If I Fall, If I Die

by Michael Christie

                Christie’s debut novel focuses on a woman, Diane with agoraphobia raising her young son Will completely within the bounds of their house. Will can’t remember ever leaving their house to go Outside. His entire world consists of the rooms of his house, the Inside, and his mother Diane. Then one day, Will does the unthinkable and ventures Outside. As Will stands Outside, he waits to stop breathing, for his hair to catch fire, for all manner of calamity to consume him. Nothing happens and Will is emboldened to venture further Outside. What follows is Will’s experience with the Outside world, for which he is wholly unprepared.

                This started off as a terrific novel. Christie does an admirable job of making the novel believable and letting the reader discover the Outside from Will’s perspective.

                Unfortunately, about half way through the novel, Christie does a complete 180, and the story crashes and burns a fiery death. It seemed that Christie took the novel to a certain point, and then had no idea where to go next, so he introduced a mystery and plot points that went far beyond stretching credibility. It’s unfortunate, since If I Fall, If I Die was a wonderful novel until this point.

                I’ll look forward to Christie’s next novel, since he shows promise. But this one needs work.     

   

Borrow this book from your library and read the first half which is very, very good. Then if you have an extreme desire to punish yourself, read the rest of it.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

First Frost

By Sarah Addison Allen

 

                Anyone who has ever read one of Allen’s books knows they are always about family, friendships and our connections to the world around us, with a little magic thrown in. This latest offering is no exception. A sequel to her novel Garden Spells, this follows the Waverley sisters as each struggles with new doubts and challenges.

                Both Claire and Sydney Waverley are now married with daughters of their own, a new generation of Waverley women with gifts. Reading this novel is like spending the weekend with old friends. It’s a comfortable, easy experience that leaves you feeling good for no specific reason.

                Allen’s gift is in her ability to make you feel a part of her character’s lives. First Frost does not disappoint on that score. The only question is: when and if we will see a sequel to this book. This reader hopes so.

                Scheduled for publication on January 20, 2015.

                Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Rain on the Dead  

By Jack Higgins

Let me start out by saying that I have read Jack Higgins for a LONG time. That being said, I fear either his writing skills are deteriorating or I have just simply outgrown him. How sad. I love his Sean Dillion series and the character, but I found myself struggling to get interested in his latest offering. It’s just too formulaic. The good guys always win; the bad guys always die. There’s simply too much ‘in the right place at the right time’ happenstance to really work for me. Perhaps at the age of 85 it’s unreasonable to expect the same quality of writing from Higgins.

            Borrow this one from your library. 

Captured

By Neil Cross

Kenny Drummond is dying and before he dies, he wants to make amends to the people he believes he’s let down in his life. Kenny makes a list of these people, four in total. As he sets off on his personal bucket list, he finds that one of these people is missing; a little girl from his childhood who was always kind to him.  Kenny becomes obsessed with finding this girl and his quest leads to actions with consequences that no one could have foreseen.

This is a hard book to review. While it held my interest through most of the book, there was a lot of it that stretched credibility. Kenny starts out as an average man, no one with any major psychological problems, yet what he does in the course of the book is darkly disturbing. I believe the author was trying to illustrate how an average person can do truly evil things, yet he didn't quite pull it off. The metamorphosis of Kenny from an average man to one capable of evil deeds, is jerky at best. The reader is left wondering how Kenny got from point A to point B.  Kenny IS dying from a brain tumor, so perhaps the author felt this was explanation enough for Kenny’s actions. Yet Kenny’s daily behavior rarely seems to be affected by the tumor.  I just couldn’t connect the dots on this.

Captured isn't a bad book, but it isn't a great book either. It’s okay.

Borrow it from your library.

Scheduled for publication January 27^th.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

The German Agent by J. Sydney Jones

                It is early in 1917. The United States has not yet entered World War I. In fact, President Wilson is very much against the US becoming involved. Enter the Zimmerman telegram, a message from Germany to Mexico proposing an alliance of war in which Mexico would invade and take back Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. The British have intercepted this telegram and decoded it.

                Based on a real historical event, the Zimmerman Telegram, this novel presents a ‘what if’ scenario; what if the British sent an ambassador to the US president with the telegram and the Germans sent an assassin to kill that ambassador?

                This is an old fashioned espionage thriller. There are no high tech gadgets, no forensics, no cell phones. It is set in a time when shaving a beard and dying one’s hair is a disguise. A time when cutting the phone lines is all that is needed to sever communication.

                While I very much enjoyed the book, it is not without flaws. Many of the scenarios are implausible, even in 1917. The German agent is just a little TOO lucky at times. However, it did have me brushing up on my WWI history and that’s not a bad thing.

                All in all, this is a quick, easy, enjoyable read if you can suspend reality a bit.

                Borrow it from your local library.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The Same Sky by Amanda Eyre Ward

I started out by thinking I would not like this novel. I was expecting a schmaltzy, fluff of a novel. That could not be further from the truth. This is a wonderful book that will challenge all your beliefs about immigration.

The story follows two main characters, Alice, a forty something woman in Texas who has everything she wants in life except a baby, and Carla, a thirteen year old girl from Honduras.

As the novel opens, Alice and her husband have just lost a baby they had hoped to adopt when the mother changes her mind and keeps the baby. How Alice copes with this is at times maddening and there were times I wanted to shake her. However, Ward does an excellent job of making Alice a very real, flawed person.

Meanwhile, the novel also follows the journey of Carla from Honduras to Texas. When Carla’s grandmother dies, Carla believes her only option is to try to reach her mother who has been working in Texas illegally and sending home money. The brilliance of this novel is the way in which Ward portrays the conditions and circumstances that lead this young girl to attempt to reach her mother in Texas.

This is a novel that will challenge your beliefs on immigration. It is impossible to read this story and not be moved by the circumstances which compel young children to attempt to reach the United States.

Buy this novel and let Ward challenge you to not remain complacent about the plight of immigrant children.

Publication date is set for January 20, 2015

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. 

The Amber Keeper by Freda Lightfoot

 

The historical part of this novel tells the story of Millie, a young English nanny to a Russian family who witnesses the Russian Revolution first hand. This part of the novel is very interesting and well developed.

The other part is the modern day story of Abbie, Millie’s granddaughter. Unfortunately, this part of the book just isn't as good. It’s not bad per se, just not as well plotted. Abbie as a character is hard to like or sympathize with. She seems too flighty, not at all a strong person. This makes it hard to believe some of her actions towards the end of the book. In addition, the ending seemed rushed and not well plotted. It was as if the author just wanted to end the book.

All in all, this is not a bad book. It’s a quick read and the parts detailing Millie’s experience during the war are well worth the read.

Borrow it from your library.

Disclaimer: I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.