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Deadly Cure by Lawrence Goldstone

Final Rating: 3.9/5

A turn of the century desperate pursuit for answers with cameos of the titans of medical and scientific discovery

  Deadly Cure is the second novel I have read from this author and I believe I enjoyed the countdown mystery with cameos of the titans of medical and scientific discovery in this book a great deal more than The Anatomy of Deception. Perhaps it was the setting or the premise involving a desperate race for answers that passed through the dying opulence of the 19th century and the filthy avenues of changing humanity that grabbed my imagination the most. The two novels are similar in messages but also share writing that brings me back for another chapter. Whatever the winning reason, this author is indeed a master at presenting and organizing facts and I was thrilled as I began to follow the opening lines in this title that he once more nudges the reader to explore names of individuals from a bygone era on their own instead of breaking into the story with a long forced biography about a referenced name. I would recommend Deadly Cure just for that element alone of inviting the curious to investigate further long after the turn of the final page (especially about the dawning of the study of forensics). 

  Sadly with all the positives of ambiance and little details that delighted and captivated in Deadly Cure I was somewhat disenchanted with quite a few of the characters (or the noticeable gaps in their personal histories that were never mentioned after they fulfilled their intended purposes in the story) and the overly dramatic scenes that just didn’t fit comfortably in comparison to the beginning passages. It was one later awkward almost ridiculous chapter in general that really disappointed me and after that part the action overthrew the intriguing mystery to create a four part ending that seemed there for modern tastes. True it wasn’t what I expecting but I still wish there would have been more subtlety and off scene acts instead but those types of negatives may not bother another reader. In any case the last important encouraging point I must note (that overbalanced the above for me) was the ultimate resolution to the mystery which was perfect and completely believable. Overall, this is one story that keeps you guessing, thinking about the future and continually secretly glancing over at your own medicine cupboard.

*I would like to thank NetGalley and Pegasus Books for the opportunity to read and enjoy Deadly Cure 

Title to be released: November 7, 2017

The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

Final Rating: 3.4/5

“They had no idea of the ugly side of life”

  Depending on what the reader is searching for, you may find a twinkle or brilliant beam of interest and educational distraction with picking up The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra. For me it almost ended up as a “no thank you” type of work when the author’s personal negative views broke the string of opening events but I still wished to read this title as the promised subjects deserved my patience (the story of the four sisters have always been the “the” sad real life painted fairy tale that has captivated me since childhood and I’ve always felt some kind of special understanding with introverted personalities). In a way I’m happy I stayed and took the time to read this book but I think I will search out other titles to learn more as I can’t say I didn’t want to apologize to historic individuals as I read the side comments and felt the obvious distaste of the author at certain points in the pages. I was also surprised but also disappointed this work was very drawn out in the beginning chapters, somewhat repetitive with the available information and was more of a scrap book of memories of the Grand Duchesses with much flipping back and forth of dates and events. Modern interpretation of past events can be very tricky to handle and unfortunately The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra held too much of others opinions and too little of the words of the sisters or allowed a final impression of their individual personalities for this interested reader.

*I would like to thank NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra

The Scarlet Mansion by Allan W. Eckert

Final Rating: 2.3/5

  The Scarlet Mansion had its vivid moments of terrifying believable scenes where I would catch myself wanting to shout out warnings to the unfortunate numerous victims in the pages but left me in the dark many other times at the uneven dialogue, repetitive chapters (containing either flashbacks of schemes, senseless murders with animated violence dominating the passages or meetings with another trusting mark) and ultimately so many wasted opportunities for this novel to really shine with an ominous lingering glow of any kind of character development. I usually enjoy a beyond gloomy entertaining book with historical essentials that keeps me up but The Scarlet Mansion just wasn’t it and I was actually hoping to get a reimagined look into the mind of the historic narcissistic psychopath and con artist known as H. H. Holmes. Sadly he was just a shadowy villain who: lurked, traveled, plotted, showed anger and then left the scene in a trail of gore. Not exactly much to think on or what I was hoping for when I picked this novel up after reading so many excited reactions to this title. Perhaps this type of story is exactly what others have been looking for an extremely dramatic: suffocate’em, poison’em, drag’em and drop’em batting of history. If that is what the curious reader has been looking for, you found a chilling example of real life inspired horror but if there are those who wanted more without awkwardly wedged lite facts in long conversations and disappearing atmosphere or even enough details to fully capture the potential of the enduring mysteries from late 19th century Chicago, you may want to look elsewhere or put this one down and pick up The Devil in the White City, Depraved or H. H. Holmes: The True History of the White City Devil. I don’t know about you, but I have always found true historic accounts and depositions more frightening than any fiction.

-purchased and read on kindle 

The Coroner's Daughter by Andrew Hughes

Final Rating: 3.8/5

“The beginnings, perhaps, of an intriguing collection.”

  In 2015 a strangely magnetic summary accompanying The Convictions of John Delahunt caught my attention and directed me into the expansive brooding atmosphere of punishing secrets, intricate metaphors and an overall impressive vintage flair with words that stayed in my mind and outside conversations for months. It was not only wonderful to find a distraction at that time from real life but a warped period puzzle all in a debut was quite something and I have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mr. Hughes latest mystery caper ever since. Overall I liked The Coroner's Daughter and fully admit the opening lines to this novel called to my (disturbing) dark sense of humor, honestly how can you not want to continue reading (or hold back a chuckle) when you first come across: “For my eighteenth birthday, Father promised me the hand of a handsome young man, which he duly delivered mounted in a glass bell-jar.”

  After that delightfully odd introduction, a familiar foreboding ambiance soon followed and era details kept my full attention. The urgency of the answers to the growing mystery were all nicely drawn out until the end as well but sadly like The Convictions of John Delahunt there were a few slips into modern sounding dialogue, contemporary expectations placed around the narrator and confusing spaces of action where I had to stop or reread to understand how a character arrived at a destination or where the narrator was in the chapter. It also seemed the beginning held the best passages and the final solution a little simpler than I had hoped but still this medical mystery/drama set in “the Year Without a Summer” with an inquisitive-natured narrator is one I would revisit again.

-purchased and read on kindle 

Titanic or Olympic: Which Ship Sank? by Bruce Beveridge, Steve Hall

Final Rating: 5/5

  “Herein lie the facts- decide for yourself”.

  A good conspiracy has tantalizing secrecy and a well recognized event that evokes anger, regret and suspicion about a forgotten era. Human drama is also a must when completing this list of what continues to draw us closer when certain topics are mentioned in a hushed voice. Titanic or Olympic: Which Ship Sank? knows this is what entices the curious reader and invites them on an absolutely fascinating tour that examines in serious detail one of the greatest theories that still follows in the wake of April 15, 1912- was it TITANIC or her sister ship OLYMPIC that went down with over 1,500 souls that tragic night? Upfront the authors admit that if true and the OLYMPIC was switched for the TITANIC this would have been the largest (and most elaborate) hoaxes on the public and insurance scam of all time.

  This work then continues onto chapters filled with the passages behind the popular theory, my favorites being: “Mystery or History”, “The Lifeboat Evidence” and “Photographic Assessment". In these heavily detailed sections the believed evidence is presented with entertaining information of missing names from rescue registries, undecided final tallies, double numbered lifeboats and even oddly colored paint under where the recognized nameplate of TITANIC rests at the bottom of the Atlantic. I’ll admit after reading all of the known and displayed “evidence”; I was beginning to believe the greatest hoax happened. It was the ideal time for this work to switch direction and build reality from the keel up to her distinct swan-neck vents. Time then flew for this collector of history who just stared for large increments at the next displayed snapshots with the key parts of the ships marked to clearly illustrate differences from the minute to the hidden in plain view. I didn’t want to put this book down and I borrowed a Kindle Fire to get the full effect of the photographs (some I have never seen before). The more and more the pages turned with these intriguing comparative pictures, documented testimony and re-examinations of the previous chapters (slamming aside fragmented statements and popular myth with cold hard facts); the more I could say “well I’m convinced” as well as “I didn’t know that!”. Even after that this book went on and precisely explained the intimate particulars that any familiar crew member could never have been completely fooled over or the complex contracts of silence that would have been necessary.

  Any possible lingering doubts were finally laid to rest at that point (especially when the quote from Violet Jessop came about) and my kindle marked that the book had ended but it didn’t. There were a few more surprises left (like dazzle paint) for this fellow reader of history and the concluding sections were centered on what happened long after April 15, 1912 for the Titanic’s sister ships. Those parts were equally fascinating as the beginning chapters and turned into a poignant narrative that sounded the final three horn blows on the decadent world that created the marvels of the oceans. A fitting ending for such a fantastic reference, I don’t think I will ever pass a photograph of the TITANIC or OLYMPIC again without counting the portholes, trying to look for the number “401” or “400” on anything at museums (or even high priced estate sales- I can always hope right?) or searching cinematic scenes for round windows versus rectangle. For everything this title offered and presented this is one book I couldn’t be more overall pleased in finding. Highly Recommended.

-read and purchased on kindle

The Night Lives On: The Untold Stories and Secrets Behind the Sinking of the "Unsinkable" Ship—Titanic by Walter Lord

Final Rating: 5/5

The bow and stern of riveting history start where you will and discover a classic

  In A Night to Remember, Walter Lord provided a minute-by-minute narrative that catches in your throat as you feel every icy touch of reality from that harrowing April night. You follow the names that have transformed into enduring legends and their own words create racing dramatic images but as you near the final page with its somber tribute to those over 1,500 souls lost; you also have so many burning questions. That’s when you need to pick up The Night Lives On: The Untold Stories and Secrets Behind the Sinking of the "Unsinkable" Ship—Titanic and revisit a condensed inviting account that is broken apart in time frames and stops to examine but ultimately educates, deftly debates, proves many a point with convincing evidence and yet all tells a commanding series of stories that are forever connected to the RMS TITANIC. Although each work was written years apart they belong together and whether the beginning or ending of the history of the marvel that was Titanic calls to you, start where you will and discover something special. Highly Recommended.

-purchased and read on kindle

City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris by Holly Tucker

Final Rating: 3.7/5

“Half of the nobility have done the same thing, if I felt like talking. I’d ruin them all!”

   With a highly accessible narrative style, City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris invites the modern reader back to reinvestigate a true extravagant scandal that involved a web of: suspicious deaths, damaging accusations, painful confessions and lasting ciphers that have all become to be known under the bewitching title of The Affair of the Poisons (L'affaire des poisons). From 1677-1682 the city of Paris served as the backdrop to a deadly mystery that went unnoticed by many including medical professionals at the time, what was thought to be simply explained by gangrenous accumulations of bile or mistakes on inexperienced autopsy tables would soon be revealed in vile depositions to involve poisoned shirts and pulverized toads. As grisly as it all seems, those are all only parts of the baleful truths that Nicolas de La Reynie (the first police chief of Paris) would soon bring to light and the polite belief that stops at privilege or esteemed morals would be destroyed forever in society’s eyes.

  As fascinating as City of Light, City of Poison ended for this reader who confesses to seek out and collect subjects of dark history; I wanted more and for the stories or cases to go on beyond 54% on her kindle. I also thought the beginning a little uneven (along with some spellings and wished for more photos of key names and locations in the final pages) but appreciated the strange ambiance this work eventually brought allowing the curious to fall in step with La Reynie’s investigations and persistence in everything. I also found the back and forth private and public dramas presented from the halls of Versailles to the mean back alleys (and even in the dank reaches of frightening rooms meant for the Question) irresistibly beguiling but at the same time refined with an overall notable respectable approach. I admit not always easy topics to read in detail come about in the pages of City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris and it did have its unfortunate personal disappoints but Ms. Tucker has certainly researched and conjures all the distrustful notions from 17th-century Paris from watching what your wear, where you step and questioning who you can trust to rise and flame the mind to learn more about all presented and that’s why this title is staying on my unique shelves.

-purchased and read on kindle

 

The Good People by Hannah Kent

Final Rating: 4/5

An emotional realistic tale that is hard not to recommend

  I admit I had not completely fallen in the enchanted tangle of Icelandic atmosphere and true life inspiration that bound together the 2013 historical bestseller Burial Rites. Perhaps it was just my reading tastes at the time and not to upset anyone but I found it very easy to put down. I just needed something more than the limited cold scents and bones of characters to keep me coming back and Ms. Kent’s second novel provided this wary reader with all she has been hoping for and even a few hidden tricks to delight along the way. Simply The Good People is an emotional realistic tale that is hard not to recommend to anyone who has been waiting for a good old fashioned story that is told in elegant prose with varied personalities you love to hate but oddly care about. In this yarn the reader is confronted with multiple topics but mostly grief, religion, old beliefs and what can ensue when one suspicious threat overbalances everything we think we hold dear. Like Burial Rites inspiration is taken directly from a true regional bygone crime and in The Good People harrowing events of June 1826 in rural Ireland are spread out in fiction with liberal drams of herb lore, powerful Irish superstition, proverbs and dangers of kin suspicions.

  For this reader, there were a few negatives mostly the stiff and awkward presented dialogue, periodic measured pace and the ending felt incomplete. Usually those disappointing points would have me rating a novel lower but The Good People had one or two tricks waiting cleverly in plain sight and I couldn’t help but raise my overall final impression when I encountered memories of reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond for the first time as Nance and Mary made their initial appearances. I also enjoyed discovering the potential of endless discussions this novel could provide and my fellow nurses have already debated long into the night over this story. This type of novel is not for everyone there are some very disturbing scenes that can overstep boundaries of comfort but it is well worth reading and if you are like me and the book description is calling to you with possibilities- you may find yourself in another place and time on the first page and by the final swept by The Good People.

*I would like to thank NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to read and enjoy The Good People

The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century by William Rosen

Final Rating: 3.9/5

A puddle skipping journey into the 14th century that still regales and educates

  Not exactly an easy overview of late 13th to early 14th-century history and survey of weather conditions but one book that is sure to skip eventually into an interest of the reader’s. In truth, I was hoping for more of a complete feeling work with organized leaps in topics that wouldn’t lose or confuse (I had heard fantastic things about this book). Still The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century certainly was an enthusiastic venture to shape the whirling descriptions and connect the Medieval Warm Period with the ever drastically changing population, geography, and complex politics leading up to the devastating roiling storm of conflicts of 14th-century England, Scotland, France and early Germany. Perhaps I misunderstood the original mini summary thinking this non-fiction title more centered on examining historic weather and famine but like Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century it has rightly found a proper place on my shelf of late 13th to 14th-century trivia especially dedicated to learning more about the charismatic names of known legends and favorite historical novels. It may have had its own lethargic and frantic passages but is definitely a title worth the time to calm the mind and sit down with on a winter day.

*I would like to thank NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Viking for the opportunity to read and enjoy The Third Horseman: Climate Change and the Great Famine of the 14th Century