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

September Read: Dead Mountain by Preston & Child

 

I've come to anticipate the newest novel in the Nora Kelly series by Preston and Child; mostly because they take place in New Mexico. I visited New Mexico many times when my brother and sis-in-law lived there, and it holds a special place in my heart. There's nothing like it. So it's easy for me to picture the mountains and the landscape while I'm reading this series. 

You can read each book as a standalone, but it does make it a little bit easier if you read them in order. This is number four, featuring FBI agent Corrie Swanson and renowned archaeologist Nora Kelly.

Two men driving in the mountains get lost in a snow storm. Abandoning their vehicle, they find a cave to wait out the storm, drinking booze to stay warm and smoking joints to stay calm. Imagine their fright when they discover a skull sticking out of the ground. Rescued soon after, the FBI are alerted to the possibility of a murder and are called to investigate. 

What they find is two-fold: not only do they find a rare burial site of a local Native American tribe from centuries before; they also find the more recent desiccated remains of two men--could they possibly be two of the missing Dead Mountain hikers from 2008?

In 2008, nine college students with plenty of mountain hiking experience set off on an adventure. They were never seen alive again. Instead, when a search party was sent out, they found a bizarre scene: a ripped open tent, along with the bodies of some of the hikers--unclothed and obviously dead from exposure in a brutal blizzard. The next spring, they find two more, crushed and missing eyes down near a creek. Now it's been fifteen years, and there are still members missing. 

Corrie is lead investigator, along with FBI Agent Sharp, her new partner. There was an intensive investigation done fifteen years before, but nothing ever came of it--except the retirement and disgrace of the agent in charge. Why? What happened to the hikers? Theories abound: Yeti, aliens, genetic superhuman attacking the camp. It's all out there, and it's up to Corrie with the help of Nora to piece it all together. 

People are reluctant to talk, and the more Corrie shifts through the evidence and probes deeper, the more questions she can't answer. Conspiracy theories, government agencies, bitter parents, and lots of dead ends create a plot that keeps shifting until the exciting end. 

This was another excellent thriller from Preston & Child. They wrote this novel based on the infamous case of nine Russian cross-country skiers who died in 1959 in the Ural Mountains under very, very strange circumstances. I've read about this case, and it is truly bizarre, and still unsolved to this day. I'm happy the story they created has a solution, and the twisty road to it makes this novel a fascinating read. 

Rating: 4/6 for a clever, complex, and twisty plot that features man vs. nature, man vs. self, and of course man vs. government. Enjoyed this very much!

Available in hardcover, ebook, and audio. 

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September Read: Dead Mountain by Preston & Child

The Shop on Royal Street by Karen White

 

Karen White is the author of one of my favorite series: The Tradd Street series. I was a bit heartbroken when that series came to a conclusion last November. However, to my absolute delight, Karen White said she had a new series beginning this year, with some of the characters from the Tradd Street series. 

The Shop on Royal Street is the start of that new series, and it features Nola Trenholm, who is the stepdaughter of Melanie and daughter of Jack Trenholm from the first series. Nola was in the first series a lot, and the last few books helped set up this series. My biggest surprise was the time jump: eight years from the end of the Tradd Street series. But it felt seamless, and made perfect sense. Nola is now 26 and has just moved to New Orleans with a new job as a historic preservationist working for a civil engineer business. She's got a Master's degree and has returned to New Orleans to face some issues that happened her first year in college there. I really liked this older, more mature Nola. 

There's also Beau Ryan, the young man we met in the Tradd Street series, who is Nola's biggest annoyance, and the object of her reluctant attraction. Beau and Nola went through some life changing situations in the earlier books, and Nola is resentful that he's saved her life. Beau is a bit mysterious, a few years older than Nola, and New Orleans is his home. His parents disappeared during Hurricane Katrina, a week after his young sister Sunny was kidnapped from their front yard. She's never been found, and neither have his parents. His grandmother runs a high-end antique shop that has some peculiarities that intrigue Nola. The chemistry between Beau and Nola is hot, but it's clear they have many issues to work through (hopefully through many more books in this series!). 

Nola has found a home she wants to purchase and refinish. It's a disaster, and worst of all, it is haunted. So much so that no one wants to work on it, and people avoid it at all costs. Nola isn't afraid, and persists in buying the home. Boy oh boy does that house have a personality, and that's the foundation of this plot. It involves Beau's grandmother, a murder in 1964, and unresolved family issues. 

I so enjoyed this novel, and the introduction of a few other characters--most notably Nola's roommate Jolene-a redheaded whirlwind of Southern femininity. I can't wait to read more and see how relationships evolve over time. 

Set in New Orleans, there's plenty of material on ghosty happenings and historic homes for future stories. Fans of southern settings, family dynamics and romances that take some work will be sure to love this series. Yes, you can start with Nola's story in this new series but I would suggest reading the Tradd Street series first so you get the whole background, and see Beau and Nola when they first meet. 

Rating: 6/6 for a new series that seamlessly moves characters forward from the first series. At the same time it has a fresh new setting, great characters with depth, and an atmosphere that puts you firmly in New Orleans. 

This is available in hardcover, ebook, and audio book. 

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The Shop on Royal Street by Karen White

Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer

 

This is one of those series of books that I've seen around so many times over the years, and never picked it up. The new show on Netflix (September 23) had me deciding it was finally time to read the first in the series and see just what it was about. I had another one of those "why did I wait so long?!" moments when I finished it this morning. 

Enola Holmes is the younger sister of Mycroft and Sherlock Holmes. Years after her brothers were born, their mother produced Enola, embarrassingly at an older age when respectable women didn't have babies. Enola is now fourteen, and it's her birthday. 

She lives with her mother at the family estate, and she's had a pretty free life since her father died years ago, and her brothers have not visited in all that time. She's smart, quick, and loves to ride her bike. She's corset free, and happy about it. Until the morning of her birthday, when her mother steps out the door and never returns. 

Enola doesn't understand why her mother would leave her, and her confusion and sense of loss are a bit heartbreaking. However, she telegrams her brothers, and they arrive. Shocked by Enola's appearance (she looks a bit like a wild child) they quickly realize all the money Mycroft has been sending for years for clothes, dance lessons, horses and gardeners has been squirreled away by their mother. Enola is in need of a boarding school and proper clothes for a proper young lady STAT. 

Enola isn't having any of that, of course. On the day she is sent away to boarding school, she runs away, having planned to reach London to look for her mother. She's   no slouch in planning and observing, and using codes to figure things out. But, she is only fourteen, and some things go awry in her plan. Can she save herself, or will she be forced to contact Sherlock for help?

I know the movie on Netflix will have a bigger story than the first novel, but I watched the movie clip and it certainly looks like Millie Bobby Brown embodies all the best of Enola Holmes. I can't wait to watch it. And who can say no to Henry Cavill as Sherlock Holmes?! I certainly can't, nor do I want to. 

I wasn't sure what to expect from this first novel, and I am happy to say it was a delightful read. Not at all what I expected plot wise, so I am eager to read the rest in the series and see where Enola's adventures take her.  This series says middle school, and I would say any child who loves mysteries and is a good reader would enjoy these. Very well written; full of adventure, observation, and putting clues together.

Rating: 4/6 for a great start to a mystery series for kids that was first published in 2011. The series is still in print, and will find new readers as the Netflix movie comes out in the U.S. September 23rd. On my way to buy the rest of the series! 

Available in paperback and audio. 

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Enola Holmes: The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer