Nevermore: Tami Hoag, Pat Conroy, Sharyn McCrumb and more!

Nevermore opened with praise for Tami Hoag’s novel The 9th Girl, a thriller about a serial killer whose victims are adolescents.   Detectives Nikki Liska and Sam Kovac are faced with trying to identify his latest victim, a girl whose body was found on New Year’s Eve.  Hoag balances the characters’ home lives with the case, and shows a shrewd understanding of high school culture and the role social media plays in the lives of young people—not to mention that this is an extremely well done thriller.  Our reviewer praised the strong characterization and commented that while Hoag isn’t an author that’s usually at the top of the list, this book was very good indeed.  Other reviewers have said that this is one of Hoag’s best.

The next book up was The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy.  Most of Conroy’s fiction is thinly disguised autobiography, but this nonfiction book is very open about its sources: Conroy’s real family.  The book concentrates on the last few years of Conroy’s father, the model for the father of The Great Santini.  Our reviewer said that some sequences bordered on the fantastical, but felt Conroy was trying to tell the story as honestly as he could. He pulls no punches in the telling, either.  All his siblings were strongly influenced by their father, but the reactions to his domineering ways were varied.  The verdict was that this wasn’t a book that she enjoyed as much as some, but it was worth reading.

Innocence by Dean Koontz had been picked up by another reader who felt that parts of it were excellent.  He read a thought-provoking selection but then added that for him the ending fell flat, which was sad in a book that had so much promise.

Two series were recommended without a great deal of in-depth comment.  Jacqueline Winspear’s Maisie Dobbs was praised as a World War I era detective novel series, one that might surprise you with a woman as the private investigator.  The other series applauded was by Oliver Pötzsch, set in Germany in the 1600’s about a man who carries on the familial tradition of being an executioner.  In that time, executioners performed a necessary duty but were shunned by society.  The series contains four books, beginning with The Hangman’s Daughter.

Finally, King’s Mountain by Sharyn McCrumb was brought to the table once again.  With a nod to the local history of the North Carolina/Tennessee area, McCrumb writes novels that are a great blend of fiction and history.  Set during the American Revolution, this is a story of the Carolina Overmountain Men and their commander John Sevier.

Nevermore: Star of Istanbul, Innocence, Citizen Canine, and Lines of Descent

Our Nevermore members are never shy about voicing opinions.  At this week’s meeting, one member proclaimed The Star of Istanbul by Robert Olen Butler to be the least thrilling thriller she’d ever read.  Set in 1915, the book features war correspondent/spy Christopher Marlowe Cobb who is now on the Lusitania.  His assignment is to keep an eye on a suspicious German, but he finds he also has eyes for actress Selene—who may also be working for the Germans.  The book has been praised for its attention to historical detail while bringing in some derring do.  Our reader thought it was more derring don’t. 

On the other hand, a member had nothing but praise for Dean Koontz’s Innocence. Addison Goodheart’s appearance is deemed so horrific that he has chosen to live hidden away in some large city.  He meets Gwyneth, a teenage girl being stalked by a man who may have murdered her father.  Our reviewer found the book to be beautifully written and poetic.  She highly recommends it.

Another highly recommended book is Citizen Canine by David Grimm, an examination of how the relationship between humans and their companion animals has evolved.  At first mere dogs and cats were too inconsequential to be considered property; that designation was reserved for horses, cows, or other useful creatures.  Now, however, the importance of companion animals is recognized to the point where some consider them family members and court cases are fought over custody.  Grimm discusses the history of humans and their animals in this very readable, fascinating book. Our reviewer said it was a “great book” and that it made her want to “just sit and read.”

The final book discussed was Lines of Descent:  W.E. B. Du Bois and the Emergence of Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah.  Appiah examines how Du Bois’ experiences in America and in German helped to shape his thinking. Du Bois attended Harvard University and studied with William James, and then in 1892 he went to Germany where he studied with German intellectuals.  Du Bois rejected the idea that race was a strict biological construct and believed that culture, racism, and social conditions were more dominant factors.  Appiah quotes him as saying, “The black man is a person who must ride ‘Jim Crow’ in Georgia.”  Du Bois struggled to define race, much as we still struggle today, and many of his writings have helped to shape the on-going discussion. Our reviewer said that it was a slim book—only 240 pages—but had much food for thought.  He intended to re-read it.