HUNGER LIKE A THIRST

5 stars out of 5

This book is far from my usual fare of mystery, crime and thriller novels, but when I saw the subject matter, I just had to read it. Mind you, I'm far removed from the author's noteworthy standing among professional restaurant critics/food writers, but I do pen a local restaurant review blog and for several years wrote a review column and other food-related articles for a regional business newspaper. Thus, I'm super-interested in the topic. And indeed, reading it was a pure delight.

Mind you, this is not a book of restaurant reviews (and certainly not recipes); it's a look at the author's look through her own eyes from the time she immigrated to the United States from Australia at age 14 to the present, when she's come full circle to return to the land of her birth. Along the way, needless to say, she's encountered many challenges as a woman in a man's world (quick: how many female restaurants critics can you name?) and as an "outsider" everywhere except in her native country as well as racked up almost too many achievements to count. Wedged somewhere in between those is dealing with a husband - himself a chef - and child as careers collide, money ebbs and flows and publications willing to pay someone to write about food drop like dumplings in hot broth.

All told, it was a very engaging and enjoyable journey - and I thank the publisher for giving me the chance to tag along. Well done!

Hunger Like a Thirst by Besha Rodell (Celadon Books, May 2025); 272 pp.

LAST GIRL GHOSTED

4 stars out of 5

Despite having a few issues with this story near the end - more on that later - I'm compelled to say this right up front: I do not recall the last time I read a book so thoroughly engrossing - mesmerizing, even - that except for a handful of chapters I started the night before, I polished off in one sitting even though it extended past my usual bedtime. For that alone, it gets a rousing WOW! from me.

Wren Greenwood is a successful advice columnist and blogger with a past that she's managed to hide from the rest of the world (she's created a whole new identity since her childhood years). For obvious reasons, she's a bit of a loner, and her best friend convinces her to sign up for an online dating app and dip her toes into the dating waters. When she does, she finds an intriguing guy named Adam; they meet, and for the first time in her life, Wren thinks she's in love. Heck, she even told him about her horrific past when he asked her to share with him something she's never told anyone else. Not long thereafter, the unthinkable happens. At their most recent arranged meeting, he's a no-show; his phone has been disconnected and all his online profiles have gone poof in the night. As young folks would say today, she's been ghosted.

To put it mildly, she's crushed. And determined to figure out why. Was he turned off by her past? Did something awful happen to him? Did he have a few secrets of his own? Then she gets a visit from private detective Bailey Kirk; his firm's client is the father of another young woman who went missing after hooking up with a guy online who's a dead ringer for her Adam. Could it be that he's a serial lover and leaver? Or, when a couple of other women met up with him turn out to be missing as well, maybe something worse?

The bulk of the story is told by Wren (and occasionally Bailey); some chapters flash back to scenes from Wren's frenetic childhood and a couple of the other victims. That's a bit confusing at first, but I didn't find it hard to follow. Plus, there's quite a bit of repetition as Wren and Bailey retell their experiences and conclusions with other characters - such as Bailey's boss and the man who helped Wren escape her horrific childhood and create a new life - so what's happened then and now gets reinforced throughout.

The conclusion, albeit nail-bitingly fast-paced, is where I lost some interest (not to mention respect for Wren, who up to that point had been a survivor with a sensible head on her shoulders in my view). Of course, I won't reveal what happened - so I'll just say that some parts (and characters) were very satisfying and others not so much. The epilogue, too, was a bit unsettling, bringing what I consider to be a surprising, and somewhat disappointing, turn of events.

But no matter; I base my reviews primarily on the quality of writing and plot originality, not on whether or not I agree with an author's perspective or don't "connect" with the characters. And trust me, that WOW! factor that struck me at the beginning was in place right to the end. Well done, and once again I thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy. 

Last Girl Ghosted by Lisa Unger (Park Row, October 2021); 336 pp.