Review: Evil Behind That Door by Barbara Fradkin

Evil Behind That Door by Barbara Fradkin by unknown author
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When softhearted handyman Cedric O'Toole agrees to help Barry Mitchell renovate his farmhouse, he finds himself facing old fears. Not only did Mitchell bully Cedric all through school, but his life has been troubled ever since. Now, just out of prison, he's broke and his parents have gone missing, leaving a cloud of suspicion hanging over his head. But when Barry warns him not to touch the boarded-up door in the cellar, the ever-curious Cedric can't resist. The small storage room, obviously unused in years, contains jars of preserves, barrels of dried apples and a pile of small bones. As he sets out to discover who died and how, Cedric uncovers a tale of violence, deception and abuse. And he learns just how far Barry will go to keep a tragic family secret from coming to light.

Review: The Fall Guy

The Fall Guy by Barbara Fradkin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Handyman Cedric O'Toole likes his simple life. He lives by himself on a hardscrabble farm, collecting sheds full of junk and dreaming of his next invention. Then one day a slick city lawyer drives down his lane and his nightmare begins. Lori-Anne Wilkins, the wife of a wealthy local businessman, has fallen to her death from a deck Cedric built, and the furious widower has slapped him with a lawsuit. When Cedric goes to check out the accident site, he discovers that someone has tampered with the railing around the deck. It appears he's been set up to take the blame. But who might want Mrs. Wilkins dead? Then, when someone runs him off the road, he realizes that his life is in danger too. To clear his name and save his life, Cedric has to use his inventive mind to trap the real killer.

Review: Fire in the Stars

Fire in the Stars by Barbara Fradkin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A former aid worker returns home haunted by her time in Africa and channels her pain into a murder investigation that’s all too personal.

After surviving a horrific trauma in Nigeria, international aid worker Amanda Doucette returns to Canada to rebuild her life and her shaken ideals. There, the once-passionate, adventurous woman needs all her strength and ingenuity when a friend and fellow survivor goes missing along with his son.

A trained first-aid and crisis responder, Doucette ― always accompanied by her beloved dog Kaylee ― joins forces with RCMP officer Chris Tymko to discover the truth about the disappearance. Their search leads them to the Great Northern Peninsula, a rugged landscape of Viking history, icebergs, whales, and fierce ocean storms. Elsewhere, a body gets hauled up in a fisherman’s net, and evidence is mounting of an unsettling connection with Amanda’s search for her friend. Fradkin writes evocatively of the beautiful, often hostile, Newfoundland landscape where Amanda soon finds herself fighting for her very survival.

I loved this book and am so happy to have found this writer. Will be reading more of her books.

Review: A New Season

A New Season by Terry Fallis
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is Terry Fallis at the top of his game! I absolutely loved this latest from a great Canadian talent, that features Jack, a middle-aged man still grieving the loss of his beloved wife who died suddenly and alone at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto.

Told with empathy, grace and of course, his trademark humor, this is a story about fathers and sons, an ode to 1920s Paris, finding love again and embracing life with passion. I loved the relationship between Jack and his son, Jack's ball hockey family and the way he finds the courage to take a trip to Paris he meant to go on with his wife but never did.

While in Paris Jack meets Calla, a British artist with a unique connection to the 'Lost Generation' of American writers and artists who flourished at that time. Their friendship develops quickly and the two bond over shared interests, ultimately falling in love.

Beautifully written, this is a story of hope and love with a fun historical mystery thrown in too. I HIGHLY recommend listening to this on audio as its both read by the author AND includes original performances of songs he's written over the years that play a key part of the story.

Review: Educated

Educated by Tara Westover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard.

Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.

Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and the will to change it.

Review: Before We Were Yours

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can truly see why this book won the best historical fiction for 2017 on Goodreads. It reads like a true story and actually could be a compendium of true life stories for many people.

It opens with Avery, a senator's daughter, accompanying her father to a nursing home appearance. During the visit Avery meets and sees quite a few people. One elderly lady shakes her hand and manages to remove an heirloom bracelet from Avery. She doesn't notice this bracelet missing until an attendant calls her later in the week to tell her they "found" her bracelet. Avery returns to the home and asks to see the resident who had the bracelet. On visiting the elderly lady's room she spies a photo that is very much a close likeness to her grandmother who is in a retirement home for memory.

The story takes us back to the thirties and a riverboat family with five children and the mother expecting twins.

I won't give away any of the powerful story, but I must say that I have hardly ever actually cried, boo hoo, cries like I did in reading this book. Oh, I have shed a tear or two but nothing like this book.

An excellent read as well as learning about a part of history that we should be a shamed of.




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Review: Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight

Game On: Tempting Twenty-Eight by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When Stephanie Plum is woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of footsteps in her apartment, she wishes she didn’t keep her gun in the cookie jar in her kitchen. And when she finds out the intruder is fellow apprehension agent Diesel, six feet of hard muscle and bad attitude whom she hasn’t seen in more than two years, she still thinks the gun might come in handy.

Turns out Diesel and Stephanie are on the trail of the same fugitive: Oswald Wednesday, an international computer hacker as brilliant as he is ruthless. Stephanie may not be the most technologically savvy sleuth, but she more than makes up for that with her dogged determination, her understanding of human nature, and her willingness to do just about anything to bring a fugitive to justice. Unsure if Diesel is her partner or her competition in this case, she’ll need to watch her back every step of the way because Oswald is a killer.