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Review of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab

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I love books about memory/forgetting, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this one, especially since it’s by one of my favorite authors. The story opens in France in the year 1714 and follows a 23-year-old woman named Addie Larue.

She’s arranged to be married to a recent widower that she doesn’t really know, destined to a life of babies, subservience, and backbreaking chores — a life which she desperately wants no part of.

So on her wedding day, she runs off into the woods and prays to the old gods — pleads with whatever deity may be listening to save her, ignoring the advice of her friend and neighbor to “Never pray to those who only answer when it’s dark.”

Well, a dark god of some sort answers her, and she asks him for a chance to live, be free, and have more time. The god agrees, and they make a Faustian bargain in exchange for her soul. She will be able to escape her current life and will never age or die.

Of course, the dark ones don’t play fair and what she wasn’t aware of was that there’s a stipulation to the deal: Nobody will ever remember her for more than a few moments. Once she leaves a room, she is immediately forgotten, and each time she returns to it, it’s like it’s the first time. Out of sight, out of mind.

So the book then chronicles her fascinating struggles over 300 years — all of the pain, solitude, challenges, and loneliness she had to go through. Given that nobody can remember her, she couldn’t hold a job or sign a lease, so she pretty much had to turn to a life of crime and prostitution to survive. She’s not even able to write or sign her name. She’s unable to leave any kind of mark behind. There is never any evidence of her having existed, though she does come up with some creative ways to bend the rules and, in so doing, inadvertently leave her mark on the world.

She also cunningly alleviates her loneliness by spending months with a person, meeting them anew every day, as far as they are concerned. We also follow her odd and messy relationship dynamic with Luc, the demon/god who randomly appears in her life over the centuries, sometimes just to meddle in her life and mess with her. He desperately wants her to tire of life — to tire of being forgotten — so that he can collect her soul.

But one day, things change for Addie when she walks into a bookstore she visited the previous day, and the young man says to her, for the first time in centuries, “I remember you!” So the question is: why does he remember her, and what does that mean for Addie’s life from this point forward? Did she finally pull one over on Luc?

I can’t express how much I loved this complicated, moving book and sometimes raw story. I adored the premise of this breath-taking book. There’s real depth to the story, which delves into themes of grief, loneliness, suffering, that which makes us human, art, our need for connection, our need to live a fulfilling life, family, self-acceptance, leaving our mark on the world, being remembered, being loved and grief.

It’s a fascinating life journey – a character-driven tale that sucked me in and stole my heart. It caused me to laugh, gasp, sob, smile, frown, and experience countless other emotions throughout its pages. I think this will end up being my favorite book of 2020.

Purchase The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue from Amazon

Review of The Last Flight by Julie Clark

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This book surprised me and in the best possible way. In addition to being a compelling domestic suspense story, it turned out to be a super gripping heart-in-your-throat race-against-the-clock thriller that hooked me right from the start, leading me to devour it in only two sittings.

The story follows Claire Cook, who, after months of meticulous planning, is plotting an escape from her physically and emotionally abusive husband Rory Cook, who is part of the powerful and ruthless Cook dynasty and who is ready to announce his bid for the Senate.

Clare plans to disappear and create a new identity and a new life for herself. She knows that if she makes one mistake with her plans…one false step, one wrong decision, one neglected detail…. it’s all going to unravel. In a state of last-minute desperation and out of options, Clare has a chance encounter with a woman named Eva, who is also on the run from someone or something.

The two women make a last-minute decision to switch plane tickets, with Clare taking Eva’s flight to Oakland and Eva taking Clare’s flight to Puerto Rico. When Clare lands in California, she learns that Eva’s flight — the one she was supposed to be on — crashed, leaving no survivors.

Now that everyone believes that Clare is dead, she’s free to step into her new life and assume Eva’s identity. But of course, the huge question is: what was Eva running from? Well, we learn that soon enough, and let’s just say it’s not pretty, and it doesn’t take long for Eva’s dark past to smash head-on into Clare’s new life.

This was such a fascinating character study, and I enjoyed getting to know these two strong yet broken women and their motivations. The story is told in alternating perspectives, from Clare’s viewpoint before and after the crash/her escape and from Eva’s perspective leading up to the crash.

Both of their stories are heartbreaking and riveting, as both characters suffer from deep emotional scars, and we see just how dire each of their situations were and what lead them to make the decision to disappear. I felt that the transitions between the past and present were flawless, and the author did a phenomenal job of blending in the timelines.

This sucker-punch of a book was most certainly an experience as we, the reader, witness firsthand how Clare and Eva, two women who couldn’t be more different, each fight for survival. What also amazed me about this story was how fast-paced it was. There was not one dull moment in the story, and it placed me firmly on the edge of my seat, rooting for both of our characters as they both try to escape their tormentors and free themselves — to begin a new life with a fresh start. And as well learn, making a clean break is no easy task.

The author here succeeds in crafting suspenseful, tension-filled scenes, and flood you with his characters’ depth and their flawed, beautiful hearts.

So in this way, the Last Flight was not only thrilling and heart-pounding but also profoundly moving — a powerful, tightly-plotted character-driven story that caused me to feel a strong empathy for these two incredibly courageous women who find themselves in an impossible situation and decide to set themselves free.

Clark explores so many riveting themes in this richly imaginative story: ambition, failure, physical abuse, emotional abuse, privilege, social inequity, cover-ups, politics (and shady politicians), escaping an abusive situation, grief, drug dealing, loneliness, self-reliance, and second chances.

In some ways, the Last Flight is an honest and somewhat raw commentary on humanity. It certainly doesn’t shy away from hard truths and it kind of destroyed me for a couple of days.

The writing is sharp and edgy; the story raw and tragic; and the characters relentless and determined. The numerous ingenious plot twists kept me turning the pages resulting in a thoroughly addictive and hard-hitting story with a final twist that’s a real stunner.

And that epilogue…..truly heartbreaking. 💔 I did not see that coming at all.

Purchase The Last Flight on Amazon

Review of Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden

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I was delighted when I started reading this and discovered that it takes place on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. I actually rode through there during my motorcycle trip a couple of years ago, as well as the Pine Ridge reservation, which was also mentioned, so that fact really brought the story to life for me.

I don’t know if I can really classify this as a thriller; it’s more of a crime fiction story though there were undoubtedly some thrilling elements to it. But I decided to chat about it for Thriller Thursday nonetheless as I think it would appeal to those who enjoy mysteries, thrillers, or crime fiction.

So we follow Virgil Wounded Horse, a Lakota man living on the Rosebud Reservation who is sort of a vigilante. Others call him “a hired thug.” When the justice system fails, people hire tough-guy Virgil, who ends up delivering his own kind of punishment. When the government decides not to prosecute or pursue those committing rape, assault, or even murder on Indigenous, you call Virgil.

The story opens with Virgil delivering some “special justice” to a rogue teacher who’s sexually assaulted one of his young students. Because of his “chosen career,” Virgil’s kind of an outsider in the community, and people tend to steer clear of him….unless they need his services. He’s also a reformed alcoholic and is trying to turn his life around.

The latest job that he’s hired for — by his ex’s father, nonetheless — is quite a bit different than his previous assignments. The man has requested that Virgil find out who’s bringing heroin into the Reservation and make them stop — any way he can.

It appears that both men know the culprit — someone who used to bully Virgil — so he doesn’t hesitate in taking the case. The task then becomes personal when his beloved teenaged nephew, who is Virgil’s charge, overdoes on heroin and nearly dies, all of which motivates Virgil even more to get to the bottom of it.

But as Virgil soon discovers, things are a lot more complicated than he had thought and much more dangerous. Things really get interesting when he’s pretty much forced to collaborate with the Feds, which may or may not go according to plan and seriously endanger certain lives in the process, with murder being a strong possibility.

This was quite a compelling character-driven story as we got to delve into Virgil’s mind and had firsthand insight into his motivations. Virgil is such a riveting character with so many layers and vulnerabilities and conflicting motivations, and it’s apparent that he’s still trying to figure out his place in the world. There’s a lot more to him than being merely a vigilante for hire. In fact, all of the characters in this book are richly developed, complex, and engaging.

It was also a riveting, sometimes gritty look at what life is like on the Reservation. I also appreciated the discussion around Native-traditions, ceremonies, and teachings that Virgil has come to reject over the years.

But apart from that, there’s also a serious conversation around the crucial issues of drug abuse, economic poverty, and horrendous injustices aimed at Indigenous people, which was genuinely heartbreaking to read.

The lack of government involvement around serious crimes was incredibly eye-opening, especially since, by federal law, tribal police couldn’t prosecute any federal crimes that happen on the Reservation. In this way, the legal system is mostly non-existent, so criminals walk away, and you have to turn to a man like Virgil to obtain justice.

This novel worked for me on so many levels. I loved learning about the culture, and the author really brought the characters and the setting to life for me. This extremely well-written novel was touching, endearing, humorous in place, shocking, heart-breaking, and heart-mending. It touched on so many serious issues that affect Indigenous people today, and in so doing, I feel that it provides valuable insight into these issues.

Additionally, the author gives us a compelling, heart-in-your-throat mystery to solve as Virgil enters deep into a web of corruption, deception, and danger and quickly finds himself in way over his head.

It was difficult for me to leave Virgil as I finished this action-packed book as I grew quite attached to this character. I hope the author gives us more books that follow this character as I’d love to see Virgil Wounded Horse once again.

Purchase Winter Counts on Amazon