Just Jennifer

The Innocent Sleep by Karen Perry (Henry Holt, February 2014)

Five years ago while he and his wife Robin were living in Tangiers, Harry left their three-year-old son Dillon asleep in bed alone for five minutes.  The unthinkable happened when an earthquake destroyed the building and presumably killing Dillon, though his body was never found.  Now Harry and Robin are living in Dublin, trying to rebuild their lives when Harry spots a boy whom he is certain is Dillon on the street being led by his hand by a strange woman.  Harry becomes obsessed with the idea that Dillon is still alive and tries to find the woman.  Robin is trying to move on with their lives and has just announced her pregnancy to Harry who says he is happy about it, though his actions say otherwise.  Has Harry really found Dillon? Or is it his grief and guilt that makes him think he has seen Dillon?  As Harry and Robin’s stories unfold, secrets they kept from each other emerge as the portrait of a marriage shifts from one of shared grief to one of lies and betrayals.  A suspenseful plot with several interesting twists, the ending may disappoint some readers.  Overall a successful collaboration by a husband wife team.

Just Jennifer

That Night by Chevy Stevens (Minotaur, June 2014)

A stand-alone by author Chevy Stevens that tells the story of Toni Murphy who has just finished serving time in prison for the murder of her sister, a murder she insists she is innocent of.  Toni's family has turned from her and as part of the condition of her release she is to have no contact with Ryan, the boyfriend who was also convicted in the murder.  As Toni tries to readjust to life outside of prison, Ryan continues to try and contact her as he tries to prove their innocence; the mean girls from high school are all grown up and aren't as mean as they seemed in high school, or are they? As Toni begins to learn things that may lead her to the truth about the night that changed everything she has to decide how much she is willing to risk in order to clear her name and wonders even then if she will be able to repair her relationship with her mother .  Tautly plotted with believable characters Stevens continues to be at the top of her game.

Just Jennifer

Precious Thing by Colette McBeth (Minotaur, March 2014)

Imagine going to cover a police press conference and finding the subject of the press conference, a missing woman, is your best friend from high school who you were to have had an evening out with two days earlier.  From the day shy, awkward Rachel walked in to school and took a seat next to Clara, the two have been inseparable best friends, the kind that is so intense that they were each other’s everything until something separated them for seven years.  Now Rachel is a confident television reporter and it is Clara's life that has not held together.  Shocked by her disappearance, Rachel begins to question their friendship and how well she knew Clara and what secrets Clara might have kept? As Rachel revisits their friendship as teenagers and as adults, a disturbing picture of their relationship is revealed, one that changes everything.  A tightly plotted narrative with an unreliable narrator makes this psychological thriller one not to miss.

Just Jennifer

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin (Algonquin, April 2014)

An enchanting story of the life of the New England Alice Island bookseller A.J. Fikry who, after the death of his young wife, becomes angry and reclusive, drinking himself into oblivion some evenings. The theft of the rarest book he owned brings police officer Lambiase into his life, the first of many people who will slowly change his life, giving him a chance to make a new start.  Publishing house representative Amelia makes it her quest to get A.J. to fall in love with a title on her company’s list, but succeeds in much more than that.  A gift left at the shop changes A.J. irrevocably, but also plays a role in changing the lives of those around him.  Beautifully told, the story has an allegorical feel as little by little, pieces of not only A.J.'s life, but those around him are slowly revealed, giving everyone in A.J.'s circle, a second chance at happiness, all the while reaffirming why we love to read and why we need each other.

Just Jennifer

A Circle of Wives by Alice LaPlante (Atlantic Monthly, March 2014)

Plastic surgeon Dr. John Taylor has built a practice, and his reputation, on helping disfigured children, eschewing traditional plastic surgery which would be more lucrative to his practice.  When he is found dead in his hotel room, Palo Alto detective Samantha Adams is assigned to the case, surprised as homicide is not her usual beat.  As she begins to investigate Dr. Taylor, she learns he was a bigamist, married to three separate women; she is shocked to learn that his status conscious first wife Deborah not only knew about the other two women, but orchestrated and scheduled Dr. Taylor’s life to accommodate his choices.  Each chapter is told from the point of view of one of the four women, Deborah, Samantha, MJ, his mother-earth wife, and Helen, his pediatric oncologist wife, and together they not only form a picture of his life, but slowly reveal who might have wanted him dead.  With different voices, and different images of what their life was like, each woman tells her story, deals with the death of her husband and the betrayal she feels.  Samantha, in her own way, lets Taylor’s legacy seep into her helping her make some choices, and face some truths, in her own life that she may have been trying to avoid.  

Just Jennifer

Deep Winter by Samuel W. Gailey  (Blue Rider Press, February, 2014)

When Danny, a simple-minded resident of rural Wyalusing, Pennsylvania finds the body of Mindy, the one woman who has been his friend his entire life, he becomes the main suspect in her murder and sets off a manhunt that has irrevocable implications for the small town.  The town turning on the kindhearted Danny is reflected in a cold, harsh winter night.  An evil has been festering in the town for many years and will all come out on this one night.  It is hard to see the people of Wyalusing turn on Danny, and maybe even a little unbelievable, as they shrug their shoulders and say “it was bound to happen”.  More tragedy and death occurs as it becomes obvious there is only one way to stop what has held the town in its grips for so many years.  Effective plotting, the manhunt occurs over the course of one night, keeps the tension high and propels the narrative forward.  

Just Jennifer

Bone Dust White by Karin Salvalaggio (Minotaur, Mary 2014) 

One night just before her eighteenth birthday, Grace thinks she hears someone calling her name and looks out the back window of her house just as a woman is stabbed in the backyard.  Grace goes to the woman and realizes it is the mother Leanne who left her when she was a young child.  Detective Macy Greeley has been searching for Leanne for the past eleven years and wants to know what brought her back to Montana after all these years.   But Grace and Macy aren’t the only ones searching for answers to secrets Leanne held; more attacks on those closest to Grace, including a possible attempt on Grace while she is in the hospital, ratchet up the urgency to the investigation…as does the fact that Macy is seven months pregnant, unsure about how to deal with the father of her child and facing her boyfriend from what seems like another life.  As Grace and Macy each search for answers to their questions, a horrifying picture is brought in to focus.  The solution isn't entirely unexpected, but the setting and the characters are real.

Just Jennifer

The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh (Spiegel and Grau, March 2014)

The Dane family has been keeping secrets in the Ozark town of Henbane for years.  When an outsider steals the heart of one of the Dane brothers, the secrets threaten to unravel; what sacrifices will a mother make to save her daughter Lucy from the same fate? When sixteen-year-old Lucy's friend is found murdered after being missing for a year, Lucy begins to ask questions, questions that only lead to more questions, the answers to which may destroy Lucy's family and change everything she thought she knew.  Atmospheric and visceral, the story is vividly and effectively told from Lucy's point of view in the present day and her mother's when she arrived in Henbane two decades ago.  This first novel is written with the assurance of a more experienced writer and will draw the reader in and not let go until long after the last page has been turned.

Just Jennifer

Providence Rag by Bruce DeSilva (Tor, March 2014)

What would you do if you knew a man was being held in prison based on crimes allegedly committed while he was behind bars---crimes you know were trumped up to keep a vicious killer in prison.  Not even old enough to have a driver’s license, a teenager slaughtered five of his neighbors and was caught before he murdered more that would have made him a true serial killer.  Because of an antiquated Rhode Island law, this boy, who has grown into a man while in prison, must be released when he turns twenty-one, unless, as it happened, the prisoner commits other crimes while in jail.  Newspaper reporter Mulligan has been covering the story since the beginning, but now his co-worker, and the son of the owner of the paper, Mason, is uncomfortable with the framing of a man---even if the man will surely kill again once he gets out of jail.  More than a well-plotted, fast-paced---though very graphic---mystery, Providence Rag is the story of the collapse of a print newspaper and an ethical dilemma that reaches all the way to the governor.  Well-developed characters populate the book.  A slight slowing down of the pace near the middle makes the plot drag a little, but just as fast it picks up again and races toward an uneasy conclusion.

Just Jennifer

The Girl with a Clock for a Heart by Peter Swanson (William Morrow, February 2014)

When George was a freshman in college, he had an intense affair with a classmate who killed herself over winter break.  Or did she?  George has spent the past twenty years thinking he has seen Liana Decter and when he finally does see her in a Boston bar she pulls him into a drama only George doesn’t realize he is only there to play a small part, to set things in motion and instead, he becomes so involved he will be lucky to extricate himself alive.  Liana can mesmerize and bewitch men, but there is one thing that must be kept in mind when dealing with her---Liana only looks out for Liana---and she is wanted for two murders.  Fast-paced and obsessive, Peter Swanson’s debut grabs you at once and doesn’t let go; even when you realize nothing is as it appears, it is still almost impossible to guess that Liana’s next move is.  Seductively addictive from the first page to the last.

Just Jennifer

The Taste of Apple Seeds by Katharina Hagena (William Morrow, February 2014)

Translated from German The Taste of Apple Seeds tells the story of Iris who has inherited her grandmother’s country house, but along with it, all her family’s  memories and secrets, some painful enough to destroy lives that have been rebuilt over the past decade.  Iris is unsure whether she should keep the house or sell it and decides to stay in it for a week to put things in order and make her decision.  Bertha’s cottage has always had an enchanted quality to it, even after the death of Iris’s cousin Rosemarie: red currents since always grow white, but make the sweetest tasting pink tinged jelly; apple blossoms bloom off-season when true lovers stand beneath a tree and sparks fly from Iris’s aunt whenever she makes human contact.  As Iris revisits her family and their memories, she must make a choice whether she wants to inherit her family’s memories and pains and be the keeper of them or take a chance on giving up her past---and possible future---and return to the life she has crafted for herself.  A fairy tale quality to the narrative will endear Iris to readers and sparks a magical atmosphere.

Just Jennifer

Ruby by Cynthia Bond (Hogarth, April 29, 2014)

Ruby is “the kind of pretty it hurts to look at” and Ephram has been in love with Ruby since they were children in East Texas.  Over thirty years later, Ruby has returned from New York City, even more damaged then when she left, the town shunning her, Ephram determined to save and redeem his Ruby.  With writing that is of another time, each character has a distinctive voice: Ruby is so haunting, Ephram’s sister Celia overbearing and authoritative, and Ephram, a dream-like quality, never forgetting Ruby in all his years.  The dusty East Texas setting from Celia’s spotless kitchen to the alley outside the grocery where men gather to trade gossip and bootleg whiskey adds to the overall atmosphere.  The structure of the narrative is very effective as the scenes seamlessly shift between the past and present, slowly revealing a full picture of Ruby and what she endured during her life.  Each detail from the old lady’s shack in the woods to when and how water is used to the black crows is significant and perfectly placed.  Beautiful and hauntingly horrifying as Epharam takes on an entire town to save the woman with whom he fell in love as a child and still loves as a man.