Whidbey by T Kira Madden

 

This is a book whose characters and their lives will haunt you long after you've finished it. It comes with a warning; the subject matter is sexual abuse and its effects on the victims. At times disturbing, it also raises questions about our justice system and rehabilitation methods.

Birdie, sexually abused by Calvin at age nine, is fleeing the publicity of a recently published book about Calvin's victims. She heads to remote Whidbey Island, Washington, as far from her New York City home as she can get. On the ferry to the island, Birdie meets a man who offers to kill recently paroled Calvin, thus removing the threat and satisfying her need for revenge.

Calvin's mother, Mary-Beth, is a victim of circumstance. Shunned in the small community for proclaiming her son a victim of promiscuous girls, her mother's love blinds her to the truth. When Calvin is brutally murdered, Mary-Beth again becomes a victim, this time by what she sees as inaction on the part of the police to find the killer. 

Linzie, famous for her meltdown on a reality TV show, is another of Calvin's victims. She has just published a tell-all book about her and other victims' experiences. Her thinly disguised descriptions of other victims make them easy to identify, leading Birdie to go into hiding.

Told from multiple points of view, this is about how the trauma of a sexual assault can have life-changing repercussions. I considered not finishing this book because of how upset I got over what happened to Birdie and Linzie.  Although Madden deftly handles the description of the assaults both girls suffered, it was still depressing. But I read on because it's an important topic and one that needs exploring. I could have done without the explicit descriptions of Birdie and her partner's lovemaking. I'm not a prude, but it was just too much information. 

4/5 stars.

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

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The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown

 

The last Dan Brown book I read was The Da Vinci Code, and I enjoyed it. On a whim, I decided to read this latest book, number six in the series. I was pleasantly surprised to find it read as a standalone and was almost as good as I remembered The Da Vinci Code being.

Robert Langdon and his romantic partner, Katherine Solomon, are in Prague for a conference where Solomon is presenting a paper on the nature of human consciousness. Solomon is ready to submit her book on the same topic when her publishing house comes under attack, and all copies of her book are deleted. Simultaneously, Langdon finds the body of a prominent Czech scientist, who has been brutally murdered. Katherine disappears, and Langdon is on the run from the Czech police, who think he killed the scientist. The murder appears to be tied to Solomon's discoveries, and it's up to Langdon to find the link and the missing Katherine.

This is a well-researched book that lays out the theory of human consciousness in an understandable way. It explores the science and moral implications of this thought-provoking theory in a manner that captures the imagination. I especially enjoyed the moral implications of using the findings as a military weapon. Brown explores both the positive and negative aspects of this moral dilemma, but leaves it up to the reader to draw their own conclusions. The Secret of Secrets is a suspenseful, thought-provoking read. 

4.5/5 stars.

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When I Kill You by B.A. Paris

 

B.A. Paris, the queen of thrillers, is back with another suspenseful novel. When I Kill You is a disquieting look into the mind of two stalkers and their victims.

Twenty-two-year-old Elle Nugent witnesses a young woman getting into a car with a man Elle has just run into. When the woman is later found murdered, Elle, frustrated by the lack of progress by the police, begins to stalk the man--with devastating consequences.

Fourteen years later. Elle has changed her name to Nell Masters and is successfully running a nonprofit. When Nell begins to feel like she is being followed, the shoe is on the other foot. Fearing for her life from her stalker, Nell thinks her past has caught up to her and desperately tries to find out who her stalker is and why they are after her.

Initially told through the perspectives of Elle, Nell, and Nell's stalker, the book examines why Elle became a stalker. Later, when Nell is being stalked, the reader is taken into the mind of a terrified woman who no longer trusts those around her. This is a fast-paced book that is both eerie and frightening. Overall, I enjoyed this book, but Elle's incredibly poor decisions were so off-putting that I had no sympathy for her. I did figure out who Nell's stalker was early on, but it was interesting to watch how paranoid Nell became. 

3.5/5 stars.

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin's Press, for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is February 17, 2026.

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Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky

 

This is the first book in The Final Architecture series, and it's a winner. With an intriguing plot, excellent world-building, and imaginative characters, it kept me reading late into the night.

Idris, as a much sought-after Intermediary navigator, and Solace, a warrior of the Parthenon sisterhood, have survived the Architect war. Now, years later, they encounter one another again when Solace joins the ship Idris pilots in hopes of enticing him to join her and the Parthenon. But Idris, Solace, and the Vulture God's crew, who have found a missing ship that shows evidence of an Architect attack, are suddenly on the run from gangsters and others who may benefit from the return of the Architects. The Architects, moon-sized entities that attack populated planets and reshape them into desolate works of art, have been missing since Idris and other Intermediaries deterred them to end the war. If they are back, it signals the beginning of a new war. 

This is a well-crafted space opera. The story is easy to follow, and the characters and alien species are distinctive. The suspense is riveting, and the action scenes are not overly drawn out. This is the first Adrian Tchaikovsky book I've read, and I can't wait to explore more of his books. 

5/5 stars.

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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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