The Family Game by Catherine Steadman

 

“The rich are not like you and me,” F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, and indeed the folks in The Family Game by Catherine Steadman are not like anyone else. The Holbecks are old money, and British author Harry Reed is engaged to their eldest son Edward, who has been estranged from his family for some time. Harry was orphaned when a drunk driver crashed into her parents’ car, and she survived as well as witnessed the death of the other driver when his car exploded.

Because Harry longs for family since she has none, she is open to helping Edward rebuild his relationship with his parents and siblings. The Holbecks engage in a number of crazy games including a frightening game of Krampusnacht, a devilish take on Santa Claus they maintain is part of their German heritage, but it seems more like a horrifying Halloween with the seven-foot-tall Kramp chasing the children.

At a family dinner, Edward’s father Robert slips Harry a Dictaphone tape that could contain the details of certain crimes…all in hopes of helping her get a jump start to conquer her writer’s block. Under the pressure of a book deadline, Harry doesn’t get to the tape right away, which leaves her at a disadvantage when the games begin.

When she finally listens to the entire tape, Harry is very confused. Is Robert just playing a game with her, or are these confessions on the tape? To find the truth about the Holbecks, including the death of their first son Bobby, Harry will have to arm herself for the cat-and-mouse game that is the foundation of the family’s savage Christmas celebration.

Catherine Steadman's fourth novel is due out in November. Steadman is also a British actress, her most famous role being Mabel Lane Fox, Mary's rival in Downton Abbey. She also starred in the Starz series, “The Rook.”

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The Orchard by Beverly Lewis

 

Beverly Lewis, who launched the Amish Fiction genre in 1997 with The Shunning, has added The Orchard to her list of 80+ published books. Coming out in September, The Orchard features Ellie Hostetler and her family. For generations, the Hostetler family has tended an orchard, and Ellie expects that her twin brother Evan will be the next one to take over the orchard, as is the habit of leaving the business to the youngest offspring.

Evan has other plans, beginning with serving in the military during the Vietnam War; he did not seek conscientious objector status as many Amish young men did in that era. He was motivated by his English friend Jack who died fighting in the war. Worse, Evan has decided to not be baptized yet in the Amish order and will continue his experience as a regular teenager in what the Amish call Rumspringa. He even has a girlfriend who is outside the order.

If Evan leaves the church or worse, dies in Vietnam, what will happen to the orchard when their mother and father are ready to retire? Ellie has always loved the orchard and does her part in tending the plants, picking fruit, and working in the family’s fruit store. Living in an apple and peach orchard is the only life she has known, although she has ideas of her own about adding cherry and plum trees.

Ellie has a boyfriend, and fortunately, he is not only an Amish man, but also he works for her family in the orchard. Best of all, Solomon is the brother of her dear friend Leah. When he is attacked by bullies who dislike young Amish men who are not likely to serve their country, Solomon fears making a future with Ellie because of his injuries.

The central question is will Evan survive Vietnam? If he does, will he leave the Amish order and strike out on his own with his English girlfriend? Who will run the orchard if that happens?

Beverly Lewis started writing short stories and poetry at the age of 9. Raised in Pennsylvania Amish country, she started writing Amish fiction with the trilogy, The Heritage of Lancaster County, a story loosely based on her maternal grandmother, an Old Order Mennonite. She and her husband, David, live in Colorado. Three of her novels have been made into Hallmark movies.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting June 27, 2022.

I would like to thank Bethany House and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Our Missing Hearts by Celestine Ng

 

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng is a political novel dealing with anti-Asian attitudes and removing children from their families, no doubt a reflection on this country’s recent history as civic disruptions are taking place in the book, people are out of jobs, shortages of everything are occurring, mobs are looting stores, and riots take place in the streets. Coming out in October, Our Missing Hearts refers to a line in a poem by an Asian-American poet, who has gone into hiding because of such unrest in America at an unnamed time in the future other than after “the Crisis.”

Margaret Miu, the poet, left behind her husband Ethan Gardner and son Noah called Bird, to protect from having the son removed by the government. Ethan is broken-hearted, and Bird has a very small world in which he can function: he is not allowed too many questions, to stand out too much, or to wander very far. “Our Missing Hearts” has been made the battle cry by those opposed to the current government as they use it in banners and posters.

In this futuristic novel, everyone is governed by laws that preserve the American Culture after having experienced years of economic instability and escalated violence. These laws allow the government to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin. In addition, books are being scrutinized for patriotism, and any books hinting of sedition are removed from libraries.

The plot of the story involves Bird receiving a cryptic drawing in a letter from an unknown source. He explores the drawing, which ignites memories of the many folktales his mother told him before she decided to disappear to protect her family. As a 12-year-old, he decides to follow the postmark from New York City to find his mother and get answers to the forbidden questions. Meanwhile, Margaret is making a stand against the current government that may not yield the results she wants.

Celeste Ng’s previous works include Everything I Never Told You and Little Fires Everywhere, which was made into a mini-series for Hulu. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting June 22, 2022.

I would like to thank Penguin Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Overkill by Sandra Brown

 

In Overkill by Sandra Brown, due out in August, Rebecca Pratt is in a coma after a night of drinking, snorting, and rough sex. Her ex-husband Zach Bridger, a former Super Bowl-winning quarterback, still has medical  power of attorney for her even though they were divorced. Following the wishes of her parents, he agrees to keep her on life support and distances himself from the situation by going into seclusion at his mountain home in North Carolina.

Now Eban Clarke, a wealthy Atlanta heir who choked Rebecca until she lost consciousness and became deprived of oxygen, has snagged an early release from prison. Georgia state prosecutor Kate Lennon is developing a plan to put Eban back in prison for a long time.

As one strategy to accomplish her intent, Kate reaches out to  Zach to discuss keeping his ex-wife on life support and wait until a natural death occurs versus taking her off it immediately. The latter action would allow Kate to bring murder charges against Eban right now before he can escape to a country that has no extradition.

Thanks to his corrupt lawyer who tells  Eban the consequences when Rebecca dies –either a natural death or removal from life support -- Eban forms deadly plans to avoid any further disruption of his playboy lifestyle that was brought to a halt with his arrest for assault. The fast-paced novel is a page-turner with a deadly conclusion.

Sandra Brown started writing in 1981 and has published more than 70 novels. Known for romantic suspense, she once tried her hand successfully with a book of historical fiction about the Great Depression, Rainwater (2009). A Texan writer, Brown has seen four of her books adapted for film.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting June 21, 2022.

I would like to thank Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

Lark Ascending by Silas House

 

Author Silas House steps outside of his beloved Appalachian Mountains of Kentucky and into a dark, new world order in the dystopian novel, Lark Ascending, coming out at the end of September. Yet, he brings his storytelling style and his brightly colored images to this cautionary tale about a ruined America taken over by fundamentalist Christians called Fundies, forcing survivors to seek asylum somewhere else.

The story is told by an elderly man named Lark, who as a 20-year-old joined his parents along with other survivors of a ruined America to  journey by ship to Ireland, the only place still open to refugees of some unnamed disaster. The voyage was miserable as it was overcrowded and understaffed, seasickness prevailed, and one misfortune after another befell the passengers.

After surviving the voyage from Nova Scotia to Ireland, the evacuees are attacked by soldiers with guns and bombs, the message being no more room for refugees. From this point, a dispirited Lark, the only survivor of the sinking ship, must get to shore and walk to a special place called Glendalough as he promised his mother he would do.

Constantly looking over his shoulder and hiding wherever he could along the way, Lark comes across a dog, an anomaly in a world where pets have been outlawed because famine is everywhere as fires have destroyed crops, and there is not even enough food for people. A few chapters focus on the point of view of the beagle, Seamus, where readers learn his late owner had taught him not to bark, not to make a sound, so they could safely hide from the Nays who have taken over the green isle.

On their journey, Lark and Seamus come across a woman named Helen, who after some consideration, decides the three of them will journey to Glendalough together, Lark seeking a safe haven and Helen searching for someone important to her. Their odyssey is troubled with an encounter with the Banished, traitors of the Irish people, and with Lark’s desire to rescue a child he sees from afar in a prisoner’s camp, thinking she was on the ship with him.

In this dark, depressing world of gray and black, the author offsets it with glimpses of color that hint at hope for a better future, from anemone blue skies to blue headed and yellow chested birds, and always the glowing green of Ireland. House may have left Appalachia but the strengths readers experience in his Appalachian Literature are still evidenced in this apocalyptic story, especially his ability to describe place.

Silas House writes novels, short stories, nonfiction, plays, and essays. His work has found a home in many publications including the New York Times, the Atlantic, Time, and Garden & Gun. Honored by many awards for his work, his Appalachian trilogy – A Parchment of Leaves, the Coal Tattoo, and Clay’s Quilt – has been drawn from not only his experiences in Appalachia but also from the experiences of his family. His novel Southernmost is currently in development as a motion picture. A resident of Lexington, Kentucky, House is a full professor at Berea College.

Suspect by Scott Turow (no cover photo at this time)

One look at Clarice “Pinky” Granum might cause people to not take her seriously, what with her mohawk, a nail through the nose, and all her tats, but she has great instincts about people and top-rated investigative skills that are needed in Scott Turow’s latest legal thriller, Suspect, coming out September 20.

Pinky is the granddaughter of Sandy Stern, the lawyer Turow introduced  in his novels about fictional Kindle County. The suspect could be several different people throughout the course of the book, but the predominant one is Police Chief Lucy Gomez, who is accused of trading sex for promotions in the Highland Isle Police Department.

An admirer of the chief, Pinky works for Rik Dudek, the lawyer who is representing Lucy, who insists that these allegations are part of an ugly smear campaign during an election year. Dudek takes on the first two accusers and dispenses with them quickly on the stand. But the third accuser is adamant that the sex-for-rank scandal is real, and he has a photo to prove it.

Pinky goes to work using her contacts and her PI’s Bag of Tricks to help the chief put the allegations to rest while at the same time looking out for herself and Lucy as certain players seem out to get them. It will take Pinky’s super sharp thinking skills to keep herself and others alive as the true motives for the sex scandal smear are revealed.

Lawyer-turned-writer Scott Turow has again turned in a top-notch thriller with Suspect. Movies have been based on several of his Kindle County books including Presumed Innocent, The Burden of Proof, Reversible Errors, and Innocent. Turow is a native of Chicago.

 

 

 

The Mother-in-law by Karen King

 

The Mother-in-Law in Karen King’s latest psychological thriller is to die for, due in bookstores at the end of July. You know the type: Sam Corbett  loves Dana Wynters, but he loved his mother Evelyn first. Evelyn, “a dragon in a twinset and pearls,” is not going to let him go, insisting that the engaged couple stay on in the Corbett manor house, and by the way, murder is not out of the question.

Dana thinks Sam is the perfect man, but his mother leaves a lot to be desired. Not only does Evelyn try to control everything about the wedding, but also she seems to be doing everything she can to stop it: suggesting another woman is more suited for Sam, making Dana feel as though she could never be part of the family, and accusing her of stealing valuable ruby earrings. But will she really kill Dana? Well, the book does open with a wedding-cake-cutting scene, and a bite of the cake that has nuts in it, sending Dana into anaphylactic shock.

A series of accidents, all happening to Dana, before the wedding leaves her torn and confused about what is going on. Is her future mother-in-law really so devious and calculating as to murder Dana rather than lose Sam? The number of times Dana keeps ending up in the hospital prior to the wedding as well as on the wedding day itself is enough to cause her to fear Evelyn.

Then Dana hears a row between Evelyn and her husband Harold, and a long-held secret about Sam’s birth is overheard. Dana is not the only one looking into the secret: the housekeeper Ruby is as well as she is trying to determine what really happened in her own life 35 years ago. The story all comes together with champagne, wedding cake, and a murderer revealed.

Karen King writes books about “the light and dark of relationships.” She is working on two psychological thrillers as well as a romance. Born in Birmingham, England, she now lives in Spain with her husband.