Book Review: The North Face of the Heart

I'm like three days behind in life right now so I'm trying to get everything done in a flurry but I also feel like I'm getting nowhere. I don't know I feel like I have to rush and get everything done at once, because I don't, but maybe just having a summer to-do list is overwhelming? I don't know. I thought I was making my life easier by having something to cross off as I get to it but yeah.... I think it was a fail. 

The North Face of the Heart - Dolores Redondo

In a propulsive thriller by the #1 internationally bestselling author of The Baztán Trilogy, a female detective follows a sadistic killer into the eye of a storm.

Amaia Salazar, a young detective from the north of Spain, has joined a group of trainees at the FBI Academy in Virginia. Haunted by her past and having already tracked down a predator on her own, Amaia is no typical rookie. And this is no ordinary student lecture at Quantico. FBI agent Aloysius Dupree is already well acquainted with Amaia’s skills, her intuition, and her ability to understand evil. He now needs her help in hunting an elusive serial killer dubbed “the composer”—a case that’s been following him his whole life.

From New Jersey to Oklahoma to Texas, his victims are entire families annihilated to coincide with natural disasters, their bodies posed with chilling purpose amid the ruins. Dupree and Amaia are following his trail to New Orleans. The clock is ticking. It’s the eve of what’s threatening to be the worst hurricane in the city’s history. But a troubling call from Amaia’s aunt back home awakens in Amaia the ghosts from her childhood and sends her down a path as dark as that of the coming storm.

Do you feel like I've really been on a thriller kick lately? I definitely do. Normally in the summer I try to read light and fun things and save all of the heavy stuff for fall as the doom of winter is staring me down. So from now until the rest of summer I only have like two thrillers left (I think) but then nothing but light and fun. LIGHT AND FUN, you guys. 

If you are a fan of crime podcasts, you are going to love this book. This is a detective literally tracking a nut job serial killer. You get the clues as she does, you're trying to solve this with her and I was glued to this book. I will admit that I didn't get all of the pieces together so I couldn't solve it, but I loved the ending. I loved the premise of killing people during natural disasters because 1. would their deaths even be noticed as murders and 2. goodbye, forensic evidence! 

If I had to give a critique, I would say the book is almost 500 pages and honestly, this could have been done in 300 or less. It's far too wordy, too much fluff that we don't need and I found myself completely skimming areas about the book because there are some repetitive things and I feel like you only need to mention things one time. One and done. It's my understanding this is a prequel to the author's popular trilogy, which I have not read, and I think that helped me, this was a good introduction to this detective, but if the details mentioned in this book are/were mentioned in the trilogy... oy. It would make for some tedious reading for sure. 

Let's talk crime. OK, the murders were brutal on their own and would make for a crime podcast episode of your dreams. I went into this book hoping it would be written in a way that I could imagine it as that, which I failed at, but it makes me wonder if the audiobook would be more worthwhile- would it be less slow? Again, this investigation felt like it took forever, and I imagine in real life it does take forever, but this is fiction- go faster. HA! 

Overall though? This would be a solid 3 star for me. I liked it, I liked the premise and writing, I feel like if this was 200 pages shorter it would easily have been a 4 star for me. Once you get to the end and you see how things roll out, it puts other things into perspective that I had disregarded as meaningless. Proof that maybe I would be a terrible detective, for sure. It's a good book and if you're into really strong character development, this is definitely up your alley. 

Thank you to Amazon Crossing and Megan Beattie Communications for sending me an ARC for review! 

 

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Book Review: Tears of Amber

I am behind in life right now because I've been sick. First it was allergies and then it was the cold Jackson had this weekend. A cold for you and everyone else is just a cold. A cold for me is like standing on Death's door asking if it's my time to come in. I felt like I was really going to die yesterday and I only vaguely remember coming upstairs to pee, but even that is kind of assumption because my bed isn't wet, so I assume I came upstairs. I feel only mildly better today so I'm trying to get what I can done while I'm lucid. I need to be better for this weekend because we have games and recitals, so back to bed it is for me this afternoon.  

I do want to tell you about this book though because it has stuck with me long after finishing it and frankly, those are the best books. 

Tears of Amber - Sofia Segovia

From the bestselling author of The Murmur of Bees comes a transportive novel of two families uprooted by war and united by the bonds of love and courage.

With war looming dangerously close, Ilse’s school days soon turn to lessons of survival. In the harshness of winter, her family must join the largest exodus in human history to survive. As battle lines are drawn and East Prussia’s borders vanish beneath them, they leave their farm and all they know behind for an uncertain future.

But Ilse also has Janusz, her family’s young Polish laborer, by her side. As they flee from the Soviet army, his enchanting folktales keep her mind off the cold, the hunger, and the horrors unfolding around them. He tells her of a besieged kingdom in the Baltic Sea from which spill the amber tears of a heartbroken queen.

Neither of them realizes his stories will prove crucial and prophetic.

Not far away, trying and failing to flee from a vengeful army, Arno and his mother hide in the ruins of a Königsberg mansion, hoping that once the war ends they can reunite their dispersed family. But their stay in the walled city proves untenable when they find themselves dodging bombs and scavenging in the rubble. Soon they’ll become pawns caught between two powerful enemies, on a journey with an unknown destination.

Hope carries these children caught in the crosshairs of war on an extraordinary pilgrimage in which the gift of an amber teardrop is at once a valuable form of currency and a symbol of resilience, one that draws them together against insurmountable odds.

First things first, this is a translated book, and I know some of you see that and think, "ugh... there's going to be some 'missed in translation' stuff in here" and I'm telling you I didn't experience any of that. What I did experience was a book that is absolutely beautifully written. It was so much and everything all at once. You know I'm not one to read a whole ton of literary fiction and that's insanity because the ones I do read are always so wonderfully done, like this one. The character development? On point. 

When I see news reports about other countries in war, being terrorized with bombs and fighting, one of the first things I think is that I can't imagine that. Our country experiences one set of buildings going down and our entire country is mesmerized- what would it be like for this to be so common place that you don't even stop to watch the news? For it to not even be news anymore, instead just every day life? That's something I kept thinking about while I read this, and to be honest, there were several chunks that I went back to re-read because it hit differently once I got to the end and knew how things ended up. 

What would it be like to have invaders come into your home and force you out, with nothing, and there wasn't anything you could do about it? They were claiming your house and land and that was that? All of safe-holds you had in place to hopefully prevent that were useless? It makes me think of the pro-gun people in America, who think that their stockpiles would hold out an army determined to take them and their land? I mean, if the army wants it, they will take it, and take it they will. I will tell you that there are some seriously harrowing things throughout this book and it will take an emotional toll on you but it was so beautifully written you can't stop. 

You know what it reminded me of? That movie Schindler's List, kind of. Every character has an ending and the book mentions that "every story has an ending" and ugh. Gut punch. 

Even more? It's based on true events. 

I won't even lie and tell you I didn't cry because I absolutely did. I went into this not remembering that it was based on true events, and then I saw that in my notes and you guys- I was a wreck. It just hits you different. There are a million WWII based books out there, especially the last two years or so, and they are all variations of the same thing. I promise you, this is different. This one is really special and I am so grateful I was able to read this one. It is going to be with me for a long, long time. 

Thank you to the author, but also Amazon Crossing and FSB Associates for having me on this review tour. If you are looking for some historical fiction about WWII in an alternate point of view, I so highly recommend this one. I do believe this will be in my top 10 for the year. 

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