Bruno, Chief Of Police by Martin Walker

 

Bruno is the Chief of Police in a small town in the South of France.  It is an undemanding job which suits Bruno fine after his time in the military and the fighting he did there.  He believes in talking through situations rather than jumping to arrests and his true joy comes in coaching the town's tennis and rugby teams, letting him know the children of the town before they grow up and cause mischief.  He also delights in cooking and wine and female companionship.

But Bruno's easy routine is about to be interrupted.  An elderly man, a North African immigrant who fought in the French Army, has been murdered, a swastika carved on his chest.  Who would have done such a thing?  Was it someone who was against the Muslim religion?  Someone against immigration?  A personal motive? With anti-immigrant feeling rising in France, the government determines this to be a highly sensitive case and sends a female inspector to work with Bruno to solve the case.  Can they do so before more murders occur?

This is the first in Martin Walker's series about Bruno, which currently sits at nineteen novels.  There is a lot of character development and background setting in this one, as Walker attempts to bring the reader into an environment they would normally not encounter.  Bruno believes in diplomacy rather than strict enforcement and looks out for the town and its inhabitants as a loving father would.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Straw Men by Michael Marshall

 

Two men walk into a fast food restaurant and start firing.  A man goes to his childhood home in Montana to bury his parents who were killed in a car crash.  While packing up the house to get it ready to sell, he finds a hidden note from his father, telling him that he and the mother are not dead.  In California, a serial killer known as The Upright Man is abducting teenage girls, then delivering purses to their parents with the girl's name embroidered on it in the hair of a former victim.

There are those who are searching for these killers.  Some from the FBI, some former CIA agents.  In California, a former policeman works the case after his own daughter is one of the victims.  As the cases evolve, they start to come together from across the country and so do those who search for The Straw Men.

Michael Marshall is a new author for me and this book was so chilling and compelling that I immediately upon completion went out and starting buying up his backlist.  Marshall writes with so much imagination yet the details of deaths are not gory as some books are.  The terror is hinted at rather than forced upon the reader.  All the separate cases satisfactorily come together in the end as do all those committed to finding and stopping the Straw Men.  This book is recommended for readers of crime fiction.  

Beautiful Children by Charles Bock

 

Charles Bock grew up in Las Vegas and he uses that city for his novel's setting.  We meet a variety of characters, each with dreams that can't be achieved due to weaknesses in the character.  Much of the plot focuses around Newell, the twelve-year old son of Lorraine and Lincoln.  Newell goes out one evening with an older friend the parents have never met and doesn't come home.  The parents don't know how to find the guy Newell was with as they only know his first name, Kenny.  

Lorraine used to be a dancer in one of Las Vegas's revues but she gave that up when she married Lincoln.  He works as an event planner in one of the big hotel/casinos.  Their marriage was already strained before Newell's disappearance and that strain stretches to the breaking point after it.  Lorraine tries a variety of things to  fill her time, ending up working for an organization that helps homeless teens.  Lincoln works more and more.

Another set of main characters are Cheri Blossom and Ponyboy.  Cheri is a stripper who came to Vegas to be an actress.  Now, she has huge implants and they even have a hollow in which candles or sparklers can be inserted.  She lets Ponyboy convince her to do things she would never consider without him.  Ponyboy cheats on her constantly, uses her for money and so he doesn't have to work and constantly comes up with schemes to make money.  He knows some things about Newell's disappearance the night of the big concert in the desert for the underground but he's not talking about that.

Throughout, the city is seen as a temptress that takes the dreams of the characters and warps them into unrecognizable shapes, always unobtainable.  The novel focuses on the plight of runaway teenagers and most big cities are full of them, the kids who were throwaways or who fell into drugs or were abused at home.  There are resources in the back of the book where these teenagers can find help.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.  

The Bridegroom by Ha Jin

 

This collection of twelve stories portray life in modern China.  I had two favorites of this anthology.  In The Bridegroom, a factory supervisor can't understand why the most handsome worker in the factory asks to marry his daughter, who although pleasant, is not attractive and whom he expected to have a hard time finding a husband for.  He learns the truth when his new son-in-law is arrested for homosexuality.  The last story in the collection is After Cowboy Chicken Came To Town.  In this story, an American chain restaurant opens a branch in China.  At first it is an amazing hit but it is a novelty and the chicken is not as good as what the street vendors serve plus it is expensive.  Soon only the young, trendy customers continue to come.  The workers there try to use the rules of Chinese society in their work but are constantly overruled by their American boss.  The workers are appalled when they discover the discrepancy between their salaries and that of the manager and are determined to take him down.  

Ha Jin is the pen name of Xuefei Jin.  He was born and raised in China, serving five years in the Red Army during the Cultural Revolution.  His book about that time, was awarded the National Book Award.  His novels and short stories portray China after the Revolution.  I was impressed with two things.  First, while I enjoyed the stories, each ended what seemed a strange ending, just abruptly ending with one sentence.  The second thing was the China he portrays, where every thought and sentence can be grounds for trouble and where everyday life is still controlled in many ways by the government and its agents.  Everyone is constantly on guard and trust few around them to know their true thoughts.  This book is recommended for multicultural and anthology readers.   

After We Were Stolen by Brooke Beyfuss

 

Avery thinks she is nineteen although she couldn't say when her birthday was.  She has never been off the compound so she knows nothing of modern culture.  She does know how to read but her father would be furious if he knew her mother had taught her.  Avery has been shunned for the past year; while everyone else stays in the compound housing, she has been relegated to a tent where she must make a fire for heat, find water for drinking and sleep on the ground.  But she comes to realize that there was a reason for this.  Her parents have picked her as one of the oldest girls to become the new babymaker for the cult as her mother is getting too old to do this.

After the first night that her father comes to her room, Avery can't believe this is to be her life.  She is sickened and frightened  The only person she trusts on the compound is her brother Cole who is the single person in the world she is closest to.  The two start to make plans to run away but that night Avery wakes to find the compound on fire.  She and Cole manage to get out although most of her sisters and brothers aren't as lucky.  They hide when the emergency units arrive and then they run away through the woods.  

The two live on the streets for a while but eventually are taken into custody and put under the care of Social Services.  When they learn that their parents on the compound might also have survived, the two are frightened as they know if that's true, their parents will be looking for them.  Can Avery and Cole learn to live in society?

This is a debut novel by the author.  She does an excellent job of portraying life inside the cult and the tremendous amount of work it would require to shelter and feed a group of people.  She also helps the reader imagine what life in a cult would be like and to have no freedom to plan your life or even your day according to your desires but rather to always have to obey a leader whose vision of life and what it means varies from that of society.  I listened to this book and the narrator did an excellent job.  There are surprises that await Avery and Cole when they are integrated back into normal society and the reader will be fascinated to learn the truth behind the lies the two have been told all their lives.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

 

This was to be Emma's first away camp and she can't wait to go to Camp Nightingale for the summer, a camp set on the family land of a wealthy benefactor.  Arriving late, there are no more spaces in the cabins with girls her own age so Emma is put in with three older teenagers.  Allison and Natalie are typical teenagers and Vivian is the camp's Queen Bee, the girl who everyone wants to know and who can make or break a girl's summer with just one word.  

Vivian decides to take Emma under her wing and Emma is delighted.  She also has her first real crush on the camp owner's gorgeous son, Theo.  Of course, he has no interest in a thirteen year old but a girl can dream.  But Emma's dreams turn to nightmares.  The other girls sneak out one night and they don't return.  After searching fruitlessly for them for several days, the camp is closed down and all the campers sent home.  The three girls are never found.

Fifteen years later, Emma is surprised to get an invitation to lunch from the camp owner.  She finds out that the woman is planning to reopen Camp Nightingale and wants Emily to come and be an art instructor for the summer.  Emma has been painting huge canvases of the trauma for years and needs to find something else to work on.  She agrees to go back to the camp for the summer.

But things start to turn out the same.  Emma is forced by lack of space to room not with the other adult instructors but with three teenagers.  Theo is back for the summer along with his younger brother with his fiancée attached.  Several of the other instructors are girls from that fateful summer.  Worst of all, Emma's new roommates go missing one night as well.  Can she find them along with the secrets Camp Nightingale is hiding?

Riley Sager is known as a thriller writer and there are often supernatural elements in his novels.  In this one, Emma's first time at camp is played off successfully with her second time.  She starts off doing well and as the days go by, the strange happenings she encounters takes her back to that summer fifteen years before that threatened to ruin her entire life.  Vivian is another strong character from that first summer even with the tragedy that entered her life.  The tension is built slowly and the resolution is satisfying.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Violeta by Isabel Allende

 

Born during the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, this is the story of Violeta, the only daughter of a wealthy South American family.  It follows her life for over a century.  Although born wealthy and spoiled as the first girl in a family with five brothers, the family loses its wealth during the Depression and Violeta grows up on a rural farm in the mountains, far from the city and all its glitter.

She has several loves in her life.  She marries young but doesn't know what love is.  When she meets the love of her life, she leaves her husband and spends years with the man she loves and with whom she has two children.  Late in her life, she marries again in a marriage that brings her love and contentment.

Violeta lives through the liberation of women and she supports herself.  She and one of her brothers start a development business which draws on Violeta's architectural knowledge and provides much needed housing both for the rising professional class and for those less fortunate.  She also makes a fortune in real estate.  On a more somber note, she lives through the time of South American dictatorships and the vanishing of those who opposed the government.  Her own son is forced into exile and lives most of his adult life in Norway, far from those who would kill him for his political beliefs.

Isabel Allende was born in Peru, although she now lives in the United States.  She has had a very successful career with more than twenty novels that bring South American culture and history to the world to discover.  Violeta is a strong female character and her love of family is characteristic of the Latin culture.  There are exciting and saddening events in Violeta's life which is a full and eventful one.  This book is recommended for readers of multicultural and historical fictioin.

People Of The Book by Geraldine Brooks

 

A Jewish holy document, the Sarajevo Haggadah, is found after the Bosnia war.  It was considered a miracle as the area had undergone Serbian bombing and this document was centuries old.  It was handmade and is now in need of analysis and repair.  There weren't many people in the world qualified to work on such a precious document.

The job goes to Hanna Heath, an Australian expert.  As she begins her work, she discovers items in the binding which she removed to repair.  There is a white hair, part of an insect wing, wine stains and a salt crystal.  Hanna is excited when her old teacher comes to inspect the book as well.  She also forms an attachment to the curator of the museum where the book is held.

Using the items found in the book, Hanna is able to trace the book through the ages.  It spent time in Seville, Venice, Barcelona and Bosnia.  She follows the book on its journeys and is able to identify some of the people involved in its journeys and discover the techniques of what they did and how they preserved the treasure.  Then as she finishes her work, new controversy emerges about the book.  Who is correct about its authenticity, Hanna or the other experts?

Geraldine Brooks is an Australian author who started as a journalist and who spent time in the Middle East, Bosnia and Somalia.  Her research background is evident in this work as the Haggadah is traced through the centuries.  There is a romance and also tragedy to be found.  This work is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

 

Two men have been brutally murdered, bludgeoned and stabbed to death and the house set afire.  One is the owner of the house, Natan Ketilsson, and the other a visitor.  Three people were charged with the murder.  One was a neighbor and the other two were Ketilsson's maids.  Agnes Magusdottir was one of these women and was sentenced to death, to be beheaded.

Until the execution, which wouldn't happen for months, there was a need to house Agnes somewhere.  The home of a government official, Jon Jonsson, was chosen as the place of her imprisonment.  She was to live in the house with Jon's family, his wife and two daughters and to work as a servant until the time of her death.  

Agnes has the right to religious instruction and comfort.  She picks a young assistant reverant named Toti.  Reverant Toti is unsure if he is qualified to take on such a task but as the weeks and then months go by, Agnes shares her life with him.  Her life had been hard, growing up in poverty and abandoned by her mother when she was six.  After that, she was handed from farm to farm as a servant, never finding any caring.

She and Natan had been having an affair when he asks her to leave her most recent employment and come to his farm as the housekeeper.  When she gets to the isolated place, she learns that there is a sixteen year old woman already there and that Natan is having an affair with her as well.  He is also involved with a married woman with whom he has a child.  Agnes's place is unreliable and Natan is in constant battle with a neighbor who wants to marry the other woman.  He is the man who is involved in the murder and strikes the first blows.  

Hannah Kent is an Australian author and this is her debut novel.  Kent was an exchange student to Iceland when she was seventeen and she learned about Agnes's story then.  The reader learns about rural Icelandic life and culture as Agnes' story is slowly revealed.  Although she is a prisoner, she forms relationships with those around her.  In particular, she has ties with the young reverend and the mother on the farm by the time she is executed.  This book is recommended for historical and literary fiction readers.  

Number9Dream by David Mitchell

 

Eiji Miyake has had a difficult life.  He grew up on a small island in Japan, living with his mother and twin sister.  His father was never in the picture although he is one of the wealthiest men in Japan and does provide money to the family.  When his sister drowns while Eiji is on a school trip, his mother falls apart.  Eiji decides to go to Tokyo to try to find his father.

There Eiji works a series of dead end jobs.  He meets a variety of people, some kind, some definitely otherwise.  The man who rents him a room runs a video store and looks out for him along with his wife.  Eiji meets a young man who seems to have infinite money, who takes him out clubbing where he meets beautiful women.  He has an appointment to meet his grandfather but instead his father's wife and stepdaughter show up, full of hate.  They tell him his grandfather has died and that his father wants nothing to do with him.  Will Eijji be able to find out who he is?

David Mitchell is one of my favorite authors and this is his second novel.  Upon leaving university, Mitchell lived and worked in Japan for several years so the setting and portrayals are accurate.  Along with many of Mitchell's novels, this one was a Booker Prize nominee.  One of my favorite books is Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.  This one is not that although the motif of several different stories eventually merging into one is followed.  It is a good exploration of Mitchell's writing progress and the things that will show up in later books.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.   

Fathers edited by Andre Gerard

 In this anthology about how children perceive their fathers, Andre Gerard has collected wonderful pieces by known authors and poets about their fathers.  Some idolized their father; some despised him.  But each entry is heartfelt and gives us an insight not only into fatherhood but into what shaped various authors in their childhoods.

The authors and poets comprise a wide array of talent.  Some include James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, Dylan Thomas, Angela Carter, Annie Dillard, E. E. Cummings, Winston Churchill, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath , Doris Lessing, Philip Roth and Alice Munro as well as other well known literary figures.  Each has a story to tell and no one is unaffected by the first and most influential male figure in our lives.  

Born and raised in British Columbia, Andre Gerard is a twin which affected his upbringing and his relationship with his own father.  He planned this anthology when his own children became teenagers and he wondered about how his fathering would affect them.  He also has concerns for those children who grow up without a father.  Who takes that place?  What is the effect if no one does?  Readers will enjoy the essays and poetry while pondering the place of fathers in our lives.  This book is recommended for readers of nonfiction.

Unforgivable by Natalie Barelli

 

Laura has finally found a perfect life.  She is using her education and degree in art to manage an art galley and has a new show starting soon that will be the cap on her career.  She is living with Jack, her fiancee and they will be getting married as soon as his divorce from Bronwyn comes through.  Then there's Charlotte or Charlie as she likes to be called.  Charlie is six and Laura loves her unreservedly.  Charlie had a rough patch after Bronwyn left the family and moved to Italy with her new man but Laura was there for her and the two have developed a stable, loving relationship.

Then suddenly, everything falls apart.  Laura forgets to lock the galley when Charlie's school calls with an emergency and a valuable art piece is stolen.  Bronwyn is coming home, ostensibly to sign the divorce papers finally, but she expects to stay with Laura and Jack which is an awkward position at best.  Bronwyn disapproves of everything about Laura and Charlie and does her best to upend that relationship and maybe the one between Jack and Laura.  Then there is Sunshine.  She approaches Laura about a job and is pushy enough that she ends up with it after the galley owner decides she is the one, forcing Laura to hire her over better qualified applicants.  Is she after Jack?  Or maybe Laura's job?

Natalie Barelli is an Australian author who is known for her psychological thrillers.  She has written nine and this one is a hit.  I listened to it and the narrator did an excellent job.  The book is written from Lauran's point of view so the reader is able to follow her thinking as her life starts to fall apart and as she negotiates increasingly difficult relationships with Sunshine, Jack and mostly Bronwyn.  There are plenty of twists and turns and the reader is tempted to find a backbone for Laura and insert it as she seems to let everyone push her around.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.   

From The Dead by Mark Billingham

 

When Tom Thorne hears that Alan and Donna Langford's daughter has gone missing, he remembers the family well as they came to his attention first as a case.  Alan Langford was burned alive in his car a decade ago and Thorne worked on the case.  Donna was arrested and charged with paying a hit man to kill Alan, who was the head of the local gangster group.  She has been in prison since but has just been released on parole.

Donna hires a woman who is starting a career as a private investigator.  That woman, Anna Carpenter, comes to the police when she realizes she is in over her head.  The police learn that Donna has been getting pictures of Alan somewhere on a beach enjoying his life.  Apparently, the man killed in his car wasn't Alan.  Unfortunately for Thorne, his superiors ask him to let Anna shadow him as he works the case.  As more bodies pile up and Thorne starts to like Anna, he feels that it's a very bad situation as anyone associated with the case could be in line for more violence.  Can he solve the case again without anyone else being hurt?

This is the ninth Tom Thorne detective novel.  In this one, Thorne and his girlfriend who is also in the police, are having issues after a life loss.  The feel is that they may soon be breaking up as they drift further and further apart.  Thorne's darker, vindictive side is also on display in this novel, more than some of the previous ones.  When he is engaged, he is bullet-focused on catching the criminal he has in his sights, no matter what it takes.  This book is recommended for mystery readers. 

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

 

Cyrus Shams is an Iranian immigrant, although he came to the United States as a baby so identifies with both his Middle Eastern and his American backgrounds.  His mother was shot down in a plane by the American military on a commercial flight when Cyrus was four months old so he has no memory of her.  His father decided to come to the United States to make a new life for he and Cyrus but could only find factory work, killing chickens in a processing plant.  Cyrus has one uncle left in Iran, his mother's brother.  He suffers from PSTD from his role in the war with Iraq where he rode the battlefield dressed in black, offering comfort to those left dying there.  

Now as an adult, Cyrus isn't sure what he will do.  He went off the deep end for quite a while, drinking and doing drugs.  He has been sober for about a year now and considering writing a book about martyrs as he feels he has extensive knowledge of them.  Cyrus is a poet and unsure if his book will be in prose or verse.  He also plays with the idea of doing away with himself as another example of a martyr.

Cyrus hears of an art installation in New York.  An Iranian female artist is dying, a victim of cancer.  She is choosing to live out her life at the museum, sitting and willing to talk with any of the museum patrons.  Cyrus is fascinated with this and along with his best friend and sometime lover, goes to New York to see what the woman has to say about martyrship.  Will she change his mind?

Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian immigrant himself, born in Iran but now in the United States where he teaches in Iowa.  He has two books of published poetry and his work has appeared in many magazines.  He is the poet editor of The Review.  This is his debut novel and it is shortlisted for the National Book Award, a Times Best 10 Book and a New York Time's Book Review 10 Best Books of the Year.  Cyrus will pluck the heartstrings of the reader as they cheer him on, hoping that he can find peace and a reason to live.  Poetry, the immigrant experience and the high rate of addiction among those whose lives start in chaos are discussed.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and those interested in the lives of those from other cultures.

Listen For The Lie by Amy Tintera

 

When Lucy's best friend, Savannah, is killed after a party they attended, she is demolished.  Lucy was attacked as well and she has a concussion.  She can't really remember anything about the attack or why she and Savvy were wandering in the woods.  But there is more fallout.  When rumors start to circulate that Lucy must be involved and that she surely remembers what happened, Lucy can't believe it.  When she realizes that even her husband and her parents think she is involved, that's the last straw.  She files for a divorce and leaves the town.

Lucy builds another life in another city  But now years later, everything comes back to life when the case is chosen by the host of the popular true crime podcast, Listen For The Lie.  The host, Ben Owens, made his name when he solved a cold case in his first season.  Now he is in Lucy's hometown, sure that he can also solve Savvy's murder.  Lucy is appalled and reluctantly goes back home to her grandmother's birthday party and to scope out what's going on.  

But things are still confusing.  Her husband is still in town, remarried although the rumors say this marriage is also on the rocks.  Her male best friend from high school is there and he's dating a girl Lucy was friends with once upon a time.  It's the same small town with gossip and everyone sure they know everything about everybody.  Ben is the new thing, a wild card and terribly attractive.  Does he romance Lucy because he finds her attractive or to try to get the real story out of her?

This is Amy Tintera's first adult novel and it has gotten lots of praise and notice for awards.  Lucy is an interesting character who needs to solve the mystery that has taken way too much of her life.  There is a strong attraction between Lucy and Ben, and between Lucy and her ex-husband.  The sex is enticing but tastefully done, just enough to demonstrate the attraction without overwhelming the book.  I listened to this book and the narrator did an excellent job.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Blue Lonesome by Bill Pronzini

 

Jim Messenger is an accountant in a big city.  He doesn't like his job which has no possibility of advancement and he hasn't dated much since his marriage broke up years ago.  Basically, he is existing and he figures no one would really notice if he wasn't there tomorrow.  He sees one woman one night in a diner he eats at often.  She seems even more lonely than him and he attempts to talk to her only to be rebuffed.

When Jim finds out the woman has committed suicide, he feels like he let her down.  He resolves to find her nearest relatives and notify them about the money she left behind.  Jim takes vacation from his job and heads out into the desert where the woman came from.  It's a little town, ruled pretty much by one family which owns almost everything.  Jim discovers the woman was a pariah in the town where she was suspected of murder.  Jim doesn't believe it and is determined to stay there until he manages to prove her innocence.  But can he do that when he has a target on his own back?

Bill Pronzini is known for his mysteries, many set in the Western part of the country.  This novel was a New York Times Notable Book and he is considered one of the masters of the genre.  His protagonists are usually men who are going through life alone and he gets that subset of humanity perfectly.  The mystery is satisfying and there is plenty of action as Jim attempts to discover the truth.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Song Of The Cell by Siddharta Mukherjee

 

In this nonfiction work, Mukherjee, a scientist and oncologist, takes the reader from the discovery of cells in the 1600s to the present.  He explains the parts of the cell, how it works in the body, what can go awry and the ethical issues that now face scientists as they push the envelope in cell knowledge.  Along the way, he also tells his own personal story and what drew him to the field.

The reader will learn about the first blood transfusions, how cells play a part in disease and how they can be manipulated to cure them.  The first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in England, is discussed and what big news her birth was along with the issues that were raised by manipulating cells in a lab to fertilize them and reinsert them into a woman to produce a baby.  He discusses the rise of the AIDS epidemic and how physicians were nonplussed by the first cases which were unlike anything they had seen before.  He also discusses the recent advances that allow changes by humans in the DNA of a cell which then replicates, hopefully providing relief for various illnesses such as sickle cell anemia.  

Siddharta Mukherjee was born and raised in India, coming to the United States for his university education.  He is a Rhodes Scholar and attended Stanford, Oxford and Harvard Medical School.  His prior books, one on cancer and the other on the gene, received awards and popular acclaim.  One of his strengths is writing on advanced scientific topics in a way that they are understandable to those who do not have his background and knowledge.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.  

Booksie's 2025 Wrapup

 

The end of another year and a new year to celebrate.  We had a great Christmas this year and got to see both kids, grandkids, in-laws and partners.  I managed to pull the tendon behind my right knee and was off my feet for most of December so I missed a lot of the holiday but really enjoyed the time with family.   It's time to look at 2025 and make reading goals for 2026.  I managed to read 285 books this year, so the elusive 300 is still to be gained.  Here's the books I loved most in 2025, across several genres:

1. The Home Child by Liz Berry.  Written in poem format, detailing the scandal of Canadian child immigration
2. The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
3. NOS482 by Joe Hill
4. Bringer Of Dust by J.M. Miro
5. The Maker Of Swans by Padriac O'Donnell
6. The Death Of Us by Abigail Dean
7. Less by Andrew Sean Grear
8. The Extraordinary Life Of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
9. The Wastelands by Stephen King
10. The Emperor Of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
11. The Outside Boy by Jeanne Cummins
12. Audition by Katie Kitamura
13. The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
14. The Lighthouse At The End Of The World by J.R. Dawson
15. The Ministry Of Time by Kaliane Bradley
16. Endling by Maria Reva
17. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
18. Alchemised by SenLiYu
19. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
20. King Sorrow by Joe Hill
21. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

How did I do on my goals for this year:

1. Read 300 books.  Almost but no banana.  I was fifteen books off from this goal
2. Read from my own shelves and give away what I've read.  Big yes!
3. Read all books from my four book clubs.  Yes
4. Finish the 52 Book Challenge and 4 challenges with the Book Girls.  Yes
5. Read two classics.  Yes, I read The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion and A Moveable Feast
6. Read the Tom Thorne series.  I'm reading book nine now but haven't finished
7. Finish the Gideon The Ninth series.  Yes
8. Finish the Covenant Of Steel series.  No
9. Finish the Dark Tower series.  On book four but haven't finished
10. Read a series by Adrian Tschaikovsky.  Reading the series Shadows Of The Apt now

Goals for 2026:

1.  Read 300 books.
2. Read from my own shelves and give away what I've read.
3. Finish the 52 Book Challenge and four Book Girl challenges
4. Read two classics.
5. Read twelve nonfiction books.
6. Read a mystery series.  I'm going to do the Rebus series by Ian Rankin
7. Read a fantasy series.  I'm going to finish Shadows Of The Apt
8. Finish the Dark Tower series.
9. Read the 2024 Booker longlist.
10. Read the Women's Prize 2021 longlist
11. Read three International Booker nominees

Happy Reading as always.  Have a great 2026!

Girls Without Tears by T. L. Finlay

 

Noa is living her best life in Miami.  She fled her small hometown after high school, tired of an environment where everyone knew everyone and all their business.  That meant everyone knew Noa had CIP, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, and didn't feel pain.  They also knew that after years of being together, Noa's boyfriend, Zack, had dumped her in their senior year for Taylor.  Noa is now a project manager and has just met a new man who seems promising.

Then she gets the call from back home.  Skye, Zack and Taylor's daughter, has been kidnapped.  Everyone in town is turning out to help with the search which included the Everglades and Noa's parents ask if she can come back also.  Noa is hesitant but the thought of a six year old facing Florida's harsh environment convinces her to go home to help.

Once there, she reunites with her best friend from school, Jamie, who is also Zack's best friend.  She and Jamie form a pair to go search in the Everglades.  They face danger there and soon Noa isn't sure if the kidnapper was an outsider or someone in the town.  There are rumors that Zack and Taylor's marriage is having issues so was this a custody matter?  Why hasn't anyone heard from Zack's father since he and Zack's mother broke up and he left town?  Why does Taylor have bruises all over her? 

T.L. Finlay is an American author who specializes in psychological thrillers.  This one is interesting not only for the mystery but for the discussion of CIP and I learned quite a lot about this syndrome.  Those affected not only don't feel pain which means they are at danger of injuring themselves quite seriously but also can't feel things like overheating or the urge to go to the bathroom and need to set reminders to pay attention to these things.  The interplay between Noa and the three main men in the story, Zack, Jamie and her new relationship, Hector, is interesting and it is unclear who Noa may end up with.  Skye is only six but plays an active role in her own rescue.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.