Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel

 

Alison is a medium but one of the few real ones.  She is the daughter of a prostitute whose only use for her was how she could make money from her.   She rented Alison out to whomever would be interested and that was mostly men.  The horrors of Alison's childhood are hinted at but never spelled out.  She connects at will with the black, where the souls of the dead bring her messages.  Alison's spirit guide is a lowlife named Morris, a dwarf from the circus and one of the men whose existence haunted her childhood.

Colette has no spirit talent at all.  But she meets Alison at a medium fair where she has gone to decide what to do next with her life.  Newly divorced and out of a job, Colette is efficient and she and Alison are drawn to each other immediately.  Alison suggests that Colette join her as an assistant and companion and Colette agrees.

At first the partnership works well.  Colette takes care of all the mundane parts of Alison's life such as driving, hotel reservations and paying the bills.  She finds new ways to market Alison's talent and the money pours in.  The two even go together and buy a house.  But soon there is trouble in paradise.  Colette starts to boss Alison around and with Alison's childhood, she is not prepared to fight back and allows it.  Colette starts to feel the malignant presence of Morris and his friends and becomes afraid.  How will it end?

Dame Hilary Mantel was a celebrated English author.  She is best known for her trilogy on Thomas Cromwell, two of which won Booker Prizes.  This novel was also nominated for a Booker Prize in 2005.  Mantel wrote in the genres of memoirs, historical fiction and literary fiction.  In this book, there is a slow horror revealed as Alison's life of being terrorized by her talent is at first hinted at then gradually revealed.  Alison wants to help others but it often results in being victimized by those she attempts to help.  Readers will feel an uneasiness as they read this novel and finish wondering if some can really reach beyond black.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction. 

City Of The Dead by Jonathan Kellerman

 

It's been a long day of moving furniture and the two movers are glad when they finally reach their destination.  While maneuvering their oversize van down the narrow street, they feel a bump and know they have hit something.  They are appalled when they get out to check and find a nude young man laying in the street.  When the police arrive, they are able to console the men; there is a blood trail leading back from the man.  When  they follow it, they find a woman brutally murdered in her home.

The case if given to homicide detective Milo Sturgis and he calls in his friend, psychologist Alex Delaware who often consults with the police.  Alex looks once, then more closely.  He has met the woman before.  Alex does child evaluations for the county and city in custody divorce cases.  He had given his opinion in one case and then was opposed by the woman lying dead on the floor.  It turned out that she had no credentials as a psychologist and she narrowly escaped prosecution.  Now she is dead.

The two men take up the case.  She had been involved with various men, some of them dangerous.  Her relationship with her family was marginal and she was closer with her stepfather than her mother.  What had she been up to lately that could have caused someone to kill her?

This is the thirty-seventh novel in the Alex Delaware series.  Jonathan Kellerman has managed to keep his main characters interesting throughout the series and each novel is a different case for the reader to try to figure out.  Family relationships are explored as well as various forms of crimes by those willing to do whatever it takes to get what they want.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.   

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry

 

Readers first visited County Slingo, Ireland and met the McNulty family in The Whereabouts Of Eneas McNulty where they met the three McNulty brothers, Eneas, Tom and Jack.  In this novel, Sebastian Barry returns there to tell the story of Roseanne McNulty.  Rose grew up poor, the daughter of the town's gravedigger and later town ratcatcher.  She is exposed early to the violence and turmoil of the Irish Troubles where neighbor fought neighbor and the penalty for a traitor is death.  

Rose was the most beautiful woman in the area and many men wanted her.  She married Tom but his family always disapproved and the marriage fell apart.  She comforted Eneas on the night before he left his native land for years.  She spent years along and destitute and then was put into a mental hospital where she has spent decades.  The hospital is about to be closed and it falls to the head doctor to establish which patients should be transferred to the new one and which should be set free.

He is fascinated by Rose and there is little in the records to go on.  He has to research her story through other hospitals and those who may have known her.  Some tell the truth, some repeat the lies they have always told about Rose.  This latter group includes the man who was the town priest and who later rose in the Catholic hierarchy.  Slowly, Rose's story is teased out and what a story it is!

Sebastian Barry is an Irish writer who is one of my absolute favorites.  His work has been nominated for the Booker Prize five times which is amazing.  His novels document Irish history and troubles as few other authors have with the details being slowly revealed and often ending in a surprise revelation.  The language is amazing and his understanding of human nature is what makes the works so interesting to read.  This is the second novel in the McNulty family trilogy and very rewarding.  It is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

The Truth-Teller's Lie by Sophie Hannah

 

DS Charlie Zailer is about to go on vacation with her sister when Naomi Jenkins comes in to make a missing person report.  The missing person is her lover, Robert Haworth, and she is sure that something has happened to him.  Once Zailer and her assistant, DC Simon Waterhouse, hear that the lover is married they start to doubt Naomi.  After all, her only evidence is that Haworth missed their weekly tryst and Jenkins insistence that he loves her so much that he would never do that.

Charlie goes off on vacation, first to Spain then when that doesn't work out, on to Wales to a set of luxury chalets.  She is there when she hears that Naomi now insists that Robert had kidnapped her three years ago and attacked her in front of an audience of men eating dinner.  It seems like the wildest of stories but then, after searching files, the police realize that there have been other women who tell the same story.  Sure that there is a serial rapist on the loose, Charlie cuts short her vacation and comes back to work the case  Can they find the truth?

Sophie Hannah is an English author who has written more than thirty mysteries.  She has a series where she continues Agatha Christie's series about Hercule Poirot along with the Zailer-Waterhouse series and other standalone novels.  She teaches a master's program at Cambridge on mystery writing and is also a poet.  This is the second novel of the Zailer-Waterhouse series.  Charlie is in love with Simon but he doesn't return the sentiment and there are many embarrassing moments between the two.  It definitely affects the everyday working of the murder team and it's surprising that it is allowed to continue.  Zailer seems very emotional but has a good grasp of the case and how to run one.  I will be reading more in this series to see what happens to Charlie and if her love for Simon is ever returned.  This is one of the most diabolical mysteries I've read and the coldness of the perpetrators and the constant twists and turns make this one a definite win for me.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Best American Mystery Stories 2010 edited by Lee Child

 

The twenty stories in this anthology are by a mix of authors.  Some are well known names in the mystery genre, others are less well known.  Authors most mystery readers will recognize include Matt Bell, Lyndsay Faye, Jon Land, Dennis Lehane, Phillip Margolin and Kurt Vonnegut.  

One of my favorite stories in this collection was Animal Rescue by Dennis Lehane.  It's the story of a guy who works in a bar, a neighborhood figure nobody really notices.  He finds a dog thrown into the garbage and he and a woman he meets save the dog.  When the original owner shows back up a few months later and demands the dog back, it starts a series of events that won't be soon forgotten.  This book is recommended for mystery and anthology readers.  

Bloodline by Mark Billingham

 

Raymond Garvey was a terrifying serial killer who was active and caught around the time DI Tom Thorne was starting his career.  He didn't do much on that case but he was involved peripherally and he hasn't forgotten Garvey who ended up dying in prison from a brain tumor.  Now, someone is determined that Thorne won't forget; they are killing the children of the original victims.

The killer is a man who believes that he is the son of Garvey and wants Thorne to create buzz to vindicate Garvey's name, believing that he killed due to the brain tumor.   That isn't true as he killed long before the tumor was found but it is one of the killer's delusions.  He is steadily working his way through the original victims' children as Thorne and his crew try to find him.  Who will win this grisly game?

This is the eighth Tom Thorne novel in the series.  In this one, Thorne and Louisa reach a new level of closeness in their relationship and it is changing Tom.  But one thing will never change.  Thorne cannot let a murder go; his total focus and concentration is on the case until it is over.  Can that work with a long term relationship?  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Great Man Theory by Teddy Wayne

 

Paul's life isn't what he thought it would be here in his early forties.  His marriage dissolved and his daughter is starting her teenage years so he sees her less and less.  His career as an author is stalled although he is working on a book where he sets everyone straight on how life should be.  He also teaches writing at the college level but that isn't going that well either.  Budget cuts mean that he has been demoted from an assistant professor to an adjunct which means no benefits such as insurance.  In fact, money is so tight that he has to move back home with his widowed mother who is in her eighties and a devotee of right wing news, which drives Paul crazy.

The funniest/saddest part of the book is when Paul insists on having his daughter's birthday party at mother's place as it falls on one of his weekends.  Of course, living in a different New York borough, he has to drive and get the girls.  One doesn't fit with a seatbelt, so he has to make two trips spending two hours doing that alone.  The cable goes out and the girls can't watch their favorite shows or movies.  The worst is that Paul didn't listen that closely to one mother's warnings about her daughter's dietary restrictions and the pizza he bought has her sick for the entire party, holed up in the bathroom.  

Teddy Wayne has written six novels and won an NEA creative writing fellowship.  In this novel, he skewers the middle-aged man who is sure he knows the best way to do everything, from how much television one should watch in a day to what one should read or eat or enjoy.  Like many men as they age, he lectures those around him incessantly, unaware how irritating his actions are.  While Paul has everyone's best interests at heart, his sanctimony loses him friends and work.  I listened to this novel and the narrator did an excellent job.  He didn't fall into the trap of using his voice to point out Paul's errors.  Rather he tells the story in an everyday voice allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions on when Paul has stepped over the line.  This novel is recommended for literary fiction readers.    

Empire In Black And Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

The Lowlands country has lived in peace for many years.  It welcomes all, beetles, ants, moths, praying mantises and other insects.  But now Stenwold Maker, a diplomat and spymaster, sees signs that what he has feared in about to take place.  An empire from far away has created a huge army and is marching towards the Lowlands, conquering everything in its path.

Stenwold sends a group out to spy out the plans of the Wasps in black and gold.  He sends his right-hand man who is a half blood, his foster daughter who doesn't know the truth about her birth, the mantis who is one of his oldest friends and the moth who almost never talks.  They meet up with Stenwold's network in another city and battle the Wasps there.  Can they defeat them and save their nation?

Adrian Tchaikovsky is known for his work in the science fiction and fantasy genre.  This is the first book in the Shadows Of The Apt series which is composed of ten novels.  Much of this work is world building and introducing the reader to the array of characters.  These characters are not actual insects but humans in groups associated with various insects and having some of the insect's powers.  It is also a clash not only between the peaceful countries and the Wasps who want to build an empire but between the older weapons of the other insect clans and the new weapons and machinery of the Wasps.  This first entry is suspenseful and mysterious and I can't wait to read the next one in the series.  This novel is recommended for science fiction readers.  

Count My Lies by Sophie Stava

 

Sloane Caraway tells lies.  She lies about what she likes.  She lies about where she works.  She lies about her name sometimes and where she lives.  She definitely lies about why she lost her last job, the one she loved.  When she sees a gorgeous man with his small daughter in the park, she is attracted immediately.  When the daughter steps on a bee, she rushes over and lies saying she is a nurse.  Introducing herself by a false name, she soon manages to meet the entire family.

Violet Lockhart tells lies.  She lies about her past.  She lies about loving her husband.  She is thrilled to meet Sloane and immediately sees how having her as her daughter's new nanny can work into her plans for the future.

Jay Lockhart tells lies.  He lies about how successful he is.  He lies about how important his wife and daughter are to him.  Mostly, he lies about his constant cheating and seduction of any woman who crosses his path.

When these three people meet up, whose lies will triumph?

This is a debut novel for Sophie Stava.  It twists and turns constantly.  The reader is never sure exactly what is going on as events are filtered through the lies of three different people.  It is a debut novel for Stava and was chosen as a Good Morning America Book Club pick.  The pace is fast and the suspense mounts throughout.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The River We Remember by William Kent Krueger

 

When the body of Jimmy Quinn is discovered in the river, shotgunned to death, the entire town set on the banks of the Alabaster River.  Quinn was a wealthy landowner and had a reputation for being mean and quick to have a temper when things didn't go his way.  Who killed Quinn?  

Was it one of the landowners whose property Quinn had acquired often through machinations or when the crops failed?  Was it someone Quinn had bested in an argument or at cards?  Or was it someone whose wife he had taken?  Quinn's wife was sick with MS.

The town decided that it had to be Noah Bluestone, a Native American who had grown up there and returned after a career in the military.  He is farming land his ancestors had owned but most of their property had ended up with Quinn.  Noah had married a Japanese woman when he was stationed there right after World War II, and there was still sentiment against her and against Noah as he was one of the few Native Americans in the area anymore.  Both Noah and his wife had worked for Quinn and he had fired Noah the day he was killed.  Did that play a part?  

Two teenage boys get caught up in the excitement.  One is the stepson of the other man Quinn had working for him and he had set Noah up to get fired.  The other boy was the son of the woman who ran the town's diner with her mother-in-law and who had her own secrets.  There was the sheriff, Brody Dern, who also carries secrets and his deputies, especially the former sheriff who comes back to help out in such an unusual time.  They are fighting to learn the truth while making sure that no one hurts Bluestone or his wife while the investigation is going on.

William Kent Krueger is an American author who lives in Minnesota and writes about the country he loves.  Many readers know him best for his mystery series about a former sheriff, Cork O'Connor.  But I prefer his books that explore the Minnesota he knows and the people that inhabit it along with the dilemmas they face.  This book is recommended for both literary fiction and mystery readers.  

Blood Child by Octavia Butler

 

This anthology by Octavia Butler contains both stories and essays about how her childhood and how she realized her childhood dreams to become an author.  When she was little, there were almost no black science fiction authors and none of those were women as far as she knew.  But she persevered through years of rejections and dead end jobs.  She wrote every day and eventually she was published and became an icon in the sci fi world.

Many of these stories talk about relations between humans and aliens who have come to Earth.  In the title story, Bloodchild, some humans were able to live in luxury.  However the price for that was high and hideous.  In Amnesty, the aliens have already conquered Earth.  They are now at the point where they hire some humans to work for them and the narrator is hired as a translator between the two.  

Octavia Butler is an American author.  She has won the Nebula, the Hugo and the Locust awards as well as receiving a MacArthur Genius Grant.  This anthology was a New York Times Notable Book.  I've never been a fan of her Exogenesis Trilogy but these stories are excellent and thought provoking.  This book is recommended for anthology and science fiction readers.    

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O'Donoghue

 

Rachel is about to graduate university in Cork, Ireland.  She is getting a degree in English and totally unsure what that will qualify her to do.  In the meantime, she is working in a bookstore and that's where she meets James, who will become her best friend for life.  The two are perfectly matched.  Rachel is interested in men and so is James.  They drink together, work together, spend hours together talking and being snarky and watching sitcoms and television dramas.  

Soon both fall in love.  Rachel had a crush on one of her professors but it turns out that he is attracted to James and they start an affair.  Rachel meets Carey who she loves madly but who periodically disappears so that she is never sure of him.  She goes to work for the professor's wife which is uncomfortable as she really likes the woman.  Still, her loyalty lies with James who is always there for her, especially in the biggest issue she will ever face.

Caroline O'Donoghue is an Irish writer who started work as a columnist and who also hosts a podcast called Sentimental Garbage.  This book is based on her life in Cork, not the actual events but her emotions as a young twenty-something, about to start adult life and feeling unprepared and how important friends were in your life at that time.  Although the events can seem heavy, the novel itself is light and full of joy and laughter.  It's one of those novels that make the reader, once finishing, immediately go search out other novels by the author.  Rachel is a unique character who will remain in my thoughts for quite a while.  This book is recommended for readers of women's and literary fiction.

Kill The Farm Boy by Delilah Dawson and Kevin Hearne

 

This is the story of the Chosen One and a quest.  But this Chosen One was killed and the job devolved on a talking goat.  He takes off on his quest accompanied by a troupe of companions.  There is the Dark Lord whose farmyard he lives in and who agrees to come as long as there is cheese to be gained.  His right-hand man is an assassin who is deathly afraid of chickens.  After visiting an enchanted castle and princess, the group picks up a bard who has been changed into a rabbit, and a female fighter who is large and in charge.  There are various witches along the way as well, some of whom join the group.

As the group travels, they meet various villains who have to be defeated.  There is Steph, the pixie who did the Choosing and gave Gustave the Goat the power of speech.  There is the Dread Necromancer Steve.  There is a human-eating giant and the Cavern of Tongues.  The group meets each challenge and arrives at their destination where a new King needs to be chosen as the old one just spends his time taxing the peasants and being generally unpleasant.

Delilah Dawson and Kevin Hearne are both well known authors in the fantasy realm.  Together they team up to provide an adventure with lots of comedy, puns and risqué humor.  This is light fantasy rather than grim, although there are battles and deaths along the way.  But the main focus is on the quest and the characters who become a united group and some who fall in love.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.   

Now You See Me by S.J. Bolton

 

Lacey Flint never thought she would be on the police force.  She spent time on the streets, lost in a drug-induced haze.  But she cleaned up her act and around the time she applied, the force was trying a new plan to improve relations with the unhoused and she was accepted.  

Now Lacey is working on a crime that is all too familiar.  A young girl who lives in a housing estate, reports to Lacey that she was attacked sexually by a group of boys  Worse, they plan to attack her younger sister next.  She won't make a police report but Lacey is working on that and provides an emphatic ear when the girl needs to talk.

When leaving the housing estate, Lacey catches a woman who has been brutally attacked and who dies in Lacey's arms.  She has been knifed.  The woman comes from an upper middle class home so what was she doing there late at night?  No one knows.  Lacey is seconded to the major crime unit that is is investigating the case.  Lt. Mark Joesbury believes that Lacey is involved but the woman who heads the division, Dana Tulloch, thinks Lacey can help.  Another murder occurs and it appears to be a Jack the Ripper copycat and Lacey is an expert on that case.  Is she right?  

This is the first of four Lacey Flint novels.  Lacey seems to be tied to the crimes, although whether as a perspective victim or someone who in involved in their commission, is unclear.  S.J. Bolton has written eighteen novels in the suspense genre and her work often focuses on female protagonists.  In this novel there is romantic tension between Lacey and Mark and the reader will be interested in that aspect as well as that of the murder solution.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Bird Skinner by Alice Greenway

 

In retirement, Jim Kennoway has retreated to the island home in Maine that has been the family vacation home.  Jim was an ornithologist who worked at the Museum of Natural History until he had to have a leg amputated  He hasn't adjusted well to that, probably because he is drinking way too much and holds a grudge that it was necessary.

One day a young black woman shows up.  This is Cadillac, the daughter of the man who was Jim's scout on the Solomon Islands during World War II.  She is heading to Harvard to start her studies in medicine at the end of the summer and her father has sent her to stay with Jim for the summer although they haven't had any communication in years.  Befuddled by her presence but feeling the tug of gratitude to her father, Jim agrees to her stay. 

As the summer progresses, Jim gets steadily worse while Cadillac forms a friendship with Jim's son.  But scandal is brewing.  During the war, Jim and Tosca had killed three Japanese soldiers and preserved their heads the same way Jim has always preserved birds.  Word of this is about to break as an intern at the museum has uncovered it while searching all files.  

Alice Greenway grew up around the world with a father who was a diplomat.  This was Greenway's second novel.  At times the purpose of the book seems unclear.  Is it the story of a lonely man whose life is ending in alcohol and bitterness?  Is Cadillac there to be the hope of the future?  Is it fair to judge someone by an event that happened long ago and was common at the time or acknowledge that it was a war crime and against the morals we hold?  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers. 

Now You See Me by Karin Fossum

 

This book opens with a chilling scenario.  A six year old girl gets in a man's van when he offers to let her see and pet his bunnies.  When she doesn't arrive home, panic ensues and the town turns out to look for her.  That event turns out well but in the process of looking for her, a teenage girl's body is discovered.

Annie had lived on a small street where all the families knew each other.  She had been the street's babysitter and all the children and their parents loved her.  Who could have done this?  Was it the mentally challenged man who was interested in women although he had never had a girlfriend?  Was it the parents of a small child who died at age four and who Annie had spent time with?  Was it a random stranger?

The case is given to Inspector Sejer  He is an older man, grieving the recent loss of his wife.  He investigates by getting to know all the individuals involved in the case and talking to them and comparing their stories against each other.  

This is the second of thirteen Inspector Sejer novels.  It's interesting to see how a murder investigation differs in a small town where everyone knows everyone else as opposed to a city where few know anything about their neighbors.  Although this is a police procedural, it differs from an English or American one where forensic evidence and cameras are the main investigative tools.  Karin Fossum is a Norwegian author and this novel won the Glass Key award.  It is recommended for mystery readers.   

Alchemised by Sinyenlu

 

When Helena comes to, she is a prisoner with few memories.  She knows she was captured during the waning days of the war and was imprisoned and tortured.  But most of her memory is gone.  She was an alchemist in the war between the ruling class and the Necromancers, a friend of the ruler of the land, Luc.  She finds herself prisoner at an estate, that of the High Reeve, who is the executioner and head of the army for the necromancers.  His job is to find a way to recover Helena's memory.

But there is more going on behind the scenes.  The High Reeve, Kaine, knew Helena before the war when they both attended alchemy school and during the war when they were on opposite sides and Helena served as the go-between of the sides.  They were in love and both had to make decisions that hurt those around them while serving their governments.  Now, Helena has no memory of that love affair and only despises Kaine for his cruelty and position.

Slowly, Helena recovers her memory but Kaine is under suspicion by the government and although he has a high position, he could also lose his life at any moment.  Helena's life is balanced on a pin since her capture.  Can these two ever find love and peace?

This is an amazing fantasy although it is not for everyone.  There are trigger events such as forced sex and the characters think of ending it all when it seems there is no hope.  But the love between the two main characters is written superbly and the horror of war and the chances and ruined lives it forces upon those involved is described more aptly than in any other work I've read.  This is a debut novel and I find that incredible.  This will end up being one of my favorite books of the year and is recommended for dark fantasy readers.  

Christmas Presents by Lisa Unger

 

Ten years ago ended Madeline Martin's innocent life.  It was the night that she went to a party against the pleas of her best friend, Badger.  The night she found out that her first love, Evan Handy, was cheating on her with her best friend.  The night Evan killed her best friend in front of her and would have killed her also if she hadn't escaped and been found on the shore of a frozen river by Badger.

Now Evan has been in prison for ten years and Madeline is trying to go on with her life.  She runs a bookstore in the town where she was raised.  Her father, the former sheriff, had a stroke that has disabled him and she lives with him and takes care of him as best she can.  Her life is bland and unexciting and that's how she likes it.

Then Harley Granger shows up in town.  He is a crime podcaster and he has decided that the Evan Handy case would make for a blockbuster.  He tries to get Madeline to come on his podcast and stirs up all the people involved that night.  Evan still insists from prison that he is innocent.  Girls have gone missing since that night, one just days ago.  Is there someone else out there?  Madeline has been receiving Christmas presents sent anonymously and she doesn't know if she has a secret admirer or if they are a warning that someone is coming to finish the job from ten years ago.

Lisa Unger is known for her work in the suspense genre.  She has written over twenty novels, most of them bestsellers, and has received numerous awards.  In this book, she knows exactly how to racket up the tension and let the clues emerge slowly.  I listened to this book and the narrator has a voice full of suspense.  Madeline is still living in the past and ignoring what is coming in the present.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Heart Of Winter by Jonathan Evison

 

This is the story of a long marriage.  They shouldn't have lasted as they are so different.  Abe is grounded, practical and logical.  He ends up selling insurance and has his own agency.  Ruth is artistic and creative and longs for culture.  They have almost nothing in common but we pick up the story when they have been married for over seventy years.  They have raised four children and even been through the absolute worst thing, the loss of a child.  

Abe has adored Ruth from the start.  He ends up on an island in Washington because there he can give Ruth a farm where she can garden and raise the children.  Over the years, they ebb and flow, sometimes at a distance when Ruth starts to find Abe boring, closer when they need to handle a crisis.

The story picks up when Ruth is diagnosed with cancer.  The grown children insist that Abe is too old to take care of Ruth after extensive surgery, chemo and radiation but he is just as insistent that he can and Ruth wants his comfort and her own home.  They have always thought Abe would go first, but is that true?

Jonathan Evison is an American author who lives in Washington like Abe and Ruth.  I could really relate to this novel as my husband and I have married for fifty-two years now.  Evison gets the reality of a day to day relationship and how couples can grow closer as they age and how successful marriages adapt to a crisis that every marriage eventually faces.  I loved the way Abe adored Ruth from start to finish.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

Tall Bones by Anna Bailey

 

When Abi goes missing after a teenage party in the woods one night, the secrets of Whistling Ridge start to emerge.  Who was the boy Abi went into the woods with?  Why was the father of the local drug dealer wandering the woods that night?  Where is the gun from which a shell casing was found?

The police investigate but some believe Abi just ran away that night.  She lives with restrictive parents who believe in the local fire and brimstone preacher who thinks everything is a sin.  Her father is abusive both to his wife and the children, his days in Vietnam still present in his mind.  

Then there are Abi's brothers.  There's Noah, a bright man who should have been at college but who had to give up his dreams when his college fund was needed for a family emergency.  He's not sure about his sexuality but he knows his father will have something to say about it, probably with his fists.  There's her little brother Jude, who walks with a stick after the night he was thrown down the stairs.  They know what goes on in the house but are afraid to tell.

Emma was Abi's best friend or at least she always thought so.  But now she's finding that Abi had a whole secret life she never shared with Emma.  Emma starts drinking heavily and skipping school.  Then there is Rat.  He's the man who drifted into town a few months ago.  He parties with the high schoolers and always has alcohol and drugs to share.  His RV is where Emma goes to drink and where she realizes that he and Noah have a relationship.  The preacher decides to use Rat, or the gypsy as he calls him, as the town scapegoat, the one responsible for all the bad things happening.

Anna Bailey is an English author and this is her debut novel.  It was chosen as a Guardian Book of The Month and was nominated for the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Of The Year award.  She spent time in Colorado which is where this book is based.  Bailey captures the frustrations of the late teen years and the fact that most have secrets they don't want exposed.  Some are willing to do anything to keep those secrets in the dark.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

A Girl Is A Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride

 

This is the story of an Irish family and their relationships.  The narrator is a woman who has just grown up and moved out of the family home.  She talks about how the household was focused on her younger brother who was diagnosed as a boy with a brain tumor.  He was expected to die but had a miraculous recovery.  Yet the mother could not believe he is still there and dedicates her life and the family focus and resources on him. 

Left on her own, the narrator falls prey to her uncle who arouses her first sexual feelings and then seduces her at fifteen.  She knows this is wrong but it sets up a life where she goes out and has random sex with strangers from bars.  When her brother's cancer returns and it becomes clear that this time he will pass away, she returns home and resumes the relationship with her uncle, the only kind of release and attention she can be sure of obtaining.

Eimear McBride is an Irish author and one of my favorites.   This is her debut novel and it won The Goldsmiths Prize in 2013.  The novel is written in a stream of consciousness fashion from the point of view of the young woman and it is chaotic, uncertain, groping forward, and full of rage.  The narrator is never sure exactly what she owes her family but knows she loves her brother who she is going to lose.   McBride's writing is fierce and amazing and the reader is sure to remember her stories long after the last page is read.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

Bad Actors by Mick Herron

 

In this eighth novel in the Slough House series, a government employee has gone missing.  Not just an everyday employee.  This is the government's superforecaster who predicts how the average person in the street will react to the government's policies and moves.  She has been imported from Russia and has now disappeared.  Have the Russians kidnapped her back?  Has she gone on the lam?  

Claude Whelan, head of the Park and Diana Travener's former boss, is given the assignment of finding her or at least finding out what happened to her.  Diane is upset that he is back and clues are pointing at Jackson Lamb at Slough House.  Slough House is shorthanded these days although since they do nothing it doesn't matter that much.  River Cartwright is taking some time off after the death of his grandfather while Shirley Dander is off taking the cure at the rehab center for spies.  

This is definitely one of the best books in the series.  Watching Shirley and getting into her head is a rare joy while her alliance with Whelan when a pack of mercenaries try to kidnap her is an amazing piece of work.  Instead of being a throwaway character, we get to know more about Lach and see why he was recruited by MI-5 in the first place.  Jackson Lamb, of course, is on top of things while appearing not to care a bit about his job or anyone else.  My only fear is that Mick Herron will get tired of writing about the misfits at Slough House and that would be a disaster as this series is becoming one of my absolute favorites.  This book is recommended for mystery and spycraft readers.

Eurotrash by Christian Kracht

 They are different, the superwealthy.  The ones who can charter a private plane at a moment's notice when the commercial schedules don't suit.  The ones who can eat at a restaurant no matter the time or if it is open for business.  The ones who think nothing of giving a taxi driver thousands of dollars for a ride.  The ones who made their money through the suffering of others.

Christian has come home to take care of his mother.  She is eighty and recently released from a psychiatric hospital, a common occurrence he is used to.  They go on a last trip together in Switzerland which is their home country, visiting the mountains and places from long ago.  His mother is also physically challenged and Christian helps her with her issues.

But the two are not close.  His mother pretty much ignored him as a child, especially after his parents divorced when he was young.  He rarely comes home and despises the money they have and the munitions industry that gave it to them.  He is searching for a way to reconcile his life, and this is another attempt.

Christian Kracht is a German author and this is his second novel.  It was nominated for the International Booker and considered a Best Book by the Financial Times and the UK Times.  Kracht explores the dynamics of a life where nothing is required of the individual; there is so much money that they need not work and can have anything they want.  But the human relationships have suffered and he narrates a last chance to resolve the most primal relationship, that of parent and child.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.  

Through The Window by Diane Fanning

 

Tommy Lee Sells was one of the worst serial killers the United States has seen.  Thirty-five when caught, he spent the years before traveling the country and killing men, women and children.  He seemed to have no preference although he would sexually assault his female victims.  He killed by bludgeoning, shooting or his seeming preference, slitting the throats of those he murdered.

He was caught in Texas.  He went through the window of a home during the night.  In the home was a woman, her two daughters and her younger daughter's friend who was having a sleepover.  He bypassed the adult woman and her elder daughter.  He killed the younger daughter in front of her friend, slashing and stabbing her to death.  He then used his twelve-inch boning knife to slit the throat of ten year old Krystal Surles.  Somehow this little girl found the strength to crawl to the neighbor's house and get help.  As soon as they stabilized her in the hospital, she was ready to testify.   Although she couldn't speak she wrote what happened that night and helped a portrait artist to make a mugshot.  Sellers was arrested and started confessing.

Tommy Sells confessed to more than seventy murders.  He was known as the Coast To Coast Killer.  His real total is not known as some of the murders he claimed were proven to be committed by others but he did kill across the country.  One of the saddest to me was the case where he broke into a house, killed a ten year old boy with a kitchen knife he found there and escaped.  He always cleaned the site of his prints and DNA as best he could.  The boy's mother was arrested, found guilty and served time until she was finally exonerated after Sell's death.  

Diane Fanning is known for her true crime books although these days she has moved on to write mysteries more often. She started in advertising and then worked as an executive director at several nonprofits.  She has won numerous awards both for her work and her writing.   I've had this book for years but finally found the courage to reading it.  I cannot imagine the strength it took for her to sit across a table in prison and look into the eyes of Tommy Lynn Sells as he confessed crime after horrid crime.  He was executed in Texas in 2014. This book is recommended for true crime readers.  

In Other Worlds by Margaret Atwood

 

In this interesting volume, Margaret Atwood talks about her relationship with science fiction and fantasy.  She started as a child with her brother as they explored the fantasies of childhood and made up their own.  Atwood created a race of superhuman flying rabbits and gave them many adventures.  As she grew, she continued to read in this genre and while at university studied its relationship to literature.  

The part I found most interesting is her evaluation of other authors' works and their relationship to the genre.  She talks about Marge Piercy, H. Rider Haggard, Ursula K. Le Guin, Bill McKibben, George Orwell, H.G. Wells, Kazuo Ishiguro, Bryher, Aldous Huxley and Jonathan Swift and explores their work and how it contributed to the genre.

In the last section, she discusses her own work.  There is an excerpt from The Blind Assassin, she talks about cryogenics and other science fiction memes.  At the end there is a letter from her to the Judson School District which banned her book The Handmaid's Tale defending the work and the sexual aspect which show the attempt to control women's sexuality through the ages.  There is also a section about the gorgeous art covers that have often adorned works in fantasy and science fiction.

Margaret Atwood is a treasure.  She has written eighteen novels, eleven books of nonfiction, eighteen books of poetry and nine anthologies.  She is a Canadian author and a defining force in the genre.  Her book, The Handmaid's Tale has been made into a successful television series and several of her novels have been made into movies.  In this work, the reader gets to see beyond the pages at what Atwood was trying to accomplish with various works.  She sees sexuality as a normal part of childhood interest as they slowly become aware of it, and she also sees that women's sexuality has been controlled throughout the ages by whatever mechanism is available at the time.  This book is recommended for science fiction readers and those interested in authors' lives and thoughts about their work.

The Cambourne Killings by Sally Rigby

 

Detective Lauren Pengelly and her partner Matt Price are called out to a murder in their patch of Cornwall.  A woman's body lies discarded, with a note beside if 'Ten Green Bottles'.  The note is reminiscent of a Cornish song and American fans will recognize the rhyme as 'One Hundred Bottles Of Beer On The Wall'.  The body is soon identified as a former police officer and the hunt is on.

The next murder has another note that now says, 'Nine Green Bottles'.  Does the killer plan on ten murders?  When there is a police connection with this victim as well, the force realizes that it may be tied to a case years ago.  Was there corruption then that is only now demanding that retribution be paid?

This is the fourth book in this series.  Rigby builds the relationship between Lauren and Matt which is professional.  One of Matt's friends, a female police officer on another force, is in town for a vacation, and comes to work with the Cornwall force when one of their officers goes out on an extended medical leave.  Could there be a romance brewing there?  The case is intriguing and readers will be interested to continue the series.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Our Kind Of Cruelty by Araminta Hall

 

Mike and Verity have a perfect relationship.  Mike came from poverty and foster homes and institutions but he's an investment banker now and doing well financially.  Verity came from wealth and position with a supportive family and she now works in IT.  They are bonded in every way and they like to play a game.

They all it The Crave.  They go to a pub and Verity flirts with another man until he is interested.  Then Mike comes over and pushes him away, claiming ownership of Verity.  It is stimulating for them both and some of their best times start this way.

Mike takes a job overseas but Verity can't leave her own job.  They agree that a long distance relationship will work but as the months add it, it starts to have issues.  Both stray and when Mike returns for Christmas, it's to Verity breaking up with him.  He can't believe it; they are meant to be together.  But eventually he returns overseas to his job and tries to convince Verity from afar that he still loves her and that they should be together.

But when he finally manages to get transferred back to London, it's to a horrid surprise.  Verity is getting married to another man, a man she loves and who everyone believes is a perfect match.  Mike decides that this is another version of the Crave and he knows how to play.  What will happen?

Araminta Hall is a British author.  She worked as a magazine journalist before she started writing books and also teaches.  She writes in the thriller genre and this book is chilling.  The pace is rapid and we get to see what's it's like inside the mind of a stalker, someone so obsessed with another that they can't imagine a world where their interest is not returned.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.

The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith

 

In what may be their most challenging case, Robin and Strike are asked by a father to help him return his son from the church where he has been for four years.  The father believes that the church is a cult and that there are illegal things going on.  Their son is living at the church's farm estate where he uses his intelligence and resources to hoe gardens and clean bathrooms.  Strike and Robin do a preliminary investigation and agree to take the case against the Universal Humanitarian Church.

But the church is wily and guards against revelation of its secrets  Those few who have escaped have often found death on the outside, perhaps tied to their association.  The two investigators agree that the only effective way to handle the case is for someone to go undercover.  Robin is the one chosen and she will only have contact with Strike and the company once a week through a hidden stone with a place for a note.  She goes to a service and before she knows it, she is on the farm.

Church members are expected to revere Papa J as the leader is known and his wife, who is in charge of discipline.  The members are given little food or sleep and as the days go by, Robin finds herself falling into the mindset of those who are true members.  She starts to hear of deaths and punishments and everyone is expected to sleep with whomever asks.  Will Robin get to the church's secrets before her identity is stolen?

This is the eighth Comoran Strike novel and it is definitely one of the best.  Robin is dating a police officer and Strike always has a woman around but the two are starting to admit to themselves that their true interests are in each other.  The church's secrets are slowly revealed which builds the tension around whether Robin will be able to escape their clutches.  It is very long, over nine hundred pages, but it's hard to see what could have been left out as everything comes to a head.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus

 

Elizabeth Zott wants to be known for one thing, her mind.  She wanted to get her doctorate in chemistry but a doctoral supervisor who stole her research and then tried to have sex with her put an end to that.  She ends up at a research facility but in the 1960's, Elizabeth is seen as lab assistant material not scientist.  That is, until Calvin Evans notices her.  Calvin is a Nobel-nominated scientist and he is entranced with a woman he can talk with who understands him.  It doesn't hurt that Elizabeth is gorgeous and soon they fall in love.

But when Calvin is killed leaving Elizabeth alone and pregnant, she is pushed out of her job.  She creates her own lab in her kitchen and her former co-workers often come by to get her assistance with their work.  But it's not enough money to support her and her daughter.  So when she is offered the chance to host a cooking show on the local PBS station, she reluctantly agrees.

Elizabeth is a hit!  She doesn't only teach women how to cook nutritious meals but she tells them daily to reach for their dreams.  To go get educated, to do what they dream of doing in life.  Where will it all end?

This is a debut novel and it took off like a rocket.  It won numerous awards and has been made into a television series.  Women love Elizabeth and her refusal not to be taken seriously and her determination to live her dreams.  Bonnie Garmus was a copywriter when she wrote this novel.  There are elements of her own life here, Elizabeth and Calvin are rowers as is Bonnie, and the amazing dog echoes her real life companion.  The book is humorous while insisting on women as individuals who should be given credit for their accomplishments.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.    

The Meaning Of Night by Michael Cox

 

Edward Glyver grows up with his single mother in a coastal city.  His mother is an author and spends countless hours writing.  Edward grows up as a scholar and a bibliophile, having been able to attend a good school through the help of one of his mother's friends.  When she dies, he discovers something amazing.  She was not his mother at all.  She was raising him as a favor for her best friend, a woman who was married to nobility.  But Edward has no legal proof.

He becomes friends with various men who hold parts of the puzzle and who help him.  Chief among these is his boss, who owns a legal firm and who hired Edward when he returned to England from several years abroad.  Edward also falls in love along the way and that may be his downfall.

This is the first novel in a series.  It is written in a Victorian manner and reminded me of several Charles Dickens novels.  Edward has a nemesis who haunts his life and has since boyhood.  He is also about to win the place in life that should be Edward's.  Who will be recognized as the rightful heir to estates and unimaginable wealth?  Cox is an English author and this is his debut novel.  It is recommended for literary fiction readers.