The Exchange (John Grisham; 2023)
The Exchange, John Grisham’s sequel to The Firm, was a long time coming. The two books’ publication dates are separated by thirty-two years! Mitch and Abby McDeere are back, but it’s fifteen years after his Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert, and Locke collapsed. The couple now lives in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at Scully and Pershing, the largest gaggle of attorneys in the world.
Mitch is called to Rome to visit one of his elder partners there, setting in place a series of events that endangers Mitch, Abby, and his colleagues and their families. Sound familiar? Only the location has changed!
Mitch does take a sentimental trip back to Memphis, where he reunites with one of his partners from his days there. I’ll just say it doesn’t go swimmingly. He also makes a trip to, of course, Grand Cayman, allowing […]
The River Runs South (Audrey Ingram; 2023)
In Audrey Ingram’s The River Runs South, Camille Taylor has worked for and created a seemingly perfect life: a job she likes, a daughter she cherishes, and a husband she loves. Unexpectedly, her husband dies and Camille’s life is thrown into a tailspin. Hoping to grieve and then recover, she and her daughter retreat to the safety of her parents’ home in Mobile Bay, Alabama. Camille’s back home . . . finally.
As she slowly recovers from tragedy, Camille meets Mack Phillips, a fisherman and environmentalist. She learns Phillips is suing the company affiliated with her dad for run-off damage to the waters of the bay. Suddenly, Camille’s thrown into the middle of a fight between her father and Mack, between corporate greed and the public good, and between right and wrong. How she navigates those fights makes for a compelling […]
Dreamland (Nicholas Sparks; 2022)
Reading a Nicholas Sparks novel is like booking a room at a Hampton Inn–you pretty much know what you’re going to get. In a typical Sparks book, boy meets girl, boy and girl fall for each other, the relationship comes up against headwinds, and it all works out by the end of the story. Not so much with Dreamland, however.
Colby Mills, the male protagonist, is a farmer in Washington, NC, but we find him on St. Pete Beach, Florida at the novel’s beginning. Colby, who’s also a wannabe musician, has a several-weeks gig on the beach. There he meets Morgan Lee, a new college graduate who also writes and sings songs and has plans to make it professionally in Nashville. And, yes, boy meets girl–Colby and Morgan have a fleeting encounter that […]
Zero Days (Ruth Ware; 2023)
Ruth Ware’s Zero Days is her latest mystery novel, and it’s another five-star hit for this New York Times bestselling author. Diving into it, you’ll quickly learn why Ware is touted as today’s Agatha Christie.
Gabe and Jacintha (“Jack”) are a married couple who work together. You’ll think they’re up to no good from the very beginning, but quickly learn they are penetration experts. Companies hire them to physically break into their offices and hack their technology, revealing vulnerabilities in both physical and tech firewalls.
Returning home from her most recent job, Jack finds Gabe in a shocking situation that ignites the arc of the entire story. Ware takes the reader through twists and turns as Jack begins a mission to discover the truth behind the sudden change in her marital relationship
. I can’t […]
A Novel Proposal (Denise Hunter; 2023)
A Novel Proposal, best-selling author Denise Hunter’s latest release, is a fun beach read. In fact, most of the novel’s action takes place on a South Carolina beach, where the writer Sadie Goodwin has retreated to pen her first romance novel. While staying at her best friend’s mom’s beach house, she encounters a grumpy neighbor and the challenge of switching from western novels to the romance genre.
After putting out a neighborhood library box, she comes across a book hiding a very secret treasure. That sends Sadie on a mission to find its owner and, along the way, gives her plenty of material for her manuscript’s love story. Her winsome personality also sparks a change in her neighbor, and plays a key role in the book.
The book is light and fun, with plenty […]
The Exchange (John Grisham; 2023)
The Exchange, John Grisham’s sequel to The Firm, was a long time coming. The two books’ publication dates are separated by thirty-two years! Mitch and Abby McDeere are back, but it’s fifteen years after his Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert, and Locke collapsed. The couple now lives in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at Scully and Pershing, the largest gaggle of attorneys in the world.
Mitch is called to Rome to visit one of his elder partners there, setting in place a series of events that endangers Mitch, Abby, and his colleagues and their families. Sound familiar? Only the location has changed!
Mitch does take a sentimental trip back to Memphis, where he reunites with one of his partners from his days there. I’ll just say it doesn’t go swimmingly. He also makes a trip to, of course, Grand Cayman, allowing […]
The River Runs South (Audrey Ingram; 2023)
In Audrey Ingram’s The River Runs South, Camille Taylor has worked for and created a seemingly perfect life: a job she likes, a daughter she cherishes, and a husband she loves. Unexpectedly, her husband dies and Camille’s life is thrown into a tailspin. Hoping to grieve and then recover, she and her daughter retreat to the safety of her parents’ home in Mobile Bay, Alabama. Camille’s back home . . . finally.
As she slowly recovers from tragedy, Camille meets Mack Phillips, a fisherman and environmentalist. She learns Phillips is suing the company affiliated with her dad for run-off damage to the waters of the bay. Suddenly, Camille’s thrown into the middle of a fight between her father and Mack, between corporate greed and the public good, and between right and wrong. How she navigates those fights makes for a compelling […]
Dreamland (Nicholas Sparks; 2022)
Reading a Nicholas Sparks novel is like booking a room at a Hampton Inn–you pretty much know what you’re going to get. In a typical Sparks book, boy meets girl, boy and girl fall for each other, the relationship comes up against headwinds, and it all works out by the end of the story. Not so much with Dreamland, however.
Colby Mills, the male protagonist, is a farmer in Washington, NC, but we find him on St. Pete Beach, Florida at the novel’s beginning. Colby, who’s also a wannabe musician, has a several-weeks gig on the beach. There he meets Morgan Lee, a new college graduate who also writes and sings songs and has plans to make it professionally in Nashville. And, yes, boy meets girl–Colby and Morgan have a fleeting encounter that […]
Zero Days (Ruth Ware; 2023)
Ruth Ware’s Zero Days is her latest mystery novel, and it’s another five-star hit for this New York Times bestselling author. Diving into it, you’ll quickly learn why Ware is touted as today’s Agatha Christie.
Gabe and Jacintha (“Jack”) are a married couple who work together. You’ll think they’re up to no good from the very beginning, but quickly learn they are penetration experts. Companies hire them to physically break into their offices and hack their technology, revealing vulnerabilities in both physical and tech firewalls.
Returning home from her most recent job, Jack finds Gabe in a shocking situation that ignites the arc of the entire story. Ware takes the reader through twists and turns as Jack begins a mission to discover the truth behind the sudden change in her marital relationship. I can’t […]
A Novel Proposal (Denise Hunter; 2023)
A Novel Proposal, best-selling author Denise Hunter’s latest release, is a fun beach read. In fact, most of the novel’s action takes place on a South Carolina beach, where the writer Sadie Goodwin has retreated to pen her first romance novel. While staying at her best friend’s mom’s beach house, she encounters a grumpy neighbor and the challenge of switching from western novels to the romance genre.
After putting out a neighborhood library box, she comes across a book hiding a very secret treasure. That sends Sadie on a mission to find its owner and, along the way, gives her plenty of material for her manuscript’s love story. Her winsome personality also sparks a change in her neighbor, and plays a key role in the book.
The book is light and fun, with plenty […]