Shark Heart

Habeck, Emily. Shark Heart: A Love Story. New York : MarySue Rucci  2023. Print.

First Sentences:

Lewis: In the early days after I left New York, I would ruminate, doubt all my choices. But when I met you, I began to thank my failure. Maybe failing was a kind of miracle. Maybe everything happened just right. 

Description:

Please stick with me to read this review after I tell you the plot. It sounds wacky with a capital "W" I know, but I assure you that if you at least read this recommendation and then hopefully give this compelling novel a try, it will be very much worth your time and enjoyment.

 

Shark Heart by Emily Haback, is a love story between two young people, just as the book's subtitle announces. Wren ("like the bird") is a successful accountant satisfied with her "medium-sized life" of safe, ordinary choices. Lewis is an aspiring actor currently teaching junior high drama and directing his school's plays. They meet, court awkwardly, and eventually marry.

On one of her solo excursions, Wren met a man in a yellow shirt who made her feel that the world was a good place, and the world was a good place because she was someone living in it. 

So far, so good, right?

 

But then Lewis begins to notice small changes in his body: a flattening of his nose, patches of scaly skin on his back, slight protuberances on his sides, and "colors losing their vibrancy." The doctor calmly gives him the diagnosis. Lewis has the carcharodon carcharias mutation.

 

He is turning into a great white shark. There is no cure. 

 

But odd as this premise sounds, the book triumphs in so many ways. The characters Wren and Lewis continue with their lives, adapting to the gradual changes due to his condition. Their relationship is strong, loving, and deep, which comes through on every page with their conversations, actions, and time spent with each other. 

They are wonderful characters with no quit in them, people whom author Habeck paints with an honest, sincere brush without being sappy or succumbing to a farcical approach to this situation. 

Wren became soft and young when she was learning [with Lewis about plays, books, etc.]. and in these moments, Lewis pretended they'd gone back in time together. On this imagined plane, Lewis and Wren were sixteen years old, discovering new music and spiraling into the sort of cloudless love that fears no consequences.  

The second half of the book details the life of Wren's mother, Angela, pregnant with Wren at 15, and then leading a difficult life raising a child on her own while dealing with her own medical problems. But there is always a deep affection between mother and child that glows throughout this narrative which brings new clarity to the figure of Wren and her life before Lewis:

Angela and Wren interpreted the night sky in their own way, drawing and naming constellations. It was their secret language, an orbiting, silent elegy. For example, the Big and Little Dippers were two kites flying next to each other. Angela and Wren pretended they held the kite strings, keeping the taut universe floating.

I cannot give away any more. But please trust me that this is a book worth reading, an unusual plot that somehow makes sense, and love stories between multiple characters that are satisfying and admirable. The impression readers are left with is one of hope, love, adaptability, and perseverance. 

Give it a try and I don't think you will be disappointed.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Kafka, Franz. The Metamorphosis.

One day a man, Gregor Samson, awakes to find himself turned into a giant insect. A classic tale of horror, questions, and adaptations.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 490 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

Wild Dark Shore - New First Sentence Reader recommendation

McConaghy, Charlotte. Wild Dark Shore. New York : Flatiron 2025. Print.

 

First Sentences:

I have hated my mother for most of my life but it is her face I see as I drown.

Description:

The setting of Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy is an isolated island near Antarctica, 1500 miles from the nearest landmass. It is the home of an international seed preservation vault along with an non-functioning lighthouse. A family of four lives on this bitterly cold island, hired to oversee the seed vault ("built to withstand anything the world could throw at it; it was meant to outlast humanity"). They regularly check the temperature, any water leakage, and make any repairs to the equipment needed to maintain the vault and its contents. 

They are joined occasionally on this island by scientists studying the environment, animals, weather, and of course, the seed vault. Then, too, there are thousands of seals, penguins, walruses, albatrosses, whales, and other marine animals who, due to their isolated separation from humans, have no fear of the other inhabitants of this lonely site. The family members can freely intermingle among this wildlife.

This is a strong family, with deep ties to each other and acceptance of their roles on their close-knit team to complete the daily tasks set by their stern father to keep the vault and their own lives thriving.

 

You are not meant to have favorites, but my youngest is that...Not because we are least alike; That is my daughter and me. Maybe it is because he is curious and kind and so smart it can make your eyes water. Maybe it's because he whispers to the wind and hears its voice in return. Most likely I don't know why. But it may also be because, for one brief moment long ago. I wished him dead. 

Into this world during a tremendous storm, they discover woman's body floating offshore amongst the rocks. When the body is retrieved, the family is astonished to find woman is somehow alive. What she is doing in this part of the ocean is a mystery she keeps to herself as she slowly recovers and eventually joins the family in maintaining their work and lifestyles.

 

But she is not the only one hiding secrets. Each of the family members is carefully guarding their own individual secrets as well as possibly a bigger family secret. And the scientists? They've all recently left the island rather suddenly. They have noticed the sea water rising on the island due to global warming, signaling the end of their living quarters, experiments, and even the seed vault itself. But they have mysteriously decided to leave before the precious seeds were prepared to be moved to a safer location via the next supply ship...which is not scheduled to come for eight weeks. 

 

Worst of all, the family has only recently found that the entire communication system for the island was intentionally destroyed beyond repair. Coupled with the fact that all the electricity was knocked out by the storm that brought the woman into their lives, they realize that they have to rely on batteries, chargers, and their wits to move prepare the seeds until the supply ship comes. And also survive.

 

And that is how this engrossing book starts. Each brief chapter focuses on one of the characters, delving into each mind to reveal their thoughts, musings over decisions, rationalizations for their actions, and how they envision their own and their family's future. We slowly learn their secrets, get insight into their personalities, and understand the histories that affect their individual decisions.

 

This is a story of the power of love, of family, of duty, and of survival. All characters face the challenges of isolation, weather, tragedy, and family members every day as they fight to preserve the historic seeds and address relationships with those on the island and from their past. 

 

I loved this book and give it my highest recommendation. It is absorbing, tautly challenging, and completely unpredictable right up to its very edge-of-your-seat ending. Un-put-down-able.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out these two:]

 Stedman, M.L. The Light Between Oceans.

A young couple, caretakers for a working lighthouse, find washed ashore on their remote island a small boat containing a baby. Should they try to find its parents or remain quiet and keep the child as their own? (Previously reviewed here.)

Stonex, Emma. The Lamplighters.

A historic novel based on the sudden disappearance of all three lighthouse keepers from their isolated station. When searched, the lighthouse was found to be in immaculate condition. But the men left no trace of their fate and they were never found. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 490 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

 

Columbus Noir

 Welsh-Huggins, Andrew (ed). Columbus Noir. Brooklyn : Akashic 2020. Print.

First Sentences:

You can kill a lot more than time in Columbus these days. Gang slayings, fetanyl poisoning, murder-suicide: we have it all, soup to nuts. Yet it's not like the older, supposedly kinder and gentler Columbus had completely disappeared. 


Description:

I thought I had found a rare and unique gem in Columbus Noir (edited by Andrew Welsh-Huggins). What a great idea it presented: crime writings by authors from Columbus, Ohio, using their city as the backdrop for every one of their short stories. I revealed great writing from local authors of renown who allowed me to recognize landmark sites in Columbus along with familiar restaurants and neighborhoods on every page. 

 

Little did I know that Akashic Press, publishers of Columbus Noir, had created similar dark crime books from local authors for 123 different cities. So, while Colmbus Noir is not a unique concept, nonetheless it is well worth the time of any reader interested in this seedy mystery/detective/crime fiction, especially if you want to read offerings from authors you may not be familiar with which focus on Columbus.

 

Like all great noir fiction, this collection is full of tales of hardened men, gorgeous women, nefarious baddies, dark streets, and twisty plots. Always, one can never be certain which character is telling the truth, who is plotting a double cross, and who will come through (or run away) when the going gets tough, as it always does. 

 

The characters are clearly drawn, but full of complexities that are only revealed later. The plots are wildly compelling, offering no easy courses of action which will release the characters from threatening situations without engaging in some sort of evil or violent solutions. 

 

Here's a sampling of the crime stories you will find here:

• A college graduate assistant teacher who falls for a beautiful student, but soon needs to end the relationship without incriminating himself;

• A gossipy woman overhears the plans of a young woman and her fiance to marry without her parents' approval, then works behind the scenes to disrupt their future;

• A cop who has been stealing drugs from the police evidence storage is discovered by a ruthless criminal who threatens him with exposure;

• A beautiful real estate agent begins an affair with her ordinary-looking next door neighbor to start a house-flipping partnership;

• A young girl, seeking drugs for her abusive boyfriend, hides out in a cemetery where she meets an old man offering her shelter, wisdom, and maybe more. 

Needless to say, I devoured these tales quickly. Each story was gripping, full of questionable characters that I thought I knew and could predict their intentions and actions ... right up to the very end when everything always got turned on its head. A great read to curl up with and experience a darker side of Columbus and its inhabitants.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Welsh-Huggins. The Mailman.

The editor of Columbus Noir has written this wonderfully gripping, unpredictable thriller that I only recently discovered. One of the best I have ever read, and now highly recommend it. 

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe

Puertolas, Romain. The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir Who Got Trapped in an Ikea Wardrobe. New York : Knopf 2014. Print.

First Sentences:

The first word spoken by the Indian man Ajatashatru Oghast Rathod upon his arrival in France was, oddly enough, a Swedish word. Ikea

Description:

Well, I'm not going to tell you much of anything about this delightful book except the premise and the factors that send the ensuing actions in motion:

• First, Ajatashatru Oghast Rathod ("pronounced a-jar-of-rat-stew-oh-gosh"  or "a-cat-in-a-bat-suit" among other helpful tips from the author), arrives in Paris with one mission in mind: find the nearest IKEA store, buy a bed of nails for sale at this store which he plans to use in his professional life as an Indian street fakir/con-man/magician), and then take the flight home to India with his purchase the following day. Simple, huh?

• But he falls asleep underneath a bed in the IKEA store until after closing and, to avoid detection, hides in a large display cabinet.

• The cabinet is unexpectedly sealed in bubble wrap by these security men and loaded onto a plane for delivery, never noticing its hidden content, and thus sealed him in.

• The cabinet and he are unloaded in another foreign airport where Ajatashatru's adventure begins as he tries to return to IKEA, make his purchase, and return home. 

To add to his problems, he is pursued by the irate taxi driver who first transported him from the Paris airport to IKEA and found his passenger had paid him with a fake 100 Euro bill. He is out for blood and will follow Ajatashatru wherever he must to get his money and revenge.

 

That's all you get from me. This all happens in the first few pages. If you are still with me, you are a great candidate for this book. Quirky, unexpected, delightful, sympathetic, and romantic escapades follow our hero each one of which he narrowly escapes by luck, the kindness of strangers, or his own wits.

 

Give it a shot. It's a very short book, a good afternoon of reading during the inclement December weather while you recover from the stress of the holidays and the world around you. It's a fun romp, complete escapism, and I loved it.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 

Jonasson, Jonas. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared.

Another book with a lengthy title that traces the travels, people, and experiences of a curious man fed up with his life in a retirement home and decides to seek adventure in the outside world, elephants and all. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 490 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

The Strange Case of Jane O

Walker, Karen Thompson. The Strange Case of Jane O. New York : Random House 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

Jane O. came to my office for the first time in the spring of that year. She was thirty-eight years old. Her medical history contained nothing unusual. This was her first visit, she said, to a psychiatrist....What I remember most about that first day is how lonely this woman seemed. I am not talking about ordinary loneliness. This was something else, a kind of loneliness of the soul.


Description:

Three days after that opening paragraph meeting, Dr. Byrd, the psychiatrist, received a call from the local emergency room. A woman had been found unconscious in a park by a maintenance worker who brought her to the ER. She had no wallet, no keys, no identification at all. She told the ER staff her name was Jane. She said her doctor's name was Dr. Byrd and thus he was contacted by the ER staff.

 

But strangely, this woman had no memory of anything that had happened to her in the previous 25-hour period of her life, nor how she arrived at the park where she had been found.

"The last thing I remember," she said, "is filling my teakettle with water." This was her habit, she said, to make a cup of tea right after dropping her infant son at his daycare.

She begins to see Dr. Byrd professionally to try to understand what caused her blackout and what had occurred in her life during those missing 25 hours. Turns out, she had already briefly met Dr. Byrd 20 years earlier, but she would not reveal to him why they had met. 

Through their new sessions, he learns she has hyperthymesia, a perfect memory that forgets nothing seen, heard, or experienced. He is astonished to learn she is able to recite the names of every book on his office shelves, the miscellaneous items on his desk, newspaper headlines, weather conditions...from their only session 20 years ago. 

Although her memory is faultless, she does relate to Dr. Byrd a few stories that he knows are untrue, such as Jane memory of discovering her upstairs neighbor dead in her apartment, seeing and talking with a man she knew was dead, or her fear about an unusual disease that was currently sweeping the country. Dr. Byrd had met her neighbor (in good health) and had no evidence that any disease currently in the world. Yet Jane swore these were true events she experienced.

[Jane thought] I guess I should consider whether [Dr. Byrd's] right, that my conviction that [my neighbor's death] is meaningless is evidence of its meaning. Once a mind begins to question itself, there is no bottom to its questioning. In one sense, I am conducting an investigation with a flawed instrument. 

With no medical abnormalities or injuries after being found in the park, Jane freely resumed to her life, her work as a librarian, and her sessions with Dr. Byrd. That is, until one day she misses her appointment with him. It is soon discovered that she and her son are missing, unable to be found anywhere.

What and who to believe? Jane is so sane, so calm. Yet she has seemingly told lies about her life and now is somewhere unknown, moving with an infant son and occasionally briefly caught on surveillance cameras in stores and restaurants in scattered places.

Gripping, puzzling, sympathetic, solid, and full of hidden secrets leading to unexplainable behaviors pulls readers along page after page. Narrated alternately by Jane and Dr. Byrd, we glimpse their inner thoughts and questions as we slowly unravel who they are and what causes their actions. 

And best of all, readers will not know the final outcome until the final sentences. What is better in a story that that? Highly recommended.

What might it mean for a life, [Dr. Byrd] wondered, if one's memories were never subject to alteration or decay, if one's most precious experiences glowed permanently in the mind, always intact, forever whole?....[But] a mind like Jane's would preserve not only the treasured memories but also the loathed ones. Every old joy would remain forever at hand -- but every sadness, too, every terror, every shame. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Watson,S.J.. Before I Go to Sleep.

The narrator has a memory that lasts only one day, then forgets everything about herself and life by the next day. But she has doggedly determined that someone may be trying to kill her. So she must figure out a way to remember who is to be trusted and who to be suspicious of. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

 

Fred

Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title (and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964

Silverberg, Robert ed.. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964s. New York : Tom Doherty Associates 1970. Print.

 

First Sentences:

This is as nearly definitive an anthology of modern science fiction stories as is likely to be compiled for quite some time. Its contents were chosen by vote of the membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America, an organization of some three hundred professional writers whose roster includes virtually everyone now living who has ever has science fiction published in the United States.


Description:

For science fiction fans like me, you probably got hooked on the genre in your youth and in school classes, reading short stories by the great writers of the previous and current eras: Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein,Keyes, Leiber, van Vogt, and many others.

 

Well, here in The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964 (edited by Robert Silverberg) you can read the best of the best of these great writers. These were selected by chosen by the National Science Fiction Writers of America from stories published in America during that period. This era was before the SF Nebula Awards for science fiction were started, so this book preserves what SF writers felt were the stories and authors which should be honored. 

 

Sure, the book is 560 pages long, but you don't have to read it cover to cover (although I did). Chronologically arranged with selected stories first published in 1934 and ending 1963, you can wallow in the visions of these writers of what the future might look like.

 

Here is a sampling of the stories offered in this wonderful collection:

• Nightfall (Isaac Asimov) - A planet with multiple suns has never seen a darkened sky....until scientists predict a coming total eclipse. It is said that if Asimov had never written anything after this, one of his first short stories, he and his reputation would be lauded forever;

• Mars Is Heaven (Ray Bradbury) - The third expedition to Mars, after the first two were mysteriously lost, reveals to crewmen that their families and hometowns are now located on this planet;

•  Mimsy Were the Borogoves (Lewis Padgett) - A box of toys transported from the distant future falls into the hands of two children, and their lives, and the lives of their parents, are changed dramatically;

• Arena (Fredric Brown) - A lone space traveler, scouting ahead of Earth battleships facing an equally-strong alien fleet about to do battle in the far reaches of space, suddenly finds himself trapped in a large sandy enclosure and facing an unknown alien. Their one-on-one duel to the death will determine the fate of both fleets of ships overhead as well as that of the civilizations of the winners and losers; 

• The Nine Billion Names of God (Arthur C. Clarke) - A remote lamasery of monks, working for three centuries on a complete list of possible names for God, now employs a computer to reach their goal ...but what will happen then?

• Flowers for Algernon (Daniel Keyes) - Probably everyone has heard of but not actually read this wonderfully-written story of a mentally retarded man who undergoes an experiment which makes him super-intelligent.  

Each story captures a vision of the future along with its machines and people who attempt to reconcile themselves to their landscape, government, society, and dreams. Each is a unique vision full of challenges, questions, humanity, technology, and just plain old interesting situations and characters.

 

You will not be disappointed by any of these tales. If you don't like one, just skip to the next. There are many choices for any reader's tastes and dreams of the future. Well worth your time to experience these creative stories for the first time or re-visit old favorites by the masters.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Silverbert, Robert ed. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two A and B

Expansion of the original Volume One short stories, now featuring novellas (short novels) during the same period, and equally great for any science fiction lover.

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

 

I Leave It Up to You

Chong, Jinwoo. I Leave It Up to You. New York : Ballentine 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

Waking up is an easy thing to do. To be asleep, then not. To be a mind out there in the dark with no ground underneath, no legs or arms,no chest, no blood pumping in rhythmic bursts up my neck,no body at all, no hands, no hair or eyes, no ass or dick. Yes, sir, just your eyeless, handless, assless, dickless self just handing out there in space for forever until suddenly, you're not. Because suddenly is in fact the best word I can think of to describe it.


Description:

Jinwoo Chong's captivating novel, I Leave It Up to You, has a simple premise. After a man unexpectedly wakes up from a coma after almost two years, how does he put his life back together? How does he understand a world that has experienced COVID and he has not? How does he reconnect with friends, family, lovers, and his own past? And where will these questions and answers lead him as he tries to move forward with his life?

 

Jack Jr., the narrator, is a Korean twenty-something man who, in the first pages, suddently, unexpectedly wakes up in a hospital room from a two-year, medically-induced coma. Struggling to figure out what happened to bring him to this place, how long he has been away from the world, and what this all means to the reality he now faces is fascinating to watch unfold from his point of view. Ironically, he finds he can remember everything about his past with the exception of the exact events which landed him in the hospital and his ensuing coma.

Why did my entire body feel like vibrating air? Like Jell-O? Like it was broken in every conceivable place and hastily put back together again by someone with only a loose understanding of the human body and which of its parts fit into each other?....Thinking coherent thoughts felt a little like trying to juggle a pack of angry puppies that didn't want to be anywhere near me... 

Jack Jr. remembers his partner Ren, but wonders why he has had no contact with that very personal friend since awakening. He also senses a hesitation from his family and hospital staff when asked about Ren. Jack Jr. does recall a rift with his family that made him move from their home in New Jersey ten years ago and his refusal to have any dealings with them for the past ten years. And he remembers a strong rejection while working in the struggling family sushi restaurant run by his elderly, highly skilled father. 

But now he knows he needs to move forward as well as recreate his past. Upon leaving the hospital, he tries to find Ren, work to understand his father and the sushi restaurant that consumes him, and explore new relationships both with his family and new people who become important figures to his growth.

 

This is a quiet novel, an introspection of the world and people as seen through the mind and eyes of a conflicted, confused, but wondering individual. It is also a vision of how once-close people react and adapt to someone who was taken from them for years and has suddenly returned to be a part of their lives -- or to reject them again.

[For the people waiting for him to wake from the coma]  It was not a tight, quick wound that hurt the most in the first few seconds. I bet it was slow. I bet it was like putting your hand in a  pot of cold water and turning on the stove.

I was completely absorbed by this book and the detailed characters it presented. The challenges they all faced, from family and friends trying to deal with Jack Jr.'s return and state of mind, to Jack Jr. himself and his attempts to understand the world and his newly restored life, make every page one of discovery, growth, failure, communication, uncertainty, and questions. For readers, it is a very interesting, challenging way to spend a few days, introducing you to complex people while making you wonder from page to page how the characters will fare and what roads they will take.

It was a beautiful, lucky place to be, to know someone as well as you possibly could, to know what to do to make them better. And for now, in the universe of things we had left to say, this would have to be enough. 

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Feeney, Alice. Sometimes I Lie.

The narrator wakes up in a hospital room, unable to move any part of her body or respond to her husband and sister who visit. But, unbeknownst to them, she can still hear and unbeknownst to them listens in on their conversations. Through these overheard talks, she tries regain her memory and puzzle out the situation that brought her to this condition. Twists, turns, lies, deceptions, and mysteries abound in this delicious novel. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

I See You've Called in Dead

Kenney, John. I See You've Called in Dead. New York : Zibby 2025. Print.

First Sentences:

The good news, of course, is that someone died today. That came out wrong. My name is Bud Stanley. I am an obituary writer. 

 

Description:

For starters, my wife loved this book and laughed out loud frequently while reading it, a very good sign that this would be a story worth it for me to dive into. The clever title to John Kenney's novel, I See You've Called in Dead, was also enticing. Most importantly, from the first few sentences, it seemed to have an interesting, quirky narrator with an unusual job (obituary writer), who was facing a turning point in his life. I was hooked.

Bud Stanley, the obituary writer, has been having a bad time getting serious about his writing assignments and living his life in general. His boss and friend at United World Press, an international news supplier to the world's newspapers and information outlets, likes Bud but is discouraged by Bud's recent work. His examples of Bud's slipshod obituary details sums up Bud's distraction and indifference to his work. 

Wrong age of deceased...Nine times last year...Wrong spouse and children's names. Fourteen times....Wrong affiliations. Twenty-one times. Wrong birthplace. Twelve times. Here's my favorite: Wrong cause of death. Four times. You claimed an eighty-one-year-old grandmother of five who died peacefully in her sleep had, instead, died by suicide by leaping off a bridge.

Bud's background: a sad miscarriage for his wife, a failed marriage, and a disastrous blind date (where the woman, after one look at Stanley, brought her ex-boyfriend into the bar and told Stanley she and her ex were getting back together). These numbing experiences are recalled by Stanley as the stream-of-consciousness narrator with black humor, sarcasm, and overwhelming sadness. These events lead him to a drunken night and his subsequent writing of a fake obituary for himself on the highly password-protected news service's wire service.

Unfortunately, a awkward drunken motion at the keyboard caused him to accidentally post his obituary to the world. This leads everyone he knows (and doesn't know) to believe Bud is dead. In this ill-conceived obit, the world learned that during his lifetime Bud accomplished a great many unusual feats:

Bud Stanley, forty-four, former Mr. Universe, failed porn star, and mediocre obituary writer, is dead.

But ironically, because Stanley is now considered dead in the international news data bank, he technically cannot be fired from United World Press. One cannot fire dead people, it seems. 

So the company's HR Department puts him on leave while they try to figure out what to do with him and how they can legally terminate his employment with them. Until then, Stanley is free to walk around the streets and try to figure out who he is, his purpose, and what he will do with his life.  

What he learns about himself and society drive the rest of the plot forward through many twists and turns, misdirections, revelations, friendships, and life's quirks.

Like most black humor books, this is not necessarily a comedic book. It is, however, certainly one that might make you feel a wee bit guilty for laughing at the characters, their rambling dialogues, and the many awkward situations and odd characters they face.

So, for a complete change of pace read, full of unexpected turns and curious plot lines, I highly recommend I See You've Called in Dead. I guarantee it will captivate you and in the process brighten your day. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 West, Nathanael. Miss Lonelyhearts.

A newspaper columnist who writes an newspaper advice column similar to "Dear Abby," comes to realize that the people who ask for help have genuinely heartbreaking situations they (and now he) cannot address easily or dispassionately. Highly recommended.

Happy reading.

 

Fred

Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title (and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

 

So Far Gone

Walter, Jess So Far Gone. New York : HarperCollins 2025. Print.

 

First Sentences:

A prim girl stood still as a fencepost of Rhys Kinnick's front porch. Next to her, a cowlicked boy shifted his weight from snow boot to snow book. Both kids wore backpacks. On the stairs below them, a woman held an umbrella against the pattering rain...."We aren't selling anything," said the boy. He appeared to be about six. "We're your grandchildren."


Description:

Rhys Kinnick chose to become a recluse. One day, simply fed up with his work as a newspaper columnist on environmental issues, the world in general, and his own life in particular, he walked off his job. He left his home and drove to an almost-abandoned deep woods cabin built by his grandfather, unoccupied and rarely visited now. There he lived off the grid for seven years -- no phone, no internet, no television, no outside communication -- peacefully, collecting books to be read for pleasure or research for a possible future book he was writing. He slowly erased himself from everything.

I felt like the world was drifting in one direction and I was going the other way. 

But the appearance of his grandchildren, Asher and Leah, on his porch, and a note from his daughter held by the kids' neighbor who brought them, changed his life. 

Dear Anna. If you're reading this, I had to leave in a hurry. I know this is a lot to ask but can you take the kids to my father, Rhys Kinnick. He is a recluse who cut off contact with our family and now lives in squalor in a cabin north of Spokane....

Rhys' daughter, Bethany, had to flee from her husband Shane who recently had become an extreme religious fanatic and planned to forcibly move their family into The Rampart, an armed religious community of similar ultra far-right souls. He had frequently argued with Bethany that she was an unfit mother for not bowing to his demands and his position as husband and father, finally threatening to take sole custody of their young children and make this move with or without her consent.

Rhys awkwardly takes in the young children. But the next day at Asher's chess tournament, they are confronted by two armed thugs from The Rampart. Acting on the orders of the children's father, the roughnecks beat up Rhys, violently grab the children, and take off with them. 

It is now up to Rhys, along with the help of a retired detective, a Native American neighbor, and his ex-girlfriend to try to locate and take back his grandchildren from the religious fortress. But even if he does find and reclaim his grandchildren, what then?

This may sound like a fairly common, straightforward tale, but in the hands of a skilled author like Jess Walter, all the elements found in a quality book -- great plot, writing, characters, and setting -- play important, unpredictable roles in the unspooling of this tale. Relationships are created, challenged, destroyed, and renewed throughout the book, with characters both rising to the challenges facing them and alternatively failing to reach their own desired goals. 

The story and people grow closer to readers until you simply have to keep reading to peek at what will occur next, find out how a person could possibly escape a situation, or watch from between fingers over your eyes whether impending violence will take place and what the outcome will be.

It's a compelling read full of conflicting emotions, bravery, hiding, and throughout it all, an underlying love for family and friends. Well-written, wonderfully paced, and chock full of interesting people and situations, So Far Gone is a highly worthwhile read for just the pleasure of good writing and all the other elements that make a great read.

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

 Haruf, Kent. Plainsong

Two elderly bachelor farmer brothers take in a pregnant teenage girl, protect her from an abusive boyfriend and help her adjust to a life on an isolated farm in a small town. Wonderfully touching and honest. (Previously reviewed here.)

Happy reading.

 

Fred

Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title (and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).

 

Land of the Blind

Nadel, Barbara. Land of the Blind. London : Headline 2015. Print.

First Sentences:

He could only stand. A slight bend of the knees was all he could do and if he leaned forward his head touched the wall. Just out of reach, on the dirt floor, was a candle...His chest felt as if it was enclosed in the coils of a snake. The air, stale , and thick with dust, irritated his lungs, forcing him to breathe consciously against the pollutants as well as the embrace of the imaginary serpent.


Description:

It is funny how I came across Barbara Nadel's Land of the Blind. I had recently been reading several books by a new favorite author, Jess Walter, (So Far Gone, Over Tumbled Graves, and Citizen Vince) and wanted to read another of his works, Land of the Blind. But when I did a local library search for that title, I hadn't noticed I had accidentally reserved Barbara Nadel's novel by the same name.

 

Ah, well. After reading those first sentences, I was hooked, even though I knew nothing about the setting, characters, or plot. That writing and first impression were enough for me to plunge in.

 

Nadel's Land of the Blind is set in modern day Istanbul and revolves around Police Inspector Cetin Ikmen and fellow officers in their search for the murderer of an archeologist. She was a Byzantine art specialist and her body was found in Istanbul's ancient Hippodrome building. What was strange was that she also had also recently given birth, but no baby or blood was found at the site. 

 

Ikmen finds her personal diary that alludes to her recent discovery of a skeleton along with an ancient sword. She conjectured that this might actually be the remains of the last emperor of Byzantine, hundreds of years old. And her notes implied that she knew of a living relative of his family, despite the fact that this royal lineage had been completely wiped out centuries ago.

 

Meanwhile, there is a rich land developer who wants to purchase a historic house in order to tear down and build a luxury hotel. The house is the home to generations of the Negroponte family. The matron, a 90-year-old brain-damaged victim of the anti-Greek riots of 1955, still resides there under the care of her servant and her long-lost son (whom some question is actually her true son).

 

And I've saved the best part about this book for last. This is one of those special books that doesn't reveal the truth to an underlying mystery until the very last sentence. Any book that does this has a special place in my heart.

 

So read it, get absorbed into the modern and ancient life of the Turkish and Greek people living and working in modern day Istanbul, and try to discover the truth behind the mysteries that drive this story. A wonderful read on so many aspects. 

Best of all, there are in all 27(!) Inspector Cetin Ikmen novels by Barbara Nadel and a BBC TV series, The Turkish Detective, as well, so you have plenty more cases in Istanbul to solve with these wonderful characters. 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Mukherjee, Abir. A Rising Man.

A British Scotland Yard policeman, newly-arrived in Calcutta, India in 1919, is faced with a complicated murder as well as his own shortcomings in this hot, humid, unsettling environment. (Previously reviewed here.)

 Happy reading.

Fred

[P.S. Click here to browse over 480 more book recommendations by subject or title and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader.]

 

Strange Pictures

Uketsu. Strange Pictures. New York : HarperCollins 2022. Print.

 

First Sentences:

All right, everyone, now I'm going to show you a picture.


Description:

What a compelling opening sentence. Who could not read at least a few more lines to have a peek into that picture and why this person wants to talk about it? The simple, perfect hook for readers. 

 

I absolutely cherish any book that when, after reading the very last line, all I can think about is going back to the beginning and re-reading the whole story again. 

This time, I think, I will catch the subtle hints about the characters, what's about to come, and the significance of overlooked actions and words as the story slowly unravels anew before me. 

It's like watching a great movie that you re-watch again and again for the plot, the characters, the foreshadowing, and the still-surprising actions (like in Jaws when you can never really expect nor avoid jumping when the dead man's skull drops down in the hole in the sunken boat hull).

 

In Strange Pictures by Uketsu (Note: please click here to read about this mysterious Japanese YouTuber/Author sensation whose identity is unknown as he always wears a masks and black body suit when pictured), we are presented with four seemingly unrelated stories as well as nine drawings. All seem distinctly separate from each other, including the art work. 

 

But after coming across an obscure blog called Oh, No, Not Raku, two college students in Japan are captivated by the drawings in this blog and the diary entries from its author. Raku's daily postings center around his family but contain drawings by his wife. These are quick sketches which seem somehow related, but pose many puzzling questions to the college students, especially after Raku posts that his artistic wife died during childbirth of their daughter

When faced with true sorrow, people lose even the strength to shed tears.

Next we jump to a story centering on an unusual picture drawn by a pre-schooler for his mother. It depicts the boy and mother standing in front of a six-story building. The strange part of the picture is that the apartment room where they live is smudged out. Why would that be? If someone could explain this "intentional" blurring in the drawing, they might therefore understand the boy and his mama, and possibly the history of each.

 

The two other stories also involve drawings, but their plots focus on character studies, broken relationships, crimes and mysteries where the drawings might contain a valuable key. 

 

But best of all, somehow all these stories, people, and situations have a connection to each other. Slowly, ever so slowly, readers begin to unravel confusing clues, clarify relationships, and uncover overlapping timelines in this seemingly simple, yet wildly entertaining book.

 

It's one of the most unusual, gripping, and puzzling books I have ever read. Cannot wait to start it all over again in the very near future, maybe next week. Uketsu has another book out now as well, Strange Houses, so I'm definitely checking that one out as well. Highly recommended.

 

[If this book interests you, be sure to check out:]

Hallett, Janice. The Twyford Code.

Probably the most complex, yet completely engrossing mystery I've ever read involving the search for a children's book which might contain in its text the secret to a lost stash of money. Highest recommendation. (Previously reviewed here.)

Happy reading.

Fred

Click here to browse over 470 more book recommendations by subject or title (and read the introduction to The First Sentence Reader).