And Then You Were Gone by R.J. Jacobs

From the Publisher:

“After years of learning how to manage her bipolar disorder, Emily Firestone finally has it under control. Even better, her life is coming together: she’s got a great job, her own place, and a boyfriend, Paolo, who adores her. So when Paolo suggests a weekend sailing trip, Emily agrees—wine, water, and the man she loves? What could be better? But when Emily wakes the morning after they set sail, the boat is still adrift…and Paolo is gone.

A strong swimmer, there’s no way Paolo drowned, but Emily is at a loss for any other explanation. Where else could he have gone? And why? As the hours and days pass by, each moment marking Paolo’s disappearance, Emily’s hard-won stability begins to slip.

But when Emily uncovers evidence suggesting Paolo was murdered, the investigation throws her mania into overdrive, even as she becomes a person of interest in her own personal tragedy. To clear her name, Emily must find the truth—but can she hold onto her own sanity in the process?”

This book read more like a cozy mystery, to me, than it did a psychological thriller. I happen to be a fan of cozies in addition to thrillers, so it did not bother this reader.

The amateur sleuth, Emily, struggles with bipolar disease and this is front and center to the narration. While I have little personal experience with this condition, I thoroughly appreciated the unreliability of the narrator due to her own questioning of her sanity and interpretation of events. During a romantic overnight trip on a boat, Emily’s boyfriend mysteriously disappears. She becomes suspect number one, and sets off on a self-destructive quest to clear her name. Due to some poor personal choices, she loses her job and ends up living at her mom’s house, so she has plenty of time to conduct her own investigation. She finds a willing sidekick in a friend of her missing boyfriend.
The majority of the violence happens off-screen. A boyfriend disappears, a body is discovered, and Emily hears secondhand about a potential serial killer in her area complete with some of the violence that has transpired.

For a plot-driven novel, there was a lot of inner monologue presented. These thoughts provide a lot of the background to the story. I did not find these to be very distracting, but neither did I find them showing growth in Emily.

I liked the solution to this mystery. I felt like it was a little rushed at the end, the final solution being sprung on the reader with fewer hints/clues than I would have liked. There was a lovely red herring though!

Overall, I thought this was a well-done debut novel. I read somewhere that this may be the beginning of a series, I hope that means we will get to see more of Emily in future installments. I will absolutely read the next book this author publishes.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book.

Disney Manga: Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas – Zero’s Journey by D.J. Milky

From the Publisher:

“When Jack Skellington’s faithful pet Zero gets lost, the ghost pup must get the help of the residents of Christmas Town to find his way back. With Halloween plans on hold while Jack mounts a search, will they be reunited in time to save both holidays??”

 

Gorgerous Illustrations!!

I shared this with the 4-year-old with whom I spent my Wednesday. She and I are both battling head colds, but love reading together. When she saw this was available she asked me to read it to her. I happily complied.

We passed a happy 30 minutes perusing this volume and looking at the beautiful artwork. We were not, however, impressed with the story. There were very few words and the ending felt very abrupt.

As much as we were enjoying the story of the hunt for Zero, we will probably wait for all of the volumes to be available before continuing this story.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a sneak peek at this story.

Into the Fire by Sonia Orchard

From the publisher:

“A year after her best friend died in a house fire, Lara can’t come to terms with the loss. Logic says there was no more she could have done to save the mercurial and unhappy Alice, but Lara can’t escape the feeling that she is somehow to blame for the tragedy.

She spends a weekend at the rebuilt house with Alice’s charismatic widower, Crow, and his three young children. Rummaging through the remains of their shared past, Lara reveals a friendship with Alice that was as troubled as it was intense. But beneath the surface is a darker, more unsettling secret waiting to be exposed.”

 

A realistic look at friendship. The lives of Alice and Lara came together and grew apart over the span of more than a decade as we explore Lara’s views, highs and lows of her relationship with Alice. I found the prose meandering (in a good way), the characters became real people and the pacing made the story. I felt this was more realistic or literary fiction than mystery or thriller. While there was a little mystery woven into the plot, I found it much more a story about finding closure than about finding the answer.

Told in first person through Lara’s eyes, we are introduced to a grieving woman who is coming to terms with the loss of her closest friend. As she spends the weekend with her late friend, Alice’s husband and children, Lara reminisces of her times with Alice. She remembers good times and bad times, arguments and joys. Throughout it all, the author orients us solidly in Australia: “The moon is not yet visible in the sky, I can’t see more than a metre off the side of the road, just the poa grasses lining the edge of the dirt and the palsied limbs of the stringybarks jutting overhead, bleached white in the headlights.”

While flawed, I found I cared about the characters and wanted to know more about them. As the narrator, Lara had secrets from the reader, but we also saw the most growth in her character. At the beginning of her friendship with Lara, she was in college and trying to find herself. Later, she was trying to figure out who she was apart from Alice and at the end we know she is going to discover a self without Alice. We know because we have faith in the growth and changes she has already experienced. I would love to access to Alice’s journals and see how her mind was working throughout the story. I couldn’t decide if I liked Crow or not, but I am pretty sure that is what he would prefer. He was a person and I certainly felt I could be angry with him, laugh with him and sympathize with him at different points in the story.

At the end of chapter 3, Lara writes “I was enjoying the kind of serene benevolence that can settle on you like a mist when everything in life seems to be in a perfect equilibrium.” At just 10% into the novel, this was exactly how I felt. There was a comfortable feel to the narrative and the story. We knew things were not going to stay that way, but for the moment, life was good. The path we follow from college to adulthood has detours and bumps galore, but all relatable. After a traumatic loss, our minds reel and will flit from one memory to the next, picking apart the details of what was important and what we may have done wrong. A year removed from the accident did distance both the reader and the narrator from some of the fresh emotions occurring closer to the death, but even muted, they were there.

Interspersed throughout the story there were some interesting psychological theories and ideas. I found the one about the differences between male friendships and female friendships sticking with me. The basis of friendship is an interesting topic and the differences between men and women is certainly a global one. The comment towards the end “We were not the women we once were, and we were the ones who could best bear witness to that change. Sad as it was, it was easier, simply, to look away.” also struck a chord with me. We depend on people to know us at our best and our worst. Sometimes, it’s hard to see the ones we love at their worst and it is easier to busy ourselves with the day-to-day of our own lives. It is also sometimes easier to avoid those who may notice we are not living our best lives.

I enjoyed this excursion down under. I think I may need to go call my best friend and remind her that I love her! I found I could not quite give this the full five stars because of the handling of the abortion. It may be my puritanical, prudish, American self, but the cavalier almost brazen way the abortion was discussed and dealt with rubbed me the wrong way.  I found myself thinking about this book and its characters long after I set the book down for the day. Thank you to NetGalley for providing this reader a new book and introducing her to a new author!

A Dry White Season by Andre Brink

Set in pre-Mandela South Africa during a brutal white minority rule, A Dry White Season is the story of a peace-loving white teacher, Ben, as he confronts the terror playing out around him.  Andre Brink exposes the racism of South Africa through Ben’s investigation into the murder and presumed suicide of a son and father peripheral to his life.

The cruelty of the government is played out as Ben digs deeper into the deaths of his two acquaintances.  Part of the brilliance of this novel is a hero who is an everyman.  Ben has not been involved in the political scene played out in South Africa.  He was an average person who lived outside of the terror, and therefore was able to wear blinders.  Once confronted with unexplained deaths, he gave up his personal safety, and jumped into the fray.  And ended up not being the only one who paid for his search for the truth.

This book is another reminder to me to be grateful everyday I was born where I was and who I am. As I reflect on this book, a few quotes remind me that the world is bigger than I am, and being grateful may not be enough:

“As if for the first time, I made the discover that other lives existed.”

“There are only two kinds of madness one should guard against…One is the belief that we can do everything. The other is the belief that we can do nothing.”

Anatomy of a Murder by Robert Traver

This is a very early example of the courtroom drama.  Since the original publication of this book in 1958, the genre has blossomed.  Reading this book was a lot like watching the old Perry Mason re-runs.  It was not an easy read, nor was it a quick one, but it was rewarding to read through to the last page.

Travers takes on a case in which the accused murdered a barkeep in front of witnesses and immediately confessed to a deputy.  Paul Biegler, one of two defense lawyers in small town Michigan accepts the case.  The story then unfolds in two parts: the investigation and the trial.

The investigation helped establish our characters as real people.  The trial helped to show the inner workings of the American judicial system of the time.  As Paul and his partner talked to people involved in the case, the reader was able to decide who was liked and who was in the wrong.  During the trial, the procedure was front and center.  It may have been a little drudgery, but for the most part, it was intricately detailed and informative for those who have never (and likely never will) encounter this process.

One of  the key parts of this case is a brutal rape.  The 1950s handling of this situation was tame to a current day reader.  Rape is never palatable, but the straightforward handling of the details was almost refreshing for it’s lack of shock factor.

This book was  made into a movie starring Jimmy Stewart.  I have never seen it, but may look into getting my eyes on it.

Everything Here is Beautiful by Mira T. Lee

Everything Here is Beautiful is a lovely examination of mental illness and its effects on various relationships.  The story focuses on two sisters, one of whom lives with an unspecified mental illness (is it bipolar disorder? maybe it’s schizophrenia).  Told through various points of view, the illness plays a role in each character’s life.

Miranda and Lucia are Chinese-American sisters.  Miranda, the elder, is the responsible, practical sister.  While the younger Lucia has far more eccentricities.  And is battling with mental illness.  After the death of their mother, they are each other’s only family.  The struggles between these two sisters felt genuine on every page.

While the other characters in this book, especially Manuel and Yonah, are well-drawn and genuine, the sisters stole the show for me. The plight of each of these characters brought the story more devastatingly real.

This was a beautiful tale shedding light onto the plight of family’s facing mental illness.

 

Fluent Forever by Gabriel Wyner

I enjoy language.  I enjoy reading books which play with language in unique ways.  I also find myself wishing I had access to more languages (think how many more books I could read then!)  I saw this book while browsing the shelves at my library and thought it sounded interesting.  I was right, it was an interesting read.

I appreciated the ideas and suggestions presented.  Some of it is obvious, but had not occurred to me.  Other things were brand new.

I love the fact the author reminds us about pronunciation and how important it is to know which sounds are in your target language before speaking it.  I played with a few language apps last year, but quickly realized I couldn’t make the right sounds.  I did not know how to correct that.  Now I understand much clearer why I was struggling and I have a few resources to access for improvement.

The concept of learning a language without translating is somewhat obvious, but not the way I previously thought.  to me pictures and correlations as opposed to English words most certainly will make the new words stick better.

The availability of technological aids addressed in this book was astounding.  I am looking forward to spending some time creating my own flash cards and working towards acquiring my next language.

The Tokyo Zodiac Murders by Soji Shimada

Published in the 1980s, set in the 1970s about a murder that took place in the 1930s.  Translated by Ross and Shika MacKenzie in the 2000s.  This book covered quite  a bit of time.

I saw this at the library and was intrigued by the concept of a Japanese mystery.  I am a sucker for translated works and I do love a good mystery.  I am frequently curious about what books, music, and movies are popular in other countries.  I forget how American-centric I am.  Finding gems like this one, helps remind me of the global scene.

The mystery in this book was well done.  I enjoyed playing along with the sleuths as they examined a 40 year old mystery.  I learned a new word reading the note from the publisher: “honkaku”.  This is a Japanese term for an orthodox mystery.  It tells a straightforward mystery without the psychological components.  There is no attempt to trick the reader.  Quite the opposite, the reader is encouraged and challenged to figure out the solution before it is given to them.

This new edition included a fair amount of information about the book.  This author was referred to as the Arthur Conan Doyle of Japan.  I can understand the comparison.  Throughout the book there were references to Sherlock Holmes the character.  There were also several similarities between the characters in this book and the great Holmes and Watson (but none of the cocaine.)

A note from the publisher at the end of the book, suggested they would be releasing future translations of crime fiction from France, Sweden, and Taiwan.  Yes, please.

I will be watching for further titles by both this publisher (Pushkin Vertigo) and this author.  As well as keeping my eyes peeled for other honkaku books from Japan.

When Montezuma Met Cortes by Matthew Restall

When Montezuma Met Cortes: The True Story of the Meeting that Changed History

Mr. Restall has certainly done a lot of research on this subject! I, on the other hand, have not.  I reserved a copy of this book because the title sounded interesting and this is certainly a topic about which I know very little.

I liked his term “mythistory”. The idea we conflate stories so often that they have truly become our history is one I have reflected on often.  History is written by the victors, but does that make it accurate? Does that mean the vanquished have no story?

I have to say I found much of this book pedantic and difficult to read.  I have already stated I am not well-versed in this topic, so perhaps it was too academic a work for this reader.

I appreciated the author’s approach to his research as a mystery with multiple layers: what really happened, what appears to happen, and how the historian figured out which is which.  He then spends much of the book offering up the “old” story, negating it and replacing it with a new version of what really happened.

Two of the myths I do recall from my time before reading this book were that the Aztecs  regularly performed ritualistic and barbaric human sacrifices, and that Cortes was believed to be and treated  as a deity when he arrived in Mexico.  The author’s refutation of each of these stories was interesting and rational.

As this author has dedicated so much of his life, time and energy to studying Central American history, I will be seeking out his other titles when I am next seeking further knowledge of this region.

The Afterlives by Thomas Pierce

Another haunting read.  This one with an actual ghost.  The Afterlives is a subtle blend of technological fiction and an investigation into life after death.  When Jim Byrd dies (for several minutes), he sees “nothing, no lights, no tunnel, no angels.” This sends him on a quest to investigate the afterlife.

This story takes place in the near future and deals with some technological fiction including a phone app that monitors Jim’s heart and guest lectures from holograms.  These technological innovations play only a supporting role in the book, but they are there and for me, make “the machine” more plausible.

While Jim and his wife, Annie, are exploring possible answers to their big philosophical questions, they track down and find a woman who claims to have invented a machine that allows people to communicate with dead loved ones.  Her explanation is that people are only ever 93% in this world anyhow.  A stretch, but interesting nonetheless.

Between Jim’s existential wanderings, there is an older story of the ghost before she was a ghost.  I found myself looking forward to these interludes.  The dead woman’s story is told through multiple perspectives, truly giving the reader a sense of her time and place in history.  The tying together of past and future was handled masterfully.

While the characters were delightfully flawed, I found them to be believable and their quest an entertaining one.  As a person who has experienced loss, I find talk of the next life or what happens after our bodies are no longer viable, fascinating.  The concept that we are only ever 93% in this world was difficult for me to grasp.  But I do find it sticks with me as I spend more time mulling it over.

This was Pierce’s debut novel, and I will keep him on my radar for future adventures.