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Brock, our protagonist, is utterly middle-American. He’s a habit-bound, mild-mannered insurance salesman who can’t help correcting grammatical errors. But he’s so intrigued by a seemingly legit outfit that offers to predict the course of one’s life via a blood test, that he signs up and discovers he has homicidal tendencies. The company bestows a pet rat on Brock, one of its peculiar, mysterious strategies, and the animal becomes a charming addition to the family. It also gives him a powerful firearm, which of course, a la Chekhov, goes off. Yes, there’s damage but (luckily) no one gets knocked off despite the prophecy. The story is nuts, but through Baxter’s witty artistry, it works.
Subtitled: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity. I picked up this book, next on my list, and was surprised to see nifty illustrations. Deep into it, I finally checked the spine label and discovered this is a book for kids. It’s an utterly delightful, thoroughly researched, and enlightening nonfiction story that bounces back and forth from 1911, when the painting was stolen from the Louvre to Leonardo’s life and times in the 1500s. The artist’s character and perspective are wonderfully delineated: he was constantly observing everything around him, and ricocheted from project to project, leaving most unfinished, including this work of art that only became famous after it was taken. Other fascinating details include forensic science of the time in which painstaking measurements of suspects’ physiognomy was the gold standard, and fingerprinting was ill-considered. I also loved the author’s sprightly style—history without tears.
Bubbly hairdresser, Karen, hasn’t been lucky in love, so she turns to a dating site, then turns up dead in the forest. Detective Inspector King (Elise) is back on the job after her mastectomy, but effects of chemo brain frustrate her. There are a number of suspects, both online strangers and residents of this small English town. One weird complication: the murder of a boy in the very same forest a while ago, not as straight-forward as it seemed. Action gets very close to home when Elise herself is at risk from a sexual predator. Many threads of secrets and guilt come together to weave an intricate, suspenseful tale. Barton is a master of thrillers with depth.
The British born author moved to Connecticut with proper, loving husband Charles, also British, and had four children. What’s wrong with this picture? Oliver always knew he was a boy, but it took many years and lots of confusion to arrive at his true identity. As a girl he was attracted to other girls. Did that make him a lesbian? No. English constraint and propriety, which ruled his parents, and his husband kept shoving the issue under the rug, and being a good mum, no matter what gender, was very important to him. Now Oliver has transitioned and made a sweet balanced life, and even his parents have come around. I’m always exploring the trans experience in books to gain more insight into this fascinating phenomenon, and this one is fresh, funny, and delightfully candid.
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