How to Get Away with Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce (Myrtle Hardcastle Mysteries, #2)

In this second installment of the middle grade Myrtle Hardcastle Mystery series, How to Get Away with Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce, young Myrtle has been sent on a train trip to the shore for vacation. She'd rather be home, studying law and medicine, and solving murders. But, Myrtle's father is in Paris at a conference and she's sent packing with her governess, Miss Judson, and the formidable (and not a little intimidating) Aunt Helena. She also brings her cat, Peony, along. Peony is a tremendous character and no ordinary cat. 

Things get off to an interesting start when Myrtle hears Mrs. Bloom, an insurance investigator, telling the owner of the train and the resort to which they're headed that his insurance policy on a valuable diamond and Alexandrite tiara will have to be cancelled if he doesn't follow the rules and put it in a safe, as specified. At that moment, it's in a display case for all to see. Then, it goes missing and Mrs. Bloom turns up dead with Aunt Helena's scissors in her back. Are the theft and murder connected? Is it possible that Aunt Helena's a murderer? What happened at the resort town that made Mrs. Bloom a friend to all? 

Myrtle has a little trouble getting involved in the investigation but once it becomes apparent that the railroad inspector is less than competent because of his unwillingness to listen to female witnesses and then Aunt Helena is arrested for the murder, Miss Judson bends to Myrtle's will and they're on the job. They summon a friend to help with the legal aspect (a familiar character from the first in the series) and slowly unwind the mystery. 

Highly recommended but I advise reading the series in order - It's the characters and the dialogue that make How to Get Away with Myrtle such a delight. The cast is fairly large and that's probably my only complaint but it's a minor one because they're all so well delineated that there's never any confusion from one character to the next. I simply found the cast size a little unwieldy and would have to think for a minute or two to remember previous encounters when they were reflected upon. At any rate, I like Myrtle and Miss Judson. I loved the way what appeared to be related threads were broken off into separate stories that were satisfying unto themselves. And, I really adore the young lawyer called in to help, who calls Myrtle "Stephen" for reasons I don't entirely recall, although I remembered him as soon as Myrtle described him. A very satisfying mystery with loads of charming scenes and a few edge-of-your-seat moments. Not to be reserved for middle school kids. Grown-ups need a little good fun, too. 

My thanks to Algonquin Books for the review copy!

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Readers' Room by Antoine Laurain

In The Readers' Room by Antoine Laurain, Violaine LePage awakens in the hospital to find that she was badly injured in a plane crash, she is missing pieces of her memory, and the author of a bestselling mystery that she published cannot be located. With the Prix Goncourt coming up and Sugar Flowers a likely contender, this is a serious problem that could end her career.

The author of Sugar Flowers has never made an appearance at the publishing company, instead asking for his or her contract (the name of the author could be of either gender) to be sent to a hotel in London. And s/he has stopped responding to emails.

When a police officer shows up at the publishing house to say that she's read Sugar Flowers and the murders described in the book exactly match two murders that she's investigated, then a third person the officer thought connected to the murdered men is killed, Violaine and her employees come under suspicion. Who wrote this wildly bestselling book? Is there a connection between Violaine or any of the other employees and the victims? If so, what is it? And, what do sugar flowers (made by bakers) have to do with their deaths, if anything?

Recommended - I found The Readers' Room captivating and couldn't put it down. The ending was a little disappointing but I enjoyed the book enough that I dashed off to see what else Laurain's written and have added another of his books to my wish list.

I received a copy of The Readers' Room unsolicited in the apparent hope of my unbiased opinion (there ya go) but I didn't keep the publicity material so I'm afraid I have no idea who sent it. Whoever you are, thanks!

Vintage 1954 is the other Laurain title I put on my wish list, if anyone wants to buy me a birthday present. ;)


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Premeditated Myrtle by Elizabeth C. Bunce

In Premeditated Myrtle, Myrtle Hardcastle is a precocious 12-year-old. Her governess, Miss Judson, uses the Socratic method to teach her. Myrtle is a fan of a pulp mystery series about a young (male) detective and reads medical and law books as well as encyclopedias for entertainment. All of which is to say that it isn't surprising she fancies herself a young detective.

One morning, Myrtle is looking through her telescope (which is supposed to be for learning about the stars, but Myrtle is also a little rebellious) and notes that her elderly neighbor and the gardener have not held to their morning routine. Concerned, Myrtle calls the police and they find the elderly neighbor dead in her bathtub. The death is ruled a heart attack but Myrtle is unconvinced and decides to investigate.

Was the elderly neighbor killed by the gardener for her prized lilies? Or was she knocked off by the first cousin, twice removed, with the American accent for her inheritance? What about the nephew in the tragically loud coat? Who had the motive, means, and opportunity to kill Myrtle's neighbor? If she was killed, why did her death appear to be from natural causes? And, what has happened to the old lady's garden plot where she grew her lilies?

Recommended for middle grade and up - There's a lot to this story and at over 350 pages it's a long one for a middle reader but it has loads of wonderful twists and turns. I loved all of the main characters — Myrtle, her governess, her father, the cook. There's also a secondary character thrown in toward the end, Mr. Blakeney. He is a delight. Myrtle is smart beyond her years and knows it but she's also pretty self-aware. She knows when she's not behaving like a proper Victorian girl and she's also well aware that being a young and female, smart or not, means most people are not going to give her the time of day, much less listen to her ideas about a possible murder.

The only things I didn't like about Premeditated Myrtle were the fact that Myrtle almost never bothered even attempting to tell the adults what she'd discovered on the assumption that they wouldn't listen, anyway, and the fact that nobody sounded English but the gardener with the Yorkshire accent (and I can't say if his accent is accurate). I tend to dislike it when characters keep too much to themselves. It's a personal preference, but I favor actual conflict caused by telling the truth and not being believed to lies and secrets. But, there were a couple scenes in which she did try to let people in on a clue or two and they ignored her, just as she suspected they would. I'm sure 12-year-olds will relate to Myrtle's frustrations with the adults, especially on the occasions that she attempted to get them to listen and failed.

My thanks to Alqonquin Young Readers for the review copy! My copy of Premeditated Myrtle says it's a May, 2020 release but I screwed up again and didn't check to see if the release date has been shoved back due to the pandemic. Sure enough, it's now got an October release date, so if you're interested it will have to be pre-ordered. I've opted to go ahead and review while it's fresh in my mind.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

A Murderous Relation by Deanna Raybourn (Veronica Speedwell Mystery #5)

In A Murderous Relation, Veronica and Stoker have been called from Cornwall to London. One of Queen Victoria's grandchildren, Prince Eddy, is caught up in what could be a tremendous scandal. Veronica and Stoker are tasked with retrieving a gift given by Eddy, aka Prince Albert Victor, to someone of ill repute. Meanwhile, London is being terrorized by a vicious killer, not yet known as Jack the Ripper. Are the two related?

OK, confession. It's 1:00 AM and I have not finished A Murderous Relation, so I'll tell you what I think of it, so far, and then return to finish up, later.

I love the main characters, as I did in the first Veronica Speedwell book I read, A Dangerous Collaboration (#4 in the series). Veronica is smart, clever, and knowledgable. Stoker is a little more distant in this book than he was in the last and I'm finding his diminished role somewhat disappointing. But, every now and then he'll say something that makes me smile and I love the interaction between the two of them.

However . . . and this is a big however . . . I absolutely hate the setting of this book. A Dangerous Collaboration was set in a castle on an island off the coast of Cornwall and it was partly that setting that made the book so much fun. In A Murderous Relation, Veronica and Stoker are undercover to try to find the gift given to Aurore, the woman whose home is like a playground for perverts (she doesn't like to think of it as a brothel). And, that is so not my thing. I anticipated much less of the . . . scenery, I guess you could say? I didn't realize so much time would be spent on descriptions of people doing icky things. I'm finding that it creeps me out so thoroughly that I keep setting the book aside. I haven't decided whether or not I'll finish it, so I'm going to leave this review open-ended and report back on Friday. If I decide to abandon the book, I'll say so. If I continue, I'll finish with a recommendation line. I'm going to sleep on it.

Fiona Friday will be moved to Saturday to make room for my Friday update on the book.

I received a copy of A Murderous Relation from Berkley Books for review. Thanks! My apologies for the delayed ending to this review. I shall return.

UPDATE!!! UPDATE!!! UPDATE on Friday!!!

It's Friday morning and I made my decision to continue reading A Murderous Relation, yesterday, after sleeping on it. I decided I liked the characters too much to give up on them merely because of the location in which the storyline had ended up. And, I also figured they couldn't stay in the brothel, forever. Excellent decision! Not long after I began reading, Veronica and Stoker discover a body, try to escape from the brothel, and things get really exciting and tense (the way I like them). At that point, the pages began to fly. I don't want to give away any plot points but a character from a previous Veronica Speedwell book (which I have not read) shows up every bit as villainous as before but this time with an unexpected sidekick.

Highly recommended - If you are squeamish about scenes in a brothel, I recommend a little skimming to get past that bit, which went on longer than I was able to tolerate on Wednesday evening but ended quickly, after I picked the book up again. However, I wouldn't skip anything because the story builds on each incident and slowly becomes a little more complex than just rescuing a Prince from his self-made scandal by stealing a jewel. It also becomes much more dangerous, to the point at which the question becomes, "Will anyone get out of this alive?" And, then, other things happen. At any rate, there are some heart-pounding action scenes, which I love, and Stoker's role picked up enough to satisfy me. I closed the book thinking, "I need to go back to the beginning of the series." I like Veronica Speedwell and Stoker, the way they sort of spin around each other without landing (Will they? Won't they?), the vocabulary (always looking things up while reading this series, including photos of historical characters who make appearances), and the time period. Loads of fun and I'm so glad I returned to the book.


©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - The Lost Man by Jane Harper, The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward, and The Last Light Breaking by Nick Jans

It just occurred to me that I should use as much of the week as possible while I'm trying to quickly crank out reviews to finish up 2019, so I may go ahead and post on the weekends and/or skip Fiona Friday until I've caught up and posted my final list with links to all reviews from 2019. I'm going to wing it, for now. Husband may not let me get away with that, so we'll just have to see if that works out. I've just gotten my phone back from the store where I left it behind, so I will go ahead and post a Fiona Friday image, tomorrow.

The Lost Man by Jane Harper is about three brothers. One has become an outcast and lives on a remote piece of his family's property. One feels like he's being treated like he's stupid and left completely out of the decision-making. The third was considered the responsible, likable one. He was married with two children but his body has just turned up in a very strange place, next to a lone grave and far enough from his car that it appears he may have committed suicide. But, something doesn't feel quite right about his death and the outcast brother decides to find out what really happened.

I don't have the book next to me but I remember the story well, if not the names of the characters. As in her previous two books, Jane Harper's Australian setting is practically a character in and of itself, it's so vivid. When she talks about the dust, the dryness, the heat, the way the fine red soil gets into the creases of one's clothing, it's so well described that the real world feels a little unreal for a moment, when you set the book down. The characterization is every bit as sharp. I am so impressed by Jane Harper.

Highly recommended - I was a little disappointed when I found out Jane Harper's third book wasn't going to star the police officer with a wounded soul but an honorable heart of the first two books but I shouldn't have been. I'm not a mystery fan but Jane Harper's writing absolutely sweeps me away. The Lost Man has a slightly slow beginning as you get to know the characters but once you've been introduced to the cast and the questions about the death have been posed, the story becomes absolutely mesmerizing. I continued guessing all the way to the end of the book and I closed the book thinking it was Harper's best.

My copy of The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward was ordered from Book Depository so just a warning, up front: that's probably the British cover. The publisher is Blackfriars, which sounds very British, but I'm just guessing. If you're American and this story appeals to you, be aware that you probably won't see this cover if you go looking for it.

The Same Sky tells two interconnected stories. One is the tale of a young Honduran girl who lives with her grandmother and twin brothers. Her mother lives in Austin, Texas and sends home money but after things deteriorate, Carla and her brother, Junior, are constantly starving. When he starts sniffing glue to help him forget his hunger, Carla knows it's past time to attempt the harrowing journey North. Will they survive?

In the second storyline, Alice is infertile due to breast cancer treatment in her college years and a baby she and her husband were going to adopt has been reclaimed by his mother. Is it time to give up on ever having a child?

It's pretty obvious how Carla and Alice's stories will intersect (Trigger Warning for rape) and, as is often the case in books with two storylines, I favored one over the other — the favorite being Carla's story. I didn't feel like Alice's story was entirely necessary but that's a personal preference. After I wrote that I was unsure why the author bothered to tell Alice's story, on Instagram, another reader and bookstagrammer told me she liked the story just as it is. I wondered if Ward showed Alice's side for the contrast. Alice and her husband have a successful business but feel their lives are incomplete without a family. Carla's family is scattered and struggling in ways mostly unimaginable to an American, so there definitely is a stark difference between their lives.

Recommended but I had mixed feelings - While I think immigrant stories are especially important at this moment, I felt like The Same Sky was a little too disjointed and that some of the elements should have been glossed over or eliminated entirely. I gave it 3 1/2 ⭐. For those who may be wondering, yes I've heard of American Dirt. In fact, I've pre-ordered a copy. I tried to win one (I don't know how many drawings I signed up for) but failed. Before I did so, I'd already pre-ordered it, anyway. It just means I have to wait till its release. 

There's an interesting story behind how I found The Last Light Breaking by Nick Jans. About 10 years ago, the first time we went to Alaska on vacation, Huzzybuns neglected to book one night's lodging in the middle of our stay. Seriously, he just skipped that night. When he realized he'd messed up, the only place he could find for us to stay was on the opposite side of the Kenai Peninsula from where we were staying the rest of the time, in a former cannery. He booked it because he had no other options and it turned out to be a cool side trip because it was on the drive across the peninsula that we saw the one and only moose we encountered on that trip. 

Our room in the former cannery was frigid (the thermostat set in the 50s) when we arrived but there was a little lobby area with corner seating where we could hang out while the room warmed up and a shelf of books on each wall for the guests to borrow. I flipped through a few before settling down to read The Last Light Breaking. I only read a single chapter (it's a series of essays about the author's life in Alaska with Inupiat Eskimos) but I was so impressed that I wrote down the title and author and put the book on my wish list. It took several years before I got a copy via Paperback Swap and I suppose it's taken me so long to actually read The Last Light Breaking because of all the ARCs I've given priority, over the years, but it finally called out to me during my winter break from blogging and I listened. 

The essays in The Last Light Breaking tell Nick Jans' story (not in exact timeline order, but so well that it didn't feel like that mattered): how and why he ended up traveling to Alaska, his experience as a new guy (and not a native in a predominantly native region) in town, the jobs he's held, many of the trips he's made around the area to camp, hunt, fish, hike, etc., and what he's learned from his neighbors and friends. Nick Jans is an adventurer and a people person, so the book is particularly fun to read if you like reading about adventure, interaction, and what it's like to live with the Inupiat, who are among the few natives who actually are OK with the word "Eskimo".

Speaking of the word "Eskimo" and why it's not always OK . . . my son had a swim coach from Alaska. He was indigenous but Tlingit, from Juneau, not a people for whom the term "Eskimo" is used, so he considers it offensive if you call him an Eskimo.

Highly recommended - Stunning writing that will make you feel like you've been on an adventure with the author and convince you that the land is sacred. I will be looking for more by Jans and I wish I'd read him sooner.

When we were in Alaska, or maybe before, I read up on the native way of life and why they still consider subsistence living (hunting and fishing in the traditional ways for food, fuel, etc.) important so I had no problem with some of the things Jans did with his friends but I would caution the squeamish and anyone who objects to the killing of animals for any reason that there are a few graphic scenes that you might need to skim.

©2020 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

A Dangerous Collaboration by Deanna Raybourn (Veronica Speedwell Mystery #4)

A Dangerous Collaboration is my first Veronica Speedwell mystery and it's the 4th in the series. You never know how that's going to turn out, starting in the middle of a series. Will it stand alone or be wrought with uncomfortable gaps that make little sense to those who missed out on the earlier entries? Will you be tempted to return to the beginning of a series or decide that it's not for you?

Well, no worries. I loved A Dangerous Collaboration practically from page 1 and it stands alone well. Occasionally, the author adds an asterisk that leads to the title of a book (or several titles) in which mentioned adventures occurred, but there was never a single moment that I felt lost or as if the explanation of past events was in some way lacking.

In A Dangerous Collaboration, Veronica is invited by her business partner Stoker's brother, Lord Tiberius Templeton-Vane, to travel along to an island off the coast of Wales. There, he is to stay with his long-time friend, Malcolm Romilly, and various members of Romilly's relatives in the family's castle. Stoker is told by Tiberius that he's unwelcome, but Stoker's curious and maybe a little jealous, so he tags along, separately. Veronica is to pose as Lord Templeton-Vane's fiancée because it would be unseemly for them to travel alone together, otherwise.

On the island, Veronica and Stoker discover that there is a mystery afoot. Three years ago, Malcolm Romilly married and on the evening of the wedding his bride unaccountably disappeared. Nobody ever figured out if she even left the island. Did she run away? Did she have an accident or was she killed? Malcolm has discovered a clue and Veronica is determined to uncover what became of Rosamund.

Highly recommended - It was the setting, the characterization, and the denouement that I loved best about this book. A castle on an island with priest holes and tunnels? I'm in. The mystery was one that couldn't be solved by the reader, although one could guess, I suppose. I didn't care about that. I found that I loved being immersed in the world to which Deanna Raybourn took the reader and I liked Veronica and Stoker. The other characters had enough dimension and mystery about them to convince this reader it was pretty much possible that anything had happened and most everyone bore a touch of guilt. I definitely plan to seek out the beginning of this series and hope to see what becomes of Speedwell and Stoker in future releases.

I received a copy of A Dangerous Collaboration from Berkley Books in exchange for my unbiased review. My thanks to Berkley/Penguin Random House.

©2019 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

I Know You Know by Gilly Macmillan

Cody Swift was 11 years old when his childhood best friends were murdered. A mentally challenged young man was sent to prison and has since killed himself. Now, Cody has decided to investigate the murders. Was the right man found guilty? Or, were there details that were overlooked? Cody and a friend have created a podcast to describe their findings as they return to Bristol and travel to visit people who were involved in the 20-year-old investigation. 

Detective John Fletcher held one of the boys in his arms as he died. He was happy to quickly close the investigation and put someone behind bars. But, now that Cody Swift's podcast is drawing attention and a new body has been discovered in the same area, a new investigation has been opened and he can't help but wonder if there's a connection between the murder of the boys and the newly-discovered, long-dead man. But, there's more to John Fletcher than meets the eye. What happened during the investigation? Was the lead investigator set up? If so, who was involved and why?

Jess lost her son Charlie 20 years ago and it's been a difficult journey, since. Since Charlie's death, she's felt profoundly guilty, but not for reasons you'd expect. On the night of their disappearance, Jess was gone for many hours. She was never a suspect but those hours have not been explained. With Cody digging into the murders, Jess is nervous. She doesn't want her carefully crafted new life upset and the secret she's kept from her daughter exposed. She knows it will upset her husband but, in need of help, she contacts a crafty and dangerous man, the only man who can help her because he knows her better than anyone. Will the truth of what happened that night be revealed?

OK, where to start? I've read 2 out of 3 of Gilly Macmillan's previous books and I liked them. What She Knew was the first, I think, and it shared a detective with Odd Child Out. I'm not sure of the order but I think Odd Child Out was the more recent one. I liked where the author took that detective and thought the second book I read was even better than the first, which was good but uncomfortable. So, I was hoping this next entry, I Know You Know, would continue on with the same detective. It did not. He's not in the picture at all. There's a whole new cast of characters. It took me a little time to adjust to that, but I found the story intriguing and Gilly Macmillan's writing flows nicely, so her books are always quick reads. I enjoyed that about I Know You Know.

I had some problems with this particular title, though. First of all, Fletcher is a confusing character. You know that he held this child while he was dying and later on, at least one police officer says watching someone die and not being able to save them impacts you for life. So, what's revealed about his character is baffling and there were actually some things that made me think, "I don't buy that." How could he do this if he felt that? That was the sensation I was left with. Obviously, what he did that I found suspect is spoiler material, so I have to keep it vague. However, this question stuck with me throughout the reading. If Gilly Macmillan's writing was a little rougher, I might have given up the book because of this particular problem. But, her writing seriously flows and she's good at pulling you in, so I just kept thinking, "Wait a minute," about every 50 pages or so. Weird, but true. Maybe others can shrug it off completely.

There's also the question of the new body. Whether or not it's connected to the bodies of the boys, why wasn't it found 20 years ago? It's found in the same location, just buried a bit deeper. That eventually would nag at me, although it takes some time before that particular murder victim is identified and his story revealed.

Recommended with hesitation - If a few plot holes don't bother you and you're a mystery fan, you might enjoy I Know You Know. But, for me personally, it was the worst of the Gilly Macmillan books. It was her writing and some well set-up questions that kept me going. I wanted to know how the story ended. I was confused about certain elements, but I couldn't put the book down. The ending, however, was terrible and ruined the read entirely for me. As I'm reading, I'm often mentally scoring a book. It was a 5 for a while because it sucked me in, then a 4 when I started to question certain elements, then it bounced between the two for a while. The ending knocked it down to a 3 and if I'd known it would end that way, I'd have ditched it in spite of how the pages flew.

I Know You Know just did not work for me. Having said that, I think readers who are not quite as picky as I am will likely enjoy it. My general feeling as I put it down: kind of pissed off. Worth mentioning: there are a lot of not-nice characters and that actually doesn't bother me but I'd recommend against reading it if you need someone to relate to. I think the ending was meant to be triumphant for one of the characters, but instead it just made me dislike that character even more. So, the ending just flat did not work. However, I've enjoyed Macmillan's writing style every time I've read it, flaws and all. I will not continue reading her work if she lets me down this thoroughly, in the future, but I'll give her another chance.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Under a Dark Sky by Lori Rader-Day

Before his death, Eden Wallace's husband made a reservation at a dark sky park, a place that's kept deliberately low-light so that visitors can enjoy the night sky. Eden has been both an insomniac and afraid of the dark for a while, jobless and unable to talk herself into actually taking a photograph with the camera she carries everywhere. She thinks that perhaps being forced into the darkness for a few nights will help her face her fears. But, there's only one problem.

The cabin in which Eden plans to stay is a large one with room for a number of guests. She is far from the only person planning to stay. A group of twenty-somethings has also arrived, and they're college friends. Eden's room is at the back of the cabin and separate, so she decides to stay for a night and go home. She awkwardly hangs out with the group of friends and then finds herself surprised to actually fall asleep.

Of all the nights to succeed at battling her insomnia, this was definitely not the right one. In the middle of the night, one of the other guests is murdered. Eden wakes briefly and hears some odd noises, sees someone running away after a door slams. But, then she falls back asleep and is surprised to find out there was a murder in the night. Worse, she is a suspect.

Eden knows the best way to get herself off the hook is to understand the strange friendship between the other guests and figure out who committed the crime. But, she also has to deal with her own problems and fears. When she finds out she may be sleepwalking during the rare moments she drifts off to sleep, she even must question herself. Is it possible Eden murdered a perfect stranger? If not, can she move on from the pain of her marriage and loss?

I didn't realize it would be so difficult to write briefly about Under a Dark Sky. It's a little more complex than I thought, as I was reading it. I'm not quite sure what it was about the book that sucked me in (whether it was the story or the author's voice) but Under a Dark Sky really grabbed me hard. It's a fairly slow-paced read, and yet I found it utterly captivating. I liked the slow reveal of the personalities, the tensions between the people in the group, the interaction between them and the local police, what we found out about Eden, the way mishaps continue to plague the group and each one reveals something about the people involved. And, I loved the ending.

Highly recommended - Apart from one particular element that I thought was so obvious I wanted to yell at Eden to remember what so-and-so said and she'd know the answer, I found the mystery in Under a Dark Sky just out of reach enough to suit me and the complexity of the characters satisfying. I gave the book 4 stars because that one element annoyed me a bit, but I highly recommend it because I truly, thoroughly enjoyed the reading and had trouble putting the book down. Be aware, though, that it's not a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat read but more of a slow burn.

©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Look for Her by Emily Winslow

In 1976, Annalise Wood disappeared from her small hometown near Cambridge in England. Later, a body was found and determined to be hers. Now, a psychologist has had two visits from people obsessed with Annalise in a single week. Is it just a coincidence? Or is there reason to believe the police came to the conclusion that the body was hers too quickly?

New DNA evidence has turned up in the Annalise Wood case. Morris Keene and his former partner, Chloe Frohmann hope this evidence will help them finally close the case, but instead it unravels what little the police thought they knew. What happened to Annalise? What are the real connections between the two women who are obsessed with her? Or, is there any connection at all?

Look for Her is the 4th book in a series and I haven't read the first 3 books, but I thought the author did a pretty terrific job of filling the reader in on what happened in the previous book without giving anything away (the reasons the detectives are no longer partners and Morris has been left with a permanent disability), so I had no real problem with that. And, I thought the book was pretty well done, although I confess I guessed what happened to Annalise early on and I was right without knowing the exact details.

Recommended - Alternating between several viewpoints (the psychologist, Chloe, and Morris), the author does an excellent job of weaving a complex mystery and then tying all the strands together. I found Look for Her both compelling and satisfying. And, I really enjoyed the location -- occasionally, I found myself looking up particular landmarks, which I always enjoy. My only complaint about the book is minor and, you could say, pretty much irrelevant: I didn't think the characters sounded particularly English (so I wasn't surprised when I found out the author is an American married to a Brit, although she lives in England). I didn't feel any urge to go out and look for the earlier books to fill in the gaps, but I would definitely read any future releases by Emily Winslow.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Dry and Force of Nature by Jane Harper

I got an Advance Reader Copy of Force of Nature by Jane Harper via Shelf Awareness after reading many gushing reviews, comments, and tweets about Harper's first release, The Dry. Knowing Force of Nature was the second in a series, I asked friends for advice about order. Did I really need to read The Dry, first? Would I miss important background that would likely feed into the next novel? I've read series books out of order, in the past. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't. The advice I received was mixed but leaned toward the likelihood that I'd miss out if I didn't read The Dry, first, so I ordered a copy and have decided to review them together.

In The Dry, when Federal Agent Aaron Falk returns for his best friend Jake's funeral, it's his first visit to his hometown since he and his father were driven away. Luke, his wife, and son have been killed. But, did Luke murder his family and commit suicide or did someone else kill the family? Why was their baby daughter left alive but their son killed? Falk doesn't plan to stay in town to find out. But, then Luke's parents ask for help.

The title comes from the drought conditions in the area, as the story is taking place. Farmers are losing their livelihood because of the lengthy dry spell and nobody appears surprised that Luke may have killed most of his family. Since The Dry is the first in a series, you get to know Aaron Falk and the story of how and why he and his father were driven out of town in tandem with the unfolding investigation.

While there were some moments when I felt myself pulled briefly out of the story because I thought a particular element was weak, those were rare moments and the book was almost impossible to put down. I liked Aaron Falk and that feeling grew throughout the reading. And, I loved the way the author steered you toward believing someone was guilty, eliminated them entirely, and then did it all over again. The ending was surprising, tense, exciting, and believable. An excellent read. The book is set in rural Australia, west of Melbourne, and the setting is almost a character in itself. I love a very vivid setting, so The Dry was a 5-star read for many reasons. Highly recommended.

In Force of Nature, the weather has taken a 180° turn. It's winter, now. Months have passed since Aaron Falk solved the mystery of his best friend's death. He has a new partner named Carmen and the two of them have been working with Alice Russell to uncover money laundering at her place of employment. Alice has disappeared while on a team-building hike that lasted three days. The other 4 women made it out of the bush alive but some were injured. They claim Alice took her phone and hiked out on her own after they became lost and spent the night in a cabin. But, did she? Is it possible her disappearance is related to the investigation into the company's finances? A serial killer used to operate in this part of the Giralang Ranges and his son has disappeared. Could he have something to do with Alice's disappearance? Will she be found dead or alive -- or, not at all, like one of the victims of the serial killer?

I had two concerns when I first started reading Force of Nature: 1. Will it be as good as The Dry or a disappointing sophomore effort? and 2. Can she pull off yet another "5 women go into the woods and only 4 come out," storyline? It's a plot that has been done to death and I was definitely worried that it would be same old, same old.

Well, good news on both counts. I thought Force of Nature was actually even better than The Dry. As with the first novel, I found the book almost impossible to put down. The Giralang Ranges are, as I suspected, based on The Grampians (a few hours' drive from Melbourne, where Falk is based -- you can take a bus tour into The Grampians from Melbourne) and, again, the setting is practically a character unto itself. Whereas I felt the intensity of the heat and craved water while reading The Dry, I shivered along with the characters and grew weary of the rain in Force of Nature.

Highly recommended and I absolutely cannot wait to see what Jane Harper comes up with, next. I'm not a big mystery fan but I am fond of Aaron Falk, love the Australian settings, and find Harper's writing both competent and believable. I liked where she took her main character emotionally and thought Carmen was a nice addition as a sidekick.

Note on order: Force of Nature stands alone fine, but I'm glad I read the two books in order because I do believe that the events of the first book feed into the second one, mainly in the way of character development. There are some references to Falk's father, his burned hand, and his hometown. However, the storyline in Force of Nature doesn't depend in any way upon events in The Dry. So, no worries if you can't read The Dry, first. You can always catch up, later.


©2018 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie is a classic 1930s mystery in which a person is murdered on a train just before it becomes stuck in the snow. Someone on the train is guilty of murder and Inspector Poirot must find the murderer without any high-tech gadgetry, instead relying upon observable fact, interviews of the suspects, and his powers of deduction.

You probably knew all that, but I'd completely forgotten the storyline, apart from "Murder on train; Poirot investigates," although I've seen the movie version that stars David Suchet (long, long ago). The novel edition shown above is a tie-in to the new movie release starring Kenneth Branagh as Poirot and a stunningly high-profile cast as the passengers and suspects.

You might be surprised to find out this is the first time I've read Murder on the Orient Express. I've never been a big fan of Agatha Christie but I do like to occasionally read a mystery as a change of pace, so I requested the book from HarperCollins for review. As it turned out, in spite of its classic status I felt about the same as I always do about Agatha Christie's books (meh), but there was one thing that particularly intrigued me and that was the details of the train, itself - the diagram of compartments, the description of the sleeping berths and dining car, etc. That part I enjoyed. And, the movie tie-in edition has a photo section, so there are shots of the train to refer to when the author mentions certain details, like the window bar.

Recommended, especially to mystery lovers - I may not be the best judge of Agatha Christie because I tend to dislike the kind of mysteries that involve someone hammering suspects with questions, but the descriptions of the train itself kept me going and I can see why Murder on the Orient Express is a classic. Its setting and the murder are definitely unique. And, now, looking back on a work that is at least 80 years old, you get a  fascinating historical  peek into of a mode of travel that has all but disappeared. I was also intrigued by a comment made by a German character about how her people were peaceful, an especially interesting remark in view of the events that took place in Germany within a handful of years after publication in 1934. I appreciated the movie photo section and now I definitely want to see the movie, if only for a better look inside the train.

©2017 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

The Hollow Man by Oliver Harris (Nick Belsey #1)

I'm sure I've already told the story of how I came to acquire my copy of The Hollow Man. I've noticed I repeat myself a lot on this blog (not deliberately). The Hollow Man is the first book in the Nick Belsey series by Oliver Harris.

In The Hollow Man Nick, a London detective, has stolen a car from another police station (not the one in which he works) and crashed it, so he's in deep trouble and about to lose his job when he is sent to investigate an apparent suicide. The dead man, Alexei Devereaux, was incredibly wealthy and Nick decides he must figure out how to steal Devereaux's money so he can escape the country. But, something doesn't feel quite right about the suicide and the further he digs into Devereaux's life, the more tangled the web Nick finds.

I think one of the things I adore about the Nick Belsey series is that the stories are delightfully complex. I doubt I'll ever manage to guess what really happened before Nick has unravelled the mystery in one of these books. I also am quite fond of Nick. He's not just a little flawed; he's a mess -- clever and fascinating and horrid. Fortunately, he tends to get caught when he does something illegal, which doubles the fun. "How is Nick going to get out of this pickle?" is a question that keeps popping up. I particularly loved the ending of The Hollow Man.

If you like a London setting, the Nick Belsey series is loads of fun for the way Nick dashes around all over the city. I think when I reread them and read the third book (which the author told me he was close to finishing, a few weeks ago), I'll keep a London map or the A-Z handy.

Highly recommended, especially to people who enjoy a complex mystery, an unusual and complicated character and/or a London setting.

Related review:

Deep Shelter (Nick Belsey #2) by Oliver Harris

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Deep Shelter by Oliver Harris (Nick Belsey #2)

Belsize Park had continental pretensions and only a few weeks of sunshine a year to exercise them.

~ p. 14 of Advance Reader Copy, Deep Shelter (some changes may have been made to the final print version)

Belsey descended five steps, then ten, then committed to reaching the bottom. He followed the torch beam, timing his descent. The blood-like smell of rusting iron and damp stone grew thicker. He felt he was being swallowed -- that it was no longer curiosity driving him but some form of peristalsis. The shelter nourished itself on over-curious detectives.

~ p. 16 of ARC

I can have this moment, Belsey thought. He felt he'd overcome several insurmountable laws, of time as well as morality. He inhaled the peace, dragging it deep into his lungs. This was what corrupted: peace and quiet. It was what secrets fed off, growing inside you.

~ p. 130 of ARC

I'm going to skip Monday Malarkey for the next couple of weeks in the interest of keeping up-to-date as I read (which doesn't guarantee that I will; nevertheless, I will endeavor to do so). I haven't gotten any books in the mail, anyway, and my reading is still leaning slumpish.

Deep Shelter by Oliver Harris salvaged my last reading week by keeping me engrossed and busy googling various bits of information for days. The second in the Nick Belsey mystery series, Deep Shelter follows detective Belsey into underground London. Nick is just about done with his shift when a BMW shoots past him at high speed. He takes chase but loses the suspect at a dead end where an oddly-shaped building piques his curiosity. When he finds out it's the entrance to a bomb shelter from WWII and discovers contraband hidden far beneath the surface, Nick brings a date to the shelter to impress her. But she wanders off and disappears, kidnapped in a labyrinth of underground tunnels.

Because he has a background as a troublemaker and there is a clear trail that leads to Belsey as the prime suspect in her disappearance, he knows he must find Jemma on his own or face certain arrest.

From the cover:

Determined to discover who else is down in those forgotten tunnels, and how far this secret network of underground passages extends, [Belsey] plunges headfirst into the investigation -- and into a dangerous game of cat and mouse with a ruthless enemy who would rather let an innocent woman die than reveal old Cold War secrets hidden deep beneath the city's streets. 

My thoughts:

Holy Toledo, what an entertaining and complex read. I adore London (it's my favorite big city) so I absolutely loved the sensation of being dragged around the city by Nick Belsey, both on and below ground. The WWII and Cold War historical connections in the book and various buildings mentioned by Belsey kept me busy googling. In fact, there was so much about Deep Shelter that I felt obligated to investigate further that it probably took me twice as long to read as a typical mystery.

If you're a regular Bookfoolery reader, you already know I burned out on mysteries long ago and seldom read them. There has to be something special about them to lure me into continuing on. In this case, there is only one other Nick Belsey book and you can consider me hooked. I will be looking for a copy, soon, and anxiously awaiting future releases by Oliver Harris.

A few very minor criticisms:

I did think Deep Shelter was a bit long; but, to play devil's advocate with myself, I can't think of a single scene that I'd have removed. I also thought it would have been nice to have a cast of characters and a glossary of terms at the end of the book. There's a fairly large cast and, at least from an American perspective, a few abbreviations that it would have been nice to have defined for convenience, although it helps if you're aware that "Ministry of" often can be substituted for "Department of" in British English. The U.K. audience will have likely had no trouble with terminology. Again, I made liberal use of Google. So my few criticisms are mild ones.

Highly recommended - Wonderful setting and atmosphere, unique historical background, and a character with unusual flaws combined with solid writing make Deep Shelter an excellent read. Nick Belsey's not a bad man; he's just quick to bend to temptation when it presents itself. So, he's a slightly dirty cop but in a palatable way. I'm quite fond of him and looking forward to reading the first book in the Nick Belsey series, The Hollow Man, as soon as possible.

My copy of Deep Shelter was provided by Bourbon Street Books in return for an unbiased review. Deep Shelter was released in the U.S. in September of 2014 and in Great Britain earlier this year. Many thanks to Oliver Harris for a refreshing, slump-breaking read.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Lock In by John Scalzi

I like the cover of Lock In better than the book.  Huh. I usually love John Scalzi's writing. Granted, the final section (the three codas) of Redshirts lessened the reading experience for me. But, I always feel like I'm in the hands of a brilliant mind when I'm reading Scalzi's work. So, why didn't Lock In work for me? Well, let's look at the elements.

Lock In is a detective story (mystery) set in a future (sci-fi) that takes place after a pandemic (health/politics). Shane came down with the disease as a child and is well-known as the "poster child" for Haden's Syndrome, the virus that locked him into his body without the ability to move or respond to stimuli, like many other survivors of the virus. He has an implanted neural net that allows him to get around in an android-like body with all sorts of computerized features. He can record and store video and other information and refer back to it, transport his brain into other "threeps" or android bodies, view additional information in a Google-glass manner that streams across his vision or hang out in a virtual agora, where he can mingle with other locked in "Hadens".

Shane is also a brand spanking new FBI agent. His partner had Haden's but without loss of mobility and was, at one time, an "integrator" -- a person who has an implanted neural net for the sake of allowing locked in Hadens to access a human body, move and feel, while the integrator is still present and aware but suppressed, having ceded the ability to control his body to a client.

There's a lot of complex world-building in Lock In and it's very, very well done. You can't help but be impressed by the level of thought that went into this world. However -- and this is a big "however" -- I thought there came a point that the details of the world got in the way of the story, itself. Halfway into the book, I found myself irritated that Scalzi was still explaining his world to me. Maybe I didn't need to know everything or some of what he explained was intuitive enough that the author should have given the reader a little credit for understanding without detailed explanation? I felt like he was trying to show the reader just how well he'd thought out his backstory by shoving it into the narrative or dialogue at every opportunity.

There's also the problem that Lock In is a detective story with a boat-load of characters. I burned out on mysteries years ago -- at least a decade ago -- so a mystery/detective novel is a hard sell for me. When I pick up a John Scalzi book, I do so in anticipation of a good sci-fi read. I do occasionally read mysteries but I've never returned to loving them. The number of characters added as the story progresses amounted to yet another road block; they made my head spin. I managed to keep most of them mentally sorted but it would have helped if I'd read the book in paper form rather than electronically because it's a nuisance to flip back through an e-book to locate previous mention of a character.

Otherwise, my only problem with the book was that I didn't feel like Scalzi did an adequate job of describing the threeps. Were they basically hollow plastic shells or more flexible and closer to human in appearance, like Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation? I never had a fully developed image of a threep in my mind, although I leaned toward the former (hard plastic shell). I do believe the fact that Shane was independently wealthy and could rent a new threep at any time if, say, a borrowed threep didn't work out or was damaged, made things a bit too easy. But, his wealth also did serve a purpose so the ways in which he avoided certain barriers to action due to access to money didn't bother me as much as my inability to fully visualize how the character was represented each time he switched threeps.

Recommended but not a favorite - I didn't expect this to end up such a lengthy review! There were a lot of things that bugged me about Lock In that are personal issues, like the fact that it's basically a detective novel, so I would not dissuade anyone from reading Lock In. However, even with personal prejudices aside, I don't think it's Scalzi's best work; and, since I also found Redshirts disappointing, I'll go back to Scalzi's earlier works in the future, rather than eagerly awaiting new releases.

Cover thoughts - The cover image is an excellent graphic representation of the fact that only a fraction of the population ends up permanently damaged by the virus. It's both eye-catching and a good fit for the storyline. I really do love it more than the book. But, I liked the book; I just didn't love it.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Mini reviews - The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by J. Dicker, Parson's Green by F. Bagley, Goodnight June by S. Jio

None of the following books were sent to me by publishers and none left a lasting impression, so I'm going to just give them quickie reviews.

The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker is a chunkster at 656 pages and I do believe it could have easily been edited down to a much more reasonable length but I still found it engrossing enough to finish within just a couple days. 

Harry Quebert is a famous novelist whose protégé, Marcus, has himself become a bestselling novelist. The deadline for Marcus's second book is looming and Marcus hasn't written a word, so he goes to visit Harry, hoping for inspiration. While visiting, Marcus becomes involved in a murder investigation. Decades in the past young Nola, the love of Harry's life, disappeared and now her body has been found with evidence that incriminates Harry. Marcus believes Harry is innocent and sets out to solve the mystery.

I found the fact that both writers became fabulously wealthy very difficult to buy into and grew weary of Harry and Nola gushing about their love for each other. But I was captivated enough to ignore the book's flaws, whip through the reading and give it a 4-star rating, if for no other reason than the fact that I dislike mysteries, in general, so I figure if a mystery can hold my attention for over 600 pages, it ought to get an above-average rating. For the most part, the French author's understanding of Americans is pretty impressive, as well. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair is an award winner in the author's home country. Recommended, but you'll probably either love it or hate it.

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Parsons Green by Fiona Bagley was this month's selection for my F2F book group. Cricket McLean and her mother, Claudia, have always been able to see ghosts. Claudia is a travel writer and when she decides to spend a summer helping out in a friend's bookstore in Savannah, Georgia, she is not surprised to find that her rental house is haunted. But, at least the ghosts are friendly.

Cricket doesn't want to spend all her time in the bookstore, so she goes out in search of a job and finds a position working as a tour guide in a local mansion called Chartwell House. There, a baby was murdered, the baby's mother found guilty and hanged for her crime. But, was she truly guilty? As Cricket explores the house and its history, she is able to see scenes that lead her to believe that there are dark forces at work and she must solve the mystery to put at least one ghost to rest.

I thought Parsons Green was a pretty good story, apart from the fact that a few too many people believed in or saw ghosts. My biggest problem with it was the common self-published-book problem: Parsons Green is desperately in need of a professional editing job. Had the book been much longer, I probably wouldn't have made it all the way through the reading, but it's short and the story is compelling. Recommended with a warning that the sheer quantity of errors is exhausting.

Goodnight June is the first book I've read by Sarah Jio, although I've been hearing gushy praise of her books for several years.

June is a cut-throat New York banker whose job is to take over small businesses that are struggling and sell off their assets. June moved to New York from Seattle and has not returned home for several years. She has few friends, no romantic prospects, and she works long hours. June is so stressed that as Goodnight June opens, she's in the hospital to get her blood pressure under control.  She's only in her 30's.

When June finds out her Aunt Ruby has died and left June her beloved bookstore, June travels to Seattle intending to simply sell the store and rush back home. But, she meets a handsome restaurateur, finds a set of letters connecting the bookstore and her aunt to Margaret Wise Brown's book, Goodnight Moon, and decides she must stay to save the bookstore. The store is failing and June finds herself in the same position as the business owners whose livelihoods she has heartlessly ripped away.

Goodnight June is fluffy, sentimental, beachy reading. It was the right book for the moment -- I was swept away, at first, and I enjoyed the fact that it was a quick read. But, it's more than a little far-fetched and the many strands had a "way too convenient" aspect that pulled me out of the reading. In spite of the fact that I had trouble buying into the storyline, I finished Goodnight June, so I gave it an average rating. Recommended for a fluff break with a warning that the story is extremely far-fetched.

If you've already read Goodnight June, you might be interested to know that Margaret Wise Brown's New York writing cottage, Cobble Court, is under threat and may be torn down to make space for condominiums.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters

World of Trouble by Ben H. Winters
Book 3 in the Last Policeman series
Copyright 2014 - Mystery/Apocolyptic
Source: Quirk Books
Today is release day (July 15, 2014)!

I didn't mark a single passage in World of Trouble because I was too busy barreling through the book, enjoying the reading and anxious to see how Ben Winters would end the Last Policeman series. The verdict: perfect ending. I honestly don't remember a single series I've ever felt was as completely satisfying as the Last Policeman series. And, World of Trouble is available today!!  For those of you who have been eagerly awaiting release day, I suggest a lot of coffee because you'll want to read World of Trouble in one sitting. Plus, coffee is mentioned frequently enough that you might end up with a craving.

In World of Trouble, only 14 days remain until the asteroid hits Earth. Hank Palace could have easily waited out the end with his friends in Massachusetts but he's determined to find his sister, Nico. So, instead, Hank traveled to Ohio, where he's been told the radicals Nico has been hanging out with have converged to wait for the man they believe will save them by shattering the asteroid.

In Ohio, Hank and a traveling companion find two bloody knives, spatters of blood, a body and a clue to where the radicals may have gone into hiding. To find the missing group, though, he must track down a local man who does concrete work.

With the clock ticking down, Hank tries to solve the crime and find his sister. Will he find Nico before it's too late? What will happen when Hank discovers the "body" has a pulse? Can he solve the attempted murder, uncover the mystery of what's become of Nico's friends and stay alive long enough to find out whether or not the world will truly end?  Well . . . you'll just have to find out. And, I promise you it's worth buying all three books if you haven't already begun reading this series.

Highly recommended - The Last Policeman series is absolutely hands-down, my all-time favorite series. I don't even like mysteries! But, I adore Hank Palace. I love his "just keep living life while you can" attitude. I love the moments of levity, the action, the author's wit. And, the ending is absolutely everything I hoped for and more.  Great series, perfect ending, terrific hero, well worth owning.

My reviews of the first two books in the series:

The Last Policeman
Countdown City

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore

One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore
Copyright 2014 
Harper - Historical Fiction/Russia WWII and post WWII
Source: HarperCollins via TLC for review

Well, I have good news and bad news, sort of.  The good news is that I decided not to give up on One Night in Winter.  The bad news is that even after reading a good portion of the evening, I'm not finished.  So, I'm going to write my current thoughts and then return when I've finished to update. According to Goodreads (which conveniently does the math for me), I'm 77% of the way through. I'm currently unable to focus. It sometimes takes a while before my eyes wake up.

One Night in Winter is set just after the end of WWII in Europe (the Pacific War has not yet ended). Andrei's father disappeared during the war and he and his mother have just recently returned to Moscow. He is a teenager and applies to a number of schools but is shocked when he's accepted into School 801, the school attended by the children of Moscow's elite.  He is growing a small circle of friends and has been invited into a club for romantics when two of the group's members are killed. Was it a murder/suicide or was there something more to the deaths? When the young romantics are taken to Lubianka prison, it quickly becomes apparent to their parents that the questioning of their children is a test of their loyalty and Bolshevik restraint. But, then the cryptic and misleading notebook of the group's dead leader is found and things become very serious.

I've already mentioned that I was only on page 130, yesterday, and strongly considering the possibility of giving up. I can't entirely say why. The story is definitely an interesting one and becomes more twisty and fascinating (if a bit violent) the further you get into it. At this point, there have been a lot of arrests, we've bounced back and forth in time to get a hint of what the parents may have done wrong and only one person has been released from prison, possibly so that she can be followed.  And, the honest truth is that I could set One Night in Winter aside without finding out what happens, no worries.  However, I don't think I can blame the book entirely. I think it's more a case of "not for me" than "bad book".

What I like best about One Night in Winter is the fact that it has reminded me of how terrifying it must have been to live in post-war Soviet Union. I've read stories, of course.  I remember the so-called "Iron Curtain" and how restrictive it was. I remember reading about daring escapes in Reader's Digest and attended a "10-year anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall" party hosted by a German couple. But, reading about how people were forced to speak in code because merely uttering certain words could get them killed, beaten or sent to prison for life (the fact that one only had to be 12 years of age to be old enough for the death penalty is repeatedly mentioned) brings the history home more vividly.

Addendum:  I finished reading One Night in Winter several hours ago, threw it aside and promptly fell asleep. I woke up feeling a little ticked. The author's notes say both the story of Serafima (who fell in love with an American) and the Children's Case (the murder case in which young people playing a game caused a tremendous amount of grief for a large number of people) were based on true stories. He also said the book was mostly about love. I read about torture of children and a sort-of-creepy middle-aged affair and the intention was to describe love? Ack. I was hoping for a slightly thrilling story with a little mystery and romance but One Night in Winter was not quite any of those things, a book that couldn't seem to decide what it was about, and the ending was way too tidy and coincidental. For this reader, the book fails on all fronts and I am no longer recommending it.

Even later:  After sleeping on it and giving the reading experience some thought, I'm backpedaling to the lesser "iffy on recommendation" with warning for graphic sex and violence. Although I don't believe the book succeeded as a book about love, I do think it succeeds as a story about what life was like during the transition from WWII to the terrifying years of isolation and restriction that continued for nearly 30 years. Whether or not that's what the author intended, I learned from the reading experience. The fact that I had to force myself through the book serves as an excellent reminder of why I normally stop at 50 pages if a book isn't grabbing me.  Finishing a book that never does quite click tends to make me unreasonably angry at the waste of time. I'm not angry with the author, though; I am upset with myself for not saying, "OK, this one's not for me," and moving on. 

Iffy on recommendation with warnings for graphic sex and violence (including torture of children) - A large cast and an interesting story set during a fascinating time in history were not enough to grab me by the hair and drag me into One Night in Winter. But, it was the fact that the book was none of the things I expected -- neither thrilling, romantic or all that mysterious -- that led me to unreasonably recommend against the book, immediately upon finishing.  If you have a particular interest in the Soviet Union just after WWII, you may enjoy it for the historical setting. It is certainly a learning experience about what it was like to live in the Soviet Union during the post-war Stalin years. The cast of characters includes both real and fictional characters.

©2014 Nancy Horner. All rights reserved. If you are reading this post at a site other than Bookfoolery  or its RSS feed, you are reading a stolen feed. Email bookfoolery@gmail.com for written permission to reproduce text or photos.

Two minis - Spy Smuggler by Jim Eldridge and Nick & Tesla's Robot Army Rampage by Pflugfelder and Hockensmith

Spy Smuggler: Paul Lelaud, France 1942-1944 by Jim Eldridge is the fictional tale of a French teenager living in occupied France.  During the invasion, Paul's father was killed fighting on the Maginot Line, so Paul and his mother have moved in with her brother, a baker.

Paul thinks Uncle Maurice is a coward. Instead of fighting the Germans, he keeps his head down and insists that it's important to get along with them to prevent getting killed. But Uncle Maurice is actually quietly involved in the Resistance.

Spy Smuggler is a well-drawn tale of life in an Occupied France during WWII. Among other things, Paul has Jewish friends who are deported. I thought the author did an exceptional job of placing the reader in the shoes of a young boy who is old enough to feel like he needs to get involved in the fight to get his country back, old enough to understand that terrible things are happening but just innocent enough not to have a full perspective and to need the gentle guidance of his uncle. When his Jewish friends are deported, the story becomes particularly gripping and realistic.

Spy Smuggler also describes the two resistance factions in France and their differing methods as Uncle Maurice and his little circle are placed in danger when the Maquis choose killing over more subtle methods, leading to Nazi retribution.

I've read 2 books from the My Story series and when I read the first I was irritated to find that what I thought was a real-life diary was, in fact, a fictional tale.  I just looked up the series and it appears that Scholastic has listened to complaints about the misleading covers that did not list an author name as the authors' names appear on the most recent releases from the series, at least in the UK. Here's a list of the My Story titles for boys.

Spy Smuggler also contains a timeline of events relevant to the story and a number of period photographs at the back of the book.  I love the extra information included in the My Story books.

Highly recommended for children or adults seeking to learn more about life during WWII.

Nick and Tesla's Robot Army Rampage by "Science Bob" Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith is the second in Quirk Books' Nick and Tesla series of middle-grade science mysteries.  I reviewed Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab, recently.

Still living with their nutty absent-minded scientist uncle, Nick and Tesla are surprised to find that their favorite store -- a junky place with loads of fun gadgets and parts for their science experiments -- has been cleaned up; and, equally stunned when their uncle becomes interested in the new owner, a mechanical engineer specializing in robotics. When local businesses become victim to a series of burglaries, Nick and Tesla decide to investigate.

To figure out what's going on, Nick and Tesla must build new gadgets, including tiny robots meant to look like bugs.

The Nick and Tesla series is such fun it almost makes me wish I had children at home so that I'd have an excuse to build little robots.  In this case, I got an ARC that doesn't actually contain one of the templates but I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out if I try.

Highly recommended - Science, mystery, things to build.  What could be more fun? I think the Nick and Tesla books would be especially fun for homeschoolers or parents seeking to keep their children entertained (although you do need to help out with the building process) during breaks from school.

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