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Camilla’s husband, Luke, disappeared after a bizarre incident in which he held three hostages and killed two of them. She’s a literary agent, he’s a ghost writer, and they have a toddler. Niall, the police negotiator who botched the attempt to negotiate, is haunted by his mistake and won’t let the case go. In seven- year increments, we get clues that Luke might still be alive and possibly not the bad guy after all. Camilla still loves him, evidence be damned, and does what she can to find out what happened. Nuanced characterizations and suspense make this psychological thriller one of the best I’ve encountered. London setting.
Our unnamed protagonist is done with her marriage and her environmental nonprofit job. She returns to the small town in mid-Australia where she grew up to spend a week at an odd retreat run by nuns. She’s a nonbeliever but finds herself drawn to the contemplative atmosphere and ends up staying. She cultivates the garden, improves the nuns’ nutrition, and settles in. One maddening problem: a plague of mice. Then the bones of a saint arrive for reburial, accompanied by Helen whom she tormented at school many years ago. A chance for forgiveness, perhaps. The phrase “the austerity of truth” appears in this book and I rested into and celebrated this quality throughout. Profound material plainly told, and so far, the best book of the year, at least for this reader.
In Minnesota, Hana has been hiding under an assumed name and the stereotypical dress and demeanor of the title because of events long ago in Bosnia that have her still targeted as a murderer at large. Back then she witnessed her family slaughtered by Serbs, became part of a rebel group, and took revenge on two of the killers. Now the last of the killers has murdered her best friend who came to the USA with her and is after Hana. Undercover, she’s kept her martial skills current and now leads a double life. We toggle between past and present as suspense builds. A thriller with history, action, and rich characterizations—very satisfying.
In the woods in Northern California, a group who call themselves the nameless follow Odo whose precepts direct them to see everything as beautiful and tell them they only suffer because of “distorted” thinking. Odo is a Vietnam vet and the book takes us back and forth from his days in country to the present. The movement has attracted well-healed backers and seems to exude bliss. Faruk, a journalist, gets involved to gather material for a magazine article. In the process, he grapples with his own traumas. We’re aslo privy to a movie script that describes what happened in Texas that caused the cult to flee and regroup. I initially felt the novel was over-the-top, but I couldn’t stop chewing over the disturbing images and implications, so that’s why I’m sharing it with you
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