Wilders

Wilders by Brenda Cooper
Pyr Books: 6/13/17
eBook review copy; 367 pages
ISBN-13: 9781633882652

Wilders by Brenda Cooper is a highly recommended coming-of-age dystopian science fiction novel.

In the near future cities have expanded to megacities that take care of most of the populations every need. The land outside the cities is set aside for wilding, or returning it to a natural state, sans humans with the exception of those hired in the capacity to assist returning nature to a natural balance. Coryn Williams and her sister Lou grew up in Seacouver, a merging of Seattle and Vancouver.  After their parents' suicides, Lou was hired to join a rewilding crew and left the city. She left Coryn behind at an orphanage, occasional sending her bland emails about the beauty she sees in the wild. Once Coryn becomes of age, she chooses to leave the city with Paula, her companion robot, to look for her sister.

Outside the city's dome, the world is much different and more treacherous than Lou let on. Coryn is in almost constant peril of being harmed, robbed, and having Paula stolen from her. Even the weather, uncontrolled outside the city dome, is dangerous and unpredictable. While it seems that most people outside can't be trusted, Coryn manages to press on, meets a few people who may be friends, and she eventually does find Lou; but everything Lou wrote about outside to Coryn doesn't seem to reflect the reality of the life Lou is living. There is also some risky plan and private agenda between Lou and some people Coryn knows are evil. The only problem is that no one, not even Lou, trusts her enough to tell her what is going on.

This is the first book in a future series. Admittedly, I enjoyed Wilders considerably, although it felt like it was a whole lot longer than 367 pages while I was reading it. Part of the issue is that even though the plot has interesting little scenes or hooks in it to propel you forward with bursts of speed, the action is rather slow moving. Once you keep reading, not all the interesting bits are fully explained and the world building is a little lacking.

You need to set aside certain expectations and roll with the narrative in this case. The story flows smoothly, and we reach a conclusion of sorts, but obviously more books in the series will mean more information about the city, etc. Coryn is an interesting character and there are several other interesting characters along the way. Now, we don't get to know too much about any of them, except Coryn, but I'd imagine future books will flesh out people more completely. Wilders reads like a YA title and would be highly suitable for that audience.  This is a nice start to a new series.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Pyr Books.

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan

Scribner: 6/13/17
eBook review copy; 336 pages
ISBN-13: 9781501116841

Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore by Matthew Sullivan is a very highly recommended, clever, appealing mystery with a likeable protagonist.

Lydia Smith, thirty, is a clerk at the Bright Ideas bookstore. When Joey Molina, one of her so-called "BookFrogs" (regulars who spend most of the day in the store), commits suicide on the third floor of the store just before closing time, she is devastated. She is also surprised to discover that twenty-year-old Joey has a picture from her tenth birthday party in his pocket. Joey also, inexplicably, left her name as the one to contact to inherit his meager worldly possessions. Lydia collects the books he seemed to have left for her, but the books are oddly defaced and may contain some sort of message.

As Lydia tries to figure out what was happening in Joey's life that led him to suicide, her traumatic past and buried memories begin to intrude on her thoughts. His suicide brings back terrible visions of her childhood when she suffered a traumatic event that changed her life. When Lydia's picture runs in the paper, it does help her best friend from that time, Raj Patel, reconnect with her, but it also helps a detective find her again. The answers about Joey's death seem to lead Lydia to reexamine her childhood and a twenty-year-old cold case.

This is an excellent novel. It is well paced, with an intricate plot that and a perplexing mystery. Along with the plot, Sullivan seamlessly describes and establishes an astute sense of place for all his characters. The characters are wonderfully realized - unconventional and realistic.  Lydia tells the present story and what is happening to her today. Flashbacks are told through her father's point-of-view to explain part of what happened in Lydia's childhood, until Lydia remembers what she experienced. It is perfectly presented and flows seamlessly from one part of the story to the next, past and present.

I was entranced by and riveted to every page of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore. Not only is it an excellent, clever novel, it's hard to believe it is a debut novel. I really liked the character of Lydia and her other friends at the bookstore. It's rather nice to have a great summer read with a likeable character where you want everything to turn out for the best.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribner.

The Accomplished Guest

The Accomplished Guest: Stories by Ann Beattie
Scribner: 6/13/178
eBook review copy; 288 pages
ISBN-13: 9781501111389

The Accomplished Guest: Stories by Ann Beattie is a highly recommended collection of thirteen previously published short stories. This collection explores aging, mortality, fragile bonds between people, fate, friendships, and family. In several of the stories people are meeting for a social event or going out to dinner. Most of the people are older, in their sixties and up, have been married multiple times and seem discontented, perplexed, and very removed from any true connection with other people, even while they are meeting with them.  Beattie gives us glimpses into these lives with her immutable excellent prose and clear, astute voice. Not every story was a complete winner for me, but, nonetheless, this is an excellent collection.

The Indian Uprising: A former student visits her professor.
For the Best: A man heads to a holiday party where he expects to see his ex-wife.
The Astonishing Woodchopper: A couple is going to a wedding where tensions rise.
Anecdotes: An older self-centered mother overshares and hurts feelings.
Other People's Birthdays: A woman returns home to celebrate her sister's birthday.
Company: A professor has former students over for dinner.
The Debt: Middle aged frat brothers get together in Key West.
Lady Neptune: A wheelchair-bound woman attends a holiday party in Key West.
The Caterer: A caterer recruits help for a job and encounters problems.
The Gypsy chooses the Whatever Card: Women visiting in a coffee shop are interrupted by a robber.
The Cloud: A woman goes out to dinner with her uncle.
Hoodie in Xanadu: A woman forms a partnership with her neighbor who has transformed his living room into Xanadu.
Save a Horse Ride a Cowgirl: An older man feels at odds and out of place in the world.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Scribner.

Small Hours

Small Hours by Jennifer Kitses
Grand Central: 6/13/17
eBook review copy; 288 pages
ISBN-13: 9781455598526

Small Hours by Jennifer Kitses is a recommended domestic drama.

Helen Nichols and Tom Foster are in their forties and the parents of three-year-old twin daughters. They are regretting some of the decisions they have made, including buying their house in Devon, located in upstate New York. Unfortunately they are now upside-down in their mortgage and can't afford to leave. Tom has a long commute into Queens, while Helen tries to work from home. Neither are happy with the current arrangement. Both are exhausted. Both are stressed out from their jobs. Helen is a seething ball of rage and anger just under the surface. Tom is trying to be a father to the twins as well as another daughter born at the same time, a result of an affair.

Kitses debut novel focuses on an eventful, stressful twenty-four hour period with chapters alternating between the actions of Helen and Tom. Think 24, only focused on a perpetually exhausted, uncommunicative couple who both have work problems, are under paid, underappreciated, make increasingly poor choices, and in a crumbling marriage. But in this scenario there are no cool action scenes and no one is going to save the world, it is just a ticking clock, ever growing weariness, and one mishap and misstep after another.

What saved Small Hours from the quagmire of being simply yet another novel about a marriage falling apart is the excellent writing. While I didn't like either character (And what is this with an increasing number of books where I can not find a sympathetic character because they both have w-a-y too many issues and are in denial?) the quality of the writing does pull the novel out of muck to an at least acceptable level. (It is not to the level of quality of Richard Russo, as per the description.)

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Grand Central Publishing.

The Silent Corner

The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz
Penguin Random House: 6/20/17
eBook review copy; 464 pages
ISBN-13: 9780345545992

The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz is a very highly recommended conspiracy thriller and starts a new series. This is a perfect summer novel of suspense!

FBI agent Jane Hawk's husband, Nick, committed suicide, leaving behind a note that said, "I very much need to be dead." Jane knows that this is not her husband, a decorated Marine, a full colonel, on a career path to becoming a general. She needs to find out the truth behind his suicide and that of other capable, talented people. In fact, Jane knows that the suicide rate is dramatically increasing across the country. What is alarming is that these are people of accomplishment, of excellence. These are people who will make a difference or are making a difference. Why would these intelligent, proficient people be committing suicide?

After taking a leave of absence from the Bureau, Jane tries to find out the answer to the increasing suicide rate. When the life of her son is threatened, Jane knows they are a target. She hides her son and Jane goes rogue and underground. Clearly she is the target of powerful people who will do anything to stop her and there is no one she can trust. She has to rely on her skills to find the answers she needs. Who is behind the increasing suicide rate? How are they controlling people? More importantly, why? As she gets closer to the truth, the danger increases.

It is truly frightening to know how easily our every move can be tracked today.  Koontz takes real life technology and shows how the features built into it can be used to track people. It is frightening to realize how easily our every step and movement can be watched without us even realizing it. It's not the stuff of science fiction, it is fact.

The Silent Corner is an extremely well written, excellent thriller with incredible characterization and fast paced action. Jane Hawk is a fully realized, compelling character, full of depth, growth, and intelligence. It's good to know that this is the start of a series featuring her. It's also challenging. Because it is the start of a series there isn't complete closure or answers to all the questions.
There are terrific, nail-biting action scenes and narrow escapes. The suspense and threats grow but Jane narrowly manages to keep a clear head and a step ahead. And it's a great story.

Thriller/suspense fans: read this book. You won't regret it. After that you will be relieved to know that the second book in the Jane Hawk series, The Whispering Room, has a tentative release date of January 9, 2018.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.

The Party

The Party by Robyn Harding
Gallery/Scout Press: 6/6/17
eBook review copy; 352 pages
ISBN-13: 9781501161247

The Party by Robyn Harding is a so-so domestic drama.

Jeff and Kim Sanders are throwing a sweet sixteen birthday slumber party for their daughter, Hannah, and four of her friends. Kim has listed the house rules to the girls: no alcohol, no drugs, no boys. They provide food and leave the girls alone in the downstairs family room. Naturally, the girls don't follow the rules, resulting in disaster. One of the girls, drunk, crashes through a glass-topped coffee table and is rushed to the hospital in the middle of the night. While the police investigation cleared the Sanders from culpability in the accident, the mother of the injured girl files a lawsuit asking for three million dollars. The impending lawsuit alienates friends and causes division, as secrets are revealed and nothing is as perfect as it appears.

The narrative is told through four characters: Kim, Jeff, Lisa (the mother of the injured girl), and Hannah. Sure, we learn their secrets, but the secrets are not as shocking as the blurb for the novel implies. They are, actually, pretty standard stuff and can be revealed on both sides of the lawsuit, something that no one seems to be pointing out about the mother of the injured girl. It also seems unlikely that one of the five girls would not break down and tell the truth instead of the half-truths/lies about what happened. 

Additionally, this is one of those novels filled with unlikable characters. You may try to find someone to pull for, but you will likely be let down as the few characters that seem to take a stand also don't seem to have a backbone. The ones telling you their side of the story never give you a reason to care. Harding does present the mean girls/high school queen bees social hierarchy effectively, although stereotypically.  Sometimes I like a novel where everyone is unreliable and unlikable, but it didn't quite work for me here.

For me, The Party missed the mark. It had potential, but something just never clicked for me. I grew very tired of all the characters and sort of wanted to lecture them to just grow up, adults and kids. I also found it hard to believe that a sixteen year old would want a sleep over party. Sorry, but that seems absurd to me. It also seemed odd that given they were doing this party, that the parents wouldn't be checking on the girls, staying awake all night to make sure they were following the rules. I'll also admit that I didn't like the ending. 

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.

You'll Never Know, Dear

You'll Never Know, Dear by Hallie Ephron
HarperCollins: 6/6/17
eBook review copy; 304 pages
ISBN-13: 9780062473615

You'll Never Know, Dear by Hallie Ephron is a recommended novel of suspense featuring three generations of women and a mystery set in South Carolina.

Forty years ago four-year-old sister Janey Woodham disappeared from her year, along with the doll her mother made her. Janey's seven-year-old sister, Lissie, was supposed to be keeping an eye on her, but she ran after a a puppy that suddenly appeared in her yard. When Lissie returned home, Janey and her doll were gone. Now Lis has a daughter in college, but she still blames herself for Janey's disappearance. Her mother, Miss Sorrel, has fashioned individual, hand-made porcelain portrait dolls for years, with help from her bossy next-door neighbor Evelyn Dumont. Every year on the anniversary of Janey's disappearance she puts out an ad offering a large reward for a doll, Janey's doll, knowing that she will recognize it.

When a college student in a beat-up car answers the ad, Miss Sorrel knows it is Janey's doll, but the girl runs away rather than answering questions about where she got it. That night Miss Sorrel's kiln explodes, sending both her and Lis into the hospital and bringing Lis's daughter, Vanessa, home. This sets into motion a search for the mysterious young woman and an unraveling of a decades old mystery.

You'll Never Know, Dear is definitely more character driven than a novel of great suspense. The mystery is easy to figure out, so the pleasure in this one is in the characterizations of the women. Ephron does a nice job developing her characters and placing them in the context of the story.

While it starts out slowly and doesn't really provide much suspense until the end, it does reaches a satisfying conclusion, which makes it a good summer reading choice. In many ways this novel would actually make a better movie because of all the dolls that are collected and sitting around the house. I think the visuals of dolls, staring at the viewer, could make this much creepier and up the suspense. (Just consider the cover and a house full of staring dolls.)

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.