The Accomplice by Joseph Kanon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A good, uncomfortable book. The story is unpleasant.What did I expect in a story of Nazi hunters in the years after the war. Kanon pulls no punches and tells the story the way it might really happen.
I spent a week in Buenos Aires a few years ago and his descriptions of the city and its flavor are spot on. I hope he got a vacation out of the book.
It is obvious that Nazis ended up in South America. We don't know much of how they got there and how they were sustained as members of the upper classes in these countries. This book gives us some of that.

View all my reviews

Blue Moon by Lee Child
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I like all Lee Child books. I'm love the heroic and positive nature of Jack Reacher. He is gentle, caring and ruthless as hell. When people interact with him they see the side that is appropriate. Jack seems more authentic in this story, his friendships made in the context of the story are quite appropriate for him, maybe not so for others. For a few brief pages I thought he might have an amorous sidekick but alas, romance is not his forte.

Great book, great story bravo Lee. Write me another please.

View all my reviews

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great author but a too predictable story. I can't say I didn't like it, I did. I just felt I knew the outline of the story as it happened. Is this story based on some reality? That is the question that I kept asking.

View all my reviews

American War by Omar El Akkad
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A remarkable book describing a dystopian world that is a lot like our world. Hard to describe the plot without giving it all away. So read it. Its beautifully written and hangs together beautifully.

View all my reviews

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A continuation of the masterpiece, The Handmaid's Tale this book brings the story to a somewhat more satisfying conclusion. It is delightfully readable and shows great polish and restraint leaving the reader to imagine much of what the world would look like.

I loved it.

View all my reviews

The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A remarkable book. This book is fascinating. It is a glimpse of a different, exotic world that is just a little like ours. How do people react to the slight loss of.... freedom, health, etc. Its so much more. Reading it puts you into this world and you get the feeling of hopelessness and dis pare.
Might well be described as a cozy dystopian novel.
Written in 1994, this is the first English translation.


View all my reviews

Contraband by Stuart Woods
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A great month for me. Silva and Woods, both with new books.
Stone Barrington is maturing nicely. In this 50th episode he is up to his usual tricks, solving mysteries and loving beautiful, and not particularly young, women. His taste seems to have matured but he is still the glamorus detective type from the movies of the thirties and forties, dressed in a dinner jacket and riding in his armored car or flying his own jet.

Keep 'em coming Stuart, I love every minute of this book, and all the others.

View all my reviews

The New Girl by Daniel Silva
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

As usual I loved it. Without a doubt my favorite season of the year is when Daniel Sliva publishes a new book. I love the buzz among my friends and reading companions and then the joy of reading is his book. The story is timely, the prose is clever, the characters are interesting, fully dimentional and the story is complex enough to keep my interest.
I felt as though some characters might be being groomed to be the spotlight characters in futher novels. A spinoff series might be nice. Sarah is a character who might be able to stand alone.

Suffice it to say, the rest of the year is waiting for Daniel to write another book.

View all my reviews

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a wonderful, but sad story. It may be an eye opener for some but for me it reinforced my belief that the plight of African American's is a problem that was created and continued by a white, slavery mentality. It exists to this day in the way that dark skinned people are treated in society.
A society that claims equality and human rights but in practice discriminates on the basis of race, class or gender identity is a fraud and should be called out at every turn.
Then to elect a racist bigot and give voice to the filth of prejudice and racist ravings further compounds the shame of our society.


View all my reviews

Skin Game by Stuart Woods
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Listen, don't ask me if I liked a Stuart Woods book. I love them all. Even the worst plot lines with all kinds of holes still entertain me to know end. They read fast and before I know it I'm waiting for the next. In truth, if you have not read the other Teddy stories and the Stone series, this would still be an adventure story but its partly part of the series story.

View all my reviews

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love a mystery. This one is good to the end. Its a simple story but filled with twists and turns that make it move along quickly. I love a book that starts with the ending so that you spend the whole book wondering how the author will get there.
I also like reading books for book club because they take me out of my comfort zone. This is a first novel by Steadman but I hope its not her last.

View all my reviews

Not Our Kind by Kitty Zeldis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, what a book. This is wonderful writing, rich, complete characters that are interesting and often frightening. The setting and the plot are wonderful.
Today, again, people are not afraid to be racist or anti-Semitic. This book hearkens back to those days when many clubs and venues were restricted. No Jews or Negros allowed. I never lived this but my parents did. My grandparents escaped the pogroms of Russia only to find plenty of racism here.
In my youth I thought these things had ended but I might have been wrong...

View all my reviews