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.