Edna St. Vincent Millay

Where you used to be, there is a hole in the
world, which I find myself constantly walking
around in the daytime, and falling in at night.

The Kept by James Scott

The Kept is not a typical novel yet it kept me transfixed. Elspeth is a midwife who has stolen her children and they, in turn, were taken from her in a horrific act of violence. Her husband, Jorah, stays by her because he promised to stand by her no matter what even though he is troubled by what his wife does. 

Caleb moves to the barn after his father commits an inconceivable act. He alienates himself from his family and becomes more animal-like. When three strangers murder his family, though, he and his mother form a pact. The commit themselves to finding these men and seeking revenge. Much like a Western, the heroes of The Kept try to live honorable lives in a fallen world. 

Other books with similar themes: The Thicket by Joe Landsdale.
Non-fiction books with similar themes The Searchers: The Making of an American Legend by Glenn Frankel and Captured by Scott Zesch.
 

Lost Girls of Rome--Part 2

Lost Girls of Rome is a complicated mystery with several subplots and several story arcs. Even though both Marcus and Sandra Vega are both trying to solve the disappearance of Lara, they are each separately conducting additional investigations. 

A serial killer has been targeting Roman women. A rogue within a rogue organization has betrayed the Penitenzieri by giving victims access to the Penitenzieri files. Victims are beginning to exact vigilante justice.  A strange killer, a transformist, steals the identity of victims before killing again. An Interpol agent who has been helping Sandra may not be who he claims to be.

The central mystery, and the most intriguing one, is who is Marcus. Since Marcus has amnesia, he cannot remember his faith or what happened in a Prague hotel room while on assignment.

Carrisi has created an intriguing set of interlocking mysteries that will keep readers guessing. Though there are several time shifts, and though the plot is complicated, everything is resolved at a satisfying break-neck speed. Carrisi's novel is not to be missed. 

continued from Lost Girls of Rome--Part 1

The Small Hand by Susan Hill

On his way back from a client on the coast, Andrew Snow, a rare book dealer, cuts through the Downs and has an odd experience. After leaving the main road, he gets lost and finds himself inexplicably stopping at a dilapidated mansion. On The White House grounds, he feels the presence of a small hand gripping his own but yet there's no visible child. Is this a ghost or is he going mad like his brother, Hugo? Why do the gardens and pool fascinate him? Why does it all seem so achingly familiar?

Susan Hill (The Woman in Black) does a masterful job of creating tension and suspense in the marvelous ghost story. Hill is particularly good and creating psychological portraits that ring true. Infused with the supernatural, this novelette also revels how skillfully we deceive ourselves as adults. Grown-ups falsely believe their past is past--that their childhood fears and offenses are long buried. 

Review of Lost Girls of Rome by Donato Carrisi

Don't miss Donato Carrisi's novel, Lost Girls of Rome.

 Forensic photographer Sandra Vega is still coping with her husband's accidental death. There’s something real and recognizable in Sandra’s grief. Sometimes she forgets he is dead and says, ‘I have to tell David.’

David's bags are in the storeroom at Headquarters. Vega found them too painful to look at. After she gets a call from an Interpol agent, however, she becomes alarmed.



Martyrdom of St Matthew Source: Wikipedia

Searching through his bags, at last, she finds his diary, a two-way radio, and photographs on his favorite camera, a Leica. The camera has photographs of the construction site (where David died) a detail from a Caravaggio painting, and a picture of a man with a scar on his temple. 

Vega finds more items at the construction site, including a recording device, which convinces her that her beloved David was murdered.

Did the man with the scar murder her husband?

The scar is the result of a gunshot wound to the head and it has left the mysterious man, Marcus, with amnesia. Clemente, head of a secret investigative unit, wants him to solve a case, the disappearance of architecture student Lara.  (continued)

Scribophile

www.scribophile.com
I'm excited about this writing website.

Some Kind of Fairy tale by Graham Joyce

Two versions of the cover art from Some Kind of Fairy Tale by Graham Joyce

Joyce returns with another captivating fantasy. In Some Kind of Fairy Tale, a sixteen-year-old girl, Tara, creates havoc when she goes missing. Many suspect the teen-anger's boyfriend, Ritchie, including Tara's brother, Peter. 

She and her boyfriend, Ritchie, have just fought after taking a walk in the Outwoods near Leicestershire. She runs off and he leave her there which is why many suspect him.

Tara returns twenty years later at Christmas time. She is ostensibly unharmed but relates a wild tale about being kidnapped by fairies.

 Tara knows however that the beings are must more dangerous than storybook fairies. She believes one of them, Hiero, has even followed her from that other world.

Though no one believes her story about the bluebells, the crossing, and the other realm, she clings to this belief. Her psychiatrist and family members believe Tara has suffered trauma or else is an imposter. The only one who does believe her is the "mad" old lady whom everyone believe is a witch.

Joyce wonderfully mixes the plausible and the implausible in this fantasy. The theories presented by Vivian (Tara's psychiatrist) seem completely reasonable. One problem. Though Tara has been missing for twenty years, she has not aged a day. 

Some of the scenes are empowering. In a wonderful scene, Tara gets the upper hand over her psychiatrist who has been patronizing her. 

Though some threads of the plot are resolved nicely, the ending is problematic. As a reader, I was hoping Tara would become a true heroine instead of self-sacrificing one.  

Thank You For Your Service by David Finkel

David Finkel takes a dark topic, soldiers returning from duty with PSTD and other injuries, and turns it into something starkly beautiful. The book is filled with haunting stories.

For instance, James Doster makes a fateful decision. Doster gives Adam Schumann his chance to Skype his family because he feels Schumann needs the time more than he does.

Because he earned Doster's spot, Schumann misses a mission that blows up Doster's Humvee. Adam feels horribly guilty. He was the one, after all, who was best at spotting bombs.

Michael Emory, shot in the head, is paralyzed down the left the side. Adam rescued him by carrying him down a flight of stairs. Emory keeps his helmet and uses it as a Halloween candy bowl.

Then there's Tausolo Aietti who sees the soldier he didn't save every night in his nightmares.

Written in a frank, engaging style, Thank You For Your Service is incredibly moving.

Film rights were purchased by DreamWorks so its possible this will be a book-to-movie title soon.

Endless by Amanda Gray

Written by two authors who write under one pen name, this young adult novel will resonate with teens.

 Outsiders, Jenny and Ben, become unlikely friends when strange circumstances push them together. Jenny has always been able to feel and envision the past with her hands. She hides this condition behind gloves, but a Ouija board session forces her to confront her gift. Someone "out of time" is looking for her. Will she be able to protect her soul mate from the Order?

Endless was an enjoyable novel from start to finish. Readers will find the love triangle, and Ben, in particular, intriguing. Ben comes across as even more alluring than Jenny' out-of-time soul mate, Nikolai.

Brief Encounters With Che Guevara by Ben Fountain

In his astonishing short story collection, Fountain gives readers humorous, politically-aware stories. Several stories are set in Haiti where political tensions run high but others are set in South America and Asia.  

In "Asian Tiger," an American golf pro finds himself in over his head in Myanmar where he is hailed as hero. He's paid well to be an instructor, but, in exchange, he is expected to participate in illegal deals.

Inevitably, heroes face betrayal by those they trust the most. In "Near Extinct Birds of the Central Cordillera," an idealistic graduate student is kidnapped by revolutionaries.

He feels betrayed, however, by the Americans who airlift him out danger. Being rescued ensures the destruction of the near extinct parrot he is studying.

Like the hero in "Asian Tiger" and "Near Extinct Birds," most of Fountain's stories heroes find themselves facing absurd, self-serving bureaucrats.  

For instance, in "Bouki and the Cocaine," two brothers who try to do the right thing are targeted by unscrupulous officials. 

In Fountain's stories, criminality is normal while honorable actions (returning the cocaine, in this case) is crazy:

"I"m just looking for a little justice in this life."
"See what I mean?" said Alcide, rolling his eyes. "Totally nuts."

A UN observer in "Reve Haitien" finds himself drawn into the counter-movement's desire to free Haiti from an oppressive regime. The UN observer agrees to smuggle art work for the cause with unexpected results. 

The best story, "Into the Lion's Mouth," is about a jaded peace corp worker who nearly crosses over to the dark side--becoming a diamond smuggler's accomplice. That she can go from that to the courageous heroine in the end is testament to Fountain's writing abilities.

Into the Blood by Lisa Unger

Lisa Unger returns to The Hollows, a fictional town near New York City, for her latest thriller, In the Blood. Emotionally-fragile Lana Granger, a college student, narrates the story.

Since its first person and since she's emotionally scarred by a crime she witnessed, readers might expect the narrator to be largely unreliable. They would be right.

Lana has told so many lies to herself and others, she cannot even recognize the truth anymore.

A mentor suggests she take a job since her trust fund is drying up. A babysitting job pits Lana against a troubled eleven-year-old boy who seems to know a lot about the disappearance of Lana's friend, Beck.

Lana and Luke play a dangerous game, a scavenger hunt, that breaks Lana's façade and puts her and everything she holds dear in peril.

The novel moves a break-neck speed; it can be read as a stand-alone novel or as part of Unger's The Hollows series. In The Blood was an Indie Next pick.

The Winter People by Jennifer MacMahon

The Winter People opens with the makings of a wonderful ghost story: strange disappearances, missing diary pages, a rock formation in the shape of a hand, and a local legend about a woman that walks at night.

The novel loses some of its punch, however, by giving us too many different points of view. Sara/Martin is the most interesting thread, as they are closest to the main narrative events.

Having lost many children, Sara makes a Faustian bargain to bring back one of the dead. She uses her Aunt's instructions to bring her child back from the dead. Sleepers, however, can only walk the earth for seven days unless they spill blood.

Three contemporary stories muddy the waters, however, making the plot somewhat difficult to follow. A teenage girl and younger sister, the new inhabitants of the house, find strange objects (two driver's licenses and a gun) in Sara's house. These items lead them to a deranged woman who demands the return of missing diary pages--something they know nothing about. 

Next, a grieving woman becomes involved in the hunt for missing diary pages when she learns her deceased husband had also visited Sara and Martin's house. The four of them, the teenage girl, the little girl, the deranged woman and grieving woman decide to look for the "portal" in the Devil's hand.

MacMahon crafts beautiful prose and an intriguing scenario. While the novel is still enjoyable, a tighter plot would have made it even better. 

 *I received a free advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo

Katherine Boo, a Pulitzer prize winning journalist, shines a beacon of light on an otherwise ignored, under city slum in India. In this makeshift slum, the inhabitants' homes are always in danger of being razed to the ground by Mumbai officials.

Boo focuses upon Abdul Husain and his family, a Muslim family who barely scratch out a living. The family's business is garbage-picking. They have painstakingly risen a little in status and they are Muslim, which makes them vulnerable.

Jealous of them, a neighbor starts a fight that leads to disastrous consequences. In Boo's words it causes Abdul's life to implode. Despite the adverse living conditions, however, the slum dwellers do their best to enjoy themselves and lead good lives.

Boo has written about the cycle of poverty in U.S. cities but here she becomes philosophical. Boo searches for the "infrastructure of opportunity" in Annawadi and finds few opportunities.

One wonders, she argues, how anyone can be moral in these circumstances. In one of the most poignant analogies, Abdul realizes he can't be "ice" (hopeful and untarnished): "For some time I tried to keep the ice inside me from melting...But now I'm just becoming dirty water, like everyone else."
 
Behind the Beautiful Forevers, winner of the National Book Award, is both informative and heart-breaking. 

The Bat by Jo Nesbo

In Nesbo's first Harry Hole mystery, Hole, goes to New South Wales, Australia, to discover why a fellow Norwegian and gap-year student, Inger Holter, was murdered. 

The local police chief, Andrew Watkins, immediately tries to undermine Hole. Harry is told to take a vacation--enjoy the food and scenery--while the locals do the actual investigation. Naturally, Harry does the opposite, immersing himself in the case.

Readers are introduced to the flawed hero, Hole, who is a reformed drunk as well as many quirky characters. Andrew Kensington is an ex-hippie and ex-boxer while Otto Rechtnagel is a clown who discusses politics. 

Local detectives and Harry Hole, argue whether Holter's death is a random killing or the work of serial killer. 

Aboriginal myth pervade the story, including the "bat" of the title which is the aboriginal symbol of death.  In the aboriginal stories, the bat is called Narahdarn and plays an important part in their dreamtime myths.

Thoroughly enjoyable, The Bat has a fast-paced plot and a detective who makes intelligent observations and somewhat erratic decisions. I like the Norwegian title (Flaggermusmannen) better than the prosaic-sounding title in English (The Bat).

A BBC interview with Jo Nesbo below:
http://jonesbo.com/en/

Sherlock Holmes quotes

"That cold, incisive, ironical voice could belong to but one man in all the world."
Watson on Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Imagine a ruined house, an inheritance, a mysterious set of feral twins, a topiary garden, a murder, a ghost--these are just some of the Gothic elements that permeate The Thirteenth Tale.

 

Vida Winter, a successful novelist, contacts the bookish narrator, Margaret Lea, because she has one more tale to tell--the titular 13th tale. For years she has created falsehoods rather than reveal her past. She tell Margaret Lea she intends to tell the truth, at last, before the "wolf" catches her.

The Thirteenth Tale is a Gothic novel that explores how secrets and dark obsessions can destroy a family. More than that, however, it playfully looks at the slippery notion of self-hood--the small and cataclysmic changes that affect us and shake our identity.

If the novel is about abandonment--there's more than one abandoned child; it is, joyfully, also about reclaiming your family and your place in the world. 

Fans of this novel might enjoy seeing BBC a mini-series adaptation starring Olivia Holman and Lynn Redgrave. Setterfield's latest novel is Bellman and Black: a Ghost Story.

The Lost City of Z

The Lost City of Z by David Grann.

Soon to be a motion picture, this non-fiction narrative gives a detailed account of Col. Fawcett's last perilous trek into the Amazons. Fawcett, his son, and a friend mysteriously disappeared while searching for a lost civilization.

Grann, a journalist, interposes Fawcett's tale with his own adventures (and those of others) who sought answers about Fawcett's disappearance.

Fawcett was an accomplished amateur explorer who had been trained by the Royal Geographic Society.

Grann strikes the right balance between describing Fawcett's accomplishments and his romanticism and obsessions. Though early expeditions were focused on map-making, Fawcett became convinced of the existence of advanced Amazonian city lost in the jungle.

Though many people searched for the missing explorer, he disappeared in 1925. Some of his effects were found among various Indian tribes but it was his custom to give gifts as peace-making offerings. 

Unlike other explorers, Fawcett approached Indians unarmed and cultivated friendships with the most dangerous tribes. His tactics required great courage and specialized knowledge.

Fawcett's actions led the way for archaeologists to discover pre-Columbian settlements. While these were settlement  were different from the stone ruins he pictured, they quite possibly may have been the civilization Fawcett was searching for all along.

The Real World of Sherlock Holmes

The Real World of Sherlock Holmes by Peter Costello.



Costello gives a fascinating look at Sherlock Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and the real mysteries he investigated. Trained as a doctor, Doyle became fascinated by forensics of the day as taught by Dr. Joseph Bell. What is lesser known, however, is that average citizens contacted Doyle to help solve cases. Just like his legendary literary counterpart, Sherlock Holmes, Doyle solved cases and vindicated the innocent.

Sherlock Holmes is more popular than ever in movies and miniseries. PBS has a Fall 2013 two-hour special, How Sherlock Changed the World and the BBC has the popular Sherlock set in contemporary times.

Forensic magazine

For those interesting in writing crime fiction, here is a must read!
http://www.forensicmag.com/

I just discovered this magazine recently and its filled with useful information for the would-be crime writer.

 Latest issue below:

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic by Emily Croy Barker

The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic is an enjoyable, comic fantasy. During a particularly low point in her life, Graduate student, Nora Fischer, finds herself accidentally transported to a magical world.

Among the Faitoren, Nora feels happy and loved but this is just an illusion. The Faitoren use magic to con and betray her. Fortunately, she is rescued by Aruendiel, a magician, and the two develop a complicated friendship.

In Aruendiel's domain and in other non-Faitoren places, women have traditional roles, much like they did in 18th-century England. Women cook, clean, bear children but aren't expected to get an education or learn magic. This leaves Nora, who is highly educated and naturally curious, in a quandary.

In addition, no one seems to know what Nora's role should be. She's not humble enough to be a servant. Conversely, she's not wealthy or well-connected enough to become a lady-at-court. Unfit for marriage in her own world, Nora finds that she is also unfit for marriage in this magical place.

Nora continually challeges the the treatment of women and rules about social status. She does this all the while studying magic and even returning the favor Areundiel once did for her. When a passage opens, however, that allows her to return to her own world, Nora once again feels conflicted. Should she return to her family or stay in this magical world where she is beginning to feel accepted?

Many questions are left unanswered in this magical adaption of Pride and Prejudice. Hopefully, Barker intends to write a sequel.

Similar titles: The Magician by Lev Grossman and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke.