Mystery – Page 5 – Book Barmy

Page Habit

I’ve been hearing about special interest book subscription services ~~ where you sign up, pay a monthly subscription fee, and receive a surprise book box each month. Much like a book of the month club, except you don’t choose the book, the service does.

Hmmm, I thought — Just the perfect monthly fix for this book ~~addict~~ lover.

Surprise, Surprise… I signed up for such a service, namely PageHabit and have received two deliveries. Such delight, to get a box in the mail without knowing what’s inside (except that’s it sure be a book of some sort).

I can’t contain my excitement when the box arrives on my doorstep…

(even better when Husband is out and I can sneak it in the house without the ritual – hey here’s a package for you, what did you get – say whaaa more books – really?).*

My first sign up was for Mystery and once opened, there’s all sorts of nifty book ~~nerd~~ lover surprises. (Click to make larger)

In the first photo you see a few tchotchkes — a fox coaster, a patch relating to time travel (the book’s subject) and a pin. There’s a letter from the author of the book — but best of all (third photo) the book itself is annotated with lots and lots of post-its with the author’s reflections and insights as you read along.

Now really, how cool is that?

PageHabit lets you switch genres at the click of a button, so for October, I switched to Literary Fiction, and that box revealed two (!) books and the following fun stuff.

The second photo shows the swag this month — a library card pillow case (I know who knew?) a Halloween key chain, a cool bookmark, and (another?) fox coaster.

Again, there’s a letter from the author and here’s a close-up of one of the author annotations in the book.

Also, each month, there is also a little booklet, containing a short story commissioned by PageHabit just for that mailing. I’m keeping them in my bag for when I’m stuck in some long line or waiting in the car outside Home Depot (it happens fairly regularly for some reason).

But the best ~~rationalization~~ bit is, that with every mailing, PageHabit partners with a different organization around the world and supports their efforts in spreading literacy throughout their community. These donations help support building schools, public libraries, and community centers to ensure that every child has access to books.

You can match your PageHabit subscription to your favorite genre, there’s also Fantasy, Romance, Young Adult, Science Fiction, and many more.

So far, PageHabit has done itself proud – no duplicates to my ~~book warehouse~~ library.

I’ve got my eye on Historical Fiction for January… and the beat goes on…

The subscription is sort of expensive, so I may move to a quarterly subscription but for the near future, I’ll raid my piggy bank.

Brown packages, surprise books, fun swag, and author notes – –

Priceless.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

* I’m being mean, Husband is actually very tolerant of my book ~~habit~~ collecting and never grumbles ~~ too much.

AgainAgainTheSave

Save

The Widow’s House by Carol Goodman

The Widow’s House is so much richer than the current spate of modern thrillers (my previous book included). This book has it all. There’s a crumbling estate, family secrets, haunting ghosts, a vulnerable heroine, a couple of murders, and lots and lots of atmosphere.

Sound confusing — like it may be too much? Fear not, Ms. Goodman weaves all these elements together into an enthralling and well-crafted Gothic tale.

I’m going to cheat and quote the back cover blurb, just because it’s that good:

When Jess and Clare Martin move from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to their former college town in the Hudson River valley, they are hoping for rejuvenation–of their marriage, their savings, and Jess’s writing career.

They take a caretaker’s job at Riven House, a crumbling estate and the home of their old college writing professor. While Clare once had dreams of being a writer, those plans fell by the wayside when Jess made a big, splashy literary debut in their twenties. It’s been years, now, since his first novel. The advance has long been spent. Clare’s hope is that the pastoral beauty and nostalgia of the Hudson Valley will offer some inspiration.

But their new life isn’t all quaint town libraries and fragrant apple orchards. There is a haunting pall that hangs over Riven House like a funeral veil. Something is just not right. Soon, Clare begins to hear babies crying at night, see strange figures in fog at the edge of their property. Diving into the history of the area, she realizes that Riven House has a dark and anguished past. And whatever this thing is–this menacing force that destroys the inhabitants of the estate–it seems to be after Clare next…

Riven House is indeed falling down, has an unusual pentagon shape, and is haunted by ghosts — according to the locals.

As Clare delves into the history of the house, she uncovers a series of tragic deaths. The ghosts are said to be those of Mary Foley and her baby, both of whom lost their lives at the creepy estate. Then there’s the tale of the Apple Blossom Queen, a local beauty who came to a horrific end at Riven House.

Were these just random accidents or the actions of the reputed ghosts in the house? Clare decides to try and uncover some answers, and with the help of her former professor, starts to expand this work into her novel. Jess’s writing also seems to be doing well.

At contrast to the ghosts and creepy estate, Ms. Goodman weaves a sensual beauty into the idyllic setting of the Hudson Valley apple country — we can smell the apple blossoms, see the ripening apples in the orchards, and then as fall approaches we can taste the area’s special apples:

The first time you bit into one your mouth was flooded with caramel, but when you took another bite, looking for that taste again, you got plain apple. You had to sneak up on it. The taste was elusive, but when you caught it you wanted to suck that sticky sweetness right of its flesh.

But, cue ghostly sound effects – nothing is quite right. There’s trouble in Clare and Jess’s marriage, an old boyfriend is with the local police, there’s clandestine meetings between Jess and their sexy real estate agent, and a parade of local characters who range from slightly odd to the definitely strange.

Soon Clare starts to actually see the ghosts and experience the haunting of Riven House. She comes close to accidental death, and tries desperately to figure out what is real versus her imagination.

Just picture me, in the chilly dark nights of Lake Tahoe, as I snuggled tighter in bed and happily kept reading.

Fair warning dear readers, there is a fairly complicated family tree, babies switched at birth, and family secrets kept for many years — all of which are key to the unraveling of the story line. So, as much as The Widow’s House is a proverbial page turner — you should slow down and savor the unraveling of a wonderful suspenseful story.

Ms. Goodman is a master at plotting and building tension as she take the reader through her twists and turns. The ending of the tale will haunt you with this lingering thought — “was any of this real”?

A perfect read for Halloween

Ms. Goodman has a long list of well-received novels. A new author to add to my list, given this one was so good.

Thank you to William Morrow/Harper Collins for an Advanced Readers Copy.

Save

Buried in Books

This is the week of the Friends of the SFPL Big Book Sale and I’ve been busy. Lots of fun, lots of work.

Here are some photos of the wonderful bookish madness. Click on these photos to appreciate the full enormity of this sale. A massive amount of work is required by volunteers, corporate sponsored volunteers, and staff to pull off this – the largest used book sale on the West Coast.

Each year, the Friends ask for table sponsors in order to raise money for the sale, so this year Book Barmy took part. Here’s the sign and the table — Graphic Novels and Comics — a most popular table indeed.

I must admit after awhile, working at the Big Sale gets pretty overwhelming, so many books ~~ etc. For a break, I sign up for extra shifts at my regular haunt, the permanent Readers Bookstore in a separate building at Fort Mason.

While back at the store, I got to meet the delightful Scott from Furrowed Middlebrow blog, photographic evidence here…my bad hair day notwithstanding.

Go to Scott’s blog, it’s fascinating, as he specializes in British Women writers from the mid-20th century. Even more impressive, he started his own imprint, Furrowed Middlebrow Books, published by Dean Street Press. This series of books had been long forgotten and unpublished until Scott got them reissued. ~~~ Those covers, sigh, I want every title…

The Big Book Sale goes on through Sunday, so if you’re in the area, stop by – info HERE.Or any time of the year come by the permanent Readers Bookstores – info HERE

Thus endeth my shameless promotion of the Friends of the SFPL, the Big Book Sale, and the Readers Bookstores.

My enthusiasm knows no shame.

In other news, we’re off to Lake Tahoe for a week. I’ve plucked a few popular thrillers from my toppling pile of publisher’s ARCs taunting me and causing great guilt.

Back next week.

Save

Glass Houses by Louise Penny

Lucky old me, I was granted an advanced reading copy of Glass Houses and read it in three days. I could have read it in a day, but had to slow myself from ripping through this newest gripping mystery from Louise Penny.

As many of you know by now, I’m a fan — I’ve read every one of Ms. Penny’s Chief Superintendent Gamache novels and that I can’t stop raving about her characters, multi-layed plots, and often gorgeous writing.

Ms. Penny was a CBC journalist and in interviews she says this experience gave her insight into people at their most vile, but also she got to witness acts of incredible forgiveness. As such, her mysteries involve dark human acts, but balance this evil with mankind’s redeeming graces. Not only am I a fan of her poetic phrasing and intelligent writing, but also her luscious food descriptions. (She says she writes with a pile of cookbooks on one side and poetry books on the other.)

Each of Ms. Penny’s books has a theme and in Glass Houses it’s conscience~~ having a conscience, acting on your conscience, avoiding your conscience, and the consequences therein.

A mysterious dark hooded and caped figure appears on the village green of Three Pines town square. The figure stands, unmoving for several days and upsets the entire village. There is nothing Gamache can do as the figure just stands, but he is also concerned. Turns out this figure is a “Cobrador del frac” – a Spanish debt collector with roots in the Middle Ages. The Cobrador is meant to publicly shame debtors by stalking them and reminding them of their indebtedness. But the villagers have no idea who the Cobrador is meant to intimidate.

Glass Houses has a bit of a new style, Ms. Penny goes back and forth in time using Gamache on the stand in court as a conduit for unraveling the mystery of the Cobrador and subsequent murder in Three Pines.

But Gamache has more to deal with than the murder, he is simultaneously planning a secretive massive drug operation on the US/Canadian border. He must tread carefully, as he’s still not sure who he can trust, after uncovering rampant corruption within the Sûreté du Quebec.

Once again, Ms. Penny weaves thoughtful prose with historical references. She uses the phrase “burn the boats”, during Gamache’s drug operations, which was how Cortez prevented his armies from retreating to Spain. And poor Gamache continually has the children’s rhyme “ashes, ashes, they all fall down” running through his mind, which gives the reader not only the same brain worm, but an extra layer of suspense to the throat clenching last few chapters.

The Three Pines regulars don’t play a large part in Glass Houses, but Clara has a showing of her portraits of each of the villagers and the paintings reveal a wonderful insight for each of them.

Thank goodness Ruth* and her foul-mouthed duck are still causing trouble, there’s plenty of mouthwatering food, and cozy evenings at Myrna’s bookstore with cocoa and cookies.

There now, stop — that’s all I’ll tell you about Glass Houses – no spoilers here.

As with any of Ms. Penny’s mysteries — you’ll fall hard for the characters and the imaginary Three Pines, you’ll laugh and cringe at the village mishaps and misunderstandings, you’ll be deeply invested in the solution of the crime, and you will never– ever be bored.

I told you I went to see Ms. Penny on book tour yesterday, well this photo perfectly captures her spirit and personality.

“Surprised by Joy”.

*Ms. Penny quote: “Ruth is the Greek chorus of the village of Three Pines.”

Thank you to Minotaur Books for a digital advanced readers copy via Netgalley.

Save

Seeing Ms. Louise Penny

We’re having a blinking heat wave, so who (or what) could entice me away from my relatively cooler ocean breeze over to Book Passage in Marin where it’s a gazillion degrees?

Okay, you’ve already guessed the answer… Louise Penny of course. She’s on book tour for her newest book Glass Houses which came out just a few days ago.

The store was packed for this appearance and I was told it had been sold out for days. It was hot and sticky but not one of us minded because Ms. Penny was upbeat, witty, and as always, gracious.

Here’s how crowded it was (I’m not in the photo — I’ve learned to sit up front left on the window ledge- where it’s less claustrophobic).

Fellow mystery writer and Ms. Penny’s good friend Rhys Bowen introduced Ms. Penny and it was great fun. If you look closely you can see the sweat on everyone’s faces. Air conditioning just couldn’t handle the hordes of Ms. Penny’s fans.

I’m back home now admiring my beautiful autographed copy of Glass Houses.

But, never fear you lucky Barmy fans ~~I’ve already read it.

So tune in over the weekend, when I promise to give you the full BookBarmy review – without spoilers.

But right now, I’ve got to get me some ice tea. It’s now late afternoon and it’s even hot out out here by the ocean.

Later gator.

Save

Some housekeeping

Technical Update

Thank you to all the BookBarmy Newsletter Subscribers out there. You should know we are having problems with the newsletter delivery system. Bigger brains than mine are working on the issue (or issues) and I am assured that all will be well soon. Until the problem is fixed, rest assured BookBarmy has not gone anywhere. Still here, still posting – you’ll just have to check back here yourselves every few days or so.

If you’re not a subscriber and in future, would like to receive a simple email notice when there is a new BookBarmy post you can sign up below right.

The Great British Baking Show Update

There’s been a major shake up at one of my favorite series –The Great British Baking Show —The Great British Bake Off as it’s called in the U.K. (it had to be changed here because Pillsbury owns the rights to the term “bake off”) will be going to Channel 4, the British commercial network, after the Bake Off production company accepted a higher offer to leave the BBC. Mary Barry and the two comic announcers Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc — left in protest. Only Paul Hollywood will stay with the show as it moves British networks.

Being the geek that I am, I’ve done my research and PBS has bought season five which they will air here next summer. So all is not lost.

In the meantime, try and catch at least the final episode of Season four which aired on PBS recently. In the final challenge of the final episode they prepare an extravagant picnic basket fit for the Queen. It’s tension filled as the contestants have to complete a mind boggling range of items — a chocolate cake, quiches, sausage rolls, little cakes – it goes on and on, quite amazing really. … and in the end there were three …

Reading Update

Yes, my prettys, I am absorbed into Glass Houses, Louise Penny’s newest novel, which comes out next week.

At the risk of being repetitive, I urge you call in sick that day, cancel your appointments, get thee to your local bookstore and find a place to read undisturbed. All I will say is, your money and time will be well spent.

In the meantime, here is a silly interview from this morning’s talk shows. Poor Ms. Penny barely gets a chance to speak and the brash “American-ness” of the interview itself made me squirm. And what’s with the oh-so-not-clever “Penny Wise” caption throughout? But here you go. Video HERE

There — that’s all my housekeeping done – at least here on BookBarmy – around my home — not so much, because you see I am “with book”.

Save

Louise Penny again

It seems everyone loves Louise Penny’s series of mystery novels set in the fictional town of Three Pines, Canada. I’ve been a fan since her first, Still Life, and have happily spent many lovely reading hours with the entire series. I also ~~push~~ recommend her novels to anyone ~~unenlightened~~ who hasn’t read Louise Penny.

Glass Houses, her newest in the series will be released August 29th. So dear readers, once again, mark you calendars to call in sick to work, cancel those appointments, and get thee to your local independent bookstore first thing.

I will be reviewing Glass Houses here very soon, thanks to a digital advanced readers copy from the publishers.

In the meantime, here’s a recent CBS Sunday Morning interview with Louise Penny (hmmm the “Penny Posse”, I don’t think so…)

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/the-world-of-mystery-author-louise-penny/

Save

The Farm by Tom Rob Smith

For some reason, I’ve been on a dark(ish) thriller reading binge and remembered I had this best seller waiting for me on my Kindle.

A couple of years ago, Mr. Smith was interviewed on NPR where he described his family’s real life crisis which was the genesis for The Farm.

From the interview introduction: In the spring of 2009, British author Tom Rob Smith received a disturbing phone call from his father. “And he was crying,” Smith tells NPR’s David Greene. “He never cries. And he said to me, ‘You’ve got to come to Sweden. Your mom has suffered a psychotic episode, and she’s in an asylum.’ ” Then, Smith’s mother called. She had just been released from the psychiatric hospital in Sweden, and she said everything his father had told him was a lie.

The Farm is about a couple who, like Mr. Smith’s actual parents, retire to the idyllic Swedish countryside. As the novel unfolds, Tilde the mother, has just recently been released from a mental ward and she is carefully and methodically telling her story to her son Daniel. She reveals puzzling circumstances — how she, and his father Chris, moved to the farm, not to fulfill their dreams, but because they had gone bankrupt, losing all their investments in a real estate scheme. Tilde’s story gets darker and more irrational, the crimes she’s witnessed, the conspiracies around her, and how she has been deemed a madwoman.

Tilde’s story is filled with fear and paranoia– sprinkled with some Scandinavian evil (including some shiver-worthy Nordic troll fairy stories). Tilde is a true unreliable narrator –or is she? How much is true and how much is imagined? Why was she admitted for psychiatric observation, and was it justified?

“Paranoia might be a mental illness–or a means of survival.”

All these questions and more will whisper in the back of your head as you read The Farm. At first, I didn’t know what to make of the odd structure of this book, but it gradually caught me up in its web.

The plot does not unfold in real time and there are stories within stories, but Mr. Smith does not let this get confusing. It’s fast paced, suspenseful, and often smart.

“The people you think you have known all your life can be completely different, for different reasons that you have never known anything about.”

But I had some problems with The Farm. The first was Tilde’s voice. She is supposedly “telling” the story throughout the book, but Mr. Smith gives her sometimes unrealistic dialogue. No one speaks like this: “He was trying to soothe me as if I were a startled horse.” or “As he emerged from the gloom of his underground lair.” In the same vein, I just grew tired of the singularity of Tilde’s voice — it goes on for over 200 pages. Mr. Smith breaks it up with Daniel’s point of view, but not nearly enough to prevent the story line from occasionally becoming snooze-worthy.

I hoped that finding the truth to this story was going to be tricky and astonishing, but sadly, I found the ending abrupt and obtuse. As if the author couldn’t figure out how to work out the truth and so just closed the novel with a final incomprehensible chapter. But then again, maybe life isn’t meant to be so neatly packaged.

The Farm is a suspenseful thriller, but with an unsettling ending – perhaps this is the author’s intent.

I think I’ll take a break from these dark thrillers for a bit.

A digital advanced readers copy was provided by Grand Central Publishing via Netgalley.

Save

Library Haul

The San Francisco Library allows users to request books, and when they become available, they are delivered to your closest branch library. My local branch is a short walk away so it’s wildly convenient. This time, when three hold items all came in at once, I was momentarily overwhelmed but pleased.

So here’s my haul:

A Man Called Ove (DVD)

Based on the book which I read and highly enjoyed, this film is in Swedish with English subtitles.

The film stayed very true to the book and the casting is wonderful. Rolf Lassgard’s portrayal of Ove is perfection. Even the housing development was exactly how I pictured it.

This is a heartwarming movie. Funny, sad, and loving. I recommend you read the book first, then watch this delightful film. Even Husband enjoyed it, despite the absence of guns and things blowing up.

The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg

This graphic novel was named a best book of 2016 by both NPR and Publishers Weekly, and I’d read about it on several blogs. I placed my library request for One Hundred Nights so long ago, I’d forgotten I’d done so. I opened this book, not remembering anything about it, and was soon down a rabbit hole — lost in a fairy tale. Because that is what this is – a revisionist fairy tale– a feminist retelling of The Arabian Nights.

Like Scheherazade saving her own life by telling tales, in a magical, yet misogynist medieval world, Hero must tell stories every night for 100 nights if she and her true love Cherry are to survive the sexual advances of Cherry’s evil husband and his equally wicked friend.

But it’s a far more intricate puzzle — a story of a story within a story about brave, complicated women and sisters protecting each other, usually from men. It goes deep into the legacy of female bonds and the power of storytelling.

We shall tell all the stories that are never told. Stories about bad husbands and murderous wives and mad gods and mothers and heroes and darkness and friends and sisters and lovers… Yes! And above all… Stories about brave women who don’t take s#*t from anyone.

I can’t say I loved this book — I found it charming, yet peculiar. The feminist, lesbian agenda sometimes overwhelmed the often beautiful writing and the fairy tale-like ambiance. And I found the graphics stark and not very fairy-tale-like (if that makes sense…).

But I will say, the physical experience of reading an oversize graphic novel, in a non-linear way through the story illustrations…brought me right back to being a little girl, lost in the world of a large picture book open on my lap — very, very relaxing.

The Likeness by Tana French

Tana French’s thrillers are anything but relaxing, they are gripping, hold-you-by-the throat-and-not-let-you-go reading.

Set after In the Woods, the first book in the Dublin Murder Squad series, this book focuses on detective Cassie Maddox, the best friend of Rob Ryan, the narrator of the first book. In this installment, Cassie narrates, as she is pulled into an old undercover role

A woman is found murdered and she’d been using Cassie’s fake (and discarded) undercover identity of Lexie Madison. To complicate matters, Cassie is a dead-ringer for this this murder victim. Her commander from undercover comes up with a plan — leak to the media that Lexie wasn’t actually dead, but in a coma, and for Cassie to go back into undercover once again as the murdered Lexie to lure the killer to finish the job.

I know – say what? Utterly implausible! But when Ms. French is telling a story, you deferentially suspend disbelief as she takes you on a thoroughly gripping ride.

Cassie/Lexie assumes the persona and has to return to the house she shared with Daniel (who inherited the house), Rafe, Abby and Justin — an insular group of university students who enjoy a close and intense friendship.

As the murder squad investigates the (now revisionist) attempted murder, they confiscate the other housemates phones giving Cassie videos that she relentlessly studies in order to act, talk and “become” the murdered Lexie. Eventually Lexie returns to Whitethorn House having come out of her coma but suffering (convenient) memory loss

It took my breath away, that evening. If you’ve ever dreamed that you walked into your best-loved book or film or TV program, then maybe you’ve got some idea how it felt: things coming alive around you, strange and new and utterly familiar at the same time; the catch in your heartbeat as you move through the rooms that had such a vivid untouchable life in your mind, as your feet actually touch the carpet, as you breathe the air; the odd, secret glow of warmth as these people you’ve been watching for so long, from so far away, open their circle and sweep you into it.

The Likeness excels at its psychological insights especially for Cassie, who in her real life is lonely and shattered from her previous case. She finds friendship — nay, family, among her new Lexie friends. These blurred identities are made believable with the beautifully written scenes and well developed characters who live, love and murder within the walls of Whitethorn House. The setting and moods are almost palpable and glitter with life. But Cassie gets lost inside her assumed identity and finds herself in a maze of murder quickly spinning out of her control. This is breath-holding stuff,

As others have said, there are many similarities to Donna Tart’s A Secret History – both have dreamy academic types living together in a beautiful, run-down house.

But The Likeness makes you feel for Cassie — what she lost and can never regain. The heartbreak of assuming a new identity, being part of a loving family, and finding a home in the world ~~ but in the end, it’s only a likeness.

Save

Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

The Book Barmy reading list has adapted to the past couple of months of endless rain and a bout with the flu. I gravitated toward thrillers, wanting plot driven, hold your attention type escapism – as if I were on a long, mind-numbing plane trip

As with Dark Matter, Mr. Hawley, the author of Before the Fall is an award winning television writer, most famous for the strange but compelling series Fargo, so I hoped I was in for gripping story line.

Before the Fall bit me hard from the start and didn’t let go.

A private jet crashes minutes after departing Martha’s Vineyard. Just two passengers survive, an artist and a 4 year old boy. With J.J., the boy in tow secured to a seat cushion, the middle-aged painter Scott Burroughs swims across the ocean to the Long Island shore. Turns out Scott is an accomplished swimmer, inspired as a young boy witnessing Jack LaLane swim from Alcatraz to San Francisco.

The mystery of why the plane crashed is told by weaving together the crash investigation and the survivors aftermath with the backstories of the deceased passengers and crew members. The flight recorder reveals nothing amiss with the plane and it is decided that the crash was due sabotage. A classic locked room mystery, but up in the air. The mystery is unwrapped by revealing each character’s personal history and point of view.

The deceased include a financier facing federal indictment and his clueless wife; the head of a Fox-like cable news network with his wife and child; an Israeli bodyguard haunted by war; a career pilot; a hotshot co-pilot; and a flight attendant in her own life crisis.

In the aftermath of the crash, Mr. Hawley gives center stage to Bill Cunningham the larger-than-life newscaster for the cable news network. He makes the story of the plane crash and the network’s lost leader tabloid news — by asking leading questions, ignoring the facts, assuming the worst, and using illegal means to get information.

It was fascinating to see how the news was no longer the facts of what happened, it became a “story” presented to make the headlines and grab audience numbers. I cringed as Cunningham digs into the personal life of the hero, Scott Burroughs, using a hacker to monitor his private activities, which Cunningham then announces in his news broadcasts.

All this a thinly veiled, yet very relevant stab at tabloid media and Fox news

Cunningham was the angry white man people invited into their living rooms to call bullshit at the world . . . who told us what we wanted to hear, which was that the reason we were losing out in life was not that we were losers, but that someone was reaching into our pockets, our companies, our country and taking what was rightfully ours.

[He appealed to] the people who had been searching their whole lives for someone to say out loud what they’d always felt in their hearts.

Just when the mystery of the downed plane seems connected to the corrupt financier, or perhaps the mysterious bodyguard — no no, it must be connected to the news network somehow– the story line shifts to the characters’ blurred boundaries and questionable pasts. The characters, are after all, just humans – fraught with guilt, frailties, and unresolved resentments.

In the end, it’s not money or power, but human vulnerabilities which drive our actions.

Before the Fall reads like a film — it was a fast paced, entertaining and exciting thriller. And what do you know? Sony Pictures has acquired the rights to the story.

A digital advanced readers copy was provided by Grand Central Publishing via Netgalley.

Save