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“The panic he felt then was unlike any he’d known before. A sensation of being trapped in someplace small, and abandoned in someplace endless, all at once.” These are the thoughts contemplated by the protagonist in Michael Koryta's Last Words as he finds himself stranded in an underground cave.
If reading something can make you claustrophobic, this might not be the book for you.
Read moreIn the past couple of decades, Stephen King has made a decided shift from horror to thriller/supernatural, a shift that has turned me into a huge fan. Previously unable to finish his books out of sheer terror, I am chomping at the bit for the thrillers. Finders Keepers, the sequel to Mr. Mercedes, did not disappoint. Started it on a Wednesday; finished it that Sunday.
Early on, Finders Keepers seems only tangentially related to Mr. Mercedes and I wondered if it was a marketing gimmick to call it a sequel. But mid way through, the rag tag crime team of Bill, Holly and Jerome from the first book show up to help our latest protagonist in trouble, teenager Pete Saubers.
Pete has the fortune to happen upon a trunk full of money and notebooks filled with poetry and prose at a time of family crisis. In time, he realizes the notebooks are the true value of his find. They are 20 years of unpublished writing from American hero author John Rothstein, who was tragically murdered years before.
The problem for Pete? Morrie Bellamy, the man who buried the trunk, gets paroled after decades in prison and, you guessed it, comes looking for his trunk.
King not only tells a fast paced story that keeps you turning the pages as fast as you can read the words, but he masterfully illuminates the important, yet tenuous, connection between authors and readers. One that King certainly grapples with daily. While extreme, King, perhaps partly autobiographically, shows how destructive a relationship can be between an obsessed reader and an unaccommodating author.
Don’t worry; even though the underlying theme is reminiscent of Misery, the plot is fresh enough for Finders Keepers to stand fully on its own. And, for those of you longing for King’s horrors of the past, don’t fret, Morrie Bellamy, even in his 70 year old broken down body, is as dark and frightening as they come.
Published: 2015
Publisher: Scribner
Elizabeth's rating: 4 stars
The outer edge of the Pacific Northwest is as slow paced and calm as you can get, but author Rainer Rey adds a whole lot of excitement to its peaceful existence. He successfully combines government covert operations, an Indian shaman, psychic powers, terrorism and adventure into his novel, The Find. Frankly, in reading the book description, I had my doubts. But Rey came through with each page.
There are several converging stories, of which the most significant are high-powered business woman Lorna Novack and ex-FBI agent Kellen Rand. Lorna is fed up with the pressure of her work, but dives into it head first to prove herself in a man’s world. She gets a call regarding her long lost step-sister who has been seriously injured and whose daughter has gone missing. Lorna travels to Orcas Island from Chicago to be by her side and find out what has happened to her niece. Kellen is through with big cities and after an ugly dismissal from the FBI, has started a new life and launched a salmon hatchery. One evening, he and his friend Paddy venture via boat to witness a shaman connect with nature; or rather, seemingly control nature. It’s an undeniable spectacle, that is described in enough detail, we can quite clearly imagine the scene.
Read moreI have read a few Lisa Unger psychological thrillers so I picked up her latest, Crazy Love You, with high hopes, which unfortunately, were dashed. Unger’s story tracks a treacherous relationship between Ian, the pill popping graphic novelist, and his childhood confidante and protector, Priss.
Ian, an overweight, acne-ridden kid, met Priss in the woods behind his house after suffering a traumatic childhood event. Always in awe that Priss, this lovely, seemingly caring spirit, would actually befriend him. Ian worshipped her and ultimately made her the protagonist in his widely successful series “Fatboy and Priss”.
But as Ian grew, he began to realize that Priss’ devotion to him was a dark force. While narrowly escaping brushes with the law as a child for crimes committed by Priss in her role as his avenger, tensions come to a head between Ian and Priss once Ian meets Megan, the woman he intends to marry. Priss is none too accepting of the proposition and makes her displeasure known through increasingly violent acts of ill will that all circle back to Ian.
Along the way, you begin to realize that Ian’s perceptions about Priss just don’t add up. Is she a real person or a figment of his imagination? This becomes the pulse of the story, but the resolution lacked the catharsis it deserved. I finished the book thinking that there were a hundred pages too many leading up to the denouement and thirty pages too few wrapping it all up.
Published: 2015
Publisher: Touchstone
Elizabeth's rating: 2.5 stars
Award-winning author Joseph Kanon is internationally recognized, having published bestsellers, including The Good German, which was made into a film starring George Clooney and Cate Blanchett. With much acclaim, I picked up his latest spy thriller with great expectation. I was disappointed.
Leaving Berlin takes place in 1949 Berlin; the city divided by the Allies into Soviet, French, British and American sectors. In the East, the Soviets rule with an iron fist, grabbing people off the streets for small suspected infractions, friends turn into informants, and war-time concentration camps are turned into prisons for party dissenters. At the center of the drama is Alex Meier, a Jewish German writer who was able to leave a concentration camp during the war after a payoff. 15 years later, after exile in America, he returns at the invitation of the new Soviet-backed German party to help form a cultural revival.
Read moreBlood on Snow is my first foray into the world of Jo Nesbo, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. First, let me begin with the reasons I chose this book. One, the book has been on many “2015 must read” lists. Two, I’ve been focused on female-centric books lately and wanted a change of pace. And finally, Nesbo’s bio - “a musician, songwriter, and economist, as well as a writer”. Perfect.
The story is told by Olav, a “fixer”, or contract killer in the frigid Norway winter. As he tells us about himself, we think he’s perhaps a bit dim. But we find quickly that while he has dyslexia, Olav is quite clever. He tries to deceive us often with, “but what do I know” comments after explaining that he’s read a scientific journal or idealized the romance of Les Misérables. Olav fixes situations for his bosses, but he also fixes stories - both in books and his own reality to turn them into a newer, more interesting and romantic version.
Read moreThis Lucie Whitehouse novel, “Before We Met” takes the reader to London and New York, through a mystery of a husband’s unknown past. Protagonist Hannah is blissfully in love with Mark, but a missed flight home to London propels Hannah to look into the reasons behind it. One clue uncovers another - each one more confusing than the last, until she is forced to piece together the truth.
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