A complicated history. A deadly future. Can one woman survive another deep dive into the rotten underbelly of crime?
Angeline Porter craves a return to normalcy. But when the former criminal defense attorney receives an alarming text, she races in desperation to Florida only to find a ransacked apartment, a poisoned dog, and a missing half-sister. Determined to rescue her sibling, she follows a trail of shockingly incriminating clues and plunges into a life-or-death fight with the Boston mob.
Taking advantage of old ties with a charming FBI agent and trying to outsmart a violent syndicate boss with powerful federal connections, Angeline and dubious allies begin tracking down the kidnappers… until she uncovers a supposed protector’s crafty deception. And while a nefarious rogue agent, a long-lost relative, and a possibly corrupt cop close in, the gutsy woman makes the risky decision to go it alone.
Fall is a fabulous time to snuggle down with your favorite blanket, furry sidekick, and frothy beverage. I happen to like my red velvet chair, my Havanese pooch Stevie Nicks, and a mug of hot matcha. I’m close to finishing my third novel 1 LAST BETRAYAL in the Angeline Porter Trilogy. Authors juggle many hats. Mine include teacher (of noir writing and plot twist classes and workshops), promoter (social media, newsletters, emails, author events–finally!. and advertisements), writing activist (networking, active member of four writing organizations, taking desperate phone calls, consultations about writing issues), and writer (watching webinars to increase my writing knowledge, working with my writing group affectionately known as the LitChix, writing and rewriting my novels and articles).
Of course, my favorite hat is writer. That’s why I started this gig. I’m loving the next novel and am writing a few of the last chapters. How do I take a break? Watching movies and streaming series of psychological thrillers, suspense, and crime, with an occasional documentary.
The latest series I recommend are on Hulu:
“Only Murders in the Building” Comedy, Mystery
The British Series: “DCI Banks” Crime, Drama
The Australian Series: “City Homicide” Crime, Drama
The French/Swedish Series: “Midnight Sun” Thriller, Drama, Crime
I stay up about two hours after my husband goes to bed. When he goes to bed, he kisses me and says, “Enjoy your sex and death.”
I wonder sometimes if he ever worries when I pick up a knife or research poisons.
Oh, heck, it’s good to keep him on his toes.
Remember—Loving someone means never having to say, “Put down that meat cleaver.”
If you like dark humor, follow me on my FB author page. I often post dark humorous memes. For example, followers loved this one!
THE COLLECTIVE by Alison Gaylin
A Harrowing, Addictive, and Twisty Revenge Tale I Could Not Put Down
In Alison Gaylin’s thriller or what I call femme-noir, the author introduces us to Camille Gardner. Camille is still grieving the death of her fourteen-year-old daughter Emily who died five years before. The young man responsible for Emily’s death wins a humanitarian award, and at the ceremony, Camille loses it. She publicly accuses the Harris boy of Emily’s death. Camille is dragged out, and her breakdown makes the news and social media.
Enter—The Collective, a group on the dark web run by someone known only by her screen name .001. The Collective is known as Ağlayan Kaya, the weeping stone, and allows only women who have lost a loved one at the hands of another. Its mission is to exact justice on those rich enough or high enough in society to escape punishment. Camille is pulled into the group and to say anything more about the plot would spoil this harrowing, modern tale.
This is a revenge tale for the internet age. The Collective sets itself apart from other revenge tales because it starts with a sympathetic premise—justice—and follows a sympathetic main character. Wouldn’t we all like to see people who are guilty of crimes and who escaped their fate punished for their bad deeds, especially when it concerns the death of a child. Unfortunately, money can buy a lot of justice in our system, but revenge, or vigilante justice, can also be blind and, in this instance, dangerous.
Camille finds out just how dangerous. I could not stop reading as Camille discovers there is no pulling out or quitting the group. She also can trust no one. I could not put this book down. And to say the end was unpredictable or a surprise is an understatement. I actually gasped!
Besides a phenomenal, thought-provoking story, the writing is crisp, the concept stellar, the atmosphere spooky, and the characters fully fleshed out. I ached for Camille and understood her rage. I thought the ending was well earned and fell more into the noir category than thriller.
Thanks to #NetGalley, #AlisonGaylin, and #WilliamMorrow for this advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.
NANNY NEEDED by Georgina Cross
Rebecca in an NYC Penthouse with Conditions
Twenty-six-year-old Sarah Larsen is in debt. She cared for her ill Aunt Clara, and now Sarah is hounded by bill collectors for all the medical and hospital costs. She feels guilty that Jonathan her partner helps her. They both work at the same restaurant, but what they make doesn’t touch the debt. Poor Sarah doesn’t know what to do until she finds a job posted in her building.
“Nanny needed. Discretion is of the utmost importance. Special conditions apply.”
How hard can a nanny job be? With a nanny job during the day and restaurant work at night, her financial woes could be over. All seems too good to be true when she answers the ad and is hired by the Bird family who live in a glamorous NYC penthouse. She immediately connects with Mrs. Bird. Even though the family seems eccentric, she’s happy, although Patty, the four-year-old she’ll soon be nanny for, is sick and Sarah spends most of her time with Mrs. Bird.
As the days go by and little Patty isn’t getting better, Sarah finds out that the former nannies left under mysterious circumstances. When she learns the Birds’ twenty-year, mind-blowing secret, she doesn’t go back out of fear. Unfortunately, she signed a contract, not only an NDA, but one that locks her into the job. She’s dragged back to the penthouse.
I won’t say more about the plot, only that it’s an over-the-top, melodramatic, Gothic page turner. Set aside any thoughts about believability because you have entered the Crazy Zone. The novel feels Gothic like reading Rebecca, the penthouse like a huge English estate. The twists and turns kept me on edge, and I kept wondering how this young woman was ever going to get out of this nightmare! I guessed one major twist near the end, but not the forehead-smacking ending.
Georgina Cross captures an almost timeless feel, and it felt great to let go, to let the crazy take over and not care if it made sense or was believable. It’s just fun sometimes to let go.
Thanks to #NetGalley #GeorginaCross and #Ballantine
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Please “like” this post and follow my blog. I won’t swamp you. In the future, I will be adding unusual and what I consider interesting details to the review.
Have a lovely, light-filled holiday season!
Valerie J. Brooks
I’m the author of the psychological femmes noir thrillers Revenge in 3 Parts, the first in the Angeline Porter Trilogy, and Tainted Times 2 the second in the trilogy. I live in the McKenzie River Valley of Oregon with my husband Dan and our Havanese pooch Stevie Nicks.
CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter and keep up to date on my reviews, publications, and behind-the-scene stories of interest–like how I work with a cover artist, how I get my info about the FBI, what I’m going to do for the next novel, photos of my research, and some of my tricks and secrets for plotting twists and suspense. I’ll be launching a number of new projects soon that I’m sure you’ll want to know about.
Also, follow me on social media. I love my friends and fans!
This week, a branch fell on the power line in front of our house, caused a spark, and started a fire. Since we have already been traumatized by the Holiday Farm Fire up here in the McKenzie River Valley, this one was particularly scary as the wind was blowing and it could have been another horrific event.
But the fire happened at the end of work day. Men and women stopped on the way, popped out of their vehicles with shovels, rakes, and fire extinguishers, and kept the fire under control until the fire department arrived. If the flames had traveled up just one fir tree (called torching), it would have been all over.
After the fire was out and we were all in a little shock, we hung out with our neighbors by the side of the road and talked about how lucky we were to live in this beautiful place and with these amazing folks who had averted a catastrophe. I’m grateful every day.
All I have to say is “Who needs to read or watch thrillers?”
Well, obviously I do.
by B. A. Paris; narrated by Olivia Dowd
AVAILABLE NOW IN PRINT AND EBOOK; AUDIBLE VERSION AVAILABLE JULY 13, 2021
A Claustrophobic Tale of Suspense & Secrets
Alice and Leo move into a new home in London that feels perfect as part of a gated community of twelve homes situated in a circle that encloses a small park.
But we all know what happens when something seems perfect.
In this case, Alice discovers a woman was murdered in the house and the woman’s husband, suspected of the murder, committed suicide. Did Leo know about this before he bought the house? And why are the women of the circle acting so squirrely? Alice also discovers the murdered woman’s name is Nina, something that adds to her distress as it is the name of her sister who died in an accident. The suspense builds when one of her neighbors becomes so nasty that Alice is almost shunned and wants to leave. Everyone has secrets and won’t talk about the murder. She’s also warned by an elderly couple to “trust no one.” When a PI shows up on her doorstep, saying he’s investigating the murder, she’s relieved to find someone who will talk about the murder with her. But didn’t the husband kill his wife? The PI says no. The community however is divided. That means the killer is still free. Alice soon suspects everyone of the murder including Leo.
I LOVED the narrator Olivia Dowd. This was a great example of how a narrator can make a slow-starting story fascinating. This novel is a slow burn that keeps you in the head of Alice and shows how terrifying it is for her as Leo is often away for business. I loved the secrecy of the neighbors and how they have so much trouble dealing with the murder being talked about again. The circle was a perfect setting that causes a claustrophobic feel and gives Alice a caged feeling.
Sometimes Alice seems dimwitted and repeatedly says “something was off,” but that’s because she’s not assertive and is surrounding by people who aren’t forthcoming. The suspense is slow to build but I think that’s because the setup takes a while and the story is told by Alice who is confused and terrified as she tries to identify the killer.
And the ending! I thought I knew who the killer was, but how he got away with it was terrific and terrifying. B.A. Paris writes so well that my few issues with the story should not keep people from reading or listening to THE THERAPIST. I highly recommend the audio book.
Thank you to #NetGalley #BAParis and #McMillanAudio for offering this free audiobook for an
B A Paris is the internationally bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, Bring Me Back and The Dilemma. Having sold over one million copies in the UK alone, she is a New York Times bestseller as well as Sunday Times bestseller and a number one bestseller on Amazon and iBooks. Her books have been translated into 40 languages. Having lived in France for many years, she and her husband recently moved back to the UK. Her fifth novel The Therapist is out in April 2021 honest review.
I LOVE COVERS!
Are you like me? Sometimes I look at covers just for the art work. For my Femmes-Noir Thrillers, I had ideas for the covers, but it takes an artist to really bring them to life. Covers are either representational, thematic, or sensory, in that one of the viewer’s senses is triggered.
And, yes, sometimes covers seem to have nothing to do with the novel but are eye-catching.
Here are the U.S. and British cover for THE THERAPIST. Interesting, don’t you think? I wonder what was going on in the head of both cover artists. Which one do you like best and why?
The US cover is dark and representational of the victim. The British cover is sensory where the rose has been snapped off and dies. You can almost smell the dead rose. And red is naturally aligned with blood. Both use similar typography to give cohesiveness to the author’s work.
I decided to look at a few more of the author’s novels in the US (left) and British editions (right). Interesting how the Brits offer much more colorful covers. The typography, however, is similar and echoes the author’s other novels, or brand as the industry likes to call it.
I’m inclined to go for the cover with color.
Do you choose a book for the cover? The cover first draws me to the book, but I read the back jacket, inside flap, and the first chapter before I decide. I’m more speculative about the blurbs from other famous authors as some of the books I’ve read come nowhere near their profuse accolades.
Anyone? What do you look at and do before you buy a book?
OZARK
Streaming series on Netflix. Three seasons with the final season coming … sometime.
What was wrong with us? When Ozark first came out, Dan and I watched the first two episodes and stopped watching. Maybe it was our mood or the pace of the setup or we found something else to watch. Who knows? We came back to it a month ago and … wham! We were hooked.
IMHO this is one of the best scripted, acted, developed, paced, and filmed streaming series we’ve seen in … probably since THE WIRE. Or the more recently BETTER CALL SAUL. (Yes, we think BCS is better than BREAKING BAD.)
We finally watched the last episode of season 3 and talk about blowing our minds. This series only has one season left (don’t know when that will happen), but I’m glad for that. Some shows run far too long and this one? Well, I honestly don’t know how they could drag it on for more than four seasons.
Wondering what all the hype is about? First of all, it takes place in the Ozarks, a steamy pot of crooked law enforcement, money laundering, class factions, and secrets. Have I mentioned a Mexican drug cartel? And a field of opium? Or how about children who know what their parents do, as in laundering money for the drug cartel?
That’s right. It’s actually a family drama. (Only half kidding.)
For those who have watched all three seasons and are itching for season 4 (14 episodes in two parts), check this out from DIGITAL SPY. Spoiler Alert!If you haven’t watched OZARK, don’t go to this link.
MY REVIEW IN BULLET POINTS
Laura Linney! She deserves multiple Emmys for her portrayal of Wendy Byrde the matriarch.
The plot twists can cause neck spasms. The ending of Season 3! Wasn’t expecting that!
Let’s hear it for the writers! Yes, those underrated people who make or break the series.
The class warfare. Understandably, the country folk are not inclined to like these city folk coming in and taking over. Who are smarter? I’ve gone from hating Darlene to rooting for her. She’s tough, rough, and takes no prisoners. Phenomenal acting by Lisa Emery.
Fabulous rolls for women. One of the few programs that have a multitude of strong women.
A misstep: the silly therapist. Wrong tone for the program. Some may enjoy it for the comic relief, but it took me out of the story.
Crazy excitement for Season 4. I want to know if this series will be a true neo-noir or not. Wonder what I mean by that? So far, it fits a neo-noir framework, but it all depends on the ending. If the Byrdes go belly up, it’s neo-noir. If they end up in Australia, happy as a clan, nope, not neo-noir. I expect it will be somewhere in the middle.
Fully fleshed out characters, even minor ones. Bravo to the creators.
And I love the graphics at the beginning of each episode. The O of Ozark is divided into four sections and each has a symbol that has to do with that episode. We love pausing at the O and trying to figure out what each symbol means before the episode starts. Here, for example, is Episode 1’s graphic O. This one is pretty easy, but they get harder. Click HERE for more OZARK graphics.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post. Please “like” this post and follow my blog. I won’t swamp you. In the future, I will be adding unusual and what I consider interesting details to the review.
Have a great week!
Valerie J. Brooks
I’m the author of the psychological femme-noir thrillers Revenge in 3 Parts the first in the Angeline Porter Trilogy and Tainted Times 2 the second in the trilogy. I live in the McKenzie River Valley of Oregon with my husband Dan and our Havanese pooch Stevie Nicks.
CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter and keep up to date on my reviews, publications, and behind-the-scene stories of interest–like how I work with a cover artist, how I get my info about the FBI, what I’m going to do for the next novel, photos of my research, and some of my tricks and secrets for plotting twists and suspense. I’ll be launching a number of new projects soon that I’m sure you’ll want to know about.
Also, follow me on social media. I love my friends and fans!
First, let me say I hope you’ve all weathered 2020 and that this year has been gentler and kinder, and you’ve found some kind of normal. It’s been rough, but we sure are resilient, aren’t we?
We survived the Holiday Farm Fire here in Oregon and luckily our house didn’t burn. But so many friends’ homes did not make it. It took a long time to find my footing and get back to doing some things like this blog.
I’ve been reading a lot, but it took this one thriller to snap me back into action and write a review. I have a few more notes on other reads, streaming series, and audiobooks to recommend after this review. In the meantime, grab this thriller. I’m calling it out as noir. It has all the characteristics, and I’m so lucky to have read an advanced reader copy. So here you go.
Early in a thriller, I can usually guess—or have a decent idea—of who the antagonist is.
With Hannah Mary McKinnon’s You Will Remember Me, it seemed easy, almost too easy. Why would an author make it obvious? What the heck was McKinnon doing?
I can’t answer that or even hint at it, but I can say this. When a story starts with a man on a Maryland beach with amnesia, then you find he’s living two lives, another in Maine, you hope it’s going to be a twisted, wicked ride. This was, indeed, that kind of ride.
In You Will Remember Me the secret lives of the characters get deeper and more complex as the story unfolds. McKinnon drips backstories into the novel thus building suspense and twisting the reader’s allegiances. The author handles multiple voices so well I had whiplash as to what was happening and who to trust. The novel could be categorized as noir because it’s suspenseful, dark, creepy, and surprising. And, oh, that ending! Lisa Unger called it “utterly diabolical.” I totally agree.
#YouWillRememberMe #NetGalley
MORE RECOMMENDATIONS
The following are in no particular order, but I’m sticking to noir or noir-ish recommendations with a few notes on each.
I belong to a “Hard-Boiled Book Club.” For those who don’t know what hard-boiled fiction is, here’s the Encyclopedia Brittanica’s definition:
Hard-boiled fiction–a tough, unsentimental style of American crime writing that brought a new tone of earthy realism or naturalism to the field of detective fiction. Hard-boiled fiction used graphic sex and violence, vivid but often sordid urban backgrounds, and fast-paced, slangy dialogue.
A CLASSIC HARD-BOILED
Everyone in the group plus my husband loved The Conjure-Man Dies by Rudolph Fisher. Classified as a Harlem Mystery, it was much more than that–humorous, insightful, with characters who were sharp and witty. He also wrote with his knowledge of medical science, giving us an accurate portrayal of Harlem in the 1930s. This was the first detective novel written by an African-American, a distinguished doctor, accomplished musician, and dramatist. Unfortunately, he died in 1934 at the age of 37. I can’t imagine what he could have written if he’d lived longer.
STREAMING
I highly recommend Perry Mason the not-so-new but brillian series on HBO. Why? Because so many didn’t get the point of this show–it’s a prequel to the original or in other words an origin story.
I think it’s a brilliant take on Perry Mason in 1932 Los Angeles. At first he’s a down-and-out PI, then he’s terrible as a lawyer. Nothing goes right.
I’d classify this series as neo-noir, as it’s gritty, atmospheric, and grim at times. Unlike the PM we see in the original, this PM is haunted by his wartime experiences in France, probably suffering with PTSD, and also from a broken marriage.
Matthew Rhys knocks it out of the park with his portrayal of the main character. It’s amazing that he’s Welsh and has such a thick accent, but captures an American character brilliantly. (Yes, I have a bit of a crush on him. So sue me.)
Even though this is an origin story, I think it stands on its own. PM is not a hero of the courtroom and the ending shows the reality of the times, but Mason does expose the truth of the crime. Give it a shot if you haven’t already. The brilliant cast and sets top this off as one of my favorite all-time series after The Americans and The Wire.
Perry Mason was executive produced by Susan Downey and Robert Downey, Jr. I am so thrilled Robert Downey, Jr. survived all his trials and has come to this successful point in his life.
For a fascinating look behind the scenes at the sets, GO HERE. The people who worked on this film makes the LA of the 30s come alive. History, culture, socio-economic turbulence are reflected in so much of the story telling.
PODCAST
This one I’d call a page-turner if there were pages. Maybe an episode turner? it was also a rabbit hole for me because after this podcast, I listened and watched everything I could about Hodel, his family, the Black Dahlia, and the Surrealist artists of the day.
My main fascination focused on how art, particularly the Surrealists, influenced the killing of Elizabeth Short, the Black Dahlia. From everything i read and listened to, I think Hodel, a surgeon, wanted to outdo the other surrealists to prove himself the ultimate artist by creating a surrealist version of murder. Yes, the man was sick because he probably killed many other women, but in this killing, he replicated a famous Surrealist painting by Man Ray, a friend. He also embraced the Surrealists’ hedonistic lifestyle along with blatantly treating women as objects for whatever purpose they deemed necessary. Hodel’s son, a former LAPD homicide detective, believes his father was the killer.
Man Ray’s “Minotaure”
“This is dad’s surrealistic masterpiece,” he told Dr. Phil. “I talk about his scalpel being his paintbrush and her body was the canvas. It’s that twisted.” I think Hodel was a psychopathic narcissist who wanted to be a famous artist and was competitive to a degree that he found a way to outdo Man Ray. Women were just objects for their pleasure. I’d hold many of the members of LA law enforcement and the Hollywood establishment guilty too of his crimes as they continued to let Hodel off the hook because he provided secret abortions and gave out pharmaceuticals to people who ranked high in the LA establishment.
For more on the art aspect of the case, click on THIS LINK.
Thanks for stopping by!
Valerie J. Brooks
I’m the author of the psychological femme-noir thriller Revenge in 3 Parts the first in the Angeline Porter Trilogy. The second in the trilogy Tainted Times 2 will be available Sept. 1, 2020. I live in the McKenzie River Valley of Oregon with my husband Dan and our Havanese pooch Stevie Nicks.
CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter and keep up to date on my reviews, publications, and behind-the-scene stories of interest–like how I work with a cover artist, how I get my info about the FBI, what I’m going to do for the next novel, photos of my research, and some of my tricks and secrets for plotting twists and suspense. I’ll be launching a number of new projects soon that I’m sure you’ll want to know about.
Also, follow me on social media. I love my friends and fans!
A Review of THE PERFECT SECRET by Steena Holmes by Valerie J. Brooks
Starla Bishop has trouble staying out of jail. Her poor mother tries to remind Starla of why she lands there every time. Somehow her habit of conning people overtakes her common sense.
But now she wants to turn her life around. She has a job, a real job. She’s met a man who is interested in her. She’s finally feeling valued. This time she has a real chance.
Or does she?
Stevie and I love a good thriller
Steena Holmes latest psychological suspense novel The Perfect Secret twists and turns, rises and drops like a roller coaster. I can’t give too much away as I don’t do spoilers, but you can count on being upset or frustrated when someone or something interrupts your reading time.
Before you dive back into the U.S. reopening and summer calling you to the great outdoors, give yourself a treat, cuddle up with your favorite blanket, settle in with your favorite snack, and read The Perfect Secret. But buckle up for a crazy ride.
Does Starla really believe she’s met the man who proclaims he loves her and is her fairy god-father? Who in this story is really in love with whom? What is going on in that shed? Can you really trust a car salesman—or his ex-wife who is married to her research of plants and is Starla’s boss? Pay close attention readers. The game gets very complicated. What’s right under your nose or feet isn’t what you think it is.
Steena Holmes
With 2 million copies of her titles sold world wide, Steena Holmes was named in the Top 20 Women Authors to read in 2015 by Good Housekeeping. She continues to write books that deal with issues that touch parents heart, whether it is through her contemporary fiction or psychological suspense novels.
To find out more about her books and her love for traveling, you can visit her website at http://www.steenaholmes.com
Valerie J. Brooks
I’m the author of the psychological femme-noir thriller Revenge in 3 Parts the first in the Angeline Porter Trilogy. The second in the trilogy Tainted Times 2 will be available Sept. 1, 2020. I live in the McKenzie River Valley of Oregon with my husband Dan and our Havanese pooch Stevie Nicks.
CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter and keep up to date on my reviews, publications, and behind-the-scene stories of interest–like how I work with a cover artist, how I get my info about the FBI, what I’m going to do for the next novel, photos of my research, and some of my tricks and secrets for plotting twists and suspense. I’ll be launching a number of new projects soon that I’m sure you’ll want to know about.
Also, follow me on social media. I love my friends and fans!
I’m a big fan of Ivy Pochoda. Part of my fangirl heart-thumps come from her NOT focusing on the serial killer. Instead, she brings us the world of the women affected by the killer. I cheer that she doesn’t prioritize the experience of the aggressor. In fact, in her latest novel that I review, we don’t need to know much about him as he’s fairly ordinary and uninteresting, as many of them are.
After my review, I’ve given a link to an interview with Pochoda. Leah Carroll states in the Refinery29 interview:
… (Pochoda) amplifies and interweaves the voices of those who are too often silenced, thereby offering a nuanced, impactful portrait of the effects of violence on a community of women.
Fetishizing killers has caused a serious disassociation in how we read and write. Many of the women authors who are writing thrillers now have taken the approach of focusing on the families affected by the killer.
In fact, over a year ago, I stopped listening to the podcast MY FAVORITE MURDER. At first, I listened to it with the idea that the podcasters, two women comedians, had found a new way of bringing our attention to crimes that had been committed. But after a while, I began to feel sickened that I was laughing at how these stories were presented. What about the victims? Was there anything funny about them or their families or the sickos who were doing the murders? I’d been caught up in the antics and the funny storytelling when in fact, these were real stories about real people who had had their lives upended and had to deal with traumatic loss.
So I salute Ivy Pochoda. It’s always a risk to write against the cultural tide, but she triumphs in her new novel.
My Review
Ivy Pochoda’s THESE WOMEN is an inspired novel and one of my favorites of the year so far–and for a very good and unexpected reason. This psychological thriller doesn’t focus on who the serial killer is or why he does what he does.
Instead, the suspense is built around five black and Latina women, most of them sex workers, living in the same area as sex workers who were killed in the 90s. The killer was never found. Now women are being killed again in the same manner–slit throat and thrown from a car. The story follows these five women’s intertwined lives in their neighborhood in south L.A.
snuggled up reading on my Kindle
‘Feelia opens the novel in 1999 and pulls you into her world with tough talk and street wisdom. She’s in the hospital because she forgot her own advice. When you work the streets, you’ve got to be “diligent.” The beep-beep-beep of the hospital machines sound in the background as she tells us about the hard game on the streets where she hangs with her 5th of Hennessy and pack of Pall Malls. How she didn’t pay attention that day when she was smoking and staring up at the trees that were dancing like a couple of drunk girls at a party—sway, sway, sway—and was talked into a car by a slick man who cut her throat and tossed her aside like garbage.
When Dorian’s story starts, it’s 2014. Young girls gather at her fish shack, spouting profanity and taunting her. Dorian lost her daughter Lecia to the killer years ago and has lapses, sometimes thinking she recognizes Lecia hanging with these girls. Sometimes she has heartbreaking visits from Lecia. Kathy, another sex worker, frequents the fish shack and seems unsatisfied with everything Dorian tries to do for her. Dorian is not only tries to save her fish shack, she also tries to save Julianna, who looks like Dorian’s dead daughter and who becomes a major target of the serial killer.
Ivy Pochoda
Ivy Pochoda adeptly creates a noir atmosphere throughout the novel with fires in the hills filling the air with smoke. Dead hummingbirds are left at Dorian’s doorstep. Green parrots fly by and roost in the palms. NPR follows the news of a young black man shot by police at point-blank range. Class issues arise when Dorian loses a catering job because she won’t use the back door of an upscale house, and the wife notices that Dorian knows her husband. No one in authority cares about sex workers dying, and Dorian continues over fifteen years to plague the authorities to find out who killed her daughter.
As their stories overlap and collide, we’re drawn inevitably to the shocking identity of the serial killer–shocking from the women’s viewpoint.
Even the arrest of the killer disturbs the neighborhood, and even though justice is served, peace is not around the corner. I bought a copy of this beautiful, haunting novel so that I can reread it.
THESE WOMEN, I hope, should become a classic.
Thank you for the ARC. #TheseWomen #NetGalley #HarperCollins
CLICK ON THIS LINK TO READ: “These Women TV Series Based On Book In Works From Handmaid’s Tale Creator Bruce Miller & MGM/UA TV”
Other books by Ivy Pochoda
I’m the author of the psychological femme-noir thrillerRevenge in 3 Parts the first in the Angeline Porter Trilogy. The second in the trilogy Tainted Times 2 will be available Sept. 1, 2020. I live in the McKenzie River Valley of Oregon with my husband Dan and our Havanese pooch Stevie Nicks.
CLICK HERE to sign up for my newsletter and keep up to date on my reviews, publications, and behind-the-scene stories of interest–like how I work with a cover artist, how I get my info about the FBI, what I’m going to do for the next novel, photos of my research, and some of my tricks and secrets for plotting twists and suspense. I’ll be launching a number of new projects soon that I’m sure you’ll want to know about.
Also, follow me on social media. Thank you to everyone who joins me on this journey!
Hoping you’re all snuggled down in your home and taking advantage of this time to read or listen to great books. I just finished a novel I think you’ll like. It’s definitely an escape! Here’s the review I posted on Amazon and Goodreads. Enjoy!
I inhaled BURIED by Lynda La Plante. Yet as I did, something felt familiar. That’s when I checked out the author’s bio.
I should have known. PRIME SUSPECT remains one of my favorite series, and Jane Tennison is my all-time favorite DC. La Plante wrote the original script for the Prime Suspect and has written over 170 hours of international television. Embarrassingly, I am a newbie to her novels.
Yes, I’m in my bathrobe
But not anymore. (Three are downloaded to my Audible library.)
Buried has everything I love in a crime thriller. Just as the promo states, “Buried has everything Lynda La Plante fans love—brilliant detective work, vicious criminals, strong characters and a dash of humor.”
But many novels have those yet don’t come alive or are satisfying. Why does this novel come alive? Because the author excels in setting scenes and putting me in her character’s shoes.
For example, I get a good dose of her new DC Jack Warr’s inner workings with this:
“The road he came in on had brought him past a yacht club, brimming with blazered gents and Pimm’s-supping ladies all showing off their knees regardless of the fact that it was cloudy with a stiff breeze. … (the description continues, almost in a lulling fashion) … Jack took in the stunning scenery, the calm, quiet feel, and the crisp clean air. ‘I’d be bored shitless within minutes,’ he thought to himself.”
Besides the bit of humor at the end of the paragraph, you learn a lot about this guy. All of this comes from the author’s ability to fully see the scene in her mind’s eye. Like a movie or a TV series, we get to be that character.
My helpmate & editor Stevie Nicks
DC Jack Warr and his wife Maggie are new characters in a new series. I’m ecstatic to get in on a new La Plante series. Jack Warr depends on Maggie to shore up his lack of engagement in and enthusiasm for his new job. He fights his own character traits, and we find out why by the end of the novel when he becomes fully enmeshed in his case. What a fascinating new character.
But he’s not the only character who sucked me into the story. Wow, the “widows.” I love them! These women from previous novels, movies, and series are tough as nails and brilliant. (I wish there was a way to see that 1983 series Widows here in the States; the US movie just didn’t do it for me.) But maybe in the future. I’m just sorry I had to engage with the widows this far along.
From the setup of the Rose Garden Cottage fire to the tie-in with the 1995 train robbery, I was glued to each page and stayed up way too late at night, plus stole any moment to read a scene or two. Luckily, I didn’t burn dinner.
I don’t rehash plots in my reviews and I try not to give any spoilers, but let’s just say I rooted for the anti-heroes. Enough said.
Five stars. A must-read. Thanks to BookishFirst for the ARC.
The Sangre de Christo mountains loom blood red above the city.
La Llorona, the killing ghost of Hispanic legend, haunts the arroyos.
The “Land of Enchantment” becomes the “Land of Entrapment.”
Santa Fe Noir, edited by Ariel Gore, is perhaps one of my favorite noir collections from prolific Akashic Books. Noir is my favorite genre as it is honest in its depiction of the underrepresented and in telling stories that don’t glorify a culture of power. When I read noir, I expect a story of the underprivileged and displaced fighting against a power structure that’s impossible to conquer. As Ariel Gore says in her introduction, “Noir affirms our experience: Humans aren’t ethical. The good guys don’t win.”
The conquerors wrote the history of this area of New Mexico. Noir corrects those histories. Santa Fe might draw the mystics and new-age practitioners. It might scream health and vitality and beauty. But for those who have had their land, their culture, their very existence violently stolen from them, their stories are quite different. As Gore also states, “… noir speaks to the human consequences of external control and economic exploitation.” You find this is true in many of the classic noirs like the film Chinatown.
Here’s the other reason I love this anthology. In it, I found riveting voices, vivid descriptions of an unfamiliar dusty land, and characters who crept into my dreams.
In the first noir tale, “The Sandbox Story,” Candace Walsh captures the voice of a tough-talking therapist whose fixation on sex, the platypus, and a client lands her in trouble. Walsh vividly paints the conflicting elements of this Eldorado area. “Mountain ranges hug the town; some round like bellies and breasts, others crepuscular, jagged.” I held my breath, waiting for the story’s twist and the repercussions for this obsessed therapist. Both came with a bang.
Another favorite, Byron F. Aspaas’ “Táehii’ nii: Red Running into the Water” sucked me in with a lonely voice, a stranger with turquoise eyes, sex, murder, love, and anguish. It had it all. A native Dine’é man out of place in New York pines for love and his home on Pacheco Street. But his past there makes that a murderous impossibility.
In “The Night of the Flood,” author Ana June tells a tale of acid, lightning, fire, and rain. Katrina’s been at the blackjack table going on thirty-six hours. Her Aunt Mimi is dead and has left her something. She thinks she’ll be rich. She tells us about the summer she spent with her aunt at her “hippie, armpit-smelling house.” I knew then that this “inheritance” would not go well for her. What an understatement. While on an acid trip, she meets La Llorona, the legendary ghost who killed her children. As Katrina’s sister told her, “Don’t f_ _ _ with La Llorona, or she’ll f_ _ _ you right back.” Katrina should have listened. But then again, it was already too late.
One more favorite and this from Ariel Gore. Gore is one of my favorite writers. In “Nightshade,” Juliet, a murderer, is let out of prison to work on a farm. She falls for Molly who sells her prize tomatoes at the farmers market. Juliet speculates on prison life and the pagan women’s circle where she tried visualization. But her regard for all things “magic” is cynical. Her lust for Molly increases with Molly’s flirting. But Juliet begins to question why she, a murderer, is let out of prison on work detail at a farm when she never took part in the prison gardening program. By this time her tension matches mine.
I highly recommend this anthology. There’s a noir for every taste. Just don’t eat the tomatoes.
Thanks to Akashic Books for the advanced reader copy.
For those of you who love the behind-the-scene ways of the writer, check out my other blog GOBSMACKED WRITER. In the next week, I will be posting an inside look at how I choose and review books, where I start, what I look for, why I love it, and photos of my notes about the book along with marked-up pages. I also have other reviews on GOBSMACKED WRITER, some written before I started this blog.
Valerie J. Brooks, Author 