Spoonbenders

by Daryl Gregory
399 pgs

Thirty years ago, the Talamachus Family was quite famous. They traveled the country, performing in front of large crowds, and amazing them with demonstrations of their psychic abilities. They each had their own unique gift. Irene was known as the human lie detector and could immediately tell when someone was lying. Frankie had telekinetic powers and could move things with his mind. Buddy, the youngest, could see the future. And their mother Maureen, known as the World's Most Powerful Psychic, could leave her body behind and travel on the astral plane. Even Teddy, the father, who had no psychic abilities himself, was a world-class con man, who tricked everyone into believing that he did.

But their fame and notoriety came to an end after a disastrous appearance on live television.

Now, in 1995, Irene is a single parent struggling to hold down a  decent job, Frankie is in debt to the Chicago mob, and Buddy, who is afraid to talk to anyone now for fear of altering the future, spends all of his time inexplicably digging holes in his father's yard and refilling them. Maureen passed away years ago, and Teddy dreams of someday achieving fame again.

Irene's 14-year-old son has recently learned of his own abilities (which are the same as his dead grandmother's) and he may be the key to solving everyone's problems. And why can't Buddy see anything beyond a specific date fast approaching in September?

Gregory takes his story back and forth between now and the 1960s, describing the lives of the members of the Talamachus family and how their gifts, for the majority of their lives, were more of a curse than a blessing. The story is humorous and fun. It's fast-paced and surprisingly dark. Spoonbenders is the first book by Daryl Gregory that I've read. And while I thought the writing and the story had some issues, I enjoyed it enough to want to read more.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Farm

by Tom Rob Smith
352 pgs

I was a little hesitant to pick up The Farm by Tom Rob Smith. Having enjoyed his "Child 44" trilogy as much as I did, I was worried I would inevitably be disappointed by this stand-alone story and would have to take him down from the pedestal I'd placed him on in my mind. Fortunately, my worries were unnecessary.

Daniel is a 29-year-old man who lives in London. He is the only child of his Swedish mother Tilde and his English father Chris, who, years ago sold their business in London and moved to a small farm in Sweden.

The story begins with Daniel receiving a call from his father informing him that his mother had recently experienced a psychotic episode, was committed to an institution for treatment, and had subsequently disappeared. Very shortly afterwards, his mother shows up at his London apartment carrying what she tells him is evidence that his father had gotten involved with a group of men in Sweden who sexually exploited young women and is among those responsible for the disappearance of a teenage girl named Mia.

Daniel listens as his mother tells him about the circumstances around Mia's disappearance, and as he does, he can't help but find her story more and more believable the more he hears. What he hears does not sound like the delusions of a broken mind. His mother is meticulous and comprehensive as she lays out the evidence against his father and the other men, and she claims they tried to institutionalize her in order to discredit her and protect themselves.

The Farm was written a few years ago, back when there were a lot of authors trying to capitalize from the success of Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl and her use of an unreliable narrator to tell the story. Even though The Farm was written during that time, I don't think Smith was jumping on the bandwagon when he wrote it. This has an entirely different feel to it.. But the result is very similar. For most of the book, you're left questioning the veracity of Tilde's claims and wondering whether they should be believed or not. It' snot until Daniel decides to travel to Sweden himself to learn the truth that things are ultimately made clear.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Bearskin

by James A. McLaughlin
343 pgs

I love it when a new author publishes his or her first book and it's excellent. I'm always hopeful a quality first book portends a whole bookshelf worth of great books yet to come from the author. That's now my hope about James A. McLaughlin after reading his debut novel Bearskin.

Rice Moore is the caretaker on a privately-owned nature preserve in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. He hasn't had the job very long, but he's hoping the remoteness of where he now lives and works will allow him to hide from his violent past. But the peace and isolation he thought he'd experience becomes fleeting when he comes across the carcasses of bears, which are missing their paws and gallbladders. He learns that these are worth thousands of dollars on the black market, where the Chinese buy them and use them for medicines.

When Rice begins hunting for the bear killers, he finds he's up against more than just the poachers. His search angers many of the locals, who resent the family who owns the land the preserve is on and forbids them from hunting on it. When he learns that the woman who was caretaker before him was brutally assaulted and raped by a group of men while on the property, he decides to add them to the list of men he's now hunting. And as Rice's hunt for the bear killers and his predecessor's assaulters comes to a head, his past catches up with him and he finds himself being hunted as well.

The first three fourths of the book are a steady lead up to the final hundred or so pages, and it's these pages that made me so excited for what's to come from McLaughlin.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Warlight

by Michael Ondaatje
290 pgs

I'll begin by saying this: I had no idea what to expect hen I picked up Michael Ondaatje's latest book Warlight. I knew Ondaatje had written The English Patient, which won the Booker Prize and was made into the movie that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, but I haven't read the book, nor have I seen the movie. Now, having read Warlight, I doubt I'll bother reading the book, and based on Elaine's opinion of the movie on "Seinfeld," I'm not likely to ever see the movie either.

The book begins in London shortly after World War II. People are just starting the process of rebuilding their city, their homes, and their lives. But Nathaniel and Rachel's lives have just been turned upside down with the news that their parents are leaving them for a year while they travel to Singapore for their father's new job opportunity. They've been informed that they'll be left in the care of two men whom neither of them have met before.

These two men, the Moth and the Darter, as the kids refer to them, move into the family's home and soon it becomes a gathering place for an assortment of interesting and (the children believe) possibly criminally-minded individuals. Nathaniel eventually becomes enamored with both of this caretakers and starts taking an active role in some of their suspect activities. But Rachel never gets over her feelings of resentment for having been "abandoned" by her parents.

After a short time, the children discover the trunk their mother had packed in front of them as she prepared to leave for Singapore. It's been hidden away in the house and the kids realize she hadn't been honest with them about her plans.

The rest of the book slowly reveals that their mother did not, in fact, travel to Singapore, but that she was engaged in dangerous intelligence work for the government, a continuation of work she had apparently been involved with throughout the war as well.

I can see why Ondaatje is considered a talented writer. But for me, I think he'll be a one-and-done author on my reading list. I could never get over the book's slow pace and drawn-out style. I also got the impression Ondaatje's biggest fan is himself. I felt like he expected me to sit back while he regaled me with his prose, and to simply feel grateful for the opportunity he had given me to give him my time and money.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Bishop's Pawn

by Steve Berry
340 pgs  (Cotton Malone series #13)

On April 4, 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. was shot and killed in Memphis, Tennessee. James Earl Ray initially plead guilty to killing King in order to avoid the possibility of the death penalty, but later recantd his confession. He was never granted a retrial. In The Bishop's Pawn, Steve Berry's 13th book featuring Cotton Malone, the former Justice Department operative, Berry goes back in time and tells a story that originated with Cotton's first assignment with the department.

When Cotton was first recruited by Stephanie Nelle, he was sent to recover the most valuable coin ever produced, located in a shipwreck somewhere off the coast of south Florida. Along with the Coin Cotton salvaged a file that contained information concerning J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI's involvement in Dr. King's death.

From that point forward Berry does what he does best and incorporates historical facts with fiction and tells a story that, if true, would rewrite the history books. Berry is very adept at telling a fascinating story that carefully leads his readers down a path to the conclusion he has waiting them. Every step along that path is plausible and convincing and make perfect sense in the context in which they're presented. And by the end, it's hard to argue with the likelihood that history occurred the way Berry tells it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆