The House of Secrets

Recovery. There were times while I was reading Brad Meltzer’s novel, The House of Secrets, that I felt like I was riding a roller coaster. The plot sped up and crashed before slowly building to the next twist. Protagonist Hazel-Ann Nash is trying to recover memories following an accident in which she and her brother were injured and her father, Jack, killed. Jack was the longtime host of a conspiracy television program, The House of Secrets. She struggles to regain her lost memories, and tries to differentiate between reality and imagination. There’s a link to Benedict Arnold at the heart of this novel, and stories that Jack told Hazel-Ann as a child provide clues to making sense of the present. Patient readers will be rewarded by the end with unraveling a complicated plot. Impatient readers may find easier entertainment elsewhere. Rating: Three-star (It’s ok) Click here to purchase The House of Secrets from amazon.com.

Under the Harrow

Sisters. Readers who enjoy crime fiction can start and finish Flynn Berry’s debut novel, Under the Harrow, in a single day. Protagonist and narrator, Nora, leaves London to visit her sister, Rachel, in Oxfordshire. Rachel has been stabbed multiple times in her home and is dead. Berry offers some backstory about the sisters as she builds suspense and suspicion while examining grief and what we don’t know about people close to us. After drawing readers into an understanding of the lives of Nora and Rachel, Berry brings the action to an abrupt ending. For some readers, this novel will provide just the right entertainment while at the beach or on an airplane. Rating: Three-star (It’s ok) Click here to purchase Under the Harrow from amazon.com.

The Capitalist

Con. The first novel I’ve read by Peter Steiner featuring former CIA operative Louis Morgon is the fifth in that series and is titled, The Capitalist. Morgon’s adversary in this novel is St. John Larrimer, a money manager who defrauded customers and fled with billions of dollars. Morgon lost money to Larrimer, but that didn’t set him on a path to con the con artist to bring him to justice. Morgon’s lover, Pauline, is distraught because her brother Jean-Baptiste was a victim of the scam. This novel is mostly crime thriller, but also an exploration of remorse and redemption, and ultimately satisfaction. Readers who like slow pacing in crime novels will enjoy this book. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Capitalist from amazon.com.

Modern Romance

Anthropology. I’ve been absent from the dating scene for more decades than I can reasonably remember, so reading Aziz Ansari’s book on the subject titled, Modern Romance, was like reading anthropological ethnography about an unfamiliar culture. One clear difference is that few ethnographies are this humorous. Were Ansari not so funny, I might have been totally confused and lost. If this book was entertaining to an old guy like me, it must be a real delight to anyone under age 40. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase Modern Romance from amazon.com.

A Manual for Cleaning Women

Alcohol. Every one of the forty three short stories in the collection titled for one of them, A Manual for Cleaning Women, by the late Lucia Berlin, packs a punch. Written over three decades, the 1960s through 1980s, these stories were often fueled by a life lived streetwise and often fueled by too much alcohol. The gritty life of the working class spits at readers from every page, and the efficiency of the story genre makes every one crisp, sharp and complete. There’s plenty of humor and insight into human behavior. Any reader who enjoys finely written stories will find plenty in this collection. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase A Manual for Cleaning Women from amazon.com.

The Ultimatum

Drones. Dick Wolf has reprised detective Jeremy Fisk for another thrilling novel titled, The Ultimatum. A sniper wreaks havoc and uses drones in ways that cause terror on the streets of New York. Wolf’s pace starts fast and then accelerates in this novel. Fans of crime fiction who like fast-paced action are those readers most likely to enjoy this novel and this series. Rating: Four-star (I like it) Click here to purchase The Ultimatum from amazon.com.

Stranger, Father, Beloved

Detached. After I finished reading Taylor Larsen’s debut novel titled, Stranger, Father, Beloved, I felt like I needed some sort of cleansing. I had spent hours with a toxic set of characters, in strained relationships and I needed to wash them away from my life. Larsen’s prose is finely crafted, and her immersion into a family experiencing alienation and grappling with mental illness made for some intense reading. I didn’t find that the intensity led to depth. The characters seemed so consistent from the beginning of the novel to the end that I didn’t experience their development or complexity. The whole cast of characters would benefit from therapy, either as individuals or in groups. While the novel captures elements of the alienation experienced by many individuals in contemporary society, I longed for some direction in the plot other than the course set from the beginning. Readers who enjoy literary fiction and are always looking for promising new authors are those most likely to enjoy reading this novel. Rating: Three-star (It’s ok) Click here to purchase Stranger, Father, Beloved from amazon.com.