The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger (published by McArthur & Company) is a historical fiction / literary non-fiction.

Sally Naldrett is our stalwart protagonist, and an equally sturdy lady’s maid to Lady Lucie Duff Gordon. The two 19th-century women are off to Egypt in an attempt to prolong the Lady’s life. She’s rather sickly. Despite decades of service, Sally is banished from service.

Lady Duff Gordon is a historical figure , a 19th-century writer whose biography is used to form the general plot , but little is known about her maid Sally Naldrett, and it is this story that Pullinger unravels for us through imagination and Duff Gordon’s letters from Egypt.

I won’t spoil the novel by revealing the exact cause of Sally’s disgrace but I will say it’s a Romeo & Juliet tale of star-crossed lovers with equal amounts of spite and disdain, love and compassion.

Some of the novel’s events are based on fact, but really what I love about historical fiction (or literary non-fiction) is the deftness of the writing, the imagination that completes a small puzzle for us and the fact that we don’t really know what is “true.”

Erika Ritter’s review in the Globe and Mail addresses the “burden of factuality” and the compilation of a story from a myriad of facts, biographical works, historical tidbits and personal letters.

Having been to Egypt recently, I had a vivid mental image of what a 19th-century Egypt could look like and I loved the passages of the two women travelling in Egypt. I was equally impressed that both learn Arabic and adopt certain local customs. I think I had an easier time imagining 19th-century Egypt than 19th-century British women in Egypt. But that is the wonderful thing about novels.

Enjoyable, quick read.

The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
published by McArthur & Company

One of the last books of 2010 that I read was Robert J. Wiersema’s novel Bedtime Story, and I loved it. So much so that I wrote to Robert J. Wiersema (and yes, it’s fun to type Dear Robert J. Wiersema) and asked if he would mind answering a few questions.

Robert and I are friends from my old book publicist days at Raincoast Books so 1) he didn’t mind and 2) it gave us a chance to have a little catch up on the state of retail during the holidays. Here’s our Q&A about Bedtime Story, which is a story within a story about a struggling author and his 11-year-old son who gets sucked into an adventure tale.

Christopher Knox is the struggling author/dad who buys his son David an adventure novel about Davfd. David gets pulled into Davfd’s story. This leaves David in a catatonic state and puts his father on an adventure to figure out how to save him.

SoMisguided: Structurally, did you think about the length of Davfd’s sections or how frequently they occurred in the narrative? I noticed that before David’s first seizure, I was really pulled into that section of the novel. It seemed like there was a period of greater attention on that story. Then after the seizure, I felt more in Chris’ world as he tried to sort out the cause of David’s seizures. The end of the novel was like the confluence of two rivers.

RJW: Well, the confluence thing was definitely deliberate, and I’m thrilled to hear that it worked.

I think the earlier sections of Dafyd’s story were more compelling for two reasons: there’s a lot of set-up to them (a whole world to get to know), and, in contrast, there’s very little actually happening, narrative-wise, in Chris’ story. It’s more exciting to read about a kid being drawn to his destiny than it is to read about a marriage dissolving.

As Chris’ story gets more interesting, and develops more momentum, it draws more attention, and pulls together the stuff from the first section. That was the plan, at least.

(SPOILER ALERT)

SoMisguided: Is there a sequel? When I finished reading, I felt like you didn’t tie up the storyline for Tony Markus. His uncle did send a woman to seduce Chris and get the book. Then Tony is murdered? As a mobbed up uncle, I’d be curious about that and I’d certainly investigate where Chris was. And as Jacqui noted, Chris’ location was discoverable within 2 days. In my wild imagination, Big Tony comes looking to revenge the death of little Tony. Chris and David then use white magic with the help of Nora and Sarah. What do you think? No, eh. Well, why no close for Tony? He’s just a scummy NY editor who no one will miss? Heartless Rob.

RJW: I’m teaching a session at the Ontario Writers Conference in the spring called “Killing Your Darlings,” which is apparently about being merciless to your characters. Rumours of my heartlessness are clearly spreading.

There’s certainly a story that COULD be written about Uncle Tony following up his nephew’s murder , you could write it! I likely won’t.

And no, there are no plans for a sequel. To my mind, the stories of these characters are told, at least as far as they interest me.

That being said, there’s one strand that I think may be picked up in the future. I’m fascinated by Tara Scott, the student who Chris meets who’s reading his book. In the first draft of Bedtime Story, there was a lot more about her (such are the perils of streamlining a book , all that material ended up on the cutting room floor). I think I’ll be seeing more of her.

SoMisguided: Your first novel, Before I Wake, and Bedtime Story both have characters who have seemingly fallen into a coma but who are certainly part of the story. How do you imagine the world? Do you believe in planes of existence? Ghosts? Alternative realities? Or just a good storyline?

RJW: Well, the safe writer in me says “I’ll do anything, imagine anything, for a good story. It doesn’t go beyond that.”

Truth be told, though, I think there’s more to the world than meets the eye. I believe in ghosts, and synchronicity, and destiny. I have no reason not to believe in faeries. Science tells us that there are countless billion parallel universes; why is it so hard to accept that there is another world alongside this, separated from us only by the thinnest of membranes?

Stephen King wrote, in one of The Dark Tower novels, “There are other worlds than this.” When it comes to how I view the world, that pretty much sums it up.

SoMisguided: What books did you read as a boy? Did you have particular authors or genres you pulled on in this novel? I saw mention of the background story of Bedtime Story in the Globe & Mail and of a long-lost author who you Googled, but other influences?

RJW: When I was a kid, I adored the Madeleine L’Engle books – Wrinkle in Time and Wind in the Door. A Swiftly Tilting Planet came later. I loved the John Bellairs horror novels, starting with The House with a Clock in Its Walls , I think a lot of who I am as a writer came out of those. I liked the series books, especially the Alfred Hitchcock & The Three Investigators books. My first adult books were similar — Ian Fleming’s James Bond books at the high end, the trashy Executioner and Nick Carter series at the low. And of course Stephen King. Of course.

I was twelve when I stole and read The World According to Garp. It changed my life. To my mind, that’s the last book of my childhood, and the first book of my adulthood.

SoMisguided: What’s it like to be a dad and author to an 11-year-old boy? My mom was a cartographer and she’d frequently illustrate a page for me to colour. I didn’t realize colouring books existed as a commercial product until I went to school. I assumed every mom just spit them out. Does Xander get creative throw aways from dad or does he have to wait for the official publications like the rest of us?

RJW: You should probably ask Xander this … or not.

I’m not sure what he would say.

He pretty much has to wait. And wait longer. I wrote the fantasy scenes of Bedtime Story with him in mind, but he hasn’t read it, as yet. It’s still a little old for him. And the domestic scenes would be … odd for him, I think.

SoMisguided: Anytime an author has elements in a story that could be biographical, journalists always seem to ask about what plot lines are based on their real life. Are you annoyed by those questions? Perplexed? Amused?

RJW: I was expecting them, with this one. How could I not be?

I’ve learned , from the West Wing! , not to accept the premise of a question that I’m uncomfortable with or unwilling to answer.

In the novel, David is initially dismissive of the book his dad gives him as a birthday present. Have you ever received a birthday present (or given one) that you didn’t appreciate at the time but did later?

RJW: Wait, what?

I think the act of giving is one of the most intimate acts of which a human being is capable. This is especially true of books. When you give a book, it’s an act of giving part of yourself, and the recipient has an obligation to bear that in mind and act in accordance with the significance. (See what I did there? With the premise of the question?)

(SoMisguided: *chuckle*)

SoMisguided: David’s book title is The Four Directions. What four directions does the title allude to , can it be as mundane as NSEW?

RJW: It really IS that mundane.

And now I’m really sorry that it is.

SoMisguided: What’s question has no journalist asked yet about the book, which you think is an oversight?

RJW: I was hoping that I would have the opportunity to talk more about gender. To my mind, Bedtime Story is very much an examination of what it means to be a man, a husband, a father, at a time in which the traditional expectations of those roles have largely been overturned, but replaced only with confusion and uncertainty.

Sadly, no one has asked.

Bedtime Story by Robert J. Wiersema
Published by Random House

Robert J Wiersema’s is also the author of Before I Wake.

Thanks Rob for the interview! Again, I loved the book.

The Shallows is one of those books that has struck a chord (or dis-chord) with web enthusiasts. In my opinion, Carr is right about a lot of things but his choice of examples weakens his argument (they are often too subjective vs. objective).

First my assumption about the definitions of shallow thought vs. deep thought:

Shallow thought = easily accessing information, wisdom of the crowd, synopsis and sound bites
Deep thought = critical thought, longer engagement, in-depth analysis, full detailed reading

NOTE: Having shallow thoughts does not make you a shallow individual.

The Shallows is ironically the first book I read on my iPhone. Ironic because in some ways Carr is lobbying against the technology that allows for digital reading (not that he’s against reading, but he argues that the distractions of digital reading lead to shallow thought).

The Shallows stimulated the academic part of my brain in a way that I miss. But I haven’t made time to write an intelligent review so instead here are my notes, which my future self will appreciate but may be annoying for you. Apologies for the lack of cohesion.

5 Points Carr Makes & Some Reference Notes

1. Is technology inherently good or bad?

Wrong question. But if you choose to answer it:

The shallow-thought argument would be that guns aren’t bad, it’s people who use guns for bad things who are bad.

The deep-thought counter-argument would say: what about medicine? Medicine is good, but when we take too little or too much, we are making a poor decision.

Technology is not good or bad, but (like medicine) it has an intended use, which could be good or bad depending on the intention behind its design. Technology is logic engineered by humans, which prompts certain behaviours in us.

Like all technology, the internet is an invention in response to particular challenges. It provides improvements, but it can also prompt certain behaviours and reward those desired behaviour–like skimming instead of reading or relying on the comments of others to form our opinions (without reading the original source materials ourselves).

The warning highlighted by Carr’s example behaviours is that how we use the internet is chipping away at our capacity for concentration and contemplation and that we need to be aware of the brain pattern changes we are developing as a result of our dependence and daily internet use.

2. You are what you eat. Practice makes perfect.

Junk food is delicious and for many evolutionary reasons we crave fatty foods and sugars. Even though our bodies want these things, we need to moderate our intake. Same with how we read.

The internet can act like junk food for our mind because it rewards jumping from one thing to the next. Our brain craves new information and enjoys this form of reading, but practicing only this form of reading makes us perfect at it, which means we lose the reward sensations and ability to indulge in long-form reading–we get out of practice.

Even though our brains want to create these new paths for multi-task reading, we need to moderate ourselves and ensure we are not losing the pathways that help us think analytically, rationally, and with deeper insights and attention.

(Apparently it’s not like riding a bike, you need to keep practicing or exercising these circuits, or paths in the brain, in order to retain this ability.)

3. We are just starting to understand the mind

Brain plasticity is still a new concept to neuroscience. We used to believe that our brain pathways were malleable only in childhood and that you couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks. But nerve paths are not fixed, they can and do re-route for all sorts of reasons.

Descarte believed in the physical brain and the ethereal brain. The ethereal brain (or the conscious mind) is the essence of the self. This brain existed outside of space, beyond the laws of matter. Each brain could influence the other.

The conscious mind and the unconscious mind are still misunderstood and continue to be researched.

Jung and Freud theorized about the unconscious mind driving behaviour, and new research out of UBC shows that an unconscious mind is at work. (Georgia Straight)

In the UBC study, a group of research subjects were asked a set of general-knowledge yes-or-no questions. If the subjects did not know the right response, or even have an inkling, they were instructed to use a Ouija board. Turns out that they were able to answer significantly more questions accurately when they consulted the Ouija board.

The experiment demonstrated that there is an unconscious mind at work that can bypass the conscious mind and reveal knowledge stored unconsciously. (Think about drivers who zone out yet are able to travel safely through traffic.)

4. We are just starting to understand the brain

Michael Merzenich performed several studies with monkeys that showed how damaged neural pathways can be corrected.

In addition to Merzenich’s research, at the University of Alabama, there is a program pioneered by a neuroplasticity researcher named Edward Taub to help stroke patients. For as many as 8 hours a day, 6 days a week, stroke patients use their paralyzed hand/arm to perform routine tasks over and over again. One day they might wash a window, the next trace letters of the alphabet. The repeated actions are means of coaxing the neurons and synapses to form new circuits that take over the functions once carried out by the circuits damaged in the brain. In a matter a weeks, most regain nearly all movement.

Beyond that, Lee Gerdes, computer geek turned brain researcher, has developed a way to move beyond biofeedback and neurofeedback with brainwave optimization. His Brain State Technology is said to optimize your brain and improve your memory.

5. Our tools become extensions of our thoughts and of our bodies

Carr starts out with a reminder of how clocks altered our sense of time, and maps altered our sense of place.

Those familiar with Ivan Illich, who wrote Tools for Conviviality in 1973, know his argument that we need convivial tools as opposed to machines. Tools accept more than one utilization, tools accept expression from its user, whereas computers are not tools, they are machines, and humans become servants to those machines. Our role is to run the machine in a singular way.

(Yes, we can argue our way out of that one easily.)

Carr, however, makes some solid points about how the internet rewards certain behaviours over others, suggesting that the machine teaches us how to use it most efficiently. These new tricks are rewriting the old dog’s brain.

Carr’s cited research, for example, shows that a London cabbies’ brains are different: they’ve experienced both anatomical and functional changes in the hippocampus and other areas involving spatial modeling and memory.

And that circuitry has quickly been rearranged with the use of GPS. It’s gotten weaker. As a personal example, think of the number of phone numbers you used to remember and how reliant you are on your computer or phone to now store those numbers.

Games like Brain Age force those circuits to continue to work. We can train our brain, which I think of as brain exercise.

Our body, and our brain, is in a constant state of degeneration and regeneration. If you don’t know which state you’re in, it’s certainly in decline.

Random Additional Thoughts

Since my brain is dulled by the very things Carr is warning us about, I can’t finish this review. But you likely can’t read anymore anyway since you’re as out of practice as I am. So now, here are a couple of unfinished points that may or may not make sense.

1. Transitions
The fact that we have a book at all about how the internet is affecting our brain indicates that we are still in a time of transition. The internet is still remarkable for many of us, but this will change.

Few of us walk into a room and remark on electricity and how exciting it is that we can access this light 24/7 by simply flipping a switch. And I’m hard pressed to find someone wary of this technology and how it affects our biological makeup. (Give it up Carr, as the critics have RT’d.)

2. Pause and Reflect
Web enthusiasts who vehemently embrace the internet and its virtues should re-visit Plato’s Phaedrus (4th century BC).

In the story, Theuth describes the art of writing to Thamus and argues that it will make the Egyptians wiser and improve their memory.

Thamus disagrees saying that the inventor cannot be the judge of his own invention. “O man full of arts, to one is it given to create the things of art, and to another to judge what measure of harm and of profit they have for those that shall employ them. And so it is that you, by reason of the tender regard for the writing that is your offspring, have declared the very opposite of its true effect.”

I agree with this point. We are currently the inventors of the internet and the harm and profit of this new form of writing, research, communication, entertainment and engagement can be reasoned either way, but we are not far enough away from it to judge its true effect.

I am relieve though that the anxiety about the introduction of writing is similar to those of widespread internet use.

Should the Egyptians learn to write, Thamus warned, “it will implant forgetfulness in their souls: they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks.”

Ah ha, proclaim the defenders of the web!

Yet perhaps the effects of the internet on our memory is not like writing and photographs. Perhaps it is more like video, which seems to replace our memory of an event vs. photographs that serve to reinforce the memory. Has anyone done research on this? Must ask the internet.

3. Wisdom of the Crowd vs. Following the Crowd

The internet certainly does give us access to a wide variety of material, so wide that we require search engines to sort by date or relevancy. The warning message from Carr is that we are letting the search engines (and the power of the crowd) determine relevancy, which creates less diversity in our source materials. We’re following the crowd.

The introduction of writing allowed us to increase our collective knowledge. In a purely oral culture, we were dependent on human memory. Writing resulted in advances in medicine, history and philosophy. It allowed us to build on each others’ thoughts across time and geographical divides. Computer science amplified the possible computational answers available to us.

As Carr notes: Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Einstein’s Relativity, Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, Thomas Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolution and Rachel Carso’s Silent Spring are momentous intellectual achievements that would not have been possible without the changes in reading and writing–and in perceiving and thinking–spurred by the efficient reproduction of long forms of writing on printed pages.

But with search engines, you’d expect academic writing to reference more and more sources since we have access to more materials. Carr says this isn’t the case, we are citing fewer results. We’re referencing what others have referenced vs. seeking our own path and conclusions.

4. Practice

Like Carr, I also believe we need to practice concentration, memory, and retention of details. Being able to multitask well and hold the thread for a longer period of time is dependent on these skills.

As the Roman philosopher Seneca said, “to be everywhere is to be nowhere.”

Or as Johnson says to Boswelll, “knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find info upon it.”

Carr argues that “what the net diminishes is Johnson’s primary kind of knowledge: the ability to know, in depth, a subject for ourselves, to construct within our own minds the rich and idiosyncratic set of connections that give rise to a singular intelligence.”

Knowing how to search for something is not the same as knowing by mental recall.

5. Knowledge

David Foster Wallace in a commencement address at Kenyon College in 2005 stated that learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and why you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience.

I believe we are in a time of bricolage. Like Montesorri learning, we add layer upon layer of meaning until we have a complete picture.

If a learned individual is reading a novel, for example, they have a more informed reading than someone who is less learned. As the learned individual reads, they access deeper meaning through the layers of context they can bring to the work. I think this is the deep thought Carr values and wants us to retain. I have no argument with that.

In Conclusion, If there can be such a thing for this rambling post

One word. Exciting!

So what’s next in the internet? I’m hopeful that something new and extraordinary will occur.

But I certainly don’t want to those layers of meaning and understanding to developed because of what Amazon search decides to present to me based on who paid what for their listing to appear, or Google based on its determination of relevancy and wisdom of the crowd.

Just as Nietzsche noticed how his writing style changed as he moved from handwriting to typewriting, “Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts”, I notice that the computer has become an extension of my memory.

Sure great. But I also see that, when disciplined, my mind can gather and access knowledge while staying the course (maintaining a sequence of deeper thoughts) without being distracted in a way that is infinitely more rewarding than bumping along through twitter.

What do you think?

UPDATE August 1, 2011

Columbia University psychologist Betsy Sparrow agrees that the Internet and search engines like Google have changed the way our brain remembers information. Her research was published July 14 in Science.

Sparrow’s research shows that we do indeed forget things we are confident we can find on the Internet. We are more likely to remember things we think are not available online. And we are better able to remember where to find something on the Internet than we are at remembering the information itself.

But Sparrow doesn’t see this as a bad thing. Hers is the first research of its kind into the impact of search engines on human memory organization and she feels that we don’t have enough data to say that it is good or bad.

Sparrow’s paper in Science is titled, “Google Effects on Memory: Cognitive Consequences of Having Information at Our Fingertips.” With colleagues Jenny Liu of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Daniel M. Wegner of Harvard University, Sparrow explains that the Internet has become a primary form of what psychologists call transactive memory, recollections that are external to us but that we know when and how to access.

I’m putting this info here so that I can find it later, ha ha.

BEST IN SHOW

Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-eating-the-dinosaur-by-chuck-klosterman/

My number 1, absolute favourite book this year, was Eating the Dinosaur, Chuck Klosterman’s sixth book.

Scribner, 2010
$19.99 paperback

The Waterproof Bible by Andrew Kaufman
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-the-waterproof-bible-by-andrew-kaufman/

Kaufman’s first novel is a brilliant allegorical tale partly set in Winnipeg. I loved everything about this book and will continue to read and re-read it until Kaufman publishes another novel.

Random House Canada, 2010
$27.00 hardcover

MY TOP FICTION READS

The Retreat by David Bergen: Great summer novel set in Kenora, ON.
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-the-retreat-by-david-bergen/

Border Songs by Jim Lynch: Love Jim Lynch, author of The Highest Tide. Quirky fiction.
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-border-songs-by-jim-lynch/

Little Bee by Chris Cleave: Reminded me of Andrea Levy’s Small Island. Illuminating fiction about the immigrant experience in the UK.
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-little-bee-by-chris-cleave/

Bedtime Story by Robert J. Wiersema: A story within a story about a boy and a magical book.
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-bedtime-story-by-robert-j.-wiersema/

MY TOP KIDS READ

The Dread Crew by Kate Inglis: Rollicking pirates invade a small town. Great word play.
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-the-dread-crew-by-kate-inglis/

MY TOP NON-FICTION READS

The Shallows by Nicholas Carr: So good I couldn’t harness my thoughts into a coherent review.
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-the-shallows-by-nicholas-carr

The Big Short by Michael Lewis: Sub-prime mortgage crisis as page-turning thriller.
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-the-big-short-by-michael-lewis/

Madame de Stael by Francine du Plessix Gray: Literary geekery.
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-madame-de-stael-by-francine-de-plessix-gray/

Two Generals by Scott Chantler: Beautifully illustrated, graphic memoir of two generals in WWII.
https://www.somisguided.com/weblog/comments/book-review-two-generals-by-scott-chantler/

I should always review a book right after I finish it. In the case of Robert J. Wiersema’s Bedtime Story, I wrapped it up in late November on a late, late night of reading. I couldn’t put down Bedtime Story and I recall closing the book and saying “wow.”

Now, why was it so awesome? I should have taken notes, but I didn’t so all we have is my faulty memory and an email I wrote to Rob after finishing the book. Let’s piece it together.

Structurally, there are 3 stories going on. I found this a bit weird at first. The first chapter introduces one boy and his family, the next chapter introduces another boy and his family, then a couple chapters later boy 2 starts reading a novel about another boy. What happened to the first boy? Good question–and one that is ultimately part of the mystery unfolding. Am I’m making it sound more confusing than it is?

Boy 2 is David, who is reading about Boy 3, who is named Davfd.

Boy 2 and 3 are essentially the same boy, living in different times. The book David is reading is a trap, a magical trap for little boys. David, like the boy before him, has a seizure that pulls him into the storybook, leaving his body functional in the real world but without spirit.

As I read Bedtime Story, I wondered about the mastery of storytelling and a storyteller’s ability to pull you into the narrative. I starting thinking about the length of Davfd’s sections and how frequently they occurred in the narrative. I noticed that before David’s seizure, I was really pulled into Davfd’s section of the novel. It seemed like there was a period of greater attention on that story. Like David, I was sucked into the story of Davfd. But then after David’s seizure, I felt more in David’s father’s world as he tried to sort out the cause of David’s seizures.

Robert’s latest novel is like the confluence of two rivers. The storylines run together in the most fascinating way. I still remember it as “wow.”

Thankfully Pickle Me This finished the book around the same time I did and wrote an excellent review.

Bedtime Story by Robert J. Wiersema
Published by Random House

(Robert J Wiersema’s is also the author of Before I Wake.)

I’ve never read a Mary Higgins Clark book, and according to the jacket copy she’s the author of 29 suspense novels, 3 collections of short stories, a historical novel, a children’s book and a memoir, plus coauthor with Carol Higgins Clark of 5 holiday suspense novels. Prolific. Was I missing out?

My preference is quirky fiction by new authors and a handful of books by authors who I can’t pass up, but I’m always willing to try something new. So when Mary arrived in the mail as a suggestion from the folks at Simon and Schuster, I thought I’d give it a try.

At 82, Olivia Morrow is terminally ill and debating whether she will leave the world with or without sharing the secret that her cousin, the soon to be beatified nun, had a son out of wedlock. That son’s daughter stands as the rightful heir to what remains of a great fortune.

Not really the kind of plot that interests me, but I was pleased by the immediate suspense established and I can understand why Mary Higgins Clark’s books are bestsellers. They’re certainly page-turners!

I liked the plot twists and turns, was surprised by the number of characters added late in the novel, pleased by the neatly wrapped ending and a bit appalled at the number of people who end of dead in the story. It was what I expected–easy read, good suspense, more action than character development and formulaic (but without disappointment).

If you’re looking for a good candy read, this one goes well with ginger snaps and a hot toddy.

The Shadow of Your Smile by Mary Higgins Clark
Published by Simon and Schuster