Julie's Review: The Lioness

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Series: None
Publication Date:  May 10, 2022
Publisher: Doubleday
Pages: 317
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Historical Fiction, Thriller
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Intense
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Tanzania, 1964. When Katie Barstow, A-list actress, and her new husband, David Hill, decide to bring their Hollywood friends to the Serengeti for their honeymoon, they envision giraffes gently eating leaves from the tall acacia trees, great swarms of wildebeests crossing the Mara River, and herds of zebras storming the sandy plains. Their glamorous guests—including Katie’s best friend, Carmen Tedesco, and Terrance Dutton, the celebrated Black actor who stars alongside Katie in the highly controversial film Tender Madness—will spend their days taking photos, and their evenings drinking chilled gin and tonics back at camp, as the local Tanzanian guides warm water for their baths. The wealthy Americans expect civilized adventure: fresh ice from the kerosene-powered ice maker, dinners of cooked gazelle meat, and plenty of stories to tell over lunch back on Rodeo Drive. What Katie and her glittering entourage do not expect is this: a kidnapping gone wrong, their guides bleeding out in the dirt, and a team of Russian mercenaries herding their hostages into Land Rovers, guns to their heads. As the powerful sun gives way to night, the gunmen shove them into abandoned huts and Katie Barstow, Hollywood royalty, prays for a simple thing: to see the sun rise one more time. A blistering story of fame, race, love, and death set in a world on the cusp of great change, The Lioness is a vibrant masterpiece from one of our finest storytellers. ~amazon.com

Review: I have long been a fan of Chris Bohjalian's novels but The Lioness is very different than his other novels. This is a great combination of Historical Fiction and Thriller but a bit of old Hollywood glamour. Mr. Bohjalian always has an interesting take on societal issues and this one is no different. Are humans really that much different than the wild animals that live in the Serengeti? Would you want to die at the claws of a wild animal or by the gun of a human?

Katie Barstow and her husband, David Hill decided to take their closets friends and family on a honeymoon Safari with Katie footing the bill for everyone. Except this isn't a hunt Safari but rather a photo Safari with famed white hunter, Charlie Patton. It all starts out well enough, they enjoy the Wildebeast crossing the river and hoping to see other animals of the Serengeti. Quickly, this trip goes very wrong and they are ambushed by Russian mercenaries that take them hostage and brutally kill their guides. 

I really can't review too much more of it'll give away key elements to the story that I don't want to ruin for you. I flew through this book and enjoyed every single minute of it. It kept me guessing on the outcomes and who or what group was behind this kidnapping scheme. I will say that none of the characters are the same after this trip and for some it changes the trajectory of their careers and lives. 

Do yourself a favor and pick this latest Chris Bohjalian novel up; you won't regret it. 

Google+

Julie's Review: The Red Lotus

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Series: None
Publication Date: March 17, 2020
Publisher: Random House
Pages: 367
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: A bit timely and scary
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: The first time Alexis saw Austin, it was a Saturday night. Not in a bar, but in the emergency room where Alexis sutured a bullet wound in Austin's arm. Six months later, on the brink of falling in love, they travel to Vietnam on a bike tour so that Austin can show her his passion for cycling and he can pay his respects to the place where his father and uncle fought in the war. But as Alexis sips white wine and waits at the hotel for him to return from his solo ride, two men emerge from the tall grass and Austin vanishes into thin air. The only clue he leaves behind is a bright yellow energy gel dropped on the road. As Alexis grapples with this bewildering loss, and deals with the FBI, Austin's prickly family, and her colleagues at the hospital, Alexis uncovers a series of strange lies that force her to wonder: Where did Austin go? Why did he really bring her to Vietnam? And how much danger has he left her in? Set amidst the adrenaline-fueled world of the emergency room, The Red Lotus is a global thriller about those who dedicate their lives to saving people, and those who peddle death to the highest bidder. ~amazon.com 

Review: I have never been disappointed in a novel by Chris Bojalian and his latest again doesn't disappoint. It is definitely scary and definitely timely but yet different than what we are dealing with currently. Alexis and her boyfriend of 6 months take a biking trip to Vietnam so that he can go visit the spot where his dad was injured and his Uncle killed there. So when he goes off on his own to explore these areas, no one really thinks twice since he's an experienced biker. Alexis only starts to worry when he isn't back an hour or so after he said he'd be back. What ensues after Austin not coming back is nothing she could have imagined.

For Alexis who is an ER Doctor knows when things aren't adding up and Austin's failure to return on time and then to end up dead, aren't for her. So when she gets back home, she starts to ask pointed questions. She learns that Austin not only lied to her but lied to other people as well. So that just makes her start to poke around even more. When things really get out of hand, she even goes and hires a private detective to look into the inconsistentcies. 

What he uncovers is a plan to unlease a horrific plan to unleash a deadly virus for profit into the world. It's a race against time to unravel it and to stop it which leaves your heart pounding and at times shouting "No!"



Google+

Julie's Review: The Flight Attendant

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Series: None
Publication Date: March 13, 2018
Publisher: Doubleday
Pages: 368
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Suspense, Thriller
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: Another fantastic novel by one of my favorites
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: Cassandra Bowden is no stranger to hungover mornings. She's a binge drinker, her job with the airline making it easy to find adventure, and the occasional blackouts seem to be inevitable. She lives with them, and the accompanying self-loathing. When she awakes in a Dubai hotel room, she tries to piece the previous night back together, counting the minutes until she has to catch her crew shuttle to the airport. She quietly slides out of bed, careful not to aggravate her already pounding head, and looks at the man she spent the night with. She sees his dark hair. His utter stillness. And blood, a slick, still wet pool on the crisp white sheets. Afraid to call the police - she's a single woman alone in a hotel room far from home - Cassie begins to lie. She lies as she joins the other flight attendants and pilots in the van. She lies on the way to Paris as she works the first class cabin. She lies to the FBI agents in New York who meet her at the gate. Soon it's too late to come clean-or face the truth about what really happened back in Dubai. Could she have killed him? If not, who did? Set amid the captivating world of those whose lives unfold at forty thousand feet, The Flight Attendant unveils a spellbinding story of memory, of the giddy pleasures of alcohol and the devastating consequences of addiction, and of murder far from home. ~amazon.com  

Review: Prior to reading the book I saw a lot of people commenting on how they didn’t like Cassie. I’m a believer that you don’t have to like the main character to enjoy a novel. I didn’t have such strong feelings for Cassie. I'm not saying she wasn't a hot mess because she was that and a while lot more but I felt sorry for her because she didn’t have any strong relationship and didn’t really care about herself. She was an alcoholic, which is a disease but she was self-destructive.

Waking up beside a man she barely knows isn't really new for Cassie but him being dead in the morning is. Since she's pretty much a blackout drunk, she can't say for sure if she murdered him or not but she does feel like she is capable of that even at her drunkest. What happens next has you guessing who to believe and who to not believe. Did Cassie kill him? Was it in self-defense? Or has she stepped into something much more sinister than she could ever imagine. Will she keep lying to herself and those around her or will she realize that this is perhaps the best time to tell the truth.

Mr. Bohjalian really does keep the reader engaged and on their "toes". There are many twists and turns that I truly didn't see coming but looking back I feel like there were probably hints. I also wonder if Cassie was targeted from the beginning because of her drinking and blackouts.

I love spy movies and books so I was thrilled when this book had that edge to it. It is a fast paced thriller that will have you wondering what the hell is going on until it all comes together in the end.
The Flight Attendant is another fantastic character study novel by Mr. Bohjalian. I can only imagine the research that went into this one!


 Google+

Julie's Review: The Sleepwalker

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Series: None
Publication Date: January 10, 2017
Publisher: DoubleDay Books
Pages: 368
Obtained: publisher via NetGalley
Genre:  Mystery, Psychological Thriller
Rating: 5/5
Bottom Line: A gripping novel about how there are ripple effects to tragedy that aren't known at the time
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab

Summary: When Annalee Ahlberg goes missing, her children fear the worst. Annalee is a sleepwalker whose affliction manifests in ways both bizarre and devastating. Once, she merely destroyed the hydrangeas in front of her Vermont home. More terrifying was the night her older daughter, Lianna, pulled her back from the precipice of the Gale River bridge. The morning of Annalee's disappearance, a search party combs the nearby woods. Annalee's husband, Warren, flies home from a business trip. Lianna is questioned by a young, hazel-eyed detective. And her little sister, Paige, takes to swimming the Gale to look for clues. When the police discover a small swatch of fabric, a nightshirt, ripped and hanging from a tree branch, it seems certain Annalee is dead, but Gavin Rikert, the hazel-eyed detective, continues to call, continues to stop by the Ahlbergs' Victorian home. As Lianna peels back the layers of mystery surrounding Annalee's disappearance, she finds herself drawn to Gavin, but she must ask herself: Why does the detective know so much about her mother? Why did Annalee leave her bed only when her father was away? And if she really died while sleepwalking, where was the body? Conjuring the strange and mysterious world of parasomnia, a place somewhere between dreaming and wakefulness, The Sleepwalker is a masterful novel from one of our most treasured storytellers. ~amazon.com

Review: The Sleepwalker is frankly another masterful novel by Chris Bohjalian. If you haven't read him, then you need to start. If you have read him, then you will want to add this one to the list of books you've read by him. We are introduced to the Ahlberg's when their mother has gone missing and the hopes of finding her alive dwindle with each passing day. It doesn't help that a piece of fabric from her nightshirt has been found near the river.

The story is told from the eldest daughter, Lianna's point of view and her account of the aftermath of her mom's disappearance. She decides to stay at home during the fall term of her last year of college to help care for her father and sister. I believe it is also because she can't handle going back to academia, which is also understandable. At times she does use her father and sister as a crutch though for not being able to return to real life.

What I loved about Lianna was that she kept digging for answers even when she should have probably left well enough alone. She wanted to have the puzzle of her mother's death completed before she could really move on with her life. I think it's one of the reasons Detective Gavin Rickert interested her at first. I think she wanted to get close to him to 1) understand her mother and 2) to bounce ideas/theories about her mom off of him for his professional experience.

What I love about Mr. Bohjalian's novels is that I always learn something new and often dig in a little bit more via google to get to understand the subject matter a bit better. I had no clue about all the different types of sleepwalking and how it affects people. I can't imagine dealing with these issues as an adult and knowing there is no cure for the affliction.

He's also splendid at the red herrings throughout the novel. There were a few times that I thought we were going to go down a particular path but then that turned out to be a dead end and he'd take us on another path. I am always amazed at how he pulls it all together in the end without you thinking that the ending was from left field.

The Sleepwalker is my 2nd favorite novel of his next to The Double Bind. This one clearly knocked my socks off but as I stated before, you can't go wrong with any of his books.


 Google+

Julie's Review: The Guest Room

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Series: None
Publication Date: January 5, 2016
Publisher: Doubleday
Pages: 455
Obtained: Amazon Vine
Genre:  Contemporary Fiction
Rating: 4.75/5.0
Bottom Line: Captivating and disturbing subject matter
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary: When Kristin Chapman agrees to let her husband, Richard, host his brother’s bachelor party, she expects a certain amount of debauchery. She brings their young daughter to Manhattan for the evening, leaving her Westchester home to the men and their hired entertainment. What she does not expect is this: bacchanalian drunkenness, her husband sharing a dangerously intimate moment in the guest room, and two women stabbing and killing their Russian bodyguards before driving off into the night. In the aftermath, Kristin and Richard’s life rapidly spirals into nightmare. The police throw them out of their home, now a crime scene, Richard’s investment banking firm puts him on indefinite leave, and Kristin is unsure if she can forgive her husband for the moment he shared with a dark-haired girl in the guest room. But the dark-haired girl, Alexandra, faces a much graver danger. In one breathless, violent night, she is free, running to escape the police who will arrest her and the gangsters who will kill her in a heartbeat. A captivating, chilling story about shame and scandal, The Guest Room is a riveting novel from one of our greatest storytellers. ~amazon.com  

Review: The Guest Room is a riveting and disturbing look at how something as normal as a bachelor party can turn badly so quickly. I can't even get into the debauchery that is Philip's bachelor party without giving it all away but you will want to slap the crap out of the men at this party. The aftermath of the party is told from Richard and Alexandra's point of view, which makes the story all that more intriguing.

Richard is a bit out of his depth in dealing with the fact that his actions have consequences that he can't even say, especially since his day job is M&A manager at an investment firm. He feels that things are way out of his control and isn't quite sure how to handle the situation. Not only that but he can't possibly understand what the ramifications on his marriage and young daughter will be.

Kristin isn't sure what to think or what to believe. She desperately wants to believe her husband but when she comes home and see what a shambles their house is in, she wonders if their marriage is in the same state. We get a glimpse into how her and Melissa, their daughter, are processing the outcome of the party at times, which is just enough to understand their anger, confusion, hurt and ultimately forgiveness.

The real focus is on Alexandra and her backstory, heck her story are fascinating and depressing at the same time. How she came to be at Richard's house will break your heart and you will root for her to gain her freedom. She knows loss and heartache but she doesn't know yet what it's like to live your own life, to have choices and you very much want her to have those things.

There are times when The Guest Room is hard to read. The social issue that Mr. Bohjalian highlights here is one that doesn't get a lot of airplay on the news but is definitely deserving of attention. What I love about Mr. Bohjalian's books is that no matter what the subject matter is, he pulls you in immediately. It never takes me 50 pages to get into one of his novels.

The Guest Room is a riveting novel that makes you think and give pause to something that isn't in the news daily. It is rich with well-written characters and an ending that stuns.


 Google+

Brittney's Review: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Series: None
Publication Date: May 26, 2015
Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition
Pages: 288
Obtained: Purchased
Genre:Literature-Coming of Age
Rating: 4/5
Bottom Line: Heartbreaking, raw – a must read.
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary:
Emily Shepard is on the run; the nuclear plant where her father worked has suffered a cataclysmic meltdown, and all fingers point to him. Now, orphaned, homeless, and certain that she’s a pariah, Emily’s taken to hiding out on the frigid streets of Burlington, Vermont, creating a new identity inspired by her favorite poet, Emily Dickinson.

Then she meets Cameron. Nine years old and with a string of foster families behind him, he sparks something in Emily, and she protects him with a fierceness she didn’t know she possessed. But when an emergency threatens the fledgling home she’s created, Emily realizes that she can’t hide forever. – amazon.com

Review:

I have a soft spot for books that get me emotionally wrapped up into a character. Such was the case for Emily Shepard, our main protagonist.

Chris writes a no holds barred look into the life of a not-your-average teen who lives through the unthinkable, and just when you think things couldn't get worse, Emily endurs even more. It's rare to see a level of writing that is so factual when portraying a teen, which is probably why I find the YA genre difficult to read. Not the case here: Chris delivers writing that is beautiful, raw and realistic. This is far from a YA read and in the end, is a beautiful coming of age story.

This book is a stark reminder that we never know the battle someone else is fighting until we've walked a mile in their shoes.

I snagged Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands from the new trade paperback releases shelf at the airport about a week ago, and only later realized that Julie had reviewed the hardcover edition. I echo her sentiments in that this would make a fantastic book club read. It'll provide some difficult questions for the group to debate, as so much controversy and pain surrounds Emily's life.


  Google+

Julie's Review: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands

Author: Chris Bohjalian
Series: None
Publication Date: July 8, 2014
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Pages: 288
Obtained: Vine
Genre:  Contemporary
Rating: 4.5/5
Bottom Line: A heartbreaking and harrowing story about a young girl who is lost in more than one way.
Grab, Just get it at the library, or Remove from your TBR list? Grab!

Summary: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is the story of Emily Shepard, a homeless teen living in an igloo made of ice and trash bags filled with frozen leaves. Half a year earlier, a nuclear plant in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom had experienced a cataclysmic meltdown, and both of Emily's parents were killed. Devastatingly, her father was in charge of the plant, and the meltdown may have been his fault. Was he drunk when it happened? Thousands of people are forced to flee their homes in the Kingdom; rivers and forests are destroyed; and Emily feels certain that as the daughter of the most hated man in America, she is in danger. So instead of following the social workers and her classmates after the meltdown, Emily takes off on her own for Burlington, where she survives by stealing, sleeping on the floor of a drug dealer's apartment, and inventing a new identity for herself — an identity inspired by her favorite poet, Emily Dickinson. When Emily befriends a young homeless boy named Cameron, she protects him with a ferocity she didn't know she had. But she still can't outrun her past, can't escape her grief, can't hide forever—and so she comes up with the only plan that she can. A story of loss, adventure, and the search for friendship in the wake of catastrophe, Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is one of Chris Bohjalian’s finest novels to date—breathtaking, wise, and utterly transporting. ~powells.com

Review: Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is a wonderful novel about what it takes to survive after a catastrophe and how one event can change the course of your life. Our narrator, Emily is a little unstable and for me that made her seemingly honest, but I have been tricked brilliantly before by Mr. Bohjalian, so I was cautious. There are so many nuances about this novel that I loved. I kept waiting for another shoe to drop, another hint to what was ahead for Emily. Normally a scattered timeline would drive me nuts but it worked so well with this story. It highlighted Emily's issues and perhaps maybe was supposed to give us some hints into the direction of the novel. Emily's situation breaks your heart about 50x over. Sure it breaks for the other people of the Northeast Kingdom but Emily's story is our focus.

Emily wasn't the perfect kid, she was a troublemaker, she was a slacker and not living up to her potential. It was obvious that she was trying but failing to not only get her parents attention but to perhaps try to save them. It is Emily's attachment to Cameron that will break your heart. It is her need to love someone and to be loved that is so essential to all of us. No matter how crappy her parents were at times, she knew she was loved by them and yes she loved them. Clinging to Cameron was her way of trying to restore herself.

Mr. Bohjalian is never one to shy away from social issues and in this one he tackles a few of them: mental illness, nuclear power and homelessness. Each one of these was meticulously researched and woven into the story seamlessly. I never felt that he was pushing his views on me as a reader.

I rarely say this but Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands is the perfect book club novel. It is layered, it is just the right amount of complex and it makes you think. Truly think about how you would react in a catastrophe. Could you handle it mentally? Physically? Emotionally?

I have been a huge fan of Mr. Bohjalian since reading The Double Bind and he doesn't disappoint this loyal fan with his latest.


  Google+

Julie's Review: The Light in the Ruins

Summary: From the New York Times best-selling author of Midwives and The Sandcastle Girls comes a spellbinding novel of love, despair, and revenge — set in war-ravaged Tuscany. 1943: Tucked away in the idyllic hills south of Florence, the Rosatis, an Italian family of noble lineage, believe that the walls of their ancient villa will keep them safe from the war raging across Europe. Eighteen-year-old Cristina spends her days swimming in the pool, playing with her young niece and nephew, and wandering aimlessly amid the estate’s gardens and olive groves. But when two soldiers, a German and an Italian, arrive at the villa asking to see an ancient Etruscan burial site, the Rosatis’ bucolic tranquility is shattered. A young German lieutenant begins to court Cristina, the Nazis descend upon the estate demanding hospitality, and what was once was their sanctuary becomes their prison. 1955: Serafina Bettini, an investigator with the Florence police department, has her own demons. A beautiful woman, Serafina carefully hides her scars along with her haunting memories of the war. But when she is assigned to a gruesome new case — a serial killer targeting the Rosatis, murdering the remnants of the family one-by-one in cold blood — Serafina finds herself digging into a past that involves both the victims and her own tragic history. ~powells.com

Review: The Light in the Ruins is another wonderful historical mystery by Mr. Bohjalian. What I loved about this novel was that they dual time periods weren't decades apart but a mere 12 years. This meant that the war and feelings about the war were still fresh in people's minds. The side you were on wasn't soon forgotten or lost in family lore.

We are introduced to the Rosati family who were well to do in a small Italian village before the war and then proceed to lose everything after the war. How much were they responsible for the outcome of their lives depends on how much you believe that choice have consequences? Did they deserve the horror that descended upon them? I don't know. In war you try to protect your own. It comes down to survival. Do I think the Rosati's align themselves with the Nazis anymore than other people did in Italy? Maybe, maybe not. Again, I think it's survival. They did what they thought they needed to do and were vilified for it.

The character I felt was most intriguing was Serafina. We kept getting glimpses of her past as her memories were triggered by the case involving the Rosati's. What was her connection with them? Was there a connection with them? We find out very little details of her family and I wanted to know more. Who exactly were they?

This is all against the backdrop of the Nazi occupation and then retreat in Italy. It's is a good refresher of how desperate the Nazis were at the end of the war and for me, who was on their side during the war. It is about history and the penance we pay for the choices we make.

While I might have been a little let down in the ending, it didn't take away from my overall enjoyment of the novel. As usual, Mr. Bohjalian has written a remarkable story.

The Light in the Ruins is out on 7/9/2013.

Final Take: 4/5


Thanks to Doubleday for an ARC of the novel.


 Google+

Julie's Review: Skeletons At the Feast

Summary: A masterful love story set against a backdrop of epic history and unforgettable courage. In the waning months of World War II, a small group of people begin the longest journey of their lives. At the center is eighteen-year-old Anna, the daughter of Prussian aristocrats, and her first love, a twenty-year-old Scottish prisoner of war named Callum. With his boyish good looks and his dedication to her family, he has captured Anna’s heart. But he is the enemy, and their love must remain a closely guarded secret. Only Manfred, a twenty-six-year-old Wehrmacht corporal, knows the truth. And Manfred, who is not what he seems to be, is reluctantly taken with Anna, just as she finds herself drawn uncomfortably to him. As these unlikely allies work their way west, their flight will test both Anna’s and Callum’s love, as well as their friendship with Manfred–and will forever bind the young trio together. ~amazon.com

Review: Other than the memoir All But My Life: A Memoir by Gerda Weissman Klein, Skeletons at the Feast has to be the most intense WWII depiction I've read in a long time. By intense I mean brutal, honest and at times grotesque. I'm not surprised because we've all heard and read the accounts coming out of World War II, but sometimes it hits you over the head like a hammer.

Mr. Bohjalian never ceases to amaze me with the life that he breathes into his characters. Skeletons at the Feast is a testament to the people that survived the Holocaust and also the harsh reality that some people truly did bury their heads when it came to the treatment and killing of the Jews. Perhaps for the Emmerich's it was because they were in a rural area of the country and it wasn't until they had to flee that the harsh realities of this war became evident to them.

We are taken on this journey through Anna, Mutti, Theo, Callum and Uri. They are a make shift group that in the end becomes a family. They've been through some of the worst events in their lives and have made it through together. Anna is 18 and a bit naive but for me I expected that given her circumstances and the geography of where she lived. Callum is their Scottish POW who not only becomes Anna's lover but also a god send to the family when their patriarch and brother need to leave to help fight in the German Army.

For me the most fascinating character was Uri. A Jewish man who becomes a chameleon to survive the war and to perhaps find his way back to his family. He finds himself at first with the Emmerich's because he believes that Callum will be his ticket to freedom once they reach the Allied troops. Uri did what he had to for survival.

I am only sorry that this book sat on my TBR shelf for so long. I have no reason behind it other than "too many books, too little time."  My favorite book is still The Double Bind by Mr. Bohjalian but this is definitely a very, very close second.

I can't not encourage you more to read this book if you have any interest in World War II.

Final Take: 5/5

Giveaway: The Sandcastle Girls

We are so excited to be able to offer a copy of Chris Bohjalian's newest novel, The Sandcastle Girls courtesy of his publisher, Doubleday.

Please just fill out the form below by July 20th. This giveaway is eligible to US and Canada residents only.

Good luck!

Julie's Review: The Sandcastle Girls

Summary: The Sandcastle Girls is a sweeping historical love story steeped in Chris Bohjalian's Armenian heritage. When Elizabeth Endicott arrives in Aleppo, Syria she has a diploma from Mount Holyoke, a crash course in nursing, and only the most basic grasp of the Armenian language. The year is 1915 and she has volunteered on behalf of the Boston-based Friends of Armenia to help deliver food and medical aid to refugees of the Armenian genocide. There Elizabeth becomes friendly with Armen, a young Armenian engineer who has already lost his wife and infant daughter. When Armen leaves Aleppo and travels south into Egypt to join the British army, he begins to write Elizabeth letters, and comes to realize that he has fallen in love with the wealthy, young American woman who is so different from the wife he lost. Fast forward to the present day, where we meet Laura Petrosian, a novelist living in suburban New York. Although her grandparents' ornate Pelham home was affectionately nicknamed "The Ottoman Annex," Laura has never really given her Armenian heritage much thought. But when an old friend calls, claiming to have seen a newspaper photo of Laura's grandmother promoting an exhibit at a Boston museum, Laura embarks on a journey back through her family's history that reveals love, loss - and a wrenching secret that has been buried for generations. ~amazon.com

Review: The Sandcastle Girls moved me in ways that are hard to put down. It made me thankful that humans can persevere through the worst kinds of atrocities. This story kept me up the night I finished it because I couldn't get it out of my mind. It is one that will stay with me for a long time.

We are introduced to this story by Laura Petrosian, who tells us that she wanted to write a book about her grandparents and their experiences during the Armenian genocide. Every chapter starts off with Laura's point of view on what she has found out about her grandparents involvement and then shifts point of views to Elizabeth and Armen during the genocide. With a less experienced author, this could have been a mis-step but with Mr. Bohjalian it was seamless.

Elizabeth was a women before her time and yet she fit perfectly into her role as a caregiver to the refugees. She wanted to help where she could and put to use her limited nursing knowledge. Where she excels is when she's dealing with the women and children that have recently been marched in from various cities. She tries to help in any way she can. It is here where she befriends Nevart and a young girl, Hatoun. She goes out of her way to ensure these two are safe and taken care of. She begins to view them as family. As a reader, you wonder if this is wise on her part to become so attached.

Armen is a broken man. He is certain that both his wife and young daughter are dead, since the protection he tried to provide him didn't work. He comes to Aleppo to try to find out what happened to them. Meanwhile, he meets Elizabeth and they form a friendship based on educating each other on their backgrounds. As they grow closer, he isn't so sure that he should continue with his plan of leaving Aleppo but he is bent on revenge for the wrongs of his family.

As the story is weaved together you know that there will be tragedy on a personal level for both Elizabeth and Armen. Tragedy that neither of them will speak to any one about. Laura is an excellent narrator for she pulls the story together and adds another level of emotion.

As always Mr. Bohjalian weaves a masterful story in with the facts of the Armenian genocide. The story of the Endicott's and Petrosian's is an important one. For their granddaughter, it was about understanding her grandparents and her history.

I can't recommend this novel enough. It will break your heart and make your stomach wretch for the things that we humans do to each other in the name of religion and power. I haven't read Skeletons at the Feast yet but I'm sure it will be equal to the same emotional level as this novel.

Final Take: 5/5

The Sandcastle Girls will be out tomorrow, July 17th.


 

Group Review: The Night Strangers

Summary:  In a dusty corner of a basement in a rambling Victorian house in northern New Hampshire, a door has long been sealed shut with 39 six-inch-long carriage bolts.
The home's new owners are Chip and Emily Linton and their twin ten-year-old daughters. Together they hope to rebuild their lives there after Chip, an airline pilot, has to ditch his 70-seat regional jet in Lake Champlain due to double engine failure. The body count? Thirty-nine. What follow is a riveting ghost story with all the hallmarks readers have come to expect from bestselling, award-winning novelist Chris Bohjalian: a palpable sense of place, meticulous research, an unerring sense of the demons that drive us, and characters we care about deeply. The difference this time? Some of those characters are dead. ~amazon.com

Alice's Review: I didn’t write this review right away. I couldn’t. I needed time to process it. This novel took possession of my thoughts; it dominated them. I thought about The Night Strangers every waking minute. Sadly, I’m not sure if it was because the novel was that good or that disappointing.  I am relatively new to Chris Bohlajian’s work, this being my second with The Double Bind being my first. I loved The Double Bind. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for this one.

Mr. Bohlajian is a master of mystery. He has an uncanny ability to write about emotions in a way that you as the reader experience them too. I also loved how he infused a perfect amount of creepy through the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed a few things about this novel. The first being the relationship between Emily and Chip. You could feel the genuine love they felt for each other, especially in Emily’s protection of Chip. Secondly, Reseda was a character I wish I had known. She seemed to genuinely care for Emily and the twins. And finally Chip. I loved Chip. I thought Mr. Bohlajian did an incredible job of adding realism to his character. There were times it read more as an emotional realistic account of what happened and not a work of fiction. Chip was flawed, troubled, and carried around the guilt of not going down with his “ship.” We all know the heroic effort of Captain Sully, Chips efforts were no less heroic but tragically his end result was catastrophic.

There was one aspect of The Night Strangers that felt a bit off the mark for me. A part of me wishes this had been more about Chip’s demons rather than the mysterious Herbalists (the witches) that live in Bethel. Although the stories merge in the end, one clearly dominated the other. The witches were too far fetched, they distracted me from the Captain’s battle with his demons. It’s not that the witches portion of the story was bad, far from it. But oddly this novel would have been better as two separate tales instead of one. However I can’t imagine having one without the other.

The one thing I totally give him credit is the very ending of the novel had that catch my breath, exploding stomach feeling I was hoping for. It was the same feeling I got at the end of The Double Bind, and that same feeling is what will keep me reading Mr. Bohlajian for years to come.

Final Take: 3/5

Julie's Review:  Mr. Bohjalian has done it again! He has written another book that leaves me breathless and stunned. Like Alice, The Night Strangers wasn't exactly what I thought it would be but I didn't mind the path the book ended up taking. I liked Chip, Emily, Hallie and Garnet. Immediately though I knew that I would like Garnet the best. Everyone had written her off as the weaker of the two sisters, but I didn't think that was the case at all. She had an inner strength that had yet to be realized.

I felt nothing but sympathy for Chip and for the one event that ruined his career and his psyche. I can not imagine trying to recover from an event like a plane crash. I understand why they family decided to hightail it to the mountains of Bethel. Immediately you get the sense that something is off with the town inhabitants.  That they are a little too happy to see the Linton's come to Bethel. They are a bit too interested in the twins and Emily, but they could take or leave Chip.

Meanwhile, Chip is dealing with his own psychological issues from the crash. He's going a bit nuts but keeps it together enough that Emily and the girls don't take much notice. Is he going crazy? Are the women of the town hexing him? What is causing him to slowly go mad?

Mr. Bohjalian does an excellent job of setting the scene. He describes the Linton's new house perfectly in all its creepy glory. You can picture the extra set of stairs that don't really lead to anywhere and the mysterious coal chute. The town seems cozy but there is definitely an air of eeriness coursing throughout the town. There are the herbalists and then there are the others.

I knew that Anise's interest in the twins wasn't for their own good or their own healing. She was a little to eager with her food and teaching the twins botany. On the other hand with Reseda I couldn't get a good feel for her and I know that was intentional. I kept going back and forth on her attentions.

As much as I'd love to spew a bunch of information here and engage in dialogue, I won't. I hope that I've peeked your interest in reading the novel. It's especially perfect on a chilly, partly cloudy fall evening. This book made me rethink my desire to move to a small town. (haha)

Another twist in the ending that had me going back to read the last few pages to make sure that I was correct in my understanding of the outcome and I was.

My favorite book by Mr. Bohjalian will always be The Double Bind. That is a piece of literature that I need to revisit and that I pimp out to anyone that will listen.

Final Take: 4.5/5

Alice's Review: The Double Bind

Summary:  Readers will be startled to learn early on that the heroine of this engrossing puzzle, 26-year-old Laurel Estabrook, was born in West Egg. Wait a minute, wasn't West Egg where Jay Gatsby lived? Laurel works in a Burlington, Vt., homeless shelter and is trying to overcome mental and physical scars incurred from a brutal assault some six years earlier. After being given a portfolio of photographs taken by a recently deceased resident of the shelter, Bobbie Crocker, she becomes obsessed with questions surrounding what appears to be a picture of herself shot on the day of her attack. Laurel's already fragile mental state begins to unravel as she follows Bobbie's life from his rich-kid childhood on Long Island to homelessness in Vermont. The Gatsby references form the basis of the mystery, compelling readers to try to imagine how this fictional backdrop relates to the novel's "reality." It's a high-wire act for bestseller Bohjalian (Midwives), and while the climactic explanation may be a letdown for some, he generally pulls off a tricky and intriguing premise. -Publishers Weekly

Review: This is the kind of novel I would never pick up myself, even with stellar reviews and recommendations from my fellow Girls Just Reading cohorts. In fact, if it wasn’t part of the reading challenge I am involved in with Julie, I still wouldn’t have read this novel. I can tell you right now that would have been a, quoting Vivian from Pretty Woman, “big mistake, huge mistake”.

This novel was a real page turner for me. I loved Laurel. I loved how she overcame the most horrific thing that can happen to anyone: being attacked, almost raped and killed while bicycling through the woods in Vermont. If it wasn’t for other cyclists, she wouldn’t have survived. After the attack, she moved on with her life. She finished college, she started working at a homeless shelter, she dated. I loved how strong she was. With everything she went through, she learned to rely on herself.

When Bobbie Crocker, one of the shelter charges dies suddenly, Laurel is given the task of cataloging the photographs he had with him. And here is where the mystery begins. Through these photographs, Laurel begins to unravel the truth about who Bobbie Crocker was, where he came from, who his family was. Imagine my surprise when Mr. Bohjalian incorporated The Great Gatsby into this novel, making Jay Gatsby, Daisy Buchanan, and others real characters instead of fictional classics.

The Double Bind totally blew my mind. Seriously. It was quick moving and kept me on the edge of my seat. It was a real page turner. I was as invested in finding the truth about Bobbie Crocker as Laurel was. The closer she came to the truth, the more addicted I became to words on a page. I had to do that thing where I fight with myself because all I want to do is flip to the final pages and satisfy my curiosity. I’m really glad I didn’t because the final three pages rocked. I did not see the final twist in the novel coming at all. I was so shocked the first thing I did was text Julie, “Holy Beep!!!”

If you have read this novel already, it’s worth a revisit and if you haven’t, then you need to go pick it up soon. And be prepared to have your mind blown.

Final Take: 5/5

Julie's Review: Secrets of Eden

Summary: Bohjalian (Law of Similars) has built a reputation on his rich characters and immersing readers in diverse subjects—homeopathy, animal rights activism, midwifery—and his latest surely won't disappoint. The morning after her baptism into the Rev. Stephen Drew's Vermont Baptist church, Alice Hayward and her abusive husband are found dead in their home, an apparent murder-suicide. Stephen, the novel's first narrator, is so racked with guilt over his failure to save Alice that he leaves town. Soon, he meets Heather Laurent, the author of a book about angels whose own parents' marriage also ended in tragedy. Stephen's deeply sympathetic narration is challenged by the next two narrators: deputy state attorney Catherine Benincasa, whose suspicions are aroused initially by Stephen's abrupt departure (and then by questions about his relationship with Alice), and Heather, who distances herself from Stephen for similar reasons and risks the trip into her dark past by seeking out Katie, the Haywards' now-orphaned 15-year-old daughter who puts into play the final pieces of the puzzle, setting things up for a touching twist. Fans of Bohjalian's more exotic works will miss learning something new, but this is a masterfully human and compassionate tale. ~amazon.com

Review: It's been a while since I've read a Chris Bohjalian novel and while Secrets of Eden starts a bit slow out of the gate; it doesn't take long to wrap me up in the story. He tells the story of Alice and George Hayward from four separate views: Reverend Stephen Drew, Prosecutor Catherine Benincasa, Heather Laurent and Katie Hayward. Each of these views have their own interest in the story, which makes them great fabricators of the truth. Or telling the truth from their viewpoint which is slightly distorted. Mr. Bohjalian decided to start the novel out with the Reverend's story. It's not that I didn't like Stephen, it's just that I found him a little removed from the situation, when he was really knee deep in it. It's not hard to figure out his relationship with Alice from the get go.

Catherine Benincasa has her heart set on going after Reverend Drew. She thinks he most certainly had something to do with one of the deaths in Haverhill that night. What I want to know is why did she focus on him solely? A lot of people knew what was going on in the Hayward house, so it could have been anyone that saw it fit to take care of the situation.


The least interesting part was Heather Laurent's point of view. I somewhat understand why she was brought into the story, she had a similar experience when she was Katie's age but the whole angel angle threw me off. I just didn't get how they fit into the story. Maybe I'm missing the point.

I thought it was brilliant that Mr. Bohjalian finished the book with Katie. She's the only one that knew what happened in that house on a regular basis and the only one who could lend real insight to the readers. The book comes to the climax in the last 10 pages of the book and the last line is a dozy. I loved it! It made me go back and read those pages again to make sure I fully understood what I just had finished.

I thought Mr. Bohjalian handled the subject of religion and domestic abuse in an honorable fashion. Domestic abuse is never an easy subject to write about and address but he did it with no glossing over. He even addressed the typical "honeymoon" phase. Those of us not in those situations will never know what it is like to be living like that on a daily basis.

While I liked the book, it is definitely not my favorite of his but he definitely knows how to weave a story. To read my favorite Chris Bohjalian  novel,  you will need to pick up The Double Bind. That book still remains on my top 10 books of all time. It blew me away.

Final Take: 3.5/5