Kubica, Mary. Every Last Lie Harlequin Audio, © 2017 (print edition also © 2017) I enjoyed Mary Kubica’s first three novels: The Good Girl (2014), Pretty Baby (2015), and Don’t You Cry (2016). Each features a twist at the end. But these twists aren’t simple plot tricks designed to shock or titillate readers. Rather, they […]
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Connelly, Michael. The Late Show Hachette Audio, © 2017 ISBN 978–1–619–69430–9 (print book © 2017) Recommended Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors. His two series characters are LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch and criminal defense lawyer Mickey Haller, known as the Lincoln lawyer because he works primarily from the back seat of a
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In its most basic meaning, setting in fiction refers to the time and place in which the action of a novel or short story occurs. In some works the setting isn’t much more than a few simple references to time and place in order to ground the work in reality. In other instances setting takes
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Genre can be liberating, in an artistic sense. To follow and break the rules at the same time can lead to moments of true serendipity. For me, it has elevated the concept of form, the actual structure of the novel, to become the most crucial element, because as in architecture, form follows function… . In
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And How It Differs from Plot Have you ever wanted to yell at someone, “If you hadn’t done __________, we wouldn’t be in the mess we’re in now”? Actions have consequences. And often one action produces a consequence that requires another action, and so on—and on. This cause-and-effect pattern works in fiction just as it
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Crouch, Blake. Dark Matter Crown, © 2016 ISBN 978–1–101–90422–0 Highly recommended It’s the beautiful thing about youth. There’s a weightlessness that permeates everything because no damning choices have been made, no paths committed to, and the road forking out ahead is pure, unlimited potential. (p. 10) I don’t give out many five-star ratings, but this
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Related Post: Book Review: Big Little Lies Spoiler Alert I avoided giving away basic plot points in my book review, but in comparing the book with the TV series I must include some of the major events. Therefore, if you haven’t read the book or seen the series, you might want to stop right here
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Whenever I come across someone’s claim to have read 80, 90, or even 100 or more books in a year, I have to wonder how much they comprehended, appreciated, and now remember of those books. With so much current emphasis on productivity and life hacks, it’s easy to get caught up in the notion that
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Maxwell, William. So Long, See You Tomorrow Random House, 1980 ISBN 0–679–76720–7 I very much doubt that I would have remembered for more than fifty years the murder of a tenant farmer I never laid eyes on if (1) the murderer hadn’t been the father of somebody I knew, and (2) I hadn’t later on
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Moriarty, Liane. Big Little Lies Berkley, 2014 ISBN 978–0–399–58720–7 I hadn’t read any of Liane Moriarty’s books, although I kept seeing them recommended. I picked up this one when I heard that HBO was making it into a series. Set in a suburban seaside town in Australia, the novel delves into the lives and interactions
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