with a
baby in her arms, and he wants Julia to investigate
what happened and write a book that tells about this

(00:43):
mystery woman's story. And Julia's kind of think her own
prospects are looking particularly bleak there. She had this very
lucrative first book launch and there's no real clear jobs
after that, and you know, she's broke while she's tending
these bars, as she's trying to pay off her mother's
looming medical bills, and now she's grappling with this life

(01:05):
changing event in her own life, and she finds really
no reason to hold back from dalving further into what's
behind this photo and how the story progresses is there's
dual timelines that shift between her investigative efforts in the
present day as she hones on on the truth behind
the photograph and the viewpoints from those in nineteen sixty
three associated with the Woman from the Bridge. And it's

(01:27):
this very emotional journey that takes you from the present
day Brooklyn in the nineteen sixties Kentucky and Multiple Steroids
are storylines that are developing, lots of characters, and those
layers really mold together really well, and you get secrets
upon secrets and mystery and mental health struggles, and you know,
lots about family and what it means to be a
mum and some quite serious themes in the book as well.

(01:49):
But you find yourself disappearing into the story and completely
engrossed and engage with where these characters are going. And
you know, maybe a couple of tears along the way.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Yeah, okay, cool, that's the act of disappearing by Nathan Gower.
You've also read I Will Ruin You by Linwood Barclay.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
Just another one day morning at school and this English teacher,
a guy called Richard Boyle, is mid Lesson when he
spots someone running towards the school entrance wearing a suicide vest,
and he tells the class to lockdown and called nine
to one one and he rushes to the front door,
and there's this student and next student a guy called
Mark Ladru who's intent on causing maximum harm. And what

(02:28):
occurs next puts Richard completely in this spotlight, and this
dramatic day is really a catalyst for a sequence of
events that he finds himself center of. So at first
he's hailed as a hero, and you know, Will would
have events, But then there's lawsuits from Mark's parents and
blackmail from another student, and scrutiny over the choice of
reading material he gives his students and has he himself

(02:51):
delves deep into Mark's secrets and why he might have
done what he's done. There's this drug gang and threatening
the town's piece as well, and his own marriage is
faltering and his friends trust is wavering, and all of
a sudden he realizes he's a prime suspect. So you
get this very narrative, which is like in short chapters

(03:12):
from multiple perspectives, including Richard's own, and it's suspenseful and paced,
and you know, some heavy topics and drug use and
gun violence and dysfunctional family issues, but it's an attention
grabbing psychological thriller with lots of twists and turns in
a very thought provoking plot.

Speaker 1 (03:28):
Nice.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, yeah, keep your turning the pages because you just
want to know what happens next.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Oh that's always a good sign. Okay. Cool. That's I
Will Ruin You by Lindward Barclay, Catherine's first book, The
Act of Disappearing by Nathan Gower. Both of those are,
of course, on the news Talks He'd Be website.

Speaker 1 (03:43):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame. Listen live
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