Red Rising

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Red Rising (Red Rising #1)

Pierce Brown

Del Rey (Random House): 2014, 382 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

The Earth is dying, so Mars is being colonized by a brave group of pioneer Reds.  Darrow is one of these pioneers, mining for Helium-6 deep under the surface of Mars.  After Darrow’s wife is executed, he is recruited by a secretive group of rebels who open his eyes to the truth: Mars has actually been colonized for generations and Reds like Darrow are toiling away to support the extravagant lifestyles of the Golds living on the surface. Fueled by his rage and a sense of justice, Darrow is reformed into a Gold and sets out to overthrow the colorful caste system from the inside. 

Into Thin Air

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Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster

Jon Krakauer

Anchor: 1997, 337 Pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Krakauer chronicles climbing Mt. Everest on a guided expedition in May 1996 while researching an article for Outside magazine.  Clients on Rob Hall’s Adventure Consultants guided expedition each paid $65,000 for the opportunity to ascend the world’s tallest mountain.  While Krakauer is able to successfully reach the summit, he is all too aware that reaching the top is only half the battle.  A strong storm hits the upper reaches of Everest as the climbers are returning to camp and claims the lives of multiple climbers.  Into Thin Air provides a first-hand account of the weeks leading up to the tragedy as well as the aftermath for the guilt-ridden survivors.     

Confess

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Confess

Colleen Hoover

Atria Books: 2015, 306 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Auburn Reed still hasn’t gotten over the death of her high school sweetheart when she was 15.  She’s recently moved to Dallas and is struggling to make ends meet when she accepts a one-night gig helping out at an art gallery.  While the job may be temporary, her intense attraction to the artist Owen is so powerful that neither of them can ignore it.  While their chemistry is undeniable, Auburn wasn’t looking for love and isn’t sure that she has room in her life for Owen.  Owen’s life is also more complicated that it initially appears.  Will Owen and Auburn be able to overcome their pasts and confess their secrets?

The Nightingale

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The Nightingale

Kristin Hannah

St. Martin's Press: 2015, 440 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Vianne and Isabelle's relationship has not been an easy one since their mother died when they were young girls and their father virtually abandoned them.  When the Nazis invade France, Vianne's husband heads to fight the German forces while she tries to protect their daughter.  The younger, rebellious Isabelle, on the other hand, views Vianne's behavior as complacency and leaves her sister's home to join the Resistance.  Throughout the next few years, each sister faces hardships and horrors that would have been inconceivable before the war.  The Nightingale is a heartbreaking story of the women of war-torn France. 

Bad Monkey

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Bad Monkey

Carl Hiaasen

Knopf: 2012, 317 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Andrew Yancey is a former Key West police detective who is reassigned to Health Inspector after an unfortunate incident involving his girlfriend's husband and a handheld vacuum.  When an arm is found by a tourist on a fishing excursion, Yancey sees this as his ticket back onto the force.  The unofficial investigation takes him to Miami and the Bahamas where he encounters a poncho-clad real estate developer, a kinky medical examiner, a voodoo witch, and the titular monkey, who retired to the islands after starring in the Pirates of the Caribbean films.  While I'm not generally a Hiaasen fan, I think his audiobooks are ideal for road trips.  They are light and entertaining, not requiring too much of your attention, and are humorous enough to appeal to a wide-range of travel companions.  

The Quickening

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The Quickening

Michelle Hoover

Other Press: 2010, 215 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Enidina "Eddie" Current enjoys the simple life of a farmer in the Midwest during the early 1900's.  Her neighbor Mary Morrow, however, is unhappy with her rural life and yearns for more.  Although they have little in common and are often, in fact, at odds with one another, these two women come to rely on one another.  But when the Great Depression forces families everywhere to make difficult choices, Eddie and Mary's tenuous friendship unravels, and along with it their families and everything they hold dear.

The Girl on the Train

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The Girl on the Train

Paula Hawkins

Riverhead Books: 2015, 336 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Touted as "the next Gone Girl," The Girl on the Train is a psychological thriller set in the suburbs of London.  Rachel is an alcoholic who lost both her job and her marriage.  She rides the train into London every morning so her roommate won't find out that Rachel lost her job.  From the train, she becomes obsessed with a couple who she often sees sitting on their deck, drinking their morning coffee, inventing personalities and even names for this idyllic couple.  When the wife goes missing, Rachel becomes way too involved in the investigation into her disappearance, putting herself in danger.  This book alternates chapters from the points of view of three women: Rachel; Anna, Rachel's ex-husband's new wife; and Megan, the woman who goes missing.  It had enough twists to keep me riveted and I would highly recommend it to fans of crime novels/thrillers.

Girl Waits with Gun

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Girl Waits with Gun

Amy Stewart

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: 2015, 416 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

For the three Kopp sisters, Constance, Norma, and Fleurette, a trip to town has serious consequences after their buggy is struck by a vehicle driven by local silk factory owner Henry Kaufman.  When Constance attempts to collect $50 from Kaufman to pay for the damages, the situation quickly escalates.  Before long, the Kopp sister are receiving threats from Kaufman and his shady associates by "brick mail" (a brick thrown through their window) threatening to kidnap Fleurette.  In addition to providing the Kopp sisters with surveillance and pistols, the local sheriff also enlists Constance's help in bringing the men involved to justice, a task few women would have dared in 1914.

Orphan Train

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Orphan Train

Christina Baker Kline

William Morrow Paperbacks: 2013, 278 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

This book skips back and forth between the first-person narrative of Niamh and the third-person narrative of Molly.  Niamh is a young Irish immigrant who boards an orphan train to find a new family in the Midwest after she is orphaned in New York City around 1930.  Molly is a foster kid in modern day Maine.  In order to fulfill a community service requirement, she begins helping 91-year-old Vivian clean out her attic.  As Vivian and Molly spend more time together, they discover that they have more in common than either suspected.  

Go Set a Watchman

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Go Set a Watchman

Harper Lee

HarperCollins: 2015, 278 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Go Set a Watchman follows Jean Louise "Scout" Finch as she returns to Macomb, Alabama, for her annual two week vacation from her life in New York.  A lot has changed since her childhood.  Most significantly, her father's steadfast morality seems, in Jean Louise's opinion, to have begun to waver.  Atticus was her touchstone, the one thing in her life that she could always count on, and viewing him as a flawed man, like any other, shakes her to her very core. 

Bettyville

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Bettyville

George Hodgman

Viking: 2014, 279 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

In this memoir, author George Hodgman describes the time spent with his elderly mother at his childhood home in rural Paris, Missouri.  George took a break from his life as an editor in New York to attend a funeral with his mother in Paris. However, once he sees that Betty needs more help than he realized, George becomes her unlikely caretaker. Throughout the book, the author blends in background and anecdotes from both his and Betty's lives, particularly those that highlight the fact that Betty has never really acknowledged the fact that George is gay.  Overall, the book kept my interest, but the narrative at times felt meandering and unfocused.  I would recommend this to fans of family memoirs as well as those who are currently or anticipate caring for an aging parent.

Nature Girl

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Nature Girl

Carl Hiaasen

Alfred A. Knopf: 2006, 306 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Nature Girl is a satire set in Florida that features a comical cast of bizarre characters.  After being interrupted at her dinner table by a sales call one too many times, Honey Santana goes to extreme lengths to teach the uncouth telemarketer, Boyd Shreave, a lesson.  Certainly her obsession has nothing to do with the fact that she's off her meds.  Meanwhile, Sammy Tigertail, a one-half Seminole Indian, is on the lam after a tourist dies of a heart attack while on Sammy's airboat tour of the Everglades.  Add in Honey's stalker, Louis Piejack, and her ex-husband, Perry Skinner, set the whole thing on a remote Everglades island, and you've got the makings of a standard Hiaasen story.  While the story was definitely over the top at times, it was entertaining, and I will definitely keep the author in mind next time I'm looking for a light beach read.

The Girl Next Door

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The Girl Next Door

Jack Ketchum

Leisure Books: 1989. 370 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

When Meg and Susan's parents die in an accident, they are sent to live with their aunt Ruth in New Jersey in the 1950's.  Ruth, a single mother who has three sons of her own, is none too happy with having to take in the girls.  Ruth's pathological hatred of Meg steadily increases, and she enlists her sons and other neighborhood children to help her in teaching Meg a lesson about what it means to be a woman.  This book is definitely not for the faint of heart, as it graphically depicts torture and abuse, both physical and psychological.  Perhaps most disturbing is that this book is based on the true story of Sylvia Likens, a 16 year old girl who was tortured and murdered by her caretaker in Indiana in 1965.  I hesitate in recommending this book, as it is truly horrifying, but it does provide a thought-provoking portrait of true evil.  

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The Miniaturist

Jessie Burton

Ecco: 2014, 400 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Nella knows that she is in for a culture shock when she leaves her family's farm and arrives on the doorstep of her new husband's home in Amsterdam.  Living in the seventeenth century, 18 year old Nella's future was bleak when her father died, leaving her family penniless.  When a wealthy Amsterdam trader asks for her hand in marriage, she fantasizes about her glamorous new life in the city.  However, the reality proves quite different when she arrives at her new home and finds a husband who has virtually no interest in her, a sister-in-law who runs the household with an iron fist, and household servants who take too many liberties for Nella's taste.  While the prosperous trader seems like the model Amsterdamer, Nella soon discovers that each of the house's inhabitants has dangerous secrets that threaten them all.

Landline

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Landline

Rainbow Rowell

St. Martin's Press: 2014, 310 pages

Reviewed by Tori Lyons

Georgie and Neal's relationship was never easy.  While they loved each other deeply, her career as a writer for television comedies was always at odds with Neal's more reclusive nature.  But when Georgie had to forgo the family's annual Christmas visit to Neal's parents in Nebraska to focus on a new pilot she was pitching, she was devastated when Neal packed up their two daughters and went without her.  While spending the holidays at her mom's house in her childhood bedroom, Georgie discovers an unexpected way to reflect on the Christmas many years ago when Neal had proposed to her, and she wonders if maybe Neal wouldn't have been better off if it had never happened.  Landline provides an honest and genuine look at how relationships (and the people in them) change while still remaining the same.