Among the Living

This is the newest release (Feb. 2024) of horror and fantasy author Tim Lebbon, an author new to me; I am a fan of some fantasy but not so much horror.  I would also characterize this book as speculative fiction, i.e., near possible future scenarios. Set in our world, now in advancing climate change, we encounter two teams with opposite goals. One is a team of 4 rare mineral prospectors, exploring areas that were previous inaccessible before the planet warmed up, and the other team of 3 are eco-activists, trying to prevent further destruction of a dramatically changing world. On team 1 is Dean, whose growing unease about what they are doing causes him to send an email to former friend Bethan, a member of team 2;  team 2 is not on the same island by chance, but due to Dean's warning. It reminds me of "The Body Snatchers," except, instead of aliens from another world, the threat comes from within our own. I'll let Publishers Weekly offer a further summary in their review.

"Combining a plausible existential threat with vivid depictions of a forbidding landscape, Lebbon (The Last Storm) crafts an expert work of ecological horror. In the near future, catastrophic climate change has so devastated the planet that America’s drought-afflicted farming belt is now known as the Desert. The demand for new sources of rare-earth minerals leads four experts to the Arctic’s Hawkshead Island, where they’ve identified a cave system that could yield riches. But when they enter, the researchers encounter an unusual group of mummified human remains, apparently tens of thousands of years old. Despite every indication that the bodies are long dead, one of them, whose head is in “an impossible position,” appears to move, sending the expedition members fleeing for their lives. When three of the four emerge from the caves, they meet another team, this one comprising activists and ecoterrorists, who are concerned that the intrusion may have unleashed a contagious intelligent disease that could kill every human on Earth. Lebbon skillfully exploits the very real concern that melting permafrost could release deadly viruses to create a nail-biting scientific thriller worthy of Michael Crichton. Readers will be wowed."

The New York Times brief review recommends it. "This novel is wildly entertaining. The ragtag band of survivors must traverse dangerous, unpredictable terrain full of snow bears and sinkholes, all while fighting creatures that emerge from the ground. The tension and violence are as aggressive as a revving engine here, but Lebbon’s timely message — that hurting our planet is hurting ourselves — is just as loud."

 

The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store

The only other book I have read by James McBride is his amazing memoir, The Color of Water, although Deacon King Kong and The Good Lord Bird are both on my TBR pile. Having read only his memoir, I wondered if the character Chona in this book was an homage to his mother, a Jewish woman, who lived in Harlem, married to a Black man and who truly considered them all equal as human beings. Kirkus also comments on this, "It’s possible to draw a clear, straight line from McBride’s breakthrough memoir, The Color of Water (1996), to the themes of this latest work."

Set in small town Pennsylvania in the 1930's, in the neighborhood of "Chicken Hill, a hardscrabble section of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, that is home to African Americans who fled racial violence in the Deep South and Jews who escaped the pogroms of Eastern Europe" (Booklist);  the rest of the white Christian town considers them lesser than. Of course, long after running water and sewer systems, paved sidewalks and streets have come to the main town, Chicken Hill remains without. Still the community is strong and Chona, a young Jewish woman who limps from polio, insists on running the only grocery store there at a loss, even though her husband has succeeded financially with 2 dance/ concert halls in town--both of them integrated. Although the book begins with a skeleton found in a well in the 1970's, that mystery is not resolved until the penultimate chapters of the book, while the focus for the remainder is on Chona and Moshe, their neighbors and a deaf Black boy, Dodo, they seek to hide from the state investigators who want to put him in a state asylum. Booklist goes on to say, "their neighbors are vibrant, complicated individuals, each improvising ways to get by, ultimately joining forces to try to keep the authorities from taking Dodo, a smart, sweet, Black, orphaned deaf boy, to the hellish state asylum. McBride incisively and prismatically evokes the timbre of Jewish and Black lives of the times, while spinning intriguing backstories and choreographing telling struggles over running water, class divides, and prejudice of all kinds. Funny, tender, knockabout, gritty, and suspenseful, McBride's microcosmic, socially critiquing, and empathic novel dynamically celebrates difference, kindness, ingenuity, and the force that compels us to move heaven and earth to help each other."

Library Jounal praises the book, closing their review by saying, "A compelling novel, compellingly written, and not to be missed." Publishers Weekly effuses, "McBride's pages burst with life, whether in descriptions of Moshe's dance hall, where folks get down to Chick Webb's 'gorgeous, stomping, low-down, rip-roaring, heart-racing jazz,' or a fortune teller who dances and cries out to God before registering her premonitions on a typewriter. This endlessly rich saga highlights the different ways in which people look out for one another." Likewise, Kirkus opens their review, "McBride follows up his hit novel Deacon King Kong (2020) with another boisterous hymn to community, mercy, and karmic justice." and praises his "the depth of characterizations and the pitch-perfect dialogue of his Black and Jewish characters."

The Raging Storm

I have not read any of Ann Cleeves books previously--at least any that I have written down--but I have watched multiple episodes of two TV series based on her Vera and Shetland books. Not familiar with the protagonist in this series, Detective Matthew Venn.  I'm relying on Library Journal's review for a plot summary:

"Greystone, in England's North Devon, is a remote, forbidding, stormy coastal community where lifeboats are essential. When Jeremy Roscoe walks into the Maiden's Prayer, he's welcomed as a local legend, an adventurer who attended Greystone schools and left to sail the world, becoming a TV star and celebrity. Now he's right there, renting a cottage, buying rounds in the bar every night. He slyly hints he's waiting for someone. But when he fails to show up one night, the locals feel cheated. Then the lifeboat is called out for a rescue, but it's too late--national treasure Roscoe is dead, in a stolen dinghy. Detective Matthew Venn and his small team report to Greystone, and it's a bitter return for Venn, who was there as a child with his parents' religious group, the Barum Brethren; some of the locals still belong to the group that Venn left. When another body is found, Venn realizes he's not the only one with bitter memories of Greystone. The third... in Cleeves's award-winning series is an atmospheric police procedural that builds on the other books while introducing fascinating suspects." This novel can easily be appreciated on its own without reading the previous two.

Booklist closes their review by saying, "Quiet tension, a moody atmosphere, and engaging characters heighten the mystery." There is also a nice summary of the story in Kirkus' review which closes with this high praise, "A surprising denouement moves this character-based mystery to the top tier." The New York Journal of Books rightly notes that the novel "includes the weather as a factor so strong as to qualify as a character—in this case, gray, cold, and wet, a ferociously windy antagonist that influences almost every character’s attitude." Their overall review is more lengthy and nuanced, starting by saying, "...for mystery readers who like boots-on-the-ground British police procedurals, book three in the Two Rivers series delivers." And they conclude their review, "...for readers who want a brainteaser to unravel by following the characters through the procedures of investigation—including coaxing needed information out of a recalcitrant, oftimes hostile community—The Raging Storm will keep them plenty intrigued." Publishers Weekly lands on the positive side, closing with "Cleeves crafts a devilishly intricate mystery that will surprise even seasoned genre fans, and Venn remains an appealing lead every bit as memorable as the author’s Vera Stanhope or Jimmy Perez."

The Queens of London

This is the latest of Heather Webb's 10 historical novels, this one centered on England's first all-female gang of thieves. The queen of the gang, Alice Diamond or, as she's known on the streets, Diamond Annie, has her own perspectives on justice and loyalty and isn't afraid to mete out punishment to anyone who crosses the line, male or female. The gang is called the Forty Elephants and they focus on shoplifting from high-end clothing stores, selling on to their fences, and dividing the money equally. With a different point of view is DC Lilian Wyles, one of the first women officers at the Met. She is trying to break free of the restrictive "women's work" --catching orphans--and is also trying to protect her women colleagues' standing in the police by being the best detective she can be. Catching the head of the Forty Elephants would certainly go some way towards convincing the higher ups that women are a valuable addition to the force.

Into the mix comes Hira, a young girl whose East Indian mother and English father have just died of cholera in India. Hira has been living with a wealthy but negligent uncle in Mayfair and she finds out that he plans to send her to a miserable boarding school for poor and delinquent girls in the north of England. She runs away into the seedier districts of London with absolutely no idea of how to survive. Befriended by a small scruffy dog, she is living in an empty flour barrel in an alley, trying to avoid the gangs of boys and the police, who would return her to her uncle. Alice finds her and uncharacteristically takes pity on the girl; she brings Hira home but warns her to stay out of sight of the abusive father of the family. She also introduces Hira to the Forty Elephants as a messenger and lookout, but Hira hates the thieving and violence she witnesses. On one of their jobs, Hira meets Dorothy, a kind sales woman at one of the department stores who offers the obviously hungry child her lunch. When Ruth, Alice's closest friend in the gang, is killed by her abusive boyfriend, Alice decides she must do more to protect her crew and starts scheming to buy a building that can be a safe house for all of them. But that's going to take more money than their usual shoplifting hauls provide. 

Booklist says of this book, "With engaging characters and strong women protagonists, Webb's page-turning historical work speaks to the challenges that women faced in the 1920s and the fortitude they needed in order to succeed in society led by men." Historical Novel Society also praises the book. "Queens of London is a whirlwind adventure through the streets of the Elephant and Castle neighborhood in early 20th-century London...And after only the first few pages you’ll be reading as much because you care about the characters as you will for the plot."

The author kindly provides notes and research sources so you can find out who and what events are based on actual persons/events and who/what is  fictional. I have to admit that for a significant part of the book, my sympathies were with the criminal gang.  

Look Closer

A member of my mystery book group, Diana, recommended this book because she said it had such a twisty ending. Absolutely left me astounded and made me want to read it a 2nd time to see if I missed any clues or was misled. Author David Ellis was the youngest judge to be on the Illinois Appellate Court but has nevertheless found the time and imagination to write several crime/thrillers on his own and many more in partnership with James Patterson. 

The book introduces "an unlikely ensemble [who] recount... the devious events that led to a grisly Halloween murder" (Kirkus). Beautiful Lauren Betancourt is found hanging from the 2nd floor balustrade of her home in a wealthy Chicago suburb. The book uses a lot of time shifts which are labeled with separate pages saying, for example, "Before Halloween: May 13." Each section then offers background information from several points of view: Simon Dobias, a well-respected law professor currently vying for tenure; his "wife" Vicky Lanier, to whom he has ostensibly been married for almost 10 years, although he is more in love with her than vice versa; Christian Newsome, a con artist who targets unhappily married women with access to a lot of money; and Sargent Jane Burke of the local police department, and the investigator assigned to Lauren's suspicious death. The reader is also privy to a journal, in which David keeps detailed notes of an affair he started with Lauren earlier in the year. Meanwhile, Vicky is planning to leave David after their 10th anniversary on Nov. 3rd, when she will have access to Simon's trust fund containing over $20 million; that's how she comes to meet Christian and begin an affair with him.

Kirkus goes on to say, "But whatever else you think you know in this twisty, intricately plotted story is likely wrong...Murder is far from the only crime committed among this shady lot, though, or even the most recent; the full extent of these devious characters’ various schemes and revenge plots is revealed in carefully scattered clues leading to a shocking, if somewhat improbable, conclusion. Even seasoned mystery readers won’t be able to predict all the knots in Simon and Vicky’s tangled web of deception. A roller-coaster ride full of unexpected twists and turns." 

Publishers Weekly describes the seminal event preceding the murder: "Vicky discovers the journal revealing Lauren's pressure on Simon to divorce Vicky before their anniversary, and she encourages Christian to take drastic action. ..the serpentine revelations will surprise even the cleverest mystery readers...[a] complex tale of triple-crossings and devious revenge..." 

The New York Times praises, "the fun is figuring out what parts of the story — if any — should be trusted...Though Ellis juggles a great many plot strands, he doesn’t drop them; the result is wildly entertaining...It helps that just about every character in the book is the very definition of unreliable."

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels

This very twisty tale by Janice Hallett could be called an epistolary novel, or as the book jacket describes it, ""A novel about a journalist in pursuit of a story about a child who survived a cult mass suicide, which may not be all that it appeared to be, told in Janice Hallett's signature original and innovative style of emails, messages, news clips, and screenplay excerpts."

Publishers Weekly summarizes in their review, "...true crime author Amanda Bailey investigates the Alperton Angels, a cult that carried out a mass suicide after one of its members—a teenager whom the cult was convinced had given birth to the anti-Christ—alerted the police to its criminal activities. Eighteen years have passed since the Angels’ death ritual, and no one has been able to track down the mother or her child since. Planning to write a book about the incident, Bailey searches for the missing Alperton baby, now presumably a young adult. There’s only one problem: rival author Oliver Menzies, with whom Bailey shares a checkered history, is on the same trail... Hallett isn’t afraid to make demands of her readers: she pieces most of the novel together via a series of WhatsApp messages and discarded drafts of Bailey and Menzies’ work. The twists never let up as Hallett barrels toward the finish, frequently undermining reader expectations along the way while staying firmly in the realm of fair play. Hallett’s fans and newcomers alike will relish this brilliantly constructed and eminently satisfying mystery."

The New York Times says of its characters. "The book works as a juicy mystery — what really happened all those years ago? — but is equally satisfying as a story about the combative relationship between Amanda and Oliver, observed and commented on by Ellie Cooper, Amanda’s wry, kibitzing transcriber. It’s also an unlikely ode to the joys and frustrations of shoe-leather research, especially when the case is as crazy and convoluted as this one. Amanda is a nimble, occasionally ruthless investigator who flatters and sometimes lies to potential interview subjects. Some of her sources flake out, a few mislead her and others are too frightened to reveal much. Worryingly, fatal accidents befall a number of people right before they disclose any information."  They also sum up my feelings about the book's challenges and rewards. "...At times it can feel as if Hallett is juggling too many balls — interpersonal dynamics, characters’ back stories, a dizzying cat’s cradle of conspiracies and interlocking crimes, not to mention a very complex denouement. It might help to jot down a few notes as you go along, just to keep things straight.But it’s worth the trouble to pay close attention to this highly entertaining tale as you parse the evidence, invited to be an armchair sleuth alongside the characters."

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

Yet another compelling non-fiction read from David Grann (see also Killers of the Flower Moon), this is the story of the British ships sent to steal treasure from a Spanish galleon in the mid-18th century and of the survivors. 

Kirkus provides this summary and review: Grann "returns with a rousing story of a maritime scandal. In 1741, the British vessel the Wager, pressed into service during England’s war with Spain, was shipwrecked in a storm off the coast of Patagonia while chasing a silver-laden Spanish galleon. Though initially part of a fleet, by the time of the shipwreck, the Wager stood alone, and many of its 250 crew members already had succumbed to injury, illness, starvation, or drowning. More than half survived the wreckage only to find themselves stranded on a desolate island. Drawing on a trove of firsthand accounts—logbooks, correspondence, diaries, court-martial testimony, and Admiralty and government records—Grann mounts a chilling, vibrant narrative of a grim maritime tragedy and its dramatic aftermath. Central to his populous cast of seamen are David Cheap, who, through a twist of fate, became captain of the Wager; Commodore George Anson, who had made Cheap his protégé; formidable gunner John Bulkeley; and midshipman John Byron, grandfather of the poet. Life onboard an 18th-century ship was perilous, as Grann amply shows. Threats included wild weather, enemy fire, scurvy and typhus, insurrection, and even mutiny. On the island, Cheap struggled to maintain authority as factions developed and violence erupted, until a group of survivors left—without Cheap—in rude makeshift boats. Of that group, 29 castaways later washed up on the coast of Brazil, where they spent more than two years in Spanish captivity; and three castaways, including Cheap, landed on the shores of Chile, where they, too, were held for years by the Spanish. Each group of survivors eventually returned to England, where they offered vastly different versions of what had occurred; most disturbingly, each accused the other of mutiny, a crime punishable by hanging. Recounting the tumultuous events in tense detail, Grann sets the Wager episode in the context of European imperialism as much as the wrath of the sea. A brisk, absorbing history and a no-brainer for fans of the author’s suspenseful historical thrillers." 

Booklist says "A new account of the Wager Mutiny, in which a shipwrecked and starving British naval crew abandoned their captain on a desolate Patagonian island, emphasizes the extreme hardships routinely faced by eighteenth-century seafarers as well as the historical resonance of the dramatic 1741 event...Grann ... vividly narrates a nearly forgotten incident with an eye for each character's personal stakes while also reminding readers of the imperialist context prompting the misadventure."  Likewise, Publishers Weekly offers, "Grann packs the narrative with fascinating details about life at sea--from scurvy-induced delirium to the mechanics of loading and firing a cannon--and makes excellent use of primary sources, including a firsthand account by 16-year-old midshipman John Byron, grandfather of the poet Lord Byron. Armchair adventurers will be enthralled." Soon to be a movie directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo diCaprio.

Lost City of the Monkey God

I knew Douglas Preston wrote thrillers but imagine my surprise when I started this book and found out it was a true account of the discovery of a lost civilization in the unexplored jungles of Honduras. Not only is Preston a prolific and accomplished non-fiction writer, but also an intrepid explorer. Since the time of Cortes, there have been stories about a prosperous ancient city often referred to as the "White City" or the "City of the Monkey God." There were claims in the 1940's by journalist Theodore Morde that he had found the lost city, but he killed himself without revealing the location. Preston was offered the chance by "nature-documentary filmmaker Steve Elkins" (Booklist) to join a team of archaeologists, photographers, botanists and other experts to try and locate the city. In 2012, using cutting edge and, at that time, highly classsified technology--lidar--they located not just once city but several settlements, strung along a river valley in the mountainous jungles of Honduras. Finally in January of 2015, they had gathered the resources to investigate on foot. Enlisting the help of the newly elected Honduran president and his minister of the interior and population, they were given permission. They were accompanied by "a trio of ex-military, jungle-warfare veterans" (Booklist)., as there were also drug dealers known to be working in the surrounding area. It was a grueling trek to reach the targeted location, and the camp they established was as challenging as the worst sort of survival test. It often rained ceaselessly for days, turning the camp into ankle-deep mud, the surrounding jungle was filled with lethally poisonous snakes (fer-de-lance) as well as disease carrying mosquitos and sandflies. Nevertheless, they persisted in some basic exploration, uncovering several partial structures and numerous artifacts, which they jointly agreed should be left in situ. By the time they had to leave and then return to the U.S. to regroup, half the team had starting showing signs of a potentially fatal type of parasitic disease, leishmaniasis. Fortunately for them, it was the variety for which some treatment options were available; although these could be as lethal as the disease itself.  Remarkably, most of the party returned to the site one year later to document their findings and to retrieve and preserve any visible artifacts that might be looted. 

Kirkus calls the book "A story that moves from thrilling to sobering, fascinating to downright scary—trademark Preston, in other words, and another winner." Library Journal says "Preston's journalistic experience is on full display as he gives not only the viewpoint of those in the expedition but also those on the outside....A great story with many paths to interest fans of history, archaeology, adventure, environmentalism, South America, or diseases." Booklist closes their review by asserting "Replete with informative archaeology lessons and colorful anecdotes about the challenges Elkins' crew faced during the expedition, including torrential rains and encounters with deadly snakes, Preston's uncommon travelogue is as captivating as any of his more fanciful fictional thrillers."

Publishers Weekly elaborates:"Novelist Preston’s irresistibly gripping account of his experiences as part of the expedition to locate an ancient city in the Honduran mountains reads like a fairy tale minus the myth. 'There was once a great city in the mountains,' he writes, 'struck down by a series of catastrophes, after which the people decided the gods were angry and left, leaving their possessions. Thereafter it was shunned as a cursed place, forbidden, visiting death on those who dared enter.'... Preston...brings readers into the field while enriching the narrative with historical context, beginning with 16th-century rumors of the city’s existence reported by explorer Hernán Cortés after his conquest of Mexico. Along the way, Preston explains the legendary abandonment of the City of the Monkey God and provides scientific reasoning behind its reputation as life-threatening.”

Sanctuary

I thought this book by V.V. James was really well-done, keeping me up late into the morning hours to finish. The small Connecticut town of Sanctuary got it's name when the local populace successfully drove all the witches out at the height of the mass hysteria about witches in the late 17th and early 18th century. But in this book, in more modern times, witches are licensed and more or less accepted and many in the town's population have taken advantage of Sarah Fenn's magic--their resident witch. Sarah's daughter, Harper, is 17 and graduating from high school. Sarah was devastated when she learned, on Harper's 13th birthday, that she did not have the "gift."

At the high school graduation party in a rented house, Daniel Whitman, the school's promising quarter back, falls from the 2nd floor landing and the house catches fire. Student flee the burning building and Daniel is left behind. His mother goes mad with grief and then rage. A detective from the state polic, Maggie Knight, who was assigned to this town once before in years past, is brought in for the investigation and, initially, everyone thinks this is a tragic accident. But then Jake, Dan's sycophantic friend and also the son of Sanctuary's chief of police, shows his father a video clip and swears that ex-girlfriend Harper killed Dan with magic. Everyone swears Harper has no magic abilities, but Harper has made herself scarce in town--understandably--so Maggie tries to keep the lid on emotions in town until more evidence is obtained. She brings in a witch investigator who verifies that magic was used. Sarah is the only registered witch in town and she swears her daughter has no power and, she was at a dinner party with her three closest friends, who include Dan's mother, at the time the fall and fire happened. But the witch hunt is on and people who have relied on Sarah begin to turn on her and she is no longer safe in Sanctuary.

The ending was not at all what I expected. Publishers Weekly gave the book a glowing review, calling it a "riveting mystery," and concluding that author James' "Assured prose and a tight plot lift this tale ...[and]  is off to a fine start."

Here is an interview with author Vic James about the writing of Sanctuary and the TV series that was made from it.