Delia Owens: Where the Crawdads Sing,

9781472154644, Little Brown UK, pub date: Jan 17, 2019

 

I confess to a weakness for novels set in the US South but I fell in love with this gem of a book for its sensitive protagonist, the “Marsh Girl” Kya, set in a quiet little town Barkley Cove, North Carolina.  Reese Witherspoon gave the novel a glowing review and I wouldn’t be surprised if she is looking at film rights, I know I would.

The book has two story lines, one in the 1950ties starting with Kya’s childhood and a second one in the sixties opening with the murder investigation into Chase Adams death.

From the beginning my heart went out to Kya whose extraordinary childhood is spent in poverty with several siblings, a violent drunkard of a father and an unstable mother who is always on the brink of leaving her cabin in the Marshes coming from a more prosperous background. When she eventually does leave following her grown up children’s lead, little Kya is left behind with her father who disappears for weeks. Fending for herself at a very young age barely surviving finding solace in the beauty of animals and nature surrounding her cabin, she grows up lonely trusting only her colored friend Jumpin and his wife who help the shy girl to survive. One day she encounters a boy of her own age fishing and finds herself strangely drawn to him. Tate becomes her trusted friend teaching her to read and write encouraging her to draw and document her knowledge of the marshes.

In 1969 handsome Chase Adams is found dead probably having been pushed from a wooden tower platform. The sheriff’s investigation is soon directed towards Kya Clark as the leading suspect after Chase’s parents reluctantly admit to their son’s relationship with Kya even though he was engaged to a local girl from a reputable family.  Chase was not the only one irresistably drawn to the wild beauty and sensitivity of Kya.

The southern setting and nature descriptions, the heart wrenching narration of Kya’s survival skills, the voice of the coming of age and later  of adult Kya,  the murder investigation and finally the trial in the second half of the book kept me glued to the novel which I finished as fast as I could once on vacation. All characters are very well drawn; a 5 star recommendation from me for this escapist novel with a surprising ending which admittedly will mostly appeal to women.  

Anthony Horowitz: The Sentence is Death, Cornerstone, Random House UK,

9781780897097, hardback,

 

Anthony Horowitz is such a very clever writer! What distinguishes this mystery from many others is the special tongue in cheek approach the author came up with blending his real life persona into a murder mystery. Like himself in real life, Anthony is a screenplay writer for the film industry having written the screenplay for “Foyle’s War” and successful teenage fiction, just as his alter ego in the book. “The Sentence is Death” is the second book in the series, “The word is murder” the first, became an instant bestseller.

Private Investigator Daniel Hawthorne and his side kick, a writer named Anthony, are called in by the police to assist in the investigation of the murder of Richard Pryce, a successful divorce lawyer of the rich and famous, who has been bludgeoned to death by a 2000 $ bottle of red wine which is especially puzzling since he never drink. Equally puzzling are the 3 numbers painted on his living room wall which the killer left? When they interview his husband who was away on the day of the murder, they discover that their last conversation was interrupted by a doorbell ringing and Pryce saying “You shouldn’t be here, it is too late” indicating that he must have known his murderer.

I will not go deeper into this excellent, very clever mystery with plenty of twists and turns, one being a second mysterious death which Anthony and Daniel Hawthorne believe is connected to Richard Pryce. “The Sentence is Death” will not let you down, an ace murder mystery!

For German readers: the first book in the series is called “Ein perfider Plan” with a publication date of March 2019 by Insel Verlag. Obviously the pub date of the second book which I just read is even further away.

Ingrid Rojas Contreras: Fruit of the Drunken Tree, Doubleday (Penguin Random House) USA, 9780385542722, hardback, available,  (No German translation yet)

Ingrid Rojas Contreras has written an extraordinary, colorful and atmospheric debut novel, a coming of age story of three girls from very different backgrounds growing up in Bogota, Columbia. 

But it is so much more, it is a heart wrenching story of growing up facing daily dangers in Columbia’s guerilla war with Pablo Escobar virtually ruling the country in the 1990 ties. It is an immigrant story, a story of impossible choices and a story of betrayal, friendship and family love.  “Fruit of the Drunken Tree” reminds me so much of two masterful Latin female writers, Julia Alvarez and Sandra Cisneros, whose work I greatly admire and whose novels describe similar circumstances as that of the Santiago family.  Although the publisher compares the novel to Isabel Allende or Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s work, I disagree. Their work is more influenced by magical realism whereas “Fruit of the Drunken Tree” draws more from real life experiences by the author.

The voices of willful 7 year old Chula and her opinionated older sister Cassandra alternate with that of their 15 year old maid, Petrona. Their lives are brutally different. Cassandra and Chula are privileged, growing up in a wealthier part of Bogota with security protection, a beautiful, stay at home, gutsy mother and a mostly absent father whose job as a well-paid manager of an oil company provides for their daily comforts. Petronas world in contrast is hopeless and bleak.  Her income is the only one, feeding a family of 8, her older brothers having left and refusing to work for the wealthy choosing a life of crime, her asthmatic mother unable to work. Home is a hut on the “hills”, one of Bogota’s slums. Her father disappeared years ago, her little brother Ramon did not survive his 12^th birthday working for the guerillas. The growing danger of surviving car bombs, kidnappings and assassinations in Columbia casts shadows over both families and escalates when Petrona falls in love with Gorrion, a guerilla gang member.  As Petrona is sucked into Gorrions life and his gang member’s demands on her, she is faced with an impossible decision.  

I highly recommend this book, could not put it down. I saw it listed as “Best books of the years” several times; the author is definitely someone to watch out for in the future!

 

Chris Mooney: The Snowgirls, Michael Joseph, Penguin Random House UK,  9781405932530, paperback, pub date November 15,2018

(He is published in German but no publication yet for this brand new novel)

I rate Chris Mooney as one of the best psychological thriller writers working today, having read a few of his Darby Mc Cormick books. “The Snowgirls” is one of his bests in my opinion; the plot is tight and leaves room for various outcomes until the very end. The author reserves the resolution until the last pages which makes it a gripping, fast paced read, I had no clue how it would end for a very long time.

Chris Mooney uses the current topic of pedophile priests in the US as his storyline. It has been a while since Claire Flynne disappeared while sledding on a neighborhood Belham hill. Investigator Darby Mc Cormick, with a Harvard PhD as a forensic psychologist, is called in as an expert by police investigator Kennedy when he is assigned to cold cases. The key suspect had been Father Richard Bryne, who was also linked to two previous disappearances of young girls. The police were never able to come up with enough evidence to pin him to a court case. The case has a personal connections for Darby as none other than her first love Mickey Flynne is the father of missing Claire. His life has been completely destroyed after his child vanished. When Darby interviews the now defrocked Father Bryne, she learns he is terminally ill having only weeks to live. He is anything from repentant, quite to the contrary he has some disturbing information for Darby and seems to glee in it. It becomes very clear that some powerful connections are willing to do anything to prevent Darby and the police from digging up the disappearance of the three snowgirls.

If you are looking for a gripping thriller with lots of twists and turns that will keep you on your couch for a rainy November weekend, this would be an excellent choice.

Joachim Meyerhoff: Ach, diese Lücke, diese entsetzliche Lücke, Kiepenheuer & Witsch, Paperback,

Was für ein wunderbares Buch! Vielfach empfohlen, endlich mal wieder ein deutsches Buch gekauft und mit dem allergrößten Vergnügen gelesen. Wie Joachim Meyerhoff die dreieinhalb Jahre als Untermieter in der Villa seiner betagten, exzentrischen Großeltern voller Wärme und Humor beschreibt, ist einfach herzerwärmend. Oft musste ich lauthals lachen, vor allem wenn er die Alkohol getränkten, täglichen Rituale dieses Ehepaares beschreibt, die er kaum überlebt und sich mit dem Treppenlift der Großeltern in den ersten Stock zum Schlafzimmer hieven lassen muss.  Unerwartet war er tatsächlich an der berühmten Schauspielschule in München angenommen worden und da kein bezahlbares Zimmer in Aussicht war, nahmen ihn die Großeltern kurzer Hand auf.  Die täglichen Qualen an der Schauspielschule beschreibt er genauso eindringlich wie die Vergangenheit der Familie und den dann doch bald einsetzende altersbedingte Zerfall der Großeltern, hier wechselt Humor übergangslos in die Tragik.  Ich habe dieses Buch von ganzem Herzen von der ersten bis zur letzten Seite sehr gemocht, 5 Sterne von mir!

What a wonderful book, unfortunately not available in English – why I ask myself. The title has been on the German bestseller list for several years but perhaps it is too German to reach the print run quantities required for an international publishers. Joachim Meyerhoff did not expect to be accepted at a famous acting academy in Munich. When he cannot find a decent priced room, his grandparents who own a large villa in one of Munich’s wealthier parts, ask him to come and live with them. The description of their daily alcohol fused rituals had me laughing out loud, particularly when the author himself barely makes it up to his room having to use the lift his aging grandparents had installed.  His description of miserable days at the acting school, his families past and the slow decline of his parents are very honest , touching and warm switching between humorous and tragic episodes. I loved this book from start to finish, 5 stars from me.

Sara Collins: The confessions of Frannie Langton, 9780241349199 Viking (Penguin Random House UK),  pub date: 4. April 2019, hardback

(German language rights were sold, but I could not find a publication date yet)

I am pretty sure “The confessions of Frannie Langton” will become a book club favorite and a word by mouth recommendation once published. Sara Collins worked as a lawyer before turning her true passion, writing, into a career. Her lawyerly skills definitely flow into “The confession of Frannie Langton” which reminded me at times of “Washington Black” by Esi Edugyan . Here too a slave’s life is shaped by their master’s decision to be allowed an education and involved in scientific experiments. Although "The Confession of Frannie Langton"  is written in a very different style, historical fiction mixed with a gripping murder mystery, the plight of people of color in the 19^th century, male or female, is acutely portrayed. Written as a confession at the end of her trial at the Old Bailey after being accused of having murdered her Mistress and Master, Frannie peels away layer by layer of her life story until she arrives at the truth.

This is a powerful tale of Jamaican slave Frannie Langton who arrives in London with her owner Langton after he has been expelled by his wife,  the owner of the sugar cane plantation “Paradise”. It is here where Frannie was brought up, allowed to read and write and help Langton with cruel and crazy experiments. She believes to be his confidant but he trades her in at the Belham estate where she learns that her whole life to this point has been an experiment these two men had dreamed up. Her life receives another twist when Madame, Marguerite Belham, an eccentric with a graving for laudanum and feminist ideas, falls for Frannie’s exotic looks and her free spirit seducing her into a lesbian relationship, the only love Frannie will ever experience.    

I personally found the middle section of the novel too long and less captivating but the first third and the last third are brilliantly written, totally engrossing with a heartbreaking ending making it a fascinating read.  

Rajeev Balasubramanyam:  Professor Chandra follows his bliss, 9781784742539, Chatto & Windus, (Penguin Random House) hardback, Publication date: January 2019

“Professor Chandra follows his bliss” is one of these absolutely  charming and uplifting books. Feeling a little down and out ? This book will pick you up, make you chuckle and put a smile on your face. Peppered with humor and wisdom in equal proportions, the book addresses in a lighthearted way such serious subjects as a failed family life, a broken marriage, estranged children and what life change could lead to happiness.

Professor Chandra’s life goal has been to win the Nobel Peace prize believing this would put a golden glow over his unsuccessful private life.  He is a self-righteous bastard who managed to wrack his marriage and drive away his three children. When he suffers a bicycle accident and a silent heart attack after learning the Nobel Peace prize in economics has surpassed him yet again, his doctor orders him to take time out and follow his bliss. This of course is all mumbo jumbo to a person who is deeply matter of fact and suspicious of emotions and anything that cannot be explained logically.  An offer for a guest professorship in California, where his divorced wife resides with his youngest daughter and her second husband, helps him to change his mind and soon Chandra finds himself a guest at his estranged wife’s house with her New Age savvy husband Steve. It is soon decided that what Chandra needs is to sign up for a course at the famous Esalen Institute to stretch his mind and emotional limits.  Although nearly 70, the journey of finding his own bliss begins which often feels more like a direct route to getting heart blisters.

I really loved going back to this intelligent, well written, funny novel which never failed to put me in an upbeat mood. The ending could have been less predictable but it did not spoil the quality of the book.

Nicolas Obregon: Sins as Scarlet, 9781405926935, paperback, Michael Joseph (Penguin Random House UK)

(German edition: Goldmann published the first Iwata novel: Schatten der schwarzen Sonne (Blue light Yokohama), new publication no German pub date yet  

If you are searching for a modern follow up to Raymond Chandler’s noir crime novels, I would say Nicolas Obregon comes very close. In my opinion not since Chandler did anyone create a modern character as close in mood to Marlowe as Obregon did with his homicide Inspector Kasuke Iwata, an American of Japanese heritage living in California with a dark past.  

I missed the first Kasuke Iwata novel "Blue Light Yokohama" which is set in Japan but this didn’t matter. During the course of “Sins as Scarlet” his previous life, his traumatic experiences in Japan and the reason why he is now working as a private investigator come to light and one begins to understand his utter disregard for his own safety and his dark, sombre mood. 

When his mother in law demands his help in investigating the disappearance of his dead wife’s sister Meredith Nichol, Iwata knows he cannot refuse and needs to honor her request even if it means facing the demons of the past. Meredith, a transgender woman, is found strangled on skid row between old train tracks. Iwata’s search leads him into a brutal underworld of gangs in LA and Mexico, seedy transgender bars, the exploitation of Mexican immigrants and transgender people, corruption and some particularly vile criminal activities. I will not reveal more as it would give away the plot. It  gets pretty hairy and graphic at times.

Obregon has created a very complex, likeable character with Kasuke Iwata, a broken man trying to redeem his mistakes. I don’t think I give away too much when disclosing the novel finishes with an uplifting ending. 

Anthony Quinn: Our friends in Berlin, 9781787330986, trade paperback, Jonathan Cape (Penguin Random House UK) July 2018

Anthony Quinn’s very atmospheric spy thriller opens in war torn London in 1941, giving it a graphic description of what it must have been like to live in London during the Blitz. According to the publisher, the book was inspired by real life events. It was a well kept secret after the war that England had quite a number of Nazi sympathizers, some quite famous.  

This book makes excellent holiday, escapist reading with a very believable ending and a sophisticated writing style. 

Amy Strallen works in a marriage bureau when she is approached by Jack Hoste. While she believes he is trying to find a suitable marriage candidate thru her bureau despite his odd behavior, his motives are absolutely different. Amy is the only connection to  Marita, a Nazi sympathizer who has gone into hiding and is crucial to Jack’s work.  He has been recruited by MI5 to infiltrate a group of British Nazi supporters who are feeding dangerous information to Berlin. 

When his contact to Amy succeeds leading him to headstrong Marita, a tight plot full of deception and unexpected events kept me turning the pages rather quickly particularly in the second half of the book.

Tales from a Masters Notebook: Stories Henry James never wrote, Vintage Classics, Penguin Random House UK, 9781784871475, hardback

I absolutely loved this book, what a brilliant idea!  When Henry James died, he left several notebooks filled with his ideas, stories and novels he never wrote.  Using his ideas, 10 very well-known contemporary authors have taken up the challenge giving them their own voice and interpretation: Colm Toibin, Rose Tremain, Jonathan Coe, Paul Theroux, Amit Chaudhuri, Giles Foden, Joseph O'Neill, Lynne Truss, Susie Boyt and Tessa Hadley have written some wonderful short stories. 

I was particularly thrilled by Paul Theroux's and Colm Toibin's masterful stories but it was always a pleasure to go back to the book and to discover authors I had never read before. For those with academic interest, Professor Philip Horne who is an expert on Henry James,  edited and introduces the stories. 

Love the cover design! 

Janelle Brown: Watch me disappear, 9780812989489, Spiegel & Grau (Penguin Random House US), paperback / No German translation yet.
 

The incredible success of “Gone Girl” saw an avalanche of similar titles in publishing.  Janelle Brown’s “Watch me disappear” falls into this genre but luckily does not fall into the category of those of questionable quality.  Janelle Brown’s” has written an entertaining, escapist novel with “Watch me disappear in keeping you captured until the end, with several outcomes possible. 

  

Billie Flanagan, a much loved Berkeley mother and wife, disappears during a Wilderness hike and no traces apart from one hiking boot and her shattered cell phone are found even after a year. Her husband Jonathan and her teenage daughter Olive are desperately trying to patch up their destroyed lives while having to go through the process of having Billie declared legally dead. 

When Olive starts to have strange visions of her mother, she is no longer convinced her mother is dead. But where is she, what happened to her and why has she disappeared?  While Olive is trying to do some research of her own, getting into trouble at school and with her father, Jonathan is writing a memoir of his and Billie’s life. He too harbors doubts when his stumbles over some inexplicable cash withdrawals and secrets Billie seems to have kept from him while doing research for the memoir.  Who really was this person he thought he knew inside out and loved so dearly? Jonathan and Olive eventually share their doubts; they decide they owe it to Billie to embark on a quest to find out whether she is truly dead. Some uncomfortable truth about Billie's past shakes them
both up putting the person they love in a new light.

The story of how we believe to know the person we love only to discover this to be untrue has been told before in many variations.  I enjoyed “Watch me disappear” as the story twists and turns, the characters are well drawn out and the author skillfully keeps you guessing.  However, it did not knock me off my socks. 

Tara Westover: Educated, Random House, 9780525510673, paperback
German Edition:  Befreit,  Kiepenheuer & Witsch, gebunden

It’s been a while since I stayed up late because I needed to finish a book. This just happened while reading Tara Westover’s “Educated”. 

It was almost physically painful at times to read Tara Westover’s testimony of what it was like to grow up in an abusive, tyrannical, survivalist Mormon home in Idaho with parents who are religious zealots and as crazy as a bat.  I found myself mad as hell at her parents for not protecting her from her abusive and violent brother Shawn.  How she was able to survive a childhood doing heavy physical, dangerous men’s work in her father’s junkyard is beyond me. The physical violence and disregard for her and her sibling’s personal safety that her parents exposed them to and the tragedies that followed, all under the umbrella 

of “God’s will”, is incomprehensible. How they overcame severe injuries without proper medical attention with her mothers herbal medicine their only aid,  borders on a miracle.

Never having set foot in a classroom let alone sharing intimacy with other children apart from siblings, Tara’s brother Tyler is the first one who starts to doubt his father’s severe religious beliefs  studying in secret for his high school equivalent test which would enable him to go to college. He is also the one to introduce Tara to music, encouraging her to use her beautiful voice and to start studying. 

I found it particularly heartbreaking how her hunger for knowledge and education is met by rejection and punishment from her family and how she never gives up loving her family, longing for their approval. It is haunting how powerful to this day, after all her achievements, her parents pull remains. That she was able to walk her own path staying true to her beliefs without their love and support is an incredible achievement, a testimony of determination, resilience and strength.  An absolutely five star rating for this memoir.

Daniel Silva: The other Woman, 9780008280932, Harper Collins, Trade Paperback

Those following my blog know I rate Daniel Silva as one of the very best espionage thriller writers in the trade.

But for some reason his latest novel “The other Woman” did not grab me as much as his previous two had, “Black Widow”  and ” House of Spies”  they are brilliant ! Maybe it is the same old story, Kremlin bad guys against Israel and the rest of the somewhat corrupt but ultimately ethically correct Western world that made me  feel  this is a little tired and has been done before. The story about a mole inside the highest English or American Intelligence echelons is not so novel either. The mysterious Frenchwoman living in Andalusia and her connection to a past lover felt equally constructed. 

The book has all the brilliance of Daniel Silva’s writing, it is a good escapist espionage thriller no doubt but not his best, I am somewhat disappointed, only a three star rating from me this time . 

Michael David Lukas: The Last Watchman of Old Cairo, 9780525511946, Spiegel & Grau (Penguin Random House USA) paperback

“The Last Watchman of Cairo” has a fairy tale like quality reminding me of the stories from thousand and one nights. The novel is set in the present but also has two other multigenerational stories running parallel, one around the turn of the first millennium and the other at the end of the 19th century when European archeologist discovered the magic of Egypt and Cairo. 

Lukas has written an entertaining story which captures the allure of the Middle East and the Old Cairo very beautifully; I really enjoyed this escapist novel read during warm summer days transporting me into the past.

Joseph is a literature student living in Berkeley with a mixed heritage, his mother Jewish descending from a small group of Jews from Old Cairo, his father a Muslim still living in Cairo.  He never shared a home with his father on a regularly basis, instead growing up in the US with his mother but visiting his Dad during summer holidays.  When his father dies, a package arrives from him prompting Joseph to start investigating his family’s conflicting background.  For many years the men in the al- Riqb family were the watchmen of the Ibn Ezra Synagogue in Old Cairo although they themselves remained Muslim, guarding the Ezra Scrolls and other ancient documents. Joseph packs his bags and moves in with his uncle Hassan and his family in Cairo trying to learn more about his father’s life and the mysterious Ezra scrolls. 

The novel switches over to Ali, the first of the al-Riqb men to watch over the synagogue, an orphan around the turn of the millennium who is given a life time chance to improve his situation. He is quickly intrigued by the Ezra scrolls and the mysteries surroundings Jewish life.  The character of Ali and his coming of age was my favorite in the novel, his innocence totally enchanting.

The wealthy British sisters Agnes and Margret give the novel the third colorful story, both well known in academic circles but as women of their time unable to work as scholars.  In 1897 they embark on a trip from Cambridge to Cairo trying to rescue ancient Jewish text that have started to appear on the black market and soon learn of the Ezra scrolls.  

All three story lines are woven around the Ezra scroll mystery, coming together eventually guiding Joseph towards answers about his own heritage, his father’s and and mothers love and his own life choices.

Lawrence Osborne:  Only to sleep – A Philip Marlowe Thriller, 9781781090572, Hardback, Vintage / Penguin Random House UK

It must be a daunting task to follow into Raymond Chandler’s footstep and to write a follow up about the master detective of noir crime fiction, Philip Marlowe. Lawrence Osborne has done a pretty good job in my opinion, capturing the almost suicidal mood of Marlowe in old age giving the book its own voice. The novel flows along in an almost dreamlike quality which made it a perfect summer read for me during the hottest spell of the year. 

Very befittingly the novel is set in Mexico in 1988 where Marlowe is living out his retirement, hitting the booze like he has a second liver to spare, the only female company his housekeeper these days.  When he is visited by two gentlemen from an insurance company at the La Fonda bar, his favorite hangout his retirement comes to an abrupt halt.  Their offer to him: investigate a seemingly accidental death, a job too good to reject since the investigation seems easy enough. Besides his bank account could use some cash injection.

Californian businessman Donald Zinn was washed up dead on a beach in Mexico, apparently after the consumption of considerable amounts of alcohol and some drugs. His much younger widow identified him at a Mexican police station and arranged his immediate cremation making further forensic work impossible for the insurance company. This leaves them with no alternative but to pay out Zinn’s sizable life policy to the young widow.  Marlowe is hired and when visiting Zinn’s widow as a first step of his investigation in California, he learns she is not only beautiful but that he hasn’t lost any of his old detective skills. He soon begins to seriously question whether it was really Zinn who drowned leaving him no choice but to dig deeper and to stir up some trouble amongst people who knew Zinn and his wife in Mexico.

Anne Tyler: Clock Dance, 9781524711436, paperback, Alfred A. Knopf (Penguin Random House) N.Y.July 2018

I just finished reading “Clock Dance” by Anne Tyler and was totally charmed by this novel.  The portrait of her main character Willa Drake stretches over 50 years and with four major life events she paints Willa so precisely, I felt I had known her for a very long time.  Anne Tyler has been called by critics as one of America’s best living novelist. She was also the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize in 1988 having been shortlisted for the Man Booker prize in the UK in 2015 as well.  

The novel opens in 1967 when Wilma is a school girl and her eccentric mother has left the family again. Already acutely aware of the underlying troubles in her parents’ marriage, her beloved father tries to downplay her mother’s absence assuring the children that everything is ok.  1977, Willa is in college and about to be engaged. On her flight home to introduce her boyfriend Derek to her parents something crazy happens on the plane, making her less sure of Derek’s true character and hesitant about leaving college to get married.  In 1997 Willa has just lost her husband in a car accident and is trying to piece her life together for herself and her two sons Ian and Sean.  During all these years Willa accepts the path that everyone seems to have laid out for her and does what is expected.

The longest and for me most satisfying part of the novel starts in 2017 when Willa, remarried and in her sixties,  makes a surprise decision to temporarily move to Baltimore to help care for Cheryl, the daughter of her son Sean’s  ex- girlfriend Denise who was shot in the leg.  Her spoiled husband accompanies her after trying to talk her out of this project  failing miserably and never understanding that the real reason for Wilma’s act of kindness is trying to install some meaning of life into their currently stale existence in a retirement community in Arizona.  The portrayal of her time in Baltimore, Denise and Cheryl’s colorful neighborhood, her love for Cheryl, the substitute grandchild she will probably never have, her estrangement to her sons and sister Elaine, her egotistical husband and her desire to follow her own path for once are exquisitely narrated.

I loved this book and her writing.

Summertime Thrillers continued…..

Flynn Berry: A Double Life, 9780735224964, Viking / Penguin Random House US, hardback, pub date: 31. July 2018

 

Flynn Berry won the 2017 Edgar Award for Best First Novel with “Under the Harrow” , she is also a recipient of the famous Yaddo fellowship.  This says a lot about her credentials as a writer.  After having finished “A Double Life” which kept me turning the pages breathlessly particularly during the last third of the book , I can confirm she has exceptional talent.  Her sentences are spare and beautifully crafted portraying the protagonist with razor sharp precision, with an excellent plot at the heart.  The New York Times have just recommended this mystery as recommended summer reading.

 

“A Double Life” borrows the idea for the novel from one of the famous unsolved crimes in English criminal history, the Lord Lucan case who attacked his wife and murdered the nanny.  But this is where the similarities end, Flynn spins her own yarn

Told from Claire's perspective, she lives a simple, quiet life as a dedicated NHS doctor but no one suspects that this isn’t her real name. She is  the daughter of a criminal, her brother an addict and her father a Lord who disappeared after he killed his children’s nanny while they slept upstairs injuring his estranged wife. The police never found him; the only evidence he left behind was his blood stained car near the English Channel. 

Claire’s life is disrupted when the police inform her that they belief they have found him.  When this Investigation also turns cold, she decides to follow some of her suspicions, that he must have had help from his privileged powerful clique of friends if he was indeed the murderer.  Trying to find answers who this man she called father really was, the memory of her mother and her struggles to raise a family on her own make her even more determined to get to the bottom of the truth.  Was he really the cold blooded murderer from a wealthy, privileged background who married down and got bored with the responsibilities of a family? But why would he murder the nanny and not her mother and why bother anyway since her parents were already separated?  She is convinced her father is alive and hiding.

I could not find a German translation for her first novel  which is really surprising.  As an editor in Germany, I would pick her up quickly.

 

  

C.J. Box: The Disappeared, 9780399176623, Putnam (Penguin Random House USA) hardback,
Paperback:  9781784973193, Head of Zeus, October 2018,

Joe Pickett is one of my favorite characters in American crime fiction I unashamedly admit, a Wyoming based game warden that always ends up in trouble chasing the bad guys.  

“The Disappeared” is C.J. Box's  18^th Joe Pickett novel, they are fun to read and I never get tired of his new cases while taking an armchair trip to Wyoming at the same time.  Check them out if you like a cross between Western & crime fiction, he has also been translated into German but they seem to be out of print currently, you can buy them online used.

Joe Pickett and the new governor Colter Allen are not exactly friends, unlike Rulon, his old boss who has used his knowledge of wild life and the human psyche in numerous more or less concealed operations.  Joe is very surprised to be summoned by Allen and told to start a secret investigation into the disappearance of a wealthy British business woman called Kate Sheldon-Longden who vanished into thin air after vacationing at the Silver Creek Ranch in Saratoga which is outside Joe’s jurisdiction as a game warden.  It is also the very place where Sheridan, Joe’s daughter, is currently working as an outdoor guide and horseback trainer for the high paying clientele.  The police have failed to find any trace of Kate and journalist and family members poking around are causing bad publicity the new governor doesn’t need.  How falconry, seemingly green wind energy and other rogue characters come into the picture is for you to find out yourself when reading “The Disappeared”.

SUMMERTIME AND THE READING IS EASY ........

C.J. Tudor: The Chalk Man, 9780718187439, Michael Joseph/Penguin Random House UK, hardback German: Der Kreidemann, Goldmann Verlag)

I enjoyed this very English unbloody mystery;  unexpected revelations kept  me hooked until the very last page. 

When twelve year old Eddie Adams witnesses a terrible accident at a fair, his teacher Mr. Halloran is there at the scene and takes him and the victim, a young woman under his wings . Soon Eddie’s gang - Metal Mickey, Fat Gav, Hoppo and Nicky, the only girl - baptize Mr. Halloran “The Chalk Man” after he gave Eddie the brilliant idea for a game, to leave secret messages in chalk for one another.  This proves great fun until the chalk drawings lead to a corpse of a badly mutilated girl causing terror in their little village  and overshadowing their friendship forever. Told from Eddie’s perspective in a very unagitated language switching between present and past events of 20 years , layer by layer many secrets come to light.  When the adult gang receives another set of chalk drawings in the form of a letter dropped in their mail box, the past starts to catch up with them and their individual secrets.

Cristina Alger: The Banker’s Wife, 9780525538486, Putnam/Penguin Random House US, paperback

Three strong female protagonists are at the center of this thriller set in the financial world of ruthless Swiss bankers and offshore banks. 

Annabel is the wife of Matthew Lerner whose sudden death in a  plane crash over the Alps  leaves her facing the facts that her husband might have held more secrets than she thought possible in his job for Swiss United, a dangerous, powerful banking cartel. Marian Tourneau, investigative journalist, engaged to Grant Ellis, the son of an ultra-rich New York banking family, is shocked to learn of the mysterious death of her boss Duncan who was working on a secret story about the illegal money laundering by high caliber individuals. She agrees to continue the investigation Duncan started when a secret caller offers here a USB stick with explosive material originally intended for Duncan.   When Zoe, Matthew Lerner’s assistant delivers his laptop to Annabel containing secret financial data, their lives are put in immediate danger. 

This thriller is fast paced, at times predictable borrowing heavily from recent events in the financial world.  But it has enough twists and turns to make it a satisfying thriller pulling all three storylines eventually together. The ending however was far too sugar coated and Hollywood like for my taste.

Francisco Cantu: The Line becomes a river, Non-fiction.Bodley Head, Penguin Random House UK& 9781847924872 & Riverhead/Penguin Random House USA, 9780525536253, both hardbacks,

If you have been following the atrocious treatment of Mexican immigrants in Trump’s America  like I have during my very recent US visit, “The Line becomes a river “ is a revealing story told from the realities of a former border control official and the cost to their own soul.  The separation of children from their parents when crossing the US illegally shook the US, uniting many Republicans and Democrats.   One can only imagine what some officials went through psychologically when told to apply this order knowing what damage it would inflict to the children in particular.

Francisco Cantu served as an agent for the United States Border Patrol from 2008 – 2012 working in the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, classic border countries with a history of Mexican immigrants.  He is a third generation Mexican-American himself and despite his mother’s warning what such a job might do to his psyche and soul, he felt he was up to the daily challenges of working the border. Cantu describes the daily patrols, the politics, the plight of those caught, and the tight knit community of border agents. His language is honest and beautiful as he unashamedly writes about his conflicts. When empathy for those crossing the border overshadows his sense of duty and he starts to have nightmares, Francisco knows he has to act deciding to leave the patrol for civilian life. 

He begins working in a coffee shop for a start and befriends Jose, an illegal immigrant of many years who has a family and works nearby. As Jose shares his lunch with Francisco, a warm friendship develops between the immigrant and the former border control man. When Jose travels back to Mexico to visit his dying mother and does not return Cantu discovers that he is being held by the border patrol as he could only reenter the US illegally. With clarity and compassion Cantu describes what happens once he gets himself involved in Jose’s and his family’s case trying to unite him with his boys in the US who are US citizens.  It is a heartbreaking story at times.

I found this great book very enlightening and uplifting despite it’s sometimes very sobering events describing the human cost on both sides. Cantu is now an award winning writer and a former Fulbright fellow.

Esi Edugyan: Washington Black, 9781781258972, Serpents Tail /Profile Books, pub date: August 1, 2018, trade paperback

Esi Edugyan lives in Victoria, British Columbia and was a finalist for the prestigious Man Booker Award for her previous work “Half Blood Blues”.  I have to confess I had never heard of her before. After reading the proof of her upcoming new novel “Washington Black”, I am no longer surprised why she was shortlisted. The quality of her writing is superb, reminding me of the language in classics. It was a pleasure to read such finely crafted writing and such a captivating story. 

I am positive “Washington Black” will appeal to readers who enjoyed “Homegoing” by Yaa Gyasi  or “ Underground Railroad” by Colson Whitehead.

This literary novel is set in the cruel world of slavery in the early 19^th century narrating the incredibly adventurous life story of George Washington Black, “Wash”,  a slave boy born on the Faith Plantation in Barbados.  The barbaric way plantation owners used to exploit their “human merchandise” cutting sugar cane is truly incomprehensible, the cruelty and punishments beastly.  Such is the daily life of the child slave Wash who is lucky to have the fierce protection of Big Kid, the closest thing he ever knows to a mother.  His life changes dramatically when they are ordered to serve at a dinner in the big house where Erasmus Wilde is entertaining his brother Christian “Titch” Wilde, a scientist from England  who recognizes something in the boy. Titch, a wealthy eccentric explorer is opposed to slavery unlike his brother whose cruelty knows no boundaries.  He begs his brother to loan Washington to him to assist with scientific experiments.  Washington has a quick mind but never having known kindness from white people he has to shed his mistrust while learning to read and write becoming an invaluable assistant to Titch who is building a “cloud cutter”, an early version of an air balloon.  Events heat up when Titch’s and Erasmus cousin Philipp visits the plantation from England leading to two terrible accidents and a death, disfiguring Wash. The hasty escape of Titch and Wash by their newly build cloud cutter is  the beginning of an unimaginable  journey  to freedom for Washington, his coming of age in strange countries, surviving danger and slave catchers together with Titch who recognizes in him a human being  becoming his family and friend. When Titch suddenly disappears in the Canadian Arctic, Washington is completely lost and forced to fend for himself.  His travels to his true inner freedom lead him through many encounters and countries, Nova Scotia, England, Holland and Morocco trying to answer the very question what true freedom really means .   

A German translation of “Half Blood Blues” by Insel  Verlag is available but I could not find a German publisher yet for this novel.