The Plot

This book by Jean Hanff Korelitz received such good reviews, but after the first half of the book, I was just bored. I almost gave up! But instead I went back and re-read the reviews, trying to figure out why I picked it up in the first place. I figured out one surprise a few chapters before the reveal. But the conclusion left me flat-footed.  From Library Journal: "Korelitz...questions the world of publishing in this latest novel. Jake Finch Bonner, a once promising youngish writer, has been reduced to taking a short-term teaching gig at a third-rate, low-residency MFA program in Vermont. During a one-on-one meeting with an arrogant student, Jake hears the student's incredible idea for a plot. When, several years later, he learns that the student has died, Jake decides to tell the story himself. He hits the best-seller lists with Crib, excerpts of which appear as a book within this book. But then emails and tweets from an anonymous sender accuse him of stealing the plot and threaten to expose him."

Publishers Weekly: "Jacob Finch Bonner, the hapless protagonist of this ingeniously twisty novel...Deep character development, an impressively thick tapestry of intertwining story lines, and a candid glimpse into the publishing business make this a page-turner of the highest order. Korelitz deserves acclaim for her own perfect plot."  Can't say I agree with the "page-turner" assessment.

And Kirkus closes their rave review: "Korelitz... knows how to blend suspense with complex character studies, falls a little short on the character end here; Jake is a sympathetic but slightly bland protagonist, and Anna has the only other fully developed personality. No one will care as the story hurtles toward the creepy climax, in the best tradition of Patricia Highsmith and other chroniclers of the human psyche’s darkest depths. Gripping and thoroughly unsettling." I would say that the book plods rather than "hurtles" but decide for yourself.

Mother-Daughter Murder Night

The title of this book by Nina Simon refers to a tradition, held by single mom Beth and teen daughter Jack, to sit down and watch a mystery show on TV every Thursday night. They live on Elkhorn Slough just off the coast of central California. Beth's mother, Lana, a formidable and well-respected commercial real estate broker in Los Angeles, was so appalled when Beth got pregnant at age 17 that they parted ways and now only see each other on Jewish high holidays. Beth has managed to support herself and Jack, becoming a geriatric nurse, while Jack is a child of the water, who paddles out into the slough every morning before going to school. She is so skilled and knowledgeable that she has become the youngest certified kayaking guide at the Kayak Shack nearby, taking groups of tourists and nature lovers on tours of the slough on weekends.

When Lana is unexpectedly diagnosed with metastasizing cancer, she requires extended treatment and care. And so, the two strong and wildly different women are forced to share Beth's tiny 2-bedroom house for months while Jack is turfed to sleeping on the sofa bed in the living room.  On one of Jack's morning tours, a father and son drift away from the group and discover a dead body floating in the mud flats. Of course Jack is traumatized by this and things go from bad to worse when a belligerent and bullying detective initially targets Jack as the likeliest suspect in what turns out to be a murder. Lana decides--to keep from dying of boredom and to protect her granddaughter--that she will figure out who the real killer is.

I wholeheartedly agree with Library Journal's glowing review: Simon's dazzling debut delivers everything a mystery fan could crave, including a realistically nuanced cast of characters, a vividly evoked coastal California setting, writing imbued with a deliciously desiccated sense of wit, and a perfectly plotted murder with enough red herrings deftly dropped in to confound the most experienced mystery reader. ...Insightful and frequently funny analysis of family dynamics wrapped up in a cleverly crafted cozy crime novel." Booklist concludes, " On the cozy side, this debut mystery is woven around family rifts and redemption, and will leave readers with warm fuzzies." Publishers Weekly concurs: "Simon stocks her layered plot with plausibly motivated suspects and convincing red herrings, but it’s her indomitable female characters and their nuanced relationships that give this mystery its spark. Readers will be delighted." Likewise, Kirkus praises, "Simon knows how to build an intriguing plot with lots of suspects, plenty of red herrings, and a handful of jaw-clenching attacks on the Rubicons designed to stop their investigation. Nancy Drew meets Columbo in this feisty-female–driven whodunit."

Piranesi

I enjoyed Susanna Clarke's earlier massive and award-winning tome, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and so I wanted to read this well-reviewed newer book; this was my 2nd try and I did finish it. It is difficult to describe and the cruelty of The Other character is distressing. Piranesi himself is charming and engaging, if clearly naive/deluded. Here is the plot summary from the book jacket.

"Piranesi's house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house. There is one other person in the house-a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known." 

As mentioned, reviews are uniformly positive.  From Library Journal: "Clarke's ... deftly written new novel is the diary of the main character...Clarke creates an immersive world that readers can almost believe exists." Booklist concludes their review with "in this spellbinding, occult puzzle of a fable, one begins to wonder if perhaps the reverence, kindness, and gratitude practiced by Clarke's enchanting and resilient hero aren't all the wisdom one truly needs."  Kirkus offers these closing remarks: "At the foundation of this story is an idea at least as old as Chaucer: Our world was once filled with magic, but the magic has drained away. Clarke imagines where all that magic goes when it leaves our world and what it would be like to be trapped in that place. Piranesi is a naif, and there’s much that readers understand before he does. But readers who accompany him as he learns to understand himself will see magic returning to our world. Weird and haunting and excellent."

And here are details offered in Publishers Weekly review. "Clarke wraps a twisty mystery inside a metaphysical fantasy in her extraordinary new novel... The story unfolds as journal entries written by the eponymous narrator, who, along with an enigmatic master known as the Other...inhabits the House, a vast, labyrinthine structure of statue-adorned halls and vestibules. So immense is the House that its many parts support their own internal climates, all of which Piranesi vividly describes... Meanwhile, the Other is pursuing the “Great and Secret Knowledge” of the ancients. After the Other worriedly asks Piranesi if he’s seen in the house a person they refer to as 16, Piranesi’s curiosity is piqued, and all the more so after the Other instructs him to hide. In their discussions about 16, it becomes increasingly clear the Other is gaslighting Piranesi about his memory, their relationship, and the reality they share. With great subtlety, Clarke gradually elaborates an explanatory backstory to her tale’s events and reveals sinister occult machinations that build to a crescendo of genuine horror. This superbly told tale is sure to be recognized as one of the year’s most inventive novels."

Cold Storage

This work of speculative fictionby Michael C. Grumley is set 2046 after the United States as we know it has suffered The Collapse. In the Prologue, a man is taken into the Himalayas by a couple of guides who discovered a large metal structure in the ice. Upon verifying their story, the client murders both guides. The main story has to do with a mortal game of cat and mouse as one side is trying to revive and protect a man who has been cryogenically frozen, while the other side wants him back to learn things about how the process affected him. But as the book expands, we are introduced to the group of nine people who are planning to freeze themselves and be revived when medicine has advanced sufficiently to keep them alive much longer than normal. Obscene amounts of wealth and the technology and security resources that that wealth can buy definitely give them the upper hand. 

Publishers Weekly offers this review: Grumley's riveting sequel to Deep Freeze successfully steers the series into full-tilt sci-fi madness. After dying in a freak bus accident, U.S. Army veteran John Reiff was revived as part of a covert research program ...Twenty-three years later, Reiff has been frozen again and stored in a cabin in Utah. His body is removed from storage by a group of his apparent allies...They've retrieved Reiff because he's become a subject of interest for a shadowy group of power brokers called "The Nine," whose members want to know if Reiff's freezing had any adverse effects. If not, they plan to freeze themselves to survive a mysterious event. Once Reiff's rescuers bring him back to life, they learn he may be connected to a bizarre discovery involving space travel, which carries massive implications for the future of the planet. Grumley tosses a lot of balls in the air, but he juggles them all nimbly, keeping the plot's many surprises well concealed without sacrificing pace. Blake Crouch fans will love this."

A Man Named Doll

Happy Doll actually. Originally kind of a joke between his mother and father, but since Hank's (the name he goes by) mother died in childbirth, his father put that name on the birth certificate in honor of her. Of course his father never called him that--usually calling him Hapless or other derogatory names.  This book is the first of 3 in Jonathan Ames' "Happy Doll" series and I plan to read them all. There is nothing slick about this character. He's former LAPD and former Navy MP, and has a bit of a hero complex--always jumping in to help the underdog. He works as a private eye, but since business has slowed he also works security at a massage parlor. And that is where he kills his first person. Things rapidly go downhill from there. 

Publishers Weekly calls this "an exceptional series launch" and goes on to praise "assured plotting, superb local color, and excellent prose. Readers will happily root for Doll, a good detective and a decent human, in this often funny and grisly outing." Booklist--which got a couple of key details wrong in their review-- offers this positive conclusion: "Ames delivers an old-school L.A. crime novel that evokes Chandler with maybe an aftertaste of Bukowski. Readers expecting action won't be let down, and the sparkling yet unpretentious language gives the whole an extra kick. Recommend to noir fans, action fans, anyone who likes a good read." The New York Times calls this book "the first in a dark new private detective series that’s a tightly coiled double helix of offbeat humor and unflinching violence." And they continue, "There will be excised body parts, kidnappings, coerced surgeries, stolen cash, people tossed off balconies, fists rammed into Adam’s apples. Wherever Hank Doll goes, no matter how strange the trip, I’ll definitely follow."

The Star-Revue offers "A Man Named Doll is an affectionate, playful tribute to the hardboiled detective genre. Set in the present day...its story is narrated by Happy in short, staccato sentences ... and contains all of the noir genre’s classic elements: the fiercely independent investigator; a beautiful, mysterious woman; bad guys; an urban location; a complex plot; and existential underpinnings—whatever case Happy happens to be investigating, what concerns him most deeply is the meaning of life."