Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis

July 12, 2025

Old School Indian by Aaron John Curtis

Suffering from a rare autoimmune disease that will kill him within two years, Abe Jacobs returns to his family home on the reservation where he grew up. Abe dreamed of becoming a poet, but after his work was rejected by a number of publishers, he quit writing. He hasn't lived on the reservation since he left for college 25 years earlier, but now, desperate for a cure or at least something that will send the disease into remission, Abe agrees to allow his great uncle Budge to try to heal him, who teaches him that healing is not possible without hope and knowing yourself. 

There is a lot to unpack here. It's not a light read or a happy book, although many of the characters handle their situations through humor. Themes include family, cultural identity, tradition, mortality, various kinds of loss, and survival. Food plays a large role, in the ceremony of preparation, as an offering or tribute, and the act of gathering for meals. Lovely language and writing. In addition to telling a story, the author also describes trauma inflicted on indigenous peoples: forced sterilization, relocation and segregation, loss of culture, sexual violence. There are graphic descriptions of violence and sex, so more sensitive readers should be warned.

You should be aware of an organization called Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women that publicizes the violence committed against Native American women and girls, and tracks their cases. In North America, about 16% of all missing or murdered women and girls are Native American, while they make up only 4% of the population.

A Native American healing ceremony

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

October 15, 2024

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

The Van Laar family own a large swath of land in the Adirondacks region of upstate New York, where they employ many of the local residents to run their exclusive summer camp. The camp is mainly for the children of their wealthy friends. But when their daughter Barbara goes missing from the camp, panic erupts immediately, because she isn't the first Van Laar child to go missing.

There were around 800 holds on this at the library, so I was skeptical about whether it would be worth the wait, but it totally was. I never went to summer camp, but if it was anything like this, I probably would have hated it. That said, this was a really enjoyable book as well as a quick read that kept me turning the pages. Good storytelling, interesting characters with many different viewpoints, and a dual timeline with two linked mysteries. The reader gets the backstory of many of the characters, which helps explain their actions and motivations. Many of the female characters could have been a little stronger, a little smarter, but they were a product of their upbringing and the time they lived in. The 1970s were a time when women were just starting to break out of the stereotypes of the 1950s and 1960s (aka the dark ages). Even when I graduated from high school in 1971, there were three acceptable career path for women who were college educated: teacher, nurse, or secretary, and those were only acceptable until you got married and had a family. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys a good story.

Pan, the god of the woods, source of the word panic

Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman

September 28, 2024

Return to Wyldcliffe Heights by Carol Goodman

Ever since her bestselling romantic suspense novel was published, fans of reclusive author Veronica St. Clair have been clamoring for the author to write a sequel. When editorial assistant Agnes Corey loses her job at the publishing house that published the novel, she secures a position as the author's assistant to help her write a sequel. Little does she know that the job will open up a window into her own life story.

When I was in high school, I was a huge fan of Victoria Holt's gothic novels. The cover and description reminded me of those books (in fact, at least one is referenced in the text), but this one is no where near as well written or engaging. It's a book within a book, a trope which sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. There are too many dreams that repeat the same thing, too much falling asleep in the bathtub. The plot is really slow moving and the characters are unlikeable as well as confusing. All the narrative threads are jumbled together at the end in a confusing heap, with the characters proving to be exceptionally stupid. It was a slog to get through, and a good editor should have deleted at least 25 pages. It will appeal to readers who are big gothic fans - maybe.

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

I remember this being one of my favorite Victoria Holt novels

The Inmate by Freida McFadden

March 2, 2024

The Inmate by Freida McFadden

Nurse practitioner Brooke Sullivan takes a job at Raker State Prison out of desperation. She is warned not to develop a personal relationship with any of the inmates or give out any personal information. But Brooke does not disclose that she already know one of the inmates. Not only does she know him, she is responsible for him being in prison.

The synopsis for this book sounded really good, which is probably why I'm so disappointed in it. This is the second book that I read by this author (the other one was The Co-worker, which I felt was better, although it reminded me of Gone Girl). As other reviewers have noted, there is a strong YA feel. Brooke, the main character, gets dumber as the book goes on, almost as though she is reverting to her high school self. Yes, she's had a lot of trauma. But when she runs into the guy she sent to prison, who is now an inmate there, you can practically hear her underwear hitting the floor. The plot was too far-fetched with too many coincidences to ignore. Of course there had to be a corrupt prison guard and an evil Nurse Ratchett type. Not at all original. The epilogue was disturbing rather than satisfying. And in this century, who calls a child being raised by a single parent a bastard? Teens may enjoy her books, but I think I'm done with this author.

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

Prison infirmary

Set for Life by Andrew Ewell

December 4, 2023

Set for Life by Andrew Ewell

A nameless creative writing professor who is on a deadline to get something (anything, really) published has major writer's block. He is a failure at writing, at teaching, at being a husband, at life in general. His wife is a successful novelist and she encourages him at every turn. In typical male midlife crisis fashion, he begins an affair with one of his wife's friends, thinking that this is the answer to all of his problems. When his now-estranged wife publishes another novel with a character based on him, his envy knows no bounds and he feels he is entitled to some kind of compensation. After he manages to implode his entire life, he retreats to Florida where his parents (who he has always looked down on as failures) own a small beachside hotel.

All of the characters in this novel are unlikeable, with the exception of Carlos, the visiting writer. The main character is immature and a complete snob - everyone and everything is beneath him, and he feels that success should be just handed to him rather than having to work for it. It's always someone else's fault. Also, the main character drinks WAY too much, in fact many of the characters drink almost constantly. It's fairly obvious that he is depressed and everyone knows it but him, and several of the characters try to throw him a lifeline (including the department chair, who he despises, who not only doesn't press charges after the main character almost burns down his office, but he tries to help him find a new job). The writing is good, there is some dark humor, and it's a quick read - like a train wreck, you can't look away. I sincerely hope this novel isn't autobiographical.

Is it just me or does anyone else think this is a really boring cover?

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

48 Clues Into the Disappearance of My Sister by Joyce Carol Oates

April 20, 2023

48 Clues Into the Disappearance of My Sister by Joyce Carol Oates

Marguerite Fulmer, known to her sister as M, leaves for work one morning and vanishes. Her family, co-workers, former boyfriends, and the police are baffled. M's sister Georgene (G or Gigi) begin collecting clues that the police have missed, dismissed, or ignored. Or that G has hidden from them.

Psychological fiction with a truly unreliable narrator and not a single likable character, except maybe Lena the housekeeper. JCO is a master of this type of ambiguous story. It's not going to appeal to everyone - you have to enjoy having your mind messed with.

The Instructor by T. R. Hendricks

March 10, 2023

The Instructor by T. R. Hendricks

Derek Harrington, a retired Marine who teaches survival skills, is hired by a fringe survivalist group to teach advanced military tactics in a remote wilderness area. The group's leader has promised to pay him $20,000 for four weeks' work, which will go a long way toward Derek's delinquent child support payments as well as the care home for his invalid father. It sounds too good to be true but he takes the job anyway. He warns a friend in the FBI of his suspicions about the group, agreeing to update the FBI weekly. As Derek teaches extreme boot camp tactics, he gradually realizes that the group leader's influence extends a lot farther than just living off the grid and staying under the government's radar.

I'm not big on spy/covert ops books (too much fighting, shooting, beating, screaming, killing, and rather complicated plots), so this one wasn't for me. Anytime people deliberately go off the grid, you know it's not going to end well. And yet people continue to do it. First book in a planned series. Fans of Jack Reacher as well as readers who enjoy spy books and plots against the government should enjoy this thriller.

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

Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicola Maye Goldberg

June 22, 2020

Nothing Can Hurt You by Nicola Maye Goldberg

A college student is murdered in the late 1990's and people who knew her or heard about her reflect on her murder.

Really disappointing.  It's not a mystery or suspense - the murder occurred years earlier, the killer served time briefly in a psychiatric facility and was released, he has a whole new life and family.  The characters either knew or heard about the victim.  Several people in the book know where the murderer is living, and at first I thought one of them would take revenge for the killing, but none of them do anything but ponder the meaning of her death.  The book is being heralded as the new Gone Girl (please, can we stop comparing everything to GG and just let GG be GG?), but it's nothing like that story.

About the best thing I can say about this book is that it's short.

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