Amodini's Book Reviews

Book Reviews and Recommendations

Audiobook Review : The Long Call by Ann Cleeves

Written By: amodini - Aug• 07•24

Title : The Long Call
Author : Ann Cleeves
Narrators : Ben Aldridge
Genre : Mystery
Listening Length : 11 hours 36 minutes
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Narrator Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

It is quite hard to find a mystery (or even harder – to find a series) to sink your teeth into. A book that is an intriguing mystery with well-thought out, carefully detailed characters, a fast and engrossing pace, and solidly crafted writing with a hint of (if you are very lucky) literature about it. So far I’ve come across only one such author – Elizabeth George, with her Inspector Lynley mysteries. And now another looms on the horizon (like the gloriously rising sun): Ann Cleeves. I’ve only read the first book of the series (this, Matthew Venn Series #1), so hopefully they all deliver; fingers crossed.

DI Matthew Venn, the policeman who investigates this mystery, is quite a unique character as far as detectives go. He has been born and brought up in a religious cult, and was all set to become a preacher of the “brethren” until he didn’t believe the cult teachings anymore and was quite vocal about the loss of faith. He was the only one, unfortunately, who saw the light, and has thus been excommunicated, and also estranged from his parents. His being gay, and subsequent marriage to a man, hasn’t endeared him in the conservative parental heart.

Towards the beginning of the book, we hear that Venn’s father has died and Venn has to watch the funeral rites from afar. Then comes the news of a man’s murder. The man, Sam Walden, had a tragedy-strewn past and ties to the Woodyard, a social work center, which is run by Venn’s husband Jonathan Roberts. As Venn and his team begin to investigate Walden’s past, other folks start to go missing. And all of them seem to have some connection to the Woodyard.

Matthew Venn is quite a compelling character. Truth is paramount to him, as is speaking out about it. He is regarded highly by his team – a thorough and measured leader. Ross Pritchard and DS Jen Rafferty are the two team members who aid him in the investigation, and we get a look see into their personal lives too.

“There was something of the indulged schoolboy about Ross. It was the gelled hair and designer shirts, the inability to understand a different world view. He seemed a man of certainty. His marriage to Melanie, whom Jen had once described as the perfect fashion accessory, hadn’t changed him. If anything, Melanie’s admiration only confirmed his inflated opinion of himself.”

The book is full of details, intricate details, both of the landscape of North Devon as well as the people that populate it. From the people receiving care at the Woodyard, to it’s volunteers and benefactors, each character has been developed with care, almost enough to develop a picture of them in your mind.

“The road climbed steeply and then they were looking down at the village of Lovacott: a group of houses clustered around a small square, which was hardly more than the main street widened. A shop that seemed to sell everything, a pub. There was nothing picturesque here. No thatch. It would never have featured in an episode of Midsomer Murders.”

The plotting is pretty good too. The murdered man had a checkered past, kept many secrets and could be quite unfriendly at times. He also, as it turns, has managed to annoy some influential people. There are motivations galore. 

I quite enjoyed this book – it has everything you look forward to in a fine crime novel – and look forward to listening to the next book in the series. Narrator Ben Aldridge (who also plays Venn in Britbox’s series) does a marvelous job.

Audiobook Review : Exiles by Jane Harper

Written By: amodini - Jul• 24•24

Title : Exiles
Author : Jane Harper
Narrators : Stephen Shanahan
Genre : Mystery
Listening Length : 12 hours 25 minutes
Rating : ⭐️⭐️1/2
Narrator Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jane Harper is a dependable author. Her books, which are situated in Australia, are generally very well written murder mysteries and have as their protagonist AFP policeman Aaron Falk.

So, when I saw her new book Exiles in the library, I picked it up without a thought, Unfortunately, unlike her previous amazing work, the first book of the Falk series – The Dry, and the second – Force of Nature, Exiles is a very, very slow moving novel. There’s a whole lot of nothingness in the book. The audiobook is about 12 hours long and really for the most part of this 12 hours, nothing much happens. 

The mystery begins from page one. The book actually has two murders in it. The main one is the presumed murder of Kim Gillespie, who was related to the Raco family, and has gone missing when she came back to Marralee to visit them from Adelaide. The second murder is of local accountant Dean Tozer. A hit and run cause Tozer to drown in the reservoir, and the car and driver are not found.

Aaron has traveled down to Marralee for the christening of his godson, good friend Greg Raco’s son Henry. Marralee is a small town, know for it’s wine and cheese and the annual Marralee Valley festival. Charlie, Greg’s brother, runs a vineyard in Marralee and used to be married to Kim. While in Marilee Aaron gets embroiled in the investigation into Kim’s disappearance.

It’s an intriguing case, and you’d think it’d be an eventful chase to find the perpetrator of the crime. But all the author actually does is build up descriptions, of the people involved, the community, the murdered woman, her friends and families, and their inter-personal relationships. So, it’s a whole lot of little nuanced events, which kind of build the bigger picture. 

The pace is glacial. The first 10 hours of this book are tedious and filled with repetitive conversations between different people about what could have happened to Kim. The events for the mystery, actually, start happening in the very last two hours of the book, and then there are a few unexpected twists and turns. But they come too late, me thinks. I have lost hope by this point. Also there are too many meaningless segways, and conversations, which bog down the actual story.

So, I was disappointed with Exiles. It is not a page-turner. To be fair, I did finish it but most of the time I was either listening to it driving or cooking or out on a walk. If in fact, I had been actually reading it, like actually sitting down in a chair and spending time reading the book, I would have given it up unfinished. 

Yes, it’s a decent book. As a mystery though, I would not recommend it – too much talking and too little action. This book needed to be shorter, tighter, less meandering and better edited. I will say that the narrator was fabulous and made it so much more interesting than it was.

Audiobook Review : What The Fireflies Knew by Kai Harris

Written By: amodini - Jun• 19•24

Title : What The Fireflies Knew
Author : Kai Harris
Narrators : Zenzi Williams
Genre : Contemporary, Coming-of-age
Listening Length : 8 hours 35 minutes
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narrator Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What The Fireflies Knew is a coming-of-age novel. It’s about 11 year old Kenyatta Bernice (or KB as she’s called) and her 14 year old sister Nia who are sent to live with their grandfather as their mother works through a difficult time. 

The entire novel, and I’m listening to it, not reading it, is told from KB’s point of view. So it’s in the first person and it’s her perspective of events as they unfold. Young Kenyatta feels unsettled. She doesn’t know a lot of the adult stuff that’s going on, but much of it has gone wrong recently. She feels the physicality of it though as they often change their place of residence, first – the house in Detroit, then the car, and now Grandaddy’s place in Lansing. 

The more we move around, the more I forget stuff. Like the pattern of my wallpaper in the old house on the dead-end street. I’m starting to forget what it feels like to have a home at all.

KB feels like she’s losing the people she loves one by one – first it was her daddy, then her mother bids them goodbye leaving them in Lansing, promising to come retrieve them in the summer (but will she?). She’s always had older sister Nia to lean on, but now Nia is distant, harps on about getting some privacy and prefers the company of her friends. Why is her world so turbulent? KB gleans a little information from granddaddy who is the taciturn sort, not given to displays of affection. But it’s patchy information – and all KB really wants is for everyone to not treat her like a baby and for her mother to be back, and for them to be a family again.

Daddy’s gone, Momma’s gone. Nia’s still here, but she might as well be gone, too.

Now, when I started the book it seemed interesting enough, and I kind of went along with it. What sucked me in though was Kenyatta’s character. She’s innocent and endearing, a believer in the goodness of others. She’s sad that mamma has left them, but she’s also excited about the here and now – the picnic tomorrow, her upcoming Birthday, the new book Granddaddy bought her. I was invested in her good health and happiness.

There are only a few main characters in this book, KB, Nia, their mom and grandaddy, and the events in the book are just interplays between these characters. But that interplay! Author Harris so skillfully conveys the emotion, the hidden undercurrents when two of her characters meet, talk and play. Like when KB attempts to be friends with the kids next door. Or when Granddaddy’s explains to KB on why he and mamma don’t get along.

Underneath it all though, the story is about family, race, growing up In an unfamiliar world and finding your footing. And learning to be whole again in spite of all the brokenness inside of you. Quite a lovely book. Highly recommended. 

The narrator has done a fabulous, fabulous job. She’s perfect as the naive KB, petulant as teenager Nia, tired as their mamma, and plodding and slow as plainspeakinug Granddaddy. Her spot-on narration just sucks you in to the story. I could’ve listened for hours and I did.

Audiobook Review: The Maid by Nita Prose

Written By: amodini - Jun• 05•24

Title : The Maid
Author : Nita Prose
Narrators : Lauren Ambrose
Genre : Thriller
Listening Length : 9 hours 37 minutes
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
Narrator Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Molly Gray is a maid in a nice hotel, just like her grandmother. Molly does her job diligently, and she and her grandmother live a simple but happy life together.

When Gran passes away, Molly is cast adrift and takes solace in her job, using the regularity and familiarity of it to help her cope with the loss. Then, a murder of a powerful man at Molly’s hotel puts her in jeopardy, because investigations show that she was at the scene of the crime and could possibly be charged. Molly says she is innocent but will anyone believe her?

This was a very interesting book primarily because of its quirky heroine. From the descriptions of her straight-shooting mannerisms and thought processes, it is clear that Molly is on the autism spectrum. She speaks her mind and has no “filters”. She also takes people at face value, not suspecting guile or duplicity. Thus she is taking in by unsavory characters at the hotel, who use her naïveté for selfish, nefarious purposes. 

The longer you live, the more you learn. People are a mystery that can never be solved. Life has a way of sorting itself out. Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.

Fortunately, there are also some good folks around who come to Molly’s aid, and she, a smart, brave woman, does her part in bringing the guilty to book. I quite liked Molly’s character and was rooting for her to make it out of this mess intact.

Narrator Lauren Ambrose was so perfect for this book’s narration! She really brought Molly and her slow, old-school ways to life; Molly’s personality is what kept me tethered and interested. The book was fun, and fast-paced – recommended!

Harbinder Kaur Series by Elly Griffiths

Written By: amodini - May• 02•24

Title : Harbinder Kaur Series
Author : Elly Griffiths
Narrators : Anjana Vasan, Nina Wadia
Genre : Mystery
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narrator Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I am always on the lookout for new mystery novels and I recently came across The Harbinder Kaur mystery series by Elly Griffiths. Detective Sergeant Harbinder Kaur is a second generation British citizen, born and brought up in the UK with Punjabi Sikh parents who run a restaurant (her mother is a very good cook). 

The series has 4 books, out of which I’ve listened to the first 3. In the first The Stranger Diaries DS Kaur investigates, the death of English school teachers. This one got me hooked to the series! The second book is the PostScript murders in which a 90 or old woman with a heart condition is found dead, but the death looks suspicious. The third book is Bleeding Heart yard. A murder occurs at a school reunion and the person found dead Is a local MP who might have been prime minister one day. The Last Word is the 4th and last book of the series.

In the first book, DS Kaur lives with her parents, but after a promotion she moves to London, and gets a team of her own. DS Kaur is a very interesting character because she’s a brown Punjabi policewoman in the UK. And she’s gay – though that is only marginally hinted at/mentioned. She feels the tug of family ties – the whole Indian food/culture thing all mixed in with her English friends and coworkers. Her parents are always exhorting her to visit home, and feeding her parathas and samosas. They don’t know about her being gay, but towards the second or third book, they start to have an inkling. 

One of the advantages of still living with your parents at the age of thirty-six – don’t get me going on the disadvantages – is that my mum makes me breakfast. I remember, when I was at primary school, being asked to describe a typical breakfast. I began, ‘First you make the makki roti. . .’ Kevin Brewster laughed so much he had to leave the room. I realised that English families ate things like toast and rice crispies. They didn’t have stuffed parathas or chole or masala omelettes. Well, their loss.

I’ve listened to these books and they all were beautifully narrated. The Stranger Diaries has multiple narrators, including Anjana Vasan. The 2nd and 3rd books were narrated by Nina Wadia who is quite an amazing story-teller!

This is a wonderful series and I’m a little sad that there only four books in it. The books are beautifully written. The characters are very interesting, and nicely detailed out. Harbinder Kaur herself is a real sleuth and someone you can get behind. She’s plucky, brave and very determined. 

Highly, highly recommended.

Wordless Wednesdays #143

Written By: amodini - Nov• 29•23
Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Wordless Wednesdays #142

Written By: amodini - Nov• 01•23
San Geremia Church, Venice

Wordless Wednesdays #141

Written By: amodini - Oct• 04•23
Bridge Of Sighs

Audiobook Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

Written By: amodini - Sep• 27•23

Title : Remarkably Bright Creatures
Author : Shelby Van Pelt
Narrators : Marine Ireland, Michael Urie
Genre : Contemporary
Publisher : Harper Audio
Listening Length : 11 hours 16 minutes
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Narrator Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

You might be surprised to learn that the Remarkably Bright Creatures referred to in the book’s title are octopuses. Or one giant Pacific octopus in particular. His name is Marcellus McSquiddles and he lives in the Sowell Bay aquarium. Here he develops a friendship with the cleaning lady Tova Sullivan – and I say friendly because Marcellus tells us so. The book is told from his point of view, counting his days of captivity, and giving us his wry, witty take on human behavior.

Humans are the only species who subvert truth for their own entertainment. They call them jokes. Sometimes puns.

When Tova must unexpectedly take a leave of absence from her work at the aquarium, a young man, Cameron, is temporarily hired in her place. Cameron is in town for a few weeks (or so he thinks). Biding his time and working in the aquarium to pay the bills, Cameron comes to know the local townsfolk and Tova, who visits the aquarium from time to time.

Tova has had a tragedy-filled past, but little does she know that Marcellus can help solve the mystery of her son’s death. Marcellus, who’s quite the detective as well as being an avid people-watcher, must use the last remaining days of his life to bring happiness to his favorite person.

As a general rule, I like holes. A hole at the top of my tank gives me freedom. But I do not like the hole in her heart. She only has one, not three, like me. Tova’s heart. I will do everything I can to help her fill it.

Shelby van Pelt excels at building her characters. I really liked how beautifully Tova, Marcellus and Cameron are sketched out, and how their lives start intersecting gradually and naturally. Marcellus was especially interesting because he has quite a personality! Tova is a brave resilient woman and one quite likes her. Cameron despite his faults has a core of goodness. The Knit Wits are an interesting bunch. And even minor characters like the considerate grocery owner Ethan Mack, and the aquarium director Terence Bailey are attributed believable details. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures is an enjoyable, feel-good book. Narration is very good too! Highly recommended!

Wordless Wednesdays #140

Written By: amodini - Sep• 06•23
Scalzi Bridge Venice