Book Reviews: Sunday Salon

 

The House Guest by Hank Phillippi Ryan

Feb. 3, 2023; Forge Books

Genre: thriller

My thoughts: The plot was clever and the characters unusual.  I was however disappointed in the personality of deceived wife, Alyssa, separated from unfaithful husband Bill. Alyssa feels Bill is playing tricks on her from afar, testing and harassing her from wherever he is hiding out.

Her new house guest, Bree, is a strange one, and I was suspicious of her from the beginning, especially as she seems to be planning with her friend Dez, to maybe trick Alyssa in her home. Alyssa seems so clueless at times, unaware, and often too dense to take in her situation and dealing with the cops and Bree and Dez

There are plot twists that show the reader may not be always correct in making assumptions right off the bat. Yet Alyssa is naive enough that you have to root for her as the novel goes on.

Audiobook 

Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman,  published January 7, 2020, Ballantine Books 

Genre: psychological thriller

Setting: Britain 

I reviewed this book on another blog five years ago and gave it a solid five stars. Now on listening to the audiobook, I'm just as impressed as I was when I first read the book.

Mr. Nobody is suffering from fugue, retrograde amnesia due to psychological trauma, which means he does not remember anything from his life before he found himself wandering on a beach in the north of England. Neuropsychiatrist, Emma Lewis, is called in to the hospital to diagnose and treat the patient, which becomes one of the most challenging cases in her career.

Mr. Nobody seems to know Emma, however, and maybe even her secrets from her past. Mr. Nobody may be a military man who has lost his memory. Nobody knows for sure. I don't recall the ending of the novel and am enjoying the audio and anticipating a dramatic ending.

Finished reading

The Mysterious Case of the Missing Crime Writer; Sept. 9, 2025; Minotaur Books, NetGalley

This novel is about the disappearance of a famous Icelandic crime writer, Elin S. Jonsdottir, whose sudden absence is investigated by a young detective, Helgi.  

The story is reminiscent of Agatha Christie's famous disappearance and reappearance, but the fictitious story of Elin is quite different. Elin's private life and the people involved in her life are key to the mystery, and the result of Helgi's search then becomes plausible. 

Helgi's own private romantic life is a side story added to the main plot. It makes the detective more human, and contributes to the novel's interest. 

This mystery is a traditional mystery and not noir, as so many Nordic mysteries are, but it was an enjoyable read, nevertheless.

Pick a Color by Souvankham Thammavongsa, (September 30, 2025; Knopf Canada; NetGalley

Genre: adult fiction, Canadian fiction, Laotian 

I enjoyed the realistic portrayal of a nail salon owner, Ning, how she deals with her staff and clients, and how she achieves the smooth running of her shop. Nings's observances of people and situations puts her on top of all possible scenarios that might crop up, and rewards the reader with astute and discerning commentary in this first person narration.

Ning is acutely aware of the biases and the stereotypes that the public makes of her occupation, even by her very own clients. This character driven novel is informative, giving us an inside look into a workplace and the staff and customers and their interactions or noninteractions as the case may be.

A highly recommended and unusual book.

About the author: Souvankham Thammavongsa is the author of four poetry books, and the award winning short story collection HOW TO PRONOUNCE KNIFE. She was born in the Lao refugee camp in Nong Khai, Thailand, and resides in Toronto.

What are you reading these days? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves 

Bookstore Browsing: Sunday Salon

 At the bookstore

 Book Display at the store 

Chairs and a cat on the Toshikazu Kawaguchi book covers; cats only on books by T. Shigematsu and Syou Ishida. The Japanese are certainly fond of cats. I bought Before Your Memory Fades, the most recent in the Before the Coffee Gets Cold series by Kawaguchi.

How many of these have you read, if any?

 On a poetry binge, I couldn't resist this new collection or its colorful cover.

The New Yorker started as a weekly in the mid-1920s, and is now published forty-seven times per year, with five of these issues covering two-week spans. Poems, cartoons, satire, and essays are included in each weekly. 

I like that there are many short and shorter poems on various subjects in the collection. makes for easy reading.

And  I had to get a thriller too

The House Guest by Hank Philippi Ryan, published 2023 by Forge Books.

Description: Alyssa Macallan is terrified when she’s dumped by her wealthy and powerful husband. She begins to suspect her toxic and manipulative soon-to-be-ex is scheming to ruin her—leaving her alone and penniless. And when the FBI shows up at her door, Alyssa knows she really needs a friend.

And then she gets a seductive new friend, one who’s running from a dangerous relationship of her own. 

Alyssa offers Bree Lorrance the safety of her guest house, and the two become confidantes and schemers. 

Currently reading/almost finished

I am enjoying the descriptions of the canals in the watery neighborhood of Venice, California, where The Water Lies (October 2025; NetGalley) takes place.

In this mystery, a heavily pregnant woman, Tessa, tries to find the link between Gigi, a woman she just met at a local cafe, and her toddler son who seemed to recognize her. 

When Gigi turns up drowned in the canal in front of her house, Tessa becomes unnerved and bent on finding out how her son was connected to Gigi, calling her by her name in the cafe. 

Enter Gigi's mom, Barb, also determined to find out how or why her daughter drowned in a shallow canal even though she had been a swim champion in school.

The two women, Tessa and Barb, work together, and so far there are so many twists and turns in the plot that I can't wait to find out what really happened. 

 

What are you reading this week? 

Memes:  The Sunday Post, It's Monday: What Are You Reading, Sunday Salon, and Stacking the Shelves