Book Review: "We Used To Live Here" by Marcus Kliewer

Oh, Bookstagram FOMO, you are too powerful sometimes!! I don’t read horror very often because I’m a complete and utter coward, but somehow I felt compelled to read this book that everyone has been raving about. And now, if there’s a knock at the door, I freak out!

Charlie and Eve flip houses. But the newest house they’ve bought is all the way in the Pacific Northwest, and it’s not quite the steal that Charlie told Eve it was.

One night, while Eve is in the house by herself, there is a knock at the door. A man is standing there with his wife and three kids, and he tells Eve he grew up in this house. He asks if he could show his family around. It shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes, tops. Eve isn’t really comfortable with this, but she also doesn’t want to disappoint these people. What could go wrong?

This book is utterly CRAZY! I had an eerie feeling from the start and it got more and more intense as I kept reading…and I couldn’t stop reading it. While I don’t like feeling so uncomfortable, this kind of psychological terror is so effective and unsettling.

This was such a fast and compelling read—or maybe I just wanted to finish it quickly! The ending left me with so many questions that I re-read it a few times just to be sure I got it. I know I’ll be thinking of this one for a long while!

Book Review: "Fourteen Days" by The Authors Guild

Shortly after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the residents of a rundown apartment building on NYC’s Lower East Side begin gathering on the rooftop terrace for fresh air. They participate in the cheering for the health care workers, which occurs each evening at 7:00 pm.

Little by little, they start to linger on the roof after the cheering subsides. At first they keep to themselves, reading, playing with their phones, pondering the pandemic, but then they start to tell each other stories—stories that happened to them, stories passed down from their families, even fables or ghost stories. All can’t be true, but the shared time proves therapeutic.

The narrator is the building’s female superintendent, a virtual stranger to the tenants, as she took the job and moved in just before the lockdown began. Armed with her predecessor’s “bible,” a binder profiling each tenant and the nickname he bestowed upon them, she takes it upon herself to record and transcribe the stories they are told. And she has stories of her own as well.

As soon as I heard about this book, I wanted to read it. Each chapter contains multiple stories, and each story is written by another author, everyone from Margaret Atwood, John Grisham, Angie Cruz, to Diana Gabaldon, Erica Jong, and Tess Gerritsen. (Interestingly enough, the stories don't identify the authors; you won't know who wrote which chapter until the end. Unless you cheat.)

Sadly, the concept didn’t work as well as I had hoped—essentially, it’s a group of short stories, some of which are excellent, some of which are not, and some of which have too much detail to actually be a story someone would tell. (And don’t get me started on the ending.)

Book Review: "The Invisible Husband of Frick Island" by Colleen Oakley

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island is a beautiful, emotional story about love, loss, determination, family, and an unforgettable community.

I’ve made it a goal to read more backlist titles this year, so I’ve been reading books I bought and never got around to before. And when I read a book like this, I want to slap myself and say, “What took you so long?”

Piper’s husband Tom is a waterman, like his father and grandfather before him. They live on Frick Island, a small island in the Chesapeake Bay you can only get to by boat. (This is inspired by Maryland's Smith Island.) When Tom’s boat doesn’t come back one day and his body can’t be found, Piper and the 90+ residents of the island are devastated. But it’s not long after that Piper begins acting as if Tom is still alive—so everyone on the island follows suit.

"'If something is there, you can only see it with your eyes open, but if it isn't there, you can see it just as well with your eyes closed. That's why imaginary things are often easier to see than real ones.'"

Anders is a young reporter who has always dreamed of making a name for himself, as a reporter and podcaster, but that doesn’t seem to be happening. He’s sent to Frick Island to cover their annual Cake Walk event and he is intrigued by the unique community. And while he feels that there’s a story in the island’s residents staying put despite the effects of climate change on their home, he realizes the biggest story is the fact that the entire town is pretending that a dead man still exists.

The deeper Anders gets into the story, the more attached to Piper he becomes. Is he really just interested in helping her? And when his podcast goes viral—along with Piper’s story—he has to decide what’s more important to him, fame or the possibility of something more.

I loved this story. It reminded me a little of a movie with Ryan Gosling called Lars and the Real Girl. The Invisible Husband of Frick Island was a poignant and fascinating story with some interesting little twists, and I couldn’t get enough.

Book Review: "The Stranger Game" by Peter Gadol

You're in a public place and a person or group of people catches your eye. It may be the way they look, their actions, things they're saying, but you just can't stop yourself from surreptitiously watching them. You don't want to get caught, but you can't look away, and you (and perhaps even a companion) imagine who these people are and what they're doing. When they get up, or leave the area where you've been watching them, you may even be (more than) slightly interested in following them, but you know it's too risky, or even foolish.

Take this at least one step further and you have the crux of Peter Gadol's enigmatic new novel, The Stranger Game.

After a few weeks with no contact, Rebecca comes to the realization that her on-again, off-again boyfriend Ezra has disappeared. She can't figure out where he would have gone without any warning, even though their relationship was in one of its odd periods. But he left without giving notice to his job or paying his rent, so she starts to wonder whether something has happened to him.

When she reports his disappearance to the police, they don't seem concerned in the slightest. They suspect Ezra is off playing "the stranger game," a cultural phenomenon which seems to have gripped society. In the game people choose someone to follow (unbeknownst to them), and while the initial objective of the game was to get as close as possible and follow for as long as possible without getting caught, it seems the game has transformed, becoming more complicated and, in some cases, sinister.

In order to see just what type of craze has affected Ezra, Rebecca tries the game. She is almost immediately sucked in, and it starts to affect other aspects of her life. At times she even has trouble distinguishing between who is playing and who is not. She meets Carey, a handsome and mysterious man who awakens her emotions, which have been hidden away for so long. But Carey also draws her further and further into the game, and she doesn't know whom to trust—or where she is safe.

"And then I wondered how many kinds of games people played with strangers every hour every day. We were, each of us, isolated creatures who ached for proximity, for intimacy with others, but who also out of primal self-preservation insisted on and maintained a safe distance. These stranger games we invented shuttled us somewhere halfway between stations of affinity and detachment, but more often than not we ended up at the latter destination. It was a miracle anyone ever connected with anyone. Most of the time we were cast back into our own longing."

To borrow a phrase from Winston Churchill, The Stranger Game is, "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." I love the basis on which Gadol built his novel, as I am one of those people who is fascinated by people-watching and wondering about the dynamics between groups I see in public. However, I felt that as the book progressed, the twists became more and more confusing until I, like Rebecca, wasn't sure what was real and what was artifice, part of the game. And while I'm okay with suspending disbelief when I read, I just found the whole premise a little unlikely.

Gadol has always been one of my favorite writers. His earlier books—The Mystery Roast, Closer to the Sun, The Long Rain, Light at Dusk, Coyote, and Silver Lake were all really fantastic, and he is one of those authors for whom I've waited a long time for a new book. As always, his use of language and imagery, and his ability to evoke emotions and connections is superlative. I just wish I liked this book more—despite the interesting concept, it just didn't gel for me.

Looking forward to the next one, however!

NetGalley, HARLEQUIN — Trade Publishing, and Hanover Square Press provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!