A Legal Thriller

Law and Addiction by Mike Papantonio
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From the publisher: “One week before Jake Rutledge is scheduled to graduate from law school, he receives the devastating news of the death of his fraternal twin, Blake. What makes this death even more terrible for Jake is that his brother died of a drug overdose. Until hearing of his death, Jake had no idea his brother was even using drugs.

When Jake returns home to Oakley, West Virginia, he takes a hard look at the circumstances of his brother’s death. In the five years Jake has been away for his schooling, his hometown has drastically changed. Because of the opioid epidemic, and the blight it has brought, many now call Oakley Zombieland. Jake can see how his town’s demise parallels his brother’s.

Undeterred, the newly minted lawyer takes on the entrenched powers by filing two lawsuits. Jake quickly learns what happens when you upset a hornet’s nest. The young attorney might be wet behind the ears, but is sure there is no lawyer that could help him more than Nick Deke Deketomis and his law firm of Bergman/Deketomis. Deke is a legendary lawyer. When he was Jake’s age he was making his name fighting Big Tobacco. Against all odds, Jake gets Nick and his firm to sign on to his case before it’s too late.”

This is a timely legal thriller. Our country is facing a crisis in the our communities as we deal every day with new opiod overdoses. The cost is more than we should be willing to accept.

I had some complaints about this book, but after closing it, I realized my complaints were perhaps petty, but also a good strategy to sharing the more important message of this story.

We are given a perfect hero. He has had some challenges in his life, but he is a crusader and he’s smart and kind and able to get things done. He interacts with other perfect people who cherish their wives, work upstream, but still have plenty of money to fly around on private jets. Some of this was hard to swallow in the moment. However, what this group of really good people set out to accomplish and the battle they have on their hands may require really good people.

What Papantonio does very well in this novel is to shine a light and humanize the opiod crisis. We go into West Virginia and see all of the different mechanisms at work. As readers, we get to see the desolation and heartache the influx of drugs have caused. We get a taste of addicts, people in recovery, drug mules, and people who take advantage of the situation financially.

There was a lot of sitting around and discussing next steps as our dream team of lawyers plotted their next moves, but this never felt unneccessary or repetitive. During the course of the story there was also love, friendship, humor, grittiness, twists and turns.

The author is clearly well-versed in this type of law and in this growing crisis. This is a book people should read to help understand why the opiod crisis is not going away and why each of us should care.

I want to thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

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A Halloween Cozy

Burned to a Crisp by K.A. Miltimore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From the publisher: “Hedy Leckenmaul runs a strange little bakery in the sleepy town of Enumclaw, Washington. Her bakery may be bizarre but it is the non-human guests who stay at her home, along with her resident ghost, and her menagerie of talking animals that truly is strange. Hedy hosts a waystation for supernatural travelers and while hosting two such travelers, the town is rocked by an arsonist who is kidnapping women, and pitting the residents of Enumclaw against each other. Hedy and her friends must solve the mystery when one of their own vanishes, leaving them racing to find out who is behind it all before it is too late.”

I read this during the spring, but I saved my review until October. While reading this paranormal, cozy mystery, I found myself constantly thinking what a great Halloween read it would be. I may try to fit the second book from this series into my own autumn reading plan.

Paranormal anything is not my usual cup of tea, but in my quest to try on a variety of different mysteries this year, it is only natural that I would want to explore places I would not usually go. I am glad I ventured down this path, and relieved to find it was not as uncomfortable as I would have thought.

Hedy runs a bakery and occasionally has special visitors stay with her in a bed and breakfast. Her special visitors are interesting characters. There are also talking animals and a ghost in Hedy’s home. While hosting two of these visitors, a strange series of crimes occurs in her small town, and one of her guests could very easily be the perpetrator.

I enjoyed the setting of this book. Having lived for several years in the Pacific Northwest, I am familiar with Enumclaw and found the visit back there (through my reading) refreshing. Enumclaw is a smaller community and would certainly be both a good place for hiding some unusual business and a place that would be devastated and quick to respond to these crimes.

The fairy tales Hedy shares with Mel were interesting and kept me engaged. As did the stories from both of the guests and the history of the items Hedy keeps in her bakery. While this was a short-ish book, there were a lot of different story lines and they were well-maintained and kept together nicely.

At the end of the day, this was a cozy mystery with some paranormal aspects and a fun read! Like I said, I may fit the next one in this month, but as it is a Christmas story, maybe I will hold on and read it after Thanksgiving.

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Blackquest 40 by Jeff Bond

Blackquest 40 by Jeff Bond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book Description:

“Her company’s top engineer at just twenty-seven, Deb has blocked off her day for the one project she truly cares about: the launch of Carebnb, an app that finds spare beds for the homeless. When she’s told all employees must drop everything for some busywork exercise called Blackquest 40, it’s an easy no.

Trouble is, her bosses aren’t really asking.

Blackquest 40 is the mother of all corporate trainings. A near-impossible project to be completed in forty straight hours. No phones. No internet. Sleeping on cots. Nobody in, nobody out. Deb finds the whole setup creepy and authoritarian. When a Carebnb issue necessitates her leaving the office, she heads for the door. What’s the worst that could happen?

Armed commandos, HVAC-duct chases, a catastrophic master plan that gets darker by the hour Blackquest 40 is a fresh take on the Die Hard formula, layering smart-drones and a modern heroine onto the classic action tale.

Stand down, Bruce. Deb’s got this.”

I enjoyed this fast-paced thriller.

I took a little while to get into this one and had a hard time suspending my disbelief about many things, but once I let go, I found myself engrossed in the nightmarish scene Deb has found herself.

I thought the pacing was excellent, the tech talk unpretentious and interesting, and the story, while a bit far-fetched at time, engrossing.

Throughout this novel, there were many twists and turns and Bond managed to keep the turns tight. I never felt bogged down in details or the slow middle that can often happen in thrillers. Each chapter offered a new danger.

There was a bit of tech talk. I am not a tech-y person in general, but I found the jargon interesting. And, of course, I liked Deb’s side projects and found the things she could make fascinating.

The storyline felt fresh. Sure there may be a little 80s Cold War vibe happening, but for the most part, I didn’t feel like I had read this story before.

It appears this is Mr. Bond’s second novel; I will be seeking out his earlier work, as well as watching for new titles.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my free ebook ARC.

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Where the Dead Sit Talking by Brandon Hobson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Where the Dead Sit Talking is a moving fictional account of a young Native American foster child. Sequoyah is a 15-year old boy moving into yet another new foster home when we first meet him. As we move through his experiences in and around his new home, Sequoyah shares his difficult early years and a definite hope for his present and future.

I thouroughly enjoyed this novel. I found the prose accessible, but emotionally charged. Even as I discounted this novel for having a protagonist too young for me to share common ground, I enjoyed the characters and the plot. And as with most of my favorite novels there was a glimmer (and sometimes more than that) of hope and humanity in this world.

“People live and die. People kill themselves or they get killed. The rest of us live on, burdened by what is inescapbable.” (p. 1) From the start of the novel, we know we are going to be confronted with death. Not only the death of a major character, but other deaths with varying degrees of impact. The novel is littered with notes about when, where, and how various characters die after their interactions with our protagonist.

I tend toward adult novels. I like adult lives and protagonists. I am not a person who hated high school, but I also am not someone who needs to relive them either. I chose to read this because it was on the Tournament of Books longlist and it was a National Book Award longlist title. So, when the narrator turned out to be a teenager, I figured it would be a quick read and I would be able to mark another one off the list. But, no, this book was not a quick, young adult novel. The narrator has a mesmerizing voice and a credible level of maturity given his background. He does has some naivete about him, but for the most part, it was comfortable passing some time with Sequoyah.

The other characters in this novel were given enough quirk and depth that I felt they were real people. A good example is Mr. Gillis. He is a teacher at Sequoyah’s school. Sequoyah runs into Mr. Gillis several times in the boys’ room. A somewhat sad and lonely individual, but a true human nonetheless.

The plotting on this novel was almost perfect. There may have been a moment or two too slow, but the point of the novel required a somewhat slow burn. The weaving of Sequoyah’s back story, Rosemary’s back story and the current events felt balanced.

I can highly recommend this book to others. I will be looking forward to visiting other titles by this author.

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Abduction by Robin Cook

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was an amusing look at one person’s imagined Utopia. After a group of deep sea divers get sucked into an unknown world deep underwater, we are introduced to a perfect society.

I did not particularly care for any of the characters in this book, which may have made it easier to suspend my disbelief and just go with the flow. The writing was highly accessible and the descriptions of the undersea world were solid.

I picked this up because I am familiar with the author, but did not recognize this as a title I had previously read. I still prefer his medical thrillers to this book, but it was an entertaining afternoon read.

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American Judas by Mickey Dubrow

From the publisher:

“Seth and Maggie Ginsberg do their best to navigate an oppressive theocracy where fundamental Christianity is the only legal religion, and abortion, homosexuality, and adultery are outlawed. When a co-worker outs Seth as a Jew, Seth escapes to Mexico, while Maggie is sent to a Savior Camp. American Judas is a dystopian tale about a young couple’s life after opportunistic U.S. politicians abolish the wall of separation between Church and State.”

My Review:

A terrifying look at what an American theocracy could be.

This novel was heavily plot-driven, with a lot of message to its readers. The story started out innocuous enough, with just an undercurrent of dread. But it quickly escalated to worst-case scenario and became very grim. As is frequently needed in end-of-world novels, there was certainly some violence, but I would not call it gratuitous. Be forewarned there is some violence.

The author did a good job with interjecting some humor into his story. A few of my personal favorites:

“The Savior camps are not just for lapsed Christians and those afflicted with the disease of homosexuality. They also cure drug addictions, adulterers, Satan worshipers and Liberals.”

“What’s the point of being the damn American Judas if you don’t make it so that a man can drink his beer in peace.”

Tearing down the wall between church and state did not go so well in this world and provided a good reminder in these turbulent times. A state run church is not a new idea in this world, but radically changing the priorities and ideals of a freedom loving country is bound to create some backlash.

At one point, our protagonist Maggie asks Tiffany (an adolescent viewed as an example for all others) “Are you so perfect that you get to decide for other people?” And Tiffany’s answer sums up for me how people can fall into this vicious scenario: “I’m not perfect. Just forgiven.” My belief allows me to make mistakes and make decisions for others I believe are right. Scary stuff.

Overall, I found the pacing of this novel to be engrossing. I turned every page needing to know what happened next. Some aspects of the story were tied up with nice little bows, some aspects were left undone, and some aspects were sped to a hasty conclusion. I was left with a feeling of hope, which I find very important when reading any apocalyptic or post-apocalyptic fiction.

I see this is a debut novel from Mickey Dubrow and I thought it was well-done and timely. I will watch for future titles by this author.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my advanced copy of this book.

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.

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.

One Last Strike by Tony La Russa

This has been a brutal winter for me. The temperature stayed low far too long for my liking. But the promise of spring is in the air. The birds are chirping, the trees are blossoming, spring training games are on the television and my phone is blowing up with news of player trades and hopes for the coming season. That’s right, folks, spring is coming!

To prepare myself and to get excited about the season, I re-read Tony La Russa’s awesome memories of his 2011 season with the St. Louis Cardinals. Tony had an amazing MLB career and I count myself very lucky to have been living in St. Louis during part of his tenure with the team. I credit his baseball prowess with my own love of the game. I had been to games in other cities in which I lived, but prior to my Cardinals experience, I didn’t fully appreciate the specialness of baseball. Having fallen in love with the sport in their city, I will always be a St. Louis Cardinals fan. (Aren’t I lucky they make it so easy?)

Tony’s book focuses a lot on his last season as coach, but he also manages to weave history throughout the pages of this delightful book. The story of the fateful season is fraught with tension and I loved reliving the insanity that was September 2011 right into the post-season. I am sure sportswriter Rick Hummel helped to make this book special. For a work of non-fiction, I found it completely readable and enjoyable.

I know there will be people who have no interest in reading this book (Braves fans, Phillies fans, people who don’t like baseball), but for me and I am sure for many other baseball fans, this was a fantastic way to get excited about the upcoming season and the end of winter. The 2011 season epitomized why we watch the game: There is no sure thing and anybody could be the winner, even if you are 10 1/2 games back in August.

May spring bring bright days and plenty of rally squirrels!

Reading by candlelight

I may need to stop paying my electric bill periodically. Every few years, we experience a large enough storm to knock out my power for several hours (or days). During these hours, I find myself settling into a candlelit atmosphere and opening a new book. This year, I was fortunate enough to have a copy of Jesym Ward’s Sing, Unburied, Sing on hand.

The hype around this book was huge. Everyone was talking about it. It won the National Book Award, was nominated for a slew of other awards and made my to read list when it was long listed for the Morning News’s Tournament of Books. It was short listed long before my copy became available at the library , but such is the life of an avid library patron.

Sing, Unburied, Sing is a contemporary look at impoverished life in the southern United States. At it’s heart, it is a tale about a dysfunctional African American family struggling through life. Leonie is a drug-addicted mother living with her parent waiting to reunite with her children’s father. Jojo is a 13-year-old trying to find his place in the world; simultaneously being a child and raising his 3-year-old sister. Mam and Pop, Leonie’s parents have stories to tell as well. Ward weaves this story together through alternating points of view of Jojo and Leonie with the occasional assistance of a ghost named Richie.

The prose was absolutely lyrical. My own reading, in a mostly dark living room with the flickering candlelight may have helped make this ghost story even more haunting and emotional.

While the story takes us on a road trip through Mississippi, it is mostly a character-driven story. The history of all involved is spooned out quietly and revealed in beautiful, if heartbreaking ways.

This was not a long book (285 pages), but it had depth. My power was restored before I finished the book, but the haunted feelings remained. I have previously read Dr. Zhivago and Fall on Your Knees by candlelight and both have certainly remained in my good favor long after I closed the covers. Not to worry, I will continue to pay my bills, but maybe I will remember to unplug once in awhile and read a new book by candlelight.