We Spread by Iain Reid
At once compassionate and uncanny, told in spare, hypnotic prose, Iain Reid’s genre-defying third novel explores questions of conformity, art, productivity, relationships, and what, ultimately, it means to grow old.
suspense
Nine Dash Line by Emily Saso
A thrilling novel about two people stranded under mysterious circumstances in the South China Sea, battling the memories of the crimes that haunt them.
Maple Springs by Pierre C. Arseneault
In the town of Maples Springs dark forces are at play as people go missing, heartbreak that residents just brush off, while Lucinda Mayweather strikes a deal with something in the shadows for the most precious thing in the world, and nothing will stop her from getting what she desires.
The Devil to Pay: An Inspector Green Mystery by Barbara Fradkin
When a man disappears, the police conclude he is simply fleeing an unhappy home and a mountain of debt. Then a body is discovered. Inspector Green’s daughter, a rookie patrol officer, fears that her actions precipitated the murder and starts to dig for answers. Her search leads her straight into the path of danger. And another body.
Constant Nobody by Michelle Butler Hallett
The main action of Michelle Butler Hallett’s complex, absorbing historical thriller Constant Nobody takes place in 1937, primarily in Moscow, capital of the Soviet Union.
Savage Gerry by John Jantunen
A thrilling apocalyptic tale that rushes from the inside of a prison to a world that feels even more dangerous. The End couldn’t have come at a better time for Gerald Nichols.
The Hush Sisters by Gerard Collins
Sissy and Ava Hush are estranged, middle-aged sisters with little in common beyond their upbringing in a peculiar manor in downtown St. John’s. With both parents now dead, the siblings must decide what to do with the old house they’ve inherited.
You Were Never Here by Kathleen Peacock
Cat hasn’t been to Montgomery Falls, the town her family founded, since she was twelve years old. Since the summer she discovered she could do things that no normal twelve-year-old could do. Since she had her first kiss with Riley Fraser. Since she destroyed their friendship.
Now, five years later, she’s back and Riley has disappeared.
Messenger 93 by Barbara Radecki
Barbara Radecki’s sophomore novel, Messenger 93, opens with a flutter of information. A mind-bending conversation with a crow kicks off the absorbing thriller, and cryptic messages, hidden clues, and uncertain instructions become the norm in M, the narrator’s, life. … Continue reading
Impurity by Larry Tremblay, Translated by Sheila Fischman
Larry Tremblay is a playwright, poet and essayist in addition to novelist, and we feel the playwright at work in this book as scenes shift before us. Tremblay plays with us. He walks us through a “trap full of mirrors” … Continue reading
Access Point by Tom Gabbay
Wouldn't we all want a second chance at life?When young American art student Mia Fraser is brutally murdered steps away from her London house she shares with computer genius Ula Mishkin, it leaves the socially inept scientist heartbroken.
Spring Cleaning: Mini-Reviews for May 2020
It’s May and it’s time for a little spring cleaning of some titles I’ve read, but haven’t reviewed as yet. There’s a mixed bag here; something for every reader’s taste.
Gord Hunter’s memoirs of his life in the Canadian Navy … Continue reading
On the Edge by Lesley Strutt
On the Edge is a novel of a young person determined to take matters into their own hands to find out the truth, solve some family mysteries and to discover her birth parents.
Random Act (A Jack McMorrow Mystery) by Gerry Boyle
Number 12 in the Jack McMorrow Mystery Series, the story involves the mystery and confusion surrounding the seemingly random axe murder of a woman in a big-box store just moments after Jack passes her in the parking lot.
Peacock in the Snow by Anubha Mehta
Born to privilege and wed to her high school sweetheart Veer, a free-spirited Maya feels trapped in a conventional upper-class family with patriarchal expectations in India. Curiosity leads Maya to unearth a dark family secret, a brutal ancestral murder which begins to haunt her and also affect her new marriage.