This book left me feeling surprised and totally schizo. Surprised because I started reading it without knowing anything about it other than that it was a thriller and the protagonist was a thirty-something female prosecutor named Claire Talbot in Florida. Beyond that, I had no expectations. The surprise came halfway through when a tectonic shift …
Lisa Lutz, author of the Spellman Series, has a new novel to be released in spring 2016, a thriller about a woman who goes on the run and makes a habit of changing identities as she goes. As the story opens, right away I learned a bit about the protagonist, Tanya Dubois, that made her …
In The Lies We Tell, two adult women (Jude and Katy) are shown in both present day and as their teenage selves in flashback. The story unspools to reveal the horrible thing that happened 24 years ago. This psychological thriller alternates chapters between present day & 24 years ago, and this alternating is perhaps why …
I loved Ethan Canin’s book America, America so was predisposed to love this book…and while there is much to like, part of it left me feeling stupid (not something anyone particularly enjoys). The book is about a family and focuses on Milo Andret, a tyrannical genius, his son Hans, and various others who live in their …
The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian Let’s get it out of the way: I loved this book. It is somewhat a thriller, and somewhat about family/relationships combined with social issues. I’m a sucker for that stuff (e.g. Jodi Picoult when she is on her game) So, the premise is that this successful hedge fund guy …
The title of Mike Dow’s book The Brain Fog Fix leapt out at me, and I was eager to read it for two reasons: I am always interested in general in the topic of behavior being influenced by nutrition (which I suspected was the core of the “fix”) and I happen to have a grandson …
In 1996 I remember reading A Civil Action, about a town in Massachusetts where people fought back against environment pollution. That book freaked me out, and made me conscious of the cavalier way our water supply can so easily be placed at risk by greedy corporations. When I heard about Dan Fagin’s book Toms River: A …
The Blue Hour by Douglas Kennedy grabbed me and didn’t let me go until it was finished! In retrospect, I probably need to re-read it, because I was so wrapped up in finding out WTF was going to HAPPEN that I admit I raced through parts that should probably have been read at a more …
As soon as I read Dennis Lehane’s praise for Stuart Neville’s books, I wanted to read this one. I figured, if Dennis Lehane can’t wait for Neville’s next book to come out, that sounds like something I’d like. Holy crap, this is dark, powerful stuff. It reminded me of the video store that used to …
Forty years ago, Fear of Flying made Erica Jong (and her protagonist Isadora Wing) household names, along with the infamous concept of the Zipless Fuck. In this not-exactly-a-sequel, Isadora is back as the sidekick to the protagonist Vanessa Wonderman, a past-her-prime actress who is coping with her husband’s illness, her parents’ aging, and her own …
This book shares some things with another of Chamberlain’s books, in terms of a very similar protagonist ( a female who leaves the South, relocates to San Diego, etc. ) Although I had read the earlier book, I was quite eager to read this, although part of me now wishes that I had also read …
Ronnie Gilbert: A Radical Life in Song This is a wonderful memoir of the woman best known as a member of the folk group The Weavers, who died a few months ago at the age of 88. I admit I knew her only as a singer, someone who had originally performed with the Weavers starting …
This book, focused on women past the ago of 60, is a combination of stories told by the women themselves, interspersed with the latest research.When I was young, women in their 60s were…OLD. Not many of the ones I ever saw were vibrant – they were mostly sedentary and seemed resigned to being…old. Ms. Singer’s …
Shades of Blue: Writers on Depression, Suicide, and Feeling Blue By Amy Ferris For starters, this book is amazing. Amy Ferris has gathered writings about a subject that is close to my heart, and the result is a powerful, gut-wrenching, piercing look into a topic that is too often stigmatized, hidden, shame-based, you name it, …
My husband LOVES James Lee Burke’s books (particularly the Dave Robichauex series)…and, I admit that over the years I have tried (without success) to develop an appreciation for them. The House of the Rising Sun, while not a Robichauex, stars another of Burke’s well-known protagonists: Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland. I gamely jumped in, with an …
I have recommended Michael Robotham’s books to many people…so I was happy to have a new Robotham book to read/review. In his latest, the protagonist is London-based Detective Alisha Barba (who appeared as a minor character in Lost, published in 2005). As the story begins, Alisha is recovering from a terrible injury sustained at work. …
I admit it: I’m a sucker for a good book cover. And the image of the cover of Kate Morton’s The Lake House leapt off the page so, ignoring any memory of having read other titles by this author or (more importantly perhaps) what genre this title belonged to, I dove in. First off, I …
I have a dilemma about this book: first off, I WANTED to love it. I wanted it to teach me how to be constantly grateful and not to be a whiny, self-involved depressive who suffers bouts of envy and sadness (despite having an awesome life living in Paradise with few actual problems). On the other …
I received an advance copy of Ms. Ryan’s latest book…and my initial reaction was something like “YAY! Another author to add to my “writers-whose-latest-book-I-immediately-snap-up” list! Not sure why I have missed her previous Jane Ryland novels, but I plan to go back and enjoy them as well. Ms. Ryan’s “day job” as an investigative reported …
Four Stars! Thanks to NetGalley, I received a copy of Carla Buckley’s The Good Goodbye, which might actually be a YA novel. If it isn’t, my vote is that it should be…doesn’t mean it won’t be read/enjoyed by adults, but I think YA readers would REALLY like it. Part of that is due to the main …