Beautiful Children by Charles Bock

 

Charles Bock grew up in Las Vegas and he uses that city for his novel's setting.  We meet a variety of characters, each with dreams that can't be achieved due to weaknesses in the character.  Much of the plot focuses around Newell, the twelve-year old son of Lorraine and Lincoln.  Newell goes out one evening with an older friend the parents have never met and doesn't come home.  The parents don't know how to find the guy Newell was with as they only know his first name, Kenny.  

Lorraine used to be a dancer in one of Las Vegas's revues but she gave that up when she married Lincoln.  He works as an event planner in one of the big hotel/casinos.  Their marriage was already strained before Newell's disappearance and that strain stretches to the breaking point after it.  Lorraine tries a variety of things to  fill her time, ending up working for an organization that helps homeless teens.  Lincoln works more and more.

Another set of main characters are Cheri Blossom and Ponyboy.  Cheri is a stripper who came to Vegas to be an actress.  Now, she has huge implants and they even have a hollow in which candles or sparklers can be inserted.  She lets Ponyboy convince her to do things she would never consider without him.  Ponyboy cheats on her constantly, uses her for money and so he doesn't have to work and constantly comes up with schemes to make money.  He knows some things about Newell's disappearance the night of the big concert in the desert for the underground but he's not talking about that.

Throughout, the city is seen as a temptress that takes the dreams of the characters and warps them into unrecognizable shapes, always unobtainable.  The novel focuses on the plight of runaway teenagers and most big cities are full of them, the kids who were throwaways or who fell into drugs or were abused at home.  There are resources in the back of the book where these teenagers can find help.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.  

The Bridegroom by Ha Jin

 

This collection of twelve stories portray life in modern China.  I had two favorites of this anthology.  In The Bridegroom, a factory supervisor can't understand why the most handsome worker in the factory asks to marry his daughter, who although pleasant, is not attractive and whom he expected to have a hard time finding a husband for.  He learns the truth when his new son-in-law is arrested for homosexuality.  The last story in the collection is After Cowboy Chicken Came To Town.  In this story, an American chain restaurant opens a branch in China.  At first it is an amazing hit but it is a novelty and the chicken is not as good as what the street vendors serve plus it is expensive.  Soon only the young, trendy customers continue to come.  The workers there try to use the rules of Chinese society in their work but are constantly overruled by their American boss.  The workers are appalled when they discover the discrepancy between their salaries and that of the manager and are determined to take him down.  

Ha Jin is the pen name of Xuefei Jin.  He was born and raised in China, serving five years in the Red Army during the Cultural Revolution.  His book about that time, was awarded the National Book Award.  His novels and short stories portray China after the Revolution.  I was impressed with two things.  First, while I enjoyed the stories, each ended what seemed a strange ending, just abruptly ending with one sentence.  The second thing was the China he portrays, where every thought and sentence can be grounds for trouble and where everyday life is still controlled in many ways by the government and its agents.  Everyone is constantly on guard and trust few around them to know their true thoughts.  This book is recommended for multicultural and anthology readers.   

After We Were Stolen by Brooke Beyfuss

 

Avery thinks she is nineteen although she couldn't say when her birthday was.  She has never been off the compound so she knows nothing of modern culture.  She does know how to read but her father would be furious if he knew her mother had taught her.  Avery has been shunned for the past year; while everyone else stays in the compound housing, she has been relegated to a tent where she must make a fire for heat, find water for drinking and sleep on the ground.  But she comes to realize that there was a reason for this.  Her parents have picked her as one of the oldest girls to become the new babymaker for the cult as her mother is getting too old to do this.

After the first night that her father comes to her room, Avery can't believe this is to be her life.  She is sickened and frightened  The only person she trusts on the compound is her brother Cole who is the single person in the world she is closest to.  The two start to make plans to run away but that night Avery wakes to find the compound on fire.  She and Cole manage to get out although most of her sisters and brothers aren't as lucky.  They hide when the emergency units arrive and then they run away through the woods.  

The two live on the streets for a while but eventually are taken into custody and put under the care of Social Services.  When they learn that their parents on the compound might also have survived, the two are frightened as they know if that's true, their parents will be looking for them.  Can Avery and Cole learn to live in society?

This is a debut novel by the author.  She does an excellent job of portraying life inside the cult and the tremendous amount of work it would require to shelter and feed a group of people.  She also helps the reader imagine what life in a cult would be like and to have no freedom to plan your life or even your day according to your desires but rather to always have to obey a leader whose vision of life and what it means varies from that of society.  I listened to this book and the narrator did an excellent job.  There are surprises that await Avery and Cole when they are integrated back into normal society and the reader will be fascinated to learn the truth behind the lies the two have been told all their lives.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

The Last Time I Lied by Riley Sager

 

This was to be Emma's first away camp and she can't wait to go to Camp Nightingale for the summer, a camp set on the family land of a wealthy benefactor.  Arriving late, there are no more spaces in the cabins with girls her own age so Emma is put in with three older teenagers.  Allison and Natalie are typical teenagers and Vivian is the camp's Queen Bee, the girl who everyone wants to know and who can make or break a girl's summer with just one word.  

Vivian decides to take Emma under her wing and Emma is delighted.  She also has her first real crush on the camp owner's gorgeous son, Theo.  Of course, he has no interest in a thirteen year old but a girl can dream.  But Emma's dreams turn to nightmares.  The other girls sneak out one night and they don't return.  After searching fruitlessly for them for several days, the camp is closed down and all the campers sent home.  The three girls are never found.

Fifteen years later, Emma is surprised to get an invitation to lunch from the camp owner.  She finds out that the woman is planning to reopen Camp Nightingale and wants Emily to come and be an art instructor for the summer.  Emma has been painting huge canvases of the trauma for years and needs to find something else to work on.  She agrees to go back to the camp for the summer.

But things start to turn out the same.  Emma is forced by lack of space to room not with the other adult instructors but with three teenagers.  Theo is back for the summer along with his younger brother with his fiancée attached.  Several of the other instructors are girls from that fateful summer.  Worst of all, Emma's new roommates go missing one night as well.  Can she find them along with the secrets Camp Nightingale is hiding?

Riley Sager is known as a thriller writer and there are often supernatural elements in his novels.  In this one, Emma's first time at camp is played off successfully with her second time.  She starts off doing well and as the days go by, the strange happenings she encounters takes her back to that summer fifteen years before that threatened to ruin her entire life.  Vivian is another strong character from that first summer even with the tragedy that entered her life.  The tension is built slowly and the resolution is satisfying.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Violeta by Isabel Allende

 

Born during the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic, this is the story of Violeta, the only daughter of a wealthy South American family.  It follows her life for over a century.  Although born wealthy and spoiled as the first girl in a family with five brothers, the family loses its wealth during the Depression and Violeta grows up on a rural farm in the mountains, far from the city and all its glitter.

She has several loves in her life.  She marries young but doesn't know what love is.  When she meets the love of her life, she leaves her husband and spends years with the man she loves and with whom she has two children.  Late in her life, she marries again in a marriage that brings her love and contentment.

Violeta lives through the liberation of women and she supports herself.  She and one of her brothers start a development business which draws on Violeta's architectural knowledge and provides much needed housing both for the rising professional class and for those less fortunate.  She also makes a fortune in real estate.  On a more somber note, she lives through the time of South American dictatorships and the vanishing of those who opposed the government.  Her own son is forced into exile and lives most of his adult life in Norway, far from those who would kill him for his political beliefs.

Isabel Allende was born in Peru, although she now lives in the United States.  She has had a very successful career with more than twenty novels that bring South American culture and history to the world to discover.  Violeta is a strong female character and her love of family is characteristic of the Latin culture.  There are exciting and saddening events in Violeta's life which is a full and eventful one.  This book is recommended for readers of multicultural and historical fictioin.

People Of The Book by Geraldine Brooks

 

A Jewish holy document, the Sarajevo Haggadah, is found after the Bosnia war.  It was considered a miracle as the area had undergone Serbian bombing and this document was centuries old.  It was handmade and is now in need of analysis and repair.  There weren't many people in the world qualified to work on such a precious document.

The job goes to Hanna Heath, an Australian expert.  As she begins her work, she discovers items in the binding which she removed to repair.  There is a white hair, part of an insect wing, wine stains and a salt crystal.  Hanna is excited when her old teacher comes to inspect the book as well.  She also forms an attachment to the curator of the museum where the book is held.

Using the items found in the book, Hanna is able to trace the book through the ages.  It spent time in Seville, Venice, Barcelona and Bosnia.  She follows the book on its journeys and is able to identify some of the people involved in its journeys and discover the techniques of what they did and how they preserved the treasure.  Then as she finishes her work, new controversy emerges about the book.  Who is correct about its authenticity, Hanna or the other experts?

Geraldine Brooks is an Australian author who started as a journalist and who spent time in the Middle East, Bosnia and Somalia.  Her research background is evident in this work as the Haggadah is traced through the centuries.  There is a romance and also tragedy to be found.  This work is recommended for readers of historical and literary fiction.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent

 

Two men have been brutally murdered, bludgeoned and stabbed to death and the house set afire.  One is the owner of the house, Natan Ketilsson, and the other a visitor.  Three people were charged with the murder.  One was a neighbor and the other two were Ketilsson's maids.  Agnes Magusdottir was one of these women and was sentenced to death, to be beheaded.

Until the execution, which wouldn't happen for months, there was a need to house Agnes somewhere.  The home of a government official, Jon Jonsson, was chosen as the place of her imprisonment.  She was to live in the house with Jon's family, his wife and two daughters and to work as a servant until the time of her death.  

Agnes has the right to religious instruction and comfort.  She picks a young assistant reverant named Toti.  Reverant Toti is unsure if he is qualified to take on such a task but as the weeks and then months go by, Agnes shares her life with him.  Her life had been hard, growing up in poverty and abandoned by her mother when she was six.  After that, she was handed from farm to farm as a servant, never finding any caring.

She and Natan had been having an affair when he asks her to leave her most recent employment and come to his farm as the housekeeper.  When she gets to the isolated place, she learns that there is a sixteen year old woman already there and that Natan is having an affair with her as well.  He is also involved with a married woman with whom he has a child.  Agnes's place is unreliable and Natan is in constant battle with a neighbor who wants to marry the other woman.  He is the man who is involved in the murder and strikes the first blows.  

Hannah Kent is an Australian author and this is her debut novel.  Kent was an exchange student to Iceland when she was seventeen and she learned about Agnes's story then.  The reader learns about rural Icelandic life and culture as Agnes' story is slowly revealed.  Although she is a prisoner, she forms relationships with those around her.  In particular, she has ties with the young reverend and the mother on the farm by the time she is executed.  This book is recommended for historical and literary fiction readers.  

Number9Dream by David Mitchell

 

Eiji Miyake has had a difficult life.  He grew up on a small island in Japan, living with his mother and twin sister.  His father was never in the picture although he is one of the wealthiest men in Japan and does provide money to the family.  When his sister drowns while Eiji is on a school trip, his mother falls apart.  Eiji decides to go to Tokyo to try to find his father.

There Eiji works a series of dead end jobs.  He meets a variety of people, some kind, some definitely otherwise.  The man who rents him a room runs a video store and looks out for him along with his wife.  Eiji meets a young man who seems to have infinite money, who takes him out clubbing where he meets beautiful women.  He has an appointment to meet his grandfather but instead his father's wife and stepdaughter show up, full of hate.  They tell him his grandfather has died and that his father wants nothing to do with him.  Will Eijji be able to find out who he is?

David Mitchell is one of my favorite authors and this is his second novel.  Upon leaving university, Mitchell lived and worked in Japan for several years so the setting and portrayals are accurate.  Along with many of Mitchell's novels, this one was a Booker Prize nominee.  One of my favorite books is Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.  This one is not that although the motif of several different stories eventually merging into one is followed.  It is a good exploration of Mitchell's writing progress and the things that will show up in later books.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers.   

Fathers edited by Andre Gerard

 In this anthology about how children perceive their fathers, Andre Gerard has collected wonderful pieces by known authors and poets about their fathers.  Some idolized their father; some despised him.  But each entry is heartfelt and gives us an insight not only into fatherhood but into what shaped various authors in their childhoods.

The authors and poets comprise a wide array of talent.  Some include James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, Dylan Thomas, Angela Carter, Annie Dillard, E. E. Cummings, Winston Churchill, Seamus Heaney, Sylvia Plath , Doris Lessing, Philip Roth and Alice Munro as well as other well known literary figures.  Each has a story to tell and no one is unaffected by the first and most influential male figure in our lives.  

Born and raised in British Columbia, Andre Gerard is a twin which affected his upbringing and his relationship with his own father.  He planned this anthology when his own children became teenagers and he wondered about how his fathering would affect them.  He also has concerns for those children who grow up without a father.  Who takes that place?  What is the effect if no one does?  Readers will enjoy the essays and poetry while pondering the place of fathers in our lives.  This book is recommended for readers of nonfiction.

Unforgivable by Natalie Barelli

 

Laura has finally found a perfect life.  She is using her education and degree in art to manage an art galley and has a new show starting soon that will be the cap on her career.  She is living with Jack, her fiancee and they will be getting married as soon as his divorce from Bronwyn comes through.  Then there's Charlotte or Charlie as she likes to be called.  Charlie is six and Laura loves her unreservedly.  Charlie had a rough patch after Bronwyn left the family and moved to Italy with her new man but Laura was there for her and the two have developed a stable, loving relationship.

Then suddenly, everything falls apart.  Laura forgets to lock the galley when Charlie's school calls with an emergency and a valuable art piece is stolen.  Bronwyn is coming home, ostensibly to sign the divorce papers finally, but she expects to stay with Laura and Jack which is an awkward position at best.  Bronwyn disapproves of everything about Laura and Charlie and does her best to upend that relationship and maybe the one between Jack and Laura.  Then there is Sunshine.  She approaches Laura about a job and is pushy enough that she ends up with it after the galley owner decides she is the one, forcing Laura to hire her over better qualified applicants.  Is she after Jack?  Or maybe Laura's job?

Natalie Barelli is an Australian author who is known for her psychological thrillers.  She has written nine and this one is a hit.  I listened to it and the narrator did an excellent job.  The book is written from Lauran's point of view so the reader is able to follow her thinking as her life starts to fall apart and as she negotiates increasingly difficult relationships with Sunshine, Jack and mostly Bronwyn.  There are plenty of twists and turns and the reader is tempted to find a backbone for Laura and insert it as she seems to let everyone push her around.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.   

From The Dead by Mark Billingham

 

When Tom Thorne hears that Alan and Donna Langford's daughter has gone missing, he remembers the family well as they came to his attention first as a case.  Alan Langford was burned alive in his car a decade ago and Thorne worked on the case.  Donna was arrested and charged with paying a hit man to kill Alan, who was the head of the local gangster group.  She has been in prison since but has just been released on parole.

Donna hires a woman who is starting a career as a private investigator.  That woman, Anna Carpenter, comes to the police when she realizes she is in over her head.  The police learn that Donna has been getting pictures of Alan somewhere on a beach enjoying his life.  Apparently, the man killed in his car wasn't Alan.  Unfortunately for Thorne, his superiors ask him to let Anna shadow him as he works the case.  As more bodies pile up and Thorne starts to like Anna, he feels that it's a very bad situation as anyone associated with the case could be in line for more violence.  Can he solve the case again without anyone else being hurt?

This is the ninth Tom Thorne detective novel.  In this one, Thorne and his girlfriend who is also in the police, are having issues after a life loss.  The feel is that they may soon be breaking up as they drift further and further apart.  Thorne's darker, vindictive side is also on display in this novel, more than some of the previous ones.  When he is engaged, he is bullet-focused on catching the criminal he has in his sights, no matter what it takes.  This book is recommended for mystery readers. 

Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar

 

Cyrus Shams is an Iranian immigrant, although he came to the United States as a baby so identifies with both his Middle Eastern and his American backgrounds.  His mother was shot down in a plane by the American military on a commercial flight when Cyrus was four months old so he has no memory of her.  His father decided to come to the United States to make a new life for he and Cyrus but could only find factory work, killing chickens in a processing plant.  Cyrus has one uncle left in Iran, his mother's brother.  He suffers from PSTD from his role in the war with Iraq where he rode the battlefield dressed in black, offering comfort to those left dying there.  

Now as an adult, Cyrus isn't sure what he will do.  He went off the deep end for quite a while, drinking and doing drugs.  He has been sober for about a year now and considering writing a book about martyrs as he feels he has extensive knowledge of them.  Cyrus is a poet and unsure if his book will be in prose or verse.  He also plays with the idea of doing away with himself as another example of a martyr.

Cyrus hears of an art installation in New York.  An Iranian female artist is dying, a victim of cancer.  She is choosing to live out her life at the museum, sitting and willing to talk with any of the museum patrons.  Cyrus is fascinated with this and along with his best friend and sometime lover, goes to New York to see what the woman has to say about martyrship.  Will she change his mind?

Kaveh Akbar is an Iranian immigrant himself, born in Iran but now in the United States where he teaches in Iowa.  He has two books of published poetry and his work has appeared in many magazines.  He is the poet editor of The Review.  This is his debut novel and it is shortlisted for the National Book Award, a Times Best 10 Book and a New York Time's Book Review 10 Best Books of the Year.  Cyrus will pluck the heartstrings of the reader as they cheer him on, hoping that he can find peace and a reason to live.  Poetry, the immigrant experience and the high rate of addiction among those whose lives start in chaos are discussed.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and those interested in the lives of those from other cultures.

Listen For The Lie by Amy Tintera

 

When Lucy's best friend, Savannah, is killed after a party they attended, she is demolished.  Lucy was attacked as well and she has a concussion.  She can't really remember anything about the attack or why she and Savvy were wandering in the woods.  But there is more fallout.  When rumors start to circulate that Lucy must be involved and that she surely remembers what happened, Lucy can't believe it.  When she realizes that even her husband and her parents think she is involved, that's the last straw.  She files for a divorce and leaves the town.

Lucy builds another life in another city  But now years later, everything comes back to life when the case is chosen by the host of the popular true crime podcast, Listen For The Lie.  The host, Ben Owens, made his name when he solved a cold case in his first season.  Now he is in Lucy's hometown, sure that he can also solve Savvy's murder.  Lucy is appalled and reluctantly goes back home to her grandmother's birthday party and to scope out what's going on.  

But things are still confusing.  Her husband is still in town, remarried although the rumors say this marriage is also on the rocks.  Her male best friend from high school is there and he's dating a girl Lucy was friends with once upon a time.  It's the same small town with gossip and everyone sure they know everything about everybody.  Ben is the new thing, a wild card and terribly attractive.  Does he romance Lucy because he finds her attractive or to try to get the real story out of her?

This is Amy Tintera's first adult novel and it has gotten lots of praise and notice for awards.  Lucy is an interesting character who needs to solve the mystery that has taken way too much of her life.  There is a strong attraction between Lucy and Ben, and between Lucy and her ex-husband.  The sex is enticing but tastefully done, just enough to demonstrate the attraction without overwhelming the book.  I listened to this book and the narrator did an excellent job.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

Blue Lonesome by Bill Pronzini

 

Jim Messenger is an accountant in a big city.  He doesn't like his job which has no possibility of advancement and he hasn't dated much since his marriage broke up years ago.  Basically, he is existing and he figures no one would really notice if he wasn't there tomorrow.  He sees one woman one night in a diner he eats at often.  She seems even more lonely than him and he attempts to talk to her only to be rebuffed.

When Jim finds out the woman has committed suicide, he feels like he let her down.  He resolves to find her nearest relatives and notify them about the money she left behind.  Jim takes vacation from his job and heads out into the desert where the woman came from.  It's a little town, ruled pretty much by one family which owns almost everything.  Jim discovers the woman was a pariah in the town where she was suspected of murder.  Jim doesn't believe it and is determined to stay there until he manages to prove her innocence.  But can he do that when he has a target on his own back?

Bill Pronzini is known for his mysteries, many set in the Western part of the country.  This novel was a New York Times Notable Book and he is considered one of the masters of the genre.  His protagonists are usually men who are going through life alone and he gets that subset of humanity perfectly.  The mystery is satisfying and there is plenty of action as Jim attempts to discover the truth.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.

The Song Of The Cell by Siddharta Mukherjee

 

In this nonfiction work, Mukherjee, a scientist and oncologist, takes the reader from the discovery of cells in the 1600s to the present.  He explains the parts of the cell, how it works in the body, what can go awry and the ethical issues that now face scientists as they push the envelope in cell knowledge.  Along the way, he also tells his own personal story and what drew him to the field.

The reader will learn about the first blood transfusions, how cells play a part in disease and how they can be manipulated to cure them.  The first IVF baby, Louise Brown, in England, is discussed and what big news her birth was along with the issues that were raised by manipulating cells in a lab to fertilize them and reinsert them into a woman to produce a baby.  He discusses the rise of the AIDS epidemic and how physicians were nonplussed by the first cases which were unlike anything they had seen before.  He also discusses the recent advances that allow changes by humans in the DNA of a cell which then replicates, hopefully providing relief for various illnesses such as sickle cell anemia.  

Siddharta Mukherjee was born and raised in India, coming to the United States for his university education.  He is a Rhodes Scholar and attended Stanford, Oxford and Harvard Medical School.  His prior books, one on cancer and the other on the gene, received awards and popular acclaim.  One of his strengths is writing on advanced scientific topics in a way that they are understandable to those who do not have his background and knowledge.  This book is recommended for nonfiction readers.  

Booksie's 2025 Wrapup

 

The end of another year and a new year to celebrate.  We had a great Christmas this year and got to see both kids, grandkids, in-laws and partners.  I managed to pull the tendon behind my right knee and was off my feet for most of December so I missed a lot of the holiday but really enjoyed the time with family.   It's time to look at 2025 and make reading goals for 2026.  I managed to read 285 books this year, so the elusive 300 is still to be gained.  Here's the books I loved most in 2025, across several genres:

1. The Home Child by Liz Berry.  Written in poem format, detailing the scandal of Canadian child immigration
2. The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
3. NOS482 by Joe Hill
4. Bringer Of Dust by J.M. Miro
5. The Maker Of Swans by Padriac O'Donnell
6. The Death Of Us by Abigail Dean
7. Less by Andrew Sean Grear
8. The Extraordinary Life Of Sam Hell by Robert Dugoni
9. The Wastelands by Stephen King
10. The Emperor Of Gladness by Ocean Vuong
11. The Outside Boy by Jeanne Cummins
12. Audition by Katie Kitamura
13. The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
14. The Lighthouse At The End Of The World by J.R. Dawson
15. The Ministry Of Time by Kaliane Bradley
16. Endling by Maria Reva
17. The Running Grave by Robert Galbraith
18. Alchemised by SenLiYu
19. The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry
20. King Sorrow by Joe Hill
21. Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

How did I do on my goals for this year:

1. Read 300 books.  Almost but no banana.  I was fifteen books off from this goal
2. Read from my own shelves and give away what I've read.  Big yes!
3. Read all books from my four book clubs.  Yes
4. Finish the 52 Book Challenge and 4 challenges with the Book Girls.  Yes
5. Read two classics.  Yes, I read The Temple Of The Golden Pavilion and A Moveable Feast
6. Read the Tom Thorne series.  I'm reading book nine now but haven't finished
7. Finish the Gideon The Ninth series.  Yes
8. Finish the Covenant Of Steel series.  No
9. Finish the Dark Tower series.  On book four but haven't finished
10. Read a series by Adrian Tschaikovsky.  Reading the series Shadows Of The Apt now

Goals for 2026:

1.  Read 300 books.
2. Read from my own shelves and give away what I've read.
3. Finish the 52 Book Challenge and four Book Girl challenges
4. Read two classics.
5. Read twelve nonfiction books.
6. Read a mystery series.  I'm going to do the Rebus series by Ian Rankin
7. Read a fantasy series.  I'm going to finish Shadows Of The Apt
8. Finish the Dark Tower series.
9. Read the 2024 Booker longlist.
10. Read the Women's Prize 2021 longlist
11. Read three International Booker nominees

Happy Reading as always.  Have a great 2026!

Girls Without Tears by T. L. Finlay

 

Noa is living her best life in Miami.  She fled her small hometown after high school, tired of an environment where everyone knew everyone and all their business.  That meant everyone knew Noa had CIP, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain, and didn't feel pain.  They also knew that after years of being together, Noa's boyfriend, Zack, had dumped her in their senior year for Taylor.  Noa is now a project manager and has just met a new man who seems promising.

Then she gets the call from back home.  Skye, Zack and Taylor's daughter, has been kidnapped.  Everyone in town is turning out to help with the search which included the Everglades and Noa's parents ask if she can come back also.  Noa is hesitant but the thought of a six year old facing Florida's harsh environment convinces her to go home to help.

Once there, she reunites with her best friend from school, Jamie, who is also Zack's best friend.  She and Jamie form a pair to go search in the Everglades.  They face danger there and soon Noa isn't sure if the kidnapper was an outsider or someone in the town.  There are rumors that Zack and Taylor's marriage is having issues so was this a custody matter?  Why hasn't anyone heard from Zack's father since he and Zack's mother broke up and he left town?  Why does Taylor have bruises all over her? 

T.L. Finlay is an American author who specializes in psychological thrillers.  This one is interesting not only for the mystery but for the discussion of CIP and I learned quite a lot about this syndrome.  Those affected not only don't feel pain which means they are at danger of injuring themselves quite seriously but also can't feel things like overheating or the urge to go to the bathroom and need to set reminders to pay attention to these things.  The interplay between Noa and the three main men in the story, Zack, Jamie and her new relationship, Hector, is interesting and it is unclear who Noa may end up with.  Skye is only six but plays an active role in her own rescue.  This book is recommended for mystery readers. 

Spinsters by Pagan Kennedy

 

Frannie and Doris are sisters.  They have spent years of their adult life taking care of their father and now that he is gone, they need to decide what the rest of their lives with look like.  Frannie is introverted and just wants things to stay the same.  She had a steady boyfriend at one point but things didn't work out.  Doris is much more extroverted and she wants a big change in her life.  She wants to go out and love men and she's not sure where she wants to live.

The two sisters head out to visit another relative but never make it there.  They end up at a man's house who Doris picks up and then they decide to go on a vacation.  They end up taking a teenage relative and her boyfriend along with them as they drive cross country taking in the sights.  How will their lives work out?

Pagan Kennedy is an American author and columnist.  She has worked in the fields of writing columns about who invented what breakthrough and one of the her first books related the story of the woman who invented the rape kit.  In this book, she has Frannie and Doris drive by the big tourist attractions of the country but also by things that were happening at that time like a civil rights demonstration or the assassination of Robert Kennedy.  Readers will feel like they are driving along with the sisters and those who are older will remember many of the events discussed.  This book was shortlisted for the Orange Prize, now named the Woman's Prize for Literature and is recommended for readers of literary and women's fiction.

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

 Patrick Ryan's novel follows two families in Ohio from World War II for several decades.  The Salts are Margaret and Felix.  He is serving on a supply transport ship while Margaret waits at home for her.  Margaret grew up in an orphanage and thought her marriage would mean a family for her.  Felix is handsome and has a professional job and she can hardly believe it when he proposes.  But there is something wrong with the marriage.  Sex is rare and doesn't satisfy her while Felix is one of the strong but silent types.  What Margaret feels mostly in her marriage is lonely.

The Jenkins family is Cal, Becky and their young son.  Cal can't serve as he was born with one leg shorter than the other.  Becky is a spiritualist who gets messages from those who have passed on, much to Cal's embarrassment.  They were each other's first love and their marriage is supported by her parents with Cal working in her father's hardware store as a manager.

The two families are intertwined forever when Cal and Margaret have an affair shortly before the end of the war.  Margaret becomes pregnant the week Felix is coming home and while she isn't sure who is her son's father, as the years go by she more sure that it's Cal rather than Felix.  

This novel has received a lot of buzz.  It is a Read With Jenna pick and was an immediate bestseller.  The story of these two families over the decades draws the reader in and the two families end up being close despite the awkwardness of their shared son and the effect it has on the marriages.  Margaret is the least well defined and we hear little from her as the years go by.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction and those who enjoy epic sagas that cover lifetimes.  

Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon

 

Hicks McTaggert changes himself to fit the prevailing environment.  In this case, that means Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1932.  McTaggert made his name by being a strike-breaker and all around hired muscle.  With Capone in prison and no strikes around, he changes his motif to become a private eye, although he is not happy that the boss gets most of his fees.  Now McTaggert is investigating marital issues and with the repeal of Prohibition right around the corner, there's plenty of partying and adultery to be investigated.

Hicks is given what should be a routine investigation.  A rich man, ruler of a cheese empire, has a wayward daughter and he wants her found and brought home.  McTaggert is ambivalent about the assignment as he has a past history of his own with the woman but his boss is determined.  But before McTaggert can get going on the case, he is shanghied and put down in Hungary, last known location of he cheese heiress.

Hungary is not like anywhere Hicks has seen.  There is plenty of architecture and pastry and music.  Unfortunately, there are also Nazis, working to become the majority and spewing their hatred.  Can Hicks find the heiress?  Avoid the Nazis?  Find the submarine that he sights from time to time and suspects holds one of his old buddies?

Thomas Pynchon is an American author known for his difficult titles that explore American culture with interesting characters.  Prize-winning books include The Crying of Lot 49, V, Gravity's Rainbow, Mason and Dixon and Vineland.  This is his first novel in a decade and even at age eighty-eight, a new Pynchon novel is a literary signpost.  Hicks McTaggert is a likeable character who seems to be bumbling around but always ends up where he should be.  The surrounding characters are all defined enough to be interesting to read about without taking over the story.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers. 

Mother Mary Comes To Me by Arundhati Roy

 Most people know Arundhati Roy as a novelist and she has written beautiful books such as The God Of Small Things which won the Booker Prize in 1997.  But she is also known for her essays and her political writing.  She has also worked on several movies as a scriptwriter.  This is her memoir, the story of her life.

Roy grew up in poverty, her father never in the picture and her single mother not supported by the family.  She had one brother.  But her mother, who is tornadic in personality force, wasn't content for that to be her life.  She started a school and made it one of the best in that area of India.   She was honored for her work in education.

But her skills as a mother were definitely lacking.  She seemed to hate her children, abusing them physically and emotionally.  She had impossibly high expectations of them and was ruthless in her scorn and blame when they didn't meet those expectations.  Roy left home for good at eighteen.  She said that it wasn't because she didn't love her mother but that she left so that she could continue to love her mother.  She put herself through university and has a degree as an architect.

Readers will learn of her life in the university, the friends and contacts she made there and her love for architecture.  They will learn of the love of her life, who was married to someone Roy worked with but the marriage dissolved and Roy lived with him the majority of their lives.  They will also learn about her jobs over the years, her political work and her determination to live the life that she had dreamed about.  This book is recommended for memoir readers for a fascinating life and for literary fiction readers to see what Roy's influences were and how they played out in her novels.  

Autumn In Oxford by Alex Rosenberg

 

Tom Wrought, an American teaching for a semester at Oxford falls in love with Liz Spencer, one of his neighbors.  The problem is that both are married.  They start an affair anyhow.  Tom pretty easily sheds his marriage but Liz has children and supports her husband so it is more complicated for her.  Before she can get herself free, her husband is pushed in front of a train and Tom, who was on his way to meet her, is arrested for the murder.

Tom has had a varied career.  He is teaching history but has worked in the United States with the civil rights movement, has a military stint behind him and worked for the CIA for a short time.  In addition to teaching, Tom reviews books and writes articles for the newspapers.  

Liz finds a barrister that is as determined as she is to find the real killer and set Tom free.  The two women soon determine that the plot against Tom goes back to his young student days when he was a member of the Communist party for a short while and some of his articles that hint at secrets the government wants kept hidden, both in England and in the United States.  Can the three find a way to set Tom free?

Alex Rosenberg is a professor of philosophy at Duke University but he also makes contributions to economic and the philosophy of biology.  He has written multiple novels that use history as a starting point.  In this book, I thought too much time was spent at the beginning establishing Liz and Tom's affair but outside of that one quibble, I enjoyed learning more about the time after World War II and the various government agencies that were set up to protect us but often take actions that question that mandate.  This book is recommended for historical fiction readers.  

November Road by Lou Berney

 

In this novel, the reader meets Frank Guidry who works for the Mob, doing whatever he's asked to do.  When the Kennedy assassination bursts into the news, Frank is back in New York and shocked like everyone else.  Except that he remembers flying into the city two weeks before and stashing a car in a parking garage.  Except that now he is asked to go back and get the car that's in its place and get rid of it.

Frank realizes that there is more going on than the newspapers realize and that Lee Oswald isn't the whole story.  He flies in and does his job but when he reports in, he realizes himself that he is now a loose end and the Mob is ready to tidy up all the loose ends.  He manages to get out of town and now is on the run.  

Along the way, Frank meets Charlotte Roy.  She has just left her husband and taken her two daughters with her as she drives to Los Angeles to stay with an aunt.  She is determined to make a new life for herself and her girls but when her car breaks down, she agrees to let Frank take her as far as Las Vegas where he has a friend who will loan her another car to make it to California.  Along the way, Frank comes to think that a wife and children are exactly what he needed in his life and Charlotte wonders if Frank is the answer to all her problems.  Will they make it to California with the Mob on their trail?

Lou Berney is an American thriller writer.  His novels have won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Steel Dagger and other awards.  In this book, he draws the reader into the lives of both Frank and Charlotte and make them care if the pair manage to find that normal life they are looking for.  There are twists and turns along the way and bursts of violence that are breathtaking.  One thing I particularly liked in this novel is the epilogue that looks back from twenty or so years out and lets the reader know how everything ended up.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.  

A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare

 

This is the story of a call make in 1934 in Russia.  Joseph Stalin was in power and cracking down on authors and poets due to their creativity and writing critical of the government.  One famous author caught up in this was Boris Pasternak.  His Dr. Zhivago novel was banned in Russia and he lived under constant fear of being arrested as his friend, the poet Osip Mandelstam had been.  Mandelstam was arrested, some say tortured, then sent into exile.  Upon his return, he had a small window of time, then was arrested again and died in a transit camp.

The repression and fear of arrest made a call from Stalin an unwanted one as one never knew what could offend him and make one a target themself.  Kadare tells thirteen versions of the call.  He uses Pasternak friends, wife, mistress and then government agents to give their versions.  In each what stands out is the fear of making a mistake that could lead to imprisonment or death.  Stalin asks Pasternak what he thinks about Mandelstam's arrest and then chides him for not reacting in a stronger fashion. Playing on the game of telephone where a message is passed around a circle and emerges almost unrecognizable by the end, each version is a bit different depending on the viewpoint of the person relating it.  But each version throws into stark relief the tyranny of the government and the fear of those in the creative community.

Ismail Kadare was an Albanian author and poet.  He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature fifteen times and two of his books were nominated for the International Book Prize, this being one of them.  Writing under tyranny, he used fables and myths in his writing to portray the conditions under which his people were kept.  This short novel is a searing indictment of authoritarian governments and those who head them up.  This book is recommended for literary fiction readers and those interested in writers from other countries. 

 

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall

 

Beth is a country girl.  When she was a teenager, she met Gabriel, son of a lord and from a very wealthy family whose land was adjacent to her family's.  Gabriel is about to attend university while Beth still has a year before she can go.  But the two fall in love, and give their virginity to each other.  But when Gabriel goes away, the strain of a long distance relationship tears them apart.

Beth ends up marrying Frank who has had a crush on her since his boyhood days.  The two live on Frank's family farm and have a son together.  But life isn't always fair.  Their son is killed in a farming accident and as the novel opens, the couple is in a strained relationship.

The setting of the beginning of the novel is a courtroom.  Someone has died and someone else is being tried for causing their death.  We don't know who either of these people are until it is revealed later in the book.  What we do know is that Gabriel has returned to the area with his own son and the spark between he and Beth flares again and they have an affair.  Did it cause the death?

Clare Leslie Hall is an English author who lives in the same kind of farm setting as Beth does in the novel.  This book will draw you in and then rip your heart in two.  It is the tale of love in all its myriad fashions and what happens when love is destructive rather than positive.  I think it is probably one of the best books I've read in 2025 and I'll definitely be looking for the next novel by Hall.  This book is recommended for readers of women's and literary fiction.

The Book Of Evidence by John Banville

 

Freddie Montgomery is a cad.  He has been traveling the world with his wife and child for years, living the life of a wealthy man although he isn't one.  He has expectations; when his mother passes he will inherit the house and more importantly, his father's art collection.  When he runs afoul of those who loaned him money he cannot pay back, he leaves for Ireland to see if he can round up some money there.  He leaves his wife and child behind

But there's a surprise waiting for him at home.  His mother has sold the art collection for much less than it was worth to a neighbor so she can open a pony farm.  Freddie is furious and decides that he will visit the neighbor and at least steal back the most valuable.  But even that goes wrong and in the process, someone is killed.

Now Montgomery is on trial that's the biggest thing going.   Will he be found guilty?

John Banville is an Irish author whose work has been regarded as some of the best in literature.  This book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and Banville won the Booker with his novel The Sea.  He also writes mysteries under the pen name of Benjamin Black.  His forte is writing shocking events as if they were commonplace and it is up to the reader to realize the horror of what they are reading.  Freddie is almost unimageable in his criminality but he manages to rationalize everything he does as the inevitable next step in events.  This book is recommended for readers of literary fiction.

The Puppeteer's Daughters by Heather Newton

 

Walter Gray has made his career from being a puppeteer.  He never used hand puppets; all of his work has been with puppets manipulated and given life through strings and the puppeteer's artistry.  Walter is turning eighty, now retired, and wants to protect his legacy.  He is also teetering on the edge of dementia and his three daughters are never sure when he tells them something if it is real or a fantasy of Walter's mind.

And he has something big to share.  At his eighth birthday party, Walter tells his three daughters that there is a fourth daughter and he wants them to find her.  He tells them about his will and the conditions that are placed on each one of them separately in order to gain their inheritance.

Jane is the oldest daughter and is a very strait-laced and organized person.  She has never liked puppets and resents the money that came to the family after she was grown as her childhood had been one of poverty.  Her inheritance requirement is to make a puppet herself.

Rose is the middle sister and she was born out of wedlock.  She has always felt like she wasn't really part of the family because of that and because of her weight problem.  Rosie basically lets anyone walk all over her due to her insecurities.  Her inheritance requirement is to lose weight, around one hundred pounds.

Cora is the youngest and was raised with money.   She always loved the puppets and went to work with Walter as she as she was old enough.  She has never married or even had a serious relationship, devoting herself to her career.  Now she must decide if she wants to continue running Walter's organization.  Her inheritance requirement is to get an outside life.  Can the three find the fourth daughter?

Heather Newton is an American author who writes in the women's fiction and Southern life genres.  In this book, she has created four unique personalities and the way that they interact and get along is interesting and involved.  The reader will get caught up in the various lives and want to read more to see how everything turns out.  I listened to this novel and the narrator did a great job.  This book is recommended for women's fiction readers.  

The Cyclist by Tim Sullivan

 When a construction crew starts to demolish a row of garages, a body is discovered.  DS George Cross and his partner, DS Josie Ottey are assigned the case.  It takes a while to identify the body but it turns out to be Alexander Paphides, son of Greek immigrants.  He and his brother run the family Greek restaurant and Alex is an avid cyclist.  He had not been reported missing because his family thought he was on a cycling trip abroad.

Cross is autistic so although he in actuality leads the investigation, DS Ottey is the officer in charge.  She knows how to work with Cross better than anyone and is working on his social skills as well.  There are several possibilities for who might be the killer.  Alex was caught up in the world of doping to improve his cycling performance.  Could he have gone astray of local drug dealers?  In his thirties, he is dating a sixteen year old waitress from the restaurant and now she is pregnant.  Could that be the motive?  Then there is business.  Alex wants to expand from their Bristol location and have a second restaurant in London.  His brother and partner is adamantly opposed.  Could that have sparked murder?

This is the second novel in the George Cross series.  Readers will be fascinated to see how he has made a life that works for him and how his mind works to unravel the mystery.  Those around him, like the new police intern Alice, learn to work in the ways that George can process.  His strength is looking at the little details that tend to slip through the cracks and that often can provide clues that can change the whole focus of the investigation.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.  

King Sorrow by Joe Hill

 

They met at the university and were soon a group of six.  There was Colin who lived in a mansion and came from a fantastically wealthy family; Donna and Van who were twins, Allison who they both loved.  Arthur was the intellectual and Gwen the daughter of Colin's family housekeeper.  They found that they loved the same things and everyone got along.

Then Arthur got into trouble.  He was cornered by a group of criminals, junkies, who got him in a financial corner and insisted that he start stealing rare books from the library.  It killed him to see the books disappear but he couldn't lose his dreams.  Together the group came up with a solution one night when they were all intoxicated.

They used some relics Colin's grandfather had collected and called forth a spirit from the other world.  What they got was King Sorrow, a massive dragon.  He made a deal with them.  Every year they could pick someone to be killed.  If that person managed to escape, King Sorrow would kill one of them.  They really didn't believe anything had happened, that it was just a drunken dream so they agreed and named the junkies threatening Arthur.  The person or persons to be killed were picked at the New Year and death day was Easter.  They laughed among themselves but were worried as Easter approached.  When the junkies were killed that day, they realised they had started something they never wanted but now it was too late.

The book follows the group as they mature into adults and make adult lives for themselves.  But each year someone else has to be chosen.  They usually pick people like terrorist leaders or demagogues that had taken over countries.  They could tell themselves that these people deserved to die, but weren't they themselves murderers?  

Joe Hill is one of the best thriller writers to be found.  I've loved each and every one of his books, although they come out rarely.  This one may be his masterpiece.  The reader will emphasize with the group, especially Arthur and Gwen, and hope the group can discover a way to defeat what they have called forth.  Over the years, the group starts to splinter and turn on each other as the weight of what they have done sinks in.  This book is recommended for thriller and horror readers.  

America For Beginners by Leah Franqui

 

They are a strange traveling group.  Mrs. Sengupta is a recent widow from a wealthy Indian family.  She is leaving her pampered life to try to find the son her husband rejected when he told them he was gay.  Rebecca is a failed actress who is hired to be Mrs. Sengupta's traveling companion as it wouldn't be proper for her to travel alone with just a male guide.  Satya is the male guide and he is a recent immigrant to the United States; in fact, this is his first tour and he is quite nervous about it.

They travel to various sites throughout the United States, heading always towards Los Angeles which is the last place the son was known to have been.  As they travel, Rebecca starts to question her life and whether she really wants to be an actress.  Mrs. Sengupta starts to loosen up, throwing aside some of the strictures that she grew up with and had to observe in India.  Satya starts out determined to be the expert, lying when he doesn't know something but gradually learns to relax and sometimes let others take the lead.  

Leah Franqui is an American author with a Yale degree in screenwriting.  She has written both novels and plays.  She lived in India for six years so she has the background to correctly portray the customs and rituals of the Indian characters.  But this book is about relationships.  Relationships with our children, with our lovers and with the people we meet along the way and call friends.  Each of the characters is changed by their travel, some gaining new life goals while others give up unhealthy ways of living.  This book is recommended for literary and multicultural readers.  

The Last Trial by Robert Bailey

 

Tom McMurtrie is known for his prowess in the courtroom.  In his long career, he's been involved in some of the most challenging cases in Alabama and won.  He had a distinguished career in the classroom but when politics pushed him out, he went back to his law practice with a partner, Tom Drake.

Now one of his longtime nemeses, Jack Willistone, has been found dead on the banks of the river.  He had just gotten out of prison that morning and Tom had been the one who put him in prison.  Who killed Jack?  Was it his father-in-law, who controls the drug trade in the area and who Jack had worked for?  Was it his ex-wife, who after his imprisonment, fell on hard times that she blames on him?  Was it an old rival who had been biding their time?  

When a young girl comes and begs Tom to help her mother who has been arrested, Tom is hesitant but agrees.  With the help of an old friend who is working as a private investigator and all the friends and colleagues he has built up over the years, Tom may be able to win.  But he knows his health isn't the best and he suspects that this might be his last trial.  He is going to have to face one of his best students who is now the district attorney and that pains him but he is determined to help.

Robert Bailey knows the areas he is writing about.  He lives in Alabama and is a civil defense attorney.  This is the third book in this series.  Bailey gets the Southern feel and lives exactly right, the way a man can use his upbringing and longtime associates throughout his life there.  He also gets the respect that a man who has used his influence to do the right thing his whole life is regarded with.  Readers will enjoy untangling the mystery along with Tom.  This book is recommended for literary thriller readers.