Nevermore: You Came Back, Low Pressure, and Sarah's Key

To paraphrase Faulkner, the past is never really past. It exists in the present too. The Nevermore fiction choices all seem to reflect that sentiment in one way or another.

One of our Nevermore reviewers was much taken with You Came Back by Christopher Coake. Mark Fife was devastated by death of his young son, Brendan.  His marriage to his college sweetheart fell apart, and they divorced.  Just as he is starting to put his life back together with a new girlfriend and a flourishing career, he gets a call from a woman who lives in the Fifes’ old house.  She claims that the house is haunted—by Brendan. Our reviewer found it to be a moving exploration of love, loss, and relationships, and said she couldn’t put it down.

Continuing the theme of how past and present can collide, Low Pressure by Sandra Brown was mentioned as a good light read.  A young woman writes a novel based on her sister’s murder eighteen years earlier, causing a tabloid reporter to take an interest in the case.  Unfortunately, someone else takes an interest too—someone who may know more about what really happened that stormy day.

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay begins with Julia,  an American journalist living in Paris with her husband and daughter. She’s asked to write an article about the Nazi round-up of  Jews in Paris, which happened 60 years previously.  As she begins her research, she finds out the apartment where they’re currently living had belonged to a Jewish family caught in the round up. The book goes back and forth in time, weaving together the story of Sarah Starzynski  in 1942 and Julia’s life in the present.  This book has come up several times in Nevermore, and has always been highly recommended.

Sandra Brown Delivers a "Smash Cut!"

Reviewed by Doris

John Sandford does it with his Prey series of thriller mysteries. Thomas Harris does it with Hannibal Lector and Red Dragon. Sandra Brown does it in Smash Cut, her newest novel. What do they do? Create a villain who makes my skin crawl and the hair on my neck stand up. And you don’t even have to wait for the end of this book to know you have a sociopath at the center of the plot—he’s right there in the opening pages. A smash cut in movie idiom occurs without warning in the middle of one scene and transitions abruptly to another scene. It is used to startle the audience. Brown uses the same technique in her writing, and Smash Cut is one of her best outings.

Sandra Brown is very popular for her romantic, contemporary crime thrillers. Like Nora Roberts and a dozen other writers she has a sexy, handsome guy; the sassy, smart, beautiful woman; and, a mystery that brings them together. There’s sex, there’s conflict between them, and then everyone lives happily ever after. What sets Brown apart from her colleagues is her ability to lay down a plot. They are taut, never ordinary, and in Smash Cut, she throws in some stunning twists. Her characters also set her apart: they are rarely the clichés often used in contemporary thrillers.

The opening is a murder that occurs in an elevator in an Atlanta luxury hotel. Paul Wheeler is a powerful CEO who meets a young woman every week at the hotel. As they are leaving, a gunman enters their crowded elevator, demands money and jewelry from everyone, and then shots Wheeler in the head. When the doors open onto the lobby, the killer calmly walks away from the ensuing chaos. Robbery soon appears less a motive than a hit. Who wanted Paul Wheeler dead? Who is the young woman with whom he seems to be having a long term affair? Why does Paul’s brother Doug hire the best defense attorney in Atlanta “just in case,” and why does he think his son Creighton will need to talk to the attorney immediately?

Derek Mitchell is the hottest lawyer in town. He agrees to talk to Creighton Wheeler about his Uncle Paul’s death, but Creighton has an ironclad alibi so why does he need a lawyer? Julie Rutledge is cultured, sophisticated, and beautiful, and she was devoted to Paul Wheeler. She is convinced Creighton Wheeler—handsome, rich, obsessed with films, and very used to having his own way—killed his uncle. She is also lying about too many things, and Derek needs to know why.

Lots of questions and Brown lays down her plot fast and furiously as she answers them. Just when you think you have all the answers, she smacks you awake with another twist. I never expected the last one in this book, but it made for a very satisfying conclusion.

*Warning: As an animal lover I found a brutal detail of this plot very unsettling. I understand why the incident was there to move the characters and plot, but it was painful, and, from my perspective, not necessary.

Smash Cut by Sandra Brown is available at Main and Avoca. Main also holds a large print copy. If you don't find a copy on the shelf, we can reserve one for you.