RUN AWAY by Halan Coben

RUN AWAY  by Harlan Coben

This was my first Harlan Coben mystery.  It was an interesting, well written tale about a dysfunctional family (Is there any other kind?). 

Paige is the runaway. She fell in with a druggie boyfriend at college and is no longer the sweet innocent good girl her father is searching for. Elena is a former FBI agent on the trail of the missing 24 year old son of wealthy banker. Simon is Paige’s father trying to save her from herself.

Lots of action here: death, beatings, drug dealers, gun fights, DNA surprises, you name it.  A fast read by good writer.

4 of 5 stars

A DEATH OF NO IMPORTANCE by Mariah Fredericks

DEATH OF NO IMPORTANCE   by Mariah Fredericks

The backstairs folk always see more than the upper class folks think. Lady’s maid Jane sees and thinks.  

The writing is good with great characterization, good atmosphere, a realistic portrayal of time and place.  Fredericks throws in some real people and real incidents to give breadth to her story.

This is the first of a series with Jane as the sleuth in a tightly crafted mystery. 

The death is pretty gruesome but, for the squeamish, not dwelled upon.  Also, no foul language or steamy sex, just a really good mystery with fully fleshed out characters.

5 of 5 stars

A DEATH OF NO IMPORTANCE by Mariah Fredericks

DEATH OF NO IMPORTANCE   by Mariah Fredericks

The backstairs folk always see more than the upper class folks think. Lady’s maid Jane sees and thinks.  The writing is good with great characterization, good atmosphere, a realistic portrayal of time and place. 

Fredericks throws in some real people and real incidents to give breadth to her story.

This is the first of a series with Jane as the sleuth in a tightly crafted mystery. The death is pretty gruesome but, for the squeamish, not dwelled upon.  Also, no foul language or steamy sex, just a really good mystery with fully fleshed out characters.

5 of 5 stars

RUN AWAY by Harlan Coben

RUN AWAY  by Harlan Coben

This was my first Harlan Coben mystery.  It was an interesting, well written tale about a dysfunctional family (Is there any other kind?). 

Paige is the runaway. She fell in with a druggie boyfriend at college and is no longer the sweet innocent good girl her father is searching for. Elena is a former FBI agent on the trail of the missing 24 year old son of wealthy banker. Simon is Paige’s father trying to save her from herself.

Lots of action here: death, beatings, drug dealers, gun fights, DNA surprises, you name it.  A fast read by good writer.

4 of 5 stars

THE FARM by Joanne Ramos

THE FARM  by Joanne Ramos

An idea – pay poor women large sums to be the surrogate for busy, important, wealthy, lazy women who want their own child, but don’t want the bother, time commitment, inconvenience of actually bearing them. 

Ramos has written a novel that presents that idea carried out to the fullest extent. The Farm is a lap of luxury prison for the surrogates.  Reagan, an idealist asserting her independence from her father but controlling father, Jane, an impoverished Filipina eager for the large financial payout, and Lisa, a wild child with unknown needs, are the three surrogates.

The novel presents many topics for book groups to discuss and casual readers to ponder.   Among them – attitudes toward money; styles of parenting; the poor; immigrants (legal or not); power vs weakness, education; exploitation by class, money, education, status, or race; crime and punishment; family; and of course, women.

A question that is not addressed in the novel but should be: What did Reagan do with her bonus and why?  Although there is an epilogue, several questions remain of the final outcome for each of the women presented in the novel.

4 of 5 stars

I received an ARC for my freely given opinion.

THE GILLESPIE COUNTY FAIR by Mark Hess

THE GILLESPIE COUNTY FAIR  by Mark Hess

This book never quite caught me in its web.  I didn’t like the characters. They all seemed shallow and grubby.  The plot wandered about until the “secret sin” was revealed and then the secret didn’t seem to matter much at all.

Carel, the main character, just wandered about the story making or revealing mistake after mistake, not learning anything from his errors. His wife (current) and daughter do manage to have redeeming qualities of a sort. The writing is okay, but there are too many German words that are not defined or explained. I read German, so I knew what was written, someone unfamiliar with the language would be frustrated .

I can’t really recommend this book. Maybe someone else will read it and love it, I don’t.

2 of 5 stars

MAUD'S LINE by Margaret Verble

MAUD’S LINE  by Margaret Verble

Maud, her father and brother live on Maud’s mother’s allotment in the former Indian Territory. Her family is (mostly) Cherokee. Maud has a desire for better things. Electricity, a refrigerator, an inside toilet. It is 1928.

This tale of Cherokee families living in Oklahoma after enduring and surviving the Trail of Tears is filled with fully realized characters, Indian traits, hard scrabble lives on dirt farms, snakes galore, family and mean neighbors. Richly told, Verble has created a world complete. Maud is a captivating heroine.  Her family is filled with abundant well-developed characters.  The plot, while simple, is richly detailed. 

An absorbing and thought-provoking novel, especially for a first novel. Very satisfying.

5 of 5 stars