The King Tides by James Swain

 

"The world is a good place, and so are most of the people who live in it. Evil people are a minority, and they're not supposed to win. When they go down, we have every right to pop a bottle of champagne and cheer."

          -Jon Lancaster to Beth Daniels, from the novel

Another Amazon First Reads selection, this novel is set in Florida, where I live, which caught my attention early-on. I wondered about the title and as is turned out, King Tides are a climate phenomenon in South Florida. I had never heard of these exceptional high tides that flood the streets of that area at times. More evidence of global warming?

Jon Lancaster is a former Navy Seal and police officer who is now a lone wolf investigator. Dr. Nolan Pearl and his wife in Fort Lauderdale hire him as a bodyguard for their 15-year-old daughter, Nicki, who is being stalked by a number of strange men. There have even been attempted kidnappings of Nicki. Of course, protection of the teenager is not enough, Jon gets involved in trying to find the reason behind these unexplained happenings. He soon finds evidence of child pornography and even suspicions of serial killings.

Jon eventually meets up with Beth Daniels, an FBI agent who has surprising personal connections to the men involved and they work together to find the perpetrators. 

This novel was fast-paced, pretty much a page-turner. I enjoyed it and will rate it a 4. I would likely read another by this author in the future.

Strangers We Know by Elle Marr

 "My mother always warned me against believing strangers too quickly in a big city like San Francisco. What if the strangers we know carry the greater risk of breaking our hearts----betraying our expectations?"

        -from the novel

In San Francisco, Ivy Hon knows almost nothing about her biological parents since she was adopted as an infant. She is suffering with a strange illness and feels a need to search her genetic background to get some answers.

When she receives the results of her DNA test, she is informed by the FBI that she has a biological link to a serial killer called the "Full Moon Killer."  This murderer has been leaving victims around the Pacific Northwest for decades. On the positive side, Ivy finds a cousin online and pays a visit to her small town in Washington State. It doesn't take long for Ivy to discover that her mother, Tatum, was likely a victim of the Full Moon Killer and that her father disappeared near the time of her birth and is remembered by almost no one.

Ivy finds out that a few of her new-found family are or have been involved with an intimidating religious cult. She soon begins to feel she may be in danger herself.

I don't understand the significance of the title, found in the quote, because it seemed to me that Ivy was with actual strangers in most of the story. The book was pretty well-written and kept me turning pages, so my rating is 3. 

Family Money by Chad Zunker

 

"I taught her from birth that honesty in a relationship is a gift to be protected. It's like a beautiful snowcapped mountain. Lies are the small cracks in the ice layer beneath the snow. They can seem innocent at first. We can even rationalize them as honorable. But once they start, it's hard as hell to stop them---until everything suddenly fractures. The you have a full-on avalanche on your hands that could crush you. Believe me, I know."

    -Joe Dobson, to son-in-law, Alex Mahan, from the novel

A well-selected Amazon First Read, definitely a PAGE-TURNER---I had a really hard time putting it down! I give it a 5.

This thriller starts out with a bang! While his family is vacationing in Mexico, Alex Mahan's father-in-law, Joe Dobson, is abducted...by drug dealers, gang members, for ransom???  The family has no idea. Of course, the family is devastated and even more so, when his body is found. 

Alex has enjoyed a very close relationship with Joe, even before he and wife Taylor were married. That connection included a huge financial investment in Joe's start-up business. Alex begins an investigation without the knowledge of his wife and mother-in-law. As he is keeping secrets from Taylor and telling lies (see quote), he is discovering more and more secrets and lies from Joe's past.

I certainly can't go much further without spoilers so I will just say if you want an exciting read, this might be one for you!

Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang

 

"I figured being rejected was just the same as not trying---worse probably, because I would always wonder. Perhaps that was Ma Ma's voice within me, telling me that I could do everything she hadn't done but wished that she had, promising me that whatever I saw out there, whatever I envied, could be mine as long as I chose to make it so."

             -The author's thoughts, from the memoir

This memoir was suggested by one of our Page Turners for this year's reading. It was a bit reminiscent of The Girl with Seven Names except that Ms. Wang immigrated to America from China. Along with her parents, Ma Ma and Ba Ba, Qian arrived in New York City in 1994. She was about 6 years old. 

Although her parents were professors in China, they could find only menial work in the U.S. and the family lived in poverty most of Qian's childhood. What her father called the Beautiful Country did not become beautiful in Qian's eyes for quite a while. Not only did they have to fear deportation but many of Qian's teachers were far from understanding and kind. Many classmates either ignored or teased her. She felt very lonely. But she discovered a sanctuary in the New York Public Library and became a voracious reader. She taught herself much of the language and culture through books and TV shows.

The television she enjoyed was familiar to me, but I really got a kick out of the books she mentioned. Many of them I had read and loved when I taught elementary school like Charlotte's Web, The Giver, The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil T. Frankweiler and Where the Red Fern Grows to name a few. I could appreciate her elementary school humor, also. Qian was a very precocious child and a feisty one, so it is not surprising that she graduated from college and Yale law school.

I was bothered by the fact that some of the Chinese dialogue was not translated, and I have no idea how to pronounce Qian.

I rated the book a 3, very interesting but not really a page-turner. It remains to be seen what the group will think.

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Page Turners met to discuss Beautiful Country. As a group we liked the book, rating it a 3.8. We agreed that it opened our eyes to the experience of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and encouraged more empathy. Much of our discussion focused on those experiences and the relationship of Qian and her parents. Our knowledge of Chinese culture was expanded, as well. We felt by ending the book when she did, she left enough memories for another book!

The Room on Rue Amelie by Kristin Harmel

 

"And to all of you who have been strong enough to stand up for what you believe in---in the small moments and the large ones. Making the world a better place begins with even the tiniest acts of personal bravery. May you forever hold fast to the courage to follow your heart."

                        -from the author's dedication

I attended a recent event where Ms. Harmel was the speaker and several of her books were available for sale. I really enjoyed her talk which centered on her latest novel, The Forest of Vanishing Stars. I purchased The Room on Rue Amelie and she autographed it for me. This is the 4th Harmel novel I have read but it was not my favorite. I will rate it a 3. I was very disappointed by the ending.

Ruby Henderson meets Frenchman Marcel Benoit in a cafe in New York. They are married in 1939 and move to Paris at a time when there are already hints of trouble in Europe from Hitler's Germany. They have no clue how bad it is going to get! 

When the Nazis occupy Paris, Marcel secretly joins the Resistance harboring Allied pilots who have been shot down over France and helping them to escape to safety. During this time Ruby becomes close friends with her neighbor, a very precocious 11-year-old named Charlotte Dachar. The Dachars are Jewish, putting them at very great risk. When Marcel is caught and executed, Ruby takes on his role and, almost predictably, becomes emotionally involved with a handsome RAF pilot, Thomas Clarke.

I shouldn't go farther with my description lest I spoil the plot. Suffice it to say, the story gets intense!

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

 "I was aware that I was dealing with a strange coincidence. A housekeeper falls to her death in what appears to be a straightforward domestic accident and then, not two weeks later, the man who employed her also dies and this time it is unmistakably a murder of the most gruesome sort. I say that it is a coincidence but what I mean it is in fact quite the opposite. There must be a reason why these two events have collided, so to speak, but what is it?

 -Atticus Pund, from the novel

This was a most unusual murder mystery---basically a novel within a novel, with murders in both. This made for two sets of suspects and MANY characters to keep up with. I appreciated the creativity of the author and the plot kept me turning pages, but I will admit I thought it was too long. I had to read in fits and starts and I feel I would have enjoyed it more if I could've read for longer stretches of time. I rated Magpie Murders a 4. 

Susan Ryeland is a book editor of mysteries for Cloverleaf Books who turns amateur detective when she finds pages missing from the latest manuscript. When the author, Alan Conway, is found murdered, Susan is convinced there is a link between the missing pages and the killing and is determined to solve both mysteries. Hence, the second plot thickens!

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The Page Turners met soon after I finished the book and, even though the reviews were mixed, we had a wonderful time talking about it! The group's average rating was 3.4, with five ratings of 2, pretty unusual for our group selections. 

There were differing opinions about characters with a few members feeling they didn't care much for any of them. Others thought the characters were well-developed. At least two of the murdered characters were meant to be unlikeable so there were many plausible suspects.

Many of us were a bit shocked when the novel with missing pages (the one quoted above) came to a complete halt without naming the killer and we were thrown into another crime more in "real time." (The one Susan investigates.)

There were certainly many twists and turns and red herrings, but no one claimed they solved the mystery before the end. We were surprised when one friend explained the significance of the title: Magpie Murders comes from the name of Alan Conway's murder victim, Magnus Pye. That was an aha moment for me!

Some in our group felt this novel was meant to be a satire on murder mysteries, poking fun at mystery writers and their favorite (?) sleuths. A few thought the ending was satisfactory while at least one, disliked it intensely. And, no, I will not be a spoiler!