Glass Houses: A Novel (Chief Inspector Gamache Novel) –by Louise Penny

Fiction / Mystery

376 pages / 3776 KB

4 Stars

I believe I've read all of the Gamache books (this is #13 in the series), and have never been let down. Picking up one of these books is like going home for a visit with old friends. Ruth and Rosa are still together, Clara is getting ready to show what her friends think are "unfinished" paintings, Armand is now head of the Surete, and Reine-Marie finds a body in the church cellar. Oh, my.

Penny has brought in a cobrador del frac for a new twist. Armand must decide between perjury in the high court or the greater good and a possible prison sentence.

The crime takes place in November, with cold and snow. The trial takes place in the summer, when it's hot and humid. There is a lot of backing and forthing and it took me a minute the first few times to get my bearings when I went from snow and sleet to sweltering heat.  File that bit of information away (forewarned is forearmed) and read the book. It's a great read. And be sure to read the Author's note at the end when she tells us what's true and what isn't.

Dead Stop (Sydney Rose Parnell Series Book 2) –by Barbara Nickless

Fiction / Thriller

400 pages / 2575 KB

5 Stars

Bad news first: Book 3 isn't out, yet.

Although I think one can read this as a stand-alone book, by starting with Blood on the Tracks, the first in the series, one will get a much better, and deeper understanding of who Sydney Rose Parnell and Clyde are.

If you want a well-researched and excellently crafted book, this is the one for you. I found myself laughing in a couple of places, and crying in a couple of places, and there was one sequence where I had to read with my eyes closed! Do you have any idea how difficult that is?

Sydney, our heroine, is damaged. She is an "ex" Marine, with her tours in the Mortuary Services in Iraq. Yeah, you'd be damaged, too. Clyde, her faithful K9 companion, is also an "ex" Marine and Iraq war veteran. He's not quite as damaged as she is.

I'm not sure if this book is a little darker than Blood on the Tracks, or if it's because I forced myself to read it more slowly, instead of inhaling it in one sitting, therefore getting more of the story. It is very intense, gritty. And oh-so-hard to put down.

Sydney is still collecting and living with her ghosts, is in therapy at the VA, and finds herself embroiled in another murder on her tracks, and a race against time to find the murderer and save a missing child. There is murder and mayhem, though it's germane to the story, not gratuitous. In fact, much is left to your own imagination.

We get more of Sydney's thoughts from her journal entries, many of which appear as epigraphs to each chapter. She is dealing with her PTSD, but it costs her.

Personally, I love having a heroine that I can actually believe in. She isn't perfect. She isn't the Ice Woman. She's a veteran with issues she must learn to live with, and she is learning. If you, or someone you know, have PTSD, this might be a helpful book. Yes, it may bring up flashbacks, but you may learn a bit from how Sydney handles hers. And, if you are a vet, thank you for your service.

The ending of this book leaves it wide open for Book 3. Which will not be available soon enough to suit me. I think it highly unfair that even though I took my time reading this book, it still takes her longer to write one than for me to read it.

Lake Silence --by Anne Bishop

Fiction / Urban Fantasy

5 Stars

NOTE: This book is not yet available, but will be soon. Very soon. Pre-order it so when it is available, you won't miss it.

DISCLAIMER: I had the marvelous opportunity to read an early, unpublished version of Lake Silence for review, it may not be quite the same as the one currently for sale, though I seriously doubt the basic story will change. Some of the plot points may shift.

When I read Etched in Bone, the last of the series about the Others, I was truly sad. I enjoy that world and was delighted when I heard rumors there were two more stand-alone books coming. The same world--new characters. (I do understand why an author wants to move on from a world. There are so many new worlds out there to create and visit, but there is something about this world that resonates with me more than most.)

Imagine being married to a real scumbag, who hangs around with lowlifes in high places. Imagine being divorced, and for your part of the settlement, he 'gives' you his great grandmother's old home and "resort" called The Jumble out on a remote lake, by a tiny village, controlled like the rest of the world by The Others. The Jumble in disrepair, it has a private beach, and your ex generously 'gives' you just enough cash to repair the old place and writes something in the divorce decree that if it isn't all done within a specified period of time, he gets it back. You are two weeks over the time limit.

Now, imagine you get things going, have a tenant in one of your cabins, a member of the Crowgard (a crow/human shapeshifter), and murder happens and you are suspected, and arrested and a most yummy, delicious man you've never met walks into the jail and announces he is your lawyer. He is obviously rich, well-heeled, and you haven't a clue who he is or why he's there. Those crows aren't stupid, y'know? Oh, and did I mention that your new and yummy lawyer is a Vampire, and controls the land on which both the village and the The Jumble sit. And he likes you, and he doesn't like the low-lifes trying to take The Jumble away from you.

This is a stand-alone novel, and I don't think you need to read the series first, though it wouldn't hurt (read in order, by the way). Doing so will give you a better idea of the world; however, it isn't necessary, you'll quickly pick it up. Also, and this is really, truly important, don't start at bedtime. This is not a book to give you nightmares, but it is a book designed to keep you reading until the dawn and The End come together.