The House Next Door

The House Next Door by Anne Rivers Siddons

 

Their love would never be the same.

Colquitt and Walter Kennedy enjoyed a life of lazy weekends, gathering with the neighbors on their quiet, manicured street and sipping drinks on their patios. But when construction of a beautiful new home begins in the empty lot next door, their easy friendship and relaxed get-togethers are marred by strange accidents and inexplicable happenings.

Though Colquitt's rational mind balks at the idea of a "haunted" house, she cannot ignore the tragedies associated with it. It is as if the house preys on its inhabitants' weaknesses and slowly destroys the goodness in them -- ultimately driving them to disgrace, madness and even death.

Anne Rivers Siddons transports you deep into the heart of a neighborhood torn apart by a mysterious force that threatens their friendship, their happiness and, for some, their very existence.
-FantasticFiction

 

A haunting page-turner!  Anne Rivers Siddons does it again....another five star rating*****

-Mona

State of Wonder

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

 

There were people on the banks of the river. Among the tangled waterways and giant anacondas of the Brazilian Rio Negro, an enigmatic scientist is developing a drug that could alter the lives of women for ever. Dr Annick Swenson's work is shrouded in mystery; she refuses to report on her progress, especially to her investors, whose patience is fast running out. Anders Eckman, a mild-mannered lab researcher, is sent to investigate. A curt letter reporting his untimely death is all that returns. Now Marina Singh, Anders's colleague and once a student of the mighty Dr Swenson, is their last hope. Compelled by the pleas of Anders's wife, who refuses to accept that her husband is not coming home, Marina leaves the snowy plains of Minnesota and retraces her friend's steps into the heart of the South American darkness, determined to track down Dr. Swenson and uncover the secrets being jealously guarded among the remotest tribes of the rainforest. What Marina does not yet know is that, in this ancient corner of the jungle, where the muddy waters and susurrating grasses hide countless unknown perils and temptations, she will face challenges beyond her wildest imagination. Marina is no longer the student, but only time will tell if she has learnt enough.
-FantasticFiction

 

Compelling characters and a nail-biting narrative combine to create an excellent novel deserving of five stars*****

-Mona

Diamond Solitaire

Diamond Solitaire by Peter Lovesey

 

Following on from the book "The Last Detective", ex-CID and difficult-to-work-with Peter Diamond is sacked from his latest job as a security guard at Harrods. Doggedly he turns his sleuthing skills to unraveling the mystery of a little Japanese girl abandoned in London.

-FantasticFiction.com

 

This second book in the Peter Diamond series is every bit as engaging as the first one, The Last Detective.  This episode involves two totally separate mystery lines that finally merge in the last third of the book.  This one rates five stars as well*****

-Mona

The Last Detective

The Last Detective by Peter Lovesey

 

Detective Superintendent Peter Diamond is the last detective: 'not some lad out of police school with a degree in computer studies' but a genuine gumshoe, given to doorstopping and deduction. So when the naked body of a woman is found floating in the weeds in a lake near Bath with no-one willing to identify her, no marks and no murder weapon, his sleuthing abilities are tested to the limit. Struggling with a jigsaw of truant choirboys, teddy bears, a black Mercedes and Jane Austen memorabilia, Diamond persists even when 'the men in white coats' decide they have enough evidence to make a conviction. It's just as well: for despite disastrous personal consequences, and by following the real clues hidden amongst Bath's historic buildings and intertwined with its literary past, the last detective exposes the uncomfortable truth ...
-FantasticFiction.com

 

The first book in the Peter Diamond series has me looking forward to the rest of the series.  Lovesey does not resolve the mystery till the very end....and then with a surprise.  I rate this one with five stars*****

-Mona

The Honourable Schoolboy

The Honourable School-Boy by John Le Carre'

The second in the Tinker-Tailer-Soldier-Spy series on the British Secret Service between 1948 and the mid seventies.  Le Carre', actually David Cornwell, writes a masterful and detailed novel that has been called the finest spy thriller series ever.

Well, there are thrilling bits, but mostly this is a book that very realistically lays out the way things have happened, will happen, and could happen in major nation spying.

The technology takes a far back stage as the actors themselves do 99% of the work.  And the actors are once more men like George Smiley and Peter Guillam.  And the ever present Soviet mastermind, but never seen in this book, Karlos.

The scene is set in mostly Hong Kong, when it was still a crown colony, and London, with a splash of the CIA at Langley and the final days of the Vietnam war: Cambodia, Laos, etc.

The unexpected will happen.  Smiley will be seen even by the end to still be an aging bureaucrat. But George never disappoints.

I give this read 5 stars *****
-Ken

The Water Horse

The Water Horse by Julia Gregson

 

Catherine Carreg has grown up a tomboy, spending her days racing her ponies with Deio, the drover's son, in a small Welsh village. When tragedy strikes her family, it affects Catherine deeply; she determines to become a nurse, in spite of the plans her father has made for her. With Deio's help, she disguises herself as a boy and makes her way to London. Catherine finds a position in a rest home for sick governesses in Harley Street, run by Miss Nightingale. When Russells's despatches from Scutari shock the Secretary for War into sending nurses to the Crimea, Catherine volunteers. The night before she leaves, she meets Deio in Hyde Park to tell him of her plans. Deio is furious with Catherine's 'unnatural ambitions', yet determines to follow her, shipping his beloved horses out for sale to the British army. Arriving in Scutari, Catherine is pitched into a living nightmare. The conditions are appalling, typhus is rife and the doctors are on the verge of insanity. As male paranoia takes hold, the nurses are confined to their quarters, forced to watch the arrival of wounded and dying soldiers but forbidden from helping them.When casualties from Balaclava begin to arrive, the women decide to ignore orders and begin nursing the sick and injured. Battling incompetence, lack of supplies and disease, Catherine must grow up quickly and painfully against traumatic events that will shape history. THE WATER HORSE is a vivid and compelling saga, bringing to life the true story of a young woman who ran away to nurse in the Crimea.
-FantasticFiction

 

A very moving story of a woman with a passion for a life unheard of and unavailable to a woman and the love of a man for such a woman.  I rate this with four stars****.

-Mona

A Stain on the Silence

A Stain on the Silence by Andrew Taylor

 

Past mistakes can be forgotten - but never erased...The last person James wants to meet again is Lily. But now she's dying of cancer, and he is wholly unprepared for what she has to tell him. Twenty-four years ago, she gave birth to a daughter and James is the girl's father. James was just a teenager when he and Lily stepmother of his best friend Carlo had their brief affair. Practically part of the family, he would spend his summer holidays at their sprawling house in Chipping Weston, lapping up the breathtaking freedom and excitement. Though perhaps there was too much freedom and too much excitement because those days came to a terrible end. An end that James has been trying to forget ever since. Yet Lily has one more secret to reveal. Their daughter is now a wanted woman. She's on the run for murder. Soon James is compelled to reach back into the past and discover the other bitter fruits of his and Lily's unfortunate union.
-FantasticFiction

 

A complicated plot with many twists and turns and leaves one with many questions. I sometimes felt that the author tried to include too many sub plots.  I guess in the end they were all necessary but.....at times became very confusing.   I was somewhat disappointed with this one.  I rate it with three stars***.

-Mona

Last Train to Paris by Michele Zackheim

 

1935.  Rose Manon, an American daughter of the mountains of Nevada, working as a journalist in New York, is awarded her dream job, foreign correspondent.  Posted to Paris, she is soon entangled in romance, an unsolved murder, and the desperation of a looming war.  Assigned to the Berlin desk, Manon is forced to grapple with her hidden identity as a Jew, the mistrust of her lover, and an unwelcome visitor on the eve of Kristallnacht.  And . . . on the day before World War II is declared, she must choose who will join her on the last train to Paris.
This is a carefully researched historical novel that reads like a suspense thriller.  Colette and Janet Flanner are only two of the well-known figures woven into the story. The parts they play will surprise readers. Last Train to Paris will enthrall the same audience that made In The Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson and Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky bestsellers.

-FantasticFiction.com

 

Zackheim weaves a thrilling mix of fact and fiction.  I rate this one with five stars*****

-Mona

The Sins of the Wolf

The Sins of the Wolf by Anne Perry

 

When wealthy Mrs Farraline dies during the night, her pearl brooch is found in the possession of her nurse, Hester. When it is revealed that Mrs Farraline was poisoned, Hester is charged with murder. Will the secret shame of the Farraline family be exposed in time to save Hester from the hangman?

-Fantasticiction.com

 

Once again Anne Perry has created a very compelling mystery in this her fifth book in the William Monk series.  A real page-turner!  I rate this one with five stars*****.

-Mona

My Journey to Lhasa

My Journey to Lhasa by Alexandra David-Neel

 

An exemplary travelogue of danger and achievement by the Frenchwoman Madame Alexandra David–Neel of her 1923 expedition to Tibet, the fifth in her series of Asian travels, and her personal recounting of her journey to Lhasa, Tibet's forbidden city.

In order to penetrate Tibet and reach Lhasa, she used her fluency of Tibetan dialects and culture, disguised herself as a beggar with yak hair extensions and inked skin and tackled some of the roughest terrain and climate in the World. With the help of her young companion, Yongden, she willingly suffered the primitive travel conditions, frequent outbreaks of disease, the ever–present danger of border control and the military to reach her goal.

The determination and sheer physical fortitude it took for this woman, delicately reared in Paris and Brussels, is inspiration for men and women alike.

David–Neel is famous for being the first Western woman to have been received by any Dalai Lama and as a passionate scholar and explorer of Asia, hers is one of the most remarkable of all travellers tales.

-Amazon

Fascinating book, but at times could be somewhat slow.  She tends to use a lot of Tibetan expressions and phrases which can get challenging for someone who does not speak the language, although there were lots of footnotes.  I would rate this book with a strong three stars***.
-Mona