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. 
  

THE DEVIL HIMSELF :: Peter Farris

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since Peter Farris's fabulous Last Call for the Living. I've been missing Pete's words, but since only the French seem to have common sense when it comes to publishing crime fiction, the U.S. market has had to wait for this barnburner. But holy moly is The Devil Himself worth the wait. How's this for an opener that grabs you by the guts with hot needle-nose pliers:

"The girl in the trunk had been bound."

Short, sweet, and irresistable. To say too much about the plot is a disservice. Though this is straight-forward, hell-bent-on-revenge grit, the beauty is in discovering everything unfold in real time. To figure out who you're rooting for, what layers the characters have that are slowly peeled back. 

I will say that teenaged Maya, she of the trunk, does not go down without a fight. She's found herself in a difficult position that marks her for death, but don't underestimate her based on circumstance. She ends up on the property of Leonard Moye, the town's eccentric kook who doesn't tolerate anyone on his land. To say that Farris takes these two heavily-labeled individuals and turns them into individuals you will never forget is downselling what he's done here. It's simply magnificent.

Set in the deep woods of South Georgia, The Devil Himself is a masterful work of character, set within a dark world filled with many bad actors. As well-paced as it is heart-piercing, it's one I won't soon forget. It's no surprise Farris won several French literary awards with this work, I hope he is similarly recognized here at home.

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.

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.

FATAL FAMILY TIES, by S.C. Perkins

This third installment in the charmingest of the charming cozies is proof positive I'm a convert to the light side. Texas genealogist Lucy Lancaster's Flacos Tacos lunch is interrupted by her least favorite former co-workers. Camilla Braithwaite now needs a favor--a recent article accuses Camilla's ancestor Charles, a civil war corporal, of being a phony and a deserter rather than a hero, and Camilla wants Lucy’s help clearing his name. Of course, shenanigans ensue before Lucy can get to the bottom of the mystery. This series leaves me longing for more time with the recurring characters. Thankfully, we got some of Lucy's Grandfather and more of her delightful parents. That meant a little less of her office best friends and Neil Patrick Housecat, but their on-screen time is always fun. 

GUILTY ADMISSIONS, by Nicole LaPorte

A thoroughly researched and detailed account of the college admissions scandal that caught several big Hollywood names in its snare. I found the audio a great way to listen to the tale, and the meat of the story was fascinating. It started with a lot of background detail that seemed a tad superfluous, but overall I enjoyed this account of aholes aholing.

100 POEMS TO BREAK YOUR HEART, by Edward Hirsch

Edward Hirsch's Gabriel: A Poem was the work that got me started on a mission to read more poetry. It is a set of poems, longlisted for the 2014 National Book Award, about the life and death of Hirsch's son. When I saw Hirsch had collected this set of poems I was all in. Turns out it's much more than I bargained for. Not only does he lay out 100 poems, he analyzes them and assists in the reading and internalizing of them. Which means this collection is lovely, educational and lengthy. I'm still working my way through it in little snippets, but it came out some time ago and I didn't want to delay writing about it any further. A great place to start if you're trying to get more out of the poetry you read.

GOOD NEIGHBORS, by Sarah Langan

The premise had me really looking forward to this one, but it ended up a bummer. A picturesque neighborhood in suburban Long Island is thrown into chaos when the Queen Bee regrets telling one of the new, "misfit" neighbors a very personal secret. So she begins to sabotage the family. Which really makes no sense, but I went with it. As the Wildes are turned into outcasts and the tension builds, a sinkhole opens in the area. Not only does it keep widening without explanation, it sucks whatever gets close into its black hole, including the Queen Bee's daughter, leading to more accusations to...what end? I found the plot disconnected and a story written around issues and events the author wanted to address. I'm all for unlikable characters as I find them more interesting, but these left me cold. If I never read the word "bitumen" again I'll die happy.

FOOTBALL'S FEARLESS 

ACTIVISTS, by Mike Freeman

A fascinating and highly-recommended look at the story behind the protests of numerous Black athletes following the ongoing string of police killings of Black men, as well as the pushback they received from not only the fans but their own organizations and ownership. It's no secret 45 is shameful and to be honest I didn't expect much more from the NFL and I was still surprised by some of the reporting here. I'm glad there are athletes like these, who will risk it all for what's right. I did lose a little respect for the book when Barack Obama's name was misspelled twice. Once is a typo, twice is disrespectful. 

SHELTER, by Catherine Jinks

Jinks's The Shepherd blew me away last year and I was eagerly anticipating this title, which couldn't have been more different. Far from the sparse, cracking prose of the former, Shelter was told in a much more descriptive and "mainstream" hand. Which isn't bad, it was simply a much different experience. In Shelter, Meg lives alone in the bush outside town as a way to avoid her abusive ex. Knowing what it's like to try to escape that horrible situation, Meg agrees to provide shelter to Nerine and her two daughters. Of course all three are traumatized, but then odd things begin to happen. Not the least of which is Nerine asking Meg to get a gun (remember, this is Australia, where the people sensible about gun control live and this is no normal request or easy feat). Of course things spiral and questions come from all fronts, including Meg's past. Shelter is, if I have to label it, more domestic thriller than lean, gritty crime fiction. Thankfully, Jinks is a good enough writer to pull both off quite well. 
 

THE FUTURE IS YOURS :: Dan Frey

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

Dan Frey (The Retreat) does a bang-up job imagining a scenario in which computers can communicate with their future selves and the impact that could have on society on a variety of levels. Cleverly told entirely via documentation (e-mails, blog posts, texts, reports, etc.) to avoid spoilers,
The Future Is Yours is an "opposites attract" tale of friendship set in the thought-provoking and cutthroat world of technology.

Ben Boyce, a confident connection-maker with a gift for wooing venture capitalists, and Adhvan "Adhi" Chaudry, an intellectual genius with woeful people skills, become best friends while rooming together at Stanford University. The story begins with an e-mail sent by Ben to Adhi from a year in the future--immediately proving Stanford whiffed by not backing Adhi's Ph.D. thesis proposing communication with the future using quantum computing.

The engrossing road from college to rolling out their product, a computer-type unit called The Future, is centered around the transcript of a 2021 congressional hearing where the legality of The Future is to be decided. Despite a subpoena, Adhi is mysteriously absent from the hearing. Frey ups the suspense by putting limitations on The Future: it can see only into a one-year future window, to a reality that cannot be altered.

Unsurprisingly, data from The Future becomes problematic. As Adhi struggles with morality issues, Ben drives passionately ahead, their friendship, relationships and the future of the world at risk. Frey's work as a screenwriter shines through in form and substance in this gripping work of science fiction

RAFT OF STARS :: Andrew J. Graff

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

Andrew J. Graff's debut, Raft of Stars, is a magnificent saga of friendship, loss and heroism, wrapped in the fallout of war and action that recalls adventure stories of old. In 1994 Claypot, Wis., 10-year-old best friends Fischer "Fish" Branson and Dale "Bread" Breadwin tear around town on their Huffys and roam the Northwoods, exploring and escaping their respective sorrows. Fish is mourning his military father's death, which precipitates his summer visits to Claypot, to his maternal grandfather, Teddy Branson, widower and Korean war veteran. Bread's father is an abusive drunk they avoid at all costs.

At the local gas mart, Tiffany works the counter, staving off homelessness, bantering with the locals and trying to catch the attention of Sheriff Cal. Cal is new to town, up from Houston where his confrontation with a violent parolee made a fresh start necessary. After Fish shoots Bread's father to stop another beating, the boys pack supplies, leave a note for Teddy and run away to build a raft and live off the land. The life-battered locals join with Fish's stalwart mother, Miranda, in a frantic search for the boys in the Wisconsin wilderness.

As the pairs (Fish and Bread, Teddy and Cal, Tiffany and Miranda) converge at the perilous gorge rapids the boys don't know exist, they learn about themselves, each other and the things that are most important. Graff's nature writing is absorbing, and his characters generate a yearning to know them. Raft of Stars is a quest story full of heart and humor. 

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. 

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. 

THIS LITTLE FAMILY :: Ines Bayard

Holy cats, what a corker. I went into This Little Family semi-blind, knowing the basic premise. No real spoiler here, since it hits you on the side of the head in the opening. Marie and her family sit around the breakfast table, dead, Marie having poisoned her husband Laurent and their young son Thomas.

Little Thomas didn't have time to finish his stewed apple. His mother hadn't given him the slightest chance...Few people stumbling across these three ashen bodies could have imagined the warm laughter filling the room just moments before the tragedy occurred.

Of course the mind jumps immediately to the question of what could push a mother to murder her own baby. Marie must have been temporarily insane. Nope. Ines Bayard states up front that Marie had "contemplated killing her son before, several times and in different ways. She was very determined." So Marie must simply be a monster. But after setting the gruesome scene, Bayard expressly warns against stepping too quickly in the sinking sand of  judgment:

Before any revelations that might invite the first verdicts, let's take a moment to appreciate the figure of this dead woman surrounded by her loved ones, the only one of the three to have remained upright.

After this passage, Bayard jumps back in time to when and how Marie and Laurent met, their lives together and their decision to have a child. What I will not spoil is the catastrophic event that sets Marie on the course that will end up where we started. Some may be averse to a story that begins with the end, but I rather like it and Bayard did a fantastic job of it. So good a job it was infinitely difficult to read yet impossible to set aside.

Watching Marie spiral as those around her are by turns concerned, clueless and lied to is fascinating and maddening. Marie's state can be summed up thusly: "Surrounded and alone, supported and abandoned by everyone." By the end, even as we know horror is coming, we can't help but feel for Marie, despite the hand she has in her own demise.

This debut really knocked my socks off, especially with a difficult premise to pull off. Bayard's next outing will definitely be on my list.

THE TRUTH HURTS :: Rebecca Reid

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

Rebecca Reid (Perfect Liars) delivers a cracker with The Truth Hurts. Poppy needs a plan after being unceremoniously fired despite years of dedicated nanny service. Instead, she's in a roadside bar in a foreign country with no friends or money. She's approached by an extremely attractive older man. After verbal sparring and an obvious connection, Drew offers Poppy his spare bed. She stays on in his decadent Ibiza summer home and, after a fairy-tale month, they marry.

Poppy isn't stupid. She knows "handsome rich men didn't just stumble into your life, buy you dresses and then offer to marry you.... There would be a reason." The other shoe begins to fall when Drew proposes an agreement: they never talk about the past. Poppy is wary but relieved. Drew is hiding something, but she also has much to conceal. Flashbacks to a prior nanny job swirl into the present timeline, revealing the awful events Poppy wants to stay secret. At the same time, she catches Drew in small lies and feels uneasy in their isolated London mansion.

Poppy invites her friend Gina to stay, then Drew's friends come for a weekend. As the longtime friends eat, drink and dig at each other, Poppy's and Drew's pasts are forced to the surface, to a shocking end. The tense, slow-burn relationship drama in The Truth Hurts unsurprisingly turns ugly and ends with a startling burst of intensity that works extremely well despite its abruptness. Reid's writing is engaging, taut and just plain fun to read.

STREET SENSE: I went into this one knowing nothing about it, not even familiar with the author. Honestly, I didn't expect to like it. Didn't seem like my thing. Another domestic thriller. But this one grabbed me good. And the ending was so somewhat out of left field I didn't know how I felt about it until I realized I kinda loved it.

COVER NERD SAYS:  If the truth hurts, I wouldn't really be attracted by this cover. That being said, it's really a great cover. I dig the font and the image. Really all of it. It's perfect for the book, it simply reinforced what I thought was a book that would not be in my wheelhouse. Cover gut was on point re quality of the cover, but missed on whether this one would be for me.

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.)

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 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.

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. 

SHEPHERD :: Catherine Jinks

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

Catherine Jinks's Shepherd takes place over several days in 1840 New South Wales, and the gritty cat-and-mouse thriller evokes emotions that linger. Tom Clay was 12 years old when he was nabbed for poaching and shipped to Australia to serve his sentence working for Mr. Barrett. Tom is reliable despite his age, and Barrett sends him to a remote shepherds' hut to help guard the flock.

A boy among rough and violent men, Tom has been failed by most everyone in his life. Trained to silence by his father, Tom keeps his own counsel, sharing himself only with his beloved dogs and fiercely tending the sheep he has named. Menace lurks in the form of Dan Carver, a former shepherd and "black-hearted villain" whose motto is "No witnesses." When Carver returns for vengeance, Tom goes on the run with Rowdy Cavanagh, a handsome no-hoper with the gift of gab that Tom wants nothing to do with.

Tom comes from the best poachers in Suffolk County, and his and Rowdy's lives now depend on his wit and skill. To beat Carver, he'll also need to share his burdens and trust others. Multiple award-winner Jinks (Evil Genius) steps out of her middle-grade norm and crafts a breathtaking pursuit novel full of brutality and tenderness. Painting the reality of the frontier colony, where "the blacks" were feared but the true treachery lay elsewhere, Jinks highlights a world of unfair punishment, where one must endure it, but the weight is lighter with a friend to share it.

STREET SENSE: In the fashion of True Grit, a boy and his unwanted companion navigate harsh territory to outwit a vicious man trying to kill them.I loved this book. It was a great "in peril on the run" story with tons of grit and heart. Picked it because of the Aussie author, will definitely go back for more of Jinks's work.

COVER NERD SAYS:  This rustic look with a highlighted pitchfork (which I can never view as a tool of innocent farming work) was a no-brainer for me. Still not a fan of cover blurbs, but at least this one, while lengthy, is tucked away somewhat unobtrusively. The layout is pleasing and the various font sizing and placement is also great on the eyes. But if I'm honest it had me at pitchfork.

THE ONLY GOOD INDIANS :: Stephen Graham Jones

Seeing a deer or horns on a cover is like seeing a horse, I'm instantly drawn and usually can't resist. When I saw the rack on The Only Good Indians, I was instantly intrigued. I've also heard good things about Stephen Graham Jones's work and had wanted to read something of his for some time. Cover gut wins again, because The Only Good Indians knocked my socks off and is my first five-star book of the year. (I don't really rate with stars, but it seems like the easiest way to get the point across that this book kicks ass.)

Lewis is of the Blackfeet Nation, but he's been off the Reservation for a decade, living happily with his white wife. One day while up on a ladder fixing a temperamental light fixture, Lewis thinks he sees a young elk through the blurry spinning blades of the fan, lying on his living room floor. "And Lewis knows for sure she’s dead. He knows because, ten years ago, he was the one who made her that way."

Jones slowly teases the events of ten years ago, though their import is abundantly clear. Lewis and his three best friends broke tribal rules and entered a hunting ground reserved for elders. In a truck no less. The details are spooled out over the course of the book, but they are sufficiently bad to feed Lewis's growing paranoia and belief that the elk has returned for revenge. As he becomes convinced those around him are the elk in disguise, things get bloodier and more horrific. Watching things spiral as the hunted becomes the hunter is a bit magical in Jones's hands. It's just brilliant on so many levels.

The story itself is a gas, and while deeper themes run all through the narrative they are never heavy-handed. Of course there is basketball, because basketball and Reservation are nearly synonymous. I love that Jones's best hoopers are female, as are the best and smartest fighters.

Jones's work is billed as horror and while I get that point, genre labels can be restrictive and keep people away. I usually don't read horror per se, but there is horror that I really enjoy. Please don't let that label keep you away if you don't think you're a horror fan. It is gritty, don't get me wrong. Gird your loins, but dig in.

STREET SENSE: What Entertainment Weekly calls "One of 2020’s buzziest horror novels” should really be billed as "One of 2020's buzziest novels." I didn't know there was buzz when I picked it up. Buzz can be misplaced. In this case it's spot on. And when this is how the author describes himself, how can you resist: "Stephen Graham Jones is a Blackfeet Native American author born and raised in Texas. An NEA Fellow, and Bram Stoker and World Fantasy Award–winning author, Jones is the Ivena Baldwin Professor of English at the University of Colorado Boulder. Jones is into werewolves and slashers and zombies. If he could, he would wear pirate shirts and probably carry some kind of sword."

A FAVORITE PASSAGE: The door on Lewis’s side opened like a whisper, like fate, and when he committed his right foot down to the powdery surface that ended up being two feet deep, he just kept falling, his chin stopping a hand’s width into the powder the front tires had churned up. His forward motion never faltered, though. He crawled ahead like a soldier, pulling with his elbows, his rifle held ahead to keep the barrel clear. And—that was when the frenzy washed over him.

COVER NERD SAYS: I picked this by the cover. I have now bought all the rest of SGJ's work. I'd say that was a success. Intriguing, appropriately dark, a little creepy.