Violeta: A Novel by Isabel Allende

 

Violeta: A Novel by Isabel Allende-322 pages

Violeta is telling her life story in the form of a letter to someone she loves.  She is born in 1920, the youngest of 6, the previous 5 being boys.  Her mother is sickly and spends most of her time in bed throughout Violetas life..eventually succumbing to consumption.  Her father dies when she is fairly young.  The Great Depression has a lot to do with his death and between the two events the family is forced to live in the country with some distant relatives.  They ride a train into the countryside with as much as they could pack from their previous lives.  Violeta goes from a life of privilege to one of hard work.  But she realizes that this is the best time of her life and will reflect years later on how she came of age and how it taught her valuable lessons that will see her through the hard times. 

She lives through a Great War and the fight for women's rights.  She survives not one but two pandemics.  She is married, and yet has many passionate affairs.  She experiences love and tragedy through her two children.  Through it all she is strong and a survivor.

I enjoyed it very much.  Though I must confess I got lost with all the different names because I was not familiar with any of them.  I like to think about all of the changes that people who lived during these years went through.  They truly were the toughest generation.

  

Dexter Is Dead by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter Is Dead: A Novel by Jeff Lindsay --- 286 pages

In the eighth and final book in the popular series, Dexter Morgan, mild-mannered forensics technician by day and sociopathic serial killer by night, finally gets his comeuppance when he's arrested for murder --- framed, ironically, for a murder he didn’t commit --- in the process losing his wife, his kids and his sister Debs' loyalty. The one thing his adoptive father Harry had drilled into him --- the unbreakable bond of family --- is shattered.

Then Dexter discovers there is one familial bond that is still holding. His birth brother, Brian, shows up with enough cash to pay for Miami's highest powered criminal attorney to take Dexter's case. Unfortunately, Brian is himself a homicidal maniac, even more damaged by their shared childhood trauma than Dexter.  And the money he is lavishing on Dexter's defense happens to be money he stole from a Mexican drug lord who will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

A satisfying finale to a blackly humorous series --- and much better than the television series loosely based on the books in my opinion. 

Click HERE to read the official prepublication announcement.

Click HERE to read the Kirkus review of Dexter Is Dead and HERE to watch the Kirkus interview with author Jeff Lindsay.

Dexter's Final Cut by Jeff Lindsay

Dexter's Final Cut: A Novel by Jeff Lindsay --- 352 pages

As fans of Miami PD's Dexter Morgan are well aware, this fall will be the final season of the hit Showtime Network series based on Jeff Lindsay's novels.

Coincidentally, Lindsay's seventh Dexter novel has just been released, and it also hints that Dexter's seemingly charmed life is taking a very different direction.

Dexter and his sister Deborah are informed that they have been assigned as special advisors to a TV network filming the pilot for a new police series set in Miami. Dexter is surprised to discover that there are people who make a good living faking human emotions for the camera --- something that he has learned to do to disguise his inner Monster. Could fame and fortune smile on Dexter? But things turn serious when a brutally murdered woman is found in a Dumpster, and Dexter and Deborah figure out that there's a serial killer lurking in the shadows with a murderous fixation on Jackie Forrest, the star of the show. As events spiral out of control, Dexter's carefully ordered life starts to crack --- to the point where it may not be possible for him to put things back together anymore.