Paula Fox’s 1976 novel examines one family’s intense and contentious relations with each other. While the hurt, anger and divisions have been years in the making, all it takes is one dinner together and its aftermath for the reader to gather the depth of the discord and the underlying reasons for the dysfunction. The Maldonada family, as one might guess from the name, is both Spanish and “given toward evil” — a very poor translation of what I think that name means. Evil is too […]
Swoon Swoon Swoon
After two good, but grim murder books in a row, I need something lighter and this was the perfect pick. If you want to read something that will make you happy, this is that book. I didn’t think of it until after, but if you like Rainbow Rowell’s books, you’ll probably like Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda. Although it’s a young adult novel, it’s not dumbed down and the love story will make you swoon just as much as Fangirl or Carry On. Simon […]
A Satisfying Sequel
“Pacific Fire” is the follow up to Greg Van Eekhout’s amazing “California Bones” in the Daniel Blackland series. Just as tightly written as the first book, “Pacific Fire” jumps forward 10 years and the Southern California kingdom is in a state of barely contained chaos. Powerful magic users and factions squabble for control, while everyone looks over their shoulder wondering if Northern California or other powers might swoop in during this time of political upheaval. “California Bones” is a very personal story, this time around the scope […]
“All her streets obscure / Sparkle and swarm with nothing true nor sure,”
This is another review in the vein of “I love the author but I quite like this book”. In this case, more specifically, it’s “I love a book by this author so much that its inky veins somehow run in mine, that I read it once a year at least and every time I notice something new, that its phrasing and insight sometimes shapes how I see a particular kind of landscape, or light, or expression on a face”–but this book I’m reviewing is not […]
Maybe she’s a cylon
I’m so glad I dove right into this one after finishing In The Woods. I liked them both, but The Likeness is a touch stronger in terms of writing and I loved the story. Cassie Maddox gets pulled into a murder investigation after a body is found who looks just like her. Everyone working the case is spooked by their eerie similarities, but things only get weirder when they find out she’s been living under one of Cassie’s old undercover aliases, Lexie Madison. Lexie was […]
Obsession
If you are looking for a gritty British detective/mystery novel for the weekend, Fiona Barton’s The Widow is a fine choice. Set in the years 2006-2010, the plot involves Internet chat rooms, child porn and a missing toddler named Bella Elliott. Our main characters are Detective Bob Sparkes, who is obsessed with finding Bella, journalist Kate Waters, who is obsessed with getting the scoop, Glen Taylor, who is obsessed with child porn, and his wife Jean, who tries her best to protect her husband and […]
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