Author: Caz Frear

Release date: July 2, 2019

Publisher: Harper Collins

Pages: 368

Buy from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Stone-Cold-Heart-Novel-Kinsella/dp/0062849883/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=caz+frear&qid=1563226392&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Caz Frear has done it again. The author of the critically acclaimed bestseller Sweet Little Lies (2018), has created another can’t miss summer hit with Stone Cold Heart, the sophomore edition of the Cat Kinsella detective mystery series.    

After a brief stint in the mayor’s office, Detective Constable Cat Kinsella is back at the London Metropolitan Police, wisecracking with her partner Luigi Parnell and trying to avoid the wrath of the boss, Detective Investigator Kate Steele.

But for Cat and Parnell, it’s serious business when a young Australian woman turns up dead after a party thrown by her new boss. The initial investigation of Naomi Lockhart’s murder points to Joseph Madden, the owner of a coffee shop around the corner from police headquarters. Madden insists he’s innocent, that he was home with his wife Rachel at the time of the murder. When police question her, Rachel contradicts his alibi, swearing that she was home alone.

While the team builds its case against Joseph, Cat is tasked with getting to the heart of the Maddens’ marriage. Cat knows that one of them is lying—but the question of which one, and why, is far more complicated than she could have expected. As she tries to balance the demands of the investigation with a budding romance and unresolved family drama, Cat has to decide how far she’ll go to keep her own past mistakes buried.

Caz Frear grew up in Coventry, England, and spent her teenage years dreaming of moving to London and writing a novel. After fulfilling her first dream, it wasn’t until she moved back to Coventry 13 years later that the second finally came true in 2018 with the publication of Sweet Little Lies.

In Stone Cold Heart we witness the highly anticipated return of the unforgettable Cat Kinsella, the smart and sassy London Detective Constable. And like its predecessor this novel is spellbinding from start to finish. Frear effectively combines a family drama with a captivating psychological mystery, while incorporating effective descriptions of police procedurals. Blend all of that with an unpredictable and intelligently witty storyline and you’ve got a winner.

“. . . pretending I haven’t heard him over the incessant gurgle of the coffee machines and the insipid soft jazz. I’m nearly out the door now. Just a few more strides and I’ll be safely outside, away from Casanova’s attention and basking in the scents of a grimy London summer. Warm beer. Bus diesel. Raindrops hitting the hot pavements. Bliss.”

Our character, Cat Kinsella is a strong and feisty woman, who also happens to be an excellent detective. Her character’s sarcastic sense of humor is appealing on so many levels but most importantly her everyday imperfections allow her to stand out because she doesn’t let herself be defined by these shortcomings. This character continues to resonate with readers because of her struggles balancing a dysfunctional personal and family life with career. Although her personal development is less of a focus in this book, that minor fact does not diminish the novel’s appeal. If you haven’t read Sweet Little Lies, it is highly recommended to catch up on all of the happenings and to fully appreciate Kinsella’s multilayered and enchanting character. Efforts like this are rare in fiction publishing today, and Frear has succeeded in this sequel where many writers have failed.

Overall, Stone Cold Heart is masterfully written, and Caz Frear’s trademark sense of humor shines brightly; add in a character worth cheering for and plenty of mystery and suspense (that leaves you guessing to the final pages), and you’ve got the recipe for a sure thing bestseller.

This review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on July 12, 2019 – https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/stone-cold-heart

Author: Darynda Jones

Release Date: January 15, 2019

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Pages: 304

Buy from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Summoned-Thirteenth-Grave-Charley-Davidson/dp/125014941X?keywords=darynda+jones&qid=1547654104&sr=8-1&ref=sr_1_1

Charley Davidson, Grim Reaper extraordinaire, is pissed. She’s been kicked off the earthly plain for eternity, which is the appropriate amount of time to make a person stark raving mad. But someone’s looking out for her, and she’s allowed to return after a mere 100 years in exile. Is it too much to hope for that not much has changed? Apparently it is. Bummer.

She’s missed her daughter. She’s missed Reyes. She’s missed Cookie and Garrett and Uncle Bob. But now that she’s back on earth, it’s time to put to rest burning questions that need answers. What happened to her mother? How did she really die? Who killed her? And are cupcakes or coffee the best medicine for a broken heart? It all comes to a head in an epic showdown between good and evil.

In Summoned to Thirteenth Grave, New York Times bestselling author Darynda Jones brings the beloved paranormal Charley Davidson series to a satisfyingly brilliant conclusion. The winner of numerous literary awards, Jones has penned over two dozen novels that includes the wildly successful YA Darklight trilogy series.

Charley Davidson is back from exile after “One hundred seven years, two months, fourteen days, twelve hours, and thirty-three minutes.” She’s been tormented by dreams of a husband she could not touch and a daughter she could not protect. Davidson finds upon her return that an evil force has emerged out of the hell dimension. A portal that she unintentionally opened and it’s taking over Albuquerque. “. . . did we just start the zombie apocalypse? Is the extinction of the human race going to be on our heads?”

How appropriate is it that this is the 13th and final installment. A brilliant and fitting ending to a wickedly adored series. It is choke full of everything a reader of the genre would want, humor, suspense, and most of all, the ultimate love story between Charley and Reyes.

What is most impressive is how Jones balances wit, suspense, and sultry sexiness, while adding crazy new developments to the plot. She effortlessly manages to tie up the loose ends for the each of the main characters, which is a daunting task, but Jones does it easily and effectively. Charley Davidson and her snappy and often sarcastic sense of humor will be missed.

“bring one person back from the dead and bam. Banished for all eternity. Exiled to hell with no light, no hair products, and no coffee.”

Davidson is an amazing character augmented by a cast of extraordinarily engaging secondary characters. The entire series hasn’t been solely about resolving mysteries or fighting evil, it was about building bonds of friendship. These relationships are at the center of the series and this is the essential reason why these novels have been so successful.

With a whimsical plot and is an astonishingly bitter sweet, yet satisfying conclusion, Summoned to Thirteenth Grave does not disappoint. Fans of this series will be delighted and while the number 13 is considered by some people to be unlucky, the only unfortunate ones will be those that don’t pick up a copy of this book.

This review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on January 15, 2019 – https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/summoned-thirteenth

Author: Lars Petter Sveen

Release Date: October 16, 2018

Publisher: Graywolf Press

Pages: 256

Buy from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Children-God-Lars-Petter-Sveen/dp/1555978207/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1540394413&sr=8-1&keywords=children+of+god+lars+Petter+Sveen

“Jesus turned to all the others gathered there. He raised up his hands and said, Demons have occupied this land, they’re the army of darkness. A legion of them is moving across the land . . . Their evil fills us until we can’t take any more, until we carry out the most abominable acts. Their darkness makes abode in us, their evil becomes our evil . . . I will drive out those demons. I say to you, I will push them out, I will throw them into the abyss.”

Lars Petter Sveen was named one of Norway’s ten best authors under 35 and has won numerous literary awards. Children of God is his first book to be translated into English (Guy Puzey) and was first published in Norway where it won the Per Olov Enquist Literary Prize. Thought provoking and reflective, Children of God sheds light upon obscure stories and people of the bible who have been marginalized. It gives voice to those living on the peripheries of the New Testament such as thieves, Roman soldiers, prostitutes, lepers, healers, and the occasional disciple. Sveen delves into well-trodden territory but delivers a marvelously refreshing and unusual fictionalized literary interpretation that’s devoid of judgement or preaching.

In 13 easy to read chapters Sveen explores such poignant story’s such as the detachment of Roman soldiers who question and hesitate to carry out King Herod’s decree to kill all the young male children of Bethlehem. Other accounts include a group of thieves who encounter no good Samaritans but themselves on the road to Jericho. While another follows a woman searching for her dead lover but cannot find comfort.

At critical stages throughout each of these stories evil appears, urging each of the characters to give in to their shadowy impulses. The battle between good and evil is never ending and as each of these uniquely intertwined accounts unfolds, the moral and ethical dilemmas never fail to surprise.

“We’d stared off counting all the children, but lost track of the number as the night went on. Our orders were hopeless: this wasn’t what we were fighting for . . . we’d been sent to this place at the edge of the Empire, where everything was so mixed up, so confusing . . . The chorus of wails had not died down and could still be heard like a wind blowing from the wilderness . . . but this was something different . . . It belonged to the wind or the rain or the sea or whatever grows in the depths below . . . We did whatever we could to put off having to shut our eyes and be left alone in the dark.”

Children of God brings the stories of the New Testament into a fresh light by focusing on the importance of storytelling as it relates to religious interpretation in the 21st century. Sveen is convincing and conclusive as he reflects on the challenges of traditional religious beliefs as they pertain to the never-ending fight between good and evil. A truly spellbinding and original read that captures the chaos and confusion, as well as the fear and uncertainty that followers of Jesus experienced.

Michael Thomas Barry is a staff reviewer for the New York Journal of Books and the award winning author of eight nonfiction books.

The review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on October 23, 2018 – https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/children-god-novel

Author: Sarah Zettel

Release date: August 28, 2018

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Pages: 380

Buy from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Other-Sister-Sarah-Zettel/dp/1538760908/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535469171&sr=8-1&keywords=the+other+sister+by+sarah+zettel

“There’s a misconception that the woods are the destination in a fairy tale. The woods are just something to get through. Scary, yes. Necessary, of course. But it’s when you finally get to the castle that the real trouble starts.”

Geraldine Monroe is the bad sister. Reckless and troubled, she ran away shortly after the mysterious death of their mother 20 years ago. Marie, on the other hand, has always been the good sister. She is the obedient daughter and a loving mother to her son.

Now Geraldine has come home, for good it seems, and no one, not the aunts or uncles or cousins really knows why. The most suspicious of all is Martin Monroe, the father who rules the extended family and their small town with a toxic combination of money and cold-heartedness. But even he doesn’t realize what the truth is: that the sisters have become allies in a plot to murder him.
Bound by blood and a need to right the past, Geraldine and Marie set their plan in motion. When old secrets and new fears clash, everyone is pushed to the breaking point . . . and the sisters will learn that they can’t trust anyone, not even each other.

The Other Sister by Sarah Zettel is a quasi-fairy tale type murder mystery that features two sisters—one perceived as good, one bad. Geraldine Monroe is the bad sister, an irresponsible and troubled soul. While Marie Monroe is the good sister, always the obedient daughter and responsible mother, she stayed in the family home and cared for their father.

Zettel is the critically acclaimed author of more than 18 novels and many short stories, spanning the full range of genre fiction. Her debut novel, Reclamation (1996, Aspect Books), won the Locus Award for Best First Novel. Her second release, Fool’s War (1997, Aspect Books), was a 1997 New York Times Notable Book.

Now 25 years later, Geraldine has apparently come home for good and no one knows why. The most suspicious of all is her father, a manipulative and controlling man who might have been responsible for his wife’s death and possibly others. When Geraldine and Marie set their plan into motion dark secrets begin to emerge that call into question their sisterly bonds and push everyone to the breaking point.

“Fairy tales are not big on second chances. The wicked sister never gets to turn and say, you know, that thing where I tried to kill you and marry your husband? That was a mistake. I have reconsidered my life choices. In the stories, redemption can only come from the hand of God, and God is a tight-fisted old bastard.”

In this often disturbing and distressing tale of family loyalty and deceit, Zettel does an adequate job of mixing humor and wit into an unsettling plotline that alternates between the past and present viewpoints of narrators Marie and Geraldine. Unfortunately these switches are often hard to follow and tend to confuse the story.

But if the reader is able to stick it out despite these pitfalls they will be rewarded with an excellent psychological thriller that’s filled with dark family secrets and plenty of intrigue.

Michael Thomas Barry is a staff reviewer for the New York Journal of Books and the author of eight nonfiction books.

This review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on August 28, 2018 – https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/other-sister

Author: Joel Selvin

Release date: June 19, 2018

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Pages: 308

Buy from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fare-Thee-Well-Chapter-Grateful/dp/0306903059/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1529688208&sr=8-1&keywords=joel+selvin

When the Grateful Dead convened on December 7, 1995, four months after bandleader and guitarist Jerry Garcia’s death, the remaining “core four” members decided to bring their collaboration to a close. Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart, and Bill Kreutzmann had their publicist draft a press release announcing the end of the band. But as we know, the story did not end there.

In the months and years to follow, they each embarked on new music and business ventures: Weir toured his band RatDog; Hart released an album, Mystery Box; and Lesh fronted a rotating cast of musicians in the group Phil and Friends. But tensions persisted—Lesh in particular became increasingly absent from Grateful Dead business meetings—as the core four struggled with defining their legacy.

“It seemed almost sacrilegious to consider replacing Garcia, but there was a need among the band to come to some decision. These men were tired, bereaved, frustrated, and scared, with the enormous weight of the massive Grateful Dead organization on their shoulders and, without Garcia, no idea how they were going to hold it up . . . There were many items on the agenda, but staring everybody in the face was the most basic decision that needed to be made about the band’s future—how they would continue.”

Fare Thee Well: The Final Chapter of the Grateful Dead’s Long, Strange Trip by Joel Selvin takes readers on a turbulent behind the scenes journey as the surviving members of this iconic rock band struggle through two decades of petty squabbles and bickering that eventually led to a fragile compromise and reunion tour in 2015.

Joel Selvin is an award-winning journalist and San Francisco based music critic, who is best known for his weekly column in the San Francisco Chronicle that ran from 1972 to 2009. His books have covered various aspects of pop music and include the New York Times bestseller, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock with Sammy Hagar (2011).

Fare Thee Well is a comprehensive and thorough tell-all biography; Selvin does an exceptional job of conveying the struggles and emotions that gripped members of the band in the years that followed the untimely death of Jerry Garcia. Without his leadership and Zen like approach to business and life, surviving members were left rudderless, descending into a pit of despair and petty disagreements that often led to deep wounding personal hurts and grudges.

Selvin explores in great detail almost every dispute and jubilantly concludes the narrative with the bands all too brief 50th anniversary reunion tour. The five concerts were billed as “Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead.” The shows were performed on June 27 and 28 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California, and on July 3, 4 and 5 at Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois. The band stated that this would be the final time the core four would perform together. Demand for tickets was high and anticipation from rapid fans was feverish.

“Signs hung from practically every bar, ‘Welcome Deadheads.’ Next Soldier Field, the Field Museum of Natural History got into the act, draping the entrance with three giant banners of dancing tyrannosaurs wearing crowns of roses by psychedelic poster artist Stanley Mouse, who created the original skull and roses for the Dead.”

Overall, Fare Thee Well is a passionate and well-written exposé of the behind the scenes action of one of rock and roll’s most iconic bands and a must read for all “Deadheads” and casual rock historians. Oh, what a long, strange trip it has been.

This review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on June 21, 2018: https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/grateful-deads

Author: Andrea di Robilant

Release date: June 5, 2018

Publisher: AA Knopf

Pages: 352

Buy from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Autumn-Venice-Ernest-Hemingway-Last/dp/1101946652/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1528837601&sr=8-1&keywords=autumn+in+venice

In the fall of 1948 Ernest Hemingway and his fourth wife Mary traveled to Europe, staying in Venice for a few months. He was a year shy of his 50th birthday and hadn’t published a novel in nearly a decade. During a hunting expedition he met and fell in love with 18-year-old, Adriana Ivancich, a strikingly beautiful Venetian girl just out of finishing school.

“Lovely, seductive, mischievous Adriana became Hemingway’s muse in the most classical sense. She brought joy to his life, inspired him, made him feel young again . . . her presence helped to fill the dried-up well of his creative juices, leading to a remarkable literary flowering in the late season of his life.”

It has been alleged that he used her as the model for Renata in Across the River and Into the Trees and that she traveled to Cuba to see him as he wrote, The Old Man and the Sea. Nearly six decades after Hemingway’s suicide, Andrea di Robilant attempts to reconstruct this rarely written about and mysterious relationship in his new book, Autumn in Venice: Ernest Hemingway and his Last Muse. Robilant is the author of several books that include A Venetian Affair (2005), Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon (2008), and Chasing the Rose: An Adventure in the Venetian Countryside (2014). The author claims that his great uncle was part of Hemingway’s social circle in Venice.

Generally regarded as past his prime, Hemingway at the time had been suffering from writer’s block and hadn’t published a book in nearly a decade. One day, he is introduced to Adriana Ivancich and is immediately smitten with the naïvely attractive young woman. According to the author, this relationship “took over his life” and she became his muse. They spent countless hours together in Venice and Cuba, all under the watchful eye of Hemingway’s wife. Meeting his muse around town, Hemingway seemed unaware of the nasty chatter he was generating for Adriana. While his wife, Mary was tolerant of his crush as long as it remained nonsexual and it made him happy.

In this methodically researched account of Ernest Hemingway’s obsession with a much younger woman, Robilant draws heavily on previously unpublished letters and journals. He alleges that this relationship helped to produce some of Hemingway’s best works including The Old Man and The Sea, stating “Adriana made all this possible . . . No question in my mind, she revived Hemingway’s writing.”

Autumn in Venice effortlessly and expertly explores the secret desires, successes, and depressive obstacles that shrouded Ernest Hemingway’s final productive years. It ultimately falls short of fully answering the basic premise of whether or not Hemingway and Ivancich’s relationship remained purely platonic. In the end, Robilant does succeed in acknowledging that the malicious rumors of the affair did severely impact Adriana and because of such treatment (fairly or unfairly), she suffered years of depression that ultimately led to her own suicide.

Review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on June 11, 2018 – https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/autumn-venice

Author: Stephanie Rosenbloom

Release date: June 5, 2018

Publisher: Viking Books

Pages: 288

Buy from Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Alone-Time-Seasons-Pleasures-Solitude/dp/0399562303/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528496205&sr=8-2&keywords=alone+time

“Alone time gives us permission to pause, to relish the sensual details of the world rather than hurtling through museums and uploading photos to Instagram.”

In a society that is becoming more and more distracted, many people are genuinely fearful of the prospect of solitude but being alone can have its benefits, especially when traveling. Solo travel is becoming increasingly popular. Intrepid Travel, one of the largest adventure travel companies in the world, reports that half of its guests—some 75,000 people a year—are now traveling by themselves. Airbnb is seeing more solo travelers than ever. The number of searches on Google shows that solo travel is twice as popular as it was three years ago. But for many people, solitude is something to be avoided at all costs and associated with problems such as loneliness and depression.

“Solitude and its perils is an ancient and instructive story. But it’s not the whole story. The company of others, while fundamental, is not the only way of finding fulfillment in our lives.”

In Alone Time: Four Seasons, Four Cities, and the Pleasures of Solitude, New York Times travel staff columnist Stephanie Rosenbloom delves into the health benefits of traveling alone. The book spans one year and is divided into four parts with each section set in a new city during a different season. Sections include Paris, Istanbul, Florence, and New York. All are walking cities and people friendly and the text includes topics such as dining alone, learning to savor, discovering interests and passions, and finding or creating silent spaces.

Through on the ground reporting, insights from mental health and social science professionals and recounting the experiences of artists, writers, and innovators, Rosenbloom considers how traveling alone helps deepen the appreciation for everyday beauty, bringing into sharp relief the sights, sounds, and smells that one isn’t necessarily attuned to in the presence of company.

“Alone time is an invitation. A chance to do things you’ve been wanting to do. . . . You need not carry on polite conversation. You can go to a park. You can go to Paris. You’d hardly be alone.”

As someone who’s a string believer in the healing power of alone time, this book is personal and thought-provoking. As Rosenbloom writes, “Time spent away from the influence of others allows us to explore and define who we are.”

Overall, Alone Time is an excellent blend of intimate, in depth recollections of traveling alone as well as a self-help guide to mindfulness. It is a fascinating, light read and highly recommended for anyone planning on visiting the cities discussed. But be warned there is some repetitiveness in phrasing that is somewhat distracting, but with that aside, the pure joy of reading about these delightful cities negates any pitfalls. Overall, Rosenbloom’s writing style is warm and engaging and will most definitely have readers eager to set off on their own solo travels.

Review first appeared at The New York Journal of Books on June 7, 2018 – https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/alone-time

Author: Barbara Cleverly

Release date: May 15, 2018

Publisher: Soho Press

Pages: 368

Buy from Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Angels-Inspector-Redfyre-Mystery/dp/1616958766/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1526574328&sr=8-1&keywords=fall+of+angels

Great Britain, 1923: Detective Inspector John Redfrye is a blessing to the Cambridge CID. A handsome young veteran bred among the city’s educated elite, he is no stranger to the set running its esteemed colleges and universities—a society that previously seemed impenetrable to even those at the top of local law enforcement, especially with the force plagued by its own history of corruption.

When Redfrye in invited to attend the annual St. Barnabas College Christmas concert in his Aunt Henrietta’s stead, he is expecting a quiet evening, though a minor scandal: Juno Proudfoot, the trumpeter of the headlining musical duo, is a woman, and a young one at that—practically unheard of in conservative academic circles. When she suffers a near-fatal fall after the close of the show, Redfrye must consider whether someone was trying to kill her. Has her musical talent, her beauty, or perhaps most importantly, her gender, provoked a dangerous criminal to act? Redfrye must seek advice from and keep an eye on an old friend to catch his man before more innocents fall victim.

Fall of Angels is the series debut from bestselling author Barbara Cleverly, who is a graduate of Durham University and a former teacher who has spent her working life in Cambridgeshire, England. She is the author of 13 books in the successful Joe Sandilands and Laetitia Talbot mystery series.

In this inaugural installment, Cleverly introduces an interesting new investigator to the mystery-thriller genre. A classic detective novel set in 1920s England, the story centers on the fight for women’s rights—a battle that proves to be deadly for some of those involved. Fall of Angels has all the customary elements that devotees of Barbara Cleverly’s other writings have come to expect: excellent historical detail, humorous dialogue, intriguing characters, and a whodunit that will keep readers on the end of their seat until the very end. Her writing style is reminiscent of a bygone era that pays homage to the Golden Age of mystery writing.

“Redfrye would never rightly know what instinct, what subliminal sound had triggered his reaction . . . The two players would at any moment now be attempting to come down those high, narrow stairs in pitch blackness . . . The thud and the screams from the stairs rang out as he threw the door open and stood in alarm, trying to penetrate the darkness and make sense of the series of bumps and jagged cries cascading towards him. He rushed at the staircase, blindly reaching out his hands to break the momentum of whatever alarming avalanche was about to engulf him.”

In Fall of Angels, Cleverly capably provides the essential historical background and prerequisite elements necessary for any successful mystery story. She always excels at weaving these fundamentals into her narratives, and this new novel is no exception to the established pattern. Although the mystery itself is sensibly conceived its plotline is not particularly unique, although this doesn’t take anything away from its general readability. Overall, it is a fine series debut that is well worth checking out.

Michael Thomas Barry is a staff reviewer for the New York Journal of Books and is the author of eight nonfiction works.

This review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books (May 16, 2018) https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/fall-angels-inspector-redfyre-mystery and at the Orangecountybookreview.blogspot.com (May 17, 2018)  http://orangecountybookreview.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-of-fall-of-angels-by-barbara.html and Mikeb63.blogspot.com (May 17, 2018) http://mikeb63.blogspot.com/2018/05/review-of-fall-of-angels-by-barbara.html

Author: Melissa Broder

Release date: May 1, 2018

Publisher: Hogarth

Pages: 224

Buy from Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/Pisces-Novel-Melissa-Broder/dp/1524761559/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1525196466&sr=8-1&keywords=the+pisces

For nine years Lucy has been working as a part-time librarian at a small Arizona university and struggling to complete a Ph.D. program in classic literature. She’s fraught with complexities and doubts and persistently contemplates the meaning of life, which she calls “the greater nothingness—the void.”

After a dramatic break-up with her handsome geologist boyfriend, Lucy is depressed and facing a mini-existential crisis. Her sister, Annika, invites her spend the summer in Los Angeles, dog watching and house sitting at their posh Venice beach house. But Lucy finds little relief from her depression and anxiety—not in the love addiction therapy group, not in her frequent Tinder excursions, not even in the unconditional love of her sister’s dog.

“Gods, please help me to be happy. Let me do the will of the universe and be willing to do the will of the universe, whatever that even is . . . I never asked to exist. But I am here now so could you maybe at least try and help me enjoy my life?”

Everything changes one evening, while strolling alone along the beach she encounters a mysterious swimmer. Lucy is immediately infatuated and mesmerized by Theo’s charming demeanor and rugged good looks. But when she learns the truth about the stranger’s identity, their relationship—and Lucy’s distorted understanding of what sex and love should look like—takes an unexpected turn.

The Pisces is the debut novel by award winning poet, essayist, and columnist Melissa Broder. In this bizarre novel, Broder fuses existential malaise and destructive love with a heavy dose of sexual fantasy. The characters are remarkably complex, but be warned the storyline is extremely graphic in its sexual portrayals and accounts. The explicit descriptions of these carnal encounters are somewhat disturbing and gratuitous in their titillation.

The fact that one of the characters is a merman comes across as less pointless than first imagined, and more like an acknowledgment of the absurdity of his existence. Broder’s mixture of straightforward bluntness is unsettling at times but curiously compelling. Her use of darkly humorous realism gives true voice to the depiction of those who are battling depression and suicide.
Putting the silliness of the merman storyline aside, Broder’s writing style cleverly explores the realities of both disappointing casual trysts and meaningful sexual encounters. Comically explicit, contemplative, and sometimes depressingly blunt, the author does an excellent job of exploring everyday human experience. This novel is filled with sincere reflections that ponder the existential question of whether we are destined to always desire what we can’t have?

Often unsettling, peculiar, sexually graphic, unapologetically explicit, but fascinatingly gripping, The Pisces does an adequate job of exploring the fundamental human need for both physical satisfaction and emotional desire, while connecting the frustrating ways that they are almost always mutually exclusive.

Michael Thomas is a staff reviewer for the New York Journal of Book since 2016. This review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on April 30, 2018 – https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/pisces

Author: Derek B. Miller

Release date: April 3, 2018

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Pages: 352

Buy from Amazon – https://www.amazon.com/American-Day-Derek-B-Miller/dp/1328876659/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1522776333&sr=8-1&keywords=American+by+day

Sigrid is in a tough place. A star investigator in Oslo, she’s been cleared of any wrongdoing after a confrontation with Kosovan immigrant turned deadly—but reading the neat report that plainly states she took the appropriate course of action only disturbs Sigrid more. She’s ready for some quiet introspection on her family farm, but upon arrival it’s clear her father has other plans for her.
In fact, he’s purchased her a ticket to America: her elder brother Marcus has dropped off the map in upstate New York, and she’s been dispatched, somewhat reluctantly, to find him. It doesn’t take her much time upon arrival to reach her first conclusion: America is weird.

But soon she discovers more to dig into: that Marcus’s disappearance seems inextricably linked to the death of the woman he loved, an African American professor named Lydia Jones. Moreover, this conclusion—and Marcus—are now the focus of an investigation led by irreverent, cowboy-boot-wearing, utterly American local sheriff Irving Wylie.

While initially their divergent investigation methods seem bound to clash, it becomes clear that they must work together: that each sees parts of the case through a glass darkly, as Wylie puts it—but by looking together, they just might be able to find answers.

Derek B. Miller’s American by Day takes a suspenseful and engaging look at police brutality and race relations within the American justice system. Miller tackles this explosive topic in a refreshingly thought provoking manner. Miller is the award-winning author of several novels that include Norwegian by Night (2013) and The Girl in Green (2017). He lives in Norway with his family and has worked on international peace and security for think tanks, diplomatic missions, and the United Nations.

In his novels, Miller’s characters are appealing and far from stereotypical. They suffer through all sorts of issues and definitely have passionate opinions on a wide variety of incendiary topics. Protagonist, Chief Inspector Sigrid Ødegård was first introduced to readers in Miller’s debut novel, Norwegian by Night. She and Irving Wiley provide plenty of entertaining and clever dialogue that represents opinions on individualism versus collaboration. Sigrid’s observations about America, men, and life in general are intuitive and humorous.

“She is angry at men. All men. For their stupidity, their lies, their egotism, their irrelevant words, their aggressive personalities and hairy backs. She is angry at them for what they did and didn’t do. For what they say and leave unsaid. For the timber of their voices and the length of their strides, the ease by which they open jars and their inexplicable incapacity to return even the smallest objects to their rightful locations. She is tired of investing in them without dividend . . . to solve everything herself.”

Overall, American by Day is a fascinating crime novel and the use of unorthodox characters, stinging observations, and lack of stereotypes is refreshing. A quick read and highly recommended, the plot develops into a thoughtful but grim exposé on societal challenges of inequality and the brutality of racism that are running rampant in modern America.

Review first appeared at the New York Journal of Books on April 3, 2018 – https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/american-day