Walkabout Woman

By Michaela Roessner

Raba is a young Australian aboriginal girl who has just turned old enough to attend the white man's missionary school. But Raba is not the typical little girl, she has a special connection to the land. She is going to be the link for the people to return to Dreamtime. Dreamtime is the story of the creation of life and its meaning and of mankind's place in the world, past and present and future. (Dreamtime is the white man's term for it.)
Anyway, Raba's path is not straightforward. First, there is interference by a well-meaning missionary teacher. Then when Raba is a teen, her chosen lover is being controlled by his malignant father, who wants to keep his son for his own purposes. Tragedy then sends Raba into a mental hospital for many months. After recovery, Raba goes off to college and into the teaching profession where she runs afoul of a student who is determined to use Raba's mystical abilities for her own ends.

The first part of the story was really good and very engrossing. But the last part, where Raba is a college professor just wasn't anywhere near as interesting and Raba comes off as weak and ineffective, in my opinion.

Review from Black Gate.

Guard of Honor

By James Gould Cozzens

This book is the Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction in 1949.

Set in a military base in Florida, 1943, this is the story of three days in the life of that base.
General Beal, base commander, is flying into the base when his plane is involved in a near miss with another plane. After the two planes land, one of the men that was riding in the plane with Beal punches the pilot of the other pilot, sending him to the hospital with a broken nose. The other pilot was a young black man, Lt. Willis, and a group of black officers takes umbrage at his treatment. So when the black officers are not allowed the use regular officer club, they become even more upset and a confrontation at the officer club occurs.
Meanwhile, the local newspaper is sniffing around and it soon becomes apparent that someone has been leaking information to the news that should not be in the public eye. Plus, a big celebration is being planned for General Beal's birthday and two generals from higher up the chain of command are flying into the base for the occasion and for other reasons, some relating to the incidents with Lt. Willis and the black officers. All this adds up to a lot of people stressing about a lot of different things, with lots of meetings and lots of memos. But in the end, it all pales in the face of a genuine tragedy.

What a pain in the neck this book was to read. I started reading it last year (2018) and I just now finished it in June 2019. The main problem was the huge number of characters to keep track of, their military ranks, their jobs & their personal stories. It was just too much to keep track of.
Also, the plot just wasn't that engaging.

Review from Kirkus Reviews. This review is from 1948.

The Divide

By Nicholas Evans

Ben decided his wife, Sarah, was frigid. So when he met beautiful, young Eve, he was ready. Ready for a new love, a new life and a new family. Never mind that his request for a divorce tore his family apart. Never mind that his wife loved him very much. Never mind that it especially threw his daughter, Abbie, into a tailspin that took her down a dark path that ended in her death on a remote mountain in Montana.
It all started at the dude ranch, The Divide. Ben and Sarah and their two kids Josh and Abbie had been vacationing there for years. They loved it. But that is where Ben first saw Eve. He was smitten. He couldn't stop thinking about her. He even visited her at her home in Santa Fe. When she said she wouldn't date a married man, Ben took it as encouragement to end his marriage.
Sarah was devastated. Perhaps her obvious distress affected her teenage daughter too. Anyway, Abbie was very angry at her father and seemed to channel that rage into environmental activism. She was at a protest where the protesters were teargassed when she was rescued by another activist, Rolf. He tended her wounds and bathed her eyes and he seemed so caring and committed to the cause of environmental activism. Abbie was completely won over and became his lover and co-conspirator. They set fires and spray painted slogans and Rolf led her deeper and deeper down the path to destruction.  Then they accidentally killed a young man when they tried to set fire to his father's house and he caught them. In the confrontation and struggle, the man was killed. Abbie and Rolf went into hiding and Abbie cut off almost all communication with her family, per Rolf's instructions.
And then her body was found, frozen in ice on that remote mountainside by two back country skiers.

This was an OK story. It starts out as a mystery. But it is mostly about the end of the marriage of Ben and Sarah. And about Abbie's conversion from college student to eco-terrorist.
The thing is, I thought I was reading a mystery story. I kept waiting for the investigation but was wading through chapter after chapter of the family's back story. Frankly, I skipped a lot of that, thinking the investigation was sure to start soon. But it never did.
So this is not a murder mystery. It is the story of a family that went off the rails, primarily because of one selfish man, Ben. Beyond the death of his daughter, Ben never really pays much of a price either. He is pleased with his new life in Santa Fe, his new love, Eve and is a second father to her young son. He has a successful new career, his girl friend is young and beautiful and his teenage son has forgiven him and likes his new family. Meanwhile the ex-wife is still reeling from the abrupt and unexpected end of their over twenty years of marriage. She is still carrying a torch for her faithless husband. She is depressed, alone and lonely. The author finally throws her a bone and gets her a new boy friend at the very end of the story. Easy to see where his sympathies lie: with the cheating husband.

A review by Kirkus Reviews.

Goodnight Nobody

By Jennifer Weiner

Raising kids in the city can be difficult. Kate and her husband Ben were trying to do so when Kate was robbed while taking her young children out for a stroll. The thief even stole the stroller.  So that was that. Goodbye, NYC. Hello, Upchurch.
Now a suburban mom, Kate is feeling alienated from the other women of her new community. They seem so much more put together, more organized, more in control. Kate has casual acquaintances among the Upchurch moms but no real friends. So when one of the moms calls and asks Kate to stop by, it's unusual and unexpected. Even more unexpected is the woman's dead body laying on the floor with a knife in her back.
Since she is the one who found the victim, Kitty Cavanaugh, Kate feels more than a little involved. The cops seem to have given up on the investigation and so Kate dives into the perfect life of perfect mom, perfect wife, perfect hostess, perfect everything, Kitty Cavanaugh. Doesn't take her long to understand that no one in Upchurch has the perfect lives they all work so hard to present to the world.

This was an OK read. Much of the story is about Kate's relationship with her husband and an old crush from before her marriage who broke her heart. As Kate's investigation proceeds, her relationship with Ben becomes rockier and rockier and the old crush showing up doesn't make it any easier. Kate doesn't make a real decision about Ben vs the crush, Evan:

I waved, then flipped onto my back and floated in the pale green ocean water, looking up at the sky. Come home to me, said Ben. Come back to me, said Evan. I closed my eyes, listening for my answer. My hair trembled in the water. My body rose and fell. The waves rolled in and out, saying nothing at all.

The Kate and Ben story feels unfinished and the murder motive is more than a little weak and disappointing.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

The Moon-Spinners

By Mary Stewart

Nicola is on spring vacation to Crete. Arriving at her destination a day early, she decides to take a hike up into the hills. It's warm out and after awhile, she takes a break beside a mountain stream. But she is not alone, a strange man is spying upon her from the bushes. Alarmed, she tries to leave only to be set upon by the man and dragged off to a dingy shepherds hut.
Things are not as they seem, though, as soon as they enter the hut. For laying on a rough bed of hay is a young Englishman who quickly instructs the other man to release Nicola. She discovers the Englishman is suffering from a gunshot wound and the other man hid him in the hut to conceal him from the murderous locals.
The two men, Lambis & Mark were out for a harmless ocean cruise and came ashore for a break from being on the water. They were accompanied by Mark's younger brother Colin who is only thirteen. Lambis, who owns the boat, stayed at the boat to make some minor repairs and Colin and Mark went for a hike. But they unfortunately witnessed some locals get into an argument which ended up in murder. And when the locals discovered the two witnesses, they shot Mark and left him for dead and carried off young Colin.
When the two tourists didn't return to the boat, Lambis went looking for them and found Mark, still alive but not in good condition. And now Nicola has stumbled upon the two and she becomes tangled up in whatever bad business is going on in the hills of Crete.

I first read this book back in the 1960s and I found it quite exciting and the descriptions of Crete enchanting. I have since read at least three or four more times and enjoyed it very much, though not as much as the first time. And I still find the writer's descriptions of Crete captivating and enticing.  Although the Crete of the early 1960s probably bears little resemblance to the Crete of 2019. It still makes me wish to visit there even though it is likely overrun with tourists these days.
As for the mystery story, it is thrilling and enjoyable even after several re-readings and fifty years later.

Review by Dear Author.

Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddha

By Dorothy Gilman

Book 7 in the Mrs. Pollifax series finds the matronly spy off on another adventure, this time in Hong Kong.
A young man she befriended on a previous trip to China, Sheng Ti, works for an importer, Feng Imports. Tom Detwiler also works for Feng Imports but he has a side job: he provides information to the CIA. But lately it has become apparent that Detwiler is compromised. The CIA wants Mrs. Pollifax to use her friendship with Sheng Ti to get inside Feng Imports and figure out what is going on with Detwiler.
Nothing is ever that simple in a Pollifax story and complications soon arise once she is in Hong Kong. But with the help of a new friend and of an old friend and at the risk of her neck, Mrs. Pollifax will come shining through.

This was a good story. Mrs. Pollifax is a little less active than she usually is in one of these stories, which I thought was way more believable than some of the stunts she pulls in so many of the stories. She travels around Hong Kong and views the many sights and spends much of her time at her hotel, acting like a normal woman in her fifties or sixties.

Lady

By Thomas Tryon

Lady and her husband were one of the best families of the small town where she lived. Lady was beautiful, kind and gracious and lived the good life. Widowed after just a few years of marriage, she lived the rest of her life alone except for her two faithful servants.
Everyone in town knew the story of Lady and Edward. Wealthy, handsome, young Edward was looking for a wife and Lady, so young, lovely and innocent, daughter of an impoverished seamstress, was just the girl he was looking for. So they quickly married and soon a baby was on the way. Then the luck turned against them. Lady fell and lost the baby. She became quite ill and spent months in the hospital. Her mind was affected by her illness and she was afterward subject to periods of depression.
World War I started and Edward went off to serve. He was wounded and came home to recuperate but his health was severely affected and he died of the influenza. Lady was left alone and never seemed interested in finding a new love.
Across the street was another young woman who lost her husband too soon. She is raising her large family all alone, working full time and leaving much of the care of the kids to her oldest daughter.
The middle boy, Woody, becomes fast friends with Lady and he spends as much time as possible with her. He basks in the love and attention she gives him and he suffers when she shuts herself away in the grip of one of her black moods, which can last for weeks and weeks. He would love to help but, a mere child, he doesn't understand her suffering.
Everyone in the small town knows about Lady's bouts of depression where she shuts herself away from the outside world. They all attribute it to her grief over the loss of her husband, Edward. She even keeps a shrine dedicated to Edward in the front room of her house, with photos of him and other mementos. She keeps his clothes locked away in their bedroom and refuses to get rid of them.  To all appearances, she never got over losing Edward.
Then Woody stumbles upon Lady's long hidden secret and he is shocked to his core. So shocked that he cuts off all contact with her. However, Woody isn't the only one who has discovered Lady's secret. Before much longer the whole town in privy to the secret and all but her closest friends turn their backs on her.
Eventually Woody and Lady reconcile and, in her old age, Lady finally reveals the details of her marriage to Edward and the truth of what she sacrificed to continue to live in the house across the street.

This was a pretty good story. It sort of bogged down in the middle of the book and didn't really pick up until Lady's big secret is revealed. All throughout the first part, we are given hints that Lady has some huge secret and it takes way too long to get to the big reveal. I admit I got impatient and wanted the author to stop dragging it out and dragging it out. But other than that, it was an enjoyable novel.

The Genocidal Healer

By James White

Lioren was a capable young surgeon in the Monitor Corps when he and the space ship he served on were called to attend an emergency situation on a newly discovered and civilized planet. The population of this planet are in crisis, being decimated by a planet-wide plague. If something isn't done, and quickly, there will be no one left alive.
Seized by a sense of urgency, Lioren makes a tragic mistake that results in the deaths of nearly all the inhabitants of the planet. As punishment, Lioren is stripped of his rank and kicked out of the Corps. He is then assigned to the position of trainee in the psychology department of Sector General Hospital, a hospital that specializes in treating beings from all over the galaxy, manned by beings from all over the galaxy.
But this is not what Lioren wants. His overwhelming feelings of guilt causes him to crave a much harsher penalty: a death sentence. Working at Sector General in the psychiatric department is the last thing he wants. But it just might be exactly what he needs.

This was an okay story. But towards the last third, a lot of the book is discussions about religion and guilt and god and the meaning of existence.  So not anything I care about. That part was boring, just boring.

Back When We Were Grownups

By Anne Tyler

Rebecca was pretty sure she was going to marry Will Allenby. He was a nice, solid young man and they had been dating for quite a while. But then she met Joe Davitch, a much older man with three little girls he was raising on his own. Something about Joe just captured her heart and she dumped Will with hardly a word of explanation beyond just goodbye:

'Will set an index finger on his page and raised his head. "Goodbye, Will," she told him.
"Huh?" he asked. "You're leaving? So soon? I still have work to do!"
"That's all right; stay where you are."
"Oh. Well. Okay. So, um . . . au revoir, I guess."
"No," she said. "Goodbye."
And then she walked out the door and into Joe Davitch's arms.' 

After a few years of marriage, Joe died in a crash. And Rebecca was alone and responsible for now four young girls (she and Joe had a little girl) and the family business. Joe's ex-wife was no help and lived overseas.
Now all the girls are adults and one of them is getting married and Rebecca is looking back on her life and thinking that she missed out. Thinking that she kind of got trapped in a life and marriage she never envisioned. And her thoughts turn to her old beau, Will. She constructs a what-might-have-been fantasy, complete with a fantasy son. The fantasy becomes so compelling that Rebecca tracks down Will and reignites a relationship with him.
But her fantasy family of Will and son turns to ashes in the face of reality. Even though her fantasy was way off base, maybe she and Will can have a second chance together. Or will she suddenly remember how easy it was to walk away from him the first time?

This was an OK read. What I didn't like about the story is the main character, Rebecca. She just didn't appeal to me. I thought her fantasy about Will was stupid and I thought her image of herself was deluded and I frankly hated the messed up way she treated poor Will.
It's hard to like a story when you can't stand the main character.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Double Contact

By James White

Sector General Hospital serves any living being that needs medical care. It is not based on a planet but is a massive space-based hospital. It has doctors and nurses, human and nonhuman, all working together to treat any intelligent being that needs it, no matter how bizarre or different they may be.
As a hospital, they naturally provide ambulance and rescue vehicles, designed to respond quickly to whatever emergency comes their way. Sometimes those distress calls come from creatures never before encountered and of totally unfamiliar biology.
In this story, Dr. Prilicla, the Cinrusskin, is sent out with a crew to locate and attend the unknown beings who have launched distress beacons. Dr. Prilicla possesses a highly developed empathic ability. He is able to read the emotions of those around him. Plus he is a skilled surgeon. On the other hand, he is not a courageous being, like other Cinrusskins, who are known for their timidity and fragility.
Upon arrival at the location of the distress beacon, the doctor and his team find an alien vessel and a Monitor Corps vessel, both vessels disabled and in distress. The Monitor Corps vessel was in the area doing surveys and responded to the beacon, only to be attacked by the alien vessel. The Monitor Corps crew has to be rescued first, as they are in the most danger and several crew members are seriously wounded.
Once their are dealt with, Dr. Prilicla turns his attention to the beings on board the alien ship. The ship contains only two beings, both of which are surgically attached to the ship and both of which are suffering from injuries acquired during what turned out to be an accident or malfunction.
But why did they attack the first ship to respond to the distress beacon? And how can they be successfully treated for their injuries when the mere sight of a human being put them into hysterical panic? Because of this unreasoning fear of the human medical personnel, almost all the weight of their treatment will thus fall upon Dr. Prilicla's puny "shoulders." (Does Prilicla even have shoulders?)

This was an okay story. A little boring. Towards the end of the story, another new alien race is introduced, a spider people who kidnaps one of the human medical personnel with plans to eat her. But even the introduction of this new element does little to liven up the story.
It probably helps if the reader is familiar with the Sector General stories before reading this one.

Here is a link to a Wikipedia article about Sector General.

And here is Wikipedia's description of Dr. Prilicla:

A large but fragile winged insect-like being from the very low-gravity planet Cinruss. In addition to being highly skilled in the more delicate types of surgery, Prilicla is an empath and therefore can sense the emotions of most other lifeforms including many non-intelligent animals. Its tact and the desire of colleagues to avoid distressing it by displaying negative emotions generally makes others willing to follow its advice – a pattern that one reviewer described as "a pleasant Machiavellian streak." Despite its natural timidity and the distress that other beings' anger, fear and pain cause it, Prilicla uses its empathic ability in prolonged searches for survivors of space combat and accidents.

Last Writes

By Laura Levine

Book Two in the Jaine Austen mystery series.

Jaine has a new job as a comedy writer on a sitcom, thanks to her friend Kandi. Kandi is also working as a writer on the sitcom, having quit her previous writing job.
Now that Jaine is on the job, murder is not far behind. The teenage star of the show is caught having sex with the man who plays her uncle. This actor is soon revealed to be involved with nearly every female at the studio, including Jaine's friend Kandi.
Having broken so many hearts with his fling with the teenager, it is no surprise when he ends up poisoned. Too bad for Kandi that she was overheard threatening to kill him. Now she is suspect number one. Of course Jaine is not going to let her friend go to jail without trying to discover the real killer.

This was an OK read. Jaine's character still can't pass up any sweets that cross her path, a fact that she laments all the time. It was kind of cute and funny in the first two books I read. But a bit of a tired joke the third time around. Honestly, the amount of food and drink Jaine packs away in this story, she ought to weigh over 200 pounds instead of being, I'm guessing, a size 12.
Anyways, it was an fair read with kind of a weird ending. Slightly amusing but not laugh-out-loud funny.

Review from Publishers Weekly.

Potato Queen

By Rafaelito V. Sy

Juancho is an immigrant from the Philippines. But unlike a lot of immigrants, he is not escaping poverty. He grew up in a mansion with servants. He attended the best schools and went to college in the States. After college he got a job working for a travel agency that specializes in tours of the Far East. He parents love him and his siblings are successful in their own right.
So why has he left his family and settled in San Francisco? As he explains at the end of the book, "I would rather be alone in America than to be a freak in my own country." He says that in the Philippines, homosexuals are perceived as, "aberrations of nature no different from Barnum and Bailey's circus of freaks."
Juancho knew from a young age that he was attracted to men. His first crush was the maid's boyfriend, James Cagney Alejandro. The boyfriend was half-American and had fair skin. Ever after, Juancho would be attracted to white men. Thus the title of the book, Potato Queen. As I understand it, which I admit is not well, a potato queen is an non-white male attracted to white, European-looking men. Where a rice queen is a white man attracted to Asians, especially to young, boyish Asians.
Juancho longs for true love. But every man he thinks is the beginning of something wonderful turns out to be just a one-night-stand. Gerald, the man he becomes closest too, isn't interested in continuing their relationship beyond friendship. He and Juancho spend a lot of time together, they go on hikes, they go to the gym, they meet friends for dinner and they go clubbing together. But Gerald won't take it any further.
The other men Juancho falls hard for also are not interested in anything beyond casual relationships. They seem happy to be with him for one night and then move on. Poor Juancho is left heartbroken, yearning and lonely.

I knew this story had gay characters. But I bought it because the blurb on the front said, "Very funny! It's what Desperate Housewives would be if it were set in The Castro." And "J'adorable!"
I found it to be neither funny nor adorable. That doesn't mean I disliked it though. I totally identified with Juancho's feelings as he chased after the ever-elusive lovers. His doubts and questions were so familiar to me, as a straight woman. Love makes fools of us all, no matter our sexual orientation, I guess.
There is a lot of gay sex in this book, but it is not explicit. It is touched upon but not in pornographic detail.

The Dirty Girls Social Club

By Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

It's not really a club. It's just a group of women who became friends in college and still keep in touch even though they no longer live near each other.
Lauren writes a column about her ordinary life for a Boston newspaper. She has a boyfriend, but she suspects he is unfaithful. She is bulimic and tends to drink too much.
Usnavys is successful and self-employed and loves the finer things in life. Her serious boyfriend is the opposite and never seems to have two pennies to rub together.
Sara is the devoted wife and mother but seems unable to accept the truth about her husband, an abusive brute who ends up putting her in the hospital and causing her to lose her unborn baby.
Rebecca is the successful owner of a magazine for women. She is also unhappily married when a handsome and available new man enters her life.
Together they are the dirty girls and together they help each other cope with the ups and downs of just being alive.

This was an OK read. Kind of boring at times. Predictable too.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Playing With Boys

By Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

Sometimes things just come together. It did for Alexis when she met two strangers. One was an unemployed actress and the other was a writer with a story that needed to be told. And Alexis was just the one who could bring these two together and change all three of their lives for the better.
The actress, Marcella, is beautiful, talented but has been stuck playing the hot Latina rolls. Rolls she is getting too old for and that no longer appeal to her.
The writer, Olivia, needs to tell the story of her father's murder by the Salvadoran death squads. But she is a beginner writer and Alexis is just the professional she needs to bring her vision to the world.
As for Alexis, she manages a Mexican pop band and she is itching to start her own management company and Marcella and Olivia are just the people she needs to stretch her wings. Together, the skies the limit.

This was a pretty good read. Alexis is the main character, and she has the typical romance novel love story where the girl is involved with the wrong guy and that guy treats her badly and then she finds a new guy but the new guy is either taken or oblivious but eventually he wakes up and discovers his true feelings for the girl. The usual.

Review from Kirkus Reviews.

Venus Plus X

By Theodore Sturgeon

Charlie Johns woke up to find himself among people who looked human but preferred to think of themselves as the next step beyond homo sapiens. They call themselves the Ledom. They appear to be neither male nor female. But as Charlie Johns finds out, the key word is appear.
They live in peace and harmony and close to nature in an enclave hidden from the rest of the world. They are not aliens, they are fully human, but they live a lifestyle alien to accepted norms. They have set themselves aside in an attempt to create a society free of war and division and hate. Any their ultimate goal is to renew humanity when the rest of us manage to destroy ourselves.
But what are the Ledom, really? Charlie is charmed by them and agrees to help with their little project. They claim to have brought him there to weigh them in the balance and give them his true impressions of what they have created and of their genderless society. But Charlie senses he is not getting the full truth of the matter. And then he happens upon a little hidden family of Ledom: two fathers and their grown daughter. And the lie is exposed. The Ledom are not natural hermaphrodites. They are surgically altered to become so:

—of man with grafted uterus coupling with man with grafted uterus.

—of the knives and needles stitching a manmade and inhuman newness into the bodies of babes.

The story is interspersed with flashbacks to a group of regular Americans living their everyday lives with their kids, their jobs and their friends, a sort of contrast to the everyday lives of the Ledom.

What a boring story. The Ledom are boring. The regular folks back home were boring and their story was pointless, came across as filler to make the book longer. The big surprise at the end, that the Ledom were not a natural mutation but were the result of surgical intervention wasn't surprising or shocking.
What the author totally fails to address is where do they get all those grafted uteruses? One assumes from female babies. So what happens to those baby girls after their uteruses have been removed? The Charlie character is more outraged at boys with grafted uteruses than he is at the probable murder of every female baby born to the Ledom males. Oh, and he is also upset about men loving men.

 

 

The Synthetic Man aka The Dreaming Jewels

By Theodore Sturgeon

Horty is just a grade school kid when he gets in trouble for eating ants at school. When his adoptive father finds out, he punishes Horty by shoving him into a closet but accidentally catches the boy's hand in the hinge, severing three of the Horty's fingers. After the man leaves the room, Horty grabs his favorite toy, a jack-in-the-box called Junky and runs away.
Junky is just a toy but the toy has two eyes made of crystal. The crystals look like ordinary glass but are something else entirely. And Horty is bonded to the crystals, as becomes apparent when a thief unknowingly damages the toy and Horty cries out in pain.
Fortunately for Horty, he has fallen in with a small group of carnival people, one of whom recognizes Horty for what he really is, something that Horty himself does not know. And she makes it her duty to protect and educate Horty and hopefully turn him into the human being that he truly is not.

This is such a gratifying story. Horty starts out a weak and defenseless child but he takes satisfying revenge on those who harmed him and those he cares about. It's always nice to see justice rain down on those who deserve it.

Review from Kirkus Reviews.

The Risk Pool

By Richard Russo

The story of a boy and his dad. Ned's dad Sam is unreliable. At one point he was gone for years. He drinks too much and gambles too much and chases women. He can't keep a job. He is jealous and refuses to give Ned's mom, Jenny, a divorce.
But when Jenny ends up in a mental hospital, Ned ends up with Sam, who is an indifferent parent at best. From his dad, Ned learns all about drinking, gambling and shady business.
Jenny eventually is well enough to return home and continue raising her son. Life becomes more predictable but certainly less exciting for Ned once Sam is no longer in charge of him. Though he wasn't well cared for under his father's wings, it certainly was an education in the ways of the world. And Ned becomes quite familiar with some of the more "colorful" characters that inhabit his father's world.

This was a engaging story of a boy learning to understand his errant father and his troubled mother. And of learning how to avoid the missteps that blighted his father's life in so many ways. Good read. And not without its humorous moments:

It was a rare night that did not generate at least one fight in the pool room, and while most of the combatants were either too drunk or too inept to hurt each other much, bystanders were sometimes mangled hideously. My father said if it was just him, he'd let me stay and shoot  to my heart's content, but there was one thing he never wanted to do, and that was report to my mother that I'd been killed in the pool hall.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

The Chisellers

By Brendan O'Carroll

A continuation of the story of Agnes Browne and her family, begun in The Mammy. 
The two oldest children are more of a focus in this story than in the first. The oldest son, Mark, is doing quite well in his job at the furniture factory. But his younger brother, Frankie, has fallen in with a gang of skinheads and eventually steals his mother's money she won playing bingo and runs away to London.
Agnes and the kids have a new home, as the place where they were living is slated to be torn down. So even though problems still have to be dealt with, overall, things seem to be getting better for Agnes and her brood.

This was a pretty good read, a lovely story of a son who stands by his mother and of a son who does the exact opposite and comes to his just desserts.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

The 5th Wave

By Rick Yancey

So aliens have decided to attack humanity. So far they have released four waves of strikes. The first wave took out technology. The second wave was huge tsunamis that attacked coastal populations. The third wave was plague. The fourth wave was assassins whose job is to hunt down the survivors. The fifth wave is to turn the remaining humans against one another. This is done by capturing survivor children and turning them into an army of killers, fooled into believing any survivors they find are either the aliens or are pawns of the aliens and must be destroyed.

This another entry in the teen dystopian novel genre. Our brave young teen heroes are the only ones capable of standing up against the aliens, especially since the author quickly kills off any adults who are left alive.
This is also another entry in the "everyone is a suspect and no one knows who can or cannot be trusted" genre, a common theme in fiction these days.
This is also another entry in the "alien falls in. love with the human" genre.
Nothing that new here, really.

Review from The Guardian.

The Infinite Sea

By Rick Yancey

Book 2 in 5th Wave trilogy.

This book finds the ragged band of human escapees from the alien's training camp living in a deserted hotel in Ohio. Cassie, Ben, Ringer and the other kids are just barely surviving and living in fear of being spotted by the aliens and their human/alien hybrid killers known as the Silencers.
Meanwhile, Evan Walker, due to his alien enhancements, survived the destruction of the training camp, Camp Haven, and has been rescued by a fellow Silencer, Grace, a girl who actually knew Evan before the alien attack. Evan strings Grace along, trying not to reveal that his sympathies now lie humankind and not the alien overlords. He bides his time for as long as he can but finally  escapes, headed to Ohio and the rest of the kids.
Ringer, one of the more capable kids in the group, is sent out on a mission to find a cave system they read about as a possible refuge for the winter, as the Ohio location is too dangerous. She is followed by Teacup, who was supposed to stay behind. They are both captured by the aliens and Teacup is used as a tool to break Ringer, both physically and mentally.
Evan shows up at the hotel, just in time to warn the remaining kids that the latest arrival, a little girl named Megan, is actually a walking time bomb. Unfortunately, Grace shows up and she is focused on killing everyone in the hotel, including Evan. The kids fight for their survival and manage to escape just as Evan detonates the bomb that was attached to Megan and the whole building is destroyed, including anyone left inside.
Back at the alien base, Ringer is getting to know her attendant, Alex, who she calls Razor. She gradually converts Alex to her side and together they plot their escape. Which will be made much easier by the biological implants the aliens have installed in Ringer's body, against her will. Together she and Razor bust out of captivity and steal a helicopter and little Teacup.
But you can't trust anyone and Ringer soon finds herself betrayed and captive once again.

The first book was depressing. This one is even more so. There is a lot of brutality and people getting beat up and hurt and killed. I found it to be way too violent for me to enjoy. I also find combat uninteresting and usually skip those parts, of which there are so many in this story. I doubt very much that I will read the third book in the series. I only read this one because I bought it when I bought  the first book. My mistake.

See also a review by The Guardian.

How to American

By Jimmy O. Yang

When Jimmy was about 13, his parents migrated from China to the United States, wanting their two sons to have the advantages that they hoped America could give them.
Jimmy figured out how to be American by watching a lot of TV, mainly BET where he fell in love with rap and hip hop and stand-up comedy. But, being a good son, he continued on with his education and graduated from college with a degree in Economics and the promise of a good job with an investment firm. Imagine his parents' shock when he suddenly announced he didn't want the job. And that he wanted to do stand-up comedy.
So this is his story, from his first days in America to his first ventures as a performer and the struggle just to survive on his own and then getting a part in a TV show which led to roles in cinema. He focuses on his professional life and reveals nearly nothing about his personal life. He does not mention any girl friends or lovers.

This was a pretty good read, if only for a foreigner's take on life in America. It is at times mildly amusing but not hilarious. Jimmy may be a comedian but this is not a funny story. This is the story of his life as an immigrant and as a performer.

Rogue Star

By Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson

The stars are intelligent and mankind has joined the universe as equal citizens, living in peace and harmony with all the beings of the galaxies. Except for two weirdos who have decided that they want to create an intelligent star for themselves. Who knows why?
They set up their lab on Earth and create a tiny, intelligent star being. But things go wrong from the moment of the stars creation, when they are attacked by the Sun. The young star is not hurt but the two men are along with the girl friend of one of them.
The baby star arises and finds the humans and tries to help the most gravely injured of the three, the man with the girl friend. But the man dies and the star absorbs his knowledge and comes to the mistaken conclusion that it loves the girl just like the man did.
The star tries to woo the girl but she is freaked out and things go seriously wrong with the young star jumping to wrong conclusions and the poor girl becoming the object of its obsession.

This was a weird and stupid story. I wonder if the authors were on drugs when they wrote it. Maybe it would make more sense if the reader were on drugs too.

Starchild

By Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson

 Book Two of The Starchild Trilogy

Who is the Starchild?
The super computer behind The Plan of Man has received an ultimatum: release humanity from the rule of The Plan or the Starchild will turn off the stars and the Sun.
The Plan of Man was devised to help humankind exist in peace and safety. But it has resulted in a highly regimented society where personal freedom is sacrificed to the needs of the state. It worked fairly well until the Reef was discovered.
The Reef is a vastly huge space reef built by the tiny fusorians. It teems with life and air and warmth, strange plants and animals and has room for everyone who might want to go there. But The Plan won't allow that. And that is what the Starchild will change, despite the best laid plans of The Plan as is shown when the Starchild follows through with his threat and briefly extinguishes the stars and the Sun.
And so we have Boysie Gann, sent by The Plan to a space station near the Reef. He is meant to discover who the Starchild is and where he dwells. His mission is covert because The Plan thinks some of the men stationed there are no longer loyal. Too late, Boysie discovers that The Plan's suspicions are correct and Boysie gets shanghaied and wakes up to find himself on the Reef, being cared for by a kindly stranger and his baby dragon-like creature called a pyropod. His mission has come to a sorry end and before much longer The Plan has captured him and now he is accused of disloyalty and the dreaded iron collar is fastened around his neck.  He is even
accused of being the Starchild himself.
In order to get at the secrets The Plan thinks are concealed in Boysie's brain, he is placed into training for direct mind-to-mind communication with the super computer behind the The Plan of Man. In the first book in the series, The Plan communicated by means of paper tape. But in this story, communication has advanced to a tonal kind of communication, a kind of singing to the computer that requires extensive training. Boysie is forced through a  crash course so he can be plugged directly into the computer by means of a socket inserted surgically in his forehead. But just as his training is coming to its conclusion, the Starchild launches an attack on the facility and unleashes pyropods, spreading death and chaos.
After the attack is defeated, once again poor Boysie, who fought valiantly against the pyropods, is accused of being the Starchild. But despite the suspicions against him, Boysie is once more sent out on a mission, a mission to find the lost spaceship, the Togethership, which is supposed to contain a super computer that is the twin of The Plan computer. Using that ship and its computer, The Plan will go after the Starchild.

This was an OK story. A bit chaotic. The whole thing about the tonal communication with the computer was another miss and as jarring as the use of paper tapes in the first story, The Reefs of Space.  I also didn't really understand the how the being dead yet not being dead mechanic worked. Boysie is tended to by a kind man when he find himself injured and abandoned on the Reef. But he then finds out that man has been dead for years. He also encounters a man who he knows was executed in the past. There is also some indication that Boysie somehow is in two places at once. It not really explained, or if it is, I didn't get it.

The Reefs of Space

By Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson

Book One of The Starchild Trilogy
Thirteen billion people and a world on the brink of collapse. Desperate for a solution, a super computer was created and put in charge of controlling humankind's worse impulses. Called The Plan of Man, people are indoctrinated to follow the absolute authority of The Plan unquestioningly.
Humankind has expanded out into the solar system and has discovered a remarkable and strange thing, a mighty reef, out beyond the last planets of the solar system. The Reef was built by fusorians, minute things who convert the loose hydrogen of the universe into reefs full of life, strange plants and amazing and even dangerous animals. The Reefs are vast and inhabitable by humans, with plenty of room for everyone. But The Plan is against the idea of people living there. The Plan claims humans cannot handle freedom and for their own good must remain under control of The Plan.
Steve Ryeland is a scientist who is ordered to create a jetless drive. For it has come to The Plan's attention some of the creatures of the Reef move effortlessly and quickly through space in a way that does not require propulsion. The Plan wants this jetless drive and it wants to use it to conquer the Reef and bring the escaped humans who live there back under The Plan's control.
But Steve has some problems. His memory is impaired. He has been declared an enemy of The Plan and is forced to wear an explosive collar around his neck that can be detonated at any time if his superiors decide it is necessary. Steve's memory loss is related to a man who escaped to the Reef and to the jetless creatures that dwell there. This is why The Plan sees him as a "Risk" and had the collar placed around his neck. Steve knows more than he is saying but he can't say what that more is because he simply doesn't remember. Somewhere in his brain is the answer to the jetless drive, the whereabouts of the escapee and the key to getting the horrible explosive collar off his neck.

This was an OK story. Written back in the 1950s and 60s, it has a super computer that communicates by way of teletype and paper tape. So that was a bit jarring and kind of ruined the story for me.
But putting that aside, the most interesting thing about the story is the Reef and its creatures. But most of the story takes place on Earth and not enough on the Reef.
Part of the story takes place at the Body Farm, a prison for people deemed too dangerous or useless to remain in society. The inmates dwell in peace and not much is expected of them beyond staying fit and healthy and not causing the guards any problems. Their ultimate destiny is to prove spare parts for citizens in need: arms, legs, lungs, hearts, even nerves and spinal columns.
At first Steve is amazed by the food they are served. Steaks and rich mashed potatoes and gravy, plenty of cream and butter, the sort of food consumed by the privileged and not by the average man. He finally figures out that the food is chock full of tranquilizers to keep the "cattle" calm and placid. Steve is supposed to be this brilliant scientist, the only one capable of figuring out the jetless drive and yet he fails to immediately realize that the placid inmates of the Body Farm are all drugged to the gills and that the drugs are in the delicious food they are gobbling.
So, like I said, it was an OK story. Kind of disappointing and not very perceptive and very much a product of its time.

The Sky Is Yours

By Chandler Klang Smith

It's a city under siege, mostly deserted by those who used to live there. City services are failing or gone. But still there are those who refuse to leave and who continue to fight against the forces trying to destroy everything.
Three young people come together to change the fate of the city, completely unknowing of their destiny. Swan, a baroness, trained by her ambitious mother to be the perfect daughter and perfect wife to some rich young man. But Swan has a secret and it may bring about her early death. Duncan, the spoiled wastrel indulged by his mother and a disappointment to his father, and the sole heir to a fabulous fortune and Swan's intended. Abby, a foundling raised by a crazy woman in a garbage dump. She is the key to the salvation of the city although no one knows this, not even Abby.
The three young people come together for Duncan's and Swan's wedding. Duncan, who has never actually met his bride, brings little orphan Abby to his wedding. He and Abby met when he crashed his flying machine on her garbage island. Abby saved him and bandaged his wounds and promptly fell headlong in love with the first man she had ever seen.
Swan does not handle having her fiancé's girl friend at their wedding too well, but since the contracts are all signed and under her mother's control, she goes ahead with it. But home invaders break into the mansion and Duncan's parents and Swan's mother are killed and the three young adults escape the chaos and come together briefly but end up going their separate ways. Lost in a dying city, completely unprepared to stand on their own two feet, and with anger and resentment and misunderstandings poisoning their relationships, they will be forced to face their individual destinies and truths.

This was an OK read. The premise, of a city under siege by two dragons, was kind of stupid. Oddly, the city stands alone against this assault, with no help from a national government or from any allies at all. Also oddly, the wealthy choose to stay there even though there is no logical reason for them to do so.
Really, this book doesn't make a lot of sense. The only really sympathetic character ends up dead. It's a strange story and it just didn't appeal to me very much, I think mainly for two reasons. First, it was supposed to be funny. But it mostly wasn't. Unless you find the grotesque and disgusting funny, which I don't. Second, the main characters are just not appealing people, except for one. And she comes off as dumb as dirt. I didn't like them and so I didn't care what happened to them.

Bring on the Empty Horses

By David Niven

Niven looks back on his Hollywood days, focusing mainly on the actors and others in the movie business rather than on himself. He details his friendships with famous actors like Errol Flynn, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable.
He talks about the writers, the bigwigs, the women. He exposes their affairs, their excesses, their addictions, their disappointments, their unhappy relationships and the efforts to hide it all from the judgmental press of that time.
It's a look back at time when movies were just starting to become a huge international business and the beautiful faces were capturing the audience imagination. It's an enjoyable excursion into a land and people most of us can only dream about.

Personal Effects

By Marissa Piesman

Thirty-something NYC lawyer Nina Fischman is lonely. She choose the professional life, and even though she has been involved with several men, none of the relationships stood the test of time. Now she second guesses herself, comparing herself to her sister, married to a successful man and with young children. Frankly, Nina is disappointed with herself.
Recently, her best friend Susan has moved back to NYC. In the past Susan has been a bit of a gadabout, unsettled in her life, both working and personal. Susan too, is questioning her past choices and has returned to New York because she has decided she wants to be a married woman. To help her find the right man, Susan has placed personal ads in various New York publications and has been on a few dates with men who responded to the ads. But one of those men turns out to be a dangerous person and Susan ends up strangled and dead.
Nina, as Susan's closest confidant, works with the police to figure out who the killer is. Unfortunately, Susan didn't reveal a lot of detail about the men in her life. All Nina knows is that Susan said he was good-looking, physically fit, had good hair, liked hiking and wore contacts. Susan never told anyone the man's name.
So, together with police detective James Williams, Nina will place personal ads similar to those that Susan had placed, hoping to attract the killer. Which means that Nina will find herself going out on dates with several strangers, hoping and dreading that one of them may be a murderer.

This was an interesting if unlikely story. I really can't see the police ever agreeing to such a lamebrained scheme. Or that the killer wouldn't moderate his behavior, at least for quite a while, rather than continuing on as if nothing terrible had happened.
But despite the weak plot, I did enjoy the story. It was fun following Nina on her dating adventures with the various suspects.

Check out the review by Publishers Weekly

On a side note, this is what the characters in the book have to say about donald trump:

Well, I don't understand why the public is so fascinated by him. To me he is just another boring, narcissistic businessman. There's nothing cool about him.

This book is copyright 1991. So even back then New Yorkers were seeing through trump.

The Mammy

By Brendan O'Carroll

Agnes Browne is a street vendor, recently widowed, with seven kids. Her dead husband was no prize and his absence makes life both harder and easier for Agnes. Harder because of less money coming in and easier because he was abusive.
They married young when Agnes became pregnant. Neither of them had much in the way of education. The husband worked as a laborer. If it weren't for charity and the church, life would be nearly impossible for such a large, young family. The oldest child is 14 and the youngest 3.
Now that her husband is out of the picture, Agnes is determined her children don't end up as ignorant and unskilled as she and the husband were. She is especially determined that the oldest child continue his education and learn a trade. But the boy is equally determined to quit school and get a job to help out his mother.
Somehow, they all work together and create a happy and loving home, just getting by, but sometimes just getting by is good enough.

Agnes Browne's situation is difficult, but this is not a sad story. This is a rollicking and happy look at an Irish family loving each other and working together to help each other. And getting into scrapes and dealing with sorrows and setbacks and discovering new possibilities and new hopes.

Check out the review from Publishers Weekly

Conjugal Rites

By Paul Magrs

Trouble is once again afoot in the seaside resort town where Brenda and Effie live. Lately townsfolk are glued to a late night radio broadcast, The Night Owls, hosted by their old enemy from the first book in the Brenda and Effie series, Never the Bride, Mr. Danby. The radio program encourages locals to call in and spill the goods on their fellow citizens.  Mr. Danby and his radio show seem to have a hypnotic effect on his listeners, as they stay up all night listening to their neighbors bad mouth each other. When Brenda tunes in to see what is what, she is upset to discover one of the targets of the malicious radio gossip is Brenda herself.
But that is not the only rotten thing in town. Brenda's long lost and not missed ex is in town and he has only one thing on his mind: wooing and marrying Brenda, whether she is willing or not.
This adventure will take Brenda and Effie to hell and back and will change everything in both their lives.

This was a fairly good story. The story, for the most part, shifts from Brenda to Effie, as Brenda disappears from quite a large part of the story. Effie's and Brenda's young man friend Robert steps in as Effie's sidekick and he and Effie work together to bring Brenda back. But Brenda being lacking from much of the story spoiled it for me, as I find her story more interesting than that of the other characters.

Night Shift

By Charlaine Harris

Book 3 of the Midnight, Texas series.

Here, once again, are the characters from the first two books: Fiji, Bobo, Manfred, Chuy, Joe, the Rev, Olivia, Lemuel, Mr. Snuggly and others.
A new disaster has struck the tiny town of Midnight. Lonely people are coming to the crossroads in the heart of Midnight and killing themselves. After three people have done this, the locals realize that something is seriously wrong.
The key to the mystery is in the old books that Lemuel is trying to get translated. It gradually becomes clear that a demon was interred under the crossroads hundred of years ago and that the spell that bound it there is starting to wear off. It has been calling the vulnerable to itself and gaining power from their deaths.
The Midnighters must act before it can rise and seize Fiji, the witch, and create a demonic kingdom on Earth.

This was a fairly good read. To me, the best thing about it was getting to know more about the odd inhabitants of Midnight. I hope this is not the last book in the series, as I would like to read more about that strange crew.

The Mating Game

By June Johns

Zoos are one of the places of last resort for the world's endangered animals. So breeding these animals to propagate the species is very much a part of many zoos today.
But breeding the different species is no easy task. So many animals, especially the most endangered, have a very specific set of requirements for successfully bearing and raising their young.
From monkeys and apes, to rhinos and hippos, bears, penguins, reptiles, snakes and even more, June Johns takes a look at the reproductive lives of the animals found in one particular zoo in England.
So, apparently, the love lives of animals of all sorts are fraught with danger and murder. Moms killing their babies, dads killing their offspring, the grown offspring killing their parents...who knew raising babies in a zoo setting was so brutal and bloody?
This book was written in the 1960s. Hopefully zoos have grown more learned in their dealings with their resident animals and are able to provide safer, more nurturing habitats for all the animals under their care.

This was an interesting read. It is not a book meant to amuse the reader, it is very factual in its descriptions but I found it quite engrossing.

Day Shift

By Charlaine Harris

Book Two in the Midnight, Texas series.

Manfred the psychic is settling into his new home, getting to know the different folks who make up the core of Midnight, Texas.
He travels out of town to see a wealthy client, Rachel Goldthorpe. In a strange coincidence he sees fellow Midnighter, Olivia, dining with a couple at the same hotel where he is staying. The people Olivia is with turn up dead in an apparent murder/suicide. As an acquaintance of Olivia's, Manfred is questioned by the police as to his connection to her and to the two dead people.
Then, during his consultation with Rachel, she suddenly dies. She was an older woman and had recently been very ill. But still it seems a bit suspicious. Manfred comes under suspicion because he is being accused of stealing Rachel's jewels, which her son claims she must have been carrying in her purse at the time of her death, since he can't find them anywhere in her house.
It looks even worse for Manfred when it turns out that Rachel's cause of death was an overdose of her own medication, placed in her personal bottle of drinking water that she had with her during her meeting with Manfred. Never mind that Manfred never had access to her medications and likely didn't even know what medications she was taking. It is all just too fishy for the police and he ends up being suspect number one.

This was an OK read. Take away the fantasy elements, though, and it is just another mystery novel. The story does have a subplot about weretigers (like werewolves but with tigers) that comes together at the end with the murder mystery, but in a rather contrived way.

Review by Publishers Weekly.

Kill the Dead

By Tanith Lee

When Parl Dro was a young teen boy, a girl he liked was killed and her ghost began haunting him. It drew strength from Parl Dro and tried to tempt him into joining it in death. This was the beginning of Parl Dro's start as an exorcist, one who puts the dead to permanent rest,
Parl Dro is not alone in this tale. He is joined by a talented musician who plays an extraordinary instrument. Myal Lemyal has not had a prosperous or happy life. As he explains to Parl Dro, he wants to write an epic song and thus make his fortune. He wants to base the song on Parl Dro's battle with the ghost town of Ghyste Mortua, a battle that rumor has it is Parl Dro's ultimate destination.
A third "person" will accompany the two men on their trip to Ghyste Mortua: the ghost of Ciddey Soban. Ciddey may be dead, but her need for revenge against Parl Dro burns. Parl Dro came to Ciddey's house and against her wishes laid to rest the ghost of her dead sister, a ghost that Ciddey had purposely freed from the grave. Upon discovering what Parl Dro had done, Ciddey promptly killed herself, crazed with grief upon losing her sister for the second time. Her ghost has attached itself to Myal Lemyal and is following him and Parl Dro on their fateful journey to face the killer ghosts of Ghyste Mortua.

This was not an interesting story. It was boring. Although I did find the twist at the end to be unexpected and surprising. It kind of redeemed the rest of the story.

Sabella or The Blood Stone

By Tanith Lee

Sabella lives alone in her dead mother's house on Novo Mars. Novo Mars bares a striking resemblance to Mars, being dry and bleak and barren and reddish in hue, but not as red as Mars.
Sabella chooses to be alone because it is safer for everyone if she does so. Sabella is a vampire of sorts. She drinks the blood of men she seduces, she is inhumanly strong and fast, she cannot bear the sunlight. But she is not undead, she does not sleep in a coffin, she has a reflection and garlic, holy water and crosses are no big deal.
Sabella was just a normal kid until the day she crawled into a cave. In the cave is where she found the blood stone that she wears constantly on a chain. When she is hungry, the stone is clear. When she has fed, it is ruby red.
She had no one to teach her how to be a vampire. She killed people at first but gradually learned how take just so much but not too much. Then she back slid and killed a young man who had a big brother. Big brother is at Sabella's door and he is big and he is strong and he is determined to find out what happened to his brother. Sabella may have finally met the only man she cannot seduce and bend to her will. And he may be her only salvation from the life of degradation she has fallen into.

This is about the third time I have read this story and it is still a gripping and thrilling read even after all this time. I first read it back when it originally came out in the 1980s. I don't consider the story to be fantasy, because Sabella's condition has a scientific explanation, not a supernatural one. I think that is one of the reasons I like the story so much, because it is logical.

This Pen for Hire

By Laura Levine

Jaine lives in Los Angeles and makes her living as a writer. She specializes in resumes and copywriting. Her latest customer, Howard, doesn't want a resume or an ad written. No, he wants a love letter, a letter persuasive enough to convince its recipient to go on a date with him.
Howard is no prize. He works in insurance and still lives with his mother. The woman he is crushing on is a beautiful aerobics instructor, Stacy. Jaine is no stranger to the LA scene and she is more than certain that Stacy is not going to date a man like poor Howard. So Jaine's letter to Stacy implies that Howard is related to Rupert Murdoch. And Howard gets his date!
But (of course there is a "but") when Howard arrives at the apartment to pick up his date, he finds Stacy dead, her head bashed in with a Thighmaster. And of course the police are sure he is the killer.
Jaine feels guilty that her letter may have gotten Howard into trouble. So she proceeds to do a little investigating on her own. She easily finds out that Stacy had several lovers, one of whom was married. Also, one of the women Stacy worked with was dumped for Stacy. And there's the woman who wanted the apartment that she was promised before Stacy stole it from her.
So there are plenty of suspects. But which one is the killer? Turns out the killer was right under Jaine's nose all along. And that Stacy was murdered for the most prosaic reason of all.

This was an OK read. Although I did guess the identity of the killer pretty quickly but not, I will admit, the reason why Stacy was killed.
The story is mildly amusing although I did find the main character's constant put downs of herself a bit tiring.

Review from Kirkus.

Midnight Crossroad

By Charlaine Harris

Welcome to Midnight, Texas. A small town with a small population of folks, all of them a tad different from most people.
New to this small community is Manfred Bernardo. Manfred is a sometime psychic. He does most of his work online or via telephone. Most of the time he just makes it up. Occasionally he actually has a true psychic flash. Occasionally.
So this hole in the road town has a resident witch, a vampire, an assassin, a were-person, an angel, an ex-white supremacist and a serial killer. Of course, Manfred doesn't find this all out right away. But he soon figures that the leading lights of Midnight are more than they appear. It all begins with the body of a young woman, a young woman who has been missing for several weeks and of whom her friends and family are willing to commit murder to track down her killer.

This was a pretty good story, a bit spoiled by the fact that I saw the TV show version first, so no surprises in the plot. The only surprise, really, is that the book characters seem quite a bit less sure of themselves and less powerful than their TV counterparts.

Review from Kirkus Reviews.

The Road to Ruin

By Donald E. Westlake

The Dortmunder gang is once again trying to pull off a successful heist, although, given their past record, it seems a vain hope.
So one of the gang members has come up with a very tempting opportunity. A very wealthy man has become a social pariah (because of his financial shenanigans that cost a lot people a lot of money) and can't find enough people to take care of him and his household.
The gang has inside information, including that the man, Monroe Hall, has a fabulous collection of very valuable cars. The plan is the gang members will get hired on as Hall's servants and, when the time is ripe, they will steal the cars.
It's a beautiful plan that can't go wrong. Except it does. Unbeknownst to the Dortmunder crew, a group of disgruntled investors and workers have a plan to grab Monroe Hall and extort all their lost monies out of him. Working at cross-purposes, the second group manages to screw everything up for everyone, including Monroe and his faithful wife, Alicia.

This was an typical & entertaining Dortmunder story. I was really hoping old John would finally come out on top, but, as per usual, John Dortmunder gets nothing for all his hard work. It was interesting seeing the gang of crooks trying to act like ordinary workings stiffs. Some of them even seemed to actually enjoy their new roles, a first step on the road to redemption? Nope.
I usually do enjoy Westlake's stories and this one was quite enjoyable too.

Review from Publishers Weekly.

Wild : From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

By Cheryl Strayed

After her mother died and her marriage ended, Cheryl Strayed knew she needed to do something. What she decided to do was hike the Pacific Crest Trail from California to Washington, alone.
Never having done an overnight hike before, Strayed was not quite prepared for the experience. First of all, her backpack was way overloaded. Second, she found out later after many, many painful miles that her boots were too small. Third, she learned that wild animals are not the biggest threat, rather it was men. Attractive and young, she fortunately only encountered one man with questionable intentions. (She got lucky in that regard.) She saw lots of wild creatures, but they were as timid of her as she was of them. (Once again, she got lucky.) Fourth, she learned that she didn't budget quite enough money for the trip. When one of her resupply drops didn't contain the cash she was expecting, she didn't have a backup plan or even a credit card.
So basically she went off half-cocked but by the end of the hike she was a lot stronger, a lot slimmer, a lot more experienced and a lot more at peace with her life.

This was a pretty good read. I liked reading about the hiking. But not so much the story of her emotional troubles. It just seemed to me that she brought a lot of that on herself.
I'm sorry her mother died so young. But the way Strayed trashed her life because of that did not sit well with me. Especially the way she sabotaged her marriage to a man she describes as loving, caring and understanding.
Just weird.

Critters : Adventures in Wildest Suburbia

By A.B.C. Whipple

From the inside flap of the book jacket: "Squirrels in the bird feeder, raccoons in the garbage, Canada geese on the lawn, rabbits in the garden, deer in the orchard—during forty years in the suburbs A.B.C. Whipple has coped with them all, even including a skunk that decided to winter in his cellar."

That makes it sound like it is going to be a really fun and amusing book, but no. It is more like a zoology text book, with the amazingly (and boringly) in depth descriptions of the habits and life cycles of these common creatures.
In the chapter about the cellar skunk, we get a lecture on "aposematic coloration", info on skunk diet, skunk mating habits & the chemical composition of skunk spray (key word: butylmercapton).
In the chapter on raccoons, we explore the origins of the washing behavior, their mating habits, their diet, a bit of their history in North America & rabies.
Similar topics are touched on in all the other chapters about all the other animals.
The author can't just tell an amusing tale. No, he has to educate the reader. Which is fine if you are in the mood to be educated. Not so much if you just want a light, amusing read.