Nuclear Family by Joseph Han

 

The Cho family is a Korean family living in Hawaii.  They own a restaurant and their dream is to set it up as a franchise, a dream that seems within reach after Guy Fieri visits it and raves about it.  There are two children.  Jacob, the older, has moved to Seoul for a while to teach English there.  Grace is in college where she is working on a journalism degree.  

Then everything falls apart.  Jacob is videotaped trying to cross the no-man's land between the two Korea's and force his way into North Korea.  He is shot and imprisoned and people start to look strangely at the Cho's.  Orders start to diminish at the restaurant and when a cockroach is found there, it's the end.  Grace falls into spending her time getting high on marijuana.  

What no one knows is that Jacob has been taken over by the ghost of his grandfather, the n'er do well who left his family behind in North Korea and wants nothing more in the afterlife than to go back and find them.  When he leaves Jacob and becomes part of the wall dividing the two Korea's, he receives his punishment for his betrayal.  Jacob is returned to himself and later released by the South Korean authorities and returned home.  Can the family find it's way forward?

Joseph Han was chosen as a 5 Under 35 recipient and this is his debut novel.  It received a Time Best Book Of The Year Award and a New York Book Review Editor's Choice award.  I listened to this novel and the narrator was able to make each character come alive and transport the reader to a culture that might not be familiar.  The rise and fall and rebuilding of the family is interesting and the reader will probably remember the false nuclear warning in Hawaii that the book features.  This book is recommending for literary fiction and multicultural readers.  

Harrow The Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

 

In this second novel of the Locked Tomb Trilogy, Harrow has survived and won the contest to become one of the Emperor's Lyctors although it came at the cost of her companion, Gideon's life.  But she has arrived at God's habitation ready to serve him.  Unfortunately, she finds that she has arrived to face what could be an unwinnable war.

The other Lyctors are not welcoming and some are directly hostile.  Her main teacher spends his time trying to kill her which is his way of getting her ready for battle.  She spends her days and nights in ward-protected rooms, her only friend the other survivor from the first competition.

Eventually, all blows up in a climatic battle and revelation about Harrow's backstory and how the Locked Tomb came into existence.  Those who enjoyed Gideon the Ninth will also enjoy this second book in the series which explains more of what is happening in this totally unique world.  

Tamsyn Muir is an author from New Zealand.  Her work has won praise and many awards.  This book is recommended for readers of fantasy, especially those who read Gideon The Ninth and enjoyed it.  It is a unique work and builds a world unlike any other currently being written about.  

The Most Dangerous Thing by Laura Lippman

 

They were a group of five that summer.  Two girls, Mickey and Gwen, and the three Halloran brothers.  Mickey was a quicksilver girl, always full of ideas of things to do.  Gwen was a follower, fat at first but then she grew into her body and became the beauty.  Tim was the oldest Halloran brother and only hung with them because there was no one else.  Sean, the middle brother, was the perfect one or that's what everyone said.  Gordon, known as Go-Go, was the youngest, full of energy and desperation to be liked; he would go anywhere and do anything and was always in trouble.

The five roamed the woods that backed onto their houses, Baltimore's infamous Linkin Park.  No one seemed to care what what they were up to or watched over them.  The Halloran's marriage always seemed iffy and Mrs. Halloran had all she could do to survive in a household of boys and a husband who was often out of work.  Gwen's mother was into hobbies and this summer's was painting while her father was a doctor who taught.  Mickey's mother was a waitress, working long shifts and moving from man to man.  Everyone expected the teens to entertain themselves and they did.

They explored further and further into the woods.  They fell into creeks, got bit by bugs and then they discovered a house.  An old man they called Chicken George lived there.  He asked them to bring him things like food and they did.   His only possession was a steel guitar that he loved.  They knew seeing him was not something their parents could ever approve of so they kept Chicken George secret.  That is, until the night of the hurricane when Chicken George lost his life.

Now the teens are adults with their own issues and marriages.  They are brought back together when Go-Go, now the owner of several failed marriages and an alcoholic, falls off the wagon and dies in a car crash.  As the five are reunited for the first time in years, the secrets start to emerge  What really happened that night?

Laura Lippman is known for her mysteries, set in Baltimore which is her own city.  This novel almost reads like a literary fiction about people's lives until slowly at the end, the real truth of what happened that night comes to light.  Each of the five has their own life now but all their lives are forever touched by that summer when they were a group and ran free.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Kingless Crown by Sarah Cradit

 

Fans of epic fantasy rejoice!  This series by Sarah Cradit is the first that I've loved the way I loved The Game Of Thrones series, but there are only three books and it comes to a finish.  In this Kingdom of the White Sea, there are four reaches and a huge area just called The Wastelands.  The reaches used to fight among themselves until the king called the oldest son and daughter of each house together for a royal ball.  But at the ball, he announced his command: he chooses a husband and wife for each reach, regardless of whether there were existing agreements in place.  Now twenty years later, the reaches no longer battle each other but the king now has just sent for the eldest daughter of each reach.  He plans to marry them all and the resulting children will bring everyone even closer.  This king, Eoghan Rhiagain, is called The Pretender King, as it is thought he got his crown by murder of his siblings.

But the daughters of today are not without resources.  Without consulting, each decides to run away and does, some taking siblings, some accompanied only by trusted servants.  There is a school of magicians and that is one destination.  Some even choose the Wasteland, where there are said to be fairy like inhabitants along with the biggest prison of the kingdom, one that is a death sentence to those sent there.  Along the way, some fall in love, some find they are warriors, and some worry about what will happen to the parents they have left to face the king's wrath.  There are shapeshifters and secrets that slowly become revealed.  

Sarah Cradit has written over forty books of epic fantasy.  I'm so excited to have discovered this author and I've already bought the remaining books in this series and look forward to her others.  The world building is intricate and believable and the cast of characters is huge, each with their own story, history and often secrets.  I listened to this novel and the narrator did an excellent job.  I can't wait to finish this story of the Kingdom of the White Sea and recommend this opening novel to epic fantasy readers.  

Radiant Fugitives by Nawaaz Ahmed

 

An Indian mother and her two daughters have gathered in San Francisco for the birth of the elder daughter's first child.  Seema left her family in disgrace when she came out to her father during her university days.  He has since refused to have her home or even speak to her.  Seema has led a turbulent life, moving from city to city and from lover to lover.  She has been here in San Francisco the longest.  Working on political campaigns, she met Bill and to her surprise, they fell in love and married.  They are now divorced but conceived this baby at the end of their marriage.  

Nafessa is the mother and she is torn apart by the gulf between her husband and his daughter Seema, and between her two daughters, Seema and Tahera.  Nafessa recently was diagnosed with a disease that will take her life and she insists on going to San Francisco to help her daughter.  She also convinces the estranged sister, Tahera, to come and help also.

Tahera hasn't seen Seema since she left when Tahera was a teenager  She is now a doctor living in Texas with her husband, son and daughter.  Tahera and her family are strict observant Muslims and she wears the full complement of coverings and raises her children strictly.  They attend a Muslim school.  She has thought they had a happy life but recently there has been anti-Muslim occurrences in the city and she now questions if she and her husband have made the right choices.  

Nawaaz Admed is an Indian author who also left India to live openly as gay.  He started his career as a computer scientist but has returned to the world of literature that meant so much to him growing up.  This novel was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award.  Readers will learn much about the Muslim culture, it's food, rituals and the varying ways of living as a Muslim from very strict to very loose adherence.  It is also a novel of separation and how we heal such separations, a process that this country is in need of.  The family is separated by gender identity, by past resentments and by religious adherence but find ways to come together.  This book is recommended for readers interested in Indian and Muslim culture and those who read literary fiction.  

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

 

A journal is found during a restoration project.  It is determined that it was the journal of a Lutheran minister out in the West in the early 1900's.  Etsy Beaucarne is an academic and the last member of the Beaucarne family and this is the journal of her great-grandfather.  She hopes that publishing it can be her pathway to tenure so she starts the process of reading about her grandfather's life.

But this is no pleasant retelling.  It is the story of Arthur Beaucarne and Good Stab.  This Indian starts coming to the services at the church and after everyone leaves he weekly tells Arthur his life story.  Can it be believed?  He claims that while out hunting with other members of his Blackfeet tribe, they come across a group of white men with one imprisoned in a cage.  A battle ensues, and everyone is killed except for Good Stab and the caged man.  He is called Cat-Man and is a vampire who came over to America from Europe.  He infects Good Stab who then becomes known as Fullblood or Takes No Scalps among his people.  He becomes an outcast, roaming the West killing white men to survive.  Good Stab still has a loyalty to his people and saves children when he can and any buffalo he can spirit away as calves to a place where they won't be hunted.  Both Arthur and Good Stab are associated with a famous Indian massacre by the white soldiers although that is slowly revealed as the weeks go by and Good Stab's story is fully revealed.

Stephen Graham Jones is a Blackfeet Native American author.  His work is in the horror, science fiction and crime genres.  This may be his best novel so far.  The slow revealing of the story, the Americanization of a European horror trope, the revenge and the heart of Good Stab, all are fascinating and draw the reader deeper into the story.  I can't recommend this one highly enough for his fans and those who have heard of him but haven't yet read his work.  This book is recommended for horror readers. 

The Murderess by Laurie Notaro

 

I had heard of Winnie Ruth Judd, the woman who murdered her two best friends and was caught when she shipped their bodies to Los Angles from Phoenix in the summer heat.  But this book showed me how much I didn't know about Judd.

I didn't know anything about her two victims, Anne LeRoi and Hedvig 'Sammy' Samuelson.  I didn't know anything about her marriage.  I definitely didn't know about her story after the murders.  Laurie Notaro has given me that information in a blend of novel and true crime fiction.

Judd was born into a family in Indiana and married at 19, a man who was twenty-two years older than her.  He was a doctor but he didn't share with her until they were married that he was also an addict.  Due to this the couple spent long periods apart as he tried to deal with his addiction over and over.  One of those separations led to the murder.

One of those separations happened in 1930 with her husband in Los Angeles and Judd in Phoenix where she was expected to make her own way.  She found a job in a medical clinic and that's where she met Anne, who also worked there.  She, Anne and her roommate Sammy became friends.  But Judd was also seeing a local married man and soon he was coming over to Anne's house as well, and the three became known for hosting raucous parties for the local businessmen who had 'summer wives', married women who left Phoenix in the summer for cooler environments.  Over time, Judd became dependent on drugs and jealous of Anne, who had begun to flirt with the man Ruth was seeing.  One night, Anne and Sammy were killed.  The married man and a friend helped Ruth put them in trunks and she sent them to Los Angles, where he said someone would meet her and take care of the bodies.  But he was lying, leaving her to be arrested.

After the trial, Ruth was sentenced to death.  She was weeks away when she was declared insane and sent to the state mental hospital instead.  Although there is no firm diagnosis, Ruth was probably either bipolar or schizophrenic, her mother ending up in the same mental hospital later.  Ruth was the star of the hospital and allowed to become a hair dresser for the women of Phoenix and the hospital staff.  She remained in the hospital for thirty years and was finally released in 1971.

Laurie Notaro is known for her humorous memoirs but has done a great job in this foray into recounting a true case.  She grew up in Phoenix so would have heard about Judd as a local celebrity.  The book is recounted in great part from Judd's point of view, making her sympathetic and putting much of the blame on the men in her life and her underlying mental issues.  In the afterword, Notaro was able to locate and first publish Judd's own account of the murders.  This book is recommended for true crime readers.

The Library Of The Dead by T.L. Huchu

 

When Gramps lost their house gambling, Ropa's life changed.  She, Gramma and her little sister are now living in a tiny caravan in a campground of the poor and homeless.  Ropa left school although she was top of her class to find work to support the family.  Her main talent was her ability to see and talk with the dead so she became a ghostalker, carrying messages from the dead to the living.  

But one ghost is adamant that Ropa help her.  The ghost's little boy, Ollie, had gone missing before the woman died.  She wants Ropa to find him.  Ollie went missing with another little boy, Mark, but Mark came home and Ollie didn't.  Ropa doesn't want to take on this job but her grandmother convinces her to.  When she goes to talk to Mark, she finds that his body is still that of a little boy but his head is that of an old man.  Ropa is appalled and then she finds another little girl, one she used to babysit, in the same condition.  She is convinced that someone has to find out what is happening to these children.

Ropa's best friend tells her he is now working at a secret library.  He sneaks her in but they are discovered.  The only way to keep Ropa alive is to give her membership in the library which is one for magicians.  There she finds a friend in Priya and a mentor in an older man.  They agree to do what they can to help Ropa.  But can she find and save Ollie and the rest?

This is the first book in what will be a five book series.  Huchu is a Zimbabwean author and this is his fantasy debut.  Ropa is an original character, rough around the edges but with a heart of gold.  She takes on the responsibility of her family and that of finding the children although it is a mission that could kill her.  The idea of a ghostalker is interesting and it will be fun to see where the rest of the series takes Ropa.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.  

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

 

Five years ago, a group of young people came together and created a collective called Birnam Wood.  Mira and Tony were founders and soon afterwards Shelley came on board.  The purpose of Birnam Wood is to provide more food and they grow crops wherever they can find land, regardless of who owns it and whose water they are using.  They are somewhat criminal but believe they have right on their side.  The collective is constantly in financial trouble as the plots they can find are far sprung and its difficult to grow enough to make a profit.  Tony left and went to the United States for years but is recently back.

But there may be an opportunity for Birnam Wood.  A landslide near the mountains has left a large farm fairly deserted.  The owners, a recently knighted businessman and his wife, had planned to subdivide it and sell it for housing estates but after the landslide that plan had to be put on hold.  That huge plot of land, backing onto a national park, could be Birnam Wood's salvation if they get there and start planting.  But they aren't the only ones interested in the farm.  A billionaire named Robert Lemoine is in the process of buying the farm.  When he finds Mira on the land, he seems interested in Birnam Wood and soon is offering to sponsor it.  He tell Mira and Shelley that he is planning to build a bunker on the farm but they are welcome there in the meantime.

Meanwhile, Tony suspects something is going on and camps out in the park, looking for what is going on so that he can fulfill his dream of becoming a journalist.  He discovers Lemoine's true purpose and puts himself in danger along with the people of Birnam Wood.  Can he survive long enough to get the story out?

Eleanor Catton is a New Zealand author who was the youngest Booker Prize winner ever with her second novel, Luminaries.  This book is her third novel and generated a lot of buzz as it was chosen as a best book by NPR, Kirkus, The Washington Post, Time and others.  The action is fast and furious and the characters are all given sufficient backstories that the reader feels they understand them.  The inevitable clash between idealism and capitalism provides lots of drama although the ending is a bit abrupt.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

The Last Days Of Kira Mullan by Nicci French

 

A year ago, Nancy North's life was great.  She had a wonderful boyfriend, Felix, and they live in a great flat.  Nancy had recently accomplished her life's goal and was running her own restaurant, a job that was all consuming.  But all the long hours and new responsibilities proved to be too much for Nancy and she had a psychotic break.  After the hospital, her life is much different.  She and Felix can no longer afford their flat so they have to move across London to a smaller, dingy one that one of Felix's friends was giving up.  Her restaurant is gone and Nancy is now writing copy from home for an online site, a job she feels doesn't challenge her at all.   Worst, everyone around her treats her like she is fine china and about to break at any minute.

Nancy starts to notice things about Felix.  He seems more than okay with her new situation in which she has to depend on him for more.  He now makes the most money and he treats Nancy as if she needs to be wrapped in cotton.  Worse, he tells all their new neighbors about her breakdown and they also treat her as if she wasn't all there.  He disapproves of her friends and soon most of them are gone.  But as bad as it is, Nancy never expected what happens in the flat below.  A young woman, Kira, is found hanging from her bedroom rafter.  The police determine that it is a suicide but Nancy saw Kira right before her death and she doesn't believe it.  

But if it's not suicide, it must be someone with keys to the building.  That's a small group of suspects.  There's the personal trainer who is handsome and had a fling with Kira.  He says he dropped her but his roommate, who also had eyes on her, says Kira dropped him.  Then there's Derrick, the next door neighbor who along with his wife, has keys to everything and who is always on the prowl for new women.  There's a doctor with a wife and new baby and then there's Felix.  Could one of them have killed Kira or let in someone who did?  

Nicci French is the writing name of a husband and wife author team.  The reader can always count on an engaging mystery with lots of twists and turns and as a sideline, lots of information about London and what's it's like to live there.  Nancy is a strong character even with her issues as she persists in doing whatever it takes to get well and to find out the truth about Kira.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Booksie's Shelves, April 17, 2025

 

Spring has sprung but I've been stuck in the house for a week with a virus.  That's a bummer but it's on its way out and I got lots of reading time.  Our cat count increased by one as Brad, a Siamese mix, showed up a few weeks ago.  He is very feral at the moment so we're working on being able to handle him so we can get him in to a vet.  My birthday was last week so another year has rolled around.  I had to cancel both a birthday dinner with my BFF and worst, a day of hanging out with my lovely daughter.  Still, both can be rescheduled for when I'm feeling better.  Here's what's come through the door:

1. The Lion House, Christopher De Bellaigue, history, purchased
2. The Conjuror's Bird, Martin Davies, historical fiction, purchased
3. Lola, Melissa Love, thriller, purchased
4. The Nimbus, Robert Baird, science fiction, sent by publisher
5. Automatic Noodle, Annalee Newitz, science fiction, sent by publisher
6. Luckenbooth, Jenni Fagan, horror, purchased
7. Bearer Of Bad News, Elisabeth Dini, mystery, sent by publisher
8. Girl In The Creek, Wendy Wagner, mystery, sent by publisher
9. The Accident On The A35, Graeme McCrae Burnet, mystery, purchased
10. I Am Made Of Death, Kelly Andrew, YA, sent by publisher
11. The Accidental Favorite, Fran Littlewood, family drama, sent by publisher
12. Anji Kills A King, Evan Leikam, fantasy, sent by publisher
13. The New Life, Tome Crewe, literary fiction, purchased
14. What Will People Think, Sara Hamdan, literary fiction, sent by publisher
15. We Are Water, Wally Lamb, literary fiction, purchased
16. Love And Trouble, Claire Dederer, memoir, purchased
17. The Heather Blazing, Colm Toibin, literary fiction, purchased
18. The Panopticon, Jenni Fagan, literary fiction, purchased
19. Pyre, Perumal Murugan, literary fiction, purchased
20. All The Men I've Loved Again, Christine Pride, literary fiction, sent by publisher
21. The Lonely Places, J.M. Morris, mystery, purchased
22. Magnificence, Lydia Millet, literary fiction, purchased
23. Binstead's Safari, Rachel Ingalls, purchased
24. Heart-Shaped Box, Joe Hill, horror, purchased
25. Highway Blue, Ailsa McFarlane, literary fiction, purchased
26. Reservoir 13, Jon McGregor, literary fiction, purchased
27. When We Were Birds, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, literary fiction, purchased
28. A Necessary Evil, Abir Mukherjee, mystery, purchased
29. Olive Grove In Ends, Moses McKenzie, literary fiction, purchased
30. The Garnett Girls, Georgina Moore, women's fiction, purchased

Here's what I'm reading:

1. The Last Days Of Kira Mullen, Nicci French, mystery, hardback
2. Birnam Woods, Eleanor Catton, literary fiction, Kindle
3. The Murderess, Laurie Notaro, true crime, Kindle
4. Harrow The Ninth, Tamsyn Muire, fantasy, Kindle
5. Radiant Fugitives, Nawaaz Ahmed, multicultural, paperback
6. The Kingless Crown, Sarah Credit, fantasy, audio
7. In A Place Of Darkness, Stuart Macbride, mystery

Happy Reading!

The Lady Upstairs by Halley Sutton

 

After a disastrous workplace romance, Jo finds herself on a Los Angles street, crying in her car.  That's where she is found by Lou who talks with her and takes her to a diner to eat and pull herself together.  By the time they separate, Jo has a new friend and a new job although it's not one she ever thought she would have.

For Lou is the recruiter for a blackmail scheme.  The team targets rich men of which there are many in LA, sends a girl to seduce him, takes photos and blackmails them.  Jo starts as one of the girls who do the seducing but three years on, she is now a recruiter.  The rest of the team is Lou, Jackel who is the photographer and Jo's lover and the Lady.  The Lady runs everything and no one is allowed to see her or know anything about her except Lou.  

Still, things are going well until they aren't.  Jo's latest girl, Ellen, has decided to back out of the game right before the pictures are taken and the money is collected.  That causes Jo issues as she owes the Lady money she had planned to pay back out of this job.  Unsure of what to do, she gives Ellen the thousands that were meant to be given to the police as a bribe, so now she owes both the Lady and the police.  Can Jo pull everything together and find a way to break away from the team?

This is Halley Sutton's debut novel and it is one I won't soon forget.  It is written as a modern noir and the reader can imagine the streets of Los Angeles, not the ones for the tourists but the gritty ones for those struggling to make it.  It's a novel with cynicism about male desire, cops on the take and a cutthroat business where no one can trust anyone else.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.   

Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Knox

 

Lynch is a con man and sometimes things get hot and he has to leave quickly.  He arrives in London with a passport, a phone and no money.  That doesn't worry him, he can have cash anytime where there's a crowd.  But what does worry him is when a woman looks at him, and exclaims, "Haydon, is that really you?"

The woman's name is Bobbie and she mistakes Lynch for her brother, Haydon, who disappeared five years ago.  His car was found parked on a bridge and he had been having mental issues so the police assumed suicide.  Bobbie has a room, some cocaine and booze and suggests that Lynch stay and party.  Having nowhere else he agrees.

He wakes up the next morning, hungover to find Bobby gone but she has left something behind.  She has tattooed a heart beneath his eye just like Haydon had.  When he calls her, she says she is on a plane to California and rehab but gives him her parent's address and door codes and insists they will give him some money and pay to have the tattoo erased.  When he goes there, he finds armed security but Haydon's mother vouches for him and hires him to impersonate Haydon and get back a trunk he has left with a loan shark.  He agrees and soon is over his head.  It turns out that lots of people are looking for Haydon and now they think Lynch is their man.

Sometimes when I read a book, I'm left in awe of the author's mind and that's always my reaction when I read a Joseph Knox novel.  He seems to be living and operating on a higher plane than I am and it's always fun to go along for the ride.  Lynch encounters a cyptoking, an ex military man who now sees security and intelligence and the rest of Haydon's family, each of whom have their own agenda.  Knox is an English author and I've loved each of his books I've read.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.  

Oblivion by David Foster Wallace

 

This is an anthology of eight stories, although several of them could be called novellas.  In one, Wallace writes in the mindset of someone considering suicide and it is masterful.  I've encountered this tragedy personally and as an eternal optimist have had difficult understanding what could trigger it.  This story takes us into the mind that is making the decision and it is the first time I've come anywhere close to understand the tragedy.  Of course, Wallace went on to commit suicide after years of battling depression.  The last story is one of the longer ones and tells the story of a rural artist whose medium was his own excretions.  In this story, what stood out to me was the way each character, no matter how tangential to the story, was given a full backstory and described wonderfully.  

David Foster Wallace was considered one of the best authors of his time.  He wrote novels and short stories and was a professor.  His best known work was Infinite Jest, a lengthy novel which explored personality and addiction and was chosen as one of the best novels of that decade.  His forte was explaining character and that shines through in each of these stories.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.    

Love In The Time Of Global Warming by Francesca Block

 

The worst has come.  In California where Pen lives, an earthquake of unimaginable strength has destroyed much of what was Los Angeles.  Pen gets separated from her parents and brother and doesn't know if they are still alive.  She stays in their house for six weeks, living off the food and water her father was wise enough to stockpile.  When a roving band breaks into her house, she escapes and takes their van.  Now she sees the worst.  Fire still rage, most structures have fallen and giants roam the streets, eating humans.  

Pen manages to find refuge in an abandoned hotel where other teens have gathered.  There she meets Hex, a young man who seems to know what has happened.  He says the giants are the result of genetic engineering gone wrong and they roam destroying what they see.  After several weeks, Pen gets a message that she might find her family in Los Angeles and she and Hex head that way.  Along the way, they pick up other stragglers, Ash, Ez and Venice.  Along the way, they discover that all of them are gay or transgender and they find it ironic that a despised group are the survivors of a world catastrophe.

This is the first in a young adult dystopian series.  Pen is the hero and her ability to go from a middle class home to a survivor in a world gone mad is encouraging.  This band of misfits, who had all been looking for a place in the world, now can make the world what they want it to be, a more accepting place and the need to band together to fight the dangers.  This book is recommended for young adult readers.  

Penitence by Kristin Koval

 

The news goes nationwide.  A thirteen-year old girl has shot and killed her brother.  Nora is the daughter of Angie and David Sheehan and everyone had always thought she adored her big brother Nick.  It's been a hard year in the Sheehan family as Nick had been diagnosed with juvenile Huntington's disease and that is a death sentence.  Nora had been depressed along with Nick and Angie and David had been at maximum stress as well.  

This is not the first death Angie has grieved.  When she was a teenager, her little sister had died skiing on a trip with Angie and her boyfriend Julian.  The result of that was that Julian was sent away from the Colorado town where they all grew up to finish high school in New York and live with his grandmother.  Angie's mother blamed the accident on Julian and in such a small town, Julian's parents thought it was best to send him away.  All the parents believed that this ended Julian and Angie's relationship but they found a way to keep it going until college where they both went to colleges close enough to be together.  But ultimately, the relationship had not worked out and Angie returned home to Colorado and married David.

The only lawyer in town with any experience in a death case is Julian's mother, Maxine.  She reluctantly takes the case but knows she is over her head which she tells Angie and David.  David asks if Julian, who became a criminal defense lawyer in a large New York firm, could help and he agrees although he is not really sure how things will work out as he hasn't seen or spoken to Angie in over fifteen years. But he still has enough feelings that he doesn't want to see Nora sentenced to life and since she has not spoken since she shot the gun, no one knows her reasons.  

Kristin Koval is a former lawyer herself but she always wanted to write.  This is her debut novel and it has received a ton of buzz.  The big shocker was too clearly hinted at and I guessed it halfway through but this was a great book and I look forward to reading more by her in the future.  This book is recommended for legal thriller and women's fiction readers.  

A Court Of Thorn And Roses by Sarah Maas

 

Feyre's family is not doing well.  Raised in wealth, her family's money was lost when her father's ships were wrecked in a storm.  She, her father and her two sisters have moved from their comfortable home to a hovel near the forest and Feyre must hunt for food for them to survive.  One day while hunting for a deer or rabbit, she is surprised by a wolf and kills it.  

But this was no ordinary wolf.  It was a fae shapeshifter and now she has committed a crime against the fae world.  She is taken from her home to their kingdom by one of the High Lords, Tamlin.  He tells her that she won't be harmed but she can never return home due to an agreement reached years ago between the fae and the humans at the end of a war that divided the world.  Tamlin has a beautiful mansion and Feyre is left to her own devices to amuse herself.  The only contact she has is her maid, Tamlin and his best friend, Lucian.  

Over time, Feyre starts to like the men who surround her and soon, she falls in love with Tamlin.  But all is not well in the fae kingdom either.  An evil fae witch has taken control and she is cruel; her only desire to have Tamlin as her mate.  She surrounds herself with monstrous creatures and lives only to think of new tortures.  Her ultimate plan is to break the treaty that ended the war between fae and human and take over the universe.  

When Feyre is taken to her underground kingdom, she is taunted for her love of Tamliin and his for her.  But she is not killed right away.  The witch states that she will release Fayre and Tamlin if Fayre can either solve a riddle or survive three tasks.  Can Fayre save them all?

This is the first book in a five book series.  I've been interested in reading Sarah Maas for a while now as she is known in the fantasy world for her intricate series.  This was a great opening novel and I plan to read the rest of the series.  There are steamy scenes as Tamlin and Feyre discover their love and the book is suspenseful as Feyre goes through the series of tasks that may kill her.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.  

Broadway Butterfly by Sara DiVello

 

On March 15, 1923, Dot King was found murdered in her Manhattan apartment.  Dot was known as the Broadway Butterfly and even now, over a hundred years later, her murder has not been solved.  Dot was a 'model' and lived by being supported by her various lovers.  One was a gang boss, one an Italian gigolo and one a very wealthy, very politically connected banker.  The story is told through the viewpoints of the women involved.

Dot was found by her maid, a black woman named Ella Bradford.  Ella was from the South but came to New York for better economic opportunities.  She was married and had a baby.  She had seen Dot the day she died but had left at her normal time.  Still, she knew many of Dot's secrets and liked her as she had always been kind to Ella.

Julia Harpman was a female reporter in a time when that was not common, and more usually, was assigned to the crime desk.  She is determined to get justice for Dot and chases the case even after the police have declared it closed.  Although she comes across as a bit self-righteous, the case would have died in the public eye if it had not been for her continued attempts to solve it and her expose of those involved, even up to the Attorney General of President Harding.  

Frances Stotesbury Mitchell is the wife of the wealthy man supporting Dot, J. Kearsley Mitchell.  Her father is one of the wealthiest men in the country and she had what she thought was the perfect life.  Several large homes, two healthy children and a husband who could support her and her society adventures.  She is about to host President Harding on a golfing weekend in Florida when the story breaks.  Frances is shocked to find out her husband has been cheating on her and must make a choice between staying with a man she no longer respects or loves or being shunned in society as a single, divorced woman.  

Sara DiVello is known for creating an interview series called The Thriller Mavens where she interviews mystery writers.  She sticks close to the facts of the case, and has various thoughts on why the crime wasn't solved.  There were political reasons as the district attorney tried to run his own investigation instead of leaving it to the police.  There were suspicions of influence peddling with rumors the Frances's father had paid $500,000 to have the case closed.  There were multiple suspects.  Mitchell was the last person to admit seeing Dot alive as he had stayed until 2 a.m. of the morning she was killed.  The gigolo was known for beating Dot and intimidating her into doing things she didn't want to do.  The connection to organized crime could have been a motive as Dot had been depositing large amounts in her bank, the source unknown.  Regardless, the reader will have enough facts to make up their own mind.  This book is recommended for true crime and women's fiction readers.  

The Maker Of Swans by Paraic O'Donnell

 

It's a strange household, this mansion in the countryside.  The owner, Mister Crowe, is the member of a secret cult where his talents are revered.  But he has given all that up and lives quietly in the countryside.  The only other occupants are Eustace, the butler and his young ward, Clara.  Clara also has powers although she doesn't know it yet.  She is mute and lives happily in the country, roaming the fields and forests and gardens of the estate.  There is also always a floating assortment of Mr. Crowe's women but no one pays them much mind as they are temporary.

Then violence.  One night an opposing member of the cult sends men to take Clara.  Although Mr. Crowe shoots one of them, they manage to get away with her.  Eustace, who was the closest person to Clara, is stunned.  He cannot believe that he has failed to protect her.  Clara is held for ransom, but not of money.  Her captors want Mr. Crowe to rejoin and perform something that only someone with his powers can do.  

The household falls apart.  Eustace has a breakdown and leaves, to stay inebriated in the rum spots and pleasure houses of London.  Mr. Crowe becomes even more of a recluse and falls under the influence of the latest woman.  But things change when one of the men who Eustace had hired as a bodyguard finds a clue of where Clara is being kept.  Can she be brought back home?

Paraic O'Donnell is an Irish author.  What is it that makes the Irish such wonderful storytellers?  I was totally entranced by this novel, its mysteries, its language and its revelations.  It's even more astonishing when the reader discovers that this is his debut novel.  I listened to it and the narrators were amazing.  There was a male and female and both were wonderful.  The female brought Clara to life as a young girl but when she voiced the statements of the woman in residence, I could almost see her stretched out on a chaise lounge, with a cigarette holder, languidly speaking.  There are things that are never explained such as the powers Mr. Crowe and Clara have or the thing that her kidnappers want him to do but it doesn't matter in the end.  This is one of my favorite books I've read recently and recommended for both fantasy and literary fiction readers.  

Monsters by Claire Dederer

 

This book, by critic Claire Dederer, questions what is the ethical thing to do when we discover that one of our heroes in the arts is discovered to be a monstrous person?  It seems to be an issue that rears its head more and more often lately.  She starts with well known examples such as Woody Allen, Roman Polanski, Bill Cosby and Miles Davis but the list continues with more recent examples being outed all the time.  Two recent ones that broke my heart were Neil Gaiman and Cormac McCarthy, who I think might be the best American novelist of our time.  Do we try to separate the man from the work?  Do we boycott the work, taking volumes off our shelves or pictures from our walls?

Dederer spends time discussing the fan and how certain works seem to speak to our innermost selves and express what we believe about the world or how we wish the world was.  One example is the way the Harry Potter books took over the teenage universe, showing a world where everyone was included and good ultimately defeats evil.  What to do with those feelings when the creator is shown to act diametrically opposed in his or her personal life?

Then she discusses genius.  We tend to give a pass to those we believe are geniuses such as Picasso or Hemingway or Michael Jackson.  They are full of freedom and energy, ignoring the needs of others in order to create great art.  In a quote from the author, 'The thing is, freedom and energy can become confusing, morally or ethically speaking.  If you are handsomely rewarded for giving in to some of your impulses, doesn't it begin to seem like all of your impulses ought to be honored?  Especially because it's hard to tell the good from the bad.  Why would you quash an impulse, no matter how savage or destructive, when it might be one and the same thing as the impulse that allows you to do this mysterious, free thing everyone says is genius?  What follows logically from there is the idea that the artist ought to be free in all his doings.  Otherwise, if he constrains himself, he might turn off the energy.  He might somehow accidentally sit on the muse and squish it to death.'

Claire Dederer is a critic whose work appears regularly in publications such as the Nation, the New York Times, Vogue and a host of others.  After posing the questions above, she goes into her own life and that of other female artists, questioning why their voice is so often silenced and if it is possible to both be a great artist and a great mother simultaneously.  She also is honest about her own foibles, such as her alcoholism.  While she doesn't answer the question fully, she does suggest as the book ends that we are all full of both good and monstrous impulses and poses another question, should we be judged on our life by the worst thing we have done?

I read the last page of this book knowing that it would stick with me for a long time and that there is so much to think about in the questions posed that I would be mulling over them for quite a while.  In the end, it seems that each person must draw their own line in what they are willing to accept or in what extent they can divorce the artist from his or her work.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers and those sickened by revelations about their heroes.  

The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova

 

Alexandra Boyd has come to Bulgaria to teach English and to honor the memory of her brother whose dream had been to come there.  She comes a week or so before her job starts so that she can tour the country and get situated.  The cab from the train takes her to the wrong hotel so she is standing outside it deciding  what to do when she notices some elderly people trying to get into a cab with their possessions.  There is an old man in a wheelchair, a woman the same age and a middle-aged man who is probably their son.  Alexandra goes and helps and in the process, one of their bags ends up mixed in with hers.  The cab has left and she looks in the bag to see if she can find some identification so she can return it.  She is taken aback to see that it contains an urn with cremated ashes and a name, Stoyan Lazarov.

Even more determined to return such a honored possession, Alexandra gets in a cab.  It turns out to be driven by a man who says to call him Bobby and when she explains, he decides to help her return the urn.  Thus are the two drawn into the history of the Lazarov family.  Stoyan had been a violinist around the time of World War II and the taking over of Bulgaria by Russia.  Like many artists, he is declared a criminal working against the government and placed in a labor camp where he almost dies.  

Over the next few days, Alexandra and Bobby go to a monastery, the police and villages from the mountains to the sea.  They find people who know the trio they are seeking and even some relatives but they can't find a trace of the three they are looking for.  Along the way, they find a hidden compartment in the urn in which Stoyan had told his story of the camps and all that occurred there.  Soon they realize that someone else is interested in the urn and the story and will kill to get it.  Where is the family?  Who will end up with the urn?

From the 1940's up to the late 1980's there were over a hundred of these labor camps in Bulgaria.  Although they were said to be operated by criminal labor, most of the inhabitants were merely those the government considered a threat for one reason or another.  Tens of thousands of Bulgarians were confined in these camps.  Elizabeth Kostova is an American author whose three novels are extensively researched.  She married a Bulgarian scholar and in this novel tells the story that was hidden in Bulgarian history.  This is her third and most recent novel, published in 2017, and is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.  

These Violent Delights by Micah Nemerever

 

Some love affairs are best never started.  If Paul and Julian had never met, three lives would not have been ruined.  Paul is an introverted young man, just starting college and trying to rebuild his life after his father, who he idolized, dies.  Although Paul is shy, he is also convinced that most people around him are his intellectual inferiors.  He is the only person he knows in his middle class life who loves art and poetry.  His dream is to become a scientist, perhaps studying the butterflies he has always collected.

Julian is the opposite.  From money, he has the assurance and confidence of those who have always been provided for and who know their lives are set up to be a success.  He is also convinced that most people around him don't know how to live the life that he anticipates for himself full of beauty and literature.  He can dismiss others with a word or even a glance.

When these two encounter each other in college, they are instantly drawn together.  Since both are gay, it is not long before they form a romantic relationship.  Paul would do anything to please Julian yet he is the dominant one in their lovemaking.  Julian takes as a project the task of convincing Paul he is as good a person as Julian sees him.  This sets up a relationship where the stakes are constantly being raised as each tries to convince the other that they would do anything for the other and the life they want together.

Unfortunately, that results in their project.  They decide to kill someone who deserves to die to seal their love forever.  They choose someone who was involved in war atrocities.  They spend weeks planning their crime, sure that it cannot fail.  Yet after the crime, things do not go as they had planned.

This is a debut novel and was released to great anticipation in many quarters.  The author, Micah Nemerever, writes that he was these young men, lonely in so many way, offput by most people he met yet yearning for a relationship that could sustain him.  It is also, of course, influenced by such true crime cases as Leopold and Leob and Parker and Hulme.  The reader is drawn into the fevered world of these two men and the bad choices they make as a result of their love for each other.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.