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These Silent Woods, by Kimi Cunningham Grant

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These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant My rating: 2 of 5 stars Gorgeous setup, then a miraculous theological derailment Wow, didn’t that blurb read great? And it started off well enough in the woods where Cooper and his daughter have been hiding for years. The atmosphere felt genuine and plausible, the prose was smart and elegant, the characters endearing - what could possibly go wrong? Cooper especially, and Finch to a lesser extent, live a tense but ultimately peaceful life: they hunt and gather, roam through the wilderness, and they do so frequently, extensively, and repeatedly. Yes, some of these excursions bring new information, but did we really need to hear about the “King of Trees” and each of its manifold brethren? Well, yes, I felt bored with large parts of this novel, but then it got worse: A certain character is introduced, and suddenly, drastically, the story springs into action. What ensues is completely unbelievable and seems to be the author’s traditionalist theo...
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Not Safe for Work, by Nisha J. Tuli

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Not Safe for Work by Nisha J. Tuli My rating: 4 of 5 stars I've been working as an IT consultant/engineer/leader for about 30 years now. During that time I've professionally met hundreds of men - and a handful of women. The men could (and sadly can) get away with almost anything, or receive a mere slap on the wrist. I've also interviewed men and women for jobs: Overwhelmingly, HR ultimately decided to hire a man over a (usually more competent) woman. The one woman I was actually allowed to hire and mentor went on to perform spectacularly in her job and is still thriving. In my field, women, just like Trishara in this novel, have to work more, work harder, and swallow a lot of abuse while doing so. I have yet to meet a woman of colour in such a position. (The one I tried to get hired was rejected by HR, of course…) This is pretty much Trishara’s starting point: Despite being a skilled engineer, she's been passed over for promotions for years and now she is to be the to...
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We Do What We Do in the Dark, by Michelle Hart

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We Do What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart My rating: 3 of 5 stars I’m really torn over this one: I liked Mallory, the queer protagonist of this story, and most other characters were also interesting. For me, the major let-down is the story itself: the first part tells us about Mallory’s affair with a professor, only ever referred to melodramatically as “the woman”, from her college and the affair’s circumstances. I found that mostly… boring. As problematic as this affair is due to power differences, conflict of interest, fairness to others, in the end it’s a “normal” affair - one partner (Mallory) silently hoping “the woman” will leave her husband (which she tells Mallory she won’t), the other hoping for non-disclosure and enjoying the hero worship by a younger person. We then shift to Mallory’s childhood and youth during which she discovers she’s queer. This part is relatable but, again, just not all that interesting. Finally, the story moves a few years forward and Mallory and ...
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The Car Share, by Zoe Brisby

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The Car Share by Zoe Brisby My rating: 2 of 5 stars A Feel-Good Road Trip Built on Unbelievable Shortcuts “ The Car Share ” by Zoe Brisby tells a rather simple story: Alex, a young man in his mid-twenties, is depressed and heartbroken by a rejection that didn’t even happen, offers a car-share ride to Brussels. Maxine (“Max”), a ninety-year-old woman from a retirement home who believes she has Alzheimer’s, joins him to undergo euthanasia while she still has capacity whereas Alex is trying to escape his emotional pain. Their journey is full of adventures and turns into a transformative friendship. Unfortunately, that promise is very sloppily executed: The “life-changing” trip consists of just two days. A recovery from diagnosed moderate depression in a mere two days is both belittling the illness and intrinsically questionable within the novel. Max, on the other hand, was married to a psychologist, is very scientifically minded, but fails to actually get a diagnosis instead of relying ...
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The Vanishing Place, by Zoe Rankin

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The Vanishing Place by Zoe Rankin My rating: 3 of 5 stars Strong start, shaky middle, and an ending that can’t make it whole. Another New York Times recommendation... It started out so well: Effie is a policewoman. Having been born and raised in New Zealand (NZ) for her first 15 years, she’s now in her thirties, living in Scotland. Suddenly, back in NZ, a girl appears from out of the bushland. She looks just like Effie at that age. Of course, Effie feels she must go back and investigate. This is basically what the first third of the novel focuses on. It’s interesting and gripping; Effie “feels” like a self-reliant, competent woman. The descriptions of NZ’s bushland were brilliant and the writing was perfectly fitting. The pacing was good and the story full of promise. The second third deals with Effie’s investigation and discoveries in NZ, and that’s how the cookie crumbled for me: Effie, who did well in Scotland and whose instincts and experience from her earlier life in NZ came bac...
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The Proving Ground (The Lincoln Lawyer #8), by Michael Connelly

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The Proving Ground by Michael Connelly My rating: 3 of 5 stars Once a thrilling voice in crime fiction, Connelly’s newest outing feels rushed, uninspired, and stripped of the courtroom tension that once defined the series. A few years ago, I came across a TV show simply called “Bosch” that quickly became one of my favourites. At some point, I realised there were Bosch novels - and I was done for. Michael Connelly had created a detective and an entire “ Bosch Universe ” that I came to love. Of course, I dived straight into anything in that universe and, by now, have read everything set in that universe - including the exploits of Mickey Haller, the “Lincoln Lawyer”. So, when a new instalment was published, I rushed in excitedly - and found a shallow, bland, uninspired novel, trying hard to cash in on current worries about AI (artificial intelligence). Don’t get me wrong: there is certainly reason to be at least concerned about AI because right now, the pace at which AI is being deve...
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107 Days, by Kamala Harris

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107 Days by Kamala Harris My rating: 5 of 5 stars What 107 Days Promised, and What 285 Days Betrayed When I was a young man, I saw the United States of America as a source of good in the world. I dreamt of migrating there and becoming a hot-shot IT guy in Silicon Valley. My belief was further fuelled by people like Noam Chomsky , Barack and Michelle Obama , Paul Auster and Siri Hustvedt , Robert Langer , and, last but not least, Kamala Harris . I feverishly followed those 107 days of Harris’ campaign and loved how she presented her vision for the USA, the world, and herself. Her authentic passion and the joy she exuded gave me hope. Then the USA elected, for the second time, the racist felon whose Republican administration is now responsible for the death of millions of people around the globe. The current US administration is dismantling everything good about the USA and leaving it as many from my generation have always seen the USA: an imperialist nation that forces other countri...
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