Book Reviews by vicki rock

It is the Year of the Wood Dragon, and puzzle expert Mike Brink has been invited to Tokyo, Japan to open the legendary Dragon Box, a 19th-century puzzle that has remained unsolved for over 150 years.

The box was constructed during one of Japan’s most tumultuous periods, when the samurai class was disbanded and the shogun lost power. In that moment of national crisis, Emperor Meiji placed an Imperial secret in the Dragon Box, locked it, and hid it in a temple far from the palace. Only two people knew how to open the box: Meiji and the box’s constructor, Ogawa. Both died without telling anyone the secret.

Since then, the Imperial family has held a contest to open the box every 12 years. The Dragon Box is difficult, filled with tricks, booby traps, poisons, and mind-bending twists. Every puzzle master who has attempted to open it has died in the process.

But Brink is not any puzzle master. With his abilities, he may be the only person alive who can crack it. He suffered a traumatic brain injury as a teenager that left him with savant syndrome. His injury made him a mathematical genius with the ability to solve complex puzzles. Sakura Nakamoto is his Japanese-American contact. She escorts him to Japan. Her aunt, Akemi, is secretary to the empress.

Yet, Brink’s determination is echoed by the faction, a radical group who have vowed to claim Meiji’s secret. The leader of the women is Sakura’s sister, Ume. When the group aligns with Brink’s archrival, Jameson Sedge, Brink is up against the most dangerous challenge of his life. Brink finds himself Sedge’s target although he witnessed Sedge die two years earlier.

This is a sequel to “The Puzzle Master,” but it can be read as a stand-alone. “The Puzzle Box” is reminiscent of “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown. It is intense and non-stop as readers will race through it to find out how Brink gets through the various traps. The illustrations of puzzles are beautiful. You don’t have to be a puzzle enthusiast to enjoy “The Puzzle Box.”

I rate it five out of five stars.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta, chief medical examiner, is called to an abandoned theme park in Virginia to retrieve a body. Her niece, Lucy Farinelli, a Secret Service agent and helicopter pilot, is the one who calls her.

Scarpetta is finishing the autopsy of a child when Lucy says a Nobel laureate, who was kidnapped, was found dead. Scarpetta knows the adult victim. She had an intense love affair with Sal Giordano, the victim, that led to a lifelong friendship.

Ryder and Piper Bailey are the parents of the child victim, Luna, 7. They own the now closed Oz theme park where Giordano, an astrophysicist, was found. His body was ejected from an aircraft. There is a circle of pink flowers around his body and Giordano’s skin is strangely red.

Benton Wesley, Scarpetta’s husband, is the Secret Service’s top threat analyst. He tells her that the body will be moved to an undisclosed location for autopsy. Lucy flies Kay and her investigator, Pete Marino, to the site. As the investigation continues, Scarpetta begins to suspect that an old enemy is back.

I’ve always enjoyed reading the Scarpetta novels. The characters are great. The science behind the plots is fascinating. This is the 28th in the series and can be read as a stand alone.

I rate it five out of five stars.

In the first book in this series, “The Plot,” Jacob Finch Bonner, a novelist, is teaching a class when student Evan Parker boasts he has a great plot for his first novel. After a few years without Parker’s novel being published, Bonner learns that Parker died before finishing the book.

Bonner uses that plot for his novel, to great success. But he gets threatening emails about stealing the book and kills himself. His widow, Anna Williams-Bonner, is touring book events, talking about her husband. And enjoying royalty checks and the movie adaption rights. Then she tells an interviewer that she is writing her own novel, “The Afterword.” After all, how hard can it really be to write a bestseller?

But when Anna publishes her book and indulges in her own literary acclaim, she begins to receive excerpts of a novel she never expected to see again, a novel that should not exist. Then during a book signing, someone slips her a note that makes her aware that someone knows of her past. She decides to find out who is behind this harassment.

This is a series that should be read in order. The great thing about “The Plot” was that the underlying story driving the novel was a bombshell. Now that readers know the secret, “The Sequel” isn’t as stunning. But the plot is intricate and the reveal of the person behind the harassment comes as a complete surprise. Anna is a dark, brilliant character. The ending has several twists which I never saw coming.

I rate it five out of five stars.

Aside from the fact that they are brothers, Peter and Ivan Koubek seem to have little in common. 

Peter, 32, is a successful Dublin lawyer. But in the wake of their father’s death, he’s medicating himself to sleep and struggling to manage his relationships with two women: Sylvia and Naomi.
Ivan, 22, is a competitive chess player. He has always seen himself as socially awkward. Now, in the early weeks of his bereavement, Ivan meets Margaret, an older woman.

This is mainly the story of the two brothers trying to understand each other and their mother. The romances play a smaller role. Peter’s chapters are rambling. Ivan is more focused. The book is a little too long and sections are over-stylized. Sally Rooney’s fans will like this novel, but it wasn’t a right fit for me.

I rate it three out of five stars.

Steve Wheeler is a retired police officer, now living in a small village in England. He has an investigations agency.

His daughter-in-law, Amy, works for Maximum Impact Solutions, the world’s largest close-protection security firm. She’s currently on a remote island off of South Carolina, protecting bestselling author Rosie D’Antonio after someone tried to abduct her at a book signing.

Then Instagram influencer Andrew Fairbanks is murdered. Maximum Impact Solutions CEO Jeff Nolan realizes the murder was committed by the same man who killed two other people. When Amy is in danger, she calls on the one person she knows she can trust: her father-in-law.

This is a new series by Richard Osman, who also wrote The Thursday Murder Club series. It is enjoyable and the characters are good. The plot is far-fetched, but readers will get caught up in it. The story has funny, quirky elements and most readers won’t guess who is behind the murders.

I rate it four out of five stars.

People board a flight at Hobart Airport in Tasmania, Australia. The flight to Sydney is delayed, but the flight will be smooth. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

No one can describe the petite lady who sat in an aisle seat. She later becomes known as “The Death Lady.” Because on this short flight, she tells people how they will die and their age when they die. As if in a trance, she says “I expect” then adds the cause and age. For some, their death is far in the future. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

Leo Vodnik sits across from the lady. He is in the same row as Sue and Max O’Sullivan. While the lady says that Sue will die in three years and Max will die at 84, Leo is to die at 43, which is coming in a few months. The lady says, “Fate won’t be fought.”

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon, no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story.

Chapters of the woman speaking in first person are interspersed with those of what she said. Her name is Cherry Lockwood. But after the plane lands, Cherry has no memory of the flight or her actions.

How do people react after the predictions? Do they try to change their future or do they just shrug it off? Is it a prediction or a curse?

It is interesting how each person decides what to do with the pronouncements. The reason why Cherry did what she did is both fascinating and complex. This is about destiny, grief, free will and how we interact with others. This is my favorite Liane Moriarty book. I was torn between wanting to finish the book to find out what happens and not wanting to finish because I didn’t want it to be over.

I rate it five out of five stars.

Young Flavia de Luce is passionate about poisons. She works In the fully-equipped chemistry laboratory of her late Uncle Tarquin. Flavia has reluctantly taken on the mentorship of her cousin, Undine, who has come to live at Buckshaw following the death of her mother.

Flavian’s mother died when she was young and her father died recently, so both Flavia and Undine are now orphans. Buckshaw is the old family home of the de Luce family. The town is Bishop’s Lacey.

One morning, Major Thomas Greyleigh, a local recluse and former hangman, is found dead after a breakfast of poisonous mushrooms. Inspector Hewitt suspects the de Luce family’s longtime cook, Mrs. Margaret Mullet. She also cooks for the Greyleighs and she prepared the omelet.

Mrs. Mullet has been picking and preparing wild mushrooms for many years. She knows which are poisonous. But Flavia knows the beloved Mrs. Mullet is innocent. Together with Arthur Dogger, estate gardener and partner-in-crime, and Undine, Flavia sets out to find the real killer. What she finds will forever change her life.

This is the 11th in the cozy mystery series. While the precocious Flavia is a little over the top with what she says, her attention to her extended family is admirable. She is maturing: she was 11 when the series started and her current age isn’t stated, but her oldest sister recently married. Overall it is a fun, quick read, with a twist for fans.

I rate it four out of five stars.

People sign up for a murder mystery weekend at a country house in England. The play’s characters include Major Liversedge, Sir Lancelot Hardwick, the Rev. St. John Smallbones, Guy Burrows, Countess Irina Voranskaya and Detective Rene Armand.

What the others don’t know is that among them are private detective Jackson Brodie and Detective Constable Reggie Chase. Two weeks earlier, Brodie got two new clients, twins Ian Padgett and Hazel Sanderson. They hired Brodie because a painting is missing from their late mother’s home. Their mother, Dorothy, had a caregiver, Melanie Hope. Melanie was to return to help with funeral arrangements and getting the house ready for sale, but didn’t come back.

The murder mystery weekend is being held at Burton Makepiece House, headed by Lady Milton. Two years ago, a valuable painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner was stolen. The housekeeper, Sophie Greenway, who disappeared the same night, is suspected of stealing it.

Chase is one of the officers who responded after the theft. She and Brodie are stranded at Makepiece because of a snowstorm. The Rev. Simon Cate also ends up stranded there. Chase has a constant nagging voice in her head, that of know-it-all Brodie, who himself has “A Chorus of Women” in his head.

This is like Agatha Christie meets a game of Clue. It is humorous as Kate Atkinson pokes fun at the cozy mystery genre. It does have a lot of characters, but several are wonderful, especially Lady Milton and Ben Jennings, a neighbor who is an amputee from his service in Afghanistan. This is book six in the Jackson Brodie series.

I rate it four out of five stars.

Grace Winters, 72, is a retired math teacher. Her husband, Karl, died recently. Their son, Daniel, died years earlier, shortly before his 12th birthday. Grace says she lives the most boring life in the universe. The story is told as if Grace is writing a letter to a former student.

One morning, she receives a letter from a solicitor telling her that Christina van der Berg left her a property in Ibiza, Spain. She thinks the letter is a hoax. Yes, she knew Christina, who was a music teacher. Grace befriended Christina when she was alone one Christmas. But they hadn’t stayed in touch after Christina moved. She didn’t know that Christina had died.

Grace decides to go to Ibiza to see the property. After her flight, she gets into a taxi and shows the driver the address. And inside the house, Grace finds a letter from Christina, suggesting various places to visit. A clerk at the market tells Grace that Christina was a psychic.

Grace meets Alberto Ribas, who takes her night diving to understand what Christina experienced. Grace wakes up in a hospital. Alberto says she underwent La Presencia,
The Presence. Grace says it is frightening how quickly a belief system can change.

This is an amazing novel of grief and of adventure. It is also about ecology and friendship. The characters are wonderful as the reader is transported to a magical place. “The Life Impossible” is one of the best novels of the year.

I rate it five out of five stars

Texas Ranger Darren Mathews has just taken early retirement because he may be indicted for interfering in a homicide investigation.

When Darren believed that Rutherford McMillan killed Ronnie Malvo, an active member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas and hid the gun on Darren’s property, Darren didn’t turn McMillan, an elderly Black man, in. But it turned out that McMillan wasn’t the killer. By then, the gun had gotten into Darren’s mother Bell Callis’ possession.

Meanwhile, Rey and his family recently moved to Thornhill in East Texas. His friend, Sera Fuller, got into Stephen F. Austin State University. She is one of the few Black students in a white sorority. They are both 19. Since she left for college, their communication has decreased. He is still at home. Now Sera is missing. Rey found her bloodied sweatshirt in the woods.

When Darren arrives home, expecting to find only his girlfriend, Randie, he sees two cars in the driveway. Bell is there, uninvited. He last saw his mother three years ago. Randie is a freelance photographer who travels a lot. Darren solved her husband’s murder.

Before she leaves, Bell tells Darren about Sera being missing from Nacogdoches. Bell works for a maid service agency that cleans the sorority house. Darren says you can’t believe a word his mother says. He never knew his father, who died in Vietnam. Then Darren decides to look into Sera’s disappearance.

This is the final novel in the Highway 59 trilogy. The characters are interesting, but I didn’t think the plotting is as good as it the first two of the trilogy. But people who read “Bluebird, Bluebird” and “Heaven, My Home” will want to read how the series ends.

I rate it four out of five stars.

Carmen Sanchez is an agent of the National Security Division, a subsection of Homeland Security. She is based in Southern California. One day her sister Selina is attacked by a man with a knife. A bystander who runs to help her is critically injured. Selina is able to grab the attacker’s cellphone which he drops when he runs off.

With police unable to crack encrypted files on the burner cell phone, Sanchez turns to Professor Jacoby Heron. He teaches at Hewlett College in Berkley and is also a private security expert. He also owes Carmen a favor. They team up to catch the assailant, who, has no discernible motive and fits no classic criminal profile.

While the reader knows who the killer is from the beginning, and that he is driven by a compulsion he calls the Push, the story is about tracking him down.

This is the first in a new series. It is a high-action crime drama with good characters. The details of the technological analysis and investigatory processes are fascinating. Readers of either Jeffery Deaver or Isabella Maldonado will enjoy it.

I rate it four out of five stars.

Chloe Spence, 14, lives in Rosebank, a home for troubled teens in the coastal village of Longwater, England. Her parents, John and Rebecca, divorced and her father moved away. Her mother is hospitalized after a psychotic episode.

Chloe has a crush on Josh Woodburn, a staff member. Then Josh doesn’t show up for work one night. The next morning, a dog walker finds Josh’s body in the park. And Chloe is missing.

Detective Inspector Vera Stanhope is called out to investigate. Vera can’t bring herself to believe that a teenager is responsible for the murder, but even she can’t dismiss the possibility.

Vera, Joe Ashworth and new team member Rosie Bell are soon embroiled in the case. Then Vera finds a second body near the Three Dark Wives monument in Gillstead, in the wilds of the Northumberland countryside. And it’s the Gillstead Witch Hunt weekend, which draws a lot of tourists.

Vera knows she has to find Chloe to get to the truth, and the dark secrets in their community that may be far more dangerous than she could have ever believed possible.

This is the 11th in the series. Ann Cleeves’ writing is compelling and tight. The characters are multilayered and the plot is intense. The murderer will come as a surprise but the overall motive is basic. If you haven’t read Ann Cleeves books, you’re missing one of the top mystery writers there is.

I rate it five out of five stars.