The Forest of Vanishing Stars by Kristin Harmel (2021)

 I know what you’re going to say - yet another book about World War II. Inspired by incredible true stories of survival against the odds, The Forest of Vanishing Stars is a thoroughly researched fictional accounting of a group of Jews hiding from the Nazis in the forests of Poland.

Yona is just two years old (1922) when Jerusza takes her from her wealthy German parents’ home and raises her in the forest, teaching her everything she will need to know to keep herself alive while avoiding civilization. When Jerusza passes away in 1941, Yona is totally alone until she comes across a small group of fleeing Jews. Yona, who knows nothing of the outside world or even how to interact with other people, knows she possesses the knowledge to keep the group alive. It is through her interactions with the group that Yona learns to open her heart to others.

When Yona is betrayed by one of the group members and escapes into a German-occupied village, her past and present come together in a shocking collision that could change all their lives.

The author’s previous book, The Book of Lost Names (see review on this blog), is also available on the library shelves.

4.36 stars on Goodreads, 4.7 on Amazon

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave (2021)

 

Reese Witherspoon Book Club Selection.

Being develop as a series starring Julia Roberts on Apple TV+.

Hannah, a skilled wood turner and furniture designer and has been married to Owen, for a little over a year. Owen works for a software tech company and has a 16-year-old daughter, Bailey, who wants nothing to do with Hannah after having her father to herself for most of her life. The three live on a houseboat in Sausalito, CA.

The story begins with Owen’s disappearance. Before running, Owen manages to get a note to Hannah with only two words – “Protect Her”. Hannah knows without a doubt that the “her” Owen refers to is Bailey. As Hannah tries to figure out what happened to Owen, his boss is arrested by the FBI for fraud.

When a U.S. Marshall from Austin, TX appears offering to put Hannah and Bailey into Witness Protection, Hannah is even more confused. Hannah refuses to upset Bailey life like that and determines to figure out why Owen disappeared.

Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future, together. Their budding relationship is the crux of the story.

The book is well-written and the characters are well developed. Hannah narrates events in present tense but there are lots of flashbacks of her relationship with Owen. The book is definitely more a mystery that a suspense thriller.

There have been lots of books written about a husband or wife who don’t really know who they married and struggle to find the truth. Dern takes the genre somewhere it hasn’t been before, at least to my knowledge. I never saw the ending coming and that alone is a good reason to read The Last Thing He Told Me.

The Final Twist (Colter Shaw #3) by Jeffery Deaver (2021)

 

The Final Twist takes place in San Francisco and begins just hours after the events of The Goodbye Man (Colter Shaw #2). Colt (“Colt”) Shaw, the son of a survivalist family, is an expert tracker and makes his living as a "reward seeker." He is a restless soul who travels the country in his Winnebago helping the police solve cases and private citizens locate missing persons.

Colt discovers a hidden letter left for him by his deceased father, Ash.  In it Ash asks Colt to carry on his mission to bring down the corrupt BlackBridge Corporate by finding the evidence hidden by the murdered would be whistleblower, Amos Gahl. When Colt’s estranged brother Russell turns up and helps Colt out of a difficult situation, they learn a family with the initials SP is going to be terminated in 24 hours. The brothers now have two missions, and one is a race against time.

The book is full of twists and reversals as the answers to the BlackBridge mystery steadily fall into place.

Deaver is meticulous in his references to the history of the San Francisco area.  The book also provides a great deal of background information on the main characters all of which have a direct bearing on the people they have become.

Character from earlier books reappear and there are references to cases worked in the earlier novels. Although not necessary to read the books in order, the background story of Colt’s family builds from book to book. The Final Twist is the first Deaver book I have read.

Deaver is also the author of the Lincoln Rhyme series.  The first book of the series, The Bone Collector, was the basis of the movie starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie and the short-lived NBC series Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector. The next Lincoln Rhyme’s book, A Perfect Plan, is due out in September.

4.09 stars on Goodreads, 4.5 on Amazon

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (2018)

 

Reese’s Book Club
#1 New York Times Bestseller

Where the Crawdads Sing takes place between the 1950 and 1969 in Barkley Cove, North Carolina. The book begins with two events that seem unrelated, but over the course of the novel intertwine. The portion of the story that takes place in the 50s is that of a young girl named Kya living in the marsh, the latter events revolve around the murder of local football celebrity Chase Andrews.

Kya’s lives on the outskirts of town in the marshland, which unfortunately comes with many preconceived notions from the town’s people. Throughout the novel the reader sees the prejudice the town holds towards those of the marsh. The people of the Barkley Cove assume Kya is uneducated based on her only having attended one day of school. However, Kya has learned the ways of the land by surviving when her family abandons her.  She was also able to make a lifelong friend Tate who decides to help Kya learn how to read and write. During their teenage years the two of them fall in love; however Tate leaves Kya to go off to college, to study the marsh, and breaks her heart.    As the story progresses, they reconnect and Kya becomes a published academic on the marsh.

During the time of Tate leaving for college, Kya gets involved with Chase Andrews. Chase and Kya also develop a relationship; however it’s not what Kya hopes for. Instead, Chase turns out to be an arrogant character that simply sees Kya as the dumb marsh girl, and assumes that he can use her however he wants. Kya eventually discovers that Chase is intending to marry another girl so she cuts off ties with him. However, when Chase turns up dead the people that were aware of their connection automatically assume it was Kya’s doing, including the local law enforcement. This escalates into them bringing charges against Kya based on questionable evidence at best, spurred on by the town’s bias of the marsh. To learn how the court case unfolds and the stories of Kya, Tate, Chase and the rest of Barkley Cove you will have to check out Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.

I personally enjoyed this book, and found it to be a quick read with well written characters. While I will admit at times the character of Kya may be a bit hard to believe in the sense of realism, I found it easy to dismiss based on the likeability of the story. Originally I simply read this book for the Historical Fiction book club I host at the library without many expectations. When I picked the book I simply based it off of knowing it was a popular book with book clubs and was making its rounds through the library system. After having read it I can understand its popularity and would also recommend it.  If this book or historical fiction interests you, I invite you to check out the library’s Historical Fiction Book Club. We currently meet every third Saturday of the month at noon on Zoom where we discuss books such as this one.

4.46 stars on Goodreads, 4.8 on Amazon