Small Mercies by Eddie Joyce

On 9-11, America woke to a day of destruction and loss.  We all lost something that day but the Amendola family of Staten Island lost more that most.  Their youngest son, Bobby, who had followed in his father's footsteps as a fireman, went into the Towers but never came home.

Now, years later, time has moved on and the family struggles to do the same.  The father, Michael, is long retired and spends a lot of time with his buddies at the local pub.  His wife, Gail, is the family glue and now struggles to keep everything the same as it was when they lost Bobby.  His wife, Tina, has come to tell Gail that she has finally met someone she thinks she may have a future with and Gail struggles both with the news and the responsibility to tell her other sons.

Peter, the golden boy of the family, works as a lawyer in a large firm.  He has pulled away from his family and roots but now he is facing challenges in his own life that could bring him back to those who loved him first.  Franky is the middle boy, the one who never quite seemed to grow up and get a firm start in life, and the one who feels the most responsibility for Bobby's death.  How will he handle the news that Tina and Bobby's children will be moving on in life with another man?

Eddie Joyce has written a thoughtful exploration of an Italian-Irish family that delves into the questions of what really makes a family and the validity of family memories and relationships.  The reader meets each character, learns their backstory and comes to know them intimately.  This book is fueled by a tragedy, but most families have a tragedy in their story and it is how we face and handle them that defines us.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

The Tortilla Curtain by T.C. Boyle

In a confrontation that echoes the country's issues with immigration, two families in California face off.  Delany and Kyra Mossbacher are nice people, liberal and well-off and have all the recommended opinions.  They live in an expensive development.  Delany has family money so doesn't work.  He spends his time hiking the surrounding countryside and writing a series of nature columns.  Kyra is a driven realtor.  Together they have built a life that works for them.

Candido and America Rincon are not so lucky.  They are an unlikely couple to start with; Candido is thirty-three while America is seventeen.  Candido was married to her sister but when she left him, he wooed and won America and brought her with him over the border to build a life there.  They arrive completely broke; their only hope to work hard and build a life.  But work is hard to find.  They are reduced to living outside, camping in the country without adequate sanitation which in turn makes finding a job even harder.

The two families meet when Delaney hits Candido with his car by accident one day.  Rather than calling police or taking him to the doctor, Candido is easily bought off with twenty dollars although his injuries are so severe that he can barely move for days.  Delaney is troubled but knows in his heart it wasn't his problem and his friend insists it might have been a scam anyhow.  As the weeks go by, Delaney starts to change his liberal views as the immigrants start to affect his easy life.  Graffiti is found, thefts occur, the residents' daily routines are changed by the influx of men standing around waiting for work and soon the development gates and walls itself in.  As time goes on, more and more happens until attitudes change and confrontations occur.

Although this book was written in 1996, it still rings true more than twenty years ago.  It is the classic story of immigration and how it affects both those who come to another country and those who are already residents.  This book focuses on Hispanic immigration in the West but it could easily be written about any of the other ethnic groups that have come to our country and the difficulties they encounter as they try to make a life here.  It holds a mirror up in which those of us already here as citizens can see ourselves as we make decisions about how we will welcome these newcomers.  This book is recommended for readers of current affairs literature.

Booksie's Shelves, March 24, 2018

It's the dregs of winter and I'm tired of cold and miserable weather.  We are supposed to get our final shot of rain, sleet or snow tonight into tomorrow and I'm hoping for rain.  In other news, my basketball team lost in the March Madness but we did manage to beat our arch-rivals twice this year so we had a pretty successful season.  I always hate seeing the seniors move on and end their college careers.  I don't follow any summer sports, so sports are done until August when football starts back up.  I had planned to attend the book festival in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend.  But when I realised it was going to be cold and rainy I decided I just wasn't into stomping around in the mess and stayed home.  Maybe I'll make it there next year.  Here's the books that have come through the door lately:

1.  The Lemonade Year, Amy Willoughby-Burle, literary fiction, sent by publisher
2.  The High Tide Club, Mary Kay Williams, women's literature, sent by publisher
3.  Jenna's Case, Andy Siegel, mystery, sent by publisher
4.  Nelly's Case, Andy Siegel, mystery, sent by publisher
5.  Elton's Case, Andy Siegel, mystery, sent by publisher
6.  Falling, Dawn Davis, historical fiction, sent by publisher
7.  The Shadow Land, Elizabeth Kostova, historical fiction, sent by publisher
8.  Text Me When You Get Home, Kayleen Schaefer, Dutton, sent by publisher
9.  Beside The Syrian Sea, James Wolff, thriller, sent by publisher
10.  The Night Market, Jonathan Moore, mystery, sent by Curled Up With A Good Book for review
11.  See What I Have Done, Sarah Schmidt, mystery, sent by Curled Up for review
12.  The Half-Drowned King, Linnea Harsuyker, historical fiction, sent by Curled Up for review
13.  Creatures Of Will And Temper, Molly Tanzer, fantasy, sent by Curled Up for review
14.  Persons Unknown, Susie Steiner, mystery, sent by Curled Up for review
15.  Gallic Noir, Pascal Garnier, mystery, sent by publisher
16.  The Bad Daughter, Joy Fielding, mystery, sent by publisher

Here's what I'm reading:

1.  Tortilla Curtain, T.C. Boyle, Kindle Fire
2.  Strangler, Cory Mitchell, Kindle
3.  You, Caroline Kepnes, paper
4.  The Jury Returns, Louis Nizer, hardback
5.  Small Mercies, Eddie Joyce, paperback
6.  The Woman In The Window, A.J. Finn, Kindle Fire
7.  Astonish Me, Maggie Shipstead, Kindle
8.  Land Of The Living, Nicci French, hardback
9.  The Abomination, Jonathan Holt, Kindle Fire
10.  Good Me, Bad Me, Ali Land, hardback
11,  The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers, various, paperback

Happy Reading!
 

Crime On The Fens by Joy Ellis

Detective Inspector Nikki Galena is determined to rid her Scottish town of drug dealers.  She despises them and will walk the thinnest of lines, sometimes lying or deceiving, in order to charge them for their crimes.  She isn't necessarily liked and she doesn't care about that.  Drugs ruined her marriage and motherhood and she won't rest until she does all she can to destroy those who peddle them.

But the authorities are tired of Nikki.  Tired of her balancing act with the law and tired of her reputation with her co-workers.  After running off another Detective Sergent, the word comes down:  she better find a way to work with the replacement or next time it will be her transferring out.  DS Joe Easter comes with his own baggage and secrets but he sees something in Nikki that others don't: her fierce determination and willingness to do anything to make her world and that of those around her better.

There's plenty to do.  There has been a spate of petty crimes, all by kids in hideous rubber masks, and the crimes are escalating.  There are of course drug dealers and in fact, talk of a massive shipment that would supply the area for weeks.  Then everything else is put on hold when a young college girl goes missing and it appears to be a kidnapping.  When a second girl is taken and killed, the town is about to explode.  Can Nikki and Joe catch the criminals before everything falls apart?

This is the first book in what is currently an eight-novel series.  The author, lives in the same Lincolnshire Fen district that the books are based in.  Her partner was a police officer so the books run true on police procedure and politics.  Nikki is headstrong and willful but the reader cannot help but cheer her on while Joe Easter's secrets make him a formidable yet gentle police man himself.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Prelude To Foundation by Issac Asimov

When Hari Seldon, a young mathematician, comes from his Outworld home to a mathematics conference on Trantor, the capital planet in the Galactic Empire, he has no idea his entire life is about to change.  He has developed a mathematical theoretical concept that he calls psychohistory, which is an exploration of the idea that there could be a way to predict the future using math and statistical analysis.  His talk seems well received and he is proud of his exposure. 

But the next day, he starts to realize that his life has changed, unalterably, forever.  He is whisked away to talk to no less a personage than Emperor Cleon I.  Cleon has been quick to see that Seldon may be the answer to his prayers.  With over forty billion people and hundreds of worlds to oversee, the Empire is too unwieldy to handle efficiently.  There is always the possibility of entropy, of falling apart due to inability to handle everything.  Surely, psychohistory is the answer to this dilemma.  Cleon and his right-hand man, the shadowy Eto Demerzel, want Hari to develop his theoretical idea as quickly as possible so that it can be used to control the Empire and historical outcomes.

No matter how much Hari tries to explain that his ideas are just that, ideas, Cleon seems determined to make sure those ideas become practical, workable tools.  Hari leaves with his head reeling.  When he is approached by a journalist, Chetter Hummin, who offers to help him flee, he accepts and together the two escape.  Hummin's first thought of a safe place to stow Hari is the famous University which has autonomy and from which even the Emperor would be loath to remove him.  Although Hummin has to return to his own life, he leaves Hari and provides a helper.  Dors Verabili is a female historian and together the two start their journey toward making Hari's ideas a reality.  But can they do it before Hari is captured and forced to work for those who want to the power of his ideas for themselves?

This book explains the beginning of the Foundation world, the epic science fiction location that actually beat out Tolkein's Lord Of The Rings trilogy to win the Hugo Award in 1966 for the best all-time series.  It outlines the famous rules of robots and the idea that things will inevitably, without guidance, fall apart over time.  Asimov based the series on Gibbon's History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire and students of history will see the impetus that work gives the series.  What makes Asimov's series enduring is his ability to make likeable characters, create a brisk pace of events that could takes decades, and his overarching world building.  This book is recommended for science fiction readers.

The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry

It is 1893 and in England there is a movement towards science and discovery.  The work of Darwin and his compatriots is discussed by educated people everywhere and medicine is starting to make huge advances.  Women are starting to break free of the strictures that have kept them bound, destined only for housework and a life where even their clothes restrict their daily movements.

Cora Seaborne is one of the women who are interested in more than a marriage.  She has just been widowed and is not full of grief.  Her husband was a cruel, domineering, physically and emotionally abusive man and his death feels like an opening of the prison gates.  Still in her early thirties, Cora decides to get out of the London house which seems like a prison.  Determined to emulate the women naturalists she admires, she decides to visit the Essex countryside with its waterways and wild vistas.  She is accompanied by her eleven year old son, Francis, and his nanny and her friend, Martha.

Cora revels in the Cornish countryside.  She walks for hours every day, unafraid.  She deserts her London fashions and dresses in men's clothes.  She talks to anyone she wants and soon meets many of the Cornish country people.  There is a rumor going around that a mythological creature, The Essex Serpent, has returned to sow destruction and she is determined to get to the bottom of the myth.  Is it a creature that has never been discovered and might she be the one to do so? 

Her friends in London worry about her and introduce her to the local vicar and his family. Stella and William Ransome are a young couple with three children who love the countryside and their lives.  Stella is a fragile woman, beautiful and warm while William is deeply committed to his religion and to improving the lives of the people around them.  He is concerned about the talk of the Serpent and how the rumors are changing the people and making them scared and more prone to falling back into ancient way. 

When Cora and William meet, they soon become best of friends.  Both are interested in the same things and both are addicted to long walks.  They talk about everything and anything, although Cora has no time for religion and they disagree vehemently about this. It becomes obvious to everyone around them that there is more than friendship growing between them although they themselves seem not to realize it.  How will it end?

This novel is a lush exploration of the time period and highly lauded.  It was nominated for the Bailey's Women's Prize in Literature.  It was an NPR and Kirkus Best Book, a New York Times Notable Book Of The Year and the winner of the British Book Awards Fiction Book.  The characters are finely drawn, the issues of social justice, women's emancipation and forbidden love are explored in ways that keep the reader turning pages.  This book is recommended for readers of historical fiction.

Possession by A. S. Byatt

It's a routine day for Roland Mitchell, a scholar who works for a foundation in London that studies the life and works of the Victorian poet, Randolph Henry Ash.  Roland is considered average, at work and in his personal life, where he shares a run-down flat with his only girlfriend, Vera.  But things are about to change.  As he reads in a book to discover the fact that his boss has sent him to retrieve, a letter falls out.  It's an undiscovered letter from Ash and it is addressed to a woman who he's met at a luncheon.  It appears that he was struck by the woman and wants to strike up a friendship.

Roland, almost without thought, decides to keep the letter.  As he researches the luncheon, it appears that the woman must be Christabel LaMotte, another Victorian poet who is known mostly for her poems full of fairy tales and classic legends, and for being an example of one of the first lesbian poets.  Roland goes to see an expert on LaMotte, Maud Bailey, who is actually related slightly to LaMotte, and who is fascinated also.  They visit LaMotte's grave and while on a walk, rescue a woman who has gotten into trouble.  She turns out to be the wife of the local squire and the home where LaMotte ended her life as a spinster aunt.  While having tea with the couple, Roland and Maud are given permission to go see Christabel's old room and they discover a treasure--a thick sheave of letters that makes it clear that Christabel and Roland were definitely friends, if not more.

This is news that can turn the academic world on its head and make careers.  As the two research further, they develop a passion for the letters and the story they portray.  Yet, it's difficult to keep such a momentous secret in the academic world.  Soon others have figured out their secret and the letters become involved in a tug-of-war between various academics. 

A.S. Byatt won the Booker Prize for this novel and it is easy to see why.  On the surface, it is a novel about the love stories between Ash and LaMotte and between Roland and Maud.  But underneath, it leaves the reader swooning with the lush language, the references to legends and fairy-tales, illustrated by poetry from the two authors, and the slow love story that builds yet may not end in happiness.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.

Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben

Detective Napolean Dumas, known as "Nap", is stuck in the past.  In his senior year in high school, a tragedy occurred.  While he was out of town playing hockey one Friday night, his twin brother was killed by a train.  Killed along with him was the police chief's daughter, Diana.  It was unclear what happened and how the accident occurred.  Nap's girlfriend, Maura, disappeared the same night.  His first love, he was stunned to find her gone and her mother was of no help at all, just saying she had transferred to another school.

Now, fifteen years later, Nap has an okay life.  He grew close to the police chief after their joint tragedy and ended up joining the police force himself.  It's a sleepy little town and the job isn't that taxing.  He still lives in his boyhood home; in fact, he still sleeps in the bedroom he shared with his brother Leo.  Not much happens in his life, but when your stuck in the mud, nothing is okay.

Then he gets a call that changes everything.  A policeman has been killed in another town and it turns out to be one of Leo's friends.  Nap hadn't kept up with him and was vaguely aware he had also become a policeman, but when his police force was asked for help, he volunteers.  He is shocked when he arrives and finds out there is evidence of someone else involved in the death, and that all signs point to it being Maura. 

This is the first he has heard of Maura in all these years and he is determined to find her this time.  As he investigates the death, things start to happen that indicate the logjam of silence is about to break about the past.  Another friend from high school, a brilliant boy who went off the tracks and is now the town homeless crank, has gone missing.  With the reluctant help of the police chief who just wants to forget the night he lost his daughter, Nap starts to put the pieces together to unearth the truth of what happened all those years ago.

Harlan Coben is one of the mystery genre's shining lights.  A winner of the Edgar, Shamus and Anthony Awards, his books feature tight mysteries that make unseeable twists that leave the reader wanting more.  He has written twenty novels in addition to a series about a detective.  This was one of his standalone novels and readers will find the Coben magic in full force.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Thirst by Jo Nesbo

Detective Harry Hole has left the detective bureau where he is renowned as the man who has captured some of Norway's most horrific killers.  Instead, he has entered a better phase of his life.  He is married to the love of his life and is now teaching other policeman how he did what he did.  His stepson is working towards becoming a policeman also and life is good.

At least, it's good for a while but murder never sleeps.  Two events shatter Harry's world.  His wife is taken to the hospital for what Harry thinks is a routine visit and ends up in an induced coma.  The doctors are not optimistic about her chances or indeed, what is exactly wrong with her.  At the same time, a new killer has erupted.  He is a vampire killer and drains his victims of their blood.

The police commissioner, who has ridden Harry's success into his job, has further ambitions.  He basically blackmails Harry into returning and working on the case which the papers and TV are going nuts about.  Harry hates breaking his promise to his wife to give up the danger and obsession of a major murder case, but in reality, he knows he has missed it and it is what he is meant to do.  He forms a team of former colleagues along with a psychologist who has studied the subject and prepares to go forth to capture the killer, who seems to be one who he captured years before and who escaped from prison.

There isn't another detective in the genre like Harry Hole.  His self-destructiveness which wars with his love of his wife and son keeps the reader on edge and pulling for him.  Those around him often get caught in the destruction that follows him, yet are devoted to him.  Throughout, Hole's basic goodness and willingness to do what is necessary regardless of the price is compelling.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

A Book Of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates

This novel opens with a crime.  Dr. Gus Voorhees has sacrificed much personally and professionally in order to provide abortion services in a small town.  Without him, women have no choices.  He is gunned down in the driveway upon arrival one morning by Luther Dunphy.  Dunphy is an Evangelical Christian and has associated with a group of intense anti-abortionists within the church.  He is encouraged to his action by their insistence that the only way to stop the killing of babies is by eliminating the doctors that perform the procedures.

But Oates does not stop there.  She follows all the participants for many years afterward, showing how one action can start ripples that affect many.  Luther is arrested and tried, convicted and eventually put to death.  The families are left behind to make what they will of the deaths and to try to forge a new life for themselves.

Dawn Dunphy believes her father is a hero.  Never good in school or popular, she is scorned even more after what her father does.  Her mother retreats into her religion, leaving Dawn to make what she will of her life.  What she decides to do is become a woman boxer and let her fights express the pain and confusion she feels.

Naomi Voorhees is broken by grief.  Her mother cannot cope and gives her children to their grandparents to raise.  Naomi idolizes her father.  After college, she becomes a documentary maker or at least is working towards that.  At first, she wants to make a documentary about her father and what his death meant but she decides to change focus.  While researching the crime, she learns that Dawn is now D. D. Dunphy, Warrior for Jesus and decides to attend a fight.  Her focus changes and she becomes interested in D.D.  At first she is repulsed by her but cannot stay away and suddenly, understanding her life is what Naomi wants to do. 

This is an important, thought-provoking novel.  Oates outlines both sides of an issue that continues to tear America apart.  Each side believes that they have the absolute truth of the issue and that sacrifices are necessary in order to bring success to their side.  Oates writes about the fallout of such viewpoints and in today's divided nation, the insights she provides are useful regardless of the issue that separates people and families.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

Bone Music by Christopher Rice

If there was anyone alive who had a better reason for not trusting than Charlotte Rowe, it would be hard to imagine.  She was kidnapped as an infant by a pair of serial killers who chose her mother and their next victim and brought her along.  They raised her as their own for seven years until the FBI discovered them and freed her.  Physically free, she was still imprisoned by other's expectations of her.  The press gave her the name of "The Burning Girl" as she accompanied the woman whenever she burned the clothes and belongings of the victims, although she never had any idea what was going on.  Everyone wanted to see her, to touch her, to know her.  She was a dream girl for marginal sociopaths everywhere who thought she would be their perfect partner. 

Her birth father, who one would think would be overjoyed to have his daughter returned to him, instead saw a chance to cash in.  He wrote a book about Charlotte's experiences and then took her on a speaking tour.  When she finally rebelled, she left to go live with her mother's mother and that grandmother supplied her with her first sense of normality in her life.  After her death, she changed her name and moved out to the desert to live alone always protected by her guns and security system.

But evil will not rest.  She gave one man her trust and he instead drugged her with an experimental drug under the guise of medication to let her sleep.  Instead it gave her superhuman strength and the ability to fight her way out of any situation.  When it proves successful, Charlotte is on the run again, this time from the man who gave it to her and the company that made it.  She runs back to her grandmother's house, where with the help of her grandmother's boyfriend and a deputy sheriff she knew in high school along with a hacker on the run, she decides this time to fight back.  Will Charlotte be successful?

Christopher Rice has made a name for himself in the thriller genre.  He is, of course, best known by some readers as the son of Anne Rice and has co-written with her.  This novel, the first in a series, shows his skill in setting a fast-paced story that grabs the reader and never lets go until the end.  Charlotte is a tough woman, created by a life that most can never imagine and she uses the situation to resolve many of the ghosts of her past.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.

The Half-Drowned King by Linnea Hartsuyker

When Ragnvald Eysteinsson returns with his crewmates from a season of raiding, the Norwegian expects to return home to claim his father's land from his stepfather now that he has reached his majority and to marry Hilda from a neighboring farm.  Instead, he is betrayed by the captain of his ship, Solvi, cut by his sword and pushed overboard.  As the ship disappears, Ragnvald tries to reach shore but soon finds himself drowning.  As he slips under the water, he has a vision of a great golden wolf that he must follow.  He regains the surface and is rescued by a fisherman.

Returning home, he realises that Olaf, his stepfather, has no intention of turning his land over and that in fact, he has probably been behind the treachery Ragnvald has encountered.  After trying and failing to best Olaf in the annual court, he falls in with soldiers and is soon in the court of King Hakor.  He knows Hakor's bastard son, Oddi, who brings him to Hakor's attention.  Known for his wisdom and fairness, he becomes an advisor and is sent to accompany Hakor's sons to the camp of a contender to unite all of Norway.  This is Harald, just a boy but already a feared warrior.  His goal is to unite all of Norway under his rule.  Could he be the golden wolf Ragnvald is to follow?

In the meantime, Solvi heads up the opposition.  Even more galling, he has taken Ragnvald's sister, Svanhild, as his wife.  Everything Ragnvald has done has been done with the thought of protecting his sister and to find her now the wife of his greatest enemy is almost more than he can bear.  As events move toward a climatic battle between the two forces, Ragnvald's destiny as well as that of Norway will be decided.

This novel is a fascinating glimpse into the world of the Vikings.  Long glorified in fantasy, this story shows the short, brutal lives of many in the culture and how alliances and betrayals were the stuff of daily life.  Along the way to showing how Norway became a united country, it narrates the daily lives of these people.  This is Linnea Hartsuyker's debut novel and she has exploded onto the historical literature genre.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers and anyone interested in a fascinating story.

Career Of Evil by Robert Galbraith

It's a normal day at Comoran Strike's London detective agency.  Or at least, it's normal until his assistant, Robin, opens a package and finds a severed human leg in it. 

The police are called and they of course want to know who would send Cormoran such a thing.  Cormoran can think of at least four people.  One was a mobster he helped put away, one a man he arrested while he was military police, another a pedophile he was instrumental in stopping and the last is his stepfather, a semi-famous musician whom Comoran has always believed murdered his mother.

Robin's appalled but there are other issues.  She is about to marry Matthew who she has been with for years.  He insists she quit her job immediately and as this is a sore subject between them for years, she knows this will only strengthen his case.  She is determined to continue working as a detective and to do so despite Matthew's objections and Cormoran's determination to at least protect her while she's working.

The two detectives start off on a journey to determine who is so set on destroying Comoran and his agency.  After the police find the rest of the girl, they soon discover that this is not a one time affair.  Instead, this is a man who has killed before and as he quickly proves, will kill again.  Worse, he seems fixated on Robin and things quickly get dangerous.  Can Comoran and Robin find him before he finds and finishes them?

This is the third novel in the series and readers of the first two will be happy with this effort.  Comoran is a wonderful character, one of those rough and ready men who are magnets to women without trying and who would be surprised to know it.  Robin continues to show strength and ingenuity and is a strong female character.  The book ends on a cliffhanger that will have readers anxiously awaiting the fourth book in the series.

Booksie's Shelves, February 20, 2018

It's almost the end of February with spring on its way.  My daffodils will be blooming sometime this week and I can't wait to see them; they are so optimistic and happy.  I've been reading a lot but haven't finished a lot.  I've only finished two books this month which may be a record for me but that number will go up by the end of the month as I have several that I'll finish before then.  Sports are almost over for me for the year and that's when my reading goes up.  I watch football all the way to the end; with college basketball I watch only till the Tarheels are out of the Big Dance.  Last year, of course, they went all the way and won and I can only hope they do that well this year.  Here's what's come through the door:

1.  Snow City, G.A. Kthryns, thriller, sent by author
2.  How Hard Can It Be?, Allison Pearson, women's lit, won online
3.  Autumn, Ali Simith, literary fiction, purchased
4.  The Burial Society, Nina Sadowsky, mystery, Amazon Vine review book
5.  The Standard Grand, Jay Baron Nicorvo, literary fiction, Amazon Vine review book
6.  Quietus, Vivian Schilling, thriller, sent by publisher
7.  The Lauras, Sara Taylor, literary fiction, Amazon Vine review book
8.  False Friend, Andrew Grant, mystery, Amazon Vine review book
9.  Winter Sisters, Robin Oliveira, historical fiction, sent by publisher
10.  The Storm King, Brendan Duffy, thriller, sent by publisher
11.  The New Boy, Tracy Chevalier, literary fiction, sent by publisher
12.  Crimson Lake, Candice Fox, thriller, sent by publisher
13.  The Darkling Bride, Laura Andersen, historical fiction, sent by publisher

Here's what I'm reading:

1.  Career Of Evil, Robert Galbraith, audio
2.  Strangler, Cory Mitchell, Kindle
3.  You, Caroline Kepnes, paper
4.  The Jury Returns, Louis Nizer, hardback
5.  Possession, A.S.Byatt, hardback
6.  The Woman In The Window, A.J. Finn, Kindle Fire
7.  A Book Of American Martyrs, Joyce Carol Oates, Kindle Fire
8.  Astonish Me, Maggie Shipstead, Kindle
9.  The Abomination, Jonathan Holt, Kindle Fire
10.  The Half-Drowned King, Linnea Hartsuyler, hardback
11,  The Portable Nineteenth-Century African American Women Writers, various, paperback

Happy Reading!
 

The Truth by Terry Pratchett

In Ankh-Morpork, the city thrives on rumors.  Of course, no one really knows what's going on, but that's okay.  But William de Worde doesn't think so.  He has renounced his wealthy family and must scratch out his own living.  He does so by sending letters to various men of influence telling them what is going on.

William's life changes when he meets Gunilla Goodmountain and his fellow dwarfs.  They have come to Ankh-Morpork to make their living and have brought their printing press with them.  William is entranced with the rapidity that news can be distributed and before you know it, he has created the first newspaper, the Ankh-Morpork Times.  He hires Sacharissa Cripslock, a beautiful girl who is determined to make her way as a writer and who seems perfect for the business.  He also hires Otto as the photographer.  Otto is a vampire and every time he takes a flash picture, he crumbles into ashes and must be reconstituted.  Together, the group soon has a thriving business.

But all is not well.  Another newspaper, The Inquirer, starts up and it has a different business plan.  It's so hard to figure out what is going on so they just make up stories.  Not the truth but very popular with the readers.  One of their stories is about the top administrator, Lord Vetinari.  He has disappeared and the rumor is that he stole money before his disappearance.  William is sure Lord Vetinari is innocent and in fact, in danger, but few believe him.  The appearance of two of the most murderous villains, Mr. Pin and Mr. Tulip, tends to back up William, but can he survive long enough to bring the truth to his readers?

This is the twenty-fifth novel in Terry Pratchett's enormously successful series, Discworld.  It was published in 2009, but is prescient of the 'truth' or 'false news' controversies swirling around in today's world.  The humor is sly and omnipresent.  Fans of Pratchett's world will rejoice in this title, and those, like me, for whom this is an introduction, will wonder what took them so long to discover Pratchett's genius.  This book is recommended for fantasy fans.

A Plague Of Giants by Kevin Hearne

In this new epic fantasy, a disaster has come upon the lands.  Bone Giants have invaded and are determined to take whatever they want.  They can throw up a city in mere weeks, and their response when meeting with anyone from any of the surrounding countries is to kill everything they encounter.  In this world, every country is the site of a Keening, an extraordinary talent that is given to some of its inhabitants.  There are five known kennings.  In a country near the sea, the keening is to control water; another country controls rock and earth while another controls all plant life.  There is talk of seven kennings but only five have been discovered and used.  All the other countries band together to fight the invasion and the death and destruction the giants bring.

Dervan is an academic.  He grew up with the ruler of his country and many of the refugees from the giant's invasion have ended up in his country.  The ruler asks Dervan to do two things.  First, he must learn how to speak with a giant that has been captured and imprisoned in order to see what he can determine about their plans.  Then he is to work with and report on a bard who has come to town.

Fintan is the bard.  He is a shape shifter and uses his talent to take on the character and forms of those he tells tales about.  He gathers an ever-growing crowd each day to tell them about what is happening; how the giants have come, what they have already done and plan to do and what the various countries plan to counter them.  He talks of heroes and disasters, of tragedy and courage and disaster and hope.  The crowds grow every day to hear him and the rulers want to have someone there to be sure what Fintan is saying, as there is also suspicion that he is a spy.  Can the other countries pull together to defeat the greatest enemy any have encountered?  There is a rumor that the Sixth Keening has been discovered and perhaps it will provide the answer.

This is the first novel of a planned trilogy by one of the masters of fantasy.  Hearne's Iron Druid series is a masterpiece in the fantasy genre and this new series promises to be another one.  The world building is epic and his ability to juggle myriad characters while advancing the story is amazing.  The structure of having the bard tell the story in daily implements allows Herne to introduce all the characters in detail while filling in the story of how the giants are to be defeated.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.

The New York Trilogy by Paul Auster

This is a trio of novellas by the author Paul Auster.  The books are City Of Glass, Ghosts and The Locked Room.  In City Of Glass, Quinn, an author who writes detective stories, finds himself involved in solving a mystery that is stranger than anything he ever created.  In Ghosts, a man named Blue, trained by Brown, has been hired by White to watch and report on Black.  He devotes his life to this only to discover that Black is watching him also.

The final novella is the most finely developed.  In it, the best friend of a man named Fanshawe is contacted by Fanshawe's wife.  She reports that he has disappeared and she is sure that by now he is dead.  He has left an extensive library of his writing, and instructions that if anything were to happen to him, his friend was to be notified and become the literary executor of his writings.  The writings are, surprisingly, snapped up and soon recognized as works of genius and the man soon falls in love with Fanshaw's wife and becomes part of her life.

Auster's work is concerned with the difficulties of identity, how we define ourselves and whether our definition is truth or only what is easiest for us to believe.  The novellas show how easily humans are thrown off their routine lives and tipped into strange occurrences that leave them grasping for meaning.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

The Cutting by James Hayman

Detective Mike McCabe left his career as a homicide detective in New York City.  He has bad memories there.  His brother was gunned down and killed there and his marriage fell apart.  The department had him under a cloud of suspicion after he ended up shooting the man who killed his brother.  With all of that baggage, moving to Portland, Maine should give him a new start. 

But Portland isn't as restful as he thought it would be.  A teenage soccer star went missing and is found a week later dead, mutilated with her heart missing.  When he checks, he suspects this isn't the first murder like this and another woman just went missing.  On top of that, his ex-wife after three years has decided it's time to re-enter his daughter's life.

McCabe and his partner, Maggie Savage investigate and soon have a suspect.  They start to believe that this is a pattern that has occurred many more times than they suspected and that it concerns a group rather than one individual.  When the conspiracy appears to have roots in Florida, New York, Boston and North Carolina, they realize that they are facing something no one has seen before.  Can they find the killer before more women are killed?

This is the first book in the McCabe/Savage series.  which has five novels at the time of this review.  This one is a promising start with fully drawn lead characters and a fast-paced plot that still gives the reader a view into police procedure.  Although the plot line has been done before, Hayman breathes fresh life into it and his characters and the tensions between them insure the reader's attention is retained until the end.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor

It was summer in England and a group of twelve year olds had it to themselves.  Their parents worked and anyhow, who really watched kids in 1986?  They spent the days playing in the woods or on the playground, riding their bikes and trying to impress each other.   Each has his own issues.  Eddie's mother has just opened the first abortion clinic in town and their family is getting threats.  Fat Gov is the leader as he is the most confident; his parents run the local pub.  Hoppo's mother was the local cleaning woman.  Metal Mickey had an obnoxious older brother who loved to make the gang's life miserable.  Nicky was the only girl; her father was the preacher and he had a group that protested at the clinic every day.

The kids led a generally carefree life but that summer everything changed.  It started at the fair where they witnessed a horrific accident and Eddie helped save a life, making him a hero for a while.  The real hero was their teacher, Mr. Halloran.  That was the summer they got chalk and spent time leaving coded messages for each other.  That was also the year they found out about death.

Now it's thirty years later and Micky has come back to town, the most apparent success among them all.  Eddie is now a teacher himself but still lives in the same house where he rents a room to a young woman named Chloe.  Fat Gov now runs the pub his parents ran and Hoppo is still his best friend.  Micky left town and is a successful ad executive.  Nicky moved away after the events of that summer and the guys lost track of her long ago. 

Micky comes to see Ed (as he now thinks of himself) and Ed's not sure he's glad about it.  Micky wants to make money off the events of that summer thirty years ago and the gang who discovered the bodies.  He's back in town to try to get Ed to help with the writing of a book and has lined up media events.  But his return leads to the return of tensions and death.  Can Ed and his gang from that long ago summer find the truth once and for all?

C.J. Tudor has written a nostalgic yet suspenseful psychological thriller that readers will enjoy.  This is her debut novel but won't be her last as this one is getting great reviews.  Each character is fully developed and readers will remember their own young days and young friendships, taut with shared adventures and the first stirrings of danger and betrayals.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

Victims by Jonathan Kellerman

No one is very surprised that Vita Berlin is a murder victim.  A thoroughly unpleasant woman who rarely left her apartment, she had nothing but venomous speech whenever she encountered anyone.  Her neighbors lived in fear of upsetting her.  But who did she upset enough to have her body left in the way it was?  Even seasoned policeman blanched.

The case is assigned to Milo Sturgis and he brings in his psychologist friend Alex Delaware as the killer has to be out of the ordinary.  When additional victims start to show up, that assumption becomes even more likely.  There is nothing to connect the victims; nothing but the fact that each is an unpleasant person.  Yet there is no doubt that the same killer is at work.  In addition to the gruesome bodies left, every crime scene had some paper with a large question mark prominently displayed.  Can Milo and Alex find the killer?

This is the twenty-seventh novel in the Alex Delaware series.  The series has been successful due to the interplay between the psychologist and the policeman.  One is all about the surface facts while the other delves deep into personality disorders.  Together they are a formidable team as the length and success of the series will attest.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.