BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

The Good Sister
by Sally Hepworth

A pleasant surprise (6/19/2022)

THE GOOD SISTER was a pleasant surprise and my first Sally Hepworth novel, the reason for my surprise. The book met my number-one requirement of a good book: it must be one I don't want to put down, even to eat or sleep.

Rose and Fern are twin sisters. Fern has issues with …more

Under My Skin
by Lisa Unger

Romantic suspense (5/27/2022)

Lisa Unger has it in her to write a really great book, and I have read several. But UNDER MY SKIN isn’t one of them. It’s not bad, though. So, although I didn’t enjoy it, you may.

UNDER MY SKIN irritated me right away because its main character’s name is Poppy, which I think …more

The Night Strangers: A Novel
by Chris Bohjalian

Although the story is well written, its subject matter didn't appeal to me (5/17/2022)

I thought I had already read everything written by Chris Bohjalian, but I missed THE NIGHT STRANGERS until a few days ago. I love Bohjalian's books but might not have read them if I had started with this one. That is not to say this book is poorly written. It was the …more

We Begin at the End
by Chris Whitaker

The Best Kind of Mystery (4/27/2022)

WE BEGIN AT THE END is the best kind of mystery. It involves many twists throughout, not just one. Plus, although there is one main question (who killed Star?), which isn't truly answered until practically the end, even though you may think you have it figured out several …more times before then, more questions emanate from that one.

Simply put, Star and Vincent and Martha and Walk were a teenage foursome in their small California town until, when they were 15, Vincent accidentally killed Star's little sister Sissy. He was convicted of manslaughter as an adult and served time in an adult prison, where he murdered another prisoner. Now it's 30 years later, and he's out. When someone kills Star shortly thereafter, Vincent apparently did it, so he goes right back to jail, even to the same cell.

But Walk, now chief of police in that town, is sure his old friend is innocent. So he sets out to prove it. He investigates while Martha, now practicing family law in another city, prepares a defense.

Initially you'll agree with Walk, then you may not be so sure. Then maybe you will agree again when it looks like it's someone else. Then Walk, himself, isn't so sure. Then you may think you have it figured out. But maybe not.

At the same time all this is going on, we follow 13-year-old Duchess and her little brother Robin. These are Star's children, now orphans sent to Montana to live with their grandfather. Duchess is tough and in trouble. Will she be found by the person who thinks she has what they are willing to kill for? Can she protect Robin? Will she make it back to California to take care of the person who she thinks killed her mother?

From the first chapter of WE BEGIN AT THE END, this book reminded me of books written by one of my favorite authors, John Hart. So I was delighted when I watched a Zoom interview with Chris Whitaker, and he said that Hart influenced him. Whitaker also thanks Hart in the Acknowledgments.

That said, I found some irritations and some mistakes that irritated me.

*Constant irritation: Duchess talks like a 10-year-old. She calls herself "outlaw" to nearly everyone, often. But she contrasts that childishness with her use of the F word every other sentence.
*WE BEGIN AT THE END contains many, many runon sentences, each using a comma where one sentence should have ended and another begun. Misuse of punctuation is more than irritating. It can ruin a reading experience.
*I think I'm a smart reader, yet I didn't feel so smart while I was reading this book. I had to reread too many sentences; they seemed deliberately evasive.
*Although Whitaker said during the Zoom interview that copyeditors fixed all what he called his "Englishisms," I found many. For instance, he called a doctor "Mr." In America, we call doctors "Dr."
*I didn't like the end, what ultimately happened with Duchess and Robin.

Finally, I wish I had been able to read WE BEGIN AT THE END before I saw the Zoom interview rather than after. I would have asked Whitaker why he chose the book's setting to be in California and Montana rather than the UK and why all the characters are Americans. Most writers write what they know. (less)

Small World: A Novel
by Jonathan Evison

It's a small world (4/19/2022)

What an appropriate title! "Small world" really is what SMALL WORLD is about.

But know this right up front: SMALL WORLD has lots of characters, so many that you may have a hard time remembering who's who. This book should include a list of characters with who each is. …more

Carolina Moonset
by Matt Goldman

This book grabbed me from page 1 (4/12/2022)

Don't you just love it when you read a really good book by a new-to-you author, and now you get to read his previously unknown-to-you books? That's how I feel now. I just read the really good CAROLINA MOONSET by Matt Goldman, a new-to-me author who previously wrote four …more

Fragile: A Novel
by Lisa Unger

You should enjoy this story of two missing-person's cases (4/5/2022)

Lisa Unger is one of those authors whose books I know I’ll enjoy even before I start reading them. And once again she has proven me right with FRAGILE. This book is a quick read not only because it’s relatively short; also, you won’t want to put it down.

FRAGILE is set in …more

Falling
by T. J. Newman

Suspend disbelief (3/22/2022)

If you can suspend disbelief here and there, you'll really enjoy FALLING. I did, and so did everyone else in my book group. FALLING is a fast read because you won't want to put it down.

Terrorists have given an airline pilot a choice: crash his plane with 140 "souls" onboard …more

The Berlin Exchange: A Novel
by Joseph Kanon

Another great historical thriller from Joseph Kanon (3/12/2022)

Every time I finish reading a Joseph Kanon book, I'm afraid he might retire and not write another. I feel that way now after reading his THE BERLIN EXCHANGE. Please, do it again, Joe!

From 1962 to 1989, West Germany traded (exchanged) goods or money for political prisoners …more

The Sun Down Motel
by Simone St. James

Spoiled by the supernatural (3/2/2022)

The story is promising. Actually, THE SUN DOWN MOTEL appears to be two stories at first, one Vivian's in 1982, the other Carly's in 2017.

In 1982, Vivian runs away from home and ends up in Fell, New York, with a job as night clerk at the Sun Down Motel. She disappears later …more

Klara and the Sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro

Ishiguro can do better (2/24/2022)

I never thought I’d say this, but KLARA AND THE SUN is too mysterious. By the end of the book, I’m still not sure I solved all the mysteries. Kazuo Ishiguro alludes; he doesn’t give answers.

Klara, the narrator, is a robot. Ishiguro is pretty clear about that from the …more

Notes on an Execution: A Novel
by Danya Kukafka

Presentation and thoughtfulness of this book make it great (2/12/2022)

Although I differ with some blurbs I've read calling NOTES ON AN EXECUTION a thriller, I do agree that this book is excellent. And, although I think the couple lines of Danya Kukafka's antiracist comments (inserted as a character's thoughts) contained in this book are …more

Black Rabbit Hall
by Eve Chase

Haven't we all seen/read this story before? (2/6/2022)

BLACK RABBIT HALL is two stories that, for the first half of the book, only seem to be related by photographs showing one story's main character, Lorna, as a child standing in front of Black Rabbit Hall, where everything takes place in the other story. So that's the mystery …more

I Must Betray You
by Ruta Sepetys

Historical Fiction About Romania's Little-Known Revolt Against Communism (1/31/2022)

At a neighborhood picnic last summer, one of my neighbors introduced himself in his accented voice and said that he's from Romania. "Have you heard of it?" he asked.

I was surprised he asked me that and said, "Of course!"

He told me that most people he talked to in the United …more

Little Fires Everywhere
by Celeste Ng

Maybe this rates just 3 - average or maybe 4 (1/28/2022)

LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE, by my estimation, rates three or four stars out of five. I’ll give it four.

It starts out dull, a book about suburban teenagers. I’m an adult; teenagers bore me nowadays. But this book eventually turns out to be about adults, too. So it gets better.

…more

Migrations: A Novel
by Charlotte McConaghy

Migrations (11/2/2021)

After reading MIGRATIONS, I understand why it has received so many good reviews. But, although it has a promising beginning, the bulk of the book is slow and depressing. It also seemed choppy to me until I got used to it’s going to and from various periods of time.

All is …more

Such a Fun Age
by Kiley Reid

Excellent story even if end is rushed (10/26/2021)

I admit, I did not expect to like SUCH A FUN AGE. On the basis of its description on the book's flap, I thought it was a book that concentrated on racism, which every-other book seems to be about lately. So I would have passed it by if my book club hadn't chosen it.

Joke's …more on me. I shouldn't have read the book flap.

Emira is a 25-year-old black college graduate, part-time typist, part-time babysitter, who longs to be more adult with a job more like her friends' jobs. But she loves the little girl, Briar, she takes care of three days a week. The mother, though, is pretty hard to figure. (By the way, they're white.)

First of all, the mother calls herself Alix, which she pronounces "aa LEEKS," even though her name is actually Alex. After she hired Emira, their relationship was impersonal, limited to comments, questions, and instructions about Briar's care. That changes after a late-night incident in a grocery store. Emira is there with Briar when she is stopped by a security guard. He and another customer are suspicious that she has kidnapped Briar, a little white girl. This problem is soon straightened out, but Alix is now determined to become Emira's friend. I think that is probably because of a racist comment that her husband made on TV during a newscast. (Speaking of which, this is the reason Emira and Briar were in the grocery store. Some junior high school-age boys threw an egg at their window because of the comment, so Alix and her husband called the police. They didn't want Briar there when the police came. Why would someone call the police because boys threw an egg at their house? And why would they get their toddler from her bed at 11 p.m. so she could get out of the house? And why would they call their babysitter at 11 p.m. for such a ridiculous reason?)

While Alix is determined to be Emira's friend, Emira begins dating Kelley, another white customer in the grocery store that night. Kelley filmed the incident with his smartphone and wants to publicize it but doesn't. Emira doesn't want to and insists he delete the video from his phone.

As the story continues, we see more and more the kind of person Alix really is, especially after she meets Kelley.

I won't give away more of the story. I will say that SUCH A FUN AGE is excellent. It didn't offend me and shouldn't offend anyone, if that is your concern. The end, though, might be too rushed. (less)

The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle: UK Title: The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
by Stuart Turton

Confusing (10/17/2021)

The confusion begins with the title. First, it implies that Evelyn Hardcastle is who this story is about. But it isn’t, really. Second, the title also implies that Evelyn Hardcastle will die 7 1/2 times. But no.

That’s OK. Titles are often mysteries. But even now that I’ve …more

Anatomy of a Scandal
by Sarah Vaughan

An analysis (9/28/2021)

ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL really is what its title says it is: an anatomy, or analysis, of a scandal. The story is told from the viewpoints of the various people who are involved in the scandal, directly or indirectly, although the actual scandal is not dealt with until about …more

Morningside Heights: A Novel
by Joshua Henkin

Author somehow keeps this from becoming a bore (9/27/2021)

Not many authors could have written MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS as Joshua Henkin did. The story of Pru and Spence might have been a bore. But Henkin ensured, simply, that once you start this book, you'll want to finish. Although this story is not thrilling or suspenseful, it's a …more

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