Monthly Archives: November 2025

12 Ways to Kill Your Family at Christmas, by Natasha Bache****

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“All is not calm, all is not bright.”

Natasha Bache has written a rip-roaring killer of a mystery, and you should read it if you know what’s good for you. My thanks go to NetGalley and HarperCollins for the review copy. This book is available to the public now.

Miles and Olivia are moving to Australia soon with their two children. The move will take them far, far away from his horrible family, so this will be the last blessed Christmas they’ll be forced to spend with them. If they survive this trip, they’ll be home free.

Of course, soon after they arrive, people start dying, no two of them in the same way. The first death looks like an accident, and that’s what the cops call it. The second seems like it could be a fluke, too; given the family’s wealth and social standing in the area, nobody in authority is eager to drag them through the muck, so…okay. But then the third death occurs and well, come on now. And the bodies keep dropping, one here, one there.

This book is hysterically funny, and it moves at a rapid clip, so I neglected the other excellent books I was reading while I finished it. What makes it work, apart from Bache’s gift for word smithery in all the right places, is the unlovableness of the victims—all but one, anyway—and the fact that none of the deceased is developed enough to feel very real. Usually I want a lot of character development and a realistic degree of nuance, but in this case, I like it exactly as it is written. There are some tropes here that I ordinarily wouldn’t want to see; for example, of course they all get snowed in! Of course they do! But in this case, the author’s tongue is so firmly planted inside her cheek that I snicker and nod when I encounter such devices.

The one thing that I considered a tiny bit disappointing was that I knew who the killer was before the halfway point; or I *thought* I did! Turns out I was absolutely, wildly, and completely wrong, and what’s more, the actual solution made more sense than the one I had dreamed up.

This is the perfect December read. If you don’t celebrate Christmas and are sick, sick, sick of it, this is your book. If you do celebrate it and occasionally dread certain family members at the celebration, this is your book. If you love the holiday and need a reminder that other peoples’ families are so much worse than your own, then here you go.

“Merry Christmas, you filthy animals.”

My Documents, by Kevin Nguyen***-****

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3.5 stars, rounded upwards.

My Documents is the sophomore novel of author Kevin Nguyen. This story reimagines the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II, asking instead, what if it was happening now, and what if those imprisoned were of Vietnamese descent?

My thanks go to Random House and NetGalley for the invitation to read and review. This book is available to the public now.

Our protagonists are four young people, all of whom are cousins with the same last name as the author. Ursula is an ambitious journalist living in Manhattan; Jen attends New York University, partly because she hopes to connect more often with Ursula. Alvin is an engineering intern at Google; Duncan is still in high school. When the internment comes, Ursula and Alvin are spared, but Jen and Duncan are forced into a concentration camp.

This book is imaginative, and I liked the characters. We see how the internment affects those that are imprisoned, but also how their internment affects Ursula and Alvin on the outside; ultimately, of course, the family’s dynamics are altered forever.

The humor that is highlighted in the synopsis failed to materialize for me. There was the odd chuckle or two, but no more than I would expect to find in any novel.  This is pretty common. However, I found myself feeling a bit cheated at the end, because there was so much more that could have been done here. I felt as if a real statement could have been made, but the opportunity was squandered.

Nevertheless, I see Nguyen as a promising author, and one whose work I will continue to follow.

The Note, by Alafair Burke**

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The Note by Alafair Burke is a thriller that sends three lifelong female friends on a gal pal vacation together; they have skeletons in their closets, scandals from their pasts, and that’s part of the bond. But try though I might, I couldn’t bond with any of them or care about their dilemmas.

My thanks go to NetGalley and Knopf Publishers for the review copy. This book is available now.

The internal narrative was so flaccid that I kept having to go back to reread parts of it, because I realized that I’d zoned out while reading and had no idea what had just happened. Once I had the plot straight, I struggled to recall the names of all three women. (Kelsey, May, and…?)  These characters struck me, when they struck me at all, as vapid and self-absorbed. The dialogue seemed banal.

When I saw in the promotional blurb that these three women would be vacationing together in The Hamptons, it gave me pause. I don’t like reading about rich people, and with a rare exception now and then, I don’t like rich people, period. But there have been a number of times that a terrific novelist has made me forget all about my no-no list, so I crossed my fingers. I’d read one other of Burke’s novels and it was pretty good, so I thought I’d give this one a go; it was a mistake.

I’m trying to think of a saving grace, some positive aspect that I can insert here in order to keep this review from being brutal, but honesty, I come up dry. I cannot recommend this book to you.  

My Name is Emilia del Valle, by Isabel Allende****

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“Aren’t you afraid, Angelita?’ I asked her. ‘All the time, but I don’t think about it. I want to die with my boots on my feet,’ she answered…

“I did not know who I truly was until circumstances put me to the test.”

My Name is Emilia del Valle is the newest novel published by feminist icon and author Isabel Allende. The story is a fictionalized account of a journalist that travels from California to Chile, where war has broken out. Because she is a woman, her editor resists sending her, and then, under pressure, agrees that she may go, but only to cover human interest stories in the city. Those that have read any book ever by Allende will know instantly that this is not what our journalist does.

My thanks go to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the invitation to read and review. This book is available for sale now.

Like all of Allende’s protagonists, Emilia is a woman that refuses to be constrained by the expectations of the time regarding gender. She is possessed of feverish curiosity, and once she finds herself in the thick of the conflict, she has no interest whatsoever in finding and maintaining a safe, distant place from which to report. She assists the “canteen girls,” who provide water to fallen soldiers, along with minor first aid. Emilia learns first hand about the horrors of war, and she is forever changed by it.

This conflict is one that isn’t widely reported, and Allende writes about it so that it may not be forgotten. Ten thousand died here, mostly men from poor families, killed for no good reason. Emilia’s experiences highlight the disparity in treatment according to social class and wealth, as well as gender.

The writing is first rate as always. However, in most of her earlier novels, the author found a way to intersperse shocking or horrific passages with some that were uplifting, and often very funny. I would bark with sudden laughter at some witticism that I had not seen coming. I wish she had done that here. When there’s too much horror and bloodshed, it is tempting, natural even, for readers to tune out, let the words wash over us. And while there is romance here that provides some relief, I would have liked more.

Nevertheless, those that love historical fiction, social justice, feminism, and especially those that love Allende’s writing will want to read this book.

The True Happiness Company, by Veena Dinavahi****-*****

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4.5 stars, rounded upwards. Veena Dinavahi’s experience as a member of a cult called The True Happiness Company is so outrageous that if it were written about as fiction, it would be universally panned as ridiculous and unbelievable. But it isn’t fiction; it’s what happened to her. My thanks go to Random House and NetGalley for the invitation to read and review. This book is available to the public now.

Veena’s parents are immigrants from India who gave everything that they had in order to provide their children with the best opportunities possible. Between their sacrifices and Veena’s high I.Q., she was admitted to a coveted, highly competitive school that also had a horrifyingly high rate of suicides and suicide attempts due to the intense pressure under which its students labored. When Veena became suicidal, her parents turned to professionals for guidance, but one of the so-called professionals they consulted, the most persuasive and charismatic of them all, was a charlatan. With their life savings neatly stashed in his own bank account, this man, who claimed to be a psychologist but was not, diagnosed Veena as having a borderline personality; once she accepted the diagnosis, “Bob” used it to undermine her instincts of self-protection and what seemed to her to be common sense. She couldn’t be trusted to decide anything for herself, because she was crazy. And thus was this young woman brought under the spell of an insidious conman and sexual predator, one who also used her parents’ unfamiliarity with American culture to gain their acceptance of the things to which their daughter was subjected.

Before she knew it, Veena was married to a young man she didn’t know very well, but who was also susceptible to the charms of this snake oil salesman. She married him because the doctor said to; once this was done, Bob became the third element in their marriage. Both of them spoke to him in person or by phone daily, or even multiple times a day. He resolved every dispute, and he forbade them to resolve anything without involving him first. It is a miracle that Veena was able to find the support and resolve she needed in order to extricate herself and her children from the dungeon of despair he created.

I am quite late with this review; the book came out in May, but it is a harsh read, and I took my time with it. Were it fiction, Veena could have inserted moments of levity or joy to relieve the horror, but it isn’t, and there were none. I would have liked for her to break up some of the roughest bits by flashing forward to bits of her life as it is now, but then, it’s not my story to tell. I’m just glad she and her children are safe, and that she can rebuild her life.

Those that enjoy true crime will be interested in this memoir. Highly recommended to those that have interest in cult stories, and that will willingly endure a rough read.