Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anappara   250 pages

"Three children venture into the darkest corners of a sprawling Indian city to find their missing classmate, in a stunningly original debut novel—based on a true story."

Jai knows he is smarter than his friend Pari (even though she gets better grades) and considers himself to be a better boss than Faiz (even though Jai doesn't have a job). When a classmate goes missing, Jai is sure he can find him, relying on tricks he has learned on a TV show. Asking for help from Pari and Faiz, it seems like they'll find their classmate -- until things become scary and other children start to disappear from their neighborhood.

Okay - I didn't finish this one. The summary made it sound like an interesting book but I got halfway through and just couldn't go any further. I found I wasn't that invested in the characters of the children, and while the setting was very realistic, maybe that was the problem.  I guess I was expecting magical realism? But the real realism got me bogged down into some of the depressing details and I just couldn't make this book work.

Food Whore

Food Whore by Jessica Tom.  166 pages read  (book is 344 pages - I stopped at page 166)

Tia Monroe is fresh out of college, in a graduate program, and trying to get a coveted internship.  However, when that plan doesn't come through, and she winds up interning at a restaurant, instead, she crosses paths with a legendary food critic.   As it turns out, the critic lets Tia in on a secret: he's lost his sense of taste.   After listening to Tia describe the food at her restaurant, he decides to take her on as an assistant, ghostwriting his reviews.

I tried this book because I had just finished a book and wanted something quick and light.  I got about halfway through and ... meh.  I didn't believe the characters, and I found the story too farfetched.   The funny thing is, I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, and while I can suspend my disbelief in those stories pretty easily, I just couldn't with this book.   I found Tia annoying.   I couldn't quite buy it that she had been a foodie in college, and somehow, had vast enough knowledge to, right out of school, be able to assist someone in the way described in the book.   I couldn't buy that the critic had the money he had.  It's a lovely idea to imagine that he'd be able to have a personal shopper send Tia clothes from top-level designers (and that Tia, miraculously, has a figure to accommodate said clothes with no alteration).   But, I didn't buy it.

Meh.

Love Minus Eighty

Love Minus Eighty, by Will McIntosh, 432 pages

In the "not-that-distant" future, cryogenics has evolved in such a way that corpses can be frozen and revived, for a hefty amount of money.  For young, attractive women who died without freezing insurance, their bodies are frozen and preserved for a dating service, where wealthy men can court them and bring them back to life if they like what they see.  This is a notion that is so reprehensible, it doesn't seem that unrealistic.  There are a few intersecting story lines in this book, the main one being that of Rob, who accidentally kills a woman in a car accident and spends all of his money and time visiting her as penance.  I liked the idea of this story,which is what it originated as- a short story; but the execution fell flat for me.