The Second Life of Nick Mason ~ Steve Hamilton

Hamilton, Steve. 2016. The Second Life of Nick Mason.New York, NY:  G.P. Putnam's Sons. ISBN:  978-0399574320.  $26.00 USD.

The controversy surrounding this new novel by Steve Hamilton caught my eye months ago, and based on the description of the book, I was intrigued.  Mr. Hamilton left his publisher of 17 years and moved to G.P. Putnam after making a statement that he wasn’t well treated by St. Martin’s Press, causing an extended  delay in publishing the first title in his new series, The Second Life of Nick Mason.  I was happy when the book came in, and since I’m a librarian, I had one of the first holds – a secret perk of working in a library!

Nick Mason was a thief, a very good one who partnered with some childhood friends, primarily stealing cars. But he changed his ways after wanting to settle down with his wife and child, and tried to “go straight.”  He is reluctantly drawn back into one last job, where, unfortunately a DEA agent was killed.  He refused to implicate his friends and was sentenced to 25 years in a federal prison.  After 5 years of keeping his head down and avoiding trouble, he is approached by a fellow inmate named Cole who wields a tremendous amount of power, both in and out of prison.  And Nick makes a devil’s bargain for the opportunity to get to know his daughter, who he hasn’t seen since he was imprisoned.  His sentence is vacated in exchange for some future unnamed favors for Cole, and he finds himself free, twenty years earlier than expected.

At first, his life is a dream: a mansion to live in, classic cars to drive and a beautiful roommate, all the property of the devilish Cole.  He tries to reestablish a relationship with his daughter, but his ex-wife has remarried and doesn’t want anything to do with Nick.  And one of the former police investigators of the case, Sandoval, is extremely suspicious of Nick’s early release and has Nick on his radar.

All these elements seem to be a great mix for an excellent thriller. But…it just doesn’t really work. The characters are rather flat and underdeveloped, the money/mansion/cars/love interest are unrealistic.  And when the phone rings, and Nick finds out he is required to become an assassin for Cole, and does, I kind of lost respect for this character. It’s supposed to the first in a series, and I won’t give away the ending, but suffice it to say, that the devil’s bargain won’t be paid anytime soon.

This novel was snatched up by Lionsgate, and I have to say, it will probably make a good film, along the lines of Taken or The Equalizer. But a book is supposed to be better than the movie, and in this case, I doubt that will end up being true.  This novel was almost universally praised by many well-known authors and professional media, so please take my review with a grain of salt.  I read a lot of books, and some I just enjoy more than others - like any book-lover!

A Wife of Noble Character ~ Yvonne Georgina Puig (Pub. Date 8/2/2016)

Puig, Yvonne Georgina. 2016. A Wife of Noble Character. New York, NY: Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 978-1627795555. $27.00 USD

I adore contemporary adaptations of classic literature, so I was intrigued to see an attempt to modernize Edith Wharton’s House of Mirth.  I grew up in Houston, so I enjoyed reading references to places I’ve been and the representation of the types of people I’ve encountered in that sprawling city.

Vivienne Cally is part of the privileged Houston society, but in name only.  The sole child of a wealthy family, she is orphaned while young, and has been raised by a stern aunt.  The family money has long since been depleted, and though Vivienne enjoys being part of the Houston social elite, she has always been on the outside looking in.  She strongly feels, at the beginning of the novel, that her only goal in life is to marry the rather boorish Bucky in order to have the stability she so longs for.

Preston Duffin, childhood friend of Vivienne and her social circle, has never had the wealth that they share, and is finishing up a degree in architecture in order to make a name for himself.  He has long been enamored with Vivienne, but realizes that he will never be able to compete with the wealthier men surrounding her.  However, he is her friend and tries to help her see that there is more to her than her outward assets.  This novel is considered an examination of social manners, and first time author Puig creates an almost pitch perfect example, updated for the 21st century - including references to sexual situations and language one would not find in the classic examples.

However, I feel that to get the big picture of this book, one needs to be a bit knowledgeable of its classic counterpart, The House of Mirth; otherwise, Vivienne comes across as fairly shallow, and her motivations – to marry Bucky and improve her position in society – seem unenlightened in this day and age. On the other hand, by sticking with this novel, one gradually witnesses Vivienne’s growth as a person, one who has something to offer other than her name and looks.  The characters in the book are larger than life and may seem like caricatures, except I’ve known some of those people!

Ultimately, the best characters are Vivienne and Preston, who keep ebbing and flowing in and out of each other’s lives until they’ve reached a level of esteem in themselves that allows them to be their true selves with each other.  I much prefer the ending of this book than Edith Wharton’s.  Enough tragedies are around us every day and in many of the dark novels so popular right now.  By the end, the reader feels Vivienne and Preston deserve their chance at happiness: they’ve worked so hard for it, you see.

The City Baker's Guide to Country Living ~ Louise Miller (Pub. Date 8/9/2016)

Miller, Louise. 2016. The City Baker's Guide to Country Living. New York, NY:  PRH/Viking/Pamela Dorman Books. ISBN: 978-1101981207.  $26.00 USD.

What a joy and pleasure it has been to read Louise Miller’s debut, The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living, especially since I was laid up recovering from knee surgery!  From the opening scene involving a flying, flaming Baked Alaska to the last walk through the Vermont woods, this novel kept me entertained, moved, and eager to enjoy every last “crumb,” so lovingly written and shared by the author.

Olivia Rawlings, a talented pastry chef with a penchant for crazy hair color, causes a disaster by dropping her Pistachio Baked Alaska in front of an elite crowd at the Boston Emerson Club where she works, including her married lover, no less. Fleeing the scene, she lands in Guthrie, Vermont, home to her best friend Hannah, who is married and expecting.  She is offered a temporary job at the nearby Sugar Maple Inn making desserts and, though missing being in a large city where she has always lived, she gradually comes to find life in the country more satisfying than anything she has ever known.  With a cast of quirky characters, a realistic examination of small town life, some surprising secrets, and a slow and sweet romance, this novel reveals how a lonely, banjo playing chef learns a lot about herself in the year she spends in Guthrie, and what it means to call a place “home.”A nice respite, in more ways than one, from the literary thrillers I've been reading lately!

What She Knew ~ Gilly MacMillan

MacMillan, Gilly.  2015. What She Knew. New York: William Morrow. $15.99 USD.  ISBN. 978-0062413864

This novel of literary suspense was a hard one to read at first, because it deals with a topic that is horrifying to any parent: the abduction of a child.  We feel very vividly the terror, guilt, grief and anger of the mother, especially, but also of the other family members, as well as the frustration of the detective who investigated the case.  Once the author has overloaded you with more emotion than you can quite handle, the book moves more swiftly into a mystery to be solved.  I am not ashamed to admit that I read the end of the book first, to make sure I could handle spending all the time I would have to with the main character's anguish.

 The sections from the detective's point of view were interesting, as they were in the format of his therapist's notes from his work-mandated therapy sessions.  Grueling is the word that comes to mind, but they also shed light on the impact that traumatic cases can have on the officers who investigate them.  It's not a book I would choose to read more than once, but it was very well done.

Sleeping Giants ~ Sylvain Neuvel

Neuvel, Sylvain. 2016. Sleeping Giants. New York: Del Rey Books, a division of Ballantine Books.  $26.00 USD.  ISBN 978-1101886694

This novel, a debut written by linguist and translator Sylvain Neuvel, is a fascinating mystery and an elegant piece of science fiction. Written entirely in the form of interviews with an anonymous interrogator, it explores the lives of various characters involved in the discovery and reclamation of a giant robot, body part by body part, buried by an unknown entity or advanced alien species sometime in the past. The story is revealed gradually through the interviews, and the author does a fantastic job of giving distinct personalities to each of the novel's characters. It is also the first novel of a series, so we are left with some unanswered questions to look forward to being resolved in a future title. What is distinctive about this novel is its format.  I've seen novels written in diary or journal entries, emails or text messages, or a mixture of these with prose. But the interrogation/interview format is new to me, and Mr. Neuvel has used this technique to write a novel of propulsive suspense.

My Name is Lucy Barton ~ Elizabeth Strout

Strout, Elizabeth. 2016. My Name is Lucy Barton. New York: Random House.
$26.00 USD.  ISBN 978-1400067695

From the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Olive Kitteridge.  In this slim volume, a young mother is recovering from a surgery gone bad in a New York hospital sometime in the 1980's in the shadow of the Chrystler Building. She is missing her husband and children, who cannot visit her.  One day, her estranged mother shows up and spends five days with her in the hospital, and from there the story begins.  The simple, almost child-like narrative is jarring at first, until one realizes that her mother's visit has caused the protagonist, Lucy Barton, to revert to the insecure, abused and abandoned child she once was, still hoping for some show of affection from her mother.  The story slips by like snapshots from the past and casts shadows on Lucy's childhood, marriage, writing career and her relationships, including those with her daughters.  It is a poignant read of "poverty and abuse," but also of love, which is so fragile, yet resilient as well.

The Last Painting of Sara de Vos ~ Dominic Smith

Smith, Dominic. 2016. The Last Painting of Sara de Vos. New York: Sarah Crichton Books.  ISBN 978-0374106683. $26.00 USD.

I am not usually a fan of historical fiction.  I much prefer contemporary fiction, literary suspense, mysteries and urban fantasy.  However, this rather slim volume caught my eye, and I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it.  The Last Painting of Sara De Vos explores the history of one painting and the lives it impacts, from three separate time periods and locations: the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, Manhattan in the 1950's and Sydney, Australia in the year 2000.

This novel is a mesmerizing look at the lives of a fictional female Dutch painter, the owner of the painting and its forger, and how these lives intersect in history and mystery.  The author writes in alternating chapters from the perspective of each of these three characters, and wonderfully develops each one.  The novel provides voluminous details about the Dutch Golden Age of art and the intricate techniques involved in painting restoration and forgery. The details of the different eras are so exquisitely described that I felt I was entering into those time periods. I got so caught up in this story that I did not want to stop reading as it raced to a surprisingly suspenseful resolution.  I admit this novel may have changed my opinion about reading historical fiction! Very well done.