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
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 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
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
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
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
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 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.
