Young Adult Fiction: Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus

Another year seems to mean another YA thriller from author Karen M. McManus. This time it is Such Charming Liars, set in a remote New England town where a jewelry heist plot goes terribly wrong, and two teenagers with a complicated past must work fast to solve the puzzle.

The Situation: Sixteen year-old Kat has always considered her and her mother Jamie to be a team. For as long as she can remember, it has been the two of them sticking together through everything. And after a career of being a jewelry thief, Jamie has decided that life is no longer for her. One more job, and the two of them can move on to some sort of normalcy. Liam has never considered himself and his serial con artist father Luke to be a team. And it is no surprise when Luke seems to have designs on the daughter of a wealthy man, whose birthday party they are attending at the family's compound. But what is a surprise is the appearance of Kat and Jamie, the latter of which was once married to Luke for 48 hours, 12 years ago, and whose latest jewelry heist assignment is at the same compound. 

The Problem: The 48 hours that Jamie and Luke were married are full of memories that neither Kat nor Liam care to revisit, but they still manage to treat each other as something closer to step-siblings, even after all these years. And when a murder takes place on the compound, throwing everything and every plan into chaos, Kat and Liam must stick together. Even with security on high alert, it becomes clear that the threat of danger is still very real, and the newly reconnected stepsiblings may now be targets. Kat's past experience and street smarts will come in handy, and Liam is just charming and naive enough to be endearing, but it may not be enough to save them, or at least help them solve an ever-growing mystery.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a young adult thriller novel set mostly in and around a small town in Maine. The majority of the action takes place on the Sutherland Compound, where billionaire Ross Sutherland's birthday party is to take place. There are two narrators, though Kat is allowed more chapters than her former stepbrother Liam. While Kat has essentially been raised by a jewel thief, who has worked for years for a woman who has used a cleaning business as a front for a theft ring, which meant having to move often, Liam was raised by his mother, before her death meant moving in with his scam artist father. The story is similar to McManus' other thrillers, but this time being centered more around a jewelry heist, and moving away from the usual setting of a high school or camp.

My Verdict: No matter how many twists and turns a McManus book takes, I always remain invested and interested in seeing where everything ends up. Each twist and bend in the story may be slightly more ridiculous than the last, but it is never quite enough where the believability goes completely out of the window...though I will say that this book got closer to that point than any of the seven McManus books that came before it. The story is exciting and intense, the setting is refreshing, and I think YA thriller lovers have another fun book to explore.

Favorite Moment: Kat's lockpicking skills are impressive, and they come in handy more often than they probably should. 

Favorite Character: From the beginning, it is clear that Liam knows exactly the kind of man his father is, and even takes active steps to ruin many of his plans.

Recommended Reading: For a different sort of YA thriller, I recommend Holly Jackson's Five Survive. 

Historical Fiction: The Briar Club by Kate Quinn

Author Kate Quinn has become one of my favorite historical fiction writers in recent years, so I was excited to pick up The Briar Club, her latest book set in Washington, D.C. in McCarthy's America, when some of the population was scared of communists, while others lived in fear of being accused as one.

The Situation: It is Thanksgiving of 1954, and two detectives have arrived at the Briarwood House to find a dead body on the top floor. The Briarwood House is a fairly ordinary boarding house for women, run by the penny-pinching and nosy Mrs. Nilsson, and her young son Pete. But since Mrs. Nilsson was out at her bridge club, the detectives must look closely at the other residents and some of their guests. There is the policeman's daughter Nora, who is wanting to create a life away from her family and past; Reka, the older woman who came to the U.S. to escape Hitler; Fliss, an English woman and mother who is somehow always so frustratingly put together; Bea, a former baseball player; Claire, a woman who dreams of a house of her own; Arlene, the one no one likes but is desperate for everyone's approval and attention; and then Grace, the mysterious newcomer who says little about herself, but whose apartment it is in which the dead body was found.

The Problem: The story begins four years ago, when Grace March first arrived at Briarwood House and agreed to rent out the available room on the top floor. As the fateful night of Thanksgiving 1954 approaches, each resident of the boarding house tells their story and how they got to be where they are. They each have their own views on what McCarthy has done, and their own feelings about communism, and they all certainly recognize that the young Pete deserves a better fate than the one Mrs. Nilsson has carved out for him. While they are all different, what they now have in common is that they are all being looked at as suspects, and each one must decide what truth they will tell.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a historical fiction book with the majority of the action taking place in Washington, D.C. between the years 1950-1954. Along with the young Pete Nilsson, each female guest at the boarding house gets their own chapter and the chance to tell their story and how they ended up at the Briarwood House. In between the chapters, the story returns to where it started, Thanksgiving night of 1954, when the police find a dead body in Grace's room. As each resident tells their story, time moves forward, slowly revealing a full picture of how it came to this, all against a backdrop of the McCarthy era and the paranoia of post-World War II America. 

My Verdict: Sometimes, stories told by multiple narrators suffer that fate of having some characters be less interesting than others. What is smart about The Briar Club is that instead of switching back and forth between the different narrators, each one simply gets their own chapter, giving the readers the details for that specific point in time, and then moves on to the next character. Each chapter has its own sense of closure, while also continuing the story, and allowing room for the story to continue. And while readers will certainly have characters they like more than others, none of them are boring, and each detail has a purpose and a payoff. Quinn has weaved together yet another intricate and intriguing story with several strong women at the forefront of the action. 

Favorite Moment: Ever Thursday night, the ladies of Briarwood House meet in Grace's room for dinner, which is how the term 'Briar Club' comes to be. Included in each chapter is one or two recipes that are relevant to the story, and I am usually a sucker for food details in almost any story.

Favorite Character: Baseball player Bea may be obsessed with a sport that I have never had the patience for, but she is tough, knows what she wants (to play baseball, be around baseball, and be involved in all things baseball), and her enthusiasm for the sport may be grating to some, but is endearing to some of the least likely people in the book. 

Recommended Reading: I recommend both The Nightingale and The Women by Kristin Hannah. 

Contemporary Fiction: One of Our Kind by Nicola Yoon

As a long-time fan of Nicola Yoon's young adult novels, it was easy to decide to pick up and cover her first offering for adult readers, One of Our Kind. With a description that likened the plot to Get Out, and a promise that it would appeal to lovers of Paul Beatty's The Sellout, I was more than intrigued and interested to see where this story would go.

The Situation: Jasmyn Williams is a public defender, committed to helping young Black men stay out of the system. With one young son, and another one on the way, Jasmyn is certainly interested in creating the best possible life for her growing family, but that does not mean she is completely sold on moving to Liberty, California, the so-called utopia that is 100% Black. Not only are all of the residents Black, but so are the teachers, the service industry workers, even the cops. Even the 'modest' houses are large and expensive, and Jasmyn's husband, King, is convinced this is the right move for them. Since affording it is not a problem, especially with King's career taking off, Jasmyn pushes down her feelings of abandoning her roots and the people she serves and makes the move.

The Problem: Residing in a house with three living rooms may take some getting used to, but what Jasmyn is having the hardest time getting used to is some of the other residents. Being that Liberty was created to be a safe haven for Black people, she expected to find like-minded individuals just as interested in activism and the fight for equality as she is. Instead she is met with blank and apathetic responses to the latest shooting of an unarmed Black person, and comments that not only leave her perplexed, but angry. When she fears that King is becoming a little too comfortable with the Liberty way of life, she decides to dig deeper into the city's history, but what she finds may destroy everything.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a work of fiction, set in the made up town of Liberty, California, a place that was built specifically for Black people, granted they are wealthy enough to be able to afford to live there. Jasmyn fears that moving there will turn her 'bougie,' only giving in to her husband's wishes when taking into consideration the kind of safety a place like Liberty could give her husband, her young son Kamau, and the baby boy she is due to have in a few months. Divided up into five parts, there are excerpts from various articles and interviews that give more information on the founding members of Liberty, some of its other important residents, and also a few current events. The book looks at the wide range of opinions on police brutality, protesting (peaceful and otherwise), and even black hair care.

My Verdict: This is a pretty fascinating premise: A young and growing Black family moves into what is supposed to be a Black utopia, but the wife has a feeling that something is not quite right. It is a great set up for a thriller; unfortunately, the execution is more than a little off. I have to admit to being almost immediately turned off by the protagonist within the first 15 pages. Jasmyn is incredibly judgmental, and mostly of other Black women, and to the point that her assertions of someone else not being enlightened ends up showing how unenlightened (and insecure) she is. The protagonist is unlikeable and tiresome, and the constant mentions of police brutality and the suffering of Black people was heavy-handed and unnecessary. Instead of providing a good story, the plot got lost, and the book became cumbersome and almost hard to take seriously.

Favorite Moment: From the beginning, it is amazing how Jasmyn begins to accept her upgraded life, despite how critical she likes to be of others 'not doing enough.'

Favorite Character: Jasmyn's friend Tricia does not show up much in the book, but she is pretty much the only one to mention the positive aspects of being Black. She does what Jasmyn constantly fails to do, and that is look for the joy.

Recommended Reading: The Weight of Blood by Tiffany D. Jackson is a YA thriller and a re-telling of Carrie by Stephen King. 

Nonfiction: The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum by Margalit Fox

While some readers will flock to any book about a serial killer or cult leader, I have always been more interested in con artists and organized crime. The title of today's book by Margalit Fox immediately caught my attention: The Talented Mrs. Mandelbaum: The Rise and Fall of an American Organized-Crime Boss. A hopefully in-depth look at a little known figure from America's crime history certainly sounded exciting to me.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a nonfiction book that looks into the life of Fredericka Mandelbaum (who was also referred to as "Marm" Mandelbaum, "Mother" Mandelbaum, "Ma" Mandelbaum, and even "Mother Baum"). She would arrive in New York City, after leaving what is now central Germany, in 1850. But by 1870 she would be the picture of wealth and status, even though it was well-known by many around her how that wealth was accumulated. While chronicling Mrs. Mandelbaum's rise to prominence as an underworld figure, the book also explains what her role as a "fence" would entail; explores the lives of the men and women of the time who helped her grow her empire; gives detailed explanations of what it would take to successfully rob a bank in mid-19th century America; and lists all the reasons why Mrs. Mandelbaum was able to do what she did at that particular point in history. 

My Verdict: As is common with many nonfiction books out there, this one often feels like it is a magazine article that has been stretched out into enough pages so that it can be printed and sold as a book. With actual content that makes up only 206 pages - followed by 70 pages of references - not all that much of those 206 pages is actually about Mrs. Mendelbaum and her life. What I was hoping would be more of a biography of the woman's life is more of a look at how fences operated in the middle of the 19th century in New York City. The details concerning her inevitable fall from prominence are indeed fascinating, along with the lengths officials went to in order to catch her. But it felt like something was missing from the whole account, or perhaps maybe there was not quite enough material to fill out the book.

Favorite Moment: Included in the book are many illustrations and photographs, my favorite of which were diagrams of certain buildings and schemes that were important to how Mrs. Mandelbaum's enterprise operated.

Recommended Reading: I recommend Harlem Shuffle by Colson Whitehead, a work of fiction whose main character is a reluctant fence operating out of his own furniture store.