Runemarks

An Advanced Reader's Copy of Joanne Harris's first book for a tweens/YA audience has been sitting on my bookshelf for over 10 years. Harris is the bestselling author of Chocolat--the movie version of which is one of my all-time favorites (how can you go wrong with Judy Dench and Johnny Depp?).  Of course by now, there is a sequel to this book which I will have to track down, Runelight. 

Our protagonist is 14-year-old Maddy, who has always been an outcast in her small village of Malbry due to the runemark on her hand.  According to author Harris, "Runemarks is set in a universe of nine Worlds, not unlike that of Norse legend. Five hundred years have passed since Ragnarók, and the world has rebuilt itself anew. The old gods are no longer revered. Their tales have been banned. Magic has been outlawed, and a new religion – called the Order – has taken its place.

The Order is a crusading religion. It works from an ancient text – simply called The Good Book – and its ultimate mission is to bring Perfect Order to all the Worlds. This means an end to Chaos, to magic, to superstition, to false belief, to dreams, to stories (except for the stories in the Good Book) as well as to Faëries, goblins, dwarves, witches – and of course any old gods who still happen to be around." The mark on Maddy's hand make some people think she is a witch; the villagers have tolerated Maddy but she is bullied and tormented by the village children and distrusted by the adults, including her father. She feels very alone, until one day she spies a journeyman making his way along the road over Red Horse Hill and feels compelled to follow him. Eventually he acknowledges her presence and grudgingly stops to talk with her, and so begins an annual meeting between the two as he tells her tales of the before times. This traveler, One-Eye, sees Maddy's mark as a destiny rather than a cause for fear and rejection.

Expanding exuberantly on Norse mythology, Harris's heroine Maddy is called upon to play a crucial role in freeing the Seven Sleepers under the mountains (Norse gods) in an effort to stop the domination of all worlds by The Order. It's a long book but very compelling. Maddy is a well-drawn character as are the other actors in this worlds' shaking tale. It is a long book but well-told with down-to-earth dialogue that kept me engaged.

The Guardian offers a mixed review.

November Road

With the assassination of JFK as a backdrop, author Lou Berney, who won an Edgar Award for his earlier novel The Long and Faraway Gone, brings together two characters whose paths would normally never have crossed. Frank Guidry is a fixer for mob boss, Carlos Marcello, and living the good life in New Orleans. When Guidry slowly realizes that, in following orders from Marcello, he has inadvertently played a role in setting up the assassination, and that everyone connected to the deed is quickly disappearing, he makes a run for it. He heads to Las Vegas, where another dangerous and unpredictable organized crime boss--who hates Marcello--will hopefully help Guidry disappear before Marcello's top assassin, Barone, catches up to him. Along the way, Guidry stops to help a woman, with her two daughters and an ancient dog, after her car breaks down. After all, what better disguise for a single man on the run than a make-believe family. But before he knows it, Guidry has been beguiled by smart and funny Charlotte Roy and her daughters. Charlotte is also on the run--from an alcoholic, ne'er-do-well husband in Oklahoma. She wants a better life for herself and her daughters and is taking a chance on a distant aunt in California. Guidrey begins to think that maybe they can make their new life together, but can he convince Charlotte and can they get away in time when everyone is looking to cash in on Guidry's demise?

Booklist gives this a starred review, calling it "Pitch-perfect fiction...[that] easily reaches across the aisle separating thrillers and literary fiction." Kirkus says the book "Perfectly captures these few weeks at the end of 1963—all that was lost and all that lay tantalizingly and inevitably just beyond the horizon... Berney’s gentle, descriptive writing brilliantly reflects these times of both disillusionment and hope." The Washington Post calls it " both a road novel and a first-rate thriller" as well as "a surprising but credible love story." Their reviewer goes on to say, "Ultimately, the novel stands or falls on Berney’s ability to convince us that an amoral criminal is capable of changing so completely. November Road could easily have descended into sentimental cliches, but — thanks largely to the character of Charlotte — it never does." What do you think?

The Sentence is Death

Another one by Anthony Horowitz that I read recently. Like The Word is Murder, this book features the author himself as the main character. In the midst of filming a particularly problematic episode of Foyle's War, Horowitz is again approached by former Scotland Yard detective, Daniel Hawthorne, to continue writing a book about his cases. Hawthorne has been called in to solve another murder, this time of celebrity-divorce lawyer, Richard Pryce. Pryce was bashed over the head with a bottle of wine worth 3,000 pounds, and he didn't even drink alcohol. The obvious suspect is the ex-wife of a man Pryce recently represented successfully in their divorce (and who gave Pryce the bottle of wine as a thank you gift)--mainly because she publicly threatened Pryce in an upscale restaurant. But neither Horowitz nor Hawthorne are convinced she is the guilty party, although she is certainly an unpleasant person. As they investigate anyone connected to Pryce, it becomes clear that others had motive to murder. Although Hawthorne intends Horowitz to be the Watson to his Holmes, Horowitz is determined to figure out this puzzle first. To complicate matters, the detective actually assigned to the case hates Hawthorne and, by association, Horowitz, and is determined that she will get all the credit. She is willing to do anything to win, including framing Horowitz for book theft in order to blackmail him into giving her all the information that Hawthorne uncovers. Trapped between an uncommunicative Hawthorne and an unethical cop, Horowitz has his work cut out for him. 

 NPR's reviewer implies the book leaves readers anticipating a third installment. The New York Journal of Books is more effusive, calling this "one of summer’s grandest, guiltiest pleasures. ... Pray for solitary confinement, because you’ll want to read this one straight through and uninterrupted." Booklist notes that literary references abound and that readers may enjoy Howowitz's insight into the publishing industry; they add that readers will also "rack their brains deciding which stories are true and which are fictional."

Moonflower Murders

Once again Anthony Horowitz has written a story within a story (see also my posts for Magpie Murders and The Word is Murder). In this book, we are back to Susan Ryeland, who is now the former editor of now deceased detective/mystery novelist Alan Conway. Susan is now running a hotel in Crete with her significant other, Andreas. She feels exhausted from the endless problems associated with the business and so, when an elderly couple comes to her claiming that their daughter has disappeared as a result of reading Conway's 3rd book, she accepts their offer to come to England and try to find the daughter. Besides, they offer her a hefty financial inducement, which could pay off many of the hotel's debts. So the book is the story of Susan trying to figure out where the daughter is or who might want to harm her AND it is a complete version of the 3rd book by Conway, Atticus Pünd Takes the Case. The book is loosely inspired by an actual murder that took place at the hotel owned by the elderly couple, the Trehernes. The victim was an acquaintance of Conway's and he spent several days at the hotel interviewing owners and staff; the novel he wrote changes the location, the names of the characters, but does not depict any of them in a favorable light. A staff person was convicted of the murder and has spent the last 8 years in jail, but the Treherne's missing daughter, Cecily, called her parents after reading the book, convinced that the wrong man is in jail. She disappeared the next day. 

The New York Times said this book can "literally be described as a mystery wrapped in an enigma."And the reviewer goes on to say that it's unlikely that reading the book within the book will help you solve the current mystery. "The reader’s feeble flashes of understanding are no match for Horowitz’s brand of three-dimensional chess, and the answers will be uncovered only through Susan’s expert textual analysis." The Washington Post says, "you’ll get two books for the price of one. Quite literally." They also admire Horowitz's storytelling inventiveness and craft, noting that the book "showcases a cleverness and finesse that even Dame Agatha might envy. 'Moonflower Murders' resembles a super Mobius strip, interlacing multiple degrees and levels of fictiveness." Kirkus calls it, somewhat ambiguously, "The most over-the-top of Horowitz’s frantically overplotted whodunits to date—and that’s no mean feat."

Because Conway's fictional protagonist, Pünd, is so clearly a take-off from Christie's Hercule Poirot, fans of that character will be drawn to the story within the story. Long but an entertaining read.

The Talented Miss Farwell

Becky Farwell is good with numbers and so, after her mom is gone, she takes over the accounting for her father's farm machinery business. And she learns how to make a profit. Then she goes to work for her hometown of Pierson, Illinois in the accounting office and works her way up to comptroller. Here, too, she finds a way to make a profit--for herself. This novel by Emily Gray Tedrowe is perhaps an homage to Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, and also a haunting examination of obsession. For Becky discovers, quite by accident, that she has an eye for art. And, after a rocky start, she uses her ill-gotten gains from embezzling town funds to start buying an art collection. She always intends to make enough money to pay back every penny--her justification for siphoning off the much needed funds for maintaining the town's infrastructure. As with many obsessions, however, nothing is ever enough. She barely manages to survive the financial recession that renders her collection worth less than she paid for it and comes roaring back, moving into the New York market and making even more money. She remodels her father's old barn into a high tech art gallery that no one ever sees, where she stores her growing and constantly evolving collection. But we all know it must come tumbling down one day. When the town finds out that the woman they had admired for years is the worst kind of betrayer, they think her best friend must have been in on the scheme all along. This book is partly inspired by the true story of a woman who stole over $50 million from her small Illinois town. Publishers' Weekly gave this a starred review, concluding that her "unusual plot and Tedrowe’s spirited execution of it make this one sing."Although I did sort of marvel at Becky's ability to keep so many balls in the air, I never really liked her and I only kept reading because I really wanted to know how it turned out.