Review: "It's Not Her," Mary Kubica

Mary Kubica has done it this time. She’s filled an entire book with unlikable characters.

I didn’t think I could finish—never mind enjoy—such a novel. However, I decided to heed the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”

Why couldn’t I read a book with an abysmal setting? Plus, I don’t remember the characters eating much more than cereal. Oh, wait—they drank some beer. I love an exciting location and evocative food descriptions, but there was none of that here.

So what did I get out of this book?

A great story.

And I learned that nasty characters can sustain my interest.

Courtney Gray tells the story in alternating chapters with her niece, Reese. Courtney, a preschool teacher, is kind, intrepid, and fiercely protective of her family. But even she has made an unfortunate mistake in the past—one that undoubtedly plays into her family’s tragic predicament.

Courtney, her husband Elliott, and daughter Cass have joined Courtney’s brother’s family at a rundown resort camp on a northern Wisconsin lake. Nolan Crane, an unemployed software engineer, doesn’t have much to say—perhaps because his wife Emily is such a control freak. Their daughter Reese, seventeen, seems to simmer with anger.

Then there’s fourteen-year-old Wyatt Crane, a baseball star and the apple of his mother’s eye. Unfortunately, he’s also a gambler, thief, and blackmailer. Mae Crane, only ten, is Cass’s best friend. You might assume the younger girls are innocents—but you’d be wrong.

After a sleepover with Cass, Mae heads back to her family’s cabin. Minutes later she returns to the Grays’, covered in blood and unable to explain what has happened.

Elliott is out fishing, but Courtney rushes to the Cranes’ cabin and finds Nolan and Emily brutally murdered. Wyatt eventually appears, claiming he slept through the attack after his mother gave him a Benadryl the night before. Reese, however, is nowhere to be found.

Courtney’s narrative follows the investigation as Detective Evans arrives at the scene. But Courtney is determined to find Reese herself. Meanwhile, Reese’s chapters recount her relationship with Daniel Clarke, a young camp employee whose influence on her grows increasingly dark. Reese is also grieving the loss of her once-close friendship with Skylar back home—a rupture she herself set in motion.

Reese suggests Elliott may have behaved inappropriately toward her. Courtney begins to question her husband’s fishing alibi. Emily had wanted to speak to Elliott about something—but what? Elliott claims he can’t remember.

Hovering over everything is the disappearance of a young girl several years earlier. Could Reese’s disappearance be connected? Or did Reese kill her parents and run?

Tensions mount as Courtney throws caution aside to find her niece—and the killer. I found myself marveling at the characters’ perspicacity as the pages turned.

Sometimes, it really is all about the story.

Review: "The Storm," Rachel Hawkins

Geneva Collins never intended to return to St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama. But her widowed mother is slipping into dementia, and someone has to run her family’s Rosalie Inn—a Gulf Coast landmark that has somehow survived  hurricane after hurricane.

Geneva herself, however, feels far less sturdy. Her boyfriend—once enthusiastic about innkeeping—has fled. Competing with Vrbo and Airbnb is a challenge. Her mother, Ellen, no longer recognizes her. The Rosalie offers a breathtaking Gulf view, but the weight of responsibility presses hard.

Then an interesting reservation request arrives. August Fletcher, a writer researching St. Medard’s most infamous murder, wants an extended stay—and is willing to pay handsomely for it. During Hurricane Marie in 1984, beautiful, wild nineteen-year-old Lo Bailey was accused of killing Landon Fitzhugh, a married man from a powerful political family. The case roiled the town.

Geneva is thrilled—she needs the business—until August arrives with Lo Bailey herself in tow.

Now sixty, Lo remains magnetic: charming, sharp, unapologetic. But she is not welcome in St. Medard’s. Geneva is drawn to her, yet senses deep tensions between Lo and Edie, Geneva’s assistant at the inn. Meanwhile, Geneva finds herself increasingly captivated by August. Hoping to help his research, she shares a box of old newspaper clippings her mother saved from the case—only to uncover secrets that complicate everything. Lo, it seems, is only part of the story.

As a new hurricane—Lizzie—approaches, the narrative ticks down to landfall. Geneva’s voice anchors the story, but August, Lo, Ellen, and even Landon speak as well, alongside archival articles that deepen the mystery. The layered structure mirrors the gathering storm, both meteorological and emotional.

Geneva is a grounded, relatable protagonist, and Lo is as flamboyant and compelling as a suspected murderer can be. The Rosalie Inn carries its own mystique, and hurricane-battered St. Medard’s is a vivid, atmospheric setting.

The Storm may be Rachel Hawkins’ strongest novel yet—blending suspense, layered perspectives, and twist after twist into a story where not just one, but multiple storms threaten to make landfall.

Review: "Venetian Vespers," John Banville

Set at the close of the 19th century, Venetian Vespers drops us into a wintry Venice seen through the jaundiced eyes of its narrator, English writer Evelyn Dolman. He arrives with his wife Laura—an American heiress, recently disinherited after a mysterious rupture with her father—to inhabit a cavernous palazzo on the Grand Canal, a wedding gift that now feels less like a blessing than a trap.

From the outset, Dolman loathes Venice: the cold, the smell, the sense of rot beneath the beauty. He cynically describes the city’s decaying foundations as “the soiled and drenched hems of the petticoats of a succession of dropsical old ladies.” To him, Venice is not a postcard. It’s sinister; the city seems to smirk at him.  The supporting cast deepens the unease: the coarse and unsettling Count Barbarigo, their landlord; the ambiguous maid Rosaria (servant? relative? accomplice? If so, to what?). Meanwhile, Dolman’s suspects that he may have been a consolation prize after Laura’s father blocked an unsuitable match.

Dolman quickly encounters Freddie FitzHerbert, a boarding-school acquaintance Dolman does not remember and immediately distrusts, and Freddie’s sister Francesca, whose allure proves far more destabilizing. When Laura vanishes and the FitzHerberts insinuate themselves into the palazzo, Dolman’s tenuous grasp on reality begins to fray. He knows he’s being sucked into a bizarre rabbit hole—and yet he doesn’t really try to save himself.

The story is dark and claustrophobic, with more than a trace of Poe in its atmosphere and moral ambiguity. Dolman is very much an anti-hero: vain, unreliable, passive, and complicit in his own undoing. And yet he is compelling precisely because of these flaws.

John Banville is a masterful writer, and his exquisite precision and sensuality are on full display here. Grim, yes—but deliciously so. I devoured it.

Review: "The Wasp Trap," Mark Edwards

Six friends, who haven’t seen each other for more than 20 years, have gathered at a posh Notting Hill home to mark the passing of their mentor, Sebastian Marlowe.

It doesn’t take long for their pasts to catch up with them.

Professor Marlowe had hired the group of smart postgraduates in 1999, to help him create an online dating site. Now Theo, a successful businessman, and his wife, Georgina, who teaches yoga, are married. They’re hosting this London reunion/celebration of life.

Will, the narrator, is a struggling writer. He was the “wordsmith” of the group and came up with the site’s clever name: Butterfly.net. Sophie, now a jewelry maker, contributed creative ideas, while Lily is still an uber-techie. Rohan was also business-oriented, but seemed to spend a lot of time watching footie with Sebastian’s nephew, Dominic.

The gathering is mildly uncomfortable from the get-go, but then things really go south. The group has been trapped in the house and their lives are on the line. One of them has a secret that must be revealed to save all their lives—but no one’s talking.

At least at first. In flashbacks to 1999, when they were all working at Marlowe’s country estate, gradually each member of the group reveals something that the rest don’t know. Despite the confessions, the tension ratchets up and blood is shed—before the final, devastating secret becomes known.

The Wasp Trap is a taut psychological thriller with compelling characters and an intriguing plot. Tech infuses the narrative—it is the reason the group got together and the reason they are trapped. Lily developed a test for psychopaths back in the day, which had major repercussions. Now she’s created a lie detector test. Will that save the day for the friends? It looks like it will—until it doesn’t.

At times, The Wasp Trap seemed just a little implausible. But then there was another twist, and I really didn’t care. I was too busy turning the page.

Review: "The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer"

Translated from the Icelandic by Victoria Cribb

_______________

The popular Icelandic crime novelist Elín S. Jónsdóttir is missing.

Police detective Helgi Reykdal is especially intrigued to be on the case. 

Readers first met Helgi in Death in the Sanitorium. He loves classic crime fiction, and was doing post-graduate work when the police recruited him. Helgi has read Jonsdottir’s work. He is intrigued by her life and determined to find out what has happened to her. 

Helgi interviews Elin's friends—her publisher Rut and husband Thor, and Lovisa, a lawyer. Lovisa and Elín had gone hiking together. Later they’d met at a favorite cafe, a ritual with them. Lovisa hasn’t seen her since.

They say they are totally flummoxed by Elin's disappearance—but are they, really?

In alternating chapters, a recorded 2005 interview with Elín (by an unnamed, unseen reporter) plays out. The writer and her life are slowly revealed.  Other chapters deal with Hulda, Helgi’s predecessor at the police station. In the 1970s, she investigated a bank robbery that resulted in an employee being killed. She has dropped out of sight since she left the force, and Helgi wants to find out what happened to her as well. 

Meanwhile, Helgi has broken up with the alcoholic and violent (and scary) Bergthóra but she’s back on the scene, now stalking Helgi's new girlfriend, Anita. 

Helgi is a somewhat passive character, yet he is growing emotionally and he is tenancious. Jónasson’s writing has a flat affect, which reflects Helgi’s personality and adds to the tension of the story. The detective’s quiet determination serves him well as he slowly uncovers the secrets of Elín's life. But he fails to confront Bergthóra, and that proves to be a tragic mistake.

I enjoyed this thriller, which kept me turning the pages without clenching my stomach. Helgi is now co-owner of a second-hand bookshop. His classic crime fiction reading list is included. Elín’s writing life, as she describes it in the interview, is absorbing. These are welcome cozy elements that enhance, rather than detract from, the evil doings in the narrative.

Though Hulda’s story eventually intertwines with Elin’s disappearance, her whereabouts are still unknown. Although I usually dislike loose ends, I assume Helgi will be continuing his investigation of Hulda in the next book. At least, I hope so. Hulda is a sympathetic and interesting character.

This, the second book in the series, ends with a shocker, as did the first one. I am already anxious to find out what really happened in the final pages. I was wrong about the first book!

Review: "Don't Let Him In," Lisa Jewell

Ash is devastated by the loss of her personable, successful father, Paddy Swann. But things get worse when her mother falls for a former colleague of Paddy’s, Nick Radcliffe. Nick writes a letter to Nina Swann after he hears about Paddy’s death, and they correspond for a while. When they meet, they hit it off. Nick is handsome, generous and full of ideas for expanding Paddy’s small restaurant chain. But Ash is suspicious. She contacts Paddy’s long-ago girlfriend, Jane, and together they begin an investigation.

Just who is Nick Radcliffe? The story unfolds in chapters narrated by alternating voices: Ash, an unnamed man, and a woman named Martha. She runs a successful flower shop in a village near Ash and Nina’s home in Kent. Martha is head over heels in love with her new husband, Alistair, but his strange behavior and frequent absences worry her. She begins an investigation of her own…

Jewell is in fine form in her latest psychological thriller. Ash is a fragile but likable character who is struggling to find herself as an adult. Martha, a mother of three who has built a fine life for herself, engenders compassion as she makes a succession of bad choices. Nick is a hateful, yet fascinating, character. The story’s setting in scenic coastal Kent lends a cozy vibe that contrasts nicely with the intensity of the plot.

Readers will definitely echo “don’t let him in,” as they furiously turn the pages to learn the depth of Nick’s depravity. A near-perfect, gut-wrenching thriller!

Review: "The Paris Express," Emma Donoghue

It's 1898, and a train is headed from Granville, on the Normandy coast, to Paris' Montparnasse staion. Mado Pelletier, a young anarchist, is seated uneasily in third class, clutching her lunch bucket. If she turns it over, the bomb she built inside it will go off.

And so the reader is sent on a dizzying, nail-biting ride as a variety of fascinating characters apparently hurtle toward their demise. It’s a fact, documented by photographs: catastrophe struck this train. But what, exactly, is going to happen? The story of this journey is propulsive and suspenseful—and yet, because we get to know the characters so well, strangely cordial.

A wide range of fascinating people are on board, in three separate classes of cars. A North African coffee seller in third class wears a huge urn on his back for dispensing drinks. Maurice is a young boy who is set to disembark before Paris to meet his father. Oh, no he’s missed his stop! Considering we know disaster awaits, that moment was heartbreaking.

Blonska, a Russian émigré, is an odd do-gooder; a hunchback, a knitter. Marcelle de Heredia, in first class, dispenses unwanted medical advice to a privileged family. A private carriage arrives en route and is attached to the train. A politician and his invalid wife—Mado is satisfied by the thought of blowing up such a personage.

Donoghue dots her cast with real people who lived in Paris at the time, but weren’t on the train. The flamboyant Annah Lamor, who once kept house for the artist Paul Gauguin, wears a huge hat festooned with dead birds. Henry Tanner, a black American painter, wrestles with the freedom France offers him. The Irish playwright John Synge is fascinated by Annah.

The crew of four—Guillaume, Victor, Leon and Jean—are also depicted in exquisite detail.

A woman boards the train at one of its four stops, very pregnant. Mado has managed to not think about her victims, but ignoring this situation takes effort. Then the woman goes into labor. Mado has already told Blonska about her mother’s many miscarriages, so the older woman presses her into service. 

The train hurtles on. The addition of the private carriage has made them late. The engineer and the stoker are desperate to make up lost time. The train speeds up…the lunch bucket teeters…a baby’s head appears…a boy awakes and realizes he’s missed his stop…

I read The Paris Express in about three days (most books take me at least five). I was propelled along the tracks along with the characters. I do advise readers not to research the real-life historical incident before reading the book. Instead, take my word for it: Hop aboard and relish the ride.

Review: "The Lost House," Melissa Larsen

A mother and her baby are found dead in the snow in a small town in Iceland in 1979. Marie and Agnes become the stuff of legend—“the Frozen Madonna and Child.” In the true-crime mania of the 2000s, of course someone is going to do a podcast about them.

Nora Carver, host of “The End,” is at the top of her field because she helped solve a cold case, the murder of a 12-year-old girl. She invites Agnes Glin to join her in Iceland for her latest venture. Agnes is the granddaughter of Einer, Marie’s husband. He was suspected of the murders, and effectively run out of town.

Agnes, namesake of the murdered infant, is broken, literally and figuratively. She badly injured her leg in an accident, which followed the death of her beloved grandfather. Agnes is fighting her dependence on painkillers. Now she must face the truth of what happened 40 years before. Why did she agree to help Nora? How will Agnes cope if it turns out that Einer did kill his wife and daughter?

Nora Carver has set up shop in a gorgeous modern home. The old farmhouse where Einer and Marie lived is just steps away. It has become a mecca for followers of the Frozen Madonna story.

In this small town, connections run deep. Thor is a neighbor who built the fabulous house the women are staying in. His father had a feud with Einer over land. Another neighbor, Ingvar, saw Marie as a second mother; his own mother, Julia, took care of baby Agnes. All have something to say about what happened, and it’s not what Agnes wants to hear.

Meanwhile, the town is gripped by a new mystery. A student, Ása, has gone missing. Nora is distracted by these current events, and Agnes gets caught up as well—but she keeps on the trail of her family tragedy, determined to find the truth no matter how much it hurts.

Through the pain of the revelations, and her shattered leg, Agnes finally learns what happened to her grandmother and aunt, and why—and she uncovers Ása’s fate as well. Agnes even manages to fall in love along the way.

The Lost House is suspenseful, but also dreamy, as if the reader is seeing events unfold through Agnes’ opioid-induced state. Because Iceland, in winter, is both beautiful and unpredictable, a sense of tense uncertainty prevails. But there is no mistaking the satisfying closure Agnes finds by the end of the book. 

Review: "What Happened to Nina?" Dervla McTiernan

It might seem like author Dervla McTiernan ripped the plot for her latest thriller straight from a news story: A young man returns alone from a trip with his girlfriend. The young woman is nowhere to be found.

But What Happened to Nina? is much more than a lurid headline. It is the story of an interesting and pretty young woman, Nina, and what happens to her family in the wake of her disappearance. It’s the story of her longtime love interest, Simon Jordan, and his parents, who have to deal with the suspicions and rumors swirling around their son.

Nina Fraser is the daughter of a Vermont innkeeper and a landscaper. Simon’s father is a wealthy entrepreneur. His mother’s hobby is selling her designer clothes online to stuff her “retirement fund.” She’s sure her husband’s going to divorce her at some point.

Nina and Simon are avid hikers, and head up to his parents’ lavish new vacation home in Stowe. When the Frasers can’t reach Nina, they worry. When they realize Simon is back home with his parents and says he has no idea where his girlfriend is, they become frantic.

The police get involved. Both families turn to social media for help, but that quickly escalates, and not in a good way. The Jordans have both means and connections; they raise doubts about the Frasers that threaten to turn the community against the family and ruin their livelihoods.

All the parents have issues. Leanne Fraser’s rough childhood has left her emotionally damaged. Her husband, Andy, seems like a rock by comparison, but as tensions build, so does his temper. Jamie Jordan is clueless, while Rory Jordan is both ruthless and determined to protect his son at all costs.

Violence erupts more than once as the parents face off, unable to think clearly in the midst of the crisis. All the adults behave badly, but I definitely rooted for one side over the other.

The tension builds to a boiling point before the book ends in a satisfying, yet unsettling, way.

McTiernan, an Irish-born Australian, takes a risk in setting her book in New England. We natives get pretty prickly about mistakes involving our territory. But I detected none as I raced through this fast-paced and thought-provoking novel.

Review: "The Spy Coast," Tess Gerritsen

Lithgow Public Library in Augusta has chosen Tess Gerritsen's latest, The Spy Coast, for its 2024 Community Read. That's why I decided to read it. I enjoy participating in the event. I wasn't sure whether I was going to like the book, but I wanted to give it a try.

I loved it!

This fast-paced novel is definitely a spy thriller, but it also features a group of retired CIA agents who call themselves “The Martini Club.” It’s set in a picturesque mid-coast Maine village that put me in mind of Lincolnville—and in Malta, Bangkok, Istanbul and the English countryside.

The contrast adds up to a winning combination.

Here’s the story. Maggie Bird, 60, is enjoying the quiet life in Purity, Maine. She raises chickens on her 19th-century homestead and enjoys her relationships with her neighbor, Luther, and his granddaughter, Callie; as well as fellow retirees Declan, Ben, Lloyd and Ingrid.

Suddenly, everything goes south. Maggie is threatened, then shot at. The body of a dead woman (who has been tortured) is dumped in her driveway.

Acting Police Chief Jo Thibodeau tries to investigate, but she knows Maggie is not telling her the whole story. And why do these older newcomers to town—The Martini Club, she eventually learns—keep turning up? What can they possibly know about analyzing tire patterns at the scene of a crime?

Maggie’s tragic backstory, involving her work as a spy, is told in flashbacks, but readers don’t learn exactly why her life is in danger until the end. To uncover the surprising truth, Maggie must leave Purity, where she had finally found peace, and face her past in her old stomping grounds.

It looks like Maggie and "The Martini Club" will return in a sequel this year. I’ll toast to that!

Review: "One Perfect Couple," Ruth Ware

Lyla Santiago is a diligent, no-nonsense scientist. When her boyfriend, Nico, eagerly tells her they have a fantastic opportunity to participate in a reality TV show, she has serious doubts. Big questions.

Does she really want to spend up to 10 weeks on a remote island in the Indian Ocean? Does she really want to vie to be that “One Perfect Couple?” Lyla spends her days with test tubes, investigating mosquito-borne viruses. She is not bikini-ready, and certainly has no desire to be.

Nico, however, is a buff, aspiring actor who sees “One Perfect Couple” as his big break. As he makes his case, Lyla reluctantly sees some benefits. She could use a break—her work is not going well. She could respect Nico’s goals, give herself a mini-vacation, and avoid the worst of reality TV travails, because she’s sure to be voted off the island within a couple of weeks.

Alas, the alarm bells only get louder when Lyla and Nico make the long, exhausting trip to the other side of the world. Their cabin on the yacht, the Over Easy, which is transporting them to Ever After Island, is far from luxurious. Has the show really been picked up by Real TV? Why are there no health professionals on the staff? Do some of the contestants know more about the situation than Lyla and Nico?

Then, after only a day of filming, a massive storm hits the island and everything really goes south.

There are nine contestants left on their own on the island—the first person to be booted off and the producers and staff have headed for the mainland for the night. Food and water is limited, and the power is out. One member of the group has diabetes. Another appears to be a sociopath, and he seems to be abusing his partner. The group’s only hope is the radio, which is still operating—but no one seems to be hearing their mayday calls.

Meanwhile, the body count is rising—are the deaths accidents or murder?—and Lyla doesn’t know who is friend and who is foe.

Ruth Ware is one of my favorite thriller writers, and she does not disappoint in her latest novel. Lyla is a strong, likable protagonist who has been plunged into an incredible situation. One Perfect Couple is a page-turner with a satisfying conclusion. It was a great way to jump start my summer reading.

Review: "None of This Is True," Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell is one of my top favorite writers of psychological thrillers, and her latest one is a humdinger. But I have to admit, at one point, things got so bad for our protagonist, I almost put it down.

Sheer faith saw me through to the end of the novel.

It’s not like Alix Summer is a true heroine. She’s a successful podcaster with a hubby who sells pricey commercial real estate. She can follow her bliss while he brings home the bacon. They have two lovely children, and an exquisite home in the north of London. Did I mention she’s beautiful?

Dowdy, glum Josie Fair has booked a table in a posh restaurant to celebrate her 45th birthday when Alix and her entourage waltz in. Alix is celebrating her birthday, too, but in a much flashier way.

Josie waylays Alix in the restroom and tells the podcaster she’s her “birthday twin.” Indeed, both women are the same age and were born in the same hospital.

Alix thinks nothing of the encounter, but Josie sees it as a chance to escape her stifling life.

The podcaster always focuses on women who have successfully escaped uncomfortable or dangerous situations. What if, Josie tells Alix, she were to tell the story of someone who’s about to set herself free?

Alix is intrigued. The denim-clad Josie works part-time as a seamstress in a tailor shop. She lives only a few minutes from Alix, but in a small apartment on a congested street. She’s been with her husband, Walter, since she was 15—and he’s nearly 30 years older than her. One daughter is a recluse and she’s estranged from the other.

Josie slowly but surely infiltrates Alix’s life. Alix dismisses her discomfort because she thinks the podcast is going to be a great success. She waits too long to take action, and tragedy results.

Narratives from both Alix and Josie are interspersed with excerpts from the podcast and—yes!—the subsequent Netflix documentary. It’s called “Hi! I’m Your Birthday Twin! A Netflix Original Series.”

It’s all horribly delicious, and, despite the odds, ends on a satisfying note. Just ignore that squirmy feeling you get with that mental image of Josie wearing Alix’s $200 pj’s. Trust me (and Lisa Jewell): That too shall pass.