REVIEW OF DECEPTIVE CALM BY PATRICIA SKIPPER (BARNES AND NOBLE EDITION)

 ABOUT THE BOOK:

Against the turbulent backdrop of declared martial law in South Carolina, a stunning light-skinned beauty, Vanessa, lives in a Catholic orphanage for Blacks. After a series of racial traumas, Vanessa obtains the birth certificate of a deceased white baby and uses this document to assume the child's identity. She moves to California and enrolls at UC Berkeley under her newly acquired name.

Vanessa marries into one of California's wealthiest families. Her charmed life abruptly ends eighteen months after the birth of her first child who is diagnosed with sickle cell trait. Discovering that the woman he married is Black, as is his toddler son, Vanessa's ruthless husband plots his revenge but they both survive. The police investigation that follows seems pretty clear-cut until a curious, young detective uncovers some clues to her private life where nothing is as it appears. The aftermath of the discovery brings down a pillar of San Francisco society.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Patricia Skipper's life journey began on a California Marine Corps base. After fighting in World War 11 and Korea, her father retired in South Carolina. Patricia was only 9 years old in 1961 when she saw her first "Colored Only" bathroom and water fountain signs in downtown Charleston at the Sears Roebuck. That sign scarred Patricia because on Marine Corps bases everyone ate at the same clubs, swam in the same pools and used the same bathrooms. That sign would have a major influence on her writing career as Patricia obtained a master degree in Broadcast Journalism. She reported internationally for the Charleston Evening Post from Leningrad and Moscow. Playing a key role, she supported a a brand new "Mothers Against Drunk Driving" and helped them get PSA (public service announcements) on every television station in the country. Earning accolades for her television commercial writing, Patricia has won numerous Addy Awards.

My Thought: 

I found the book very informative, well-written, and engaging. The themes included politics, racism, civil rights, and romance. The main character, Vanessa, is naive but very intelligent. She was a light-skinned black woman who was mistaken for a white woman in a very turbulent society. She lived in an all-black orphanage and had the support of her friends Trisha and Sister Rosalie. Sister Rosalie was like a mother to Vanessa and helped her while she was living in the orphanage. She obtained the identity of a deceased white baby and took it as her own so she could move on with her life. She traveled from South Carolina with her new identity to attend college in California with her friend Trisha.

Trisha, a character I deeply connected with, played a significant role in the novel. She was Vanessa's pillar of strength, providing her with the emotional support and guidance she needed. Their journey together, filled with trials and triumphs, will resonate with readers.

Post-graduation, Vanessa ventured into the broadcasting industry, where she met her husband, Tod. His family was affluent and esteemed, but when her son was diagnosed with Sickle Cell disease, her life took a drastic turn. She had to endure numerous hardships, including the societal challenges of the time and the wrath of her husband, who felt deceived by her actions. Tod's reaction, a reflection of the societal norms of the time, adds a layer of complexity to the story, making Vanessa's struggles even more poignant and relatable.

The book's narrative is driven by the characters' development, particularly Vanessa's, as she navigates the societal challenges of her time. While the book contains sexual content that may not be suitable for all readers, it is integral to the character development and the story's progression. The author's meticulous research and incorporation of historical details bring the period to life, creating a compelling read.

Purchase the book:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

 

Disclaimer: I will be compensated for my honest review of the book by the sponsor.

 
 

REVIEW OF THE BOG WIFE BY KAY CHRONISTER

I want to welcome Kay Chronister to BooksRus. Kay is the is the author of the short story collection Thin Places (Undertow, 2020) and the novel Desert Creatures (Erewhon, 2022). Her Newest book The Blog Wife is scheduled to be published on October 1st by Counterpoint Press.

About the Book:

Since time immemorial, the Haddesley family has tended the cranberry bog. In exchange, the bog sustains them. The staunch seasons of their lives are governed by a strict covenant that is renewed each generation with the ritual sacrifice of their patriarch, and in return, the bog produces a "bog-wife." Brought to life from vegetation, this woman is meant to carry on the family line. But when the bog fails--or refuses--to honor the bargain, the Haddesleys, a group of discordant siblings still grieving the mother who mysteriously disappeared years earlier, face an unknown future.

Middle child Wenna, summoned back to the dilapidated family manor just as her marriage is collapsing, believes the Haddesleys must abandon their patrimony. Her siblings are not so easily persuaded. Eldest daughter Eda, de facto head of the household, seeks to salvage the compact by desecrating it. Younger son Percy retreats into the wilderness in a dangerous bid to summon his own bog-wife. And as youngest daughter Nora takes desperate measures to keep her warring siblings together, fledgling patriarch Charlie uncovers a disturbing secret that casts doubt over everything the family has ever believed about itself.

At once a gothic eco-horror, a psychological drama, and a family saga, The Bog Wife is a propulsive read for fans of Shirley Jackson, Karen Russell, and Matt Bell that speaks to what is knowable and unknowable within a family history and how to know when it is time to move forward.

About the Author: 

Kay Chronister is the author of the short story collection Thin Places (Undertow, 2020) and the novel Desert Creatures (Erewhon, 2022). Her short fiction has appeared in Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, The Dark, and elsewhere, and has been nominated for the Shirley Jackson and World Fantasy awards. Originally from Washington State, she has spent time in Virginia, Cambodia, and Arizona. She now lives outside of Philadelphia with her dogs and her husband.

 My Thoughts:

The book is set in the Appalachian region, where folktales and superstitions are prevalent. I initially found the storyline a bit confusing, as it took some time to understand all the characters and their family dynamic. I had to reread some parts to keep track of the plot, as it was occasionally wordy. Overall, I enjoyed the book, although I found it eerie, peculiar, haunting, and unpredictable. This may not be my usual genre, but if you enjoy supernatural and gothic themes, you will likely appreciate this book.

Connect with Kay:

Authors site 

 

 

Disclaimer: I was given a free copy of the book for my honest review and I was not compensated for my review

JUST PUBLISHED- GOING ZERO BY ANTHONY McCARTEN (A Technothriller for the Times We Live In. Written by a 4-time Oscar Nominee)

 

GOING ZERO BY ANTHONY McCARTEN

                                                      

                If Michael Crichton were alive today, he may have written a book about one the biggest threats to humanity: surveillance. 4-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten’s breakneck paced, wickedly entertaining novel GOING ZERO (Harper, $30.00; Hardcover; ISBN: 9780063227071; on-sale: 4/11/2023) is that technothriller for the times we live in.

The premise: ten Americans have been carefully selected to Beta test a ground-breaking piece of spyware. Pioneered by tech-wunderkind Cy Baxter in collaboration with the CIA, FUSION can track anyone on earth. But does it work?

Each participant to this test is given two hours to ‘Go Zero’ – to go off-grid and disappear - and then thirty days to elude the highly sophisticated Capture Teams sent to find them. Any “Zero” that beats FUSION will receive $3 million. If Cy’s system prevails, he wins a $90 billion-dollar government contract to revolutionize surveillance forever.

But one of the contestants may have been underestimated. Kaitlyn Day is an unassuming Boston librarian with some secrets up her sleeves. Her stakes are far higher than money, and more personal than anyone imagines. Kaitlyn needs to win as badly as Cy needs to realize his own ambitions. They have no choice but to finish the game and when the timer hits zero, there will only be one winner…

This unique thriller is written by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten, one of the most in-demand writer-producers at work today. The New Zealand born screenwriter, playwright, novelist, and journalist known for his work on The Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour, The Two Popes, and Bohemian Rhapsody, has a very big fall coming. His Neil Diamond Broadway musical A Beautiful Noise ran starting on December 4^th, his play The Collaboration about the relationship between Andy Warhol and Jean-Michele Basquiat opens on Broadway on December 20^th, and the world premiere of his Oscar buzzworthy feature film I Wanna Dance With Somebody about Whitney Houston released on December 22^nd. GOING ZERO  - which has already been sold into over twenty two countries – will be adapted by McCarten for the screen.

                                        

 Q&A with Anthony McCarten on GOING ZERO:

 

1.      Please tell us about your latest novel, Going Zero.

 

The first pang of this thriller began in the summer of 2016, around a dinner table with friends, where – as it will often do – the subject of the ever-changing nature of modern life came up. The question arose: if you had to evade all detection, literally disappear off the map for some reason, how would you do so and could there be a way that nobody, no matter how well equipped, could find you?

I am old enough to remember a time where one could more easily slip off the radar. These days, not only governments but private corporations, controlled by unregulated individuals, have the power to know almost more about us that we know about ourselves. The benefits of a surveillance state (the one we all now find ourselves living in) and the attendant threat to personal privacy, has emerged as a major theme of our time. But beneath that lies an even deeper question: How is our personal information being used to influence our views and attitudes, without our knowledge, or permission? Are we any longer in total control of who we are?

I was off to the races, and the more I read and learned on this subject the more irritated I became. The list of positive changes the digital age has ushered in is vast and need no enumeration, but the need for new laws that will force companies to be less dominant and do less damage with the weapons of mass instruction and detection and influence they now possess is urgent and great.

Going Zero is a work of fiction but I think not unrealistic. It is meant to scare you, because most of the surveillance tools you will read about are already, and most often secretly, in widespread use.

 

2.      Your background clearly shows that you write in a number of different forms – plays, screenplays, books, both fiction and non-fiction – do you have a favorite form, and if not, what do you like about each?

 

All three forms now feel relatively natural to me (if sitting in a room for years making stuff up is natural.)  And each form offers a variety of pleasures as well as technical and emotional challenges and creative anguish.The skills you learn are in part transferable between the mediums. Play writing for example taught me how much of the action could be contained purely in what is said. Screenplays, on the other hand, are more about action than dialogue and from this you learn how character can also be revealed by what a character does, rather than what they say. So, in my novel, a extended section of dialogue, may be followed by a purely action-based sequence. I like that contrast, having the reader only hear at one point and then only see at an other.  

 

 

3.      You were born in New Zealand, live in the UK, and often work in the US – what are your favorite things about each and where is home to you now?

 

Although I now live in England much of the time, and work a lot in the US, I keep a beach house in New Zealand and try to go back there once a year, to be among my own kind. I first left in my twenties and perhaps there was an element of frustration in my reasons for doing so. But there was also simple curiosity: as I writer I felt in need to be in conversation with a larger sample of the human race. Britain offered me a more intense cross-section of humanity. The great pressure of numbers creates social phenomenon not found so obviously in a smaller population. It served as a new inspiration and now is my home. The United States delights me, and has done since my first visits here in my late 20’s. I had great fun back then, and even now some part of my brain releases a shot of endorphin whenever I land at JFK or LAX. You quickly love a country that puts a smile on your face.

 

4.      What’s next in terms of your fiction? Are you planning a sequel to Going Zero? And when will a film of the novel come out?

 

I generally don’t believe in sequels, unless they were planned at the outset, which doesn’t really make them sequels so much as the next act in a larger, pee-conceived story. But I am already at work on the screenplay for Going Zero – more very soon.