Stacked-Up Book Thoughts: A Pair of Short Reviews

Happy Monday. You may have noticed that I've been a little MIA in terms of visiting blogs and reporting on my reading. That's because this month, I ended up being extremely busy with work. When I'm reading long, long days as an editor, I often don' have it in me to continue to read for pleasure at night.

To add insult to injury, it rained almost every day in October, which meant no outdoor walks, so I had way less time to listen to my audiobooks.

Oh yeah, and then there was baseball. We don't watch a lot of sports, but we never miss the playoffs and the World Series in October. There were some great games this month, and I couldn't believe one Series game went into 18 innings!

My workload should return to normal after tomorrow, and I'm looking forward to stopping by your blogs to see what you're up to.

Enough excuses, here are the two books, both audiobooks, that I managed to finish.

The Ever After by Sarah Pekkanen (Atria Books, Simon & Schuster Audio, June 2018; 8 hr, 16 min). I don't read a lot of contemporary women's fiction, but when I do, I want a complex story with women facing real issues and in a believable way. I can usually count on Pekkanen to give me what I want. The Ever After is about a Josie and Frank who have a great marriage, until Josie picks up her husband's phone one day to see a text that implies he's been unfaithful (this happens in the first chapter). Now she has to decide what to do about her marriage. Frank is a good father and loves his wife; he downplays his affair by insisting that the whole thing involved only some kissing. Basically, this is a "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" kind of book, and I found it interesting enough to finish but I wasn't wowed by it. Josie's initial reactions and her loss of trust of in Frank were understandable, but I didn't find anything particularly new or surprising in The Ever After. Narrator Joy Osmanski has a good sense of pacing and adds emotion and spark to the dialogue. A good performance, however, wasn't enough to make me love The Ever After. (Review audiobook provide by the publisher)

Lethal White by Robert Galbraith (Mulholland, Hachette Audio, September 2018; 22 hr, 31 min). Have I told you lately how much I love the Cormoran Strike books? This fourth in series proves that Galbraith (aka JK Rowling) is a master at complex, multilevel plots that draw you in and don't let go. The basic background to the series is that Cormoran Strike, an Afghanistan War veteran, and Robin Ellacott, his partner, run a sometimes struggling private detective firm. The books are about their cases as well as their private lives. The prologue to this book starts moments after the last book ended and then jumps ahead a year. The firm is handling several cases, but the big money is coming from a Parliament minister who claims he's being blackmailed for no reason. That's all I'm going to say about the plot because I don't want to ruin anything for you. I loved the many layers of this mystery, the way Robin takes on disguises, and Cormoran's insight into how the many clues eventually come together. I particularly like the way Galbraith addresses the detectives' personal lives: there's enough information to keep us invested in the characters as people, but I so appreciate that the books never cross the line into cozy mystery territory. The story lines are gritty and not for the faint of heart. Narrator Robert Glenister nails the Cormoran Strike series; he has created consistent voices (and is good with the variety of UK accents) and really knows how to build the tension. This series just keeps getting better, and I love how the book ended. I can't wait for book five! (Personal copy)