Lay Your Armour Down by Michael Farris Smith

Ah! Two posts in a row! Today I'm part of the Random Things tour for Michael Farris Smith's latest, Lay Your Armour Down. 

Keal and Burden have been hired for a job. Sent to a church in a small Mississippi town and told to pick up something—they'd know it when they saw it. 

Cara calls this small town home, for now. She's taken it upon herself to check in regularly on her elderly neighbor. But today the woman is worse: raccoons in her kitchen, scratched up feet and legs, and rolls of cash from who knows where. And this is how she crosses paths with Keal and Burden. 

With a quiet young girl in tow, the three adults come together in a way only chance or fate can manipulate.

I've a confession: I haven't read Michael Farris Smith before. But this one was included in the Pandi pack (a subscription box from Pandi Press), so I jumped at the chance to be on the tour. 

The writing really is trimmed of all unnecessary aspects. It's tight and spare but conveys so much both in the words and between the lines. It's an artful approach, similar to watching a quiet film where the actors convey much of the story through purposeful looks and expression. Lay Your Armour Down is that, in prose. 

Three people at very different stages of their lives but all rudderless and looking for...something. Keal is drawn into the job by Burdean, who's hired by a sinister and nameless man. Details are scarce, making the scene they arrive to even more shocking. 

It's clear throughout that these characters are brought together by a seemingly random series of events. Right place—or wrong place, etc. And while the reader may quickly have theories about where the story is headed, I promise it's not so straightforward. 

I quite enjoyed this pared down but densely told story. It might seem simple, but what the author has accomplished in getting a story like this across with probably half the number of words any other author would use is a sign of true talent! Desperation and loneliness bleed through the pages along with an underlying sense of hope. Of relying on life or fate or what have you to get you where you need to be when you need to be there. This is Southern gothic of the highest order and I'm doing my best not to include spoilers :)

If you're looking for a thought provoking read perfect for sipping iced tea and rocking on your porch, this is it!

Lay Your Armour Down is out now in both the UK and the US!

Home Before Dark by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir

Good morning, readers! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things tour for Eva Björg Ægisdóttir's latest, Home Before Dark. 

1966: Marsi's sister, Stina, goes missing on her way home from a friend's house. With no leads and just bloody clothes left behind, the case goes cold. But Marsi has a secret she doesn't dare tell anyone. Marsi had a penpal. A friend she'd written letters back and forth with, pretending to be her older more popular sister. And on the night of the disappearance, Marsi was supposed to meet her penpal at the very spot where her sister vanished. 

1977: Marsi has received another letter. Now, details she'd missed a decade ago are starting to reveal themselves and the mystery of her sister's disappearance might finally be solved. If Marsi survives.

Eva Björg Ægisdóttir has done it again! Vivid characters and a strong sense of place are hallmarks of her work. This time, she gives us a story set in 60s and 70s Iceland: no cell phones, no cloud, no streaming services. Just a small town and the secrets and mysteries that have plagued it for a decade. 

Marsi is the quiet younger sister. She envies Stina, which is why when she signs up for a penpal she decides to assume certain aspects of her sister's life as her own. To seem more interesting and exciting.  But she doesn't know what's actually going on in Stina's life. 

Relationships between sisters, families, friends, and even close knit neighbors all play a part in this psychological suspense as the story moves back and forth from 66-67 to 77. And as Marsi learns more about her sister--more than she was able to see as a child--the story becomes more clear to the reader as well. 

 

Yet another masterfully written tale that pulls the reader in from the start! If you haven't yet read the Forbidden Iceland series, this is a good place to start since it's a standalone. I promise you'll love it; and then you'll have the series itself to dive into!

Home Before Dark is out now in the UK and will be out in the US in November. 

The Woman in Suite 11 by Ruth Ware

Happy Friday! Today I'm a stop on the Random Things blog tour for Ruth Ware's latest, The Woman in Suite 11. 

It's been ten years since the events on the Aurora (The Woman in Cabin 10) and Lo Blackwood has been on pretty permanent hiatus as a travel writer. Which is why it's such a huge deal to be invited to the opening of a new high-end boutique hotel in Switzerland. 

Lo's husband is all for her attending. In fact, he suggests she take the trip and add on a visit to her mom in the UK. Lo hasn't been home to see her mom for ages. And she's never taken any kind of trip away from her husband and her kids. 

When she arrives at the airport, her flight has been upgraded to first class. The hotel itself is luxe! And while Lo was surprised to be invited--surprised she was on anyone's radar as a travel writer these days--she's even more shocked to find that some of her fellow travelers from the Aurora have been invited as well!

Before she knows it, Lo has been sucked into yet another conspiracy. And she's the prime suspect!

It was great fun to return to Lo in this latest from Ware. The Woman in Cabin 10 is one of my favorites of hers, in no small part because it takes place on a cruise ship. 

This time, we're on dry land but visiting an elite hotel in the the Alps. And Lo is at a place in her life I'm sure many have found themselves in over the past few years: trying to find herself again in the early years of parenthood and post 2020. 

And her industry has suffered more than most considering the state of journalism! Even after writing a bestselling book about her experiences on the Aurora, taking time off to have two kids has pretty much taken her name out of the travel writing game. 

And for just a little bit, being back is exactly what Lo wants. But just a little bit. 

Michelin starred food, special foraging outings, and five-star accommodations are just the start. The hotel is the latest in a long line of projects helmed by one of the biggest names in business. Or rather, his son. And if Lo can score an interview with the magnate himself, it would mean a big payday (enough to cover her flight, anyway) and a byline. But as it turns out, not everything is as it seems in this picture perfect resort. 

The Woman in Suite 11 is a perfect summer read! It's out now from Simon and Schuster in the UK and from their Gallery imprint in the US. Order a copy today from your favorite bookstore via Bookshop.org!

Every Dead Thing by John Connolly

How's it going readers? I just had a birthday. And yet another reminder that my memory is kind of shot lately! How? I read the same book twice in a row. Why? Well it all started with the Talking Scared podcast (a personal favorite that you should definitely check out) and Angela Slatter. See Neil (Talking Scared) and Angela love John Connolly. I mean LOVE! Neil did an ep recently with John and has talked frequently about his fondness for the series. He's currently doing a retrospective/full read through of the Dark Tower series with authors Nat Cassidy and Chris Panatier BUT apparently had planned to do the same with the Charlie Parker series—with Angela!

Now the podcast ep with Connolly promised to be as spoiler free as possible given there are something like 20 books in the series so far. And since I listed on a weekend and had already read the first in the series, Every Dead Thing (in 2009), I thought I'd just check it out on audio. Lo and behold there was a version narrated by Titus Welliver. So I dove in. Without first realizing it was an abridged version. 

A highly abridged version. We're talking 5 hours when the fully unabridged is like 15! But I thought, no big deal. It's a reread! 

Wrong! I remembered absolutely nothing about the book. So what I thought would be a nice refresher was simply a reminder that my brain is apparently at full capacity with 80's and 90's song lyrics and quickly going out of date pop culture references. 

So I undertook reading/listening to the whole thing again. 

Y'all I want to reiterate HOW BAD my memory is. I posted about Every Dead Thing back in 2009 when I originally read it! From that original post:

In the first of the series, Every Dead Thing, Charlie has been out of commission for a while thanks to the murder of his wife and daughter. At the time, he was a police officer with a heavy drinking problem. Now, he's retired and working the private sector. In the first half of the book, Parker has been hired to track down a missing woman. He traces her to a small town in Virginia where she grew up. It just so happens, that when the woman was much younger, her own sister was abducted and killed, along with several other children. Parker's nosing about in the long ago crime has riled up quite a few townsfolk who would like nothing more than for him to leave, by force if necessary. Parker solves his case and returns to NYC where he is contacted by someone claiming to be behind the murder of his family. This leads Parker to New Orleans where, with the help of an odd pairing of pals, he attempts to finally track down the man responsible for taking away everything he ever loved. 

Every Dead Thing reads, in some ways, like two novellas brought together to form the beginnings of a series. Not at all a bad thing, and definitely something that makes this book stand out. It's not many authors who start fresh with a new story in the middle of a book. Although, in many other ways, it's not at all a new story. Parker is plagued by the murder of his wife and daughter throughout the entire first half of the novel. Connolly's brutal tale is not for the faint-hearted; it's truly a shocking and suspenseful thriller. Every Dead Thing was a Shamus winner in 2000 for Best First PI Novel.

Y'all! Over half of this book takes place in Louisiana. Where I am from! And I didn't even remember that!

Props to Connolly for doing his research, though. The Louisiana stuff is good. He definitely put a lot of care into researching that considering he's Irish writing a series based in the US. And Charlie even has gumbo twice in one day! (My one note is that the character using chorizo should have been using andouille but that likely could have been an editorial mistake as much as anything. The pronunciations in the audio were amusing to say the least.)

Now I would rag on Neil and Angela except it's not their fault I have no self control. I will stress, though, that I am hugely grateful that the audio books are available on Hoopla as I try to stick to client projects during the week. Audiobooks are my gardening, driving, getting outside, and general break taking treat. 

And since I'm 15% into book 3 I guess I'm making this my summer of Connolly (I think I mentioned online I always thought I'd binge Michael Connelly's early books first since I've read roughly from the halfway point forward—and today is the launch of the Ballard show!) but Connolly seems to be the one this summer!

Every Dead Thing is readily available in print and audio (abridged and unabridged in the case of the latter). Order a copy today from your favorite bookstore via Bookshop.org! (And if you order this week you get free shipping for anti-prime!)