The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson

The Saturday Night Ghost Club by Craig Davidson
surprised me; it turned out to be more than what I expected.  

from description:  A short, irresistible, and bittersweet coming-of-age story in the vein of Stranger Things and Stand by Me about a group of misfit kids who spend an unforgettable summer investigating local ghost stories and urban legends
Growing up in 1980s Niagara Falls - a seedy but magical, slightly haunted place - Jake Baker spends most of his time with his uncle Calvin, a kind but eccentric enthusiast of occult artifacts and conspiracy theories. The summer Jake turns twelve, he befriends a pair of siblings new to town, and so Calvin decides to initiate them all into the "Saturday Night Ghost Club." But as the summer goes on, what begins as a seemingly light-hearted project may ultimately uncover more than any of its members had imagined. With the alternating warmth and sadness of the best coming-of-age stories, The Saturday Night Ghost Club is a note-perfect novel that poignantly examines the haunting mutability of memory and storytelling, as well as the experiences that form the people we become, and establishes Craig Davidson as a remarkable literary talent.

When the novel began with the observations of a brain surgeon, I was a bit taken aback.  The narrative is about misfit kids and an unforgettable summer, but there is also an acutely philosophical theme of memory and its vagaries.  The adult Jake moves from his current career as a neurosurgeon to his memories of the summer when he was twelve--his family, his friends, and his understanding of events in the past.

Read in March; review scheduled for June 26.

NetGalley/Penguin Group
Coming of Age.  First published in 2018; July 9, 2019.  Print length:  240 pages.  

The Boys Who Woke Up Early by A.D. Hopkins

In the little Virginia mountain town of Early in 1959, high school juniors Stony Shelor and Jack Newsome get involved in adventures sometimes humorous and some times very serious.  

from description:  Jack draws Stony into his fantasy of being a private detective, and the two boys start hanging around the county sheriff’s office. Accepted as sources of amusement and free labor, the aspiring gumshoes land their first case after the district attorney’s house is burglarized. Later, the boys hatch an ingenious scheme to help the deputies raid an illegal speakeasy and brothel. All the intrigue feels like fun and games to Jack and Stony until a gunfight with a hillbilly boy almost gets them killed. The stakes rise even higher when the boys find themselves facing off against the Ku Klux Klan.

 I really liked this one:  the writing, the characters, and the plot.  Stony and Jack are friends with completely different personalities, but who complement each other in this story of growing up in the late 1950's in the small town of Early.  There are many episodes that illustrate the different time frame yet evoke timeless situations and there is a current of suspense that works with the overall theme.  

Reading like a memoir, The Boys Who Woke Up Early is an engaging novel that captivated my interest early and held it throughout.

Read in January; review scheduled for Feb. 19.

NetGalley/Imbriflex Books
Coming of Age.  March 3, 2019.  Print length:  256 pages.

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss

When I was young my father had a subscription to National Geographic Magazine and kept his copies year after year.  No longer would all of them fit in the house, so older copies went into shelves in the storeroom.  I'd sit for hours looking through them, mostly interested in the articles and photos about ancient history and archaeology.  The iron age bog bodies have continued to fascinate me.  

Ghost Wall by Sarah Moss opens with a scene of a young woman being prepared as a sacrifice or for an execution.  The details echo those of the 16 year old Yde girl and the Windeby girl.  

Then we are introduced to the current situation in which seventeen-year-old Silvie and her parents are participating in an iron age reenactment along with a university professor and his students.

Set in Northumberland in the 1990's, the descriptions of the small camp, forest, and countryside do create a feeling of an earlier time.  However, the group is not far from civilization, and Molly, one of the students, makes clandestine use of a near by convenience store.  

Moss creates the feeling of isolation and repression immediately in taut descriptions that involve more than the physical setting.  Professor Slade is pretty easy-going, but Silvie's father Bill is not, and  it is clear that he would like his dictatorial and controlling views to be accepted by more than his wife and daughter.

Physically and emotionally abusive, the father tries to keep a wall around his family and particularly around Silvie.  If the others are aware, only Molly seems concerned.  Retreating to the past is, for the students, an exercise for credit, but for Bill it carries much more weight.  Silvie and her mother are only there because of Bill.

Ghost Wall is actually a novella, but it didn't feel like one because of its density--packing so much in so few pages. There are numerous themes, each handled in an understated manner that seeps into your consciousness.  I was both pleased and frustrated by the conclusion which was a little rushed, and I was curious about some of the outcomes, wanting to know more.

There are walls aplenty--physical, mental, social, and metaphysical--and plenty to think about in this short book.   

NetGalley/Farrar, Straus & Giroux

General Fiction/Coming of Age.   Jan. 8, 2018.  Print length:  144 pages.

Jar of Hearts and The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder

Jar of Hearts is a compelling tale of bad decisions.  When she was sixteen, Georgina (Geo) Shaw falls in love with Calvin James, an older man at twenty-one.  Angela Wong, Geo's best friend, disappears without a trace.  Kaiser Brody, the third in the group of best friends, later becomes a detective determined to catch a serial killer.

from the description:   This is the story of three best friends: one who was murdered, one who went to prison, and one who's been searching for the truth all these years.

Jar of Hearts is an edgy, suspenseful tale that has some grim elements.   While wanting to sympathize with Geo, it is sometimes difficult to do.  Geo is, however, brutally honest with herself.  While she keeps some things secret, she accepts and admits her role in Angela's death.  

The book follows Geo in the past and in the present, and the  events on the night in question are revealed a little at a time.  In the present, a new nightmare is about to begin.

The conclusion bothered me a bit and seemed a bit rushed, but this is an intense book that 
will keep you turning the pages, getting involved with the characters and their situations, and puzzling through your own opinions.

Read in April; blog review scheduled for May 29.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Suspense/Crime.  June 12, 2018.  Print length:  320 pages.

The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder features thirteen-year-old Jasper Wishart who is autistic, suffers from prosopagnosia (face blindess), and is a synesthete.   His autism and face blindness (he can't recognize faces and must depend on voices and clothing to identify even his own father) are definite drawbacks, but Jasper thinks of his synesthesia as a wonderful gift.  

Sounds are colors, and Jasper delights in the myriad colors of voices, music, even memories--his mother is cobalt blue.

What I liked:  Jasper.  It is difficult to truly imagine some of his autistic and facial blindness difficulties.  Although his conditions are natural for Jasper, they seem remarkably frightening for the reader.  Imagine only being able to recognize your father and distinguish him from others by the sound of his voice (and for Jasper, the color of his father's voice--a muddy brown) and his clothing.  All of the normal relationships in life would be so slippery!  

I enjoyed Jasper's curious approach to life and his charming character, but Harris also managed to make me imagine the frustrations of living with a bright child with so many complications.  Jasper's father does the best he can for his child, but he is also a single parent who must dress the same way each day to help his son recognize him.

Bee Larkham, the beautiful and unconventional new neighbor, captures the imagination of the entire neighborhood, but not always in a positive way.  She provides the impetus for some unpleasant situations.

Not so much:  The overuse of the color trope can get a little irritating.  There are also places where things drag; the story might be better served if it was a little shorter and tighter.

Reminiscent of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon in the use of an autistic main character.  Sarah Harris has written a book that makes you curious about autism and synesthesia, but you still wonder about how the accuracy/realism of some of the details.

I enjoyed The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder and look forward to what Harris does next book.

Read in March; blog review scheduled for May 29.

NetGalley/Touchstone

Mystery/Coming of Age.  June 12, 2018.  Print length:  368 pages.

The Lost for Words Bookshop

The Lost for Words turned out to be a pleasure.  While I'm usually tempted and often enjoy books about bookshops, Lost for Words was more than I expected.

The Lost for Words Bookshop, a used bookshop, comforts and shelters Loveday Cardew. Sometimes she may be at a loss for words, but words are not lost on Loveday, and her love of books has sustained her for over half her life. 

When Loveday's family is destroyed, she ends up in foster care and the loss of her family results in a happy and friendly child becoming an isolated and reclusive teen.  

At fifteen, however, a visit to the Lost for Words bookshop provides a sanctuary when Archie, the owner, offers her a job.  Ten years later, Loveday continues her mostly self-imposed and unsociable existence with Archie as her only real friend.

On her way to work one day, she picks up a book that has been lost or discarded and posts a "found" sign in the bookshop window--an inciting incident that will change the course of her life.

The story is told in past and present, and the traumatic events that destroyed her family are revealed in small doses.  In the present, boxes of used books begin arriving that connect to Loveday's past, a new relationship offers the opportunity for Loveday to expand her life beyond her small flat and the bookshop, and a past relationship becomes threatening.

I was expecting bit of romantic chic lit, but found a more thoughtful coming of age tale.

NetGalley/St. Martin's Press

Bibliophile/Contemporary.  First published, 2017; June 19, 2018.  Print length:  304 pages.

Two Mysteries and a Coming of Age Story

The Strings of Murder by Oscar de Muriel is a locked room mystery that will have you thinking of Poe and the Rue Morgue investigation.  

Inspector Ian Frey has problems.  A shake up at Scotland Yard has his position in jeopardy, his father is a bully, his older brother is sly and devious, and his fiancee has just ended their engagement. What else could go wrong?

Why, he could be sent to Scotland, the land of the primitive and uncouth Scots.  For Frey, an arrogant snob, this is tantamount to perdition.  To make matters worse, his partner is "Nine Nails" McGray, who heads the unusual department for investigating the supernatural.

The two mismatched protagonists allow the author to make fun of both characters and of some of the cultural views of the Victorian period.  A touch overdone, perhaps, but as this is the first in a new series, hopefully the author will make adjustments that tone the exaggerations down a bit.  It has potential.  :)

NetGalley/Pegasus Books

Historic Mystery.  May 2, 2016.  Print length:  412 pages.



Miller's Valley by Anna Quindlen is a novel about families and communities, a beautifully written coming-of-age story.  Pulling you in slowly, Quindlen concentrates on the small world that Mary Margaret (Mimi) Miller inhabits--her family, friends, and her initially limited understanding of the threat of imminent domain.

The government wants to flood the valley, but they are not in a great hurry.  Some folks don't believe it will ever happen, but as the years go by, and the valley experiences serious flooding, more and more families agree to sell.

It is a slow book, a quiet book, and there is not a great deal of action.  Quindlen develops the characters and the daily routines and personalities of those who live in the small community of Miller's Valley.  

The story is told from Mimi's point of view as she looks back on her childhood in the '60's, through high school and college.  In the present, she reviews the history of her family and of the slow acceptance that their town will become one of "drowned towns."   

NetGalley/Random House

Literary Fiction.  April 5, 2016.  Print length:  273 pages.  


The Anatomist's Wife by Anna Lee Huber is set in Scotland in the 1830's and features Lady Kiera Darby, an artist who was forced by her husband to attend dissections and make drawings.  After her husband's death, people discover that Kiera is the artist behind the drawings and call her unnatural.  Offered sanctuary by her sister and her husband, Kiera attempts to stay out of the public eye, but a murder causes more accusations against her.  

If you like Deanna Raybourn's Lady Julia Grey series, you might enjoy this book which offers a mystery and a little romance.  It is the first in the Lady Darby series, and I will read another to see if there is more depth in the next installment.  I had some problems with several things that did not seem appropriate for the 1830 time period.  Sometimes, though, an author has to get her feet a little wet before characters and settings begin to gel, so I'll check with the library for Mortal Arts which sounds interesting.

It was entertaining, but I like Imogen Robertson's series with Harriet Westerman and the reclusive anatomist Gabriel Crowther better.

Library book.

Historic Mystery.  2012.  369 pages.