Reading Ahead: April 2019, part 2

Machines, marriage and mysteries, oh my!


Machines Like Me, by Ian McEwan. McEwan (Atonement, etc.) pushes boundaries in his latest novel, set in an alternate version of 1980s London. Here, the British are losing the Falklands War and Alan Turing is not only alive, but his work has given rise to a line of androids almost indistinguishable from humans. When aimless 32-year-old Charlie Friend comes into money, he buys an "Adam", and he and his upstairs neighbor Miranda each input half of the personality parameters required to push Adam past his factory presets. It's not long, however, before a love triangle develops and the three confront a profound moral dilemma. I'm recommending this for fans of subversive fiction, like that of Margaret Atwood.

The View from Alameda Island, by Robyn Carr. Carr, one of my favorite authors for easy reading, delivers a stand alone novel about the unhappiness that can lurk behind even the most "perfect" of facades. Lauren Delaney has an enviable life: a successful career, a husband who is a prominent surgeon, two lovely daughters who are attending good colleges. Lauren, though, is deeply unhappy and refuses to pretend any longer, filing for divorce and starting over on her own, where she meets a kindred spirit also struggling to extricate himself from an unhappy marriage. Lauren's husband, infuriated by the upheaval in his deliberate, ordered life, will take extreme action, and Lauren's entire future may be at risk. This should make for some excellent vacation reading this spring.

Triple Jeopardy, by Anne Perry. First seen in Twenty One Days (2018), young lawyer Daniel Pitt, son of Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, is delighted that his sister is back for a visit from the States. But the family reunion is cut short when Daniel is called upon to represent a British diplomat who has fled from Washington, D.C. to London, claiming diplomatic immunity. The diplomat, Philip Sidney, is accused of theft and embezzlement. It's not long before the case against his client proves to be a smoke screen for something far more dangerous, and Daniel is determined to figure out just what that is. Perry fans will be delighted with their new young sleuth.