Category Archives: Harper

April 29, 2018 · 11:57 pm

Review: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

Title: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 336 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

An addictive psychological thriller about a group of women whose lives become unexpectedlyconnected when one of their newborns goes missing.

A night out. A few hours of fun. That’s all it was meant to be.

They call themselves the May Mothers—a group of new moms whose babies were born in the same month. Twice a week, they get together in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park for some much-needed adult time.

When the women go out for drinks at the hip neighborhood bar, they want a fun break from their daily routine. But on this hot Fourth of July night, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is taken from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but her fellow May Mothers insisted everything would be fine. Now he is missing. What follows is a heart-pounding race to find Midas, during which secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are destroyed.

Thirteen days. An unexpected twist. The Perfect Mother is a “true page turner.” —B.A. Paris, author of Behind Closed Doors

Review:

The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy is a riveting, suspense-laden mystery about the disappearance of a six week old baby.

A group of first time mothers form a mother’s group they dub the May Mothers because all of their due dates are in May. After everyone gives birth, they remain friends and support one another as they traverse the complicated changes their newborns bring to their lives. On July 4th, Francie Givens, Nell Mackey, Colette Yates and the only dad in the group, Token, convince single mom Winnie Ross to join them for a night out. With Nell’s prospective nanny Alma Romero watching Winnie’s baby, Midas, the group head out for a night of frivolous fun at a local bar. However, Winnie disappears at some point during the evening, leaving her phone and house key behind which Nell holds for safekeeping. Just as everyone is to head about home, Alma makes a shocking discovery: Midas is missing from his crib. With the police making little progress in the case, media scrutiny turns to the May Mothers who are launching their own investigation into what happened to Midas.

The chapters alternate between Francie, Nell, and Colette’s perspectives as they try to make sense of what happened to Midas and their own struggles with motherhood. Nell is unexpectedly called back into work before her maternity leave is scheduled to end and she is very concerned that her past might be uncovered during the investigation. Colette is falling farther and farther behind on a project with a looming deadline when she stumbles onto case files about Midas’s disappearance. Francie is fixated on Midas’s kidnapping and she continues to insert herself in the police investigation as she takes her suspicions about different suspects to the lead detectives assigned to the case. All of the women are initially extremely sympathetic to Winnie’s devastating loss, but as she keeps out of the public eye, they begin to wonder why she is so conspicuously absent.

Interspersed with their narrations are occasional chapters from an unknown person’s point of view. This woman is obviously part of the May Mothers’ group but her identity remains carefully shrouded in mystery.  As the story unwinds, she becomes increasingly fraught as she desperately tries to cling to someone who might be slipping away from her. Who is this woman and what, if anything, does she have to do with Midas’s disappearance?

The Perfect Mother  is an intricately-plotted mystery that is quite compelling. The characters are well-drawn and their lives with a newborn are realistically depicted.  Aimee Molloy does an absolutely outstanding job keeping the truth about what happened to baby Midas cleverly concealed until the novel’s shocking conclusion. Fans of the genre do not want to miss this outstanding fiction debut.

Comments Off on Review: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

Filed under Aimee Molloy, Contemporary, Harper, Mystery, Rated B, Review, Suspense, The Perfect Mother

April 4, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman

Title: Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman
Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Series Book 22
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 320 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

New York Times bestselling author Anne Hillerman brings together modern mystery, Navajo traditions, and the evocative landscape of the desert Southwest in this intriguing entry in the Leaphorn, Chee, and Manuelito series.

When Tribal Police Officer Bernadette Manuelito arrives to speak at an outdoor character-building program for at-risk teens, she discovers chaos. Annie, a young participant on a solo experience due back hours before, has just returned and is traumatized. Gently questioning the girl, Bernie learns that Annie stumbled upon a human skeleton on her trek. While everyone is relieved that Annie is back, they’re concerned about a beloved instructor who went out into the wilds of the rugged lava wilderness bordering Ramah Navajo Reservation to find the missing girl. The instructor vanished somewhere in the volcanic landscape known as El Malpais. In Navajo lore, the lava caves and tubes are believed to be the solidified blood of a terrible monster killed by superhuman twin warriors.

Solving the twin mysteries will expose Bernie to the chilling face of human evil. The instructor’s disappearance mirrors a long-ago search that may be connected to a case in which the legendary Joe Leaphorn played a crucial role. But before Bernie can find the truth, an unexpected blizzard, a suspicious accidental drowning, and the arrival of a new FBI agent complicate the investigation.

While Bernie searches for answers in her case, her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee juggles trouble closer to home. A vengeful man he sent to prison for domestic violence is back—and involved with Bernie’s sister Darleen. Their relationship creates a dilemma that puts Chee in uncomfortable emotional territory that challenges him as family man, a police officer, and as a one-time medicine man in training.

Anne Hillerman takes us deep into the heart of the deserts, mountains, and forests of New Mexico and once again explores the lore and rituals of Navajo culture in this gripping entry in her atmospheric crime series.

Review:

Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman is a perplexing mystery with several cases to solve. This 22nd installment in the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series can easily be read as a standalone.

Tribal police officer Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito is only supposed to be giving a talk to the participants of the Wings and Roots program. However, she quickly becomes embroiled in a case in which teenager Annie Rainsong goes missing and staff member Domingo “Dom” Cruz who is searching for her, has also disappeared. Annie eventually returns unharmed but Dom is nowhere to be found.  Since Annie is prone to exaggerating, no one but Bernie believes her claims that she found bones in the cave she took refuge in overnight.  Bernie is soon swept up in several seeming disparate investigations involving the Wings and Roots program, Dom’s search and rescue and possible grave robbing of Native American artifacts.

Bernie’s husband, Sergeant Jim Chee, is in Santa Fe for training and he grows concerned for his sister-in-law Darleen who is attending  a class at the Institute of American Indian Arts. He is worried that she might be in trouble with her boyfriend Clayton “CS” Secody whose furtive actions make Jim suspicious. Equally dismaying is the discovery that CS is involved with Clyde Herbert, a felon that Jim put behind bars.  Jim is afraid Darleen is in over her head since she is unwilling to discuss what is going on with her, CS and Herbert.

Both Bernie and Jim turn to Lt. Joe Leaphorn for background on some of the principals they encounter on their respective investigations. Although Joe still has a few memory issues from being shot, he remains sharp as a tack.  He augments his  recollections with some research that turns up some very unexpected revelations.

Cave of Bones is a mesmerizing police procedural that takes a few startling twists and turns. The cases are quite interesting and in addition to a wily group of suspects, Bernie must also battle the elements in her quest for answers.  Anne Hillerman’s descriptive prose brings the New Mexico landscape and Native American culture vividly to life.   The novel comes to a satisfying conclusion that neatly wraps all of the story arcs. This latest addition to the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series is sure to be hit with fans of the genre.

Comments Off on Review: Cave of Bones by Anne Hillerman

Filed under Anne Hillerman, Cave of Bones, Contemporary, Harper, Leaphorn Chee & Manuelito Series, Mystery, Rated B, Review, Suspense

January 28, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: A Death in Live Oak by James Grippando

Title: A Death in Live Oak by James Grippando
Jack Swyteck Series Book 14
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

From the 2017 winner of the Harper Lee Prize for legal fiction comes a powerful and timely story of race, politics, injustice, and murder as shocking and incendiary as today’s headlines.

When the body of Jamal Cousin, president of the pre-eminent black fraternity at the Florida’s flagship university, is discovered hogtied in the Stygian water swamps of the Suwanee River Valley, the death sets off a firestorm that threatens to rage out of control when a fellow student, Mark Towson, the president of a prominent white fraternity, is accused of the crime.

Contending with rising political tensions, racial unrest, and a sensational media, Townson’s defense attorney, Jack Swyteck, knows that the stakes could not be higher—inside or outside the old Suwanee County Couthouse.  The evidence against his client, which includes a threatening text message referencing “strange fruit” on the river, seems overwhelming. Then Jack gets a break that could turn the case. Jamal’s gruesome murder bears disturbing similarities to another lynching that occurred back in the Jim Crow days of 1944. Are the chilling parallels purely coincidental? With a community in chaos and a young man’s life in jeopardy, Jack will use every resource to find out.

As he navigates each twist and turn of the search, Jack becomes increasingly convinced that his client may himself be the victim of a criminal plan more sinister than the case presented by the state attorney. Risking his own reputation, this principled man who has devoted his life to the law plunges headfirst into the darkest recesses of the South’s past, and its murky present, to uncover answers.

For Jack, it’s about the truth. Traversing time, from the days of strict segregation to the present, he’ll find it—no matter what the cost—and bring much-needed justice to Suwanee County.

Review:

The fourteenth installment in the Jack Swyteck series, A Death in Live Oak by James Grippando is a timely mystery about the apparent lynching of an African American student at a Gainesville University.

The shocking discovery of Jamal Cousin’s corpse is eerily reminiscent of the rumored lynching of young teenager Willie James Howard 74 years earlier. One week prior to his death, Jamal, the president of the revered Alpha Fraternity, received racially charged, threatening texts from three members of the Theta Fraternity. Since Jamal only saved the text from Theta president Mark Towson, State Attorney Oliver Boalt and lead detective Josh Proctor quickly zero in on him as their main suspect. Fearing his son will be charged, Mark’s father requests a favor from his old boss, former FL Governor Harry Swyteck to ask his son, Jack, to consider representing Mark.

Tensions run high and the university is forced to quickly act. Mark is expelled from college and the future of the Theta fraternity is uncertain. Mark’s efforts to overturn his expulsion backfire when Jamal’s friend Brandon Wall gives damning testimony that point to racism within the fraternity. Racial tensions on campus turn violent when white supremacists begin attacking African American protesters at demonstrations.

With Boalt under extreme pressure to ensure Jamal receives swift justice, he relies on sworn statements from Mark’s frat brother and friend Baine Robinson to bolster his somewhat thin case. Jack is quite skeptical of Baine’s efforts to cast suspicion on his friend, but Boalt quickly convenes a grand jury and Mark is summarily indicted then arrested for Jamal’s murder. Jack is extremely worried about his client’s safety after he is incarcerated pending trial. Forced into a hearing to procure bail for Mark, will Jack uncover the truth about who murdered Jamal?

At the same time Jack is immersed in the volatile case, his wife, FBI agent Andie Henning’s current assignment rapidly progresses. Working undercover, she is a very capable agent but the people she is investigating are extremely dangerous. Despite her best efforts to remain out of harm’s way, when her path crosses with someone connected to Jamal’s murder investigation, things quickly take a perilous turn.

A brilliant addition to the Jack Swyteck series, A Death in Live Oak is a riveting mystery that is socially relevant. The storyline moves at a brisk pace and readers will have a difficult time figuring out who killed Jamal and why. Loosely based on the real life lynching of Willie James Howard, James Grippando shines a much needed light on the racial injustices of the past and the racism that continues to plague our society today.

1 Comment

Filed under A Death in Live Oak, Contemporary, Harper, Jack Swyteck Series, James Grippando, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense

January 22, 2018 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Wife by Alafair Burke

Title: The Wife by Alafair Burke
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 352 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

His Scandal
Her Secret

From New York Times bestselling author Alafair Burke, a stunning domestic thriller in the vein of Behind Closed Doors and The Woman in Cabin 10—in which a woman must make the impossible choice between defending her husband and saving herself.

When Angela met Jason Powell while catering a dinner party in East Hampton, she assumed their romance would be a short-lived fling, like so many relationships between locals and summer visitors. To her surprise, Jason, a brilliant economics professor at NYU, had other plans, and they married the following summer. For Angela, the marriage turned out to be a chance to reboot her life. She and her son were finally able to move out of her mother’s home to Manhattan, where no one knew about her tragic past.

Six years later, thanks to a bestselling book and a growing media career, Jason has become a cultural lightning rod, placing Angela near the spotlight she worked so carefully to avoid. When a college intern makes an accusation against Jason, and another woman, Kerry Lynch, comes forward with an even more troubling allegation, their perfect life begins to unravel. Jason insists he is innocent, and Angela believes him. But when Kerry disappears, Angela is forced to take a closer look at the man she married. And when she is asked to defend Jason in court, she realizes that her loyalty to her husband could unearth old secrets.

This much-anticipated follow-up to Burke’s Edgar-nominated The Ex asks how far a wife will go to protect the man she loves: Will she stand by his side, even if he drags her down with him?

Review:

Part police procedural and part domestic drama, The Wife by Alafair Burke is an engrossing, twist-filled mystery.

Angela Powell is a happily married stay at home mom to thirteen year old Spencer. Her husband,Jason, is an economics professor whose bestselling book about socially conscious investing has resulted in a lucrative consulting business and guest spots on news programs. Angela eschews the limelight and works hard to maintain a well-ordered, structured life for her family. Their domestic bliss slowly begins to unravel when Jason’s intern, Rachel Sutton, accuses him of sexual harassment. But what really rocks the foundation of their life is an allegation from a client, Kerry Lynch, that soon leads to Jason’s arrest. Determined to stand by her husband, Angela is stunned by numerous revelations about her husband. When Kerry goes missing, Jason is the prime suspect in her disappearance and SVU Detective Corrine Duncan is asking Angela some very hard questions about the night Kerry vanished.

Angela grew up in a blue-collar family who resides in a playground of the rich and famous.  She and her best friend, Trisha Faulkner, ran a little wild and had a few brushes with the law.  But Angela moved past her rather troubled past and when she met Jason, she was running a successful catering business. Not really looking for love, Jason nonetheless won her over and they have been happily married for six years when trouble strikes. Angela has worked very hard to maintain a low profile and although Jason is well-aware of her past, no one else has stumbled onto her secrets. As Jason’s very public problems thrust them into the media spotlight, one of Angela’s biggest fears is her past will be uncovered.

Corrine is a tenacious investigator who is not jaded by the sexual assault cases she works so hard to solve. She is genuinely concerned that Angela is putting Jason’s interests before her own. No matter how worried she about Angela, Corrine has no reason to doubt that Kerry is telling the truth about Jason and she works hard to find the evidence she needs to solidify her case. After Kerry vanishes, she is not officially assigned to the case, but Corrine cannot remain on the sidelines during the investigation.

The Wife is an intricately plotted and very clever mystery that is mostly written from Angela’s perspective. She is a  complex character whose tragic past makes her a sympathetic and credible narrator. Her continued loyalty to Jason is admirable but might be misplaced as the truth about her husband slowly begins to emerge.  Savvy readers might surmise some of the upcoming twists, but Alafair Burke brilliantly saves the most shocking revelations for the novel’s jaw-dropping, stunning conclusion.

1 Comment

Filed under Alafair Burke, Contemporary, Harper, Mystery, Review, Suspense, The Wife

September 3, 2017 · 11:58 pm

Review: The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld

Title: The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld
Publisher: Harper
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 288 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

A haunting, richly atmospheric, and deeply suspenseful novel from the acclaimed author of The Enchanted about an investigator who must use her unique insights to find a missing little girl.

“Where are you, Madison Culver? Flying with the angels, a silver speck on a wing? Are you dreaming, buried under snow? Or—is it possible—you are still alive?”

Three years ago, Madison Culver disappeared when her family was choosing a Christmas tree in Oregon’s Skookum National Forest. She would be eight-years-old now—if she has survived. Desperate to find their beloved daughter, certain someone took her, the Culvers turn to Naomi, a private investigator with an uncanny talent for locating the lost and missing. Known to the police and a select group of parents as “the Child Finder,” Naomi is their last hope.

Naomi’s methodical search takes her deep into the icy, mysterious forest in the Pacific Northwest, and into her own fragmented past. She understands children like Madison because once upon a time, she was a lost girl, too.

As Naomi relentlessly pursues and slowly uncovers the truth behind Madison’s disappearance, shards of a dark dream pierce the defenses that have protected her, reminding her of a terrible loss she feels but cannot remember. If she finds Madison, will Naomi ultimately unlock the secrets of her own life?

Told in the alternating voices of Naomi and a deeply imaginative child, The Child Finder is a breathtaking, exquisitely rendered literary page-turner about redemption, the line between reality and memories and dreams, and the human capacity to survive.

Review:

The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld is a fast-paced and compelling mystery with a unique protagonist and an intriguing premise.

Naomi is a private investigator who specializes in searching for missing children. Her latest case takes her to the snow-laden Oregon mountains where she is searching for Madison Culver, a young girl who went missing three years earlier.  Despite the passage of time, Naomi is working off the assumption that Madison is still alive and she quickly embarks on a systematic and in depth investigation that she hopes will lead her to the missing girl.

Due to her personal history, Naomi is compelled to help the loved ones whose children have gone missing. She works with a single-minded focus as she attempts to uncover evidence that will hopefully lead her to the truth about the children she is searching for.  Naomi is a very personable young woman but she finds it difficult to let people into her life. She is somewhat closed off and she is quite reluctant to trust anyone. Naomi distances herself physically and emotionally from almost everyone in her life.

Naomi’s investigation into Madison’s disappearance is thorough and she does not hesitate to follow every piece of information she uncovers. She is somewhat reckless as she travels to remote locations without giving any thought to her personal safety. Naomi has no qualms about confronting the trappers who have unconventional lives and are naturally suspicious of everyone outside of their trusted circle. Despite the harsh weather and unforgiving mountainous terrain, Naomi continues her search for Madison after she discovers troubling information about someone in the distant past.

In addition to the investigation into Madison’s disappearance, Naomi is beginning to remember bits and pieces about her own fractured past. Up to this point, she has very few concrete recollections of her time in captivity. However, the fragmented pieces from her traumatic past are finally beginning to fall into place, and Naomi hopes she will now find the answers to the questions that have long haunted her.

The Child Finder is an engrossing mystery that delves into somewhat dark subject matter.  Rene Denfeld deftly broaches these difficult topics with sensitivity but please be aware there are some chapters which are graphic yet integral to the storyline. I highly recommend this sometimes heartbreaking yet ultimately redemptive novel to fans of the genre.

1 Comment

Filed under Contemporary, Harper, Mystery, Rated B+, Rene Denfeld, Suspense, The Child Finder

July 3, 2017 · 11:57 pm

Review: The Reason You’re Alive by Matthew Quick

Title: The Reason You’re Alive by Matthew Quick
Publisher: 240 pages
Genre: Contemporary, Fiction
Length: 240 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

The New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook offers a timely novel featuring his most fascinating character yet, a Vietnam vet embarking on a quixotic crusade to track down his nemesis from the war.

After sixty-eight-year-old David Granger crashes his BMW, medical tests reveal a brain tumor that he readily attributes to his wartime Agent Orange exposure. He wakes up from surgery repeating a name no one in his civilian life has ever heard—that of a Native American soldier whom he was once ordered to discipline. David decides to return something precious he long ago stole from the man he now calls Clayton Fire Bear. It may be the only way to find closure in a world increasingly at odds with the one he served to protect. It may also help him to finally recover from his wife’s untimely demise.

As David confronts his past to salvage his present, a poignant portrait emerges: that of an opinionated and good-hearted American patriot fighting like hell to stay true to his red, white, and blue heart, even as the country he loves rapidly changes in ways he doesn’t always like or understand. Hanging in the balance are Granger’s distant art-dealing son, Hank; his adoring seven-year-old granddaughter, Ella; and his best friend, Sue, a Vietnamese American who respects David’s fearless sincerity.

Through the controversial, wrenching, and wildly honest David Granger, Matthew Quick offers a no-nonsense but ultimately hopeful view of America’s polarized psyche. By turns irascible and hilarious, insightful and inconvenient, David is a complex, wounded, honorable, and loving man. The Reason You’re Alive examines how the secrets and debts we carry from our past define us; it also challenges us to look beyond our own prejudices and search for the good in us all.

Review:

The Reason You’re Alive by Matthew Quick is a poignant and humorous novel about a politically incorrect Vietnam veteran’s attempts to come to terms with the traumatic experiences that continue to haunt him.

David Granger is a sixty-eight year old vet who is recovering from surgery to remove a brain tumor. A right-wing conservative with a liberal son,  David never hesitates to speak his mind nor does he make any attempt to hide his prejudices or temper his opinions.  He is surprisingly likable and sympathetic despite his caustic comments and somewhat cantankerous demeanor.  His disdain for his only son Hank and his intense dislike of his daughter-in-law in no way diminish his love and adoration of his seven-year old granddaughter Ella. David is a surprisingly multi-dimensional man with delightfully unexpected friendships and a willingness to lend a helping hand to those who are less fortunate and willing to work hard.

In the aftermath of his brain surgery, David becomes somewhat fixated on an incident that occurred while he was in country during the Vietnam War.  Deeply troubled by his actions all these years later, David cannot forget what he did to fellow soldier, Clayton Fire Bear. Terrified of what might happen to him should he locate Clayton, David nonetheless allows a good friend to tack down his nemesis.  Will he follow through with the plan to meet with Clayton? Will confronting his demons finally help David make peace with the horrors that continue to haunt him?

With a diverse cast of characters and a thought-provoking storyline, The Reason You’re Alive by Matthew Quick  is an absolutely compelling novel. David can be unapologetically offensive and abrasive yet, at the same time, he is incredibly kind, compassionate and patriotic. A laugh out loud funny and deeply affecting story of redemption that is ultimately quite uplifting.

1 Comment

Filed under Contemporary, Fiction, Harper, Matthew Quick, Rated B, Review, The Reason You're Alive