Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano

What happens when a child is raised with no affection or attention because his parents are broken by the death of their other child? In Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano coming out in March, Williams Waters grows up with so little consideration from his parents that he savors the chance to move far away from them thanks to a basketball scholarship.

At Northwestern University, he meets Julia Padavano, one of four sisters who are a tight-knit family including mother Rose and father Charlie. Julia believes her love and encouragement can save William after years of parental disinterest. Sisters Sylvia, the dreamer; Cecelia, the artist, and her twin Emeline, the nurturer, also embrace their quiet, troubled brother-in-law with their love and support.

But William can only thrive for so long before the darkness of his sister’s death and his parents’ neglect overtake him. His life with the Padavanos is jeopardized when William hits rock bottom, resulting in a rift in the family that lasts for generations. How will William survive his darkest hour? What will become of the family who does love him when he rejects them totally? How can the division William has caused among the sisters be repaired?

Ann Napolitano’s fourth novel is both joyful and heartbreaking in turns. Her last book, Dear Edward, was named one of the best books of 2020 by The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and Real Simple. She is also the author of the novels A Good Hard Look and Within Arm’s Reach. She was the associate editor of One Story literary magazine from 2014-2020. Napolitano lives in Brooklyn with her family.

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The In-Laws by Laura Wolfe

In The In-Laws by Laura Wolfe coming out in January, bride-to-be Abigail Cates and groom-to-be Pete Mitchell have planned a bonding activity in Hiawana National Forest in Michigan with both sets of parents: Kristen and John Cates  and Darla and Kenny Mitchell. The parents met once for dinner at a restaurant that did not go well, so Abigail is hoping three days in the woods with a scout from Team Wilderness would help everyone get better acquainted.

The going is rough as the refined Cates and the coarse Mitchells interact. Pete has distanced himself from his parents as their ways embarrass him what with Darla being into the mystic world and his father an ex-con who Pete never told Abigail about. On the other hand, Abigail is close to her parents; Kristen is a psychiatrist, and John runs his own commercial real estate enterprise.

But not is all that it appears to be. Abigail has actually plotted with the guide, Liam, to help her plan a very different experience than the one the others expect. Terrifying things begin to happen in the forest, and the campers are ready to pack it in on Day One. Things only get worse, leaving one in the party dead.

In the end as everyone’s secrets unravel and Liam has gone for help as one of them has an injury and cannot possibly finish the hike, how will the campers be rescued as they are now down to their last granola bars, and it is only Day Two? Is there a murderer among them or did the victim simply have an accident? The book comes to a startling end and a revealing deception, with one more death occurring before this twisty psychological thriller comes to a close.

Laura Wolfe, a lover of animals and nature, has written a total of six adult thrillers including We Live Next Door, Her Best Friend’s Lie, She Lies Alone, Top Producer, and Two Widows. She also writes a YA mystery series. The author lives in Michigan where her thrillers are set.

 

NOTE: I really did not enjoy the book. Too nebulous. Character driven.

for readers who like character-driven novels, 48 Clues into the Disappearance of My Sister by Joyce Carol Oates delves into the lives of two sisters:  Marguerite Fulmer, age 30, and Georgene, age 24, commonly referred to as simply M and G. In this March 2023 offering, M, who is a gifted artist, has vanished from a small town in New York where she teaches at an arts college.

Where is she? everyone asks. Since neither G nor her father know where M is, the rumors start to fly. The town wonders, was she pregnant? Had an abortion? On a trip? Surely not foul play?

As the police investigate the missing person case, the unattractive G slowly reveals that she hates her sister M, who is pretty, perfect, and the favorite daughter. An admittedly “not a nice person,” G envies her sister’s occupation, art studio, private life, and her talent. Expressing that she, on the other hand, has no life, G drags herself to a dead-end and boring  job at the post office while she has no friends.

But M’s life has not always been sunshine and roses as she had been attacked by a man while a teen. Not wanting any negative light shined on the Fulmer family, the parents truly brushed the incident under the rug while M never fully recovered. What are the chances that M’s attacker returned? What is the possibility that G has harmed her sister? What about her mentor at the college who has created paintings that resemble M but one more grisly than the next? Or will M remain one of the many women each year who go missing and never are found?

Joyce Carol Oates has won many awards for her writing, including the National Book Award for her novel them in 1969, and  two O. Henry Awards for her short stories.  Oates continues to live and write in Princeton, New Jersey, where she is Distinguished Professor of Humanities at Princeton University.

  

All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay

 

In 2015, Jeff Larkin’s childhood friend and author Phil Solomon is looking for ideas for his next book, and an email from Jeff puts Phil on a path to telling the story of the Larkin family’s tragedy.  On November 12, 1975, Jane Larkin simply vanished from her home in Boston, never to be heard from again by her husband and children in All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay, slated for March publication. Because “it’s always the spouse,” Dan Larkin is the primary suspect, even though absolutely no evidence points to him.

The three children -- Miranda, Jeff, and Alex -- are absolutely devastated by their missing mother, and they have mixed emotions about the possibility that their defense lawyer father could have killed her, especially when he quickly moves in his girlfriend and her daughter. The mystery of just what happened to Jane Larkin will remain unsolved even when her skeleton is found 20 years after her disappearance.

Miranda has already tried to tell the story from her mother’s point of view just to “get it out” as she is probably the most haunted of the three children. Worse, she’s in charge of taking care of her father who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Could the diagnosis finally “clear” him of any further attempts to prosecute him? While the children have finally been able to bury the skeleton of their mother, they are still troubled because they don’t know what happened that November day in 1975.

In a mystery that spans a lifetime, Miranda remains suspicious of her father yet she is his caretaker, Jeff absolutely hates his father and stays away in San Francisco, and only Alex believes it is possible that his father didn’t murder his mother. How can any of their doubts be satisfied, especially now that Dan’s health is impairing his memories?

William Landay is the author of the New York Times bestseller Defending Jacob, which was produced on film for Apple TV+ in 2020. His debut novel in 2003, Mission Flats, won the Dagger Award for best debut crime novel.  The Strangler, a Los Angeles Times favorite crime novel, was nominated for the Strand Magazine Critics Award as best crime novel of 2007.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting December 7, 2022.

I would like to thank Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine  and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson

 

Calling The Kind Worth Saving (Henry Kimball/Lily Kintner #2) a semi-sequel, author Peter Swanson follows up the psychological thriller The Kind Worth Killing (2015).  Due out in March, the book continues the story of Henry Kimball, teacher, turned cop, turned private investigator, and Lily Kintner, a smart and complex woman who injured Henry in the first book in the series.

This time around, Kimball encounters one of his former students who was the queen bee at her high school, Joan Grieve. She hires Kimball to confirm that her husband Richard Whalen is cheating, although she has something more devious in mind that calls for the help of a former classmate.

During his investigation, Kimball follows Whalen and Pam O’Neil to their love nest, where he hears three gunshots. What he finds triggers a post-traumatic stress episode from his first and only teaching year. What he thought was the worst day of his life --  a school shooting in his classroom -- has competition from the events happening now.

In the aftermath of the gunshots, Kimball becomes suspicious of Joan. What secrets does she have about the death of her husband and his mistress? How are these murders linked to the school shooting years ago? What could be the link to a supposed accidental drowning that happened when Joan was just a teenager?

As Kimball draws nearer to the truth, he soon finds himself in great danger from Joan’s partner in crime. When Kimball has to step back, Lily Kintner steps up to continue investigating how all the people who have died are linked to Joan.

Peter Swanson’s novel The Kind Worth Killing has been optioned for a movie. He writes short stories, poetry, and features as well as novels. His work has been printed in Asimov’s Science Fiction, The Atlantic Monthly, Measure, The Guardian, The Strand Magazine, and Yankee Magazine. The Girl with a Clock for a Heart, his debut novel, is still my personal favorite. Swanson lives in Somerville, Massachusetts, with his wife and their cat.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting December 5, 2022.

I would like to thank William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

Forsaken Country by Allen Eskens

 In Forsaken Country (Max Rupert, 6) by Allen Eskens that came out in September, former Minneapolis homicide detective Max Rupert has left the job, secluding himself from the rest of the world as a self-imposed punishment about how he wrapped up his last case.

He continually mourns the loss of his wife while getting through just one day at a time in his isolated cabin near Grand Rapids, Minnesota. When former local sheriff Lyle Voight’s daughter Sandy and grandson Pip disappear, Voight summons Rupert back into the role of detective. Voight knows the kidnapper has to be Sandy’s ex-husband and former deputy Reed Harris who lost custody of Pip after beating both Sandy and Pip and went to jail. The current sheriff, a friend of the ex-con’s,  refuses to accept Voight’s theory, doing nothing to investigate.

Knowing his son-in-law’s patterns, Voight is convinced Harris has taken the two north to the Boundary Waters wilderness to escape into Canada. Rupert and Voight prepare to follow the trail to find the captives. What they don’t know is that Harris has an accomplice who begins to rebel against Harris as he sees more and more that the father is not good to the son. Risking their own lives in this treacherous terrain, the forbidden country, Rupert and Voight track the outlaw and his captives.

I became a fan of Allen Eskens’ writing with his unforgettable debut novel, The Life We Bury, which may have a future in film. Eskens grew up in the hills of central Missouri. He lives with his wife in Cleveland, Minnesota, where he retired after practicing criminal law for 25 years.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting December 3, 2022.

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