The Kingdoms of Savannah

The Kingdoms of Savanah by George Dawes Green 304 pages

This Southern Gothic Noir novel has been compared to one of my favorite books, John Berendt’s “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”  However, I didn’t find anything about this novel anywhere close to MGGE.

I must be on some kind of weird streak because this is the third book in a row that has thoroughly disappointed me. I should have known when the readers are told that two of the catalyst characters are murdered and disappears, respectively, in the second sentence.

Most of Savannah knows what happened and who is responsible, but the police, once again, look the other way. But society maven Morgana Musgrove has decided that the case needs more than the police are willing to do. She owns a small private investigation firm and puts it to work. Over the course, all four of her adult children are involved, but it’s nothing to write home about; It’s not even a page turner.

The “Kingdoms” that is referred to in the title are homeless encampment that ring the city. And the dark secrets the Savannah is trying to hide are hidden beneath its tourist spots. Savannah, Georgia, has secrets? How shocking! But the book is supposed to reveal those secrets that were neither shocking nor surprises. It never, truly, did.

Author Dawes Green goes against conventional things like punctuation, grammar, paragraph break, accents, character descriptions---which I’m not against---but they have to work, and you guessed it! For me they didn’t. Therefore, “The Kingdoms of Savannah” receives 1 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world. 

 

Two Days Gone

Two Days Gone by Daniel Silva.  400 pages.  Due out in January, 2017 (galley read)

Thomas Huston remembers the knife, and he killed his family, didn't he?  Or did he?  Daniel Silva keeps you guessing in this page-turner focused on Thomas Huston, a bestselling author whose wife and children are found brutally murdered.  In the small town they live in, everyone thought that they were the perfect family, and Thomas couldn't have murdered them (could he?).  However, Thomas is missing, which means he's the prime suspect.  However, Sergeant Ryan DeMarco, who has gotten to know Thomas over the years, thinks maybe something else may have happened.  DeMarco has some sad secrets of his own, and can't believe that Thomas could be capable of this crime.  However, as he delves deeper into Thomas' notes on his newest novel-in-progress, it appears Thomas has been keeping secrets of his own.

This book really kept me on my toes, and off-balance.  You get the viewpoints of both Thomas Huston and Ryan DeMarco, and when you encounter Thomas, he's already on the run and appearing to be suffering some post-traumatic distress.  However, it's hard to know for sure what really happened.  As DeMarco reveals what he is learning about Thomas, it feels like the mystery gets deeper, and as more is uncovered, it actually feels like the path to the truth grows a bit murky.  This is a dense story with some twists you might not see coming.  A bit of a slow start that keeps building to a surprising finish.

The Perfect Girl

The Perfect Girl by Gilly MacMillan.   464 pages.  on order - due out in August, 2016

What’s the true price of a second chance?  Zoe Maisey is about to find out.  A 17 year-old with a genius IQ, Zoe was involved in a tragic incident three years ago.  Having served her time, she’s now living with her mother and new step-father, and trying to rebuild her life.  However, at a recital that has been planned for months, everything changes in an instant and by the end of the evening, Zoe’s mother is dead.  As everyone tries to piece together just what happened, Zoe knows too well that the truth is usually less than obvious, and that it can be difficult to see what’s right in front of you.

This is a tautly written drama where the tension steadily builds as the layers of the story are revealed.  Characters that at first seem unsympathetic turn out to be different than previously thought, while others, seemingly wonderful on the surface, are revealed to be something else altogether.  

The Guest Room

The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian   336 pages

I’ve been a huge fan of Chris Bohjalian’s since he burst onto the literary scene with his Oprah Book Selection, Midwives. The Guest Room is his 18^th book, and, I believe, his finest.  As I Facebooked to Bohjalian: Oh Wow! Oh WoW! Oh WOw! OH WOW! 

Richard Chapman, his wife, Kristin, and their young daughter, Melissa, live in Bronxville, New York, a suburb of Manhattan. Richard is an investment banker, and Kristen is a history teacher. Richard’s idiot younger brother, Phillip, is finally getting married and Richard and Kirstin agree to let the bachelor party. Kristen takes Melissa into Manhattan to spend the weekend with her mother, as the couple is sure strippers have been included in the evening’s festivities.

Phillip’s friend, Spencer, doesn’t just hire strippers; he hires call girls. The girls, Alexandra and Sonja, arrive with what the guys believe to be bodyguards. As the evening progresses, stripping turns into sex. Richard finds himself enamored with Alexandra and alone with her, both naked, in the guest room. No spoiler here, so you’ll have to read the book to find out what happens.

It’s after Alexandra and Richard return to the party that all hell breaks loose. Sonja jumps one of the bodyguards and repeatedly plunges a knife into his neck. Blood is everywhere. Everywhere. The gunshots are heard and the other bodyguard’s blood is adding to the horror. The girls throw on some clothes and escape before the guys can come to their senses enough to call 911.

The story is told in alternative chapters: Richard and Kristen’s point of view and Alexandra’s viewpoint. Readers soon learn that the girls aren’t college students trying to earn money for tuition; they are Armenian girls who have been kidnapped and used as sex slaves.

There are so many threads in this one story. How did Alexandra and Sonja get caught up in this life? Where are they now? Are their kidnappers, the Russians, looking for them? Will Richard and the guys go to jail for having hired prostitutes? Will Richard and Kristen’s marriage survive? What will Melissa think of her father? How will the family ever go back to their home and life, knowing that it had been a crime scene?

Be prepared to stay up late as Bohjalian ties all the unanswered questions together into a riveting novel that left me gasping by the end. I give The Guest Room, 6 out of 5 stars.