TWO-CENT TUESDAY

Below are a few (somewhat) brief $.02 opinions about books I've read or listened to recently but don't have the opportunity to review in full. Many of these titles I enjoyed as much or more than those that got the full court press. I hope you'll consider one or two for your own TBR stack if they strike your fancy whether they struck mine or not.

STAY AWAKE, by Megan Goldin

This was such a fun and different read. Liv Reese wakes in the back of a taxi with no idea how she got there. When she's dropped at home, a stranger answers and claims to have never heard of her. Liv is further confused by the bloody knife in her possession and the strange writing on her body. One of the messages says "Stay awake." She's then shocked by a news story about a bloody murder in a condo. The horrifying part? Written across the window in blood, for everyone outside to see, are the words "Stay awake." Liv can't trust anyone so she runs, tries to avoid sleep (every time she wakes she has once again erased her memory of the last two years), and figure out what happened to erase so much of her life. A race against the cops and evil forces ensues that kept me sitting with this book 'til I finished. A fun concept cleverly written, I recommend this one to anyone who wants a few hours of escapism.

WE SPREAD, by Iain Reid

This fantastic cover would have made me pick this up even if Reid hadn't exploded my brain with I'm Thinking of Ending Things a few years back. We Spread gave me similar creepy feelings of horror and the unknown as I read it, but it was also much different. Penny has lived in the same apartment for decades with her unnamed partner, an artist. She herself is a painter, but does not have the confidence to show anyone her work. After her partner dies and she has a fall, Penny's landlord packs her up and takes her to Six Cedars, a unique care facility that has only four rooms and two staff members. The food is good, the views beautiful, the care detailed. But the schedule is strict, the rules plenty, and no one is allowed to go outside. As strange things begin to happen to Penny, she questions how she ended up at Six Cedars and what the intent behind the "care" really is. Reid does spooky ambiguity better than just about anyone and We Spread is full of it. Ultimately, it's either a creepy tale of the horrors of elder care, or a heartrending look into aging and losing what one used to be.

THE CHANGE :: Kristen Miller

Kristen Miller's The Change is not a book that would normally be on my radar, but I joined an Instagram buddy read group and this was their selection. I could have skipped it, but it sounded like it could be a bit of fun. I was so wrong - this book was SO MUCH FUCKING FUN! I understand some readers felt it was heavy-handed on the feminist front, but first, why the hell not? We certainly have plenty of heavy-handed books with women as the forever victim. Second, the heavy-handedness is, from my perspective, done intentionally and very well by Miller.

At its base level, The Change is about three women "of a certain age" taking their power back. They discover each other at the right time in their lives where they are ready to take control and take charge. While the plot is serious (young girls have been murdered), large parts of the goings-on are underpinned by fantasy and social commentary. 

Harriett is a former advertising exec who is responsible for her husband's success while he gets the credit. She left the corporate world and is now divorced, tending to her outlandish garden (that breaks every HOA rule to hilarious end) and "helping" people with her plant-based potions. No surprise she's known as a witch. She is the embodiment of a strong woman who does what she wants, takes no prisoners and suffers no fools ("That’s why I choose vengeance. She’s the only mistress I serve.").

Jo used to work in the hospitality industry, but now runs an all-women's gym where she can rage-run to her heart's content. When she gets angry, her power manifests in extreme strength and heaven help those who piss her off. 

Nessa is a former nurse who inherited the family legacy of being able to hear and see the dead. Her gift is what sets off the action, as the women discover a dead body surrounded by more dead young women and are bound and determined to figure out what's going on in their neighborhood. 

The book was not without its flaws, and at one point I thought it was over, but it still had quite a few pages left. Some of the characters' intentions and true colors were telegraphed, but honestly, it just didn't matter. These issues didn't detract enough to keep me from finding this a fantastically enjoyable trip. 

I'm a sucker for good character work and Miller's is stellar. Each of the women is multi-faceted and fascinating in her own right, with backgrounds and issues that kept the narrative fluid and on point rather than dragging it down. I wanted to know more about these women, especially Harriett, who is someone I would want to hang out with any day. 

I'm so glad I was convinced to read The Change and will definitely seek out more work by Miller. It was by turns moving, hilarious, serious, outlandish, educational, motivational, and fun. A definite E-ticket ride. 
  

CHILD ZERO :: Chris Holm

As a huge fan of Chris Holm's work (go dig on The Killing Kind, I've been waiting with bated breath for Child Zero. On the other hand, I knew a bit about where this book was headed and was...let's say scairt. Holm is a super smartypants (molecular biologist) and I am a middling smartysock. When I got my copy I was elated and also, as I told him, "hoping it wasn't over my head." As usual, he had the best response: "If that's the case then I haven't done my job." I can now attest that Holm did his job to PERFECTION. 

One of the things I adore about Chris's writing is that while story is Job 1, character is Job 1A. Once again, he's nailed both in thrilling fashion. In a not-too-far-ahead future, we have continued to fuck up. Unchecked climate change results in a deadly virus being unleashed from the Siberian permafrost. Also, whoopsy!, it renders antibiotics useless. That hangnail you're nursing? That teeny scratch from your beloved Dashiell? They might now be the death of you.

Child Zero is the thrilling story of people trying to adapt to a horror landscape several years following a bioterror attack. We experience that terror through NYPD Detective Jake Gibson, who lost his wife in the attack and is raising his daughter Zoe alone. As we meet Jake, Zoe has a temperature high enough he is mandated to report it to the Department of Biological Security. But Jake knows what happens when a report is made and he's willing to risk everything to keep Zoe safe.

Jake's problems are multiplied when he's notified of a massacre at Park City, an encampment of refugees stranded when Manhattan was quarantined following the 8/17 bioterror attack. The scene makes it clear the assassins were looking for something or someone and Jake and his kickass partner Amira "Amy" Hassan need to figure it out quickly.  

As the Park City attack began, twelve-year-old Mateo Rivas was awakened by his uncle Gabriel and hurried to a planned escape route. Gabriel ensured Mat held a bound and wrapped package securely and remembered his instructions, then sent the boy out into the world via the sewer system.

 

What Mat possesses and why baddies might want it is at the core of Child Zero, a total barnburner from start to finish. The science is frighteningly on point and plausible, the characters are so well drawn you can't help but want more of them, and the sandbox the science and characters get to play in keeps the reader glued to the page. Holm's world-building is superb and, since the book was serendipitously (?) published during a pandemic, Holm has made it all too easy to imagine this world as our future.

If sciencey stuff makes you think twice, I'm here to tell you it's not an obstacle to your understanding or enjoyment. If science is your bag, there are more than enough juicy tidbits for you. If you are trying to escape pandemic reading, this didn't ring my "pandemic malaise" bell. Although we can all now sadly relate to many of the issues raised by the plot, Child Zero is still escapism at its finest. 

I don't have a ratings system or give stars, so I'm just going to lasso the galaxy and hand it to Child Zero.

POSSESSION :: Katie Lowe

 A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

Katie Lowe (The Furies) blends psychological suspense with an unreliable narrator, adding hints of delusion, a pinch of gothic sensibility and various layers of mystery in her sophomore thriller, Possession. In 2008, Hannah McLelland's husband is killed in their bed by a knife to the throat. Hannah remembers little other than waking up to blood. The crime scene is "off" and authorities are perplexed, until an anonymous tip leads them to a young man who winds up in prison for Graham's murder.

Ten years later, the threads of the raggedy case are newly tugged by those behind the podcasting sensation Conviction. Hot off a successful exoneration, the crime investigation show has its sights set on Hannah for season four: The Murder of Graham Catton. In 2018, Hannah is living with her teen daughter and a stable newspaper editor, Dan, in the remote, rural village of Hawkwood, while working as a psychiatrist in an eating disorders clinic.

But Hannah hasn't ended up in Hawkwood by chance and is escaping more than the fallout from Graham's murder. As the Conviction team digs into the case, long-buried facts are revealed, and Hannah is so centered in the crosshairs even Dan and Evie become wary. Lowe impressively weaves a web of past and present intrigue. Even more notable is her talent in tying everything together without excessive incredulity, particularly considering Hannah's history, numerous plot threads and the social media aspect of the case, all of which converge in a blockbuster of a finish. 

PICNIC IN THE RUINS :: Todd Robert Petersen

 A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

A murdered, self-taught archeologist dentist, a National Park ranger, a disillusioned German dermatologist, an assassin named Scissors, two hapless brothers (one "tall and thin and off-kilter," the other resembling a "burnt stump"), a Japanese video game designer, a Princeton doctoral candidate, a conspiracy theorist recluse, sister wives and numerous other intriguing characters converge near Bryce Canyon National Park in Picnic in the Ruins, Todd Robert Petersen's darkly comic, madcap thriller with overarching social themes.

When artifact collector Bruce Cluff is killed, several maps are stolen from his home. What the maps show and who wants them is the greater plot arc, supported by a series of underlying threads that add to the mystery and lunacy. Sophia Shepard is researching her thesis on the ethics of preserving ancient artifacts ("One person's artifact is another person's ancestor"). Tourist Reinhardt Kupfer, disillusioned with the U.S. and his tour group, departs on his own "quest." Paul Thrift, park ranger and Sophia's semi-romantic friend, takes her on an outing to one of the secret map locations where she learns things she doesn't want to know. Not long after, they find themselves in a shootout and on the run with Reinhardt.

Unsurprisingly, Petersen (Rift) teaches creative writing and screen studies at Southern Utah University. Picnic is wildly creative and easily envisioned. The cultural appropriation and preservation lessons are thick, but they come by an honest need to avoid being engulfed by the blackly humorous, action-packed adventure. This fun caper stands up to some needed mindfulness.

A CROOKED TREE :: Una Mannion

 A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

"The night we left Ellen on the road, we were driving north up 252 near where it meets 202 and then crosses the Pennsylvania Turnpike." Una Mannion's debut novel opens with this unsettling event, setting the stage for a coming-of-age story infused with a desperate tension and threat of vengeance that amplify its emotional wallops. A Crooked Tree is poignantly narrated by 12-year-old Ellen's older sister Libby, 15, full of normal teen angst while also struggling with her father's death, her mother's neglect and her oldest sibling Marie's impending departure for New York.

After being forced out of the family car by her angry mother, Ellen shows up bloodied and shell-shocked at the home where Libby is babysitting. She reports jumping from the car of a disturbing man with waist-length white hair and long fingernails, having asked him for a ride up Valley Forge Mountain. Fearful of being separated if authorities discover how they live, Libby tells only Marie. But three people knowing a secret is two too many, and soon the man they dub "Barbie Man" has reason to return for revenge.

As the plot swirls towards a showdown, Mannion deftly weaves the varied plot threads into a magnificent whole. Like the crooked tree near the fort built with her best friend, Libby's mettle is bent and tested by forces spinning out of control as she tries to keep her family safe. A tale of trust, friendship and valor set against a backdrop of wicked apprehension, Mannion's work is spectacularly accomplished. 

PICKARD COUNTY ATLAS :: Chris Harding Thornton

 A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

In a town with "three dozen jobs, give or take," the history of each Madson, Neb., homestead permeates the land and its denizens. Deputy Harley Jensen patrols every night, "absently tick[ing] off names of passing tracts like reading a plat map in an old atlas." The events at his abandoned childhood farmhouse are inescapable, often reflected in the eyes or words of his community, and Harley always speeds past. But as Chris Harding Thornton's dark and brilliant debut, Pickard County Atlas, opens, Harley pulls in and finds Paul Reddick there.

The Reddicks were scarred by a 1960 tragedy that remains part mystery. Paul, then four, remembers his family only as broken. In the 18 years since, he's been involved in numerous violent events and run-ins with Harley, who likens him to a bad penny, though "you turn up often enough--wrong place, wrong time--you seem less like an omen than a reason."  

Thornton immediately sets a country noirish stage, dropping clues that smolder through the pages as she reveals each family's past. Paul's parents are long-divorced and shells of their former selves. Brother Rick is married with a young daughter, his family a tinderbox of desperation. Though the plot appears male-centric, the women are its true, complex heart. Thornton's expert prose and turns of phrase beg for repeat reading ("cooked like those hobos her mother once told her had roasted in a freight car") and the character work is full of depth and detail that astonish; a dazzling display of literary prowess.

MARION LANE AND THE MIDNIGHT MURDER :: T.A. Willberg

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

"The alleyway was quiet tonight, the perfect setting for the conveyance of secrets" as an unidentified woman confides one she's held for seven years. This shadowy intrigue permeates the opening of T.A. Willberg's debut, Marion Lane and the Midnight Murder, sucking readers into a fun and fast-paced story filled with murder, mystery, lies and Bondian gadgetry in 1958 London.

The how and who of the transmission plunges the narrative into the bowels of the city, where myth and history reside. Behind a loose brick, a carrier cylinder connects with miles of underground pneumatic piping. The piping system, like a "magical, invisible postman," routes hundreds of hidden mailboxes to one location--the Filing Department of the Inquirers, nameless sleuths who guard the city. Because the department operates outside the legal system, no one is sure it exists, only that justice is often mysteriously served.

Marion Lane longs to escape from under the thumb of her grandmother, who disapproves of independent women having their own lives. Marion's life changes drastically when an old friend of her deceased mother offers her a job at Miss Brickett's Secondhand Books and Curiosities. But Miss Brickett's has no customers, and Marion soon understands she's been recruited as an apprentice Inquirer.

Willberg creates an exceptional sense of place, and her diverse (and expansive) cast of characters makes for a long list of suspects when receipt of the secret results in murder. Marion and her cohorts race against time, villains and devilishly entertaining contraptions to throw a wrench in an evil plot. 

THE WRONG FAMILY :: Tarryn Fisher

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

When Juno Holland semi-accidentally winds up locked in the Seattle home of Winnie and Nigel Crouch while trespassing, she decides to take advantage of the opportunity to help them secretly. At 67, Juno has few pleasures left in life. Seriously ill and homeless after losing her family and her counseling practice, she wants to do some good before she dies. In The Wrong Family, Tarryn Fisher (The Wives) takes the unreliable narrator theme to a fascinating place as readers experience the Crouches, their teen son and extended family through Juno's damaged mind.

Nigel and Winnie are obviously at odds. As Juno overhears their late-night fights and accusations from her hidey hole, her curiosity and inner therapist begin to get the best of her. Confined to the house by the alarm system during the day, her food and drink forages expand to include snooping in drawers and on the computer. What she finds convinces her there are past wrongs that need to be set right--by any means necessary.

Fisher deftly weaves Winnie's experiences with Juno's, providing another viewpoint that keeps the puzzle pieces turning, searching for the sweet spot of the truth. The "perfect" life Winnie has cultivated can't erase the horrible thing she did that keeps her and Nigel forever bound yet separated by an emotional chasm. Unknown to Juno, Winnie's entire family is a powder keg; unknown to Winnie, Juno is working to bring the past into light. The combination makes for an explosive conclusion as the pieces fall into place. 

DO NOT DISTURB :: Claire Douglas

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission. 

Working chronologically through an evening marked by middle-of-the-night screams and a woman kneeling over a bloodied body, Claire Douglas's Do Not Disturb is a twisting tale of secrets that threaten to implode a family's fresh start. Kirsty and Adrian Whitehouse leave London with their young daughters for her native Wales to escape a rough 18 months. Adrian's problems are hinted at, but Kirsty is also fulfilling a dream by purchasing a guesthouse with the help of her emotionally distant mother.

Beginning two months before the night of violence, Douglas (Local Girl Missing) deftly introduces family members and history that has affected their lives. As the inn opens, Kirsty is furious that her cousin Selena is coming to stay. The two were once like sisters, but Kirsty cut off Selena years ago because of her lying ways. Selena is escaping what she claims is a bad marriage, hiding out with her medically incapacitated daughter, but soon her hoodlum childhood boyfriend shows up. Then Kirsty's brother Nathan and his wife arrive, increasing the tension with their apparent personal troubles and Nathan's long-held torch for Selena.

When a body ends up at the foot of the stairs, everyone is wound so tightly the suspects are hard to narrow down. Spooky goings-on and rumors of past violence at the inn add to the unease. The subplots are numerous, and some are left hanging. Douglas's ambitious narrative makes those fairly easy to forgive as hidden truths come to light, leading to partial resolution and a stunning furtherance of deceit. 

IMPERFECT WOMEN :: Araminta Hall

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

One premise of Araminta Hall's horrible yet lovely Imperfect Women is that women absorb tragedy so others don't have to. Best friends Nancy, Eleanor and Mary each absorbed plenty as life took them down unexpected paths. Twenty-eight years after their friendship began at Oxford, Eleanor's phone wakes her at 4 a.m. It's Nancy's husband, Robert, concerned she never came home the night before.

Rather than worried, Eleanor is irritated. She alone knows that Nancy is embroiled in a year-long affair she's been trying to end. To keep Robert from involving the police, Eleanor comes clean, sure that Nancy is just off with her lover. Then Nancy is found dead on the path by a river bridge, a large wound on the back of her head.

Hall's unwinding of the mystery behind Nancy's death is so masterful the whodunit becomes a backdrop to the women and their plights. As in her prior novel, Our Kind of Cruelty, Hall's skill is highlighted in the inner workings of her characters. The author takes a different angle on the multi-perspective, multi-timeline theme; her approach serves to focus marvelously on each woman's internal struggles and her view of the others. Eleanor takes readers through Nancy's death and its aftermath, and Nancy jumps back to describe what led to her affair and death. Mary's section provides answers about Nancy's killer, and how Eleanor and Mary might move forward with the understanding that goddesses are false and they are entitled to live life to the messy full as imperfect women.

STREET SENSE: I know we don't have time for every book and often make decisions based on past reads, but this book served me up a huge helping of "Don't always write an author off after one shot." When I was assigned this book I groaned a little because I was not a huge fan of Hall's debut, which garnered a ton of pub and praise. I thought her character work was great and the premise fantastic, but I just never got it. This sophomore effort really knocked me back and I have to give Hall credit for taking the character work to the next level while also banging out a really meaningful story. The differential made me like this book all the more. I'll definitely be in for Hall's next offering.

COVER NERD SAYS:  I like it. I'm a sucker for birds and while the palette is stark and starts to lean into Florida-esque territory, it stops just short of that read. I love how the branches just barely make it to the page. To be honest, I can't even remember now if the coloring or crows connect with the material itself (I read it some time ago), but I like this cover regardless. (That's my brain failure, not a book/cover failure, by the way.)

LINEAGE MOST LETHAL :: S.C. Perkins

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

"Well, I'll be dashed.... It's a pigpen." Uttered by wily old fox George Lancaster, these words refer to something other than a mess. A cipher, to be exact--one that forces George to disclose long-held World War II secrets to his beloved granddaughter, genealogist Lucy Lancaster. To bust a murder scheme relating to an old espionage operation, they'll have to find the key and break the code before lives are lost.

Lineage Most Lethal is the second entry in S.C. Perkins's marvelous Ancestry Detective series, following 2019 Agatha Award nominee Murder Once Removed, and Perkins picks up the murderous magnetism right where it left off. Smarting from feeling ghosted by Harrison Ford-esque Special Agent Ben Turner, Lucy throws herself into her work for hotel heiress Pippa Sutton. Lucy is approached by an ailing, elderly man on the grounds of the Hotel Sutton. As he perishes, he presses a Montblanc pen against her hand and implores her to "keep them safe."

Charismatic Grandpa George comes to the rescue--as a collector of vintage Montblancs, he reveals to Lucy the special nature of the pen and its ties to a secret Allied mission. The messages held within uncover a plot for revenge that will embroil Lucy, George and the Sutton clan in a bitter grudge inherited through generations. Perkins's plots are thick with fascinating atmosphere, curios, history and family lore, but her humor and characters shine most brightly, holding readers in an embrace of warm and lethal Southern charm.

STREET SENSE: This series has become one of my favorites very quickly. Just tons of fun and super charming. In these trying times, Stephanie's books are a perfect remedy for lockdown blues.

COVER NERD SAYS: This series has some of the best cover work I've ever seen. Simply gorgeous. Whoever does the art gets the goldest of gold stars.

SURVIVAL INSTINCTS :: Jen Waite

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

"There are some stories that don't need to be told." Anne keeps secret the story of her daughter's father in order to protect Thea. But Thea is now 12 and the Internet is a powerful tool. For reasons unknown to Anne, Thea has recently changed into a volatile preteen, her relationship with Anne strained by deceit. Since Thea is tight with Anne's mother, Rose, Anne schedules a girls' getaway to a remote cabin, hoping to reconnect. There, the past fractures the present, threatening the lives of all three women.

Jen Waite is infinitely qualified to write about psychopaths, having shared the story of her former marriage in a courageous memoir, A Beautiful, Terrible Thing. Waite now folds her experience into a novel, Survival Instincts, focusing on the lengths to which mothers will go to protect their children. Starting "Four Days Before the Cabin," Waite alternates timelines and points of view as Anne, Rose and Thea head to the cabin. Meanwhile, an unidentified man spins a tale of violence as he goes on the hunt.

Waite deftly dips into the past to fill out the framework of her characters and ultimately connect the women to "The Man." Satisfying turns and surprises highlight the narrative, which, despite some extraneous exposition, remains tense and quickly paced. Waite keeps readers invested in each woman, despite their human faults and wrong turns, and everyone will wish they had a grandmother like Rose. Waite's fiction debut is an intense story of women doing what it takes to survive.

STREET SENSE: If you don't remember how much I loved Jen's memoir, check out my prior review and the Maximum Shelf issue we got to run about it, including an interview with Jen. She has become one of my favorite people and I was psyched to see she was making the leap from non-fiction to fiction. It was a great leap. Jen weaves knowledge she has from her own life into a tense story with characters you come to care about. And, seriously, Rose kicks ASS. It's what I would call a "page-turner" if I didn't hate the term "page-turner." Give it a look-see, it pubbed on 7/14.

COVER NERD SAYS:  This is one of those times I knew I wanted to read the book before I had even seen the cover, so I was predisposed. That being said, I am fairly certain this would have caught my eye if it had been written by Jane Doe. Love the whiteout and the font that doesn't overpower it. I'm generally tired of covers with people or half-people walking or running, but this one is different and works really well. There's an air of menace about it that I really dig. This is a really good-looking cover.

THE HEART AND OTHER MONSTERS :: Rose Andersen

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

What essayist and short fiction writer Rose Andersen knows about her sister Sarah's death is this: "She died of an overdose in her bathroom. She was dead for four days before her body was found. Her dog spent those four days trying to claw and bite his way through the bathroom door.... The police thought she had accidentally OD'd." What Andersen believes began surfacing through rumors shortly after Sarah's death: the overdose wasn't accidental; Sarah was a "loose end" that required tying up.

In her poignant and distressing memoir, The Heart and Other Monsters, Andersen recounts her Herculean efforts to "resurrect" her sister via diaries, e-mail hacking, newspaper clippings, record reviews and raw reflection on a shared family history replete with suicide, betrayal, addiction and abuse. Their father was, among other detrimental things, emotionally abusive (calling Sarah "Piggy" and both girls "fat and lazy"), helping drive each to self-harm only Rose would overcome. Sarah "wanted a father, even if that father was a drunk or mean.... She wanted to be loved."

As Andersen relays their excruciating paths, parallel yet divergent, she begins to merge facts about violent men, murders and dismemberment in "Small Town," ultimately tangentially connecting them to her sister. Written as though there is blood and heroin in her pen, Andersen blames herself for not saving her sister from the "great shadowy monsters." The Heart and Other Monsters is a biography, cautionary tale and murder mystery, masterfully blended with a memoir burdened by grief and guilt for crimes committed by others.

STREET SENSE: These days it doesn't take much for me to want to punch someone, but what these girls went through is so agonizingly maddening I felt myself tense up just reading it. Andersen's memoir is part murder mystery/investigation and part recounting of the family dynamics that can often doom our children to self-harm. It's very well done and one of the best memoirs I've read this year.

COVER NERD SAYS: Something about this cover drew me. It's not pretty. It's actually kind of ugly despite the pink palette. If the pink scribble on the photo wasn't there, this would be an entirely different cover. As horrible as that scribble is, it's all-important to the theme and what lies inside. I think this is a really great, horrible cover. Well done.

THE BRIGHT LANDS :: John Fram

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

John Fram carves quite a niche with his debut, The Bright Lands, a gothic football thriller steeped in LGBTQ+ themes, all snuggled under an umbrella of supernatural horror. Sounding like an impossible camp mash-up, The Bright Lands admirably lives up to Fram's "Stephen Queen" moniker. The nickname breeds curiosity, and the work stands on its own.

Texas is about God and football, not necessarily in that order. Joel Whitley lives a successful, openly gay life in New York, escaping the small town of Bentley 10 years ago after suffering a public homophobic ambush. His younger brother, Dylan, is currently team quarterback with a million-dollar arm, poised to give the Bentley Bison a state championship. Football towns are notoriously solicitous of star athletes (as they chew them up and discard them) and Joel heads back to the "rotten rind of a town" when Dylan surprisingly says he wants out.

Then Dylan disappears and Joel finds strange goings-on in Bentley--money, drugs, secret weekend trips, cover-ups, set-ups and whispers of a mysterious place called the Bright Lands. To uncover the horrific truth, he'll need to face sheriff's deputy Starsha Clark, his first and final girlfriend, whose brother Troy also disappeared from Bentley when Joel did, never to be seen again. There's "nothing quite like the smell of Texas in the hours before some fresh calamity," and Fram cooks up some strong Southern aromas as Joel, Starsha and a few surprising characters join forces to uncover the evils behind generations of Bentley tragedies.

STREET SENSE: This book is nutty. In a really good way, mostly. I'm not usually into supernatural arcs, and this one definitely had a Stephen King feel to it, but as far as those go I liked how it was wrapped into the story. I don't think the story needed it, per se, but it's not my story to tell. I thought the characters, back stories and past/present disappearance mysteries were more than enough and really well done. I dug the LGBTQ+ bent and the fact that the characters were just themselves. Some were gay. Obviously a bit of a deal in Texas, but I really liked how Fram just told the story from various perspectives with authority and no fanfare, if that makes sense. It felt authentic, is I suppose what I'm trying to say. I'll be really curious to see what Fram does next, because this was a fun one.

COVER NERD SAYS: I love this cover and it's the reason I asked to cover the book. I knew little about the story. The moody image, football lights and spooky title font all made me want to KNOW what was inside. I also like that the cover includes all the necessary information (even more, with a hated blurb, but at least it's not glaring) but is still spare and lets the title and image carry the day. Whoever picked the title font gets a gold star.

ONE LAST LIE :: Paul Doiron

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

"Never trust a man without secrets" is the puzzling advice Maine Game Warden Mike Bowditch receives from longtime friend and mentor Charley Stevens before Mike heads to Florida for a job applicant background check. The applicant had secrets. Mike tags along on a tremendous python hunt (with Stacey, former girlfriend and Charley's daughter) before having to race home when he learns Charley has secrets, too, and has disappeared. Charley's wife, Ora, doesn't want Stacey to know, adding to Mike's already complicated emotions surrounding Stacey and his current girlfriend, Dani.

Accustomed to tracking poachers, Mike has to hunt the man who taught him everything he knows. He traces Charley to a crafts fair where he argued with a man about a Depression-era game warden badge on his sale table. Tracking the badge leads to an old case involving the murder of an undercover warden whose body was never found. Charley was heavily involved in the violent case, including the death of the alleged killer. As Mike closes in and Charley behaves more like someone he doesn't recognize, the tension between solving the case and potentially losing a hero is gut twisting.

One Last Lie, Paul Doiron's 11th Mike Bowditch mystery, is a triumph for aficionados and newcomers alike. The secrets, old and new, are compelling, and Doiron's landscape imagery is perfectly balanced (as is the literary history). The people and relationships beautifully elevate from that foundation. Trust, friendship, love, faith and how the family we choose holds powerful sway is at the heart of this impressive series entry.

STREET SENSE: I read the first Bowditch and then for some reason didn't continue. I know the followups are on my list, but time and assignments seemed to have gotten in the way. So I went ito this missing a few years and nine books of material. I was pleased to discover it didn't matter. I really dug this entry, which was high on character issues. I didn't feel lost or like I had missed out on crucial facts. Yet it made me want to go back and fill in blanks. It was a perfect blend of past and present. A good story, well told.

COVER NERD SAYS: I think at this point, the series is relying on past readers and Doiron's name. Which is completely understandable. I kind of understand why the water is red, but it doesn't make a ton of sense. I hate to say this, but these days when I see red, white and blue it's almost a turnoff. And I say that as someone who loves her country, always flew a flag, but is currently greatly disappointed. Hard to hold a book cover responsible for those feelings, but it is just a reaction I have at present. There's nothing wrong with this cover; the image is attractive, there's a little mystery to it, it just doesn't blow my socks off. It doesn't really need to, Doiron's name is the seller here.

NOTHING CAN HURT YOU :: Nicola Maye Goldberg

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

A haunting collection of voices touched by the murder of a young college student make up the mesmerizing kaleidoscope of Nicola Maye Goldberg's astounding Nothing Can Hurt You. Goldberg begins with the discovery of Sara Morgan's body in 1997 New York by a woman recently relocated upstate to escape increasingly disturbing mental episodes. Readers are drawn into her traumas, but Goldberg has numerous other perspectives to reveal.

Sara's boyfriend, Blake Campbell, immediately confessed to the crime. He contended he loved Sara and didn't want to kill her, but had a psychotic episode while on acid. His acquittal by reason of temporary insanity ripples through the community and the families changed by the tragedy. Goldberg (Other Women; The Doll Factory) furnishes a stage to many of them, intertwining their stories in an intricate and captivating fashion. Katherine, in a recovery center with Blake, falls in love with him, perhaps even more so when she discovers he's a murderer; Tracy is Blake's prosecutor, whose life is overwhelmed by her sister's rape trauma; a teen girl Sara babysat begins corresponding with Blake in jail; and Sara's half-sister poses as a babysitter to insert herself into Blake's new life.

Based on a true story, Nothing Can Hurt You examines the way people hurt and are hurt by those they love, how trauma and violence change and sometimes attract us, even to those who are statistically most likely to murder us. Each voice is distinct and alluring, punching through the boundaries of good and bad in an unjust world.

STREET SENSE: I was assigned this book blind and ended up really happy I was able to get to it. I was really blown away by the perspectives and the insight provided. There are few better things than going into a book with few preconceptions and just letting it flow over you - when the book hits you right. This one hit the bullseye for me. The thoughts and actions of those connected to a murdered college student and the boyfriend who killed her are mined to extraordinary effect.

COVER NERD SAYS: This book is really up my alley, so I'm not sure whether I somehow passed it on the assignment list or it was a late addition. I don't remember seeing the cover, which isn't a great sign, since I am cover-driven. In this instance, I think a fantastic image is hurt by the wrong font. If the title is going to be given this much space to impress, it had better look like it wasn't typed on my computer at home. There's something to be said for plain, stark font. In this case, I think it went too far in that direction and took away from what otherwise would be a kickass cover. I also had trouble remembering the title, but that may just be me and my brain.

THEY DID BAD THINGS :: Lauren A. Forry

Lauren A. Forry's They Did Bad Things is an Agatha Christie-esque mystery that is engaging but ultimately fell short of the mark. It begins with a diary found at the entrance to Wolfheather House on the Isle of Doon. Unfortunately, the diary has missing pages that have not been recovered. Pages of the diary are interspersed with the past and present of Hollis Drummond, Maeve Okafor, Eleanor Hunt, Oliver Holcombe, and Lorna Torrington. Missing from the present is Callum, who was murdered by one of the others in September 1994 while the six were living together in student housing at 215 Caldwell Street.

Each went their own way after Callum's death, putting the bad things they did behind them. Now they have each come to Wolfheather House under false pretenses, none knowing the others will be present. Who has summoned them there and why is spun out over the course of the novel as bodies begin to drop and already worn relationships fray further and old wounds and desires play out.

I love reading about shitty people. It's kind of my jam and I should probably get therapy about it. But these people weren't really interesting in their shittiness, which meant I was never invested in who did what and why. I wasn't rooting for or against anyone. The one character I thought was going to put a cool spin on things was killed early on.

There were some cool elements. I thought the concept was great and the ways the puppeteer worked them over with details from Caldwell Street was great. On the flip side, the identity of the string-puller was no great surprise, the murder of Callum was for very strange reasons and didn't have much oomph behind it, and I was not really bummed at any demise save the one. Yes, these people all did bad things, they just weren't very compellingly played out. Ultimately, I didn't care how the book ended. It does have a rockin' great cover. 

THE SECRETS OF BONES :: Kylie Logan

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

As contrary as it seems to reference charm and murder in the same sentence, Kylie Logan's The Secrets of Bones blends them wonderfully. The second in Logan's Jazz Ramsey series (The Scent of Murder) finds Jazz recovering from large life losses. She finds solace in her Airedale puppy, Wally, who she's training to be her next Human Remains Detection partner, and her job as administrative assistant to Sister Eileen Flannery, principal of St. Catherine's Prep Academy for Girls.

Assembly Day at St. Catherine's is a yearly highlight, with prominent women professionals giving talks to the girls. When one presenter doesn't show, Jazz is pushed into service, borrowing a trained HRD dog, Gus, and putting on a performance on the allegedly haunted and always locked fourth floor. During the demo, Gus finds more than Jazz bargained for, signaling at the access door to an old heating system. Behind the door are human remains, desiccated and partially plastic-wrapped, wearing the cross of Bernadette Quinn. Bernadette, a staunchly religious and difficult teacher, sent a resignation letter to St. Catherine's three years ago and never returned.

With Sister Eileen in the crosshairs, Jazz tries to find the truth of Bernadette's disappearance and death, bringing her back in contact with homicide detective Nick Koselov, her former lover. The lack of much on the dog front is offset by winning characters, an intriguing mystery in the traditional style, fun dialogue and a pace that makes this small town in Ohio, even with a murder, a charmingly entertaining place.

STREET SENSE:  Were it not for the SIP, I might not have discovered this series. I hadn't read the first. Other than having a dog on the cover, it seemed in the traditional subgenre, not my usual wheelhouse. But I was feeling like something less dark than my usual fare and the cover palette of this cover attracted me, along with the synopsis of the story. Cover gut for the win again, because I really enjoyed this one and will go back to read the first. Smart protag, sassy head nun, not too much romance, interesting mystery, what's not to like? Nothing. Go start it.

COVER NERD SAYS: My Corona cover nerd spidey senses were set off by this one. Dog, great color mix (despite being Seahawk colors), some fog around a cemetery, and only half a woman and she doesn't seem in distress. All pluses in my book. Or on my book. Ha. See what I did there? HEY! Times are hard!

THE BRAMBLE AND THE ROSE :: Tom Bouman

A version of this review previously appeared in Shelf Awareness and is republished here with permission.

Henry Farrell's life is teetering toward a happy new start when a headless corpse is found off Red Pine Road. Although a bear has feasted on the body, it's clear the missing head was purposefully detached by something other than wildlife. In The Bramble and the Rose, third in Tom Bouman's Edgar-winning rural noir series (Dry Bones in the Valley), Henry is caught up in multiple homicides on the eve of his wedding.

Sole employee of the Wild Thyme, Pa., police department, Henry helps with the necessary tracking of the bear while also questioning neighboring landowners, trying to identify the body, investigating a string of convenience store robberies and coping with the stress of his and Julie's family in town for their impending nuptials. When someone from his past reappears with supposed information about the murdered man and his nephew goes missing, Henry's personal life is pulled into the mix, forcing him to leave his home and his family to clear his name of a second killing.

Bouman's writing is fluid, balanced and infused with a sense of place that makes Henry's mission all the more daunting. Bouman has a talent for "small town" writing--the secrets, character, quirky denizens and demanding landscape of Wild Thyme are seamless parts of the story but don't overtake it. The many intertwining plot arcs, both personal and professional, are compelling and always under control. Even with Henry on the run and loose ends fraying, Bouman ties the knots on another terrific mystery.