The Trespasser by Tana French

The Trespasser by Tana French

Detective Antoinette Conway and the partner Stephen Moran have been working the night shift in Murder for a while now. They keep hoping they are going to get a good case instead of the domestics they keep pulling.  But one morning, as they are about the leave, they are assigned a case.  At first glance it seems like a cut and dried domestic, but as they dig deeper they realize they could have finally pulled the case they have been hoping for, but it may take them places they don’t want to go.

French writes great police procedurals that are also intense character studies. You get into Detective Conway’s head, you feel the paranoia building, and you experience the case through her eyes.  I really like that this is a step by step procedural including dead ends, bad leads, and fanciful thinking. Every theory, thought and interview is played out so you have the same information as the detectives and start to solve the case right along with them.  This is a great choice on audiobook because the Irish accents really keep you in Dublin; and the reader just has a great voice.

Paper Girls Volumes 1 & 2 by Brian K. Vaughan

Paper Girls Volumes 1 & 2 by Brian K. Vaughan

Goonies meets Back to the Future meets Total Recall.  It’s 1988 and four paper girls team up on Mischief Night to deliver papers because there is safety in numbers.  While this does keep them safe from egg wielding teenagers it’s not as helpful with the time traveling aliens.  Or the “folding” they fall into and travel to 2016 when they meet one of their future (present?) selves.

Vaughn is the writer of Y: The Last Man (which is really good if you haven’t read it) and when this one was being compared to Goonies I figured I had to give it a try.  Not sure why I didn’t blog it after the first volume, but the second was just as fun so I wanted to help get it up on people’s radar.

If you aren’t a graphic novel fan, but you want to try one to see what the fuss is about, if you lived through the 80s this is a good one to pick up.  The colors of the art are vibrant (remember all the neon of the 80s?) and the style brought me back to my childhood.  And watching these young girls try to wrap their heads around the oddness of the present day is fun to witness.  Oh yeah, and there are other people interested in these time traveling tweens and right now I can’t figure out who are the good guys and who are the bad.

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Alice Love is unwell.  At least that is what everyone is telling her after her she hit her head during her Friday morning spin class.   Alice has lost ten years of her life.  The baby she remembers being pregnant with is now ten and has two siblings.  Her husband, the love of her life, the man she remembers being with only the day before, seems to hate her.  They are separated and going through a divorce.  But how could this be?  They were so much in love and she thinks they just have to get back together, but will she feel the same when her memory comes back?  

I’m a fan of Liane Moriarty (I’m listening to her most recent right now) and I enjoyed this one.  As usual there is a lot going on, and the memory loss, which some authors have not done well with, Moriarty makes work.  You find yourself empathizing with both the old and new Alice wondering along with her how things went wrong and how, possibly, they could be made right.

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore

Thomas Edison is suing George Westinghouse for patent infringement and young attorney Paul Ravath is representing Westinghouse.  Ravath is trying to prove that Westinghouse is allowed to manufacture superior light bulbs because (he feels) there are issues with Edison’s patent while at the same time Westinghouse hires Tesla to improve his alternating current (as opposed to the direct current Edison is installing around New York City.)  While we know how things turned out (sort of) this is the story behind the lawsuit that would change the world.  We know what electricity looks like today -- but how did it start and get where it is today?

While I read historical fiction I tend to read stories about regular people living in the past.  I’m not always a fan of fiction using real people, and this book had numerous real people as characters, but it was really well done.  (Should have expected that from the screenwriter of The Imitation Game.)  I found myself furiously reading to see what happened next when I easily could have looked up how it all played out.  The author makes the story read like a legal thriller with a lot of corporate intrigue thrown in and kept it all fascinating.  When you’re done reading the book be sure to check out the author’s website where he does side by side comparisons of what happened in the narrative compared to history here.  

Outcast: A Darkness Surrounds Him by Robert Kirkman

Outcast: A Darkness Surrounds Him by Robert Kirkman

In the midst of holiday shopping and to-do lists a mile long I’ve started a really long book on audio as well as started and put down a few others in print.  I needed to finish something else to blog so I picked up a graphic novel from my pile and was pleasantly surprised, so much so I just checked out the next two volumes.

Kyle Barnes had a difficult childhood.  His mom was a loving and wonderful mother one day, awful and mean the next.  People close to Kyle have changed and he finally may know why: demonic possession.  After returning to his hometown and helping the neighborhood priest with an exorcism Kyle may finally believe in demons.  What he can’t believe, or start to understand, is why he seems to have the power to dismiss the demons from their hosts.  

What first drew me to the series was the writer.  If the name seems familiar but you can’t put your finger on it Robert Kirkman is the writer of The Walking Dead graphic novels.  I wanted to see what he thought of next.  Apparently I wasn’t the only one interested, or who liked it, since I just found out (I’m a little out of touch I guess) that Outcast premiered as a television series this summer on Cinemax and was renewed for another season.  I’ll have to keep an eye out for it on DVD...

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Nina Redmond is a librarian in Birmingham, England who has just been downsized.  She really doesn’t want to pursue a career free from books in the new media center but she is at a loss what to do.  So meek, quiet Nina does something her friends think is very out of character, she journeys to Scotland to take a look at a bus.  And buys it.  And moves to the Scottish Highlands to run a mobile bookstore.  And learns that while the worlds she finds within the pages of a book are grand, a life lived is so much better.

If you are a sucker for a Scottish accent you MUST listen to this book.  The reader does wonderful Scottish and English accents that really make the book come alive.  There are romantic elements to the book, and lots of references to books, but at the heart it is the story of a young woman finding her place in the world and working hard for what she loves.

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis

The Dollhouse by Fiona Davis

It’s 1952 and Darby has just arrived in New York City at the Barbizon Hotel, a hotel for women particularly those studying at Katherine Gibbs to be secretaries like Darby or for models working for the Ford Agency.  Darby feels lost stuck on a floor with glamorous models, and she really isn’t enjoying her classes very much.  She becomes friends with a maid at the hotel, Esme, who is outgoing and outspoken and takes Darby under her wing.  Esme introduces Darby to the jazz scene and a world Darby never knew existed.  Years later, in the present day, Rose is living in a newly renovated condo same building as the Barbizon Hotel.  Rose is a journalist and learns that back in the 1950s a maid fell to her death from the roof of the hotel and that some of the ladies who lived in the hotel then have never left and live in rent controlled apartments on the fourth floor.  So begins the story of the past and present in a building that touches the lives of two very interesting women.

This book really makes the lives of these singles ladies from small towns trying to exist and thrive in the big city in the 50s come to life.  The author is really good at breathing life into these characters and making the reader like them in spite of their flaws.  Good people will make some bad and interesting decisions when life throws horrible things their way.  I also liked the way she make the ladies spark as their younger AND older selves instead of making the older versions of these ladies quiet and cozy.  

For fans of historical fiction as well as books in New York City and mysteries too.

The Spinster’s Guide to Scandalous Behavior by Jennifer McQuiston

The Spinster’s Guide to Scandalous Behavior by Jennifer McQuiston

Lucy is not looking forward to her debut one bit.  Society and all that goes with it do not interest her at all.  So when her aunt whom she only met once leaves her a cottage in Cornwall (and her diaries on how to be a great spinster) Lucy knows she has to check out the property quick before her father sells her inheritance to a greedy marquess.  A handsome marquess who is not at all what she expected, which is only fair because Lucy, a lady wearing pants for their first meeting, is not what he was expecting either. 

Winner of the Historical Love and Laughter award from Romantic Times this year I didn’t love this one as much as the last one RT recommended which I read. I’m not a big fan of the ‘being alone is oh so lonely so having a man in your life makes things oh so much better’ ending so that may have colored my feelings but it’s a romance so that’s what I expected.  Also I wanted to smack a couple of people upside the head a few times because how could you not know that this person standing next to you was your perfect match?!  Argh!  The book did keep my interest and I kept turning the pages so all in all it was a fun historical romance.

Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra

Only Daughter by Anna Snoekstra

Thinking her life is awful a twenty-something flees her family but having nowhere to go she decides to impersonate a girl who has been missing for a decade that friends commented years ago could have been her twin. Now she is Rebecca, Bec, and after convincing the police she will have to convince Bec’s family that she’s their missing daughter.  Will they believe her?  Will she be able to keep her DNA out of the hands of the authorities?  Will she share Bec’s fate?

This is a pretty creepy book.  Told in present day chapters with our unnamed imposter alternating with chapters of Bec’s life until the day she disappears the author is great at red herrings making you suspect just about everyone in Bec’s life.  It is a little difficult to empathize with the imposter, not knowing until almost the end of the book what she’s running from, just knowing that she’s giving this family hope -- but then also wondering how they can’t possibly know this isn’t their daughter…

All comes together at the end and not in the way you suspect.  There are some really difficult minutes towards the end (I listened, and the reader was great, her Australian accent was a constant reminder of the setting, but you can’t skim like with a book) but there is a good twist at the end.  Did it end a little too perfectly?  Yes, but I’m really glad it did.  (When you read the last few pages you’ll understand exactly what I mean.)

The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate: Discoveries From a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben

The next time you hear a breeze rustling through the leaves and think you hear whisperings you just may be hearing the trees talking about you with each other! Okay, I exaggerate, but just a little.  Trees in old growth forests do communicate with each other.  They can also taste, hear and see -- just not like we do at all.  And they form relationships, keeping nearby fallen relatives alive for hundreds of years by feeding it nutrients when the stump no longer has leaves and can’t create its own food by way of photosynthesis.

Wohlleben is a forester in Germany (this book has been translated into many languages) and during his time on the job he began to realize that not only were the trees interacting with each other and the other life forms of the forest, but that a lot of what he was told as a forester simply wasn’t right.  Old growth forest is VERY different from new growth forest; our cultivation techniques are basically making the trees mute and forcing them to be loners.

I learned so much reading this book and the writing style was great.  Short chapters allow you to read a bit, put the book down for a while, and then resume reading with nothing lost in between.  If you enjoy walking in the woods be sure to read this one this winter, but not in front of a wood burning stove or fireplace because you’ll just end up feeling guilty.   

The Jersey Devil by Hunter Shea

The Jersey Devil by Hunter Shea

When I saw that the author of The Montauk Monster was coming out with a new book I was really happy, when I saw the title I knew I had to read it! 

A television personality and cryptozoologist teams up with a family of Upstate New York farmers to investigate the recent Jersey Devil sightings in the Pine Barrens.  Why are these farmers so interested in the Jersey Devil?  Will the cryptozoologist finally get proof that strange creatures exist in our world?  Will New Jersey survive?

Yep, this is a gore fest, that goes over the top, but it’s a monster/horror story so you have to expect that.  As a female some parts were extremely cringe-worthy, but if you know anything about the legend you kind of know where it was going.  I will give one spoiler here: the book should have been called The Jersey Devils…

Schneider vs. Bax (Foreign Film - Dutch)

Schneider vs. Bax (Foreign Film - Dutch)

I currently have four books started and I’m anxious to finish them all, so of course I sat down and watched a movie a couple of evenings ago instead.  (In my defense there are holds on the film and I wanted to make sure the next person got it on time!)

Schneider just wants to be home with his wife and kids and help them with the preparations for a dinner party because it is his birthday.  But duty calls.  The client wants an author, who happens to be a child killer, brought to swift justice. His family thinks he works on boats but Schneider is a contract killer.  He figures that this will be an easy job, but this is one writer that is going to be very hard to kill.

Almost all foreign thrillers I’ve seen manage to mix dark humor, off the wall characters, and really odd plot twists.  This one really goes overboard on all three and makes for an entertaining, dark story.  Will Bax finally die allowing Schneider to enjoy his birthday cake?  Or was this birthday morning Schneider’s last?

Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman

Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman

The next time someone calls you a birdbrain just smile and say thank you for they are truly giving you a compliment! Can you find 30,000 seeds a year after burying them?  Can you find your way from Mexico to the Arctic without a map or GPS?  Can you sing the same song in the EXACT same way millions of times over?  I didn’t think so.  Birds can.  It’s amazing the things that these little bundles of feathers are capable of doing.  

The author, and the scientists she interviews, try very hard not to anthropomorphize their subjects yet they illustrate the feats birds perform in ways so we can feel our human inadequacy.  Simply, birds are darn good at what they do.  Personally I’m a fan of the less loved birds and I was very happy to see one of them get a lot of ink for their smarts.  That would be the corvids, the family including crows and ravens.  I always knew I liked them for a reason!

The one sobering part of the book was the end when  the author discussed climate change and loss of habitat and how it will affect the diversity of birds in the future.  Many may not survive the coming decades which will greatly change our world and our woods.  That fleeting pop of color winging by and the melodic song caught on a breeze may not be heard by future generations.  Birds are trying to adapt, but sadly not all of them have the minds to adapt as quickly as they may have to to survive.

I listened to this book and while I enjoyed it I did have one problem with the way the book was read. To my ear the reader paused over long before many names and I found it jarring.  Granted, that could just be me, and it didn’t stop me from listening to and liking the entire book.  

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple

Today Eleanor is going to do things differently.  She’s going to start the day off right, and not let the day fall apart.  But today is not a normal day.  Today would be challenging for anyone.  A great humorous novel dealing with serious issues from the author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette?

Eleanor is a hot mess.  I found it difficult to understand why she’s such a mess since she seems to be living an idyllic life until you start to learn about what makes her tick.  Gradually she started to make more sense to me and I found myself hoping that her life got straightened out and fast!  Life is messy. Some lives are messier than others.  The more lives you connect to your own the messier life gets. But while the mess is hard to deal with, the people in your life are so much more important than dealing with a mess.  

This was the best audiobook I’ve listened to in a long while.  I was laughing out loud.  The reader is really great and fun and makes the whole book come alive. If you are an audiobook lover, or are thinking of trying an audiobook, don’t miss this one!

This Heart of Mine by Brenda Novak

This Heart of Mine by Brenda Novak

It was pointed out to me that I haven’t blogged any romance books in a long time and since my brain needed a rest a book where I know things will end happily ever after seemed like a perfect fit right now!  I went to the Romantic Times website to see the books that won awards this summer, which would all be books published in 2015 and hopefully would be on the shelf -- and they were!  The winner in the Contemporary Romance category was this one, and I’ll admit, it was a winner even though the premise had me doubting their choice.

Phoenix is free again to make her own decisions and decides to return to Whiskey Creek to help out her mother and start a new chapter in her life.  She’s not expecting her reception to the town to be a warm one.  She’s been gone for seventeen years, shortly before giving birth to her son Jacob.  Jacob has been raised by her only love, her high school boyfriend Riley.  She’s anxious to get to know her son and avoid most of the residents of Whiskey Creek.  Phoenix went to jail for killing Riley’s girlfriend, the girl he dated after breaking up with her.  Phoenix always said she was innocent but instead of being bitter about serving so much time for a crime she didn’t commit, she’s back wanting to start again and hoping that everyone will see she paid for her supposed crime and let her get on with starting again.  Unfortunately the family of the dead girl doesn’t feel the same way.  And even more unfortunate for Phoenix, she still has feelings for Riley even though she knows she shouldn’t.  And more confusing?  It seems he has feelings for her.  Will Phoenix be able to start over in Whiskey Creek?  Will she be able to be a part of her son’s life?  Can she include her son’s father in her life or will she just be hurt again?

What I really liked about this book was the way it delved into the mind of a woman who has been incarcerated for half her life; a woman who isn’t bitter or broken from the experience, who truly wants to start with a clean slate and bends over backwards to retain her pride and establish a relationship with her son.  You know she and Riley will end up together but the distance she tries to make between them makes so much sense that you find yourself hoping they don’t, but come on of course you do want them together!  And this is a romance!  You won’t be disappointed!

Nutshell by Ian McEwan

Nutshell by Ian McEwan

Define this book in a nutshell?  Weirdest retelling of Hamlet EVER.  Apparently some reviewers aren’t mentioning this which I find odd.  You know it’s a retelling of Hamlet in the first chapter, and I don’t think I picked up on it just because I’m a big fan of the bard, it’s pretty obvious.  Trudy is having an affair with Claude, the brother of her husband, and they are plotting to kill her cuckolded husband together.  Problem is there is a witness to their crime: the unborn child of Trudy and her poet husband, soon to be joining the dead poet society if she and Claude get their way.

Shakespeare's Hamlet is a very introspective character with all his soliloquies and his unborn self is a tiny version of his older self.  He doesn’t have anyone to talk to so he spends his squished days contemplating life, the universe and everything.  He loves his mom, because she’s his world, but he is terrified and heartbroken that his mom is plotting to kill his dad.  He wants Trudy and Claude to be caught, but then realizes that jail could really make his life difficult. What’s an unborn witness to do?

If you need a short read that is really different from anything else you’ve got it here.

Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

Kept Woman by Karin Slaughter

I’m sitting here trying to figure out how to describe the plot of this book and I’m at a loss.  It is either going to come out to pages of plot twists that will confound and put off potential readers or I’ll be giving parts of the suspense away trying to explain pieces of the plot.  So I will not do that.  I’ll try minimalistic and see how that goes...and nope.  Just deleted it because I realized I gave away two things in my brief three lines.  *sigh*

This is a really complicated plot involving numerous players and motivations all at odds with one another.  For the major part of the book we only know what the investigators know, but after about half the book we start to hear from another character (can’t say who) and the blanks start to get filled in bit by bit. While there is a LOT going on the author is adept at keeping everything straight and the characters are memorable enough that you are able to keep everyone clear in your mind as you unravel what happened that night at the abandoned nightclub, and why.

Apparently this was the eighth book in a series and since I didn’t realize that until I was writing this review I figure it’s good proof that you can read it as a standalone and still enjoy the story.  Also really good on audio and the library has it on Playaway!

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman 

The Library (with a capital L) is an entity with doorways to all the alternate worlds run by Librarians who aren’t on a higher mission to save the worlds they visit, but to find unique works of fiction and save them in a place out of time and space.  The more material Librarians bring back to the Library the more the Language (again with a capital L) evolves.  Precise command over the Language allows Librarians to manipulate objects, it’s sort of like magic, but not.

Irene is a new Librarian given her first mission:enter a world that has a chaos problem (naturally Librarians are none too fond of chaos) and find that world’s unique collection of Grimm’s faery tales and bring it back to the Library.  Of course nothing is ever simple when fae, zeppelins, dead again vampires, master detectives and clockwork centipedes are involved.

Those who don’t mind entering a world like, yet unlike our own Victorian London, and think that librarians truly have superpowers (because we do) will enjoy this fantastic adventure.  And the best news?  This is the first in a series and the third was just announced.

All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

At a party young teen Jenny Kramer is brutally raped and within hours of the incident her parents give the go ahead for Jenny to be given a controversial drug to make her forget all that happened to her.  Her body heals but her mind is still in turmoil since her emotions do not have memories to link to; she is struggling and losing the fight.  Enter her psychiatrist.  The man who will help her forge new pathways to her lost memories, memories he hopes are still in her brain.  He will also help her mother, who does her best to pretend all is well in her world since Jenny’s memory wipe makes it almost seem like it never happened, and her father, who is obsessed with finding the rapist and bringing him to justice.

You know there is a twist right?  The narrator is the unnamed psychiatrist.  So we learn just about everything about the main characters, including their deepest secrets, and the investigation, since the cops are anxious for any leads Jenny’s memories can provide.  While this is a really different way to relate a story, that’s not exactly the twist.  At the core of this book are some very basic questions.  How far would you go to protect your kids?  And how far would you go to protect yourself?

This is yet another case where I thought I knew where things were going, which would have still made a great story, but then the narrative does a spin out and you’re just along for the ride.  A great thriller that has put this author on my radar for her next book.   

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

Arthur Pepper has had a routine since his wife passed away a year ago.  The sixty-nine year old eats breakfast at the same time, wears the same outfit, watches the same television shows...but then something happens.  Realizing that it is time to go through his wife’s possessions and donate her clothing to charity he sticks his hand into one of her boots and pulls out a heart shaped box with a heart shaped lock.  Intrigued, and unable to resist a lock being a locksmith by training, Arthur picks the lock and opens the box.  Inside he finds a beautiful charm bracelet he has never seen that doesn’t seem like something his wife would own.  The elephant charm especially catches his eye and when he examines it he sees numbers.  It appears to be a telephone number.  Arthur decides to break routine and call the number, so begins his journey to discover what his wife’s life was like before they got married, and to discover things about himself along the way.

This was described to me at a workshop I was presenting at in one word: delightful.  I couldn’t agree more.  I’m not one for treacly tales, I have to admit I was a bit concerned, but this is not that at all.  This is about a man questioning what he thought he knew about the woman he spent most of his life with as well as questioning what he plans on doing with the rest of his life.  It’s about awakenings, acceptance and what matters in life.  Everyone should be lucky enough find a charm bracelet, or any reason at all, to go on an adventure when they need to reconnect to the world.

Arrowood by Laura McHugh

Arrowood by Laura McHugh

Arden Arrowood was four years old when her twin two-year old sisters were kidnapped from their front yard.  She has never really recovered from the guilt of that day even though she was so young herself.  She hasn’t been back to the family estate of Arrowood on the Mississippi River in years, but when she inherits the property she returns to try to put the past behind her by answering the questions no one has been able to, most importantly, where are her sisters?  

Aided by a journalist who is writing a book about the case for the twentieth anniversary of their disappearance Arden digs into the past of her family, her town and herself wondering if her own memories are reliable at all.

This is another story where the house is a character in its own right and seems to want to give up its secrets.  This is one of those books that as you neared the end you were pretty sure you knew how it ended, which I have to admit would have been disappointing, but it didn’t end where you assumed it would.  That’s when the author threw in one amazing twist that just left me with my jaw hanging open.  

Surrender, New York by Caleb Carr

Surrender, New York by Caleb Carr

It’s been almost twenty years since Caleb Carr released The Angel of Darkness and fans have been eagerly awaiting another book from him about forensic scientists.  Instead of taking place in the 1890s this is a present day story focusing on a profiler, Dr. Trajan Jones, and a trace evidence expert, Dr. Michael Lee, who have been forced out of New York City and now teach classes at SUNY Albany based on the teachings of the first profilers back in the 1890s, the men Carr’s earlier books were based on.  The focus on these teachings and how that viewpoint affects the way Jones and Lee evaluate the case that they are called in to consult on is the only way Carr’s earlier book and this one are tied together.

Jones and Lee (and I can’t help but also think the author) have a serious problem with the way law enforcement currently operates and all the CSI types of television shows.  They feel that evidence should be viewed in context without preconceived ideas of the perpetrator of the crime or a reliance on statistical probabilities.  Using these methods get the duo in deeper and deeper in a case that someone high up in politics doesn’t seem to want to be solved.

There are a lot of dead ends and red herrings as well as twists and turns that keep the novel moving but the book seems to be overlong and there are some subplots that threaten to take over the narrative unnecessarily.  I must admit, I don’t know if I would have stuck with the book if I had read it.  But I listened to it and really enjoyed it, especially the Queens and Upstate New York accents, both of which I’m very familiar with and it felt like a journey to the past for me because of it.  

This will most likely be the first a series and I would be interested in listening to the next, but I hope the author and editor work together to tighten up (and shorten) the next book. 

The Drowning by Camilla Läckberg

The Drowning by Camilla Läckberg

The small community of Fjällbacka is thrilled to have another bestselling author in their midst!  Christian Thydell isn’t thrilled with being the center of attention. He decided to have his novel published, true, but he wants nothing to do with the fame that goes with his novel’s popularity.  Erica Falck, the heroine of Läckberg’s mystery series and a crime writer herself, tries to help Christian deal with his newfound fame but the discovery of anonymous threatening letters sent to him sends Erica snooping to find the sender of the letters. When a local man is found murdered, and other friends of his also report receiving threatening letters, Erica knows she needs to find the identity of the letter writer, and fast.

Like all the books in the Fjällbacka series Erica discovers important information much to the dismay of her police officer husband Patrick who wants her to stay far from danger and leave the police work to the police.  Patrick has reason to be particularly concerned at this point in time because his wife is far along in her pregnancy and is expecting twins. 

If you are a fan of the series you’ll want to read this one to check in with all the characters are see what is happening in their lives.  If you are not, please read another Fjällbacka book.  I really enjoy this series (and the television show) but the pacing of this one was really slow and the solution to the crime was pretty over the top for my tastes.  That and it ends in a double cliffhanger where you are concerned for two of the main characters that was also pretty over the top. I’m hoping Läckberg takes the more believable route in her next outing.

Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst

Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst

Alexandra has tried her best to provide a loving and constructive environment for her two children Tilly and Iris.  Iris, the youngest, is a neurotypical child, who loves but is sometimes frustrated by her sister Tilly.  Tilly, the eldest, is brilliant but different, falling somewhere on the autism spectrum.  She is obsessed with giant people (statues that are larger than life size) and can share interesting facts with anyone, often without being asked, she is beginning to grasp what language and topics are and aren’t appropriate, but with limited success, and she is generally a happy person.  However after a life threatening incident at her school, the last school that would enroll her, Tilly is asked to leave.  Alexandra is faced with the last resort, homeschooling, but even that idea is not working out.  At her wits end Alexandra starts to convince her husband Josh that an extreme change is needed.  Enter Scott Bean.

Scott is a parenting guru who has developed a following of parents of children with autism who are, like Alexandra, looking for a good parenting/education option for her children.  Scott is creating a camp, Camp Harmony, in the woods of New Hampshire and has asked three families to join him in running it. Feeling that this is her only hope for a normal life for Tilly, and seeing how Scott is able to connect with her daughter and other children like her, her family moves to New Hampshire.

You know from the start that something is going to go wrong.  This is the story of a family in crisis that finds a savior in a man who is far from perfect, very far, but does that mean all he did for their family means nothing?  When you hear about these people who follow strange leaders do you wonder how they could pick up their lives and do such a thing?  Alexandra used to read those stories and feel the same.  Until she met Scott Bean.

The book is told in alternating chapters narrated by Iris in the present and Alexandra in the past to illustrate what brought the family to Camp Harmony and what life is like at the camp.  Seeing the camp through the eyes of an observant child clues the adult reader into how odd things are, but Iris knows better than to question Scott’s strange teaching methods and angry outbursts. An interesting look at a family struggling to figure out what is best for everyone in their family.

And for those who are nervous about what you read in this description, the book ends on a positive note.  Fans of Jodi Picoult and Ann Leary will enjoy this novel.

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

Nicolette Farrell has to return to her small hometown in North Carolina to help her brother get the family home ready to sell. Nic left soon after her high school graduation ten years ago and rarely came home to visit.  Too many memories are brought back when she goes home all centered on the disappearance of her best friend Corinne after the annual carnival.  Nic and all her friends were questioned and their lives scrutinized by law enforcement and the residents of the small town; their secrets aired to all.  Nic isn’t thrilled with being back, she’d much rather be in Philadelphia with her fiance but she knows she needs to be there.  Her trepidation of being home is realized when Annaleise, the current girlfriend of Nic’s high school flame, goes missing shortly after leaving a message for police that she has questions about what happened to Corinne.

With that plot summary I’m sure you’re expecting some dead ends, and a twisty plot and secrets being uncovered.  Me too, but I got so much more.  This is the psychological study of the dynamic of a group of high school friends that examines the mind of not only high school girls, but first love and what it’s like being an adult returning home.  

There is one thing that REALLY makes this book stand out.  It’s told backwards.  Yes, backwards.  The first part of the book sets the stage and then the next page is Day 15. You finish that chapter and the page reads The Day Before, Day 14.  I didn’t know going into this if the format would work, but it really did.  And the tension it builds is great.  For those that want to try something new, or enjoy thrillers and mysteries.

Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman

Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman

Lu (short for Louisa) is the newly elected state’s attorney for Howard County in Maryland.  She takes on her first case, the murder of a single woman in her apartment, and as the investigation unfolds Lu begins to re-examine events from her own childhood and even her father’s (a former state’s attorney) most famous case.

Told in alternating chapters between the present and the past we learn about Lu’s upbringing by her single father and her worshipfulness towards her older brother AJ and his friends.  Lu is almost a footnote in her own life, finally being able to be the center her own story instead of the sister of AJ or her father’s daughter.  But as Lu starts to deconstruct the myths surrounding her family, including the famous case where her father got a murder conviction without a body and the time AJ came to the defense of his best friend while the attacker was accidently killed,  she begins to realize she may not know the truth but only a version of these stories she, and everyone else, believed in.

Not my favorite Lippman book even though I really liked the way the storylines all came together at the end.  It was good, but it was slow going.  This is one of those rare times I think I would have liked print better.  The readers (there were two, one for the past and one for the present) were both wonderful, but I would have liked to be able to skim a bit.

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Got a witch problem?  There’s an app for that!  

Hex is the imaginings of a very sick and twisted mind.  This novel was a huge hit in Europe, written by a Dutchman, that oddly enough takes place in the fictional sleepy town of Black Spring on the Hudson just a tad north of West Point.  Always found the placement of West Point odd?  Katherine, the witch of Black Spring, is the reason.  

Black Spring is a nice enough town, but it is cursed.  The Black Rock Witch, a woman accused of witchcraft in the seventeenth century, and it seems rightfully so, walks the streets to this day.  Her eyes and mouth were sewn shut decades ago and her arms are chained to her sides so she is basically harmless.  Basically.  But there are still rules to living in Black Spring including NEVER to tell those outside the town about her existence. 

But it’s modern times.  There is the internet.  There are cameras.  So there’s an app to keep track of the movements of the witch.   But there are also teenagers…  When one teenager decides to start recording “tests” with Katherine and push the limits of the curse, things start to spiral out of control.

More than just a horror novel, and yes, it starts off light and gets pretty darn horrific, this is a study of human nature: at its best, worst and breaking point. The dynamic of the town as a living breathing entity is amazing to witness.  The characters all act as they could under the bizarre circumstances, but that doesn’t make it any easier to read.  The mob mentality, as well as evil tendencies of the few bad seeds that push the envelope, developed slowly yet it felt natural, which made it all the more horrific to read.  The psychological and sociological aspects the author explores are fascinating while being scary.

I listened to Hex which is always challenging for a horror book because you can’t skim, you can’t look away, you have to hear everything.  Some of the voices the narrator chose to use for certain characters were annoying, but they all fit. 

If you’re looking for something scary, but really different this Halloween, try visiting Black Spring for a spell. 

The Defense by Steve Cavanagh

The Defense by Steve Cavanagh

This is the best legal thriller I have read in years, probably ever.  If you are a fan of courtroom drama you absolutely cannot miss this one.

Eddie Flynn is minding his own business getting a cup of coffee at a cafe in New York City when he’s convinced to attend a meeting in a town car parked out front.  (Threatened really by a thug with a gun.)  Eddie just finished a stint in rehab after a case led him down the rabbit hole and just wants to focus on putting his family back together.  Imagine his surprise when the head of a Russian mob family tells Eddie he will be taking on his case.  Eddie hasn’t practiced law in months, his former partner would be a better defender.  Too bad his former partner was this guy’s former lawyer, and his former partner’s head is now in a bag.  Eddie is tasked with getting a bomb into the courtroom to blow up the state’s key witness if the trial goes badly.  Oh!  And the trial, that he knows nothing about, starts in less than an hour.  And oh yeah, motivation? The Russian mob has Eddie’s daughter.  One thing the Russians don’t know is that Eddie Flynn was a con man, one of the best, before he took the bar.  He’ll be using all the resources he has to get his daughter back and if that means winning an impossible case, he’ll do just that.

I couldn’t put this book down.  I had to know what was going to happen next.  I love reading the snappy dialogue of smooth talking characters who can think on their feet and Eddie Flynn is a master.  If I were a prosecutor I would feel ill if I saw him sitting at the defense table; he’s amazing.  And that’s just his legal skills.  His former profession has made him some interesting friends and given him some interesting (semi-illegal) knowledge that just may let him pull this off.

Almost all of the book takes place in the court building or in the courtroom over the course of only two days.  If you like John Grisham you are going to LOVE Steve Cavanagh.  I cannot wait for his next book.

Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

Security by Gina Wohlsdorf

Manderley is the new luxury hotel in Santa Barbara boasting to be the most secure facility of its kind anywhere.  The hotel owner’s father was murdered in a hotel by a cheap bomb so a secure facility was the number one priority, luxury was a close second.  Movie stars, politicians, billionaires are all anticipated to flock here; a place where their secrets are safe and their safety is tantamount.  

Manderley opens in twenty-four hours and final preparations are under way.  Security is enclosed in the top floor control room monitoring the plethora of cameras...or are they?  Something is wrong at Manderley.  VERY wrong.  A killer is in the hotel and is determined that no one leave alive.

Yes, this book is pretty gory.  Perfect Halloween read!  But this book is also masterfully constructed.  There are so many books which attempt to use multiple narrators and points of view that just manage to confuse the reader. Wohlsdorf uses multiple cameras to impart the action and sometimes the point of view changes from paragraph to paragraph, with no notation that the view is changing, but as a reader you are never at a loss about what is going on.  (I checked with two other people who read this book and they had similar experiences, so it’s not just me saying this.)  I was amazed by how well constructed this slim (230 pages) book was as being a great thriller.  There are at least three twists that really got me and while she ties up all the loose ends of the action, you are still left with a few questions.

A great amazingly crafted horror/thriller that makes you grateful that you can’t afford to stay in a hotel like Manderley.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

I’m Thinking of Ending Things by Iain Reid

First off, the title refers to a woman contemplating ending her relationship with her boyfriend, not suicide.  Second, this is not like anything you have ever read.  
A young woman has been dating a man, brilliant, a great conversationalist, if a little odd, for a couple of months.  Jake’s bringing her to the remote farm where he grew up to meet his parents.  He seems to think that the relationship is going well while she has her doubts.  As the book progresses you realize something isn’t quite right.  Who is calling the girl with strange and cryptic messages?  Why the strange detours after the road trip?  Does Jake know she’s thinking of ending things?

I finished this book last night and I think it haunted my dreams because I did not sleep well.  This is psychological horror so I was expecting mind games, but I have to admit I still don’t really know what happened.  There is a conversation between two unknown people that occasionally happens in the course of the book that foretells something awful, so you know something really bad is going to happen, but I’m still at a loss over what actually happened.  Maybe I read too fast?  I did skim the ending again this morning and I didn’t really miss much so I’m assuming the author wants the reader to fill in the blanks because let’s face it, our minds fill those empty spaces with all sorts of interesting things in the middle of the night...

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

Lo Blacklock is being given her big break.  Her boss is on sick leave so she gets to cover the super-exclusive yacht/cruise ship for her travel magazine. Common spaces, including a large dining room, spa and oversized jacuzzi and sauna, and only ten luxuriously appointed cabins with staff assigned to each cabin individually, you know the ship is made to impress.  For its maiden voyage the passengers are well-known journalists of the travel industry and rich potential investors.

There’s a problem.  Lo was the victim of a home invasion shortly before leaving port in England for Norway and is still badly shaken from the experience.  Yes, she is on edge and possibly she drank a little more than she should but she is positive that she spoke with the woman next door in cabin 10 and later in the evening saw a person thrown overboard from that veranda.  She knows what she saw, but no one believes her, especially since cabin 10 is empty because the person who was supposed to occupy it, a man, cancelled at the last minute. Did she really see what she thought she saw?  If so, who was thrown overboard?  And does that mean she’s on board with a murderer?

Don’t read this book if you are thinking of taking a cruise any time soon. Granted, you’re only in danger if you witness an awful event, but maybe don’t take any chances.  I really enjoyed Ware’s debut In a Dark, Dark Wood but while I liked this one, I wasn’t as thrilled with it overall.  The twists were good, but I had difficulty identifying with a character that kept making similar mistakes and was at times hard to like.  A decent thriller, but read her first if you want to try this author.

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

On his way back from buying a carton of ice cream for his wife and son, Jason Desson is kidnapped at gunpoint, drugged and forced into a futuristic looking cube sitting in the middle of an abandoned warehouse.  He wakes up on a floor somewhere else where lots of people are welcoming him back after being gone for over a year.  Jason is really confused, but he doesn’t quite let anyone know because one thing is giving him pause.  That cube was really similar to a teeny-tiny prototype he drew up in his mind back in his graduate school days to allow an object to simultaneously exist in different states (think Schrodinger's Cat a zillion-fold) and if that is what it was then what in the heck just happened?!

Yep, this is the book I chose to take with me as a beach read.  And it was perfect...for me.  The quantum physics is really well explained, so don’t worry about the book being overly technical.  It does get really really REALLY weird.  

Basically one version of Jason made it possible to travel to alternate worlds.  All those huge life choices you made that altered the course of your life, as well as all the tiny decisions that nudged things a bit, as well as the things that happened on a huge scale, like say an asteroid strike, have all happened in one of these universes.  But what would happen if one you decided to slip into the life of another you?  How could You1 find his way back to the world where You2 took over your life?  And what happens when you keep opening doors to other worlds?  Would that mean more of you would pop into or out of existence?  

I really liked this book, if you couldn’t tell, because it made me think and freak out alongside the main character.  Yes, it’s a book about alternate worlds, but at the core it’s about what is most important in life and what you would do to get it back.

Written by the strange mind who brought you the books the television show Wayward Pines is based on, I recommend it for those who miss Michael Crichton or Twin Peaks, or are looking for something sciencey to read after loving The Martian.

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep by Joanna Cannon

It’s 1976 on an avenue in England and Mrs. Creasy has gone missing.  Ten-year-olds Tilly and Grace take it upon themselves to solve the mystery.  The adults are all blaming it on the record heatwave but after talking to the vicar the girls get it in their heads that if they can find God on the avenue they will be able to find Mrs. Creasy too.  

From the beginning it is apparent that there is a deep dark secret on the avenue.  Flashbacks to 1967 fill in some of the blanks, but otherwise we are left with what Tilly and Grace can puzzle out as well as some brief glimpses into the homes on the avenue.  

It was refreshing to read a book where the kids seemed like kids; they made horrible childish mistakes and assume they know more than they actually do.  My only complaint was it was a little difficult to keep track of some of the characters since I spread out my reading over a week instead of sitting down and reading it in a couple of days.

If you’re looking for a glimpse into the underbelly of suburbia of the past (which seemed pretty similar to suburbia in America today) or just a good coming of age story you might want to find out what the trouble is with goats and sheep.

The Children by Ann Leary

The Children by Ann Leary

Joan and Lottie live at Lakeside year round, part of the terms of the trust when Joan’s husband and Lottie’s stepfather Whit died.  Lottie spends her days on the property and up in the attic writing lists for the internet (yes, you can make money doing that) and updating her very popular mommy blog (yes, you can make money doing that too even if you make up your husband and kids) and Joan runs and is involved in community events.  But this summer Lakeside seems to be filling up.  Sally, Lottie’s sister, is on a break from playing violin with the symphony and decides to move back in for a bit.  And Spin, the baby of the family, and a son from Whit’s first marriage, comes by to introduce the family to his fiancee and turn everyone’s world upside down.

I usually don’t like when books suddenly change mood/tone part way through, but I’ll make an exception for this one.  What started as (I thought) a first world problems book turns into a glimpse of how one evil person can change the dynamic of an entire family.  At first I thought it was going to focus on the quirkiness of the family members living in Lakeside and the mental illness of one of the residents, and while that was a factor in the story, the focus instead changed and became a little mysterious.  Someone has it out for Lottie and is trying to harm her reputation online -- who could it be?  And why?

What I thought was going to be another book like The Nest turned out to be more -- a short read that twists in ways you wouldn’t expect.  Be prepared, this book starts out light and gets pretty darn dark.