Fiction | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

X by Sue Grafton

August 25, 2015

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Hallie Bettancourt’s biological son has just been released from jail. Hallie put the boy up for adoption over two decades back and has since become quite wealthy, so even if her son doesn’t want to meet her, she wants to offer some sort of help. And that’s where Kinsey comes in. Hallie has hired the PI to find out where the parolee lives and provide contact info so Hallie can reach out to him. Nothing could be simpler from Kinsey’s perspective.

But that simple job becomes less so when the feds show up investigating a marked bill that passed through Kinsey’s hands. A bill Hallie paid Kinsey with. Kinsey soon discovers that Hallie Bettancourt doesn’t exist. But why would anyone go to so much trouble to pull one over on Kinsey?

Meanwhile, Pete Wolinsky’s widow has grown concerned over some calls she’s received on Pete’s behalf from the IRS. Since Kinsey was the last one to go through Pete’s files – files Ruthie recently trashed – she’s hoping Kinsey might have come across something that can help. Kinsey never saw any financials but she did hang onto one old Byrd-Shine box that has a few curious items she decides are worth a closer look.

Kinsey is back in this twenty-fourth installment of the series. That’s right. Twenty-four. That means, sadly, that there are just two more to go.

Of all the long-term series that I read, this is by far my favorite. Kinsey – still trapped in the 80s, still enjoying her pb & pickle sandwiches, and still renting Henry’s guest house – is a character you want to be with for a while. And in spite of how it sounds, this isn’t a series that’s stagnant or stiff at all. Kinsey is constantly growing – this far along she’s a bit more cynical and a bit more snarky, which is why she’s so certain that the files she finds are another shady scheme of Pete’s. And while Ruthie is a staunch supporter of her husband, Kinsey really wants to stick to her guns based on what she thought she knew about him.

Henry, Rosie, William, and the regulars are back, but there are a few cameo appearances by past favorites too (Dietz.). But that doesn’t actually mean that you have to have read all of the books in order to be able to get into X. In fact, it could serve as a good starting point if you’ve yet to dive into the series.

8/15 Becky LeJeune

X by Sue Grafton. Marian Wood Books/Putnam (August 25, 2015). ISBN 978-0399163845. 416p.

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CHIMPANZEE by Darin Bradley

August 22, 2015

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Chimpanzee is a look at what might be the future of the U.S. based on current trends and misguided government policies. In a society that has collapsed, with unemployment being the norm for most workers Benjamin Cade an expert in cognition has just lost his job as a university instructor. Like most people he is forced to default on his loans used to finance his education. The government with no hope of recouping these funds now due to advances in cognitive science and chemical therapy can repossess their property, i.e., Ben’s education. A medical advance allows the government to utilize the process of “repossession therapy” as this is termed to treat mental disorders and improve the cure rate of these disorders.

But Ben is not going to take the loss of some of his knowledge to the government without a fight. He begins to give free lectures in the park in order to distribute some of his learning before it is gone. And as a result of these lectures “Chimpanzee” arrives. As a protest Chimpanzee’s icons begin to appear spray painted all over the city. Young people wearing Chimpanzee masks start massive rallies against the government and its economic failures. And the finger for the blame points directly at Ben.

Bradley utilizes a “stream” of consciousness” in his writing, succeeding in properly describing Ben Cade’s thoughts and action. A frightening but logical look at the possible consequences for a society that has lost sight of what are really the costs involved in massive giveaways without considering the price for doing so. People become financially overextended and cannot buy goods and services to keep the economy healthy giving rise to a society with no way to insure the growth of that society. A book guaranteed to leave the reader with much to think about in terms of where we might be going with trends as they currently are.

8/15 Paul Lane

CHIMPANZEE by Darin Bradley. Underland Press (August 11, 2015). ISBN: 978-1630230142. 216p.

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THE PROFESSOR by Robert Bailey

August 21, 2015

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In an afterword of the book, Bailey writes a tribute to Paul “Bear” Bryant, world class football coach at the University of Alabama. While he did not play for Bryant, known as the “man,” Bailey echoes the adoration many have for him. The novel begins when Tom McMurtrie who played for Bryant and a brilliant law graduate in his own right accepts a position with a major law firm. Prepared to begin work for that firm he is approached by “The Man” who strongly suggests that Tom take a position at the law school of U of Alabama as a teacher.

With the faith Tom has for Bryant he does accept the teaching position and spends the next 40 years as a Professor of Law. A change in personnel at the executive level of the school causes Tom to be pushed out of his position and at the same time find out that he is suffering from cancer.

Bitter and angry at the fate that pushed him to the sidelines he passes on a case offered to him. The young family of a friend of his has been killed in a truck-car accident and Tom feels impelled to offer the case to a former student of his, Rick Drake. There is some bad blood between the two since Tom had prevented Rick from receiving a job offer that would have been the making of his legal career.

Rick does accept the case and while working it finds that the facts are muddled by the trucking company owning the vehicle involved in the accident. They resort to arson, murder, bribery and greed to disguise the truth of the matter. A pertinent factor for the trucking company is an impending extremely advantageous merger that would be cancelled if a lawsuit was successfully filed against them.

In a fast and engrossing read, the main portion of the book involving the trial of the trucking company is described and the reader treated to an excellent plot and a look at the characters, good and bad, involved in the process of the legal proceedings. The book is the first of a series of legal novels about the prospective law firm of McMurtrie and Drake. These should be well worth the wait.

8/15 Paul Lane

THE PROFESSOR by Robert Bailey. Exhibit A (January 28, 2014). ISBN: 978-1909223585. 416p.

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THE RECKONING by Carsten Stroud

August 20, 2015

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Book Three of the Niceville Trilogy

Hearing voices in your head takes on a deadly new meaning in this disturbing conclusion to the macabre Niceville trilogy. The evil “Nothing” in this Florida town has moved inside, so to speak, and the towns people are on a murderous rampage.

Detective Nick Kavanaugh, and his wife, attorney Kate, figure out what is going on; all they have to do is figure out how to stop it. Rainey Teague, the orphan they’ve taken in, has always had issues but things are really spiraling out of control.

The Kavanaughs enlist the help of local historian Lemon Featherlight, and ex-cop Charlie Danziger is also on the hunt for answers. There are lots of characters that each have their own story, but Stroud manages to pull it together and make sense of it all, as much as possible in the mystical world he has created.

While this is the last book of the trilogy, each book does stand on its own. Niceville is a real town on the west coast of Florida, and this thrilling supernatural trilogy has surely put it on the map.

8/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

THE RECKONING by Carsten Stroud. Vintage (August 18, 2015). ISBN 978-1101873021. 432p.

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EILEEN by Ottessa Moshfegh

August 18, 2015

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Eileen is the narrator of this dark look back at her life during a 1960’s Christmas week. Eileen has to be one of the most damaged characters in fiction. She lost her mother when she was in high school, her sister is the pride of the family but they have no relationship, and her father is an alcoholic, a cop forced into retirement and now heading towards dementia, who has mentally abused Eileen her whole life.

Her life is a horror; living in squalor, taking care of her abusive father, driving an old car with an exhaust problem that forces her to drive with the windows open, even during those frigid New England winters. She works as a secretary at a boy’s prison, a discouraging job at best. She obsesses about her bodily functions, has strange sexual fantasies, (although at 24, she is still a virgin,) and she is stalking one of the prison guards.

There is no respite from the darkness here until Rebecca shows up at the prison, ostensibly to create an education program for the boys. Eileen is enamored of the beautiful Harvard graduate and desperate for a friend. That friendship turns into something truly ugly that leads to a shocking ending. This is literary psychological suspense at its best.

8/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

EILEEN by Ottessa Moshfegh. Penguin Press (August 18, 2015). ISBN 978-1594206627. 272p.

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LITTLE GIRLS by Ronald Malfi

August 16, 2015

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Laurie’s father has died and so, with her husband, Ted, and daughter, Susan, in tow, she has returned to the childhood home she left behind so many years ago to settle the estate and hopefully put the house on the market. Laurie has reservations about staying in the house, it’s never been a happy place for her and now there’s the added fact that her father didn’t just die there but actually committed suicide by jumping out of the belvedere window.

Ted and Susan are instantly smitten with the old place, though, and convince her otherwise. It’s only for a little while, after all, and it’ll mean time for Ted to work on his latest play. Susan has even found a friend in the girl next door. But the house holds bad memories for Laurie and the girl next door reminds her just a little too much of a girl who lived there when she was a child. A horrid girl who died on Laurie’s father’s property decades ago.

Even if Laurie and her family were a unified unit, which we soon learn they may not be, the house is enough to begin tearing away at them. Laurie is plagued by memories of her childhood, the girl next door is creepy as all get out, and there are clues around the house that maybe her father was suffering from more than just dementia. It all starts to make Laurie – and even Ted – wonder about her sanity.

Ronald Malfi’s latest is a pretty classic take on the haunted house tale: a creepy old house, inexplicable noises, a mysterious locked room… And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. In fact, Little Girls is a solid and scary tale with more than a few twists – some a little more expected than others. It’s utterly satisfying and maybe a little nightmare inducing as well.

8/15 Becky LeJeune

LITTLE GIRLS by Ronald Malfi. Kensington (June 30, 2015). ISBN 978-1617736063. 384p.

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MAD ABOUT THE MAJOR by Elizabeth Boyle

August 15, 2015

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This was the first book I’ve read by this author, and most probably the last.

I generally love Avon romances, but I wasn’t familiar with the “Impulse” line so after reading this I looked it up. It is a “digital first” imprint, meaning they publish books digitally before print. I’m guessing if it does well digitally then it may go to print. They accept manuscripts directly from writers instead of going through the agent process as almost all traditional publishers do. So basically a book that was rejected by HarperCollins or Avon can end up published by the Impulse line. (Bet you didn’t know you were going to get an education in HarperCollins publishing when you started reading this review!)

So, why am I rambling on about all this? I disliked this book so much that now I’ll be hesitant to read anything put out by the Avon Impulse line.

The story is simple; Lady Arabella is approached by a man at a ball, he mistakes her for a courtesan and almost ruins her. Her parents decide then and there to marry her off immediately so the next morning she skips out, determined to have one day of fun before the impending nuptials to someone she is sure is old and joyless.

She immediately runs into trouble, but is rescued by a gentleman passing by. He is the man from the ball and turns out he is in a similar position; he is a Duke and his reputation as a rake has made his parents decide to marry him off. These two obedient children (and they are childish, one of the myriad of reasons for my dislike of the book) end up spending the day together and fall in love.

They both use nicknames, neither admitting to the other who they really are. Eventually they go home to find out they are to be married. I didn’t even bother with a “spoiler alert” here because it couldn’t be more obvious throughout the book what was going to happen. I know every romance has a happy ending, but I want to see the struggle on the way there, and there simply wasn’t one. I found the plot silly and mundane, and the characters were clichés.

The romance genre has fairly specific rules. In its simplest iteration it goes boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl back again. Happy ending, usually with a wedding, a marriage, a baby or all three. All of that was determined in the first few pages and the rest was just a waste of time.

I really hate writing negative reviews. But I even hated the cover – looking on Amazon, I don’t get it, it doesn’t look like a historical to me. Maybe in person it does, but I read an eGalley on my Kindle so I’m relying on pictures here.

In the interest of fairness, I will point out that this book has 4.5 stars on Amazon based on a lot of reviews, so this is definitely just my opinion. But I found it so off-putting that I didn’t want to read anything for a couple of days after finishing it.

8/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

MAD ABOUT THE MAJOR by Elizabeth Boyle. Avon Impulse (July 21, 2015). ISBN 978-0062322913. 224p.

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LOVE IS RED by Sophie Jaff

August 14, 2015

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The Nightsong Trilogy (Book 1)

It’s summertime in New York and the city is plagued by more than just hot weather. The Sickle Man stalks the streets, killing women in their own homes. Though this does mean a certain extra level of caution, it doesn’t mean that Katherine Emerson has given up on the dating scene and finding Mr. Right. In fact, she’s recently met two men who could fit the bill.

What Katherine doesn’t know is that the Sickle Man already has her in his sights. In fact, he’s been looking for her for quite some time and now that he’s found her, her death is his ultimate goal.

Love is Red is a book that almost defies every attempt to sum it up in a nutshell. First, there’s the fear of giving too much away. Second, it’s truly standout and somewhat unconventional. It’s a cross-genre thriller, one that includes supernatural elements, romance elements, and mystery elements. As such, unless you really shy away from dark reads (because it is quite dark) there is something for just about every kind of reader here.

The story alternates between Katherine and The Sickle Man himself. Jaff plays with the style of the narrative quite a bit with The Sickle Man’s chapters told from a second person perspective and by adding in therapy Q&As, internal monologues, and other different aspects in Katherine’s narrative as well. This ratchets up the suspense quite a bit while also giving the reader a more unique experience.

Honestly, this is one of my absolute favorite reads of the year. It’s also the first in a trilogy and there is a pretty massive cliffhanger of an ending. Of course that means that I’m waiting, along with everyone else who’s so far enjoyed the book, with baited breath to see what will happen next.

8/15 Becky LeJeune

LOVE IS RED by Sophie Jaff. Harper (May 12, 2015). ISBN 978-0062346261. 384p.

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A GOOD DEBUTANTE’S GUIDE TO RUIN by Sophie Jordan

August 13, 2015

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The Debutante Files, Book 1

For probably the first time ever, I have started a series at the beginning! Of course this book is a year old, and I heard about it because the second book in the series, All the Ways to Ruin a Rogue, just came out. I haven’t seen it yet but after reading book 1, I am anxiously awaiting its arrival.

Rosalie Hughes has been abandoned at school by her mother for more than two years past her graduation, and finally the headmistress drops her off at her stepbrother’s home. He is Declan, the Duke of Banbary and they haven’t seen each other in more than ten years. He is not happy to see her, and calls his aunt and cousin to come stay for propriety’s sake while he figures out the quickest way to get rid of her.

His aunt is quite meddlesome and is delighted with this new project. She suggests the Duke sponsor Rosalie for the Season and marry her off. He agrees, bestows an enormous dowry on her and off they go. The Duke is a rake and has no desire to marry, but something is happening between him and Rosalie. She has had a crush on him since she was a little girl and he would rescue her when she’d climb trees and be afraid to come down. Now that they are living together those feelings have resurfaced, but he has no interest – or so they both think.

The first marriage proposal comes in a week later from an old titled man who gives Rosalie the creeps, but the Duke accepts without even asking her and Rosalie is furious. She tells her suitor thanks but no thanks, but it makes her realize that this will be her lot in life, to be married off to some old man with money and a title.

Meanwhile, the Duke’s cousin, Aurelia, and Rosalie have become friends. Aurelia confides she wants to have an adventure before they are married off, and manages to convince Rosalie to come with her to what is basically a sex club. Needless to say, things really start heating up after that.

This is an entertaining, fast paced historical novel with great characters, a fun plot and lots of hot sex; just the kind of romance I love. I will be looking for more from this author.

8/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

A GOOD DEBUTANTE’S GUIDE TO RUIN by Sophie Jordan. Avon (July 29, 2014). ISBN 978-0062222503. 384p.

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RUBBERNECKER by Belinda Bauer

August 12, 2015

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Patrick has Asperger’s Syndrome, and his mother handles it by drinking. While still very young, his father is killed by a hit and run driver, and Patrick becomes obsessed by death, bringing home dead animals for dissection, bound and determined to learn what happens after death.

He never does, but that doesn’t stop his trying; his disability gets him admission into a college anatomy class. There he works with a team of medical students dissecting Corpse 19; their task is to determine a cause of death, but Patrick soon realizes that this corpse was, in fact, murdered, but no one will listen to him.

In a concurrent story, life in the coma ward at a hospital takes a deadly turn when a doctor is witnessed murdering a patient by another coma patient who cannot talk.

Readers who loved “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time” by Mark Haddon may find satisfaction here on a more gristly and adult level. I did.

8/15 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch

RUBBERNECKER by Belinda Bauer. Atlantic Monthly Press (August 4, 2015). ISBN 978-0802123961. 320p.

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