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Jane Harris lives in a perfect home in a perfect area of Southern California with her perfect family and she herself is a perfect control freak.

About a year before the novel begins, her oldest daughter, Mary, was killed in an accident, falling off a cliff at a park set by the ocean. Since than Jane has not ventured outside of her home, remaining in a miasma with the death on her mind. The story opens with her husband, other daughter and herself preparing to attend a memorial service for Mary planned and organized by her husband and inviting many people living in the area.

The story is told in first person only with Jane’s thoughts, reactions and comments bringing the reader a magnificent portrait of the ensuing events through the mind of a woman who must remain in control at all costs. She takes the position that her attitudes and only her attitudes must take precedence and finds fault with anyone attempting to thwart her ideas. Getting ready to attend the memorial she preens and preps herself to take center stage at the event and give a heartfelt speech about herself and her feelings for her deceased daughter. Her pride takes a blow when it is her husband that makes that speech and she is not invited to speak.

The next event that must be faced is the high school graduation of her other daughter, Betsy. While waiting for this event, Jane brings us her views on several happenings that have been taking place around her. First, her husband is working a great deal of hours at his office and is rarely home. Then her daughter Betsy is dating someone that Jane feels is not worthy of her family’s acceptance.

Rouda’s portrait of Jane and the way she deals with the world as she sees it is a fascinating adventure into the mindset of a woman that must
retain control of everything she takes part in. The characterization of her is an adventure into the thoughts and feelings of someone that is actually quite a bit off normal. This does nothing to detract from the novel, but is the factor that makes it a mesmerizing read.

5/19 Paul Lane

THE FAVORITE DAUGHTER by Kaira Rouda. Graydon House; Original edition (May 21, 2019). ISBN 978-1525835148. 368p.

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Frost presents a novel with both high adventure and some science fiction. The book is exciting, a fast read and one geared towards keeping the readers glued to the pages until finished.

The story opens as Rye Mckenna is holding onto a telephone listening to his wife being murdered when she is caught in a shooting at the mall she was shopping at. Rye is devastated. He is approached by a man representing the multi billionaire Greg Rask and asked if he would like to exact revenge for his wife’s murder.

Rask is assembling a team to search out a map that, if real, will point out where Hitler’s Ahnenerbe hid the three stones that have mystic curative powers. Hitler was a firm believer in the occult and did have this organization make many expeditions searching for the stones. Rask, who has a terminal illness, believes that the map will prove useful to him in curing the disease and has already spent a fortune looking for a miracle.

Rask does arrange for Rye to meet with his wife’s murderer even with the individual in prison. Rye has his chance to exact revenge and does so after which he agrees to join Rask’s team. Along with the other members of the squad journeys are undertaken both to France and than to Tibet where the search is centered on discovery of a lost city where the map is thought to reside. The action is fast, the writing compelling and the reader experiences the feeling that he or she is with the group and traveling in some of the most exotic places on earth.

The ending is one based on a science fiction theme and I felt that it was a bit out of kilter with the rest of the book. It does cause the novel to become more than a little off balance and might even spoil a good book with a poor finale. But again the beginning is compelling and the description of an exotic land well done. This factor could very well negate the ending.

5/19 Paul Lane

WHITE PEAK by Ronan Frost. St. Martin’s Press (May 21, 2019). ISBN  978-1250130082. 336p.

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Neah Bay, Book 1

With the publication of “Deception Cove,” the author introduces two very unique and quite interesting characters while doing his normal job of capturing the attention of the reader and holding it.

The first is a lady named Jess Winslow who a) got married b) joined the Marines and c) did two tours in Afghanistan seeing all the action one can see. Jess’s husband was killed while she was serving her country and she was discharged from the corps and sent home. Due to the combination of her time in action and the untimely death of her husband, she was diagnosed as suffering from PTSD, released from duty and sent home. She was given a dog especially trained to work with and help returning veterans suffering from PTSD.

The second person is Mason Burke, who is nearing the end of a 15 year prison term for taking part in a robbery that saw the owner of the store shot dead. Towards the end of his sentence, Mason is allowed to train a dog for the purpose of helping those veterans suffering from PTSD, and of course, the dog named Lucy is awarded to Jess. Getting out of prison Mason makes inquiries about Lucy, finds out who she was awarded to and also learns the disturbing news that the dog will shortly be put down for attacking a man. He decides that the only course open to him is to travel to where Jess lives and try and save the dog. This is in a remote but quite beautiful area in the state of Washington. Mason travels there, manages to make contact with Jess and both work on making sure that Lucy is not destroyed.

The story is well done, quite engrossing with the protagonists defined, and that includes the villains of the piece. The best part is an afterward. Laukkanen indicates that he is currently working on future books featuring Jess, Mason, and of course, Lucy. My recommendation is to read this book, find out what happens and what events shape the future. Enjoy a good read and make note of looking for the future novels promised by the author. Readers will not be disappointed in the events depicted in the book and certainly welcome the news that there will be more in the near future.

5/19 Paul Lane

DECEPTION COVE by Owen Laukkanen. Mulholland Books (May 21, 2019). ISBN 978-0316448703. 384p.

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The 45th in the title is the 45th president of the United States who in actuality is Donald J. Trump. The story begins at the Republican national convention which is meeting to select a candidate to run against Hillary Constable, the nominated selection of the Democratic party. Trump makes a short appearance when he talks with the man who is indicated as the kingmaker at the Republican convention. But, this is not to be.

The kingmaker, who is the majority whip of the party, turns to Julian Drake, a man that left politics 10 years prior to the story to raise his sister’s children.They had been made orphans due to the untimely deaths of their mother and father and it was felt that Drake on leaving politics missed a chance to possibly rise, even as far as the presidency. Drake is called upon to write the keynote speech for the whip and than is deviously forced into presenting it.

Drake does and moves the convention into the position of selecting him, an unknown, as it’s candidate. He wins the election and begins the process of changing the country over. The novel than becomes a recap of philosopher’s and politician’s thoughts from the past.

Buffa has turned his novel into a compendium of his own thoughts and feelings about what is best for the country. Without summarizing the ideas the reader, like it or not, is thrust into the past to learn about writings and thoughts of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates. In addition to the actions and ideas of John F Kennedy and Winston Churchill, we learn about the political manipulations of Disraeli, Thomas Jefferson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The scenario is that the world has completely moved away from the glorious past when great men were able to guide the populations into wholesome lives. The reader of this novel might like the idea of learning about Buffa’s political ideas, but if not it is going to be a tedious situation to plow through pages and pages of idealized philosophy. I finished the book because I felt an obligation to do so. But 1984 it is not.

5/19 Paul Lane

THE 45TH by D.W. Buffa. Polis Books (May 21, 2019). ISBN 978-1947993532. 308p.

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