The Eighth Detective by Alex Pavesi (★★☆☆☆)
Audiobook • Library • Mystery • 2020
Short synopsis: Many years ago, Grant McAllister calculated the rules for a mystery novel. He worked out the different orders and possibilities of a mystery, and published seven perfect detective stories into a book. These days, he lives a quiet, isolated life on a remote Mediterranean island… until he’s visited by an editor named Julia who wishes to republish his book and wants to revisit these old stories with him. But Julia starts to notice the inconsistencies in the novel, and she’s on a mission to figure out what’s going on.
This was a tough novel for me, and maybe that’s because I don’t really like short stories. This book was a collection of short stories – seven quick mysteries – and I found it hard to get fully invested in the story. I also found all of the mysteries to be quite underwhelming and with very dissatisfying endings, which tempered my enjoyment. While I liked the bigger overarching plot of the novel, involving Julia and Grant as they discuss each short story and talk about the mechanics of them, I wanted a bit more of them and their dynamic, and less of these really underwhelming mysteries. There’s a twist at the end that was quite interesting, I’ll admit, but by that point, I was just done with the novel and wanted it to be over. So, unfortunately, this wasn’t a hit for me but if you are someone who likes short stories, you may enjoy this book!
The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley (★★☆☆☆)
Print • Library • Contemporary Fiction • 2023
Short synopsis: When 21-year-old Tanner starts working as a live-in caretaker for Louise, neither is happy about the arrangement and both spend time ignoring each other. It isn’t until Louise shows up in Tanner’s room at 1 a.m. one night, insisting they need to leave, that Tanner realizes she’s not living with a typical elderly woman.
Oh, I really did want to like this book but it just wasn’t for me. This was our April pick for book club and most of my friends enjoyed it for what it is: a cheesy, relatively brainless read. But I was left wanting more. I didn’t find either Tanner or Louise particularly likable, and I think the author sacrificed character development for making a big “GOTCHA!” at the end of the novel. I didn’t really see the growth of their relationship, either, to understand how they became multigenerational friends. And there were so many twists and turns at the end… it felt overly dramatic and unrealistic. Unfortunately, not a book I’m rushing out to recommend.
A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham (★★★☆☆)
Print • Owned (Book of the Month) • Thriller • 2022
Short synopsis: Chloe was 12 years old when teenage girls in her town started to go missing… and her father was arrested for their murders. Twenty years later, she’s a psychologist in Baton Rouge, engaged and planning a beautiful wedding. And then it starts happening again. A girl is missing… then another one and another one. These cases seem eerily similar to the ones her father was convicted of. Is there a copycat serial killer out there?
This book has gotten a lot of accolades and won some sort of popularity award through Book of the Month, so I got it for free from them. I was excited to dive in—I’m not a super critical reader of thrillers. I like them to be appropriately spooky with some twists and turns that make sense. I don’t necessarily need to root for the main character, but I want to understand them. In this novel, I could not get past the massive ethical violations of Chloe who is a licensed psychologist and involved in some very problematic behaviors (like prescribing Xanax to her fiancee that she picks up at the pharmacy herself and hides from him…) The overall mystery was an interesting one and I did appreciate the twists and turns the novel took, but there were so many plot holes that were never addressed and I just found it really hard to root for or understand Chloe. She’s a psychologist who needs to find a new line of work and get herself to therapy ASAP.
What are you reading?
I read A Flicker in the Dark a loooooong time ago. I was on a thriller binge at the time and it was the third book I’d read that was recommended by the same source. The first two books were soooo good and Flicker was noticeably…more ordinary. It was a perfectly fine book, just nothing remarkable.
“A perfectly fine book” is a great way to describe A Flicker in the Dark! An easy popcorn thriller, but nothing more than that.
Oh no, not a good week of reading!! Boo! 2 star reads are especially painful because I think about what I could have read in the time I spent reading a book that wasn’t a great fit for me!
I am reading “Fat Talk” right now for my May book club meeting. I think it’s going to make for a really great conversation. It’s something I’ve been meaning to read so am glad book club pushed me to pick it up! Before that, I abandoned “Everybody in My Family has Killed Someone.” I haven’t been reading thrillers lately but this one had so much buzz that I decided to check it but I gave up at 10% because I did not like the tone of the narrator or the breaking of the 4th wall. I was going to keep reading it since it had great reviews from others but then thought – why am I reading something that is annoying me!
Not my best reading week!
I liked Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, but not as much as other people have. I think it’s the right call to abandon it if the narrator was bugging you! I really should have abandoned those two books but one of them was for book club, so I felt like I had to push through, bleh.
I loved The Eighth Detective, and I also read Flicker in the Dark, and have no recollection of the ending AT ALL. None. Did I even finish it??? Hard to say.
Right now I’m on a Liane Moriarty kick. Loved Apples Never Fall, enjoyed What Alice Forgot and have just started Nine Perfect Strangers.
Apples Never Fall was sooo good! I don’t think I enjoyed What Alice Forgot as much as other people, but it was still a pretty good read from what I can remember. Nine Perfect Strangers was a WILD ride! I still need to watch the TV series for that one.
I get what you’re saying about The Eighth Detective. I’m also not usually a fan of short stories, but I did like that book. However, I wouldn’t want to read books in that format all the time.
Flicker actually sounds pretty good, but I’ll take your word for it- so many books have a promising premise but fail to follow through.
I think it’s an interesting book for people who enjoy short stories – it was just one of those books that wasn’t for me. But that happens!
Not your best reading week, was it? I’m currently reading two fantasy books and enjoying both of them, but I’m not sure they’d be appealing to everyone. But I can tell things are getting rough in my personal life because I am not up for anything serious or hard to read. No non-fiction for me right now!
Lean into the fantasy and romance and anything light-hearted right now! When I’m going through a rough time, all I can handle are romances. I understand completely!
The cover to Flicker is nice though…
Wishing you aa better reading week.
Currently reading Family Family by Laurie Frankel as we are meeting her in our Book club on the 15th. So excited. Always so great to have authors join us.
No way! You’re going to meet Laurie Frankel?! That’s so cool! I’ve loved all of her books and have Family Family on my shelf to read soon.