The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni

I'm the first to admit that the premise of The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell just sounds boring. Sam Hill is born with a condition called ocular albinism, which means his eyes are red. In school, he's given the nickname "Devil Boy" and even his friends call him Sam Hell instead of Hill, at times. In the present day, he's an eye doctor who wears colored contact lenses. The book goes back and forth between Sam's present and his past, where he constantly dealt with a bully and now has discovered that same bully has grown up to be a wife beater and a dangerous cop. Sam's unmarried but close with his female business partner, who was one of his childhood best friends. 

While Sam Hell is mostly about his childhood and how he became the man he is now, there's that touch of mystery in the future. Will Sam be able to help the wife of the man who used to torment him at school? Is he in danger, as well, now that the bully has come back into his life? Will Sam ever realize who he belongs with?  

Highly recommended - Seriously, the premise did not interest me at all. But, my friend Paula said, "I think you would like this, Nancy," and then my friend Eileen recommended it to me through Goodreads, so I decided if two friends thought I'd like it I should give it a go. And, sure enough, they had me pegged. I found The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell almost impossible to put down. I was completely immersed in Sam's life, his challenges, his friendships, and the romance that clearly needed to happen. 

The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell does have its flaws. For example, not once did the author mention a sensitivity to light, which seems like a no-brainer. I looked it up and yes, ocular albinism should cause photophobia. I have gray eyes and am so sensitive to light that I wear sunglasses even when it's cloudy, sometimes in the rain. I turn down the light on my electronic devices, as well. So, that naturally jumped out at me. I also thought it was strange that he was still insecure about his eye color, even when he was wearing contact lenses, especially given the fact that he always had a nice circle of friends and plenty of support at home. But, the story was so captivating that I didn't care about its flaws and only felt like I was briefly pulled out of it, now and then. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell is definitely one of the most enjoyable books I've read in 2020. 

©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.

In Farleigh Field by Rhys Bowen

There are WWII-era planes flying over the British estate on the cover of In Farleigh Field, so it should come as no surprise that I wanted to read the book. I am hard-pressed to ever say no to a WWII book of any kind.

In Farleigh Field is a story that takes place partly in Kent, home to the Sutton family's large estate, Farleigh; Bletchley Park, where one of the Sutton daughters translates German messages; and London, where the son of the local vicar and friend to the Sutton daughters, Ben Cresswell, works for MI5.

There's a prologue that takes place in 1939 at a cricket match on the grounds of the village. While prologues are something I can take or leave, I think the author did a nice job of introducing the characters in the prologue: Jeremy, the daredevil aristocrat, his more mild-mannered friend Ben, and the woman they both adore, Pamela "Pamma" Sutton. After Jeremy lands his plane on the cricket field and spirits Ben away, the real story begins.

In 1941, Jeremy is an RAF pilot who has been captured by the enemy. Ben has a metal knee that he acquired in a plane crash, and Pamma is working a night shift at Bletchley Park. There's a child named Alfie, an evacuee from London, who discovers the body of a man whose parachute didn't open on the grounds of Farleigh. The Sutton family now lives in a single wing of their estate while soldiers have taken over the rest and are billeted in their home. The dead parachutist wears the uniform of one of the soldiers on the estate but the billeted soldiers don't jump from planes and there's something off about his uniform. The only clue as to why he may have arrived at Farleigh is a single photograph.

Without interacting, a number of different people and agencies are set to work solving the mystery of the soldier who died in Farleigh Field. Will they figure out the mystery in time to stop a nefarious plot?

There is a large cast and a number of other minor storylines, but the heart of the book is the story of the deceased parachutist and what he may have been up to with young love as a secondary storyline.

Recommended - Unfortunately, there were some plot holes and I don't think the ending quite worked, apart from the romantic storyline. But, I liked the main characters (a few of the more minor characters were a little too stereotypical) and enjoyed the interaction between them, so I didn't mind the book's flaws. As is often the case with mysteries -- and I would not call this a mystery novel but a novel with a touch of mystery -- I didn't always understand how those investigating came to their conclusions or even why they felt obligated to pursue a particular line of reasoning. But, since I thought of the dead body as only one strand of the story, which was a mix of mystery and romance as well as a family story set during a short stretch of WWII, I just went with the flow and enjoyed it. If you're a WWII fan, you may find the book flawed, as I did, but I still found it an enjoyable read and well worth my time.


©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.