Four-Star Mystery/Thriller
I found a parking spot with no trouble, found the elevators, stepped in an elevator with four people in it, and said "oh crap. Anyone know which floor is nephrology?"
I don't know what the hell I was thinking. I was anxious to catch up with my dad because he's shaky in the morning (he had his poles, at least), maybe I thought there'd be a directory in the elevator? They all said apologetically they didn't know.
The two older men got off on third. I stepped off, but immediately knew it didn't look right, so I got back on and tried fourth. I got off and there was a desk right there, where a kind gentleman informed me that I wanted fifth. The elevator was still open so I got back on, hit the 5, and apologized to the two older ladies, who patted my shoulder and told me to breathe. Then I got off and found my dad and everything was fine. At least it's not twenty years ago when I probably would have been to shy to ask anyone anything and it would have taken me five times longer.
Four-Star Mystery/Thriller
The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean: Synopsis from Goodreads: Detective Chelsey Calhoun’s life is turned upside down when she gets the call Ellie Black, a girl who disappeared years earlier, has resurfaced in the woods of Washington state—but Ellie’s reappearance leaves Chelsey with more questions than answers.
The debut thriller from New York Times bestselling author Emiko Jean, The Return of Ellie Black is both a feminist tour de force about the embers of hope that burn in the aftermath of tragedy and a twisty page-turner that will shock and surprise you right up until the final page.
-”All she could do was stare at him blankly and mutter okay. She sensed his relief immediately. Inside, she was so angry, white-hot angry, but it was better than the fear, better than the anguish, so she nourished it a bit. Eventually, fury turned to ambivalence. Sometimes she wonders if she loves Jimmy anymore. If the only thing keeping them together is a black rope of grief and a thin string of red hope.”
My preference in mysteries is character-driven over plot-driven, and this was definitely that. The tormented detective can be a cliche, but if it's well done it works, and really, if you accept that police detectives are honest and competent (big assumption), being tormented isn't that much of a stretch, even before Chelsey's past trauma. I appreciated the attention to structural inequality, the effects on a family of a child's disappearance, the adjustment required for her return. I always think zombies are such a rich metaphor in horror for the wish to have loved ones return from death but the realization that couldn't be anything but unnatural and grotesque; this is a more realistic corollary to that. As for the reviewers who called it 'man-hating' - thbfft. If men didn't want to be hated they should have behaved better.
- An elderly lady on her travels
- An elderly lady seeks peace at Christmas time
- The antique dealer's death
- An elderly lady is faced with a difficult dilemma
Maud is an irascible 88-year-old Swedish woman with no family, no friends, and…no qualms about a little murder. This funny, irreverent story collection by Helene Tursten, author of the Irene Huss investigations, features two-never-before translated stories that will keep you laughing all the way to the retirement home.
Ever since her darling father’s untimely death when she was only eighteen, Maud has lived in the family’s spacious apartment in downtown Gothenburg rent-free, thanks to a minor clause in a hastily negotiated contract. That was how Maud learned that good things can come from tragedy. Now in her late eighties, Maud contents herself with traveling the world and surfing the net from the comfort of her father’s ancient armchair. It’s a solitary existence, but she likes it that way.
Over the course of her adventures—or misadventures—this little bold lady will handle a crisis with a local celebrity who has her eyes on Maud’s apartment, foil the engagement of her long-ago lover, and dispose of some pesky neighbors. But when the local authorities are called to investigate a murder in her apartment complex, will Maud be able to avoid suspicion, or will Detective Inspector Irene Huss see through her charade?
-”Ian had felt compelled to agree to the terms because Tony had never been anything but loyal to him, and also because Tony had made it clear he would break both of Ian’s arms if he refused. Ian had seen Tony break people’s arms before, and so they were now partners.
I thought it was really good. The description of the landscape and the people are definitely key, and made it easy to visualize the action. It's very sad, and probably would have been better for me not to read in February, but there was a little redemption mixed in, although it's hard to think about all the ways child abuse has been accepted and institutionalized and not just feel limitless rage and despair. I found the dual plotlines in the past and present compelling, and appreciated the resolution. Sometimes when you come from a place where poverty and hardship are endemic, a lot of people end up living sad lives. If you don't appreciate attention being paid to that, avoid this series. I do hope poor Fin gets a break in the next book.
Now, because it is February and I am cranky and less able to abide what I see as wrong and annoying, I will address some things I have seen in other reviews. I don't like to comment on those reviews because people are allowed to have their own opinions even when they are wrong and dumb, and I am trying to argue with strangers on the internet less. There are a couple of sex scenes. These sex scenes were neither overly explicit or gratuitous, they absolutely made sense in the development of the relevant relationships, and if you say "I'm not a prude but..." and object to them, well, you are a prude, so just own that because otherwise you sound ridiculous. Not liking to read about sex scenees is fine - I don't love them myself, but they're not difficult to skim, and complaining about them seems silly. Also, the notion that people are only reviewing this well because they see other people doing so and are afraid to be different? That is breathtakingly arrogant and moronic. Maybe your opinion is in the minority because you have a sophistication and intellect that 95% of the other reviewers are lacking. Or maybe your opinion is just crap.
-”A lot of talk inside about feelings. How feelings are like visitors with something to give you. If they knock on your door: answer. Let ‘em in. Accept the gift. Say cheers, mate. Otherwise, they said, the feeling will go away and you won’t get the gift.
I disagree. If a feeling knocks and no one answers, it’ll get p(EXPLICIT)d off. It’ll kick the door in, chuck the gift at you, and smash your best ornaments so you don’t disrespect it again. You’ll be clearing up a lot more mess than you had to start with. So it’s good, Maxine, to cry if you want. Remember that.”
But we soon pull ourselves together – because suddenly I see who fault it REALLY is. DONNA. This is all YOUR fault, I yell. If you hadn’t spotted that outline of the airfield we wouldn’t be stuck here now. Well, if you hadn’t STOLEN that map in the first place, she snaps (..) don’t misunderstand me, Maxine, it didn’t get physical. I’d never hit a woman, not even a gender neutral one.”
I first read this author's The Appeal, which was a modern epistolary novel - written entirely in emails. I was impressed by how quickly each person's voice and characteristics became clear, and enjoyed the book. I was a bit surprised when I came across this one and realized that she apparently intended to continue this technique. Truthfully, when I started this book I had my doubts. Rather than emails, the book is an apparent transcriptions of voice memos found on an old cellphone. It didn't take long to get into the flow, though.
There was a fun treasure-hunt element to this, but there was also a thread about making poor choices based in poverty and lack of a strong family foundation, reacclimating to life after incarceration and reckoning with past choices. I liked it a lot.
The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels by Janice Hallett: Synopsis from Goodreads: Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared.
Now, true crime author Amanda Bailey is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby’s trail. As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realize that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined, and in pursuit of the story they risk becoming part of it.
Minnie Davis: Rekindled? Do I sense sexual tension?
Amanda Bailey. Absolutely not. Jealousy, resentment, insecurity, Schadenfreude? Absolutely.
Minnie Davis: Planning my outfit for the wedding right now.”
3.5 stars. Back to emails for this one. The competition between the two reporters and the emails showing the cutthroat competition between two reporters and the sometimes unscrupulous tactics employed in the hope of getting the story first are quite delicious, and the growing suspicion of dark forces at work felt momentous. Then, in all honesty, I wasn't quite sure what happened at the end, and the ending I had conjured in my head seemed better. I still enjoyed the ride.
-”’How did he take that?’
‘He was annoyed, I think. But men are like that. They think everything’s theirs and nothing’s ours except what they give us. This man was the same. I don’t say bad words, but I near said some to him.’”
3.5 stars. Not shocking, but sad and infuriating and haunting.
The coach is forced to stop when a distressed woman demands to get off, insisting that if she stays in her seat, she will be murdered. Although the rest of the journey passes without anyone being harmed, Poirot’s curiosity is aroused, and his fears are later confirmed when a body is discovered with a macabre note attached . . .
Could this new murder and the peculiar incident on the coach be clues to solving the mystery of who killed Frank Devonport? And if Helen is innocent, can Poirot find the true culprit in time to save her from the gallows?
-”Helen Acton killed Frank and she will hang for it! As for the police…no one will inform them of anything, no one is to summon them.’ He turned his hostile eyes on me. I did my best to look uninformed and unsummoned. I don’t know if I achieved the precise facial expression most likely to deter Sidney Devonport from screaming at me, but I certainly gave it my best effort.”
-”Poirot beamed at me. ‘You will not comprehend this, Catchpool, but in my heart I already have the pleasure and satisfaction of having answered every last question and solved the mystery of the death of Frank Devonport most decisively.’”
I love and admire the idea of Agatha Christie more than I love and adore reading her actual books. I had a giant omnibus of Miss Marple books that I read when I was about twelve, and when I first read And Then There Were None I thought it was really cool, but I revisited it after Eve came home from school in early high school saying she had to read a book by "Agatha Someone", and there was a hilarious misunderstanding when she said everyone was dead at the end and I was dead certain there were two people left, and we discovered that I had read the stage adaptation, which had a friendlier ending due to the fact that World War II was happening. Anyway, I read it again and it was ... disappointing.
I really like Sophie Hannah, so I borrowed this on a whim. It was fun, and seemed to contain both the seemingly insoluble puzzles of Sophie Hannah and the amusingly guileless arrogance of the Poirot character.
The Mystery of the Blue Train (Hercule Poirot #6) by Agatha Christie: Synopsis from Goodreads: A mysterious woman, a legendary cursed jewel, and a night train from London to the French Riviera -- ingredients for the perfect romance or the perfect crime? When the Blue Train stops, the jewel is missing, and the woman is found dead in her compartment. It's the perfect mystery, filled with passion, greed, deceit, and confusion.
Is Hercule Poirot the perfect detective to solve it?
Like I said, when I reread And Then There Were None and still liked the locked-room (island) mystery device but found the dialogue and characterization wanting. I accept that she was a skilled mystery writer who pioneered and perfected many techniques, but reading her was more like looking at an artefact than enjoying a reading experience. After reading the Sophie Hannah I found this in one of my school libraries and realized I hadn't really read any Poirot. I feel like I'd been sleeping on him a bit- super fun character, and the writing and characterization were more nuanced. I wasn't sure how it was all going to turn out, and I enjoyed the journey.
Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera: Synopsis from Goodreads: What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn't matter? Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all and, if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. But after Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer.
The truth is out there, if we just listen.
-”A podcaster has decided to ruin my life, so I”m buying a chicken."
-”At this point, I’m curious how long this can go on for. He’s clearly wanted to break up for a while, and now he’s worried I’m going to murder him. Surely he will locate his balls and actually say the words ‘Please move out of my apartment and never contact me again’ soon?
On the plus side, I have more time to look for a new place white I wait for the inevitable. Just this morning I found a very promising one-bedroom with no income requirements. It looks like a dump in the pictures, and the landlord asked to see a picture of my feet when I emailed him, but, hey, it’s cheap.”
Undone (Will Trent #3) by Karin Slaughter: Synopsis from Goodreads: When a tortured young woman enters the trauma center of an Atlanta hospital, Dr. Sara Linton is thrust into a desperate police investigation with Special Agent Will Trent and his partner, Faith Mitchell. Though guarding their own wounds and their own secrets, Sara, Will, and Faith find that they are all that stand between a madman and his next victim.
-"Will was in an unmarked black Dodge Charger, what they called a G-ride, slang for government-issued car. This particular beauty had a key scratch cutting along the panel over the back tire ad a large antenna mounted on a spring so the scanner could pick up all signals within a hundred-mile area. A blind three-year-old would've been able to tell it was a cop car."
I read a post of Sarah's that reminded me I hadn't read any Karin Slaughter for quite a while. I had read some of her earlier books which were a little meh, then some Will Trent books that were much better, and a couple of stand-alones which were excellent. This is my blog post about how disappointing it was when she merged a character from her earlier series with her newer series, because I Hate Sara Linton. I'm probably going to continue rereading the Will Trent series even with (bleah) Sara Linton is in it. Will Trent is an interesting character and the mysteries are solid. But I reserve the right to keep complaining about Sara Linton.
A Killer in the Family (DCI Jonah Sheens #5) by Gytha Lodge: Synopsis from Goodreads: A woman uploads her DNA online, searching for her father--but the man who contacts her is Detective Chief Inspector Jonah Sheens. From the acclaimed author of Little Sister, this endlessly twisty crime novel asks: What might a family do to protect or expose a serial killer in its midst?
Now, as they find the second, they know for sure.
Panic about the "bonfire killer" quickly spreads through the sedate, suburban area of Southampton. Women are urged not to travel alone at night, and constant vigilance is encouraged among the local residents. But single mom Aisling Cooley has a lot to distract her: two beloved teenage sons and a quest to find her long-lost father, whom she hasn't seen since she was a teenager growing up in Ireland.
After much debate she decides to upload her DNA to an ancestry website, and when she gets a match she is filled with an anxious excitement, that her questions about her father's disappearance from her life might finally be answered.
But to her horror, it's not her father who's found her. It's a detective.And they say her DNA is a close match for the bonfire killer...
As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow, Moore’s multi-threaded story invites readers into a rich and gripping dynasty of secrets and second chances. It is Liz Moore’s most ambitious and wide-reaching novel yet.
-"She was supposed to wear glasses; she owned a pair that she never wore, which resulted in her squinting frequently. Her father once told her casually that she was built like a plum on toothpicks, and the phrase was at once so cruel and so poetic that it clicked into place around her like a harness."
-"'Panic,' said T.J. But no one raised a hand.
She explained. It came from the Greek god Pan: the god of the woods. He liked to trick people, to confuse and disorient them until they lost their bearings, and their minds.
To panic, said T.J., was to make an enemy of the forest. To stay calm was to be its friend."
-"The one thing they agreed upon, always, was the value of their son, whom Alice loved immediately and intensely. Peter, she knew, loved him too -- but his love sometimes felt to her like an investment, something to be given on the condition that there would be a return for him later."
I was interested in reading this as soon as I heard about it, but I moved it up to get it read before the end of the year when a few people blogged about it - going to fairly lazily see if I can track down what they thought of it. Oh, Engie's post runs a few of them down - she really liked it (4.5 out of 5 stars), and says that Birchie hated it, and Stephany, Sarah and Lisa loved it - and comments on that post reveal that Jenny and Suzanne liked it but didn't love it. What about Nicole, I think Nicole weighed in too - oh, Nicole really liked it too, particularly for a character's opinion of Thoreau (author of Walden) as a pretentious git (totally agree, Nicole). Wow, this was THE book last year.
I loved it. It was the kind of mystery I hope for every time I begin one. I have no issue with anyone who didn't like it. The reviews on Goodreads that annoyed me were the ones that lauded it as very different from other mysteries - this is the same annoyance I felt when people rhapsodized about Fifty Shades of Grey or The Da Vinci Code, when that was the only book they ever read in the genre because of the zeigeist. Those reviews make me blink - like, yes, this is why many people who read mysteries READ MYSTERIES. Because a good mystery is a well-written story (oh, I disagree with Engie about the writing, I thought it was not showy, but quite perceptive and insightful, and I noted down several passages) with fully realized characters and struggles and strivings, and like in straight fiction, people sometimes die, and unlike in straight fiction, the conflict happens to be finding out why the people died.
There was a lot going on, between the various timelines, the societal microcosm -with its attendant inequalities and figurative bloodlettings - that is the summer camp, the infuriatingly stifling role of women that traps Alice in a desperately unhappy marriage, and in the present day puts Louise in a similarly unsafe position in her dating life and with regards to the investigation . Class inequality and the differing miseries of the poor and the rich are in evidence, and then the difficulties faced by Judy, the young Polish-American police officer investigating the newest disappearance, swimming upstream against convention and bigotry.I felt like it was handled masterfully, every layer informing every other, and there are several really well-done female characters. In some books that switch between characters and time periods I'm rushing through one to get back to the other, but I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this. In response to Engie's question of whether the ending surprised me - I think I saw where things were going a little bit ahead, but not a long way, which is sort of perfect. There were moments of connection that touched me deeply, there were moments of monstrous injustice that left me breathlessly angry, and the setting was so wonderfully rendered that I almost feel like I watched it as much as read it.
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