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What do four girlfriends pushing 40, a collection of foregone dreams and need—that desire for something extraordinary and rejuvenating—become? The precursor for the horrors that unveil themselves in Erica Ferencik’s latest novel, The River at Night.

Wini, Sandra, Rachel and Pia are the type of friends that remain close in spite of physical distance and ever-changing lives. Each year, the three take a vacation together. Adventurous Pia has finally convinced her three mates to face a new challenge: rafting the Winnegosset River. The foursome head into the Maine wilderness accompanied by a 20-something guide, Rory. Tension builds as some start to question Rory’s competency, and intensifies when Pia impulsively begins an intimate relationship with Rory.

Despite the emotional chasm, cooperation is required in order to navigate the dangers of the river. Each bend and rush successfully maneuvered builds confidence. But when unexpected tragedy strikes, the remaining group must struggle to survive in the remote woods of Maine—injured and with limited supplies. Roaming for help, the group discovers potential salvation . . . but have they actually just revealed themselves to the most dangerous predator yet?

Ferencik, no stranger to creating an effective blend of dread and horror (showcased in her novel Repeaters), continually surprises with as many plot twists and turns as the titular river itself. Following the influence that the various characters’ strengths, flaws, insecurities and determination have on the ultimate resolution is a captivating experience. This is a novel that will burrow in your memory well after its conclusion.

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook

What do four girlfriends pushing 40, a collection of foregone dreams and need—that desire for something extraordinary and rejuvenating—become? The precursor for the horrors that unveil themselves in Erica Ferencik’s latest novel, The River at Night.

Fiction, Mystery & Suspense, Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Suspense

Fever Dream

Review by Cat Acree

by Cat Acree

Argentinian author Samanta Schweblin’s English-language debut, Fever Dream, snares readers. It’s a page-turner of mounting dread, unfolding entirely through a conversation between a bedridden young woman and the boy who whispers in her ear.

Amanda lies dying in a hospital clinic in rural Argentina. Sitting next to her is David, a boy who asks her—urges her—to remember the events of whatever trauma rendered her terminally ill. At his behest, Amanda recalls meeting David’s mother, a nervous and elegant woman named Carla. Carla tells Amanda a strange story about a very young David, who drinks the same toxic water that kills Carla’s husband’s prized stallion. To spare her son’s life, Carla calls upon a local woman with medicinal and magical abilities. By splitting David’s soul with another child’s, she saves the boy.

But this is only the beginning. Why is Amanda in the hospital? And what has happened to Amanda’s own daughter, Nina? Time and again, Amanda references the “rescue distance,” the variable space between her and Nina, the distance between a mother and any worst-case scenario that may imperil her child. “I spend half the day calculating it,” Amanda says. As she recalls more and more details, Amanda begins to tell the story her own way, trying to make sense of what matters in these events and what does not—and decide which threats are inevitable or imagined.

With the urgency, attention to detail and threat of an abrupt ending that define short stories, the novel builds unease seamlessly through exceptionally well-paced dialogue. The sparseness of Schweblin’s prose, translated by Megan McDowell, anchors this strange conversation and keeps it from becoming disorienting.

Minimalist yet complex, monochromatic yet textured, Fever Dream is a delicate and marvelously constructed tale, like a bundle of our darkest worries artfully arranged into our own likeness.

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook

A mind-bending Argentinian suspense novel.

Fiction, Mystery & Suspense, Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Suspense

The Girl in Green

Review by Stephenie Harrison

by Stephenie Harrison

BookPage Fiction Top Pick, January 2017

While much of the world watched the Gulf War play out from the safety of their homes, Derek B. Miller found himself smack-dab in the middle of the action as an American university student studying abroad in Israel in the early 1990s. Now, with The Girl in Green, the award-winning writer (Norwegian by Night) returns to the conflict in Iraq in a darkly comic thriller that lays bare the absurdities of war.

It’s 1991, and the Gulf War has officially ended, but Arwood Hobbes, an American solider, is stationed at a sleepy outpost 100 miles from the Kuwaiti border. He is approached by Thomas Benton, a British journalist keen to visit an off-limits town; reckless from boredom, Hobbes allows Benton to pass. The off-base excursion, however, ends in tragedy when both he and Hobbes are forced to watch the cold-blooded killing of a young girl dressed in green.

Flash-forward to 2013: In the midst of a different war taking place in Iraq, Benton receives a call from Hobbes. A girl with an uncanny resemblance to the teenager they watched die 22 years earlier has shown up in a viral video of a mortar attack, and Hobbes thinks she has survived. As impossible and ill-fated as this mission seems, neither man can pass up a second chance to atone for a failure that has haunted them for decades.

A modern masterpiece, The Girl in Green taps into the same satirical vein as Joseph Heller’s war classic, Catch-22, as the two mismatched protagonists set out on a quixotic quest for redemption. Miller, who wrote his Ph.D. dissertation on the Iraqi war and has worked for the United Nations in disarmament policy, is well qualified to explore the tangled political, bureaucratic, cultural and religious issues at play in the Middle East. His tongue-in-cheek candor brings much-needed levity to the proceedings, making the difficult subject matter relatable and engaging. Bursting with humanity and humor, The Girl in Green is heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measures, delivering nail-biting suspense while bringing readers into the heart of the conflict in Iraq.

RELATED CONTENT: Read our Q&A with Derek B. Miller.

This article was originally published in the January 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

With The Girl in Green, an award-winning writer (Norwegian by Night) explores the conflict in Iraq in a darkly comic thriller that lays bare the absurdities of war.

Fiction, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Suspense, Thriller

Science Fiction & Fantasy Mystery & Suspense Fiction Thriller Suspense Science Fiction

Pushed to the brink

Review by Barbara Clark

by Barbara Clark

In Normal, Warren Ellis’ exceptional new thriller, foresight strategist Adam Dearborn has just been admitted to a compound called Normal, located on the U.S. west coast. It’s where those who were previously hired to monitor Earth’s degrading civilization are sent when they’re so burned out they can no longer function, well, normally.

The word itself loses much of its meaning in a near-future world where surveillance is constant, and the Normal Head Research Station itself hardly seems a place of safety. One inmate describes the outside world as “a permanent condition of pervasive low-level warfare,” and explains, “We’ve all been sent mad by grief.” The patients at Normal have, they frequently say, spent too much time “gazing into the abyss.”

The compound is abuzz when there’s a bizarre murder the morning after Adam’s arrival. He noticed the strange figure of Mr. Mansfield the previous afternoon, lurking about the edges of Normal’s forest. But Mansfield is missing the next morning, gone from his room and seemingly replaced by a mound of hundreds of crawling insects.

Adam—no model of stability himself—begins a low-key quest to discover what exactly has happened, and whether there’s anyone in Normal who can be trusted. The compound’s inhabitants beguile each other with lies, hysteria or reclusive behavior, as they search for ways to cope with the loss of the normal society they remember. The search leads Adam to an area called Staging, the only place in the compound with access, through the Internet, to the outside. Staging could give access to some answers—or to something much worse.

It’s clear that things have gone badly wrong out in the wider world, where people are now constantly watched by interfering “microdrones.” Ellis excels by inference, offering a chilling picture of the emotional turmoil in a human society that’s come unhinged. More unsettling, at the end of the book, there’s a shocking description of the event that led Adam to untether from his own sanity.

This slim sci-fi mystery will puzzle, engage your senses and stick with you, maybe popping up days later when one of its passages resonates uncomfortably in the real world outside the book’s pages. Normal chills not by overt action or gory effects, but by slyly transporting readers outside their comfort zone, offering a look into a future that seems increasingly plausible after all.

Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Mystery Historical Mystery

Unknown motivations of a mysterious benefactor

Review by Barbara Clark

by Barbara Clark

The Inheritance, book five in Charles Finch’s well-written Victorian crime series, follows the activities of the detective agency run by gentleman sleuth Charles Lenox, along with his two partners, in a time when these newly formed partnerships are just beginning to gain credibility in the public mind. Sometimes it seems like a drawing room soap opera, all genteel furnishings and horse-drawn carriages; other times like a detailed and engrossing murder plot. As luck—and the author’s skill—would have it, it’s both.

For the inheritance in question, the “who” and “why” are standout questions. Who is the mysterious benefactor who has given not one, but two generous bequests to Lenox’s childhood friend Gerald Leigh? The first anonymous bequest enabled Leigh to attend the prestigious Harrow School as a boy; the second and most recent provides opportunities for Leigh to significantly advance his scientific career. Perhaps of greater significance, why were these legacies so mysteriously given? Leigh contacts his old friend Lenox after an absence of nearly 30 years to ask for help in finding answers.

As schoolboys, Lenox and Leigh pursued an exhaustive but ultimately unsuccessful quest to discover the identity of the legator. This time around there’s an urgency to unmask the friend—or enemy—who has offered the generous sum. A couple of members of London’s East End gangs have a deep interest in seeing that Leigh disappears for good, and Leigh’s solicitor is found dead before he can shed light on the charitable legacy.

While illustrating a warm picture of the men’s friendship as it grows and mellows through the years, Finch also provides a skillfully drawn social portrait of the late 1800s, without being ponderous or intruding on the course of the story. He adds tidbits of interest about the industry, progress and politics of the time, including breakthrough discoveries in the burgeoning field of microbiology. Leigh’s backstory draws a lively, sympathetic and often dryly humorous portrait of this uncommon scientist as he cuts a new path in an era where manners and protocol hold sway.

As this mystery unfolds, Finch conjures the palpable excitement of the day over such groundbreaking developments as the telegraph and electricity, as England—and the rest of the world—stand on the brink of great change, as the paths of the genteel and the common are poised to intersect and change the social contract forever.

Fiction, Mystery & Suspense, Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Suspense

Scottish crime master weaves a twisted psychological tale

Review by G. Robert Frazier

by G. Robert Frazier

Just when you think you’ve got things straight, Christopher Brookmyre throws you another curveball in his newest book, Black Widow. Brookmyre builds layers of intrigue like a chef crafting a multilayer cake, with each layer providing another tantalizing clue or red herring to keep readers guessing. But no matter how diligently readers strive to piece everything together, it’s doubtful anyone will see the final twist before its reveal.

The “black widow” in the title is Dr. Diana Jager, a successful surgeon and outspoken critic of sexism in medicine on her blog. Her pulls-no-punches social media diatribes ultimately land her in hot water when a hacker reveals her true identity, bringing her career crashing down on her. Vulnerable for the first time in her life, she finds comfort in a young IT specialist, Peter. After a whirlwind romance, the pair marry and appear to resume a semblance of a normal life. Until Peter is killed in a car crash.

Brookmyre, who is a popular crime novelist in Scotland with 18 previous novels and multiple awards to show for it, brings his longtime investigative reporter Jack Parlabane into the mix when Peter’s sister, Lucy, implores him to find the truth behind Peter’s death. Specifically, she steers him toward Diana as a suspect, and before long the trail of clues and evidence seem to bear her out.

But, as with any Brookmyre novel, not everything is as simple as it appears. While the narrative takes on a decidedly slow build toward its multiple twist ending, Brookmyre keeps things interesting by mixing up his narrators from chapter to chapter. Part of the story is told directly through Diana’s eyes in a first-person narrative, while other chapters look over Jack’s shoulders. Still other chapters are seen through the eyes of the police, who are trying their best to make sense of what happened as well.

Not everything you read should be taken at face value, and there will be surprises in store, no matter who you believe.

Fiction, Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Mystery

Split-second decision

Review by G. Robert Frazier

by G. Robert Frazier

After a summer filled with racial tension over police shootings, it was only a matter of time before a novel surfaced with a similar theme. Suzanne Chazin presents that problem for her series character, Hispanic cop Jimmy Vega, in the first few pages of her new novel, No Witness but the Moon.

Vega is first on the scene of an apparent home invasion and chases down one suspect. But when the suspect fails to release an object in his hand and begins to turn toward Vega despite orders to freeze, Vega has only seconds to kill or be killed. The suspect is fatally wounded, which is when Vega’s troubles really begin. As other police arrive, it’s quickly apparent that Vega has shot an unarmed man. The only item in the man’s possession was a photograph clutched in his right hand.

Chazin expertly crafts the immediate fallout of the shooting in several emotion-filled, tense pages. Vega reels from what he’s done, while at the same time playing the scene and his options over and over in his mind. His fellow police swiftly take control of the scene and begin piecing together events. Vega is suspended as an internal investigation begins and as tensions within the Hispanic community mount, prompting protest marches and chants of “hands up don’t shoot.”

While that may be enough fodder for most novelists to build upon, Chazin ups the ante by tying the victim of the shooting to the mysterious unsolved death of Vega’s mother years ago. Vega, naturally, uses his unwanted downtime to begin his own investigation.

The novel moves at a torrid pace, swiftly drawing in the reader with its ripped-from-the-headlines shooting, then keeps readers hooked as Vega deals with the emotional and psychological aftermath on his life, career and family.

Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Mystery Historical Mystery

Fairy tales gone wrong

Review by Barbara Clark

by Barbara Clark

Smoke and Mirrors is the second book in a wonderful crime series by author Elly Griffiths, who also writes the equally entrancing Ruth Galloway mysteries. Smoke follows the series debut, The Zig Zag Girl, published in 2015.

In the early 1950s, Detective Inspector Edgar Stephens, now on the Brighton police force, and stage magician Max Mephisto are part of a core of men who formerly served in a special unit in World War II, working with Britain’s MI5 intelligence service to deceive the enemy through various trickeries and illusions. Readers meet several members of the small team of “Magic Men” in this and the earlier book, as Griffiths creates an imaginative, tightly constructed storyline with all sorts of intriguing possibilities for future adventures.

In Smoke and Mirrors, children’s fairy tales take a gruesome turn when two missing children are found dead in the woods in a parody of the Hansel and Gretel story, their bodies marked by a trail of candy. The victims appear to be part of a group of youngsters who are turning classic fairy tales upside down and creating their own spin on the plots, then enacting them at a homegrown children’s theater. One of the victims, 11-year-old Annie Francis, appears to be the creative mind behind the stories, inspired perhaps by her grammar school teacher, Miss Young, whose imagination may be outpacing her good judgment.

The bizarre murder takes place against the backdrop of a professional theater performance of Aladdin, a Christmas pantomime featuring Max Mephisto himself, but it brings up a creepy coincidence: Thirty-nine years earlier, a young girl was murdered not far away, in a theater production of the children’s tale Babes in the Wood, and at least one of the current actors in Aladdin—another member of the Magic Men—was in that 1916 production, when the children’s tale likewise turned dark and tragic.

Griffiths’ exceptional and subtle sense of humor sometimes contrasts—or places heightened emphasis—on scenes that depict cruel and tawdry acts. In a way, there are few innocents in this tale. Everyone is interconnected, and even the victims’ motives may be cloudy. An inventive backstory and threads of connection elevate the story above the ordinary run of mystery novels.

Fiction, Mystery & Suspense, Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Suspense

A suspenseful summer away in the mountains

Review by Michael Alec Rose

by Michael Alec Rose

Matthew is out of a job, down on his luck in Brooklyn and still grieving over his father’s disgraceful disappearance years ago. He feels sincere gratitude to his cousin and childhood friend, Charlie, for an invitation to spend the summer with him and his wife, Chloe, at their beautiful house in the mountains of New York State. There, he can try to get his life back in shape.

Sounds placid enough, doesn’t it? How can this seemingly innocuous scenario go so quickly and inexorably to hell in James Lasdun’s new psychological thriller, The Fall Guy?

One reason, I think, is because the author is a poet first. Much like his peers James Dickey and Stephen Dobyns, Lasdun’s poetic talent has veered toward the genre of criminal suspense. All three poet-novelists have the natural capacity to wield words with uncanny and disorienting power, exposing the shocking capacity of ordinary human beings to act out their darkest fears and desires. Nicely complicating Lasdun’s case is the fact that he’s a Brit, but longtime resident of the United States, and therefore able to chart the complicated axis of two cultures separated by the same language.

At the heart of this hypnotic narrative lies Matthew’s barely concealed passion for Chloe. What begins in Matthew’s mind as a strong feeling of connection with his cousin’s wife undergoes a monstrous transformation, in which all three individuals—the two cousins and the beloved woman between them—play a guilty role. Long-buried sins from their shared history now rise up with an inexorable vengeance. There is no moral lesson at work in the novel, only a ruthless unfolding of events, in which love is undone by selfishness.

The Fall Guy has the quality of a dream that follows its own terrible logic, impossible to break free from, never to be forgotten after you wake up.

This article was originally published in the November 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Fiction, Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Mystery

Keeping it old-fashioned

Review by Barbara Clark

by Barbara Clark

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency of Gabarone, Botswana, takes on a new client in Precious and Grace. True to form, Alexander McCall Smith’s fine process of “getting there” wins out over shootouts and car chases any old day, and his asides—often important clues in traditional whodunits—are, well, just asides.

The series reads like a pleasantly low-key moral tale. It’s all pretty much down to the ruminations of Mma Ramotswe, No. 1’s founder and owner, who has commandeered the series through 17 leisurely installments. “Commandeered” is a bit strong, though. Mma Ramotswe (whose name is Precious, though you’ll seldom hear it) can teach us a lot about the ways of kindly souls and about the sort of real forgiveness that few of us can muster. She’s an acute observer of all around her, and like Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, her rural country setting never keeps her from spotting the many foibles displayed by her fellows and making important connections about human nature that serve her well.

Sometimes her refusal to judge can get in Mma Ramotswe’s way, even when she tries to hold back the tongue of her business assistant and close friend, Mma Makutsi (whose name is Grace, though it’s not often bandied about). Mma Makutsi’s wayward opinions, however, can sometimes be effectively quelled by the frequent cups of tea dispensed in the No. 1 office. And since everything at the agency proceeds on Botswana time—that is to say, at a steady but hardly rapid pace—there’s ample time to smooth over the wrinkles of human disagreement.

When Susan, a young Canadian woman, appeals for the agency’s help in uncovering pieces of her long-forgotten early childhood in Botswana, Mma Makutsi is quick to jump to conclusions about her motives, while Mma Ramotswe holds back judgment to read between the lines, piecing the reasons together from the woman’s unhappy past. The search for Susan’s old home is nicely punctuated with evocative portraits of the many people in Mma Ramotswe’s rich life: her husband, Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni; her sometime assistants, Charlie and Mr. Polopetsi (he of the high-flying but often-plummeting schemes); and of course the outspoken Grace herself.

Readers seeking hair-trigger action thrills will wish to steer clear of the Ladies’ Detective Agency, where, fortunately for the rest of us, the literary payoff is in an entirely different coinage.

Fiction, Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Mystery

Trust your instincts

Review by Annie Metcalf

by Annie Metcalf

Detective Antoinette Conway is doubly unique on the Dublin murder squad: She’s the only mixed-race detective and the only woman. She’s taken a lot of flak in her two years on the squad, and the strain is beginning to show. Though her new partner, Steve Moran, seems to understand and respect her, Antoinette is nearing the end of her rope. At the end of another long night shift, she and Steve are handed a case that at first seems like a textbook domestic violence scenario. A young woman, Aislinn Murray, is found dead in her home after an anonymous tip reported that she hit her head in a fall. The fall turns out to have been caused by a punch, but obvious leads—such as Aislinn’s boyfriend—don’t fit.

The clues lead Conway and Moran in circles, from an encrypted file on Aislinn’s computer, to the strange behavior of her best friend, to the hints that there may have been more than one man in her life. Plus, Antoinette knows she’s seen Aislinn’s face before, but cannot recall when or where. With leads sprawling fruitlessly throughout Dublin, Antoinette begins to wonder: Is there someone close to the investigation who doesn’t want the case solved?

Tana French excels at placing dedicated and talented detectives under stress, testing them with the case that will strike their unique anxieties the hardest. Antoinette’s intelligence and skepticism are charming, but these traits gradually give way to a surly paranoia. Despite the first-person narration, French provides ample moments for the reader to acknowledge Antoinette’s fears but also question them. Soon, the question of whether Antoinette will survive the case professionally becomes as gripping as the mystery of who killed Aislinn. Though it may not pack the same emotional punch as other French titles, The Trespasser delivers a great detective team in Conway and Moran and a satisfyingly dramatic conclusion. This is an intense and engrossing installment in the Dublin Murder Squad series.

Fiction, Mystery, Mystery & Suspense

Mystery & Suspense Fiction Mystery

Whose side are you on?

Review by Barbara Clark

by Barbara Clark

Homicide detective Max Rupert and lawyer Boady Sanden are longtime friends, but in Allen Eskens’ crime thriller The Heavens May Fall, they’re on opposite sides of the fence, with an ever-widening divide between them.

Max is a widower, still grieving his wife’s death four years earlier by a hit-and-run driver who was never apprehended. Boady hasn’t practiced law since the death of his last client, an innocent man who was deemed guilty even after Boady’s best legal efforts. These characters appear in Eskens’ previous work, The Life We Bury, and are more fully fleshed out in this novel.

On the anniversary of his own wife’s death, Max finds himself heading up the team assigned to the gruesome, perplexing murder of a woman who turns out to be Jennavieve Pruitt, the wife of Ben Pruitt, a prominent attorney, with whom Max has some bad history dating back to another case. Ben has an alibi for the night of his wife’s death, but it’s a leaky one and he needs a good attorney.

Boady, who was once Ben’s law partner, agrees to represent him, thus locking in an adversarial relationship between Max and Boady, one that will forever alter their friendship. Each man approaches the murder through the lens of his own personal loss, each trying to restore an invisible balance while drawing on darker, earlier moments in his life. Max’s vision may be obscured by a need for inner healing; Boady seeks reason and redemption from his past failures or omissions.

This tension-filled book explores the case from each man’s perspective—that of the detective who believes the victim’s husband is guilty of murder, and that of the attorney who believes that his client is innocent. The novel is occasionally clunky and overwrought in style, with a few unnecessarily gory details, but the author’s expert use of the modes of traditional crime fiction, combined with the legal proceedings and intriguing trial scenes, makes an effective combination that results in a fast-moving narrative.

The Heavens May Fall pretends to provide us with all the angles, giving readers a false sense of security, perhaps the illusion of transparency, only to cheat us at the end, as only good thrillers can, by throwing in some unexpected shocks and last-minute story twists.

Mystery, YA, YA Fiction

YA Fiction YA Mystery

The Mystery Club takes its first case

Review by Kimberly Giarratano

by Kimberly Giarratano

Fifteen-year-old Benny Flax and Virginia Leeds are the only two members of Mystery Club, an extracurricular group that is sorely lacking in both participants and crimes to solve—until the Friday night football game when cheerleader Brittany, dressed as the school’s mascot, inexplicably runs off the field and jumps off a bridge. The police are quick to rule Brittany’s death a suicide, but Benny and Virginia think differently after they discover camera footage of both the cheerleaders’ locker room and the apparent suicide. With Benny’s keen level of observation and Virginia’s ability to go unnoticed, the two decide to investigate the mystery themselves, even if it means lying to police and breaking the law. Because for Benny and Virginia, Mystery Club is all they have.

Maggie Thrash, author of the graphic memoir Honor Girl, has penned a kooky mystery that should be read through the lens of an Amy Schumer skit. The characters and the school itself are clever caricatures, and readers shouldn’t expect a lot of depth. Benny is analytical and clever, but he struggles to connect socially, while Virginia makes meek attempts to transform her reputation as a gossip and busybody (what better way to do that than to investigate your fellow classmates for murder?). There’s a healthy dose of humor with the crime, although the satire may not resonate with all readers.

Kimberly Giarratano is the author of Grunge Gods and Graveyards, a young adult paranormal mystery.

This article was originally published in the October 2016 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.