Besides being a fun read, I was most engaged by the well-defined characters and their various, mostly negative, impressions of the modern publishing industry. I would have liked to see examples of the characters’ writing styles and how they would have finished Fletch’s last book, but I enjoyed their backstories and ensemble dynamics. Fiona Hardingham was an excellent narrator, enhancing the experience.
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Like any form of criticism, literary criticism is entirely subjective, and though you’ll find hundreds of glowing reviews online, for me, Whistler was a clinker. Patchett is a prolific author. Her best novels, Bel Canto, State of Wonder, and Tom Lake, for instance, are transcendent. Others, like Run, and Patron Saint of Liars, leave me flat. Without giving anything away, the story revolves around a chance encounter that reveals some family secrets, none of which have been particularly important to the narrator for over 40 years and which only remained secrets because the narrator, Daphne, and her mother tend to live their lives in the present and don’t dwell on the past. The book is pleasant enough and well-written, but it lacks the urgency and evocative description of her best work. The Audible version is narrated by the author, a decision some reviewers have lauded. However, there were numerous sections of dialogue where I lost track of who was speaking because her voice never varied.
Rhys Bowen does a marvelous job of keeping all the balls in the air in this latest installment of the Royal Spyness series. The ongoing characters continue developing their narrative arcs, while organically introducing information that sparks Georgie’s growing suspicion that what initially seem a series of unrelated accidents are, in fact, several perfect and related murders. Almost as much fun as the mystery itself is Fig’s long-overdue comeuppance, and Georgie’s newfound confidence. For those of us outside the U.K., the audible edition is essential to understanding the place regional accents play in that society’s hierarchy. The late, great Katherine Kellgren voiced the first eleven books in the series with aplomb. Jasmine Blackborow, who took over for the next seven, was almost up to Kellgren’s level. Now Gemma Dawson takes over for this nineteenth volume. It’s not an easy act to follow, but she does a serviceable turn.
Zafon’s writing (at least in its English translation) is darkly atmospheric and haunting. There lurks a promise of mystery, the melancholy of love lost, as well as the shadow of impending doom. I was unprepared for the horror; I’d missed the subtitle on the cover “A Gothic Tale.” Because the thirty-year-old narrator is reflecting on his adventures as a fifteen-year-old, booksellers categorize this as a Young Adult novel, but it’s no more a novel aimed at a young adult audience than King’s Carrie, or The Institute. Great writing combined with great storytelling should appeal to any age. I enjoyed the audiobook narration by Daniel Weyman, who could not have done a better job of setting the atmosphere and voicing the various characters.
Colleen Hoover caught my attention when she held Amazon’s #1 spot ahead of Stephen King’s Fairy Tale with her latest book It Ends With Us. In fact, when I looked at the number of ratings and reviews (three to six times anything Rowling, King, Grisham, or Brown have amassed from their greatest hits) I thought it was unlikely. Perhaps she was scamming the system somehow. Then I read the NY Times article about her emergence as a publishing phenomenon. The comments that the piece elicited were politically polarizing, often framed in terms of blue-collar values versus literary snobism. Everyone seemed to have an opinion, even if they’d never read her work.
So, before I weighed in with an opinion, I bought the audiobook version of her 2021 novel Verity. Despite suffering criticism from some who accuse her of peddling trauma-porn, I found Verity to be competently written and expertly plotted, crossing the genres of suspense and erotica. Throw in two narrators, one of whom is unreliable, and Verity is hard to put down. It doesn’t make a pretense of being anything other than what it is — excellent entertainment. And that’s no small feat in itself. Does the book have its faults? Sure. Personally, I would have preferred that the characters’ relationships revolved around more than just marathon sexual athleticism. But that won’t keep me from recommending the book. Verity will keep you entertained. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
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