Hooray, It’s Time for New Books!

Chris Bohjalian has been consistently delivering intense, emotionally wrenching novels for many years now. This is his most fascinating, IMO, possibly because of its unusual main character. Crissy Dowling is a semi-star on the Strip in Las Vegas. She performs a cabaret show each night as her doppelganger, Princess Diana, and is adored by everyone around and mildly famous. But Crissy’s life is less glamorous out of the spotlight, with a secret married lover, an Adderall habit, and disordered eating problems. When the owner of the casino is murdered, Crissy gets drawn into a case involving organized crime and ruthless killers. The details in this novel are great. I haven’t been to Vegas in almost two decades, but I can still visualize it, and the feel of the city in the book is spot on. And how Bohjalian discusses Crissy turning herself into not only someone else, but one of the most beloved figures in the world, is so interesting. (Content warnings include violence, gore, murder, loss of a loved one, disordered eating, body dysmorphia, substance use and abuse, infidelity, sexual harassment, child abuse, suicide, and animal cruelty.)

Backlist bump: The Secret History of Las Vegas by Chris Abani

This is one of the darkest, most heartbreaking books I have read in a long time. It’s also one of the most darkly humorous books I have read. It’s set in New Hampshire during the Satanic Panic of the 1980s. Lacey is a young teen whose hippie parents run a daycare out of their home. She’s struggling with popularity and thinks she’s hiding the fact that she is attracted to girls. But when her parents are arrested and charged with assaulting many children in Satanic rituals, her life is turned upside down. While her parents are held without bail, Lacey’s glamorous, foul-mouthed older sister returns home to help care for her and get them ready for their parents’ trial. They are pretty much on their own. The ridiculousness of the charges doesn’t seem to keep most of the town from thinking they are true. Lacey and her sister are hounded by the media, and everything feels like it’s hopeless.

And this is only the beginning of Lacey’s horrible troubles, as more tragedy strikes and she must deal with being a teenager in a system that doesn’t care about children, where most of the adults don’t have her best interests in mind. Lacey is so achingly real, with her conflicts about her attraction to women, her desire to see justice for her parents, her fears, and her bravery. She has to make hard choices in a world where these things are supposed to be handled by adults. I won’t lie; despite its humor and whiplash-fast pace, Rainbow Black is a tough read at times, because of the subject matter. The time period is often reflected in the characters’ language, which is realistic for those years and serves to remind the reader how casually people used slurs and offensive terms back then. (Some people still do, but not as out in the open as they used to.) It also contains a lot of difficult subject matter. But it’s an incredible look at mass hysteria, hate, and fear, and even a hopeful story of resilience and love, and a cutting commentary on our present. (Content warnings for just about everything you can think of, including racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia and deadnaming, child sexual assault, an adult/minor relationship, gore, grief, addiction, animal death, and suicide.)

Backlist bump: Strange Truth by Maggie Thrash

After that last pick, I thought I would end it with something much, much lighter. I haven’t read this book yet, but I really enjoyed the first two novels in the series, Under Lock & Skeleton Key and The Raven Thief. They’re about Tempest Raj, who returns home after her career in magic meets a disastrous end. She winds up working for her family’s construction company, which specializes in building secret staircases, hidden rooms, trap doors, etc. (I want all of these things in my house!) But, of course, she also winds up puzzling (get it?) out mysteries. The mysteries are fun, light, and clever. I also wanted to mention that Pandian has a couple of other fun cozy mystery series for fans of the genre. One is a fantasy series, The Accidental Alchemists, and the other, the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt series, is about a historian who goes on Indiana Jones-type adventures. I hope to get to this one really soon!

Backlist bump: The Accidental Alchemist by Gigi Pandian

This week, I am reading The Blue Hour by Paula Hawkins and So Thirsty by Rachel Harrison. We still haven’t had a chance to sit down and start a new show yet, but I am leaning towards the adaptation of The Good Lord Bird by James McBride. I looooove the book, and I love David Morse, and Steve Zahn, and Daveed Diggs. Honestly, I’m surprised I haven’t watched it yet. The song stuck in my head this week is “Eyes” by Rogue Wave. And here is your weekly cat picture: Farrokh is all tuckered out after a long week of being a cat.

That’s all for this week! I appreciate you more than I can say, friends. Thank you for joining me each Tuesday as I rave about books! I am wishing you all a wonderful rest of your week, whatever situation you find yourself in now. And yay, books! See you next week! – XO, Liberty

“People say life is the thing, but I prefer reading.”—Logan Pearsall Smith