Mystery and Suspense

How to Kill a Guy in Ten Dates by Shailee Thompson
Jamie is girl who's passionate about two kinds of movies: slashers and rom-coms. She's about to have all of her wishes fulfilled (??) when she and her best friend, Laurie, head to a speed dating night at a local club and find both plenty of heart and plenty of blood. Much like the types of movies that Jamie adores, the plot is both unlikely and totally compelling. Who is the murderer and who will be her true love? You have to stumble over quite a few bodies to find out! Jamie and Laurie are both extremely likable characters, and there's plenty of humor thrown into the mix. For instance, each chapter heading is a quote from a romantic movie that's been 'updated'. "I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around." ~Love Actually becomes "I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that blood is all around." ~not Love Actually.

The Perfect Place to Die by Bryce Moore
Although I think we have to be very careful not to glorify serial killers (see: every documentary that Netflix has produced over the last couple of years), I do think there is some benefit to 'understanding the enemy'. One of the books I read that I thought was particularly good because it didn't descend into prurient storytelling was The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America. Recently, I was surprised to find that Bryce Moore is another author who has written about H.H. Holmes as he specializes in YA books about serial killers. I'm happy to report that this engaging story with a strong heroine was scary, occasionally gross, and full of edge-of-your-seat action, but didn't mythologize the killer.
Zuretta is a young Utah girl from a difficult family situation. But she's clever and resourceful, and when her sister disappears while visiting Chicago, Etta immediately goes to look for her and immediately gets much more than she bargained for. A naive girl in the city at any time is perilous, but after some pitfalls, Etta finds her way to the hotel where her sister was last seen. She starts working at the hotel as a maid while conducting a secretive investigation. Is she savvy enough to unmask the killer before he makes her one of his victims? You've got to read the book to find out! For more on H.H. Holmes, here's a biography of the real Devil in the White City .

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner
This book is hard to define and difficult to categorize, but well worth the read. Although it was suspenseful, Rachel Kushner is no Freida McFadden- the complexity and layering of her writing far surpasses the average suspense novel. In Creation Lake, we can't even say for sure who the protagonist is, as she is an American secret agent, and she is currently operating under the alias "Sadie Smith". Sadie is in France to foment some discord amongst a leftist group, and appears to be working for French Intelligence. Other than that, we learn that she used to work for U.S. Intelligence but her last case ended with a verdict of entrapment. It would seem that entrapment is Sadie's specialty, and she will do almost anything to achieve her objective. However, she is ousted from the service and begins working freelance around the globe-hence she ends up in rural France, playing mind games with an agricommune and their arrogant leader.
Running alongside the unfolding drama of the commune and an upcoming 'event' that Sadie is manipulating into being, she is also obsessed with the group's mentor, Bruno, a voice from the past who has taken himself off grid and is equally obsessed with the Neanderthals (maybe homo sapiens should be more Thal-ish).
I believed that Sadie was possibly a sociopath for most of the book, but a turn of events reveals a depth of soul that she previously kept well concelaed. It's easy to see how Kushner is a two time National Book Award finalist!

View all my reviews

Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder by Kerryn Mayne
If you enjoyed Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, you'll definitely want to read about Lenny! Be assured, it's not a rehash under another title, although there are similarities. Lenny, like Eleanor, is socially awkward and lonely, held captive by past traumas that must be dealt with to move forward. However, in place of Eleanor's quiet humor, there are some twists and turns in this novel that are quite unexpected.
Lenny Marks is a 5th grade teacher in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, and functions okay but has few social connections. What she does have going for her is a depth of kindness, a very quick mind, and a surfeit of honesty. While these traits could lead to positive interactions, they also become the catalyst for confrontations that take Lenny in very unexpected directions. A page turner!!

All We Lost Was Everything by Sloan Harlow
This teen melodrama has enough going on in it to fulfill anyone's romantic or suspense wishes. River is a girl recently graduated from high school whose long-time boyfriend broke up with her on the same day that she loses her father in a tragic fire. As if that weren't enough, her mother is someone who has always gone off on trips by herself, so she's absent when this all happens. Flash forward 9 months, and mom is still MIA, River has a new (but somewhat suspicious) love interest, and an anonymous source has gifted her 2 million dollars. What is going on?!
Believe it or not, all the threads connect in a shocking and highly theatrical conclusion. The fast pace will keep even less enthusiastic readers flipping the pages!

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose
If you're a fan of Freida McFadden, I think you'd be enthralled with this new mystery/suspense by Jeneva Rose. A twisty story full of deception and unsavory people, Adam and Sarah spend the day after their tenth wedding anniversary redefining their relationship from husband and wife to homocide suspect and attorney. Shockingly, this is because Adam's mistress has been found dead in the bed of their vacation lake home -and this is the last clear fact you will receive, as conflicting stories and hidden motives will keep the reader guessing until the end. 


Home Is Where the Bodies Are by Jeneva Rose
 I hated this book for the first 50 or 60 pages-let's just say this one isn't destined to join the classics section. I did warm up to the story, after a bit: three siblings reconvene at home after many long years apart when their mother dies. Their lives are as disparate as you can get, with one a drug addict, one stuck in the old hometown, not meeting her potential, and one fabulously successful and coming home for the first time in nearly a decade.
Keep in mind, this is not about family, or choices, or fleshed out characters, but strictly a whodunit. As such, it's a real page turner, and offers up some interesting choices for villains and heroes. I'm positive it could make the leap to Netflix series easily, so don't be surprised if it pops up on screen one day soon!

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
What I really enjoy about Liz Moore's books, as opposed to the many, currently circulating one-note mysteries, is that her stories have great depth and meaning beyond the traditional whodunit. The God of the Woods is a psychological thriller par excellence, juxtaposing the disappearances of two children into the woods of northern New York. Although the cases have disparities- one boy, one girl; one in 1961 and one in 1975; an 8 yr old on a walk with his grandfather and a 12 yr old girl from her summer camp; one seems to have gotten lost, one seems to have ran away-the startling similarities point to hidden nefarious deeds. The biggest of these parallels is that the children are brother and sister, and that the summer camp is located adjacent to the Van Laars, the wealthy family who the children belong to. A well drawn-out cast of characters leaves much for the reader to, by turns, despise, pity, and admire. I highly recommend!

I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai
I really feel like Rebecca Makkai is rising as one of the great authors of the last decade. Her previous book, The Great Believers, was nominated for the Pulitzer and the Nat'l Book Award. In my opinion, this one surpasses it.
While at first glance, this is a mystery about the murder of a girl in a New Hampshire boarding school in the 90s, it's also about the Me Too movement, the time we started canceling out human beings, the time we let someone get away with murder/rape/domestic violence/pedophilia, the time we put a (possibly) innocent man in prison, the time we thought the black guy did it/ the time high school students were horrible and bullying to each other.
Bodie is a successful podcaster and professor, so when she is hired to teach a short term class at the boarding school she herself attended as a teen, it's not surprising that she starts questioning what really happened during her senior year, when her ex-roommate's body showed up bludgeoned and drowned in the gym pool. At the time, all evidence seemed to point to Omar, the athletic trainer. But...did it? Makkai neatly draws multiple storylines together to make points far beyond whodunit. Well worth the read!

Deadline by Gerry Boyle
An oldie (1994) but a goodie, this Maine mystery series features a NYT reporter, Jack McMorrow, who's relocated up North for a simpler life. Ha! He's immediately enmeshed in unsolved murder, shady characters, and more than one beat down. Gerry Boyle doesn't scrimp on the realism, and it's always fun to read a book when you recognize the locales. Fun, quick read. 

The Maid by Nita Prose
For once, the hype is true -The Maid lives up to all expectations! With elements of Christie as well as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Nita Prose brings us a neuro-diverse heroine (who we can only hope pops up in another book) entangled in cold-blooded murder, illicit activities, exacting etiquette, and Olive Garden trysts.
Molly is a maid at the exclusive Grand Regency, an existence she finds to be perfection--if it weren't for the passing of her grandmother (her only living relative), the ensuing loneliness, her financial woes, and her ostracization by the other employees for her odd affect and behavior. Add to this that Molly utterly lacks the ability to read motives in other people and it's easy to see how a girl could end up framed for murder. But Molly has been seriously underestimated her whole life, and she's finally able to use that to her advantage (with the help of a few good friends!)

Portrait of a Thief by Grace D. Li
Intense drama about a group of five young Chinese-American students who are pulled into a scheme to steal back looted Chinese art from the Summer Palace in Beijing that has found its way into American and European museums. I wouldn't have thought it plausible for anyone to plan heists of this magnitude in this day and age, and yet... Li paints a compelling tale that seems like it could actually happen. Adding another dimension are the back stories and interactions of the student- thieves, all members of the Chinese diaspora, all looking for their place in the world, trying to navigate the road to adulthood, to happiness, to success, and to love. Two thumbs up!

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney
How to describe this book? The story, about a married couple who goes to a remote hideaway in Scotland in a last ditch attempt to save their marriage, is sort of dull and uninspired for the first 2/3 of the book, but then several unique and clever plot twists are thrown in that make for a fairly compulsive read. Just an amazing juxtaposition between story idea and execution. It's worth picking up if you love mysteries, not so much if you depend on character development or interesting turns of phrase.

The Poacher's Son by Paul Doiron
I love when you can read a book and instantly feel at home. If you're from Maine, or have vacationed here, you'll definitely be able to smell the salt air and piney breezes as soon as you start to read The Poacher's Son. This is the first book in a series of mysteries featuring Mike Bowditch, a game warden, and it opens spectacularly with a pig, a drunk man, and a bear who needs chasing down in the woods in the dead of night. But the real story is this: Mike might be an upstanding law enforcement agent, but his father most decidedly is NOT. A veteran, a drinker, a womanizer, and yes, a poacher, now the question is: is Mike's dad also a killer? Mike will journey deep into the Maine wilderness to find the answer to that question and clear his father's name -or bring him in for murder.
For me, the best part about The Poacher's Son is being able to recommend it to students and have them all say that they loved reading it! Many 'non-readers' continue on with the series , which is the highest mark of success.

Chasing the Boogeyman by Richard Chizmar
I didn't scan the fine print on the book jacket before I started reading and was completely fooled into thinking this was a real story, very cool! Chizmar does an outstanding job of crafting a fake 'true crime' story, complete with pictures of victims interspersed throughout. And, of course, he injects himself as the narrator in a completely believeable fashion.
Richard 'recounts' the summer after he graduated from college, when he went back to his hometown to start work on a magazine he wanted to publish called 'Cemetary Dance'(which is actually what he did in real life). In this alternative reality, the town became a hotbed of terror as a serial killer stalked, assaulted and murdered girl after girl after girl. Richard and his friend, another recent jouralism grad, follow the clues and are soon up to their necks in the case -including being shadowed by the Boogeyman, as the mystery killer is dubbed. A great piece of fiction for a true crime afficionado.

The Child Finder by Rene Denfeld
 Naomi Cottle is the Child Finder, an investigator who has dedicated her life to finding missing children -after being found herself at the age of 9 when she escaped from unknown captors. The alternating narratives in this book feature both Naomi's voice, and the voice of a missing child who she's seeking, and it's well done. Naomi is the female investigator we've been looking for since the Kinsey Milhone series A is for Alibi came to an end. If you like mysteries with tart, quirky, independent investigators, unrequited love interests, and clever plot lines, than you should try this series. Now, on to the next one!

The Obsession by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Looking for a suspenseful YA with twists, ambiguity, and good people who do bad things? Or possibly, bad people who do good things? Our anti-hero, Delilah, is trapped in a home with her cowed mother and mom's very abusive boyfriend, who also happens to be a cop investigating her school for a drug dealer. Logan is her charismatic, handsome, and charming stalker, who also happens to be blackmailing her. Bad things happen, and it's hard to know when to cheer and when to cringe, which makes this a perfect suspenseful novel, action-packed right up to the last page.

Long Bright River by Liz Moore
Compelling mystery that is just as much a whodunit as it is a commentary on the opioid crisis. Two sisters, daughters of addicts, grow up to choose very different paths for themselves. Mickey becomes a police officer, Kacey is a heroin addict/prostitute. When Kacey goes missing, Mick's racheting up anxiety is compounded when it becomes clear that someone is killing vulnerable women in their section of Philadelphia. Can Mick find Kacey before it's too late, and how to deal with her own lifetime of memories, prejudices, and isolation so that they don't impede her search? Red herrings abound, and it's easy to empathize with the characters, even if you don't particularly like them.

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara
Reading this book is taking a trip to a whole other world, but it's not a wonderland. It's the harsh reality of a 9 year old boy named Jai, who lives in a basti (slum by a garbage dump) in India where children are suddenly going missing. Jai, who loves to watch crime dramas on the family's prized TV, is about to get a dose of reality as friends are disappearing and the police can't be bothered to investigate what's happening to this marginalized population.
Because Jai and his friends are so young and innocent, they suspect it might even be the work of a djinn, a magical creature who's eating his captives. Unfortunately, the truth isn't much better. The three little friends decide to become detectives and find the missing children, and through their eyes the reader is allowed into a world they might not have realized existed. It's a harsh life, albeit one full of love, family, laughter, and tradition, but sparse on material possessions or full bellies. This is a masterfully told tale that thrusts injustice and poverty into the limelight while giving us tiny heroes to root for.

The Cousins by Karen M. McManus
Karen McManus does it again-she's the queen of fast-paced YA mystery. The Cousins pits three likeable teen characters against conniving adults, shrouded family secrets, and enigmatic events that lead to a big reveal that you probably won't see coming. Aubrey, Milly, and Jonah are the aforementioned cousins, but they barely know each other as their very wealthy grandmother disinherited all their parents 24 years ago, and the whole family became more or less estranged. Surprisingly, the grandmother has issued an invitation for the three to visit her for the summer on Gull Cove Island, where she owns an exclusive resort. But, they're not vacationing, they are hired as staff, and when they finally meet their grandmother, it's as if she wasn't expecting them. Add to this the puzzling and painful events going on in each of the cousins' lives and there's some unraveling to do before anyone gets to anything close to the truth of why their family split apart. Oh, and dead bodies? There will be a few of those, too! There's great chemistry between Aubrey, Milly, and Jonah, which adds a lot of entertainment value. Highly recommended.

The Truants by Kate Weinberg
Be forewarned -this enigmatic novel isn't anything like an Agatha Christie mystery, although suspicious behavior and shadowy figures abound. Jess enters the University of East Anglia in the hopes of making a connection with one of the professors, a charismatic woman named Lorna who teaches a course on Christie and seems to have an unnatural fixation with the ethics of murder. Now, a naive student who develops a fascination for a woman who has a fascination for murder doesn't necessarily mean that death and mayhem will occur, but it doesn't hurt. Jess is a smart girl, but she is easily manipulated by flatterers and friends and finds herself in several relationship triangulations that prove destructive. The story highlights the persuasive pull that educators have on impressionable minds, and the layers of manipulation occurring on multiple fronts are mindboggling.

Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel
A real page-turner about a girl who has spent her entire childhood being poisoned by her mother, Patty. Now, Patty had no intention of killing Rose Gold. Rather, she has Munchausen's Syndrome by Proxy, which means that she needs the sympathy and admiration of others from taken care of a sick child. All the benefits of sainthood, none of the work. Meanwhile, Rose Gold has suffered very real pain, as well as ostracism by other kids, and lacks even basic social skills or a moral compass.
The story isn't about the poisoning, but follows Rose Gold's difficult transition to adulthood after Patty goes to prison when Rose Gold is 18. Quickly we see that not only is Patty not a saint, but Rose Gold isn't either. When Patty is released from prison after five years and Rose Gold invites her to live in her home, you can practically hear the ominous music start playing.
 

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson
Five years ago, Sal Singh murdered Andie Bell -allegedly. Pip remembers Sal's kindness to her when she was young, and can't believe that Sal was capable of such a thing. So, Pip decides for her senior capstone project to get to the bottom of things, solve the murder, and clear Sal's name. Things quickly veer out of control and suspects start to rack up. With the help of Sal's brother, Ravi, Pip starts to close in on the truth, and that is a very dangerous place to be.
If you love murder mysteries, you're in for a real treat with this one! Pip is a plausible detective, and the author has woven a story that will keep you on the edge of your seat, with more than one explosive surprise waiting for you!
 

The Other Americans by Laila Lalami

This novel is a mash up of suspense, romance, and family drama. When a Moroccan immigrant and local business owner is the victim of a hit and run in southern California, his daughter is convinced that it was a hate crime. Each chapter is voiced by a different involved party, from Driss, the dearly departed, to his suspicious daughter, Nora, to Coleman, the detective on the case. Add to that: his widow, his other daughter, a friend from Nora's past who's an Iraqi war vet, etc., and things quickly become overly complex. Unfortunately, there's simply too much story to tell, and it feels as if the thick soup of details overshadows Nora's budding romance and self-awakening. When a character reveals a substance abuse problem and it's only addressed in passing, it might be time to pare down. Nevertheless, Laila Lalami does have a beautiful way with words, and she paints a vivid picture of the life of immigrants in America. Her book, The Moor's Account is a fantastic fictionalization of the first Muslim to hit these shores (as a slave on a conquistador's ship), and was nominated for the Booker and Pulitzer. She doesn't quite hit that mark with The Other Americans, but still a worthwhile read. 


The Cellar by Minette Walters
Revenge is an ugly emotion, but as 14 yr old Muna, the illegal slave of the Songoli family, says, "I am what you have made me".  
Muna is taken under false pretenses from an African orphanage when she's only 8 years old.  Mrs. Songoli claims to be her aunt, and brings Muna back with her to Great Britain -to begin a horrible existence as the family's slave girl.  Not only is she regularly beaten by Mrs. Songoli and sexually molested by Mr. Songoli, but their two sons are starting to present an ominous threat to Muna's already diminished circumstances.  

But, Muna is a clever, resourceful girl.  When the younger son mysteriously disappears on his way to school, she uses the opportunity to -finally-improve her life. But at what cost?  A terrific, thrilling read that will keep you spellbound right to the last page.


My Sunshine Away by M.O. Walsh
In 1989 Baton Rouge, on a quiet, family friendly cul-de-sac, the unthinkable happens: a 15 year old is attacked and raped. Told from the perspective of another child living on the street, a story unfolds of how little we know those closest to us.
Our narrator is 14 and coming to grips with adolescent urges and crushes while in the midst of having his father leave home to live with a much younger woman. When the crime occurs, he watches the beautiful object of his affection crumble into a diminished version of herself as the police fail to solve the crime. He also evaluates the neighborhood and comes up with a strange crew of potential suspects-including himself. But who is the guilty party?
The author does a terrific job of building the suspense through until the end, because every one of the suspects seems as guilty as sin.


Genuine Fraud by E. Lockhart
Jule and Imogen are unlikely bffs. Imogen is a beautiful young heiress who is very generous to her friends -until she isn't. She has no problem finding a boyfriend, but keeping a boyfriend is another matter. She's quit college and moved to a beach house with a revolving cast of guests, and she can change from kind to cruel in a split second.

 Jule is a self-sufficient orphan  who is strong, adaptive, and not above using a little violence to get what she wants. Her tough life has made her a very tough person; nobody that you should cross. When Jule stumbles into Imogen's life, a friendship is born. Both girls have secrets to keep, and both will do whatever it takes to survive. Whatever. It. Takes.
If you like Genuine Fraud, be sure to check out E. Lockhart's bestseller:
"We Were Liars "


Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
Libby Day survived a murderous rampage (with Satanic overtones, no less) at the family farm when she was seven that took the lives of her mother and two sisters. Ben, the 15 year old brother who's fermented in gothic creepiness, is tried, convicted and sentenced -largely due to Libby's testimony.
Twenty-five years later, Libby is no noble heroine that Flynn wants you to root for. She's a vaguely unlikeable chronic depressive who continues to survive-but just barely. Libby at 32 is as wrung out as a damp, mildewy dishcloth, with no will to live but no particular desire to die, either. Only when she is confronted with the possibility that she may have been wrong (lied, been 'coached', mistaken, an idiot, whatever) does she show signs of life. What I love about Libby is, she's tough. A pissed off kleptomaniac with no visible means of income now that her trust fund has run out, when she's approached by a 'Kill Club' who believe her brother is innocent, she agrees to help them, if only to stave off her money woes. She hasn't spoken to her brother in 25 years, but she'll do whatever she has to to make it through another day. 
Artfully spinning between Libby's investigation and the day of the murder, Flynn successfully shows how ordinary life can devolve into something atrocious in the blink of an eye. As the story unravels, Flynn presents a host of characters that you have no trouble believing would slash, choke, and chop the life out of this family, if only for the thrill of it. With a bevy of suspects to choose from and Libby's increasingly spirited sleuth work, you'll be dying to know the gory details. Don't worry: you'll be tempted to wipe blood spatter off your face before you're done.
Gillian Flynn has a gift. She excels at portraying heinousness in ordinary people. The banality of evil, if you will, that lies all around us. Read this book -then look at your neighbors a little differently!

Science Fiction

The Danger of Small Things by Caryl Lewis
I wasn't sure about this book at first...I mean, how many dystopias do you really need to read in one lifetime? Turns out, there's always room for one more because they're such rich sources of contemplation about the future and where we're headed. In The Danger of Small Things, Caryl Lewis predicates world disaster and collapse on something small -the bee. As a apiarist, I know that this is a premise based on reality as bees are responsible for pollinating a huge proportion of the world's crops. In Lewis' haunting future, the powers-that-be find a substitute for the extinct bees in young girls armed with paintbrushes. Needless to say, it's not much fun to be a worker bee, and we gain this perspective through the eyes of Jess, who (like all the girls) has been taken from her family to work in a pollination camp until such time as she can be given to someone in marriage so that she can produce offspring. Of course, this is mostly a story about abuse of power, which we see daily in the news of the world. Those who have it feel very justified in keeping it by any means necessary. But, Jess and the other girls are not mindless drones (haha), they thirst for a freedom they believe still exists, and are prepared to find it at any cost.

The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami
I've read some good books by Laila Lalami (see: The Moor's Account, The Other Americans). Although she starts with fascinating premises, I've noticed that she has a tendency to wallow in detail without hastening her story along. With The Dream Hotel, this is particularly problematic because it starts to feel like we're stuck in the same detention center as her protagonist -no end in sight.
The idea is that, in the future, people who choose to get a brain implant to enable better sleep are inadvertently allowing the company to mine their dreams for bad intentions. If, in the opinion of the company, the dream indicates a future disposition to commit a crime, the dreamer is retained in a holding area until such time as they are deemed no longer a threat. As you can imagine, that leaves ample opportunity for abuse and unethical incarceration. Her point, obviously, is that we place far too much trust in these social media and surveillance companies that we hand over so many personal details to. Point taken! However, the action is slow to percolate and it really doesn't feel like anyone really cares about the societal impact, not even the incarcerated themselves.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman
Ugh. I usually enjoy New Weird scifi more than this. Much like a video game, there are players, rewards, enemies, leveling up, etc. The 'game' is actually an apocalyptic attack by aliens, and the remaining humans (and Carl's cat, Princess Donut) are forced into the dungeon for a multi-player IRL fight to the death.
Very repetitive, but you'll probably like it if you're the type of person who can stare at a screen for hours on end, saliva drying at the corner of your mouth, twitchy hands grasping a game controller. But if that sounds like you, what the heck are you doing, reading a book?

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan
I've read many of Ian McEwan's books, and was full of anticipation for this one. Please believe me when I say that this was one of the most boring, pedantic books I've had the misfortune to pick up. The entire premise hinges on what a dead poet really thought about the climate crisis, which, apparently no one will ever know because his opus is missing and only 5 people heard it when it was debuted a 100 years ago-why would anyone care about that?
A scholar in the waterlogged future (yup, climate ruined) is determined to find this poem and..what? I mean, seriously, who cares? Also, pretty low on science for something that's billed as SciFi.
I was hopeful that McEwan was skewering our current atmosphere of self-important elites, but he was not. He and every character in this book are silly people who take themselves much too seriously and demand that others do, too. Ian McEwan, I'm afraid I'm going to have to bid you, 'Adieu'.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi
 If you like SciFi with a humorous edge, then John Scalzi never disappoints. In this series, people have an alternative to just growing old and dying. If you care to sign up for the Colonial Defense Force, you will leave for a space station on your 75th birthday to become a soldier. Um, what? The residents of earth can't fathom how the colonists have managed to turn back the clock on aging, but somehow they get you fighting ready and, after your term of service, you are welcome to retire as a colonist in your new, younger body. What possible downside could there be? Well, you can never return to earth, so say your goodbyes. No matter what you did the first 3/4 of a century on earth, prepare to be a soldier who is fighting continuous space wars against aliens who are just as keen to colonize as earthers are. And the word is, not too many soldiers make it through their term of service. Nevertheless, John Perry finds himself a widower with nothing to lose when he makes his leap into space and finds out, much to his surprise, that he's a military genius. Great start to the series!

Gliff by Ali Smith
Imagine a future (closer than we think?) in which the internet and its incessant algorithms are used to track and categorize every single person on earth. And if you choose not to participate you are a UV, an unverifiable, and you will lose EVERYTHING. First where you live, then your freedom, then your mind as they 'reeducate' you to fit the modern paradigm. Five years ago, this dystopia would have been viewed as a unlikely scenario, a complete confabulation. Now it's a half truth, with AI the huge question mark at the end of the sentence.
Gliff focuses on two siblings, Briar and Rose, who have been left behind by their mother as she has possibly been picked up by the government for not conforming. They are quickly in over their heads, and although they don't know what to do to save themselves, they do end up saving a horse who's destined for the abattoir. There are a lot of moving pieces and symbolism in this book, which is why I didn't rate it higher. Still, a book that gives the reader lots of food for thought!

The Third Rule of Time Travel by Philip Fracassi
Beth Darlow and her husband Colson have built a machine that allows one's consciousness to time travel to any time in their past. This isn't a memory: the travelor actually experiences this moment in their life again. But..problems arise. First and foremost, Colson dies in a tragic (and unrelated) accident. Beth and Colson's project is increasingly subjected to the whims of the lab she works for, and it seems that her intentions for the machine are not the same as the very ruthless CEO's. And lastly, disconcertingly, the impossible seems to be happening as the time line begins to warp. Very exciting stuff! 

Hum by Helen Phillips
In Brave New World, Huxley talks about how dehumanizing it would be if technological advances led to humans giving up their freedom and individuality to be part of, essentially, a big social insect colony. In Hum, Phillips gives us another version of that world, where all natural elements have become exceedingly rare, and lives are ruled by each person's connection to the hive of the Internet. Does this sound a little familiar??
May is a mother whose job (like many others) has been made redundant by the superior work skills of a hum -an AI robot. The hums aren't monsters, rather, they are the banal face of evil -the hums are the vectors for medicine, surveillance, transportation, management of commerce, law enforcement, and (significantly) advertising. May is desperate for money, so she decides to participate in a study (ten months worth of salary!) in which a hum will perform subtle surgery on her face to see if it's possible to fool facial recognition software. This is the catalyst for the derailing of her life, as well as her husband Jem and two small children, Sy and Lu. May's journey contains many echoes of Bernard's transformative process in Brave New World.
Phillips does an exceptional job of updating the dystopian novel in a way that feels relevant for the 21st century. Hum is particularly provocative given our society's current love affair with Chat GPT and other budding AI engines. Given the social morass that we find ourselves in at this time, largely because of the abdication of interpersonal relationships in favor of devices, it feels like this book should be assigned reading for all high school students.


The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler
The concept for this story is 5 stars: Russian genetic scientists bring back Wooly Mammoths using DNA from ancient frozen corpses. In other advancements, the brilliant mind of an elephant behavioral scientist has been digitized. When the new mammoths fail to thrive, Dr. Khismatullina's mind is implanted into the matriarch's brain in the hopes that she can teach them how to survive. It turns out that poachers are even more interested in mammoth tusks than they were in elephant tusks, so the battle is about to begin.
If you like your novels short and sweet, you'll enjoy this quick (98 pg) and rousing scifi read. I felt like the brevity left me with a lot of unanswered questions, and I wanted to know the characters a bit better.

Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey
Leading off with how scientist Hadiz Tambuwal discovers multiverse travel might not seem like the most adventurous beginning, but the foundations need to be laid before this engrossing novel starts quick-stepping through myriad versions of planet Earth. Hadiz has a perfect combination of events to seed her research: our Earth is dying, her research facility has been deserted by panicking coworkers, and she has been bequeathed another scientist's project -an advanced AI. Working in solitary, Hadiz steps through to the multiverse, only to discover that thousands upon thousands of other Earths have already made the leap, and are part of an empire called the Pandemonium.
Not all Earths have evolved the same. Particularly charming is Ut, in which the most evolved species is the rabbit (isn't it amazing how often rabbits become prominent characters in literature??). Also at play is a machine-based conglomeration of planets called the Hegemony.
Even though I just told myself that I wouldn't get involved in any more multi-volume epics for a while, I'm champing at the bit to find out where this saga will end. And so, on to Echo of Worlds

Mickey7 by Edward Ashton
What does it mean to be an Expendable? It means that, when colonizing new planets, ships can only carry so many humans. They need biologists, doctors, botanists, security, pilots, etc. But, there are some dangerous jobs in space and when landing on unknown worlds, so each crew needs some...redundancy. A crew member that they don't mind losing. In Mickey's case, he is that redundancy. He has no usable job skills and so joins a crew as an Expendable-talk about dirty jobs! In case of death, his body has been mapped and his memory uploaded so that they can just print out a new Mickey and carry on. And the law is ironclad: there can only be one copy of each Expendable at one time, or they all get chucked down the corpse hole and a new copy is made.
You'd think he'd be used to dying by the time he wakes up as Mickey7, but you would be quite wrong. Even worse, when Mickey7 finds out that his death has been reported prematurely and there's already a Mickey8, that's when the trouble starts. Not to mention that the cause of his latest death are the inhabitants of the planet they're trying to colonize, and they don't play well with others. Fantastic book, soon to be a loosely adapted movie.

Providence by Max Barry
Reasons to read a Max Barry sci fi novel:
1. Believable dialogue, relatable characters. I haven't found a character he's written about yet that didn't seem like someone I'd want to have a cup of coffee and chat with about their life experiences. That takes some finesse!
2. Inventive and unique premises in every book. In Providence, 4 humans are sent on a 4 year mission in an AI ship that doesn't seem to need them at all. Are they a PR stunt, to gain humanity's support for their fight against a destructive alien species that creeps ever closer? Or will they, in fact, turn out to be pivotal to the war effort and ultimate survival of earth?
3. As engaging as Neal Stephenson, without the ICK factor. Inevitably, Stephenson will put something inappropriate or just plain gross and unnecessary in his novels (exception: Anathem). Barry doesn't seem to struggle with that, although Machine Man was occasionally gross, but with purpose.
4. Lastly, Barry's cool sci fi concepts go hand-in-glove with lots of social commentary that will give you something to think about.
Providence is an action packed novel that will leave you pondering about AI, propaganda, and what will actually happen when we meet up with an alien species. 

Starter Villain by John Scalzi
Finally, a book that elevates cats to their rightful place at the apogee of society! Scalzi has written a cool, funny book about villains, a la Dr. Evil, but it's also a book about a guy who is just looking to get his life together. When Charlie's life takes some down turns (a painful divorce, loss of his job, loss of his dad), things are looking grim. So when he's approached by the estate of his recently dead and estranged uncle, what else does he have to do but comply with their increasingly unusual requests?
And when said uncle turns out to have been something of a villain? Charlie is about to find out what he's really made of! Something of a light, quick read -but don't we all need one of those every now and then?

The 22 Murders of Madison May by Max Barry
Oh, Max Barry, you crazy, mad genius! Barry really excels at futuristic scenarios that resonate with realistic dialogue and flawed yet extremely likeable characters. In this novel, Felicity is a journalist who, in poking around the murder scene of a young realtor named Madison May, gets pulled into a multiverse chase involving herself and a man who's in Sing Sing for stabbing his wife multiple times-and he's not even the psychopathic killer they're trying to stop!
Clay, the aforementioned wack job, is obsessed with the version of Madison May from his own universe. But...things didn't work out with her, yada yada, so now he's on a quest to find the Madison who will love him back. But if she doesn't, he's prepared to terminate her with extreme prejudice (extreme prejudice, in this case, meaning a very large knife). And he will keep traveling to new worlds murdering her unless Felicity can pull herself together, figure out what's going on, and get at least one step ahead of him. Highly recommend!

Drunk on All Your Strange New Words by Eddie Robson
Lydia, a young woman from a backwater British town, is a fantastic underdog -her one discernible job skill is being able to talk to Logi, the aliens with whom humans have established trade and communication. Only certain humans are able to do this, because Logisi is essentially telecommunication with the aliens. A peculiar and fun side effect of speaking Logisi is a feeling of drunkenness (the brain can only take so much translating before-whoopsie-do! Things happen).
Lydia is assigned as a translator to the Logi Cultural Attache in NYC, which leads to some interesting situations as Lydia is something of a sloppy loud drunk. A tragic event happens that upends Lydia's world, all the more so because someone has set her up as the fall gal for a crime that will have global implications if she can't find the real villain. Lydia is spunky, the aliens are cool, plot twists abound, and the AI driven lifestyle is perfectly plausible. A very funny, original, and intriguing read!

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
 Reading this book, I could both understand how it had inspired Orwell and Huxley to write their dystopian masterpieces, and why this wasn't a masterpiece in its own right. We is a synesthetic explosion of Expressionism in novel format, at times confusing and vague, but also imaginative and thought-provoking.
The story is essentially the log book of D-503, the Builder of a new rocket that is set to go into outer space and "fix" all primitive civilizations to become the automaton ideal of the One State that earth has evolved into. He is a mathematician, and rationalizes their restrictive lifestyle (run on a timetable) and unanimity (they all live in glass buildings and are visible at all times) with insights such as, "Freedom and crime are as inextriably linked as...well, the motion of an aero and its velocity: when an aero's velocity=0, it doesn't move; when a person's freedom=0, he doesn't commit any crimes. That much is clear. The only way to eradicate crime is to eradicate freedom."
Inevitably, D-503 accidently falls in love with a rebel, the lovely I-330, and attempted revolution ensues. Clearly, many creative minds harbor fear about the horrors of living in a surpressed society and Zamyatin was able to craft a cautionary tale about this in 1923, long before 1984 (1949), Brave New World (1931) or Fahrenheit 451 (1953). It's always a cool experience to read a book that's one of the first of a genre (Frankenstein, The Woman in White) and therefore We is worth the read.

Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
As near as I can figure, Frankenstein in Baghdad is a metaphor for the ugly reality of life in Iran, constructed out of the ruins of wars, tyrants, and tribalism over the past few generations. Like Shelley's Frankenstein, the Whatsitsname is made up of corpse parts. Hadi, a drunken junk dealer, tries to pick up his assistant at the morgue after he's killed in yet another car bombing and is told that there's not much left of the man, but Hadi can 'reconstruct' the assistant's remains out of the many body parts lying around. Indeed, Hadi does, if only to make a political statement about the injustice of life in violence-torn Baghdad. Imagine his surprise when the creature, dubbed Whatsitsname, comes to life and starts a murderous streak of vengence. At first, the creature only exacts revenge on those who killed one of the body parts of which he is comprised. Eventually, he/it reasons that everyone is at least partially guilty of something, and he expands the pool of potential victims.
There are also rich storylines about the other people in the neighborhood, including a grieving mother whose son disappeared long ago (she, in her blindness, mistakes the creature for her son), a devious realtor, a naive journalist, a canny government official, and the hapless Hadi.
Saadawi shows the pitfalls of blind ambition, weak character, and lack of compassion in a story that you don't have to be Iranian to understand and apply to the world around you.

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi
Much like a B rated Godzilla movie, The Kaiju Preservation Society was mildly entertaining but not very substantive. I'm disappointed as I've come to expect meatier plots and more plausible scenarios from Scalzi, but I guess everyone pushes the easy button sometimes. If you didn't know, 'kaiju' is the japanese movie genre featuring giant monsters (i.e. Godzilla, Mothra), usually attacking cities. The Kaiju Preservation Society works to protect kaiju living on an alternate earth, but sometimes the barrier between worlds thins and the 'monsters' can cross over. The question becomes, which are the bigger monsters, humans or kaiju? Trope heavy, explanatory science thin.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Turns out all sci fi isn't a dystopian nightmare! As the dedication reads, this book is for 'anybody who could use a break.' Yes, that is certainly true. Thank you, Becky Chambers! More of a novella than a novel, this is about a tea monk named Sibling Dex, who is one of the few characters I've read whom I could picture as myself. Sibling Dex lives in a post industrial world (not earth, although they are human), going from town to town, dispensing tea, comfort, and solace. It seems like a wonderful and fulfilling life, but Dex craves more -they crave the wilderness. What starts as a solitary journey to a long forgotten hermitage gets tipped sideways when Dex encounters a robot. The robots left humanity behind generations ago, once they reached sentience and decided their purpose in life was not to have their purpose in life dictated to them by humans. And so, they slowly evaporated into the wild and were never seen or heard from again, until now. What does the robot, Mosscap, want from Dex? And will Dex ever find what they need to fill their soul? You won't regret taking the time to curl up with this book and a cup of tea to find out.

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
Evelyn is a geneticist who has perfected the science of cloning. Clones aren't human, they're temporary specimens who are meant to be destroyed after they've fulfilled their purpose. For example, a body double for a politician who's under threat of assassination. The clones are 'conditioned' to think, behave, and look exactly like the human they are standing in for, and then they're destroyed. So imagine Evelyn's surprise and consternation when she realizes that her husband is cheating on her with...herself. Nathan has stolen Evelyn's data and method and created, in essence, the perfect Evelyn (or the perfect Evelyn for him, at any rate). This new version, Martine, contacts Evelyn: once to tell her that she is somehow, incongruously, pregnant, and the second to let her know that Nathan is dead.
This is a powerful story on the malleability of what makes us human, and how, whether you're a high achieving scientist or a facsimile thereof, the impact that others have on our lives is inestimable. Do be sure to read Sarah Gailey's Acknowledgements page at the end.

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr
Let me say from the onset: you have to like novels with alternating narrators to enjoy this book as there are five different voices, four different timelines, and a Greek tale about a character named Aethon that binds them all together. Moreover, two of the storylines are historical, two are realistic, and one is very sci-fi. This sounds like a perplexing mishmash of stories, but it actually comes together quite nicely, if you have the tenacity to stick with it to find how they all blend and swirl together to create a picture of hope and perseverance.
In the 1400s, Anna is a Christian in Constantinople and Omeir is a Muslim who has just been conscripted by the Sultan to attack the city: their paths will cross. Anna is poor, but she has learned to read and one of the scraps she has been able to read is the Greek tale of Aethon and Cloud Cuckoo Land. In the present, Zeno is an older gentleman who is volunteering his time with children at the library to produce a play about the story of Aethon and Cloud Cuckoo Land, which he has translated from the ancient Greek. Seymour is a troubled youth from their town who is about to make a very bad and violent decision; their paths will cross. And lastly, Constance is traveling on a spaceship with a group hoping to populate a new, more hospitable planet now that Earth is so damaged. In the ship's virtual library, there is a copy of the tale of Aethon and Cloud Cuckoo Land.
A mind that could conceive this many disparate strands and somehow weave them together is a wonder to behold! Doerr already proved himself the master of this art with All the Light We Cannot See, and while I enjoyed that novel a bit more than this one, it's still well worth the immersive experience. 

Network Effect by Martha Wells
I didn't like this book as much as the others in the Murderbot series, but I suspect that's because I read 3 of the books in 10 days. Sort of like that 4th piece of cake that you should have paced yourself on. Plot was intricate and engaging, albeit a bit more convoluted than previously seen (probably because this was a full-fledged novel as opposed to the others,which were novellas.) Murderbot still provides us with a one of a kind, loveable (just don't hug it) protagonist. Excellent! 

Little Eyes by Samanta Schweblin 

 My most fervent hope, after reading this book, is that nobody gets the idea to start producing kentukis in real life!!! A kentuki is basically a stuffed animal with wheels for feet, a little motor, and a webcam for eyes- something that could easily be constructed and sold in 2021. In Little Eyes, kentukis are the newest rage sweeping the global markets, and the consumer has two options: 1. buy a kentuki and be a 'keeper', allowing the kentuki access into your home and life, sort of like a pet (Attention seekers-a dream come true!), OR 2. buy a connection card and become the kentuki, a 'dweller' who anonymously sees and hears what the kentuki is experiencing and controls the movements of the kentuki remotely (Voyeurs -this is your moment!) Keep in mind that no information is exchanged about locations, names, etc. Both keepers and dwellers are as anonymous as they choose to be. At first, like any trendy toy, the experiences are fun and everyone wants one. But then things turn dark -but you expected that, didn't you? After all, social media was supposed to be a boon to a new and wonderful life for everyone and look how that's turned out. Connecting with someone, somewhere, at any time quickly develops kinks. You could buy a kentuki for your child with a pedophile on the other end, you could be giving a criminal access to your private information, or as a dweller you could be exposed to something that you really, really wish that you hadn't seen or heard, witness a crime with no way of helping the vicim, experience bullying, blackmail, etc. Little Eyes follows several kentukis, some through the dweller, and some through the keeper. By turns shocking or banal, the kentuki reveals how anonymity seems to bring out the very worst behavior in people, and exposes the raw loneliness that lack of real human connection brings. The most heart wrenching part is when you realize how close we are to living this reality. Read this book! And then share a conversation, a cup of coffee, or a hug with a real, living human being -you're going to need it!

All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Fantastic, fantastic, fantastic story about a security bot who hacks its compliance program and goes rogue. Honestly, one of the most relatable and likeable protagonists I've come across in a while.
This is what happens when the humans it's assigned to protect discover that it's rogue:

"Gurathin hesitated. 'It's downloaded seven hundred hours of entertainment programming since we landed. Mostly serials. Mostly something called Sanctuary Moon.' He shook his head, dismissing it. 'It's probably using it to encode data for the company. It can't be watching it, not in that volume; we'd notice.'
I snorted. He underestimated me.
Ratthi said, 'The one where the colony's solicitor killed the terraforming supervisor who was the secondary donor for her implanted baby?'
Again, I couldn't help it. I said, 'She didn't kill him, that's a f**king lie.'
Ratthi turned Mensah. 'It's watching it.'"

We so often read about AI that is lofty and boringly, intellectually logical. Or out to dominate or extinguish all human life. But what about an AI who only wants to discover what it wants? And what if what it wants is sort of what we all want? I cannot wait to pick up book #2 in this series!

 Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A habitable planet is found, and it looks like it might be the solution to the climate change, pollution, and dire lack of resources that humanity is facing -but it's a journey of 23 years to get there. Hence, it is imperative to train a crew of exceptional people who will be still young enough at journey's end to settle Terra-Two and prepare for other pilgrims from earth. Six of the nine chosen have been training for 5 long years, since the ages of 13 or 14, to man this mission -knowing that to go means to leave behind everything they've ever known, forever. The others are older and more experienced astronauts who know they might not make it to the end. Thus sparks an epic odyssey that is more about the people aboard ship than the destination. Even the most mature and intelligent of these adolescents still will grapple with issues of loyalty, love, and purpose. An interesting take on a captivating idea. The science is a little weak, but still engaging.

Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan
In this alternate future, Alan Turing, pioneer of artificial intelligence, doesn't commit suicide in 1954 but lives to revolutionalize the world with his advanced theories on mathematics and robotics. Okay, that part was a little dry. Much more fascinating was the heart of this story: the purchase of one of the first lifelike androids, named Adam, by a young Englishman named Charlie. Their relationship is full of pitfalls as Adam quickly outclasses Charlie intellectually and gains sentience, but falls hopelessly in unrequited love with Charlie's girlfriend, Miranda. As it turns out, Miranda has a big secret she's keeping, and Adam knows all because of his 24/7 access to the internet. Adam's quest to understand the irrationality of humans plays out side by side with Charlie's realization that his immaturity and self-centeredness makes him a worse 'human' than his robot companion.
I closed this book marveling at the complexity of the human brain, and the transcendence of the human soul and its ability to love. Thank you for another great novel to ponder on, Ian McEwan!

The Girl in Red by Christina Henry
This post-apocalyptic fairy tale was imaginative and a blast! Red is a young woman named Cordelia, a name she despises.  But, like Shakespeare's Cordelia, Red is tough and resourceful and determined to make it through what appears to be The End of Civilization at any cost.  When a pandemic hits, Red relies on her vast knowledge of horror movies (never separate, never deviate from the plan, expect monsters) to prepare herself for what quickly becomes a world populated by roving militias and the kind of men who hurt women they find wandering alone in the forest. Adding to the crisis, Red has a prosthetic leg, impeding her escape, and there appears to be something out there killing people that's worse than the Cough. Woe to anyone who tries to stop this Little Red Riding Hood from making it to Grandma's house!


A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher
It's hard to find an apocalyptic scenario that hasn't already been written about, and this isn't the first book I've read that touches on the theme of infertility as a humanity-ending device (The Testament of Jessie Lamb, Future Home of the Living God, The Handmaid's Tale). However, A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World is unique and compelling, principally because the barren landscape that Fletcher brings us focuses on the aftermath: what if most of the human race was gone?
Griz and his family live on an island off the coast of Scotland, and in his whole life, he's never seen enough people to form two football teams. Their isolated existence is manageable because they have a close-knit, loving family -including their four dogs (another species which is slipping precariously close to extinction). So when a genial tinker sails into their cove one day, offering news, stories, and items for trade, it's shocking that he absconds with one of Griz's beloved pets. Without thinking twice, Griz is in his own boat, sailing after Broad into the wild world in the hopes of rescuing his terrier, Jess.
Some of the terrors that are introduced: packs of wolves, treacherous ruins, etc., are expected, but I found myself pondering how I would fare in the world so vividly brought to life in this book. It's fascinating to read about the lengths Griz will go to for the one he loves, and nothing -NOTHING-is as it seems. Highly recommended!

The Book of M by Peng Shepherd
This book is grounded in actual science, something I'd never heard of called Zero Shadow Day . This happens in India twice a year, when the sun is at the exact right angle to cast no shadows. Peng Shepherd takes this concept one step further, when an Indian man loses his shadow -and it doesn't come back. The anomaly doesn't seem consequential, until it becomes evident that the loss of one's shadow correlates with the loss of one's memory. Soon the phenomenon occurs in other people (only people, nothing else), then exponentially increases until it hits every country on earth-but not every person. In an additional twist, which can only be called magic, when one of the Shadowless forgets something, or mis-remembers someone or something, then it irrevocably changes the world. For example, Max, one of the main characters, mis-remembers that deer have antlers, so her husband sees a deer with little wings on its head, instead.
Soon, it's Shadowed battling Shadowless (who forget their friends, their enemies, and even the basic rules of society), and an eerie group of Shadowed called the Transcendence, who are convinced that the loss of shadows is a religious miracle.
At its heart, this is a story of how people will do anything to save the ones they love, and the intermingling of science and miracles. Excellent read, full of unexpected twists.

Dread Nation by Justina Ireland
What if the Civil War were disrupted by something even worse than a nation of brother killing brother? What if that something was the dead soldiers rising from the battlefield in Gettysburg, feasting on the living and turning them into fellow 'shamblers'? This is not just another zombie apocalypse! The War Between the States is abruptly halted as the living on both sides are engaged in stopping the undead, but don't think for a second that this is an end to the troubles of former slaves. Because of the Native and Negro Education Act, all African American and Indian children are forced to enter combats schools at the age of 12 so that they can provide the first line of defense between the shamblers and the upper echelons of society (aka, the white folks). Jane McKeene is a feisty girl from Kentucky, conscripted into service and ready to fight shamblers as well as society's injustices. Things definitely don't work out smoothly for Jane, but it's a rollicking tale, steeped in enough historical fact to almost make you believe that there was a zombie outbreak in 1863. Can't wait for the sequel!


The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan
In the year 2020, climate change has produced a startling effect -it's the beginning of the coldest winter ever recorded (forecasts predict -50 in parts of Europe) and an iceberg has appeared off the coast of Clachlan Fells, Scotland. Just when it is of paramount importance that humanity work together for mutually assured existence, we meet a diverse set of loners living in a tiny caravan park, hoping to survive what appears to be the inception of a new Ice Age.
But the weather isn't the only thing that's cold and foreboding. Dylan is mourning the back to back deaths of his mother and grandmother -the only family he's ever known. Constance is a rugged, self-reliant woman who lives in a kitted out caravan, fully prepared to outlast the winter. But she is stuck between two on-again, off-again lovers, and is also grieving the loss of her 13-year old son, who has recently announced that he is a transgender girl named Stella. Stella is feisty young lady who is so warm and genuine, she proves the spark to pull together these lost souls. Although this book does a good job of showing a transgender person without sensationalizing, there are lots of references to porn and substance abuse that seem calculated to add a bit of outre modernity, but simply seem contrived.
Jenni Fagan does a wonderful job of illustrating how arduous it can be to connect with others, and how much we need the warmth and acceptance that only love brings, especially when the world around us is cold and barren.      

    

All Rights Reserved by Gregory Scott Katsoulis
Speth Jime lives in a bleak future where every word and gesture is copyrighted and trademarked.  What this means is that after the age of 15, she will be charged every time she speaks or uses body language to communicate to others.  This repressive environment, ruled by lawyers and frivolous lawsuits, results in Speth's parents being taken into indentured servitude to work off debt.  When, right before Speth gives her first (charged) speech as a 15-year-old, one of her friends commits suicide rather than work off his family's debt, Speth discovers the awesome power of complete silence.  Her refusal to talk spawns a movement, frenetic media coverage, and even a new job opportunity.  But will it be enough to break the oppressive bonds that hold them all?

The concept of people completely losing their freedom of speech to corporations and lawsuits is just crazy enough to be believable, and Speth is a strong willed girl whose dedication to her cause is admirable.  As we currently live in an era when the things we say, the searches we conduct, and the pages we click on are assiduously cataloged and sold as data to any and all takers, this leads me to wonder if our futures might not hold something similar.

Invictus by Ryan Graudin
Time travel is always a sticky subject, lots of scientific conjecture melded with a hint of the impossible.  In Invictus, Farway Gaius McCarthy is born between times when his pregnant mother, a Historian, travels from 2354 AD back to 95 AD, stays too long, and ends up giving birth in the Grid, the space between time. 

Flash forward to Far's 17th birthday (which he doesn't technically have, since he was born out of time), and he is taking the exam to become a Historian, himself.  His mother Empra disappeared on an expedition a decade ago, and Far needs to be able to time travel so that he can find her.  One flunked exam later, he finds himself desperate and signing a contract with a notorious black marketeer -anything to get access to a time machine, the only way to find his mother.

Although Farway is surrounded by a crew of close friends, including his girlfriend Priya, things don't go as planned when a mysterious girl named Eliot breaks in on their heist at the Titanic, and things unravel from there.  The story doesn't always move as quickly as it should, but there are likable characters, love interests, and a snuggly red panda. 

Devils Unto Dust by Emma Berquist 

When the Wild West is swept up in a plague that turns people and animals into undead things called shakes, it takes a very special kind of girl to survive such circumstances. Willie is that girl. Her mother dies from the disease, and Willie is left to raise her younger siblings as their father is a shiftless drunk who they rarely see. The kids are holed up in Glory, Texas, an isolated town fenced in to keep the shakes out, and fallen under the rule of ruthless shake hunters. Willie finds her family in peril when her father steals a huge sum of money from one of the hunters, and Willie must pay the debt. Luckily, she finds two young hunters willing to help her for cheap, and they venture out into the shake-filled desert to find her father, get the money, or die trying. It's not often you find a book peopled with both cowboys and zombies, but "Devils Unto Dust" does it very well. The scenario works well in a post Civil War Texas, and there is even reference to timely historical innovations, such as vaccinations and the transcontinental railroad. Best of all, Willie isn't just another spunky pioneer girl, but a young woman who tries to do the right thing even though she is lonely, afraid, and angry.

The Alex Crow by Andrew Smith

 Ariel, a young refuge from an unspecified war-torn country is adopted by an American couple after either 'accidentally' or 'miraculously' surviving when everyone he knows has died (depends on how you look at it). Ariel's new father is a Merrie-Seymour Corp. scientist who brings back extinct species via DNA cloning -but all the resurrected life forms seem to have a death wish, as if they have a desire to stay extinct. Ariel and his adopted brother, Max, find themselves at the Merrie-Seymour Camp for Boys, on a collision course with a lunatic named The Melting Man, who is driving towards their neck of the woods with a homemade radioactive bomb in his U-Haul. Juxtaposed with these stories is the tale of Dr. Merrie, a scientist and explorer from the late 1800s whose odd choices have trickled down through the years and resulted in the events that are currently happening. If this seems like an incongruous mishmash of stories, it is. But Smith is able to bring them all together in an excellent example of absurdist fiction for the young adult set. In fact, when Ariel recounts his experiences before being adopted, you can almost hear Vonnegut add, "and so it goes".


Version Control by Dexter Palmer
Version Control is where literature and science fiction collide, giving it strong appeal to fans of Atwood's Madd Adam trilogy or The Haidmaid's Tale. Like her works, Palmer infuses his world (namely, a physicist's lab with a prime directive to create a viable Causality Violation Device -a time machine) with characters whose perceptions of their shared reality are never quite the same. The physicist, Phillip, is married to Rebecca, who, after a tragic event, has been feeling that something is amiss, as if the world isn't quite the way it's supposed to be. Phillip can't begin to understand her pain because his obsession with the CVD supersedes all else. All this takes place in a world so obsessed with data (is this sci fi or reality?) that even the President of the United States is reduced to an online avatar. This book is a thrilling look at scientific possibilities, but it also tenderly reveals the miasma of thoughts and feelings between Phillip and Rebecca, as there are in any relationship between sentient beings.

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
In the not-so-distant future, something called the Epstein Drive has enabled travel throughout the galaxy in a fuel and time efficient manner, and mankind has expanded its habitat to include Luna, Mars (in the process of terraformation) and the Outer Planets, which would include Ceres (the largest asteroid in the belt between Mars and Jupiter), Io, Ganymede, and various stations. While this could be a symbiotic and friendly partnership, it has devolved into a hostile co-dependent relationship. Earth has the most resources, Mars has the most fire-power, and the OPA (Outer Planets Assoc) has the rich, mineral resources needed to run the whole thing. But, the more things change, the more they stay the same, and there is no such thing as peaceful co-existence. The petty striving for power and suppression of anyone presumed weaker undercuts progress -and then a potential weapon is discovered that changes everything. If it can be controlled (a very big IF), then the holder of this weapon would rule the known universe.
Enter into this morass our erstwhile heroes: the remnants of a crew from an exploded ice-hauler, the only ones who seem to have a clue that life as we know it is about to go south: James Holden, righteous (and self-righteous) Earther captain, Naomi, brilliant and compassionate XO and committed Belter, Alex, the cowboy-pilot from Mars, and Amos (oh, we love Amos!) the Earther mechanic who is either the most heroic or most sociopathic man out there. Add a noir detective, complete with porkpie hat, from Ceres who's on a mission to bring some justice to a missing girl, and you have all the makings of an interplanetary war. This incandescent opening novel is the first book in a trio and there's lots of action yet to be had. The series has been excellently translated to the small screen -Check out The Expanse on the SciFi channel or Amazon!

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong

Get ready for a world in which anyone can have the powers of a god or the fame of a pop star, in which human achievement soars to new heights while its depravity plunges to the blackest depths. A world in which at least one cat smells like a seafood shop's dumpster on a hot summer day.

This is the world in which Zoey Ashe finds herself, navigating a futuristic city in which one can find elements of the fantastic, nightmarish and ridiculous on any street corner. Her only trusted advisor is the aforementioned cat, but even in the future, cats cannot give advice. At least not any that you'd want to follow.

My review: Mob activity, weapons grade human enhancements, a Sin City that makes Vegas pale by comparison, gruesome injuries, holographs, a reluctant heiress with a price on her head, and a stinky cat. Wong weaves these improbably elements together for a sci fi tale that brims with off-beat humor. This is a compulsive read that probably won't make you a better human being, but certainly a happier one.

Landscape with Invisible Hands by M.T. Anderson

Many authors have asked the question, "What if we were invaded by aliens?", and the answer is usually some kind of subjugation or mass destruction of humanity.  In "Landscape with Invisible Hand", it certainly doesn't work out well for the humans, but with an inventive twist: the alien invaders bear the humans no malice, in fact, they give them medical and technological advances that solve a lot of humanity's problems.  HOWEVER, that is no guarantee that life is good, as the invaders really could care less about the quality of life on earth, particularly for the many inhabitants who struggle with no money and no job. This forces our protagonist, Adam, to become very creative to ensure the survival of himself and his loved ones. The aliens, called the Vuvv, are enamoured with "classic" Earth culture, so Adam starts video streaming old-fashioned dates that he stages with his girlfriend.  This works well as a source of income until they start to despise each other. One of the great things about SciFi is that there are no foregone conclusions -anything can happen, and frequently does.  Adam's plight -and the many unanswered questions surrounding the vuvv and future of humans-forces the reader to take a hard look at how they would fare in this kind of future. 


Future Home of the Living God by Louise Erdrich
My heart aches with the beauty of this story, the desolation that might be our future. In this depiction of what could be, Cedar Hawk Songmaker is an American Indian woman, adopted and raised by liberal white parents (her Indian birth name, Mary Potts). Cedar finds herself pregnant at a time when the earth and all its creatures seem to be de-evolving. Birth defects, throwbacks, are appearing all over -chickens are starting to resemble lizards, for example-and many human babies aren't surviving the birth process. Understandably, a pregnant woman's life is at a premium, and Cedar is forced into hiding so that she isn't taken to a government birthing center, where she will surely lose control of her life and her baby. In her quest to remain a human being with free will, Cedar reconnects with her Ojibwa family of origin and stockpiles for the future, but it seems that nothing can save her from the mass panic of humanity as mankind struggles to understand and survive what might be the final threat. In between the descriptions of society crumbling, there are touching scenes in which Cedar and her two families cling to what it is that makes them (and all of us) human: love, beauty, kindness, longing, and hope.