EVENSONG (2025) - Review

EVENSONG
by Stewart O'Nan
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
On Sale: November 11, 2025
 

When I found Emily, Alone, I read it and fell in love with author Stewart O'Nan because his writing about the elderly so closely matched what I was experiencing. The fact that his characters inhabit Pittsburgh, where I lived for many years, counts heavily too. 

"Evensong", was a lovely title to pick up before the Christmas holidays. It doesn't take long to realize that each chapter is more like a short story and a reader of any age will recognize their own hopes and fears. 

FIRST LINE: "In 2022, Joan Hargrove falls down the stairs."

THE STORY: A group of older women in Pittsburgh called the "Humpty Dumpty Club," support each other through "aging, loss, and life's challenges", helping each other and navigating their own personal struggles.

WHAT I THOUGHT: O'Nan's writing is thoughtful and detail oriented. It's comforting, as a reader, to find that one is not alone. You can read the other books about the Maxwell family individually but it's not necessary. Wish You Were Here (2002) about Emily, followed by Emily, Alone (2011) focusing on Emily's widowhood, and concluding with Henry, Himself (2019).

VERDICT: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

DISCLAIMER: A copy of Evensong was provided to me by Grove Atlantic / Atlantic Monthly Press / netgalley.com

  

CURRENTLY READING - January 2025

 

WRITERS AND LIARS (2025) - Review

WRITERS AND LIARS
by Carol Goodman
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
On Sale: July 15, 2025

It's a great title. But I actually chose to read "Writers and Liars" because if I could write, I would wish it was like Carol Goodman. Her stories are literate mysteries, well-written, with interesting characters. The other thing about this book that drew me in was the way Greek mythology was woven throughout the plot. Oh, and I love islands.

FIRST SENTENCE: "The envelope lands with a thud on my desk with the rest of the day's mail."

THE STORY: "Writers and Liars" is a 'closed door' mystery with hints of Agatha Christie on an isolated idyllic Greek island owned by a wealthy man. Maia, our heroine, actually wrote one book in anger, after a retreat there years ago, sure she had been betrayed by friends. Now she has been invited back with the same group of writers. Will her curiosity be worth the pain? What could possibly go wrong?

WHAT I THOUGHT: Goodman is an excellent writer, but the plot this time is a bit complicated and there were things that seemed a bit contrived.

VERDICT: Highly recommended for those who love literate mysteries.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of "Writers and Liars" was provided to me by William Morrow/NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

 

THE VANISHING PLACE (2025) - Review

THE VANISHING PLACE
by Zoë Rankin 
My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
On Sale: September 16, 2025
 

If you're tired of the cold weather, pick up Zoë Rankin’s debut thriller, "The Vanishing Place". The New Zealand bush setting will draw you in to a dense and isolated world where family secrets, trauma, and identity are revealed in a page-turning dual-timeline narrative.

FIRST SENTENCE: "The child didn't know it then." 

THE STORY: Effie successfully escaped a terrifying childhood in an isolated community in the bush years ago and fled to Scotland for a new life; but her past violently returns when a young girl, Anya, emerges from the wilderness covered in blood and bearing an unsettling resemblance to Effie’s younger self. Returning to the remote place she swore she’d never see again, she searches for answers about a murder and the fate of her lost family.

The story alternates between young Effie’s desperate life of neglect and secrets in the past and adult Effie’s current investigation by layering tension and revealing truths with perfect pacing making it hard not to be completely absorbed by Effie's strength and the heartbreaking plight of her siblings.

WHAT I THOUGHT: Effie’s struggle to reconcile her traumatic childhood memories with her current reality, is richly drawn. The secrets are complex, the twists are genuinely shocking, and the neglect and hardship she endured give the thriller depth.

Towards the end, the twists become almost too complicated and every one of the last few chapters, I thought might be at the end, but because I was reading on a Kindle, I continued to turn pages and there was more to read. It's a bit disorientating. 

VERDICT: "The Vanishing Place" is a phenomenal debut that beautifully describes New Zealand's mysterious bush and a deeply disturbing mystery. It’s HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for readers who enjoy psychological thrillers where the setting is as important as the characters. You won't soon forget this story.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of "The Vanishing Place" was provided to me by Berkley Publishing Group /NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

MISS WINTER IN THE LIBRARY WITH A KNIFE (2025) - Review

Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife by Martin Edwards
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
On Sale: Oct 7, 2025


This unique and carefully written puzzle mystery, by British author Martin Edwards, is set up like a game, and will not appeal to everyone.

"Miss Winter in the Library with a Knife" sounds like great fun but it certainly was not what I was expecting. Six people, connected to crime writing, are selected by the Midwinter Trust to spend Christmas in a forgotten, old-fashioned snowy village in England. The first person to solve the murder mystery will win the prize.

The book cover is gorgeous and there are layouts, but my Kindle's pages are black and white and the information on the maps was small. If the reader is interested in attempting to solve the puzzles in the story, a physical book would be the better choice. For the Kindle, several accommodations have been made to help the reader look back for facts. I decided just to read the book straight through. At the end of the tale, there is a list of sections that were clues. The story is told from a variety of points of view and other documents.

Recommended if you are a lover of puzzles or just curious.

Author Martin Edwards is widely recognized as a leading authority of crime fiction and his history of the genre, "The Life of Crime: Detecting the History of Mysteries and their Creators", has been acclaimed in Britain and the United States.

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THE GHOSTWRITER (2025) - Review

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
On Sale: June 3, 2025

What first caught my eye was the book title. Then I wondered if ghostwriter was one word or two words, ghost writer. One word is the correct answer. A while later, I started thinking I had read something by Julie Clark before. I had and it was a book I really loved called "The Lies I Tell". You can read that review by clicking on the title.

FIRST LINE: "I know what your Dad did."

THE STORY: What would you do if your brother and sister were killed in your own home? It's June 1975 and surviving brother Vincent, always suspected of the crime, has become a famous author writing best-selling horror stories. 

On the other hand, Olivia Dumont has spent her life hiding the fact that she is the only child of the infamous Vincent Taylor. When she is suddenly offered the chance to ghost write her father's last book, she reluctantly accepts, needing the money. But it's not a horror novel he wants her to write. After 50 years of silence, Vincent Taylor is ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975. 

WHAT I THOUGHT: "The Ghostwriter" was just the psychological puzzle with aspects of genealogy and family history that make me a happy reader. The story is told from Olivia's point of view in present day while interspersed with historical chapters from Vincent and his sister, Poppy. I occasionally found it confusing trying to keep the parents and the children separate, but the writing is smooth and the plotting good enough to keep a reader up past their bedtime. Even though there's violence in this family  that's a bit unsettling, I'll still be watching for New York Times bestselling author Julie Clark's next book. 

BOTTOM LINE: RECOMMENDED for mystery/thriller readers. Also available on Audible, Inc.

DISCLAIMER: A copy of "The Ghostwriter" was provided to me by SOURCEBOOKS Landmark/NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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TOM LAKE (2023) - Review

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Started September 30, 2023 - Finished May 17, 2025

Did you see how long it took me to read "Tom Lake"? My life changed dramatically in the last couple of years and I stopped reading. Actually I opened book after book, read a chapter or two, and set them all aside. This month I decided it was time to try again, picked up Ann Patchett's lovely book, and became a reader once more.

Set in the Cherry Orchards of Northern Michigan, "Tom Lake" is Lara's story of her stage career and her time as Emily in "Our Town". Her three grown daughters have come home to avoid the pandemic and to help with the harvest. Knowing a now famous actor played opposite their mother in the Michigan summer stock theatre, the girls are fascinated by the story she tells. But the reader knows Lara doesn't tell them everything.

This is a charming story about family, love, and the past as the daughters learn about their mother's life and choices. When I finally closed my book, I felt that life was not a bad place to be.

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