The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa

The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa tells the story of the Rosenthal family, who fled Berlin in 1939 and headed to Cuba on the Saint Louis (a real ship which was turned around by the Cuban government, who only let a handful of the 900 plus passengers disembark). Their family is split apart by this decision, with 12 year-old Hannah and her pregnant mother allowed to stay, and her father and close friend Leo sent back to Europe. The story is obviously a tragic one, as the passengers who made it to England survived, while those who landed in France, her father included, did not. This little known snippet of the sad state of the world in the antisemitic mid-twentieth century is reason enough to read this book and marvel at the fact that we have come so far, and yet not, considering the treatment of ships full of present day refugees in the Mediterranean.

As a story it feels a little like The Orphan Train meets All the Light We Cannot See, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as it's one of those books that can engage both young and old audiences. It also has its own twists, and it incorporates a lot of Cuban history, following the descendants of Hannah's family and the tragedy that continues to befall them. All in all a worthy read.  

Fractured by Catherine McKenzie

Fractured, by Catherine McKenzie, is her finest book yet. Told in two timelines, it follows a year in Julie Apple's life after she moves to Cincinnati to escape a stalker, and a 12-hour day at then end of that year where a grand jury trial is taking place because someone has been killed. Who that person is and how it came to pass is a mystery which slowly unfurls throughout the novel, but it's not a slow read, and you'll find yourself racing through to the next chapter to try and pick up more clues as to what eventually happened and why.

A big theme in this book is the nasty way we can treat each other even as adults. Julie moved her family across the country because someone had it out for her, only to land in a new neighborhood where mean and petty behavior ran rife. With all of the current focus on grade school bullies, we often forget that adults can be bullied (and bully) as well. You'll identify with Julie if you feel like you're trapped in a high-school-like circle of friends, and want to smack some sense into the mean-girl neighbors of hers. Is that what Julie did? Or were they the ones to gang up on her? You'll have to read to the end to find out!

On a side note, the character of Julie Apple is an author who had a bestselling book called The Murder Game, which is part of what drew the attention of her stalker to her. That book is also being released in a couple of weeks in a fun book within a book way.

Echoes of Family by Barbara Claypole White

Echoes of Family by Barbara Claypole White follows Marianne Stokes, who suffers from bipolar disorder, as she struggles to reconcile her past and deal with her disease. She had been stable for years and doing well, running a recording studio and a charity for homeless girls, until she was in a car accident that resulted in the loss of the other driver's unborn child dragged up unhappy memories of a decades old crash that did the same thing to her. Marianne blames herself for both accidents, and the losses are too much a burden for her to bear. She flees to her native England to try and find some answers, meeting up with her former best-friend-now-pastor Gabriel, but ends up hospitalized due to a manic episode.

Just this description alone might seem like a total downer, but it's not! This book runs the gamut from devastatingly sad to laugh out loud funny, and while it shows the devastating effects of mental illness on both the individuals that have the disease and the people that love them, it also shows how worthy they are of love and that they can live a happy and healthy life (with the right meds of course). Marianne's search for redemption and self-acceptance can apply to anyone, not just those with a mood disorder. This is a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand mental illnesses, whether you are personally affected by it or not.

The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

The Things We Wish Were True by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen takes place in a small neighborhood in North Carolina where every knows everyone else and is all up in each other's business. Bring out your notepad to keep track of the FIVE different perspectives that this story is told from, and also all the secrets that every character seems to be hiding. Ok, it might not be that complicated, but you definitely need to pay some attention during the first third of the book to keep everyone straight and get in the groove so that the rest of it continues to make sense.

The story revolves around the summer pool season (at least there is one focal point), and the return of Jencey, the popular girl in high school who fled the town after her unknown stalker beat up her boyfriend, Everett. Jencey is trying to hide the fact that her husband is in prison, and Everett is now married to her former best-friend Bryte, who is hiding why she doesn't want to have a second child. Then there is nosy Zell, who might have had something to do with her neighbor Debra's "disappearance," and Debra's husband Lance, who is struggling to keep everything together with Debra gone. There's Cailey, a tween left mostly on her on and in charge of her young brother, a creepy guy who lives across the street, a missing teenager, the list goes on... I think in the end all the pieces do come together, and the point that we all have things to hide comes across, but I prefer the treatment of this idea in Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies, where the narrative circles around one event and is easier to follow even with the same large number of characters.

The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe

The Ice Beneath Her by Camilla Grebe is a great pick for fans of "Nordic Noir" or thrillers in general. It starts with police investigating a gruesome beheading that reminds them of a similar case from 10 years ago. They don't know who the dead woman is, only that she is found in the house of a high-profile CEO, Jesper Orre, and that he himself is missing as well. Then we rewind two months and meet a young woman named Emma, who works in one of Jesper's clothing stores and is having a secret affair with him. As the police work on unraveling the case and finding the killer in real time, we watch Emma and Jesper's relationship unravel in the past.

At first this seems like a slow plod to an inevitable conclusion (it's always the boyfriend, right?), particularly when you throw in the third voice of Hanne, a consultant brought in on the case who assisted with the previous investigation a decade ago. Her storyline slows down the pace a bit; she's been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, is having martial difficulties, and can't quite trust her memory, or lack of, anymore. This serves as a metaphor for the entire book though, as the other characters' memories cannot be trusted either. All to say that there's definitely an unreliable narrator, and while the "twist" becomes somewhat evident about halfway through, it's still an interesting one and worth reading to its conclusion. You might not say "I never saw that coming..." but it is clever and will leave you feeling thoroughly creeped out.

Faultlines by Barbara Taylor Sissel

Faultlines by Barbara Taylor Sissel follows the lives of a family devastated by a car wreck. College-aged cousins Travis and Jordan were out partying one night when they wrecked, leaving both boys in critical condition and their friend in the backseat in a coma. Travis's mom Jenna is quick to blame her nephew, and even her sister Sandy, when it looks like Travis won't survive. The rest of family rallies around Jenna, and Sandy and Jordan are left out in the cold with their own grief and guilt. The situation is heartbreaking on so many levels, and you really feel for everyone involved in the story.

That's not all there is to Faultlines though, as there are many layers involved in this plot. As Jordan tries to clear his name, he has to battle the local law enforcement officer who seems to have it out for him, while also forging a relationship with a newcomer to town who has a special connection to him (don't want to give too much away here). Let just say that the story line is intricate and well-thought out, and it'll leave you guessing to the very end.

The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena

The Couple Next Door, by Shari Lapena, begins with Marco and Anne returning home from a dinner party next door to find their baby girl missing. They left her there asleep and took the baby monitor with them, and even checked on her every half an hour, but somewhere between the checking, wine drinking, and Marco's naughty flirting with their neighbor, Cynthia, little Cora goes missing. Suspicion immediately falls on the parents. Did Anne kill her as a result of her postpartum depression? Did Marco have her abducted in order to swindle his wealthy in-laws out of a hefty ransom? The detectives investigating this case sense that all is not right in this house, and rightly so, but where the final guilty finger points to is not so immediately obvious.

What is obvious is that this novel is just not up to the same bar as some of the other great domestic suspenses of the last few years. If you loved Gone Girl or The Girl on the Train you'll enjoy this one, but it's not going to make you say "WOW" and tell all your friends about it. The characters felt a little flat, and some seemed to disappear altogether. After so many good books with unreliable first person narrators, to have the whole thing done in the third person ends up feeling cold and unpersonable. The final scene is one last little "twist," which will work great if it's made into a movie, but seemed to come from nowhere. As least this author got creative in her title though, and refrained from using the word 'girl' in it. Thank you!

Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner

Missing, Presumed  by Susie Steiner is a book about a missing girl (dear God AGAIN?? Is this the only way to get a thriller written by a woman published these days? Enough with the missing girls!!) But that's the only negative thing I'll say about this book, because it's actually quite wonderful. Manon Bradshaw is a single police detective on the verge of her forties with the air of desperation about her. She's internet dating (unsuccessfully) and trying to find that special someone before the sand runs out in her reproductive clock. While this book is about a missing girl, it's also as much about Manon, her dedication for her job (she sleeps with the police scanner on in case something happens in the dead of night) and her love life.

The missing girl is a pretentious Cambridge University PhD student, who is trying to eschew the trappings of a everyday life while still relying on Daddy for her monthly stipend. He's the Royal Family's doctor, and his daughter's disappearance unearths the inequalities of British life. A missing upper class girl gets heaps of attention and resources, while a young Black man who's murdered body is found in a swamp gets little. As the story unfolds the twists take a turn that you will never see coming, thanks to good plotting and crafty storytelling. Also, unlike some recent books set in the UK where you can barely tell it's not New York (except for gin and tonic in a can, because we haven't evolved that much yet), this one seems steeped in the land, both with the geography and the language. And I just heard an interview with Steiner that there is definitely at least one more Manon book in the works. Yay! Can't wait to see where she'll take her next.

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda is a unique spin on the current missing "girl" genre (as in Gone GIRL, The GIRL on the Train, The Good GIRL, The Luckiest GIRL Alive, etc, etc). Yes there is a missing girl (or two in this case), and an unreliable narrator, but Miranda does something unique by telling the story mostly in reverse. Nicolette returns to her hometown in North Carolina to help her brother deal with her old house now that her father is in assisted living. She's haunted by the ten-year-old disappearance of her best friend, Corinne, and then the day she returns another "girl" goes missing. The story takes place over the course of two weeks, we're given the setup from Day 1 to start, and then the narration jumps to Day 15 and works backwards. Miranda lays clues along the way; a bloodied ring is mentioned one day, then a few days later (I mean, earlier) we learn where it came from, but the reader is left in the dark about most things, following the breadcrumb clues until returning to the beginning and discovering what really happened to both girls.

This book must have taken an awful lot of planning, and it could have come off as gimmicky or too artificially constructed, but instead it's a true delight! It keeps you on your toes not only from a thriller perspective, but also having to keep track of the timeline and what is actually revealed, or not. It will hook you from the beginning, and is one of those books that begs to be re-read immediately so as to see how the puzzle pieces all fit together.

Little Girl Gone by Gerry Schmitt

While not my favorite genre, I do occasionally enjoy a good crime thriller, including everything Dennis Lehane has ever written. While I wasn't paying attention, a new subgenre has suddenly emerged, or at very least been named: "cozy" mysteries. And if you follow that link to its Wikipedia entry, it reads like an outline for this book, Little Girl Gone by Gerry Schmitt. Female protagonist is an amateur detective in a small community with good instincts and a relationship to the police department so she can get insider info to solve the crime, which is bad but not too graphic. While I'm not knocking this book for that or the job that the author did writing it, it seems a little formulaic somehow, as though she went through the "checklist" and made sure she had all the right elements.

Also, given that we know from the outset who did the crime, this book is about watching the main character, Afton Tangler (say what? Is she a hair product?), connect the dots and solve the crime by chasing down one dead end lead after another. Since I brought up the Dennis Lehane thing, lets compare a bit to Gone Baby Gone (which if he wrote it today would probably have to be called Gone Girl Gone because every title needs a "Girl" in it now for some reason). Same premise, little girl goes missing, detectives, amateur or otherwise, on the case trying to find her. And in Baby, you don't know who took her or why, so you're there in the minds of the detectives trying to piece it all together right along with them. In Girl, there really is no mystery, just a tangled plot with some halfway interesting characters. Final beef, I love that Afton (Really? It's a town in Wyoming, a river in Scotland, a chemical company, but a girl's name?) is a rockclimber, and Schmitt got a lot of details right, and then some crucial ones wrong. Nitpicky, I know, but whenever an author tries to take on my sport it really irks me to have to read incorrect climbing scenes. Will I check out Book #2 in the Afton Tangler series? (Tangler - to bring together in intricate confusion, which is an apt definition, and a 58 point word in Scrabble.) Probably, if only because it'll give me more opportunities to think of snarky things to say about her name.

Everything We Keep by Kerry Lonsdale

In Everything We Keep, by Kerry Lonsdale, Aimee is set to marry her childhood sweetheart, James, when he mysteriously disappears on a work trip to Mexico. They hold his funeral on what would have been their wedding day, and she is obviously devastated. Then a mysterious woman arrives claiming to be a psychic, and tells Aimee that she has proof that James is still alive, throwing her into a tailspin. How can she move on when the love of her life might still be out there, but if he is, why hasn't he contacted her? The rest of the book follows Aimee as she tries to figure that out, while also attempting to put her life back together and move on. She opens a small cafe, meets a hunky new guy, etc., and yet, could he really still be alive?

The premise of this book is fairly interesting, and Lonsdale delivers the story with good writing and well-developed characters. The final explanation goes deep into suspension-of-disbelief category, along with some unsavory Flowers in the Attic type story lines, but all in all it is a good "beach" read for your summer vacation.

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison

The Butterfly Garden by Dot Hutchison is some creepy creepiness layered on top of more creep. All that said, it's kind of a good read, and I did that thing I do sometimes and stay up until 3 a.m., reading it all in one sitting. Maybe that was so the creepiness didn't "creep" into more than one day of my life! The book opens with a young girl being interviewed by the FBI. We learn that they rescued a bunch of teenage girls that were being held captive by a sicko who tattooed huge butterfly wings on their backs and encased them in resin on their 21st birthday to "preserve" their beauty forever. (I wasn't exaggerating about the creepy!) Now they've "flow" free of their prison, but this girl, Maya, is causing the police some trouble, refusing to answer all of their questions and leading them to believe she might be complicit somehow.

The book switches back and forth between her interrogation by police and her flashback narrative that answers those questions, with good effect. This is the kind of book I would have loved as a teenager (I was a huge Stephen King fan back in the day), and while it's more sexually gruesome than his work, it does embody some of the same dark and otherworldly feelings that his writing evokes. Another good comparison would be the pre-Gone Girl Gillian Flynn books. I see this being made into a movie somehow, though it won't be one that I actually go to see.

The Girls by Emma Cline

The Girls by Emma Cline takes a fictional twist on the real-life Manson family murders of the late 1960’s, telling their story from the perspective of fourteen-year-old Evie, a quasi-member of the troop. She was involved, but not that involved. She was there, but not for everything. And in a strange twist, she was more enamored with “the girls” than with Russell, aka Charles. This reflects Cline’s own apparent interest in the people that surround a cult leader, as opposed to the leader himself—and it’s always a him, right? What causes people to blindly follow, to do unspeakable things, and how does that look to a young teenager who is lost and discarded by her own parents. If the only people who want you are monsters, does that make you one too?

Cline doesn’t slap you in the face with these questions; instead they unfurl slowly, and yes, parts of this book are slow. We pick up with Evie years later throughout the novel, watching her interact with a young couple and seeing how life has slipped through her fingers. These scenes don’t actually lead to anything but an illustration of the damage done to her. Being so close to something so horrible at a young age affected her, but how? She seems stunted and lonely, as if nothing could ever compare to the intense months she had with the family, and so she doesn’t bother with anything. She didn’t end up in jail with the rest of the cult, but instead is in a sort of prison of her own making. This book gives you a lot of things to think about, and it’ll stay with you long after you’ve put it down (and spent a few hours on Wikipedia comparing all the details to the Manson killings, of course).

Intrusion by Mary McCluskey

Intrusion by Mary McCluskey jumps into the lives of Kat and Scott Hamilton soon after the accidental death of their only son, Chris. This is one of those books that I hesitate to read solely based on the subject matter, as being a mom of two boys myself this is like living out your worst nightmare, and who wants to do that? And this book delivers sadness mightily, from the abject despair and thoughts of suicide to the inevitable marital tension and strain. But I was intrigued enough by the premise of an old friend of Kat's who randomly comes back into her life to give this a go. Sarah Cherrington used to be Kat's best friend in high school and roommate afterwards, until her misbehavior caused Kat to cut her out of her life completely. Now Sarah's back, and attempting to play nice, or is she?

So begins the slow unfurling of a web of lies and deception. I won't give too much away, but even the back cover copy suggests that she's back for "one more thing," so you can assume that she is up to no good. The final denouement does make for good reading, though the twists and turn are not quite as developed or original as The Girl on the Train or any Mary Kubica novel, but still worth checking out. And it's another Kindle First title, so it's "free" for the rest of the month!

A Dangerous Age by Kelly Killoren Bensimon

 

A Dangerous Age by Kelly Killoren Bensimon (and Teresa DiFalco), is an enigma wrapped in a riddle stuffed into a hot New York City summer. It follows the lives of four long-time friends (let the comparisons to Sex and the City begin), as they each struggle with different issues in their middle-aged lives. Lucy, the main character, is a former model whose marriage to a renowned artist is on the fritz, Lotte is descending into a dangerous drug and alcohol induced spiral, divorcee Billy is having trouble making ends meet while dating below her age, and Sarah is trying to land a coveted role on a reality show. You can tell right off the bat that Bensimon didn't have to dig deep or use too much imagination for her material, having been a model, married to a famous photographer, and on the infamous Real Housewives series herself, and if the book had stayed in that fluffy "beachy" read place, I could have tucked it neatly away in that category and recommended it for your next vacation.

Instead, Bensimon does actually explore some interesting themes, from the value of art and the pressure put on "famous" artists, to what constitutes a happy and fulfilling marriage. A young ingenue comes to town and upends peoples' lives with her tell-all blog, and when Lucy is tasked with writing an article about her, she's shaken to her core by someone who seems to eschew everything that Lucy has built her life around. All these combine to make for a more serious book that provokes some deep thinking. But then there's the obligatory shopping scenes, and the banal descriptions of the fabulous clothes they're all wearing, all the time. I can't say that this book won't appeal to a fabulous few whose lives really do revolve around all of the above, but for the majority of readers I fear this will straddle a middle line that appeals to none - too serious for the beach, and not serious enough for the literati. However, with her name recognition and the hope that you might decipher some juicy gossip about "real" (housewives) people, I'm sure this book will sell just fine.

The Memory of Us by Camille Di Maio

The Memory of Us by Camille Di Maio is a touching "star-crossed" love story about two young Britons on the eve of WWII. Julianne is a well-to-do 18 year-old who seems to be living the perfect debutante life in Liverpool: she's organizing charity fundraisers, helping her father at his business, and is at her mother's beck and call. She does have an independent streak though, and is set to head off to nursing school in London at the end of the summer, but not before she spends some time secretly visiting her deaf and blind twin brother, who was kept a secret and institutionalized from birth. It's at his "home" that she meets the gardener, Kyle, a young Irish immigrant who is preparing to become a priest. They befriend each other, and their love blossoms slowly, and then all at once, until they elope the following year. Of course, her parents were not pleased and disowned her, and then the war struck, shattering everyone's lives.

We occasionally get glimpses into the future, where we know they are no longer together, and yet may have just run into each other. The story of their separation and reunion was not my favorite part - perhaps a little too implausible. Instead, I really enjoyed the scenes from her time in nursing school and through the start of their romance. Di Maio effortlessly captured the feeling of young love, and transported me back to a time and place I have never been. There were enough historical details to please any historian, but most importantly, the strong writing really transports you to another time to enjoy a good story.

Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica

Don't You Cry is Mary Kubica's third novel, and having read them all it was definitely my favorite. The story is told from two seemingly unrelated points of view: a  young twenty-something Quinn, whose roommate Esther has gone missing, and eighteen year old Alex, who is stuck in his small hometown outside of Chicago, taking care of his alcoholic father and working a dead end job even though he's bright and could have gone to college. Quinn perfectly exemplifies the young person who knows something is wrong when her roommate doesn't show up back at home one day, but is not really sure what to do about it. She doesn't know much of anything about Esther, and starts to think she was just trying to get rid of her as a roommate anyway.  Alex's world gets upended when a mysterious girl comes to town and takes up residence in an abandoned house next door. The obvious thought is that this is Esther, but you'd be foolish to think Kubica would make things so simple.

Instead, you're in for a an intriguing ride, where everything and everyone is not as they seem. Lake Michigan provides an eerie and sinister backdrop to many of the scenes, and I liked the fact that the main characters were younger. So often it seems that thrillers have older protagonists, and it was nice to have a younger and believable point of view for the story (I will not use the M word...). While this novel has a slow-build to it, it is engaging enough to keep you turning the pages and stay up way past your bedtime to see what really happened (ahem), with a final climax that will get your heart beating and ensure that you won't be falling asleep anytime soon.

We're All Damaged by Matthew Norman

We're All Damaged by Matthew Norman is a hilarious romp through one man's disintegrating life. Left by his wife for another man, Andy heads to New York to drown his sorrows and try to forget the loss of his marriage, and also as we find out later, all of his friends and social connections. But after over a year of hiding, his grandfather is dying, and so back to Omaha Andy goes. What ensues is a series of misadventures and encounters with his old life, each one funnier than the last, though all touched with a dose of sadness. For Andy is sad, and broken, and a young friend of his grandfather's, Daisy, decides to help Andy put the pieces of his life back together again.

Along the way, Andy has to deal with his conservative talk radio host mother, the "Glitter Mafia" who keep harassing her for her anti-gay marriage stance, his father who himself seems to be unraveling,  his dying grandfather, his former friends who want nothing to do with him, and of course, his ex, whom he sorely wants back, but whose new boyfriend has other ideas. And then there is Daisy, this mysterious girl with questionable motives but good taste in T-shirts - why is she even bothering with a guy like Andy at all? If this all sounds sad, it's not! It's absolutely funny and a rip-roaring adventure through one man's misfortune. Norman's take away message - we are ALL damaged, but if you can't see the funny in that, then what's the point?

In the Light of What We See by Sarah Painter

In the Light of What We See is a fairly lovely and intriguing book by Sarah Painter. There's a touch of magical realism, a touch of ghosts, and a touch of mystery, though the latter was painted with the feigntest of hands. The story unfolds in two alternate timelines: the present, where Mina is recovering in hospital from a near fatal car crashed caused by her boyfriend directly after she breaks up with him (though she doesn't remember the events), and 1930's England, where Grace has become a nurse at that very same hospital after being sent away from her family in disgrace. Mina begins to see Grace in her room, leading us to believe that something terrible happened to Grace all those years ago, and that the same fate might soon befall Mina.

There is tension in the book, as we wait for Mina to remember that her boyfriend is a jerk, but because we already know the cause of her accident it's not like there is a big reveal at the end. There is also some mystery surrounding her brother, though that too is sort of obvious, and not so mysterious after all. This book does best in its descriptions of England on the cusp of WWII, and the life of a lowly nurse trainee back then. I could have read a whole book about Grace and her friends, and what was about to befall them. I also have to say that above everything else, the title just rubbed me wrong. There's not such a direct correlation to the story that this book couldn't have been named something else, and with a title so close to Anthony Doer's All the Light We Cannot See, it almost seems like a ploy to get you to buy this book thinking it's the other one. Just sayin...

Remember My Beauties by Lynne Hugo

"Somehow the choices in my life just made themselves, dragging me along behind them," says Jewel, the middle-aged main character in Remember My Beauties by Lynne Hugo. She's been doing everything for everyone, including her ailing parents, their stable of horses, her drug-addicted daughter, and her unappreciative husband. Then one day, Jewel decides enough is enough, and starts taking a stand for herself (and hacking off her hair in the process). Cal, her derelict brother who once tried to rape her when they were teens, comes back to town, and Jewel draws a line in the "horse manure" for her parents, who want to take him back in. Unfortunately, they choose their no-good son, and set off a division in the family, and in Jewel herself.

This story is full of hard-knock characters, some of which are easier to like than others. You'll find yourself rooting for Jewel's daughter, Carley, and her quest for sobriety, questioning the motives (and common sense) of Jewel's husband, Eddie, wondering what in the world Jewel's mom was thinking favoring Cal over Jewel, and wishing that Cal would just leave already and let everything return back to "normal." And then there's Jewel herself, trying to figure out how much fight is left in her, and who around her is worth fighting for. All throughout the novel are beautiful descriptions of the horses (including some chapters narrated by them) and the Kentucky landscape, and some great "Kentucky-isms," like "The whole part about moving in to take care of them was impulse as pure as honey and disaster thick as the same." A wonderful read that you will definitely "remember"!

When I'm Gone and Wreckage by Emily Bleeker

This past month month I've read two titles by Emily Bleeker: her first novel, Wreckage, and her latest release, When I'm Gone. I'll start with Wreckage, a stranded-on-a-desert-island tale. Lillian and her mother-in-law, Margaret, are on a private plane that goes down in Fiji, along with the pilot and flight attendant, and a corporate exec, Dave. Not all survive the crash, nor the nearly two years until they are rescued. We learn from the start that at least Lillian and Dave are still around, but there are a lot of questions about the survivors' time on the island and what may, or may not, have happened.

Lillian tries to answer some of those questions in an on-air interview with a particularly nasty reporter, and the story slowly but energetically unfolds throughout. The "twists" might be a little obvious at times, but you're never bored waiting to find out the truth, and you might find yourself imagining what you would do in a similar situation.  I really enjoyed this book!

Now on to book two, When I'm Gone. Natalie Richardson dies from a rare form a cancer, leaving her husband, Luke, alone with their three children and a lot of heartache. Right after her funeral he begins to get letters from her, which she started writing after her initial diagnosis and throughout the course of her treatment and short-lived recovery. The letters are heart-wrenching, and I dare you to get through the first part of the book without a box of tissues. Knowing this was going to be overly sentimental, I was curious to see if there was more to the story than the initial premise, and indeed there was a lot more. (One could say too much more?)

Luke starts to search from whoever is sending the letters to him, and then his oldest son seems to think he may have been adopted, which leads Luke to searching around in his wife's past. I can't say much more without divulging all the twists in this story, but I can say that half the fun is finding them all out, because there are so many of them, and they get more and more implausible as the story goes along. Part of me wishes she had gotten off one stop sooner on the "everyone is connected" train. Throw in a new love interest for Luke, her jealous and abusive husband, false drugs charges against him, and a road trip where he visits the sad realities of his own past, and the second half of this book is a wild ride.

It's hard not to compare the two books, since I read them back to back, but if I were to pick one of these to read again then it would certainly be Wreckage, and I'll be looking forward to seeing whatever she comes up with next.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin left me slightly conflicted. I loved her previous novel, The Aviator’s Wife, and found the fictionalization of those historical figures (Anne and Charles Lindbergh) fascinating and also fresh. The idea of writing historical fiction based on real life characters is not new, but the way she approached the story (it’s told from Anne’s point of view) and the way she brought the characters to life made it a page turner. It's also a pretty good story, real or otherwise. Unfortunately, this was not so with the “swans.” These were a group of real-life New York society ladies who took in Truman Capote at the start of his career and kept him around as a sort of pet, until he used all of the juicy gossip that he had acquired over the years to write a scathing short story that exposed them all for the phonies and philanderers that they really were.   

Maybe it was harder to feel interested in or compassion for characters who did nothing more than dress well for lunch, but they all felt like caricatures, Truman especially, and it occasionally came across as nothing more than a glorified Wikipedia entry. The writing was still solid, and while I generally don’t like to write negative reviews (cause if you can’t say something nice…), I’m sure that devotees of Truman Capote’s, or those obsessed with mid-20^th century New York high society, will surely love this book. But in an era where Real Housewives-like drama is inundating us from all directions, I’d rather read books that have a little more substance and a little less backstabbing.

The Widow by Fiona Barton

The Widow by Fiona Barton is a wonderful debut. It starts in the aftermath of the death of Jean Taylor’s husband Glen, who supposedly jumped in front of a bus after years of being hounded by the police (and the media) for the murder of a young girl. Jean is a quiet, meek and docile housewife, and the death of her controlling husband offers up the chance to break out of her claustrophobic life and tell her side of the story to an enterprising reporter, Kate Waters. Barton uses the varying points of view of Jean, Kate, a police detective, and the young girl’s mother to carefully unravel the full story of what happened to little Bella, and who the real culprit was. While some aspects of the story are slightly obvious, and others disturbing (there’s some child molestation and pornography thrown in there), overall they are carefully used and don’t seem gratuitous. And by the end you’ll be left wondering who was really using who to further their own agenda.

You can’t escape the hype and the comparisons to Girl on a Train or Gone Girl with this book, and I don’t really want to weigh in on that other than to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this read as much as those other two novels. It’s not exactly alike or exactly as shocking in the reveal, but that would be derivative and boring wouldn’t it? So, read The Widow for its own merits, a carefully and well-written story that is sure to leave you with the chills and creeps for days to come.