"The Glass Hotel" moves between the present and the past as it primarily tells the story of Vincent, who meets a man named Jonathan Alkaitis one night at the bar where she works. Vincent leaves her job at the Glass Hotel that night, moving into a world of dreamlike wealth and privilege that doesn't seem real much of the time. In truth, that world isn't real; it's built on a Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Alkaitis, and as it starts to crumble we see its effect on Vincent as well the other characters we meet. If you read Mandel's previous book, "Station Eleven," you'll recognize a few characters, but they're living in a world that is quite different from that of "Station Eleven." It's a world where the curtain between then and now can suddenly appear, bringing with it reproach and longing. This is the fifth book I've read by Emily St. John Mandel, and with each one I like her more and more.
Sometimes I'll pluck a book out of the new books section, only to find that it's part of a series. If I like the book that leads to the wonderful realization that I have a new author to read and a whole bunch of new characters to meet. Some authors have a few series (Jeffery Archer and Ken Follett come to mind) while others just follow one family (Marilynne Robinson). And, of course, there are those authors who have just one character--usually a professional or amateur detective--who is fighting evil and making the world safe for democracy in anywhere from three to thirty novels. It can be hard to keep a story or a character fresh in book after book. The writing can get formulaic or the plot can become ridiculously far-fetched (how many disasters or murderers can show up in a tiny village in Provence that's home to eleven people before you throw the book across the room?) and that is why finding a new author and new characters can be exciting. And, if you're just discovering a well-established series, you get to binge read the earlier novels and really immerse yourself in a new world.
Set in Cambridge in 1997, Writers & Lovers is a story about art, loss, and love. Casey Peabody is trying to finish a novel she's been working on for six years. She's also waiting tables at an upscale restaurant in Harvard Square (a thinly disguised Upstairs at the Pudding), coming to terms with her mother's death, and fending off debt collectors while living in a tiny, moldy room off a garage. Many of the friends she met at school or at writing workshops have given up on their dreams, moving into a practical adulthood, filled with jobs and houses and kids. but Casey is still writing. She's stuck and full of self-doubt and achingly sad but she's still writing. Her novel is "The place where I am most myself, " and this beautifully-written novel explores that place as well as those places where Casey is still learning about herself.
Anthony Horowitz is a prolific author who's started a new series that features a novel within a novel. "The Magpie Murders" and "The Moonflower Murders" feature book editor Susan Ryeland solving mysteries using clues in novels by deceased author Alan Conway. These are satisfying stories that really hold your attention. If you'd prefer mysteries set in World War ll Horowitz also created and wrote the television series "Foyle's War," featuring Michael Kitchen and Honeysuckle Weeks, available on DVD.
Sara Gran has three novels out following the exploits of Claire DeWitt, who claims to be the world's greatest detective. There's room for argument there, but these three novels breathe new life into the mystery novel. DeWitt is a follower of famous criminologist Jacques Silette, and his pronouncements (“Mysteries never end. We solve them anyway, knowing we are solving both everything and nothing.” “Karma is not a sentence already printed. It’s a series of words the author can arrange as he chooses.”) are found throughout the books. DeWitt started off as a teen-age sleuth, solving mysteries with two friends. One friend goes missing and that's the mystery Claire can't seem to solve. Her cases have names similar to those of Sherlock Holmes--"The Case of the Silver Pearl" or "The Case at the End of the World"--but that's as similar as it gets. These novels are fast-moving, funny, and downright weird at times and they may not be for everyone--Claire has a penchant for a variety of illegal substances--but if you're looking for something new give them a try.
Ruth Galloway is one of my favorite fictional people. We'd be best friends if she were real. And if I lived in her fictional town in the U.K. Nonetheless, this series of novels is just wonderful. Ruth is a forensic archaeologist who teaches at a local university and works with the police. The mystery at the heart of each book is usually interesting as well as historical, but it's really the characters that keep you involved. Ruth lives in real time--well, fictional real time. Over twelve books years have gone by and characters have changed; they've aged and moved in and out of jobs and relationships. The central relationship in the series seems to barely move and then, in one or two sentences everything changes. If you read these in order you'll find them much more rewarding.
Over twenty-four years Peter Robinson has written twenty-seven novels featuring DCI Alan Banks. During those years Banks has divorced, his children have grown, relationships have come and gone, and policing has changed. This is a character-driven series and you'll enjoy spending time with the main character and some of his co-workers. I discovered these at the mid-point and really enjoyed binge-reading them. A few of the mysteries are pretty grim and while I think all the books are good I think some are better than others. The descriptions of Yorkshire are vivid, and when, at the end of a day, Banks is sitting on the wall outside of his house with jazz playing in the background and rolling hills in front of him you feel like you're there. There's also a television series called DCI Banks available on DVD. Some of the episodes are adapted from the books but as the tv series progressed it really veered from the novels.
