Elizabeth Strout: Oh William, paperback, 9780812989441, Penguin Random House

( German " Oh William", Luchterhand Verlag)

Elizabeth Strout is a fabulous writer,  I greatly admire her work but i find her books sometimes downright depressing as she gets to the bottom of human struggles,  despair and emotions through her colorful characters. 

But " Oh William" which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2022 , I absolutely loved!  William is Lucy Barton's first husband, the father of her daughters, with whom she is still friends. William has just been left by his second wife and Lucy's beloved second husband has just passed away.

 Their shared loneliness intensifies their memories, thoughts and exchanges. It is an absolutely brilliant book, Lucy's voice so clear as she reflects on her past, upbringing and the failure of her marriage to William. I really felt for her, as she tries to makes sense of what shaped her life and her marriages.  Strout's writing is an absolute treat. 

Five stars from me !

 James Kestrel: Five Decembers, 9781789098679, paperback, Titan Publishing

" Five Decembers" by James Kestrel won the Edgar Award for Best Novel, the reason it caught my attention. A gripping story set in war time Hawaii, Hongkong and Tokyo between 1941 -1945,  it is one of these good old fashioned crime novels reminding me a lot of Chandler or John D. Macdonald,  both writers I loved reading. So naturally I took to "Five Decembers" like a duck to water

 Joe McGrady is a Hawaii homicide detective who is assigned to a brutal killing of two young people, one the nephew of his boss. When the murder trail leads him on a chase through the Pacific islands, he  gets trapped in Hongkong and Tokyo just when Pearl Harbour is bombed. What follows is a fabulous story with many twists and turns which ticks all the right boxes, love, betrayal, imprisonment and revenge. Loved it. Perfect reading over New years.