Someone Else's Son

I enjoyed Someone Else's Son by Sam Hayes which involves the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy, Max, at his school. His girlfriend, Dayna, is there but cannot identify the killer. Max and Dayna are both from dysfunctional families though for very different reasons. Max's parents are divorced. His mother is a wealthy high profile TV personality who specialises in exposing people who have done the wrong thing or tries to find murderers. Now she is faced with the murder of her own son and goes into emotional meltdown as she becomes the "mother" whom she has interviewed many times in similar situations. Max's father is a blind mathematician who lives in an area far below his means, probably to irritate his ex-wife. Dayna lives on an "estate" with her mother, dole-bludging step-father and her little sister. The parents of these teenagers don't really know them at all. Max and Dayna are both bullied at school and find each other because they are both "different". At the time of the murder, they are studying "Romeo and Juliet" and this play is a strong theme for the story. The book jumps into different time zones for each chapter so we learn more background and well as advancing the present story. Good read. 4/5

The Year After

I enjoyed The Year After by Martin Davies, set in late 1919 - the year after the end of WWI. Returned from the War unscathed, Tom Allen had often been a guest before the War at the Stansbury's home, Hannesford Court whose owners were wealthy and had a number of children. A son, Harry Stansbury, was killed in the War and another son, Reggie, was terribly maimed. Tom Allen is intrigued when another guest mentions the sudden death of a German professor staying at the house shortly before the War began. So there is a mystery to be solved, a possible crime and it may involve the Stansburys. Tom narrates his chapters, so is the main character. The other character, Anne, also narrates her part in the story. There are two different fonts to distinguish the characters. Anne was a "companion" at the house before the War - in the background and she has no desire to return to the same position after her own War experiences. So there is romance and intrigue and a look at that time - what life was like. 4/5

Homecoming

This book Homecoming by Bernhard Schlink was interesting and a little hard to get in to at first. The main character, Peter, was born during the War and was told his father had died. His mother brought him up and and he also spent his holidays with his beloved paternal grandparents. They valued books and Peter became intrigued with the manuscript of a story of a soldier returning from the War. He had only part of it and couldn't find the ending, so eventually became obsessed with finding the author and the end of the story. He found it was based on the "ultimate" homecoming story The Odyssey - as are all "homecoming" stories (according to the book). He also has a romantic interest which is sometimes dysfunctional. Finally he learns the truth about his father and has a bizarre "confrontation" with him. A strange story. 31/2/5

The Second-last Woman in England

I enjoyed The Second-last Woman in England by Maggie Joel which is a fictional story. The author begins with the murder of Cecil Wallis by his wife Harriet in 1953. The author was inspired to create her main character, Harriet, based on the last woman to be hanged in England, Ruth Ellis. The story begins with the shocking murder on Coronation Day then the reader is taken back nine months before that day of the murder when Harriet receives an unexpected visitor, her brother Freddie, who has been away for a number of years. Another character in the story is the new nanny, Jean Corbett, who has a special reason for taking the position in the Wallis household. It's a good story revealing the society of that time. 41/2/5

One Day

I enjoyed One Day by David Nicholls which is a story of the relationship between Dexter and Emma spanning 20 years. From 15 July 1988 we learn about their friendship then each subsequent 15 July we learn where they are at in their lives - their careers, their love lives, marriages, friendships, family connections. Later in the book their lives take an "inevitable" turn and then things change. Well written, interesting way of looking at two people's lives. 4/5

December Book Club

We all had a lovely time at Liz's place for our final meeting for the year. She had the Christmas tree and decorations up and a delicious Christmas supper with lots of home made goodies. Everyone was there last night except for Robyn who wasn't well. Marilyn was back from overseas but as she plans to return there for some time, sadly she has temporarily resigned from our club. Penny, Ulla and Jenny are excitedly looking forward to grandchildren in the very near future, Penny for the first time. We had a terrific evening chatting about many things including Christmas plans. Liz bought a number of great books and we stocked up to ensure we have enough reading material to last till our next meeting in February.

Empire Day

I quite enjoyed Empire Day by Diane Armstrong which is set in Sydney in 1948 and examines the changes in society brought about by the European refugees. Empire Day is the symbol of Australia's loyalty to Britain with its "cracker night" celebration. There are other changes which are not easy for some to accept such as single women bringing up children, working women, threat of communism. The polio epidemic is also highlighted. At first the story seems full of "Aussie cliches" but some serious issues are addressed - crime in Sydney, how migrants adjusted (or not) and how they were treated. Was the migration process flawed allowing "undesirables" in to the country. It's a good story of a snapshot in time in Australia. 4/5

Crime Book Club Christmas Lunch

Our Crime Book Club enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant last week. It was the 1st December and we had abnormally cool weather with some rain, which was a welcome relief after the very hot November. Unfortunately, not all members could come but we enjoyed some good conversation, nice meal and a glass of wine. We have our list of books to read for 2012 and I look forward to getting started on the first one The Second Last Woman in England by Maggie Joel.

All That I Am

I very much enjoyed All That I Am by Anna Funder. This fine writer is the author of the non-fiction Stasiland and this is her first novel which is based on oral histories done with an elderly friend. The story is about real people and events and Funder builds her flesh on the bones of those facts. It is initially set in the early 21st century as an old woman, Ruth, looks back on her past in Nazi Germany. She tells about her cousin Dora and her passion for justice and equality in a country where there was none pre-World War II. In a different time period and voice we learn about playwright Ernst Toller, living in New York shortly before the War who is also looking back on his own relatively short life as he dictates his story to his secretary. It is a suspenseful story as we learn about the events that affected the characters and gain an understanding of the terror the anti-Nazis experienced. Also as many refugees moved to Britain we learn that the British refused to accept what the refugees were telling them about what was happening in Germany, likely because they feared another War and refused to believe it could happen again. This is so well written - highly recommended. 5/5

House Rules

I've read House Rules by Jodi Picoult which is a very large book (532 pages) when it didn't need to be. It is the story of 18 year old Jacob who has Asperger's Syndrome, has a very high IQ and is fixated on forensics. He is charged with the murder of Jess, his social skills tutor. The story is told with each chapter being narrated by one of the main characters - Jacob, his brother, his mother, his lawyer and the policeman, so we know what each character is thinking (they even get their own fonts). I found the story frustrating, unrealistic and too long. However, it was very interesting to learn about Asperger's as the author always does her research well. Eventually Jacob goes to trial and there is suspense as the reader awaits the jury's verdict. 31/2/5

Luther - The Calling

I quite enjoyed Luther - The Calling by Neil Cross which is a murder thriller set in London. DCI Luther is obsessed with his work to the exclusion of all else, including his wife. A particularly gruesome murder takes place and a baby is stolen. The murderer strikes again and a child is taken. Luther uses "unconventional" means to find the murderer and try to retrieve the child. The author as he says has "done this the wrong way round." He wrote the screenplay for the "Luther" TV series and this book is a "spinoff" of that work. A scary suspenseful story, which makes it a good thriller. 4/5

In the Company of Angels

I quite liked In the Company of Angels by Thomas E. Kennedy which is set in Copenhagen, Denmark about 10 years ago. It is basically a love triangle with some complex and not all likeable characters. Michela aged late 30s has a relationship with a younger man, Voss, who becomes obsessed with her. He actually becomes very irritating. She meets Nardo, a survivor of the Pinochet regime in Chile and then things really become "complicated." Nardo is trying to deal with his traumatic past with the help of a psychologist who tries to draw him out and make him relive that past. How does a psychologist deal with listening to such terrible tales? 4/5

The Auschwitz Violin

This fictional story The Auschwitz Violin by Maria Angels Anglada was beautiful and poignant. It is a small book, well structured and written. Daniel is a young Jewish man in Auschwitz, who has lost most of his family. Daily he deals with the horror around him. He used to make violins and when the camp's commander learns this, he requires him to make one for his collection. Daniel then learns that this task is the subject of a wager, his life for a crate of wine. He has a limited time to make the violin, but as he officially has no knowledge of the bet, he doesn't know how much time he has. This is a little gem of a book. 5/5

Act of Mercy

I enjoyed Act of Mercy by Peter Tremayne which was a "whodunnit" set in 7th Century Ireland. Sister Fidelma is on a sea pilgrimage to a shrine in Iberia to contemplate her commitment to the Church or whether the law is more important to her. She is an advocate of the law courts and tasked with solving legal issues and when her fellow pilgrims start getting murdered, she must use her skills to solve the murders. Her work is complicated by an encounter with a former lover and now pilgrim on board the vessel. It was a good crime story, but what I found even more interesting was the author's Historical Note before the story which explains the history of the Christian Church in Ireland and how progressive the Church and the legal system was in Ireland at that time. Without this information, the story might have been harder to understand. It is then unfortunate for Ireland that the Roman church and eventually the English eventually eroded the Irish independence. Perhaps if the reverse had occurred regarding the Church, we might have a better Christian church today. 31/2/5

November Book Club

We enjoyed our Book Club at Carmen's place last night. She bought some great new books for us to read and she gave us a delicious supper with beautiful crockery. The teapots are just gorgeous. It was great to see Marilyn who had been absent for the last couple of meetings. Vee was back from overseas visiting family and Ulla had enjoyed her husband's birthday party in Bali. Jenny was not able to come this time due to sudden work commitments. Kathy is helping her father with his house and Liz is helping her daughter's family interstate. So our numbers were again a little depleted. A couple of our ladies are looking forward to grandchildren in the near future, one for the first time. The circle of time. I look forward to reading the books I've selected.

The Paris Wife

I enjoyed The Paris Wife by Paula McLain which is a fictional story of Ernest Hemingway's first marriage to Hadley Richardson. The story is well-researched, and is narrated by Hadley. This gives an intimacy to what is a passionate love story with two strong characters. They meet in Chicago in 1920, marry, then move to Paris where Ernest believes he will be able to work better on his writing. They soon become involved with the "beautiful people" of that era who are also living in Paris. It is an exciting time. Ernest's work begins to attract attention and he makes a living from his writing. Things then become "complicated." Very well written as the reader becomes intimately involved in their lives. May have more appeal for women. 41/2/5

A Visit from the Goon Squad

I quite enjoyed this unusual story A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, which won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Difficult to describe what it is about. The story spans about 40 years when Bennie Salazar starts out in a band in the 1980s, then as life goes on he ends up as a music producer. There is a cast of many characters along the way who are somehow interconnected. Each chapter, the reader is not sure what this "sub-story" will be about, to whom it is connected and what time period it is. You need to concentrate to remember a connection with a character which may be some time back, how old is the character now, what is he or she doing. The story is not chronological, so you can be jumping back and forth, even into the future (which is most interesting). Weird, but worth sticking with. 4/5

Where Are You Now?

I enjoyed Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark. Mac MacKenzie disappeared 10 years ago but phones his mother every Mother's Day to tell her he's okay. His sister Carolyn decides to find out what happened to him and where he is now. Mac is then linked to the disappearance of a young woman and police are desperate to find her as they believe she is the latest in a series of women who have disappeared, probably murdered. The suspense builds as the reader tries to work out who the murderer is - he speaks to us in the first person but does not identify himself. A good yarn. 4/5

Jamrach's Menagerie

Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch was a fairly good read, though some of the content was a bit confronting. Set in mid to late 19th century, a young boy, Jaffy, living in the slums meets an escaped tiger in a London street (based on a true incident). He survives the experience and goes to work for the tiger's owner Jamrach in his menagerie where many exotic birds and animals are traded. Jaffy befriends another employee, an older boy, Tim and meets his sister Ishbel. Jaffy and Tim decide to join a ship on an expedition to capture a rare beast for a "collector". Their adventures and mishaps then form most of the story. 31/2/5

One Summer

I did not like One Summer by David Baldacci which is different from his usual thriller/crime genre. It tells a story of a dying man whose wife is suddenly killed in an accident leaving him and his three children. He has a "miraculous" recovery and takes his children to a seaside town where his beloved wife grew up so they can all make a new life together. As our book club ladies would say this is "peaches & cream" to excess with some predictable and some improbable scenarios. Most of it is so sickly "sweet". The author should stick to what he does best. 2/5

Hand Me Down World

This haunting tale Hand Me Down World by Lloyd Jones tells the story of a young African woman made pregnant by a visiting German, who then steals her new born baby boy and takes him home to Germany as his and his wife's baby. The baby's mother then undertakes a hazardous journey to Europe, experiencing unscrupulous people smugglers who leave their "clients" to drown while waiting for another boat to take them safely to shore - a boat that was never going to come. The mother finds her way to Berlin. The story is told in first person "testimonies" by the people she meets along the way - the reason for this is revealed later in the book. A poignant story. 4/5.

Dissolution

This fiction crime book Dissolution by C.J. Sansom was set in the time of King Henry VIII shortly after the death of Henry's wife Jane Seymour. There was a campaign to dissolve the Catholic monastries. Matthew Shardlake, a lawyer who supports the Reform is sent to an abbey to investigate the murder of a man sent there to oversee the surrender of the monastery. Shardlake takes a young companion, Mark. There are complications as others are murdered and Shardlake has to unravel the mysteries and at the same time fulfill his task to close down the monastery. These are very troubled times. It was a good story and interesting to learn more about the history that formed the background. 31/2/5

October Book Club

We had a lovely evening at Robyn's place last night. She'd bought a great selection of books and, look at her delicious supper! I especially enjoyed the date cake. Bev had just returned from visiting her Mum in Zimbabwe and Liz had returned from visiting her granddaughter, who had just turned one, and family. There were a few absences - Jenny was unwell (hope she is better soon), Marilyn was visiting her Mum, Ulla was in Bali celebrating her husband's birthday and Vee was in England visiting her parents. We had some lively discussions about life in general and the books we've read and I'm looking forward to getting in to the books I've picked. I'm off to Melbourne tomorrow for the National Oral History Conference and that will be a "travel adventure" for me.

Russian Winter

I very much enjoyed Russian Winter by Daphne Kalotay which is set in Stalinist Russia and the mid-2000s. Former Soviet ballerina Nina Revskaya defected in the early 1950s and now living in Boston decides to auction her extensive jewellery collection for charity. A lecturer of Russian origin, Grigori Solodin, has a mysterious connection with Revskaya. He has a piece of amber jewellery that appears to be from a set that Revskaya is auctioning. The story goes back and forth, within chapters, between the earlier time when Revskaya began her career and worked her way up in the Bolshoi Ballet, her love for her husband Victor and her friends Vera and Gersh. In the modern time she is a sad old woman thinking about her past and fears learning the truth about that past. The book is well-researched and brings the past to life, particularly the terror of that time and the wonderment of discovering that the West is not the evil empire the Soviets had been made to believe. 41/2/5

Please Look After Mother

This beautiful book Please Look After Mother by Kyung-Sook Shin was very moving. An elderly woman becomes separated from her husband at Seoul train station and then is missing. Her family desperately try to find her, putting up flyers and searching places she might be. The story is told in different perspectives firstly in the second person by her elder daughter, then her husband and son and then by the mother herself in the first person. The reader learns about her life through these characters and the sacrifices she made for her family. Those sacrifices were taken for granted at the time she made them. Her family always came first for her. Only now that she is missing does her family appreciate the woman she was and how she influenced their lives. Highly recommended 5/5.

The Girl Who Disappeared Twice

This crime novel The Girl Who Disappeared Twice by Andrea Kane was okay. A 5 year old girl is abducted and a private investigative team join with local police and FBI to try to find her. There is a connection to the disappearance 32 years ago of the girl's mother's sister when she was a similar age. The investigators race to find the reason for both abductions and whether or not they are really connected. It was a fairly good yarn, but didn't like the writing style and some of the characters were annoying. 3/5

A Reliable Wife

I enjoyed reading this "gothic" tale A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick. It is set in 1907 rural Wisconsin which has a long and bitter winter. Wealthy Ralph Truitt advertises for a wife to ease the 20 year loneliness since his first wife died. Catherine Land responds to the advertisement and arrives in the depths of winter. She is motivated by greed as she realises the extent of Truitt's wealth. They marry and Truitt asks her to travel to the city and bring back his "prodigal son". There are some twists to the story and the reader wonders what the outcome will be. Both Truitt and Catherine have murky pasts, but how will that affect them now? It is a story of love, greed, revenge and redemption. A haunting tale. The author says he was profoundly influenced by the 1973 book (recently republished) Wisconsin Death Trip. 41/2/5

Fractured

I very much enjoyed Fractured by Karin Slaughter. A wealthy mother returns home to find an horrific scene and a young man with a knife standing over a body. She fears for her own life and takes steps to save herself. The detective, Will Trent, arrives and reads the scene differently and realises that the woman's daughter has been kidnapped. Then follows an intriguing and suspenseful investigation into what really happened at the house and the search for the missing daughter. Trent is a great character - intense, somewhat introverted, inciteful, good at puzzling things out. He also has a secret that he is afraid of having exposed and that looks like happening the more he interacts with his new female work partner, Faith Mitchell. The reader is taken on a suspenseful ride as Trent and Mitchell try to solve the case. 41/2/5

The Wrong Mother

I've enjoyed The Wrong Mother by Sophie Hannah. It was published the year before as Point of No Return (why change the title?) and it was recently on ABC1 as a two part series called "Case Sensitive" (which was a bit different to the book). Geraldine Bretherick and her daughter Lucy are found dead in their home and it appears to be a murder suicide. Her husband Mark insists Geraldine was a loving mother and would not have done this crime. A young mother, Sally, sees Mark on the news and recognises that he is not the same Mark Bretherick whom she met at a conference a year earlier and with whom she had a brief affair. Sally anonymously passes this information to the police and then begins her own investigation, the consequences of which further complicates the police investigation. 4/5

September Book Club

We had another lovely evening of book club at Jenny's place last night. She had a delicious selections of treats for supper and she'd bought some good books for us. Marilyn is still overseas, but hopefully we'll see her next month and Bev is also overseas visiting her mother. Ulla told us about her wonderful holiday in Europe. Two of our ladies are soon to be grandmothers, one for the first time and the other for the fifth. We enjoyed good company and conversation and I look forward to reading the books I've selected.

Notorious Australian Women

This book Notorious Australian Women by Kay Saunders was very interesting. The book told the stories of 20 women either born overseas or in Australia and who achieved notoriety or fame in Australia and in some cases internationally. Some names will be familiar e.g. Eliza Fraser, Helena Rubinstein, Lola Montez and Tilly Devine. Whether familiar or not, after reading the stories of their interesting lives the reader comes to know them and appreciate their contribution to our history. Highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Australian history. 4/5

Miracle Cure

I enjoyed Miracle Cure by Harlan Coben which is a re-release of this book first published in 1991. Coben writes an Introduction explaining the re-release and how some aspects might be dated but despite being written in his early 20s, he's still proud of the book and made no changes. The story centres around an AIDS clinic where some patients and others involved with it are being murdered. Detective Bernstein investigates and there are many different aspects to the story and the investigation. The AIDS epidemic was still fairly new to the western world and the clinic, run by Dr Harvey Riker, is fighting for funds to find a cure. The clinic also has to fight the prejudice against the patients so the purpose of the murders appears to be to shut down the clinic. There are some twists along the way, but the final one is a big surprise. Also interesting to read a story which doesn't have mobile phones. 4/5

The Sixth Man

I've read The Sixth Man by David Baldacci which featured private investigators Sean King and Michelle Maxwell. An alleged serial killer, Edgar Roy, generates a lot of interest from the FBI and Sean and Michelle are helping Edgar's solicitor to clear him. The solicitor is then murdered and then the reader embarks on a wild ride as Sean and Michelle work out who killed him. The body count mounts and the mystery deepens. There is a lot of "security intelligence" involved as Edgar has an eidetic memory and the intelligence to interpret what he sees. The whole story was far-fetched, high body count and Sean and Michelle manage to escape a number of situations which would have seen anyone else added to the body count. Fast paced but improbable, but good twist at the end. 31/2/5

In The Mood

This story In The Mood by Laura Bloom is set during and immediately after World War II in Sydney, Australia. A young married woman's husband is fighting in New Guinea and she doesn't hear from him for many months and assumes he's dead. She has a brief affair with an American officer which has repercussions for her as both her husband and her lover survive the War. Catherine and her husband Robert must make major readjustments to their lives as it was with other returned soldiers and their families. However, Catherine must make some painful choices in her own readjustment. A good story, without being too sentimental. 4/5

The Ice Princess

I enjoyed The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg which is set in Sweden and opens with a particularly gruesome scene - woman, Alex, in a bath in winter, hence the title. Her childhood friend, Erica, is one of the first to find her and later "teams" up with the detective on the case, Patrik, to work out what happened to Alex. Is it suicide or murder? There is a connection to events in their school days which has some bearing on the situation. There are mysteries surrounding the events and the people involved - should the truth be told, or suppressed? Who would gain? Finally, the shocking truth is revealed. Good "murder" read. 4/5

The Life of an Unknown Man

This poignant story The Life of an Unknown Man by Andrei Makine was beautifully written. A writer, Shutov, lives in Paris after leaving the Soviet Union then feels the need to return to the "new" Russia at the time Putin was President. He finds a country he does not recognise. He stays at an apartment owned by a former girlfriend which is still being renovated and is now a sumptuous building. He watches the TV and is shocked at the vulgar materialism shown e.g. dogs eating caviar. He is in St Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) and goes out to see a carnival in the city which disturbs him. He returns to the apartment and his hostess's son asks him to watch over the last tenant of the converted building to ensure he is safe before being removed in the morning. The old man is Volsky who tells Shutov about his life, which included surviving the Siege of Leningrad, the War and Stalin's purges. His main story is of his love for one woman during all that time in which music sustained them. It is a beautiful story of love, survival and resilience amidst the horror they endured. Highly recommended. 5/5

The End of the Wasp Season

I very much enjoyed this disturbing murder thriller The End of the Wasp Season by Denise Mina. A young woman in Scotland is brutally murdered in her home by two teenage boys. Shortly after, a millionaire in London commits suicide. We soon learn that the two events are related, but not to what extent till later. DS Alex Morrow, pregnant with twins, investigates the murder and each chapter alternates between the investigation and the story of the family of the suicide, Lars Anderson. It is a disturbing look at a dysfunctional wealthy family and the effect that dysfunction has on the lives of those outside the family. DS Morrow gradually pieces together the elements involved in the murder before the reader learns the shocking conclusion. 4/5