The Diva by Daisy Goodwin

 

They were the two most famous Greeks in the world.  Maria Callas was the leading opera singer.  Aristotle Onassis was one of the richest men in the world.  When they met, they were both married to other people but the passion they felt for each other could not be denied.  They spent the next decade together but it was not an easy relationship.

While Onassis loved Callas, he continued to have relationships with other women and then eventually married the former First Lady, Jackie Kennedy after having an affair with her sister, Lee Radziwill.  Maria had married a man who also was her manager for her early career but ended her marriage once she met Onassis.  In her divorce, he ended up with much of her money.

In this novel, Daisy Goodwin tells Maria's story, her recognition that a singer has a purse of golden coins which is the number of performances before the voice starts to change and go.  Maria lived for her music for much of her career but once she met Aristotle, she changed and started living for love.  The relationship broadened her emotional repertoire as she experience the emotions of love and jealousy that many of her opera roles portrayed.  

Daisy Goodwin has made a career of writing the stories of famous women.  Most are set in Victorian times and she also wrote the screenplay for the television series Victoria.  In this book, she has moved into more recent times and explored the life and loves of a woman who is not a ruler.  Callas was the reigning singer of her time but she never managed to marry the love of her life or have a good family relationship with her mother or sister.  Does greatness require pain?  This book is recommended for readers of women's fiction.   

Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro

 

The Victorian world is one of strict rules and class distinctions.  Then there is the world beneath, the world that isn't spoken of but which makes the other one possible.  That world is centered at the Institute.  It's stated purpose is to collect children with unusual talents and educate them to make their way in society.  The unstated purpose is to guard the gateway between the living and the dead.  

The children come from all over the world and have varying talents.  Charlie is an American who heals.  He has been a slave, imprisoned and executed but he is still here.  Ribs is a girl who can make herself invisible.  Oscar can make companions from meat so he is never alone.  Komako is a dustmaster and can collect and use dust to obscure or tighten around others.  Marlowe is the youngest.  He was found as a baby in a boxcare with a dying woman and then adopted into a circus.  He can glow blue and either rend or mend flesh.

But some talents get corrupted.  Jacob is one such.  He is also a dustmaster and the one who finds Komako in China.  But he gets involved with the other side when he attempts to visit there to find his dead twin and is changed forever.  Now he only wants to take down the Institute and take Marlowe with him.  He also wants to destroy the scientist who instead of helping the children wants to use them in his own battle against the Drucker, a creature of the dead.  Jacob came once and almost succeeded in capturing Marlowe as a baby.  Now that Marlowe is back, Jacob is ready to mount another attempt.

I listened to this novel and it will definitely be one of my favorite books of 2024.  I loved the Dickensian writing style and the slow unraveling of the plots and counterplots at the Institute.  The relationship between the children is fascinating and the way they complement each other's talents and their ability to form a united front is key.  I listened to this novel and I must mention the narrator, Ben Onwukwe.  His deep voice lends menace to the story and accentuates the slow unraveling of the climax of the book.  This book is highly recommended for fantasy readers.  

Midnight And Blue by Ian Rankin

 

John Rebus has finally fallen.  He is in prison, his actions in the death of Edinburgh's crime boss questioned and charged, and after a trial, found guilty.  Cops in prisons usually don't do well and at first he was in isolation.  But the man who runs things inside puts Rebus under his protection and he is moved to the general population.  He keeps to himself, is helpful where he can be, and does his time.  But things change when a man on the wing is found dead one morning, his throat slit.  Who could have done it at a time when everyone was locked in?  Was it a guard?  Did someone unlock the cell and let in an enemy?  

On the outside, Rebus's best friend, Siobhan Clarke, is busy with police work.  She has a missing teenage girl and is also involved in the prison case.  When an old nemesis Malcolm Fox shows up in the prison as well, Clarke asks to go full time on the missing teenager case and is given permission.  Fox used to work in what is called Professional Standards, charging his fellow officers when they strayed, and Rebus had been one of his major targets.  Clarke isn't sure what happened to the girl but as the days go by and she isn't found, projections aren't good.  When a man she worked for is found killed, Clarke has a bigger case and breaks a pedophile ring.  

This is the twenty-fifth book in the Rebus series.  It is rare that an author can keep a series fresh and involving but Ian Rankin has been able to do so with this one.  Rankin is a Scottish author and he knows the territory.  The writing is crisp and Rebus is the focus even brought down low.  The ending to both cases is unexpected and satisfying.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Rising by Heather Graham and Jon Land

 

Alex Chin is the high school's IT guy.  He's the star quarterback, the prom king, the most popular guy in the school who can date any girl he wants.  He's the blonde haired, blue eyed guy that girls fantasize over although his parents are Chinese.  They have told Alex that he was adopted as a baby and he's never really thought about how unusual that is, Chinese parents adopting a Caucasian child.

Sam is definitely not in the popular crowd.  She's a math/science geek and she lives for the goal of someday being an astronaut.  She has a prestigious internship at a government lab nearby and she's just noticed some irregularities she wants to share there.  Sam is Alex's tutor and although she knows that's all it will be, she has a crush on him.

When Alex gets a concussion on the field one Friday night, he is taken to the hospital.  While there, although his recovery is rapid, some strange results come back from his tests.  His parents are hesitant to talk about it and Alex can't get anything from the doctors.  When he goes to see his doctor, he is dead and when he returns home, the same is true of his parents.  There are policemen everywhere but they seem android like and they are.  For Alex has a secret that even he doesn't know he carries and it could affect the fate of the world.  He and Sam hit the road, running from those who would kill them both without asking any questions.  

Heather Graham has written over two hundred books across a wide variety of genres.  Jon Land writes technothrillers and increasingly, murder mysteries.  Their partnership in this book has generated a story that moves fast and initiates the question of the existence of aliens and why they would be interested in Earth and its inhabitants.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.  

Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

 

Violet Sorrengail grew up believing that she would serve the kingdom as a scribe as her father had.  But her mother is a General and head of the Rider Academy and she forces Violet into the applicants for riders.  The Academy is where riders are chosen by their dragons for life and learn to ride and fight.  Violet is small and has an illness that makes her bones easy to snap and her muscles to part and strain.  She doesn't expect that she'll survive but she has to.  Her brother Brennan was a rider and he died in battle, tearing their family apart.  Her sister Mira is also a rider and in constant danger.  Another loss is unbearable.

Violet passes the first test and discovers both good and bad news.  The good news is that her best friend is her squad leader.  The bad news is that her wingleader is Xaden Riorson, the most ruthless leader in the force and a sworn enemy of her family.  His parents had been the leaders of a rebellion and all the adults in the rebellion had been executed as their children watched.  The children were bound to the rider academy.  There are a hundred ways an enemy as a leader could make sure Violet doesn't survive and the intense looks he gives her makes her sure that he is counting them.

To everyone's shock, Violet is chosen by the most powerful dragon in the force and then chosen again by another dragon.  No rider has ever done this and it marks her as someone to watch.  Violet constantly trains and makes adaptions to survive.  Her best friend becomes less of one as he constantly tries to shelter her and keep her weak in order to survive.  She needs someone to push her and to her shock she finds it in Xaden.  They are now tied together for life because their dragons are mates.  Violet hates to admit it but she starts having feelings for Xaden and she thinks he has the same for her.  Can they have a love in such an environment?

This book took the fantasy world by storm.  Before this, she was known as a romance writer and that shows through in the love scenes.  But she also has a lifelong love of the military and that is also obvious.  This is the start of a great fantasy series that has already been optioned for a tv series.  Violet is a wonderful character to serve as a model for young women and Xaden is every woman's dream.  This book is recommended for fantasy and romance readers.  

The Last Party by Clare Macintosh

 

When Rhys Lloyd is murdered the night of his New Year's party, there is no shortage of suspects.  Rhys had been a local Welsh boy who won a singing contest and made it big.  When his father died, his will gave Rhys his land and Rhys leveraged it into a high end development of vacation homes.  The local townspeople are not happy with that.  Rhys is also a bully and a philander.  He has cheated routinely on his wife and isn't above a little force if a woman or girl isn't willing.  

He's also a rogue in business.  He owes the local contractor for his work and his plans for a water sports center will put another out of business.  He lies to his partner about their financial position and spends company funds on his personal debts.  

Since the development is on the border between Wales and England, two police forces are assigned.  Leo is the English DI.  He is divorced and his ex wife is keeping his young son from him.  The Welsh police are represented by Ffion Morgan.  She grew up in the village and knows everyone there.  This case could uncover her biggest secret and she can't have that.

Clare Mackintosh is an English author whose mystery novels have been successful from the start.  This novel is the first in the Ffion Morgan series and its Welsh policewoman is a fiercely independent woman who has secrets of her own.  The lives and motives of all the characters are revealed with just the right speed and the solution to the murder is shocking when it is finally revealed.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.   

The Boys In The Boat by Daniel James Brown

 

This is the story of the 1936 Olympics and the men who rowed for the United States and brought home the gold medal, putting another arrow in the puffed vanity of Adolph Hitler who had stage managed the entire event to make Germany look good to the world.  These were the nine men who crewed for Washington University during a time when the world was crawling out of the Great Depression.

Daniel Brown has done a masterful job of setting the stage for the climatic race which is the book's focus.  He gives the backstories of the coaches, the English man who came to America and revolutionized the construction of the racing shells.  Washington's greatest rival was the University of California and we hear about this rivalry and how the coaches tried to outdo each other.

But it is mainly the story of the men who rowed.  Chief among them is Joe Rantz who exemplified the stories of the others.  Joe grew up poor, his father unemployed due to the Depression.  His mother died young and when Joe's father remarried, his stepmother didn't care for him, especially once her own children came along.  At age eight, she forced his father to put him out.  Joe was given a spot on the schoolhouse floor to sleep but had to cut firewood and keep the building maintained.  In order to eat, he ate with the miners of the town but had to work in the kitchen.  But he persevered.  He was taken back home for a while, but when the family moved, Joe was once again left behind to make his own way, his stepbrothers and sisters torn away.  He learned to rely on no one, to make his own way in the world.  Unfortunately, that is the exact opposite of what is required in rowing where each man must subsume himself to the group effort.  Joe and the other men learned this lesson and were considered the best rowing team ever seen.

In Berlin, Hitler and his group organizers tried to fix the race.  There were six lanes in the race.  The three inside lanes were calm and easier to row in while the outside lanes were difficult, facing the winds and waves of the lake.  Germany was given the prize position of the first lane, their ally Italy the second and the Swiss third.  The two favorites coming into the race, Great Britain and the United States were given the outside lanes with the United States being assigned the worst lane.  The man who set the stroke for the boat was ill and had collapsed two days before.  But the crew managed to pull together and win the gold.

Daniel James Brown is an American author who specializes in writing nonfiction about historical events.  His research is meticulous and he gives enough background for the reader to emphasize with the subjects of the book without becoming overwhelming.  I read his book earlier about the Donner Party and years later still remember that harrowing event through his research.  Here, once again, he brings this event to life with vivid outlines of the lives of those involved while he sets the historical events of the world in place as the background.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.  

Close To Death by Anthony Horowitz

 

When Anthony Horowitz talks with his agent, she reminds him that he is due to turn in a book by Christmas.  He doesn't have anything in progress and his agent suggests that he write up one of Hawthorne's, the private detective he partners with, old cases when Hawthorne was working with his old partner who Horowitz has always been curious about.

Hawthorne, of course, hates the idea but gives in.  He dumps case files and recordings on Horowitz and leaves him to it.  The case took place in an upscale community called Riverside Close.  It has only a few houses so when the latest resident, Giles Kentworthy, is found dead the suspects are limited.  Kentworthy and his family had moved in a few months before and no one cared for him.  He blared his music, his kids were terrors and his parking blocked the other residents.  It was suspected he was a racist.  Worst of all, if anyone talked to him, he blew them off.

The suspects include two elderly women who had been nuns before coming to Riverside, a GP, a dentist, a retired barrister and a chess grandmaster.  Most of these had spouses although some had lost their mates as they are all getting older.  The superintendent in charge goes for the most likely suspect as there is another death with a locked room plot and it appears that this was the culprit.  Horowitz had come in and solved the murder but wasn't pleased with the result.

Anthony Horowitz is an English author who has been successful in several genres.  He is best known for his mysteries and has several series that are ongoing there.  He was the screenwriter for the respected TV series, Foyle's War and is also a successful children's author.  In this series, he makes fun of himself as a bumbling sidekick and the reader knows as little about Hawthorne as Horowitz has managed to learn.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber

 

Deborah and her husband Samuel live in Junction, Utah in the late 1800's.  The first settler there was Samuel's stepbrother, Nels, who came there after his wife and child died in childbirth.  Later, other families came including Deborah's sister.  At the time of this novel, there were eight families there.  All are Latter Day Saints but one of the draws to Junction is that they have a step back from the authority of the Church and can make their own way more.

Each fall, Samuel goes away for several months to outlying towns.  He is a wheelwright and there is no other in a hundred miles.  This year, he hasn't returned on time but Nels and another man searched for him and found a rockslide that would have made him turn around and find a longer way home.  But it means that Deborah is by herself when the man comes.

Only one family in Junction practices multiple marriage, but the authorities suspect them all.  Men come there to be guided to a refuge where they can live the life they choose.  But rarely does a man come in January with snow blowing.  He knocks on Deborah's door and she feeds him but there is something about him she doesn't trust.  She knows Nels will guide him the next day and she agrees to shelter the man in her barn that night.  He eventually tells her that there is a marshal and his men chasing him which increases her worry.

The next day Nels sets off with the man, barely before the marshal arrives.  The man is belligerent and insists Deborah is lying and breaking the law.  He searches around the settlement and Nels and the man have returned due to the weather.  Somehow, the marshal is injured and the entire settlement is in jeopardy.

This was an interesting historical fiction based on truth.  The orchards of Junction are now within a national park and visitors are encouraged to pick the fruit when they visit.  The extensive research into live in the 1880's and the Mormon religion is particular is evident.  Deborah's love language is making gloves for those she loves.  Her courage in the absence of her husband and her determination to shelter the other inhabitants of Junction are stirring.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers.   

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty

 Ten years ago Amina al-Sirafi was known far and wide as a pirate queen, a woman who went after what she wanted whether it was treasures, men or just the thill of exploring a new place.  But now she is forty and has been away from the sea for a decade.  She is now a mother and lives quietly with her mother and daughter.  Then a visitor arrives.

It is the mother of one of Amina's former crew, a man who did not make it home from their last voyage.  The woman reports her granddaughter has been kidnapped by a wizard and wants to hire Amina to find her and return her.  Amina demurs but the woman insists Amina owes her and her son and offers her a fortune to take on the job.  Reluctantly, Amina agrees.

She gathers up her former crew, her first mate who has been taking care of the ship, a woman known for her skill with poisons, the best navigator in the world and her crew.  She also encounters her husband, a man she married before she realized he was a demon instead of a human.  They set sail and discover that the wizard is looking for a specific treasure and is willing to do anything to attain it.  He has managed to enthrall a sea monster twice the size of a ship and it does his bidding.  Can Amina find the girl and defeat the wizard?

Shannon Chakraborty is known for her fantasy novels.  Her fantasies are a bit different from the norm as she doesn't build an imagined world.  Instead she uses her extensive research into history to set her stories in a true setting.  The characters are enticing and Amina is the middle-aged heroine all women will love.   The loyalty and family feeling among the crew is heartfelt and Chakraborty has set the scene for further adventures from Amina and her crew.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.  

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

 

Eleanor Oliphant is a loner.  With her scarred face from a housefire when she was ten, she doesn't expect anyone to interact with her.  During the week she goes to work, a job she has had since the week she left university.  She's now thirty and the pay is terrible but perhaps that's all she is worth.  On weekends, she has vodka to get her through although she won't speak to anyone until Monday when she returns to start another week.  After the fire, she grew up in care where she was basically not much more than the furniture.  Her only outside contact is her mother, who calls to berate her once a week.  

But things change at work when Raymond comes to work in IT.  He works on Eleanor's computer and asks her to go to lunch.  While they are out, they help a man who has collapsed on the street.  As they go to visit him in the hospital and then meet his family at a going-home party, Eleanor realizes that she could have friends.  She develops a crush on a singer but then realizes she is nothing to him.

After her disappointment in love, Eleanor starts going to a counselor.  That woman allows Eleanor to examine her life and bring to the surface memories she has repressed since childhood.  Can Eleanor find her way to health and a normal life?

Gail Honeyman is a Scottish author.   This was her debut novel and it was incredibly successful, winning awards for First Novel and being selected by Reese's Book Club as a selection.  The reader will emphasize with Eleanor and wish for anything to happen to make her life better.  Eleanor's secrets are slowly revealed and the book ends with the prospect of Eleanor finally having a normal life.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

The Vortex by Jose Estacio Rivera

 

When Arturo Cova scandalizes Bogata by seducing the daughter of a wealthy family, he must flee.  He and Alicia head to the lands near the jungles of Columbia.  There Arturo discovers that Alicia is pregnant and his love for her soon starts to wane.  He starts looking around for new conquests and to discover what he will do next with his life.  The area they are in is rural and poor.  The two main occupations are owning a ranch and raising cattle or the rubber plantations.

Arturo leaves Alicia behind as he goes off with friends to try to be a cowboy.  He is chastened to learn that the real cowboys regard him as a liability, just a city slicker who wants to play at riding horses.  He never has any trouble finding friends as he goes but he also makes enemies of some of the wealthiest and most corrupt landowners.  

The novel is told in first person narrative as Arturo puts down his adventures and his reactions to the land.  He meets an older man who serves as his guide who has worked the rubber plantations for years and has the scars and debts to prove it.  Arturo documents the terrible plight of the rubber workers and how when they agree to work they are unknowingly signing up for lifetime servitude.  The owners underpay for product and vastly overcharge for the necessities of life and the workers get further and further into debt with them.  Most are scarred from beatings and disease is rampant.

Rivera was a Colombian lawyer.  He spent time in the jungles surveying the Columbian border and learned about the terrible lives of the natives and the rubber workers.  This novel, published in 1924, exposes both and was a sensation.  His depictions of the horror of the daily lives on the rubber plantations and the terrible treatment of the Indians who were routinely killed and robbed by the men who came to the jungles to exploit them.  This book is recommended for those who are interested in other cultures. 

Into The Fire by David Wiltse

 FBI Agent John Becker has finally found peace.  Haunted by his history of catching the worst of the worst, the serial killers that killed multiple times, he is not working these days.  In his mind, he is done with the Bureau.  But they insist this is an extended health leave.  John lives with Karen, another FBI agent and her son.  He cooks, plays with the son and lives a life free of stress and horror.

But a former supervisor shows up with the case of two women found in caves, their bodies tortured.  One is the niece of a Senator so the FBI wants the case solved.  John refuses but the man threatens Karen's career and transfers her instead to the serial killer unit.  Blackmailed, John agrees to work the case.

He has been getting anonymous letters from a prisoner and he goes to see him.  Becker hears a tale of a cellmate who brags about killing multiple people, men and women, young and old.  The man, Cooper, is a thug and barely above the line in intelligence.  He has spent his life bulling through, taking what he wants and using his size and strength whenever he meets resistance.  

When Becker goes to find him, he meets a female agent who he requests for the case.  He doesn't talk to her much and explains even less.  Eventually he tells her he requested her because she still has the innocence of a new agent and he needs that counterbalance to his cynicism and his feeling that he has become too much like the men he chases.  Can he find the killer?

David Wiltse is an author and playwright.  His books about FBI agent John Becker are some of the scariest and most tense psychological thrillers I've read.  Becker is a tortured soul who unfortunately is the best the FBI has but he feels that he does the work at the expense of his sanity and that each case brings him closer to there being no difference between the hunter and the prey.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.   

Our Evenings by Alan Hollinghurst

 

This is the story of David Win, an Englishman whose life stretched from the late 1940's to the present.  David is the son of an English mother who is a dressmaker and a Burmese father whom he never met.  David and his mother live in a small English town but his intelligence and hard work nets him a scholarship at a private school.  He meets his benefactors who remain in his life for the entire span.  Their son, who is at the same school, is a bully who later rises in government and is famous for his Brexit stand.  

David has known he is gay since he was a boy but at that time, there is not much opportunity to be open about it.  We learn of the various loves of his life but they all occur after his time at university.  David has also shone as an actor and makes that his career.  We learn about not only David's life but the life and changes of England during this time period.

Alan Hollinghurst has won a Booker with his 2004 novel The Line Of Beauty.  His writing pulls in the reader even if huge events don't take place.  It takes an extraordinary writer to make the telling of a life interesting and Hollinghurst does exactly that.  The reader is fascinated by David's life over the decades, his loyalty to his family and friends and his quest for love that is rewarded by a husband he ends his time with.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Just Like Mother by Anne Heltzel

 

Maeve started her life in a cult although to her it was just normal.  When she fled, it was to prevent another child from abuse but it exposed the cult and brought it down.  The main thing Maeve regretted was losing track of her best friend and cousin, Andrea.  Maeve was lucky enough to be adopted quickly and grew up in a middle class life.  These days, she is in New York City, using her education to work in the publishing industry as an editor.

Periodically she tried to find Andrea.  When she used one of the DNA companies, Andrea found her and they got together.  Andrea has done well.  She is an entrepreneur who is running a multimillion dollar company and she and her husband have just bought a mansion in upstate New York.  Maeve is embarrassed as her job is low paying, she lives in a tiny apartment and her main romantic interest is a guy she has just been sleeping with no strings attached.  

Andrea asks her to come up for a weekend.  Maeve agrees and rides up with Andrea's right hand help, Emily.  The company specializes in lifelike dolls and support for mothers from conception to grieving if necessary.  Maeve is a bit put off but glad to be back in Andrea's life.  When she returns to find that she has lost her job followed by a personal loss, she moves in with Andrea.  At first she is glad but as time goes on she suspects that things aren't as good as they see.

Anne Heltzel is known for her horror writing.  Like Maeve, she works in the publishing industry and like Andrea has moved to upstate New York in an old mansion.  In this book, the horror builds slowly as the reader tries to determine if Maeve is just unlucky or if there is malign purpose behind her issues.  The truth about the original cult is slowly revealed.  I listened to this novel and the narrator did a great job bringing the book to life.  This book is recommended for horror readers.  

Hide Me Among The Graves by Tim Powers

 

Tim Powers has a few obsessions.  Many of his books center around pirates and vampires and Victorian poets.  There are no pirates in this novel but there are vampires and poets.  Adelaide McKee, a former prostitute, and John Crawford, a veterinarian, meet on a bridge in London where they are attacked by a spirit.  They escape by jumping into the river below and their night together ends up producing a daughter.  The next time Crawford sees Adelaide, she tells him about his daughter and that she had thought she was dead but had recently heard that she was alive and now McKee needs Crawford's help to rescue their daughter.

The spirit that tried to capture them that night was John Polidori, a vampire.  He is also the uncle of poets Christina and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.  They have known about their uncle and have tried to subdue him since Christina was fourteen.  Now they are willing to join the fight to extinguish all the vampires in London.  Along with Polidori is the vampire Boudica who had been a Celtic queen who fought against Roman rule in London.  She and Polidori want to create an earthquake to destroy London.  To do so, they want McKee and Crawford's daughter to marry the miscarried baby of Gabriel.  They are also aided by Edward John Trelawny a man who helped poets Bryon and Shelley in their fight against vampires.

Tim Powers is famous in the fantasy genre.  One of his books was the inspiration for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  His books are like a rollercoaster, full of intrigue and power plays, violence and love.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.  

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

                                                                                                                                       It was Lydia's niece's birthday and the whole family had gathered at her mother's house for a celebration.  That's when the cartel came.  Sixteen members of her family were shot and killed.  Only Lydia and her ten year old son, Luca, survived as they had been in the house and were able to hide.  Lydia's husband was a journalist in Mexico, the country most dangerous to journalists.  He had written an expose of the local cartel's leader.  Lydia, who knew the man, thought he would not take revenge due to their friendship but she was wrong.  

Now the only thing to do is run.  Lydia and Luca take off with only what they are able to pack or find at her mother's house.  They plan to go to the United States where Lydia has an uncle who might be willing to help them.  Their journey is long and full of danger.  They must ride on top of trains, find housing at night that is safe and they are never sure where their next meal will come.  Lydia must be ever vigilant as the cartel leader has sent his gang across Mexico with her picture and a message that he wants her returned.

But there are some kind people along the route also.  The migrants help each other as much as they can.  They meet two sisters who have journeyed from another country, also fleeing violence and form a relationship with them.  Another young boy fleeing from a life that started in a garbage dump joins their group as does an educated woman who lived in the United States for years and was deported, leaving behind her two daughters.  

I have to admit that I had made assumptions about this book that were wrong.  I assumed it was more about the actual crossing into the United States and what happened then.  Instead, almost the entire book is set in Mexico and details the journey and the dangers encountered along the way.  The author has no experience in immigration but did marry an undocumented immigrant.  Her family also suffered the murder of family members when the author was a girl.  Regardless, this book is stunning and no reader can be unaffected by Lydia and Luca's journey and strength.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.   

Acid Row by Minette Walter

 

Acid Row is a dilapidated council housing estate, its inhabitants disheartened and just trying to get by.  Petty crime is rampant and money is hard to come by.  A confluence of events occurs that sets Acid Row on fire, it's people determined to make a stand once and for all.

A young girl has gone missing.  Laura Biddulph is ten and living with her mother's boyfriend and his two teenage children.  It's school break and Laura is left alone every day with the teenagers who ignore her.  She tells them that she is off visiting a friend so it takes a while for everyone to realize that Laura has gone missing.  A huge police investigation starts.

In the meantime, a pedophile has recently been released from prison and homed on Acid Row.  He had not been violent, instead engaging in consensual fondling with teenage boys he taught.  But he went to prison and now is out, trying to put a life back together.  His father who is a sadistic brute and should have been the one in prison lives with him and continues to bully him as he did as a child.  A visiting social worker who disapproves lets the news out that the pair are now living on Acid Row.  That, along with the disappearance of Laura, sets off a tinderbox.  Two women living there plan a march to protest but it quickly is taken over by rowdy teenage boys and young men.

Sophie Morrison is a doctor in the area.  She has been in Acid Row that day, visiting a patient.  As she is about to leave work for the day the office calls and asks if she can visit one more patient there.  Little does she know it is the home of the pedophile and his father.  When she goes to treat the father's asthma he traps her there and holds her hostage.

Now the protest has turned violent.  Many more are there than anyone expected and they have built barricades that keep the police out of the area.  Petrol bombs start to be thrown and violence is in the air everywhere.  Sophie needs help but it can't be found.  The father tries to rape her and it will take everything she has to escape this tragedy.

Minette Walter is an English author.  She was first known for her mystery novels of which this is one.  She has since moved on to historical fiction but this novel demonstrates her ability to set a frightening yet realistic setting of terror and things gone wrong.  There are heroes and villains and it is a perfect storm of horror and heroism.  This book is recommended for mystery writers.    

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

 

Hannah Brooks isn't what she looks like she'd be.  She looks like an ordinary young woman, maybe a programmer or a kindergarten teacher.  But she's an Executive Protection Agent or what most of us would call a bodyguard.  She's expert at hand to hand combat and knows all the secrets fans or those wanting to get close to a star or top businessman might use.  She travels globally, in London this week, Korea the next and maybe a month or so in India.  That doesn't leave much room for romance so Hannah has been dating a guy from work.

Then three things happen.  After a long illness, her mother dies.  The next night, her guy breaks up with her.  Then her boss assigns her a job she definitely doesn't want, guarding Jack Stapleton.  That Jack Stapleton, the current Hollywood heartthrob, the guy women everywhere swoon over.  

Jack has been out of the movie business for a while ever since his younger brother was killed in a car accident while with Jack.  The death has torn his family apart as his older brother blames him.  But now his mom is sick and wants Jack to come to the family ranch.  That means Hannah is headed that way also, pretending to be Jack's girlfriend.  Most women would be thrilled but Hannah is most people.  She gets shaky when Jack is around.  

During their time at the ranch, Hannah starts to see the real Jack, not the Hollywood hype and impossibly, starts to have feelings for him.  Why would she do that?  She knows that Jack's attention is just part of the act he is putting on for his parents but it seems so real.  

Katherine Center is my favorite romance author.  Her books are the ultimate feel-good tonic and I defy anyone to read one of them without smiling throughout and closing the last page with an uplifted heart.  Jack and Hannah and their slow growth to closeness is believable and rewarding.  This book is recommended for romance readers.  

The Victim by Gillian Jackson

 

The call from Caron Rivers comes in one morning.  She reports that her husband is dead and that she has killed him.  Police arrive to find a kitchen full of broken dishes and Bill Rivers lying on the floor in a pool of blood.  Under interrogation back at the station, Caron reports that she is a victim of domestic abuse and she has a long record of black eyes and cuts plus burn marks on her arm to back up her allegation.  It was a case of self defense.

Bill, the owner of a computer security software company, is much older than Caron and very rich.  She reports that he had all the classic actions of an abuser.  He didn't want her going out during the day without him.  She had no money of her own, rather an allowance for food.  He picked and bought her clothes.  He had isolated her from her friends and family.  It seems like an open and shut case but DI Jack Priestly informs his team that they will investigate like any other death. 

Gillian Jackson is an English author known for her domestic crime novels.  She worked in a victim support role in a prior career which gave her insight into what goes on in homes that may appear perfect. I listened to this novel and the narrator with her English accent took me right into the story.    There are some twists but I realized the biggest one before the police did.  Others were complete surprises to me and overall the reader will enjoy this book which is recommended for mystery readers.  

An Embarrassment Of Riches by Gerald Hansen

 

Ursula returned to her hometown of Derry six years ago.  She wanted to see her family and take care of her elderly mother.  But then she and her husband Jed had hit the lottery.  They bought their dream house and new cars for each of them.  Ursula renovated her mother's house and paid off her brother and sister-in-law's mortgage.  But her sister-in-law, Fionnuala and her brood of children consider Ursula a cash machine.  When the money starts running low, they turn against her in a campaign of causing misery dating back to Ursula's big scandal in the 1970's.

Fionnuala's family is a scandal in itself.  Her oldest child is in prison.  The next boy is dealing drugs on the street and owes his dealers money.  Her daughter gets pregnant and is unsure who the lucky father might be, there being plenty of candidates.  Another son has fallen in love with petrol bombs and mugging elderly pensioners on the street.  Finally, her youngest daughter, about to make her First Communion, is ready to take up drug dealing and gets the money for her Communion gown by going to the local IRA group and getting them to fund it.  

Gerald Hansen has lived all over the world but he has strong roots in Derry, which was his mother's hometown.  He has this series which has several books following the woes of these feuding families and a mystery series, both set in Derry.  Although everyone in the book is despicable in some way, Hansen's method of relaying their troubles and tribulations had me laughing on every page.  The book is written in Derry slang so it takes a minute to adjust but these families are ones that the reader will long remember.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers. 

The Sanatorium by Sarah Pearse

 

Detective Elin Warner and her partner Will have come to Switzerland to celebrate her brother's engagement.  Issac and his fiance, Laure, have invited them and other friends to come to a new hotel high in the Swiss Alps to help them celebrate, but Elin and Will have been invited to come early.  Elin and Issac haven't seen each other in several years and haven't been close lately.  Elin is still heartbroken over the death of their brother, Sam, when they were children and still has questions about his death she wants Issac to answer.

But things don't go well.  The hotel is beautiful but stark like the weather and the surrounding mountains.  A blizzard blows in and soon it's announced that the other guests won't be able to make it there.  Then Laure goes missing.  Most of the other guests make it out of the hotel but the last bus on which Elin and Will were planning to leave isn't able to make the trip because an avalanche has closed the road.  Everyone from that bus is stuck until the road can be cleared.

When bodies start showing up, the Swiss authorities who can't get there, enlist Elin's help.  She is hesitant but as she starts the investigation she starts to feel the excitement of what she is best at.  The first body is a maid in the hotel, then others start to die.  Can Elin find the killer before others die?

Sarah Pearse is an English author who spent years in the Swiss Alps during her childhood.  Her knowledge of the area is demonstrated in the feel of the book with its cold snow and ice and the remoteness of the hotel.  This is her debut novel and it received many awards.  She has turned this book into a series and there are currently three books.  Elin is a tortured soul with issues from her childhood and that mystery along with the current one are given answers, some of which the reader won't be expecting.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Booksie's Sheves, November 14, 2024

 

It's November in North Carolina and today is a dark, dreary day.  I actually welcome it because most of the fall has been sunny days with temperatures in the upper 70's and 80's.  I'm ready for some cooler weather.  My reading has been taking a hit lately since both the Kansas City Chiefs and the North Carolina Tarheels are in the midst of playing and I have to watch that.  Add in a new walking routine (November is a mile a day, then December will be a mile and a half, etc) and I'm reading a bit less.  But still acquiring books!  I've been buying International Booker nominees and other books recommended by authors I follow.  Here's what's come through the door lately:

1. Hotel Lucky Seven, Kotaro Isaka, mystery, sent by publisher
2. The Last Great Road Bum, Hector Tobar, biography, purchased
3. The Mountaintop School For Dogs, Ellen Cooney, literary fiction, purchased
4. The Village Idiot, Steve Stern, literary fiction, purchased
5. Go, Went, Gone, Jenny Erpenbeck, literary fiction, purchased
6. We Used To Be Kings, Stewart Foster, literary fiction, purchased
7. The Disappearance Of Adele Bedeau, Graeme Macrae Burnet, mystery, purchased
8. A Horse Walks Into A Bar, David Grossman, literary fiction, purchased
9. A House At The Edge Of The World, Julia Rochester, literary fiction, purchased
10. Tenderwire, Claire Kilroy, literary fiction, purchased
11. Boxer Handsome, Anna Whitwham, literary fiction, purchased
12. The Jackdaw, Luke Delaney, mystery, purchased
13. A Ghost In The Throat, Doireann Ni Ghriofa, literary fiction, purchased
14. Beheld, Tarashea Nesbit, historical fiction, purchased
15. Lean Fall Stand, Jon McGregor, literary fiction, purchased
16. Billy Summers, Stephen King, mystery, purchased
17. How This Night Is Different, Elisa Albert, anthology, purchased
18. After Birth, Elisa Albert, literary fiction, purchased
19. Human Blues, Elisa Albert, literary fiction, purchased
20. Dear Miss Metropolitan, Carolyn Ferrell, literary fiction, purchased

Here are the ebooks I've bought:

1. The Hunting Ground, Jean Heller, mystery
2. Go Tell It On The Mountain, James Baldwin, literary fiction
3. The Sleeping Doll, Jeffrey Deaver, mystery
4. Revenge Of The Spellmans, Lisa Lutz, mystery
5. Shroud For A Nightengale, P.D. James, mystery
6. The Wretched Of Muirwood, Jeff Wheeler, fantasy
7. Blue Moon, Lee Child, thriller
8. What Is Left The Daughter, Howard Norman, literary fiction
9. The Red Dahlia, Lynda La Plante, mystery
10. The Neighborhood, Mario Vargas Llosa, literary fiction
11. Good Girl, Bad Blood, Holly Jackson, mystery
12. Zeke And Ned, Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, literary fiction
13. Imposter, LJ Ross, mystery
14. Hysteria, LJ Ross, mystery
15. A Summer Of Discontent, Susanna Gregory, mystery
16. A Plague On Both Your Houses, Susanna Gregory, mystery
17. An Unholy Alliance, Susanna Gregory, mystery
18. The Mark Of A Murderer, Susanna Gregory, mystery
19. The Devil's Disciples, Susanna Gregory, mystery
20. A Vein Of Deceit, Susanna Gregory, mystery
21. Changes, Jim Butcher, fantasy
22. Turn Coat, Jim Butcher, fantasy
23. Ghost Story, Jim Butcher, fantasy
24. The Midnight Lock, Jeffery Deaver, mystery
25. Fellow Travelers, Thomas Mallon, literary fiction
26. Stella Maris, Cormac McCarthy, literary fiction
27. A Serious Man, David Storey, literary fiction
28. Sepharad, Antonio Munoz Molina, historical fiction
29. Olympos, Dan Simmons, fantasy
30. Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver, literary fiction
31. The Naturalist Society, Carrie Vaughn, fantasy
32. A Tribute Of Fire, Sariah Wilson, fantasy
33. Caldonian Road, Andrew O'Hagan, literary fiction
34. Present Times, David Storey, literary fiction
35. Rainbow's End, Martha Grimes, mystery
36. The Last Mrs. Parrish, Liv Constantine, mystery
37. Lent, Jo Walton, fantasy
38. Ballistic Kiss, Richard Kadrey, fantasy
39. The Butcher And The Wren, Alaina Urquhart, mystery
40. Inside The Criminal Mind, Stanton Samenow, nonfiction
41. The Taker, Alma Katsu, fantasy
42. The Double Life Of Liliane, Lily Tuck, literary fiction
43. Maxwell's Revenge. M.J. Trow, mystery
44. The Tenderness Of Wolves, Stef Penney, literary fiction
45. Bloodlines, Sharon Sala, mystery
46. The Coldest Blood, Jim Kelley, mystery
47. How To Sell A Haunted House, Grady Hendrix, horror
48. The Kiss Of Deception, Mary Pearson, fantasy
49. Cold Killing, Luke Delaney, mystery
50. The Broken Shore, Peter Temple, mystery
51. Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer, fantasy
52. Babylon's Ashes, James Corey, fantasy
53. Persepolis Rising, James Corey, fantasy
54. The Lawyer, A. A. Chaudhuri, mystery
55. Six Of Crows, Leigh Bardugo, fantasy
56. Sweetgirl, Travis Mulhauser, literary fiction
57. The Chimney Sweeper's Boy, Ruth Rendell, mystery
58. Glorious Boy, Aimee Liu, historical fiction
59. Last Request, Liz Minstry, mystery
60. The Siege Winter, Ariana Franklin, mystery
61. Killing Me Softly, Nicci French, mystery
62. Visitation, Jenny Erpenbeck, literary fiction
63. All The Queen's Men, SJ Bennett, mystery
64. Blindsided, Liz Evans, mystery
65. In His Majesty's Service, Naomi Novik, fantasy
66. The Boy Detective Fails, Joe Meno, mystery
67. Such A Bad Influence, Olivia Muenter, mystery
68. The Midnight Witness, Sara Blaedel, mystery
69. The Silent Woman, Sara Blaedel, mystery
70. Blink, K.L. Slater, mystery
71. The Comfort Of Strangers, Ian McEwan, literary fiction
72. Bombay Time, Thrity Umrigar, historical fiction
73. The Door-to-Door Bookstore, Carsten Henn, literary fiction
74. The Abduction, Jonathan Holt, fantasy
75. Family Meal, Bryan Washington, literary fiction
76. I Know Who You Are, Alice Feeney, mystery
77. The Skeleton Man, Jim Kelly, mystery
78. Neuropath, R. Scott Bakker, mystery
79. Not The End Of The World, Kate Atkinson, literary fiction
80. Rainbow Black, Maggie Thrash, mystery
81. The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Salman Rushdie, literary fiction
82. The Crooked Branch, Jeanne Cummins, literary fiction
83. The Complete Wilson And McLeish Mysteries, Janet Neel, mystery
84. Bloody River Blues, Jeffery Deaver, mystery
85. In One Person, John Irving, literary fiction
86. All The Lives We Never Lived, Anuradha Roy, literary fiction
87. Devil's Day, Andrew Michael Hurley, mystery
88. The Bright Sword, Lev Grossman, fantasy
89. She Rides Shotgun, Jordan Harper, mystery
90. Cruel Beautiful World, Caroline Leavitt, literary fiction
91. Last One Left Alive, Michael Wood, mystery
92. A Gathering Of Ghosts, Karen Maitland, mystery
93. Murder On Port Meadow, Annie Dalton, mystery
94. Mr. Murder, Dean Kootz, mystery
95. The Hollow Place, Rick Morfina, mystery
96. The Quincunx, Charles Pallister, historical fiction
97. The Ghost Theatre, Mat Osman, historical fiction
98. Sometimes People Die, Simon Stephenson, mystery
99. Her Last Goodbye, Carla Kovach, mystery
100. Praiseworthy, Alexis Wright, literary fiction
101. A Private Hotel For Gentle Ladies, Ellen Cooney, literary fiction
102. The Other Side Of Mrs Wood, Lucy Barker, historical fiction
103. The Tattooed Soldier, Hector Tobar, historical fiction
104. The Broken Afternoon, Simon Mason, mystery
105. Wish You Were Here, Tom Holt, fantasy
106. The Sugar House, Laura Lippman, mystery
107. The Locked Attic, BP Walter, mystery
108. Mister B Gone, Clive Barker, horror
109. Midnight Fugue, Reginald Hill, mystery
110. Crime Buff's Guide To Los Angeles, Ron Franscell, nonfiction
111. Nothing But Blue Skies, Tom Holt, fanatasy
112. Lost Boy, Christina Henry, fantasy
113. The Last Witch Of Scotland, Philip Paris, historical fiction
114. An Affinity For Steel, Sam Sykes, fantasy
115. The Serpent Pool, Martin Edwards, mystery
116. The Murder Pit, Mick Finley, mystery
117. Everyone Has Secrets, AJ McDine, mystery
118. Eric, Terry Pratchett, fantasy
119. Death On The Dee, M J Lee, mystery
120. Murder On Sky, Daniel Sellers, mystery
121. Praxis, Fay Weldon, literary fiction
122. Rise Of The Mages, Scott Drakeford, fantasy
123. Dinosaurs, Lydia Millett, literary fiction
124. Homeland, R.A. Salvatore, fantasy
125. The Lost Husband, Katherine Center, women's fiction
126. White Nights, Ann Cleeve, mystery
127. Blood Trail, C.J. Box, mystery
128. This Savage World, Anne Housego, historical fiction
129. A Litter Of Bones, J.D. Kirk, mystery
130. A Dead Man Walking, J.D. Kirk, mystery
131. Cities Of The Plain, Cormac McCarthy, literary fiction
132. The Gods Below, Andrea Stewart, fantasy
133. Out, Natsuo Kirino, mystery
134. The Fells, Cath Staincliffe, mystery
135. Creation, Gore Vidal, literary fiction
136. Citadel, Kate Mosse, historical fiction
137. The Untouchable, John Banville, literary fiction
138. The Just City, Jo Walton, fantasy
139. The Philosopher Kings, Jo Walton, fantasy
140. The Silent Watcher, Victor Methos, mystery
141. The Colony, Sally Denton, literary fiction
142. Child Of A Mad God, R.A. Salvatore, fantasy
143. In Praise Of The Stepmother, Mario Vargas Llosa, literary fiction
144. OverLondon, George Penney and Tony Johnson, fantasy
145. How The Light Gets In, Joyce Maynard, women's fiction
146. One Last Breath, Sara Sutton, mystery
147. The Ornatrix, Kate Howard, historical fiction
148. All The Lovers In The Night, Mieko Kawakami, literary fiction
149. Hide And Seek, Ian Rankin, mystery
150. Justice Hall, Laurie King, mystery
151. Overtime, Tom Holt, fantasy
152. Open Sesame, Tom Holt, fantasy
153. Little People, Tom Holt, fantasy
154. The Silverblood Promise, James Logan, fantasy
155. The Lying Game, Ruth Ware, mystery
156. Tombland, C.J. Sansome, mystery
157. Fuzz, Mary Roach, nonfiction
158. Clear Light Of Day, Anita Desai, literary fiction
159. Ten Little Bloodhounds, Virginia Lanier, mystery
160. The Law Of The Land, Charles Rembar, nonfiction
161. The Anniversary Man, R.J. Ellory, mystery
162. A Pagan Place, Edna O'Brien, literary fiction
163. To Squeeze A Prairie Dog, Scott Semegran, literary fiction
164. How I Magically Messed Up My Life In Four Days, Megan O'Russell, fantasy
165. Poison Memories, Helen Phifer, mystery
166. The Daughter, Jane Shemilt, mystery
167. Matters Of Chance, Gail Albert, women's fiction
168. The Girls I've Been, Tess Sharpe, mystery
169. The Night Women, Sara Blaedel, mystery
170. Whoever Fights Monsters, Robert Ressler, nonfiction true crime
171. Where The Light Enters, Sarah Donati, historical fiction
172. The Gone Dead, Chenelle Benz, mystery

Here's what I'm reading:

1. American Dirt, Jeanne Cummins, Kindle
2. The Bodyguard, Katherine Center, Kindle
3. The Santatorium, Sarah Pease, paperback
4. Gideon The Ninth, Tasmyn Muir, Kindle
5. Perfume River, Robert Olen Butler, Kindle
6. An Embarrassment Of Riches, Gerald Hansen, paperback
7. Acid Row, Minette Walters, paperback
8. Hide Me Among The Graves, Tim Powers, hardback
9. In A Place Of Darkness, Stuart McBride, hardback
10. Our Evenings, Alan Cunningham, hardback

Happy Reading!

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The Crocodile Bride by Ashleigh Bell Pederson

 

In the swamplands of Louisiana, a company town named Fingertip was built to provide homes for the local factory workers.  A year's mortgage was ninety-nine cents.  This offer brought a couple from Tennessee down South, John Jay to work in the factory and Elizabeth to keep the house.  Eventually, they had two children, Billy and Lou.  Elizabeth does her best to give the children a happy home, but John Jay has become an alcoholic womanizer who terrorizes the family and beats them whenever they dare to cross him.

Years later, that couple is gone but the children remain.  Lou married a youth pastor right out of high school but left him with her daughter when he turned out to be abusive as well.  Billy has stayed right in the same house.  He has never married but somehow, one day, his baby daughter, Sunshine, is left on his porch and he raises her as a single father.  Billy loves Sunshine and does his best but his childhood legacy has left him with the same drinking problems and depression that makes Sunshine's life problematic at best.  

This is a debut novel for Pederson.  I listened to it and the narrator gets the Southern accent well.  She also manages somehow to personify the experience of children growing up with abuse and still loving the only parents they know.  Sunshine is a tough little girl, desperate to make a home with what she has been given and taking care of others who should be taking care of her.  Southern legends are interspersed in the story, adding a regional flavor.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.  

Bottoms Up And The Devil Laughs by Kerry Howley

 

This book is meant as an exploration of the National Security infrastructure and whether it is overreaching into everyday people's lives.  The author starts with the case of John Walker Lindh who fought in Afghanistan for the enemy and served time back in the United States.  This leads to a discussion of enemy torture.  Then the cases of Julian Assange and Edward Snowden, both of whom leaked government documents.  

The main thrust of the book follows the case of Reality Winner.  She was recruited at age eighteen into the military and taught various languages from the countries the United States was engaged in war with.  After she left the military, she got top secret clearance and worked as a translator.  Bored, she wanted to go to Afghanistan and interact directly with people as a translator.  In that state, she found a top secret document that she thought showed evidence of Russian interference in American elections.  She sneaked it out of the office and sent it to a whistleblowing site, which released it.  Winner was arrested and eventually served time for her offense.

Kerry Howley is a journalist and writing professor whose articles and short stories have been published in various publications and magazines.  This book was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and a New York Times Top Ten Book of the Year but it felt unorganized to me.  Howley seems to flit from topic to topic and never really settle on a uniting theme.  Various topics include the use of enhanced interrogations, the cases of other whistleblowers, a long discussion of Winner's trial and eventual plea deal and the concept that we are all just data points and have no privacy.   A more focused discussion on any of these themes would have made for a better book.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.  

An Echo Of Murder by Anne Perry

 

Inspector William Monk is called to the scene of a murder.  It is in the Hungarian section of London and the victim is a Hungarian who has been in London over twenty years.  He has been stabbed, his fingers broken.  Seventeen candles have been quenched in his blood and left around the room.  He and his assistant, Hooper start the investigation.

Had the man offended someone or is it a vendetta against Hungarians, a hate crime?  Inspector Monk isn't sure but when a second man is found murdered the exact same way, he starts to favor the hate crime motive.  Monk is forced to use translators from the community, although he doesn't know if he trusts that they are telling him everything they learn.  

Monk and his wife, Hester, had adopted a mudlark boy years before.  Scuff as he is known, is now almost a man and training to be a doctor.  In the process of his work, he finds an Englishman who is a former doctor from the Crimean War who knows Hester.  After the war, where he was left for dead, he spent years in Hungary and can also serve as a translator.  But Fitzherbert has mental issues and soon he is a suspect himself in the gruesome murders.  Can Monk find the murderer?

Anne Perry has written several series in the Victorian England time period.  There are twenty-three books in this series and this one is number twenty-two.  It can be read as a stand alone but there are references to events from earlier books so some readers may prefer to read the series in order.  Monk is an effective leader of his men but the real interest in this book is Hester and her relationships with her birth family, her adopted son and the doctor she knew when she worked as a nurse in the Crimean War.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Keys To The Street by Ruth Rendell

 

Someone is killing the homeless men who inhabit the parks of London.  The men are stabbed and then left displayed impaled on fence posts.  Does someone hate the homeless or are they just easy targets?

Several people are caught up in the events.  Roman has been on the streets for two years ever since the day he got the news his entire family was killed in a car accident.  Although he has money to stay clean, he prefers living outside and totally away from everything that can remind him of his former life when he was a successful book editor.  

Mary has just broken up with her boyfriend Alistair.  He had been getting more demanding and the last straw came when he hit her over a decision she had made.  Mary donated bone marrow to save a young man with leukemia.  Alaistair was furious as he had forbid it, saying it scarred Mary's body, which of course he regarded as his property.  Luckily, some friends of Mary's grandmother were looking for a housesitter for several months while they traveled so she had somewhere to go.

Mary is curious about the man she saved and the medical society that helped with the transplant put them in contact.  Leo is the exact opposite of Alastair.  He is quiet, delicate, tender and he and Mary are so much alike that it seems that they could have been born as one person and separated.  Before long, the pair are in love and planning to marry.  But does the killer have his eye also on Mary?

Ruth Rendell is considered one of the masters of mystery.  Her most famous series is the Inspector Wexford series but this novel is one of her standalones.  The reader will emphasize with Roman who makes himself Mary's protector in the streets and parks surrounding her home and who is starting to see that he might once again have a life as a member of society.  There is mystery surrounding Leo and the denouement will come as a surprise.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.    

Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

 

It's been a hard year for the Koubek family.  The father died after a years long battle with cancer.  The mother had left the family years before and now lives away with a new husband and stepchildren.  The Koubek brothers are grown but they can't count on each other for support.

Born more than a decade apart, they have little contact with each other.  When the younger, Ivan, was small, he idolized his big brother Peter.  But as Ivan grew, the brothers came to realize that they had little in common and in fact, didn't really like each other very much.  These days they rarely talk and when they do, often fight.

Peter has weathered other disastrous times.  The love of his life is Sylvia and he always thought they would marry and make a family.  But Sylvia was in a horrific accident several years back and will never be that healthy again; her life a daily round of pain that has left her unable to do many of the things she could before.  She broke up with Peter after that but they remain in contact and are 'good friends'.  In the meantime, if Peter can't have her, he starts and ends relationships with girls in their twenties.  The latest is Naomi and Peter can't quite shake her off as he has the others.  This leaves him in love with two women.

Ivan's life has been focused on chess.  He is a star in that world but at twenty-two, he has just left university and has no idea what to do for a job or a life or a relationship.  While visiting a small town for a chess exhibition, he meets a woman fourteen years older than him and starts a love affair.  She is hesitant and Ivan's family doesn't approve but he can't give her up or she him.

I've read all of Sally Rooney's novels.  This one is my favorite by far.  After reading the others, the characters always seemed distant and uninvolved in their own lives.  These brothers and the women they love are strong characters and I wanted to know what would happen next to them and would they ever find their way back to each other.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

Mothers Of Sparta by Dawn Davies

 

This is the memoir of Dawn Davies' life.  It is written as a series of essays, each of which portrays some aspect of her life.  It starts with her first marriage and children, her post partum depression that went unrecognized and her divorce.  It follows on about how she found the courage to become an author, her eventual successful second marriage, her feelings as her children grow and leave home and in the title story, a chilling portrayal of her youngest son.

I can't remember reading anything that affected me as much as this essay.  Davies' youngest son was born with a cleft palate.  In his first few days in the NICU, he had to be revived several times.  He couldn't nurse or even take a bottle but had to be fed every two hours and he couldn't take in enough nutrients to offset the effort of taking them in.  When he was vaccinated, he ran a fever of one hundred and five for several days.  Any or all of these have left him with various diagnoses.  He has been named as autistic and that the impulse control part of his brain has been damaged.  That means he does whatever comes to him to do when it occurs to him to do it with no thought of consequences.  He has done all the warning signs of a psychopath; setting fires, harming animals and moving on to child pornography.  Davies's life means that she must have line of sight control on this man child (sixteen at the time of this book) every minute.  There have been no schools that will keep him on as he always breaks any rules and acts out in destructive ways.  This child is handsome and charming and considered a sociopath.  Davies has no idea what to do with him or what will happen to him in life.  It is a stunning portrayal of a mother who loves her damaged child but knows he could easily hurt others seriously at any time.  

Other essays are more lighthearted.  The one about their small terrier who was the bane of every small animal around him was interesting and comical.  Again, the family loved this terrier who managed to kill every hamster, rat, or bird the family adopted.  Davies' freely admits she was the cause of most of the disasters as her own ADHD means that she would often forget to implement the procedures the family put in place to control the dog.  It doesn't sound funny and wasn't, but her style of writing about it is.  Her essays about being a soccer mom hit home also and were full of humor about that lifestyle.

Dawn Davies came to writing later than many authors.  This book gained a lot of accolades when it was published and I know I will be recommending it to others for a long time as it really hit me hard.  Her ability to have such a difficult situation and her willingness to share it with others and to write about it is stunning.  Her lighthearted tone about other parts of her life is endearing.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers who enjoy memoirs and for struggling women everywhere.  

The Stark Beauty Of Last Things by Celine Keating

 

When Clancy agreed to go to a party out on Montauk Island, he never expected that the decision would change his life.  Once he gets there, he realizes that this is where Otto, his Big Brother, would take him fishing as a child.  Clancy lost his parents when he was young and with no other family, grew up in foster homes and institutions.  He meets Julianne, a local innkeeper at the party and she tells him Otto is still alive and still living there.

Clancy goes the next day to look up Otto.  Otto is overjoyed to see Clancy but tells him that he is dying.  He asks Clancy if he would meet with his daughter, Therese, and see if Clancy can bring about a reconciliation.  Otto and Therese have been estranged since Otto's second marriage and not speaking.  Clancy tries but to no avail.

Clancy has come to Montauk at a critical time.  The island is changing from a blue collar fishing harbor to a rich person's playground and local residents are being priced out of the housing market.  Climate change and overbuilding is ruining the environment and for every environmentalist, there is another person who wants to cash in on their home and move elsewhere.  When Otto dies, he leaves Clancy as his executor of his estate and one of the biggest decisions is what to do with a several acre parcel of land Otto has held for decades with some other local families.  Some of them want to leave it as a natural area, others want to sell it to the highest offer.  What would Otto want?

This novel hits several themes.  It highlights the inevitability of change as new people discover undeveloped areas and want some of the untouched beauty for themselves.  It discusses the lives of the existing residents and how their livelihoods are being affected.  It also delves into family relationships and the need for a feeling of belonging that everyone has.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.