Tuesday Book Review

Five-star review of The Summer Guests: A Thriller (The Martini Club Book 2

Folks retire to Amity, Maine, where people keep to themselves, including the five ex-CIA agents who make up the Martini Club. Others come for the summer months. Once again, Maggie, Declan, Ingrid, Lloyd and Ben assist acting police chief, Jo Thibideau, much to her grudging acceptance, in the search for a missing summer visitor, teenage Zoe Conover, who was a guest at her stepfather’s family summer home. The case soon involves a murder investigation. All of the characters are well-rounded; most are likable while the rest are not. I particularly liked the discussions among these retired spooks in their sixties and seventies about whether they were losing their cognitive abilities, and I’m looking forward to more from the Martini Club. 

Tuesday Book Review

Four-star review of Orbital by Samantha Harvey

I listened to the audio version of this book. Rather than a story, it was a day in the life of six astronauts, actually four astronauts and two cosmonauts, aboard the orbiting space station. Each orbit was a chapter filled with observations, thoughts and emotions, and philosophizing, sixteen orbits in all as the station took ninety minutes to circumnavigate the big blue marble of Earth. It was interesting rather than engrossing and I learned a few things I didn’t know before. It was difficult to empathize with the six people other than to sympathize with the Japanese member of the crew whose mother died during the time she was away. We learned little about these people even though we were witness to a few of their memories and dreams. The writing is poetically lovely, especially when describing the views of Earth and a typhoon that develops throughout the day. 

Tuesday Book Review on Thursday

Four-star review of The Drowning Game by Barbara Nickless

Nadia Brenner, the heir to a yacht designing and building family empire, wasn’t my favorite protagonist, but the plot involving her sister’s murder and the fascinating setting in Singapore were intriguing. Nadia doesn’t know who to trust as she overseas the completion of a yacht that can save the family’s financial situation. The twists and turns, all of the characters involved, the various forces with an interest in the yacht and even the intricacies of the build are intriguing. Twists and turns kept me reading to the end. The author has written a couple of series in the past and I wonder if she’ll consider turning this one into a series.

Tuesday Book Review

Five-star review of James by Percival Everett

This was the second audio book I’ve listened to this year and I don’t know how the two different ‘voices’ James uses are conveyed in print, but the audio version made quite an impression on me. The slave Jim uses vocabulary and sentence structure his white owners expect, but James is really a well-read man with an excellent command of English. The story itself is as exciting, maybe more so, than the original Huckleberry Finn. James shows ingenuity at every turn. In that framework, we get a better understanding of the history of this country during the Civil War, the conflicting attitudes and drives for the people living along the Mississippi River. The story is engrossing and moves quickly. 

Tuesday Book Review

Five-star review of What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline

This standalone novel by one of my favorite mystery and suspense writers is engrossing from the first moment on. When the Bennett’s car is stopped by two hoodlums on their way to their suburban Philadelphia home from the daughter’s field hockey game, it initiates a series of events that are horrific, surprising, exciting and moving, full of all the feels from fear through grief and anger all the way to familial love. We are with court reporter Jason Bennett through it all, not knowing who to trust or how to handle the family’s difficult situation. Recommended for all suspense fans.

  

Tuesday Book Review

Five-star review of Wizard of Most Wicked Ways (Whimbrel House Book 4) by Charlie N. Holmberg

This is another great entry in the Whimbrel House stories from one of my favorite recent fantasy authors. It continues the story of Owein as well as Merritt and Hulda. Owein is contractually promised to Lady Cora, a British noble, but is torn between her and Fallon, a shapeshifting Druid from Ireland. Meanwhile, Merritt and Hulda are raising three daughters in Whimbrel House on Blaugdone Island in Narragansett Bay. But first, they must all deal with the return of their old enemy, Silas Hogwood who is bent on revenge. Hogwood might not have all the magical abilities he had before in his last body, but it’ll take all their combined might with help from Queen Victoria’s League of Magicians. Many of the characters from the other books appear, and the children only add to the fun moments and show the soft sides, especially of Merritt and Owein. 

Tuesday Book Review on Wednesday

Five-star review of Operation Hail Mary, a Novel by Andy Weir

What would you do if you suddenly woke up on a starship far from Earth with no memory of how you got there or what you were supposed to do? That’s what happens to junior high school science teacher  Ryland Grace to start this story. As gradual, and mostly chronological memories return, he becomes familiar with his ship, his two (dead) companions and the task they were sent to perform. And they’re not alone. I enjoyed this story more than The Martian because there was so much hard science rather than plodding determinations of how many potatoes to plant and execution of that plan. The mechanics of the ship, the astronomy involved and so many more aspects of how Grace tried to accomplish his goal were fascinating to me. But it’s also a story about first contact and friendship, and what that means. I loved the characters, the way their minds worked and how their skills complemented each other. Can we please have another book with Grace and Rocky? I listened to the audiobook, which was very well done.