Not A Happy Family by Shari Lapena

Hello everyone.  I hope your day has been pleasant.

If you had wealthy parents would you consider killing them for their money?  Please note, I'm assuming you would all say no or run along as you have totally creeped me out.  Now, if your parents turned up dead would you throw your siblings under the bus to collect their share of the money? For me...absolutely.  I'll be getting phone calls tomorrow but let it be known that they are all goners!  Time to get even for my parents going with "what the majority wanted" and there being three of them (my sisters are triplets).  What they wanted always won.  Unfair.  So, if it comes down to it, up the river they go.  I'll even put my palms together and repeatedly curl my fingers, with an evil laugh, Disney villain style. Forget pricking your finger on that spinning wheel, you're prison bound! (Sleeping Beauty, must I tell you everything.)

I recently read Not A Happy Family by Shari Lapena.  I love that Shari Lapena writes about upstate NY since that is where I grew up.  In this case, the story is about a family that lives in the Hudson Valley.  The very wealthy parents of three children are murdered.  The entire book is about who did it and why.  Lapena is an expert at convincing the reader that someone is guilty only to accomplish the same thing in the next chapter with another person.  A very fun read.  Not really thrillery but a great mystery.  Think the movie Knives Out, but much better.  The book features interesting character development which is revealed slowly, allowing our feelings toward each person to remain fluid.  Compounded with short, cliff hanger chapters and you've got a book that will fly by.  A great one to read on vacation.

By the way, to any reading siblings, expect no cakes with files from me.  You'll be lucky to get a cupcake!

The End of Her by Shari Lapena

Hello everyone. I hope you are well.  Last week we had a little issue here.  I was reading the new book by Shari Lapena, The End of Her.  I think I've read everything she's written. For some reason, I thought she was from upstate NY, maybe because that is often the setting of her books.  She isn't, she is from Canada.  Anyway, being originally from upstate NY myself, I often know the areas mentioned and have a strange camaraderie with her stories. I was very anxious to read her latest.  The story was full of twists right from the beginning. Often I'll read portions to my husband...someone has to hear the exciting stuff besides me.  Well, I progressed too far into the book to read him anything.  Frankly, if it continued all twisty and turny I thought he might someday want to read it himself...so I said nothing.  Yeah, I guess I uttered "oh my gosh" one too many times. Pretty soon he wants to read it...not later...now! While I'm reading it! The nerve! Did I mention I've read all of her books and had been waiting for The End of Her? I had been waiting and was finally reading it...waiting and reading.

If you're old enough, you'll remember Battle of the Network Stars, well here last week we had battle of the marital bookmarks.  Every second I put down the book, he snatches it up. I practically became dehydrated avoiding liquids trying not to have to go to the bathroom.  Then the weekend came and I felt guilty for not letting him read it.  He works all the time, really, I mean all the time, until all hours of the morning on weekdays so I felt like it was my wifely duty to let him have the book.  Yes, I know it means something far more to most people, but in this household it means giving up the brand new, highly anticipated Shari Lapena book.  Of course, you know what happened, while I'm watching him read, waiting, postulating my ideas about who did what in the story, he finished the book.  Then while I finish it, he is constantly asking where I am and has this coy little smile plastered to his book stealing face. 

The End of Her is one of those thrillers I love where every character is unreliable.  You not only have to figure out what happened but who is telling the truth.  This is the story of a woman, Stephanie, who has twins that have colic and offer her no time to rest. Things start happening, are they real or a symptom of lack of sleep?  Then her husband is visited by someone he knew long ago, from the other side of the country. What is she doing here? Secrets are revealed, but which retelling of those tales are true? This book is nicely written, fast paced and full of directional turns. My favorite of all Shari Lapena's books and I've enjoyed them all.  Obviously, my husband liked it too.

When you read The End of Her, do yourself a favor. First, stay completely silent, don't express any surprise. Second, I suggest hiding your book within a magazine about house maintenance, that should keep your book safe for your enjoyment.

Someone We Know by Shari Lapena

Hello everyone.

Are you in one of those communities where you know all your neighbors or just a few, perhaps none? Right now we know some, not all. In our old Victorian we knew absolutely everyone. We ended up being quite close, as we were all going through the restoration process. One of our neighbors across the street was a FBI agent. My father-in-law would come over pretty much every Saturday to help us work on the project of the moment.  He didn't call but since we were always working on the house it was a pretty safe bet that we would be tackling some issue first thing on the weekend. One time we were at the store when hubby's dad arrived. He started walking between houses admiring his recent handiwork on a diamond shaped window. Our FBI neighbor was not sure who my father-in-law was and immediately came over to question him. It may seem bothersome or intrusive to you, but it was great for us, especially since my husband often traveled for business. You never really know what you are going to get in the neighbor department until you move in.

I just finished Shari Lapena's new book, Someone We know. This story begins with a mother who walks the line between protecting her teenage child and the morality of knowing he has broken into the neighbor's homes for the purpose of snooping around their computers, and for the challenge. The boy's parents decide not to go to the police but the mother's feelings of guilt for her son's behavior grow.  To calm her conscious, one night she sneaks out and pushes an anonymous letter of apology under the door of the affected houses. The problems really start when we discover that one of the houses explored belongs to a man who has had some startling news; his wife was found dead. The teenage boys prints are all over the house of the murdered woman. Guilt is cast on several neighbors as the book progresses leaving the reader guessing, certain the killer is one person then the next, in this classic, suspenseful "who done it".

The writing a good, as always, typical of Shari Lapena's past books. This one might be a bit faster read than her last, definitely a page turner as the tension grows. No rocket science here, just another solid story from this author. So far, I've read everything Lapena has written and she hasn't disappointed me yet.

Think I'll go next door and borrow a cup of sugar, just to make sure they aren't up to no good.

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena

A few days ago, it was National Book Day! Who knew there was such a thing? There is a day for everything now. Not that I'm complaining. Heck NO! AND as luck would have it, dear darling hubby came home from work with a gift. Seems his last meeting was shorter than expected so he ventured out to Barnes and Noble to pick up Shari Lapena's new book An Unwanted Guest for me. Alright, this is where you all chime in together..."awwwww."  I know, he's a keeper...usually. I'm surprised he actually listened to me the ninety-five plus times I mentioned the book, pouting like a 2-year-old that I had too much to read already and would wait until it came out in paperback. Okay, now you and I, as book junkies, know that was never going to happen, but it made it look like a valiant, self-sacrificing effort to show some control. I know, funny, huh?!

So, hubby arrives home not only with a new novel but a salad for lunch. After literally snatching the book from his arms, a gasp of glee and quick peck on the cheek (generous aren't I?), I'm reading. This book is supposed to be a modern retelling of Agatha Christie's and Then There Were None, set in the Catskills of New York. I admittedly have a soft spot for the Catskills, so am already intrigued. The plot dives right in, introducing characters as they travel to the inn where they are to be weekend guests. The story moves quickly, we learn of the imperfection of each person and motives they have for crime. When someone ends up murdered, they all suspect each other, rightfully so. The author is masterful, shining the light of suspicion on one person, then as soon as I'm sure they are guilty, she moves the spotlight to someone else who seems just as plausibly the murderer. The book races to a classic "whodunnit" finish with a little extra twist on the very last page, just for good measure. Loved it. Despite my self-confessed pokey reading I was done in less than twenty-four hours, admittedly it kept me up much of the night. God Bless my booklight!

A couple of side notes, that have nothing to do with An Unwanted Guest.

I've read both of Shari Lapena's other books, A Stranger in the House and The Couple Next Door. I really liked both of those stories as well, so if you enjoy this perhaps you'll find them worth a look. Next, there are so many funny takes on this Agatha Christie story in TV and movies that you might like. Family Guy does a great episode, also a couple of older movies come to mind. Clue, with Leslie Ann Warren and Tim Currey. Also, the famous Murder by Death by the genius Neil Simon loaded with talent like Maggie Smith, Peter Sellers, Peter Falk, David Niven, Alec Guinness, Eileen Brennan, Elsa Lancaster, James Cromwell, Nancy Walker, Truman Capote, James Coco, and more. This satire pokes fun at how some authors cheat at the end of mysteries. The characters in the house for the weekend are take offs from books, with names like Dick and Dora Charles, Sam Diamond, etc. It is very funny.