Murder in Christmas River

Murder in Christmas River
by Meg Muldoon

Blurb:

Cinnamon Peters is one tough cookie.

Every year at Christmas River’s annual Gingerbread Junction Competition, pie baker extraordinaire Cinnamon aims to win, taking down any competitor who gets in her way. But when she finds a dead body in the woods behind her pie shop just days before the big competition, Cinnamon realizes that there’s much more to worry about than cookies, frosting, and gumdrops.

Someone’s out to bring Cinnamon down. And they’re playing dirty. Only Cinnamon and a mysterious stranger who walks into her life one snowy evening can figure out the mystery.  But can they solve it before Cinnamon’s chances of gingerbread competition glory crumble?

My Reaction:

Yet another 372-Pages podcast/bookclub selection!  (Shared read with Donald, as usual.)

I don't have much of a reaction to this, aside from the podcast element.  It's not my personal cup of peppermint tea.  (Not that I drink peppermint tea; I don't.  The only tea I ever drink is sweet iced tea, and that's only at family get-togethers, these days...  But peppermint tea felt seasonally appropriate, so...)  

I've only ever read a few cozy mysteries, so I'm not really familiar enough with the genre to be an effective judge of them, but this was not nearly cozy enough for my tastes.  In my opinion, you should either go heavy on the cozy or just call yourself a regular mystery.  This was neither cozy nor much of a real mystery, so I'm not sure what I'd call it... A bland romance with an extremely lightweight mystery element, maybe.  Cinnamon, the protagonist, was ridiculously morose and self-pitying, as well, which made for a less interesting reading experience.

As for humor, there were a few moments of unintended mirth, but this was not one of the best 372-Pages selections.  Not one I believe will stay with me, particularly.  Even though there was a dog!  Even a cute dog couldn't save this one...  

Search the Shadows

Search the Shadows

by Barbara Michaels

Blurb:

Haskell Maloney was cruelly orphaned when she was just a baby. Now, twenty-two years later, she receives confirmation of the bitter truth she always suspected: the fallen war hero whose name she shares was not her father. Her quest for answers—and a personal history—brings Haskell to the famed Oriental Institute in Chicago, a city in which her mother lived and thrived before her strange, untimely death. But by rummaging around in the darkness, Haskell's exposing much more than she bargained for. And now she's racing against the clock to discover who she really is . . . and why someone is suddenly determined to kill her.

My Reaction:

Eh... This one was so slow to get started!  It needed either more fleshing out to make it more engaging in the first half or to be trimmed down.  (Trimming down would probably be preferable!)  As it is, you're waiting for something to happen-- for the book to take a definite direction-- for far too long.  When things finally get moving, it's okay-ish, but certainly not one of the author's best novels.  

Random Thoughts (with possible slight spoilers):

--  I find it amusing that this author clearly considered herself very "with it" and feminist, and yet her writing has some painfully cringe-worthy sexist stereotypes.  The way she describes one female character in particular, in this book, is just... Wow!

--  The main character is a woman named "Haskell".  A bit odd, and yes, I know I have a nerve to say so, since I'm a female Michael... But I acknowledge that my name is rather odd, too.  

--  I realize she "had" to do it to get the story going in its intended direction, and ultimately you understand why, but it seemed very strange to me that Haskell breaks off her engagement simply because she suspects that the man she thought was her father (but who she had never even met) wasn't her biological dad.  I get that it might be startling and make you want to investigate and locate your biological father, but it's a weird reason to call off an engagement!  She treats Jon poorly throughout the book, really.

--  It will never cease to be gross and yucky and utterly unappealing when male characters with a romantic interest in female characters call them "child", "kid", or otherwise refer to them as being childlike.  "Oh, Haskell ... You are so damned young"?  Ugh!  

--  It always rubs me the wrong way when an author makes irritating "asides", observations, or excuses about how a character has said something that's grammatically incorrect.  Argh!  We know you know how to "write good", okay?  Give it a rest!!  Let the characters speak naturally, please!  Stop berating them (for the words you put in their mouths) and drawing undue attention to the fact that everyday speech is frequently not grammatically correct.  We already know that.

One example: 

"What do you want to know that for?"

"Your grammar is as befuddled as your reasoning," Dave said cuttingly.  

--  Twice near the end, Haskell thinks something to the effect that cigarette smoke smells nice.  My personal favorite?  "I lay still, savoring the beautiful gray light and the exquisite aroma of cigarette smoke that permeated the sheets."  This was published in 1987, so yes, cigarette smoking was more common than it is now, but even back then, didn't most people think cigarette smoke reeked?  If not, it was probably only because they were smokers themselves and were nose-blind to it.  I don't know... I'm just not buying this love for the so-called "aroma" of cigarette smoke.  Then again, I suppose we can sometimes enjoy/appreciate objectively stinky smells simply because we associate them with someone we love.  

--  I wasn't sure who Haskell's father would be, to tell the truth.  There are a handful of equally plausible possibilities, and by the time it was revealed, I just kind of shrugged... "Yep.  That was one of the possibilities I considered.  She sure did find out who her bio dad is.  (...yawn)"

--  I was similarly uncertain of how the romance aspect of the book would work out, until fairly near the end.  It was a bit out of the blue. It felt like she was steering us in a different direction for most of the book... Then you could tell that was a no-go, and she suddenly changed tack, which is something I don't particularly like in romances.  I want a chance to root for a pairing, not have two or three kind of "meh" options and no clue about where things are headed.  So yes, this was slightly disorienting, but unlike some other readers, I found the last part of the book (where the romance is resolved) generally more entertaining to read than much of the rest of it.  I might have liked the book better if more pages had been devoted to the romance instead of the dull, plodding mystery/who's-the-daddy storyline!

--  I was disappointed by the lack of exciting treasure-hunting and sorting through artifacts.  I guess I should've known that wouldn't materialize, because it would be difficult to write in an interesting way without distracting from the rest of the book, but still... I felt let down.  

--  There was very much less of the paranormal than I expected.  Some of this author's novels lean heavily on the supernatural, and for some reason I thought this one might, as well.  I wasn't so much disappointed as mildly surprised by the lack.  

Conclusion:  It took me a while to work my way through this book, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're already a fan.  I think I've always found her works annoying in some ways, but I think I used to enjoy them more than I do now.  At this point, it seems likely that either I'm pickier now or I'm remembering liking some of her other novels better than I actually did.  I can't believe I just happened to read all the better ones first.

Sweet Little Lies

Sweet Little Lies
by Caz Frear

Blurb:

Twenty-six-year-old Cat Kinsella overcame a troubled childhood to become a Detective Constable with the Metropolitan Police Force, but she's never been able to banish these ghosts. When she's called to the scene of a murder in Islington, not far from the pub her estranged father still runs, she discovers that Alice Lapaine, a young housewife who didn't get out much, has been found strangled.

Cat and her team immediately suspect Alice's husband, until she receives a mysterious phone call that links the victim to Maryanne Doyle, a teenage girl who went missing in Ireland eighteen years earlier. The call raises uneasy memories for Cat--her family met Maryanne while on holiday, right before she vanished. Though she was only a child, Cat knew that her charming but dissolute father wasn't telling the truth when he denied knowing anything about Maryanne or her disappearance. Did her father do something to the teenage girl all those years ago? Could he have harmed Alice now? And how can you trust a liar even if he might be telling the truth?

Determined to close the two cases, Cat rushes headlong into the investigation, crossing ethical lines and trampling professional codes. But in looking into the past, she might not like what she finds...

My Reaction:

This was far and away a better book than the last police procedural I read.  It's still not my very favorite genre-- but this one was pretty good.  It could have been tightened up a bit in places, and some of the things that were meant to be funny weren't really amusing to me, personally, but whatever.  I'd ideally give it 3.5 stars, but can't quite round up to 4, so it's staying at 3 stars.

I did see parts of the end coming.  In fact, when it looked like things were wrapping up in a certain way and my prediction hadn't been realized, I was bemused. "My" ending-- the one I thought I'd seen coming-- felt so much better (if I may be so bold), and I was disappointed that the author had just left it hanging there, unused.  And then of course we get it, after all, in that last twist.  So, yes, I'm pleased that I guessed it, though that probably only means it was a bit predictable by the final third of the book and not that I missed my calling and should have been a star detective.  

This is the first in a series.  I might give the second one a try, at some point.  Or maybe not.  It's not at the top of my list, but it could be interesting to see where the story goes from here. 

Death in the Andamans

Death in the Andamans

by M.M. Kaye

Blurb:

When a violent storm lashes the tiny Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal, Copper Randal barely manages a safe return to Government House. She does get back in one piece with her hostess, Valerie Masson, Val's fiancé, and handsome naval officer Nick Tarrent, but one of the islanders is unaccounted for when the boats return to harbor. Cut off from the mainland and confined to the shadowy, haunted guest quarters, Copper and the other visitors conclude that one of their number is a murderer. The killer must be found before the storm destroys all trace of any possible clues.

My Reaction:

With this, I believe I've read all of Kaye's murder mysteries.  This (same as the others) was fine, but I always like the idea of her books more than the reality, unfortunately.  Apparently she's a solid 3-star author for me, based on past reviews (and this one, too).  Nothing amazing, but okay.  Good in spots, less impressive in others.  

These books always seem to have a peculiarly strong fixation on youth and beauty, which is rather off-putting.  Not that Kaye's the only author who loves heroines who are young, beautiful women-- they're the norm in this type of fiction, of course, and that's just the way it is-- but still, at a certain point the constant worship at the altar of youth and beauty is boring, if not irritating!  It almost feels as though a lack of personal beauty is a character flaw-- especially in female characters-- and your value decreases as you age or if you weren't blessed with attractive features.  Don't we get enough of that attitude in real life without being beaten over the head with it in our escapist literature?

Some of the attitudes between men and women in this book annoy me, too.  Men sending the women away from crime scenes as though they can't handle it, calling them "child", etc.  I never warmed toward Nick, and I'm not cuckoo for Copper, either (or her stupid nickname)... Valerie seems slightly less annoying than Copper, and for a while, I liked Charles pretty well, but eventually I got a bit sick of him, too!  (The Bertie Wooster routine eventually wore thin.  Not everyone has P.G. Wodehouse's ability to write Wooster-type characters without them grating on your nerves.  It takes some skill!)

That said, the settings in these books are perfect for a little escapism of the "travel mystery-romance" type, and they're easy to slip into for a little distraction from reality.  I did find it difficult keeping some of the secondary characters straight in my head, but oh well!  I also wonder if people ever actually quoted literature and poetry at one another quite as much as these characters do!  A little of that is okay-- only to be expected, in fact, from books of a certain type, from that era-- but it does get old after a while.  (Yes, you're educated!  Yes, you've read literature!  Yes, you have excellent memory!  Now, kindly shut up and get on with the story!)

Despite all my grouching, I do like aspects of these books, even if they're not perfect and don't always exactly hit the spot.  They have a way of making you feel nostalgic for (certain aspects of) a time you never knew.  Also, it was interesting to read the author's description of the storm, as someone who lives in "hurricane country".  

Super Constitution

Super Constitution

by Charles Kim

Unedited Blurb:

The birth of a legend begins in the early summer of 2016. Three extraordinary geniuses get together and combine their unique technologies. Not by armies and bombs or politics, but with these technologies the three geniuses wrote the "Super Constitution" and ordered the worlds most powerful governments to dismantle weapons of mass destruction and to establish the Global Government. The Global Government, establishing only one-world armed forces under its own direct control, set up revolutionary economic policies establishing unilateral currencies and complete free trade in the world.

My Reaction:

Donald and I read this together-- the latest 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back podcast subject.  As almost always with these 372 Pages book selections, it's not something I'd ever have chosen to read, if it weren't for the podcast.  Also as almost always, it was very amusing, for all the wrong reasons. 

The title and description honestly sounded like one of the most boring books I could imagine reading-- even worse than a tedious recounting of someone playing a classic 80s arcade game (thanks, Ready Player One)-- though not quite as unpalatable as another Bob Honey or Shadow Moon (because, come on).  I mean, fictional politics?  Sign me up!  I'm definitely not sick to the gills with actual, real-life politics; no, I am hungry for MORE and have an endless appetite for some random guy's political fantasies.  Can't get enough of those dry legal documents-- especially ones that aren't real and have no possible bearing on my life!  

However, to its credit, the first section of the book is nothing-- nothing-- like that.  Far from being dry or dull, it's just the most bizarre thing ever.  I can't say much without spoiling it, so I'll only suggest that you listen to the podcast, if you're interested.  Certain sections of this book are truly not to be missed, if you're a fan of absurd fiction.  

... And then the book moves on and gradually becomes more of what I'd originally expected (i.e. mind-numbingly boring), but we read every word and aren't sorry.  Yes, there are some paragraphs you might as well skip, but fortunately, even the dry sections are sprinkled with moments of unintentional hilarity and disturbing glimpses into the mind of the author.  Again, it's difficult to describe if you haven't actually read it (or listened to the podcast, as copies of the book are hard to come by).  It's like nothing else I've ever read.  

This is an excellent choice if you want a unique reading experience.  You do have to wade through some tripe to get to all the good stuff, though, so be forewarned.

The Sister

The Sister

by Louise Jensen

Blurb:

‘I did something terrible, Grace. I hope you can forgive me…’

Grace hasn't been the same since the death of her best friend Charlie. She is haunted by Charlie's last words, and in a bid for answers, opens an old memory box of Charlie's. It soon becomes clear there was a lot she didn't know about her best friend.

My Reaction:

I spent too much of my time reading this book either feeling annoyed or laughing at things that weren't meant to be funny.  That's probably not the intention with a thriller, right?  

• Grace lets people walk all over her!! 
  Her (disgustingly slobby jerk of a) partner and her so-called "friends" take advantage and treat her badly!  The book shifts between "now" to "then", and she lets people mistreat her in both timelines.  Fortunately, she does eventually stand up for herself, but it takes a frustratingly long time. 
  
  
• Charlie really annoyed me in the first quarter or more of the book.  
  You're supposed to love her.  I did not.  Blah!
  
  
• Drip. Drip. Drip.
  I understand wanting to build the tension and make the reader wait for solutions to the mysteries, but too many major plot points are held back or shrouded in mystery for too long, in my opinion.  What happened to Grace's parents?  What happened to Charlie?  How did Charlie even die?!  Are we sure she's actually dead?  Worse, when I finally got the answers to some of these questions, my reaction was more of an "Oh... Is that all?" instead of a shocked gasp or satisfying "aha".  Hold back too long and the solution can't live up to the hype or anticipation.  Many of the revelations don't make much sense, either.  Characters behave oddly and make strange decisions for the sake of the plot.  
  
  
• When is this set, again?
  Okay, for context, this was published in 2016 and Grace is 25 (I believe), so she was born in 1991 or thereabouts.  On one hand, Grace seems not to understand how to use Google (or believes that a fancy computer will retrieve different/better search engine results than a basic computer or smartphone).  Yet on the other hand, she (or someone else in her age group) says that people of their parents' generation often aren't very tech-savvy.  Bear in mind, her parents wouldn't be octogenarians (many of whom manage just fine with computers, by the way).  No, the parents in question could have been in their 50s or even just their mid-to-late 40s in 2016.  I'm pretty sure that generation knows how to "Internet"!  
  
  
• More anachronisms... Maybe?
  --Charlie, born circa 1991, is a huge Madonna fan, to the point that she dresses like her and says she's the most influential woman in the world.  While it's possible, it seems a little odd that someone born in 1991 would care that much about Madonna.  Wasn't she kind of... old news by the time Charlie would've been idolizing her?  Well past her zenith, certainly.  
  
  --Grace dresses in "one of [her] Mum's old 60s tunics".  Again, I guess it's possible that a woman who was old enough to wear teen-sized tunics in the 60s could have had a baby in 1991.  It seems a little of a stretch, though.  I guess it would explain why she thinks her parents' generation don't understand technology, if her own parents had her later in life.  
  
  ...Actually, giving it more thought, doesn't Grace say that her grandparents are in their 70s?  Yes, found it.  Her grandmother is 72 years old in 2016.  So she would've been born in 1944, only 20 years old, herself, in 1964.  Even if her grandmother gave birth at 16 or 17, Grace's mum could not have been a teenager in the 1960s.  I guess it's possible Grace is wearing tunics her mother wore in the 60s as a pre-teen, but the more obvious conclusion is that the author made a mathematical miscalculation.  It's a little thing, but I found all these odd "doesn't quite add up" moments disorientating.  Everything is just a little askew.
  
  
• Punctuation woes.
  This is pedantic and potentially petty, but I can't stand it when an author uses question marks incorrectly.  If it's not a question, it doesn't need a question mark.  Example: "I don't understand?"  That's a statement of the fact that your character doesn't understand, not a question!  No question mark is needed, unless you want to annoy your punctuation-conscious readers. 
  
  Authors who do this may be chronic "upspeakers" who frequently lift the pitch at the end of sentences.  Traditionally, people have done that with questions.  The change in pitch is a cue that they're asking a question-- it even sounds uncertain or questioning-- but now more people "upspeak" at the end of other types of sentences.  Some authors apparently are getting confused about when/where to use question marks.  Or maybe they're making a conscious decision to use question marks incorrectly.  Either way, it's annoying!
  
  Grammar Lesson:  The only time I can think of where this usage would be correct is if the character were in an argument with another character, throwing their words back at them.  
  
  Character A: You just don't understand.
  Character B:  I don't understand?  Of course I understand!
  
  
• This made me laugh... (But it's a bit spoilery!)
  At one point in the book, a box containing dog poop is spilled onto Grace's bedspread.  The reaction is quite something to behold:  "I gagged.  Charlie wrenched the cover from the bed, bundled everything together and flew downstairs.  I flung open my window and took huge gulps of cold November air.  Damp circulated around my lungs, causing me to choke." Sorry, but I laughed and laughed!  Later, Charlie tells Grace that she threw the bedspread away.  I mean, yeah, dog poop is gross, but it's usually not that messy, especially if it's had plenty of time to, well, dry out-- and besides, have these teenagers never heard of a nifty invention called a washing machine?!  I guess it's safe to say Grace won't be using cloth diapers for any future children...
  
  
• I'm sorry, but Grace is absolutely clueless.
  Again, she gradually improves, but for most of the book, she does the stupidest things!  Mixing alcohol with her prescriptions, stubbornly refusing to see huge red flags as they slap her in the face.  She's a frustrating character, to put it mildly.  

This last bit is a pretty big spoiler, so... You've been warned!


B I G

B A D

S P O I L E R S 

to 

follow. . .

Well, if you're reading this, I assume you don't care if I spoil several key points, so here we go!

Grace has finally figured out that Anna is an evil bitch.  (Sorry, but it's true!)  She finally, finally realizes that Anna has tried to ruin every aspect of her life.  She intentionally sought out and slept with Grace's serious, long-term boyfriend/partner-- lied to her from the very beginning about everything--  weaseled her way into Grace's house--  sabotaged Grace's self-confidence by undermining her and paying backhanded compliments--  tried to cost Grace her job (and threatened her position in the community)--  stole Grace's memento of her best friend--  poisoned her (twice)--  killed her cat--  and nearly killed Grace by setting her house on fire with her in it.  Have I missed anything?  Oh, right.  I think she also tried to push her in front of a train in London, though I'm not sure that was ever confirmed.  Grace thinks she sees Anna, and then she thinks someone pushes her off her balance, toward the on-coming train.  Even if that incident was only paranoia and clumsiness, Anna has definitely been on a mission to destroy Grace.  She's attacked Grace's life from every angle, and now she has her chained to a bed in an isolated location.  "No one can hear you scream", etc., etc.  Grace has every reason to believe that Anna will kill her within the next day or two.  

But do you know what really upsets Grace?  Anna has left Grace with a plastic bucket as a stand-in for a toilet.  Initially Grace thought she could just hold it in for the foreseeable future (???), but it's been a while, and now Grace really, really needs to go.  Sure, Anna wants her dead, but making Grace endure the indignity of a toilet-bucket is evidently taking things one step too far.  "I look at the bucket and begin to cry with frustration, but I don't have any choice."  (She describes the process in more detail than is strictly necessary.)  "I vow never to tell anybody about this-- then wonder whether I'll ever see anyone again to tell."  Well, yeah.  That's the crux of the matter.  She's gonna kill you, girl, and you're getting all teary-eyed upset about having to pee in a bucket?!  I gather that Grace never went camping or hiking in the woods as a child.  Peeing in a bucket really isn't worth all this heartache and hand-wringing.  Squat, get on with it, and revel in the relief of an empty bladder!  Life does go on.  Somehow.  

I had one final laugh-out-loud moment when Anna/Belle screeches at Lexie, "Genetic?  So it's your fault?  YOU KILLED MY BABY!"  No, dead babies aren't funny, but this... Well, I'm sorry, but this was!  It's so kewl when you first realize that you can blame everything that ever goes wrong in your life on your parents for daring to conceive and give birth to you!  (Yeah, Lexie was a truly crappy mother, but my point still stands.)

SPOILERS 

are

over

now!

Well.  It was something to read.  

And mutter about... 

And complain to my husband about when he made the mistake of coming near when I had just read something particularly irritating...

Many readers seem to have loved this book, and while I wouldn't say it was mind-blowing (because it wasn't), it's obviously good enough to keep those readers satisfied.  If you aren't a nit-picker, you're probably more likely to love it.  As for me, I must enjoy reading things that annoy me, because I keep going back for more with these types of books!  I will admit that I take a certain perverse pleasure in picking them apart...

The Bird's Nest

The Bird's Nest

by Shirley Jackson

(Edited) Blurb:

Elizabeth is a demure twenty-three-year-old wiling her life away at a dull museum job, living with her neurotic aunt, and subsisting off her dead mother's inheritance. When Elizabeth begins to suffer terrible migraines and backaches, her aunt takes her to the doctor, then to a psychiatrist.  The fabric of Elizabeth's reality unravels with terrifying speed, and it seems there may be no way to repair the damage and make her whole again. 

The Bird's Nest, Jackson's third novel, develops hallmarks of the horror master's most unsettling work: tormented heroines, riveting familial mysteries, and a disquieting vision inside the human mind.

My Reaction:

I edited the blurb slightly to avoid what may or may not be considered a spoiler.  I didn't read a blurb going in, and I certainly didn't know everything that this unedited blurb revealed, but maybe that's not a typical reading experience for this book...  In any case, if you want to avoid spoilers altogether, it's probably best not to read this or any other reviews-- though the plot element I'm referring to as a potential spoiler is integral to most of the book, so... Just giving you fair warning, if you want to go in with no preconceptions.  

As I mentioned, I didn't know what this book would be about, at all, and it came as a surprise when the central subject became apparent.  I feel like I've been unintentionally reading/consuming a lot of fiction, in the past half a year or so, with multiple personalities / dissociative identity disorder as a central subject.  Just an odd coincidence, I guess.  

Though I've read The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and a collection of her short stories, this is my first time reading one of Jackson's lesser-known novels.  It's clear why this isn't one of her most famous works.  It could use some tightening-up; it was at times needlessly repetitive, and the section set in NYC was over-long, in my opinion.  There were also a few times where I felt uncertain of the author's objective, and while that can be done intentionally, for effect, I don't believe that was always the case here.  There was a whole section about a "practical joke" that felt out of place, as well.  

On the other hand, there were several very unsettling moments, juxtaposed against others that were genuinely amusing, if at times rather dark humor.  Jackson even managed to pull her trick of writing something that feels uncomfortably familiar-- you know, those times when you recognize aspects of yourself in a character, though not always in a positive way.  While I found the ending a bit puzzling, I mostly enjoyed the way it was written.  It seemed to come out of nowhere.  I wasn't expecting something so evidently hopeful!  

(...Well, I found the ending hopeful, anyway.  From the reviews I've skimmed since finishing, not everyone agrees on that point.  I also feel sympathetic toward both Dr. Wright and Aunt Morgen-- both flawed characters, but human and essentially well-meaning.)

I wouldn't count on this novel's depiction of DID for accuracy; however, I'm not sure what I believe about DID, to begin with-- especially with the way that it's become almost "trendy" with some people today (mainly some bizarre and troubled people on TikTok, from what I've seen).  I guess maybe it's real in some cases, but I feel that it must be extremely rare, considering that it's supposed to result from particularly traumatic abuse suffered at a very young age.  Videos of people showing off their supposed "alters" seem false and a disgusting bid for attention.  

Anyway... I found this novel interesting in parts, but rather weak in others, and more slowly paced than I'd have liked.  You can see glimmers of Shirley Jackson's developing style, but it's not her at her best, and it certainly wasn't nearly so much "horror" as you might expect.  I wouldn't suggest reading this one until you've first enjoyed her more famous works.  

Anna Dressed in Blood

Anna Dressed in Blood
by Kendare Blake

Blurb:

Cas Lowood has inherited an unusual vocation: He kills the dead.

So did his father before him, until he was gruesomely murdered by a ghost he sought to kill. Now, armed with his father's mysterious and deadly athame, Cas travels the country with his kitchen-witch mother and their spirit-sniffing cat. They follow legends and local lore, destroy the murderous dead, and keep pesky things like the future and friends at bay.

Searching for a ghost the locals call Anna Dressed in Blood, Cas expects the usual: track, hunt, kill. What he finds instead is a girl entangled in curses and rage, a ghost like he's never faced before. She still wears the dress she wore on the day of her brutal murder in 1958: once white, now stained red and dripping with blood. Since her death, Anna has killed any and every person who has dared to step into the deserted Victorian she used to call home.

Yet she spares Cas's life.

My Reaction:
I had reservations about this one, because I knew it was YA fiction, and that's not my usual fare these days.  I should've listened to my doubts, because this wasn't for me.  It's not terrible, but I wasn't enthused by it.  I didn't care for the characters-- or about them, really-- and... Well, almost everything that makes me hesitant to read more modern YA fiction at this point in my life?  It's here.  This book has demonstrated that my instinct to avoid was correct.  I might have liked this somewhat better when I was quite a bit younger, though I would've found the coarse language off-putting at that age.  Now, in my forties?  The language isn't a problem for me, but it's just not an enjoyable reading experience.  There may be exceptions, but I suspect that most modern YA fiction won't be to my liking, now.

The romance was inexplicable.  I guess it was based solely on looks, because they barely interacted, and what interaction there was didn't seem sufficient.  Then there's the horror aspect.  This version of horror is heavily reliant on gross descriptions-- enough to make me skip a few lines, because I'm not a fan of the disgusting, but probably a yawn for fans of body horror.  It's severely lacking in suspense and psychological horror, which I much prefer to the gross-out stuff.  

This book kinda-sorta stands on its own (if you're okay with major plot holes and abrupt, unsatisfying endings), but there's a sequel, and the ending makes that very clear.  I won't be reading it.  I can't see what could happen that would make it "worth it".  I'll just imagine my own sequel.  ...There.  I probably whipped up an ending I'd find more satisfying than whatever is in the actual book, anyway!

Near the Bone

Near the Bone

by Christina Henry

Blurb:

Mattie can't remember a time before she and William lived alone on a mountain together. She must never make him upset. But when Mattie discovers the mutilated body of a fox in the woods, she realizes that they're not alone after all.

There's something in the woods that wasn't there before, something that makes strange cries in the night, something with sharp teeth and claws.

When three strangers appear on the mountaintop looking for the creature in the woods, Mattie knows their presence will anger William. Terrible things happen when William is angry.

My Reaction:

SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Hm, not great.  The first half of the book lacked definite direction, which tried my patience.  There are too many detailed descriptions of what Mattie's doing, and none of it seems to matter (not to mention that I know what "doing X" entails, so don't really need to read a description of it).  Repeatedly, it would feel like something was finally going to happen-- someone was going to do something to set the story into motion-- and then it would all come to nothing, and we were instead meandering off on another tangent.  

The characters don't feel like real people to me.  The worst example of this is the disgustingly abusive William, who is nothing more than a hateful, one-dimensional caricature of a Bad Man with absolutely no nuance or depth to the character.  He doesn't seem to behave like even an evil person would.  He's just all over the place!  (Oh, and Mr. Evil is "Christian".  Of course.  Fits right in with everything he does, including kidnapping, murder, rape, shocking physical violence, and drug-dealing.  Here, author, have an eye-roll.)  

I also found it difficult to believe that Mattie would remember so little of her life before the kidnapping (or that she would recover so amazingly quickly from repeated brutal beatings).  I'm not sure how much of Mattie's story is supposed to be a mystery, but it's pretty obvious from very early on.  I understand that she's been brainwashed and literally beaten into submission, but I spent most of the first half of the book just sitting there willing Mattie to do something.  Maybe that was intentional, but it's so frustrating-- miserable to read.  

Then there's the creature... It's an interesting, rather bold choice to combine two such different types of survival stories-- one about a woman fighting to survive daily life with an abusive kidnapper, another about people trying to escape from an otherworldly creature-- but unfortunately, I don't think it works.  I see the intention, the parallels between the two very different "monsters", but it doesn't fall together as intended.  Instead, it feels like a jumbled mess with little in the way of satisfying conclusion.  (The final confrontation between William and Samantha was predictable and more amusing than emotional.  It felt very "written for the screen", in a cliché type of way.)

What bothered me most was the stupidity of the "three strangers" and the dialogue among those characters, once they come into the story.  It's just... completely wrong.  Surely real people don't act or speak this way, in these situations!  It doesn't ring true, and it makes the characters seem impossibly dumb and immature.  Was that the intention?  Who knows?!  

At about 52% I began skimming, but I read enough to follow the story until to the end.  It didn't redeem itself for me.  Too much of it makes no sense.  For instance, where did the creature come from?  Mattie and William have lived on the mountain for 12 years and the creature just appeared out of the blue in the past year, and yet Mattie says she thinks it's not an alien.  Okay... How would she know that?  And why not, since it just showed up one day?  Also, why was Mattie so shocked by the idea that there might be two of the creatures?  I mean, that's how these things usually work, isn't it?  Unless it was an alien just landed from another planet-- or the last of a species that lives for an exceptionally long time-- or a scout from another area (where, pray tell!)-- there must be more than one.  Right?  Animals, people, and "creatures" don't just pop into existence.  "A man needs sons"?  Well, a cryptid needs cryptlets-- cryptkits?  Whatever you'd call a baby cryptid.  

Meh.  Not a good read, in my opinion.  

Tregaron's Daughter

Tregaron's Daughter

by Madeleine Brent

Blurb:

Madeleine Brent's first novel follows the fortunes of Cadi Tregaron, a sixteen year old fisherman's daughter. Happy in the small community of the coastal village where she has spent her life, the only hint of disquiet has been a recurring dream-- of a great house standing in water and of a faceless man who awaits her there-- a dream which is sometimes wonderful and sometimes terrifying.

By a cruel blow Cadi is left alone in the world, but she is taken into a wealthy family where she lives like a lady with servants to wait upon her and is treated as one of the family. At Meadhaven she finds mystery, danger and a hidden enemy. Is it the wayward young Richard Morton? Or the grey-eyed stranger who is forever watching her? Or is it Lucian Farrel, her benefactor's maverick nephew, whose face now becomes the one to haunt her dream.

But the dream turns to nightmare, for she finds that the house standing in water is a reality and that she is bound to it by a freak of ancestry. Here, in the house of her dream and far from her own country, Cadi comes to know heartbreak and grief, and learns the frightening truth about herself and the hidden enemy who threatens her life.

My Reaction:

I didn't realize this was Madeleine Brent's first novel until I finished reading it and started comparing notes with some other reviews.  Interesting... 

The general consensus seems to be that Tregaron's Daughter isn't Brent's best work, and I agree.  It felt a bit light-- shorter than I was expecting, though when I compare page-counts, it's not particularly short.  I suppose it just didn't feel as developed to me, for some reason.  Still, if you enjoy the genre, it's a perfectly good book.  It has the same style and follows the same basic formula as all of this author's other works under this pseudonym.  (I've never read anything he wrote under any other name.)  It hits all the same points as his other books-- or at least the ones I've read, which is most of them.  There's a touch of mysticism/the supernatural, and some of the coincidences are nothing short of amazing.  You have to just accept that these books don't take place in the same mundane reality that the rest of us inhabit.  That's part of their charm.

I didn't have a vehement reaction to this novel one way or the other, really.  The heroine is strong and admirable (one of Brent's trademarks), but I found her maybe a bit too perfect and popular at times.  I have to say, Mr. Morton's family was much more accepting of the addition of such a grown-up young woman into their family home than I would have been.  Wasn't she 19 when she moved in with them, and a perfect strange to everyone but Mr. Morton?  I don't know... The whole situation's more than a little odd, in my opinion!  I don't think I'd be happy, if I were his wife or one of his biological children.  I'm not as good as they are, I guess.  

Also, the culmination of the romance felt a little awkward to me.  Brent can write a good, appealing hero, but too often the interactions between his heroes and heroines feel stilted.  This is definitely one of those books where the otherwise intelligent heroine has some strange (and very convenient) blind spots.  There are things that are obvious to the reader for the entire book, yet the heroine has to have them literally explained to her in the last chapter or two!  Well, that's just the way these things go, I guess.  

I'm being picky.  It's a decent book, and this should be an enjoyable read for fans of the genre and the author.  No big surprises means less chance of disappointment, either!  I'd give this 3.5 stars, but am rounding up to 4 stars because I think it's better than 3 stars would suggest. 

The Witchfinder's Sister

The Witchfinder's Sister

by Beth Underdown

Blurb: 

Essex, England, 1645. With a heavy heart, Alice Hopkins returns to the small town she grew up in. Widowed, with child, and without prospects, she is forced to find refuge at the house of her younger brother, Matthew. In the five years she has been gone, the boy she knew has become a man of influence and wealth--but more has changed than merely his fortunes. Alice fears that even as the cruel burns of a childhood accident still mark his face, something terrible has scarred Matthew's soul.

There is a new darkness in the town, too--frightened whispers are stirring in the streets, and Alice's blood runs cold with dread when she discovers that Matthew is a ruthless hunter of suspected witches. Torn between devotion to her brother and horror at what he's become, Alice is desperate to intervene--and deathly afraid of the consequences. But as Matthew's reign of terror spreads, Alice must choose between her safety and her soul.

Alone and surrounded by suspicious eyes, Alice seeks out the fuel firing her brother's brutal mission--and is drawn into the Hopkins family's past. There she finds secrets nested within secrets: and at their heart, the poisonous truth. Only by putting her own life and liberty in peril can she defeat this darkest of evils--before more innocent women are forced to the gallows.

My Reaction:
I almost gave up on this book a couple of times.  It has a very slow mid-section where not much happens, and (surprise!) it's a dark, depressing read.  (I know-- what else did I expect?!)  I wondered if it was worth my time, continuing to read.  Well, I did keep reading, and my verdict is... When it's interesting and things are happening, it's good, but it could do with trimming down and tightening up.  

This was a 3-star read for me.  It has things to say, but sometimes I found it a little heavy-handed.  (Serious fans of The Handmaid's Tale might like it for that reason...)  There were also times where it would have helped to have a greater familiarity with this period of English history.  As an American who hasn't done any independent study of that period, I found it a bit confusing at times.  Historical knowledge isn't absolutely necessary, but I suspect it would have made the reading experience somewhat richer. 

Speaking of history, there were times when I questioned the historical accuracy of the book.  Certain phrases and certain characters' ways of thinking just gave me pause.  Were they not too modern?  I can't say how accurate any of it is, of course, but at the very least, wondering about that took me out of the story a few times.  

I'm not sure how I feel about the very light scattering of "maybe magic".  I think I'd rather read a book that is either set very firmly in a world with magic or a world without magic.  I'm not sure "magical realism" is for me, if that's what that is.  

I was relatively happy with where the book was heading in the end-- and then we get that last line.  I was torn between a laugh and a decisive "No!"  I still can't decide whether it's clever or just the literary version of a horror movie ending where the apparently slain serial killer suddenly opens his eyes or the last scene reveals that the monster laid a clutch of eggs before it was killed or captured.  Oh well!

Don't Look Now

Don't Look Now
by Mary Burton

Blurb:

Austin homicide detective Jordan Poe is hunting a serial killer she fears is the same man who assaulted her sister, Avery, two years ago. The details line up: the victims are the same age, same type, dead by the same grim MO. Luckily Avery survived. But the terrible memories linger, making Jordan more determined than ever to stop this monster in his tracks.

Texas Ranger Carter Spencer isn’t one to poach on a detective’s territory. Yet no matter how resentful a capable lone wolf like Jordan is, when she is attacked at a third crime scene and suffers a trauma that leaves her with limited vision, it’s up to Carter to help Jordan navigate a world she no longer recognizes. He needs her instinct, her experience, and her fearless resolve to crack this case. A case that’s about to get even darker.

A stranger is watching. He’s closing in on his ultimate prey. And no one but the killer can see what’s coming.

My Reaction:
I had to check out a book available on Prime, to qualify for a promotional deal.  This one looked okay.  I liked the name, and it had a good average over tons of reviews.  Apparently this author is prolific and successful, so it seemed promising.  Unfortunately, this simply isn't for me.  I like murder mysteries, but I don't enjoy anything too "police procedural"-y.  After years of watching Original Flavor CSI, I'm kind of burned out on that genre.  Films and miniseries are about as far as I'll stretch for a police procedural, these days, unless they are something very special.  They need to grab me by the collar and pull me in.  This didn't meet that requirement. 

Specifics?  I found certain aspects of it awkwardly written; fairly basic information any crime reader would already know was shoehorned into the dialogue, for instance.  The dialogue didn't feel natural to me.  Also, the level of detail on minor, inconsequential items and actions was over the top.  I just couldn't face slogging through a whole novel of that.  

I declared this a DNF (Did Not Finish) at the 10% mark.  No hard feelings, just not my style. 

Death in Kenya

Death in Kenya
by M.M. Kaye

(Edited) Blurb:

When Victoria Caryll is offered a position at Flamingo, her aunt's family estate in Kenya's Rift Valley, she accepts-- knowing full well that the move will mean seeing Eden DeBrett once again.  She was once engaged to Eden, but it's been years since he broke her heart and married someone else.  The desire to return to Kenya, her childhood home, is strong, but she doesn't realize that the Rift Valley is now an unstable region still recovering from the bloody Mau Mau revolt. Worse yet, her aunt's household has just been thrown into grief and chaos by a gruesome murder. 

My Reaction:

I've been slowly working my way through M.M. Kaye's "Death" series of mystery novels.  After this one, there's only one left, and I'll be sad to see the end of them.  They're solid suspense novels set in the 1950s.  I think of them as historical, but I guess that's not technically true, as they were contemporary when written and published.  Still, to a modern reader, they have that very specific quality of mysteries written in the golden age of the mystery novel.  The "Death" series are all set in exotic locales, too, with the powerful atmosphere of the setting usually acting almost as a character in its own right.  

This was exactly what you'd expect it to be, if you're familiar with any other books from this series. It's very much a book "of its time", meaning that some of the attitudes might rub modern readers the wrong way.  Some are disturbed by the colonialism.  Others might be annoyed by statements like this:  "Eden's superior male intelligence had saved her from disaster..."  What's that, now?  To be fair, this heroine probably is of inferior intelligence, but why the need to include the word "male" there?  Surely the author didn't believe that men are generally more intelligent than women!  Then there's the irritating old trope of the momentarily unhinged woman needing to be slapped back to her senses due to hysterical laughter.  How much these things ruin the reading experience will vary from reader to reader.  I can overlook them, for the most part.  

I'd give this 3.5 stars if I could, but I'll have to round down to three for a variety of reasons-- coming down mainly to my gut reaction to the book. (That's how I determine most of my star ratings...)  But despite my quibbles, it's a great choice for escaping to a different place and time.  I do recommend Kaye to fans of Agatha Christie or Mary Stewart.  I can always count on these authors to deliver fiction that's charmingly unlike anything being written today.  (Or anything that I've come across, at least!)  The romance element is slight, but the mystery kept me guessing and uncertain until the end.  I saw one reviewer describe the conclusion as sad, and I'd agree, but on the whole, it's an entertaining read.  

Gump & Co.

Gump & Co.
by Winston Groom


Blurb:

The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. has gone bust and now Forrest is flat broke, sweeping floors in a New Orleans strip joint, when a fresh opportunity to play championship football puts him back in the limelight—and in the money. But fate turns fickle again, and he's soon out on the road selling phony encyclopedias and trying to raise his son, little Forrest, who needs his father more than ever.

Forrest's remarkable, touching, and utterly comic odyssey has just begun: in store for him is an explosive attempt at hog farming; his own dubious recipe for adding life to New Coke; an encounter with Oliver North of the Iran-Contra affair; and a chance yet again to unwittingly twist the nose of history.

My Reaction:

First things first:  This was another "372 Pages We'll Never Get Back" podcast/book club selection.  Like all the others, it was a shared read with Donald.  We'd both seen the movie before, but never read the first book.  I vaguely remembered having heard that the movie veered sharply from the book, and I had the impression that it wasn't something I would enjoy.  I'm not sure I even knew there was a sequel, but I wouldn't have cared if I had known.  

There's not much to say about this one... It's just boring!  As a native of coastal Alabama, it's vaguely interesting to see Mobile and one or two other local-ish places mentioned in the pages of a book, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly when there's nothing to back it up.  Simply mentioning that a character is in Mobile doesn't exactly paint a picture.  There's zero local color, unless you count Forrest's bizarre, exaggerated accent.  There's no atmosphere of the South, in my opinion.  (And one or two things about this book are rather insulting and annoying to me, as a born and bred Southerner.  These are cheap choices that show a painful lack of imagination and creativity.)  

Then there's the fact that the cover shows Forrest with his young son, so you expect that his son will play a large role in the story.  That's misleading.  Now, it's not that I loved "Little Forrest" or wanted more of the character in the book, but intentionally misleading covers irritate me.  

Nothing about this lived up to my already modest expectations.  The historical references are either dull or depressing, and there's precious little humor to be found in a book that's intended to amuse.  It's a dud.  

I'm sad to say that even the podcast didn't make this read particularly enjoyable.  It seemed to be a struggle to find much to say about it, and-- eh, I'm just glad this one's over.  Time for something different, thank goodness!

The Roanoke Girls

The Roanoke Girls
by Amy Engel

Blurb:

Lane Roanoke is fifteen when she comes to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin at the Roanoke family's rural estate following the suicide of her mother. Over one long, hot summer, Lane experiences the benefits of being one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls.

But what she doesn't know is being a Roanoke girl carries a terrible legacy: either the girls run, or they die. For there is darkness at the heart of Roanoke, and when Lane discovers its insidious pull, she must make her choice...

My Reaction:

This was not what I was expecting, in the worst kind of way.  The "secret" of the Roanoke girls is very obvious, for starters.  The blurb makes it seem like it might be something more mysterious or eerie, but it's quickly revealed to be just what you'll soon guess after starting reading-- and really, there's not much more to it than that, certainly nothing worth so many pages.  It's not so much an eerie mystery as it is a disgusting tale about some deeply unpleasant people.  The subject matter... It's dark.  It's weird.  I don't really know what to say about it, beyond that.  It's deeply uncomfortable and doesn't feel like an accurate portrayal of how girls in this situation would actually feel or behave.  (But then again, it's not something I have the misfortune to know much about.  Maybe I'm wrong.)  The book tries to redeem itself in the final chapter, but it's not enough to save it.  

I'll try to avoid spoilers, but these are some of my gripes with the book:

--I hate nearly everyone in this book.
Yes, some of the characters supposedly behave the way they do because of how they've been raised, but that only gets you off the hook for so long.  The protagonist and her cousin (Lane and Allegra) are just... yuck.  Horrible, unlikeable characters.  I'm supposed to care what happens to them?  I'd like to give them a good slap, to be honest.

In particular, Lane is just so nasty about other women in the book.  Compared to the amazing Roanoke girls, they're not as attractive, lack style and sex appeal, and are generally inferior in every way.  I think Lane achieves her peak bitchiness when she visits Sarah.  She is so over-the-top mean about everything to do with Sarah-- her home decor, how clean she keeps the house, the fact that she's cooking a meal for her husband.  I mean, how dare she?!  It apparently "smacks of trying too hard".  There are also rude references to Sarah's clothes and hair.  UGH.  It just makes me angry.  

Lane does somehow claw herself an inch or two towards decency at the end, by which I mean that she's not so blatantly mean-spirited and awful, but I suspect that's mostly because she's too busy wrapping the story up to work in more of her horrible remarks (and there are no easy targets in sight).  

--Hot, sweaty grossness.

Yeah, we get it.  It's hot, sweaty, and gross in this place in... Kansas?  I don't even remember where the book is set!  Look, I live in Alabama.  Trust me, I know heat and humidity.  I (resentfully) live and breathe it for months every year.  "Air you can wear" is nothing new to me.  And yes, I can see how it might be used to create an atmosphere or sense of place in a book, but I just got sick and tired of reading about hot sweatiness on every other page.  I spend enough of my life feeling hot and sweaty if I dare to step outside.  I don't need to read about it, too!!  Besides, it seemed like it was hot in parts of the house, too, which is odd.  These people are rich.  Why don't they have effective A/C all through the house?  

--Feeling hungry?  You won't be after this book.
You know how some books leave you feeling hungry because of all the great descriptions or mentions of delicious food?  Laura Ingalls Wilder's Farmer Boy is a great example of this.  Well, this book is the exact opposite.  Nearly all the food sounds disgusting or is reviled by the characters.  The Roanoke family's cook... can't cook.  It's such a good joke (???) that it's a recurring theme.  ("LOL, Sharon can't cook.  Because we hate Sharon, let's make imbecilic, repetitive comments about her cooking.  Aren't we clever?" So much fun to read.)  

The restaurants in this hicksville town are of course pathetic, too, and are run by people who don't know the difference between Japan and China.  Rural people, amiright?  SO unsophisticated and racist-- and they never know how to make good food.  Nope, there's nothing decent to eat in America's Heartland.  (Of course, Lane knows China from Japan, because she's smarter than all of these hicks-- except that, no, she actually makes many, many stupid decisions.  Oh well, at least she's still sexier than every other woman in town.)

There are repeated attacks on the sacred casserole-- "dozens of cheese-and-mayonnaise-clogged casseroles".  Ma'am, this has to stop.  Now.  I don't know what a casserole ever did to hurt you, but casseroles aren't automatically bad.  Casseroles can be damn fine eatin', to put it elegantly.  Excellent comfort food.  Now, I probably wouldn't put mayo in one, because I don't really like mayonnaise... but "cheese-clogged"?  What a joyless person you'd have to be to think this way! (Unless you're dairy intolerant, you poor soul, you.)   

Oh, and this character who turns her nose up at every food around?  She must be practically a chef herself, right?  Or at least one of those annoying, sanctimonious people who ruin a good "food high" by extolling the virtues of so-called "clean-eating"?  No, she apparently lives on booze and the very occasional boring, slapped-together sandwich.  (Imagine insulting casseroles when you can't even think beyond a sandwich and a beer!)

--Please, stop with the sex scenes!
The only thing I hate more than these characters is reading endlessly about their sex lives.  Can we please just not?  I can handle a little of this stuff; this was not a little.  It's boring (and makes me hate these nasty, disgusting characters even more).  I resent being made a voyeur for these characters I don't even like. 
 

--Disturbing, questionable subject matter.  
The various girls' reactions to (fill in the blank-- the person and the situation) made me raise my eyebrows in skepticism.  Abuse is romanticized, though not very skillfully, in my opinion.  I just can't believe all these girls/women would behave this way.  Not plausible.  Also, this portrayal feels insensitive-- insulting, even-- to actual victims of abuse.  I don't know what the goal of this book was (besides making money and titillating with one of the last remaining taboos in our culture), but it ended up being nothing more than a disgusting mess.  


--Laughable fight scene.
I can't go into details without spoiling things, but let's just say there is a fight scene at some point in this book that had me laughing-- and it wasn't supposed to be funny.  I just couldn't take it seriously.  It felt like it was carefully choreographed-- written for the screen, but... Nope.  So silly. 

--Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. 
The book dragged for me.  I realized early in that I didn't like the characters, but I thought, eh, it's going pretty fast.  I'll just keep reading and see where it goes.  I did stick with it until the end, but it certainly didn't keep feeling like a quick read, beyond that first section of the book.  There is a lot of repetition, with genuinely interesting scenes doled out sparingly.  Cutting out some of the sex scenes would've helped keep the plot tighter.  (Just sayin'...)

Again, the end of the book feebly tries to "do something" with/derive some type of meaning from all the mess that comes before, but it's not enough for me.  This is not something I'd ever recommend or want to revisit.  I will say that I felt compelled to keep reading until I was so far in that I preferred gritting my teeth to admitting defeat.  I suppose that's something, even if it didn't quite deliver anything worth the effort.  However, I'm relieved to be done with it so I can move on to something where I don't hate almost every character quite so much!

The Lost

The Lost
by Jonathan Aycliffe

Blurb:

British-born Michael Feraru, scion of a long line of Romanian aristocrats, leaves his country of birth and his love, to reclaim his heritage-- a Draculian castle deep in the heart of Transylvania.  He plans to turn his inheritance into an orphanage in the new post-Ceausescu, post-communist country.  There he enlists the help of a young local lawyer, Liliana Popescu, to search for the missing Feraru millions, and battle through the complex maze of old bureaucracy in the scam-rich, newly-born state.

Feraru describes his journey into the heart of the Romanian countryside, wasted by years of neglect and caught in a time-warp, as though the twentieth century had never reached it. When he eventually arrives at his inheritance, he finds that the castle of the Ferarus, in a sunless valley in the Carpathian Mountains, is home to much more than memories...

My Reaction:

Well, unfortunately this was another disappointment, like my last read from this author.  I've enjoyed some of his other novels, though it's been so long that I remember little of them.  I do wonder if my tastes have changed, but based on other readers' reactions, it seems that those other books likely are objectively superior to these.  

I did like this marginally better than The Silence of Ghosts, but given how I felt about that book, saying so is only the faintest of praise.  There are some eerie moments, and it felt like there was the potential for something satisfying, but it never quite made it.  Ultimately, it bored me!  Even though this is a novella, it still manages to feel slow and repetitious.  The occasional creepy moments never fully deliver.  

The format (journals, transcriptions of tapes, translated letters, etc.) was a mixed bag for me.  I tend to like the epistolary format, but sometimes it can strain credulity.  The main character sometimes writes things in great detail when he couldn't/shouldn't have time to waste in writing.  Other times, he's speaking into a voice recorder when the person he's talking about would probably overhear... It's just odd and doesn't always work or make much sense.  

Towards the end, there's insufficient explanation as to why certain characters behave as they do, which adds to the frustration (and my "meh, who really cares what happens to these people?!" reaction).  Sure, I'm willing to do some "work", and I can read between the lines, but I dislike it when writers can't be bothered to tell a full story.  The plot-- such as it is-- just plods along until it fizzles out with a conclusion that's probably supposed to be shocking, but is instead disappointingly predictable and unimpressive.  

This one gets 2.5 stars, rounded down.  Too short on chills!

The Talisman Ring

The Talisman Ring

by Georgette Heyer

Blurb:

The Talisman Ring is one of Heyer's funniest and fastest-paced romantic comedies, telling the story of a fugitive heir, a tempestuous Frenchwoman, and the two sensible people who try to keep them out of trouble.

Neither Sir Tristram Shield nor Eustacie, his young French cousin, share the slightest inclination to marry one another. Yet it is Lord Lavenham's dying wish. For there is no one else to provide for the old man's granddaughter while Ludovic, his heir, remains a fugitive from justice.

My Reaction:

I always feel that I haven't read that much of Heyer's work, but I've just checked, and I've read at least fifteen of her novels... (?!?!?)  I can't quite believe that!  ...Anyway, while I enjoyed most of the others I read before The Talisman Ring, I don't remember any of those making nearly as strong of an impression as this one has.  I loved it!  

As the blurb promises, this novel is pleasingly fast-paced, once it gets going.  The blurb is also correct in that it is indeed funny-- clever, amusing, and just plain fun to read.  It's a wonderfully witty and pleasant book full of characters who feel like friends by the last page!  

This was a five-star read for me.

(One thing I don't love is the cover art publishers choose for Georgette Heyer's Regency novels.  They're always old-fashioned paintings of random women in Regency-period clothes.  So boring!  Something different would make a refreshing change, but maybe most readers like this style of cover...)

The Good Son

The Good Son

by Carolyn Huizinga Mills

Blurb:

Zoe Emmerson has a secret, one she’s kept for years. Her quiet world is shaken when her past finally catches up with her: the investigation into the murder of a six-year-old neighbor is re-opened thirty years after the fact, threating to destroy her and everyone she’s fought so hard to protect.

She was just a child when it happened, scared and confused, and she’s never been entirely sure what she saw. But she kept the shadow of her brother’s suspected involvement in the murder from the police, and the knowledge that she withheld a crucial piece of information haunts her.

As the past collides with the present, Zoe is forced to face the most difficult truth.

My Reaction:

I'm conflicted...  I enjoyed elements of the book.  The characters are complex and relatable.  It's an interesting study of how misunderstandings and choices have a ripple effect through our entire lives.  However, at a certain point, it started to feel repetitious and slow.  And then I felt let down by the ending, which left too much unresolved for my tastes.  This would be a better fit for readers who aren't frustrated by open endings.  

I don't want to spoil anything, so...

Hey, you!  

Yeah, you!  

There 

will

be

SPOILERS.

Of course you know through the whole book that there's a fairly big chance that it will turn out as it does-- i.e. Ricky is innocent of any involvement in the neighbor-child's abduction and murder.  I wouldn't like to say that I'm disappointed that our protagonist's brother isn't a murderer-- but it does feel weirdly deflating when it's confirmed that Zoe has poisoned her own life all these years for absolutely no reason at all.  So disappointing!  

I'm also disappointed that there's no clear resolution for most of the plotlines.  Yes, the murder mystery is solved, but it happens in the least interesting way possible.  (The murderer, a man we don't know from earlier in the story, confesses off-page.)  But there are so many other questions left unanswered.  We assume Ricky will recover with his memory intact (though, really, maybe not!), but what will his relationship with Zoe be like, now that he knows she's spent the last 30 years thinking he was probably a murderer?  What about Zoe's love life?  She was on the brink of moving in with her current boyfriend, and she has a relationship with that boyfriend's child-- but then the man she seems to actually prefer has just come back into her life... What's going to happen?  It's left to us to decide for ourselves, and I don't like that.  There's no good, easy answer.  Someone ends up hurt, no matter what happens. Realistic?  Yes.  I still don't like it, though!

One other thing I found "off" about the book-- and again, maybe this was intentional, to show that Zoe is viewing everything through a very specific filter, reading too much into minor events and twisting them-- was that some of the "red flags" about Ricky's behavior seem not that shocking or suspicious to me.  The one that particularly jumped out at me was the scene where Ricky doesn't watch Zoe's box-car race.  Would it have been nice for him to have watched his little sister's race?  Sure.  But he's a selfish teenage boy, not her father.  Of course he's easily distracted and prefers to spend the time flirting with a pretty girl.  I thought it was a bit of a reach to try to make that a sign that something was wrong with him, if that was the intention.  

Anyway, my main problem was with the inconclusive ending, which I found a let-down.