I Liked My Life

Title: I Liked My Life
Author: Abby Fabiaschi
Published: January 31st 2017 by St. Martin's Press
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 272 pages
Genre: Fiction
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

Have you ever read a book where you have loved and cheered on every character? ‘I Liked My Life’ is that kind of book. Told from multiple perspectives the reader is brought into the lives of the Starling family after the suicide of Madeline.

What her family cannot come to terms with is that she showed no signs of depression or suicidal tendencies, there was no note only a shopping and errand list left on the counter. Eve, her usual self-absorbed sixteen year old daughter, was being more independent by the day and her work obsessed husband Brady were her world. Through there were difficult times, she loved her life, so why did she pick that day to die in such a horrendous way?

Neither Madeline nor Brady had happy childhoods and they were determined to make a better life for Eve. Each expresses their frustrations in alternating chapters. As Maddy watches over her family, she realizes that she has the ability to influence them. A whisper, a nudge, just the merest of things, to let them know that Maddy is still looking out for them. Pointing them and those around them in the right direction or reminding them of her love or special times. She even gets creative and tries a bit of matchmaking. Where she found or even knew about Rory was a confusion to me, but I let that part slide. As they rail against the sudden loss of their mother and wife, they know that she guides them. Yet, if she cared and loved them so much, why did she end her life?

As Maddy relays her thoughts and connections are made, she can feel her own ascension. When it becomes more challenging for her to hear or to be heard, she knows that her time is limited – this is when she makes one last push and relaying the most important message of all. One that will change everyone’s understanding of the day that changed all of their lives.

Though there are a few lulls, debut author Abby Fabiaschi has given her readers a wonderful book, I found myself rereading many passages because there is startling insight in this book. Quotable sections that you find have meaning in not only your life, but in the lives of those around you.

Unpunished

Title: Unpunished
Author: Lisa Black
Expected Publication: January 31st 2017 by Kensington Publishing Corporation
Format: ebook, Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and Kensington for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. Series: Gardiner and Renner

Lisa Black must have lost her momentum after finishing the first book in the Gardiner and Renner series “That Darkness’ since this book had none of the spark or interest that she had previous shown. ‘Unpunished’ reads like a hatchet job on the newspaper publishing industry instead of keeping a serial killer in check that was the premise of the first book and the basis of the relationship between the main characters.

When a relationship was founded on a criminalist and a serial killer within the police department, explaining the inner workings of newspaper publishing takes away from what was previously established. “That Darkness ” a book that I would recommend, was a cat and mouse game and this book, though a spark at the end, was a never ending monotony of how papers are printed and how big money is destroying journalism.

By the end, I did not care who was killing the newspapermen, and for that matter, why they were murdered. Lisa Black drug this book on interminably and by the end, I was thankful that it was over.

City of the Lost

Title: City of the Lost
Author: Kelley Armstrong
Published: January 14th 2016 by Sphere
Format: Paperback, 352 pages
Genre: Thriller
Series: Casey Duncan #1

Well, she fooled me with this one. All the clues pointed to the other guy, yet, they also pointed to the actual murderer.

Casey Duncan is playing roulette with her life. She confesses that she murdered a man to several therapists hoping that she can find one that will go around their oath and report her. She does not feel guilty for the murder, her boyfriend had left her in an alley when his drug deal soured and the men beat her within inches of her death. Once able to leave the hospital, she confronted him, unfortunately the gun went off.

Casey's best friend, Diana, is on the run from an abusive ex. All Diana talks about is an idyllic off the grid town that harbors people that need to disappear. A place that is available to them for a few years as a sort of reprieve where they can shed their old lives. Imagine no cell phones, no Internet, no mail, no computers, very little electricity, and no way of getting in or out without the town council's approval. After the interview process, they discover that the town will only take Diana if Casey goes with her. This is not in Homicide Detective Casey Duncan’s plans, but she will play along for six months to get Diana settled.

Rockton is beyond isolated in the Yukon wilderness which begin to lead to problems all of their own. Drugs and alcohol are rampant. Women will resort to whatever means to earning credits and this puts Casey in a very precarious position with the townsfolk. Turns out that this town is also in need of a police detective, they have a murderer on the loose and Sheriff Eric Dalton needs help.

Everyone in Rockton has a secret. No one is who or what they seem. People are going to die. The town council has their own agenda and once again, Casey will put her life on the line not realizing that she was being played the whole time.

The Girl Before

Title: The Girl Before
Author: J.P. Delaney
Expected Publication: January 24th 2017 by Ballantine Books
Format: eBook, Hardcover, 320 pages
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.

The reader has to separate the truths and the lies. Truths are not fully true and the lies are not fully lies, and thus, the reader is brought into One Folgate Street, an experiment in living with all the warmth of a mausoleum, which in itself is another character in this book.

Edward Monkford, who is pathologically unable to cope with defiance or independence, is the designer of the home. After the deaths of his wife and son, he will only rent to a very select few. It is in this lengthy selection process, complete with pages of questions and dos and don’ts – about 200 stipulations in all, that he finds his version of perfection. Emma Matthews, having reported a brutal attack and in a precarious relationship with Simon moves in and this is where her dark tale is revealed. Within months, there is a death. Three years later, Jane Cavendish suffers the stillbirth of her daughter. She needs a fresh start – One Folgate Street is her answer.

This is a story of damaged people and how manipulation is the key, and the length, each is willing to go to for answers and redemption. There are times that you might have to put the book down and take a breath to reanalyze what you have just read, but that will not stop you from picking it right back up and diving into this twisted psychological thriller with both dread and anticipation.

The Mephisto Club

Title: The Mephisto Club
Author: Tess Gerritsen
Published: September 12th 2006 by Ballantine Books
Format: Hardcover, 368 pages
Genre: Police Procedural
Series: Rizzoli and Isles #6

I am late to this read, but it is good to see that I am not the only one that compared it to Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon series. By this, I mean, that you have to pay attention to all the symbolism, iconology and the points of time that bring the clues together.

Dr. Maura Isles seems to take center stage in this book, Jane Rizzoli is an active character with her own family troubles brewing, but with Maura’s side story involving Father Daniel she has more playtime and therefore the reader sees more sides to her guarded character.

When Peter and Amy Saul welcome their 15-year-old nephew Dominic into their home after his mother ran off and the death of his father, they had no idea that they were actually bringing Damien from the Omen in. In short order, three of the four original family members are dead and Lilly Saul is running for her life.

With backward mirror writing, ritualistic killing and symbolism, the women are way out of their league and for most of the book Jane is playing catch up. In steps the Mephisto Club, a group named after the evil spirit to whom Faust, in the German legend, sold his soul, consisting of amateur investigators that have been studying the field and all forms of evil for decades - reminiscent of the 'The Vidocq Society'.

This is an odd group and Tess Gerritsen uses that against them in pointing the reader inward. When they start dying, the reader is left with very few clues considering Dominic had died in a drowning years prior, Lilly will only say that a demon is after her, Anthony Sansone, the head of the Metaphiso Club is his own form of creepy and Maura is too wrapped up in getting the priest into bed.

The ending feels rushed with a character that admits to being behind all this nonsense having barely been mentioned at all. Try as she may, this book was too much of a grasp and though it could have been read as a standalone, since very little of the previous books was mention, the reader will walk away wondering what Gerritsen was thinking.

A Perilous Undertaking

Title: A Perilous Undertaking
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Published: January 10th 2017 by Berkley Books
Format: Hardcover, 352 pages
Genre: Historical Mystery
Source: My thanks to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book.
Series: Veronica Speedwell #2

When reading this book, you almost forget that it is about a murder. Deanna Raybourn is so adept at dialogue that you find yourself more attuned to the bantering between Stoker and Veronica than worrying about the dead body in the bedroom.

Backing up to the first book in the series, ‘A Curious Beginning’, the reader is introduced to Revelstoke Templeton-Vane and Veronica Speedwell, a natural historian and a lepidopterist brought together after a failed kidnapping and a secret that could affect the royal family.

In this second installment, Veronica is invited to the Curiosity Club, “founded for the purposes of free discourse amongst accomplished ladies without the strictures of society limiting their conversation”, where she is introduced to Lady Sundridge. It did not take long for Veronica to suss out the true identity of her host, yet she was curious as to why a member of the royal family was getting involved in the Ramsforth case.

Myles Ramsforth stood accused of murdering his mistress, a talented artist named Artemisia, who was carrying his child. Since Ramsforth had discovered her body and was covered in her blood, the case was open and shut. Yet Ramsforth had an alibi; unfortunately, he would rather go to his hanging than speak the truth and ruin more lives.

Sir Hugo Montgomerie of Scotland Yard’s Special Branch, a department within the Metropolitan Police that handles matters involving the royal family, is front and center with Stoker and Veronica. His main job is to protect the family, but he does seem to spend most of his time protecting Veronica from herself and to run interference when it comes to the rather loud and mind boggling antics of Veronica and Stoker.

The humor is what makes these books. The banter between the characters is exceptional -- and the bawdy humor is laugh aloud funny. Veronica is very matter of fact when it comes to her personal life and that keeps the proper Stoker a bit wobbly on his feet. When it comes to the grotto, a place of organized debauchery, you wish that you could be there to see the looks on their faces. Veronica comments that Stoker, more than anyone, walks with ghosts and it is this comment that helps to prepare the reader for a surprising fact from Stoker’s past.

For me, who the murderer was slightly obvious in the beginning, but Ms. Raybourn goes to such lengths to show all the characters that you want to discount what you have read in hopes that you jumped to the wrong conclusion. As I said, the murder is secondary to the relationships.

Real Murders

Title: Real Murders
Author: Charlaine Harris
Published: December 4th 2007 by Berkley Prime Crime Mystery
Format: Mass Market Paperback, 290 pages
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Series: Aurora Teagarden #1

Aurora Teagarden is a librarian in the small town of Lawrenceton, Georgia who enjoys hosting a monthly Real Murders club consisting of a dozen true crime buffs that study and discuss famous unsolved crimes. What they never expected, was to be in the middle of their very own.

On the evening of the meeting, one of their own goes missing; Aurora discovers her body laid out in a very familiar pattern. Now she is trying to explain this to the local detective and when he is not quite on board, another murder happens and this too is reminiscent of a real unsolved murder that is decades old. Roe is beginning to look more like a suspect than the helpful person she is trying to be.

Aurora is getting too close and someone is out for her. This time it is too close to home. She knows that the true killer has to be a member of her club, but who could it be. Maybe it is the newest visitor, a crime writer, but she is not sure since her own feelings for him might be getting in the way. This is a bit confusing for this staid librarian since she also seems to be capturing the interest of the police detective.

As the deaths pile up, Aurora is determined to find out who and why old crimes are copycatted and why she is being set up as the scapegoat. What comes out in the end is somewhat surprising since the whole book was rather sedate, by Harris standards, and then the realities appear. Who knew that the mildest amongst them could be hiding such darkness?