PositiveAssociated PressMurkiness gives O’Farrell plenty of room to look for skips in the historical record and build Hitchcockian suspense ... O’Farrell has taken a historical footnote – the death of a 16-year-old duchess – and added imaginative strokes that paint a different picture.
Laurie Zaleski
RaveThe Washington PostAs its title promises, Laurie Zaleski’s memoir about how she came to found and run a large animal rescue farm in southern New Jersey is funny. It’s also moving, a big-hearted twin narrative of animal and human resilience. Zaleski alternates the stories of some of the Funny Farm’s most colorful animal characters with her own family’s turbulent history and escape from domestic violence ... Funny Farm’s story makes an enjoyable read for animal lovers and anyone interested in a true story of a generous and unconventional life.
Peter Heller
PositiveThe Associated PressHeller pulls off a rare balancing act once again: He gives us fast-paced action and intrigue, interspersed with closely observed, reflective nature writing...Speed up for the crime-solving, slow down for the Zen ... What holds it all together is the likeable character of Jack ... As in Maclean’s books, fishing gets its own star turn. It’s a source of solace, focus and connection. Heller uses many opportunities to capture it poetically, keeping the river at the center of this tale, too.
Peter Heller
PositiveToronto Star (CAN)In his new mystery, author Peter Heller pulls off a rare balancing act once again: He gives us fast-paced action and intrigue, interspersed with closely observed, reflective nature writing ... Fishing gets its own star turn. It’s a source of solace, focus and connection. Heller uses many opportunities to capture it poetically, keeping the river at the center of this tale, too.
Aimee Molloy
RaveThe Philadelphia InquirerMolloy keeps the dialogue sexy and the action brisk, switching back and forth between one character’s first-person account and a third-person narrator describing everything else. The author has fun toying with the conventions of gender in pop culture, and the assumptions we make. It adds up to a book you’ll read late into the night, trying to figure out where the next twist will take you.
Jeanine Cummins
RaveABC NewsIn her beautiful, suspenseful and timely new novel...Jeanine Cummins succeeds in taking migration — one of the central issues of our time — and bringing it down to human size ... Cummins has drawn some criticism for taking on this subject without being Mexican herself. But she clearly has done her research, and her characters struck this reader as relatable and human, not stereotypes ... This important novel gives us a shake and makes us want to pay more attention.
Peter Heller
PositiveThe Associated Press... partly an ode to the Northern wilderness, partly a survival how-to, and mostly a thriller — suspenseful and gut-wrenching ... Heller dives deep into the details of wilderness camping — so deep that sometimes you just want to jump ahead and find out what happens. Likewise with his acute and poetic observations of nature. But he is setting the scene and establishing two likable and memorable characters in Wynn and Jack. Each brings a different perspective to the violence and tragedy they encounter.
