I’m a huge fan of Elizabeth George’s Inspector Lynley mystery series, often described as “literary mysteries.” So when a new (to me) author’s book is described as a literary mystery, I’m in! I was eager to read Susie Steiner’s Missing, Presumed, knowing nothing about her work or ability to deliver the kind of story I …
My Sister’s Grave, the first book in Robert Dugoni’s Tracy Crosswhite series, came out in late 2014. I loved it. I thought Tracy was a smart, strong woman with fierce determination (evidenced by her dogged pursuit of her sister’s murderer). In fall of 2015, the second book in the series, Her Final Breath, made me …
I was slightly hesitant about this novel when I read it was a story told…backwards? I still recall the vivid impression the movie Memento had on me back in 2000, and I wondered how a novelist might pull off this kind of storytelling. But I wanted to give it a fair try, and OMG I …
Because for me McKenzie is a local author, there was considerable publicity about this title earlier in 2016, and the cover caught my eye (Brilliant, BTW)! So I was eager to dive in to it, because it sounded like it had it all: quirky female protagonist, commentary on the whole Palo Alto-Silicon Valley-nouveau-riche scene, dysfunctional …
The first book in this series, Black Fridays, was released in 2012, and I have been recommending the author and the series ever since. The author and the protagonist, Jason Stafford, share the life experience of being Wall Street types, and the information about that whole complex way of life is interspersed throughout the series…but …
Love this !!! Not only does it feature titles that I would have been salivating over based on the author alone, it also includes some authors who are totally unknown to me. This will be extremely useful to anyone involved in library collection development, as well as anyone just looking for “the good stuff.” Good …
OMG. OMG. OMG. I just finished an AMAZING book! Now that I have that out of the way, let’s talk about Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham (wish I knew how to pronounce his last name), which is the 8th in the Joe O’Loughlin series…but truly, if you haven’t read any in the series, you …
Cold Barrel Zero by Matthew Quirk. TBH, I am not sure why I wanted to read a military thriller. But apparently I did, and I thank NetGalley for an advance copy in return for my honest review. Now, TBTH (TOTALLY!), this review is based on my husband’s reaction to the book, because I didn’t actually …
The God’s Eye View by Barry Eisler OK, just to get it out of the way, this book seriously creeped me out…but mostly in a good way, I THINK. There were several aspects of it that affected me, including the plot, the technology, and at least one of the three main characters. Make that two of …
I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh For starters, I loved this book, which I was surprised to learn is Clare Mackintosh’s debut novel (can’t wait for the next one!) Secondly, I need to word this carefully, so as not to give anything away… There is a horrible hit-and-run accident, and a young boy is …
Linwood Barclay books are fun reads! He has now written seven books set in the fictional upstate New York town of Promise Falls. (The first five, in order of publication, are Too Close to Home, Fear the Worst, Never Look Away, Trust Your Eyes, and A Tap on the Window. Broken Promise and this latest …
In so many ways, I loved this book…as I hoped and somewhat expected, being a Quindlen fan. It is filled with people who are so well-developed, they were incredibly real to me as I read, thanks to Quindlen’s familiar skill at developing characters in her “family fiction.” The protagonist, known as Mimi (real name Mary Margaret), is …
I actually read Holly Seddon’s book Try Not to Breathe on Groundhog Day…highly appropriate, since there was so much about it, both in plot and tone as other things I have read recently (esp. Girl on the Train). There are several interesting characters in the book, especially the two women Alex and Amy, who are …
I admit, I was not familiar with The Austen Project, which includes Joanna Trollope’s retelling of Sense & Sensibility, Emma retold by Alexander McCall Smith, and Val McDermid’s version of Northanger Abbey. Curtis Sittenfeld is the latest author hired by the Austen Project to bring Austen’s stories from the early 19th into the early 21st …
I consider myself a fan of Rosamund Lupton, having read and enjoyed Sister and Afterwards. And there are things about her writing that I really enjoy: she can evoke strong emotions about the power of love like few authors I can think of, and (as she shows in her latest, The Quality of Silence) she can …
Sarah and Jack Quinlan have been married for two decades, and they live in Montana with their twin daughters, age 18. So Sarah would think she knows Jack VERY well. But, when they get a phone call that Jack’s aunt in the Midwest has taken a bad fall and may be near death, they fly …
In the early 1970s, I read The Day of the Jackal, and it changed my reading habits forever (in a good wayJ). It probably remains my favorite novel by Fredric Forsyth, although The Dogs of War and The Odessa File rank right up there… I had no idea that Forsyth’s tales of espionage and intrigue were …
The first thing I read from Christopher Pavone was The Accident, which knocked me out (thrillers are probably my favorite genre, when they are done well). The follow-up, The Expats, convinced me that he was not a one-hit wonder, so I was happy to receive an advance copy of The Travelers (in exchange for my …
How did I miss this series? Maggie Barbieri has written two novels featuring Maeve Conlon: Once Upon a Lie and Lies That Bind. All I can figure is there was an unfortunate subconscious reminder of OJ’s girlfriend that blinded me to Ms. Barbieri’s work 🙂 But now she is back with further adventures for Maeve …
Years ago, I read Regeneration, the first in Barker’s trilogy about World War I — and it totally blew me away. At that time, I knew nothing about Pat Barker. In fact, I was stunned when I learned that the author was female, as I assumed only a man who had experienced battle could write …