All We Were Promised, by Ashton Lattimore

 

This is an historical novel set in Philadelphia before The Civil War. It is well researched, and involved some fascinating and appalling history concerning Pennsylvania and slavery which I’d never encountered in history class ( I am from Pennsylvania). 

The characters in the story describe diverse experiences. For instance, there’s Nell, a young woman born into a wealthy Black family in Philadelphia, Charlotte (or Carrie), a woman who escaped a Southern plantation with her father, and James, Charlotte’s father, a talented woodworker who is passing as a rising businessman in the white community. Charlotte is posing as her father’s domestic servant, a role James keeps her tethered to to keep her safe, which unfortunately does not keep her happy. And finally, there is Evie, a close friend Charlotte left behind so unceremoniously when she ran away, and who just happens to suddenly appear in Philadelphia, but not as a free woman. 

I’m impressed that the author took on the hard task of imagining the mindset of young  Black women in Philadelphia during such a scary and brutal time.  Lattimore was able to tell these women’s  stories and make their conversations and actions seem real and believable. Actually, all the people who populated this story felt real. The anger, angst, and fear that Nell, Charlotte, and Evie experienced was palpable. 

The engaging plot of this novel was inspired by Victor Hugo’s  Les Misérables, and the evolving relationship between Jean Valjean and Cosette. In Lattimore’s story, we watch  as James and Charlotte fight their way free and then find their different identities and ways forward in life. All We Were Promised is a fascinating story that I would recommend to most people. 

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group, Ballantine and Netgalley for this opportunity

The Midnight Puzzle, by Gigi Pandian

The Midnight Puzzle, by Gigi Pandian, is a creative mystery novel centered around some

very unusual personalities that almost give this story the feel of being a fantasy. But then,

these characters are stage magicians who live and breathe their craft in various ways. 

Since this was my first Secret Staircase Mystery, I was unfamiliar with these personalities,

so  it did feel that there were a lot of characters and backstories to keep track of. For

instance, Tempest Raj, the protagonist, has had her stage career ruined by a tragic

accident, but it was never clear to me exactly what occurred. I felt the same way

about the fates of her mother and aunt. Actually, there were several  stories tucked

into this book, perhaps too many to fully describe.  In the end, motives might have been

revealed, but many details were not. 

Tempest’s mentor, Nicodemus, is a fascinating character, and the concept of a construction

company with the mission of bringing a bit of magic into people’s lives is fabulous. Those are

a couple things I will certainly remember for a long time. It was a fun read. 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for this opportunity.

Mission Churchill, by Alex Abella

This novel, which is both historical fiction and thriller, was an entertaining and somewhat

informative read for me. It begins in Cuba, in the year 1933. This scenario did confuse me at

first, since I had not realized that Winston Churchill had a writing career, and actually

observed the Cuban War of Independence, as a journalist. This was before he became the

British Prime Minister in 1940. 

The character development of Walter Thompson, who served as Churchill’s heroic bodyguard, was particularly engaging. In this story, Thompson tracks and chases would-be assassin Marcus Riley, an Irishman who wants revenge for the mistreatment of his people. Riley’s plans to kill the future prime minister involve several other men from different backgrounds, all demonstrating the various reasons why Churchill was not very popular.

The plot of this story was suitably intricate, but I did find the pacing to be uneven. For instance, Marcus Reilly is center stage during the beginning of the book, managing to meet Churchill right away. However, Reilly does not act, at first, like a trained hitman. After making a clumsy attempt at shooting his target, he runs away and he’s out of the story for many chapters. Meanwhile, the author depicts (extramarital) romantic interludes that may call attention to Churchill’s strained marriage, but which I didn’t find very interesting. 

When Marcus Reilly does return, he is very much a trained, ruthless killer. The scenes when Thompson is trailing and chasing Reilly are the best parts of the book, and I was expecting there to be more of that kind of action. In the end, I thought that some parts seemed a bit unlikely or not explained fully, but then, this does suggest a sequel.

Thank you very much to Book Whisperer and Netgalley for this opportunity.

Day, by Michael Cunningham

Michael Cunningham’s latest gem, Day, is a beautifully crafted peek into one family’s complex relationships with each other, and the complicated inner lives of its individual members.  It is told in three days: April 5, 2019, April 5, 2020, and April 5, 2021. 

The fulcrum of this family is Robbie, who is, at the start of this novel, living in an upstairs annex of the apartment of his sister and her family. Sister Isabel and Robbie have always had an unusually close relationship.  In addition, Robbie has also grown close to Dan, Isabel’s husband and their two children, Nathan and Violet. 

As much as Robbie enjoys living with his sister’s family, and they enjoy him, Isabel and Dan’s children are getting too old to share a room, and they are becoming cramped. Robbie needs to give them back their space.

While Robbie is going about doing his work as a teacher, looking for an apartment, and going through his things, we quickly learn his backstory, and the fact that he and Isabel share a sort of imaginary friend named Wolfe (I admire the use of that name). Robbie has created an instagram account for Wolfe,  and he and Isabel discuss what Wolfe is doing from time to time. 

Robbie, not the imaginary Wolfe, is a strong support for his unhappy sister, happily helping out with her children, and it is hard to imagine that any of them will be nearly as content when brother, in-law, and uncle is gone. This is a group of people who prop each other up.

During the first day, April 5, 2019,  we see how these individual lives dwell together.  On the first anniversary of that date, Robbie has set out for a new life, and then the pandemic happens, so Robbie is separated from family, but the rest are very together. Lastly, in April of 2021, we spend the day with a family in which each member is attempting to find a path forward after all the changes and losses that have occurred in a relatively short period of time.

I am fascinated with how Cunningham tells us so much about his characters in a way that seems both beautiful and detailed, yet occupies so few pages. I also admire that story  was told in three parts, emphasizing the heartbreaking passage of this time for this family. 

Many thanks to Random House and Netgalley for providing me the chance to read this remarkable novel.

Demon Copperhead, by Barbara Kingsolver

 This is not a Netgalley book--I borrowed it from the library, and finished it the night before it disappeared from my device! I will get back to Netgalley soon, though.

I'm including it here because it might be the best book I've read this year. 

Demon Copperhead is a modern update of the Charles Dickens classic, David Copperfield. It revisits the topics of poverty and disadvantage, especially for children.

Barbara Kingsolver has set her story in Virginia, among a population in the Appalachian region, where many children are subjected to a flawed foster care system and lack of good education. Meanwhile, drug addiction and poverty are a fact of life and hope for a better future is not.

This newer tale, which is faithful to the older, follows Damon Fields, AKA Demon Copperhead, through the arduous and dangerous years of a childhood filled with unstable and tortuous living arrangements, neglect, and emotional harm. Along the way, Kingsolver makes a powerful statement about the history of this region and the poor, damaging conditions many children face, to this day.

Charles Dickens wrote about a time period when defenseless children could be worked as hard as adults, and that seems hideous, but in some cases, the modern story is every bit as bad, in different ways. Children in foster care are often used by their guardians, against their best interests, and Demon's personal history is additionally affected by the opioid crisis.

This novel is beautifully executed. Demon's voice is compelling, believable, and very likeable. I was fascinated by the way Kingsolver adapted and unfolded the plot. I rooted for Demon, even though I knew he would find his way to the other side of his nightmare childhood, even after all the adults failed him. Demon is like one of the talented superheros he enjoys drawing. Not all of his friends are so lucky.

Bravo! (That means, I highly recommend this)

West Heart Kill, by Dann McDorman

West Heart Kill is a hunting camp, decades old, run and operated by a group of families who have made this quiet, remote place in the woods their private getaway from their ordinary lives. There is just one road into West Heart Kill, so during and after a damaging storm, it would seem to be a perfect place to stage a locked room mystery. (By the way, the word kill is a dutch term for a body of water.)

This particular mystery was written in a way I’ve never encountered before. It’s a high concept sort of mystery novel, mixing points of view and passing around the narration baton. It’s also a meta novel, with the author letting us into some of the process. Reader is also a character.

For me, unfortunately, this creative style obscured the mystery. The character development in many mysteries  isn’t deep, but when the writer leaves the story to wander down another path for a bit, it can make it hard for Reader to focus on the facts about the West Heart Kill denizens.

In addition, these asides killed the pace of the story. Even though I thought the information the author related  was interesting, it sometimes felt like an intrusion. The ending was both intriguing and jarring. 

Overall, this mystery did not keep my attention very well because of the pacing problems and my lack of interest for the characters. I was impressed with its creativity, but it served to bog down this novel more than it added interest. The writing style was pleasing, however, and I would be interested in reading more from this author. 

Thank you to Netgalley and to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor for letting me preview this mystery. 

Fear the Silence, by Robert Bryndza

Many thanks to Raven Street Publishing and Netgalley for introducing me to Robert Bryndza. This thriller was just that, and kept my rapt attention most of the time.

Maggie and Will are middle-aged professionals living the affluent life of their dreams: Maggie is a trauma surgeon, and Will has left medicine to pursue architecture, his passion. The author quickly paints a picture of a happy life together, until Will is carried into the trauma unit where his wife Maggie is working, dying of a self-inflicted gunshot to the head. Maggie has a very hard time accepting the idea that Will has killed himself. She saw no signs of depression, no sign of anything amiss. 

In the following days and weeks, as Maggie tries to come to grips with her new life, she travels to the vacation home they built on an island in Croatia. This is when things get scary and creepy. Once there, Maggie will discover more about a part of Will’s life he never shared with her, while alive. However, it turns out that he has made arrangements to tell her everything, should something happen to him. Without giving away too much of the story, I must say that this part of the story was hard for me to fathom, that Will would dump all of this on his poor, unsuspecting wife, a woman he was very much in love with. 

The author’s depiction of Maggie’s experiences on this island in Croatia, during the quiet, deserted off-season, is vivid and memorable, and her angst feels real.This part of the novel was extremely well written.

However, Will’s willingness to get himself into such trouble, to compromise himself in such a way, does raise some questions about Will’s morals  and life that I don’t feel were answered in a very believable way. Maggie, meanwhile, is an incredibly strong character, and very smart. Through sheer toughness and a little luck, she reinvents her life–perhaps a little too tidily. All in all, this story was compelling, if not always believable. I would happily read this author’s work again.