Category Archives: Prize Winner

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Posted on September 20, 2019 by bseat

Jane Harper is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. She has the uncanny ability to take the ordinary and create mystery and suspense seemingly out of thin air. An ordinary corporate retreat camping in the woods in her hands … Continue reading →

Posted in Detective novel, Fiction, Mystery, Prize Winner, Prize winner, Psychological Mystery, Suspense | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri

Posted on September 13, 2019 by bseat

I wanted to love this book. I wanted to engage with the characters and learn from them but somehow it all became dull and lifeless. I hope that those of you who did love this book will let me know … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Prize Winner | Leave a comment

Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

Posted on August 30, 2019 by bseat

In 1951, Yun Ling Teoh makes her way to the Cameron Highlands of Malaya. Scarred and traumatized by her experiences during the war in a Japanese concentration camp, she needs time to heal and find a way to live again.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Prize Winner, Prize winner, Romance | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Posted on July 26, 2019 by bseat

What happens to a young boy on the cusp of manhood when his mother is assaulted and almost killed? What happens to a family who must cope while their mother and their wife tries to heal from the physical and … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Legal Procedural, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Prize Winner, Suspense | Tagged | 2 Comments

Improvement by Joan Silber

Posted on July 5, 2019 by bseat

How do our decisions reverberate across space and time? What happens when we choose one course of action over another? Do our decisions even matter? Joan Silber explores these questions and more in her award winning book, Improvement, and her … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Literary Fiction, Prize Winner, Prize winner, Romance | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

Posted on June 21, 2019 by bseat

Where do spies who are washed up, get exposed, screw up an operation, or drink too much go?  According to Mick Herron they go to Slough House, an organization in the heart of London that takes in all the broken … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Mystery, Prize Winner, Series, Spy/Covert Operatives, Suspense, Thriller | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

3 Seconds by Roslund & Hellstrom, translated by Kari Dickson

Posted on May 31, 2019 by bseat

I have found that understanding how another country perceives crime and justice helps me understand their culture. One of the ways I do that is by reading crime novels set in other countries or cultures. In reading this book about … Continue reading →

Posted in book to movie, Detective novel, Fiction, Mystery, Prize Winner, Prize winner, Series, Suspense, Thriller | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

Posted on April 19, 2019 by bseat

Anna Kerrigan is twelve years old when she first meets Dexter Styles. At the time she was awed by his home by the sea, and felt the undercurrents of something unnamed but menacing between Dexter and her father. Years later … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Prize Winner, Prize winner, Romance, Suspense | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Space Between Us by Thrity Umrigar

Posted on February 1, 2019 by bseat

In this beautifully written novel about two women whose lives are intimately entangled: one a wealthy woman of high caste who lives a life of privilege and the other her servant, an elderly woman of low caste who lives in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Prize Winner, Romance | Leave a comment

His Bloody Project: Documents Relating to the Case of Roderick Macrae by Graeme MaCrae Burnet

Posted on January 25, 2019 by bseat

In 1869, in a remote village in Scotland, three people are brutally murdered. Seventeen year old Roderick Macrae is arrested for the brutal murders. This would be an interesting start to any historical novel, but Brunet makes the unique choice … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Legal Procedural, Mystery, Prize Winner, Psychological Mystery, Suspense, Thriller | 2 Comments