Dear Debbie

Dear Debbie

by Freida McFadden

Blurb:

Debbie Mullen is losing it. For years, she has compiled all of her best advice into her column, Dear Debbie, where the wives of New England come for sympathy and neighborly advice. Through her work, Debbie has heard from countless women who are ignored, belittled, or even abused by their husbands. And Debbie does her best to guide them in the right direction.

Or at least, she did.

These days, Debbie’s life seems to be spiraling out of control. She just lost her job. Something strange is happening with her teenage daughters. And her husband is keeping secrets, according to the tracking app she installed on his phone. Now, Debbie’s done being the bigger person. She’s done being reasonable and practical. It’s time to take her own advice.

And now it’s time for payback against all the people in her life who deserve it the most.

My Reaction:

This was my first time reading anything by this author, after seeing it recommended as a page-turner.  I ended up listening to the audiobook version, but it certainly was easy enough to listen to at a steady clip.  Did I like it, though?  Eh... It's okay—if you don't mind a revenge fantasy that hinges on some pretty incredible coincidences (and lots of them).  

Most of the characters aren't very likeable, either, which so many people always feel a need to say isn't really a problem for them.  I don't know if it's a problem for me, honestly.  I guess there may be books/movies/etc. I enjoy despite an unlikeable cast, but on the whole, no, I don't want to actively dislike most of the characters I spend a significant amount of time around.  I don't want them to be perfect, unrealistic little angels, either (so boring), but I'd rather not hate them.  

Anyway... It was something to listen to.  I'd consider another quick listen from this author, but probably wouldn't actively seek her out or commit to reading the text version, if they're all like this. 

My Brother Michael

My Brother Michael 

by Mary Stewart

(Edited) Blurb:

Camilla Haven is on holiday alone, and wishes for some excitement. She had been sitting quietly in a crowded Athens cafe writing to her friend Elizabeth in England, "Nothing ever happens to me..."

Then, without warning, a stranger approached, thrust a set of car keys at her and pointed to a huge black touring car parked at the curb. "The car for Delphi, mademoiselle... A matter of life and death," he whispered and disappeared.

From that moment Camilla's life suddenly begins to take off when she sets out on a mysterious car journey to Delphi.  The ride was Camilla's first mistake... or perhaps she had unintentionally invoked the gods. She finds herself in the midst of an exciting, intriguing, yet dangerous adventure. An extraordinary train of events turned on a nightmare of intrigue and terror beyond her wildest daydreams.

My Reaction:

I listened to an old audiobook recording of this novel (the Chivers Audio Books version), looking for something relaxing to enjoy while piecing my current quilt project or making watercolor doodles.  It served that purpose well.  This isn't my favorite Mary Stewart "travel mystery"—felt like it took a while for me to get into the story, and it felt more dated than some of the others (or maybe it's just me that has changed)—but it's fine.  

If you like Mary Stewart, you'll probably enjoy this, too, but I wouldn't suggest it as a first choice.  I think there's a reason this one seems to be less well known than The Moon-Spinners or Nine Coaches Waiting, for instance. 

The Last One at the Wedding

The Last One at the Wedding

Jason Rekulak

Blurb:

Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter, Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced that their estrangement would become permanent. He’s even more surprised when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is ecstatic, and determined to finally make things right.

He arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate—very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed to mention that she’s marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it’s difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have time for him; and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is marrying into, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.

My Reaction:

I enjoyed Hidden Pictures much more than this, which seems to be a common opinion.  I had a hard time with just about every character in this book, and some of it was just...weird.  I mean, elements of the story were obviously meant to be weird, but there were also things that I suspect were intended to be endearing or relatable that didn't quite work for me.  There were also plot elements that made no sense, unless the characters involved are particularly stupid.  

Eh, it was something to read, and it's been long enough since I finished it that I don't have much to say, specifically.  

Lock Every Door

Lock Every Door

by Riley Sager

Blurb:

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen's new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story . . . until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid's disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew's dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building's hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

My Reaction:

(I listened to the audiobook version.)

I mean... It's very silly, but if you can deal with that, it's a passable bit of escapist fiction for fans of fairly mindless thrillers.  Just don't think too hard (listening to the audiobook while you're doing other things at the same time is great for that) and don't expect too much.  

This novel isn't remotely believable, but given that the other two books I've listened to by this author had supernatural elements, that wasn't something I was counting on, anyway.  I came to be entertained, and I guess it this did the trick.  

The moral of the story is a bit obnoxious, absolutely absent of nuance, and the bad guys are hilariously over-the-top evil villains, but oh well.  It kept my mind occupied while I did housework, so I'm satisfied.  

This next bit is a SPOILER, so continue at your own risk!  

I did find it funny that in the first book of this author's that I listened to, the story felt like a straightforward crime thriller, then took a sudden (unexpected, at least by me) paranormal twist—whereas this one was practically the complete opposite:  It felt like we were headed in the old, familiar direction of "swanky NYC apartment building occupied by a coven", only to have the rug pulled out from under us near the end, replaced with a more realistic... well, let's say a "non-paranormal" explanation.  

SPOILERS over.

There are some plot holes, many things either don't make sense or are disappointingly predictable, and the main character isn't the most memorable—but I already know I'll listen to more of this author's books, because they're "interesting enough".  This is a silly thriller, not a mind-expanding masterpiece, but for what it is, it works.  

The Lost Village

The Lost Village

by Camilla Sten

translated by Alexandra Fleming

Blurb:

Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town, dubbed “The Lost Village,” since she was a little girl. In 1959, her grandmother’s entire family disappeared in this mysterious tragedy, and ever since, the unanswered questions surrounding the only two people who were left—a woman stoned to death in the town center and an abandoned newborn—have plagued her. She’s gathered a small crew of friends in the remote village to make a film about what really happened.

But there will be no turning back.

Not long after they’ve set up camp, mysterious things begin to happen. Equipment is destroyed. People go missing. As doubt breeds fear and their very minds begin to crack, one thing becomes startlingly clear to Alice:

They are not alone.

They’re looking for the truth…

But what if it finds them first?

My Reaction:

This started off promisingly, with a creepy and interesting premise—abandoned village, about 900 people disappearing without a trace, evidence that something went terribly wrong—but at some point the plot began to run out of steam, and the ending didn't win me back, unfortunately.  I can't get into my issues with the book without spoiling it, so keep reading past the spoiler alert, if you're interested in why this is only a 3-star read for me...

SPOILER 
ALERT!!

Spoilers follow.

So, where to start?  As I mentioned above, the premise is intriguing and creepy.  I love the idea of a whole village vanishing without a trace—shades of Roanoke—and the fact that the book has it happen in the relatively recent past (1959), gives an interesting twist.  The prospect of a Swedish ghost town, preserved untouched, like a time capsule?  That's fascinating, too.  Then there's the evidence of a brutal crime, the mystery baby, etc.—all very good.  

Our modern-day ("Now") characters are a bit of a mystery, themselves, at first.  Some of them are connected and have obvious history, but what are their different backstories?  What's the source of the tension?  What are the secrets they're keeping from one another?  Some of it is precisely what you'll probably guess, but that's fine. 

As for the "Then" characters (those living in the mining town in the 1950s)... Eh.  That was a bit mixed.  The dual timeline thing is sometimes effective, but at other times I groaned when we switched perspectives yet again.  I think it interrupted the flow, at times.  

Maybe this is just me.  So many of the books I've read lately do this, splitting the story into multiple perspectives or different timelines, then flashing from one to the other throughout the novel.  It can work, but it doesn't always work, and it almost feels like a crutch.  I think it's overdone at the moment, and I'm ready for some thrillers that don't do this!

The set-up—getting to the village, starting their exploration—I loved it.  

But then things started to unravel for me.  I didn't know whether to expect something supernatural or not, but either way, it could have worked.  Except it just didn't, really.  It's not exactly surprising when "all is revealed", because by then you've pretty much worked it out on your own, but it's simply unbelievable.  

So here are the things that annoyed me or didn't work for me:

First, I loathe the whole cult angle of the book.  It's such a terribly boring explanation for what happened—so disappointing!!—and also not very believable here, in my opinion. 

Yes, cults exist, but as I understand it, unless the members are raised in the cult (groomed from an early age, with no idea that there's any other way of living), they're targeted and gathered together from a wider area.  It's not like a wannabe cult-leader can go somewhere and expect to recruit everyone in a five-mile radius into his madness, no matter how charismatic he may be.  I find it doubtful that it's this easy to "convert" almost everyone in a whole, single village.  

These characters are people who were raised in a normal, mainstream society (isolated, but definitely normal for the time).  Surely there should have been more people who would be steadfast in their faith—strong enough in their personal convictions to resist the pressure to succumb to the mass hysteria.  I guess the mine shutting down is supposed to be the disruption or catalyst that makes something like this possible, but... I strongly dislike that plot element, too, which brings me to the next point:  What were these people thinking, staying in the village so long after the mine closed down?    

I suppose I can accept that Elsa can't bring herself to abandon Birgitta, though what miracle she was waiting for to save the day, I can't say... As for everyone else in this town, why wouldn't they accept the inevitable and get out while they still had some savings?!  It's not easy to leave behind your home, I know, but if you have no way of earning a living there and no prospect for improvement, you have to leave and start over!  No-one was stopping them from leaving; they simply didn't want to, I guess.  It's just... Well, it's just stupid that so many of these characters were just watching their savings dwindle away and refusing to take action.  I don't believe that is likely, either.  (Maybe I'm overestimating the level of common sense in the average human.)  

But okay, you have a community of mostly good, Christian Swedes in the late 1950s.  Times are tough (because they're too darned stubborn to take the plunge and get out of their dying town to start a new life somewhere else).  Men have no work, and some of them turn to drink for escape (since apparently they lack the gumption to plan a literal escape for themselves and their families).  Then this new, androgynous-faced pastor comes to town, and before you know it, he's converted everyone to his twisted cult religion.  

(Ugh, I hate that plot point.)

And then he gets them riled up against one mentally ill (or challenged?) woman who can barely communicate and stays shut away in her own little hut, bothering no-one. ...Why do they go along with him on this?  We're all familiar with the concept of a witch hunt, but this is modern times and all targeted at one single, solitary woman who doesn't have anything of value to covet and doesn't even venture out her own door!  I find it difficult to believe that a whole village in 1959 Sweden could be so easily and quickly brainwashed to believe that she was any kind of threat to them, purely because some newbie preacher-man told them so.  

Oh, good grief!  I just can't bring myself to get into most of the rest of the nit-picking, because the basic premise annoys me so much, but I can't go without commenting on the king of all "um, what?" aspects of this novel:

Aina has survived for 60 years in complete isolation, with no human companionship, no medical attention, no technology, no nothing.  All she has is what the other villagers had in their homes, for her clothes, shelter, and food.  She's been living for 60 years on the old canned food left by people who were already starting to struggle for money.  ...No, I don't believe that, either.  No mention at all of her having a vegetable garden, hunting, or fishing, so I'm assuming she didn't.  She just lived off a very limited supply of slowly disintegrating canned food for SIXTY YEARS.  

And after a lifetime of this meager diet and no medical care, now in her 70s, she manages to overpower healthy young people who are fresh from civilization, with all the benefits of a consistent diet and modern medicine.  Yes, in at least one case there are circumstances that work in her favor, but in general, I'm not convinced that this is at all likely.  

Before wrapping up, I'm annoyed that the book tries to have it both ways:  We have the physical threat of the Amazing Aina, 70-something-year-old miracle who doesn't need no stinkin' nutrition or medical care to take down those young whippersnappers—and yet we also have some supernatural elements that I don't think can be explained rationally.  

Anything that Aina thinks she hears, sees, or knows can be discounted, because she's obviously cuckoo, but the others see and hear spooky, supernatural things, as well—things that I don't believe can be explained away by the existence of Aina.  And then there's the odd case of Tone, who seems to have been temporarily possessed by the spirit of her grandmother, only to immediately return to her usual self as soon as the crisis has passed.  

This probably shouldn't irritate me as much as it does, but there you have it.  It was a disappointing ending.  I didn't even get into how annoying the present-day characters are, but plenty of other reviewers covered that.  

What Lies Between Us

What Lies Between Us

by John Marrs

Blurb:

They say every house has its secrets, and the house that Maggie and Nina have shared for so long is no different. Except that these secrets are not buried in the past.

Every other night, Maggie and Nina have dinner together. When they are finished, Nina helps Maggie back to her room in the attic, and into the heavy chain that keeps her there. Because Maggie has done things to Nina that can’t ever be forgiven, and now she is paying the price.

But there are many things about the past that Nina doesn’t know, and Maggie is going to keep it that way—even if it kills her.

Because in this house, the truth is more dangerous than lies.

My Reaction:

This started off well enough, but by the end I was disappointed and just glad to be done with the sorry thing.  

The premise is intriguing, and I was curious to see how it would all play out.  I quickly developed some theories, and sure enough, they were correct.  Ordinarily, that would leave me uncertain of whether to be proud that I'd been so perceptive or annoyed that it was too predictable (a sentiment amusingly shared by one of the characters as she ponders her own penchant for reading mystery-thrillers), however, after my "twist" predictions all came true (and yes, it was a bit annoying that they were presented as twists, when they were so obvious), there were a few more twists and turns waiting in the wings.  

So, was that a positive or a negative?  I just don't know!  On one level, yes, it was unexpected.  On another, some of it was unexpected because it was either straight out of Cuckoo Town, relying heavily on characters behaving stupidly.  After a while you find yourself mumbling to the book, "Oh, come on!"  Eye-rolling and sighing may occur.  And in the end, you just kind of shrug.  Okay, book, if you say so.  Whatever, I guess.  

Another reviewer described this book as simultaneously predictable and unrealistic, and that encapsulates my feelings completely.  I found the reading of this book morphed from an interesting experience into one of frustration.  And worse yet, one of the plot points I didn't see coming until it smacked me in the face is among my least-favorite things to read or think about.  (It's health-related, and I'll leave it at that, to avoid a direct spoiler.)  I just can't bear reading books about this topic.  Because it cropped up so late in the book, I didn't want to just drop the book entirely, so I skimmed around those parts, to the best of my abilities, but it certainly didn't improve my enjoyment of the reading experience!

Ultimately, it wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't a good choice for me.  I found it very lacking in any sort of satisfying conclusion.  Maybe that was meant to be "the point", but... Blah to that!

The Writing Retreat

The Writing Retreat

by Julia Bartz

Blurb:

Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.

But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell—they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she’s desperate to discover the truth and save herself.

My Reaction:

Hm... Not what I was expecting.  This wasn't quite my cup of tea.  (I wasn't expecting it to verge into erotica, for one thing!)

A few thoughts:

—This would have been better without the "book-within-a-book" snippets.  They didn't add much, in my opinion, and ended up being a distraction from the real story.  

—When you have characters speaking about how well-written the "book-within-the-book" is and then include some of said fictional book, there's always the danger of readers thinking, "Eh, this isn't quite the work of genius we've been led to expect."  That's certainly what happened here for me.  Didn't care for it!

—Actually, the entire secondary story about the tragic and/or creepy history of the house feels completely unnecessary.  You may think it's going to be important, but no, it could easily have been left out.  It's supposed to be relevant to the conclusion, helping Alex make realizations and breakthroughs, but... I'm not buying it.  There were other ways to develop the character without dragging in paranormal red herrings and making us read Alex's boring book. 

—I listened to the audiobook, and it took a while for me to get used to the narrator for this one. 

—Had to roll my eyes at a few things, including the scene where the women share their pronouns.  Yes, that felt completely natural and unforced.  No agendas on display here!

—There are a few plot points that may leave you scratching your head, such as a character who looks much younger than she actually is and Alex's mother's bizarre timeline.  (How old is she?!)

—The ending was strange and unsatisfying.  All this build-up to how horrific and crazy a certain character is, then it all just ends with a puff a smoke.  Yes, there are "stakes".  Yes, there are bad things happening, but... 

Ok, I can't write about this without going into spoilers, so...

SPOILER

 ALERT

After all the build-up of danger, even though some characters do die, it feels like the ones you're supposed to really care about are all okay.  And the Bad Guy just agrees to... leave.  It's abrupt, odd, and anticlimactic.  And then when it turns out that Roza is alive (obviously), Alex's reaction is strange and difficult to understand.  She has this bizarre crush on Roza, even after all she's done.  It's gross.  

Since I've already put up the spoiler warning, did Roza really think she'd get away with murder and stealing yet more books?  I mean, I guess it's nothing she hasn't already done, but this feels more visible—more likely to draw the scrutiny of the authorities and possibly raise some eyebrows.  And why?  She's apparently very wealthy, already, and she's established her legacy as a famous literary author, so again, why?  

The Sea King's Daughter

The Sea King's Daughter

by Barbara Michaels

Blurb:

Since Sandy Frederick first set foot on the volcanic Greek isle of Thera, this breathtaking place of ancient myth and mystery has haunted her dreams. Joining her estranged, obsessed father on a dive to find astonishing secrets from the ocean's floor, she cannot shake the feeling that she was meant to be here; that some ancient, inscrutable power is calling to her. But there are others who have been eagerly waiting for her arrival to drag her into a tangled and terrifying web of secrets, dark superstition, betrayal, blood, and death. And suddenly Sandy's heritage and her destiny could be her doom.

My Reaction:

This is another of Barbara Michael's 1970's gothic thrillers.  I think I've read most of them, at this point, and while not without its faults, I enjoyed it (especially the first half) more than I expected.  I think it was better than the last few of hers I've read.  

What made this one better?  Three things come to mind:

• Exotic locale.
  The beautiful setting of Santorini worked in its favor and gave it a light touch of the Mary Stewart vibe.  It's much more appealing than the last one I remember reading, which was set against the scintillating setting of some boring college, a creepy old grump's deteriorating (?) mansion, and the claustrophobic home of two aging religious obsessives.  (Search the Shadows, if that has tempted you...)
• Non-academic heroine.
  Obviously I don't object to an intelligent heroine, but it does make a bit of a change that this one starts out being more interested in athletic pursuits than books—though she still comes across as unusually well-informed in some rather niche subjects, which was a bit silly.  Either commit to a non-bookish heroine or don't!  Ah well, at least she tried.  It's definitely a break from the author's usual style, and that gave it a fresher feel. 
• Less "male chauvinist pig"-hunting.
  Some of these books are heavy handed with the attitude of, "Oh, what a good feminist am I!  I shall find offense hidden in every little thing, because it's us against them!"  It gets old, and the language feels outdated.  (The funny thing is that there are some very unenlightened, cringe-inducing elements in some of these books, despite the attempt to be oh-so correct.)  There are a few... moments, but it's less than usual.

Those positives aside, I didn't give two figs about the romance and found the whole mystery a bit blah.  The early hints at the spooky supernatural came to naught, and despite some literal earth-shaking developments in the plot (not to mention a few natural fireworks), the whole story felt flat for me.  I just... didn't really care.  

It was okay.  At least I didn't actively hate the heroine by the end of the book, which isn't always a given with these things!

The Overnight Guest

The Overnight Guest

by Heather Gudenkauf

Blurb:

True crime writer Wylie Lark doesn’t mind being snowed in at the isolated farmhouse where she’s retreated to write her new book. A cozy fire, complete silence. It would be perfect, if not for the fact that decades earlier, at this very house, two people were murdered in cold blood and a girl disappeared without a trace.

As the storm worsens, Wylie finds herself trapped inside the house, haunted by the secrets contained within its walls—haunted by secrets of her own. Then she discovers a small child in the snow just outside. After bringing the child inside for warmth and safety, she begins to search for answers. But soon it becomes clear that the farmhouse isn’t as isolated as she thought, and someone is willing to do anything to find them.

My Reaction:

It could have been better.  It was going to be a 3-star read for me, but thinking (grumbling to myself) about a couple of particularly annoying points has decided me in favor of knocking off another star.  Two it is!  

The story is told through three different timelines, which I wasn't expecting.  This method of storytelling seems to be almost the default choice for so many modern authors, at least judging by the books I'm reading and listening to, these days.  It's not necessarily a problem, but it's also not very original, at this point.  Sometimes it can lead to annoyance, as well, when it feels like stalling and padding out the plot.  Just when things start to get interesting in one storyline/timeline, you're shoved along to something else, and it's rare that all timelines are of equal interest.  

My minor gripes with this book:

• Wylie is kind of annoying.  I just didn't warm to her.  
• Coincidences abound.  (I can't really get into these without venturing into spoilers.)
• Characters make some monumentally stupid choices. (Again, spoiler territory...)
• Predictable in spots.  I must confess that one of the major twists never occurred to me until right before the reveal, but others are very obvious.  I suppose it's difficult to write something that's genuinely unpredictable without leaving your reader annoyed that you misled or hid information... But it's silly when characters don't see what's right in front of their eyes!
• Bad guy is a bit of a caricature. 
• Having Wylie say that Dateline is her favorite TV show?  Blatant pandering.

My final "issue" was with the way the audiobook narrator chose to voice some of the characters.  Some of the voices just irritated me.  Going into who and why would be spoilery, so I'll leave it at that. 

If you don't mind some really dark subject matter and can overlook some honestly idiotic decision-making, it's fine for mindless "entertainment" (though it feels wrong to describe it as entertaining), but it's not as good as I'd hoped.  

SPOILERS FOLLOW.

SPOILER

ALERT

!!!

So, what were the things that annoyed me so much that I knocked another star off my rating?  

First, Wylie tells Becky she's locked Suspect #1 in the shed, so they're safe.  Well, Becky knows who her captor was, but for some unknown reason she waits (and waits and WAITS) until the real Bad Guy shows up to tell Wylie that Suspect #1 isn't guilty.  That's just stupid writing.  Yes, Becky's been through it, has possibly suffered a concussion, and is likely somewhat in shock, but still... She's able to communicate and reminisce about the past, so I'm not buying that she couldn't find a way to process this information and speak up.  

Worse, even when Becky eventually says, "No, that's not the guy; THIS is the man who's held me prisoner for 20 years," Wylie tries to talk her out of it!  I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding.  It's so easy to forget the identity of the man who has held you captive for two decades, raped you throughout that period, impregnated you multiple times, beaten you, etc.  These things can be so confusing!  

Then there's the issue that Becky could have run away long before she finally did.  I just... What?!  She is able to pick the lock (or something) to her door and could have run away long ago, from my understanding.  She wasn't suffering from Stockholm syndrome, but her captor has lied to her, telling her no-one cares she's gone, he has eyes everywhere in town, etc.  (Would she really believe that?!  She was 12 or 13 when she was kidnapped, and seemed fairly savvy...)  

I know that people can be brainwashed and forced into a type of submission that is difficult to fathom if you haven't lived through it, but I find this whole thing impossible to comprehend.  She wants to leave.  She (finally!) plans to leave, even going so far as slowly gathering supplies and hiding them until the great escape can go forward.  But what is she waiting for?  Instead of just getting the heck out of there at the first opportunity, she waits.  For no apparent reason.  She waits until the storm of the century arrives to try to escape, making things much more difficult than they needed to be.  

It's mind-blowing, in a bad way.  

Anyway, putting that aside, when she finally decides it's time to leave, the door isn't an option, but no biggie.  Her young (5-ish?) daughter kindly points out that they can get out through the window.  And apparently that works.  I'd assumed the basement window they kept mentioning was a tiny sliver that wouldn't possibly be large enough for the woman to fit through, and she simply had stopped looking at it as a possibility, years ago, forgetting that the child could use it to get out, then come unlock the door from the other side... But no, it's big enough for a grown woman, so she would have fit through it easily as a young teenager.  

I'm sorry, but that is ridiculous.  Bad Guy never thought, "Hm.  I should probably board up that window or something..."  If there were explanations for these bizarre plot elements, they needed to be included in the book.  I'm not going to do the work for the book and make up reasons for implausible behavior.  

And that's not even getting into the dumb final confrontation scene(s) where characters almost intentionally put themselves in harm's way for no good reason.  Ugh!

Ragdoll

Ragdoll

by Daniel Cole

(Edited) Blurb:

William Fawkes, a controversial detective known as The Wolf, has just been reinstated to his post after he was suspended for assaulting a vindicated suspect. Still under close scrutiny, he's called to investigate a gruesome discovery dubbed "The Ragdoll"—a body made of the dismembered parts of six victims.  

Further complicating matters, Fawkes' reporter ex-wife has anonymously received photographs from the crime scene, along with a list of six names and the dates on which the Ragdoll Killer plans to murder them. The final name on the list is Fawkes.  

Wolf and his fellow detectives are faced with a daunting challenge and a looming deadline ticking away the rapidly dwindling hours of his life.

My Reaction:

Hm.  This one had a disappointingly "blah" conclusion.  I started out feeling ambivalent, then decided to stick with it, because there was just enough entertainment value to keep me reading.  Also, there were so many glowing reviews that I thought maybe it would surprise me...  It was okay for a while—not amazing, but readable—and I was holding out hope for some insane twist.  (I even had a couple of pet theories that came to nothing.)  Unfortunately, the end of the book (and specifically the identity of the killer) failed to impress.  

I was able to overlook the predictable, two-dimensional characters and the many, many cliches while I still held out hope for an interesting reveal and wrap-up, but as soon as the killer was unmasked (which in my opinion came too early in the book, extinguishing all interest), it was all downhill from there!  I sort of skimmed from that point on, because I just didn't care what else happened.  

For much of the book, the killer is portrayed as possessing an almost supernatural intelligence and ability to predict behavior, but when you finally meet the mastermind, it's a massive let-down.  I didn't believe that he could have arranged and divined all of that and then turn out to be so terribly incompetent at the end.  He was just... boringly predictable and cliched.  Exactly like the other cardboard characters (so I shouldn't have been surprised, really).  

There are more books in this series, but I'm not interested.  I guess this is a three-star book for me, but I almost feel that 3 stars paints too positive a reaction, based on how I feel after having just finished the book.

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".  

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.  

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!

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.  

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 Ivy Tree

The Ivy Tree

by Mary Stewart


(Edited) Blurb:

An English June in the Roman Wall countryside; the ruin of a beautiful old house standing cheek-by-jowl with the solid, sunlit prosperity of the manor farm-- a lovely place, and a rich inheritance for one of the two remaining Winslow heirs. There had been a third, but Annabel Winslow had been presumed dead for years.  However, one day a young woman calling herself Annabel Winslow comes "home" to Whitescar and sets big changes into motion.

My Reaction:

I've loved some of the other books by Mary Stewart that I've read.  I'm never sure how much is down to the strengths and weaknesses of the individual books and how much is "me" and how I may have changed over the years, but I didn't like The Ivy Tree as much as I remember liking many of the others.  It may be difficult to explain my problems with this book without giving away twists and turns, but I'll try... 

-- Didn't love the romance; was disappointed that it was so slow to start.  

-- Found it difficult to know how to take Con, until too far into the book.  I'm sure that was intentional, but I didn't find it enjoyable to read!

-- Found the big twist a bit of a cheat.  Predictable, yet you talk yourself out of it because of the way the book is written.  (The twist shouldn't be possible, really.)  It just didn't "wow" me.  

-- Felt slow for most of the book; not much happening, most of the time.

-- Found the horsey parts completely boring-- not a horse person.  They can be pretty animals, but it's not an obsession I enjoy reading about.  If it had been a dog, I'd probably have been riveted. 😁 (Actually skimmed the horse section of the "thrilling denouement", as well as the driving scene.  Yawn!  Too drawn-out, in my opinion.)

-- Too much "oh, but I'm only a woman!" stuff.  I don't consider myself a militant feminist, but it was so frequent that it was difficult to ignore.  I had to roll my eyes a few times.  Ditto for the Irish stuff with Con.  Blurgh.  

-- Came away feeling very "meh" at the end.  

For positives, there were some nice descriptions of the setting... And I'm always interested to see similarities to Jane Eyre, though in this instance, they were too weak an echo and made me wish I was reading that instead!  Um... There was a character named "Donald" (my husband's name). 😜 That's not necessarily a positive or a negative for most people, I'd assume, but I'm struggling to come up with specific good things!  I enjoyed some aspects of it; I just didn't come away loving the reading experience as a whole.  

Seven Lies

Seven Lies

by Elizabeth Kay

Blurb:

It all started with just one little lie. But we all know that it never ends there. Because, of course, one lie leads to another…

Growing up, Jane and Marnie shared everything. They knew the other’s deepest secrets. They wouldn’t have had it any other way. But when Marnie falls in love, things begin to change.

Because Jane has a secret: she loathes Marnie’s wealthy, priggish husband. So when Marnie asks if she likes him, Jane tells her first lie. After all, even best friends keep some things to themselves. If she had been honest, then perhaps her best friend’s husband might still be alive today…

For, of course, it’s not the last lie. In fact, it’s only the beginning…

My Reaction:

Hm.  This was good in parts, but I was hoping for more.  The rather slow, meandering pace (never a great thing in a "thriller") didn't do this book any favors, and I felt a bit let down by a less-than-satisfying Big Moment conclusion.  

The protagonist is... I guess she's more sympathetic, in a way, than she has any right to be.  At least, I think I felt some twisted sympathy for her at times, when I was reading the book.  Looking back, now, after a few days, I'm much less sympathetic.  More weary of her than anything else.  She's self-destructive, but it's not just herself she destroys.  She's been dealt a crappy hand by life, but she amplifies her misfortunes and unhappiness by making poor choices (to put it mildly).  Her life didn't have to spiral out of control like this.  It's deeply depressing, if you try to care about any of these characters at all.

Also, Marnie (the supposed "goodness and light" counterbalance to the darker character of Jane) is irritating.  On the surfaces, she's perfect, but... Is it just me?  I think she turns into a bit of a user (after a significant life event that I won't name here, in the interests of avoiding a spoiler), expecting Jane to be available to clean or come to her aid whenever it's convenient for Marnie, then dropping Jane the instant she's gotten what she needed.  Yes, she's understandably distracted by this major life event, but she's making time for other people in her life.  And yes, Jane hasn't really been a true, sane friend to Marnie by the time all this happens, but Marnie doesn't know that, so it hardly excuses the hot-and-cold act.  Ugh. 

I hated that every single character seemed to have some tragic backstory.  Widowhood soon after marriage, miscarriage, infidelity, dementia, cancer, anorexia, on and on.  Just one terrible, sad thing after another.  Real life has enough of that.  I don't want tragedy after tragedy in my reading, too, thanks so much.  (This really wasn't the right book for me...)

As I mentioned before, I was disappointed by the Big Moment; it felt slightly silly and anti-climactic, especially after it was teased/telegraphed/hinted at by the (weirdly inconsistent) obsessive journalist character.  It also didn't help that I'd figured out who Jane was addressing quite a while beforehand, so that wasn't a surprise, either. 



--SPOILER ALERT-- 

I found it strange that the police so easily accepted that Charles fell down the stairs and died instantly of a broken neck.  Wasn't there plenty of evidence that he'd been lying there, alive, for hours?  He was bleeding, right?  Unless I'm mistaken, people don't bleed the same way after they die, so a halfway-decent forensics team would've spotted that and looked more closely.  I'd have found it more realistic if it had been presented that they decided he'd fallen, injured himself, been unconscious for a while, eventually struggled to stand/move, and had slipped and fallen a second time with enough force to then break his neck.  

Also, what kind of weird "luck" does Jane have, to be presented with this golden opportunity to take out her nemesis?  It's a mere week after her dramatic confrontation with Charles and Marnie, and then this just... happens?  Hm.  Okay, if you say so!

--END SPOILER--

My final word: This book had some interesting ideas and was well-written in parts, but it didn't quite completely come together for me.  I think it would have been more effective if it had been more tightly edited, and it probably works better for people who don't mind a steady diet of misery.  

Golden Urchin

Golden Urchin 

by Madeleine Brent

Blurb:

Mitji lived with the Aboriginal tribe for as long as she could remember, but with her white skin, thin nose, and red hair, she does not look like the rest of the tribe.  As she nears womanhood, her oddness has made her an outcast and she must leave her people. She goes on a walkabout, in search of the walypalya, the tribe with red hair and white skin like her own, who had come from the great waters— perhaps they would receive her kindly and let her stay with them. On her wanderings she comes upon a white man, lying half-dead in the blazing heat, and nurses him back to health. Together they made their way to his home. There, Mitji becomes known as Meg and comes to understand that she is herself one of the walypalya. There are new dangers amongst this tribe, and Meg must confront the terrors of a long sea voyage before she can find happiness on the other side of the world. Only the knowledge gained from her Aboriginal tribe can guarantee her survival and that of her friends.

My Reaction:

Golden Urchin is a fascinating, well-written escapist adventure with excellent pacing and a truly heroic heroine.  I knocked my rating down down half a star to 4.5 (and round down, since half-stars aren't available on Goodreads) because I felt there was room for improvement in the romance department, and it wasn't quite a five-star book for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Madeleine Brent does it again!

Mitji/Meg's adventures are endlessly interesting to read, especially when she's surviving in the wilds of Australia and Africa.  Of course, I have no idea how realistic some of this information is... For instance, I've watched survival shows and seen people get terribly ill from suddenly switching to a diet of only meat, so I'm curious how certain things in this book would actually have worked out.  I also have my doubts that a naturally very fair-skinned person can somehow become more or less sunburn-proof, just through exposure to sun as a child.  It was still fun, though, and as long as you read it as escapist literature and not a survival guide, none of that matters.

Yes, it's predictable in many ways.  It has a formula to follow, but it does so in such a way that it still holds your attention.  To be honest, I don't mind a certain amount of "formula".  You know (in broad strokes) what to expect, and that can be comforting.  Even if I know the general direction the story's headed, I'm interested in exactly how it will get there, and the book is the journey to that destination, not merely the ending itself.  

Mitji/Meg is sometimes almost too perfect, but I never found her version of "a little too good to be true" annoying enough to want to stop reading.  I like her best as "Mitji"; she's especially captivating in the early chapters.

The romance... Well, I don't want to venture into spoilers, but it's just not to my tastes, unfortunately.  I seem to remember that the romance in Moonraker's Bride was better, and I think I liked that book better, over all, but Golden Urchin is a wonderful adventure and tale of survival.  I'm glad to have more novels by Madeleine Brent yet to read for the first time.

The Wife and the Widow

The Wife and the Widow

by Christian White

Blurb:

Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, The Wife and The Widow is an unsettling thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband’s secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside when she’s forced to confront the evidence of her husband’s guilt. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives. Brilliant and beguiling, The Wife and The Widow takes you to a cliff edge and asks the question: how well do we really know the people we love?

My Reaction:

I chose this novel after reading that it had an amazing, unusual twist.  Well, who doesn't love a good twist?!  (...pointedly ignoring people who claim not to love twists...)

To give credit where it's due, there is a surprising twist.  Unlike the person who recommended this book, I don't know that I'd go so far as to say that I've never seen that type of twist before, but it was still unexpected.  

The problem is that I didn't enjoy most of the book.  It was difficult to care much about most of these bland characters, and while I understood their motivations, I found those motivations irritating and unsympathetic, and the whole thing left me cold.  Slightly annoyed, mostly cold.  


SPOILER-Filled Tidbits:

--  The scene between the two teens in the old ferry terminal... Sorry, not what I want to read.  Not by a long shot.

--  John is an idiot.  Why go back and speak to Abby and Eddie about his decision to come forward?  He says he's already decided what he's going to do, with or without them.  He had to know that there was some risk involved.  Abby practically threatened him, even back when he was a teenager.  Did he really think it was a good idea to tell her his intentions and then meet the two of them (as he thought he was doing) in an isolated spot?  What real difference would it have made, talking to them first?  If he'd made up his mind to go to the police, he should've just done it!  But you know what?  Who cares?!  Does any reader honestly care that John was killed?   

--  Never heard of a "she-oak" before this.  Sounds kind of funny, like a folksy way of saying a female oak, if some oaks were male and others female (which apparently they aren't).  "Observe the maternal instinct at work as this she-oak provides a sheltering canopy to protect her precious saplings..."

--  Abby and Ray's discussion just prior to his "confession"... First, she tells him why she can't believe he killed someone, and her reasons include such gems as "because I once saw you weep without shame during an airline ad" and "I've seen you add lavender oil to your bathwater".  Oh, and the dude has been known to laugh insanely at Funniest Home Videos.  (Well, he's human, isn't he?!)  So someone who enjoys the scent of lavender can't possibly be a killer, I guess.  (Again, doesn't almost everyone like lavender?)  To tell the truth, if I see someone weeping without shame during an airline ad, that might be enough to make me doubt their emotional stability!  I'm not saying it's a red flag for murdering tendencies, but it certainly would raise an eyebrow.  

--  During the same conversation as above, Ray admits that he's been worrying that he's unable to provide enough for his family, feels that he's barely keeping his head above water, and sometimes fantasizes about escaping to a different life.  Relatable enough.  Abby asks why he hasn't ever talked to her about those feelings, and he replies, "Come on, Abby, I'm not one of your girlfriends. ... Men aren't like that."  UGH.  (eyeroll, etc., etc.)  Good grief.  I'm really struggling to reconcile Manly-Man Ray who can't talk to his own wife and Touchy-Feeling Ray who enjoys a lavender bath and weeps at sappy commercials.  

--  I'm not a parent, and some people insist that anyone who isn't a parent is incapable of using imagination or the powers of observation to get even the faintest grasp of what it is to be a parent, but working with just the feeble understanding I do possess (another eyeroll for you, here), I can't agree with Ray and Abby's decision to protect their creepy son Eddie from the repercussions of his actions.  Eddie was young.  He was scared.  There was a witness (John) who would have testified to the fact that that man had come in and basically threatened them.  The victim wasn't entirely innocent, and as a minor, Eddie could have been okay.  It's not as though he went on to live a rich, fulfilling life with the knowledge of his guilt hanging over his head, anyway.  Imagine knowing that your parent took the fall for you, at the cost of decades of freedom... It would be crushing.  How could you live with that guilt, even aside from the guilt of the crime you committed?

(Interesting that both this book and the one I last read involved an adult character taking the fall for a crime committed by a younger relative...)