Edithsbookpicks: C.J. Box:Wolf Pack, Putnam, 9780525538196, hardbac...

Edithsbookpicks: C.J. Box:Wolf Pack, Putnam, 9780525538196, hardbac...: C.J. Box: Wolf Pack, Putnam, 9780525538196, hardback (paperback later in the year, available as E-book)   (No German translation ye...

C.J. Box: Wolf Pack, Putnam, 9780525538196, hardback (paperback later in the year, available as E-book) 

(No German translation yet, previous novels are published by Heyne Verlag in paperback)

 
Joe Pickett is the Wyoming game warden and chief protagonist in C.J. Box’s New York Times bestsellers, by now one of my favorite escapist series which never disappoints. The novels are tightly crafted thrillers and the latest one “Wolf Pack” has a particularly captivating plot.  CJ Box’s nature descriptions and environmental characterizations are ace; they transport me regularly into breathtaking Wyoming country side which I had the pleasure to cycle through a few years ago. The novels have a tight plot with an eclectic assortment of tough and tender characters around Joe Pickett’s circle of colleagues, family, and friends, most set in the Saddlestring district which Joe patrols. Throw in some bad ass characters and the result will keep you clued to your armchair longer than intended, at least this happens to me as was the case with “Wolf Pack” which kept me turning the pages very briskly towards the end.

Joe is called in by fellow game warden Katelyn Hamm after she discovers that someone is using drones illegally to kill wildlife. When Joe and his falconer friend Nate take down a drone with Nate’s falcons and Joe confronts the unpleasant, arrogant owner of the drones, Bill Hill, who seems to not exist at all as he has absolutely no past records anywhere, he and Katelyn are told by the FBI to tune down their charges and to drop the case. This really spurs Joe on and the situation becomes stranger still when seemingly random murders shake their small town, all taking place after four conspicuous strangers, 3 men and one stunning looking woman, are spotted in town.  Joe has heard of the Wolf Pack, killers sent out by the Sinaloa drug cartel that seem to fit the description.  Within 24 hours Joe finds himself in one of the most dangerous situations he has ever had to deal with in his professional life.

CJ Box is an excellent writer on top of driving a fast paced plot; he is definitely one of my favorite thriller writers currently.

 

Donna Leon: Unto us a son is given , W. Heinemann (Penguin Random House UK) hardback, 9781785152177(No German edition available yet)

Reading one of Donna Leon’s Commissario Guido Brunetti novels is to me like taking a trip to Venice.  I am a great fan of her novels and as is often the case in a series, there are better and weaker books. “Unto us a son is given” is definitely one of the better ones, greatly enjoyed this latest work of the wonderful Donna Leon. 

Brunetti’s ability to detect even the slightest shift in body language or facial expression or  a seemingly unimportant word in a sentence have often been the decisive factor in solving a seemingly hopeless case bringing the perpetrator to justice.  His philosophical contemplations and observations of Venetian behavior amongst the more or less noble men and women make these books such an entertaining read.  I never fail to be amazed at the amount of mouthwatering delicious food and wine consumed in these novels.

As to the plot of “Unto us a son is given”:   Brunetti’s father- in- law, Count Orazio Falier, asks him to intervene in a foolish plan of his best friend , Gonzalo Rodríguez de Tejada, who is openly gay and planning to adopt his much younger lover as his son. Having accumulated a sizable fortune over the years through farms in Chile and later art galleries in Europe, this would make the young man his sole heir under Italian law. Brunetti reluctantly accepts his father in laws request and has a conversation with Gonzalo who is also family to him and his wife Paola. Gonzalo remains unapologetically firm in his plan to adopt his lover.  The novel takes an unexpected twist when Gonzalo suffers an aneurysm dropping dead during a walk and gets Brunetti seriously involved in a murder investigation when a second, this time violent death occurs of one of Gonzalo’s closest friends hours after she arrives to arrange a memorial service and dinner for him.

I would be a spoil sport if I revealed more but you are guaranteed a great escapist read.

Edithsbookpicks: SigridNunez: The Friend, Riverhead Books (Penguin ...

Edithsbookpicks: SigridNunez: The Friend, Riverhead Books (Penguin ...: Sigrid Nunez: The Friend, Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House US) paperback, 9780735219458, (No German edition announced yet) J...

Sigrid Nunez: The Friend, Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House US) paperback, 9780735219458,

(No German edition announced yet)

Just finished reading Sigrid Nunez: The Friend, the National Book Award Winner 2018, and what a very unusual book it is.  Her prose is exquisite, a very clear and direct style that really appealed to me.   One of the peculiarities of the narration is that some characters remain unnamed, like wife No. 1, wife No. 3, the friend who is most sympathetic about the situation etc.  This gives the novel an almost analytical, observing touch.

The narration is about an unnamed woman losing her best male friend and mentor to suicide. Finding herself absolutely grief stricken and taking in his unwanted sad dog, a Great Dane no less, she is not sure about her motive for this act particularly since her New York flat is tiny and her apartment house does not allow pets. What follows feels less like a story but more like stringing pearl after pearl into a necklace: a sequence of thoughts,  contemplations, memories, insights, meditations about life, on loss, friendship, love, loneliness,  death, grief, solitude, literature, art, writing, teaching, solitude, serendipity and the unexpected happiness of  sharing life with a dog.

The parts of the novel dealing with the dog are the most touching and intimate; I thought these the best.  Another masterful, playful section in the novel is when she switches directions for a while towards the end.  

Highly recommend this 200 page long very worthwhile, uplifting literary read.

 

Lou Berney: November Road, Harper Collins, 9780008309336, paperback, April publication

German edition: Destination Dallas, Harper Collins

Lou Berney’s “November Road” was nominated as one of the best books of 2018 by the media, among them the Washington Post and Newsweek. I really loved this gripping, atmospheric 1960ties story, set right after JFK’s assassination with a cast of very likable, shady and intriguing characters.   Lou Berney is a new discovery for me; I will definitely check out other novels by this Edgar Award winning author. He is a terrific writer reminding me in parts of Chandler but he has his own distinct voice with short, clipped sentences.  

Frank Guidry works for the mob in New Orleans and is one of the most trusted, smartest men in the employ of big boss Carlos Marcello.  Frank’s luck runs dry when Kennedy is killed in Dallas and he realizes everyone connected to Carlos and Dallas turns up dead within hours. Frank knows too much himself and decides to hit the road heading for Vegas before ending up a corpse himself.  

Charlotte, smart and witty, made a bad choice by marrying too early leaving all her ambitions behind. Ending up with an alcoholic as a husband, two young girls and a dog, she is bored stiff as a housewife pretending contentment in small town Oklahoma. After a disastrous Thanksgiving dinner she packs up the car while her husband is sleeping off yet another hangover, taking her girls and the dog hoping her courage will not desert her.  As she drives off, California comes to her mind.  

Barone, the hit man sent out to kill Frank, is sniffing out Frank’s well covered tracks second guessing where he might be heading. Eventually luck sends him into the right direction.

These three characters and story lines give the novel their color, voice and tempo. When Charlotte gets stranded after an accident, her and Frank’s paths cross, as destined by fate. The suspense becomes even more gripping when the unthinkable happens, they fall in love.   

I will not reveal any more as it would spoil a major part of the book  but I rushed back to this Tarrantino like plot as fast as I could, loved every page of it. 

The title of the German edition is terribly misleading , Dallas only triggers Frank's escape and is never a destination.  

 

Bart van Es: The Cut out Girl – A Story of War and Family, Lost and Found, 9780241978726, paperback, Penguin, Non-fiction, Costa Book of the Year 2018

German edition: Das Mädchen mit dem Poesiealbum, Dumont Verlag, gebunden & E-Books

When the prestigious „Costa Book of  the Year 2018“ was awarded this year,  I learned through an Instagram posting of the publisher at Penguin whose publishing I highly value that it had gone to  Bart van Es’ „The Cut out Girl“ .

This is one of these books you keep thinking about long after you finished reading, a deeply touching combination of history book and family memoir. How very brave of Bart to investigate a family secret and how courageous of Lien to open her heart and grant him access to her life story.  I knew some historical facts about the fate of Jews in Holland during Nazi occupation but Lien’s memoir provides a much deeper insight. I had absolutely no idea so many Jews went into hiding in the Netherlands, most of them were unfortunately betrayed and sent to their death. 

Lien’s parents decide to give her away to Dutch foster parents in 1940 hoping that she would survive the war in hiding. Bart van Es’s socialist grandparents were her foster parents, Lien soon learns to trust and love them and becomes close to her foster siblings. During a Nazi raid she can barely escape with the help of an underground network who move her around until she is finally placed with a Calvinist family in the Dutch countryside for the duration of the war.  Learning of her own parent’s death in a concentration camp after the war is over; the van Es’ family takes her in again and eventually adopts her.  So why it is that after returning to the family she loved Lien’s name has almost disappeared from being mentioned in the van Es family?  Bart’s curiosity as an Oxford scholar leads him to a painstaking research of Lien’s life evolving into a deep friendship and understanding between them.

Bart van Es's writing weaves back and force between his conversations with Lien, his own investigation visiting the places where Lien lived during the war narrating her life as a child, both their joint family history and finally her adult life and relationships. 

I still think of the trauma Lien experienced, the painful incidents which lead to several dramatic misunderstandings, the hurt and loss finally affecting her adult life. But this is also the story of many people's kindness, love and courageous efforts that went into saving Lien.  This book went under my skin and has a happy ending.