The Massacre of Mankind by Stephen Baxter
Crown/Archetype: 8/22/17
eBook review copy; 496 pages
ISBN-13:
9781524760120
The Massacre of Mankind: Sequel to The War of the Worlds by Stephen Baxter is a recommended estate-authorized sequel to H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds.
Set in the early 1920s, it has been thirteen years since the Martians
invaded England. When it is announced that the Martians have launched
another, much larger invasion, humans are sure we can defeat them again,
with the exception of one man, Walter Jenkins (the unnamed narrator of
Wells'
book). Jenkins is sure that the Martians have learned, adapted, and
understood
their defeat so they will be prepared this time. Referring to the first
book, Walter is often called out as a liar and an
unreliable witness by those characters who appeared in the first book. A
journalist, Julie Elphinstone, the former sister-in-law
of Jenkins, reports most of the action in the narrative to the reader
as she tells the story of the second invasion. She witnesses the first
wave of Martians landing outside of London. The world is watching for
the subsequent invasive Martian forces to land around the world.
The good news is that Martians are still terrifying. The first Martian invasion changed history, thus in this alternate
history universe, Britain is a fascist state,
Germany rules much of Europe, and the Titanic never sank. You will
recognize historical figures but now in different contexts. While this
is an interesting take on a second invasion, it has a slow start and
I'll admit that keeping my undivided attention during the whole novel
was a challenge. It felt overly long, perhaps it was the writing style,
but I also didn't connect to any of the characters. We know right from the start that this account is Elphinstone's
memoir so we know the outcome of the war, which removes some of the sense of
urgency and tension. She is also not an entirely sympathetic narrator.
Finally, Baxter's
choice to write in the style of H.G. Wells, no offense to Wells, didn't
quite work for me in this case. The descriptions are complex and
noteworthy, but I guess I wanted a more action-packed terror-filled
novel. Parts of it met this description, but the totality of The Massacre of Mankind missed the mark as a sequel to the classic science fiction novel. It is certainly good, but not great. Hard core fans of The War of the Worlds will likely want to read this, but it will not quite live up to the original.
The Other Girl by Erica Spindler
St. Martin's Press: 8/22/17
eBook review copy; 256 pages
ISBN-13: 9781250083654
The Other Girl by Erica Spindler is a recommended police procedural.
Officer Miranda Rader of the Harmony, Louisiana PD is called in to
investigate the brutal murder of popular English
professor Richard Stark, son of the powerful university president in
this small town. The murder has every indication that it was one of
great anger and planning. While Miranda is now a successful, respected
police officer, she has a past. When a newspaper clipping from her past
is found at the scene along with her fingerprints, it seems that someone
is trying to set Miranda up, but why?
The clipping is from 2002 when she was a teen. At that time she was
known as Randi, and she was from the wrong side of the tracks. After an
assault that was never confirmed and an arrest for possession, she
spends some time in juvie. This was the impetus that propelled Miranda
to turn the direction of her life around. Now someone is trying to set
her up. But the case is more complicated than that because Miranda
realizes that the victim was also a sexual predator and has likely been
abusing woman for years. To complicate matters even more, now is the
time her partner, Jake, decides to confess his love for her.
The Other Girl starts off strong with Randi's misguided actions
in 2002 and the present day brutal murder of a man who has a hidden
past. Chapters continue to jump between the past and present to explain
the connection. The novel, however, soon veers off course and becomes a
mash-up of subplots. If you want a little romance with your police
procedural and don't care about surprising evidence being uncovered or a
shocking conclusion, this is a well-written book. Yes, it relies
heavily on several tried and true plot devices and stereotypes, but it
flows smoothly and is a quick read. Spindler brings it all to a
conclusion.
There were problems that made me feel The Other Girl is just an
average mystery. The fingerprints at the scene, the chief questioning
her integrity, the chief's cowering before the university president,
combined with her personal life, the sudden romance, the estranged
family, etc. (there are more issues) all resulted in the feeling that
generic subplots were all mashed together in this one novel. This
culminated in more than a few eye-rolls. The whole romance portion could
have (and should have) been left out. The idea that Miranda is a smart,
intuitive investigator never makes sense because she's not approaching
everything in an intelligent manner.
Spindler has written better novels, so, for me, this is a good airplane book. It'll help pass the time.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author.
Everything We Lost by Valerie Geary
HarperCollins: 8/22/17
eBook review copy; 480 pages
ISBN-13:
9780062566423
Everything We Lost by Valerie Geary is a very highly recommended psychological thriller/coming-of-age family drama.
On December 5, 1999, sixteen-year-old Nolan Durant left his home in
Bishop, California, with a backpack and several hundred dollars in cash.
He never returned. Ten years later Lucy, his now twenty-four-year-old
younger sister, has been kicked out of her father's house. This, along
with an article her mother wrote, becomes the impetus she needs to
set off back to Bishop where she will try to reconcile with her
estranged mother, get answers, and confront her missing memories of
Nolan and that night.
Although she and Nolan were close as children, as a fourteen-year-old
Lucy became progressively distant and hostile toward Nolan. Nolan was
increasingly becoming more and more fixated with UFOs. He recorded his
obsession in his casebook, a composition book where he noted his UFO
sightings, strange happenings, and supporting information about the
events. As Nolan's paranoid delusions increased, so did Lucy's distance
from him.
Chapters alternate between the voices of Lucy today and Nolan in 1999.
In the present day, Lucy returns to Bishop, reflecting on the past while
trying to recover her missing memories and figure out what really
happened to Nolan. In 1999 Nolan is the narrator. His chapters open with
a section from his casebook notes and then tell his story from his
point-of-view. It becomes steadily obvious that Nolan is suffering from
an undiagnosed mental illness.
The writing is excellent. I was totally immersed in the story and
anxiously read to find out what would happen next in the present as well
as 1999. Both Lucy and Nolan are well-developed, believable characters.
Present day Lucy is stuck in a rut and needs to find some kind of
closure in order to move on with her life. Geary has accurately captured
the cruelties of peer pressure, being an outcast, and trying to fit
into high school cliques with Lucy and being an outsider and
increasingly different with Nolan. Their totally inadequate ineffectual
parents are equally well-developed. The way the three handle the
uncertainty of Nolan's fate is an insightful look into their
personalities.
I was captivated by Everything We Lost and anxious to read what
happened next in both timelines. (I am actually surprised that more
ratings aren't glowing about this fine novel. I can concede that the
ending might disappoint some readers but I thought it was well done.
I'll be anxiously awaiting Geary's next novel.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
The Last Lost Girl by Maria Hoey
Poolbeg Crimson Press Ltd: 7/11/17
digital reading copy; 448 pages
paperback ISBN-13: 9781781998311
The Last Lost Girl by Maria Hoey is a highly recommended family drama and mystery set in Ireland during two time periods.
In the summer of 1976 Jacqueline Brennan's
fifteen-year-old sister, Lilly, disappeared. Of the Brennan girls,
Lilly is the beautiful older sister, Gayle is the middle sister, and
eleven-year-old Jacqueline is the youngest. During 1976, Lilly is
chaffing under her father's rules and is secretly seeing a boy who works
at the carnival. Much like any younger child, Jacqueline secretly
watches her older sister, trying to capture clues about what she is
doing, thinking, and planning.
Jumping thirty seven year later, now Jacqueline is returning to her
childhood home in Blackberry Lane to visit her father for several weeks.
Gayle is usually the one who regularly visits him and takes care of
him, especially during the anniversary of Lilly's disappearance, but she
has other pressing needs with her own family so it falls to Jacqueline
to stay with him. While in her old home events happen that lead her to
search for the truth about what happened to Lilly. Jacqueline has always
believed that Lilly ran away and may still be alive somewhere today.
The police never found a body and there were no arrests. After finding
an old postcard at her father's house, she sets off to see if it holds a
clue to Lilly's whereabouts.
The Last Lost Girl is a well written family drama with a
narrative that jumps back and forth between the two time periods and
what was happening in the Brennan family, including the increasingly
rebellious behavior of Lilly. While the question of the mystery is
captivating, it also drags out a bit when Jacqueline takes off for
England in hopes of clues or information about what happened to Lilly.
This section is more a time of self-discovery for Jacqueline more than
any in-depth fact-gathering mission.
While the character of Jacqueline and the fifteen-year-old Lilly are
well developed, neither are particularly sympathetic characters. Young
Jacqueline is portrayed as a typical younger sister snooping on her
older sister, who resents her and her snooping. Sibling rivalry, and
secrets, abound, as does some favoritism by the parents. Jacqueline does
grow as a person, which is a plus.
The ending provides closure for the mystery, but I found it to be too abrupt and a little unbelievable. The Last Lost Girl
is really more about Jacqueline growing as a person than a thrilling
mystery. What happened to Lilly is supposedly the big question, but
Jacqueline's sudden search almost seems too contrived. As a single,
independent woman she could have searched for her sister long before
this and, after asking a few questions, would have visited the same
place in England without the discovery of the postcard. Read this one
for the great writing, and the self-discovery rather than the mystery.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of the publisher/author via Library Thing.
New Boy by Tracy Chevalier
Crown/Archetype: 5/16/17
advanced readers copy; 208 pages
ISBN-13:
9780553447637
Hogarth Shakespeare Series
New Boy by Tracy Chevalier is a highly recommended retelling of Othello for the Hogarth Shakespeare series.
Chevalier sets her tragic story based on Shakespeare's Othello in
an elementary school located in the Washington D.C. suburbs during the
1970s. With only a month of school left, sixth grader Osei
Kokote is yet again the new boy in school, a position he has found
himself in repeatedly as the son of a Ghanaian diplomat. Osei is also
used to being one of the few students of color in school, so he knows he
must find an ally. He is lucky that the teacher told popular student
Dee to help him. He is even luckier that he and Dee hit it off
immediately.
As adolescent mercurial romances and allegiances ebb and flow quickly,
the connection between the new boy and Dee is noticed by everyone,
including teachers. There is one student, Ian, who can't stand to see
the black boy and the white girl together and he decides to destroy
their friendship. Ian is already a known bully. How far will he go to
destroy Osei and Dee?
This is a very well written and great addition to the Hogarth
Shakespeare series. The action all takes place here in the course of one
day, which is rather quick. Additionally, of course, if you know Othello,
you know basically what is going to happen. This does take some of the
surprise out of the retelling, which has been the case in some of the
other books in the Hogarth series. Chevalier sets her book in five parts
which portray the five acts in the play, and she does incorporate
Shakespeare's plot into her novel.
Actually this is more successful when taken on its own as a novel and not as a retelling of Othello.
Since Chevalier uses adolescents as her characters, their emotions,
allegiances, and angst are front and center. This works well when New Boy
is considered as a novel about racism in suburban schools in the
1970's, but, in my opinion, it doesn't work quite as well for the
Hogarth Shakespeare series. So, I liked it very much as a novel, but a
little less as a Shakespearean tragedy for the Hogarth series.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Crown/Archetype.
I Know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen
Random House: 8/15/17
eBook review copy; 336 pages
ISBN-13: 9780345543882
Rizzoli and Isles Series #12
I Know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen is the very highly recommended twelfth installment of the Rizzoli and Isles crime series.
Boston PD
detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles are
investigating homicides that are linked by more than just the
investigative team. Indie horror filmmaker Cassandra Coyle is found
murdered with her eyeballs cut out and put in her hands. When Timothy
McDougal is found dead with three arrows in his chest, Isles and her
priest
friend realize that the two murders have been done to resemble pictures
of the death of saints. Specifically these two murders have been staged
to depict Lucy, patron saint of the blind, and
Sebastian, patron saint of archers. They soon discover that what ties
the two victims together is that twenty years ago they were children at a
local day care center during an
infamous child abuse case. Now the two must find out who the killer is,
as well as who might be the next victim.
While investigating these cases and others that may be tied together,
the two women are also facing some struggles in their personal lives.
Even while Maura's biological mother, the infamous serial
killer Amalthea Lank, is dying from cancer, she still finds a way to
get into Maura's psyche with a comment that may apply to her current
cases. Rizzoli
is watching her own mother's unhappiness grow while her spirit is being
crushed from staying in a loveless marriage.
This is an intense, extremely well written mystery that will hold your
rapt attention from beginning to end. Those unfamiliar with Rizzoli and
Isles will easily be able to enjoy this suspenseful novel even if it is
their first book in the series. Although the two character are well
established at this point, Gerritsen provides enough character
background along that way for anyone to easily slide right into this
novel and enjoy Rizzoli and Isles for the first time. Expect some twists
and surprises. This is one you won't want to put down once you start
it.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Random House.
The Luster of Lost Things by Sophie Chen Keller
Penguin Publishing Group: 8/8/17
eBook review copy; 336 pages
ISBN-13: 9780735210783
The Luster of Lost Things by Sophie Chen Keller is a very highly
recommended whimsical story teeming with feel-good emotions, lyrical
writing, and a dash of magical realism.
Walter Lavender Jr. is a twelve-year-old boy who lives with his mother,
Lucy, above their bakery, The Lavenders. Walter's ability to find things
has been developed because he has been silenced by his motor speech
disorder. Because he found it impossible to talk, he observed the
world around him. "My whole life, my mouth had been shut and my eyes
wide open, and the
deeper and darker my silence became, the more I began to sense outside
of it - traces of light, shifts in matter, changing undercurrents. As I
grew older and it became clear to me that Lucy didn’t perceive what I
perceived, it was already just another part of me, and there was nothing
so incredible about that. The things I noticed were small and fleeting,
easy to miss - scratches or flourishes in reality, clues that pointed
the
way to the larger truths buried beneath the surface, like the molten
ripple along the base of a vase of lilies in danger of tipping over or,
when it came to people, the disappointed hiss of something doused before
it could be said."
Walter lost his father, an airline pilot, whose plane
went missing three days before he was born. While Walter
observations of the world have helped him become a
master of finding lost things, he is ultimately hoping to find his lost
father. Lucy has told him stories about his father and the connection
between them and the book that is proudly displayed in the shop. The
book brings magic to their bakery, a bakery where the deserts come
alive. You can see vol-au-vent mice jump double dutch with licorice
ropes and marzipan dragons breathe fire. Walter's life is happy and safe
in his limited world - until someone steals the book, causing the
bakery to lose its magic. Walter, along with Milton, his golden
retriever, must find the missing book and bring the magic back to the
bakery.
Walter's search is an archetypal story of a hero on a quest. While
seeking the missing book, Walter must leave the safety of his home, go
on a long adventure, face adversity, overcome challenges, and return
home changed from his journey. As Walter seeks what he has lost, he
learns lessons from those he meets. Along with his quest, it also
becomes a coming-of-age story for Walter, who makes friends outside of
his sheltered home life. This allegorical narrative not only deals with
things lost and found, but also deals with our capacity for kindness
and how our acts of kindness can ultimately
change the lives around us, as well as our own life.
The writing is poetic and expressive, capturing descriptions, emotions, and even humor with grace and beauty. The characters in The Luster of Lost Things
are all well-developed. Their descriptions make them all come alive on
the page. While I can concede that having twelve-year-old Walter seek
out and meet so many strangers on his quest was a bit far-fetched, I
must also equally acknowledge that passing many trials is often the case
with a hero on a quest. In any event, I liked this story and Walter. I
liked Walter's written comments in his notebook along with his
observations of the world. The world can always use a good hero story
with a touch of magic realism and Sophie Chen Keller has given us just
that.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of the Penguin Publishing Group.
