Here are some mini-reviews of books I read in February:
- The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith. I remember, many years ago, reading a couple of the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency books before giving up and thinking that Mr. Smith's style wasn't for me. But recently I thought I'd try one of his series set in Edinburgh. Alas, this one did not change my mind. His main character, Isabel Dalhousie, is an older woman, living alone (except for her housekeeper who comes in every day - do people really still have housekeepers who come in every day?). Isabel works from home - doing something for philosophy journals. When she sees a man fall from the balcony of the concert hall to his death, she decides to investigate. But not really. She sort of flits here and there and thinks. She thinks a lot. She thinks about philosophy a lot. This book is written in the third person (thank goodness) but I still found her difficult to relate to as a character . It had a good sense of place but the plot just sort of meandered. But the clincher was that I found myself skimming large parts of the text because I have little to no interest in philosophy.
- The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson. The premise of this novel was interesting - a multi-generational story of Dahkota women struggling to stay alive, preserve their families and their way of life. With a bit of preaching about the evils of GMO crops. The main character is Rosalie Iron Wing who is taken from her home after the death of both of her parents and raised by foster parents. But there is also the story of her friend Gaby who is working to clean up the environment and Rosalie's ancestors who were pushed out of Minnesota in the 1860s. And the story of seeds maintained each year to feed people. I liked the story. The style of storytelling wasn't one I love - told in the way that people tell the story of their lives to other people. So a lot of telling, not showing. Major events elided over. It made for some thinly developed characters except for Rosalie. And even the sense of place seemed generic. I don't think the author is a natural novelist and when I looked her up I found this was a first novel but she had written non-fiction. It showed. But it did keep my attention until the end and, in general, I recommend this book but be aware that she is no Louise Erdrich.
- The Dry by Jane Harper. Set in a small town in Australia during a terrible drought, Federal Agent Aaron Falk returns to town for the funeral of his childhood best friend Luke. Luke's farm is failing and he has apparently killed his wife and son before taking his own life. But why did he spare baby Charlotte? And there are other strange circumstances that lead Aaron to question whether Luke was in fact the killer or whether he was a victim. Aaron is a well drawn character and the plot is a page turner. The sense of place is excellent. Harper has a nice readable style and doesn't do anything that made me roll my eyes. Her style reminded me, a bit, of Tana French. This is a first in a series. I will read the others.
- The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett. I really enjoyed this book. Steve Smith, the main character, is out of jail on probation, determined never to go back to jail. He's also obsessed with finding out what happened to a teacher who mysteriously disappeared forty years previously and also with solving a code in a children's book that maybe the teacher solved. Or maybe she didn't. And along the way, he tells us what landed him in jail years ago. This has a good plot that keeps you wondering what will happen. The main character is interesting. We see the other characters through his eyes so they are a little less developed. It doesn't have a particularly strong sense of place but enough that you understand where things are happening. I'm not completely convinced that it stuck the landing at the end - I might have preferred it to end more ambiguously than it does, but I'm not going be too picky about that. What I loved was the writing concept. The novel starts with a letter from a police inspector to a university professor enclosing transcripts of audio files found on an old iphone. The transcripts were made by specialist transcription software (along with the mistakes that transcription software make). The majority of the novel are these transcripts of dictation that Steve makes into the iphone. Some people may not like that but I loved it.
- Force of Nature by Jane Harper. This was the follow-up novel to The Dry (reviewed above). Australian federal agent Aaron Falk is back, this time with a partner named Carmen. Aaron and Carmen are concerned when one of their sources on an important case goes missing in the bush during a corporate retreat/bonding experience. The real story here is: How well do you ever really know your colleagues? I liked this book but not as much as The Dry. I think that has to do mainly with my aversion these days to dual timeline books. The main timeline takes place during the search for the missing woman but the other tells us what actually happened and how she went missing. I didn't really want to see what really happened, I just liked the hunt. But I didn't guess the ending (or the motive) which is good. And I do like the way Jane Harper writes, in general. Her characters don't say dumb things and she has a good sense of pacing. I know I intended to avoid going down the rabbit hole of completing book series this year while not reading anything else in-betweenbut I had put myself on the wait list for the third and latest book, which started out with a wait of months. But the library has purchased more copies and the list is down to weeks. So I thought I should read book 2 while it was available. And to be fair, I did read something in-between. (Why do I feel I have to explain myself?)
- Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man by Emily J. Edwards. It is the 1950's in New York City and Viviana (Viv) is the secretary to private investigator Tommy Fortuna (the kind of guy who calls his secretary Dollface). Viv likes her job and it brings in enough money to pay her rent at the boarding house run by Mrs. K., who watches over her "girls" like a mother hen. All is well until Tommy takes a job from a well known millionaire then disappears and Viv shows up to work to find a mysterious man unconscious on the floor. The cops think Tommy attacked him so its up to Viv to clear Tommy's name. This is a very stylized mystery, written very much like a late 1940's/early 1950's film with a lot of banter. Viv is engaging, smart and funny (although at first I thought I might find her annoying, I didn't). It's a light read, perfect for a weekend afternoon or a plane trip. Recommended by my friend AndiF.
- The Echo of Twilight by Judith Kinghorn. Back in 2012/2013 I really got into books set in the WWI era - both before, during and after. I've never really gotten past it although I'm not as obsessive as I was. But when I saw this at the library I couldn't resist. It is the story of Pearl Gibson, ladies maid to Lady Ottoline Campbell and their "unlikely friendship." It was disappointing partly because there were a lot of "unlikely" things that happened in this novel. The plot was ambitious. But if you are looking for a page turner, this isn't it. It starts a bit before the War and continues until 1925ish. I honestly think the author was trying to do too much and the plotting overtook the character development. One other reason I picked it was because it was partly set in the Scottish highlands, but it didn't really have enough of that sense of place to satisfy me. And needless to say, the words didn't really grab me. So, in general, it was just a "Meh" book for me. It's not terrible but I really can't recommend it.
- The Cliff's Edge by Charles Todd. It was a relief for me that, after the last disappointing WWI novel, the next installment in the Bess Crawford mysteries was released this month. Bess was a WWI frontline nurse, but the War is over and she's trying to figure out where she fits in the world. Her friend Melinda Crawford convinces her to travel to Yorkshire to nurse Lady Beatrice after a gall bladder operation. Melinda has previously placed an older woman named Lillian as Lady Beatrice's companion and Lillian is worried about Lady Beatrice. But while staying there, Lady Beatrice hears that her godson has been hurt and sends Bess and Lilian to assist. Turns out there was a murder. Of course. This was a good mystery. I'm pretty sure the title refers to the cliff the victim fell off of but also the cliff that Bess finds herself personally wavering on as far as her personal life goes. This book ends on even more of a cliff-hanger (pun intended) than usual, which is troubling. Charles Todd is the pen name for a mother/son writing team and the mother, Caroline, passed away about a year ago. So it isn't clear whether we should expect any more novels. Which would be a real shame.
- Back of Beyond by CJ Box. I very much enjoyed reading CJ Box's Joe Picket series last year. The writing is good for this type of page turning novel and the sense of place is excellent. The plots are a little over the top (sometimes eye-rollingly over the top) but they do draw you along and the women characters are somewhat thinly drawn but not really offensive. The main character, Joe, is very well drawn. When I realized Box had another series I thought I'd give it a try. Like the other books it is a real page turner but I didn't really enjoy it. I thought the plot was even more far-fetched than some of the Joe Picket plots (which is saying a lot). This time he told some of the story from the point of view of a young girl named Gracie and did a pretty good job with her, although I thought she didn't really think like a young person. But all of that didn't really matter to me since I despised the main character: Cody Hoyt, a chain smoking, alcoholic, asshole cop (he would describe himself that way and it is accurate). If the writing hadn't kept me reading I would have stopped in disgust with him very early in (and he isn't really redeemed at the end). I'm not inclined to want to read more about him. I am intrigued however by the fact that this series is called the CJHoyt/Cassie Dewell series. There was no Cassie Dewell that I remember in this book so she must come in another volume. If he ditched Hoyt or made him a minor character I might read more.
- Exiles by Jane Harper. This is the third and latest book in the Aaron Falk series. This is what started me on the readathon - I read a review somewhere of this book and thought it sounded good but thought I should start with the first book in the series: The Dry (see above). I put my name on the reserve at the library for this and it was supposed to take months so I thought I would be reading The Dry this month, the second book Force of Nature maybe next month and this one when it finally arrived. Then the library bought many more copies and, oops, I had to read book two faster since it was available. (When my name comes up for a book I like to take it and not delay it). Why am I explaining this? Anyway I really, really liked this book. Jane Harper is a very good writer - her dialog works perfectly, all the characters sound like real people. She gives a very good sense of place (this time vineyard country in Australia) and her characters are interesting. And once again, I did not actually guess the two mysteries in this book until right before the reveals.
Those are my thoughts. Remember, of the four doorways into a novel (plot, character, sense of place and language), I'm looking for the language doorway to be big in order for me to love a book. (See my post about the Four Doorways). Probably why I loved The Twyford Code and just liked the others.
