I first came across Canadian author Chevy Stevens via her debut novel, Still Missing, which I adored.
I’ve read most of her subsequent books and she writes consistently complex thrillers, often centring around unhealthy relationships and splintered families, and featuring power imbalances between genders.
I’ve read a couple of books by Wendy Walker now (All is Not Forgotten and Emma in the Night giving them 4 and 4.5 stars respectively!) and after several weeks of minimal reading and a lot of university assignment angst her latest, Don’t Look for Me was exactly what I was in the mood to read.
I settled into the bathtub and read it in an easy and entertaining sitting. There were a couple of moments that made me worry it was going to be too predictable but Walker throws in a few curves to avoid some of the usual cliches.
It’s no secret I’m a fan of Jane Austen. In fact, it’s almost exactly 11 years ago since I finally binge-read all of her work. I’d been away (at fat camp – long story) and took The Complete Works of Jane Austen with me. Devouring the tome easily.
It surprised me because though I’d loved the BBC miniseries of Pride & Prejudice and the Gwyneth Paltrow/Toni Collette movie version of Emma (my interest was predominantly piqued by Colin Firth and Jeremy Northam respectively), I’d not even considered reading her books. And I hate(d) historical fiction.
It was only then I understood the eloquent and witty genius of the woman (so) ahead of her time.
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen was a book I rated highly last year (4.5 stars which is rare for me). It was delightfully twisty and offered up some complex (and not always likeable) characters.
I can’t quite fathom how two authors can co-write a novel. Indeed, my childhood bestie and I attempted that very thing when we were 8 or 9 years old and it didn’t end well. (I ripped up the book and threw it away. Thankfully she resurrected it from our rubbish bin and stuck it back together and it became a gift we ‘gave’ each other every few years. And I’m fairly certain she must still have it as I last gifted it to her in the 1990s sometime!)
Anyhoo… Hendricks and Pekkanen seem to make it work.
I read most (if not all) of Lisa Scottoline’s Rosato & Associates series and would have thought I’d read most of the spin-off series (Rosato & DiNunzio) but Goodreads tells me I’ve only read a couple.
It fortunately doesn’t matter as previous knowledge of the lawyers’ or firm’s exploits aren’t at all necessary in this sixth in the series.
Lisa Scottoline, along with Alafair Burke is one of my go-to authors for legal thrillers. They’re a genre that once felt like they were everywhere (though that was perhaps in the days of John Grisham and Scott Turow – and the movies based on their novels). They seem to be less prevalent now, which makes me appreciate them more than I perhaps once did. (Although the book I read after this – Closer Than You Know by Brad Parks – was also a legal procedural!)
After Anna, Scottoline’s latest is less about the legal process in many ways, though part of the plot does unfold in a courtroom. It’s more a novel of suspense with the majority of the story being told through the memories of a man on trial for murdering his step-daughter.
For reasons unknown this book wasn’t on my radar when it was released in Australia in 2016. Like many I’d loved Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project, but was not quite as enamoured with the sequel, The Rosie Effect.
It wasn’t until I mentioned I had an electronic copy of this book that a friend commented that she’d read it last year. And she wasn’t a fan, which made me a tad reticent. As it happens, I can understand her antipathy but enjoyed elements of the book nonetheless…
I had a review copy of this book months before its release date and kept putting off reading it until closer to publication but finally succumbed after seeing a few reviews appearing around the place.
I really loved Chevy Stevens’ Still Missing which I read years ago, have read almost all of her books since and follow the author on social media. In a non-stalkerish way. #Obvs
Unfortunately I had no idea I was going to get so engrossed in this book which I read in one very long bath-sitting. I actually started it after finishing something else, thinking I’d just flick through the first few chapters….
It’s rare that I read a book that offers something a bit different… whether it’s an unusual plot, surprising characters or creative prose.
All is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker does offer readers that something different. In fact I had to stop a couple of times in the beginning to check I wasn’t reading non-fiction. Because it could have been. Non-fiction delivered in an entertaining way! *
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