Book Review: "The Last One at the Wedding" by Jason Rekulak

First things first: if you go into this book expecting another Hidden Pictures, you’ll be disappointed. There’s nothing really scary about this book, unless you hate daddy longlegs. It’s also much more of a family drama mixed with a slow-burn mystery of sorts, rather than a high-octane thriller.

The relative peace of Frank’s breakfast is disturbed when his phone rings. He is shocked to hear the voice of his daughter Maggie, with whom he’s not spoken in three years. He tries to apologize for what happened between them, but she’s not interested in rehashing that issue.

It turns out Maggie is calling to tell him she’s getting married in three months, and she wants him to be there. She’s marrying a man named Aidan, whom she’s known for only six months. Something about it doesn’t quite feel right, but Frank keeps his reservations to himself. When he receives a strange letter in the mail, his trepidations begin to grow.

The wedding will be a colossal three-day event held at Aidan’s family camp, a lakefront estate in the woods of New Hampshire. Frank is excited to spend time with Maggie, and get to know Aidan and his family better. But Maggie mostly avoids him, Aidan is nowhere to be found, and his father, a wealthy business tycoon, seems a bit shady.

The more time Frank spends at the camp, the more questions he has about the relationship between his daughter and Aidan, accusations that Aidan was involved in a tragic event, and Aidan’s family. Everywhere he goes, he encounters another strange thing, but he has no idea what the truth really is.

I think that Jason Rekulak is a really talented storyteller, and throughout so much of this book, I had this creepy feeling as I waited for the next shoe to drop. I’ll admit that some things really caught me by surprise, and I couldn’t put the book down.

Book Review: "Look Closer" by David Ellis

Look Closer is a twisty thriller that hooked me from the very start and never let go!

I’ve seen so many rave reviews for this book and I have been meaning to read it for a while now, but I’m not always wowed by thrillers. But I have to say, this one deserves every bit of hype because it is fantastic!

Simon loves his job as an associate professor at a law school. He’s truly passionate about the law. He and Vicky have been married for nearly 10 years, and while it’s not a loveless marriage, it’s not an exciting one for either of them.

When a beautiful, wealthy woman is found dead in her exclusive neighborhood, many things come to light. And even when you look closer, nothing is what it seems.

This was truly excellent. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, David Ellis flipped the script time and again. If you love twisty thrillers that keep you guessing, pick this one up!!

Book Review: "The Mouth of the Mine" by Caleb Posten

The Mouth of the Mine was a little CREEPY...and it got my heart pumping pretty quickly!

Even though it's a pretty big change, Wayne and Anita Evans are pleased to have left the chaos and pressure of New York City for a quieter life in Jackson, Wyoming, with their 10-year-old son, Al. They were able to get a great deal on a beautiful, big house with a wide expanse of property (it helps when a man disappears for no reason and his widow is eager to sell) and they are immediately taken with the peace and quiet, as well as the beautiful flora, fauna, and wildlife that surrounds them.

As they try to get acclimated to their new life, and learn what they need to about survival in the wilderness, fishing, guns, etc., Al is ready to embrace the full cowboy experience. One day, curious about what exists beyond their property line, Al goes exploring. He wanders a bit too far and gets lost, but he stumbles on a remarkable discovery that both excites and spooks him.

The more Al thinks about what he has found, the more he wants to keep going back to the place beyond their property, but getting free reign to wander without his parents noticing or worrying is difficult. He gets drawn in even further, and he keeps trying to figure out ways to outsmart them, because his greed gets the best of him. But as he ratchets up his actions to cover his tracks, is he putting himself—and perhaps his family—in danger? Is there some connection with all of the people who have disappeared?

I'm going to end my plot summary there because it's best to read this book not knowing too much and instead letting the plot unfold. This isn't too scary of a book (I wouldn't have read it otherwise because I'm a complete coward) but there is a pervasive sense of creepiness that I felt while reading. It's almost like I was reading with one hand over my eyes because I knew something bad was going to have to happen.

I enjoyed this book and thought Caleb Posten did a great job reeling me in and keeping me hooked from start to finish. While obviously there are some horror elements which require suspension of disbelief (like most horror books and movies), you could totally believe Al would act the way he did. Few 10-year-olds wouldn't want the chance to explore the wilderness and the wildness around them.

There are two animal deaths in here which might serve as a trigger for some. I'll admit I was unhappy with one of them but I understood the purpose it served. They're not gratuitously violent so don't let that dissuade you.

This is Posten's debut novel and it definitely shows he has real promise as a writer. Even though this isn't one of my preferred genres, I'll definitely be keeping my eye out to see what comes next for him!

The author and Black Rose Writing provided me with a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Book Review: "The Lion's Den" by Katherine St. John

The Lion's Den by Katherine St. John is a soapy, melodramatic beach read about money, friendship, and betrayal.

Belle and Summer have been friends since high school. And while there were lots of good times, a great deal of their relationship has consisted of Summer taking advantage of Belle or Belle having to clean up after her.

Still, when Summer invites her on her extremely rich (and much, much older) boyfriend’s yacht for a Mediterranean cruise, Belle jumps at the chance to get away from her flagging acting career and her hellish bartending gig for a bit of luxury.

But it’s not long before Belle realizes that while the boat is beautiful and the locales are gorgeous, everything is not what it seems. Summer’s boyfriend is tremendously controlling, and the women are expected to be seen and not heard. It’s Summer’s behavior, however, that is most worrisome, and one night, Belle sees just how dangerous Summer can be to anyone who threatens what she wants.

So…I didn’t like this. I really wanted to DNF it, honestly, but kept with it in the hopes it would get better. Given the fact that the book fluctuates between past and present, you see what a horrible friend Summer was to Belle, so I don’t honestly understand how anyone would put up with Summer for as long as they did and believe all of her utter lies. I also didn't understand why everyone else seemed not to care about what was going on. St. John threw in some twists, which were interesting, but at the same time even those seemed a little far-fetched.

Others have really enjoyed this, though. I'm not sure what I missed here, but don't take my word as the sole decision whether or not to read this!

Book Review: "The Dutch House" by Ann Patchett

"But we overlay the present onto the past. We look back through the lens of what we know now, so we're not seeing it as the people we were, we're seeing it as the people we are, and that means the past has been radically altered."

Siblings Danny and Maeve Conroy grew up in The Dutch House, a lavish home in the Philadelphia suburbs. Once the home of a Dutch family that owned most of the area, their artwork and interior decorating still remain throughout the infamous estate. While their real-estate-investor father loves the house and sees it as a jewel in his empire, their mother was repulsed by all the infamous home represented, and she left when Danny was very young.

Left with a father generally incapable of doing more than providing the material comforts for his children, Maeve helped raise Danny, with the help of the family's two housekeepers. The two siblings, despite their age difference, formed an unshakable bond, one which became even more crucial when their father married again, this time a younger woman with two young daughters of her own. Their stepmother's dislike of them was apparent to them from the very start, although their father seemed oblivious and/or disinterested in her treatment of them, as he was more interested in keeping the peace in his household than anything else.

When their stepmother gets the opportunity, she exiles Danny and Maeve from the house—and cuts off their access to any of the money that should be theirs. Left with nothing, they are forced to fend for themselves and have only each other to survive. And while they cannot seem to get The Dutch House out of their minds, given that it was such an enormous part of their lives, they want more than anything to understand the actions of their parents, which led them to where they are now.

While this isn't a suspenseful book, there are a few surprises that are better to unfold as you read it rather than have them revealed. This is a book that was paced a lot slower than I like, but there is a lot of richness to behold, including emotion, nostalgia, family dynamics, and even a little humor. What fascinated me even more is what a major character the house itself played, much like in Howards End or Rebecca.

I've been a big fan of Ann Patchett's since reading Bel Canto a number of years ago. I love the way she tells a story. (Her nonfiction is excellent, too—check out Truth and Beauty or This is the Story of a Happy Marriage.) I have enjoyed some of her other books more than this one, but it's still worth a read, and I believe both Patchett fans and those who've never read her work will enjoy this, especially those who like stories of family relationships gone awry.

Book Review: "The Escape Room" by Megan Goldin

It's a good thing I'm the boss, because after reading Megan Goldin's new book, The Escape Room, if someone ever suggested a team-building exercise, I'd run in the opposite direction!

Stanhope and Sons is one of the leading financial firms in the country. The deals they close net millions—if not billions—of dollars, and can make or break major corporations.

The firm hires only the best and brightest, and is tremendously choosy. They want people who look like they're worth millions, let alone be trusted to make millions on behalf of their clients. Successful employees make an immense amount of money between salaries and bonuses, yet the firm works them like dogs, at least until you get to the point where you're responsible for wining and dining potential and current clients.

One night four of the firm's leading employees, Vincent, Sam, Jules, and Sylvie, are summoned to an office building in the South Bronx with a directive to attend a meeting at the behest of HR. The past year has been a tough one for the quartet, who seem to have lost a bit of their luster lately, losing money and clients. There are rumors of layoffs, reassignments, so the four know that whatever they have to sacrifice for their job—as they always have—they will, if it means preserving their job and their astronomical salary.

No one is quite sure who summoned them to this meeting, but when they are directed into an elevator, they obey. It turns out the elevator is an escape room, where they must work together as a team in order to solve puzzles and identify clues so they can get out of the elevator before time elapses. The problem is, even though they work so closely together, no one is really sure whom to trust. They're convinced everyone is out simply to protect themselves, since that's what they would do, too.

When the lights in the elevator go out and it starts to get hotter in the confined space, they're desperate to solve the challenge and get out. But when the clues start to remind them of errors they've made and people they've wronged, they begin to realize this isn't just any escape room challenge. Someone is clearly out to get them—but is it one of the four of them, or someone else? How far are they willing to go to escape and save themselves?

There's a lot more to this book than that description but it's best to keep it fairly vague so as not to ruin the surprises along the way. The Escape Room isn't quite what I was expecting, and that doesn't disappoint me. It's definitely more of a slow-burn thriller than one with breakneck pacing, but you still want to know how Goldin is going to tie everything up. This is definitely a more cerebral book but not a boring one by any means.

I've never done one of those escape room challenges, and I don't think I'm in any hurry to do one after reading The Escape Room. I've seen this book get a lot of hype leading up to its release earlier this week, and it's definitely deserving of buzz. As long as you're comfortable with a slower pace and storytelling that will stimulate your mind more than rev your heart, you'll enjoy this one!

I was fortunate to be part of the blog tour for The Escape Room. Thanks to St. Martin's Press for an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!

Check out some Q&A with Goldin at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2019/08/q-with-megan-goldin-author-of-escape.html.

Book Review: "Children of Blood and Bone" by Tomi Adeyemi

Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Blood and Bone has appeared on countless year-end "Best of" lists. After reading it, I can unequivocally say that the accolades are justified. This is a triumph of storytelling, and Adeyemi has built a fascinating world with unforgettable characters.

"They don't hate you, my child. They hate what you were meant to become."

Orïsha was once a land where magic ruled. Those with magical ability, the maji, could do many different things. Some could control water, others could control fire, some read minds, and some were able to summon forth souls. But King Saran was afraid of the kind of power the maji had, so he ordered their destruction. One night, the magic died, and those who were heirs to that power were treated as outcasts, thought of as maggots.

Zélie was young the night her mother, a powerful maji, was murdered, and her father was badly beaten. Their lives, and the life of her older brother Tzain, have never been the same. The king's men take advantage of Orïsha's citizens, raising taxes on a whim, and essentially working them to death. Tzain wants to follow the rules, but Zélie has a rebellious spirit, and won't surrender without a fight.

"He wants to believe that playing by the monarchy's rules will keep us safe, but nothing can protect us when those rules are rooted in hate."

It turns out that the artifacts that can resurrect magic were never destroyed. When Zélie and Tzain are on a trading mission, they rescue the princess, Amari, who is trying to escape the evil of her heritage. Reluctantly allowing her to join them, they discover that she has possession of the magical scroll, one of the pieces needed to bring magic back. And because she has magic in her blood, Zélie is the only one who can save magic and defeat the monarchy.

It won't be an easy fight, as Inan, the heir to Saran's throne (and Amari's brother) will stop at nothing to destroy magic once and for all, and anyone who gets in his way. It's far more complicated, though, than simply following his father's orders and proving his mettle as the future king—Inan has a connection to magic he cannot let anyone find out. But Zélie knows his secret, and isn't above using it if she can.

This will be a battle for the very soul of a people and the lives they were born into. It will require more strength than they could ever imagine, and the ability to let their minds rule, not their hearts, for their hearts could lead them into the most dangerous territory of all.

I thought this was a terrific, creative concept. It's tremendously detailed, and it took a while for me to get all of the characters straight in my mind, but I was hooked on this story from the get-go. Adeyemi created such a fascinating world, and even though you've seen these themes before, you haven't seen them played out by characters like these. There are a lot of accent marks over certain letters in many names, so I wonder if listening to the book would help clear some of the mystery of how particular words were pronounced.

At times this book was electrifying and at times the pace dragged a little bit, but overall, the story is compelling and affecting. I am looking forward to seeing what happens next in this series (it looks like the next book is due in March) and hope it recaptures the magic (pun intended and unintended) of Children of Blood and Bone.

Book Review: "The More They Disappear" by Jesse Donaldson

Part crime novel, part lament on the affect that drugs, poverty, and the hunger for power have on a small town, Jesse Donaldson's The More They Disappear is an atmospheric thriller and fascinating character study, truly evoking imagery of life in a downtrodden small town.

In 1998, Lew Mattock is running for re-election to an unprecedented fourth term as sheriff of Marathon, a small town in Kentucky. Lew's success as sheriff isn't just because he has been tough on crime—he's greased more than his share of palms (and had his palm greased more than a few times), and he's not afraid to use his power wherever it's needed. But when Lew is murdered during a campaign event, most of Marathon's citizens are saddened to see this fixture of their town meet his end.

The task of finding Lew's murderer falls to Harlan Dupee, Lew's chief deputy, more because Lew wanted someone on the force he didn't feel threatened by as his second-in-command. Introspective, and still mourning the tragic death of his girlfriend a few years earlier, Harlan never really had any ambition to be sheriff, but he knows that investigating this crime is his duty. And the more investigating he does, the more he uncovers a massive web of greed, intimidation, secrets, addiction, and corruption, and Lew was smack in the middle of it all.

While Harlan wants to find out the truth behind what caused Lew's murder, his discoveries also force him to revisit his own loneliness, and the destruction that is being wrought in Marathon as a result of the introduction of OxyContin. He wonders if uncovering the truth can actually save Marathon and those being torn apart by Lew's death, including Lew's widow and son, or whether the town will be able to survive the poverty and despondence that is slowly eating away at it.

It's always interesting reading a crime novel when you know who the perpetrator is, and pretty much know how everything unfolded, but you need to wait for the protagonist to figure it out. Even though that seems like it might be a boring read, in Donaldson's hands, this book is completely compelling. Marathon is not unlike many small towns in the U.S., and you find yourself both hoping the truth will be uncovered so the town might be able to start fresh, and hoping the status quo can remain.

There are a lot of interesting characters in this book, and Harlan is far from the slow-seeming sad sack that he appeared to be at the start. Donaldson made you care about these characters, and how they are affected by what has transpired, and his storytelling ability is really quite strong. Thanks to his use of evocative imagery, I could picture Marathon pretty clearly in my head, and found it both fascinating and sad.

While this may lack the suspense of many crime novels, The More They Disappear, is more than a crime novel. It's a great read, and a great look at a town caught in the cross-hairs of poverty and greed.

Book Review: "Poisonfeather" by Matthew FitzSimmons

Last year, Matthew FitzSimmons took the literary thriller world by storm with his debut novel, The Short Drop. The story of Gibson Vaughn, convicted of hacking into a powerful congressman's files when he was a teenager, and his search for redemption (as well as his entanglement in a political mystery), that book was utterly fantastic and made my list of the best books I read in 2015.

Gibson Vaughn returns in Poisonfeather, FitzSimmons' newest thriller, and although this book is a little overly ambitious for its own good, FitzSimmons makes it clear he knows how to create memorable characters, ratchet up suspense, and write some pretty crackling action scenes.

Charles Merrick was a billionaire famous for bilking average citizens out of their fortunes in a scam similar to that of Bernie Madoff. (Merrick had nothing but disdain for Madoff, however, and felt his operations were much smoother and more sophisticated than Madoff's "Ponzi scheme.") For reasons no one following Merrick's case can understand, he was only sentenced to eight years in a minimum security prison, leaving countless people's lives destroyed by his greed.

As Merrick's release from prison draws closer, an interview he gives to a financial magazine draws quite a bit of attention, as it appears that he is hinting that he didn't actually lose all of the money he stole from his investors. This draws the ire of an unsavory cast of characters from all over the globe, and little by little, many of them converge on the small West Virginia town where Merrick's prison is located.

Vaughn is trying to rebuild his life after the events which occurred in The Short Drop, but with little success. He is summoned to meet with Hammond Birk, the judge who gave him the chance to join the Marines instead of sentencing him to prison for his crimes when he was younger. Judge Birk was among the victims Merrick swindled, and he convinced family members and those who worked for him to invest as well, with disastrous results. And although Birk does not want Vaughn to risk turning his life upside down to try and recover his money, Vaughn feels he owes the judge for the path he was able to take with his life, and begins building a plan to outsmart Merrick.

What Vaughn isn't expecting, however, is how many other people have similar ideas, and how dangerous they are. Not only does he have to contend with those he suspects have been helping Merrick from the inside and outside, he has to deal with the trigger-happy friend of Judge Birk's nephew, who got him involved in this whole scheme in the first place. And then there's a mysterious bartender, a Chinese government official with a passion for fly fishing, a band of dangerous thugs, a gang of criminals with a shoot-first-ask-questions-later philosophy, and the CIA. It's a little more than he bargained for, but all in the name of repaying a debt, right?

I love Vaughn's character, and thought there were a number of characters in this book that FitzSimmons drew quite well, and I hope that some of them might resurface in future books. Where Poisonfeather differed from The Short Drop is that the first book was really about Vaughn and his fight to clear his name, understand his past, and solve a mystery, while in this book, he often takes a back seat to other characters, some more interesting than others. I really felt at times there were just too many characters and too many side stories going on, and even though most of them were tied up by the end of the book, it made the plot more confusing and a little less solid.

FitzSimmons knows how to tell a story, there's no doubt about it. I just wish he trusted in his protagonist more and didn't try to overburden the plot with a gigantic cast of characters. And while it's fun to watch a greedy billionaire get his just desserts, the financial bent of this story took a little more time to explain. But at the end of the day, this is another strong thriller, full of tension, action, and a little emotion, all anchored by a pretty fantastic, complex, and flawed character. I'm looking forward to more from FitzSimmons and Gibson Vaughn in the future.

NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!

Book Review: "Wayfaring Stranger" by James Lee Burke

Full disclosure: I received an advance readers copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

James Lee Burke is one of my favorite authors of all-time. Over the last 25 years or so, I've read everything he has written, and really marveled at his ability to tell stories. His writing style is one of the most poetic and evocative I've ever seen; no one can set a scene or describe a person quite like Burke.

With Wayfaring Stranger, Burke departs from the usual characters he's written about lately, most notably Louisiana police detective Dave Robicheaux, to tell the story of Weldon Holland. When we first meet Weldon in the 1930s, he is fatherless, being raised by his curmudgeonly grandfather. At 16, he has several chance encounters with Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, as they are hiding out following one of their many bank robberies. Weldon is entranced by the beautiful Bonnie, yet he knows intuitively that the group are criminals, and their last encounter leads to Weldon firing a gun at their car as it drives away. This experience both shapes his view of criminals and sets up an interesting standard of women in his mind.

Years later, Weldon finds himself in the army during World War II, and is one of a handful of survivors of the Battle of the Bulge. He and a fellow soldier, Hershel Pine, whose life Weldon saves, come upon an abandoned concentration camp, where they wind up saving the life of Rosita Lowenstein, who had been captured when her Communist father and her family were arrested. Weldon is immediately besotted with Rosita, who is a firebrand more interested in changing the world than settling down, yet Weldon pursues her again once the two are separated.

Returning to Texas, Hershel makes good on his gratitude toward Weldon by forging a partnership in the fledgling oil industry. Hershel has envisioned using German technology to weld oil pipeline, which makes it strong so it will not split. Yet as they begin to achieve immense success, they are dogged by corrupt businessmen and thieves who want to seize their business, and will stop at nothing—including using information about their wives—to destroy them. But their strong sense of right and wrong keeps them fighting, with positive and negative results.

Burke's writing ability is on fine display in this book, and many times I was struck by his use of imagery and his descriptions of characters, which made them tremendously vivid. Yet while many of the reviews I've read of this book claim that Wayfaring Stranger is a tremendous departure for Burke, I think it is only in that it's about different characters than his other books. I felt that in many ways, Weldon was very similar to Dave Robicheaux, in his steadfast need to right wrongs—even if it means doing wrong in the process—his long-suffering nature, and his fierce loyalty to those he cares about. And many of the villains that Weldon and Hershel encounter seem familiar as well.

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as many of Burke's others, yet many of the reviews I've seen say this may be his finest book to date. Whether you agree with me or not, if you're a fan of excellent storytelling, with a particular emphasis on the seamier side of human nature, I'd encourage you to pick up one of James Lee Burke's books, and hopefully you'll become as much an admirer of his as I am.

Movie Review: "The Bling Ring"

One of Sofia Coppola's strengths as a filmmaker is her ability to take what we think we know—lonely actors, relationships, royalty, and the cult of celebrity—and skew our perspectives. That talent is on fine display in The Bling Ring, an enjoyable if slight movie based on the true story of a group of California high school students who, in 2008, broke into the houses of their favorite celebrities (Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Audrina Patridge) and stole clothing, jewelry, and money.

Insecure Marc (Israel Broussard) is a new student in a transitional high school. His low self-esteem (he doesn't think he's as attractive or worthy as his peers) makes him determined and somewhat desperate to fit in. He meets Rebecca (Katie Chang), who quickly takes him under her wing and introduces him to her circle of friends—Nicki (Emma Watson, the anti-Hermione), her surrogate sister, Sam (Taissa Farmiga), and gravelly-voiced Chloe (Claire Julien), all of whom are more interested in clubbing, taking drugs, and shopping than academics, which suits Marc just fine.

Marc and Rebecca bond over their mutual love of celebrities, fashion, and gossip, although Rebecca's brazen thievery surprises and unnerves him. But he considers Rebecca his best friend, and since he finally feels as if he belongs, he keeps most of his concerns to himself. And then Rebecca ups the ante from breaking into random empty houses to breaching celebrities' inner sanctums. (You won't believe how easy this activity becomes, and you can't help but wonder whether this was truly the case back in 2008.)

The pair, with their friends tagging along from time to time, identify celebrities who are out of town (God bless the internet) and break into their houses, stealing designer clothes, jewelry, money, and drugs, sharing and selling the spoils (and celebrating their finds in clubs and via social media). They don't really try and hide what they're doing, and no one really shows remorse—the general sentiment is that these celebrities have far more than they need, so why shouldn't they take some?

As you might imagine, the gig eventually comes to an end, to Marc's simultaneous relief and sadness. And as the group tries to spin what they've done (some more successfully than others), you find yourself wondering how disconnected these kids are from the adults in their lives, and how we as a society have built celebrities—particularly those more famous for being famous than for actually doing anything—into somewhat of a revered class yet one deserving of some humility and comeuppance, particularly from those less fortunate.

What makes The Bling Ring so enjoyable is both the audacity of the schemes the group pulls off as well as the strength and naturalness of the actors' performances. (All but Watson have done few if any movies prior to this.) Chang is marvelous as the icy ringleader; you understand why Marc wants to be her friend and stay in her good graces. Broussard is refreshingly vulnerable and conflicted in his role as the film's imperfect consciousness, and Watson has both the self-centered California attitude—and the dialogue—down pat.

I enjoyed this movie a great deal, but in the end, Coppola's decision to keep the audience at arm's length from the characters undercuts the film's power, so it didn't quite wow me. It's still definitely worth seeing, perhaps when it comes to whatever streaming or DVD rental service you use, if for no other reason than to marvel at what this group of kids pulled off.