Tag Archives: novel

Split Second, by Janet Evanovich*****

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Split Second: Thirty-two Switcheroo is the latest installment in the iconic and generally hilarious Stephanie Plum mystery series. For the uninitiated, Stephanie is a bounty hunter. Her cousin Vinnie runs a bail bond business; Stephanie’s job begins when they fail to turn up in court. It’s her job, and that of her close friend and side kick Lula, to hunt them down and bring them in. She works on commission, so to speak, and so she’s motivated, though not always skillful. Here’s a sample of Evanovich’s prose that describes Vinnie:


“The back door to the office crashed open and Vinnie walked in. Vinnie is the human equivalent of a ferret in a sharkskin suit with tight pants and pointy-toes shoes. His hair is black and slicked back. He cheats at cards. He cheats on his wife…He’s a boil on the backside of my family, but his skill as a bail bondsman is unquestionable. His father-in-law, Harry the Hammer, owns the bail bonds agency, and he also owns Vinnie.”

My thanks go to NetGalley and Atria Books for the review copy. This book will be available to the public on Tuesday, November 10.

For as long as the series has existed, Stephanie has been in her current position, and when she gets in over her head, she calls one of the two men in her life for help. Joe Morelli is a cop; Ranger, whose actual name nobody knows, runs a security firm. And for the first 30 books, she has vacillated between one man and the other romantically. Sometimes that’s great fun, but of late, most reviewers have found it to be monotonous. This reader has read all of those books except for #31, which turns out to be a bad one to have missed, as Stephanie has finally chosen between them. This book begins with her married to Joe Morelli, but it isn’t going well. She’s not domestic; the Italian elders in his family have huge expectations that she’s not meeting.

But her work is heating up, and she’s tasked with bringing in a couple of guys that are seriously scary. They’re both worth solid amounts of money if she can carry it off, and she needs money, and so this book is primarily about her pursuit of Ziggy Zucker and Greb Tuti, as well as her extra job moonlighting for Ranger as a bodyguard for the child of a wealthy customer. The kiddo gets kidnapped, and so now she’s scrambling to rescue Mia as well.

This book cheers me in that it retains the series’ humor while also breaking the log jam, at least to an extent. I won’t spoil it for you by being specific, but Stephanie does something more serious than she’s previously done in her work, and it clicks perfectly.  I love this series, and as long as Evanovich writes it, I’ll read it. If you haven’t read the others, you can hop in here without becoming confused, but it will make you want to round up the rest right away! Highly recommended.

Fallen for France, by Elizabeth Lett*****

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Elizabeth Letts is a formidably talented author. Her credits include Finding Dorothy, which is one of my favorites, along with the excellent biography, The Ride of Her Life. Now she’s written a story set in Morocco and France during World War I, Fallen for France, and it does not disappoint.

My thanks go to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

There are three protagonists in this story, and they are connected by a beautiful Arabian horse that each of them cares for in turn, each considering themselves to be its rightful owner and protector. Ultimately it is the horse that draws the three together.

Beddou is a child that is apprenticed at an early age; once he leaves home, his master turns out to be cruel and unprincipled, but along the way, Beddou finds the Arabian mare and it becomes his reason for living. Later, it is stolen by a soldier and becomes a war horse; Beddou continues to search for it.

Estelle is a young woman whose parents have died, and she is left to care for her disabled brother. One day she finds the mare near her home in a distressed condition, and she vows to care for it, too. Eventually, however, the war claims both her brother and the horse, and her story throughout almost all of the book is her quest to find them.

Thomas is an Englishman who serves as a veterinarian during the war. He meets Estelle, and he encounters the horse as well. And so, it is through the horse that these main characters are woven together, finally connecting at the book’s conclusion.

This is not an easy read or a simple one; there are a lot of details and moving parts. Because I was running late, I used multiple formats to read it, using both the digital review copy and the audio version that I checked out at my local library. The narrator does a find job with it, but because it is so complex, I found that I needed to refer to the digital copy often just to see where I was and what the heck was going on. Hardcore audiobook lovers will likely find their way through this excellent tale just fine, but for those like me that are primarily oriented toward the written word, I recommend the digital or bound copy over the audio, unless you choose to combine them, as I did.

Before closing, I would like to commend the author for her choice of setting. Those of us in the United States read an awful lot of books set in some part of our own country, with other English-speaking countries a distant second and the rest of the world seen dimly and infrequently.

For those ready to devote the time and attention to this outstanding novel, it is highly recommended.

The Great Wherever, by Shannon Sanders*****

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The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders is a terrific novel. Aubrey Lamb is a young woman in a painful state. Her long-term (and affluent, and Caucasian) boyfriend, whom she expects to propose marriage, dumps her instead. One last excellent restaurant meal; now get your stuff out of my apartment. At about the same time, her beloved father dies, and since her mother was already gone, Shannon is lonely and rudderless. But she learns she’s inherited a share of a farm in Tennessee, and in seeing it, meeting other relatives there, and deciding what to do with her portion, Shannon learns a tremendous amount about who she is. Sanders’s lucky readers get to go with her, flies on the wall all of us.

My thanks go to NetGalley and Henry Holt for the review copy. I came late to the party, after the book’s publication day, but several of my Goodreads friends raved about this novel, and I had to dive in anyway. This book is for sale now.

A short way into the story, the narrator, who was unremarkable up to this point, starts speaking in the second person. I am intrigued! I knew there would be some references to the afterlife, but the way this is executed is unlike any other book I’ve read. As the narrative unspools, we are treated to parallel tales about Shannon’s ancestors and the way their experiences have shaped her grandparents, her father, and ultimately, Shannon herself. She goes to the farm in question hoping that she can sell her share and make some money fast; she certainly needs it. But she comes away richer in other ways.

I’m being deliberately vague, because the less the reader knows in advance, the more wonderful the surprises will be as they are revealed. In fact, I would advise those that haven’t already done so to avoid the promotional synopsis and go into it blind.

I will say this, however: although The Great Wherever does have an intricate—but never confusing—plot that is well planned and executed, it is ultimately the characters that make this story pop.

I heartily recommend this book to those that love excellent historical fiction; African-American stories; or expertly crafted fiction that goes deep into character.

Those Who are Gone, by Laurie R. King***-****

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Those Who Are Gone is the second installment in the Raquel Liang mystery series by Laurie R. King. I read and enjoyed the first in the series, and then found this one when I was in need of an audio book. I came away feeling a bit conflicted about it.

My thanks go to NetGalley and RB Media for the review copy. This book is available to the public now.

The story opens with Raquel’s sister, Dee, in a tailspin. The women’s parents are dead, and the two sisters live together and are close. Growing up, they believed that Raquel was adopted, but Dee was the biological child of their parents. Now Dee has used an ancestry kit and discovered that she was also adopted. She’s not taking it well.

So, the mystery…? The crime…? The….you see my concern.

In many, many reviews, I have defended authors of long-running mystery series that delve deeper into character development as their series progress. There are readers out there that expect every mystery to focus exclusively on catching a serial killer or whatever sort of baddie is the culprit, yet once a series is well underway, the only way to keep it fresh—there being only so many ways and reasons to kill someone—is to make it feel more personal to the protagonist.

In this case, however, we’re only on the second book of the series, and not only are we spending time—a lot of it—on character development, but this is how the book opens, and it takes its time to get moving.

Once the thing is well underway, it does become compelling, and the last ten percent or so has me on the edge of my chair. So please don’t think I’m calling this a boring read; but if I weren’t already a fan of this author’s, and if I didn’t owe a review, I might not have stuck around long enough to find this out.

Here is the tricky part. I became a huge fan of King’s mysteries back in the 1990s, when she published the Kate Martinelli series. Merely mentioning that series, all these years later, makes my heart pound. The adrenaline rush of that series is unmistakable; in fact, now that I am older, I might even find it stressful, it’s so dynamic. And so I ask myself if it is fair to compare these books to the ones she’s writing now. Would I be so critical if I had read nothing else by this author? Is a good book still a good book when it’s not as good as what came before it? If this was a debut novel, surely I would be kinder and more encouraging. Instead, I find myself grumbling about the slow build-up.

This audio book has two narrators. The first is Vivienne Leheney, who reads most of the book and voices Raquel’s internal monologue, and she does a fine job. The second is Luis Moreno, the bad guy; his reading is smooth, but almost stereotypically sinister.

Would I recommend this book to those that enjoy the genre? Sure I would, but I would recommend the Martinelli series more, if you can find it.

Cleopatra, by Saara El-Arifi****

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What do most of us know about Cleopatra? I had heard, and taken with a grain of salt, the stereotypes: she was the head of her government; she was attractive; she had a lot of sex; she died with a snake. Boom. That’s it. And so when I saw this novel, I jumped at the chance to learn about her. My thanks go to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

The narrative is told in the first person; because I had fallen behind, I checked out the audio version to accompany my digital copy. I usually address the narrator at the end of my reviews, but Adjoa Andoh is not just any narrator. Without her commanding presence and interpretation, I don’t think I’d have enjoyed it as much as I did.

I appreciate this story largely because of the nuances El-Arifi employs. She takes the stereotype, tosses it out the window, and instead presents a strong ruler, one that loves deeply but also makes her decisions primarily in the interest of the people of Egypt, and also, of course, in her own self-interest. Her flaws appear to be trusting those she loves too deeply, particularly in regard to her siblings, who betray her almost immediately upon her assumption of the throne.

What I do not know is how accurate this story is. Excellent historical fiction is history with quotations and an inner narrative added. There are no endnotes provided with this novel, nor a bibliography, but that is usually true of historical fiction. And while history is my field, Egyptian history is not; it is, however, the author’s, and she holds a Master’s degree in African studies. Thus, I am inclined to believe her.

I recommend this book to those that are interested in historical fiction, feminism, and of course, Cleopatra.

Tough Luck, by Sandra Dallas****

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Tough Luck, a novel by Sandra Dallas, is the story of two almost-orphans, Haidie and her younger brother, Boots, that set out on a journey from Oklahoma to Colorado in search of their father. He’d left to find work some four years prior, planning to either send for them, along with their mother and older brother, Cheet; but Ma has died, and Cheet—the scoundrel—sells the farm, dumps his siblings in an orphanage, and takes off with the money. After escaping the orphanage, which is grim and abusive, Haidie is determined that she and her younger brother will make their way to Colorado and find their father.

My thanks go to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the invitation to read and review. I’m over a full year late in doing so, a fact I’m not proud of, but despite my lateness, I have enjoyed this read, and I believe others that enjoy quality historical fiction will enjoy it as well.

Any author that writes historical fiction in the first person with a child as the protagonist has their work cut out for them. The ones that earn my scorn are those that make their main character so precocious that they speak as if they were an adult. This is, of course, complete nonsense, since brilliant children are still children; I am delighted to say that Dallas doesn’t use this cheap, ineffective device. Haidie is a bright child and most of her decisions are good ones, but she’s no Einstein, and she doesn’t talk like one. Having brother Boots along is important because it provides an opportunity for dialogue.

I do love American history, and so I am also waiting for Dallas to play fast and loose with historical fact. Instead, she is dead accurate, and despite the tall job she’s given herself, sending a couple of children across the plains and into the Rockies without an adult escort in the time before there were highways or readily available maps to follow, she nevertheless makes the story credible. I believe Haidie completely, and I believe the various villains and thieves, as well as the more decent people that she runs across during her journey. The settings are well rendered, too.

Because I fell behind in my reading, I checked out the audio book at my local library. Narrator Mia Hutchinson-Shaw does a fine job in bringing these characters to life.

This is an entertaining read, despite the sorrow and deprivation with which it begins, and I recommend it to those that love the genre.

Sunrise, by Tea Obreht*****

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Sunrise is just the sort of bizarre yet brilliant novel I’ve come to expect from author Tea Obreht. My thanks go to NetGalley and Random House for the invitation to read and review. This book is for sale now.

Our protagonist is Nina, a nanny on vacation with her boyfriend, Ben. Ben was the pilot of the plane flying over the Northern Rockies; Nina bailed, and Ben is nowhere in evidence. She’s landed in a river, and is remarkably free of major injuries, but she’s cold, scared, and alone. There’s no search and rescue within hearing or sight, so she knows it’s up to her to reach help.

Friends, it’s gonna take a long time.

The book is divided into 5 sections. The first is described above; the next three feature earlier residents of Sunrise, the ghost town Nina eventually reaches; and the last circles back to Nina. The sections are tied together at the end, but not in the way any other author would do it.

The first section feels tedious at times, limited as it is to Nina’s internal monologue. She walks, she rests, and she spends a good deal of time deciding whether she’s hungry enough to allow herself one of the handful of protein bars she possesses. How many days is this going to take? She has no idea. As Nina trudges, she ruminates, and in doing so, we gain more knowledge of her past and her relationship with Ben. Had this been any other author, I might have abandoned the whole thing; reader, I am very glad that I persevered, because the last ten percent of this book makes it completely worth it!

This is the third of this author’s books that I’ve read. The first was Inland, which remains one of my favorite galleys to date. The second, The Morningside, is not as powerful as the other two, including this one, but it’s still well worth reading. Sunrise, however, is the first one that’s made me stand up and cheer.

Those that have the patience for unconventional plots, and that appreciate a protagonist that’s full of surprises and badass feminist moxie, will have a hard time finding a more satisfying novel. Highly recommended!

The Secret Dinner, by Raphael Montes****

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Translated from Portuguese by Zoe Perry

The Secret Dinner, by Brazilian author Raphael Montes, has become an international sensation, and once a friend mentioned it, I had to read it. My thanks go to NetGalley and Celadon Books for the review copy; this book is for sale now.

Our story begins with four main characters. Dante, a student, is the protagonist; it is he that provides the first-person narrative. Then there are his three roommates, all close friends since childhood. Hugo is a chef; Miguel is a hospital intern; and Piglet is a mess, an agoraphobic computer whiz who mostly stays in his room, eating junk food as he invents programs and plays video games. Dante’s family has provided the seed money to get them all into this lovely apartment in the city, but now they all have rent to pay. It’s not easy, but they do it…until they are threatened with eviction for nonpayment. Wait, what? Yes. The roomie in charge of paying the rent has been squandering everyone’s money on a sex worker!

Now they’re in trouble.

Finally, they hatch a plan: they will serve incredible gourmet meals to a select group of extremely wealthy clients. Exclusivity will be the main draw. They use the name “Seagull Meat,” but that’s just a witticism. Seagulls are not what they are serving! They plan to do it only a couple of times, till they raise the rent and the back rent, but they meet with such success, and oh, so much money, that they continue, even once they no longer have to.

I read an eclectic combination of genres, and every now and then, I read a horror novel or an unusually visceral murder mystery. I don’t have the stomach for a lot of it, but I like the occasional dabble.

This story, my friends, is no dabble!

I don’t want to go into a lot of detail here, because the whole thing is better when the element of surprise is honored. However, the gruesome details, which start out humorous, increase and at about the 65% mark, I found I couldn’t take it, so I skipped to the 85% mark, then skimmed until I reached the 90% mark, where I commenced reading the rest. I initially recorded this book as “did not finish,” but I changed it to “read,” since I did in fact read the beginning, end, and most of what is in between. And the ending. The ending!! The ending. The ending is epic, and once again, it’s funny as hell.

Recommended for readers that aren’t squeamish; don’t read the promotional blurb till you’ve read the book.  

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8702257026

Country People, by Daniel Mason*****

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Author Daniel Mason is on a roll. He’s won nearly every possible literary award and accolade; my first encounter with his writing was with his last book, North Woods, which is complex, brilliantly crafted, and droll. But I may have had even more fun reading his latest novel, Country People, which is less intricate, easier to read, and even funnier than the last.

My thanks go to NetGalley and Random House for the review copy. This book is for sale now.

The story opens with several well-chosen quotes, and the main narrative begins like a fairy tale. We have the wife, the husband, a son and a daughter. We also have the dog; we are told its name, Giuseppe, before we see anyone else’s. And although the wife is mentioned first—perhaps because she is the breadwinner—the protagonist here is actually Miles, the husband.

Miles is in a rut. He’s been working on his dissertation for fourteen years, although “working” is a euphemism for uh, not. He is easily distracted; he has no real idea what he wants to write about. And because he is the house husband, it is his job to look after the children, who are distractions unto themselves. So, while everyone is told that Miles is working on it, Miles isn’t. He is frustrated by his own lack of progress, and feels more and more dwarfed by his wife, a full professor with many admirers. And because of her admirable achievements, they are currently in the car, leaving California headed to Vermont, where she has been offered a one year visiting professorship.

And so our story is of the family’s experiences in Vermont, and their introduction to New England weather and smalltown life. In the hands of a less capable author, this might be a blah story, but luckily for us, it’s Mason’s story, and it’s massively entertaining!

They learn to ski, sort of. And while Kate is caught up in her professional obligations, Miles meets the more eccentric townsfolk and is invited to join their secret organization. As things progress, Miles has the occasional second thought about his new friends:

“It was all very mysterious, and to be honest, even a little sinister. One didn’t have to be getting a Ph.D. in literature to recognize the outlines of the story: the innocent city person, on what sems to be an innocuous foray among simple country people, happens upon a dark conspiracy, with predictably horrific consequences. We’ve read the book, we’ve seen the movie. If the hero escapes, it is only after some gory climax, stumbling out into the night to stare, blood-bespattered, into the high beams of the state police. Not for me! thought Miles.”

That’s a small sample. You’ll have to get the book to experience the rest. As for me, I had a fine time reading it, and was wistful when it ended. Highly recommended.

You’ll Love it Here, by Natalie Sue****

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You’ll Love it Here is a wry, strangely intimate novel by Canadian author Natalie Sue. My thanks go to NetGalley and William Morrow for the review copy. This book will be available to the public August 11, 2026.

Mona is a workaholic. She has no private life; she has no time for one. She’s putting in an intolerable number of hours every week to build herself a strong position in the firm that employs her; she also needs the money. She’s earning money for herself, but also to pay off her mother’s debts. Is it any wonder, then, that her only friends are her work buddies?

Meanwhile, she’s living in an older building gone slightly to seed, and she dislikes it so much that she refuses to add any personal touches. No pictures on the wall; no cute curtains. After all, her main goal is to get out of here and into somewhere more impressive. And maybe that’s why she has never bothered to learn her neighbors’ names. Instead, she identifies them by their habits, and by her own impressions of them. So while she knows no one’s name except that of the owner, she does know them as Fighting Couple, Old White Perve, Weird Girl Beside Me, etc.

Then one day, the unthinkable happens. Mona snaps during a meeting with her most important client. She thinks something unforgivably snarky, then realizes she’s said it out loud. There’s no walking it back, either. Her boss kindly suggests she take six weeks of bereavement leave, as her father has recently died. She’d prefer not to, but it’s not actually a suggestion, it’s an order. And so Mona is spinning her wheels a little, crazed from the lack of work and routine, when she is offered a chance to do some work for the landlord in return for a better apartment in a better building. Sweet! Say no more; Mona is in.

I’m not telling you where it goes from there, only that it’s captivating. Sometimes I find myself reading a galley from duty, but this book is sheer pleasure. In fact, had it not been for a technical distraction (editor? Hello?) I would have rated this book five stars.

If you need a light but absorbing feel good book, then look no further. This is a great story to take on vacation, or even just bury yourself in over the course of a weekend. You’ll come out happier at the end.