Charley's Web

Columnist "Charley" Webb writes a weekly "potpourri" type of article that lets her share her thoughts on any topic that interests her. Many of her columns are frivolous and light fun; others are more thought-provoking. But more often than not, they are controversial, which exposes Charley to a good bit of hate mail. When she starts receiving eMails that threaten her two children, Charley is forced to take the mail seriously. At the same time, she has received a letter from a young woman on death row; Jill, a convicted child killer, wants Charley to write her story.After some hesitation, Charley accepts Jill's offer and looks ahead to fame when her book is published. Still, she is increasingly troubled with regard to her sessions with Jill, a sadistic killer who presents a sad tale of her own experiences.The core plot of this mystery presents an intriguing premise, as Charley gathers information to tell Jill's story. In the world of Joy Fielding, there is always dark mayhem whenever sociopaths interface with the "normal" population.I generally enjoyed this book, as I enjoy all the work of Ms. Fielding...but I don't think this was her best offering to date. For one thing, I was half-way through the book and found that not much had been done to further advance the main concept of Charley's book interviews. There was some game-playing on the part of Jill that delayed Charley's progress, and instead, the reader was given an in-depth and often repeated narrative addressing Charley's family situation - the mother who abandoned her, her interaction with sisters, her frequent rescues of brother Bram from the excesses of drugs and alcohol - etc. etc. - along with the daily joys of her two children, the artwork they bring home from school, the contrasting characters of the two, and so forth. All of this was OK and not totally uninteresting, but I did find myself skimming a bit as the family stuff seemed prolonged.Still, the book was well worth the read - especially for the dynamite shock of an ending. Fielding's writing is excellent, her characters are interesting and real, and the surprises are always there, but sometimes (like in this book), the reader has to wait a bit.

Charley has a job that most of us would dream about. Being able to write for a large newspaper, but what most of us would not dream about is the "unhappy" readers. One would think that you would have some people that would not like something they read, and might take the time to e-mail you about it, but not to the extent that Charley's readers take it.When she is approached by a Convicted Child Murderer to write her "tell-all" novel, she thinks very seriously about it. After much consideration she decides to go ahead and "go for it". Even though she is excited with this new project, there is a deep part of her that is fighting with herself about whether this is for her.After you throw in the hours and hours of research into the case, both with the Killer's lawyer, and also the Killer herself, you get thrown one twist immediately following the first.This book is what "legends" and "movies" are made of. I can only hope that this one is made into a movie...because those of us (I don't know of them myself you understand) who don't read will absolutely be made a fan of Ms. Fielding and will hopefully reconsider the very fulfilling act of actually reading a very good book.Please Ms. Fielding, please keep them coming. I can hardly wait for the next one. My only hope is going back and getting all of her books that I haven't read yet to tide me over. Five ***** All the Way!!

I DO NOT understand why some authors feel it necessary to detail horrific acts of animal cruelty perpetrated by their psychotic characters. It adds nothing to their "story" and leaves readers with horrible images that are enough to sicken anyone who loves animals.Never finished the book and will never purchase another one by this author.

When I first started reading Charley's Web, I wasn't sure what I thought. The writing was rather simplistic, but the story was interesting. As the novel progressed, however, I became more and more intrigued and was shocked and on the edge of my seat throughout the last few chapters of the book. This was a great storyline and I was shocked at the end. I'd planned to give it three stars as I read the first half, but with the rewarding ending and the twists to the story, rendering me unable to put the book down, I give it four stars.

After a series of books that weren't very good (Lost, Puppet, Heartstopper) I wasn't expecting much from this one. I read this book in one day - it was very entertaining. I think it's her best book since Whispers & Lies. I liked the main character. I didn't think it would happen, but I'm glad she finally wrote about a character who had a great relationship with her kids. I wish the book was a little bit longer - I wanted to read more about Charley's father and sisters.Joy Fielding has been one of my favorite authors for many years. I'm so happy she still continues to write good books. I'm looking forward to the next book.

I bought this book after reading a sample chapter on my fabulous Kindle. I was really surprised by how much I liked this book. It was an entertaining read that truly does catch you up in it's web and is really tough to put down. I read it through in just a day or two. It keeps you guessing until the end and really is a rollercoaster ride until the final pages. I highly recommend taking this book for a spin.

And now I have to wait another whole year for her "latest." I finished CHARLEY'S WEB earlier this afternoon, and my heart is still beating fast. The author is a master at creating credible psychological suspense. Fielding's characters are flawed -- I didn't particularly admire Charley, certainly did not like her long-lost/recently found mother, etc., but as usual I could not put the book down. Fielding's characters STAY with you, and even if the mystery wanes, one is drawn to the characters. Suspense is the name of her game, and no one can build it, and certainly end it, like Joy Fielding.

This WAS a good story and I enjoyed it BUT one crashing mistake cost it 5* for me as it just wasn't acceptable. Yes, these days of e-books you need to get used to errors as the care isn't taken in presentation by the publishers but this book is titled Charley's Web and the main heroine is called Charley YET at one point her name was written as Charlie !!! Now, why the hell nobody spotted that when it managed to smack me in the face I'll never know but it made a huge difference to my reading.As usual with Simon & Schuster books we lose the cover art once we download it as well. They're the only company this happens with and I've mentioned it ad nauseum but nobody has bothered to address it. I got a little tired at times as lightning during a storm was mentioned way too often and full paragraphs were getting repeated as they were related to other people further on in the story. It all seemed like very unneccessary padding. At one time kicked was used and it should really have been knocked and I was baffled by the points' system regarding driving that was mentioned-a driver bemoaned the fact she was going to lose points. Over here you accumulate them and when I looked online so do they in America so no wonder I'm confused !! Then a guy asked her what type of food she liked and when she told him Italian he remarked that he thought she'd say that-WHY ??? Then she used void and not devoid but that was the lot for mistakes. If only she'd not written that one Charlie......There were some very funny lines in the story, I have to say, which made me snigger.The murderer she was interviewing seemed to be loosely based around Myra, our home-grown killer. Maybe she was, I'm not sure if Ms Fielding has read about her, though I expect she has. Now Charley I was unsure about. At times I quite despised her. I found her pretty shallow and a bit of a cow at times and she was also very full of herself and thought she was god's gift to the male population ! However, she managed to redeem herself for me in her scenes with Bandit.I've read lots by this author and will continue to read her novels but I hope I never see a crashing error like I did here again.

I downloaded the sample for this a few weeks ago but didn't order the book because I really didn't like Charley the heroine at first sight. She is a 'Glenda Slagg' style journalist writing what would now be called clickbait articles for a newspaper column - and I'm afraid I agreed with some of her readers/colleagues that she was extremely self-centred and unlikeable. However I decided to give another try as I found the storyline quite intriguing and I'm glad I did. It's a really gripping tale of a journalist who agrees to write the life story of a convicted Myra Hindley style killer. Did this woman really act alone, is she as evil as the media paint her and like the real life Myra did she have a male accomplice? The story is incredibly gripping, and the more I learned about Charley's life - her troubled upbringing, her love for her children and her attempts to rebuild a relationship with the mother who deserted her, the more I warmed to her. The final chapters are incredibly gripping and it really kept me guessing all the way through. A great bargain at the 2.98 price head and shoulders above most of the so-called thrillers on Kindle.

I found this book hard going at the beginning but so glad I carried on. It became an exciting and fast paced thriller that I couldn’t put down. The story builds to a climax that I didn’t expect but was very detailed and believable. Loved it.

It was so good . I could not put it down. A great read

American trash