3 days ago
James Paterson & James O. Born, Anna Stuart, Helena Echlin
Paranoia: A Michael Bennet Thriller ***
James Patterson & James O Born
Century
The talent with which New York cop Michael Bennet juggles his career and huge family (10 adopted kids) with a new baby on the way is again put to the test in his latest. But at least he is flanked in this murder case by an intriguing former army vet who has joined the NYPD and proves to be a solid sidekick. Contemporary themes, such as corruption inside the police force and immigration into the US are tackled sensitively, while his mass of kids give glimpses into 21st century preoccupations, such as a reality TV cooking competition. Patterson is great at creating likable characters and, in a few strokes, condemning others such as the TV chef. An easy read, Paranoia will satisfy Bennet fans. — Claire Keeton
The Midwife of Auschwitz ****
Anna Stuart
Sphere
November 1939, Lodz, Poland. Ester, a young Jewish woman, is getting married to the love of her life, Filip. Jackboots fill the synagogue as Nazi officers storm in. September 1942, Ester is working as a nurse in the ghetto hospital when the Nazis come for the sick and drag them off. Soon they come for Ester's mother, Ruth, saying they are taking people who can no longer work. Distraught, Ester runs after her mother and before she knows it, she is thrown into the cattle car. She's shocked to see Ana there, a Catholic Pole arrested on suspicion of resistance to the Nazis. Ana gives Ester strength, especially after Ruth dies in the night. They arrive at Auschwitz-Birkenau, are pushed into a queue and when they reach the front Ana tells the SS doctor she is a midwife and Ester her assistant. They are assigned to their hut — a squalid place crammed with about 100 women in various stages of pregnancy. Ana notices a woman is about to give birth and she and Ester deliver a tiny baby girl. Klara, a smirking German guard, snatches the baby from its mother's arms and dunks it into a bucket of water till it is motionless, then tosses the little corpse outside. Ana and Ester will spend more than three years in the camp of horrors, birthing more than 3,000 babies — some will survive, especially the blonde ones, who are taken to childless German families to bring up. This beautifully written novel does not spare the reader any details of the madness, cruelty and absolute brutality experienced in Auschwitz. — Gabriella Bekes
Clever Little Thing ****
Helena Echlin
Headline
Echlin's new offering delivers chills in spades as a new contribution to 'mom noir' — a subgenre where domestic and psychological suspense centres on the dark, messy realities of motherhood. This eerie story centres on Charlotte, a mother who was raised by a clinically depressed and distant mother who wants desperately to do better for her daughter Stella — a complex little character who is highly intelligent and showing signs of autism at age eight. As she battles to handle Stella's emotional outbursts, rigid eating habits and difficulties with social interactions, Charlotte struggles with parenting, a newly discovered pregnancy and a largely absent husband. This intensifies when their nanny Blanka suddenly quits her job and soon after is found dead. To top it all, the disappearance of Blanka triggers disturbing new behaviours in Stella, who takes to mirroring Blanka's personality, becoming docile and agreeable. Despite having been raised vegetarian, Stella develops new cravings for Blanka's favourite Armenian meat stew. Charlotte battles to make sense of what is real and what is interpretation and where maternal instinct and mental health collide. — Gill Gifford
