Category Archives: Fiction

Review: The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag, by Alan Bradley

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The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag, by Alan Bradley (2010, Doubleday Canada)

The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag is the second mystery from Alan Bradley featuring 11-year-old Flavia de Luce. The series is set in 1950 in rural England.

Flavia, her sisters and their father live in a huge old house, where she spends her happiest times in the lab of a mad (now dead) chemist.

The mystery surrounds a murder that doesn’t happen until part-way through the book. I knew it was coming, having read some promotional material. Getting to know the soon-to-be victim was an odd sensation.

A secondary plot thread involves the death of a local boy some years earlier, and Flavia is determined to get to the bottom of that too.

The world through Flavia’s eyes is an interesting place. She observes, rarely judging, and leaves readers to draw their own conclusions.

Although she’s a child, this is a novel for adults. Since I usually review books for the Christian market, I’ll add that it’s a general market book containing some mild profanity.

Flavia is one of those enjoyable fictional characters you probably wouldn’t want to live with. She has a dry sense of humour and a vocabulary that includes words like pustulent, pristine and diminutive, along with a variety of chemical terms.

When she successfully ducks an assignment from her father, he laments that she’s unreliable. Her comment as narrator: “Of course I was! It was one of the things I loved most about myself. Eleven-year-olds are supposed to be unreliable.” (p. 86)

Another character calls her terrifying, and Flavia tells us with all modesty, “It was true—and there was no use denying it.” (p. 90)

I suspect Inspector Hewitt of the local constabulary would describe her as terrifying too—but she does have his grudging respect.

The Weed that Strings the Hangman’s Bag is a sadder story to me than the first novel in the series, but it’s still a very good read with plenty that made me smile. You don’t have to read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie first, but don’t miss it!

Alan Bradley is a Canadian author now living in Malta. You can find him online at the Flavia de Luce website, and Flavia de Luce has her own online fan club.

You might also be interested in this interview with Alan Bradley in the Ottawa Sun,  or this article by Andrea Baillie of the Canadian Press.

The next book in the series is A Red Herring Without Mustard, releasing in 2011.  I’m looking forward to it.

Here’s a video trailer for The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, to introduce you to Flavia. The voice is perfect. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVkxr7e9YGs]

Review copy purchased from Kobo Books and enjoyed on my Aluratek Libre e-reader.

Review: The Real Enemy, by Kathy Herman

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The Real Enemy, by Kathy Herman (David C. Cook, 2009)

As the first female chief of police in the town of Sophie Trace, Brill Jessup expects to have to prove her worth. She doesn’t expect citizens to start disappearing before the paint is dry on her office walls. Now she’s dealing with a territorial sheriff , the FBI, and a panicky town council… not to mention the local superstitions.

It does keep her from having to spend much time with her husband, Kurt, but she knows it’s hard on their daughter, Emily.

Brill is understandably angry over her husband’s one night of infidelity. They’ve agreed to stay together for Emily, but Brill has no interest in rebuilding the marriage.

The novel opens with Brill on the defensive at work and bitter towards her husband—not a sympathetic heroine. She’s very good at her job (the nickname “Brill” is short for “brilliant”) but I found the strength of her anger kept me from really connecting. Kurt is almost too nice, on the other hand. His goal is to overcome the evil he’s caused with good. (The novel’s theme verse is Romans 12:21.)

Nine-year-old Emily (the older kids are away at university) is serious and well-spoken for her age, but there are children like that—and I think her parents’ struggle has matured her beyond her years.

I always enjoy Kathy Herman’s novels, for the suspense and for the relationships. She draws believable characters, and it was partly on the strength of this knowledge that I was comfortable sticking with Brill through the opening pages. I’m glad I did, because I really enjoyed the novel.

The Real Enemy is the first in Kathy Herman’s new Sophie Trace series, and I’m looking forward to reading book 2, The Last Word, and book 3, The Right Call. You can read the prologue and first chapter of The Real Enemy here, and learn more about Kathy here.

Review copy from my personal library.

Review: Unlocked, a novel by Cynthia d’Entremont

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Unlocked, by Cynthia d’Entremont (Word Alive Press, 2010)

“What if you lived in a world where killing was a rite of passage?”

Jaron, Devora and Benjamin have survived in Leviathon’s crowded Garbage Heaps for ten years, longing for the day they could leave. But the world outside the cinderblock wall is more dangerous than they know.

Abandoned in the Heaps as five-years, by the time they leave at 15 their innocence and hope are gone. Jaron still clings to memory fragments and his one possession: a key he must keep hidden.

Unlocked follows Jaron and Devora in their separate experiences outside the wall. Leviathon’s secrets run deeper and darker than its citizens know, and what the two teens discover puts them in mortal danger.

This is action-fantasy, as opposed to a slower-paced and longer epic fantasy. It’s a fast read, dark but not overwhelming. I appreciated the author’s light touch with heavy issues; readers know what happens, but the graphic parts occur “off-screen.”

It’s a novel that will appeal to adults as well as to the age 15+ readers at which it’s aimed. There’s Christian allegory for those who want to find it, but the faith element is subtle enough to make the book suitable for Christians and those of other or no faith.

The characters are believable: wounded by their environment but courageous enough to fight for what’s right. The setting, while not our own, has a city and countryside we can relate to. And the societal issues, while overtly different, include some that are very familiar: homelessness, violence and injustice.

Since I finished the novel I’ve been puzzling over the how and why of Devora’s encounter with her enemy. I think I have the “how” settled, and I have some ideas about the “why” but I’m still curious. To say more would be to spoil a key plot point, but it’s something I hope will be explained in the sequel.

Unlocked is the 2009 Word Alive free publishing contest winner in the fiction category and is now available online or through your local bookseller. You can learn more about the novel and about Canadian author Cynthia d’Entremont at her website.

Note: Cynthia is a personal friend. While that predisposed me to see the good things in the novel, it doesn’t account for how strongly the story and characters drew me in or how long I thought about them afterward. I’m now in danger of putting our friendship at risk by repeatedly asking how the sequel is coming along.

[Book source: I bought my own copy of Unlocked at the novel’s launch party.]

Review: Muninn’s Keep, by Brian C. Austin

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Muninn’s Keep, by Brian C. Austin (Word Alive Press, 2010)

“A fabled ring,

Growing conflict,

Ancient prophecies,

Ruthless enemies bent

on destruction;

All challenge Theodoric

to the utmost.”

Theodoric doesn’t know who he is, how he came to be a thræl (slave), or what he did to earn the brand of “thief” and the name “horse-killer”. Muninn’s Keep is the story of his fight for survival and identity.

Canadian author Brian C. Austin has crafted a richly-detailed historical novel set in Britain, just north of Hadrian’s Wall, late in the 9th century. The landscape and culture come alive as we read of legends, battles and pagan rituals.

Theodoric is an appealing narrator, with an innocence and a strong sense of justice—and an unbroken spirit that earns his master’s wrath. Mystery surrounds him, in his shattered memory and in the scraps of prophecy that may refer to him.

Central to the story is the finding and re-establishing an abandoned fortress, Muninn’s Keep—and the finding of the ancient Ring of Thorvæld.

Connected with the Keep is a grove formerly used to offer blood sacrifices to the pagan god, Woden. Theodoric longs for a god worthy of worship, one who doesn’t need human tricks to gain followers.

Stories of one they call Christus, and a parchment of the prophet Isaiah, give direction to his search despite the character of the one servant of the Christus he meets.

Muninn’s Keep reveals a harsh world where battles and suffering are part of daily life, but where a few courageous and true characters can make a difference in the lives of those around them. Fans of historical fiction from this era, be they adult or teen, Christian or non, will find this a good read.

I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, and for me it had that epic, sweeping feel I find mostly in fantasy novels. After such a realistic visit to the past, I’m extra thankful to be living in the relative safety of the present.

Muninn’s Keep is Brian Austin’s first novel, and I hope there’s a sequel in the works. You can read the first three chapters of Muninn’s Keep here. The book is written at an adult reading level, and is suitable for Christians and non-Christians alike.

Brian is also the author of the poetry collections Laughter and Tears, Let Heaven Weep, and I, Barabbas.

You can learn more about Brian and his various projects at his website, Undiscovered Treasures.

[Electronic review copy provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.]

Review: Too Close to Home, by Lynette Eason

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Too Close to Home, by Lynette Eason (Revell, April 2010)

Connor Wolfe is the lead detective on a team dedicated to solving—and stopping—a string of abductions. Each victim is a teen girl, and so far three of them have turned up dead. Connor has a personal stake in this case as well: his 16-year-old daughter, Jenna, fits the victims’ age range.

FBI Special Agent Samantha Cash is the forensic computer genius who may be their only hope to crack this case. When she finds evidence that the girls have been lured by an online predator, the killer starts a war of intimidation.

As if things weren’t complicated enough, Connor and Samantha each have family concerns pulling at them. And they can’t stop thinking about one another, despite Samantha’s vow to never date a cop. (Connor is a widower.)

I appreciate the main characters’ depth, and the honest way they wrestle with their faith in relation to the tragedies in their pasts and present. The novel has a good balance between characters and plot, and both deliver the reader to a satisfying ending.

Lynette Eason pulls off a taut romantic suspense novel that’s on the intense end of the suspense scale. I didn’t find it scary, but there were times I needed to put it down and catch my breath. It never stayed down for long.

I would have liked to see a bit more resolution to the fallout from the crimes. Rather than spoil the plot, I’ll just say not all parties were accounted for at the end. But that’s a curiosity issue more than anything else.

The novel’s epilogue sets up the next story and plants a serious worry in the reader’s mind. A worry we’ll have to wait until October 2010 to satisfy, when book 2 in the “Women of Justice” series comes out.

Too Close to Home is a well-crafted novel, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Dee Henderson gave it a positive endorsement, and her own best-selling romantic suspense novels prove she knows a thing or two about the genre.

Too Close to Home is Lynette Eason’s eighth novel. You can read an excerpt here or if you’ve already read the novel, check out the discussion questions here.  You can learn more about Lynette at her website, and she’s promised to stop by this blog for an interview some Friday soon.

Note: Review copy provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. in exchange for an honest review. Too Close to Home is available now at your local Christian retailer.

Review: She’s in a Better Place, by Angela Hunt

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She’s in a Better Place, by Angela Hunt (Tyndale House Publishers, 2009)

“One of the surest ways to know you’re ready to be a full-time funeral director is when you start talking to clients.” (p. 2)

So says Gerald Huffman, Jennifer Graham’s gentle mentor, when he catches her reassuring the corpse she’s working on.

Jen is a single mom with two school-aged sons and an unusual occupation: she owns a funeral home. She also shares her mother’s tendency to interfere—er, “help”—if relationships need mending, and so when Gerald becomes ill, Jen contacts his estranged daughter, Kirsten. Contact is one thing, but reconciliation proves to be another.

I like Jen, and one reason is her humanity. She’s a good mother and friend, who doesn’t always get it right. This lesson about trusting God to work things out is one she’s faced before. she may face it again, but she’s learning. Sound like anyone you know?

She’s in a Better Place is written in the present tense, which I find jarring. It’s by turns funny, sad and thoughtful, and it’s a good read. Don’t start here, though, if you haven’t read the previous books in the series.

You’d have no trouble picking up the ongoing story of Jennifer and her family, but where each novel builds on the previous, starting with book 3 would ruin the surprises in the first two. If you can, take time to begin with Doesn’t She Look Natural and then She Always Wore Red.

She’s in a Better Place brings the series to a satisfying conclusion, but there’s definitely room for another story. I hope we get one!

Best-selling, Christy-award winning author Angela Hunt has written over 100 books and is a favourite of many readers. You can learn more about Angela on her website, and she has a readers’ page on Facebook.

Review: Storm Warning, by Linda Hall

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Storm Warning, by Linda Hall (Steeple Hill, 2010)

Nori Edwards doesn’t feel at home anywhere since her husband’s tragic death. In search of a fresh start, she buys a tourist property on scenic Whisper Lake, Maine. She plans to fix up Trail’s End before her teen daughters return from their volunteer stints at summer camp. She and the girls will live in the main building, an old hunting lodge, and rent out the cabins.

Finding workers is only her first problem. Except for the attractive Steve, the local workforce wants nothing to do with Trail’s End. Rumour is, the place is haunted—by the ghost of its original owner, and perhaps by a crazy killer lurking in the woods.

Strange events multiply until Nori begins to think there really is a ghost. Or is it someone very much alive?

Steve Baylor hopes helping with Nori’s renovations will let him find traces of the two teens who vanished there two summers ago. The fact that the new owner is attractive is a nice plus, but Steve has secrets of his own and needs to keep his distance.

As always, Linda Hall’s characters are realistic and their struggles resonate with our own. Both Nori and Steve carry hurts that still need healing and that make it hard to trust and love again. Steve is learning to depend on God, and Nori needs to re-learn the same thing.

Nori is a muralist, another of the interesting careers Linda investigates for her heroines. We don’t learn a lot about it in this book, but it adds to the story’s appeal.

Award-winning Canadian author Linda Hall can be counted on to deliver a good read with strong characters. Storm Warning is her 16th novel, and I think I’ve only missed reading one. Her next novel in the Whisper Lake series, On Thin Ice, releases in April 2010. You can find Linda online at her website and at the Craftie Ladies of Suspense blog.

Review copy purchased by reviewer (from Chapters.ca).

Review: Beguiled, by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand

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Beguiled, by Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand (Bethany House, 2010)

Rylee Monroe is a dog-walker and pet-sitter for the elite in Charleston, South Carolina. Unfortunately she’s also a key suspect in a rash of thefts by the “Robin Hood burglar,” since most of the victims happen to be her clients.

Journalist Logan Woods wants an inside scoop on the burglar for his paper, but it’s even more important for the book he’s writing on local criminals.

The two meet when one of Rylee’s charges mistakes Logan for an attacker and chases him. Despite first impressions, the two team up to catch the thief, since the police don’t seem to be making much headway. But faced with a growing attraction, can Rylee and Logan trust the other’s motives?

The authors deliver a page-turning mystery that’s not too scary to read before bed. The one problem might be putting it down to get your sleep. I’m unfamiliar with Charleston, but they claim to have reproduced the South of Broad neighbourhood with only very few touches of artistic license.

Rylee, Logan and their friends are sympathetic characters that I was rooting for from the beginning. The opposition is strong as well, and interesting.

I chose this book because of the back-cover blurb, before seeing the cover art. Based on sight and title, I’d have passed it up as a straight romance and missed a good read. (Not that romances aren’t good reads! I just like something extra thrown in.)

Deeanne Gist and J. Mark Bertrand are each novelists in their own right. Deeanne’s most recent historical romance is A Bride in the Bargain, and Mark’s first crime novel, Back on Murder, releases July 2010. Beguiled is their first collaboration, and I hope they’ll do more.

Beguiled is available now at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group. For reviews, audio and video interviews and all kinds of reader tidbits, visit the Beguiled page at Bethany House.  You can read an excerpt here, or if you’ve already read it you may want to check out the discussion questions here.

Review copy provided by Graf-Martin Communications Inc.

Review: Swinging on a Star, by Janice Thompson

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Swinging on a Star, by Janice Thompson (Revell, 2010)

One of the rules of fiction is “craft a strong opening,” and Janice Thompson nails it in Swinging on a Star:

“If Aunt Rosa hadn’t landed that gig on the Food Network, I probably wouldn’t have ended up on the national news. And if their pesky camera crew hadn’t shown up at our house on one of the most important days of my life, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been hauled off to the Galveston County jail. Unlike my brother Armando, I’d never aspired to get arrested or have my face plastered across the television screen on the evening news.”

I couldn’t stop there!

Bella Rossi manages a wedding facility on Galveston Island, Texas, and her current project is a medieval event complete with castle and costumes. As if that weren’t enough, there’s a TV crew coming to film her aunt’s famous cooking, and the handsome movie star staying at the house until the wedding has her cowboy boyfriend, D.J., on high alert.

Bella lives with her large and boisterous Italian family, and just meeting them made this introvert want to go take a rest. The Rossis are a wealthy family, and Bella’s mother and sister are highly conscious of fashion and makeup.

I didn’t connect immediately. They’re all real, though, and genuinely nice people who are worth getting to know. Add in D.J.’s family and larger-than-life friends, and you have a cast worth spending a novel with.

I don’t read a lot of romantic comedy or chick lit, and it took some time to adjust: no danger, no bodies, mysteries or aliens. By page 43 I was laughing out loud and thinking maybe I usually read the wrong kinds of books.

The book cover is attractive, but not entirely accurate. Bella loves to wear boots—even when maybe she shouldn’t. On the cover she’s wearing shoes and holding what looks suspiciously like a bag of popcorn. Growing up an a household that thrives on made-from-scratch Italian cuisine, would she even have tasted popcorn?

Swinging on a Star is the second title in the Weddings by Bella series. (Book one was Fools Rush In… notice a musical theme?) It’s refreshing, funny, and still gives that sense of hope that readers want in Christian fiction. American author Janice Thompson has published over 50 books and is still going strong. You can find her online at her website.

Read an excerpt of Swinging on a Star here.  Or if you’ve already read the novel, find discussion questions here.

Swinging on a Star is available now at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Review copy provided by Graf-Martin Communications Inc.

Review: Tooth for Tooth, a novel by Kimberley J. Payne

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Tooth for Tooth, a novel by Kimberley J. Payne

Heather Williams is doing okay with the single-motherhood thing, she’s happy in her job, and her attractive boss is a bonus. Life is good—until she discovers her estranged husband has been sexually abusing their young daughter.

Sick with horror, she does her best to get help for Caitlin (Caity-Cat) and to keep her safe. Of course Caitlin’s father denies the truth and wants her weekend visits to continue.

Heather navigates a maze of community service, medical and legal systems, and although she doesn’t always like their methods, she does find some compassionate people who can help. At the same time, she’s dealing with both guilt (Catilin had tried to tell her a few years earlier) and anger at the man who could do this to anyone, let alone his own child.

Supportive family and friends, including her charming boss, keep her sane, and she’s surprised to find even more strength through a local Bible study.

This is a novel I hesitated to read because of the subject matter, but although what happened to Caitlin and her mom is troubling, author Kimberley Payne doesn’t go into traumatic details of the abuse.

The story gave me more insight and understanding into a situation nobody should ever experience but far too many do. It also reaffirmed what I’d sensed from a few people who’ve expressed similar—or worse—experiences: as traumatic as it is, there is hope for healing.

Kimberley Payne deals frankly with questions such as “Why, God? Where were You?” and with issues of anger, guilt and forgiveness.

Her strength is in non-fiction, and there are writing elements of Tooth for Tooth that could be stronger, but she has a keen sense of detail and an eye for descriptions. She also makes Heather’s and Caitlin’s struggle come alive. When I was away from the story for a day, I kept wondering how they were.

The subject matter is dark, but Tooth for Tooth offers insight and hope. The author’s deft use of humour keeps the tone balanced, and this short novel is a good—and fairly quick—read.

Canadian author Kimberley Payne is better known for her “Fit for Faith” books and workshops. Tooth for Tooth is her first work of fiction. It’s available to read (for free!) online at the Tooth for Tooth blog. Those who prefer hard copy can order Tooth for Tooth through Lulu.com.

For more about the author, visit her website, Within Reach.

Electronic review copy provided by the author.