January: A month of ensemble novels and a non-fiction book on serial killers

Because I'm still chipping away at my own ensemble novel, I've been reading a lot of examples of multi-perspective books across genres. Here's what I finished in January.

Technically, I started listening to Mind Hunter back in 2019, but I didn't finish until after the New Year. Dani and I are still listening to it together when we drive somewhere, and we'll likely finish it together this weekend (so, my second time all the way through).

If you enjoy hearing about serial killers, this is a good one. It's not the first Douglas I've listened to, nor will it be the last. And, if you're a fan of the Netflix series, you'll get the bonus enjoyment of realizing how they shaped Douglas' story for the fiction series.

 areI was on the library waitlist for this one, but I couldn't wait that long and used my last credit in Audible to buy it. I didn't regret it one bit. In fact, when I was done listening to The Testaments, I considered restarting it and listening again.

For those of you who are watching the series and are all caught up, if you've had some frustrations with the storyline and how June gets away with EVERYTHING in the  series, the shift to Aunt Lydia and other, new, characters will be a refreshing thing for you. Atwood leaves plenty of room for the Hulu series to continue, too, as there's a good fifteen years or so between where the series is and where The Testaments picks up. The narration is provided by Ann Dowd and Mae Whitman, among others (those two really stand out and are the main voices in the audio book). 

Years ago, I read T. Cooper's debut novel Some of the Parts. I remembered it being an ensemble novel full of queer (in all senses of the word) characters whose lives intersect. I lost my copy long ago, as it was among several of my favorite books I leant to a former girlfriend. 

I hope she read this one, but something tells me she didn't.

At any rate, I got my hands on a copy and read it again. It didn't disappoint. One of the things I love about this novel is that even though it has a good bit of age on it, it reads as if it was just written. The characters find a truth to their identities and stop hanging so feverishly on what they assume their identities are supposed to be. 

And, not only is there a good bit about queer identity here, but there's also family dynamic stuff going on with a pair of siblings. The long-estranged brother and sister working past their childhood perceptions of each other and finding new understanding of each others as fully-realized adults resonated with me.

I'd love to see this novel get a rerelease and go through audio and kindle editions. 

And, I need to read T. Cooper's newer stuff.

DIY MFA Radio featured Jodi Thomas in an episode titled "Turning characters into people." Specifically, she talked about writing ensemble novels and making sure each character has a distinct voice (the episode is really great and offers some writing tips). I knew when I was done listening that I had to read her book The Little Tea Shop on Main. 

While I did find the book a bit formulaic (duh, it's a romance), it was a fun read overall. I have some issues with a couple of the relationships, and there were times I said aloud, "Are you kidding me?" or "No. Do not put them together." But, overall I enjoyed the book, formula and all.

There's something comforting in knowing there's a HEA (Happy ever after) or HFN (Happy for now) coming up, even when the soap opera elements are a bit irksome.

I loved Dexter Morgan. I loved the Showtime series (not the ending so much), and the fact that the novels took a different path, allowing me to read about a Dexter who wasn't quite the same as the one on my TV screen. And to be fair, I didn't care for the ending of the book series, either. 

I didn't want Dexter to end.

So, I was really excited by the prospect of a new series from Jeff Lindsey. The book Just Watch Me, however, didn't live up to my hopes. I'm not going to go into a whole lot of detail here (I already wrote a lengthy review on Good Reads), but I can say that even though I love a good heist novel (I devour Westlake's Dortmunder books), this novel left me bored. The characters are flat and none of them are particularly likable, and the book felt un-edited to me (developmentally, not in terms of copy-editing).

And just today, I finished reading and listening to Rachel Caine's fourth installment in her Stillhouse Lake series: Bitter Falls. I am currently in Kindle Unlimited as a reader, and this series is from Amazon's imprint Thomas & Mercer. As a result KU members can not only read it as part of their subscription--they can also listen to the Audible version and they sync up so you don't lose your place as you go from one device to the next.

I sped through this, listening on dog walks and while doing things like washing dishes and cooking dinner, then reading at night. 

If you loved the first book in the series (which I did) and felt like book 3 was a bit of a slog, have no fear--this may be the best one in the series after book 1. It's action-packed, we get lots of evolution from all of the characters, and the plot is well-edited and tightly constructed.