Ashland

 

Ashland by Dan Simon
2/17/26; 208 pages
Europa Editions 

Ashland by Dan Simon is a highly recommended literary family drama following the intimate, accepting bonds built between mothers, sisters, and cousins, as well as the story of the small town of Ashland, New Hampshire.

Carolyn, born to an unwed teenager, grows up along side her mother Ellie, her aunt Jennie, who also had children as a teenager, and her cousins in the small declining town of Asland. The inclusive family love and support each other always and through everything over the years. Carolyn, who loves writing, audits writing classes at the local university taught by writing instructor, Geoff. Also told is the story of other characters, including Edith and Gordon, a couple who meet in a 1920s tuberculosis sanatorium. All the stories together tell not only her family's history but also the history of Ashland.

This beautifully written, poetic literary novel tells the desperate story of quiet lives, or perhaps demonstrates Thoreau's "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Carolyn herself finds contentment and peace in the present even while others wistfully recall the past and she writes about her experiences and the people she knows. The novel develops both the individual characters and the setting/place of Ashland.

The narrative unfolds in chapters through several first-person narrators who tell their own stories through their own thoughts. It also jumps around switching narrators and time periods throughout. This can feel a little disconcerting as if it holds the reader at arms length keeping a distance between them and the characters. It does cover a wide variety of experiences they endure over times. The ending ties all the stories together beautifully.

Ashland will be best appreciated by those who enjoy literary fiction told through multiple narrators. Thanks to Europa Editions for providing me with an advance reader's copy. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.   

Adrift

 

Adrift by Will Dean
2/17/26; 352 pages
Atria/Emily Bestler Books 

Adrift by Will Dean is an excellent, disturbing, and gripping domestic psychological thriller following a highly dysfunctional family. It is very highly recommended. My broken heart was in my throat and tears were in my eyes throughout most of this gripping tale of abuse and gaslighting. Adrift is most certainly going to be on my list of the very best books of 2026.

Drew and Peggy Jenkins, both aspiring writers, and their fourteen-year-old son Samson (Sammy), live an isolated existence on a deteriorating longboat in a canal near Cairo, Illinois. Drew forced them to sell Peggy's mother's bungalow after her death to buy the boat. Now Drew has complete control over Peggy and Sammy, including where the boat will dock for the night, and he uses this power to isolate, belittle, gaslight, sabotage, manipulate, threaten, and inflict psychological abuse on them. Drew has complete control over them, including what/if they eat. He requires their total silence when he sits down to write each night.

Peggy volunteers at the local library, because Drew won't allow her to earn her own money, but this also allows her the opportunity to work on writing her own book which will hopefully open up a way for her and Sammy to escape. Sammy is a scholarship student at a private school where he is relentlessly bullied and tormented daily for his physique and poverty. Every night the two don't know where the boat will be docked as Drew continually moves it. When Peggy finishes her book and it is accepted by a publisher, it sets off a rage in Drew followed by a disastrous series of events.

All of these characters are so well-written, so fully-realized as complicated individuals, that they come to life on the pages. While reading you will feel like you know them, which becomes increasingly heart-breaking as the plot unfolds. You will want Peggy and Sammy to escape and make it out alive, even while it seems impossible because Drew controls everything. Drew is a completely malevolent character. Anyone who has ever known someone who is an expert at gaslighting or desires complete control of others will have a deep empathetic understanding for Peggy and Sammy.

The writing is exceptional, eloquent, and vividly captures the gaslighting, abuse, and isolation Peggy and Sammy experience from Drew as he exerts complete control and subjects them to one cruel action or word after another. As Drew emotionally terrorizes his family while isolating them, the tension keeps rising throughout the novel and it became impossible to set it aside as the trepidation of what might happen next kept me glued to the pages, hoping they would find a way out. You will know what Drew is capable of and understand why Peggy doesn't just take Sammy and run for help.

Adrift is an outstanding, well-written domestic thriller which I very highly recommend. Thanks to Atria Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Our Beautiful Mess

 

Our Beautiful Mess by Adele Parks
2/10/26; 448 pages
Park Row Books/Harlequin

Our Beautiful Mess by Adele Parks is a so-so, tedious family drama which is indeed both a mess and a miss. This one has soap opera vibes and not in a good way. Adele Parks has written much better novels.

Connie is thrilled to have all of her daughters home for Christmas. Her oldest, Fran arrives with her boyfriend Zak and surprises everyone with her obvious pregnancy. Connie is unsettled by Zak because he resembles a man she had an affair with years ago. Let the secrets be exposed and the slow moving family drama ensue.

I may be an outlier, but I found all the the characters supremely off-putting and annoying right at the start. Adding to that frustration is the very lethargic pace. Sure, drama was going on but it was stretchered out forever with internal monologues and predictable twists. Soon the drama requires you to set disbelief aside multiple times and the novel was no longer compelling or even enjoyable. Once it felt like a chore to continue reading I lost almost all my engagement with it. It does pick up toward the end but by then it was too late to redeem.

Our Beautiful Mess will likely best be enjoyed by those who enjoy romance mysteries mixed with a family drama and die-hard fans of Adele Park. Thanks to Park Row Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.   

The Replacement

 

The Replacement by Matt Brolly
2/10/26; 299 pages
Thomas & Mercer
DS Liam Kilshaw #2

The Replacement by Matt Brolly is a highly recommended procedural and the second book in the Detective Sergeant Liam Kilshaw series following The Lines. It can be enjoyed as a standalone novel. Kilshaw, a former Marine, is a intuitive investigator who also suffers from PTSD and has alopecia.

When a body in a hessian bag (burlap for US readers) washes up on Sennen Beach in Cornwall, DS Kilshaw is called out to investigate. The face of the man in the bag is so mutilated identification is almost impossible. Kilshaw takes note when a local man brings up the legend of Bucca Dhu, a sea monster who demands human sacrifice, but clearly this is the result of human depravity. When a second man's body is found on the shore also in a burlap bag with the face beaten beyond recognition, it is clear that a serial killer is at work. Kilshaw must use all his skills to find the perpetrator before another body is found.

The opening prologue will immediately attention grabbing and also provides the reader a brief glimpse into what may be related to what is currently happening. Set during the winter in Cornwall, the atmosphere in the novel is literally chilling in words and deeds. The narrative unfolds through the point-of-view of Kilshaw and another person, who's viewpoint will keep your attention focused even when the investigation slows the pace down in the middle of the plot. The anticipation over what may happen next is ever present in this even-paced procedural and there are several twists along the way. The ending is, as expected, action packed.

Kilshaw's character development continues in this second novel as he works on his interpersonal relationships, a skill with which he struggles. He is portrayed as a realistic, complicated individual with strengths and weaknesses. He has a good relationship with his boss, Maya, his ex-wife and tries to makes sure to see his son George. Additionally, thank you Matt for making sure the dog was okay, which may be a spoiler for some but other readers will want to know this.

The Replacement is a great choice for those who enjoy British procedurals and investigations set by the sea. Matt Brolly is always a dependable author who writes compelling stories. Thanks to Thomas & Mercer for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.   

The Final Problem

The Final Problem by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
2/10/26; 320 pages
Little, Brown and Company/Mulholland Books
Frances Riddle, Translator  

 The Final Problem by Arturo Pérez-Reverte is a recommended locked-room murder mystery, highly for fans of Sherlock Holmes novels and movies. My review copy was translated from the original Spanish by Frances Riddle.

In 1960, Ormond Basil, a well-known actor famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes in seventeen movies, is stranded due to weather along with other travelers at the only hotel on the Greek island of Utakos.  When Edith Mander, a British tourist, is found dead in a beach cabana, it looks like suicide but there are indications of foul play. 

With the island cut off from the police, the other guests turned to Basil, based on his powers of deduction on the big screen, to actually be the investigator and look into the details of the murder.  A Spanish mystery writer named Francisco Foxá, whom Basil met earlier, acts as his Dr. Watson for the investigation. What the two soon realize is that the killer is playing a deadly literary game and basing each crime on a story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. 

My initial impression was very favorable and I found it a fun locked-room mystery which was overtly a tribute to a certain period of time, the golden age of film, and Sherlock Holmes movies. After about half-way through I'll readily admit the name-dropping, the constant personal ruminating of Basil, and the plethora of quotes from and references to Sherlock Holmes' novels began to wear me down. The narrative felt like an over-the-top homage to things of the past and various troupes rather than an intriguing and compelling murder mystery. Additionally, all the characters were caricatures of a type of person.

The Final Problem is going to be best appreciated by those who revere all things Sherlock Holmes along with the golden age of cinema. Thanks to Mulholland Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Ours Is a Tale of Murder

 

Ours Is a Tale of Murder by Nora Murphy
2/10/26; 384 pages
Sourcebooks Landmark

Ours Is a Tale of Murder by Nora Murphy is a highly recommended domestic psychological suspense novel following three different families.

Klara Martin and Troy Weston are both lawyers who have a whirlwind romance and quickly marry. Troy surprises Klara with a house in Hawthorne Heights where the two settle in after their honeymoon and Klara leaves her job. Their relationship becomes increasingly unsettling. 

In the same neighborhood Mary, a retired teacher, is clearing out her home to sell. She reminiscences about her beloved son Owen and her many regrets over her late husband Ed.   

Henry is a grown man living in the basement of his parents home after losing his job months earlier. He keeps watch on the neighborhood, especially watching Klara, Troy, and Mary. Henry has a long history of stalking women.

These three stories unfold, followed by a big twist in part two of the well-written novel which happens relatively late in the narrative, where the perspective of everything shifts. There is no doubt that the slow-burning novel does hold your attention from the start but following the three different stories/characters and their points-of-view is really telling three divergent stories until late in the novel where the big twist happens about 2/3rd the way through. At this point the narrative changes and events coalesce into the tale of murder. 

The novel is character driven, but none of the characters are particularly likeable. Their reliability is questionable, they all are flawed, dysfunctional, and secrets abound, which is all an essential part of the plot. The tone of the whole atmospheric novel is heavy, unsettling, and gloomy. Additionally, you will have to suspend some disbelief along the way. This may be a totally personal feeling, but in my opinion misandry pervades this plot and this left me with a dubious opinion early on while reading. In the end the opening warning and title of the book. "Ours is a tale of murder" comes to fruition. 

Ours Is a Tale of Murder is a good choice for those who enjoy slowly building psychological suspense novels. Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Patient

 

The Patient by Tim Sullivan
2/3/26; 416 pages
Grove/Atlantic
DS George Cross Mystery #3

The Patient by Tim Sullivan is a very highly recommended procedural/mystery and the third novel in the series featuring Detective Sergeant George Cross with the Bristol Crime Unit which can also be enjoyed as a stand alone novel. This was originally published in Great Britain in 2022. Cross, who is on the autism spectrum, can be awkward, unemotional, and blunt, but he is also extremely perceptive, logical, tenacious, and intelligent.

After a discussion with Sandra Wilson outside the Bristol Crime Unit, DS Cross agrees to look into the death of her daughter Felicity (Flick). Her death had been ruled an accidental drug overdose, but Sandra is sure Flick was murdered. Flick had been clean for over two years and had a young daughter. After questioning police staffer Alice Mackenzie and pathologist Clare Hawkins, Cross is convinced that something else happened and decides to reopen the case. His partner DS Josie Ottey assists him in the investigation. There are several suspects, including her ex-boyfriend, Simon Aston, and Danny Stokes, the boss at the dry cleaner’s where she previously worked.

At the same time, Cross's father Raymond, who broke a hip, is about to be released from the hospital which poses a huge problem. He does not want to live with his son, for several reasons, but Raymond is a hoarder and his home must be cleaned out for his own safety. Cross comes up with a great solution and makes a contact at the same time.

This is a very well-written procedural which sets itself apart with the uniqueness of the main character and the twisty, complicated, intuitive, and analytical investigation into Flick's death. Cross, as well as Mackenzie and Ottey, is portrayed as a fully realized individual with strengths and weaknesses. The strong characterization, along with the complicated, well reasoned plot, helps propel the action forward and also serves to set this series apart from others with it's unique main character. 

The intelligent investigation which proceeds through logically and instinctively following the clues and putting the puzzle together made  The Patient an enjoyable procedural that is a pleasure to read. The final denouement held several surprises. Thanks to Grove/Atlantic for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.