Mattia Goddard

This book didn't move as quickly as I would've expected it to. About midway through I got hooked, but it took a while. I was eager to figure out what happened to our silent patient but when the denouement came, it felt rushed. Or maybe hard for me to get my head around. I'm not sure yet.
I don't know how I feel about the ending. I'll need to let this one marinate for a bit. But I'm definitely glad I read it. After further marination I definitely think the ending was strangely rushed and the pace was too slow.

What I loved about this book is that these four women, all aged 60 use the invisibility of ageism to their advantage time and time again. If that is not the ultimate societal truism- far more than the virility and vitality of James Bond or the equivalent head turning beauty of a young Charlies Angels type. Old women are invisible and thus they can get away with murder. Now understand me- anyone reading this knows that 60 isn't OLD- but it's also not young and it's not sexy, not by conventional standards. These women age themselves by decades more in order to play up this idea that old people are harmless, and can thus be ignored. Then add in their decades of traditional training. Sure they can fire guns and blow things up, but they are taught the subtle art of killing- quietly and surreptitiously. The ingenious ways they kill people in this book astonished me. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know these four women: their specialties, their histories, both shared and individual, and also how they lived through and understood, first sexism, then ageism and how they used both to their advantage and for their survival. This would make a killer movie. Highly recommend this one and it is a FUN read.

I read this book back in 1994 when it came out. It was formative in my love of mysteries. So brilliantly told, the new science of crime fighting just beginning. The idea of what makes a person warped enough to harm the unsuspecting. It was fascinating to me at the young age of 20.

I love the isolated, trapped, terrible weather plot line and this one did not disappoint. I appreciated the first 50 pages of getting to know Hannah, the main character and by far the most likable of the group. This helped me to easily keep these characters straight. I also enjoyed the Georgia setting. The family comes up from Florida to enjoy a weekend of unplugging in the Georgia mountains. Every thriller reader knows how dangerous that is. This book did a solid job of weaving in a DNA/Ancestry dot com subplot that, in my opinion, really worked. This one kept me guessing and kept me interested. Good read for domestic thriller lovers.

I've not read much Nordic Noir and this one I picked because of a reading challenge prompt. I am so glad I did. I love the moody, brooding, dark, cold landscape and the salt of the earth, hardworking, straightforward, blonde characters that populate this tale. Murder is uncommon in these towns and this unsolved serial killer case took a devastating toll on these townspeople in particular.

This is a big book with Scandinavian names that I had very little idea how to pronounce and generations of folks to keep up with. The timelines and narrations jumped around and yet I was able to follow easily. Largely I think because the author takes him time to tell this story. This is not rushed. When you think it's over and all is explained AHA! No it's not! The story takes interesting turns. Nothing outlandish and all perfectly executed. I finished this book happily satisfied at having gone on this Scandinavian journey.

More Nordic Noir for me in my future- most definitely.

Our book club came to Athens and read The Resemblance, set on the UGA campus. Alas, this book did not satisfy. We needed more show, less tell- specifically in the area of exposition. The lack of dialogue in the first 10 pages gave this book a tough start. Add in an almost visceral hatred for Greek Life and you've got an uncomfortable read. The best part about this book is all the Athens references. We went to “the scene of the crime”- the intersection of Baxter and Lumpkin at Bolton Dining Hall. Then we hit a bar or two mentioned in the book and drove down Greek Row. That part was spot on. Otherwise, for all us UGA moms and alums, this one just hurt.

I should probably mark what I'm about to say on the calendar- Wait for the HBO series on this one. Personally, this book works too hard to be clever and what the kids these days like to call meta. As in- so self aware that he's a writer telling the reader that he's writing a book. And boy does that cutsieness get tedious in written form. I think it will be less so on the screen. Plus, there were many women in the protagonist's life that were hard for me to keep straight. HBO will make this a non-issue. While I was interested in the crimes- both the 30 year old one and the modern day one- overall this story just wasn't for me.

a book we chose for Book Club. I liked the setting- incredible time in history that I've never heard of, but as suspected, the ending was a bit too nice and pat. If you like flowery language you'll enjoy this- but that was one of the complaints mentioned in our discussion.