Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf

Sometimes, when the Recommender is doing something else, like working on cartoons or painting a room, I get to listen to audiobooks! Recently, I listened to a few really good ones with great narrators that kept you wanting to listen, even if your work was all done.

Such was the case with Heather Gudenkauf's Before She Was Found. The narrator, Brittany Presley,  really became the characters in this riveting story based, loosely, on the Slenderman myth which inspired 2 young girls to stab their friend 19 times to impress this fictional character.

Told from varying viewpoints and through journals and texts that begin by describing a nightmarish late night encounter by the railroad tracks, Before She was Found grabs the reader (or listener!) and immerses them in the lives of these characters, especially those of three twelve year old girls, Violet, the new girl in the town of Pitch, Iowa. Cora, an outcast among her peers, someone who is not good at sports or the other activities the girls in town excel at and with a strict father, and a pretty, popular sister, she spends time writing in her journal and trying to fit in without attracting the notice of her frenemy, Jordyn. Queen of the mean girls, Jordyn is always the first to point out Cora's lack of popularity and loser status. Raised by her grandparents, who live over the bar her grandfather owns, she is often out on her own, running wild, bullying others and getting into trouble.

Violet ends up in Pitch by accident when her mother's car breaks down, so she, her mother and brother end up staying in town, Cora hopes Violet will be her new best friend.They both like to draw and Violet is particularly gifted. Jordyn decided Violet should be her friend and sets out to steal her away, though it sometimes seems to bring them closer together.  Especially when their favorite teacher gives them an assignment on "urban myths". Violet and Cora decide to work together, but the school has a motto of no child left behind, so  to speak... like, if you don't have a place to sit for lunch,  you'll be added to a table so the teacher adds Jordyn to their group.

What happens after that is the core of the story. working together, Jordyn belittles Violet and Cora's ideas and suggests a much more sinister subject. This subject begins to ensnare the girls as they research the back story and make plans that include a sleepover.

This is the first of  Ms. Gudenkauf's books that I've read (or listened to!) and it was excellent. There is a reveal that is a bit surprising but I give nothing away! You will have to read (or listen to!) this story to find out what happens!

I Spy: "Woman in the Window" by A. J. Finn

Anna Fox lives alone in a large house in a NY Harlem neighborhood with a small park that separates her from the neighbors across the way. She likes a glass of wine, or a few bottles of wine, and spends her days watching classic black and white noir mystery films and spying on her neighbors through a long camera lens. Very "Rear Window". Though instead of a broken leg keeping her housebound, she suffers from crippling agoraphobia.

A former child psychologist, she keeps in touch with her therapist mentor and has home visits from a  a physical therapist who is helping her recover from a mysterious accident and who has become a confidant. She does have a tenant who lives in her basement apartment, and he comes and goes and once in a while helps her out. Other than him and her cat, she really doesn't see anyone else. Her husband and daughter seem to stay in touch only by phone, so when a young teenage boy knocks at her door  with a gift from his mother, she is surprised but intrigued by his precociousness and interest in the movies she watches. After all, she specialized in damaged children, and there seemed to be something this boy was hiding.  He mentioned a strict father. Abuse perhaps?  And then, one afternoon, his mother pays her a visit. They get along and even play chess... and then, she seems to disappear.  Or did she. What did  Anna see through her camera lens? Something so horrible, it couldn't be real, could it? This is a thriller that will keep you up late reading (or listening) as you wonder if Anna is hallucinating or a witness to a crime.

This was another book I listened to while illustrating a book and it kept me listening even after my work for the day was finished. The audio is narrated by Ann Marie Lee who does a great job of bringing these characters to life and keeping the mystery alive to the very end. I have to say, as a long time fan of the movies Mr. Finn describes, he knows his genre! If you haven't seen the movies Ms. Fox watches over and over, you'll be searching for ways to stream them after you finish the book!

Who Do You Love? "Of Love and Family": Tainted Love Saga # 2 by Kayla Lowe

 

This might contain Spoilers for anyone who hasn't read Ms. Lowe's first book in this captivating series, Of Love and Deception. 

When we last left Sarah, she had helped move her online "Phantom", Bruce, to an apartment close enough for her to visit. While he wasn't quite what she was expecting, he wasn't in his 30's as he claimed in his messages to her, she tried to remember this was the man who knew her better than anyone. So she thought.

When he turned out to be in his 50's, a divorced ex-con with kids not much younger than her, she still tried to justify all the deceit, despite her parent's objections. Packing her bags and moving out while they were at work, she left them a note, and took a taxi to the man who seemed to love her more than anything! Just like the Phantom loved Christine!

Of Love and Family begins with Sarah spending her first night in Bruce's apartment, where he behaves like a gentleman and sleeps on sofa cushions letting her have the bed. This is the start of her new life. Or is it? She wasn't quite ready to give up her parents and brother and her best friend, her cousin, Addison. She was someone who loved being part of her family and all the relatives and celebrations and holidays that went along with that.  She finds herself torn between the contempt her parents have for Bruce and her perhaps misguided love for a man even older than her father. Is Bruce going to be the answer to her dreams? 

You'll have to find out for yourself  in this compelling story of a young woman who seemed to have everything going for her and gave it up for love.

Deja Vu: "You Again," by Debra Jo Immergut

Abigail Willard is heading home from work one rainy night when she sees something that makes her leave the comfort of her taxi and leap over puddles into the downpour. She stands, rain soaked, as she watches a young woman emerge from a doorway. That young woman is Abby, the Abby she used to be... 20 or so years ago.
Ms. Immergut immediately grabs the reader and immerses them in this impossible dual life. Can two Abbys coexist in the same world? The Abby of today works as a graphic artist for a pharmaceutical company. Once she was an artist, one that was recognized for her unique understanding of color and design. She had passion and believed in herself . Now, that dream seems to belong to the past. To the other Abby.
 The 46 year old Abby is also a wife, married to another artist, a man she met at art school, who once had a promising career as a sculptor.  Together they have two challenging teenage sons. Not sure if what she has seen is a hallucination, a dream or a vision... she begins to search for her younger self at the old haunts she frequented back when she was first getting to know the city. There is so much she would tell this version of  herself. Will she get the chance?

Abby's story is interspersed with documents and texts and notes made by therapists and doctors. Something has happened or will happen or might happen to Abigail as she tries to make sense of the visions and also deal with her older son's questionable new interests and her midlife questioning of her marriage and choices.

Not giving too much away, let me just say I found Abby to be a heartbreakingly believable character, especially from the viewpoint of those of us making a living in the arts. As you enter the world that these Abbys inhabit and lose yourself in their story, there are surprises in store and mysteries, both mystical and medical.  I worried for these Abbys and had to stay up late so I could find out everything that happens! This is a must read for anyone who loves the sort of book that will have you thinking about it long after that final page is turned. I loved this one, a 5 star Militant Recommendation! Thank you to Edelweiss for the DRC!

Walk on the Wild Side: "How to Be Human” by Patricia Cocozza

How to Be Human by Patricia Cocozza begins with a woman finding a baby on the doorstep of the cottage where she lives, and from there develops into the growing relationship between this woman, Mary, and a fox she sees in her garden, which backs a woodsy area. 

Mary is a young divorced woman who got to keep the house in her divorce, and although relieved to be free of her controlling husband, a sense of loneliness now permeates her life.  The fox becomes an obsession for her and a menace to her neighbors. 

This fox is not only a wild creature but seems to sense what Mary needs, besides its  friendship. It begins to shower her with gifts. Gifts which Mary at first finds puzzling but later begins to look forward to. These tokens must mean something. Is this fox, her fox, trying to tell her something?

 Meanwhile, around her, her neighbors visit and squabble and complain. Her ex-husband seems to be lurking in the neighborhood. Her job is a trial and boring. More and more she longs to be done with everything and just spend quiet evenings in her yard waiting for the fox to appear. As she and the fox become closer you get the fox’s viewpoint for some of the events that occur.

What happens in this beautifully written story unfolds slowly and you begin to see how this charming, clever creature would captivate Mary, and the reader and the Militant Recommender, as well! 

Our house is a very, very, very fine house: "Piranesi" by Susanna Clarke

Piranesi, a young man, and maybe one of only two people in the world, is our narrator and guide into one of the most unusual habitats ever created. His home is a house so big it contains an ocean, with its tides that come and go and affect the way he lives. This impossible house is filled with hundreds of rooms and in each of these rooms are tier upon tier of marble and stone statues.

These statues depict everything from a huge gorilla to a woman carrying a beehive, to a man removing a thorn from a child's foot to a room of Minotaurs. They are so lovingly described and in such detail you can picture each and every one as Piranesi makes his rounds, writes in his journals, cares for several skeletons and fishes in a sunken lake. It seems to Piranesi that he has always been here. There may have been a before the House but it is a vague memory that seems to be just out of reach. It doesn't trouble him as the House provides him with all that he needs.

On Tuesdays and Fridays, Piranesi meets with "the Other", his friend and mentor of sorts. The Other is an older gentleman with a trim beard and always well dressed and looking very dapper despite the chill and damp and the constant presence of the ocean.Sometimes he is so deep in thought, he becomes annoyed with Piranesi, other times he encourages his feedback.

The Other doesn't seem to love the House and its contents as Piranesi does. And where does he go the other days of the week? Piranesi is content living among the statues and the birds who often nest amidst these giant beings. Is there more to this world of sea and stone? Where do the birds come from or go to?  I will say no more! You will have to uncover these mysteries of the House for yourself!

This is a beautifully written book by the brilliant and imaginative Susanna Clarke who gave us the masterpiece Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. She has a unique ability to create a world you totally believe in and while completely different than Jonathan Strange it is no less magical!  Highly recommended! Thank you to Edelweiss for allowing me the pleasure of reading an advance DRC!!!

Don't You Forget About Me: "The Memory Police" by Yoko Ogawa.

Yoko Ogawa's The Memory Police is set in an unstated time on an unnamed island, the population of which live in fear under the supervision of the Memory Police. Under their martial law, anything at any time can be disappeared.These disappearances take many forms, from people to everyday objects to birds and flowers.

The narrator is a young woman, an author of novels that reflect her life and the world she’s grown up in. She lives alone in her parents home, both of whom have passed on. Her mother, a sculptor, was summoned by the Memory Police, and died soon after. Her best friend is an old man who lives on a rusting boat in the harbor. Other than him, her closest relationship is with R. her editor.

The author makes you care for these three characters and the comfort they find in one another despite the bleak and disturbing circumstances in which they live and the ever present menace of the Memory Police that might break down your door and take you away in the middle of the night or on a regular afternoon with everyone watching.

This was a really dark book, even for me! But I couldn’t put it down, either, because I had to know how things turned out. It has elements of 1984, as far as the Memory Police, themselves, and the self enforced brain washing of memories deemed dangerous for the state.

  Simple Minds say it best via the miracle of YouTube!