My reading material this past month has been all over the map, as usual. Suspense novels and thrillers, a funny and touching memoir, a re-read for my bookclub, and some fiction that is both familiar and innovative. Curious? Read on.
Two Nights, by Kathy Reichs. Reichs is best known for her long-running Temperance Brennan series, the basis for the TV show Bones. What she's not known for is stand-alone novel, which is what her most recent work is, though it sets itself up nicely to kick off a possible sequel or series. Sunday Night is a woman with a dark past, full of secrets. Perhaps that's why she's so good at uncovering the secrets of others. In this case, it's a missing girl who is the sole presumed survivor of a terrorist attack which made her an orphan, a girl who vanished without a trace. Sunday, patient and ruthless, must backtrack the cold case only to find herself racing against the clock when the terrorist cell activates once more. This was a fast read but densely packed--skimming forward resulted in my paging back looking for clues I'd inadvertently skimmed over. I definitely hope for at least a sequel, though, as Sunday has more secrets of her own yet to be revealed.
Sworn to Silence & Pray for Silence, by Linda Castillo. These are the first and second entries in Castillo's Kate Burkholder series. Police chief Kate Burkholder works in Painter's Mill, Pennsylvania, a small community that relies heavily on tourist trade, owing mainly to its Amish community. And murder is bad for business. In the series opener, Chief Burkholder and her small but capable department find themselves racing against the clock when a single murder soon becomes part of a series, the murderer escalating quickly. In the follow-up, nearly a year later, the department works to solve a mass murder on an Amish farm. When a suspect's suicide yields a note confessing everything, the case should be closed, but the Chief is convinced the man wasn't working alone and must lay a trap to lure the accomplice out of hiding. These are excellent thrillers and I'm looking forward to picking up the next in the series.
Theft by Finding: diaries (1977-2002), by David Sedaris. Humorous essayist, playwright and memoirist Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day, etc.) has kept diaries for decades, meticulously recording the interesting bits of his life each day. Here is the first half of his culled entries, ranging from his early twenties when he was perpetually broke, picking fruit and doing odd jobs, to his early years of success as a writer and playwright. Searingly funny and thoughtful, I loved every bit. The audiobook, read by the author, is an absolute winner.
Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero. For those of us who grew up on Saturday morning cartoons with Scooby-Doo and the gang, this second English language novel from Barcelona native Cantero scratches a particular nostalgic itch. In 1977, the Blyton Summer Detective Club (of Blyton Hills, a small mining town in Oregon's Zoinx River Valley) unmasked a the villain in their final case: a low-life fortune-hunter who was pretending to haunt an abandoned mansion and mine in order to get his hands on the riches supposedly hidden in the depths of the mansion. And he would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling kids. But did they catch the real culprit after all? Fast-forward thirteen years, however, and that final case is still haunting the remaining members of the Club, who have grown up and apart. At long last, the group decides that they need to return to the scene and put their ghosts to rest, once and for all. This was such a fun read! Funny, spooky, a little zany and totally endearing. I'd love to see a sequel.
The Good Daughter, by Karin Slaughter. This stand-alone thriller from best-selling Slaughter (Cop Town, etc.) During a home invasion, two sisters are forced out into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. The other is left behind. In the aftermath of tragedy, the Quinn family and their happy, small-town existence is broken beyond repair. Twenty-eight years later, younger sister Charlotte is a lawyer, having followed in the footsteps of her father. But the ideal life she should be living is crumbling, even before violence revisits their small town of Pikeville, causing severe flashbacks for Charlie and her family. Shocking twists and relentless pacing in this story left me absolutely breathless, as secrets find the light of day and what has been hidden so long is at last revealed. I've read all of Slaughter's work and I think this just might be her best to date. Highly recommended.
Crimson Shore, by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child. I'm nearly caught up with the Agent Pendergast series! This, the thirteenth in the series, finds Agent Pendergast and his ward, Constance Greene, on a case which takes them to the quaint seaside village of Exmouth, Massachusetts. Initially, they are there to investigate the theft of an artist's priceless wine collection. When the wine-cellar reveals a hidden chamber where the skeleton of a man was once housed, the case takes a decidedly darker turn. A Grey Reaper walks the salt marshes, bodies marked with occult symbols wash ashore, screams rend the silent nights. Is there validity to the old tale that when the trials began in Salem in 1692 that the real witches fled to hide in Exmouth? This was a somewhat slow start for the series, but when it picked up, it churned along at a breakneck pace. Thoroughly enjoyable.
A Sudden Light, by Garth Stein. This is a reread for me--my bookclub is reading it for our September meeting. You can read my original review here.
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, by Robin Sloan. Clay Jannon has gone from San Francisco web-designer to unemployed in the Great Recession, and within the first few days working at Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, Clay finds that the place is stranger than either its name or its rather gnome-like owner. In fact, none of the patrons ever seem to purchase anything. Rather, they "check out" large volumes from strange nooks and crannies in the store. Clay, with the help of a few friends, begins to catalog and analyze the customers behavior, but when the findings are brought to the owner, Clay discovers that the bookstore's secrets go far deeper than he could have ever imagined. Incredibly inventive, entertaining and captivating, I never wanted it to end!
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