Downfall - Robert Rotenberg

I was quite happy to see that Robert Rotenberg had a new entry in his Greene and Kennicott series. The sixth book is the newly released Downfall.

Ari Greene is the head of homicide in Toronto, Ontario. Greene has a calm, measured way of speaking and thinking and often knows and sees more than he lets on, playing his cards close to his chest. Detective Kennicott has learned from Greene and is also a keen investigator. Greene's daughter is a news reporter and gives another viewpoint on things. I'm not totally sold on her yet, but her appearance in the books adds to Greene's personal story line. I am quite fond of Greene's elderly father. The rest of the supporting players in Downfall include some familiar faces and some new characters. The homeless were given dignity and real voices in their character building.

The crime at the heart of this novel is not imagining on Rotenberg's part. Instead, homelessness and the killing of homeless people is fact. In this case, Ari has more than one murder on his plate. 'Toronto is now the fourth largest municipality in North America and there are over 10,000 people in Toronto who are homeless on any given night.' Encampments, gatherings and tent cities are part of every large city's make up. In Downfall, one such tent city has drawn the ire of an elite Toronto golf club. The tensions between the wealthy and the homeless is at the heart of the story. 

Rotenberg has been called Canada's John Grisham. This is an apt descriptor as Rotenberg himself is a criminal lawyer. That expertise brings much to his writing and his plotting. Rotenberg also makes his home in T.O. Actual streets, places and more make up the setting. Having been to some of them, it was easy to envision places as I read. 

Rotenberg keeps things moving along at a good clip, with no down time for our investigators. I had my suspicions as to the whodunit as the book progressed, but this certainly didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book. I was right to a certain degree, but hadn't sussed out the details. 

A really good addition to this series. And the plot lends itself to food for thought in regards to homelessness. I will be happily looking for the next entry in this series. Here's an excerpt of Downfall.

Crazy Love You - Lisa Unger

Crazy Love You is the latest book from Lisa Unger.

I've read and enjoyed many other books by Unger, so I just picked this one up with no idea what it was about. Crazy Love You is a bit of a departure from Unger's previous works.

I was intrigued by the premise...

Ian was the kid picked on in his small town - fat boy was a favorite slur thrown at him.  His only friend was another outsider - the troubled Priss.

Ian and Priss grew up and made their way to New York City. Ian has found success as a graphic novelist. His Fatboy and Priss series is a phenomenal success. But when Ian meets Meghan, Priss feels pushed aside - and angry. After all she's stood by Ian from the beginning, hasn't she?

As Ian continues to draw and write his series, time lines become blurred. Are events drawn in the panels happening in real life? Is he imagining things - or truly making them happen? Or is it Priss manipulating his life?

Unger keeps the reader off kilter - we're never really sure what's real and what's imagined. Is Ian crazy? Priss is elusive - we're never really sure about her and what her intentions are.

Unger's writing flows easily and I became completely engrossed in following Ian down the rabbit hole. (He was still a difficult character to like though) But, where the book fell down for me was the ending. It was just a bit  too 'been there, done that' for me. And it seemed to go on for too long with much of Ian's feelings and experiences recapped over and over again.

I think Unger is a great writer and will be absolutely picking up her next book. For me though, Crazy Love You just wasn't a stand out.

Read an excerpt of Crazy Love You. You can connect with Lisa Unger on Twitter.

Road to Reckoning - Robert Lautner

It was the cover blurb on the cover of  Robert Lautner's book, Road to Reckoning, that compelled me to pick it up....."Those who love True Grit will love this."

1837 New York City. Thomas Walker and his father (formerly a spectacle salesman) strike out on the road West to sell a new product - guns. Specifically,  Samuel Colt's new improved 'revolving gun'. They have samples to show and Thomas has a wooden replica as well. Walker Sr. is a gentle man, not one overly familiar with guns or violence. It is inevitable that others would want and simply take the guns. But what is also taken Walker Sr.'s life. Leaving young Thomas alone to fend for himself....until he hooks up with Henry Stands - a man more than familiar with the use of guns.

It is Thomas in his older years who narrates the tale of his youth.

"I, to this day, hold to only one truth: if a man chooses to carry a gun he will get shot. My father agreed to carry twelve."

Young Thomas is old beyond his years, yet still a child. Lautner wonderfully describes  the relationship between Thomas and his father, making it all the more heartbreaking when it is cut short. The relationship between Stands and Thomas is just as moving. Stands as a character leapt off the page for me. The prose are spare, but Thomas's observations and thoughts are compelling. The Road to Reckoning is filled with adventure and action as well. And Lautner's descriptions of time and place set the tone perfectly. The history of firearms and Colt's fledgling revolver was also very interesting.

Lautner has written a Western coming of age tale set on the rough roads and towns of a young America. And yes, it is very similar in tone to True Grit. But definitely worth a read. (And it would make a great movie)  Read an excerpt of Road to Reckoning.

(I was surprised to see that Lautner is not an American author - rather he lives in Wales.)

Inherit the Dead - Lee Child, Charlaine Harris, C.J. Box et. al.

At first glance, I thought that Inherit the Dead was a collection of short stories from some of my favourite authors. (20 of them to be exact) Upon closer inspection I realized that it was one story, a serial novel,  with each chapter written by  a different author. And that there was a purpose behind the compilation - monies raised go to support Safe Horizon - an organization championed by Linda Fairstein. 

Perry Christo is a disgraced former cop turned P.I. When a wealthy 'uptown' woman summons Perry, he runs - he really needs the money. But the case is odd - Drusilla wants Perry to find her daughter Angel - she hasn't seen her in two weeks, but hasn't bothered with the police either. Christo takes the case, but as he digs, it just gets more complicated - everyone has their own agenda and Angel may have been right to disappear.

I was quite eager to read this as I do follow about half of the authors regularly. The initial chapter sets the stage and from there, each author added their own twist and direction. But, sadly, as the book progressed, I found myself losing interest. I like a good meaty mystery. With the format used here, the flow was choppy and the plot seemed cobbled together. Which it was. You can easily identify the hood or twist that dictates where the plot is headed.  I did have reading each chapter and identifying the style of known authors. And finding some new authors to try. You would think that with so much talent, it would be a great book.  It's a neat premise and a good hook for a fundraiser, but for this reader, it was just an okay read. Here's an excerpt of Inherit the Dead.

Swimming at Night - Lucy Clarke

"People go travelling for two reasons: because they are searching for something, or they are running from something."

That quote is an excellent introduction to Lucy Clarke's  novel - Swimming at Night.

The opening pages introduce us to Katie - who has just received news that her younger sister Mia is dead. Mia took off six months ago to travel the world. The police say she committed suicide in Bali, but Katie cannot accept that verdict. When the police return Mia's backpack, Katie discovers Mia's travel journal inside. Impulsively, she decides to travel in Mia's footsteps, hoping to find some answers.

Clarke tells the story of these two sisters in alternating chapters. This format consistently grabs me - I always want to read just another chapter to see what happens next.

Clarke explores relationships in Swimming at Night - friends and lovers but most significantly - that of the sisters. Each sister remembers their childhood, their growing up years and their relationship as adults. Katie is the sensible, stable sister - Mia is the wild child. With every chapter, Clarke drops a few more hints as to what triggered the rift between the two.

"She hadn't told him about the terrible argument she's had with Mia. She hadn't told him of the hateful, shameful things she'd said. She hadn't told him about the anger and hurt that had been festering between them for months. She hadn't told Ed any of this because there are some currents in a relationship between sisters that are so dark and run so deep, it's better for the people swimming on the surface never to know what's beneath."

Excerpts from Mia's journal exposes even more - lies, secrets, hopes, dreams and - more clues as to what really happened to Mia.

I'm sure Clarke must have a sister - her exploration of this often complicated dynamic rings true. Both of the sister's narratives were equally compelling and well written. Certainly, I stopped more than once to consider my own relationship with my own sister. Clarke is an avid traveller herself and this showed in the lush descriptions of settings of Australia and Bali. Water is used very effectively as a metaphor for many aspects of the sister's relationship.

Definitely a recommended read - and especially for book clubs. A reading group guide is available. Read an excerpt of Swimming at Night.

You can find Lucy Clarke on Twitter and on Facebook.

The Chalice - Nancy Bilyeau

Nancy Bilyeau's debut novel, The Crown, released last year. (my review) Newly released is the second book in this series, The Chalice.

The Crown introduced us to Joanna Stafford, a novice nun, in 1537 Tudor England. I was immediately captured by the character of Joanna in this first book, as well as Bilyeau's use of this time period as her setting.

The Chalice picks up where The Crown left off (but new readers would be able to start with this book - a flashback chapter provides the needed background)

It is a year later and the country is being torn apart by a power struggle between the King and the Church. Despite wanting nothing more than to live a quiet life, Joanna discovers that she herself must play a role in determining the outcome in the clash between Henry VIII and the Church. Her role in the country's future was foretold by a seer when she was still a young novice. And that seer also predicted that Joanna would hear two more prophecies from two other sages.

Bilyeau has again proven what a stellar researcher she is. I am not overly familiar with this time period and often found myself heading to the computer to follow up on characters and historical facts. Bilyeau has done a fantastic job of weaving a fictional tale and the past together. The time period, the settings and the descriptions are just as much a character in the story as is Joanna. The prose are rich and full, immersing the reader in this tumultuous time period.

Joanna continues to be a character that intrigues me. She is torn between her loyalties - to her country, her King, her family and her church. But in The Chalice she is also forced to look at her own desires - she has fallen in love. She is a stubborn, courageous woman determined to do what she must. Can this young woman truly alter the course of history or her own destiny?

"Destiny. There is a destiny one creates. And there is a destiny ordained."

Bilyeau weaves together history, adventure, intrigue and yes, romance to create a second tale that historical fiction fans will love. I look forward to the the next book in this series - Joanna's story is far from finished.

 Read an excerpt of The Chalice.              A reading group guide is also available.

You can find Nancy Bilyeau on Facebook and on Twitter.

Deadly Stakes - J. A. Jance

I've been reading J.A. Jance for a number of years, following her Joanna Brady series,  but funnily enough have never read any of the other three series she writes. Her latest book Deadly Stakes is the eighth entry in the Ali Reynolds mystery series.

The opening chapters of Deadly Stakes were quite detailed (and folksy), filling in the background of many recurring characters and the goings-on in their lives. For someone who hadn't read the series, this was a good way to get to know the players. Ali is a reporter with ties to the police department as a reservist in Sedona, Arizona.

Ali is asked by the mother of a woman suspected of murdering her boyfriend's ex wife to look into her case. There is a bit of a connection with a past investigation of Ali's and the suspect herself has faith that Ali can help find the truth. The body of the murdered woman was found by a local teenager, who's keeping secrets of his own. And then another body, that of a convicted counterfeiter, is found nearby. Is there a connection between the two bodies?

Deadly Stakes (and Ali) rely upon a lot of coincidences, timely clues and fortuitous happening to solve the crime. "Wait, I almost forgot." or "You know all this how? A good buddy of mine works for them." Or interviewees 'spilling the beans' to Ali, who is calling herself a freelancer rather than a reporter. I found some of the plot stretched credibility, such as the chief of police asking Ali to investigate on the sly as he had misgivings about the prosecutor.

One of Jance's strengths is in the building and continuation of her character's lives. I truly do enjoy the Sheriff Joanna Brady character. Maybe it's because I started at the beginning and have followed along with each new entry, but I just find her genuinely likable. I can't say the same for Ali. All the right elements are there, but I just found her grating.

Deadly Stakes isn't a cozy mystery, but not a difficult whodunit either. It falls somewhere in the middle. I think readers who enjoy Catherine Coulter and Iris Johansen, for example, would enjoy this series.

Sorry Ali, I really do prefer the Sheriff Brady stories. But, Deadly Stakes was a good book to while away a sleepy Sunday on the couch. Read the prologue or chapter one of Deadly Stakes. Book groups there is a reading group guide available.

You can find J.A. Jance on Twitter and on Facebook.

Winner - The Conviction

And the lucky winner of a copy of The Conviction by Robert Dugoni, courtesy of Touchstone Books is:

kat!


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The Conviction - Robert Dugoni - Review AND Giveaway

I picked up Robert Dugoni's debut novel The Jury Master back in 2006. I quite enjoyed it, but for some unknown reason, I hadn't read another of his books until I picked up his latest - The Conviction. (I know I've missed a lot of good reads in between.)

Lawyer David Sloane is Dugoni's recurring character. He's known as 'the lawyer who does not lose'. In the courtroom maybe, but in his personal life Sloane has suffered some losses. His partner Tina was brutally murdered - in front of her son Jake. Jake is dealing with his grief by abusing drugs and alcohol and engaging in petty crimes that are rapidly escalating. Sloane had raised the boy with Tina. In a last ditch effort to keep him out of detention, Sloan agrees to get him sucessfully through rehab this time. When an old friend, Detective Tom Molia, invites Sloan and Jake on a camping trip with him and his son T.J., it seems like a great idea.

And it was....until Jake decides that breaking into a local business in the small town of Truluc is a good idea...and he has T.J. was with him. Unbelievably, the boys are caught, tried and convicted within six hours and sent to Fresh Start, a local boot camp, for six months. All without their fathers' knowledge.....

Oh, this was such a page turner! Although, sometimes I didn't want to turn the page, fearing the worst, but needing to know to know what would happen next.  As Sloane and Molia work feverishly on the outside to get the boys released, Jake and TJ struggle to survive inside the camp. And I feverishly kept turning pages.

Dugoni's main premise for The Conviction has it's basis in reality. Stories of abusive youth detention camps are fact -  not fiction.

I had forgotten how much I liked the David Sloan character. I'm fascinated by the courtroom drama and legal machinations. (And Dugoni does these well - he worked as a litigator before turning to writing.)  But for me the best legal stories have elements outside of  the courtroom as well - legal thrillers seems to be an apt description. Sloan is a bigger than life character in both arenas, willing to do whatever it takes to free the boys. He's the guy you'd want in your corner.

The Conviction has it all - great plotting (with twists I didn't see coming at all), non stop action, chills, thrills, strong characters and a clearly defined good vs. bad dynamic that will have you on the edge of your seat and staying up late to finish.

The Conviction can certainly be read as a stand alone, but if you're like me, you'll be hunting down the previous books in the series. Highly recommended. Read an excerpt of The Conviction.

You can find Robert Dugoni on Facebook and on Twitter.

And thanks to the great folks at Touchstone, I have a copy of The Conviction to giveaway. Simply leave a comment to be entered. Open to US and Canada, ends August 18/12.

Winners - Dog on the Roof

And the three lucky winners of a copy of Dog on the Roof  courtesy of Touchstone Publishing are:

1. traveler
2. angie
3. Karen B

Congratulations! I've contacted you by email for your mailing addresses. Please respond within 72 hours.

Objects of My Affection - Jill Smolinski

Objects of My Affections is author Jill Smolinski's third novel.

I always enjoy looking at covers first, imagining what the story inside will be. Moving on and lots of baggage? And I wasn't far off.......

Lucy Bloom (loved the name) has seriously downsized - in fact she's sold just about everything she owned, including her house.  Why? Well, her son Ash is an addict and she finally got him to go to a rehab, but needed the money to finance it.

Lucy had mild success with her initial book Things Are Not People - an organizational and de-cluttering guide. That book has gotten her an interview with Will Meier. He's the son of reclusive (and difficult) artist Marva Meier Rios and there is a deadline for clearing out the clutter in the house. Lucy lands the job, but what she finds is more than simple clutter - Marva's home could be featured on one of those television shows about hoarding. There's a deadline to meet and Marva isn't going to make it easy - she needs to look at each and every item before a decision is made.

The cover of Objects of My Affection immediately brings chick lit to mind. And yes it is, but the story is much more than that. There needs to a be another genre heading - Chick Lit with Heart, Chick Lit with More? Something along those lines. For while Smolinski's book is light and breezy and does include the requisite hunky guy and missed meanings and connections, there's more to the story.

Jill handles some serious situations and topics with thoughtfulness and candor. Hoarding of course, which usually involves an underlying catalyst not dealt with. And the opposite - Lucy herself is able to let things go with no problem.  I thought that Ash's drug use and Lucy's struggle to deal with it was done very well - it read as quite real. Relationships of all sorts are explored with an emphasis on mothers and sons.

I really enjoyed Lucy's ex boyfriend Daniel. His sense of humour, his caring, giving nature and his honesty made him one of my favourite characters. Nelson, the care nurse was also quite funny. And for reasons I'm not quite sure of,  I actually found myself enjoying Marva over Lucy. Marva's crotchety ways actually endeared her to me!  But, that's not to say I wasn't cheering for Lucy to succeed.

As one of her characters says " it's clear that everything here at one time was worth something to you but that doesn't mean it has to be forever. They're holding you back from the life you could have. Let it go."

Smolinski has crafted a warm, funny, sweet read that touches on the question what do we keep in our lives and what do we need to let go? Food for thought....

Recommended summer reading - tuck this one in your beach bag for 2012. Get a head start - read an excerpt of Objects of My Affection. Fans of Jennifer Weiner would enjoy this book.

You can find Jill Smolinski on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. She's also started a Bucket List Blog, where "I chronicle my experiment in which I do ONE thing, however small, EVERY DAY that I've never done before, that challenges me, or that just sounds fun. I hope to make it a full year." Or invite her to your book club!

The Crown - Nancy Bilyeau

Nancy Bilyeau began work on her first novel - The Crown -  in 2005. Her hard work definitely paid off - The Crown is an absolutely wonderful debut.

The Crown is set in Tudor England in 1537. Joanna Stafford is a novice nun at the Dartford Priory. She leaves without permission to attend the public death of her cousin Lady Margaret Bulmer. Her presence does not go unnoticed. She is found out and soon becomes the unwilling agent of a Bishop determined to find a sacred relic - the Crown of Athelstan.

Bilyeau has created an engaging character in Sister Joanna. She is a pious young woman, but has a streak of stubbornness and determination that make her all the more believable and engaging. The supporting characters are also well drawn, as are the 'villians'.

But for me, Bilyeau's strength lies in her research. The historical detail in The Crown is phenomenal. I have a working knowledge of this time period, but learned so much from reading this book. Her prose, characters and setting all accurately captured this time period and brought it to life.

The Crown successfully combines history with  mystery, intrique and yes, some romance to provide a throughly engrossing read.  Bilyeau is working on a second novel featuring Sister Joanna - I'll be picking it up. I'd like to see where Joanna's path next leads.

Read an excerpt of The Crown. A reading group guide is also available. You can find Nancy Bilyeau on Twitter.

Guest Post & Giveaway - Doug Magee - Never Wave Goodbye

I reviewed Doug Magee's debut thriller Never Wave Goodbye yesterday. Doug has a rich and varied background and I wondered how much of that was used in the writing of his novel. Doug responds....

"First Get The Facts

I’ve always enjoyed the quote attributed to Ben Franklin, “First get the facts, then distort them at your leisure.” I think it quite apt for most politicians, especially during campaigns, but recently I’ve been realizing it applies to writers of fiction as well. We who supposedly make up stories are often taking our own snapshots of the real world and, well, distorting them at our leisure.

In my own case I know how specifically this worked in my novel Never Wave Goodbye. The story is about a woman whose daughter and three other children have been kidnapped by a man pretending to be from the camp they were to attend. This idea, this hook, came to me a few years ago and then, when I sat down to write the novel, the question arose as to how to develop it, what to look at, whose part of the story to tell.

I made the decision to spend large parts of the book with the families of the kidnapped as they lived through the horror of not knowing what had happened to their children. I wanted to see that part of their experience that the media wouldn’t see, that perhaps their friends and neighbors wouldn’t see.

But I didn’t come to this decision arbitrarily. In 1980 I published a book of profiles of the families of murder victims (What Murder Leaves Behind) which was a look at the experiences of these survivors in the aftermath of the nightmare that had happened to them. In going around the country talking to families I found that many of our assumptions about their experience comes from inaccurate media portrayals, mainly news sources in which the survivors face a camera and say pretty much what the reporter wants them to say about their grief and anger. But back in their houses their experiences were quite different.

So when I wrote Never Wave Goodbye, I drew heavily on the interviews that I had gathered for the earlier book, trying to make the characters as real as possible, their responses to their tragedy as varied as I know they are in real life. But I also was aware that I was writing fiction and that characters in fiction need to be exaggerated in many cases in order to fix themselves in the reader’s mind. And so I followed Ben Franklin’s dictum and distorted at my leisure.

From reader’s responses I’ve had so far I think the strategy may have paid off in one regard. I’ve found a lot of people saying the novel makes them ask the question, What would I do if this happened to me? That makes me feel two things. First that I haven’t strayed too far from the “facts” to distance the reader from reality and secondly that I’ve distorted those facts in a way that allows the reader to keep involved in the story.

I didn’t do so but I probably should have added this line to the book’s acknowledgments. “Many thanks, Ben.”

Thanks so much Doug! Here's your chance to win a copy of Never Wave Goodbye for your summertime reading list. Simply comment to be entered - open to both Canada and the US, ends Sat. Aug 21 at 6 pm EST.

Never Wave Goodbye - Doug Magee

As a parent, it was always hard when I let my children 'go away' to overnight sleepovers the first few times, let alone weekend tournaments and across the country meets. Doug Magee has come up with a chilling premise for his first novel Never Wave Goodbye.

What if you put your child on the van for camp, waved goodbye....and then the real van came.........

Four families put their nine and ten year olds on the van for a two week stay at Camp Arno. JD, the personable driver, seems great with the kids. No bells go off with any of the parents. JD delivers the kids not to camp but to his partner Mr. Everett and from there -  they disappear - JD is not even privy to where they're headed.

 A ransom email for one million dollars is delivered to all four sets of parents. Magee teases us, slowly revealing each parent's secrets, flaws and shortcomings through small hints and foreshadowing. Surely none of them could have anything to do with the crime - not their own child? Lena Trainor provides the most frequent point of view for the parents. Out of all the parents, we come to know and empathize with her the most. Her daughter Sarah becomes the 'leader' of the kidnapped children. I was intrigued by these chapters and would have almost liked to see a bit more focus on them. The kidnappers and their point of view was chilling.

Much of the focal point is on the interaction between the parents of each child and each other. Magee has captured and portrayed the pain, anguish and feelings of  parents put in a situation that seems inconceivable.

There were a few inconsistencies that I found a bit jarring. I liked Lena up until page 129 when she argues about one family offering to part of another family's part of the ransom. It seemed out of character with her earlier actions and feelings about getting the children back at any cost. And this one is just a little complaint - I doubt there are many 10 year olds who know how to use Facebook but not how to email.

Never Wave Goodbye is full of twists and turns that build tension and  will have you suspecting almost everyone, including one of the police, until the end.  A strong debut novel and a great page turning read -  I look forward to Magees's next novel.

Read an excerpt of Never Say Goodbye.

Make sure you stop by tomorrow for a guest post and giveaway with Doug!!