BEFORE YOU WERE ANNE

5 stars out of 5

Apparently this is the second book in a series and I missed the first, but I’ll say to any other potential readers in the same boat not to jump ship. There were a few things I think I’d have understood better had I started at the beginning – true of just about any series, IMHO – but this follow-up stands alone just fine. Most important, though, is that I really enjoyed reading it.

Japanese-American Chelsey Calhoun is a homicide detective, and she lands in the middle of a case in which a Japanese woman named Ann Walker has been murdered; her 16-year-old daughter, Naomi, is missing, with clues strongly suggesting it wasn’t by her choice. The case triggers unpleasant memories of Chelsey’s own sister’s disappearance (dealt with in the first book, or so I read somewhere). She’s married to a great guy named Noah and is pregnant with their first child, a girl, which she hasn’t yet revealed to anyone else including her partner Montoya.

It doesn’t take long for the investigative team to learn that Anne isn’t really Anne; instead, she’s Rika Takayashi, who ran away from her native Tokyo years ago, apparently while pregnant with her daughter – seemingly to escape an abusive relationship. For a time, she stayed with a friend in Seattle, but after she changed her name, she managed to settle into a new life with Naomi (her name was not changed). Now, though, Naomi is asking questions Rika doesn’t want to answer, like who her father is. Unbeknownst to her mother, she sets out to find him – not realizing what the consequences might be.

The story highlights Naomi’s search for her father as well as what Rika went through to get where she is and, of course, Chelsey’s investigation into her murder. Details I cannot provide without spoiling it for others, but rest assured there are several twists, turns and surprises along the way to an ending that is, for the most part, satisfying.

All told, it’s a book well worth reading, and I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to tag along by way of a pre-release copy. Well done!

Before You Were Anne by Emiko Jean (Simon & Schuster, September 2026); 320 pp.

BAD AXE COUNTY

4 stars out of 5

If Bad Axe County really existed, I'd never go near it. And based on the characters in this story (which, BTW, there were far too many of for my aging brain to keep straight), I'm happy to not live anywhere near any of these downright detestable folks. That's not to say the book isn't well-written; it is - and no doubt many readers will love it. But I disliked the people and places so much that it was hard to work up much enthusiasm for the plot.

Heidi Kick is the new interim sheriff in Bad Axe County, Wisconsin - the first female in what's clearly old-boy territory. She's married to Harley, who in his younger days was a star baseball player (and who is the only character in this story who has redeeming social value, IMHO). More than a decade earlier, Heidi's parents were found dead on their farm, and the police ruled it a murder-suicide. Heidi never believed that, though, and has tried ever since to figure out what really happened to them.

She's also got a job to do, though much of it seems to be an uphill battle against the seedy folks in the backwoods county who don't want her to do it. So bad is the situation that she's not even totally sure she'll run for the upcoming election that, should she somehow win, would give her a more permanent status. 

As a real storm brews, a storm of another sort pops up in the local library involving an unidentified man, a young girl and a years-earlier baseball game that nobody - including Heidi's husband - want to talk about. That, in turn, leads to Heidi's learning about secret "stag parties" attended by all sorts of locals and an assortment of young girls, not all of whom were there of their own volition (think: human trafficking). One, in fact, has been missing ever since the party that followed that secretive baseball game; now, Heidi fears that the girl in the library may be another unwilling victim (one who, hopefully, she can save).

The nasty weather and roiling rivers take their toll as Heidi investigates up and down very run-down properties like a salvage yard and a restaurant/bar, both of which are operated by characters even a mother couldn't love. Can Heidi find the missing girl before it's too late? Will she learn whose hand really killed her parents? And will her marriage survive the secrets her husband has been keeping from her? All are questions that aren't for me to reveal; you'll just have to read it for yourself. Do so only, I might add, if you don't mind graphic language and really, really rough guys and gals (the language does fit the characters, but even though that usually doesn't bother me much, in this case it made me like them all even less).

Bottom line? While I appreciate the quality of the writing, this one is just too dark and gritty for me. In other words, I got through it intact, but I admit I'm now looking forward to diving into a cozy mystery (and if you know my opinion on those, you know that speaks volumes). Thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read an advance copy.

Bad Axe County by John Galligan (Atria Books, July 2019); 336 pp.

JUST

4 stars out of 5

Betrayal, human trafficking, blackmail, jealousy, unrequited love and super-lousy parenting - they're all in here. Added to what I'd call far from a happy-ever-after ending, and you've got a book that certainly wasn't fun for me to read. Every single character is flawed (save one who's too young to have been corrupted by the others, but I have no doubt her turn will come).

Although the description puts the setting in "idyllic" Cambridge and other lovely places, I respectfully submit that way too much of it for my liking takes place in godforsaken parts of countries like Libya, where a young doctor named Scott Langbrook is working for an organization known as Reach, which is charged with a task referred to as Dead Body Management. As one might suspect, it's not exactly a pleasant job - at least until Scott hooks up with Dr. Fiyori Maziq, the expedition leader. Problem is, she has more issues than Nike has swooshes.

Meanwhile, things on Scott's home front aren't going too smoothly either. He's got a shaky relationship with his mother, Lucienne, who's a dentist in Cambridge. Most recently, he's been living with his father, Eddie, and his second wife Susan (much to the consternation of Mom, who's been in a love-hate relationship with her ex for the past 10 years and has never met - nor ever wants to meet - Wife No. 2). Luci's good [platonic] friend and partner in the dental practice, Finlay Duff, clearly is infatuated with her, but apparently amid fear that he'll be rejected, he's never let her in on his secret.

As the story begins, Eddie is killed in a freak accident. Now, Luci is faced with really, truly never seeing him again - and worse, the possibility she actually may have to meet Wife No. 2. That her son is on a dangerous mission in an unfriendly country - and the awareness that if he makes it back home it most likely will be to his father's place instead of hers - just adds to her misery.

Then, come home he does - and the plot begins to thicken fast. If Luci thought her life was a mess before, she quickly learns she ain't seen nothin' yet. And for better or worse, this is where my narrative must end; to say more would spoil things for other readers. This is a short book as books go; my only complaint, as it were, is that the transition between chapter settings seemed on occasion a bit disjointed - meaning it took me a few paragraphs to realize where and about whom I was reading. For those who might object to such things, there are some sexually graphic passages; other than that, it's a well-thought-out, well-written story - and I thank the author for sending it to me to read and review. 

Just by Jenny Morton Potts (Amazon Digital Services LLC, June 2018); 318 pp.