The Coworker by Freida McFadden

 

The best way I can describe Freida McFadden's novels is to say they are like a snack--you start nibbling and the next thing you know you've eaten the whole bag. I started this novel late Saturday night and wrapped it up early Sunday afternoon in between loads of laundry. 

Dawn Schiff works as an accountant at Vixed, a health supplement company. She sits next to Natalie, the top saleswoman in the company. Cubicles for all! Natalie and Dawn are complete opposites: Dawn is definitely on the spectrum--she eats one color food (all white, all yellow), must have everything organized, struggles with social norms and cues, and loves turtles above everything else. Natalie is blonde, gorgeous, and not above using her physical assets to bring in sales. 

The novel starts out with Dawn not showing up to work one morning, and Natalie notices. It's odd, because Dawn is punctual every day. Doesn't deviate from her routine. Yet here it is, over an hour later, and she's not at her desk, and no one has seen her. Natalie begins to worry; where could Dawn be? Add to that a bizarre phone call to Dawn's desk; "help me" are the only words spoken, and it sounds like Dawn. 

Natalie is worried--so worried she remembers where Dawn lives, and decides to check on her. Inside, she finds a pool of blood and what looks like a crime scene with no body.  Police get involved, and it's soon national news: where is Dawn Schiff?

The novel moves back and forth between present day, four months in the past and  two months in the past. It also switches narrators between Dawn and Natalie. What at first seems like simple co-worker concern from Natalie quickly becomes something much darker, and strap in because it's a roller coaster ride from there on out. 

What can I say? A co-worker can be someone you admire or like, but they turn out to be not so nice. We've all been there. But this takes it to eleven. 

You'll gobble this up pretty quickly. I can't say the ending was satisfying, but everything was tied up neatly. It was a heck of a read. 

Rating: 4/6 for a thriller with plenty of ups and downs, a clear message about the damage bullying does for both kids and adults, and being accepted for yourself-quirks and all. Office politics are a hot mess in this one. 

Available in paperback, ebook, and audio. 

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The Coworker by Freida McFadden

March Read: The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner

 I've been excitedly anticipating the release of this novel for months. I reviewed her first novel, The Lost Apothecary, in March of 2021. 

Sarah returns to 19th century London in her second novel, and the atmosphere definitely lends itself to seances and things that creep in the dark. Vaudeline D'Allaire is a famous spiritualist living in Paris after leaving London under mysterious circumstances. Lenna Wickes has traveled to Paris to work as an understudy to Vaudeline and learn everything there is to know about conducting a seance. 

The Victorian age saw an explosion of spiritualism, as people became increasingly interested in contacting the dead. It also brought along a lot of charlatans that preyed on grieving families and widows. 

Lenna has an agenda-to discover what happened to her sister Evie, found murdered on All Hallow's Eve the year before. Lenna and Evie were close, but held very different beliefs in the afterlife. Lenna was the logic-based sister, while Evie dove headfirst into spiritualism and started working with Vaudeline to master the art of the seance. Now Lenna has had to set aside her skepticism in order to work with Vaudeline. 

Vaudeline's approach to the occult is very different-she contacts spirits in order to solve crimes-mostly murder. She uses her skills as a tool to speak directly to victims to uncover the killer and name names. She's famous and accurate. 

Vaudeline is called back to London to secretly work with the London Seance Society, a famous spiritual society exclusively run by men. The founder, Mr. Volckman, was found murdered the same night at Evie-All Hallow's Eve. His second in command, Mr. Morley, has written Vaudeline and asked her to return to conduct a seance to reveal the killer. 

Back and forth we see the story from Lenna's point of view, as well as Mr. Morley's. And it's the story from Mr. Morley that slowly fills in pieces of Evie's life before her murder. There is definitely a connection between Lenna, Evie, and the London Seance Society. 

I'll say I liked The Lost Apothecary better out of the two books. However, I did enjoy this novel. It was a bit slow to start, and there is a lot of discussion about the occult and spiritualism practices of the Victorian Era. I definitely felt myself in the setting--atmosphere is spot-on! The plot speeds up once the night of the seance begins, and the last 100 pages are where the story grabbed me and I couldn't put it down. You may feel compelled to light a few candles and lock the door...

Themes include LGBTQ, violence against women, and science vs. belief in the afterlife. The novel also explores the guilt and grief of a sister who didn't get to say goodbye.

Rating: 4/6 for an atmospheric novel about the rise of spiritualism in Victorian England. The tension builds slowly, and there are a few surprises. Strong female characters who take on unsavory men. 

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio. 

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March Read: The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner

Summer Reading 2022: The Change by Kirsten Miller

 

This novel is definitely going in my top ten for 2022. I picked it as one of my Book of the Month selections for May and I'll just keep patting myself on the back the rest of the year. I was up reading this book at 3 AM last week because I couldn't stop thinking about it. 

Three women live in the Long Island town of Mattuck, New York. Harriett is an executive in advertising; Jo owns Furious Fitness, and Nessa is a widow who's two daughters have just left for college. Three women who don't seem to have anything in common on the surface. 

They all have something in common: the change. We know it as menopause, and those of us who have experienced it know it brings all sorts of interesting physical changes. Pretty much anything that goes haywire with your body once you hit 40 can be attributed to pre-menopause or full blown menopause. It does a number on your body. 

Harriett, Jo, and Nessa are at the age where change is happening, but not in the way you may think. For Harriett, it's finding her calling with gardening, growing herbs, plants, and all sorts of interesting things in her garden. Using those plants to help or punish others. She's so in tune with nature she just stops wearing clothes around her yard--which is safely hidden by  rose bushes that have grown big and thorny and impenetrable. 

Nessa hears the voices again, after decades of not tuning in. Her gift has been handed down in her family: she can hear and see the dead. One voice is very, very loud. 

Jo, after years of battling with her period, her body, and the patriarchy bullshit she dealt with at work, turns that rage into immense strength. She can feel it bubbling up under her skin, and the sweat pours off of her. Running miles each day just to work off the energy. 

All three women come together in Mattuck to stop a serial killer. Young women are disappearing, and the three women follow Nessa's pull towards a local beach. In the brush along the road by the beach, they find a bag, and inside, a dead girl. That's the tip of it all, and wow the book takes off after that.

This is an all-out war between corrupt men and the women who aren't going to take it anymore. The exclusive gated community near Mattuck that houses billionaires during the summer is the bullseye for corruption and may very well be where the serial killer lurks. There's danger everywhere for the women, and their very lives may be in danger as they begin poking around. 

What I loved about this novel was the "F**k around and find out" attitude the trio give-especially Harriett and Jo. Nessa is a little more timid, but is compelled to keep moving forward. Harriett is my favorite of the three--she's just magnificent. Jo's hot flashes are so intense she can literally start fires with a touch of her hand. Her simmering rage is certainly understandable. After decades of having to put up with men who treat them as less than, the women have come into their own with a roar!

Oh, I hope someone buys the rights to this novel and turns it into a movie. I'd see it in a second. I absolutely love Kirsten Miller's take on menopause and aging women who certainly are not done with achieving their potential--heck, even finding new potential. Menopause isn't the end, but the glorious beginning. 

Put this on your summer read list. I raced through it, and carried it with me to work to read at lunch, and even was up late the other night at my partner's house, reading while he peacefully slept in the other room. I couldn't wait to finish it. And oh, it's got a heck of an ending. 

Rating: 6/6--yes! A book that grabbed me from the beginning and kept me smirking, giggling, and heck yes, a bit pissed off until the end. But oh, do the punishments fit the crimes. Hell hath no fury...

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio. 

READ THIS ONE!

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Summer Reading 2022: The Change by Kirsten Miller

Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt

I'm starting off 2016 with a novel that combines so many elements: ghosts, mothers, cults, foster kids, family, the starry sky.  You can't imagine that all of those elements can possibly come together into a story, but they do.  Wonderfully.  

Mr. Splitfoot  was a bit of a jolt for me in my reading habits, but it was a good jolt.  It begins in upstate New York, with Ruth and Nat, two teens who live together in a foster home.  This foster home, called The Love of Christ! Foster Home, Farm, and Mission is really a terrible place full of kids who aren't wanted by anyone. It's run by Father Arthur, a man who collects checks from the government and treats the foster kids horribly.  Full of fire and brimstone, he's completely dysfunctional and takes all the kids who are "damaged" into his care.  The unwanteds.  Ruth's mother threw bleach on her face when she was little, leaving scars that resemble the night sky.  Nat talks to the dead.  Or is it all an act?

Ruth and Nat fall into a relationship with a traveling con artist, Mr. Bell.  He takes them around to give readings to people who want contact with their dead relatives.  It's a way for Ruth and Nat to make money and get away from the foster home, where they will be kicked out as soon as they turn 18.  

An alternating story involves Ruth's niece, Cora.  Set in current day, Cora is a young woman who finds herself pregnant and living with Ruth's sister (and Cora's mother), El.  El and Ruth had both lived at Love of Christ! until El was taken away and left on the side of the road by Father Arthur on her 18th birthday.  Ruth waited for her sister to come back to get her, but she never did.  Cora wakes one night to find her Aunt Ruth standing in her bedroom.  Ruth takes Cora on a walking tour of New York state.  Where are they going?  Why doesn't Ruth talk? How does it connect to Ruth and Nat's past?  

There are so many elements to this novel.  It is quirky, sad, funny, mystical, magical, and sometimes just bizarre.  But at the core, it reflects on motherhood in all of its varied ways, family, love, and how we all affect one another through our actions, words, and emotions.  Mr. Splitfoot is certainly a book club worthy read, and was a great way to kick off my 2016 reading list.  

Thank you to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for providing a  review copy, and for being so enthusiastic about this novel.  

Rating:  8/10 for a very different, yet moving novel that combines what we want with what we've got (and how to work with it), and the absolute powerful pull of love in all its mysterious ways. 

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Mr. Splitfoot by Samantha Hunt

Halloween Read: The Midnight Witch by Paula Brackston

My spooky reads for the month continues with one of my favorite authors, Paula Brackston.  

But, I'm sad to say, I wasn't bewitched by this novel.  Trying to let the disappointment go and move on, but it is hard when an author you enjoy doesn't hit it out of the park every single time.  

Paula Brackston still remains true to her theme of witchcraft in this, her third novel. I read The Silver Witch earlier this year and just gobbled it up (much like the Brach's pumpkin cremes I inhale every October).  The Midnight Witch was already sitting on my bookshelf, but was set aside while I was in the throes of grad school.  Now, finally, I had the chance to read it.  Fully expected to love it.  Didn't. 

This novel takes place before and after World War I.  In 1913, Lady Lilith Montgomery is mourning the death of her father.  Rich, beautiful, and engaged, Lilith seems to have it all, and then some:  her father was the head witch of the Lazarus Coven, and Lilith is the heir. The Lazarus Coven is very old, and very secret.  They exist to protect England from dark forces, especially the Sentinels, a group of nasty sorcerers  bent on reclaiming the "elixir" the Lazarus Coven keeps under wraps.  The Sentinels see an opportunity to strike with the death of Lilith's father and her ascent as head witch.  

Lilith has been trained since childhood in the arts of witchcraft, and she's pretty powerful and up to the task of head witch.  But the nasty spirit whispering in her ear, and the knowledge that there is a spy in the Lazarus Coven make her position tenuous. The gathering clouds of war are always in the background, making what should be a happy time in Lilith's life pretty stressful and gloomy.  

Oh, there's also that love interest:  not her fiance, but a poor starving artist.  He's talented, and drop dead gorgeous, but not a witch, and completely out of Lilith's social circle.  Not husband material for her at all.  Lilith must keep her other life--that of a witch--a secret to everyone who is not in the coven (her mother still doesn't know her husband was a witch and her daughter is as well).  How can she possibly find a way out of this mess?

I've been trying to figure out just what I didn't like about this novel.  I kept finding myself thinking it was set earlier than 1913-1914 and that was frustrating.  There wasn't a lack of social clues; the fashion was discussed quite frequently, as well as mentions of cars and women's attitudes.  And World War I was certainly a big part of it.  Somehow I kept getting lost even with all of those reference points to keep me straight.  I also didn't care for the romance between Lilith and Bram.  I didn't feel any chemistry between the two at all.  

The novel does jump ahead 5 years, to after the war.  I found this plot device hard to swallow.  Lilith has so much trouble in 1913-1914; I have a hard time believing the Sentinels wouldn't take advantage of England being in a major war to take control of the Lazarus Coven during such chaos.  They do try, but not very hard.  I felt like the author was very ambitious in the story she wanted to tell, but it fell short somehow.  Too much "stuff" going on that cluttered up the plot.  And I have to say I wasn't entirely crazy about Lilith either.  Something was missing from her personality that would have made me really invested in her issues and struggles.  

Arrgh!  So disappointed in this one.  I always applaud an author who stretches their usual storytelling in another direction.  This one just wasn't the best.  And my golly it seemed way too long.  

Rating:  4/10 for a plot that seemed clunky, a romance that didn't click, and a heroine that unfortunately fell short for me.  

Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book.

 

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Halloween Read: The Midnight Witch by Paula Brackston