One of the Boys - Daniel Magariel

Scribner Books, March 14, 2017.

Three Stars

One of the Boys is narrated by an unnamed twelve-year-old boy, who is currently moving to New Mexico with his father and older brother. They have just been through a bitter custody battle, in which the boy was manipulated into accusing his mother of abuse – mostly physical, but also hints of sexual abuse as well. At first, readers might believe that the mother is to blame for losing her boys, but as time goes on, we realize that the father is a master manipulator, who treated the custody agreement as a war to be won.

As time passes in Albuquerque, the boys’ father reveals himself for what he truly is – an abusive alcoholic and drug addict. The older brother begins missing school to help dad with his paperwork so they can afford to pay rent, and the younger boy is woken up in the middle of the night by his father’s bouts of paranoia – he is told to “be my eyes”, and watch out the window for imaginary threats to the family.

Life with their father gets progressively worse for the boys, as he begins to bring home women and other unsavory characters, alternated with days spent locked in his bedroom with his addictions. He is erratic and violent, and increasingly abusive to the boys. It is difficult to read, but necessary in that it gives a voice to the many children that are in this situation, with no way to escape. It shows how easily childhood abuse can be hidden, but it is slowly revealed to us as the boy begins to figure out that his dad is not actually a hero with his sons’ best interests at heart – he is a dangerous addict who continually puts his own needs before those of his children.

The story is fast-paced, although nothing really happens – just a repeated view of the endless cycle of abuse. There is never a moment of peace, which makes it feel like being fully immersed in the boys’ experience. I do feel that the book is an awkward length – it would have been better as either a tightly-woven short story, or as a more fleshed-out novel. In any case, the novella manages to showcase the disturbing reality of child abuse, which is more common than we may think. The immediacy of the story made it seem like it may be based on the experiences of the author, but the fact that the characters are unnamed makes them universal – instead of individuals, they become simply “one of the boys.”

I received this book from Scribner Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Roanoke Girls - Amy Engel

Crown Publishing, March 7, 2017.

Four Stars

Lane Roanoke is only fifteen when her mother commits suicide in their dingy New York apartment. Her mother refused to speak about the family she ran away from as a pregnant teenager, but when Gran and Grandpa invite Lane to live with them, she jumps at the chance to get to know her estranged relatives. Their rambling estate in rural Kansas is also home to Lane’s cousin Allegra, who has lived with their grandparents since she was a baby. Just like Lane’s mother, Allegra’s ran away from home – and the Roanoke girls that don’t run away seem to turn up dead.

When Lane arrives at Roanoke, she bonds instantly with her exciting cousin Allegra, who is bursting with energy and loves to push boundaries. Allegra introduces Lane to the history of the Roanoke girls – a wall filled with the portraits of the women in the family, all of whom are now dead or missing. Other than Allegra, the only remaining family members are Gran, who is cold and distant to Lane, and Grandpa, whose charismatic charm may be hiding a more sinister side. The girls are given complete freedom, and they spend the summer with a couple local boys, Cooper and Tommy. However, Grandpa tells them that the boys will come and go, but he will love them always – and possibly not just in a familial way.

Lane’s relationship with Cooper is tumultuous. Passionate and angry, he seems to know more about the Roanoke family secrets than Lane does – but when Lane eventually finds out the truth about her dark and twisted family, she runs without looking back. Eleven years later, Lane is living in L.A., divorced and directionless, when she receives a call from Grandpa. Allegra has gone missing, and Lane feels the dangerous pull of Roanoke, calling her back to help search for her beautiful and damaged cousin.

Lane is immediately drawn back into the disturbing patterns of her family, and the lethargy of small-town Kansas. She reunites with Cooper and Tommy, who have remained in town – Cooper took over his dad’s mechanic shop, and Tommy is now on the police force. Even though Tommy has been investigating Allegra’s disappearance, Lane decides to do some searching of her own. Tommy is now married, but his obsessive love of Allegra is still strong, and in Lane’s mind, he is one of many suspects in her disappearance – including the caretaker and the housekeeper at Roanoke, both of whom are complicit in the family’s secret past.

The novel alternates between “Then” (the summer Lane spent at Roanoke) and “Now” (her investigation into Allegra’s disappearance). Sprinkled in between are vignettes of the other Roanoke girls, which slowly reveal how they died or went missing. The common link between all the girls is Grandpa, and his ability to charm and seduce everyone around him. When Lane finds a message from Allegra that simply says Run Lane, she knows she must put an end to the dark saga of the Roanoke girls.

The Roanoke Girls is very disturbing, showing the extreme levels of abuse in one family and the ways it can be passed down through generations. It’s difficult to read, but also so compelling that you can’t look away. There is a mystery here, but it is not truly shocking – it is more about the slow unfolding of deeply buried secrets. This is the author’s first novel for adult audiences, and it is sometimes obvious that her style is young adult – but overall, the novel is compelling enough to overlook its flaws and just let yourself be pulled along for the ride, disturbing as it is.

I received this book from Crown Publishing and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Never Let You Go - Chevy Stevens

St. Martin’s Press, March 14, 2017.

 

Four Stars

 

Eleven years ago, Lindsey Nash escaped from a violent, abusive marriage with her young daughter Sophie. Under cover of night, they snuck away from their family home while the abusive husband Andrew was passed out drunk. At least, Lindsey thought he was passed out – until she found out later that Andrew got behind the wheel of his car and killed a young woman in a horrible accident while he attempted to hunt down Lindsey and Sophie.

 

Andrew went to jail, and Lindsey moved her daughter to Dogwood Bay, an isolated – and fictitious – town on the west coast of British Columbia. While it is only a short ferry ride from Vancouver, Lindsey feels that they are far enough away from Andrew that he won’t be able to find them upon his release from prison. However, she hasn’t counted on Sophie’s curiosity about her absent father, and the lengths she will go to meet him. Lindsey tried to protect her daughter by hiding many of the details of Andrew’s abuse, but instead she put Sophie in danger by sugar-coating the relationship.

 

Suddenly, mysterious things begin happening in Dogwood Bay. Lindsey’s home is invaded, but nothing is taken – instead, her privacy is severely violated in ways that only Andrew would know to do. Meanwhile, her new boyfriend Greg is almost run off the road, and vaguely threatening gifts are left on her car. Andrew swears to Sophie that he is a different man and he would do nothing to hurt his new relationship with his daughter, but Lindsey is not convinced – she knows the depths of Andrew’s obsession and how far he will go to control her. However, she also has her own suspicions about Sophie’s new boyfriend Jared.

 

The novel moves between two time frames: the abuse and fear of Lindsey’s marriage in the past, and the more immediate threat of the present day. It also alternates between Lindsey and Sophie’s perspectives, but it never becomes muddled – in fact, the short, sharp chapters add tension to an already exciting plot. The first person present tense amps up the suspense, although the perspective can seem unpolished at times. This is a quick read with a slow build-up to the danger surrounding Lindsey and Sophie, and it leaves you wondering how you could ever trust anyone, no matter how long you have known them.

 

Never Let You Go is clever and unexpected – like me, you might guess who did it, but you will likely not guess why. It is a testament to the author’s talent that the “whodunit” is not the most important part of the book – there is so much more depth and meaning underneath. If you are a fan of Chevy Stevens, there is no doubt you will enjoy her latest book – not because it is formulaic, but because she has a definite style that is sure to please fans of her work once again.

 

I received this book from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Everything Belongs to Us - Yoojin Grace Wuertz

Penguin Random House, February 28, 2017.

Four Stars

Everything Belongs to Us is an intimate portrait of two young women in Seoul, South Korea, as they come of age in 1978 – and it is also the broader story of a young nation gaining power and looking to prove itself on a global level. Jisun and Namin come from very different circumstances, reflecting the socioeconomic stratification of South Korea in the 1970s, and yet they continually find themselves drawn together. The two contrasting perspectives work together to form a fuller picture of life in Seoul.

Jisun comes from a wealthy family, led by her successful, domineering father. She lives in a mansion overlooking the city, and has never wanted for anything that money can buy. Rebelling against her father’s extreme control, Jisun begins participating in various political protests, including one in which hundreds of factory girls take off their uniform tops in a public square to fight for basic labour rights. However, no matter how passionately Jisun works for the cause, she will always be an outsider to the lower classes that she protests alongside.

Unlike Jisun, Namin lives in a poor, crowded neighbourhood, where her parents run a food cart from dawn until dusk and her sister works as one of the “factory girls” that Jisun has been protesting with. Namin is her family’s only hope to gain financial success – they are sacrificing everything so that she can graduate and eventually attend medical school. Namin is a brilliant student and her studies are her only focus – until her sister gets pregnant and abandons the baby, leaving Namin to stay home and take care of him. Namin’s childhood friend Jisun offers her financial help with the baby, but Namin is too proud to accept.

Before the baby took Namin’s life off course, she was part of a prestigious social club called the Circle. The club is headed by Jisun’s older brother and it provides access to the wealthy class by other social climbers. Through the Circle, Namin meets a male student named Sunam, who admires her drive and eventually convinces her to date him. However, when Namin becomes too busy with school and family obligations, Sunam begins to find Jisun – and her family’s prestige – irresistible. There are clear parallels between public and private life, as the ambitions of the students mirror the nation of South Korea and its willingness to become prosperous at any cost.

This novel was unexpected, but surprisingly engaging. It’s not a historical setting that I know much about, so I had no preconceived notions about the plot. Jisun and Namin are so different, with distinct, self-aware voices, which makes them believable and convincing. The exploration of the authoritarian government and the emergence of socio-political discontent was interesting and never heavy-handed – the political issues are woven into the story in a natural way. At times I would have liked more of an emotional connection to the characters, as their inner thoughts sometimes seemed flat – but overall, I found this to be a great read by a promising new author.

I received this book from Penguin Random House and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Book of Etta - Meg Elison

47North Books, February 21, 2017.

 

Five Stars

 

This novel is the second of the Road to Nowhere series, and the sequel to the fantastic, original novel, The Book of the Unnamed Midwife. Although it’s possible to read The Book of Etta on its own, I think you would get much more out of the novel by reading them in order. In the first book, the Unnamed travels across the United States after a shocking epidemic has destroyed the world as we know it today. Most of the world’s population is gone, and of the survivors, only one in ten are female. Childbearing is extremely dangerous, and women are in high demand, although they are mostly objectified as slaves.

 

Etta’s story takes place about a century after the Unnamed Midwife finally settled in a former army barracks, now known as the village of Nowhere. The inhabitants of the village live in relative safety, and many of the women have been able to survive childbirth – in fact, being a Mother is the most valuable thing a woman can be, creating a sort of throwback to our own past. The Unnamed has become a folk hero for the villagers, although her story has been distorted over the years. Like her, everyone in Nowhere keeps a journal of their experiences in this new world – but Etta has a hard time writing about her life, because she has a secret.

 

Etta’s mother wants nothing more for her daughter than for her to reproduce and become honoured and valued as a Mother. However, Etta wants more from her life, so she works as a scavenger, exploring outside the city gates for extended periods of time. Like the Unnamed Midwife, Etta finds it easier to travel if she is disguised as a man – so when she is on the road, she becomes Eddy. The disguise is ostensibly for safety, but more importantly, Eddy is a transgender man who only feels like his true self when he’s on the road.

 

Eddy scavenges for supplies, but he also tries to rescue the young girls being held by slave traders – if he paid for them, it would encourage the trade to grow larger, so he takes the girls by force, and brings them back to join the community of Nowhere. At home, Eddy reverts to his role as Etta, but even then, she does not fit into the traditional female roles provided for her. She sneaks away to visit her girlfriend Alice – they must hide their relationship because women should be breeding with men. Even homosexuality between men is disallowed in Nowhere – the most important priority is to have children, and individual sexual preferences are strongly discouraged.

 

This novel explores the complexities of gender and sexuality against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic world where women are commodities and men are either dangerous or disposable. It is a gritty, stark look at humanity, especially in light of the misogynistic political world we now live in. Etta’s world is very dark and certainly dystopian, but it also showcases several different communities that are attempting to forge a new path in this world. Although not all of them are successful – and some are brutal and shocking – there are elements of hope here too. Unlike in The Book of the Unnamed Midwife, there are no longer any ties to our world, but history – and the subjugation of women – is still repeating, making it feel depressingly like an inevitable part of humanity.

 

Once again, this second novel in the Road to Nowhere series is an imaginative, unpredictable story. It is filled with the kind of powerful writing that you can get completely caught up in, letting Etta’s world sometimes feel more real than our own. The third and possibly final book in this series will follow Flora, an unusual, passionate woman that Etta meets on her travels. With Flora’s story, I’m sure we will once again see a thoughtful exploration of gender identity in a world that is so different and yet eerily similar to our own. I can’t wait to read it.

 

I received this book from 47North Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Enemies of Versailles - Sally Christie

Atria Books, March 21, 2017.

 

Four Stars

 The Enemies of Versailles is the final novel of the Mistresses of Versailles trilogy, which follows the life of King Louis XV of France through the eyes of the women he loves and lusts after – from the Nesle sisters to the Marquise de Pompadour and finally the Comtesse du Barry. Although each consecutive book tells us more about the King and the tumultuous history of France, the novels also work well as standalones.

 

In this novel, the focus is on young Jeanne Becu, a girl of humble birth who uses her great beauty to rise above the streets of Paris and into the Palace of Versailles. King Louis is now much older and very jaded, but he falls for the youthful energy of Jeanne, the Comtesse du Barry. However, other members of the royal family are not so enamoured with the newest mistress of Versailles – the princesses are now grown up, and are completely scandalized by their father’s latest lover. It was one thing to tolerate the bourgeois Marquise de Pompadour, but the Comtesse is a commoner from a family of prostitutes.

 

The princesses are led by the very prim and proper Madame Adelaide, who is horrified by her father’s lowborn mistress. She goads her sisters into taking her side, and even the young Marie Antoinette is brought into the family fight. However, as the revolution rises outside the palace gates, everyone in the royal family must work together in an ill-fated attempt to survive.

 

Christie once again adds new elements to the genre of historical fiction – she explores the intricacies of 18^th century French political intrigue, while remaining witty and modern in tone. This was a male-dominated period of history, and it is interesting to see it being revisited from a female perspective. Although Marie Antoinette is a popular fictionalized character, it’s nice to see some other points of view as well – specifically, Madame Adelaide and the Comtesse du Barry, who alternate the narration of this novel. However, I did find the different voices to be a bit too similar, even in comparison to the earlier novels in the series.

 

King Louis obviously preferred the charms of his various mistresses to the actual work of ruling France. He leaves the hard work to his advisors, who all put their own ambitions before the wellbeing of the country – clearly a major contributing factor to the French Revolution. Because of the tumultuous historical setting, this novel is probably the most interesting of the series plot-wise – but I just did not enjoy it as much as the other two. It is still a great piece of historical fiction, but I just felt that the first in the series was the strongest. Regardless, I will be looking forward to whatever Christie decides to write next.

 

I received this book from Atria Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Book of Mirrors - E.O. Chirovici

Atria Books, February 21, 2017.

Four Stars

The Book of Mirrors is a novel in three parts, revolving around a cold case murder that happened in 1987. Professor Weider, a well-known psychologist, was found beaten to death in his home, with no reliable witnesses. The three men who narrate the respective sections become obsessed with finding a motive for the murder – it could have been a crime of passion, an act of intellectual theft, or revenge for the victim’s work as an expert witness, testifying against violent criminals.

In the first part, a literary agent receives a partial book manuscript written by a man named Richard Flynn, who worked for Weider at the time of his death. The agent, Katz, thinks that the book may be a confession to murder, but unfortunately Flynn dies before he can complete the story. The manuscript takes up most of Katz’s section of the novel, so we hear about events from Flynn’s own perspective first. He writes about his girlfriend Laura, and her relationship as protégé to Professor Weider. According to Richard, the two were working on a secret project involving memory and its manipulation – Laura told him that the project essentially involved erasing traumatic memories in soldiers. Richard is overwhelmed by the idea that our memories are not “reality” but are in fact subjective, to be edited by our future minds.

After Richard’s story ends abruptly, Katz hires an investigative journalist, John Keller, to follow up on the details of Weider’s death. He interviews several key witnesses, such as the brain-damaged handyman Derek, who Weider took care of after he was released from psychiatric care. Keller also manages to track down Laura, who tells him that Richard was not actually her boyfriend – he was a delusional stalker and she changed her name to hide from him. Laura’s testimony calls into question the validity of all of Richard’s memories, and she casts him as the main suspect in Weider’s murder. Like Keller, we cannot know which account of the relationship is true.

Keller also meets with retired detective Roy Freeman, who narrates the final section of the novel – he is inspired to take another look at the Weider case, which he worked on as a young police officer. Roy has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, and as he deals with the effects of his diagnosis, his character embellishes the theme of memory and forgetting. He shows us that we are all unreliable when narrating our own lives, as memories are continually evolving. Roy’s investigation finally leads to the truth about the night that Weider died, although his path is very convoluted.

I found the voices of the narrators in each part to be very similar, and I think the story would have been more compelling if they were more distinct as characters. I also think the memory theme was underdeveloped – it was implied from the start that solving the crime will be connected to memory and psychology, and I think it could have gone in a more interesting, less traditional direction. The ending also doesn’t tie up all the loose ends, and some interesting plot threads were completely dropped. This was still an intriguing, intelligent mystery novel, but the whole time I found myself waiting for more.

I received this book from Atria Books and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Running - Cara Hoffman

Simon & Schuster, February 21, 2017.

 

Four Stars

Set in the red-light district of Athens in the 1980s, Running follows a group of teenagers/young adults working as “runners” – they hustle tourists to sell cheap, low-end accommodation, in exchange for a small commission and a place to sleep. Their sales techniques are often aggressive and even dangerous, and the kids barely make enough money to survive in the slums of Athens.

Bridey is an American teenager, working as a runner to escape her traumatic childhood – after the death of her parents when she was ten, Bridey lived with her survivalist uncle, off the grid in the wilderness of Washington state. In Athens, she meets a gay British couple, Milo and Jasper. The two men are intellectuals and poets, and they are both damaged in their own way. Jasper, Milo and Bridey embark on an unusual romantic relationship that is based more on comfort than sex – they create their own intimate family, carving out a home in their ramshackle hotel room, furnished with flea market finds.

All three of the young runners are troubled, but it is Jasper’s spiral into addiction and madness that begins to drive them apart. They get involved with a violent IRA member named Declan, who is running a stolen passport racket, and eventually they are linked to an act of terrorism on a Greek train. Bridey sacrifices everything to clear the names of her friends, and she is forced to disappear from Athens. When she returns, she discovers that everything has changed in shocking ways – Jasper is missing, and Milo is devastated.

The descriptions of the runners’ former lives in Athens are alternated with Milo’s current life in New York. After he lost touch with Bridey, his career as a poet flourished, eventually leading to a job teaching poetry at NYU. Although he has been welcomed into the establishment of the literati, Milo struggles with feeling like an outsider, and he is more at home with the homeless people living in the park. Whether we are in Washington, Athens or New York City, the setting is distinct and atmospheric – I felt completely immersed in the sights, sounds and smells of each location.

The plot was always moving to unexpected places, with surprising twists that remained believable. There is a lot going on in this novel, and it was sometimes difficult to figure out where/when we are in the plot, but it does all come together in a powerful way. The prose is beautiful, and the story is rewarding if you stick with it. The characters’ motives are not always clear at first, but there is an emotional depth in these snapshots of desperate young lives that makes it all worthwhile. I will definitely be looking for more books by Cara Hoffman.

I received this book from Simon & Schuster and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

All Our Wrong Todays - Elan Mastai

Penguin Random House, February 7, 2017.

Five Stars

Tom Barren lives in 2016 – but not our 2016. He lives in the futuristic world that was imagined in the optimistic 1950s, filled with flying cars, moon bases, and automated food and clothing made specifically for each person’s taste. Due to the invention of the Gottreider Engine, a machine that draws power from the movement of the Earth’s orbit, there is an endless source of clean energy – which means the people of this alternate 2016 have no environmental damages, no greenhouse gasses and no global warming. Everyone’s needs are catered to and everything seems to be perfect, but Tom is still unhappy.

After the death of his homemaker mother, Tom goes to work for his successful scientist father, who is planning to send a team of time-travelling “chrononauts” back to the moment that the Gottreider Engine was first invented in 1965. Tom is training as a backup chrononaut to superstar Penelope – his father has no faith in his abilities and doesn’t trust Tom to actually travel back in time. However, when events take a surprising turn and Penelope is unable to travel, Tom ends up alone in our version of 2016. To him, our world seems like a dystopian wasteland of pollution and suffering.

When Tom wakes up in a hospital, surrounded by a family that seems familiar but is strangely different, he finds out that his name is John Barren and he is a successful architect in Toronto. He tries to explain that he has just travelled from an alternate timeline, but his sister (who did not exist in his former world) insists that his delusions are taken from John’s unpublished novel, which was originally based on his childhood fantasies about another, futuristic world. Tom begins to doubt his own reality, but he holds on to the idea that John and himself have always been connected through the fabric of time.

Uncertain about his grasp on reality, Tom attempts to live as John. However, he holds on to Tom’s dreams by searching for the Penelope of this world – instead of a successful, independent and sometimes cruel chrononaut, the version of her in this 2016 is a quirky, thoughtful bookshop owner named Penny. Against all odds, Penny believes Tom’s story and the two form a powerful bond that may stand the test of alternate timelines. However, when Tom meets Gottreider, the inventor of the engine, he must decide whether his own happiness is worth more than the chance to give our 2016 a source of clean energy that will increase global health and happiness. It is an interesting way of looking at Utilitarian philosophical theory, and forces us to question what we would do in the same situation.

All Our Wrong Todays is written as a memoir of Tom’s travels. I found his voice to be incredibly annoying at first, but the tone changes as he grows as a character, confronting his individual and collective past. Tom’s provocative voice and its development show Mastai’s talent as a writer, especially as someone so unlikeable becomes completely empathetic by the end of the novel. Even Tom writes that he is embarrassed by the earlier, more offensive passages of his memoir, as he develops into a better person. My enjoyment of the book crept up on me as well – I didn’t love it at first, but all of a sudden I couldn’t put it down, and I thought about it when I wasn’t reading. Some parts were repetitious, but it didn’t take away from the overall momentum of the fast-paced plot.

This novel is obviously going to invite comparison to Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter, released last year. While the two books have a lot in common – quantum theory, alternate timelines, the effect one person’s actions can have on the lives of many – I found this one to be much more quirky and entertaining. Mastai gives us a lot to think about, and he makes his philosophy very accessible. I especially liked the idea (taken from French philosopher Paul Virilio) that every time a new technology is invented, the “accident” of that technology is also invented – so when the airplane was invented, so was the plane crash. In his memoir, Tom writes that the accident applies to people as well, and “every person you meet introduces the accident of that person to you…[t]here is no intimacy without consequence.” (Loc. 156) Tom experiences these accidents firsthand, and his reactions are always very human and relatable.

There is so much content and so many ideas here, and I think many different kinds of readers could potentially enjoy this novel. As our own world becomes more technologically advanced, fulfilling some of those dreams that Tom talks about from the 1950s, the line between science fiction and literary writing is becoming less obvious. As Tom tells us, “[t]hat’s all science is. A collection of the best answers we have right now. It’s always open to revision.” (Loc. 2343) Authors like Mastai are inspiring that revision in all of us.  

I received this book from Penguin Random House and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Lost Woman - Sara Blaedel

Hachette, February 7, 2017.

 

Three Stars

 

The Lost Woman is part of a series of mystery novels about Detective Louise Rick and her experiences on the Danish police force. Part of a recent rise in popularity of Scandinavian thrillers, I found Blaedel’s prose to be thoughtful and sophisticated in comparison to some other mystery writers. This book can be read as a standalone novel, but it is clearly part of a larger story – the author does her best to fill in Louise’s backstory, but it doesn’t always flow naturally.

 

Louise and her police force partner Eik – who also happens to be her romantic partner – have just moved in together, and things seem to be going well. Just as Louise starts to relax and feel positive about their life together, Eik begins acting strangely. He disappears suddenly, and Louise finds out all kinds of secrets about him before she finally tracks him down, drunk in an English prison.

 

When Louise travels to England and meets with the police there, she learns that Eik has a connection to a shocking murder that has just happened nearby – a housewife named Sophie was shot with a hunting rifle through her kitchen window, while her husband and daughter watched. The police have discovered that Sophie was actually a Danish resident, reported missing eighteen years earlier – by Eik. The two were travelling together when Sophie disappeared from their sailboat, and the incident has affected Eik emotionally ever since. Her reappearance and death have now unsettled him completely.

 

Naturally, Louise is hurt by Eik’s behaviour and his continuing secrets, but they never really talk about their issues. Instead, she throws herself into solving Sophie’s murder, and ends up forging a connection with Sophie’s teenage daughter. The mystery of Sophie’s disappearance and death take Louise down an interesting path and into the world of medically-assisted suicide, and I found it to be a compassionate examination of the subject of euthanasia. However, the plot was very meandering, and I didn’t totally believe it.

 

The characters, especially Louise, are likeable and real, with accessible emotional reactions. However, I found it completely bizarre that Louise and Eik never really communicate about their actions – he left the country without telling her and ended up in prison, and yet she doesn’t feel compelled to ask him why. Their behaviour caused an unnecessary level of melodrama that didn’t add to the plot.

 

The Lost Woman is a suspenseful novel, but not at all action-packed. It is an intelligent, slow-paced thriller that explores an intriguing, topical subject. I would definitely be open to reading another novel in the series before I decide whether or not Blaedel’s novels are right for me.

 

I received this book from Hachette and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Son of a Trickster - Eden Robinson

Knopf Canada, February 7, 2017.

Five Stars

I have read and loved all of Robinson’s previous novels, and I couldn’t be happier to learn that Son of a Trickster is the first in a planned trilogy about Native teen Jared and his exploration of both the real and the spirit worlds in Kitimat, B.C. This novel is a very unique combination of coming-of-age family drama, Indigenous beliefs and Northwest Coast flavoured magic realism.

We first meet Jared as a sweet young child who is incredibly loved by his parents and by his dad’s mother, who he calls Nana. His maternal grandmother, however, avoids him as much as possible, because she believes that he is possessed by the Trickster spirit, known as Wee’git. When we next see Jared, he is sixteen and his life has changed irrevocably – his father abandoned his family after a work injury led to a devastating painkiller addiction, and his mother is dating a violent drug dealer. Jared himself is a burnout who drinks too much, but at heart he is still selfless and caring – when he’s not baking pot cookies to pay his parents’ bills, he’s taking care of his elderly neighbours next door.

Jared’s mom got pregnant when she was very young, and so her relationship with her son is more of a friendship between peers. She struggles with drug abuse, and subjects Jared to an unhealthy and unstable home life, but at heart, she loves him deeply. Their banter over text message is authentic and funny, even when it is devastating. Robinson is well aware of the ways people communicate today (texting, Facebook) and she manages to insert this language into her novel without sounding contrived, as other writers often do.

Through his business as the “Cookie Dude,” Jared interacts with all levels of the highschool hierarchy, and Robinson provides us with a multidimensional view of Native life in northern B.C. – some of his friends live on the Rez, while others come from wealthy, privileged homes. Jared’s on-again off-again girlfriend Sarah is mostly white, and yet she is the first one to introduce him to the Idle No More protests. Even though the novel is rooted in traditional Haisla/Heiltsuk folklore, it is accessible and relatable to teenage life everywhere.

Although Jared often experiences blackouts and hallucinations while drunk or high, he becomes alarmed when he starts seeing spirits while completely sober. He is often accompanied by a raven, who gives him advice – but the spirits are not always benign. When his Nana hears about these spiritual experiences, she wants to step in and help him understand his traditional magical roots. Jared’s mother also knows more about it than she lets on, and more secrets from her past are yet to be revealed.

There are so many threads to follow throughout this novel, which will hopefully be delved into in the rest of the Trickster trilogy. The characters are all so current and authentic – even the minor characters feel like people you might meet in real life. The balance of character and plot, the contemporary magic realism, and the focus on Northwest Coast culture – every part of this novel is on my list of favourite fictional elements, and I’m so glad there are two more Trickster books on the way.

I received this book from Knopf Canada and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.