After Anna

Author: Lisa Scottoline
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 2018
Pages: 400
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Dr. Noah Alderman, a widower and single father, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie Ippolitti, and for the first time in a long time, he and his young son are happy. Despite her longing for the daughter she hasn't seen since she was a baby, Maggie is happy too, and she's even more overjoyed when she unexpectedly gets another change to be a mother to the child she though she'd lost forever, her only daughter Anna.

Maggie and Noah know that having Anna around will change their lives, but they would never have guessed that everything would go wrong, and so quickly. Anna turns out to be a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules, though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at trouble brewing in a once-perfect marriage and home.

Events take a heartbreaking turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused and tried for the heinous crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her daughter, but the realization that Anna's murder may been at the hands of a husband she loves. In the wake of this tragedy, new information drives Maggie to search for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.

Review: May was such a great month of reading for me, and June has been the opposite. 

It's not that I didn't end up really liking this book, I did, but what a slow start. Around page 200, I had to make a decision. . . to keep going or not. I flipped to the last chapter, and I was intrigued by how it ended so I decided to stick with it.

Wrought with plot holes, misinformation, and a rushed/forced/convenient ending, this was not a good choice as a first Lisa Scottoline novel. If she consistently writes this poorly, she wouldn't be as published as she is.

Really disappointing.

The Underground Railroad

Author: Colson Whitehead
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, 2016
Pages: 320
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hell for all the slaves, but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood—where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned—Cora kills a young white boy who tries to capture her. Though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.
     

In Whitehead’s ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor—engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar’s first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven. But the city’s placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. And even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

Like the protagonist of Gulliver’s Travels, Cora encounters different worlds at each stage of her journey—hers is an odyssey through time as well as space. As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre–Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman’s ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.

Review: Clearing another book off my must-read list. I had gotten this book out of the library at least once before, but I expected it to be heavy reading. As a result it got pushed aside. I decided to give the audio version a try since it was on several "recommended reading" lists, and really did want to read it.

I was sucked into the story from the first few paragraphs. However, Whitehead imagines an actual "underground railroad" complete with an engine and a boxcar. This is jarring, and in that moment I hated the story as I felt myself being emotionally thrown out of a novel in which I was fully vested. Then, I realized the actual underground railroad story has been told countless times. By creating a physical train, Whitehead was able to quickly relocate the slaves and skip over 100 pages of a story we already know, wading through swamps, evading capture with the help of sympathetic whites. This allowed him to explore other themes and experiences. In the end though, Whitehead pushes an envelope as far the historical genre goes, and ultimately tries too hard to make the "underground railroad" real.

The title of the book is misleading readers to think they're getting something they're not, or perhaps calling it historical fiction isn't accurate. There's a bit of fantasy at play here, and suspension of belief is certainly required at times.

Ultimately, there was too much fantasy, a disorganized plot, a story that went nowhere, and an ending that was anti-climatic and lackluster. I would not have finished this had I been reading the hardback version, but I'm a lot more forgiving when it comes to my audio books.

Note: One of my favorite Diane Chamberlain novels, Necessary Lies, explores state-mandated sterilizations and racial tensions, and is well-worth the read.

The Underground Railroad is along the same vein as Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing which I reviewed here.

Oil and Marble

Author: Stephanie Storey
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Arcade Publishing, 2018
Pages: 320
Rating: Highly Recommend

Synopsis: In her brilliant debut, Storey brings early 16th-centure Florence alive, entering with extraordinary empathy into the minds and souls of two Renaissance masters, create a stunning art history thriller.

From 1501-1505, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarti both lived and worked in Florence. Leonardo was a charming, handsome fifty year old at the peak of his career. Michelangelo was a temperamental sculptor in his mid-twenties, desperate to make a name for himself. 

Michelangelo is a virtual unknown when he returns to Florence and wins the commission to carve what will become one of the most famous sculptures of all time: David. Even though his impoverished family shuns him for being an artist, he is desperate to support them. Living at the foot of his misshapen block of marble, Michelangelo struggles until the stone finally begins to speak. Working against an impossible deadline, he begins his feverish carving.

Meanwhile, Leonardo's life is falling apart: he loses the hoped-for David commission; he can'ta seem to finish any project; he is obssessed with his ungainly flying machine; he almost dies in war; his engineering designs disastrously fail; and he is haunted by a merchant's wife, whom he is finally commissioned to paint. Her name is Lisa, and she becomes his muse.

Leonardo despises Michelangelo for his youth and lack of sophistication. Michelangelo both loathes and worships Leonardo's genius.

Oil and Marble is the story of their nearly forgotten rivalry.

Review: I don't know why I chose this novel. I'm not an art fanatic, and the 16th century is well outside the time frames I usually choose in the historical fiction genre. I saw Michelangelo's Pieta, and the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel while visiting Rome in 2000. I don't recall seeing any of da Vinci's work in person.

At any rate, my plan was to read a chapter or two of this novel and if I wasn't drawn in, set it aside, perhaps to listen to later. I was surprised. I loved this novel. I didn't read it quickly or for hours at a time, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now all I need to do is figure out when I'm going to Florence to see it for myself.

Laura Ingalls is Ruining My Life

Author: Shelley Tougas
Genre: Kid Lit, Fiction
Publisher: Roaring Book Press, 2017
Pages: 304
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: A life on the prairie is not all its cracked up to be for one girl whose mom takes her love of the Little House series just a bit too far.

Charlotte’s mom has just moved the family across the country to live in Walnut Grove, “childhood home of pioneer author Laura Ingalls Wilder.” Mom’s idea is that the spirit of Laura Ingalls will help her write a bestselling book. But Charlotte knows better: Walnut Grove is just another town where Mom can avoid responsibility. And this place is worse than everywhere else the family has lived—it’s freezing in the winter, it’s small with nothing to do, and the people talk about Laura Ingalls all the time. Charlotte’s convinced her family will not be able to make a life on the prairie—until the spirit of Laura Ingalls starts getting to her, too.

Review: I didn't realize when I requested Laura Ingalls is Ruining My Life that it's written for 9-12 year olds, but I decided to read it anyway. It's a cute story. 

I'm going to recommend it to my daughters, ages 9 and 11. Together, we read some of the Little House books this winter so they're familiar with her, but more than that, I think they'll enjoy the story.

The Woman in Cabin 10

Author: Ruth Ware
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press, 2017
Pages: 384
Rating: Do Not Recommend

Synopsis: In this tightly wound, enthralling story reminiscent of Agatha Christie’s works, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. The sky is clear, the waters calm, and the veneered, select guests jovial as the exclusive cruise ship, the Aurora, begins her voyage in the picturesque North Sea. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a dark and terrifying nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…

With surprising twists, spine-tingling turns, and a setting that proves as uncomfortably claustrophobic as it is eerily beautiful, Ruth Ware offers up another taut and intense read in The Woman in Cabin 10—one that will leave even the most sure-footed reader restlessly uneasy long after the last page is turned.

Review: Four words, or is it five, for the author, “don’t try so hard.” The beginning was just ridiculous, the middle of the middle pages were a fun, but cliche in some ways, the ending was entirely too far fetched. The last two pages wrapped it up, but weren’t surprising. As far as thrillers go. . .a real snooze.

It is possible that had I not read some better thrillers lately, The Wife Between Us and The Broken Girls, this would have received a higher rating. The Woman in Cabin 10 just didn't measure up.

Ruth Ware Novels
In a Dark, Dark Wood
One by One
One Perfect Couple
The Death of Mrs. Westaway
The It Girl
The Lying Game
The Turn of the Key
The Woman in Suite 11 (the sequel to The Woman in Cabin 10)
Zero Days

The Day the World Came to Town

Author: Jim DeFede
Genre: Non-fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher, 2003
Pages: 256
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: When 38 jetliners bound for the United States were forced to land at Gander International Airport in Canada by the closing of U.S. airspace on September 11, the population of this small town on Newfoundland Island swelled from 10,300 to nearly 17,000. The citizens of Gander met the stranded passengers with an overwhelming display of friendship and goodwill.

As the passengers stepped from the airplanes, exhausted, hungry and distraught after being held on board for nearly 24 hours while security checked all of the baggage, they were greeted with a feast prepared by the townspeople. Local bus drivers who had been on strike came off the picket lines to transport the passengers to the various shelters set up in local schools and churches. Linens and toiletries were bought and donated. A middle school provided showers, as well as access to computers, email, and televisions, allowing the passengers to stay in touch with family and follow the news.

Over the course of those four days, many of the passengers developed friendships with Gander residents that they expect to last a lifetime. As a show of thanks, scholarship funds for the children of Gander have been formed and donations have been made to provide new computers for the schools. This book recounts the inspiring story of the residents of Gander, Canada, whose acts of kindness have touched the lives of thousands of people and been an example of humanity and goodwill.

Review: This is such a feel-good, warm read. I loved it. Where I think it's lacking is in the organization/structuring. Some of the stories/experiences could have been fleshed out more, and I wanted more "afters" and "follow-ups."

This is well worth reading.

The Couple Next Door

Author: Shari Lapena
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2017
Pages: 336
Rating: Recommend

Synopsis: It all started at a dinner party. . .

A domestic suspense debut about a young couple and their apparently friendly neighbors—a twisty, roller coaster ride of lies, betrayal, and the secrets between husbands and wives. . .

Anne and Marco Conti seem to have it all—a loving relationship, a wonderful home, and their beautiful baby, Cora. But one night, when they are at a dinner party next door, a terrible crime is committed. Suspicion immediately lands on the parents. But the truth is a much more complicated story.

Inside the curtained house, an unsettling account of what actually happened unfolds. Detective Rasbach knows that the panicked couple is hiding something. Both Anne and Marco soon discover that the other is keeping secrets, secrets they've kept for years. 

What follows is the nerve-racking unraveling of a family—a chilling tale of  deception, duplicity, and unfaithfulness that will keep you breathless until the final shocking twist.

Review: Better than 3 stars, not quite 4. This is a page-turner, but it's also rather predictable. I guessed the "punchline" by page 140, and then just watched it unfold for the remainder of the book. The novel concluded with an unnecessary twice, but it leave the door open for sequel, which I probably wouldn't read. Thrillers are one of my favorite genres, and this was just a hair too far-fetched to be considered brilliant or particularly delicious.