David Navratil
Book won the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize (Canada Authors Awards. 15 Short fiction stories (180 pages) about immigrant refugees from Laos adjusting to new countries, cultures and ways of life. Gets you thinking about how hard it is to be an immigrant refugee! I enjoyed this, My 1st read of 2021! David N.
This was my 50th book of 2020 and one of the best I've read. Life in Kentucky Mountains in 1936 during the great depression. Young poor girl with Blue skin has a job of carrying books on a mule to the mountain folks to borrow. Great characters and descriptions of the times back then. There is a
Romance, Racism, Sorrow & Happiness through out the book. This book has been nominated for some awards! 300 Pages. Read it! David N
Goodreads lists this book as a “mystery”, that was an error, this book is not a mystery! Story about new constable being moved to a new small rural town in England and becoming familiar with the people & job, Many readers will like this si I gave it a 4 but to judge this as a mystery I give a “0” - David N
Goodreads choice award nominee for mystery/thriller 2019! I must describe the main characters in this book as the brother and sisters from hell! Father dies & leaves estate to 4 sisters, their brother will be included in an equal share if the sisters can all agree on letting him! Brother has 3 days to convince the 4 sisters to let him part of the inheritance! This is a good one!! David N.
I usually read award winning/nominated books. I last read Kerry Wilkinson's “Close to You” which was awarded thriller of the year. I decided to read another of his books but this was not on any award lists. I must say this is even better then “Close to You”. The cover of the book say “There is a twist you won't see coming” and they are totally right. Little girl goes missing 12 years ago and then shows up at her Mum's house. Is this really her and why is she back????? Great book and characters!! David Navratil
I try to read books that have been nominated or won awards! This book was just published this year so will not show up on any award lists yet. However this seems to be on alot of “Must Read” lists for this summer I thought I would try it out! This was a great book!! Tons of suspects, great characters, good location & surprises! As the suspense/mystery builds up, the chapter lengths get shorter helping to even make it more thrilling! Read this, I think you will enjoy it! David Navratil
Merged review:
I try to read books that have been nominated or won awards! This book was just published this year so will not show up on any award lists yet. However this seems to be on alot of “Must Read” lists for this summer I thought I would try it out! This was a great book!! Tons of suspects, great characters, good location & surprises! As the suspense/mystery builds up, the chapter lengths get shorter helping to even make it more thrilling! Read this, I think you will enjoy it! David Navratil
I try to read books that have been nominated for or won awards, I've had good luck with those.
Some of the awards for this are:
Booker Prize Nominee for Longlist (2018), Costa Book Award for Novel (2018), Dylan Thomas Prize Nominee for Longlist (2019), Women's Prize for Fiction Nominee for Longlist (2019), Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Fiction (2019)
The Rooster – The Morning News Tournament of Books (2020)
This is the 1st time I've read a book where there are no “Quotation Marks” used when there is dialog.
Kind of threw me off in the beginning. Takes place in Ireland, Romance between 2 high school students into college, On again, Off again - Trying to understand what they want in life! I usually like mysteries but I enjoyed this for a new change! David N.
Shamus Award for Best 1st P.I. Novel (2018). The main character has personal problems (Not often when she doesn't have a drink in her hands) also father was a policeman and died 6 months before while on duty. Suspect in a murder 17 yrs. ago is due to be executed in 2 months and his sister hires
the main character as a private eye to investigate the murder. The private eye's father also worked on the case! This is a very good mystery and has you guessing til the end! David Navratil
This is the lowest rating I have given any books at all and I do feel bad but I want to give my honest, personal opinion on it! I am a fan of Elly Griffiths and just read the 2020 Edgar Award for Best Novel of the Yr (The Stranger Diaries) and also “The Crossing Places” and gave both books a 5 Star! However the main Detective Character (Edgar) in The Zig Zag Girl was created to be such a loser of
a person I was hoping the killer would eliminate him first! No respect from the other police men who worked for him, no social life, no love life and seemed to me he was more confused about the murder investigation then anyone else. I know I may get some “Flack” from others about this review but this was not what I expected in the book!! David N.
2020 Edgar Awards winner for Young Adult Novel! I'm a senior and like reading award winning or nominated books of all genres. Thought I would try out a Young Adult book this time. This book was great! GoodReads has a SF tag on this book but I'm not too sure about that since how AI is advancing so fast. Good characters some suspense and not too strong language (Wouldn't Matter to Me). 280 Pages. Try it! David N.
I gave this book a 4 so others won't be turned off by it! I should have read what the book was about 1st and I would not have read it. The mystery was good, characters were good and most people who like cozy mysteries will like this. However I didn't like the location the book was about. (The Hollywood Scene). That was the only reason I did not like the book, I should start doing better research before I start reading a new book! David N
This book won awards for YA Mysteries and it was great. Lots of suspects, good characters, great mystery and big surprise at the end. Just the way I like my books. I'm 72 years old and thought I'd try a YA mystery and I felt like I was in high school again while reading it! 280 Pages and there is a sequel that I will be reading soon! David N.
