‘Breakneck’ Takes Aim at U.S., China’s Flaws – and Promise
Breakneck reads like being cornered at a party by someone itching to rant about both the U.S. and China’s approach to growth and policy. Fortunately, this rant is well researched and reasoned.
‘Feather Detective’ Gives Voice to One Woman’s Quiet Efforts
Roxie’s life is fascinating on its face, but Sweeney’s writing lets it shine with an effective choice of details and events to illustrate such an illustrious life.
‘The Unheld’ Blends Fear and Displacement in Weird West
In an atmosphere of one group of people pressing into the unknown and another group of people being forced from everything they’ve known, the shadows of the mountains and the expanse of the prairies can hold any number of bone-chilling things.
‘Hollow’ Full of Twists and Wise Restraint
Sullivan threads several tricky needles well in Brimstone Hollow, and that restraint helps her plot and characters shine.
‘Old King’ Brings Unfinished Complexity
Loskutoff’s exploration here seems to be in the tension between nature and modernity that drove Ted Kaczynski, but the Unibomber remains a largely one-dimensional character.
‘Under the Falls’ Sticks to the Shallows
Under the Falls sets up complex relationships, old hurts, clashing motivations, and a town full of secrets but doesn’t give them time to live up to the potential that’s well within Richard Russo’s wheelhouse.
‘Plant Lady’ Has Fun With Revenge
There’s a lot to love about Plant Lady, not least of which is the tempered delight the book takes with its kills, but the straightforward fun means missed opportunity for deeper exploration of complex subject matter.
‘Flower’ a Gripping, Sobering History
While the prose and structure is a nice read, there’s no making this subject matter go down easy. But then, forced family separation, rampant human rights violations, and elusive justice should never go down easy.
‘Grave’ a Fast-Paced Horror Where Anything Goes
This isn’t a polyphonic novel, nor is it one grappling with morally gray characters. This is a story of humans good, monsters bad, and the fate of the world hangs in the balance. Carry Me To My Grave doesn’t try to do anything more or less than this, and it does it well.
‘Race’ A Nail-Biting Cross-Country Roadtrip
The Hardest, Longest Race at its core is about the struggle between the past and the future, between what’s true and what gets remembered.
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