4.5 stars, rounded up

This well crafted, wonderfully researched historical mystery takes the reader to 1914 Fiji. Akal Singh is a young police sergeant who has been banished from Hong Kong to Fiji. He has yet to be received into the good graces of his boss. But a delegation from India (which includes only one actual Indian, the rest are English) is coming to town to investigate how Indian indentured workers on Fiji’s sugar plantations are treated just as a female worker goes missing. A minister insists the woman has been kidnapped and gets the newspaper involved. As the “highest ranking Indian” policeman, Akal is given the assignment to investigate. But he’s also told to make it all go away.

The story moves at a steady pace. The writing is descriptive and it was easy to envision each scene. Clues are scattered like breadcrumbs at regular intervals. Akal is a great main character and I found his back story compelling. He internally rails at the English that lump him with the “coolies”. He’s not always a sympathetic character, which adds to the depth of the story.

Rao does a wonderful job of showing the brutality of the workers' existence and the racism of the English ruling class. Even those that are more enlightened, still have elements of racism. Akal sadly realizes that his boss values politics over justice. I also got a kick that everyone under-estimated anyone who wasn’t a white man.
By dint of a comment in the Author’s Note, I’m this is meant to be the start of a series. And a big thank you to Recorded Books for making sure the Author’s Note was included in the audiobook. It was fascinating to learn Rao’s great-grandparents were part of the indentured workers program and what an impact it had not just on Fiji, but other areas of the British Empire.

I was less than enthralled with Sid Sagar as a narrator. He did a great job with Akal and the English, but a few of the Fijian voices sounded more Scottish than anything.

2025
“At dinner one day, I snapped and asked what the hell the point of life was if I was too old for a dog.” Truly. I hate to think of the day I’m no longer capable of having a dog.
Bo is 89, is still living at home but with the help of caregivers. His wife has Alzheimer’s and has already been moved out of the house. Now his son wants to rehome his dog. Bo’s thoughts, which are basically a monologue to his wife, are a look back at his life - his domineering father, his loving marriage, his best friend and his fraught relationship with his son. These thoughts are interspersed with the log from his caregivers which provide a realistic look at his current life. Ridzen has done a wonderful job of fleshing out Bo, including his own beginning stages of dementia and his failing physical body. He realizes time is running out and there are things he wants to say.

This story just grabbed my heartstrings. It hit home, as I’m dealing with an elderly mother. I can see her world shrinking. And it’s definitely a balancing act between trying to allow her to make her own decisions and keeping her safe. I’ve even had the same discussion over the hospital bed but haven’t gone so far as to make the swap. I appreciated that other than the log, the story is solely from Bo’s point of view. It was easy to understand Hans’s motives, but Ridzen keeps us tightly focused on Bo and his desires. It’s not an easy book to read and it becomes more emotional as it goes on. Keep the Kleenex handy for the ending.

My thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for an advance copy of this book.

It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by Denise Mina, but I’ve liked the ones I’ve read. I’m adding this one to the list. The plot was solid, the characters fully fleshed out. Dr. Claudia O’Sheil is about to blow the lid open on how her forensic evidence falsely accused a man and led to his conviction in a double murder one year earlier. Claudia was behind a blood spatter analysis program that became the industry standard and was a key component in the case. Now what she has to say will destroy not just her life but that of several others.

The story veers back and forth between the present day and the time of the murder investigation. It moves at a nice steady pace and there’s a constant underlying sense of tension. Mina’s writing is descriptive without being overly wordy - that ability to nail a character or a scene in just a sentence or two. The book delves into class, corruption and power. Claudia is a great main character. She’s dealing with her husband’s untimely death and some serious family issues. And she’s finally trying to grow the spine she lacked the year before. She let herself get sucked in by her ego, her desire to maintain her reputation and a lifestyle she’d never had before. It’s unclear until the bitter end whether she’ll have the strength to do the right thing.

This will not appeal to those that want their mysteries to be all about action. My one complaint was that Mina wasn’t consistent about using first vs. third person narration.
My thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown & Co for an advance copy of this book.

It’s been a while since I’ve read anything by Denise Mina, but I’ve liked the ones I’ve read. I’m adding this one to the list. The plot was solid, the characters fully fleshed out. Dr. Claudia O’Sheil is about to blow the lid open on how her forensic evidence falsely accused a man and led to his conviction in a double murder one year earlier. Claudia was behind a blood spatter analysis program that became the industry standard and was a key component in the case. Now what she has to say will destroy not just her life but that of several others.

The story veers back and forth between the present day and the time of the murder investigation. It moves at a nice steady pace and there’s a constant underlying sense of tension. Mina’s writing is descriptive without being overly wordy - that ability to nail a character or a scene in just a sentence or two. The book delves into class, corruption and power. Claudia is a great main character. She’s dealing with her husband’s untimely death and some serious family issues. And she’s finally trying to grow the spine she lacked the year before. She let herself get sucked in by her ego, her desire to maintain her reputation and a lifestyle she’d never had before. It’s unclear until the bitter end whether she’ll have the strength to do the right thing.

This will not appeal to those that want their mysteries to be all about action. My one complaint was that Mina wasn’t consistent about using first vs. third person narration.
My thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown & Co for an advance copy of this book.

Daikon combines the best of alternative historical fiction and a thriller. The premise is that in WWII, the Americans had not two but three atomic bombs ready to drop on Japan. But the first plane is shot out of the sky and the bomb doesn’t detonate and is recovered by the Japanese. A Japanese physicist, involved in their own efforts to design an atomic bomb, is brought in to try and determine how to use it against the US.
Hawley does a great job of setting the scene in time and place. The description of Hiroshima after it was bombed caused my stomach to roil. Hawley also doesn’t sugarcoat the effects of being near enriched uranium.

The characters are well fleshed out. Keizo Kan, the scientist, really wrestles with what he’s being asked to do, especially after seeing Hiroshima. What had been a hypothetical theory now has real world consequences. But the Thought Police are holding his American Wife and he is torn between wanting to rescue her and the death of hundreds of thousands more. And Colonel Sagara, overseeing the “program”, embodies the no surrender attitude.

Hawley has done his research and he imparts it to the reader without slowing down the story. I finally understand the mechanics of the atomic bomb. Be sure to read the Author’s Note which gives more background on what was happening in Japan during the last months of the war.

My thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book.

4.5 stars, rounded up

The White Crow is an engrossing, fast paced second book in the Philomena “Phil” McCarthy series. Phil is a police constable, but she’s also the daughter of a well known criminal boss. Talk about walking a fine line! One night on patrol, she sees a child out in the middle of the night. Taking the little girl home, she finds the child’s mother dead, the victim of a home invasion gone wrong. Meanwhile, a jeweler is found at his burgled store with a bomb strapped to him.

The book flips between multiple POVs, including those of her father and uncles and the actual detective on the case. I appreciate that all the characters were well developed, to the point I wanted to see her father come out on top. Flip side, there was one senior police officer I wanted to see get his comeuppance.

Robotham writes easy to envision scenes. I kept finding excuses to read, including in the middle of the night. Trust me, this one does not help cure insomnia! I was willing to just keep reading. I hope that Robotham writes a third in the series.
The book would easily work as a stand-alone, but trust me, you’re going to want to read both books.

My thanks to Netgalley and Scribner for an advance copy of this book.

I will admit to grabbing an advance copy of The Uproar because of that wonderful cover and understanding it was about trying to temporarily rehome a dog. Not just any dog, Judy is a 150# Bull Mastiff with numerous health concerns. Sharif and his wife Adjoua are expecting their first child who has been diagnosed with leukemia in utero. The dog can’t be in their cramped apartment while the baby is treated. Needless to say, no one agrees to take the dog. Dog parents can absolutely understand the dilemma Sharif is faced with. And he ends up making a bad decision about who to trust.
The stress that Sharif is under is palpable. On top of the cascading problems resulting from that one poor decision, his marriage begins to show stress fractures. But he’s also totally obtuse.

Dimechkie’s writing was masterful. It was easy to envision each scene and feel each character’s emotions. My thoughts were ricocheting all over the place in how I felt about all the characters - sympathy, frustration and at times, despair.
The story would be a great book club selection. There are multiple meaty themes - sacrifice, what makes someone a good person, advantage, marriage, emotional affairs, cyber bullying. I highly recommend at least reading this with a buddy because you are going to want to discuss it!

The ending totally caught me by surprise. In fact, I’m still a bit in shock at how it played out.

Warning - there was one scene that had me squirming on behalf of poor Judy.
My thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown for an advance copy of this book.

S. A. Cosby has done it again. I would award this more than five stars if I could. He excels at writing dark southern thrillers that pit regular folks against the forces of evil. In King of Ashes, Roman returns home to Jefferson Run, VA after his father is in a serious car accident that leaves him in a coma. Turns out, it wasn’t an accident, it was a message being sent to his younger brother to pay up on a large debt. In an effort to save his family, Roman, a financial advisor, makes a deal with the devil.

This is not a book for the faint of heart. There is a lot of violence in this book, a ton of graphic descriptions. But Cosby doesn’t rely on just fast pacing and dark plot lines; he excels at character development. Cosby focuses on the strength of family ties, of going all out to help siblings. As an only child, I found Roman’s willingness to help his screwup of a brother, Dante, amazing. I was totally engrossed to see how far Roman would be willing to go to save his family from the mess that Dante had landed them in.

As the story goes on, Roman steps further into the dark side and it was fascinating to watch him go down that slippery slope. Dante was also a fully fleshed out character. It would have been easy to make him into a caricature. But Cosby made him feel real. So real, I spent most of the book wanting to strangle him. The story encompasses so many deep themes - duty, loyalty, revenge, secrets, true evil. There is a Greek tragedy feel to it. By the end, I was gasping, it was so heartbreaking.

I listened to this and it was a fabulous audio experience. Adam Lazard-White was just the perfect narrator.

Broken Country grabbed me from the first pages and never let me go. It was so intense; such an emotional land mine of a book. It starts when a dog attacks a herd of sheep and is shot dead by one of two farming brothers. Turns out Gabriel, the dog’s owner, has just returned to his family’s estate with his eight year old son. But as a teenager, he had had a passionate love with Beth, before dumping her for someone more of his social caliber. Now Beth is the wife of the other brother. Before long, a love triangle has started and a murder follows. What is unclear is who the killer is and who was the victim.

Told across multiple time periods, from the 1950s to 1975, it follows Beth’s life from when she meets Gabriel through the “present”. The book gives an excellent sense of time and place throughout. Told solely from Beth’s POV, Hall takes a risk when making her main character an adulterer. I couldn’t relate to her decisions, but I was engaged by them and everything felt very real.

I usually am not a fan of anything that smacks of romance. But this is much more a family drama and a murder mystery. And the characters are all so well developed, it was easy to become invested in their fates. The ending wasn’t a surprise. It played out exactly as I expected. But this wasn’t a book where I needed a big twist to feel fulfilled.
This would make an excellent book club selection. There’s so much meat her to discuss.
My thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book

With Wild Dark Shore, Charlotte McConaghy has once again crafted a haunting mystery based on climate change.

A family of four are the final inhabitants on an island in the Southern Ocean, near to Antarctica. Even they are due to leave, once they finish packing up the seed vault kept there. One day, a woman washes up on shore. Facts about both the woman and the family are parceled out like breadcrumbs. Told from the viewpoints of all five individuals, I loved that I had no idea whom to believe or trust. Everyone is hiding something and all are damaged. They have each lost someone and grief is a major component of their lives. I came to care for each and every one of them, especially the three children who have spent 8 years in this remote location.

McConaghy has excelled in putting the reader right on this cold, isolated island, full of penguins and seals, with the ocean full of whales. There is a constant sense of tension throughout. The ending was gripping and totally caught me off guard. I listened to this and the cast of narrators did a wonderful job.

My thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy of this audiobook.

I love mysteries that have older main characters. And I adore snarky humor. Put the two together with a smart, well thought out plot and you have a five star book. Lottie got away with murder, well multiple murders, when she was younger. At age 75 she was in blissful “retirement”. Until a woman showed up uninvited at her door one night wanting to film a docuseries about her. She did not change her name and move just to have her history brought back up into the open. So… Downing does a great job of differentiating between murder then and now. Smart phones, for one. And hauling and cutting bodies at 75 is different from your 30s and 40s.

I am not a big fan of psychological thrillers, especially those about serial killers. And it takes a special kind of talent to create a basically evil character that I’m still rooting for. But Downing has done it. I wasn’t sure how I wanted this to end. Did I want her to pull it off? Did I feel she needed to be punished? I thought the ending was perfect. This was fun entertainment in a dark, twisted way. And you’ll learn plenty about the best way to clean up a murder scene.

My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

The River is Waiting is a heartbreakingly beautiful book. It didn’t take long before my heart was in my throat. And for way too many scenes, it stayed in my throat. It’s not an easy book to read; it’s raw, bleak and dark and doesn’t provide any easy answers.

Corby Ledbetter is struggling with the loss of his job and being a stay at home parent to twin two year olds. I have to give Lamb credit. I found Corby initially difficult to like yet I was drawn into his plight. And as the story went on, I was totally engrossed in his trials.

The book focuses on a lot of big emotional issues - grief, addiction, forgiveness and moving on with life. It also makes you think about the prison system, casual cruelty, and justice. The character development is strong. I felt like Corby was a real person. Even the secondary characters, like Emily and Manny, were fully fleshed out. Lamb spent twenty years leading a creative writing workshop at a women's correctional institution so he has a real sense for prison life.

This would make a fabulous book club selection as it really makes you both feel and think. My thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster for an advance copy of this book.

The Original Daughter is a debut novel concerning the creation and dissolution of a family in Singapore. Up until she was eight, Genevieve was an only child. But then, seven year old Arin arrives, a half-cousin to Gen, given up by her family in Malaysia. Slowly, Genevieve and Arin become tightly bound. But then, as young women, that bond breaks and they become estranged.

The story is beautifully written. While told solely from Genevieve’s PoV, both characters felt fully formed. Gen wasn’t an easy character to like. If she’d been real, I would have wanted to shake some sense into her. Yet, I felt her pain - the losses she suffered, the jealousy and finally the hurt from the betrayal. Even when I disliked what she did, I could understand why she did it.

The story speaks of familial duty, resentment, abandonment, lost dreams, independence and ambition. It was a book that really made me think. At the end, I felt bereft from the pain of someone holding on to bad choices for too long. It would make an excellent book club selection.

Wei also did a strong job of taking the reader to both Singapore and Christchurch.
My thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday Books for an advance copy of this book.

Lately, it seems it’s the rare book that grabs me from the get go. But One Death at a Time managed to do just that. It was a great combo of unique characters, spot on phrasing and a wild plot. Mason was my kind of main character - lacking impulse control and tact even now that she’s three years sober. She signs up as a temporary sponsor to Julia, a newly sober older woman, a former actress, and quickly ends up working as her assistant and helping the woman try to prove her innocence in a murder investigation. And Julia was an equally compelling character, totally comfortable with her decisions. Even the secondary characters were fleshed out.

Waxman’s writing and humor had me laughing out loud on a regular basis. But it’s her ability to perfectly turn a phrase that continues to strike me in all her books. Waxman gets the details right - the things that make staying sober difficult (blood sugar), how the film industry works. The only thing that felt a little off was Julia’s lack of any withdrawal symptoms.

Despite the light hearted nature of the story, Waxman kept the suspense level high, especially as someone seems bent on keeping them from finding out the truth.
Pick this up when you need some light entertainment but want snarky more than sap.
My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for an advance copy of this book.

I am not a fan of romance novels and with a title like Serial Killer Games, I hadn’t paid attention to the main genre for this book. Luckily, I am a big fan of snarky humor and Serial Killer Games has it in spades. It’s dark and twisted. But it is also heartwarming. I adored it.

Jake Ripper is a temp at a corporate office when he encounters Dolores Dela Cruz. They are drawn to each other, each seeking out the truth about the other and using what they learn to attempt to up the level of the cat and mouse games they’re playing. But the attraction outweighs their normal instincts. The book alternates between their two POVs. Smartly, Posey doesn’t make them into caricatures. She has imbibed them with real issues, feelings and concerns. But as much as I loved them, it was Cat that stole the show.

Every time I thought I knew where the plot was going, I was surprised. Not surprised. Shocked. This one really threw me for a loop. Time after time. I lost count of the number of twists. There are some hysterical scenes. Laugh out loud funny. I almost lost it during the scene with HR. This is perfect when you need something light but can’t handle saccharine.

This doesn’t read like a debut. I can’t wait to see what Posey does next. My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley for an advance copy of this book.

It’s become the hot thing to do, re-imagining classic novels. Allison Epstein has created a backstory for Jacob Fagin, the man who runs the pack of boys in Oliver Twist. Epstein has done a great job of world building. I felt I was in the seedy side of early 19th Century London with its lack of sanitation, medicine or options for the poor. It was a brutal existence and Epstein doesn’t sugarcoat it.

Starting when he was just a boy, the book tells of how Jacob was taken under the wing of a skilled pickpocket and how he in turn takes on Bill Sikes. And how, over time, he becomes the caregiver for a small group of young boys. It’s the little things that made the difference with this book. I liked that Epstein always refers to him as Jacob, not Fagin.

The book is told from an omniscient POV, although mostly Jacob’s. Despite how onerous Dickens painted Fagin, here you can sympathize with him. He’s a man just doing what he needs to survive and in the process, helping others. In fact, the book turns on its head almost every character from Oliver Twist. Even Bullseye is made into a sympathetic character, while Oliver is not an innocent.

Only Bill Sikes remains truly evil, but we are given the ability to feel small bits of empathy even for him. In the Author’s Note, Epstein refers to the Fagin problem, as Dickens’ Fagin is a caricature of the evil Jew. I applaud her for making him human, for extending the same sympathy to him that Dickens did to the young urchins of the street.

This is the first book I’ve read by Epstein, but I hope to rectify that.
I listened to this and Will Watt was a fabulous narrator, taking my enjoyment of this story up a notch.

With Babylonia, Costanza Casati has once again conjured to life an ancient queen and the empire she ruled, Assyria. She’s taken the bare bones of history and myth and fleshed them out. Semiramis was an orphan living in an outpost of the kingdom, raised by a shepherd. She attracts the attention of Onnes, a general and half-brother to the king and marries him. Through sheer force of will, intelligence and bravery, she rises to the ultimate seat of power.

Casati excels at world making. I felt I got a real sense of historical Assyria in 9th Century BC. It’s a graphic story, and not just the battle scenes. The story focuses on Semiramis, Onnes and the king, Ninus. All three main characters are fascinating. Complex, by turns ruthless and caring. Their relationships to each other kept shape shifting, which kept me engrossed. Even the secondary characters were well defined and I liked how Casati mixes historical figures with fictional ones.

I listened to this and Ayesha Antoine’s voice had the perfect tone, almost majestic in her telling. My thanks to Netgalley and RBMedia for an advance copy of this audiobook.

The Lion Women of Tehran was an engaging historical fiction, set in Iran. The story starts in the 1950s, when Ellie’s father dies and she and her mother are forced to relocate from the wealthy suburbs to a much lower class neighborhood. There, she meets Homa and they become best friends. But Ellie’s situation soon improves and she moves away, losing touch with Homa. They reconnect as seniors in high school. The story continues as they move forward into their young adulthood.

The story does a good job of providing a sense of Iran under the Shah. It highlights the difference in the classes and the roles of women during the changing times. There was a big emphasis on the food which did help give a feel for their everyday life. Kamali does an equally good job of showing how things changed under the religious regime and the war with Iraq.

I didn’t initially take to Ellie. She berates her mother for being too status conscious, but yet she was just as much. And her lack of thought at a crucial time weighed on me. (I struggled with the blurb calling this an act of betrayal.) But she grew on me and was the perfect foil for Homa.

The book starts slow and it did take a while before I was truly invested in the story. But I loved what it had to say about being willing to fight for human rights, and how it’s the rare person who is willing to be a true activist. The character of Homa is very loosely based on a friend from Kamali’s youth, who still lives in Iran and works for a human rights organization. The book also has a lot to say about friendship and how our early friendships truly shape us.

I listened to this and was less than impressed by Mozhan Novabi. Her voice often seemed flat. I was happier with Nikki Massoud.

I have a hit or miss relationship with Alice Feeney. I’ve loved some, I’ve hated some. This one was getting so much buzz, I decided to give it a try.
Feeney is a master of creating tension and suspense.

Grady Green’s wife went missing a year ago. Ever since, he’s been unable to write, so his agent sends him to a cabin she’s just inherited on a small Scottish island. The island has just twenty five permanent residents. Yet, he keeps thinking he’s seeing his wife on the island. The reader is left to guess if Grady is losing his mind. Because let’s face it, grief, alcohol and lack of sleep will do that to you.

Feeney has created a great locale for this story. The title is truly apt. The place is gorgeous, but it’s also really eerie. The island lacks all communication with the mainland. And the residents all seem to be hiding something.

The story vaults between Grady’s POV and flashbacks to his wife, Abby’s. I was left not knowing whom to believe.

The strength of this book is Feeney’s ability to keep the reader off balance for the entire story. Grady is a great unreliable narrator. But then, as much as I was enjoying the story, it went off the rails at the end. It was OTT to the point of silliness. By the end, the only character I cared about was Columbo.

I listened to this and both Richard Armitage and Tuppence Middleton did great jobs.
My thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for an advance copy of this audiobook.

I was really excited to read King of the Armadillos. I loved the premise of Victor, a Chinese teen sent to a leprosarium in Louisiana in the 1950s. The book was well researched and I felt I got a real feel for Carville National Leprosarium. But, it was a very low, slow burn of a story. It took me a while to become invested in the characters. The drama focuses on the consequences of multiple bad decisions by all the characters.
Victor’s father came to the US before WWII, served in the army and later brought his two sons over. Their mother stayed behind to care for her mother-in-law. His father has a long standing relationship with Ruth, a Jewish woman who becomes a surrogate mother for Victor. When Victor is sent for treatment, the decision is made not to tell his mother. While there, Victor becomes friends with several other teenagers and develops his first infatuation.
The story is told from multiple POVs, including Victor, his brother and Ruth.
Chin-Tanner does a good job of giving the reader an excellent feel for the leprosarium and what was considered cutting edge treatment for the day. As a closed society, the racism and social stratas of the outside world aren’t in play.
The story goes back and forth between Victor in Carville and his family in NYC. I was very drawn into Ruth’s story and the situation she found herself in. One of the book’s strengths is its look at the Chinese experience in America. I did feel like the story ended abruptly and I would have liked an epilogue to tell us how Victor’s life ultimately turned out.
The story is loosely based on the author’s father, who spent 7 years of his early life at Carville. There’s a fascinating interview between the author and her father at the end of the audiobook.
The book was narrated by Feodor Chin and he did an adequate job.