Because The End of October, by Lawrence Wright, is fiction, I figured I was safe and wouldn’t have sleepless nights after reading it (as was the case with Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone and Laurie Garrett’s The Coming Plague). “Medical thriller,” I thought. “Sounds good.” So, even though it is May 2020 and we are …
It seems at best unhelpful and at worst cruel to give a one-sentence review, so I will write something more about Anne Tyler’s Redhead By the Side of the Road, which I received thanks to Knopf Doubleday and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I’m not a huge Anne Tyler fan, and remember enjoying …
I always enjoy reading David Ignatius’s columns in the Washington Post, especially when he is writing about the CIA or the Middle East, both of which he has covered for decades. So when I had the chance to read a copy of The Paladin in exchange for an honest review (thanks to W.W. Norton and …
Just two years ago, in my review of Jodi Picoult’s Small Great Things, I related that “when a friend and former library co-worker basically sniffed her disapproval when I told her I liked Jodi Picoult’s books, our friendship was changed forever.” I worked for several years in public libraries and tried not to be judgmental of …
In 2019, I enjoyed J.P. Delaney’s The Perfect Wife (giving it four stars), but Believe Me was a disappointment to me, ending up with just two stars. But after I learned that J.P. Delaney is the pseudonym of Tony Strong, who wrote The Death Pit, Tell Me No Lies, and The Decoy (which was re-written and published as Believe …
I’ve been a fan of Mark Bowden’s wiring for years. Black Hawk Down, Killing Pablo, etc. I’m also a fan of the true crime genre, so I jumped at the chance to get a copy of The Case of the Vanishing Blonde from Grove Atlantic and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. The title …
Adam Mitzner is a practicing attorney in New York who has somehow found the time to write eight legal thrillers set in New York. Just about a year ago, I reveiewed A Matter of Will, and began my review by saying “I don’t recall reading anything by Adam Mitzner, and I have no idea why!” …
The Herd by Andrea Bartz sounded like just the kind of escapist fluff to get me through another weekend of sheltering in place: a murder mystery featuring glitzy female New York thirty-something Harvard grads who are just starting to make their mark professionally. The title refers to a super-selective members-only womens’ community that features professional …
The Best of Friends, by Lucinda Berry, explores the dynamics between and among a group of teenage boys (who are best friends) as well as their three mothers (BFFs forEVER) when a terrible tragedy occurs. Written by a trauma psychologist (yikes), the story is told from various perspectives and (TBH) at first I had to …
David Parrish, a retired tech writer, was a part-time baseball coach many years ago. When he learned that one of his former players, Jon Bowie, had died, Parrish was stunned. As a friend, he talked to friends and family, trying to understand what police and the medical examiner had ruled a suicide. Jon had been …
I was in the mood for a character-driven novel, with strong women working to find out who they are, blah blah blah. Reading that Jeni McFarland’s book The House of Deep Water was reminiscent of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, and explored “… trauma, love, loss, and new beginnings found in a most unlikely place: …
A Private Cathedral is James Lee Burke’s fortieth book, and I am pretty sure my husband had read them all up til now. I had read one or two, and I can’t remember which ones, which tells you something. I had another chance thanks to Simon & Schuster providing me with a copy of A …
In 2019, writing about John Sandford’s Neon Prey, I wrote “There aren’t many authors whose latest book I eagerly await, and who maintain a consistently high level in terms of plot, character, and entertainment value. John Sandford has been one of those (along with Michael Connelly, Michael Robotham, Robert Crais, and Elizaeth George (OK, a …
I was curious to read A Tangled Web by Leslie Rule, the daughter of Ann Rule (widely regarded as the queen of true crime writing). Thanks to Kensington Books/Citadel and NetGalley, I received a copy in exchange for this honest review. First off, I have been a big true crime fan for years – my …
I’ve recommended Mary Morris’s Nothing To Declare: Memoirs of A Woman Traveling Alone over the years, was very happy to read that her latest book, All The Way To The Tigers, was another travelogue/family history/personal growth saga. Thanks to Doubleday Books/Nan Talese and NetGalley, I received an advance copy in return for this honest review. …
For many years, I was a hardcore NBA fan. My theory was that anyone who said they didn’t like watching pro basketball had never been to a live NBA game. Although my fandom died off when things changed so the games and teams were all about individual glory (rather than team effort), my appreciation came …
In Philip Margolin’s latest legal thriller, Robin Lockwood, a former MMA fighter and Yale Law graduate (who appeared in Margolin’s recent books The Third Victim and The perfect alibi) joined a hotshot law firm shortly before attorney Regina Barrister (a recurring character in Margolin books) started deteriorating mentally due to Alzheimer’s. One of Regina’s former …
I have tried and tried to read Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel’s blockbuster hit from 2014, but just haven’t been able to get into it – so I can’t say I am a fan of hers. But after reading the blurb for her latest, The Glass Hotel, I was happy to receive a copy …
A friend whose opinion I value HUGELY recommended Rhys Bowen to me, so I was happy to receive a copy of Above The Bay Of Angels from Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Apparently, many of Ms. Bowen’s books move along crisply and bring the reader into another world (just …
In 2018, I read and reviewed An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen, noting “…I may be burned out due to reading too MANY of these plucky-heroine-in-danger stories, but I also was not impressed with the writing. It seemed geared for a relatively low reading level, strong on plot but weak (IMHO) on …