This is what may be termed as a “bad sandwich” book: nothing wrong with the bread but what’s in the sandwich is awful. In other words: the first and third act are a lot of fun, the second act soured me to the point where it’s tough to appreciate the book in its totality. I’ll start with the positives. I liked the Michael Forsythe character. Immigrating from Ireland to get work, Michael is stuck with a violent gang tied to the Irish mob in early-90s […]
If you wonder what the Irish were doing in World War II this might answer it….
This is the Award Winner. The Dorothy Canfield Fisher award is a Vermont state award that the books are picked by adults (though I am not always sure why they were the pickers as one was a professor at my college who had no English or child background that I knew of) and then voted on by the kids. Of course, the year I did this award the “cool kids” pick won. But that is the perfect lead in to this book. It is 1943. […]
Unflinching
One of the best parts of reading Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad books (and there are many best parts, I’ve gotta say) is that you can dive into any of them and get nearly the full experience and feeling even if you haven’t read all of them.
A Tana French wannabe
This is a mystery starring a bunch of Irish people with a taste of the possibly-supernatural thrown in. It reads like Tana French wrote it when she was in eighth grade, before she learned to actually be good. Nora’s sister Triona was murdered five years ago. She suspects her sister’s husband Peter, but the rich golden boy was never charged, and the murder is still unsolved. Nora fled home to Ireland to recover, but returns to her family’s relocated home in the States when she […]