Judgment Calls

Judgment Calls, by Alafair Burke

Confession: I acquired this book somewhere solely because it was based in Portland. I love to read books set in my hometown.

It was a solid mystery/thriller, by the daughter of famous writer James Lee Burke. Deputy DA Samantha Kincaid is a solid character. Sometimes the book veered a little too far into legal wonkiness, which led me to think "I COULD NEVER BE A LAWYER"! Far too many obscure legal procedures and technicalities.

I might read more of her to see where she goes as a writer...and where Samantha Kincaid goes as a character.

In a Dark, Dark Wood

In a Dark, Dark Wood, by Ruth Ware

Score one point for Ruth Ware for prompting me to think about this book in the middle of the night. In a Dark, Dark Wood is about Nora (formerly Lee), an antisocial, reserved writer in England, who is invited to a hen night (the UK version of a bachelorette party). The strange thing is she hasn't seen the bride for 10 years, since she was a teenager.

Bride Clare brings her "friends" from far and wide to a hidden-away, isolated glass house in the country where they drink heavily and have many an awkward conversation, especially since Nora and Claire fell out of friendship when they were teens.

And then someone is murdered, and Nora doesn't know whether she is the killer.

It's sinister, but not too grisly, and it's hard to care much about what happens to most of the characters. The characters, with the exception of Nina, were spoiled yuppies who thought the world revolved around them.

This was not bad for an airplane or beach read...but Nora annoyed the hell out of me. I don't have much sympathy for someone who cannot move on after a lost teenage love affair. Nora needed to get a life.

In the Blood

In the Blood, by Lisa Unger

This was my summer light read; I took it with me to Florida in August.

It was a psychological thriller about a troubled, hard-to-believe protagonist and psychopaths in her life. Perhaps too many coincidences and unlikely events, but if you can suspend belief, it's worth a read.

I would read more from this author.

Gone Girl

Gone Girl, by Gillian Flynn
This thriller novel was nothing like I expected it to be. I thought it would be more of a kidnapping type of scenario, I suppose. Right from the beginning, it's clear that's not what this is.

Usually I am not crazy about books that have no likable characters, but this one was different. These characters are extremely unlikable, but they are interesting. Amy is married to Nick, and the book starts out with Amy going missing. The book alternates between each spouse's viewpoint, and our narrators are not reliable. They're both also spoiled brats in their own ways.

It's beautifully crafted, and I couldn't put it down. But I also understand the perspective of people who didn't like this book.

It doesn't exactly give you hope in the future of humanity, and it makes me wonder how on earth people could want to stay married to each other when they clearly despise each other so much.

Code Name Verity

Code Name Verity, by Elizabeth Wein

I LOVED this book...in fact, it's my favorite so far in 2014. I would not have been drawn to the title, but it was my book group selection for the month.

The story is about "Verity," a female British spy, is captured in Nazi-occupied France, and her best friend Maddie, the pilot who flew her into France. The Nazis torture and interrogate Verity (or "Queenie"), and she writes about her friendship with Maddie and their training before and during the war. Slowly, the reader learns the pieces of her story...at least, what she is telling the Nazis.

I don't want to say much more about the book for fear of giving any details away. It did take me a bit of time to get into (I'm not terribly interested in flying airplanes--so the beginning bored me a bit at times), but it is SO WORTH PERSEVERING.

I finished it in the middle of the night before book group...and I found myself crying in the living room at 5:00 a.m. The book is not only beautifully written, but it's cleverly crafted. It's one of the few books I've read that makes me want to go right back and reread it now that I know the ending...it will stick with me for a long time.

I think next time I will listen to it so I can hear the English and Scottish accents. It's one of the few books I've read that has the word "gormless" in it (one of my English husband's favorite words, which I'd never heard before I met him).

Some have called it as a "love letter to female friendship," which is an excellent way to describe it. I do think it's one of the most beautiful homages to friendship I've ever read. This is one of my favorite lines from the book:

"It's like being in love, discovering your best friend."

Read it!

In the Woods

In the Woods, by Tana French

I've seen this book around for awhile, and I had a copy of it on my bookshelves that I finally decided to read. It's the story of Rob Ryan, victim of a crime 20 years before and now a murder detective himself. He's on a case in which a young girl is murdered in the same area where his two best friends vanished when he was a child.

My favorite character is Ryan's partner, Cassie Maddow, a tough, tender detective with secrets of her own.

I would describe this book as a literary thriller/detective novel. It took me a bit of time to finish it, but I enjoyed it. After I closed the last page, I looked up the rest of the series. French chooses a different main character to profile in each book, all based in Ireland (the "Dublin Murder Squad"). The next book will focus mostly on Cassie herself. I'm not sure whether Rob ever returns to the plot...but I will be reading more of the series!

Audition

Audition, by Ryu Murakami

Meh. That's my review.

My husband asked me how I had heard about this book, and I can't remember. I had it out of the library for awhile before I finally picked it up.

Audition is the story of a documentary film maker, Aoyama, who was widowed seven years before. His teenage son Shige suggests that he think about remarrying, so he decides to do just that.

He hatches a plan with his friend, Yoshikawa, to hold auditions for a movie so that he can screen dozens of women in the hopes of finding someone suitable for a wife. Through these fake film auditions, he meets Yamasaki Asami, and he becomes completely obsessed with lust. All he knows about her is that she had a difficult childhood. Of course, being Japan, the search for a wife means that he must find a docile, beautiful, elegant, obedient, and submissive woman. On the surface, Yamasaki Asami appears to fit the bill, but of course she turns out to be a sadistic murderer. This book was made into a cult film in Japan, which apparently was highly regarded as a great, creepy horror film (gets four stars on Amazon).

I was not impressed, for several reasons:

• Shige seemed to be way too mature for a 16-year-old, in fact more mature than his father!
• The first 3/4 of the book moves along very slowly, with seemingly unimportant details. In fact, it was boring. All of the action happens in the last two chapters, and of course you know what's going to happen. No suspense whatsoever.
• The two male characters are completely shallow and misogynistic, which might have been part of Murakami's point...or they were just written as typical Japanese men with no irony whatsoever.
• Yamasaki Asami compares having to give up ballet (because of an injury) to experiencing a death, and Aoyama finds this touching. I can't imagine that someone who has experienced the death of a loved one would find this comparison to be touching. On the contrary, it's heartless and clueless, like comparing the death of an animal to a death of a human child--to the grieving parent's face.
• None of the characters were sympathetic. I didn't care what happened to any of them.
• Aoyama was naive and disregarded all weird signs that something wasn't right. He was single-minded in his pursuit and no one could convince him to be suspicious. It just didn't seem realistic.

Ryu Murakami is called "Japan's master of the psycho-thriller," but I don't buy that. I've been disappointed in the Japanese fiction I've read recently, but even Out by Natsuo Kirino or Naoko by Keigo Higashino were stronger books than this one. Perhaps I'd prefer Murakami's other books, but I'm not rushing out to try them!

Shutter Island

Shutter Island, by Dennis Lehane

This is the type of book that totally screws with your mind. If you don't like such books, steer clear.

I didn't know much about it when I started it (except that it was a movie and by the author of Mystic River), so I was not aware that this would be the case.

I like Lehane's writing style and the book drew me in immediately.

When I finished the book, I wasn't absolutely positive what was true in the end. I suppose that's because I don't usually read these noir types of books and am not the sort of reader who tries to figure things out and look for clues along the way.

I'm intrigued enough by Lehane's writing and creativity to try another one of his. If you like psychological thrillers, you will probably like this one. Creepy and haunting!

Odd Thomas: Better than I thought...

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

I read this book in preparation for reading the graphic novel, In Odd We Trust, which is the January selection for my book group. I've never read anything by Dean Koontz, and I tend to stay away from these types of books in general. That's one of the advantages of a book group: it gets people to step out of their comfort zones.

I liked this book more than I thought I would--it's actually well written. It's the story of an odd character, Odd Thomas, who lives in a small town in the Mojave Desert. He had a horrific childhood, but somehow survived intact--with a deep sense of intelligence, insight, and compassion rarely found in 20-year-olds. (In fact, this is one of my first criticisms of the book: Odd Thomas did not think or talk like a 20-year-old who has never left town. He talked and thought like a 55-year-old.)

Odd has a special gift: he sees the dead. Through the presence of these dead people (and also darker, more sinister spirits kind of like dementors), Odd helps solve (or prevent) horrific crimes. On the way, he encounters coyotes, tarantulas, body parts, and deadly killers.

This book has a number of grisly and violent scenes and is described in some circles as "horror." It's not particularly more violent than Patricia Cornwell, books, though.

Koontz creates colorful, memorable characters. I enjoyed reading about Odd's friendships with the town's most eccentric characters, in addition to his unique, intimate relationship with his girlfriend, Stormy (actually named Bronwen, a name I have liked since I had a childhood friend by that name). (Although his chaste relationship with Stormy, although wonderful, probably was another example of an unrealistic portrayal of a 20-year-old.) Even though Odd did not seem particularly realistic, he was a hugely sympathetic, likable character. It's easy to cheer for him and to want him to be happy, although I have a feeling that is unlikely to happen.

SPOILER ALERT! (Do not read below here if you do not want to have the ending ruined.)

**************************************************************************



In the beginning of the book, Odd essentially hits us over the head with the fact that he is not going to be a reliable narrator. Perhaps indicative of my optimistic nature and my tendency to want a happy ending, I kept hoping that Odd would be able to avert tragedy for himself and Stormy. (After all, he was able to avert tragedy for several others.)

I should have known better. I shouldn't have been sucked in. Because, you guessed it, Odd Thomas does not have a happy ending. I felt cheated in the end, although I can't say Koontz hadn't warned me.

Heartsick: Thriller set in Portland

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book primarily because I enjoy reading Chelsea Cain's article in the Oregonian and I noted that it takes place in my hometown, Portland. It's seriously grisly and twisted...and I found myself having a difficult time understanding the motivation of many of the main characters (including the psychopath). Many of these types of novels have too many characters and not enough character development. I used to read Patricia Cornwell's novels but ultimately gave up on them for similar reasons.

I will read Cain's next novel...after taking a long break...if only to see what happens next. However, I'm ready to go back into my usual genres of literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction!



View all my reviews

Sweetheart: Thriller set in Portland (book #2 in series)

Sweetheart by Chelsea Cain

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After reading Chelsea Cain's debut thriller novel, "Heartsick," I didn't expect to read her next book. That was before I heard her speak at the Willamette Writers' annual banquet this summer. She spoke about how she got started writing thrillers, and I found her to be a compelling, engaging, and funny speaker.

Cain has grown in her writing since "Heartsick." I found this book difficult to put down, a sign of a good thriller. I don't read very many thrillers, so I'm not an experienced critic of them.

I continue to enjoy the Portland setting of Cain's novels, although some things about them bother me...such as calling the Portland daily the "Herald" instead of the "Oregonian." (I'm sure there's a reason for this, as Cain used to write for the Oregonian.) Also, her protagonist Archie supposedly lives in Hillsboro, yet Susan and Claire race down I-205 after leaving his house? Also, many of the plot elements are highly implausible (which I suppose is normal with thrillers). I understand that Gretchen is a femme fatale who could make men do all sorts of things for her...but how could she be so well equipped with clothing, whiskey, medication, cell phone, gun, etc., after escaping from prison?

The relationship between Archie and Gretchen is sick, and I cannot understand or relate to it. Archie is completely self-destructive because of what Gretchen did--and continues to do--to him. He is completely obsessed with this toxic woman. Although this book was good, I find that the books I truly love and that really stick with me are the ones in which I can relate in some way to the characters. And I can't really relate or resonate with any of the characters in these books.

But Cain is a good storyteller, even though the story is disturbing...



View all my reviews