Review: The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida

Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph every Tuesday. Share the first paragraph(s) of your current read or book interest, with information for readers.

The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida, published June 2, 2015
Genre: literary suspense
Rating: 5/5
Source: library

A young woman takes off on her own to a foreign country and has to survive after her passport and wallet are stolen. 

How she gets through the scrapes she gets into in an unfamiliar country is the basis of the novel. A little suspenseful and a bit of a travelogue at the same time, it shows what can happen to unsuspecting travelers - pickpockets, an unreliable police system, unfamiliarity with a new culture and customs, etc. 

I really enjoyed this young woman's travel and how she survives and takes on a new persona as she is stripped of her old possessions or discards them as she has to face new situations. Running away from an unpleasant situation in her past, she comes to terms with the present and begins to create a new self.

I woke up at 3:30 a.m. to finish this book.That's how interesting I found the character and how well written the story.

First chapter, first paragraph: 

When you find your seat you glance at the businessman sitting next to you and decide he's almost handsome. This is the second leg of your trip from Miami to Casablanca, and the distance traveled already muted the horror of the last two months. What's to stop you from having a conversation with this man, possibly even ordering two vodka tonics with the little lemon wedges that the flight attendant will place into our plastic cups with silver tongs? He's about your age, thirty-three, and, like you, appears to be traveling alone. 

How does the first paragraph grab you. Does it make you want to read on?

Sunday Salon: Three Genres

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. 
Also visit Mailbox Monday, and It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

The Two of Us by Andy Jones, paperback to be published February 9, 2016. From Washington Square Press
Killer Deal (Emma Skold #3) by Sofie Sarenbrant, to be published May 10, 2016 by Stockholm Press. From Meryl Zegarek Public Relations, Inc. 
Lilac Girls by Martha Hall Kelly, to be published April 5, 2016 by Ballantine Books. A win through Shelf Awareness.

A romance, a Swedish thriller, and an historical novel came in the mail last week.

Add anything new to your TBR list? 

Finding Good Books Though Websites

17 Ways to Find Good Books To Read is a website that I just discovered that has links to sites such as

1. The Book Seer, which offers suggestions based on the last book you read and really liked.

2. All Nobel Prizes in Literature, a list of the winning authors from the beginning of the prize.

3. The Top 100 Books of All Time, a list of books nominated by writers from around the world.

4. Whichbook helps you select books based on a variety of criteria you choose.

5. Other suggestions: Goodreads, Penguin's Classics, Pulitzer Prize Winners. The Man Booker Prize Winners, the library, etc.

I have just asked The Book Seer for a recommendation. It gave me a couple of other books by the same author I just finished reading, plus at least six more that I have not heard about but am eager to try. I have jotted these down and want to see if the suggestions are really good for me.

Library Finds: Contemporary Fiction

The Friday 56. Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% of your eReader. Find any sentence that grabs you. Post it, and add your URL post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

I returned two books to the library yesterday and borrowed three more. I do hope to read them among the others I've downloaded from NetGalley and from amazon. Cross my fingers! 

How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz, published May 2015.
Genre: women's fiction, contemporary fiction

Book beginning:"Are you lost?" the man asked."No," she said."Where are you headed?"Don't know.""Seat taken?" he asked."As you can see, it's empty," she said.       

Re Jane by Patricia Park, published May 5, 2015.
Book beginning: Home was this northeastern knot of Queens, in the town (if you could call it a town) of Flushing....They say the neighborhood once contained a hearty swath of the American population, but when I landed here as an infant, Flushing was starting to give way to the Koreans.... This was my America: all Korean, all the time. 
Page 56:
The air was filled with excited chatter. Devon and I were the only ones not speaking Chinese. 

The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida, published June 2, 2015

Book beginning: When you find your seat you glance at the businessman sitting next to you and decide he's almost handsome. This is the second leg of your trip from Miami to Casablanca, and the distance traveled already muted the horror of the last two months. 

I have started to read The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty and find it intriguing and well written. A young woman takes off on her own to a foreign country and has to survive after her passport and wallet are stolen. 

What intriguing books have you discovered this week? 

Review: The Drowning by Camilla Lackberg

The Stonecutter, the third in the Fjallbacka crime series,  and The Drowning, the seventh and most recent novel, both have themes of bodies found in or near the sea. The cover of The Drowning has a picture of a young woman seeming to float under water.

This is a police procedural set in the town of Fjallbacka, Sweden, with detective Patrik Hedstrom as the main character, and Patrik's wife Erica working unofficially as his sidekick. Erica is pregnant with twins, but this doesn't stop her from her editing job in a publishing company or from trying to solve the death of a friend of her current author, Christian.

Christian has been receiving threatening letters, which he hides from everyone including his wife, until the truth is discovered by Erica and the detective team. Erica and Patrik both delve into Christian's past, looking for clues while more strange and threatening events begin to happen to Christian and his childhood friends.

Lackberg's writing is suspenseful, though the plot is slow in parts. The author throws out clues and events that seem unconnected, till the plot threads come together toward the end to reveal a startling and disturbing reality involving the author Christian and his friends.

The main characters, detective Patrik Hedstrom and his wife Erica, are likeable and realistic, as are the other members of  the police team.

Some themes: childhood trauma, family dynamics, police procedural, and interestingly, working pregnant women (there are three in the novel, two of them on the crime solving police team!)

My objective rating: 4.5/5
Thanks to Pegasus Crime for an advance reading copy of the book which was published September 2015.

First Chapter: The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor

Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter, First Paragraph every Tuesday. Share the first paragraph(s) of your current read or book interest, with information for readers.

The Daylight Marriage by Heidi Pitlor, paperback published January 5, 2016 by Algonquin. 

First paragraph:

Later, in weaker moments, Lovell Hall reminded himself of the logical fallacy that young scientists so often committed: Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. After this, therefore because of this. Of course, without certain information - and in the face of other unfortunate realities - the timing of that evening with his wife was impossible to ignore. 

About the book:

“In The Daylight Marriage, there are two mysteries--the whereabouts of a missing woman and the vagaries of the human heart. Heidi Pitlor explores both of these enigmas with equal mastery, merging a shocking crime story with an incisive portrait of a failed marriage. The result is a novel that is fast-moving, emotionally complex, and ultimately heartbreaking.”—Tom Perrotta, author of Nine Inches 

 I don't know if I'm ready for a heartbreaking novel. I always prefer plots that have happy endings or promise better things in the future. But I'm curious about this one.

What book are you reading this week? 

Book Feature: No Cats Allowed by Miranda James

Visit Mailbox Monday, and Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Visit It's Monday, What Are You Reading? hosted by Book Date. 

I am scheduled for a book review of this mystery, organized by the publisher. 

No Cats Allowed (Cat in the Stacks #7) by Miranda James, published February 23, 2016 by Berkley.

Librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine Coon cat Diesel must clear a friend when the evidence is stacked against her…

Setting: Mississippi library

Cause for murder: The victim, library director Elwyn Dillard, is declaring all four-legged creatures banned from the stacks, among other things.....Is this the reason he is killed? 

Innocent suspect to be cleared: Melba, Charlie's good friend

Opening sentences: 

"He's out there again today, Charlie," Molly Gilley made the announcement as she strode hurriedly into my office at the Athena College Library. "Do you think we should call the campus police?"

Teaser:

Diesel, my Maine Coon cat, jumped down from his perch on the window ledge behind my desk and ambled around to greet Melba. The two adored each other, and if anyone could calm Malba down, Diesel could. 

This is the seventh in the series, featuring librarian Charlie Harris and his Maine coon cat, Diesel. 

Are you a cat and mystery lover? This series is for you!

Thanks to publisher for a review/feature copy of this book.