In this collection of heartfelt poetry and short stories, the author touches on serious subjects—poverty, homelessness, aging, war, and more—with kindness and hope.
Monthly Archives: October 2019
Chuck Wendig — Wanderers
Too Long! It could have been cut in half without losing any of the story. Like the title, it wanders. Classified as “thriller,” but didn’t thrill me.
I don’t usually post negative reviews here, but I spent so many days slogging through this one that I decided to pass on my overall impression.
Elizabeth Haynes — Into the Darkest Corner
(spoilers included)
I almost abandoned this novel after the first few chapters because it bounced around too much in time and POV. First there was part of a trial (2005), then a murder scene (2001), a scene with Cathie, the protagonist, at work (2007), Catherine, an earlier version of Cathie, out drinking with friends (2003), and finally it gets into the rhythm of skipping back and forth between 2007 and 2003. At this point, I started to get hooked.
The personalities of Cathie and Catherine are entirely different. Catherine (2003) loves to party, drinks too much, sleeps around. Cathie (2007) suffers from severe OCD and PTSD. Catherine hooks up with sexy, mysterious Lee, who becomes more and more controlling and abusive. Cathie starts a cautious friendship with her neighbor Stuart, a psychologist who is unbelievably understanding of her weird behavior.
There is no mystery. The trial at the beginning tells us that Lee is the bad guy in the story. It’s obvious that Catherine and Cathie are the same person. It’s also fairly obvious that Lee probably murdered the woman at the beginning of the story (2001). At first, I thought the trial (2005) was for the murder.
But this is a well-written psychological suspense/thriller. It kept me reading throughout to find out what happens next. Haynes follows Catherine/Cathie’s personality changes in detail—Catherine’s downhill slide as her relationship with Lee becomes more controlling and abusive, and Cathie’s climb back to normality as she struggles to overcome her anxiety and OCD.
I would recommend the book to anyone who likes dark stories.
Robert Dugoni — A Steep Price
A good police story. Seattle’s violent crimes unit has a lot going on. A missing East Indian woman may only be avoiding friends and family to dodge arranged marriage, but Tracy thinks it doesn’t feel right. Faz and Del investigate a shooting of a black woman activist in broad daylight, which they believe was ordered by the local drug kingpin. A suspect of the woman’s shooting is shot and killed by Gonzalez, a new detective in the department from LA. The suspect was unarmed.
All of the detectives have pressures on the personal side. Tracy is pregnant but hasn’t told her department. Faz’s wife Vera is diagnosed with breast cancer. Del throws his back out and isn’t always available. New detective Gonzalez acts suspiciously, snooping in other detective’s computers and lying about what happened with Faz when she shot the suspect.
The characters are interesting, and the plot kept me reading.