My Sister, the Serial Killer

My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite (2018), 223 pgs. 

Korede has always taken care of her younger sister, Ayoola. They are best friends and have always been, despite everyone constantly comparing them to each other, and their lives are completely entangled. When Ayoola makes a mess, Korede is always there to clean it up, and Ayoola seems to keep making messes. Working at the hospital is the only time that Korede has away from her sister, whom she loves dearly but who also causes her a lot of stress, and soon Ayoola starts messing that up as well. How much longer can she keep this up before both of their lives are ruined? How much help is too much? 

I read this book very quickly. Each chapter is short and leaves you wondering what will happen next, so you can't help but read just one more...and then another...and another. Oyinkan Braithwaite writes her main character, Korede, as a complex person who you don't quite know how to feel about. One minute you're frustrated with her, and the next, completely sympathetic. Overall, this book is a quick, interesting read that will keep you guessing. It isn't quite as action packed as the title may lead you to believe, but the characters are so compelling that it holds your interest. I personally was not a fan of the ending, but up until then I was all in.

When the Harvest Comes

When the Harvest Comes by Denne Michele Norris, 304 pages

Davis is determined have a beautiful wedding and married life with Everett, despite the fact that his family is absent and Everett's Kennedy-esque white family doesn't necessarily understand their mixed-race relationship. Davis' religious father never approved of his lifestyle as a gay man, but when Davis learns during the reception that his father was killed in a car accident, he's unfortunately starting out his married life struggling to deal with his complex feelings for the man who judged harshly (often physically) but also supported Davis' burgeoning career as a concert violinist.

Families are complex, and this is a serious look at one person's struggle to define who they are in the shadow of a traumatic and strained upbringing. This is by no means a cheerful story, though it is perhaps a bit hopeful in the end? There's definitely love, though how it's expressed and how it's received are definitely in conflict at times.

A House with Good Bones

 A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher, 247 pages.

Although she's upset about her archeological dig being delayed indefinitely, archaeoentomologist Sam isn't upset to spend some time visiting her mom. Even if that does mean going back to the house she grew up in, which previously belonged to her late grandmother (a real piece-of-work) and is in a middle-of-nowhere suburb with no cell service. However, it soon becomes obvious something is wrong. Her kind and generous mother seems terrified of something she won't talk about, all of the walls have been painted beige, and there's not a single insect in the her grandmother's prized rose garden. As the ominous events keep adding up, Sam may have to start believing in things she can't imagine. 

This was a pretty neat little horror novel. The tension kept building slowly, in a way that was almost palpable by the climax. One of my only complaints was that it felt like the tension broke almost as soon as I was really starting to feel it. T. Kingfisher's characters are, as always, great. I would definitely recommend this for someone looking for a haunted house book that isn't too scary. 

How to Sell a Haunted House

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix (2023) 417 pages

Louise learns that her parents have died in a car crash, and comes back to Charleston, SC for the funeral, fully expecting to fight with her brother, Mark, whom she deems spoiled, selfish, and unreliable. Mark has hired someone to empty the house so that they could put it on the market. Louise is aghast at his decision to do that without consulting her, and she calls off the crew. But when she goes into the house, the creepiness hits her hard: Hundreds of dolls are in the house, as well as puppets that their mother had made. Very weird things happen which she tries to rationalize away. Later, Louise and Mark can no longer rationalize what happens after they are attacked by the toys, as well as by an imaginary animal Mark had created in his youth.

Their mother, Nancy, was the creator of the puppets, and had even had a Christian puppet ministry for some years. The trigger for the eeriness seems to lie in her childhood and with her family. The house had been in her family when she was a child.

The creepy factor is high in this book! It's not my usual style novel, having grabbed it quickly, thinking in error that the haunting had to do with old memories. By the time I had properly read the blurb on the dust jacket, I decided to plunge in anyway. Quite a trip.

Ratking

 

Ratking by Michael Dibdin  266 pp.

This is the first book in the Aurelio Zen mystery series. Zen whose police career has stalled after an unsuccessful kidnapping case and he's stuck in a dead-end office job within the Rome police. Zen is a dark and brooding character with a chip on his shoulder, trying to redeem himself with this investigation. When no one else is available, Zen is sent to Perugia in Umbria to investigate the kidnapping of a powerful industrialist named Ruggerio Miletti. The family has paid a ransom but the kidnappers want more. Zen's investigations reveal dysfunction and dissention within the Miletti family and he suspects this isn't a "typical" Italian kidnapping. The death of Ruggerio after he was released by the kidnappers turns the tale into a murder mystery. The family are suspect, but who fired the deadly bullet? 

This book was narrated by British actor, Michael Kitchen. While I am a fan of his work in Foyle's War and other television shows and movies, I found his very distinctive voice to be a distraction. I'm sure those not familiar with him will think it is fine.

Two Wrongs Make a Right

Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese (2022) 320 pages

Bea's twin sister Julia and her fiancé, Jean-Claude, decide to fix Bea up with Jean-Claude's roommate, Jamie. The last thing Bea wants is a boyfriend, having come off a bad relationship that she's still feeling 18 months later. Jamie seems stiff and serious, so unlike Bea, who is artistic, neurodivergent and rather tattooed. Their interactions are positive in the physical sense, but "ick" in the social sense. When Julia and Jean-Claude persist in trying to get them together, Bea and Jamie decide to pretend to fall for each other, with the thought that they will have a big break-up in a few months in order to forever discourage the would-be matchmakers from trying again.

It's a stretch to believe that this strategy will work, but it puts into play a storyline into the inner workings of the couple, individually and together, and we see how their previous relationships affected them. The novel also shows lots of family relationships, some good, some not-so-good. Neurodivergence seems to be cropping up in novels more often lately, and I thought it was handled well in this story. Even though I thought the plot was contrived, I still wanted to see how everything worked out.

The Fortunes of Jaded Women

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh (2022) 255 pages

Generations ago, a Vietnamese woman, Oanh Duong, left her husband to marry someone else for love. The audacity! Her ex-mother-in-law visited a witch to place a curse on her and all her future children: no sons shall be born into their families. Fast forward to Oanh's great-grandaughter, Mrs. Ly Minh Durang. She has four daughters by two husbands. Her daughters have watched family discord for all their lives; indeed, they haven't spoken to each other or to their mother for a long time. Between them, the four daughters have eight daughters, and they each have their own issues with them, as well. (There is a family tree at the beginning of the book that helps keep all of these women straight.)

None of the youngest generation has found love; they are as jaded as their mothers about the prospect. Circumstances in their youth—several families together in a small house, hearing their mothers fight with their fathers—have not helped them find happiness. However, some of the women are quite successful in business. One has already made her fortune as the head of a computer company. Another is a dermatologist, one is a designer of a clothing line who lives in Saigon, and a couple of them run small businesses in Southern California, where most of the story takes place. As proud as their mothers are of these daughters, there is toxicity in their relationships with them.

Mai Nguyen, one of the daughters of Mrs. Ly Minh Durang, visits Auntie Hua, a fortune teller based in Hawaii, as she has done each year for the past ten years. She is told that this coming year will bring huge changes: a death, a wedding, and a birth of a baby boy in the family. Is the curse to be broken? As temperamental as Mai Nguyen is (it's not uncommon for her to start flinging fruit at her sisters), she starts reconnecting with her sisters and mother and daughters. The result is humorous, poignant, and more than a bit crazy.

Other Birds

Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen (2022) 287 pages

Zoey is ready to start college, and is feeling pressured by her father and stepmother to permanently move out of their house in Tulsa. They had reluctantly taken her in when her mother died when Zoey was seven. She has never really been treated as part of the family and she seeks to find some essence of her mother at an efficiency apartment that she had inherited on Mallow Island, off the coast of South Carolina. The condo is not far from the university she'll be attending in the fall. When she arrives on the island, she meets Fraiser, the caretaker of the small condo community called The Dellawisp, named after the small turquoise birds who live on the property, birds which are not shy about landing on people, pulling on their shoelaces, or even following them inside. Additionally, there are four other units besides the one now owned by Zoey, but the inhabitants aren't open about meeting her ‒ or each other, for that matter. The only person who makes an extended appearance on Zoey's first day there is Lizbeth, a hoarder who shushes any activity. Zoey tries to change the dynamics; her enthusiasm is refreshing for a young woman whose best friend at the moment is an invisible pigeon.

I'm not sure what I love the most about this book. It could be the birds, the ghosts (yes, even the ghosts have chapters, telling us about themselves!), or the atmosphere of The Dellawisp in general. But the characters are compelling, and as we learn their backstories, the story grows in scope. I highly recommend this book!