How hard can it be?

"How hard can it be?" by Allison Pearson is a sequel to the superb "I wonder how she does it". It's about middle-life marriage, mothering teenagers, and getting the job market to understand that 49 is not over the hill.

A must read.

Blurb:

Kate Reddy is counting down the days until she is fifty, but not in a good way. Fifty, in Kate’s mind, equals invisibility. And with hormones that have her in shackles, teenage children who need her there but won’t talk to her and ailing parents who aren’t coping, Kate is in the middle of a sandwich that she isn’t even allowed to eat because of the calories.

She’s back at work after a big break at home, because somebody has to bring home the bacon now that her husband Rich has dropped out of the rat race to master the art of mindfulness. But just as Kate is finding a few tricks to get by in her new workplace, her old client and flame Jack reappears – complicated doesn’t even begin to cover it.

How Hard Can It Be? is a coming of age story for turning fifty. It’s about so much more than a balancing act; it’s about finding out who you are and what you need to feel alive when you’ve got used to being your own last priority. And every page will leave you feeling that there’s a bit of Kate Reddy in all of us.

The Midnight Line by Lee Child

The Midnight Line by Lee Child, also known as Jack Reacher 22, is as Jack Reacher as you can get. Which is a very good thing. When I sit down to read one of these books, I know my values and morals will be challenged. I know I’m going to be with a guy who is the strong and silent type in a way that’s not a cliché. I also know he’s going to win every fight and bring bush justice unto the baddies. I would probably not want him as a life partner, but I’d love him in my corner in every situation I can think of.

This is how Lee Child writes.

Blurb:

Reacher takes a stroll through a small Wisconsin town and sees a class ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005. A tough year to graduate: Iraq, then Afghanistan. The ring is tiny, for a woman, and it has her initials engraved on the inside. Reacher wonders what unlucky circumstance made her give up something she earned over four hard years. He decides to find out. And find the woman. And return her ring. Why not?

So begins a harrowing journey that takes Reacher through the upper Midwest, from a lowlife bar on the sad side of small town to a dirt-blown crossroads in the middle of nowhere, encountering bikers, cops, crooks, muscle, and a missing persons PI who wears a suit and a tie in the Wyoming wilderness.

The deeper Reacher digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes. Turns out the ring was just a small link in a far darker chain. Powerful forces are guarding a vast criminal enterprise. Some lines should never be crossed. But then, neither should Reacher.

Don't Let Go by Harlan Coben

"Don't Let Go" is a classic Coben: an old mystery surfacing, secrets, lies, betrayal. As good a suburban thriller as you can get. Read it in one sitting.


Blurb:
Suburban New Jersey Detective Napoleon “Nap” Dumas hasn't been the same since senior year of high school, when his twin brother Leo and Leo’s girlfriend Diana were found dead on the railroad tracks—and Maura, the girl Nap considered the love of his life, broke up with him and disappeared without explanation. For fifteen years, Nap has been searching, both for Maura and for the real reason behind his brother's death. And now, it looks as though he may finally find what he's been looking for.

When Maura's fingerprints turn up in the rental car of a suspected murderer, Nap embarks on a quest for answers that only leads to more questions—about the woman he loved, about the childhood friends he thought he knew, about the abandoned military base near where he grew up, and mostly about Leo and Diana—whose deaths are darker and far more sinister than Nap ever dared imagine.

The Almost Sisters - Joshilyn Jackson

"The Almost Sisters" by Joshilyn Jackson - in a word: WOW!

If you don't know the beautiful, slightly off-kilter, heart-warming world of Joshilyn Jackson's books, do yourself a favour and get shopping. These are books you want on your shelf, to greet you at the end of a long day; and in your car on CDs, and on your e-reader for when you have five minutes to spare at the dentist and you want to read a few pages of gorgeous prose.

"The Almost Sisters" revisits some themes from "Gods in Alabama" - racism, maternal love, the bond between not-necessarily-biological sisters, old secrets - but it offers a totally different plot and a brand-new set of characters.

You will fall in love, just as I did.

Only read the blurb if you have to. I didn't, and was happy to let the book take me places at its own pace.

BLURB:

Superheroes have always been Leia Birch Briggs’ weakness. One tequila-soaked night at a comics convention, the usually level-headed graphic novelist is swept off her barstool by a handsome and anonymous Batman.

It turns out the caped crusader has left her with more than just a nice, fuzzy memory. She’s having a baby boy—an unexpected but not unhappy development in the thirty-eight year-old’s life. But before Leia can break the news of her impending single-motherhood (including the fact that her baby is biracial) to her conventional, Southern family, her step-sister Rachel’s marriage implodes. Worse, she learns her beloved ninety-year-old grandmother, Birchie, is losing her mind, and she’s been hiding her dementia with the help of Wattie, her best friend since girlhood.

Leia returns to Alabama to put her grandmother’s affairs in order, clean out the big Victorian that has been in the Birch family for generations, and tell her family that she’s pregnant. Yet just when Leia thinks she’s got it all under control, she learns that illness is not the only thing Birchie’s been hiding. Tucked in the attic is a dangerous secret with roots that reach all the way back to the Civil War. Its exposure threatens the family’s freedom and future, and it will change everything about how Leia sees herself and her sister, her son and his missing father, and the world she thinks she knows.

Then She Was Gone

"Then She Was Gone" by Lisa Jewell is a captivating tale of loss and closure. A page-turner, with believable characters.

Blurb:

THEN
She was fifteen, her mother's
golden girl. She had her whole life ahead of her.
And then, in the blink of an eye, Ellie was gone.

NOW
It’s been ten years since Ellie
disappeared, but Laurel has never given up
hope of finding her daughter.
And then one day a charming and charismatic stranger called Floyd walks into a café and sweeps Laurel off her feet.
Before too long she’s staying the night at this house and being introduced to his nine year old daughter.
Poppy is precocious and pretty - and meeting her completely takes Laurel's breath away.

Because Poppy is the spitting image of Ellie when she was that age.
And now all those unanswered questions that have haunted Laurel come flooding back.

What happened to Ellie? Where did she go?
Who still has secrets to hide? 

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

From the author of "The Dry", here's the second Aaron Falk novel. Just as much of a page-turner as the first. Just as Australian. Just as full of twists.

Blurb:

Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along the muddy track. Only four come out the other side.

The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and teach resilience and team building. At least that is what the corporate retreat website advertises.

Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a particularly keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing bushwalker. Alice Russell is the whistleblower in his latest case - in just a matter of days she was to provide the documents that will bring down the company she works for.

Falk discovers that far from the hike encouraging teamwork, the women tell a tale of suspicion, violence and disintegrating trust. But does it include murder?

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - by Gail Honeyman

An unusual, addictive, heart-warming book.

Blurb:

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. 

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

The Girls in the Garden - Lisa Jewell

I loved, loved, loved Lisa Jewell's "The Girls in the Garden" (also called "The Girls" in some editions). Marketed as a character-driven thriller (more of a character-driven mystery), it's a page-turner that makes you think about deeper issues and fall in love with the characters.


The blurb:
Imagine that you live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people's houses. You've known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really? On a midsummer night, as a festive neighbourhood party is taking place, preteen Pip discovers her thirteen-year-old sister Grace lying unconscious and bloody in a hidden corner of a lush rose garden. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?

Turbo Twenty-Three (Stephanie Plum 23)

Turbo Twenty-Three (the 23rd book in the Stephanie Plum series) by Janet Evanovich is showing signs that the protagonist is coming of age at long last. She is more adept at catching bond-skippers, she actually shops for food, and even though she still keeps her gum in the cookie jar, she seems less scared of it.


I'm rooting for Team Ranger, BTW.

Blurb:
A killer is out to make sure someone gets his just desserts...
Bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has been on countless crime scenes, but this is definitely a first. Her fleeing target has left behind a truck loaded with ice cream and a dead body - frozen solid and covered in chocolate.
As fate would have it, Stephanie's mentor Ranger needs her to go undercover at the ice cream factory to find out who's killing employees. It's going to be hard for Stephanie to keep her hands off all that ice cream, and even harder for her to keep her hands off Ranger. It's also going to be hard to explain to Trenton's hottest cop, Joe Morelli, why she is spending late nights with Ranger...

The Switch - Joseph Finder

Another winner from Joseph Finder: this thriller keep you turning the pages for sure. Warning: it makes you want to spend a lot of money on gourmet coffee beans, too!

Blurb:
Michael Tanner is on his way home from a business trip when he accidentally picks up the wrong MacBook in an airport security line. He doesn’t notice the mix-up until he arrives home in Boston, but by then it’s too late. Tanner’s curiosity gets the better of him when he discovers that the owner is a US senator and that the laptop contains top secret files.    

When Senator Susan Robbins realizes she’s come back with the wrong laptop, she calls her young chief of staff, Will Abbott, in a panic. Both know that the senator broke the law by uploading classified documents onto her personal computer. If those documents wind up in the wrong hands, it could be Snowden 2.0—and her career in politics will be over. She needs to recover the MacBook before it’s too late.

When Will fails to gain Tanner’s cooperation, he is forced to take measures to retrieve the laptop before a bigger security breach is revealed.  He turns to an unscrupulous “fixer” for help.  In the meantime, the security agency whose files the senator has appropriated has its own methods, darker still—and suddenly Tanner finds himself a hunted man, on the run, terrified for the safety of his family, in desperate need of a plan, and able to trust no one.

I know a secret

I always look forward to Tess Gerritsen releases. One day, I hope to be on her beta-reader lists, but until then, I read her books the day they come out.


"I know a secret" is an Isles and Rizzoli thriller (the series is called Rizzoli and Isles, but to me, Maura Isles is the more fascinating character), with your usual-for-Gerritsen unusual serial killer, a good dollop of horror and a lot of character study. Loved it.

Blurb:
Two separate homicides, at different locations, with unrelated victims, have more in common than just being investigated by Boston PD detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles. In both cases, the bodies bear startling wounds—yet the actual cause of death is unknown. It’s a doubly challenging case for the cop and the coroner to be taking on, at a fraught time for both of them. As Jane struggles to save her mother from the crumbling marriage that threatens to bury her, Maura grapples with the imminent death of her own mother—infamous serial killer Amalthea Lank.

While Jane tends to her mother, there’s nothing Maura can do for Amalthea, except endure one final battle of wills with the woman whose shadow has haunted her all her life. Though succumbing to cancer, Amalthea hasn’t lost her taste for manipulating her estranged daughter—this time by dangling a cryptic clue about the two bizarre murders Maura and Jane are desperately trying to solve.

But whatever the dying convict knows is only a piece of the puzzle. Soon the investigation leads to a secretive young woman who survived a shocking abuse scandal, an independent horror film that may be rooted in reality, and a slew of martyred saints who died cruel and unusual deaths. And just when Rizzoli and Isles think they’ve cornered a devilish predator, the long-buried past rears its head—and threatens to engulf more innocent lives, including their own.

Ginny Moon

Fresh voice. Easy to read, impossible to forget.

6:54 at Night, Tuesday, September 7th
The plastic electronic baby won’t stop crying.
My Forever Parents said it’s supposed to be like a real baby but it isn’t. I can’t make it happy. Even when I rock it. Even when I change its diaper and give it a bottle. When I say ush, ush, ush and let it suck on my finger it just looks dumb and screams and screams and screams.
I hold it close one more time and say, Nice and gentle, Nice and gentle, in my brain. Then I try all the things that Gloria used to do whenever I went ape-shit. After that I put my hand behind its head and move up and down on my toes. “All better. All better,” I say. From high to low like a song. Then, “So sorry.”
But still it won’t stop.
I put it down on my bed and when the crying gets louder I start looking for my Baby Doll. The real one. Even though I know it isn’t here. I left it back in Gloria’s apartment but crying babies make me really, really anxious so I have to look. It’s like a rule inside my brain. I look in my drawers. I look in the closet. I look in all the places a Baby Doll might be.
Even in the suitcase. The suitcase is big and black and shaped like a box. I pull it out from under my bed. The zipper goes all the way around. But my Baby Doll isn’t inside.
I take a deep breath. I have to make the crying stop. If I put it in the suitcase and put enough blankets and stuffed animals around it and push it back under the bed then maybe I won’t hear it anymore. It will be like I put the noise away inside my brain.
Because the brain is in the head. It is a dark, dark place where no one can see a thing except me.
So that’s what I do. I put the plastic electronic baby in the suitcase and start grabbing blankets. I put the blankets over its face and then a pillow and some stuffed animals. I’m guessing that after a few minutes the noise will stop.
Because to cry you need to be able to breathe.

7:33 at Night, Tuesday, September 7^th
I ’m done with my shower but the plastic electronic baby is still crying. It was supposed to be quiet by now but it isn’t.
My Forever Parents are sitting on the couch watching a movie. My Forever Mom has her feet in a bucket of water. She says lately they have been swollen. I walk out into the living room and stand in front of her and wait. Because she is a woman. I’m a lot more comfortable with women than I am with men.
“Hey, Ginny,” my Forever Mom says while my Forever Dad presses the pause button. “What’s up? It looks as though you might have something to say.”
“Ginny,” says my Forever Dad, “have you been picking at your hands again? They’re bleeding.”
That was two questions so I don’t say anything.
Then my Forever Mom says, “Ginny, what’s wrong?”
“I don’t want the plastic electronic baby anymore,” I say.
She brushes her hair off her forehead. I like her hair a lot. She let me try to put it in pigtails this summer.
“It’s been almost forty minutes since you went into the shower,” she says. “Did you try to make it stop? Here. Hold this until we can get you some Band-Aids.”
She gives me a napkin.
“I gave it a bottle and changed its diaper three times,” I say. “I rocked it and it wouldn’t stop crying so I s—” Then I stop talking.
“It’s making a different sort of sound now,” my Forever Dad says. “I didn’t know it could get that loud.”
“Can you please make it stop?” I say to my Forever Mom. And then again, “Please?”
“It’s great to hear you asking for help,” my Forever Mom says. “Patrice would be proud.”
Far away down the hallway I hear the crying again so I start looking for places to hide. Because I remember that Gloria always used to come out of the bedroom in the apartment when I couldn’t get my Baby Doll to stop. Especially if she had a manfriend over. Sometimes when it cried and I heard her coming I used to take my Baby Doll and climb out the window.
I grab the napkin tight and close my eyes. “If you make it stop I’ll ask for help all the time,” I say and then I open them again.
“I’ll go have a look,” my Forever Dad says. He stands up. When he walks past me I recoil. Then I see that he isn’t Gloria. He looks at me funny and walks into the hallway. I hear him open the door to my room. The crying gets louder again.
“I don’t know if this idea is working,” my Forever Mom says. “We wanted you to see what it was like to have a real baby in the house, but this is not turning out like we planned.”
In my bedroom the crying gets as loud as it can get. My Forever Dad comes back out again. One of his hands is in his hair.
“She put it in her suitcase,” he says.
“What?”
“I had to follow the sound. I didn’t see it anywhere at first. She crammed it in there with a bunch of blankets and stuffed animals, zipped it shut and then forced it back under her bed,” he says.
“Ginny, why would you do a thing like that?” my Forever Mom says.
“It wouldn’t stop crying,” I say.
“Yes, but—” My Forever Dad interrupts her. “Look, it’s going to drive us all nuts if we don’t put an end to this. I tried to make it stop, but I couldn’t do it, either. I think it’s at the point of no return. Let’s just call Mrs. Winkleman.”
Mrs. Winkleman is the health teacher.
“She said she gave the emergency phone number to Ginny this morning,” my Forever Mom says. “It’s on a piece of paper. Check in her backpack.”
He walks into the hall and opens the door to my bedroom again. I cover my ears. He comes out holding my backpack. My Forever Mom finds the paper and takes out her phone. “Mrs. Winkleman?” I hear her say. “Yes, this is Ginny’s mom. I’m sorry to call so late, but I’m afraid we’re having a problem with the baby.”
“Don’t worry, Forever Girl,” my Forever Dad says to me. “This will all be over in a few minutes, and then you can get ready for bed. I’m sorry this is so intense and nerve-racking. We really thought—”
My Forever Mom puts the phone down. “She says there’s a hole in the back of its neck. You have to put a paper clip into the hole to touch a button and shut it off.”
He goes into the office and then he comes out again and walks down the hall into my bedroom. I start counting. When I get to twelve the crying stops. And now I can breathe again.

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

After Room, how can Emma Donoghue possibly astound again? And yet astound she does, in her beautifully crafted latest novel, "The Wonder". Rich, poetic prose. Believable characters. Story that tugs at your heart and compels you to turn the pages. Themes of motherly love and being confined to a room. :-)

Into the water

"Into the water" by Paula Hawkins:

• Reader, it's good.
• It's nothing like her debut, "The girl on the train".
• The number of characters may be daunting at first, but the book will make you think.
• As in, _really_ think.
• I didn't expect the twist.

A Mother's Reckoning

A Mother's Reckoning by Sue Klebold was surprisingly easily to read, given that it's about the Columbine High School shooting on 20 April 1999, and written by the mother of one of the shooters. It's also surprisingly difficult to review.


So many thoughts. So many questions. So much sympathy.


If you ever thought the parents were to blame in this tragedy, read the book. Read the book if you want to learn to recognise signs of depression in your loved ones. The author wrote it hoping she could help prevent another disaster.

Love Like Blood

"Love Like Blood" is Mark Billingham's latest thriller (2017), again featuring both Thorne and Tanner. I liked the ratio in this one (his previous book was a bit Thorne-poor), I was intrigued by the topic of honour killings, and I enjoyed the non-predictable plot twists.


5/5. This one's a winner.


Warning: the official blurb contains a spoiler (IMHO).
DI Nicola Tanner needs Tom Thorne’s help. Her partner, Susan, has been brutally murdered and Tanner is convinced that it was a case of mistaken identity—that she was the real target. The murderer’s motive might have something to do with Tanner’s recent work on a string of cold-case honor killings she believes to be related. Tanner is now on compassionate leave but insists on pursuing the case off the books and knows Thorne is just the man to jump into the fire with her. He agrees but quickly finds that working in such controversial territory is dangerous in more ways than one. And when a young couple goes missing, they have a chance to investigate a case that is anything but cold.

The Dry

The Dry is the debut thriller of Australian author Jane Harper. Atmospheric, quick-paced, and written with a lot of heart. I loved it. Can't wait for the next book.




Blurb:
A small town hides big secrets.

After getting a note demanding his presence, Federal Agent Aaron Falk arrives in his hometown for the first time in decades to attend the funeral of his best friend, Luke. Twenty years ago when Falk was accused of murder, Luke was his alibi. Falk and his father fled under a cloud of suspicion, saved from prosecution only because of Luke's steadfast claim that the boys had been together at the time of the crime. But now more than one person knows they didn't tell the truth back then, and Luke is dead.
Amid the worst drought in a century, Falk and the local detective question what really happened to Luke. As Falk reluctantly investigates to see if there's more to Luke's death than there seems to be, long-buried mysteries resurface, as do the lies that have haunted them. And Falk will find that small towns have always hidden big secrets.

Watching the Detectives

Watching the Detectives by Julie Mulhern is the fifth book in the Country Club Murders series. IT's probably my favourite, because it deals with gender equality. Hard to imagine that this was still an issue as late as the 1970s, and yet.

Murder Games by James Patterson and Howard Roughan

I can't resist a book with playing cards on the cover. And so, having decided not to read any more James Patterson thrillers because of their graphically brutal nature, I found myself reaching out for Murder Games by James Patterson and Howard Roughan.

It's a page-turner. Loved the dialogues and the characters. And the violence level was tolerable.

Really enjoyed this one.

Oh, and was James Patterson inspired by my cover of "Murder @ Play" by any chance? Compare the two:

 

No Middle Name

Lee Child's latest book, "No Middle Name", is a collection of short stories about Jack None Reacher. Fans will have accumulated most of them electronically over the years, but it's still neat to have them grouped together in one bundle.

Lie with me

"Lie with me" by Sabine Durrant is a fine example of British crime fiction. Set in part on a Greek island Pythos, it weaves the web in which to catch past actions. A clever book.

A few little lies never hurt anyone. Right?

Wrong.

Paul has a plan. He has a vision of a better future, and he's going to make it happen.

If it means hiding or exaggerating a few things here and there, no harm done.

But when he charms his way on to a family holiday...
And finds himself trapped among tensions and emotions he doesn't understand...
By the time he starts to realise that however painful the truth is, it's the lies that cause the real damage...

Well, by then, it might just be too late.

Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn

Sharp Objects (2006) is a debut novel by American author Gillian Flynn - yes, Gone Girl. It's a page-turner, masterfully written. It's also an uncomfortable read, particularly if you're a parent. It's a must-read of fans of suburban thrillers.

The novel is also being made into an 8-episode TV drama. 

No Place To Rest

"No place to rest" by D.L. Barnhart is the first book in the Liz Crawford thriller trilogy.


You will like this book if you're into:

• Intelligent, problem-solving heroines (Liz Crawford is an engineer).
• Thrillers that focus on people, not gore.
• Questioning the system.

The Grownup

"The grownup" by Gillian Flynn is a short story published in paperback format.


This is a book for you if:

• you don't have much time to read;
• you like the author's voice;
• you enjoy thrillers;
• you don't mind a touch of the supernatural - maybe.

One Perfect Lie

If you love thrillers... but violence not so much, try One Perfect Lie by Lisa Scottoline. It's a page-turner that will warm your heart.

Designated survivor

"Designated survivor" is a TV series that's not only about conspiracy or USA politics. It's also about human decency. A bit of an oxymoron, decency and politics in one paragraph, but there you have it. Extremely watchable.

I see you

"I see you" by Clare Macintosh is a page-turner. Call it a who-dun-it or a psychological thriller... this is a fast-paced nail-biter about real characters in an almost unreal (and yet chillingly plausible) situation.

(I found the author's much-acclaimed debut too melancholy-grey to read beyond the first few chapters - and that's despite being aware of the twist. This book was not depressing like the first, and it did have an OMG twist nonetheless.)


Blurb:

You do the same thing every day.

You know exactly where you're going.

You're not alone.

When Zoe Walker sees her photo in the classifieds section of a London newspaper, she is determined to find out why it's there. There's no explanation: just a website, a grainy image and a phone number. She takes it home to her family, who are convinced it's just someone who looks like Zoe. But the next day the advert shows a photo of a different woman, and another the day after that.

Is it a mistake? A coincidence? Or is someone keeping track of every move they make . . .

The Memory Watcher

The Memory Watcher by Minka Kent is an intriguing psychological thriller with a twist I didn't see coming. I loved the message of the book "not everything you see online is real" - because, no matter how we know it intellectually, we keep falling for FaceMyth time and time again.

Blurb:
When Autumn Carpenter stumbles upon the social media account of the family who adopted her infant daughter years ago, she finds herself instantly drawn into their picture-perfect existence.

From behind a computer screen, Autumn watches Grace's every memory, from birthdays to holidays to bedtime snuggles. But what starts as an innocent fascination soon spirals into an addictive obsession that comes to a screeching halt the day the McMullen family closes their Instaface account without so much as a warning.

Frantic and desperate to reconnect with her daughter, Autumn applies for a nanny position with the McMullens, manipulating herself into Grace's life under false pretences. And it's only then that Autumn discovers pictures lie, the perfect family doesn't exist, and beautiful people? They have the ugliest secrets.

I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi

I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi is a novel that you want to describe as “beautiful” and “poignant”, but those words have been used to often, and to reflect this book’s originality and depth, you ultimately need much fresher and more significant adjectives.

 

It’s a book about how to live your life, how to cope with loss, and how to not hurt those you love. It’s a book about marriage, teenagers, and death. It’s about what comes after and how what came before shapes our destiny.

 

It’s a book that deserves our attention.

Ready Player One

If you haven't read "Ready player one" by Ernest Cline yet, try it. You will love it if:

• You remember the 80s fondly.
• You liked video games.
• You watched 80s movies.
• You played text adventure games.
• You’re into SF and VR.

Premise: The 80s have been recreated in virtual reality, and now a treasure hunt is on: for a fortune in money, but also for the ownership of the virtual reality and for the chance to save it from a greedy corporation hell-bent on changing the setting forever. The plot is one gigantic video game / treasure hunt / puzzle.

 

Young Adult level, a bit too much swearing for young young-adults. A romance subplot. Because the plot is a virtual reality game, any deux ex machina devices should be forgiven. J

When I was Invisible

"When I was invisible" by Dorothy Koomson is a beautiful book about an ugly topic. Don't let the backstory tragedy stop you, though. This novel will make you think about many issues and on many levels.

In 1988, two eight-year-old girls with almost identical names and the same love of ballet meet for the first time. They seem destined to be best friends forever and to become professional dancers. Years later, however, they have both been dealt so many cruel blows that they walk away from each other into very different futures – one enters a convent, the other becomes a minor celebrity. Will these new, ‘invisible’ lives be the ones they were meant to live, or will they only find that kind of salvation when they are reunited twenty years later?

The Girl Before

If you like thrillers, read "The Girl Before" by JP Delaney (pseudonym). It pulls you right in and doesn't let go, not even after the last page.


And do yourself a favour: don't read the blurb. Don't read any other reviews until you're done with the book. Let the plot unfold around you, let yourself guess what it's about. You won't be sorry.


(For those of you who've read it, scroll down.)

SPOLER ALERT!!!!

Please don't read further until you've read the book.

So, here's the full review, or rather, my main thoughts:

• I was blown away to discover the author is male: I thought the two main characters were written authentically and believably.
• Full disclosure: I loved, loved, loved the house. What does that say about me?
• Surprisingly, I didn't guess the culprit's identity. Always a refreshing thing for me.
• At the end, I still don't know whether Emma had lied about the video. I like that it's not resolved, given that Simon could have been lying.
• The ending moved me to tears. And then I found out about the author's own children.

Leave Me by Gayle Forman

"Leave Me " by Gayle Forman deals with important issues: motherhood, work-life balance, feeling unappreciated. The blurb takes us right into the crux of the matter: "Every woman who has ever fantasized about driving past her exit on the highway instead of going home to make dinner, and every woman who has ever dreamed of boarding a train to a place where no one needs constant attention--meet Maribeth Klein. A harried working mother who’s so busy taking care of her husband and twins, she doesn’t even realize she’s had a heart attack."


It's an enjoyable book, and a quick read,  though I must confess I couldn't empathise with the protagonist. I realise a heart attack combined with unresolved feelings around being adopted are powerful motivators, yet still I could not understand Maribeth's choices.

Right Behind You

"Right behind you" is Lisa Gardner's latest book. The local shooting gets personal for FBI Profiler Quincy and his wife Rainie, and probably because of it, this novel is more of a character-driven drama than a thriller. A fast, enjoyable read.

EXCERPT Operation: Genocide

Chapter 8 - Wednesday, 3 Days Before The Murder

Wednesdays were Hester’s days off. Funny that. She still had to cook breakfast and straighten the house. But if she hurried, the madam would let her go before lunch. Hester was counting on it today. She didn’t want to be late for her meeting.

            The night before Hester had left the kitchen spotless. This morning the sink held two smudged whisky tumblers, an oily pot encrusted with burnt popcorn (takes forever to scrub), a greasy bowl and two mugs with dregs of milky coffee.

            The madam and the master must have had one of their good evenings together. Shared popcorn, whisky and coffee. Alcohol to make her more agreeable and coffee to make him stay up. Hester sniggered. The master got a bargain last night. When he entertained his mistress at home the time his wife and kids went to the seaside, he served lobster with sparkling wine.

            “Good morning, Hester. The children will have soft-boiled eggs with toast for breakfast.”

            “Yes, missus. What will the master have?”

            The madam moved her mouth into a tight smile that faded before it began. “Probably nothing, Hester. He’s running late this morning. I’ll just pour the coffee.”

            Perhaps if the master took as much trouble with his wife as he had with his mistress, the smile would’ve been genuine.

Heavy footsteps on the stairs didn’t bode well. The master stomped in like a buffalo with tight testicles. A chuckle bubbled in Hester’s throat. Good for the madam not to have been seduced with a bowl of popcorn.

“I’m late,” the master’s growl was all buffalo too, “and the coffee’s bloody hot.”

“Sorry. Let me put some more milk in it.”

He took another sip. Scowled. “That makes it too weak.”

The madam handed him a paper bag. “I’m very sorry, Gordon,” she repeated. “Here is some dry sausage and fruit for your breakfast. Would you like to take a lunch sandwich as well? It’s ready.”

“No, I’ll get something at work.”

Hester was sure he would. Not once and not twice did she launder traces of lipstick off the master’s business shirts.

***

“I’m late,” Gordon said, “and the coffee’s bloody hot.”

Annette felt her stomach cringe. It was all her fault. She should have got up earlier. “Sorry. Let me put some more milk in it.”

“That makes it too weak.”

Annette still hoped to make amends as she handed him a paper bag. “I’m very sorry, Gordon. Here is some dry sausage and fruit for your breakfast. Would you like to take a lunch sandwich as well? It’s ready.”

He didn’t want it. Perhaps he realised she hadn’t made his lunch with as much love and devotion as a wife should. When they were newlyweds fourteen years ago, she would hide little “I love you” notes in his sandwiches, but Gordon complained he kept biting into the pink paper, so she stopped.

            When they were newlyweds fourteen years ago, Gordon had this contagious laugh that started in his belly and burst out like gunshot from his mouth. What had happened to that laugh? Had she killed it?

            “Bye, doll.” Gordon called out.

            For old times’ sake, Annette wanted to say, “Bye, honey.”

            She couldn’t.

***

 “Bye, doll.”

Doll. Well, the madam did look like a porcelain doll, and she certainly acted like one, too, whenever the master was around.

With the puppeteer gone, the doll regained control of her own strings. “Hester, I’m going grocery shopping later on. What do we need?”

Hester recited a long list of foodstuffs and cleaning products, and the madam wrote it all down. The whites couldn’t remember things, which explained why they had to be so good at reading and writing.

The clock hurried on without mercy. Hester changed the baby’s nappy, straightened the beds, picked up the dirty clothes, washed up after breakfast, changed another nappy. Beth was getting hungry. Hester was getting restless.

“Shall I make up the bottle, Missus?”

            “No, I’ll feed Beth myself. You may go now. Please take the sandwich from the fridge, if you like.”

            “Thank you, Madam.” The sandwich was bound to contain something more interesting than Hester’s usual apricot jam with a slice of pink Polony sausage.

            Free at last. The madam would make her own lunch and gobble it all up, away from the master’s controlling gaze. For dinner, the family would go out to a restaurant in order to relieve the white woman’s workload. After all, the madam was bound to be tired from lying by the swimming pool all day, painting her nails and pretending not to gawk at the gardener’s muscles covered with forbidden black skin.

            Hester glanced at the clock. Just enough time to catch a taxi van to the illegal meeting.

***

            Annette glanced at the clock. Just enough time to drive into the city for her meeting.

***

CONTINUE

Lie Lay Lain - Bryn Greenwood

Today I'm delighted to introduce you to "Lie Lay Lain" by Bryn Greenwood. Bryn is a New York times bestselling author, and the book's about lies. The lies we tell others. The lies we tell ourselves. It's also about truth and the importance of a good manicure.