The last one at the wedding, by Jason Rekulak

 

I really enjoyed this suspenseful thriller about a man who's trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter. Frank is a middle class guy who hasn't spoken to his daughter in three years. He's thrilled when she calls and tells him she's getting married and wants him to come to the wedding. He travels to Boston to meet her fiancé, but from the beginning he senses that something is wrong with the situation. Soon after, he receives a letter indicating that her fiancé may be implicated in the disappearance of a local woman. As Frank travels to the wedding with his sister and her foster daughter in tow, he follows the clues to find out that the entire family may be complicit in at least one murder, and he desperately tries to find a way to extricate his daughter from the situation. But his daughter is reluctant to leave, and Frank must accept her decision until he finally has the evidence he needs to convince her. This was an excellent thriller with a unique protagonist whose character is unlike any that I've seen before. It's a bit funny, but also deadly serious. I couldn't stop reading this book, and recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers.

The Seven Dials mystery, by Agatha Christie

The Seven Dials mystery is Agatha Christie's ninth novel and second starring Superintendent Battle. Like The Secret of Chimneys, although Battle is the primary detective on site, much of the detecting is done by amateur sleuths who work with Battle to reveal the killer. In this book, a murder takes place at Chimneys, the estate that also figured in the earlier book, and it is followed by another suspicious death of a man who had been one of the guests at Chimneys when the first murder occurred. Bundle, the daughter of the owner of Chimneys decides to investigate the murders, and discovers the existence of a secret cabal located in a nightclub in the Seven Dials neighborhood of London. Bit by bit, she and her friends follow clues to identify the murderer. This book is both intriguing and amusing, with plucky characters and a lot of humor.
 

Avenger, by Frederick Forsyth

I really enjoyed this thriller by Frederick Forsyth, an author I had read more regularly back in the 1990s. I had enjoyed his work such as The fourth protocol, The devil's alternative, The day of the jackal, and The Odessa file. Avenger is a fast-paced thriller that takes place in the months leading up to 9/11. It kept me on the edge of my seat and was compulsively readable.
 

The Complaints, by Ian Rankin

I really enjoyed this detective story by Ian Rankin, the very popular author of the Inspector Rebus novels, set in Edinburgh, Scotland. The Complaints is the first book in a new series, also set in Edinburgh, which focuses on detective Malcolm Fox. He works in the Scottish equivalent of an Internal Affairs department, investigating other police officers for corruption and other crimes. Fox is asked to investigate another officer under suspicion of child pornography, but from the start something doesn't seem right. Fox is tenacious and won't drop his inquiries even after both he and the other officer are suspended. This is a compulsive read that I just couldn't put down.
 

Knife: meditations after an attempted murder, by Salman Rushdie

 

I've been following Salman Rushdie's story ever since he made the news with the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988. Its publication was followed by a 1989 fatwa issued by the leader of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, and Rushdie lived in seclusion with 24/7 security for many years. In 2022 the fatwa resulted in a murder attempt at the famed Chautauqua Institute in front of approximately 2,500 people. Left blinded in one eye and with permanent damage to his left hand, Rushdie recovered with the help of his family, including his new wife, poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths. In Knife, Rushdie tells us about how he had come to leave behind his security detail and move to New York. He had remarried and had just completed his most recent novel, Victory City, when he was attacked. He writes about his physical recovery and many surgeries, along with his desire to tell his story as a way to heal psychologically. This is a heartfelt and sincere exploration of his experience. I was struck by the vulnerability that he demonstrates, both in detailing his personal life and relationship with his now-wife, and in his recovery from the attack. This is a touching and moving book that I would recommend to anyone who has followed Rushdie's story over the past 30-plus years.

The book at war: how reading shaped conflict and conflict shaped reading, by Andrew Pettegree

 

This is a fascinating history of books and reading during wartime. Focusing to a large extent on 20th century wars, primarily World Wars I & II, this book discusses how the wars impacted publishing, booksellers, libraries, and reading, and conversely, how books and publishing affected the war and people's perceptions of war. Books were used as propaganda to build the case for war. Books were also a major casualty of the wars, with hundreds of millions of books destroyed through bombing, book burning, or other means. Author Andrew Pettegree shows how book burning was not limited to the famous Nazi book burning that we all know about, but it was a common feature of war and regularly performed in the United States, such as when the U.S. entered World War I. The rise of the paperback book also coincided nicely with the need for light-weight and smaller editions of popular books that soldiers could fit into their pockets. The delivery of books to soldiers on the front lines was an important part of supporting troops, and Pettegree details how the allies collected donations and raided libraries and bookstores to provide reading material and entertainment for the soldiers. During and after the wars, victors on all sides raided libraries and bookstores to steal valuable books and manuscripts. Many of these items ended up in the Soviet Union or the United States and other allies, preserved in research libraries. There is such a wealth of research and reporting in this book that this review can only scratch the surface. This is a deeply-researched and valuable contribution to 20th century history.

My side of the mountain, by Jean Craighead George

 

I first read this book as a kid when I found it in my aunt's apartment; I think it was left there by another cousin who was visiting. I loved this book so much that when I came across Jean Craighead George signing copies of it and the 1990 followup (On the far side of the mountain), I bought both books. I re-read this one and read the sequel as well, then the books sat on my shelves for 35 years. Now I'm trying to downsize a bit, and before donating the two books, I decided to re-read My side of the mountain. It is a very fast read, and I enjoyed it all over again, but of course, reading it as an adult I had so many thoughts about how fantastical the entire plot is. But I still enjoyed it and would recommend it to any child interested in the outdoors or animals.

The mystery of the Blue Train, by Agatha Christie

 

This is Agatha Christie's 8th novel (and 5th with Hercule Poirot). In it, Poirot tackles the murder of a wealthy woman on a luxury train headed to Nice and the theft of a set of valuable rubies that were once worn by Catherine the Great. Suspects include her husband, traveling to Nice on the same train, but unknown to her; her husband's mistress, also on the train and unknown to either of them; and some well-known jewel thieves. Poirot brings a young woman into his confidences as he follows the clues to bring the guilty persons to justice. I really enjoyed this one, possibly the first one where I was able to identify the guilty party before the big reveal.

The mystery of Mrs. Christie, by Marie Benedict

Agatha Christie gets the Marie Benedict treatment in this novel about Christie's 11-day disappearance in 1926. Alternating sections address Christie's early life and marriage and, from her husband Archie's viewpoint, her disappearance and eventual reappearance. This is a well-written and entertaining look at the mystery of what might have happened to Christie during those 11 days, during which she had amnesia. Interestingly, Benedict's depiction of Christie is very different from how she portrays her in The Queens of Crime, in which she is described over and over as frumpy and drab, but perhaps that was due to the latter book's narrator being Dorothy Sayers.
 

Sleepwalk with me, and other painfully true stories, by Mike Birbiglia

 

I watched all of Mike Birbiglia's standup specials on Netflix last year and really enjoyed his funny, storytelling style. This book is in the same vein and I found the stories about his childhood and young adulthood funny and touching. And very entertaining!