The Soldier's Wife by Joanna Trollope

As usual Joanna Trollope gets to the very crux of the story very fast. Dan is in the Army. He has served a very troublesome six months period in Afghanistan and is now home with his mates. Life should be happy. His wife, he has twin daughters and an older step daughter all look forward to his return but why cant they all settle down.

Alexa is a very loyal dutiful wife. She has battled on alone, never complaining but she now begins to feel that his batch mates and the Army is his top priority and that the family trails behind. Dan himself feels caught up in a triangle of how does one choose priorities. A mate returned with him, his wife leaves him, there are those mates who have been badly injured who have to be rehabilitated, there are many social obligations within the Army itself which have to be included in his life and he himself feels that things are getting away from him and he and his wife are increasingly isolated, without communicating what they actually want from each other.

Alexa wants a fixed home, she wants Isabel her eldest daughter to be happy (she isnt), she wants them to be a family again without the third wheel of all of the Army crowding in. How does one cope. Dan's father, grandfather , Alexa's parents are all anxious, all wanting to help. All know that without an intervention the family is going to split.

The story of relationships and mainly the need for open lines of communication are so manifestly important and it is this that for me was the focal point of this story. Dan is a soldier foremost and now he must try to be a civilian father and husband whilst balancing his career as well. Tough calls.


Another book from Glen Waverley library.

I See You by Clare Mackintosh

Like lots of us Zoe Walker had a routine. Walk a certain route, stand at a particular spot at the train station to get into a particular compartment as this was she felt the optimum position for her. Like all of us it was now in her subconsciousness. Little did she know that she was being watched, till one day idly picking up a discarded paper, her own face stares up at her from a classified advert. Almost an escort service, except for the fact that Zoe was no pin up babe, just an ordinary mid 40s lady intent on looking after her two almost adult children, get out of a marriage and solidify the relationship she has just embarked on.

Going to the police with such a weak story was laughable, the photograph was grainy, was old and did not look very much like Zoe. Discovering that many women unknown to them were featured on these adverts and with the murder of one of them, made the police sit up and take notice. Was there a link by such widely different women. The only thing that linked them all was that they used the underground railway. Could such a tenuous link be a key in solving murders, opening up a can of worms of the magnitude that the London investigators had not envisaged.

Identity theft, cyber crime, money laundering and eventually murder were all on offer. Trying to track down the mastermind behind the operation was almost impossible. With names popping up from the Channel Islands to China, from Russia to London itself it kept winding and winding upon itself until Zoe herself walked into the most improbable scenario with unexpected and scary effect.

Going alongside the story was the life of Kelly, the Police Sergeant and her life and then there was Zoe trying to balance it all and protect at the same time her loved ones. How even the simplest scenario can be misinterpreted very badly is shown up in the story over and over again. We think we have got to the end and the mystery is solved but it is never solved. Even after someone lies dead and bleeding.

A thriller with detailed police procedures for those of you who like it. I did.

Another good choice from Melbourne's Glen Waverley library. Sadly the holiday is almost at an end and there goes my huge choice of reading material!

Die for You by Lisa Unger

An author who has been on my TBR for a long time. I knew I'd find her here in Melbourne!

Looking at Marcus and Isabel you'd think they had it all. Love, riches, happiness, good careers and a bright future. No one knew that it was a carefully built facade at least by one of them and that the bubble would burst and how.

Marcus kisses his wife and leaves for work. It is the last time she would see him as she knew him and her nightmare begins. Missing from work, he does not return home, his movements cannot be accounted for and then the assaults begin. First the office is trashed, three innocent staff killed and Isabel is badly injured. Then the apartment is trashed and it looks very personal the way the damage is inflicted. All her accounts are wiped out and Isabel finds that the man she loved and married is definitely not the person the Police are seeking. Going back to his Czech roots involving mafia, crime, corruption and betrayal of every kind Marcus is the very scum of the earth betraying at every turn not just women who fell in love with him but also his own family.

Told by alternate characters and then going back to Isabel as a narrator the story  holds your interest and unwinds slowly showing how cleverly and seemingly so very easily a person can impersonate or rather take over a character of another person and then live out a lie with clever, meticulous planning.

The damage left behind by the calculated actions of Marcus is immense. One feels for his victims
especially Isabel as she is the only survivor of his demonic plans.  You only hope she will recover and learn to live again.

I have already dug out another book from this author for my next read. This one too came from Glen Waverley library in Melbourne.

After the Funeral by Agatha Christie

An ailing man in his sixties dies. Not unusual. At the funeral a sister blurts out 'but wasn't he murdered?'. Everyone shushes the sister who always even as a young woman spoke out of turn and blurted whatever she came up with. Leaving behind a substantial estate, no one wants to create waves as they each will inherit a substantial share.

All of them need the money, are desperate for it and everything seems to above board. This utterance however puts the lawyer who was also a friend on guard and he seeks Hercule Poirot's assistance to just check and verify that all is right. The murder of Cora - the sister in a hatchet attack the very next day however and the subsequent attack on her companion makes it obvious that someone is trying to hush and hide something.

In typical Agatha Christie fashion slowly unravelling the murderer is done methodically and carefully if somewhat slower than more modern mystery murder stories.

Vintage Agatha Christie courtesy of Glen Waverley library, Melbourne. 

Secrets of the Lighthouse by Santa Montefiore

After reading mystery murders and thrillers this was a good change. A family saga going back just two generations but worlds apart.

Lady Madeline Trawton is very much the aristocratic lady of leisure in London. With three daughters, two married into the aristocracy, her aim is to see her third also well settled. Ellen however is the changeling. After a serious think about her future, she flees her family and her fiance an retreats to Connemara where she knows her mother originated from and to her only sister. On arrival there Ellen discovers so much of the Bryne clan including the fact that her mother not only had a sister but several brothers.

Connemara works her magic on Ellen and this is where the romance starts. Apart from the romance which was a startling one, we also have a spirit of a wife who is very real and who does not want to let her husband and children go and who is clinging to be part of their lives despite it being five years since her tragic death.  Her death sudden and mourned by many is shrouded in mystery and innuendo and though the case is closed there are many who point the finger at her husband as a murderer. Ellen falling in love with Connor was not part of the equation on not just the part of the Bryne clan but also by the spirit of Caitlin who now tries to devise a method of keeping the two apart.

This bit of other worldliness coming into this story did not detract from the story itself. The family saga with its involved relationships, the love story of Caitlin and Connor and its tragic end, the love story of Connor and Ellen are very well recounted here,

The story of Ellen's mother and the two different worlds she inhabits and the reasons why she acted the way she did also unravel slowly and forms almost another story within the story.

This was a book I picked up from Glen Waverley library in Melbourne.

The Choir by Joanna Trollope

Reminiscent of Susan Howarth this was a change from the usual family sagas of this author. Here too human relationships formed the keynote part of the book but shadowed by the Cathedral, the Bishop, the Dean and the choir.

The cathedral is facing financial hardship. Like all old stately buildings maintenance is key, this has been neglected or not seen and the end result is an enormous outlay needed. On the other hand the choir has been an integral part of the Cathedral but it is also costing a great deal of money. The inhabitants of Aldminster are divided into two camps. Is the choir an anachronism in modern society, catering for an elite few who appreciate the music that is not appealing to everyone. Then there is the Dean's house. Massive enormous occupied by two people only. Should this be more open for use by a greater number of people.

Drawn into the story are Henry, the chorister who is destined to go places his mother and the organist, his grandfather and all the others who are integral to the story. Relationships are the cornerstone of the story - petty jealousies of the betrayed and lovelorn, the passion that is ignited by a loveless marriage, the loneliness and isolation that one can feel surrounded by many people and the feeling that you are out of date and out of time in a modern world which looks at everything with a more pragmatic and practical outlook.

All beautifully rendered in this story. All dovetailing neatly into a story which is very appealing and attractive.

Another pick from the Glen Waverley library for which I am eternally grateful. So many books so little time!

Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope

A favourite author of mine this Austen project was not going to be easy. Following in the footsteps of the Dashwoods etc and finding that it works in a different setting was a wonderful way to relive the book.

Following the plot to a T, ingenuously keeping to all the scenes which formed the core of the original story you are never bored with this book. Knowing very early on that it was going to follow the sequence of the original did not detract from this story. It added a piquancy that I needed to know how the next part was going to follow through in this modern setting.

We have all the modern add ins of social media, trolling, hair extensions, gay party planners, depression et al. We have Fanny Dashwood with her inherent nastiness and social climbing and her aspirations of grasping it all. We have Belle who seems so ineffective at times and then Elinor the stalwart and the only one who has a grasp on reality. The other members of the family shirk from talking about money, responsibility or working.

The one detraction if at all is that at times I felt it was like late 19th century but then with all the modern hoopla you knew you were right in at the 21st! Still a very enjoyable read and one I thoroughly liked.

From the Glen Waverley library in Melbourne 

Flesh and Blood by Patricia Cornwell

I am coming back to Patricia Cornwell after about two years. I had read everything there was in the Glen Waverley library at that time and was very glad to see this one which was a new one for me. No 22 in the Kay Scarpetta series. Despite being No 22 which does seem a lot the book has pace, intrigue and sufficient mystery to keep you going.

Cornwell's writing is meticulous. Her research is obviously detailed and scrutinized because you can see accuracy in every bit of her writing. Police procedures, legal procedures, medical procedures are all very much alive and for me holds my interest throughout the story. For me it adds to the basic bones of the mystery/murder/psychological thriller part of the book.

The story here sounds more personal with the discovery of seven pennies shiny bright all with one date which has significance for Kay. One homicide follows a few minutes later followed by what seems like straight forward deaths but which on further examining are anything but. Links to an insurance company which Kay has had run ins before surface along with a political leader whose history is shadowed. He is powerful enough to bury everything that has been done by him and his son and somehow these homicides are linked back to him. The personal link does not surface till the very end and it surprises them all.

Characterization is spot on. Marino blustering and gruff, seemingly unprofessional, Kay the epitome of being calm and collected, Benton suave and all others playing a part in a story which comes together as a cohesive whole.

Loved the read.

The Expense of a View by Polly Buckingham

This was a collection of short stories which is usually very good reading. However some of them were excellent and some were just fine.

Dealing with deep emotion in the midst of crisis, the stories are hard hitting and will make you think how you would react in similar situations. The stories cover the entire spectrum of humanity from male to female, homeless to parents to children. The feeling is dark and the emotional content is not easy to read.

Sent by Netgalley for an unbiased review, courtesy of  University of North Texas.