Scott Turow: The Last Trial, 9781529039085, Mantle/Pan Macmillian, Hardback, EBook available

I have considered Scott Turow to be one of the finest legal thriller writers ever since reading his masterpiece “Presumed Innocent” which stared Sandy Stern for the first time and left me completely hooked.  I feel the same way about  his latest novel, “The Last Trial”,  where Sandy Stern, now at age 85, argues his final case together with his daughter Marta, his partner now for many years in the legal firm Stern & Stern. 

The defendant is his lifelong friend Dr. Kiril Pafko, a Nobel Prize winner of Medicine, researcher and inventor of a ground breaking cancer drug.  He has been charged and accused of several crimes: altering medical data to get the FDA’s approval for the cancer medication, insider trading after selling stocks having received a warning of a negative Wall Street Journal investigation and murder as some patients who were part of his cancer drug study died suddenly of possible allergic reactions as a consequence of a cover up.  Reluctantly and feeling  in frail health himself after having survived several forms of cancer he agrees to defend his old friend promising Marta this will be his last case.

What follows is a tour de force in search of the truth through every step of the trial which is so brilliantly argued and composed you feel like you are a real life spectator in the court room unsure which trap door or argument will open next. It is not only one of the best legal thrillers I have ever read but the strength of this novel lies in its detailed portrayal of all the characters emotions and motives providing deep and philosophical insights into the dark and fragile side of human nature, the might friendships and family hold over all of our lives. I have no idea how brilliantly Scott Turow's legal mind must be working to arrive at such a complex storyline. 

This masterful book held my absolute attention for all its 465 pages; and I do love the last sentence, 5 stars from me!  

Imogen Kealey: Liberation, Sphere / Little Brown UK, 9780751576023, C format paperback, available

German Edition: Die Spionin, Rütten & Loening, großformatiges Paperback

Imogen Robertson is a writer of historical fiction and Darby Kealey a writer and producer based in Hollywood; together they form the writing duo Imogen Kealey.

“Liberation” is a true page-turner of a novel very closely based on the real life of one of the most fearless female resistance fighters, Nancy Wake, to be turned into a movie by Anne Hathaway.  Nancy Wake went by many codenames; one “Helene” or “Madame Andree” but the Nazis occupying France hunted her by the name „The White Mouse” with a five million Franc bounty on her head.  Nancy was originally Australian when working as a journalist in Paris in 1936 until she met the love of her life, her husband Henri Fiocca who had  a sizeable fortune living in Marseille.  Soon Nancy joins the résistance using the cover of a wealthy wife of one of Marseilles prominent citizens  becoming one of their most fearless fighters after the Gestapo incarcerate her seemingly untouchable husband. 

It would be cruel of me to unveil more of Nancy’s breathtaking, extraordinary life and fighting from 1936 until the end of the war captured in this fast paced novel. Several books have been written about the legend Nancy Wake, all approaching her life story from a different angle but the Hollywood handwriting with all its drama building lies at the core of this thriller which makes for perfect summer reading set against a very dark historical background.  It certainly kept me breathless, shocked and in disbelief several times.

Paolo Cognetti:  Without ever reaching the summit: A Himalayan Journey, 9781787302273, small hardback, Pub date: July 2020, Harvill/Secker -  Vintage UK

German Edition: Gehen, ohne je den Gipfel zu besteigen, Penguin Verlag, Paperback , lieferbar

In this challenging time my reading taste drifts very much towards travel narrations, one of the reasons I found myself attracted to Paolo Cognetti’s “Without ever reaching the summit – A Himalayan Journey”.  

He and two of his closest friends set off when Cognetti turned forty travelling to the remote Himalayan region of Dolpo to walk in Peter Matthiessen’s footsteps.

Dolpo is the closest one can come to the ancient Tibetan culture and life before the Chinese annexation of Tibet, sitting between Tibet and Nepal. Peter Matthiessen travelled to Dolpo in the 1970ties in search of the legendary snow leopard resulting in his famous cult classic “The Snow Leopard”, a book I read with fascination when it came out in 1978. Paolo Cognetti carries it with him like a bible referring to it over and over during their adventure.  His excellent 160 page long account of their trek of mules, native guides and friends hiking in unhospitable cold and high altitude of over 5500 meters is a fascinating mixture between literary travel journal, observations of their encounters with people who call Dulpo their home, their ancient religion and harsh yet seemingly happy life, while overcoming his own physical limitations hiking at such high altitude trying to process all the impressions and thoughts surfacing.  

His sensitive descriptions of nature in this unusual part of the Himalaya, their attachment to the dog that befriends and travels with them as well as other wildlife encounters had a great calming effect on me while reading.  A very special little book.

Paolo Cognetti has a few other bestselling books out in German, fiction and non-fiction.  

Donna Leon: Trace Elements, 9781785152443, Heinemann (Penguin Random House UK), C Format Paperback

It is always wonderful to escape to Donna Leon’s Venice without actually leaving the house which felt especially precious right now since we do not know when we can actually physically enjoy our next trip to Italy or Venice again. Unusual times, sigh….

“Trace Elements” starts with Commissario Guido Brunetti and his colleague Claudia Griffoni being called to a hospice as a dying woman wants to tell them about some bad money her deceased husband was involved in. Additionally Vice Questore Patta becomes obsessed with Roma pickpockets in Venice and the damage this might cause to the city’s reputation. These are in general the two plots running through the novel which is definitely more on the quiet, philosophical and reflective side.  It takes a long time and many pages before gears are set in motion by Commissario Brunetti to unravel the crime behind the dying woman’s last words. Justice can be a two sided sword as Brunetti becomes painfully aware  as can be guilt and responsibility in this complicated case.

I was not overly thrilled with this plot unlike her last novel,  “Unto us a son is given”, which I could not put down.  But as usual Donna Leon’s storytelling skills of Venetian and Italian life are impeccable and always a joy to read.

Nicholas Shakespeare: The Sandpit, Vintage (Penguin Random House UK) 9781787301771, C Format Paperback, May 2020
German Edition: “Boomerang”, Hoffmann & Campe, Hardback, Mai 2020

Vintage who publish Nicholas Shakespeare’s “The Sandpit” compare his novel with those of Graham Greene and John Le Carre, there is definitely a likeness. 

In my view  the element of a thriller was not the dominating red string running through the book; it is the captivating narration told in the present of a journalist, John Dyer, who has recently returned from Rio de Janeiro to Oxford where he is leading a quiet life, writing a book about a Brazilian tribe, and getting himself involuntarily mixed up in the disappearance of an Iranian nuclear physicist, Rustum Marvar, the father of one of his son Leonardo’s friends  who is attending his old posh prep school. Dyer seems to be the last person who saw him before he disappeared without a trace.  Suddenly some people, parents he knows from watching his son’s weekly football games, start inviting and questioning him about his friendship with Marvar displaying great interest in his knowledge of what appears to be a groundbreaking breakthrough Rustum is rumored to have made at his lab. Soon Dyer finds himself in a dangerous situation facing an impossible dilemma: how to guard his and his son’s life and how not to betray the trust Marvar had placed in him.

“The Sandpit” is a very clever story without using heart-throbbing thriller effects but keeping you hooked just the same. I particularly liked how neatly Nicholas Shakespeare tied it all up in the end.

Meike Winnemuth: Das große Los -  Wie ich bei Günther Jauch eine halbe Million gewann und einfach los fuhr, Penguin Verlag,  Deutschland, Taschenbuch, 9783328102667,

Ich kann mich noch genau daran erinnern, als die Journalistin Meike Winnemuth ihre 500.000 Euro in  Günther Jauchs Quizsendung gewann und gefragt,  was sie damit mache wolle,  sagte: „ Ein Jahr lang jeweils einen Monat in einer Stadt meiner Wahl leben.“  Ich dachte noch, Wow, was für eine coole Idee und traute es dieser Frau sofort zu. Sie hat es getan.

 Jetzt ist ihr Buch da, in dem sie klug, witzig und sehr kurzweilig über  ihre Zeit in diesen Städten resümiert.  Es sind Sydney, Buenos Aires, Mumbai,  Shanghai, Honolulu, San Francisco, London, Kopenhagen, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, Addis Abeba und Havanna geworden.  Nicht alles läuft glatt, der Tsunami, der die nukleare Katastrophe in Fukushima auslöst, zwingt sie Tokio auszulassen und ihre Route zu ändern.  Mumbai entpuppt sich für sie als eine mittlere Katastophe, in der sie so gar nicht ankommt. In dem sie die Form des Briefeschreibens an eine ihre nahestehende Person für jede Stadt wählt, bekommt die Reisebeschreibung eine sehr persönliche Note. Gut hat mir auch gefallen, dass sie am Ende eines jeden Städtemonats  „10 Dinge, die ich in …..gelernt habe“  anfügt. Ein paar Ideen habe ich von ihr abgekupfert.  Das Buch hört nicht mit dem Ende ihrer Reise auf, sondern sie nimmt uns mit per Frachter zurück nach Hamburg und vor allem in die Zeit danach, wie es ihr mit dem Ankommen in ihrem alten/neuen Leben ergeht . 

Meike Winnemuths Beschreibung eines ungewöhnlichen Reisejahres passte perfekt als Tröster für meine eigenen ausgefallenen Reisen in diese durch Corona geprägte reise freie Zeit.  Ein schönes, inspirierendes Buch, das immer noch nachschwingt.

For English speaking readers a short synopsis:

Meike Winnemuth is a journalist who won 500.000 Euro several years ago in a popular German Quiz show. Asked what she wanted to do with the money she answered: Live in 12 cities for one month each over a year. … which is what she did and captured here time in Sydney, Buenos Aires, Mumbai, Shanghai, Honolulu, San Francisco, London, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Tel Aviv, Addis Abeba and Havana. Her book and account of this unusual travel year and the time thereafter makes for very inspirational, entertaining reading, perfect for an armchair trip in this enforced travel free Corona time. 

The book is available in German only, details see above.

Jedidiah Jenkins: To shake the sleeping self, 9781524761400, Penguin Random House USA, paperback 17, - $

In a time when Corona has turned travelling into a distant dream, I could not have discovered a better memoir than Jedidiah Jenkins “To shake the sleeping self” which I absolutely loved.  Damn, it is finished now and I cannot escape from the current troubling reality to a daily  bike adventure  cycling with him in spirit from Portland, Oregon down to Patagonia and the most southern point of South America, which is exactly what Jedidiah Jenkins embarked on at age 30. Self- declared physically unfit and not a cyclist at all, he had decided at 27 once turning 30 he would leave his settled life behind and head for Patagonia “to shake the self”. 

Being a veteran of numerous but definitely luxurious  biking holidays myself, I had to chuckle several times as he describes how he sets off to buy his bike and graciously allowing an almost stranger, Weston, who is his exact opposite, to become his cycling companion on this monumental  adventure. What follows is not only a narration of a  journey through countries varying greatly in wealth, character, weather conditions, climate and terrain meeting all types of travelers and people but also a brutally honest journal of his inner struggles. Having been raised by a very conservative Christian mother after his famous parents eventually divorced, (they walked across the US for 5 years in the 1970ties covered by National Geographic), Jed discovered early on that his sexual preference was towards the same sex creating tormenting conflicts and even religious retreats to change his sinful feelings. Hoping not only to find beauty on his ride but answers  to reconcile his sexual orientation with his religious believes, he shares very intimate and philosophical thoughts with his reader. 

 “To shake the sleeping self” is terrific: funny, tender, honest and candid with unforgettable descriptions of encounters, landscapes and people he meets. Jed has a big heart and I felt he had become a friend by the end of this book , have now hooked up with his Instagram postings. 5 star recommendation from me.