Alice & Gerald by Ron Franscell
Penguin Random House: 4/9/19
eBook review copy; 330 pages
ISBN-13:
9781633885127
Alice & Gerald by Ron Franscell is a highly recommended true crime drama that reads like a novel.
Alice and Gerald Uden murdered at least four people and thought they
had gotten away with it for almost forty decades. Between the two there
were multiple failed marriages before they met and married. Alice killed
husband number three in 1974. Gerald met and married her in 1976, a few
weeks after his third divorce was final, and she became his fourth
wife. The two were an oddly suited-for-each-other couple, with Alice
firmly controlling their lives. When it seemed that Gerald's third
ex-wife, Virginia, and mother to the two boys he adopted, might be
wanting more child support, Alice wrote several insulting, unsettling,
and vaguely threatening letters to Virginia. Then, in 1980, Virginia and
the two boys mysteriously disappeared.
With Virginia's mother, Claire, suspected foul play - and Gerald. She
was asking questions and insisting that the police investigate,
although their initial investigation seemed perfunctory. After all,
Virginia was living a nomadic lifestyle and she could have just decided
to move on to somewhere else. It seemed Gerald got away with murder. And
then, even when her children were telling authorities that Alice told
them she killed her ex-husband, It seemed that this murder case would
also go cold. Even when suspected and questioned, Alice and Gerald
weren't talking. It took decades and the determination of several
investigators to finally get the answers after a skeleton is found
What follows is a long investigation by authorities trying to bring
murderers to justice. They also uncovered a lot of background
information about Alice and Gerald. When the two cases break open in
2013, it is a relief to the readers that justice is finally served, and
it is satisfying, even when served cold.
Franscell writes this true story in a matter-of-fact style that reads
like a police procedural crime novel, although the reader will have
more inside information than the police did while working these cases.
The book is extremely well-researched; Franscell spent two years
researching it and interviewing Gerald. Alice & Gerald contains chapter notes and sixteen pages of color photos. This is a fascinating case.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Prometheus Books/Penguin Random House.
Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline
Penguin Random House: 4/9/19
eBook review copy; 400 pages
ISBN-13: 9780525539643
Someone Knows by Lisa Scottoline is a recommended psychological domestic thriller.
Four fifteen-year-old teenagers find a gun buried in the woods and
proceed to obsess over it and each other. Two of the teens are going
through some serious hidden real-life trauma (Allie Garvey and David Hybrinski) and two are creating their own upper-class privileged teenage angst (Sasha Barrow and Julian Browne). When a fifth teen (Kyle
Gallagher) who is already experiencing a life-changing trauma is
added to the group, the dynamics change. A night of drinking ends with
deadly results and the teens keep that night a secret, going their
separate ways.
The turning point, the unbearable secret the teens share doesn't
occur until the half-way point of the novel. The lead up to the event is
spent in character development of the five teens, focusing on their
lives and their secrets. Then the novel jumps ahead to the future when
Allie is attending the funeral of one of the group. She realizes that
the decision the four made has left her with guilt that has eaten away
at her ever since that one fateful night.
This is really a novel of highly dysfunctional families and a very
stupid teenage mistake. The ending is over-the-top and the final twist
was... head-shakenly unbelievable. Part of the problem is that you are
waiting until the novel is half over for the huge game-changer and you
are spending the time leading up to that focused on these teens, their
problems, their emotions, and their families. Then the whole tone of the
novel changes into a different novel.
Since this is a Scottoline novel, she partially gets away with this
because she's such a good writer. I paused only twice, wondering what
was going on with the pacing while waiting for the game changing event,
and then the end, which seemed like a very different novel in comparison
to the first half. When I finished it, I had to wait before even trying
to write a review because my initial impression was so poor. In
summary, The quality of the writing is excellent, the characters are
well developed, the pacing is very uneven, and the ending requires you
to set disbelief aside.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
The Last by Hanna Jameson
Atria Books: 4/9/19
eBook review copy; 352 pages
ISBN-13: 9781501198823
The Last by Hanna Jameson is a highly recommended end-of-the-world psychological thriller.
Jon Keller is attending an academic conference at the isolated
L’Hotel Sixieme in Switzerland when people begin to receive the
notifications of nuclear bombs hitting various cities - Washington D.C.,
NYC, London, Berlin... As the news outlets and social media explode
with the shocking news, they also quickly go silent and it is impossible
to contact people. Jon is unable to contact his wife and regrets the
harsh words they exchanged before he left for the conference. In the
aftermath of the apocalyptic news, many people leave the hotel and try
to get to the airport. Others commit suicide, or wander off into the
surrounding woods. The clouds are now a strange color.
Two months afterwards, Jon is still at the hotel with a small group
of twenty survivors comprised of guests and staff. When the water begins
to taste off, Jon joins a small group who head up to the water tanks on
the roof to investigate. They are shocked to find the body of a young
girl in one of the tanks. Jon becomes obsessed with trying to find out
who she was, investigate her death, and find the person responsible for
it.
The chapters are written from Jon's point-of-view and in the form of a
sort of journal documenting life in the hotel, including personal
stories about the other survivors and their experiences. Jon records his
investigation, personal interactions, and stories from the others. The
tension rises from the isolation of the group, along with the various
personalities and alliances that naturally form with a diverse group of
people.
Characters Jon interacts with and are his friends are well developed.
Naturally they all have secrets. Other characters whose stories Jon
records are developed as secondary characters and, perhaps, suspects as
the novel progresses. The novel focuses more on the psychological
aspects of the situation, which seems very realistic in this isolation
scenario, although there are cases of danger when violence is a real
possibility.
The writing is quite good and the tension increases incrementally.
The narrative moves along at an even pace - until the end when it
inexplicably ramps up the pace to the point where the denouement feels
rushed. This is part of the locked-room genre of novels, with the
isolated setting during an apocalypse limiting the number of suspects
but also making finding an answer nearly impossible. I liked the ending,
despite the rushed aspects of it.
There were several instances in some of the interactions between characters when I could definitely tell that the author is British,
not American. For example, there was a place in a conversation where
Jon said that "...in America we've all been taught this idea that we're
descended from rugged self-reliant cowboys." (Ah, no. We're not taught
this. Never. Not even a hint of this.) There were also several rather
disparaging instances of political commentary. It would have behooved
Jameson to leave out some of that which she doesn't actually know as
fact.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Atria Books.
Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer
St. Martin's Press: 4/9/19
eBook review copy; 384 pages
ISBN-13:
9781250107459
Saving Meghan by D.J. Palmer is a recommended domestic medical thriller.
Becky Gerard is a devoted mother who only wants her only child,
Meghan, to be well and healthy, but Meghan has been struggling with a
mysterious, undiagnosed illness. Becky has learned the medical jargon
and made personal connections with specialists while trying to help
Meghan. Carl, Becky's husband and Meghan's father, doubts Becky's
motives. He thinks she is obsessed and making Meghan ill by her
treatment of her.
When Becky meets with several new specialists she gets a new
diagnosis for Meghan and a diagnosis for herself. While one specialist,
Dr. Zach Fisher, believes Meghan has mitochondrial disease, another more
powerful MD, Dr. Amanda Nash, believes Becky has Munchausen
syndrome by proxy and maneuvers the situation for the state to take
custody of Meghan. Now Becky is fighting for the life of her child and
her reputation.
The narrative is told through several different characters, including
Becky, Meghan, and Zach, with Becky being the main narrator. Becky and
Carl both are rude and unpleasant characters, although we are repeatedly
told how darn attractive they are and how much this matters to everyone
they encounter. Becky is such an annoying character - egotistical,
privileged, and manipulative - that it is difficult to muster sympathy
for her. It is clear, from the start, that Becky will be accused of
Munchausen's. She is so unlikable that it is easy to believe except for
snippets from Meghan's narrative which suggest something else is going
on in her family.
The writing is good, in spite of the unpleasant characters. This is a
medical thriller that will pass the time if you simple overlook the
traits of the characters and just follow the plot. There are some twists
and surprises, however the pacing is a little slow at times. While
there is a lot of medical jargon, it does serve to highlight Becky's
obsession with Meghan's medical condition which helps to make Becky's
diagnosis believable. This was a 3.5 for me, but I'm rounding down
because the novel was a chore to read at certain junctures. A strong
airplane book choice.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of St. Martin's Press.
Outside Looking In by T. C. Boyle
HarperCollins: 4/9/19
eBook review copy; 400 pages
ISBN-13:
9780062882981
Outside Looking In by T. C. Boyle is a very highly recommended look at early psychedelic experimentation in the 1960's.
LSD was first synthesized
in BaselIn, Switzerland in 1943, as covered in the prelude. The novel
then advances to 1962-1964 and introduces Fitzhugh (Fitz) Loney, a
psychology
Ph.D. student at Harvard. When his advisor, Tim, invites Fitz and his
wife, Joanie, to attend a Saturday night research session at his home,
they are nervous, but accept. Tim and his inner circle are taking
psilocybin mushrooms to see if they could be used in a therapeutic
treatment program. Soon, Tim and the group begin to take LSD for
research purposes. Fitz and Joanie are not completely entrenched in the
group at first, but that changes when Tim rents a resort in Zihuatanejo,
Mexico, invites the whole research group to join him, starting the idea
of communal living, and begins to offer summer seminars. Fitz and
Joanie go to Mexico, taking Corey, their teenage son along.
As the research becomes less scientific, Tim loses his position at
Harvard, but rents a sixty-four room mansion in Millbrook, NY, for the
group. There they will practice communal living and offer seminars to
other interested parties. As experimentation and rampant drug usage
ensues, all ideas of academic papers and scientific trials are set
aside. Fitz, who was going to work on his PhD thesis at Millbrook,
instead loses focus, and his family begins to disintegrate.
Outside Looking In is thoroughly engrossing and I was totally
entrenched in the narrative. Even if you know where it is heading, Boyle
has presented a fascinating insight into Leary's perspective through
the viewpoint of Fitz and Joanie as they enter his inner circle. The
writing is excellent in the detailed plot, capturing the times and the
flawed personalities involved without resorting to stereotypical
descriptions. The narrative follows the actions of the characters and
their experiences, while allowing the reader to make deductions about
the ethics or any overarching morality themes.
The character of Fitz is well developed and the reader can clearly
follow the change in him as he moves further into Tim's inner circle and
increases his experimentation. That is not to imply that he is
predictable. He does slowly go through a transition, as does Joanie. No
judgement is made on their integrity or transitions. The narrative
follows the action and the judgements and conclusions are left to the
reader. It is a small slice of a small group of people during an
interesting time in history. This novel captures a time, a juncture in
history, and the implication of the cultural impact to come.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of HarperCollins.
A Wonderful Stroke of Luck by Ann Beattie
Penguin Random House: 4/2/19
eBook review copy; 288 pages
ISBN-13:
9780525557340
A Wonderful Stroke of Luck by Ann Beattie is a recommended/so-so novel following a disaffected young man through his coming-of-age into adulthood.
Ben is an honor student at the elite Bailey Academy where he finds
himself part of the honor society led by teacher Pierre LaVerdure.
LaVerdere is a capricious advisor who teaches his group of students how
to discuss topics, with both reason and deception. As Ben moves
aimlessly on after graduation, eventually to college, and in and out of
relationships, LaVerdere's influence seems to continuously be a part of
his subconscious.
The quality of the writing is excellent, but the execution of the
plot and the character development is not very satisfying. Basically
this came across as yet another novel about an indecisive, aimless,
indifferent unfulfilled millennial going through not even a very
interesting existential crisis in a somewhat pointless plot. That may
seem harsh, but I feel as if I've read about this character before but
placed in a much more focused narrative with a decisive plot. Beattie
provides some incredible emotional insights and the quality of the writing elevates this above the ordinary, both of which influenced my rating, but with a sharper focus on the plot this could have been a more powerful novel.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick
Penguin
Random House: 4/2/19
eBook review copy; 352 pages
ISBN-13: 9780525558736
Lights All Night Long by Lydia Fitzpatrick is a highly
recommended heartbreaking coming-of-age novel.
This is the story of two Russian brothers, Ilya and Vladimir, who
take different paths. The novel opens with fifteen-year-old
exchange student Ilya arriving in Effie, Louisiana, from
Berlozhniki, a small village in Russia on the edge of the Arctic
Circle. This should be an exciting time, a dream come true, but as
he left Russia, he left his older brother Vladimir behind - and
Vladimir has just been thrown into jail and charged with the
murder of three young girls. Ilya knows Vladimir is innocent, but
how can he prove it while living in America?
The story alternates between the Ilya's past in Russia,
leading up to the present day, and his time in America, where he
finds an ally and help from his host family's daughter, Sadie. The
two brothers were always close, but Ilya has always been the
studious one, excelling in learning English. As Ilya studied and
prepared for the exam that would allow him to be an exchange
student in America, Vladimir descended further into drinking and
the local drug culture. Now Ilya and Sadie find a way to help
Vladimir from afar.
The alternating chapters serve to contrast
the poverty in Russia and the abundance in America, but also
served to show, as Ilya learns more, some of the similarities in
both countries and cultures. The novel does start out slow and it
takes time to get a better feel for Ilya and establish some sense
of connection to the characters. The connection with Ilya does
improve as the novel progresses and his character becomes better
developed, but the slow start to the narrative does serve to
impede any immediate connection. Sadie, the oldest daughter of the host family, is developed as a character, but the rest of the family are
never really developed beyond caricatures. Mostly, this is a tale
of two brothers, their bond, and the very different lives the two
live
.
This is a well-written, compassionate, compelling account of
Ilya's life and family and an impressive debut novel. The mystery,
solving the murders, does reach a satisfying conclusion
which is aptly tied into the plot. The focus is really on the
relationship between the brothers and the lengths you will go to help
those you love.
Disclosure:
My review copy was courtesy of Penguin
Random House.
