Author: Alexandra

State of Terror by Louise Penny

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STATE OF TERROR, a taut, tense, whiplash-inducing thriller, is so up to the minute in world events it seems like the authors, Hillary Clinton and crime fiction author, Louise Penny, had a crystal ball to look into scrying possible scenarios … no, wait … they did. In the form of Ms. Clintons and her years as Secretary of State. Her experience and skill, among other things, provide the backdrop to this immensely addictive thriller.

From the well delineated characters, including the secondary characters who are just as pivotal in the plot, through to the non-stop and relentless pace. We are whisked along by the unfolding events all the while chewing the inside of our cheeks, fretting along with Secretary of State, Ellen Adams, and her closest confident and Counsellor, Betsy Jameson.

These two women whose bond throughout was a joy and a surprise, never mind the clever wit and snark. I also love that relationships play a large part in events, decision, and actions throughout. Which makes the stakes all the more threatening when they’re seen intimately, up-close and personal with frightening consequences.

Political intrigue, high-stakes espionage, traitors, misdirects, subterfuge, and the ultimate terror of a radical terrorist group laying hands on not one nuclear weapon, but three, set the stage and scope for this well-plotted emotional roller coaster ride of a thriller. That, in the end, had real bite.

Grab a large glass of your favourite wine, curl up on the sofa and get ready for Ellen and Betsy to get it done—two truly iconic women!

Sawbones by Melissa Lenhardt

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SAWBONES is raw, gritty and, at times, violently graphic. The characters themselves could have been ripped out of a Dime novel of the day back in the late 1800s—with a woman on the run after being accused of murder she didn’t commit, Indians on the warpath, and a saddle-weary Army Captain with a dire secret of his. Each adds their own story to the narrative as seen through the eyes of Lenhardt’s heroine, Catherine Bennett. A woman with the audacity to think she could be a doctor in a man’s world.

Escaping from the stifling confines of NYC after being wrongly accused of murder, Bennet flees to the Texas frontier with help form a childhood friend, James, and her Irish maid, Maureen. But the West is filled with more than its own fair share of dangers, from drunken cowpokes, to bounty hunters, and those trying to make a fast buck any where they can. Each character more despicable than the last.

Heading toward a frontier town, the wagon train Maureen and Catherine—now calling herself Laura Elliston—are travelling on is attacked by marauding Indians. Everyone, except Laura, is brutally murdered. Chased off by an Army patrol, Laura is rescued by Captain William Kindle and his men. However, in the fight, Kindle is severely injured. But thanks to Laura’s skill as a surgeon, she’s able to save Kindle’s life. And thus, as the two are thrown together by chance and circumstances, a romance ignites.

While Sawbones is, at times, a page-turner with lots of gung-ho action, Lenhardt does try to tempers her unflinching portrayal of the West—and the prevailing attitudes of the times—with some thoughtful moments between the various characters. But even out in the wild west love can be a burden when trying to hide in plain sight. As passions run high between Kindle and Elliston, betrayal may have the last word in any hope of happiness for the couple. A spectre from Kindle’s past rides into town and demands the ultimate sacrifice of them. The result is an ending that goes completely over the top.

This is no rosy, glossy love-story, but a visceral look at how life in the wild west might have looked. With characters whose lives are torn apart by circumstances, in a brutal world vividly brought to life by Lenhardt’s style of storytelling. Sadly, for me, what was lost in all this gore and extreme violence, is a decent storyline.

If you like your westerns with an overload of violence, and a heavy dose of romance, then maybe you’ll enjoy taking a ride out west with Lenhardt’s Sawbones.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

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I don’t normally read contemporary or literary fiction, in the same way I like to avoid getting a nasty skin rash — through avoidance. But after reading a couple of reviews, and seeing it listed on a couple of blogs as a book to read I found myself staring at the cover in my local bookstore and thinking, okay, maybe this won’t be so bad. Maybe I won’t get a skin rash, vomit, swoon or faint from cracking open its pages. So I bought it.

Sure enough, I checked myself regularly through out the reading process and, no rashes. I did, however, laugh a lot—because of Ove’s droll observations and the awkward situations he found himself dealing with—and smiled at the nicknames he gave everyone in his neighbourhood, including the mangy cat. I was also left shaking my head in wonder, when the seemingly innocent act of drilling a hole in the ceiling turns out to be a lot more than drilling a hole in the ceiling.

There is so much more going on in Ove’s life, that trickles in through those first few chapters which, by the end, make you sit up and realise what’s really going on. And just why there is no colour left in Ove’s life anymore.

Death is a strange thing. People live their whole lives as if it does not exist, and yet it’s often one of the great motivations for the living… For the greatest fear of death is always that it will pass us by. And leave us there alone. All people at root are time optimists. We always think there’s enough time to do things with other people. Time to say things to them. And then something happens and then we stand there holding on to words like ‘if’. People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.

Poignant, funny, uplifting and yes, at times, heartbreakingly sad, Ove has lived a simple life that’s anything but simple. In that the challenges he’s had to overcome, and the people—good and bad—that have shaped and moulded the boy through to the man that he becomes, all become part of the very cleverly written backstory. From Ove’s interactions with his father, through to the loving relationship he has with his wife, Sonja, and how they met and fell in love.

But it’s in the present we see how Ove’s life slowly transforms through the interactions with his (somewhat) friends and neighbours. Flawed people who make mistakes, argue (a lot) and drive Ove nuts yet, who at times, also touch Ove deeply in ways even he never expected — especially his next door neighbour, Parvaneh and her two young daughters. And even though Ove tells these people exactly what he thinks of them, they still manage to be there and to rally round, and change a grumpy old man’s life, in ways he never expected all for the better.

A Man Called Ove is an immensely enjoyable read and one you will not easily forget. Certainly, it touched me deeply.

Secrets of State by Matthew Palmer

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This is a solid outing from Matthew Palmer, an author that knows his stuff. SECRETS OF STATE, is a thriller with all the right ingredients, that hit all the right notes. The characters are nothing new, but familiar territory is okay as long as there is enough elsewhere to make up for it. And while the plot is nothing new either—terrorists stealing a nuclear weapon to blow up a city—again, that was okay, as the author came at this from a slightly different angle, with a new view while covering old ground, which freshened up a doomsday scenario with likeable enough characters that were engaging.

Set against the backdrop of simmering tensions between India and Pakistan, Palmer gives us a what-if that’s oh so plausible right now. And while most authors are focused on the usual suspects and setting that are becoming tired, he reminds us that the world at large is still a very dangerous place and has far more players on the world stage than we usually think about.

What sets SECRETS OF STATE apart from the average read, are the small things. And it’s not often we get a view of places like Mumbai and it’s slums—never mind the people that live there. A thoroughly enjoyable, and quick read, so much so I’ll be buying a few more of Palmer’s works as I suspect they’ll be just as enjoyable a romp as SECRETS OF STATE was.