All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin

 

The year is 2083, the place New York City.  Chocolate and caffeine are outlawed and teenagers have a curfew imposed by the government.  Yet, teenage life goes on.  Anya Balanchine's life, however, isn't the typical teenage one.  She is the daughter of the former head of the organized crime family that rules NYC.  Her father is dead, shot in his office at home, and her mother was killed in a car accident that left her big brother, Leo, damaged for life.  She also has a little sister and they all live with her grandmother who is dying of old age.

Still, life goes on.  Anya goes to school and has the typical teenage dramas with friends and boys.  She has recently broken up with a boyfriend and isn't looking to replace him.  But then there is the new boy in school, Win.  He is the son of the assistant district attorney and should be avoided like poison ivy.  But he is determined to ask Anya out and she can't resist.  Soon they are in a relationship although his father forbids it.  

This is a young adult book and not really my normal reading preference but I did enjoy it.  It was fairly predictable but Leo gets into trouble and it's interesting to see how Anya protects everyone and interacts with the other crime lords.  She is an interesting character and the reader cannot help but be on her side as she sacrifices for others and protects them.  This book is recommended for young adults.  

Lum by Libby Ware

 

Lum isn't like the others in her mountain town in Virginia.  She was born with a different body, one that could be male or female.  Her mother told her she could never marry and the boys who knew bullied and teased her.  As she grew up, she became the one in the family who cooked and cleaned.  Now in her thirties, she spends her time moving from one relative's house to another, no place to call her own and always at someone else's beck and call.

But changes are about to come to the small town.  The President is planning a scenic mountain route, the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It will bring tourists with their money to the area and new jobs for the tourist trade.  But to make the road, the government needs to buy land and it's coming through Lum and her brothers' family farm.  The town splits into those supporting the plan and those opposing.  Soon there is violence in the air and neighbor is set against neighbor.

Changes are coming to Lum as well.  She is offered a job after spending time taking care of the town's banker when he is home sick for an extended time.  That leads to him offering her a job in the tourist trade that would give her a home of her own and money she can count on.  Can she leave the life she has always known for one with more freedom?

I loved this book.  I grew up near the Blue Ridge Parkway and my family was one of the tourists who went there on Sunday drives for picnics and to see the leaves turn and the stunning mountain views.  There were curvy mountain roads where you couldn't go over twenty or thirty and Mabry Mill with its buckwheat pancakes and chocolate milk.  Ware has captured that mountain magic and created a character in Lum that the reader will fall in love with.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.  

Leave The World Behind by Rumaan Alam

 

Amanda and Clay are a married couple who want to take a week's vacation out on Long Island.  Their son, Archie, is already a teenager and their daughter, Rose, is about to be.  This could be one of the last vacations they can take together.  They rent a house on Long Island, not on the water but a few miles back in the country which has a pool.  Everything is lovely.  They swim, lounge around and read, do puzzles and just relax.  

Then the television and the phones stop working.  They had heard a booming noise so their guess was that a substation had gone out although they still had lights.  A few hours later, after dark, a knock comes at the door and an African American couple are standing there.  They are G.H. and Ruth Washington and they own the house.  They told Amanda and Clay that the electricity was out in New York City and elsewhere and they had already been out of the city attending an event so decided to come to their house.  They ask if they can stay in the downstairs suite and offered to reimburse the family half their rent for the week.

Everyone tries to reassure everyone else that this is just something normal, but the fear is seeping in.  Rose sees hundreds of deer one morning on the move further north.  The adults see a flock of flamingos that night where flamingos should never be.  Amanda insists that they fill the bathtubs in case the water supply goes out and then Archie gets sick.  More loud noises occur, so loud they crack the windows in the house.  Is this the beginning or war?  A natural disaster?

This book got a lot of buzz when it was released.  It was a Best Book of the Year choice by multiple publications and a finalist for the National Book Award.  A movie has been made and is available to view.  Alam is a writer who lives in New York.  This book allows the reader to think about what they and their family would do in the event of a national emergency and how they would react to others.  Would they think only of their own family's safety?  How prepared would they be?  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

The Last Devil To Die by Richard Osman

 

Things are about the same as always in the senior home that houses the Thursday Murder Club.  Elizabeth is mysterious as ever but her time is taken more and more taking care of her husband, Stephen, who is slipping into dementia.  Ron has a girlfriend but is on the outs with her after an argument on when presents should be opened on Christmas.  Joyce is between boyfriends while Ibrahim is alone except for his friends and a few patients he still sees.

Then something shocking happens.  An antique dealer who is a friend of theirs is found murdered.  Who would want to hurt such a harmless man?  As the Thursday Murder Club starts their investigation, they are soon up to their necks in a drug deal gone wrong.  They meet the head of the drug trade in their area who warns them they are putting themselves in danger.  Another hard man, a Canadian who is married to an art forger, is also in the picture.  As the bodies start to pile up can the Club solve the case of the missing drugs that are causing all the mayhem?

This delightful series is now on its fourth book and the characters are as fascinating and humorous as ever.  Richard Osman is an author, television producer and presenter in England.  His writing style is slyly funny while pointing out the issues faced by those getting older and there are many twists as the story progresses.  This book is recommended for mystery fans.  

Two Nights In Lisbon by Chris Pavone

 Ariel Pryce hasn't been married long, so when her husband suggests that she accompany him on a business trip to Lisbon, she agrees.  It is to be somewhat of a honeymoon and the first night lives up to that promise.  A great meal, a lovely hotel and a night of passion.  But when Ariel wakes up the next morning, her husband isn't in the room.  At first she thinks he must be walking or eating breakfast but when he doesn't return and she notices belongings he should have with him still in the room, she starts to worry.

She goes to the police but they think she is an overanxious wife.  She tries the American Embassy but the same thing happens.  Unsure where to turn, she is given a cell phone on the street by a stranger and then it rings.  John has been kidnapped and the ransom is three million in cash within two days.

Ariel doesn't know what to do.  She and John are middle class and don't have anything like that kind of money.  She calls her first husband who is wealthy but he isn't willing to help.  Finally, she is forced to make a call she hoped she would never have to make to the man with whom she shares a dark secret but who is the only person she knows who has that kind of money.

Chris Pavone is a thriller writer whose work has been awarded most of the awards in this genre.  In this clever mystery, each chapter starts with the time and the day which increases the tension as Ariel's deadline to pay the ransom inches closer and closer.  There are many twists and turns which I didn't see coming and a very satisfactory ending.  This book is recommended for mystery and thriller fans.

Falling by T.J. Newman

 

Bill Hoffman is a pilot at the top of his game.  He has been a pilot for many years now and except for his wife, son and baby daughter, he loves his job more than anything in his life.  Today's journey should be easy.  He is flying from Los Angeles to New York and his favorite flight attendant is working the flight.  He doesn't know his co-pilot Ben very well but he has liked what he's seen.

But today's flight will be different.  Bill finds out his family has been kidnapped.  The kidnapper gives him a choice:  Bill can crash the plane with all its passengers or they will give his family.  He must make the decision.  Readers may well have to put the book down occasionally as the tenseness of the situation is almost more than one can handle.

T.J. Newman is a former flight attendant and it's obvious she knows about flights and the relationship between a pilot and his crew after they have flown together numerous times.  The tension in this one starts out right at the beginning and is ratcheted up again and again until the reader's pulse is racing.  The book debuted at number two on the New York Times bestselling list and her subsequent novels are doing as well.  This novel has already been commissioned to become a television series in the near future and is recommended for thriller readers.   

The Impossible Fortress by Jason Rekulak

 

Billy Martin is a fourteen year old, just starting high school where he didn't make any of the cliques.  He doesn't care about sports, he is too shy to be popular with the girls and he isn't one of the brains.  He's just an average kid making it through with two best friends, Alf and Chase.  If anything sets Billy apart, it's his new found hobby, a Commodore-64 he and his mother won in a contest.  He loves reading about programming, he loves putting in the programs and getting them to run and he even has been programming his own ideas.  

Everything changes when Playboy features Vanna White in its monthly edition.  She is every teenage boy's dream woman and Billy and his buddies know that they have to get their hands on a copy.  They make impossible plans but the magazine remains out of reach.  The only place to get it is Zelinsky's Newstand and Mr. Zelinsky isn't about to sell an adult magazine to teenagers.  As they plot schemes, Alf decides it would be a great opportunity to make money.  Soon he is taking orders for copies of Vann's pictures to guys in school and the pressure is on.

When Billy goes to the store to scope things out, he meets Mary Zelinsky, the owner's daughter, his age.  She is in the back where they kept the computers and as he talks with her, he realizes she shares his interest in programming and probably is even better than him.  Billy starts going to the store every day making friends with Mary so the boys can get the security code.  But something happens along the way; he starts having feelings for Mary.  This is his first crush and he doesn't know if she shares it but she is the most optimistic person he's ever met and she seems to believe in his ability to create the best game ever.  

This is a new author for me and a charming book.  The author is an Edgar nominated writer who is also an editor at Quirk books.  The book brings back memories of growing up, that first love and all the anxieties of high school.  Since I was in the IT field, it also brings back memories of those early days of computing.  It's a sentimental look back and an exploration of friendship, growing up and how easily things can go awry.  This book is recommended for those interested in looking back and remembering their younger days.  

Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

 

The Delaneys are known in Australia as a tennis family.   Joy and Stan ran a tennis school for decades, coaching the next generation of tennis players after Stan's knee was injured ending his own career.  He had one player who made it to and won Wimbledon.  Now they are retired and not exactly sure what to do with themselves.

Their children are grown and have varying success.  Amy is the oldest and still searching.  She has always had issues fitting into the world and shares a house with flatmates, working various part time jobs.  Logan is a teacher at the local community college but his long time girlfriend has just left him.  Troy has made it big, trading commodities.  He is wealthy but lonely, having no one to share his success with.   Brooke has open a physical therapy business but the hours she is pouring into making it a success are affecting her marriage.

One night the doorbell rings at Stan and Joy's house after dark.  On the porch stands a young girl, barefoot in the winter cold and bleeding on her face.  She asks to come in for a minute stating that she is fleeing from an abusive boyfriend.  The couple let her in and before they know it, have fed her, drawn her a bath and offered her a place for the night.  Savannah slowly inserts herself into the household, doing all the cooking and cleaning and going on shopping trips with Joy.  The children are all alarmed.  Who is this girl?  What does she want?

Then the worst occurs.  Joy disappears.  At first everyone thinks she has gone away for a few days after a fight with Stan.  But there are scratches on Stan's face and Joy's phone is found under her bed.  No money is being taken from the couple's accounts or credit cards used.  As the days stretch on, the police extend the search but everyone suspects Stan may have done something although beforehand, everyone would have said their marriage was strong.  

Liane Moriarty is an Australian author whose books have soared to the top of the thriller genre although the author doesn't consider herself a thriller writer.  Her interest is in her characters, how they relate to each other and how they grow and change over the course of a novel.  This book shows the truth of parenthood; you are never done and worry about your children even when they are grown.  It also shows the varying nature of a long term marriage, how the partners grow together and apart, how small resentments can build to large ones but how almost losing someone reminds you how much you love them.  This book is recommended for women's and suspense readers.  

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

 

This anthology is a compilation of several kinds of pieces.  There are poems, twenty or so short stories and a novella written in the world after the time of American Gods featuring Shadow, the hero of that book.  My favorite story was Closing Time where a man in a bar tells his personal ghost story, of an abandoned house with a little playhouse in the woods and what happened the day he and three other boys went there to dare each other to be brave.

But the gem is The Monarch Of The Glen.  Shadow has been traveling the world and finds himself in Scotland.  He is offered an enormous amount of money to be security at a large party at a former estate, a party held once a year for those who are so rich that they constantly seek novelty and excitement.  What happens at that party and what happens when things don't go as planned is the mystery that unfolds around Shadow.

Neil Gaiman is a prodigiously talented author.  His novels, stories and essays form a large body of work and he is considered one of the masters of the genre.  Gaiman fans will enjoy this book especially the novella.  I became a fan after reading American Gods which I still think is one of the masterpieces of fantasy.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.  

Sleeping In The Ground by Peter Robinson

 

This is a crime that Yorkshire doesn't have.  A large group is celebrating a local couple's wedding.  The bride is a former successful model; the groom a war hero.  But as they are leaving the church, shots ring out.  The bride is shot first, then the groom, then the maid of honor.  By the time the carnage is done, five are dead and several more wounded.  Who would do such a thing and why?

Banks and his team rush to the site and the investigation is made top priority.  Soon suspicion falls on one man and when they go to his home, he is found dead apparently by suicide.  Things are resolved or are they?  Banks and the medical examiner are not sure.  Although the crime is almost perfect to prove the man's guilt, there are a few things that don't fit.  Soon Banks and his team start to wonder if this crime is tied to another murder fifty years ago.

This is the twenty-fourth of twenty-eight books in the Inspector Banks series.  Robinson has chosen to age his characters along with the series so Banks is now in his fifties and thinking about retirement.  A woman he was formerly attracted to has moved back to town and perhaps things will start up again with her.  Annie Cabbott's father is moving to the area to be closer to his daughter as he ages while much of the investigation now is done by younger members of the team such as Gerry a young detective who can be headstrong in her pursuit of justice.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore

 

Odessa, Texas, is a hot, rural poor town in the 1970's.  About the only thing going are some farming and the oil fields.  One morning, Mary Rose Whitehead hears knocking on her family's farmhouse door.  She opens the door to find Glory, beaten to a pulp and desperate for help.  Mary Rose brings her inside and calls the police and an ambulance.

This act of brutality has far-reaching effects.  Glory is only fourteen and took the offer of a ride from a rich boy in town when she shouldn't have.  He is arrested and charged with rape and assault.  Mary Rose takes her family except for her husband and moves into town, frightened now at how remote the farm is.  There she meets Corrine, a recent widow who is adjusting to life without her husband.  Debra Ann is the neighborhood child who never seems supervised as her mother walked away and no one knows where she is or if she will return. 

The novel centers around the crime and the subsequent trial.  It also explores the relationship between the various women and how the support they give each other is what makes life possible for them in such a desolate place.  Karla is a young waitress who is a recent single mother and who finds her support in the diner where she is a waitress and where the older women take her under their wings.  Glory was born in the United States but is of Mexican heritage and the prejudice against Hispanics and the differing justice accorded to them is highlighted.  

This is Elizabeth Wetmore's debut novel.  She was born and raised in Odessa which she left at age eighteen.  She experienced firsthand the changes oil brought to the area and the casual racism that is the hardest to eradicate.  We learn about the town through the stories and viewpoints of the various women who live there and how they experience life.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent

 

Sally's dad always said, 'When I die, just put me out with the trash'.  So that's what Sally did, incinerating him in the burn barrel in the barn.  But it turns out, that's not what one does when your parent dies.  The police are called and Sally is in the news.  Everyone wonders about her anyway as she lives out in the country and doesn't socialize with anyone in town.  She has lived there for years with her father.

As things emerge, Sally learns the truth about her life.  She was the daughter of a man who kidnapped her mother at age eleven and kept her imprisoned for fourteen years.  When they were rescued, Sally was five and while her mother never recovered, Sally was adopted by the doctors who were given her care in the hospital.  They kept her apart and never really socialized her into the village life.  

But things are changing.  Sally slowly starts to make friends.  She enters psychiatric counseling and she slowly starts to integrate into society.  She also makes other discoveries.  She has relatives she has never met.  One is her uncle Mark who becomes a friend and someone to guide her along with the village doctor and her counselor  But Sally worries that the man who kidnapped her mother might still be alive and now might know where she is.  

Liz Nugent is an Irish writer whose work falls into the crime genre although her work is not the typical murder mystery.  Readers will be interested in Sally and her attempts to integrate into society after a life that was stunted for three decades, first by her captor and then by her family.  There is tension as the story of the man who is her birth father is revealed and what his life was like after Sally and her mother were discovered.  This book is recommended for crime and literary fiction readers.  

Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis

 

Gav wakes up with his memories gone and his eyebrows burned off.  He appears to be in a wizard's workshop.  As he tries to determine what is going on, he slowly realizes that he is the wizard and apparently one who is known for cruelty and intimidation of those around him.  His castle is staffed by goblins and his village is known for growing garlic. 

Gav doesn't want to be an evil wizard.  He is appalled when he realizes that he apparently has kidnapped a princess and is holding her prisoner.  It is even worse when he realizes that she is to be a sacrifice when three other dark wizards show up in a few days and try to call another being from another world to rule this one.  

This is Caitlin Rozakis debut novel and it is a light fantasy that will delight the ruler.  Gav goes on a journey to change himself from an evil wizard to a guy anyone could like, maybe even a certain princess?  The tone is light as Gav goes on his journey and he discovers that those around him are more than he had ever imagined them to be.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.  

My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk

 

'Black' Effendi has returned to Istanbul after a twelve year absence.  His uncle had sent him away because Black fell in love with his daughter Shekure.  Enishte Effendi runs a studio of miniaturists and illustrators.  He has traveled extensively and now the Sultan has given him a dangerous assignment.  He is to create a new book honoring the Sultan but it is to be illustrated in the Western style.  This directly contradicts the religious ban on what can and cannot be included in illustrations.  

Shekure is now a young widow with two sons.  Black still loves her and hatches a plan to marry her now that she needs protection.  In the midst of his courtship, one of Effendi's illustrators is murdered.  Before the murderer can be caught, Enishte is also murdered.  Who would do such a thing?  The Sultan insists that Black and Enishte's rival find the murderer.

Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novelist, his country's most successful one.  He has been honored with the Novel Prize for Literature for his body of work.  In this novel, multiple points of view are used with each chapter being written by a different character, many of whom are unreliable narrators.  It is at once a murder mystery, a love story and an exploration of the Turkish culture and the relationship between men and art.  Readers will be interested to read about the dichotomy between Eastern and Western art and the strictures of the culture in terms of how religion guides every facet of life there in this time period.  This book is recommended for readers of literary and historical fiction.