The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

 

I'm always a bit wary of books that other readers rave about. I think that I'm more critical than many and am often disappointed by what others consider an outstanding read. That is not the case with The Correspondent. It captured my attention from the first page, and I read late into the night to find out what happened next.

Sybil Van Antwerp is now in her seventies. A lifelong letter writer, she believes in the written word, shuns email, and saves all of the letters she receives. Many of her letters are to fellow book enthusiasts, with some to authors whose books have moved her. A former lawyer and law clerk, Sybil, divorced mother of two, now faces a bleak future. Her eyesight is failing, and to the independent Sybil, this is tantamount to a death sentence. 

We follow Sybil through the years as she confronts her challenges, faces up to her mistakes, and reaches out to help others--all through her correspondence. We come to know her best friend, Rosalie, her brother, Felix, a product support person, and many others who touch her life. This is a charming story, while exploring the pain of the death of a child, and the challenges that face us all as we age. I highly recommend this book. 

5/5 stars.

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The Final Problem by Arturo Perez-Reverte

 If you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes and the Golden Age of movies, you'll love this book. With a nod to Agatha Christie and her locked-room mysteries, this book has it all.

In June 1960, a storm stranded an eclectic group of travelers on a remote Greek island. When one of them is found dead in a locked boat house, an apparent suicide victim, the remaining members turn to Ormand "Hopalong" Basil, a fading actor best known for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, to look into the death. With a Spanish dime-novel writer, Paco Foxa, as his Watson, Basil quickly determines that the woman was murdered. After a second body is discovered, the surviving members begin pressuring Basil for answers. Basil and Foxa realize that the killer is taunting them and their amateur crime-solving abilities. Relying on the Sherlock Holmes books and their own deductive reasoning, the pair begin to unwind the murders. 

Both main characters have encyclopedic knowledge of the Sherlock Holmes stories and frequently quote them to each other. This can be tedious at times, but it fits the novel's theme. I enjoyed the transition from Basil as a has-been actor to a crime solver. From his initial bumbling attempts, he becomes a formidable detective. With its fast pace and red herrings, Perez-Reverte does an excellent job of keeping the reader on their toes. 

4/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Mulholland Books, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is February 10, 2026.

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Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks

Banks plays with the creation myth to excellent effect in this ninth book in his Culture series. This, combined with his world-building and unusual pan-humans, makes Surface Detail one of his best books yet. 

 Lededje is an Intagliated. A person whose tattoos cover not just her skin, but extend to her internal organs as well. She is owned by Jolier Veppers, the wealthiest and most influential man in the Enablement. Veppers thinks he has killed her after another escape attempt, but unknown to either of them, Lededje has had a Culture neural lace implant that allows her to assume a new body. 

 There is a war being waged between those who oppose the generated Pavulean Hell and those who see Hell as both a deterrent and a punishment. Journalists Chay and Prin gain access to Hell to report on what happens there, only for Chay to be trapped after they attempt to escape. 

 Vatueil is a conscript whose job is to help build a tunnel to a castle that is under siege. When the tunnelers encounter a deadly gas, Vatueil is one of the few survivors. He switches sides to join the castle dwellers, only to be tortured and, he thought, killed. 

 The book follows these main characters, and I was left wondering how Banks would weave their storylines together. It took over 600 pages, but he did it! There were quite a few minor characters, almost too many to keep track of, but their roles were essential to the main characters, and they did advance the story. I loved the philosophical discussion about Hell and Chay's experiences. The pacing dragged at times, and I felt there were unnecessary f-bombs throughout, but overall, this is another good addition to the Culture series. 

4/5 stars.

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Wolf Hour by Jo Nesbo

Jo Nesbo has taken a page from his excellent Harry Hole series to craft the character Bob Oz, a flawed detective with a drinking problem, in this stand-alone Nordic noir thriller. Set in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Nesbo shows he's just as good at writing a novel set in America as he is in his native Norway.

In 2022, Holger Rudi, an aspiring Norwegian crime writer, sets his eye on an old serial murder case that occurred in Minneapolis in 2016. His interest in the case is complicated and not without bias. He begins his research by visiting the old crime scenes and familiarizing himself with the city and the culture.

In 2016, a police homicide detective, Bob Oz, was the first on the scene of the attempted murder of a gun dealer. Oz learns that another tenant in the apartment building, Tomas Gomez, may be the gunman. Oz begins an unofficial investigation just as another shooting occurs, this time with deadly consequences, and Oz is sure it's Gomez behind the attacks. As Oz looks into Gomez's past, he discovers a tragic history and a man out for revenge. With Gomez seemingly always one step ahead, Oz must figure out who Gomez is going to target next if he has any hope of stopping him.

This is a suspenseful book with a serial killer that I found myself conflicted over. On the one hand, Gomez's tragic history cries out for justice that never came. On the other hand, vigilante justice is never the answer. With two strong characters in Oz and Gomez, Nesbo does a good job of making it hard for the reader to choose sides. The book is intricately plotted, with a dark twist that shocked me. Nesbo is a mesmerizing storyteller, and Wolf Hour is an excellent example of Nesbo at the height of his game. 

5/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and Knopf, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is February 3, 2026.

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The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso

 I chose this book because it was compared to The Ministry of Time and The Midnight Library, and I can see why. Although not as well written as either of those books, it was good and had an excellent plot.

Lisavet Levy's father is a German watchmaker whose watches enable the wearer to access the realm known as time space, a library filled with books containing memories of both the living and the dead. In 1938, when her Jewish father failed to return, eleven-year-old Lisavet escaped the Nazis by entering the time space--only to become trapped there. When Lisavet sees government agents entering the time space to try to change history by erasing memories, she begins collecting what remains to preserve them. Time passes, and Lisavet grows up in the time space, with only a specter for company, until 1949, when she meets American spy Ernest Duquesne. They fall in love, and Lisavet is torn between the outside world and the safety she feels in the time space. 

Flash forward to 1965 in Washington, D.C., and sixteen-year-old Amelia Duquesne is mourning the disappearance of her uncle Ernest. She is approached by Moira Donnelly, head of the CIA-controlled department for which her uncle worked. Moira enlists Amelia to try to find a book her uncle was looking for in the time space when he disappeared. Amelia wants answers, and working with Moira is the best way to get them. 

This is an enjoyable book that follows the exploits of Lisavet, Moira, and Amelia across different time lines. The time space realm is especially intriguing. The point that no two people remember the same incident the same way, and whose memories are unreliable, was brought home. It gave me pause about the perspective of those responsible for writing history, and just how fragile truth is. 

4/5 stars.

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The Purity of Vengeance by Jussi Adler-Olsen

 This is another winner in the Department Q series. With Adler-Olsen's signature humor and interesting characters, I found myself rooting for the killer. Her vigilante justice was, to me, justified.

In the 1950s, Nettie Hermansen was the victim of forced sterilization and unjustified incarceration. Thirty years later, she plots her revenge against those who wronged her. Now she is a wealthy widow whose past may be catching up with her in the form of Carl Morck and his Department Q assistants. 

Carl and company are focused on the cold case of a brothel owner who disappeared in the 1980s. When they begin investigating, they uncover similar disappearances and a link to a current extreme right-wing political party leader. Just how they are connected is a dangerous puzzle they must solve.

I liked how the story used flashbacks to Nettie's life and her later revenge against those who had harmed her to weave the past and present together. Nettie is a sympathetic character pitted against an unjust society that facilitated the despicable treatment of innocent women. The intricate plot, combined with some truly evil characters, made this a book I couldn't put down. The fact that actual events inspired it made it more compelling. 

4.5/5 stars.

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Impostor by LJ Ross

This is the first book in a series featuring psychologist Dr. Alexander Gregory. The series has done well in Great Britain and is now being published in the US. Based on this book, it's a promising psychological thriller series.

Dr. Alex Gregory, a former criminal profiler, is a psychologist at a mental health prison. Cathy, one of his patients who was convicted of killing two of her three children, is an interesting person who is in denial of her role in her children's deaths. She's intelligent and manipulative, and a challenge for Gregory. 

Meanwhile, a brutal murder occurs in a small Irish village, and the mayor appeals to Gregory to help. With no forensic evidence, the police rely on Gregory for help in finding the killer. Initially distrustful of Gregory, especially when he contradicts their theories, they soon realize that they are facing a perpetrator who is likely to kill again.

I found this to be a fast-paced thriller with multiple twists and red herrings. Both cases that Gregory is focusing on are intriguing. Cathy, especially, is a puzzle. The writing is good, the characters well-developed. In this book, Gregory is torn between his patients and his desire to return to criminal profiling. He is a conflicted but well-intentioned character. I look forward to the next book to see what path he takes. 

4.5/5 stars. 

Thank you, NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is February 3, 2026.

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