The Company of Demons by Michael Jordan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to Greenleaf Book Group and BookishFirst for a copy of this book. Below is my honest opinion.

This debut novel from Michael Jordan was very hard to put down. The short, fast-paced chapters kept the story moving. And there was so much story!

In this book John Coleman is a lawyer who has a past interlaced with a serial killer - one who his father had tried (and failed) to apprehend. John is an anti-hero, a cheater and alcoholic who is hard to like at times, but still one that the reader will want to pull for.

Events in the middle of this book are normally what you find at the end of other books, but this story contains many layers. If you're looking for surprising twists you won't necessarily find that here. Some parts are predictable but that doesn't make this any less an exciting book to read. The ending left me wondering if there will perhaps be a sequel in the future.

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The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is a hit before it has even been released. You'll want to check it out if you're a fan of plots twists, suspenseful reads, and thrillers.

Vanessa is troubled. She's divorced from Richard. She drinks too much. She's having trouble at work. But what really happened in their marriage? Vanessa is young, beautiful, and getting ready to marry Richard. But Richard is odd - he's so generous but controlling. Loving but aloof.

This book contains a surprise that I didn't see coming at all. I haven't found a twist like this since reading Gone Girl. The two books are similar in that they are twisted and about domestic relationships - but that's where the similarities end. I had hoped for some more turns and staggering reveals (greedy, I know) but this was still a great book to read. Be prepared for reading about troubled marriage - not always a pleasant thing to read about.

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The Chalk Man by C.J. Tudor
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

This was a book that was hard to put down. It starts off gory and a bit shocking and doesn't let up too much. Told in alternating chapters our narrator, Eddie, takes us from present day events (2016) back to his childhood in 1986. Is the Eddie reliable? Telling the truth? You'll have to read to find out.

There are a lot of questions that came up while I was reading. Who is the girl who is killed? Who killed Eddie's friend? Who drew all of the (creepy) chalk men? Everything is answered eventually, but there is a twist revealed at the end that may not be totally surprising to every reader.

I enjoyed this story while I read it, but it's not one that will stick with me for a long time. This is a debut novel from CJ Tudor, and I hope to see what other books she produces.

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The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Thank you to Penguin Random House and BookishFirst for a copy of this book. Below is my honest opinion.

This story starts off strong as four young siblings meet a psychic who tells each of them the date of their deaths. These impressionable young people each handle the news differently. This story follows their lives and how the psychic's predictions shaped them and their relationships.

The story really begins in the 1970s as two of the siblings move across the country to San Francisco. Simon, a young gay man, finally begins to live freely. His sister Klara, always supportive of Simon, works to fulfill her dream of becoming a magician. Meanwhile, the less free-spirited Daniel and Varya struggle to understand why their younger siblings won't come home.

This book is about four people who are vastly different even though they're siblings. I liked some of the siblings better than others (Simon) but thought some of the events that happened in the lives of others (Daniel) seemed out of place. I had been anticipating this book quite a bit before starting it, and I believe I over-hyped it to myself. It was still a book to enjoy and get lost in but not one that I would read again.


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The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Anna suffers from agoraphobia. She cannot leave her house and spends much of her time peering through her windows, watching her neighbors. She has few visitors - a therapist or two will stop by - but even her husband and daughter are not with her. Anna exists in a very isolated, small world.

When new neighbors arrive Anna becomes absorbed in their lives. She watches closely and sees something horrific, something that the police don't believe, something the neighbors deny. So is it hallucinations Anna's suffering from? Is it the medication she takes? Trying to determine what is real and what isn't in this book is an adventure.

Readers shouldn't be intimidated by the 400 plus pages. This read goes quickly and is difficult to put down. Anna's agoraphobia is interesting to read about. There are lots of twists and surprises along the way. I wasn't able to predict the ending but enjoyed trying to puzzle it out.

The only thing that kept this from being a five star read was the amount of drinking done by the main character. I've seen this done in many other books recently - and then I'm left with an unreliable narrator. I need something different. It worked in this story but I just didn't want to read about an overly medicated woman again.

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The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit by Michael Finkel
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

This story was so fascinating to me. Chris Knight walked away from his life in the early 80s as a young man. He was not seen again for over 20 years. During this time he lives alone in the remote wilderness of Maine. With no other resources he steals from a nearby quiet lake community for decades. This story roped me in.

Michael Finkel does a great job researching Knight's story. The history of many other hermits is presented to show exactly how extraordinary Knight's self-isolation really was. I thought this book was well researched and I would love to read more by this author.

The one thing that bothered me about Knight's story is hard to describe. I couldn't put this book down but I also couldn't help but think I was looking into something that the subject of the book would not want me to read. This story is an intrusion of someone who has shunned society and contact with other humans for decades. I don't know that Knight wanted his story shared with the world and so have some conflicting ideas about this book being written. It's an incredible story but it may be a story Chris Knight didn't want written in a book.

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It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World’s Family Tree by A.J. Jacobs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

AJ Jacobs is always good for an entertaining read, and this latest book is no exception. If you've listened to AJ's podcast Twice Removed you'll already have an idea of what you will get in this book. (And if you haven't listened be sure to check it out. It was a short lived podcast, but kind of fun.) AJ is on a quest to show that everyone is all part of one big family.

There is a light narrative through the book in which AJ is organizing a (hopefully) record breaking family reunion. It seems like a disaster at every turn, but it's interesting to see his big plans unfold. Most of the rest of the book are a variety of genealogical stories. Who are AJ's ancestors? How does one go about researching a family tree? How exactly are we all related?

There are lots of laugh out loud moments in this book. AJ isn't afraid to share his embarrassing moments, struggles, and feuds (great and small). Lots of research has gone into this book, and it's appreciated by this reader. There are several current hot-button social issues hit upon in this book. I'm open to hearing those discussions (in moderation) but it wasn't what I was looking for in a light read about genealogy.

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