Save What's Left

Finished June 26

Save What's Left by Elizabeth Castellano

This debut novel follows Kathleen Deane as she makes a major life change. Her husband Tom tells her that he's not happy with his life or with his marriage and takes off on a round-the-world cruise. Kathleen sells their house in Kansas and buys a small cottage in the seaside town that her childhood best friend Josie lives in. 

While she enjoys being close to her friend and her hometown of New York City, she finds herself living next to a construction zone as the house next door to hers is being rebuilt. It is a large glass structure that locals refer to as the Sugar Cube, and the construction debris often ends up in Kathleen's yard, along with some of the workers, who have ruined the new couch she had delivered, which is sitting on her ocean-facing porch. As her resentment builds, she begins a long one-way conversation with a local councillor, but nothing changes in terms of the construction which continues its intrusiveness, and its flouting of building by-laws. 

Kathleen makes a friend, the neighbour across the street who is also offended by the large construction project, and finds herself heavily involved in the politics and pettiness of the town. 

This is a novel that reveals the dark side of living in a beach town and all that goes with it. 

Amusing in many ways, it also looks at perseverance, second chances, and unexpected life changes. 

One Tequila

Finished September 30

One Tequila by Tricia O'Malley

This is the first book in a series centering on the psychic Althea Rose. Althea lives in on Tequila Key in the Florida Keys, and shares a shop, Luna Rose Potions and Tarot Shop, with her friend Luna who mixes elixirs and who is also (secretly) a white witch. Althea has inherited her psychic skills from her mother who is a famous psychic with celebrity clients. The is also an older woman who lives down the street and who appears to be a voodoo priestess. 

Althea and Luna often hang out at the seaside bar of their friend Beau, and one night they meet some new real estate investors in town. Both of them are drawn to one of the men and soon agree to dates. Althea enjoys her date with Cash, but doesn't give in to his hints to take it further that evening. Luna's date doesn't call her back and she feels hurt by it, and wonders why (but, um, can't she use her magic to figure that out??) Also her diving buddy Trace suddenly shows signs of jealousy. 

There is a lot going on here, but it seems badly put together and ill-defined. The various paranormal elements are all combined together in odd ways, and the characters lacked depth. 

Althea was all over the place and couldn't seem to remember basic instructions, especially when things became tense. It seldom seemed to occur to her to use her skills to gauge situations before jumping in. 

The dialogue also needed work, and was often awkward and choppy. 

This is the first book in the series, and since there are several more, I'm hoping that means that the writing improved. 

Left You Dead

Finished February 22

Left You Dead by Peter James

This is the seventeenth book in the series featuring Roy Grace, a police officer in Lewes, Sussex. Grace gets a case that seems straightforward, but he keeps feeling that something isn't quite right. Niall and Eden Paternoster are returning from a visit to a country house. She likes to look at them, and he feels that this is the life that he will someday be living. Niall is currently unemployed, picking up a few shifts for a friend that has a taxi, usually ones in the middle of the night. Eden has a good job, and it's one that she enjoys. 

Niall wants to get home to watch some live sports on TV, but Eden reminds him that they need cat litter and he keeps forgetting. So they stop at a local grocery, and she gets out to run into the store, and never comes back. 

At first Niall thinks that maybe she got distracted, but when he goes in, he doesn't see her anywhere. When he goes home, she isn't there. He figures that she's gone to a friend's place in an effort to teach him a lesson. So he waits until morning to start making enquiries and comes up empty-handed. 

This is when the police get called in, and they start asking some questions as well. The police suspicions, based on what they see and find, place Niall in the suspect box, and he isn't sure what's going on. 

As the story progresses, we see things from a variety of viewpoints, Niall's, Grace's and others. We get insight into the relationship between the couple and into the dynamics of the police hierarchy as well. There are side stories here as well as the main story of the missing woman, and we learn more about Grace as a person as well. 

I enjoyed this book and will definitely look for others in this series. 

In the Kingdom of Men

Finished August 5

In the Kingdom of Men by Kim Barnes

This novel is set in the late 1960s, with some backstory for the main character before that. Gin (Virginia) Mitchell has had a life filled with loss. Much of this is summarized in the first few pages. Her grandfather was a Methodist preacher and her grandmother submissive but secretly rebelling, saving enough to escape back to her family. Her father died in the Korean War, and her mother soon after from cancer, and then her grandmother died. At the age of seven, Gin was taken in by her grandfather, a staunch Methodist preacher and hardscrabble farmer who denounced all that was worldly, prayed often and vociferously, but didn't judge anyone by their race. She took solace in books and sports, trying to hide both from her grandfather and not always succeeding. When one of the most popular boys in the area, Mason McPhee, took at interest in her, she jumped at the chance to escape, and they were soon married.

After another tragic loss, he accepted a job from Aramco, to work as a drilling foreman in Saudi Arabia, and the two found their world utterly changes. 

Given a company house to live in, with luxuries beyond what they'd had before, they are also limited in what they can do. Gin can only leave the compound with her husband's permission, and is expected to behave in ways that don't appeal to her. She makes a couple of friends of women who also rebel against the expected order of things, and tries to make friends with those in more servile positions. Mason is smart and was on a college scholarship before marriage intervened, and he doesn't buy in to the racial inequities prevalent in the company's way of doing things. His actions are dangerous to those in charge and while he and Gin and determined to see it through, others are working against them.

I loved Gin, and her adventurous, curious nature. She tries to see the world through the eyes of others, whether it is Bedouin men and women, her Indian houseboy, or her Israeli friend. She takes to the camera, finding opportunities to see the world in yet another way. She listens, she reads, she tries different food, she  judges people by their actions, not their backgrounds or skin colour. She is a survivor. 

Taking us to the Middle East, when the oil industry there was in its early stages, the author opens a window to a past world that lets us see a world that has echoes in today's. A fascinating read.

All The Devils Are Here

Finished July 17

All The Devils Are Here by Louise Penny

The Gamaches are visiting Paris in anticipation of the birth of Annie and Jean Guy's second child. Armand's godfather Stephen Horowitz has also come to the city. As all the adult members of the family get together for a meal at one of their favourite restaurants, Juveniles, Stephen arrives late, which is unusual for him. After an enjoyable meal, as they are going their separate ways, Armand and Reine-Marie witness Stephen being deliberately run down. 

After getting him to the hospital, Armand starts digging into what Stephen has been doing, looking for clues as to why someone targeted him now. Stephen is mostly retired these days, but he has definitely made enemies in the past, so is one of them finally taking drastic action or is this something related to the present? 

We see here into Armand's relationship with his son Daniel, a side of his personal life that we haven't really seen much of before and this is an interesting development. We also see the dynamics between Annie and Daniel and a bit of Daniel's wife. I always enjoy seeing more of this personal side. 

But of course the main story is the one behind the attack on Stephen, and when a visit to his apartment results in the discovery of another body and an obvious search, things get even more serious.

Armand calls on an old friend, high up in the police force in Paris, but after an anomaly or two begins to wonder who he can really trust and how well he knows people, even those of long acquaintance. It was interesting to have Reine-Marie take a role in the investigation as well, using her research skills and library contacts. 

The city of Paris itself plays a role here, with major sites from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre appearing. It was interesting to see the characters in this new setting. 

Every book in this series brings a fascinating story, with a unique plot and crime and new developments for the main characters. I always enjoy them. 

Madame Bovary

Finished January 28

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, translated by Mildred Marmur, foreword by Mary McCarthy

I read this as the choice for the Classic Spin #25 that was due to be completed on January 30th. The back cover of my copy describes it as "possibly the most beautifully written book ever composed...a book that invites superlatives...the most important novel of the century." I cannot agree. It was not an easy read, and I found that none of the characters were ones that I could like. I think there are other novels of the 19th century that I enjoyed more than this one. Any Jane Austen would be preferable to me.

I did enjoy Mary McCarthy's foreword, and it gave me some useful context for the read.

It was an interesting study though. Emma Bovary is definitely a narcissist. She really has no empathy for anyone else, not even her child, and doesn't care what the effects of her behaviour on others are. She wants what she wants and she feels she deserves it. 

Charles is weak in character and not very bright. His mother is aware of his failings and tries to organize his life as best she can, but once his first wife dies, and he has already met Emma, he is beyond that control. He falls for Emma and never questions her fidelity, even when everyone around them knows of her affairs. He trusts her with his money and never questions her on her purchases. He moves house and practice for her so she has a better atmosphere to live in, a new start, after she becomes depressed with her lot in life after an invitation where she experiences a livelier social life and more luxurious surroundings. He gives in to the pressure of her and the pharmacist Homais who want to be associated with a successful experimental surgery, never considering the patient's real wishes, or his own abilities. 

Emma falls easily for the flattery of her lovers, particularly her first one, who is experiences at this sort of thing. And she falls for the promises of the moneylenders, who know what they are doing, and try to hide their connection to the public result, but delight in their profits. She digs herself deeper again and again, and sinks to considering criminal acts to cover for herself. 

Even after Charles finds proof of her disloyalty and must deal with the financial implications, his feelings for her do not change, and their child suffers the most. 

I'm glad I've read it, but for me it is not a book I will reread.

Redemption Road

Finished December 5
Redemption Road by John Hart, Read by Scott Shepherd

This is a haunting book, one with a lot of characters struggling to survive against long odds. The woman at the center of the story is Liz Black, a police officer who has just come through a terrifying ordeal. She was the first officer on the scene of a teenager who was being held in an abandoned building, tortured, and raped. The men holding the teen were shot multiple times and Liz is up on charges for excessive use of force, and suspended during the investigation. She's started smoking again, and isn't eating or sleeping properly. She won't talk to anyone about it, and you understand that she and the teen girl are hiding what really happened at the scene. Liz also carries baggage from her youth, when she was raped by a young man she'd considered to be a friend up until then and then felt that her parents didn't properly support her following the rape. She blames her father, a preacher, more than her mother, but that incident has shaped her life in many ways you only gradually begin to understand. One of those ways is a strong feeling of trust in a police officer, Adrian Wall. Adrian was found guilty of killing a woman, a woman that Liz found dead on the altar of her father's church. She tried to look at other scenarios for the crime, but her superior officers shut her down and blocked her efforts. She took the young child of the woman who died, Gideon, under her wing, and was there for him when his father repeatedly wasn't.
Gideon feels that he has to do something to revenge his mother's death, and it is his actions that lead to his being injured and nearly dying.
Adrian is being released from prison, but his time that has changed him in many ways. The extent of what happened to him in prison is only revealed gradually, but you know that he was ill-treated by some of the guards from near the beginning of this novel. Adrian struggles with the loss of his life before prison, of the loss of people that he loved, of the land that had been in his family for generations, and of the way almost everyone he knew turned their backs on him, when he wasn't guilty.
Channing Shore, the teen who Liz found in the derelict house is also haunted by what happened there, and what led to it. Liz is the only person she can talk to, and the only one who makes her feel that she can find a future. As we gradually learn the truth about what happened, we understand her struggle and as we watch her deal with even more, we fight for her to survive.
We see the actions of the serial killer, the man whose serious crimes began with the ritualized murder of the woman that Adrian was convicted of killing, and who is choosing his most recent victim as the book opens. The terror of his victims is palpable and his actions have meaning that the reader doesn't understand until much later.
There are other interesting characters in the book as well: the retired Southern lawyer known as Crybaby Jones, the rough cop who gives Liz a chance with information the brass don't want to give her. There are those who are evil, who don't care about anybody, who don't seem human. Liz's empathy stands out even more juxtaposed against them.
A winner

Murder in Passy

Finished September 29
Murder in Passy by Cara Black

This book is part of a series featuring private investigator Aimee Leduc. Here, her godfather, Paris police Commissaire Morbier, asks her to talk to his fiancee as he feels there is something going on, and he isn't sure whether it is another man or something else. The woman, Xavierre d'Eslay, lives in Passy, and is preparing for the marriage of her daughter. Aimee manages to crash the rehearsal dinner, but it seems like something else has happened before she arrives as the guests have mostly gone already, and d'Eslay is nervous and distracted. When she is murdered that same evening, Aimee finds evidence linking her godfather to the scene, even though she knows that he is elsewhere working on a police corruption investigation.
She is sure that he is being framed for the murder, but she isn't sure who is really behind it. Does it have anything to do with the Basque independence seekers that Xavierre associated with in her younger days? Is that young police detective showing an interest in Aimee involved in any way? Why aren't the police interested in following other leads on the case? What is Xavierre's daughter hiding? Is the kidnapping of a Spanish princess related? Aimee has many questions, but few answers. Her investigation leaders her into the past, into the twisted loyalties of police corruption, and into danger. Gripping.

Murder on Bamboo Lane

Finished August 31
Murder on Bamboo Lane by Naomi Hirahara

This book is part of a series featuring police officer Ellie Rush. Ellie's mother is Japanese American and her family was interned during World War II. Ellie's father is white, and her paternal grandmother taught Spanish for years. So Ellie majored in Spanish in college at Pan Pacific West College, and then decided to join the police, following in the footsteps of her mother's sister, Cheryl Toma, who is now one of the senior offices in the LAPD. Ellie is a bicycle officer. A lot of her friends are still in college, including her ex-boyfriend Benjamin Choi, who is Korean American. Ellie's best friend Nay is Cambodian. One of Ellie's jobs is working as a community liaison, and one of her contacts complains about a missing person flyer that has been littering the neighbourhood. Ellie recognizes the missing girl as some she shared a class with at university, and become curious.
When the girl's body is discovered soon after, Ellie becomes involved in the case, and her aunt seems to be encouraging her to stay involved. As Ellie tries to juggle her work, with the relationships there that she is trying to develop to further her career, and her personal life, with some interesting family dynamics and an ex-boyfriend she still cares for, along with an interest in another police officer, she finds herself unsure of which steps are the right ones for her to move forward on.
Ellie mostly bicycles or uses transit, but she does have a car she inherited from her grandfather, a 1969 Buick Skylark that is long past its prime, and which has been dubbed the Green Mile. She lives alone with her dog Shippo in a small apartment in Highland Park. Ellie's younger brother Noah is close to her, but has his own issues.  There is a lot going on here, and I liked the depth of the character development for Ellie. I also liked the variety of ethnicities in the characters.

The Place of Shining Light

Finished July 21
The Place of Shining Light by Nazneen Skeikh

This book has suspense, romance, and spiritual enlightenment.
There are several related storylines that the reader follows here. One of them is that of Khalid, a Pakistan antiquities dealer, who steals to order, makes very good fakes, and engages in illegal import and export of art. His wife Sofia loves him very much, but is happy with a simple life, and still cooks all the meals for the household, even when he has numerous guests. Khalid has two sons, one of whom, Hamza, lives overseas and works for the family business from there. The other Hassan, is the apple of Sofia's eye, but a disappointment to Khalid who finds him a playboy who is always asking for financial handouts. Khalid relies on his nephew Faisal as his closest confidante in all business matters.
Adeel is an ex-military officer who has been hired by Khalid to steal a Buddhist statue from Bamiyan (the place of shining light). Adeel is a reliable young man, very close to his mother, who has done work like this before. This time however, the statue causes him to have a spiritual awakening, affecting him in a way he has never felt before. He wants to keep the statue for himself.
Ghalid is a wealthy land-owner, a wannabe politician, with a predilection for young boys and girls, preying on the people of his own village. He is not well-liked locally, partly due to his predation, and partly due to the lack of help he has given the locals over time.
As Khalid tries to track Adeel and the statue when they go missing, he engages both his military contacts that recommended Adeel, and a more criminal element that may have connections to the Taliban.
Adeel is resourceful and has many skills, but when he finds himself joined by a young woman who is looking for a new life, he finds both himself both exasperated and attracted.
An engaging novel with a lot of interesting characters.

A Great Reckoning

Finished October 23
A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny, read by Robert Bathurst

Armand Gamache is back, and this time in a new capacity, as commander of the Sûreté Academy. As he agrees to take on this new role, he knows the challenges that come with the role. After cleaning up major corruption in the Sûreté itself, he is aware that many of the officers joining the organization have been shaped by their experience in the Academy and what he has seen of their attitude and behaviour worries him. He knows he must make major changes at the Academy to change those experiences. He first looks at the faculty and makes changes, removing some professors and adding others. But he sees the bigger picture as well. He looks at the relationship with the local community and the divisions that have been created. He looks at the larger policing community and where the professors he is getting rid of might end up. He looks at the still unresolved corruption suspicions around some of the people at the Academy. And so he makes choices.
He also makes choices in the acceptances of new recruits. He reviews all the applications and accepts some that the previous head had marked as rejected and rejects some that they would have accepted. And again, he thinks carefully and makes some decisions for reasons that others don't see. 
He tries to both make massive change and to tread carefully, and he doesn't always succeed. It is not an easy task. But he has his family, his community of Three Pines, and the support of respected Sûreté officers and leaders. 
When one of his biggest adversaries within the Academy is found dead, obviously murdered, the case is a tricky one, and the investigation must not only be thorough, but be seen to be thorough. Again, he tries to do that right by making sure an outside investigator is part of the team, but that also proves difficult.
An interesting twist is the subplot around a map that was discovered in the wall of the bistro when renovations were made, and which provides its only mysteries. When Gamache tasks some of the Academy students into learning about the map, its origins, and its meaning, he ends up bringing those students into village life in a move that takes us to the heart of Three Pines. 
This book, as with previous in the series, blurs the line between professional and personal, and between facts and feelings. 

The Bob Watson

Finished August 28
The Bob Watson by Greg Bardsley

This novel features a man, Rick Blanco, who works at a desk job for a large corporation in California. Rick has been lusting after his nephew's nanny, Audrey, for years, and when she suddenly agrees to go out with him if he meets some requirements in regard to his nephew, he can't believe the chance and will do anything to make it happen. Part of the impetus for this is Collin's family's imminent move to another country for his father's work.
Rick and his sister Ana are not that close, and we only gradually learn why as the book unfolds. But he has taken time for his nephew Collin, doing things with him that are fun, whimsical, and not necessarily related to his future prospects. He genuinely cares about Collin and wants to spend time with him when he can. He also has sincere doubts about his own abilities to do the right thing, to not screw up, and this is another thing we gradually learn the roots of as the book unfolds.
Early in his career, Rick observed another man at his company, who has since moved on, as he found a way to get out of unproductive meetings without people noticing. Rick paid attention to what he did and found his own ways of doing similar things. He calls these activities "the Bob Watson" after the man he initially observed.
When Rick first receives the communication from Audrey, he is in one of these unproductive meetings, and he pulls a Bob Watson move to get out of it and uses a previous contact to find something cool to do with Collin. But as he does so, he finds that the people he encounters think he is Dick Rayborne, the HR director for his company, and a man who has done many things that have not been good for the employees. As they take Rick on a wild spree around town, through people's homes, luxury hotels, and the company's executive offices, Rick learns about Dick's actions and about his own abilities to make a real difference in the world, something that will offer his nephew an experience that he will never forget.
One of the lines from the book that is significant: "We're never gonna survive unless we get a little crazy."
I was initially a little confused by the book, but as I read further and began to sense the history behind Rick's issues, I began to really enjoy it. This is a book that offers hope against the world as it is now, that looks out for the people who can't look out for themselves. A great read.

The Senility of Vladimir P

Finished July 25
The Senility of Vladimir P by Michael Honig

This novel is set a few years in the future. Vladimir Putin is no longer the leader of Russia, but instead an old man suffering from senility and living in relative seclusion on a dacha near Moscow. The main character here is his nurse, Sheremetev. Sheremetev is a singular man, one who never concerned himself with politics, who never gave or received bribes, even when all around him were involved in such activity. This seemingly ethical stance was what caused him to be chosen for the position in which he is now employed.
As he gradually becomes aware of the corruption going on all around him, the state of the country that his charge has contributed in a large way to, and the effects of his seemingly ethical stance on his family, he begins to question his own motives.
The premise here is an interesting one, and the characters are well drawn. For me, the problem was that I didn't like any of them. And the behaviour of the characters just made me angry. It was so extreme as to be a farce and I guess with the state of the world today this book just came at the wrong time for me.

The Ghost Runner

Finished November 26
The Ghost Runner by Parker Bilal

This is the third book in the series featuring Makana, but the first that I've read. Makana is from Sudan, but now living in exile in Cairo. He was a police officer in Sudan, but with the change in regime, he lost everything: his job, his family, and nearly his life. In Cairo, he has created a business as a private investigator and he and his partner have taken on the mundane job of following a man around to see if his wife's suspicions of a mistress are true. The man seems to be innocent, and therefore the job is quite boring until one day when he stops at a private health clinic. Makana finds him to be visiting a severely burned young woman. As his curiosity takes him further, and he confronts the man, he gets hired for a different job. Find the man who did this to the young woman. His job takes him out into the desert community of Siwa, where both of the girl's parents were from. There he finds a very insular community, with corrupt police, a drunken doctor, and many secrets past and present.
This is a story of a man haunted by his past, with a strong moral sense, and very good instincts and investigative skills. He is a man who notices things, and that means that he isn't easily fooled, and that he isn't willing to take things at face value. This is not a nicely wrapped up story, but a story that feels representative of a certain place and time in the world. A very interesting read.