Untamed Coast

 

Untamed Coast by Kevin C. Morris
9/1/26; 304 pages
Ballantine

Untamed Coast by Kevin C. Morris is a very highly recommended debut mystery set on the Alaskan coastline and told through three timelines. 

In 2017 Marconi (Marco) Franco is still grieving the loss of his wife, Michelle, while carrying on their dream aboard their boat, Radio Flyer, in the coastal waters of Chichagof, Alaska, by Pelican, when he receives a garbled radio message on a SSB (single sideband ) radio from a woman who seemingly has fallen overboard and is in the water. She says something about an island and a red metal roof. Marco switches to VHF and contacts the coastguard about the message, but he is determined to also search for the woman. 

In 1938 Joe Baxter is on Radioville, an island off Chichagof in a cabin with a red roof.  It is a communication outpost and temperature monitoring station and Joe, the radio operator there, provides radio contact via Morse Code for the locals to the mainland. He also has a secret gold smuggling operation. Currently, the island has been offline for 70 years. Then, in 1982, Anya Baron is in the same waters operating the fishing boat Lady Melinda with her abusive husband.

As Marco continues his search for the missing woman, he learns that two other women have also gone overboard recently. Since he is sure the coast guard will only be doing a perfunctory one, he continues searching. Then it seems that someone doesn't want him to continue looking and he might be in danger. 

This is a well-written debut novel that uses the three different timelines to it's advantage. All three stories are interesting and quite different from each other. The danger also increases, due to both the setting and the characters/actions, in all three  time periods as the narrative unfolds. I appreciated that the individual stories in each timeline played out before everything began to come together. It also has a very strong sense of place and time in each storyline. 

Rest assured, the stories from the three individuals do all eventually converge and make sense in the very satisfying final denouement. I appreciated the descriptions of the setting and the way everything came together in the plot. This is a good debut novel and I enjoyed Morris's writing style. 4.5 rounded up when needed.

Untamed Coast is a great choice for those who enjoy intricate mysteries in a unique, authentic setting. Thanks to Ballantine for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Sez I to Myself

 

Sez I to Myself: The Collected Essays by Frank and Malachy McCourt 
Editors: Tom Allon, Jonah Allon  
9/8/26: 336 pages
Abrams Press 

Sez I to Myself: The Collected Essays by Frank and Malachy McCourt is a very highly recommended collection of essays, articles, and speeches from the brothers which span decades. For those who have enjoyed their writing over the years this will be a welcomed and cherished addition to your library. I have been anxiously anticipating reading this and it was a pleasure to do so.

Both of the McCourt brothers were gifted story tellers and known for their wit, shared memories, insight and keen observations. All of the pieces included are exceptionally well-written and distinctly personal from their individual points-of-view. The pieces in this collection run the gamut from humorous to deeply serious. Frank (1930–2009) died at 72 and his brother, Malachy (1931–2024) at 92. It is a pleasure to read every one of these pieces.

The essays are sorted into eight topics. Each essay is presented with it's title, where it was published, the date of publication and which McCourt authored the piece. There is a Foreword and Editor's note by Tom Allon and Jonah Allon and Acknowledgements at the end. Contents include (I'm only including the date and author of the essays): 

The Writing Life: Looking at Schools, Bars, and Houses of Worship (1987, Frank); My Mission: Write 800 Words Weekly (2001, Malachy); Growing Dependent on the Wayne Independent (2003, Malachy); Excerpt from a 2003 Speech at the Southampton Writers Conference (Frank); Yes, I Can Go Home Again (2000, Malachy)

McSorley's and the Rest: McSorley's: A Great Manhattan Pub (1987, Frank); Kiss Me I'm Irish (1999, Malachy); Yes, Recovery's Possible (2001, Malachy); A Ship, A Pint, and a Pamplona (1988, Frank)

The Religious Life: When You Think of God What Do You See? (1998, Frank); Defenders of the Faith (2000, Malachy); The People of Mercy at Ansche Chesed (1988, Frank); This Old House (1999, Malachy); Exploration and "Humanness" (1988, Frank); They're Seeking Scapegoats (2002, Malachy); The Pope and I (2003, Frank); Mourning My Pals (2001, Malachy); Spiritual Business as Usual at Methodist Church (1988, Frank); Where We Pray (2004, Frank)

New York City and 9/11: We Share Certain Images From the 11th. They Won't Go Away (2001, Frank); A Season to Honor Fallen Firefighters (2001, Malachy); The Dog's Days of Summer (2004, Frank); Advice: Get Out (2001, Malachy); New York: My Town, One Year On (2002, Frank); Packing For America (2004; Frank); Remembering John Scanlon (2001, Malachy); Because of the Pitcher's Eye (2000, Frank); What About the Homeless? (2005, Malachy); From an Affair with Books to a Book Fair (1997, Frank); How Tragedy Reveals America's Vital Heart (2001, Malachy); Seeing Rudy the G. Through a Hayes (1999, Malachy); The Day the Lights Went Out: Blackouts, a Rite of New York (2003, Frank)

The Classroom: On Staten Island: a Buried Treasure (1998, Frank); Brandeis Class Examines Afro-American Literature (1987, Frank); Mothers Who Get By (1997, Frank); An Immodest Proposal (1999, Malachy); What Children Really Want for 1988 (1988, Frank); Love and Learning at Children's Storefront (1988, Frank); Not for Extra Credit (1999, Frank); Hope and Education (1998, Frank); This West Side Story Is Doing What You Want (1988, Frank)

The Irish Life and St. Patrick's Day: Visiting with Bill at a Magazine Pow Wow (2001, Malachy); Patrick Was No Saint (2002, Malachy); Getting Mired in the Oul' Sod (1970, Frank); Cardinal Sins (1999, Malachy); On the Trail of a Jewish Princess (1971, Frank); Neighbors Provide Entertainment (1998, Malachy); Back on the Job (2002, Malachy); A Parcel of Celtic Paradox (1998, Frank); Ashes to Ashes? (2001, Malachy); Blowing the Lid Off... The Spud (1990, Frank); James Joyce Destroyed My Romance (1997, Frank)

Family: My Mother (2009, Frank); Not Ordinary Ever (1999, Malachy); Christmas Past (1997, Frank); The Brother (1998, Malachy); The Random Nature of the Grim Reaper (2000, Malachy); The Good Old Days of Raising Kids Are Over (2001, Malachy); My Unsainted Brother (2009, Malachy); Deadhead Daughter (1998, Frank)

Bits and Pieces: The Puritanical Punishing World of Business (2001, Malachy); A Diseased Nation Moans (2000, Malachy); Saluting a Fine Young Man (1999, Malachy); Closing a Hellhole (2000, Malachy); Smoke Out the Smokers (2002, Malachy); A Speech at the 2002 Southampton Writers Conference (Frank)

Sez I to Myself: The Collected Essays is an excellent choice for those who appreciated the McCourt's writing and is perfect addition to any library.  Thanks to Abrams Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Sipsworth

 

Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy
5/7/24; 240 pages
paperback 9/1/26
David R. Godine, Publisher 

Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy is a very highly recommended tender and insightful literary tale about an elderly woman finding a reason to live.

After living in Australia for six decades, Helen Cartwright, 83, has returned to the village of her childhood to finish her life where it began. Since losing both her husband, Len, and son, David, she is ready to face the end of her days. She's living an uneventful life in a detached pensioner's cottage on Westminster Crescent where one day seems like another until she brings in an aquarium from the neighbors trash. Initially she notices a diver toy inside and it reminds her of David, but, later, she hear something late at night and discovers a mouse inside a box in the aquarium.

Initially, she wants wants to get rid of it but the mouse ends up living in her kitchen sink, is named Sipsworth, and he watches TV and listening to the radio with her, while sitting in a slipper. The arrival of Sipsworth gets her out, interacting with the world and meeting people, as she cares for him. We also learn that Helen was a once a renowned pediatric cardiologist when Sipsworth has a medical issue and she meets people willing to help her save him. Caring for him gives her a reason to live.

This is simply a lovely, heartwarming, compassionate, and well-written story of an elderly woman opening herself up to caring, finding a new reason to want to live, and allowing new friends into her life. In the opening of the novel, Helen is a bit of a curmudgeon, but readers will see a gradual change in her as Sipsworth provides companionship and gives her a purpose, as she opens herself up to caring and, in that, establishing a connection to other people. 

If you have ever felt alone, if your life has lost all meaning, and then made a surprising connection with a pet (or person) you will understand Helen. Taking care of Sipsworth gives her life meaning, a goal, and purpose again. She thought she would die alone, but clearly she now has a group of people who will care, help, and watch out for her, just as she will for Sipsworth.  

Sipsworth is an excellent choice for those who appreciate heartwarming stories with meaning  and insight into the human condition. Thanks to Godine for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Good Villains

 

Good Villains by Shane Cashman
9/1/26; 312 pages
Skyhorse 

Good Villains by Shane Cashman is a highly recommended collection of fourteen news stories/essays, following an introduction. In the essays Cashman presents his personal journey along with a cultural investigation of various personalities. As with any collection of essays, some will resonate and interest readers more than others. As Bret Easton Ellis said, “Cashman will infuriate, delight, and offend just about everybody.”  Keep in mind the full title is: Good Villains: My Journey to the Frontlines of Fame, Controversy, and the War on Reality. 

You may not agree with him or be interested in all of the selections, but they do represent the wide variety of interviews/topics/stories/experiences from his point-of-view during a specific time period. However, he is also a journalist and these stories are all extremely well-written. Many will know Cashman from his appearances on and work for Tim Pool and for his show Inverted World Live, which should clue you into where some of his interests lie (conspiracies, big foot sightings, aliens, mind control, etc.). In a very timely manner while I was reading these essays Fauci was in the news repeatedly pleading the fifth with his twee diary exposed. Along with many people Cashman's life was very much personally affected by Covid and opens with this marking his entry into politics and current political topics. 

Contents include:

The Invisible Enemy: the intro and covid; "Either it'd [covid] disappear from headlines in a week or it was going to become my generations next psychological scar - like 9/11, WWDs, Y2K, Columbine, or worse, the Macarina."
The case for President Ye
Invalid Ballot Department - Kari Lake
The Perpetual Truama Machine - the Doomsday clock, Eliza Bleu 
Ohio's Airborne Toxic Event - The contamination and nonexistent/lackluster response after the catastrophic train crash and fire in East Palestine, Ohio
The Million Dollar Mullet - Riff Raff
Everyone Loves Alex Jones
The Bridge to Nowhere - smuggling and unsecured border
Vultures in Miami - Ye 
The Demon Hunters - Alex Rosen's Predator Poachers
The invasion of the Tech Vampires - "A tech vampire is a monster that pretends to be human that works in Silicon Valley and creates evil technology to feed off you, your emotion, your fear, your hatred, your love, and your dreams."
Inauguration at the End of the World - the incestuous relationship between politics and media
The FBI Sacrifices One of It's Own - whistle blower Teresa Tumblin
The Simulation is Burning - the Charlie Kirk assassination, do not let your emotions capture you, do not let your biases hold you hostage
Who Will Survive and What Will Become of Them?

Admittedly, there were some interviews/stories that didn't interest me (Ye, Eliza Bleu, Riff Raff, Alex Jones) but I found the others interesting whether I agreed with Cashman's extrapolations or not. It was noted that some reviews I saw were negative with no basis in reality. Yes, some of the topics may be polarizing for some people, but in that case, be a professional, note the essay you didn't like, and move on. Or, if you are not going to finish the book, say you are going to decline reviewing it and why. Of course the collection is from his point-of-view and biases and you are showing your point-of-view and biases by DNF it and then giving it one star. Certainly you can't disagree with stopping child predators, porn, and traffickers or think that it is a conspiracy? 

Good Villains is an excellent choice for those interested in journalistic essays and stories from an independent point-of-view. Thanks to Skyhorse for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Long Call

 

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves
9/3/19; 400 pages
St. Martin's Press 
Two Rivers #1 (Detective Matthew Venn)  

The Long Call by Ann Cleeves is a recommended procedural/murder mystery and the first book in the Two Rivers series which feature Detective Matthew Venn.

DI Matthew Venn is secretly attending the funeral of his father. He was raised in the Barum Brethren church and he was immediately shunned by his parents when he renounced their religion. Now he is a police detective in North Devon and married to Jonathan Church. After silently leaving the service he receive a call about a body found stabbed on a nearby beach. He meets DS Ross May and DS Jen Rafferty at the scene at Crow Point. From an address found on the body they quickly learn the man is Simon Walden. The tattoo of an albatross on his neck helps with the ID. 

The address is for a house where Simon Walden rented a room. It is owned by Caroline, daughter of Woodyard trustee Christopher Preece. Gaby Henry also shares the house with Caroline. The investigation quickly leads to the Woodyard Center, a restored factory that’s home to  counseling services, artists, and charitable organizations and is run by Jonathan. It is also quickly learned that Walden often rode the bus and befriended Lucy Braddick, a woman with Down syndrome who attended classes at the Center. The case is a slowly evolving set of clues and then another event happens, putting the pressure on the investigation.

This is a well-written procedural which provides very detailed descriptions of the people and the area along with a lot of background information. Expect a plethora of descriptions and character development. It is also very even-paced, even slow, until late in the novel. As someone who loves procedural, the team does follow clues in a logical manner while a lot of deception and lies are delivered to them, however the pacing dragged the story down. 

It does serve the purpose of introducing Matthew Venn and the setting as the first book in the series. Apparently this was also opted for a TV series. The issues is that I never felt fully invested in the plot or the characters and didn't particularly enjoy some of the descriptions. It could be that this first novel in the series is now already dated due to the attempt to be relevant. It would have served Cleeves better to simply write a good murder mystery/procedural with a fast-paced investigation. 2.5 rounded up because this novel may be an aberration for the normally very good oeuvre one normally expects from Cleeves.

The Long Call is a good choice for those who want to read the first book in the Two Rivers series. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

A Small Memory

 

A Small Memory by Robert Dyer
8/11/26; 304 pages
Atmosphere Press 

A Small Memory by Robert Dyer is a very highly recommended coming-of-age novel about friendship, forgiveness, memories, and recovery from trauma. This is an exceptionally well-written novel that captures a moment in time that completely changes two lives.

In 1975, Mike Youngstown is eighteen, fresh out of high school, and headed to Appleton College in Morrison Ohio for classes and to play basketball. His best friend Ted Dirksen who is older than him and already attending college, has a great offer for Mike. Ted's roommate is leaving and Mike can take his place as a counselor at the group home for developmentally disabled adult men. They get room, board and a small salary while teaching the men, Stuart, Mark, Paul, John, Kevin, and Henry, the basic skills to live on their own. They all have jobs during the day and go home on the weekends. 

After several incidents involving Henry, one where Mike had to pull him off Ted, he is replaced by Ray. It is immediately clear that Ray doesn't get along with the other residents and has a violent temper which is demonstrated when he threatens Ted with a screw driver and Mike had to restrain him. The Hope Agency Executive Director, Brad Douglas dismisses their concerns. Then Mike returns home one weekend night and finds Ted seriously injured and Ray, who does not go home on weekends, is gone, along with Ted's car. Ted is left in a coma. 

Ted's injury and gradual recovery marks the start of an emotionally charged, nuanced, thoughtful and insightful examination of friendship, forgiveness, memories, and blame. Their easy, well established friendship is displayed early in the novel, so we know what Mike has lost. He is there for Ted and his parents as the long road to recovery begins. Mike is at the hospital daily and blames himself for Ted's attack. He is sure he could have stopped it if he was there and carries the huge burden of guilt that grows and even threatens his relationship with his long time girlfriend, Karen.

The unreserved honesty of Mike's psychological state is clearly and honestly portrayed as he realizes he has lost the previously comfortable ease of his friendship with Ted. He also needs to undertake the enormous task of forgiving himself, along with others. With the change of Ted, their previous relationship has died, so he is in mourning for what was, even as he works toward a new relationship and friendship with Ted as he slowly recovers. He also needs to heal his relationship with Karen, which he set aside after Ted's injury.

What makes this an especially poignant narrative is the youth and future potential of these two young men who are portrayed as realistic characters. Mike is only eighteen when this happened and not yet fully matured. Ted's loss of capacity marks a sudden propulsion into maturity and an increase of responsibility for Mike. At the same time, Mike is continually struggling with blaming himself/forgiving himself while still trying to do his best. This reads like a real life experience. 

A Small Memory is an excellent choice for those who appreciate coming-of-age stories depicting life-changing events. Thanks to Atmosphere Press for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.