Review of THE BRINK OF SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL by Bobbi French (New Release)

 4 Stars

Readers who enjoyed the author’s previous novel, The Good Women of Safe Harbour, will also like this one.

It is 1999 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Fifty-year-old Ruby Nolan is newly widowed. She is battling mixed emotions: she grieves the loss of her husband Joe but she also feels a sense of freedom from a marriage she never wanted. Ruby meets 18-year-old Maxine who knew Joe through his job as a penitentiary guard. The pregnant Maxine reminds Ruby of herself when she too was pregnant at a young age. She makes it her mission to help Maxine but it’s questionable whether she is trying to help the young woman or herself. Both her mother Vera and a friend tell her she must first take care of herself and deal with her own issues before helping someone else deal with hers.

Ruby is a likeable character. From the way she tries to help Maxine and the way she cares for her mother, who is suffering from dementia, it is obvious Ruby is loving, kind and compassionate. She is intelligent; not only did she earn the position of director of medical records at a hospital but she has a wide breadth of knowledge as shown in her excelling at trivia. She is a believable character because she has flaws which she acknowledges as the novel progresses. She speaks of being tied to her husband by grief and guilt and pity and penance. She knows that she is too concerned about the judgments of others.

Dynamic characters always appeal to me and Ruby is that. The novel shows her on a mid-life journey of discovery. She learns about herself and others. For instance, she seems focused on her unhappiness in her marriage but comes to realize that there was joy and that she underestimated and undervalued her husband. She also comes to see her mother in a different way and to view a family tragedy as not her fault.

Ruby is the narrator, but interspersed are some first-person chapters from Maxine’s perspective. I found myself frequently being frustrated with Maxine’s choices, but I had to keep in mind that she is in her late teens. Seeing her point of view means that though I did not agree with her decisions, I understood her motivation. However, is it realistic that she wouldn’t know about dementia or that she calls a concussion a percussion?

The characterization of Cory, Maxine’s partner, is well done. He’s not an admirable person, but the author makes an attempt to not portray him as totally villainous. For instance, Maxine believes that he is scared about the birth of his child and Ruby notices that he seems beaten down with “sad, lifeless eyes [which] hinted at suffering that had begun long before.” Cory’s life, as well as those of Ruby and Maxine, emphasizes the theme of intergenerational trauma.

Intimate partner and gender-based violence are a focus in the book. More than one character is a victim. However, I did find that sometimes there is a heavy-handedness to the message. Ruby thinks about “the dangerous lives of women” and how women must learn “how to bob and weave and cajole and soothe the ego of the weakest creature on the planet.” Ruby and her friends discuss the importance of women helping women because “Who else had boots on the ground? Not the cops and the judges. Not the politicians and priests. All those brave, righteous men, standing around holding their dicks while we were dying in droves.”

Besides actually referencing the village of Safe Harbour, the novel has thematic similarities with The Good Women of Safe Harbour: intergenerational friendships, found family, and the power of female friendship. The message of French’s first novel is that one should live the life of one’s own choosing and that too is a message in The Brink of Something Beautiful. At the end of the novel there is hope that Ruby, unbound from duty, can make her own choices for her life and salvage some of what she believes she lost because her life was constrained by time and place and circumstances and her own personality.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of INTO THE DARK by Ørjan Karlsson

 3.5 Stars

This is the second book in the Arctic Mysteries series after Into Thin Air which I reviewed a few days ago.

In the small coastal village of Kjerringøy in northern Norway, a mutilated body is found in the water. About the same time, about 30kms away, a young woman is found dead in her apartment in Bodø from an apparent suicide. Jakob Weber and his colleagues, Noora, Armann and Fine, investigate both cases. When a link is found between the victims, the team needs to consider that there could also be a connection between their deaths. And then the body count rises.

Readers would be wise to read Into Thin Air first. The main characters, of course, are introduced in the first book, but there are links to the case in that novel and a suspect in that case re-appears. Noora, for instance, was seriously injured and though she has returned to work, there is concern that she has not fully recovered either physically or psychologically. This becomes a source of tension: will she be able to assist her colleagues in a dangerous situation?

As in the previous book, the personal lives of the main characters are described. Jakob now has his teenaged half-brother, Ola André, living with him so that has required some adjustments, as has his tentative relationship with Sigrid, a journalist. Armann, on the other hand, is worried about his marriage since he and his wife seem to be drifting apart. I enjoy these glimpses into their home lives; they never overshadow the cases being investigated but make the characters more relatable.

Again, multiple points of view are presented, including that of the perpetrator. And also, as in the previous book, there are unanswered questions at the end. I mentioned in my review of Into Thin Air that I was especially anxious to learn more about Stein-Jarle’s discovery. As I read Into the Dark I kept looking for clues as to who the policeman might be and I have my suspicions, but I’ll have to wait for the next book to learn if I’m correct.

This novel has all the characteristics of Nordic Noir. It has the gloomy mood and the bleak landscape; for example, the mountains around the village seem brooding and menacing. And the storyline is dark. The violence and psychological trauma depicted reminded me of elements found in The Silence of the Lambs and in the Criminal Minds television series.

This book grabs readers from the beginning; the prologue indicates this will have lots of creepiness. People who enjoy intense, unsettling reads with disturbing details will love this book. And be prepared for a cliffhanger ending.

Review of INTO THIN AIR by Ørjan Karlsson

 3.5 Stars

This is the first of a new series known as Arctic Mysteries set in northern Norway.

A young woman, Iselin Hanssen, disappears during a run in Bodø, a town located just north of the Arctic Circle. Jakob Weber, Chief Investigator of the Nordland Police, leads the investigation. Before long, Marte Moi, a social media influencer, goes missing in similar circumstances, though this time on the small island of Røst, about 100 kms further north. Are these cases connected? And could there even be a connection to a woman’s disappearance 30 years earlier?

Jakob is assisted by three others. He has worked with Armann Femris and Josefine Skog in the past but Noora Yun Sande, who has transferred from Oslo, is a new addition to the team. Their boss is Konrad Råkstad, whose nickname is The Crow. I liked how each member of the team emerges as a distinct individual, sometimes with personal struggles. Josefine, for instance, has to balance work and motherhood when her young daughter falls ill. Noora is fleeing some traumatic experience in Oslo. Armann strikes me as a bit unruly, whereas The Crow is the least sympathetic character because of his autocratic manner.

Since this is the first of a series, character development is very important; readers must find the protagonist someone they want to follow. Still grieving the death of his wife, Jakob is trying to figure out how to move on. The unexpected arrival of a young man at his door will obviously challenge him. Professionally, Jakob is experienced and dedicated and exudes a calm, composed demeanor under pressure, signaling reliability and skill. His strong leadership skills mean he is highly regarded. His compassion also stands out.

The novel is narrated from multiple points of view. Besides Jakob, Armann, and Noora’s perspectives, those of Iselin and other people (Peder and Stein-Jarle) connected to the events are included. Even a killer’s point of view is provided in several chapters, though what clouds the picture is that the time period of the perpetrator’s actions is not always clear.

The pace is slow at the beginning, but there is a gradual increase in pace. As readers realize the dangers faced by victims and Noora, tension increases. Several shady, suspicious characters emerge so readers have a number of suspects from which to choose.

Violence against women is a major theme. Virtually every woman introduced is a victim of violence in some form: invasion of privacy, an abusive relationship, rape and torture, death. Some scenes are described in rather graphic detail. The book also touches on social media. Jakob, for instance, thinks about how people can make themselves vulnerable by sharing their lives on social media. And sometimes comments and speculation online can interfere with an ongoing investigation.

There are some issues that bothered me. Discoveries are made because of witnesses that come forward at convenient times. And there’s the information about a vehicle’s registration number that, even Jakob admits, could have been learned sooner. I’m also unconvinced that Peder’s call to the police is credible; his motivation is clear but, given all the factors, would he risk drawing attention as he does? The truth about one character I guessed early on because it’s become a trope in psychological suspense thrillers. On the other hand, the fate of one character was totally unexpected and left me wishing he could have continued in retirement mode.

By chance, my husband and I have started planning a trip to Norway. The author’s descriptions of the landscape of northern Norway are wonderful. I am now thinking we should travel further north than we had first considered.

There are unanswered questions at the end so readers are being directed to the next book in the series. I’m especially anxious to learn more about Stein-Jarle’s discovery. Since this was a satisfying read, I will definitely be moving on to Into the Dark.

Review of THE NOVICE OF HOLLOWAY HALL by Wayne Johnston (New Release)

4 Stars 

I’ve read and loved many of Wayne Johnston’s novels so I was pleased to receive a copy of his latest. It did not disappoint.

This family drama is set in St. John’s, Newfoundland, over the course of a week in September of 1947. Twenty-eight-year-old Vivvy Holloway is of small stature because she hasn’t grown since she was five years old. After eight years in a convent, she returns to her family home, Holloway Hall, the largest private dwelling in Newfoundland. Vivvy is the youngest in a formidable family which has ten cleric brothers.

Freda, Vivvy’s only sister, is in charge of the family estate and fortune. She is the sole occupant of Holloway Hall, except for Ivan Bradford, a five-year-old boy she brought back from the Congo where she once worked as a missionary doctor. Vivvy is tasked with caring for Ivan since Freda works such long hours. The two sisters clash because of Freda’s domineering personality but it’s her increasingly erratic behaviour that is disconcerting and has Vivvy worrying about Ivan’s safety. The arrival of all the Holloway brothers inspires people to come forward and begin the unearthing of long-buried family secrets which threaten the reputation and fate of the entire Holloway clan.

Vivvy is a memorable character. Something happened on her first day of school that changed her life forever. She hides her face behind a veil, a different colour and fabric for each day of the week. It is her acerbic wit that I loved, though it certainly does not endear her to her siblings who think of her as “an insufferable, subversive, heretical nuisance.” Vivvy herself acknowledges being “nonconforming, acerbic, ironic, voluble.” She makes observations like small-town rumours traveling “faster than the speed of spite” and describes her brothers’ reactions to Freda being made the sole heir: “If Freda had been wearing a ring, they might have all lined up to kiss it, but they had to settle for her backside.” Few people escape her jabs; when looking at a portrait of her mother, Vivvy comments that “she wasn’t as cheerful as that scowl might make you think. When it came to persuasiveness, she had a higher success rate than a thumbscrew.”

Another character who is memorable is Smack though he never actually appears in the novel. He is Ivan’s older friend who says things he has heard from his parents. Ivan then repeats Smack’s comments in conversations with Vivvy. When Maynard, a cardinal and Vivvy’s oldest brother, is coming for a visit, Ivan says, “’Smack said Maynard’s not here to see the sights . . . He’s seen both of them. Too late in the year for icebergs, and thank God for that. The Basilica, a.k.a. Small Potatoes Chapel. Once you’ve seen Signal Hill. And once is once too often for Cape Spear . . . So why is the Cardinal here? To say Mass. Bring out a big crowd. Cheer them up. Rub the Anglicans’ noses in it. . . . But local boy makes good only goes so far. Something must be off the rails. Enter Cardinal Cavalry.’”

The novel’s pace is slow at the beginning, but my interest was maintained by hints about past events. What happened that resulted in Vivvy’s hiding her face? Then there are strange behaviours which leave the reader questioning: Why did Freda bring Ivan home but refuse to adopt him or even have him baptized?

The book emphasizes the control that the wealthy and the Catholic Church had over society in Newfoundland. The wealth and status of the Holloway family has allowed them to hide shameful truths, and it is suggested that the Church does so as well. Knowing about the sexual abuse eventually uncovered at the Mount Cashel Boys’ Home, the references to the Christian Brothers left me feeling unsettled. Often the Holloways and the church work together for their own purposes; in neither case is their concern the welfare of the poor.

As a former English literature teacher, I really enjoyed the literary allusions; the writings of Oscar Wilde, Emily Dickinson, Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, and many others are mentioned. I love that my knowledge of vocabulary was challenged: I had to check on the definitions of words like enisled, chthonic, and borborygmi. And then there’s the wordplay. When Ivan has chicken pot pie for dinner, Vivvy jokes that if they went by their respective ages, she should have “’pterodactyl pot pie. Or why not a pteroanapest pot pie? Poor Anna. She’s the most ignored of all the pests. How about Budapest pot pie. Ivan is so Hungary.’”

This book is a mix of drama, mystery and comedy and a great read.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of THE LOST BOOK OF ELIZABETH BARTON by Jennifer N. Brown (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This historical fiction/suspense novel has a dual timeline.

One timeline is the mid-16th century. Elizabeth Barton is executed after issuing warnings, based on prophetic visions, that King Henry VIII would die if he had his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled and he married Anne Boleyn. The focus of her story is how men used Elizabeth, an illiterate servant, for their purposes; she was influenced to fabricate prophecies to save England from the rise of Lutheran reformers.

The other timeline is 2023. Alison Sage, an American medieval literature scholar, has uncovered a Barton manuscript; that discovery earns her an invitation to an exclusive academic retreat in England near the priory where Elizabeth once lived. Slowly it becomes clear that some of the attendees are less interested in academic discussion than in pursuing a secret agenda.

Elizabeth Barton was a historical figure. She became known as the Holy Maid of Kent after, beginning in 1525, she claimed to have vivid visions and to have received divine revelations that predicted events.  Her reputation spread and she even met Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas More, and Henry VIII. The novel suggests that she was manipulated by powerful men who saw her as a new weapon in their war against the Protestants. When her prophecies were less in keeping with the king’s interests, she was arrested and forced, by Thomas Cromwell, to confess that she had fabricated her revelations.

In the present, Alison is also manipulated by others. There are people at the conference who have a hidden agenda, which I find is spotlighted early on. These conference members want to use Alison’s knowledge of Elizabeth Barton to fulfill their goal.

I enjoyed the first two-thirds of the novel. Then there’s a murder which changes the focus of the book. It’s at this point that I started to lose interest. Certainly there are hints early on that all is not as it seems: people have furtive conversations or speak overly loudly, exchange surreptitious glances or stare too closely at Alison, and behave suspiciously. Some of these clues are rather too obvious, I think. At the end, I wondered whether the murder is necessary when a search based on the uncovered clues would provide sufficient suspense.

I had problems with the characterization of Alison. She is well-educated and so intelligent, but she is so slow to put together the pieces of the puzzle. A possible hiding place is so obvious about two-thirds through the novel when it is made obvious how a prioress would be addressed. She is also naive; from someone who would be expected to be capable of critical analysis, she seems too credulous. Things happen that clearly suggest ulterior intentions, yet she hesitates to question people’s motives. The entire Calista incident should certainly have raised more concerns for Alison. Given her age, she is not some starry-eyed young ingénue, so surely she should be questioning a man’s desire to rekindle their relationship.

Some of Elizabeth’s story is given in too much detail. It’s obvious from the beginning that everyone is using her, but the author feels it necessary to keep showing this manipulation. The prologue indicates what happens to her. It also hints at a predicament Alison will face, though suspense is lessened because the use of her as a first-person narrator means she will overcome.

This novel is entertaining though uneven in quality. Personally, it inspired me to do some more research into Elizabeth Barton.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of WHITE MOSS by Anna Nerkagi (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

This novel, written in Russian and first published 30 years ago, is now available in English.

I had never heard of the Nenets, Indigenous people living in Siberia in the Russian Arctic. This book focuses on these reindeer-herding nomads.

Alyoshka is 26 years old when he reluctantly agrees to be married, though he pines for Ilne who left the community years earlier for life in the city. He struggles between tradition and duty and his personal desires. Alyoshka’s mother worries about her son’s unwillingness to follow age-old customs which emphasize the importance of marriage and family. Petko, Ilne’s father, is grieving the loss of his wife and suffers loneliness since his daughter has abandoned him. An old man, he contemplates his role in the community during his remaining years and his death.

The time period is unclear but there are references to the Soviet Union so obviously it is set pre-1991. What is clear is that it is a period of transition in the lives of the Nenets. Their traditional lifestyle is facing opposition. For instance, the government removes children from their families and takes them to boarding schools where Indigenous languages and native culture are banned. Other Soviet-era interference is also mentioned in terms of the corrupting influences of money and alcohol. The Soviet administrators who are to assist the Nenets know nothing about them: “These strangers resembled heads sewn on foreign bodies with rotten threads, and sewn on the wrong way besides, back of the head pointing forward, eyes backward.”

This is a slow-paced, quiet, reflective novel. There is little action; the focus is on characters’ internal struggles. I appreciated that Alyoshka, Petko, and Alyoshka’s mother all achieve some insight and peace.

I enjoyed learning about the culture of the Nenets. Their lives are very much shaped by reindeer herding: “the reindeer was the root of the life of the Nenets, its soul” and “reindeer were not money but brothers in this life – untiring, sacred brothers in destiny and in grief.” They have a great respect for the land and its resources since “all living things share the same fate.” The men hunt for food but do not take more than necessary: “hunting is not murder and not a game of hide-and-seek with the beast and with one’s own conscience, but a struggle. An honest struggle of equals.”

The Nenets have a strong sense of community obligations. Alyoshka’s mother believes that the meaning of life is to live and to work honestly. Vanu, Petko’s friend, speaks of the laws of work and of kindness. The men bemoan the fact that children have forgotten “the law of their land: children feed fathers and mothers once they stand on their own feet” and have adopted “the foreign law: to take from the parent while he can still give.”

As so many societies, Nenets society is very patriarchal: “Only a man could be the master of the Great Life. For that, he was given strength and intelligence. And the woman was the mistress of the hearth . . . she had a duty to be near [the man].” I found it interesting that, other than Ilne who has abandoned life on the tundra, women are not named. Petko’s wife is only referred to as the Lamdo woman. Women hesitate to speak at gatherings; for instance, Alyoshka’s mother makes a request only “after the period of silence that befits a woman.” Women wait for the man to eat: “they would not touch the food, however hungry they were, until he ate the first bite.” On her wedding day, a bride sits “in the place where a Nenets woman sat only once in a lifetime. Beside the groom: not on the floor planks, where she would have her eternal place for all the days of her life.” To keep the tent warm, to look after her husband, is “the first commandment that a woman, a wife, a mother had to follow. This was her main job on earth.” There is an attempt to emphasize the importance of women, but, for me, it doesn’t lessen her secondary status and “the endless work of a woman.” Petko’s wife died so “Now there was no one to set the family tea table in the morning, no one to mend the boots, to start the fire. When a woman dies, she takes half of life with her . . . [and] takes away a part of your soul.” Unfortunately, what remains with me is a horrific scene where a woman is beaten with “a sturdy trace made of walrus hide,” described as “the age-old instrument of punishment.”

As befits the Nenets’ animistic worldview, the author uses lyrical prose replete with nature imagery. Metaphors and similes using trees, animals and birds abound: “His short, troubled sleep resembled the oblivion of a bird who had nested on an impregnable rock covered in a cold, murky fog” and “Khasawa looked like a ptarmigan plucked by a hawk” and “Their words, sharp like the calls of ravens who had spied a carcass, seemed like a violent argument” and “he felt that an empty space had formed near his heart or inside it, like in a bird’s nest when the last fledgling flies away, leaving only the down from its feathers.”

The author, born in the Polar Ural tundra, belongs to the Indigenous Nenets community. She was separated from her parents by the Soviet authorities and sent to a boarding school, but as a young woman she returned to the nomadic way of life. Obviously she is uniquely able to describe the lives and customs of her people and the challenges they face. White Moss reminds me of Stolen by Ann-Helén Laestadius (https://schatjesshelves.blogspot.com/2023/02/review-of-stolen-by-ann-helen.html) which is about the Sámi living in northern Sweden. I recommend both books to readers who enjoy learning about Indigenous cultures.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.

Review of GUILT by Keigo Higashino (New Release)

 3.5 Stars

I’ve read and enjoyed several of Higashino’s novels so I look forward to a new offering.

This one is set in 2017. Detective Godai of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department investigates the death of Kensuke Shiraishi, a lawyer. During the course of the investigation, Godai interviews Tatsuro Kuraki who has had limited contact with the victim but then confesses to his murder and to another one from 1984. In the latter case, another man was arrested and died in custody before the trial. With Tatsuro’s confession, the police consider the case closed, but neither his son Kazuma nor the victim’s daughter Mirei is convinced. Kazuma doubts his father is capable of murder and Mirei doubts the supposed motive. The two set out separately to determine the truth.

The pace in this 400-page novel is slow. Pieces of the puzzle slowly fall into place. There are times when there is needless repetition; for instance, characters often repeat information in conversations that the reader already knows. The plot is intricate so I appreciate the author’s not wanting to leave the reader in a state of confusion, but some of these exchanges could have been summarized.

At first, I found the slow pace frustrating and then I was amazed at how quickly the case is closed, only a quarter of the way through the novel. Thereafter, my interest lay in wondering why Tatsuro would lie and take responsibility for two murders, especially since the statute of limitations has expired for the murder from over 30 years in the past. I enjoyed when Kazuma and Mirei start to work together.

Higashino is known for complexity in his novels: convoluted plots, nuanced characters, and complex moral choices. In this novel, for instance, there are connections between two murders, and characters have conflicting motivations. The focus is on the psychological, multi-generational toll of crimes. One child worries about inheriting the blood of a killer from a parent. Tatsuro speaks of his overpowering sense of guilt, but there are many characters whose lives are shaped by guilt.

Another element of Higashino’s novels that I enjoy is the insights into Japanese culture. For instance, the ritual of exchanging business cards is highlighted. Of course, there’s also the food; Godai and an associate often met in cafes or restaurants and the food they order is mentioned. I also liked learning more about the Japanese judicial system, in particular the Victim Participation System.

I don’t consider this the best of Higashino’s novels, but I still recommend it, though with the caveat that readers must be fine with a slow pace.

Note: I received an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley.