This is another one of those books where the journey is really fun, but then the author proves that writing endings is really challenging. You can have a great idea for an atmospheric mystery, but you also need to have a great idea for how you are going to close things out, which Sarah Pearse didn't seem to have. The book follows Detective Elin Warner, who isn't really a detective anymore after a case went wrong and she decided to take some extended leave. Elin and her boyfriend, Will, have arrived at a hotel in the Swiss Alps to celebrate her brother's engagement. The hotel just happens to also be a really creepy former sanatorium, because the designer thought that would be a super cool place to build a fancy hotel. To continue with wonderful decision making skills, Elin also decides that this would be a fitting trip to accuse her brother of possibly killing their younger sibling during a childhood vacation. Because, hey, nothing says "happy engagement!" like "did you kill our brother, though? You can totally tell me if you did." There are just a few problems with this plan - first, Elin doesn't really talk to her brother anymore, so finding time to accuse him of this is a challenge. Second, his fiancée just went missing, and it may or may not be in poor taste to accuse him of anything given those circumstances. Third, there is an avalanche approaching the hotel, so they really all need to leave. And, of course, fourth, some people are starting to get murdered. After staying behind and getting trapped from the avalanche, Elin has to really deal with all her personal issues at once because she is the only cop-like person on the mountain who can investigate anything. No one can come help until the weather clears, which probably won't be for a while. There were a few issues I had with the book, two of which I found to be major issues. The first is that this was a fun crime novel, but ultimately it seems like no one could ever be punished for the murders that happened here. Elin isn't a detective in this area, as she points out again and again, and she tends to disobey the orders she is given (or just hides what she is doing because if she doesn't ask permission, she isn't doing anything wrong?) so it seems like everything she has gathered would be utterly useless. She also has a weird tendency to tell everyone around her everything she has discovered. Like, maybe they don't all need to know every piece of evidence you have gathered? You know someone around here is killing people, maybe stop telling everyone everything and you'd have better luck. The second is that the ending was just really dumb. The culprit didn't really make any sense, and it seemed like a massive overreaction for that person to be the one responsible for everything. I think it's worth it for the fun atmosphere of being trapped in the mountains with a killer, as long as you keep your expectations in line for the ending.

It’s unusual for me to quit after reading half a book, but I just couldn’t get into this one. I had high expectations because I really liked Underground Airlines by the same author.  The Quiet Boy is told in two timelines 10 years apart. This is a common enough plot structure, but here the jumping back and forth makes the story confusing and disjointed. Jay Shenk is a medical malpractice lawyer who thinks he's found the case of a lifetime. Jay's adopted son Ruben is Jay's precocious assistant as a young teen and is trying to figure out who he is as a young adult. I liked these two characters and the scenes involving the lawsuit are both funny and spot on realistic. But I kept waiting for something to happen. What is this book about? I couldn’t figure it out after 197 pages so I gave up.

"I...I don't know. I mean he was my son. Our son. But what he was doing was wrong. I have to believe that. Because if I don't, then everything I did was a mistake." Never thought I could sympathize with a book set around a whole lot of racist and homophobic people, but dang. This book is brutal and tender, face-paced and beautiful. Set in Virginia, we follow Buddy Lee and Ike, two fathers who have just gone through the unimaginable - their married sons were killed in broad daylight, for reasons unknown. Both fathers are struggling with not only the grief of losing their child, but the knowledge that they will never be able to repair the broken relationship between them that formed when they were unable to accept the fact that their children were gay. When the police mark the case as inactive, the men realize that the only chance they have of putting things right is by using their criminal past to their advantage, and going after whoever put their boys in the ground. You could feel the grief all the characters were feeling, and the action scenes were really well done. This book is as violent as it is beautiful, and I really hope they do wind up making it into a movie - I think it has the chance to be an amazing adaptation.

Ms. Bixby's Last Day was a different kind of book than what I usually gravitate towards (sci-fi). But I really loved this book anyway. It's about three boys who were in Ms. Bixby's class. When Ms. Bixby resigns during the school year because of terminal illness, the three boys band together to help make Ms. Bixby's dreams come true, to acknowledge how she changed their lives forever. I loved this feel-good realistic fiction that bounced between flashbacks and present day, told in turn by the three boys. I strongly encourage this book to basically everyone.

A short, interesting fantasy about the mill workers in Lowell, Massachusetts, who use witchcraft to strengthen their strike for better working conditions. While it's a fantasy, the book packs a lot into its 123 pages about capitalism, worker's rights, and women's agency. The Daring Ladies of Lowell by Kate Alcott is a more conventional novel on the same subject and there is a National Historical park in Lowell about the history of the mills.

Incredible book! It gives a context for why we are kept away from learning the truth about our nation's history.

Its a novella, which means it is a shorter book. It's a quick read, not an in-depth story. I like the characters but it wasn't long enough to fully develop them. After reading the book, I did go see that there are a few more books in the series. So maybe that is a way to get to know more of the characters. I did like the setting and the background that the author set up for the books. I would recommend it.

This book had action, suspense, and excitement. It is a nice book for certain kinds of people.

WOW! This was a very fast read: I finished the book within 2 hours. Great thriller book that involves the paranormal as well. You really start to feel connected to the main character. It was not like anything I had read prior. Great young adult read.

This is the story of Jane, through two decades, after she falls in love with a man with a big history in a small town. It was a light read - nothing spectacular - but reminded the reader that people are complicated, and life doesn’t always turns out in ways you anticipate.