What a great start to the day to find a pre-approval for the new Blake Crouch novel waiting for me in my inbox!
Sorry, current reads, I may be putting you all aside for a couple of days…
Other than that, things have been pretty quiet in my corner of the world. All the more time to get some decent reading hours in…
The Week in Books
The Doomsday Mother by John Glatt — 4 out of 5 stars
The disappearances of Tylee Ryan and her brother J.J. Vallow, and later the discovery of their bodies, made national headlines in late 2019 and in 2020. What made these tragic deaths even more disturbing were the actions (or rather lack thereof) of their mother, Lori Vallow. After suddenly moving (some say fleeing) to Hawaii after the disappearances, Vallow’s refusal to cooperate with investigators began to raise suspicions. In 2021, she and her new husband, Chad Daybell, were charged with the murders of the two children and one other person. What would lead a mother down this road? Author John Glatt has done some extensive research and gives us Lori’s backstory, from her childhood to her obsession with Chad Daybell and his books predicting the coming apocalypse. This is a disturbing, at times even eerie, look at religious cults, mental illness, and mysterious deaths. For true crimes fans like myself, this is a must-read.
The Flamer by Ben Rogers — 4 out of 5 stars
A coming-of-age story that checks all the boxes: first kiss, budding sexuality, fitting in…and with a few explosions thrown in for good measure. Young Oby is a boy whose obsession with anything combustible will lead him down the path to adulthood, while meeting some interesting characters along the way. Entertaining and compulsively readable, I highly recommend this one.
Growing Up Dead in Texas by Stephen Graham Jones — 3.5 out of 5 stars
As you know, I’m a big fan of SGJ and I’ve loved everything I’ve read by him…sadly, until now. I can’t really tell you what the book was about, it was a mix of mysterious fires, family dynamics and deeply hidden secrets, deaths, and people getting the crap beat out of them (granted, they usually deserved it). What brought this down for me were the dizzying time jumps at every turn and in nearly every paragraph. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate the story, and once I got the hang of the writing style I began to enjoy it, but I just couldn’t really get past clipped thoughts and scattered storyline.
Stay safe and Happy Reading!