Hi all. I’ve been away this past week visiting my parents at their senior community in Southern California. And just my luck, we’re in the path of Tropical Storm Hilary, yikes. I guess a tropical storm hasn’t happened here in like 84 years. So we’ll hunker down and stay put for awhile and see how bad it gets. I’m a little unsure if the route to Palm Springs, which is prone to flash-flooding will be passable later. I’m supposed to fly out of there on Tuesday back to Canada, so I’ll have to play it by ear. Will I need a raft in the desert?
Meanwhile it’s been good to see my parents and we’ve been busy with activities, such as daily golf putting contests with my Dad, medical appointments, and going to the beach for a day. I’ve also enjoyed some bike rides. So I am behind on books and visiting blogs, but I hope to see what you all are reading soon. I know some others who are traveling right now too.
Next week my reviews will likely feature Claudia Cravens’s debut novel Lucky Red, which I’m almost done with. It’s a Western set on the American frontier about a young woman’s coming of age in a Dodge City brothel and the revenge she seeks on a few who come to betray her. It’s been pretty good and the pages have flown by. I’ll pair that with a review of Canadian author Gil Adamson’s novel The Outlander from 2007, which I’m reading for my book club in September. It’s not the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series but instead a novel about a young mysterious woman in 1903 who’s alone in the Western mountains fleeing two twin brothers who are tracking her for reasons you learn in due time. Little by little you come to know and root for this woman’s escape but various dangers lurk. I’m liking this one as well.
And now I’ll leave you with a review of what I finished before I left.
Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane / Harper / 320 pages / 2023
4.5 stars bumped up. Mary Pat Fennessy, 42, is a heck of a protagonist in Dennis Lehane’s latest. She’s one tough Southie (Boston) broad and if you mess with her family, then you are foolishly mistaken. She grew up in a fight-prone family and could take a licken and hold her own too. Her sister once hit her with a brick as a kid and she was able to return a punch before the ambulance came.
But when Mary Pat’s daughter Jules doesn’t come home one night, she is beside herself with worry. Then it turns out Jules might have been involved in an incident with a group of youths down on the subway tracks where a black man is found dead … which happens during the summer months of the controversial busing desegregation plan of 1974. Uh-oh. Jules is all Mary Pat has left in her life after two divorces and her son’s overdose. So Jules is her heart and now Mary Pat is trying to find her and get to the bottom of things. There’s a cop, too, named Bobby who has a bead on the crime.
This one is gritty and full of harsh language, but man does it deliver. Despite her narrow-minded background, Mary Pat is one you end up rooting for throughout the story. There’s some humor in this dark, suspenseful tale that cracked me up along the way. I have read two other Lehane novels (Shutter Island and Since We Fell) and seen the movies to several of his other novels (Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone) … but Small Mercies might be near the top of his pile for me. The dialogue is superb and Lehane is a master at creating these people and their circumstances. And so is actress Robin Miles who reads the audiobook for the novel. She knocks it out of the park with her accents and delivery. I don’t think either of us will forget Mary Pat Fennessy anytime soon. Is she still living there?
That’s all for now. What about you — have you read any of these and what did you think? Happy end of August to you.
Sounds like a good reading week.
best, mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Thanks Mae. Both books seem like Westerns so I guess I’m going through a Western phase, lol. Have a great week.
Sounds interesting.
Thanks Joanne for visiting. Interesting indeed.
Oh man, I can’t believe your timing, heading south just in time to be met by a tropical storm not seen in the last century. Eeek! I’ll be thinking about you and your safety. Hope all turns out okay.
Thanks Anne. I appreciate it. We stayed inside and are safe though a flood watch continues this morning. We will wait it out. What a deluge!
Hi Susan, I just hope tropical storm Hillary is mild. What crazy weather these days.
Small Mercies I am putting on my list. It sounds so good and Dennis Lehane is someone I have been meaning to read. I love Massachusetts but Southie Boston in the 1970’s and the way kids bullied others reminds me of the Queens NY neighborhood where I grew up. I do not have fond memories. But I would like to read a novel that tries to explain this mindset and if Jules and her friends did something they shouldn’t I’m hoping they are held accountable.
Hi Kathy, yeah I think you will find Small Mercies similar to your experience when growing up. It’s a tense story. I don’t know if you like audios but this one is well done.
Hilary was quite a deluge last night. We will see how much damage there is. Still a flood watch through this morning. We wait it out inside!
Enjoy your week and reading.
Wow, that really is bad luck. And now I see that California has been hit by another earthquake in addition to the storm headed that way. I hope you all manage to stay safe and that it fizzles before getting where you are.
That Lehane novel is one I hoped to get from my library system fairly quickly, but by the time I got on the hold list it was well over 200 people long and barely moving. Seems that the system purchased 35 copies and they weren’t turning over very quickly. I finally dropped off the list out of frustration, and I’ll either buy an e-book copy at some point or wait for the paperback. I enjoyed your review…whets my appetite all over again.
Looking forward to next weeks reviews; the books mentioned sound really interesting.
Thanks Sam. We weathered the storm indoors and it was quite a deluge. By midday we should be able to go out and see what damage there is. Luckily the earthquake was not felt near us. That’s crazy!
Since you like the Bosch series … I think you will really like Small Mercies if you ever get a copy. It’s a gritty story with plenty of tough dialogue. Quite a ride.
Have a great week …
Stay safe, Susan. I was wondering about you when I heard about the storm because you had said you were traveling that way. Anyway, I hope it is not as bad as they’re expecting it to be and you can come back without issues. I agree with you on Small Mercies; it’s quite a ride! I rated it 4* and lost a night of sleep to finish it.
Thanks Carmen. I know it’s crazy … my timing being in Calif right when the storm hits. What a doozy. It felt like a deluge. Just waiting this morning for the dark clouds to leave town – and we will see how much damage there is.
I’m glad you read & liked Small Mercies too … it was tense & something hard to put down. Mary Pat wasn’t going down without a fight!
Enjoy your week.
I look forward to hearing more about Lucky Red and Gil Adamson’s The Outlander when you finish these.
It looks like you had a nice visit with your parents this time until this storm arrived.
I hope that you and your parents are safe and well during this terrible storm. I also hope that you are able to get back to the airport and head for home on Tuesday safely.
Thanks Deb. We made it through a deluge last night staying inside and the trees are still standing in the yard. An interesting sight this morning was two hummingbirds fighting over the feeder. So glad they are well! Amazing little birds where did they hide during the storm?
I will see if I can fly home tomorrow. A bit crazy.
Enjoy your week. And I’m glad your father’s eye surgery went well.
I haven’t read Dennis Lehane in ages but I like his style. This is going on my to read list now. Also the Outlander book sounds interesting to me as well.
A slew of my books came in at once and I have been prioritizing by due date and wait list.
What timing on the visit to your parents! I hope you can get your flight. Made me laugh when you mentioned needing a raft ina desert 🙂
Thanks Tina. Yeah I was laughing too — what the heck is going on. I’ve never seen a storm like this in August! It was quite a deluge but no trees are down here. So I think the ground held.
The Dennis Lehane book is snappy and hard to put down once you start. It’s gritty but good. See what you think. I think it’s one of his best novels.
Have a great week. & Happy reading.
I’ve previously enjoyed Shutter Island and Mystic River but haven’t grabbed any more of his work. I plan to get his latest, sounds great.
Glad to hear you didn’t have serious damage from the storm. They are so unpredictable! Thanks for your comment about our storm situation. Guess I was a bit frustrated yesterday when I hit Post 🙂
I can understand Tina, having the hurricane season ahead must be a worrisome experience. So many hit Florida. All we can do is keep alert & do what is needed. But it is very daunting to be in one of those storms. ugh!
If you are a Lehane fan, I think you will like Small Mercies …. it’s a tense, good one. Enjoy your week.
Hope you’re staying safe in the storm!
Thanks Lark. We made it through … by hunkering down. Quite a deluge. But the house is still standing. Hopefully you won’t get it where you are. I think it’s hitting Nevada next and not Utah, so good there. Enjoy your week.
Oh, no… I didn’t realize you were with your folks during the storm! Saw some news coverage from Palm Springs yesterday… sure hope you’re able to fly out tomorrow! We were browsing at a used bookstore after brunch and before dropping the ‘kids’ off at the train station yesterday. I had a copy of Lehane’s Mystic River in my hand, but ended up not buying anything. Trying so hard to read the books already on my shelf, but he’s been on my radar for years. Glad you enjoyed his latest.
Hi JoAnn: thanks, we made it through the storm okay and no major trees are down in our area so I guess we came out better than we expected. I will see how Palm Springs is tomorrow. Crazy to get a storm like that in August?!
I think after Small Mercies Dennis Lehane might be an automatic read for me for whatever he puts out next. But I’ve heard he might not be writing novels anymore (ugh!) he has transitioned to TV. He has a crime series called Black Bird on AppleTv+. I have not seen it … but it would likely be scary & gritty. The language of this novel was pretty tough but the story was good enough to transcend the harshness. He better keep writing novels! Have a great week.
I’ve been thinking about you, wondering if you were still in SoCal. From what I’ve read in the news, the storm was bad in some areas, but not as terrible as it could have been. And an earthquake on top of it all! My relatives felt it in Manhattan Beach. California is never dull, is it? I wonder how many inches of rain fell in your area. I head that San Jacinto got 10″! I kept envisioning the entire San Bernadino mountain range sliding into the valley. And now you get to fly back to a smokey area. The BC fires are awful. One is near where we were camping (near Celista Winery) on our trip. So terrible. Do you have to take I-10 to get to the airport? I saw that part of it was closed, at least as of this morning.
I’m excited to get a copy of Lehane’s latest, but I may wait and see if I can read what’s on my top shelf before the end of the year. My mom reads super fast and keeps giving me her books as she finishes, most of which are on my TBR list. It’s like have my own bookstore to choose from. Fun, but at times, overwhelming!
We’re enjoying a break from our visitors, so I’ve been doing some yard work, but also relaxing and reading in the afternoons. Feels a bit decadent to be “lazy.”
Safe travels tomorrow!
Thanks Lesley. I guess the storm didn’t cause major damage in our area so we are happy about that — though Palm Springs is pretty banged up. Crazy eh?
And I’m hoping the fire season up North will start to wind down. I’ll head back soon. What’s happening in BC is definitely worrisome.
Your Mom’s reading so many books at her age is inspirational to me. I want to read in the decades ahead too. But many seniors can’t follow it well.
I hope you enjoy your break … did you get any rain lately? Cheers.
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you were in So Cal for hurricane Hilary! I think you must have had it much worse down there than we did in Santa Barbara. We had rain and a tiny bit of wind, but I saw flooding photos of Palm Springs.
I’m glad you liked Small Mercies; I thought it was really well done and liked the audio, too.
Hi Helen, oh good, I forgot you had finished Small Mercies too. I probably saw it on your blog and knew it’d be good.
We had a deluge but little damage here in Redlands but it appears Palm Springs got pummeled. We’ll see how it goes today to get to the airport. What helped is that we didn’t get the huge winds they expected, so the trees are still standing.
Hope you have a great week!
Glad to hear you guys made it through the storm and hopefully no damage. Such crazy weather. But look at those beautiful places you visited! Hope you had a really great time with your parents aside from the storm! I’ve watched Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone and loved those too but I have yet to read a Lehane book! This sounds like an excellent read and it’s on my list!
Hi Iliana, I wonder a bit now … if this Lehane book Small Mercies will become a movie. Hmm. His other books are really good as movies. He needs to keep writing books but I hear Lehane is busy with TV now … a series called Black Bird on AppleTV+ … which I haven’t seen yet. It might be too gritty, ha.
Luckily Tropical Storm Hilary didn’t hit my parent’s area in Calif as badly as they thought it would … it’s nice to visit them there.
Hope all is well where you are. Happy fall.