Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghey

June 1, 2025

Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghey

Following the death of his wife, Dominic Salt takes a job with the Tasmanian park service and with his three children, moves to an island near Antarctica. They live in the island's lighthouse, and Dom's main job is looking after the international seed bank stored on the island, and maintaining the research station. But climate change is causing the ocean to rise and it is gradually consuming the island. When the government decides to move the seed bank to a safer place, the research team departs, leaving Dom and his children to finish packing the seeds and close down the facilities before a ship comes to take them back to the mainland. But before they leave, during one of the worst storms they have ever witnessed, a mysterious woman washes up on shore, gravely injured but alive.

First, let me say that I realize that the majority of readers LOVED this book, while I am somewhat ambivalent. Whenever a book is subjected to a media storm of hype, I go into it with high expectations and am almost always disappointed. I read a lot of literary fiction and I expect excellent writing and really good characters, since that's what carries the story. This one was only middle of the road. The writing and nature descriptions are lovely, and the setting is unique and interesting, but I did not feel any connection with any of the characters. I guess the island and the weather were the two actual main characters. The plot isn't much of a plot at all, more of a non-mystery based on deliberate miscommunication. Climate change i8s an important topic but the author really beats it to death. No one has a happy ending, it's just all super tragic. Triggers include statutory rape, descriptions of animal abuse, mental illness, graphic sex, and violence in many forms. Just meh.

The research station at Macquarie Island, Antarctica

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

May 22, 2025

All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker

Patch McCauley (whose real name is Joseph) is a 13 year old living in a small Missouri town with his mother Ivy. His best friend is Saint, who live with her grandmother Norma, a bus driver in the town. Patch has only one eye and has always been obsessed by pirates since he wears an eye patch over his missing eye. Nothing much happens in their town until one morning on his way to school, Patch sees a man attempting to abduct his schoolmate Misty. Misty gets away but all the police can find of Patch is his missing eye patch and a lot of blood.

Disappointing. It took me forever to slog through this. This is another of those love it or hate it books. I heard that it meandered around a lot and that it was more literary fiction than mystery, which is fine with me if I know what to expect. I loved the first hundred or so pages, thought the characters were great, but it lost me when the two kids were locked in the basement. The center section of the book just drags, and it's way too long. I skimmed the last 2/3 of the book and then read the ending. Didn't miss much. I came to hate most of the characters, too. It's like the author had ideas for a couple of different storylines and decided to just jumble them together. An editor should have cut out a couple of hundred pages and made it a better book. Reminded me of Demon Copperhead, which everyone else loved and I didn't. I should know by now that whenever a book is selected by a celebrity or TV book club, I'm probably going to hate it. But at least those book clubs get people who otherwise never read a book, to pick one up. Can't get those hours back.

City of Dreams by Don Winslow

May 5, 2025

City of Dreams by Don Winslow

After double-crossing the Moretti crime family in Rhode Island, Danny Ryan flees the east coast for California with his father, his toddler son, and the remnants of his Irish crew. He just wants a quiet life, to start over with his child. But federal agents contact him about doing them a favor; in return, they will help his problems from his old life go away. But then Danny learns that one of the film studios is making a movie based on the crime wars back in Providence, and he decides he wants in on the project.

The second book in the Danny Ryan trilogy, sequel to City on Fire, picks up exactly where the previous book leaves off. Loosely based on Vergil's Aeneid, which is the sequel to Homer's Iliad. Danny insists (a little too much) that he wants to go straight and live a quiet life, but just like the leopard, Danny can't change his spots: crime and bad decisions just seem to find him. All of the characters except Danny's son display some moral ambiguity - no one is all bad or all good. Furthermore, there is a pervading sense of tragedy that affects all the characters. Doesn't work as a stand-alone novel - you need to read the previous book to really understand what is going on here. I can't wait to get the final book in the trilogy, City in Ruins.