Upward Bound by Woody Brown

January 24, 2026

Upward Bound by Woody Brown

Upward Bound is a rundown daycare facility for young disable adults, not exactly a place where most people want to spend time. Walter is a nonverbal autistic adult who spends his days at the daycare center observing others. They are supervised by a group of disinterested caregivers waiting to return to college or to move on to something else, who organize activities for the attendees when they can be bothered to stop analyzing their favorite reality television shows.

A remarkable short novel by a nonverbal autistic writer. Written in interlocking chapters that form a narrative, each section focuses on a different client or employee at a daycare facility for adults with autism and other disabilities. A look at a set of experiences and a world that is hidden from most of us.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

The Coworker by Freida McFadden

November 7, 2023

Dawn Schiff and Natalie Farrell both work for Vixed, a nutritional supplement company. Natalie is their top sales associate, while Dawn works as an accountant. Dawn is a bit eccentric, adhering to a very strict schedule, eating monochromatic meals, and obsessing over turtles, but an excellent employee. When she doesn't show up for work one day and doesn't call in, Natalie is concerned, particularly since Dawn scheduled two meetings and didn't show up for either one. She stops at Dawn's house to do a wellness check and is even more concerned when she finds a huge blood stain on the floor. 

Remember that saying about revenge being a dish best served cold? Keep that in mind when reading this novel. Dawn is definitely on the spectrum, possibly has Asperger's. Fast paced psychological fiction with good plot twists and no one is who they seem. Should appeal to readers who enjoyed Gone Girl, The Maid's Diary, and the fiction of Rachel Hawkins and Lucy Foley.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

August 20, 2023

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim

Mia and her twin brother John live with their parents and their autistic brother Eugene in a suburb of Washington DC. Their father is a stay-at-home dad who provides much of Eugene's care. Even during the pandemic, he ensures that Eugene continues to receive the therapy he needs. One day, Dad takes Eugene to the local park for his therapy session but only one of them comes home.

Family drama with a twist of mystery. I thought this was going to be a missing person story, but it turned out to be a story about living with an autistic child. (I know you're not supposed to say this, but I don't like books with autistic characters.) The first half of the book held my interest but I found myself skimming the second half. It reminded me of something that would be a selection for Reese or Jenna's book club. If you like family dramas with lots of angst, this one is for you. If you're looking for a mystery or a missing person story, look elsewhere.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

Assistive technology keyboard for autistic children

The Maid by Nita Prose

March 17, 2022

The Maid by Nita Prose

Molly Gray is a maid at a posh London hotel. She is on the autism spectrum, and until recently, lived with her grandmother who helped interpret life for Molly, explained how to deal with new situations, and taught her how to interact with other people. Now that her grandmother is gone, Molly is trying to learn how to manage life on her own. She loves to clean and observe proper etiquette, which make her a perfect maid. Her world is thrown into chaos when a regular hotel guest is found dead in his room and she finds herself caught up in a web of deceit. Fortunately for Molly, she has friends who help her sort through the clues about what really happened to the guest.

This is one of the few books that I didn't finish. Based on early reviews, I expected to really enjoy it and was disappointed. I couldn't stand the narrator/main character. Half of the time she's totally clueless, and the other half of the time she is incredibly sharp and clever. The author also tried to address too many social issues and illegal activities. Some parts, like the courtroom scenes, are just silly. Early reviews and publisher's prose compared the book to Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, which was the first and best of the books to have a narrator who was on the autism spectrum. I have not really enjoyed any of the others that I've read.

Hard Cash Valley by Brian Panowich

May 11, 2020

Hard Cash Valley by Brian Panowich

Dane Kirby has been drifting through life since the death of his wife and daughter ten years earlier.  A former fire chief, now part-time investigator for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Dane has a girlfriend who loves him and friends who care deeply but he can't seem to connect with them and spends more time talking to his dead wife than he does with the living.  He is unexpectedly called in by the FBI when a small-time hoodlum from Georgia is found horribly murdered in a Florida motel.  The murdered man recently won $1.2 million on cockfighting but both the money and the man's younger brother are missing.  Kirby teams up with an agent who is less than thrilled to be working with him, and they follow the money and the kid back to Kirby's home grounds in Georgia near Bull Mountain.

Brian Panowich returns to the Georgia mountains from his first two thrillers.  A few characters recur but this is largely a new cast and the focus is not on the Burroughs clan.  This is a fast-paced quick thriller that keeps the reader turning pages.  Panowich's characters are what make the story notable, despite their dumb mistakes and decisions (as I've told fellow librarians, if characters didn't make dumb choices, there wouldn't be a novel).  The ending is a little sappy but if you like a feel-good or hopeful ending, you'll be okay with it.

Many thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for providing a review copy in exchange for a review.