Within Arm's Reach

Within Arm's Reach by Ann Napolitano
4/30/24; 352 pages
Random House

Within Arm's Reach by Ann Napolitano is a highly recommended literary family drama featuring three generations of an Irish-American family. First published in 2004, this was Napolitano's debut novel and showcases her early skillful ability to create finely drawn characters and bring them to life.

Catharine, the matriarch of the Irish-American McLaughlin clan, is approaching 80 years-old. Catharine has the gift of visions and has conversations with deceased relatives, a gift of her heritage. She has 6 surviving children after losing three. Kelly, 56, is her oldest surviving daughter, is married to Louis and mother to Lila and Gracie. Now Gracie is pregnant and Catharine is sure this baby, this start of the next generation will help bind the family together again. Right now the whole family keeps a tight rein on their emotions. This new addition may change everything. 

The narrative unfolds through the point-of-view of six different characters : Gracie, Catharine, Louis, Lila, Kelly, and Noreen Ballen (Catharine's nurse). These are all fully realized, exquisitely written characters who came to life on the page. They are all portrayed as real individuals, with different opinions, flaws, strengths, and conflicting emotions.

The writing is excellent in this portrait of three generations of a family. Within Arm’s Reach demonstrates how interconnected the members of a family can be and how they inherit more than they realize from their ancestors. I enjoyed everything about this novel except for the fact that it was left open ended. Certainly it showcases the developing talent of a gifted writer. It was a pleasure to read this debut novel from 2004 since I loved and adored both Dear Edward and Hello Beautiful. Thanks to Random House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Someone Saw Something

Someone Saw Something by Rick Mofina
4/30/24; 400 pages
MIRA

Someone Saw Something by Rick Mofina is a highly recommended family drama centered around the search for a child who has gone missing and presumed to be abducted.

News anchor and journalist Corina Corado asks her sixteen-year-old stepdaughter, Charlotte, to pick up her six-year-old little brother, Gabriel, from school because their father, Robert had to delay his flight and is unable to do so. Charlotte and Gabriel walk through Central Park on their way home so he can have a text flight of a plane he made. As the plane flies over a hill, Gabriel runs off to get it and Charlotte, who is texting, says she'll be right there waiting for him... but he doesn't come right back. Charlotte runs to find him and can't. The unthinkable has happened. Gabriel is missing.

A missing child and subsequent search and investigation is enough excitement to hold up a plot. Adding one complication, the hate mail Corina receives as a well known journalist is an understandable concern. But Mofina ups the ante to almost unbelievable levels. The number of secrets, twists, and extraneous directions the investigation takes is throwing everything into the plot, including the kitchen sink. The whole twenty-one year old "boyfriend" of your sixteen-year-old daughter thread could have been left out, as could Robert's big secrets.

The characters are portrayed as realistic individuals, except for maybe the whole withholding of major pieces of information that might be connected to the search for their SON. However, while reading your emotions will be running high as you wait for the characters to just tell the whole truth. 

Admittedly, it held my attention because of all the secrets and intrigue, but in the end I felt as if the main concern, Gabriel, was being buried under all the other plot threads and characters included in the narrative. This overload of extras that maybe were possibly connected with the investigation actually slowed down the novel and the main concern - searching for Gabriel. 3.5 rounded up. Thanks to MIRA for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Safe and Sound

Safe and Sound by Laura McHugh
4/23/24; 304 pages
Random House

Safe and Sound by Laura McHugh is a very highly recommended mystery following two sisters trying to find out the truth behind their older cousin's disappearance from their home in Beaumont, Missouri.

Amelia(Mimi) and Kylee were found safe upstairs in their bedroom when their teenage cousin Grace, who was babysitting them, disappeared. The sisters are now getting ready to leave the dead-end small town of Beaumont after high school graduation, just as Grace always told them to do. When the remains of a young woman are found on a piece of property outside of town, the sisters immediately wonder if it is Grace. There was so much blood found in the kitchen that night... As the girls begin to look into the identity of the body found they must continue to survive in a town that is cruel to young women and hope.

The narrative is told in the present day through chapters from the point-of-view of Amelia and Kylee while alternating chapters have the events from the past unfolding through Grace's point-of-view. This was a very effective plot device which serves to keep tensions high in both time periods. Readers know Grace disappears and is presumed dead due to the amount of blood at the scene. Seeing Grace grow up and her absolute devotion to her younger cousins establishes the close bond between the cousins. They were really as close as sisters.

Grace, Amelia, and Kylee are all believable, fully realized characters and you will want the best for them even while Grace is experiencing horrors of abuse by an uncle. There are so many layers of secrets lurking in both their families and with their friends. Additionally, the setting is a major character. Beaumont is a hard-scrabble, dead-end town where the best job is at the meat packing plant and it seems everyone is just barely scraping by.

The writing is absolutely wonderful, both descriptive and emotional. I marked several quotes, including one from an elderly former teacher, Mrs. Mummer: "When you're dying, Amelia, you remember your regrets. They crop up like stones in the river when the water gets low. Try to have as few as possible." For such a dark and desperate story there was one discussion that had me laughing, as it will others who know the Missouri/Kansas rivalry. (Condensing the discussion: What do you think it'll it be like? Living someplace else? / Probably something like when Dorothy lands in Oz. / Great. Maybe we'll get hearts and brains and courage. / That's only if you're from Kansas. We're from Missouri. We'll be lucky to get a can of Bud Light and a bootstrap.)

The final denouement was shocking and surprising, but also felt a bit incomplete. 4.5 rounded up. Thanks to Random House for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Next of Kin

Next of Kin by Samantha Jayne Allen
4/23/24; 336 pages
Minotaur Books
Annie McIntyre #3

Next of Kin by Samantha Jayne Allen brings back newly-licensed private investigator Annie McIntyre, 26, from Garnett, TX. In this highly recommended mystery she accepts a case helping someone find his biological parents, but it soon turns into much more.

Annie and her boyfriend, Wyatt, attend a prenuptial party for her cousin Nikki and her fiance Sonny Marshall. Annie is the maid of honor. The party is being given by Sonny's best man and adopted brother, Clint Marshall, a talented up-and-coming musician. After the party Clint comes in to hire Annie to find his biological family. He was adopted at age 4 and has some memories from his past. She quickly discovers that his father is a bank robber serving time and that he has a brother, sister and mother. 

Annie meets his brother, Cody. Soon after that, Cody is found dead and Clint disappears. Annie doubts the official verdict concerning Cody's death and wonders if it was a homicide. In this small town setting everyone seems to know everyone else as Annie sets off on her own dangerous investigation with some help from former county sheriff and her grandfather, Leroy, 85, and his former deputy, Mary-Pat Zimmerman.

This is a well-written, carefully plotted PI novel. The characters were portrayed as realistic, well-developed characters. The small Texas town setting adds an interesting atmosphere to the narrative as well as plenty of connections between characters.

It does start a bit slowly, taking time to work up some speed, but once it gets moving the pages will fly by. As my first Annie McIntyre, Next of Kin worked as a standalone. The ending absolutely surprised me. Thanks to  Minotaur Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Backyard Bird Chronicles

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan
4/23/24; 320 pages
Knopf Doubleday

The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan is a delightful illustrated love story dedicated to birds and bird watching. It is very highly recommended. This is an amazing book and I can't wait to buy a hardcover copy.

In 2016 Amy Tan began keeping journals with drawings about the birds she observed in her northern California backyard. The Backyard Bird Chronicles represents material from nine journals full of observations from September 16, 2017 to December 15, 2022. Most of the entries are observations or lighthearted notes, but a few more serious events are also included, like the 2017 salmonellosis outbreak among Pine Siskins. She observes and identifies the many birds, the problems like squirrels, crows, cats, etc. At the end is a list of all the birds she has seen in her backyard as of Dec 2022, and a selected reading list.

This is a spectacular book! I can't even explain how much I adored this book. I loved the charming personal, reflective, humorous observations about the birds, the information, and especially the sketches of the birds she seeing. Tan is the daughter of an ornithologist, which explains some of her knowledge, but she also adores watching the birds. 

Her devotion to feeding them, providing water, and creating a welcoming habitat for a wide variety of birds is inspiring. David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, wrote the foreword and writes that this is a "collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words." Thanks to Knopf Doubleday for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

Lucky

Lucky by Jane Smiley
4/23/24; 384 pages
Knopf Doubleday

Lucky by Jane Smiley is a polarizing literary novel which covers decades in the life of a folk musician. It is recommended; highly for the right reader.

Jodie Rattler grew up in St. Louis with her mother and near her extended family. She first discovered she was lucky in 1955 when she was six years old and her uncle Drew took her to the racetrack. A roll of two-dollar bills were the physical representation of that luck and she keeps them near her and hidden for years. Jodie always had a love of music along with her family. When she is studying at Penn State in the 1969, her singing career takes off after one of her songs becomes a surprise hit. She does well in royalties and even better after her uncle Drew handles the investment of her windfall. This allows her to travel and even spend time abroad.

Many successful musicians of the time periods involved are mentioned throughout the novel. It is sort of a musical coming of age novel through the 70's and 80's (and on) pop culture, but the plot also focuses on Jodie's relationship with her family. There are a lot of lyrics for the songs Jodie writes included in the narrative and the impetus for the lyrics is part of the story. The actual quality/credibility of the lyrics is debatable. Along the way there are several times Jodie sees a high school classmate she refers to only as the "gawky girl." (It is later clearly revealed that the gawky girl is a stand-in for Smiley.) Jodie does settle down back in St. Louis to care for her mother and grandparents.

The writing is excellent and I was really enjoying this story of a woman's life. Sure, as a character Jodi can be a little self-involved and the plot does move slowly in parts, but there is also a nostalgic element to the narrative as it list musicians for years past that is appealing. 

What totally changes everything is the abrupt change in structure, tone, and voice in the final epilogue. How do you rate a book that abruptly changes directions to a stupefying ending? I keep stalling on writing a review, flipping back and forth on how I feel, and that is not a satisfying reading experience so I need to go with a neutral rating. Thanks to Knopf Doubleday for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

At the Edge of the Woods

At the Edge of the Woods by Victoria Houston
4/23/24; 256 pages
Crooked Lane Books
Lew Ferris Mystery #3

At the Edge of the Woods by Victoria Houston is akin to a cozy mystery set in the Northern Wisconsin woods and full of fly fishing along with a murder investigation. It is highly recommended.

In Loon Lake a local dentist Bert Willoughby is shot while practicing with his partner Robin Carpenter for an upcoming pickleball tournament. Sheriff Lew Ferris suspects that the bullet may have been a stray shot from hunters in the area, but the investigation shows that Willoughby was an extremely unlikable man. The local rumor mill and retired men's coffee group (via Doc Osborne) have plenty of inside information and there is more than one local who could be a suspect in eliminating him. 

After meeting Jane Willoughby and her daughter, it becomes clear that the whole family is unlikable. Lew is intent on solving the mystery and always hopeful to get in some fishing in too. Then another murder may change the questions she needs to ask.

This is always a fun, fast-paced murder mystery series to pick up and At the Edge of the Woods is a nice addition to the series. (The other two are Wolf Hollow and Hidden in the Pines.) These novels are akin to cozy mysteries, only set in Wisconsin and feature a lot of talk about fly fishing as well as other outdoor pursuits. There is enough information provided in the narrative that you can easily enjoy the books as a stand-alone read, but they do compliment each other.

Known characters are back and make an appearance, if even briefly, as Lew investigates. The pace is fast and the short length makes this a quick, comfortable, and entertaining series to pass the time with. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.