The year is 1942, and Jack Delaney is working as a writer for the local radio station where weird things happen, like actors going missing and potential German spies hiding in plain sight.
What I Liked
The story starts off confused, and a hint of someone in trouble. Delaney has to escape a chain gang to help a woman he loves, even if she is already spoken for in his mind. And the trail leads to a radio station in a coastal town where he gets work. At that point, the story is three-fold — a mystery involving German spies, a love story of sorts, and him learning about the radio business as a writer. The radio business part is awesome.
What I Didn’t Like
The German mystery is confused and the love story doubly so. Most of it makes very little sense and is more “hinted at” than “made real”.
A blackout hits New Jersey and two kids try to figure out both how it happened and how to fix it.
What I Liked
The level is middle-grade and moves along at an okay pace. The cause of the blackout comes down to computers, and the solution is relatively straightforward without seeming too simplistic. Good interesting characters, for the most part.
What I Didn’t Like
There’s a plot hole in the solution — without revealing spoilers, the solution might fix homes and businesses but it wouldn’t have fixed the street lights, for instance — but it’s a small quibble. The real challenge is the level of exposition that is frequently dumped heavily into the story. Since they’re kids, they don’t know the “details” so everything they find out, they ask someone to explain it to them. At length. It really slows down the pace. The book tries to ramp it up a bit with a bit of suspense and violence, but they seem more amateurish than threatening.
The Bottom Line
Okay, but expect most middle-graders would find it slow.
A young girl who lives with her aunt and uncle is sent under mysterious circumstances to a resort hotel for Christmas break.
What I Liked
The story has a bit of a Harry Potter-esque feel to it at the start — things happening that seem magical, parents dead, not very nice relatives, and leaving on an adventure. The resort hotel is called Winterhouse and is an amazing place to hang out for a vacation. There’s another kid like her who enjoys puzzles, and she meets a few interesting characters who either live at the hotel or are other guests. The magical elements are “just right” (not too much, not too little).
What I Didn’t Like
I chose it as it is an Edgar Award nominee, and it was a bit disappointing that there are two plot inconsistencies, almost like no one did a continuity edit on the book for point of view. At one point, Elizabeth doesn’t know anything about what’s going on or why her aunt and uncle have “sent” her to Winterhouse, but then she later reveals that she overheard her aunt and uncle talking about it the previous week and she knew everything there was to know (someone else paid them to send her). In another spot, two characters are revealed as the schemers, but another character knew all about her arrival and some of her backstory, yet didn’t know the biggest piece which is the only reason he would know anything about her at all. Finally, if you have ever read a male-centric story and felt like the woman had nothing to do but be a damsel in distress, you’ll feel the same way seeing the other kid be completely irrelevant to the story. He adds a bit of Fifth Busines background info, as do some puzzle guys, but pretty lame. I am not sure the constant word puzzles add anything to the story; they didn’t for me, but were easily tolerated.
The Bottom Line
An okay book, will likely read the next two in the trilogy.
An orphan in the mid-1800s is diverted from the gallows to a school for girls, gets her high school education, and graduates to become an operative for a special investigating Agency of women run by the heads of the school.
What I Liked
The story has a very strong “Anne Perry” historical fiction feel to it, but without the constant discussion of Jane Austen-style society. The mystery is solid, the characters are rich, and the investigator — Mary Quinn — is inexperienced, which shows in some of her actions. I didn’t guess the outcome, although I suspected some of it, and the hint of romance improves the flavour as it goes. She is more active than the Anne Perry-style heroines, and it shows as she breaks into various places.
What I Didn’t Like
Her age is a bit distracting as she is 17 passing for 20, which no one really believes.
A woman witnesses an armed robbery at a truck stop, and as the FBI closes in on the robbers, they worry that the woman saw too much.
What I Liked
The story is told from the perspective of four groups — Lisa, the woman who saw the robbers; Jack, a journalist digging for the story; the robbers themselves; and Frank, the FBI agent hunting them. The story jumps from person to person, which is great for seeing the different aspects of the investigation vs. home life. Short chapters, kind of Patterson-style, keep the action moving.
What I Didn’t Like
The short chapters seem a bit too jumpy in places, and the constant PoV shift isn’t even. The journalist is good, but the backstories for the witness and the FBI agent are overkill. Past losses, current illnesses, everything reads a bit more soap opera-ish than mystery novel. And the final motive for the robbery is ridiculous.
Disclosure
I am not personal friends with the author, but I have met him in person at a writers’ group meeting.
