HOLIDAY Reading : Gillian McAllister and Nayantara Roy

 I've been reading thrillers by Gillian McAllister over the holidays, having finished several of Shari Lapena's mysteries. 

Also, a marvelous literary novel, family drama by Nayantara Roy

That Night: Frannie is the youngest of three siblings and has been coddled by them as the baby of the family. When Frannie hits and kills someone in a car accident in Italy, the siblings fly to her rescue, to bury and hide the body.  As time goes by, family ties and loyalties are tested when the cadaver is discovered in the forest where they had buried it.

What will close family members do for each other? How far will they cover up for each other? These and other questions are posed in this novel of death and blame. The questions multiply when a blackmailer is added to the list of people who know about the accident. I found this a suspenseful and gripping plot with very good character development. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC

Wrong Place, Wrong Time is about a woman who sees her teenage son stab someone one night. When she wakes the next morning, she finds it's yesterday, similar to the setting of Groundhog Day, so she plans to stop the stabbing from happening, by fixing the problem with her son before he commits the murder. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ebook

 

Famous Last Words: Literary agent Camilla is confused when she finds a strange note from her husband Luke who shows up later on television as a kidnapper who has killed two hostages in a warehouse and then disappeared. Cam tells herself and everyone else that Luke is a good man, in spite of what he seems to have done.

I had expected twists in the plot but was surprised at what they turned out to be. The story keeps the reader going, as we learn whether or not Luke is a "good man." An enjoyable plot with interesting characters and plot.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC

Now ReaAn enjoyable plot with interesting characters and plot.

Caller Unknown:  When Simone's daughter Lucy is kidnapped from their rental cabin in Texas, Simone decides to follow the kidnapper's demands in order to get Lucy back home safe. Even if means driving into Mexico to pick up an unknown package for the kidnappers. 

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC

Just Another Missing Person:  Julia, a detective, is being blackmailed by a kidnapper into framing someone else for the kidnaping and murder of the missing teen, Olivia.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the review ebook

Finished reading -Literary Fiction

Sisters of a Halved Heart will be published June 2, 2026. Algonquin Books. 

It's available now as an advance reader copy on NetGalley. 

About: a masterful story of rivalry and conflict between two Indian-American sisters and the strength of family love in the face of heartbreaking betrayal.

My review: This story of betrayal in a family of two Indian-American sisters is heartbreaking, especially since the sisters grew up close and responsible for and to each other. When Joy, the younger sister and a successful lawyer, "takes" what her sister Mira, a poetry editor, values most in life, Mira feels betrayed and there is estrangement between the two for some time.

Determined to get back together in spite of her heartbreak, Mira mentions the sacrifices she has made for her sister Joy, but does not get into the details. This sacrifice is revealed at the end of the book, but only to the reader and not to Joy. It came as a shock, leaving the reader with a feeling that there was deserved though unintended "retribution" that one sister secretly has over the other.

A masterful story of family betrayal mixed with family love and unity, well told.

What books are on your reading list now? 

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

The Final Work of Mario Vargas Llosa: I Give You My Silence

 Reviewed

I Give You My Silence by Mario Vargas Llosa (Feb. 24, 2026 publication). The last work of Nobel Prize winning author, who died in April 2025, after his final novel, I Give You My Silence, was written.

It's a love song and a farewell to Peru, where the author was born; throughout his life, he lived in the capital city of Lima, in London, and in Spain. The novel follows the life of Tono Alpizqueta, a fictional character who is an expert on the Peruvian vals/waltz, a guitar music born in the early 20th Century in the streets of Peru, which became popular among all social classes throughout the country. 

Tono hoped that the music would break the barriers of race and class in Peru and would cause all Peruvians to feel as one. This may not have happened, but it was a lofty and very optimistic, if an unrealistic and perhaps simplistic view held by Tono of the complexities of discrimination and the lasting effects of past Spanish colonialism in that country. 

Tono followed the sad and tragic life of Peru's greatest guitarist, Lalo Molfino, who took his life at a young age.

Vargas Llosa's novel is moving as he pays tribute to the Peruvian waltz and the people of the streets who first created and developed it.  His love of his people and his culture is evident in his final story of the people of Peru.

Thanks to the publisher, FS&G, and NetGalley for an advance reading of this book.  

Currently reading

Hidden in Memories by Viveca Sten, translated from the Swedish; Nov. 18, 2025; Amazon Crossing, NetGalley

The slaying of a hotel developer in the Swedish mountains casts a shadow over a blissful vacation paradise in a chilling novel of suspense by the acclaimed author of Hidden in Shadows. See my goodreads review.

One of my favorite mystery and thriller writers, Viveca Sten has written the third in the Are murder series.

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

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

Trust Your Mind by Jenara Nerenberg, and Other Books

 Nonfiction 

Delving into a few more nonfiction books, skimming through for the main ideas.

Trust Your Mind by Jenara Nerenberg, May 6, 2025; HarperOne; NetGalley

Genre: self help, adult nonfiction, health, mind and body

My take on this book: the author feels that people are not being honest with each other, not saying what's really on their minds or what they think about various topics society considers sensitive. This means that real conversation and debate is stifled in the interest of compliant behavior, not "rocking the boat" and only "going with the flow." 

My question about this is: if you are honest all the time, are you opening yourself to being slapped, punched, ostracized, or being canceled in this "cancel culture" ? Are we staying nice or neutral just to please or to fit in and be part of a group? 

Description: self-silencing culture and the toxic impact of groupthink. How to navigate an increasingly polarized world

Goodbye to Inflammation by Sandra Monino, July 1, 2025; HarperOne; NetGalley

A diet plan, recipes, and the basics to combat inflammation and improve health.

I'm interested in the anti-inflammatory diet plan that helps promote health, and downloaded this book to read in depth.

Currently reading: fiction  

The Gulf by Rachel Cochran, June 13, 2023; Harper; NetGalley

Genre: adult fiction, mystery, thriller

I pulled this book from my vast to be read list, chosen for the colors on the cover. I admit that blues and blue greens are a draw, also ice and snow on book covers, paradoxically.

The characters and plot are good, so far. Lou hasn't seen Joanna for a good fifteen years, when Joanna returns to town to ask Lou for a favor - to help refurbish the crumbling mansion of her late mother Kate, whose death might have been accidental, or not. 

Description: set on the gulf coast of Texas in the 1970s at the height of the women’s liberation movement, a closeted young woman attempts to solve her surrogate mother’s murder in a tight-knit, religious small town.

The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain, July 1, 2025; Pushkin Press; NetGalley

Genre: literary fiction, romance

I love everything Paris! This is a good reason to read this book - chasing through the city with a bookseller in search of the writer of the notebook he found.

Description: a bookseller pursues a mystery woman—known only through the jottings in her red notebook—through the streets of Paris.

What are you reading, watching, or listening to this week? 

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