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Book Review: The Den by Cara Reinard

The Den by Cara Reinard

Thomas and Mercer, Dec. 2022

ISBN: 9781542039765

Availability: paperback, Kindle

 

Cara Reinard’s The Den recycles a tried and true plotline used countless times, and keeps it entertaining enough to ignore that there really aren’t any original twists to the plotline.  You know exactly what you’re getting ahead of time, but it’s fun enough that you don’t care about the lack of originality.

 

In this case, the plot is the trope”‘rich dad with estranged children is about to die and leave inheritance to offspring, all of whom have reason to want him dead.” If you’ve seen the movie Knives Out, then you know the majority of the book plot.  In The Den, the only stab at something new is that if any of the four siblings die before the old man, their share of the inheritance is split among the other siblings.  The rest is standard fare in the book: all the kids have financial problems, and they are all screw-ups in one way or another.  

 

Any of “inheritance plotline” books just need to follow some simple rules to be worth reading.  One, everyone needs to be a suspect and have motive.  Two, the killer or killers’ identities are well hidden until the end of the book.  Three, the author can’t get carried away with their own cleverness and make the mystery too convoluted.  Finally, the book needs to be entertaining.  With The Den, the author succeeds on all four counts.  There are other suspects besides the siblings: the housekeepers, servants and their families all have reason for murder, so there’s a big enough cast of characters to keep the reader guessing.  The identity of the villain(s) is well-concealed until the very end: the majority of readers probably won’t guess correctly, and that’s what is supposed to happen in a book like this.  The plot is twisting enough and clues are scattered throughout, but it doesn’t get too difficult to follow.  Readers will get to the end and feel it made sense. Most importantly, the book is entertaining.  The pacing is quick enough with no wasted time or pointless plot offshoots, and it’s enough to keep the pages flipping.  With a book like this, that’s all you’re looking for.

 

Bottom line: this is predictable fun.  Readers who enjoy mysteries are likely to enjoy this one.

 

Reviewed by Murray Samuelson.

Book Review: What We Saw by Mary Downing Hahn

Cover art for What We Saw by Mary Downing Hahn

 

What We Saw by Mary Downing Hahn

Clarion Books, 2022

ISBN-13: 978-0358414414

Available: Hardcover, paperback, Kindle edition, audiobook.

(  Bookshop.orgAmazon.com )

 

 

Abbi and Skylar are best friends. Skylar has a way of talking Abbi into doing things she isn’t allowed to do. One day Skylar talks Abbi into riding their bikes to the town limits. They end up at a dead end, Marie Street, near the woods. They discover a treehouse there and claim it as theirs. Jason and Carter, two boys in their grade find, mock, and threaten them but they are determined to make it their hideout.

 

Abbi and Skylar notice that every Thursday afternoon a man and woman, disguising their identities, rendezvous at the end of Marie Street. At first they imagine the two are spies, but Skylar is convinced they are “cheaters”, with the man stepping out on his wife, similarly to what happened in her own family. Abbi takes photos on her phone as evidence.

 

One day the couple in the car have an argument and the woman runs off into the woods. Shortly after, their art teacher, Ms. Sullivan, is reported missing, and is later found dead in the woods. Skylar and Abbi want to turn their evidence over to the police, but don’t want their parents to know they broke rules about where they can go, so they decide to ask a teacher they trust, Abbi’s English teacher, Mr Boyce. Mr. Boyce borrows Abbi’s phone overnight, and when she comes back he tells her not to go to the police.

 

After Abbi discovers Mr. Boyce deleted the photos from her phone, Abbi and Skylar decide to go to the police after all, but without the photos as evidence, the police don’t take the girls seriously. The girls go back to the woods to look for more evidence, and run into Jason and Carter. Spoiler: Carter’s uncle Paul is a violent drug dealer who lives in the woods. Jason and Carter have been selling drugs to high school students for him and witnessed Ms. Sullivan’s murder.

 

Once Abbi and Skylar escape, the police move in, arrest Paul, and find help for the boys, who have been badly beaten. Abbi’s mom decides Skylar is a bad influence, and Skylar finds other friends. She can’t forgive Mr. Boyce for his role in Ms. Sullivan’s death. Abbi forgives Mr. Boyce, and begins looking forward.

 

This was not one of Hahn’s best, and she can really write. Abbi was really underdeveloped, her character overshadowed by Skylar, who wasn’t a sympathetic character. There were a lot of loose threads at the end, and I couldn’t tell what the ultimate aim of the story was, unless it was to demonstrate what a toxic friendship looks like. While the scene in the woods where Jason and Carter defend the girls is gripping, I don’t think this really succeeds as a thriller. Fans of Hahn’s other books may enjoy this, but there are better thrillers for this age range.

 

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Book Review: 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard

cover art for 56 Days by Catherine Ryan Howard

56 DAYS by Catherine Ryan Howard.

Blackstone Publishing, 2021

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982694654

Available: Hardcover, hardcover large print, CD Bookshop.org )

 

We knew it was coming. Just as 2020 had to finally hang up its tainted spurs and 2021 decided it needed some negative attention, a novel about COVID-19 was inevitable.

 

The only mystery was whether it would be any good, or just capitalizing on the modern plague.

 

Set in Dublin, Oliver and Ciara meet 56 days ago, just as the virus hits Ireland. 35 days ago, the lockdown begins. Yet, instead of doing what most fledgling couples would, Ciara moves in with Oliver. I highly recommend NOT doing this in real life. Relationships are tough enough; the virus can cause isolation to drive the most “normal” person to near homicidal tendencies.

 

Oliver is not who he seems to be, and with the pandemic, prolonged time together shaves away the masks we wear, leaving behind the true faces underneath. What did Oliver and Ciara learn about each other? What drove one to kill the other?

 

Catherine Ryan Howard takes a chance with allowing 56 Days to build at a slow, steady burn. If readers hang on, they will be rewarded in a blistering second half that delivers on what is promised.  She has produced a quality suspense novel here that will undoubtedly win her new fans with this story that refuses to play by the rules. That’s a very good thing.

 

The format is interesting, beginning with the discovery of the body and then jumping between the lovers and the pair of officers, Kurt and Lee, who struggle to piece together this timely mystery.

 

The reader is immediately thrust into a story that is narrative heavy, describing the scene where a dead body is found.

 

Is it Oliver or Ciara?

 

It’s an intriguing puzzle that will keep readers buzzing.

 

Recommended for any suspense/mystery readers who are ready for the first big COVID hit.

 

Reviewed by David Simms