Search This Blog

Friday, September 23, 2016

The Lost Girls by Heather Young and Murder on the Quai by Cara Black


The Lost Girls by Heather Young is a debut novel and a fine one.  Told in two time periods and from two points of view, the novel examines the effects the past can have on the present.  

In 1935, several families make their annual sojourn to their lake houses. The Evans girls (Lilith, 13, Lucy 11, and Emily 6) are excited about this intermission from their normal lives.  The fathers stay in town and work during the week, then join their families on the weekend.  For most of the children, the summers at the lake are full of fun and adventure and have the added benefit of being less closely supervised than during the school year.

This particular summer, however, will be different for the Evans girls.  Lilith is growing up and leaving her sister Lucy behind.  Emily, the youngest, is not much appreciated by the older girls and is tightly bound to her mother.  By the end of the summer, Emily has disappeared and things will never be the same for the Evans family.

Sixty years later, Lucy, the last of the Evans sisters,  finds one of her old notebooks and decides to record the events of the summer in 1935:

"I hold secrets that don't belong to me; secrets that would blacken the names of the defenseless dead.  People I once loved.  Better to let it be, I tell myself.

But this notebook reminds me it's not so simple as that.  I owe other debts.  I made other promises.  And not all the defenseless dead, loved or not, are virtuous."

When Lucy dies, she leaves the lake house to her grand-niece, Justine.  The journal is intended for Justine as well.

When Justine learns from Lucy's lawyer about her inheritance, it occurs to her that the house provides an opportunity to escape a relationship she hasn't completely acknowledged as oppressive.  Impulsively and wasting no time, she packs up her daughters and treks from San Diego to the small Minnesota town and the isolated lake house.

Told from alternating points of view and encompassing two time periods, the story of what happened that summer is gradually revealed.  

In the present, Justine struggles with her own problems--worries about her daughters, a dilapidated house that is not really winterized for the freezing Minnesota winters, a shortage of money, and concerns that the controlling boyfriend will follow.

Lucy's chapters attempt to truthfully relate the events of that summer in 1935.  

Beautifully written, The Lost Girls kept me engaged from start to finish.  Sometimes the characters frustrated me, but Young tells the story with enough background that even when you know characters are making the wrong decisions, you have an understanding of why.

I really liked both the prose and the story, and I'm hoping to hear more from Heather Young.

Library copy.

2016.  369 pages.

Murder on the Quai by Cara Black is actually a prequel to her series featuring Aimee Leduc.  I have only read a couple of the books in this series, but I liked them.   

"The world knows Aimée Leduc, heroine of 15 mysteries in thisNew York Times bestselling series, as a très chic, no-nonsense private investigator—the toughest and most relentless in Paris. Now author Cara Black dips back in time to reveal how Aimée first became a detective . . ."

Not all prequels are satisfactory, but I enjoyed finding out how Aimee met her partner Rene and acquired Miles Davis, her dog.  It was also interesting to examine an earlier time in which technology like cell phones and computers were larger and less convenient.  

Library copy. 

Mystery/Crime.  2016.  328 pages. 

9 comments:

  1. The Lost Girls sounds good to me. I like stories that are told in two time periods and from two point of views. It's best if their voices are ambiguous and have us guess the truth till the end. Love it! Glad you liked both the prose and story. Will have to check it out. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is always nice to see a debut novel that promises more to come. :)

      Delete
  2. The first book sounds fascinating. I know what you mean by getting frustrated with characters' decisions. It's like being at the movie theater with people who can't help themselves and call out, "Don't go in there!" or "Look out behind you!" Books that feature the death of a child are hard for me to read, however. You know what a fan I am of Aimee Leduc, so knowing there is a prequel may bug me until I buy it. P.S. 3328 pages is very long. ;-))

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. :) Yes, you are the one who first recommended this series! Duh, I've made the correction to the number of pages--3328 pages would have been more than I could have handled!

      Delete
  3. The Lost Girls sounds good...despite having two timelines and two POVs. :) Think I might have to give this one a read.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I did want to knock some sense into Justine's head on occasion, but she manages without my help. :)

      Delete
  4. Great review of The Lost Girls! I think I would really enjoy that so it's going on my list. I tried one of the Cara Black books years ago but I didn't like it so much but it could have been a case of right book/wrong time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Lost Girls was a good character-driven psychological novel. I've enjoyed the Cara Black books I've read, but I know what you mean about the right book/wrong time--guess we've all had that experience. And we don't all love the same books for whatever the reason! :)

      Delete
  5. I just finished The Lost Girls and I absolutely LOVED it. That's saying something since I'm normally a scifi/fantasy/speculative fiction reader.
    Rebecca @ The Portsmouth Review
    Follow me on Bloglovin'

    ReplyDelete