The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
448 pages / 15 hrs, 2 mins

"Ernt Allbright, a former POW, comes home from the Vietnam war a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes an impulsive decision: he will move his family north, to Alaska, where they will live off the grid in America's last true frontier.

"Thirteen-year-old Leni, a girl coming of age in a tumultuous time, caught in the riptide of her parents' passionate, stormy relationship, dares to hope that a new land will lead to a better future for her family. She is desperate for a place to belong. Her mother, Cora, will do anything and go anywhere for the man she loves, even if it means following him into the unknown.

"At first, Alaska seems to be the answer to their prayers. In a wild, remote corner of the state, they find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women...But as winter approaches and darkness descends on Alaska, Ernt's fragile mental state deteriorates...Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own. In the wild, there is no one to save them but themselves."   --from the publisher

It was hard to read about Cora's helplessness in her situation of domestic abuse. If that wasn't enough Ernt became more paranoid and unreasonable, and still Cora couldn't find a way to get help. It was difficult to see friends reach out to her, but not be able to do anything since Cora didn't want their assistance...more helpless feelings! Because of my own childhood experience with domestic abuse in our neighborhood it just hit too close to home. (No pun intended.) When the situation was finally resolved (well over half-way through!), I was able to enjoy the story better. I gave it three out of five stars.

Nightblind by Ragnar Jonasson

Nightblind: A Thriller by Ragnar Jonasson; translated from the Icelandic by Quentin Bates --- 210 pages including Author's Note.

Book 2 in the Dark Iceland Series. Ari Thór Arason is a policeman in the far northern village of Siglufjordur. Once the village was prosperous, in the days when the locals could make a good living fishing and processing herring. But the herring have long since disappeared from the seas off Siglufjordur. A new tunnel and highway under the looming mountains means the village is no longer cut off from the rest of Iceland (at least, not during the short summer season), so the villagers are hoping summer tourists will revitalize the local economy. Ari Thor is an outsider, shut out of the ties that bind the villagers together, but he cannot help but be aware of the simmering tensions beneath the surface. The villagers like to boast that no one locks their doors in Siglufjordur --- but Ari Thor knows better.

Then the seeming peace is shattered by murder. Ari Thor's boss, Inspector Herjolfur, is lured to a derelict house, ambushed and left to die in pouring rain in the dead of night. Suddenly all Iceland's attention is focused on Siglufjordur. As the arctic winter closes in, Ari Thor pursues a murderer through the maze of local politics, illicit drugs, deep-buried family secrets, and victims driven to kill their tormenters.

Another tour de force from a formidable new talent.

Click HERE to read Jonasson discussing the background of his novels and his family connection to the village of Siglufjordur in an essay published by the Irish Times.

Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.

Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.

Click HERE to read the review from Mystery Tribune.

Click HERE to read the review from The Crime Review.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling --- 503 pages

J.K. Rowling's much anticipated first post-Harry Potter book is advertised as "a big novel about a small English town," and her first written for adults. At 503 pages it does qualify as big; and the setting, the seemingly charming village of Pagford, is a small English town. And yes, the subject matter and the language are definitely aimed at adults, although some of the key characters are teenagers in the throes of very turbulent adolescences.

Like Agatha Christie and so many other English novelists, Rowling puts the microcosm of her small town under the microscope to reveal, in pitiless detail, the desperate lives behind the bright facades and false bonhomie of Pagford, when the unexpected death of one of Pagford's leading citizens sets off a "take no prisoners" war over his vacant seat on the town Council.

But what is really sad about this book (as several reviewers have pointed out), is that ALL the characters are so unpleasant, so unlikable and so wrapped up in their own grievances that it's impossible to care very much about what happens to any of them.  It remind me more than anything of the 18th century English artist William Hogarth, who chronicled the sordid and brutish underbelly of society in such works as "The Rake's Progress." Rowling's opinion of humanity seems pretty grim and not for the squeamish or faint of heart.