Book Reviews
in Books I Like
Missing Daughter by Rick Mofina. Missing Daughter is shockingly realistic. You feel real pain for the poor parents of the missing 12-year old. Their lives are examined under a microscope by hard-nosed police officers and a relentless press. Supportive neighbors turn sour on them as events make their lives more and more difficult. Missing Daughter has more twists and turns than a forest trail. Mofina is a fabulous writer and Missing Daughteri s a great read. The Other Woman by Daniel Silva. Silva is a longtime favorite author of mine, and he’s at the top of his game inThe Other Woman. Pit two cunning spy masters against each other in an epic battle for the secrets of nations, then mix in history’s most notorious real-world traitors, and you get a home run for a great writer with an enduring protagonist. Can’t wait to see if Silva can top this one with his new book, The New Girl, out this July.
The Lost Man by Jane Harper. Happily, I discovered Jane Harper long before she sold her first book, The Dry, to the movie studios. Great authors often make a book’s setting a significant character in the story and no one does it better than Jane Harper. In The Lost Man, she brings the Australian outback alive – the heat, the blistering wind and the unrelenting blaze of the sun. You’ll need a water bottle to get through the first scene. Jane peels away the layers of her characters – the skin, the muscle, the bone, right down to the heart – slowly revealing complex relationships that only get more tangled as the story races toward its denouement.
Say You’re Sorry by Karen Rose. Say You’re Sorry is Karen’s 24th book, so if you haven’t discovered her, you’ve got lots of entertaining reading ahead. At first, I didn’t like the book’s protagonist, Daisy, a reformed alcoholic with a tiny comfort dog named Brutus in her purse. Yet as the story unfolds, Daisy evolves into a powerhouse woman who develops uncanny insights into herself and those around her, and whose her passions empower those closest to her. It’s a tour de force in character development.
Beware the Past by Joy Ellis. I’ve never seen the Lincolnshire fens, but Joy Ellis makes me want to jump on a plane to visit this forlorn and isolated western coast of England where Joy’s characters hide as many secrets as the land has bogs. Beware The Past keeps the reader on edge till it’s final reveal when Ellis pulls off an awesome surprise ending, one I challenge you to guess.
The Dark Vineyard by Martin Walker. If you been longing for a summer in rural France, but can’t afford the cost or the time, read Martin Walker’s The Dark Vineyard. His protagonist Bruno brings everything classically French to the table—the cheeses, the baguettes, the roast duck, the wine – oh the wine! – along with the intricacies of village politics, French legal and police bureaucracy and many a good mystery. You can even find Bruno’s Spotify playlist on the author’s website. Pure unadulterated enjoyment, Please partake.
The Killer Collective by Barry Eisler. The Killer Collective is a delightful mix of fascinating characters, suspense, conflict, and lightning-fast action. John Rain is, as usual, brilliant, and Livia, a Seattle cop with a wicked past, is a great addition. This one is even harder than the usual Barry Eisler novel not to read in one sitting.
