One of my favorite stories in this collection was Animal Rescue by Dennis Lehane. It's the story of a guy who works in a bar, a neighborhood figure nobody really notices. He finds a dog thrown into the garbage and he and a woman he meets save the dog. When the original owner shows back up a few months later and demands the dog back, it starts a series of events that won't be soon forgotten. This book is recommended for mystery and anthology readers.
Raymond Garvey was a terrifying serial killer who was active and caught around the time DI Tom Thorne was starting his career. He didn't do much on that case but he was involved peripherally and he hasn't forgotten Garvey who ended up dying in prison from a brain tumor. Now, someone is determined that Thorne won't forget; they are killing the children of the original victims.
The killer is a man who believes that he is the son of Garvey and wants Thorne to create buzz to vindicate Garvey's name, believing that he killed due to the brain tumor. That isn't true as he killed long before the tumor was found but it is one of the killer's delusions. He is steadily working his way through the original victims' children as Thorne and his crew try to find him. Who will win this grisly game?
This is the eighth Tom Thorne novel in the series. In this one, Thorne and Louisa reach a new level of closeness in their relationship and it is changing Tom. But one thing will never change. Thorne cannot let a murder go; his total focus and concentration is on the case until it is over. Can that work with a long term relationship? This book is recommended for mystery readers.
The funniest/saddest part of the book is when Paul insists on having his daughter's birthday party at mother's place as it falls on one of his weekends. Of course, living in a different New York borough, he has to drive and get the girls. One doesn't fit with a seatbelt, so he has to make two trips spending two hours doing that alone. The cable goes out and the girls can't watch their favorite shows or movies. The worst is that Paul didn't listen that closely to one mother's warnings about her daughter's dietary restrictions and the pizza he bought has her sick for the entire party, holed up in the bathroom.
Teddy Wayne has written six novels and won an NEA creative writing fellowship. In this novel, he skewers the middle-aged man who is sure he knows the best way to do everything, from how much television one should watch in a day to what one should read or eat or enjoy. Like many men as they age, he lectures those around him incessantly, unaware how irritating his actions are. While Paul has everyone's best interests at heart, his sanctimony loses him friends and work. I listened to this novel and the narrator did an excellent job. He didn't fall into the trap of using his voice to point out Paul's errors. Rather he tells the story in an everyday voice allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions on when Paul has stepped over the line. This novel is recommended for literary fiction readers.
Stenwold sends a group out to spy out the plans of the Wasps in black and gold. He sends his right-hand man who is a half blood, his foster daughter who doesn't know the truth about her birth, the mantis who is one of his oldest friends and the moth who almost never talks. They meet up with Stenwold's network in another city and battle the Wasps there. Can they defeat them and save their nation?
Adrian Tchaikovsky is known for his work in the science fiction and fantasy genre. This is the first book in the Shadows Of The Apt series which is composed of ten novels. Much of this work is world building and introducing the reader to the array of characters. These characters are not actual insects but humans in groups associated with various insects and having some of the insect's powers. It is also a clash not only between the peaceful countries and the Wasps who want to build an empire but between the older weapons of the other insect clans and the new weapons and machinery of the Wasps. This first entry is suspenseful and mysterious and I can't wait to read the next one in the series. This novel is recommended for science fiction readers.
Sloane Caraway tells lies. She lies about what she likes. She lies about where she works. She lies about her name sometimes and where she lives. She definitely lies about why she lost her last job, the one she loved. When she sees a gorgeous man with his small daughter in the park, she is attracted immediately. When the daughter steps on a bee, she rushes over and lies saying she is a nurse. Introducing herself by a false name, she soon manages to meet the entire family.
Violet Lockhart tells lies. She lies about her past. She lies about loving her husband. She is thrilled to meet Sloane and immediately sees how having her as her daughter's new nanny can work into her plans for the future.
Jay Lockhart tells lies. He lies about how successful he is. He lies about how important his wife and daughter are to him. Mostly, he lies about his constant cheating and seduction of any woman who crosses his path.
When these three people meet up, whose lies will triumph?
This is a debut novel for Sophie Stava. It twists and turns constantly. The reader is never sure exactly what is going on as events are filtered through the lies of three different people. It is a debut novel for Stava and was chosen as a Good Morning America Book Club pick. The pace is fast and the suspense mounts throughout. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
Was it one of the landowners whose property Quinn had acquired often through machinations or when the crops failed? Was it someone Quinn had bested in an argument or at cards? Or was it someone whose wife he had taken? Quinn's wife was sick with MS.
The town decided that it had to be Noah Bluestone, a Native American who had grown up there and returned after a career in the military. He is farming land his ancestors had owned but most of their property had ended up with Quinn. Noah had married a Japanese woman when he was stationed there right after World War II, and there was still sentiment against her and against Noah as he was one of the few Native Americans in the area anymore. Both Noah and his wife had worked for Quinn and he had fired Noah the day he was killed. Did that play a part?
Two teenage boys get caught up in the excitement. One is the stepson of the other man Quinn had working for him and he had set Noah up to get fired. The other boy was the son of the woman who ran the town's diner with her mother-in-law and who had her own secrets. There was the sheriff, Brody Dern, who also carries secrets and his deputies, especially the former sheriff who comes back to help out in such an unusual time. They are fighting to learn the truth while making sure that no one hurts Bluestone or his wife while the investigation is going on.
William Kent Krueger is an American author who lives in Minnesota and writes about the country he loves. Many readers know him best for his mystery series about a former sheriff, Cork O'Connor. But I prefer his books that explore the Minnesota he knows and the people that inhabit it along with the dilemmas they face. This book is recommended for both literary fiction and mystery readers.
Many of these stories talk about relations between humans and aliens who have come to Earth. In the title story, Bloodchild, some humans were able to live in luxury. However the price for that was high and hideous. In Amnesty, the aliens have already conquered Earth. They are now at the point where they hire some humans to work for them and the narrator is hired as a translator between the two.
Octavia Butler is an American author. She has won the Nebula, the Hugo and the Locust awards as well as receiving a MacArthur Genius Grant. This anthology was a New York Times Notable Book. I've never been a fan of her Exogenesis Trilogy but these stories are excellent and thought provoking. This book is recommended for anthology and science fiction readers.
Rachel is about to graduate university in Cork, Ireland. She is getting a degree in English and totally unsure what that will qualify her to do. In the meantime, she is working in a bookstore and that's where she meets James, who will become her best friend for life. The two are perfectly matched. Rachel is interested in men and so is James. They drink together, work together, spend hours together talking and being snarky and watching sitcoms and television dramas.
Soon both fall in love. Rachel had a crush on one of her professors but it turns out that he is attracted to James and they start an affair. Rachel meets Carey who she loves madly but who periodically disappears so that she is never sure of him. She goes to work for the professor's wife which is uncomfortable as she really likes the woman. Still, her loyalty lies with James who is always there for her, especially in the biggest issue she will ever face.
Caroline O'Donoghue is an Irish writer who started work as a columnist and who also hosts a podcast called Sentimental Garbage. This book is based on her life in Cork, not the actual events but her emotions as a young twenty-something, about to start adult life and feeling unprepared and how important friends were in your life at that time. Although the events can seem heavy, the novel itself is light and full of joy and laughter. It's one of those novels that make the reader, once finishing, immediately go search out other novels by the author. Rachel is a unique character who will remain in my thoughts for quite a while. This book is recommended for readers of women's and literary fiction.
As the group travels, they meet various villains who have to be defeated. There is Steph, the pixie who did the Choosing and gave Gustave the Goat the power of speech. There is the Dread Necromancer Steve. There is a human-eating giant and the Cavern of Tongues. The group meets each challenge and arrives at their destination where a new King needs to be chosen as the old one just spends his time taxing the peasants and being generally unpleasant.
Delilah Dawson and Kevin Hearne are both well known authors in the fantasy realm. Together they team up to provide an adventure with lots of comedy, puns and risqué humor. This is light fantasy rather than grim, although there are battles and deaths along the way. But the main focus is on the quest and the characters who become a united group and some who fall in love. This book is recommended for fantasy readers.
Now Lacey is working on a crime that is all too familiar. A young girl who lives in a housing estate, reports to Lacey that she was attacked sexually by a group of boys Worse, they plan to attack her younger sister next. She won't make a police report but Lacey is working on that and provides an emphatic ear when the girl needs to talk.
When leaving the housing estate, Lacey catches a woman who has been brutally attacked and who dies in Lacey's arms. She has been knifed. The woman comes from an upper middle class home so what was she doing there late at night? No one knows. Lacey is seconded to the major crime unit that is is investigating the case. Lt. Mark Joesbury believes that Lacey is involved but the woman who heads the division, Dana Tulloch, thinks Lacey can help. Another murder occurs and it appears to be a Jack the Ripper copycat and Lacey is an expert on that case. Is she right?
This is the first of four Lacey Flint novels. Lacey seems to be tied to the crimes, although whether as a perspective victim or someone who in involved in their commission, is unclear. S.J. Bolton has written eighteen novels in the suspense genre and her work often focuses on female protagonists. In this novel there is romantic tension between Lacey and Mark and the reader will be interested in that aspect as well as that of the murder solution. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
In retirement, Jim Kennoway has retreated to the island home in Maine that has been the family vacation home. Jim was an ornithologist who worked at the Museum of Natural History until he had to have a leg amputated He hasn't adjusted well to that, probably because he is drinking way too much and holds a grudge that it was necessary.
One day a young black woman shows up. This is Cadillac, the daughter of the man who was Jim's scout on the Solomon Islands during World War II. She is heading to Harvard to start her studies in medicine at the end of the summer and her father has sent her to stay with Jim for the summer although they haven't had any communication in years. Befuddled by her presence but feeling the tug of gratitude to her father, Jim agrees to her stay.
As the summer progresses, Jim gets steadily worse while Cadillac forms a friendship with Jim's son. But scandal is brewing. During the war, Jim and Tosca had killed three Japanese soldiers and preserved their heads the same way Jim has always preserved birds. Word of this is about to break as an intern at the museum has uncovered it while searching all files.
Alice Greenway grew up around the world with a father who was a diplomat. This was Greenway's second novel. At times the purpose of the book seems unclear. Is it the story of a lonely man whose life is ending in alcohol and bitterness? Is Cadillac there to be the hope of the future? Is it fair to judge someone by an event that happened long ago and was common at the time or acknowledge that it was a war crime and against the morals we hold? This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.
But there is more going on behind the scenes. The High Reeve, Kaine, knew Helena before the war when they both attended alchemy school and during the war when they were on opposite sides and Helena served as the go-between of the sides. They were in love and both had to make decisions that hurt those around them while serving their governments. Now, Helena has no memory of that love affair and only despises Kaine for his cruelty and position.
Slowly, Helena recovers her memory but Kaine is under suspicion by the government and although he has a high position, he could also lose his life at any moment. Helena's life is balanced on a pin since her capture. Can these two ever find love and peace?
This is an amazing fantasy although it is not for everyone. There are trigger events such as forced sex and the characters think of ending it all when it seems there is no hope. But the love between the two main characters is written superbly and the horror of war and the chances and ruined lives it forces upon those involved is described more aptly than in any other work I've read. This is a debut novel and I find that incredible. This will end up being one of my favorite books of the year and is recommended for dark fantasy readers.
Ten years ago ended Madeline Martin's innocent life. It was the night that she went to a party against the pleas of her best friend, Badger. The night she found out that her first love, Evan Handy, was cheating on her with her best friend. The night Evan killed her best friend in front of her and would have killed her also if she hadn't escaped and been found on the shore of a frozen river by Badger.
Now Evan has been in prison for ten years and Madeline is trying to go on with her life. She runs a bookstore in the town where she was raised. Her father, the former sheriff, had a stroke that has disabled him and she lives with him and takes care of him as best she can. Her life is bland and unexciting and that's how she likes it.
Then Harley Granger shows up in town. He is a crime podcaster and he has decided that the Evan Handy case would make for a blockbuster. He tries to get Madeline to come on his podcast and stirs up all the people involved that night. Evan still insists from prison that he is innocent. Girls have gone missing since that night, one just days ago. Is there someone else out there? Madeline has been receiving Christmas presents sent anonymously and she doesn't know if she has a secret admirer or if they are a warning that someone is coming to finish the job from ten years ago.
Lisa Unger is known for her work in the suspense genre. She has written over twenty novels, most of them bestsellers, and has received numerous awards. In this book, she knows exactly how to racket up the tension and let the clues emerge slowly. I listened to this book and the narrator has a voice full of suspense. Madeline is still living in the past and ignoring what is coming in the present. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
Abe has adored Ruth from the start. He ends up on an island in Washington because there he can give Ruth a farm where she can garden and raise the children. Over the years, they ebb and flow, sometimes at a distance when Ruth starts to find Abe boring, closer when they need to handle a crisis.
The story picks up when Ruth is diagnosed with cancer. The grown children insist that Abe is too old to take care of Ruth after extensive surgery, chemo and radiation but he is just as insistent that he can and Ruth wants his comfort and her own home. They have always thought Abe would go first, but is that true?
Jonathan Evison is an American author who lives in Washington like Abe and Ruth. I could really relate to this novel as my husband and I have married for fifty-two years now. Evison gets the reality of a day to day relationship and how couples can grow closer as they age and how successful marriages adapt to a crisis that every marriage eventually faces. I loved the way Abe adored Ruth from start to finish. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.
The police investigate but some believe Abi just ran away that night. She lives with restrictive parents who believe in the local fire and brimstone preacher who thinks everything is a sin. Her father is abusive both to his wife and the children, his days in Vietnam still present in his mind.
Then there are Abi's brothers. There's Noah, a bright man who should have been at college but who had to give up his dreams when his college fund was needed for a family emergency. He's not sure about his sexuality but he knows his father will have something to say about it, probably with his fists. There's her little brother Jude, who walks with a stick after the night he was thrown down the stairs. They know what goes on in the house but are afraid to tell.
Emma was Abi's best friend or at least she always thought so. But now she's finding that Abi had a whole secret life she never shared with Emma. Emma starts drinking heavily and skipping school. Then there is Rat. He's the man who drifted into town a few months ago. He parties with the high schoolers and always has alcohol and drugs to share. His RV is where Emma goes to drink and where she realizes that he and Noah have a relationship. The preacher decides to use Rat, or the gypsy as he calls him, as the town scapegoat, the one responsible for all the bad things happening.
Anna Bailey is an English author and this is her debut novel. It was chosen as a Guardian Book of The Month and was nominated for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Of The Year award. She spent time in Colorado which is where this book is based. Bailey captures the frustrations of the late teen years and the fact that most have secrets they don't want exposed. Some are willing to do anything to keep those secrets in the dark. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
This is the story of an Irish family and their relationships. The narrator is a woman who has just grown up and moved out of the family home. She talks about how the household was focused on her younger brother who was diagnosed as a boy with a brain tumor. He was expected to die but had a miraculous recovery. Yet the mother could not believe he is still there and dedicates her life and the family focus and resources on him.
Left on her own, the narrator falls prey to her uncle who arouses her first sexual feelings and then seduces her at fifteen. She knows this is wrong but it sets up a life where she goes out and has random sex with strangers from bars. When her brother's cancer returns and it becomes clear that this time he will pass away, she returns home and resumes the relationship with her uncle, the only kind of release and attention she can be sure of obtaining.
Eimear McBride is an Irish author and one of my favorites. This is her debut novel and it won The Goldsmiths Prize in 2013. The novel is written in a stream of consciousness fashion from the point of view of the young woman and it is chaotic, uncertain, groping forward, and full of rage. The narrator is never sure exactly what she owes her family but knows she loves her brother who she is going to lose. McBride's writing is fierce and amazing and the reader is sure to remember her stories long after the last page is read. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.
Claude Whelan, head of the Park and Diana Travener's former boss, is given the assignment of finding her or at least finding out what happened to her. Diane is upset that he is back and clues are pointing at Jackson Lamb at Slough House. Slough House is shorthanded these days although since they do nothing it doesn't matter that much. River Cartwright is taking some time off after the death of his grandfather while Shirley Dander is off taking the cure at the rehab center for spies.
This is definitely one of the best books in the series. Watching Shirley and getting into her head is a rare joy while her alliance with Whelan when a pack of mercenaries try to kidnap her is an amazing piece of work. Instead of being a throwaway character, we get to know more about Lach and see why he was recruited by MI-5 in the first place. Jackson Lamb, of course, is on top of things while appearing not to care a bit about his job or anyone else. My only fear is that Mick Herron will get tired of writing about the misfits at Slough House and that would be a disaster as this series is becoming one of my absolute favorites. This book is recommended for mystery and spycraft readers.
Christian has come home to take care of his mother. She is eighty and recently released from a psychiatric hospital, a common occurrence he is used to. They go on a last trip together in Switzerland which is their home country, visiting the mountains and places from long ago. His mother is also physically challenged and Christian helps her with her issues.
But the two are not close. His mother pretty much ignored him as a child, especially after his parents divorced when he was young. He rarely comes home and despises the money they have and the munitions industry that gave it to them. He is searching for a way to reconcile his life, and this is another attempt.
Christian Kracht is a German author and this is his second novel. It was nominated for the International Booker and considered a Best Book by the Financial Times and the UK Times. Kracht explores the dynamics of a life where nothing is required of the individual; there is so much money that they need not work and can have anything they want. But the human relationships have suffered and he narrates a last chance to resolve the most primal relationship, that of parent and child. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.
Tommy Lee Sells was one of the worst serial killers the United States has seen. Thirty-five when caught, he spent the years before traveling the country and killing men, women and children. He seemed to have no preference although he would sexually assault his female victims. He killed by bludgeoning, shooting or his seeming preference, slitting the throats of those he murdered.
He was caught in Texas. He went through the window of a home during the night. In the home was a woman, her two daughters and her younger daughter's friend who was having a sleepover. He bypassed the adult woman and her elder daughter. He killed the younger daughter in front of her friend, slashing and stabbing her to death. He then used his twelve-inch boning knife to slit the throat of ten year old Krystal Surles. Somehow this little girl found the strength to crawl to the neighbor's house and get help. As soon as they stabilized her in the hospital, she was ready to testify. Although she couldn't speak she wrote what happened that night and helped a portrait artist to make a mugshot. Sellers was arrested and started confessing.
Tommy Sells confessed to more than seventy murders. He was known as the Coast To Coast Killer. His real total is not known as some of the murders he claimed were proven to be committed by others but he did kill across the country. One of the saddest to me was the case where he broke into a house, killed a ten year old boy with a kitchen knife he found there and escaped. He always cleaned the site of his prints and DNA as best he could. The boy's mother was arrested, found guilty and served time until she was finally exonerated after Sell's death.
Diane Fanning is known for her true crime books although these days she has moved on to write mysteries more often. She started in advertising and then worked as an executive director at several nonprofits. She has won numerous awards both for her work and her writing. I've had this book for years but finally found the courage to reading it. I cannot imagine the strength it took for her to sit across a table in prison and look into the eyes of Tommy Lynn Sells as he confessed crime after horrid crime. He was executed in Texas in 2014. This book is recommended for true crime readers.
The part I found most interesting is her evaluation of other authors' works and their relationship to the genre. She talks about Marge Piercy, H. Rider Haggard, Ursula K. Le Guin, Bill McKibben, George Orwell, H.G. Wells, Kazuo Ishiguro, Bryher, Aldous Huxley and Jonathan Swift and explores their work and how it contributed to the genre.
In the last section, she discusses her own work. There is an excerpt from The Blind Assassin, she talks about cryogenics and other science fiction memes. At the end there is a letter from her to the Judson School District which banned her book The Handmaid's Tale defending the work and the sexual aspect which show the attempt to control women's sexuality through the ages. There is also a section about the gorgeous art covers that have often adorned works in fantasy and science fiction.
Margaret Atwood is a treasure. She has written eighteen novels, eleven books of nonfiction, eighteen books of poetry and nine anthologies. She is a Canadian author and a defining force in the genre. Her book, The Handmaid's Tale has been made into a successful television series and several of her novels have been made into movies. In this work, the reader gets to see beyond the pages at what Atwood was trying to accomplish with various works. She sees sexuality as a normal part of childhood interest as they slowly become aware of it, and she also sees that women's sexuality has been controlled throughout the ages by whatever mechanism is available at the time. This book is recommended for science fiction readers and those interested in authors' lives and thoughts about their work.
The next murder has another note that now says, 'Nine Green Bottles'. Does the killer plan on ten murders? When there is a police connection with this victim as well, the force realizes that it may be tied to a case years ago. Was there corruption then that is only now demanding that retribution be paid?
This is the fourth book in this series. Rigby builds the relationship between Lauren and Matt which is professional. One of Matt's friends, a female police officer on another force, is in town for a vacation, and comes to work with the Cornwall force when one of their officers goes out on an extended medical leave. Could there be a romance brewing there? The case is intriguing and readers will be interested to continue the series. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
Mike and Verity have a perfect relationship. Mike came from poverty and foster homes and institutions but he's an investment banker now and doing well financially. Verity came from wealth and position with a supportive family and she now works in IT. They are bonded in every way and they like to play a game.
They all it The Crave. They go to a pub and Verity flirts with another man until he is interested. Then Mike comes over and pushes him away, claiming ownership of Verity. It is stimulating for them both and some of their best times start this way.
Mike takes a job overseas but Verity can't leave her own job. They agree that a long distance relationship will work but as the months add it, it starts to have issues. Both stray and when Mike returns for Christmas, it's to Verity breaking up with him. He can't believe it; they are meant to be together. But eventually he returns overseas to his job and tries to convince Verity from afar that he still loves her and that they should be together.
But when he finally manages to get transferred back to London, it's to a horrid surprise. Verity is getting married to another man, a man she loves and who everyone believes is a perfect match. Mike decides that this is another version of the Crave and he knows how to play. What will happen?
Araminta Hall is a British author. She worked as a magazine journalist before she started writing books and also teaches. She writes in the thriller genre and this book is chilling. The pace is rapid and we get to see what's it's like inside the mind of a stalker, someone so obsessed with another that they can't imagine a world where their interest is not returned. This book is recommended for thriller readers.
But the church is wily and guards against revelation of its secrets Those few who have escaped have often found death on the outside, perhaps tied to their association. The two investigators agree that the only effective way to handle the case is for someone to go undercover. Robin is the one chosen and she will only have contact with Strike and the company once a week through a hidden stone with a place for a note. She goes to a service and before she knows it, she is on the farm.
Church members are expected to revere Papa J as the leader is known and his wife, who is in charge of discipline. The members are given little food or sleep and as the days go by, Robin finds herself falling into the mindset of those who are true members. She starts to hear of deaths and punishments and everyone is expected to sleep with whomever asks. Will Robin get to the church's secrets before her identity is stolen?
This is the eighth Comoran Strike novel and it is definitely one of the best. Robin is dating a police officer and Strike always has a woman around but the two are starting to admit to themselves that their true interests are in each other. The church's secrets are slowly revealed which builds the tension around whether Robin will be able to escape their clutches. It is very long, over nine hundred pages, but it's hard to see what could have been left out as everything comes to a head. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
But when Calvin is killed leaving Elizabeth alone and pregnant, she is pushed out of her job. She creates her own lab in her kitchen and her former co-workers often come by to get her assistance with their work. But it's not enough money to support her and her daughter. So when she is offered the chance to host a cooking show on the local PBS station, she reluctantly agrees.
Elizabeth is a hit! She doesn't only teach women how to cook nutritious meals but she tells them daily to reach for their dreams. To go get educated, to do what they dream of doing in life. Where will it all end?
This is a debut novel and it took off like a rocket. It won numerous awards and has been made into a television series. Women love Elizabeth and her refusal not to be taken seriously and her determination to live her dreams. Bonnie Garmus was a copywriter when she wrote this novel. There are elements of her own life here, Elizabeth and Calvin are rowers as is Bonnie, and the amazing dog echoes her real life companion. The book is humorous while insisting on women as individuals who should be given credit for their accomplishments. This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.
Edward Glyver grows up with his single mother in a coastal city. His mother is an author and spends countless hours writing. Edward grows up as a scholar and a bibliophile, having been able to attend a good school through the help of one of his mother's friends. When she dies, he discovers something amazing. She was not his mother at all. She was raising him as a favor for her best friend, a woman who was married to nobility. But Edward has no legal proof.
He becomes friends with various men who hold parts of the puzzle and who help him. Chief among these is his boss, who owns a legal firm and who hired Edward when he returned to England from several years abroad. Edward also falls in love along the way and that may be his downfall.
This is the first novel in a series. It is written in a Victorian manner and reminded me of several Charles Dickens novels. Edward has a nemesis who haunts his life and has since boyhood. He is also about to win the place in life that should be Edward's. Who will be recognized as the rightful heir to estates and unimaginable wealth? Cox is an English author and this is his debut novel. It is recommended for literary fiction readers.
In this book about his law practice, he illustrates the injustices he fights by narrating the case of one of his first attempts, Walter McMillian. Walter had been doing fairly well for himself in an area where black people were usually impoverished as he had a timber business. But Walter had a straying eye and one of his conquests was a white woman. This was in the 1980's and there was still a lot of prejudice around interracial relationships and lots of people had it out for Walter. When a young white girl was killed while working in a dry cleaning store, it was a major case. Although Walter was twenty miles away at a family fish fry with several dozen witnesses, he was arrested on the word of a white witness and a black man who wanted to get his own sentence reduced. Walter was sent to Death Row and was there for six years. Eventually, Stevenson managed to prove his wrongful conviction and get him released. Walter had years left to live but sadly, as he got older, he believed he was back on Death Row and spent many days scared and lonely.
This nonfiction book has won numerous awards, as has Stevenson's law practice which continues its work to eliminate the death penalty or at least to free those wrongfully convicted. That means not only those who didn't do the crime for which they were sentenced but those who were too young to have formed intent or those who were mentally incapable. Stevenson even won the McArthur Fellowship which gives a cash award, $800,000 currently, to those who show creativity and talent in a field. Readers will follow the cases he discusses with disbelief and horror and the book has the potential to change minds about the death penalty. This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.
The discoveries were not all positive. For example, the discovery of the beautiful Prussian Blue color for painters later resulted in the use of it in the cyanide that was used in Germany's death camps. Einstein, for one, disagreed with the results of some of the scientists although they were proven correct in the end. The math was so above the average and even expert understanding that those who made those breakthroughs had no one to discuss their knowledge with and that played some part in their eventual withdrawals and madness. Many felt that their discoveries had left the world worse off rather than better.
Benjamin Labatut's childhood was spent between The Netherlands and South America and he has lived in Chile since he was twelve. This novel was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize and the National Book Award for translated works. He sees his work as different from others because he feels that most novels focus on character and his work focuses on ideas. He seems attracted to thinkers in science as his following novel was about John von Neumann, another mathematical genius whose work is pivotal but is understood by few. One thing I did not like was that in the afterword Labatut says some of what he wrote is true and some fiction but the parts that were not true were not identified. Since I know little about the scientific fields he was discussing, that left me frustrated not knowing which parts to believe. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers, especially those interested in science and math.
This book has two novellas in it. In the first, Clive is a sixty-year old man. He had been an artist but gave it up and became an art professor and someone who served as an expert when validating authenticity of paintings. He lives in New York City far from his surviving family, his mother and a sister back on the Midwestern farm he fled as a young man. Now his mother is aging and his sister wants a break and a vacation. Clive agrees to come home for a month and take care of everything while his sister travels. He rediscovers his love of painting while there as well as rekindling the attraction of his first love who lives next door.
The second novella is about the River Swimmer. Thad was born to swim and feels most at home in the water. He takes long journeys, swimming miles to Chicago and other locations. He falls in with a rich girl and she takes him traveling and he swims some of the largest rivers in Europe. But his heart lies back home and the rivers he grew up with and the water babies only he is able to see.
Jim Harrison was the author of The Legends Of The Fall and thirty other novels. I love his spare yet beautiful writing. He often writes of men attempting to make human connections and find love. He was also a lover of nature and it plays a large part in most of his work. He also delves into family connections and what they mean to us as adults. This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.
Slough House and its inhabitants move on in a life that is always more of the same. Same falling down workplace, same colleagues, same make work, same Jackson Lamb who rules over it all.
But some things happen. River's grandfather, the OB, has finally died after a long career as a spy and having raised River. Lech is the newest Slow Horse and he is determined to find out what got him assigned there and who was behind it. Catherine Standish is starting to buy booze again after years of being dry. And River's father, the man Jackson Lamb hates above all others, is still out there.
When River sees his father at the cemetery at his grandfather's funeral, he takes off chasing him but once again his father manages to escape. But this time the group and Lamb have an idea where he is heading. Louisa Guy has taken on the task of finding her former lover's son who has disappeared. River's father seems to have been hired to find him as well. Lamb sends the Slow Horses out to find the son and capture River's father but he has hired guns with him. Will everyone return?
This is the sixth Slough House novel in the series. These books are an addiction. I'm so glad I waited until there were nine of them as I've listened to them as quickly as I can, starting the next as soon as I finish the former. I've listened to them as Gerald Doyle is the best narrator match I can imagine. He can hit the sly notes, show the determination of the agents even when wrong and bring Jackson Lamb to life in a way that is perfectly done. Lamb pretends not to care but his agents are his charge and no one hurts his charges. This book is recommended for mystery and spycraft readers.
She is gutted and spends her nights drinking herself into oblivion. Then months later, she sees Ciaran again and they get back together. She is determined to do whatever it takes to keep him this time and soon they are living together. She spends her days thinking of what she can do next and her evenings cooking, cleaning, doing whatever he wants.
But can such a one-sided affair continue? As the weeks go by, she starts to rebel against his continued coldness and his assumption of all power in the relationship. Eventually, she gravitates to another man who is warm and loving and interested in her, not just what she can do for him.
This is a debut novel for Megan Nolan who is an Irish author. She won a Betty Trask award for this book which his given for first books written by someone under thirty. Readers won't be able to turn away from this love affair but will be sickened by the narrator's willingness to give herself over so totally to someone who doesn't appreciate her. Personally, I hate to think that love can be so desperate and that women can think so little of themselves. It is, nonetheless, a book that can't be put down and Nolan will take her place among the many stellar Irish authors. This book is recommended for literary and women's fiction readers.
A virus has decimated humanity. It's effect is that people forget how to speak and what things are called or named or what a word means. When affected individuals come to the Center to recuperate, most don't know their names, so they take a name from the weekly movies they view.
These people attend classes that instruct them in what they need to know. Some excel and graduate back into the outside world. Some never again retain the meaning of language and become lifetime inhabitants of the Center. The Center gives them work, classes and a social structure. Newcomers must work to be defined in one of the two main groups; those who go and those who stay.
It seems benevolent but is it? Over time, some try to challenge the rules and the structure and then they find that they are not the free agents they had imagined themselves to be.
Matt Greene is an English author. His first novel, Ostrich, won a Betty Task Award, which is 10,000 pounds and given to a first novel by an author under the age of thirty-five. In this dystopian novel, he explores the meanings of love and friendship and how individuals can be duped into giving up their freedom. This book is recommended for readers of dystopian novels.
But Andrew has another side. He writes another series under a pen name, Jack Spade. Those mysteries are dark and gory and the villain often wins. No one knows about these novels, not even his wife.
When Andrew is sued for plagiarism by an elderly woman who lives in his town, his two sides start to merge. He can't believe someone dares to accuse him and soon he finds himself breaking into her home and stealing her treasures. Then one night she is there and Andrew becomes one of the villains he writes about.
Joyce Carol Oates has a long history as an author whose work is prolific and on the dark side. Along with other honors, she is a National Book Award winner. In this novel, Andrew moves from a respected, staid middle-aged man to someone who finds himself doing things he never thought he would do. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
That is the Low Probability Event and millions died that day all over the world, although the majority were Americans. Vera's worldview is trashed immediately and she retreats into herself. Four years later, she has become a recluse, only leaving her house when she must to buy supplies. Otherwise, she spends hours staring at the ceiling and thinking about that day.
Then Special Agent Layne shows up at her door. He tells her that he is from the agency that helps survivors and he needs her help to investigate a casino that seems to be connected somehow to the Low Probability Event. Vera tells him no but Layne is persuasive and soon the two head off to Las Vegas. Can they discover the cause of the LPE and make sure it never happens again?
Chuck Tingle is a pseudonym of a writer who identifies as autistic and who has a unique style of writing. He started out writing short stories and then moved into writing novels in the fantasy/horror genre. His characters are generally gay and his work has become steadily more popular. In this title, strange occurrences abound but eventually all the threads are brought together and resolved. This book is recommended for fantasy/science fiction readers.
Anji is on the run. After her parents were killed, she ended up working in the King's palace. When she was sent to deliver laundry to his chamber while he was sleeping, she took the opportunity and slit his throat. Now there is a bounty on her head of a million and everyone is looking for her.
Hawk is the one who finds her. Hawk is part of a group of King's guards, each of whom wears a mask. Hawk takes everything from Anji and puts a spell on her so that she cannot escape. As they make their way back to the capital where Anji will be executed, others try to take Hawk's prize but she fights off all comers. Is there any way that Anji can escape?
This is a debut novel from Evan Leikam. He started as a musician and while touring with his band, began writing to fill the long hours on the road. He is also the host of the Book Reviews Kill Podcast and writes in the grimdark genre. I enjoyed the world building in this novel and loved the concept of the guards who wore animal masks but each had a personality hidden underneath. The action was fast and furious and the reader will pull for Anji to somehow escape her fate. I would have liked more story on Anji herself and I felt that Hawk was more developed than Anji but overall it was a great first novel and I definitely plan on reading the next in the series when it is released. This book is recommended for fantasy readers.
Then a twelve-year-old girl named Esther goes missing. She left school with Ronnie who is her best friend and Lewis who hangs out with them. They all walk together on the path home until they come to the church where their paths diverge. They split up. Ronnie and Lewis make it home but Esther does not.
An outsider is sent to help the police force. DS Sarah Michaels has secrets of her own such as what happened in the fight with her girlfriend right before she came to town. But she is determined to find Esther or find out what happened to her.
When Lewis tells Ronnie that he saw Esther by Dirt Creek the day she disappeared, everything starts to emerge and the secrets start to be revealed. As the truth emerges, the people of Durton Creek will never be the same.
This is Hayley Scrivenor's debut novel and has garnered a lot of attention and won the Lambda Literary Award. She grew up in Australia so the geographical details are spot on. It delves deeply into the secrets that a small town tends to develop and the way that people have friends as adults that they have had since childhood. The secrets of children and how loyal they are to their friendships is highlighted. It also discusses how outsiders feel in such a town. I grew up in a small Sourthern town and my mother came from a Northern state. We always had that feeling that we weren't quite on the inside. I listened to this novel and the accent of the narrator added so much to the realism of the book. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
Christie and Sayers ask three more of the best British mystery writers to a meeting. They are Baroness Emma Orczy, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh. The women make a plan to solve a real life murder and then present the males in the mystery club with their result.
The papers are full of the case of May Daniels. Daniels, a nurse, had gone with a friend on a day trip to France and never returned. She had gone into the restroom and then disappeared. Her friend had been standing outside the room and never saw her leave and there were no other doors or windows. How had she disappeared? What happened to her? Daniels's body had just been discovered in France weeks later and the case was headline news in all the papers. It would be the perfect case to solve.
The group, called The Queens Of Crime, went to France. They retraced May's route and solved the mystery of how she disappeared. They came back to England where they interviewed May's family, friends and employers. They discovered that she had a secret boyfriend who they suspected. Can they solve the murders?
Marie Benedict is an author and lawyer. She writes in the genre of historical fiction, focusing on various women whose story has yet to be told completely. In this one, she covers the marriages of the five women, their secrets, and their work. The interplay between the five women is delightful and I closed the book with a decision to go back and reread some of their work. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
He learns that the victims are all related to one person, a man who took the rap for a murder and served his time without complaint for the gang he worked for. Then just as he was about to get out, a horrific event in his personal life made him decide to wreck vengeance on those who he had worked for.
That part is easy. But why Thorne? He learns that it is the killer is manipulated by a man that Thorne put away; the man he thought was the most evil and cunning of all those he had put away. When Thorne's best friend is targeted, he must race the clock before his friend joins the list of the dead.
This is the seventh Tom Thorne novel. Thorne is back on form after the death of his father which had taken him for a loop. His relationship with a woman on the police force is going well although she is giving indications that it might be more serious than Thorne had planned on. The manhunt for the killer is full of twists and turns although this is one of the few killers that Thorne can understand and relate to. Yet he knows that that understanding doesn't matter; he must find him before he kills again. This book is recommended for mystery readers.
Above is one of my messy bookshelves, this one in my den where I do a lot of my reading. October is more than halfway over and I'm still getting used to calling it 2025. This month has been a blur. We went to visit our son and then our daughter. There were book groups, investment group, doctors and dentists. Like many retirees, I'm not sure how I ever found time to work. I've got a ton of books purchased and sent lately, many of them Booker Prize nominees and the work of Best New British Authors, a list I follow every year. I've been busy reading the Booker nominees for 2025 and I'm about half through with that. Here's what's come through the door lately: