I found myself seduced by R.F. Kuang's immersive storytelling and masterful prose.
She drew me so completely into the thought processes and motivations of her protagonist, June Hayward, that (almost against my will) I couldn't help empathizing with the awful fix June creates for herself through her ill-considered choices. That's great writing.
June, an unsuccessful author, is the only witness to the accidental death of her friend, a celebrated author named Athena Liu. On impulse, June steals Athena's unpublished manuscript and then submits it for publication under her name. The book is a mega-bestseller, but her success born from deception creates heavy emotional and practical baggage for June.
The story addresses important issues such as racism and cultural appropriation, as well as the weaponization of social media. Plus, it's just a blazing page-turner of a book. I literally couldn't put it down.
The No. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller from literary sensation R.F. Kuang
*A Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick*
'Propulsive' SUNDAY TIMES
'Razor-sharp' TIME
'A wild ride' STYLIST
'Darkly comic' GQ
'A riot' PANDORA SYKES
'Hard to put down, harder to forget' STEPHEN KING
Athena Liu is a literary darling and June Hayward is literally nobody.
White lies When Athena dies in a freak accident, June steals her unpublished manuscript and publishes it as her own under the ambiguous name Juniper Song.
Dark humour But as evidence threatens June's stolen success, she will discover exactly how far she…
Dark Ridemade me laugh out loud. It also broke my heart.
Lou Berney is known for writing complex, memorable characters, but Hardy Reed, Hardly to his family and friends, doesn't appear - when we first meet him - to be a promising protagonist.
Hardly is an easy-going 21-year-old stoner who works a dead-end job at an amusement park and is perfectly content to drift through life without conflicts or challenges. But despite his limitations (he's under-educated and lacks anything approximating marketable skills). Hardly has a big heart, and as we find immense courage.
When he crosses paths with two young children he suspects are being abused - and whom, he learns, are falling through the cracks of the overburdened Child Protective Services, Hardly decides to rescue them, discovering unexpected reserves of tenacity and resourcefulness within himself.
His mission becomes his reason for being, and I was on board for the ride. Hardly is so genuine, so completely without guile, that I couldn't help loving him, and in the end, I came to admire him, too.
From Lou Berney, the acclaimed, multi award-winning author of November Road and The Long and Faraway Gone, comes a Dark Ride
Sometimes the person you least expect is just the hero you need
Twenty-one-year-old Hardy "Hardly" Reed-good-natured, easygoing, usually stoned-is drifting through life. A minimum-wage scare actor at an amusement park, he avoids unnecessary effort and unrealistic ambitions.
Then one day he notices two children, around six or seven, sitting all alone on a bench. Hardly checks if they're okay and sees injuries on both children. Someone is hurting these kids.
He reports the incident to Child Protective Service.
The River We Rememberis a nostalgic tone poem of a book set in the American Midwest a decade after the end of World War II.
The war lingers like a shadow over a number of the characters' lives. The story centers on the small town of Jewell, Minnesota, and a close-knit community of people who nevertheless harbor personal demons and shameful secrets that boil to the surface when the body of a prominent (and universally despised) landowner is found floating in a nearby river.
The investigation into his murder stirs up barely concealed prejudice and bigotry camouflaged by the town's amenable facade.
Mr. Krueger's prose, as ever, is a pleasure to read, and his characters are well-drawn. The mystery at the heart of the story kept me guessing and, like a well-tuned engine, drove the action to a shocking conclusion.
In 1958, a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances in this dazzling standalone novel from the New York Times bestselling author of the "expansive, atmospheric American saga" (Entertainment Weekly) This Tender Land.
On Memorial Day, as the people of Jewel, Minnesota gather to remember and honor the sacrifice of so many sons in the wars of the past, the half-clothed body of wealthy landowner Jimmy Quinn is found floating in the Alabaster River, dead from a shotgun blast. Investigation of the murder falls to Sheriff Brody Dern,…
A big-budget Hollywood movie set is always full of surprises, but the last thing key costumer Joey Jessop expected to find on the first day of shooting was the body of a murdered coworker.
Because Joey found the body and the victim was seeing Joey's ex, she immediately becomes a suspect. Then the story blows up in the press and social media, throwing her well-ordered life into chaos. But as soon as Joey decides to dig for answers to clear her name, she discovers her troubles are just beginning when she is targeted by a killer.
Final Cut was chosen as an Amazon Editor's Pick in the best mystery, thrillers, and suspense category.
