Barbara S

Clever debut!

Revisado: 08-09-24

Winner of the Crime Writers’ Association’s John Creasy New Blood Dagger Award and the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year

I found author Jo Callaghan’s debut “In a Blink of an Eye” riveting. I am enjoying authors who are including Artificial Intelligence in their genre, in this case, the thriller/police procedural genre.

Lock, an AIDE (Artificially Intelligent Detective Entity) is a hologram created by a university professor as an aid to the police force. The idea is that AI can compute statistic, scan evidence, compute complex statistics in seconds while it could take a human 50 hours of work. Furthermore, the professor who created it wanted to take out human bias judgements. The professor wanted all logic in police work, not the hidden biases to be involved. Lock is part of a pilot program which Kat Frank, a successful policewoman, is designated to lead. She’s not thrilled, as she believes her success has been because of her “gut”, her intuition. Additionally, Kat just lost her husband to cancer, an AI misdiagnosis. (I didn’t know that the medical community is using AI!) She leery that Lock will be a thorn in her side. Reluctantly, she agrees to be part of the program.

Her mandate is to find two missing young men, both in their later teens. When the team meets, including Lock, (who is made in the image of the actor Chadwick Boseman) Kat is annoyed and impressed in equal measure. Lock knocked out the stats involving missing boys in seconds. He can do more than that as well. He can upload pictures and produce them on a wall. He’s an efficient tool. He also challenges her embedded biases which she finds frustrating. She refers to Lock as “it”, as she refuses to acknowledge his “male” hologram.

Callaghan adds humor to her story. For example, Lock ponders why humans want to make AI more “humanlike” when really humans should be wanting to be more AI-like. He can watch a movie in 5 seconds, which includes a review and analysis. Why waste time being human? These are smile worthy moments, not chuckle, but necessary nonetheless because the plot is stressful: find the two missing boys before they find them dead.

Suspense is added when Callaghan includes short chapters involving someone in a hospital bed. Those are chilling chapters. The chapters are narrated by a male voice.

I listened to the audio narrated by Paul Mendez and Rose Akroyd. I couldn’t wait to get back to my audio. Highly recommend.

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Narrators LaVoy and Damron make this amazing

Revisado: 03-14-24

Some novels are made for audio, and “Listen for the Lies” is one of them. It’s a story of a true-crime podcaster, Ben Owens, who has made it his mission to solve the mystery of who killed Savannah, aka Savvy in a small Texas town. The audio uses the podcast sound effects beautifully. Plus, the extraordinary January LaVoy narrates along with her real-life husband, Will Damron. If you haven’t had the pleasure of listening to Ms. LaVoy, this is an excellent audio to showcase her immense talent.

Lucy begins the story, narrating that she bought a “sorry I didn’t tell you I was a suspect in my best-friend’s murder” chicken for her boyfriend. Lucy is a wonderfully sarcastic narrator. And she informs the reader that the unsolved murder of her BFF Savvy is now the subject of the wildly popular podcast “Listen for the Lie”. Lucy also expects to be fired now that it’s out there that she was a suspect in a murder investigation. Lucy is in Los Angeles, escaping her small Texas town after the murder, in an attempt to begin a new life. Her grandmother begs her to return home. Lucy, now fired and boyfriend-less, decides to come home.

We learn that on the early morning of the murder, Lucy was found covered in blood, disoriented, walking alone down a country road. Also, early that morning, her BFF Savvy’s body was found. No murder weapon was discovered, and Lucy doesn’t remember what happened. Or does she? Through her acerbic narration, which includes her intrusive thoughts that involve killing people, author Amy Tintera creates tension. Is Lucy really amnesic? What’s with her intrusive thoughts?

Hats off to Macmillian Audio for creating a podcast atmosphere. I appreciated the music that alerted the listener that this is the podcast. Through the interviews Ben did for the podcast, the listener learns bits and pieces of that murderous night. Lucy has always been a suspect, but without a weapon and no clear motive, she was never charged.

The characters are interesting. Lucy’s grandmother, who never misses a chance at a cocktail, or a romantic opportunity, is a hoot. Tintera realistically creates quirky characters that inhabit small towns. Both narrators are excellent in voicing those characters.

I loved the audio. The only TW I have is the foul language. There are others, like murder, but those of us who listen/read thrillers, don’t have many TWs. The language here, is a bit crude, but it works for the story.

Highly recommend this one for those who love audios and thrillers. This is a winner!

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Simply beautiful

Revisado: 03-14-24

“After Annie” is a quiet meditation on family grief. Only Anna Quindlen can craft a story that is remarkable in its perceptible ordinariness. Her stories grab the reader because they are real, they are identifiable. If her story hasn’t happened to you, it’s happened to someone you know.

In “After Annie”, Quindlen writes of the trauma to a young family of six, when the young mom, Annie, dies on the kitchen floor while orchestrating dinner. Ali, the oldest, age 13, processes the information with the reader. She was always an insightful child, but now her observation skills go into overdrive. Bill, Annie’s husband, is utterly shocked and bereft. Quindlen writes a moment in which he is in the bathroom, with one tiny piece of toilet paper and a cardboard tube mocking him. He never had to add toilet paper to any bathroom; Annie did it. And Bill is a plumber by profession. Annie’s best friend, Annemarie, finds herself rudderless without her best friend. Quindlen writes their friendship beautifully, in flashbacks. Annemarie imparts her wisdom to Ali after Annie dies. Ali tells Annemarie that it’s not fair, a man can get a new wife, but children can never get new mothers. Annemarie tells her that men need women; women need women, everyone needs women! Quindlen has always been a supporter of female friendships in her novels.

This isn’t all beautifully behaved females though. Bill’s mother, the children’s grandmother, well, she’s a handful. Luckily, neither my mother nor my mother-in-law had any resemblance to Bill’s mother; but I can assure you, you’ve had the unfortunate experience with that sort of woman. There is a serious TW regarding child abuse (not of Annie’s children), and the mother in that situation was complicit. Annemarie had personal struggles which Annie helped her through. In other words, the women are real.

Of course there is the journey of grief. For me, Ali’s journey was heartbreaking as she navigated her puberty without her mother; they had been very close. Plus, Ali is trying to figure out the world without her mother’s guidance. Bill is trying to keep his family together, fed, clothed, and schooled. He now realizes all the jobs that Annie did, unbeknownst to him. Quindlen breaks up the story in seasons, beginning and ending in winter. She provides the POV’s of Ali, Bill, and Annemarie. The vacuum that occurs after the loss of a lively, beloved, friend, mother, employee is astounding. Only Quindlen can write in such a moving way.

I listened to the audio, narrated by Gilli Messer. It took me some time to get used to Messer’s cadence and tone. When I did, I realized she performed the book beautifully. It’s about grief, it’s sad.

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Excellent Kurdish story

Revisado: 03-09-24

“Daughters of Smoke and Fire” opened my eyes to horrendous history of Kurdish people and their plight to maintain their identity. Author Ava Homa is a Kurdish author and activist who was born and raised in Iran’s Kurdistan province. She uses her experiences to write this very emotional and heart wrenching story. I didn’t realize the decades of persecution that the Kurds endured by countries such as Turkey and Iran.

Leila Saman is Homa’s narrator who tells her family’s story. Leila’s father was imprisoned by Iraqi soldiers, suffering violent torture. Even though her father was unjustly imprisoned, he still harshly judged Leila, believing the Iranian police over his own daughter. Harder for me to learn, is how harsh her own mother was to Leila.

Luckily for Leila, her brother Chia possessed more modern views because he attended University in Tehran. Yet Chia had his own troubles, as an activist. Leila attempted many times, unsuccessfully to get into the highly sought-after positions given to females entering Tehran University. Leila’s story is frustrating in that in modern times, Kurdish women continue to struggle within their people and especially within Persia. Leila’s dream is to produce a film highlighting the plight of Kurdish people.

When Chia is arrested for being an activist, Leila works to secretly maintain internet publications of Chia’s writings. Leila’s safety becomes endangered, and she needs to immigrate out of Iran.

Homa is the first female Kurdish author who has her work published in the English language. Homa highlights the 40 million stateless Kurds who are forced to speak languages other than their own, who are forced to face constant oppression.

Two examples of Homa’s observations that hit me hard:
**How does if feel to be a Kurd in a hateful world?
**While the people in Toronto were worried about the size of their Tim Horton coffee cups, Turkey was decimating the Kurds.
**No one wants the truth; they want what makes them more comfortable.

I’ll admit that I most likely fussed about some ridiculously frivolous thing in the USA while Turkey was decimating Kurds. More importantly, it’s up to us, as individuals to become more informed to world oppressions.

I am grateful to Ms. Homa for writing this story. I chose to listen to the audio, a little over 11 hours, narrated beautifully by Vaneh Assadourian. Thank you, GR friend Ann from Texas who recently reviewed this and piqued my interest.

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Clueless mother award

Revisado: 03-09-24

I wanted a quick, absorbing thriller, and “My Perfect Daughter” by Sarah A. Denzil is offered on the Audible Plus catalogue. I’m in!

Narrator Zoe begins the story explaining that she found her daughter when she was abducted by a serial killer. Actually, it was daughter, Maddie, who lured her to the killer’s home when Maddie was five years old. While in captivity, Zoe bonds with Maddie, and persuades Maddie to help her escape. Zoe ends up killing the man to get away. Both Zoe and Maddie escape.

Obviously, Maddie has some serious emotional issues. Zoe is stubbornly attached to Maddie’s future; she wants Maddie as a daughter. As Zoe narrates, it becomes clear she’s an unreliable narrator. Facts of Maddie’s issues are conveniently set aside in Zoe’s mind. She knows that Maddie is a good girl. She knows that she can love. She just needs constant vigilance.

When there is evidence to the contrary of Maddie’s emotional stability, Zoe brushes it aside, making excuses that makes the reader rolls their eyes in haughty derision. Even after Zoe marries, has a son, and sees sociopathic tendencies in Maddie, Zoe continues to make excuses.

The audio is narrated by Lucy Paterson. She possesses a very lovely voice. Her soothing voice kept me listening. It’s almost 10 hours long, but it’s a fast audio that keeps one involved. It’s a creepy tale. Maddie wins “The Most Clueless Mother” award!

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thought-provoking theme

Revisado: 03-09-24

“One of the Good Guys” by Araminta Hall is a feminist novel that asks, “If most men say they are one of the good guys, why are women afraid to walk home alone when it’s dark? Why are women afraid to go to a bar/restaurant/pub alone? Why must they worry about their drinks getting spiked?”

Hall begins the story with Cole narrating about what a good guy he is. He’s mystified when his marriage fails, after all, he did all the cleaning, cooking, household repairs. His wife was the money maker. Cole’s narration, however, is just creepy enough that the reader wonders if he is a reliable narrator. There are some strange clues in his narration that makes the reader uneasy.

Cole moved to a seaside cottage to regroup. He meets Leonora who says she moved for similar reasons. She has a more dramatic cottage on a bluff. Leonora is an artist, and she is preparing for her next exhibit. While Cole and Leonora are getting to know each other, two twenty-something feminist activists are hiking along the coast, livestreaming their hike to raise awareness of domestic violence.

Cole happens to interact with the two young females. In his narration, he’s trying to help them, provide them with safety tips. But the women feel he’s hostile and they feel threatened. Cole is perplexed, as he was just trying to help.

Hall then allows Mel, Cole’s ex-wife to narrate. She takes the reader back into time, detailing their short marriage, and providing another view. There were infertility issues, and Mel had to endure all that ugly business of IVF. Their marriage ended with three embryos, which Mel wants destroyed, and Cole wants badly. Cole tells us that he has always wanted children, and he intends to care for them and not work. He would be the perfect father.

The two young women go missing, and Cole become implicated because he was one of the last people to see them alive. Now that the women are missing, the media is interested in their hike and their fates.

Hall begins to tie the story together, using social media inserts. I chose to listen to the audio, and I am glad I did. The publisher added keyboard sounds, computer sounds as people chimed in on social media. The other bonus is the multiple narrators. Elliot Fitzpatrick was amazing expressing all the male voices. Olivia Vinall and Helen Keely use their voices dramatically, adding to the listening pleasure. For those who love audios and want multiple narrators, this is one for you.

The ending…wow. There’s lots to discuss. Hall makes you question why women are so fearful. She makes men take another look at their behaviors. But more importantly, she does a great job of showing how our culture is complicit with men getting away with bad behaviors.

This is one with some hang time! This is a provocative 8 hour listen.-

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strange narrating choices

Revisado: 02-21-24

I listened to the audio version of “Greta & Valdin” narrated by Natalie Beran, Jackson Bliss, Eilidh Beaton, Nico Evers-Swindell, and Gary Furlong. From the start I just wanted to listen to these two ridiculously self-involved, insecure, lonely, searching siblings. To add to the fun, both are queer and in search of love. Each chapter is narrated by one of the siblings, and I loved them both. Valdin’s parts were snarky and cleverly written. Greta tries to write some formulaic gauge of the compatibility of her lovers. It was fun listening to these 20-somethings.

They live in Auckland, New Zealand, and the accents are all the same. One narrator gave a shot at a quasi-Eastern European accent. One tried a Scottish. But seriously, I had no idea that there were that many narrators. I thought there was one male and one female, and they had no former Eastern-European Accent. I think Greta was in her teens when they moved, but I would still expect some sort of an accent.

Once I got over the Aussie/British accents, and just listened, I started to really care about these insecure siblings. Their whole family is eccentric, almost all gay. The family drama is like a soap opera, one that is irresistible!

This is billed as a great book for “fans of ‘Schitt’s Creek’ and Sally Rooney’s ‘Normal People’.” Author Rebecca K. Reilly used the silliness of “Schitt’s Creek” and Rooney’s brooding outlook of young adults. She upped the “Schitt’s Creek” antics with her international flair of characters.

I recommend this as a palate cleanser, because it defies genres and is just plain fun.

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The Perfect February Listen!

Revisado: 02-21-24

This short is 61 pages long and a 1 hour and 17 minutes audio, narrated by Andi Arndt and Zachary Webber. This is part of “The Improbable Meet-Cute” series, which is a series of romantic shorts about finding love when and where you least expect it. Given the month of Saint Valentine, I decided to get on the romance bandwagon.

Jimenez uses narrator Zachary Webber often for her novels. I just love his voice. It’s perfect for her male characters.

For a romance short, this satisfied all my requirements: witty, clever, likeable characters.

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Great short

Revisado: 02-14-24

“The Door to Tamba” is an interesting story about a 10 year-old-boy, Hindolo, who becomes intrigued with a wise old man who reads. The man taught the boy to read stories that invite you in, and grabs you into the story, sparking imagination. Hindolo lives in a dusty mining town that creates dust and filth that permeates the community. The education for children is meager. Hindolo reflects, as an adult, his time as a boy and the impact the old man had on him and other curious children in the villiage.

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timely story

Revisado: 02-14-24

Author Elizabeth Gonzalez James takes on intergenerational trauma and their legacies in a clever way, by combining a Western story with magical realism. She takes the Sonoro family, who is noted for profiting from inequity, and asks: Should we be responsible for our ancestor’s
abuses and sins? Are reparations required and to whom should those reparations be paid? Who should pay for the sins? Is the progeny of evil equally guilty and thereby responsible?

In an NPR interview, Gonzalez James states that her great-grandfather was a bandito. “He was put in jail in Houston. He broke out, got chased down by the Texas Rangers and was shot in the face and left for dead. But he lived and eventually made it back to his family in Mexico.” He became a local legend, and the event gave him his nickname, El Tragabalas, the bullet swallower.

In her story, El Tragabalas, aka Antonio Sonoro, is riddled with guilt and vengeance when the Texas Rangers kill his brother after a failed robbery of a train near Houston, Texas. A severe drought has left the Sonoro family finances dissolute. Antonio learns of a train coming through the Texas border, full of gold. The brothers find themselves in a shootout.

The story is structured in two timelines: 1895 and 1964. The earlier timeline follows Antonio’s tortured existence after his brother, and then eventually most of his family, are killed by the Rangers. The Sonoro family are thought to have exploited the Indigenous inhabitants and are thereby known as dishonorable in 1964 Mexican society.

The 1964 timeline follows Antonio’s great-grandchild, Jaime Sonoro who is a known Mexican actor and singer. In Jaime’s timeline, he finds a book that was written about his family. It follows his family’s history, as a documentary of evil. The novel’s premise is that evil begets evil, and Jaime learns of the horrendous acts of his ancestors. Jaime finds that there is a “shadow figure” called Remedio (a reaper of souls) throughout the story, who shows up in the history to seek atonement for the evil for which the Sonoro family is responsible. Jaime wants to make his grandfather’s story into a feature film, in hopes of redeeming his family’s lore. When the shadow figure shows up in Mexico City in 1964, Jaime wonders if he is now responsible for his forebearers crimes.

The border crisis has been and is fluid. Border politics such as racism, colonialism and toxic masculinity are constant threads, occurring today. Gonzalez James explores those stories that were told of “the bad guys” and looks at it from another point of view. She was also inspired by the history of the Texas/Mexican border politics, especially in the 1800s.

It’s her beautiful prose that makes this an unusual western.

**Antonio never believed in curses or bad legacies. He lived in a poor region in a poor country, peopled by ignorant peasants ground down by centuries of exploitation, ruled by a corrupt and avaricious government bounded by, on one side, a hostile foreign power with no regard for economic parity or national sovereignty, and unlucky enough to have survived a long drought.

**It’s the strangest thing: I was born in New Spain, which then became Mexico, then the Republic of Texas, and then wound up in the United States, and meanwhile, my house has always stood in the same place. The Texans call me Mexican and I’ve never crossed the Rio Grande.

I listened to the audio, narrated by Lee Osorio. I was not a fan of his Texas accents. One Texas Ranger sounded like a strange combination of a deep south accent as opposed to a Texas accent. There is a difference. Nonetheless, this is a worthy story, whether one reads it or listens to it.

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