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Reviews by Becky H

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The Widows of Malabar Hill: A Mystery of 1920s Bombay
by Sujata Massey

Murder and India (3/14/2018)

If you like historical fiction, especially India in early 20th century, and learning about different cultures and ways of life, you will like this book. While it is a murder mystery, it is also an exploration of the various cultures active in India from 1915 to 1922. The …more

Small Great Things
by Jodi Picoult

Thought provoking (3/13/2018)

I haven’t read any Piccoult for a while (a little tired of the “disease of the month” rut she seemed to be in), so I had avoided this book also. But I kept hearing really good things about it. People who didn’t read Piccoult LOVED it. So, I gave it a shot.
All those good …more

French Exit
by Patrick deWitt

Don't waste your time (2/6/2018)

I just couldn't get interested in this book or the characters in it; Frances, a middle aged widow, and her son, Malcolm. While clearly drawn, neither was likeable or very interesting. Their situation (about to become bankrupt) and their reactions were also not interesting. …more

Come Sundown
by Nora Roberts

COME SUNDOWN by Nora Roberts (1/23/2018)

The only other Nora Roberts (J D Robb) book I have read is her dystopian YEAR ONE. This is a stand-alone thriller.
The Bodine Ranch and Resort are both run by a close knit family. Bodine Longbow, the eldest daughter is the focus of the book and the COO of the family …more

The Immortalists: A Novel
by Chloe Benjamin

If you knew when you would die????? (1/12/2018)

THE IMMORTALISTS follows four children throughout their lives. The children visit a woman who tells them their death date. That knowledge compels each of the young people to follow a different pathway through life. A gay boy who is uncertain of his sexuality and self-worth, …more

The Stars Are Fire
by Anita Shreve

Disappointing (12/14/2017)

I picked up this book because I thought it was historical fiction about the devastating fire in the Northeast during October of 1947. It is, but first you have to get through the bad sex (there is more bad sex later in the book, too). The fire is only peripheral to the book. …more

Eternal Life
by Dara Horn

Eternal Life -- Not all it is cracked up to be (11/7/2017)

So – was this a good book? It asks so many questions and doesn’t give many answers. The clear take away is: Be careful what you ask for – you might get it!
What would it be like to never die? To always return as an eighteen year old when one “life” is ended? What if this …more

Cutting For Stone
by Abraham Verghese

interesting on many levels (10/2/2017)

Although long (perhaps a bit too long), this tale of brothers holds your attention. When an Italian nun, woefully unprepared for a mission in Africa, turns up at a medical mission in Ethiopia, she is welcomed because of her skill with patients and her ability to serve as …more

LaRose
by Louise Erdrich

disappointing (10/2/2017)

I really wanted to like this book but I just couldn’t sustain an interest in these characters or their story. Perhaps it was the jumps from past to present or present to indigenous tale or family to family, I just didn’t care.
The whole premise of giving away a child (and …more

Y is for Yesterday: A Kinsey Millhone Novel
by Sue Grafton

5 stars for longevity and deft plotting (8/31/2017)

Grafton reaches back into Kinsey’s past for this thriller so you know she will survive. Two concurrent plots make up the story line. Ned, a serial killer who wants Kinsey dead, is one, the other is the 10 year old death of a popular teen whose murder was solved – or was it? …more

The Hidden Light of Northern Fires
by Daren Wang

lots of potential (8/19/2017)

There are at least four stories in this one novel. Mary and Joe are the two characters that are the most clearly and realistically drawn. You may need a “cast of characters” to keep all the individuals, families and alliances straight. Several plots seem a bit far-fetched. …more

Magpie Murders
by Anthony Horowitz

Bring back Atticus! (8/5/2017)

This book within a book was frustrating at times. It was difficult to know who was the narrator and which “book” you were in. There is a difference of font, but it is a slight variation and easily missed. Susan is a bit too “talky.” I wanted her to just get on with it …more

The King of Lies
by John Hart

King of Lies is excellent reading (8/2/2017)

A master of tightly plotted and well-crafted mysteries has written another winner. John Hart gives us a lawyer accused of his father’s murder, the DA that USED to be his friend, the wife he has never loved, the woman he does love, the cop who would love to see him hang, and, …more

Redemption Road
by John Hart

WOW (7/30/2017)

WOW. John Hart really knows how to write an engrossing, heart pounding, well plotted mystery…… and he can do it with a minimum of sex, blood and vulgar language. A disgraced cop, a damaged cop, a terrified girl and a bereft child all come together in this tale of violence …more

Cruel Beautiful World
by Caroline Leavitt

Unforgettable (7/18/2017)

Lucy, 16 and naive, runs away with her High School teacher. Their life together in an isolated, and isolating, rural area is not what Lucy expected.
Lucy is portrayed sympathetically. The reader gets to know her intimately through her thoughts and actions. William, the …more

When the English Fall
by David Williams

A good dystopian book with heart (7/18/2017)

This not your usual “end of the world” book. It is a LOT better! An Amish community is well prepared when a solar storm knocks out all machinery worldwide. But the English (anyone not Amish) begin to run out of food and their money becomes worthless, civil society breaks …more

The Last Child
by John Hart

Compelling tale of murder and loss (7/18/2017)

A compelling read of loss, anger, fear, and murder. Johnny is just a child, but he is a child searching for his kidnapped twin sister and aided by a detective possessed of the same relentless need to find Alyssa. Then another young girl goes missing.
The characters are …more

The Scribe of Siena
by Melodie Winawer

The Scribe of Siena (5/13/2017)

A 20th century neurosurgeon is transported to Siena, Italy, in 1346 AD where she becomes a scribe and falls in love. That is the short story of this vastly absorbing and intriguing novel.

The characters are fully developed, especially Beatrice, Gabriele, Clara and Accorsi. …more

Birds of a Feather: A Maisie Dobbs Mystery
by Jacqueline Winspear

Birds of a Feather (5/6/2017)

A tight plot and likeable characters people this mystery set in post World War I England. Masie is a detective and a psychologist and uses both to solve interesting and informative crimes. This one is no different. Hired to find a runaway daughter, Masie stumbles on a …more

The Dry: Aaron Falk Mystery #1
by Jane Harper

A good mystery (4/6/2017)

A tightly woven mystery that jumps back and forth from the present to the past to solve a long ago drowning and now a family murdered. Who lied and why?
Agent Aaron Falk is one of those accused of lying – then and now? Did he? Why did he come back and why does he stay where …more

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