Stanley is dying. All any of his family are concerned about is whether he has set up a Family Trust and named them as trustees. Stanley is the domineering and occasionally abusive father of Kate and Fred. Their mother and Stanley’s ex-wife, Linda, is concerned that Stanley will leave hisContinue Reading
An interesting character study of a lonely police detective forced to retire. The Darkness is another character as is the beautiful isolation of Iceland. Hulda is 64. She is dreading retiring to her lonely apartment when her superior tells she has been replaced effectively in two weeks. He allows herContinue Reading
The Witch Elm was an acceptable family drama but not much of a thriller. Toby is a lucky privileged jerk. His girlfriend, Melissa, is a sweet bubblehead. After celebrating his ability to talk his way out of a possibly career-ending mistake at work, Toby goes home. There he surprises twoContinue Reading
Marvelous psychological thriller that totally got Under My Skin. Poppy, a former travel photojournalist, now owns a boutique agency representing other photojournalists. Her husband, Jack, died a year earlier—attacked early one morning while running in a local park. After his death, Poppy had a nervous breakdown with a two-day blackout.Continue Reading
It’s a familar party game. Put your five favorite people, living or dead, on your Dinner List. This book speculates on what would happen if the dinner actually occurred. Sabrina arrives at her thirtieth birthday dinner at a trendy restaurant. Seated at the table are the five guests she named.Continue Reading
The rich and obnoxious American is alive and well in Lake Success. Barry is an uber rich hedge fund manager. He has a just diagnosed autistic 3-year old son. He has split from his wife, Seema, a first-generation Indian immigrant. And he wants to recapture his youth by taking aContinue Reading
A literary take on a post-apocalyptic novel sure to be nominated for a literary award or two. Severance is the story of Candace, a Chinese immigrant and millennial, who is trying to just live her dull life when a real apocalypse hits. At first, Candace is in denial and continuesContinue Reading
I adore epistolary novels. I feel like I am the “fly on the wall” in the writers’ life. Meet Me at the Museum is one of the best of that style of novel that I have read. Tina has recently lost her best friend. She is past 60 and thinkingContinue Reading
Claire desperately wants to find her missing father to discover his reasons for living A Double Life. Claire was only eight when her father bludgened her live-in babysitter Emma to death and attempted to do the same to her mother. After her mother escaped the house, her father disappeared. WhenContinue Reading
“For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” Shakespeare’s words are the best part of his plays. However, I look to Manga Classics to shorten classic literature to manageable lengths. By including the entire play using Shakespeare’s original words, this book is justContinue Reading
Girls Burn Brighter is a thick flavorful soup of a novel full of the spices of India. It is also a heart wrenching tale of two poor young Indian women’s hopes, dreams and grim realities. Young Poornima is the oldest of two sisters with a younger brother when her motherContinue Reading
“In Alaska you can make one mistake. One. The second one will kill you.” It’s 1974 and the world is imploding. Watergate. Vietnam. Black panthers. Gas shortages. Protests. Revolutionaries. Kidnappings. Serial Killers. After receiving an unexpected inheritance, thirteen year old Leni and her parents, Cora and Ernt, move toContinue Reading
Have you ever thought, “Every plot has already been used so what’s the point in reading (or writing) another”? If so, Smoke City is going to surprise you. No book or movie is anywhere near its plot for imagination and creativity. Smoke City is a captivating genre-smashing novel. Here areContinue Reading
A Hundred Small Lessons is a haunting discourse about life wrapped around two families’ stories within a single house. Elsie and Clem buy a newly built house soon after World War II is over. They have eight-year-old twins and Elsie finds the reason for her existence in motherhood. Sixty-one yearsContinue Reading
Stream-of-Consciousness Literary Short Novella (or long short story) When telling an anecdote at a cocktail party, it is natural to embellish it to increase the entertainment value. The narrator of this short story is trying to determine why he is not entertaining and further, why he is not believed. HeContinue Reading
Literary Horror (but not simultaneously) This book was promoted as literary horror. I loved the literary first half of this book but was disappointed with the horror aspect of the remaining portion. It’s hard to say why without being a spoiler so I won’t. However, if I had known whatContinue Reading