What I'm Reading on Christmas Day

 

It's just me, Donald, and Annabelle today.  So, a very quiet Christmas.

I had apple pie and ice cream for breakfast.  Santa approved.

And thanks to NetGalley, I'm reading the upcoming Tana French.

Perfect!  

I'm sending warm thoughts out to you all today.  Do something that feels just right for you. ❤

Description from NetGalley

From the iconic crime writer who “inspires cultic devotion in readers” (The New Yorker) and has been called “incandescent” by Stephen King, “absolutely mesmerizing” by Gillian Flynn, and “unputdownable” (People), comes the third and final book in the million-copy-bestselling Cal Hooper trilogy.

On a cold night in the remote Irish village of Ardnakelty, a girl goes missing. Sweet, loving Rachel Holohan was about to be engaged to the son of the local big shot. Instead, she’s dead in the river.

In a close-knit small town, a death like this isn’t simple. It comes wrapped in generations-old grudges and power struggles, and it splits the townland in two. Retired Chicago detective Cal Hooper has friends here now, and he owes them loyalty, but his fiancée Lena wants nothing to do with Ardnakelty’s tangles. As the feud becomes more vicious, their settled peace starts to crack apart. And when they uncover a scheme that casts a new light on Rachel’s death and threatens the whole village, they find themselves in the firing line.

“One of the greatest crime novelists writing today” (Vox) crafts a masterwork of atmospheric suspense that brings the story of one of her most beloved characters to a spellbinding conclusion.

The Secret Place by Tana French

THE SECRET PLACE is the fifth installment in The Dublin Murder Squad series.

Readers of this series will recognize Stephen Moran as a minor character from an earlier installment.  This is one of the things Ms. French does that has become a signature of hers - bringing in earlier minor characters and allowing us to watch their development at her skillful hands.

Stephen Moran is the perfect cop for an investigation involving an upscale girl's school.  He possesses the charm (both natural and manufactured - as the need presents itself) to help lead investigator, Antoinette Conway, connect with girls in a way to get information they've been withholding for over a year.  

Though the book is over 400 pages, the story actually follows the investigation during only one day.  The scenes are moved along with flashbacks telling a story with  adroit twists most readers won't see coming.

Nobody, NOBODY, can take you down a road, have you believing one thing with absolute certainty only to slip you down a side alley where nothing is what it seemed just a minute ago!  I am over the moon about Tana French's newest novel.  She just keeps getting better and better.  Her keen observations into human psyche are unparalleled and turn what you might think of as a police procedural into a psychological murder mystery.

Disclaimer:  an arc of The Secret Place was provided by the publisher.  No review was promised and the above is my unbiased opinion.  

2012 Books I'm Looking Forward To

I am such a greedy wench.

As soon as I finish reading a book by one of my favorite authors, I'm tap tap tapping my toe waiting fo the next one!

Here's a list of some of the books I'm excited about reading this year:


Deborah Crombie's NO MARK UPON HER

Tana French's BROKEN HARBOR

Hank Phillippi Ryan's THE OTHER WOMAN

Louise Penny's THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY

Margaret Maron's THE BUZZARD TABLE (Another Deborah meets Sigrid novel - Yay!!!!  This time in Colleton County).


I know there are others I'll be ecstatic about, but these were the ones that popped immediately to mind.

How 'bout you guys?  Are you impatiently awaiting a novel from a favorite author??

Book Bliss - Old and New

As the year comes to a close, I'm still pondering my "Best of 2011 List."

It's hard!  I read a lot of really terrific books this past year.

Two books, however,  pop immediately to mind, and they will top my list - Margaret Maron's THREE-DAY TOWN and Louise Penny's A TRICK OF THE LIGHT.

Both books were books I've been waiting for.  Margaret finally gives us Deborah and Sigrid together and Louise gives us the event I started hoping for in the very first Three Pines novel.  I finished both books with a smile on my face and immediately read through them a second time.  Pure Bliss ! ! !

They were worth the wait.

2011 brought some new authors to my attention that found their way onto my "Auto Buy List."  They're a fairly wide ranging group.  I can't think of a single word that might fit each of these writers and tie them together in any manner, but they each captured me in a big way.  Well, actually, I can.   They're all women.  Something I did not realize until now.  I "think" I read a pretty good mix of both men and women, but I have to admit, this is going to send me back to the list of books I read in 2011 and see if that's really true.  Huh.  How 'bout that?  A mystery to ponder . . . .

Here are my new discoveries.  If you haven't tried any these authors yet, please do and let me know what you think.  (I'd suggest reading the Tana French books in the order written.  They're not really a series, but each novel introduces a character you'll meet in the next novel.  And I would most definitely read Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler series in order).


Sarah Addison Allen - "North Carolina novelist Sarah Addison Allen brings the full flavor of her southern upbringing to bear on her fiction -- a captivating blend of fairy tale magic, heartwarming romance, and small-town sensibility." author bio

Tana French - "Ambitious and extraordinary"  Washington Post

Julia Glass - "Glass establishes her literary credentials with ingenuity and panache."  Publisher's Weekly

Susan Hill - "Thoughtful mysteries...elegant prose."  New York Times  Book Review

Erin Morgenstern - “Every once in awhile you find a novel so magical that there is no escaping its spell. The Night Circus is one of these rarities — engrossing, beautifully written and utterly enchanting. If you choose to read just one novel this year, this is it.”  Danielle Trussoni, author of Angelology

Barbara O'Neal - “As dark and deep and sweet as chocolate…I wanted to live in this book.” Sarah Addison Allen

Any discoveries you'd care to share?


And I'd like to wish all of you a Happy New Year!  May 2012 bring you nothing but good things!

Tana French

Every once in awhile I have to pop in to squeal loudly about a new author I've discovered.  Actually, Tana French isn't that new - I was just (once again) slow to pick up her first book.

Now, I can say I am officially hooked on Tana French.

This is one woman who has moved quickly onto my "auto-buy" list and I can only hope she will continue writing for years and years.  And years.

And a few more years.

The first book she wrote was IN THE WOODS.  Published in 2007.  It won the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel, 2008 Barry Award for Best First Novel, 2008 Macavity Award for Best First Novel AND the 2008 Anthony Award for Best First Novel.  Pretty impressive stuff, huh?!  WHY did I wait so long to pick this up.  Oh well.  I did and I loved it and I hope you'll give it a try.

From the back cover: "The debut novel of an astonishing new voice in psychological suspense.  In Tana French's powerful debut thriller, three children leave their small Dublin neighborhood to play in the surrounding woods.  Hours later, their mothers' calls go unanswered.  When the police arrive, they find only one of the children, gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours.

Twenty years later, Detective Rob Ryan - the found boy, who has kept his past a secret - and his partner Cassie Maddox investigate the murder of a twelve-year-old girl in the same woods.  Now, with only snippets of long-buried memories to guide him, Ryan has the chance to uncover both the mystery of the case before him, and that of his own shadowy past."

I didn't pick this up in the beginning because it sounded darker than what I normally read.  But once I did start reading,  I was fully entranced from paragraph one and stayed that way through the end of the story.  Warning:  If you like all the lose ends tidied up when you reach "The End," wellllll . . .  let's just say that's not exactly the case with IN THE WOODS.  But the writing is so lush and beautiful, the protagonists so likable and believable, the story told with such perfect restraint, I forgive this writer anything. 

Here's a little taste.  This is from the very first paragraph of the prologue:  "Picture a summer stolen whole from some coming-of-age film set in small-town 1950s.  This is none of Ireland's subtle seasons mixed for a connoisseur's palate, watercolor nuances within a pinch-sized range of cloud and soft rain; this is summer full-throated and extravagant in a hot pure silkscreen blue."

Before I was half-way through IN THE WOODS, I ordered the second book, published in 2008.  THE LIKENESS.

If you enjoyed meeting Detective Cassie Maddox in IN THE WOODS, you'll probably want to read more about her.   

From Tana French's webpage - here's what people had to say about THE LIKENESS:

‘French has written another winner… The Likeness has everything: memorable characters, crisp dialogue, shrewd psychological insight, mounting tension, a palpable sense of place, and wonderfully evocative, painterly prose.’ Thomas Gaughan, Booklist (starred review)

'Police procedures, psychological thrills and gothic romance beautifully woven into one stunning story.' Kirkus

'Stunning...French cleverly subverts the conventions of the locked room mystery, ratcheting up the tension at every turn with her multidimensional characters. Readers looking for a new name in psychological suspense need look no further than this powerful new Irish voice.' Publishers Weekly (starred review)

And here's a wee taste:  "The house is always empty.  The bedrooms are bare and bright, only my footsteps echoing off the floorboards, circling up through the sun and the dust motes to the high ceilings.  Smell of wild hyacinths, drifting through the wide-open windows, and of beeswax polish.  Chips of white paint flaking off the window sashes and a tendril of ivy swaying in over the sill.  Wood doves, lazy somewhere outside.

In the sitting room the piano is open, wood glowing chestnut and almost too bright to look at in the bars of sun, the breeze stirring the yellowed sheet music like a finger.  The table is laid ready for us, five settings - the bone-china plates and the long-stemmed wineglasses, fresh-cut honeysuckle trailing from a crystal bowl - but the silverware has gone dim with tarnish and the heavy damask napkins are frilled with dust.  Daniel's cigarette case lies by his place at the head of the table, open and empty except for a burnt-down match."

The third, FAITHFUL PLACE, came out last year and is a 2011Edgar Award Finalist in the Best Mystery Category.  

I have not read this one yet.  But.  I've ordered it through one of our little indie bookstores - Black Bear Books.  It should be arriving in the next day or two.  oh boy oh boy oh boy.  Following tradition, one of the characters from THE LIKENESS, Frank Mackey, is featured in this one. 

From Tana French's webpage again - people are saying: "French's emotionally searing third novel of the Dublin murder squad (after The Likeness) shows the Irish author getting better with each book." Publishers Weekly (starred) 

 

"[French] revisits, evocatively and lyrically, themes she's used before: love, loss, memory, murder, and life in modern Ireland. French's writing remains brilliant, and her dialogue is sharp, often lacerating, and sometimes mordantly funny. Faithful Place is her best book yet." Booklist (starred)

 

"The charming narrative will leave readers begging for a sequel." Kirkus Reviews 

Since I haven't received my copy of this yet, I can't give you that little taste for this one.  dang.  Maybe in a day or two . . . 

As much as I love them, I can certainly understand these books not being everyone's cup of tea.  


Have you read them?


What do you think??