The Echo of Old Books

The Echo of Old Books by Barbara Davis 433 pp.

Ashlyn Greer owns a rare book shop and has the ability to sense the previous owners of books. When she receives some boxes of books from a local estate she finds two beautifully bound volumes that apparently were not published. The books are the story of a doomed romance during the days leading up to WWII. Belle is the younger daughter of a wealthy family who is in an arranged engagement to a wealthy young man whose father wants to do business with her father. Belle's father is an evil man who is part of the America First Committee, an anti-Semitic, pro-fascist, isolationist organization. At the engagement party Belle meets Hemi, a British journalist, and they soon begin a clandestine affair. The two books are written by each of them, giving their own side of what went wrong. Ashlyn contacts the man who brought the books to her store and together they search for the real identities of Belle and Hemi in his family. The story is well written but I was hoping to see more of Ashlyn's telemetry skills used in the story.

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.

A Good Marriage

A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight, 390 pages

Every marriage has secrets, right? Well, in the upscale Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope, there are more than average, and one of those has gotten beautiful new neighbor Amanda Grayson murdered. Initial suspicion lands on her husband, tech entrepreneur Zach, who his old law school classmate Lizzie from prison, asking her to be his defense lawyer. At first, Lizzie's convinced her old friend is innocent and begins poking around to find an alternate suspect. But digging around Park Slope is revealing way more that she anticipated.

This is a gripping psychological thriller, filled with plenty of creepy potential suspects, flashbacks to the days leading up to the murder, and deep dark secrets for every last character in the book. I was captivated, horrified, and completely satisfied with this quick read.

The Dutch House

The Dutch House: a Novel / Ann Patchett, 337 p.

Siblings Maeve and Danny spend early childhood in The Dutch House, a spectacular Philadelphia mansion.  They live there with their distant father and two loving servants after their mother disappears.  Maeve becomes a surrogate mother to Danny in their mother's absence, and life is good until their Dad surprises them with stepmother Andrea, a cartoon-like evil figure straight out of the Brothers Grimm. 

As they move into adulthood, Maeve and Danny remain extremely close to one another, and unable to leave the bitterness of their childhoods behind.  When their mother surfaces many years later, their equilibrium is tested. 

I loved aspects of this novel; Patchett's writing is always a pleasure, and Maeve and Danny's relationship is beautifully rendered.  Other elements were unsatisfying, though: the stereotypical Andrea was hard to believe, and the saintly (and complicated) mother Elna never came into focus.  Ultimately, while the surface plot of the novel seems to say that materialism is empty, the characters' lives revolve around material achievement in a way that gives the reading an incoherent feel.